City Island Southern Girl

New Blog

2011-01-05T14:57:00.000-05:00

For the new year, I have moved to here.

Thank you for following me throughout last year. Please follow me on my new page.

Blessings,
Kimberly

More of a Closeup of the Things in My Bedroom - Nautical Collection

2010-12-04T21:52:00.002-05:00

The last time I was here, other than for the Oatmeal Brownie recipe, which I just posted, I promised that I would show you a close-up of the things in my bedroom, because my bedroom redo post already had so many photos. I just want to start out by saying that most of the things in my bedroom I have found. When I first came to New York, that summer I lived at the beach. I went like 3 times a week - not to swim -- no, not that. I don't believe that YHWH meant for us to take our clothes off and reveal our near naked bodies to the opposite sex in that manner. Nope, I went in my clothes and walked, just soaking in His glory and His creation, singing hymns to Him and collecting things as I sent... you'll see them here. My husband wondered what in the world I was going to do with all that "junk" I found and brought in, but now... well, he's amazed at what I did with it. I don't believe in decorating with too much store bought things if one can get by with it. I love to shop at yard sales, thrift stores, etc., and get old, cheap stuff - when I can. That's the best say I think that one can decorate his or her home.

This is polished sea glass, which I picked up off the beach.

This will be placed in my living room/husband's office when he decorates it, speaking of the wooden shoe forms. I have several pairs of these. For some reason I love them, and am not sure why. I buy every pair that I come by. I just buy them and wonder who use to handle them, who worked with them... who made them. I love history and to ponder on things like this. The rest (duck and round boxes) stayed in the bed room.

I think that one of these "shelves" was a post at a peer, and the other seems to be maybe part of a mast on an old ship. I collected these as soon as I saw them - which was on separate trips. The shelves are filled with driftwood, seaweed and little sea creatures... a shell from a crab, and a shell from some other creature - I bought it.

This is a painting of a ship, which I just love. My husband gave this to me. Under it is a little wooden shelf that I paid $5 for with some little glasses and seashells on it. It needs some candles on it, I think. It looks kind of empty.

I am not sure what part of a ship this was, but it definitely was. I collected all this stuff, which had washed upon the shore. It has a buoy, which I found and a pulley, which I purchased for $20 hanging on it, and a photograph of a local unidentified ship pilot, which my husband purchased from a once-open thrift shop across the street, perched on top.

On top is a live saver ring, and on bottom is a lid to a crab basket, both of which I collected from the beaches here, but in the middle is a typeface drawer, which my husband gave to me, and which I have placed some of my shell collection.

Here are closeups of each.

This is an old wooden bowl, which I paid $1 for, filled with a conch shell, which I bought secondhand, and some smaller shells, which I also bought secondhand.

This is my small rock collection, which contains rocks, which I have picked up off the beaches. It has some interesting things in it.

Here's a closeup. My husband says that the rock with the open jaggedy stalagmites is made from salt within the rock. It's my favorite.

This is my bigger rock collection. It has some interesting pieces, as well.

This crate holds my bottles, which I bought for $1 each, some crab shells, some lava rocks and a basket of fishing line floats. The pirate says hello too.

Here are closeups.

This is the bulk of my buoy collection - all of which I have found, and some wooden ship parts, also of which I found.

This is a bag of shells, which I bought from my landlord. He owns a little novelty shop downstairs.

A box of seashells, which I purchased - I can't remember the price, but they were cheap.

Here's a closeup of my new sheets, bedspread and decorative matching pillow, which I will only put on the bed when company comes - due to my wallowing on the bed doing my school work each day. I don't want to ruin them.

This is the rug I have down. It looks more Native American in style, but the colors work for me. It was given to me years ago.

My mom gave me this clock, and I bought the shrimp boat at Habitat for Humanity in my hometown for $1. The seashells I collected.

This is what I think is an old keyhole, which I found washed upon the shore. It's probably my most treasured peace, because it is so unusual.

This is a gnarly old piece of wood, which I found. I really like it a lot too.

This is some driftwood I found, some seaweed, which I also found and a whale figurine my mom gave me. The old fishing box was given to me, and the lamp, which you can only see the bottom of - my husband purchased at Linens and Things several years ago.

This is an old boat part, which I found. I am not sure which part of the boat it's from, but it's also my prized piece, simply for its uniqueness and size. The ducks my husband gave to me.

This is an old glass bottle, with George Washington's profile molded into it, and a lantern, which contain seashells. Behind them in another part of a ship part, which I found.

This is a large piece of driftwood, which I found, some shells which I found, some starfish, which I purchased, and what I think it a shark egg sack, which I found.

And that concludes the tour of my bedroom. I really wish that my camera took better and truer colors, but I hope you enjoyed it.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

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Recipe for Oatmeal Brownies

2010-12-04T20:34:00.000-05:00

I haven't been eating that much raw. I just haven't been in the mood for it with the cold weather, and all. I have made white bean chili in my crockpot one night.

The latest thing I made, earlier this week, was oatmeal brownies. I adapted this recipe. The reason I was looking for an oatmeal brownie recipe, was that my husband brought a small bag or brownie mix that didn't even go from corner to corner in my baking pan, so I wanted something to add substance. It turned out really good - king of like chocolate on a granola bar. We liked them. I did adapt it though, because I didn't have brown sugar, so I just used white sugar and molasses. The molasses gives it a little of the brown sugar taste. Here was the result.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

More Done to the Bedroom - Before and After

2010-11-29T16:34:00.001-05:00

Well, when I left off the bedroom, I had started back to school. We painted, but didn't have time to finish, so I didn't hang anything up on the walls yet, and still had some moving things to do. My living room had been decorated in nautical things, and my bedroom had been decorated in more patriotic antique things. So we decided to switch. We moved my husband's computer, which is on a table, into the living room and moved some things from the living room into the bedroom. Our library is in the living room, and we honestly don't have much company, so we are making it into an office for my husband. I study on the bedroom, in bed, and like to have my privacy so I can concentrate, so now we are in separate rooms - though just across a divided wall, but I already miss him. He's my best friend! Anyway, my sister-in-law is here in New York, and I have never met her, so last week I took a couple of days off of school and we did all that is mentioned above, and cleaned from top to bottom. Now, I will show you our progress. I guess the best way is to show the walls, respectively, before and after.

This is the wall down the left side.

This is the wall after.

This was where I was still working, and it was a bit piled up...

Here you can see my office... Since I wallow on the bed each day with my little desk and school items, I haven't put the new bedding on, but have pictured it here... The green and white bedspread, the crimson sheets and the green, white and coral pillow.

This is the wall to the right, before.

Honestly, I only have one. It is a photo, which I took of my husband, before I went to Tennessee in the summer of 2009. I took it so that I would have it on my camera, so that I could see everyday. He's shy though, so I had to black his face out here. You can see he's a handsome man though, at least in my eyes. :) The point is though that you can see the patriotic antique decor, which we are moving to the living room (office/library).

