January 2014 photo shoot!

I updated my Before and After pics tab at the top of the blog.  But, I thought I'd post some crazy pics from our afternoon shoot. Life is never dull around here!

Wherefore Art Thou?

I know that's what you've been asking. :)

I guess the holiday season took me hostage.  I've been busy cooking (as usual), making gifts with my kiddos, trying new recipes for sharing with friends and family, joining my family in some caroling, visiting, and making some great memories. In short, it's been a lovely Advent Season. :)

 

I'll post some specifics on new recipes and fun things we've done over the last couple of weeks. I've also been reading a fantastic book by Dr. Scot Stoll, titled Alive! that I can't wait to share with you.  The scale has been stubborn and holding itself still.  However, I haven't helped matters much with avoiding the workouts I was planning to get started on during this break from school. Please pray for me to commit and do what's right in that area.

 

I'm pretty sure I should have asked for some extra hours in my day on my Christmas list. ;)

Progress pics

Okay, well, for some reason, blogger won't let me update my pages.  I made a collage of our last six months of progress. I'll post that here for tonight.  I LOVE seeing this!

And....drum roll....I DID IT!!!  I got into the next decade today!!!!  Feels pretty awesome to have met my goal! :D

Quick Fix

This was one of my Make-It-Up-As-You-Go dinners.  Took pics because it' looked so pretty and tasted pretty amazing too!

Along with some water sautéed potatoes, I cooked up some garbanzo beans mixed with onion, mushrooms, corn, swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, and seasoned it experimentally.  (coriander, oregano, turmeric, garlic, I think that was it)

Topped my raw spinach with it.  It wasn't a big hit for the whole table, but I really liked it. They did love the potatoes, though. My crew LOVES potatoes. :)

 

And, well, this is just cute.  Our breakfast line up on mornings I make smoothies for the whole fam.

Nutritarian Thanksgiving!

Yep.  That's the ONLY picture of the food we made for the whole day.  Can you BELIEVE that????

I wanted to get pictures of all the great food we made. All the recipes I tried were fantastic! It looked beautiful and tasted so good! 

Our turkey turned out lovely.  The cornbread stuffing and green bean casserole were delicious.  The sweet potato pie was VERY sweet, but a good flavor on the plate as long as you didn't have too much. 

The mashed potatoes were too runny, though.  Warming them in the crockpot all day was probably my downfall on that one.  I made up for it with my mushroom gravy, though, as David told me he loved it so much he could cover the plate with it. (at least, I HOPE that was a good thing ;) )

My il's brought a gorgeous and delicious salad that was devoured.  And, my sweet 11yo boy made that adorable "turkey" vegetable platter while my 14yo boy made a batch of home made hummus. 

The biggest hit of the meal, though, had to be the apple crisp ala mode.  A nutritarian apple crisp topped with vanilla Nice Cream.  We really wowed everyone, including ourselves!!  I'll get that recipe typed up and on the blog soon. You will DEFINITELY want to make it. :)

And, a little extra to be thankful for this year, I started the day .4 pounds down on the scale! That puts me at a 2 pound loss for this week already.  Wow!!

However, I really pigged out on the food at dinner today, so I'm thinking I may not like the story the scale tells me tomorrow morning.  For now, I'll just be happy, though.

Thanksgiving Menu

We spent the afternoon prepping food for our Nutritarian Thanksgiving Feast!  We've still got a few things to assemble and cook, including a cage-free, no antibiotics, vegetarian fed (is there any other kind of feed for them?) turkey. 

And, yes, I declare, by all of the powers vested in me, that serving the healthiest and highest quality turkey our budget can afford for Thanksgiving dinner qualifies as a Nutritarian meal.  I'm not sure we're all planning to eat it, but I'm grateful to serve it to our guests on this special day.

Here's our menu plan with links:

Vegetable Tray
Hummus (I'll post this recipe if it turns out)
Savory Bean and Spinach Soup
Turkey
Cornbread Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole (I altered this recipe; I mixed almonds and bread in the food processor and then mixed in dried, minced onion for the topping with some extra slivered almonds)
Sweet Potato Casserole (I altered this recipe; half the maple syrup, no sugar or butter for topping. I mixed pecans, dates, and flour in the food processor for the topping)
Green Salad (brought my guests)
Dinner rolls (brought by guests)
Apple Crisp (we made this recipe up. If it turns out, I'll post the recipe soon.)

