Weight Loss

I've lost almost 20 pounds in the last 3 months. I'd like to lose another 35 by Christmas of this year.

I've been miserable looking at myself. My clothes didn't fit, but I refused to buy more. So much in fact that even now, 20 lbs lighter, I still haven't had to buy new clothes. They just finally fit like they are supposed to.

I have been eating low-carb, moderate protein, high fat (good fats). No exercise and I've been loosing about 1.5 pounds/week on average.  I do plan on including exercise, but you know what, I need to lose some weight first. I know that sounds crazy, but I just don't have it in me to start exercising yet. I assume it's a mental commitment just like choices of what to put in my mouth.  I know I'll get to the point of wanting exercise, but I'm not there yet.

Part of what keeps me making better choices is the physical health problems I have when I make bad food choices. I get migraines from too much sugar when I've been off it for awhile.  I also get TERRIBLE low-carb "flu" when I go through the induction process. It takes me about 4 days IN THE BED for my body to detox from carbs/sugar.

I've never stuck with a "diet" for 3 months before. I think the difference is that I now see this as a life change. I plan to have occasional treats, but I also plan to make better choices overall. I finally see that it's all about choices. I'm not depriving myself if I really don't want it.

I have been very conscious about asking myself, "Do you really WANT that or are you going to eat it just because it's there?"  Since I've started asking myself this (and am past my carb-detox), I have found that I really don't want it. So I don't eat it. I've taken the boys out for ice cream without getting any for myself and did not felt deprived because I just didn't want it. I have ALSO gone out for ice cream with the boys and have purchased a little for myself when I do want some. I've got to live, but I've got to be deliberate in my choices.

I totally see where losing weight is not a matter of willpower, but a matter of changing your mindset. I by no means have this conquered, but I think it's important for me to write this down to be able to come back to it when I stumble.

(This is my first journal entry "required" by NO CAKE TILL CHRISTMAS. :)
*******

Want to join me on my journey?

I keep track of my loss and food on MyFitnessPal as missbecky75 if you'd like to friend me there :)

I'm read several LCHF groups on facebook, but I think 90 Day LC Challenge is my favorite for newbies.

I also have some LC boards on Pinterest if you're interested.


Hugs,
Becky

Training Picky Eaters

I have a picky kid... as far as food goes, anyway.

We've talked about nutrition. Oh, have we talked about it! We've made a chart to keep up with what he eats on a normal day. We've argued and fussed. We've given in at times and then other times we've forced him to eat. He's gone without food, by his choice, more times than I can count.

What's a mom to do?

Let me give you the low down on his preferences.

• No condiments whatsoever. No ketchup, mustard, mayo, ranch dressing... nothing.
  
• No milk in his dry cereal. (Which is fine now that we don't do much dry cereal anymore.)
  
• No sauces except on spaghetti.
  
• The only cheese he'll eat is on pizza. No mac-n-cheese for this kid: plain elbows only.
  
• He won't touch smoothies. (Good place to hid leafy greens)
• Don't even think about recommending a salad.
• No seeds or nuts.
• No eggs.
• No yogurt.
  
• He LOVES Black Eyed Peas with a passion, but they must be Bush's from a can. ("Mom, did you make these at home or are they from a can?")
• No milk unless it's been made into chocolate milk.
  

On the good side, some of his pickiness has been good for him - he's not filled with HFCS from (our previous choices in) ketchup and the like. Gotta count your blessings, right?

And truthfully, a lot of his pickiness is our fault because he was raised on a processed foods diet and likes his food to be "the same" every time. Same texture, same taste, same shape... you get the picture. As our first child (and only one for a few years), he was able to voice his opinion about what we ate. Admittedly so, I catered to him.

Live. Learn. Move on and change.

