Grain Free Goodness

I almost made it through my first holiday completely grain-free. In fact, it didn't really bother me to pass on the mashed potatoes or my mom's stuffing. No, I didn't mind at all until days later when we went to Mark's parents house and I was faced with fresh raspberry pie and Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake. I waved the white flag, had a half of both, and considered it part of the 80/20 mentality. For the record, it was very, very tasty and worth the "cheat". Surprisingly, other things I've cheated on in the last few months haven't tasted as good as I

thought or once remembered. Some things just don't have the same appeal because when I ate those things I didn't feel well (insert breakfast foods and granola bars).

After my first 30 days on a "primal" diet what I really did miss was the complete elimination of the occasional baked good. I'm not even necessarily talking sweets (that's why we eat 70% chocolate! Lindt has a good, non bitter one.), but just something like muffins or bread which are usually not grain free at all.

I've tried a couple of different recipes and made grain free graham crackers, two types of muffins and chocolate chip cookie bars. For the record, the "grain" in these is commonly either coconut flour (it smells heavenly and I thought I didn't like coconut!) or almond flour/meal.

I'm delighted to share that I've found a most delicious pumpkin nut muffin recipe. You should know before I continue that I am very picky about the texture of foods so if it's a little "off" (the thought of whole wheat spaghetti makes me shudder), I'm not very forgiving which is why I love these muffins so much. This is from Primal Blueprint Cookbook.

Here goes...

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut flour, sifted (coconut flour is expensive, about $8 per small bag, but you don't use very much in any grain free recipe as they tend to be more egg heavy than anything)

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice mix

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cooked pureed pumpkin ( I used canned and it was just fine)

6 eggs, beaten

4 tablespoons butter gently melted

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans (super yummy, but optional)

3/4 cup chocolate chips (I use way less because I want them to have just a hint of chocolate)

Here's what you do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease muffin pan or use aluminum disposable muffin liners (they will stick to paper liners). I would like to point out that this recipe makes a full pan of mini muffins, but only half full size muffins. Double up or downsize or just deal with it until you know you like them.

Combine dry ingredients and sift into small bowl. Stir to blend and set aside.

Put the pumpkin in another bowl and crack eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg is added. Add melted butter, maple syrup, and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Add flour mixture to egg mixture and blend well until most floury lumps have disappeared. Gently fold in nuts and chocolate chips if using.

Spoon into muffin pan or liners and bake. I bake my mini muffins for 13ish minutes and check with a toothpick. The original directions for full size muffins say to bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden brown on top and toothpick is clean when removed.

Turn out to cool on a wire rack. I'm 50/50 on this last step. Sometimes I forget and leave them in the pan. It hasn't changed the taste, so I don't think it matters. :)

Eat warm or room temperature. The first time I made these we ate them so fast I barely had to store them at all. The second time I made them I left them on the counter in a container and after a few days they became "stringy". I can't explain, you just had to be there. Now I store them in the fridge and microwave them for 8 seconds to rewarm. I've not had any problems with the "stringy" situation this time.

Maybe it's just because I haven't had "real" muffins in months, but I love, love, love them and they fill my need for a little of the comfort I felt eating bread.

I am happy to report that since September I've lost the 15 pounds of baby weight I was hanging on to (or rather hanging on me). :) Even though I've lost weight, I don't think this is for everyone. You have to be very committed to a grain free lifestyle and it takes a lot of effort to build a menu that's varied and interesting so you don't feel like you're missing out. Better than wearing my skinny jeans is the way I FEEL.

Let me know if you try them. I'd like to know if going grain free has gone to my head or if you think they are yummy too.

Better Late Than Never

Over the last 3 years I've been blogging I'm sure you probably could find at least 2 other posts with this very same title. Maybe I should have titled this one Better Late Than Never Thanksgiving 2011. :) Life happens and sometimes there's just not the time to document it. Here's "some" pictures from our Thanksgiving holiday.

Luke, James, Stella, Brooke, Carly, Steph, and Nash. Do you love the Indian costume? We honored the Native Americans that taught the white people how to live off the land. :) So Sweet!

Hi, Dad!

After we ate our Thanksgiving lunch some of us went outside to play, Carly included. :)

We had a fire, roasted a few marshmallows and tried to play Corn Hole except we couldn't find the bean bags that are hiding in our mess of a garage somewhere. Better luck next year. :)

My nephew, Jamie grabbed my camera and snapped this picture of my sister, my mom and I.

