Yesterday I had a prenatal appointment. As tempted as I was to inquire about medications to help with the nausea, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. What I did ask for was advice on handling low blood sugar. I feel as if I’m constantly either eating or looking for food. And when I do eat I often still feel a little woozy. I bet keeping my blood sugar on a more even keel would help with the fatigue too.

“Make nuts your friend.”

photo credit: aaaceto

That was the response. Nuts, along with other “oily-proteiny” foods. Her recommendations:

• Eat a few  nuts every hour.
• Make up a big batch of chicken salad or tuna salad with lots of mayo, keep it in the fridge and eat a few spoonfuls when you pass by it.
• Roast a chicken (if the smell doesn’t make you sick) and put it in the fridge. Pull off a few pieces of chicken and eat those when you think of it.
• Take a chromium supplement. (I checked, and my multivitamin has chromium. So I just need to get better about taking it. Guilty!)

I’ve had issues with low blood sugar off and on since I was a child, and I do much better on a higher protein diet. It makes sense that I would have it while pregnant and having so many demands on my body. I think I’m unconsciously under-eating for fear of gaining too much weight this time. Bad momma!

We were able to hear the heartbeat too, which made hubby happy. (He was worried and didn’t want to let on.) Incidentally I felt the baby move for the first time Monday. I had just drank a glass of juice and then I got in bed with Ruby to put her down for a nap. I guess the combo of lying still + sugar made me feel baby’s happy dance. Pretty cool.

Did you have issues with low blood sugar/hypoglycemia in pregnancy? How did you manage it?

It’s a little annoying to have to eat so often, especially when food still doesn’t taste good!

After Stonyfield Farms made the unfortunate decision to homogenize their organic yogurt, I was determined to try my hand at making my own. And since the only milk we buy and consume around here is raw milk, of course it was going to be raw milk yogurt.

I bought a nifty yogurt maker on Craigslist and some lovely yogurt starter from Cultures for Health. I was so excited! I envisioned my youngsters eating raw milk yogurt topped with fruit for breakfast, snacks and dessert.

Two totally failed attempts later, discouragement set in. I was already about $30 invested in this project with nothing to show for it. Ouch. Since kefir making is so easy and free, I had almost decided to just give up and let kefir be my main dairy probiotic food.

What I didn’t know yet was that making yogurt from raw milk without cooking it a little first (hence, making it not raw) was nearly impossible. Most people are unable to pull it off. Why? Because the naturally occurring enzymes, one of the things that makes raw milk so good for you, compete with the yogurt culture. The yogurt never sets.

After doing some more research, I was at least determined to heat my raw milk first. Even “cooked”, the finished product would be far superior to anything store bought. But I still wanted a simpler method.

I enjoy Christine’s blog, A Year of Slow Cooking. One day while perusing her recipes I found this on the sidebar: You Can Make Yogurt In Your Slow Cooker.

Bingo! Guess what I ate this morning?
photo credit: FotoosVanRobin

A big huge bowl of raw milk yogurt, made in the slow cooker. Teehee.

It’s delicious, I think even tastier than store bought. I like the taste of plain, unflavored yogurt, but I’m sure the kids will want to add a little honey or fruit. It has a very mild, clean refreshing taste. Yum!

The only caveat is that the texture is a little runny. I think I need to keep the milk heated in the slow cooker a tad longer next time. If that doesn’t work, I’ll just add a packet of plain unflavored gelatin. I don’t mind the texture, it’s like drinkable yogurt, but I bet the kids would prefer it with a little more drag on the spoon. It was so easy too. And only one bowl to wash (the slow cooker crock).

I’ve calculated that making my own amounts to at least a 50% savings over store bought to boot. Because I despise “uni-tasking” appliances, I’m thrilled that I can now sell my yogurt maker.

If you’re interested in making raw milk yogurt (or pasteurized for that matter) in your slow cooker, be sure to check out Christine’s instructions. The comments have some useful info too.

Being Eco-Friendly With Your Food – Even When You’re Finished With It

Last week, I was at my local retailer doing some homemaking-related shopping. I bought some water softener for the wash, a new garlic press, and a cutting board. I also browsed up and down the aisles as I often do, checking out the stainless-steel appliances and the line of new blenders. Just as I was about to leave the section and head to the check-out, something interesting caught my eye: a do-it-yourself composting kit.

photo credit: 305 Seahill

While I have friends who compost foods in their backyards, I had never before seen such a kit in the store. Seeing the kit got me thinking. In my life, on a weekly basis, I make every effort to be green and eco-friendly when it comes to sourcing, preparing, and eating my food. I look for locally grown and all-natural products. I prepare meals that are high in beans and low in red meat. From the moment a crop is planted until the moment its product lands on my plate, I make every effort to be as sustainable and green as possible.

But all too rarely do I take time to consider what comes after my meal, when food all too often becomes garbage and garbage all too often turns into trash. While this is perhaps a less “sexy” component of the sustainable food cycle, it is an important one nonetheless. As I stood in the store and pondered all this, I quickly arrived at an impulse decision. I bought the compost kit.

A few days have passed since I made that purchase. At first setting up the compost bin in my yard was admittedly a challenge, largely because I had no idea what I was doing and no expectation of whether it would work. But the bin has quickly turned into an excellent and efficient way for disposing many of the fruits and veggies that my family consumes – and for doing so in a highly eco-friendly manner.

My new composting practice has helped me become more cognizant of what I do with my food after I eat it. I’ve taken to saving all leftovers, even when only a small amount of food remains. I’ve started cleaning out my recyclable materials more thoroughly, just to insure that they won’t get rejected by the recycling plant and deferred to a landfill. And, finally, I’ve started paying extra attention to my trash bin. What food products or by-products am I throwing out? How can this amount be reduced?

I hope that my vigilance continues. While going green in your food preparation is certainly half the battle, it’s just as important to cover that second half – and dispose of your meals in an environmentally-friendly manner.

I have a little bit to say about a whole lot of topics again, but not enough to make an entire blog post. I think it’s all my brain can manage, what, with building a new human being and all.

Besides, all I would talk about is food and that’s kind of boring. Good thing most of you are busy this week. Feel free to skip.

I have a love hate relationship with food at the moment. I am starving all day but when I put food in my mouth it kind of sticks there and turns to sand. I chew and chew and chew and have to force myself to swallow it. Then I have the weird sensation that something is stuck in the back of my throat and won’t budge.

Gross.

Right now I’m eating Elevensies. I’ve already had breakfast and second breakfast. I start eating at 4 or 5 AM. I get up, grab whatever is easy and go back to bed. I wake up an hour later and eat again.

By then my sweet husband is up and he runs to get me a steak biscuit. Because I have to eat before I cook breakfast.

I’ve turned Hobbit.

A smattering of thoughts that are too long for Twitter, but too short for a blog post.

photo credit: Mervi Eskelinen

On Cravings

The cravings have begun. Previously it was steak. Moe’s steak burritos. This morning it was orange juice, with a side of sausage. I remember having this one in my last pregnancy. I never buy or drink juice normally. Seriously I think the last time I had a glass of juice was when I did a juice fast several months ago.

For the past 2 days I craved OJ so badly I thought I might tear someone’s eyes out if I didn’t get some. Hubby went this morning to get some for me. He’s so sweet. But get this.  He left the house before 7 this morning to get me a sausage and egg biscuit which I also had to have, along with said juice. He forgot the juice. And the biscuit had no egg. I tried not to look too disappointed. He went back out to get me both the forgotten juice and a sausage and egg biscuit.

Did he win husband of the year award with that move, or what?

(And as I write this just now I realize maybe I need iron, because steak/sausage (meat) plus vitamin C = iron absorption. Hmm. Makes perfect sense.)

On Sharing

The only time I do not share food with my greedy grabby-hands lovely offspring is when I’m pregnant.  I politely explain to them that I’m already sharing with the baby inside me and resist the urge to plant a fork in the back of their hands.

Does anyone else feel this protective of their food when they’re pregnant?

On 6 Year Old Nutritionists

My 6 year old daughter keeps chiding me on what I’m eating. It’s funny to see the shoe on the other foot, her always lecturing me about what’s good nutrition. For instance yesterday, I had a hankering (that’s Southern for craving, y’all) for chocolate chip cookies. (Until I had one, then they were gross.)

We rarely eat sugar around here, and it’s a treat if we bake banana bread or pumpkin muffins or something. But I asked oldest to make some chocolate chip cookies, and he did.

“Mom, I don’t think the baby should eat chocolate chip cookies.”

Today I was out running errands and got ravenous before we got home, so I went through Taco Bell (every pregnant woman’s favorite, somewhere I would never normally eat) to grab a bean burrito. And a small Dr. Pepper. (I don’t drink soft drinks normally either!)

“Mom, Dr. Pepper is not good for the baby. It’s not healthy and we want him to be healthy.”

She’s been lecturing me for two days.

On Firstborns

I honestly don’t know what I would do without my oldest child. He is my right hand man.

He is my brains, remembering things that I forget (like the groceries in the back of the car, which would have melted into a big lump on this warm day). He is my feet, often running inside stores to do quick errands for me while I stay with the other kids in the car. He is even clued in to my emotional state. If he knows I’m having a bad day, he has been known to offer to brew me tea and can be heard warning the other kids to not talk back, do their chores or be quiet.

I don’t know what I would do without him.

Anyone else feel this way about their oldest?

Beans, beans, the magical fruit. The more you eat, the… less you puke?

When I read about Karen Hurd and her “Bean Cure” on Life in a Shoe, I almost tracked down my husband then and there to see if I could get pregnant and test it out.

What if the months and months of vomiting and unrelenting, 24/7 nausea I felt in all my pregnancies was as easy to fix as… eating beans?

Oddly, I often craved Mexican food while I was pregnant, and it always made me feel better. I chalked it up to the steak. (Welcome to Moe’s!) But perhaps it was really the beans!

11/27/2011

I took a pregnancy test first thing this morning and it was positive. I ate beans several times today.

According to Karen, the nausea a pregnant woman feels is due to the hCG’s impact on bile production. (hCG is that handy dandy hormone that you test for when you pee on a stick.) hCG is responsible for sustaining the pregnancy. That’s why women who experience nausea are less likely to miscarry – it’s a sign of “good strong hormones”.

hCG increases bile flow. It’s the bile that makes you feel sick. What’s worse, as bile picks up more toxins in your body (that’s its job, by the way, to help you digest fats and clean out your innards), those toxins kind of keep flowing through, making you feel worse and worse.

From Karen Hurd’s website:

“Bile is used in the digestion of the fats that we eat. Bile is also the vehicle that the liver uses to rid the body of fat-soluble toxins.”

The fix?

Eat beans.

Beans contain a lot of soluble fiber, which BIND to the nasty bile and take it out, courtesy of your poo. Pooping isn’t particularly easy during pregnancy thanks to our other friend progesterone, which slooooooows everything doooooown. This is so your body can get the maximum “oomph” from the food you eat, but it also has the effect of making you constipated. Beans can help with that too!

What kind of beans clean the bile and help pregnancy nausea?

“They are pinto beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, white beans, navy beans, black beans, lentils, split peas, black-eyed peas, and lima beans, to name just a few. Legumes are not green beans, wax beans, or soy beans.”

(From this page on Karen Hurd’s website, about gallbladders. Also highly recommended reading. By the way if you’re curious about Karen Hurd, her education and credentials, you can find that info on her website.)

As soon as the nausea hit me this time (literally the day after I got a positive pregnancy test) I started eating beans. I usually feel better within minutes.

Y’all might be thinking this is the placebo effect. Honey, I DON’T CARE. If it works it works. Besides, during my pregnancies I’ve tried every “morning sickness” remedy known. None of them worked for me. Some took the edge off a little, but nothing made me feel instantly better like eating beans has.

By this point, I’ve been eating beans about 6 times a day for 3 weeks. Honestly they’re about the last thing I desire. But beans have become my friend because they really do help.

The nausea gets pretty bad if I go too long without beans. My mouth keeps filling up with spit the way it does before you vomit. Except I’m not vomiting. I keep hoping this isn’t because I’m not far enough along yet to start puking, and is because of the action of the beans. I’ve never NOT vomited at this point in a pregnancy.

So, to recap:

• Pregnancy makes you produce hCG
• hCG makes you  produce more bile
• Extra bile makes you nauseated
• Dirty, recirculating bile makes you even more sick
• Soluble fiber in beans binds to bile
• Bile is pooped out with soluble fiber
• Beans have far more soluble fiber than other foods
• Eat beans = cleaner bile, less bile = less nausea!

The page on gallbladder disease recommends eating 3 cups of beans daily, spread out into 6 1/2 cup servings. The point of this is to keep the soluble fiber in the body at all times so it can soak up and bind with the dirty bile. Eventually there will be only clean bile!

I’ve been eating beans as soon as I wake up (around 5 am), then again every time I eat. I eat about 1/4 – 1/2 cup at a time. When I run errands, I take a commuter coffee cup and… fill it with beans.

I bought Katie’s Everything Beans book to get more ideas on incorporating beans into my meal planning. It’s fine to just sit down with a bowl of beans, thankfully I love beans. But as the pregnancy progresses and my food aversions get stronger, it will be more difficult, I’m sure.

Here are a few more tips for eating beans for pregnancy nausea:

• Try a variety of beans. I’ve found that my favorite is pintos. If I eat one variety too often I begin to develop an aversion and eating them isn’t as pleasant. So mix it up. Limas, blackeyed peas, butter beans, white beans, black beans, kidney beans, pintos… there are plenty to try.
• Add spice. I find that a dash of Tabasco makes my early morning beans much more palatable.
• Hummus. Buy the plain (no garlic) variety and nosh on raw veggies and pita chips.
• Skip the onions and garlic. While the addition of those two ingredients normally makes beans yummy, most pregnant women are sensitive to them during the first few months.
• Hide the beans. Eat them with chili, with huevos rancheros, in soups, in pasta (blend them with sauces), even in brownies! Yes, you can hide black beans in brownies. There’s a recipe in the Everything Beans books! I bet you could even hide white beans in a smoothie.
• Add chips. The salty and crispy crunch of a tortilla chip to scoop up beans gets them down a little easier.
• Legumes, le fumes? If you’re worried about gas, get over it. Pregnant women fart a lot anyway. Your body will adjust to the extra beans in a day or two. And you can reduce the gassiness by soaking your beans for 24 hours and cooking them slowly in a slow cooker.
• Just do it. Force yourself to eat them if you have to. Distract yourself. I often eat my beans while I’m reading or browsing something interesting online. I promise you’ll feel better. Isn’t it better than vomiting?

