Having Support and it's Importance!

I would have to say that having support and other people in your life who are trying to be better as well is oh so important. If you don't have anyone here I am! Along with the others on my facebook page.

My most recent relationship is a lot of the reason I gained so much weight. Not blaming him directly but it had a lot to do with me feeling really down on myself. When I first got with him in October it was all really great and then in November it turned into him making jokes about my weight or making comments about me eating. Just horrid and cruel things. We were never physical in our relationship because of how crappy he made me feel about myself. When he asked me why I never kissed him anymore I would just say because I'm tired and I really thought that is what it was and then on Valentine's Day it all clicked! I don't WANT to kiss him or even be near him because of the way he talks to me! When I told him this he said he didn't realize it was hurting me. I think that sounds idiotic, how can u not know that making fun of someones weight would bother them. Shortly before I realized what a douchebag this guy was I would go to the grocery store like every other day, stock up on chips, dip, doughnuts, pop, and ice cream and that is all I would eat. I would sit on the couch with a bag of chips and dip and eat the whole thing. Every time I sat down he could say, "I hope you don't eat that whole thing. You should watch your weight. Remember when it was important to you?" You may think it might sound caring but in way shape or form was it.

I would sit and eat all of this and not have a single care in the world! I would enjoy eating it because it was the only thing that made me feel good because I had someone in my life constantly making me feel like crap. While I was still with him I watched "Hungry For Change" and I wanted to change how I was eating and how i was feeding my kids as well. I told him how I wanted to change and even had him watch the movie. He was not interested in any way to try and eat healthy and even made comments about how i would be back on the couch eating ice cream the next night. Absolutely no faith in me. How can one live with that? You can't, so I told him I was done and it was completely over! I could not believe what I had put up with through that relationship and it was only like 5 months.

I'm a much stronger woman and I let myself down but then I started to pick myself up and within two weeks I felt like I was on top of the world! I was finding weight loss support pages on facebook, searching the health and fitness boards on pinterest, reading health articles, researching natural foods and recipes, as well as connecting with other people I know in my life who are positive. I have some very amazing family and friends! I would not have even half of my motivation if it wasn't for them. And now a lot of them are starting to eat healthy as well!! I go to church every Sunday and surround myself with the positive of God and the good people who worship him with me. Thanks to my parents for nagging me to go! Accepting God as my savior has been the best thing I have done as far as leading a positive life. If anything negative does happen, I know God is there so I need not worry. I even went through my friends list on facebook and deleted people that were always posting negative things or starting those ridiculous fights. I think I'm going to go through and do another facebook cleaning here soon. Rid your life of negativity. And when your doing so, pray for those people...

Surround yourself with good people who care and have a positive outlook. That is one of the most important aspects of being successful, to me anyways. It can make a world of difference.

April...Keeping it Simple ;)

Why can and dehydrate? READ!

Well I conquered my first attempt at canning! Canned some chili. I also went shopping today and bought about $70 worth of fruits and veggies. Roma tomatoes were on sale so bought a ton of those and going to can. Plus a lot of the fruit will be dehydrated and stored in the pantry.

Why can and dehydrate food?

First off I want to make sure that my children always have something to eat if the power were to ever go out or if there was ever a disaster of some sort. You never know what could happen. I'm not a survivalist nut I just don't see anything wrong with being prepared. I'll date all my food and make sure it is used and not wasted but my goal is to make at least a months worth of food and store it. Canning may seem complicated but it is sooo easy! Plus I know what is going in our food and that alone is comforting. Dehydrated fruits and veggies can last up to a year and dehydrated meats can last that long as well but only if they are vacuum sealed. Anyways, that is more detailed stuff I can get into later :) Any questions, just ask

The second reason is to save money!!! You buy your veggies every week..la de da...But what if your favorite veggie or fruit goes on sale? Roma tomatoes were just on sale at m grocery store so I bought a ton of them and going to can them this week :) So buy the produce when it is on sale, can it or dehydrate it and don't pay full price every week!

