The Quest for "On Plan" Coffee

So, I have not always been a coffee drinker. When I was younger I liked the aroma, but not the flavor. Then in my late teens, early twenties, I went through an obsession with espresso. I think perhaps I liked the accessories, i.e. the demitasse cups, more that the beverage. After moving to Colorado, at age 23, I was still an occasional coffee drinker. Back then my caffeine of choice was Diet Pepsi. When I did drink coffee, I always wanted plenty of cream and sugar. I continued this way until my husband, oldest daughter, and I moved to Oregon.

Then begins our Dutch Bros. stage. When we moved here we had never heard of Dutch Bros. We both agreed that Starbucks was not our thing, but a friend of ours turned us on to Dutch Bros. and we ended up pretty addicted. There have been times on and off in the 12+ years we've been in Oregon that we had Dutch Bros. daily. There have also been times that I've been totally off coffee. Somewhere, about 8 years ago I stopped drinking Diet Pepsi, and that may have been why the coffee intake raised.

My love affair with coffee was rather full blown. I started brewing coffee at home. The only problem with brewing it at home was that if I brewed a pot my husband would maybe have a cup, and I would drink the rest. (Who wants coffee that sat a day, and who wants to waste coffee?) This became a thing for a while, always with lots of soymilk and sugar, or maybe agave. Then, we decided a French Press would be better than brewed. Partly because when you brew drip coffee, it always seemed that if you brewed half a pot it wasn't strong enough. We got a couple of small French Presses, and started making our coffee that way. Still, all this time buying coffee at Dutch Bros. or other such coffee houses when we went out and could afford to.

Then, almost 4 years ago we moved to Corvallis, OR. We still drank Dutch Bros. a few times a month, and we also tried most of the coffee shops around town. We found a local coffee shop we really liked, but still tons of cream and sugar. I opened my shop and my coffee addiction really reared it's ugly head again. The shop was near Starbucks, which was and still is zero temptation for me, and Einstein Bros. Bagels. Well, the drip coffee at Einstein was good, and if I purchased it early in the day, I could have unlimited refills. This was not good for me. I got a little out of control for a while.

During all these years, and our family's attempts to get healthier, we had at some point discovered cold brew coffee. About a year and a half ago we bought a pot to cold brew coffee. If you don't already know, cold brew is much less acidic than hot brewed coffee. It also retains more of the good anti-oxidants that are in coffee. Consequently, it is naturally sweeter tasting. Still with the benefits of cold brew, my husband felt it wasn't strong enough.

Then, research led me to Turkish style coffee, and that led me deeper to using Turkish style coffee in a cold brew process. Turkish coffee is just a much finer grind of coffee. The texture of Turkish style coffee is like that of cocoa powder.  You can use any type of coffee in that grind. We like a locally roasted coffee called River Mud. To make the cold brew you mix 1 cup of ground coffee with about 1 quart of cold water, and let it sit on the counter over night for at least 24 hours. Then you strain out the grounds. We use our cold brew pot's strainer, but you could use a nut milk bag, or similar. It is really that simple.

Today, my on plan coffee is 10 oz. of cold brew, 3/4 cup of organic almond milk, and 2 teaspoons of agave. This comes in at about 55 calories. Much better than my fave Dutch Bros. drink that comes in at 440 cals for a similar size. These type of choices help me stay on plan, and not feel deprived.

Challenge Update plus Sweet Chili Chicken Salad Recipe

So, yesterday I had intense knee pain, and I won't lie, it still hurts. Today is not as bad as yesterday. I watched part of the legs workout on the SparkPeople 28 Day Home workout challenge, and decided that I was unable to do it. I substituted the sitting workout instead. So small victory, I did workout.

As for dining challenges at our friend's house. It turned out great. I took the sweet chili chicken salad, and avocado black bean brownies. They were delicious, and I stayed totally on plan. Today, I am going to include the recipe for the sweet chili chicken salad.

Sweet Chili Chicken Salad

Cabbage, shredded 3/4 cup

Carrot 1 small, shredded

Radish, 1-2 small, chopped

Zucchini, shredded 1/2 cup

Fresh mint and/or Cilantro about a total of 2 Tbsp. chopped

Red bell pepper, chopped 1/4 cup

2-3 ounces of shredded cooked chicken breast*

1 Tablespoon of Sweet Chili Sauce (I like Mae Ploy, or Grama's)

Zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 Tablespoon sliced dry roasted almonds (I like Trader Joe's)

Mix the chicken and chili sauce, and set aside. Layer the rest of the veggies, zest the half lemon over veggies, and squeeze the juice over the salad. Top with the chicken and toasted almonds. The macros below are with 3 ounces of chicken.

