Vegetarian Recipe Index

I'm on a mission to change the way my family eats....again.  I've spent a lot of time reading about nutrition and watching health videos and still don't have the "answer".  My problem is that I feel that two very different ways of eating have merit - I agree with the vegetarians and I agree with the traditional meat eaters.  What's a girl to do?

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that the Lord has given us a modern-day revelation concerning diet called the Word of Wisdom (WOW).  My husband and I have been discussing this for quite some time and have decided that we'd like to make some changes that will (hopefully) help us live more in accordance with the WOW.

= We'll be cutting back on our meat consumption - during winter we'll have meat three times a week.  During the warm months, twice a week.  

= We'll also be increasing our already large consumption of fruits and veggies and hopefully grow our own.  

= Sugar will be reduced to special occasions and rare treats.  

= We've already gotten rid of most refined foods, but we'll continue to see if there are other things we can cut out or make our own.  

= I'd like to decrease our dairy consumption significantly but I'm getting a lot of push-back on that so we're still discussing.  In the meantime, we are slowly cutting back and finding better (healthier, more natural) sources for the dairy we do use.

= And we'll add more properly prepared whole grains and try to find non-grain alternatives for some meals.

I'd also like to focus on foods that are fast, whole, simple and inexpensive.

Since I need to add more vegetarian meals into our diet, I've decided to create a list of dishes I want to try (or have tried) so I have a quick place to look when I'm planning my menus.  (No, I don't do Pinterest.)  Some of the recipes are from my personal collection and not posted online yet....let me know if you want one and I'll get them posted.

Breakfast 
My breakfast philosophy - if it can't be made in 5 minutes (or the night before) then it's a lunch food....

most of our breakfasts will consist of a smoothie (or juice) with something from the "Snack" category - other options include:

Raw Carrot Cake Breakfast Bowl
Eggs (many ways)
Toast
Pancakes & Waffles (I have bazillions of recipes for these)
Oatmeal
Baked Oatmeal - there are many recipes to try
German Pancake
Hashbrowns
English Muffins (Food For Life sprouted varieties)
Fruit Cereal
Russian Custard - we serve this over sliced fruit
Soaked Granola Bar
Cinnamon Vanilla Baked Oatmeal
Muesli
Breakfast Burritos
Crockpot Whole Grain Cereal
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Oatmeal
Mixed Grain Cereal with Chai Spice
Toad-in-a-hole/One-Eyed Susans

Granola - I have a bazillion recipes to try, here are a few:
Live Granola Crunch
Crispy Honey Nut Cereal
Pumpkin Granola
Crockpot Granola

Smoothies
Tom's Fruity Medicine Chest
Ultimate Green (juiced)
My favorite smoothie
smoothie template - has ideas for red and green smoothies
Molasses Chocolate Chip
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
several great ideas here
Hot Pink Smoothie
Citrus Surprise - listed towards bottom
Chocolate Coconut Drink

Main Meal (lunch or dinner)
Falafel or this or this or this or this or this
Azteca Squash Soup
Pumpkin Vegetable Curry Stew
Cuban Black Bean Stew with Rice
Sweet Potato Tacos
Grain and Vegetable Casserole
Spicy Pumpkin Soup
Pasta with White Bean Sauce
Bean and Rice Burritos
Crockpot Sloppy Joes
Red Lentil Soup
Tuscan Bean Soup
Mexican Black Bean Burgers or this or this or this
Armenian Lentils
Bean and Butternut Squash Chili
Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
Breakfast Salad .... yes, for dinner
Brasilian Black Beans and Rice (my special recipe)
Curried Lentil Soup
Sweet Chilean Lime Beans and Rice
Sweet Pepper Rice
Fried Rice - there are lots of ways to do this
Lo Mein - again, there are lots of ways to cook this
Quinoa Veggie Burgers
Egg Drop Soup
Eggplant Parmesan
"Chicken" Fried Steak
Green Enchiladas
Moroccan Vegetables
Barley and Winter Squash Chowder
Inside Out Pot Pie
Vegetable Pot Pie (take a chicken pot pie recipe and leave out the chicken)
Bean Tostadas - there are lots of variations you could make
Sweet Potatoes with Black Bean Chili
Moroccan Couscous with Saffron
Millet and Sweet Vegetable Porridge
Inside Out Chinese Spring Roll Salad
Main Dish Salad - all the toppings you can think of
Baked Potatoes
Korma
Black Beans and Quinoa
White Chili
Red Chili (I haven't found a recipe I love so will need to play with this)
Navajo Tacos (in my recipe box)
Greens and Sweets (roasted sweet potatoes on top of a green salad, with or without dressing)
Potato Curry with Rice (in my recipe box)
Reuben Pinto Burgers
Monterey Beans (in my recipe box)
Peanut Butter Noodles
Nachos
Everyday Italian Rice Salad
Lentil Tacos - there are lots of recipe out there
Kale and Sweet Potato Soup
Slow Cooker Red Rice & Beans (in my recipe box)
Barley with Sweet Rice & Corn (in my recipe box)
Adzuki Beans with Kabocha Squash
Nishime
Rice Pilaf with Caramelized Onions (from The Kind Diet book)
Fried Udon Noodles (like Lo Mein)
Rice Waffles with Vegetable Melange
Sweet Potato Lentil Stew
Garlic and Greens Soup
African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew
Sloppy Col Sandwich
Vegetable Crepes (thin pancake filled with all sorts of fresh or cooked veggies)
Tamale Pie (from World of Wisdom book)
Boston Baked Beans (from World of Wisdom book - possibly as a side)
Italian Pasta Salad
Indian Spiced Lentils (crockpot - leave out the chicken)

