Live. Love. Workout.

The end in sight...

2011-03-03T13:19:00.013-05:00

Now that I did two months of gluten free diet since Jan, I'm absolutely positively sure that I can go on gluten free without food-journaling every day for the rest of the year. Now I don't want to eat gluten forever (not until my life depends on it), but let me take it in small mile stones. That way I get to celebrate each milestone, right? :)

I did a bit of yo-yo last year lured by gluten when I took a break from food-journaling. This time around, I seem to be well prepared. And ready. So,this is it! Does that mean the end of sight for this blog? Yes.

This blog has kept me on track towards a better and healthier life since 2008. I'm in much better health than I've ever been in the past 6-7 yrs. And I'm very thankful for that. It was not easy. There were plenty of tears, bouts of frustration, slips, learning to get back on my feet, small victories, musings and beautiful friendships. It was a great journey. Now I'm more than okay with the idea that I cannot eat gluten. I've accepted my pre-diabetic disposition and am mindful when I eat. I will continue to improvise my diet and work on my 'working out' every day and try to live healthier. Just no more writing down every single thing I ate for the day.

Friends who stopped by and would like to be in touch, you know where to reach me. (gmail: tabtomorrow)

Now I am moving on to other parts of my life that could use a bit of attention - some of my dreams that are waiting to become a reality.

Start by doing the necessary,
Then do the possible.
And suddenly...
You are doing the impossible.
- St.Francis of Assissi

What's in store for March

2011-03-01T08:57:00.003-05:00

For the month of March, I'd like to

Continue with January's gluten free diet - I'm loving it!
Work more on February's Working out for 4 days a week habit - this time I'll stick to 20 mins a day and in a very moderate pace.
Menu plan March - Will make a weekly menu plan and stick to it. After I did the grocery shopping on Monday, I did the meal plan right there while waiting for DH to pick me up on the way from DD's swimming class.

Weight on Jan 1rst - 137 lbs

Weight right now - 130 lbs (I'm thrilled that I can fit into two pair of pants that I bought in 2004! Yayyy! And I've been getting positive comments from people at work as well.)

February Recap

2011-03-01T08:52:00.006-05:00

The neck pain is much better - The headaches have reduced in severity and frequency. Still there, but bearable!!

February - continued with the Gluten free! No longer feel the urge to eat wheat based stuff. Still doing a mostly brown rice based diet, but will slowly look for incorporating more of the other grains like Quinoa etc.
This month's new habit - working out for 4 days a week, didn't really work out well - Just 7 workouts for the whole month. But this was only because my knee and neck started acting up once I got into the routine.
February also was the month where I got diagnosed with upper crossed syndrome and also ended up in emergency after a bad headache induced pukefest (all started with my neck!). Plus there was a huge stress (good type of stress, but still I find that even good stress affects me badly) for two reasons and both ended up with me smiling.

I also won a GREAT product that I've been wanting for quite sometime now and wasn't ready to plonk the money for it yet as finances have been tight recently. This is just the gift for me!! :D I'm thrilled. (will add a link after official notice!)

So, Inspite of the emergency fiasco and the neck and knee pain and not able to workout, It was still a great month!

Mon, Feb 28th

2011-02-28T20:35:00.000-05:00

Exercise: None
Breakfast: Green smoothie - spinach, apple, molasses, water, nuts
Snack: baby cut carrots
Lunch: brown rice + stirfried cauliflower + egg burji with tomatoes / onions/spices
Afternoon snack: fried yellow mung lentils
Dinner:

brown rice
black eyed peas with sweet potato curry in coconut based sauce YUM!!! (Imitated a mallu recipe that a colleague brought for lunch - his was made of erd cowpeas and pumpkin - Mine was almost there, maybe next time I'd get it just right.)
Stir fried mushrooms

In retrospect:
GREAT Day! I won something that I've been wanting for quite sometime now and wasn't ready to plonk the money for it yet as finances have been tight recently. This is just the gift for me!! :D I'm thrilled.

Sun Feb 27th

2011-02-27T15:02:00.001-05:00

Exercise: none.
Breakfast:

Carrot juice - 1 cup
Seasoned Brown rice noodles + mushrooms + saute`d shrimp

snack apples

Lunch: Brown rice, egg burji with tomatoes and onions, stirfried cauliflower

snack: coconut icecream (dairy free) + slivered almonds

Dinner steamed and mashed sweet potatoes with salt and pepper! YUM!!

In retrospect:
Good day! Fought the Laundry demons and won, atlast!

Saturday, Feb 26th

2011-02-26T14:59:00.001-05:00

Sat's food chocies was based mainly on leftovers from Friday. GF yes! healthy - yes!

Friday Feb 25th

2011-02-25T14:56:00.000-05:00

Breakfast: Smoothie - forgot what was in it.

Lunch: Yellow mung dal + Brown rice + Stirfried Opo squash

Afternoon snack: babycut carrots + GF crackers

Dinner brown rice + fish curry + stirfried shrimp = YUM!!

In retrospect: Good day! Tired but good!

Thurs Feb 24th

2011-02-24T10:39:00.003-05:00

Exercise: None, taking a break because of my neck pain. will get there soon.

Breakfast: Spinach-Mango-chiameal-dates-molasses-water Smoothie. got to order protein powder.

Lunch: sprouted mung beans and yam curry + brown rice + baby cut carrots

Afternoon snack: deep fried lentils + GF crackers

Dinner Yellow mung dal + Brown rice + Stirfried Opo squash

In retrospect: I'm trying to avoid cooking on Fridays as I'm exhausted by Friday evening, so I made fish curry and shrimp stir fry for tomorrow's dinner. Can't wait. :)

Wednesday Feb 23rd

2011-02-23T20:53:00.000-05:00

Exercise: None.

I don't think I'll introduce a new habit for March, will try the same working out 4-5 days a week - new habit for March as well as this month proved a bit of flop show due to all the stress. Good stress, but stress nonetheless!

Breakfast: Blueberry smoothie with walnuts, chia, molasses and water

Lunch: Greek style rice + pork souvlaki at the cafe.
I try to avoid pork, but that was the only thing I could get at the cafe that was gluten free.
Incase you are wondering, yes, the souvlaki tasted good!

Afternoon snack: Apple juice

Dinner: None. Tooooooooo exhausted. A long day for all 3 of us!
Made brown rice + there was tons of curry to eat it with. but just too tired and went to sleep without eating.

In retrospect:
Good day!

Learnt that it is possible for things to happen if only we asked.
Learnt about Orton Gillingham method of teaching - which is used specifically for kids with learning disability - Don't see any reason why this can't be used for kids who don't have the learning disability
Learnt that DH could be hypoglycemic as well
learnt that I need to take better care of my neck and watch my posture when I sleep and work. Not doing it right now and it hurts!!

Tuesday, Feb 22nd

2011-02-22T20:37:00.003-05:00

Exercise: None
Breakfast: Smoothie - blueberries, chia meal, molasses, water
Lunch: Brown rice + sprouted green mung / yam (suran) kerala style curry + a few papad pieces
Afternoon snack: Almonds + GF crackers
Dinner: Brown rice + sprouted green mung/yam curry + oven roasted potatoes + lemon/mango ginger pickle
In retrospect: Good day! Finally ordered the mattress, will take a month to arrive!

Turbotax - Canada giveaway

2011-02-22T09:22:00.002-05:00

Sustainable PF is giving away a copy of turbo Tax for Canadian taxpayers. I like this blog for all the cool sustainable tips they share.

I'm hoping to win this, ofcourse. Will be so handy to do my own taxes. It's been ages since I've done my own taxes. And after 5 yrs of a break in my career, I can't wait to do my own this time.

What an empowering feeling to be able to do my own taxes!

Monday, Feb 21rst

2011-02-21T20:40:00.000-05:00

Exercise: None

Breakfast: Cold quinoa salad with garbanzo/red kidney beans

Lunch: At the Host - Lunch with friends

Tandoori chicken
white rice
potato/capsicum dish
cauliflower bajji / pakora
goat curry
lot of watermelon cubes

Dinner: Very queasy, uneasy feeling in the tummy. No, I did not overeat!
I ate about 1/4 cup of brown rice + Rasam

In retrospect:
Great day inspite of the tummy trouble!

Sunday, Feb 20

2011-02-20T08:46:00.002-05:00

Exercise: None - Too tired.
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Lemonleaf chicken curry with vegetables + Jasmine rice at a Thai-Vietnamese restaurant
Afternoon snack: Gluten free crackers
Dinner: Cold quinoa salad with raw onions, ginger, celery in lemon juice and green chillies dressing + Stirfried garbanzo and red kidney beans (sundal) I kinda mixed both towards the end and loved that combo even better.

In retrospect:
Okay day! Spent most of the day in the Home show and came back drained. I hate going to shows like these.

Saturday, Feb 19th

2011-02-19T08:54:00.002-05:00

Exercise:
None, too tired.