I can't and won't cater to each child individually. Although they all like/dislike different things, we've come to a place where I cook and they eat or well, they don't... their choice. Witt is starting to show the same tendencies as Will did in regards to realizing he has an opinion and won't eat something just because he doesn't want to. Stubborn little booger(s). {grin}

Jeff came up with a great plan that really seems to work when we actually use it. We place small amounts of each food that has been prepared for the meal on their plates. This is the amount of food they are expected to eat until they can get more of their favorites. This really reduces food waste, too. There is no more bargaining or threatening. The "rules" are plain and simple.

It's always hard to know which direction to go with food "training".

On the one hand, I was taught to eat everything on my plate. If I took it, I was to eat it. That's still a battle for me even when I'm stuffed and shouldn't eat any more. I'm not saying that's a wrong standpoint to take; I just think that maybe the training needs to be modified to taking less and then to go back for a little more if you're still hungry.

Jeff (and his mother, too) always and I mean always leave at least a bite or two left on their plate. Drives me nuts! LOL! (see above paragraph) I don't think this was something she trained him to do, I think he just picked up the practice by watching her. If I were to implement that practice, I'd probably drop a few pounds... (food for thought!).

Then there is the idea of eating only when hungry. What if they aren't hungry at lunch time? Do I just wait until they are hungry to feed them? That's seems a little haphazard and plain crazy to me as the one who does the cooking, but it would definitely teach them to eat when hungry and not "just because".

I'm sure there are more theories on training kids to eat properly, but they all probably have their ups and downs with no clear cut solution. So...

What are the eating habits at your house? Any picky eaters? Please tell me I'm not the only one that struggles with this! :)

Resolutions: Make It Yourself Foods

There are a few foods that I want to learn how to make this year, many of which have to do with fermenting. For more information on why/how fermented foods are good for your digestion, a good place to start out would be at Food Renegade or for a little more in-depth article on lacto-fermentation (which does not necessarily contain dairy, btw) visit The Weston A. Price Foundation.

To make life easy, I'm just going to list out some of the foods I want to learn how to make at home this year.

• Kombucha tea (currently have my 2nd batch going... I messed up the first batch)
• Yogurt
• Kefir
• Sourdough bread (I hear this is a tough one)
• Fermented Dill Pickles (I figure if it's gonna be sour... might as well be pickles, right?)
• Learn how to and to use sprouted grains and legumes (This was also on my 2009 list of nutritional changes to make, but it didn't happen.)
  
• Mozzarella cheese, baby! :)
• Cream Cheese (and whey)
• Butter

[EDIT - I knew there were some things I forgot! I also want to try recipes and find a family favorite for:

• spaghetti sauce
• salsa
• tomato sauce
• mayonnaise
• Alfredo sauce
  

I'm sure there are more things I'm forgetting, but this is a good starting place! :) End EDIT.]

Another exciting thing I get to do this year will be to grind my own grain!!! Remember I said Santa was good to me? Well... boy was he ever!! I received a Nutrimill for Christmas!! I've got a 25 pound bag of organic, soft white wheat berries ready to go as soon as I recover from the hustle and bustle of the holidays! (Hopefully any day now! LOL!) Maybe I'll start with some soaked waffles! :) YUM!

I think there's going to be lots of *science* experiments going on in my kitchen this year! Can't wait for the fun to start!

Resolutions: HFCS and MSG

This month I'm planning on getting my resolutions in order. Like last year's resolutions, I have a variety of areas I want to work on. More baby steps. This year, though, I have a much broader direction that I can go in now that Witt has outgrown his milk allergy (Praise be to God!). I'm planning on doing several smaller posts for each of the areas I want to work on.

This post is about the High Fructose Corn Syrup and Monosodium Glutamate in my kitchen.

When HFCS is ingested, it travels straight to the liver which turns the sugary liquid into fat, and unlike other carbohydrates HFCS does not cause the pancreas to produce insulin; which acts as a hunger quenching signal to the brain. So we get stuck in a vicious cycle, eating food that gets immediately stored as fat and never feeling full.

