Posted on April 29, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Great quote… I have walked out of my history and am writing NEW history for myself!

“Stand up and walk out of your history.” This is a quote I found somewhere from Dr Phil. I know a lot of people have very mixed feelings about the man and his television show. One thing you have to give him is that he know how to punch line an issue with laser like focus. He cuts through all of the noise about the “stories” that people are telling him and hits at the core of the problem.

I love this quote. To me it is a kick in the pants to stop believing I can’t do something just because I haven’t done it before. At some point you have to choose to hang on to the comfort of your story or choose to change your script. Reasons or results is something my dad used to say to me. How applicable that is in so many circumstances!

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Dukan – Day 254 – Same weight Different day

Posted on April 29, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Saturday was a PP Day 🙂

Daily weight loss: 0
Total weight loss: 90 lbs/40.91 kg

OK, you can budge oh Scale of Woe!!! Same, same from yesterday.

Had a fun day at work. Did childbirth Ed classes for a western couple in the morning and in the afternoon with a room full of Chinese couples. We did exercise class and a meditation. Good fun!

After work jumped on a bus cross-town to watch the Geelong Cats (Australian Footie) kick butt! The chef, Reuben, cooked me a special PP dinner of sautéed sirloin strips with grilled onions! YUMMY!

A short 20 minute run when I got home then early to bed. Sunday morning is mountain hiking time 🙂

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 253

Posted on April 28, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PP day 🙂

Daily weight gain: 0.7 lb/0.30 kg
Total weight loss: 90.0 lb/40.91 kg
Current weight: 165 lb/75 kg

Friday was suppose to be my day off, but marketing asked if I could do a class in a village outside of Hangzhou, so I agreed and got picked up at 730 a.m. Turned out to have 90 pregnant women there to hear my class on water birth!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 slices ham and a baby bell cheddar (2 oz, low fat)
Dinner: 3 skinny pork chops with sautéed chunks of onion
Snack: pot of fat free yogurt with bran and Splenda

I also gave baby Lyla her first bath and massage and played the stick your tongue out game with her… She did 🙂

Her dad took a couple other cool pics, as well…

I walked the 1 mile home from work and cooked a yummy dinner. About an hour later I tied up my running shoes and headed out the door for a run. I started the Bridge to 10K program. The first 10 minutes I tried to talk myself out of it, LOL… But the other me kicked negative Nellie to the curb and kept going! Here’s the results of the run…

Yeah, I rocked it 😀

Came home, showered and went to bed with my iPad to read… Never read the first word! Out like a light, woke up 10 minutes before alarm feeling GREAT!

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 252 – Recipe: stir fry leftovers

Posted on April 27, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Thursday was a PV day 🙂

Daily weight GAIN: .3 kgs… As I predicted would happen!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 3 slices of boiled ham and 1 tea egg
Dinner: Chicken breast and left over veggies in the fridge
Snack: pot of FF Greek yogurt with bran and Splenda

Exercise:
1 mile walk to work
1 mile walk home from work
That’s it. Exhausted!

I finished reading SweetHeart by Chelsea Cain… Riveting!

Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes
Serves: 1

Ingredients:
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 large onion, cut chunky
1/3 red pepper, diced
4 asparagus spears, cut into bite sized pieces
Handful mushroom, chopped
6-8 green olives
2 Tbs hot saucy kind of stuff… Mine is in Chinese… Its like a hot pepper salsa, it’s yummy!

Coat pan/wok with non-stick spray OR 1 Tbs coconut oil. Turn stove on med-high heat.
Place chicken on hot oil carefully. Place lid and let sizzle for 3 minutes.
Turn chicken over, replace lid for 1 minute.
Toss in red pepper and onion. Replace lid. Cook for 3 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium.
Place asparagus and mushrooms in, stir. Replace lid for 2 minutes.
Place 2 Tbs of salsa in pan and stir in well.
Replace lid, turn heat down to med-low. Simmer 2 minutes.
Serve and Enjoy!

Ciao!

Dukan – Days 249 & 251

Posted on April 26, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PP day 🙂
Wednesday was a starvation day 😦 Poor planning!