I give everyone fair warning that I will be taking pictures so that they don't complain about how awful they look as I'm shooting away. Both my nieces even brushed their hair! You laugh, but you just never know when you're dealing with teenagers and college students. :)

Michelle and Jamie, my nephew.

Hello, Love Birds. Doesn't Mark look great? He's lost 25 lbs. in the last 2 months!!!! He's been eating "primally" too. It's amazing what cutting grains and most sugar out of your diet can do.

If I could bottle up the Stella's sweetness so I could remember what that was like when she's 7 and yells that I'm the worst mom ever, I would. She tells us everyday, "I a big girl". This big girl was told at her well check that we need to get her monster tonsils taken out. The thought of that makes me tired since we just did Luke's last year. Maybe in 2012. :)

On Facebook there were people posting everyday what they were thankful for this month. I didn't post, but I could easily put that I am thankful for my parents everyday of the month. As I get older and deal with more and more adult responsibilities, I appreciate them even more. I love that they are so down to earth, hard working, and honest. They are so incredibly helpful and supportive and have been really great role models. I love that when I mentioned that it's overwhelming to take our circus (4 kids and 2 adults) on the road for the holidays, they didn't hesitate to come to us. Our Thanksgiving was so relaxing because they came to us and my mom did the majority of the cooking. I really wish that you all could have parents like mine because they continue to help me live my best life and for that I am truly blessed. Hope your turkey day was wonderful too!

The Day Before

The stocking are hung...oh wait, it's not THAT day before, but it kind of feels like it with the preparations and the kids incessantly making decorations. Above...our two turkeys were brining in the cooler for 24 hours before they made it into the oven. I'll let you know how they taste. :)

With their need to craft and make decorations I decided I should have mercy on them and do at least one organized Thanksgiving craft. Thanks to a Mailbox craft book I bought at the beginning of the year, we made a cute, simple turkey with some of my scrapbook paper.

I cut out the circles needed and the beak, waddle and feet for Luke and Stella. I let Brooke trace and cut out her own parts. She's much better with the scissors. :)

The turkeys turned out so cute!

I think next year I'm going to have to buy a few Thanksgiving decorations because the kids were focused on making more decorations because we didn't have enough. Hence the hand prints all over the fireplace.

After the craft we did a few Thanksgiving themed activities courtesy of Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Throw in some math work and we called it a day. The math wasn't as exciting as the craft. :)

Luke is doing Kindergarten math because he is desperate to do school work too. When we were doing his math together he insisted on covering up the number line to complete the addition problems. Sure enough, he finished them in seconds and they were all correct. The kid is a math whiz because he can figure it out in his head. I think by next year he and Brooke could be doing math on the same level. I'm glad that at least one of the kids has Mark's brain for math!

This little buddy boy is starting to get into things and he's just scooting around on his belly. He can get to where he wants to go and just yesterday I was noticing how from now on things are going to be a lot more challenging with Nash mobile.

We kept scooting Nash away from Stella's game and he kept coming right back. It's funny how that works.

This is how we deal with that. :)

It's Thanksgiving Day and I'm able to sit here and blog because my mom and Mark (I know!) have it all under control in the kitchen. After spending hours in the kitchen cooking everyday, I am so, so thankful to have a bit of a break today. Can't wait to eat those Pike Valley turkeys!

Crazy Kids

A friend on Facebook was appalled when I posted that 2 out of my 4 kids went to bed without dinner the other night because they weren't down with the new dinner rule of no complaining. Good thing I didn't post on there that Brooke's toys and door were removed from her room, child protective services surely would have been beating down my door. :)

In reality I should have laid the smack down on meal time behavior months ago. It's funny how bad habits start slowly and then all of a sudden you're dining with 3, three headed monsters. When I no longer wanted to eat dinner with my own family, I knew there was a problem. :)

There is a saying Start as you mean to go on and I do not intend to spend the rest of my life negotiating and entertaining complaints while I'm trying to eat dinner. I'm surprised I didn't have heartburn after every meal! Needless to say after the last two nights of no dinner, I didn't hear one grumble at last night's dinner. I'm not claiming victory yet (they'd like to lull me into a false sense of security and then slowly backslide into crazy complainers), but I'll will say last night was wonderful. Maybe it has something to do with feeding Stella first and putting her to bed early. :) The kids are very excited about Thanksgiving tomorrow. After staying home last year when I was on bed rest, we realized that it was much better for our kids (and less tiring for Mark and I) if we ate at our own house so the kids could go to bed when they needed to. In the end it means less punishment for all of us so this year we're having Thanksgiving at our house with my family.

