Giving Back While Couponing

Before I get into the meat of my post today, I thought you'd want a little update on my Piece by Piece Paleo adventures. You may have noticed that I have not given you a weekly review in a while. No fear: I HAVE NOT QUIT....but I have put it on hold for a few weeks here. Things have been extra crazy around here lately for a variety of reasons and I have not had enough time to plan out grocery shopping and meals, so I was finding myself resorting to my old go-tos like cereal, which I discussed in an earlier post, take out and other non-paleo approved foods. I want to set myself up for success, so when things calm down a bit next week, I will jump back in with week 3 of Piece by Piece Paleo.



So, now for today's post:

I use coupons. I am frugal and like saving money all the time. I would probably use coupons and search for good sales even if we were not living on one very modest salary (ah, the life of a resident doctor's wife) just because that is who I am.

I am not an extreme couponer like you see on that TLC show. I don't watch the show regularly, but what I have seen of it makes me a little crazy. Some of those people go way overboard with their couponing. I hope they donate things!

I don't have a "stock pile." I don't refuse to buy things if I don't have coupons for them. I don't have binders full of coupons. I very rarely will use a coupon to buy something that I wouldn't normally buy or don't really need.

I do like saving money on what I already buy, though. I do love getting a great deal and saving money.

I also love being able to help others. That's what this post is all about.

If you use coupons (or even if you just get the inserts and throw them away toss them in the recycling pile), I would highly recommend considering helping Troopons.

The skinny on Troopons is that you can send your unused coupons to Support Our Troops and they will distribute them to domestic and overseas military families who could really use the extra savings opportunities. A few extra minutes of your time and the cost of a stamp can make a difference in the lives of others.

Look here for the official instructions, but I'll run you through what I do.

I grab my Redplum or other coupon inserts and instead of just cutting out what I can use, I go ahead and just clip them all.

After cutting out all the coupons, I sort them. Sometimes I wait too long to start my clipping, so I have some expired coupons. I sort into 3 piles:

• unexpired coupons I can use
• unexpired coupons that I cannot use 
• expired coupons (less than 2 months past expiration)

I then set MY usable coupons aside and store them to use on my next grocery trip.

Remember to recycle all those extra paper bits!

With the remaining piles, I sort one more time. Note: This time, I happen to only have 1 pile to sort because I waited too long and ALL the coupons were expired or would be before reaching Florida where the program is based (whomp, whomp).  That's ok though, since they can still use the expired ones as long as they are less than 2 months past the date.

I take my pile(s) and sort into 4 categories:

• Food items
• Non-food items
• Pet items
• Baby items

So, since all my coupons are expired this time and there were no baby item coupons I only have 3 piles here, but you could have as many as 8: Unexpired Food, Unexpired Non-food, Unexpired Pet, Unexpired Baby, Expired Food, Expired Non-food, Expired Pet, Expired Baby.

Whew. Ok. I know that makes it sound a little complicated and like a lot of work, but truly it is so easy and only takes a few minutes. 

You'll want to put each pile in a baggie and label it with the type/category (i.e. Expired Food). 

Troopons requests that also label the value of the coupons inside each bag. This is probably not required, but for me it just takes a few extra seconds and helps the company see how much the program is helping and lets me see how much I contributed.

Today I was able to help families save over $60. Totally worth the 20 or less minutes it took me to cut and sort. 

All you have left to do now is stick your baggies in an envelope and send them off to Troopons!

That address is:

Support Our Troops

P.O. Box 70

Daytona Beach, FL 32115-0070

So, if you're cutting coupons anyway and are willing to go through a few steps to help families that are serving our country, give this cool program a try!

Piece by Piece Paleo--Week 2 Review

This week on Piece by Piece Paleo we cut legumes and grains out of dinner. This is in addition to continuing to keep grains out of breakfast, from week one.

I feel like I am getting better at breakfasts. Last week I had trouble eliminating cereal from  my breakfast routine. I was basically eating eggs everyday and got tired of that fast. I missed the quick and easy go-to of my cereal.

