the living room of ideas....

so i'm taking on a new project at some point in the near-ish future! i'm going to be helping design and decorate my parents house!!! i'm super pumped about it. i love doing this kind of stuff but never find the funds to make my house perfect. i'm excited to use my creative abilities to make their house shine!

one of the things i love most is messing around with colour. i am never afraid to put a bright colour in a room...my bedroom is very blue and my kitchen is super green. love them both!

here are a couple of inspriations i'm having for my parents' living room right now...

i'm thinking super steel grey walls as the room is bright, full of windows, tall vaulted ceilings, and plenty of natural light.

black, red, white, and grey throw pillows...i want lots of texture, a major statement, and something comfortable and practical. throw pillows are a great way to break up the harsh look of a solid black leather piece of furniture.

the room right now is huge and all the furniture is spread out. i would love to bring it all together and make it into a cozy feeling room. something full of character, warmth, and a geniune family feeling room. i would love to add in a nice area rug, a coffee table or storage ottoman, and maximize the use of their gorgeous fireplace mantle!

time to find find some good bargains...

we made it our first week!

other than my cheater, cheater, ice cream cake eater blog...i have successfully completed my first week of dieting! today was day 7 and my eating is complete. how great!

i feel fantastic. i feel like a million bucks in comparison to how my body was feeling 2 weeks ago. my stomach is flatter, my legs are slimmer, my collarbone is defined...all great things. and while i probably haven't lost a lot of fat weight, i sure have lost a lot of water weight. as of friday i was down 8 pounds. not bad for only being day 5.

i don't own a scale but will weigh in tomorrow on the scale i normally use. i'm actually pretty excited.

tonight we enjoyed some delicious, flavourful, healthy chili. my house typically sticks to the chicken, starch, and vegetable dinners so this was a lovely change. especially after a full week of feeling like i've eaten a lot of the same things.

my great friend makes a dynamite chicken tortilla soup that we're going to be having for dinner tomorrow. thankfully she posted the recipe on her blog! this soup is to die for...it's got the perfect amount of spice, the perfect amount of flavours, the perfect amount of textures. it's delicious. and it's healthy!

how is everyone else doing on their diets? how about the other resolutions you made this year?

hope you all had a fabulous weekend! they go so fast, don't they?

low-fat, low-carb, low-sodium turkey chili

tonight we're having turkey chili and it tastes fantastic! while strolling the grocery store with my bundled up little man, i walked up and down the health food aisle and stumbled across organic tomato sauce and organic crushed tomatoes...i checked out the ingredients and they're PERFECT for the 17 day diet!

here's the recipe for my fellow dieters...

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 stick of celery, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pack of ground turkey breast
  
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp crushed chili flakes (don't use these if you'll be sharing with the kids as they do add spice as the chili simmers)
  
• 1 can or organic crushed tomatoes
• 1 can of organic tomato sauce, no salt added
• 1 can of black beans (if you're sharing with a non-dieter of course, or if you're in cycle 2 or 3 of the 17 day diet)

heat oil in a large soup pot. add onion, celery, chopped pepper and garlic. cook for 5 minutes or until onions are translucent. add the turkey into the pan, breaking it apart with a spoon. cook for about 5 minutes or until no longer pink. stir in chili powder, cumin, coriander, chili flakes and oregano. add in tomatoes and tomato sauce, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. add beans (optional), mix well and cook on low heat for a further 5-10 minute. feel free to add a dollop of fat-free sour cream or yogurt on top, plus some fresh chopped cilantro if you have it...or are allowed it :)

day six...so much easier!

so after my huge major cheat on the evening of day five, i went home feeling ill. not because i had cheated, but because i really felt ill! i felt like i had eaten mcdonald's for days and needed some nutrition back. it's amazing how my body reacted to it...opens my eyes to realize that maybe carbs and junk really aren't friendly to my body! tragic...

actually, i woke up eager to diet again...something i rarely ever feel!!

day six started off just like every other day. i got up, drank my water, ate my yogurt and grapefruit and hung out with my baby. kingston is now in love with yogurt and grapefruits. we cleaned up our breaky and got ready for the day. baby was dressed in all new gear that santa left for him and he looked like a little man. new jeans, new dress shirt, new shoes. i LOVE this kid!

kingston went down for a nap and i left him with daddy so i could go get my hair done! i went with something similar to what i had before but super funky. my peek-a-boo streaks are so much more dramatic. they definitely need another session to get to the platinum colour i wanted, but they look awesome. i'm excited to style my hair myself so i see how they all look. the haircut is super layered, nice bang, and still long. love it!

