Whata Week

Posted on November 23, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Crazy week!
Started with a birthday party at a Greek restaurant in Palm Beach last Saturday. Food was yummy, the table dancing FUN!

The birthday girl is the hot mama in the shorts 🙂

I worked on Sunday, getting admin stuff done at the birth house. Then drove north to Stuart to spend the night.

Monday I picked up Tiffany early in the AM, dropped off Sydnie at school and drove back south for Tiffany to consult with an OB in Fort Lauderdale. My amazing youngest child had been carrying surrogate twins for 36+ weeks. Baby A, aka Jackson, had been flip flopping back and forth from head down to breech (butt down) for 6 weeks. The doc in Fort Lauderdale does vaginal breech deliveries. A BIG hug and shout out for Dr. Tsinker. One of the rare OBs in this country with the balls to deliver breeches and twins normally. Tiffany’s blood pressure has been elevated for a month now and Dr. Tsinker advised us to check in on Monday for monitoring of her B/P. She had some things to get done first and then around 3 pm, Tiff started having contractions on her own. And we headed in to the hospital. Long story short, Tiffany chose a c-section around 1030 pm. I am AMAZINGLY PROUD of her. What a difficult choice after having had 4 normal deliveries at home. Dr. Tsinker was so supportive, in fact asked her 3 times if she was sure she wanted the section. Wonderful doc. The boys were born at 1137 pm (Jackson) and 1139 pm (Colton). I got the ‘daddy bands’ so that I could have access to the nursery, since the parents were traveling from up north and I wanted to get everything on video and pics for them. ADORABLE babies. They are biologically Tiffany’s cousins, and Jackson looks just like her. Here she is with the boys…

I can’t even begin to tell you how proud and amazed I am by my daughter.
I was up all night with her in recovery and I left the hospital around 1 pm Tuesday and got a short nap at the birth house, before returning to support her.
The next couple of days are a blur….
Wednesday I worked with Allie and Kat at the birth house and spent the evening with Tiffany. Gave her still swollen feet and legs an hour long massage.
Thursday… I FINALLY moved onto my own place! I’m driving my daughter’s 1986 Honda Accord and it rocks! And it has lots of room for boxes!!

My son’s dad helped me move in, despite it being a holiday, and I’m happy to say that when you nurture relationships with your exes, they are still around 31 years later, willing to help you! Big HUGS and THANK YOU to Joe.. You’re awesome and I’m thankful for our friendship and our mutual love for our son.
Then off for turkey dinner at my friend Tammy’s house. We’ve just renewed our friendship and I’m very THANKFUL for that. I stuck to Dukan friendly foods and was full and happy when I climbed in my brand new bed last night!
Today I checked in on Tiffany and ended up taking 2 of my granddaughters with me for a few hours. Sydnie and Sofia are adorable. We went to the park, my new house, dipped our feet in the pool at my house and shopped at the Dollar Store. Here’s what Sofia picked out…

And now I’m at my daughter Jenni’s house typing up my post. My son-in-law is harassing me… Wanting to know how long I’m staying! He’s real scary with that pink bandage on his arm (he just got back from giving blood)…

So with that, I’ll finish this post off! Family Thanksgiving tomorrow at Tiffany’s! She bought a 25 pound turkey… She’s not cooking. We’re pampering her, she deserves it, she’s amazing, I’m one proud Momma 😀

Ciao!

Recipe – Dukan – Pulled Chicken

Posted on November 17, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I’ve been trying out some recipes with the staff here at the birth house and yesterday’s lunch was a keeper!

