Mother Hen and Chick

Happy Friday! Life changes are starting to add up. Im looking forward to life long results. I love salt. I even salt watermelon. So Im cutting back on salt. With a long family history of heart disease & my high blood pressure this is no doubt a good addition to the life change list. The weekend is about to hit so I better decide on the next two days now or I will skip them. For Day 4 I will add 50 jumping jacks to the daily routine. Day 5. This one pains me to type. Smaller meat portions. Ugh. I love meat. We raise our own beef & pork. Having all this farm fresh raised meat in my freezer is a blessing. I need to simply eat an appropriate serving size. Stopping: Day 1: Drinks with sugar. (Current exception is creamer). Day 2: Donuts & little debbie type snacks. Day 3: Added Salt. Day 4: 50 Jumping Jacks Day 5: Smaller meat portions.

Today I am giving up donuts and little debbie type snacks. Sadly this is another bad daily habit. Im sure I will see noticeable results dropping these items from daily consumption. Working next to a grocery store is a big part of why this is an ongoing battle. I have managed to avoid delicious donuts in the office break room. Small victories. I am switching to fiber one bars. Overtime I would like to go to something different but going from a 300+ calorie snack down to 140-150 calorie snack is an improvement. Stopping: Day 1: Drinks with sugar. (Current exception is creamer). Day 2: Donuts & little debbie type snacks.

Why do I fight losing weight so dramatically? Ive fought with this for years. Discipline and an iron will seem to be hard to summon these days. I have lost over 40 lbs before so why cant I do it again? This question has been buzzing in my brain the last few weeks. I have decided to take it day by day as of right now. Today I will stop drinking sugary drinks -which I am fairly reliable at but I have fallen back into the bad habit. I will limit my pumpkin spice creamer habit which is currently adding 180 extra calories per day. So today I am committing to cutting sugary drinks. Hopefully breaking these changes down into small steps will make for longer lasting success. I need long term success.

Oh Zucchini you are a prolific garden wonder. But what will I do with you? We planted over 20 zucchini plants this spring and are reaping the harvest. Zucchini is a sturdy squash with great bug resistance. A summer staple. Here are a few great ideas for utilizing your abundance: 1. Grated. Grate and freeze zucchini for baking breads, pancakes, or for sneaking veggies into anything. 2. Diced/chopped. Stir fry is a go to meal for us and zucchini is a healthy veggie to put in the mix. Great for roasting in the oven as well. We freeze lots. 3. Noodles. For a lower carb option run the zucchini through a veggie noodle maker. Bake the zucchini for a short time and pour off the water. Stir fry in oil at higher heat until tender then add spaghetti sauce. Shocked me that this was actually good and not a pinterest lie. 4. Apple replacement. Replace apples with zucchini in pies, crisps, and cakes. 5. Pineapple replacement. My MIL cans zucchini in pineapple juice. Zucchini takes on th...