I'll Tell You What You Can Do With Your Zucchini

Way back in the 1970s my mom used to make me a vegetable plate including things like raw zucchini & raw cauliflower. Now I have fond memories of eating raw vegetables. So I say: find a way to make raw vegetables for your children and chances are they will (at some point) have happy memories of eating vegetables.

Since I was first diagnosed with gout I've been searching for new ways to make non-meats interesting. I remembered that I also used to have Mrs. Dash on my zucchini instead of salt and I learned to like that combination, too. I really started eating more salt because of my wife who loves it. She recently found out that she should cut down so we are back where I started.

There was no Mrs. Dash in the house and I was hungry so I got one of the organic zucchinis from Trader Joe's and added turmeric, cumin and cinnamon and about a dozen and a half Trader Joe's cashews. Because I haven't used the cinnamon in a while I forgot how fast it comes out. I guess the cinnamon was about 50% of the spice mixture, turmeric 35% and cumin 15%. I sliced the zucchini thinly and I would guess there were 40 pieces. I ate it with my fingers and it was good. Gently spiced. How much? A pinch or two, I guess, as I didn't measure. You can experiment just like I did. I originally planned on adding cayenne pepper and couldn't find it. So it had less kick than I'm used to, but good all the same. I really think I can taste the difference using organic zucchini and the cashews are a personal favorite.

If you really like cashews, try eating four slices with a cashew a couple times, then 3 slices, then 2, then 1 and eventually you should be eating 2 cashews with one zucchini slice for your last 4 or 5 slices. That was lunch - along with one Isagenix Natural Accelerator. Keep in mind that I'm a big man and I'm satisfied because of being on Isagenix products. In a couple hours I'll have a shake and tomorrow or the next day I expect that I will be at my lowest weight since I started almost two weeks ago.

And THAT'S what you can do with your zucchini!

Click on the title of this post to visit Trader Joe's.


Keep walking!

Marianne Feels Better This Afternoon

My wife had some trouble with her back and today we went to Dr. Jocelyn Laraine-Kleeb in Carlsbad. I think network spinal analysis is the most wonderful kind of chiropractic. It's so gentle and so is Jocelyn. She let me wait in a zero-gravity chair while she worked on Marianne and her home office is so relaxing. I would have fallen asleep waiting if I wasn't reading the web. I highly recommend Dr. Jocelyn Laraine-Kleeb and network spinal analysis. Click on the title of this post to see the list of USA practitioners. Jocelyn is listed alphabetically in the California section.
FYI- Jocelyn's aunt is in the Isagenix business as well as a couple of her clients and I told Jocelyn she should talk to her aunt about Isagenix. Lots of people are doing it!

Keep walking!

Ate At Lou And Mickey's And STILL Lost Weight

Yesterday I was at the San Diego Comic-Con with my son, Stuart, and his friend Dan. I'll give more details about Comic-Con in another post, but it was fun. I started the day with Isagenix Cleanse For Life and then a little later I had my Isagenix Isalean Chocolate Shake mixed with a banana. I had one Isagenix Snacks! (Chocolate) a couple hours later and I wasn't really hungry when Stuart texted me near the end of Danny Elfman's panel.

One thing that stuck with me from Danny Elfman's question and answer session is this:

Deadlines Have Value

He said that if it weren't for deadlines he would still be working on the soundtrack to "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" which came out in 1985!

After Stuart and Dan found me outside Room 6 near Mrs. Field's cookies (which didn't even tempt me - thanks, Isagenix!) we walked out into the sunlight and into the Gaslamp District where we sat down at Lou & Mickey's for lunch. My niece, Samantha, used to work here and both the hostess remembered her and Brady, our server, did as well. I hadn't counted on an appetizer, but Stuart ordered the cheese with marinara sauce and it looked a little odd and a little big when it came because it didn't match the mental picture of cheese sticks that I had previously enjoyed. Lou & Mickey's version of what amounts to fried cheese has the cheese inside a small loaf. At least that's the way it appeared to me - and it was delicious! I had chicken caesar salad and you could really taste how good the chicken was. I realized when I started on the salad that I could probably get by with a quarter of it. I decided to enjoy it all as my dinner was going to be an Isagenix shake. I just started on the two-shake regimen a couple days ago. I guess you could say that I worked my way up to it from my one-shake-a-day first week or so and I'm pretty amazed that I can curb my hunger no problem. (Maybe giving up coffee helps with that?)

About 5:30 I had Isagenix Want More Energy? powder mixed with water. We walked a lot yesterday as the San Diego Convention Center is a big place, especially when you walk through the Marriot, too. After we took the trolley back to Old Town I drove us home and somewhere on the trip home I realized that it had been a long day and with the lost sleep recently from our heat wave (I know that some of you don't think 90+ is a big deal, but it makes it tough for me to sleep.), I was just about ready for bed when we got home a little after 8.

