INNER PEACE - Week 2

I think I did very well on the Root Chakra last week. I already notice a difference in that I don't have that 'out of whack' feeling any longer. Though my change wasn't huge, it didn't take much to change how I felt.

This week we move to the 2nd Chakra- The Sacral Chakra

The Sacral Chakra is represented by the color ORANGE. For the woman, this is located in the uterus. (Spleen for men). Known as the 'seat of creation', this is related to sexuality and conception and helps us to identify and process our emotions.

If the Sacral Chakra is out of balance, you may experience weight gain ( related to emotional eating), have a fear of intimacy and problems with infertility.

Okay.. so I'm wishing I'd known this about 30 years ago. I have PCOS... PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome. PCOS comes with a full trunk of issues... including infertility. Maybe if I'd known about this sooner, PCOS may have been averted and I may have given birth to my own daughter. Though don't get me wrong. I am proud to have the daughter I chose and after seeing her give birth to both of my granddaughters, I'm not too upset at having missed that part LOL Women who go through child birth are my heros.

BUT... and here's the big one...

Knowing about it now might help alleviate some of the side effects of PCOS that I still deal with on a daily basis, such as high testosterone levels... which in turn forces me to shave more often than I like and in places as a woman I should never have to apply any kind of a razor to.

I can say I am NOT an emotional eater and I don't have intimacy issues... unless you count that I'm turning into a hermit more and more.

Water is also associated with the second Chakra. So making sure I drink lots of it is on my agenda. However, I am having to drink it in the form of decaf tea as while I can make multiple trips to the bathroom with tea (it's a natural diuretic), I find my body retains plain water. Which is sad because I'm one of those people who REALLY like water.

The FOOD LIST:
For this week I'm keeping up with all those yummy RED foods of the Root Chakra while adding ORANGE foods for the Sacral Chakra. Foods like:
Carrots
Peaches
Pumpkins
Sweet Potatoes
Oranges

There are others listed, such as Apricots, Mangos and Tangerines but I don't care for those. And though I love cantaloupe, good ones are hard to come by right now.

Carrots, sweet potatoes and oranges I can purchase. Pumpkins, while not in season are available in pumpkin puree - great for muffins or custard. Peaches, are also not in season but I have fresh ones I canned myself last fall. The next best thing to fresh.

And because the Sacral Chakra is associated with Water, fish and seafoods are also great choices.

So with these things in mind.. I am off to work on Week 2.
Enjoy the Journey!
Kelly

TIME FOR CHANGE - Week 2

Before I go into today's post I want to thank Karen and Amy for stopping in this week. I love having visitors. It does get lonely out here on the 25 acres of seclusion. Welcome ladies. I hope you'll stop in often.

Well, so far everything seems to be working the way it should be. I went 6 days without a cup of fluffy. That is a definite record for me. LOL I did have one Sunday morning just because it was Sunday and I'd been good throughout the week. So that will be my Sunday treat as long as I've stuck to program.

For the good news... I'm down 3 pounds from last week. I started last Monday at 186. I am now 183. So YAY! Now to see if I can repeat the process for this week. Bob and I have that 'whom ever loses the most in 3 weeks wins $50 thing. I could use an extra $50 for my trip to IL in April. I miss my favorite JoAnns Fabric and Crafts (the one in Springfield MO though nice just isn't up to the store I'm used to in Peoria) So while I'm up there I hope to get an awesome deal on the outdoor fabric for the furniture in my new gazebo.
Though we'll both benefit from the gazebo I'll use it tons more than Bob will so that makes the fabric a 'treat'.

Okay.. today is my last day on my Root Chakra. I don't have my book handy to see where we go from here. I'll have to wait and let that be a surprise tomorrow. :-)

Until then...
Enjoy the Journey!
Kelly
186/183/125-130

EXPLORING THE CHAKRAS as a Weight-loss Option

If you're like me, you've at least checked into every diet out there. Everyone seems to be an expert at something and have an opinion on what works.

