Update

Hi everyone! Sorry to be incognito--it's been a busy month (or two). A few people have asked me how the elimination diet and attempts at healthy eating are going so I thought I'd post a little update.

I've been feeling great! I notice a big difference between days when I have a lot of fresh veggies and fruits and days when I don't. Even when eating gluten/wheat-free, which I've been doing for a couple of months now, I find it's still really easy to fall into the "carb trap." There are so many breads, bakery items, pretzels, chips, etc. , that are gluten-free that it's very tempting to reach for those instead of healthier options. And they're so easy! Who wants to juggle raw food while running out the door with a baby and six bags of accompanying baby gear in hand? I tell myself this but then think, "How hard is it to grab an apple or banana for the road?" Ummm, not really too hard, actually.

I'm finding that eating healthier is really more about mindset than anything else. If you sit around thinking about all the food you "can't" eat, you will be depressed. Trust me. Changing your eating habits is HARD. Especially in the beginning when you are trying to make the healthy changes and seeing little results. It takes time to feel better. It takes time to increase your energy. BUT I would highly recommend that you start with little changes that will have the most impact. For instance, cut out all white sugar. Or have a green smoothie in the a.m., if possible. It totally changes my day when I do. I feel more energy, less cravings, and just generally more upbeat. On the other hand, if I start my day with eggs and gluten-free pancakes and lots of maple syrup I feel sluggish. Which is okay, sometimes. I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't ever indulge--but if you're indulging every day like I was (sugar really ISN'T its own food group!) then there's a problem.

Social issues are maybe the hardest to deal with, especially when you're around family. And with the holidays coming up most of us will deal with this. "Have some of my homemade pecan sandies, dear. What do you mean you can't eat them? They're good for you--now eat up!" Okay, I'm exaggerating a little here, but I'm sure most of us deal with food pushers. I admit I AM a food pusher sometimes. Everyone handles family/food situations differently. I don't want to offend anyone and for a long, loooong time I let that be my guiding principle. "What will so-and-so think if I don't eat what she offers me?" You know what? Half the time the person offering the food to you is just being polite. She could care less if you eat it or not. And sometimes people tie their own guilt up with offering you food. They might feel better if you eat some of the "bad" food they've been eating--it's like a party! But will you feel better?

If it's something I really, really want I'll eat it. Like Thanksgiving--I didn't have any dessert but did have a couple of my sister's delicious homemade rolls. Yum. I try not to let other people pressure me into eating stuff, especially if it's something I don't really even like. There are a lot of polite ways to say no, but the most effective way I've found is to say "No thanks. Maybe later." At first I went on and on about all my weird food sensitivities and explained why I couldn't have such-and-such a food. Now I just say, "No thanks. Maybe later." I feel a lot less like a little old lady and spare the person a half-hour lecture on my food sensitives. Better for everyone!

I'm hoping to post some delicious healthy recipes here soon. I'm addicted to this raw "cereal" which is yummy, fast, and healthy. I'll get it up here as soon as I have a chance to photograph it, promise.

Aspiring Raw Foodie

I struck gold at the Salvation Army yesterday. Being more involved with raw foods lately, I've been wondering how "uncooks" get their foods perfectly sliced and grated. I came across this great 6-in-1 tool yesterday and snapped it up. I'm not usually a kitchen gadget kind of girl, but this will really save me time preparing yummy raw food meals.



I also made a delicious key-lime pie yesterday. It's raw, so that means dairy-free, sweetened only with raw honey, and full of good and healthy ingredients. Oh, and it tastes fantastic, too--rich, creamy sweet and delicious! If you're interested in raw foods but feel overwhelmed, I'd highly recommend "Raw Food Made Easy," by Jennifer Cornbleet. It's really basic and she give some great information and simple recipes. Plus, it's where the pie recipe came from, so you can make your very own!

Do something nice today

If you hate bull "fighting," the cruel act of slowly killing a bull by piercing him with knives and spears over many excruciating minutes, please take a moment and sign the bullfighting petition found here.

Woooh! I feel good....I knew that I would, now...I feel fine....

Yippee for healthy foods!


