So it's the first full week of 2016. How's everyone doing on their resolutions? I've been doing... ok, I guess. It's been a rocky week for me, so considering that, I'd say I'm doing better than I thought I would be.
Chad went on a business trip this week, and I get very needy when he's gone. The last time he went on a business trip, I ended up eating dozens of cookies. This time, I only ate a little chocolate, so I think that's a win overall.
I haven't been exercising as much as I'd want, because I've been sick the last few days. I have something going on with my face. It's clearly infected, but I don't know what's causing it. This happens to me occasionally, and the last couple of times, the doctor/dentist told me it was like a sinus infection. This time, my face is swollen and my jaw won't open quite the whole way. I'm just going to wait a little while to see what happens. It's not nearly as bad as the last infection I had, which was so painful I was crying and screaming that I didn't want to live. I'd much rather take it easy and let my body heal itself, than go to a doctor and be told to take antibiotics. I'll take them if I have to, but I don't want to if it's not necessary.
This is a very clear reminder about why I want to eat better. I don't want to continue getting these terrible infections, which I'm sure are at least partly due to bad eating habits. I ate a lot of sugar between Christmas and New Year's, and sugar is really hard on your immune system. I deserve better than that, right?
So I'm going to chillax today and let my amazing body do what it needs to make me better. Then I'm going to start getting active again. It's going to get snowy and cold again, so I'm planning on getting most of my exercise on my exercise bike. I'm grateful I have it, even though it's pretty boring to use it. I don't know how people get anything done at the gym; indoor exercising is so dull to me. It's worse than washing dishes or doing taxes. Clearly I need to move somewhere that's warm all the time so I don't have to do indoor exercise. Or, I need to get over it and go out in the snow and cold!
Showing posts with label sugar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sugar. Show all posts
Friday, January 8, 2016
Monday, January 4, 2016
A Boost to my Resolve
Have you heard the latest news? Scientists have discovered that sugar, namely fructose, fuels the growth of cancer.
This isn't a new idea, of course. There's lots of studies out there pretty much pointing in the same direction, showing that sugar both increases your risk of getting cancer and makes the cancer worse once you have it. I don't know why this isn't common knowledge by now, but I guess no one really wants to hear it in the United States.
This was a pretty interesting sounding study, though. It's a rat study, so take it with a grain of salt; after all, humans and rats are pretty different. Still, the results are intriguing and I hope it leads to even better research.
The gist of study is that a diet high in fructose (through sucrose) is correlated to a much higher rate of breast cancer than a diet high in starch. And the more sucrose the rats ate once they developed cancer, the faster the tumors grew.
I certainly needed a boost in my resolve to cut sugar way back in our diets. This certainly helps.
This isn't a new idea, of course. There's lots of studies out there pretty much pointing in the same direction, showing that sugar both increases your risk of getting cancer and makes the cancer worse once you have it. I don't know why this isn't common knowledge by now, but I guess no one really wants to hear it in the United States.
This was a pretty interesting sounding study, though. It's a rat study, so take it with a grain of salt; after all, humans and rats are pretty different. Still, the results are intriguing and I hope it leads to even better research.
The gist of study is that a diet high in fructose (through sucrose) is correlated to a much higher rate of breast cancer than a diet high in starch. And the more sucrose the rats ate once they developed cancer, the faster the tumors grew.
I certainly needed a boost in my resolve to cut sugar way back in our diets. This certainly helps.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Lessons from a Lolcat
It's a really cute picture, and I'm sure we can all relate to it. But thinking about it more, it really says something about our society today. There's a lot of truth to this lolcat.
I remember hearing about Dr. Oz trying a low carb diet some time back. He tried it for one day. His conclusion? He didn't like it because it gave him constipation. Really Dr. Oz? You couldn't try it for a month, or even a week?
Our society is so focused on instant gratification. If a weight loss book said it could help you lose 50 pounds in a year, which is a very respectable rate, no one would ever buy it. However, if it said it could help you lose 50 pounds in a month, no matter how outrageous that claim may be, it would fly off the bookshelf. No one wants to hear that real lasting change takes time.
