So over the last.. I dunno.. at least month I have had stomach issues that have been driving me INSANE!!!! Work has been crazy, there has been a lot of change, so I kinda pushed it to that. But, work has not slowed down and the stomach issues have not gone away. I have really changed how I eat ( read the other posts) and I have lost a whopping 30 lbs since January. I have truly never been healthier! SO WTH???? Hubby suggests that MAYBE its gluten. Now I am 34. I would think I would know if I had an issue with gluten right? NOPE. Looks like it is something that can develop over time.
So what was happening that made me think something was up? Well with out TMI... major stomach issues, you imaging it, it was happening. I also noticed I was itching a lot. I am not outside and have no bug bites, just my skin was getting itchy. I also have not been sleeping. Its been at least 2 months, I toss and turn and get up several times a night. So I do that everyone is not supposed to do, I look it up online :)
These are actually 3 of the top issues with a gluten sensitivity! WHO KNEW!!! Not me :(
So.... I am going to experiment and see if I really have a gluten issue.Over the nest 2 weeks I will be totally gluten free!
I went to the store and bought some Gf items to cook with. I got some biscuit mixes and also some GF breadcrumbs to cook with. I got Ians Panko breadcrumbs that are... well AWESOME. They are WAY better then anything I have used before. Now they are like 4$ a bag, but if my stomach does not kill me tonight, it is well worth it. I also made some biscuits tonight. I used Bob's Red Mill mix. I found it in the Organic section of the store. They had a TON of them! They were averaging about 5$ a bag... kinda sucks and I will figure our how to make my own here soon, but this was a fast start.
As I find things that work for the FAMILY I will let you all know. I am 100% not going to make my meals any different then what I serve everyone. I do not think I will end up being 100% GF, but I am going to try as much as possible!
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Meal Planning... Oh How I Love You!
So.. You are trying to get healthy and trying to have your kids eat better food. But it's the middle of the week and you have one of numerous after school activities today and just enough time to look in the freezer to see whats left for dinner. TRUST me I was there. I get it. Sometimes work and life get in the way of making something healthy for dinner. You have the best intentions, but that does not always work.
This is where meal planning comes in and has totally helped me out! I shop on Thursdays. Its just easy for me when the kids are not home and Work is a little more chill for the week. So I take about 20 min before I go to the store and look at the calendar for the NEXT WEEK. I take my paper and put the days of the week, starting with Friday and going through next Thursday. Then I do 2 things. First, I write any extra, after school event we have. It may be therapy for Youngest, or Baseball for Oldest, I teach at night sometimes, that goes on there too. Then I plan the meals around THOSE events. If I see I have a busy night, that will be a crock pot night. A slow night can be something more time consuming. This sounds super easy right? It is! After about 3 weeks of it the kids got so used to the "menu" being posted on the fridge, that when I did not put it up right away they were very upset! "Mom, what's on the menu? I don't see it and I need to know!" :)
This is a 2 fold bit of awesome. Its great to look at the fridge in the morning ( that is where I post it) and know what to take out and know what you are making later. Part 2? Well, you use your menu to shop, and you will not buy just junk and crap you do not need. I cut about 40$ off my food bills A WEEK. Yup A WEEK! Knowing exactly what I was cooking and buying that stuff only made a huge difference. I can use the coupons and flyers to help me out if I really want to get fancy, but that is a whole new post ;)
As you venture to start meal planning do not get down on yourself if you have processed stuff or maybe.. not the most healthy meal. We are Super Moms and Dads and our kids love us. We are all busy trying to make their lives the best and not every meal can be a 5 course sit down. My kids are getting mac and cheese tonight. There is nothing wrong with it here and there. Cutting that stuff out of SOME of their meals will be an amazing start! It gets easier if you take baby steps. This has been a several month process for us to get tot his point :)
