Where We're Headed Food-Wise

When I started having some health issues last year (exhaustion, inflammation, joint pain, etc.) my doctor, without a clear diagnosis, wanted to start me on strong pharmaceutical drugs. I preferred, however, to try to find the cause so I could try to stop it naturally as opposed to covering up the symptoms with pain killers and other drugs. Through my research I learned that a lot of health issues can be lessened or cured by making sound food choices. That was the beginning of my foray into nutrition and what to eat and what not to eat to have the best possible life. I have learned so much this year about what is good for our bodies, what is harmful and the different eating plans people follow. The plans that really spoke to me were Paleo, primal and the diet recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation. They vary in some ways but in common they eschew processed foods, sugars and over consumption of grains. They are a bit extreme to jump into so I have put together a plan that I think will work for us. It's a mixture of the Primal diet (I love this site: Mark's Daily Apple)and WAPF eating plans. Perhaps later on down the road I will pick one to stick to but for now I think I have come up with an eating plan where we won't feel deprived, that will be easy to follow and will make us healthier.

Moving abroad and having a cook is such a wonderful benefit and it also means I can completely revamp how we eat and that is what I intend to do. Following the 80/20 rule, I am going to menu plan so our meals prepared and eaten at home are healthy. If Naomi has crackers at school or a cupcake at a birthday party I am not going to sweat it. Likewise, if I have some bread when out at a restaurant or some dark chocolate I'm not going to beat myself up. I am going to strive for eating clean and healthfully 80% of the time.

So what does this entail exactly? Well to begin with we are going to eat as many organic foods as possible. I already do this in that I only buy organic foods in the "dirty dozen". I've already got that down so it won't be difficult to maintain.

The other things I plan to implement (most days) are:

no processed foods
no high fructose corn syrup
no soy or corn products (unless I can find some not genetically modified)
no dairy products with rBGH
no peanuts
no CAFO / fast food meats or eggs (i.e. only grass-fed)
no wheat
no white potatoes
no white sugars or artificial sweeteners
no dyes, chemicals, additives, preservatives, etc.

This may sound rigid, but it's really not. Different? Yes. More time and preparation required? Yes. More home cooking? Yes. It means we will eat mostly meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, coconut and olive oils, and sweets made with maple syrup, Stevia or honey. It's healthy, enjoyable, beneficial and manageable. Yeah, I am going to miss regularly scarfing down cereal, pizza, cookies and ice cream but we can still eat a large variety of foods and with the luxury of a cook I can inform her of what is allowed and what is not. That should make it easier and I am motivated to try to fully reclaim my health! I have already been feeling a lot better and my doctor is baffled at how my "disease" didn't progress as she had expected. I fully expect that I will look and feel even better with this new plan and what am I waiting for? Seriously. Do I want to start this when I'm 60? Moving abroad is the perfect starting point and I am excited for the results.

Meanwhile, I need to eat up all this food in three weeks!!

I know. It looks like a family of four lives here. Maybe I should throw a dinner party.

Tips From an Overseas Blogger

I keep up with a food blog from where my new home will be and in a recent post the author photographed an amazing array of local produce. It looked lovely! I already know that GMOs are not allowed in that country, which is fantastic and I am so thrilled about, but I wondered about the availability of organic produce and if eating produce without removable skins would be an issue, so I posed the question in his comments section. He responded with this very detailed response:

..."actually, a lot of produce in provincial markets is organic, for the sole reason that farmers can’t afford the fertilizers, etc. However, a lot of produce commercially grown for sale in large cities is sprayed with all manner of questionable stuff… There is no official certification process for organic produce, so be careful not to overpay for your vegetables that aren’t truly organic. But let me back up, your question is more complicated than it seems…

1. Westerner moving to third world country. Your stomach, no matter how strong, will have some adjusting to do in (city where I am moving to) coming from the U.S., particularly if you have not lived in a similar third world country before. There are all kinds of different bacterias, etc. in the food and your tummy will need to adjust to. This is just a part of the move. My wife and I have lived in several countries, western and not, and we also had similar adjustment periods, and not to freak you out, it gets fine once you have experienced some of the local bugs as it were… :(

2. Local tap water is generally not considered to be potable, as again, it can carry some forms of unsavory little critters, and the piping laid underground (while recently MUCH BETTER) can mix soil and water together. Local tap water is best boiled first, or as many local and foreign folks do, they buy bottled water which is conveniently delivered to your home in 5 gallon jugs. However, I do brush my teeth with tap water, cook with tap water, bath in the tap water, etc. Another aspect of the tap water, I suspect, is that it is not as treated as say American city water, lacking perhaps the chlorine, flouride or whatever they add to the water. Many locals, by the way, DO drink the tap water.