MSG has now been implicated in a number of the neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and Huntington's disease.

Update: I'll be avoiding agave nectar, too.

Are these the worst offenders in processed foods? I really have no idea, but these are the baby steps I'm taking. I've picked two items that I am going to try to eliminate from our home as best I can. This may mean buying a different brand or learning how to make the item from scratch myself. I'm truly hoping to do more cooking. :) Plus, in removing foods with HFCS and MSG several other bad-for-you ingredients will probably be eliminated as well.

So this morning, I went through my kitchen. Being after the holidays, my kitchen pantry is probably more full of convenient, pre-packaged foods than any time during the rest of the year. Here's the list of what I found:

HFCS

Ke.ebler Club Crackers: Original and Multigrain

Va.n Camp's Pork & Beans

Smuck.er's Concord Grape Jelly

Nab.isco Original Premium Saltines

Generic Animal Crackers

Nab.isco Honey Graham Crackers

Ri.tz Whole Wheat Crackers

Nab.isco Oreos

Pep.si

Hei.nz Worcestershire Sauce

Hers.hey's Chocolate Syrup

MSG

Old El Pas.o Enchilada Sauce

dale's Seasoning

Lip.ton Onion soup mix

Taco. Bell Taco Seasoning

Tennessee Pr.ide Sausage Patties

Not too bad actually. Looks like I need to learn how to make some crackers! LOL! However, I'm not starting with the crackers because that's not what we eat the most of. The two biggies on those lists are the Her.shey's syrup and the sausage patties. Those two are consumed on a regular basis.

I've got organic cocoa coming from my food buying club this week so I'll be testing out recipes (like these) on the chocolate syrup soon.

The sausage patties are gonna be a tough one. Will loves these. He's my picky eater. These are the only brand he likes. More thinking to do on this one and probably a lot of cooking, too! :)

How about you? Is your family choosing to reduce or exclude any foods, preservatives or additives? What's your action plan for 2010?

Oh, and btw... Got any recipes for sausage or chocolate syrup? :)

Allergies and God's Plan

This morning when I logged in and saw my ticker showing less than 1 month before Witt's allergy testing, my heart just about jumped out of my chest!

No matter how hard I try not to get worked up over this testing, I always do. I'm hopeful and prayerful, but yet realize at the same time that although God could take away these allergies, He may not... ever.

I realize that we've made it through another year without any major issues regarding these allergies and I'm so very thankful for that, but I also realize that we may have to struggle with dietary issues for another year... possibly longer. But I really don't want to.

It's hard having this testing at the end of the year when my thoughts are lead to remembering what 2009 held for us and what direction I want 2010 to go in. I know where I want to go, but I need to follow God's lead. Thankfully, this is an all or nothing situation and I will clearly know God's plan regarding our diet for 2010 once these test results are in.

The past three annual testing times have consisted of going for the skin test and the blood test on the same day. The skin test results are in within 15 minutes, but it takes another 2 - 3 weeks for the blood test results. Then it's just a follow-up call from a nurse telling me what was positive and what wasn't. I really haven't been satisfied with that.

This year I'm doing things differently. Yesterday, I called and requested the doctor's orders for the blood test so we can go ahead and get that done before the skin test. This year I'm going to get his IgE numbers in person from the doctor instead of over the phone from someone that doesn't really have all the answers I want.

I requested testing for

• cow's milk
• goat's milk
• egg white
• egg yolk
• peanuts

We have never tested Witt for goat's milk. I understand that the proteins are fairly similar between the two milks, but that some people that are allergic to one are not to the other. Might as well give it a shot. We could at least improve our cheese situation if we could include goat's milk! :)

I can't help but wonder if the trials of this allergy were partly to lead me to stop feeding my family the SAD (Standard American Diet). Our diet certainly has improved over the last few years. I know the direction I would like to go in, but again... I just have to wait for God's answer on that one.