As I posted recently, I'm becoming more and more interested in healthy, healing foods. I've been struggling for several months now with some really yucky postpartum mood stuff--feeling anxious and nervous, having repetitive thoughts, feeling down and sad. Months ago, I told myself that there was some sort of nutritional deficiency going on but how do you pin point something like that? On top of all the mood stuff, I've been exhausted with little to no energy, feeling irritable and edgy all at the same time.


I've tried a lot of different things to help me, but so far I'm seeing the greatest impact through changes in my diet. Here's what I've done so far:

• Eliminated white sugar


• Eliminated white flour


• Eliminated caffeine


• Started eating more fruits and veggies


• Started taking Omega 3's, Vitamin D and Calcium


• Started taking time for myself


• Started spending time doing fun things every week


• Started an elimination diet--no dairy or gluten for 3-6 weeks

I began the elimination diet on Sunday of this week. It might be awhile before I see results, but I swear (and maybe this is just the placebo effect) that I've had more energy in the past couple of days. I highly recommend reading, the Ultramind Solution. This is the same great book I just posted about. I wish everyone would read it! I think it's full of important information. I'm also learning that Dr. Hyman isn't the first to make this mind/body connection as far as nutrition is concerned. Now, I'm excited to read "The Maker's Diet" and "Quantum Wellness" which a friend recently recommended to me. If you know of others, please share the titles with me.

No, I'm still not 100 percent myself yet. I have days when I feel down and blue, or tired. But overall I'm noticing a HUGE decrease in these feelings. I feel excited about life again, and all that there is to still accomplish! I feel happy and motivated most of the time, and hopeful that things will continue to get better and better. My jeans are a little looser, and my nearly constant cravings for sweets are nearly gone.

I hope that others will share their own nutritional healing stories. I'd love to hear more about them.

To healthy living...

Whole Foods Challenge

Feeling tired? Sluggish? Irritable? Anxious? Depressed? Hyper? Low energy? Short attention span?


I've been feeling a lot of these things lately, off and on and I've decided to do something about it. I believe in the power of a healthy diet and what it can do to change the way you feel. Lately though, I've been so busy and stressed that I've been eating a lot of things that don't make me feel good. Don't get me wrong, they taste great and feel good when I bite into them, but they leave me feeling bad later. And not in a guilty, oh-I-shouldn't-have-eaten-that-because-of-the-calories sort of way. More of a yuck-I-feel-gross-and-now-exhausted-and-irritable sort of way.


So, I'm trying a one week whole foods challenge. I am also going to be incorporating as much raw foods as I can. Starting Saturday, 9/12 I will:


1) Not eat white foods (not potatoes, silly!)--no white sugars or flours, no white rice, no refined white stuff.

2) Eat lots of fresh veggies and fruits.

3) Increase healthy proteins (nuts, beans, fresh tofu).

4) Increase healthy fats (avocado, walnuts, wild-caught fish, etc.)

5) Continue to exercise.

6) Schedule time for fun and alone time.

I'm also "reading" (audio book) a good book on the subject, called the UltraMind Solution. It sounds sort of quacky, but it's really quite good. I got my copy at audible.com. You can also find the paper version online or at your local booksellers.


Do you want to join me on a healthy food challenge? If so, post your comment below and tell me what you're going to plan for your own challenge.

Falling off the green bandwagon?

Have you ever fallen off the green bandwagon? Like a smoker returning to her pack of cigarettes, I'm embarrassed to say that I've let things slide around here in the last month or so. Between dealing with some postpartum anxiety issues, a summer vacation, drumming up (and completing) articles for work, taking care of a nearly 5-month old and trying to find a few minutes a day for myself, I've been feeling a little overwhelmed.

Actually, a lot overwhelmed.

I made a list at the end of July of all the things I felt I *should* be doing every day-or so around here (not including my freelance work). Guess how many things were on that list? 45. And then I thought of a few more a day later. That's just too, too much. It's no wonder I've been having anxiety issues and I determined after creating that list that some things were going to have to go.

