Although the dog days of summer have not arrived yet, my local grocery store had a sale on cut watermelon today. My mom and I quickly scooped some up with the hope that it would be juicy and sweet. We were NOT disappointed. She and my son had some for dessert and I decided to blend mine into a refreshing smoothie! I have to tell you that this is one of the best smoothies I’ve made yet. I know, I know, I always say this but this combination of lime and watermelon is truly delectable! And rather than keep you waiting here is the recipe for this sweet treat!

Watermelon Smoothie

1 1/2 cups of cut  cold seedless watermelon

Juice of 1/4 lime

4 or 5 ice cubes

Method

Add all ingredients to blender in the order listed. Blend and enjoy!

I keep experimenting with smoothies and in an effort to remember what I really like, I’ve decided to share the best recipes on the blog. I know this will help me in the long run because I try so many different combinations I tend to forget what I’ve done. Today’s smoothie was absolutely delicious and doesn’t have a name but I love it! I guess I’ll call it the Sweet Citrus Smoothie.

Sweet Citrus Smoothie

2 mandarine oranges

1 cutie orange

1 banana

1 mango

3 cups spinach + super greens (bok choy, baby red and green chard )

Add all ingredients to blender starting with citrus and ending with spinach mix. Blend. Serve in a glass with ice and enjoy!

I am a daily smoothie/juice maker. Since I am using a Vitamix blender my concoctions are technically smoothies. I like the fact that I am getting all of the fiber that I otherwise would lose if I simply used a juicer. However, I am aware that juicing has benefits and I will soon be adding a juicer to my kitchen. In the meantime, I am experimenting with all different types of smoothies. The base for all of them is composed of spinach or kale and then I add on from there. Today’s juice was especially delicious so I decided to share the recipe. I used Spinach power greens as a base. It is a bag mix that I got from Walmart although other stores probably carry it too. It is spinach, bok choy, baby red and green chard. On the label it says this mix if full of anti-oxidants and a great source of folate and Vitamin K. I honestly purchased it because it was cheaper than buying all of them individually!

I also used the milk of a young Thai coconut. It was challenging to open but this video provides a great demonstration. I’m not sure if my knife was sharp enough to cut a lid like she did but I punctured a hole in the top large enough to release the milk. I am still working on figuring out how to get the tasty flesh out of the coconut but I’ll tackle that later!

To the mix I added a granny smith apple, mango, lemon, grapes and a cucumber. The taste is very “fresh” and absolutely delicious! Without further adieu, here is the recipe!

Green Lemonade

2 cups spinach plus super greens

1 chopped granny smith apple

1/2 cucumber peeled

1/2 mango

handful grapes

1 lemon

Milk from 1 young Thai coconut

Add all ingredients to blender, mix and enjoy!

I am the Queen of making fast, easy and healthy meals. I don’t slave all day in the kitchen unless it is a holiday like Thanksgiving and even then I cook in stages so I’m not overwhelmed or too tired to enjoy the food. One of my friends on facebook posted that she wanted clams with linguine and I said “me too!” I didn’t have the ingredients on hand but I kept it in the back of my mind because this is one of my favorites and it is simple to make with a few shortcuts.

I have always used canned chopped or minced clams for my sauce. I also use a bottle of clam juice. These are easily found in your grocery store in the canned meat area – think tuna! Extra virgin olive oil is my base and I add chopped garlic, clam sauce and all of my spices. Boil a few minutes and lastly add the clams. I use fresh herbed linguine from the Farmers Market and that only takes a 3 minute boil to reach perfection! Voila! A gourmet meal in about 10 minutes.

As far as healthy goes, I use 1 cup of pasta – which I generally avoid but this dish is meant for pasta! And the sauce, is very low calorie, the entire can of clams is not quite 100 calories and the juice has no calories. So the majority of the calories are from the pasta and olive oil. No biggie! Healthy and delicious!

At this point I bet you just want me to get to the recipe, well here it is ENJOY!

White Clam Sauce

1 8oz bottle of clam juice

1 can chopped or minced clams

2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil

1 large clove chopped garlic (you can add more to taste)

1 tsp Dried Basil (I wanted to use fresh but forgot to pick it up)

Pinch (0r more) Red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp freshly ground cracked black pepper

Sea salt

1 tsp oregano

Method:

Boil pasta. While pasta is cooking prepare the sauce. Add olive oil to pan and heat on medium. Add chopped garlic and cook for 1 or 2 minutes until fragrant. Add clam juice, both the bottle and the juice from the can (save the clams for later). Add spices, bring to a low boil for 3 minutes. Add clams, cook an additional minute. Serve hot over linguine pasta. Please remember that the spices are too your tastebuds and you can add more or less. My cooking is like a symphony, I rarely measure I just add what I look right. Play around with flavors until you get it to your liking!

