The Whole Life Nutrition Elimination Diet: Phases 2 and 3 May 2, 2011

Here’s a quick update on our progress with the elimination diet. Read more here if you are playing catch up.

Days 10 to 15: Phase 2

On Day 10 we introduced lemons and limes to our diet. We included it in smoothies, in our water, in our salad dressings, and to Husband’s delight, had some lemonade (he likes variety in his beverages). My favorite recipe was a lemon lentil soup.
On Day 13 we added in wheat-free tamari (kind of like soy sauce). We had it on asparagus and greens, in our collard wraps, and on our sunflower burgers.
Neither of us noticed any strong reactions to these foods.

Days 16 to 28: Phase 3

Phase 3 involves reintroduction of foods that sometimes cause irritations in people. We began with root vegetable pancakes (which tasted so delicious! yay, potatoes!) and breakfast greens. I noticed quite a few symptoms related to potatoes, so I am going to re-test those. I ate almost an entire pineapple by myself, though, and had no problems with that! We’ve had several meals that we both enjoyed a LOT, including Curried Vegetables with Indian Fried Rice as well as Coconut-Lime Chicken (which we introduced two days before Easter to prepare us for some meat….Husband wanted his ham!). Husband continues to not notice any particular sensitivities and accuses me of hypochondria when I mention any of mine. I think I’m sensitive to bananas as well (boo, because I used to eat them almost every day!).

Overall impressions:
1. Husband’s family has many digestive issues, and he thinks he may have a mild case of IBS. He has trouble digesting most vegetables.
2. We’ve both lost weight on the diet. Not incredible amounts, but enough that we both feel better about our bodies. I’m guessing quite a bit of it was inflammation/water retention. I’ve noticed that my abdomen and face areas have slimmed the most, same with Husband.
3. We’ve decided that we are going to try to eat “Phase 3 style” most of the time with occasional treats, depending on what we find out during the Challenge Phase.
4. The diet continues to be a problem socially. Virtually everything served everywhere contains at least one of the Challenge foods: gluten, oats, corn, soy, dairy, eggs, or yeast. We both hope that none of these produce monumental reactions in us just so we can participate in social functions without feeling like a burden.
5. Things I miss the most: cheese and peanut butter. Sunflower butter and almond butter on rice cakes with dried figs or raisins have been a staple snack for me. Surprisingly, I don’t miss baked goods as much as I anticipated, though we also haven’t had them in the house…

Collard Wraps with Sunflower Pate

Sunflower Seed Burger with side of avocado and pear

The Whole Life Nutrition Elimination Diet April 12, 2011

Husband and I started the Whole Life Nutrition Elimination Diet (“a strict plan designed to promote cellular healing and to allow for the identification of foods that cause an immune reaction”) on April 2nd.  Our reasons?

1. To see if we could find any triggers to some of the symptoms in our bodies (me = eczema, Husband = migraines)
2. To show our daughter, who is currently on a gluten-free diet, support
3. To improve our overall diet (though we had already been using a lot of the recipes out of the book, this seemed like a good jumpstart to get even more whole foods into our meals
4. To lessen our salty/sugary/fatty cravings
5. Because what I know about nutrition has expanded so much even since I wrote this post

So here is a little re-cap of our experience so far.

Days 1 and 2:  Green smoothies (with no banana or citrus) and water

Day One was actually the hardest for me.  I could drink as many smoothies as I wanted, ruling out hunger, but the ones I made were really disgusting.  I ditched some of the book recipes and started doing my own recipes (but, of course, including lots of spinach, kale, cabbage, parsley, etc.), and they were slightly tastier.  Don’t get me wrong–I love a green smoothie, but almost every version I’ve ever made has included banana and almond milk, and our blender left a significant amount of pulp.  Using a straw helped me gag them down until I got the hang of “good taste” ratios.  That night I went to bed feeling shivery, nauseous, and achy, much like the flu.  The book says that’s to be expected, so I didn’t worry about it.

I felt much better after a good night’s rest, and we continued with the green smoothies on Day Two.  I have foumd my favorite recipe to be the Minty Green Smoothie on page 97.

Days 3 to 9: Phase 1

Day Three was GREAT for me.  I was so excited to be able to eat real food again, even if not very many foods.  We feasted on lettuce wraps with sweet potato, brown rice with seaweed, adzuki beans and avocado, seasoned with cumin and sea salt.  Yum!  At this point Husband has complained about 3,487 times that “this diet sucks!” and I’ve told him I’d rather have him quit and support me verbally than stay on it and be such a whiner, but he is even more of a stubborn mule than me and presses on.  We eat more of the book’s recipes, like Lentil-Brown Rice Casserole, Coconut Quinoa Pilaf, and Sunny Sunflower Seed Burgers, and he complains a little less (I already knew he liked these recipes from before we started the diet).