At this point in my pregnancies I was nearly incapacitated with severe nausea and vomiting. I didn’t leave the house for weeks, cooking was almost impossible, forget cleaning or keeping to any kind of schedule. The bean thing is definitely helping me. I wish I could say that it’s a cure, and Karen Hurd seems to imply that it is on her website, but it isn’t – at least not for me. I still have nausea in the background 24 hours a day, and sometimes it’s severe, but eating beans makes me feel better. I’m able to clean, cook and do school with the kids. This is a definite blessing for me!

Another bonus about beans: the constipation that plagues many women during their pregnancy? Let’s just say that it is definitely NOT an issue when you’re eating all these beans!

Have you heard about eating beans for pregnancy nausea? Did you try it? What else helped you deal with pregnancy nausea and vomiting?

photo credit: Evil Erin

Our Green Moms Weekly topic this week is our first about pregnancy.

The question:

“What are some of the highs and lows during your first trimester of pregnancy and how have you dealt with them?”

This is an easy one for me because I don’t have to go by memory to write this! Interestingly, all of these first trimester complaints seem to have a protective effect. I’ll explain more later.

Nausea and Vomiting

I don’t call it “morning sickness”, because for me it was always bad at night and I had it all day long, as do many women. Nor do I call it “first trimester sickness” because for some women like myself, it lasts for several months or the length of the pregnancy. I mention it first because it’s probably the most common pregnancy woe, and perhaps the most debilitating when it’s bad. I’m actually working on a very long, comprehensive post right now about how I’m dealing with it this go around, look for that tomorrow!  For now I’ll just tease you and say that eating beans helps nausea. And I’ve tried everything there is to try, from meds to natural remedies, and nothing has helped as much as eating beans. More later!

Sensitivity to Smells

This is one of the first early pregnancy symptoms I experience.  Things that I normally wouldn’t notice now have me running outside or hanging my head out the window for fresh air. I believe this is an important mechanism to help protect a pregnant woman from things that could hurt her unborn child. For instance, natural smells like citrus and essential oils don’t bother me in the least. But any synthetic fragrance in cosmetic products or odors of rot or waste (diapers, trash, dirty kitchen smells) have me dry heaving and fleeing the scene.

I deal with it by trying to avoid bad odors as much as possible. We move the coffee pot downstairs so my husband can brew it without triggering my nausea. I make sure to go to bed with a clean kitchen so there is no rotting food or dirty dishes lying around in the morning. I throw away food that’s “iffy” even though it’s probably perfectly fine to eat. Hubby or one of the kids changes Ruby’s diaper, and I keep the toilet extra clean so I can’t smell it.

Cooking odors are especially difficult. I’ve been asking other people to cook breakfast when I’m feeling bad. I stop using garlic and onions in my cooking. I use the slow cooker more, and I since bacon makes me sickest of all, we just don’t cook it at all when I’m pregnant.

All of this probably protects a pregnant woman from things that could possibly harm her baby such as toxins in food and the air around her. I find myself running outside a lot to take deep breaths too, which is also a good habit for anyone!

And I have another trick: peppermint oil. I dab a drop of it right under my nose when I’m forced to deal with a stinky odor. It has the effect of numbing or blocking my sense of smell temporarily. (Have you noticed how the forensic people put camphor under their nose when they’re doing work with dead bodies? Same thing.) You can also put a drop of your favorite essential oil on a cotton ball and keep it with you in a container in your purse so you can whiff it when you need to.

Sleepiness and Fatigue

First trimester sleepiness is crazy, isn’t it? I can take naps an hour after I wake up from a nap. I go to bed at 8 PM these days. Making a new human is hard work, especially in the first trimester when you’re building a placenta and creating all that extra blood. Doing your best to rest whenever possible is important. But don’t neglect exercise either. I’ve been feeling good enough to take my daily walk, and it really helps me have more energy.  Drink water. If it’s hard for you because it tastes bad (blech, I have to force water down when I’m pregnant because it tastes so bad), try adding a lemon, lime or orange wedge.

Food Aversions and Cravings

The other day I found myself eating sauerkraut and a milkshake. Pretty stereotypical! Seriously though, catering to the newly pregnant belly can be almost a full time job. I find that I get low blood sugar a lot in my pregnancy, as evidenced by increased nausea, strong hunger pangs, and dizziness. It’s important to snack and eat several small meals a day. Be sure to get enough protein to avoid preeclampsia (Dr. Tom Brewer has written a lot of the increased protein needs of pregnant women.).

If it’s hard to get your protein, try smoothies. The consistency and coldness and icy crunch seems to be very satisfying to the pregnant palate. You can sneak in protein powder or peanut butter or cottage cheese or kefir or whatever else that has protein that you can stomach.

Of course, take your vitamins to help you avoid deficiencies that may lead to crazy cravings. If they make you sick, try kid’s gummy vitamins. And just go with it, within reason. I believe that the food aversions and cravings, again, may protect a fetus in some way. If something you eat and normally love is suddenly revolting, and you’re craving things you rarely eat, perhaps your body is trying to prevent imbalances by forcing you to vary your diet more. When I’m pregnant, I can’t stand many things that I love normally but I crave things like steak and crunchy raw veggies. I probably need those foods. Steak is a great source of protein and B vitamins, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with crunchy raw veggies!

Bitter/Metallic Taste in Mouth

Does anyone else have this in early pregnancy? It takes me until I’m about 5 months pregnant before things taste normal again, and I still don’t have normal taste buds until I deliver the baby. It’s quite frustrating for food to taste bad in your mouth, especially when you’re so hungry and have to eat more often!

I deal with it by brushing my teeth and scraping my tongue more often, sipping on water with lemon a lot, and chewing all natural gum (with no artificial sweeteners. I buy Glee gum, made from natural chicle). The nasty taste is so bad that during my pregnancy I develop halitophobia (the fear that I have bad breath even when I don’t).

Heartburn

Heartburn must be related to hormones, because I always get it early in the pregnancy. Obviously my uterus isn’t big enough to be cramping my stomach. Dealing with heartburn is pretty easy. Eat small meals frequently. Nibble on dried papaya and pineapple. The enzymes present in those two fruits helps immediately. Avoid caffeine (which you’re probably doing anyway).  Sipping mint tea helps some people too. Try a little lemon in your water.

What are some of your favorite first trimester natural remedies?

After what for many people amounts to the biggest eating day of the year, I thought it would be appropriate to post this interview with Funky About Food nutrition expert Lynn Penrose, R.D.

Lynn is a Registered Dietitian and her expertise is in emotional eating and other “funky” issues we have with food. She offers coaching services, vlogs, a newsletter and other help on her site.

I wanted to interview Lynn for the podcast, but we had difficulties getting together, and then experienced technical difficulties once we did connect. Let me know if this topic interests you, and I’ll schedule Lynn again for a show! (And if you have additional questions you’d like me to ask Lynn, please also leave that in the comments.)

We’re talking about emotional eating issues. I don’t need to tell any of you that this is a big issue, especially for us gals. For me personally, coming up on the winter season is a time for major carbohydrate cravings due to winter blues.

Carrie: I’ve heard the term orthorexia more and more online in recent months. While it’s great that we are becoming more educated about nutrition, some can go too far in the other direction. What is orthorexia, and how big of a problem is this becoming?

Lynn: Orthorexia is an obsession with eating healthy foods and takes healthy eating to the extreme.  Someone who suffers with orthorexia believes they are “above” others because their food choices are so righteous.   Their virtuous way of eating offers them a peaceful sense of control.

Someone who suffers with orthorexia believes they are “above” others because their food choices are so righteous. It is a growing problem for two reasons:

• It is a gateway to a full blown eating disorder.
• Children of orthorexics receive the message that their food choices are an appropriate way to derive self-esteem.

C: Why are women more susceptible to “funky food” issues? Does our cycle/hormones have anything to do with it?

Lynn: Absolutely!  Our monthly menstrual cycle plays a MAJOR role in the food choices we make and how we feel in our bodies! We are more susceptible to “funky food” issues because most women are not in sync with how directly connected our food intake is with the changes in our hormone levels.

I teach women how to work along with their cycle, rather than against it because it’s a fact of life! For example:

**Day 1 to 14 our hormone levels are balanced and we experience the following:

- A decrease in appetite; we are easily satiated with “lighter” foods
- Cravings for sugar and salt are lower
- Body image is generally more positive

**Day 14 to 30 our body prepares for a fertilized egg by building a lining of the uterus so this egg can implant itself and grow and we experience the following:

- An increase in appetite; we desire more calorically dense foods
- Temporary fluid shifts results in feelings of weight gain (we believe its “real” and freak out)
- Body Image declines due to increase in stress levels and fluid shifts

The truth about this is that 2 weeks out of the month, we feel ok about our food intake and bodies and the next 2 weeks we feel like we are out of control. Attributing our feelings and intake to shifting hormones is paramount!

(I wrote about this issue here: post ovulation depression. It really is true that “knowledge is power” when it comes to the connection between our cycles and eating!)

C: What can we do as parents to teach our kids healthy eating attitudes and prevent them from having food issues?

Lynn: A healthy eating attitude is eating according to our hunger and fullness signals.  If a parent eats according to these signals, it’s the best way to prevent their child from having food issues.

Too many discussions about healthy and unhealthy or good and bad foods leads the child to think too much about their food choices, which can result in a decreased ability to read the subtle hunger and fullness cues the bodies provides.

C: Do you have any advice for parents of picky eaters?

Lynn: Leave it alone! 

The more focus parents put on a child intake, the more the child may dig their heels in.  Gentle encouragement to try new foods when the moments feel right is indicated.

Thanks Lynn!

If you have more questions about emotional eating or other food issues, please ask in the comments.

Sipping a delicious hot drink in a comfy chair when it’s cold or yucky out? It doesn’t get much better than that, does it? At the moment I’m drinking a latte made from my stovetop espresso maker. So good!

We drink a lot of hot drinks around here. Coffee of course, but also hot teas like Earl Grey or English Breakfast (in bulk, preferably. Bagged teas are the lowest quality and mostly filled with dust.), Roobios or green.

The kids often make hot cocoa from scratch (of course, never from a box! – homemade hot cocoa recipe here) or just steamed milk with a tiny touch of vanilla. I love anything that can get more raw milk into my kids.

Here are 2 yummy hot drink recipes to enjoy this season:

Vanilla Chai

Serves 2

Ingredients:
* 2 cups milk (you can use non dairy milk if dairy is an issue)
* 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla extract
* 1/8 teaspoon each of ground cloves and nutmeg
* 2 teaspoons honey or sugar (reduce or eliminate if using sweetened nut or grain milk)

Heat milk in a saucepan. Whisk in spices, vanilla, and honey; heat through, and serve in a mug.

I remember my Dad giving me sips of a hot toddy (hot water, lemon, honey and a shot of something potent to help me sleep) when I got sick with a bad cold that would keep me up at night coughing. It sure was safer than a lot of today’s cough medicines that seem to get recalled from store shelves on a regular basis! Of course, this one is great for grown ups too.

Maple Hot Toddy

This drink can be fairly versatile, using whiskey, rum, bourbon or brandy. This version for 1 serving uses bourbon.

Ingredients:
* 2 tablespoons bourbon
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon maple syrup
* 1/2 cup hot tea or water
* Lemon wedge

Mix all ingredients in a mug and serve warm with a lemon wedge. Make two and share with hubby. I’m not responsible for what happens next.

More hot drink recipes:

• Orange laced apple cider
• Peppermint swirl hot cocoa
• International coffee recipes
• Eggnog latte

photo credit: Calgary Reviews

I’m not a huge fan of cold weather, for a few reasons. One, because I have blue moods in winter due to low serotonin. Two, because of the inevitable sickness that comes with being inside more often and breathing stale, recirculated air.

Our family is not plagued badly by colds and flu, nobody has chronic cough or other issues, but sickness is still just plain bummer. This year I’m determined to keep the kids as healthy as possible during the fall and winter. Here’s how.

Handwashing

At our last family meeting, we talked to the kids about the importance of good handwashing. Hands down (pun completely intended), good handwashing is the single most important thing you can do to stay well. They already do an excellent job of washing post-potty visits. We reminded the kids that they needed to wash their hands well (and by well I mean lathering up for 20 seconds, as in to the alphabet song) after blowing their noses, before eating, and (most adults forget this one!) coming into the house after being away.

That’s right. Running errands, going to social functions, and my stepdaughter being in public school especially… exposes us to a ton of “other people” germs. We’re immune to the germs in our own homes due to sheer exposure (incidentally, this is one of the reasons that homebirth is safer than hospital birth for healthy normal deliveries). But when we’re out and about touching doorknobs, grocery cart handles, shaking people’s hands and the like, we’re exposed to cooties that make us sick.

Vitamin D & Outside Play

Even in the winter, we can get the Vitamin D we need by spending time outside. We told the kids that 30 minutes a day of outside play was mandatory, unless is was pouring rain. And if it is pouring rain, we told them to take their Vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D is super essential to immune system health. To learn more, listen to this podcast on Vitamin D.

Of course, outside play also gives the kids some fresh air, away from the mucus membrane drying effects of central heat.

Cold Liver Oil

Cod Liver Oil is another very important supplement for immune system health and many other things. It’s loaded with Vitamin D and Vitamin A. I take it in capsule form, and the kids who are old enough do too. The younger ones do Carlson for Kids.

Probiotics

I’m giving the kids a liquid probiotic supplement as well as giving them fermented veggies and kefir. Since most of your immune system is in your gut, and a gut full of friendly bacteria is a happy gut, you want to be sure your diet is full of good germs!

(The awesome vegetable fermenter you see on the right in this picture is from Cultures For Health. It’s called the Vegetable Master, and I LOVE using it so make sauerkraut!)

Colorful Food

Carrots cooked in butter, kale chips, pumpkin, collard greens, sweet potatoes, squash… these colorful veggies are on the menu aplenty in winter. They need the antioxidants and vitamins and minerals these colorful foods provide.

