Phase 2 flew by fast. We are now in the mindset that we can eat like this permanently. It doesn't even feel weird, or hard anymore. I don't even know what to write about!
The last frontier for us to conquer is the processed dairy. Basically any processed dairy is some of the worst food on the planet, vs. raw dairy, which is more like a superfood. The mainstream science and alternative holistic views agree on this point. The difference lays in that the mainstream doesn't bother to look to raw dairy, and just assumes any dairy is bad. Sure it's got calcium, but even mds agree that your body doesn't uptake it very well anyway.
We have been "buying" (sharing) raw milk for a couple years now. It's great to have and we drink it as our milk. But it's very expensive and we can't afford to make dairy products out of it, and don't really have a source of buying raw butter, yogurt, kefir, or cheese. So we have been consuming the regular stuff. And that's kind of still on the list of "never touch the stuff".
SO, we have to change that. It's more a matter of actually finding it and paying for it than trying to change, because it's not like it will taste weird or something.
Even at Meijers we can find some goat cheese, but even that is processed. By that it usually means pasturized. Which kills off everything good, changes the good fats to bad, and adds in a couple vitamins to make it marginally better. Kind of like when they stripped everything out of wheat, and then add a couple vitamins back in and call it "enriched"!!!! That is sooooo funny. I really truely hope that whoever came up with that marketing word got a HUGE bonus. Or award. Or peace prize.
Everything you need to know about "real" (raw) milk can be found at: www.realmilk.com. They have links to the Weston A. Price Foundation, who has done a lot of work on raw milk and healthy eating. Way back in the early 1900s. Imagine that...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
DAY 29 Welcome to Phase 3
Well, we made it to the third phase! Now we can have pop, donuts, pastries, and double cheeseburgers...nice...oh wait, I just double checked...nope, we have to keep eating whole foods.
But, we can start eating some whole grains! Yea! I am going to indulge in Ezekiel bread. I know, crazy!
Last night I tried roast beef one more time. I made my mom cook it to see if it were more tender. Of course it was. To her it still seemed a bit tough, but to me it seemed like buttah...melted in your mouth. I'm sure you all know this but the biggest thing to do is cook it low temp 325, for a really long time. All the cookbooks just say like an hour and a half, but no, that is not long enough. Try 3-4 hrs! It was super duper good. I used his Worcheshire sauce and butter marinade.
We also had mashed sweet potatoes. I love this dish. I had it at a restaurant and ran right home and tried it. I bake a couple sweet potatoes, skin them, add a bit of raw milk, butter, cinnamon and honey (or maple syrup--real, of course) and blend with a mixer. Yummy! They come out really fluffy and delish.
I've been drinking that Kombucha tea. Ok, i am a little addicted to this really nasty drink. It tastes like vinegar, but it's naturally fermented so carbonated. I guess humans just like carbonation. Its a tea that gets cultured for 30 days. So it really is kind of gross, but ends up with TONS of good bacteria and probiotics and also strangely a bunch of vitamin B. They don't add anything to it so it's all natural. I only drink about 1/3 of a bottle a day (like 6 oz or less). But it may be too much for Miss Willa's tummy. She has really been having gass and pain lately so I will have to lay off that and see if that helps. Poor girl has been up several nights screaming in pain. (Or it could be the eraser!)
I bought all the raw ingredients to try my hand at making ezekiel bread. I want to make it sprouted as well. I am a little intimidated to tell truth. Sounds like a lot of work. But the boys also want pancakes on Saturday and there is a sprouted grain version I wanted to try. I think you have to sprout things overnight, so a lot of planning involved.
But, we can start eating some whole grains! Yea! I am going to indulge in Ezekiel bread. I know, crazy!
Last night I tried roast beef one more time. I made my mom cook it to see if it were more tender. Of course it was. To her it still seemed a bit tough, but to me it seemed like buttah...melted in your mouth. I'm sure you all know this but the biggest thing to do is cook it low temp 325, for a really long time. All the cookbooks just say like an hour and a half, but no, that is not long enough. Try 3-4 hrs! It was super duper good. I used his Worcheshire sauce and butter marinade.
We also had mashed sweet potatoes. I love this dish. I had it at a restaurant and ran right home and tried it. I bake a couple sweet potatoes, skin them, add a bit of raw milk, butter, cinnamon and honey (or maple syrup--real, of course) and blend with a mixer. Yummy! They come out really fluffy and delish.
I've been drinking that Kombucha tea. Ok, i am a little addicted to this really nasty drink. It tastes like vinegar, but it's naturally fermented so carbonated. I guess humans just like carbonation. Its a tea that gets cultured for 30 days. So it really is kind of gross, but ends up with TONS of good bacteria and probiotics and also strangely a bunch of vitamin B. They don't add anything to it so it's all natural. I only drink about 1/3 of a bottle a day (like 6 oz or less). But it may be too much for Miss Willa's tummy. She has really been having gass and pain lately so I will have to lay off that and see if that helps. Poor girl has been up several nights screaming in pain. (Or it could be the eraser!)
I bought all the raw ingredients to try my hand at making ezekiel bread. I want to make it sprouted as well. I am a little intimidated to tell truth. Sounds like a lot of work. But the boys also want pancakes on Saturday and there is a sprouted grain version I wanted to try. I think you have to sprout things overnight, so a lot of planning involved.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Day 27 A big pat on the back
I had to take Willa to the Dr. today because she ate an eraser last week and it hasn't all come out the other end yet! She seems fine tho.
Before christmas willa had been in to see our favorite PA, Martha, about 3 times in 3 weeks for different coughs, croup, bronchitis, and other things. The kids were sick every week.
I told her that we've been healthy for over a month and that we had all switched to a whole foods diet. She was very impressed! She asked me a lot of questions and I told her about how great the kids are doing snacking all day on fruit and not asking for McDonalds and loving salmon. She thought it was great, and said that we were the only parents in her entire practice who have ever done this! So i felt good about that, and it helps to reinforce the efforts! (Now I have to keep going! LOL!)
I love Martha because she totally understands where I am coming from on meds, alternative healing, and health. She just gets it! She works with me and my weird ideas and always agrees with it. :)
Willa, by the way, is right at the 50% line and growing great on breastmilk only! I am going to totally brag for a minute. I never set out to not feed her solids but it has just been working out this way. Her gut is sensitive to foods and she seems healthy just nursing. It's just so rare to see in our country, but Martha was very encouraging about it and reassured me that she is growing great!
Before christmas willa had been in to see our favorite PA, Martha, about 3 times in 3 weeks for different coughs, croup, bronchitis, and other things. The kids were sick every week.
I told her that we've been healthy for over a month and that we had all switched to a whole foods diet. She was very impressed! She asked me a lot of questions and I told her about how great the kids are doing snacking all day on fruit and not asking for McDonalds and loving salmon. She thought it was great, and said that we were the only parents in her entire practice who have ever done this! So i felt good about that, and it helps to reinforce the efforts! (Now I have to keep going! LOL!)
I love Martha because she totally understands where I am coming from on meds, alternative healing, and health. She just gets it! She works with me and my weird ideas and always agrees with it. :)
Willa, by the way, is right at the 50% line and growing great on breastmilk only! I am going to totally brag for a minute. I never set out to not feed her solids but it has just been working out this way. Her gut is sensitive to foods and she seems healthy just nursing. It's just so rare to see in our country, but Martha was very encouraging about it and reassured me that she is growing great!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
DAY 25 Looking forward
We are nearing the end of Phase 2 already and I am looking forward to it. By day 29 we will be eating our new "normal" foods, everything we eat now plus sprouted grains. That will be nice to be free to eat sandwiches, pizza, etc. I am searching for sprouted grain pizza crust and tortilla wraps.
By then we will be out of the "detox" phase of the diet.
While it's still been only 25 days we have had things change. I was hoping to have more energy by now, but that isn't quite there. Like I said before, I don't think I feel as tired, I am just extremely unmotivated to do anything lately. I am not sleeping much thru the night (Willa, not because I can't sleep) and it's dead of winter in Michigan. That really makes a difference, although the past few weeks have actually been sunny...but around zero, so I guess you can't have it all. So maybe it's just winter that has me feeling un-energized. Who knows.
The best thing so far is that we have been 25 days without being sick. I know this doesn't sound like a lot, and it's super easy to forget once we are healthy, but before christmas the kids were literally getting sick 3-4 times a month. So by that we should have had at least 3 colds by now and we haven't had any! That is a miracle in itself.
As far as cravings go, I don't necessarily have "cravings", but sometimes I just feel like once we are done with the 40 days, I could eat pizza and pop and double cheeseburgers again. But some other things are definitely sounding nasty now. It will be difficult to find the balance of eating "treats" once in a while and treating ourselves all the time. Like if I had a coke, could I indulge 1x a month or 1x a year and draw the line? Or is it more like a true addiction that you can never indulge again?
