The Fast Metabolism Diet

Hey all,

I am currently on the Fast Metabolism Diet and loving it. My favorite part about it is that it’s all real food. There aren’t any shakes or meals that you have to buy for it. The Fast Metabolism Diet is written by Haylie Pomroy.

I like the way she wrote the book because she gets into the science of why and how food works with your body to either store or burn. To be honest, when I first read the title of the book I cringed a little because it screams fad diet but upon further reading my mind was eased. I realized that the book is full of useful information. Diet books usually make me batty because of all I have learned from getting my  degree in nutrition.

The diet is set up into a 28 day program. There are 3 phases over the course of each week.

• Monday & Tuesday: Lots of whole grains, fruit and moderate amounts of low in fat protein
• Wednesday & Thursday: Lots of low glycemic vegetables and low in fat protein
• Friday, Saturday, & Sunday: My favorite! You finally get to eat food with healthy fat like nuts, olive oil, hummus, tahini, nut butters and others. Also moderate amounts of whole grains, low glycemic fruits like berries and others, and moderate amounts of protein like chicken thighs and such.

So what does a typical day in each phase look like for me? 

Phase 1: Breakfast– 1 cup steal cut oats with 1 cup of fruit. Usually blue berries or raspberries.  Snack– 1 cup of fruit (maybe frozen pineapple or a pear or whatever fruit I feel like)  Lunch– 1 cup of brown rice pasta with a meat and veggie chili, and a cup of fruit    Snack – An orange or apple or cup of fruit that I’m in the mood for  Dinner– Sweet Potato and Chicken stew with a bit of quinoa in it. (Dinner usually has a cup of whole grains with it but the sweet potatoes are starchy so the quinoa gets reduced a bit)

Phase 2: Breakfast– 4 oz turkey bacon with a sliced up cucumber and pepper                   Snack– 2 oz rolled nitrate/nitrite free deli turkey  Lunch– Chicken breast over a large salad with artichokes, peppers, and broccoli Snack– stuffed mushroom with lean ground beef, onions, and kale. Dinner- Lazy man stuffed peppers with ground turkey, onions, peppers, green beans and spinach

Phase 3: Breakfast– 1 slice Sprouted grain toast with 2 tbs cashew butter (dip celery in the extra cashew butter) 1 cup defrosted blueberries or raspberries on top of toast and 1 cup frozen green beans defrosted Snack– 1/3 cup hummus with carrots/ veggies Lunch- Plain almond milk yogurt (no sugar added) with 1 cup raspberries, at least 1 cup roasted eggplant/ peppers/onions, and 4oz roasted chicken thigh. Snack- 1/4 cup cashews Dinner– 4-6oz steak with roasted butternut squash and other veggies. Optional 1/2 cup of brown rice or farro

What are the “No Foods”?

• Dairy
• Soy
• Wheat that hasn’t been sprouted and is a GMO product
• Any type of added sugar: that means white sugar, coconut sugar, honey, molasses, ect.
• White rice, white pasta and  any other refined grains.

What are the “Yes Foods”?

• Real food!
• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Tons of water
• Chicken, beef, lamb, pork, turkey and so much more.
• Spices
• Herbs
• Stevia & xylitol
• and so much more! You’ll have to read the book or browse her website to find out more.

One week worth of food shopping on the Fast Metabolism Diet.

How do I feel on the diet?

For me personally,it’s great because I love to see visible results and you definitely do with this program. This is my second time around on it and during this round I have lost about 5 pounds in 2 weeks (last round was back in October/November). Most people who have more to lose usually lose even more. For example, a woman I take an exercise class with lost 7 pounds in the first week of the program.

Being on this diet makes me feel great because I am eating so many vegetables and fruit and drinking enough water for my body. The surge of nutrients I get from all of the produce really helps me feel good. My biggest struggle with the diet is on phase 2 when  it’s pretty low carb. I sometimes just want a piece of fruit so much, so if I weight train on both of those days I will give my self a piece of fruit like raspberries or a 1/2 cup of oatmeal (technically not supposed to) and that helps my icky low carb feeling. Also, on those two days I try to load up the veggies as much as possible and have a bit more protein.

