Taking a bloggy break - I've actually not been blogging since July 20th as we have been hitting the trail, but just know, I will be back in the fall with more adventures, discussions on healthy eating/living, reflections on God, and updates on the family. We are currently in some wilderness enjoying the beauty of God's creation, the closeness of family, and the quietness of no electronics.
Happy Olympics starting day!! 08.08.08 - a day that will never happen again!! Make it a blessed one!!
A couple other scheduled posts will appear:
August 10th - No guilt eating
Aug 12th - highlighting a blog that has blown me away with it's insights. Don't want to miss this one!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Balance
We follow these eating guidelines most of the time, and because of that, I really can happily allow my sprouts a treat at grandma's house once in awhile. Balance for me is about enjoying eating and not making decisions that constantly feel oppressive. My sprouts do want more sugar than we give them - but no matter how much junk we feed kids, they'd want more. I don't feel badly teaching them as we go through life about moderation, and that usually a bannana is the appropriate fix to their hunger pangs and not a chocolate power bar.
I do not want food to control me. I don't want to sit around thinking about food. I want to think on other things. Eating right, frees me to do just that. I want to be living my life to the fullest with energy to love those around me and serve.
Future posts in the fall will examine the truths about the following foods on the body: wheat, sugar, hydrogenated oils, and others. I will also explore exercise and healthy life style choices.
We need to make the switch from living to eat to eating to LIVE and live vibrantly, one juicy, organic apple at a time! :)
Now I am off, to backpack with my family. Princess sprout was doing 5 mile days last summer as a 4 year old so this year, we are eagerly anticipating some great trips. The truth is, God speaks to me even more when I am sauntering up a trail vs pounding the pavement!
I do not want food to control me. I don't want to sit around thinking about food. I want to think on other things. Eating right, frees me to do just that. I want to be living my life to the fullest with energy to love those around me and serve.
Future posts in the fall will examine the truths about the following foods on the body: wheat, sugar, hydrogenated oils, and others. I will also explore exercise and healthy life style choices.
We need to make the switch from living to eat to eating to LIVE and live vibrantly, one juicy, organic apple at a time! :)
Now I am off, to backpack with my family. Princess sprout was doing 5 mile days last summer as a 4 year old so this year, we are eagerly anticipating some great trips. The truth is, God speaks to me even more when I am sauntering up a trail vs pounding the pavement!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
What we Eat
What we eat:
1. Whole foods. I shop the permimeter of the grocery store– ONLY. I am seldom in the aisles. I don’t even know what to do with the array of cans, bags, boxes, and packages that line these shelves. I park at the end of the store that has the produce and spend 80% of my budget in this section. We eat tons of fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds. We eat food that looks exactly as it was created to look by the Creator.
My son asked me if I could please pack something in his lunch that came in a crinkly package like all the other kiddos had…it is true, his lunches had no colorful wrappers with superheros flying around on it to attract kids to eat it – it simply has containers full of real food. Cukes sliced up, carrots, apples, strawberries, a boiled egg, homemade hummus, rice crackers, raw almonds.
2. Organic meat. Meat that is not raised ethically, free-range, and drug and hormone free is actually toxic for you. Meat that is raised correctly is actually healthy for you. Literally, there are chemical changes in the meat that are carcinogenic in grain fed meat. It’s worth it! And it tastes so much better. We get a ¼ to ½ of a cow each year and eat from the freezer. And it supports local farmers when we do this. I meat the farmers, get to know them, and personally hand them money for our year supply of meat. I love it.