By then we will be out of the "detox" phase of the diet.
While it's still been only 25 days we have had things change. I was hoping to have more energy by now, but that isn't quite there. Like I said before, I don't think I feel as tired, I am just extremely unmotivated to do anything lately. I am not sleeping much thru the night (Willa, not because I can't sleep) and it's dead of winter in Michigan. That really makes a difference, although the past few weeks have actually been sunny...but around zero, so I guess you can't have it all. So maybe it's just winter that has me feeling un-energized. Who knows.
The best thing so far is that we have been 25 days without being sick. I know this doesn't sound like a lot, and it's super easy to forget once we are healthy, but before christmas the kids were literally getting sick 3-4 times a month. So by that we should have had at least 3 colds by now and we haven't had any! That is a miracle in itself.
As far as cravings go, I don't necessarily have "cravings", but sometimes I just feel like once we are done with the 40 days, I could eat pizza and pop and double cheeseburgers again. But some other things are definitely sounding nasty now. It will be difficult to find the balance of eating "treats" once in a while and treating ourselves all the time. Like if I had a coke, could I indulge 1x a month or 1x a year and draw the line? Or is it more like a true addiction that you can never indulge again?
Friday, January 23, 2009
DAY 23 BIG CHEAT
Well, it's going quite well, but I did cheat big time today.
I was feeling very hungry, and the kids talked me into making cookies...I ate a bunch of batter. I mean, I didn't pig-out and eat the whole batch or anything, but a couple cookies worth! GASP!
I guess the moral of today's lesson is that you can't let yourself get too hungry. I noticed that today, which i pretty much have skipped lunch 2 days in a row, I started craving foods again. You know when you are so hungry you don't care what you eat? You could eat the worst thing off the BK menu and it sounds good? So that is the lesson here today.
I think the kids are my weakness. It's hardest denying them the wonders of sweets. I do my best to limit them, but Sawyer was begging for days to make cookies. For those of you who know Sawyer, it's rare that he wants to do something with us, so when he asks, it's hard to say no because it's so unusual and we don't want to discourage him. So I snuck some batter. I'm not gonna lie, it tasted good, but it was the first time in weeks that I felt yucky-full after eating. That full sensation that is like, "Uhgh, I shouldn't have eaten that". So in the end not really worth it, but it was good.
I bagged up the cookies in a bunch of separate bags for the freezer so they only have a couple out at a time. I had been doing so well, but the last day or 2 have been falling in a rut, and not wanting to branch out in my eating to eat enough. So I haven't been eating much lunch. A few weeks ago I was really starting to venture out to lots of new foods, but this week it was very routine, and if I couldn't think of anything to make I just go without. You get used to being hungry. I shouldn't have to be, and need to be expanding my diet again. Like more of the yogurt, milk, kefir.
I am also kind of tired of running to the store because we are always out of something. I need to work on just making lists all the time, and also not buying tons of stuff each time that I don't really need.
It seems like we've been at this a while, but it's only been 3 weeks so I remind myself I can't expect perfection at this point. I need to keep trying new recipes, new places to shop, etc.
I am looking forward to Monday, my friend and I are going to go to Ann Arbor to check out Trader Joes, a whole foods big box store. Hope to find good deals and more variety, especially things like goat milk products, more sprouted grain products (I want to find torillas and pizza crust), and hope they have bulk foods so I can purchase the whole grains to grind myself.
I was feeling very hungry, and the kids talked me into making cookies...I ate a bunch of batter. I mean, I didn't pig-out and eat the whole batch or anything, but a couple cookies worth! GASP!
I guess the moral of today's lesson is that you can't let yourself get too hungry. I noticed that today, which i pretty much have skipped lunch 2 days in a row, I started craving foods again. You know when you are so hungry you don't care what you eat? You could eat the worst thing off the BK menu and it sounds good? So that is the lesson here today.
I think the kids are my weakness. It's hardest denying them the wonders of sweets. I do my best to limit them, but Sawyer was begging for days to make cookies. For those of you who know Sawyer, it's rare that he wants to do something with us, so when he asks, it's hard to say no because it's so unusual and we don't want to discourage him. So I snuck some batter. I'm not gonna lie, it tasted good, but it was the first time in weeks that I felt yucky-full after eating. That full sensation that is like, "Uhgh, I shouldn't have eaten that". So in the end not really worth it, but it was good.
I bagged up the cookies in a bunch of separate bags for the freezer so they only have a couple out at a time. I had been doing so well, but the last day or 2 have been falling in a rut, and not wanting to branch out in my eating to eat enough. So I haven't been eating much lunch. A few weeks ago I was really starting to venture out to lots of new foods, but this week it was very routine, and if I couldn't think of anything to make I just go without. You get used to being hungry. I shouldn't have to be, and need to be expanding my diet again. Like more of the yogurt, milk, kefir.
I am also kind of tired of running to the store because we are always out of something. I need to work on just making lists all the time, and also not buying tons of stuff each time that I don't really need.
It seems like we've been at this a while, but it's only been 3 weeks so I remind myself I can't expect perfection at this point. I need to keep trying new recipes, new places to shop, etc.
I am looking forward to Monday, my friend and I are going to go to Ann Arbor to check out Trader Joes, a whole foods big box store. Hope to find good deals and more variety, especially things like goat milk products, more sprouted grain products (I want to find torillas and pizza crust), and hope they have bulk foods so I can purchase the whole grains to grind myself.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
SUPER DUPER easy changes you can make
Here's a list of really easy changes any one can start to make that you won't even notice:
Make the switch from:
Iodized salt to sea salt
Processed peanut butter to natural peanut butter
Eggs to Organic, FREE-RANGE eggs
Margarine to real butter
Vegetable oil to coconut oil and olive oil
regular white bread to sprouted grain bread or ezekiel bread
Instant oatmeal to steel -cut groats
Salad Dressing to Olive oil/vinegar
Read labels and avoid any food with partially hydrogenated oil and Corn Syrup
Step 2 Ideas
Even if you don't give up grains and carbs, simply switch from boxed items to making things from scratch. For example, go look at the ingredient list for blueberry muffins, and then a simple recipe for muffins. You will be amazed!
Go to www.localharvest.org to find farmers in your area that sell organic veggies, grass-fed meats and even raw milk
Eliminate any snack foods and replace with fruit.
Make the switch from:
Iodized salt to sea salt
Processed peanut butter to natural peanut butter
Eggs to Organic, FREE-RANGE eggs
Margarine to real butter
Vegetable oil to coconut oil and olive oil
regular white bread to sprouted grain bread or ezekiel bread
Instant oatmeal to steel -cut groats
Salad Dressing to Olive oil/vinegar
Read labels and avoid any food with partially hydrogenated oil and Corn Syrup
Step 2 Ideas
Even if you don't give up grains and carbs, simply switch from boxed items to making things from scratch. For example, go look at the ingredient list for blueberry muffins, and then a simple recipe for muffins. You will be amazed!
Go to www.localharvest.org to find farmers in your area that sell organic veggies, grass-fed meats and even raw milk
Eliminate any snack foods and replace with fruit.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A Few Of My Favorite Things
Deviled Eggs (It may sound gross, but I eat them each morning! I Can't stop!)
Ruby Red Grapefruit in January
Raspberries
Coconut water
Buttered stove-top popcorn
Latte with cocoa powder
Sweet Potatoes
Sauteed Mushrooms
Red Sweet Peppers
Ruby Red Grapefruit in January
Raspberries
Coconut water
Buttered stove-top popcorn
Latte with cocoa powder
Sweet Potatoes
Sauteed Mushrooms
Red Sweet Peppers
DAY 20 MIDWAY Assessment
Well, we are half way done!
Things are back on track after this weekend, but I am still a bit worried about what to make each day for supper. I feel like this diet is heavy on meat, and hope that when we get to Phase 3 we can ease up and do more grains and beans.
I know you all will hate me but I've lost about 10lbs. It's not good, so I have to think of things that will give me more calories.
The kids are still doing well, but we are going to that "Junk Food Place" today. So we will get them back on track soon.
I found sprouted Ezekiel bread at the HFS so they are eating that for breakfast. I found a couple recipes to make it and in a week I will try it and post them if they turn out. Actually there aren't many different recipes for it out there (just God's!) so it should work!
I am bumping up my daily supplement of Cod Liver Oil and vitamin to 2x a day. By the way, the Garden Of Life Cod Liver Oil is very good. It's lemon/mint flavored and actually the mint is the only thing you taste. The oil is very light so after the first 2 days I really can't taste it and don't even need to force myself. It's not bad at all. It's important to do the CLO because of the Omega 3s and also a natural source of Vitamin A and D. Very important in the winter. Funny how our great-grandparents knew this...
