Breast Cancer Awareness

As many of you may know October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This disease has always help a close spot to my heart because both my mother and maternal grandmother fell ill to it.

My first encounter with this illness was in 1991/1992; my grandmother was in the late stages while my mother was in the very early stages- both at the same time. At this time I was in Kindergarten, I remember coming home from school walking in the living room and seeing my mother cutting off her hair. I was confused. I never remember seeing her look sickly, I never went to any of her Chemo or Radiation treatments. The nasty parts of the disease were hidden from me. At some point when I was still in Kindergarten, during the time my grandmother didn't have much time left to live, she moved into our house. I remember her hospital bed being moved into my room, directly across from my bothers room. I ended up sleeping in the den/office/living room for a while. I'm not sure exactly how long my grandmother stayed with us I do remember her being present at my 6th birthday; I remember peaking into my room all of one time and seeing her lay on the hospital looking bed- sleeping. Sometime during the summer of 1992 my grandmother passed away.

In 1993 my mother got breast cancer a 2nd time. Again I never went to any of her Chemo or Radiation treatments. I do remember her being at home with some kind of machine she would drag around; kinda resembled an oxygen tank but I don't think that's what it was. My memory is so vague of this time I'm really not sure how long my mom went through treatment but the memories don't seem that long. Before I knew it she was well as back to working and baking and doing all the things she always had- at least that's according to my memories.

Nearly 20 years passed before breast cancer would knock on our family's door again... April 2010; my mom went to the ER because she was having breathing problems. Over the course of the next 8 or 9 months my mom was in and out of the hospital, given all kinds of medication to fix the heart and breathing issues, and placed on an oxygen machine. It was so hard seeing my mom sick. Even though she had battled breast cancer twice before I was far too young to remember much about it. but at 24 I remembered everything. It was December 2010 when the doctor discovered an underlying issue to the health problems my mom was having. BREAST CANCER- it had returned, it was worse than she had ever had it before, she was angry, I was scared, my brother was angry and scared. My mom probably spent half of December in the hospital, including Christmas Day, then she came home. She went through about a week of Chemo before she was back in the hospital on New Years Eve. That was the last time she was at home. Through the course of the following 8 days I saw my mother at her weakest, she was in pain and tired and simply wanted to get better, My dad flew in; him and my brother were surprisingly strong; myself not so much. Every single day I went to the hospital took one single look at my mom and broke down! It was simply that scary for me. On January 8 my mom lost her battle. That was by far the hardest day of my life along with January 9th and 14th.

Nothing in my life has been the same since that day. All the things my mother has taught me have indeed stuck with me. I'm more like her than I'll probably ever realize. I always pray to God that I never get breast cancer. It may seem like a selfish prayer but I really don't think myself nor my family can deal with another women getting cancer. However, if a day comes and a doctor tells me other wise, I'll be prepared and ready to fight!

Weight Loss

As some of you may remember, I was on a mission in 2011 to loose some weight during the summer. Well I definitely met and surpassed my personal goal that I set! When I first moved to Texas I got a gym membership with 24 Hour Fitness and met with one of the trainers. She thought I would be able to go from 180lbs to 140lbs. I thought she was crazy.... until I started seeing results! Ultimately I got all the way down to 135lbs Now I didn't get any personal trainer sessions added to my membership, just did the initial first free meeting/session. During last summer my eating habits changed a LOT and I did a lot more walking than I would usually also. During a short time during the summer I went on a "Vegetarian Diet"... only planned on doing it for one week; that week turned into six! Since then I have cut red meats out of my diet all together! I really only eat chicken, fish [very rarely] and turkey meat [usually ground turkey meat... its my substitute for beef].

Additional foods I cut-out/cut-down on:
* soda
* candy bars [huge shocker!!!!]
* most "junk" foods
* TV dinners
* fast food
In April of this year I moved to my sister's house and kinda feel off on my good eating habits. Mainly because she cooks so differently than the way I eat. So as a result i did gain about 10lbs within the first month or two... NO BUENO! So to help myself get back on  track with eating right I'm back on a vegetarian diet for this entire month. Everyone thinks I'm crazy for doing it but i think its the best way for me to really be more accountable of what I eat. By cutting out all types of meat I really have to think "whats a food or combination of foods that's healthy and might fill me up" You'd be surprised what a difference it makes!

One thing that irks me is when people constantly ask why I don't meat beef or any type of meat. Usually the assume I'm Muslim [which I'm not] or they think I'm crazy. Then when I tell them I just want to eat healthier the response I usually get is "but you can eat meat and still eat healthy" --__-- Personally that answer is only partially accurate. If you choose to eat beef, pork, chicken ,etc that's totally fine... but how healthy is the meat if before its cooked the animal is injected with all types of growth hormones... hormones that  you later consume? Now again that's just my own personal opinion. I wouldn't look down on anyone for what they choose to eat. Everyone is free to do as they please. I just sometimes get bothered with the responses I receive when I tell people I don't eat meat or red meat. But I guess that is just something I will have to learn to better deal with.

For further posts I do plan on posting various new meals that I make/try.

