Well, back to reality. Turns out I really like being on vacation and spending days with Porter. That makes for some seriously bad blogging. It’s okay though, I’m sure my game face will soon return. Hopefully it’ll bring along some greenery for the trees around here.
I did great on my vacation, not gaining. This last week was dreadful, however. I suffered from a few days of depression upon my return. I miss my family, I miss the tropics, Aunt Flo came to visit and it took 2 travel days to get home. I gave in and invited Ben & Jerry over for dessert, le sigh. I’m over the hump now and things are looking up. I went to dance, my friends are all inspirations for continuing on my weight loss journey, the sun was legitimately warm today, I’m getting along fantastically with my kid, and I’m happy to say I’m back on the wagon.
Another Wednesday, another weigh in! After the cake incident I had two really off days. There was a lot of leftover ice cream in the fridge and I managed to get two giant bowls in (one on Thursday, one on Friday) before I properly disposed of the contraband. I really tried to pay attention to how I felt those 3 days on my sugar bender and the first thing to go was my patience. Any residual injuries (from sports) came back and my yoga practice was more difficult than usual. I also felt really tired despite getting normal amounts of sleep. Thankfully I was able to reset on Saturday with Luke’s help and our mini-hike with Porter at the park.
We ascended Camel’s Back hill (in the background) as Porter’s first solo hike.
Apparel
I had a great clothes moment this week. I’m starting to pack for our trip to Maui and pulled out my summer clothes from hibernation. In my haul there are a few pairs of shorts. I went for my standard shorts and buttoned them up and, behold, they were big enough to roll down the top. They’re a size 22. There’s another pair, size 18, that are more fashionable and I thought I’d give those a try. I pulled them on and buttoned them up. Just that easy! They were snug, (no camel toe thankyouverymuch) but fit well enough for me to decide on them for my trip. Giddy is the correct word for what I felt. Since I plan on maintaining my diet/exercise on vacation I don’t plan on ever going back to the bigger pants. So I’m thinking of taking the larger sized shorts and giving them to the thrift store. What do you think?
A Pain In My Foot
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I love to dance. The endorphins, music, sweat and comradery are all addictive. My entire reason for joining the gym was to take dance (with the added bonus of great yoga classes). Needless to say, dance brings me so much joy. It also brings me pain.
A few years ago I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in my feet. It’s nothing crazy and it certainly doesn’t stop me from gettin’ my grove on, but after a few months of weekly dancing it’s getting pretty bad and makes walking uncomfortable. Since I’ll be out-of-town for 3 weeks I don’t plan on doing any high impact workouts in hopes that it’ll calm down.
I’ve done some research about stretches that can help and want to get into a daily routine of doing those. I’m also considering getting barefoot sport shoes of some kind. They’re supposed to help strengthen feet by allowing them to be used in a physiologically appropriate way. Once healed a little bit I think my feet should be strong too. Do any of you use barefoot shoes? What do you think?
Big Goals, Little Goals
In the end, my big goal is to lose 100 pounds. In order to get there I’ve naturally come upon some smaller weight loss goals to get there. I’m within 10 pounds of my first goal and that is getting to my pre-baby weight of 234. My second goal is to get below 192, the lowest I remember being since I’ve started weighing myself (that started when I was about 27). Obviously I’ve weighed less when I was younger, but ignorance was bliss. My last goal is my final destination of 154. I’m hoping to reach my first goal by the time I return home from Maui at the end of March.
The tagline for my blog is pretty self explanatory. I’ve written about all of these topics for a while now and I’ve gotten great feedback about my birth and parenting posts. While I’ve written about Real Food in the past I want to give any of you who are interested some concrete ways to bring a little more of the good stuff into your life.
If you’re a Real Foodie and you already know what’s up, then you probably won’t learn anything new in this post. You’ll just be totally reaffirmed that you are indeed making the right choices and obviously being the best possible you.
You Might Be Interested In Real Food If…
The food you currently eat gives you the blahs, the sads or the crankies.
There are chronic health issues that you’re dealing with, and you either can’t find a solution or want to try to heal on your own before totally giving yourself over to modern medicine. (source)
You want to lose weight and be healthy.
Caring for the environment means something to you.