so lunch was skipped (bad, i know...) as i just didn't have the time. we went to our friends for dinner and had delicious taco salads! i splurged a little bit and added a little cheese and avocado to my salad. i'm sure there are worse things i could splurge on!

i've had a couple people ask where i got my book from for this amazing diet...we ordered them online from www.17daydiet.com and i think the money spent was no doubt worth it. the doctor gives some really great facts on foods that i never ever knew, or would have thought were the truth! for example...diet pop - the sweetners in the pop actually tell your brain that you're going to consume a lot of calories...when you don't, you're left hungry! very interesting.

if anyone else would like to join our challenge, please feel free to email me at candacemartyn@hotmail.com as we would love to keep encouraging other people to lose weight and get healthy!

happy sunday everyone...

cheater, cheater, ice cream cake eater...

so today was day five of my first portion of the 17-day diet. and i totally blew it. i was a star all day...ate my yogurt, grapefruit, and apple for breakfast. had a not-so-good salad for lunch from subway (met my lovely husband for lunch), and had delicious chicken, salad, and roasted vegetables for dinner.

it was my super amazing mother-in-law's birthday yesterday and we were out there to celebrate with her tonight. i told my husband before we went that i was going to eat some ice cream cake...and i didn't lie. i ate a delicious, extremely tasty piece of chocolate and vanilla ice cream cake. it was delicious!

that's where the "good stuff" ends. no more than 5 minutes after i ate the cake i could feel my poor stomach saying "why? why? why?" and now i realize what the heck sugar and garbage does to my body. i knew i was going to eat the cake, but i didn't know i was going to feel so crappy. so...for those of you following my blog for the diet portion only - do not waste your time eating garbage as a "treat"...it doesn't feel so good after.

on a good note though, i'm down about 8 pounds!!!! only 10 more to go!!!

tomorrow will be a new day and i am so excited to be back on track. i had a few stressful, upsetting, and disappointing days so i just wanted to relax and enjoy my evening with my in-laws. it was fantastic!

with that said, it's been a very tiring long week so this mama is hitting the hay. it's hair day tomorrow!

day four!

okay today was so much better then yesterday!! i didn't feel like i was ill at all...i actually felt energized, alive, confident, and ready to take on the day. what an amazing feeling to have no garbage in my system. my skin looks better, my hair is shiny, and i have so much natural energy. for those of you that are behind me on this diet, keep on going...it gets so much better! i actually have surprised myself with the willpower i've had.

i haven't had coffee all week and i actually feel ok in the mornings. i have substituted my coffee for green tea as the book recommends and it is doing the trick. i don't think the green tea has quite as much caffeine as my coffee does, but it's a nice warm drink in the morning and it helps!

i started the day off with something different this time. normally i wake up and drink my glass of water right away...as the book tells us to do. then i sit down and start to eat my breakfast. today, before my breakfast i decided to try the 17-minute-workout dvd that we ordered with our books. wow...i got my arse handed to me! not only did i realize how out of shape i am, but i also realized that there's a whole lotta muscles that i don't use very often!

i am so happy i've made it this far. i stepped on the scale this morning and i'm down 7 or 8 lbs. i guess it's hard to know because you have to weigh yourself at the exact same time each day...something i've not been able to do. either way, i'm down and that's what matters.

what's great about this diet is that i feel i use my energy during the day and don't snack at night...so when bedtime hits, i can sleep. everyone that knows me knows that i don't sleep well...so this is huge for me. with that said...tomorrow's another day.

goodnight to all my readers! day 5 is tomorrow!

day three of the 17 day diet

on day three (yesterday) i woke up and felt nauseas and sick all morning. it finally subsided around 11:30am but PHEW...i almost had to sit down in the shower i thought i was going to pass out. is this really how drug addicts feel when they're going through withdrawl? i knew i loved my sweets and junk before, but did i really have THAT bad of a diet that when i cut out the junk my body panics?

like i've said before, i've never dieted. i have made attempts to eat healthy foods when i ate, but i always enjoyed my treats here and there. this time, i'm not letting myself do it...unless you count the odd couple cheerios i've sheepishly stolen here and there.

i'm hoping once my cold subsides that this gets easier.

i enjoyed a couple new foods today which was great to branch out my diet. for lunch i had steamed halibut with a plate full of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. at dinner time we enjoyed chicken marinated in lemon juice, dill, and black pepper served with plenty of asparagus and bell peppers. both meals were delicious!

today i need to get my creativity up again and figure out what we're having for dinner. i need to do that before dinner arrives or i'm left with an attention grabbing baby at my feet while trying to cook dinner with no end goal.