Snacks
Fresh fruit and/or veggies
Laraballs and this and this or this or this
Raw Veggie Crackers
Goji Power Bars
Zucchini Chips
Sweet Potato Hummus
Thai Peanut Pumpkin Hummus
Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
Honey Roast Chickpeas
Cranberry Wasabi Trail Mix
Raw Cookies
Granola Bars
Homemade fruit leather
Mookies
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
Popcorn
Chips & Salsa
Granola Energy Balls
Paleo Breakfast Bread
Pumpkin Bars
Raw Balls
Soaked and dried nuts
Breakfast Bars (from my recipe box)
Caveman Cookies
Sesame Fruit and Nut Bars

Dessert
Raw Frosted Brownie
Carrot Cake
Chocolate Prune Bar - but I must come up with a better name....
Pumpkin Streusel Pie
Raw Chocolate Pudding
Triple Chocolate Flourless Brownies
Peanut Butter Pong Balls
Nourishing Cocoa Bars
Peanut Butter Fudge

And just for fun, I've read/watched the following (and can't remember a few more):

Nourishing Traditions - Sally Fallon

Maker's Diet - Jordin Rubin

Gut and Psychology Syndrome - Natasha Campbell-McBride

Eat to Live - Joel Fuhrman

The China Diet - T. Colin Campbell

Original Fast Foods - James Simmons

Prime Time Health - William Sears

The Kind Diet - Alicia Silverstone

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (video)

Fresh (video)

Forks Over Knives (video)

Food Matters (video)

Food Inc. (video)

Flexetarian Diet - Dawn Blatner

World of Wisdom - Amy Cox Jones

The WOW Diet Words of Wisdom - Michelle Snow

My first 5K

I did it.  I ran my first 5K.  The one I wanted to run last month was cancelled, which was a good thing because I hurt my knee and had to take 2 weeks off to recover...and then I got a cold and couldn't breathe while I ran with boogers running down my face (pretty)...and then....just kidding, that's the end of my list of complaints.

My crazy neighbor  ran with me for most of it, even though she’s 8 months pregnant.  She had to slow down after a bit due to some pain, but she insisted I continue without her.  After ‘yelling’ at each other for a bit (and some emotional “we leave no men behind” and “go on without me” type drama), I moved on ahead and kept my promise to not walk any part of it.  I finished with a personal best of 36:54 and she finished too!  Her husband came and walked/ran with her for most of it, and I went back after I’d finished to walk with her and we ran over the finish line together.

It’s been a fun journey.  No, fun isn’t the right word.  Running isn’t FUN yet, but I like feeling healthier and it does help me feel a bit more mentally stable (which is always a good thing in this house).  There are a few more races before the year ends that I’m going to try to hit, but I’ll be doing it solo since my friend will be giving birth here shortly.  Good thing I have an iPod to keep me company.

So far I’ve lost 17 pounds and went from an XL running pant to L.  I almost cried in the dressing room when I pulled up the XLs and they fell down to my ankles!

  

This picture shows me running across the finish line, looking rather happy and peppy.  It’s a fake.  My husband didn’t get one the first time so I had to re-do it, but by then the giddiness of having FINISHED had set in so I was able to ham it up a bit.

THANK YOU MARIA!!!!

And thanks to our husbands who put up with our 3x a week running then hour-long gab fest while we “cool down”.