PULLED CHICKEN IN THE CROCKPOT

SERVED 6

2 Large chicken breast
2 Tbs coconut oil
5 yellow squash chopped
1 big red onion chopped
1 small bag of baby carrots (3 chopped lg carrots)
3 packets of Sazón seasoning
A wee bit of sea salt

In a fry pan melt 2 Tbs of coconut oil on med/high heat. When hot add the chicken breasts and cover with lid for 3 minutes. Turn and cover for 3 more minutes and place in crockpot, keeping the oil in the pan.
Toss the onions in the pan and give a stir for 2 minutes or so, add to crockpot, go on, pour that coconut oil in there, Mmmmm!
Place the squash and carrots in.
Add the 3 packets of Sazón, a dash of sea salt and add hot water just to where it is barely covering.
Put the crockpot on high for 2 hours. Stirring occasionally. At the two hour mark take two forks and pull the chicken apart as much as possible. Continue cooking another hour and pull the chicken apart some more, stir well. At the 3 1/2 hour mark, it’s done…. ENJOY!

**You can slow cook this while at work. Put crockpot on low. When you get home your house will smell AMAZING! Pull the chicken apart with 2 forks and cook an additional half hour, then serve.

Simple, easy and yummy!

Ciao!

Recipe – Thanksgiving Meals – Dukan – Paleo – Gluten-Free

Posted on November 14, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I’m going to post some of my favorite Dukan friendly meals that are PERFECT for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, over the course of the next few days. My son-in-law said to me the other day that there would be “no dieting” next Thursday, sigh, my family still doesn’t get that I #1 DIDN’T DIET and #2 You don’t have to eat wheat ladened crap to have an amazing meal 😀

So… here’s recipe #1… it’s a simple one. My turkey is the moistest, yummiest turkey I eat. Why? I don’t do much to it.

TURKEY

Serves: A lot of people

Ingredients:
One big turkey
1 large green apple (or red, but the granny smith’s are yummier) chopped
1 large pear, chopped
1 large red or yellow onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
8-10 garlic cloves, mashed
1/4 c olive or coconut oil
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 325 F

Rinse your turkey.
Stuff turkey with the veggies.
Put him in the pan breast side down.
With your fingers, cover the turkey with oil. Make sure you get in all the nooks and crannies!
Generously salt and pepper.
Stick in the oven 20 minutes for every pound. So if it’s a 10 pound turkey 200 minutes (or 3 hours 20 minutes)
Let set for 30 minutes before carving.
Eat.

Easy peasy! Don’t be covering up the bits with aluminum, don’t be puttin’ that turkey in a bag! Just cook the darn thing… PERFECTION, I’m telling you 😀

Mmmmm!

Here’s a link from last year’s Thanksgiving dinner, where I had the pleasure of introducing my Turkey Day culture to a family in Hangzhou.

https://flamidwyfe.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/dukan-day-99/

Day 6 – National Health Blog Post Month

Posted on November 10, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Today’s Topic: News-style post

Breaking News!!

You can eat and eat and eat and lose weight or maintain a healthy weight and lower your cholesterol! This is excellent news for people who like to eat real food!

No more berry pills, no more hCG shots or liquid, no more fasting, counting “points” or 500 kcal diets. REAL, clean, healthy food.

How is this? Well it’s been discovered that it isn’t meat and eggs that are bad for you. It’s wheat and other products with gluten. That wheat has a higher glycemic value than sugar! That it converts to glycogen in your body then stored as fat! Gasp!!! You get fat from wheat? How could this be!

We interviewed Sandi Blankenship, a woman that lost 111 pounds cutting wheat out of her diet. She said, “I couldn’t figure out why, after just losing 20 pounds, my knees weren’t hurting and my arthritis went away. Thankfully someone told me about Wheat Belly”. Ms. Blankenship has maintained this weight loss for 6 months.

For more info check out http://www.wheatbellyblog.com.

Day 5 – National Health Blog Post Month

Posted on November 9, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Today’s Topic: Health Activist Soapbox.

I know, I know it’s the 9th and this post is Day 5… I’ve been busy, lol. New job that keeps me very busy, traveling last week over 2600 miles in a rental car. North Florida to see my son, back to the south, Orlando to go to Disney with Cathy, back south, Tallahassee for a State meeting in regard to changing the fee structure for midwives and birth centers and back south and then STREP THROAT — UGH 😦 As of this morning it’s turned into full-blown upper respiratory infection and I’m thisclose to calling the doctor. I’m trying to avoid antibiotics, but know that they may be necessary.
Hell, THAT subject could be my soapbox, but it isn’t.