*** We interrupt this post with a call from the allergist's office!

Apparently, since Witt's blood test came back negative last year (although he's not at exactly 0.0 with his IgE numbers) they are not going to do the blood test this year. Hmmm.... I'm not really sure what I think about that.

I almost got in an argument over the phone with whomever I was talking to. I almost cried. I've heard of tests results spiking back up after they've gone down. I think I'd really like a second year of "negative" just to be on the safe side. But she wasn't budging on "The doctor's orders were to stop the blood testing once they came back negative."

Looks like I'll be talking with the doctor about all this at the appointment and possibly doing the blood test that day as well... if I can talk her into it... and assuming there are positives with the skin test.

AGH! I hate this! (And I rarely use the word "hate".)

I hate the not knowing.

This is where I have a hard time just submitting to God's will. I have to believe that part of this is not only so that I feed my family better, but that I learn to submit better as well. It's just so hard and emotional for me.

I gotta go before I start rambling... my thoughts are going in a million different directions now with this new information.

Please just pray for Witt. Pray that these allergies will be taken from his body and that he will be 100% allergy free. To enjoy an egg, a glass of milk with a chocolate chip cookie, to sprinkle cheese on whatever he pleases!

Pray for me that I'll submit to God. That I'll be accepting of his answer and thankful for all the many blessings that I have been surrounded with. That I will focus on the positive and be strong for my children.

Just please pray. That's what I'm going to do.

Thanks for listening.

Try It Tuesday: Radicchio

While I have had radicchio in small quantities on salads, I have never had one that used it as the main lettuce. While reading through Nourishing Traditions, I found a salad that sounded delicious and was already dairy-free, egg-free, and peanut-free! Just in case Witt would be interested in trying it, I wanted it to be a viable option for him to do so. (No luck, though.)

Here's a brief rundown on radicchio:

• Low in saturated fat
• No cholesterol
• High in dietary fiber
• High in iron
• High in manganese
• High in magnesium
• High in pantothenic acid
• High in phosphorus
• Very high in potassium
• High in vitamin B6
• Very high in vitamin C
• High in zinc

This salad is topped with orange slices, browned red onions, and a homemade orange dressing. It was very good and I will definitely be making it again! I will most likely increase the amount of onion and oranges to make sure I get a taste of each with every bite. While the radicchio alone is bitter, the flavor combination in this salad was just delicious! Jeff liked it also and said that he would like for me to make it again (and agreed with my thoughts of more onion).

Due to copyright restrictions, I cannot reproduce the recipes here.

If you have the book, Nourishing Traditions, it is on page 181 (Radicchio and Orange Salad). If you don't have the book... well, you really should! It is a fascinating read and filled with delicious, nutritious recipes! :)

Are you trying anything new this week?

Try It Tuesday: Rendering Lard

Yes, you read that correctly, I rendered LARD.

Why would I do such a thing? Well, I want to cut out shortening and vegetable oils. And since I don't believe in re-inventing the wheel, I'll just point you in the direction to an article that explains why lard is better than the "normal" options.

I've already replaced vegetable oil with coconut oil for baking, but many times that coconut taste just isn't appropriate for sauteing meats or veggies. And, since we can't use real butter due to our youngest's dairy allergy, I am hoping that home-rendered lard will give us the non-hydrogenated and non-transfat option I want, while boosting flavor for meats and veggies... all while giving us a much needed healthy dose of Vitamin D! Wow, sounds like lard is going to do a lot of good things for my family! :)

So on to my experiment of rendering lard at home:

1) I used fat back and cut it into small pieces (about 1" square). This particular slab of lard was salted (and not preserved with nitrates as far as I could tell). Next time, I will remove more of the salt than I did this time.

2) After about 2 - 3 hours on low, it had mostly melted except for the "cracklins". You know it's done when the cracklins fall to the bottom instead of float. I strained it with some cheesecloth inside a collander.

