we are flexitarians and didn’t know it!

Today I want to talk to you a little bit about how we have changed our diets here on West Street…..no, wait, it really is how we have changed our mindset when it comes to what we eat.

{image via Cooking Light}

When we found out about needing to lower cholesterol in our household, it was made very clear {to me} that a change in our diet would not work if we started restricting ourselves from foods that we have known our entire lives.  Instead, we simply have been trying to add in more plant-based, whole-foods {non-processed} meals. 

So far, this method has worked for us and we do not feel we are deprived or on a “diet.”

I have already talked about how we have developed more into a plant-based, whole foods household {I am still doing the Shaklee 180 plan, however, for the next six months or so}…..but, we are not vegans and we are not vegetarians. 

Yes, we still eat meat. 

However, instead of animal-proteins being our only source of protein, we have added in plant-proteins to our meals.

So, if we aren’t full-on meat-eaters, and we aren’t vegans or vegetarians, where does that leave us?  Apparently we are flexitarians.

I only recently came across this term, but apparently is has been around since before 2003.  In fact, in that year, the American Dialect Society selected it as the “Most Useful Word of the Year.”

So what is a flexitarian?  Basically, when someone wants to eat the way a vegetarian does {for all of the wonderful health benefits} but is flexible and includes some red meat, poultry, and fish into their diet, they are a flexitarian.

Eating a plant-based vegetarian diet is hands-down the smartest thing you can do for your health, especially when you need to lower your cholesterol in 90 days.  On average, vegetarians weigh less, have fewer diseases {such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer} and they live to be an average of 3.6 years longer!

But, here on West Street Story {as you all know} we love to enjoy a good bacon steak every now and then. 

Basically we have just been flexible with our meal plans and even though we are currently more favored in the plant-protein meal category, we do still enjoy a good rib eye every now and then. 

Side note:  I am learning that it is not actually the meat we crave or miss, but rather the umami flavor, the meat “taste”…..more on this to come!

And no, we didn’t go through our fridge and freezer and throw out every piece of meat when we started eating differently.  Again, it wasn’t about restricting ourselves, it was about adding in more plant-based foods…..foods that would be helping us lower cholesterol levels {plant-based foods are lower in saturated fats}.

A flexitarian “diet” is simple but powerful – eat more plants and do the best that you can.  It isn’t a strict plan outlining the good versus bad foods or with rigid rules that tell you to “eat this but not that.”  Instead you just need to keep an open mind {and mouth} when it comes to including more plant-based foods and in trying new things.

Want to give “flexitarian-ism” a try?  Take baby steps!  Start out by replacing one meat-meal a week with a plant-protein.  Our favorite plant-protein is black beans!  We have been using black beans to replace ground beef in recipes.

I look forward to sharing with you some of the recipes we have already tagged as favorites and also sharing with you what we learn as we continue on in the flexitarian world!

join me in doing a Shaklee 180

Graham and I just recently shared our adoption news and to be honest, the decision to adopt has brought about more than just excitement {to be able to finally grow our family}, it also brings with it a huge sense of relief.

For the past three years I have been living the “just in case I am pregnant” life.  Part of this is trying to keep my thyroid stable and my TSH levels a bit on the lower side as it is better for me {based on my history} once pregnant.  It seemed like anything I did other than “just be” affected my thyroid levels.  From what time of day I took my meds, when I take my vitamins, to everything I eat {for all you hypothyroid people out there, broccoli can interfere with your meds!}, to trying to lose weight….I was always on “thyroid alert”.

I am, by no means, comfortable with my current weight {and what it has been the past three years}.  But a fear of causing my thyroid to become unstable lead to just trying to eat healthy and be as healthy as I could without making any drastic body changes.

Let’s just say I had to find a way to “let it all hang out” in Hawaii.  I had to “just be” comfortable in a swimming suit, in public, without any attempt at drastic vacation dieting to lose weight beforehand.

