Greetings!! Trying to get in a post before midnight! The rest of the morning and early afternoon went alright.. I started some laundry, ate my salad for lunch + fiber shake! Katie kept fighting sleep at nap time. She eventually went to sleep while I finished my college work for the WEEK!

Eventually nibbled on some FRUIT for my snack…

Heavenly strawberries and watermelon! Katie was Miss Whine today so that was annoying… oh the joys of parenthood. My handsome man finally came home from work!!!!!!! He went out to put some more oil in the car while I went ahead and prepared my SALAD for dinner to take with me while we went out and about. We loaded up, dropped Katie off @ Mom’s then It was off to ……. WHOLE FOODS! Yup. You already know!

Here’s what we got in WF –

• organic cherries
• various protein/health bars
• goat milk yogurt (for Brad)
• dried apricots
• thick & chunky salsa
• roasted red pepper dressing
• 2 KOMBUCHA drinkies!
• sushi + blood orange drink (for Brad’s dinner)
• organic apples (for Brad)
• small bag of sweet potato chips
• 200 billion probiotic losenges!
• ALMOND BUTTAH!
• my heavenly Greek Gods plain yogurt
• calcium chews
• organic omega-3 eggs
• all natural shampoo (Brad wanted)

We finished shopping then decided to eat our dinner right outside Whole Foods!

Of course I had my salad I made at home! It was so nice to just sit outside and enjoy dinner together! I tried 2 of the sushi and It came with ginger slices that were EPIC. My salad + Kombucha was sooo heavenly. I crunched up a few of the sweet potato chips and put into my salad. All the GOODIES made my tummy feel a “rush” !!! Awesomeness. We enjoyed our time then had to move onto Wal-Mart to pick up the rest of our groceries. We told my Mom we would be later than usual. Oh, Mom said she wouldn’t be able to keep Katie over night since she has such a hard time with her when she keeps her in the mornings with lifting her and fixing her breakfast.. having to do all that but that was fine.

And in our cart at Wal-Mart –

• lots of berries!
• greens, cabbage
• grapes
• oats, Kashi high fiber/protein cereal
• 2 half-gallons of unsweetened almond milk
• new shampoo / conditioner for my dry hair
• multi-plug socket for living room
• frozen cut okra & asparagus
• avocado
• bread (for Katie & Brad)
• bananas (for Katie)
• Katie’s various food items
• 1% milk (for Katie & Brad)

I probably forget an item or two on those lists but yeah! I had a really, really good time!!!!!! I have so much awesomeness in my kitchen and I am SERIOUSLY GIDDY OVER IT. Oh, and Brad bought crickets at Wal-Mart.. to have in the house to listen to. Yea, don’t ask! It was like 10:30pm when we got Katie home so we put her straight to bed and had to go in there many times to tell her to lay down and go to sleep…. sheesh SHE IS STUBBORN. I put away groceries, fixed my AWESOME dessert and here I am trying to get this post in before a new day starts!

I’m nervous about my weigh-in in the morning since it’ll be my first one since starting solid food again… I hope I atleast stayed the same weight? We’ve got a BIG DAY planned tomorrow! Including another possible trip to get a FREE smoothie a piece from SMOOTHIE KING! Can’t wait to enjoy the day with my handsome hubby. I was so happy to sit outside Whole Foods and eat dinner with him.

I love my life. I’m so thankful and blessed. Thankful for LOVE. Thankful for HEALTHY FOODS.

No way that it’s JULY?! Where did June go??? I’m thankful because June was the month I took a big step and did a 24 day vegetable juice cleanse to help restore my health! If I would of went the full amount of days I wanted to with the cleanse then TODAY would of been the last day, but I was trying to listen to my body and I feel it was trying to tell me that 24 days was enough and I’m HAPPY with that!

Brad and I were a wee bit late waking up this morning so Brad had to rush around to eat, get dressed and head out the door for work. For breakfast, I heated up some of my homemade juiced lemon & ginger water then put some TRUvia in it… figuring it would taste like lemonade. Um, WAY too sweet for my now sweet sensative taste buds. I drank a few more sips and left the rest in the fridge to see If Brad wants it. OF COURSE I had to munch on some of our newly chopped watermelon. Usual bowl of OATS this morning. It was so good….