This is where meal planning comes in and has totally helped me out! I shop on Thursdays. Its just easy for me when the kids are not home and Work is a little more chill for the week. So I take about 20 min before I go to the store and look at the calendar for the NEXT WEEK. I take my paper and put the days of the week, starting with Friday and going through next Thursday. Then I do 2 things. First, I write any extra, after school event we have. It may be therapy for Youngest, or Baseball for Oldest, I teach at night sometimes, that goes on there too. Then I plan the meals around THOSE events. If I see I have a busy night, that will be a crock pot night. A slow night can be something more time consuming. This sounds super easy right? It is! After about 3 weeks of it the kids got so used to the "menu" being posted on the fridge, that when I did not put it up right away they were very upset! "Mom, what's on the menu? I don't see it and I need to know!" :)
This is a 2 fold bit of awesome. Its great to look at the fridge in the morning ( that is where I post it) and know what to take out and know what you are making later. Part 2? Well, you use your menu to shop, and you will not buy just junk and crap you do not need. I cut about 40$ off my food bills A WEEK. Yup A WEEK! Knowing exactly what I was cooking and buying that stuff only made a huge difference. I can use the coupons and flyers to help me out if I really want to get fancy, but that is a whole new post ;)
As you venture to start meal planning do not get down on yourself if you have processed stuff or maybe.. not the most healthy meal. We are Super Moms and Dads and our kids love us. We are all busy trying to make their lives the best and not every meal can be a 5 course sit down. My kids are getting mac and cheese tonight. There is nothing wrong with it here and there. Cutting that stuff out of SOME of their meals will be an amazing start! It gets easier if you take baby steps. This has been a several month process for us to get tot his point :)
Friday, April 19, 2013
Nitrates, Sodium, and Headaches.. OH MY!
So as you guessed from my last posts, we have recently moved and started a new fresh life style. Well one other thing we have tried to change or at least reduce is the nitrates and sodium intake we all had. We all know sodium is bad for your heart in large amounts but I had no idea what the other stuff did. Here is my story ;) You all know you love my stories :)
I get migraines. My mom gets migraines, my grandfather gets migraines.. kinda a family thing. I have had them for most of my life and they suck. Well thanks to genetics, Oldest gets them too. I was so upset when he got his first headache at 4. They were coming maybe every 6 to 8 months and would knock him out for a day. Terrible :( They were not getting much worse until recently. About a year ago they started getting bad and coming on monthly. Then when we moved they were almost once every 2 weeks!!! I took him to his pediatrician and they gave him meds that would help prevent them. BUT.. they made him very cranky and sleepy. He literally slept through a small fire thanks to a reading lamp ( that is a WHOLE different story) and that was the point I broke and said no more of this medication.
I was so upset because as soon as I took him off he had a migraine. I could not figure out what the deal was. He was eating all his normal foods ( this was before I cleaned everything up) and I was at a loss. Then came the AH HA moment...
I was out with one of my running mamas and we were finishing up a 10k. I told her we should go get a glass of wine when we finish. She said she would LOVE to but cant drink wine. She was allergic, to a point, to the nitrates in the wine. It gave her terrible headaches. She said her son and daughter also cant eat a lot of processed meats because they will get headaches. UM WHAT????
So wait.. you are telling me that there is a possibility that all the bologna and hot dogs my kid eats that I FEED him could possibly be the culprits causing his headaches? Well like with the hippy farmer.. I will give this a try. OMG there is so much sodium in everything!!! This is going to prove to be a daunting task. First on the cuts, hot dogs. Oldest was so mad when I told him that, but he was OK with it when I told him that we were trying to get rid of the headaches. SO I started to buy low sodium lunch meat and dropped bologna totally. I also started to cut out MORE of the processed stuff because aside from dye it has loads of sodium.
Guess what? Oldest stopped having headaches. JUST LIKE THAT. One night I let him have a hot dog for dinner. I ended picking him up the next day from school with a migraine. I let him have one "bubba" frozen burger for dinner, guess who was sent home the next day with a migraine! Come to think of it.. now that we don't eat that stuff, I have not had a headache either. Huh....