It took me about a week and a half, but I'm feeling comfortable with grain-free breakfasts now. This week I have eaten a lot of fruit for breakfast, which satisfies my need for fast and easy. I haven't used any recipes from my new (free) e-books yet, but I'm happy I have them to fall back on when I need them.

Banana with PB & Honey + Raspberries =
yummy in my tummy breakfast 

I know what you're thinking (or maybe you're not), "Casey, isn't that peanut butter on your banana cheating? Aren't peanuts legumes?" 

And technically, I think you'd be right. I'll check with our Piece by Piece coach, but peanut butter is probably actually something I should be filtering out of my diet for Paleo. I'm completely happy to switch it for a different, allowed nut butter (Mmmm cashew butter). However, this week I only had the peanut butter on hand, so that's what I ate.

So breakfast is going well. Fantastic. How about my grain & legume free dinners?

Well, there were good days and bad days. 

Chicken stir fried with onion, broccoli, and carrots.

I had a couple really good meals that were completely in line with our Week 2 rules. 

Sidebar to say how lucky I am to be married to a man who likes to cook. I don't love cooking and he is very good at it, so I let him be the family chef anytime he is actually home and able!

Dr. Hubs made a delicious stir fry with chicken, broccoli, onion, and carrots. He was kind enough to humor support my Paleo program and cook his rice separately so that I could have mine without (No grains!). It was really yummy!

Fish and broccoli

He also made a pretty yummy fish dinner one night. I think he said it was mahi-mahi. I'm just starting to like fish, so don't judge me for not knowing. And I ate mine with broccoli again. I love broccoli. It is my go-to veggie. Yum yum.

There were a couple dinner failures too. On my part, not Dr.HusbandChef's. A long known issue came to light for me. If I wait too long to eat/let myself get too hungry, I will not have enough energy/willpower to stick to my plan. Just give me the quickest, easiest, tastiest thing in the house and give it to me now! So, as I work on monitoring my hunger, properly utilizing snacking, and eating at regular, reasonable intervals, I think I will do better with keeping to the plan.

Overall, week 2 was easier than I thought it would be. I'm looking forward to seeing what is in store for week 3!

Piece by Piece Paleo--Week 1 in Review

Let's talk a little bit about how the first week of Piece by Piece Paleo went and how I did.

Week 1 consisted of:

1. Ditching processed fats for healthier options 
2. Eliminating grains at breakfast

The first task was pretty easy for me, as I have been working on switching to cooking with healthier fats for a few weeks now already. I have been using Coconut Oil. I found this in the baking aisle of our local grocery store, right near your canola and other oils. If you have trouble finding it in your store you might check if they have a separate health-food aisle. 

I like using the coconut oil for cooking so far. A small amount goes a long way, so even though it is a bit more expensive than other oils, I still feel like I am getting my monies worth. It smells a bit like coconut (which I like), but doesn't retain any coconut flavor (that I can tell) once heated, so there are no issues using it with savory foods that you might not want tasting like coconut. 

The second task was much harder.

I did really well for the first half of the week. I was content to eat bacon and eggs each day.  By Thursday, however, I was tired of cooking in the morning and tired of eating the same thing every day.

Everyday? Not working for me. Going to need to be more creative.

It makes it hard that I am SUCH a big cereal person. I LOVE eating cereal for breakfast. Quick. Easy. Yummy. Cereal is my go-to. I even eat it for lunch or dinner many days. 

So kicking my cereal habit routine is a real struggle. 

I think one thing that will help me do better with grain free breakfasts from here on out is a new e-cookbook I was able to download for free (Thanks for the heads-up on that deal, Amy)! 

Quick N' Easy Paleo Breakfasts will be a great resource for thinking up a variety of easy breakfast ideas. I've also downloaded some other Paleo ebooks that were free on Amazon. I will try to let you know what I think of them. Planning ahead will be the key to my success with this, I think. 