{Above: Brooke and Luke wrestling in the kitchen Monday afternoon. This rarely happens because Mark and I rarely permit the kids to touch each other since it typically ends in whining. It was funny, so I took a picture of course!}

Speaking of punishment, I truly am not the wicked mother of the Midwest...I promise. While I come down hard on disrespectful and rude behavior, I let a lot of childish misbehavior slide. I realize that kids are curious creatures and I remember doing a lot of things I shouldn't just because I was curious. Take for instance Luke and Stella's Chemistry lab, I mean shared bathroom,weekly I find any number of experiments lurking on the bathroom counter. While I'm not crazy about the mess, I usually clean up the mess (or make them do it) and ask them not to do it again. Does that make a difference? Not really, but that's where I prefer to give my kids leeway. Not at the dinner table. :)

Speaking of crazy, our Nashy Boy has been going to bed by 6 PM the last few nights. His sleep habits have been erratic with him skipping a nap occasionally. Before I became a mother of four, this might have thrown me for a loop, but I'm learning to just roll with it because some things you just don't have control over. Now if he continues with this skipped nap thing on a regular basis, I might start hyperventilating. :)

Last night he slept from 6 PM to 5:30 this morning. I'm okay with a full night's sleep if only I got a full nights sleep. Cutting out Thanksgiving crafts for the kids and researching how to best cook my organic ham in the crock pot so I don't ruin it until midnight was not such a good choice.

Nash has been getting around a little more. My mom plopped him down in the kitchen while she was trying to get something out of the oven and surely he found the vent. I don't know if all kids love vents, but our crawlers always have. This morning when I started this blog post Nash was trying to bear crawl under the computer desk to get the cords.

This is classic Nash doing "the Superman". It's a great move to tone up your abs if you want to try it. Just lift your legs and put your arms straight out and hold for 10 or so seconds and repeat. :) Nash isn't working out, he's just funny like that.

We've got our "organic, grass fed, expensive as hell turkeys" brining in a cooler in the kitchen. There are Thanksgiving crafts and school work to do and we're going to our church to see how they deep fry 300 turkeys for the needy in one day. I'm also going to make grain free pumpking muffins. It's sure to be an action packed day and I just hope there might be a nap somewhere in there for me because I'm not sure I can make it on 5 hours of sleep.

Thanksgiving Food Drive

The good news is that we collected 30 boxes of stuffing, 21 bags of oranges, 63 cans of veggies, 17 jars of gravy, and 10 packages of baked goods and met some new neighbors. The disappointing news is that of the 33 families we gave fliers to, only 9 families came over on Sunday.

The ones that came were generous, but I was hoping for a much better turn out. I'll take the cue from Milli Vanilli and I'll blame it on the rain yesterday. :) We had fun visiting with the people that came over. We talked football and home improvements and all were appreciative that we were collecting food for people in need.

In the end, we were doing this to collect more food than we ourselves could donate, so our very first Thanksgiving food drive was a success. I am looking forward to doing more service projects with our family in the future. You should try it, I think you'll like it too. :)

Best Wishes to the New Mr. and Mrs.!

Everyone, meet my high school friend, Lori. Hi, Lori! Mark and I had a lovely kid-free night yesterday while we attended Lori and Scott's wedding reception at her family's banquet hall, Wunderland. The food was great and the company too. :)

These lucky ducks were married on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale on the 4th so the reception was cleverly beach themed, hence the sunglasses.

Mark and I had a great time without our children. Have I already mentioned that? :) I was excited to meet up with Lori's photographer, Ron of Cincinnati Digital Photography whom I had the pleasure of shooting a wedding with this summer. (I was super busy at the time so I never posted any pictures which I should dig out of the archives. It as an unpaid gig done for the experience, so I didn't have to edit them if I didn't want to...and I didn't.)

Ron let me borrow one of his flashes and I was so grateful to be able to capture some pretty pictures. There is an open invitation for me to accompany him to the weddings he's shooting and maybe after the holidays, I'm going to take him up on that. I'd like to be a wedding photographer too. :)

I was excited that Mark got to meet Ron and that I was also able to pester him with some questions I had regarding white balance. So helpful! I handed my camera over to him which is how Mark and I got our picture taken above as well as the photo below of my old high school friends.

