2 week Challenge: Getting Rid of the Munchies

Its amazing to me how many things we need to change in our diets in order to really live and eat a healthy diet.  Carbs are and can be bad depending on how you are consuming them and in what form.  Fat is good for you, though specific fats and other specific fats will make you fat, sugar is just not good for you unless it is in a natural form.  Controlling your blood sugar you need to eat protein with the carb so that it doesn't spike your blood sugar.  Eating fiber for a good digestive system while consuming adequate amounts of water (yes water, not coffee, tea, soda).  How is it that we got into such a confusing eating pattern of eating all the wrong foods, suffering from inflammation, a whole host of diseases our grandparents didn't have issues with until the last 30 years?  I'm thinking we got too busy listening to phrases such as "time is money and money is time" that we rushed and rushed and then came convenience foods that were grab and go and they tasted good and we didn't think about stopping to consider what in the world are we eating, it tasted good that's all that mattered.  We were brought up that if its sold in the grocery store is safe to eat other wise the government would have something to say about it right?

Well, we've been learning a thing or two about our government, they're in it for the money like every other corporate company, "time is money."  Well, I used to say the same thing, but something amazing happened to me in August of last year that I didn't find out about until Last September.  I'm going to be a mommy!  If you speak to my mother, she'll say that's nothing new I've been a mommy for 3.5 years already, but my baby Peyton isn't with us.  And unfortunately until we named our baby, I would forget about him or her because I was so insistent on "time is money", I didn't realize it till about a year ago when my mother told me to stand up with her on Mother's Day in church, I told her I'm not a mom, she said, "oh yes you are."  I cried.  I had forgotten.  I didn't have a funeral plot to visit, I didn't know if I was going to have a boy or a girl, so I told my husband we have to name our baby, I can't forget.  So we named him or her Peyton a boy/girl name.  I then named my children's aprons I've been creating for 2 years, "Peyton" so I would have a constant reminder of my baby that I lost 3.5 years ago.  So when God blessed us last summer with the news that we were gonna have a baby, I stopped and thought to myself, there is nothing more important in this world then my baby.  Time is not money.  Time is irreplaceable like my Peyton and my son who at the moment loves to stick is feet in my rib cage and kick me so that it feels like I'm a punching bag and yes, its uncomfortable, but I think its just him reminding me to stop and see the bigger picture.  We need to take care of ourselves and each other and be happy with who we are and what we have.

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in February of this year.  Though they say as soon as he's born it will be gone, but it does increase his chances of developing diabetes later in life as well as for myself.  I hate that.  I hate that as a mother, a wife, a daughter, another citizen of the U.S. that I can't just walk into the grocery store and buy safe, healthy foods for myself and my family.  That instead there are essentially toxins in everything on the shelves in the grocery store all the way down to the produce because it was treated with pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers.  Why is eating healthy so labor intensive?

I've come to the conclusion after going thru my kitchen last night that I want to rid our home and our bodies from unhealthy foods and it can't wait till payday or when I have time or that special moment to figure it all out at once.  So I'm starting a 2 week challenge of omitting from our diets oils that create the munchies to start with.  And posting my findings here will help me stay on track as my placenta brain likes to be forgetful.  Join me if you want to see if veggie oils do really cause the munchies and how you feel after omitting them, comment below on your findings.

Omega 6's to not consume: soybean, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, corn (including corn syrup)
Omega 6's that are beneficial: borage oil, black currant oil, evening primrose oil

Check the ingredient labels before you consume anything.  Like I know the large sugar free creamer I just bought last week has all the bad oils in concentrated form in it, but I will probably still continue using it until its gone and NEVER buying it again.  I'll be posting recipes along the way of things I'm learning to make that are homemade and my local resources.  One way around flavored sugar free creamer is to use organic cream and flavored stevia.  Its pricier but healthier and knowing it costs more may make you take the time to enjoy it.

Food, Recipes, Menu's, Meal Planning, Budgeting

So far this week I seem to be concentrating on good wholesome food choices which are essential to a healthy life.  Its a lot of thinking and remembering and those ah ha moments when you didn't know you were eating a certain way without realizing it.  I'm learning a lot about the Paleo diet which is based upon the hunter/gather ancestors of ours where grain wasn't part of their diet and how grain has lead to so many dietary issues.

I might have mentioned quite a few blog posts ago that in 2007 I had met my natural doctor Monica Liddle.  Monica had put me on an anti-inflammatory diet to help control and cure my endometriosis.  It worked while I stayed on it.  What I didn't realize until now though is that I wasn't eating any grains when I was on her diet and nor was I consuming dairy.  I often had buckwheat hot cereal for breakfast, buckwheat isn't a grain its a fruit, also known as Kasha.  I'd have tea and a fruit for mid morning snack, lunch was a salad with protein of some sort and a vinaigrette salad dressing, mid afternoon snack was a different type of tea and more fruit and supper often was steamed veggies with butter.  Essentially I should still be on this diet regardless that I'm pregnant.  Though I would need to up the anty on the proteins since you need about 70g of protein per day when you're pregnant.

But what I'm also learning is grain free, dairy free recipes can taste amazing and be totally healthy for you.  I found a recipe online for grain free, gluten free, dairy free cereal which I made this week, a lengthy process because you have to soak the almond and coconut flour for 24 hours in yogurt or kefir, then you have to bake it for 30 min at 350 degrees, and then dehydrate it at 200 degrees for 24 hours.  Its amazing.  I bought my almond flour and coconut flour from MySpiceSage.com out of New York State, shipping was free, and if you wanted to expedite it which I did, 2nd day air with UPS was only $10!  Though the pound I ordered from them for almond flour is just about all used up with that one recipe of cereal and there are so many other things I want to make that call for it.  So I'm trying to figure out a monthly menu and buy in bulk accordingly.  As we have went from multiple trips around town for items to 1 day shopping per month.

I've also read this week how easy and inexpensive it is for you to make your own nut butters, yogurt, kefir, kombucha, etc.  I did a little price comparison shopping last week at our local whole foods co-op to see what their prices stand up to online retailers.  Some they were cheaper in some they weren't.  It pays to take notice.

I'd like to get our menu done for May along with all the shopping and prepping as early in May as possible as my due date nears.  I don't think we'll have a lot of visitors other then my mother and my best friend from Alaska who's coming as she is to be one of our son's God Mothers so I should be able to manage the cooking and taking care of a newborn and eating healthy all at the same time.  My doctor told me that all the while I plan on breastfeeding I still need to take a prenatal.  Right now they are pushing for me to take my iron supplement which I can't take because it makes me so entirely constipated and that's always been an issue for me.  So I'm trying to incorporate it in other means.

When I figure all this out, I'll post it, maybe you'll see something you like.