3. Tap water issues and produce issues differ. The concern about eating say lettuce or other greens or produce where you consume the peel comes from unsanitary forms of fertilizer or when rawish fertilizers manage to get lodged on the leaves (nightsoil, manure, etc. that hasn’t been properly pre-treated can send a fleck up onto your lettuce rather easily). These therefor have to be washed really well, and some foreigners we know use a special soap or cleansing agent in their water to achieve this. Personally, I don’t do this and simply wash well with tap water. I have a very sensitive stomach and in the past 15 years in (place where I am moving), I have only gotten a bum stomach a few times from food, mostly after eating shellfish, not greens or fruit.

4. The best thing is to know your suppliers or vendors. Further, a lot of the produce that is labelled organic is actually greenhouse grown, or hydroponic, so it is less prone to the whole yucky fertilizer situation.

5. You may also be surprised that most foreigners might take on household staff when they move here, to help with meal preparation, laundry and cleaning. This is another area of concern. If you do take staff, make sure they get a health clearance for say tuberculosis, intestinal parasites, etc. I don’t mean to scare you, but we do this in our own home. And in 15 years, have come across 1 member of the staff with tuberculosis who was treated and is fine now. Intestinal parasites can be passed from person to person by handling glasses, plates and eating utensils… You would be surprised by the percentage of the population with living pets in their intestinal tracts, but one can easily get rid of them. And in many cases they don’t really bother the host. I used to work in Indonesia and had a team of say 15-20 westerners under my purview and as a sort of semi-joke, I once gave all of them “worm pills” to purge themselves of local critters and while they laughed, I think every single one of them took the pills, and the next morning, at least 20% confirmed they were needed, enough said. :)

I once did a seminar for members of the Australian and New Zealand community and/or diplomatic core in (place where I am moving) about the vegetables available and I was amazed that so many of them didn’t realize that there was an abundance of stuff in local markets, oftentimes many proxies for veggies they missed from home, and that could be prepared in dishes they could relate to.

I hope that helped. It’s a slow Sunday afternoon so maybe I have given you more information than you were hoping for. Good luck on your move and email me when you get here if you are looking for particular sources of food. The availability of ingredients in (place where I am moving) has vastly improved in the past 10-15 years, but I suspect you will still have things from home that you will miss."

What valuable information! I hadn't thought of having my nanny get a health clearance. And someone suggested in the comments section to bring some probiotics with me to help with the intestinal adjustment process. Isn't the internet incredible? It astounds me sometimes. I will certainly be taking him up on the offer to email him when I arrive. How wonderful to have someone who is very knowledgeable about food be available to me as I adjust to my new city. I consider that to be an amazing blessing as I am on a path of eating better for wellness. I am so looking forward to becoming in top physical condition. It's high time!

Praise Must Be Given.

The test was negative. We are overjoyed and giving thanks and praising Him.

C'mon Mama!

Mommy, here's your DVD.

Here, let me open it for you.

Whoa! This is tricky! Is this why you haven't started yet?

What? Give it to you to open?! You crack me up!

Almonds! Yay!

First, thanks for the kind comments regarding her name. Truth to tell, I am so used to calling her Almi at this point that I don't know why I am complaining. And then I saw Haze's comment. She said it was a perfect blend of Almaz and Naomi. Oh, thanks Haze! I never thought of that and I love it! I feel so much better and this morning she referred to herself as Naomi so who knows. I am sure she will become Naomi at some point and I am officially going to stop worrying about it. :)

So, this morning we woke up and went off to take care of a few errands. We bundled up. They said with windchill it felt like 7∘. Brrr. We went to the grocery store and picked up her prescription for her double ear infection. Oops. Yeah, she wasn't just being cranky for the heck of it. But she didn't tell me! So frustrating that she can't communicate that! You see, what had happened was, the daycare called into my classroom at 8:55 yesterday morning to tell me she was sick and I had to come get her. My kids were to arrive into my room at 9:00. Huh?! She looked fine to me. After all it was just a runny nose! "No," said the director. "Her teacher said it had a yellowish-greenish tinge to it and you need to take her home." I was so annoyed. It looked clear to me and I needed the time to do assessments on my students. I begged the director to let Almi stay a bit longer. She said she would give me til noon. Argh! Really wish I had family in the area to cover in times of emergency. So, I called for a sub and picked her up at noon and took her to the doctor. And, yeah, turned out she has a double ear infection. Who knew?! The doctor asked her if her ears hurt and Almi said no but then she cracked me up when she followed it up with "I wan shot." Ha! She was serious, too. My vax-lovin' doc quickly flipped open her laptop to see if she was due for any but, alas, she was all caught up. No shots this time. Almi was disappointed. LOL

