Over the past week, I’ve been reading about healthier diets pretty close to nonstop. I’ve been trying new recipes and creating some of my own, so I’d like to share those with my readers.

The last few years have been extremely difficult. In summary, as I don’t want to bore you with my life story, I endured several traumatic events and a rather debilitating illness. It’s slowed down writing, especially the Rowan of the Wood series and, obviously, this blog.

However, I’m healing quite well.

Jump to now. Any of you who know me at all know that I have severe Starbucks Mocha addiction. Well, not like every day or anything, but it’s definitely something I’m not willing to give up. I used to limit myself to one a week, as I got a Venti, but in May and June, that once to twice a week turned into three or four times a week. The scale showed the difference even though I was meticulously counting every calorie and didn’t once go over my weekly budget. No matter. I’m 43, and I gained three pounds anyway.

I know. I know. Three pounds is no big deal.

That’s true.

But the only good thing to come out of my three years of hell was the anxiety-caused weight loss. I haven’t been at this weight for twenty years, or in a size 6 since I was 15! If I put the weight back on, it’s like all that would’ve been for nothing.

Silly, but there it is. *cough*bodyimageissues*cough*

No kidding. Working on it.

I’ve been learning to handle stress better, and that’s mostly by avoiding the bulk of it. I’ve been staying more away from social networks, by comparison, and I’m producing a whole lot less and living more. I’ve started a garden, which I’ll share the progress of that with you all shortly as well. I feel so alive when I’m out there harvesting herbs and tending to my babies. I write when I’m inspired to, which isn’t terribly often anymore, and that’s okay. I’ve already written two novels and 6 short stories since the beginning of the year. I can take a break for awhile. I exercise regularly, the picture above is me at my second-ever 5k. I’m quite proud of that, and before long I’ll be able to run the entire time without walking intervals. Or I won’t. It’s okay either way. I’m doing yoga again and I spend lovely moments with Buster, Shadow, and Ethan. I take breakfast on the terrace overlooking the lake (pictured left along with gorgeous chamomile and poppies from my garden) and tea on my balcony while I read.

I still go to Starbucks, too, mind.

Enough rambling!

Here is your first recipe. I’m cutting back on wheat, dairy, and sugar, but not cutting out. Still, most of these recipes will be gluten-free and mostly sugar free. I’m using Stevia now, a healthy sweet herb instead of sugar. My diet has been very healthy, relative to the Standard American Diet (SAD, how apropos!), as I’ve been an ethical vegetarian for the better part of 20 yrs. I rarely have white bread or pasta, but I still struggle with some digestive issues, especially after the sugar mocha binge of May and June.

I had this yumminess the first day of my new diet. It’s adapted from The UltraSimple Diet. My new recipes and ideas come from that, The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, or various other places on the web.

Rice Cereal with Apples, Cinnamon, Blueberry, Flax, Almonds, and Walnuts, too!

1/4 Bob’s Red Mill’s Brown Rice Farina
3/4 water
1t cinnamon
pinch sea salt
1/4 – 1/3 diced apple with skin
1T ground flax seeds*
1/4 c fresh blueberries
4 raw almonds
1T walnuts (about 3

Tip: for richer cereal, replace water with Silk’s Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. Only 30 calories per cup!

1. Combine cereal, water, cinnamon, salt, and apple.
2. Cook as package indicates, either on stove top (10-15 min) or microwave (3-5 min). I used the microwave.
3. Top with almonds, walnuts, flax, and blueberries. I add almond milk, too.

YUMMY!

*Strangely, I couldn’t find ground flax seeds at the natural food co-op, but I did find it at Safeway! Their “Organics” brand. Good stuff!

274 calories. 8.7g fat. 80.6g sodium. 42.9g carbs. 5g fiber. 5.2g protein. 6.4g sugar.

There you go! Start your morning with this yumminess.

More recipes soon!!!