Monday stats: +0.4 lb/+0.2 kg – Total: 89.8 lbs/40.81 kgs
Tuesday’s weight didn’t get recorded because I got roused out of bed for a birth.
Wednesday stats: -0.9 lb/0.44 kg – Total: 90.7 lbs/41.21 kgs

I’m so exhausted from the 16 hour birth marathon I ran yesterday that I can’t for the life of me remember what I ate on Monday… oh… let me go look at my journal… lol

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 1 tea egg, tin of tuna with dijon mustard
Dinner: Chicken breast with onions and garlic stems
Snack: pot of FF yogurt with splenda and bran

Monday Exercise: 3 games of wii Bowling (high score of 212!!) and a 1 mile walk to work, from work and then around the block for a total of 3 miles.

Tuesday Exercise: 3 mile run

Wednesday food:
Breakfast: none
Lunch: 2 tea eggs
Snack: 2 tea eggs
Dinner: yeah… i’m sure you know where this is going… the last tea egg
I was at a birth all day… I didn’t plan well. There were no protein sources. At 1130 the Ayi (maid) that cleans my house and my office lovingly went to the tea egg shop and brought me 5 eggs… YOU ROCK AYI!!!!!! But that was all I ate, all day… which is very, very, very bad!
Snack… after I dragged my butt home after midnight: a baby bell round. I estimate I had less than 500 calories yesterday and I suspect it will show with a weight INCREASE tomorrow, as crazy as that sounds. On this diet you HAVE TO EAT!

Wednesday Exercise: I labored a lady all day… that is like running a marathon! 🙂 LOL, I did hip squeezes, back rubs and other things to help her… my pecs are feeling the workout from the hip squeezes! I walked home (although it was more like a run on the timing) after midnight… 1 mile.

Nice birth, baby girl… happy mom and dad, and that’s what counts.

Birth… it does a midwife good 🙂

Ciao!

Grandma to a teenager

Posted on April 25, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I am 48. Thirteen years ago, on April 25, 1999 my daughter Jenni gave birth to the most perfect little bundle of joy. Celeste Alena. Jenni was 15. I was 35.

I remember walking around with the silliest grin on my face for days. I smiled so much my face muscles ached 😀 My daughter was an amazing birther, short fast labor, just like me.

We were surrounded by people who were important to us. Carolyn, my partner in birth, Lisa Wick, my midwife friend from school, there to take over if I needed to be Jenni’s mom instead of midwife, Ray, Celeste’s father, Dodi, who gave birth to a 10 lb 12 oz boy the October before and Candy, a family friend who videotaped the birth.

We reveled in Celeste’s perfectness. Her sweetness, how wonderful she breastfed, how well she slept.

Around 5 weeks old, I started feeling something was “off” about Celeste. She looked through you, not at you and she wasn’t tracking us with her eyes. Our family pediatrician told me to be the grandma, not a midwife… that everything was normal. I wasn’t happy with that. At 9 weeks old, I secured a consult with a pediatric opthomologist. he diagnosed Celeste with a retinal issue and said she was legally blind. Devastating, but doable. I was actually relieved.

At our 13 week visit to the pediatrician, we brought her the info from the eye doctor. She was humbled by it, and murmured an apology. She had been our family ped since 1981, I understood. Then as she was examining Celeste she uttered the one word that threw our lives upside down… MICROCEPHALY… I burst into tears, knowing the gravity of such a diagnosis. Dr. Rojas was also very emotional… Poor Jenni and Ray had no idea why we were upset. Microcephaly means small head/brain. Back in 1999 if you searched (there was no google) the term, it came up “profound retardation, short life span, approximately 10 years”. We were devastated.

A neuro consult 2 weeks later would give us the diagnosis of Agenesis of the Corpus Collosum, essentially Celeste is missing the middle part of her brain, the part that separates the left and right hemispheres. She is severely disabled. She does not stand, walk, sit or talk (a few words every once in a while)
She DOES bring happiness to those around her, have the most brilliant smile, loves stealing toys from babies if she’s propped close enough, has a clever streak, understands EVERY WORD YOU SAY!!!

She is 13 today… A teenager. I’m a grandma to a teenager… WOW!

Here she is, the center of our universe!

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY, CELESTE ALENA BLANKENSHIP!!!
I love you,
You know it’s true…
Celeste Alena Blankenship,
I LOVE YOU… Momma xoxoxo

Dukan vs. Paleo… why does it have to be vs.???

