FAQ’s Installment 18

Good afternoon beautiful + healthy friends!

I hope you are having a wonderful day! I have spent much of my day decorating my sweet wheat sugar cookies. Practice makes perfect, right? Stay tuned tonight for some delicious pictures.

My Crap Free Week is still going well. As I said before, my sugar cravings don’t tend to occur until after dinner, so during the day tends to be pretty smooth sailing. Last night I was able to beat my sugar craving with a green monster, so hopefully tonight will be the same.

My eats so far:

Breakfast: Green Monster (Just 3 kale leaves, banana, and Almond Breeze today)

Mid morning snack: Spelt cereal + Soy milk + ground flax

Lunch: 2 organic carrots dipped in balsamic vinagrette + a whole wheat sandwich (3 slices Tofurkey, tomato, sauteed spinach, 1/2 avocado, pepper, lettuce) + an organic gala apple

I will report back tonight on the rest of my Crap Free Week eats!

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FAQ Installment 18 

150. Brooke says, “I have been reading your blog for sometime now…I love it….okay….that is half the truth…I think I am addicted…in a good way. Anyways, your story is so much like mine and I wanted to know when you were initially losing weight how much did you work out each week and did you cut back calories in the beginning to jump start your weight loss??? I used to run a lot and lost quite a bit of weight doing that but now I am back to spinning and weights and I wanted to know your perspective…Thanks so much for your positive website…it makes my day sometimes….”

Thanks Brooke :) When I was in my weight loss stage (I now consider myself to be in maintenance), I worked out about 6-7 days a week. For me, exercise is key to weight loss (and I am now finding out maintenance!). You most certainly do not need to work out 6-7 days per week. I know many people who work out 3-4 days per week and that is sufficient! Just do what you feel best doing. I feel good working out most days of the week, so that is what I have always done. When I was losing weight, I was doing about 45 mins. of cardio each day. Sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more. I rarely missed more than 2 days of exercise in a row. I also cut back calories, but I found that if I cut back too much it backfired and led to over-eating. That is why I firmly believe exercise is key. You don’t have to cut back your food intake as much and still see results.

151. Brandi says, “Good luck with your Crap Free Week! Are you having the other green smoothie as a meal on its own, or with lunch/dinner?”

I never use my green monster smoothies as a meal replacement. They tend to only keep me full for an hour, two at most. When I have one in the morning, I always have a mid-morning snack to carry my through to lunch (usually a small bowl of spelt cereal or some fruit and Almond butter). I love having the smoothies as snacks. They really help control my sugar cravings. I had one last night when I was craving sweets after dinner and the cravings went away!

152. Lindsey asks, “Wow, based on all these comments neither you nor I are alone in being able to have supremely healthy habits, sans that crazy sweet tooth! I need to do some sort of sugar-free fest for myself. AND – with your sugar free week, are you eliminating sugar from your whole house or are you finding ways to distract yourself while Eric eats sweets or what?? I can’t wait to hear your strategies for coping with sweet temptation in the evenings!”

LOL…you should see my kitchen right now! My baked goods are everywhere! There are temptations all over the kitchen. I have about 30-40 decorated sugar cookies, a loaf of pumpkin bread, and about 2 dozen thumbprint cookies. I am finding going cold turkey from sugar is much easier than trying to have it in moderation. I have never been very successful in having sugar in moderation- at least in the winter. It is easier for me to say ‘No sugar this week’ than ‘Have 1 cookie each night’. I know it sounds weird, but that has been my experience. Eric is not a big sweet eater although he does sample all of my baked goods! His only vice is Coke, which he only buys now for a special treat. He used to drink it like water. Right now we are highly addicted to the TV show 24. We have all of the seasons on DVD and watch a couple episodes each night. I think if you have something like this (especially in the winter, in the summer I would rather be outside!) to distract you then this will help a lot. I was so into the show last night sugar didn’t even cross my mind. I was filled up with healthy foods so that helped too. I also try to have a Celestial Seasonings Dessert Tea at night when I want something ‘sweet’.