Remind me we can't eat out this week because of last week...
Let's see, we still need to get our kids more CLO but they are eating their fish. I think Levi's arm bumps are almost gone!
Last night I made Shepards Pie without the mashed potatoes. It turned into a soup and the kids ate it!
The other problem I run into is that a lot of the recipes I find are for really good cuts of meat. Which is fine, but expensive. We had bought a 1/4 of a grass-fed organic cow this fall (very cost effective way to go). BUT you get a lot of ground burger, and obviously you only get a few steaks, a few roasts, and a lot of burger. Good meat, but not many burger recipes out there without carbs.
So we try to rotate, fish, chicken, meat, burger, chicken, burger, fish... You almost need a burger night every few days to make sure we don't end up with all burger!
No colds or flus so far. I'm not holding my breath, and maybe it's because it's been below zero here for 2 weeks and nothing can survive! We'll see!
I feel like I am not so weary each day, but am lacking motivation. I do hate winter tho (have I mentioned that yet?) Also, Willa is not catching on that she is supposed to be sleeping thru the night now.
Things are back on track after this weekend, but I am still a bit worried about what to make each day for supper. I feel like this diet is heavy on meat, and hope that when we get to Phase 3 we can ease up and do more grains and beans.
I know you all will hate me but I've lost about 10lbs. It's not good, so I have to think of things that will give me more calories.
The kids are still doing well, but we are going to that "Junk Food Place" today. So we will get them back on track soon.
I found sprouted Ezekiel bread at the HFS so they are eating that for breakfast. I found a couple recipes to make it and in a week I will try it and post them if they turn out. Actually there aren't many different recipes for it out there (just God's!) so it should work!
I am bumping up my daily supplement of Cod Liver Oil and vitamin to 2x a day. By the way, the Garden Of Life Cod Liver Oil is very good. It's lemon/mint flavored and actually the mint is the only thing you taste. The oil is very light so after the first 2 days I really can't taste it and don't even need to force myself. It's not bad at all. It's important to do the CLO because of the Omega 3s and also a natural source of Vitamin A and D. Very important in the winter. Funny how our great-grandparents knew this...
Remind me we can't eat out this week because of last week...
Let's see, we still need to get our kids more CLO but they are eating their fish. I think Levi's arm bumps are almost gone!
Last night I made Shepards Pie without the mashed potatoes. It turned into a soup and the kids ate it!
The other problem I run into is that a lot of the recipes I find are for really good cuts of meat. Which is fine, but expensive. We had bought a 1/4 of a grass-fed organic cow this fall (very cost effective way to go). BUT you get a lot of ground burger, and obviously you only get a few steaks, a few roasts, and a lot of burger. Good meat, but not many burger recipes out there without carbs.
So we try to rotate, fish, chicken, meat, burger, chicken, burger, fish... You almost need a burger night every few days to make sure we don't end up with all burger!
No colds or flus so far. I'm not holding my breath, and maybe it's because it's been below zero here for 2 weeks and nothing can survive! We'll see!
I feel like I am not so weary each day, but am lacking motivation. I do hate winter tho (have I mentioned that yet?) Also, Willa is not catching on that she is supposed to be sleeping thru the night now.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
DAY 18 Mini Vacation Successes and Failures
We spent the overnight Saturday at a full Indoor Waterpark about 50 miles from home. We needed to get away! The kids had great fun and even Willa got in the water. We watched a bit of tv and played arcades. They swam Saturday night and sunday morning.
We basically let the kids go off the diet for a bit, within reason. Saturday night they got a hot dog meal with fries, but drank OJ instead of any pop. They didn't notice. Sunday morning the were so looking forward to the "waffle making" at the continental breakfast I couldn't say no.
We brought fruit to snack on though, so it wasn't too terrible.
I did OK, but cheated a bit. Saturday night I chose the least cheating thing on the menu, which was a beef/lamb gyro. So I ate about 1/2 a pita, and I did eat the fries! The horror!
I also (full confession time) took about 3 bites of the kids' waffles, but restrained myself from sampling the donuts. I also slugged down their oj which I am not to have yet. I did have the sense not to eat a ton of that stuff, and while it still tasted good, I did receive the brain signals that if I consumed a lot of it, I would not feel good afterward. If you recall my earlier blog about craving bad food even tho you feel bad afterward but not stopping you, maybe I am improving? It could be that weaning yourself off the addiction actually clears that brain signal? Interesting development.
Anyway, long story but Justin had a party that evening so he went there and stayed home and came back to the hotel in the am, bringing with him boiled eggs for us.
We headed back around noon and were going to stop to eat, but couldn't stomach even "diner" food. So we went for our wonderful improv meal. It's so great, and everyone should do it if travelling. You feel SOOOOO much better after eating even more than a nice restaurant, and costs less.
We stop at a supermarket and buy a rotisserrie chicken. Then we "splurge" and buy a bunch of fresh berries (at least a container for each person) and maybe some cheese or this time we bought some hummus and organic corn chips (just corn and oil!). It was so good! Then we have a picnic in the car. It sure does beat taking the kids in a restaurant, paying a lot, or feeling crappy and can't really even buy that food in a restaurant either. Also beats packing dry old sandwiches.
Well, I also have to confess that for the past couple days I've been flavoring my 1 coffee for the day with some cocoa that has sugar. I just cannot drink unsweetened coffee!
We basically let the kids go off the diet for a bit, within reason. Saturday night they got a hot dog meal with fries, but drank OJ instead of any pop. They didn't notice. Sunday morning the were so looking forward to the "waffle making" at the continental breakfast I couldn't say no.
We brought fruit to snack on though, so it wasn't too terrible.
I did OK, but cheated a bit. Saturday night I chose the least cheating thing on the menu, which was a beef/lamb gyro. So I ate about 1/2 a pita, and I did eat the fries! The horror!
I also (full confession time) took about 3 bites of the kids' waffles, but restrained myself from sampling the donuts. I also slugged down their oj which I am not to have yet. I did have the sense not to eat a ton of that stuff, and while it still tasted good, I did receive the brain signals that if I consumed a lot of it, I would not feel good afterward. If you recall my earlier blog about craving bad food even tho you feel bad afterward but not stopping you, maybe I am improving? It could be that weaning yourself off the addiction actually clears that brain signal? Interesting development.
Anyway, long story but Justin had a party that evening so he went there and stayed home and came back to the hotel in the am, bringing with him boiled eggs for us.
We headed back around noon and were going to stop to eat, but couldn't stomach even "diner" food. So we went for our wonderful improv meal. It's so great, and everyone should do it if travelling. You feel SOOOOO much better after eating even more than a nice restaurant, and costs less.
We stop at a supermarket and buy a rotisserrie chicken. Then we "splurge" and buy a bunch of fresh berries (at least a container for each person) and maybe some cheese or this time we bought some hummus and organic corn chips (just corn and oil!). It was so good! Then we have a picnic in the car. It sure does beat taking the kids in a restaurant, paying a lot, or feeling crappy and can't really even buy that food in a restaurant either. Also beats packing dry old sandwiches.
Well, I also have to confess that for the past couple days I've been flavoring my 1 coffee for the day with some cocoa that has sugar. I just cannot drink unsweetened coffee!
Friday, January 16, 2009
DAY 16 I forgot to plan
Today was a snow day for Sawyer, and the guys came to clean our carpet. A most exciting day here, and I was sooooo exhausted for some reason, I just wanted to sleep, which of course, Willa decided not to nap the entire day (except in the car on the way home tonight for 20 minutes so she is not wanting to go to sleep for the night).
Apparently my great record for meal planning escaped me and I figured that since we were going to Kalamazoo for Tae Kwon Do we would eat out again. We did find that place we were looking for last week. It was really nice, and we had steak and fish and veggies. It wasn't super duper expensive but the portions were gourmet (small).
Then I remembered we are going away overnight tomorrow and I had planned on eating out there. OOPs. I really didn't want to spend $$ on 2 meals in a row, plus breakfast. Agghh. I hate doing that. I always feel like i should deserve to eat out once in awhile, (see even I have that American Mentality of indulgence) but then it doesn't seem worth it after. Especially with little kids, you are just trying to survive the meal and get home, and then it's late and they all fall asleep in the car and you get home late and then they are super grumpy and don't want to sleep.
Oh well. Lesson learned (probably not). I will have to not treat ourselves next week!
Apparently my great record for meal planning escaped me and I figured that since we were going to Kalamazoo for Tae Kwon Do we would eat out again. We did find that place we were looking for last week. It was really nice, and we had steak and fish and veggies. It wasn't super duper expensive but the portions were gourmet (small).
