User Error

Not surprised to find out the problem with my camera was USER ERROR!

My husband showed me how to use the camera properly for about the fifth time yesterday and I think I have finally got it. So here are some new pictures. YAY! The first few of our lunch yesteday. First I had the Garden Salad above with Italian Salad, not so exciting.!

Then I had a Big Wave Vegetarian Burger. This was scrumptious. Mustard, pickles, onion, lettuce, tomato, and a toasted bun.

Had to get a picture of the above even though I didn't eat any. Cheese fries are not my thing but I thought they would look good! My husband said they were very good and he is french fry picky!

My treat last night was popcorn and junior mints. Not nearly as delicious as last week, hmmm ... so I topped off with some frozen peanut butter cups!

This is the spinach curry that I made for lunch today. It was really good.

Well camera is fixed -USER ERROR - life is back to normal.

Photo: Garden Salad, Vegetarian Burger, Cheese Fries, Spinach Curry

BUMMER!

Repeat! Sorry, I was soooooooooooooo disappointed. I took my trusty camera with me to lunch today but the photos did not come out. BUMMER!

I had such a nice lunch too!

I wento Ranchos and had the steamed vegetable plate ... wait I am detecting a trend here!

It is served with black beans, brown rice, avocado, corn tortillas and of course fresh salsa and tons of veggies. It is one of my favorites and I wanted to share it with you but I got home and took out the memory stick and there was nothing but a bunch of little dark black squares.

BUMMER!

Since I had my veggie plate for dinner, I put up that. Hmmmm.... apparently right now I am CRAVING veggies.

I do this ... I go in cycles ... I eat this for a while and then I get tired of it and then I want that for awhile ... and then I have had it with that .... and ooooooooh that sounds good for the time being ... on and on ... kind of like life.

WHICH IS WHY I AM LOVING THE NO S DIET, I have total latitude to go through all my cravings and desires on N days as long as its not sweet and fits on my plate.

SO COOL!

Photo: Steamed Corn, Carrot, Squash, Green Beans, Potatos and Corn on the Cob with EVOO, Celtic Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

Zero NWS Days This Month

This has been the longest month!

This is my first month on No S when I have not taken any NWS (non weekend) S days. But there are no special days for our family or holidays to celebrate, thus zero NWS days for June.

Since we are taking our vacation next month, and I am planning THREE NWS days, I thought why not?

Go a little light on the NWS days this month and make up for them next month.

I actually think in the long run it is going to work.

I also KNOW that I would not EVER have zero NWS days every month of every day of every year.

That would be entirely too stressful, too rigid and not much fun.

I am so glad that the NO S Diet has NWS days, although in the VERY beginning I wasn't at all sure that I was going to use them!


Photo: Amy's Blackeyed Pea Bowl www.amys.com with Fresh Peaches

Steamed Veggies Plate

Today I had a steamed veggie plate for lunch.

It was funny, on Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market I thought, what a great idea! Surrounded by pretty much fresh everything I loaded up on corn, yukon gold potatos, green beans, carrots, squash and red onion.

Then it was Monday and I just thought "What if it's not good?"

"What if it doesn't satisfy me?"

"WHat if ..."

"WHat if ..."

WHat if ..."

I ate something else.

Pretty much the same thing happened on Tuesday.

So today, I was like "Try it, maybe you'll like it"

I shucked the corn and washed and cut up the potato and threw those in one steamer bag and threw it in the microwave for seven minutes.

I peeled the carrots, washed and snapped the green beans, washed the squash and cut up the onions. I had so much I had to use two more steamer bags.

When the potatoes and corn were done I threw them in my large stainless steel all clad bowl. I put the other two bags of veggies in the microwave for I think 8 minutes. When they were done I threw those in the big bowl.

I tossed it all with a few squirts of my EVOO Extra Virgin Olive Oil Misto, celtic sea salt and freshly ground paper and then dumped it all on my one plate!

I will definitely have this again!

Photo: Steamed corn on the cob, potatos, green beans, carrots, squash and red onion with EVOO

A Good Kind of Boring

Today was another good day.