Posted on April 24, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I used to follow this blog… they have a lot of interesting information about the Paleo diet… However, he posted this post and one about a woman who failed to keep her weight off after completing Phase 2 of the Dukan Diet (btw… people fail, diets don’t) and I put a thoughtful, respectful response with my opinion which he moderated and refused to post. I think that sucks… If you don’t agree with what I say, that’s OK, get into an insightful debate with me… but don’t just post the comments that favor your opinion, because that just makes you small minded in my opinion. I’m sure glad there are a lot more Paleo blogs out there that value my opinion and educate me about the benefits of a primal diet.
~Sandi

Paleo Works: How To Diet

We get a lot of questions asking how our way of eating differs from say the Dukan Diet or the Atkins Diet. Well the latter two are indeed quite similar in their make up and include similar foods although at different stages. However many of the foods and even non foods (as may better describe them) included are in fact detrimental to both health and well being. In addition both these diets are specifically geared towards weight loss results and fall short on considering long term sustainability as they are both temporary programs with one focus, losing weight. In particular the Dukan diet severely reduces fat intake and relies upon calorie restriction and exercise to provide results. The Atkins diet fares little better as it encourages you to purchase their own brand processed foods. We will look at the Atkins diet a little closer in this series, however for now…

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Dukan – Day 248 – I DID IT :)

Posted on April 22, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was PV (Protein/Veggie) Day 😀

Daily Weight Loss: 0.9 lb/0.44 kg
Total Weight Loss: 90.2 lbs/41.01 kgs

So in 8 months and 3 days I’ve reached Dr. Dukan’s True Weight for me.
I also COMPLETED COUCH 2 5 K last night. So I reached TWO goals in less than 12 hours! 😀 😀 😀 😀

Breakfast: Bacon and egg omelet with bran
Lunch: Green salad with grilled chicken breast
Dinner: Ground beef, onions and mushrooms cooked Vietnamese lemongrass sauce. YUM!

Exercise:
2.15 mile mountain hike in the morning
3.11 mile run in the evening

I wanted to upload a couple pics, but the internet here in China is NOT cooperating 😦 I’ll see if I can upload them directly from my iPhone…

Bigger and better update coming soon with lots of before and after pics from the past year… should be fun!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: I’m determined to not die with millions in the bank, but memories in my heart! ~ Sandi Blankenship, in response to MJ 🙂

Pic I couldn’t upload earlier…

Dr. Dukan's True Weight met 🙂 I'm going 4.5 kgs less (10 pounds), as my own goal, but reaching this... AWESOME!

Dukan – Day 247

Posted on April 22, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Saturday was a PP day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lbs/0.20 kgs
Total Weight Loss: 89.3 lbs/40.61 kgs Just 300 grams from my Dukan True weight and just 10 pounds until I reach my goal weight of 155.

Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs
Lunch: 1 Tea Egg, tin of tuna with dijon mustard
Dinner: Pork Chop with onion and garlic stems (so glad I was able to go into town and get some, I’ve missed the garlic stems so much!)
Snack: Pot of FF Greek yogurt with Splenda and bran

Exercise:
1 mile/1.5 km walk to work
1 mile/1.5 km walk home from work
3.11 mile/5.1 km run in the evening

I taught two Childbirth Education classes today. My morning class was for expats and the afternoon class was for our Chinese clients. I love that I get to do so much education!

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! The weather here has been perfect!

Ciao!

Travel – Spring Hiking in TongLu, China

Posted on April 21, 2012 by flamidwyfe

So on Thursday my work sponsored a trip to TongLu. We did 3 really amazing and fun activities during the 11 hour trip. Cave hiking, a bamboo raft ride down the river and mountain hiking. There were about 50 of us on the trip and I really had a great time.

We started out at around 740 a.m. from the hospital and headed towards TongLu. First stop the Caves near TongLu.

Where we went... Hangzhou is in the upper right corner.

ViviMokaLaka and I on the bus!

The tour guide and the head of our Marketing department encouraged people to sing. I tried to ignore him, but alas, felt bad because no one else would volunteer. So I got up and sang “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker… lol, thank God for the music on my iPhone!

Next up, my Ayi (Chinese for housekeeper), she works at our hospital and cleans my house once a week, she’s AWESOME! She sang after me, then lots of people sang!

Ayi singing her heart out!

Then we arrived at the caves and got in line with the rest of the tourists… I think I’m starting to blend in 🙂

I need to stop doing that to my forehead!

One of the murals painted on the ceiling just past the entrance to the cave.

The map of the cave we explored.