Then I remembered we are going away overnight tomorrow and I had planned on eating out there. OOPs. I really didn't want to spend $$ on 2 meals in a row, plus breakfast. Agghh. I hate doing that. I always feel like i should deserve to eat out once in awhile, (see even I have that American Mentality of indulgence) but then it doesn't seem worth it after. Especially with little kids, you are just trying to survive the meal and get home, and then it's late and they all fall asleep in the car and you get home late and then they are super grumpy and don't want to sleep.
Oh well. Lesson learned (probably not). I will have to not treat ourselves next week!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
DAY 15 PHASE 2!
Well, we made it to the second phase. We celebrated by snacking on stove-top popcorn. Basically now we can add corn, sweet potatoes, and some raw nuts and seeds. More fruit, but we've been eating most fruits and different dairy, which we are lax on due to the availability of raw goats milk in the area.
Today we had eggs of course, grapefruit, coconut, oranges, bananas, apples, etc for snacks.
Lunch the boys had their sandwiches and we had leftovers.
Tonight we had salmon, squash and sauteed mushrooms. I also made the avacado dip for some extra calories.
I've been snacking on plain yogurt and i add a touch of vanilla extract and a bit of honey.
You know, reading labels is so important, but you forget that when you shop for whole foods because usually there are no labels. But they are forever trying to trick you. The other day there were blueberries on sale. They look great, but its the middle of January....hmmm, how does that work? The label says they are from Michigan! Wow! Wait a minute...I'm in michigan right now and it doesn't seem warm enough to be harvesting blueberries...Oh wait, in tiny print below the michigan label it says, "grown FOR Michigan, from Argentina". Never mind...
THEN today I grabbed our wonderful Salmon fillets from the location they are always at, same everything that is always fresh ocean caught salmon. I get home and glance at the little butcher wrap label and it says Farm Raised in Chile!!!! AUGH... I can't win. Who would have thought you needed to read meat labels and fruit labels.
Not only do I not want foreign foods because of their lax and unregulated uses of pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and perhaps even-more-questionable-than-ours- farming practices, not to mention the fossil fuels it takes to ship Blueberries across the world in January, but it's important to know where the meat is from too, because that influences it's nutrient content. The reason FISH has Omega3 essential fatty acids is because fish in the ocean eat kelp and other green things or other fish that eat green things, and this kelp is where Omega 3s are. In a Salmon Farm they feed them grain and anything that they can find to be profitable weight gain. Likewise with red meat. Red meat is only bad because of what the red meat eats. GRAIN and crap (sometimes literally). Turns out GRASS has the omega 3 and thats' why grass-fed beef is important. You are what you eat, and so is the cow.
OK, I am getting off my soap-box for this evening.
Today we had eggs of course, grapefruit, coconut, oranges, bananas, apples, etc for snacks.
Lunch the boys had their sandwiches and we had leftovers.
Tonight we had salmon, squash and sauteed mushrooms. I also made the avacado dip for some extra calories.
I've been snacking on plain yogurt and i add a touch of vanilla extract and a bit of honey.
You know, reading labels is so important, but you forget that when you shop for whole foods because usually there are no labels. But they are forever trying to trick you. The other day there were blueberries on sale. They look great, but its the middle of January....hmmm, how does that work? The label says they are from Michigan! Wow! Wait a minute...I'm in michigan right now and it doesn't seem warm enough to be harvesting blueberries...Oh wait, in tiny print below the michigan label it says, "grown FOR Michigan, from Argentina". Never mind...
THEN today I grabbed our wonderful Salmon fillets from the location they are always at, same everything that is always fresh ocean caught salmon. I get home and glance at the little butcher wrap label and it says Farm Raised in Chile!!!! AUGH... I can't win. Who would have thought you needed to read meat labels and fruit labels.
Not only do I not want foreign foods because of their lax and unregulated uses of pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and perhaps even-more-questionable-than-ours- farming practices, not to mention the fossil fuels it takes to ship Blueberries across the world in January, but it's important to know where the meat is from too, because that influences it's nutrient content. The reason FISH has Omega3 essential fatty acids is because fish in the ocean eat kelp and other green things or other fish that eat green things, and this kelp is where Omega 3s are. In a Salmon Farm they feed them grain and anything that they can find to be profitable weight gain. Likewise with red meat. Red meat is only bad because of what the red meat eats. GRAIN and crap (sometimes literally). Turns out GRASS has the omega 3 and thats' why grass-fed beef is important. You are what you eat, and so is the cow.
OK, I am getting off my soap-box for this evening.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Day 14 Not so Impossible
I am so surprised at the kids. They are doing so well! I thought it would be impossible for them to change, but like a Dr told me, the kids are easy, it's trying to get adults to change that's impossible. The boys transitioned flawlessly to this diet. While we aren't as strict with them, they are doing great. They switched over to all Ezekiel or sprouted breads, snack only on fruit, eat cheese, and meat, and some milk. They haven't once asked to eat at McDonalds. Of course, I am sure they wouldn't mind going, but if we don't go they don't think of it.
They do miss pizza, but in a few weeks when us grownups can eat grains, I am going to make sprouted grain crust and pizza again. Actually I could make tiny pizza's for them on sprouted round breads.
We are trying to find the right balance for them between a "perfect" diet, and the "real" world. We want them to eat great and not become addicted to bad foods, but we don't want to be so strict that they rebel or get labeled "weirdos" at school or anything. We may never bring cupcakes to school but we probably won't send them to an overnight party with their own supply of goat's kefir! LOL! Jordan Rubin has a Kids Great Physicians Prescription book that is great, and he has a 3 yr old that basically has eaten nothing but pure bible foods from day 1. It's great, and I think way to go, but at the same time there is a fine line. I don't want my kids either to look down on other kids. I hope they can be gentle educators about foods but not judgmental. Even now, Sawyer asks a lot of questions about what exactly is junk food and what is good. Looking at the other kids snacks, he is the only one eating fruit or anything not totally processed. So I want him to know this, but not start blabbing that they are all eating junk food! That might be trouble. I don't know, maybe not.
Here is a very funny story: (The kids are very into categorizing foods into junk food vs. not junk food)
I told Sawyer that next tuesday is the John Deere open house that we went to last year. I reminded him by mentioning the free food we got last year (cheeseburgers, homemade malteds, and cake). Every day now the kids excitedly ask if this is the day they "get to go to that Junk Food Store!!!!" They won't miss it for the world! LOL!
It would be nice if once in a huge while we can all indulge if only for a day and not expect it more often. To me that is a good compromise, to go back to the time when that kind of food is very special and associated with special times, not every day fare. Unfortunately we live in a culture that we want every day to be indulgent and special and "reward" ourselves almost daily, just because we deserve it.
They do miss pizza, but in a few weeks when us grownups can eat grains, I am going to make sprouted grain crust and pizza again. Actually I could make tiny pizza's for them on sprouted round breads.
We are trying to find the right balance for them between a "perfect" diet, and the "real" world. We want them to eat great and not become addicted to bad foods, but we don't want to be so strict that they rebel or get labeled "weirdos" at school or anything. We may never bring cupcakes to school but we probably won't send them to an overnight party with their own supply of goat's kefir! LOL! Jordan Rubin has a Kids Great Physicians Prescription book that is great, and he has a 3 yr old that basically has eaten nothing but pure bible foods from day 1. It's great, and I think way to go, but at the same time there is a fine line. I don't want my kids either to look down on other kids. I hope they can be gentle educators about foods but not judgmental. Even now, Sawyer asks a lot of questions about what exactly is junk food and what is good. Looking at the other kids snacks, he is the only one eating fruit or anything not totally processed. So I want him to know this, but not start blabbing that they are all eating junk food! That might be trouble. I don't know, maybe not.
Here is a very funny story: (The kids are very into categorizing foods into junk food vs. not junk food)
I told Sawyer that next tuesday is the John Deere open house that we went to last year. I reminded him by mentioning the free food we got last year (cheeseburgers, homemade malteds, and cake). Every day now the kids excitedly ask if this is the day they "get to go to that Junk Food Store!!!!" They won't miss it for the world! LOL!
It would be nice if once in a huge while we can all indulge if only for a day and not expect it more often. To me that is a good compromise, to go back to the time when that kind of food is very special and associated with special times, not every day fare. Unfortunately we live in a culture that we want every day to be indulgent and special and "reward" ourselves almost daily, just because we deserve it.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Day 12
It seems to be getting easier. Not only thinking of things to eat, but preparing as well. Really, it's quite simple recipes. Meat, veggies, fruit. No baking. Now that we know where to buy everything, it's not so crazy. Also, I am getting used to preparing all the meals, not going out, and thinking of different foods to snack on instead of the usual. At first I was worried I might feel hungry all the time. That isn't happening. i don't know if it's because I have expanded my food choices or that I am getting used to not eating empty calories. I think in the end this way of eating will actually be easier and cheaper than the Standard American Diet.
