“Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.”
― Sophia Loren

Happy St Patty’s day, eat your greens.  I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and my Italian father had a restaurant in  the downtown. My memories of St. Patty’s Day was watching the parade from the front windows, all while stuffing little green petit fours in my mouth. Eating and food was celebration in my childhood household. 

As a child growing up with an Italian father, and with a Mother who learned to cook like she was born in Napoli, I can say I can totally relate to Sophia Loren’s words about spaghetti. To this day, it is the one food I cannot control portions over, so I choose to just eat it on rare and special occasions. When I began my weight loss blog I tried to portion spaghetti, and on one occasion  my hubby James caught me with my face deep in the pot of spaghetti  at 3am. Pasta seems to rule my willpower with an iron wooden spoon.

I found out what works for my body. When I don’t eat gluten, my skin looks radiant and I drop the pounds with much more ease than when I try to portion out processed foods. For me eating clean is a lifestyle, but I am not above occasional cheat days and splurges, well until now.

I announced a week ago that this week begins my ten month countdown to my 50th Birthday on December 21st. I decided since my blog is called My Change For A Ten  and I helped charities per every ten pounds lost, that I would do the same but change the format for the next months. I dropped my initial 50 lbs, and then the weight slowed. Now I am taking a different route to the same destination. Ten months, ten charities, no cheat days, workout, running and yoga. The point is I want to arrive confident and strong to my 50th Birthday. I want to be the best me inside and out.

So, with that said this is a quick primer on what I am doing. 

My food will consist of non processed, clean real food. No cheat days. I have been asked what I consider a cheat day. So this is what I will be eating, and if it is not there I will not consume it for ten months. Yes, this is a challenge, and my husband James is already looking ahead to Fourth of July and Thanksgiving and telling me I have to cheat on those dates.

The bulk of what I eat will be eating is plant based,  as much produce as I like, fresh or frozen.Occasional fresh juices and coconut water.  Lean proteins, fish, chicken, and occasional red meat. No processed meats. As for Dairy I will include milk, Greek yogurt and cottage cheese on occasion as well as occasional eggs. Nuts, seeds, nut butters, dried fruits. Olive oil, sesame oil, coconut oils. Occasional baked potato, sweet potato, and Ezekiel sprouted bread. Coffee and dark chocolate, within portion control, are my treats. I will still allow my protein bars because I just cannot give those up. Basically my plan is almost grain free, if I ever feel weak I will eat the occasional bowl of steel cut oats. I drink water all day long. I am taking some supplements, all natural and I will talk about those in a future post.

My plan will be low salt and sodium, and I will make my own dressings. Low sugar except for a teaspoon in my coffee every am since I cannot have the fake stuff and I am not giving that up.  The dark chocolate I buy is 85% dark chocolate. Above are some photos of my meals I ate this week.

I will be posting about the fitness, running, yoga and charities I have planned in a future post. I also plan to start doing YouTube videos talking about my weight loss and fitness goals. Today my weight was 169 lbs. I am up from lbs which was my lowest weight I achieved on this blog and journey of mine. I have not yet decided, but I may put the scale away until I reach my 50th Birthday on December 21st. I am ready for my challenge and today is day four and I feel like I am going to be fabulous at 50. I want to look like Sophia Loren when I am her age, but this Italian girl will get there without spaghetti. 

Happy St Patty’s Day, eat your greens.

Namaste

Rose