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What I Learned From My 30 Day Challenge

12/14/2014

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Hello friends.  As promised, here are my insights from committing to 30 days of completely on plan Protective Diet eating, exercising at least 3X per week, and focusing on mindful eating.

1.  I am ready to give up the scale.  This is huge for me.  I have practically lived my life by what the number on the scale is telling me.  What I learned from this challenge is that I am at my goal weight.  My weight fluctuates in a 5 lb range based on a variety of things.  As long as I am eating a healthy Protective Diet, I know what I will weigh and don't need to keep checking.  I can tell by how my clothes fit as well.  All the scale does is make me worry and obsess and sometimes even impact my mood first thing in the morning.  I don't need it.  I am breaking free!  No more scale for me.

2.  My body is at a comfortable goal weight.  My body seems perfectly happy to be 130-135 lbs right now with a Protective Diet and very moderate exercise.  I kept saying I wanted to shift that range to 125-130.  What I realized from this challenge is that will only happen if I start restricting food with smaller portions, more greens & veggies, less starchy foods, and/or much more strenuous exercise more often.  It can be done.  I could get my body there.  I just don't want to live with a diet mentality or strenuous exercise at this point in my life and the beautiful thing is...I don't have to!  

3.  I feel so much better with sugar and coffee completely out of my diet.  This challenge helped me stay 100% on plan and I got over my sugar addiction.  I can feel the inflammation and energy swings are gone.  My face looks thinner.  I just feel better all around without these drugs in my life.  I realize the smell of coffee is intoxicating to me, but I know I don't even like the taste anymore, it is acidic and I don't want something acidic in my body first thing in the morning.  I know my body is better off with tea so I am happy to stay off the coffee.  Chocolate is intoxicating to me too, but I know I can make PD approved chocolate desserts that are delicious and I don't need to deal with the effects of sugar anymore.  I watched the documentary Fed Up last night.  That helped cement my desire to stay off the sugar for good.

4.  Healthy Boundaries.  This challenge showed me that I can get through social get togethers (including Thanksgiving, one of the biggest food events there is) and restaurant meals without dissolving my healthy boundaries.  When I bring my own food, eat before going out, or just have tea or something I know is on plan...nobody bats an eye!  They know what I do for a living, they understand why I would just say no to unhealthy things.  It's a non-issue.  It was only ever an issue in my head.  I no longer need to give in to perceived peer pressure or people pleasing.  This is really freeing for me.

5.  I always feel better after some exercise.  I have known this, but this challenge helped me put it into practice more.  Even very small amounts of exercise - my 1 mile bike ride with the dog takes about 10 minutes and I can choose yoga or workout videos that are only 20-25 minutes - lift my mood, give me energy, and help release stress and tension.  I can't guarantee that I will get as much exercise in my schedule as I did during the challenge, but I know I will keep being active and giving myself the gift of exercise every week.  Simon, Riley & I will be doing plenty of yin yoga over the winter.

Those are my key insights.  This challenge was very helpful to me for getting the last bits of junk out of my diet, seeing the many benefits of exercise instead of dreading it, and being mindful of when I am hungry and when I am satisfied.  I will keep going with many of these habits.  I see a healthy, happy future free of the scale for me.

Thank you for reading along.  I hope I have inspired a few people to join me with some healthy habits.


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Day 30 Wrap-Up

12/13/2014

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Hello friends, I hope you are enjoying your weekend.  I am continuing to do my elf work preparing for Christmas.  Simon is off with his friends today to do a little winter hiking & camping, just an overnight trip.  For completeness sake, here are the details for yesterday, which was the final day of my 30 day challenge.

Day 30

Exercise:  Rest Day

Breakfast:  Ezekiel English muffin topped with PD Onion Dip with chives, an orange, tea
Lunch:  A big salad with a spinach base and topped with tons of chopped veggies, PD Spicy Birdseed & PD Spices & Herb Salad Dressing, PD Hush Puppies with Louisiana Hot Sauce and PD House Mayo
Dinner:  PD Mexican Mac & Cheeze with added corn and diced green pepper

All Protective Diet (PD) recipes can be found HERE.

