Whole 30 Program - My take

This whole "Gluten & Dairy Free Experiment" that I convinced my family to try on 4/1/2012 has been a journey. I have learned more about nutrition and food additives than I ever wanted to know. Don't even get me started on "Processing Aids".

We started this journey just to see if it would help with Nocturnal Enuresis. The whole family was going to eat Gluten & Dairy Free in support of one member (well secret deals were on the side). It worked wonders for the Nocturnal Enuresis but it made other family members extremely sick when we snuck the secret deals on the side (i.e. splurged and went out to eat).

Finally, I realized that for years what the doctors had told me about myself and my children were wrong. We didn't have environmental allergies, asthma didn't just run in my family for no apparent reason, we weren't just prone to getting sick all the time, etc etc. It was a combination of food allergies and sensitivities.

After two years of failing to accommodate allergies and sensitivities while still eating processed foods I switched us to basically a whole food diet. We do have 7 items that we buy that are minimally processed and they are brand specific. (catsup, bbq sauce, peanut butter, rice noodles, rolled oats, crisp rice, & jelly) Everything thing else is a meat, vegetable, or fruit.  I should mention the meat is meat from the meat department...a slab of meat of some sort. No frozen meat of any type...remember the processing aids I mentioned earlier...they show up here. Fruit is fresh or frozen, no canned (I'm not sure if processing aids or if it is cross contamination is the problem here) Vegetables can be fresh, canned or frozen but no salt or seasoning.

We have been eating like this for 1 1/2 years now. We are all extremely healthy now. We very seldom get sick and even rarer do we need antibiotics. In 2014 each child had to be on antibiotics one time each. (In 2011 had a child on antibiotics 215 days)

So I will take ALWAYS having to cook from scratch and NEVER going out to eat. When I want to make chilly I have to plan 2 days in advance, soak the beans - day 1, cook the beans - day 2, make the chilly - day 3. (After work I only have a limited amount of time) To make banana muffins, grind the rice into flour, grind the oats into flour, mash the bananas...you get the picture.

So when my sister started the Whole 30 Program to loose weight what did I say to her?????

ARE YOU NUTS? WHY WOULD YOUWILLINGLY DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

She was less than happy with my response (I may have ranted a bit). But then I thought: What if it helps people. Who am I to question if someone wants to eat healthy...even if it only to loose weight...even if they are only doing it for 30 days.

So to all you Whole 30 people (and my sister).....knock yourselves out. I hope you feel better and get what you want out of the program.

After your 30 days I will spend 3 days making chilly in your honor.

Now I remember why I blog.....

I stopped blogging for a while.  If felt like I was a failure because I didn’t do my Dirty Girl Mud Run.  I wasn’t.  I had 3 broken toes. 

Then I discovered hiking…..can I say I just LOVE hiking

Also, I remembered why I wanted to blog….To keep me focused.  I have been forgetting to be thankful when I go shopping.  After I re-read my previous blog post I remember the epiphany I had.  I am thankful I have the means to buy food and I know what to buy to keep my children happy.

I have also resigned myself to the fact that our “safe” foods will be an ever changing list.  I don’t know if the manufactures are changing something or if my children’s sensitivities change.  All I know is that Earth Balance Soy Free Butter and all forms of chips are out now.  They are missed. 

However, my children are happier and healthier than ever.

We survived the holidays.  Christmas was 100% successful.  Thanksgiving was mostly successful. On Thanksgiving we had an extended family dinner.  We tried our best but did have reactions to something.   

So that is where we are.

Mother's Day!

I got up this morning.  Did dishes. Said good bye to the one child that was awake and went grocery shopping.  Only when I was checking out and the guy behind me said he had to go shopping for Mother's Day did I remember it.  Oops.  Hubby and I have an unwritten rule that when it is a birthday, Father's Day or Mother's Day that the person of honor is supposed to sleep in.

I got home and everyone was in the kitchen making breakfast for me.  Not exactly breakfast in bed like planned.

By the way...grocery shopping is going much better now.  I don't hate it.  I am thankful for knowing how to keep my children healthy.  Now if only I had more will power for the times I am alone.  I went out to Chinese food last week.  It was so good at the time but I paid the price.  I haven't exercised for 5 days because I have been sick.  Today I am finally feeling well.

I bought $224 worth of meat, beans, vegetables, fruits, and nuts today.  Well, there were 5, 2 litters of coke, 7 zero calorie sports drinks, brown sugar, almond milk, and vegan soy free butter.  But I think that is all.  (I buy specialty bread, noodles, chocolate chips, rice, oatmeal, and crisp rice at a Foodies which is an hour away.  When I buy these things I buy enough for a month.)

Happy Mother's Day!

Silence..sometimes it isn't golden

I am forcing myself to write this post.

I have to admitt I am struggling with training for my mud run.

I am not losing weight.  This is really making me question myself.

I am still exercising.  Maybe not as hard or as much as I should but some days I surprise myself by how much I do.

One day reciently...I got up and walked/ran.  I took Scooby (16 weeks old now) for a bike ride because I can't run fast enough for him. I went for a walk with one son.  I played tennis with by other son.

So I am active.

I have been really good with what I eat.  There was one bad, bad week.  But I have turned it around.  I am eating good and tracking my calories.