I got off the couch

So, I have this crazy neighbor.  Let's call her Maria.  She's 5 months pregnant.  And she wants to keep running.  Her running friends have all moved away so she went recruiting.  I was one of her first targets.  What better way for a big pregnant lady to run, than with her totally out of shape, hasn't done any exercise for years friend!  I don't know why I agreed.  But she's crazy so I did.

I have now officially finished Week 4 of the Couch to 5K training program.  The first two weeks I thought I would die.  But each run got a little easier.  Not a lot easier, but a little.  Enough that I notice it.  Good enough for me.

Our first race is in 6 weeks.  I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I'm actually going out 3 nights a week in order to train for a race.  Because I hate running.  It's good for me though so I keep doing it.  We are TRYING to wake up and run in the mornings before our husbands leave for work, but she's tired because she's pregnant and I'm just tired so usually we go at 9:00pm when it's cooled down to 97 degrees or so.  No joke.

If you are at all interested in getting started I would suggest two things:

First, get one of the Couch to 5K apps.  There are several to choose from.  When I run I take my iPod Touch and some lovely British lady tells me when to walk and when to run.  Actually, she's not lovely.  I don't like her very much.  She causes me pain.

Second, get yourself a crazy friend.  The kind that will show up at your door and drag you out if necessary.  If you can find a pregnant one that works even better because then you think, "If she can do it, so can I."

I've lost weight and my clothes are fitting much better.  Between the running and our GAPS diet, I just might get healthy!

And if I, a 38 1/2 year old, 190 pound (now 178 pound) couch potato can do it, so can you.

Things I've learned from being chronically ill

I've decided that I just need to come to terms with the fact that I have a chronic disease, one for which the experts say there is no cure.  For years I've tried to ignore it, pretend it isn't there.  But it keeps rearing its ugly head and letting me know that it is, in fact, a part of my life and that it will, in fact, affect me in various ways at various times.

I have what is called ulcerative colitis and without going into much detail my colon looks like a knee with road rash.  Sometimes I am in remission and my body functions like normal.  Other times I have flare-ups and then I have to use the bathroom constantly, 3 to 5 times an hour.  I also have horrible stomach cramps/spasms which leave me curled up in a ball, usually crying.  Often I can't eat because of the nausea.  This last bout left me throwing up hourly and I ended up in the hospital needing IV fluids and some pretty serious pain meds.

But this post isn't about my actual health condition, it's about what I've learned, and am learning, along the way.  And many of these lessons can be applied to any illness whether it be chronic or a 3-day cold.  They could also be applied to life in general, because you never know what will happen!

1.  It does no good to lay in bed and cry all day about the unfairness of your condition.  Or to scream "WHY ME?" into the universe.  The fact is, it is your lot to carry.  And if you put things into perspective, it could be a lot worse.  I would much rather carry the burden of my disease than cancer.  Or AIDS.  Or any number of diseases.  Or to be going through what the Japanese or Libyan people are dealing with.  It's taken me a long time to reach this place, this place of accepting what I've been given and then trying to learn from it.  What lessons does the Lord want me to learn?  Not why do I have it, but what can I learn from it?  How can I grow from it?

2.  Turn to the Lord for comfort.  He knows all pain, all despair, all fear.  He understands how to relieve the pain, how to lift you up when you feel like you can't go on.  He can give you the strength to get out of bed and make breakfast for your children.  He can calm your fears and guide you as you make choices about what you eat and how to use the energy you have.

3.  Take care of your spiritual health.  The times that I've let this go are the times I most despair, the times I feel like a failure as a wife and a mother, when all I can see around me is what I am NOT doing.  By reading my scriptures first and praying every day I can often find a way past the pain and fatigue to get things done.  And I find the patience and grace to deal with my children in a calm manner.  Without that spiritual foundation I find myself getting snappy with them and focus more on my pain, my discomfort, my 'heroic' efforts to school them or cook for them and I forget that it is only through the grace of God that I'm able to do those things.  And I forget what a joy and blessing it is to have such wonderful children.

4.  Take care of your physical health.  Sometimes I feel like there isn't much I can do about this.  But there is.  I can exercise.  I can eat as healthy as I know how to.  I can research diets and treatments and supplements and voodoo magic to see if there is something that mainstream medicine doesn't know about my condition.  I can sleep.

5.  Train your children while they are young and when you are healthy.  It has been such a blessing during the last week or so that I've been sick to have 2 10-year old boys that can make breakfast and lunch.  One day I casually mentioned that we might need to take some time to clean later in the day and one of my sons cleaned the entire house, by himself.  They all know how to clean, including the bathrooms, to cook simple meals and to help with the laundry.  I did notice some gaps in what they can do so once I'm fully back on my feet we'll be working on those.  It was so wonderful to see the looks of pride and confidence on their faces as they were able to truly help the family in a time of need.  They were contributing, even running the home, and they felt that satisfaction of serving others.