So my point? Read everything that you are buying at the store! I have found a great brand of lunch meat by Hormel. Its in the paper boxes in the meat section. Its called Natural selection. It makes everything. Ham, turkey, bacon, pepperoni, hotdogs... everything he stopped eating. It is all low sodium and no nitrates in it aside from what happens in meat naturally. It is no more expensive then the other name brands, but it is about $1 more then Kroger and Publix brand lunch meat. I have worked in the ham and the bacon and Oldest was so happy. Wait until I tell him about the hot dogs! He may have a freak out :)
It does not take too much extra time to make your own burgers, or in tonight's case, your own tater tots :) I will add some of the low sodium stuff to my favorites page :)
I get migraines. My mom gets migraines, my grandfather gets migraines.. kinda a family thing. I have had them for most of my life and they suck. Well thanks to genetics, Oldest gets them too. I was so upset when he got his first headache at 4. They were coming maybe every 6 to 8 months and would knock him out for a day. Terrible :( They were not getting much worse until recently. About a year ago they started getting bad and coming on monthly. Then when we moved they were almost once every 2 weeks!!! I took him to his pediatrician and they gave him meds that would help prevent them. BUT.. they made him very cranky and sleepy. He literally slept through a small fire thanks to a reading lamp ( that is a WHOLE different story) and that was the point I broke and said no more of this medication.
I was so upset because as soon as I took him off he had a migraine. I could not figure out what the deal was. He was eating all his normal foods ( this was before I cleaned everything up) and I was at a loss. Then came the AH HA moment...
I was out with one of my running mamas and we were finishing up a 10k. I told her we should go get a glass of wine when we finish. She said she would LOVE to but cant drink wine. She was allergic, to a point, to the nitrates in the wine. It gave her terrible headaches. She said her son and daughter also cant eat a lot of processed meats because they will get headaches. UM WHAT????
So wait.. you are telling me that there is a possibility that all the bologna and hot dogs my kid eats that I FEED him could possibly be the culprits causing his headaches? Well like with the hippy farmer.. I will give this a try. OMG there is so much sodium in everything!!! This is going to prove to be a daunting task. First on the cuts, hot dogs. Oldest was so mad when I told him that, but he was OK with it when I told him that we were trying to get rid of the headaches. SO I started to buy low sodium lunch meat and dropped bologna totally. I also started to cut out MORE of the processed stuff because aside from dye it has loads of sodium.
Guess what? Oldest stopped having headaches. JUST LIKE THAT. One night I let him have a hot dog for dinner. I ended picking him up the next day from school with a migraine. I let him have one "bubba" frozen burger for dinner, guess who was sent home the next day with a migraine! Come to think of it.. now that we don't eat that stuff, I have not had a headache either. Huh....
So my point? Read everything that you are buying at the store! I have found a great brand of lunch meat by Hormel. Its in the paper boxes in the meat section. Its called Natural selection. It makes everything. Ham, turkey, bacon, pepperoni, hotdogs... everything he stopped eating. It is all low sodium and no nitrates in it aside from what happens in meat naturally. It is no more expensive then the other name brands, but it is about $1 more then Kroger and Publix brand lunch meat. I have worked in the ham and the bacon and Oldest was so happy. Wait until I tell him about the hot dogs! He may have a freak out :)
It does not take too much extra time to make your own burgers, or in tonight's case, your own tater tots :) I will add some of the low sodium stuff to my favorites page :)
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
I HATE ALL Things with DYE
Yup I used the word hate, and it was in all caps! In the land of the Interweb, I just yelled that out!I HATE Dye in our foods. There is no need for it. It just makes it look good, well at least that is the food companies think. Here is the background on this rant for me...Sit back it is a long one :)
Youngest has something called Sensory Processing Disorder. Its talked about more now, but many MANY people do not know what this is. His little brain does not process sensory input properly. There are several types of SDP kids, there are kids that hide and kids that seek... lucky us, Youngest is a seeker. Think adrenaline junkie on steroids and like 3 years old. No sense of what could hurt him,. because his body says he needs that to feel. It has been a LONG ride but with years of therapy and food changes we have him happy and feeling good.