But it is a very hard journey.  I am constantly questioning if I can do the mud run.  I so want to turn tail and run the other direction.  It would be easy.  I think my sister would rather not do it.  There are so many paths between now and the mud run.  Each path has an escape route.  So far I haven't taken any of them.  That's all I can say.

Day 60 to Day 53 Recap

(Counting down the days to my Mud Run)

I consistently walked/ran.  I got in 6 walk/runs and went 7.4 miles. Not impressive but I did what I could. I ran a full mile, all the way, no walking, and no stopping. (Actually I did this 2xs.)  Yep, I do realize that that is a pathetic accomplishment.  But it is MY pathetic accomplishment and I am choosing to be happy about it. 

I tracked my food with My Fitness Pal.  I stayed close to my target calories.  I went over a couple of days but once again this is a start and I am going to be happy with it.   

I did not intentionally eat anything with gluten, soy, dairy, or eggs. More importantly I have had a major epiphany that resulted in a new attitude about food.  I am thankful now for the food I do eat.  I am thankful that I know what to feed my children to keep them healthy.  I don’t need processed foods.  I don’t need gluten, soy, dairy, or eggs. They are not good for me. I would rather have healthy children and be healthy myself.  

I do need to change my strength workouts.  I couldn’t find my Jillian M. tapes.  I am really bummed about this.  However, I stopped looking and am moving on.  I am doing the “5 Core Workouts for Stronger Running” that is on the Runner’s World website. They are the basic plank, side plank, superman pose, abdominal crunches, and abdominal crunches with a twist.  My goal is to do these exercises 2xs a week

 

Day 60 weight = 283 

Day 53 weight = 279

Days 60 to 53 were a good start and I built a solid foundation to improve on in the next 52 days.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Made with Almond Milk

The best ice cream EVER!  (It is soy free unlike the store bought almond milk ice cream.)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Made with Almond Milk

 

3 1/2 cups Almond Milk (unsweetened and no vanilla)

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup Smuckers Peanut Butter

3/4 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1 tsp gluten free Vanilla

Place ingredients above in a sauce pan.  Bring to a boil using a medium to high heat.  Stir constantly! 

Boil 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir until boiling stops.

Let the mixture sit for a ½ an hour and then refrigerator for a ½ to 1 hour until chilled.  The ingredients will have separated a little.  Just whisk them back together before transferring to the ice cream maker.

Make according to your ice cream makers instructions.

According to My Fitness Pal with the recipe making 6 servings; it has 345 calories per serving.

We think it is the best ice cream we have ever had…..granted this is from a distorted gluten, soy, dairy, and egg of view.  It is the first ice cream Ben has had since before 3/1/2013.  (Zach doesn’t like ice cream.)  I had some ice cream around Christmas.  Yes, I did get really, really sick; 24-48 hours of uncontrollable sneezing with bladder leaking, snot running down my face, dizziness, and fatigue. What can I say? I thought it would be worth it when I ate it.  My mind is really good at justifying why it is a good idea to eat things that will make me sick.  That is why I am determined to not listen to that side of my brain any more.

I have made peace with grocery shopping.

Since we have gone gluten and dairy free grocery shopping has taken many unexpected turns for me. 

 

It started out as gluten and dairy free on April 1^st 2012 (a day I will never forget).  I took a day off work to “go gluten and dairy free”. I went shopping by myself.  I went to 3 different stores and spent over $300 on gluten and dairy free specialty products.  It was the right thing to do at the time.  It was a very hard change for my children and all the wonderful foods helped the transition. 

 

A few months pass before I realized soy was a problem.  So shopping turned into gluten, dairy, and soy free.  There are very few commercial products available that are all three. The products that are gluten, dairy, and soy free are expensive.  I started baking lots.

 

A few more months pass before the realization that eggs are bad.  Baking took a right turn into no-where-ville.

 

I tried my best to find processed foods that were gluten, dairy, soy, and egg free.  I resisted my very best not to go to whole unprocessed foods.  I really didn’t want too.  My children didn’t want to.  Yet everything I tried made someone sick. 

 

Finally in November of 2013 I drew the line in the sand.  I had made my children sick too many times and watched their misery.  I made a list of all the “safe” foods and everything else had to be a whole food. 

 

A whole food diet has been the hardest for me to accept and enforce. It is so hard not to give into a reasonable child that argues rationally to buy something in the store when you really want it too.

 

Even worse are the solo shopping trips when no one is around to see what you buy.  The cake, chocolate, candy, etc is so easy to slip in the compartment of the van on the way home to be eaten in private later. The little voice inside my head that tells me I deserve it and one won’t hurt.  But it will.  It will make me sick.

 

The internal struggle is time consuming and draining.  It takes every bit of my will power not to give in to.  I hating shopping.  I hated the fact that I couldn’t buy what I wanted.  I hated having to choose not to buy something.  I was going to write a whole post about how much I hated it.

 

But then I realized that I hate having to choose not to buy food.  There are so many people in this world that don’t have enough food.  Here I am with an abundance of food around me and the means to obtain it.  And I have the audacity to hate being in this situation. 

 

I am so very blessed. My children are healthy now.  I prayed and prayed for my children to be healthy and now they are.  Yet here I hate what I must sacrifice for them to be healthy. 

 

No.  That is NOT me. 

 

Thank you God!  Thank you!  I will thank you every time I go grocery shopping.  I will buy healthy foods. I will think you for blessing me with knowing what to buy.  I will thank you for blessing me with the means to buy food.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  I cannot thank you enough.