6.  I'm learning to use my healthy time to the best of my ability.  We get out in nature with the kids as often as possible during those times.  You can't really go hiking when you have massive diarrhea.  I'm just saying.  The healthy times are when we work most on habit training and fun family times.  We get extra schooling done and clean out closets, organize and dejunk.  It's both a time for work and a time for play.

7.  Sometimes you just have to say no.  Sometimes I can't go out with friends.  Sometimes I can't be in charge of a big project at church.  Sometimes I can.  It's hard for me to talk about my illness with others, mainly because it involves talking about the bathroom and nobody really wants to talk about that.  But I'm learning that sometimes I have to let them know that it's not that I don't want to spend time with them or help them, but that I physically can't take on more right then.  Other times I can, and then I do.

8.  Have cooked food, or easy to cook food, in the freezer.  I should know this because I've had crazy pregnancies requiring bed rest, but I'm still not good at it.  As soon as I get sick, like in bed can't move from the pain sick, my husband takes over cooking dinner (with the boys doing breakfast and lunch).  Most of the time husband-dinner involves take-out - pizza, burgers, etc.  Expensive and not healthy, especially when your guts are super sore.  If I had been prepared we could have been pulling things out of the freezer that were wholesome and inexpensive.  He's actually going to take some time off of work next week to help me do some freezer cooking (and clean out the closets and such).  Bless his heart.  I'm also trying to work on pantry cooking - having easy meals that can be made from canned or boxed foods.  Wait, that doesn't sound healthy does it?  I guess I'm thinking more like the "basic" cans and boxes - what can be made with a few cans of beans or pasta?  Or flour and some eggs and milk?  Stuff like that.  We're also going to be preparing a list of super easy meals that husband or boys can make with fridge or pantry items that might not be good to freeze, like quesadillas or egg salad sandwiches.  Sometimes you forget that there are simple things to make in time of sickness because they aren't part of your regular menu plan.

Having food in my freezer also means I can give service even when I am sick.  If there is a need to bring meals to a new mother or a sick family, I can easily pull it out of my own freezer for them.  Serving while I am sick is such a blessing.

9.  Have a system or schedule in place so that the house and life can keep functioning.  Sometimes my brain is only working at 1/4 power and it helps to know what comes next or what I'm supposed to cook for meals.  If I'm completely out of commission, then the kids and husbands know what to do next and can keep things moving forward.

10.  Give yourself permission to not be Super Homeschooler.  I am the Queen at Kicking Myself for what we didn't get done that day.  For seeing all the undones.  I have a brilliant husband though who is very, very good at finding what I did do that day.  Maybe we didn't get 2 math lessons done, or read 50 pages of history and 35 of science and work on dissertations in quantum physics or solve world hunger.  But maybe we played games all day, read books together, watched some scripture or Popular Mechanics videos, maybe they played outside all day while I sat in a chair watching and reading a book.  Maybe they just 'socialized' with each other.  In the grand scheme of things, it's okay to have a day off, or six.

11.  Plan ahead when going out.  Maybe this applies more to my specific problem, but I know where the bathrooms are in every store.  At first I needed to know this when I had babies in diapers or potty-trainers who couldn't hold it for long.  Now I need it for me.  If we're going to a store I don't know well, I find the bathroom first.  I've also trained my kids on what to do if mom has to dash into the bathroom.  Being that I have 4 boys, they typically don't come in with me.  I also make sure I have snacks in my purse because sometimes I can't eat for long periods of time due to pain or nausea, but then my blood sugar drops quickly and I need something to pick me up fast.  Larabars work well for this.  Although I want to figure out how to make my own.  If we're going to be driving for a while I plan bathroom breaks and meal times.  Usually I won't eat for several hours before we leave so there is nothing in my system that needs to come out.  Pleasant, I know, but it's the reality of my life.

12.  Learn to laugh about life.  If I couldn't find the humor in my situation or life in general I would truly be miserable.  When I'm talking with doctors about the very nitty-gritty specifics of what is happening I try to have fun with it.  My current GI taught me this.  When I first saw him I was all embarrassed to be discussing such gross and personal things and I stopped and said, "I hate talking about poop."  In his huge Texan drawl he yelled, "I LOVE IT!!!"  In the ER Wednesday the doctor asked if I had any other chronic problems, I looked him right in the eye, and said through clenched teeth, "No.  I think this one is enough."  His mouth dropped open a bit and he moved on, shaking his head.  I'm working on finding ways to laugh about this....I also find that it helps my kids feel more comfortable with the problem.  If we can say something funny about mom having to sprint off to the bathroom then it's not "a disease" to worry about, it's just silly mom.  And for the record, I'm not crude about poop humor.  My jokes are not about that...it's more about life in general and the challenges that sometimes happen.  And laughing makes you feel happier and healthier if it's good laughter so that's what we aim for.