Another problem we have as a society is the remarkable ability to eat heavily processed food and think of that as normal. Cake? Pasta? Cute little goldfish crackers? Perfectly ordinary. Back when I was eating a low calorie vegetarian diet, I would sometimes wonder to myself... if our ancestors could travel forward to our time, would they actually recognize what I was making for dinner?
My answer would always be no, but for some reason that didn't seem to stop me from eating it anyway. I think my thinking went something along the lines of, "Well, everyone else is doing it, so it must be ok." Plus, I didn't know then that there was a better way of eating. I thought what I was doing was the healthiest thing I could do for myself.
I'm really big on collecting old cookbooks, the older the better. I think my oldest one is from the 1880s. The reason I love them is because I have a huge interest in the way people used to live, and there's no better way to find out how people lived than by reading a cookbook. However, I never thought I could actually use any of the recipes in the book, because the food was so... different. Even 100 years ago, our food looked incredibly different than what we eat today. They used a lot of lard and butter, cuts of meat and organs you probably haven't even heard of or animals that would make you cringe, and everything, everything they made was very simple by today's standards. They may have eaten several courses, but they were almost always quite simple foods. Foodies would probably accuse the food in my old books as bland.
They certainly didn't have the super delicious, chemical laden, scientifically formulated processed foods lining every shelf in every store, that people are eating today and thinking it's "normal" food. I know if my great grandma, who was born in the 1800s, was alive and she tried some of the food being sold today, I'm sure she'd have some nasty things to say about them, and she'd be right. It's not real, it's not healthy, and underneath the addictive qualities, it's not even that good.
That's another thing; people in our societies are so addicted to wheat and sugar that they can't even imagine a day without them. I know couldn't go a day without sugar, literally. When Chad and I first went low carb, it was the sugar that we both had the hardest time giving up. We would literally go a day or two without it, and then "reward" ourselves with some sugary treat. It was a real struggle, and I know we must have been addicted. But we persisted, and now we only rarely eat sugar, and even more rarely eat wheat.
So maybe it is hard to go on a low carb diet. You have to be patient, eat foods you're not used to, and give up the foods you're addicted to. But that doesn't mean it's not worth it, and it certainly doesn't mean it's not doable.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Wild Honey
I never was a fan of honey growing up. It just had a distinct pungent flavor that I didn't enjoy. It sure looked like I should like it, though; all golden and sticky sweet. I thought it should taste like maple syrup. Unfortunately, it really doesn't.
When I moved out and started taking care of my own house, I actually ended up buying a lot of honey. Not because I liked it; it still tasted kind of yucky. Rather, I used it in bread making, which I did a lot. It worked very well in bread, and I liked telling myself that it didn't have any white sugar in it!
But when Chad and I went low carb, of course we stopped making bread, and the honey sat around for a long time. Eventually I just got rid of it, because, hey, what are we going to do with it?
The thing with honey, though, is that there are some paleo people who use it and believe that it's good for them. I'll agree that it's probably better than pure white sugar, but I'm not certain it's actually good for you.
Well, a few weeks ago, my mother-in-law got a big jar of raw honey that her brother-in-law had gotten from bees he cared for. And because I'm a) frugal and b) a very curious person, I asked if I could take some home with me.
It's not much. A little less than a cup of honey. I wanted to make sure that if I liked it, and figured out how I could use it, I had enough for whatever I wanted to use it for, but not so much that I'd feel forced to eat a bunch of it.
I tasted it. It's really different from the honey I used to buy in the store. It's sweet and mild, maybe even a little floral, with no pungent nasty flavors at all. I can actually say I like this honey. The problem I have now is, am I going to use it? And if so, how? I think if I use it in small quantities, it won't be so bad. I was thinking I could use it to make some low carb granola, to help stick the ingredients together better.
My other thought was to use it in some of my low sugar jam making. I have the new Preserving with Pomona's Pectin book, which is a book all about making low sugar jam and jelly. Some of the recipes call for honey instead of sugar, and they look delicious.
What do you guys think? Is it something worth working into my diet in small quantities? If you suddenly had raw local honey, how would you use it?
When I moved out and started taking care of my own house, I actually ended up buying a lot of honey. Not because I liked it; it still tasted kind of yucky. Rather, I used it in bread making, which I did a lot. It worked very well in bread, and I liked telling myself that it didn't have any white sugar in it!