Tonight I had bought frozen Mahi-Mahi and decided to try the marinade recipe on the back of the package. It was an asian ginger marinade. IT was AMAZING! Yummy. It had a small amount of soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I just sauteed the fish on the stove (marinading first). Then you take the rest of the marinade and boil it and then pour it over. It was good.
I also had made an avacado sauce to dip the fish in. It didn't NEED it, but it too was really good. Just 1 avacado, 1/3 cup plain yogurt, and 1 TBSP lime juice. It's sooooo yummy. The boys ate the fish and carrots and cucumbers and we had some more sauteed bell peppers and onions.
The kids are healthy and happy so far.
Tonight I had bought frozen Mahi-Mahi and decided to try the marinade recipe on the back of the package. It was an asian ginger marinade. IT was AMAZING! Yummy. It had a small amount of soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I just sauteed the fish on the stove (marinading first). Then you take the rest of the marinade and boil it and then pour it over. It was good.
I also had made an avacado sauce to dip the fish in. It didn't NEED it, but it too was really good. Just 1 avacado, 1/3 cup plain yogurt, and 1 TBSP lime juice. It's sooooo yummy. The boys ate the fish and carrots and cucumbers and we had some more sauteed bell peppers and onions.
The kids are healthy and happy so far.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
DAY 11
Not much exciting to report today.
We had eggs for breakfast, grapefruit, the usual. They boys lately have been eating sunflower butter and jelly sandwiches on sprouted grain bread for breakfast.
For lunch after church we were grocery shopping so just snacked on lunch meat and cheese.
Tonight I made roast beef again with sauteed mushrooms in butter and sauteed bellpeppers and onions for veggies as well as another mixed salad.
Very good but again the roast was tough. I cooked it just perfect this time and it wasn't dry or anything. Could it be that's how roast is supposed to be (its grass-fed organic)? Anyone out there have any ideas for getting it more tender? I cooked it between 300-325 and went on temp until it got to 155 or so. A book i have says that with this kind of meat you take it out a bit before it's done and let it "coast" in.
It's getting easier. For me I just have to get used to planning meals every day instead of doing whatever and then having to eat out for lack of a better plan. Now that i'm in the swing of it, that's coming easier. I am still worried of running out of ideas. But not yet.
We're almost to Phase 2, which will begin in 3 days. It won't be much of a change because the "cheating" we've done is food that are allowed in the 2nd phase. But we will be able to add in corn, sweet potatoes, and some raw nuts and seeds.
I do have to admit that while Willa is not sleeping any better, I am NOT FEELING QUITE SO TIRED. In the last 2-3 days I've noticed that I do not spend my day wishing to be in bed. I still grab a nap if opportunity strikes since I am not getting enough sleep but i am not sluggish any more. I have also noticed that I can't fall asleep right away at night, but I don't know if that is the diet or that Willa is in her crib and my body isn't releasing sleep hormones without her. (It's a mommy thing).
We had eggs for breakfast, grapefruit, the usual. They boys lately have been eating sunflower butter and jelly sandwiches on sprouted grain bread for breakfast.
For lunch after church we were grocery shopping so just snacked on lunch meat and cheese.
Tonight I made roast beef again with sauteed mushrooms in butter and sauteed bellpeppers and onions for veggies as well as another mixed salad.
Very good but again the roast was tough. I cooked it just perfect this time and it wasn't dry or anything. Could it be that's how roast is supposed to be (its grass-fed organic)? Anyone out there have any ideas for getting it more tender? I cooked it between 300-325 and went on temp until it got to 155 or so. A book i have says that with this kind of meat you take it out a bit before it's done and let it "coast" in.
It's getting easier. For me I just have to get used to planning meals every day instead of doing whatever and then having to eat out for lack of a better plan. Now that i'm in the swing of it, that's coming easier. I am still worried of running out of ideas. But not yet.
We're almost to Phase 2, which will begin in 3 days. It won't be much of a change because the "cheating" we've done is food that are allowed in the 2nd phase. But we will be able to add in corn, sweet potatoes, and some raw nuts and seeds.
I do have to admit that while Willa is not sleeping any better, I am NOT FEELING QUITE SO TIRED. In the last 2-3 days I've noticed that I do not spend my day wishing to be in bed. I still grab a nap if opportunity strikes since I am not getting enough sleep but i am not sluggish any more. I have also noticed that I can't fall asleep right away at night, but I don't know if that is the diet or that Willa is in her crib and my body isn't releasing sleep hormones without her. (It's a mommy thing).
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Day 10
Yesterday went fine. I didn't put a whole lot of thought into meals, and so didn't get much to eat for breakfast or lunch. While the kids had tuna on sprouted bread, we just ate the tuna.
We went out for dinner as a treat. There was this really cool restaurant we wanted to try but couldn't find it. We ended up at the Texas Roadhouse. It was the middle of a snowstorm.
It's relatively easy to eat in any restaurant as long as they make actually "real" food (not processed or fried). Sure you have to forgo the breads and buns, but not hard at all.
Justin had grilled fish with 2 veggie sides, and I got the prime rib with salad and veggies. We all drank water (dad would be proud!) and only the kids ate the bread and peanuts.
The funny thing about this whole "complex" nutrition, is that it was the common sense diet not even 100 years ago. They didn't even have to think about it. It was just what everyone ate. It's so maddening to think how hard it is now just because so many industries have made billions of dollars at our health's expense and changed the entire landscape of food!
Could you imagine telling someone from the 19th century that we can't even FIND animals that are eating grass or that you can't even buy milk straight from the farmer??? If you walk into a grocery store thats 10s of thousands of square feet full of corn products you can even buy sprouted bread or meat that isn't tainted with chemicals! HOW RIDICULOUS! It would be laughable if not so sad. I try to picture everyday people trying this diet but not even being able to find the foods they're supposed to eat! WOW! I mean, they are out there, don't get me wrong, but it's so odd that you can't walk into a regular grocery store to buy food that is good for you!
I am not trying to discourage anyone from doing this, but just amazed at our world that is so "ADVANCED" HAHAHAHA. Anyone can indeed find these wonderful foods to eat, but it's going to take work. I think that is the hardest part. Once you find them, nothin to it!
That's what I love about this "diet". It's ideas and food are simplicity themselves. You can make nutrition really complicated, the way the world wants you to see it, or it can be really simple. Just changing to making everything from scratch would be huge. Or never buy a food in a box! That's probably a perfect rule of thumb to good nutrition!
My greatgrandma in my own kitchen probably would be wondering why it's so difficult at all. She would wonder why I would want to or have to journal about cookin meals!
One fun tip i learned right in the middle of Meijers the other day: "Prior to 1960, the cooking oil of the world was coconut oil until it was replaced by Soybean oil". That right there explains a lot of heart disease. Coconut oil is one of the healthiest oils you can consume and heating it does not convert it to tranfs fats. It's a staple of whole foods eating. Soybean oil, on the other hand, or other vegetable oils are bad, bad, bad. When they heat up, the "good" oil converts to bad oils. And your body doesn't recognize these forms of bad fat and either stores them in your stomach or arteries!
We went out for dinner as a treat. There was this really cool restaurant we wanted to try but couldn't find it. We ended up at the Texas Roadhouse. It was the middle of a snowstorm.
It's relatively easy to eat in any restaurant as long as they make actually "real" food (not processed or fried). Sure you have to forgo the breads and buns, but not hard at all.
Justin had grilled fish with 2 veggie sides, and I got the prime rib with salad and veggies. We all drank water (dad would be proud!) and only the kids ate the bread and peanuts.
The funny thing about this whole "complex" nutrition, is that it was the common sense diet not even 100 years ago. They didn't even have to think about it. It was just what everyone ate. It's so maddening to think how hard it is now just because so many industries have made billions of dollars at our health's expense and changed the entire landscape of food!
Could you imagine telling someone from the 19th century that we can't even FIND animals that are eating grass or that you can't even buy milk straight from the farmer??? If you walk into a grocery store thats 10s of thousands of square feet full of corn products you can even buy sprouted bread or meat that isn't tainted with chemicals! HOW RIDICULOUS! It would be laughable if not so sad. I try to picture everyday people trying this diet but not even being able to find the foods they're supposed to eat! WOW! I mean, they are out there, don't get me wrong, but it's so odd that you can't walk into a regular grocery store to buy food that is good for you!
I am not trying to discourage anyone from doing this, but just amazed at our world that is so "ADVANCED" HAHAHAHA. Anyone can indeed find these wonderful foods to eat, but it's going to take work. I think that is the hardest part. Once you find them, nothin to it!
That's what I love about this "diet". It's ideas and food are simplicity themselves. You can make nutrition really complicated, the way the world wants you to see it, or it can be really simple. Just changing to making everything from scratch would be huge. Or never buy a food in a box! That's probably a perfect rule of thumb to good nutrition!