i'm thinking tonight we'll have turkey burgers...no bun of course :)

two down, fifteen to go!

as i blogged earlier, i had a delicious breakfast...quite early as i couldn't sleep last night. i sipped my tea, ate my grapefruit and yogurt, sat down to blog and BAM i got hit with what i thought was a wicked flu bug. i was hot, then cold, woozy, headachy, dizzy, and extremely nauseas! how could this happen? how does someone who is eating healthy foods, exercising, and taking additional vitamins get sick? isn't the opposite supposed to happen?

i talked with my sister and bracken who also said they were feeling the same way. lisa nearly asked her fiance to pull the truck over on the way to the grocery store and bracken nearly toppled over at home. so clearly not a coincidence. could my diet really have been THAT bad that i was having withdrawl symptoms? i am attributing all the flu symptoms to the major detox happening in my body right now.

i made the most delicious chicken souvlaki for lunch and dinner today. hard to believe that was "diet food"... although we have so many treats at home today, i couldn't resist stealing two of kingston's apple cinnamon cheerios. is this what i've become? stealing teeny amounts of snacks from my baby? either way, they were delicious, they cut the crave that i was getting, and two small cheerios is a heck of a lot better than the huge bowl i was dreaming about...

for those wondering about results...i weighed myself today and i was down to 135lbs this afternoon! holy smokes, that's a huge difference. since the holidays i have dropped 5lbs! this crazy diet actually works!

grapefruit goodness

i sit here this morning with a warm cup of green tea, a cup of yogurt, and half a grapefruit. every bite is absolutely delicious. the grapefruit is so incredibly juicy and full of flavour! my mom used to always have grapefruits in the fridge when we were kids and since i moved out i never think of buying grapefruits. this diet has reminded me how delicious they really are! the baby is still sleeping and i'm contemplating different ideas for my lunch and dinner.

i've sort of fallen into a bit of a housewife rut. before kingston was born i used to get creative with our meals. they were always well balanced, healthy, flavourful. now i am usually tired by dinner time as i've been dealing with 3 kids all afternoon and dinner seems so far from where i want to focus my thoughts that we usually end up eating whatever we scrounge up from the freezer.

this diet is pushing my creative limits with my meals. it is hard for me to just whip something out of my brain for food when the ingredients are so limited. i have fresh chicken breasts in the fridge and plenty of vegetables. while i am super excited to get healthy i am also looking forward to re-introducing more foods to my palate.

i can definitely do without a good chunk of the carbs out there....but one thing i do miss is a big huge bowl of cereal! watching my husband take every bite of his cheerios this morning made me wish i could have just one bite...just one! i would only be cheating myself at that point so i must continue.

i've never been a dieter so i hope that this gets easier with time...

grocery shopping - check!

we spent the morning shopping at a few of the local stores here and got some great food for my big kick into healthy living! i got chicken breasts, turkey breast, vegetables, probiotic yogurt, fish oil supplements, green tea...ahh...such healthy colourful things to fill my fridge and cupboards.

i made a delicious chicken stirfry for lunch. i used a tablespoon of olive oil, garlic, and black pepper for seasoning and added in my chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, orange peppers, and asparagus in. it was delicious! i also ate a cup of yogurt and half a grapefruit. seriously, this is better food than i ate when i wasn't on a diet!

don't get me wrong...i love carbs, i would have loved to have had my stirfry on a bed of delicious rice...but i didn't do it and i feel great.

for dinner i'm planning on making a turkey taco salad...ground turkey breast seasoned with pepper and olive oil, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, and onions....i can't wait.

for more info on the diet we're doing check out the website: http://17daydiet.com you can order the book and workout dvd online.

on another note...my baby can clap!!! he's so cute when he claps. it's obviously uncoordinated and makes no real clapping noise, but he mimics me clapping and he knows he's doing it! so unbelievable cute! i love this kid!

diet day one...not a great start

so today is d-day. big diet starts today. i'm actually really excited this round because i'm challenging my friend and my sister to do the same thing. it's going to work...we will not fail!

the way this diet works is in 17 day cycles. in each round there are 4 cycles...each cycle does something different for your body and your metabolism. this cycle we're basically doing a major cleanse of our systems. this 17-day portion is all about high-protein, high-cleansing vegetables, and low-carbs.

so...we'll be hungry....right?

no...that's the best part. the lean proteins and cleansing vegetables can be eaten in unlimited quantities! not being hungry will make this diet so much easier. actually, this isn't even necessarily really a diet...it's the foods that we're supposed to eat and cutting out all the sugary processed junk that currently stocks our pantries.