But when Chad and I went low carb, of course we stopped making bread, and the honey sat around for a long time. Eventually I just got rid of it, because, hey, what are we going to do with it?
The thing with honey, though, is that there are some paleo people who use it and believe that it's good for them. I'll agree that it's probably better than pure white sugar, but I'm not certain it's actually good for you.
Well, a few weeks ago, my mother-in-law got a big jar of raw honey that her brother-in-law had gotten from bees he cared for. And because I'm a) frugal and b) a very curious person, I asked if I could take some home with me.
It's not much. A little less than a cup of honey. I wanted to make sure that if I liked it, and figured out how I could use it, I had enough for whatever I wanted to use it for, but not so much that I'd feel forced to eat a bunch of it.
I tasted it. It's really different from the honey I used to buy in the store. It's sweet and mild, maybe even a little floral, with no pungent nasty flavors at all. I can actually say I like this honey. The problem I have now is, am I going to use it? And if so, how? I think if I use it in small quantities, it won't be so bad. I was thinking I could use it to make some low carb granola, to help stick the ingredients together better.
My other thought was to use it in some of my low sugar jam making. I have the new Preserving with Pomona's Pectin book, which is a book all about making low sugar jam and jelly. Some of the recipes call for honey instead of sugar, and they look delicious.
What do you guys think? Is it something worth working into my diet in small quantities? If you suddenly had raw local honey, how would you use it?
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Temptations and Options
Friday was my mom's birthday. It's kind of a given in my family that I'll make the cake for everyone's birthday, because I have a lot of fun decorating cakes. And I'm pretty good at it, too. I also like to show off.
For me, cake making day is a bad day. Believe it or not, but making one of those cakes takes me several hours, and it ends up being an all day project. In the process of baking, cutting, and frosting the cake, I end up eating what comes out to maybe two pieces of cake. You have to slice the tops off the cakes to make them flat, and of course I can't just throw that away. And you have to taste the frosting several times as you make it to make sure it's the right consistency. Plus, licking it off is the best way to deal with it when you get some frosting on yourself.
And then of course I have to eat a piece of cake at the birthday party. By then, I'm thoroughly disgusted with cake.
So when my mom's birthday came around again this year, I knew I needed to do something different. Thankfully the weather was too hot to permit me to make an extravagant cake for her, which means I didn't have to eat extra cake bits or taste the frosting. Still, I knew that by the end of the day, if I didn't do something clever, I'd be eating one of these.
Well, Chad and I had just bought a big bag of raw almonds, and I knew that Dr. Davis' Wheatbelly Cookbook had a recipe for vanilla cupcakes in it that uses almond flour. Maybe if I made something that was decadent but low carb, I wouldn't feel the urge to eat any of mom's cupcakes.
Since I knew everyone else would also be eating ice cream, I brought along a carton of this for the two of us.
And the plan worked really well! I resisted eating any cupcakes as I was baking them, only tasted the sugary frosting a little bit to see what it was like (I used the canned stuff; it wasn't very good, but then I'm so used to homemade buttercream), and when Chad and I went over to mom's birthday party, neither of us ate a single bad cupcake or any sugary ice cream. I was very proud of us.
Now I'll say that Dr. Davis' vanilla cupcakes aren't going to go on my list of favorite low carb recipes. They're really dense and doughy, have a strong taste of baking soda, and aren't quite sweet enough for my liking, but they helped me through in my time of need and they do have some potential. I think I could easily get the recipe to be perfect if I tweak it a little bit. Less baking soda, more eggs, maybe a little extra stevia.
Low carb treats aren't something we eat very often, and I don't want it to become a habit for us. But I do believe that there is a place for them, and I think that they can be used as a tool to help us stay on the right path. There's always going to be celebrations, birthdays, get togethers, holidays, and you'll have the choice in front of you to eat sugar and carbs, or to do something different. I don't think it's so terrible to eat those bad things once in a while; it's when you make it a habit that it becomes damaging. But I also don't think you should indulge in something that's harmful every time there's a celebration.
