X - Xanax a funny story.

Now you may have noticed we have a matter with the FDA & Big Pharma.  Our frustration mainly stems from chemically made drugs not antibiotics.  The conspiracy between pharmaceutical and doctors to write one drug over one that would be better less addicting less side effects over another.  That's another rant for another day.

Today were gonna rant & rave for xanax!  if you haven't taken this wonderful make the world better feel good drug, you should try it.  Did we just advocate taking drugs? NO you should not try it as unless under the supervision of your doctor, as it may be habit forming and harmful (there is our disclaimer).

That said if you find yourself under a great deal of stress full of anxiety panic and irritability and cannot access any marijuana, tell your doctor and they may script you xanax.  Neither of us have ever attempted ANY street drugs and xanax has only entered into our world when Michelle's husbands illness started to get progressively worse. 

Michelle's Funny Story:
I remember my first dose of xanax, ( you should not take drugs prescribed for anyone else and we don't recommend this but here's what happened).  My husband had just been admitted again. We had been on this ridiculous roller coster and I had a headache brewing that ran out of control.  Tylenol & Excedrin had not made a dent in the migraine that was taking me over.  After sleeping in a recliner beside my guy all night I woke up and had to vomit in the hospital bathroom.  My hubby the prince he is, then got himself outta his hospital bed and sat in the recliner while he was being transfused so that I could lay down and get the proper rest to rid myself of my incapacitation. 

As I lay in his bed as if I were the patient dying ( and that's exactly how i felt) and he sit in the chair like the doting caregiver support person, chipper, awake and watching TV like all would be just fine, in walks his mother, aunt and grandmother.  As this unfolds I think in my head, 'Jesus Christ'! really just who I need and just who I want to see me in bed while he's sick with cancer, this couldn't get worse. 

Of course the comments did fly, they can't help themselves.  "I thought he was the patient?" " I thought he was the sick one?"  Go f**k yourselves was the answer I wanted to fling back but didn't have it in me.  I never do when it comes to them I need to grow a set, but lets not get away from the story. 

After seeing me completely useless to their son, nephew, grandson, the attitude did change a bit to concern.  His aunt mentioned xanax that I should take one it'll get rid of my headache and get me back functioning.  His mother happened to have one on her.  They insisted I take it and I did and they left so we could rest.  After the pill was already down my throat and they were out the door my guy then turns to me and says "i really hope that was a xanax my mother gave you and she didn't give you something to kill ya!" 

Awe sweet! yeah I know - too bad he didn't think of that before i swallowed it!

None the less it took about a half hour and I felt tremendously better! Wondrous little drugs those xanax are!  Now I have a script but good for me I'm not an addict and only need one maybe once every two weeks when a panic about life in general sets in, or and extreme sadness comes over me. 

There you go our rant about xanax - hope you had a laugh.  We laughed and cried a bit while writing it! :-)

H - Healthy Body Image

We are both mothers of young children.  Between the two of us there are 3 girls 6, 8 & 10.  Both of us are healthy thick woman who love our curves. We are very conscious about using the words fat big or diet around the girls. There is enough pressure from the outside world, they don't need it from us.  There was a period of time only a few years back when everything was skinny, bony, heroin chic.  Who finds that attractive?  Most men we speak to like a woman with meat on them.  You should love your curves.  Embrace them.  Work them to your advantage when necessary :-)  We don't want the girls or any girl for that matter to look at themselves with an unhealthy body image.  Society puts this stigma on our girls about weight and looks.  its wrong! Tthat's why kids grow up screwed up.  They think they don't fit the stereotype and they desperately want to be accepted.  Big is beautiful.  The idea society needs to convey its not the weight (entirely- we do understand that a good weight is important ) but more important its health.  Eating good, being active, before looks and sizes. 

Side Note: Sorry we're late, no school throws us off track

Screw favorite things.... lets talk about favorite foods

So since we cant eat our favorite foods we've spent a lot of time thinking about them. The more we think about the foods we love to eat the longer the list gets! So we thought we might get some therapy outta sharing them.

Lets talk about cheese. You might not realize how much of this wonderful goodness you eat until you cant. Shredded cheese or any cheese for that matter on salad, or chili. Cheese and crackers. Cheese on tacos. Mozzarella dipped in gravy simmering on the stove. Cheese on a tuna fish sandwich, cheese on eggs, cheese steak sandwich. Cheese on macaroni and the monster of cheesy things pizza.

Lets take a moment here and talk about macaroni & pizza. These are terribly bad but oh so delicious.
Pizza- thin or thick crust, Neapolitan or Sicilian, it don't matter. Give us pizza any day. Oh and we can't forget calzones! Some days we cant decide which we enjoy more. Macaroni- were do we begin? How bout your simple spaghetti & meatballs or linguine olio with some chicken franchise. Oh wait shrimp fra diavolo, baked ziti, penne a la vodka or rigatoni carbonara.

Lets not forget the basics. Steak & burgers. Burgers done medium well dripping with all its goodness with cheese ketchup mayonnaise lettuce & onions. Oh n if were gonna talk about burgers we cant forget fries. Cheese fries chili fries loaded fries sweet potato fries.  Steak- bloody juicy A1saucey! Its not all about cow, pig is awesome too, bacon, crispy fried, on a sandwich or with breakfast, pork chops, pulled pork sandwich, BBQ ribs.