Plus it is a great feeling knowing exactly what is in your food and that it is HEALTHY! My pantry is barely stocked right now but it makes me feel so accomplished to know I'm well on my way to making sure my kids never go hungry and eat healthy. Absolutely love it! :)

April...Keeping it Simple ;)

If you do have any questions you can email me aprilorsten at yahoo dot com

Food dehydrating recipes

I started dehydrating for the first time today. I started out with just tomatoes to add in salads and what not but then I saw I had zucchini I needed to use and wanted to try apples for my kids to eat. But plain old veggies and fruit? No way, so I spiced them up a bit!

Tomatoes – Sprinkled with chili powder (next time I think I might seed them and then mix them with olive oil and chili powder

Zucchini – cut in half and then cut up into thin slices and put in a small bowl with some olive oil and then I had a chipotle lime rub that I got from my cousin Andrea who is a distributor for wildtree natural foods and I added that. Put on the lid and shook them all up till the zucchini was coated. Spread out on the dehydrator racks. 

Apples – cut into slices going from the top of the apple to the bottom. Put some olive oil in a bowl and add a teaspoon of cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon of cloves. 

My house smells absolutely delicious right now with this mix of smells!!! I cannot even describe it! Oh it is so wonderful. I'm looking into dehydrating meats and other things and then you can vacuum seal them and they will last up to a year! Talk about pantry stocking!


VEGETABLE STOCK! As many of you know I juice fresh vegetables EVERY single morning and I've been throwing all this pulp away. I am trying to find all these ways to not waste any food at all. So when I juice my veggies in the morning I take out the pulp and kind of mush it together (so small pieces don't fall all over the place) and lay it on my dehydrator sheets. When it dries, grind it up in the processor and here is powdered vegetables to make soup with! UGH What a great idea!! 

April...Keeping it Simple ;)

What do I juice?

My morning juice :)

The answer is...EVERYTHING!  Well, almost everything. Here is a good list of guidelines for juicing certain things :)

BANANAS
-Do not juice bananas. They will turn to mush and clog your machine BUT you can whip them up in the blender and add your juice in with it if you would like banana.

BROCCOLI
-I don't juice florrets but when I cut them off of the "broccoli tree" for dinner one night, I save the tree part for the next morning and juice that. You can see it in the picture above next to the cucumber. Better than trying to eat it!

RADISHES
-When juicing radishes leave the stems and leaves on. Full of more nutrients and fiber for you and will also help cleanse your blood.

APPLES
-When juicing an apple make sure to cut it up to EXCLUDE the seeds. They have a bitter taste for adults and can be toxic for kids. So best to just cut them out

KALE
-Juice the whole thing, stem and all

CUCUMBER
-They make a TON of juice so a very good base!

CARROTS
-Make sure to cut off the green stems of carrots because they are toxic.

PARSLEY
-When juicing parsley do not juice A LOT. Just a small handful or it can be toxic as well

Other than that just juice away!
celery
brussel sprouts
collard greens
spinach
anything green and leafy
jalapenos
CILANTRO is a great detoxifying herb
 Basically anything along with fruit :)

April....Keeping it Simple ;)

A grocery trip

My grocery trip :)

I have been getting questions about what I shop for. What is NOT processed food? What are some essentials? Most common items on my list? So here it goes! Everything is organic unless I state otherwise

•  Tomato Juice (Going to make a HUGE pot of chili and can it :)
• Vegetable Broth (for quinoa and lentils cause water is boring)
• flax seed whole wheat pita bread
• honey nut toasted cereal
• french dressing
• nut chips
• tomato sauce
• kidney/black beans
• diced tomatoes (I usually use fresh but they were on sale for cheap!)
• carrots
• celery
• peppercorns
• mini chocolate chips cookies
• animal crackers (last two are healthy snacks for the kids)
• spinach
• mixed greens
• green tea with blueberry (have 2-3 cups a day!)
• maple syrup
• gummy vitamins for the kids
• kefir
• almond milk
• chocolate almond milk (treat for the kids at supper)
• papaya spears and mango slices (all natural!)
• greek yogurt (buy PLAIN. About 1/3 the calories of flavored. Sweeten your own with honey or fruit. Thanks Rachel Bjork!)
• Beef sticks (100% grass fed local beef, no chemicals, no nothing.)
• feta cheese
• quick oats
• green pepper (not organic)
• bananas (not organic)
• apples(2 bags, plus 3 pink lady apples)
• tomatoes
• avocados
• cucumber
• zucchini
• brussel sprouts
• cilantro
• kale