Mindfulness:  All meals were enjoyed sitting down with no distractions.  I even got to enjoy lunch and dinner with my husband yesterday.

That's it!  I now have a complete 30 Day photo food journal.  If anyone asks, but what do you eat??? on a low fat whole foods plant based diet...I can show them a day, a week, or a month's worth of examples.  I am certainly not starving and eating lettuce leaves & lemon wedges.  I eat delicious, filling food for every meal and don't count calories or restrict portions.  I love that about a Protective Diet!

Have a great Saturday everyone.  I will be sharing my lessons learned later in the weekend.
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Day 30 - Ending My Challenge Strong

12/12/2014

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Hello friends, today is the last day of my 30 day challenge.  I am happy to report that I have stayed strong, kept my diet clean, gotten in way more exercise than if I hadn't challenged myself this time of year, and I stopped eating in front of the laptop or TV.  Those are some great accomplishments for me.  

Yesterday I ended up spending 6 hours on my homemade Christmas gift making elf work.  I ran out of steam at the end of the day and just had a bunch of snacks for dinner because I didn't have the energy for cooking on top of all of my elfing.  It was all 100% on plan food though, so I feel good about that.

Day 29

Exercise:  1 mile bike ride with Riley

Breakfast:  Overnight oats with soy yogurt, banana & cinnamon, tea
Lunch:  3 tostadas - corn tortilla topped with PD Unfried Black Beans, PD Not-Yo Cheeze Sauce, PD Salsa Molcajete, PD Onion Dip with chives, and chopped spinach & cilantro.
Dinner:  A big snack fest - PD Baked Tortilla Chips, some toasted whole wheat pita wedges, PD Onion Dip with chives, PD Hummus with jalapeño & cilantro, PD Spicy Birdseed, 2 slices of PD Banana Bread, and a PD Cherry Chocolate Cacao Muffin.  I was definitely hungry, just didn't feel like cooking a meal.


All Protective Diet (PD) recipes can be found HERE.


Mindfulness:  All meals were eaten sitting down, enjoying my food, and taking a little breather from my other activities.  Actually taking time to enjoy a meal instead of rushing.

Well, I am completely on track today.  Busy with a bit of Christmas shopping, meeting a friend downtown, and doing lots of cooking this afternoon to restock the house with healthy delicious foods. I may not get a workout in today, but I plan to do yoga during the weekend, even after my challenge is done.  I will give a final check-in type post tomorrow to wrap up my photo food journal of 30 days of PD food.  I will also share some key insights from the challenge later this weekend.

Enjoy your Friday!  
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Day 29 - Staying On Plan with a Crazy Schedule

12/11/2014

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Hello friends, I am happy to report that I made it through a pretty crazy day yesterday and stayed completely on plan with healthy foods and a positive mindset.  I was up early as I had to drop Simon off at work, we were still sharing a car due to repairs on his (it's fixed now, yeah!).  I was able to get home and have a healthy breakfast before meditation with my 85 year old friend Barb.  We had a wonderful hour of meditation.  I got home in time to have a healthy lunch with lots of greens before heading off to my literacy tutoring.  

From there, I stopped at OfficeMax and got printouts made for my Diabetes class.  I got home, saw Simon for a bit, had an early dinner, then off to Ways To Wellness to teach class.  We had a great group, lots of interaction, and I am looking forward to my January class on Sustainable Weight Loss.  I didn't get home until about quarter to 10, poor Simon had tons of evening work meetings until after 10, we both read in bed to decompress a bit before finally crashing around 11.  I was glad I made sure to get home for healthy meals with all of that going on.  It was extra driving, but worth it to me.