13.  I feel a greater importance in telling people how I feel about them, in making sure that my husband and children hear how much I love them and how grateful I am for them.  I also make sure that my children know of my faith and my love of the Lord.  I try every day to write in a journal for them, telling them what we did that day, any funny comments they made, to document their kind deeds and to express my testimony of the gospel to them.  Someday I hope it will be a joy and comfort to them to have their life's deeds recorded and to hear my counsel and advice as they get older.  I don't think this disease will kill me, but if it does I want to leave a legacy of wisdom and love for them, through my daily actions and my written journal.

14.  I value simplicity more.  I want meals that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less.  I don't want to spend 2 or 3 hours a day cleaning my home.  We have dejunked and dejunked and dejunked and organized and organized and organized.  And we are going to do it again.  It makes it easier for us to maintain together, and easier for the kids if they need to pick up the slack for a while.  Even my 4-year-old can completely clean most rooms now.  Every little bit helps!  Life it too short, and healthy time too precious, to be spent dealing with stuff.

15.  Stock your pantry and toiletries while you are healthy and when they're on sale, if possible.  It's much easier for me to stock up every time I shop and then send my husband to the store for a few items, than it is to send him with a massively long list.  I also take my husband and boys shopping with me on occasion so I can to teach them how to pick out good produce, what brands I prefer to use and where to find certain things (like the taco shells are near the bread, not the Mexican aisle).  

And now I'm going to take some of my advice and go spend time with my kids.  And cook a big pot of soup to eat for dinner and freeze half for another meal.  I might even get some laundry done.

Enjoy the life you have.  It is a gift and a blessing.

I'm a broken record

About two years ago we decided that we weren't going to "do snacks" anymore.  I didn't feel good about feeding them crackers and cookies and other processed snack foods.  And the cost added up quickly with four boys who would eat an entire box of crackers in one sitting and STILL be hungry.

So we made a "fruit" rule.  If they are hungry they can always have fruit. Any time of the day.  Fruit is the answer.  You wake up early in the morning, and you're hungry before breakfast, have some fruit.  You want a snack before lunch?  Have some fruit.  Feeling hungry around 3pm?  Have some fruit.  Going to bed and want to top off the tank?  Have some fruit.  I figured if they ate fruit and were too full to eat a good lunch, oh well.  They got full on fruit. 

For TWO YEARS when they say they're hungry I tell them to eat fruit.  AND THEY STILL KEEP ASKING. 

It's like they're hoping I'll have a fit of insanity and say,

"Oh, you're hungry?  Eat this bag of Doritos then have a gallon of ice cream."

You can tell which of my kids were little when this started.  The 10-yr-olds fight me the most on fruit and one will just walk away and eat nothing (which I think means he wasn't really hungry in the first place, just looking for a sugar fix).  The 7-yr-old eats fruit fairly well.  The 4-y-old eats mainly fruit (and all varieties) and we have to work really hard to get him to eat anything else.

This is how I handle The Stocking of the Fruit -

fruit bowl filled with apples and pears - always

clementines or mandarin oranges - if they don't cost a fortune

bananas - always - usually 3 bunches a week

grapes - whichever color has a good price that week

baby carrots - it's not a fruit, but the same principle applies

persimmons - depends on price

pineapple - cut into chunks, once or twice a month

watermelon (or other melons) - once or twice a month

berries - whenever I can get a good price

lettuce & spinach - they know how to make their own salads and they do (don't fight me on the "it's a vegetable thing" - it still counts in the Have Some Fruit campaign)

I have been providing unsweetened applesauce, but have decided to stop that.  I'm going to teach them how to make applesauce in the blender instead.  How could they possibly resist the power of the Blendtec?

Now, what fruits or easy-to-serve vegetables am I missing??????

The End of Raw

I officially lasted almost two weeks on raw. I had a series of minor breakdowns, followed by a biggie that had my husband wondering if he needed to lock me in a padded room.  It was ugly.  I apologize for not telling you sooner, but it’s taken me quite a while to get back to feeling like me again.

I spent quite a while feeling like a total loser because I couldn’t even go 30 days.  

30 days is nothing.  

Or so I glibly thought.