And here is the right wall, after.

(I still have to paint the door, or do something with it. It was beginning to crack, so I took the cracked paint off to see what was under, and this is what was left.)

Here is the back wall before. It's the wall, where my husband's computer table was.

And here it is after...

This is the front wall before...

This is the bed again... but it's the only picture where you can see a little bit of the front wall. I had a blanket hanging over the dividing wall, but now have hung my net there.

And this is the front wall after.

Next time, I will come with close-ups of my decorations. I hope you are enjoying the tour of my bedroom.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

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Another Trip to Manhattan - the Beauty of Fall at Central Park

2010-11-26T17:58:00.001-05:00

I have been missing in action, and I apologize, but things are pretty stressful and hectic in my life right now. I am taking an intensive history class, which I LOVE history, but NOT fitting what should be at least a 16 week course into 8 weeks, and so my grades have dropped a bit. Also I am expecting a relative to come and visit, which I have never seen before, so we have been cleaning from top to bottom, and also have been putting the things on the wall where we painted and left the walls bare because school started back up before we had a chance to finish, so I will show you the progress in my bedroom in another posting; however, I have had a bit of fun in the midst of all this stress. I ~~got to go~~ neglected my studies and went to Manhattan last Thursday, and had such a wonderful time. The highlight was that I went to the section of Central Park near 59th Street and just admired the beautiful handiwork of our Creator. Here are the photos.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

Lots of Things - Catching Up!

2010-11-11T19:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I have fallen WAY behind in EVERYTHING - Blogger, Facebook, mail and just life. For those of you, who are my friends in Facebook, I know that you must think that all I do all day long is sit on Facebook, and it does appear that way, but that's because I am at the computer for anywhere from 9-12 hours per day studying - and I go back and forth from Facebook to my studies to break the monotony. When I first get up, I do my chores, have breakfast, etc. and then the rest of the day is dedicated to school. Some weeks I don't even take a day off from school and even have to study on the Sabbath. I wish sometimes I were taking technical classes, where I learn to "do" something, but I am taking academic classes - like history, theology and classes of that nature, and it wears me thin - not exaggerating in the least! On top of that, I almost always get to bed late, and some days I sleep only 5 or 6 hours of sleep. This is from a schedule conflict with my husband. Somedays night is the only time we have to share being together too much. He goes out, and in the day I study, and I sure don't want to give up our "together" time. Plus we cook late, eat late and digest late. I can't go to bed on a full stomach. I wish there was some way to turn the schedule around, because I would LOVE to wake up at sunrise or before! Sometimes I even sit and wish that I were living in the pre-electricity days when everyone was forced to go to bed early. I do that often!

But, yes, I am stretching myself, and if you are a Facebook friend then you know that I don't post like I did. Some days I do, but other days I post only a few things and I haven't posted anything today. I think that I may have alot of little or no postings to come. I get my winter break soon (a little over a month, but to be honest - I am thinking about taking a BIG break from FB and the computer during that time.

I was considering leaving Blogger all together, but to be honest, I really like posting here. Now, I will say that I am going to cut down on my postings and just update every once in a while, and share little special things. It's just too much, and by the time I upload my pictures to the computer and then to Photobucket and sit here and paste all the codes and think about what to type a big chunk of my study time has gone. And that's not good. Usually I am an "A student" but my grades have dropped this term. I have to dedicate more time and energy to my studies. And I still have to finish my bedroom redecorating. It's nowhere near done.

But I did want to share this with you. I planted some seeds - parsley, basil and chives, and placed them in a shelf in my kitchen window. (I still have to put up more shelves, but we still have to take the A/C unit out first.) And I forgot to label which seed container was what, but they are coming up - all but one pot of seeds. In one pot of seeds a little clump of dirt stuck to the leaves and they have formed a heart. I love it! New life with a heart!

Here is when some of the seeds just started to come up.

And here is what the heart one looks like now.

Here are a few of the things I have been eating, though I haven't been keeping up with everything.

Now, I haven't been keeping up with my weight either, but I have put back on a few pounds since my water fast. I am definitely planning on doing some more though. It was a blessing!

To end, I have a few friends who would like to say hi. This is a spider who came down in search of water. I gave him some and he went on his way.

And Bitey wanted me to let him say hi...

before he curled up in his food container.

He's such a spoiled little guy!

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

November 2, 2010

2010-11-02T12:47:00.000-04:00

Hi. I hope everyone is staying warm. It's COLD in New York, which caused me to break down and eat something hot and heavy yesterday, which added 2 pounds on me, and which is still causing my stomach to feel rather heavy today. Yes, that's right. Sunday I did really good. I water fasted all day until midnight and then had a salad and a banana. Then yesterday I water fasted all day until about nine o'clock last night and broke down and had rice and a nice fricassee, as I had told my husband I wanted something warm. You see, we don't have a heat, which we regulate. We only have a radiator, which sends heat from the boiler, which the landlord controls and sends at his discretion. Being that it is this early in the winter, the daytime is not in his discretion yet, and so I sat all day bundled up under my comforter in bed with a jacket on, and I was ready to have something warm! Now I regret it, however! I had a little bread and butter for breakfast this morning, but will then have only water until at least tonight... maybe longer.

Here's what I had Sunday night (and a banana, which is not shown). It had actually broken my barrier, as Monday morning I was down 31 pounds.

And this took me up two pounds (maybe - I have on extra clothes today as it is cold in here).

No further symptoms. I guess the day time water fasting hasn't been brining out any toxins. My asthma has improved a bit. I woke up today with my lungs burning from the cold air, but the smotheriness went away.

I'll be back soon with another update!

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
Down 29 pounds

October 30, 2010

2010-10-31T18:56:00.000-04:00

Well, strange things are happening. Now, I have a rash behind my right ear. I mentioned the other day that I was getting eczema on my fingers. Well, the watery rash went away, thanks to some cream that I put on my finger, but now my finger tips are splitting open, which is also a symptom of eczema. Since I ate those deviled eggs my asthma has again been relentless, and my constant allergies (stuffiness in the head, sneezing, etc.) has returned. I have ate a couple more cooked things, which I will show you in a minute. It's been hard, as it's turned colder in New York and the warm food cravings are a force to be reckoned with, but as I am seeing, with the cooked foods returning - so does the illness. I just don't know if I can stand being 100% raw all my life. I doubt it. Even if I give up meat, I still crave the veggie burgers, which I have grown to love. I love bread, and occasional sweets - like the banana breads and other sweet breads that I make, and I just love bread period, though I have for the most part switched to the healthier breads like whole wheat and rye. Well, time will be the judge of my life-long diet, but for the moment I am back on water. I am HUNGRY, but I have to get this asthma back manageable like it was last week. It was so peaceful not really have any asthma symptoms, and these allergies kill me! Enough is enough! I don't know how long I will last on water. I may eat tonight, or I may last two or three days... who knows, but I am going for it as long as I can, and have instructed my husband to eat only foods that I don't like or to eat outside.

