Part 2: Why We are Trying AGAIN!

 While writing this blog to help my husband's cholesterol,  I was struggling too.  Fatigue, stomach issues, adrenal issues, were symptoms that I was battling every day. In addition, I was busy with 2 kiddos under the age of 3. I have a lot of mom guilt for being so tired and lacking energy to meet all of my kids needs.In addition to all of that, I was working full time, and had this great idea to start a blog. 

I started a blog about healthy eating, but I did not have time to journal in baby books about about the kids big life events? Mom guilt!  As I sit and think about what I just wrote, it seems silly. Prioritizing the health of my husband, the kids' dad,  and feeling guilty about it, just sounds ridiculous when it is said out loud. Desiring to keep a family healthy seems much more important than what their favorite veggie was when they first started to eat. 

While I was struggling with some health issues, my husband's cholesterol issue was the biggest one that we wanted to tackle. Needless to say, the conscientious act of cooking together not only physically improved my husband's health, it also brought the family together mentally too. Cooking daily in the kitchen leads to good conversations, hard conversations, tears, giggles, and mad cooking skills. 

Once the blog stopped, so did the healthy eating. We did do cooking, not with the intention of keeping healthy, but more for the purpose of convenience. Did we give our kids healthy meals? Sure. Could we have done better? Of course! As the kids got older with sports, and we got more tired, we developed a bad habit of eating out more. Sometimes sit down restaurants, other times, it was fast food. While we were eating out more, we were spending more money, that too became an issue with me working part time and having 2 kids in full time daycare.

Fast forward to a few years later, when Covid-19 hit. All of the eating out, and fast food came to a screeching halt. We knew that we needed to change our game and start cooking again. 

Final part next time....

TTFN,

Vanessa

It's Been over a Decade Since this Blog was Made?

 Wow, is all that I can say. Looking back on these blogs, it seems like forever ago. Thinking about the fact that in 2011 my son was an infant and now he's 13, our daughter was 2 and now 15. There are so many things that I wish that I could go back and change. I would parent better, get on the floor and play more, holler less, read more bedtime stories, worry less about my job, go for more walks etc... However, I cannot go back and should not have regrets...Hahahaha, that's easy to say. 

My purpose for this blog was to get  my husband healthy. Writing this blog helped keep us accountable for the process. We knew that Kevin did not have longevity in his family, so when we found out that he had high cholesterol in his early 30s it scared us. We wanted to make sure that we could get him healthy so that we could spend decades and decades together as a family. In the process, we were able to lower his cholesterol, but not to a level that was acceptable. Eventually he had to go on medication to help. His cholesterol has been great ever since.

Now, we have a new purpose for eating healthier..... I'll let you know more tomorrow. 

TTFN,

~Vanessa

Why are Some Eggs more Expensive than Others, and is the Extra Cost Worth it?

Do you ever wonder why when you go to grocery store there are so many different types of eggs to choose from and so many different prices too? I will give you the quick run down on all four options.

1. The run of the mill general eggs that you buy at the grocery store are probably come from caged chickens. The live in horrible environments. Here is a photo from the website: http://ohsnapletseat.com/2013/04/01/different-types-of-eggs/ that shows the general idea of caged chickens.

Caged Chickens

 2. After hearing about the living conditions that cage chickens live in, I decided to start buying cage free eggs. Then, I watched the video "Food.Inc" and I saw that cage free chickens are not much better. They do not live in cages but instead they still live in horrible conditions that do not allow them the opportunity to roam freely and they don't see daylight. They also get pumped with antibiotics...Hmmm I wonder why?! Here is a photo of "caged free" chickens from the same website as the previous photo.

Cage-Free Chickens

3. Now, what do I buy? I don't want to buy "regular" caged-chicken eggs. I don't want to buy cage-free eggs? Now what? Well, there are two more types to choose from. Free-Range and Organic. According to http://ohsnapletseat.com/2013/04/01/different-types-of-eggs/ Free-Range chickens are supposed to be able to roam freely for a portion of their time but it does not mean that they don't live in cramped quarters part of the time.  Now how much time do they get outside? Who knows but those are still better options than the previous two.

Free-Range Chickens http://ohsnapletseat.com/2013/04/01/different-types-of-eggs/

4. The final type of egg choice is organic. Organic basically means that the chickens cannot be pumped with antibiotics (unless they were sick), they must live in cage-free and free-range environments. They also probably don't need as many antibiotics because the are able to move around and are not standing in feces etc...These are going to be the most expensive eggs to buy. However, if you think about how many toxins we already have in our environment, and consider how often eggs are required in recipes, for your sake and the chickens' sake isn't it worth the extra dollar or two to know that you are not putting more hormones or antibiotics into your body?

Yummy Crock-Pot Enchilada Soup

So, here is a soup that I created by combining a few recipes. The cream-cheese is optional if you are wanting to go completely Paleo. Actually, that is not true. The Frontera has cream in it. I chose this enchilada sauce versus the others because the others had corn syrup in them. I would rather have all natural ingredients, including cream, versus corn syrup. I have been off dairy for about a month but when I saw the block of cream cheese in my fridge I just knew that I better use it up or it was going to go bad. Here is my soup creation. It is basically chicken, veggies, spices and optional cheese.

GMOs: What are they?

Here is a very interesting article about GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). The article talks about what GMOs are and the article also explains how pesticides that farmers are using are affecting our health, in particular our gut. It is a very interesting article. GMOs Article: What are They and How are They Affecting our Bodies?

Burpless Fish-Oil Trick

Part of my new diet is to take fish-oil. I am not a fan of it by any means because in the past I have always burped it up (how disgusting). My doctor told me that if you freeze your gel capsules and then take them you don't burp them up. It COMPLETELY works! I assume that by the time they thaw out they have passed the stomach and are too far in the digestive system to burp up. You gotta try it. Let me know your results!

Feeling Different

Today I am not talking about what I ate, it was nothing amazing. Instead, I would rather share with you how I have been feeling. First, I have noticed so far with my diet change is that I am less tired. I have not had the mid -afternoon crash that I normally feel. Usually by 2:00 in the afternoon I have all I can do to keep awake. I then usually drink a soda or have some sort of "boost" to get me through until dinner time. I was told that I can still have coffee but to limit my intake to one cup a day. I have never been a more than one cup of coffee gal. I have been drinking a cup of coffee in the morning but I don't really seem to need it. So, getting through the day without feeling like I need a nap is an amazing and exciting change.

The second change, is weird to me and again it is about how I feel. This evening I told my husband that he was going to think that I am crazy but I have been having this uncontrollable feeling as if I have forgotten something. Do you know the feeling that you get when you forget to put on your wedding band or another piece of jewelry like a watch? You feel "weird" until you put the item on again. I have been feeling that way but to me the feeling is in my arms. It is similar to the feeling you get when you carry something heavy and then you put it down. Your arms feel lighter and free. So, mentally I have the sensation that I have forgotten  something. Physically my arms feel lighter as if I have put down something heavy that I have been hauling around forever. I wonder if anyone else has had weird physical sensations when going on a dietary cleanse. I would love to know! Share your comments and thoughts if you like!