THERE IS SUCH A THING IN THE WORLD AS BISCOFF SPREAD. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

If you’ve ever done any traveling by air you may have come across the little Biscoff cookies they sometimes give out. They taste so incredible. In fact, because I have done much travel in recently I was giddy to find those cookies in my local Rite Aid. The downside is when you have a whole package of something you love but has heretofore been inaccessible you tend to over indulge. In my case, I’d eat nearly the whole package in one sitting only stopping because of the nausea setting in.

However this was different. It was Biscoff Spread. And despite an expensive price tag I bought it. Oh, the best part–it’s also vegan. So other than the calories, there’s no guilt either. And it tastes just as wonderful as the cookie, only you can spread it on apples to pretend that you’re doing something semi-healthy for yourself.

The spread also goes a long way if you put it on toast. It heats up from the warmth of the toast and becomes runny and gooey like caramel. I can’t tell you how awesome it is, you just have to go buy a jar yourself.

Oh and by the way, I’m totally not being compensated by Biscoff in any way, but attention Biscoff I would gladly be your spokesperson!

“I’m glad to see they are using more ‘bigger’ models in advertising these days,” he said.

“What!? Since when? Who?” I said doubtfully.

“Like Kate Upton and there’s this other one, Brooklyn Decker,” he said.

I don’t know who the other girl is, but I’ve seen Kate Upton and I heard the celebration around her because she’s a “bigger” model. And she is bigger than a waif model. But if she is a “bigger” or full-figured model then I’m a complete hog. I don’t see how it makes any “average” girl feel better to see her in a bikini. She is 5’11″ and a size 2 according to websites. That is incredibly crazy thin and something I wouldn’t consider “average.”

The new normal? Kate Upton may not be a size 0 but a size 2 isn’t my idea of representing the average woman.

I sound like a bitter, hater, bitch, I know, but it’s not like that, exactly. She’s incredibly gorgeous and yes, busty, and sure, she’s probably bigger than the Victoria’s Secret models, but my 5’7,”-work-out constantly-plant-based-diet-eating-but-still-a-size-10-ass wants to think I’m a fairly average size. If 5’11″ and a size 2 is full-figured, then women like me are what? And my poor husband, I know he meant well but sometimes men really know how to hit the psycho button by saying the wrongest thing.

So I’m not hating, I’m just not going to celebrate her fame as an achievement for the average-sized woman. Instead, I’m going to celebrate my own and the achievements of all those women who are doing everything they can to be their healthiest in mind, body and size. That said, here are my before and after pics from my training with Jennifer Santos at Anytime Fitness. Thank you Jennifer for helping me get strong, fit and healthy. I’m almost in a comfortable size 9, yay! But even better, I’m back to running again without pain, and get this–I’m able to do push ups on my toes AND pull ups. Jennifer you are the best. Anyone who lives near me needs to enlist her help at getting fit!

Before

Middle

After pic. Stronger, nearly 10 pounds lighter, much healthier.

Is honey vegan?

There is no other way to say it: I am unreasonably afraid of bees. Like super, psychotically, pee my pants, jump out of a moving car, afraid of them. And it is ENTIRELY their fault.

Whenever there are bees around, they come at me with their zig-zaggetedly crooked way of flying taunting me, like, “Maybe I’m going to go over here … no here … or maybe I’m going to land on your right shoulder–no your left. Ha ha you don’t know what I’m gonna do are you? Are you scared now you giant human thing with eyes that only see one image?’

Bees, why are you so mean and menacing, shaking your little stinger at me and making me as scared as a virgin on her wedding night?

I bristle as I bring up the subject, but there is something wonderful about bees–aside from their whole pollinating abilities. Bees produce honey and honey is wonderful. Or is it?

Many people who eat a plant-based diet debate about whether honey should be included in a vegan diet. It’s curious to me because yes it is the product of another living being, but it’s not a product from an animal. Bees aren’t really considered animals are they?

Maybe I’m wrong. I’m willing to be open-minded about it for sure. However, as it stands right now, I personally believe it’s OK. I mean we don’t really abuse bees to take their honey. Although I could be wrong and would love to be informed on this. But aside from that, we don’t seem to have a problem killing or using other insects. I mean up until recently Starbucks was using certain ground beetle parts in a drink they served.