I have never bought any type of dressing before but it was organic and I understood all the contents of it, and the olive oil is getting boring. lol. But just a wide array of stuff and this is a typical shopping trip. i didn't get much meat because I have quinoa and lentils to use up and I only got the beef sticks as a nice snack for my daughter...She is a brute haha. Other than that I juice all the veggies except the avocado, tomato, and green pepper. Was looking for jalapenos because I was going to make a spicy drink this weekend but was unable to find any at the grocery store so going to check out the other one later on.

But with the tomato juice I just bought a huge pot and I am going to fill it with my chili recipe and then can it so I have a bunch of chili on hand whenever I need it. Something I am going to be doing with my Dad :)

My other shopping trips

Most of all my meals are mainly veggies and then I had quinoa, lentils, brown rice pasta or meat to them. But veggies are the base and fill 3/4 of our plates.


ENJOY! My next post will be on how I store my veggies, cleaning, making sure they stay fresh!


April....Keeping it Simple ;)

BEST "secret" to weight loss!

Truth is, it's not a secret! It is common sense. The only thing that works is eating right and exercising. There are no secret methods to lose 15 lbs in 3 days, chances are you will just gain it right back. Losing weight is not about counting calories, it is about eating the right foods for your body and none of that low calorie fat free crap but real clean food. Sorry to bust your bubble but it is not a temporary way of eating to lose weight, it is a complete lifestyle change that you have to go through. So you lose all the weight you want and go back to your old way of eating. Think u will stay skinny? Definitely not. And it isn't even about losing weight, although it is a plus, to me it is about being healthy and keeping my kids healthy. I want to be around for my grandkids graduation someday! You can't change your eating for a couple months and then go back. You have to make a dedicated decision to change your entire way of eating. And you will definitely reap the benefits!! Is that saying that you can't have a Triple Chocolate Meltdown from Applebees once in a while, of course not, but it needs to be in moderation.

The "secret" is to eat all natural foods that our bodies were meant to digest. Low calorie and fat free foods do not work. They are not food, they are food-like products and your cravings will only get worse because you are nutritionally starving your body from the food that it needs. Next time you go shopping buy almost all vegetables. Have a hard time eating a plate of veggies? I know I do. JUICE THEM! I juice 4 kale leaves, cucumber, 3 carrots, parsley, inch slice of ginger root, 4 radishes, 2 celery stalks, and an apple EVERY morning! All that nutrition in one drink and no sitting having to force veggies down your throat. It's tough, I've tried it.

My morning Juice regimen

I used to eat all those slim-fast shakes and low cal food...I was always starving! And not because my body wanted food but because my body wanted the RIGHT food. Like I said your next shopping trip should consist of almost all veggies, lentils, quinoa, beans, whole wheat grains, some chicken for meat...And a good tip is to stick to the outside of the grocery store. All the bad stuff is usually in the middle. But most of your time should be spent in the veggies and fruit section! :) At first the tastes may seem weird but after awhile the tastes will be absolutely delicious and you will have so much fun making your own mixtures of veggies, different spices, meats, grains...it's all a big experiment in the kitchen here!


April...Keeping it Simple :)

Green Sauce

My Salmon and Roasted Veggies with Green Sauce

I have been putting this new sauce that I made on just about everything! Veggies, Chicken, Turkey, Roll-ups, EVERYTHING! My daughter eats it straight out of the bowl I make it in. She just LOVES it and it's so good for you. Your body needs natural fats and avocados have that. Great recipe that I just MADE UP one day for something to put on my salmon. lol

Green Sauce
-2 avocados (skinned and pitted)
-2 garlic cloves (or more to taste, I LOVE garlic)
-juice from half a lime (I use a handheld juicer, works better than squeezing, get more juice)
-handful of spinach (can't even taste it and gives the sauce an extra kick of nutrition)

Black Bean and Lentil Veggie Soup

Black bean and lentil veggie soup!!