Day 28

Exercise:  Rest Day

Breakfast:  Overnight oats with banana, soy yogurt & cinnamon, tea
Lunch:  3 tostadas - corn tortilla topped with PD Unfried Black Beans, PD Not-Yo Cheeze Sauce, PD Salsa Molcajete, PD Onion Dip with chives, and chopped spinach & cilantro.  So easy and delicious.
Dinner:  PD Hush Puppies with yogurt & Frank's Red Hot sauce

All Protective Diet (PD) recipes can be found HERE.

Mindfulness:  I did a slight bit of multitasking at breakfast to get my blog post out amongst all of my other tasks.  Lunch & dinner were eaten with no distractions.

Today my friend Mel is coming over and we are going to make some homemade Christmas gifts, I can't say what as some of my blog reader family members may be receiving one if all turns out well.  Mel is great at making this, so I will share after Christmas the results of our fun craft project.  It will be great to catch up with her and hopefully share a healthy lunch.  I will also get more exercise in today, hopefully getting outside for another bike ride with Riley.  Enjoy your Thursday!

P.S. - Almost forgot, I weighed in today as it has been 4 full weeks.  134.2, up a pound from the last time I checked.  I will share more about this in my Saturday lessons learned post, but this doesn't bother me at all, I think it's natural variation and I am just at my goal weight range of 130-135 as I have been for a year now.  I am thinking of ditching the scale completely after this challenge.  
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Day 28 - Enjoyed Some Outdoor Exercise

12/10/2014

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Hello friends, I am happy to report I was back on track yesterday.  No distracted eating and even got outside with the dog for some exercise in the fresh air.  I have my Protective Diet Education (PD-Ed) classes on Tuesday nights, so it's always good to check in with my online support group of people practicing a Protective Diet and seeing great results.  This group is so positive and inspiring.  

Day 27

Exercise:  1 mile bike ride with Riley

Breakfast:  Overnight oats with yogurt, banana & cinnamon, tea
Lunch:  Pita wrap with whole wheat pita, PD Hummus with jalapeño & cilantro, brown rice, and spinach
Dinner:  PD Roasted Pomodoro Pasta, PD Cherry Cacao Muffin

All Protective Diet (PD) recipes can be found HERE.

Mindfulness:  Back on track here, I had no distracted eating, all meals sitting down at the table focusing on enjoying my food.

Today's post is going to be short and sweet.  Simon & I are still sharing a car, an ignition coil was shot on his, he should have it back later today, but lots of running around.  I am teaching a class on diabetes at Ways to Wellness tonight, I am feeling very good about the information I will share.  I hope I have a good sized class.

Take care of yourselves and I will be back with a longer post tomorrow.


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Day 27 - Having Some Ups & Downs

12/9/2014

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Well, not every day is perfection when you are challenging yourself with new habits and yesterday proves that point.  I didn't follow my own guideline about eating in front of the TV, so I snacked on way too many baked goods last night, I was wanting something sweet after dinner.  

The good news is that it was all Protective Diet food and I did end up doing my yoga video which I successfully avoided all day.  After yoga, all of the cravings were gone, another lesson there to do some yoga or exercise to release tension instead of eating.  Ah, I am still a work in progress.

Day 26

Exercise:  Yin Yoga video

Breakfast:  Overnight oats with soy milk, soy yogurt, cinnamon & banana, tea
Lunch:  PD Hush Puppies with PD Soy Yogurt + Frank's Red Hot sauce
Snack:  Cranberry Orange Muffin and hibiscus tea
Dinner:  PD Unfried Rice, trifle with PD Chocolate Chia Pudding and a PD Cherry Cacao Muffin crumbled in
Snack/After Dinner Munchies:  Another PD Cherry Cacao Muffin, 2 slices of PD Banana Bread

All Protective Diet (PD) recipes can be found HERE.

Mindfulness:  I didn't do so well with this by allowing myself to munch on muffins and banana bread while watching my extraterrestrial shows.  Doing yoga restored my mindfulness and I finally stopped snacking for the night.  Today I am back to eating with no distractions.