I feel good in my body because I’m not bloated or have that “fluffy” feeling. My abs start to peek out and my other muscles start to pop too. The reason I’m doing this diet is  to see the definition that I know I have and this will help uncover it.

For some it can feel restrictive but I don’t usually eat dairy/gluten free on a regular basis anyways so that makes this diet that much easier for me.

Pros/Cons

Pros: I feel great and love seeing the proof that it’s almost all about what you eat in being able to change your body. I love feeling organized for the week and having all of my meals planned out

Cons: Some may not like all of the meal prep involved with the program. It definitely can take up a Sunday afternoon, but I love to cook so I don’t mind it. And once you’ve prepped it isn’t so bad the next week if you have put some portions in the freezer.

Now what?

After reading this, if you’re interested in the diet and trying it out I recommend buying the book and cook book that goes along with it. There are plenty of recipes to keep your taste buds satisfied. One of my recent fave recipes from the cook book is for Phase 1 called Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew.

There are probably a few details that I left out but this sums it up in a nutshell.

Another year long hiatus

Hey!

So I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I’ve posted anything. So much has happened in this past year. I started a new job as a nutrition educator, started my Master’s in Public Health degree, went on an amazing trip to the Canadian Rockies, and have been wedding planning here and there too.

I want to start posting more regularly and use this as a creative outlet for me because I need a hobby that doesn’t involve just reading things on the Internet that do not stimulate my mind. I know blogging is part of social media but I like that you can make it what you want and you have control over it.

So, I will start posting more often about my day to day life, along with our hiking adventures throughout New England and beyond.

Some Fun Recent Life Adventures

• We just booked our honeymoon! We are going to Switzerland and Austria for 15 days. We will spend 4 nights in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland; 2 nights in Lugano, Switzerland; 4 nights in Kitzbuhel, Austria; and 4 nights in Seefeld, Austria. We are SO excited!
• I just started my first class in my MPH program. It’s Health Policy and Management. I surprisingly like it more than I thought I would. The teacher is great and she designed the class to benefit all types of learners. So even though I struggled on the one exam we had, I will still do very well in the class.
• My job as a nutrition educator has been very rewarding. I started off teaching nutrition lessons in the schools around Boston but then I transitioned to teaching the Adult Nutrition Education classes. This is really exciting because I can connect with adults and instill them with the knowledge of healthy eating that they can then carry on to their children.
• Wedding planning has been fun so far. I am currently deciding on flowers and center pieces. After my semester is over, I am going to do a mock run of center pieces and bouquets to see what I like, and I want to see if real flowers will be easy enough to work with for bouquets or if I should DIY fake flowers.

Here’s a picture of a rainbow I noticed on Friday before we went hiking in North Conway. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! 🙂 

Hiking the Pemigewasset Loop

Whoa!

Last week Sean and I experienced some of the most physical and mentally challenging 3 days of our life. We hiked the Pemi Loop trail for the first time. We hiked 32 miles over the course of three days over very difficult terrain. We summited 9 of the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire. It was such an incredible and rewarding experience to see what you can push yourself to do. The feeling that came over me through out the trip was truly incredible. During this trip, Sean and I really helped each other make it through. At least, I know that if it wasn’t for Sean I wouldn’t have been able to finish. We were at a point on the trail where we had climb up an almost straight up rock wall with small ledges to step up onto (it also had a small stream coming down it) and I started to get really nervous as I was heading up. Sean knew I was starting to struggle and snapped me out of the start of a mini panic attack which I wouldn’t have done without him. He was my rock/ is my rock in life and I feel so lucky to have that.

The beginning and end of the trail!

Sean on Bond Cliff

Being above tree line in the clouds was such an eerie but cool feeling. You felt like you were in a movie or something.

Sean and I on top of one of the Bonds

Our tent set up at Gouyot shelter/ tent sites.

The view from the top of Garfield and a view of the mountains we had left to climb that day.

The view from the Franconia Ridge at night because we underestimated the amount of time it would take us on the second day of hiking.

On top of our last 4,000 footer of the hike and only 4 miles left to go!