1 can black beans
1 container of vegetable broth, about 4 cups(may add more to preferred consistency)
2 cups of lentils
Carrots and celery to your liking...or other veggies, zucchini...?
Can also add some chicken or turkey.

SO SIMPLE and healthy!! And buying organic veggie broth and beans is no more expensive, cost the same as regular! At least where I shop.

Btw, this a recipe that I just started throwing stuff in a pot one night. Lol

Detoxing!

So you've decided to eat clean? Try detoxing! Detoxing sounds crazy but it is a big thing! At least it was to me. Detoxing consists of ridding your body of all the chemicals from that processed food, pop, sugar, and just all around bad stuff that you have been eating. What I did was I juiced all veggies. Can you imagine having a glass of fresh juice, not no v8 crap. Fresh, nutrient filled juice. Just imagine for a second what your body does when you stop eating crappy processed food and you give it nothing but pure goodness...It is going to repair itself and all those nutrients going into all of your cells and pushing out all the bad stuff. With all those bad things coming out you might feel a little different. Those bad "things" have been stored in your cells and are now being pushed out so don't stop even though you might feel different, keep going! 

   My juice every morning! SO GOOD! Add an apple for sweetness :)

Detoxing foods...                     

• Kale
• Spinach
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Brussel Sprouts
• Onion
• Chard
• Collard Greens
• Cabbage 
• Arugula
• Leafy green veggies!

Other detoxing food...

• Spirulina
• Aloe Vera
• Chia seeds
•  Garlic
• Coconut Oil
• Lime 
• Lemon

I'm not trying to get gross here but also imagine in your mind what the inside of your intestines look like. What did that one colon cleanser commercial say..."...stuck to the colon walls like spackle and paste." And that is exactly what it is like. It is like cement stuck in your intestines against the wall. And as your intestines are pushing "stuff" through to digest it can you imagine how it is hard to do that with pieces of cement here and there. And can you imagine how old all that "stuff" is? A really good thing to do to fix this is CHIA SEEDS! Chia seeds are the best. They suck that icky stuff right up and move it along. If you buy some try putting some in water and see what happens. It turns into a gel after awhile and you can drink this. I used to do it twice a day when I first started my clean eating but then I found other ways to incorporate chia seeds. I put them in oatmeal for my kids, in our shakes, soups, pizza, i mean EVERYTHING. 

Chia seeds are good because they are full of...

• essential fatty acids
• antioxidants
• calcium
• iron
• 41% of your daily fiber in ONE serving!
• anti-inflammatory
• natural extended energy

They are just all around great for you and I will post some chia seed recipes as well as the foods I put them in. You can really put them into anything!

So you get the point of detoxing. Just eat as many of the foods above to help your body get rid of all the bad stuff from the bad food that u have been eating. Remember, you might feel different as all the toxins will be getting pushed out of your cells to make room for the proper nutrition you are giving your body :) ENJOY!

April...Keeping it Simple :)

P.S. Make sure to share with your friends. Let's get people eating right and not making those companies rich that make chemical ridden food and try to addict us to it! lol

Differences in my own health

Before I changed my eating lifestyle I ate about everything processed. I was going out to eat at restaurants all the time and not ordering anything healthy, matter of fact far from healthy. I was feeding my family and myself boxed meals, 100 calorie packs, packaged treats(twinkies, cakes, teddy grahams), packaged meets, fake cheese, frozen dinners, and pop/chips. I barely ever cooked anything from scratch. It wasn't because I couldn't but because I was LAZY! Looking back on it now I just can't even fathom feeding my children those same foods. I have seen such a difference in my own life as well as in the health of my children.

One of the main differences that I have noticed in my own life is I am not so damn tired anymore! I used to sleep for 8-9 hours a night, get up with the kids, eat and then continue to lay on the couch all day and try to nap while my kids were doing what they wanted. I would get up and try to convince them to be quiet every once in awhile but all I really wanted to do was sleep. I can' believe the days I wasted just laying around...How many days we went without milk because I was too lazy to get up and go to the store. I just can't believe it. Nowadays, every morning I juice my veggies and that is how I get my jump start every day. If i don't juice then I feel like my whole day is out of whack, like I'm not feeling it lol. Anyways, without proper nutrition I would still be that fat lazy broad hollering at her kids to be quiet so she can sleep all day. I never want to nap anymore. It's just an amazing feeling to not want to lay around the house.

