I forgot to mention that my son, who was having trouble eating, is doing much better now. I did give him the zantac, as prescribed, because I could't stand to see him not eating his favorite foods. It seems that things are improving now and he can get off the Rx. I tried to be vigilant about keeping him away from things that could have chemicals on them, since medications like zantac and tagamet compete for detoxification pathways, and are actully quite dangerous for that reason. He's completely off the Rx today, and hopefully the gastroenteritis is gone and he won't need any further tests or medications. I'll keep the head of his bed elevated, and I'll have him spit into the tube for the secretor test today or tomorrow, to further improve things. I strongly suspect that he's a non-secretor.

I'm still doing pretty well compliance-wise. Milk is no longer calling my name after a few days of complete avoidance. I now equate milk, soy and corn with pain, suffering and agony. I didn't even have a muffin that I made for my family, because it had a little corn in the mix. I did make compliant pancakes to ease the cravings a bit. Hopefully I can make it out shopping today and pick up some sweet potatoes to make fries from. Carb cravings hit me pretty hard this time of year, so I have to be prepared.

I'm back to broccoli for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner, but need to make some greens. Maybe some peasant soup would hit the spot this time of year...

My 2007 series of non-compliance is now over. I proved that I can handle eating a lot of things, and survive pretty well, but that way of eating is not worth it to me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I felt pretty normal compared to the general population, but I don't want to feel my age or grow older, I want to feel younger. I don't want to age down the path that was put before me (arthritis, diabetes, depression, fatigue, to name a few landmarks).

What I really want is to be pain-free, energetic, happy, alert, fit, and all-systems-go for whatever the day has in store...today. I can really tell a difference when I'm a few days on the diet and a day or two off, and it's a difference of years old, it's a difference pills needed. Following all the BTD recommendations puts living and meaning and endless possibilities into my life.

This is a challenging time of year to get strict about diet, fall is hard for me in general with SAD, and I tend to really want to eat lots of calories and carbs. Then there are holidays around the corner. I can see why I, and many others, usually start diets after the holidays, but it's also an opportunity to create more satisfying recipes and to demonstrate grace in the food choices I make. If I blow it on one or two calendar days, I can bounce back, but I don't want to blow it on dairy...that's much harder for me to bounce back from.

I did re-discover sweet potato oven fries. Those saved me from a few avoid fests last week. Costco had the pre-sliced ones, but no longer does, so it's time to get out the cutting board! Costco also had some lovely bison burgers that cooked up so nicely, but no longer does. They do have nitrate free turkey bacon currently though, it has sugar in it so it's not for non-secretors, but it has no other avoids, so is fine for most types. Next week I hope to really start cooking again, it's so nice this time of year to smell those wonderful cooking smells and eat together as a family. For now, I have a few deadlines to meet, so I'm mainly eating leftovers and simple stuff.

I've become a bit more compliant lately, and a bit better at avoiding the avoids. Some folks have trouble staying compliant, and I've been one of them. I can go months of high compliance, especially during pregnancies, but at other times I get confused and start to feel entitled to eat whatever everyone else eats and whatever looks good at the moment.

I know why people usually start diets on New Year's, because it's hard to start them at this time of year. This is the time of eating and fatness, especially with SAD or winter blues. I felt it when the season turned into fall, and felt it hard this year. Eating more beneficials and fewer avoids has helped my moods considerably, even though my general inclination is to do just the opposite. I take my boys out as much as possible to get some sunlight and activity, though I still make excuses out of getting the vigorous exercise I really need. A gym near me has a fine childcare facility, so I really have no excuses, and there's always the stroller, a pair of walking shoes, and the nearby hills.

My oldest son has been having some troubles lately, that have made it hard to take care of myself, but I've managed nevertheless. He saw his little brother choke, and a bit of excitement ensued as I cleared his airway (learned the baby heimlich the first time the little one choked, this was the 7th time, as he's not a vary careful eater). This really scared my 4 year old (soon to be 5), and he started worrying about choking, and stopped eating very much at all. This all worsened what I believe was a preexisting condition of acid reflux, which irritated his throat to the point that it hurts to eat, which has made it harder to get him back on track. That's my theory anyway, he has another doctor appointment tomorrow to check it all out again and hopefully confirm a mother's diagnosis and get on the road to improving it. I may give him any prescription the doctor provides, just so his esophagus can heal, then the plan is to find out his secretor status and treat it naturally.

I'll let you all know how it goes. There's a buffalo burger waiting for me at the moment...

I finally got into a good dentist, with a good hygenist, and got a really thorough cleaning. I needed it, since I haven't been the best flosser lately and my last dentist/hygenist barely touched my teeth.

