SINS, day two

I'm really thankful that I planned and prepared healthy quick meals this week!! If you would have told me this past Sunday that I would be entering the SINS Blog Transformation Challenge on Wednesday I would have laughed. I would have thought I couldn't hang with such amazing athletes. Then I got really inspired reading about it and realized that I'm an amazing Cathlete in my own right. This challenge is really one to myself and becoming accountable via my blog to other awesome and fit-minded bloggers. I've gotten a lot of encouragement from those other bloggers already. It's fantastic, inspirational and motivating! Thanks everyone!!

When stress peaked out this afternoon I thought about shoving a bunch of M&Ms in my mouth. I didn't, though, because I knew it would mess up my carb percentage for the day and I just wouldn't 'give in' on day 2 of this challenge. Oh, and I also had 2 healthy and ready to eat meals in the fridge. YES!! I love when my planning skills rescue me!

One of those meals is Kale-Bean salad, and the other is Deluxe Tuna Salad from Holly Clegg's Trim & Terrific cookbook.

It starts with these ingredients

Add a couple of these, too

And turns into this beautiful dish!

It's delicious! I love the veggies in it!

Those 2 anti-cancer packed mini-meals gave me the fuel to jump my way through Cathe's 4 Day Split Bootcamp cardio workout this afternoon. My post-chemo knees usually avoid this one due to all the jumping. However, since I've been doing Cathe step workout sans the step lately my knees have been happier so I decided to follow the rotation schedule and give it a go. I felt incredibly energetic and my knees held up very well (though tomorrow I may be singing a different song!?). My almost 3 year old niece jumped and ran along with me off and on. She was so cute, and it was fun to have someone to high 5 after a few of the drills. 

Onto Day 3 of 60.... 

Amazing & Delicious Kale

This is what I'm drinking, besides beloved filtered water, these days. I add just 1 packet of Sun Crystals and enjoy the refreshing anti-cancer slightly sweet tea the rest of the day. It's been a wonderful substitute for soda! Did you notice the tea kettle? It's one of my Ikea finds from trip to Texas. It's microwave-able and dishwasher-able. My life is better now.

 I made Diana Dyer's Kale-Bean Salad. It is absolutely divine. It's one of those recipes that taste so good that it's hard to believe it's a healthy anti-cancer food. 

Gather all veggies that need chopping. Grab the rest of the ingredients, too, as long as you're organizing.

These dressing ingredients = awesome. 

Cut the stalks off the kale. I used the standard supermarket variety of kale. I wish Whole Foods was closer so I could have gotten organic kale. I'll make a point to do that next time I make this salad. I assure you that it WILL be soon.

Ta-da!!

One bunch is LOT of chopped kale. The roses are my Valentine's Day gift from a special man. They smell wonderful and are oh so pretty. 

What, did you think I was going to elaborate on the special man? Ha! 

Back to the salad....

I followed the recipe's instructions and used the blender for the dressing. I don't think it was really necessary though. Next time I'll just use a whisk and a medium bowl and burn off a few calories.

Here is the finished salad. When I tossed it most of the beans and veggies went to the bottom. Luckily, I have a long spoon. A truly amazingly delicious and pretty easy to make anti-cancer salad.

What makes kale such an important anti-cancer food? It's rich in organosulfur compounds which are also known as glucosinolates. These compounds are broken down into potent anti-cancer compounds called isothiocyanates. These bad boys are powerful inducers of cancer destroying enzymes. Scientists have found that sulforaphane (which is a glucoisnolate formed when kale is chewed or chopped) works by altering gene expression which helps to clear carcinogenic substances from the body. 

That's a lot of long words to say that eating kale helps clean out cancer and other toxic cells out of your body. That excites, motivates and inspires me!! How about you!If you'd like to read even more long words and in depth info about kale kicking cancer's booty click here. Or you can watch 2 short clips of the Dr. Oz show. He recently talked about glutathiones and their power and importance.  http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/superhero-antioxidants-pt-1 

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/superhero-antioxidants-pt-2

Post a comment and tell me if you're inspired to eat more kale! 

Remembered what I Forgot and then Some

I remembered the post I partially wrote in my head this morning. Chemo-brain is such a weird thing! I'm ready for my pre-chemo brain to come back- just for the record.

This past week I've had a cold. Why is this post-worthy? Because it's my first cold since chemo and it didn't put me in the hospital. Chemo tanks your immune system and messes with your mind in the process. During chemo my family and I were extra clean. I didn't kiss anyone, and no one was allowed to kiss me. Everyone washed theirs hands a lot. The house was Lysol-ed often. I did my very best not to touch other people, or touch any thing on the rare occasions I left home. That level of protectiveness was necessary because even catching even a little cold or infection could have easily put me in the hospital with a much bigger problem. My body just couldn't fight any infections or colds off. A hard way to live, but eventually I grew accustomed to it.

I've been done with chemo for 5 months and I'm slowly learning that it's okay to let go of that level of protectiveness. Getting a kiss from one of my nieces or nephews is extra sweet now and so is holding their adorable tiny hands. I still wash my hands a lot. I still instinctively avoid touching people and things when I'm not home. My hands look a lot older now thanks to all that washing.

 I survived my first post-chemo cold! When I first started getting sick I panicked a little, I'll admit it. Thankfully, it seems that my immune system is up and running nice and strong again. That's a victory to me!

One of the main ways I help my immune system to stay strong is by eating cleanly and healthfully. Honestly, I've been short on veggies the past couple weeks. I didn't plan to include veggies in my week, so they didn't make much an appearance. Veggies are funny that way. So I made a veggie packed meal plan for the next several days. Many thanks to Holly Clegg and her Trim and Terrific cookbook! Lunches will be either Deluxe Tuna Salad or Diana Dyer's Kale-Bean salad. (I am in love with this blog!) Dinners will be Black Bean and Spinach Enchiladas, Cheesy Shrimp Rice Casserole and South Indian Curried Chicken.

You may be wondering what's for breakfast? I either have 1 whole Eggland's best egg plus 2 egg whites with a slice or two of reduced-carb whole grain no HFCS added bread with 1/2- 1 cup of fruit and green tea, or oatmeal with 1/2 cup of fruit, whey and greens protein powder, ground up flax seeds, sometimes a tablespoon of chia seeds and green tea. Yum!

Pictures and recipes coming over the next few days.... No drooling on your keyboards!

How do you welcome veggies into your meals?