Another difference is my sleeping habits. I used to wake up in the middle of the night, thirsty, snacking, restless...Since I have made my lifestyle change I sleep through the night and I notice that i don't even sleep as much. Instead of sleeping till 8-9 in the morning I am up at 6-7. It truly is wonderful to feel fully rested everyday.

One big difference is the temperature in my house. What does that have to do with eating right? I am not so dang cold anymore!! I used to have my house at 70-75 degrees with a sweatshirt, sweatpants, an wool socks on because I was so dang cold! Poor circulation from not eating right might have been the case of that but I'm no Dr. I was always so cold, my fingers and toes were like ice cubes. Now my temperature is around 65 degrees in my house and if i turn it up to 70 on a super cold day it starts to get to hot in here. And this all changed about a week or two after I started juicing every morning and eating clean. 

My skin has shown a difference since I started eating clean. I used to have all these little bumps all over my legs and arms and it felt like sandpaper somedays. Now, they are still somewhat visible but they are smooth, there are barely any more bumps at all. I still have a few on my legs but my arms are completely smooth. My complexion on my face has done a complete 180! My face used to be whitish and tan, just kind of off and not very "flowy". I always felt like I had to wear make up to cover it up. Now I can't even remember the last time I wore foundation. The only thing I will put on is eyeshadow and mascara to match my outfit, it is such a natural look. It is almost like my face kind of "glows". Another one is blackheads. They have disappeared. I use an all natural olive oil soap that I used on my face and it has worked wonders. I never break out anymore and if I do it is when i have gone out to eat. I look so much healthier now just because of the difference in the skin on my face. It is just crazy!

This is just the start to go along with how much better my clothes fit (they are not so tight anymore!) my weight loss and much much more. So those are just the differences that I have noticed myself, not to mention all the people I know asking me if I've lost weight! lol

April...Keeping it Simple :)

Check out my facebook page group :)

Colorful Food

Just love this pic of the bright green colors of a meal I made one day...doesn't it just look delicious?! Those are brown rice noodles under there. :)

So ya wanna eat healthy?

So you have changed your mind about what you put into your body and you want to know more about what is better for you. First off you must know that anything that is sugar free, low calorie, or fat free is a hoax and none of it matters. Take a look at a nice leafy green salad (boring I know but just an example) and let's compare it to low calorie special K chips. Which is better? The salad of course, but why? The salad would consist of leafy greens, maybe some tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini....These are foods that are in our natural "wild" diet, as in what we ate before processed food came around. Take a look at the low calorie special k chips...what ingredient in those chips is natural for our bodies? Nothing really...It's not food, it is food-like products. Our bodies were not meant to digest chips, twinkies, or processed boxed meals, not to mention all the chemicals that are put into our food to make it look, taste, and smell better to make us want to buy more of it! All these unhealthy processed foods do nothing but make those companies money and make us unhealthy. I could go on and on for pages about all the reasons these foods are bad for us but for me just looking at the options of healthy and natural versus packaged and processed is an obvious difference. i will get more into explaining it all in later posts :)

To get healthy just making healthier choices...Take out pasta, add quinoa and barley...Make your meals mainly veggies...STOP drinking pop!...quit eating boxed meals

Every morning I juice a bunch of veggies and an apple. Can you imagine all the nutrients from one glass of absolutely delicious juice? And all of that going directly into my body and being digested immediately. It only takes 15 minutes for all those nutrients to get into my body cells. Ever since I have started juicing my skin has become clearer and glows more, I don't get random body aches or pains, I get a lot of my daily nutrients from ONE DRINK! There are just so many great things about juicing that I am going to make a bigger post about it later on. Getting late now.

