Small changes

 

Between menopause and grief I’m battling something daily.  And they both affect your mood. Before all of my procedures I had decided to exercise more consistently.  During the cooler months I’m bad about putting on flannels and camping on the couch so I was doing really well. Then in recovery I got accustomed to that all over again. 

I inched back into it two months after the first surgery and have been reading about health more. I’m trying to be better about eating protein and getting steps in in addition to come strength. Though I’m sure anyone who really works out, like two of my kids do, it’s pretty lightweight.  But I’m focused on consistency while working myself up a little at a time. I’m only doing 6-7000 steps per day right now and trying to find healthy snacks to eat more frequently. 

These blueberry muffins are, well, a little flat but really good. I tweaked the recipe because it called for 1/2 cup of sugar and that just negated any of the healthiness of the recipe. I did re-add maybe a tablespoon of sugar and now it tastes like blackberry pie pound cake.  So good!  I’ve been trying to eat Greek yogurt for more protein and calcium but the only flavor I like is lemon meringue pie and only one Walmart sells it and it’s 45 minutes away. Super bummer.  Hopefully I’ll see it working in a couple of months but I feel it for now.  I feel less stressed and more relaxed every night.  I’ll take that small win.

Here’s the recipe if you want to try the muffins. 

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce 
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup plain whole milk cottage cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup fresh blueberries, tossed in flour

Preheat oven to 375°.  I just mix all of the ingredients together and bake in silicone muffin pan for 25-30 minutes.