My greatgrandma in my own kitchen probably would be wondering why it's so difficult at all. She would wonder why I would want to or have to journal about cookin meals!
One fun tip i learned right in the middle of Meijers the other day: "Prior to 1960, the cooking oil of the world was coconut oil until it was replaced by Soybean oil". That right there explains a lot of heart disease. Coconut oil is one of the healthiest oils you can consume and heating it does not convert it to tranfs fats. It's a staple of whole foods eating. Soybean oil, on the other hand, or other vegetable oils are bad, bad, bad. When they heat up, the "good" oil converts to bad oils. And your body doesn't recognize these forms of bad fat and either stores them in your stomach or arteries!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
DAY 8 Partial Fast/Partial Success
Today we were supposed to fast from last night until dinner tonight. We had to skip breakfast, lunch, and any foods, drinking only water and taking vitamins.
It was hard! At noon I realized that I shouldn't probably be fasting since I am nursing my 10 month old exclusively. Then Justin decided he couldn't either.
BUT he promises to do better next Thursday.
So we are not going to beat ourselves up or give up but know that we got at least half way thru and can do more of it next time.
I do feel much better today. The bad part about fasting was that I wanted to eat lots of junk when I was thru...BUT I DIDN'T.
Fasting is supposed to be really good for your body, because your body heals itself when it's not trying to get nourishment. We are supposed to fast once a week thru the 40 days and any time there are problems or we want to get back on the right track in the future. It's also a biblically sound practice. Jesus fasted for 40 days without even water!!!!! There is lots of medical evidence to the benefits of fasting. We were to pray each time we felt hungry!
So anyway, at lunch we ate eggs and grapefruit, and supper we had grilled salmon, squash, and spinach salad with goat cheese and dressing. A few months ago we discovered that the boys LOVE salmon! So Funny. Tonight they eat had a HUGE piece and wanted more! They eat more of that than steak! Who knew?
I am definitely looking forward to next week when we should be feeling great with all this good food. I know it takes time and my biggest problem is not trying something long enough to see results. But for instance, even the other day when Levi caught a cold (I was hoping we would never get sick immediately after starting) turns out he fought it off right away and only was sick for maybe 2 days, and not even a runny nose! Even his cough only lasted 1 night. He usually gets it settle in his lungs for weeks. And so far no one else is sick either. Maybe his eating all those oranges does help!
It was hard! At noon I realized that I shouldn't probably be fasting since I am nursing my 10 month old exclusively. Then Justin decided he couldn't either.
BUT he promises to do better next Thursday.
So we are not going to beat ourselves up or give up but know that we got at least half way thru and can do more of it next time.
I do feel much better today. The bad part about fasting was that I wanted to eat lots of junk when I was thru...BUT I DIDN'T.
Fasting is supposed to be really good for your body, because your body heals itself when it's not trying to get nourishment. We are supposed to fast once a week thru the 40 days and any time there are problems or we want to get back on the right track in the future. It's also a biblically sound practice. Jesus fasted for 40 days without even water!!!!! There is lots of medical evidence to the benefits of fasting. We were to pray each time we felt hungry!
So anyway, at lunch we ate eggs and grapefruit, and supper we had grilled salmon, squash, and spinach salad with goat cheese and dressing. A few months ago we discovered that the boys LOVE salmon! So Funny. Tonight they eat had a HUGE piece and wanted more! They eat more of that than steak! Who knew?
I am definitely looking forward to next week when we should be feeling great with all this good food. I know it takes time and my biggest problem is not trying something long enough to see results. But for instance, even the other day when Levi caught a cold (I was hoping we would never get sick immediately after starting) turns out he fought it off right away and only was sick for maybe 2 days, and not even a runny nose! Even his cough only lasted 1 night. He usually gets it settle in his lungs for weeks. And so far no one else is sick either. Maybe his eating all those oranges does help!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
DAY 7 We're all crabby
Our bodies feel fine, but we are all quite crabby and depressed. Is it the food, the sugar withdrawl, or the lovely Michigan skies?
We are doing this whole-foods diet but starting with a 40 day very limited diet plan to eliminate sugars and wean ourselves off these addictions. It won't always be this strict, but Rubin explains in his "Maker's Diet" book that although grain is part of a good diet, we eat way too much and need to heal our bodies before allowing it back in. Which makes a lot of sense in light of all these medical books I've been reading about all the problems caused by food allergies. It's funny because it's always wheat and dairy, which we have too much of and in a bad form.
So Rubin has 3 Phases in these 40 days. Phase one is the first 2 weeks. So we can eat NO grains, beans, starches, corn, sugar, and most dairy. We are not following all the dairy rules since we can't find goats milk and products and don't want to bother with the work for a few short weeks of this diet. Again, since our diets weren't terrible before, it's not going to make that much difference.
In Phase 2 we can add in things like sweet potatoes, corn, and a couple kinds of bean.
Not until Phase 3 can we eat SOME grains but forever more should only be sprouted and in limited amounts (i.e. sandwiches and some cereal like Ezekiel stuff is fine, but no pastries, buns, donuts, etc) You can add in nuts and seeds, more beans and potatoes.
He also really focuses on "live" cultured foods, from kefir, sauerkraut, pickles, raw dairy, etc. It's really important for gut health to introduce good bacteria. It has LOOONNNGGGG been known (and then forgotten by the health industry) that good health and brain function begins in the gut. In fact, seritonin is manufactured in the gut! Back in the 17 and 1800s the gut was referred to as the 2nd brain. Most americans have very poor gut function, which is why we have Crohns, Irritable Bowel, food allergies, GERD, acid Reflux. All these diseases are easily preventible with a good diet.
We are doing this whole-foods diet but starting with a 40 day very limited diet plan to eliminate sugars and wean ourselves off these addictions. It won't always be this strict, but Rubin explains in his "Maker's Diet" book that although grain is part of a good diet, we eat way too much and need to heal our bodies before allowing it back in. Which makes a lot of sense in light of all these medical books I've been reading about all the problems caused by food allergies. It's funny because it's always wheat and dairy, which we have too much of and in a bad form.
So Rubin has 3 Phases in these 40 days. Phase one is the first 2 weeks. So we can eat NO grains, beans, starches, corn, sugar, and most dairy. We are not following all the dairy rules since we can't find goats milk and products and don't want to bother with the work for a few short weeks of this diet. Again, since our diets weren't terrible before, it's not going to make that much difference.
In Phase 2 we can add in things like sweet potatoes, corn, and a couple kinds of bean.
Not until Phase 3 can we eat SOME grains but forever more should only be sprouted and in limited amounts (i.e. sandwiches and some cereal like Ezekiel stuff is fine, but no pastries, buns, donuts, etc) You can add in nuts and seeds, more beans and potatoes.
He also really focuses on "live" cultured foods, from kefir, sauerkraut, pickles, raw dairy, etc. It's really important for gut health to introduce good bacteria. It has LOOONNNGGGG been known (and then forgotten by the health industry) that good health and brain function begins in the gut. In fact, seritonin is manufactured in the gut! Back in the 17 and 1800s the gut was referred to as the 2nd brain. Most americans have very poor gut function, which is why we have Crohns, Irritable Bowel, food allergies, GERD, acid Reflux. All these diseases are easily preventible with a good diet.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Why is it?
Here are some of the yummiest things in the world:
Fresh raspberries
In season Ruby Red Grapefruit
Grass-Fed Steak
Fresh ground coffee
Ripe garden Tomatoes
Honeycrisp Apples
Concord Grapes
Ripe strawberries
Why is it that we all know how delicious these are, but we don't CRAVE them? We crave donuts, doublecheeseburgers, and Coke. There's nothing like a cold glass of milk with a steak dinner, yet we dream about Coke?
While we eat the natural foods and are always amazed at how good it tastes, that doesn't linger. Oh, we all KNOW they taste good, but it isn't something we drool over. Not like pizza on a Friday night.
DISCUSS!
Fresh raspberries
In season Ruby Red Grapefruit
Grass-Fed Steak
Fresh ground coffee
Ripe garden Tomatoes
Honeycrisp Apples
Concord Grapes
Ripe strawberries
Why is it that we all know how delicious these are, but we don't CRAVE them? We crave donuts, doublecheeseburgers, and Coke. There's nothing like a cold glass of milk with a steak dinner, yet we dream about Coke?
While we eat the natural foods and are always amazed at how good it tastes, that doesn't linger. Oh, we all KNOW they taste good, but it isn't something we drool over. Not like pizza on a Friday night.
DISCUSS!