Me, Beth, Lori, Laura and PJ. It was PJ's birthday yesterday and she didn't want anyone to know or make a fuss over her. It kind of didn't go as planned since Lori's maid of honor mentioned PJ in her speech and Lori had the baker, who made beach themed cookies for favors, make PJ a birthday cookie in the shape of a cake. So much fun!

My friend Laura's husband, Dan was such a sport for letting Mark get updates on his old high school football team on his phone. We're old fashioned so our phones do not have Internet capabilities and Mark is obsessed with his Alma mater, St. Xavier High School (that and it's play off time). I think he secretly likes to relive the glory days when he was on the team. Oh, you know I sported his football jacket with his #75 on it back in the day. FYI: Mark's team won, 35 to 21. I knew you'd want to know. :)

Pretty cake with white chocolate sea shells.

When Mark and I had to cut the cake at our reception I had no idea what I was doing, but Lori after years of practice being the boss at Wunderland, is an expert. I think there's a plaque in her office touting her master of this skill. :)

I'm pretty sure I have a similar picture from high school of Mark in front of a group posed in the exact same position. 15 years later it seems very little has changed,except that I don't wear his football jacket anymore. :) Congrats to Lori and Scott! Thanks for a "Wunderful" evening.

Introducing...Our New School Room!

Nope, this isn't it. Thank God! I wanted you to have a visual so when I tell you our school room went from Tuscan poop to a pretty grey-blue you can appreciate the color change like we can.

My dad came over a couple days this past week to work on our school room. I asked him last weekend and then he showed up on Tuesday. Now that's service! :) Thanks to being paid for photos in gift cards, we had some extra cash for paint. Maybe I should change my payment policy on my photography blog to "will photograph for Lowe's gift cards".

My dad is so awesome. Not only did he have to paint two coats of blue, but he also had to paint tons of moulding and trim. He only complained a little. :)

And here it is folks. I can hardly believe what a difference a gallon or two of paint can make. It looks so much bigger and brighter and nothing at all like poop. I keep walking by it and shaking my head. I'm not sure when that will wear off, but seeing what a difference it made makes me want to paint our dining room that is painted like a Tuscan villa (with faux painted bricks and all). I am so blessed to have parents that jump in and help with whatever project I dream up. I love them and I love our new school room!

Stella's Handiwork

This morning I was scurrying around in my pajamas trying to get our house in order. It was one of those days that I couldn't be bothered with getting dressed, I just jumped in and started tacking projects. Our office was in desperate need of organizing and as a bonus I got some things hung on the walls.

I've been meaning to take care of these projects, but something else more pressing always bumped it out of the number one spot on my list. I got motivated in a hurry this week when our family decided to take on a service project of sorts for our church, St. Susanna. We are having a canned food drive in which we handed out fliers to the 30 or so houses closest to us in our subdivision and invited them to bring some Thanksgiving canned foods and to meet the neighbors. I am praying that people will come and that we can make some friends and provide meals for the needy. It should be a lot of fun!

I was hoping the weather would be decent so we could host our neighbors outside on the driveway around our new fire pit, but it looks like the weather is calling for rain possibly and in that case, we'll be inside. Nothing like having neighbors you don't even know come on over for a little gathering! Needless to say this was all the motivation I needed to get things rolling.

While Mark and I were tacking my "Honey Do" list downstairs, Stella was doing something naughty upstairs. For whatever reason, Stella so nicely emptied out 5 of my 7 dresser drawers and one of Mark's. I made her help me clean it up, but still this was not one of the projects I wanted to do today. She said, "I sorry, Mommy. I not do it again." It's a good thing she is cute!

It's All Downhill From Here

I can deny it no longer, Nash has officially mastered the bear crawl and is mobile. Granted he can't move very quickly, but still he's moving and that's not good. Funny how things change from baby number 1 where we waited breathlessly for Brooke to do the next great thing. Now I'm wise enough to know that mobility isn't that great. If he learns to get himself up into the sitting position by Christmas, our Christmas tree may be in jeopardy. :) Silly little babies!