Well that stops now.

Granted, we are still trying to get pregnant, but I am taking a more freeing approach to living.  I will still hold off on things like having drinks “just in case”, but I also need to start focusing on the child we are going to adopt and being the most healthy mom I can be for that little one.

I had my TSH levels checked this week and when I got the call from my endo with the results, I touched base on my new plan {and got the go-ahead}.  My TSH levels have been stable all year {halleluiah}, so it is a good sign that I am going to be able to remain fairly stable.

Also given that I am monitoring my TSH levels monthly {while still trying to get pregnant}, if my levels start to become unstable again, we should be able to see the change sooner rather than when it has already become troublesome.

I am going to continue to take prenatal vitamins and focus on a whole foods, plant based diet for dinner {in our continued cholesterol reduction efforts}.  But for the remainder of the day, I am going to begin using Shaklee’s 180 products and get a more consistent exercise regime going.

What is Shaklee 180?  It is a 90 day to lose it and a 90 day to keep it off plan. 

It is not an extreme diet, so I will be losing weight in a very natural and safe way {I read somewhere that it is safe to lose between 1-2 lbs per week and that is what the Shaklee 180 program is designed to help you do}. 

In fact, the Shaklee 180 plan is more focused on getting you switched to a more healthy lifestyle, one where you actually keep the weight off and not just lose weight quickly as a short-term fix. 

This is why I got the go ahead in regards to my thyroid – since I will not be losing weight at an extreme rate, but rather at a pace that is a result of implementing a healthy lifestyle, hopefully my thyroid will not be impacted at all!

So here it is, the beginning of my Shaklee 180 success story!  Would you like to join me in this 180 day program? 

Update note:  I actually wrote this post up about a week ago and have been a little reserved in publishing it {I do not know why, I share everything here}.  I am happy to report that over the past seven days of being on the Shaklee plan I have lost 3 lbs!

For the first 90 days, here will be my daily menu {in a very quick nutshell}:

1.  Breakfast – a Shaklee Energizing Smoothie {I will be adding fruit or other delicious mix-ins such as peanut butter – I will post all of my fun new recipes here}!

I will get all of the nutrients I need in one easy to prepare smoothie!  Take a peek at what a Shaklee Smoothie offers:

I realized that over the past week, I have been consuming coffee and coffee-only as my breakfast.  So, this will be a very healthy change for me, regardless if I were trying to lose weight!

2.  Lunch – I will have either an energizing smoothie or a meal bar {if I am not home to make the smoothie} coupled with one of my veggie bowls.

What is a veggie bowl?  I started making these a while ago for lunch as a way to get more veggies in my diet, but also because they are really quick!  The only thing I will be changing is not adding a rice/grain/bean component {since I will be getting those nutrients from the smoothie}.

For my veggie bowls I will be chopping up whatever veggies we have….my current favorites are broccoli, celery, tomatoes and carrots…..filling my bowl full, adding the juice of one lemon, and microwaving it for two minutes.  I then add salt and pepper.  You would be surprised at how filling and tasty this is!

3.  Snack – I can enjoy one of the many Shaklee snack options during the day!  Also, instead of drinking soda, I am going to enjoy Shaklee’s tea {I do like tea, and would enjoy a cup every now and then, but I REALLY like soda so that is why it always trumps heating up a mug-o-tea}.

4.  Dinner – A healthy meal of my choice!  Yes, that is right, I get to decide what I eat on this “diet”!

When you sign up with Shaklee 180, you will have access to many healthful recipes ideas {among so many other beneficial things that help educate you while on your healthy weight loss journey}…..Graham and I will continue on our path that focuses on healthy meal options that continue to fight cholesterol levels!

5.  Exercise – I need your help with this one.  Keep me honest, because I loathe exercising!  Graham and I both need to, at the very least, go for our three-mile walk every day!