Here's the strange things happening to me.

The rash behind the ear...

And the split-open fingers. (It's the pinky finger and the ring finger on my right hand.)

Hopefully these things will pass.

Even though I haven't been 100% raw, I have been eating healthy. Here's what I have had.

Friday night for supper I had a salad with cilantro, spinach, tomato, onion and broccoli - oh, and garlic.

I also had a baked potato. Every topping was natural... olive oil, spices and herbs - no butter, which is my normal topping.

And I had grapes later for a snack.

Saturday, I didn't even have breakfast... only lunch, which was more grapes.

For supper I had a piece of steak and some plantains. Now, this isn't a regular sized plate. This is a desert plate, so you can see the minute amount of food that I ate. It doesn't even take up but barely half of the small plate. My husband really just gave me a piece of his steak and a few slices of plantain. It wasn't what you would call a whole supper.

After that I was still hungry so I had a big salad. Now this is a regular sized plate.

I have lost 30 pounds now! :) Losing weight isn't a problem. It's the symptoms of being sick that I am dealing with... so that's why it's back to the water for me - or at least an attempt to go back to the water. No promises, mind you.

I will be back tomorrow or the next day with another update. Oh, and instead of counting days or calling this a detox or whatever, I have just decided to put the date on top of each post. I think that's the best way to keep up with it.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
30 pounds down

Detox Day 8 - Beware of salad dressings or sandwich spreads (EDTA)

2010-10-29T16:42:00.000-04:00

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I lost another pound, and I am down 29 pounds now for a grand total since June, 12 pounds since last week. I am excited about that - two more pounds and I will break the barrier of 30 pounds! The bad news is that last night my husband asked me to make him deviled eggs, so I just made the whole carton (there were 8 left in the carton) and I decided to eat some too. I love deviled eggs, and all I had had all day was the watermelon, which I showed in yesterday's post, so I was ready to eat. There really wasn't much here to eat... just some onions and a couple of handfuls of spinach (both of which I used some of to put in the eggs) and that's about it, so I was hungry and I ate the eggs, thinking that I would go on a water fast today anyway and that no harm would be done... Now, normally, I can eat just about anything and I don't feel any side effects. I might get a headache or something later, but I just attribute it to stress, and of course, asthma has been a constant thing for me so I don't really know what causes it and what doesn't, but last night was different. Within 15 minutes of the time that I ate those eggs I developed a headache. That's not all. Right after that my throat started itching and I developed a sore throat and it gets even worse! Last night my breathing got worse, and for the first time in six days I had to take a nebulizer treatment because my lungs were closing off. I took two puffs from the inhaler, and it helped slightly, but did not take care of the problem. There is even more. I have eczema, but it has not really acted up for a while. Last night I started to get two watery blisters on my finger. Oh and I was trying to study and also got a slight dizziness, but pretty intense brain fog, which lasted for a few hours. Is this bad news upsetting me? No. Because this is a blessing for me. Since I have been water fasting or either eating raw just about all week, my body is very sensitive right now, and I can tell more about what bothers me. This allowed me to determine either the eggs or the ingredients in the eggs were what activated my asthma, caused my headache and skin rash, etc. The first think that I did was look at the mustard and mayonnaise jars for their ingredients, and the mustard only had natural ingredients, however the mayonnaise (Kraft) had Calcium Disodium EDTA as a preservative. So I decided to look it up. It is otherwise known as EDTA, and here is what it causes: short dizziness, nausea, joint ache, abdominal pain,kidney failure, thrombophlebitis, fatigue, fever and excessive thirst, suddenly, followed by creating serious headache, muscle pain, and appetite. Now, these symptoms, which are listed here are describing the indications after the patients have been injected, but I am saying right now when you haven't been on additives for a week or longer it doesn't take hours after being injected to feel these effects. That's not all. This page says this, pertaining to EDTA: Calcium Disodium EDTA. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, or simply known as EDTA, is a preservative found in many foods, including sodas, sandwich spreads and sauces. It's also found in many cosmetic products, including shampoos, body wash, deodorant and skin creams. EDTA may cause allergic reactions, asthma attacks, skin rash and possible kidney damage. Studies have also found that sustained intakes of calcium disodium EDTA can lead to essential mineral depletion in dogs. And, if you remember, in this post, I was complaining about asthma after eating Ken's Blue Cheese dressing, and then the next time I ate I switched to olive oil and spices, which was just as yummy. So beware of your salad dressings and sandwich spreads! Use something natural instead, because with these two experiences this week, especially the one from last night, I have learned that salad dressing and mayonnaise are NOT your friends!

With all that being said, here's what I ate yesterday, besides the watermelon that I had for breakfast, which I listed in yesterday's post.

(I did not eat all these eggs. I deviled 8 eggs, and this is the outcome, but my husband and I split them, having 4 eggs each. That was our complete supper...)

And that was all that I had to eat yesterday until I had a few frozen blueberries for a snack.

Regarding my husband, he has not been fasting, and he has been eating raw with me (but he's also been eating lots of cooked foods too), however, since last week he's lost nine pounds, which makes him at a grand total of 17 pounds lost.

Oh, and I accidentally lied to you yesterday - sort of. I told you that I hadn't had meat in at least a week, and I thought that it had been a couple of days before that. Well, I was looking back through my posts, and actually the night before my fast I had some delicious lamb, which I posted here.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
29 pounds down

Detox Day 7

2010-10-28T17:43:00.001-04:00

I am still feeling great! At night my asthma decides to show its ugly head a bit, but that's the norm for ashtma, I have read... it's always worse at night. I never could tell that until this week, because mine was bad all day long! I am taking my Advair once or twice a day (sometimes I forget to take it in the morning). And then I am taking a puff of my inhaler really just once a day -- one day I took two - but even two is great for me. I haven't had a nebulizer treatment for 6 days now (at the end of today).

I really am not having any detox symptoms. Even though I am not strictly on water now, I am still detoxing, as I am completely raw. I just have a backache in my lower back. That's really what is plaguing me the most, and I don't know if it's detox or if maybe it's because we moved the bed and its sleeping a bit different. I am doing really good with the water. My husband bought some Mott's apple juice yesterday, which is one of my favorite things to drink, and he offered me some, but I told him that is just unnecessary calories, and I have been sticking with my water, and I have actually been enjoying it - which I usually do drink A LOT of water, but I haven't never drank STRICTLY water. I always have juice, as well, and sometime an occasional soda too. I know -- bad! I really am not having any cravings at this point. When I was on a water fast I was craving potato chips, but I think it was because I wanted the salt. Since I have been eating raw, I have been eating some salt on my food so the craving for salty foods went away. I haven't had meet in - well, I know it's been at least seven days, but it seems like I didn't eat meat for a few days before that - and it's not bothering me TOO bad. I would kind of like to have a hamburger (one of my favorite foods), but I could replace it with a veggie burger and be just as satisfied, but I am on a focus to stay raw or or water for a while at this point, so the veggie burger will have to hold off.