Breakfast:
red rice - multi lentil adai/dosai
cilantro thuvaiyal

Lunch:
brown rice
guacamole
stir fried brussel sprouts
yellow masoor dal
green cilantro thuvaiyal

Afternoon snack:
Baby cut carrots
Organic Grape juice - 1 cup - not from concentrate - no added sugar
Too strong for me and I was feeling quite dizzy after some time. All that natural sugar!

Dinner
1/2 an avocado
Made cold quinao salad but didn't feel like eating - Not hungry at all.

In retrospect:
Good day!

Long Weekend to-do list

2011-02-18T15:47:00.018-05:00

FT from Notes from the Frugal Trenches has a very impressive blog. Every time I see her weekly to-do lists, it amazes me that she does complete her huge to-do list every week. She is also the person behind my Thankful Tuesdays as well. Thanks very much, FT! You have influenced so many welcoming changes in my life.

I've made a to-do list for this weekend and am posting here for more accountability. Lets see how much I can complete before this long weekend ends on Monday night.

Cleaning

~~Run the dishwasher~~
Mop kitchen
~~Laundry~~

Organizing

Organize closets
Setup sewing area

Paperwork

Send Insurance claims to Manulife
Find the life insurance papers and fill it to be ready to send it out to Manulife on Tuesday

Making

Prep food for the week
Meal plan
~~Sprouts~~
~~Plan for the spring-summer Community Centre classes~~
~~3 phonecalls~~
~~blogposts - catch up on past blog posts~~

For Others

~~Donate through Handicare Intl~~
~~Write an email~~
Make a phonecall
~~Send a recipe for a fundraising book~~

Shopping

~~Grocery Shop for the week~~
~~Order the wool mattress - Can't. they have a holiday as well. Got to order on Tuesday! :)~~ done!
~~Books for two lovely little friends and my lovely little one~~

Reading

~~Finish 'God of Small things'~~
Recipe for making elderberry syrup and tincture

Exercise

Walk - twice on treadmill
One yoga workout

Cooking

~~Gluten free tortilla – The spunky coconut - Kelly's recipe Or the Glutenfree wholegrain sandwich bread~~ Didn't do this, but did a BIG batch of glutenful rotis ( 50:50 wheat + sprouted multi grain/lentil/bean flour) for DD and froze for later.
Pot of soup - with split pea / job's tears
~~Heart shaped cookies to be baked with M for her friends~~ Not heart shaped ones, but we did make some peanut butter cookies after we came back from meeting her friends

Finance

~~Talk to Rogers about the internet billing error~~
~~Credit card balance payment~~

Fun

~~Meetup with a friend and her two lovely little ones~~

Friday, Feb 18th

2011-02-18T11:46:00.005-05:00

Exercise: Walked on treadmill for 40 mins. 10 mins of stretches.

Breakfast: Smoothie - pineapple, blueberries, walnuts, molasses, chia meal, kelp flakes
Lunch: Brown rice + mutton/potato curry + boiled egg
Snacks: Pineapple cubes - a big bowl
Dinner: Brown rice + yellow masoor dal + stirfried brussel sprouts

In retrospect:
GREAT day! Somebody made my day today! So much that I was literally shaking with excitement for a jolly 10 mins after the phone call and was grinning through the day. :) So thankful for that phone call!

Thusday, Feb 17

2011-02-17T06:38:00.001-05:00

Exercise:
40 mins of walking on treadmil + 10 mins of stretches

My knees are hurting again, It's not gluten this time as I havent had gluten since Jan 1rst. I think I pushed myself too far on wednesday by increasing the speed much more than what I usually do. That combined with inclination, were bothering my knees. So today I reduced the speed back and worked out for 40 mins.

Breakfast: Blueberry smoothie with walnuts, chia meal, dates, kelp flakes, molasses

Lunch: Brown masoor dal with brown rice and stir fried beetroot

Snacks: Deep fried mung dal

Dinner: Brown rice + mutton-potato curry + boiled egg

In retrospect:
Good day!

And well, All is well that ends well.

Wednesday, Feb 16th

2011-02-16T10:06:00.005-05:00

Exercise: 35 mins on treadmill, 10 mins of stretches
Breakfast: Blueberries, walnut, chiameal, dates, molasses smoothie
Snack: Mango - Avocado salad
Lunch: Ate out at a Thai restaurant - Basil fried rice with chicken.
Dinner: Brown rice + brown masoor dal + stirfried beetroot
In retrospect: Got the beetroot shredded once and could use it twice during the week. I love the idea of prepping the veggies in the wknd, esp. if somebody else is doing it. ;)

Tuesday, Feb 15th

2011-02-15T21:02:00.004-05:00

Exercise: Yes, 30 mins on treadmill and 10 mins of stretches

Breakfast: smoothie - blueberries, water molasses, chia seeds

Lunch: Brown rice, cilantro thuvaiyal

Dinner Kabilee rice, tandoori kabob from Baamiyan
some deep fried yellow mung lentils

In retrospect:
Good day! And yes, The wait is killing me!!

Thankful Tuesdays

2011-02-15T09:32:00.002-05:00

This morning I'm thankful:

that I was able to workout without leaving the comfort of my home!
for the gentle nudge from a friend to get back to my workouts
for two new friends in my life!
for the new chiropractor who is helping my neck heal - I can move my neck, yayy!
for the people (whom I have never met) who volunteered to show their mattress to us just so we can decide on if I want to go with it or not.

Monday, Feb 14th

2011-02-14T19:12:00.003-05:00

Breakfast:
Blueberry smoothie - walnuts, blueberries, molasses, water - ran out of protein powder

Lunch:
brown rice, red lentils dal, stirfried beetroot

Dinner
brown rice
fish curry with smelts [okay, this was horrible, threw it all out!]
Ate a guacamole + deep fried yellow mung lentils.

In retrospect:
Good day! Need to eat smaller lunch and dinner and introduce snacks again. The exercise will come back soon - just stressed about something. Hate the anticipation and the anxiety it brings!

Sunday, Feb 13th

2011-02-13T19:05:00.003-05:00

Breakfast:

Wholegrain Red rice/split pea / blackeyed peas / red lentils dosa (crepes or adai or whatever you want to call it)
spicy onion chutney

Snack:
Walnuts

Dinner

Brown rice
red lentils / masoor dal seasoned with ajwain, garlic, onions, tomatoes, curry leaves and spices
stirfried beetroot
lemon - mango ginger pickle

In retrospect:
Good day! The dosa/adai turned out great! I soaked the red rice/dals for 24 hrs during which the split pea and red lentils sprouted (yes they were dehusked and split, but they sprouted. Try it for yourself!)

Some fruits would have been a nice addition to the day!

To the anon, who asked about protein powder

2011-02-13T07:39:00.003-05:00

Sorry I couldn't find your comment once I published it.

The protein powder I use is 'Interactive Nutrition - Absolute whey protein'. You could use whatever works for you, whatever works with your food philosophy. It doesn't make a very big difference. Good absorbable protein - that's all is required.

Saturday, Feb 12th

2011-02-12T23:17:00.001-05:00

Breakfast:
Brown rice, chicken varuval

Lunch:
None!

Afternoon snack:
Potato chips... Meh!!!!

Dinner
Stirfried carrots with celery hearts and onions and sesame seeds
Broiled wild caught mahi-mahoi fillets

In retrospect:
The potato chips were a bad choice, even though they were glutenfree.

Where am I now??

2011-02-12T07:44:00.007-05:00

I've been very slowly cutting down on my brown rice portions. I just eat as much as it satisfied my cravings and don't go back for a second serving most of the days. I'd ideally like to eat grains for just one meal a day and that too very small portions. Maybe someday soon I'll get there.

I've been thinking about the Art of Living course that I took in 2004. I went for the 3 hr a day course, 6 days continuously. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I had to get admitted in the hospital for a surgery for an unexpected reason - on the 7th day. After my surgery, I went on a vacation and then totally forgot about the course. Didn't remember a word of it... But the one thing that stayed with me from the course is this - If you don't like anything in you (say, your anger), You don't have to consciously avoid doing it... just be aware of your anger... when you get angry the next time, be aware of your feelings... you don't have to try not to get angry or try to calm down. Just be aware. That awareness will automatically work in your favor and help rid of your anger over a period of time.

I guess dieting and taking care of your health is like this as well... I don't have to consciously decide 'No more sweets... no more carbs... no more this....no more that... no more slacking on the exercise front... no more baking etc '... and feel deprived. I find that if I'm just aware of what I put in my mouth, that awareness automatically helps me eat better and get to my goal.

Along the line of these thoughts, I also want to share that I've lost 5 lbs since Jan 1rst. I was 137 lbs on Jan 1. Today, the scales showed 132 lbs. Not bad at all, considering the lack of workouts. (yes, that sidebar scale has to be updated! will so that right after I publish this post.) I believe - going gluten free was the main reason for this weight loss. There's been quite some inches lost as well. Can fit comfortably in my size 6 pair of pants - mind you, not size 6 of all brands, but a couple brands that I like! Yayyy!!! What's more interesting is that I feel so much lighter!! And more alert and active. There's no sluggishness and brain fog from all that wheat! I love this feeling.