Some pics of our hard work today

Looking Back

So, this past weekend we pulled out some home movies to watch.  Of course it's so precious to see the children in their tiny little form watching birthdays, Christmases, and births of babies happen before our eyes.  Love that.

This time, though, I really saw Me.  I saw a woman that has been overweight...heck, I'll just say it, OBESE for a good 15 years or more.  I saw a woman that was loving her family, making great memories, but worn out, tired, and struggling to keep up with the memories being made. In fact, a lot of the reason those movies got made was because I was sitting out on the sidelines of family life.

I heard my children gasp as they saw my oversized body move across the screen. I cringed when I saw the rolls and the way I struggled to just move or carry a baby in my belly with all the extra weight. I grieve that I spent those years hurting myself and putting those unborn babies at risk now that I know it was simply the result of my choices and ignorance regarding my food choices and habits. 

Today, I am a smaller size than I've been probably since I had my first baby.  I have more energy. I think more clearly.  I struggle so much less emotionally and hormonally.  It truly is amazing.

And, one thing that leaves me grieving is that for the last 5-6 years of that time I believed I was eating for health. I was following the *best* advice. We were eating meat and dairy based whole foods. We eliminated all processed foods and sugar. I loaded our plates with plenty of butter, bacon drippings, olive oil. We even at BEANS several times a week, for crying out loud!

I made so many foods from scratch, I could have given Mrs. Ingalls a run for her money. (okay, well..not really.)  I had a huge bin of natural supplements for omegas, stabilizing blood sugar, supporting hormone swings and depression, fighting illness.

I was Doing The Right Things.  Everyone told me so. My OBs, my midwives, my mainstream medical friends, my natural crunchy momma friends.  I was meticulous about my GD diet plan and I was the pride of the diabetes counselors.

And there I sat. Obese and growing Obese-er.  Diabetic.  Gall Bladder disease.  High cholesterol.  Depression.  Insomnia.  Thyroid symptoms and concerns.  Chronic fatigue.  Chronic headaches. Chronic yeast infections and mastitis. Chronic misery.

And today, here I stand.  FIVE MONTHS of replacing meat, dairy and nutrient-deficient fats by pouring simple, nutrient-rich plants into my body and I am a completely new person! I'll type it again....FIVE MONTHS!!!

Forty pounds - GONE!  (after 15 YEARS of trying to lose but only gaining, I am NO LONGER OBESE!! and well on my way out of Overweight.) 

Blood sugar symptoms and issues vanished.

Cholesterol levels perfect.

Instead of 3-4 days per week of headaches that sent me to bed for a full day, I have one minor headache each month the day before my cycle begins. Nothing I need to medicate at all. Huge difference.

Cycles are completely pain free.  No cramping, no headaches, no fatigue, minimal bleeding for minimal period of time.  I barely know it's even there.

Yeast infections and symptoms have disappeared.

Energy!  I can DO the work the Lord has called me to do.

Addiction free.  No more reliance on foods for good feelings.  No more detox symptoms (headaches, shakes, blood sugar swings, hunger pangs) creating the cycle that fed the addictions to caffeine, sugar, salt, and fat.

And, most importantly, freedom from the bondage of my sinful habits. No more choosing food to celebrate, reward, comfort, appease, release stress, hide from my struggles. 

I'm free from my emotions and the power food had over me to abuse those emotions. 

All because I was willing to challenge my pride and my idea that "I could NEVER eat like THAT!" and just TRY it for a few weeks to see what could happen.  I can't help but pour out my heart of thanks to the Lord for so clearly guiding me when, finally, I seriously prayed and asked. 

I look at that woman in those movies.  I know her heart. It's the same heart as the one I have today longing to honor the Lord and searching for answers on the right way to do it.  But today, this woman, she is free of the baggage that all those years of imprisonment to food, addiction, ignorance, and sinful food habits brought.  That freedom means I am released in so many other areas in my life as well. 

 

"Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.  "The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.  "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.'  " 

John 8:34-36

 

 

OH What a difference a year makes!!

Fall 2012

 

Fall 2013

 

 No more sitting on the sidelines for me!