Gee I am so boring on this No S diet.
But I guess it is a good kind of boring.
I get up early, I do what needs to be done, I eat my three plate meals, I work out ...
Yeah, I will take that kind of boring any day!

This has probably been one of my best summer's in a long time, maybe ever.
I don't know.
It's been pretty good.

I know it's because I am not binging.
I know that's why everything is going so well.
And if you think about, it just makes sense.
Binging is absorbing.
It's not just the moments that you are cramming food in your mouth.
No, then a whole chain of events follow:

you feel numb and sated, and they you start "waking up" and then the negative self-talk starts, and then you have gotten behind on something you dont' want to deal with, and then you get behind on something else you don't want to deal with and then you just say screw it, I'll have a cookie or a latte or whatever your "gateway" drug is and then there you are binging. And then you start gaining weight, and then you start looking for a new diet, and then you start planning for the new diet and then you start shopping for the new diet, but you have to have few more binges before you start the diet ...

uh-huh
I'll take the good kind of boring ANY DAY!

Photo: Soy Bologna and Soy Cheese Sandwich on Sprouted Wheat Bread with Mustard, Lettuce and Red Onion, Carrot Sticks, Dill Pickle and Roasted Garlic Potato Chips

Popcorn, Junior Mints and Ninety Day Results

This is what I love about the No S Diet. Yesterday was my "ninety days". It was an S Day. Yes I got up in the morning and went on our now weekly Saturday morning walk over to the donut shop and Starbucks for a glazed twist and chai tea latte.

For my S Day Lunch/Dinner we went to Sipz www.sipz.com and I had a bowl of Lemon Grass Delite Tofu, my absolute FAVORITE with Brown Rice and a side of Steamed Broccoli and Bok Choy. Yum Yum!

Then to continue our "date night" we watched videos and had popcorn with Junior Mints. One of my old FAVORITES that I really haven't thought about until sometime last week - so I got a couple of boxes of junior mints. YUMYUMYUMYUM! What a treat and oh how I enjoyed it.

What was even MORE enjoyable was when I got on the scale monster this morning and I weighed ...

Yup! 125.2 I am down 1.1 MORE pounds YAY!

So let's look at how my body has TRANSFORMED:

1. NOsing for past NINETY DAYS, and

2. Decreasing the frequency and duration of my workouts, while increasing the intensity for the past FIVE WEEKS.

March 24, 2oo8 I weighed 134.6 and my BMI was 23.8 I don't know what my bodyfat was then. But on May 15 my bodyfat was 27.7%

TODAY I weight 125.2, my BMI is 22.2, and my body fat is 23.6%

THAT MEANS I have lost 9.4 pounds AND decreased my BMI by 1.6 AND in the past five weeks of Nosing combined with the stated changes in my workout routine have decreased my body fat by 4.1%.

I am REALLY pleased.

My goal is 20% bodyfat. My personal trainer thought I could get there in six months, so that would be in a little over four months.

I am right on target, I am shrinking, and I feel great!

This is what I love about the NO S Diet!

Photo: Popcorn and Junior Mints, my ninety day results on the Scale Monster

Weekly Menus

It's Friday night and it's a bit late for me to be blogging, but I wanted to get up the lovely photo of my lunch.

I have been eating pretty much the same thing all week and it has been FABULOUS!

Those cherries are out of this world!

I am finding as I go along that I like planning weekly menus. This probably works well for me since I go to the Farmer's Market every Saturday morning to buy produce. I kind of go there and figure out what the week is going to be like from there.

Last weekend the fruit was ABUNDANT.

I suspect it will be for a few more months.

I have decided I am going to eat as much as I can get on my plates this summer.

WHY NOT?!?!?!?

Tomorrow I want to get some of the corn and more veggies. I think I am going to do steamed veggie platters for dinner with new potatoes and corn (hopefully they will still have those tomorrow). I am probably going to keep up with the "lunch plates" in the photo. They are so satisfying and I really liked the Amy's Tofu and Brown Rice Bowls for breakfast, although for one or two days the scrambled eggs are nice.

I am a little done with yogurt for a while.