I am glad that I am not afraid to fast anymore. On Yom Kippur I literally counted the hours until the fast was over, and I was so hungry, but having fasted for 4 days now has really given me some freedom in the area of fasting. I didn't count the hours because I knew that after 24 hours I wasn't getting food, and it really wasn't that bad, and I think I would have continued with water only had it not been for the intense nausea, which I got. I still plan on doing some more days of water only though. I am also down 11 pounds now from last week, a grand total of 28 pounds from June. Two more pounds and I will break the barrier of 30 pounds, so I am excited about that.

Here's what I ate yesterday... after you saw the salad and grapes.

I had a cucumber. Usually I don't even peel them for the extra fiber, but this one was going bad, so I really had to pare it off.

There was another cucumber in the crisper, which looked good too - I was still hungry after eating the first cucumber, so I made "chips and salsa" with it.

I placed spinach, basil, tomatoes and vidalia onion in the food processor and whirred it up a bit to create the salsa. On hindsight, I forgot the garlic. I also spiced it up with turmeric, salt, pepper, curry, paprika, and dried herbs. (My husband doctored his up with honey and vinegar and it tasted like a relish - I prefer mine plain.)

And I just put some in the midst of my "chips" - raw cucumber slices.

I had lots of grapes - my favorite food...

Maybe a handful of nuts (my meat for now)...

And for breakfast today I had some slices of watermelon.

And that's been it besides my water.

I will be back tomorrow or soon with another report... I have to get to my American History class for now. I love that history! It stands for HIS STORY. :)

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
28 pounds down

Detox Day 6

2010-10-27T20:18:00.001-04:00

Well, with the exception of the soup and oatmeal Monday night, for the past six days (counting today) I have either been on a water fast or raw. My asthma is still feeling fabulous - almost non-existent. I did say ALMOST. Last night I had a salad of cilantro, mushrooms, spinach, red pepper, tomato, onion and garlic, but the thing is that I used Ken's Blue Cheese dressing on it. Bad move! This morning I woke up and my lungs were burning ever the slightest and my asthma was acting up just a LITTLE bit. Wow! What a difference one ingredient makes in health! Other than the salad I had a piece of watermelon and only water all day yesterday. I didn't get a picture of anything I consumed yesterday, because the battery on the camera was dead, but I did today!

I had the same salad...

But instead of Ken's Blue Cheese dressing, I used olive oil with paprika, salt, curry, pepper, turmeric, paprika and herbs, and it was yummy!

Right now, as I type, I am enjoying this bowl of grapes. That is all I expect to eat today. I may crack a few nuts later. I know... I am not soaking them first. :(

I lost one pound last night, making my grand total of loss 27 pounds. That was the pound that I gained back from the oatmeal and soup. I am staying well below 1000 calories a day, so I expect to see some major changes soon. I was going to try to stick with water, and I may yet have some days with pure water only, but I was looking at foods that detox, and I think as long as I stick with raw that I will do good too - especially if it's mostly greens, onions and garlic. Grapes are good too. This lady cured stomach cancer by eating grapes alone. So is watermelon, because it is mostly water and flushes toxins out of he kidneys. I am just proud that I made it four days on water only. Noe everyone can do that, and it was hard! Bless anyone that can make it 40!

I feel really good today for the most part. I have a slight backache, and I am very sleepy. The sleepiness came on after I ate my salad, which is weird because raw foods is not suppose to cause sleepiness. I have been having some weird pain in my right side. My husband says he can tell my tummy is going down. I am not really having too much detox symptoms, and neither was I when I was only partaking of water. I guess this is because I have always included lots of raw foods in my diet (always meaning for the past two years).

I will be back later with another update. Eat your raw foods - especially those dark, leafy greens! :)

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
Down 27 pounds

Detox on Water Fast Day 4

2010-10-26T16:36:00.002-04:00

Well last night I broke down and ate. I had been having constant hunger for four days, and nausea was beginning to set in. My husband made me a nice soup, and then I had some oatmeal. It was naughty, I know, but I was beginning to feel so sick. Here's the soup he made me. It was just a simple noodle, pepper, onion, garlic, spinach and red pepper in chicken broth type of soup, but it was good to me. I also ate a couple of wasabi peas (dehydrated peas with hot seasoning on them) and sucked on a frozen blackberry.

I am back on my water fast today though. I told him if I can do a few days at a time and then have to eat a meal or two then that's OK with me. It's still quite an accomplishment for me! My husband is going to try to get me some spinach and melon and things like that though, so at least I can stay in ketosis, plus raw foods are cleansing, whereas soup and oatmeal isn't - especially how I made it. I can't stand soggy, cooked oatmeal so I put a little melted butter, and molasses on it and baked it. Very bad - especially when in a detox!

Anyway, I have been having pain in my right lymph node in my neck. I think it's clearing out. It's not that bad. It's kind of intense but comes and goes. I woke up today with a very greasy mouth. It must be the butter I ate on the oatmeal. That's kind of weird to have a greasy film in the mouth. My hair is getting greasier to though, so it may just be all the rancid, toxic oils escaping my body. That's a common symptom for this stage of a detox. Although my hunger never left, because I ate, it has intensified a little bit, so I am having to deal with that. I don't have any headaches. I am really feeling good now, except that constant gnawing in my stomach. My tongue is back pink again today, so I expect that when my body realizes it's not getting more food for a while then it will begin to coat again. My asthma is still doing fabulous! No nebulizer treatment now for three days! I have only been taking one puff from the inhaler at bedtime, and of course, my Advair twice daily. To get off the nebulizer for three days is a record for me though, and I am so happy about it! I so hope this dumb asthma can be cured. I am a little bit foggy headed and very sleepy, and I still have a pimple that came out on my cheek. That's about all that I can think of right now.

Oh, yesterday I had lost ten pounds, but after I ate last night a pound came back, so I have now lost ten pounds - all this was what I had gained from the steroids given to my by my doctor last month for my asthma, which I couldn't take off. I am at a grand total of 26 pounds down since the beginning of my journey in June.

I will be back in a day or two with an update.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
26 pounds down

Detoxing on Water Fast Days 1-3

2010-10-25T14:56:00.001-04:00

Well, in my last post I mentioned that I was undertaking a fast. Really I would rather call it a detox, because I don't feel called at this time to make it a "religious" thing. It's just something that I am doing for my flesh - to cleanse myself out, to lose some weight, to overcome this asthma and conditions plaguing me, and to get rid of cravings and gain more control over my diet, in general. I have been keeping a little chart of what symptoms I have and things like that, and I hope that they will help someone, so here goes...

