Moving Strongly Forward

"Gruel" for Breakfast

On the Whole 30 Ryan and I have had an egg breakfast almost every single day for almost eight weeks. Colson mixes his breakfast menu up with dinner leftovers, veggies and fruit. I have finally taken the time to learn a new trick thanks to Mark’s Daily Apple’s free, online, Reader-Created Cookbook. Be aware that not all of the recipes are Whole 30 compliant or prepared as recommended in Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions. I have modified the No-Atmeal recipe below to make it Nourishing Traditions friendly (soak the nuts, don’t microwave it, etc.) and now call it Wonder "Gruel." As a friend pointed out, it is far superior to oatmeal, and any reference to oatmeal is off the mark.

This is quite honestly the best tasting porridge-like meal I have eaten.

Wonder "Gruel"  

INGREDIENTS

• 1 small handful of raw walnuts

• 1 small handful of raw pecans

• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed (I haven’t used flax because I don’t have a seed grinder)

• 1/2–1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 pinch of ground nutmeg

• 1 pinch ground ginger

• 1 tablespoon almond butter

• 1 banana, mashed

• 3 eggs

• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (add more if you prefer it a little runny) – I use coconut milk made from coconut cream concentrate, which avoids the BPA of canned coconut milk.

• 2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds – (haven’t used these yet)

• 1 handful of goji berries or fresh berries (I haven’t gotten into goji berries either) 

DIRECTIONS

Soak walnuts and pecans in filtered water and Celtic sea salt over night. I make a double batch (which provides us four meals), so I use 3 cups of water and just over 1 tsp. Celtic sea salt. Strain. This is a Nourishing Traditions standard method of preparing raw nuts.

Add walnuts, pecans, flax seed and spices to a food processor and pulse it down to a course grain, making sure to stop before it’s totally ground into a powder. Set aside.

Whisk together eggs and coconut (or almond) milk until the consistency thickens a little bit into a loose custard. Thoroughly blend together the mashed banana and almond butter and add it to the custard, mixing well.

Stir in the nut mixture. Gently warm on the stove until the “no-atmeal” reaches your desired consistency; this should only take a few minutes. Stir the mixture frequently as it cooks, because it will easily burn. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds and berries on top. Add more coconut milk if you want. Other fun additions could be coconut cream concentrate or shredded coconut.

Playing Like a Kid

Mark Sisson wrote a fantastic post today: Are You Living an Active or Passive Life?

I thought I was living an active life, eating well, working out, staying involved in my community, homeschooling my son and doing some consulting. Other than the working out and the standing to cook, my life really was pretty darn sedentary though.

I am finding that with the Whole 30, my energy level is picking up along with my physicality. Yesterday Ryan, Colson and I went to practice soccer. Normally that is a slog for me, especially in the afternoon when I fight through the afternoon sleepies. As I posted a few days ago (see Whole 30 Results - Food and Energy and Contentment), my energy is way up. I didn’t know life could be like this and thought I was doing well before. Now I see there is even more energy and fun to be had!

Back to soccer. We all played hard – harder than I have as an adult (that would be 27 years officially). No slogging, no digging deep for reserves. Just full on play and it was awesome!  

And my cardio interval training – man can I run. Today, Nelly, our dog, and I were running almost wide open during our peak intervals. I thought I could run before, but me at 45 is outdoing me at 43 or 29 or whatever other age. See Running like the Wind and Vibram Running Shoes for my running renaissance  and note that I was eventually injured by running in Vibrams (just search my blog for Vibrams).

Speaking of that Vibram injury, I think I may finally be over it. It only took over a year to recover. Ugh! But, I played some pretty hard soccer yesterday and was pain free and I have been running more than ever with this interval training. No pain. Yay!

Thanks to the Whole 30, what seemed to be work is now fun, and my family will be playing a lot more. I am so grateful we are at this point, as I want to model for my son that hard physical play is part of growing up and being an adult means continuing to play physically.

Cholesterol Victory for Ryan and Must Listen Cholesterol Information

Ryan’s cholesterol has not been stellar the entire time I have known him (16 years)…but now it is pretty darn good (definitely in the acceptable range)! Thank you, Whole 30.

