Yes, with all three kids in the same school all day, what is it I do with my time? Well, first of all, I actually have a job. Sure, it's part-time and I can work from home. But that takes up some time. And I'm really making an effort to go to yoga at least three times a week. Of course there's the tons of meal planning, home cooking, kitchen experiments and research (informal) on food. Oh, there's some laundry too. Actually, quite a bit of laundry. I really don't know. But the days seem to go by really quickly!
Now, back to this candida cleanse. It's starting out better than the one last April which ended in complete disaster (a box of chocolates delivered at a time of weakness). One of the tips to successful cleansing is the meal planning. There's none of this running for cheese and crackers or quick sandwich biz. In fact, even Los Gordos (our favorite taqueria is out of the question at the moment). So, I have to plan all my meals and snacks.
For any of you embarking on a candida diet I will list some meal and snack ideas that are working for me in case you find it helpful. Quite frankly I cannot live off meat and vegetables only. I have approval to have 1/2 cup non glutenous grains 5 days a week. Also, coconut milk and coconut oil are my saving graces on this diet. They're nice and fatty and happen to have anti-fungal properties. So, it's actually a good thing. Also, it has a slight sweetness to it. I use it A LOT.
Breakfast Ideas:
1/2 cup amaranth with crispy walnuts, cinnamon and a huge dollop of ghee
1/2 cup brown rice with coconut milk, cinnamon and 2 drops of stevia
2 eggs (organic and pastured) over easy
3 silver dollar size almond flour pancakes with cinnamon and ghee
Right now those three breakfasts are in my rotation. I have those with a cup of green tea containing coconut oil, stevia and lemon. I also start my day with some glutamine powder and Vitamineral Green in 4 oz coconut water. I also take all my vitamins (pro-biotics, cod liver oil, B-stress, etc.)
Snack Ideas:
1/2 cup plain full fat goat yogurt with a couple drops of stevia and home made vanilla extract and crispy walnuts
celery stuffed with almond butter
hard boiled eggs
pumpkin seeds
green tea with coconut milk & stevia (kind of like a latte)
cup of homemade chicken/beef broth
Lunch/Dinner Ideas
1 cup brown rice pasta with pesto and cooked chicken or turkey
Roast Chicken with roasted veggies (turnip, rutabaga, onion, fennel)
Rack of goat/lamb with side of romanesco/broccoli with ghee and sea salt
Curried Lentil Soup with coconut milk
Eggplant stuffed with ground beef (organic/pastured) and veggies
Oxtail soup
Broiled salmon served with sauteed kale/collards, green salad and roasted veggies
It's a lot of veggies! But the fat really saves me on this. For the first week I looked longingly at the fruit I couldn't have. Now I'm okay. But every now and then I look at the candy aisle in a store (which normally doesn't tempt me) and I think, "Oh! A box of Good n' Plenty!" But I keep walking.
Surprisingly cutting out the coffee and baked goods has really taken the edge off my moodiness. Well, actually, that's probably not so surprising. It's just that I like cooking/baking so much!
Well, in phase two of these scene, maybe I can return to low carb baking. There are some wonderful recipes out there for almond flour biscuits and muffins and stuff. It's the sugar I'll have to watch. Maybe I can use honey or maple syrup? I'm not sold on agave nectar (although I did use a lot of it at one time during my "raw foods" phase). Maybe my pallet will have adjusted enough that I won't need as much sweet?
Okay, speaking of all that, I'm off to the dentist. We'll see if a couple of weeks of sugar-freeness has had any effect.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
New Year Honey Moon Phase
Wow! 2011 is off to a pretty good start. I don't really want to jinx it. But can I start off by saying how thrilled I am to drop off all three kids at the same school at the same time everyday? It's like a dream! Not only that, but Rex is actually happy when I pick him up and drop him off.
On Monday, our first day back from break, Rex was a little nervous. What if the teacher was strict? What if he didn't like it there after all? What was it going to be like? Well, I have to admit to helicoptering around a few moments to make sure he got into class okay (as if he somehow wouldn't?) Then I mentioned to his teacher that he was a little nervous. She looked at me like I was the parent of a kindergartner and said, "He'll be fine. But if you want to come in, you may." I suddenly realized I was the nervous person here, and she knew it. Of course he was going to be fine. So, I sauntered off down the hall. As soon as the door to the classroom was closed, I sauntered casually by the door again to peer in the window to see where he was sitting and try and figure he mood based on his facial expression. I couldn't figure a thing except that I was a meddling mother of an independent fifth grader and I was only likely to embarrass him or myself. Needless to say, at the end of the day he was all smiles and so was the teacher.
On Tuesday when I came to pick up the kids Rex informed me that he was placed in sixth grade math. His teacher told me that she had about four students in sixth grade math. Rex followed with, "Yeah. It's easy."
On Wednesday when I came to pick him up Rex informed me that he was now in seventh grade math. You should have seen the grin on that kid's face. He just dropped his math text book on the table near me. I asked if he had finished his math homework. He said, "Yeah. It was fun!" I looked over at the book and saw that it said "pre-Algebra" on the front.
