Bread or no bread??

So we have shifted into "normal life" and are talking about what that looks like. Whether or not to add bread and grains back at all? Organic milk or no milk? To soak or not to soak?

Sooooooo.......

Here's where we are:

2 Special Occasions a month at someone else's house or event - one serving of dessert or treat

1 special sweets occasion at home once a month

2 special coffees (full on sweetners whip cream the works! :)) unless we already did 2 special occasions then only 1

2 eat outs at Costco (my boys favorite lunch ) NO soda

Sprouted bread from Trader Joes or my homemade whole wheat or spelt bread SOAKED.  Which means you start the process the day before adding the water and some sort of kefir, apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice to the dough and you let it soak all night then finish the process the next day. It breaks down the phytic acid and breaks down the grain so that our bodies can digest it sooooo much better, and receive more of what the grain has to offer, that is now free to be absorbed into our bodies. YAY!

No more breakfast cereal for breakfast. :(  Such an easy thing, that's why I've always loved it so much for the kids. Almost all cereals have been treated with such an intense pressure or heat to form the little flakes or shapes that they are it actually makes them toxic let alone lost all of it's original nutrients, that can only be restored by adding the vitamin supplements AFTER, as a supplement to the cereal which is never as nutritious as the original living nutrients. :(

Our beautiful array of color in the window seal! Kefir water flavored, plain, granules, and a basil plant. :)

A coconut flower blackberry crumble pie, using our wild blackberries growing like crazy near our house

Soaked Quinoa patties! They were actually quite good, but for some reason I can't convince Ian to like quinoa

We have tried a few new recipes lately and enjoyed them. Tonight I have some dough soaking for bread tomorrow, and oatmeal soaking with milk kefir to eat for breakfast. It's been interesting to find out with the NEED to think in advance for all the soaking, thawing meats, preparing broths, that it has actually helped ease the planning of daily meals. I am so happy about that. BUT the negative is, if you don't plan ahead atleast a day, then you are in BIG trouble cuz there are hungry kids asking 100 times what they can eat and there is nothing EASY to just hand to them, and I am too tired to COOK anything!! aggggg!!!! So yes, there are those days, but we are still learning and I am still so excited to be feeling so much more energy and ability to fight off things that are in the air, like this latest bug that had some people sick for a few days, I could literally feel my body kicking into gear and fighting it off, and I only felt extra sleepy for a few days instead of out for the count! I was so excited. 

Oh and one of you, asked about preserving your water kefir granules.  Here's how: 

http://www.traditional-foods.com/fermentation/water-kefir-grains/


So much good information out there!

Discouraged...and Encouraged! "C'est La Vie"

There is a definite theme in my life, ups and downs,  that I have started to embrace instead of being surprised at every time. And you know, it really helps...A LOT!

DISCOURAGED :(
I was starting to feel a bit discouraged with ALL the information out there, and all the do's and don'ts of organic, mixing foods, soaking foods, honey, no honey, grains, NO grains, etc...and so of course that made me think of those of you who are trying to make changes towards healthier living and I just wanted to encourage you that you just need to take ONE STEP at a time, don't try and change everything at once, it will completely fizzle out your desire to do anything at all! I don't know why God put that in us, (actually as I write it I got the revelation of why He did put that in us, he wants all of our heart, if we are walking the line, undecided "lukewarm" He spits us out, wow!)so human nature seems to be either all or nothing, except in the things that matter often times :( I am speaking to myself here.

So I found this and thought it might help you too:

A realistic approach to going organic small steps you can take

http://www.womensforum.com/foods-dangerous-if-not-organic.html

And just a reminder, another hopeful reason why you might want to start taking steps towards organic is the hope that we can bring change to our culture of living. If we all start taking one step at a time towards the more expensive more healthy organic foods, we can begin to start making a demand for organic (which has been growing already) and then the producers of all the "fake dead food (no nutrients)" will start stepping up and seeing that our health is so much more important than money and speedy eating. Therefore also shifting our culture into a new "old way" of thinking which is to slow down and actually enjoy meals and have time for meal prep. and I could keep writing and writing and writing...but I'll stop there for now. :)

ENCOURAGED!! :)

I had a sweet past friend from my hometown youth group message me to let me know that she had been following my blog and was so encouraged by it, she started trying to convince her "junk-food junkie" husband to start making some changes with her. She also had started heading in that direction because of busyness.  So it took some continual pressing the issue, and then talking to someone else who helped seal the deal and they are now headed down the path to healthier living! Woo hoo that is exactly why I am writing this blog and if it is just for this one then it was totally worth it! But hopefully others are being encouraged too. You can do it!

DISCOURAGED :(

My kitchen! Probably don't need to expound on that, but my sister and I decided to text each other a photo of our horrible kitchen whenever we are discouraged, just so we can feel better that we are not alone.  With all this soaking, broth making, veggie chopping and now trying out this new water kefir, : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7svkQuUYYc 

Dishes NEVER end!

With a small kitchen it gets messy SO QUICKLY!