What a difference not eating wheat and dairy makes! Actually, I think it is the wheat that was the problem with respect to wacky cholesterol. It makes Ryan’s and Colson’s faces swell when they eat it and sometimes their eyes are just slits. Ryan finally kept the wheat completely out of his diet for the last seven weeks (along with sweetener, dairy and beans), and on his fourth cholesterol test since June he tested fine.

I have learned some great information regarding cholesterol testing, numbers and more. This podcast is definitely worth your time: Chris Masterjohn on Cholesterol. Chris is the go to cholesterol researcher. Based on this podcast, Ryan’s cholesterol will continue to excel once his weight stabilizes (he is still losing). Even with the magic cholesterol numbers (the baseline of which is pretty profoundly flawed – see this Chris Masterjohn Podcast) used to determine who should get statins and who shouldn’t, the numbers are pretty meaningless. I am still listening to the second Chris Masterjohn podcast and need to listen to it a second time, but Chris seems to think that amount of time cholesterol is oxidizing in the bloodstream is the real key, not the numbers.

So, if you aren’t happy with your cholesterol numbers, you want to get off statins or you want avoid them, check out these podcasts, Chris’s blog, The Daily Lipid, and: Dr. William Davis’ podcast (former cardiothoracic surgeon who is now a preventive cardiologist).

Chances are that this information, a Whole 30 diet and some exercise will take you where you want to be.

P.S. If meat and fat scare you, know that my awesome cholesterol results (see Cholesterol, Blood Sugar and Thyroid – Oh my!) and Ryan’s good cholesterol results occur even though we eat foods such as this for lunch: sweet potatoes and hamburger fried in lard, and we have been eating that fat heavy for years.

Whole 30 Results - Food and Energy and Contentment

Three things have occurred to me. First, I no longer feel confused or a little lost when it comes to food, as I discussed here: Redefining Our Relationship with Food. Scrumptious and delicious are no longer a driving factor. Our food is delicious, but it is in a toned down kind of way, and I don’t crave anything. I no longer feel that something is missing. I used to think it was dairy fat that was missing, but I am over that.

Second, my strength is increasing and the 50 military pushups that I want to complete non-stop are within sight. Soon I will be setting another goal. My muscle tone is almost as good as when I was lifting heavy weights 15 years ago, and what I am doing now requires such little effort and time in comparison.

As for clothes, I am wearing some of those clothes that you hang on to even though you don’t think you will wear them again…and they are loose. Even so, I can see that I am still carrying some extra and I think the Whole 30 will take care of that as well. I didn’t start eating this way to lose weight, but it is a happy byproduct. Eventually I will get around to finding someone with a scale and weigh myself.

Third, increased energy is my biggest achievement. The mid-afternoon “I need a nap sleepies” disappeared three days ago. Hopefully they are gone for good, and it is awesome to be free of them. Thank you, Whole 30!

Colson is struggling a bit at gatherings because he can’t eat the corn or wheat products (see Corn Out, Darth Vader Breathing Gone and SO MANY LESSONS AGAIN!) That is tough for an eight year old, but these foods cause him a lot of physical discomfort or pain, and he won’t forget the pain of the other day anytime soon. He strongly dislikes not being able to eat all the foods the other kids do, but little by little some of his friends are weeding out wheat, corn or other things, so it gives him comfort to know that he is not the only one who can’t eat whatever he wants.

Today at the Buddhist Center I taught the kid’s lesson on contentment. The person who wrote the lesson created a section about food and contentment, which was perfect for Colson. We developed some strategies, such as savoring the flavor and texture of the foods he likes (today we savored North Carolina apples and discussed our impressions of them) and being grateful for what he has instead of wanting something he doesn’t. Because each kid had an opportunity to talk about their own contentment challenges, and because they contributed to each other’s discussions, I think it was a powerful class and very helpful for them to see the challenges that each faces.

This week my family, and hopefully the other kids in our class, will work on strengthening contentment and reducing just one obstacle or want. It should be an interesting dinner discussion tonight. I think I will kick it off with this quote from Abraham-Hicks:

“A happy life is just a string of happy moments. But most people don't allow the happy moment, because they're so busy trying to get a happy life.”

Corn Out, Darth Vader Breathing Gone and SO MANY LESSONS AGAIN!

