New Food Adventure

Let the Food Adventure Continue! 

 

Now that I have conquered The Big Three , I am getting set to climb the next culinary peak.  One that appears almost insurmountable.  What is this vast mountain?  S-U-G-A-R!  And I am not talking about just the obvious forms of sugar (cane, beet, succanat, honey, coconut/palm, etc), but ALL sugar including all things fruity (with a few very, very tart exceptions) and all things fake (which I don't use anyway).  Yikes!  Good-bye all things yummy and delicious.


Now I knew when I found out about my food sensitivities that I also needed to ditch all things sugar for a minimum of 3 months.  Why on earth would I ever try to torture myself this way?   Well I seem to have a mild Candidiasis overgrowth in my digestive tract.  Lovely.
I have unsuccessfully tried since finding out to break up with all things sweet.  I have yet to last even 2 weeks.  This has to be the hardest thing...food wise...that I have ever in my entire life tried to do.  However, now that Christmas and New Years Eve are slowly fading in the rear view mirror, I believe I can now take on this last hurdle (fingers crossed) to the new healthier me.  That said, I am going to be utilizing a new tool to jump start my journey. 


I was doing the bi-monthly grocery shopping (all by myself, no little muddlers) and I ran across this book, The 21 Day Sugar Detox.  It intrigued me.  It appealed to me.  It begged me to buy it.  I picked it up and perused, drooled over recipes, and then placed it in my cart.  21 days, menu's already planned, pre-made and printable shopping lists!  Um, Yes. The prep work has (mostly) been done for me.  A lot of the food my family will simply eat along with me which is even better! 

**Some of the recipes use eggs so I will have to replace those, and some call for seafood in various forms which I dislike and my DH has a shell fish allergy so I will avoid those (except the ones with tuna...I like tuna)**

Now 3 days post shopping trip I am sitting down and finding the replacement recipes for those that I cannot (or will not--in the spirit of truthfulness here) eat.  Also, I am trying to eat up those things in my house that I know I will not be able to resist if they are sitting in my house. 

Like these super delicious chocolate coconut butter cups I whipped up last Friday.  They are mouth meltingly good!  These are my last four.  They will be gone by tomorrow at the very latest.

 

Inspired by my own mother (her blog: A Journey to Health--One Step at a Time ) and encouraged by her to blog my 21 Day Sugar Detox challenge, I will try to blog each day (four kids and homeschooling family that we are, we may have a few misses here and there). I am taking the first step toward the summit. 

Today is Day 0.  The day before I officially begin.

 

Let the Detox begin!!

 

P.S.  Those delicious chocolate treats pictured above?  Yep, gone already.  Sigh, this is going to be difficult.

The Big Three

Time marches on. Time flies. Time rushes past. It doesn't matter which well-worn phrase you choose, they are all true (except when they aren't!)
My baby, which I wrote about in my last post, is now a lovely, chunky monkey at 10.5 months and has been the happiest baby ever.  I tell people she was born 99% happy.  Now that she is older and desiring more independence I would have to say that ratio has dropped down to 90% happy.  Elizabeth is a joy (now if she'd just sleep through the night!)
(I'd post pictures, but my SD slot is on the fritz and I have no way to direct connect my camera. She's pretty adorable though.  Trust me.  Not that I'm biased or anything.)

Now onto the next...
Topic, not child!  I have recently been diagnosed with some super fun (insert sarcastic tone) food sensitivities.  Oh I had kinda figured that I had them because I have almost always had digestive trouble for just about as long as I can remember...starting with dairy when I was a child.  But I had no idea the extent or extremes of my sensitivities.  The first thing to go was the super trendy sensitivity GLUTEN.  In fact I cut gluten out before I ever made it into the doctors (only for 2 weeks though).  Okay, I can live with that.  I have niece who has celiac's disease and a sister who is very gluten intolerant (and recently my mom has been diagnosed sensitive as well).
Then the Dr. ordered tests and when the results arrived she opened our meeting with the oh so encouraging statement, "Well, the bad news is your system is a mess, but the good news is we can fix it."  With that she confirmed my gluten sensitivities suspicions (off the chart, celiac levels, but without the official celiac disease).  The second thing to go was...DAIRY! (including goat milk).  This means no butter, no whey, no milk, no yogurt, no cream cheese, no any cheese, no anything that includes the word milk.  Do you know just how many things have some form of milk in them?  I bet you don't unless you have become a label reading maniac like myself.  The third thing to go was EGGS! Okay hold on, did you know that almost EVERY THING THAT IS GLUTEN FREE CONTAINS EGGS?!  Yup, so now I can't even buy gluten free bread, if I wanted to.  Cookies off the shelf, gone**. Ever tried making pancakes (gluten free or otherwise) without eggs? yup, not as easy as it sounds. (at this moment I will interject that I also have moderate sensitivities to about 8 other foods, but dealing with The Big 3 are all I am handling right now.)