You want to teach your children healthy eating habits.
It’s time to change up your old routine and learn something new.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Real Food is for everyone: men, women, children, babies, omnivores, vegetarians, conservatives, liberals…YOU.
Easy As 1,2,3
It’s taken me years on my path to Real Food, and I’ve really just gotten into it full time. Like any change, it helps to start small. Change one thing at a time, get used to it, and then take another small step.
I’ve thought about this long and hard and here are my top 3 ways to start getting into Real Food. It doesn’t involve cleaning out your pantry and replacing all your food (I’m for less waste too) so fear not. Use up whatever goods you’ve already got and start replacing them when you need to, but with the Real Food alternatives.
1. Change Your Fats And Oils
Are you still using Canola oil, Vegetable oil and Crisco? They’re BAD. You can learn more about that here and here. Are you concerned about saturated fat and cholesterol? Guess what, we’ve been fed a whole lotta mumbo jumbo about how bad they are for you. If you’re up for some myth busting, check this out. Or you need something more mainstream and scientific, here’s a video from Dr.Mercola.
Here’s what you SHOULD use:
Coconut oil. The unrefined has a coconut flavor and smell which puts me off, but some people love it. I use the refined which has no odor or flavor. It’s GREAT for cooking foods in high heat. In the winter mine gets solid on the counter, but can easily be melted and used as a liquid. Bonus, I use it in the shower to shave my legs and as a facial moisturizer before I get out.
Organic butter from cows raised on pasture, which means they eat grass and non-GMO grains.
Olive Oil for your cold oil consumption i.e. dressings. Don’t use it for cooking, it’ll go rancid.
Tallow (from cows) & lard (from pigs). These can be harder to come by, but they’re great for cooking on high heat and lard from the pig underbelly is good for baking. If you want to render some of your own, check this blog out.
2. Shop At The Outer Edges Of The Grocery Store
Better yet, shop at your Farmer’s Market where the produce, meats, cheeses and grains are prepared locally and have a good chance of being non-GMO and/or organic. If you’re not sure you can easily ask the farmer who grew them, because they’re usually behind the stand. Better yet, grow your own.
If you’re like me, however, you have to go to the grocery store in the cold seasons. It makes perfect sense that all the fresh food is at the edge of the store because that’s where the refrigerators are.
Real Food goes bad, so it often has to be kept cold. If the fresh veggies are too expensive, go for the frozen ones. I stay away from cans as much as possible because of BPA and weird chemicals used to coat the inside of aluminum cans.
In the beginning it’s not the most important thing to buy all organic, but try to shop your fruits and veggies from the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen list. In general, pesticides and genetically modified foods are not “real”. Organic or not, whole fruits and vegetables are best.
“Respecting and honoring the pigness of the pig is a foundation for societal health.” ~Polyface Farms (photo credit)
When it comes to meat, organic is good, but pastured and humanely raised is better. Just because an animal is raised on organic feed does not mean they were treated humanely. If we’re going to consume an animal, make it a happy one!
This is the nice part about knowing your farmer. I have no concerns that the chickens, beef and pigs that we consume had happy lives living as nature intended, because I speak with my farmer every other Friday through the winter and every Saturday during Farmer’s Market season.
I even went so far as to find out how they butchered the animals. My brother makes a good point when he says that slaughter can never be humane, but it can be done with respect towards the animal in the time before they die. Sorry if this is too much friends, but this is what real looks like.
Want to know what healthy animal husbandry is? Check out Joel Salatin and his family farm, Polyface Farms.
It may take some asking around, but chances are good that somewhere near you is an ethical farmer who wants your business. Search the web, ask the butcher at your local natural food store, find that crazy friend who’s into Real Food and ask them (wink wink).
3. Eat At Home More Often
This was really hard for me. It’s so convenient to eat out or get take out for home. Especially when we work non-stop and are generally worn out by a diet and lifestyle that doesn’t give us the vitality we need to go-go-go. We still eat out every Friday night and sometimes more depending on, you know, life.
Mostly I cook at home these days. It takes a bunch of extra work, but it’s worth it to feed myself and my family right. Meal planning helps, and I’m planning a post in the near future that will help with that.
