welcome to dreaming big dreams!

I told you that during my trip to Mexico I fell in love with a book.  Here’s why I fell in love with the book.  It’s about food.  Community.  Wine.  Bread.  Life.  Love.  Happiness.  Sadness.  Failures.  Successes.  And best of all it has recipes too.

Shauna Niequist new book BREAD & WINE is so wonderful and I highly recommend you all go right now to Amazon and pre-order it while you are at your computer.  I promise you won’t be let down.  Would I lie to you?  No.  It’s good.

It’s real good.

The minute I found out that she would be sharing recipes in her chapters I knew I would love them.  The first chapter hooked me in and of course since the day I picked up this book I have been dreaming about making the Blueberry Crisp that she talked about in the very first chapter.

Last night was the night.  I had all the ingredients, Aaron was cooking salmon on the grill, beans were on the stove all day, and eggplant was getting grilled as well.  I knew that the perfect ending to our day would involve blueberry crisp with vanilla ice cream on top and our whole family plopped on the couch watching The Bible on the History channel.

Y’all let me tell you that this recipe did not let us down, and I quote Aaron Ivey “this is the best dessert you have ever made”.  It was so yummy and perfect for me because I’m not a sweet person and this is not overly sweet.  In fact you could even eat this for breakfast.  I kid you not.

Here’s the other wonderful thing about this dessert.  It’s gluten free and dairy free (skip the ice cream on top!) and sugar free.  That my friends is a win in this house!

Here’s the recipe:

4 cups blueberries (I didn’t quite have four cups, so I threw in some blackberries)

Crisp Topping:

1/2 cup raw, unsalted pecans, halved or chopped (I used walnuts)

1/2 cup almond meal

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

Mix together the crisp ingredients

Pour the berries into an 8×8 pan, and then layer the crisp topping over it.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is crisp and golden.

That is it my friends.  Go now and buy the book.  Then get up and head to the grocery store.  Then make this tonight and your family will think you are the best in the world!

I did it!!!  My 6 weeks food challenge is over and I’m so happy with the results!  The slow-carb challenge was a great way for me to boost myself into 2013 with food and eating.  I cut out all carbs, all fruit, all sugar, and all dairy …. except for the one day a week cheat day.  Which can I just say that I loved!  I mean loved!  It helped me know that in 6 days I would get to eat chips and a sandwich.  Most cheat days weren’t crazy, but just a chance to eat something that you had given up.

I had amazing results and I know you are on the edge of your seat wanting to know how it turned out for me.  :)  Drum roll ….. I lost a total of 13 pounds.  CRAZY.  I know.  My goal as I told you before was to lose 10 and possibly 15.  I’m still cutting out as much wheat, sugar and dairy as I can and continuing my supplements and I have a goal I’m reaching for, and for the first time ever in my life, I think I can do it.  I think that I’m stronger than the food, and I won’t let it control me.

I also lost inches and let’s be honest, those are the ones that make the difference in what we look like and how our clothes fit.  Total inches lost is 6.75 and that’s from my waist, hips, thigh & arm.  Good gracious!  I’ve been wearing pants I haven’t worn in two years and oh yes there are 2 more pair of jeans I’ve held on to for a few years that I’m determined to get into!  I’m also tightening and toning my belly with my body applicator wraps!  Who wouldn’t want to do that?!?

I have learned so much about myself throughout this challenge.  I’ve always claimed that I am just an eater and enjoy good food, and while that is true, I had succumbed to letting this rule me and be my identity.  Reading the devotional during this challenge about food issues was huge for me and a great encouragement in the past 6 weeks.   God has put the power in me to be able to make good choices and take care of my body.

I told you that there were 3 things that helped me out so much during this challenge.  #1 was the devotional, Made to Crave, #2 was the supplement THERMOFIT from It Works that helped so much with cravings.  #3 was community.  Aaron did this with me, and that was a life saver for me at home.  I have horrible will power, and the fact that I had a constant encourager was such a plus for me.  I also had a fb group of friends, new and old, that were doing this with me, and it was a place for us to post recipes, ask questions, and just get lots of encouragement along the way.  Community is huge in life, and when trying to tackle a food challenge, it is essential for me.

How have your new food challenges been going?

 Leave me a comment to share your stories!

All my posts on the slow carb challenge HERE.  Ashley Benson’s blog HERE.  Ashley’s post about slow carb diet HERE.

Oh my gracious I have made it to week five.  No need for you to clap for me, because I’ve been applauding myself all day long.  I have said this a million times, but I’ve never done this well at a food plan.  Never made a food goal and stuck with it.  N.E.V.E.R so this is so fun!