That is why I love No S, it just makes it so easy to go with the flow, the season, my tastebuds, my hankerings, my cravings, and my desires.

I think this is how its supposed to be!

Photo: Z pizza arugula salad www.zpizza.com with Baked Tofu and Bing Cherries

The Journey Continues

Cherries are in season and I the ones I had today were the best! Deep red, firm, and just the right amount of sweet tartness.

YUM!!!!!!!!

I wish I had something really deep to say today but I don't.

Being on the NO S Diet as opposed to the binging/restricting/i don't care lifestyle I was on before is so different. All of the energy I spent trying to control my weight and food intake has been released to deal with other things. This makes my days and my life more organized, more productive and more effective.

Sometimes it is embarassing when I think of all the time and energy I have devoted through the years to food/dieting/how much I weigh. But there is absolutely nothing that I can do about that now.

But I can do a LOT about the present and the future.

And my commitment to my self and to my husband and to all those I love and care about is to continue my No S journey.

Hey! THAT was kind of deep!

Photo: Scrambled Eggs and Tofu Sausage

Absolutely Ingenious

I was looking at my Habitcal the other day and I realized, this will be the longest period I have gone without any NWS days.

That is Non Weekend S days in No S Diet speak.

I began the NO S diet midafternoon on a Monday - March 24. I counted that as NWS day. That was my one for March. Then I had one in April for a "luncheon" I had planned pre-No S.
I had two for May, one for my wedding anniversary and the second one for Memorial Day.

But none for June. Not one.

When I first started No S I did not want to do S days. I was really skeptical that they might actually help me stay on the diet in the long run. I have found out since then, that Reinhard was right about this. The criticalness of S days on the No S Diet.

Then there were NWS days. And I thought. I don't want those. But then I tried one and I liked it. Now in the middle of my longest stretch of no NWS days, I am understanding that Reinhard is right about them too. You should take them. I can see now how S days and NWS days REALLY DO make the NO S Diet absolutely SUSTAINABLE for the long haul.

Ingenious.
The No S Diet is absolutely ingenious!

Photo: Ingredients for my homemade Curry Dal ... Brown Lentils, Chili Powder, Coriander Powder, Turmeric Powder, Garlic, Serrano Chili (not pictured Ginger) and Unfiltered Olive Oil

I Could Get Used to This

I tried another Rice Bowl with fruit for breakfast this morning. This one was the blackeyed pea bowl with a peach. Although the peach was beautiful and smelled delicious it was not so good.

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT.

And the blackeyed pea bowl wasn't as satisfying as the tofu brown rice bowl.

VERY INTERESTING.

I might try it one more time to make sure it was not just the weather.

Otherwise I had a pretty good day.
My life on NO S is so even-keeled.

I used to live on a roller coaster of emotions, swinging and swirling, but now ...

NOT SO MUCH.

I could get use to this.

Photo: Amy's Blackeyed Pea Bowl www.amys.com and Peach

Fabulous Monday!

I have to say that I am shocked to report that I had a pretty fabulous Monday. Now that it's all said and done I have to ask myself ... was it my breakfast?

As some of you know I am pretty "up" on www.amys.com. They have frozen, canned and other prepared foods BUT they do not use ingredients that we cannot pronounce, a lot of their ingredients are organic and they have great vegan AND gluten free options.

For about twelve years I have been wondering if wheat and I REALLY get along! A couple of years ago I even went and had several tests done at my doctor's. Nothing showed up in the number's but I notice I do feel better and think better when I reduce/limit my wheat.

For the past, I don't know how many weeks I have been eating a wheat based cereal for breakfast, granted it was sprouted wheat which is supposed to destroy the gluten, which is supposed to be what causes the problem for some people.

I finally got tired of my yogurt, berry, cereal breakfast last week and decided to try something different for breakfast. Several months ago, or maybe it was last year, I don't remember exactly, just that it was a while back, that AMY's dad eats one of her rice bowls for breakfast. I remember thinking ...

Hmmmm... I'll try that someday.

TODAY WAS THAT DAY.