Wheat. QUIT WHEAT is what I want to shout from the rooftops!! I didn’t quit wheat intentionally for any other reason than its not on the Dukan diet. And I lost and lost weight. By December last year I had mentioned many times in my blog how I hadn’t had heartburn, painful IBS, headaches, sinus stuff, knee pain, arthritis in my fingers was gone, no vertigo, the list goes on and on. Mel from NZ sent me what I call “the best link ever”! She sent me to Dr. William Davis’ blog and his book on Amazon, Wheat Belly.

I read the book on my trip home to the States in January and it was an eye opener! I’ve bought numerous copies for people, I’ve shared the info, I encourage everyone to read the book. It makes sense, a light goes on. I can’t tell you how many people I know that have quit wheat after reading this book, Lee did and is now writing her own blog! I saw my dear friend Cathy and her daughter Sarah last week up in Orlando. They’ve bought the book and taken my challenge 😀 Sarah has said that if her tummy troubles go away by cutting out the wheat, she’ll buy me a side of beef!! Woo Hoo… I plan on collecting!

Having quit wheat I know my insides are happy 😀 My knees are 😀 My head is 😀 I can run! RUN! Without pain 😀 I can type without my right index and left middle fingers being sore because my arthritis is gone 😀 And I don’t have debilitating vertigo anymore 😀 (Can you tell I’m happy?)

So here it is… I ONCE AGAIN CHALLENGE YOU TO QUIT EATING WHEAT FOR ONE MONTH. Yes, through Thanksgiving! I will start posting recipes from last years Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts that I cooked and that were completely wheat and gluten free. All the “traditional” goodies.

Who’s joining the challenge? Who’s still on the challenge from September? I’ll work on putting a separate tab up to track our progress! Join me, get healthier, lose unwanted weight and more importantly, lose the gut aka wheat belly!

WHEAT BELLY – With Cathy summer 2008

NO WHEAT BELLY – With Cathy November 2012

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Ciao!

Strep Throat – Ugh!

Posted on November 9, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Yuck! I’ve come down with strep throat and it ain’t fun! Started with a sore throat on Monday evening, but when I woke up on Tuesday I seemed fine. I took some Vitamin C before going to bed and then again in the morning.

Tuesday at noon I headed north to go to a meeting in Tallahassee (7.5 hour drive) and felt pretty good all day until around 700 p.m. just before I arrived in Tallahassee I started getting chills and felt warm 😦 It progressed on to a sore throat by the time I went to bed. I took MORE Vitamin C and had some tea.

Wednesday morning up early to go to the pre-meeting breakfast meeting with midwives and birth center administrators from around the state. Oh boy did my throat hurt! Had some tea with honey with breakfast and tried not to think of how many carbohydrates were in the friggin’ honey… sigh. By the time I got in the car at noon to drive back to south Florida I had a full on fever, chills, body aches and major sore throat 😦

Met my mom in Gainesville to pick up BeBe (she babysat her overnight)…

Doesn’t my mom look fantastic for 81?!?

And by the time I reached South Florida at 800 p.m. last night my throat was so sore I had to take Ibuprofen…

Not much better today… although I think the staff is happy that the boss has no voice! It was awfully quiet around here today. I’ve officially consumed a half bottle of honey 😦 Not getting on the scale for DAYS! 😀

How are all my friends in the North East U.S. doing with the second yucky storm in a week? Check in and let me know how y’all are doing!

Ciao!

Day 4 – National Health Blog Post Month

Posted on November 6, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Today’s topic: Disclosure post. How did you decide what to share? What do/don’t you share?