I really have noticed a huge change in my sweet cravings. I still like a fig now and then, and maybe a nice medjool date after supper (they have never tasted so caramelly delicious before!), but I’m not wishing for cookies in the afternoons.  This makes me happy.  I do, however, miss peanut butter like it’s my long lost child.  Husband buys me a little tub of sunflower butter, and I spread it on brown rice cakes with slices of fig, and I’m golden.  Though between the two of us we’ve gone through half the tub in 6 days.  Oops!

The hardest part so far has been the social aspect.  I already was attempting to abstain from gluten most of the time (though haven’t been as good about it since Christmas, other than for pastas, breads, and basics like that), but having to bring my own separate meal to small group meal night wasn’t fun.  It also wasn’t horrible, though. I didn’t feel bad about what I was eating, and I was glad to not have the “I ate too much fatty food” feeling afterward.  Husband was pretty bummed on Saturday, though, when he went to guys’ night and munched on a bag of sunflower seeds and dried fruit while the rest of the guys had beer and wings and cake.  He, too, survived.  But neither of us would want this to be a long-term thing, where we can’t eat anything anywhere because it most likely contains gluten, corn, soy, oats, yeast, dairy or eggs.

I’ll post more later, since we’re now beginning the “re-introducing foods phase” with lemons and limes.

——–

I want to send a big thank you to Shelley for introducing me to this cookbook and for being the guinea pig on the diet, which encouraged me to give it a go.

Minnesota State Fair – Food Picks for 2010 August 3, 2010

I am so glad Minnesota has seasons.  Because even though it’s August already (I’m still mad at June and July for coming and going in such haste), there’s stuff to look forward to.  Vikings games, apple orchards, and, even sooner than those, The State Fair.

If you’re planning to go, save yourself the trouble of costly food mistakes…here are my recommendations (and things to skip) from last year.

I realize not everyone is on the same page with me regarding Sweet Martha’s (obviously, since they are the top-grossing vendor at the fair), but you would truly be better off buying a package of refrigerated Toll House dough and baking them at home.  They are NOTHING SPECIAL.   If you are looking for a baked good to go with your all-you-can-drink milk, get something from French Meadow Bakery’s stand.  You will not be sorry!

New foods I’m hoping to try this year: Caramel Apple Puppy (from the Fudge Puppy stand) and O’Gara’s Sweet Potato Tots.

If you want to see what eats are at the fair this year, here’s a link to the Food Finder.

So I may be late to the party on these… June 24, 2010

Is it just me, or can’t you simply give your kid an actual APPLE?

I happened across a site today where a dad was giving these bags of apples all kinds of props. Personally, I think the “preservatives” and “packaging” that an actual apple comes in are less scary and less wasteful than this. Call me Scrooge, but I don’t really want my fruit sliced and put in a bag when I can eat it the way God made it.

My Shampoo-Free Experiment March 29, 2010

I didn’t shampoo my hair for 2 1/2 months.  Sounds gross, doesn’t it?

Back in November, I mentioned that I might give going ‘poo-free a try.   Right before New Year’s, I began using baking soda and vinegar to clean my hair.

Why on earth would someone do such a thing?  Several reasons, for me.  My family history of cancer is pretty grim.  My grandma had cancer, my grandpa died of it, my dad died of it (at age 51), and now my mom is in remission from it (at not too much older than 51).  I am very much at risk.  What can I do to give myself and my children a fighting chance?  Eliminate carcinogens from our daily lives.

None of us are smokers or are exposed to smoke regularly.  We don’t drink a lot of alcohol.  We exercise regularly.  So three major risks are out of the way.  But there are still a lot of horrible things hidden in stuff we eat, stuff we put on our bodies, and in our environment.  We haven’t made any giant, life-changing leaps as a family, but our small steps in the right direction are overall indicative of life change.  We filter our drinking and shower water, we buy organic when the price isn’t prohibitive, we make most of our food from scratch.  Most recently, I have been looking at the products we put on our bodies.  Many lotions, washes, and hair products have nasty things like sodium lauryl sulfate, parabens, and other carcinogens.  I began by purchasing organic lotions and shampoos.  Then I started seeing blog posts about making my own (which seemed cheaper and actually, less time-consuming than driving all the way to the natural foods store in my area).