Angry Girl

It's been a few weeks since I mentioned that we're having a tough time with Brooke. It's sad to say that things aren't really a whole lot better. In addition to limiting choices, making a calendar to decide who's "day" it is, and filling God's Greatest Commandment jar when people make a choice that honors God or puts some else first, we've had to clear the toys out of Brooke's room and remove her door. I know that sounds so harsh, but we did leave her books and her school/craft supplies. Needless to say she's been creating all kinds of things out of paper these days. Maybe the paper, pencils and tape will have to go next. I can't really say that cracking down in a major way has had much of an effect on her attitude at all. If only there were a map of how to proceed. :(

What I can say is that for me I've had an attitude adjustment that keeps me from being angry about the situation all the time. Because we've been able to prioritize that Brooke's character is more important than anything else, it's taken our uncertainty out of assigning her consequences and punishments. I must admit that once upon a time I thought that a child couldn't live without a room full of toys. Instead of being a privilege, it seemed like a right. We've got money to buy them, so therefore you should have them attitude is no longer. The funny thing is is that she doesn't even seem to miss them. I think the hoarder in her is hugely relieved that she doesn't have to worry about her stuff anymore.

On Sunday she woke up in a foul mood and Mark and I could see that it was going to be a rough day for her. During church she wouldn't hold our hand during the Our Father and then when it was time for us to shake people's hand for the Sign of Peace, she gave us the cold shoulder and then smiled angelically for every stranger.

Brooke is a willful, angry girl. I'm not sure what she has to be angry about since she has always had everything that she needs and more. Maybe that's it. Too much of a good thing? We've been praying that God will soften her heart and that she will learn to submit to our authority before she hits the dreaded teen years. Lord have mercy on my soul!

It's very sad for Brooke because she has to miss out on most of the blessings we can bestow on her. She missed out on going tailgating and consequently so did I since Mark was going to the game and someone had to stay home with her. Later that day I asked her how many times she would have to suffer these consequences before she would learn that she's not in charge. She told me probably 3 or 4 more times. Finally there's an end in sight! :)

While things are on some level are more peaceful in our home, Brooke is far from being the girl God designed her to be. I can't say when she'll get her toys back or when we'll have a "normal" school day again, but I can say that we our doing our best to honor God in the way that Mark and I are handling this situation. As her mother, it's heartbreaking to watch her self destruct. Please continue praying for Brooke so that she might not have to suffer anymore. Hopefully, we'll be singing songs of praise soon.

Gone Primal and Not Looking Back

It all started back in September with the South Beach Diet. Now let me just stop right here and say that I think dieting is the worst idea ever. Stick with me here as I am sure my credibility is on the rocks at this very moment. Dieting is a temporary change in eating habits and generally isn't not something that is followed long term. So when my sister-in-law told me that she maintains her weight with the South Beach Diet I was intrigued. I was cautiously optimistic but intrigued that I might possibly lose my last 10-15 pounds of baby weight fairly quickly. Everyone wants what they want right now. I wasn't asking for the moon and stars, only to wear my "regular" jeans as opposed to my fat jeans a size or two larger than I've worn in the past. Simple, right? :)

To make a long story short, I didn't lose the reported 10ish to 15 pounds that "everyone" loses on Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet and to this day I can't figure out why. I lost 3 pounds in two weeks which is nothing to sneeze at unless "everyone" is losing way more on the same diet.

What appealed to me about SB is that there are phases and by Phase 3 you transition to a "normal" diet to maintain your weight. I thought that sounded reasonable and therefore bent my rule of never going on a diet. When the SB diet didn't work like I expected, my sister-in-law wondered why I didn't throw in the towel and eat whatever the heck I wanted. The truth is that even though the scale hardly budged, I felt so much better. By better I mean that I wasn't starving all the time.

Let me back up and say that I felt as if I ate a healthy diet. However, even though I ate all the time, I seemed to be starving all the time. I rarely left the house without a snack because if I was out and my blood sugar dipped, I couldn't think straight. It's true.

Once this summer we were having a grand old time at Kings Island and since we live 5 minutes from the park, we just go home and eat. The kids were having so much fun that it became later and later until it was approaching 1:30. I told Mark either we have to walk to the car right now or that I had to have food immediately. I think I might have eaten one of my young had we not stopped to get a snack. :) I don't feel that way anymore!

So after my initial couple of weeks with the South Beach Diet I started reading Mark Sisson's The Primal Blueprint which is basically about cultivating a lifestyle balancing good food, some exercise and play and plenty of rest. I'm all about the holistic life and finding balance so this really appealed to me.

Some of the things that rang true for me was his lengthy discussion of insulin and how it affects our body. He says, "You cannot reduce body fat on a diet that stimulates excessive or even moderately excessive levels of insulin. " My dad's been diabetic for quite some years now with Type 2 (Adult onset) and after reading this book I decided that most of us whether we realize it or not are abusing our pancreas to the point that we may be a decade or so away from becoming diabetic ourselves. Interestingly enough when I started eating like a diabetic (or at least how one is supposed to!), my crazy sugar crashes and hunger went away!