Simon is borrowing my car today as his is in the shop.  So I will be home cooking up a few things and preparing for my Diabetes class that I am teaching tomorrow night at Ways To Wellness.  It is supposed to warm up quite a bit today, if our road clears up  I may try to get outside with Riley for a bike ride.  We could both use a little fresh air.  Enjoy your day!
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Day 26 - More Yin Yoga

12/8/2014

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Hello friends.  I am happy to report that Simon, Riley & I did an hour long Yin Yoga video yesterday.  I exercised on the weekend - yeah!  This workout really stretched and opened the hips, hamstrings, lower back, and neck.  We are still feeling the effects today.  Simon has 3 soccer games scheduled this week, so it's good to balance all of the tightening of muscles from sports with the opening and stretching involved in Yin Yoga.  We also wrote out a bunch of Christmas cards yesterday, making great progress with all of our holiday preparations this year.

Day 25

Exercise:  1 hour Yin Yoga video

Breakfast:  PD Fruit & Yogurt Parfait with blueberries, tea
Lunch:  Salad with PD Spicy Bird Seed & PD Creamy Ranch Dressing, Cheezy Broccoli Rice (brown rice with frozen broccoli and PD Not-Yo Cheeze Sauce)
Dinner:  PD Asian Style Kale with some added bean sprouts, PD Awesome Sauce, trifle dessert with PD Chocolate Chia Pudding and a crumbled PD Cherry Cacao Muffin

All Protective Diet (PD) recipes can be found HERE.

Mindfulness:  Doing pretty well, could still cut portions a bit if I really wanted to push the weight loss (not sure I do).

I hope your week is off to a great start.  This is the last week of my challenge and my photo food journal.  Friday will be Day 30 and then I will do a wrap-up and lessons learned post on Saturday.  I fully plan to keep many of the changes implemented in these 30 days because I am feeling really healthy and just overall...good!
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Day 25 - Hush Puppies for Dinner & A Quiet Saturday Night Home by the Fire

12/7/2014

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Hello friends.  Simon & I met up with friends for a beer on Friday night and stayed up quite late.  So, last night, we balanced everything out by cooking a delicious healthy dinner, Simon built a lovely fire, we curled up on the couch and watched Elf with Will Farrell (which we had never seen before, we aren't big movie watchers), and went to bed early.  Ahhh, it felt good to have a healthy night in.  

We also got all of our presents for our UK and EU family members wrapped and shipped yesterday.  This is a great accomplishment for us as we are usually running behind at the holidays.  This year we are feeling nicely prepared and slightly ahead of the game.  

Day 24

Exercise:  Rest Day (I did have a dream about running my first ever 5K race, does that count???)

Breakfast:  Small portion of leftover PD Fruit & Yogurt Parfait with sweet dark cherries, tea
Lunch:  PD Baked Tortilla Chips with some PD Onion Dip and the last of my PD Pico de Gallo Especial.  Snacked on the chips while preparing a late lunch of tostadas with PD Unfried Black Beans, PD Not-Yo Cheeze Sauce, and PD Onion Dip with chives.  Also had a trifle with PD Chocolate Chia Pudding and a crumbled PD Cherry Cacao Muffin.  Lunch was really late, after our post office trip, so I was HUNGRY!
Dinner:  Big salad with tons of veggies, PD Spicy Bird Seed & PD Creamy Ranch Dressing, PD Hush Puppies with a sauce of PD Soy Yogurt mixed with Frank's Red Hot Sauce.  I love the hush puppies, so delicious.  They are great heated in the toaster over for breakfast too.  We each had a warm PD Cherry Cacao Muffin after dinner as well.

All Protective Diet (PD) recipes can be found HERE.