But, back to the errands. After picking up her prescription at the pharmacy drive thru we headed down to Children's Hospital. Being the worrier that I am, I often worried about being surprised by a rogue nut in a restaurant or at daycare. I figured we should see if this was really an issue-- but do so in a safe environment-- so once safely in the hospital parking lot, I offered her a snack of almond milk and sliced almonds. You see, awhile back she had a reaction to pine nuts (rash on her face) so I had her tested for nut allergies. She tested negative for peanuts and all tree nuts but the doctor advised me to keep her away from nuts until she is three. I was paranoid so I followed her advice but it has been getting challenging. I am fine with no peanuts--we eat sunflower nut butter around her anyway and I prefer it to peanut butter so that's easy-- but I want to cook stuff with almond flour and ideally I'd like her to move away from rice and soy milk to almond milk. So, I went down to the parking lot of Children's Hospital right by the emergency room and gave her the snack. I figured if she had a bad reaction I could snatch her out of her carseat and run her inside. I knew that was unlikely, but I figured better there than at home or at someone's house or in a restaurant. Well, guess what?! No reaction. Nothing at all. I am so relieved and so excited that we can now make stuff with almonds in it. And best of all, she loved them! Here I am saying, "Phew!!!" LOL
When we got home, we had lunch and both plopped into bed for a restorative two-hour nap and when we awoke we had a snack of bananas sprinkled with cinnamon dipped in sliced almonds. :)

*** I am not suggesting anyone do this with their own child. Remember, Almi had already tested negative for nuts. I was just too nervous to feed her them to her in my home so this made sense for me. ***

Dinner is Served

I have mentioned my exhaustion a bajillion times on this blog. I stay tired. I was tired before I started parenting a toddler, so you can imagine how I feel now.

Well, I decided enough was enough. I did a ton of research on ways to combat exhaustion and I am slowly incorporating all of them into my life. I am anemic so I take my iron. I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. I exercise (very minimally--I am working on improving in this area) and now I am also eating right.

What have I eliminated? Darn near everything:

* grains
* processed foods
* caffeine
* dairy
* alcohol
* refined white sugar

...and more!

But I am not perfect. I eat dark chocolate. And red wine.

What I discovered, though, is without any grains I don't get cravings. I have lost ten pounds effortlessly. I don't feel deprived. It's been about a month and it is starting to sink in that this is my new way of eating. It's not a diet. It's not temporary. I know I will slip up but this is my goal.

Has my energy increased? Yes. Am I still tired? Yes, but I am not often deeply exhausted like I used to be. And a fun byproduct is I am experimenting with cooking! I am making all kinds of healthy dishes and I am proud that I am feeding my daughter healthy, nutrient rich meals.

Here's what we had for dinner last night: baked zucchini fries and a coconut chicken dish I made up.

For the fries I sliced up some zucchini. Then I dipped it in egg white and then in a mixture of coconut flour (grain free), garlic, basil, oregano and sea salt. Then I baked them for 20 minutes.

For the chicken recipe I sliced some chicken from my Whole Foods rotisserie chicken and threw it in a pan with some onions, mushrooms, Thai basil and olive oil. Then I threw in some spices. When it was done I topped it off with some coconut milk and a splash of Agave nectar.
I paired them both with a glass of red wine. Healthy and delicious!
** please excuse my terrible food photos!! I really need to take a class on how to use my camera! ... or at least read the manual!

Dairy Woes

Would you look at that snotty nose? It had gotten better and the diarrhea was lessening. But then it seemed to come back with a vengeance. What the heck?! They were commenting on it at daycare--that her nose is always running. And then the truth came out. Conversation as follows:

Teacher: "Naomi's nose is running all the time. Always must be wiped. Always."
Me: "I know. It's strange, isn't it? Cause she doesn't have a cold. I thought it was the dairy, but maybe it's something else." (I was about to give up and try removing wheat/gluten next).
T: "Well, you know, she loves to drink milk. At lunch I always see her grabbing other children's milk and drinking it."
M: " ... " (stunned).
T: "You say it's not an allergy. Good. Cause she tries to take milk every day. She finishes lunch first and then she goes to play while the other kids are eating. Then she comes back and tries to drink the milk. She will grab it and run across the room and then wait for me to look at her before taking a drink. She knows she's not supposed to be doing it."
M: "So (still stunned as there are true nut allergies in her classroom)... so?.."
T: "I can't be watching her all the time. She is very fast and I have to watch the other children as well."