• Cucumber
• Kale
• Carrots
• Radishes
• Celery
• Parsley
• Ginger Root
• Brussell Sprouts
• Apple

Snacks...Take a lot at what you snack on...one of those "1serving" bag of chips? donuts? granola bar? Get rid of all that processed food. It does absolutely no good for your body at all. Try snow peas with organic hummus (athenos hummus is sooo gross!) it is my absolute favorite snack! or green beans with hummus, greek yogurt with fruit, a small wrap with hummus, feta cheese and an array of peppers (red, green, yellow) amazing flavor!!! Basically just start rethinking what you are truly eating. Once I started to properly give myself the nutrition I needed I didn't have cravings at all like I used to. Do I still occasionally want an entire container of coffee flavored ice cream? You bet your ass I do! But I can control it and only take 5 bites instead of eating the whole thing and not caring. When your body is giving you signs that you are hungry, it is looking for nutrients not just food. If u are on a so-called diet and you feel hungry and have a hard time controlling your cravings it is because your body is nutritionally starved. That is why those 100-calorie packs never work because there is absolutely nothing in those packages that our body wants. Nothing but sugar if u ask me.

 Pita Pockets with hummus, feta, and peppers-TONS of flavor, SO GOOD!

But it is getting late and this is just to get your mind rolling. I will start getting into more of the different types of food and my next couple posts will be some easy healthy snacks and more about detoxing, restarting your body...

April...Keeping it Simple.

Homemade Pizza sauce

Homemade pizza sauce

3 tomatoes that are seeded (just squeeze them after cut in half and dig seeds out)
3 garlic cloves (or to taste)
1/4 cup onion (or to taste)
oregano, salt, pepper - to taste

Put all in food processor and let her go! Add water if you like your pizza sauce just a little less thick

Can also add some zucchini or carrots, great way to hide the veggies for kids!!!

Keeping it Simple - what this blog is about!

I have struggled with weight loss since I got pregnant with my first daughter. I now have two and my youngest is 2 years old. I've tried Herbalife, fad diets, pills, everything! It may work for some people but it never worked for me. Weight loss has been a nightmare and after each little spurt of dieting I would binge and then never quit and end up gaining more weight. What changed my life was watching the documentary "Hungry For Change". It opened my eyes to a lot of the reasons why my previous diets were not working and that reason is I was never getting enough nutrition and it was always about calorie counting and eating small portions of bad processed food. My body was nutritionally starved and that is where my horrid cravings and binging came from, and even the occasional episode of making myself throw up because I was so ashamed at myself for eating two bags of chips with two containers of dip, about 4000 calories? And that was right before bed and not to mention all the other food I ate that day!

After watching that documentary it really got me thinking as to what I am putting in my body and what was MEANT to go into my body. In the documentary they talk about what our bodies are able to digest and they sure didn't mention macaroni and cheese, I mean where is the nutritional value in mac and cheese? Our bodies were meant to digest plants, seeds, and other NATURAL foods, not highly processed foods. If you look at our diets as humans 30,000 years ago (we were the same then as we are now as far as brain development and what not) what did they eat? It sure as heck wasn't cheetos or twinkies. They lived off what the land had to offer and they were healthy! I'm not saying to go build a fort in the woods and fend for yourself but to just really take a look at what you are putting into your body. 

A big difference I have made is reading labels, it's the first thing you can start doing for yourself. Example is a pizza sauce in the "regular" section of the grocery store. I read the ingredients and there are things on there that I cannot pronounce. Those chemicals are added by companies to make their products look, taste, and smell better. The amount of processing that goes on really does take out a lot of the nutritional value, not to mention the chemicals, and your body was not meant to process them. Now take a label of organic pizza sauce (same cost, mind you) and I know every single ingredient on the label, there is absolutely nothing on the label that I cannot pronounce and have hefty knowledge as to what it is. As far as read labels goes, if I don't know what one of the ingredients is I will not eat it. 

Ok totally got off track as to what my page is going to be about and that is taking all this different information that I have found and putting it into one place. I was so overwhelmed when I started eating right with all the different websites and all the information that it almost frustrated me. I am still on my journey of weightloss and I am far from perfect but I do feel I can help people understand what to eat and I love sharing all the great healthy recipes that I have found as well as created!! I started having a bunch of friends asking me questions on facebook, started a page there, and my Dad suggested to start a blog, so here it is. If I ever someday have a large following, THANKS DAD!