That's when I had my 2nd shake of the day and put bedding together for our sister-in-law and her youngest son who were to spend the night on the floor sharing our room. She had been pretty sick earlier and I said a prayer that this would all be all right, and after finishing what little I had to do I laid down and fell asleep a little before 9! I slept 11 hours and that's the first time in a LONG time that I've done that. I did wake up a few times, but I rolled right over and went back to sleep. Some people forget the value of good sleep. Rather, some people if they aren't sleeping well and they try something like Isagenix or meditation or prayer or more exercise or WHATEVER gets them the SLEEP results they want, they tend to forget to give their strategy credit weeks or months later when they are sleeping well on a regular basis. It seems like the new normal or even like it's always been that way and when they view it that way they often feel like they can stop using the strategy (or tactics, for you military sticklers) that got them to this new and better place. I've seen that in personal development, too. But, I'm not going to do that. There's a reason Isagenix calls their product Isagenix Cleanse For Life.

Long story short (TOO LATE!), I got on the scale this morning and found out that even after that luxurious lunch at Lou & Mickey's, I'm down to 267.4 pounds. That means I'm down 8.8 pounds in 11 days!

Keep walking!

Dropped Almost 8 Pounds In 10 Days

When I got on the scale a few minutes ago I found that I have lost more weight. Today I'm 268.6, which means I am down almost 8 pounds (7.6 to be exact) in 10 days! My Isagenix link is in the upper right of BigManWalking. I'll be at the San Diego Comic-Con today.

Keep walking!

Progress Better Than Expected

On Monday a friend visited and we took the day and enjoyed it with him. We ended up eating out twice and I ended up eating more than I might have.

After meeting at Barnes and Noble and then dropping his car off we drove down to San Diego State, where he, my wife and I took classes. While we are still here in the place where we grew up, my professor friend went on to finish his master's degree and he's now teaching sociology at St. Clair Community College in Michigan. First he wanted to visit some former colleagues and if you've ever been to SDSU you know that if you are going anywhere on campus and then in the neighborhood, you are likely walking at least two miles round-trip. (Walking is good!)

Our first stop for food was the 4.0 Deli and I had avocado, turkey and cheese with bacon. This was the first bacon I had in a long time and thankfully, no gout outbreak. It was good. Reeeally good. I wish 4.0 was near my house. (Or maybe not!)

Later we checked in at home and walked the dog and double-checked with friends in San Clemente. We met them at their home and after some conversation we went to Bad To The Bone and I ate more than I have for quite a while. While I'm using Isagenix IsaLean Shakes and other products I simply find that I'm not that hungry. Earlier in the day I was hungry finally for lunch at 1:15 after having a shake around 6:30 am. I actually found myself choosing to eat the whole chicken breast with cheese and tiny pieces of bacon. When I say a whole chicken breast, I mean it. It was sliced and laid out like a big steak. Along with it I had onion rings and sweet potato fries. So I really ate on Monday even though I could have eaten the fries and put everything else in a bag to go. I guess I was testing Isagenix a little. (By the way, I don't recommend this behavior, I'm simply telling the truth about what went on.) Yes. It was yummy.

Yesterday I had a shake and I did the same sort of thing a couple hours later. Again - telling the truth. I am a little sad to say that I had the rest of my son's pancakes as he didn't want them. Later I went to Souplantation with my friend Mary and I didn't overeat by my standards. Soup and salad only. Technically, soup and salad and more soup was what I had. I had an Isagenix snack a little before 4 and wasn't that hungry so I decided to try another shake. This was my first time having two shakes in one day. What I haven't said yet is that not long after having the Isagenix snack I weighed myself and even knowing it wasn't going to be good, I was disappointed when I compared this to past experience.

As I looked down at those numbers I was thinking, "OK. I've still lost weight over the entire time I've been on this, but will it be Saturday before I get back to where I was with my weight?" I know this works in the long run, but I was questioning my short-term judgement.

This morning I had a pleasant surprise when I stepped on the scale - I'm down to my lowest (or best) since I have been on Isagenix on all three measurements! Here are the numbers: 269.2 lbs, water - 51.4%, fat - 38.6%. (My Isagenix link is in the upper right - call me!) This GOOD stuff works!

Keep walking!

Thanks For Reminding Us, Thomas!

"If you aren't playing well, the game isn't as much fun. When that happens I tell myself just to go out and play as I did when I was a kid."

Thomas J Watson, Sr.

I found this quote at About.com.

Keep walking!