One of his biggest sensory issues is his head and mouth, which makes him a VERY picky eater. He was at the point that he would only eat cool, sweet, soft things. This KINDA limited my meals for him. Mac and cheese, apple sauce, pancakes, yogurt... those were his meals. When we started therapy we put him on a sensory diet. Basically this was trying to target his mouth and make him FEEL things and this would, in theory, make him less picky.
Fast forward a year with little progress and I am on a field trip to a farm with Oldest. Picture your stereotypical granola farmer. I mean pigtails and overalls and everything. She was talking about how the kids should eat all natural and grow their own food. None of the first graders care at all and are looking at the wasp flying near her. I am not going to lie.. I was not listening at all. I was on my phone on Facebook. Then she said something that made me perk up. She was showing the kids a cucumber and asked if any of them liked cucumbers. They all made faces and said no. Then she asked if they liked pickles . Many said yes and she connected the dots there for them. (I am still on fb at this point in the back) She then told the kids she makes her own pickles and will not buy them from the store. She said hey moms! You should listen to this....NEVER BUY PICKLES FROM THE STORE. I am waiting for the "Buy them from me" bit, but that never came. She then goes off on a tirade on how they are only that color green because of the yellow dye they put in the pickling process. AND MOMS YOU KNOW ABOUT YELLOW DYE AND ADHD RIGHT?? That was the part that got my attention. SPD and ADHD are very very very often mixed up. I asked her and she said to google it. Well I did!!! OMG!
Yellow dye 5 and 6 have been tied to escalating ADHD symptoms in kids. There was a study in Europe that pulls together many of the food additives and negative behavior in kids. I will post it below if you are bored and want to look it over. SO I think to myself, nothing else is working why not try this with Youngest. Well... easier said then done! IT IS IN EVERYTHING. Kraft mac and cheese (his dinner almost nightly), Cheetos Doritos, Kraft shredded cheese.. everything. I started to look at food labels and changed what he ate for a month. Guess what? He was not diving off the couch anymore. he was not biting us anymore. He was not getting in nearly as much trouble at school. I found a freaking gold mine here... I found something that worked.
This was the start of a huge life changer for us. The boys already were not having juice with Red 40 in it, they always threw it up. I pinned it as they were just allergic to it. HA now looking back I don't think so. So started my mission to cut dye from both boys. I will make another post to go on about everything that has dye in it. TRUST ME this is a major soapbox for me and has been for over a year now. I see a major difference in both kids when they have dye. Oldest gets moody and Youngest goes completely insane. Yelling, running, jumping, hitting, spinning as he walks.. its scary.
Here is the link to the research. With all the news about Kraft and the dye its hard to find REAL research.. its mostly mommy blogs (hehe) whining about how bad dye is. Well it is see below :)
http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/mccann.pdf
Thanks for reading. I feel better :) I will make a page that lists all the foods I know of that have dye(did you know most PANCAKE MIXES have dye don't even get me started on that) and some of the brands you can use to replace them :)
Youngest has something called Sensory Processing Disorder. Its talked about more now, but many MANY people do not know what this is. His little brain does not process sensory input properly. There are several types of SDP kids, there are kids that hide and kids that seek... lucky us, Youngest is a seeker. Think adrenaline junkie on steroids and like 3 years old. No sense of what could hurt him,. because his body says he needs that to feel. It has been a LONG ride but with years of therapy and food changes we have him happy and feeling good.
One of his biggest sensory issues is his head and mouth, which makes him a VERY picky eater. He was at the point that he would only eat cool, sweet, soft things. This KINDA limited my meals for him. Mac and cheese, apple sauce, pancakes, yogurt... those were his meals. When we started therapy we put him on a sensory diet. Basically this was trying to target his mouth and make him FEEL things and this would, in theory, make him less picky.