Just wow. I was so shocked at what I was hearing that I couldn't respond appropriately but the next day I went back to discuss this with her teacher. She told me the children all grab each other's food before when we were discussing Naomi's appetite. I told her to please watch her, that I don't want her eating other children's food or drinks (aside from her dietary restrictions, I don't want the germs). I even wrote a note asking them to be please be more vigilant--and then this. This is the third time it has come up so this time I went in and discussed it more seriously to her teacher. I told her if she finds it too challenging to watch my daughter during lunch that I will pick her up every day and she will eat with me in my classroom and I will bring her back when we are done. She seemed alarmed that I would do something so drastic but I was trying to drive home the point that this is not a light matter. I told her she is contributing to my daughter's comprised health and if she can't manage her, I will remove her from the situation. "What if she had a life threatening allergy? What would you do then? If you couldn't watch her, she could end up dead." A bit dramatic, but not really. She is not the only one with an intolerance or an allergy in the room. They need to be more careful. This is a serious matter. She said she would have one of the teaches sit at the table with them at lunchtime from here on out. I hope so cause this is totally unacceptable.

Surprise!

From observation, you might think this is broccoli with cheese sauce. Looks like fake American cheese sauce at that. It's not! It's broccoli with carrot ginger tofu soup poured on top. It gets its lovely orange coloring from carrots! And it was yum-my!

Almi has recently decided she no longer likes most vegetables and it has been a head ache to try to get her to eat them. At the same time, I am trying to eat more healthfully and I am becoming concerned about her weight. I'm grateful she is a good eater but she eats a LOT so I am trying to get her to eat more veggies and fewer carbs. I am concerned about her BMI and I am concerned about my back! If she keeps eating like she does, in a few short months I will no longer be able to lift her up! I'm not kidding. It's already a challenge to get her in and out of her crib and carseat.

This is the recipe we made tonight. I used my new Vita-Mix. I love that thing. I declare it's going to bring us both to excellent health.

Carrot Ginger Tofu Soup

Yield: 4 1/2 cups (1.0 l)

Speed: Variable to High
Time: 3-4 minutes

Ingredients

4 medium carrots, peeled, halved

1/4 small onion, peeled

4 small garlic cloves, peeled

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch white pepper

1 tablespoon fresh ginger root

1/3 cup light silken tofu

2 cups low sodium vegetable broth

(from Vita-Mix.ahoy.com)

What Would You Do?

Before I left for Addis I was very stressed about some things going on in my life. I have mentioned some of those on this blog but there were other reasons, too. Let's just say I had enough for me to request a full on stress test and EKG before I got on the plane. My regular doctor is actually a cardiologist so he ordered up all the tests. For the most part they came back normal-- except for one area which I can't articulate with any knowledge so I won't even try. Basically, what was important was he cleared me for travel and told me not to worry. So I didn't.

These past three weeks my stress level has increased considerably. I am happier and I laugh more than I have in a long, long time and have my little pumpkin to thank for that. I am also more active--not nearly to the level that I should be, but it's a start. The reality is though that all the things that were stressing me out before are still there --plus the added stress of parenting--but now I have less time and energy to devote to solving them. I also don't have time to think about what's not getting done so I don't seem to be upset about it on a daily basis like I was before but apparently my body knows. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for today mainly because he wanted to meet my daughter. I went not expecting to have anything done but they did the normal basic things like height, weight, drew blood for some tests and took my blood pressure. Two surprising things were discovered:

1. I have lost eight pounds and
2. My blood pressure has gone up TWENTY points

I knew I lost weight in Addis but I have lost even more since being home. But the blood pressure?! Scary stuff! The nurse did it once and then he repeated it twice. On his last try it only showed a spike of ten points but I am going with twenty (though even ten points in a month would be huge). To put it mildly, I am horrified. Hypertension is common in my family but my blood pressure has always been low. We even spoke of this in my last appointment. He said I should expect it to increase in the next decade since most people in my family have it. I wasn't expecting it to be high one month later. I basically went from having low blood pressure to having high blood pressure in a month! High. Not something to watch because it's approaching a high number, but it is already high.

All three of us were shocked. The nurse muttered something about it under her breath but said the doctor would repeat it. He repeated it and was shocked. He suggested I make an appointment in two weeks to see if it's still high. I am supposed to be going back to work in two weeks. In fact, the day they tried to give me an appointment was supposed to be my first day back (and my baby shower). I told them I couldn't make it on that day. But now I am having enormous second thoughts. Of course Google doesn't help, but it is very scary to read symptoms you have online. Clearly I need to take immediate action. I am going to call them tomorrow and see if I can still get that April 6th appointment. I am also going to start exercising immediately.Right before the appointment I picked up the part needed to add to my recalled McClaren stroller to make it safe. I am going to install it tomorrow and start taking long walks each day. And, damn, I guess I need to give up all that delicious coffee I bought in Addis.

