Melissa Jones

I'm still here, though I haven't been blogging as much lately. February and March both left something to be desired when it comes to stress and self control, but my mind and kitchen are still very much focused on the Gatherer diet. It came so easy the first month, and I felt quite satisfied, then for some reason I rebelled. The rebellion had nothing to do with the diet, I love the foods I'm allowed, it had everything to do with me.

Anyway, last night I baked these cranberry flax muffins and they're great! I used 1/4 cup of teff flour, for 1/4 cup of the flax meal, as I prefer the way it turns out, I didn't add any vanilla, used ginger instead of nutmeg, used mac nut oil, no orange zest, and agave for sweetener. I mixed most of the pecans into the batter, and put some on top. They aren't very sweet, but are lovely bran muffins, I love the tart cranberries. I had some frozen cranberries from the holidays, and just let them soak a bit longer in the boiling water. So far today they have stopped me from cheating on any of the kid's snacks. (I hid away all the easter candy where nobody thinks about it, that helps

It's been a rough month, after that flu or whatever I had, I've been having trouble with my sinuses. I forgot how miserable sinus trouble can be, just by virtue of location, it can interfere with so much. I took antibiotics for it after a few days, I was too miserable not to, but never felt like they did the whole job. I didn't want to go back for more though, so I started using my neti pot twice a day to keep the infection away. Whenever I cut back to once a day, it would start to gradually get worse again. I think my sinuses are just sore and dry now, as I'm not stuffy and the neti pot doesn't get much out besides the saline I put in.

I tried putting some Alkalol in the neti, but I think it was a little late in the game for that. I can see how it would help when they are congested or infected, but at this stage it didn't seem to help much. Then I felt like I'd snorted curry powder after using it. I'll keep it in my medicine cabinet in case I need it again, but I'm sticking with saline for now.

My stress response with eating hasn't improved as much as I'd hoped. A healthy diet still requires a lot of planning and no skipped meals, or else I eat convenience food junk. As soon as my son started to get sick, I went into that cycle again. That didn't help my sinuses! I've also had work to do, housework to do, and responsibilities at home...add that to a brief vacation, and I've slipped up a lot this month. I'm getting organized again now. and hoping to see the scale start to go down again. It hasn't gone up as much as I though it would, but it certainly hasn't gone down!

This has not been my best week. My 5yo son came down with something on Thursday, and I quickly followed. It didn't have intense achy feelings like the flu, but it could be, it did have all the symptoms, though some were mild. I've tried a few online questionairre's and all I can find out is, hmm, could be either one. There's been a nasty flu-like virus going on in this area, so that could be it also (I hope not, because that one lasts 10 days or so!) My husband and 2 yo didn't get it, and they did get a flu shot, so who knows. I was so sure it was just a cold that I didn't treat it aggressively. We took a little elderberry and a little oscillo, but not nearly as much as I'd have taken if I were sure it was a flu.

Live and learn... here's to a few more years of boosted flu immunity, if it is indeed the flu. If I'm still in pain tomorrow, I'll go in and maybe they'll find out for sure. My trachea on up to my nose and sinuses are feeling very raw and painful.

My husband is giving me a hard time for not getting the flu shot, but that's a long term strategy. I'd rather get a mild flu on a normal flu year and be immune the next year to what might be a nasty one that the flu shots didn't cover. My 5 yo can't get the flu shot, as he's allergic to eggs. I did go ahead and have my 2 yo get the shot, since he's never had the flu and I worry about him getting hit hard with stuff like that (it always brings back memories of his bronciolitis from likely RSV when he was 3 months old).

To add to the aches, I stepped outside on Friday and slipped on some ice that was nearly invisible. I landed right on my gluteus maximus. I expected to be in a great deal of pain from that, but after ice packs and bromelain, just in case, it hasn't become painful. My soft tissues seemed to take the brunt of the force, and my muscles are pretty sore where I fell on them. I don't know if I'm lucky, or tough, or both, but there was a time when I would have landed on bedrest for 4 weeks from something like that. Other than feeling silly, and a bit sore, no harm done. I'm still loading up on bromelain, for that and whatever virus I've had.

With all that (and Valentine's day) I did have some trouble sticking to the diet. I'm back on track now again, and have made a batch of flax bread (with a little teff flour added, which is a nice addition), and flax crackers to dip in salsa. So I'm set for snacks for a couple days until I fully recover from this bug. I've also managed to eat some superfood fruits, like pumello and papaya. The toxins I did eat are not calling to me, they weren't worth it. I can eat just one, regardless of any advertising slogan.

Hooray! I'm down 11 pounds again. Just in time for Valentine's Day... another eating out day. I think we'll have Indian food this time, and I'll just get the Lamb Curry, with a little basmati rice. No more black dot toxins for me for a while, those things are potent!

I've been following my own advice from my last blog, to eat more and weigh less, and eating more fruits and veggies, to keep all my portions on track.

I didn't expect much progress when I stepped on the scale this morning, as since my birthday it hasn't exactly been my friend. It was friendly today though, and I'm back down to 10 pounds lost. Maybe by next week it will be 12 lost.

There's a papaya calling to me from the kitchen...I hope it's not too ripe!