A couple of years ago I purchased a book called The Inner Peace Diet. The heading claimed "Attain permanent weight loss and pure bliss in just 7 weeks".  Okay. It sounded like more of a spiritual take so I picked it up. Flipping through it I saw that the book dealt with healing the chakras. I figured even if I didn't lose weight, I'd learn more about my chakras so brought the book home.

Though it took me over two years to actually take the book off the shelf and get more in depth, I'm glad I did and wished I'd done it sooner. Enlightenment is POWER.

First off, the book takes you through the 7 chakras, explaining their location in the body and how they relate to your over-all health. Here's what the second paragraph under Chapter 1: Your Root Chakra had to share...
           "Your first chakra directly reflects your ability to flourish in your environment. When you have a balanced and thriving root chakra, you enjoy feelings of safety, security, stability and stillness. "

The fourth paragraph is the one that resonated with me the most.  Apparently a blocked first chakra explains my feeling of being uncomfortable in my own skin and out of touch. Or in my opinion - like a bloated whale!

So for Week 1 I am to 'stabilize the first chakra'. Through meditation, eating RED foods as well as foods from Mother Earth will help me become more grounded. The book suggests the following foods:
NUTS
SEEDS
LEAN MEATS

The Protein Power recommends eliminating seeds and beans during Phase I but everything else is good to go. So during my grocery shopping on Tuesday I came home with:

Spring Mix salad greens
Red sweet bell pepper
Red apples (Red Delicious and Gala)
Strawberries
Craisins
Roma tomatoes
 and lean meats such as lean sirloin for stir fry, lean pork loins.

I also have dried and frozen cherries.

Although the book suggests non-processed foods, I did buy smoked turkey and cured ham lunch meats. They were on sale and Bob and I like those just for snacking. Plus, there's a recipe under my FOODIES link on Pinterest I want to try the cured ham with.  I'm not a big breakfast person but I do require protein first thing in the day so I need to expand those options.

Please join me on this Journey as I discover how the Chakras affect over-all health.
Enjoy the Journey!

CHICKEN SALAD

Finally getting to a point where I can at least post things on the days they are suppose to post... even if not early in the day. Baby steps here until the Texas Music Awards are over on Saturday and I can focus on EVERYTHING instead of one particular subject.

I've been picking up some recipes on Pinterest and found a Chicken Salad to modify to fit my tastes. The link takes you to my FOODIES Board, so you'll need to scroll til you come to the Chicken Salad recipe. It was uploaded by a user - not linked to a website.

What caught my attention was that offered Craisins as an added option. The local Memories Sweet Shoppe Cafe where I go to eat at least once a week makes the most amazing Chicken Salad on Croissant. Everything Cindy makes it from scratch. Soups, salads, sandwiches.... Yum! And she always tries to make sure there is at least a 'healthy' option on her menu. She is a retired line boat cook so she knows her way around a kitchen and how to satisfy hungry appetites.

So when I found this recipe on Pinterest I wanted to try it. I eliminated the pecans but added the Craisins.

Here's the recipe I came up with:

1 - 13 oz. can Shredded Chicken (I get the 3-pk cans from Sams Club)
1/2 - Gala Apple - cored and chopped
1/4 C Craisins
1/4 yellow onion - diced
1/4 C shredded Fiesta Cheese (I like the fiesta cheese for the blend but you can use whatever you like)
4 T Light Miracle Whip
2 tsp. minced garlic (or 1/4 tsp. garlic powder)
Seasoning Salt/ Fresh Ground Pepper

Drain the can of chicken and put it in a bowl.
Fork the chicken apart.
Add the Miracle Whip and mix. (You could also use plain yogurt or a blend of the two)
Next add the spices. (If you do this BEFORE adding the chunky ingredients you'll get a more even distribution of the seasonings.)
Also - I used Seasoning Salt because I didn't have any fresh CELERY... which I would have prefered for taste and texture. 
Add the fruits and mix. (I used an apple corer/ slicer for the apple but found I still wanted the sections narrower so sliced them again before chopping into chunks)