Now, I could have taken some fruit with me, and maybe some whipped cream. That would have been nice and healthy, and I could smile smugly because I was eating something natural while everyone else was eating junk food. But being a health snob isn't my thing, and it certainly doesn't ease my cravings for cupcakes when they're three feet away from me. It really helped having something similar as everyone else, so I wouldn't feel like I was being deprived.
I know there would be people out there who would bash me for eating OMG fake food! Or GASP processed food! Or EEK artificial sweeteners! But I'm proud of myself for thinking out the situation and creating a plan to keep me on track. Had I not done that, I probably would have eaten 3 cupcakes even before the party started. And isn't that more important?
*******************************
Ok, time out.
I feel like I'm spending too much time defending myself from imaginary attackers. Maybe I'm overly sensitive, or maybe I know that people can be overly critical on the internet. But that's not the point of my blog. I started this blog as a way to express my opinions, explore life's lessons, and maybe inspire other people to better themselves. I can't do that if I'm preemptively defending myself.
I want to really make a point here, because I think I learned a valuable lesson. The lesson I learned was that, in every situation, you have options in front of you. You can choose to go down the path of least resistance and eat the cupcake, or you can make the extra effort and make your own healthy cupcake.
It does take effort. I planned for several days for my mom's birthday, and I ended up baking for two days. I believe it's worth it, though.
I'm tempted to go back and completely edit my post so that it's more coherent and more to the original point I was trying to make, but I want my thought process to be visible for everyone to see. There is an undercurrent of disapproval in our low carb/paleo/primal communities for people who are too weak to give up sweets/sweeteners/fake food. I don't disagree that we should be trying to get away from those things; sweets shouldn't be a staple in anyone's diet. Where I disagree is when people treat others badly because they chose to use those foods as a tool on their journey to health. No one has a right to bully someone for the choices they make when it comes to their own well being; nobody knows what's right for anyone except themselves.
There, now I've gotten it out of my system. Hopefully next time I can stay more on track!
For me, cake making day is a bad day. Believe it or not, but making one of those cakes takes me several hours, and it ends up being an all day project. In the process of baking, cutting, and frosting the cake, I end up eating what comes out to maybe two pieces of cake. You have to slice the tops off the cakes to make them flat, and of course I can't just throw that away. And you have to taste the frosting several times as you make it to make sure it's the right consistency. Plus, licking it off is the best way to deal with it when you get some frosting on yourself.
And then of course I have to eat a piece of cake at the birthday party. By then, I'm thoroughly disgusted with cake.
So when my mom's birthday came around again this year, I knew I needed to do something different. Thankfully the weather was too hot to permit me to make an extravagant cake for her, which means I didn't have to eat extra cake bits or taste the frosting. Still, I knew that by the end of the day, if I didn't do something clever, I'd be eating one of these.
Well, Chad and I had just bought a big bag of raw almonds, and I knew that Dr. Davis' Wheatbelly Cookbook had a recipe for vanilla cupcakes in it that uses almond flour. Maybe if I made something that was decadent but low carb, I wouldn't feel the urge to eat any of mom's cupcakes.
Since I knew everyone else would also be eating ice cream, I brought along a carton of this for the two of us.
And the plan worked really well! I resisted eating any cupcakes as I was baking them, only tasted the sugary frosting a little bit to see what it was like (I used the canned stuff; it wasn't very good, but then I'm so used to homemade buttercream), and when Chad and I went over to mom's birthday party, neither of us ate a single bad cupcake or any sugary ice cream. I was very proud of us.
Now I'll say that Dr. Davis' vanilla cupcakes aren't going to go on my list of favorite low carb recipes. They're really dense and doughy, have a strong taste of baking soda, and aren't quite sweet enough for my liking, but they helped me through in my time of need and they do have some potential. I think I could easily get the recipe to be perfect if I tweak it a little bit. Less baking soda, more eggs, maybe a little extra stevia.
Low carb treats aren't something we eat very often, and I don't want it to become a habit for us. But I do believe that there is a place for them, and I think that they can be used as a tool to help us stay on the right path. There's always going to be celebrations, birthdays, get togethers, holidays, and you'll have the choice in front of you to eat sugar and carbs, or to do something different. I don't think it's so terrible to eat those bad things once in a while; it's when you make it a habit that it becomes damaging. But I also don't think you should indulge in something that's harmful every time there's a celebration.