Healthy Eating.... Healthy Living

since moving to Texas in February I completely changed my eating habits... did a full 180!!! I cut out fast food, started cutting back on fried food and would bake my fish and chicken, cut back on red meats too!!! and on July 17 I made an attempt to go one week without eating any meat!! That one week has turned into close to 6wks!!!!! NEVER would I have thought I'd be able to do that! Sound crazy I'm sure, but meat [beef, pork, chicken] was always the staple of every meal. At 25 I want to live a healthier life!! Too many diseases run on both sides of my family and I DO NOT want to die in my 50s or 60s from something that can be prevented! So far I'm enjoying my vegetarian diet... learning to eat more fruits and salads to compensate for the meat i would usually eat.

in January I was 180 lbs.... in May I was between 155 and 160. Since I stopped eating meat I've gotten down to 148/150!!! 150lbs was always my target weight so I'm excited I was able to reach it!! When I started going to the gym, I met with a personal trainer and she swore I could get down to 140lbs.... I thought she was coo-coo ... but now i can totally do it! I just need to start working out again and I'll get there!! The more healthy meals I start making, I'll try to remember to take pictures and post them on the blog. Hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Healthy Eating

Since moving back to Texas I have been eating a lot healthier than ever before! We have started buying organic fruits, milk and chicken; I'm eating less junk food, no soda, and hardly any red meat, and no fast food. It was difficult at first but now I have no taste for some of that stuff. I've also been working out now... Got a membership at 24 hour fitness and so far I've been doing well; going 2 or 3 times a week during the last 2 weeks. Since going I've learned that walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes will help you burn more calories than the bike or elliptical [depending on the speed level you use I assume].

The other day this picture below is what I had for breakfast.... its crazy because just a few months to a year ago i was stuffing my fast with instant grits, sugary cereals or pop-tarts!!! The spread i used on my toast was peanut butter mixed with dark chocolate, its "Peanut Butter & Co." brand- yummy stuff

I know some other bloggers are talking about eating healthier.. so what are some healthy foods/meals you ladies are trying?

Healthy Living

Right now, I should be sleep considering I have a headache and it has taken those 2 little Advil's a little too long to kick in... But I'm not sleep. As I was watching a CSI: NY re-run I started to think: I way wayyy unhealthy. I don't know if this is from years of busy college life; "eating on the go" mentality.. but that is exactly how I eat. Since I typically work at night I have time to make breakfast but never do much for lunch, so when my meal break comes at work and I go home to eat its something quick and usually high in sodium. I also realized [I've always known this but have been in DENIAL] I eat entirely wayyyyy toooo much CHOCOLATE ::cringes:: ahhhhh there I said it. I eat some form of chocolate almost everyday. And I don't mean just one small Hershey kiss, i mean like a regular size kit-kat or a bag of almond M&Ms ... which is all very unhealthy after a few days.. UGH. I'm kinda mad at myself for being in such denial about it for so long....I needed a intervention YEARS ago- seriously!!

I've seen other blogger posting healthy food choices/meals/recipes on their blogs. I may do something like that, or look for some good cookbooks for beginners, cause the Lord knows I'm no Martha Stewart! As I come across good healthy food tips I will try to post them. I'm 5 months and 15 days shy of my 25th birthday and I want to be a lot more healthy than I have been in the past... too many health issues effect both of my parents sides of the family for me to not get my act together! What are some food choices you ladies have made to live healthier?

A few health changes I have made are:

1. Instead of SODA, I drink flavor water [Sobe Life water, Vitamin water, Propel, etc]
2. Instead of regular juice [Ocean Spray Cran-Apple that's only 27% juice], I get the Ocean Spray 100% mixes.. its all real juice so there is NO added sugar!]
3. I have been eating more bananas which is VERY unlike me, or at least the old me!
4. Lately I've been eating baby carrots... I use Jalapeno-Ranch dip ti give it flavor cause I don't like regular Ranch... [yea, I'm weird]
5. I've been eating a lot less fried chicken! Maybe once every few months, as opposed to every other week!!!! Baked chicken is much better!!

Hope my small beginners list helps... let me know what you girls are doing!!!

Desperate times..... Call for Desperate Measures!!!

So I was working on a project the other day and a website I was looking at mentioned the Body Mass Index. Now I haven't check one of these since last semester so I figured I see where I stood on this scale... ::cries:: APPARENTLY:: I'm overweight!!!! For my age and height, the average weight tends to be 118 to 159 .. that seems like a huge gap!! Now I was 130ish wayyyy back in middle school! and i've prob been over 140 since high school but I really need to get more serious about excercising!!

I weighed myself the other day and ::Gasps:: I've gain like 7lbs since my bday!! WTF!!! Sooooo I did what any worried woman would do..... I bought some "detox/ cleanse" products. I originaly wanted to try QuickTrim..... the stuff the Kardashian sisters sponser,  but chose not to. So I bought SlimQuick [the names are damn near the same]. It wasn't tooo pricey, but its a lot of freakin' pills :-/ I wil keep you all updated on how this goes....

image from http://www.myslimquick.com/products/slimquick-cleanse

Health Goal: No chocolate for a week

OMG! Me?? No chocolate?? Had someone told me a month ago that I would go a week w/o any chocolate I would've called them crazy! ESPECiALLY since one of those days in the week was my birthday!! Every year for as long as I can emember I've gotten a German Chocolate cake.. but not this year! I got Red Velvet Cupcakes bestie made them!!! And those things are bomb.com!! lmao!

Im sure some of you are thinking "Whats the big deal about not eating chocolate?" Well trust me, its a HUGE deal!! I eat chocolate like a alcoholic drinks on a regular/daily basis! It was at the point where I would unconsciencely by chocolate [like M&Ms, chocolate chip cookies, hershey's] anytime I needed a snack.. I've been eating chocolate everything since I was a little kid [had to have CHOCOLATE pop-tarts rather than any other kind.. only ate Chip Ahoy! cookies!]. why I wouldn't by healthier things is beyond me. But for this past week I literally was fully aware of what I bought! Ate more salads and fruit... didn't have too much fried food either. Hopefully I can contimue to eat healther!!