And to celebrate this feeling, I treated myself to a nice comfy denim skirt and also a really yummy velvet skirt! The velvet skirt makes me want to twirl all day long...... or maybe take up a salsa class or something!

Friday, Feb 11th

2011-02-11T21:03:00.005-05:00

Exercise:None
Breakfast: Smoothie - blueberry, flaxmeal, water, molasses, protein powder
Lunch: Brown rice + spinach masiyal + boiled egg
Afternoon snack: Boiled egg + waluts
Dinner: Brown rice + chicken varuval (spicy stirfried chicken)

In retrospect: Mmmmmmmm... Good day!

Thursday

2011-02-10T20:58:00.001-05:00

Exercise: None...
Breakfast: mangoes, spinach, chia seeds, molasses, protein powder
Lunch: brown rice + red cowpeas(thattapayar) in tamarind based curry + roasted sweet potatoes + green peas and a tiny bit of corn.
Snack: almonds, walnuts + roasted sweet peppers
Dinner: brown rice + spinach masiyal + boiled egg

In retrospect:
So much for making this month a fit and fab month... just two days of really good workouts and 2 days of barely there workouts so far! hopefully the second half of the month is better.

Wednesday, Feb 9th

2011-02-09T21:40:00.002-05:00

Exercise: None, rest day
Breakfast: Mango smoothie - mango, protein powder, water, molasses, flaxmeal
Snack: sliced apple
Lunch: brown rice , yellow lentils, bittergourd
Afternoon snack: grapes and carrots + few potato chips
Dinner brown rice + red cowpeas(thattapayar) in tamarind based curry + roasted sweet potatoes

In retrospect: Good day! Tired, but good.
I survived the 3 day class in Toronto (yep, where the give the free glutenful good(?)ies at every chance they get) and survived! So proud that I haven't eaten gluten since Jan 1rst. It was tough munching on carrots and apples whene everybody else around me where eating banana bread, brownies, muffins, bagels, cakes, cookies and all that smell wafting around me... I survived. I allowed myself a small dose of potato chips (gluten free, yes!) to pacify that deprived feeling. So thankful for the small tray of frutis/veggies they put out next to the whole spread of wheatbased sugary goodies.

Tuesday, Feb 8th

2011-02-08T21:18:00.000-05:00

Exercise:
None, Rest day.
Breakfast: Blueberry smoothie - half the amount I usually drink.
Snack: Sliced apple
Lunch: Blackbean soup
Afternoon snack:
Broccoli and carrots
Dinner brown rice, split yellow lentils (dal amde of kadalai paruppu), stir fried bittergourd (paagarkai - no I haven't learnt to love it yet. I don't think I ever will.. but am learning to just swallow it for my own good.)
In retrospect:
A much better day.

Monday, Feb 7th

2011-02-07T23:36:00.002-05:00

Exercise:
None
Breakfast:Protein powder, blueberries, flax meal, molasses, water
Snack: Two mandarin oranges + lemon/hibiscus/etc/etc herbal tea
Lunch: brown rice + peas + corn + cluster beans
Afternoon snack: apple
Dinner none
In retrospect: Not so good day. Was in emergency room till midnight. [Nothing to worry about. A severe headache + acidic food = pukefest which resulted in me getting IV fluids!] All was well in the end.

Sunday, Feb 6th

2011-02-06T07:27:00.004-05:00

Exercise: Yes!! 35 mins on treadmill, 5-10 mins stretches. I did good!

Breakfast: chicken wings + 4 potato chips
Lunch: brown rice + sprouted green (dried)peas cooked with spinach, onion, garlic and spices + stir fried cluster beans
Dinner: None!
Edit: A small broiled whiting fish.

In retrospect:
Good day. Or so I thought!

Sat, Feb 5th

2011-02-05T07:18:00.000-05:00

Exercise: YES!!! 35 mins on treadmill, 5 mins stretch! I've found a good company to work out. 99.9 FM! :) Good music at 5.30 AM.
And 20 mins of shoveling the snow in the evening! After almost 5 yrs of living in Canada, I now know what real winter is.

Breakfast: Blueberry smoothie - blueberries, water, molasses, flax meal, protein powder
1/2 cup mango juice (not from concentrate, no sugar, no preservatives, and yes, it was yummmm!!!)

Lunch: 1/2 cup Brown rice + shrimp

Snack: Baby cut carrots

Dinner: Chicken wings + potato chips. Yes, I read the label carefully and the BBQ chicken wings did not have any wheat or gluten in it. The honey/garlic had and I promptly put it back.

In retrospect: Great Day! All that begins well ends well, I guess!
Gluten free day. Not a sugar free day as that BBQ chicken wings did have sugar in it.

Beauty

2011-02-05T04:49:00.000-05:00

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.

~ Rachel Carson

Friday, Feb 4rth

2011-02-04T21:41:00.002-05:00

Exercise: No! Too much work sudenly on my plate. Got to motivate myself about working out. Haven't been seeping well lately and that means can't wake up in the morning and can't work out. Got to get out of this pattern.
Breakfast: blueberry smoothie - blueberries, protein power, flax meal, water, molasses
Lunch: brown rice, green peas and corn, olive oil salt and black pepper
Dinner: Brown rice and Shrimp curry.
In retrospect: Good day! gluten free, sugar free!
I'm feeling much lighter and happier than how I was in December. Stressed due to a million things, but still happy inside. The damn gluten was making me feel dull and tired and heavier and bloated. Bye, bye, gluten!

Looooong break between lunch and dinner. No protein during lunch and worked up a headache by evening time.

I can't wait for the new fridge!

Thursday, Feb 3rd

2011-02-03T21:38:00.000-05:00

Exercise: Yes, 30 mins walk.
Breakfast: Smoothie - blueberries, protein powder, apples, water, molasses, flax meal
Lunch: Brown rice with green peas and corn - salt and pepper
Afternoon snack: almonds
Dinner: ate out. hyderabadi chicken, white rice and minced chicken kabab
In retrospect: Good day! Great deal on a pair of dark jeans! Yippee.

Wednesday Feb 2nd

2011-02-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

Breakfast: Smoothie - mango cubes, spinach, dates, protein powder, chia seeds, water = Yummmm!
Snack: almonds
Lunch: Brown rice, Beef curry ala vindaloo.
Dinner: Very little brown rice with a tiny bit of beef curry. I'm not really enjoying the beef at all. whatever was bought will be eaten up and then there won't be more beef at kay household.
In retrospect:
Glutenfree day. No workout today. A bit more stressed than usual - have tons to do on my to-do list.

My latest diagnosis - Upper crossed syndrome

2011-02-02T06:46:00.006-05:00

I have been having chronic headaches and muscle tension around neck and shoulder area for over a year now. Regular chiropractic visits have been very helpful. But the headaches and neckache always came back though and bothered me.

Now that we have moved to Mississauga, my chiro from Toronto referred me to a new chiro (her friend). She came with very high recommendation. After much hesitation and some more neckaches, I took up on her referral and went to see her. After a scan, some test and xrays later, She has found the problem. Chronic Upper crossed syndrome! A funny name just to say I can't keep my head over my shoulders.

Because of my bad postural habits while using the laptop and computer, the spinal cord in the neck area has had some damage. While it should be like '(', mine more like a '\'. I'd have to go through chiropractic care more often. Once we see some recovery, then some physio exercises, traction and after that some help from posture pump. All this over the course of a year.

While I'm not thrilled about the problem that I have, I'm glad we have found the root cause of the issue and have started treating it. So glad that the insurance will cover part of these treatments. And yes, I like my new chiro too. Good vibes, eh!

Now slowly learning to keep my head over my shoulders and tuck my chin in.

Feb 1rst

2011-02-01T19:57:00.001-05:00

Breakfast: Smoothie - mango smoothie - mango, protein powder, water flax meal, molasses
Lunch: brown rice, curried mushrooms+green peppers (both from the freezer).
I got a good deal on organic green peppers and have been using them for a long time. It's finally over and now I have to find places in this city where I can buy organic veggies without breaking the bank.
Afternoon snack:Almonds
Dinner: Roasted chicken + carrots + 2 small potato pieces.
Roasted the rest of the chicken again in the same clay baker for some more time and left the lid off for the last 15 mins in broil mode. And this time it was so00oo good! :) Getting there, eh!
In retrospect:
Good day! Gluten free day!
Walked atleast a mile in the snow - that counts as exercise for the first day of Feb.

Fit and Fabulous February

2011-02-01T09:28:00.000-05:00

I'm planning to take up a new habit every month - adding on to the previous months' habits. That way I'll have 12 new habits.

Fit and Fabulous February - I love the energy that the workouts give me, just lack the motivation. So, I just have to push myself to get this going.

January was gluten Free. Feb will be gluten free plus getting back to working out for 4-5 days a week.

