Tastebuds reset!

Our family has been eating either GAPS or Primal most (75%? maybe) of the time now. We still have some no no's in our pantry (pasta, rice, etc), but I for one don't really want them so we haven't cooked them just yet. We have had lots of veggies, but it feels like I'm the only one who really enjoys them.

Last Sunday and Monday we made an attempt to do the GAPS diet intro program. Essentially, you eat fresh broths (meat and/or bone) for a few days along with boiled meats and vegetables and probiotic foods. As you feel ready, you add in eggs, avocado, and a bench of other "healing" foods. This has been hard for Honey as he really only likes veggies raw, and those are off limits. Cooked veggies are his nemesis I think. Anyway, by Sunday at 7pm, I was so hungry I could have eaten anything, and Pumpkin was screaming because I think I wasn't giving him enough through my milk. So I bailed.

I don't mean to imply that I started eating crap, I just bailed on soup for days. We are all still doing well with out meat, veggies and fruits, and I know I feel pretty good. I've definitely lost my desperate need for carbs and sugar. Someone left ice cream in our freezer on Halloween and it has not been touched. By this time if we were not on this eating plan, that ice cream would have easily been history. I think Honey feels better too - less reflux as far as I can tell.

Peanut is still eating some grains and yogurt, but we have noticed that if she has a grain of any kind, she will eat very little of anything else. We've also noticed that she tends to get full fast on grains, even gluten free, and the rest of the day is a lot of me bugging her to eat. When she only does meat and veggies, she eats way more. I'm not completely sure, but I think she is also happier and less labile without grains. The decrease in her dairy (she could have survived on cheese alone before) has absolutely made a difference in her tummy and - not to be gross- bowel habits.

It has been fascinating to see how our tastes are changing. We had roasted squash this week which would have made me gag before, but I loved it! I'm finding carrots to be very sweet, and food to need little additional spice. Honey and I compared notes yesterday, and we had both tried a little milk chocolate after Halloween and found that it tasted a bit chemical and nasty. Dark chocolate is still wonderful as far as I am concerned!

At the end of this week, I was tired of cooking (we already do a lot of cooking, but the soup and stew and broth thing is really time consuming), so we ordered in. We decided to experiment a bit, and we had Five Guys burgers and fries one night and Chinese food last night. The burgers were good and pretty close to GAPS legal aside from the buns. Fries are of course out, but the strange thing for both of us was that our ketchup was way too sweet! We haven't had ketchup in a long time as we cut out tomatoes a while ago, so this was pretty shocking. We both felt fine though after eating whereas our Chinese food made us both a little queasy. That was surprising because I ordered steamed chicken and vegetables with brown sauce on the side and only had a tiny bit of sauce. You would think that wasn't hugely different, but I did have some soup and part of a spring roll, so who knows. There could have been soy and sugar and whatnot in there.

The most interesting thing this week though was Honey's lunch at Thai Basil. He always orders the spiciest food he can, and Thai has actually been spicy enough for him in the past. More often than not, what other people find to be really hot doesn't even phase him. Well, he couldn't really eat his Thai dish as it was far too spicy for him. So the readjusting of the taste buds is definitely happening here.

This morning we went to the farmers market to do our shopping, and for the first time we got everything we will need for the week for under $90 from the market. This may be the most exciting development. I'm thinking less about how to put meals together - it's easy because there are not a million choices - veggies and meat is really it. We are using every part of what we buy, either for a meal, stew, soups, or for compost when all is said and done, so I feel like we are living even more lightly. There is lots of cabinet space being freed up as we use up our flours and grains too - I'll soon be able to have space for jarred and canned vegetables in the pantry! Now, I'll have to learn to can...

Oh the fall!

What a gorgeous day! Cool, crisp, breezy and sunshiny! I love the fall, and wish I could be outside through all of it. Yesterday, we were able to get out for a long walk and see the beginnings of the changing leaves. I started to think about the trees in front of our house and the show of orange leaves that is soon to come.

This morning, we had playgroup here and before the kids arrived I went out in the yard with Peanut and Pumpkin and raked leaves into a few small piles. My original goal was to get the leaves into the composter. Once the kids got to the leaves though I realized that playing in piles of leaves is really a treat for two year olds, so all my work paid off in an unexpected way! They rolled and jumped in them and each wanted a turn raking. At one point, there were so many hands on the rake that it looked a little like the flag at Iwo Jima. There were some tussles and we had to pull out another rake, but they mostly worked through it and all had a good time. I did eventually get the leaves into the composter during afternoon naps, so all was not lost!

Tying things up...

For those of you following along at home, I figured I'd update some of the loose ends here...

I've been trying to avoid the topic of weight as I really do believe that there is an unhealthy focus on this in our culture. You can see the beginning of my attempt to keep track of how long it really takes to lose the "baby weight" here. I cannot avoid the fact that I am still wearing maternity jeans and if I did wear regular pants it would be in a size that I do not now nor have ever owned, and that I simply refuse to purchase. Thus the maternity jeans. I do have one pair of jeans that fit (poorly and uncomfortably) that are in a size I am familiar with :) but I can hardly breathe in them so it really doesn't count.