I hope the honeymoon lasts.
In other news, I started another candida cleanse. I officially started on January 3rd, but unofficially started on December 25th (the day after the two martini Christmas Eve). I have to say I was just getting myself used to the idea of being deprived of sugar. I slipped only twice that week, which was forgivable. One night I had a sinus headache and reached for the homemade Sambouca given to me by my friend Holly. I had maybe a table spoon of the stuff and realized I was pretty buzzed. I thought it couldn't have happened from such a small amount. Then my friend Jamie asked me today if I'd tried Holly's elixer. Apparently she experienced something similar. No more elixer on this cleanse. It's the netty pot for me.
What I've found to be the secret to getting through this cleanse is the fat. I find fat to be very satiating. So, quite frankly, it's been coconut milk, coconut oil and ghee on everything for me. I'm allowed to have 1/2 cup non-glutenous grain 5 days a week (per my doctor). So, I have to choose if I'm going to have amaranth smothered in ghee and cinnamon with nuts or if I'm going to have a couple of eggs over easy in a big old pile of ghee. I've also cut out the coffee and substituted it with green tea. I have to say that I miss the ritual of coffee. But, quite frankly, I feel a ton better not having coffee. I'm not so snappish and anxious and speedy. Of course the down side is that I'm a little sleepy too. Or maybe it's just called being relaxed and I have to get used to that? Well, haven't been on the cleanse very long. We'll see how long THIS honeymoon lasts!
On Monday, our first day back from break, Rex was a little nervous. What if the teacher was strict? What if he didn't like it there after all? What was it going to be like? Well, I have to admit to helicoptering around a few moments to make sure he got into class okay (as if he somehow wouldn't?) Then I mentioned to his teacher that he was a little nervous. She looked at me like I was the parent of a kindergartner and said, "He'll be fine. But if you want to come in, you may." I suddenly realized I was the nervous person here, and she knew it. Of course he was going to be fine. So, I sauntered off down the hall. As soon as the door to the classroom was closed, I sauntered casually by the door again to peer in the window to see where he was sitting and try and figure he mood based on his facial expression. I couldn't figure a thing except that I was a meddling mother of an independent fifth grader and I was only likely to embarrass him or myself. Needless to say, at the end of the day he was all smiles and so was the teacher.
On Tuesday when I came to pick up the kids Rex informed me that he was placed in sixth grade math. His teacher told me that she had about four students in sixth grade math. Rex followed with, "Yeah. It's easy."
On Wednesday when I came to pick him up Rex informed me that he was now in seventh grade math. You should have seen the grin on that kid's face. He just dropped his math text book on the table near me. I asked if he had finished his math homework. He said, "Yeah. It was fun!" I looked over at the book and saw that it said "pre-Algebra" on the front.
I hope the honeymoon lasts.
In other news, I started another candida cleanse. I officially started on January 3rd, but unofficially started on December 25th (the day after the two martini Christmas Eve). I have to say I was just getting myself used to the idea of being deprived of sugar. I slipped only twice that week, which was forgivable. One night I had a sinus headache and reached for the homemade Sambouca given to me by my friend Holly. I had maybe a table spoon of the stuff and realized I was pretty buzzed. I thought it couldn't have happened from such a small amount. Then my friend Jamie asked me today if I'd tried Holly's elixer. Apparently she experienced something similar. No more elixer on this cleanse. It's the netty pot for me.
What I've found to be the secret to getting through this cleanse is the fat. I find fat to be very satiating. So, quite frankly, it's been coconut milk, coconut oil and ghee on everything for me. I'm allowed to have 1/2 cup non-glutenous grain 5 days a week (per my doctor). So, I have to choose if I'm going to have amaranth smothered in ghee and cinnamon with nuts or if I'm going to have a couple of eggs over easy in a big old pile of ghee. I've also cut out the coffee and substituted it with green tea. I have to say that I miss the ritual of coffee. But, quite frankly, I feel a ton better not having coffee. I'm not so snappish and anxious and speedy. Of course the down side is that I'm a little sleepy too. Or maybe it's just called being relaxed and I have to get used to that? Well, haven't been on the cleanse very long. We'll see how long THIS honeymoon lasts!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year!
2011 is definitely starting off on the right note. No, I don't mean the children who woke up whining about the french toast I was making for breakfast. I guess they are a little "hung over" from staying up past midnight (for a change). What made this New Year great was that the first call I got in the year was from my friend Christina in Greece. I even mentioned my friends from Greece in the last blog post (albeit briefly). They must have sensed my thoughts of them. So, there is nothing like having an hour long conversation to catch up on everything in both countries and families. They are definitely my kindred spirits on the other side of the world!!
Last night we actually attended a New Year's Eve party -- for the first time in years. Usually I'm in bed by 9pm on New Year's Eve. I figure it's midnight in New York, yippie, good-night. I guess it was a couple of years ago when the kids realized that all their friends were staying up until midnight to celebrate and they had no idea it was even a holiday. I guess that comes partly from my history with New Years. It's usually a holiday for couples. And I traditionally went through some sort of monster break up at the holidays and was left solo for the New Year. So, New Year's Eve and Valentine's day, I felt, were two contrived holidays out to mock me as a lonesome single person.