More than anything I’m curious to opening the debate here. Because I’d love to get some informed opinions. Please, no meanies or haters. But feel free to share some information on this topic or your thoughts for honey or against.

In my recipes I currently use honey but I also will often substitute it for Blue Agave and the recipes seem to work the same. So anything I list on my site feel free to substitute Blue Agave for honey if you feel better about it.

Otherwise, feel free to weigh in on your thoughts about honey in the comments!

Vegetarian homemade granola bars

Here’s another one for the kids. Since really delving into a plant-based diet I’m really seeing my kids’ diets for what they are.  I mean I’ve eaten a vegetarian diet in some form for several years now. So my family has too. But sometimes that meant junk-food vegetarian meals. You know, meals that don’t have meat but really don’t offer a whole lot of nutrition or else they may be nutritious but contain a lot of fat or sugar.

It wasn’t until the last year that this really became clear to me. Now when I see my kids eating a bag of chips with lunch,  a candybar  after school and then a bowl of ice cream after dinner I cringe at how much sugar they are ingesting. I’ve been trying to make healthy snacks for them like chocolate covered frozen banana bites, or bananas dipped in yogurt and frozen.

But one of my favorites are homemade granola bars. These are a bit of a sell to my boys because frankly they don’t have as much sugar as the store bought versions. Actually they have no sugar. But they are still tasty.

I’m not good about recording recipes so you may have to play with this but it’s easy.

I used about 1 1/2 cups of oats, added about 3/4 cup of almond butter, a handful of chopped raw almonds, another handful of raw chopped cashews, a handful of chocolate chips and dried cranberries and mixed it up. I added honey slowly as I mixed it until it was a sticky consistency. I’d guess it was about 1/4 cup of honey. But add it slowly and use your judgment. The batter should be sticky but not too wet or runny.

In a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with high edges I put the batter and pressed it down tightly. You want to make sure to form the batter so that it’s a big rectangle that’s tightly pressed so it holds together well.

I baked it for about 10 minutes at 350 until it was just a tiny bit brown at the bottom. Then let them cool before cutting them into bars.

Sorry about the lack of exact recipe but it is a recipe that is easy to adapt with some experimentation. The bars will hold together albeit some what delicately. My little boy loves these but when he eats them they tend to get crumbs everywhere so beware. But enjoy, they are wonderful and relatively guilt free because they don’t have all the processed chemicals and sugar. Hope your kids like them too!

Quinoa and black bean tacos

It’s a huge challenge to constantly find vegetarian meals that my entire family will be satisfied with. Sometimes the meals I create miss the mark something terrible. There are lots of “yucks” and “I’m not eating THAT!” And yeah, it’s disappointing to me. Other times, things just hit.

This was one of those recipes. My kids loved these Quinoa Black Bean Tacos. Even my 4-year-old took a bite and announced “I’m going to eat two of these!”

I love quinoa but it poses a challenge. It can sometimes be bland. Other times bitter. For this recipe I made the quinoa adding lots of familiar spices found in Latin dishes. I added some chili powder, garlic, cilantro, cracked pepper and then added the black beans. I topped the quinoa and beans with a cilantro lime avocado sauce that I added a bit of humus to in order to make it creamier.

The results were outstanding. Just enough spice and it didn’t stray too far from a traditional beans and rice burrito-type dish.

Pursuing a plant-based diet doesn’t mean you have to give up traditional meals. Don’t be afraid to experiment a bit and you may be surprised at the results.

Flash forward a few decades and I can’t lose weight despite grueling sweat sessions, miles-long runs and a fabulous plant-based diet. Now I fret over losing weight. Fortunately, I don’t get teased about my weight now like I did when I was thin. I take that back–after I had my kids I was heavier than I am now and I did get comments. But that’s beside the point.

The real point here is that finally, I’m making some progress. Yay! I totally have to credit Anytime Fitness and my trainer Jenn Santos. It’s been a lot of hard work but it’s paying off. Despite going it alone and trying programs like P90X, nothing was making as much of a difference. Sure, at my best when I was doing triathlons and the P90X program I saw a difference in my body and a lot of strength but not like I have now under Jenn’s watchful eye.

I realized my earlier blog posts and photo didn’t publish so I’m publishing it now. If you are also going through a weightloss program I’d love to hear your progress, share it in the comments. If you are stuck with your weight loss efforts try changing up your routine and you’ll see a huge difference. And if you are in my area definitely consult with Jenn at Anytime Fitness.

