What I ate today- Before Dinner

For the past three days I have started my day by cuddling with baby Lex and drinking water with freshly squeezed lemon. After I drink one to two glasses of water, I make fresh pressed juice.

I bought a Breville Juicer about a year in a half ago with the intention of doing a 3 day juice fast and then juice semi regularly after that. I have not completed any of the fasts I have tried and then I only used my juicer once or twice a month. How foolish I was because now I am in love with my morning juice.

This morning I juiced beet greens and kale, celery, cucumber, fresh pineapple cores, ginger, and an orange. I

Recipe:
12 leaves of kale, beet greens
2 celery stalks
2 inches of fresh ginger root
1/2 large cucumber
1 Cara orange
1 core of pineapple

This juice is slightly sweet despite the pineapple and orange I used. I am not overly fond of sweet juices so when juiced a lot of greens.

Starting my day with fresh juice I am finding has helped me continue making healthy food choices throughout the day. So far so good. I have also stopped eating foods containing wheat these past three days. I made muffins and pancakes and was able to eat one or two during the entire day as opposed to eating six, or seven during the day. The mouthfeel of gluten free and mostly grain free (still using oatmeal) is different and not so addicting for me. I will keep this two habits up after these three days. If i do eat wheat containing foods or not start my day with fresh press juice I notice differences if I feel differently or eat differently afterwards.

After my fresh juice I made 8 coconut-pumpkin pancakes using shredded coconut, pumpkin, almond milk, oatmeal. At this moment I am not going to give you the recipe because it is not my own but I will update the link soon.

For lunch I made a black bean soup that tasted like Paneras- google "panera black bean soup recipe" and you will find it! i made a corn, avocado, cilantro-lime, and tomato salsa. I didn't really measure it, but it turned out as a perfect compliment to the black bean soup. To add some crunch , I added gluten-free multigrain seed crackers.

Post workout- I guzzled down my plant protein powder with soy milk and water. Plant Fusion is the brand and chocolate is the flavor. Like chocolate milk but better!

Dinner will be broccoli, asparagus, and tofu sautéed in a little grapeseed oil and Braggs Amino Acids- like soy sauce, over a bed of lettuce. And two fresh spring rolls made with jicama, carrot, and red pepper. I will do another post with that recipe soon.

Okay that is about it. If I am hungry after dinner I will made a chia pudding and eat!

Eating like this feels much better than my previous over eating.

Next post will be a post-partum weight loss update and maybe a cute picture of Baby Lex and Rocket :-)

Eating for Two and Sometimes Three

After reading Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Dr. Neal Bernard's books in 2011 on how to eat for maximum nutrient, I changed forever my ideas on what healthy eating was. Green smoothies; vegetable-packed soups and casseroles, mega salads, and vegetable stir-fries became the main part of the Lewis' meals everyday. Beans, lentils, tofu, fruits, whole grains, nut, and seeds were also mainstays. Eating this way gave us increased energy because of all the micronutrients we consumed daily. I still baked cookies and muffins, but they were without dairy and eggs and made using wheat, spelt, oat, and/or nut flours increasing their nutritional profile.

When I found I was pregnant in May 2012 I was very excited because I was physically fit and eating a nutrient dense diet. I felt that my new found way of eating would result in a pregnancy that I did not gain an absurd amount of weight. That changed in June when I begun craving cheese and eggs. These cravings were VERY intense and as much as I tried to remind myself of the unethical treatment of dairy cows and unborn chickens that I would consumed I could not shake these cravings and begun including both eggs and cheese in my diet. That may have been what my body wanted but my waistline hated it because by August (my first OB appointment) I found out I had already gained 25lbs. Boo! Because I had allowed eggs and cheese back into my diet all those unhealthy candy bars, pastries, store bought cookies that had been absent from my diet for nearly a year flooded back as well.

My physical activity also took a nose dive as my energy levels decreased. My body had been used to hour long, hard-core workouts 5-6 times a week. Those intense workouts slowly were traded for napping, light playing with Rocket, and walking two or three times a week. I gained a total of 82lbs. This is about what I gained with Rocket. My starting weight in May was about 140lbs and my end weight was 221.5lbs. Wow, right? Yes that is how I felt.

Now that my hormones are returning to their former state of equilibrium and I am nursing, dairy has been cut out of my diet again. The result- a happy GI tract for Lex and I. The milk protein found in cow's milk is not compatible with the milk protein in human's milk.

Lex is 17 days old and a wonderful little guy. He has already gained 1lb 3oz in just two weeks. My breast milk must me yummy to this little one ;-)

Below are pictures of what the Lewis family had for dinner. A before and after picture. The picture is a little dark but there is a quinoa/brown rice pilaf, sweet potato, Lee's red, black, white beans, a veggie stir fry consisting of kale, asparagus, yellow pepper, and onion. Notice in the after that Rocket's little sectional plate is nearly finished as well. My big guy loves himself some healthy food!

During Lex's pregnancy I still ate like this just added a ton of junk food on top. Now the urge to eat junk food has greatly diminished and I am glad. So is my waistline as I now weigh 193lbs. Two days after Lex was born I weighed myself and discovered I had already lost 22lbs.

Next time I will further discuss what my plans are to lose the excess weight that I gained during Lex's pregnancy.