Colson had no corn yesterday and breathed through his nose last night and early this a.m. See Colson’s Reintroduction to Corn.

Colson also developed a pretty painful stomachache. We had it checked out by a pediatric doc who said it was constipation. One would think that I would recall this post: A Bit More on Colson, Grains and Constipation, but I didn’t. He even had a headache the day before, as mentioned in the constipation post.

In addition, as a couple of medical friends pointed out, he is a kid and he will react more strongly than an adult when messing around with his diet.

I continue to be amazed at how foods that are bad for you can really smack you down hard. Before we started GAPS over three years ago, Colson ate corn, wheat, etc. with abandon. The only symptoms were Darth Vader breathing and a lot of colds. With GAPS, and now even more powerfully the Whole 30, colds are almost non-existent and it is clear what these grains were doing to him (and Ryan and to a lesser extent me).

Thank goodness for this blog – clearly I don’t keep it all in my head. I can finally say, conclusively, that we (Ryan, Colson and I) really get grain now, and I will quit being a dumbass about it.

P.S. Here is one more post about our grain experience: Knocked Down a Couple of Notches. Looking back at my blog, I am amazed at how many times I thought I “learned” and didn’t. For gosh sakes, this family healing food effort started because of Colson’s nose! (See One Year Anniversay – A Year of Healing in Review.) Yesterday’s lesson will stick this time. If it doesn’t then I will have NO GRAIN tattooed to my forehead.

Colson’s Reintroduction to Corn

Not going so well. After three days he is snoring again. I am taking it out of the diet for awhile and will try again after his breathing is clear again. Maybe the canola oil they used for frying the corn chips and taco shells at the restaurant a few days ago is causing it, but I don’t think so.

Oh What a Food Season (time for pumpkin and apple desserts)!

The transition from summer to fall is unreal. In my state, North Carolina, we have peaches, watermelon, apples and pumpkins all at the same time. We are savoring the last of the summer fruit and eager to fully enjoy the fall pickings.

Today I am going to share two great tasting, super healthy, non-inflammatory fall recipes: Pumpkin Custard (two variations) and Raw Apple Pie.

Pumpkin Custard

Ingredients:

• 3 egg yolks

• 2 whole eggs

• 1.5 c. pumpkin puree (I make my own – just do an Internet search for directions)

• 1 t. ground cinnamon

• ½ t ground cardamom

• ¼ t. ground ginger

• ½ t. ground nutmeg

• ½ c. raw, unfiltered honey (I use less)

• ¾ c. coconut milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, eggs and pumpkin puree. Add the spices, and once they are fully combined, pour in the honey and mix again. The batter will become very wet and it will be liquid, but keep going.

Add the coconut milk and stir well to combine. Pour into a 9” pan and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° and continue baking for another 30 to 35 minutes. I always start testing for doneness a bit early.

NOTE: For coconut milk I use Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate. Directions are to combine 1 t. coconut cream with 6 to 8 ounces of water to make coconut milk.

Pumpkin Custard – A Variation

The first custard is delicious, but my family has removed honey from our diet for the last six weeks, so I needed a substitute. Enter the over-ripe banana. I replaced the honey with 1.5 over-ripe bananas, added ¼ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp vanilla. While this version isn’t quite as good as the first one, it is good enough.

The big test will come tomorrow when my dad arrives for a visit. As a diabetic controlling his blood sugar with diet and a low dose medication, he is a pretty low/no sweetener guy. Just in case the pumpkin doesn’t fly, I am making the raw apple pie below.

Whipped Cream Anyone?

If you would like some whipped cream with this custard, enjoy! Try to use raw honey to sweeten it if you can. It is healthier than any other sweetener.

If dairy is an issue for you, check out this recipe. We no longer use it, as we have dramatically decreased our nut consumption and are avoiding honey:

Ingredients:

• 1 c. raw cashews

• ¾ c. filtered water

• 1 T raw, unfiltered honey

• ½ t. vanilla

Directions:

Soak cashews over night in filtered or distilled water with 1/2 tsp. sea salt. Drain and rinse thoroughly.

Place ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Store in refrigerator and serve cold.

To learn why you are supposed to soak nuts, please read this post: Nuts, Cod Liver Oil (CLO) and Butter Oil Questions. You will see that the nuts for the Raw Apple Pie are soaked as well.