The deal is that most restaurants cook with rancid vegetable oils, use meat from abused animals (have you seen Food Inc. yet?) and don’t cook with organic veggies. Plus they charge you a whole lot more to cook the food for you than if you just bought the Real Food ingredients and prepared it at home. We’re paying for convenience and any $$$ not spent out is a nice wad of dough you can put back into your wallet.
There You Have It, You Can Do Real Food Too!
Remember to take it slow and steady.
1. Change your fats and oils.
2. Shop at the outer edge of your grocery store.
3. Eat at home more often.
As luck would have it, my soon to be brother in-law makes awesome Indian food. More luck, my visiting mother in-law requested an Indian food feast. Hurray! It was all delicious and wonderful and satisfying. My 2 year old ate it up, YES!
Besides the incredible main dishes, what I think absolutely makes the meal are the various chutneys, dips, spiced rice and homemade naan. Considering the spice, and I mean actual spice not heat, of Indian cooking, the condiments present an opportunity to bring even more depth to the meal. Sweet, pungent, tart, and mellowing flavors made our feast that much more enjoyable.
Have you ever made an authentic Indian dish? Let alone multiple dishes in the same day? It’s a painstaking amount of prep work, followed by a spicy and intense flurry of cooking over rippling hot oils. The foundation of the dish has to be taken to the cusp of burnt and then spices added in the right order before adding the protein or vegetable. And only then will the cook be able to turn the heat down and sigh in relief that they are (hopefully) still breathing.
I was told to bring dessert (and I offered up green bean curry, look for that upcoming post) and considering the theme I decided upon rice pudding. It’s made with gobs of milk and cream to sooth any residual burn and bonus, it’s easy. Thing is…I’ve never had rice pudding that I particularly enjoyed, and too often I find it’s ruined by cardamom (better suited to green bean curry in my opinion).
I’m not one to back down from a food just because I haven’t found the right recipe, so I hopped on the web and studied a variety of rice puddings. The two that I focused on, before finally coming up with my own, were Alton Brown’s recipe and this one from Single Dad Laughing. My goal was to make a sweet, creamy real food version of this classic dish that still held the texture of soft rice. What came out of my experiment was creamy (not mushy) flavorful and sweet, and no cardamom.
Maybe because my palate is cleaner due to my better diet of late. Or maybe it’s the lack of sugar I’m taking in, but this pudding was good. Like, REAL good. Sweetened with maple syrup and coconut milk (which wasn’t as overpowering as it could easily have been), it was simply lovely. This made a great dessert, but would also make a nice addition to breakfast, or as a snack, or straight from the fridge on a spoon. However you eat it though, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Real Food Rice Pudding
Ingredients
2 tbsp butter, organic/pastured
1.5c cooked white rice
1.5c whole organic/pastured milk
1/2c half & half OR cream
3/4c coconut milk (not coconut water)
1/4c maple syrup
1/2c soaked raisins
Make It
Place raisins in a bath of hot water to plump.
In a saucepan over medium heat melt butter and add rice. Mix until rice is covered in melted yummy goodness.
Turn heat to med/high and add milk. Stir to mix. Bring to a boil (stirring) and then turn down to a simmer. Stir regularly for 5-8 minutes until mixture thickens.
Add cream, coconut milk, maple syrup and mix. Make sure it’s still simmering. Stir until even thicker and bubbly, 10-12 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Drain raisins and add to pudding. I think a handful of sliced almonds would be a nice addition too.
Pour into a dish and cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap/wax paper. Allow to sit on the counter for 2.5 hours or refrigerate and it will firm up but maintain that beloved creaminess.
We ate ours at room temperature and that was perfect, but (again) if you absolutely MUST indulge before the allotted cooling time – no one would blame you!
Lucky for the world, this post is being written today, and not last night. I was in no sort of good mood last night, or the few nights before either. Since Christmas Porter’s been battling any number of ailments, which obviously hasn’t stopped me from pursuing my health goals. Starting last Friday he was finally taken down by the beast that has been making its way around Boise for the last few weeks. Normally it ain’t no thing, but this was my last straw. As a parent human, something had to give. For me it was exercise, then sleep, then the strict eating habits. This all makes mama a very sad, and really grumpy, lady. Thankfully, health appears to be on its way to being restored and I got to go to dance last night and yoga this morning.
