Tricks Of The Trade!

smoothie2That eternal battle to, at the very least, keep the scale at bay wages on! Now that spring  finally seems to be here (anyone know where I can find Puxatony Phil…. that lying little rodent?!) maybe I can start with some nice, soft walks along our very swollen river. Also, the pool will be opening soon. Of course, it will be at least a month before the water is warm enough for me to get into it…. with my sensitivity to cold. Nonetheless, it will get me out of the house, by the pool and hopefully in more of a ‘no -red-light-food’ frame of mind.

Now morning would not be morning without my fruit and almond mik smootie.  That is about as healthy as you can get! You take assorted choices of frozen fruit….. for me, mango, pineapple, blueberries and strawberries, put it in the blender, cover it vanilla almond milk (I am lactose intolerant and almond milk is healthier than soy milk!); I add a little stevia and blend. Sometimes I have to let it sit and thaw for about five minutes, but soon, I have a lovely, blended concoction of YUM and a good start to my day!

shrimpsalad Of course anyone that knows anything about me knows I live for sauteed fresh sweet peppers and red onion wraps and cottage cheese and pineapple for lunch. However, I have found a new lunch to ‘shake it up’ a bit here and there and have a change of pace! My last blog was devoted to how things are getting a bit ‘fishy’ around here and we are eating more fish. Well, that is true! That includes lunch as well as dinner. I have discovered, shrimp salad! YUMMY! I simply get bagged, ready to eat salad and add salad shrimp (put them in a strainer and run the frozen shrimp under cold water for a few minutes and they are ready!), top it with 1000 island dressing (I prefer real dressing so I use a little bit of real vs. a lot of diet which is full of processed crap). This is delicious! The ready to eat salad shrimp are only $3.99 a bag at Kroger right now. That is good for at least four salads.  It is also very healthy. For those wanting to go one step further, you could use balsamic vinegar or even lemon juice and have a tantalizing treat. For those fairly recent Post RNY: salad shrimp would be a great protein punch that is so needed when you have the surgery and your body is reacting like a sky-diver from an airplane that is flying at  10,000 feet….. straight from the air hurling towards the ground! Those little tiny shrimps are packed with protein! As much as I love my pepper wraps, they are not really big on protein. I don’t care for putting cheese in with them, so adding cheese for me is not really an option. Having shrimp salads a few times a week also breaks the monotony of just having the same thing day in and day out.

water1

One more ‘trick of the trade’ I have recently learned: to infuse my water! I am one of those people that really just plain and simple, has a very difficult time drinking the water I am supposed to drink. I got a ‘share’ on my Face Book from my best friend since High School about adding tangerines, cucumber, grapefruit, ice and peppermint leaves (which I cannot find; tho I found a mint plant at Wal Mart I am going to try my hardest not to kill! I make NO promises) …. you add these to water bottles/ cups and putting them in the fridge for several hours. It infuses the water with anti-oxidants, fat melting boosters and just plain old ‘stuff that is good for us’. On top of that, it flavors the water naturally and makes it much more palatable and refreshing! I really enjoy it and find myself drinking much, much more water than I was before. Wow! If I had known this years ago, I would be drinking so much less diet soda and way more water! You can change it up how you like it….. more tangerines less cucumber (I don’t put a lot of cuke in it)….. more grapefruit/less grapefruit, add a lime, etc. The point is, you are adding natural and extremely low calorie items in small quantities. Try it! I know you will love it like I do! I even eat the tangerines when I am done with a water bottle. frustrationIn the meantime, if you are like me, I am frustrated! But I am just doing my best, after all, that is all I can do! I am maintaining so as long as I maintain I can accept that for now. I don’t like it, but I can accept it. I only want to lose about 20 lbs, and I will! Oh, I will! For now, I wanted to share a few ‘tricks of the trade’ and hope that maybe they have sparked that light bulb for you or helped you out! Until next time, K.