Let me tell you for about a month I was starving!  I felt hungry all. the. time.

I have never eaten so much salad in a month in my entire life.

I have never spent so much money for a months worth of groceries as I did that month.

I have never had so much stress over food as I did that month.

I have never panicked over food so much (I was stockpiling.  If I found something at the grocery store that I could actually eat, I would buy it...a lot of it!)

I look back now and I am thankful to be past that initial stage.  In fact (it has been 4 months since the initial diagnoses) I now have 3 official cookbooks that contain none of the things I can't have, including 2 baking/dessert books.  In fact when my first baking book arrived in the mail yesterday (yay), I opened it up expecting to have to go buy yet a whole bunch more weird ingredients and lo and behold I actually already had everything at home.

That moment when I realized I could go home instead of to the grocery store made me smile.

THERE IS LIFE BEYOND FOOD ALLERGIES!

I'll say it again, there is life beyond food allergies.  Even more than life, there is good tasting, good for you food.
Because almost every processed, pre-packaged food out there is off limits to me, my healthy food quotient has gone up, up, up. 
Salads?  Actually craving them. Bread? bah, take it or leave it to be honest.

So what's next? 
Converting my family over to my way of eating.  The kids are willing participants in this endeavor.  I try to warn my husband beforehand if something is made so I can eat it to.  So far, there have been very few fails.  (waffles without any flours didn't work so great, but tasted delicious as a 'pancake' scramble).

And I have stopped panicking.  I no longer stock pile the junk food that I can have.  I feel like I am almost in my new normal cooking place.  I am getting to know which restaurants I can eat at, which brands I can buy and where I can buy them for (more) reasonable prices.  I am beginning to believe that I can live the rest of my life without The Big Three.

I. CAN. DO. THIS.  My new chant.

**Note**
I have, since that first month, found several brands that cater to people like me.  They even make cookies I can buy in a pre-made packet.  However, these cookies sell for about $5 a box...for 16 small cookies.  A little pricey for me to indulge in too often. And also a pancake mix that I just add water to, but again pricey to buy a package for an entire family.

Growing...Adventures

Written March 26th--Sesame seed, lentil, blueberry, kidney bean, grape, kumquat, fig, lime,
medium shrimp, lemon...I get a kick out of this.  No, I'm not creating some strange new dish, rather tracking the size of my growing and developing baby.  Yep that's right.  Baby #4 is on the way!
I am both excited (yay I get to have another baby) and scared (oh no I miscarried the last one, will this baby be alright?)  Oh no, my youngest is already 4 I'm going to have to baby proof the house allover again.  Yay, I get to breast feed again!


Continued August 9th--My goodness, what a myriad of emotions roll over and through and around us pregnant women.  Well I'm happy and relieved to be 26 weeks along as of tomorrow.  Little munchkin is bopping around with great force at times and making me smile, even if her bounce house antics keep me from falling asleep easily.
It is different this pregnancy.  For one the kids are so very aware of what is going on this time.  With my last (full term) pregnancy, my oldest was only 4 years old, so he knew a baby was coming, but didn't really have any questions about it all (other than, how was the baby going to get out of my tummy!).  This time the kids are concerned about what I eat (is it safe, too cold, too hot) and how hard they hug me (will the balloon the baby is in pop?)  My youngest (who is now 4) has all kinds of fun questions like, "Mommy when the baby comes out of your tummy, will you be able to bend normal again?"  Every question and concern they have for both me and the baby makes my mommy heart smile.