I served mine on a bed of Spring Greens and fresh spinach with ROMA tomato wedges. I used a full cup of the chicken salad as I've not eaten much today and probably the reason for my headache... that and too involved in my current Kindle read. hehe

I cored and chopped the entire apple but only put 1/2 of it in the salad. I can snack on the other 1/2 apple chunks while I'm working on here tonight.

Try this recipe and let me know what you think! Also.. I hope to add a PIN button in the next couple of days so if I post it here, feel free to PIN it.

Enjoy the Journey!
Kelly

TIME FOR CHANGE!

Okay... I've been lamenting for the past couple weeks as to how what I'm doing doesn't seem to be working. I'm counting calories religiously. Until I pulled the muscles between my shoulder blades I had worked up to a 2-hour workout on the Wii Fit EVERY day.  And still the pounds would not budge. As in I bounced back and forth from 185-186. Technically, a normal 1-2 pound fluctuation. I decided I had to figure out what was going on.

Oh yeah... I did a Jillian Michaels 2-week detox. Not to be gross, but nothing changed their either. I'm regular and normal in that department so was a wasted $16 IMO.

So Saturday while I was out for some shopping and lunch I took the January 14th issue of FIRST for Women. Dr. Oz smiled from the cover asking the simple question "Slow Metablolism?" Well... YEAH!

I turned to page 30 where the enlightening article began by asking the question about what was the SINGLE best change to make heading in to 2013 if you wan to reach your dream weight.

The answer: Eating RIGHT for your metabolic type. 'New science links eating wrong foods for your metabolic type...'

Okay. I have heard for years that certain foods work for some people while others fail miserably. Everyone is NOT CREATED EQUAL when it comes to the foods our body will accept. I've also taken these little 'What's Your Metabolic Type' quizzes before. And you know what? I ALWAYS fall into the same category. So why do I keep trying to eat the way other people think I should instead of what is right for ME.

This particular quiz asked 7 questions under 3 different categories to determine my metabolic 'type'. Depending on which category you could identify with the majority of the questions determined the foods you should be eating. By recognizing myself in 6 out of the 7 questions under one of the categories, I found myself to be a TIGRESS.  (Doesn't that sound appropriate for someone who writes romance novels on the side? hehe) I came close to being a GAZELLE... scoring 4 out of 7.

So what does this mean?
I metabolize PROTEIN more effectively. Which makes sense. When I'm hungry or 'snacky' I would much prefer protein over anything. While I've been counting calories religiously, I've also followed the stream of WHOLE GRAINS. I don't eat a lot of potatoes. But I would eat Whole wheat Pasta, Multi-grain bread, whole wheat rice. Dr. Pholip Goglia- author of Turn Up the Heat: Unlock the Fat-Burning Power of Your Metabolism said something that described EXACTLY how I've been feeling lately. Bloated and miserable!
"When the body is trying to adapt to something inappropriate, it registers that as a form of trauma--and when the body senses trauma, it produces inflammation and hoards fat."

The other thing that made me think about what my body has been refusing to do (after reading the article) was that I lost the most weight and felt the best when I did Protein Power several years ago. So I dug out the book and went back through the basics. I am now on Phase 1. The hardest part so far is not having my 1 cup of fluffy in the morning. I figure I can't give this idea a chance if I don't commit to it completely.

The one thing is that I can enjoy protein. I won't miss the grains and if it prevents me from feeling like a bloated pig by end of the day then I'm all for giving it a shot.

So Protein Plan with lots of fresh fruits and vegies it is.
Tomorrow I'll tell you about something I've added to help me stay focused.
Until then...

Enjoy the Journey