Eat Your Way to Thin. I love it! The counsel Harper’s Bazaar boasts is the approach I applied to my life back in May (until now), which has helped me look as good as I feel. This may be the one-size-fits-all information we have been waiting to hear…
DIY Making Your Pants A Smaller Size
Yes, losing is weight is exciting, but losing clothes-to-wear isn’t! At the beginning of the year, two of my friends advocated themselves my personal shoppers, and I got a TON of new garb. Now I swim in them - that is not sexy.
Replacing clothes is expensive unless you have a sugar daddy or debt (you know me - I ask people!). So, I’ve learned how to use my sewing machine to alter and make clothing.
I’ve used this tutorial a few times to take in pants. It’s a quick, life-changing, easy-peasy project.
Balcony Garden Update
Do you remember when I first started my balcony garden back in April? Well, I’ve added much more to my little urban plot, and the harvest months are nigh!
This is half of our patio. (You can see the tip of a billboard in the top right-hand corner - that is Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena.)
Here is a zucchini seedling I started. Pardon my innocence, I thought it was tomato (see frugal clothes pin label?), until my green-thumb friends said it was zucchini. I am getting better… LOL!
My thoughtful hubby purchased a lavender starter kit in Costa Mesa last year for me for Christmas. I need to re-plant it already - it already smells wonderful. Last Christmas, I also made lavender shortbread cookies for gifts - I hope to do the same this year with my own harvest!
Here are the tomatoes! Three strong seedling came up, and I’ve replanted them since. They are hearty, and I can’t wait to harvest them!
This here, is little A’s “ba-mato tree”. I have probably eaten five of these cherry-sized Sungolds, myself! They have a tropical-sweetness, hence the reason why a toddler (27 months) is so keen to gobble them up!
I’ve learned that inorder for a family to eat enough from their garden, there needs to be about one plant per person. In the future (when we move), I will plant three or more edible plants (excluding lettuse, miscellaneous greens, etc.) for our little family, and so I can gift some of our harvest to friends and family:-)
Heirloom Yolo Wonder red bell peppers! This ended up being two plant, so I just replanted the other one. Not long ago, I found out they take 69-80 days to mature - I’ve developed a lot of patience with gardening, and it have been healthy for my character. Slowing down is good for everyone!
This little strawberry plant was given to me for my twenty-third birthday from my friend. It’s truly a miracle how far this one has come: I looked out one day and noticed spider webs all over my birthday gift. One of the first ripening strawberries looked like it was sucked dry! …Maybe I haven’t watered it enough? …Maybe a spider made a home in it and got hungry? I really didn’t know what the heck was going on. Thanks to google I discovered it had spider mites! (When plants are purchased from nurseries, they can contract diseases. That is why it’s best to start plants from seeds.)
I purchase my eggs for a micro-garden/farm here in pasadena, and I asked the guy there about the mites. His advice was to carefully put the plant in a garbage bag and throw it away in a dumpster! Noooo! The only other solution was to sit and spray the underside of all the leaves with a soap based water solution until all the mites are off. Success rate of this procedure: unknown. Twice a day for two weeks, I sprayed this plant with Bronners and water for hours. (Little A loved to help). I got into the habit of pulling of all the dead leaves, pruning it, and ended up replanting it in a larger container (OxyClean upscale!). We were fruitful, because about a month later, with very strong trigger fingers, little A harvested two juicy deep red strawberries. It was perfect timing because she just leaned to use the “big girl potty”. What a glorious day it was!
I purchased this basil and parsley plant from Trader Joe’s. These sturdy little guys make life some much easier! Mr. B and P are planted in a tin container I robbed from a Starbucks dumpster when I worked there years ago - poking holes in the bottom made for a successful and handsome herb planter.
Green beans! These delicate dudes need a lot of water are are starting to ripen!
Lettuce can be planted in ANYTHING! These summer greens are planted in a trimmed reusable Trader Joe’s bag. We eat a salad entree every week with our harvest - they grow like weeds!
I also have kale and micro-greens, but I will post some updates later.
Hopefully, you are now inspired to plant a container garden in your small outdoor (or window) space, in an economical way! Tell me about yours if you have one and link to some of your pictures!
DIY Pantry Jars
I can’t seem to throw away empty glass jars especially after seeing this tutorial for a “diy {craft jar gift}” from the blog Under The Sycamore, which I ended up making for some girl-friends for their birthdays. There is a shelf in my kitchen that has ten or more empty coconut oil, almond butter, and dressing (which I no longer buy because of their bad vegetable/seed oils) jars.
