Fall…in Love

I definitely made progress in all four of those areas! Calorie counting has helped me return to moderate eating. Our new interest in watching the food budget has helped with not eating out. I would say we buy over half of our food organic. The last one? Well, that’s a work in progress

This month:

1. Finish, or very nearly finish, my Nutrition and Wellness Consultant certification. I started this last month and haven’t done as much as I would like. October will be a very busy month if we are indeed moving this year, so it would be good to get this out of the way in September.
2. Call family and friends more often. I have this weird tendency of letting myself feed into my own reclusiveness (i.e. if it’s been a while since I’ve talked to someone, I am more likely to blow it off than make the call).
3. Post more often! I’m shooting for 3-4 posts a week. Please feel free to call me out on this if I slack.
4. COOK more. I have realized that what I have been doing lately is really more along the lines of “meal preparation” than anything else. I’d like to actually follow a recipe and make something other than steamed vegetables and baked meats and fish.
5. Enjoy England. As the clock ticks, I would like to make some really good memories in my last few months here and take as much in as possible.

To celebrate the season, I had some oats for breakfast, followed by juice.

• Oats, water, cinnamon, and vanilla
• Banana
• Walnuts
• Raisins
• Drizzle of maple syrup

Later came a juice using a new ingredient: beet! I did a little research before I juiced and found a few sites that said to never drink pure beet juice—it is that powerful. You are supposed to use it moderately in conjunction with other vegetables or fruits: “Both the roots and greens are powerful cleansers of the body. Beets are said to really cleanse the blood and kidneys and this is why it is suggested you use beets moderately.” Source

According to this BBC article, beetroot juice has also been shown to increase stamina during exercise. Cool!

Here was today’s juice (I added another apple in the end). The apples and beet are both home-grown.

Lemon, two apples, beet, cucumber, and carrot juice

I loved the bright color!

Lunch was also season-appropriate: homemade vegetarian chili! This came out of the freezer last night and it was easy to re-heat today for lunch. I topped it with a little cheddar cheese to freshen it up! I had a zucchini bran muffin for dessert. Lots of fiber today. Yikes.

It’s worth noting that every day for the past few weeks when I analyze my day’s eats on Spark People, it points out that I go over my fiber goals. What can I say? I like grains, produce, and beans!

What is your favorite season? Do you have any resolutions you would like to share for September?

Off to spend time with the hubs!