Spring Break, baby!

The biker chick says:

Winter is almost over.  The days will get longer and the degrees will go higher.  Hang in there, friends.  Perfect commuting weather is right around the corner!

The organic hippie chick says:

Just keep at it!  It's harder to find things to eat at restaurants that fit into the organic lifestyle, but there are always options.  Be a picky customer.  Ask for things to be prepared how YOU like.  You can be choosy when it's the food that's going into your body!

So I lost another pound.  Woo hoo!!!  Down 4 lbs.  Gotta love that.  Now if I could just get myself on that dang treadmill more I might actually drop even more poundage.  ;)
The organic eating is coming along nicely- the commuting... well, not so much.  I didn't commute ONE day last week.  Boo on me!  Y'know- I'm just sick and tired of winter.  This week wasn't so bad, but it had thunderstorms, 30-40mph winds, and was just icky.  I can't wait for the weather to cooperate and get nicer.  I dream of warmer days.  But speaking of warmer days- guess what I discovered when I came home from work yesterday?  FLOWERS!!!  You heard me!  I looked over and saw some beautiful flowers in bloom.  Soooo, I went outside and spend an hour and a half gardening yesterday.  I raked up all the dead leaves, cleaned out the flower beds, trimmed back the dead leaves and branches, and got the garden/yard ready for spring.  My heart is happy knowing it's just RIGHT around the corner.  Woot!!!

I'm so glad Spring Break is here.  Teachers get a break so we don't wind up choking the children.  It's a  good thing.  I'm ready for some relaxation and rest.   I need it!!!!

Take care!

Lessons from the stomach

My stomach taught me two lessons today:

1.  I still can't eat bananas.  They make my stomach upset.
2.  You shouldn't eat two organic, grass-fed hormone and nitrate-free hot dogs in one sitting.

I learned the lesson the hard way.  I ate dinner and bought some high quality hot dogs.  I made my own french fries by cutting up a potato into strips, spraying them with Pam and sprinkling various herbs and spices on them.  They turned out YUMMY!!  I threw two hot dogs in the pot to cook up.  I had planned on eating ONE and taking the other one for lunch tomorrow.  Well, it was so delicious, I decided to eat it for dinner as well.  BIG mistake.  I ate the second one and then regretted it shortly thereafter.
THEN, I decided that I'd try to eat a banana again to see if I'd gotten over my "allergy" to them.  Ummmm... nope.  I made a really delicious chocolate banana milkshake (one cup milk, one banana, some chocolate syrup, packet of stevia sweetener and some ice.  It was delicious, but the bananas made my stomach hurt. 
I got on the treadmill for a short run and 40 minutes later and things got ugly. I got sick and had a stomach ache the remainder of the night.  It was NOT pretty. 
It was ugly, but I learned a valuable lesson.  Do NOT eat two beef hot dogs when you really haven't eaten beef in awhile.  And then don't drink a milkshake with a banana in it when you're still allergic to bananas. 

Frustrating day.

BUT... I lost another pound- so it can't all be bad, right?  Only 17 more to go...

I lost some weight!

The Organic chick says:

Fat free and sugar free isn't good for you.  It makes you crave the fats and sugars more.  All the chemicals they put in the food to keep the calories down doesn't keep you thin or healthy at all.  It only makes the dependence stronger.  Eat REAL foods and enjoy the REAL taste of it!

 The commuter chick says:

Today we had some thunderstorms with some lightning and creepy clouds.  I made an executive decision to drive the car.  No need to ride a moving lightning rod and ruin a perfectly good life.

After eating organically for a week, I jumped on the scale today and I lost 2 lbs.  Not much, and only 1/10th of what I need to lose- but it's a start in the right direction.  :)

I guess putting only good stuff in your body does good things.  I didn't really eat any sweets, but I also didn't watch my portions closely at all.  I just only ate natural, organic things.  I like the direction this is going.  This big girl riding a bike is hoping to get a little smaller with the changes I've made. 
Funny thing is:  I haven't missed the sweets that much.  When I was eating like crap, I'd crave it all the time.  Now that I'm not eating the HFCS, the aspartame, and the other crap- I don't crave it.  I'd almost rather have an apple or a piece of granola instead of a candy bar or a bowl of ice cream.  I've read that the aspartame and the other chemicals we eat actually make you crave the sweets even more.  I can see that.  I hope that I'm detoxifying my body and moving it in a whole new direction.  Now c'mon 18 more pounds so mama can wear that bikini in public again this summer without frightening all the little children at the beach. 


Today would have been a good day to ride- if I were riding home right now (in the evening).  When I left work we were under some major thunderstorms and the rain was emptying from the sky like the contents of my bladder after 92 oz of water.  It was crazy!  I'm glad that I decided to drive instead of ride.  Tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 70's and beautiful.  Sounds like a bike ride around the lake after work is in order.  Gotta get my biking butt and legs in training for Freewheel- it'll be here before I know it. 

Ta ta!