Overall the report is good though, my teeth are nice and strong and I don't expect to see any more cavities in a long while. My gums will require a bit more of a consistent routine, but no more than the average adult requires. So, life is good. I felt kind of weird the day I got the cleaning, even though I was careful not to swallow anything while they worked on my teeth. Talk about a good "cleanse". Now I feel good, less inflamed in general than I was before. Inflamed gums are a problem that spills over into all other parts of the body, causing heart disease risks and risks during pregnancy. (I'm not pregnant, just FYI there) I believe it may cause more risks for underweight or preterm babies than smoking does...though I can't confirm or reference that at the moment. (google it before you take it to the bank)

Yeah, sorry, too lazy to use google today

I did find out, that contrary to what my sister with tooth trouble says, my water was flouridated where I grew up. In the town it wasn't, but I lived outside of town in the middle of a Reservation, where the federal government has jurisdiction, and they added flouride. It's a good thing I didn't like to brush my teeth and get even more flouride from the toothpaste ;-) Where I live now, the water is not flouridated--until further notice--but it does contain some naturally occuring flouride. Perhaps a little flouride is good, if it's in balance with other necessary minerals, though we know that too much is bad. The water here is very good though, in my region, it comes straight off of timpanogos mountain, not from a reservoir or other place where it could get more in it than you bargain for, and it has pretty good test numbers. I still like to use a filter, since they do add chlorine to it, which causes the formation of other bad stuff in the water, and besides, it tastes so much better from a filter.

I think I'm run-on-sentence king tonight, and google-less. My apologies You do what you've gotta do to get a blog out...

I've been busy this week, my dad taught me how to put up the tile backsplash in my kitchen. We're putting it all the way up to the cupboards and it's a glass tile mosaic, so a pretty big project. It's looking lovely though, I only hope they don't all come tumbling out when I pull the tape off the front that holds the mosaic together (instead of the usual mesh on the back, which would show through the transparent tiles). It's a fun project, especially as I see how it's turning out. My grandpa loved to put up tiles, it's like he couldn't stop, he'd put tiles on top of tiles, and embed little decorative objects in the mix. I can see how he'd enjoy it, but I think I'll stop once this project is finished... I still have a garage, laundry room, and a few closets to organize and spiff up.

goodnight!

I bought a Magic Bullet a couple weeks ago, because I just wasn't eager to use my blender to make smoothies. I've found it to be pretty cool for us, since we all can or should eat different things. It comes with 4 mugs you can fill up separately, the put the base/blade onto them and blend them up. I can put rice milk in the O's mugs, soymilk for the As, specific supplements as needed, different sweeteners, etc. My little O likes a blueberry and banana smoothie for breakfast, and doesn't mind if I put some calcium or protein powder in. My A likes just blueberries, and will go along with the calcium but won't touch it if I put a protein powder in it. I can make a nice green tea smoothie for myself with bancha powder, ice, rice milk and agave...it's better than all the juice bar's versions, and without any avoids! I also like a basic banana smoothie. There may be better blenders out there for smoothies, but I do love how easy it is to individualize our smoothies with this one. That has upped our fruit consumption quite nicely.

I also recently discovered Tulsi Ginger tea, it's holy basil, a great adaptogen especially for As if memory serves correctly, but this O loves it and with the anti-inflammatory ginger in it, it has great flavor. It's one of my all time favorite herbal teas.

I started up my rice milk maker again, inspired by the smoothie maker, so I could make compliant smoothies instead of using storebought avoid-filled rice milks or - even worse for me - soymilk.

I tried buying a mandoline slicer from Costco. It was too cheap, I should have known by the price, so it may do fine with potatoes and cucumbers, but it wasn't sharp enough for kohlrabi, and the teeth on the finger protector sliding thing chewed up zucchini faster than the blade sliced it...so I returned that one. I kind of enjoy slicing things manually anyway, and there's always the food processor to handle the jobs I don't like using a knife for.

Cooking, planning, and grocery shopping are going pretty well so far this week. I made a chicken and rice casserole on Sunday and even invited the in-laws over (that's a first for me in a long time!). My mother-in-law broke her elbow and had surgery last week, so I figured this was a good time to take the plunge and help out. It turned out great. I also sliced up a watermelon, and made a green salad with more than just lettuce in it. I have to admit that I do suffer somewhat from CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome*), and it's still an issue with the renovations and reorganizing we've done lately with our house. The evening worked out nicely though, with everyone's help. The renovations are mostly done, but everything got moved into the garage for the flooring adventure, and it has slowly been making its way back into the house, hopefully more organized this time around. Getting all your floors redone is almost harder than moving to a whole new house, because you have to move the furniture and most everything twice. I'm glad that one's behind me.

I must be doing better with my diet, because I've been very hungry, as I always am when I first start it. I need more beneficials, but have been focusing on dinner for As and Os both, and different tastes. Next week I'll do more for lunch than just leftovers, and should be able to fit in some nice beneficials in there.

Other than the casserole, I've made andouille smothered northern beans, with wellshire's turkey andouille. Tonight I'm going to attempt turning the leftovers from that into a gumbo-like stew. That may be interesting...hopefully not too interesting. It doesn't taste so great after being refrigerated, so I hope making it into a soup will wake it up a little. I've also gone back to cooking up a whole stockpot of steamed broccoli to use liberally in meals.

I wish I could say I am totally avoid-free, but stress comes along and I do still make poor decisions, though to a much smaller extent and much less often. I'm trying to incorporate the motto on Enjoy Life Food's products: "Eat Freely" My diet is free of quite a few things, but saying it that way makes it sound more positive. I eat freely of those foods that are right for me. It also speaks somewhat to how little counting calories or portions matters for my health, if I eat beneficials and avoid the avoids, then my weight goes down and my health improves, even if I eat quite a bit, because I am satisfied by what I eat.

*www.flylady.net