Gail's Diet & Exercise on a Budget
If I get to my target weight of 125 pounds, I will make an update video to show off my new figure! Since I’ve started substituting chia, pumpkin and flax seeds in addition to my peanuts, the weight is starting to go down.
UPDATE: I seem to be hitting a plateau at around 130 pounds, but I’m getting slimmer! To determine if I’m making progress, I both weigh myself AND measure myself. My waistline is going down, so I’m making progress, even though the scale says I weigh the same as yesterday. Because I’m such a big exerciser, I think I’ve built up muscle and muscle is more dense than fat. I’m losing inches, but not weight for now.
Here is pretty much what I eat almost every day in no particular order, except for bed time which is pretty much the same every day:
EVERY DAY FOODS (with recipes)
How to Hard Boil an Egg (use vegetarian fed hens or organic, free-range, cage-free versions):
- Place eggs that are at least 5 days old (NOT fresh from the farm!) in a single layer in the bottom of a pot, and fill the pot with water that covers two inches above the eggs.
- Place the pot on the stove and turn the burner to high. You can walk away for a few minutes but make sure you check on it to see when it begins to boil.
- Once the water starts boiling, PUT THE LID ON THE POT (can you tell that’s important?) and take the pot off the stove.
- Set a timer for 10 minutes and let the covered pot of eggs sit. (This is a good time to wash dishes or something)
- When the timer goes off, your eggs should be done. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove eggs from the hot water.
- Place the eggs in a small bowl and place in the sink then run cold water over the eggs. (Don’t skip this step! The steam it creates inside the shell makes it easier to remove the shell later)
I average about 3 to 4 hard boiled eggs a day. I buy Eggland’s Best eggs large size. I throw them in my salad, miso soup, or eat them plain.
SIMMERED CABBAGE AND SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS
8 dried shiitake mushrooms, softened, (reserve soaking liquid)
½ head cabbage
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Simmering Stock:
1 1/4 C reserved liquid from shiitake mushrooms
1/3 C mirin
3 ½ T soy sauce (may want to omit this, if you have yeast allergy)
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Soften shiitake mushrooms in lukewarm water until soft. Cut into quarters. Cut cabbage into 1 ½ in. (4 cm) squares.
In Dutch oven or large pot, heat simmering sauce over moderate heat to boiling. Add shiitake and continue to cook over moderate heat 4-5 minutes.
Add cabbage and continue to cook until cabbage is tender.
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I don’t eat this often. But sometimes I have this. I love my shiitake mushrooms!
SALAD WITH WAKAME SEAWEED & RANCH DRESSING
1 cup dried wakame seaweed (soaked and chopped)
4 to 5 organic carrots (peeled and chopped into squares)
½ chopped tomato (store this in a separate container and add to salad when it’s eaten)
hard boiled egg (chopped)
celery (chopped)
romaine lettuce (broken up into small pieces)
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This is almost every day. I throw in the wakame seaweed depending on my mood. I use Skinny Girl ranch dressing.
Mix all salad ingredients together, except egg and tomato. When salad is to be eaten, add the egg and tomato to salad mix, and top with ranch dressing. I use organic carrots cuz they’re not that expensive and they taste good.
MEATLOAF
1 lb. 93% ground beef
1 onion, minced
2 eggs
2/3 cup oats
4 ounces skim milk (made from Great Value nonfat dry milk or .13 C dry milk plus water)
½ teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat eggs; stir in milk, oats, salt, onion and optional celery. Mix into ground beef. NOTE: Traditional meatloaf has double the salt; we like this recipe as is, but you may season to your own tastes by increasing salt or adding pepper.
Place in 9″ X 9″ pan, leaving 1/2″ empty border (makes it easy to remove any grease later).
Bake uncovered for 30 to 60 minutes at 350 degrees.
Immediately remove any grease standing in the border.
Makes 4 servings of 4 oz. ground beef each.
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This is a regular with me. I have it several times a week. I eat 1 serving a day and refrigerate or freeze the rest for later.
STIR FRIED RICE VERMICELLI
1.5 – 3 oz. rice vermicelli (the less vermicelli you use, the less calories)
7 oz. skinned and boned chicken breast
A Ingredients: ¼ t salt, 2 t sake (rice wine)
3 dried shiitake mushrooms
4 to 6 stalks celery
5¼ oz. cabbage
B ingredients: 1 T sake, 1 t mirin, 1.5 t salt
C ingredients: ½ t sesame oil, dash of pepper
1 tsp. vegetable oil
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Bring a pot of water to a boil and soak rice vermicelli in the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Rinse in cold water.
Cut the rice vermicelli for easy handling. Drain thoroughly.
Marinate chicken pieces in A. Trim stems of mushrooms; slice thinly. Cut cabbage into serving size; cut celery into diagonal slices.
Heat 1 tsp. vegetable oil in wok or 12 in. skillet; add chicken pieces and saute’ until done over high heat.
Add vegetables and stir-fry over high heat; add rice vermicelli and ingredients B and stir-fry until all vegetables are tender.