Can you hear my frustration? Can you sense my attempt to chill out about it as we are only 3 months in? Can you tell this is really really hard for me?

The really crummy thing though is that I only have about 15 more pounds to go, and it wears like so much more. I can tell that what everyone says is true - your body shape really does change after the second one. I am finding that my tummy is really beginning to slim while my hips and thighs remain the same. *sigh*

I know that if I could carve out some time to move it would really make a difference in how I feel about this as well as in the weight itself, but that is proving to be way harder this time around. I think by now with Peanut I was walking the dog everyday (we are lucky if it is every week right now) and had started back at yoga and pilates. In order to do classes now, I need to get daycare which is really silly for an hour or two a day. I thought there was a moment when naps were coinciding and I'd be able to get a workout in during the day, but that was short lived. I know I should just put the kids in the stroller and go but then I feel like I am depriving Peanut of the time she needs to run around....I know, I need to take care of myself if I want to take care of anyone else well. OK, you've convinced me - I'm walking this week.

On the home improvement front, we did finish Peanut's bookshelves - they came out great! Here they are -

And we got our small composter back - had no idea how little it really was! In our townhouse yard it looked so big!

As far as the Oil Cleansing Method I started in July (read about it here), it is really great! For the most part, my skin feels great - and really when it doesn't I know it is because of something I ate (or didn't eat) or that I need more sleep, or should rethink something I have said "yes" to... It's as if by cleansing this way my skin has been allowed to tell me more about the rest of my body. Or maybe it just forces me to pay better attention. Pretty cool.

I'm sure there are more loose ends to tie...but a little man here needs some attention!

Huge Freecycle Score!

Last week, the whole family went to hear a speaker on composting that was hosted our Holistic Moms Network chapter. He was just what I needed to inspire me to get moving again on my composting. We have a "pile" in the yard - just yard debris that we let sit out there and decompose. It will become "black gold" someday, but not for a long time. We used to compost our kitchen scraps when we had a tumbler like this, but we left that at our old neighbor's house when we moved and have yet to pick it up. Actually, I just sent Honey over there now to go get it. From what Mitch, our speaker, said we should fill the tumbler up and then let it do it's thing rather than continue to add stuff to it. To me, this meant we had to start another compost pile or bin. We always have scraps in the kitchen to toss and really half the point of composting is to save the usable scraps from ending up in the trash or the disposal. Also, it is hard enough to train everyone to toss the veggie and fruit leavings in the compost bin under the sink instead of in the trash or disposal - imagine I we are constantly changing that. Oy.

So I'm thinking we will have to get another tumbler, because we don't want critters getting into the compost and we don't have the time/energy/inclination really to build a lacking bin. This means a few hundred bucks that we don't have in our budget. Oh well. I figure we will scour craigslist and something will turn up. Well, what do you know - I saw a post on our local freecycle for a beat up compost tumbler like this one, and said "woohoo!". I replied that I wanted it, arrangements were made, and sweet Honey made two trips with the tremendous thing and it's stand strapped to the roof of our Santa Fe. Free! Yes free! A $500+ composter! We set it up in the yard yesterday and have already added last nights tomato ends, stray spinach leaves, onion nubs and pear and apple cores. Here it is in it's new home...the drum is a little banged up, but it is fully functional and who cares if your composter is pretty or not?

If you haven't joined your local freecycle group yet, you are a ninny. We have gotten so much great stuff for FREE! When we first joined, it wasn't to get things either. I originally joined when I had bought my townhouse and was renovating it. I was hoping to get rid of some things without bringing them to the dump. I was successful in that, and soon realized I could get rid of pretty much anything. I know you have crap in your attic or garage that you don't need or want. I know, I know - there is no tax deduction! I still donate quite a bit, but you can't donate an open container of ice cream that you just don't like the flavor of. I have given away a pan of BBQ when we ordered too much for a party, shelves, cabinets, a floor (!), fabric, sewing patterns, record albums...you name it. Now, I keep a box for stuff to give away by my computer and when it starts to get full I sit down and post on freecycle. I check the site out every day or two to see what others are parting with and sometimes (like the composter) I hit gold! I've gotten lots of things including clothes, (a maternity swimsuit with the tags still on!) a brand new drying rack, hangers, toys, shrubs and plants and have met some really nice people along the way. So join up, and save those old patio chairs from the landfill. Some guy is happy to take them and paint them up for his yard. There is someone who needs a part from your old broken kitchen aid mixer. Someone will use the rest of the body glitter you only used for clubbing that once, and there is a taker for all those pieces of wood leftover from your deck building. Join freecycle! Save stuff from the landfill and make someone else very happy!