I am back to blogging....

It's funny, I recently turned 51, and while I don't feel "OLD" by any stretch of the imagination, I am very aware of the limited time I have remaining in my earthly life. I have definitely felt a shift in myself, knowing that I can't accomplish everything I would have liked to and need to adjust my expectations. I will not be able to start a new career, though knowing what I know now, I wish I could have been a nurse, a doula, a midwife, a therapist, and wished I would have finished my schooling with my registered dietitian licensing to just have been able to boost my credibility (though I feel I still can provide much expertise in this area with my B.S. in dietetics and 25 plus years as fitness professional). And I know some of you are saying you can still do these things if you want, but I also know I have other things in my future that are higher on my priority list, like my husband, children, future grandchildren and traveling the world. I don't want to have "to do" anything because I have to, i.e. have a job where I work for someone with set hours and the like. We are looking toward retirement, where we dictate how much we work, no longer having to work because we have to, because my husband and I actually planned our retirement starting in our twenties. We will talk about finances in a future blog, because I definitely have thoughts and advice in this area, but today we talk about food.

In a recent blood test, my cholesterol was higher than it should be, and I was shocked due to my healthy eating program and how diligent I am with it. It does make sense in a way, as there is some family history with high cholesterol from my dad's side. He had his first stroke in his early 60s and this was only the start of his health issues. This in a man who exercised most of his life, and certainly all of my childhood and thru his 80s, going to the YMCA every day of the week playing handball and doing his cardio/strength training. Not to mention the Mediterranean diet that we followed as devout Italians, with vegetables and fruit grown in our own backyard and limited processed food. So, in an effort to help myself naturally, and the fact that there is little I can change in my already excellent diet, I have taken to adding oats to my diet. I HATE oatmeal fyi. And I would not hate it if I could eat it with all kinds of yummy add ons like nuts and dried fruit, but one must keep calories in mind and realize that a half cup of old fashioned oats, one measly tablespoon of walnuts, and an addition of some fresh or dried fruit, maxs out my 350 calorie breakfast allotment (there are many more meals to be eaten throughout the day where my calories need to go), and I am always hungry before lunch time when I eat oatmeal. Not so with my other breakfast choices of cereal, soy milk, and fruit, or my toast, nut butter, and all fruit jelly. I have tried more recipes than I care to share over the last few months, but finally, I think I found the muffin that may do the trick for me. I need a few grab and go breakfast options, in addition to my latest balls of health that I keep frozen, so these muffins should fit the bill.

All the credit goes to Monique at http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/ for her recipe that I tweaked a bit. I love that it has very little added sugar and you can choose to omit the added chocolate chips and add dried fruit instead. I always add them, but use mini chips as they disperse better throughout recipes. I also use whole wheat pastry flour in all my baking and NEVER EVER white flour.

Low-fat Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Blended my oats in my go-to Vitamix. Could not live without it. A blender or food processor will work.

I've got everything I need in within my reach....

Ready to eat or freeze. As you can see I have portioned out the rest of my pumpkin in 1 cup increments to freeze for my next batch.

I would like to see if we can work on commenting right on this blog. Things like "if you like recipe", "what tweaks you made", "what you didn't like", "what you need help with", etc. You will need to register to comment. It will allow me to know you are reading and trying, in turn this will help me want to blog more. I also plan to share my healthy eating philosophy, which includes a large percentage of complex carbohydrates. "Complex carbohydrates are those carbohydrates that are made of three or more sugar molecules linked together. These carbohydrates are found vegetables, nuts, fruits, seeds and grains. They differ from simple carbohydrates, like sugar, that are made of only one or two linked sugar molecules. Complex carbohydrates take longer for your body to break down than simple ones, which helps to maintain a steady blood sugar level."

Glad to be back. Gina