Jan 31, The end of Glutenfree Jan!!!

2011-01-31T14:00:00.005-05:00

Breakfast: Smoothie - blueberries, apples, molasses, water, flaxmeal
Lunch: brown rice, thick chicken curry
Afternoon snack: almonds
Dinner A tiny bit of brown rice, A roasted chicken baked with my new toy- schlemmertopf, some roasted potatoes and carrots and onions. I still have a huge learning curve to use the claybaker, but it shows quite a promise.
In retrospect: Good day! gluten free!
Mental note: Save the long roasting process to weekend and stick to easy meals during weekday evenings.

Now that marks the end of Gluten free January!!!

Yayyyy, yippeee, I did it!!!

It wasn't a well balanced food every day, every meal - but gluten free, yes! I also went back to my everyday "Smoothie for breakfast" habit and also started buying more fruits and remembered to eat them too. I've been gifted with a glass water bottle (yayy!) that reminds me to drink atleast two bottles everyday while I'm at work. I even baked some glutenful muffins and cookies for my daughter and managed not to take even a tiny bite. Some real good self control there. And this is the first time ever that I managed to pull this off. Though the month brought us some big obstacles and setbacks, we survived. So, Overall, a great month!! Next month would be gluten free as well - I hope to pull this off for an entire year.

Going forward to Fit and Fab February!

Sunday Jan 30th

2011-01-30T22:54:00.001-05:00

Breakfast: Smoothie - mangoes, protein powder, water, molasses, flaxmeal
Snack: Almonds
Lunch: Thick Chicken curry, brown rice, a tiny bit of homemade fried chicken (I fried chicken for the first time in my life!!!)
Dinner 1/4 cup of brown rice, 1/2 cup of chicken curry
In retrospect: GOOD DAY! Gluten free as well.

This weekend has been very productive. VERY! I also remembered to play with DD and have fun. I'm especially loving that part of this weekend. With all the stress going on around me right now, I seem to forget to take the time to cherish my daughter and just have fun with her.

Saturday, Jan 29th

2011-01-29T22:00:00.006-05:00

What happened to the other days of food journal? It's coming. Right now they are stuck in a paper at my desk at work. Will post them soon.

Brunch:

Millet - sauted in coconut oil and cook on stovetop like rice
Drumstick Sambar
Homemade lemon pickle ala Indira's style. I'm so in love with the style of making pickles by leaving the lemons raw....not cooking or sauteing the lemons in oil. This one recipe has singlehandedly changed the way about my idea on pickles. No pouring tons of oil or cooking the veggies in the pickle to death.... I use much less chilli powder than Indira because my tastebuds can handle only that much... but everything else remains the same. Next up in my to-try list is Anita's latest picking adventure using amla. She doesn't saute the amlas too. :)

Snack:
a huge bowl of pineapple

Laaaate Lunch:

millet
drumstick sambar
lemon pickle

Afternoon snack:
almonds
palm candy (panamkalkandu)

Dinner:
Oven grilled salmon
Broiled cauliflower

In retrospect:
Good day! And yes, Gluten free day! Gluten free Jan is almost coming to an end.
Now I'm thinking about Fit and Fabulous February!

Friday, Jan 28th

2011-01-28T10:45:00.000-05:00

Breakfast: Blueberry smoothie - blueberries, apple ,protein powder, water, flaxmeal, molasses
Lunch: GF Caulflower paratha (a combo of millet+buckwheat flour) + cranberry chutney + steamed broccoli
Snack:
Dinner: GF kothu paratta (Stiry fry made with GF rotis, egg, mushrooms, onions, green peas and tomatoes) I really like kothu paratta made with regular rotis.. the GF ones were good, but not that chewy like the ones made with glutenful rotis.. Maybe sometime soon I'll find the right combo of flour used in GF rotis that will result in a good GF kothu paratta.
On my mind: Gluten free and sugar free!!!!

Thursday, Jan 27th

2011-01-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

Breakfast: Mango smoothie - Mangoes + protein pwoder, water, molasses, flaxmeal
Lunch: GF Cauliflower paratha (a combo of millet+buckwheat flour)+ mint/cilantro chutney + cranberry chutney
Late Dinner: grilled chicken from pita nutso
On my mind: v.e.r.y long day!
Gluten free and sugar free!

Wednesday, Jan 26th

2011-01-26T10:44:00.001-05:00

Wednesday
Breakfast: Blueberry smoothie - blueberries, protein powder, water, flaxmeal, molasses
Lunch: brown rice + drumstick sambar (moringa pods lenti lstew) + kothavarangai poriyal (stir fried cluster beans)
Snack: almonds
Dinner: I have no idea! what I ate for lunch on wednesday for dinner
On my mind:
Gluten free day!
A sugar HIGH day - ate 7 chocolates - all in 5 mins. what can I say??? I will blame it on the colleague who left a box of chocolates nearby. :) After those 7, I wisened up and took the box to the kitchen and left it there. Gone in 60 seconds! And I was saved.

Tuesday, Jan 25th

2011-01-25T20:00:00.002-05:00

Breakfast:
mango smoothie with protein powder, flax seeds, frozen mangoes, molasses and water = yummm!

Lunch:
brown rice + cilantro thuvaiyal + stir friend cauliflower + beef varattiyadhu

Afternoon snack:
yummy homemade almond milk

Dinner
brown rice + drumstick sambar (moringa pods lenti lstew) + kothavarangai poriyal (stir fried cluster beans)

In retrospect:
Gluten free, sugar free day!

Monday, Jan 24rth

2011-01-24T19:19:00.003-05:00

Breakfast: Smoothie - apples, molasses, protein powder, water
Snack: Home made almond milk
Lunch: Gluten free millet-buckwheat cauliflower paratha + cranberry thokku + few banana chips
Afternoon snack: 1/2 apple + almonds + cranberry beans curry
Dinner: Brown rice + stirfried cauliflower + cilantro thuvaiyal (thick spicy chutney) + a few pieces of beef varattiyadhu

In retrospect:
Gluten free day: Yes
Sugar free day: No

Sunday, Jan 23rd

2011-01-23T20:58:00.002-05:00

Breakfast:
Brown rice dosa + tomato curry

Lunch:
1/2 cup of brown rice + cranberry beans curry

Afternoon snack:
bowl of mango

Dinner
1/2 cup of beef varattiyadhu
Thanks Mishmash! It was great!

In retrospect:
Very tired and yes, Gluten free day!
Made a boatload of GF cauliflower parathas for the week. made with whole millet flour and light buckwheat flour. Haven't tasted them yet, but should be good.

Saturday, Jan 22nd

2011-01-22T15:21:00.001-05:00

Very tiring day!!! Spent the whole day in Toronto running errands, keeping appointments, grocery shopping. The best part of my trip - that one hour spent in The Big Carrot. I miss that place after moving here.

Breakfast:
Smoothie - apples, protein powder, almonds, molasses, water

Lunch:
Chicken biryani @ Anjappar Scarborough
Fried chicken

Dinner
1/2 cup brown rice, rustic tomato curry

Gluten free, Sugar free day!

I'm loving it!

2011-01-22T07:13:00.002-05:00

I made some Almond milk this morning and it turned out real yummm!

Almonds - 1 cup
Filtered water - 1 litre,
Cardamom -3,
Dates - 4

Soak almonds for 24 hrs in water and a bit of seasalt. Drain the water and rinse them.
Blend with the filtered fresh water and cardamom and dates.
Filter if you like. I don't filter it.
Store it in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

I too my bottle of homemade almond milk to office and left it in the gigantic fridge there. My evening hunger pangs are now taken care of! :) It made a great light food!!

Next up, I'm going to leave a bag of organic apples + almond butter and leave it there as well. Great idea from Neeta and Mamatha on the apple+almond butter combo... Thank you!! :) I'm loving it!

Friday Jan 21rst

2011-01-21T22:05:00.001-05:00

Breakfast:
smoothie - apple and homemade yummy almond milk

Lunch:
brown rice
masoor dal with tons of spices - I'm loving ajwain these days.
oven roasted brussel sprouts

Afternoon snack:
home made almond milk

Dinner
brown rice
A rustic tomato curry with tons of tomatoes, garlic, coconut and tons of roasted coriander seeds
boiled egg

In retrospect:
gluten free sugarfree day!

Jan 20th Thursday

2011-01-20T20:19:00.004-05:00

Breakfast:
smoothie - apples, protein powder, water, molasses

Snack:
apple

Lunch:
gluten free roti (buckwheat)
beef curry

Afternoon snack:
apple
almonds

Dinner
brown rice
oven roasted brussel sprouts - yummmmmmmmmmmmm!!! (salt and olive oil)
red lentil dal

In retrospect:
Gluten free day! One palm candy (panam kalkandu)
On my mind: Good day!

Ouch!

2011-01-19T21:39:00.004-05:00

The knee pain is back. Without any wheat.

