Fresh From the Garden

Today we had the opportunity to go pick our own collards. They were $1 a head. That is a good deal!
We loaded the back of our truck with 4 heads of collards. We had them with dinner tonight. They were delicious.
Fire Chef also made us some Ethiopian Crepes(from Vegan Brunch) for dinner. While I did not care for the crepes themselves, I loved the filling. I cannot wait for leftovers tomorrow.

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Posted in: vegetarian

When It Rains It Pours...

Well I went to the doctor today for a check-up. She told me that my dizzy spells were caused by my high blood pressure. I foolishly said... "I did not have any headaches with them." Her response: "If you did you would be dead." Talk about a wake up call. Okay, what's next?

I am now on a low salt, low fat, and no white hazard diet. Oh and no dairy. I have to lose a minimum of 15 pounds by April, no problem I say. When I was working out I was losing 1.5 pounds a week. I can do this...I know that I can..

I guess my course of action was chosen for me. I am ok with that..now if I could only get my family to give up dairy with me.

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Posted in: diet,health

A Scare and a Second Chance...

Two weeks ago my husband told me that he was not feeling well. He thought that he should get checked out. I suggested the doctor's office, he suggested the ER. Guess where we went? He would not tell me why, just that he needed to go there. He goes to the triage nurse and they immediately take him to a room in the ER. It turns out he has gotten a sudden flutter in his heart. Terms like PVC & PAC were being used. It comes down to the fact that parts of his heart were 'firing' before they should. He had develop a heart arrhythmia. They did blood work..they came back elevated. It was decided rather quickly that he needed to be admitted and would undergo a stress test first thing in the morning. This scared the crap out of me. I mean, this was my big strong man. He promised me forever and a day. We were a long way away from that.

While he was taking his stress test, I learned that both his grandfathers had heart surgery. When he came back he was sweaty, but feeling great. The arrhythmia went away during exercise. The doctor couldn't believe it. The results were great! It was determined that his arrhythmia was caused my some cold medicine that he was taking. It had irritated his heart. He was released later on.

To say that I was relieved would be the understatement of the year. I couldn't believe that we were given a second chance. I took this as a challenge..I was going to make sure this did not happen again. I dove into the vegan and vegetarian cookbooks that we own. I debated on the best course of action. Of course there have been signs along the way that we need to change what we eat. I was diagnosed with High Blood Pressure. We were both told to loose weight. Our children are following in our footsteps.

I am going to make a change.

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Posted in: health

Not Going to Make it the Week...

There is no way that I will be able to make it a week on the omnivore diet. I will be ending the first part of this diet tomorrow. It will be the very last day. I am excited. I cannot wait. Tonight I ate a vegetarian lunch and dinner...I feel so much better. I cannot believe the difference. I guess my body is ready for this change.

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Posted in: diet

Food Allergy & An Experiment

I have been struggling with my diet for over a year now. One year ago I was a pescatarian. I loved this diet. I live by the beach and was able to get fresh seafood year round. I lost around 20 pounds. Last Christmas I ended up in the ER with a shellfish allergy. This very much limits what I am able to eat. I was no longer able to eat most seafood out there. I went back to eating red meat because of some healthy issues that I was having. I am now trying to figure out what is the best diet for me. I never feel good after eating meat. I feel better after eating a vegetarian meal. I do not seem to be getting enough protein and iron right now. Yes I eat my leafy greens, I love them. I am just not sure what has happened. My blood count was a little low and my energy is non existent. So I decided to do an experiment.

I will eat an omnivore diet for a week. Then I will eat a vegetarian diet for a week. Each day I will journal how I feel after the days meals. This is how it was suppose to happen. I have been on the omnivore diet since Friday and I can tell you..I do not like it. I have felt nothing but sick. I have had tummy troubles, headaches and feeling very bloated. I have had zero energy. I have craved nothing but salty and fattening foods. I have two more days on this diet. I just am not sure if I cannot make it.

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Posted in: diet

"Super Size Me"

My family watched "Super Size Me" today. Fire Chef thought that it would be a great movie for us to watch together. I am glad that he insisted that we watch it together. I believe that everyone in my family learned something new.

One thing that I found interesting is that the lobbyist for the fast food chains, blame childhood obesity on the fact that public schools cut PE. They did not take into consideration all their marketing geared towards children. Have you seen the new fast food commercials? I saw one that they made it seem like only parents who care take their children there. What about the fact that they have movie toys there? Let's not even get started on the movie theater snacks. :(

The movie renewed my desire to feed my family healthy foods. I wish that I could say that we do not eat at fast food places, we still do. I wish that we didn't. I wish that I was better prepared for those times when we are out and there are not a lot of healthy options.

I want to improve my family's eating habits. I want to increase our physical activity and decrease our screen time. I want to make meal times a family time.

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Posted in: healthy eating,movies

Food Cravings and what They Mean

I had a long conversation with a friend the other day on food cravings. We were talking about eating ice and lack of iron. I found a great food craving chart. It shows what your cravings mean.
The one thing that I found interesting is chewing ice means you need iron. This is amazing. I have always chewed ice.

What is the one thing that you crave?

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Posted in: healthy eating

Portion Control

One of the things that we are working on here is portion sizes. Do you know how big a serving is? I know that I struggle with this all the time. I am always amazed when I see just how much more we eat than we should. WebMD has a great interactive visual guide to learn about portion sizes. Kidshealth reports that just an extra 50-100 calories a day could add up to an extra 10lbs a year.

Here are some things that we are doing to reduce our portion sizes...

~using smaller plates. The plates look fuller with less
~eat at the table. When eating at the table you not only connect better with your family, you enjoy your food. You also think about how much you are eating. I know that it is tempting to eat in front of the television, but that can lead to mindless eating. You want to be cautious on what you are eating.
~Divide the plate. We are going to do our best to have half the plate veggies, a quarter grains and a quarter proteins.
~Read Labels. We will read the package to see what a serving is. This will help our pocketbook and waistline!
~Measure, Measure and Measure again. We have a kitchen scale and we will use it. My kids are already learning to measure their cereal. We will continue to measure everything else. This is also a great way to incorporate everyday math.

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Posted in: healthy eating

Welcome!

They say that the kitchen is the heart of the home. My house is no exception. I love to get in the kitchen and create something magical. I enjoy sharing my passion of cooking with my children. I strive to create healthy and delicious meals for my family. Everyday presents a new challenge for our family. I would not change it for the world.

Please grab a glass of water and have a seat.

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