Composting, while wonderful and important, was one of them. I've also put a hiatus on cloth diapering which was really hard for me to give up. We're using disposable Seventh Generation diapers--better than regular disposables I guess, but I still feel guilty every week when we toss them into the grocery cart. I've stopped cooking every night and instead we've had leftovers or things "nearly" prepared from boxes (but no mac-n-cheese from the blue box...yet!). I've also stopped working during my son's nap time and instead use the time to read, write (personal), or take a nap myself. This has been completely, utterly wonderful and made a huge difference in how I feel throughout the day. I didn't realize how depleted and frantic I was feeling until I stopped for a half hour and sat in quiet. Bliss.

Which brings up another point--alone time. While I have a wonderful mom and super-sweet sister who each watch the baby for 4 hours a week (two mornings total), they were watching him here in my house which was not working well for me. Though it was convenient for me and I was grateful that they were willing to drive here AND take care of the little PeaPod for FREE, I needed some time away from him. And sitting in the next room while he wailed and laughed alternately and wondering what he was doing and if Mom/Sis needed anything while trying to work wasn't, well, working.

Instead, I now bring him to their houses for care. Huge difference. I can fully concentrate and not feel pulled in two directions. My lovely sister also offered (insistently) that I let her take her nephew for another hour each week so that I could do something ALL ALONE. As an introvert, it's hard to describe how important time alone is to me. It's like air--I need it badly.

While all of the changes I've made around the house are supposed to be temporary (just until the first of September) there are some that I'm letting go for a little longer. My son has pretty much outgrown his cloth diapers now, so I need to decide if we go up to larger sizes or stick with what we're doing. I'll probably start composting again. I will not give up his nap times for work unless it's absolutely, positively necessary. I will keep journaling.

And good grief, I have got to start eating healthier.

I went into rebellion mode after the baby came. "I've been eating healthfully for 9.5 months," I was thinking. "Now I'm going to eat whatever I want." Well, I do still try to eat healthfully but it's been a definite struggle lately. I have 8 pounds of pre-baby weight to lose, which I'm not too worried about. It will come off when it's ready. What I am worried about is my health. I feel tired a lot, even though the little PeaPod is almost sleeping through the night. I feel bloated and crave sugar CONSTANTLY. I keep thinking that there is some nutritional deficiency--Protein? Greens? Fruit? I don't know but I've also been having digestive issues.

So yesterday I spent a little time online on one of my favorite health food websites, Happy Foody. This site is AWESOME and a "visit with Sara" always seems to get me motivated. Right now she's doing a green smoothie challenge--one month long. I'm trying for one week at this point and we'll see where it goes from there.

I also tried this recipe for Raw Chocolate Macaroons that she posted on her site--Oh my. Delicious and totally, completely satisfied my sweet tooth.

I'm so, so interested in a raw foods diet. Part of me is horrified to think of life without bread, but another part of me recognizes how great I feel when I eat lots and lots of fruits and veggies, things that always seem pushed out the way when tastier and less healthy options are available.

So, dear readers--onward and upward. I hope I'm better about posting on here as I do like to write on this blog and love the comments you post, but at this point I can't promise anything too intensive. I won't forget about it completely, though my posts might be more sporadic than I'd like. Please, bear with me.

In a land of plenty

It's easy to forget we live in the land of plenty. Even during this economic downturn, most of us have much, much more than people in other countries even dream of having. Running water, electricity, a vehicle or two, the ability to cool or heat our homes with the touch of a button or the turn of a dial, food in the cupboards.

I've been thinking a lot about the food issue. I like to buy organic foods as much as possible, but sometimes choose conventional products because of the cost. "Well," I sigh to myself, "It must be nice to be able to buy all organic foods at the natural foods market, but I guess I'll have to make do with this."

The thing I need to remember, as I'm dumping spoiled leftovers into the compost (which I hate doing, by the way), is that I have much, much more than many others I share the planet with. Most of us don't have to hunt for food in garbage dumps or cans to survive. People I know don't worry if that last chunk of bread they have will last another two days and feed the hungry bellies of their family.

Feed my Starving Children is an organization which I recently learned about. They provide simple meals to starving children around the world. A meal through FMSC for six children costs $1.00 to produce and 94 percent of all donations go directly to food costs. They also offer hands-on volunteer opportunities if you live in the areas where the food is combined and shipped (see their website for details).