As most of you that read my blog know, I am primarily a distance runner. I will do an occasional 5 or 10k but I generally run half-marathons. This year I’ve already run one but I have been thinking about mixing things up a little and trying out new things. So when the opportunity to do the Atlant Foam Fest 5k crossed my path I couldn’t say no! This obstacle course looks like a ton of fun! And even though I haven’t been running, I think this will be the perfect opportunity for me to go out with a big bang before my surgery the following Monday. Check out the video, it looks outstanding!

Of course, things like this are more fun so I’m running with my girl Lorraine! So be on the lookout for the race recap! And if you want to run, use code GAFOAM13 for $5 off and if you register as a team you will receive $10 off all merchandise!

  Ever notice people always look busted in before pics? Or maybe that is just me……

Sometimes I need a little motivation. And money can be motivating! That is why I joined a Dietbet during the month of February. I wanted to get serious about focusing on the food I eat and truly work staying on track to maintain the weight I lost in 2010. With DietBet you join a group and bet a sum of money to lose 4% of your body weight over a designated period of time. In this instance, I bet $30 and of course did not want to lose it so I stayed pretty focused.

Not only did I surpass my bet but I am within two pounds of my lowest weight in 2010. Am I going to keep going? Well, what I am going to do is to continue to eat right. I have 17 more days to work on strengthening my core and with rest days I’ll likely exercise 12 or 13 days. I’m trying to be in the best shape possible for my surgery which I didn’t even know I needed when I started the bet. God works in mysterious ways ya’ll.

Anyhow, here are my results. I started on February 1st weighing 164 pounds and ended today at 151.8.

And of course I have video!

Are you interested in a DietBet? Would you join me if I started one in the next couple of weeks? Let me know!

We have all heard about the importance of drinking water and the general rule is to drink at lease 64 ounces daily. I know for me this is a challenge. I am aware that I do not need to actually drink all of my water because I am eating foods that have water in them too. But I would like to get water in so I’ve been on a search to figure out how to do it. I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners so while I will drink Chrystal Lite and the like when I am in a pinch, I don’t drink it generally.

Somewhere in my travels I saw a photo of fruit in water and thought that is probably delicious! Why waste my money on buying “naturally” flavored water when I can flavor it myself? I literally have only been doing this two days but my water intake has increased and I LOVE the taste!

For a base I use cucumbers and lime. I have had water flavored like this at a spa in the past so I am not sure why I didn’t think of it sooner!

I added  frozen strawberries for additional flavor and let it soak for at least an hour. Absolutely delicious and I’ve solved my drinking water problem! I am making it in batches now so I don’t run out. I simply went to the Dollar Store and purchased 2 quart containers.

I’ve only tried the strawberry mix but I look forward to making more flavors depending on the fruits that are in season.

Here is a video that explains my process

Have you tried making your own flavored water? What flavors have you experimented with?

On Friday I talked about my plan to get my abs ready for my upcoming surgery. And really, it is about not just my abs but my entire body. I purchased Jillian Michaels 6 week 6 pack but when I posted I had not tried the workout. Well, I am here to tell you that this DVD is a must have in your  workout collection!

I must first start by saying I am a Jillian Michaels fan, I have 30 Day Shred, her Yoga dvd, Burn Fat Boost Your Metabolism and I’m sure there are more that I can’t remember. Jillian Michaels was the woman I loved to hate when I was working on tightening up my body after I initially lost 40-50 pounds. I took a long break from Jillian while focusing on running but now I am back on her band wagon.

6 week 6 pack is a non-stop workout that includes standing ab moves, floor moves, and also utilizes a 3-8 lb weight (or none at all) depending on your level. Currently I use a 3 or 5 lb weight when working out and both are quite challenging. The workout includes mountain climbers, burpees, standing jack knives, squats, side planks and more.

It is INTENSE! I’ve only completed level 1 and the DVD also includes a level 2 which I am afraid to even look at! I honestly must say that I cannot fully complete every exercise included, it is extremely challenging but I like the challenge. During the side planks I just hold it but the move calls for pulling your knee up. And I admit that the burpees well, as Jillian says, I often “phone it in” but I’m working on it!