See?  It’s not your “typical” weight loss/dieting program.  I will pretty much continue to eat the same way that I have been…..but, there will be less snacking, a focus on getting the right nutrients for my body, and more of a “plan” each day.

What about the cost?  Replacing basically all but one meal with Shaklee for the next 90 days is certainly going to cut down on what I need to buy at the grocery store.  But, here is an infographic that shows just what my Shaklee breakfast smoothie will set me back {it’s a lot less than you would think!}:

 

Now you may be wondering, “what makes this different than those other meal-replacement-like products?”  It is certainly a question I had.  Here were my top three questions when I was deciding to start the program:

Q. What is the Shaklee 180™ Weight-Loss Program and why is it different from other weight management systems and diets?
A. Shaklee 180™ is clinically tested weight-loss products† and a
program that takes you from your “before” to your “after” and
beyond—the 180™ refers to 90 days to lose the weight and 90
days to learn how to keep it off. Along with the great, naturally based products you’ll find a comprehensive and holistic support system full of tools, education and support to help you stay motivated and reach your goals.

The secret to Shaklee 180™ products is leucine—an amino acid that signals your body to retain muscle, so you lose the right kind of weight. On conventional diets you lose muscle along with the fat. Shaklee 180™ is designed so that nearly every pound you shed is fat.† That’s right, almost all fat. Since your metabolism is powered by your muscles mass, when you retain muscle your metabolism stays stronger which can help you keep off that hard fought weight loss.

Q. Can I use the Shaklee 180™ Weight-Loss Program if I am pregnant?
A. Pregnant women can use the Shaklee 180™ Energizing Smoothees, bars and snacks as part of a healthy diet. Additional calories, protein and fiber are essential for a healthy pregnancy and a great way to obtain that additional 300 calories per day is by having a Shaklee 180™ Energizing
Smoothee. Pregnant women would not be following a weight loss program, nor do we suggest that Metabolic Boost* be used. Discuss caffeine intake with your obstetrician; if they are ok with a cup or two of caffeinated beverages per day, you can use our Energizing Tea as one serving.

Q. What is Leucine and why is it an important ingredient?
A. Leucine is an essential amino acid that signals your muscles to stimulate protein synthesis. It helps your body preserve muscle mass while you lose weight. Keeping muscle helps keep your metabolism strong so you are less likely to regain the weight you lose.

So, who wants to join me?  Who wants to join me in the next 180 days on a healthy lifestyle journey?  Visit the healthy weight section of my Shaklee site and order your Shaklee 180 kit right away!

Pssst….did you know that by purchasing a Shaklee 180 Turnaround or Lean & Healthy Kit, you become a Shaklee member for your lifetime for FREE?!?!  Score!  You can then pick up the Basic H2 cleaner {‘cause I know you all want to after this post} at the member price!

time to stock up on Grove Square Pumpkin Spice Cappuccino Kcups!

A few months ago I was gifted with a bunch of Folgers Vanilla Biscotti Kcups.  They are amazing.  They have been my favorite Kcup variety since owning my Keurig.

However, I used the very last one this morning and as I brewed the cup I realized the inevitable moment was here.  It was time to find the latest Kcup deal.

Kcups are not the most inexpensive brewing option, unless you come across a good deal like I have to share with you today!  And with the upcoming fall season, these are absolutely perfect.

Right now on Amazon, you can score a 24 pack of the Grove Square Pumpkin Spice Cappuccino Kcups for a grand total of $0.36 per Kcup {just a little over $8.54 total}.  These are perfect for the upcoming fall season and do still beat the price of a Pumpkin Spice Latte from our favorite coffee shop!

The total price includes shipping {score}, if you are a Prime Member at Amazon. 

I find the annual Amazon prime membership 100% absolutely worth it.  With as much as I purchase on Amazon, the free shipping pays for the membership price almost immediately {I also hear this is the way to go with buying diapers}.  Plus, as an Amazon Prime member, you can download books to your Kindle for free {ones that others would pay for} and you have access to rent movies and TV shows for free as well {again, something that everyone else would pay for}.

