"Spaghetti"

We had spaghetti using spaghetti squash instead of pasta for dinner tonight. It always surprises me how yummy this is!

If you've never used a spaghetti squash, or never used it this way, you are in for a treat. I like to first wash mine and remove any produce stickers, then cut in half lengthwise with a long knife. I place both halves, cut side down, in a shallow baking pan with a bit of water. Bake at 350 for around an hour - if it is a large one, it may take longer.

The one pictured here baked for an hour and 15 min but was a bit crunchier than I had hoped for still, another 15 min would have been good. Just try a piece until you have the consistency the way you like it. When you take it out of the oven, scoop the seeds out of the center - then comes the fun part! Using a fork, gently loosen the "noodles" so that it comes apart in strings like spaghetti. The whole thing will come out this way. Tonight, we served it with homemade spaghetti sauce with lots of veggies - you could try white sauce, or just toss with coconut oil and more cooked veggies - yum!

A recommendation and resource

Hubby and I watched The Future of Food over the last couple days - lots of interesting info and I must admit a bit scary and overwhelming. Today was doing some searches on how to find non-GMO foods and came across the blog The Nourishing Kitchen who has a post (linked) which lists brands you can buy who have made a commitment to non-GMO food sources. Very helpful!

Possible nut allergy?

I have noticed itchy skin (mainly face) and Will has been more gassy since we added in raw cashews and peanut butter. Plan to go off them for a bit and add one at a time back in to see for sure.

Nut Butter "Brownies" - a big hit!

I saw this recipe come across from Eileen at the yahoo group GAPShelp and decided to give them a try today. They were a big smash with the kids and healthily curbed some sugar cravings they were having. Heather even said they were yummier than chocolate brownies.

Nut Butter Brownies

1 egg

1 cup nut butter (I used peanut butter, the original poster recommended almond butter)

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup butternut or other winter squash puree (I baked and then pureed in the blender with a touch of water)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 square pan and set aside.

In a bowl, beat the egg with a whisk and then add the peanut butter and honey. Beat until smooth. Add the squash and whisk until mixed. Pour into pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Regrouping with the kids

Had a great conversation with the kids at the end of lunch today. I have been concerned about their focus on food and frustrated by their lack of cooperation with our GAPS intro diet last week. I explained that we each needed to give a little, at this point I am not going to insist that we do the hard-core Intro, but that we do the basic GAPS diet - in turn I wanted to explain to them WHY we needed to do this and that I needed them to happily work with me and not complain. We talked about the gut and digestion and nutrition and *why* we eat (eat to live, not live to eat). We talked about how the stomach works and the acids and bacterias that need to be in the right balance, the difference in good and bad bacteria. We discussed symptoms that we have of our gut not working right or the balance not being good in our tummies and how great it will be not to have those problems. I stressed that this is not a mean diet that I am forcing them to do, but that we are trying to teach them how to eat the foods that God has given us and not the non-nutritive, over-processed foods that we often turn to. We also talked about cravings and how they will go away after a while. I think it was a very profitable discussion and will give us a good foundation for making good choices. I cleaned out our fridge and cabinets yesterday and got more good foods. We will eat meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts and honey (no sugar, grains or starches). At each meal we will have a small cup of bone/meat broth and a small dose of fermented beverage of choice (beet kvass, sauerkraut, kombucha, or kefir). We will take probiotics and cod liver oil daily. We will start the day with a glass of lemon water and make sure to drink lots of water through the day. I also plan to have an hour for exercise in the morning and offer more choices for them to do in that time. I feel much better now that we have discussed this as a family and have a plan and purpose! :-)

Failure?

Okay, so confession time: It has been a hard week. Thursday was very, very hard. Kids tummies were feeling better, but they were still weak and whiny. Will was having a hard time getting any energy or eating anything at all. I was in a lot of pain with my back/sciatica and had barely slept even with the heating pad. A wonderful friend brought us some herbal teas, and bless her heart some chicken noodle soup, a loaf of fresh whole wheat bread, basket of oranges and several DVDs. I gave up and served it all for dinner.... and then, I.... well, I convinced myself that I was battling depression and PMS and I *really* needed some chocolate.... so, I made brownies. Tom came home as they were coming out of the oven and made a hurtful comment, not on purpose, but ouch! So, I was in tears all night long (I NEVER cry). I felt sooo overwhelmed and tired of pain. I won't go into it all, but we talked through some stuff and I unloaded all my sorrows and yesterday was better, today is much better.

So.... today we have a church meeting and a planned meal at a local burger joint with the church officers and their wives (my hubby is a deacon). We will get more groceries on the way home. I am regrouping and re-evaluating. I am not sure what is going on with me, but I am thinking detox/die-off may have contributed. The kids were not very happy with eating soups for 3 days and were feeling very deprived. I *thought* it would be a good time to start since soups are great for sick tummies, but apparently not. I didn't think the food was that bad. Tom even liked the soups we had for dinner. But, I think we are going to step back and do the full GAPS diet for a while (meat, fruits, veggies - no sugar, no grains - broth and fermented at each meal) and reconsider doing Intro in a while, maybe then detox won't be as hard.

So, no failure, just learning and starting again. I need to do better about taking my supplements too, the last couple weeks have not been very good.