After breaking my head on what could have happened, the only thing I did different yesterday that stands out is OATS. The oats I have right now is not certified gluten free oats.

Regular oats is more often contaminated with wheat gluten since they are processed in the same facility so my guess is that could have triggered the knee ache. I haven't had oats in 17 days now and no knee pain. One day I eat oats and I get a knee ache in 1.5 hrs?? And then more after I ate my evening oatmeal? Makes me wonder!

Needless to say, the rest of my Jan will be without that oats. Lets see if the pain goes away and doesn't return back in the next 12 days OR if some other food is trying to find a spot on my give-up list.

Jan 19th, Wednesday

2011-01-19T08:28:00.001-05:00

Exercise:
Nope. Maybe next month can be "Fabulous and Fit" February - where I get to become even more fabulous ;) and fit by working out everyday. Anyone want to come along for that ride?
Breakfast: Smoothie - apples, molasses, water, protein powder
Lunch: Malaysian Fried rice - with shrimp, mushrooms, broccoli, pineapple, etc
Snack: Almonds, Deep fried chana dal
Dinner: Brown rice, Beef curry

Gluten free, sugar free day!

Tuesday, Jan 18th

2011-01-18T21:01:00.004-05:00

Breakfast: smoothie - apples, 1 tbsp oats, teeny bit molasses, protein powder

Lunch: brown rice, adzuki beans curry in tamarind sauce

Afternoon snack: oats cooked with hot water, almonds , apple

Dinner

Stir fried pineapple rice, made with brown rice, broccoli, shrimp, mushrooms,onions, pineapple etc
another bowl full of pineapple

In retrospect:
good day! I have to reduce my grain consumption. Today, it was just tooooo much! :o
Have you heard this saying? daane daane pe likha hai khaanewaale ka naam? (Every grain bears the name of the person who'll eat it) Looks like today, I ate the grains of many more people !!

Anyways, still a gluten free, sugar free day!

Monday, Jan 17th

2011-01-17T19:11:00.001-05:00

Exercise: No!
Breakfast: Cold Quinoa salad - red quinoa + white quinoa + pomegranate + raw green mango cubes + pumpkin seeds + apple
Snack: none
Lunch: Cold Quinoa salad - red quinoa + white quinoa + pomegranate + raw green mango cubes + pumpkin seeds + apple
Afternoon snack: apple
Dinner brown rice + adzuki beans curry in tamarind sauce (made like thattai payar kuzhambu)
In retrospect:
Good day! Gluten free and Sugar free!

Sunday - Jan 16th

2011-01-16T16:02:00.006-05:00

Early Breakfast: Smoothie - apples, protein powder, water, molasses
Snack: apple + yummy misal (Yesterday's mung dal + raw onions/green mango/deep fried channa)
Lunch: Brown rice + mutton curry
Snack: green mango + almonds
Dinner: small bowl of brown rice + mutton curry
On my mind: Good day!

Last weekend I made spelt blueberry muffins for DD - not even a thought about tasting those. This weekend it was cookies. I survived! Just have to take one day at a time and I'll do just fine.

I think we've finally made up our mind about the mattress. I think!

Saturday - Jan 15th

2011-01-15T16:05:00.000-05:00

Breakfast: none
Snack: apple
Lunch: Brown rice + green mung dal + shredded carrot poriyal (stir fry)
Snack: almonds
Dinner: really small cup of brown rice + mung dal + shredded carrots
On my mind:Not in a good mood! Not eating breakfast might have been the real culprit.

Gluten free and sugar free!

Friday Jan 14th

2011-01-14T16:24:00.001-05:00

Breakfast:Blackbean soup + apple
Snack:apple
Lunch:Dosa + sambar + egg
Snack: almonds + banana chips
Dinner:dosa + Take out chicken curry
On my mind:
Phew! Weekend.........finally!
Gluten free: Yes
Sugar Free: Yes

Thursday Jan 13th

2011-01-13T16:23:00.000-05:00

Breakfast:split pea soup + a small apple
Snack:apple
Lunch:brown rice + sambar + cranberry thokku
Snack:almonds + 1 pear
Dinner Dosa (1/2 brown rice 1/2 white rice) + Sambar + egg
On my mind:
Gluten free: Yes
Sugar Free: Yes

Wednesday Jan 12th

2011-01-13T16:22:00.000-05:00

Breakfast:Split pea soup, Plum
Snack:Apple slices smeared with unsweetened Peanut butter
Lunch:Brown rice, Podi, Cranberry thokku
Snack:Potato chips - a handful, Almonds
DinnerBrown rice, Sambar, Cranberry thokku
On my mind:
Gluten free: Yes
Sugar Free: Yes

Tuesday Jan 11th

2011-01-13T16:21:00.000-05:00

Breakfast:Blackbean soup
Snack:Orange juice, 1 plum and 1 mini orange
Lunch:Brown rice, roasted chicken and roasted broccoli
Snack: Potato chips - 4
Dinner brown ricepodi (spicy roasted lentil powder)Roasted chicken
On my mind: Gluten free: Yes Sugar Free: Yes

Monday Jan 10th

2011-01-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

Breakfast:
Brown rice, Broccoli Curry
Lunch:
Chinese stirfry with Chicken, brown rice (who knew that they even had brown rice)and 2 pieces of broccoli
Snack:
2 coconut macaroons (sugar, eggwhites and coconut)
Dinner
GF Buckwheat rotiOven roasted broccoliOven roasted chicken
On my mind:
I had a three day class that started today at Toronto - which means I'm not going to have the time, mood or energy to cook for the next couple of days. I have made up my mind not to eat out so some bulk cooking or simple eating is in order.
Gluten free: Yes
Sugar Free: NO!!

a bit busy and yes still gluten free!

2011-01-12T06:00:00.003-05:00

I've been busy with a 3 day class this week in Toronto. Being gluten free has been tough esp. with the array of stuff they have to eat for the class participants! Eating an apple when everybody in your table is eating chocolate chip cookies and muffins and scones and brownies.. One more day of this torture and then I'll be done. I have to admit that I havent really be sugarfree. I ate 2 coconut mini macaroons which had egg whites, sugar and coconut. but gluten free? yes!

I'm writing my food intake in a yellow sticky note for now..will update either this evening or tomorrow.

Just baked spelt muffins for DD..yes at 5 in the morning - as I'd promised her yesterday and couldn't keep that up. so I had to do something for redemption. Now I have to come home and bake something for myself - gluten free.

Thoughts about cutting down my grain intake have been going through my mind lately. Would love to go Paleo but only if I have a freezer stocked up with ready to eat food. I think Paleo-lite is possible. Well, let me keep thinking.

Jan 9th

2011-01-09T19:54:00.003-05:00

Exercise:
Ouchie!! All that snow shoveling yesterday definitely counts as exercise!!!

Breakfast:
Apples + Almonds

Lunch:

Glutenfree Buckwheat rotis (YESSSSS!!!!!!) The magic ingredient? Chi-chi-chi-chiaaa!! I have enough buckwheat rotis in the freezer for two more meals
Broccoli-Carrot curry

Afternoon snack:

Dinner
One buckwheat roti
1/4 cup brown rice
broccoli-carrot curry
Cranberry thokku (chutney)

In retrospect:
Good day!

Gluten Free! Sugar free? Maybe......That 1/2 tbsp jaggery for a bottle of cranberry thokku out of which 1 tsp for every meal - can be said as negligible sugar. Veggies were good! Fruits too... But..no protein! the whole day. forgot my supplements yesterday night and this morning too.

I'm going to bake something now. hope it works out okay. Incase you are wondering.. its a gluten free, dairy freee, sugar free bread recipe. I have three day class starting tomorrow - there are plenty of glutenrich temptations there.. I hope to have some gluten free stuff with me to counteract those temptations and stick with what I can eat.

Omg!! I just made crack!

2011-01-09T18:17:00.002-05:00

hehee!

crack aka cranberry thokku (chutney)!!!

Chutney / thokku --whatever you call it... it's yummmm.. Two packets of frozen cranberry, red chilli powder, salt seasoned with a bit of oil and asafetida and 1/2 tbsp of jaggery to cut down the sourness.

Bliss!!

I usually made a cranberry thokku (recipe in this blog somewhere) I do remember that it involved a food processor. but this time, it all cooked out to be a fine chutney easily. No grinding involved.

Now I'm craving thayir saadam!

Jan 08

2011-01-08T21:28:00.003-05:00

Exercise:
No! Shovelling snow for the first time counts??

Breakfast:
an apple
an omelette with 2 eggs

Lunch:
Thai Fried rice with chicken

Afternoon snack:
apple times 2

Dinner
Brown rice
leftover mixed lentils
surakai poriyal (stir fried opo squash)
applesauce ;)

In retrospect:
Food wise, ok.. could have used a lot of improvement, but it was still gluten free, sugar free.

But otherwise - err.......Not an okay day. We lost something very important (and expensive to replace). And had a rough day worrying about it. We also have an indication that somebody might have it. Hopefully it reaches us in the next couple of days.