Add ingredients C just before turning heat off. Toss lightly.
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This is another regular with me. I have it several times a week. I make a batch one day and then refrigerate or freeze the rest for later. One batch of this usually gives me about four servings. I eat about one serving a day.
If I’m short on time, I’ll eat Starkist canned pink salmon, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup a day and that will be my protein meal for the day. I will also eat some eggs that day, too. I find buying fish canned saves me money, cuz fish is a little expensive.
MISO SOUP with EGG
2 tbsp. miso paste
3 cups spring water
soaked and chopped wakame seaweed (about ¾ C dried seaweed)
chopped green onions or leeks (about 2 spring onions)
chopped hard boiled egg
fresh organic flax oil with particulate (if desired)
kale, turnip greens (from frozen) to taste
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Add miso paste to spring water in a stainless steel pot. Heat mixture over medium heat until water boils. Add seaweed, kale/turnip greens and/or green onions or leeks. Heat over medium low heat until all ingredients are heated through. Serve with egg and flax oil (optional) and eat. Depending on Gail’s total fat intake for the day, Gail adds flax oil, if she has not pigged out on peanuts. Because I usually pig out on peanuts, I often skip the flax oil.
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I try to have this almost every day.
SEAWEED SOUP
4 C water
1 C lean ground pork
1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped, ~ ½ C chopped
1 t salt
3 sheets of dried seaweed (tear into small pieces)
1 egg
1 green onion (I freeze and chop these in advance)
1 t sesame seed oil
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Bring water to boil. Add about ½ C of boiling water to the ground pork to break up meat. Add to the boiling water in the pot and stir to break up meat. Add salt, chopped water chestnuts, simmer 5 min. Add seaweed and cook 2 min. stir in beaten egg. Add chopped green onions and sesame seed oil just before serving.
This is about once or twice a month. I found this recipe to use my leftover nori seaweed.
BEDTIME
I get really hungry at night. I have two cups of strawberries (fresh or thawed from frozen) with 2 to 3 tbsp. of nonfat sour cream or nonfat plain yogurt. I prefer the sour cream. UPDATE: I ordered ground organic flax seeds and organic chia seeds that I will sprinkle on the sour cream, bet that will help with the nut cravings. I then have a snack of about 2 ounces of Planter’s dry roasted peanuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and ground organic flax seeds (mixed with 3 cups of plain Cheerios & 1 cup of plain Rice Chex) and then I have about 1 and 1/3 cups of a frozen stir fry vegetable mix (broccoli stir-fry mix, sugar snap pea stir fry mix, deluxe vegetables stir fry mix) that I microwave and eat. The stir fry mixes have broccoli, corn, red peppers, pea pods, green beans, cauliflower, carrots, yellow squash, yellow peppers, water chestnuts, white corn, mushrooms.
When I give up my peanuts (which has been NEVER lately), I eat this instead:
QUINOA, BROWN RICE AND RED BEANS (with seaweed).
This is a delicious and healthy way to eat quinoa! My own personal recipe. I do a lot of this. Been cooking for a loooong time.
BROWN RICE, QUINOA WITH AZUKI BEANS (healthy and good)
2 cups brown rice with quinoa, washed (need a strainer to do this)
one piece of dried kelp, cut into squares
1 cup azuki beans, washed and soaked 6 to 8 hours
4 1/2 cups spring water, including water used to soak azuki beans
small pinch of sea salt
organic flax oil (1 tsp.)
Drain the water from the soaked azuki beans and set aside. Place the beans, kelp, and brown rice with quinoa in a pressure cooker. Add the water used to soak the beans plus fresh water, according to the amount suggested above. Mix the brown rice, quinoa, kelp, and beans. Place the uncovered pressure cooker over a low heat until the water just begins to boil. Add the sea salt, cover, and turn the heat to high. Reduce heat to medium low when the pressure is up. Heat at medium low for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from heat, allow the pressure to come down, and remove the cover. Allow the rice, beans and quinoa to sit for 4 to 5 minutes before serving. Add about 1 tsp. of organic flax oil (shake the bottle well first or stir it with a stick) on top of your dish and a bit of sea salt for flavoring, mix together. Yummy. You NEVER cook flax oil. Always add it FRESH from the bottle.
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You can buy dried kelp (kombu) and azuki beans at an Asian grocery store. Some organic health food stores sell this, too. I buy my organic flax oil with particulate at The Vitamin Shoppe. But just about all health food stores sell it.
http://crazykoreancooking.com/ingredient/kelp
Kelp is used in all Asian cuisine.
Adzuki beans: http://www.drweil.com/…/Cooking-With-Legumes-Adzuki-Beans.h…
http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/flax-oil-organic-hi…/vs-1881… I love this on top of my rice and beans.
SNACKS
Wasa multigrain crackers (2 a day and some days I skip it altogether, depending on how many carbs I’ve had that day).
Planter’s dry roasted peanuts (I try to wait till close to bedtime before I have this or I will have way too many peanuts for the day!)
JUST ORDERED plain gourmet pumpkin seeds and I will try to substitute this for some of the peanuts. I predict by doing this, I may lose five pounds. I try to buy in bulk to save money.