Day 1

I experienced some leg pain, some back pain and my tongue became coated. I was hungry, of course, but felt pretty good. I lost six pounds the first day.

Day 2

I was very energetic. My tongue returned to being pink, I had a bitter taste in my mouth and still had hunger. I didn't lose any weight.

Day 3

This was by far the worst day. I woke up really tired and achy, and went back to bed. My coated tongue returned, and the hunger actually wasn't as bad - until about 9:00 p.m. and then I was famished! I couldn't stop thinking about food. I have been craving salty things like potato chips, but cravings were intense last night. I'm glad it's over. I lost two pounds, for a total of eight pounds lost in three days.

Today's better. I will blog on it later, when I see how many pounds I have lost, if any and how the rest of the day finishes up, since it's still relatively early.

In general, can tell a BIG difference in my asthma. I stopped taking my Singular, as well as some vitamins I have been taking, because I don't want anything in my stomach that could be mistaken for food and which would bring back intense hunger. I am only taking my Advair twice per day, which is a powder that you breath in. I haven't had to take a nebulizer treatment in two and a half days - I have only been using the inhaler. I took two puffs on the night of Day 2, and one puff on the night of Day 3, and really didn't feel THAT smothery when I took it, but just took it to relieve the little bit of tightness in my chest that I did have. My head is really opening up. I still feel congestion in my sinuses, but it's little compared to the stuffiness that I have ALWAYS had. I am beginning to get a couple of pimples on my face. I really haven't experienced much light headedness or dizziness, nor have I been too cloudy feeling in my cognition. I have a little burning in my stomach, which doesn't hurt but I wonder what that is since there is no food in my stomach, I don't think that it should be producing acid. I have had the ever slightest head ache off and on, as well. It's hard, but I'm pressing on - at least for a while. When I break the fast, I think I am going to continue the detox with green leafy vegetables, watermelon, juices and smoothies for a while.

Here's just a nice picture of water. :) It's not my picture. I snagged it off the internet.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

I'm Still Alive! Update...

2010-10-22T21:35:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to drop by and say hello, and let you know I am not dead. :) I have been EXTREMELY busy trying to get my bedroom finished before school starts on Monday - three days from now. I am so pleased with how things are going. The overhead hanging light fixture makes the room look amazing! The colors and new curtains are great, but it's the light fixture that makes the room. We have to arrange things now, hang up stuff, and I haven't even added the new sheets and bedspread yet, which they will definitely add to the room, as well. Next year when I am a bit more financially stable with a new student loan refund, I am planning on adding new floor tiles to the bedroom.

Here's my light fixture. I will post other pictures regarding the bedroom later.

Wow, diet! Hmmmm... I've been kind of naughty. I have been eating cooked - even more stuff from outside, because it's been kind of hard to get to the kitchen lately with all the mess from decorating the bedroom. I also made some banana muffins, which I will share the recipe soon. :) And my husband has made some yummy soups, which I will try to get him to sit down with me and write out the recipe, as well. Last night he made some killer lamb! YUMMO! I found out that lamb isn't factory farmed, so that's my new beef. :) On the bright side, I am still 17 pounds down, so all this eating of cooked food didn't put a pound on me. :)

Here's the lamb.

and a salad on the side...

Here's the muffins I made... hopefully recipes for all these will come later.

I don't like to announce anything about fasting, because the Bible says to do it in secret and not to show how miserable you are while fasting, but this is for your inspiration, so I can tell you that I started a fast today. I had a TERRIBLE time on Yom Kippur wanting to eat, because I knew that I could eat the next day. Now, I am not saying how long my fast will be. Maybe it will be one day, maybe three, or five, or ten or twenty or maybe forty or beyond, but I am on one, and today I have been just a little hungry and a little jittery, and my tongue has already began to coat over and I have developed a yucky taste in my mouth, believe it or not.

This is what put me in the mood. It's Jeff Hazim's "Detox or Die". I think he's kind of prepared me for it, because I am not dreading it like I was Yom Kippur, but like I said, at Yom Kippur I was counting the hours until I could eat - now I am kind of just determined to go with the flow and realize that I might not see food for a while. My husband is not fasting, so seeing him eat (and drink) will be hard on me. Today he made some cod fish, and I am not a fish person, and I especially don't like cod fish, so that didn't bother me. Well, I am not sure how often the posts are going to be. I have much work ahead on this room and school starts next week, but I will try to be here more frequently than usual. I have stopped the health journey thing, since I was stuck on a plateau and obviously wasn't being an inspiration to you, so I am still deciding what to do next... and for now, it's the detox fast. Any believers.... please pray for me to carry on. I think after the third day it will be easier as the hunger pangs will leave. I am mostly doing this for my asthma.

Until next time...

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
17 pounds down

Redecorating - a Sneak Preview and Food :)

2010-10-14T15:32:00.005-04:00

Hello followers and visitors! I was just thinking about closing this blog down, but then I come today and find two more followers. Thank you! :) I am trying to decide what to do with it, however. For the most part it has been about TRYING to eat so much raw to get healthy, but I tell you - it's getting cold in New York and I am struggling to keep as raw. I will probably still have lots of smoothies, but I am craving hot stuff like soups, chili, stews and even some warm bread. Another thing is that I am so tried of battling gnats. They came in with the bulk raw stuff that we buy and we have been infested with them. The other thing that is affecting my raw efforts is money. I received my school loan about a month an a half ago, and I wanted to redecorate. This apartment was so depressing looking. We have lived here for six years and nothing was changed except the painting of the kitchen last year. Everything just looked so - I don't know... drabby. Now they money for buying so much raw is depleting... not that raw is THAT expensive, but it is when each time I have to bring a cab home. That adds up. Bus fare is now going up to 2.50 so that's $5.00 per trip for my husband and I and $20.00 for the cab, for a total of $30.00 just to go buy the bulk raw foods. If we don't buy in bulk the high fare adds up making so many trips. Advice: Don't move to New York - it's expensive any way you look at it! I was thinking of maybe sharing some healthy-like recipes instead of just what I eat and my journey. My husband and I are pretty good cooks. I love that he loves to cook. It saves me so much hassle in going to school, but I like to cook occasionally too. I don't know. I don't really want to close it down. I have fun doing this - especially when I get to go out and take photos of things to share and so forth. Today I have a sneak peek at my redecorating.

Earlier this week we put down a new kitchen floor, and I LOVE it! The old one was UGLY. It was dark gray and was dreary as they come. Its decorative layer (if you can call it that) was peeling off and leaving white spots, to make it look as if we painted with no drop cloth.

Here are the before photos.