And chicken. Chicken cutlets freshly fried or they are just as delicious cold the next day.
Oh and cant forget the cold cut hero. Let us count the ways to enjoy a deli sandwich.  Call it what you will a hero a sub no difference to us, the choices are limitless. And we must mention the incredible peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Ooey gooey smooth peanut butter sweet grape jam smothered between soft honey wheat bread, oh my!

Cant leave out our  Puerto Rican favorites, pernil simple white rice & stewed red beans,pastelitos, alcapurrias, carne guisada.

To finish our delectable dreamy rant on our favorites it is important to not forget dessert. Ohhh dessert. Chocolate mousse with chocolate graham cracker crumbs, dark chocolate covered almonds & triple chocolate brownies warm outta the oven.  Chocolate chocolate cookies, peanut butter cookies, jelly sandwich cookies, walnut wedding cookies, rainbow cookies.  ( It does not help that we fill ordes for cookies for our Kookies for a Kure fundraising)  Cheese cake oh so smooth creamy rich & decadent. Ice cream cake, vanilla & chocolate with whipped topping and cookie crunches in the middle. Peanut butter & hot fudge ice cream sundaes!

now that were through with that, we must name some new favorites, like grilled eggplant, spaghetti squash, vegetable soup & home made apple sauce!

Day 10 & Day 11

Day 10, was a snow day, and we just stuck to our plan, but nothing exciting happened, but today is Day 11, and if you've been reading ya know what the means, MEAT!!!! reading that you'd think we get to eat a  big steak or something juicy, but really we get to have about 2 chicken tenders or something around that size. It's a feast for us, considering we have had not meat, dairy, bread, grains, for 11days.

Today we are having
fruit for breakfast
sp complete shake, made with frozen fruit
veggie soup with turkey
sp complete shake, made with frozen fruit
turkey burgers with peppers and onions

Day 9, not much going on

Would really like to not get up before the alarm.  We still have lots of energy & feeling good. but not much to say, we miss food. Don't get us wrong we are eating, almost every twenty minutes there is something going in our mouths, but its not satisfying. we are not feeling like we sat down and had a meal. we are committed, and will follow through, just want to whine a little.

Today we had,
Fruit for breakfast
SP Complete shake, made with blueberries and banana
Grilled veggies for lunch
Sp Complete Shake, make with pineapple
Mixed vegetable stir fry

lots and lots of water.

Day 7 and 8 are we done yet!

OK so day seven, was not great. While stir fry was on the menu for us, others in our family had....steak covered in A1 sauce, baked potatos, smoothed in butter, and ice cream cake. Yesterday was very unsatisfying. We had, fruit for breakfast, quick salads for lunch, stir fry for dinner and our 2 shakes were made with mixed berries.

Oh day 8, still feeling dissatisfied. Nothing is filling. We are counting down the days till 11. When we can have some meat, yayyyy meat. The more we think about foods we can't have the more we want them, the list is long. We need to get over this hump.

Today We are Having
8:30 Fruit
10:30 SP Complete Shake made with pineapple
12:30 Salad
5:00 Dinner, grilled eggplant and mixed veggies
7:30 SP Complete shake Made with fruit

Snacking on fruits and veggies through out the day, and pleanty of water

Day 6

Things are pretty simple today. Still getting up way before necessary but feeling good and having lots of energy. 

This morning again our fruit.
Lunch was red cabbage salad.
Dinner Quinoa & Wild rice medley with sauteed spinach. 
Pineappe & mixed fruit for our shakes.

Not finding ourselves hungry maybe the stomachs are shrinking too!

Oh Boy It's Day 5

This morning the scale was calling and one of us succumbed and then didn't even believe it. It was like taking a pregnancy test, you get the + but go back three times to make sure. The scale was not lying 10 pounds lighter, it was moved around the room, to make sure the floor was not affecting the results, and guess what it wasn't! So far we are being affected differently, we are both getting full nights sleep, that is a good.  The bad thing is getting up before the alarm!!! One of us is a bit deficient in something as they tried to put the frozen vegetables in the cabinet.  That was hysterical.  We seem to be accomplishing more in a day too.  7 more days till we can eat some MEAT!!! Oh the meat - what will it be?? there's so many choices!!! 

Today We Had:
  8:00 Canary Melon
11:00 SP Complete Shake- made with mixed berries
12:30 Kale Soup
  4:30 SP Complete Shake- made with frozen pineapple
  6:30 Spaghetti Squash with garlic and oil

'Ho Humm Day 4

Today we again woke from a good full nights sleep and before our alarms! (haven't decided if this is a good thing or not -definitely love our sleep) We had an early morning walk and have average energy. We accomplished a lot of tasks before 11am! That part was a great thing! The not great part is craving food you can't have and that is making one of us is a little grouchy.

Today We Had:
  8:30 Apples & nectarines
11:30 SP Complete Shake made with Blueberries and Strawberries
12:00 Spinach & beet salad for lunch.
  5:30 Vegetable soup for dinner.
  7:00 SP Complete Shake Made with Frozen Mixed Berries

As always we snack on veggies and drink enough water to fill a pool.

Over the Hump - Day 3

We are back both on the same page today.  Lots of energy & enthusiasm.  Feeling really good!
It is possible dare we say that we may be carrying less weight around but refuse the scale for now at least. Slept great and woke up with no issue to want to lay around for a few more minutes.

Today we are
roasting our own red peppers for spinach salad & having peas n onions for lunch
dinner is roasted eggplant peppers zucchini beets & sweet potato
we did blueberry banana & orange strawberry in our shakes

feeling much better but still would love some peanut butter :-)