I'm officially organic

This week I started on a new adventure in my life.  I'm officially an all-organic eater.  I hadn't initially planned on becoming this way- but I've just learned far too much about our food system and how our food is produced and what is added to it.  It's really scary.  REALLY scary!!  I have made a decision to only eat organic (as much as possible) and to only put natural things into my body.

I hope to achieve a 90/10 ratio.  90% of the time I'll eat organic and natural, and 10% of the time I can eat the things in life that are so yummy to eat (cake, Nutella, ice cream, etc).  It can be done, but will involve some sacrifice and some re-learning old habits.  I'm excited about this journey.  I want to see what my body can do when I only fill it with the right things.

Here are my rules:
1.  Anything I eat has to have 6 ingredients or less (which until I started shopping in a health food store was kinda tough).
2.  I will only eat organic fruits/veggies.
3.  I will only eat organic dairy (including raw milk).  My goal is to cut out dairy almost entirely by the end of the year.  That will take some adjusting so I'm giving myself until the end of the year to do this.
4.  I will eat when I'm hungry and learn to control my emotional eating.
5.  If I choose to eat meat, it MUST be grass fed, no hormone or antibiotic, and no nitrate meat from a local farmer.  I will likely not eat meat much at all (I don't now), but I won't rule it out entirely.  A good burger is yummy sometimes.
6.  If it's on the ingredient list and I can't pronounce it- it doesn't go down the hatch.  Natural and artificial flavors are out, too.  That is code for (chemicals we don't tell you about).

I think my poor husband thinks I've gone over the edge, but it's what I do.  I get on kicks fairly often. I'm really hoping this won't just be another fad or kick, and I don't think it will  I want this to stick around.  I don't want to be dying prematurely from the inside out.  I want to be healthy.  I want to only put things in my body that God would recognize. 

Join me on this journey... I hope it's fun and educational (and yummy along the way).

It was warm today... well, sorta.

It was 64 today.  Normally I'd be all hopped up on endorphins and excitement.  Not so much.  It was cloudy and crazy windy.  So tell me how 64 can feel like 44?  I can't explain it...

Went to the farmer's market today to load up on local, natural goodness.  Yummers!!  Bought some raw milk (sooo yummy and not scary at all), some natural cheese, an all natural pizza crust, and some delicious tomatoes. Purchasing raw milk in OK is illegal unless you go to the farm to get the milk directly from the farmer.  That's silly!  It's OK to buy it from the farmer, but if he brings it someplace and sells it it's not OK??? If he gets caught, he'll be arrested and charged a $2500 fine.  Crazy!!

 

I wish I had ridden my bike.  The weather just kinda sucked.  I don't mind colder, but colder and crazy windy drives me bananas.  Why does it always have to be so windy?!?!?!?!?!?

Got home from my errands and sat in the hot tub.  Enjoyed the hot tub, and apparently so much so that I fell asleep.  Let me say that again:  I FELL ASLEEP IN THE HOT TUB!!!  That is NOT good.  That's a pretty dumb way to die.  Doofus!

Big girls apparently DON'T ride bikes- not when it's cold anyway...

I'm outta here- 'night!

The ultimate SUB!

Suburban Utility Bike, that is...

If I had an extra 300 clams laying around, I would SO be buying this kit to make my commuter into an SUB! 
It's a bird... it's a plane... it's the Xtracycle.

Get your hanky, because you're going to need it.

Let the drooling begin...

 

Oh wait, it gets better...

 

MMmm hmmmm... but wait-

it gets even better...

 

I've got it bad.  Bikes are like porn to me... seriously.  I look at them all the time.  I fantasize about what it would be like to own them and ride them around town.  I wish I had more money so I could buy more and add them to my collection.  I dream about them at night.  At least I don't think about them when I'm making love to my husband.... yet.

One day the Xtracycle will be mine.  It WILL be mine.  I could make my current commuter into an Xtracycle with the conversion kit.  It would turn my bike into a hauling machine.  Vrrrmmm vrrrmm vrrmmm vrrrmmmm (that's me revving my bike engine- whatever sound that makes).

Until we meet again in my dreams, Xtracycle...

March means Spring!!!

Today's tip:

Some days it's easier to just jump in the car.  If you jump on your bike instead, you won't be sorry you took the extra time and prep to pedal yourself to your destination.

Oh, yes it does!!!!!!  Even tho the outside doesn't quite agree with me, but I know for a fact that March means spring is right around the corner.  I'm SOOO happy it's here because March means April is around the corner and if April is almost here, then summer is not far behind. 
So my reasoning is a little far-fetched, but I have to hold onto something here.  It's all I've got at this point. 

Today I started Weight Watchers again.  For the second time in 5 years.  Last time I lost 32 lbs and kept it off for about a year.  Then I gained about 13 extra pounds back and am hoping to lose about 20 this time.  My weight is a constant, irritating struggle.  Even tho I can run 5 miles, bike for miles on end, ride to work and the like- I'm still overweight and need to get it back under control.  Much easier said than done.  Let's see how this pans out this time... let the frustration begin!
Damn the skinny bitches of the world who are tiny and don't have to work at it.  I'm so jealous...