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.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
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
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
Monday, March 12, 2012
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.
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.
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