New rotation

So I started the third diet rotation on Sunday; and by coincidence it is a three-day rotation plan. I have to say though, my stomache has been bothering me since Friday night. I don't know if the seitan (gluten) is finally getting to me, or the stevia is adding up with all of the shakes, or what. Maybe it was something I ate Friday that just won't go away? Yuck.

Day 1

¼ cup oatbran, soy protein shake

5 oz. Seitan ; 1 cup vegetables

1 large grapefruit (or 1 cup fruit) 1 T. omega butter

¼ block tofu with 1 cup peppers, cucumbers or tomatoes, balsamic as dressing

salad with ½ cup beans, whey or hemp protein shake

Brown rice protein shake with 2/3 cup mixed berries.

Day 2

¼ block tofu with mushrooms, peppers, onion ; ½ cup oats

whey protein shake with 3 large strawberries or ¼ cup blueberries 1 T. omega butter

5 oz. Seitan 1 cup vegetables

Apple with 1 T. omega butter

brown rice protein shake, salad, tahini dressing, 2 rice cakes

hemp or soy shake ; 1 cup green veggies (can add spinach to shake)

Day 3

soy shake with spinach; ½ cup oats

4 oz. Seitan with 1 cup veggies

whey shake with 1 T. omega butter

double brown rice shake ; 1 cup beans

salad with ¼ block tofu, hemp shake

Apple with 1 T. omega butter

I think this is doable once again for bodybuilding, but I don't feel like I'm really giving it a fair shot like i did the diets last summer. I'm not as motivated not to cheat maybe? When I thought I was doing the show it was a great motivator: someone was going to be seeing all of these cheat days in a couple of months on my thighs! I think I need a new goal. Anyone want to do a show with me this fall?

In other news, I'm learning how to swim (again)! I had swim as part of P.E. in High School (I grew up in San Diego), but I swear I forgot how to freestyle. I can still dog paddle.... Anyway, Jeff and I went to the Cayman Islands a few years ago, and if you're a snokeler or scuba-er, it's the place to go. Yum. Plus, on the diving side of the island we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. We decided to swim out to the reef one afternoon. On the Grand Cayman Island, a reef surrounds the island all of the way around making for a beautiful, sheltered place for viewing fish and coral. We thought though, that there must be a ton of stuff out ON the reef so started making our way out. When we got a ways out, I realized I was being PULLED out. There was a huge hole they had blown in the reef to allow ships to pass out and in, and we didn't know it was there. I found I couldn't make any headway against the current and panicked. I told Jeff to bring me in. I tried to keep my mask in the water and kick, and not look up to see our lack of progress. About 200 yards back, we hit a sort of boulder/sandbar we could stand on a nd rest. Jeff later confessed he didn't know if he could have brought us in if it hadn't been for that boulder. We literally could have not come back home to our kids if that boulder hadn't been there. We would have been swept out to sea. Ever since then I've been terrified of waves, and how weak I feel in the ocean. In Hawaii, I was fine scuba-ing because it was under the water and didn't feel the same, but snorkeling I kept having panic attacks, and couldn't go out past where I could touch the bottom. Does that even make sense? Fear doesn't always make sense (but it sure helps me be more compassionate with my kids when they're afraid). Anyway, my friend Pam is a swimming teacher, and started last night to teach me technique. I'm going to go Mondays and Thursdays to learn, and Wednesday mornings to practice on my own. Yay me! I already feel more secure in the water. Thank you Pam already for your patience with my flailing arms....

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Flowers and food

Thought I'd do a post and tell y'all what I've been up to. The coolest stuff I don't have pictures of. I went with our young women to Girl's camp last month down near Capitol Reef and Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. We did two major hikes: Calf creek, and Sulfur Creek. I was telling my sister about them, and she said maybe her boys would like to do one of them when she came up to visit from California. So this weekend, we loaded up all seven (!) of our kids, and went down sans husbands to do the Sulfur Creek hike. We spent the night in The Cowboy Homestead Cabins which were cute, but a little cramped with seven kids and two Mom's. That's what we get for doing it on the cheap. I was pretty nervous about driving to the area, and then a little nervous about actually doing the hike carrying her baby in a backpack carrier the whole way because some of it is pretty technical. You're hiking down a riverbed the whole time, and you need to cross small waterfalls. I was pretty sure we could pass the baby along OK, and we did. It was a little nerve wracking though. One cool thing about this trip was that we found a number of geodes. I cracked one of mine open already, it was small, and the crystals were plain white (not purple or anything really cool --but still neat) and I'm saving the rest to do with all of the kids.