Our three day itinerary:

Day One: Lincoln Woods parking lot to Gouyot Shelter

Day Two: Gouyot to Liberty Springs Tent Site

Day Three: Liberty Springs to Lincoln Woods parking lot

This trip was definitely one of the best adventures I have had in my life. It was so much fun and truly amazing to realize what I am capable of pushing myself to do. I can’t wait for the next one!

Have a great rest of the week

In memory of a fallen soldier, Superman/ Staff Sgt. Joan Duran

Hey all,

On this day in 2007 I received terrible news about my best friend’s boyfriend who had been killed in Iraq. I honestly can not believe it has been eight years, it feel like it was yesterday. I was babysitting my cousin Casey at the time when my mom called to tell me the news. My heart instantly broke for the pain I knew Andrea was feeling. All I wanted to do was be there for her. That was one of the hardest times in my life because there wasn’t anything that I could say or do to make her feel better. He was such a special person and who ever met him instantly liked him.

He was one of the most sweet and caring people you could imagine. He loved life and everyone around him. He always made you feel special by giving you nick names and always remembering your birthday by sending you a birthday card and writing the most heart felt messages. He once gave my mom a special coin/token and she still has it to this day I believe. His nick name for Andrea was “Tinkerbell”. He used to call me “the little one” because I was Andrea’s best friend and I was younger than her and honestly I don’t know what the other reasons were but it made me feel special. His nick name Superman and he definitely stood up to that name.  I know that if I ever need protecting he will always be there in spirit. http://legacy.com/Soldier/bostonglobe/Story.aspx?PersonID=92623813

I learned a lot from this event in my life. I learned that everybody grieves in a different way, for Andrea it meant distancing herself from me because it was too painful to be reminded of him because so many memories we had, had to do with Joan. We would visit his family in Roxbury on Friday nights, blast Spanish songs while driving around town(not having a clue what they translated to), make care packages for him, make calendars, and so many other things. But after a couple years we rekindled our friendship because I knew in my heart Andrea would come back around. We always stayed in touch through out the couple of years we didn’t see each other so it’s not like we had “ended” our friendship. I have realized that this event made our friendship stronger because we both went through pain together. And now to this day we are closer than ever before. To the point where she will be my Maid of Honor in my wedding. I know Joan is smiling down on us and so happy that we are still friends and at the level of friendship that we are. Nobody quite understands just what kind of a special bond Andrea and I share as friends but I know I wouldn’t trade the world for what we had to go through. It just shows that anything can be thrown at us and you won’t be able to break our friendship. I love you girl and I love you Joan.

Side note: Andrea has moved on and accepted everything that has happened in her life and realized that everything happens for a reason. She is currently in a relationship with a wonderful guy and has been for the past several years and plans to be with him for many more years to come. So now she can look back on the happy times and smile knowing that Joan is looking down on her smiling too. She has grown up so much and is now running her own hair dressing business.

Flowers and friends

Hey!

This past Saturday we had my best friend Andrea (also Sean’s cousin) and her boyfriend Gabby (short for Gabriel) over for a bonfire. It really is amazing how much fun sitting around a fire can be. We got in touch with our inner child and played with sparklers and had a few drinks and had a blast just talking and hanging out. I love nights like those.

Sean being a goof with a sparkler.

Then today I was in the mood to play with flowers, so I went to the florist and bought three bunches of coral, orange, and light pink roses. They were only $10 a bunch and it was a buy 2 get 1 free deal. So I was excited to get to work when I got them home. I ended up making three arrangements with them, using mason jars as the vase. They turned out so pretty 🙂

Have a great week!

Kelly

New Hampshire Adventures!

Hey!

So the past month or so has been so busy. We have been trying to get away as much as possible to New Hampshire so we can relax. I’ll keep the words for this post short and just post all of my recent pictures.

One day we decided to rent this all terrain vehicle for a few hours up in Gorham, New Hampshire. They have a ton of trails that you can spend hours on exploring. This was a blast and something neither of us had done so it was even more fun.

A spot we stopped at for a quick break while on the trails with the all terrain vehicle.

Cascade Falls near the beginning of the ATV trails

This past Monday we did an almost 12 mile hike. This was near the beginning of the Hale Brook trail that goes to the top of Mt. Hale.