Broths & Garlic

As the saying goes, good broth can awaken the dead. Real broth cooked from bones is full of immune boosting properties. And we know enough great stuff about garlic. It’s a good thing my family loves soup and stews. We eat them 2 or 3 times a week.

What do you do to keep your kids healthy during the cold and flu season?

The following is a guest post from Ryan Rivera, an anxiety expert and father. I like his advice here, especially the tip about the habit of deep breathing. We often get in the habit of holding our breath when we’re stressed, when we need oxygen to our brain and organs the most! I’ve taught this technique to my children and I often notice them taking deep breaths when they feel anger (also a good time to breathe!).

We seem to be living in the Age of Anxiety. I’m sure a lot of factors contribute to this, so keeping a few natural remedies in mind is a good idea.

Safe and Natural Ways for Busy Moms to Relax

Being a mom is hard enough. When you have anxiety, being a mom becomes much harder. Anxiety can make it hard to be the great parent you want to be, because you have these persistent worries that can easily be overwhelming. Yet it’s something you need to treat – not just for the sake of your family, who probably don’t want to see you stressed – but also for yourself, because while your family is important, so are you. Your mental health matters, and finding a way to handle stress is an important part of living a great life.

Of course if there was unlimited time in the day, finding a way to relax probably wouldn’t be that difficult. The real issue is time. You’re busy, and in order to successfully reduce your stress, you need to find a way to fit in relaxation time. There are medicines you can take – “happy pills” – but these are just providing a quick and potentially toxic fix to the problem, and are certainly neither a healthy nor long term solution. Instead, consider these safe and natural relaxation strategies that you can implement with just a little free time in your busy schedule.

Quick Relaxation Tips

There are several relaxation exercises that you can introduce to your life that can easily fit into your busy schedule. All they take is 10 or so minutes out of your day, and they can provide you with some of that calming relief that you need to unwind and relax. Examples of these strategies include:

Visualization – Visualization is a fun and interesting technique that has received a little bit of bad publicity, but is surprisingly effective for relaxation. It involves closing your eyes, sitting comfortably, and imagining yourself in a place that you find relaxing. You need to transport yourself there, with sights, sounds – even smells that completely overwhelm you until you are transported into a state of complete relaxation.

Deep Breathing – Deep breathing is a very quick technique that involves sitting in a chair with your back straight, breathing in slowly through your nose (filling your stomach first and your chest second) and then breathing out slowly through your mouth. You repeat this process 10 times. Deep breathing has been found to calm your entire body, and there are many other deep breathing techniques available that can be done in little time.

There are countless additional relaxation strategies that can be implemented in 10 minutes or less, and give you a chance to calm your mind and body.

Supplements and Tea

Another option you have is to start using teas or taking supplements that have natural anti-anxiety relaxation capabilities. One of the most powerful is Kava – although you should not take kava if you are breastfeeding, drink alcohol, or have liver problems. Unlike many other herbal supplements, kava has scientific research at major universities all over the world that back its efficacy. It’s a fairly strong relaxation herb provided you use the right dose and a great way to experience less stress and anxiety without depending on chemical medications.

There are also several types of tea available with herbs that are believed to have anti-anxiety qualities. Herbs such as passionflower, peppermint, and chamomile are all believed to be calming for the mind and body. But perhaps what makes them even more beneficial is that the act of drinking tea can in itself be calming. Find a quiet place and gently sip your tea, giving you a few minutes to relax to yourself with a great tasting warm beverage that is healthy for you.

Work With Your Family

Your family doesn’t want you to experience stress. Stress can lead to anxiety and depression if it’s left untreated, and you know your family would never want you to go through those emotions. But as a mother, your natural instinct tells you that you can’t share these problems with your family, and you need to get over them on your own to be a great parent.

It doesn’t have to be this way – especially not in the 21st century. People understand mental health issues and they know how important your relaxation is to a better quality of life. So discuss your stress with your family. You may be able to discover a way to reduce some of the pressure you feel regularly and get yourself additional relaxation time to calm your mind and body.

Your Own Quality of Life

Being a great parent is important. But being a happy, healthy, and relaxed person is just as important – and arguably an equally important part of being a parent. Not only do you deserve constant happiness, but your family will pick up on your stress if you start to be overwhelmed and react accordingly. That is why finding a way to reduce your own stress needs to be an important part of your life, and will help you go a long way toward being the person you want to be.

About the Author: Ryan Rivera is a parent and anxiety expert who has information on how to reduce anxiety and depression at www.calmclinic.com.

Oh my. I made the yummiest slow cooker soup. Kids loved it, hubs loved it, I loved it. Doesn’t get much better than that!

The homemade tortilla chips really topped it off too. You have to try making these. They’re so easy and yummy.

Slow Cooker Fiesta Soup with Homemade Tortilla Chips

(This makes a very full large slow cooker. You might want to cut the recipe in half if you’re feeding fewer people. This fed 8 with plenty of seconds and leftovers.)

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 -4 cups chicken, cooked, chopped
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• small can tomato paste
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups corn (frozen is fine)
• 2 or more cups black beans
• 2 or more cups pinto beans
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 4 cloves garlic

Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook for 8 hours on Low or 4-5 hours on High. A few minutes before serving, add a handful of chopped cilantro. To serve, place soup in bowls and top with cheese: we used Pepper Jack and cheddar. Diced avocado is lovely too!

To make the chips, preheat the oven to 350. Melt a little butter. Cut corn tortillas into 6 wedges. (A pizza cutter is perfect for this.) Brush wedges with melted butter and sprinkle with salt. Bake in a single layer on a baking sheet for 5 minutes or so until browned to your liking. They’ll be VERY hot when they come out of the oven, don’t touch them right away!

Enjoy

About a decade ago, I read the Tightwad Gazette books. Those were the kind of books you consume, rather than just read.

I took notes. Lots of them.

Last week while decluttering my recipe files, I found a recipe for Banana French Toast that I had copied from tTG and decided to try it.

Overripe bananas? Check.
Farm eggs? Check.
Real butter and maple syrup? Yes ma’am.

The kids loved it, and so did I. This would be a great recipe for those who can’t do dairy, or when you just plain run out of milk. Or when you want banana bread but don’t have time to bake it. Because it tastes just like banana bread!

Here goes.

Banana French Toast
(Recipe feeds about 4 people. We double it.)

• 3 over ripe bananas, mashed well
• 3 eggs (preferably pastured)
• cinnamon to taste

Mix those things well in a large shallow-ish bowl. Dip your pieces of bread into the mash and fry in lots and lots of butter.

Top with even more butter. And real maple syrup.

Oh my. This is weekly breakfast fare now.

Linked to: Real Food Wednesday
photo credit: JoeInSouthernCA

 “It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery, and as much happiness as possible.”

- Samuel Johnson

Ever since I launched my Happiness Project, I’ve begun paying more attention to my mood.

Specifically, I try to analyze what may have caused a low mood to sink in.

And I’ve found that it’s never just one event that may trigger a “bad day” for me. It’s usually several small things that pile up.

Noone can be happy every single moment of every day, it’s just not realistic. However, by trying to pinpoint what may have triggered my mood heading south, I usually uncover important information… about myself, and about my habits and routine. Making little tweaks can be very easy and prove quite valuable.

Yesterday was a great example.  When hubs came home from work, I retreated to my bedroom alone with pencil and paper, and I made a list, going backwards in time, of the things that had bothered me about the day. Things that had “gone wrong”, even if they were just feelings in my own mind. Here’s what I came up with:

1. My alarm didn’t go off. So I overslept and didn’t get to enjoy my morning routine.
2. I didn’t eat any protein at breakfast. Uh-oh. We are running low on groceries for some reason this week, and were out of eggs, cheese and other protein-y breakfast foods. I don’t do well with carbs in the morning!
3. I had to run an errand, and I’ve been running around too much this week.
4. I was dreading driving to a consignment shop tomorrow to drop off the last load of kid’s clothes from my ginormous clothing stash declutter.
5. Because I am also meeting a friend for lunch at a park near the consignment shop, I was worried about not having picnic-y foods. And dreading an extra run to the store or the alternative, buying lunch out.
6. A child misbehaved in the backseat of the car, which led to an argument between two kids, which led to the older of the two kids coming up to the front of the van and hurting me, which led to me blessing out the older child.
7. I’m stressing about signing the kids up for some extra-curricular classes this winter. I want to enrich them but I’ve tried to hard to keep things simple around here, and the thoughts of schlepping 4 people to different activities on different days and times, no matter how affordable and enriching, feels stressful.
8. Since we’re low on groceries and I didn’t want to go to the store, I ended up taking the kids out for lunch. Usually I enjoy a treat like this but since it was something I sorta “had” to do instead of a fun choice, it made me feel bad like I had wasted money.
9. I read a blog post from a blogger I subscribe to, and it made me feel yucky. I don’t usually struggle with low self esteem, but this particular blogger has a preachy holier than thou tone, and it rubs me the wrong way.

There were actually a couple more things, but I won’t bore you with all of it. Notice that most of these weren’t actual “real” problems. They were simply things in my head. Things I decided to feel bad about.

So, me being the proactive, problem solving gal I am, I immediately made a second list. A list of things I could do differently to either prevent some of these things from happening again, or to re-frame them in my mind so I could feel better. Here’s what that list looked like:

1. I probably can’t prevent all phone hiccups, but the oversleeping and feeling a little behind all day was actually a good thing, because it underscored how valuable my morning routine has become to me! I vowed to get up even earlier from now on.
2. Buy more food. Since we’re saving up to pay cash for a new to us car, I’ve taken the grocery budget to a new low. I don’t have a stockpile anymore, so we run low on necessities. I don’t like this. I’m buying more food.
3. I want to stay home more. I’m going to start shopping twice a month instead of weekly. That will help some.
4. I can’t really get around the trip to the consignment store, so I just told myself to suck it up and rejoice because this is the last time I’ll have to go there! In the future all outgrown clothing will be immediately sold on eBay or given to charity.
5. Buy more food! Hubby brought home eggs and milk from the farm last night so problem solved. I’ll make egg salad sandwiches for the picnic. The kids love ‘em.
6. I overreacted a little to the older child in the scenario, but he and I did end up talking for a long time and hugging and I think it was a productive conversation. I reminded him that he needs to come to me if someone is pushing his buttons and not responding to his attempts at conflict resolution. I made a point to give him some extra attention later in the day.
7. Not sure what to do with this one. I could stagger the activities and have two in something at a time instead of 4 at once. The girls really want to do dance and have been asking for months, and I found something affordable and temporary. And I really want to sign oldest up for piano, because he practices for almost an hour a day and would do great with some formal lessons. The classes start at the end of the month so perhaps I’ll feel more motivated then.
8. Buy more food! It’s amazing how much of our happiness is tied up in the simplest things that involve our physical comfort. Gretchen Rubin talks about this repeatedly in her book The Happiness Project.
9. DUH, I unsubscribed! I don’t need to read someone’s writing, no matter how valuable the content may be, if the tone is preachy and self righteous. Click. Buh-bye.

This exercise only took me about 10 minutes and was extremely enlightening. Even with the issues that I can’t immediately solve, just writing it down got it out of my mind and made it more manageable.

Have you ever taken apart a bad mood or gone backwards in time to figure out what triggered sad feelings? What did you learn about yourself? Did you make any changes? I would love to hear about it.

There is finally a definite chill in the air here. Two nights ago hubby got up in the middle of the night to grab a blanket for the bed, and long sleeved PJs have become a neccesity!

When Fall hits I begin to crave comfort foods like stew. Still, I was feeling a bit uninspired, so before I made my meal plan, I asked the kids what they wanted to eat this week. Here were there answers:

* Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Always a favorite. So glad I decided to throw this in the slow cooker, because Ruby was being a pill this afternoon and cooking would have been stressful.

* Loaded Nachos

“Just like at Moe’s Mom” was what they said. So I bought organic corn tortilla chips and we’ll serve them up with all the fixin’s: ground beef, cheese, pinto beans, avocado, tomatoes, salsa, black olives, sour cream.

* Pot Roast

Julien’s request, this one. It’s his favorite. What’s better than a big slab of beef, cooked alllll day in the slow cooker until it’s tender enough for the baby to tear up, with potatoes, carrots, and green beans? (And maybe biscuits on the side!)

* Homemade Pizza

This was Sadie’s request. I got a GF pizza crust mix from Bob’s Red Mill, we’ve made this before and it’s good. Caleb, 13, is our resident pizza maker. He’s become quite the pizzaiolo!

* Black Bean Cakes with Tomatillo Salsa

Ok, I admit. This one I chose. Hubby and I went to one of our favorite local restaurants, The Flying Biscuit, Saturday and we ate these. They are sooo amazing, and I promised him I would do my best to re-create them at home. Anyone have a recipe they want to share?! I know they have masa and black beans, mashed. I have a recipe for tomatillo salsa too, so I should be able to come up with a close approximation. At the Biscuit these are served with goat cheese and cream grits on the side. Heaven!

Edited to add: Found the Black bean cakes aka “Love Cakes ” recipe on the Flying Biscuit website. The house smells sooooo good right now!

* Remember the recipe I linked to Saturday for the gluten free blackberry lemon donuts? I made them today and they are unbelievable!

This is going to be a BUSY week so I planned 5 slow cooker recipes. I own two slow cookers – one small, one big, and they both get used a couple of times a week. I love slow cookers!

* Monday – Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
Grass fed beef, whole foods ingredients, and the addition of two cups of lentils to the recipe healthy these up and stretch the protein value. See recipe: Grass Fed Sloppy Joes

* Tuesday – Slow Cooker Chipotle Beef Tacos
Today I’m hosting our homeschool group’s field trip and everyone is coming over for lunch! So the night before I’m starting a huge roast (with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce) in the slow cooker, cooking it all night and shredding it in the morning for tacos with all the fixin’s: avocado, salsa, cheese, olives.

Hope we have some left over for dinner

* Meatless Wednesday – Slow Cooker Lentil Stew
The lentils I cooked Monday will go into a lentil/vegetable stew: potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, chicken broth and seasonings. Maybe a little leftover meat if I can find some.

