My Cleanse, Part 1 *Oatmeal Smoothies

Good afternoon, ladies and gents!

It is a very beautiful day here in Houston.  I meant to write this post this morning, but the outdoors beckoned and I couldn't resist laying out in the sun.

Today I wanted to talk about the diet I introduced last week.  I lost a total of 6 pounds last week.  Forgive me if I've already mentioned this...I'm just super excited about it!  I've always had a tendency to be overweight but have fought my entire life to keep the weight off.  The past couple of years I've grown content and let myself go, so to speak.  More recently, I've been really tired and lethargic.  I'm out of breath when I engage in long periods of physical activity.  I don't feel comfortable running or looking down (my other chin is REALLY getting in the way!) and basically I was very disappointed in myself for failing to stay fit and healthy.

Enter my new diet:  I went on a one week "cleanse." My hope is to lose more weight so I will feel comfortable exercising again.  At this point, I am still a little uncomfortable but I believe I'm off to a good start and I feel motivated to do more.

I wanted to share with y'all some of the recipes for my "cleanse" last week.  I put cleanse in quotations because it was really more of a soft cleanse.  I didn't only eat celery and grapefruit, or only drink juice.  Instead, I focused my meals on fruits and vegetables.

In the morning, I drank an oatmeal smoothie that I had made the night before.  I found the recipe here: Make-Ahead Oatmeal Smoothies

These are the ingredients I used, plus I've added almond extract a couple times.

The result was a delicious, albeit grainy, smoothie.  I want to start adding some protein powder this week.  I haven't yet because I've looked at a few stores and a lot of them add sugar.  I'm definitely not trying to add more of that!  The strawberry banana smoothie was definitely my favorite, but Monica Matheny (the author of The Yummy Life) offers a variety of recipes to choose from.  You can really have a lot of fun here, mixing and matching fruits and veggies of your choosing.

Distributed amongst 2 cup Mason jars for easy access during a busy work week.

I made six in one day, 3 for D and 3 for myself then I wouldn't have to worry really about breakfast for the next few days.  We get up so early in the morning that it is really unrealistic to believe we would scrounge up a healthy breakfast.  It would be so much easier to stop at a fast food restaurant or the donut shop.  But this way we really were able to stick to our diet and were not tempted to stray.

I would love to add more, but I'll save those for next time.  I did make a variety of good foods for us to graze while we were trying not to salivate over all the restaurants we drove by.  I took notes along the way to share with y'all.

Well, I look forward to seeing y'all next week.  Until then, I hope you have a great weekend!

xx.

My History

Well, hello everyone!  Good morning!

Today I wanted to share some background about myself.  I can be secretive, or mysterious (if that sounds more intriguing), but I try really hard to be more open.  So today you're getting an extremely rare look into who I am.

I am number four out of six children.  I was born in Southern California, but moved here to Texas at my dad's earliest convenience.  I am definitely a city girl, but I dream about moving out to the country (with all the latest amenities, of course!).  

I have also dreamed of becoming an elementary teacher for as long as I can remember.  I have tutored math and reading since I was in elementary myself.  For a short time in my preteens I wanted to become a clown as well, but that's a whole other crazy matter.  

I was always a despondent child, but I was diagnosed as Bipolar II at the age of 18.  At the time I was attending Texas State University, majoring in Elementary Education.  I didn't last long.  I missed my dysfunctional family and money was tight.  Also, I was struggling with my new diagnosis, trying to figure out how to overcome this new hurdle.  I returned home for a brief period then moved out with my then boyfriend.

For the next several years I struggled with balance in my life.  I didn't trust my emotions or my distorted thoughts anymore. 

I was all over the map in my relationship and when that one ended I moved back to California for two years, stayed single and worked on myself.  My emotional, mental and physical health all improved.  I have never been so happy.  The only thing I missed was my family.  Without them by me, none of it seemed worth it.  So I moved back to Texas.

Shortly after, I met a girl and started a tumultuous relationship that lasted nearly two years.  I found out I hadn't really learned as much as I thought I had.  I was happy with myself, but I wasn't happy compromising the way a relationship forces one to.  That relationship also ended abruptly about a year ago.

Since then, I've enrolled back in school, have had two jobs (found out maybe I'm not so ready for that commitment), and met a wonderful man, D.

D is ceaselessly patient with me.  He really is a saint.  I have been learning to compromise and attempt to understand other's feelings.  Surprisingly to other people, that's really a new concept for me.  I've also struggled to trust that our relationship is stable and I am worthy of love.  But D is really helping to show me that I can trust us together and he isn't going anywhere.

I've come a long way on my personal journey but I still feel like I have a lot of work to do.  And that's why I'm here!  I feel that writing (which is one of my passions) about things I create (another passion of mine) will keep me motivated to continue doing things I like rather than wallowing in self pity for weeks, as I'm accustomed to.

*Note: This is only the surface story and I will be here mid week to give another insider glance into what I may be going/ have gone through mentally or emotionally.  If you are uninterested, then just ignore these posts and focus instead on my work, which should be posted Fridays.