Something else that knocked my socks off is that he discusses how what he calls "Chronic Cardio" (exercising at 75-95 percent of maximum heart rate...think aerobics classes and jogging and cardio machines) stresses our bodies so much that we secret a stress hormone and then increase our appetites.

To make my point, I ran into someone who just completed their first half marathon and when I offered congratulations, she told me she was frustrated that she couldn't lose a pound! That lead me to believe that when Mark Sisson says Eighty percent of your ability to reduce excess body fat is determined by how you eat, with the other 20 percent on proper exercise, and other healthy lifestyle habits, and genetic factors he must be correct. After all my Mark has completed many rounds of a strenuous exercise program called P90X and is still battling his weight and his ever growing spare tire.



I am excited to say that my "skinny" jeans fit nicely and I feel better than ever. So I'm sure you're next question is what is it that I am eating or not eating. Am I right? I have to preface my lists with this disclaimer, following a Primal lifestyle is costly in a lot of ways for most people. One it is costly in the way of the time factor. To eat well takes loads of planning and even more time making fresh, healthy meals. I would say I devote a large portion of my day to preparing food and I can do that since my place of work is in my home. Busy people can do it too, it just takes more planning.

The second costly aspect of eating this way is that the foods that are the healthiest are the most expensive. Think organic and grass fed meats. We already eat this way so it wasn't a total shock to our budget, but increasing our protein intake and also veggies has cost a lot. I'm running an experiment to see how much I spend on groceries for the month of November. I'm honestly a little afraid at what I might find.

This is a picture of one of our freezers where we keep the bulk of our meat. We get a delivery the first Monday of the month from Pike Valley Farm and this month we had to increase our order substantially to keep up with our new demands. I used to not like meat very much, but it's funny how my mind has changed because the texture of grass fed meat is so much nicer and also the mental part of knowing the meat we are eating is clean helps too. Read Eating Animals if you want to know the ugly truth about your local grocery store meat. Or don't because you might want to continue living blissfully unaware. :)

Now onto the lists. :) Here's what I eat...grass fed meats and chicken and eggs, loads of vegetables and lots of fruits, a little bit of dairy, nuts and good fats. That list is pretty short, isn't it?

Our family eats at least 15 dozen eggs a month. Some of you (if you've read this far) might be screaming about cholesterol and that we eat 180 eggs a month. Studies have been done and there is not correlation between eating eggs and a rise in cholesterol. Don't believe me? Read the book! :)

Here's what I don't eat anymore: Grains (all of them!), processed foods, beans, and very little sugar.

I know the grains may have you more worked up than the 15 dozen eggs, but research shows that eating grains and other processed carbs causes your blood sugar to spike even, get ready for this, eating WHOLE GRAINS. I know! I was floored too. The Primal Blueprint makes a case that eating grains interferes with absorption of vitamins and minerals. Sisson claims that everyone is allergic on some level to grains, but that you may not know it because you've always had them and don't know what you feel like otherwise if you didn't eat them.

Here's the kicker, there are people who eat like this and there are countless websites about eating Primal or Paleo and most of them don't want you to take their word for it when they say you'll feel better than ever. They all challenge you to get off sugar and grains and processed foods for at least 3 weeks to 30 days. Then you can decide for yourself if it's worth the effort. Because believe me, it's a lot of effort sometimes.

Instead of eating rice or pasta or potatoes for dinner we eat meat and two veggies with a little fruit for dessert. If you're wondering about the "we", I mean Mark and I (I've got him on board too!) and the kids to some extent. I am introducing the kids to more veggies and meat and hoping over the next few months to transition the whole family to eating this way. We'll see how that goes. :)

In addition to fitting in my jeans and losing 10 pounds so far with minimal exercise (according to conventional standards), I feel better than ever. Besides getting my hormones in balance with bio-identical hormone replacement therapy this is the next best thing I've done for myself. Seriously.

Here's a quote that sums up this whole deal, "Once you're sensitized to the negative effects of unhealthy choices, it gets easier to turn down what used to seem impossible to resist." I used to LOVE breakfast foods. French Toast, pancakes, waffles were tops on my list with a side of O.J. When I say love, I mean at one time I'd marry french toast if I weren't already married to Mark or my camera. :)

If you think you're not feeling your best, do the research and try the experiment yourself. This journey will challenge most of the Conventional Wisdom you've learned over the years, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results. Do you dare?