*Thursday – Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken
(Chicken thighs cooked all day with dried apricots – yes ma’am!)
Side: Rice and broccoli

*Friday – Slow Cooker Corn Chowder with Shrimp
I’m having a yard sale today. Groan…. I’ll be exhausted by the end of the day, but I can look forward to this amazing corn chowder recipe for dinner.

Let me know if you want recipes, I’ll be happy to post them!

In the last post, I shared my struggle with post ovulation depression, the research I have done so far to figure out how to feel better, and coming to the conclusion (with some help), that low serotonin levels were to blame.

“I want to feel fabulous dahling!”

Now I’m going to share some of the things I found – some of them obvious, some not so obvious, about raising serotonin naturally.

I’m not going to link to all the individual studies, because I want to get this post published instead of it sitting in my drafts tab forever. But don’t take my word for it. A Google search will turn them up for you.

How To Increase Your Serotonin Levels Naturally

Exercise

Y’all knew I was going to say this, didn’t you? Here’s something interesting I learned recently about exercise. Everyone thinks that it’s endorphins that give you that “high” when you workout. Turns out, that’s not true for most of us. In order to get endorphins pumping, you have to hit the wall, and go past exhaustion. Unless you’re running a marathon or participating in a triathlon or something, it’s not endorphins you have to thank for the feel-good feelings. It’s serotonin. That’s right!

And the good news is, you can get the serotonin flowin’ in just minutes of exercise. Literally, 5 or 10 minutes of exercise – almost any kind – walking, dancing, you name it, will do.

Eat Tryptophan Containing Foods

You can find a list of tryptophan containing foods on the Wikipedia page. They’re mostly protein rich foods. Including these in the diet in higher amounts during the second half of your cycle may help raise serotonin levels.

You can also take tryptophan supplements. As I mentioned before, I’m trying not to rely on this because they make me feel a little “odd”. The Wikipedia page mentioned above links to a research study in which participants with serious depression showed improvement on tryptophan supplements.

Sniff Vanilla

This one was a little surprising to me, but apparently sniffing vanilla raises serotonin. How easy is this? I suppose you could light a vanilla scented candle, use vanilla perfume, or just whiff a bottle of vanilla extract.

Eat Good Carbs: Potato, rice, oatmeal

The relationship between carbohydrates and mood is complicated, and it’s different for everyone.  As I mentioned yesterday, the experts tend to disagree about whether a low or high carb diet is better for someone wishing to raise serotonin.

I think your best bet is to keep a food diary to see if you notice any connection between eating carbs and your mood. While you’re figuring things out, stick to “good” carbs like potato, rice and oats (provided you’re not sensitive to grains). Eating sugars and white flour tend to cause blood sugar to go haywire and that can affect mood.

Exposure to Natural Light

This one isn’t particularly surprising. It seems we’re hardwired to need lots of exercise, fresh air and sunshine, no? Getting outside is essential. Even in the wintertime, the quality of natural light is far better than artificial lighting outside.

I’m making a real effort to go outside even when it’s cold, which won’t be easy for me.  I hate winter.

Warm Shower or Bath

Taking a warm shower or bath raises serotonin levels.

Massage  – Even For a Few Minutes

Few of us can afford to have an on-call massage therapist come to the house and live with us for two weeks out of the month. But we CAN bribe a kid into rubbing our back for a few minutes, which is enough to raise serotonin. Or you can ask your husband to do so. (Incidentally touching you will raise HIS serotonin levels, a win/win!)

None of these are difficult to implement into your life. I hope this information helps someone.

p.s. I’m not a Doctor, so please consult a trusted Health Care Practitioner!

photo credit: Casey David

Have you ever had a health issue, whether physical or mental, that really confounded you?

I have been experiencing what I call “post-ovulation depression” for a couple of years now.

Ever since my cycle returned several months ago after having the baby, I’ve been trying to find answers. I’ve read books, Googled it, talked to friends.  I turned up nothing. The best I found was a message forum post or two where another woman asked the same question I was:

“Why do I feel sad immediately after I ovulate?”

I feel great during the first two weeks of my cycle – I’m energetic, motivated – almost to the point of being just shy of hyper. Stresses don’t bother me as much and I’m much more able to tackle the problems that come up. I also sleep better during this time.

But then, quite literally the day after my peak ovulation day (I know this information because I chart my cycles for Natural Family Planning), I fall into a hole.

For the next 4 days or so I am depressed. It will ebb and flow for the next two weeks, a couple of up days and a couple of down days. During this time I feel tired and I sleep lightly – every little noise wakes me up. Then, I feel better instantly once my period begins.

I do have a family history of depression so I’m careful to pay attention to symptoms like this. However, this isn’t bipolar, anxiety or clinical depression – it’s totally hormonally related and completely predictable based on my cycle.

This is very frustrating to me.

I am a very positive person who takes good care of herself. I exercise daily, I rarely drink, I eat well, take high quality multivitamins and fish oil. I’m at my ideal weight, give or take 5 pounds. I don’t have any other symptoms of depression (sleeping too much or too little, eating issues, etc). I’m generally a very happy, positive person who is able to meet her goals and has a zest for life. I just had a complete physical and everything checked out – my iron is great, my thyroid is fine. I’ve tried progesterone cream but other than helping me fall asleep more readily, it doesn’t seem to help the mood changes.

I finally sent a desperate sounding email to Dr. Heather, a naturopath I interviewed a few months ago for the show.

She was gracious enough to send a lengthy reply. She published it on her blog here: “I have post ovulation depression“.

To paraphrase, she suspected that my serotonin levels might dip too low during my luteal phase (that’s fancy talk for “after you ovulate”).

“At times during your menstrual cycle (it is usually mid cycle – after ovulation) the chemical level of serotonin may decrease.

Serotonin does many things in the body but one of it’s important job is elevating our moods. My guess is that your serotonin levels are low during this time making it difficult for you to feel your normal zest for life.

The best way to increase serotonin levels is to begin eating tryptophan rich foods as tryptophan will convert to serotonin in the body. Try doing this from ovulation to when your cycle begins. I have a list of tryptophan foods here.  I also recommend the book by Carol Hart, Secrets of Serotonin, to learn more.”

I read the Serotonin Solution book, and it was certainly interesting and enlightening (did you know that serotonin turns into melatonin in the evening? They’re the same hormone!), but it confused me because it recommends a very high carb, low protein/fat diet.  The author recommends only eating one meal with protein every day, at dinner. I don’t think – I know that wouldn’t work for me.

I also re-read The Mood Cure: The 4-Step Program to Take Charge of Your Emotions–Today by Julia Ross, and it recommends the opposite to boost serotonin levels – a high protein/fat, low carb diet.

Then I read Potatoes Not Prozac and it said something similar to The Mood Cure – with the twist of recommending eating a high carb snack (baked potato, no butter) at night to increase brain serotonin levels while you sleep, which hopefully will spill over into the day.

Confused much?

So.

I decided to begin a mood/food diary to see how food might be affecting me, and whether my carbohydrate intake during my luteal phase affects symptoms. Incidentally I DO crave rice and bagels when my serotonin is low – but I don’t know if eating those foods would be helpful. When do we give in to a craving and when don’t we?

Also, I began taking tryptophan (an amino acid that is a precursor to serotonin) in the luteal phase of my cycle. After doing a bit more digging, I found some information on Wikipedia‘s tryptophan page that pointed to a connection between low serotonin and Seasonal Affective Disorder (which I’ve experienced for years!) and a little something called “premenstrual dysphoric disorder” – which incidentally describes my symptoms to a T- just more severe than I experience.

The tryptophan seems to help me sleep better. It does make me feel a little “high” though, like I’ve had 2 glasses of wine. I don’t want to have to rely on it because I don’t like that feeling.

In the meantime, I’ve been looking for all the ways you can boost serotonin levels naturally. That’s tomorrow’s post!

p.s. Reading up on serotonin has left me with the conclusion that low serotonin may be inherited. My 10 year old son seems to be affected by a phenomenon known as “sundowning” (I didn’t know there was a name for it until recently). He often comes to me in the early evening around dusk and complains of being “sad for no reason”. Turns out this is related to the drop in serotonin levels we naturally experience as the sun goes down, to prepare our bodies for sleep. Maybe some people are very sensitive to this change? I’ve always hated dusk, and my mom has told me she experiences the same thing.

photo credit: Maddie Photography~

September 13 is National Celiac Awareness Day

Because I have suffered from chronic tummy trouble my whole life, I went to the Doctor and got a Celiac test. Nowadays it’s a simple blood test.

Thankfully, it was negative.

A blood test I had done years ago showed a sensitivity to wheat, so I should still avoid it.

But since my 5 year old has wheat allergy, I’m going to have her tested for Celiac. So far she seems to do ok with oats and rye, and she’s healthy. But I need to know.

I’m glad that awareness of this disease has raised. Even though going gluten free may be a trend for some, for others it’s a serious, even life threatening concern. Apparently it affects about 1 in 100 people. Especially if your ancestors came from Ireland… which is true for so many of us.

To learn more about Celiac disease, go to Celiac.org

Yesterday I posted a giveaway of Cooking Light’s Gluten Free Cookbook. Check it out!

This giveaway is now closed. Commenter #7 is the winner!

First of all, let me say that the title “Cooking Light” almost turned me off of this cookbook. I don’t believe in cooking “light”!

But, as soon as I began salivating over looking through the recipes I was pleasantly surprised.

While many of the recipes call for such things as “low fat milk” (umm, what’s that?), that’s a small thing I can easily overlook.

By adding lots of butter.

Cooking Light The Gluten-Free Cookbook: Simple Food Solutions for Everyday Meals features 150 kid friendly recipes.

This is good, because the wheat allergic person in the house is a kid.

I’ll tell you first what I don’t like about the book: it calls for a lot of prepackaged gluten free food items. For instance, the Bruschetta recipe calls for a GF Italian loaf. That’s fine, but I’m not able to pay $7 for a loaf of GF bread. I would have preferred if the book featured GF recipes for these staple foods.

But, all in all, it’s a wonderful addition to my cookbook collection. I can’t wait to try a few of these recipes out on my 5 year old. Such as:

• Cinnamon-Raisin Muffins with Streusel Topping
• Sour Cream Blueberry Pancakes (we love sour cream pancakes around here and Sadie usually gets coconut flour pancakes, which are awesome – but this recipe will be a lovely change for her)
• Spicy Asian Noodles with Chicken

I’m also offering a copy of Cooking Light The Gluten-Free Cookbook: Simple Food Solutions for Everyday Meals to a winner this week!

Here’s what to do:

Leave a comment below. For an additional entry, Tweet the link to this post. Let me know what you did in the comment.

The giveaway will be closed on Monday, September 19, 2011 at 6 PM Eastern.

Happy Gluten Free eating!

* Johnny’s Pizza – $1 Cheese Slices

Tonight hubby is taking the kids to a local pizza place for $1 cheese slices and Mommy is going to stay home and work. Yea!

* Fish Tacos
Side: Rice

I love these, and don’t know why I’ve never cooked them before.  Tilapia, cole slaw, lime, cilantro on corn tortillas. Yummy!

* Walnut Crusted Chicken Tenders
Side: Sweet potato fries

The kids will love these. I imagine they’ll taste like Chick-Fil-A nuggets, and the little people are always asking me to cook “chicken that tastes like Chick-Fil-A. I promise to post the recipe if it’s a win.

* Meatless: Blackeyed Peas, Cabbage, Mashed Potatoes
Side: Cornbread

Nothing like veggies cooked Southern style (i.e, with a little bacon!) to warm a gal’s heart.

* Grill Night: Burgers
Side: Homemade oven fries, cole slaw

Looks like hubs is doing dinner twice this week!

Remember my review of One Bite at a Time, Tsh Oxenreider’s lovely new ebook?

One of the first “Projects” I decided to tackle was this one:

Create a Morning Routine

(It’s Project #3 in the ebook. And I promised to share my progress.)

photo credit: rogerimp

Of course, I’ve always had a morning routine but it looked something like this:

1. Wake up to the lovely sound of my 6 year old and 8 year old daughters playing or fighting (depending on the day).
2. Try not to feel irritated that they busted into my bedroom and woke the baby.
3. Drag myself out of bed too late and try to go to the bathroom with a baby on my hip.
4. Try to figure out how to get dressed and decent looking with the day attacking me already.

Ugh. Not pretty, right?

The thing is, we wake up in the morning depleted.

We’ve been fasting all night, and are likely dehydrated first thing in the morning (especially while nursing a baby!).  It’s important to replenish our reserves before being called upon to do something as important as mothering.

I was justifying sleeping in because for the last few months I’ve felt pretty desperate for sleep. Especially in the second half of my cycle, when every.tiny.little.thing.wakes.me.up, I craved sleep like a starving person craves food.

Despite that, I felt determined to just try getting up before my kids.

In the past I had this routine, and I loved it. A couple of years ago when I was a divorced single mom of 4 little ones who were reliant on my income, getting up and getting an hour’s worth of work done on the computer before they got up was a necessity.

I’m happy to report that I’ve been doing this for a couple of weeks now and loving it. Amazingly, I don’t feel more tired during the day. (I don’t know how to explain this.) I get up at 7 sharp, and have around 30 minutes before the first little person starts stirring.

One Bite at a Time advises that you pick a few things to start your day off on the right note. No work just yet, or mindless computer surfing.

Here’s my morning routine:

1. Get up, carefully… so as not to wake sleeping husband and offspring
2. Use bathroom, get dressed. Wash face, moisturize, wet my hair and style a little (this takes all of 30 seconds)
3. Drink water, make tea or coffee. If I’m feeling hypoglycemic, eat a quick snack. (That depleted thing again.)
4. Go outside and read my Bible (Proverbs, which I’m trying to memorize so I can quote it to errant children more than I already do.)
5. Meditate for a few minutes on the verses I read, and think about the upcoming day. Pray about things on my mind and issues my kids and husband are facing.

It’s working out really well and is quite lovely to already be “ready” for my day when the kids wake up!

What does your Morning Routine look like?

Need some convincing or inspiration? Buy the ebook for yourself!