Us with the stream in background 🙂

From the top of Mt. Hale we took a trail that connects to Zealand Falls, then we hiked up to Zeacliff, which is where this was taken. It was a steep mile up to the cliff from the falls but this view was sooo worth it.

More views from the cliff

Panorama off Zeacliff

More cliff views

The last cliff view

On the Tuesday we did a hike up to one of the Sugarloaf peaks, we chose the shorter one. It was beautiful though. Except on the way up I was super cranky because I hadn’t eaten breakfast after an almost 12 mile hike the before. I think Sean wanted to push me down the mountain half way up I was being so cranky. Whoops. I learned my lesson to always eat something!!!

Sugarloaf

The last Sugarloaf view

I hope you enjoyed the pictures from our summer adventures so far. Have a good night 🙂

Exploring the White Mountains

Hey!

There is nothing better than getting a nice hike in before 12 in the afternoon. Last week Sean and I did a little bit of hiking to help prepare us to hike Mt. Lafayette in the White Mountains. We are planning on hiking it next week. It will be exciting because it will be my first time hiking such a large mountain. The mountain has a nine mile loop trail that we will be doing but the mountain itself has several options depending on how you want to tackle it. The summit is 5,249 ft above sea level. Mt Lafayette is one of the more popular mountains to hike in New Hampshire.

So in preparation we did a couple shorter hikes to get us in the swing of things. Well mostly for me because I am not the most graceful when it comes to even walking so I need all the practice I can get. The first hike we did was Zealand Falls. This was a beautiful hike that was almost 6 miles round trip but it was a very steady incline so it was pretty easy. The trail was beautiful with a lot of variety. We walked along a river, through a bridged pond with bull frogs greeting you with their croaking, and up through the woods to the falls, and then it opens up at the top of the falls to see the surrounding mountains.

Zealand Falls. This is before you get to the top but this is the main waterfall

I love these flowers called Pink lady slipper

A view from one of the wooden bridges that are built above this pond/wet land area

A beautiful butterfly that let me get up close and personal to take a picture

The view from the top of the falls

More of the falls behind us. It was such a beautiful hike.

View from the bench at the hut/top of the falls. Ps. They sell the most amazing chocolate chip cookies. We got one freshly baked out of the oven still warm and melty.

Our next hike later that week was Indian Head/ Mount Pemigewasset. This hike was a nice change from Zealand because it was steeper but shorter so it averaged out to about the same amount of time to do the hike. My grace managed to drop me in one of the small streams you have to cross along the path but luckily I dried off pretty quickly. The hike up was worth the view from the top. I love the reward of hiking and the magnificent views you get to experience. Even if you’re all clouded in at the top it’s still awesome because it’s the journey that matters the most.

You can see the town of Lincoln/Woodstock down below

Another view from the ledge. Nature is so cool, I love how there are little trees growing out of solid rock. So neat.

Another beautiful view from the ledge.

Well now I’m off to relax. Enjoy th rest of your week!

My little herb garden

Life is so simple when I can spend the morning in the garden. This morning I spent a little bit of time weeding around my herbs and just loved it. I also planted two habanero plants and a cayenne pepper plant. Our plan is to make hot sauce with the peppers we get. My herbs are just exploding right now. I planted six little cilantro plants back in the middle of May and the cilantro is EXPLODING. I have already cut it back twice and froze the harvest. It’s just so much fun.

My garden consists of Italian Basil, Lemon basil, Thai basil, flat leaf parsley, curly parsley, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, and lavender. So far I have made a yummy garlic bread with and herb butter on it that had parsley, oregano, basil, and a touch of rosemary and of course garlic. It was so delicious with the fresh herbs! The pictures below are what I have planted and some of the other plants/herbs around the yard. I thought they were beautiful so I wanted to take some pictures.

Lemon Basil. It has a very nice lemony fragrance to it. It would be great in a salad dressing or pasta salad.

The curly parsley is on the left and the cilantro is on the right. You can tell the cilantro is growing like wildfire!

My Italian basil.

The rosemary is in the top left corner, oregano is the top right and the thyme is the bottom middle.

My lavender plant 🙂

My flat leaf parsley that needs a little bit of picking.