Pretty miserable today

All of us, well almost all, are feeling poorly today. Rose woke up feeling sick to her stomach and has lain around and slept most of the day without eating. Will is not vomiting anymore, but feels tired and says his tummy still hurts, he has not eaten either and took a good long nap today. Heather is feeling fine, Tom is feeling fine. I am in quite a lot of pain in my back, sciatica and legs. I have no idea if it is pre-cycle stuff or detox stuff or what, but not feeling well at all. I'm trying to get office work caught up on and I have a lot of other paperwork to do pre-taxes, but having trouble focusing and getting much accomplished. I took a small nap yesterday and today. I sure hope this all passes soon! We will all get salt baths again today to be sure we are detoxing well, I already got one and did my skin brushing.

Day 2 GAPS

Will got hit with the stomach bug today, threw up 4 times but doesn't seem to have a fever and didn't complain of any other leg aches or anything. Rose has been healthy so far, Heather was much better. Tom and I both have had bad headaches today.

I got a salt bath this morning and did a skin brushing - always feels so good. I drank 1 cup of black half-strength coffee this evening hoping it will help my head. I am assuming that stopping my large cup o' joe every morning cold-turkey could cause a headache. My neck and shoulders are pretty stiff from detox and my sciatica is acting up this evening.

We ate lots of soup today, had chicken with spinach and mushrooms for b'fast - yummy. We had meatball and veggie for lunch, and then meatball with a pureed veggie sauce for dinner. It was good too. I forgot to add the beet kvass until dinnertime.

Will did not eat at all today due to his stomach bug but did drink water and some tea.

I have to whine a bit... Tom had gained 10# over the holidays like I did, and he was asking to change our eating habits so his pants would fit well again. He has been eating whatever he wants though, stuff from the fridge that we can't have, etc.... he really hasn't started on GAPs with us. So, today, he just announced that he has lost the 10# over the course of the week. He has not had the stomach bug, so it's not that. I asked him what he ate today, and he says "taco leftovers from the fridge, some pkgs of peanuts, nutty bar and a McFlurry" Uggh!!!! So what has he changed? No burgers or soda. Ugggh, ugggh! Not fair at all.

Day 1 of GAPS Intro

Heather and I came down with a stomach bug yesterday, so neither of us were feeling great today overall. Headaches, achey, etc... However, we went ahead and started the GAPS diet today, gluttons for punishment? Maybe.

All went pretty well. Here's what we ate:

Lemon water

Chicken broth

Chicken soup with meat and veggies (listed below)

zucchini

asparagus

broccoli

carrots

onion

mushrooms

snuck in some chicken livers and gizzards

Kids complained a bit, but I told them that they can have as much soup as they wanted, and anyone can eat soup for 3 days - it's not a biggie. So they did fine. Tonight, Will was complaining that his knees hurt. I had him take a salt bath which he said helped. I have a headache/neck stiffness tonight and will try to squeeze in a bath myself, but we'll see if I have time after I finish all my paperwork.

Tom has taken it upon himself to "clean out the fridge" of foods that we can't eat... so he did not start with us today.

New Year - something different

Our new year got off to a bit of an unexpected start and has delayed some of my intentions, but not stopped them all together. My grandmother died Jan 1st and we traveled this week for the funeral, it was a quick trip and involved lots of sitting and fast food. Needless to say, we are feeling bloated and blah...

I ordered the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) book and have been quickly reading it. I also joined the yahoo group. It deals with asthma, allergies, eczema, constipation, malnourishment and other auto-immune, digestive, behavioral issues that may all stem from the gut and our digestive systems not being able to function properly due to foods and medications and environmental issues that cause the balance of good and bad bacteria and flora and acids to not be able to digest foods and nourish our bodies properly.

It is not a whole lot different from what I have done with The McCombs Plan but starts a little more slowly and adds food in slowly. We will begin with soups and broths made from bones and meat and vegetables, also consuming fermented foods like sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir and kvass to help establish healthy gut flora. We will take probiotics also. Gradually we will add eggs, raw vegetables and raw fruits. I feel like the whole family needs this at this time, we have all had some digestive issues and the kids occasionally will get patches of eczema and I deal with yeast, so we will all begin this together and look for improvements and find out what we are allergic to individually also.

I have my shopping list ready and we will begin on Monday - stay tuned for more!

Symptoms after the Holidays

I have not been eating well or exercising since Thanksgiving. :-( Many, many of my symptoms and several pounds have found me again... and a few extras:

• Very tired and low energy
• Heart palpitations
• Back pain and kidney pain
• Constipation
• Missing menses
• Sciatica with spotting/menses (from endo?)
• Knee and ankle pain
• Migraines
• Difficulty sleeping and rising
• Tonsil stones
• Itchy, flaky scalp and face
• Twitchy right lower eye lid
• Breakouts along chin
• Bloated and gassy
• Dark, sweet, cloudy urine (though blood sugar has been normal)
• Loss of appetite but increase in cravings for sugar
• Foggy brain and difficulty conversing and focusing on tasks

Hoping and praying for quick recovery as I start taking better care of myself. I need to remember to come back and read this when November hits next year - IT IS NOT WORTH IT!!!!