I'm on the road, in search of food — food for my body, food for my mind, food for my soul. I dedicate this blog to peanut butter, my best friend. Food is what we're all about. Cheers!

Monday, February 24, 2014

Reaching Another Milestone — Valentine's Day — One Year Since I Started My Special Diet

My husband and I have just returned from a 17-day road trip to sunny southern California. During that time, on Valentine's Day, I reached my first-year milestone of being on my special weight-loss diet. Now I have six more months to go and part of that time will be during more road trips. I've reached my goal to lose 22 pounds and have even surpassed it by a little more. More importantly, I'm reaching a higher level of understanding about Macrobiotics.  

I love the advice, directions, and recipes that I've received from Cynthia Briscoe for my self-healing journey! I've discovered the incredible taste difference between real twig kukicha tea (twigs only) and kukicha tea bags (twigs and leaves mixed). The secret is in the preparation and the cooking container that's used. I get much better results by gently simmering the tea directly in water without the separation caused by a tea bag, and using a non-reactive enamel-coated teapot. Cynthia gave me a great recipe for brewing it and pointed out that this method releases calcium for my benefit. I buy kukicha twig tea online from the Goldmine Natural Foods company.

I've learned how to make my own Macrobiotic bread, which is unleavened, naturally fermented whole grains and flour. I was amazed at how easy and natural it was for me to make it. I've had many years of baking experience and this recipe (Cynthia told it to me over the phone) was a complete surprise. It was so simple! And really delicious. If you like San Francisco sourdough bread, you would love this bread. And you would be really happy knowing how good it is for you too. :o)

I'm in love with two miso condiment recipes from Cynthia, "Shiguri Miso" and "Dandelion Oily Miso." I took some of both with me on the trip and ate them with my brown rice. A couple of times I used them to make into an "instant miso soup" with hot water in the hotel room. A lot of chopping vegetables was involved in preparing these condiments for the trip, and the time spent was well worth it!

Thanks to Cynthia, I think I made better food choices in the restaurants we visited. I paid more attention to the vegetables that were available, for example, and I ate more fresh (raw) green salads. Thanks to the warm, friendly people in those restaurants I was able to get more of the foods I wanted. Besides their willingness to accommodate my requests, everyone I asked was more than happy to bring me a cup of hot water with lemon for my beverage, and the water was always delicious.

Looking back on the trip, I'd say that I ate a pretty good mix of brown rice that I cooked in our hotel room (Zojirushi travel-size electric rice cooker) versus restaurant food that other people cooked. And I was delighted each time I discovered healthy items on a menu, including some whole grains like brown rice, quinoa and wild rice, whole wheat flour products like tortillas and burger buns, and sometimes even organic vegetables.

It was so wonderful to come back home and start my own cooking again. With my new self-healing regimen and all of Cynthia's recommendations, my kitchen is in a constant state of motion. It reminds me of the exhibit I saw at Disneyland's California Adventure Park, by Pixar, called a Toy Story 3-dimensional zoetrope

Related Blog Articles:
My Own Fat Camp
Searching For Brown Rice In Restaurants
Whole Grains In Restaurants
Cheat Sheets
Happy New Year Of The Snake — Finally Letting Go Of 22 Pounds Of Excess Weight