Please? please turn up, will ya? We'll treat you real nice from now on.

Jan 7th

2011-01-07T21:14:00.003-05:00

Exercise:
No

Breakfast:
Protein shake - protein powder, apples, molasses

Lunch:
white rice
chicken curry

Evening snack:
pineapple cubes
almonds
pumpkin seeds

Dinner

Brown rice
Mixed dal - made with three type of lentils -> whole masoor dal, split black urad dal, split dry roasted green mung dal seasoned with onions, red chillies and spices
Stir fried Opo squash (surakai poriyal)

In retrospect:

Exercise: yes
Gluten free day: yes!
Sugar free day: yes!
Protein powder: yes!
Greens: no... waiting for a new refrigerator. This one sucks! And spoils all my greens. So no more greens until a new refrigerator comes home.
Fruits: Yes
Veggies: Yes
Vitamins/Minerals: Yes
On my mind: Good day!

Got two important things done! Both were first time for me and Ive been postponing on those for a while now. Today they both got done! Feel a bit proud that I did it by my own self. :) [words courtesy: my 4 yr old!]

Jan 6th

2011-01-06T21:53:00.002-05:00

Exercise:
None

Breakfast:
Smoothie - protein powder, apples and molasses

Lunch:
Masoor dal
Rice
savoy cabbage

Afternoon snack:
Chicken salad (a teeny weeny chicken salad!)
Yogurt (atleast it wasnt that fatfree, sugar free sucralose crap that they label as healthy yogurt!!)

Dinner
White rice (came in at 9.40 pm and no time for brown rice! so white rice it was...)
Takeout karahi chicken
Savoy cabbage - love this!!!

In retrospect:

Exercise: no
Gluten free day: Yes
Sugar free day: that yogurt was slightly sweetened with sugar
Protein powder: yes
Greens: no
Fruits: yes
Veggies: yes
Vitamins/Minerals: yes
On my mind: okay day!

Energywise: I felt a lot better in months. Halloween started the downfall of my diet last year, followed with office potluck breakfast and eating outs and what not..... Once I slipped, it was easy to convince myself to slip again and again again.. I had put on weight, knee pain was back with a vengeance, depressed... Glutenfree Jan is helping me recover. 6 days now and I can feel a spring in my step. Just a small spring, but its there and I feel it!

Because of the protein, I didn't feel tired. I usually have lunch at 11.30, so by 3-4 I'm dying to eat something.. So chicken salad to the rescue! Not that I had any other choice from the cafe at office.

I need to start packing an extra protein rich snack to eat at 3-4 pm now that my work hours have changed. I start with breakfast at 7 am, 11.30 lunch, then dinner at 7-8 pm.. so there needs to be something in between that! How I wish they had a freezer at office.

Jan 5th

2011-01-05T18:56:00.003-05:00

Exercise:
No exercise yet. Getting there. Trying to get sued to a new routine of dropping DD in her new montessori [who has no idea about milk allergies and substitutes - which frustrates the heck out of me!! On the good side, they have asked me to give a list of alternatives, so I'm thankful for that!!!]

Breakfast:
2 apples

Lunch:
Dal - orange masoor dal with spices (I love it with ajwain! and that's how I make it these days!)
Brown rice - 1/2 cup
Sweet potato fries

Evening (NOT Afternoon) snack:
Sweet potato fries
Almonds

Dinner:
Brown Rice
Spicy chicken
Stir fried savoy cabbage

In retrospect:
Okay day! Got things done in between meetings.

Yes, another Gluten free, sugar free, dairy free day today!

Jan 4rth

2011-01-04T18:32:00.003-05:00

I just couldn't do any work at all, thinking about my friend and her family.

Foodwise ; gluten free, sugar free - both yes! no exercise though.

2 apples for breakfast
2 buckwheat-amaranth rotis + 1/2 cup of green mung bean dal for lunch.
unsalted roasted cashews and pista for snacks
1/2 cup brown rice, 1 cup broccoli and 1/2 cup mutton curry, oven roasted sweet potato fries for dinner. Big meal but the bulk was broccoli + sweet potato fries.
cherries

And I have a nagging migraine that's bothering my left part of my face.

The food varieties were very good, I needed it to have spaced it at regular intervals. and had my protein smoothie for breakfast.

Jan 3rd - A sad day!

2011-01-03T20:59:00.005-05:00

Exercise:
No... but did tons of housework in the first half of the day... Finally 'finished' setting up my most favorite room in the house this morning! A clean and shiny kitchen is up and running in Kay's world!

Brunch:

Buckwheat - Amaranth Rotis - 3
Green mung dal - 1 cup
Mango pickle - store bought

Afternoon snack:
Pista!!!!
An apple

Dinner

Brown rice - 1 cup
Mutton curry
Very lightly Stir-fried Broccoli
Cherries

In retrospect:

Exercise: No
Gluten free day: Yes
Sugar free day: Yes
Protein powder: No
Greens: No
Fruits: Yes
Veggies: Yes
Vitamins/Minerals: Yes

On my mind: This day turned out to be a very sad day!!! Last Monday we went to a friend's place for dinner - met her sister there, such a lovely girl - so full of life. Today I got the news that she had passed away! Not even 30 yrs old and a healthy girl too. I'm very deeply saddened. I couldn't bear to look at my friend or her mom. The poor husband was devastated. The whole family was!! :(

Their family had already gone through a LOT in the past 10 yrs and they had clung to each other for support. It is just not fair that they go through this now. Well, it's not fair for anybody to go through this... That tiny little boy was never given a chance to know his lovely mummy!! If you have a moment to spare, Could you please say a prayer or send thoughts of strength for this family.

Jan 2nd

2011-01-02T14:05:00.007-05:00

Exercise:
No!

Breakfast:
Applesauce - don't ask!! :)
I should have something..maybe a smoothie for breakfast, but we were busy in the morning and I forgot to have breakfast until I saw that bowl of organic applesauce which DD was supposed to have eaten but never did.

Lunch:

gluten free rotis (buckwheat/amaranth flour/chia meal with spices) I subbed chia meal for flax and rotis were really thin and rolled out very easily.
whole green mungbean dal with onions and spices
an apple

Afternoon snack:

roasted unsalted pistas!
oven roasted butternut squash
butternut squash soup - well, I roasted a butternut squash + 1 carrots + an onion in the oven to make soup, but we ate 2/3 of the roasted squash before it made it to the soup. The soup was delicious - very simple... The only thing I added was some olive oil + dried basil + pepper and salt! Deeeee-licious!!

Dinner
1 tbsp brown rice + mung dal - yep! just 1 tbsp!! :)
remembered the 3/4 cup coconut Quinoa. Very enticing that Quinoa!

In retrospect:

Exercise: no
Gluten free day: YES
Sugar free day: YES
Protein powder: no
Greens: no
Fruits: Yes
Veggies: YES!! - So glad I got in my veggies today and so many servings at that!!!
Vitamins/Minerals: yes
On my mind: GREAT day!

Song of the day: Ain't No Mountain High! - My favorite song by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Jan 1rst!

2011-01-01T14:59:00.005-05:00

Exercise:
None

Breakfast:
2 oranges

Lunch:
Coconut Quinoa (made like coconut rice)
Curried Spicy shrimp

Afternoon snack:
frozen mangoes - yummm!
roasted unsalted pistas!!!

Dinner

Coconut Quinoa
One small dosa (Made with half brown rice/half white rice + white urad lentils)
Idli podi (made with horsegram lentils, Indosungod's recipe)
One omelette with salt and pepper

In retrospect:

Exercise: no
Gluten free day: YES
Sugar free day: yes
Protein powder: no
Greens: no
Fruits: yes
Veggies: no
Vitamins/Minerals: yes, ran out of vit B, got to stock up

On my mind: GREAT Day! :) We were motivated and unpacked a lot more boxes today. We also got a lovely dining table from Craigslist. I was going to order a new one on Monday, when I found the same table (2 yrs old) was available on Craigslist, 2 km from our place for half the price. The seller even helped us with delivery. Yayyy!

I was craving for something to snack on... that box of chocolate hidden in the closet came to my mind. Ate a bowl full of frozen mangoes which cured my snack-cravings right away. Now, I just have to send that box of chocolates with DH when he goes to office on Tuesday.

Song of the day: I'm not a fan of MGR, but just love this song!!! pudhiya vaanam; pudhiya bhoomi Oh, boy! What enthusiasm he has for life! For some reason, somedays I wake up with this song in mind. Of course those days go great! :)

Excuse my pathetic attempt at translation:

Here's a new sky; Here's a new Earth;

With showers of snow everywhere (You got to remember that this guy is from a 'hot' country, so snowfall is a wonder for the first time)
Oh, And showers of flowers too - just to welcome me!

May you walk in Beauty in a sacred way!

2011-01-01T09:12:00.002-05:00

May you walk in Beauty in a sacred way
May you walk in Beauty each and every day.