Fast forward a year with little progress and I am on a field trip to a farm with Oldest. Picture your stereotypical granola farmer. I mean pigtails and overalls and everything. She was talking about how the kids should eat all natural and grow their own food. None of the first graders care at all and are looking at the wasp flying near her. I am not going to lie.. I was not listening at all. I was on my phone on Facebook. Then she said something that made me perk up. She was showing the kids a cucumber and asked if any of them liked cucumbers. They all made faces and said no. Then she asked if they liked pickles . Many said yes and she connected the dots there for them. (I am still on fb at this point in the back) She then told the kids she makes her own pickles and will not buy them from the store. She said hey moms! You should listen to this....NEVER BUY PICKLES FROM THE STORE. I am waiting for the "Buy them from me" bit, but that never came. She then goes off on a tirade on how they are only that color green because of the yellow dye they put in the pickling process. AND MOMS YOU KNOW ABOUT YELLOW DYE AND ADHD RIGHT?? That was the part that got my attention. SPD and ADHD are very very very often mixed up. I asked her and she said to google it. Well I did!!! OMG!
Yellow dye 5 and 6 have been tied to escalating ADHD symptoms in kids. There was a study in Europe that pulls together many of the food additives and negative behavior in kids. I will post it below if you are bored and want to look it over. SO I think to myself, nothing else is working why not try this with Youngest. Well... easier said then done! IT IS IN EVERYTHING. Kraft mac and cheese (his dinner almost nightly), Cheetos Doritos, Kraft shredded cheese.. everything. I started to look at food labels and changed what he ate for a month. Guess what? He was not diving off the couch anymore. he was not biting us anymore. He was not getting in nearly as much trouble at school. I found a freaking gold mine here... I found something that worked.
This was the start of a huge life changer for us. The boys already were not having juice with Red 40 in it, they always threw it up. I pinned it as they were just allergic to it. HA now looking back I don't think so. So started my mission to cut dye from both boys. I will make another post to go on about everything that has dye in it. TRUST ME this is a major soapbox for me and has been for over a year now. I see a major difference in both kids when they have dye. Oldest gets moody and Youngest goes completely insane. Yelling, running, jumping, hitting, spinning as he walks.. its scary.
Here is the link to the research. With all the news about Kraft and the dye its hard to find REAL research.. its mostly mommy blogs (hehe) whining about how bad dye is. Well it is see below :)
http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/mccann.pdf
Thanks for reading. I feel better :) I will make a page that lists all the foods I know of that have dye(did you know most PANCAKE MIXES have dye don't even get me started on that) and some of the brands you can use to replace them :)
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Welcome To My Ranting
Well enough people convinced me that I should start a blog to keep together all the recipes I find and the tid bits of random info I find when it comes to eating healthy. I am still not sure if anyone will read this, but if anything I will have a list of what I like to eat :) This is a new venture for me. Just a year ago I would take the easy way and eat the crap out of a box. I would fix mac and cheese and hot dogs 3 or 4 nights a week for the kids and not worry about veggies they ate. I was seriously "that" mom. You may ask what changed? We moved. I know that sounds silly, but alas its the truth. We moved to just south of Atlanta and things are different here. It was hard moving from everyone we knew and where I grew up but it made a lot things change. EATING and FOOD being a big part of that change.
Before we get into this a little back ground on us. I am a mom of 2 amazing boys, second grade and kindergarten. The KG boy has Sensory Processing Disorder and all the challenges that come with that. Hubby is an amazing supporter and puts up with all my crap. He is one of those that is always in shape and loves to work out. I was not there.. until now :) OK Back to my story.....
In this part of Atlanta, they have a lot of health nuts, farms, and co-ops. Of course I start to look into all of this because it is all anyone talks about up here.There are farmers markets on every corner and veggie deliveries weekly. I am very skeptical person. I was assuming this stuff is CRAZY expensive and way out of our reach.... well it was not! I was in shock. I started to roam the markets and buy one or 2 things a week. Then I found a co op that was very affordable and all organic. The first week was free so I decided to give it a whirl. The boys were so EXCITED to get the fruits and veggies and literally knocked each other down when the doorbell rang. I was a little shocked. They never eat anything healthy, why are they excited about veggies coming to the door? They grabbed the bags, dragged them into the house, opened the bags and started to devour the food! WTH!!! Oldest said he has never had anything as good as the bananas he was eating and Youngest ate 2 apples and a grapefruit in one sitting. That was the moment for me. The crap food needed to go. SO IT DID!!!!!