Ignore the beat up chairs. I painted them last year, but didn't use a protective clear coating on them, and this is what happened.

Ignore my husband's feet too. :)

Here's the after...

I was pleased at how close we got to the threshold. We are NOT professional redecorators or tile layers, but we had fun LOL.

I scratched it while putting things back. :(

I don't know what's wrong with my camera. It's not picking up true colors. The tiles are actually a much warmer honey color that what they appear here. I want to do the bedroom floor next when more money comes. We have to do everything bit by bit on the tight budget we are on here.

Oh we ate pizza since we couldn't get in the kitchen to cook or make anything raw.

Here is another shelf my husband put up for me in the kitchen. This makes a bit more room in the cabinets.

I am painting my bedroom suit too. I have just done a few drawers, but here's the color. Again, this is not a true color...

This is more the true color that my bedroom suit will be... a little bit lighter.

This is the paint job we did on the walls yesterday... My bedroom is not decorated, but is actually a disaster. We still have MUCH work to do, which I will share with you. :)

Again... this is more like the true color, but I wanted to show you my wall. :) It's the top peachy orange color... it's actually called Eastern Amber.

This is how I decided the colors. I bought this little pillow, and found this bedspread to match. (I bought matching curtains too, which you will see later). And so I just decided to paint these peachy and green colors and tie everything in. I am excited to see the final product - especially when we get the new floor, hopefully at the beginning of next year. Oh, and we bought a new light fixture too! I can't wait until it's installed and ready to show you. - Oh, and I think we are doing the bathroom too. It seems I bought too much paint, so I am going to take advantageous... and I'm hoping to put some tiles behind my kitchen sink and oven... so stay tuned!

We couldn't get to the kitchen yesterday either, so we ate from the deli in the supermarket. We had baked chicken, pasta salad, potato salad and spinach (one meal with mushrooms and avadado - this was from our refrigerator).

We actually at two meals of the same thing...

This is how we ate... in the bedroom on a tv table with the ambiance of plastic drop sheets. It was fun though. :)

We bought some little house plants too. I had none and I LOVE plants.

I bought these...

and these little guys...

More updates to come from the redecorating realm!

Oh and here's some lima beans I made.

Before they were cooked...

and after...

and a grape, berry and banana smoothie...

Blessings,

Kimberly ♥

Linked to:
Just a Girl - Show and Share Day

Day One Hundred and Six of My Health Journey; World Raw Day

2010-10-10T21:25:00.002-04:00

Well, I have finally lost two pounds regarding the 12 that I put back on from the steroids. I have been ALMOST meat free, and I am so proud of that. I promised my husband that we would eat lamb sometimes, and we will probably have a turkey for Thanksgiving, but all in all, I am trying to give up meat. I can't afford to buy too much organic, and that would be the only way that I would want to eat it anymore.

I've been eating LOTS of grapes!

And we have been eating veggie burgers too. I LOVE these, but they have MSG in them, so I want to learn how to make my own, if possible.

We've also had pancakes...

and veggie sausages... these are good too!

We've had more grapes...

And another veggie burger Saturday night... (Ignore the mustard ON TOP of the sandwich; I'm not sure what my husband was thinking, LOL.)

with pasta on the side... there was just a tiny bit left.

More grapes...

And more pancakes morning breakfast. I am not sure how my husband talked me into this. He's got more to get rid of, and I allowed him to buy eggs especially for this, so expect to see more pancakes for a few days. I have to admit they are good - Shhh, don't tell anyone I said that

Sunday night we shared a piece of lamb and a salad...

And more salad - YUMMY!

And we had grapes as a snack.

Today was (is - it's almost over) World Raw Day. In honor of the celebration, we had a smoothie for breakfast. It contained bananas, spinach, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and grapes.

I had never put grapes in a smoothie before, but it was YUMMY and I am in love. This smoothie I had for lunch had nothing but bananas, spinach and grapes and durian. Oh and I always forget to mention it, but I always add just enough filtered water to make it blendable - and I added some ice, as well.

I had a small side of grapes with that.

And I am expecting that we will have a salad for supper, with grapes as a snack afterward.

Oh, and I got the shelves painted for the kitchen. :)

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
Down 17 pounds

Day One Hundred and Two of My Health Journey and Looking Forward to Redecorating My Bed Room

2010-10-06T15:28:00.002-04:00

Well, I didn't want to look today, but I am ten pounds worse for the wear. I have to say that I attribute most of it to the steroids, however. Also I am floating in fluids. I can press my thumb into my leg and it leaves and impression, so that will be easy enough to take off. A day or two of raw always moves the fluids out. As you saw in my last post - and as you will see in this post, we have been eating LOTS of cooked foods, and that's not a good thing.I have decided to make my best shot to go vegan or vegetarian - I like my soups with cream. Two night ago I watched "Meet Your Meat" to put me in the right mindset. Here it is for anyone who wants to see it and might not have.

I told my husband that all I have to do when I crave beef is think of the cancer on the eye. When I crave chicken, I must think of them weight, which the legs will not hold up. I must think of the way that the poor creatures are treated also! I have a real heart for animals, and even have a mouse that I feed. Why would I want to support cruelty to animals? However, being that I am a Messianic Jew, I am commanded to partake of Passover (the lamb) and so I will continue to do that annually.

Let me start with what I ate yesterday. We were out of food (practically) and so my husband went downstairs yesterday morning and bought out breakfast. We had French toast and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Oh wait, I forgot supper the night before... We had steak, spinach and tomatoes.

We went out shopping yesterday and I had a slice of pizza. I forgot to take my camera. Imagine that!

But last night when we came home, my husband made a pot of potato soup. I'll try to get the recipe from him and post it. It was superb!

Here's a close-up.

We had grapes for snack last night.

Today I made a nice smoothie for breakfast, with bananas, a mango, spinach, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.

I bought a coffee grinder yesterday, and so I ground up some flax seeds and put in mine.

Last night I went to my favorite fruit market, but I didn't buy too much fruit. We are in a battle with gnats, and so the least thing I want right now is more gnats! But I did get a few things to buy smoothies with (pictured above) and LOTS of grapes.

This is ten pounds of grapes - assorted kinds...

and this is three pounds of grapes.

So I am planning on eating smoothies and grapes for the next several days. I'm craving cherries and can't find them anywhere!

On the lighter side... we are going to paint and redecorate our bedroom. I have been picking up little items here and there, so I decided to give a little preview of a couple of things I have bought.

i found this little pitcher at a sale I went to a few weeks ago, and last night I bought the flowers to go in it. (The net behind it is because the other room (adjoining) is decorated nautically. This is not a permenant place, but only until I get everything finished so that I can move it.

This little box my husband bought for me. I just love it! I love wooden things... crates, boxes - anything. I wanted to show you how neat it is! That's my husband is his orange pajamas lying next to the box. Don't mind him. Go orange (Tennessee)!!