153. Amy asks, “I have a question for you about your green smoothies. I make one every morning. I use baby spinach, a frozen banana, and about a cup of almond breeze in mine. But I’ve been having terrible stomach aches lately. I’ve narrowed it down to the smoothie by eliminating other foods from my diet. I’ve done some research and apparently this can happen to some people. I read that maybe I should switch up my leafy greens (I could try some kale), or “chew” the smoothie instead of just drinking it down. Maybe adding more fruit would help? Have you heard of anything like this? I love green smoothies; they give me so much energy and are really great for my skin. I don’t want to give them up, but I don’t want to be in pain every day! If you have any advice I would really appreciate it. “

My first thought was that you are perhaps swallowing too much air when drinking a smoothie. I know when I eat too fast (and thus, consume too much air) I get bad stomach pains. However, smoothies don’t tend to bother me, but then again, I don’t tend to make them very ‘frothy’. I have found that since I have been adding ice the smoothies have much more air bubbles in them and much more volume. I would maybe try making your smoothie a bit thicker, try adding in some pumpkin.

Do any of these foods bother your stomach when consumed individually? I would try that out. I wouldn’t suspect that it is baby spinach because it is relatively easy to digest in moderate quantities. This is because its oxalic acid content is low at this stage of growth.

Helpful Reader Response from Kirwin:

“Hi Angela,
I actually have a response to question #153, by Amy–I think it’s the spinach. Ever since I had my son (he’s 5 now) I get excrutiating abdominal pains when I eat spinach. It’s weird because before having him, I had no problem whatsoever. Anyhow, in January, I decided that this spinach problem was all in my head, and I went on to have a BIG delicious spinach salad…and was in agony the rest of the day. For me, it’s the spinach. FYI for Amy though, I drink my smoothies with kale, and I don’t get any abdominal cramping.”

 154. Becky and Sally asked, “Why did you throw out the hummus? Is there anything perishable in it?”

Trust me, I didn’t want to!! All those wonderful ingredients down the drain. The reason that I threw it out was because it sat on the kitchen counter (in direct sunlight) all day in a very humid and damp environment. Bacteria thrive in humid conditions, so I didn’t want to take my chances. Luckily, it only costs me 50 cents to make!

155. AshleyH- “Love your neon green smoothies! I would love to start drinking those in the morning. But I can’t have bananas because of a food intolerance so what would you suggest as a good started combo for me? Thanks so much!”

I would try using an apple + 1 Tbsp. of Almond or Peanut butter. I have had this combo before and it works nicely. Apples don’t make the smoothie as sweet as bananas do, but it isn’t a bad alternative. I would also try berries and yogurt. Don’t add too many berries though; when I did this it was quite tart tasting. I would be interested in hearing other readers ideas!

156. Amy says, “I agree with Jacq – it is pretty catty to pick on celebrities like this. How would you feel if you saw yourself on a worst dressed list?”

I will admit I gave your comments a lot of thought today after reading them. My first reaction was that there was no harm in commenting on the worst dressed celebrities at The Oscars. I love all things fashion and I like giving my opinion on fashion and listening to others opinions. As well, many celebrities wear risky and bold fashion choices to make statements and to gain publicity. A lot of it is part of the game of show business.

As I thought about it more though, I realized that perhaps it is wrong when the fashion you are commenting on involves real people. I most certainly wouldn’t put my friends or family on a worst dressed list, so why does that make it ok to put celebrities on it? You know what, it doesn’t. And I sincerely apologize if I offended anyone by having the worst dressed list.

When I created Oh She Glows, my main goal was to create a place of positivity; where people could come and feel like they were lifted up and feeling good about themselves when they left. I realize that by having negative posts such as the worst dressed celebrities, this objective is probably not being met and takes our focus away from what really matters- feeling good as men and women.

In the future, I will try my best to leave real people out of any negative opinions on fashion. While it was never my intent to associate my comments with the actual celebrities themselves (I kept the comments about the dress itself and not the person), I do see that the two are intertwined.

I appreciate your honesty in voicing your concerns about the post- I really do. As I have always said, I welcome your feedback in all shapes and forms. :)

[email protected]

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See you tonight for some delicious baked goods and a re-cap of Day 4 of Crap free Week!

“The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed.”

Along those lines….watch this funny video:

hahaha!