Raw Apple Pie

This is an incredibly delicious alternative for people who dislike pumpkin custard/pie. Even my husband, who will not eat cooked fruit such as that in traditional apple pie, really likes this one.

This recipe comes from Recipe Czar. I do not add the ground flax seeds because they are illegal on our current eating plan, even though freshly ground flax seeds have great health benefits.

Ingredients:     

Crust

• 2 cups walnuts (I sometimes use raw almonds)

• 1/2 cup dates, pitted and chopped

• 1 T coconut oil (to hold the crust together once refrigerated)

Filling

• 1 cup distilled water

• 1 cup raisins (I do not use raisins because we are trying to keep our sweetener low)

• 5 apples, peeled and cored

• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds (I don’t use these)

• 1/2 cup dry coconut flour (I use 1/3 cup coconut flour from Tropical Traditions)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

• 1 lemon, juice of (I do not use this, as I find the pie too sour and then have to add honey to offset it)

Optional Topping

• Unsweetened shredded coconut or coconut flakes

• Nut-based whipped cream (recipe above)

Pie Directions

Soak walnuts in distilled or filtered water overnight with 1 tsp. sea salt. Drain and rinse thoroughly.

Soak raisins in distilled water.

Using food processor, combine crust ingredients; press into pie pan.

Place all filling ingredients (including water and raisins) into food processor and pulse until a medium coarseness is achieved.

Place filling into pie crust, sprinkle with coconut if desired, chill and serve.

Hopefully these recipes will inspire you to find some fun ones too. If you do, please report back and share!

Colson Whole 37 Update – Success So Far!

Today is day five of Colson’s kefir reintroduction. He is sleeping so well, breathing completely through his nose with no noise as of 4:30 this morning. During the day he is a silent breather too. Last night at dinner we were commenting on the fact that Colson’s Darth Vader breathing sound effects were gone, and then he made an effort to breathe through his nose and he did. There was a little bit of a restriction, but it was fairly easy and he had a surprised look on his face. We are all so used to the Darth Vader way that it didn’t occur to us that he might actually be able to breathe through his nose during the day.

Now that kefir seems ok, I don’t want to reintroduce anything else. But I have to. Colson has restarted the homeschool science class offered at UNC Chapel Hill. There are two great Mexican restaurants up there, and he wants corn chips again. Tomorrow, at the restaurant of his choice, he will have chicken tacos or possibly salad, minus cheese or sour cream. The taco shells and corn chips are GMO-free, but they are cooked in canola oil. Rats! The chicken is antibiotic free, so that is a victory. I may not be eating anything, as I am not ready to break the Whole 30. We will watch closely and see how his body does. If he stuffs up, it will be a good lesson.

If he does stuff up, then what? It will be tough to determine if it is the corn or the canola oil that is doing it. If he does stuff up, we will wait a few days and try again with organic corn tortillas fried in coconut oil, which is what I served him today.

Regarding Colson’s adenoids, which we are considering removing so that he could breathe better, that has been put on the back burner. Clearly is nose breathing problems are diet related, and I could just about kick myself for not getting to this point sooner. Even if we did take his adenoids out and his breathing was fine, it doesn’t mean that the food that causes his inflammation is suddenly fine. His adenoids are the warning system regarding the food that causes his breathing difficulties (and who knows what else that hasn’t become apparent yet). Removing the warning system isn’t the fix and hopefully we can avoid it.

The Archevore

A friend sent me the September 2011 update to the Archevore Diet. In some ways it is a post-Whole 30 diet, presenting the foods that may be ok once you make it through the Whole 30. I like that it is presented conversationally – it makes it more real for me.

Be sure to check out the Archevore Blog Page too. Kurt Harris, the Archevore, was just on Robb Wolf’s podcast. I haven’t heard the interview but am looking forward to it.

Who is Kurt Harris and why should you listen to him? He is an MD who is part of a growing army of MDs that knows baseline health is almost always related to food. You can read more about him here: The Archevore Mission.

I am grateful for Kurt’s blog, because in the next month Ryan and I will start food challenges to see what affects us. Colson is already food challenging – see The Whole 36 for Colson – Kefir Reintroduced Today. I will provide an update on Colson’s journey tomorrow.