Here are the cracklins (which can be eaten this way, btw, or ground up with onions and peppers into a spread, or crushed and fed to birds, etc) :

And the hot, clear liquid part - it was reddish brown:

3) I let it cool for about 20 minutes and then put it in the fridge for a more rapid cooling. By morning, it was a yellowish-white.

There is more information on rendering lard at The Nourishing Gourmet. She discusses the difference between wet and dry rendering. In her example, she uses leaf lard instead of fat back (as I used).

I haven't actually done a taste test, yet. I'll save that for another "Try It Tuesday". {grin} One last note I should make for myslef, is to not make this right before company comes over. The house does fill with the smell of pork.

All in all, I am quite please with my little experiment and look forward to trying it out!

To check out what other new things people are trying, head over to Naturally Knocked Up:

Dangers of Genetically Engineered Foods

I ran across this and wanted to share. I can't help but wonder if this isn't part of the problem with the increase in food allergies.

What's Good to Eat?

We have so much going on that I literally feel like I have a series of posts to do. There is no clear beginning so I'm just going to start with the topic of our current food choices.

*This is an excessively long post.*


But first, I feel the need to say these are personal choices that feel right for our family. What we are working towards is in no way a reflection of what I think everyone should be doing. I am not judging anyone's choices... this blog is about our life and what we are doing. Food choices are a big part of our family, but it's no longer only out of necessity due to of life-threatening food allergies; we're intentionally making different choices.

What am I talking about?!?

I'm talking about baby steps towards whole food living: whole wheat, unrefined sugars, organics, home grown food, removing preservatives and additives as much as possible... just to name a few. Eventually (HOPEFULLY!) raw milk, free-range organic eggs, keifer, and other things I had no idea about 4 months ago.

Really, this journey of conscientious food choices started with Witt's allergy diagnosis. When we found out he is anaphylactic to dairy (and allergic to eggs & peanuts), we went into survival mode. Our diet at the time was SAD (Standard American Diet). We ate out 2 - 3 times a week, had tons of prepackaged foods in the pantry, and drank 4 - 5 gallons of store bought, non-organic, pasteurized milk weekly... and I rarely read a food label.

The first year of Witt's allergy we ate out as a family about once a month (Witt was still breastfed or on jarred baby food and contained easily); we switched our prepacked foods from whatever we wanted to dairy-free egg-free peanut-free prepackaged foods, and drank about 4 gallons of organic soy milk weekly. Looking for allergens on labels had become our way of life.

Once Witt was more mobile and on table foods, we no longer went to restaurants as a family (although Jeff and I continue a weekly lunch date out). Prepackaged foods decreased a little as I found it was more economical for me to cook from scratch. Massive soy milk consumption continued. I started paying attention more to labels... not just the allergen info, but it became, "What in the world are these 27 letter long words???"

Late 2008, as I started searching for more and healthier recipes to replace our standard prepackaged foods, I continually ran across a highly recommended book: Nourishing Traditions.

I decided to check further into this book. I searched for it on Paperback Swap first to see if I could get it for "free". Nope. There were over 400 other members "wishing" for the book. So, I decided to get myself a Christmas present. :)

This was my much anticipated gift Christmas morning and I'll be honest... when I opened it and looked at all the recipes containing whey, milk, and eggs I was disappointed. I thought there was no way I would ever use this book, but I started to read it anyway as Sally Fallon had several chapters prior to the recipes regarding fats, vitamins, minerals, etc., and even a chapter on food allergies.

I was amazed at what I read regarding food studies, how big businesses are controlling what goes in our foods, and how all these refined foods are really just filling a void in our stomachs - not nourishing our bodies at all. Before I even got to read the chapter on food allergies, I was putting two and two together thinking, "It is no wonder there are so many food related problems today with all the artificial stuff we've been feeding ourselves these last few generations!"