• Chicken Enchiladas
• Mandarin Chicken – this was easy and everyone loved it. I mixed a can of mandarin oranges, undrained, with a little vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, and seasonings and cooked it for about 45 minutes, until the sauce was thick. So good!
  Side: Asian Steamed Broccoli and Rice
• Sandwich Night – ABC Sandwiches -  Similar to a BLT, these have Granny Smith Apples, Cheddar cheese and Bacon.
  Side: Cantaloupe
• Mexican – Steak Fajitas with onion, green pepper, avocado, sour cream, salsa, guacamole
• Slow Cooker Night – Crock Pot Lasagne (is there anything better than smelling lasagne bubbling away in the slow cooker?!)
  Side: Green salad and Garlic Bread
• Kids Night – “Popcorn” Chicken (homemade buttermilk coated chicken nuggets)
  Side: Sweet Potato Fries
• Meatless – Twice Baked Potatoes
  Side: Green Salad

What’s on your plate this week?

I’ve written lots on this blog about my nutrition philosophy. Even though the science is sometimes confusing, one thing I firmly believe is that if we can eat like our great Grandmothers did (Real Food), we’ll probably do well.

Jenny of Nourished Kitchen, whose blog and facebook page I’ve been following for some time, has created a valuable resource for people who want to learn to cook like previous generations did.

It’s called How To Cook Real Food.

She took some time to answer a few questions I had about the class here.

* What made you want to offer How to Cook Real Food – is there a personal story for you?

In 2010, Nourished Kitchen was featured on CNN for its unique approach to real and  traditional foods – which offered simple steps and support.  Following that, we had an influx of readers who were desperate for more support and a concentrated course of online learning.  Many of these readers were interested in learning to cook real food, but they had never learned how to properly cook – having grown up on boxed foods.

These readers wanted to know how to cook healthy whole foods, like those featured on Nourished Kitchen but simply didn’t know where to start.  Others had read books like Nourishing Traditions but felt overwhelmed by the content and didn’t know how to incorporate the techniques recommended in that book into their daily lives.

At their request, I developed How to Cook Real Food which is a uniquely comprehensive multimedia class dedicated to traditional foods – providing video tutorials, worksheets, information about sourcing real and traditional foods.

Several years ago, but incorporating the techniques into my daily routine provide daunting: soaking grains and flour and fermenting vegetables seemed time-consuming, and without support for my new cooking techniques I wasted a lot of money and food through trial and error.  After years of developing recipes and mastering these techniques, I finally got it right.

(Note from Carrie: That sounds familiar! My first attempt at homemade pickles and homemade raw milk yogurt failed utterly.)

In developing How to Cook Real Food, I wanted to provide support to newcomers that I never had – enabling them to save money, time and frustration by teaching them the techniques they needed to start off on the right track, right away.

* We hear a lot these days about “whole foods” and “clean eating”. Is How To Cook Real Foods similar to these schools of thought on nutrition?

The food philosophy at Nourished Kitchen is based on traditional foods – that is, we eat as we are meant to eat, celebrating ancestral foods and heritage cooking.  It’s more than whole foods and clean eating; the ingredients we use and the methods we use were those that provided optimal health and nourishment for humans for thousands of years prior to the industrialization of our food supply.

Foods are optimized for maximum nutrition in their preparation, so while we use whole and unrefined ingredients, the cooking methods taught in the class help to ensure our bodies receive the most available nutrition from the foods we eat.

For example, students are taught how proper soaking grains, nuts, seeds and beans renders these foods more digestible and helps their nutrients to be more easily absorbed by the body.  Similarly, we teach students how fermenting milk into yogurt or vegetables like cabbage into sauerkraut can maximize the nutrition in these foods.

* How is How To Cook Real Food different from other cooking tutorials?

How to Cook Real Food offers comprehensive information at a manageable pace; moreover, the multimedia instruction which offers print materials, 45 videos as well as conference calls for participants ensures that participants of all types are supported in their learning.

The class is largely self-paced and offers lifetime access to materials, which means that if you get caught up with work, kids or charitable causes and don’t have time to review a lesson, you can pick up where you left off at any time – even if it’s a month or a year later.

Also, our basic recipe formulas, flavor companion charts and worksheets help students to develop their own recipes successfully the first time – without a lot of trial and error.  This means that those who participate can simply watch the videos, review the print materials and look to their garden or local farmers market for inspiration.  In know time, they’re developing their own recipes based on what’s fresh, in season and affordable.

Print materials also include information on the seasonal availability of fresh vegetables, identifying cuts of meat and their uses – so if you’ve ever been stuck wondering what to do with an arm roast or a round steak, you’ll know.  Plus, there’s information included that help you to find and support local farms.

How to Cook Real Food is also highly interactive.  Participants enjoy the opportunity to connect with one another through the interactive question & answer section posted at the bottom of each lesson as well as through our conference calls in which we address frequently asked questions and trouble shoot issues people may be having in the kitchen.  Fortunately, if you can’t make the conference calls, they’re recorded and you can listen to them at a later date.

Lastly, when I developed How to Cook Real Food, I not only wanted to teach participants the foundational techniques behind whole foods cooking, but I also wanted to give them the tools they needed to make sure that they could easily incorporate these techniques into their lives.  So we have an entire class devoted to meal planning and kitchen management.  So not only do people learn how to cook real food, how to develop their own recipes using seasonal ingredients but how to save money and minimize waste with meal planning and other techniques.

* What does How To Cook Real Food include?

How to Cook Real Food includes twelve multimedia lessons which address everything from preparing tender grass-fed meats to making desserts using unrefined sweeteners or no sweeteners at all.  We also address seasonal vegetables, making milk kefirs and yogurt, baking using whole grains, gluten-free grains as well as grain-free baking techniques.

In total, there’s 45 videos, over 100 real food recipes to help participants begin building their repertoires, 25 recipe worksheets to help participants develop their own seasonal recipes as well as spreadsheets and other support materials designed to help people inventory their kitchens, stick to their grocery budgets and plan meals.

* Is it hard to cook real food when you have several or picky kids? What about those who are on a tight budget?

If you don’t have the right support system, incorporating whole, organic and local foods in your kitchen can be a challenge.  Your kids might be picky and might scoff at your new recipes, or you might find your budget challenged by the expense of new ingredients.  But the key is support.

Real food doesn’t have to be expensive, and you can prepare dishes that even the pickiest of children will love, but if you’re making your transition from the standard American diet to real food blind and without support, you’re making it harder than it has to be – and you’re setting yourself up for a lot of frustration.

With the right support and knowledge, the transition can be seamless.  Many of the people who have taken How to Cook Real Food find that they’re actually saving money and spending less on their groceries after using the techniques outlined in the course.  For example, a quart of organic yogurt goes for $6.59 in my area, but with the techniques outlined in our lesson on cultured dairy foods, students learn how to make their own yogurt for about $1.25 a quart – and that’s a savings of over $5.

Similarly, a loaf of whole grain organic sourdough bread costs an average of $6, but students learn to make their own using flour, salt and start at a cost of about $.65, that’s another savings of more than $5.  We also show participants how they can save money of meats, fruits, vegetables and other foods as well, so what we find is that – with the right techniques and support – you can absolutely save money while feeding your family healthy foods they love.

And if you have picky kids, a great way to start them off on a healthier road is to simply begin making their favorite dishes – macaroni and cheese, chicken fingers, ketchup – using healthier ingredients and techniques.  This method helps them to make a slower transition, and, before you know it, they’re eating healthy real food at every meal and enjoying it.  And if you can develop a basic set of recipes, you can then tailor them to meet the needs and preferences of your family so that you minimize fussing at the dinner table and everyone can enjoy better meals.

* How can we find out more about you?

Definitely checkout our blog: Nourished Kitchen or read the about page which describes a little bit about my background and work as a mother, natural foods cook, writer and farmers market manager.  In addition, I’d encourage anyone to follow our Facebook Page which is a great source of news and information.  And if someone ever has a question, they can always contact me.

Thanks so much Jenny!

Go here to sign up for How To Cook Real Food!

I’ve lost a few pounds recently without trying. I couldn’t figure out exactly why my clothes were getting baggy all of a sudden.

It’s not because I’m exercising more.

In fact, I’ve exercised LESS in the last few weeks due to feelings of persistent exhaustion, as I so whiningly eloquently expressed in this post.

I’m not sure what I weigh now, but I’m wearing clothes I wore before baby’s arrival. Yay!

I tried weighing myself but the scale read 60 pounds. I’m pretty sure that’s not right.

Evidently, a cheap scale can’t handle a 5 year old jumping up and down on it repeatedly. Who knew?

This morning, when hubby brought me a piece of banana bread on a tiny plate, it hit me:

I’ve been eating on a small plate for a few weeks now, and slowly but surely it led to weight loss.

Here’s what my plate looks like:

I don’t normally floss during my meals. I just grabbed the closest thing I could find to demonstrate the size of the plate. Someone is in trouble for leaving dental floss on the kitchen table, by the way. As soon as I figure out who done it.

I remembered reading in the book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, that the the average size of a dinner plate in the 1950s was 9 inches across. By the 80’s our plates had grown to 11 inches and now the average size of a dinner plate is 13 inches.

The plate I’ve been eating every meal on is about the size of a saucer. If I’m still hungry after eating everything on my plate, I get more food.

I don’t go around hungry.

I would never do that. It’s not smart for a busy mom to starve herself, especially when she’s nursing.

(I like my teeth and would like to hold on to them in my golden years!)

My sneaky little habit had caught up with me!

Turns out, size matters when it comes to your plate.

Another thing I learned from the above mentioned book is that much of our hunger is all in our heads. One of the studies that stuck out to me was one in which the participants ate soup from bowls that were rigged so that they automatically kept refilling as they emptied, unbeknownst to the eaters.

Guess what happened?

Yep. They ate WAY MUCH MORE SOUP than the ones with normal bowls. Yet none of them reported being “stufffed”. Quite the contrary. They felt just as sated as the ones who ate 1/4 of the calories!

I hate exercise, but I force myself to do it. But eating on a small plate? Pretty much effortless!

I don’t know why I let this sit in my inbox for 6 weeks. (Hides head in shame.)

This is really great stuff from Susanne, aka The Hillbilly Housewife, whose newsletter and site I enjoy for awesome frugal homemaker tips.

She sent me this free ebook all about how to stay cool in the summer with yummy cold beverages and no-cook food.

Well, where I live it’s still plenty hot. Ahem.

So you can grab the ebook for free here:

Cool Summer Eats and Drinks

Just click on the link to open it, or right-click to download.

photo credit: kathryntaylor

* Monday
Blackened salmon
(Side: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)

* Tuesday
Roast chicken
(Side: green beans, rolls, tomato and cucumber salad)

* Wednesday
Curried Chicken & Vegetables (using leftover chicken from yesterday)
(Side: Rice)

* Thursday
Ham steak
(Side: baked sweet potatoes, green salad, biscuits)

* Friday
Pizza night
(Side: salad)

* Saturday
Pasta with white beans, tomatoes and spinach
(Side: homemade garlic bread)

*Sunday
“Refrigerator stew ”
(Side: homemade garlic bread)

What are you having this week?

* Monday
Tonight I am working on the computer and hubby is doing his evening account, so he won’t be home until 11 PM. So the 10 year old popped some Taquitos into the oven. For a side dish we had fresh fruit.

* Tuesday
Sloppy Joes
(Side: green salad, baked sweet potatoes)

* Wednesday
Salmon with lemon butter sauce
(Side: mashed potatoes, broccoli)

* Thursday
Slow Cooker Taco Soup (ground meat cooked with taco seasonings, tomatoes, kidney and pinto beans, tomato sauce, corn cooked together and topped with cheese, sour cream, avocado and crushed tortilla chips)

* Friday
Pinto Beans and Corn Bread

* Saturday
Caleb’s Homemade Pizza

* Sunday – Breakfast for Dinner
Ham, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole
(Side: fresh fruit)

Hat tip: This post is linked at Organizing Junkie. Also, this week my menu was highly inspired by Amy’s Aldi menu plan. Do you ever shop at Aldi? Since I started shopping there two months ago, I’ve become a huge fan.

I’m a little late in posting my menu for this week. What are you having for dinner?

Menu Plan for August 1-8:

- White Bean and Sausage Soup
(Side: Homemade garlic bread)

- Asian Beef & Broccoli
(Side: rice)

- Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes
(Side: cucumber, tomato salad)

- Mexican Layered Casserole
(Side: beans, rice)

- Caleb’s Homemade Pizza
(Side: green salad)

photo credit: savory.recipes

In a few days we’re leaving for Tybee Island!

My mom and I made a menu together of simple, fun and yummy dishes to cook while we’re there.

I don’t want any food in the fridge to go to waste, so dinner is going to be a bit of a hodge podge of leftovers for the next 3 days.

This is our Menu Plan for July 13-19:

* Salmon with lemon butter sauce
(Side: Corn on the cob, broccoli)

* Black Bean and Sausage Soup
(Side: Italian bread)

* Black Bean and Mango Salad

Tybee!!!

photo credit: annakfitz

* Taco Salad

* Spaghetti with Meatballs
(Side: garlic bread, mixed salad with feta cheese and blueberries)

* “Men Cook” Day
My Dad will make breakfast, his specialty. Zeke will grill out steaks, and Caleb is making a Key Lime Pie.

* Pick a Salad Bar: Tuna salad, pasta salad, chicken salad

What are you eating this week?

This is our menu plan for the week of July 6-12.

* Sweet Chicken Breasts
(Side: Squash, sweet potato wedges, green peas)

For this dish, I’ll throw a few chicken breasts into the slow cooker with a little Worcestershire, lemon juice and strawberry jelly, and cook for about 3 hours on high.

* Thursday Sandwich Night: Reubens
(Side: Raw carrots and celery with dip)

Thursday nights are worship services for us, so I often make a sandwich for dinner. I’ve been craving Reubens lately. Not sure how the kids will like these. One way to find out!

* Cheesy Spinach Risotto
(Side: Green salad, fruit)

I try to have at least one meatless meal each week. This week I’m trying out a new risotto recipe. This one has spinach and peas cooked in, with white wine, broth and grated Parmesan on top for more flavor.

*Quesadilla Pie
(Side: Avocado, tomato salad)

This is an easy, quick kid friendly dish. It’s almost like a Mexican pizza. Basically you layer flour tortillas with your ingredients: leftover chopped cooked chicken, salsa, sour cream, cheese, spinach. Top with more cheese and bake.