Getting healthy is not just about eating the right stuff, although that is a huge start, you need to start to move and get off the couch! I work from home so this is not an easy task. I have run in the past and only sorta liked it. Hubby is super athlete and can do anything (so it seems to me) and I needed to find something that worked for me. I ordered new running shoes and wanted to start to run again. Turns out there are other Moms just like me out here.. and HUBBY found them. He introduced me to this running club for MOMS called MRTT, Moms Run This Town. It is the combo of the change in diet and the running with my mommies that has completely changed my life. This BLOG will talk about both of these things and about the foods I am feeding my kids and about the changes in our lives, thanks to me not being a lazy mom anymore!
To date, I have lost 18 lbs and 3 inches. I have a ton more to-go, but this is a HUGE start. I love running now . I have been at this for about 3 months and plan to never stop!
So if you lasted to the bottom of my long winded post welcome to my world. I plan on updating at least weekly if not more often. As I find awesome food or have a great workout or find crap to stay away from ( dye will be my next post) It will all be here. A few disclaimers, I am not a grammar expert or a spelling champ. So do not come to my blog expecting to correct me or find perfection. I am just a mom and I am not perfect :)
Before we get into this a little back ground on us. I am a mom of 2 amazing boys, second grade and kindergarten. The KG boy has Sensory Processing Disorder and all the challenges that come with that. Hubby is an amazing supporter and puts up with all my crap. He is one of those that is always in shape and loves to work out. I was not there.. until now :) OK Back to my story.....
In this part of Atlanta, they have a lot of health nuts, farms, and co-ops. Of course I start to look into all of this because it is all anyone talks about up here.There are farmers markets on every corner and veggie deliveries weekly. I am very skeptical person. I was assuming this stuff is CRAZY expensive and way out of our reach.... well it was not! I was in shock. I started to roam the markets and buy one or 2 things a week. Then I found a co op that was very affordable and all organic. The first week was free so I decided to give it a whirl. The boys were so EXCITED to get the fruits and veggies and literally knocked each other down when the doorbell rang. I was a little shocked. They never eat anything healthy, why are they excited about veggies coming to the door? They grabbed the bags, dragged them into the house, opened the bags and started to devour the food! WTH!!! Oldest said he has never had anything as good as the bananas he was eating and Youngest ate 2 apples and a grapefruit in one sitting. That was the moment for me. The crap food needed to go. SO IT DID!!!!!
Getting healthy is not just about eating the right stuff, although that is a huge start, you need to start to move and get off the couch! I work from home so this is not an easy task. I have run in the past and only sorta liked it. Hubby is super athlete and can do anything (so it seems to me) and I needed to find something that worked for me. I ordered new running shoes and wanted to start to run again. Turns out there are other Moms just like me out here.. and HUBBY found them. He introduced me to this running club for MOMS called MRTT, Moms Run This Town. It is the combo of the change in diet and the running with my mommies that has completely changed my life. This BLOG will talk about both of these things and about the foods I am feeding my kids and about the changes in our lives, thanks to me not being a lazy mom anymore!
To date, I have lost 18 lbs and 3 inches. I have a ton more to-go, but this is a HUGE start. I love running now . I have been at this for about 3 months and plan to never stop!
So if you lasted to the bottom of my long winded post welcome to my world. I plan on updating at least weekly if not more often. As I find awesome food or have a great workout or find crap to stay away from ( dye will be my next post) It will all be here. A few disclaimers, I am not a grammar expert or a spelling champ. So do not come to my blog expecting to correct me or find perfection. I am just a mom and I am not perfect :)
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