I am sick and tired of feeling sick.
Prior to having Maya I had a stomach of steel and the best metabolism a girl could ask for. I could eat anything and everything and not thing twice about it. I knew nothing about calories or fat. I never considered how many servings of anything I ate. I would eat a giant bowl of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Brownie followed by a plate of fries. And I never gained an ounce. At nearly 5’8″ I was about 115. I had no idea how good I had it.
Enter Maya. I wish I could blame my problems on her but I gained only about 20 lbs. and literally the day after she was born I lost it all. I was back in my normal jeans when I left the hospital. I packed up all my maternity clothes and sent them away. Far, far away. (They were hideous). The thing was that I was so miserably sleep deprived that I couldn’t have cared less. There was no time to eat or sleep, nevermind go to the gym. Weight was the furthest thing from my mind. Oh, the good old days.
So now I am about 120 lbs. Not a big weight gain in 5 years, of course. And yes I know that I am at the low-end of a normal weight for my height. But the problem is the redistribution of weight. The love handles drive me crazy. The bigger problem is that I know the weight isn’t coming from what I eat but from some other problem that I cannot get diagnosed for the life of me. And whatever the problem is came as a result of having Maya.
I am so tired of random skin rashes and horrible stomach aches. One day I’ll be fine and my stomach is flat and the love handles are minimal and then the next day I feel terrible and my brain is foggy and I can’t eat anything without feeling achy. It’s very strange. I eat SO WELL. No junk, no sugar, nothing with trans fat. I cook about 90% of what I eat and when I eat out I usually have salads (and lately some of Maya’s pancakes!) I have seen 3 gastroenterologists, an allergist, a nutritionist, and 2 internists. I have had an endoscopy, an allergy test, numerous blood tests, and I am still no further ahead.
I feel like I need to take things into my own hands. I am seriously debating doing the Fat Flush Plan to get my system back to normal. I am a firm believer that amazon.com reviewers know all and they seem quite pleased with this “diet.” I am reading the book right now and to me it seems more like a way to restore equilibrium than a diet. There are no strange maple syrup/pepper/lemon concoctions that I am supposed to subsist on. Instead, a lot of flax, vegetables and protein. Eggs, water, and fruit. I can do this. I think. This diet would be easier for a non-veg but I am going to make it work (I hope).
I visited Whole Paycheck today to purchase some of the vitamins, flax and protein powder (as a vegetarian I supposedly need this instead of eating the meat). This plan is expensive but I figure in the long run its cheaper than my $35 copay times a million doctors. I hate you Aetna.
So basically I need to get through 2 weeks of no carbs which in theory should be easier than 2 weeks of non stop stomach aches. I am going to keep that thought with me as I embark on this plan tomorrow (or Wednesday).
Call it the placebo effect but my stomach already feels a little better knowing a solution might be in sight!!
Detox Night
I usually don’t look forward to Sunday nights because the Monday morning madness is right around the corner. Tonight is a totally different story though because I don’t have work tomorrow. I do have to do work but I don’t have to go to the office so I am excited. Yes it’s the little things that make me happy. Anyway, not having to go to the office means that tonight I don’t have to go to sleep at 9:30. I usually do this in order to get up at 5:30 for the gym. But since I can go to the gym anytime tomorrow I can live it up and go to bed at 10 instead. Crazy right?
Today was another busy day. After the gym, breakfast, and the usually cleaning spree we drove to Hollywood to see the Grinch Stole Christmas starring John Larroquette. It was surprisingly good! Maya enjoyed it as well, despite the questions every few seconds. “Mama, where is the Grinch?” and a few minutes later “Where is the little girl?” and then “I”m not scared of the Grinch.” Luckily the audience was full of kids so nobody seemed to mind Maya’s running commentary except for me. Also, I saw Matt LeBlanc at the show and almost didn’t recognize him because he has completely gray hair now. Maybe Maya’s been talking his ear off too.
After the show Maya was starving, naturally, so we headed to The Grand Lux Cafe for lunch. I had a Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad:
It was very good but quite small so I was still hungry after finishing it. Story of my life. It was no problem though because my mom and I proceeded to eat Maya’s delicious blueberry pancakes while she ate my mom’s salad. Stranger things have happened I guess.
After a day of shopping and eating I am ready for my usual Sunday night meal of rice and daal. Maya and I are on detox!!
Busy Saturday
Saturdays are usually quite daunting for us. While most people enjoy a day of rest we see it as 12 empty hours to fill…and how on earth do we keep Maya entertained without going crazy ourselves? Well I am thrilled to report that we were successful and the day flew by.
Maya and I started the day at the usual 6 o’clock starting time. Ali decided to stay at his dad’s last night so it was just Maya and I this morning. So we decided to do a little baking for friends who were coming over for lunch. Maya was in charge of stirring the brownie batter.
She did more of this though:
I promise I didn’t let her put the spoon back into the batter.
It was a bit of a stressful morning getting everything ready but our hard work paid off and things came together quite well.
In addition to the brownies we had smoked salmon (with capers, onions, and tomatoes), orange cranberry pound cake, mini blueberry muffins, bagels and cream cheese, fruit, chicken kabobs (from an Indian restaurant and Ali’s contribution to the meal), and my personal favorite, a spinach frittata with avocado that I pulled together at the last-minute. The frittata was a hit and it was SO easy. I highly recommend trying this.
Recipe:
Scramble 4 eggs and 3 egg whites, add fresh spinach, onions, a dash of turmeric, and chili powder. Coat the bottom of a deep non-stick pan with a tiny bit of olive oil and cook it on a low heat until the bottom was brown. Pop the whole thing under the broiler for about 5 minutes and then add the avocado. If you have cheese on hand throw some on before putting it under the broiler.
Seriously, easy but very impressive looking!
After everyone left Maya had a friend visit which was great because they played together for at least a solid hour. Which meant we could actually form a thought or two without being interrupted.
After our second set of guests left we were all starving and had cabin fever from being home most of the day. So we headed out to Akbar, an Indian restaurant in Santa Monica. Isn’t it weird how you can go to a place and everything is fantastic and then go back and wonder what on earth you liked about it the first time? Well thats what happened to us today. Even the naan wasn’t good and that is usually the easiest thing for and Indian restaurant to get right! Is there no good Indian food in L.A.?
Tomorrow we are in for another busy day. Maya, my mom and I are going to watch out The Grinch Who Stole Christmas at the Pantages. I am actually impressed with myself that I managed to plan so many things for Maya to do this weekend.
I’m going to pat myself on the back now.
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 