Mindfulness:  I have changed a few habits, like not eating while reading or on the laptop.  I don't know that I have really changed my eating habits a lot though.  I still sometimes eat too fast and still tend to finish whatever portion is in front of me unless I am bursting full.  When I share my insights after the challenge, I will share more on what I have learned and plan to take forward from this mindfulness practice.

Today we plan to do a longer 1 hour Yin Yoga video and work on some Christmas cards.  Maybe some Asian kale for dinner.  Another healthy quiet day at home is in order.  I hope you are enjoying your weekend.
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Day 24 - A Big Batch of Healthy Fried Rice

12/6/2014

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Hello blogosphere.  I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.  Simon and I will be working on packaging gifts to ship to family in the UK.  Yesterday was another day of delicious healthy foods.  We were running errands so went to Angelita's for vegan bean tacos.  We whipped up a big batch of Protective Diet Unfried Rice for dinner, it's a great way to pack in a ton of veggies.

Day 23

Exercise:  Rest Day

Breakfast:  PD Fruit & Yogurt Parfait with dark sweet cherries, tea
Lunch:  2 vegan bean tacos and hibiscus tea at Angelita's
Snack:  Trifle with PD Chocolate Chia pudding and a crumbled PD Cherry Cacao Muffin
Dinner:  PD Unfried Rice

Mindfulness:  Still doing well, no distracted eating.

Quick report today, I don't have too much to expound upon.  Enjoy your Saturday, don't get too stressed with the holidays.  If you do, try a little yoga or meditation, that always makes us feel a lot better.  Simon has even started meditating at work, he puts up a Do Not Disturb sign on his cubicle, puts in his headphones and does a 10 minute guided meditation.  Great stress buster.
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Day 23 - More Yoga & A Decadent Chocolate Dessert

12/5/2014

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Hello friends.  I had a day with no appointments and no running around yesterday, so I cooked up a storm!  I restocked the house full of healthy PD snacks including a delicious totally on plan dessert that is a chocolate lovers dream.  I made PD Chocolate Chia Pudding and PD Cacao Muffins with added dark sweet cherry chunks.  Then I crumble the muffin into the pudding for a trifle.  Mmmmm, I love this dessert!

I also did yoga with my doggie again last night because it felt so good on Wednesday.  We both enjoyed it.  We did Yin Yoga again, but tried a different video call Winter Yin Yoga that focuses on seasonal aspects and poses suitable for the hibernation and rest phase of winter.

Day 22

Exercise:  Winter Yin Yoga video

Breakfast:  PD Fruit & Yogurt Parfait with banana, tea
Lunch:  Leftover PD Buffalo Potato Wedges with PD Creamy Ranch Dressing, celery, an orange
Dinner:  A few PD Baked Tortilla Chips with PD Onion Dip (not pictured, Simon & I started snacking on these when he came home from work, then I had to stop myself to not spoil my dinner), PD Mexican Pizza with PD Unfried Black Beans, PD Not-Yo Cheeze Sauce, scallion, mini bell peppers, jalapeño, tomato, PD Salsa Molcajete, and topped with lettuce and PD Onion Dip.  Dessert was my PD Chocolate Chia Pudding + PD Cherry Cacao Muffin trifle.

All Protective Diet (PD) recipes can be found HERE.

Mindfulness:  Yoga before dinner really helps clear and calm my mind and helps me de-stress from the day.  It makes for a lovely mindful meal full of appreciation for the delicious food.

Simon is working from home today as his car needs service.  We may do a few errands together, maybe lunch at Angelita's.  I had better get cracking on getting myself clean and beautiful for the day.  Enjoy your Friday.  TGIF!
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    Jen Parsley

    My blog will have regular updates about following my passions in life - cooking and eating healthy vegan food, music of all kinds especially The Blues, and spiritual growth

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Jennifer Parsley: Healthy Vegan Living:  Living and loving a life based around my passions - cooking and eating beautiful healthy vegan food, music of all kinds especially The Blues, and following my path of spiritual growth.  Peace, Love & Blues my friends!
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