I haven’t strayed from my real food mantra, but I gave into the cereal, graham crackers and pasta that Porter refused to eat. There’s also an admission that I have to make, and it’s been in the works for a few weeks. In my bathroom there is a scale, duh, and I am developing an unhealthy relationship with it. Every time I find my self in the bathroom, I step on the scale. Somedays I weigh the same, at other times I gain and lose pounds at a time. Seeing the fluctuation, while I know is normal, wreaks havoc on my outlook. It’s time to put the scale away and only bring it out on Wednesday mornings. Breaking up is hard to do.
In order to get back on track I need a goal. Next month Porter and I are taking an extended trip to Maui with my parents. I know, now you feel really terrible for me. My goal is to be at or below 240 by the time I leave for that trip at the beginning of March. It’s a perfectly good amount and I know I’m capable of doing it. While on that trip I fully intend to continue my weight loss plan and only hope I don’t overdo it on macadamia nuts (something I’ve already done in the last month).
This Weeks Numbers
Week 6, Feb. 6
Last Week
This Week
Difference
Weight (lbs)
246
247.5
+1.5
Left Leg (in.)
31.5
31
-0.5
Hips (in.)
51.5
52
+0.5
Waist (in.)
43.5
43.5
0
Chest (in.)
45
45
0
Left Arm (in.)
16
16
0
Neck (in.)
15
15
0
Totals: 13.5 pounds lost, 14.5″ lost
You can read my initial post about my New Year’s Resolution here.
It all began with this simple Sunset Magazine article a few years back. I wrote a little about it in this post, and it’s time to lay out more about how I’d like to reduce the waste we put out. The Zero Waste Home method: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot.
Refuse
I’m notoriously bad a refusing just about anything. Sales people, food, goodie bags, free pens… maybe I’m not so good at saying no.
Here are a list of items that I could easily say no to:
All receipts
Samples
Taking business cards
Free samples at the dentist, like I need 4 mini flosses when I have plenty at home
What I have started to refuse:
Appointment reminder cards – instead everything goes right into my phone calendar
Junk mail – easy! Using the Paper Karma app on my phone I just take a picture and send it in and the junk mail magically stops coming. This does take some persistence though.
Candy and treats often offered to my son. Not too hard since he doesn’t eat a lot of sugar.
Paper/plastic bags at the store. In the rare event that I forget my reusable bags I try to put as much in my purse and arms that I can fit.
Reduce
This is a category that I’m good at. As a shopaholic with an Amazon addiction who has a hard time refusing, I’ve obviously got a lot of stuff. Plus we’ve lived in our home for 8 years now and after that much time things start to get hidden behind other things and stuck in the dark corners of closets and tall shelves. We’ve been working on this for the last year or so, and it’s especially hard with a toddler who is constantly growing out of items and simultaneously getting new ones.
Areas to work on:
Getting rid of old baby toys. It’s easy to hold on to them with the knowledge of a second baby in the future, but my mind knows that I can always find items at thrift stores and that a baby doesn’t truly need stuff. Especially if there will be a big brother in the picture.
Clothes. Since I’ve started losing weight I already notice my clothes actually fit. Soon I’ll be growing out of them and when that happens I’m quickly donating or consigning them. I’m desperate to have a functional mini-wardrobe.
In the kitchen I need to get rid of tools/appliances that only get used once a year. I know how to do most everything in the kitchen with my staple tools and I’m beginning to think we don’t need our microwave. I know I’ll get grief for it though so it’s harder than it seems.
In the bathroom I have a date with the space under the sink. There’s a plethora of items that go untouched, i.e. old makeup, nail polish, lotions/potions, tampons (I use a Diva Cup), hair cutting machines and assorted items with cords. Haven’t touched them in ages and I’d really like to store my TP down there.
Closets hold a lot of chotchka. Having been a teacher there’s any assortment of fairy wings, witch hats, swathes of fabric and who knows what. I know plenty of teachers who could put it all to better use than my closet.
Office space. Find a home for everything and get rid of the rest.