3. Beans and grains – lentils, split peas, white cannelini beans, pintos, black beans, garbanzos, mung beans, and a few others coupled with brown rice, quinoa, millet, bulgar, or basmati rice make for yummy, complete protein meals
4. Raw honey – our sweetener of choice. Full of live enzymes, bee pollen, anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties it’s actually our health tonic. Anytime we get a tickle in the throat, I squeeze fresh lemon, add a bit of hot water, and put a few spoonfuls of raw honey in the mix for a yummy and easy way to stop any viral activity in it’s tracks. (pasteurized honey acts just like refined sugar in the system)
5.Tons of salads. Lunch and Dinner begin with a large raw salad. I make many raw salad dressings to top these off nutritionally. Store bought dressings usually are laden with horrible ingredients – some of the worst food on the market.
1. Whole foods. I shop the permimeter of the grocery store– ONLY. I am seldom in the aisles. I don’t even know what to do with the array of cans, bags, boxes, and packages that line these shelves. I park at the end of the store that has the produce and spend 80% of my budget in this section. We eat tons of fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds. We eat food that looks exactly as it was created to look by the Creator.
My son asked me if I could please pack something in his lunch that came in a crinkly package like all the other kiddos had…it is true, his lunches had no colorful wrappers with superheros flying around on it to attract kids to eat it – it simply has containers full of real food. Cukes sliced up, carrots, apples, strawberries, a boiled egg, homemade hummus, rice crackers, raw almonds.
2. Organic meat. Meat that is not raised ethically, free-range, and drug and hormone free is actually toxic for you. Meat that is raised correctly is actually healthy for you. Literally, there are chemical changes in the meat that are carcinogenic in grain fed meat. It’s worth it! And it tastes so much better. We get a ¼ to ½ of a cow each year and eat from the freezer. And it supports local farmers when we do this. I meat the farmers, get to know them, and personally hand them money for our year supply of meat. I love it.
3. Beans and grains – lentils, split peas, white cannelini beans, pintos, black beans, garbanzos, mung beans, and a few others coupled with brown rice, quinoa, millet, bulgar, or basmati rice make for yummy, complete protein meals
4. Raw honey – our sweetener of choice. Full of live enzymes, bee pollen, anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties it’s actually our health tonic. Anytime we get a tickle in the throat, I squeeze fresh lemon, add a bit of hot water, and put a few spoonfuls of raw honey in the mix for a yummy and easy way to stop any viral activity in it’s tracks. (pasteurized honey acts just like refined sugar in the system)
5.Tons of salads. Lunch and Dinner begin with a large raw salad. I make many raw salad dressings to top these off nutritionally. Store bought dressings usually are laden with horrible ingredients – some of the worst food on the market.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Wall-e Part 2
There are few movies I have seen twice, or care to see twice, but on the first night of our 5 week trip, we drove through Hood River and saw a cinema. Spontaneously, we all decided to go see Wall-e (since mommy was raving and ranting about how great it is). Princess Sprout has never been to a movie theater before and Wildman has only been once – to see Cars. We have never been to the theater as a family. What a great movie to be our first one. Princess was quite intensely mesmerized by the sheer size of the “TV” screen and at times a bit overwhelmed and scared. Wildman also curled up on my lap, nervously clinging to me the entire movie.
But ah, the second time through it I noticed more things that I loved. Eva, for instance, was completely preoccupied with her programmed mission to find biological life – at the expense of anything and everything. The dichotomy between her mission and her actions was striking to me. She’d blow up anything that moved as she sought out her green biological life. I suppose it points to the fact that any of us can get so preoccupied with our mission that we can become a bit over bearing. Taking any good thing too far can be dangerous.
As well, she made me question: can we accomplish much without each other? She eventually tossed the plant, breaking her programmed mission, to connect in friendship with Wall-e. Suddenly, relationship became more important. From that point on, their friendship built the foundation to forge the revolution needed to combat. At the robots intent on keeping things the same as they always have been. It took teamwork, in the end, to get things in motion.
Simultaneously, the captain had become so enamored with what earth once was and could be again, that he made the first human break away from protocol. He rose to the challenge of “whose going to do it?” and said, “I AM!!!”. He was sick of just suriving, He wanted to LIVE!! So he got off his sad existence of apathy and took the first steps toward independent thinking and responsibility.
