A Month (plus a few days)

My husband suggested I blog my journey, so at his suggestion, to help you and me both, I am beginning. So, where to begin? I'll start with today, and perhaps along the way, I'll catch you up on my story. To get you up to speed, here's the short version:

Today I am 43 yrs, and almost 5 months old. I was diagnosed with PCOS a number of years ago and have struggled with tons of symptoms for longer than that, including weight gain, hirsutism, irregular menses, extended menses, infertility, trouble losing weight, etc. A year ago, I began seeing an acupuncturist, who later recommended an eating plan. In her words, "Okay, now, what I want you to do is cut out all your sugar, no white flour, no soda, no fruit, no . . . no. . . .no . . ." And my response at that time was, "What the HELL am I supposed to eat?" (I was very upset, and said this through tears. . . .) Her response was, "Oh, gosh, there's lots. . . .", but all I heard was keen-wa (actually quinoa), and living out in the country in southeastern NC, there is no quinoa, and so that really didn't help me much, considering I had never heard of it, much less eaten it. . . .I determined she was crazy, struggled with giving up sodas, ignored the rest, and life went on.

A couple of months later, I came across an e-book about getting pregnant for 40+ infertile women, and lo, and behold, her recommendations were pretty much the same. Then, I started doing research, and everything I read said pretty much the same. So, eventually, I decided the Lord was trying to tell me something, and I sat down with my husband and we talked (yesterday was our 21st anniversary, BTW). Then we went together and talked to the acupuncturist. We made some alterations to her original diatribe based on our research and she basically approved, so now we're on a new journey, a new eating plan, and a new life.

Today, I am 20 lbs. lighter than I was in April! We started making a few modifications then. We started the new plan in earnest on June 13. Since then, I've lost 11 lbs, although the eleventh pound has been incredibly stubborn and didn't want to go, so it came back and then refused to leave. Today it was gone again (praise God!) and I'm hoping for good this time.

I'm learning, and thought you might enjoy learning alongside. I'll share what I'm learning and hopefully you'll share back what you're learning. Together, we'll be smaller, stronger, thinner, healthier, and maybe, even, more fertile.

More later, but I'll try to leave you with a recipe each time. With tomato season in full swing, I'll share our homemade salsa recipe today. Shane (hubby) just made some fresh. It's great with corn chips, over taco salad, or over grilled fish, chicken, or beef. Try it, change it, make it your own!

Shane and Tonnye's Salsa

one pint fresh tomatoes (We are using ones from our garden right now, but when they're not in season, we use grape tomatoes from the produce section.)
1-2 cloves garlic, loosely chopped
1/2 medium onion, loosely chopped
1-2 jalapeno pepper(s) (Depending on how hot you want it -- you can remove seeds and white pithy ribs to make it less spicy, too -- the more seeds and ribs, the spicier)
zest and juice of 1 lime (you can also use lemon if you happen not to have lime, but lime flavor is better!)
(optional) cilantro, to taste, chopped loosely
Salt and pepper, to taste
Drop everything into food processor and process until salsa is consistency you'd like. If you'd like a chunkier version, or happen not to have a food processor, you can hand chop everything for a nice chunky salsa, which works better over meats.

It's a beautiful, fresh, tasty salsa that has no preservatives, full of great nutrition, low-cal, no fat, gluten-free, and yummo! Give it a try!