Now, I could have taken some fruit with me, and maybe some whipped cream. That would have been nice and healthy, and I could smile smugly because I was eating something natural while everyone else was eating junk food. But being a health snob isn't my thing, and it certainly doesn't ease my cravings for cupcakes when they're three feet away from me. It really helped having something similar as everyone else, so I wouldn't feel like I was being deprived.
I know there would be people out there who would bash me for eating OMG fake food! Or GASP processed food! Or EEK artificial sweeteners! But I'm proud of myself for thinking out the situation and creating a plan to keep me on track. Had I not done that, I probably would have eaten 3 cupcakes even before the party started. And isn't that more important?
*******************************
Ok, time out.
I feel like I'm spending too much time defending myself from imaginary attackers. Maybe I'm overly sensitive, or maybe I know that people can be overly critical on the internet. But that's not the point of my blog. I started this blog as a way to express my opinions, explore life's lessons, and maybe inspire other people to better themselves. I can't do that if I'm preemptively defending myself.
I want to really make a point here, because I think I learned a valuable lesson. The lesson I learned was that, in every situation, you have options in front of you. You can choose to go down the path of least resistance and eat the cupcake, or you can make the extra effort and make your own healthy cupcake.
It does take effort. I planned for several days for my mom's birthday, and I ended up baking for two days. I believe it's worth it, though.
I'm tempted to go back and completely edit my post so that it's more coherent and more to the original point I was trying to make, but I want my thought process to be visible for everyone to see. There is an undercurrent of disapproval in our low carb/paleo/primal communities for people who are too weak to give up sweets/sweeteners/fake food. I don't disagree that we should be trying to get away from those things; sweets shouldn't be a staple in anyone's diet. Where I disagree is when people treat others badly because they chose to use those foods as a tool on their journey to health. No one has a right to bully someone for the choices they make when it comes to their own well being; nobody knows what's right for anyone except themselves.
There, now I've gotten it out of my system. Hopefully next time I can stay more on track!
Friday, June 14, 2013
The Return of Jam
Ever since I was a teenager, I've loved the art of caring for a home. I know that seems weird. I had other aspirations, of course; what teenager doesn't? I wanted to become a famous artist, do video game art, illustrate best selling novels. The passion I had for art was like a steamy affair, though. It came on quickly, burned brightly for a while, and then faded gently into the night.
My love of home caring has been more like the slow easy love of married people. It may not burn as brightly, but it burns forever. That's why, when I had to make the choice between art school and getting married and moving in with Chad, I chose the home life.
One of my all time favorite home caring crafts is food canning. Now I bet you're wondering exactly how strange I could be; who likes canning? I'll admit that I'm an oddity. My sister used to call me a grandma because I liked doing all these old fashioned things like canning, knitting, sewing, cooking. There's just something so empowering about knowing how to provide for yourself, whether it's preserving food or making your own clothes. I think I was a homesteader in a past life.
I've been canning for several years now, and I've gotten pretty good at it. I tend to only can high acidity foods (like fruit and pickles) in a water bath canner though, because I feel like it's easier and more nutritious to freeze vegetables rather than process them in a pressure canner for long periods. So I do a lot of pickles, canned fruit, and jam.
Jam was always my favorite. It's so easy, and so very delicious. However, if you're not a canner, it may surprise you that, when you make jam, you usually put in more sugar than you do fruit. Every time I tell someone that, they're usually pretty shocked. My mother-in-law told me that the next time I make her jam, to just not put in so much sugar. It's not that easy, though. With traditional pectin, you have to have a large quantity of sugar for it to properly jell. There's no way around it, or at least that's how it seemed.
Recently, I found a kind of pectin that doesn't require any sugar. There's a few different brands out there, but the kind I've been using is Ball RealFruit Low or No Sugar Needed Pectin.
However, once I finish this jar of pectin, I plan on buying Pomona's Universal Pectin, which I hear is far superior.
Whichever kind of pectin you choose, the cool thing about them is that they'll jell without any added sugar at all. You can add artificial sweeteners if you want (I hear Splenda is the only kind that will hold up under the canning process though), and stevia and xylitol both work well, too.