This Kcup deal also assumes you subscribe to the autoship feature.  I’ll be honest, very rarely do I keep any of my items on autoship.  I typically just cancel the autoship option {which is very easy to do} once the item actually arrives.

Lastly, in order to score this deal, you need to “clip” the Amazon coupon to save 20%.  It is really easy to do!  Once you are viewing the item, but before you add it to your cart, there will be a button halfway down the page that you click to clip the coupon.  It looks like this:

I have already taken advantage of this deal on Amazon.com, will you?  If nothing else, if you know of someone that uses a Keurig, this would make an amazing stocking stuffer or quick gift {hint, hint}!

Maui 2013 || Day 8 : Snorkeling at Honolua Bay and Visiting Ka’anapali Coffee Farm

Graham was really enjoying snorkeling while in Maui and after reading a few reviews, we decided to head out to Honolua Bay and try snorkeling there.

Unfortunately it has been raining which caused the bay to be less than clear….which lead me to stay on the beach.  All I could think was that murky waters = sharks = death. 

And by “beach”, I mean rocks.  But with the view and how relaxed things were, I really couldn’t complain.  So while Graham did his thing snorkeling, I took the opportunity to snap some pics.

Graham did come back for a break at one point and asked if I was sure I didn’t want to go out.  He said it was really neat, and I was just about to give in, when he told me he saw this HUGE fish and he actually thought it was a little shark at first.

I stayed on the rock beach.

It was really cloudy on this day and did end up starting to sprinkle while we were there {and I was sitting on the rock beach}.  But, I still couldn’t complain!  I could have stayed there all day, actually!  It really was a pretty spot.

Getting to Honolua Bay is quite the experience as well.  We took Honoanapali road {Hwy 30} to mile marker 32.  Be on the lookout as you get closer to mile 32, however, as you will otherwise miss it.  This road was A LOT like the road to Hana, so I was starting to get a bit anxious, but luckily it was a really quick drive.  There is a little space to pull off the road to park and then you take a quick hike to the bay.

The hike {which only took about 5 minutes} is breathtaking as you walk through vine covered trees.  It is literally like walking through something from the Lord of the Rings, or Lost {coincidently filmed in Hawaii, so makes sense}, and it was really neat to see.

Since it was still cloudy and sprinkling on and off, we decided not to hang out on the beach for the rest of the day like we had originally thought of doing.  Instead, we took a drive up to the Ka’anapali Coffee Farm and go on the self-guided driving tour. 

We called about going on a guided tour, but the company that gives the tour was full for the day….so if this is something you would want to do {go on an “official” tour with tasting and such} make sure to book that ahead of going to Maui.  The tour company is called Maui Country Farm Tours.

The self-guided driving tour was still neat, though.  We drove through the coffee fields and at different stops you could climb onto lookout points.

{you could see our hotel condo and the ocean from the lookout points!}

Throughout our trip we had noticed Maui having really red soil and at the coffee farm it was no different.  Apparently coffee can grow just fine in this red dirt. 

Also, if you see red colored souvenir shirts on your visit to Maui, note that they were dyed using this red dirt {they are conveniently called “Red Dirt Shirts”}.

Graham did have one surprise planned for me on this day once we nixed the beach plans……he went to the grocery store after our trip to the coffee farms and picked up a can of Spam!  Why would he do that?  Well, I had mentioned earlier in the trip that I had never had it before {at least not to my knowledge….if I had ever eaten it, it was tucked into a pot-luck salad and I didn’t even know I was eating it}. 

Since Hawaii is the Spam-eating capitol of the world {at least in our opinion}, Graham thought it was the perfect setting to have my first try of it.  He made me the most unhealthy, yet very delicious fried Spam-with-cheese grilled sandwich.  Not bad, Spam, not bad!

