Sorry for the large gap in posting....yet again.

It's been such a long time since my last post and of course lots has happened.
Here's another long overdue update.

WE MOVED
We moved again.  My husband said he didn't want to move in the winter so we waited until March and guess what happened..it snowed the entire 6 days we were moving.  It was crazy.

I am taking a very long time to unpack because quite frankly, I'm getting sick of it.  Although it was my idea to move, I don't do the gypsy lifestyle very well.  The new place is closer to the city and that makes shopping, doctors, trips to the airport, etc. a much better drive, but I just hate unpacking boxes.

MISSING MY LEXI DOG
In my last post, I mentioned that my sweet wheaten terrier, Lexi, died.  I miss her terribly.  I had no idea there would be such a hole in my life without her running around and being goofy.  With all the change in our live in the last 6 years, she was my constant companion and the only thing that stayed the same.
I randomly cried just until about a month ago.  And, when I say "randomly, I mean randomly.  I would be talking to someone, fully engaged in what they were saying, and a picture of Lexi would flash in my head and whamo....crying.  Thankfully, I've noticed in the last month my crying is reserved for when I see a picture of her.   Overall, I just want her back.

OUR DAUGHTER GRADUATED
My daughter graduated from college and all my brothers and their families, my mom, my dad and R's dad, sister and nephew all drove or flew here to be at the graduation.  20 people from Utah, San Diego, Sherman Oaks, CA, San Mateo, CA, Oregon and Phoenix, AZ  all came to the graduation.  It was so sweet of everyone and we are so touched and grateful.
After her graduation, she moved back home.

Unfortunately, my daughter does not enjoy living back at home.  Frankly, I don't blame her - we are boring and she doesn't know a soul in this area.  We relocated from the home she grew up in while she was away at college so now living at home means being with just MOM and DAD and no friends or familiarities.
Not her idea of fun!

EATING LIKE A NUTRITARIAN
Since my daughter has moved home, I have more people to eat the food I cook and in the last year or so we've been exploring eating more of a plant-based diet, so I am able to cook more recipes without the food going rotten or R and I having to eat them everyday for a week.

What started the whole thing was seeing the DVD Forks over Knives.


This DVD led me to the book, The China Study and the more we read, the more it made sense for good heart health.
I have about 15 plant-based cookbooks now and we've gone to multiple vegan restaurants.  I have to say that some of the vegan restaurants make me feel bloated after I eat, so I'm not sure what they are cooking with, but it's not sitting pretty with me.  I do much better with just regular, down to earth...vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds.

I also realized that french fries and donuts are "plant based", so one can still eat fairly unhealthy even though "plant based" sounds healthy.  That's when I started reading books by Dr Joel Fuhrman. Dr Fuhrman does seminars with the Drs from Forks over Knives and in those seminars, he seems so strict and as if his expectations are so high that they are unattainable.
Fortunately, I found his books to be completely different.
He is very understanding when it comes to changing our diet.  He knows that eating the American diet is hard to shake.  We have been raised on it and we crave it so he encourages us to change slowly so our bodies don't feel deprived.  I like that balanced approach.

He calls himself a term he created himself...a NUTRITARIAN. This term means his main critieria for choosing foods is that they have the highest density of  'nutrients', hence the term "nutritarian".
Of course, that means vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds and he has plenty of great ways to cook these so we feel satiated.

He has great information in his books,
Eat to Live and Eat for Health - Vol 1 and 2.



There are recipes in both books, but Eat for Health Vol 2 has the most recipes and they are really good.  We love them.  They are tasty, filling, and he has many dessert recipes such as ice cream made of frozen bananas and frozen cherries and cocoa.  It shocked us all, but they are VERY good.


BACK TO THE GYM
Even though my daughter doesn't like living back at home, she runs and goes to the gym alot so I unfroze my gym membership (because we moved closer to the gym) and I actually enjoy it.

Best part...Zumba class...which I LOVE!!!!!
It's so good for the brain and the body.
Trying to follow the little spitfire Zumba teacher that teachers our class (not the one below) and not having any idea what move is next is so good for my brain and my body.  In addition, because I am concentrating so intently on following the teacher, I can't look at myself in the mirror and see how ridiculous I look.
Here's a sample of how fun this is....

I think that's it for now.  Not too exciting and that's probably why I haven't posted in such a long time.