Lent

Growing up I had several Catholic friends who would give something up for lent. We were Lutheran, so my parents never asked us to go without.

However, for the past few years I have considered giving something up for Lent, but never made the pledge to follow through. However, now that we have a baby, I feel like it would be a good lesson to instill in our youngling.

But the real question is WHAT should I give up? I figured that because I am a foodie and value eating, the item in question should be food-related. However, I want it to have a deep emotional connection, something that is a fair representation of the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us on the cross - something that I would truly miss. In addition, it would be nice if by omitting this item from my diet I would actually be improving my health. Here are some of the options that I considered:

• Chocolate - eh... an easy choice, as I have been known to regularly indulge in my beloved Green and Black's organic 85% dark chocolate
• Wine - I am still breast feeding, so I have not been enjoying wine regularly
• Sugar - a definite contender... however, we will be in NYC for another week and I really can't control the exact ingredients in everything that I will be eating, so this might be difficult
• Coffee - I only enjoy a single Americano each morning, so it's not a significant sacrifice

After much deliberation, I decided to give up all simple sugars and refined flours completely. I do strive to keep most sugar and white flour out of my diet; however, out of convenience they have started to creep in... mostly because I have not been making the time to cook and bake items myself.

But all of that stops when we get back home from NYC. Until then, I will ensure that I am making conscious food choices at every meal - asking questions, making special requests, etc.

I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight; however, I am not as lean as I was pre-pregnancy and I know it is because I have not been completely dedicated to my workouts and eats. Today I rededicate myself and would love to see you do the same.

"Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?" Luke 9:25

Did you give something up for Lent? If so, what was the most difficult thing that you have ever gone without?

Big Announcement!

Good Afternoon, Bloggers!

I have a very important announcement to make...

I am pregnant!!!



Baby Peters is due May 19th and I am in my 13th week of pregnancy. I am feeling well and taking good care of myself. In my first trimester, I struggled with all day nausea and fatigue that impacted my day-to-day activities. I also suffered from intense food aversions. As you can imagine these side effects combined made it pretty difficult to cook, bake and workout. Which left me with little to blog about!

The good news is that as I begin my second trimester, I am starting to feel like myself again. I have had a lot more energy and am regaining my interest in food. I was even able to pick up the latest issue of Clean Eating and Tosca’s new cookbook for recipe inspiration!

Being that I am pregnant, my food choices have shifted from weight loss to weight gain; which is a weird feeling and has required a complete shift in my mindset. So far, I have gained 3 pounds and plan on gaining a total of 6-9 pounds in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. So, that leaves me with another 3-6 pounds to gain until the end of December. From 20 weeks on, I plan on gaining 16-20 additional pounds. This will put me at a total weight gain of 22-29 pounds.

For now, I am focusing my workout efforts on prenatal yoga and walking/jogging on my treadmill. I find little interest in weight lifting at this point, but as I regain my energy I plan on creating a pregnancy weight lifting plan for myself.

I would love to hear your thoughts and advice on this wonderful time in my life! I cannot wait to share the next 27 weeks of pregnancy with you along with my newfound motherhood!

Phantom Fat

This is a really interesting article about people who loose a great deal of weight and still see themselves as their heavier self rather than their REAL thin self.

Sometimes I feel this way - I am shocked when I look in the mirror and nit-pick at my problem areas. I am working on improving my self image and seeing myself in a realistic light. I am not a fitness model. I don't want to be a fitness model.

I want to be healthy and fit and I am.

I want to be a good example for others and I am.

I want to be able to run up a flight of stairs and not be winded and I can.

I want to go on long walks with my husband and I do.

I want to bike with my husband across town and we do.

I want to wear a bikini and not feel self-conscious and I will.

I want my future children to be proud of me and they will.

I want to be proud of myself and I am.

Summer Goals

Thank you to everyone for the kind words on in regards to my before and after pics from the Competition. It was a little scary posting pictures of myself in a bikini for the world to see! I am really happy with the visible results that I had and the way that my clothes now fit. To celebrate my achievement, I even picked up a couple pairs of size 6 jeans and a skirt!!!



On to my summer goals. Yes, I know that the summer has been here for a while… but with the weather that we’ve had in Minnesota, it feels like the summer is just beginning. Besides, in reality, summer has only been here for 9 days. So, with the start of the summer, I would like to set some realistic goals for myself for the next MONTH. A month doesn’t seem like a long time, just 4 short weeks, but it definitely is enough time to make progress on some of my long-term goals.

Here are the things that I would like to accomplish in the month of July:

1. Eat clean 95% of the time (cheats will be wine, vodka/soda, or very dark chocolate)
2. Eat all of my meals on time (every 2-3 hours)
3. Workout 4 days per week
4. Vary the types of workouts that I do: yoga, circuit training, biking, running, walking, and heavy lifting
5. Embrace our organic CSA share (that should be getting more bountiful soon)
6. Visit the Farmer’s Market more often
7. Increase my Raw Food consumption and try to eat one raw meal every other day
8. Read Making The Cut by Jillian Michaels
9. Read an average of one Psalm per day, starting with Psalm 31 (I read 1–30 in the month of June)
10. Cut wheat flour out of my diet, as it gives me tummy bloat & headaches (stick to sprouted and grain-based complex carbs)
11. Embrace healthy fats like avocados, nut butters, and coconut oil
12. Get 8 hours of sleep every night
13. Start writing a Cookbook

Yes, you read that right. I have decided to write a Cookbook. I plan on filling the book with both recipes and organization/clean foodie tips, like I have on this blog. You may have noticed that I have not been posting as many recipes lately. This is because I have been busy in the Peters test kitchen experimenting with lots of different recipes, deciding which ones will make it into the book. Rest assured that recipes that do not make the cut will still be posted on my blog along with a few “sneak peak” recipes that do make it into the cookbook.

Do you have any suggestions of recipes that are currently on the blog that I should include in the cookbook? What are your favorites?

Summer Has Arrived!!!

I don't know what the weather is like where you live, but today is going to be HOT and HUMID again! We went from rainy barely 60 degree days to a heat index of 105 in less than two weeks. The weather has been so crazy lately, that this morning that the power was out for over an hour.

Now that the 12 week competition is finished, I am working on setting some new short term goals. These goals will also include a new workout plan (as I only have 1 NROL4W workout left), strict Cooler 2 eats, and starting a new food related project, which I will be announcing soon.

Now on to some eats. Last week I made a super yummy pesto dinner. Here some of the ingredients that I used (I also added 1/2 bag of frozen sweet peas and 1/2 bag of frozen california mix):

Unfortunately, my camera died before I could take a good picture of the finished product, but it was delish!