The Whole 36 for Colson – Kefir Reintroduced Today

After completing 36 days on the Whole 30, with a small chocolate celebration on Day 31, Colson finally had his kefir smoothie this morning. Finally. He has been so looking forward to this! What was particularly fun about this smoothie is that it was a measure of how his taste buds have changed on the Whole 30. Always, Colson’s smoothie has 2 tsp. of raw honey in it, but today I left it out.

VICTORY! He drank it down and didn’t flinch! He even said it was good! What made this an especially impressive victory is that the first batch of kefir after the kefir grains have been resting in the refrigerator, is especially pungent. The old, GAPS-ish Colson would have flat out rejected an unsweetened kefir smoothie, let alone this one. How taste buds change. I am hoping we will be able to keep the honey out, but we will see. Today’s smoothie had raw milk kefir, two raw egg yolks, 2/3 of a banana, blueberry and coconut oil. Future flavors could include blackberry, strawberry, or apple which may not be as sweet as blueberry.

Colson will drink the smoothie for four days and we will see how he does. Will his sneezing increase? What about his nose – will it stuff up? Will he snore again?

I will report back in four days.

To learn about our Whole 30 journey, start reading here: The Whole 30 Begins Today.

Take Two on “So Delicious” Ice Cream

I originally posted about So Delicious here: Coconut Milk Ice Cream You Can Buy (and it is comparatively healthy). Yesterday, Colson and I wanted a treat that didn’t violate the Whole 30, so we bought some.

And… it may not violate the Whole 30, but it violated us! I think it was the Erythritol, which is a plant-derived sugar substitute with the following side effects:

“Excessive consumption of erythritol (over 80 grams per day) may result in digestive upset, diarrhea, and bloating.”

Colson and I each had about one gram, and shortly after consumption, the symptoms started. Ryan came home, ate some, and the side effects struck him too, although less harshly. We all ate about the same amount. The harshness factor seemed to vary by the size of the consumer, with Colson hit hardest, followed by me then Ryan.

I think the side effect threshold is based on consumption by the average eater, not super clean eating people whose bodies give powerful feedback. Interestingly, when eating close to the GAPS diet So Delicious didn’t seem to bother us, but on the Whole 30 it is a different story, which seems to support my hypothesis that the Whole 30 is a cleaner, more powerful healing diet than the GAPS diet.

Whole 30 – We Crossed the First Finish Line!

We began our Whole 30 journey here: The Whole 30 Begins Today, and what a ride it has been. It has been so good that Ryan and I are moving the finish line. In fact, I don’t know if there will ever be a finish line.

Here are some of the things we have learned (you can learn more by reading other Whole 30 posts written throughout August and September):

Our palates have completely changed with respect to sweetener. For example, a few days ago I made Raw Blueberry Pie without any dates or honey, which are called for in the recipe. It was very sweet and I won’t be using sweetener again. Green beans seem sweet now, too, and other foods just taste better. It is amazing how sweetener can fuzz up food, and we were using so little before this diet!

We feel light. Yesterday we played an hour of Frisbee and I felt like I was effortlessly chasing it down.

We look way better – especially Ryan. While I don’t think we have lost a lot of weight, Ryan has lost just over two pants sizes and I have dropped a size and can now wear my pre-Colson clothes. The fat in the gut area just falls off. We need to find someone with a scale and weigh ourselves.

Ryan’s old Army back injury has stopped hurting.

Colson is sleeping so quietly and peacefully – the best ever, in fact. He is still sneezing and snuffly during the day, but I am hopeful that will improve.

We are all eating way less. We just don’t need the food and can easily skip meals or eat them late. We don’t try to do that (except on Fridays when Ryan and I fast), and occasionally Colson in particular doesn’t want to stop what he is doing to eat. That would have never happened pre-Whole 30. That kid was an eating machine.

If you want to read about fasting, check out this blog post: More on Fasting, Un-college and Giving Credit. You can also search my blog to learn about Ryan’s and my experiences.

It can be tough to eat sometimes because we aren’t really hungry and can’t identify a food we want to eat. Even so, we think we should eat so we do.