(After a recent trip to Whole Foods - conveniently, a five-minute walk for our condo - they placed my beer-purchase in a smaller, red-striped paper bag. Of course I held onto it because it was classy looking (yes, the paper bag! LOL!).)
Whenever I can, depending on the quality, I buy groceries (seeds, nuts, spices, herbs, etc.) in bulk because it’s obviously more economical - I store the nuts/seed in the fridge. However, I have little bags haphazardly strewed about in my spice cabinet, pantry, and fridge. Recently, I cleaned out my spice cabinet and had a bunch of spices in little ziplock baggies, and expired spices in little jars. I also, cleaned out my already very bare pantry with the exception of a few canned items and whatever my hubby sneaks home (read more about our new food lifestyle in previous posts), which are usually sugar for his coffee and granola.
Are you solving the equation yet?
Empty jars + unrestrained food items + cute paper = an organizational DIY project!
I cut the paper to fashion to the circumference of the jar and secured with double-sided tape.
Then I wrote the contents with a permanent marker.
I filled the orphaned spices and herbs in empty spice jars…
…and larger quantity items in bigger wide mouth jars.
Clean and organized: the way I like it!
Tell me how you use recycled items to organize?
How to simply lose weight! Really!
I know! I know! Cut out the fatty foods!
Nope.
I know! I know! Eat less calories! Calories in, calories out… right?
Nope.
I know! I know! Eat more whole grains and fiber!
Nope.
Exercise more!
Nope.
I know! I know! Become a vegetarian!
Definitely nope! (Only consider that diet if you want to be fat AND depressed…)
No one knows how to lose weight… Sad. Actually thousands of people have had great success with weight loss and total body healing…
Not only are those above myths not helping us lose weight, they are making us fat (and in most cases, depressed). If we are gaining weight from eating whole grains, low calorie, and low fat what is the answer?
Most people who want to lose weight are very familiar with nutrition labels. America is not ignorent. So, how many carbs are in a tortilla? If we are talking a Chipotle tortilla, it’s going to be 200 grams of carbohydrates from grains. Consider the chart below:
- 0-50 grams per day: Ketosis and I.F. (Intermittent Fasting) zone. Excellent catalyst for rapid fat loss through I.F. Not recommended for prolonged periods (except in medically supervised programs for obese or Type 2 diabetics) due to unnecessary deprivation of plant foods.
- 50-100 grams per day: Sweet Spot for Weight Loss. Steadily drop excess body fat by minimizing insulin production. Enables 1-2 pounds per week of fat loss with satisfying, minimally restrictive meals.
- 100-150 grams per day: Primal Maintenance zone. Once you’ve arrived at your goal or ideal body composition, you can maintain it quite easily here while enjoying abundant vegetables, fruits and other Primal foods.
- 150-300 grams a day: Insidious Weight Gain zone. Most health conscious eaters and unsuccessful dieters end up here, due to frequent intake of sugar and grain products (breads, pastas, cereals, rice, potatoes – even whole grains). Despite trying to “do the right thing” (minimize fat, cut calories), people can still gain an average of 1.5 pounds of fat every year for decades.
- 300+ grams a day: Danger Zone of average American diet. All but the most extreme exercisers will tend to produce excessive insulin and store excessive fat over the years at this intake level. Increases risk for obesity, Metabolic Syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Marks Daily Apple
Yikes! If we eat one giant tortilla, we are going to get fat. How many people eat a bowl of cereal (~100 g), or oatmeal (~100 g), or a sandwich with whole grain bread (~100-200 g), or some crackers (~100 g), or some yogurt (~100 g sugar) every day?! Almost everyone. But doesn’t exercise make up for all this extreme carb intake? Well, yes, only if you want to exercise hours every day. The average person doesn’t do that, and doesn’t have to exercise more than one hour a week (plus walking) to be strong and lean. Mark from marksdailyapple.com says health is determined by 20% exercise and 80% FOOD! And the food he talking about is diet only of high quality animal meat, fat, and fruits and vegetables.
So, if we are cutting out all these carbs from grains and sugar, then how do I get energy? How do I live?!! Most people I talk to say, “I HAVE to have grains!” Well, sadly our bodies are trained to burn grains/sugars/starches for energy. When we consume these high carb food it sends our body into a frenzy that simulates “getting high”. Eating a burger makes us feel really good… then we crash! That crash sets our body up for fat storage (starvation mode (a.k.a. metabolic syndrome), anyone?). So, instead of eating grains for the faux energy, eat fat! Butter, eggs, saturated animal fat, coconut products, cold-pressed nut and olive oils (NOT vegetable oils). Our bodies will eventually learn to burn stored fat (good!) for energy until our bodies are lean and mean, and then consumed fat and carbs from fruits and vegetables for energy.