I am thanking the Lord that I have a kitchen but I am also asking for a BIGGER one some day soon.
"The health benefits of consuming water kefir are endless. They are a natural supplier of probiotics to our digestive track. Probiotics refers to the healthy bacteria that usually feeds on the “bad” unhealthy bacteria in our stomach and intestines. Bacterial overgrowth can lead to many ill...nesses some of which include fungi, yeast infections, indigestion, obesity, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease, skin disorders, etc. "
(Health Benefits of water kefir: Posted by Lisa Neptune)

These are those strangle little kefir granules

they look like sea creatures or something

He's my helper ALL the time, and he actually sticks with it. Ian usually wants to help, gets bored then leaves half way through. :0

ENCOURAGED! :)
I noticed some of my teeth that were feeling really sensitive when I touched them near the gums, have stopped being so sensitive! I would press on them and it felt like I was pressing on a wound. It scared me to have my teeth feel that way, I thought there was nothing I could do about it, but they are doing WAY better! YES!
Annnnd I have recognized how lazy I had become in coming up with creative healthy recipes cuz it was so much easier to just make something familiar with white flour and sugar rather than thinking of new ways using honey and not always needing to use flour. We have had some pretty yummy treats.

This is made with 3 tbs honey, blueberries, cream cheese, nut crust,and lemon it was delightful :)

Why am I doing this????

OK being totally honest... today only 4 days into this cleanse I am asking myself why?????, along with ALL of my boys having to ask forgiveness for being so mad at me for starting us on this cleanse hahaha :(

It amazes me how quickly I forget the purpose of something when I REALLY don't like the affect it is having on me.  Food is such a comfort thing for me as well, so it's messing with my mood, comfort, physical body, attitude etc..I felt like as we started this we would be recognizing other areas in our life where we started becoming lazy or unintentional.  One thing I recognize is that being in a hurry or always thinking of future plans etc...it makes me want to skip out on the present.  Not valuing my body or my children's bodies, because I get so caught up in other tasks, goals, fun activities (which isn't bad), bringing hope and truth to "others,"etc... I lose site of what's right in front of me and where most of my focus should be right now, my children and my husband, and God.

Already one of my fears is when we get through the cleanse we will just too quickly jump back into bad habits...So I am trying to form a plan that is realistic and not extreme, but wise as well.  Here are a few new guidelines I have thought of so far:

1- No more processed cereals for breakfast, except maybe weekends we can have granola or frosted shredded wheat (because I found out that even those are not as healthy as I thought - because they are cooked with dry heat and not soaked first to rid the oats of the phytic acid that is really hard for our bodies to digest and inhibits the absorption of calcium, iron, magnesium, iron, and zinc ) I know some of this stuff is so overwhelming and ANNOYING, why can't eating just be easy and whatever we want?? :(  Again that's the lazy part of me speaking, I just have to get creative to have a system going so that it doesn't feel like I am always having to do these huge processes for cooking a meal

2 - No more sugary maple syrup on our pancakes or waffles, switch to 100% pure maple syrup (way more expensive :(  )






3 - No more sodas with our Costco hot dogs :(  Which is probably my poverty thinking, but I can't stand to still pay the $1.50 even though we aren't getting the soda too,  cuz it's the same price either way...but as I write that again I see $1.50 is still a GREAT price for a huge hot dog! :)
 You liar POVERTY thinking! so there! :)





4 - candy, pastries, cakes, donuts, WAY less often, starting with once a month???
5- Honey in our coffee instead of sugar which we don't mind that's how we like it unless we re out we were using sugar but then I was noticing how often we were out ordering coffee, oops :)

Let the GAPS begin...

So we decided to go ahead and attempt the introductory diet for www.gapsdiet.com it is a pretty intense rigorous change! It is 30 days.  I have come to a place of being willing to face how unhealthy I have been allowing my family to live.  As you read in my last post, I was starting to notice the sweets problem, but I was still in denial to how far I had drifted from the things I know about eating healthy and being intentional. For one thing I have recognized how much easier it is to just pretend (because of ignorance) that "white flour isn't THAT bad for me, or sugar only affects my teeth but I brush them often, so that's fine" etc... 

But as I heard once before, once you decide something wholeheartedly it's easy to stick to it, it's the deciding that's the hard part.  That is so true, and once I finally decided to face my habits realistically and how it affects my children and my husband too, then I started to become excited about getting back to the basics.  This first stage is VERY extreme because it's healing the actual gut and bringing health back to the intestine so that it functions properly and actually is able to use ALL the nutrients in the foods you give it. 


I decided to blog because I want to encourage others how it is possible to get healthy even if you have been off track for a long time, or maybe you aren't even aware of the affect of some of the things you put in your body, etc...but most of all to keep myself accountable and to remember WHY I am doing this! Already on day 2 I was asking myself why, cuz for the first few days or so it's intense with the detoxing, it makes you feel like it must be wrong! :)

Feel free to ask questions in the comments section, and I will slowly be filling you in on why this process and what it benefits, and symptoms we are hoping to rid ourselves of, one major one for me is lack of energy, I am looking forward to having consistent energy

About to roast the nuts we soaked all night, aren't they a pretty color

Here is our new fridge makeover LOTS of veggies, chicken broth made from boiling chicken (preferably organic) BONE-IN, for atleast 8 hrs. to release all those needed nutrients that are in the bone

Abi is the only one along with me who was excited about starting this :)

Out with the old (anything processed)

Day 2 the "die off" of toxins and bad flora in the gut... I myself felt all shaky and weak and strangely enough giggly in a sort of uncontrollable sort of way, our bodies are interesting :)

 We HAD to empty the cupboards. Already on our second day Joel is rummaging through the cupboards hoping to find SOMETHING he can snack on besides meat, veggies, fruit and nuts

This is day 2 in the morning,  the boys were really starting to feel the detoxing happening. I NEVER thought I would see Joel with out energy and not gobbling up his eggs