So first up, shampoo and conditioner.  I began with Simple Mom’s method (click on the word “posts” in the previous paragraph), a baking soda and water solution massaged into the scalp.  I used this method for about one week, “washing” every other day, and my hair was dis.gust.ing.  Greasy, and about 12 shades darker than normal.   I apologize to all of you who saw me during that phase (which was right around when Markus was born).  I took her advice and eliminated the vinegar from the equation.  Better, but still gross.  I decided I must be in “transition time.”  After about three weeks, I was feeling so dirty that I was ready to give up, but then I tried Mrs. Boo Radley’s method (here outlined on Sorta Crunchy’s blog) and found it worked much better on my fine (yet thick), greasy hair.  I didn’t need the apple cider vinegar rinse at all, though.

After 2 1/2 months of using baking soda, I still considered Day 2 to be a “ponytail day,” and I wondered if there was another product I could try that would still be economical but do a better job.  Some people had recommended Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap, so I bought a bottle online.  Can’t say I liked it!  You could have topped off your car with the oil on my head that day!  I didn’t have time to re-wash, so I put on a hat and went on with life.  Thankfully Dr. Bronner’s can be used for a million other things, so it wasn’t a waste of money.  :)

The next day I used a little bit of my old organic shampoo.  My hair was soft, shiny and blonde again for the first time since Christmas.  It was also lifeless.

For now, I continue to “wash” with baking soda every other day, and I have added a very light apple cider vinegar rinse (about 1 tablespoon ACV to 1 cup water) now that my hair has finally gotten used to the baking soda.   And every third or fourth wash, I use my organic shampoo to get me back to a normal hair color and rid my scalp of any build-up.  My hair has much more body than it ever did with daily shampooing, and it holds styles much more easily.  It still doesn’t look fabulous the second day, like photos I’ve seen of other ‘poo-free people…anyone know if there is a remedy to that?  It’s been three months now, so I figure my transition time must be over.

You may notice I called this an “experiment” in the post title.  Since I’m not yet fully convinced that it is something I will stick with (especially if I found an organic shampoo that worked well with my hair), I still do consider it an experiment.  Only time will tell if it will become part of my routine.

Next up, my face.

Visual Poetry: A Review February 25, 2010

After reading (somewhere, don’t recall where) that a photographer enjoyed Chris Orwig’s new book “Visual Poetry,” I decided to pick up a copy to read myself.  Nursing usually affords me an hour or two of reading per day (during the day times when Anja isn’t awake or is playing nicely by herself), and I’ve read through this book in about two weeks.

First: I do not understand the cover image.  Perhaps there is some personal significance to it, and that’s why it was chosen, but it is not a terrific photograph.  The composition is mediocre, and the subject looks depressed.  Weird choice.

When I was in architecture school, most of the professors, while well-meaning, had a very minute grasp on actual practice.  They encouraged passion, creativity and originality.  I graduated with virtually no idea of how to actually practice architecture.  Orwig is a photography professor at Brooks Institute.  He encourages passion, creativity and originality.  However, he is also a professional who gets paid for his work.  Despite that, he has not lost his love for the trade.  Orwig’s outlook as a photographer is refreshing, even if his main foci (outdoor/adventure photography and portraits, from the looks of things) are different than mine.

Orwig thrives in the outdoors: surfing, hiking, camping…these are his passions.  This is very clear in the photographs used throughout the book.  His portraits (mostly surfers and musicians) are relatively strong, but his wedding shots (all from one event) are weak.  If you are looking to get into weddings or family photography, I’d look for an author who has more experience in this realm.

The book is broken into three parts, one each devoted to creativity and technique, tips for the many paths of photography (portraiture, weddings, travel, etc.), and gear and becoming a professional.

I thought the strengths of this book were the inspiring anecdotes and encouragement to get out there and do what you love.  The assignments given at the end of each chapter are great impetus for everyone, from beginners to those looking for renewed vision.

Weaknesses were the repetitiveness of content and the typos (oy vey, were there a lot!).

Overall, I think the book is worth a look-through.  If you read a few of the anecdotes in the creativity section, you can probably skim the rest of them and move on to the last two sections.  Orwig has a website that accompanies his book, so check that out, too.

Cosmetic Toxicity January 10, 2010

I’m two weeks into going ‘poo-free, and today while doing some more research on it I came across this fabulous website that rates cosmetic safety.  You can search for products you use in the top search bar (for example, “aveeno conditioner” or “dove deodorant”), and it will tell you whether these products are linked to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, violations/restrictions/warnings, allergies/immunotoxicity, or other concerns.

Considering we are doing our best to eliminate items of questionable origin from our diets and skincare routines (and holy moly, did I find out how bad my hairspray is!!!), this is a very timely tool.  Hope you find it useful, too!