Filing paperwork, that’s a chore that I’m not looking forward to, bleck.
Laundry/catch-all room. Since we don’t have a garage and our shed is for outdoor item this room is in dire need of organization.
It would be nice to get down to one car, but that’s not happening for the forseeable future. The bike will definitely be brought out in the spring.
What we’ve done already:
Donated a huge bookshelf worth of books and the remainder are now in the same area. Truthfully I think I’d be ok getting rid of all my books, except the birthing ones, but my husband is an avid book collector and I feel like there needs to be a little balance. It sounds silly, even to me.
Clothes. Last year I turned all my clothes hangers in the closet backwards and when I wore an item I put it back correctly. Anything that was still backwards in June got the boot.
Shoes. I got rid of anything that wasn’t comfortable and I don’t miss a single pair.
By composting our kitchen scraps I’ve downsized our garbage output by HALF. I now put out my bin weekly, but half full.
Pared down outdoor tools and machinery to the basics.
Reuse
This one seems easy enough, but I’ve come across some surprising difficulties.
The most obvious to me is getting rid of paper towels and handkerchiefs and using reusable cloths. During my experiment, even with a plethora of hand towels/rags, we were constantly running out of clean ones. With the amount of laundry I have right now it’s just too much of a burden, but I’m hoping in the next year to widdle down our wardrobes enough to keep the laundry levels down.
I’m also trying to find an acceptable solution to zip lock bags especially for home-baked loaves of sandwich bread.
Since there aren’t very good selections of non-dry goods in bulk I still purchase a bunch of items in glass jars, which kinda sucks and drives my husband crazy when I save so many for reuse. I don’t have storage or time to can goods in the summer, so this is an issue that is need of a solution too.
Diapers, I’ll admit that we didn’t do cloth for the same reason as we still use paper towels.
What we’re doing already:
Reusable cloth bags for groceries, produce and bulk
Glass jars for bulk food storage, i.e. cereal, nuts, crackers
Lunch bags for toting food
I started buying Porter’s clothes from the thrift store and hope to do that for myself when I get into reasonable sizes
Reusable jars for water/beverages although I’m guilty of the occasional water bottle purchase
I use a Diva Cup for my moon cycle
Soaps and liquids are easy enough to get in bulk and I’ve started doing that, but still have to find laundry detergent that doesn’t make my boys break out
The Library!
Recycle
Anything that can be recycled we do. That includes:
Plastics, paper, glass
Donating/purchasing from thrift stores
Rot
As talked about in this post, we love our red wigglers and they’re loving us back.
It should be said that I know we’ll never get to absolute zero, or even as close as the Johnsons, but I certainly hope to make serious changes in the way we consume.
Are you interested in getting closer to zero waste living? If so, how are you working towards that goal? Leave your answers in the comments below.
I want to start this weeks post by saying thank you. Thank you to everyone who’s following and supporting me on this journey. The responses I’ve gotten from friends, family and acquaintances have been glorious. There is no question in my mind that starting this challenge as my New Year’s Resolution was the right thing to do. So, thank you all and keep reading and sharing this with everyone you know.
Lessons Learned
January officially ended the first month of the challenge in great standings. My goal is to continue to do the same for the next 11 months and I think I’ve hit a sustainable stride. It helps to acknowledge that there have been, and will continue to be, ups and downs. That is a major lesson I learned from the last month. Ebbing and flowing is in my nature and to try and fight that would be silly. I’ve seen myself fall and get back up enough in the last month to know I can start fresh everyday. If that doesn’t work then it helps to maintain until weigh-in days and move forward from there.
Move That Body
Exercising has been so much fun. I decided I’m not going to do anything I don’t like or feel like doing and the pattern I’m in seems good. Vinyasa yoga 2x per week, tai chi/Pilates/yoga 1x per week, dance 1x per week and strength training 1x per week. Group classes are working well for me and I’ll continue those for the forseeable future. The vinyasa yoga class I’ve been attending is one of the best yoga classes I’ve ever taken and that’s going to get a whole post in the near future too.
