{My New Love}

I started the "Live-It' way of eating yesterday. Day 1 proved to be a success. P-Dawg and I took a trip to the big city of Denver and experienced Ikea for the first time ever. Wow! Soo much to take in. A little overwhelming at times. At one point I thought I was going to break down in tears because I couldn't find Preston and my cell phone didn't work. 

I wanted to go to Ikea to look for an end table for our living room. We came home with a new rug, floor lamp and pictures instead. I am putting together the final touches on our living room. I decided to steel my sister's idea and decorate in navy blue, white and silver. It goes really well with our mocha couches. We ended up finding an end table at American Furniture Warehouse. I have been searching this town like crazy looking for navy blue throw pillows. No luck. It looks like I might order some from Esty. I can't wait for everything to come together. I'll post pictures soon! 

Anyways, I ate lunch at the mall Saturday. I found a little bakery/cafe that happened to be serving dairy free black bean chipotle soup. It was actually very tasty! I also had a small below average salad. For dinner I had a salad with black beans. I am going to have to start branching out and trying new vegetables (like spaghetti squash) or I am going to get tired of salad and black bean soup very soon.

What I really wanted to share with you is this...

  

This is the best kept secret! If I had known about this 40 calorie Vanilla Almond Breeze wonderfulness, I would have given up cows milk a long time ago. It's really, really amazing.

Especially if you mix it with this...

Since I am temporally not eating bananas, I decided to mix my chocolate Shakeology with vanilla almond milk, ice and a little water. 

This is what I got...

This is by far the best tasting Shakeology shake I have ever had! 

Starting Weight: 136.2

Current Weight: 135.0

Goal Weight: 127.0

Thoughts: full from Shakeology

Operation Panic

I ran across a new blog tonight that has made me come to a crazy decision. First, the blog is called Beautiful Mess. Second, the crazy decision is I have decided to cut out dairy/animal products, among other things, for at least 1 month. Starting October 1st, which happens to be tomorrow.

I have been considering cutting out dairy/animal products for awhile now, but I get overwhelmed and don't know how or where to start and frankly what to eat besides cereal and a ton of carbs.

Beautiful Mess talks about this "diet" called "Live-It" that she followed strictly for 2 1/2 months. She had amazing results from it. It's follows the eat to live way of thinking.

The guidelines:

~ No fruit or butter for the first 2 weeks
~ For the first 30 days avoid: sugar, yeast, dairy products & fermented products or alcoholic drinks {I will be avoiding animal meat as well}
~ After 30 days I can add: oatmeal, sweet potato and brown rice

So no grains, pasta, baked goods, alcohol, sugar or pop.

What I Can Eat:

~ Vegetables: (no corn or carrots) cucumbers, celery, zucchini, spinach, tomatoes, onions, squash, artichokes, asparagus, bell peppers, bok choy, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, green beans, kale, okra, lettuce, spaghetti squash, lemons and limes
~ Beans: green, kidney, black, pinto, red
~ Fats: avocado, nuts, natural peanut/almond butter
~ Other: salsa, tomato sauce, broth, spices
~ Drinks: coffee black, green tea, water 

Acceptable Fruits after 2 weeks:  
~ Best: strawberries, blueberries, apples, pears, kiwis, oranges, cantaloupe, honeydew, peaches
~ Avoid: {due to natural sugar content} pineapple, cherries, watermelon, dates, figs, bananas, grapes. I think I will pretend that grapes and bananas are on the best list.

*Guidelines taken from Beautiful Mess

30 days is a long time. But I am going on a cruise a.k.a. living in a bakini for 8 days in just 2 short months. Operation panic!!