THE BIG CHANGE: Finishing Phase I, Week 2

I wasn’t sick or necessarily unhealthy before, but I’ve lost 7 lbs and my husband 9. I feel like I can breathe better and I have more energy throughout the day. Additionally, both of us have been in such great moods and so into this new lifestyle change that seems to have really positively affected so many areas of our daily lives that it’s truly amazing and inspiring!

Here’s some inspiration for some meals we’ve been having and are going to have these first 2 weeks of phase 1…

• Crock Pot Roast, Carrots
• Halibut, brocolli
• Oriental Red Meat Salad
• French Style London Broil, green beans
• Salmon, Brocolli
• Chicken Salad on lettuce
• Taco salad (no shell), quacamole
• Hot Dogs, green beans
• Chicken Tortilla Soup with Avocado
• Chicken with salsa and guacamole
• Tuna Steaks Oriental Style with spinach salad
• Tuna Salad on lettuce
• oh, and omelets, fritatta, or scrambled eggs every morning!!

I’ve been learning a lot just from feeding the boys. It’s crazy how we would sit down for dinner and they could “technically” eat what we were having, but I didn’t want them to because of what was in it (and it wasn’t really that bad). So, I decided it was getting crazy. I’m not cooking 2 meals the rest of my life and what are they going to think as they get older? We need to eat better AS A FAMILY, so i basically followed the little guys’ lead. Funny how kids can change so many things in your life, including your perspective on food.

Series Links

THE BIG CHANGE: Introduction
THE BIG CHANGE: Getting Started, Week 1
THE BIG CHANGE: Finishing Phase I, Week 2 (you are here)

Tags: big change, family, healthy

THE BIG CHANGE: Getting Started, Week 1

In case you missed the introduction, start here. I’ve gone back to my notes from these 40 days and am sharing my thoughts from THE BIG CHANGE in our eating habits and lifestyle. The 40 days is broken down into 3 phases. This first phase is 2 weeks and here are my thoughts as we begin to detox this first week. I consider it a detox as we really narrowed down our food choices to the Approved Maker’s Diet Food List. The goal of these posts is not to share the details of the book or the plan, but please feel free to ask any questions or share any comments.

Day One

We had the frittata and half a grapefruit each this morning. It was good and no complaints so far. I packed us both a mixed green salad with roasted chicken as well as quite a few veggies with the raw dressing from the book, strawberries, and goat’s milk yogurt with blueberries, honey, and vanilla to take for lunch and snack today.

I’m excited and nervous…I’m a carb lover!! I know once we reach the third phase, I can do it. This is a lifestyle change that we both need, but these first 2 phases will probably be rough. But, I can do anything for 4 weeks, right?!?

Day Two

Tags: big change, family, healthy

THE BIG CHANGE: Introduction

We’ve recently undergone a big change in eating habits around our house. Since May, we’ve basically cut out all processed and packaged foods as well as switched our dairy and meat to grass-fed and free-range, organics. We follow the Dirty Dozen list for buying some organic produce, and have eliminated unclean animal meats such as fish without scales like catfish, shellfish, and pork.

You may wonder, how would one start this or get this crazy idea? Well, feeding my boys and this blog were the key factors. Documenting and looking at the healthy choices I was making for them made me question what Jonathan and I were eating. Why was it ok for us to eat something that I wasn’t willing to serve to Owen and Wyatt? Well, I could think of no good reason. We needed a change. I had read some things online and heard a few things from people here and there, but ultimately ended up reading The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin and have been using that as our general guide. We did the 40-day plan outlined in the book and I wrote some notes about our change and the results. Over the next few weeks, I will publish these thoughts as we look back on our 40 days and time since then.

I can tell you that it has been a much-needed and wonderful change. We have both lost weight, feel better, and are happily eating together as a family. We still occasionally eat out, but most of our foods are bought fresh and prepared at home. This may be a general blog transition for me as I work toward the end of the 52 weeks, but I’m not totally sure at this point. I would love to hear from any of you who may be interested in embarking on or already live a lifestyle focused on fresh, healthy, whole foods. I feel like I learn something new every day and each little piece of information is enlightening to me.

I’ve alluded to some of these ideas previously and I plan to share some of the basic ideas and principles of healthy full fats, soaking grains, sprouted beans and grains, raw milk and cheeses, meats, and recipes as I go along, but the primary reason will be to document the big change.

Series Links

THE BIG CHANGE: Introduction (you are here)
THE BIG CHANGE: Getting Started, Week 1
THE BIG CHANGE: Finishing Phase I, Week 2

Tags: big change, family, healthy

WEEK 23: More Healthy Grains

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This was another week for batch preparations and freezer storage. I focused mainly on healthy grains since I’ve been craving them myself and need some things in the freezer.

FOOD DESCRIPTION
Meals have continued as normal with more use of utensils and training to leave plates bottom-down on the table. I prepared blueberry muffins, pancakes, and banana bread for freezer storage. We’ve enjoyed the banana bread for sure and the boys love them all. I endeavored to so soak grains for all three with general success. This definitely makes much more dense breads than I’m used to baking and I need to keep trying and get more experience to get it all just right, but everything was tasty and edible.

PROCESS

• Banana Bread A very dense, tasty bread from soaked grains.

• 3 cups whole wheat flour (or use spelt or kamut)
• 2 cups whole, plain yogurt (or use buttermilk or kefir)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

1. Mix the flour and yogurt together in a large bowl and cover in a warm place to soak overnight 12-24 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350°
3. Add remaining ingredients to soaked flour and mix well.
4. Put in well-buttered 9×4 loaf pan.
5. Bake for 1-1.5 hours or until toothpick comes out clean from center. 