So once I got the pectin, I knew I had to try it. I went straight out and bought four pounds of strawberries. I had planned on adding a little xylitol to cut the acidity of the strawberries, but unfortunately, my local Wegmans was out at the time. Instead, I decided just to use a little sugar, since I knew it wouldn't be very much.
The recipe on the pectin jar is very simple. For the no sugar needed jam, it states:
The instructions said you can increase the quantities to make your desired amount of jam, but not to exceed 10 jars. I ended up making 6 jars with the strawberries. There's also a recipe for low sugar jam that calls for up to 1/2 cup sugar for the two half pint jars. I figured even that was too much. So for my jam, I had 6 cups of fruit, and I added about 1/2 cup of sugar to the whole recipe.
It's different than regular jam. The consistency is a little thicker, less jelly-like. The color is a little duller, and of course the flavor isn't as in-your-face-sweet. However, just because it's different doesn't mean it's bad. I find this jam heavenly. It's very fruity. Regular jam is almost candy-like, but this one, amazingly, tastes like real fruit.
I tried it on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (with coconut bread), and it was wonderful.
Until then, you'll just have to be envious of my delicious strawberry jam.
My love of home caring has been more like the slow easy love of married people. It may not burn as brightly, but it burns forever. That's why, when I had to make the choice between art school and getting married and moving in with Chad, I chose the home life.
One of my all time favorite home caring crafts is food canning. Now I bet you're wondering exactly how strange I could be; who likes canning? I'll admit that I'm an oddity. My sister used to call me a grandma because I liked doing all these old fashioned things like canning, knitting, sewing, cooking. There's just something so empowering about knowing how to provide for yourself, whether it's preserving food or making your own clothes. I think I was a homesteader in a past life.
I've been canning for several years now, and I've gotten pretty good at it. I tend to only can high acidity foods (like fruit and pickles) in a water bath canner though, because I feel like it's easier and more nutritious to freeze vegetables rather than process them in a pressure canner for long periods. So I do a lot of pickles, canned fruit, and jam.
Jam was always my favorite. It's so easy, and so very delicious. However, if you're not a canner, it may surprise you that, when you make jam, you usually put in more sugar than you do fruit. Every time I tell someone that, they're usually pretty shocked. My mother-in-law told me that the next time I make her jam, to just not put in so much sugar. It's not that easy, though. With traditional pectin, you have to have a large quantity of sugar for it to properly jell. There's no way around it, or at least that's how it seemed.
Recently, I found a kind of pectin that doesn't require any sugar. There's a few different brands out there, but the kind I've been using is Ball RealFruit Low or No Sugar Needed Pectin.
However, once I finish this jar of pectin, I plan on buying Pomona's Universal Pectin, which I hear is far superior.
Whichever kind of pectin you choose, the cool thing about them is that they'll jell without any added sugar at all. You can add artificial sweeteners if you want (I hear Splenda is the only kind that will hold up under the canning process though), and stevia and xylitol both work well, too.
So once I got the pectin, I knew I had to try it. I went straight out and bought four pounds of strawberries. I had planned on adding a little xylitol to cut the acidity of the strawberries, but unfortunately, my local Wegmans was out at the time. Instead, I decided just to use a little sugar, since I knew it wouldn't be very much.
The recipe on the pectin jar is very simple. For the no sugar needed jam, it states:
For 2 (8 oz) half pints of jam, you will need:
2 cups prepared fruit (usually crushed or finely chopped)
1/3 cup unsweetened fruit juice, thawed fruit juice concentrate, or water (I used water)
3 tsp bottled lemon juice (use only with blueberries, peaches, and sweet cherries)
1-1/2 tbsp Ball No Sugar Needed Pectin
The instructions said you can increase the quantities to make your desired amount of jam, but not to exceed 10 jars. I ended up making 6 jars with the strawberries. There's also a recipe for low sugar jam that calls for up to 1/2 cup sugar for the two half pint jars. I figured even that was too much. So for my jam, I had 6 cups of fruit, and I added about 1/2 cup of sugar to the whole recipe.