Day 6 Minor Setbacks
Yesterday was hard, not because of trying to eat right, but I thought I would just grab a few basic foods at our local grocery. They were out of everything! They didn't have any jelly for the kids that wasn't pure corn syrup, they were totally OUT of Mayo, they only had a couple packages of questionable looking chicken. I bought some, and when I got home cut it. It smelled funny. YUCK...It totally threw me for a loop! I was really looking forward to trying this new recipe and had planned it all day. I panicked !! Should we call for pizza? Run to McDonalds? I had to think fast! Which was NOT easy with Willa clinging to my leg and screaming, Levi screaming about every small problem that he encountered, and Sawyer pounding his brother, which caused them both to scream.
I took out the old trusty ground beef. Sawyer loves tacos so that worked well. We had all the ingredients! The boys ate shells, but Justin and I had taco salads piled high with homemade salsa from last summer, sauteed onion and color peppers, lettuce, and cheese.
The rest of the day was similar to previous days.
Levi of course didn't want to eat tacos and went to bed hungry. Sawyer has been slowly planting his feet in deeper and deeper lately and this morning didn't want to eat breakfast. Augh. SOOOO frustrating. All day long yesterday it was clear they were hungry what with the amount of fruit they consumed. But fruit doesn't have many calories so they kept snacking all day. Any ideas of foods with good fat to fill them?
And we are in a dangerous game right now with hiding some things in food. They are suspicious. I know that's a big no-no, but what can you do?
Last night it became apparent why Levi was so crabby because he has a cold. I think Willa has one now too. Gosh, the kid ate about 10 oranges yesterday. This frustrates me because I like to think that the second you start eating right, no more colds!
Maybe it will be a small one?
Well, gotta go feed the chickens...Speaking of frustrating, they never lay very well, and we are down to about 6 eggs/38 chickens! Not cool. Since we are consuming about 6 a day, there are suddenly none to sell. Anyone want to buy stew hens????
I took out the old trusty ground beef. Sawyer loves tacos so that worked well. We had all the ingredients! The boys ate shells, but Justin and I had taco salads piled high with homemade salsa from last summer, sauteed onion and color peppers, lettuce, and cheese.
The rest of the day was similar to previous days.
Levi of course didn't want to eat tacos and went to bed hungry. Sawyer has been slowly planting his feet in deeper and deeper lately and this morning didn't want to eat breakfast. Augh. SOOOO frustrating. All day long yesterday it was clear they were hungry what with the amount of fruit they consumed. But fruit doesn't have many calories so they kept snacking all day. Any ideas of foods with good fat to fill them?
And we are in a dangerous game right now with hiding some things in food. They are suspicious. I know that's a big no-no, but what can you do?
Last night it became apparent why Levi was so crabby because he has a cold. I think Willa has one now too. Gosh, the kid ate about 10 oranges yesterday. This frustrates me because I like to think that the second you start eating right, no more colds!
Maybe it will be a small one?
Well, gotta go feed the chickens...Speaking of frustrating, they never lay very well, and we are down to about 6 eggs/38 chickens! Not cool. Since we are consuming about 6 a day, there are suddenly none to sell. Anyone want to buy stew hens????
Sunday, January 4, 2009
DAY 4 It's getting harder (Is it only Day 4?)
Today was the most difficult because it's always been the day we grab a bite to eat after church. I loved that because it was one time i didn't have to make a meal. So that sucks.
And I worry I will run out of ideas to eat, and have to go grocery shopping every day. I keep going and either forgetting things or needing new things each day.
Here was our menu today:
Breakfast:
Eggs, Grapefruit, boys had oatmeal
Lunch:
Leftover chili, cheese
Dinner:
Organic, grass-fed roast beef, with worcheshire (sp!) marinade, broccoli, squash, raw milk
Snacks: (Mostly the kids)
Apples, bananas, oranges, cukes, and coconut.
I messed up the roast beef and overcooked it. Being that it is very lean, it's not a good thing to do! It tasted great but very tough. You are supposed to cook it slower and less time, but that apparently didn't happen!
And I worry I will run out of ideas to eat, and have to go grocery shopping every day. I keep going and either forgetting things or needing new things each day.
Here was our menu today:
Breakfast:
Eggs, Grapefruit, boys had oatmeal
Lunch:
Leftover chili, cheese
Dinner:
Organic, grass-fed roast beef, with worcheshire (sp!) marinade, broccoli, squash, raw milk
Snacks: (Mostly the kids)
Apples, bananas, oranges, cukes, and coconut.
I messed up the roast beef and overcooked it. Being that it is very lean, it's not a good thing to do! It tasted great but very tough. You are supposed to cook it slower and less time, but that apparently didn't happen!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
DAY 3 Beneficial foods?
Here's a concept that I continue to try to wrap my mind around. I've heard it a million times, but didn't want to think about it I guess. For the past 3 days, we haven't eaten a single food that doesn't have some benefit to our bodies. There hasn't been any food to just fill us up or simply to taste good. It's all beneficial. I know it seems common sense, but I never wanted to think about this. I think we all have this concept of food that it is just to fill you up, calories to burn, just enough intake to use and not gain weight, or to eat more calories to gain weight. I guess this is the whole "food as medicine" idea. If I were eating my regular diet, and heard about a food that could do good things for me, lets say if i had a cold, chicken soup, I would eat some chicken soup once in a while and assume it didn't really help. But what if every food you ate did some kind of good? Interesting.
Well, I may not be making any sense, but hopefully you know what I mean
I won't bore you all (you know the millions of readers), with details everyday, just for the start.
Saturdays are usually bad for us since we like to go to town, which means fast food probably 2x in one day.
Today we stayed home, and ate well. I thought I might starve but even now, only day 3, I am figuring out all the foods I CAN eat and just remember to eat them. Foods I wouldn't eat before
We had fruit, berry, organic plain kefir smoothies, eggs, and grapefruit for breakfast.
For lunch we ate leftover chicken soup, chicken lunch meat, carrots, hummus, and the kids ate sunflowerbutter and jelly on sprouted bread.
OH! Small miracle...I found Ezekiel raisin english muffins at the HFStore and the kids love them! They think they taste as good as "normal" ones. There is no sugar, no flour, only sprouted grains, lentils, etc. AMAZING!
For supper I made chili with venison and no beans (Phase 1 has no beans, grains, or sugar). We made a spinach salad with orange sweet pepper, goat cheese, broccoli and the olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing. We all drank raw milk and we again got Sawyer to not only eat the chili by calling it "Taco Soup" AND he drank milk by adding a small amount of cocoa! Another YAY!
I also snacked all day on a coconut (fresh). I've always loved the coconut milk.
The kids probably ODed on fruits today, but oh well. They ate ate least 2-3 clementine oranges, 1 banana, and a couple apples each!
We are continueing our fish oil, HSO supplement and vitamin. I had been taking a whole foods green vitamin which is 3 pills. I thought I was getting an ulcer, but figured out it may be the vitamin. I backed off to 1 at a time and so far so good. Maybe just taking them all at once wasn't good.
I am actually full right now! Which I should be, I guess. It's not like this is a "diet" to lose weight or to restrict calories. I just don't always know what to eat so I don't. I am still really stoked about my shopping yesterday. I found so many fun things to try! Sometime I am going to do a cost estimate on "SAD" (Standard American Diet) vs Maker's Diet foods.
The hurdle for me will be continuing to think about meal prep far in advance so i don't run out of ideas and panic, and having to go grocery shopping much more often. OH HOW I HATE IT!
One last comment unrelated. I get this great magazine, Mothering. It always comes at the right time, and I got the latest yesterday. On the front page was "WHO WANT"S TO SLEEP ALONE?" There were 2 great articles on all this research about bedsharing and how "normal" babies don't sleep through the night. It was just what I needed! Sometimes i panic or get exhausted just because I don't feel like my baby is doing "normal" sleep and everyone elses baby seems to sleep just fine. I was so stressed out by her crying as well as worrying what I was doing to my child to be waking up all the time. I thought I was a bad mom for not being tougher with her and making her sleep!
Turns out, we're just in tune with each other, and it's totally normal for a baby who sleeps with you to wake every 2hrs for a quick snack. Kids who sleep alone do sleep longer, but it's better for the baby to get that contact and nourishment all night! It just reinforced my idea that it's not "normal" for a 10 month old to be away from her security all night or for lengths of time during the day.
I have to remember to raise my kids the way I WANT TO, rather than what I think the "norm" is. I do need her to go to bed at a normal hour and sleep in till a decent hour (at least 630), but why can't she sleep with us and nurse at night?
Well, I may not be making any sense, but hopefully you know what I mean
I won't bore you all (you know the millions of readers), with details everyday, just for the start.
Saturdays are usually bad for us since we like to go to town, which means fast food probably 2x in one day.
Today we stayed home, and ate well. I thought I might starve but even now, only day 3, I am figuring out all the foods I CAN eat and just remember to eat them. Foods I wouldn't eat before
We had fruit, berry, organic plain kefir smoothies, eggs, and grapefruit for breakfast.
