I've made some real progress this week in the area of planning meals and sticking to the plan. I did all my shopping for the week on Monday, with a plan in hand, and have stuck with it throughout the week. Some unexpected things came up today, so I guess we'll have the tacos and quinoa tortillas tomorrow instead (I made them, then had to run out for a couple hours so we all just ate on the run instead. At least I got to run into Chipotle, which has tasty and compliant foods if I order right, and I did with a dairy-free barbacoa bowl). There have been lots of leftovers, which takes care of lunches and even some breakfasts, and plenty of vegetables. It's been a good week. It is nice to do something nice for myself and my family at the same time.

Just make up a plan that sounds good and compliant and don't second guess it. Write it down, shop, and just do it. I have had to run to the store for a couple fresh things, but not as much as usual, and that saves money. I've also been trying to not let healthy food go to waste...follow through with cooking and eating those veggies so that hopefully the produce drawer will be empty by next Monday.

I love studying other religions and looking for similarities and new perspectives. I often don't even make enough time to study my own, much less others (other than History Channel specials) but there's one chapter in LDS scripture that has always resonated with me, and recently I've begun to think of it in both spiritual terms and temporal terms, as I've been looking at my own issues with cheating on the diet and not always taking care of body as I should. The body houses the spirit, and is equally important to care for...if the body is not healthy and the mind is not clear, then the spirit is held back from progressing and serving others.

Here are the lines that stick with me:

Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul. Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions. 2 Nephi 4:28-29

I love the positive tones in this, and find it very motivating. I wonder how I can adapt it to a postie on my refrigerator: "Awake, my soul! No longer droop in toxins. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for foods that sap my energy. Do not stress out if I fail. Do not slacken my strength just because it's been a hard day"

Huh, I may just keep the original on my fridge, it's much more poetic.

By the way, I loved Dr. D's Blog today, Each Day Anew...could have written it for me.

Back to blog business:

So does six pounds lost count if I just gained them last week? Sure, it's better than gaining them last week and not ever losing them. I never wanna see those pounds ever again! My morning blood sugar is now right where it should be, 20 points down from where it never should have been. That bs, like the 6 pounds, was also a very new development, and the two together scared me straight. I don't have prediabetes, and I want to keep it that way. Always better to worry today than tomorrow!

Yesterday at Taekwondo I found out that the new self-defense curriculum requires me to do breakfalls for testing, and since I'm a blue-green belt, that means doing them from standing. I also need to do a dive-roll, and was it a running dive-roll? I've never been a gymnast at all, never even could do a cartwheel, so this will be interesting. No big thick mat or anything. Yet another impetus to lose all the extra weight I can! It won't be long before I have to start really jumping for some kicks, so I need to get light and strong.

I tried Yoga for the first time in a long time today, and it was my first real yoga class, the others were Power Yoga at the gym. I found this a much more awesome experience which made drops of sweat roll off me and will make me very sore I'm sure. The challenge there will be backbends and hand stands...and I'll work on that. Yet another impetus to get lighter and stronger.

Explorers should exercise 4-5 times a week, and I've been consistently only doing two, that is taekwondo. On belt jump camp week I did three hours a day for 5 days, not as intense as a regular class since it was all curriculum, still, enough to teach me that I can do a lot more than I've been doing. I'd like to exercise to some degree every day, maybe less intense on a couple of those days. I've found that really makes a difference for my morning blood sugar reading.

I talked to my sister-in-law about how she lost a lot of weight. She's not on BTD or anything, but ate the same things every day and nothing more, with absolutely no cheating. These things were simple, easy and predictable. So I'm trying to come up with a similar plan. I like to mix things up, and try new recipes and foods, but I've been very lacking in the routine department since my second was born. Giving up eggs as an explorer made it harder, because those were my breakfast routine for oh so long.

The benefits of a routine are that it doesn't require much thinking or advanced planning, just toss the same thing together. In the long run, it's healthier to mix things up and get more variety, but routine is my weak point, mixing up is my specialty. The point is to avoid skipping meals or being low on vital nutrients, that helps avoid cravings and cheating.