Week 2 starts tomorrow and we will be cutting beans & legumes and grains out of dinner. I'll let you know how it goes!

Trying Something New

I've wanted to try Paleo eating for a while. I have friends that swear by it; they just feel better when eating Paleo style.  And Lord knows I could stand to feel better.

The problem is and has been that going Paleo is a HUGE switch (for me, at least).  I love all the things you aren't supposed to eat: potatoes, pastas, cereal, breads, oatmeal, beans, you name it. I have not been successful with making big switches in the past. I'm just more of a "Baby Steps" person. If I take things one step at a time, I can succeed, but if I change something cold turkey or jump into a big change all at once, I get overwhelmed, frustrated, and discouraged. This is just part of who I am...and it is true in all aspects of my life.

Lucky for me, I have a good friend who is a Paleo veteran and is starting a program to help others try Paleo eating one step at a time. I'll be doing this new program and will report on who it is going, how I am feeling and what I think about both the program and Paleo as a whole.

If you'd like to join in with me, here is a bit of information:

About our Paleo coach:
Amy, of "Life. Balanced & Beautiful" is not only a skilled and brilliant engineer, but she is also a dedicated and encouraging leader in health and fitness. She is a CrossFit trainer and movement advocate. She has been eating clean and going Paleo for several years, so she brings personal experience to this program. Amy is a fellow research nerd, so while she might not be and expert on everything health and fitness, she can point you to reputable sources of information. On a personal note: we've been friends since the day we met and she is a fun, kind, encouraging person and an all around cool kid.

About the program:
The program is aptly called "Piece by Piece Paleo" and will start this coming week, Sunday the 27th. Though, you can always go back and try the program after the introduction date.
The program will take Paleo one piece at a time. Each week we will make a few small changes. These changes will eventually build up to eating fully in line with the Paleo method. Amy will supply everything from recipes, to tips, to weekly guides. This program is slated to take place of 5 weeks.


So that's the plan. Please check out the website and follow along if you'd like. I will try to post here regularly on how it is going for me.



A note: I know not everyone agrees with the Paleo method, as with any eating plan. My husband isn't the biggest fan, to be honest. But this is something I have wanted to give a try and I will be doing just that. If I try it for the 5 weeks and it doesn't work for me or I feel it is not best for my health in any way, I won't continue after the 5 weeks. Realistically, even if it is a wonderful change for me, I suspect I will allow myself to eat some of the grains or beans or potatoes every now and then, in moderation. After all, I truly believe in moderation and not completely depriving yourself of things your love (unless they make you feel cruddy when you eat them, then you need to weigh if it is worth the pain)!

I'm Back!

After a break from blogging, I've decided to get back at it. I've done some fun and interesting things lately that I think some people may enjoy hearing about and I would certainly enjoy blogging about.
So, expect an entire post dedicated to each of these topics coming up soon, but here is a little summary of what I did last week. I hope you'll come back to read more later!

This week I attended my first WISE (Women in Sports and Events) event. My friend, Angie invited me to the group and I am so happy she did. It was a wonderful time. I really enjoyed the event itself and the chance to network.

I also was able to go to my first Brodyn's Friends meeting. I am very excited to be joining the team and to help plan a fun upcoming fundraising event. I will talk about the organization and the event in more detail soon.

And finally, something just for fun: I got over $800 in products for $40.  I'll tell you all about how that came to be in another post later this week.

I hope you'll visit back! Have a great Easter!

Looking out for me

This is going to be another personal post. If that makes you at all uncomfortable, please feel free to not read it. I just feel the need to be honest about where I am and what I'm going through. It might help someone else, but hopefully it will make someone rethink some of the things they say or post on social media.

I'm going to take a break from Facebook. For at least a few days and longer if needed.

I have been doing the November days of thankfulness thing, which helps me be intentionally thankful and keeps things in perspective while I'm going through a hard time. I'll still be doing this on my own and may start to post what I am thankful for on this blog instead of Facebook, but staying off of that site is important to me right now.