For breakfast I had an Amy's tofu and rice bowl with three plums, fruit season is in HIGH SWING and I found it thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying and then I went on to just kind of float throught the rest of my day.

Was it a coincidence?
Or was it the rice bowl?

I really don't know.

But I am having another one for breakfast tomorrow with a peach.

My new intelligent dietary default breakfast ... Amy's brown rice bowls.

WHO KNEW?

Photo: Amy's Tofu and Brown Rice Bowl www.amys.com and three plums

Pizza for Giants and 2 Pump Lattes

This weekend seemed to be all about what we ordered. On Saturday morning, learned how to order my Starbucks Grande Chai Tea Lattes with 2 Pumps or 3, depending on how much sugar and flavor intensity I wanted. The "standard" Grande has 4 pumps. I decided I like the "3" best.

Then after ordering a Z10 Pizza for our late afternoon/evening meal, they had a Z18 when we showed up to pick it up. I have to admit that I have never seen such a huge pizza in my entire life, hence the "Pizza for Giants" epithet.

It ended up making two full meals, (Saturday and Sunday - Lunch/Dinner) for the two not so giant people who took it home. Saturday the meal was enhanced with the yummy Pear and Gorgonzola Salad.

Whew! What an interesting weekend.

Otherwise it was very RELAXING!

Sad to see it end.

Photos: Vegan Pizza for Giants, Z18, www.zpizza.com, Half of Large Pear and Gorgonzola Salad

T.G.I.F.

Thank God Its Friday!

That is about where I am at right now. I worked really hard this week and made a lot of progress, but I am so ready for the weekend and my chai tea latte tommorrow morning.

YES!

I won't lie. There were several times I thought today ... oh it would be just so nice to skip out to Starbucks RIGHT NOW!

But I just listened, didn't act and got back to work, to much good effect.

Now it is Friday evening I have finished my third one meal plate of the day and I know I can relax and that I am DONE until tomorrow morning.

That feels good.

REALLY GOOD!

Photo: Homemade Curry Dal

Intelligent Dietary Default

"Intelligent Dietary Default" is a term and a section that Reinhard Engel's has in his book, the NO S diet.

We all have dietary defaults. The things that we eat, every day for breakfast or every day for lunch, or every day for dinner.

Things that we eat that are "automatic" to us.

An intelligent dietary, Reinhard says in his book, would assure that "the convenient thing we unthinkingly reach for - the default - is reasonably healthy."

I have unwittingly created such "defaults" along the way on my journey on No S. Whether its the curried egg salad sandwich that I always eat with carrot sticks, or the repetitive breakfast of organic plain yogury, fresh blueberries and ezekiel cereal.

Another way I use "intelligent dietary defaults" is portion control. Whether its sticking with a regularly consumed portion of food or pulling my little pre-measured frozen goody bags out of the freezer on an S day. I just don't have to think.

And let's face it, sometimes when it comes to food I just don't want to think. I have other things on my mind, I don't have much time, whatever.

Tofu sausage and peas has been an intelligent dietary default in my world, even before I knew what it was. Quick to prepare, Convenient - cause I always keep the ingredients on hand. When I don't know what to eat, or just don't want to go to the trouble, I eat my little bowl of sausage and peas and I am always satisfied.

Intelligent Dietary Default.

Makes sense!

Photo: Tofu Sausage and Steamed Peas with EVOO, salt and pepper

Day 80

Another day has hurried by.

It was a good day,but I am noticing that I don't have any NWS days planned for the month of June.

I am planning to make up for that with three in July, but I can see now why Reinhard recommends that we take them.

I had a really good food day, which basically means that I thoroughly enjoyed every single bite of food that I ate.

Nothing big or exciting. Just another day of nosing and being free of all of things that got in the way of having so many good days before I started No S.

I guess I can report that today is day 80. I suppose there is some signficance to that.

Photo: Arugula salad from Z pizza www.zpizza.com with Baked Tofu and Bing Cherries

Nature Really Does Abhor a Vaccum

Today turned out to be just a really good day.

I thought it was going to be overwhelmed and hectic, but somehow it was not.
Rather it was focussed and highly productive.
I LOVE THAT!