I think it's a little jewelry box, but I used it to store my pins, tacks and thread. I am not much of a jewelery person. I have a few pieces, but rarely wear it.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

More Photos of the Bronx

2010-10-04T21:13:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday we went shopping. I went to the dentist, to have my eyes checked, and to shop! We are redecorating the bedroom and laying down a new kitchen floor - if I can get rid of these gnats! I have many things to paint, but can't do it with the gnats around, as they will become trapped in the paint and ruin it. I can't (or don't want to) hang the new curtains until I paint, and don't want to put up the new ceiling fan until I paint the ceiling. I am also going to paint my bedroom suit. We got gnats because we buy our raw foods in bulk. And they are HARD to get rid of! WE have been using the fly strips and the vinegar. We have been massacring them when we see them in groups and still.... ugh! It's like the plague has struck here. Someone said to use hairspray - that it glues the wings together where they can't fly and mate. We are trying that now. Definitely though, we will be putting down the new floor. That doesn't rely on paint. :)

Anyway, here are a few photos of the Bronx. I wish I could have taken more, but it got dark on me.

I even got a couple of videos for you so you can see what it's like to shop in the Bronx.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

Day One Hundred of My Health Journey

2010-10-04T19:42:00.000-04:00

Wow! I bet you all thought that I disappeared. I haven't posted since September 26th! That's about a week. I have been trying to get all of my psychology work finished, which I finished up today. I have three weeks off of school. I don't even know what I weigh. I have been forgetting to weigh. We haven't really been eating healthy at all. We have been grabbing things from restaurants, just because it's been easier really. Needless to say, I don't remember what was on what day, so I'll just post the pictures, and it really doesn't matter since most things were unhealthy, as well. One thing you may like though - we went shopping last week so I have more pictures from a different area in the Bronx. I will post that in a following post.

I thought this banana's face was neat. :)

So there you have it... some healthy foods, but mostly not so healthy. I am really afraid to see the scales. Oy vey! I have to get back on track.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

Kirlian Photography of Organic, Commercial, Cooked and Raw Foods for Comparison

2010-09-26T18:49:00.000-04:00

This is pretty much self explanatory. Organic is better than commercial/conventional. Raw is better than cooked.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

DayNinety Two of My Health Journey

2010-09-26T18:32:00.000-04:00

Well, I am up five pounds again. Wednesday I went to see my doctor, and my lungs were pretty congested so she gave me a round of Prednisone, which is a steroid and causes weight gain. So here I am, adding back to what I had taken off, but no worries - I'm sure it will be off again soon. On the positive side - my lungs are feeling better than they have felt for a long time!

I am trying to remember what I had when. School has my mind so jumbled that it's a wonder I remember anything, but I'll do my best.

Thursday I had plums and peaches.

Some juice... freshly made. This has lots of beets in it! See how red it is?

A salad with a piece of chicken to the side...

Friday I had a smoothie...

Some fried okra and a half of a baked sweet potato.

Some plums and raw peas...

Some more okra...

Lo mein...

and watermelon...

Saturday I had a smoothie...

Some wrapper things - I don't know what they are really called. My husband put cheese, mushrooms and onions in them and wrapped them up and fried them.

Then I made a drink with 2 pears and the juice of a pound of tangerines with a little ice. This was YUMMY!!!

While I was making this I took a photo of the new dishes my husband bought, which I had to wash. They aren't new, but they are new to me. He got the whole set for $5.00. I told him they are ugly, but I'm not picky. :) We gave about half of them away though, because the set was too many for us.

For supper last night we had more wrapper things. We are having more tonight. We are trying to get rid of all of the cooked food in the house.

For snack we had grapes...

and zucchini chips (dehydrated).

For breakfast today we had a smoothie...

And I made some toasted pita chips for later to have with a salad. I don't like pita bread unless it's toasted, so I toasted it to get rid of it. It's been sitting here for a few days.

I just cut them up into pieces...

and get some olive oil and add some spices to it (paprika, curry, turmeric, blended herbs, steak seasoning, etc.) and brush it onto the pita, and let it bake just until it's a little crispy.

They will be yummy. I had about three just to test them. :)

And I just now finished the best smoothie made from a banana, frozen durian and frozen strawberries (with filtered water).

It was so think, cold and refreshing, just like a milkshake, but without the dairy! :) YUMMY!

Please check back again in a few days. Hopefully I will have lost some of this steroid-induced weight.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

Short Tour of the Bronx and City Island (Lots of Photos!!)

2010-09-23T17:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday i went to the doctor, and so I decided to take you with me. After I left there, we went shopping, so I also have a few photos of Co-op City, where we were. This morning we went for a walk, and so I took a few more photos of the beautiful houses on City Island. I hope you enjoy.

Before I went to the doctor, I got my hair cut, and just had to take a photo of this, what I saw on the way to the hair salon.

This is where I get my hair cut (well I have a few times).

This is the building that my doctor's office is in...

and here is the inside of the building. I love the wood and frosted windows!

This is outside - the view all the way around from the front of the office. (I think it's in one of the ugliest parts of the Bronx!

After we left the doctor's office we went to a part of the Bronx, known as Co-op City, because it has lots of co op apartments there. Here are a few photos I took while there.

This is where we ate. This is my favorite restaurant!

This is the inside.

And here's my sandwich. (I didn't eat the chips, because I don't like kettle chips too much.)

Here are some more pictures of Co-Op City.

The remainder of the photos are from my walk on City Island this morning. I'll just let you enjoy.

Fall is here!

This is my husband's favorite house here. He even likes the borken-down old picket fence. :)

There are som small houses too...

I love the flowers on this porch!

People were out working.

I saw this little guy! :)

I loved this yard! I love a yard with a lot of plants.

This is the grocery store on the island, but we don't shop there more than we have to. It's VERY expensive.

There are some rows of identical houses here too.

And this is why I don't have a house of a condo here. The cost of living in New York, especially on City Island, is outrageous!

