Goodbye February, Hello March!
I enjoy March for some pretty obvious reasons: my birthday, official first day of spring, warm weather, march madness. Daylight Savings Time can get lost, though. I'm glad February is over. How did you spend your leap day? I didn't do anything exciting but after watching all our favorite shows, I feel like I was supposed to use the extra day in a fun way! Next time, I guess.
Usually, it is MW who reminds me that I'm slacking on my blogging duties. This time, however, it was my own mother. I know, I'm embarrassed to admit it. But I'm happy that she checks regularly enough to know there hasn't been a post recently!
Since my last post, I've been quite successful in my no-sugar diet. I admit to eating sweets 3 times during the whole experiment. I'm actually surprised I was able to hold out when times were tough. Especially since this time has included Valentine's day, for which my dad always sends me and my sister the Godiva Valentine's day bear complete with chocolate. I haven't touched a single one! I'm starting my 9th week and it's only been getting easier. From what I read, most people get over cravings during week 3 or 4, but honestly, I didn't stop craving until week 6 or 7. It took a long time, ya'll. I was that enmeshed with sugar. For the first 6 weeks, I would crave it during stressful days (which there have been), rainy days, tired days and almost everyday at 3pm. It got rough at times. But I pulled through with hot tea, fruit, and other tactics I found useful.
As I near the end of the trial (which I extended by 2 weeks) -and my birthday- I've been thinking about how I want to continue this and in what fashion. I recently decided that I would have a sweet treat for my birthday and took some time to figure out what I wanted. A local truffle shop opened in April of last year and I've never had a chance to make it there. I thought, if I'm going to break my sugar-free streak I want it to be on something out of this world delicious and positively decadent. What better way than truffles? So this Friday, I will be heading over to Haute Chocolate to pick a truffle for my birthday treat after work. I've already decided to make salmon for dinner, so the whole evening will be savory and wonderful!
Afterwards, however, I plan to continue being mostly (refined) sugar-free. I am going to add some honey in as a natural sweetener, though now most foods taste naturally sweet. But also because the granola bars I make are nice to have when I'm out and about and in need of energy reserves and they use honey to glue them together. I also plan to partake in small amounts of ice cream (since I love it) but desserts will mainly be for special occasions. I still won't be mindlessly eating chocolate at the office. I may decide to tweak this later, and either add or subtract more sugary foods, but for the most part I've felt great. I have fewer headaches and less shaky moments of low blood sugar. I eat regularly and fill up on veggies and fruit and whole grains, just as I think we were meant to. Like I said, this year is about balance, and I plan to use that as a guide as I eat.
Speaking of eating, check out these awesome lunch boxes I got for MW and myself:
They have two 1-cup containers and an ice pack, with extra space on top (or bottom, depending where you put the small containers). Last week I started meal planning, and these little buggers made it extra simple. Each night I would pack our super fresh and healthy lunches. This particular day we had a turkey, veggie, hummus wrap; salt and vinegar chips; grapes and almonds; and veggie sticks with hummus. I'm a hungry girl, so I always include a morning and afternoon snack. I'd rather eat a little bit often than a large amount two or three times a day.
One day for lunch, I made Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes, which were great for packing. I found the recipe here on a blog I enjoy reading. They're an awesome vegetarian meal and are extremely tasty. I froze the extras, wrapping each individually.
One night I ate them plain with some apple slices, but the next day I took one to work on a bed of spinach. It was perfect!
Zoe continues to adapt to our new little family. She chases Gus all over the house, he hasn't slept so well since he was a kitten! She also continues to wake up at 5am and demand food by chasing our feet in the blankets.
They've been pretty lazy beans this weekend.
Last weekend we had the opportunity to go visit our friend Joseph and new baby Jobi and feed them for a night. Unfortunately, Miranda was sick and we're sad we missed out on time with her. But now we'll have to go back and feed her as well.
Joseph lives near a goat farm and I want to steal them (and give one to Miranda). But he says they aren't milk goats, they are eating goats and I don't like that. This one has a wee baby underneath drinking milk!
Baby Jobi and dad!!
I just love his dinosaur outfit.
Joseph had been taking care of Jobi for a few days solo, so I was happy to step in and give him a reprieve, including one free diaper change. I love babies, so I was thrilled to have a whole day with one.
We took our pasta maker and made Joseph a double batch of spaghetti.
...then we ate some.
Porter was happy to get the pieces that fell
We love visiting Joseph and Miranda. Theirs is pretty much the life we want to live someday. Joseph has chickens that we visited when they were itty bitty guys roaming around. Or, I guess they're mostly girls.
These are from last fall when we first saw them.
This is the mack daddy of the coup
Porter thinks he is a chicken
MW feeds some hungry ladies
Miranda with a chickadee, precious.
Now they're all big and grown and laying eggs. Delicious, fresh, nutrient rich eggs.
Check these guys out!! Luckily for us, Joseph likes us enough to provide a generous stream of fresh eggs.
You don't get eggs with yolks this rich from the store.
They make for a super tasty breakfast, like the one MW cooked me this morning:
Thanks Joseph and Miranda!
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