Why?

You may or may not know that during high school I struggled with an eating disorder. I won't get into details because I know that can be a trigger for others who have been or are dealing with this type of thing. Just know that I lost over 70lbs in mostly unhealthy and obsessive ways, ending up just over 100lbs with a terrible immune system, weak and sick all the time. I tried very hard to hide it and thankfully was never hospitalized, as I know many people have to be. My junior year a lot of things changed and I began recovering. I've been mostly healthy for nearly 10 years.

Yet there have been times when it is a struggle to overcome the same urges and feelings I used to have. Lately, while dealing with the weight I gained in graduate school, fighting a relapse has been especially hard. It is a battle every. single. day.

So what does this have to do with Facebook? One of my triggers is and has been the comments of others. Not directed at me, but the comments of people (mostly other women) about themselves.  I see women who are MUCH thinner than I am talking about weight they need to lose or how fat they look in pictures. If they think that about themselves, what terrible things do they think about me? This happens so much on my facebook feed right now that I just need to avoid it all together. The irony is that I know I have been guilty of this same type of behavior and comments. Not just when I was in high school and actively dealing with it (because at that time I literally could not see a difference between myself and someone much heavier than me), but also more recently. It is hard to remember that comments about yourself not only perpetuate negative thoughts and beliefs about yourself, but also can hurt others that you never intended to comment on.

So right now, it is just too hard for me to run across those kinds of comments and remember that they have nothing to do with me. I'm just going to do what I need to do to stay healthy. And right now that means taking a few days or longer off of checking facebook, until I feel strong enough to do so.

Thanks for understanding. If you need to reach me, you know my information.

I'm still here

Hi all.

So, I've been MIA for a long time now. It was never my intention to go so long between posts. Ideally, I'd like to post weekly or even more frequently.

So why the long hiatus? I've been battling depression in a big way. I've suffered from depression for a long time, but until recently I have managed it well and had things mostly under control. For the past couple of months, that was not the case at all. Depression can be debilitating and exhausting, which is why I took a break from this blog, along with many other things in my life.

I debated if I should say anything on here about it, since the whole idea of depression and other mental health issues can have such a stigma and people sometimes judge, or just don't understand. But that is never going to change unless people talk about it, so I decided to let you know why I have been gone so long.

I may discuss this topic more in the future, again, just as a way to help others who are experiencing similar situations or to bring awareness to those who don't understand what a serious thing it can be, but for now, I'll leave it with what I've just said.


So on to the real update: Since I've been gone, I have participated in a 5k, lost somewhere between 7 and 10 pounds, made some fun halloween costumes, had a lot of hard days, but also had many wonderful days with my husband. I'm participating in my second Diet Bet currently and am considering hosting one. It has been a real motivator to me. Would anyone be interested in joining?

Okay. Details. I did not reach my goal for the 5K. I wanted to be able to run the whole thing. I wasn't even close. I got a leg cramp before it even started. And even if I had not cramped up, I still would not have been able to run the entire thing. I just plain didn't train hard enough. But, I DID finish. I probably actually ran about 2 or 2 1/2 Kilometers of the 5.  Next time I'll do better, but for my first, I figure this is an okay start. I've never been a good runner, so I'm still looking at it as an accomplishment for me.

I worked hard, you can tell because my face matches my hair.

Most of all it was a fun time. I spent time with my cousins and ran in the dark with all sorts of glowing things on. And as a bonus we made it into the local newspaper.

Not super flattering, but there I am!

Well, I think that's been plenty for you to read for one day, even given that you haven't had any news from me for a while. 

I'll leave you with a picture from Halloween. Hubs and I went to his cousin's halloween party and had a fantastic time. I loved getting to meet some people and just socialize, since I don't do a lot of that right now, as I do not know very many people around here. We went as Soap and a Loofa. I made our costumes, which was lots of fun. I liked having a reason to be crafty again. 

We're too cute, I know ;)

'Til next time- The Real Life Mrs. Robinson, signing off.