Oh and it's a girl.  Our house is definitely estrogen ridden.  My gallant son (9 years old tomorrow) informed us he "wasn't TOO disappointed" that it wasn't a boy.  Knowing my children as I do, and having seen their reactions to other infants I'm sure they will be head over heels in love with her the instant she arrives...at least until she is big enough to be into their stuff and know how to push their buttons.
As for me, I feel like I'm going to be sooo very ready for this munchkin.  We have a crib, I have diapers (yes I'm cloth diapering this time around), I have a change table, as of today I have some clothing for her to wear for the first 3 months of her life.  What I'm not sure about is how she will fit into homeschooling.  Perhaps the better way to phrase that would be how homeschooling will fit around her!  It is all an adventure and I'm looking forward to starting it with her in my arms...but am planning to enjoy the rest of this last (hopefully) pregnancy.

Lasting Impressions

I was just outside pitching baseballs to my son.  What fun to see his face light up when he hit the baseball.  Nothing says spring is coming like sunshine, blue sky, and a boy with a bat!
Memories of my own softball playing days came crowding in as I watched my sons enjoyment.  Most good, but not all of them.  One in particular stood out.
I never actually played t-ball, but I did go to a practice...once.  The coach lined me all up, put the helmet on my head, handed me a bat, and put the ball on the tee.  Then he stepped back and I took that as my sign to swing.  What I didn't see was a younger kid (mind you I was all of 6 at the time) behind me.  CRACK!! Yep, you guessed it.  My enthusiastic swing caught the poor child right in the head.  Even now, many, many years later I feel the remorse well up inside of me...and also the feeling of being blamed and punished for something that I never intended to happen.  The coach read me the riot act (as a parent I logically understand why, but as a child all I heard was "You horrible, awful kid look what you did!!") and sent me home.  I never darkened the t-ball field again.
So all you parents and coaches out there.  Be careful not to react in such a way as to send a child away from a sport to never return.

Shoeshine

So you know those moments where your heart is just overwhelmed with love for your children or your spouse? Well I had one of those today. My son Nathan has been choosing to wear his 'church' shoes on Sundays. His question before lunch today was "Dad can you teach me how to shine my shoes?" Now why this particular comment would cause that love sensation I'm not sure, but it did.

Learning

Well the school year for us officially started on September 6th.  I was nervous, let me tell you!  Me teach my own kids reading, writing, and arithmetic?! 
We started they day off just reading the Bible and then praying for each other.  Even now a week later this is the best time of the day.  The kids seem to really enjoy this part.  Then we do weather, days of the week, and our hundred day of school count up (bee #6 is on the board today).  Next we start school.  Nathan starts with penmanship and seat work and Emily and I do her language arts, reading, and poetry.  Then I introduce her new cursive letter and she does the practice sheets for that.  While she is doing that, Nathan and I take on language arts, reading, and poetry.  Then we all take a break.  After break Emily does seat work and spelling and Nathan and I do Math.  While he does Math worksheets Emily and I do Math.  Then she does Math worksheets and we are done.
On Fridays we do any tests that are needed and then right now we are doing science.  Later we will take on American History.
I've learned a lot this first week.  I've changed our schedule 3 times already :)  Also I've learned that at some point during the day I need to remove myself from their range and just be alone.
Let the Adventures continue.

The Decision is Made

Well we have made the decision to home school starting this next year.  We will be taking it one year at a time.  Several things brought us to this decision.  First, we have a hard time placing our children in public school.  Our district has been hit hard by these economic times and that has led to cut upon cut upon financial cut.  This year the number of teachers has been razed to the bare minimum and they are predicting around 40 kids per class!!!  Also, I have a hard time subjecting my children to friends that I wouldn't be comfortable letting them go to their house to play with.  Our children are not missionaries!
Our kids have been attending a private school and the curriculum they use places our kids at least one if not two grade levels ahead of public school (My 2nd grade son was learning some of the same stuff my 4th grade nephew in public school was).
Second, the gas money required to get my children to their private school was 3 times what the tuition for the school cost!!  Now David has a pretty good job, but with gas prices going up our gas was going to land at almost $800/month!!!
So we looked at our options.  Homeschooling won.  For less than one month of tuition + gas to get them to private school we could buy all the home school curriculum and outfit the 'school' room.
Now that the decision is made, I've ordered the curriculum and have started organizing the school room.  I must admit I'm part excited (always thought I'd be a good teacher) and part terrified (stay at home with my children and teach them!!)
Let the Adventure Begin!