I also had two curried egg salad sandwiches, one for lunch and one for dinner.
Obviously, I LOVE THOSE TOO!

To top it all off I had a little Monavie "nightcap". Monavie, in case you were wondering is a "functional beverage". Which means that it is a whole fruit juice with acai berry and it claims health and nutrtitive benefits. I simply LOVE the way it tastes. But since the acai berry has something like 100 times more antioxidants than blueberries, I also get to feel very virtuous when I am drinking it.

I love it when my life feels organized and things flow.
Does not happen often when you are binging and restricting.
Things are jerky, chaotic, often unpleasant.

I am well into my third month of nosing.

The longest I have lasted on any diet/food plan is six months.

I still have thoughts ... about binging.
The other day I noticed I felt sad when I noticed binging was gone.

With S days there just don't seem any real compelling reasons to binge.

I suspect like smoking, coffee and alcohol, I will want to ...
but now I know I don't have to.
I know I am not some powerless addict who has no control over what I put in my mouth.
I know I have had some really bad habits when it comes to food and eating for most of my life.

But what No S has given e is some REALLY GOOD HABITS to replace them.

And that apparently is what I needed, because, after all, nature really does abhor a vacuum.

Photo: Eight ounce shot of Monavie

M-m-m-m-monday

Another M-m-m-m-monday is done. Thank goodness!

For me Monday is almost always the toughest day of the week, not only am I right off the weekend, but it is most often the busiest, most intense and most demanding day of the week for me so I am always glad when monday's are done and I have gotten through the bulk of my to do list and still gotten greens on my HabitCals.

Of which now I have three.

One for No S.

One for my PROJECT.

And one for Oxycise.

Oxycise www.oxycise.com is a a deep breathing/stretching exercise that I love to do and feels great but since I learned of it several years ago I have never been able to string together a very long stretch of doing it daily.

Thus the creation of a HabitCal for Oxycise.

I got my first red square yesterday.

I didn't want to do ANYTHING ...

including breathe deeply.

But I got greens across the board today and the to do list is done and I am going to bed early as I like to be able to do on Mondays.

Apologize for the fact that the photo today includes a big thumbprint on the camera lense.

It is all wiped up so won't be seeing that again!

Have a good one!

Photo: Raneir Cherries and Pear and Gorgonzola Salad from Z Pizza www.zpizza.com

Lovely Italian Dinner

One of the wonderful things about S days is being able to go out with my husband on Saturday night and have a lovely multi-course italian dinner at Il Fornaio http://www.ilfornaio.com/!

First course for me was the Minestra alla Siciliana Swiss chard and root vegetable soup. Yum!

First course for him was Pumaroru cu Piacintinu Ennese Heirloom tomatoes, Piacintinu cheese, onions, caperberries, olives and Sicilian extra-virgin olive oil. I myself cannot speak directly to the deliciousness of this dish, but my husband raved about it.

Next up for me was the Risotto cu Formaggi di Piecura Caranoli rice with asparagus, artichokes, fava beans, peas and pecorino cheese. This was good. But the BEST risotto I ever had was the risotto we had the last night we were in Rome, in a little restaurant on the outskirts of the city. Unfortunatley, since it was so good, ANY risotto I have had since then has not quite measured up. Oh. Well. It seems that risotto really is an art! I ate about half of it. It was VERY rich!

My husband's second course was Barilotti au Fornu Barrel Shaped pasta with fried eggplant and tomato-basil sauce, baked with scamorza and caciocavallo cheese. He also liked this dish very much.


For DOLCI my husband enjoyed the Cosi Duci. Cannoli and profiteroles with chocolate-hazelnut gelato. Sorry did not get a picture and I had a couple of pieces of Godiva chocolate and three squares of my bittersweet almond bar from Trader Joes. VERY RICH INDEED!

I just love S days!

CIAO!

Photos: Italian dinner, see blog for details

Smooth Sailing upon the Stormy Seas of Life

Another good No S day.

Smooth sailing. Somehow all this nosing keeps me on an incredibly even keel.

How does that work?

I don't know.

