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.

I'm on my way to the conference in CT!

I'm totally excited to learn more about myself and my ideal diet, as I always do. I also look forward to being able to run genotype SWAMI on people (myself included!). I'll learn more about the measurements in the process.

I hate to admit that a little cheating will be involved in NYC, as they have the best gluten free pizza in the world...though the crust is not totally compliant. If the only time I cheated where in NYC, then I'd be doing pretty well

Tune in in a few days for conference news!

I've been hunting for a protein smoothie that works for explorer (and me). Whey protein is a good option, but I'm still skiddish about making any dairy a part of my daily diet, as well as any cross contamination issues for my milk-allergic son. Pea protein is another good option, but I have yet to find a truly pure source of it, without additives and ingredients I can't have. Rice protein is one I need to look into a bit more, it seems like an oxymoron, rice protein, but maybe I can find a good source of it. Chicken eggs are out for explorers, so my old standby protein is not an option (my son's also allergic to it, so there are those issues again).

The best I've found so far has been Peaceful Planet Supreme Meal. It has a few black dot toxins down the list, and mung bean sprouts. Mung beans are a toxin, but I'm not sure about the sprouts. For now though, it's what I'm using.

It's been good to have something like that this week, as I've been skipping meals. Having something that convenient helps to keep me out of toxin territory. It's been a crazy week, some parts fun and some parts very stressful. The stressful parts are that My father-in-law is having heart bypass surgery today, and my husband is out of the country, returning asap. So far the surgery has gone well.

The fun parts have to do with having fun with my kids. My oldest has just one more week of kindergarten, so school is a big deal right now, and I went with him on a field trip this morning. He had some days off during testing, so we got to have some fun on those days.

Then, sometimes the fun turns into stress, like when we climbed up into the top loft of a small lighthouse at Thanksgiving Point to be nearly attacked by a wasp, with the only exit being down a steep ladder with a very loose guard rail at the top. My son, who was attacked by hornets last summer, did not panic, he just did what I told him to, and we came out of the situation without any stings or injuries. I think it was actually a good experience for him, and he walked away feeling more confident rather than being terrified. I was proud of all of us, and took some time to unwind while watching a beautiful sunset by the ampitheater before returning home. Windmills, ducks flying over, boys safely playing on the grass...couldn't have been more perfect. I have to force myself to take moments like that, to breath.

(They've since fixed the rail and exterminated the nearby wasp nest, so it's much safer now).

Today I have to clean the house, plan some meals, and shop for groceries...better get off my computer.