Diary of a Mad Art Teacher... and photographer...: A Step Back, a step forward and 6 miles around

I had a long week! First I was stricken (ah the drama) with a stupid cold that had me home for 2 days. Then I was expecting really good results from my cholesterol test and Dr. appointment, and that sort of went awry (more on that in a minute). But I ended my week on a good note!

I am pretty sure in my virus induced stupor I put up a blog post or two.... so you do know that I was laid low for a couple days. That isn't the most fun, since it seems like if you are at home you should be able to do a few fun things. But no, the most I could muster was a few games of Word with Friends! And maybe a blogpost or two..... that was it! But I guess that is what sick is all about, so I digress. Tuesday I was feeling marginally better, but had a Dr. appt. So I just stayed home as I was going to miss a little work in the morning for the blood draw and then leave early for the appointment, so why bother when I was still working my way through an entire box of kleenex.

As I said before, I had great expectations for the blood work- after all I have lost some weight and get TONS of exercise every week..... wouldn't you think that all would be well??? Well as you may have guessed, all was not well. Not that all wasn't ok, but certainly not as well as one would have hoped! Not unwell enough that said Doctor would put the not quite-as-well-as-she-thought person back on a statin, but still. Sigh. On the good side (the well side!) my HDLs are off the charts fabulous, just my LDLs are up making the total higher than it could be. Dang. Anyway, so I get to start trying to bring it down a little through dietary interventions. Basically I am going to start having oatmeal and soy everyday. I already eat at least 2 fruits and 5 veggies, minimum, so I have that under control. I am trying to also increase my magnesium, so that is on the docket too. Along with making sure the Omega 3's are up, too. I don't have much wiggle room in my calories, so I will be keeping an eye on this closely.

So this morning I made my homemade granola that originally came from the recipe box of my dear friend Cat. I have eliminated about half the sugar and added in oat bran instead of wheat bran. It is an easy thing to make and nice to be able to control your ingredients.

Granola

6 cups rolled oats
1 cup oat bran
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup freshly ground flax seed
1/2 cup chopped almonds
(add in any nuts you want)
(add in sesame seed if you like)
1 tsp cinnamon
Mix together in large bowl

Stir together
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup canola oil

Stir into dry ingredients. Spread out onto 3 cookie sheets, bake at 325 for 20 min. stir, then bake another 15 minutes. Stir, and then bake in about 10 minute increments until the granola feels somewhat dry and is JUST starting to brown. WATCH CAREFULLY as it can burn quickly.

Mix in the large bowl with dried fruit of your choice- raisins, cranberries, cherries, blueberries, etc.

Approximate calorie count: with 1/2 cup nuts and 1 cup dried fruit in total recipe: 235 calories per 3/4 cup. Hmm, I have no pix of the final product! Might have to add that tomorrow.

Dry ingredients

Flax seed- freshly ground

Pour this into 3 pans- make sure it is thin

I have been instructed to have this or oatmeal of some sort basically, daily. Along with greek yogurt, soy milk or kefir. Which is fine. Sigh. I'm still not sure why the stupid number is up.....

Anyway, the good news is that I RAN on the treadmill Saturday! REALLY ran, like interval running and at one point I went for 5 straight minutes. While I was a little sore, my knee handled the stress very easily. It is very exciting, I feel like I surely will be able to do that 5K this summer!! And some other things that I will relay to you later....

So I ended this up and down week with a REALLY great weight-loss and a really good walk. I went 6.6 miles on this lovely, sunny, cold winter day, and of course- took a few nice photos! YAY!