I was so moved by this DVD that I made a video after my first workout. Check it out! And seriously, get this DVD! I’m pretty sure it was only $8.00 on Amazon!

Abs of my dreams

That was when I was in my 20s and as I get older I think achieving said 6 pack is even harder. Factor in an abdominal myomectory and a c-section birth within 2.5 years of each other and you have my abs…of blubber. Well, maybe not blubber but it is difficult to bounce back after you have a bikini cut especially if you are not in shape prior to said surgeries. As I prepare for my 2nd myomectomy on March 18th, I’ve decided that I’m not going to just “let my abs go.” It is true that I took an extended break from exercising over the last few months (with a few half-marathons in between) but now, I’m focusing on my abs because the stronger they are before surgery the faster my healing.

Am I working for the 6 pack? Absolutely not but I would like to strengthen my abs and so I’ve devised a plan for the next 21 days or so that I think will work for me. The first thing I did was order Jillian Michael’s 6 pack in 6 weeks.

You may have noticed in my last post when I mentioned that I needed major surgery I was pretty ambiguous about the whole thing. When I wrote the post I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to share the intimate details of what is happening to me. However, after contemplation I realized that by sharing my story perhaps I can help others and they can be on the look out for signs and symptoms. As the title of this post suggests, I am having surgery on my uterus. It is a tricky situation because fertility and the ability to reproduce are things that I and many women hold dear to their hearts. Although I am not planning to have a child anytime soon, I do value my ability to do so. And uterine fibroids can sometimes get in the way. Especially when given the option of full hysterectomy or myomectomy. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me explain.

photo credit: WebMD 

Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths of the muscle tissue in the uterus. 70% to 80% of all women will develop fibroids by age 50. However, they are most common in black women and generally develop between the ages of 30-40. The risk for fibroids is also increased if you have a familial history of them. Many women are completely unaware that they have fibroids until they are told by their physician. When fibroids are not problematic, the general advice is to watch them because the can grow and multiply. I was first diagnosed with fibroids many years ago and my doctor would give me periodical sonograms to watch their growth. I didn’t have any of the problems associated with fibroids like heavy menstrual bleeding, spotting between periods, distended stomach. Nada. But about a year and a half after my diagnosis, I was in excruciating pain that generated from my lower back and abdomen into my legs.

It wasn’t a consistent pain but after about a week I woke up in the middle of the night praying to God to take the pain away. The next day I went to the hospital and it was revealed that my fibroids had multiplyed and grown like crazy. And I was told my pain was probably being caused by one or more of my fibroids “dying” and having an effect similar to a heart attack in my uterus. To avoid any future occurances of such attacks my doctor and I decided that removal was the best option. I went under the knife with the full knowledge that I’d be unable to have a natural childbirth but I tell you  the sacrifice was worth it. The pain I experienced I can now say was similar to labor contractions, maybe worse!

My surgery was called a myomectomy and the doctor did a bikini cut and went in to remove all the fibroids. Because of the sheer number of fibroids in my uterus he was unable to remove all of them but he got the largest which was the size of a naval orange and others. During my pregnancy 2 years later, my doctors watched my fibroids but they behaved and caused me no problems.

Fast forward to recent times. My body told me something was wrong when I experienced the never ending period. When I say NEVER ending, I mean NEVER. During my visit to the doctor last week my sonogram showed a 3 cm fibroid right above my cervix which is the likely cause of my problem. I was given the option of hysterectomy  - full removal of my uterus which would take care of the fibroid problem forever or myomectomy. Of course, I can take the wait and see approach but my quality of life has truly been diminished and I can’t continue to live this way. Other options like the pill simply won’t work for me because estrogen causes me to be hypertensive and that risk is not worth the reward.

So, on March 18th I will once again have surgery. I’m not frightened about it because I now have the answer to why I’ve been having so many problems. And although I rarely ask, friends and family have generously offered to help me out during my six week recovery period. For once I am going to have to really take off my Superwoman cape and have the assistance I need. And funny enough, this might be more frightening than the surgery itself! I’ll be sure to keep you posted about my progress. But in the meantime if you want to read more about fibroids here are some resources you might find helpful:

It’s a Sistah Thing: A guide to understanding and dealing with fibroids for Black Woman

What your doctor may not tell you about uterine fibroids

Uterine Fibroids – WebMD

Have you been diagnosed with fibroids or do you know someone who has? Please share any resources or information that is helpful in the comments. I’d really appreciate it!