Irish Eyes are Smilin'

For this Irish lass, St. Paddy's Day has always been special.

I'm 3/8ths Irish, 1/8 German from my mother's side and who knows about my father's side. I do know my father's name Cole is Scotch-Irish, and my paternal grandmother was part Cherokee. Other than that I'm still learning about it.

So I'm close to half Irish. And I've always liked celebrating all parts of my heritage. It's what makes me up what I am.

Today is probably one of the first times I haven't had at least one festive green beer and maybe a scone or some Corned Beef and Cabbage. I don't even have a desire to have a beer, but I did miss the fun, social aspects of St. Patrick's Day.

I did make myself some faux bangers and mash and that was pretty satisfying. I made my new-favorite mashed cauliflower and garlic for the mash and hit the griddle with some sausages. Bangers and mash!!!

Had a rough last couple of days stomach-wise ... it's pretty tender after losing my lunch yesterday, which was sort of traumatic because I didn't have the nausea medicine I'd been prescribed for emergencies (which I 've not had many.) I may have been at fault for that because of the salsa I'd left out and then used in my omelette yesterday morning. I made myself some ground buffalo (bison) patties with sauteed onions for lunch yesterday and they came out just perfect. I have two patties left and am hoping those aren't the culprit, since they tasted so good and they are really high-quality protein. Plus, they go to my Cherokee part of my heritage. Will find out when I eat the leftovers I guess.

And to add insult to injury, for some crazy reason I weighed in at 223 this morning, when I was 219 a few days ago. Go figure. When you're geting less than 1,000 calories a day, there is absolutely no reason for that. I don't feel puffy or any different than I did at 219, so I just don't get it.

I did read on VerticalSleeveTalk that eating too few calories could cause a stall from your body trying to horde the food. I'd never heard it might make you gain weight. Can't figure out what might have caused that -- maybe sodium? Still not going to stop weighing in every day though -- reminds me of how I was when I was truly thin in my 20s.

It will all come out in the wash, if you'll forgive the cliché, my dear friends.

Onward,

Carol

Hunger averted?

Today was my six-week check-up with my friends at WeightWise aka my surgeon Dr. Gregory Walton's office. Things are going great guns: good weight loss, feeling good, looking better every day and only a few tiny bumps.

Steph, WeightWise's awesome dietician (and I'm not just saying that because she'll probably read this,) said I actually need to EAT MORE at my three main meals, because I have been getting hungry mostly in the late afternoons and later in the evenings. Ummmmm, what?? Really??

The key is, though, that I have to take smaller bites, chew them well and more slooooowwwwwwllllllllyyyyyy. Does she know I grew up with brothers who would basically eat everything in site if you didn't get there first.? Sigh. OK, I worked on eating slower at lunch today and I'll be a work in progress for awhile. But work I will, because I'd rather work at it than be hungry. I promise.

The small bumps I've incurred haven't been much. Had some fatigue for the first three to four weeks. A couple of bouts with nausea over things like the twice-daily, fruity, chewable multi-vitamins that make you pucker. I switched to capsules for a couple of weeks and that helped. My body didn't like it when I added veggies at four weeks, but it settle down after about a week of integrating the veggies.

I started back on yoga twice weekly for an hour at three weeks out with my yoga trainer Thomas Thompson. And I started my cardio back at four weeks out, and have worked back up to 30 minutes on the stationary bicycle and 12 minutes on the treadmill, even with rotten ol' knees. Am increasing treadmill times, so I can walk farther when I need to.

Speaking of veggies, my new favorite veg is mashed cauliflower. It doesn't taste like cauliflower (really it doesn't) and it is an excellent substitute for the mouth feel of mashed potatoes. Have tried several recipes for them, but this is the best – from the Paleo Comfort Cookbook. I was so shocked when I actually liked them, but these are yummy.

Mashed Cauliflower
1 head fresh cauliflower
1 c. chicken stock
1/4 t. fresh cracked pepper
2 large cloves garlic, crushed

Cut cauliflower head into small chunks of the florets and stem.

Place ingredients in a medium saucepan or Dutch oven and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and cover, allowing to cook for 20 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender and easily mashed with a fork. It may need more stock if dry or liquid can be poured off and reserved if too much.

Place cooked cauliflower in the bowl of a food processor or blender with a small amount of leftover broth, or leave in pot and use immersion blender. Cauliflower can be mashed manually, but it will not be as smooth as with a food processor. Add some of the reserved broth if necessary or additional chicken broth.

Onward,

Carol