Gluten/Processed Food-Free on Vacation?! How?

Last week was great.  We packed up the fam and went to the happiest place on earth, DiSnEyLaNd!


It was great, and lots of fun, but more difficult than I expected to eat the right way.  I prepared by having my friend Cindy cook up a bunch of good quality snacks for me.  She made a bunch of grain-free treats for me to take:   cowboy cookies, a honey/molasses carmel corn that tastes like cracker jacks, two types of pumpkin muffins, a cranberry/dark chocolate bar.  I took fruit I could snack on, and water.

This worked out pretty well on the trip down, plus while we were in the condo.  But there was a lot of eating out, and that was tricky.  We ate at three different buffets, which was enough to last me for a year!  I've always hated watching people go crazy eating a bunch of unhealthy food, and now it's even worse.  I was usually okay if I stuck with the salad bar, but that got old.  At Disneyland I was able to get gluten-free buns, which was good, but usually gluten free bread has a lot of sugar in it.  I found it interesting that In-N-Out Burger had a grain-free option for a hamburger where they wrapped the burger in lettuce.

I know that I ate things here and there that I reacted to, because I started to itch all over, and still am.  My gut is sore, too, like I shocked it.  I did sneak a few bites of no-no's here & there.  I had a few skittles, a few licks of a lolly pop, and even had some cheesecake at a buffet! I didn't eat the graham crust, so I thought it would be okay.  Nope.  My family has made great strides in the last 3-5 months, but this vacation was a big step back, nutritionally.  Live & learn.  I guess I'll just have to pack all of my food to everything, all the time.  It's so inconvenient, but I'm still searching for the answer!  There's got to be a way.

Sugar is Toxic- on 60-Minutes!

I received a text from one of my friends on Saturday and she said "I saw that Dr. Lustig was going to be on 60-minutes".  I had no idea what she was talking about & didn't answer her.  I thought maybe she sent the text to the wrong person.  When I saw her on Monday she mentioned it again, and I was embarrassed to say that I didn't know what she was talking about.  She's like "You know, THE Dr. Lustig!  Sugar-free?"  And it hit me!

A month or so ago I came across the BEST YouTube clip!  It was an hour & a half lecture given by Dr. Lustig, a UCSF (University of California San Francisco) pediatric endocrinologist, about how sugar is toxic.  I told my friend about it, because she is a dietitian, and I wanted her thoughts on it.  

I couldn't wait to see how the topic was presented on 60-minutes, so I looked it up online.  It is somewhat short, at 14 minutes long, and it is very well done!  Yea!  The word is being spread.  I know people don't want to hear it, but it's important & really needs to be addressed.

Watch "Is Sugar Toxic" on 60-minutes

I was excited to talk about it with my dietitian friend.  She agrees with it all.  I'm going to show it to my kids!

Exciting News

I AM SO HAPPY!  I'm starting to see the effects of healthy, whole foods eating on my kids.  They haven't completely bought into the whole thing and they'll still have treats here & there, but if we don't have crappy food here, they can't eat it, and it's making a difference.

The first thing is, my 15-yr old son has lost 15 pounds since November.  I'm thrilled.  He had a check-up with our pediatrition then, and he was very blunt in telling him he needed to stop gaining weight (he was over 200 pounds).  I have never made an issue about his weight and don't believe in "diets", but our lifestyle change with eating is working! Ha ha ha.  Diets?  Who needs diets?  Ya-hoo!  Can you tell I'm more than happy?

Tonight was another exciting discovery.  My kids' tastes are changing!  We had birthday cake & ice cream for my 2nd youngest's birthday, and most of them couldn't finish the cake.  THEY SAID IT WAS TOO SWEET!  That is seriously unheard of in this home!  That makes me so happy.  Eventually we'll phase into healthier sweets for b-days.  It feels cruel to not give them cake & ice cream... eventually they'll get used to my sweets, I'll find a great grain-free cake they'll like, & we'll transition to my way).

Last year five out of the seven of us were overweight... now I'm at a healthy weight (along w/my two youngest), my husband has lost 25 and counting, and my kids are on the right track.  I'm hopeful that our whole family can be at healthy weights over time.  I don't necessarily want my kids to lose weight... at the least I'd be happy if they can maintain their weight as they continue to grow, and then they'll grow into a healthy weight.

Hey, Mikey! He likes it!

I've been working really hard to transition my family into this new whole foods lifestyle.  I started eating different in August 2011, but was the only one.  It was hard to make their meal, and then make a different meal for myself afterwards.  My kids constantly expressed their condolences to me, for having to suffer through the way I was eating.  I tried to explain to them that I didn't feel deprived (for the most part), but they couldn't fathom that.

Then in about November, a miracle:  Jimmy (my husband) decided that he needed to make a change, and wanted to start eating the way that I was.  I have to admit that even though that made me so happy, it made me nervous about how we could afford to have our biggest eater eating all of the healthy things I was (At that point I was freaking out about how much our food budget had increased).