For lunch we ate leftover chicken soup, chicken lunch meat, carrots, hummus, and the kids ate sunflowerbutter and jelly on sprouted bread.
OH! Small miracle...I found Ezekiel raisin english muffins at the HFStore and the kids love them! They think they taste as good as "normal" ones. There is no sugar, no flour, only sprouted grains, lentils, etc. AMAZING!
For supper I made chili with venison and no beans (Phase 1 has no beans, grains, or sugar). We made a spinach salad with orange sweet pepper, goat cheese, broccoli and the olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing. We all drank raw milk and we again got Sawyer to not only eat the chili by calling it "Taco Soup" AND he drank milk by adding a small amount of cocoa! Another YAY!
I also snacked all day on a coconut (fresh). I've always loved the coconut milk.
The kids probably ODed on fruits today, but oh well. They ate ate least 2-3 clementine oranges, 1 banana, and a couple apples each!
We are continueing our fish oil, HSO supplement and vitamin. I had been taking a whole foods green vitamin which is 3 pills. I thought I was getting an ulcer, but figured out it may be the vitamin. I backed off to 1 at a time and so far so good. Maybe just taking them all at once wasn't good.
I am actually full right now! Which I should be, I guess. It's not like this is a "diet" to lose weight or to restrict calories. I just don't always know what to eat so I don't. I am still really stoked about my shopping yesterday. I found so many fun things to try! Sometime I am going to do a cost estimate on "SAD" (Standard American Diet) vs Maker's Diet foods.
The hurdle for me will be continuing to think about meal prep far in advance so i don't run out of ideas and panic, and having to go grocery shopping much more often. OH HOW I HATE IT!
One last comment unrelated. I get this great magazine, Mothering. It always comes at the right time, and I got the latest yesterday. On the front page was "WHO WANT"S TO SLEEP ALONE?" There were 2 great articles on all this research about bedsharing and how "normal" babies don't sleep through the night. It was just what I needed! Sometimes i panic or get exhausted just because I don't feel like my baby is doing "normal" sleep and everyone elses baby seems to sleep just fine. I was so stressed out by her crying as well as worrying what I was doing to my child to be waking up all the time. I thought I was a bad mom for not being tougher with her and making her sleep!
Turns out, we're just in tune with each other, and it's totally normal for a baby who sleeps with you to wake every 2hrs for a quick snack. Kids who sleep alone do sleep longer, but it's better for the baby to get that contact and nourishment all night! It just reinforced my idea that it's not "normal" for a 10 month old to be away from her security all night or for lengths of time during the day.
I have to remember to raise my kids the way I WANT TO, rather than what I think the "norm" is. I do need her to go to bed at a normal hour and sleep in till a decent hour (at least 630), but why can't she sleep with us and nurse at night?
Friday, January 2, 2009
DAY 2
Today went really well. We had eggs and grapefruit for breakfast, chicken, carrots, and cheese for lunch, and we are having chicken soup from yesterday's chicken for dinner (It's got onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and I did put a small amount of quinoa grain in it. I couldn't help it!) with spinach and goat cheese salad with olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing.
It's hard to fight the boredom snacking. The kids did great and snacked on fruits all day.
I went grocery shopping again and went to Horrocks, a local farmers market store. I love that store and realize each time I go that I can get everything there. I got a bunch of veggies, new kinds of cheeses (I searched for goat's milk, and found only 1 with some goat's milk in it). They have all kinds of canned pickled foods that I bought, coconut milk, and when we are able to, raw nuts. Most other foods I found are at our local health food store. They have all the sprouted grain breads we need for the kids. They also carry bulk whole wheat that I can learn to make my own sprouted bread. Perhaps we will be able to get all our groceries from these 2 stores. We buy raw milk from a local farmer and have our freezer full of the grass-fed organic beef and chicken.
I tried some Kubochu tea, which is fermented, cultured, live. Not the best tasting food in the world! Smells like the bottle return area at Meijers....
We also snacked on kefir, cheeses, and hummus.
I am feeling well, not much different! I am super tired but that's because Willa woke up about 6 times last night and only took a 30 min nap today. It is sooooo frustrating!
Although at the grocery stores i did notice that I had to stop myself dozens of times reaching to grab seemingly benign foods only to realize that I couldn't have them. I did that with lots of snacks and treats. We normally buy very few junk food items but like to indulge in chocolate, etc.
It's hard to fight the boredom snacking. The kids did great and snacked on fruits all day.
I went grocery shopping again and went to Horrocks, a local farmers market store. I love that store and realize each time I go that I can get everything there. I got a bunch of veggies, new kinds of cheeses (I searched for goat's milk, and found only 1 with some goat's milk in it). They have all kinds of canned pickled foods that I bought, coconut milk, and when we are able to, raw nuts. Most other foods I found are at our local health food store. They have all the sprouted grain breads we need for the kids. They also carry bulk whole wheat that I can learn to make my own sprouted bread. Perhaps we will be able to get all our groceries from these 2 stores. We buy raw milk from a local farmer and have our freezer full of the grass-fed organic beef and chicken.
I tried some Kubochu tea, which is fermented, cultured, live. Not the best tasting food in the world! Smells like the bottle return area at Meijers....
We also snacked on kefir, cheeses, and hummus.
I am feeling well, not much different! I am super tired but that's because Willa woke up about 6 times last night and only took a 30 min nap today. It is sooooo frustrating!
Although at the grocery stores i did notice that I had to stop myself dozens of times reaching to grab seemingly benign foods only to realize that I couldn't have them. I did that with lots of snacks and treats. We normally buy very few junk food items but like to indulge in chocolate, etc.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
DAY 1 The Beginning
We have begun! Today was our first day and it went well as most resolutions do at first. We had guests but we all ate great today.
We started our morning with a smoothie made with berries and kefir, and hard boiled eggs.
For lunch we had chicken, and finished up a lot of the dips from New Years Eve. Guacamole, salsa, hummus.
For dinner we ate roasted organic chicken, squash, and a variety of veggies. When hungry we snacked on fruit or raw milk.
We are trying hard not to diverge from the Phase 1 of the plan but some things we just have to "cheat" on. Right now it's impossible to get goats cheese or milk, we are eating some fruit not on the list but since it's in season we are, and we had some weird crackers with the majority of the OK foods in them but had a small amount of quinoa in it.
I did cheat today on a couple stuffed mushrooms from the party to finish up and we had some wine leftover.
I don't feel different because often in the past we've eaten well like this on and off, so it wasn't a huge change. the biggest change is to do this eating day after day without fast food or treats.
Some other things we started today were the HSO supplements Rubin recommends, starting all of us on a teaspoon of cod-liver oil, continuing our whole foods vitamins.
Before we left for vacation we also took Rubin's advice and replace our kitchen and living room lights with Full-spectrum flourescents that will help Vitamin D building and hope to help with the Michigan winter doldrums.
Justin weighed himself tonight and his unofficial starting weight was 203.
there are a few other keys that the maker's diet uses that we will try to undertake as the week or month progresses like the cleansing rituals each day and the prayer.
We're off to a good start! I am optimistic we can make it thru the next 40 days but wonder if we can stick with it forever. Justin isn't so sure. I just pray that we can come up with foods for the kids to eat.
We started our morning with a smoothie made with berries and kefir, and hard boiled eggs.
For lunch we had chicken, and finished up a lot of the dips from New Years Eve. Guacamole, salsa, hummus.
For dinner we ate roasted organic chicken, squash, and a variety of veggies. When hungry we snacked on fruit or raw milk.
We are trying hard not to diverge from the Phase 1 of the plan but some things we just have to "cheat" on. Right now it's impossible to get goats cheese or milk, we are eating some fruit not on the list but since it's in season we are, and we had some weird crackers with the majority of the OK foods in them but had a small amount of quinoa in it.
I did cheat today on a couple stuffed mushrooms from the party to finish up and we had some wine leftover.
I don't feel different because often in the past we've eaten well like this on and off, so it wasn't a huge change. the biggest change is to do this eating day after day without fast food or treats.
Some other things we started today were the HSO supplements Rubin recommends, starting all of us on a teaspoon of cod-liver oil, continuing our whole foods vitamins.
Before we left for vacation we also took Rubin's advice and replace our kitchen and living room lights with Full-spectrum flourescents that will help Vitamin D building and hope to help with the Michigan winter doldrums.
Justin weighed himself tonight and his unofficial starting weight was 203.
there are a few other keys that the maker's diet uses that we will try to undertake as the week or month progresses like the cleansing rituals each day and the prayer.
We're off to a good start! I am optimistic we can make it thru the next 40 days but wonder if we can stick with it forever. Justin isn't so sure. I just pray that we can come up with foods for the kids to eat.
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