Grains also complicate our digestion and prevent our body from absorbing vital nutrients from other foods. People say that meat and fatty foods make them feel bogged down and bloated! In actuality it’s the grains and starches eaten with the fat and meat that made you feel like that. Meat and fat are extremely easy to digest on their own, and contain very very important brains vitamins. If we are eating one serving of grains (remember, 100 grams of carbohydrates), there is no room for vegetables and fruits because it will throw us waaaaay over into the weight gaining zone. If a zuchinni contains 3 grams of carbs, you can eat a lot of zuchinni! If you compair the “nutrients” in brown rice and a bowl of vegetables, who wins?
What do you think? Talk to me.
Simple Slow-Cooked Pot Roast
(Photo courtesy of sleeploveeat.com)
I use my crockpot at least once a week. We all know that meat is so much better roasted, braised, or cooked for hours! In the summer when it gets warm, my crockpot get cracked out a little more often, and it adapts well to our busy summer schedule (oh, it’s energy efficient too!).
All the grass-fed beef is on sale between $3.99-5.99 per pound until today (!) at Sprouts Farmers Market, so I stocked up. I brought home a gorgeous 2 pound roast, and it’s cooking away inside my Krups 3-in-1.
Simple Slow-Cooked Pot Roast (Recipe adapted from here.)
2 pound grass-fed pot roast
Parsley, to taste (more if fresh)
Oregano, to taste
Sea salt
Pepper
3 tablespoons lard, coconut oil, or clarified butter
Onion, quartered
4-6 cloves whole garlic, peeled (kept whole)
3-5 carrots, peeled, chopped
1/2 cup water
Heat 2 tablespoons fat in a pan on medium-high heat. Prepare onions and garlic, and place on the bottom of the crock pot with the additional fat (add carrots here too). Season roast (sting secured) with salt, pepper, oregano, and parsley - sear on each side in the pan for 1-2 minutes until nicely browned (or until your smoke alarm goes off!). Plop roast on veggies, add water, and slow cook for about 6 hours. Grass-fed beef cooks faster than commercial, so test it with a fork after about 5 hours. Serve alongside a simple green salad.
Serves 4-6
Grain free. Dairy free. Refined-sugar free. Legume free. Bean free.
I would love your feedback for this recipe! Let me know what you think:-)
Brother’s Wedding (Semi-Styled by Me)
Here are some pics from my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding that I help put together. (Picks are illegally snap-shot-ed - don’t tell on me)! Photography: Walking Eagle Photography
Litte A, all cute and adorable as a flower girl. Headband: J Crew, Dress: mygirldress.com, Basket: Michaels, Shoes: JC Penney
The girls pre-ceremony. Maid dresses: Target (GO International), Shoes: gojane.com, Accessories: Forever21, Aldo, Flowers: oceanicflowers.com, Bridal gown: Costco!
Hair and makeup by Lorena Rodriquez. Smiles: our own.
Groomsmen vests: Forever21, Pants: their own, Ties: nextdirect.com, Button-ups: H&M, Shoes: their own, 26 year-old man on the left (my brother): Single.
Kraft programs handmade by myself. Tags and printed paper from Paper Source.
Favors handmade by myself. Personalized CD made from recycled Trader Joe’s bags and machine stitched. Cone favors stuffed with candy from the 90s (Jolly Ranchers, Sour Straws, Bazooka Bubble Gum, etc.)!
The bride and groom.
Forster Mansion, San Juan Capistrano, CA
“Taco” Salad
Here is one of the recipes that will be used in the meal plans! I am making it for dinner tonight with the $3.99/pound grass fed ground beef I got at Sprouts Farmers Market today! I will also use the cultured salsa I made from The Nourishing Gourmet, and top it with grated sharp cheddar cheese (sharp, hard cheeses are considered “lactose-free”). Try it out and let me know how you like it.
“Taco” Salad
1 onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound of cooked ground beef/turkey, or chicken
2 Romaine hearts, shredded
4 tomatoes, diced (about 1 cup)
4 green onions, chopped
2 avocados, sliced
2 limes, juiced
Salsa
Meat Seasoning:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
½ tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons oregano
1 cup water
In a pan heat olive oil, add onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened. Combine spices in a small bowl with the water. Add meat to pan and break up with spatula. When meat starts to brown, and add spice mixture - cook until water has evaporated. Meanwhile, prepare vegetables for salad and place in a bowl; add cooled meat and lime juice. Mix everything well and serve.
Serves 4