This is interesting: he also said he could write a note to my job saying he needed to monitor me over the next six+ weeks and that I should not return to work during that time. When I rejected the April 6th appointment I suppose in my head I was planning on returning to work on time but as I type this post I am thinking maybe I need to stay home. My little girl needs me to be in top physical condition. I'm all she has so my health needs to be my #1 priority. I guess I wasn't sure if staying home would help to reduce my stress but at least I won't be worrying about her. Truthfully, I think she will love day care. She seems so happy when around other kids but I worry a lot about our attachment. She is becoming more attached but it's not where I would like it to be and I wonder how not seeing me for ten hours a day will affect it? That gives me a lot of stress and daily worry. If I stayed home, that one worry would be eliminated. I could also be sure to exercise daily (once she is attached I can resume going to the gym and drop her in the gym daycare). I'm so conflicted about what to do. One possible plus is I might be able to get paid since I would now be staying home for medical reasons. But perhaps going back to work will make things more normal again? If you were me would you take the note and stay home?

New Year, New Schedule

It feels like New Year's Eve. Well, New Year's Eve minus the champagne and great party. Tomorrow is my first day back to work and I have created a schedule for myself which kind of has a New Year's Resolutions feel. I am preparing for a fresh start and have a made some plans for what to eat, how to spend my time...basically how to proceed from this day forward.

By the end of the year I am going to be a mom and I have some things I want I need to put into place before that day arrives. On that list include things like losing weight, learning how to manage stress, getting organized, cooking, becoming more efficient with my time, etc.

I created a list on the right side of my blog of things I planned on taking care of this summer while I was off. I was able to accomplish some of them but I need to accomplish all of them before November. With a little less than 2 and a half months left, I needed to write down a schedule for myself so I don't waste time on being inefficient and distracted and lazy.

So here it is. My schedule. Don't laugh. Trust me, I need to schedule myself down to the half hour if I want to get it all done!

Monday - Thursday
5:00-7:00 workout
7:00-7:30 get ready for work
7:30-5:30 commuting to & from and working
5:30-6:30 cleaning & organizing
6:30-7:30 dinner
7:30-9:00 taks
9:00-9:30 get ready for bed
9:30 - bedtime

In the evenings from 7:30-9:00 if I finish up my tasks early I can watch TV, read, talk on the phone, blog, etc. Fridays are more relaxed. Still plan to workout in the a.m. but the evening is reserved for fun/dates. Weekends are for large projects like organizing my basement, decorating the nursery, menu planning, creative endeavors, church, etc. but also the main goal is to be able to relax on weekends and do what I want to do and not what I didn't get done during the week. I have already turned down three(!) invitations this week telling the people that Mon-Thurs really aren't good days for me--that I'm too busy--and all three agreed to postpone our get togethers until this weekend! Perhaps when I am in the swing I can carve out time during the week for dates/fun, but for now it's gotta be off limits.

I am going to ease into this schedule this week (it's after midnight and I am still up cause I am still on Pacific time and not tired!) but I plan to be in full swing by next Sunday. Wish me luck. It's going to be somewhat of a change from my current lifestyle but it will be good to get myself into a routine. On top of all of this, Mon-Thurs I am going to "eat clean" which basically means no sugar, no alcohol, no red meat, no sweets, no fried foods, no rice, no pasta, etc. I figure I can do that 4 days a week knowing that the next three are free days. Four days on and three days off. It's a schedule I think I can live with and it should get me organized, thinner and more relaxed and ready for my baby girl who is likely to arrive in three months!

July Goals

It is July 1, 2009. I only have 6 weeks left of summer vacation. It's time to get focused! I had my time to relax and I got 2 days at the beach, but July is here and before I know it the summer will be over and I will have nothing to show for it. So here are the goals for July:

1. Health
2. Organization
3. Fundraising

That's it cause currently, I am being pulled in just too many directions!!! I would love to do some international travel but that's not in the cards this summer. I would enjoy spending my summer on three of my hobbies - writing, scrapbooking and photography. I have children's book ideas in my head that are begging to be down on paper. I want to create an album of firsts for my daughter. I need to read my new fancy camera's manual and learn how to really use it.

I should spend some time with family in Pennsylvania. I should be counting calories. I want to try out some new recipes. I want to start up my business idea.

There are a million things I should or want or need to do but I simply can not do them all. So, I am going to only focus on those three for July.

