Posted on 2nd September 2010 by Mish in food
mark sisson, primal blueprint, primal diet, primal eating
I’ve been eating pretty strictly recently, but have found that I’m eating more than ever before. I’ve also lost a bunch of weight – although I have much more to go – and am enjoying my food choices. It’s taken some realigning of my thinking, though. Eating primally essentially means to rid your diet of refined foods – including grains. I have not eaten any bread, cereal, oatmeal, cookies or other refined items in about a month. I’ve caved a couple of times – I had a bun with a burger last weekend (and felt sick after) and ate the crust of Kiara’s PB and J, just because I wanted to. I caved on homemade pizza too, because we make killer pizza. Not sure if I’m ready to give up that one. Have to find a replacement for the crust. Any suggestions?
My biggest struggles have been getting rid of hot cocoa in my coffee in the morning. I’ve reduced it, but haven’t eliminated it and getting rid of dessert at night – although I have done really well with this and have had maybe one bowl of ice cream and a couple of ice cream bars on really hot nights with the kids. I love ice cream, it’s my hardest treat to give up. I have had zero problem not indulging in cookies or brownies or whatever – but ice cream is killer for me.
I eat some fruit, but not a ton. I generally cook a few eggs and some bacon if we have it for breakfast. If I get hungry mid-morning, which is rare, I eat a handful of nuts or some trail mix with dried blueberries and goji berries. At lunch I try to eat a salad with salmon or chicken, hard-boiled eggs and avocado. Last night for dinner, I had a great burger John cooked, smothered in sauted onions and mushrooms with mozz cheese on top. It was amazing and I didn’t miss the bun at all!
I was such a bread lover that I never thought I could learn to eat this way, but it’s not nearly as hard as I thought.
The best thing about eating primally is that I am able to eat as much as I want, yet I actually feel less hungry than I did before. I have more energy overall and am working out and “playing” more than I did. Rather than killing myself, and my knee, by trying to run and walk for miles, I am enjoying leisurely walks and sprint workouts. I even get the kids in on it by racing them!
My best resource so far has been Mark’s Daily Apple. It’s a wealth of resources and encouragement. I highly recommend checking it out – I haven’t seen definition in my arms and legs for about 7 years at least, now. All of a sudden, my muscles are starting to make an appearance again and my pants are – dare I say it – loose!
I have had some interesting side effects while exploring this new lifestyle – I will share more later!
Technorati Tags: mark sisson, primal blueprint, primal diet, primal eating
Posted on 19th August 2010 by Mish in food
christian weight loss, eating well, God-Given Diet, losing weight, primal diet, Weight loss
As you know, I don’t own a scale, so I popped on the doctor’s office scale today while at my youngest’s 1 year check-up. I was at the same office last week too for Alex’s diabetes follow-up, so I weighed in. In the last week, I’ve lost 5 lbs, staying on my primal, God-given diet. Yay! I still have quite a bit to go, as I was very overweight, but it’s nice to see it’s working and I am feeling better overall.
I’ve changed my diet over to a pretty low-carb diet. Basically, I’ve banished all refined flour and sugar products. I no longer eat bread, oatmeal, sugar or other grain products. No cakes. No bagels. A little painful, I must admit! I’ve also eliminated potatoes and corn because of the starch. Not everyone does this, but I’m looking for optimal weight loss! I’m really overweight, so I need to make some drastic moves. Some people on similar “primal” diets recommend eliminating fruit, but I haven’t gone that far. I figure I can do without a sandwich, but I can’t do without a peach. Not to mention the fact that God gave us peaches in season, so I should eat them!
So, what do I eat? Well, a lot of stuff.
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Technorati Tags: christian weight loss, eating well, God-Given Diet, losing weight, primal diet, Weight loss
Posted on 18th July 2010 by Mish in food | gardening
christian weight loss, god diet, God-Given Diet, losing weight, paleo diet, Weight loss
I am concentrating on keeping my eating simple. I’ve found that if I just eat simple food, without a lot of “stuff” – side dishes or sauces and dips for example – I eat less and feel more full. It’s been hard for me to disconnect from food. Food was the only thing I had in common with my parents, for example. It seemed like no matter what was going on between us personally (and there was usually a lot), if someone just fried up some chicken or grilled some steaks, all was well.
While I still love to eat yummy things, not making as big a deal out of meals has made it easier for me to lose weight. I don’t have a scale here at home, but the last time I stepped on a scale was at my son’s doctor’s office. I weighed…well, it’s embarrassing…I weighed a lot. More than 200 lbs. I was shocked because while I certainly didn’t feel fit, I didn’t feel huge.