I must confess this past week held two obstacles for me.  #1 was Supper Club.  Need I say more?  There are no food rules for supper club, except lots of food and lots of good food.  It was Hatmaker’s night to cook, and Jen brought the heat with the Asian night.  Fried egg rolls and pad thai.  What is a girl to do?  I ate it.  I only had one serving.  I controlled myself.

Second obstacle was date night.  I ate super great.  Ordered a glass of wine and whatever I ordered was white.  What’s a girl to do?  I drank it.  That’s what you get for trying to act sophisticated and not ask what kind of wine it is!

Confessions are over.

Thank goodness.

I’m still loving the challenge.  Hold on to your mouths because I’m about to tell you how much weight and inches I’ve lost.  Since January 5th I have lost 3.50 total inches (belly, hips, arms, thighs) and hold on …. here it is …. the goodness …12 pounds.  Yes, I know it’s super hard to believe.  Crazy.

This shows you that I ate a ton of chips each day.  Y’all thought I was lying when I said I could eat chips every day.  Nope.  I apparently did.

The second thing that’s helping me on my journey is another supplement from It Works* called, ThermoFit.  I started taking this regularly in January and I can tell a huge difference.  I take it with every meal, and not only do I not feel as hungry between meals, it’s helping with my cravings, and helping to burn calories.  I for sure attribute all my food accomplishments to changing what I put in my mouth, but I think this is giving me the extra boost that I need.

I’m also on countdown mode until a beach getaway with my man.  FIFTEEN days my friends.  FIFTEEN days.

I can promise you one thing.

I will not be slow carbing my days in Mexico.  No thank you.

Today marks the start to week #4 on the SLOW CARB CHALLENGE that Aaron and I are doing.  Each week marks a week of success for me, because my friends I have never made it this far with anything in my life that involves food.

Each week you get one cheat day allowed, where you literally can eat anything you want in as much quantities as you would like.  Many people have asked me if I like this day, or if they think this day is a waste of the other 6 days of hard work.  For me this day is amazing.  It is a day that I get to indulge in all the things that I normally would have eaten many times in one week.

This past cheat day here’s what it looked like for me.

Breakfast:  Lara Bar – I know this isn’t a bad thing, but for me I can’t have these normally, so it was a cheat.  It was so sweet that I could hardly finish the whole thing.  These bars are great for you, and I highly recommend.

Lunch:  Cabo Bob’s steak & chicken tacos.  Chips & queso galore.  I loved this meal.  I was at a conference all day Saturday and had no idea what they would feed us, and this was fabulous.  The great thing about this is that had Saturday not been my cheat day I still could have eaten tons of great food on this.  You think Mexican food is your worst enemy because of the chips, tortilla’s and cheese sauce, but actually Mexican is so easy to eat slow carb.

Dinner:  We celebrated 3 years of our family being together by going to Chuy’s.   I went all out and got a mini steak burrito.  It was so good, and I ate most of it (even the mini is too big for a normal human to consume), but afterward I felt gross.

I am starting to not like the way these foods make me feel.  I think that might be the point of this journey.  I am getting close to the end of this 6 week challenge, and honestly that really terrifies me.  Kinda like an alcoholic getting near the end of the treatment plan and having to enter the real world.  I know myself and I know I struggle with self control and food.  I’m already coming up for a “post Slow Carb Challenge” plan for myself.  I think I am the kind of person that needs a plan for the post time.

There are 3 things that are really helping me in this journey.  I’ll tell you the next two in the coming weeks.  The first one is an app that I have on my phone.  If you haven’t figured out how much your smart phone can do, you are wasting your money each month.   I have the bible app YOU VERSION and on that app is a bible reading plan called “made to Crave: 21 day challenge“.  This plan is adapted from the book that Lysa TerKeurst wrote and each day there is a devotional thought and scripture to read.

I knew from day one of this plan that I was going to like it when I read, “God made you wonderful.  Psalm 139 says you are wonderfully and fearfully made.  You are beautiful and loved, no matter if you’re a size zero or a size thirty.  You are beautiful just the way you are.  But God loves you so much that He doesn’t want you to stay in a place of defeat.”

That spoke to my heart so well.  I know God loves me and it doesn’t matter what size I am, but I also feel so defeated when it comes to food.  I felt as though it captures me and I’m taken as its prisoner.

If you are working on your eating, I would highly recommend this plan.  It has helped me so much!  I crave it each day!  If someone knows Lysa, tell her that a crazy mom to four that struggles with food controlling her is loving her devotional!