All I know is that it does.

With food in its proper place and having a proper place, it seems like its easier for everything else to find and have its proper place as well.

There must be something metaphysical

Or holistic about this.

Possibly both.

The inner peace of food and eating now permeates my life rather than the inner chaos of binging, restricting and obsessing.

I would love to give this to everyone I meet.

Smooth Sailing upon the Stormy Seas of Life.

Photo: Arugula Salad from www.zpizza.com and Baked Tofu

Another Good, Busy, Productive No S Day

Another good, busy, productive No S day.

It never ceases to amaze me how eating my three one plate meals a day with nothing in between keeps the rest of my day on track.

Had a chance to spend time with a good friend AND get my work done on my PROJECT and will probably also manage to get to bed at a decent hour!

It's looking like tomorrow will be a more slowed down day, so after this hectic week, that will be a nice way to end it!

I got out of my food rut today.
May fall back in tomorrow, but that is OK!

My training sessions with my personal trainer are going really well. I have dropped down to exercising three to four times a week and I like that A LOT!

Photo: Lemongrass Delite Tofu with Brown Rice and Steamed Vegetables ... from www.sipz.com

I Think They Call It Life

This is my sweet kitty!
And she is so pretty.

She keeps me company when I work on my PROJECT!

Sometimes when I want to snack I get down on the floor with her and pet her and play with her.
It does me a world of good.

She seems to like it too!

I ate the same thing today that I did yesterday.
That would be leftovers and a food rut.

I am so stuck on that curried egg salad sandwich. I finish eating that and I feel like I have been completely nourished. I feel so good. Hard to explain.

I am also stuck on my ezekiel cereal, with fresh blueberries and organic plain yogurt. YUM!

The past three nights I have been drinking a large glass of Monavie for dinner. I started Monday a bit nauseous and then my husband joined me. I am not sure I will keep doing that although it is so nice to have no dishes and no clean up.

I have been sleeping pretty good.

This has been ANOTHER full week.
WHEN WILL THINGS SLOW DOWN?
Hopefully next week. But I said that last week.
I think they call it life.

Photo: my sweet little kitty!

THIS IS YUM!

Today for lunch I had my Curried Egg Salad Sandwich with Carrot Sticks.

The recipe is from the book Cook Right For Your Type, by Peter A'damo and Catherine Whitney, with a few of my own personal embellishments. It is DELICIOUS!

Curried Egg Salad Sandwich

4 hard boiled eggs

2 Tbsp Vegannaise (allright you can use mayo if you prefer!)

1 tsp. good curry powder

1 tsp. salt (preferably celtic sea salt)

sprouted whole wheat bread

romaine lettuce leaves

slices of red onion

Crumble the hard boiled eggs and mix and mash with Vegannaise, curry powder and salt.

If you have time allow to chill.

Serve on toasted sprouted wheat bread with romaine lettuce leaves and red onion slices.

THIS IS YUM!

Photo: Curried Egg Salad Sandwich with Carrot Sticks

Still Yakking About Mondays

It was Monday. Certainly not the worst Monday I have had on No S. But I did have to ease up on my expectations for myself to get through the day without going NUTS!

I had quite a bit to do and yesterday's eating left my tummy not feeling too good this morning.

But I it has defintely turned out to be a good day and a success.

It is weird how the rhythm that NO S creates with food and eating spills over into your life. Well, at least spills over into mine.

Before No S I was like on accelerate to high or hitting the brick wall. Somehow with NO S it has become simpler, easier, more natural? more apparent that I need to? modulate my activities and appointments so that they are more manageable.

It's this rhythm it creates.

Like today, Monday, my least favorite day of the week. I would experience severe spillage if I had indulged over the weekend before No S. Why? Well, who really wants to deal with Monday morning every Monday morning?

Sometimes would just rather not leave that relaxed weekend groove. But No S doesn't let me fool myself. NOW if I want to use food to stay in the weekend groove it is VERY APPARENT.

So I don't. And that puts me in a whole other space.

A good one.

Photo: Pear and Gorgonzola Salad from Z Pizza www.zpizza.com