* Baked Tilapia
(Side: Baked corn casserole, green beans, homemade garlic bread)

Lately when I cook fish I dredge it in coconut flour to create a breading (wheat free and safe for my 5 year old).

What are you eating this week?

This is our menu plan for the week starting Wednesday, June 29th.

* Unstuffed Green Peppers
(Side: Green salad)

I love stuffed green peppers but hate how much work they are. I was excited to find this recipe for “Unstuffed Green Pepper Bake“. Not only are they much easier, but the flavor is the same and my kids loved it. Win!

* Baked Potato Bar

A friend of mine told me years ago that to keep things simple and save money, she has “Potato Bar” once a week. I’ve never tried it until now!

For this meal I’ll put a potato for each person (two for hubby), rubbed with olive oil, in the slow cooker and cook on low all day until they’re soft. Then on the table I’ll have toppings for everyone to choose from: shredded cheese, leftover chili from last week’s menu plan, cooked diced bacon, sour cream, butter, green onions, etc. Easy and fun!

* Eat Out: Mexican
Saturday we went to Fernbank Museum here in Atlanta to see the Mythic Creatures exhibit. Everybody was craving chips and salsa so we headed to El Azteca on Ponce de Leon for dinner.  Delicious!

* Grill Night – Salmon Burgers
(Side: Turnip greens, baked beans)

Big Z loves to grill on the weekends so I took a night off and we had grilled salmon “burgers”.

* Fried Chicken
(Side: Rolls, baked beans, turnip greens)

A Southern gal has to have some fried chicken every once in awhile, no?

I was very concerned that after this baby I would never lose the weight.

For one, I’m 36.

Second, I always gain a lot of weight during my pregnancies (35-50 pounds).

Notice I didn’t write a blog post about “How not to gain too much weight during pregnancy”, because I haven’t the foggiest idea!

Exercising while pregnant makes me puke more. And my otherwise healthy diet goes out the window during the worst of the puking. I remember a stretch of several weeks when DH brought me a sausage biscuit and sweet tea from McDonald’s every morning before I got out of bed. Yuck. But it was the only breakfast I could keep down!

Additionally, this time I just felt … bigger and more stretched out. I felt very discouraged in the early postpartum period because of this.

It took me about 10 months, which is a bit longer than after previous babies, but I’m back in a size 6, which was my goal. Whee!

Here is how I managed to lose the baby weight. I hope it’s helpful.

Eat Healthy Fats

During my pregnancy and after, I ate lots of healthy fats. Coconut oil, full fat raw milk, grass fed butter.

I got NO stretch marks this pregnancy.

In fact, the only time I got stretch marks were during my 3rd pregnancy (the 10 pound baby), and those were very minimal. I credit the healthy fats with giving my skin the Vitamin A it needed to be elastic. (Eating those fats is more important than rubbing them on your skin!)

Some experts say that eating healthy fats helps you lose weight. I know one thing: When I’m eating fats, I eat fewer calories overall because I feel full more quickly.

Give Yourself Time

My baby was 10 months old before I fit into my old clothes. I didn’t have unrealistic expectations of dropping the weight in 2 months.

My goal was “9 months on, 9 months off”.

Weight loss should not be a focus during a woman’s season of pregnancy and lactation.

Keep it Simple

Before I got pregnant with this baby, I was a gym rat.  Working out with weights 3-5 times a week got me down to a very trim, muscular size 4.

But that is unrealistic for my situation now. While I LOVE weight training generally and for weight loss it is superior to cardio, I find it too difficult to work out with weights now because it requires someone else watching the baby. Plus, my body is still a bit “loosey goosey” from leftover pregnancy hormones. I have to be able to work out WITH baby. Carving time out for lifting weights isn’t doable right now.

So I walk.

That’s it.

That’s how I lost around 45 pounds of baby weight. Just walking, with no other exercise. My neighborhood takes me about 15 minutes to walk around, and it’s very hilly. After just a couple of minutes I’m feeling the burn in my thighs.

So with a baby in the sling (and she loves our daily walks!) and a 5 year old in a stroller, it’s a very nice workout. (Sometimes I do it twice.)

The thing about 15 minutes is that I don’t procrastinate about it – even if I’m tired or super busy or feeling overwhelmed, I tell myself “it’s just 15 minutes” and I’m off. Of course the biggest key has been to…

Exercise Daily

Making myself walk daily was an important resolution for my Happiness Project. When you do something every single day you can’t let yourself put it off! It’s as automatic as brushing my teeth now.

photo credit: Valerie Everett

And walking has to be the perfect exercise.

Walking clears my head and help me refocus if the kids or life or whatever is getting on my nerves. It snaps me out of a bad mood quickly and gives me a new perspective immediately. I often grab DH and have some alone time (well sort of) to talk with him. This is really good when we have something important or potentially difficult to talk about, because men tend to open up more when doing something physical alongside you (rather than face to face). I take one of the kids along with me if they need some extra one on one time. It’s a great way to get a kid or two outside if they’ve been inside too long.

Put Your Shoes On

FlyLady is right! Seriously, I am far more active if I have shoes on my feet. Try it.

Do Not Deny Yourself Real Food

One of the best pieces of advice I think I’ve ever heard about how to feed yourself postpartum? Don’t eat if if you wouldn’t be comfortable giving it to the baby. That means Taco Bell and Little Debbie are out. Pinto beans and steak and rice and avocados are in.

Eat to hunger. Don’t starve yourself or go around with low blood sugar.

… But Don’t Eat After Dinner and Don’t Be a Slave To Your Appetite

Try using a smaller plate. Studies show this really works. The plate I put my food on for dinner is actually a side dish plate, around 7″ in diameter. And when I eat breakfast and lunch, I often use a saucer.

Did you know that the size of American’s dinner plates have gotten progressively bigger since the 50′s? Guess what, so have our waistlines. Think like a French woman – have your cheese, your chocolate and your red wine – in SMALL portions.

Try brushing your teeth after dinner. This really works for me, because I am loathe to eat with a flossed, toothpaste fresh mouth.

Another thing that worked for me to question my appetite was to do a short, modified juice fast. I realized that I sometimes ate when I was actually thirsty. And sometimes I ate too much. And sometimes I ate when I was sad.  I also found that I could distract myself and that my hunger was often “suggestible”.

What did you do to lose the baby weight?

Making a weekly menu plan has long been one thing I do to minimize stress in my day. Always knowing “What’s for dinner?” makes things so much easier.

I’ve never blogged about my weekly menu plan before. But it thought it would be fun to start doing so. I like reading other mom’s menu plans because I get some great recipe ideas!

I usually shop on Wednesday so my meal plan for this week is already in swing. I’ll post next week’s dinners in a couple of days.

Here’s what we’ve been eating this week:

* Slow Cooker Cajun Red Beans and Rice
(Side: Carrots, cauliflower, broccoli)

This was so easy and we ate on it for several days. I rinsed and sorted 1 pound of small red kidney beans and soaked them overnight in the slow cooker. The next day I drained the water and added fresh water to cover. I threw in 2 cups chopped celery, a whole chopped onion, minced garlic, 1 chopped green pepper, 1/2 pound chicken Italian sausage, and a couple tablespoons Cajun seasoning. I cooked it on low all day and served it with rice.

* Chicken Enchiladas
(Side: Jicama salad, rice)

This recipe was adapted from this easy enchiladas recipe, but with some leftover chopped cooked chicken I had in the fridge added.

The jicama salad was a last minute thing I threw together. I was craving something crunchy and wanted the kids to try jicama, so I cut it into thin strips and threw it in a bowl with a chopped mango, a chopped peach, about a cup of whole blueberries and a little strawberry kefir. It was yummy and looked so pretty in the bowl too!

* Slow Cooker Roast Chicken
(Side: New potatoes, green salad, green beans)

When I make roast chicken in the slow cooker it couldn’t be easier. I throw the whole chicken in the slow cooker and put a stick of butter on top. A little salt and pepper. That’s it. It cooks all day until it falls off the bone. This is a perennial favorite in our home.

I’ve also found a way to cook frozen green beans that my family loves. I put them into a glass casserole dish and sprinkle garlic, salt, pepper and minced onions on top. Then I drizzle on olive oil and bake about 20 minutes.

* Shrimp Piccata
(Side: Rice, homemade whole grain garlic bread)

This was super fast and easy. It’s basically shrimp cooked with a garlic/white wine/lemon juice/chicken broth sauce, with capers and butter.

* Leftover Cajun Red Beans and Rice
(Side: Sweet potato fries)

I love sweet potatoes with beans and rice. And they’re so easy too. For these, I chopped the sweet potatoes into fingerlings, and tossed with coarse sea salt, with a little coconut oil and olive oil and baked them until soft.

* Chicken Chili
(Side: Corn bread)

I’ll use the leftover chicken meat from the roast chicken for this recipe, as well as boiling the carcass to make homemade chicken broth. It’s one of Big Z’s favorites. It has chicken, broth, green chiles, green pepper, onion, cumin, oregano, garlic, and white beans.

What are you having for dinner this week?

My 8 year old has been in a picky eating phase for some time now.

I use the term “phase” in the hopes that, through the power of words, it will somehow magically end.

Eh. Not so much.

This little phase has lasted… oh, going on 2 years now. Lately it’s getting ridiculous.

I don’t know exactly when it began, because during my pregnancy and first few months I’m in a kind of free floating fog of nausea, sleep deprivation and general crankiness. I just know that it needs to stop.

Today I asked her to make a list of the foods she doesn’t like.

Be careful what you ask for!

p.s. Please don’t judge her punctuation too harshly. She is, after all, only 8 and seems to have been infected with that heavy use of the apostrophe disease so many native Georgians have. We’re working on it ok?!

Ilana’s List of Thing’s I Dont Like To Eat

1. Shrimp
2. Brocli
3. Carrot’s
4. Bean’s
5. Rice.
6. Vegtable’s
7. Corn
8. Tomato’s
9. Hash Brown’s
10. Spinach
11. Caulflower

Yikes.

I have a feeling that several of those items appear simply because they were what we had for dinner (rice, shrimp, “brocli” and “caulflower”). We also had carrots, and I pointed out that it didn’t make the list, to which she replied:

“I like carrots. Raw.”

I simply don’t know how the child survives because most days she subsists on a diet of chewing gum and her own spit.

Any thoughts on what to do with an 8 year old going through a picky phase?

Previously when a child tried to be picky I didn’t make a big deal out of it, and just insisted that they take ONE bite of the offensive food. I also don’t allow them to say negative things about the food before saying something kind.

For instance, they can tell me:

“Thanks for dinner mom. Asparagus with mushroom sauce isn’t my favorite dish, though I do appreciate the mashed potatoes.“

The other kids aren’t picky (except for maybe one or two foods each) so this tactic has worked well for me.

I know I need to get a little tougher with her though. She eats too much toast, and also has a sweet tooth. Maybe she needs fewer carbs?

What say you?

For some reason I’ve been totally unmotivated to cook breakfast in the mornings. Maybe due to the whole no appetite thing. I don’t like cold breakfasts, so using the slow cooker or preparing breakfast (mostly) the night before is working for me right now.

Monday morning we had Overnight Blueberry French Toast. This is a decadent, delicious but still filling and healthy recipe I’ve loved from The One Armed Cook cookbook.

Basically you take a loaf of dried out French bread (I was lazy and used regular old loaf bread) and place it in a large baking pan. Make your egg/milk/vanilla extract/nutmeg mixture and pour over. Soak overnight. In the morning top with melted butter, brown sugar, 2 cups blueberries (frozen is fine) and chopped pecans. Bake. Ohhh heavenly! Good even without maple syrup.

This morning we had berry oatmeal in the slow cooker. The recipe went sort of like this:

photo credit: janineomg

Slow Cooker Berry Oatmeal

- Grease the slow cooker well with 1/3 cup coconut oil or melted butter.

- Throw in: 2 cups old fashioned oatmeal, 1 cup milk, 1 large egg, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 cup Sucanat, 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup dried berries.

- Mix well. Cook on high for an hour or so, or low for about 3 hours.

It was soooo good! Even my “I don’t like oatmeal” kid ate it!

I LOVE waking up to breakfast already made!

Do you ever feel this way?

For the last couple of weeks I have had ZERO desire to cook. Or eat, for that matter.

I usually enjoy cooking. (And I usually love eating!) In fact I enjoy the whole meal planning/shopping/cooking continuum.

But lately?

Bleh.

I’m not sure if it’s the heat, or what.

Last Sunday hubby wanted to take me out to eat, and I had no craving or appetite for anything.

I feel a little hungry sometimes but wish I could just take a pill to meet all my nutritional needs and go about my day.

Oddly, I’m craving orange juice (something I never drink) like crazy. Like, painfully craving.

What do you do when you are in a cooking or eating rut?

photo credit: Mervi of Tomato Branch

Below is an email interview I did with Wardeh Harmon of Gnowfglins.

Wardeh is a “traditional food-ie”, mom of 3 and blogger. She offers a unique e-course that teaches people the basics of traditional food preparation. You can enroll at any time and have instant access to the lessons (no waiting). The plans start as low as $8/ month and include access to 2 other classes, with one more on the way. (Sourdough, Cultured Dairy & Basic Cheese, and soon Lacto-Fermentation)

You can assess her Fundamentals e-course here.

1) Please tell my readers a little more about yourself, your family and blog.

My husband (Jeff) and I live in Oregon with our three children — Haniya, Naomi and Mikah. We’ve got a little place on about 5-1/2 acres which is definitely a work in progress. We raise Nubian goats and Muscovy ducks (so far). We’re thinking about getting a Jersey cow, but waiting to see if God brings the right one along. Our goal is to have a productive homestead… someday!

2) When I found your site, I noticed a couple of similarities between us. First that you also came to your current eating philosophy after experimenting (and being somewhat unhappy with) a vegan diet. Secondly, that your family had issues with gluten sensitivity. You mentioned that you had been able to overcome the gluten issues with traditional food preparation. Would you elaborate on that?

We were vegan for quite some years. My son had horrible eczema as a baby, and we were led to believe that he could be allergic to all animal foods. So we became vegan. His eczema disappeared completely. But our vegan change also coincided with a change to eating whole foods instead of processed foods, so we were never sure what really reduced the eczema. And, in the end, it turned out that he was allergic to eggs only.