Up next on Day 9 – we finally get to the beach and Graham jumps off a cliff!

we updated our living room in three easy steps

I’ve gotta tell you….we should have pretended like we needed to get ready for a home study YEARS ago.  Projects are getting worked on left and right here on West Street!

One of the things that becomes blatantly obvious in an older home is how dingy the “old” paint in one room looks once you refresh the paint in another room.

Take for instance, our living room.  The paint wasn’t terrible, but the more we looked at it, the more we realized it should probably be a bit refreshed prior to a home study.  Especially the trim. 

One of the other big reasons for trying to spruce up the space {other than getting ready for the home study} was given the fact that {for now} we are not refinishing the floors.  This is definitely something we want to try and tackle before selling the house, but it is not something we can feasibly get done {with all of the other projects that do need to get done} prior to the home study process.

It is amazing, however, how a little carpet, paint, and new molding can change a space!  We transformed our living room with essentially three steps:

1.  Painted the walls and trim

2.  Added a rug

3.  Installed new crown molding

For the wall color, we spent a great deal of time agonizing over the perfect shade.

Ummm…..no, not really.

After realizing we had 29 {yes, you read that correctly} more-than-half used gallons of paint, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  Menards recently had a rebate deal on a plain, flat white paint.  It was FREE after rebates.  So, we picked up three gallons and a couple of five gallon buckets.

The new color you see in the living room is part guest bedroom, part studio, and part previous owner’s leftover paints {from who knows where…we still haven’t figured it out}! 

And this isn’t my first rodeo when it comes to mixing leftover paint.  I guess I should do a blog post on my top tips!

Along with the walls, we also needed to paint the base trim.  When the previous owners tore up the carpet {we are guessing they did this prior to selling just to show the wood floors}, it left a band across the base trim where the quarter round used to be – but this band also included bits of carpet and the paint was all chipped.  It has been awesome to look at, as you can imagine.  So I sanded/cleaned off the carpet bits prior to repainting the base trim!

We painted the trim in a high gloss enamel white….paint from right off the shelf, not mixed.

{although the wood floors seem okay in this before picture, once you move that rug away, you are better able to see the poor condition on the current finish}

Where did we get the new rug?  Off the carpet rolls at Menards, thank you very much!  Since we weren’t going to refinish the floors I wanted to cover them as much as possible, but still show that there was hard wood under there.  That way, if we do not actually get to refinishing them before we sell, the new owners know they have the option.  As an added bonus, we get to take this carpet rug with us when we leave!

Installing the crown molding was actually a decision we had to think about for a bit.  On one hand, technically speaking, there was already crown molding installed.  But, whomever added texture to the ceiling also added it to this molding.  It looked terrible. 

I mean, who has textured molding?  And at the very least, we were going to have to repaint it, so we just bit the bullet and got new {smooth} molding up.

We did decide to match the molding we have been installing elsewhere, such as the guest bedroom and the kitchen, but we opted against adding the corner pieces.

{our kitty kept guard while I took both the before and after pictures}

Some of the other small touches that I changed in the room:

1.  Painted the curtain rods. 

I love this bronze metallic spray paint and use it whenever possible!

2.  Added some new decorations.

The “new” curtains {where there were previously no curtains on the smaller window} are actually just ones I had in a guest bedroom upstairs.

The sconces are from Goodwill.  I only spent $6 on all of them!

The Paris sign and fun new coasters are from Hobby Lobby.

And, finally, I actually put pictures into the picture frames on display {for those that have visited us over the past couple of years, you know how much I love to keep the “photo families” in frames}.

3.  Even the “Home Sweet Home” wall got a new makeover.

{do you see the change on that little hallway hall?  Those are picture frames that we had on one of the living room walls -- now replaced by the Paris sign}

There is still a ton of decorating I want to do in this room {and update things like the ceiling fan}, but for now we are considering this room HOME STUDY READY!! 

How did we do and what are your favorite ways to quickly update a room?