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 1
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 264.6

• Total Fat: 6.8 g
• Cholesterol: 52.7 mg
• Sodium: 442.0 mg
• Total Carbs: 26.1 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.7 g
• Protein: 23.1 g

There are of course lots of possible variations. The veggies can vary depending upon what you have on hand. Instead of almonds you could used toasted sesame seeds, or cashews. Let me know if you try this salad, and what you think of it. Let me know if you want more salad ideas. Please subscribe.

*I get large packages of chicken and cook a big batch of breasts at one time with salt and pepper on it, then I shred and store for later use.

Farmer's Market from Sparkpeople Blog 5/2/17

Tomorrow is a Farmer's Market day here in Corvallis, OR. I can hardly wait. If you don't shop your market I want to encourage you to do so. There are incredible finds there. I've always been adventurous when it comes to produce. When I was a little girl my grandparents always had a huge garden and I always had a row in that garden. My row was always Swiss Chard. I still adore Swiss Chard. My grandparents would plant certain things, like carrots, and cucumbers, and we had a lovely strawberry patch, but they also experimented. I remember the year they first tried bok choy and my grandma couldn't seem to find ways to use it all. 

Anyway, all this to say that most Americans eat a very narrow range of fruits and vegetables, but there are sooooo many out there that are delicious and overlooked. I made a beautiful egg white omelet this morning with shiitake mushrooms, green garlic, and arugula, all from the market. I wish I had taken a picture, but I devoured it too fast. (No picture could honestly have done it credit.) The buttery flavor of the mushrooms complemented by the deep flavor of the arugula, the mild garlic and a little Romano cheese was an intense sensation. 

The Farmer's Market gives us all an opportunity to eat gourmet meals. The ingredients are premium, and the flavors varied. If you are ever unsure about an item, just ask the grower. They can tell you what it is, some ideas on how to use it, and what it tastes like. They often will offer a taste if it is something that can be eaten raw. If you have grown bored with your vegetable routine, I encourage you to explore your market. 

Knee Pain and other challenges from Sparkpeople Blog 5/1/17

I'm having a hard time focusing today due to knee pain. I believe I need to make a doctor's appointment. I'm trying to do the 28 day Home Workout Challenge, but I'm not sure if I can do it today. I am going to attempt since it is only 10 minutes today, but my concern, without having watched the video, is that today is a leg workout. I'm not going to let it discourage me. 

Also challenging today, spring allergies. My hubby is mowing the lawn and cut grass kills me. My daughter is making me doTERRA tri-blend shots with lavender, peppermint, and lemon. It helps. Also running doTERRA Breathe in the diffuser. On top of all that it is that time of month. Wowser! I'm going to make it through this day victorious. 

The final challenge of the day is family fellowship at a friend's house tonight. It is always potluck. Last week I took frittata and salad, and the host had barbeque chicken legs and stuffing, both things I cannot eat. This week she plans on doing roast and peach cobbler. Thankfully, she doesn't make things overly sweet, so the cobbler won't be a huge problem. I'm not sure what I'm taking. I think black bean brownies, salad, and some sort of casserole. I need to assess what I have in the fridge. I know I have some shredded chicken I should use up. Maybe I'll just make the brownies and a sweet chili chicken salad. That sounds good, and filling. (Plus easy since I have most of it made already.) Challenge accepted! 

Pursuing Health Continued from Sparkpeople Blog 4/29/17

So, picking up where I left off, my husband and I are eating buddies, as is my best friend, and I passed my unhealthy habits on to my children. More on that later. About eight years ago we discovered a life changing book called "Food Additives A Shoppers Guide to What's Safe and What's Not!" I cleaned out our entire pantry, and we started to eat organic much more often. It is around this time when we discovered, and purchased Saladmaster. It was a missing link for us. 

So, I have been cooking on my Saladmaster for about 7 years. I think I hoped that I would naturally lose weight, and I did lose some using it. However, my old nemesis, self-control, or rather the lack of it, kept rearing it's ugly head. The food cooked on my new Saladmaster pans just tasted sooooooo goodl. It took the simplest of meals and elevated them, but did I mention that I was already a good cook, so the meals I can make on that are phenomenal. 