My current progress:

making progress

The thing is, my arms are one of my proudest accomplishments this last month, since I’ve taken on this challenge to loose weight with the help of training at Anytime Fitness in Old Orcutt. That’s because I haven’t lost ANY weight. I mean I lost a pound and then it came back and brought friends. I feel like I’m the only person in the world who has worked this hard and only gained weight. But I’m sure I’m not.

Recently my brother, who lives in Vegas, came by to see me. He’s a trainer too. We talked about my training, my diet and genetics. My brother used to be a somewhat doughy framed guy with asthma. Not really fat, but he was pudgy for a while there. Now he’s totally hot, if I can say so in a not weird way. I mean, he fits the universal definition of what would be considered a hot bod. OK that still sounds weird. But what I mean is he trasnformed his body. It took lots of work and discipline to be sure but he did it — despite genetics.

He had become fit and lean for some time then around Christmas family was worried he was getting too skinny. Maybe he’s got a problem we thought. Then last week he came to visit and had packed on tons of muscle. He had been trying to get rid of as much fat as he could before building the muscle.

The thing of it is the rest of my family, well, we don’t look like that. Obesity and belly fat is a strong trait in my family. Being of Hispanic heritage, a square-ish and stocky shape is another trait. But my brother totally broke free of that. So as we chatted I listened hard. I’ve always argued that genetics doesn’t play such a big role. My brother argued that it does.

He said we have a tendency to be sensitive to carbs. We have a tendency to build muscle easily but hang onto fat for dear life. That all sounded totally like me!

The reason this was so significant was because last week I began journaling my food intake to discuss with my trainer Jennifer at Anytime Fitness. We began to tweak what I was eating and how much. But it seemed like such little tweaks–how can adding a bit more protein or eating a bigger breakfast make such a difference? I understand now. It’s my genetics coming into play.

That’s not a cop out. Because of my training over the last month I’ve seen massive muscular gains and in the strength I have. (I can finally do push ups on my toes–I’ve NEVER been able to do even one!) but the fat is stubbornly hanging on. So maybe it’s genetics. Whereas some people can just cut out a few calories or up their cardio a bit, I probably need to watch the fine details in order to shed pounds. My genetics dictate that fat hang on to me for dear life. Which means those little tweaks that Jennifer told me to make will actually make all the difference in the world. I hope.

So for now, I’m playing a game of chicken with my fat. Who is going to give in first? Me or my fat? Will I have the willpower to fight against genetics, fatigue and that oh so seductive hunk of rosemary parmesan foccacia bread in order to get rid of that jelly that spills over the back of my bra strap? I sure hope so.

For better or worse, I’ll post a pic soon, stay tuned.

Both things need to be done. I really do need to spend a few hours at the computer. But I also need to do some yard work, finish some painting– and playing at the park with the kids, I mean do I really need to question that one? So today I’m deferring the work I so badly want to catch up on for a little active time outside (and maybe a little brisk housecleaning). After all I can  do computer work tonight but the other stuff is decidedly day work.

Lately, I’ve realized that I’ve opted out of even the most basic exercise–just simply moving around–for desk work. Therein lies the problem. When my two oldest boys were babies I found it hard to get out of the house and excercise with them. So I did two things: I asked my husband for a stationary bike and I just started moving. When the kids watched The Wiggles on Disney Channel I got up and danced with them. During commercials I ran around and around the closet that separated the living room, dining and kitchen areas. We even made it a game, the babies would crawl or toddle after me and I’d run circles around them. They loved it. And I lost weight.

Of course, then I was a stay at home mom and didn’t have to spend hours in front of a computer screen. But I can still make similar decisions now. So in 15 minutes from now I will be chasing my three year old on the playground and walking my older boys to the duck pond to feed the ducks. Work can wait. So can bills.

This is my third week of training at Anytime Fitness in Old Orcutt. The workouts really make me feel a difference in my body. I am coming home wiped out and boy do I sleep hard afterward. But still no weightloss. However, my body fat percentage is down! That’s still an accomplishment.

So this week, I have to admit I cheated more than I’d like. I was feeling a little distraught about my weight again. I mean it’s one thing when your pants are too tight but when the undies are too snug that’s depressing. And though it doesn’t make sense, I ate more this past week. But that was last week, it’s not going to affect me going forward. I renewed my resolve and I’ll eat much better this week.

