Timetobeme's Blog

My husband and I have been working on getting healthier for several years now. We did a strict vegan, then on and off again mostly plant based, then really not doing anything constructive for a while and then we did keto for five months which ended with me in horrible pain and we both ended up off of it.

I have to figure it out. My doc wants me on all kinds of meds, cholesterol , blood pressure, and even diabetes meds are in my future if I do not get it together soon.

So, this past week and a half I have been sick. Upper respiratory thing, not the big one going around, I had that at the start of the year along with half our family. Most likely it was a virus I caught from our youngest grandaughter. Ironicly we had a wonderful day together. First day I had her over in close to a year. When her baby brother was born she was fine, but after the lock downs and no one really getting together she got some issues with leaving her mom. Would not even go with Dad to run errands unless mom went , so me getting her to come over and hang out for a day was a no go. She just turned four and suddenly turned the corner. We had a blast that day. Painting, making jewelry, and all kinds of fun things. She went home and that night her virus showed itself, so lucky me, I ended up sick in the next few days. It was worth it though to have that lovely day with her before she started preschool.

Because I was not really paying attention to what I was eating the last few weeks, this virus hit me hard. My grandaughter and her brother ended up being diagnosed with RSV, both of them are over it and fine, old enough to not be in danger, and their parents and I all seemed to catch it. I am hoping my husband avoids it. Today I am finally feeling so much better and it is a relief. It was never serious in the least, just miserable, there is a considerable difference !! The minute I realized I was getting sick, I started taking my immune supplements in addition to the many we take already every day. I got off of dairy and sugar and have been careful about what I am eating. Not fun when you want comfort food, lol !!

I decided to try the mostly plant based plan again, this time really paying attention to fat, which I did not do a good job of the first time. I am not calling it vegan, it is plant based, and occasionally something has a tiny bit of dairy or eggs. I also sometimes have a bit of fish when I really want it. Mostly beans, rice, veggies, potatoes, sweet potatoes, oats and other whole grains. I do allow a tiny bit of real butter. That is why I call it mostly plant based.

I think I am done with plans that completely eliminate a food group. I am avoiding dairy for now, but do love a great plain yogurt I found for my smoothies that is very high in probiotics. I will add that back in soon.

I have had issues with certain dairy products for years. Milk, cream cheese, and ice cream being the worst. Cheese does not bother me near as much. But for now, I am avoiding any kind of major dairy. I did use some Walmart brand of cream of mushroom, the low fat version in some noodles tonight with tons of veggies. My husband added some baked chicken breast I had made him a few nights ago, and some parm cheese no meat for me. No cheese, that was hard, I usually use parm cheese on top of my casseroles and brown it. But I will learn to live without for now. I have to lower my blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar by avoiding the really fatty and sugary foods.

I am still finding that I feel great until I eat a bunch of meat, a four or six ounce serving, than my joints hurt again. My body is trying to direct me, so I am doing my best to listen. Fish, for some reason, seems to be okay. I buy a wild canned tuna with no added sodium, or some baked salmon I cooked and froze a while back in four ounce servings. I am avoiding those for the most part, but a serving or two a week does not seem to bother me.

I am not eating eggs, but if I bake some low fat stuff down the line, I will use them. I do have the vegan flax egg mix in the freezer and might do half and half. Apple sauce for the fat. Whole wheat pastry flour. The sugar is my big issue, trying to figure out what to use. I have so many of the standard options, stevia for baking, splenda for baking and then all the other ones we bought on keto, swerve and the sugar alcohol ones. Also have real maple syrup and honey, and of course real sugar as well. Just really trying to figure it all out. Lets face it, everything you want to use, they say is horrible for you, Even maple syrup and honey. I cannot do the never have a sweet the rest of my life. I love to bake, and I love to eat sweets. So, I need to find a good balance.

I am so tired of on again, off again diets. I want to find a healthy way for us to eat that we can stay on for life. One we can lose the rest of our weight on, and be happy , and also healthy on.

So, one day at a time. Just trying to figure it out !!! I know it has been a confusing journey for those of you watching, but this is my real journey, trying to figure out what works best for us, even if we are doing slightly different things, as my hubby is having some lean meat and tiny bits of cheese. Otherwise we are eating the same food.

Oats for breakfast, both of us, smoothie for me for lunch with vegan shake mix I still had, and left overs for him, and then the same dinner, just tweaked a bit for him. Simple, basic, good food.

Having been on keto, we have a lot of not so healthy stuff in the freezers, but I told my husband we can figure out healthier ways to use them over time.

So, I will keep updating here, but that is where we are at right now.