Trying new things

This week (this week as in yesterday and today;), I've been trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies into my lifestyle. The fruits aren't so bad, although I've never really been a fruit lover. The veggies on the other hand... UHG. I'd rather eat a... well a cupcake.

There are so many health benefits from eating your daily serving of fruits and veggies. I'm starting to feel like I'm robbing myself if I don't eat the healthy goodness that nature has to offer.

Here are just a few of those benefits:

• Lowers your blood pressure
• Helps your digestion system
  
• Helps your body to burn more calories
• Lowers the risk of several types of cancer
• Reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke
• Reduces the risk of Type 2 diabetes and better control of blood glucose

I know it's worth it. I just have to re-train my little taste buds. And my taste buds are snobs, so it might take a little while.

Since I don't want to eat my vegetables in the first place, it's hard for me to find the motivation to actually prepare them. These steamfresh bags have been a lifesaver. You just pop it in the microwave for 5 min. and you have perfectly steamed veggies. They're also the perfect size for the hubs and I to share. But since I love the guy, I give him the majority of the bag. There's no "I" in marriage. Oh wait, there is!

Another little thing I tried this week were brown eggs.
I always thought there was something "special" about brown eggs. They're more expensive, and they're brown...so that has to mean something, right? Apparently not. The only difference between a white egg and a brown egg, is that the white egg comes from a white hen, and the brown comes from a brown/red feathered hen. And that's it. But it was a fun little adventure ;)

THIS is a great article by Paula Deen.com, that explains the difference between healthy eggs, and not so healthy eggs.

P.S. It's my dream in life to own chickens, and a cute little chicken coop.
Chickens are the new dog. So naturally I have to get some.

What new healthy things have you been trying?
Do you love your fruits and veggies?

The truth about artificial sweeteners

I saw this incredibly informative video on FaceBook. Gotta love FB.

What makes this video so awesome, is that it breaks down all the chemicals in sugar substitutes. It explains what those chemicals actually are, and what they do to our bodies. Chemicals like aspartame, acetone, methanol, among others:

What did I get from this video? Oh, just that artificial sweeteners are basically just sugar with chlorine, nail polish remover, gasoline, windshield washer fluid, and formaldehyde in it. Sweet (pun not intended, but welcomed:).

It's amazing to me how many "diet" cook books include these artificial sweeteners.

And I can't believe how much diet Dr. Pepper I used to drink. It's crazy.

Here are Dr. Freedmen's picks for the 3 best sweeteners:

***
A couple weeks ago we decided to put a patio in the backyard. When the patio was finally done, we realized they had made a ton of mistakes. Now they're having to tare it out, and do it again. When it is all said and done, it will have taken them almost 2 weeks from start to finish. That's 2 weeks of not being able to let the dogs out back to do their business. That equals a ton of walking for moi. I've had to take them on a walk 4-6 times a day. sigh.

Moral of the story: putting in a patio is the best thing to ever happen to my diet and exercise plan.

Stupid pharmacy...

The month of March was supposed to be my
first month on Clomid, a fertility drug that will stimulate my ovaries to ovulate. 3 days into my "cycle", I was to start taking the medicine, and continue taking it for 5 days. Remember this photo? Well, there were supposed to be two of these little packets.

Since you take the medicine for 5 days, and there were only 5 pills, I assumed that meant that I was supposed to take one pill a day, which I did. A few weeks later, I was "late". My period was MIA, and I started picking out baby names. After a few days of waiting to make sure it wasn't coming, I took a pregnancy test. I thought for sure I was finally going to see a positive... instead I saw what I always see: A negative pregnancy test. I called my fertility doctor upset, and explained that my period was late, and the pregnancy test came back negative. I told her it must mean that I didn't ovulate this month, which meant the clomid didn't work. She started telling me what our next plan of action was, which is when she asked me what my dosage was. I told her I took one pill a day, for 5 days... and that's when she told me I was supposed to be taking 2 pills a day, for 5 days. She looked up the prescription, and confirmed that I had taken the wrong dosage. She then explained that the pharmacy must have gotten it messed up.

I am now reverting back to my 5 year old ways, and calling the pharmacy a butthead. While I stick my tongue out at it.

Right now I'm taking Provera, a drug that will make me have a period, so that I can start taking the clomid 3 days into the cycle. For real this time.

Normally I would have drowned my sorrows into some kind of unhealthy goodness. Instead, I ate 2 of these deliciously healthy chocolate chip cookies, with a small glass of low-fat milk.
(I can't for the life of me upload pics from my camera, so I had to use my phone)It did just the trick. These cookies are free of white flour, and oh so yummy.