And in the end, what brought the human race back to earth, was when they all stood up, and worked together as a team to toss that plant to the necessary robotic locater. They talked to each other for the first time, broke free of an existence of laziness and apathy, and showed us all, that there is power to illicit change when we act together.
But ah, the second time through it I noticed more things that I loved. Eva, for instance, was completely preoccupied with her programmed mission to find biological life – at the expense of anything and everything. The dichotomy between her mission and her actions was striking to me. She’d blow up anything that moved as she sought out her green biological life. I suppose it points to the fact that any of us can get so preoccupied with our mission that we can become a bit over bearing. Taking any good thing too far can be dangerous.
As well, she made me question: can we accomplish much without each other? She eventually tossed the plant, breaking her programmed mission, to connect in friendship with Wall-e. Suddenly, relationship became more important. From that point on, their friendship built the foundation to forge the revolution needed to combat. At the robots intent on keeping things the same as they always have been. It took teamwork, in the end, to get things in motion.
Simultaneously, the captain had become so enamored with what earth once was and could be again, that he made the first human break away from protocol. He rose to the challenge of “whose going to do it?” and said, “I AM!!!”. He was sick of just suriving, He wanted to LIVE!! So he got off his sad existence of apathy and took the first steps toward independent thinking and responsibility.
And in the end, what brought the human race back to earth, was when they all stood up, and worked together as a team to toss that plant to the necessary robotic locater. They talked to each other for the first time, broke free of an existence of laziness and apathy, and showed us all, that there is power to illicit change when we act together.
Friday, July 25, 2008
What not to eat
Basic of nutrition
I have a degree in Exercise and Sports Science and a master’s degree in health and yet none of what I learned regarding nutrition would I ever want to teach anyone. The food pyramid is ridiculous – probably funded by the markets promoted by it.
SH turned his health problems with psoriasis around by focusing on every single bite that went in his mouth. God has given this earth a bounty of nutrients in the vast food supply on this planet. Our princess sprout suffered with ear infections. Our Wildman Prince Charming Sprout suffered with acid reflux. I suffered with Epstein Barr, fibromyalgea, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, headaches, migraines, trembles, sleep disruption and more…all of this for all of us was reversed by diet (and a few supplements). The brownies at the potluck are simply not worth the misery that repeated “oh just this once” moments creates.
Some might get irritated by our strict adherance to our rules, but I just don’t even blink twice anymore because what we do works. We don’t deal with flus that go ravaging through our home keeping us out of commission for a month as we all fight it…we hardly ever get colds…we feel really great, most of the time, so I have never looked back.
I want to share it with whoever reads it hoping that some will be inspired to make changes that could change their lives.
What we don’t eat
1. SUGAR. Period. It’s never in our house. Sugar is viewed by your liver as pure poison. It’s been out of our home since Jan. 2005. There is nothing in it that we need and it needs to be processed and gotten rid of, causing the body to divert energy like fighting viruses to getting rid of this invader. Studies have shown that 150 mg of sugar reduce the immune system by half for 5 hours!!! It’s not that a “cold is going around” – instead it’s that your body was not strong enough at the moment it came in contact with your body to defend itself. You are constantly surrounded by strep, staph, viruses, and other pathogens and most of the time your body can defend itself, but when weakened by stress, lack of sleep, or diet it opens the window to infection. Without sugar, SH has had 2 years in his classroom without catching a single cold. And it contributed to the disappearance of his body wide psoriasis. If your body is battling inflammatory diseases like Epstein Barr, Fibromyalgea, arthritis, auto-immune diseases like lupus, cancer then your body needs all the resources it can get to successfully fight these diseases. If you are constantly depleted, how can you overcome a long-term virus like Epstein Barr (aka. Chronic fatigue syndrom)?