Health:

I am not going to worry how fattening something is or how many carbs or calories or fat is in something. Instead, I am going to work out every day, take my vitamins and eat more meals at home. I am also going to set up doctor's appointments. I want to be as healthy and fit and as strong as possible when I become a new mom. Single parenting is going to be exhausting (mentally and physically) and the more prepared I am, the better.

Organization:

I am going to get this house together once and for all! It is so cute and has so much potential but with all my clutter it's cuteness is buried deep underneath my junk. My clutter has led to injury, loss of money, stress, frustration and more. It's time to get it under control!

Fundraising:

I continue to worry about not having enough time to bond with my child while staying home on unpaid leave. I know I will take off two months but what if I feel like an additional month or two is needed? I need to plan for that. I also need to raise funds for travel. At the moment I do not have anyone going with me to Ethiopia. I had asked someone to go but due to their financial situation, it may not be in the cards. This person is my first choice. If I was able to pay for part or all of their flight, perhaps it could still happen. So, aside from the adoption expenses those are two things that I hadn't planned on that require additional money. If I start now I won't have to worry about them when the time arises.

So, for the month of July I will devote my time only to health, organizing and fundraising. Sure, I will go on dates and see family and work on my books but those things will not be the priority. I will post photos of my progress from time to time.

Wish me luck!

Week of Purge

Week of Purge? What the heck is that?!

I made it up.

I am sick of being surrounded by clutter and junk I don't need! Clothes that don't fit, soaps and lotions I don't use, rough sheets I bought a decade ago, jewelry I don't wear, books I don't read, expired medications, old bills, dried out pens and broken pencils, notepads, address labels, seasonal decorations... it goes on and on. My space is being taken up with junk. Now don't get me wrong, lots of the stuff is nice --which is why I hold on to it, but why? Because it might come back in style? Or because I paid good money for it? Or because I think I can sell it and make some money or give it as a gift. But the problem is, I haven't. The stuff just sits. And frankly it's getting on my nerves.

Hence: Week of Purge.

This week I will be donating, giving away, or throwing out stuff that I haven't used this year. And if it's something that I like and really must have then I will put it in its proper place so I'll know where it is and it will in fact get some use. No sense in keeping great stuff hidden in the back of a closet.

I may make some money, I may not. But my life will be richer. Richer in space. Richer in peace. Zen-rich. I will feel so much better and others will be benefiting at the same time.

In addition, I am going to rid my cabinets of excess food. I hate when I buy produce that goes bad before I eat it or things that expire sitting on the shelf. How does this happen when I live alone and only shop for one? Well, I don't shop for one and I have a weird relationship with food.

For example:

• I must eat something sweet after something salty and something salty after something sweet... Sometimes I overdue the sweet-salty-sweet-salty thing until I'm totally stuffed! So there is often something sweet and something salty on hand for this indulgence.
  

Here's another one:

• I want to eat what I want to eat when I want to eat it.
  

Yes, totally spoiled. I don't know how I got like this. It certainly wasn't how I was raised. My parents served baked chicken, rice and salad three nights a week when I was growing up. My friends used to tease me about it but, hey, I can't blame them. It was tasty, healthy and economical. I have heard of parents cooking what their child(ren!) ask for each night like they are short order cooks in a restaurant. That was not happening in my house. I had no say. Maybe that's why I want what I want when I want it now?

Well, problem is it's not economical (in fact, it's down right self-indulgent) and it's not practical to continue with a child around --from the cost to the message it conveys. My cabinets are stuffed with food, my freezer is crammed; yet I want none of it. I want sushi or pizza or a Greek salad and if none of that is available in my house I'll go buy it and I'm happy. But my wallet is not. I need to break the habit. I want to become the mom who can create a whole meal by whipping together things that are already in the kitchen. I want to spend money on other things.

So, next week, except for perishable items, I will not buy anything new. No diet sodas out of the machine at work. No Starbucks on the way to work. No drinks after work with friends. I will not spend one dime on food or snacks of any type until June. I will save some money, I will eat up the food I have and I will appreciate the fact that I do have a lot of food right here and be grateful. (I got the idea from Christie's blog --though she did it for a whole month and she didn't spend on anything at all--no snacks, no groceries, no magazines, no trips to CVS or Target, no nothing!! I'm not quite at that level yet. Maybe over the summer?)

So, it's on! I am going to purge myself of excess junk and use up the massive amounts of food in my cabinets and on my counters. (Yes, there is so much food that it doesn't all fit and some things have to sit on the counter. What kind of sense does that make? I know, none.) I'm starting tomorrow morning and will go to the end of May. Purge my home of excess junk and no stopping for anything else edible.