I’m still getting in my workouts and adding a few workout videos at home.

This week’s secret to getting up my motivation: Buying cute things to aid in my weightloss journey.

Buying a new shirt to work out in and a lot of bright and colorful veggies has helped.

I also bought some veggie seedlings, which I’ll plant in my garden soon.

I also ordered a Japanese bento style lunchbox from J-List.com

These are great because they have little compartments to separate food and for me it was an exciting and fun way to make sure I plan out my lunches.

What tricks do you have to keep motivated?

I’ve loved working out at Anytime Fitness. It’s totally convenient and never too crowded. It’s also great to have brand new, state of the art equipment. I feel so athletic!! Just kidding. That’s only until I look in the mirror and realize I’ve got a way to go. That’s OK I’ll get there.

I’ve been great with the diet and the whole one-serving of carbs a day thing. Except for today. When I had two cookies at work and they made me sick. At home, not feeling sick again I had two more. OK so three. To make matters worse I had to work late and had appointments until dinner time, then it was dinner, then cleaning, then making the snacks for the kids’ Valentine’s Day parties. So I didn’t get my exercise in. It’s 9 p.m. now and I just sat down.

Overall a really bad cheat day. Tomorrow will be better. Not going to beat myself up about it.

So for my diet the last few days I’ve been eating oatmeal for breakfast or else fresh green juice. Lunch has been a cup of lentils, carrots, an orange and water with lemon and an apple for snack or a handful of almonds. Dinner has been chicken-less mandarin orange chicken with rice and vegetables or kale and carrot stir-fry. This week I’ll branch out a bit more.

Tomorrow I’m waking up extra early to get in an extra workout to make up for today. This will be a good exercise and eating week. I will lose another pound.

If you are on your own weight loss adventure, let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear your progress!

Shelly

My husband has hinted at it the last year but I didn’t take notice. Then recently, my mom, in that way that mom’s have, put it plainly. As we were looking through old photos at a family gathering I mentioned how my mother used to encourage me not to dress so conservatively. My mom then said, “I did. She dressed too conservatively and she should’ve wore clothes that were more flattering to her figure,” my mom told everyone. Then she added, “Now she dresses like she should’ve when she was younger,” then she turned to me, “And you don’t have the figure for it!”

A loud audible gasp went through the house. I looked at my husband, who did what any smart husband would do–he sided with his mother-in-law. I didn’t know what to say. More importantly, I knew they were right. Not about the clothes of course but the fact that I don’t have the figure anymore.

It was time to do something about it. So I am. I began training at Anytime Fitness. My trainer is Jennifer Santos and she’s been crazy good at it. She set me up on a nutrition plan and we are trying to get me to lose 20 pounds. The best part is that because I was so athletic just over a year ago I knew that I needed a fitness program that can show me some real results. Every time I’ve tried to get back into shape in the last year my muscle memory kicked in and I just plateaued quickly.

With Jennifer at Anytime Fitness I’m confident I’ll see results and I’m excited. So here goes. I’ll be journaling my efforts each week and highlighting my successes, my weaknesses and my failures as well.

So here’s the BEFORE. Me at 156 pounds.

What I ate this week:

I’ll summarize it a bit for now. Breakfasts were either fruit like apples and pineapple and banana or else maple cinnamon oatmeal.

Lunch was primarily carrots and hummus, an apple and a handful or almonds. Or tuna fish with a teaspoon of mayo on one slice of bread and an orange or Spanish rice in a jalapeno cilantro tortilla.

Dinner was sweet potato curry soup over brown rice with zuchini and summer squash or a cup full of cheese tortellini with salad or a cup of homemade potato salad, soy sausage and some salad.

Did I cheat? Yes. There was a day when I had a half of a Twinkie. Several days when I couldn’t resist a Diet Coke. And there were a couple of glasses of wine and maybe a beer or two here and there. But I can’t focus on that. I am more concerned with what I’ve done right and that is to get stricter about my diet. I’ve always eaten a somewhat plant-based diet but I’ve really watched the junk that creeps in– like processed foods. So I’m choosing to be proud of that rather than to be bummed about the small failures I’ve experienced.

Check back next week for my next update. Wish me luck. And if you are going through a weight loss challenge feel free to share your experience as well!