The mush in my last blog is my new breakfast routine. I sometimes chop a whole apple into it, instead of apple sauce, and grated apple would be great in it too. It's filling enough on its own, but adding some natural turkey bacon or a vegetable on the side is always a nice touch. I could probably add whey protein powder to it, but I prefer to save that for a smoothie. If I feel bored of mush, my second option is salad...it's great at breakfast time.

Lunch routine is tougher, as I usually have a pretty late breakfast. Lunch is a good time to chop up some raw vegetables and maybe cook a turkey or bison burger. Fresh mozzarella makes a frequent occurence at lunch time. I can snack on the veggie stick later in the day if I crave something crunchy...raw kohlrabi, raw turnips, radishes, they're all good.

I don't do any real major cooking until dinner time. I don't really need a dinner routine for that reason, I'm usually more organized by dinnertime and can make a healthy dinner with veggies and salad.

I'll start with the recipe:

1 cup water (bring to boil)
pinch of salt
1/2 Cup Quinoa Flakes or Rolled quinoa*
2 Tablespoons chia seeds (whole, or ground)
1/2 cup applesauce (apple juice sweetened)
1 Tablespoon vegetable glycerine or agave nectar

Add the quinoa and chia to boiling water, reduce heat and let bubble slowly for a couple minutes, turn off heat, and let sit for another couple minutes. Add applesauce and sweetener, stir and enjoy.

*azure standard has a good price on these in bulk, I've made them with a grain flaker as well, and it worked fine although they weren't as pretty, not that pretty matters once it's mush.

Recently I've come to the conclusion that what I've been lacking since the birth of my second child has been routine. I need a fall-back menu, something that's healthy, to always have on hand for times when I don't plan or shop for anything more exciting.

This was my third IfHI conference, and I can't pick a favorite, but if I did, it might be this one... even though it was a hard trip for a number of reasons unrelated to the conference.

My favorite thing about it was all the usable information. That's to be expected since Dr. D'Adamo lectured for so many more hours than in previous conferences. Here are a few tidbits that I found relevant:

White Lines: these usually go across the fingerprint horizontally, side to side, not vertically from tip to end like most of mine are. That means I have less of them then I thought. Vertical ones are often caused by hormonal changes (I'm guessing mine are since I've had hormonal imbalances since puberty).

I AM Explorer: My ring fingers are longer than my index fingers, despite much controversy on the matter (many people I've had measure me have thought the other way around, but in women, 2 mm is enough of a difference to not count as equal). I was ready to stay in explorer camp whatever my fingers said when I found this out, due to a few other things I learned at the conference, but it was nice to know I'm measuring correctly.

Genotype Mix-Ups: If somebody is unsure and follows the wrong genotype diet, as long as it's within their blood type's possibilities, it won't do any harm. It won't have as much therapeutic value as the right one, but it's still good. So trying one or two to see which works best is just fine. (I tried two, and felt better on the explorer diet, so that's where I'll stay). Why did the gatherer diet make me sick? It didn't. Some things were going on that made me sick (hormonal imbalances and/or candida), and the explorer diet addressed them better.

SWAMI Genotype is Awesome: look for an IfHI practitioner near you! After seeing how it works, I can see how individualized it truly is, not only taking into account all the measurements, but also allowin the practitioner to input different goals and problems to address for the individual. I can't wait to get my own report.

Candida: It thrives even in the saliva of non-secretors. Os don't usually get a ton of it, but their immune system overreacts to even a little. In Os, candida activates a primitive part of the immune system, the complement system, which doesn't use antibodies, but damages cells. I'd imagine this can wreak havoc in the digestive tract as well as the immune system. Addressing the inflammation and strengthening the digestive tract are two strategies I'm using. The inflammation reducing aspect of the explorer diet seems to help me greatly. I have to say that I haven't totally "believed" in candida before, but now I think it's a big problem for me. It's not worth using antifungal medications because it will just bounce right back, in fact it seems that it's not really worth "fighting" the candida directly, but fighting the inflammation of damage therefrom seems to be the way to go. As I review my notes, I'll post more about this. Oh, and celiac disease makes one more likely to have candida problems. So, an O-non-secretor with celiac disease can have an interesting time of it.

Teachers and intestinal overgrowth. Once again, celiac disease makes this more of a problem (this applies to my son). There are a number of dietary things that can help with this. Burdock root is the first one that comes to mind. I think I'll do a blog about this subject and about the candida...so stay tuned.