My life went a little something like this: Oh! Look at the calendar. It's December already. I guess it's time for one of us to end this thing. And then it would end. I would spend Christmas crying into my stocking and then just get all jaded in preparation for New Years. It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.
And although I haven't been alone for several years now, I'm still not generally inclined to celebrate them. I think Valentine's Day is a cruel joke. And New Year's still seems like a last ditch effort squeeze another party out of the winter holidays. And frankly, by New Year's I'm done.
But I digress. So, last night we went to a really nice New Year's Eve party with the kids. It was nice and mellow with good people and good food. The teenagers and kids were all really well behaved, as well as the adults in attendance. We weren't even sure what to expect since we hadn't been to a New Year's party for years.
We brought a nice gluten free cherry/blueberry crisp as well as some good champagne ... and then we realized this was our chance to ditch the giant bottle off Cook's that's been in our garage for the last four years. Let me say that again: Cook's. GARAGE. FOUR. YEARS. Ewe! Let's call it our "white elephant gift". And it didn't seem fair to pass it off without a warning. So, Michael created a special label for it:
I love having a graphics guy for a husband. He can make anything!
So, now my plans for the actual living in 2011? Well, I'm starting off with another candida cleanse. Yes, it's three weeks of some harsh dietary restrictions (which I sort of started last week to get used to the idea ... no sugar. no grains. no fruit. no vinegar. no mushrooms. no coffee. no dairy. Ouch). Last night I sipped at my water. I will confess to tasting the crisp I brought. MMMMmmm! (if I do say so myself). But now, the real deprivation.
I did do a cleanse last spring. But someone kindly sent me a box of See's candy right near the end of the cleanse. Just as I came off it, I thought one piece of candy wouldn't be bad. Then I promptly at the entire box. Doh! Totally un-did the cleanse. So, this year I will try it again and put chocolate far from my mind for the next several weeks. And wine. And baked goods. And dairy. And coffee. Go ahead, feel sorry for me. Okay, don't. It's self inflicted and temporary. I guess I can try for a little self control this time.
And with the kids all going back to school Monday (yay!!!) will have the whole house to myself ... imagine all that time to clean and fold laundry without interruption?
Happy New Year, everyone!
Last night we actually attended a New Year's Eve party -- for the first time in years. Usually I'm in bed by 9pm on New Year's Eve. I figure it's midnight in New York, yippie, good-night. I guess it was a couple of years ago when the kids realized that all their friends were staying up until midnight to celebrate and they had no idea it was even a holiday. I guess that comes partly from my history with New Years. It's usually a holiday for couples. And I traditionally went through some sort of monster break up at the holidays and was left solo for the New Year. So, New Year's Eve and Valentine's day, I felt, were two contrived holidays out to mock me as a lonesome single person.
My life went a little something like this: Oh! Look at the calendar. It's December already. I guess it's time for one of us to end this thing. And then it would end. I would spend Christmas crying into my stocking and then just get all jaded in preparation for New Years. It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.
And although I haven't been alone for several years now, I'm still not generally inclined to celebrate them. I think Valentine's Day is a cruel joke. And New Year's still seems like a last ditch effort squeeze another party out of the winter holidays. And frankly, by New Year's I'm done.
But I digress. So, last night we went to a really nice New Year's Eve party with the kids. It was nice and mellow with good people and good food. The teenagers and kids were all really well behaved, as well as the adults in attendance. We weren't even sure what to expect since we hadn't been to a New Year's party for years.
We brought a nice gluten free cherry/blueberry crisp as well as some good champagne ... and then we realized this was our chance to ditch the giant bottle off Cook's that's been in our garage for the last four years. Let me say that again: Cook's. GARAGE. FOUR. YEARS. Ewe! Let's call it our "white elephant gift". And it didn't seem fair to pass it off without a warning. So, Michael created a special label for it:
I love having a graphics guy for a husband. He can make anything!
So, now my plans for the actual living in 2011? Well, I'm starting off with another candida cleanse. Yes, it's three weeks of some harsh dietary restrictions (which I sort of started last week to get used to the idea ... no sugar. no grains. no fruit. no vinegar. no mushrooms. no coffee. no dairy. Ouch). Last night I sipped at my water. I will confess to tasting the crisp I brought. MMMMmmm! (if I do say so myself). But now, the real deprivation.
I did do a cleanse last spring. But someone kindly sent me a box of See's candy right near the end of the cleanse. Just as I came off it, I thought one piece of candy wouldn't be bad. Then I promptly at the entire box. Doh! Totally un-did the cleanse. So, this year I will try it again and put chocolate far from my mind for the next several weeks. And wine. And baked goods. And dairy. And coffee. Go ahead, feel sorry for me. Okay, don't. It's self inflicted and temporary. I guess I can try for a little self control this time.
And with the kids all going back to school Monday (yay!!!) will have the whole house to myself ... imagine all that time to clean and fold laundry without interruption?
Happy New Year, everyone!
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