I kept telling myself that those darn people on Simply Raw went 30 days.  And they had detox like I did.  They wanted to give up.  They had breakdowns.  And THEY KEPT GOING.  

Why couldn’t I????

As my husband pointed out…

1.     They were at a retreat where their food was made for them.  And most likely it was delicious.

2.     They were at a retreat where they did not have to take care of laundry and dishes and kids and homeschool and church service and many other things.

I was in no such place.

I will openly admit that the detox was bad.  Really bad.  The first week or so I was feeling great…and then I started crying…and getting angry…and crying…and getting impatient…and edgy….and crying…and raising my voice (which I NEVER do)….and crying….Most of my detox was emotional and my kids were noticing.  I didn’t like the mom I was becoming and felt very little control over myself at that point. That made me cry even more. 

By the end of the almost two weeks I was a quivering mass of depressed mucous-covered raw nerves.  My husband called an end to the insanity and I started eating “normal” food.  And wouldn’t you know it, within a few days I was happier, calmer, and in control of my emotions again.  And fatter.  I regained the 7 pounds I lost. 

I’m currently working on a semi-raw diet.  So far I’m doing well emotionally and physically.  I eat raw for breakfast in the form of a large smoothie (usually a green one).  Lunch is either salad or vegetable soup/chowder with another massive smoothie.   Dinner is a small portion of whatever I cooked for dinner with veggies and fruit on the side.  I’ve been making a lot of vegetarian meals lately and tons of soup.  I feel so calm, so healthy after a big bowl of veggie soup with homemade broth.  It is very grounding.  I’m also trying to avoid sugar and bread.  

But they are NOT trying to avoid me.

My husband still thinks that raw is a great idea, in moderation.  He also suggested that I try various recipes out while eating “normal” thus building a collection of meals that I enjoy…after a while I should have a supply of “go to” raw recipes that I like, instead of ones I throw in the garbage. 

So, our current goal is to maintain the status quo albeit a modified status quo including many, many more smoothies….and work on building a repertoire of raw and/or vegetarian meals.  Are we giving up meat and dairy?  Not for now.  But we do want to decrease the amount we eat…and increase the quality. 

I found that I don’t really care for “gourmet raw”.  I don’t like the fake sour creams and fake noodles and fake whatevers.  They taste fake.  The things I enjoyed the most were raw foods acting like themselves – a salad acting like a salad, veggies tasting like veggies instead of like some nasty sauce, fruit that still looked and tasted like the actual fruit.   Gourmet raw relies on a lot of nuts and seeds, which I found somewhat irritating (to my gut).  And expensive.  Some recipes used hardly any veggies at all – it was all nuts and seeds.  That didn’t feel “raw” to me.  Just fake.  (The repeated use of the word fake in this post has now ended.)

I have learned a few things from this experience:

     For my mental health and well-being, I need to make gradual changes to my diet.  Some people may not have this problem.  I do.

     I was surprised at how strong a hold food has over me.  How emotional eating is.  I want to work at freeing myself from this dependence.  Food is my drug…and I want to break the chains.  Any suggestions?

     Food tastes best when it is in its most natural state.  Covering it with a sauce, even a raw sauce, usually doesn’t enhance the food.

     Blended soups need my attention.  I must figure out how to make more blended soups…but make them  chunkier  …and warmer.

    Smoothies are my friend.

     There is really no replacement for a great salad.  All the gourmet raw in the world doesn’t beat a salad with a fantastic dressing.

     Foods eaten in their natural state are faster than making fancy recipes.  That’s a big duh, but I need to learn it.  A nectarine is much faster, much tastier, much easier than putting together a frilly little doo-dah to snack on.

For now, raw is done.  It was not fun.  Hey, that rhymed! I’m still learning though, and still experimenting with raw recipes.  Just at a slower pace. 

I’m taking one day at a time and doing the best I can that day to be healthy.

I walked a mile in a long skirt

I did.  And it felt great.  And a little weird.  I went swish, swish, swish the entire time.

So, you should know two things.  First, I've been wearing more skirts lately (don’t laugh, mom).  Like several times a week.  I thought I'd hate it but I actually love it.  Wearing a skirt makes me feel pretty and  homemakey  .  The big kicker for me is NOT to wear pantyhose with them.  I reserve pantyhose for special occasions like weddings and church.  For daily kicking it with my kiddos, it's just a long skirt and bare feet.  Ah, the freedom!

Second, I'm walking every day.  Winter has settled upon us here in West Texas.  Today it is in the high 50s/low 60s - we wore t-shirts to the park.  About halfway through our school day I send all my kids to the park to play and I walk around the neighborhood so I can still see them.  I walk around and around and around.  Then around some more.