I've gotten a few striking bouquets out of my garden recently. The one above was for a family friend who had a stroke. I love that purple and gold color combination.

Buddlea, Yarrow, Tansey, and Canterbury bells.

The other thing I've been working on has been veganizing the diets from my personal trainer from last summer. I really liked where my body ended up last fall, and I felt pretty confident I knew how to eat to maintain it, then I read The China Study and decided I needed to go as vegan as we could in our daily fare for long term health. THAT threw me for a loop! We're not perfect by any means. My kids sprinkle cheese on their burritos, I'll throw an egg white into muffin batter, and it seems like at family parties the kids are always begging chicken off of someone (annoying). If I'm somewhere I can't get any other protein, I go for the leanest meat I can, but, day to day, for our family meals, mainly dairy and meat free.

I've been maintaining my weight at about 7-8 pounds above where I was at last fall, but I'd really like to get back down. I thought, well, I paid for those diets, maybe I can use online calorie/macro calculators to figure out a similar menu that's all vegan. It took some work, but I've translated two rotations so far, and it's doable. Wanna see?

My Diet rotation number 1

Low Carb Days (Mon. Tues. Fri.)

Wake up drink 16 oz. Water

Cardio

Meal 1 1/3 c. oatmeal, 2 T. cocoa, 1 T. omega butter; 25 gram protein shake

Train

Meal 2 25 g. shake with ½ grapefruit

Meal 3 6 oz. Seitan, and 1 cup green beans

Meal 4 1 ½ servings protein shake with 3 cups spinach

Meal 5 2 cups tvp 2 cups vegetables

Meal 6 protein shake

Meal 7 25 gram protein shake with 4 cups greens

High carb days (wed. thurs. sat. sunday)

Cardio

Meal 1 ¼ c. cream of rice, protein shake

Train

Meal 2 1/3 cup oats, 2T. Cocoa, 1T. Omega butter, 25 g. protein shake

Meal 3 8 oz. Seitan ½ cup green veggies, whole wheat tortilla

Meal 4 50 g. protein shake, 3 oz. Yam or pumpkin, 10 asparagus or cup of green veggies.

Meal 5 Salad with 1 cup tvp

Meal 6 25 g. protein shake

Meal 7 4 oz. seitan

For the shakes, I mixed protein powder with water, and rotated between soy, brown rice, hemp, and whey (I kept whey when going more vegan, as it didn't show up in the studies as a major cancer or heart disease contributor.) Tvp you can buy in bulk in any health food store, and for an easy seitan recipe go here . I know it's fashionable to be gluten free, and soy free, but personally, I never have had digestive problems with either. Give me cabbage in any form or too many nuts, and my stomach is toast, but grains and soy? never. I depend on both.

Here's my current rotation:

Cutting diet rotation #2

Meal 1: ¼ block tofu with slice toast, 2 tablespoons salsa; green drink:3 cups spinach, ¼ lemon juice stevia

Meal 2: 4 oz. Seitan, cup green beans, 1/3 cup oats

Meal 3: Apple& cinnamon (or 1 cup berries), 1 T. almond butter (or omega butter)

Meal 4: Protein shake w/ 1 T. omega butter

Meal 5: Salad, w/ 1 cup beans, 2 brown rice cakes, 15 g. protein shake

Meal 6: Chocolate tapioca pudding and ½ c. raspberries

Meal 7: (if you need it) 1 whole grapefruit

Recipe for chocolate tapioca pudding:

1 c. almond milk

1 T. tapioca

1 T. cocoa

stevia and salt

So I'm really liking the second rotation better. It's about 700 calories less, but the higher carb content, and variety of foods is a lot easier on me mentally. When I make the seitan, I finish it, slice it thinly, dredge in whole wheat flour, and cook in a nonstick skillet coated in cooking spray. I do the whole weeks worth of meals at once, and pack them up so I'm ready to go. I also mash up the portions of tofu, and cook them with a chopped onion, and turmeric, chili powder, curry, etc. so they are like a tofu scrambler and ready to go. The tapioca is all made at once in the beginning of the week too. The other night, everyone had cake at a family party, and I wanted some so bad! i was able to come home and have that chocolate fix, and be OK. It really worked. Sometimes it doesn't work, I'll be honest, but it's a good weapon.

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