Here I was, with this incredible cooking system, and all sorts of knowledge about food, but no self control, or plan. I opened a small shop about two years ago, and with being so busy, my food got completely out of control. We were constantly eating out. Something we had phased almost completely out back when we cleaned out our cupboards. We even started going to fast food again, because it was affordable and we were hungry. Of course, we weren't eating for life, we were eating for death, so we had no energy. 

I'm not sure how long we could have continued on that road. I ended up in the hospital last 4th of July, with a case of sepsis that it took me months to completely recover from. My leg is scarred from it, and I came away with a diagnosis of diabetes, and hypertension. You would think this would be enough, and when I first got out of the hospital we did do better for a time. Then slowly, as we were busy, we went right back to our old habits. 

Then, going back to the beginning of this story, I closed my shop at the end of December. I'm a bit of an introvert, so at first I just needed some time of not going out or doing anything. I started cooking at home, but even that was a bit challenging at first, we had become kind of addicted to eating out. Plus, if my kitchen isn't clean, I don't feel like cooking. Then in March I started Take Shape for Life. 

I thought I would love the convenience of pre-packaged foods. Plus, TSL had made a new line of products called Optavia, which had no artificial sweeteners, or artificial flavors. However, somewhere along the line even when we were eating fast food we had checked out of the standard American diet (SAD). We had been cutting the sweetener, for ages. We had always eaten a fair amount of fresh produce. In fact, my favorite part of TSL was the lean and green meal. I love green vegetables. Well, all color vegetables really. 

I was four days into TSL when I realized I hated eating packaged food. We do not microwave, and the foods that needed to be microwaved were difficult to make.any other way The shakes with stevia were too sweet, tasted icky to me, and left a bad stevia after taste in my mouth. I felt like I was eating sweets all day, with one lean and green meal where I always wanted to eat more vegetables. So much of the food was just not to my taste. I decided it was not a good fit for me. 

That being said, TSL taught me some things that I have successfully implemented in my weight loss journey. First, eat smaller amounts more frequently. Six smaller meals a day, 2-3 hours apart. I try to have a protein at each of those meals, veggies, and a couple of meals a day I have a higher carb/fiber option. (Like a sweet potato, or beans.) Second, Dr. A's habits of health is a great book, that addresses all the issues an obese person will face during a weight loss journey. It is invaluable. Third, if I don't have a perfect day eating, I can just pick myself up and do it right the next day. 

This journey is interesting. I believe God has put me on it for a reason. I think at least part of the reason is the story of my journey. We all come from different walks of life, but no matter where we come from the pursuit of health is a something we need to be dedicated to, and it is individual. This is just the start of my story. 

Pursuing Health Part 1 from Sparkpeople Blog 4/28/17

So, I was rather late on starting the New Year's Resolution thing. I closed a shop at the end of December, and to be honest was ready for a bit of break. I took it easy for a few months, but started cooking at home. At the end of February I decided I would try Take Shape for Life (Medifast, Optavia) because I knew some people who had been successful with it, and I personally knew a health coach with TSL. So, I got my first shipment, unpacked it, and set a start date. The start date was March 15th. It only took me four days to decide it was not right for me. Let me explain a bit more about my background to explain why it wasn't right for me. 

I am a whole food person, and have been most of my adult life to varying degrees. When I was 18 I decided, for ethical reasons, to be a vegetarian. I did have neighbors that were vegetarian and they lived a longer and healthier life, so I knew it to be a healthy choice. However, there are things I didn't change about my diet. At 19, and for 4 years I ended up working at McDonald's. My love of fries didn't end there, although I wish it had. I was eating vegetarian, but not really overly concerned with what I ate. 

Then I moved to Colorado. I had started eating small amounts of meat before moving, but moving to Colorado changed everything. The great produce I had grown up with in Northern California became only a memory. Things may have changed, but when I lived in Colorado there were only a couple of really great local produce items because of the short growing season. I started eating meat more regularly, it was just easier, but I ate reverse of most people, I cooked vegetarian food and added meat. (I had learned to cook as a vegetarian.) 

Next, I met my husband. He was an adamant meat eater. The first meal I ever made for him was a vegetarian chili he still fantasizes about, but that at the time he claimed needed meat. It was a constant source of anguish for me. He felt like I was trying to make him a vegetarian, I felt like the food I made never made him happy. We were always eating buddies though. We ended up eating out a lot. We had busy schedules, and when eating out we could get what we wanted. This was not a healthy pursuit. 

I feel as if this blog entry will go too long if I continue this story today. I am going to leave it here for today, and complete the story tomorrow.