About this time, I also started researching soy more heavily.

I had already read a few scary articles regarding the estrogen levels in soy. One in particular continues to stick out in my mind regarding boys that grew breasts, which was linked to soy consumption. Have you read your labels recently? Soy is in almost EVERYTHING and it has been linked to a lot of bad, bad things and is dangerous! We decided to stop drinking soy milk and we've switched to almond milk... which is absolutely delicious by the way!

So these baby steps bring us to today. I am, of course, nowhere near where I want us to be, but these things take time in my world. I'm slowly transitioning our recipes by replacing some of the refined ingredients with less or non-refined ones.

Here are the main updates to our diet so far for 2009:

• No soy milk (although we do use soy yogurt and cheeses from time to time)
  
• Whole wheat flour is replacing all purpose (unbleached) by 25% - 75% of the flour amount called for.
  
• Coconut oil is replacing dairy free margarine in all baked goods and sauteed foods
  
• Sucanat , maple syrup, honey and other natural sweeteners are replacing white refined sugar by 50 -100% of the sugar amount called for
  
• Making more baked goods from scratch for healthy breakfasts and snacks
  
• We have planted seeds to grow some of our own fruits, vegetables, and herbs this year (a first for us!)
• Making nourishing chicken broth from bones (I also did this with venison!)

Changes I want to see take place before the end of the year (Please note that I am not expecting these to be 100% complete changes... ie. I use the word "more" not "all")

• Buying more organics. Honestly, I currently buy few organics fruits & veggies because of price. Hopefully our garden will supply a lot, but we go through so much fruit!! This will probably be by far the most expensive change for us.
• Find a reputable free-range chicken farm. I know there are some around here, but I just haven't gotten to that yet. I hear they are delicious, though!
• Shop our local farmer's market once a month (ours is quite expensive, but those peaches are fantastic!)
• Introduce granola cereals (instead of using extruded cereals)
• Learn more about and attempt soaking grains
• Learn more about and attempt sprouting (and more sprouting)
• PRAY PRAY PRAY for a full removal of food allergies from Witt by his next testing in December 2009.

Benefits I have seen so far:

• 6 pounds lost this year with only the above changes
• Major reduction in sweet cravings
• Sodas taste and feel like corn syrup - I have no desire for them
• I don't feel the need to eat as much when I eat whole, unprocessed foods (seriously!)
• Just an overall sense of feeling better, whether it's all in my mind or not, I don't know, but I'll take it either way! :)

Negatives

• Going from white flour to whole wheat flour is not very "kid friendly"in many cases - at least not for a 6 year old raised on white flour. (bless his heart...)
• I need to find a balance between altering and not altering recipes (ie. Jeff's not too excited about me putting whole wheat flour in his favorite cornbread. Some things need to be left alone and I need to respect that.)
• I'm having a really hard time staying within my $125/week grocery budget.
  
• It's all a little bit overwhelming at times and I need to continue to remind myself that baby steps are the way to go for our family.
• We currently can't get the benefits from raw milk or from eggs with Witt's allergies so we're only working within the boundaries available to us.

Where I've been going for nourishing information:

Heavenly Homemakers (mama to 4 boys! fantastic recipes!)

The Nourishing Gourmet (Dairy free, very informative)

Local Nourishment (down-to-earth, real tests and trials of this foody life; also has a daughter with a milk allergy)

Naturally Knocked Up (although I'm not and don't plan to be again! LOL!)

Team Bettendorf (12 kiddos! and a new milking cow!)

Keeper of the Home ( writes about what a woman's body needs nutritionally... among many other great topics!)

Passionate Homemaking (love this page of natural living info!)

Yahoo Groups: Discussing Nourishing Traditions

Weston A. Price Foundation


So that's the first of a few "big topic posts" I have mulling around in my head. The buzz word for our family this year is "CHANGE" - good changes, but big changes none-the-less.