2. No wheat. Now this one is hard to be 100% on, although I would like to be. It bogs the digestive system down. It creates a sticky type mucous in the skin tissues that cause psoriasis outbreaks. It contributes to excess mucous – ear infections, sinus infections, bronchitis, long-lasting colds. It can cause symptoms that range from fibromyalgea to just a feeling of being in the fog. I feel awesome when wheat is out of my diet completely. I think I even have noticed less grumpiness in the Sprouts. I’d attribute this to more stable sugar levels in their systems as wheat products cfause a surge in blood sugar and then a quick drop.
3. No dairy. I simply am sensitive to it and it single-handedly was the nauto-imminumber one factor in causing my son’s acid reflux/stomach aches and my daughter’s ear infections. If you don’t see any problems with it then it might be OK for you. We try to use raw milk if we do get it. I will someday blog about that. Basically, homogenized and pasteuroized milk is dead and is contributing to many diseases. The benefits of milk are stripped by these processes.
4. no processed foods. We cook from scratch, making food in bulk for future convenience.
5. No hydrogenated oils at all. No corn syrup. No nitrites/nitrates (found in lunch meats, hot dogs, and other processed meats).
I have a degree in Exercise and Sports Science and a master’s degree in health and yet none of what I learned regarding nutrition would I ever want to teach anyone. The food pyramid is ridiculous – probably funded by the markets promoted by it.
SH turned his health problems with psoriasis around by focusing on every single bite that went in his mouth. God has given this earth a bounty of nutrients in the vast food supply on this planet. Our princess sprout suffered with ear infections. Our Wildman Prince Charming Sprout suffered with acid reflux. I suffered with Epstein Barr, fibromyalgea, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, headaches, migraines, trembles, sleep disruption and more…all of this for all of us was reversed by diet (and a few supplements). The brownies at the potluck are simply not worth the misery that repeated “oh just this once” moments creates.
Some might get irritated by our strict adherance to our rules, but I just don’t even blink twice anymore because what we do works. We don’t deal with flus that go ravaging through our home keeping us out of commission for a month as we all fight it…we hardly ever get colds…we feel really great, most of the time, so I have never looked back.
I want to share it with whoever reads it hoping that some will be inspired to make changes that could change their lives.
What we don’t eat
1. SUGAR. Period. It’s never in our house. Sugar is viewed by your liver as pure poison. It’s been out of our home since Jan. 2005. There is nothing in it that we need and it needs to be processed and gotten rid of, causing the body to divert energy like fighting viruses to getting rid of this invader. Studies have shown that 150 mg of sugar reduce the immune system by half for 5 hours!!! It’s not that a “cold is going around” – instead it’s that your body was not strong enough at the moment it came in contact with your body to defend itself. You are constantly surrounded by strep, staph, viruses, and other pathogens and most of the time your body can defend itself, but when weakened by stress, lack of sleep, or diet it opens the window to infection. Without sugar, SH has had 2 years in his classroom without catching a single cold. And it contributed to the disappearance of his body wide psoriasis. If your body is battling inflammatory diseases like Epstein Barr, Fibromyalgea, arthritis, auto-immune diseases like lupus, cancer then your body needs all the resources it can get to successfully fight these diseases. If you are constantly depleted, how can you overcome a long-term virus like Epstein Barr (aka. Chronic fatigue syndrom)?
2. No wheat. Now this one is hard to be 100% on, although I would like to be. It bogs the digestive system down. It creates a sticky type mucous in the skin tissues that cause psoriasis outbreaks. It contributes to excess mucous – ear infections, sinus infections, bronchitis, long-lasting colds. It can cause symptoms that range from fibromyalgea to just a feeling of being in the fog. I feel awesome when wheat is out of my diet completely. I think I even have noticed less grumpiness in the Sprouts. I’d attribute this to more stable sugar levels in their systems as wheat products cfause a surge in blood sugar and then a quick drop.