I hope you enjoyed your little tour. :)

Blessings,
Kimberly

Day Eighty Nine of My Health Journey

2010-09-23T16:04:00.001-04:00

Well I have continued to eat cooked food, and I am all swollen. I have gained three pounds of fluid retention. Yesterday I posted a link to a documentary on my Facebook called The Beautiful Truth, and a conversation got started and here is the last thing that comment that I posted:

I think we are up to part 9 now. It's a really great video. At one point they measure the living energy coming out of a carrot compared to the living energy of a carrot, which ...has been steamed for 10 minutes. The raw carrot is emitting energy from all around itself, but the steamed carrot has very little energy. I can imagine that a boiled or roasted carrot would have no living energy. We really had a serious talk this morning about giving up meat (for the most part - I am not saying I won't stop eating it period) but we decided that we just don't want to eat meat that much anymore. Lately we haven't been sleeping good at all. Granted, we eat late, but when we eat something light that is a HUGE difference. I also know that bread sits heavy and doesn't digest, also disrupting sleep, and not only does it sit heavy and disrupt sleepy, but heavy meals that just sit there and that are slow to digest actually stagnate in the body and disrupt homeostasis (the body's balance), which the Chines call Qi. It's very damaging. About 12 or 13 years ago I worked 2nd shift in a factory, would go home and cook and eat a heavy meal. I was sick all the time. My stomach would feel like it was actually on fire, I would throw up and have diarrhea. So I was at the doctor's office all the time. He thought that I had an ulcer so he made me go and drink that chalky drink and have my GI tract imaged. There was nothing that showed up, and so he generalized that I had a spastic colon. It was merely my eating habits of eating heavy cooked foods at night, and they stagnating in my body, and I can tell by the heaviness and lack of sleep that I am headed down that road again if something's not done about it. So that's what been on our minds lately, and we have decided to make some real changes. Plus we just want to get away from all the poisons in processed foods, and add more living energy to our diet. I consider myself pretty high raw now, but really eat just as much cooked. Today my doctor gave me two referrals - one to a pulmonologist for my asthma and one for a rheumtologist for suspected autoimmune disease, possibly lupus. High raw doesn't cut it. It's all raw or nothing - I have found out.

So my husband and I are really down in eating cooked foods right now, especially meat and bread. It's just taken our sleep and made us feel terrible. I told him, after a meal of fried chicken and biscuits the other night that I felt like someone stuffed rags in my stomach. That night I barely slept and had the same feeling half of the next day. So we are going to make our biggest attempt yet to be raw. Everything we see, and every bad experience we feel with our bodies motivates us a bit more.

I can't remember until yesterday, Wednesday what we had when, so I will just start there with the explanations, and add pictures only up to that point.

Now, yesterday was easy. We fasted until about 4 o'clock, because we went to the doctor, and I knew that she would be wanting to take our blood. So we only had water until we left the office, and then we went to Panera's my favorite restaurant. I had the chicken frontega. YUM!

Here's another view.

I don't know that I will ever give these up, but we don't have them that often. The last time I had one was when i came back from Tennessee at the first of May. :)

Last night we had a tiny, tiny piece of steak each and a little pasta...

and I had a brownie that I got at Panera's.

Today I have only had water and a cup of peppermint tea with honey and half of a banana. I'm getting hungry, so I'll probably eat something soon. But it will be raw. :)

Oh and I bought these books yesterday. :)

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
Down 22 pounds (because of water retention)

Day Eighty Five of My Health Journey

2010-09-19T22:58:00.000-04:00

Sorry I am lagging! I have been studing for a psychology test. I made an 88 on it today, which is a B+ so I'm happy! This is the only B that I have received in the class so far, so I probably still have an A average. I really don't know what I ate when - my brain is so scattered from studying now, so I am just going to post the photos.

Well, maybe I will discuss them as I go. It's a girl's perogative to change her mind, right? It should be fairly easy, because Frida evening to Saturday evening was Yom Kippur, and I only had water.

Let's see... Thursday I had my durian ice cream - yum!

and I snacked on some snow peas.

Thursday night we had more chicken, some macaroni and a piece of bread...

And another tiny sweet potato pie for dessert.

Friday morning we had juice, but my camera was dead.

Before Yom Kippur, I had LOTS of grapes, which I didn't photograph, two sandwiches and some tangerines.

From twilight Friday evening until twilight Saturday evening I only had water. (One isn't suppose to have food or water on Yom Kippur, but my asthma medication dries my mouth and throat out, so I have to have a sip here and a sip there to accomodate, but I didn't drink large quantities.)

Saturday evening I broke my fast with a sweet potato. I was pretty hungry. (It has a tad of butter and cinnamon on it.)

Later that night my husband cooked, and we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, with green beans.

This morning we had juice.

And I am ashamed to admit it, but yesterday I saw a blog with graham crackers on it and nothing would do me but what I tasted one. My grandparents bought these when I was a kid, and so they are nostalgic to me. Last night when my husband went to the store, I told him to bring me back either some Graham crackers or some vanilla wafers - and he brought one of each. So today you know what I have been snacking on. :( I didn't take their picture though.

I have been doing lots of dehydrating though, and we have some zuchinni chips now, so we will have healhier snacks so that the health journey can continue. Right how I am stuck on a platuea of 25 pounds lost and my husband is at 18 pounds lost. By the way, to make it easier, I have decided to start putting the pounds lost below my name for easy referral.

This is a jamb-packed week for psychology again, as well as on one day I have a doctor's appointment. So hopefully I can at least half-way keep my blog up. Maybe I will take my camera to the doctor with me. :)

Now, last but certainly not least, I added a new page to my favorites over to the right, called November 24.info. This is a health magazine, which is owned by a dear friend of mine, so if you want to please be sure to go and check it out. It's originally written in French, but he's translating it into English and Hebrew to make it easier for visitors, so please go check out his site here if you are interested in health.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥
25 pounds released

Day Eighty Two of My Health Journey

2010-09-16T16:12:00.001-04:00

I wish that I could come here everyday and report that I lose a pound a day, but that simply isn't the truth. It's a struggle. Yesterday we went to Manhattan, and if you have seen my last post you will know that I have now gained back three pounds. It's not fat though - my legs are pretty swollen from eating cooked foods, table salt, etc. So that's why I am doing this journey so that you can see what I eat and how I am doing and hopefully it will inspire you as I, too, see my mistakes. Yesterday we passed smoothie bars and some health food restaurants, but we were walking and I just felt that I needed something more substantial that a lot of water with some fiber to fill me up, so we sought cooked foods, and did we ever!

Tuesday, after I wrote that post I had

a sandwich...

I cut open a durian to freeze for ice cream and had a few bites of it. (This is what I froze - NOT what I ate.)

Some Japanese grapes...

Here's what they look like on the inside. They are very sweet and the skin is very thick - not like a normal grape. It's a bit bitter and most don't eat it, but I do - extra fiber!

a Korean melon...

a smoothie made from a banana, a coconut and some strawberries...

And for supper we had chicken wraps with snow peas and a doughnut peach. I normally don't eat that much, but now I can put away some raw food, as it's mostly water. :)

Let me show you want we ate yesterday...

Yesterday morning, before we left I made juice but did not take a photo because I was charging my camera for the trip.

We stopped and grabbed a piece of pizza.

And then later I had a hamburger and some fries. The hamburger was not well done though, so as soon as I discovered that I stopped eating it.

Last night we had chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, rice with lamb, a biscuit and a little sweet potato pie.

Today I have had juice...

some more Japanese grapes and a Korean melon, which I am not going to be redundant and repost and some coconut water.

Getting back on track!

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