The neighbors probably think I'm crazy, but at least I'm doing something healthy!  I've been doing a little over a mile each day, for the last 5 days.  Dragging my little mutt behind me.  Seriously, he’s so out of shape….worse than me!

And today I was wearing an ankle-length denim skirt with black tennis shoes.  Perhaps not my most lovely fashion statement, but I've proved to myself that I can exercise anywhere, anytime.  It doesn't matter if I don't have the right clothes or "enough time".  Excuses are no longer valid.  Well, at least for now.

My boys love being able to play outside for long hours everyday without frying to a crisp.  I love the fresh air and bright blue skies.  We all feel happier, calmer and sleep better at night.

I love Texas in the winter!

I'm going raw

As most of you probably don't know, because I don't talk about it much, my body is falling apart.

I'm 37 years old and have probably had more colonoscopies than all of you combined.

The entire left side of my colon looks like it has road rash.  I know this because I've seen pictures.  I can share them with you if you want.  But you really don't want.

My fasting glucose levels are 160.  They should be under 100.

My blood pressure was 144/95 last time they checked.  That's bad.  Really bad.

My cholesterol is 236, which is bad, but it's come down 30 points over the last few months.

I weigh 187 pounds and am 5'6".  That's overweight.  And I carry most of it in my stomach.  That's the dangerous kind of fat, by the way.  It's hard to find shirts that look nice with a 3-month-pregnant-looking belly.

I am exhausted.  But I can't sleep.  I am often awake until 1 or 2 in the morning, doing nothing other than wishing I could fall asleep.  I walk through life feeling fuzzy and tired.  I never, ever feel well rested.

I'm always sick.  Always.  If there is a virus in the area, I'll get it.  And keep it for a long time because apparently we become good friends and can't live without each other.  I just finished having pneumonia and then got a bad cold so basically I've been sick for over a month straight.  My nose is literally peeling off my face.

I've reached a health crisis in my life and something needs to change.  My doctor wants to give me more pills.  And diagnose me with things I don't want to be diagnosed with.  As my husband and I were discussing what we should do, I came across the movie Simply Raw.  Well, not so much the movie, but the website talking about the movie.  I have been watching their fascinating videos.

I have read about, heard about, learned about the raw "movement" for a while, but was not interested.  Too much work.  Too many weird ingredients.  Too many expensive things to buy like dehydrators and food processors and such.  And most of it is just plain weird...and I didn't want to eat it so I'm sure my kids didn't want to either.

Well, the thing that caught, and held my attention, on these videos (and the movie concept) is that for 30 days six people with diabetes (some with Type 1 and some with Type 2) went raw and every one of them was cured of the diabetes and no longer required medication.  They also lost 20 or more pounds.  Um, I could use that.  The other interviews talked about reserving heart disease, overcoming chronic illness, high blood pressure and the list went on.

I thought, 30 days.  I can DO 30 days.  So, I'm going raw for 30 days and my husband is going with me (bless his heart).

So, the day after Thanksgiving we'll start eating as raw as we can and will go until Christmas day.  At that point we'll discuss whether we want to continue raw, modify it or chuck it out the window altogether.

My initial thoughts are that I will most likely never be 100% raw after this initial 30 days.  I love food, maybe I love it too much.  I also think there are a lot of really healthy, wholesome, nutritious, necessary foods we should eat and they are cooked.  I can see our family moving more rawish though.  Perhaps we'll have a Raw day once a week like Monday is chicken, Tuesday is beans, Wednesday is beef, Thursday is raw.  Or maybe we'll do 2 raw meals a day and one cooked, or vice versa.  Who knows?

Once I officially start I'll be posting the recipes I use each day and how well we liked them and if they are "keepers".  At the end of the 30 days I'll get re-tested for glucose, blood pressure, etc and post those numbers.

If you want in on the fun, I'd love to have company!  Let me know if you want to accept the challenge and I'll link up with you every day so others can see your progress as well.

These are my "rules of operation" -
1.  Eat as close to 100% raw as I can for 30 days.  But I'm being realistic here.  If a recipe calls for coconut water, I might buy a young coconut and crack it or I might use a can of coconut water.  Depends on availability and price.
2.  Minimize the use of recipes require a dehydrator since I only have a cheapy one
3.  Use what I can find locally with only a few internet purchases - in other words, try to keep the price down!
4.  Buy organic if I can and not worry about it if I can't
5.  No raw meat (my son wanted me to make sure you knew that)

We plan on involving the kids in the following ways:
1.  No cow's milk for the month.  We'll be testing nut milks and such.  We'll let you know what we think.
2.  No breakfast cereals.  We'll be eating raw fruit breakfasts, or raw, sprouted grains.  I'm also going to 'allow' baked goods for the kids like muffins, bread, etc.
3.  Have them drink at least one smoothie a day.
4.  A large salad with each dinner.
5.  More fresh fruits and veggies for each meal.  I'm good with serving them at dinner, but not breakfast and lunch.