• Blueberry Muffins Healthy muffins from soaked grains. Recipe makes about 18 muffins.

• 3 cups spelt flour (or use whole wheat or kamut)
• 2 cups yogurt for soaking (or use buttermilk of kefir)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1-1/2 cup rapadura or sucant
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 TBS melted butter or coconut oil 
• 2 cups blueberries

1. Mix the flour and yogurt together in a large bowl and cover in a warm place to soak overnight 12-24 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 325°
3. Add remaining ingredients to soaked flour and mix well.
4. Pour into well-buttered muffin pans, filling cups about 3/4 full.
5. Bake for about 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center.

[Ingredients for banana bread and muffins. Bowls in the back with grains soaked overnight.]

• Pancakes Dense, chewy, healthy pancakes from soaked grains.

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (or use spelt or kamut)
• 2 cups kefir for soaking (or use buttermilk of yogurt)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 TBS melted butter 
• 1 cup water

1. Mix the flour and kefir together in a large bowl and cover in a warm place to soak overnight 12-24 hours.
2. Heat skillet or griddle to medium heat.
3. Add remaining ingredients to soaked flour and mix well. Adjust water amount as needed to desired consistency
4. Pour to desired size on griddle. I used a 1/4 cup for each pancake and was able to cook 4 at a time.
5. Watch for bubbles to form and flip. Don’t mash or flip more times.
6. Remove to cooling racks.
7. Serve with butter and maple syrup. You could do fruit butters, nut butters, raw honey or berry syrups as well. Consider fresh fruit as a topping or get fancy and mix in some nuts or berries into the mix. Or, consider adding a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg in the fall and winter.

 [This recipe made 20 pancakes. Try another pancake recipe here.]

WHAT I LEARNED
Soaking grains makes much more dense breads that take longer to cook than expected. I’m also going to fly through some ingredients learning to make all of these tasty concoctions and will need to find a place to buy some things in bulk. You can mix up your whole grains and your soaking agent on any of these recipes. You can also do various combinations. Mix and match and learn what you like best.

REACTION
The muffins were a little bland and I plan to try a new recipe with rapadura soon. The boys love the pancakes and they were so easy to make. Jonathan and I both enjoyed the banana bread, but it was a little undercooked.

SUMMARY
This was a first step on a new journey of making homemade soaked breads.
Please share your thoughts or ideas.
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Tags: grain, healthy, whole grain

My Food Philosophy

Organic, fresh, frozen, snack, meal, soy, formula, breastmilk, instant, whole grain, processed…these are all terms that you encounter when thinking about foods for your baby or even yourself. I think that I’m fairly moderate in my food approach with my babies.

LIQUIDS
I started out breastfeeding both boys and it went ok. I was feeding both and pumping at every feeding. The pumping was wearing me down…I hate the pump! My little guy wasn’t taking too well, though and after a few visits with the lactation consultant and many efforts on my own, I decided to ween to formula. After 3 months, both boys were being formula-fed through bottles. I found that my little one still didn’t like the bottle too much, so I felt a little relieved that it wasn’t me (because, of course I blamed myself) and a little frustrated thinking that I should have kept with it. Do I wish I hadn’t stopped? The instant answer is yes, but I don’t regret feeding formula either. We have done our best and both boys are growing well. We are just now starting to transition to whole milk.

I also introduced the cup (see this post) around 6 months. I have only offered water to this point and don’t plan to introduce juice until after a year. I haven’t exactly decided what, how much, or when I will exactly do this yet, but I’m ok with them not having the sugar for now.

SOLIDS
I have prepared my own organic baby purees and my boys have eaten these homemade foods about 90% of the time. There are times when we are traveling or out of the house that they receive organic baby food from a jar.

I have offered organic puffs for a while now trying to get them use to finger foods and feeding themselves.

Another thing I try to do is to offer the rainbow (which I will post about in the future) or at least provide a variety of foods, so they aren’t eating only sweet potatoes all day long.

They consistently feed themselves finger foods now such as cooked sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta, cheese, turkey, tofu, and cooked egg yolk. There have been some others here and there, but these are the main ones for now. I have a little trouble with the cooked fruits and vegetables as making sure they are cooked soft enough and offered in the correct size (big enough to pick up, but small enough to handle chewing and not choking).

EXTRAS
I have learned alot from Ruth Yaron’s book Super Baby Food and have added tahini and wheat germ to cereal and a little behind, but planning to work on more of these healthy additives and legumes very soon! None of these are things I ever knew anything about or even considered before this book, so I think I’m making progress by having introduced even a few so far.

MYSELF
I, myself have never been the moth healthy eater. I try to eat fruits and vegetables along with lean protein each day, but I sure do love carbs!! I have never prepared only fresh or organic foods at home for myself or my husband, but I am learning lots about our eating habits while trying to feed the best to our children. I do buy mostly organic produce, but I also look for healthy options on sale. I don’t avoid all processed snacks as I think there is a place for these (anything in moderation, right?). That is why I have bought the puffs, biter biscuits, and cheerios. The boys do like these and I have found them to be a helpful tool in allowing them to learn to pick up food.

So, I don’t have a clear philosophy on my food choices, but I go with what I’m learning as a I go and try to offer a variety of healthy foods. I use organic as much as possible to avoid the synthetic chemicals. There’s lots to learn about organic and I’m certainly no expert. This also leads to me to an area that I’m not much familiar with, but would love to learn more about buying meat and crops from a local organic farmer. I know there are some in my area and that’s on my list of things to research.

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Tags: formula, healthy, organic, puffs, variety