To mark our 30 day milestone, last night we had some gourmet chocolate. Yeah – strange way to celebrate 30 days of superbly healthy eating, but that is what Colson wanted and he needed to have some say in the matter. While it was very delicious, it was overly sweet to me. Colson didn’t complain, though, and I am not sure what Ryan thought. Ryan’s and my pulses cranked way up and my teeth had that buzzing feeling.

Ryan and I will stay strictly on the Whole 30 another few weeks and then begin some food challenges to see what aggravates us, based on the recommendation of our Oriental medicine doc. He says that adults take longer to detox so we should hold off on the food challenges. He said that we eat one reintroduced ingredient every day four days and listen to our bodies. We aren’t going to challenge wheat, as we know that wheat makes us, and Ryan and Colson in particular, feel terrible (see Wheat – Cut that Shit Out!).

In four days Colson will begin his food challenge with kefir (he is waiting four days because he had chocolate and we need to see how he feels after that exposure). I suspect he will be fine with kefir, and I want to get that back in his diet as soon as I can because he has been such a good sport eating all of those eggs. Plus, kefir with a raw egg yolk added has probiotics and all kinds of other fantastic nutrients compared to those scrambled eggs, which oxidize and become harmful because they are so thoroughly cooked.

What else will we reintroduce through a test/challenge? Corn and rice. I have read from numerous sources that those are the least harmful/body insulting of the grains. We are going to skip the corn chips and prepare some organic corn tortillas, as the chips are rancid, nasty things. We will try them in four weeks or so. Right now I just want to focus on the dairy.

How will our food lives look post-Whole 30? Right now I anticipate eating Whole 30 five to six days a week with a free day for rice, corn chips or some sort of nut flour baked goods. But who knows? Our bodies will eventually lead us.

I am interested to see what will happen to us if dairy becomes a regular part of our lives. It was the biggest food component that we removed for the Whole 30. Will eating it cause us to increase our clothes sizes again? Perhaps Ryan and I will keep it to just a couple times a week.

What is the most shocking benefit of the Whole 30? Being free from food. I thought we were free when we followed the GAPS diet, and compared to most of America we were. But the Whole 30 takes the freedom to a level of food detachment that I never thought possible. I also believe that the Whole 30 is a more powerful healing diet than GAPS, because it removes even more of the foods that cause bodily upset. If you search for “GAPS” on my blog you will see that the GAPS diet has helped my family immensely, and I don’t want to take away from Dr. McBride’s fantastic work. She has helped us to the next level and I like it there.

Wheat – Cut that Shit Out!

A little over a month ago I wrote this post: Wheat v. Sugar – Which is More Despicable? I decided wheat after reflecting on how it affects my family. That was before I really appreciated the autoimmune problems (that is your body attacking and destroying itself) with which wheat is associated. If you think it is just celiac disease, think again.

Today, Ryan and I were listening to Robb Wolf’s podcast Episode 95, featuring former cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. William Davis, who is now a preventive cardiologist. Dr. Davis is so WTF compelling that if you have any health problem and you don’t give up wheat then be prepared to pretty much have a suck life.

It is not often that I am so crudely blunt, but it is tough watching loved ones (and many of the people I see walking down the street) destroying their selves with crap “food.”

If you want to stop being a victim of food, pharmaceuticals and your body, then listen to the podcast, change your life and be ready to be amazed in the best possible way.

Robb Wolf’s Paleo Podcasts

Yes, thanks again to my friend Erin, whom I have blogged about quite a bit the last few days, I have finally listened to two of Robb Wolf’s podcasts . Robb and his co-host are pretty damn funny, share a lot of information and give a lot of perspective. My husband, who has easily come on the Whole 30 journey but without really taking the time to learn why, even enjoys them.

Five Minute Work Out

Whole 30/Paleo eating is accompanied by short physical workouts too. I haven’t mentioned a thing about those. You can learn more at Mark's Daily Apple. Our workouts haven’t been too paleo, but I am ready to start going there.

What we have been doing is pretty effective. We do a three mile run/walk interval training (with the running occurring up the hills) with our dog. This is longer than the Paleo plan, but our dog needs the mileage.

We have developed our own version of TRX Straps. My husband is a handy guy, and he used some outdoor adventure gear and pvc pipe to make them. For us the cost was under $5.