sweets are definitely going to be tough for me as i have a wicked sweet tooth! i love candies, baking, juices, soda...ahhh...but the end result will be so worth it.

i don't own a scale (probably should buy one), but i will weigh myself tomorrow. last week i weighed in at 140 lbs so we shall use that number as my starting point. my goal is to get down to 120-125 lbs, so lose a good 15 or 20 pounds. i've done pretty well since having kingston but i still have work to do to get myself back to a comfortable zone.

why is day one not a good start? well i still haven't done my grocery shopping and i'm getting sick. what a bad time. but all this healthy foods, plenty of water, vitamins, and nutrition should help me out!

for anyone that's interested, here is a brief overview of the "rules" for the first 17 day portion of this step into a healthier life...

1. Eat as much proteins and vegetables as you want.
   
2. If you're going to eat fruit, make sure you eat no fruit after 2:00pm and stick to berries, apples, oranges, and grapefruit as they have the least amount of sugar.
3. Drink at least eight 8oz glasses of water every single day. Drink one every morning as soon as you wake up!
   
4. Coffee is allowed...but a limit of 2 cups per day and obviously avoid the sugars and garbage you put in them.
5. Green Tea is recommended...he recommends 3 cups per day.
6. Consume foods with a probiotic (yogurt is the easiest).
7. Remove skin from chicken or turkey before cooking.
8. You can eat up to 2 eggs per day, but a maximum of 4 yolks per week. Egg whites can be eaten in unlimited quantities.
9. Try to eat only fresh fruits and vegetables and not canned or frozen.
10. Avoid alcohol and sugar.
11. If you don't like fish, take 3 grams of fish oil supplements every day.
    
12. Eat SLOWLY.
13. Get at least 17 minutes of exercise per day.

for someone who follows these rules diligently...the doctor who created this diet claims it is not uncommon to lose 10 to 15 lbs in the first 17 days...and those pounds are mostly toxins, pollutants, and garbage in your system...and all the excess water weight we carry around.

if anyone is interested in more details, send me a message to candacemartyn@hotmail.com and i can forward you more information on the diet!

happy 2011 to all of my readers!
xo

the highlights of my year

welcome 2011! i am so excited to see what this year has in store for me. i always love starting a new year. for some reason i feel motivated. usually my motivation dies fairly quickly but this year i'm going to do my best to keep myself on track to achieve the things i want.

2010 was an amazing year for me....

• i enjoyed a healthy pregnancy which gave me an amazing baby boy. by far the number one highlight of my year. he brings me joy, he makes me feel like i have a purpose, and he is just so stinkin' CUTE!
  
• we traveled to whistler with my family to "remember" nanny. we stayed in a suite and had a blast for one night.
  
• we had a blast in las vegas with my sister and soon-to-be-brother-in-law. we shopped til we dropped, ate great food, enjoyed some sun, gambled a little bit, and just made every second count. we were only there for a few days so we jam packed everything in. we're hoping to go back...maybe even this year!
• mexico was definitely a highlight of our year. how could it not be? we stayed in the mayan riviera and spent a ton of time at the beach. my favourite part was just relaxing on the beach. kingston would nap on the chairs under a cabana, he swam in the ocean and LOVED it. he was so much fun down there. i would love to take my kid(s) back when they are a bit older and can really enjoy it. avery was at a perfect age...she had a great vacation. everything was great except dinners which were notorious for 2 screaming kids who did NOT want to be in an a la carte restaurant :)
  
• we had 2 close friends have babies this year (one just barely made it into the 2010 year!). dylan was born in may and little baby easton was just born this week on december 28th. it's so wonderful to have children that kingston will grow up with.
• this fall has been exceptionally nice for connecting with my siblings. i've loved hanging out with all of them...i missed that a lot the last couple years.
  

starting monday i'm doing a diet challenge with my sister and friend. it's called the 17-day diet and was designed by a doctor. the diet works in 17-day cycles and there are 4 different cycles to complete a round. i'm hoping i can achieve my body goals with just one cycle...but we shall see. no better time to start something like this then right at the beginning of a new year when my motivation is at it's highest. i've never been a diet person, i've never done a cleanse (always wanted to, but didn't know which one to try), i usually end up cheating...but this time i'm doing it with others; something i've never done before. that might not change things, but i'm hoping it will. i'm not too far off from where i'd like to be, but i'm definitely not there yet either. has anyone done a diet challenge before? any tips for "tracking" our progress?

well...i'm going to go read some more in my 17-day diet book...monday is the big day!