Trials will come. That is life. But I will NOT drown my sorrows in food, and let it get the best of me.
I deserve to be healthy, and it's up to me to make that happen.

I know that I will be a Mommy someday. It just wasn't this month.

Stupid pharmacy.
It's going to take me a couple days to stop saying that ;)

Blog shy

Yes. It has been 2 weeks since I last blogged.
I've had lots to say, over the past 2 weeks, but every time I would sit down to write a post, I would get.... shy. Blogging made me nervous all of a sudden. It was seriously weird.

But I'm back.
Hello world.

Here's just a few random things from the past 2 weeks:

I went to whole foods for the first time:I have been on this weight loss journey for over a year, and I had never gone to a whole foods. I don't believe it myself.

I've been trying some new, clean and healthy products, as a result of my recent trip to Whole Foods:

Cinnamon raisin bagels:Love.

All different kinds of butters: Dislike all of the above.

All natural chocolate chip cookies: Not the best I've ever had, but it's nice to have something chocolaty and "clean" in the freezer, for when I turn into the cookie monster.

Luna bars:
Love. The only problem is, so does my husband. Doesn't he see the label? Women only! ;)

I have developed a love/hate relationship with ovulation tests:Every morning I get a sense of rejection/failure when a little stick tells me I'm not ovulating.
I have yet to see a positive test. My fertility Doctor told me that my PCOS can prevent these tests from working right, but that she still wanted me to take them.
I think I may have ovulated this month, as I had all the "signs" THIS article pointed out.
How many sticks does a girl have to pee on to get pregnant?

I bought this, Clean Eating cook book:
I heart this book. Not only does it give you lots of clean eating recipes, including desserts (none of which I have tried, because I am currently too lazy to bake), it's also a whole guide on how to eat clean. Why I didn't buy a clean eating book from the get go, is beyond me.

And I have developed a small crush on 50 Cent:
That is all.

Do you ever get blog shy?
What healthy foods are you currently loving?

Dessert failure, and the come back of "Brittany's Kitchen Adventures"!

I feel like I'm on a roll with this new clean eating/low glycemic plan of mine.

Except for one little thing: I need some sweets!
Since all of the Deliciously Healthy desserts I used to make have white flour in them, I have to find new, clean(er) desserts to make. Tonight I thought I'd try a little experiment- I made chewy coconut macaroons using oat flour, instead of all purpose flour.They tasted great, but didn't hold together at all.

I'm excited to try making my chocolate chip cookies without using white flour. I have a few ideas on what to substitute the white flour with. I really hope it works, because those would so hit the spot.

I WILL find deliciously clean desserts to bake. You watch :)
Seriously. Stop by every Monday to see me cook/bake new things, because
I'm bringing back "Brittany's Kitchen Adventures"! I took a couple months off, while I figured out my new game plan. Now I'm ready to get back to cooking/baking challenging new things that I've never attempted; and I will blog about all of it! The first few weeks will be on my attempts to bake deliciously clean desserts. There's bound to be some disasters (like tonight's cookies), but hopefully a lot of Deliciously Healthy successes!

Do you know of any Deliciously Clean desserts?

Remember to wear red this Friday, for Go Red For Women Day!

Some new healthy things I've been trying

The past couple days have been good, healthy, low glycemicy type of days. And no- "glycemicy" is not a word.

My main focus has been on
staying away from processed carbohydrates. It's actually been fairly easy. I have become label reading obsessed. And it's actually kinda fun. Give me a second to get over the fact that I just said that.

Here are a few new things I've tried:

Almond milk:By itself- no thank you.
In my cereal- yes please!
Fage yogurt with cherry:
With the Cherry it's delicious... but when that runs out.... no freakin' way. Gag.

Whole wheat tortillas:
I tried these a few years ago, and thought they were gross. But since my regular tortillas have processed carbohydrates in them, I reluctantly bought these again. They must have changed their recipe, because they were delish! It made for a very tasty turkey burrito tonight for dinner.
MMM...Let's go ahead and get the elephant out of the room- yes, I ate my dinner tonight on a paper towel, because all my plates were in the sink, dirty. My name is Brittany, and I'm a slacker. It's a miracle I even made dinner.

So far, so good.
Tomorrow morning I'm going to try a green monster smoothie for the first time.

Monday I have an appointment with my
fertility specialist. Last time she saw me I was 206 pounds. I'm excited to show her my new healthy lifestyle, and that I actually followed her orders, and lost weight! I'm also excited to get put on fertility meds.

Wish me luck!