Even with the great TRX Straps, I wasn’t getting the core workout I wanted, with the only ab work being military push-ups. I fractured my back 15 years ago, and the core exercises aggravate it. The other day I was cruising Dr. Oz’s site (a little off topic for me I know), and I came across these five minute workouts. I tried the core one, and it is great! It didn’t hurt my back a bit. If you need something quick and effective, check this out:  Fit in Five Core. There are other five minute workouts too.

Why was I checking out Dr. Oz’s site? Time for a little bragging. His producers liked my blog, contacted me, and interviewed me twice to see if I was the right person for a Dr. Oz Ultra Wellness episode. It seems that I may be the right person, but they are reformulating that episode and uncertain if they are going to use a non-professional. If they don’t use me for that show, they said they would keep me in mind for other things. It would be amazing to have the experience, but just the fact that my blog is interesting enough to get their attention is awesome all on its own.

Wish me luck!

Nuts and Whole 30 Update

Nuts. In both senses of the word. We haven’t eaten nuts in over a week. If you will recall, nuts force you to stay near the bathroom if you eat too many (see Whole 30 Update). I warned a friend about this fact, but she was suckered by the nuts when she began the Whole 30 and, predictably, she paid.

So you think we would learn, right? Stay away from the nuts, right? WRONG! I know that they are bad for us – they are not fresh at best and often rancid when purchasing from a place like Whole Foods (not to mention the nasty canola oil they are cooked in – we very rarely bought these nuts before the Whole 30). But they were convenient, and Ryan and I haven’t really wanted to eat anything, so we thought we would try some nuts again.

This time was different, though. At the beginning of the Whole 30 we were able to overlook the less than yummy taste of the nuts. Twenty-four days into it, we can’t overlook the disgusting, rancid taste. Our stomachs quickly registered their upset after about ¼ cup each. There is no way we could eat more. And now we have these nuts that we don’t want. Tomorrow I will return them to Whole Foods.

As for food as a whole, we haven’t craved anything at all. We don’t even really want to eat. Nothing is tempting. Until the nuts we ate tonight. Thanks to them, suddenly the homemade bone broth chicken soup was outstanding and very soothing.

Just the thought of nuts makes me shudder. I am cured forever.

Oh…and one other thing. Both Ryan and I experience body odor that comes and goes. We must be detoxing in pulses. It is funny, because for both of us only our right armpit smells. A friend suggested that it is related to our livers detoxing. I can’t link the odor to any particular food – it wasn’t the rancid nuts because the right arm began to smell before eating them today.

And that’s it for now. Chicken soup for breakfast tomorrow, which is a nice change of pace from all of the eggs we have been eating.

Another Whole 30 Tip - Cabbage

Three weeks into the Whole 30 it has occurred to me how much we rely on cabbage. Shredded and pre-boiled, it bulks up just about any main dish. We put it in soups, stews, chili, and sautés. The taste doesn’t overpower the meal and we are eating lots of one of the most powerful veggies.

My sauerkraut consumption is up too, although the guys still aren’t eating it, with Ryan only dabbling when I force him to (aka too lazy to make veggies and tired of doing dishes). I just plain like it and am making it more pungently than ever using the Pickl-It system.

Here is an old post about cabbage: Lentil Soup and Sauerkraut Combined – YUM! (and crazy healthy too).

Note that we aren’t eating lentils right now, but the information on cabbage and the health of Polish women in particular, is compelling.

The Whole 30 – Another Perspective

Worth the read for those pondering whether or not to give it a go: Is The Whole 30 Really Life Changing? Even if it isn’t for you, it is a fun read.

Cholesterol – New Information to Me

Chris Masterjohn posted this article on Facebook yesterday: High LDL on Paleo Revisited: Low Carb & the Thyroid. While thyroid is not a known factor in my family’s history, it still caught my attention because it may affect a loved one with troublesome cholesterol numbers.

Granted, I will need to read the article about five times and do some research to fully understand it, but the crux is that if you are eating really clean and low carb, and your LDL is out of whack, then your thyroid could be causing it. The article goes on to discuss how often the thyroid component isn’t even investigated in relation to cholesterol problems.

This really makes me wonder how vigilant we need to be about our health diagnoses and how often we have to double check our doctors. That said, I do know some amazing docs, but it seems that there just aren’t enough of them.