I resolved then and there, though, to lose weight. I read a few books and was inspired to do some belly-busting, gut-wrenching workouts and eat only lettuce. That lasted about two days. So, I devised another plan.
I decided I would eat only things that God intended us to eat. Food that’s been here forever. I also resolved to put exercise back into my life more regularly, but not kill myself running an excessive amount of mileage or jumping up and down in the living room.
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Technorati Tags: christian weight loss, god diet, God-Given Diet, losing weight, paleo diet, Weight loss
Posted on 25th June 2010 by Mish in food
Christian diet, christian weight loss, Diet, god and diet, God-Given Diet, losing weight, primal diet, primal eating, Weight loss
I’ve struggled with my weight since I was about 14 years old. At 14, I was 5 feet 7 inches tall (the height I am now) and when I weighed in at the varsity sports physical (held in the library in front of everyone), I was 150 lbs. I’ve never been a skinny waif, but I was never considered “fat” either. I was athletic and muscular and well, big-boned! Nevertheless, the shock on the athletic director’s face when she saw how much I weighed was enough to make me cry!
Since then, I’ve dieted and exercised and over-dieted and over-exercised. I’ve had seven babies and been pregnant with two others (for a brief shining moment), and so have had the hormonal and weight changes that go along with that. I’ve never been extremely happy with my body, but I’ve never been so unhappy either that I’m willing to starve or have some kind of eating disorder.
I’ve recently lost two pants sizes. I have no idea how much weight I’ve lost because I don’t own a scale. But I definitely needed to lose some, because I was wearing a pants size that I’ve never had to wear before! Rather than starve myself and sign up for a gym (I hate to spend money on stuff like that), I decided to take a more God-given approach.
First, I really hate to exercise. I don’t mean that I like to sit around all day, but I like my exercise to have a purpose. When we lived in Vermont, I used to stack wood and carry wood into the house and haul water down to animals. I lived on the side of the hill, so even getting to the mailbox was exercise. I live in the city now and still have a large garden that needs hoeing and weeding, but the other activity simply isn’t there. So I had to adjust.
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Technorati Tags: Christian diet, christian weight loss, Diet, god and diet, God-Given Diet, losing weight, primal diet, primal eating, Weight loss
Posted on 24th June 2010 by Mish in food | frugal | gardening
anti-lawn, grass, lawns, no lawns, urban farm, urban homestead
I’m still trying to find a purpose for lawns…other than golf. I really can’t. I mean, it’s nice for my kids to have a grassy area to play soccer on, but other than that…
In fact, lawns are pretty new to America. According to American-Lawns.com, “Green, weed-free lawns so common today didn’t exist in America until the late 18th century. Instead, the area just outside the front door of a typical rural home was typically packed dirt or perhaps a cottage garden that contained a mix of flowers, herbs, and vegetables.
In England, however, many of the wealthy had sweeping green lawns across their estates. Americans with enough money to travel overseas returned to the U.S. with images of the English lawn firmly planted in their imaginations. Try as we might, it wasn’t as easy to reproduce a beautiful English lawn. After all, they couldn’t just run down to their local hardware store and pick up a bag of grass seed. Grasses native to America proved unsuitable for a tidy and well-controlled lawn, and our extreme climate was less than hospitable to the English grass seeds.
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Technorati Tags: anti-lawn, grass, lawns, no lawns, urban farm, urban homestead
Posted on 17th June 2010 by Mish in food | frugal | gardening
garden, homegrown, lettuce, organic garden, urban farming, urban garden, urban homesteading
Just wanted to post a prideful note (I know, pride’s a sin, but I can’t help it) showing the third full harvest of lettuce and spinach I’ve gotten from our urban farm. It gives me a thrill to know that not only do I not have to purchase lettuce from the store, suiting the frugal me, but also that I know exactly how this lettuce was grown – without any chemicals or fertilizers and with a slight donation to the rabbits before the fence went up!
I’m still trying to get most of the kids to eat salad, but I’ve been putting fruit in our salads lately and that seems to help! Although Jack’s propensity for ketchup is slightly disturbing…
Technorati Tags: garden, homegrown, lettuce, organic garden, urban farming, urban garden, urban homesteading
Posted on 13th June 2010 by Mish in food | frugal | gardening
eating frugal, food, food budgets, frugal, frugal living, thrifty plan, USDA thrifty food plan
According to the USDA, the monthly THRIFTY plan budget for the groceries of me, my husband and our 7 children is, wait for it…$1217 a month! Holy cow! That’s the cheapest plan they can come up with. If I was LIBERAL with our spending, according to the USDA we could spend $2400 a month! Is there anyone who spends that much per month on food? If so, we need to talk.