3. No dairy. I simply am sensitive to it and it single-handedly was the nauto-imminumber one factor in causing my son’s acid reflux/stomach aches and my daughter’s ear infections. If you don’t see any problems with it then it might be OK for you. We try to use raw milk if we do get it. I will someday blog about that. Basically, homogenized and pasteuroized milk is dead and is contributing to many diseases. The benefits of milk are stripped by these processes.
4. no processed foods. We cook from scratch, making food in bulk for future convenience.
5. No hydrogenated oils at all. No corn syrup. No nitrites/nitrates (found in lunch meats, hot dogs, and other processed meats).
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Back to the pamphlet
All the commercial breaks from my book have left many wondering when I’d get back to the meat of this blog!
July 25 - what we do not eat
August 1 - what we do eat
August 7 - balance with all of this (it's all OK, in moderation!)
July 20 - Aug 24: We'll be out hitting the trail, backpacking, canoeing, camping, and all other non-electronics related activities we can do. Blog break! The postings are scheduled, but I am not actually in front of a computer.
Truth is, we all want it: energy, vibrancy, H-E-A-L-T-H. Some think losing weight is their goal when the truth is, that is so limited. The focus needs to be on what is going into the body – is it whole food? So many “diet” foods are still laden with hydrogenated oils (that in themselves make it more difficult to lose weight), sugar, chemicals, and chemical sweeteners like Aspartame.
The first step is realizing that what the scale says cannot determine your sense of value. So many women determine their day by the number that appears in the morning on that scale. Being able to realize that we are all in process and that accomplishing a certain number is not going to make one like themselves more begins when one looks in the mirror and says honestly, “God made me, beautifully and perfectly and that means even now, when I don’t think I look good I know this and I accept me.” Otherwise, when the weight comes off and we still wonder why we are struggling with self-acceptance we become baffled. It’s because we have not worked through the deeper issues.
Just like the Christian Faith, we are always in process. We never arrive. We often say, “when I do this or accomplish that or get rid of that bad habit or lose this much weight…then I will be content with who I am” but when we get to that plateau, we realize the mountain keeps going up, there’s still growth to happen. The trick lies in between the sense of contentment and the desire to keep learning, keep growing, keep striving.
Don't be hard on yourself. Keep at it, have fun, and stay on that horse even if you fall off some days.
July 25 - what we do not eat
August 1 - what we do eat
August 7 - balance with all of this (it's all OK, in moderation!)
July 20 - Aug 24: We'll be out hitting the trail, backpacking, canoeing, camping, and all other non-electronics related activities we can do. Blog break! The postings are scheduled, but I am not actually in front of a computer.
Truth is, we all want it: energy, vibrancy, H-E-A-L-T-H. Some think losing weight is their goal when the truth is, that is so limited. The focus needs to be on what is going into the body – is it whole food? So many “diet” foods are still laden with hydrogenated oils (that in themselves make it more difficult to lose weight), sugar, chemicals, and chemical sweeteners like Aspartame.
The first step is realizing that what the scale says cannot determine your sense of value. So many women determine their day by the number that appears in the morning on that scale. Being able to realize that we are all in process and that accomplishing a certain number is not going to make one like themselves more begins when one looks in the mirror and says honestly, “God made me, beautifully and perfectly and that means even now, when I don’t think I look good I know this and I accept me.” Otherwise, when the weight comes off and we still wonder why we are struggling with self-acceptance we become baffled. It’s because we have not worked through the deeper issues.
Just like the Christian Faith, we are always in process. We never arrive. We often say, “when I do this or accomplish that or get rid of that bad habit or lose this much weight…then I will be content with who I am” but when we get to that plateau, we realize the mountain keeps going up, there’s still growth to happen. The trick lies in between the sense of contentment and the desire to keep learning, keep growing, keep striving.
Don't be hard on yourself. Keep at it, have fun, and stay on that horse even if you fall off some days.
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