It's different than regular jam. The consistency is a little thicker, less jelly-like. The color is a little duller, and of course the flavor isn't as in-your-face-sweet. However, just because it's different doesn't mean it's bad. I find this jam heavenly. It's very fruity. Regular jam is almost candy-like, but this one, amazingly, tastes like real fruit.
I tried it on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (with coconut bread), and it was wonderful.
Now that I know I can make jam again, I can't wait to actually start producing it! I have a box full of peaches and nectarines ripening in my dining room. As soon as they're all soft enough, I plan on doing a detailed walk-through of low sugar/no sugar jam making!
Until then, you'll just have to be envious of my delicious strawberry jam.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
I Survived!
It's been about a week since my last post, and I have to apologize for taking so long to update. Spending so much time with Chad's family was exhausting, partially because we were doing so much, and partially because I was eating so badly. There was at least one day where I had a sugar buzz all day long, which leaves you feeling pretty grouchy the next day, by the way.
By Saturday, the last day his brother was in town, I was pretty much done with it. I told Chad that I had to avoid sugar at all costs, because it was making me feel terrible. I was also done with bread and potatoes. Bleck!
So Sunday, Chad and I returned to our regularly scheduled eating plan. Eggs and bacon for breakfast, lunch meat and cheese for lunch, and some locally raised goat kabobs for dinner (which were surprisingly good), with lots of veggies and some fruit thrown in.
I have lots to write about, but it's 7:30 and I need to get downstairs and pack Chad his lunch.
By Saturday, the last day his brother was in town, I was pretty much done with it. I told Chad that I had to avoid sugar at all costs, because it was making me feel terrible. I was also done with bread and potatoes. Bleck!
So Sunday, Chad and I returned to our regularly scheduled eating plan. Eggs and bacon for breakfast, lunch meat and cheese for lunch, and some locally raised goat kabobs for dinner (which were surprisingly good), with lots of veggies and some fruit thrown in.
I have lots to write about, but it's 7:30 and I need to get downstairs and pack Chad his lunch.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Bone-Tired
I'm really tired today. Not just like "I want to go back to bed", but like "It takes real effort to walk across the room" tired. A tiredness that sinks down into my bones. And it sucks, because I'm a homemaker with stuff to do.
However, it does remind me of one thing that makes me happy. Before I changed my diet to exclude sugar and grains and include lots of meat, I felt this level of tired a lot more often. Not all the time, but frequently. When I wasn't feeling bone-tired, I was feeling mentally tired. You know what I mean; when you can't focus long enough to actually get anything done, and all you want to do is watch reruns all day long.
It's funny how easily you can forget the way you used to be. Once you're feeling full of energy and health, the bad old days just fade away. I actually purposefully indulge in wheat and sugar once in a while just to remind myself of what I'm like when I eat those things, and it's not a pretty sight. Chad did the same thing last weekend. He had two large pancakes with syrup on Saturday morning, and I swear he was foggy brained and moody until Monday afternoon.
So why am I bone-tired today, if I've been eating so well and taking care of myself? I usually get a little tired around the time I ovulate (which I did recently), but not this tired. Since Chad and I are trying for a baby, and tiredness is one of the very first signs of pregnancy, I'm hoping this tiredness means we have a little paleo baby on the way :)
However, it does remind me of one thing that makes me happy. Before I changed my diet to exclude sugar and grains and include lots of meat, I felt this level of tired a lot more often. Not all the time, but frequently. When I wasn't feeling bone-tired, I was feeling mentally tired. You know what I mean; when you can't focus long enough to actually get anything done, and all you want to do is watch reruns all day long.
It's funny how easily you can forget the way you used to be. Once you're feeling full of energy and health, the bad old days just fade away. I actually purposefully indulge in wheat and sugar once in a while just to remind myself of what I'm like when I eat those things, and it's not a pretty sight. Chad did the same thing last weekend. He had two large pancakes with syrup on Saturday morning, and I swear he was foggy brained and moody until Monday afternoon.
So why am I bone-tired today, if I've been eating so well and taking care of myself? I usually get a little tired around the time I ovulate (which I did recently), but not this tired. Since Chad and I are trying for a baby, and tiredness is one of the very first signs of pregnancy, I'm hoping this tiredness means we have a little paleo baby on the way :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)