Some nice mint on the other side of the house that is back again without fail. Mint is extremely difficult to mess up and kill if you don’t have a green thumb. I do want to say it can be invasive so plant it somewhere you don’t mind it taking over.

A pretty morning glory. I love how the one in the background is poking through the fence.

Some more mint and a chive blossom. Chives also like to pop up all over the yard if you’re not careful.

Some green blueberries just waiting to ripen.

I forget what these are called but I love the unique look of them.

A beautiful peony that was almost touching the ground but still attached to the plant.

I loveee these heart shaped flowers. They are just so dainty.

Buttercups just make me smile. It reminds me of when I was younger and my mom said that if it shined under your chin it means you liked butter. 🙂

These are another flower that just make me smile.

I hope you all enjoyed my little garden feature today 🙂

Exploring Vegas!

Heyy!

Wow, so what a trip we had. It definitely didn’t go as planned but was still just as fun even if it was more relaxed.

Let’s first start with our first night there:

We hung out by the pool for a bit and made friends with a couple from Australia. They were great and we all decided to go out for the night together. We all went zip lining down Fremont Street which was awesome! Zip lining above the crowd was such a thrill! Then we went to a microbrewery on Fremont. The brewery didn’t serve food so the boys were able to go get us the best 2$ tacos I’ve ever had. They tasted so fresh and flavourful. So if you see 2$ tacos in downtown Vegas on Fremont don’t ignore it, they are delicious!

Fremont street, This is one of the starting points for zip lining.

Then the next day consisted of resting all day with Sean because the poor guy came down with a nasty bug later to be diagnosed (when we got home he was still super sick) as pneumonia. So that night we treated ourselves to room service and just enjoyed our time together. The next couple days just consisted of hanging out by the pool at our hotel the Golden Nugget. I really liked it there, it was big enough to not have to leave the hotel if you needed something but small enough to not get lost in like you can in the hotels on the strip.

The Golden Nugget pool area

This pool was cool because it also had a water slide that went through a shark tank. The slide was fast, it was surprising how much speed you actually picked up by the end. When Friday came along we hit Mandalay Bay on the Strip to see Sublime with Rome. But before the show, we adventured to the High Roller which is a giant ferris wheel type of thing. We were able to see beautiful views of the strip and the surrounding desert mountains.

The view from the top of the High Roller (a giant ferris wheel)

Then after the ride we hiked it up to Mandalay Bay to see the concert. One thing I have to say is that Vegas requires a lot of walking if you don’t want to pay for cabs every time you want to go somewhere. Then, we grabbed dinner with Sean’s cousin and his cousin’s wife at the restaurant by the pool before the concert. The show was awesome!

We saw Sublime with Rome at Mandalay Bay

 

The next few days of the trip we went to the Punk Rock Bowling Music Festival which was quite the interesting experience  but was a blast none the less. Sean was able to see one of his favorite bands Turbonegro. They are a Norwegian death punk band that has quite the following around Europe and around the US. Some fans even flew in from Europe to see them in Vegas.

Over all Vegas was an awesome experience but next time I would not go back on a weekend or on one of the busiest three day weekends of the year for any vacation destination. I also realized I am not a fan of crowds and get a mini panic attack on the inside with soooo many people around me. Well that’s all I have for today. Have great week!

Kelly 🙂

 

A quick Vegas Teaser

Heyy! 

So I’m sitting poolside in Vegas. Vegas has definitely been interesting so far. We are staying down town on Fremont street where there are lots of crazy people and street performers. One of the things we have done so far is go to the Mob Museum. The museum was interesting and fun. One of the first things you can do there is get your mug shot taken. Then there are all of the exhibits/info/ pictures that have little blurbs on them. They also had the original wall from The St. Valentine’s Day massacre. Then in the original court room where they had had hearings years ago for trying to take down the mob, they showed a movie all about the process they went through. It was cool to feel the energy from years ago in the court room while watching a video all about it. I wish I took more pictures in the museum but I’m the type of person who likes to just soak it all in instead of taking hundreds of pictures. That’s it for now, when I get home I’ll do a full post all about my trip. 🙂

  

 Have a great Sunday! 

Kelly 🙂