I hope to learn how easy it is to use the foods that are already in the house and to gain a sense of calm and order as things are picked up, donated and sold. Hopefully it will translate into better habits and some savings.

I am looking forward to it! I'll post during the week of any successes I have. Feel free to join in on Purge Week or simply wish me luck! Cause from a self-proclaimed pack rat and food snob I am going to need it!

Join Me at Race for the Cure!

I'd love to have other APs and PAPs join me!

Click here to read more...

Team Ethiopia?

So, I made it to a Weight Watchers meeting on Tuesday and signed up. So far, so good. It's good to be more conscious of what I am eating and I am definitely eating smaller portions and doing less snacking. I hope at my next weigh in I will see some movement on the scale.

I also signed up for 5K! I signed up for Race for the Cure. (The last time I did this race was with my ex-boyfriend. He said he would do it with me but he was in better shape and ran off without me. I found him somewhere after I crossed the finish line. But I digress...) This time I signed up to do it by myself but wonder if any APs and PAPs in the DC/MD/VA area want to do the race with me?!
We could form Team Ethiopia! What a fun way for us to meet. I am planning on walking it --just getting back into shape here--but this way we can chat and get to know each other. And then we can all go out to breakfast afterwards and undo all our hard work! heehee I don't know how many folks from the area read this blog, but if you don't and know someone who does, feel free to link them to this page so they can join in!

If you can't join me but want to donate a dollar or two to breast cancer research you can do so by clicking this link.

Thanks and I hope to see you on my team!

Lent Revisited

So, I went hard core and planned to give up:

* meat
* dairy
* eggs
* alcohol
* sweets
* Facebook
* and I was supposed to work out regularly

This is what I did:

I had a few bites of fish but no red meat or poultry. It was really hard at first but then I rediscovered MorningStar Farms. These are really, really good. I eat them with grilled onions, avocado, tomato and I even the rice cheese tastes good on top! I will be eating these regularly. Going meatless also forced me to cook vegetables in interesting ways and I learned some great recipes!


I had a milkshake and occasionally some dairy would pop up in something baked. I missed cheese a lot. There is nothing like a slice of New York Style pizza. Nothing. And I love me some ColdStone. Have you had sweet cream vanilla with Oreos and almonds? Ok, then you understand.

I didn't eat any eggs and didn't miss them at all.

Alcohol was a toughie sometimes--especially when I went out with friends. O'Doul's is a great substitute if you are in the mood for a beer but my problem is I am not really a huge beer drinker to begin with. I like wine and they don't make non-alcoholic wines do they?

Sweets was hands down the hardest. thing. ever. I can't even say I really succeeded here. I mean, I didn't eat any obvious sugary sweets--like ice cream or donuts or candy (well, except when I got the milkshake when I had strep or when the squares of dark chocolate when I was PMSing or the Giaradelli bar when I was in a bad mood) and somewhere along the way I decided if it was made without refined white sugar it was ok--or if it was vegan it was ok, or sometimes I just flat out forgot (like when I put sweetened non-dairy creamers in my coffee). So, yeah.

Facebook wasn't hard after about a week. I almost want to close down my account so I won't go back to my twice-a-day-obsessive-inbox checking-status update posting-no-make-that-five-times-a-day-lame-time-wasting-addiction that I had. It made no sense and it added little value to my day, but there are people on there with whom I have no other way of communicating--like my old friends from when I went to high school in Nigeria. I guess I won't give it up completely.

And finally, working out. Wait, did I say sugar was the most difficult? Scratch that. Working out is where I failed miserably. I can count the number of times I worked out on one hand. :(

One week until Easter. I have been looking forward to it. During the tougher days I kept thinking how great it will be for life to get back to normal, to be able to order anything off a menu or pour myself a glass of wine after a rough day-- but what I realize is that I don't really want to go back to my "normal life". Believe it or not, I think I might actually like this new lifestyle. You see, at first I would go hog wild on Sundays and eat everything in sight but then I noticed a pattern. I would feel like crap and the horrible feeling would last thru Tuesday! It's not worth it. Realistically I know I can't stay a vegan--and truthfully, I don't want to--but I will eat like this often. And what I will now focus on are the two things that were the most challenging--sweets and exercise.