I was also reading over at the Jeub Family about a recent NPR article that said it now costs $222,360, on average, to raise a child. One Child! No wonder people get freaked out about having kids. If I listened to stuff like this all of the time, I’d be afraid to have kids too. Seriously, how much do people think car seats cost? And really, soccer was only $35.
Would you believe that we spend less than $600 a month on food for our family? That’s less than $3 per day per person. I’ve done it on even less than that – less than $100 a week – but in the summer we buy more foods to grill than we probably should. Winter is where I really save money.
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Technorati Tags: eating frugal, food, food budgets, frugal, frugal living, thrifty plan, USDA thrifty food plan
Posted on 21st May 2010 by Mish in attachment parenting | food | frugal | homeschool
food, food budgets, frugal living, homeschool, inc. controlling food, large families, large family budgets, unschool, unschooling
I don’t really control what my kids eat. That’s not true. I control what comes into the house. I am very label conscious. I won’t buy anything that has high fructose corn syrup or BHT. If there is an organic version, I’ll buy that. I don’t buy prepackaged foods. I don’t buy pre-made cookies and other treats. Although the occasional bag of Oreos does work its way into our house. We also eat frozen, pre-made pizzas if I have forgotten to make dough in the morning!
I buy a lot – and I mean a lot – of fresh fruit, cheese, all-natural granola bars, applesauce, frozen fruit for smoothies, milk, juice, some types of crackers, carrots, and cereal.
And then I do this crazy thing – I let the kids eat it. Pretty much whenever they want and in whatever order. I’ve had kids who have requested peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast, cereal for dinner and all kinds of stuff in between.
Why do I do it? Because I still can’t take more than two cookies out of the cookie jar without feeling like I’m doing something bad. Because I still need to “clean my plate” even at the detriment of my own weight (and I’ve had some issues there) every night at dinner.
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Technorati Tags: food, food budgets, frugal living, homeschool, inc. controlling food, large families, large family budgets, unschool, unschooling
Posted on 18th May 2010 by Mish in food
gardening, mariel hemingway, meat eating, organic gardening, organic meat, pastured meat, urban farmer, urban homesteading, vegan, vegetarian
I’m about as crunchy as they come. Just ask my friends. I recycle. I farm. I buy all natural foods. I make my own baby wipes and baby food. I hang out my clothes to dry. I bring my own bags to the store. Pretty much if it’s considered crunchy – I do it. And I love vegetables. Really I do. But I will never be able to be a vegetarian. I’ve been a vegetarian and I truly don’t believe it’s a healthier way to live. “What???” you gasp. “How can eating only vegetables not be the best thing for you?” Well. It’s not.
First of all, meat, fish, and eggs are good for you. The jury is still out on just how good for you dairy is – even organic – but many vegetarians, including the elitist of all vegetarians, Helen and Scott Nearing, ate dairy.
Meat, fish and eggs, when ethically and organically produced, have Omega-3 fatty acids which are important for our immune system and, obviously, protein.
My goal for eating and living is eat healthfully and wholly. Only eating things that grow out of the ground or eat things that grow out of the ground. A veggie burger made of over-processed non-fermented soy chunks is not a whole food. Neither is soy milk. There’s an argument, too, that eating these non-fermented soy products is actually worse for your body than eating a steak.
If there’s a choice, I’ll eat the steak.
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Technorati Tags: gardening, mariel hemingway, meat eating, organic gardening, organic meat, pastured meat, urban farmer, urban homesteading, vegan, vegetarian
Posted on 17th May 2010 by Mish in food | frugal | gardening | green
city farming, food, frugal, gardening, large families, michelle hogan, michelle kennedy, organic gardening, urban farming, urban homesteading
All day Saturday and Sunday we placed compost thickly over the side yard (we live on a corner lot so most of our yard is on the side) and started planting the tomatoes and peppers I started in March. Eggplants went in as did rows of lettuce, brussel sprouts, more broccoli and cauliflower. We also placed mounds of compost over sod we dug up and planted squash, pumpkins and cucumbers.
Because we have so much yard and terrible grass, we are smothering the lawn and digging up places for the plants. We’ll see how this method works. We are trying very hard to use only hand tools and rid ourselves of gas guzzling machines (yes, getting rid of our mower is next on the list!). We hope to rely on mulching and compost to help us in this endeavor so that maybe I’m not nearly as sore next weekend as I am this weekend!
These photos are from Saturday, but we actually continued the smothering to the path on Sunday with another load of free compost from the yard waste center. If you have a yard waste center near you, check it out, don’t waste your time buying bags! This place is amazing!
Jack helps get compost out of the truck
Technorati Tags: city farming, food, frugal, gardening, large families, michelle hogan, michelle kennedy, organic gardening, urban farming, urban homesteading
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