I’m just sharing our experience here, not arguing for or against veganism. While on a vegan diet, even though my son didn’t have eczema, other members of the family did not feel well, experiencing muscle weakness and overall fatigue. When we re-introduced naturally grown animal foods into our diet, everyone felt better. We were happy with that arrangement, but then we found out about my daughter’s gluten sensitivity.

So for a few years, we avoided gluten completely, for her sake. And remember, we still weren’t eating eggs for the sake of my son. But then I was re-inspired to look into traditional food preparation methods. Previously, I had discarded the ideas because I wasn’t ready for it. I told myself none of it was necessary, and sounded like too much work.

But the thought that my daughter might be able to eat bread again made me take a second look. The idea is if you prepare grains properly (soaking, sprouting or souring) a certain pre-digestion takes place, putting less strain on the body to do all the work of digestion. So we tried it. I tried sprouting, then I tried soaking, and then I tried sourdough. Every single technique resulted in my daughter being able to eat the gluten grains without symptoms!

We also followed the other ideals of the traditional diet, including: switching to the traditional fats, and consuming raw dairy and cultured foods for probiotic benefits. My son was eating eggs again, and even though we’re not sure why, we think it is due to an increase in gut health.

So I guess you could say we were sold on traditional foods because of the results! Allergies and food intolerances carry more severe symptoms, but we saw other changes as well that confirm that we’re on the right track.

I’m excited that all we’re doing and learning lines up with God’s design. Old food, traditional food, nourishes us and helps us to look, feel and do our best.

Thank you for this info Wardeh! I enjoy your blog and hope that my readers will take a look at the traditional foods cooking ecourse you offer.

Because a close family member suffers from Fibromyalgia (among other ailments), I was very interested in reading Reversing Chronic Disease: A Journey Back to Health

The author, Patricia Stephens, CNC, chronicles how she was able to heal her condition using an integrated approach. She agreed to answer a few questions for me.

- Your book points out that for some, there is a link between ADD and Fibromyalgia. How did you discover this?

I bumped into a lady with FMS who had complete remission of FMS symptoms. When she told me about ADD, I saw myself, and it just made sense.

After a very careful screening for ADD, I knew that I fit and so did my doctor!

Upon getting the right recipe of medications (Ritalin and Buspar) , the pain completely went away, my brain engaged, my mood got better, and my energy improved dramatically.

(Note: My relative also had her symptoms disappear while on Ritalin.)

This dramatic improvement made me wonder if other FMS patients knew there is a connection between these disorders. I spent a lot of time early on studying in the medical library to see if anyone else had seen the connection!

15 years ago, the medical librarian and I could find no documentation. But documentation has surfaced since. Understanding Women with ADHD, by Dr. Quinn and Dr Nadeau; Dr. Daniel Amen, http://www.amenclinic.com etc. The ADD/ADHD criteria can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/diagnosis.html

-  I’ve often thought that getting a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia wasn’t helpful since many Doctors won’t investigate causes for symptoms any further. Basically they tell the patient they have to live with it as a life sentence. Why else is it sometimes not helpful for someone to get a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia?

Insurance companies don’t like you. You feel you are in a “box” that people set aside. It is like you can’t get your act together. You are right. Doctors sorta dismiss your complaints after that time and I found that I was not taken seriously.

- I have a loved one whose health problems showed up dramatically after hysterectomy. Why does Fibromyalgia seem to affect more menopausal women, especially after hysterectomy?

YES. I believe FMS has a huge hormonal imbalance component to it. Correcting my imbalances has basically been the most important thing I have done to get well.

What I am screaming to tell women is these hormonal imbalances can cause a wide array of symptoms that many don’t associate with imbalance.

There is also technology in the here and now to identify and safe plant-based hormones to help correct imbalances. There is a little work to it and the book described it in detail. CORRECT dosing is critical.

Women need to arm themselves with information. Hormonal imbalance often leads women to hysterectomy. These imbalances can be corrected with plants before drastic measures are taken such as removal of the uterus and ovaries. I want women to know this!! I want my ovaries back!!!!!

(See also this podcast interview on hysterectomy afteraffects and information.)

- How can a person find out if their hormones are out of balance, especially if lab tests are coming back “normal”?

From my experience in myself and so many clients, I find that most blood analysis is basically useless. I had those tests for years and they came back in the NORMAL range.

Saliva testing showed my true imbalances. I have also used them in clients for years, and see a strong improvements after correcting imbalances. Saliva tests measure the FREE or active hormone. It is like what the cell is getting instead of what is bound in the blood. Big difference.

- Some people try to avoid Western medicine and medications. Are there instances when drugs are helpful for a time, and how were you able to wean yourself off of conventional medications?

Drugs that I have really seen help FMS are Wellbutrin, Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, and Dexedrine (only one of these). All 5 of these drugs can be very effective on their own, but many adults find they need to BALANCE them with a low-dose medication that affects serotonin like Buspar, Zoloft, etc.

DOSAGE IS CRITICAL on all meds. Smart doctors start low dosage and titrate up slowly. You don’t have to meet ADD criteria to be prescribed Wellbutrin, but you do have to meet ADD criteria to be prescribed Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, and Dexedrine.

How I weaned off my drugs was by balancing my hormones. Hormones help make brain chemicals as documented in the book. Many women can do this. Some still need a low dose med for brain chemistry.

SAM-e is a great natural for mood and pain. It is best taken on an empty stomach. I start clients on 200 mg. twice a day. Some need 400 mg. twice a day for a few weeks, and then most can reduce the dosage. It is typically not mixed with conventional antidepressants, but Harvard Medical School is doing a study on using it along side of conventional antidepressants. (See your doctor.) Google Life Extension and type in SAM-e.

Thanks so much Patricia for answering my questions!

If you or a loved one are suffering from chronic illnesses like Fibromyalgia, chronic pain and fatigue, depression and anxiety, please look into this book.

Reversing Chronic Disease: A Journey Back to Health

It all started the other Saturday when I was out with a friend. She decided to stop by our local Great Harvest Bread Company for something called a “Savannah bar”.

“What’s a Savannah bar?”

“It’s a drug.”

Ah, but she was right!

As soon as I had one I was addicted.

But at $2 a pop, I knew I couldn’t afford this particular addiction, and had to learn how to make them myself.

Of course, I had to buy several more so I could study the ingredients and try to backward engineer the recipe.

The Savannah bar has a dense crust with coconut, finely chopped nuts, oats and whole wheat flour. Then comes a more cobbler-like pastry layer that is moister. Then it’s topped with fresh seasonal fruit, and baked. The ooey-gooey pastry comes up inbetween the fruit pieces and spills over, just like a cobbler does. And indeed, they are super scrumptious.

And quite filling. One bar more than fills you up for breakfast. I love how nutritious the ingredients are also. You can enjoy one as a snack or dessert, with coffee or tea or in place of breakfast, guilt free.

I sat down with Google to search for the recipe. A couple of hours later, I discovered that the Savannah bar, also called a Cobbler or Harvest bar, is based on the Mazurka.

Apparently it’s a Polish pastry that is quite popular in Seattle. Who knew?

I found a recipe for Marzurka Bars and did a little tweaking. The result, pictured here, was fantastic…

but not exactly like the Savannah bars I crave.

The pastry is a bit more crumbly, and it doesn’t ooze up around and inbetween the fruit.

So I’m putting it to you cooking experts out there.

Here’s the recipe for Mazurka Bars. They’re certainly lovely. But how can I make them taste more like my beloved Savannah bars?

Mazurka Bars

• 2 cups Oats
• 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 cup Brown Sugar or Sucanat
• 1/2 cup finely chopped Pecans or Walnuts
• 1/2 cup Unsweetened Coconut
• 1/4 t Salt
• 1/2 t Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 sticks Butter, melted
• 1 t Vanilla Extract

Mix ingredients together and place into a greased baking pan. Pour fresh sliced fruit over top.

Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

Again I put to you: If you’ve ever had a Savannah Bar, how would you tweak this recipe to make it have the same texture?

If I were to venture a guess, I would think that the crust and pastry are two different batches of ingredients. Maybe the topping has more sugar, and some milk? Not sure.

HELP!

In the summer, I like to challenge myself to eat simpler food, and to cook less.

Why?

For one thing, even though it’s only April in Atlanta, turning on the oven now means the house is steaming hot for hours. I’m simply not willing to pay $400 a month to cool down my home during the hot summer. That means I keep the oven and other hot appliances off as much as possible.

Another thing is, I’m trying to save $50 a week on groceries for the next 3 months. Eating simply helps with that endeavor.

It’s a lovely thing that my husband loves to grill. Saturdays are Grill Night around here.

And since he’s cooking the meat, I’m surely going to take advantage of the free time this offers.

I don’t prepare complicated side dishes.

<———-  Here’s what we ate last Saturday.

I used to feel a little guilty when I prepared simple meals.

Like I wasn’t doing my job or something.

But I quickly got over it.

Simple Summer Eating

There are some advantages to eating simply. Among them:

• You’ll eat less. Studies have shown that the fewer flavors on your tongue, the less you eat. This is why food manufacturers add multiple complex, fake flavors and additives to packaged food – you’ll eat more, and they’ll sell more product.
• You’ll save time. The meal above was prepared in literally minutes. The chicken had a simple lime juice, olive oil and garlic marinade. The salad was an uncut hunk of Romaine lettuce with feta cheese and a few grape tomatoes thrown on top. The corn (organic of course) was heated on the stove with butter.
• You’ll save money. Self explanatory.

I thought my thrown together meal pictured above was so pretty, I snapped a pic. It looked like it came straight out of the pages of Real Simple magazine. It was so tasty too!

In the heat of summer I like to have things like: smoothies for breakfast, fruit/cheese/nuts/whole grain crackers for lunch or dinner, and lots of raw fresh fruits and veggies.

How do you change your diet in the summer time? Are you eating more simply to save time and money?

Today is the second day of my “modified juice fast” that I started yesterday.

photo credit: hayleycranberry

Yesterday late afternoon and evening were a little rough.

I felt yucky. A little achy, and tired. I went to bed at around 8 PM and slept until 8 AM. I didn’t feel vital at all, I felt weak.

This morning, and all day, I felt great.

I made breakfast late and did eat a little (which was my plan). But I haven’t had any “food” since. Just the raw juice mixture. I was active and busy all day and didn’t feel very hungry even.

There were a couple of times when I wanted food. It wasn’t so much a real hunger, it was a “everyone else is doing it”, or a “now is when I usually do it” kind of thing. I was able to distract myself by reading, and staying busy with other things.

Times when it was a little harder not to think about food:

• adding recipes to my whole foods recipe site
• cooking dinner for the kids

Even though this is only my second day, I’ve already noticed a couple of things.

• When one doesn’t eat, one doesn’t poop. One of the things I had hoped this mini fast would accomplish is to kind of clean out my guts a little. I thought the raw juice mix I’m drinking (a gallon a day) would have enough fiber, plus all the fluid, to make me go. Nope. Just peeing like a horse.
• When I did eat solid food (breakfast), I savored. every. bite. I even noticed flavor nuances, like the subtle flavor of the butter on my toast (it tasted like the inside of the fridge because I forgot to cover it up).

I can see how going without food could really put the brakes on the hedonic treadmill. I bet I eat a little mindlessly most of the time.

So my goal when I am back to eating three squares is to: Slow Down and Savor Each Bite.

Today I am embarking on a modified, partial raw juice fast.

I know. Don’t blast me with warning comments.

photo credit: Glorius

I know that fasting or crash dieting while breastfeeding isn’t a good idea.

For several reasons.

According to the studies I’ve read, crash dieting, severe calorie restriction, and prolonged fasting can cause:

• dehydration and reduced milk supply
• changes in milk composition
• dumping of toxins into the breastmilk
• depleting of mom’s nutritional status

Of course, “fasting” according to these studies usually referred to prolonged, severe food restriction, such as in the case of Ramadan and other religious observances.

In the studies I found that mentioned a very brief fast, there was little to no change in the composition or supply of mom’s milk. Here’s one.

I had a normal breakfast this morning (which consisted of a fresh from the farm egg, gently cooked in grass-fed butter, served with breakfast potatoes and a slice of gluten free toast). My plan is to eat a normal breakfast, because I don’t do well without protein in the morning.

Then every hour I’m drinking 8 ounces of a raw juice combo I got from Arden’s Garden (famous here in Atlanta for their fresh raw juices). And drinking lots of water.

If I get too hungry, or weak and shaky, I’ll eat. Maybe a baked potato, a salad, a smoothie made with fruit and coconut milk, or an avocado. A handful of nuts. A banana. Whatever feels clean and light.

I just feel the need to do a little spring cleaning of the body. Do you ever feel that way?

I’ve actually never dieted in my life. I did attempt a fast once, but I was very weak and unhealthy and in the middle of a health crisis at the time. And it was one of those extreme lemon water, cayenne pepper things.  I got really sick and weak and it felt wrong.

Right now, the baby is 9 months old. She nurses a lot, and she eats well at meal times. (She eats an entire egg every morning!)  I would never reduce my calories if she were under 6 months, and I would never restrict my liquids or go on a crazy crash diet that eliminated entire food groups or advised eating just one or two things, no matter how old my nursing baby. I’ll be eating and drinking enough so that I shouldn’t detox, but even if I did a little, it wouldn’t harm her according to this study.

I plan on doing this modified juice fast for 48 hours.

I’ll let you know how it feels when I’m done.

Finally, a pregnancy nutrition advice book worth the paper it’s printed on.

Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods was a delight to read.

So many books, websites and “experts” recommend a diet for pregnant (and wanting to be pregnant) women that is the total opposite of what people have traditionally believed for hundreds of years.

Our Great-and Grandmothers had the good sense to let a pregnant woman eat real food in the quantities she desired. She would never have dreamed of limiting her calories so the Doctor wouldn’t get mad about her 25 pound weight gain, or not salting her food to taste, or avoiding her favorite dishes during pregnancy and nursing, or any of the other nonsense women in the last 40 years have been taught.

Books like “Eat Well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding” should be burned for recommending low fat everything and the heavy consumption of vegetable oils. The low fat craze probably has a lot to do with increasing infertility rates, and most women would feel horrible eating according to its plan.