To begin with I am going to continue to ignore all the treats in the teacher's lounge. I work at a place with a lot of nice people. When they go on a trip they bring back a treat (this week: salt water taffy); when it's someone's birthday they bake a cake (this week: homemade yellow cake with chocolate icing); when there are meetings they set out the leftovers(this week: brownies);when they want to say thank you they bring in something edible (this week: Dunkin' Donuts); to celebrate a new month there is a breakfast (this month: bagels, fruit salad, egg casserole, hash browns, baked goods, juice, coffee--and this was a lighter version of the normal breakfast). I kid you not! All those things were in the lounge this week--salt water taffy, cake, brownies, donuts, and a full-on breakfast. And I was good. From that whole list all I had was...



Yup. A cup of coffee (and there is a banana in my school bag). I ignored all of those treats!! Why? Because it was Lent but clearly I can't go back after Easter. What I don't get is why the pounds haven't been falling off?? What's up with that?

So, yeah, the focus after Easter will be on laying off of sweets and working out. It's spring! A time for renewal and growth, fresh and new things! Plus I still have 17 pounds to lose.

Anyone else doing something new for spring?

It's Friday the 13th. I got diagnosed with strep throat AGAIN. Waaah. How on earth does a single parent get to rest with a child?!

Thanks for all the suggestions for recipes! Last night I had an surprising burst of energy so I decided to do some cooking. First I made my favorite taco soup recipe but with some interesting substitutions.

I used some fake meat and I omitted the Hidden Valley Ranch. I tasted it while it was cooking and it wasn't bad. I'm not sure if I will like the toppings but I'm keeping an open mind.


While that was cooking I made the Tikil Gomen recipe from Rachel's blog. It took forever. Well, I'm not a fan of taking more than 20 minutes to prepare a meal--and that's from start to finish including all prep-- and this took closer to an hour. Forever is 60 minutes of cooking in my world. I was tired by the time it was done--and in all fairness I had just prepared another dinner right before--but it was so worth it! Yum! I popped open an O'Doul's and ate a big bowl. :-) The picture doesn't look that great, but trust me it's delicious! Now I need to figure out what to do with the other head of cabbage I bought. I was thinking I would double the recipe but the one head made this gigantic pot full.

At this rate I will be eating taco soup and Tikil Gomen all month! Julia sent me this recipe for black bean and chocolate chili which I want to try but I can't eat chocolate now cause of the dairy. I am wondering if carob would be a good substitute or if maybe I can somehow use cocoa powder?

As challenging as this vegan thing is I have to say that I feel a lot better when I eat this way. When I go hog wild on Sundays and fill my body with meat and dairy products and junk food and other processed crap I pay for it on Monday and Tuesdays. It's really been eye-opening. I am not completely surprised though because once when I was living in California I did a 3-day stint of only eating fruits and vegetables. I didn't even allow myself a grain of salt or a sip of tea. It was all pure, all natural, all organic for three days. Day 1 wasn't bad as I was caught up in the excitement of the whole thing. Day 2 I was hungry and miserable. Day 3 I was really, really hungry but I had never felt better in my whole life. I had so much energy and I felt so freakin' good. I felt like brand new person! Day 4 I went right back to my old habits because it was too rigid but if I could recapture that feeling with a diet that allows me to eat chocolate chip cookies and wine a modified version I would be open to it. It's worth the trade off I believe. I just need more recipes! Actually, next recipes on the list include: mushroom stroganoff, vegan brownies and Oreo cake (for Sunday!)

Well, it's almost lunch time and I am home today so I guess it's taco soup and tikil gomen!

**update ~ I was not feeling the vegan version of the taco soup :(

SW/Black Boxes/Diet/Lent

Nothing new to post in the adoption world... my SW is missing in action. No phone call, no email, no nothing. Will work on the dossier anyway.

Meanwhile, have you checked out the black boxes gadget at the bottom of my blog? Click on it and it will ask you a series of choices and based on your choices eventually take you to a mystery blog you might enjoy. I have come across a number of very interesting blogs that way! If you arrived here via black boxes, would you leave me a comment telling me where you are from and what choices brought you here? ...if you can remember :-) I know I do it ten times in a sitting and would get them all mixed up! LOL Thanks!

Diet. As in change of diet. I am changing mine. I am tired of being fat. Tired of being tired. I went to the gym for the first time in 7 months last week and learned that I had gained 7 pounds! Not good. At that rate, I'll be obese in no time. Time to take action. But not just with weight loss from an aesthetic perspective, but weight loss and change of diet for overall health. I want to feel and look better. Lent is coming up, too, so it's the perfect time to make some changes. Lent, being a time to focus on prayer, fasting and almsgiving makes it the perfect time to begin a new eating plan. All weekend I have been online researching what eating plan will make the most sense for me. I want one that consists of a healthy, balanced meals where I will feel energetic, yet at the same time make positive changes in my overall health. I think I know what I will do and I will debut it on Wednesday.