Great Value vegetable juice, about one or two cups a day.
Granny smith apples, one or two a day
Great Value or Publix spring water, 6 to 8 cups a day
DAILY SUPPLEMENTS & MEDICATIONS:
The Vitamin Shoppe Ultimate Woman dietary supplements with iron. I take two tablets a day, which is the recommended dosage. This is a good deal on a high quality supplement.
Seroquel every day, A MUST.
Sudafed (as needed) for congestion. I’ve been needing this a LOT lately.
Zyrtec (OTC) or Claritin (OTC) for allergy. I like Allegra, too, and sometimes take Allegra. But I get a deal with Zyrtec through my insurance. I take this as needed and due to the bombs Loree has dropped, this is every day.
Advil or ibuprofen (liquid gels) as needed for headache or inflammation (usually caused by Loree McBride’s yeast bombs). Unfortunately, I take these often cuz Loree’s been dropping a lot of bombs!
EXERCISE:
30 to 40 minutes a day walking outside. When I walk, I break into a jog every now and then, to give myself a high intensity workout.
45 minutes to an hour on my indoor Tony Little glider (usually an hour) with the windows open (to get more of Jesus’ medicine from the air).
I try to alternate between sitting at my computer and standing, depending on how my feet and rear feel. I find if I sit all day, I get leg/foot cramps at night.
On the mat, I do these exercises (see the videos I posted below). Mat exercises are at least 6 times a week, almost every day:
I obey the Gail Commandments.
I never get the flu shot. Brent Spiner M.D. (my husband) tells me Jesuits invented the flu shot to give people the flu. I do get my tetanus shot, though. And I am not against childhood immunizations. Brent tells me childhood immunizations are a good idea.
I am pretty leery about a lot of the recommended things mainstream medicine tells you to do. I think people are over medicated and over treated, resulting in a lot of unnecessary illnesses and complications.
I floss and brush daily THOROUGHLY, and use Plax rinse to help take out plaque before I brush. I use a Sonicaire electric toothbrush and never go to the dentist unless I have a problem. I use my own scaler about once a week to remove tartar in my teeth.
When I want to really look out for my weight, I use myfitnesspal.com.
I never get sick, except for the bombs Loree drops over my head, which gives me bloating, coughing, head aches, itchy spots on my skin, etc. I deal with these by obeying the Gail Commandments and ask Zack Knight to give me his powerful antibiotic semen. I think I caught the flu or a bad cold once in the past eight years. Other than the illnesses I’ve had because of Jesuit bombs, that’s about all I’ve had in terms of illness.
I never go to the doctor (except my psychiatrist, so I can get Seroquel), except as needed (except I needed a tetanus shot after a dog bit me), cuz I don’t trust them and never need to see them, cuz I never get ill with anything they can help me with. But then, I’m married to a physician and go to him first for advice, so this may not work for everyone.
I use New Balance men’s running shoes, with an Aetrex Lynco orthotics insole for MEN (I have problem feet with bunions, so I need really wide shoes). Cuz of all the exercise I do, I wear highly quality footwear.
I cut and color my own hair. I use Generic Matrix Biolage Color Last Conditioner and Shampoo that I get from Sally Beauty Supply. My menopause hair needs special treatment! I color my hair using Sally Beauty Supply’s Age Beautiful 7A Dark Ash Blonde Permanent Liqui-Creme (which gives me a dark brown coloring cuz my normal color is almost black) combined with Age Beautiful 20 volume gentle creme developer.
I use a cast iron 12 inch skillet for stir fries. I use stainless steel pans to boil my pasta, eggs, etc. I use glass cookware to bake my meatloaf. All my cookware is stainless steel, glass or cast iron.
My blood pressure averages about 100/72.
I buy my groceries at Walmart and Publix and online. Most of my groceries I buy at Walmart to save money, but Publix has some better deals and higher quality on some items, like their granny smith apples and spring water are better, and Walmart quit carrying nonfat sour cream, so I get the Publix brand. Publix often has buy one get one free sales on Cheerios, so my Cheerios I buy at Publix. I buy the Walmart brand rice chex to save money. It’s a low calorie cereal.
I love these shiitake mushrooms: https://www.walmart.com/ip/A-Grade-Dried-Shiitake-Mushrooms-1-LB/128393638. You have to hydrate them by boiling them in water in a pan.
I buy wakame seaweed, miso paste, kelp or kombu seaweed (sometimes I get this online) at the local Korean grocery store (the cheapest Asian store in my neighborhood), along with my mirin and rice wine.
For chicken breast, I buy frozen Great Value All Natural Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts. Good deal and saves me time and money, cuz I don’t have to cut up the breast and freeze it. It’s already frozen.
Strawberries are a low calorie berry and cheap. The best deal is to buy a bag of Great Value brand frozen strawberries. I buy several 4 lb. bags and keep them in the freezer. When fresh strawberries are in season, I’ll buy some of them, too.
Copyright © 2018 Gail Chord Schuler. All Rights Reserved.