May the Beauty of the Fire, lift your spirit higher,
May the Beauty of the Earth, fill your heart with mirth,
May the Beauty of the Rain, wash away your pain,
May the beauty of the Sky teach your mind to fly.

May you walk in Beauty in a sacred way
May you walk in Beauty each and every day.

- Discovered this song just a moment ago. Thanks for sharing, my friend's friend!

Going Forward

2011-01-01T09:00:00.004-05:00

May this New year bring tons of love, luck and laughter in each of our lives!!!

This New year, I choose to find Beauty in everything.

I read about 'Word of the Year' on Iris's blog. She chose 'Commit' for last year and what a difference in has made in her life. Inspired by Iris, I chose Beauty for this year. I am going to find beauty in me, around me, everything I see, do or say.

What about you? What's your new year resolution/goal/intention/wish for the New year??

Looking back

2010-12-31T21:47:00.007-05:00

2010 was a wonderful year in many ways.... And there were equally frustrating moments as well.

Ups:

Found a job
Bought a house
Zeroed in on my gluten intolerance - the source of my unbearable knee pain and jaw issues.
Scored 91% in my course that took from UofT
Joined a community garden and well... gardened! It was a joy to see the plants sprout and grow
Started my Thankful Tuesdays - Even though I am not regular with it, It brought a lot of gratitude in my life. Opened my eyes to see that I have a lot of things to be thankful about and feel blessed.

Downs:

Credit card theft + Identity Fraud - twice in 3 months. The second was just a couple of weeks ago so I am still not mentally recovered from it. How do these impostors live with themselves??
Stressful move! The actual move of most stuff by professional movers went pretty much okay. But the change by itself is very stressful for me. So stressed that I can't even unpack much. NEED tons of energy and motivation to unpack.
Discovering the Gluten Intolerance meant that I give up wheat for good. Even more stress for a person who loves to bake both wholewheat wholegrain breads and also quick breads like muffins, cookies and sweet breads. Not to mention who adores the chewiness and yumminess of rotis. All those Anti inflammatory diet and such of yesteryears (2008-2009) made me give up wheat only for a very limited time. So it was no big deal for me to follow. But now that I know about my gluten intolerance and that I have to give it up forever, it is VERY difficult for me. But with the discovery of gluten-free rotis, I think I'll be able to get past this.
The flooded basement in our new house, just two days before our big move! To the dumb people who did the shitty patchwork drainage arrangement for the furnace - which was too short and ended much before it reached the drain? I have some choice words for you! It didn't even require any special skills to fix it. Walked up into home depot, mentioned the issue, walked out with a pipe and tape, fixed it - took $20 for the material, 20 mins for the drive and 1 minute to stop the leakage. But now we have to spend more time and energy and much more money to fix the damage caused by this flooding. Thankfully it is only 1/4th the basement that was affected.

Though the downs are downright depressing and 3 of which happened very recently and am not fully recovered from them, I chose to focus on the Ups.

A thousand small goodbyes

2010-12-31T10:26:00.004-05:00

A thousand small goodbyes to gluten that is!

Maybe I should say my thousand goodbyes too.... once and for all! Well, let me think more on this at the end of Gluten Free January.

What stands out for me, in that article is this.

If I starve, surely it is only because I lack imagination.

Gluten free January

2010-12-26T12:36:00.006-05:00

Mamatha helped me discover this fabulous idea on Gluten Free January. Thanks Mamatha!! Going cold turkey on gluten forever freaks me out. Makes me feel deprived. But one month? Can I do it? Absolutely!!! Lot of other groups are embracing this idea as well and there's a couple on fB too.

Gluten Free January. I'm going for it.

One month of no gluten, taking one day at a time. I can do it.

Anybody else in?

Dec 24rth

2010-12-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

Exercise:
Yes!! 40 mins on treadmill. Phew!!

Breakfast:
2 WW roti with an egg

Snack:
yellow mung dal - deep fried - Haldiram

Late Lunch:
Brown rice
Whole masoor dal

Afternoon snack:
half an apple

Dinner
Cookies!!!

Made some almond butter WW cookies, adapted from Sunita's cookies
Use almond butter instead of peanut butter, applesauce instead of milk and chia meal instead of flax meal. Yummmy!!! Use 4 tbsp sugar for 24 cookies.

Also made some ginger snap cookies, adapting it from my maple butter crackers and using some cinnamon (1 and 1/2 tsp), clove(1/4 tsp) and ginger powder (1/2 tsp) and subbing 1/4rth of maple syrup with molasses and the sprouted grain flour with AP flour (1/4 cup) and yes coconut oil instead of butter.

In retrospect:

Exercise: Yes
Gluten free day: No! The cookies!
Sugar free day: no! the cookies!
Protein powder: no
Greens: no
Fruits: who am I kidding?
Veggies: nope!
Vitamins/Minerals: missed the morning part, ate the before-bed ones.

On my mind: Great day!!! Loved the workout and making the cookies!

Dec 23rd

2010-12-23T22:42:00.000-05:00

dairy free day
gluten free day
sugar free day

unfortunately it turned out to be another exercisefree day as well!!

Dec 22nd

2010-12-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

Was not a gluten free or sugar free day. It also turned out to be an unplanned exercise free day!

Here's hoping tomorrow is a gluten free sugar free and certainly not an exercise free day!!!

101 Revolutionary Ways to be Healthy

2010-12-22T22:17:00.002-05:00

Neeta shared this 101 Revolutionary Ways to be Healthy.

Loved it so much that I wanted to repost the link on my blog! Thanks Neeta! :)

101 Revolutionary Ways to be Healthy

I'm going to print it out and put it right where I see often.

Dec 21

2010-12-21T20:31:00.000-05:00

Exercise:
none, another planned rest day

Breakfast:
Smoothie - soaked almonds, apples, protein powder, spinach

Snack:
Gluten free sugar free snack from Indian store

Lunch:
brown rice, scrambled eggs and wilted kale

Afternoon snack:
Gluten free sugar free snack from Indian store

Dinner
WW roti (was planning to make some gluten free rotis for myself but couldnt locate flaxseeds)
red lentils dal with onions, tomatoes and spices
stir fried green beans

In retrospect:

Exercise: no
Gluten free day: no, the rotis
Sugar free day: yes
Protein powder: yes
Greens: yes
Fruits: yes barely there - just 1
Veggies: yes
Vitamins/Minerals: yes
On my mind: good day! I'm taking some time of from work during the holiday season starting tomorrow. Planning to use that time to unpack and get the house in order.

Dec 20th

2010-12-20T07:32:00.001-05:00

Exercise:
none, my body was begging for a break after yesterday!

Breakfast:
smoothie - almonds, apples, protein powder, molasses

Lunch:
white rice idiyappam (steamed rice noodles), chicken curry

Evening snack:
unsalted, roasted nuts

Dinner

brown rice
sauted kale with coconut oil. onions and spices
chicken curry - just the curry
a boiled egg

In retrospect:

Exercise: none, a planned rest day
Gluten free day: yes
Sugar free day: yes
Protein powder: yes
Greens: yes
Fruits: yes, barely there
Veggies: absolutely none
Vitamins/Minerals: ate the morning half, forgot the evening half

On my mind: Good day! Food wise - better than yesterday. And I have to remember the veggies and my vitamins and minerals.

Dec 19th, sunday

2010-12-19T22:26:00.001-05:00

Exercise:
40 mins on treadmill.
Yayyy, 4rth day in a row!!
Loving the early morning work outs.

plus a day of tons of cleaning - the old apartment was scrubbed like never before.

Breakfast:
Smoothie - aples, almonds, protein powder

Lunch:
chicken kabob and naan (wheat flour - all white!!!) Not that I craved for it, but that was the only food we could find.

Evening snack:
none

Dinner
white rice idiyappam
chicken curry

In retrospect:
Great day! Good exercise!

Gluten free day: no
Sugar free day: yes
Protein powder: yes
Greens: no, got to get back to greens
Fruits: just one, barely there
Veggies: none at all
Vitamins/Minerals: none... got to get back.

On my mind: very productive day. Could have planned the move even better.
Loving all the exercise today.

Dec 18th, Saturday

2010-12-18T10:10:00.003-05:00

Exercise :
Yes, 30 mins on treadmill early in the morning.

Breakfast:
An apple
handful of nuts

Lunch:
Brown rice
Chicken curry in thick coconut/onion sauce

Evening snack:
Birthday party food: Breadrolls + ketchup
Cut up fruits

Dinner
Birthday party food:

Peas pulao
butter chicken (skipped the gravy and ate 2 pieces of chicken)
one piece of tandoori chicken
2-3 shrimp
2 okra pieces
1 baby potato

In retrospect:
Good day! Had fun with friends. The fun went until midnight. :)

Gluten free day: no, the breadrolls
Sugar free day: yes
Protein powder: no
Greens: no
Fruits: yes
Veggies: not really - need to start adding veggies and then increase it some more.
Vitamins/Minerals: no totally forgot!
Exercise: YES!