Well, as most of you know, I disclose almost everything 😀

However, when I started this Dukan journey in August 2011, I did not disclose my weight. In fact, I didn’t disclose my beginning weight until after I was almost thru with my weight loss. I did give hints the last few months of my diet, but it was painful to admit I was 255 pounds when I started the diet.

And just as a reminder, this is what 255 pounds look like:

And this is what 146 looks like:

I’m thinking that whole clean eating and living thing is worth it!

Ciao!

Day 3 – National Health Blog Post Month

Posted on November 5, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Todays’s blog prompt… “I don’t know about this, but I’d like to.”

The effects of a high protein-low carb diet on running, exercise and training for a triathlon.

There is A LOT of conflicting information out there in regard to eating a Paleo/Primal diet and how it affects your body during and after high impact exercise. Even some of the most hard core Primal supporters like Mark at Mark’s Daily Apple says its nearly impossible.

Mark says:

So, how does an endurance athlete go as “primal as possible”? Here’s my take. When you go for endurance training, you face (among other physical strains) the necessity of increased carb intake and all its negative results (e.g. inflammation, AGEs, impaired immune function, etc.). Myself, I had a half-gallon of ice cream, loaf of bread and cereal habit going to refuel every day for years. At the time, I didn’t see an obvious impact on my performance, but I later realized I was causing long term damage. A better, more Primal approach to a training diet includes meals full of veggies (universal recommendation, yes) as well as the judicious use of fruits and tubers for added “healthier than grains” carb sources. (Of course, your diet should include a hefty supply of protein and natural fats.)

So his suggestion is to add tubers, lots of veggies and fruits to boost the carb intake during events and training. I’m going to work on that this week.

What health info would you like to know more about? Or what health info would you like featured here? Working on doing research everyday to continue improving my life 🙂

Ciao!

My colleagues went to Bali and all I got was this very cool outfit…

On a side note, I am 3 pounds over my “5 pound window”, which is 143-148. I was 151 this morning… ACK 😦

I totally know what caused this, lol! Halloween and Disney. They should both be banned! Going to do 3 PP (pure protein) days to knock it out. I’ve also not been getting in my flaxseed meal (I use that instead of oat bran) on a daily basis, so need to be more mindful of that! I’m back to running and it feels so good and I’m back to near daily yoga, even if its only 10 minutes!

Day 2 – National Health Blog Post Month

Posted on November 5, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Day 2 is Write about the weirdest thing about your health…

I’m going to start off by saying I’ve had a couple of amazing days this weekend up in Orlando with my friend Cathy and her daughter Sarah. I also want to type a nice long paragraph so that the weirdest thing about my health doesn’t show up on Facebook… LOL, you’ll have to click on the link to read it… Now on with the topic 😉

For the most part, my body has responded amazingly well to the Dukan Diet and now Paleo Diet.

So, this is something we’re not “suppose” to talk about, but I’m going to. The weirdest thing about my health, now that I’m on a wheat and gluten free diet is…

I DON’T FART 😀 Yup, I don’t pass gas, I never get rumbly tummy and I never get the “oh my God I’m going to die IBS pain. Who knew that by cutting the wheat, you would cut the cheese no more!?!

What’s weird about your health? My weird thing is a good thing, I’m sure!

Ciao!

It’s Magical!

Photo Bomb on Thunder Mountain

Cathy and Me!

Me, Cathy & Sarah…

Day 1 – National Health Blog Post Month

Posted on November 4, 2012 by flamidwyfe

So, this month is National Health Blog Post Month and I’m going to attempt to put out two posts a day for this month 🙂

The first assignment – “Why I write about my health”

I write about my health because I began my amazing journey 15 months ago by starting the Dukan Diet. I decided to post daily to hold myself accountable to myself, my family and friends and it has grown to so much more!

I’m most proud to say that I’ve maintained my weightloss within a 5 pound range for SIX MONTHS!!

Do you write about your health? If so, why?

Ciao!

Here’s a few pics of my amazing week I’m having…

Yoga on the beach, photo by the Amazing Mona