Real Food
On the way home from yoga today I offered Porter his choice of snacks and he turned down the apple/blueberry combo I prepared, so I ate it. The difference in eating this simple snack, from before I started eating right, is that I would have eaten it (or let it go to waste, that’s not frugal!) without thinking. Before, I wouldn’t have considered the flavor or nutrition in those cut up bites, mindless eating as it were. As I was munching I became aware of the sweetness and crunch of the apples and the tender tartness of the berries. I really enjoyed the snack and felt nourished by it. Surely, my cleaner diet has improved my senses and made me appreciate such a treat as this.
Everybody goes through trying times, right? Today was my turn. I try not to complain, because it doesn’t do a whole lot of good, but sometimes I just have to get it out of my system.
Here’s The Story
Since Christmas Porter has had any assortment of illnesses and rashes overlapping one another. I’m a good mom: monitoring his well-being, going for chiropractic adjustments, feeding him nutritious food. He’s been in relatively high spirits and, other than the physical signs of sickness, we’ve been going about our business.
Until this morning, where upon his right hand appeared an entirely new rash that spread rapidly to his elbow. Strangely, his various rashes have mostly been on his right side from foot to arm. We’ve been potty training and cleaning our hands a lot more, but this was no dry skin. Defeated, I finally gave in and called his pediatric DO (osteopathic doctor) to make an appointment.
Do you love your kids doctor?
As a side note, I used to be a firm believer in strictly going to family doctors. After our family DO went out of private practice the only DO I could find locally was a pediatrician. Turns out I really like having a pediatrician, because they do everything in their power to see sick kids that same day. They also see kids all the time and I find they have a better immediate knowledge of what seems to be going around in the community. I like that.
Back to the story…
While making breakfast I was also able to get Porter an appointment for 10am, entirely rearranging my day and missing yoga (sad face). We went in and the doctor looked over Porter’s skin and symptoms, confirming all of my own suspicions (I love my intuition, when I listen):
The minor breakout of Hand Foot & Mouth on his right foot was residual from when he had the full-blown virus last year and it flared (in that foot only) after he had the flu in January.
The rough/dry rash on his abdomen and thighs were eczema from the dry conditions and my foolish mistake to try to change laundry detergent.
Yes, his head cold was just that.
But this funky new rash on his right arm was a little strange. She was 90% sure it was viral and would pass in the next week, but there was that 10% chance that it was a quick-moving bacterial infection that would need immediate treatment.
The Prescription
Thanks to modern science we could easily find out by a simple blood draw…on a 2-year-old (WTF?!) Even the pediatric nurses don’t do those, so we bopped down to the local hospital for the pediatric phlebotomists assistance. We had a lovely time checking in. That’s where the fun stopped.
“No blood.”
Preparing my son for upcoming events is pretty important to making a smooth transition, so I mentioned briefly what was going to happen to him. His response, and continual confirmation was, “No blood.” Great, I just made it worse.
Now, I’ve had blood drawn and it’s no big deal really (even with my miniscule and hidden veins) and the professionals today were quite precise and quick. But my sweet boy didn’t know what the heck was going on and upon seeing the needle proceeded to scream bloody murder, and when he got stuck the tears burst forth like a fountain.
As his mom I was, as usual, charged with holding him firmly and trying to soothe him simultaneously. Words can’t explain how badly this sucked for the both of us. Long story short, the test came back fine and death is not imminent. Our day proceeded somewhat normally, albeit a little lower in energy.
What is a person to do to recover?
Pull out the gratitude journal.
Every night before bed, for over a year now, I write one thing I’m grateful for and one thing I see in my son from the day that is an indicator of his essence and the person he is becoming. Tonight I’m going to share with you a few of the things I’ve been grateful for lately, as a reminder to myself.
Keeping a gratitude journal is easy and takes a moment to do. Once you do it for about a month it becomes habit, like brushing your teeth. It gives you something positive to look for while going through your day, and I find that practice is so beneficial to my overall health. Try it.
I am grateful for…
Good good friends and the time to catch up with them.
Fortitude to parent correctly.
My husband who still loves me and a sweet boy who forgives.
Well, back to reality. Turns out I really like being on vacation and spending days with Porter. That makes for some seriously bad blogging. It’s okay though, I’m sure my game face will soon return. Hopefully it’ll bring along some greenery for the trees around here.