Women need real food in order to conceive and birth a healthy baby, and to avoid a malnourished state for themselves after baby is born. Being well fed also helps prevent difficult births and postpartum depression, and ensure a better breastfeeding and all around new mom experience.

I applaud Nina Planck, Real Food’s author, for bringing the teachings of Dr. Weston A. Price to the mainstream. In this book, you’ll find information on the importance of:

• Healthy fats – including (gasp!) animal foods
• REAL (Read: raw) milk
• MEAT (Dr. Price found no traditional vegan cultures, very few vegetarian ones, and those are the least healthy and shortest lived of the world’s population)
• What Dad’s diet has to do with it
• Common sense, relaxed advice on starting solids

Instead of asking you to just take her word for it, Real Food for Mother and Baby provides references to studies and plenty of resources for more info and research. Yet it manages not to bore you to tears and reads more like a heart-to-heart with your BFF. Highly recommended!

Baby Doesn’t Like Baby Food

I didn’t really “do” baby food with my other little ones.

Firstly I delayed solids as long as I could. From 6-9 months, depending on the baby. And I always went slow once I offered them, only giving one single food several days apart.

When I did feed my babies solids, it wasn’t jarred baby food. It was soft cooked carrots, sweet potato, mashed potato, peas. Avocado, banana. That kind of thing.

Jarred baby food is expensive and I always felt that fresh real food was better, less processed, etc. I only used it on rare occasions, such as when I was traveling and unsure if I could obtain single ingredients to feed baby.

This time, however, I did things a little differently. Several times during my pregnancy I was able to snag organic jarred baby food for pennies a jar. Combining store sales with coupons meant that what was once .99 a jar was now around .15 a jar. Not bad. The siren song of a great deal lured me in. I had an entire shelf of one cupboard stocked with jarred baby food, all organic.

Only.

Baby doesn’t like it. She won’t eat jarred baby food!

It’s so convenient to pop open a jar of the stuff and shovel it in with a little tiny spoon. Something comforting about feeding a baby that way.

But she turns up her nose. After a couple of weeks of trying to coax her and playing little tricks to try to get her to open up and take the stuff, I gave her a gob of hummus. The same hummus we all were noshing on. The hummus full of garlic and olive oil.

Baby has had garlic breath for weeks.

When she tastes the hummus her little hands and feet twist and flail in anticipation.

She wants real food.

The same stuff we’re eating.

(And no, it doesn’t help if I feed myself from the baby food jars.)

She’s not quite mastered the art of the pincer grasp, so putting little bits of soft food on her high chair doesn’t work yet. She gets frustrated and wants me to put food directly in her mouth.

She will eat anything I feed her with my fingers. As long as it came from my plate.

Not a jar.

Maybe I knew better all along!

Years ago I remember reading a Mothering magazine article entitled, “Baby Food Is Whatever I Feed My Baby” (issue #85 if you’re interested). In it, the author reported giving his infant daughter a taste of everything he cooked. One of her favorites ended up being Chicken Piccata, complete with capers. I’m sure Ruby would love it!

But what about food allergies? How do you watch for reactions when you’re feeding baby adult food?

Would your little one eat jarred “baby food”?

My Happiness Project

’ve been up for an hour.

photo credit: Materials Aart

In that time, I changed two diapers. Made breakfast. Ate breakfast. Unloaded the dishwasher. Loaded the dishwasher. Put clothes in the dryer. Started a new load of laundry. Unpacked from last weekend’s trip (finally). Cleaned the bathroom. Took out the trash. Put winter clothing in the basement. Set aside outgrown baby clothes to give away. Nursed the baby. Washed my face, moisturized/sunscreen-ed/makeup-ed. Fixed my hair. Brushed my teeth. Got dressed. Dressed the baby. Nursed the baby. Checked email. Packed up a sold eBay auction. Balanced my checkbook. Texted my husband. (Is sexting ok if you’re married? Hope so.) Made a latte. Took the baby outside and swayed her to sleep. Drank my latte in my favorite mug.

That’s a lot of stuff to do in an hour.

Oh and did I mention I did all that with the baby on my hip? She has a fever and won’t have being put down just now.

Moms do a lot.

In all this busy-ness, it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day “stuff”. It’s easy to not notice all the great and wonderful things that happen all the time in little moments. I decided to change that.

I started a Happiness Project.

I believe that in order to be happier, a person has to realize they’re happy. They have to be mindful, in other words. They also have to do more of the things that make them happy. And less of the stuff that makes them UNhappy.

We need to think more about this stuff.

It’s not selfish.

In fact, it’s positively UNselfish to be as happy as you can.

Have you noticed that as women/mothers/wives we set the mood for our entire families?

It feels like a burden sometimes, but it’s positively true.

When I’m not happy, my husband isn’t happy. When I’m not happy (even if I think I’m hiding it well), my kids argue more and are unsettled. Being happy models good behavior for our children. It sets an example for them.

My goal is to be as happy as I possibly can. Some people will say, “But I can’t go around pasting a smile on my face and faking it.”

Umm.. why not? Why wouldn’t you? Science backs me up here. “Faking it” can cause you to feel happier. Did you know in one study, women who got Botox that made it difficult for them to frown reported feeling happier? In another, subjects who were told to hold a pencil in their teeth (forcing the lips into a smile) reported feeling cheerier, but those who approximated a frown felt gloomier.

Reading the Happiness Project motivated me to get off my butt and do something different.

I invited a few of my bestest friends to join me. Our first Happiness Project group meeting is tomorrow at my place.

Just sending the email scared me a little. What if they thought it was corny? What if they made fun of me or said it was selfish? And, I have to clean the house and be hospitable. Thinking about that makes me tired.

The funny thing about happiness is that in the short term, things that really bring joy are difficult.

Exercise comes to mind. Budgeting. Saying no to junk food. Biting your tongue during a “discussion” with your spouse. All hard. All worth it.

Being social isn’t always easy for me. But the research shows that even introverted people are happier when they are more social. So I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.

Another thing I’ve been doing for my Happiness Project is exercising 3 times a week with weights, and decluttering. Being flabby makes me unhappy. Clutter makes me unhappy. The Happiness Project group thing will help me stay accountable with these habits.

Back to mindfulness for a moment. One of the things I began doing after reading the book is to keep a “One Minute Journal”. I’ve started and stopped dozens of journals through the years. This is the only one that seems to be sticking. Precisely because of its brevity. Usually I write about some funny or touching thing my kids did, or some thoughtful thing my husband said, or something the baby learned. It’s helping me be more mindful.

I’ll let you know how Saturday goes. And Kelly McCausey will be interviewing me about it too, for her podcast, so stay tuned for that.

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

My First Happiness Project Group Meeting

Last Saturday was my first Happiness Project group meeting. (I talked with Kelly McCausey about it on her 48 Days to a Better Me project, listen out for that interview.) I had printed out the resolution chart and group discussion kit from the Happiness Project
It was fun! The ladies brought yummy snacks! I made sangria!

photo credit: findingtheobvious

At this first meeting we discussed what our main goals are.

Two of the ladies hadn’t read the book yet. Oops. But they still had set goals, so it was all good.

Turns out three out of the four of us had Weight Loss as a goal. Three of us had an area of our home we wanted to Organize or Declutter. (Not surprising, since health, minimalism/organization and happiness are closely linked.)

I shared with the group the resolutions I had already been keeping: Writing a “1 Minute Journal”, working out with weights 3 times a week (I lost a dress size last month!), decluttering the entire house and donating lots of stuff to Goodwill (no more yard sales for me ever, I’ll take the tax deduction).

Two of the participants had already encountered resistance… one friend was told that she was “selfish” for buying herself a treadmill (with money she saved from working a part-time job). Excuse me?! Selfish for taking care of one’s emotional and physical health?! Don’t get me started! The other friend was told that participating in a book club was a bad idea because she should be spending more time reading the Bible. Funny thing is, reading the book got her motivated TO set more spiritual goals.

Everyone’s a critic. That’s how it goes. Whenever you move forward, there are people who try to hold you back.

Some of my goals were very small and certainly not earth-shattering, but they’re meaningful to me personally.

The thing about starting a Happiness Project is that you first identify What Makes You Happy, and What Makes You Unhappy.

When I got to thinking about it, many of the things on my unhappy list are quite within my control. My fingernails have made me unhappy my entire life. When I’m nervous I tear at my cuticles. I’m determined to take better care of my hands and even (gasp!) get a manicure!! (Other women do this, why don’t I feel that I deserve nice hands?) Having nasty torn up nails makes me feel ugly and affects my mood.

So right away I went out and splurged (a principle Gretchin Rubin calls “spend out”, or putting money where your happiness is) on an orange stick and nail buffer. Every night (and when I’m a passenger in the car), I rub cuticle cream into my nails. Already they look better and I feel better when I look at them.

I have other goals too, like blogging again. Have I been doing ok with that?

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

One of my goals this year is to eat fermented foods every single day.

photo credit: fishermansdaughter

Why?

Because I want to improve my gut health.

But “improve my gut health” is vague and imprecise, and vague imprecise goals don’t work so well. One way to improve one’s gut health is to give it lots of healthy bacteria. Eating fermented foods is a big part of that.

Giving up wheat (sometimes I’m bad and cheat, but I feel better when I stay away) helped my tummy troubles immensely, so did switching to raw milk several years ago. But I would really like to get to a place where I can tolerate sprouted or sourdough bread. I do miss bread every once in awhile. Like a slice, slathered with butter, with soup. Ahhh.

Since we’ve been snowed iced in all week here in the ATL, I thought I would take advantage of my homebound status and make up several batches of fermented foods.

So far I’ve made:

Coconut Kefir Water

Coconut kefir water is delicious. It’s a great alternative to milk kefir for those who have issues with dairy products. My first batch got a little mold on top, (probably due to the addition of ginger…?). But my sources tell me that’s ok, just to scoop it off and proceed.

I made a fizzy strawberry slushie drink (coconut kefir water, frozen strawberries, honey) for the kids and everyone either loved it and drank it and asked for more, or they weren’t sure if they liked it, so kept drinking to find out.  ‘sall good.

It reminded me of a strawberry margarita. So you know I was game.

Excited to take my handy-dandy Vegetable Fermentation Master a spin, I made:

photo credit: little blue hen

Homemade Lacto-Fermented Pickles

These would be different from pickles that get their pickliness from vinegar or that are cooked. These are raw, and therefore have intact enzymes, like traditional condiments did.

Then I made:

Kefir

Made from raw milk, this got its culture from a starter. I let my real kefir grains die a long time ago. Oops. (Who, me?!)

Then:

Sauerkraut

I’ll post recipes and whatnot later.

What did you do for your gut today?

photo credit: Spigoo

The following is a guest post by Eileen Blackburn of Topharmer.com

Naturally Boosting Your Kid’s Immune System

Its that time of year again….Snotty Nose season. It always seems to happen around the Holiday when your kids getting whatever funk is going around. I like to nip the nasties in the bud before they happen, which doesn’t always work, but so far this year we have had great success.

1. Cod Liver Oil: This fish oil is sooooo good for you, not just an immune booster. I will devote a whole post to this later, because it deserves it. But as far as immune boosting powers, it has vitamins A&D. Vitamin D naturally boosts your immune system, it is like sunshine in a bottle. NOTE: Please do not buy the cheapo stuff at the grocery store, this stuff is full of pesticides and rancid fish…gross. We really like Nordic Naturals Childrens DHA and Carlsons Kids Chewable.

2. Vitamin D-3: Your body produces cathelicidin, which is a natural antibiotic. During the winter (because of the less sunshine) or when there is a lack of vitamin D your body stops making it. So we supplement with Vitamin D tablets in the winter to increase this natural antibiotic. We use Carlson Kids Vitamin D.

3. Probiotics: Probiotics is the beneficial and good bacteria this is in some foods (ex. yogurt) or supplements. Basically your gut has good bacteria, this bacteria helps fight the yeast, harmful bacteria and mold(yes i said mold) in your intestines. There are times when this ratio gets knocked out of balance and the nasties take over. This is where probiotics come it. They help support the bacteria already in your belly, which in turn supports your immune system. You can use supplements like Garden of Life or Udos Choice. Another way to get good probiotics is through the food you eat. Fermented foods like yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk, sauerkraut, pickles and Kombucha Tea.

I know that some of you are looking at the cost of some of these vitamins and thinking they are pretty pricey. I think of them like insurance, it will help prevent a lot of silly things that could potentially end us up at the doctor. Plus, no one really likes it when their kiddos are sick.

The best part about these 3 things is that anyone can use them. Even as adults, you will benefit from these immune boosters.

Motherlove Birth and Baby Oil

Review submitted by: Kirstan Graham

Motherlove Birth and Baby Oil is an organic apricot oil with a touch of lavender for multiple uses throughout pregnancy, birth and baby’s tender years. The oil itself is light and non-greasy. It easily rubs into skin leaving it smooth and infused with the delicate apricot and lavender scents minus the toxic ingredients of many other skin care products on the market.

Pregnancy
The Birth and Baby oil has many lovely uses including moisturizing dry hormonal skin. A light amount rubbed into tight and itchy belly skin is a great relief from late pregnancy irritation.

Birth
Leading up to the big day the oil is a great choice for perineal massage if the mother has chosen to do so. The ingredients are natural and organic so they are safe for those most delicate areas and will not introduce questionable ingredients into the birth canal.

Baby
Primarily a great oil for baby massage, the added bonus as a treatment for cradle cap is where this product shines. Used much like a traditional olive oil treatment, rubbed on the scalp prior to bath time, left for 5-10 minutes to settle in and then washed out, the oils succeeds in breaking up the flakes and moisturizing the baby’s scalp. I found with my daughter that this treatment alone was sufficient in clearing up her rather extreme case of cradle cap. With only a few treatments her scalp has cleared up considerable, only producing a few isolated flakes here and there occasionally that are cleared right up with a fresh treatment when needed. Although the extra virgin olive oil is similarly effective, it leaves a greasy residue and is a more difficult to rinse out along with the strong Italian restaurant smell. In comparison the lighter apricot oil rinses out more thoroughly as well as leaving a fresh light aroma of fruity lavender that is by far more appealing.

I highly recommend this versatile oil for all of its pregnancy, birth and baby uses