I'll continue to make regular foods for them, but will try to incorporate more raw foods with each meal.  And if they ever want to try what I'm eating I'll share.  Maybe.  If it's really delicious I just might keep it to myself!

Here are some good resources for finding more information on raw eating and raw recipes:
http://www.rawfor30days.com/VideoSeries/ (p.s. I love David Wolfe's hair.  I wish I had hair like that.)
The Raw Chef
Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!)
J&M Ranch - this is my friend Misty's site and she has a few raw recipes
Gone Raw - has a helpful forum and a great recipe section

I have found that if there is a product you really want to try, most of the time Amazon has it much cheaper than the "raw sites".  The manufacturer also, usually, sells it much more cheaply that the raw sites.  Check prices before you buy!

Things I've learned from this bout of illness

After my stint with pneumonia I had two days of good health and then I caught a cold that has hung on for over two weeks with no real sign of leaving any time soon.  Two of my four sons have the same cold.  Here are the things I've learned recently about colds.

1.  Essential oils work to stop the coughing.  I use doTerra oils (and sell them if you're interested).  We used Breathe and Eucalyptus with great success.  They'd be hacking up a lung at night and I'd go in, oil their feet and throats and they'd sleep quietly the rest of the night.

2.  Eating raw garlic burns.

3.  Placing raw garlic cloves between each of your toes and trying to sleep is rather painful.  I made a valiant effort and woke up at 1:30am with aching toes.  Once I pulled out the garlic my feet felt much better.

4.  Eating raw garlic mixed with butter on bread only prolongs the pain.  It still burns, only you get to enjoy each bite with the burn.

5.  Even if you've lost all sense of smell and taste, raw garlic burns your mouth.

6.  Even if you've lost all sense of smell and taste, others around you have not and they will think your breath is stinky.  They'll even tell you to your face.  And pretend to faint every time you walk by.

7.  Warm apple cider with a whole lemon squeezed in and a plop of raw honey feels wonderful on sore throats.

8.  Steam showers work for calming coughs and unclogging noses.  So do steam baths with essential oils added.

9.  Hot and Sour soup has wonderful healing properties.  So does Chicken Noodle soup.  It's been scientifically proven.  Really.  I alternate between the two.  Although I have to get the Hot and Sour from a restaurant.  Does anyone have a good recipe for making it at home?

10.  Warm apple cider with a whole lemon squeezed in AND some ginger tea (make by boiling water and shredded ginger together) with honey also feels really good.  It's a little spicier though.

11.  Add cayenne to your chicken noodle soup for some extra healing power.  If you have lost your sense of taste and smell you can add quite a bit.  You know you've added too much when your tongue starts to burn.

12.  You can keep your other kids healthy by making them do all the stuff the sick people have to do - eat the soups, put on the oils, go to bed early, etc.

13.  Using On Guard (from doTerra) on the healthy boys feet seems to have helped in keeping them healthy since they are still healthy.

14.  Drinking On Guard is truly disgusting.  Peppermint oil though is great and eases the congestion.

15.  Eating On Guard on crackers with honey and butter is even worse.  I made my kids promise me that if I ever tried to get them to eat On Guard they were to run screaming.

16.  You can make garlic oil to put on your feet and chest by cutting up some garlic and just barely covering it with extra-virgin olive oil.  Let it sit for at least 2 hours, or a few days if possible.  Cover the bottoms of your feet (and the top, right where the toes join the foot) and put on some socks.  You can also spread it on your chest and throat, but your clothes might get greasy.  Then pretend you live in an Italian restaurant because everything will smell all garlicy.  Do not, however, lick anyone's garlic feet.

17.  Sleep as much as possible.

18.  You'll get better faster, or not even get sick in the first place, if you eat healthier.  If you do get sick and start feeding your kids (and yourself) cold cereal for breakfast and lunch, they will get sick too.  If your husband goes out for burgers or pizza or other such sundries every night because you're sick, and you, the sick person, eat it, you won't get better anytime soon.  And everyone else will get sick.  Don't fall back on junk food when you're sick.

19.  Pray.

20.  Pray some more.