I woke up this morning feeling energized and ready to take on the day. I am sleeping like a corpse these days and I am reflecting back and not remembering ever sleeping as soundly and restfully as I have been since I started this new way of living. I am enjoying this life change immensely. My body is pain free, my sleep is filled with vivid dreaming, and my waking hours are wonderful and alert. I am embarking on yet another change in the next week or so by incorporating exercise back in to my life, in a sustainable and enjoyable way, and I am going to begin a regimen of supplements and vitamins. I feel that this is all very necessary to keep pharmaceuticals out of my life on a permanent basis. This is a life change and must change all of my life in order to succeed.
For breakfast this morning I enjoyed the vanilla chia pudding. This time I made only one portion so that I didn’t have to feel pressured to find someone to eat the other portion like I had to do last time. I am learning that not everyone is as supportive as they say they are and they get quite negative if I ask “would you like to try it?” It’s odd because I’ve always asked people if they wanted to try something new that I was eating, but whatever, this is my journey, no one else’s. For those of you reading this, I hope you’ll at least try something if asked I mean, you can try anything once! So I had my chia pudding and berries and it was more enjoyable than the first go round. I think the reason why is that I now know what the portion is intended to be and the berries are quite filling. The taste and texture have grown on me and I have decided this is another of the “adding to my permanent” menu items.
Vanilla Chia Pudding with fresh blue berries
For lunch, I had made the night before, a red quinoa, almond, baby arugula salad with cantaloupe. I had never eaten arugula before. If you haven’t eaten it before, let me describe it to you…it’s nutty tasting, soft, and very interesting. I would like to try this with a Boston Bibb lettuce or my red leaf lettuce along with a tangy balsamic and pears and walnuts after the 22 days are over! This salad was quite tasty. The dressing was very simple and light and allowed the flavors of the fruit, nuts and arugula to meld well without overpowering the salad as dressings tend to do, in my opinion.
Baby Arugula, Cantaloupe, red quinoa, Almond salad
For my afternoon snack today, I had the peanut butter and jelly snack balls. NO DANGER that these will EVER go bad in my house or at my office! Everyone who has tried these has loved them. They literally taste like a small burst of PB&J. All you need are unsalted roasted peanuts, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and a cup of black raisins. Dump it all in a food processor and process until the mix starts to stick together. It does take a minute or so, be patient. Then using a teaspoon, scoop out a teaspoon full into your palm and form balls. Please them on parchment paper and put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to really firm up. They are amazing! I enjoyed two of these. When I got home, the remaining 18 were gone. I think I may have PB&J thieves lurking around.
Raw Peanut Butter and Jelly Balls
Now, dinner…I was looking forward to dinner. Dinner was a sweet potato and black bean chilip with steamed broccoli. The recipe claimed that the dried beans would be ready to eat within 25 minutes. The recipe was wrong. It took over an hour for the beans to be tender enough to my liking. All in all, however, the chili was quite good. A little bit of a bite and a whole lot of flavor. The sweet potato tends to cook down and disappear, I believe that is what gave it the chili texture. I will keep this recipe in my arsenal of do-overs and repeat meals. I froze the left-overs and brought some for lunch on day 13. I really enjoyed this dish.
Cooking the Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili
Ready to serve Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili
My general feeling today was one of exceptional health. I continue to reflect on my history from 1989 to the present and I cannot remember a time when I was happier, healthier, or less tired. I go to bed and I sleep when I am supposed to, I wake up refreshed, remembering dreams, and looking forward to a day without pain. I’m so thankful. Life is so much better when you have no pain. I feel my disposition actually lightening and my mood elevating and I find scant little to be bitter or negative about. In fact, I caught myself listening to the negativity of other people and I actually identified a bit of resentment toward them…I really dislike negativity and I make every effort to attract positive so that I have no room for negativity. Life is too short to be in pain or angry or negative. Live. There is No Day But Today!
acollectionofshinythings 