Then over time, I decided that I simply didn't have the time to make two meals, and decided that our kids would have to eat what we were (at least 85% of the time anyway).  They've resisted some, but the last few weeks have been very rewarding...  I'm finding recipes they LOVE that are super healthy.  Wa-hoo!

Last night we had Quick & Easy Gluten-free Mac and Cheese, and EVERYONE wanted seconds.  The sauce has raw milk, steamed cauliflower, nutritional yeast, raw cashews, lemon juice, minced garlic, and other seasonings, blended into a smooth sauce in my Vitamix blender.  I served the sauce over brown rice noodles:  Delicious!

Here's a list of some of our favorite recipes from the last few months.  (Recipes can be found by clicking the links).

1.  Crispy Almonds, Pecans, Walnuts, etc.   
2.  Chicken "zoodle" Soup
3.  Overnight Oats
4.  Quick Easy Gluten-Free Mac and Cheese
5.  Moist and Cakey Almond Flour Pancakes

Perpetual Chicken Broth

I keep thinking about doing more with nourishing bone broths again.  They sound really good to me, all the time. On the other hand, I have those feelings of being overwhelmed and put it off because it's a lot of work to make broths all the time.

I just read a post on www.nourishedkitchen.com about "Perpetual Chicken Broth" where she has chicken broth simmering in the crock pot the non-stop.  She uses one chicken a week, and continually refills the pot with water as she uses up the broth.  She's feeding fewer people, so I'm not sure if I'd be able to follow the same process serving 7.  I'm going to give it a try, though.  I just happened to start my big crock pot with some chicken broth yesterday.  We had chicken for Sunday dinner, and then I used the carcass for the broth.

They estimate the cost of the electricity for using the crockpot about $1.68 - $5.04 a week, which is a great deal when you consider how much broth you would get from this system.  She estimates that they would each get a quart of broth a day.

UPDATE:  So I did the perpetual chicken broth, but by the end of 5 days it was getting brown, like it was burnt.  I think that I didn't use enough of the broth each day to prevent that from happening.  If I do it again, I'll make sure to remove at least 2-3 quarts of broth every day to see if that doesn't happen.  Everything I made with the broth was amazing, though.  It was a good food week at our house.

Why My Family Drinks Raw Milk

Wow- It's hard to believe that it's been nearly six months since I made all these dietary changes!  I need to give it a name.  How about "The Change" ?  So, six months since The Change.   People like to talk to me about the changes I've made (well, sometimes.  As long as they're the ones bringing it up :)  But anyway, I love to talk about it. Sometimes I find that I remember what I should be doing, but I forget WHY and can't explain it.

One of the latest questions I faltered on was "Why do you drink raw milk?  What's so great about it?"  I told the story of how when I was weaning my youngest, I had switched her to regular whole, pasteurized milk from the grocery store.  She immediately started having a bad reaction, and a terrible diaper rash, like her skin was burned.  I had heard that raw milk was gentler, and bought some for her.  The rash immediately went away!  I also toyed with the idea of going to raw milk when I thought my oldest daughter might have a milk allergy.  But as for other health properties?  I decided to brush up on my raw milk info & explain why we drink raw milk.

I found an interesting article on rockrivertimes.com that gets into the debate between raw & pasteurized milk.  It mentions some of the main benefits of drinking raw milk:

Studies at the Price Foundation show humans grow bigger and more dense bones when consuming raw milk. They say there is more efficient use and better absorption of vitamins and minerals, that children on raw milk don’t get anemic and that there is an improvement in children’s behavior. They also claim there is better overall growth and fewer cases of tuberculosis.

Price research showed raw milk is designed to create an immune system that uses beneficial bacteria in our intestines and that those beneficial bacteria are killed during pasteurization. Other benefits cited by raw milk users include protection against allergies, ear infections and skin rashes, and the prevention or elimination of asthma.

Fewer and fewer people can consume milk each year because of the increase of those who are lactose intolerant. Raw milk proponents say 82 percent of those who are lactose intolerant can drink raw milk.

I have to admit I do still get a little nervous that I might get some illness from raw milk.  But I feel the health benefits are worth the risk.  And I feel that my milk sources are dependable and follow proper raw milk safety practices.

So there you go.  

Chiptole Super Bowl Commercial

Did you watch the Super Bowl a few weeks ago?  We didn't.  We got rid of satellite TV a few months ago, and we have old TV's that need a converter box to get TV signal for local channels.  Instead we watch things online, on Netflix, or go without.  And in this case, we went without.  We didn't go to any Superbowl parties or anything, since we don't get into watching sports on TV anyway.

I just watched a cute commercial on Pinterest, and just had to share it.  They said it was played during the Super Bowl.

Very cute!  I did miss being able to watch the commercials during the Super Bowl, but I love that I can watch them later on You Tube!  :)

Have a Great Day!