In the mix:

• raw oats
• my FAVORITE plain, live culture greek yogurt
• 2 strawberries
• little bit of choco protein powder
• chiiiiiia seeds
• splash of unsweetened almond milk
• little coconut cream & shavings
• CINNAMON!!!!!!!

I ate that then went back for another small bowl. This time I only had raw oats and yogurt! More watermelon nibbling. I can’t put it down!!! I relaxed and listened to music this morning instead of going back to bed so I’ve had a *little* more energy this morning… clearly! After getting Katie set up with breakfast, I sprayed the porch with a bug spray “fog” since Katie has been getting EAT UP with mosquito bites so I spray that about 15 minutes before she goes to play on the porch to help protect her from those pesky bugs. I also swept the porch off then ran to pay rent + check the mail. Already feeling accomplished! Katie is now playing on the porch and I’m catching up online. I am also VERY HAPPY to say I got a 10/10 (100%) on my rough draft paper that I have been working on for my college course! Yes!!!!

OK. I wanted to go ahead and post about the start of my morning and my yummy breakfast BUT the main point to this post was to bring up my transformation to intuitive eating.
Before 2009: Prior to making some serious life changes, my eating habits were very random. Lots of processed foods. Too much fat. WAY too many unhealthy carbs. When I would eat, it was until I was too full.
In 2009: I worked so hard to sit down and analyze a new eating “plan” for my new lifestyle. I started to switch up to more healthy foods and then got started with counting calories and logging my food on Sparkpeople! This really helped me lose weight, but I became obsessed with not going OVER my calories… EVER. I became obsessed with exactly how much fat, carbs and protein I was getting daily. Which, it’s good to keep an eye out but not OBSESS like I did. This is probably part of the reason why my body got out of balance because of my calorie and macro obsessions. I was so afraid If I didn’t keep within a certain calorie range that I would gain weight. The good side I guess about this was eventually I was satisfied and FULL with small portions. My stomach had shrunk, my digestion was better than ever.
Spring 2010: After the fatigue took over my life early 2010 and the urgent carb and sugar cravings were too overwhelming, I finally gave in to my once strict plan. I ate and ate and ate. The “limited” foods I once tried to keep under control became my addictions. The hard work I had accomplished to be happy with smaller portions was gone. I was at an all time low. For various reasons, the flora balance in my intestines went haywire and that was what lead to the mess that was my life for almost all of 2010 and part of the early part of 2011. I tried my best to keep trying to eat smaller portions even when I was suffering but I was left feeling so bad. It feels terrible to keep trying to fix something and never finding the solution… espically when it comes to something I am so passionate about.
Spring 2011: I am so thankful I chose to do the 24 day juice cleanse. This helped me reset my eating habits. I just started eating solid foods last Saturday so I am still building on my new eating habits. I am trying my best to construct my NEW eating habits with intuitive eating and LISTEN to my body when it is hungry instead of forcing myself to wait because it’s not “time” to eat or that I might have went over my usual “calorie limit”. I am no longer counting calories… and since my stomach is so much smaller, I can’t eat that much right now so I am probably not eating as much as I technically should but I just make sure to include a good amount of each macro in my meals. I LOVE MY PROTEIN. I still do not feel as good as I did at the very beginning of 2010 but I know I will get back to feeling that way again once my body is completely rejuvenated again.

I’m still cleansing. I wish I could have lots of energy so I could get back into exercise but I understand I do not need to push myself too hard right now. It’s difficult to sit back and relax since I love to exercise but I know I MUST LISTEN to my body. Yesterday’s run around and walk to/from the park with Katie was WAY enough exercise! I just need to keep eating clean and letting my body continue to cleanse and heal.

I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL MY HANDSOME HUBBY GETS HOME FROM WORK !!!! Katie *might* be spending the night with Mom… you know what that MEANS? We usually have to rushrushrush on Friday nights to get back from shopping to pick Katie up from Moms to have her home to get to bed at 9PM (her usual bed time) and so … If she stays with Mom we WON’T have to be home at a certain time! We’re excited, LOL.

See ya for a later post !!! Enjoy your Friday and the 1st day of JULY! I’m gonna go sip water and nibble on seaweed… a favorite snack that Brad and I both LOVE. =)