Dec 17th

2010-12-17T18:00:00.004-05:00

Breakfast:
an apple
a tea

Lunch:
White rice
Lentils - Tur dal
Stir fried Beetroot

Evening snack:
2-3 handful of mixed unsalted roasted nuts

Dinner
None...
some snacks from Indian store - gluten free...yes! sugar free, yes! but still junk!

In retrospect:
Exercise - yes on treadmill 25 mins

Gluten free day: yes
Sugar free day: yes
Protein powder: no
Greens: no
Fruits: yes, just barely there
Veggies: yes
Vitamins/Minerals: yes
On my mind: okay day. The food needs to improve. Living out of boxes aren't fun. Gotta unpack, unpack and unpack some more.

December 16

2010-12-16T17:42:00.002-05:00

Breakfast:
apple protein powder smoothie

Lunch:
Brown rice + pepper chicken

Evening snack:
an apple
handful of nuts

Dinner
white rice + tur dal + beetroot poriyal

In retrospect:

On my mind: bad day! One very pleasant thing and two unpleasant things happened in the last 2 weeks. Still ticked off about the latter. :(

Exercise: YES!!! Treadmill has been set up again and its up and running!! Walked on treadmill for 25 mins.

Gluten free day: Yes!
Sugar free day: Yes!
Protein powder: Yes!
Greens: No
Fruits: Yes
Veggies: Yes
Vitamins/Minerals: yes

New beginnings

2010-12-10T20:33:00.002-05:00

by Francis Jock

A new beginning is something we need once in awhile,
To make fresh start and wear a broad smile.
To forgive and forget is not quite the same,
As starting again with a mundane new name.

A change of the air, a place left unseen,
Perhaps a new face, not of a beauty queen.
A new house and a home, where no one cares,
Who I am or once was, or the name that I bear.

Just over that mountain and across the sea,
Is where I'll find a new beginning for me.
In a land far away, in a port left alone,
I'll set up my shop and have a new home.

Tho' birthdays and holidays may come to pass,
Forgotten I'll be, no one's calling at last.
I can sleep in peace, not a wink will be lost,
On pillows so sweet, downy and soft.

Let me find this place where beginnings begin,
And yesterday's sorrows aren't welcome within.
A place that's secret and sunny and fair,
Oh, how I wish I could always be there.

But tomorrow will come and my life's incomplete,
Without fans and cameras and pundits replete.
I guess I'll get dressed and head down the stairs,
To see what today awaits me there.

Beginnings will come and beginnings will go,
Today I'll dance, tomorrow I'll stroll.
And every morning I'll say a short prayer,
New beginnings and tomorrows will always be there.

- Francis Jock.

Guess What’s In The Picture

2010-11-29T06:44:00.001-05:00

A) Strawberry ice cream

B) Chicken

C) Plastic foam

D) None of the above

Answer here.

It broke my heart

2010-11-21T22:19:00.002-05:00

It broke my heart to see the lady at the high end grocery store picking up all the breads - every single one from the Bakery Aisle and throwing it in the garbage bin she had with her. She took a long French bread and broke it into two and stuffed it in the bin. I almost cried there, right in that aisle.

It was not her fault. Maybe she might even be fired if she refused to do what she's told to do. But seeing all that good stuff going waste to the garbage was much more than I could handle.

Why don't these grocery stores tie up with the food pantries and shelters to give away all those baked goods at the end of the day? Forget the grocery stores...Why don't food pantries and shelters talk to these biggie corporations and small store owners and pick up that food?

There are so many people going without food. Africa is too far. There are people right in this city, going without dinner. It's such a criminal waste.

Ok, I take it back!

2010-11-09T18:11:00.005-05:00

I mentioned I will be back to blogging on Monday. Not happening! :( Sorry!

Life's getting busier with a move in the very recent future. There's tons of stuff to pack. And tons more to let go.

Will be back sometime in December.
Until then, Keep well!

- Kay

Thursday - Sunday

2010-11-07T17:44:00.001-05:00

I couldn't blog for past 3 days - life took precedence!

There were mostly good food! Quinoa, sprouted green peas, brown rice and such...

There were some bad foods - blame it on Diwali!! :)

There was a potluck with friends on Sunday - a lunch and dinner!! And it was fun!!!

I think I've managed to avoid wheat in all 4 days - but milk and sugar got the better of me.

will be back as usual with diet tracking Monday onwards.

Nov 3rd

2010-11-03T19:45:00.002-04:00

6 AM Breakfast:
yes, smoothie - walnuts, greens, protein powder, apple juice, molasses

9-10 AM snack:
lamb bone soup - I filtered just the broth and took it to office and warmed it up there. My neighbors at work are working from home today, so I didn't have to tempt and tease them with that yummy smell! ;)

Lunch:
brown rice
turkey kheema
stir fried kothavarangai (a type of green beans)

Evening snack:
baby cut carrots
jalapeno hummus

Dinner

really small serving of brown rice
lamb bone soup

In retrospect:

Exercise: yes!!! (just a bit, but yes!!! see note.)
Gluten free day: yes
Sugar free day: yes
Protein powder: yes
Greens: yes
Fruits: no
Veggies: yes

Vitamins/Minerals: yes, a trip to the health food store makes me feel like a kid in candy shop! :) That's one place I'd gladly empty my pockets!!

On my mind: GREAT day! I got a GREAT feedback from a colleague about my work! just made my day! :)

P.s: I'm adding an exercise tab again. :) Been doing surya namaskar / sun salutations for the past couple of days now. 3 rounds so far, today I could go up to 4 rounds. I want to be able to do 8 rounds effortlessly.

Bless the heart who took that last candy from my desk! :)

Thankful Tuesdays

2010-11-02T19:27:00.004-04:00

Today I'm thankful for

The new volunteering opportunity that showed up on my email. So glad that it found me. So glad to volunteer. Now that I'm slowly getting used to the new lifestyle adjustment of working mom, I can handle this small volunteering work.
the conference I was invited to, last week!
my daughter! You are so forgiving! I love you.
Amazon's amazing customer service.

Nov 2nd

2010-11-02T17:56:00.004-04:00

6 AM Breakfast:
NO!!!

9-10 AM snack:
a huge cup of carrot juice
an apple
a candy bar ;) Somebody please take that last one!!!

Lunch:
Brown rice
Red lentils / Masoor dal
A big serving of stir fried tindora (Indian vegetable)

Evening snack:
vanilla yogurt, figured this might be better than the other options in the cafeteria

Dinner
Lamb bone soup
brown rice
turkey kheema
stir fried kothavarangai

In retrospect:

Gluten free day: yes
Sugar free day: no, candy bar!!!
Protein powder: no
Greens: no
Fruits:yes
Veggies:yes
Vitamins/Minerals: no, got to order a refill
On my mind: Good day!!! :)

Nov 1rst

2010-11-01T17:39:00.004-04:00

6 AM Breakfast:
Smoothie - apple, greens, molasses, protein powder

9-12 noon Lunch:
Started eating my lunch at 9 and slowly finished it at noon.

Cold Quinoa salad with pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sliced apples, red onion, lemon juice and olive oil. Topped with a sliced avocado!!! Hmmmmmm!! Bliss!

Dinner
Brown rice
Paruppu Podi (pottukadalai podi)
After eating this, I cooked some real dinner, but no appetite anymore. :)

In retrospect:

Gluten free day: yes
Sugar free day: nope, a candy bad that was left in my cubicle. Damn Halloween!!!
Protein powder: yes
Greens: yes
Fruits: yes
Veggies: yes
Vitamins/Minerals: yes
On my mind: Okay day.

Oct 30th, Sunday

2010-10-30T21:35:00.000-04:00

Snack:
2 apples

10 AM Breakfast:
Lemony Quinoa + Boiled egg + 1 avocado

Late Lunch:
At a srilankan store. Wont mention name. Didnt like the food over there. I have eaten there twice before and loved it, but not this time. Left with half empty tummy and filled it up with kozhukattai!! :)

Evening snack:
kozhukkattai. I think I ate about 5-6 today!!

Dinner
none

In retrospect:

Gluten free day: yes
Sugar free day: no , the kozhukattai
Protein powder: no
Greens: no
Fruits: yes
Veggies:
Vitamins/Minerals:
On my mind:

Sat, Oct 30th

2010-10-30T20:23:00.002-04:00

9.30 AM Breakfast:
Lemony Quinoa + slices of 1 and half avocado
I've been eating a lot of avocado lately. The prices are good too! So I indulge in it! :)

Lunch:
small cup of lemony Quinoa (made just like Lemon Rice)
An apple

Dinner
Ate out at Montana's Steakhouse
Cedar broiled salmon
small cup of Flavored rice
Some French fries and gravy

In retrospect:

Gluten free day: yes
Sugar free day: yes
Protein powder: no
Greens: no
Fruits: yes
Veggies: yes
Vitamins/Minerals: yes
On my mind: Good day!