A Little Music For The Journey

Today I begin a search for music with lyrics that are encouraging for someone in the process or starting the process of losing weight or as some prefer to say, dropping pounds. I posted the lyrics to Delbert McClinton's "Givin' It Up For Your Love" on my Facebook profile and if you look up the posts from July 19, 2010, there it is. You can visit my Facebook profile by clicking on the title of this post.

Here's the video of the live version of "Givin' It Up For Your Love" on Austin City Limits.

Keep walking!

Did I Forget To Mention?

This morning the scale said 269.4 and that means I'm down 6.8 pounds in 6 days.  Ehhhxcellent!

Feeling very good on Isagenix Cleanse For Life while waiting in the heat for our Realtor - house hunting!

Still Moving Forward

This morning I stepped on the scale and got a positive outcome - 270.4, which means I'm down 5.8 lbs in 4 days!

I got a same-day(!) appointment with Dr. Duck to check on my infected toe and my troublesome knee. The good news for me was that none of this is related to gout. I got a better antibiotic and hopefully I won't have to have the toenail cut off, which I'm told is pretty painful.  I'm betting it's not as bad as gout. For the knee we are going to get an MRI, but we're pretty sure it's torn cartilage. We'll cross that decision bridge when we come to it.

This is the second time I've had this problem with my knee and a physician's assistant assumed it was gout last time. I had my doubts, but I'm not the doctor, right?

Because none of this is related to gout and I'm symptom-free right now, this means that so far Isagenix is fine if you have gout. It also means that I can lose weight faster than I expected without creating an imbalance that turns up the heat - so to speak - on the gout. No flare-ups!

Tonight I decided to have Trader Joe's plain yogurt with a banana (very thinly sliced) before a sweet potato. (There's a picture below to show that it looks pretty good!) I've also discovered I like sweet potatoes since I contracted gout and I found out they are good for combating it. Before I had gout I hadn't had sweet potatoes since not being able to keep them down as a kid.

We all have to be open to learning new things and reconsidering ideas that we might have tossed away long ago. You can get in better shape than you might believe right now. Instead of saying "None for me, thanks," you can say, "I'll eat this because of what it does for me."

Keep walking!

Isagenix IsaLean Chocolate Shake

When I was a kid I remember my mom getting me Instant Breakfast from Carnation, which was the first liquid meal I remember having. I liked the chocolate and probably liked all that sugar, too.

Now I believe a much better choice is Isagenix IsaLean Shake - Natural Creamy Chocolate flavor! I mixed it with room temperature water yesterday and it was pretty good. My wife pronounced it good, which is saying a lot considering she's a big chocolate fan. I've strayed from a regimen more than once because of giving in to some of her chocolate that she has lying around. (To be fair, I've found it when she has hidden it, too.)

Today I used cold water and 1/4 banana in our blender and it mixed up even creamier. I think the lower temperature enhances the flavor. I'm a big guy as you might have guessed since I call my blog "Big Man Walking". That was at 6:30 this morning and I've only had 3 cherries as a mini-snack and plenty of water since then. Most of us don't get enough water and it's important that we do. I find that I like the taste of cold water better than room temperature and I've started to keep a container in the refrigerator as a way to make the experience more pleasant and even practical on a hot July day.

Below are some quotes I found at ThinkExist.com to motivate and inspire you and me on this journey.

Keep walking!


“The longest journey starts with a single step.”
Proverb

“The longest journey a man must take is the eighteen inches from his head to his heart.”
Anonymous

“The longest journey of any person is the journey inward.”
Dag Hammarskjold

Nice Surprise On The Scale This Morning

When I got on the scale this morning I really didn't expect much as it had only been a little less than 48 hours since I started using Isagenix. I was surprised to see my weight at 271.6. If you read previous posts you know that means I lost 4.6 lbs in 2 days without a flare-up in gout pain.

That last part is the most important factor to me. Sometimes losing weight too fast can cause an imbalance that just "revs up" that pain and once you've experienced full-blown gout you want to avoid that at all costs. I've told Sue Landis and others that gout is a great behavior modifier!

My other numbers improved, too - fat 39.3% (lower) and water 50.8% (higher). I am expecting good things from continuing to use Isagenix products.

Have I taken anything else so far? I've taken a couple of vitamin complexes I had left over, but I don't think that's contributed to weight loss. I also take Gout Control, which is basically herbs. Again, it's not really for weight loss, but for helping your body get rid of uric acid.

I didn't have a deli sandwich today, but I did have turmeric chicken with onions for dinner and a banana and a third with plain yogurt and some cherries for dessert. Brunch was 2 cups of Trader Joe's Organic Brown Rice.

What will tomorrow bring?

Keep walking!