We hiked in the cave for over 2 hours… it was pretty rugged terrain at some points and wet and slippery. I was the only one in the group with hiking shoes on… some of the women had HIGH HEELS! Maybe they didn’t get the memo we were HIKING… 😀

Me and Vivien... Chinese daughter.

The lighting was pretty amazing.

Magic Herbs... really? 😀

Ayi and her husband.... these two are awesome. I love how Mr. Ayi wore a suit. He did some pretty impressive GQ poses in the caves!

Dressed for cave exploring 🙂

ViviMokaLaka

In front of the Wishing Well Pond...

So, the Wishing Well Pond. In the middle of the pond was a vessel that was maybe 12 inches x 8 inches… it was about 20 feet from the edge. In the pond itself was tons of coins and there were some in the vessel, as well. I pull out a 1 RMB coin to toss in the well and hand one to Vivien… I made my wish and did an underhand softball toss and CLING, smack dab in the middle of the vessel!!!!!!! Woot! I made a very specific wish and that was that… off for more cave exploring 😀

Wishing Well vessel

Vivi and I

On the way out of the caves you go through the booths selling all the wares you could imagine… I found something that I actually wanted, Vivien read the ingredients, all Dukan friendly so I bought two jars of this hotter than Hades chili sauce… hoo boy is it good!

Hot Chili stuff.. Mmmmm

As you can see, I was dipping my eggs in it… while opening the jar, Vivien snapped this lovely picture of me…

Tea Egg alert!

We then headed through town and saw some interesting things like…

I'm used to this by now... sometimes I wonder if it's OK that I am.

Then we arrived at the restaurant where we had lunch. Now, I have to say here that I LOVE eating in China… even though I’m on Dukan. It is such a social event. Everyone taking their chopsticks and getting food from the lazy susan… it’s awesome. I know that some people might think that’s gross, but it’s so social. It was similar in Abu Dhabi, where you would basically get the food with either your fingers or the fork you were eating with. There is something so familial about it… I love it 🙂

I was too busy making sure I got the proteins that I only got one picture 🙂

We then loaded back up in the bus and headed to the river. We took bamboo rafts down the river for about a 45 minute ride. I was happy that I could see the bottom at all times. I have big issues with wood bridges, bamboo rafts and grates… all of which I had to use today! LOL

Our transportation down the river.

So glad I had on my water-proof Chaco hiking boots... I love my boots, btw!

Our bamboo raft pilot

The view from the raft

Those two guys work in our Administration department... they were chasing us down the river bank trying to shoot us with water cannons.... they missed, our pilot kept us safe... the other 3 rafts, got soaked! LOL

Then after a 40 minute ride on the bus, we ended up at the Daqishan National Forest Park. I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

The sign says it all!

Bamboo Forest... you could hear the wind whistling through the trees!

Um, Mom... notice what I'm doing??? Walking on a grate, attached to the side of a mountain in China... this caused my already tachycardic heart rate to increase even more!!!

Map of the hike!

This is the Dean in charge of the inpatient VIP center. One of my biggest supporters to improve the healthcare here at our hospital.

Heart failure... walking over wooden bridges with a big drop below...

The scenery was just gorgeous!

This was walking over the waterfall in the last photo.

We made it to the top... Heavenly Lake

There were 2 ways down... hike back down or take the FLYING SQUIRREL... LOL. Seriously, that was the name. Guess which one I took?

And I made Vivien go with me! Please note the double seat belts... oh, and I was responsible for the entire braking system... we went fast!!!

The man who's arm you can see, stopped us and made me put away my camera... he told Vivien I'd lose it if I didn't... it was a pretty wild ride, thanks mister 🙂

And moments… literally MOMENTS after I stepped off The Flying Squirrel… my phone rang. It was a Blocked Call, but I knew it was the call I was waiting for… and it was! My heart was pounding, I wanted this call so bad… SO BAD I WISHED FOR IT THIS MORNING… just 3 hours earlier… when I threw the coin in the fountain… and here was the call… And my wish came true. It made my day… it made an already amazing day even more amazing. I know, you guys are all wondering what my wish was… I’ll share that in due time, in the future… I promise 🙂 Just know that it was an awesome wish!

And then we were back at the hospital, around 6 p.m…. very long, but very fun day! On my walk home I ~~stalked~~ walked up behind this lady and kid and snapped this shot…

Cutest little mohawk in Hangzhou!

And that, my friends, was the end of an awesome day! I didn’t do my run, as planned, given that I hiked both a cave and a mountain for just under 8 kms…

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

Ciao!