My Experience with MAC Cosmetics November 9, 2009

Normally, I am that girl who doesn’t venture beyond the aisles of Target when buying make-up.  But last month my buddy Ingrid visited from California, and we decided to go to the MAC Cosmetics store in the Mall of America and get makeovers.

Let’s just say I left with my wallet a little bit a lot lighter.  After using the products, I wanted to review them for you here, in case any of you are considering making purchases there.

1. Holiday Brush Bags – I purchased this one since it had the foundation brush I wanted.  It also included a blush brush and three good brushes for eyes.  I am not impressed.  To be fair, my consultant warned me that the brush sets aren’t as high quality as the individually-sold brushes because they are machine-made, not hand-made.  But when I pay $49.50 for 5 brushes, I don’t expect them to shed 47 bristles onto my face every morning, which is exactly what the foundation brush does.  I end up having to use a different brush to get those bristles off my face.  I have a brush set I got at Target last year for $10, and those brushes are, in my opinion, far superior to the MAC ones.  They are softer (making application less harsh-looking) and have hardly shed a single bristle.  Save yourself $40 and buy these somewhere else, ladies!

2.  Fab-racadabra Bronze Face Kit – Another one of the holiday kits that I bought to try and save a little rather than buy three separate items (bronzer, blush and iridescent powder).  I’m pretty neutral on this one.  It gives my cheeks a nice glow, but I’m not sure it’s that much better than my previous Cover Girl blush.  I may change my tune in a couple weeks when my skin has taken on its usual “death” pallor for winter.  That bronzer could be a winner.

3.  Mineralize Skinfinish Natural – Though, again, much more pricey than my normal Cover Girl pressed powder, this one is worth the money ($25).  I get a nice finish by dusting it over my makeup with a brush, and I’m not greasy (I’m prone to that in my T-zone) for hours.  Sometimes I don’t even have to reapply it all day!  It also works great when I don’t have time for anything but a little mascara.  It goes on more evenly than the Neutrogena mineral makeup I was using for those gotta-get-out-the-door-now mornings.

4. Paint Pot in Rubenesque – Far and away my favorite product purchased.   This glorious, shimmery little pot acts as a base for eyeshadow, but unlike another color they sell, Painterly, Rubenesque has enough color to it that it can actually function as eyeshadow if I don’t have time for anything else.  And the most amazing part–it lasts ALL. DAY. LONG.  No creasing, no smudging; this stuff stays put.  Even after an 8-hour day behind my camera, which usually has my eye makeup in ruins, I came out looking virtually the same as when I’d started that morning.  Worth every penny of $16.50.

5.  Eyeshadows – My consultant informed me that I would save money by getting a palette of these and inserting these little pots ($11 each), but that they contain the same amount of product as the individually-sold eyeshadows ($14.50 each).  I currently have three colors – one for filling in brows, one for my crease, and one for highlighting below the eyebrow.  I am still waiting for them to call me telling me they have re-stocked the fourth one (for my lid), and Rubenesque has been filling in as my main shadow.  MAC is known for their highly-pigmented products, meaning you have to use very, very little to get a saturated look.  I merely tap my brush on top of the makeup and it’s enough to begin application.  No smushing or swirling my brush to get enough on, which is nice (plus, it doesn’t leave layers of eyeshadow dust all over everything!).  These shadows also stay put (I’m sure partially due to the paint pot product) and will no doubt last me a long time.

6. Fluidline Eyeliner – Normally an eyeliner pencil will last me several years.  I just don’t wear enough to put much of a dent in it.  So when MAC girl put what looked like a thick black inchworm on my upper lashline, I wasn’t terribly excited.  However, I decided to give it another chance and had her switch it to a dark brown.  This looked much more natural on me.  After a couple of days, I got used to applying my liner with a brush rather than a pencil, and again, this takes very little product to make a huge impact.  It will probably not last me as long as a pencil, but it doesn’t smudge all over my face like pencil does, either.

There you have it–my experience with MAC.

I have continued to use my own cheaper mascara (Maybelline Great Lash Waterproof–love the stuff!  And pros use it.) and foundation (Cover Girl TruBlend), since I had just purchased new of them both and I didn’t particularly care for MAC’s version of either (my face was THICK with foundation; I looked fake).

What makeup do you use?  Have you ever gotten a counter/store makeover done?  Did you fall for it as hard as I did?  Have you stuck with any of the products?

What to Eat* at the Minnesota State Fair September 1, 2009

* (and not eat)

Of course, this is just two foodies’ opinions! All photos taken with my point-and-shoot, just fyi.

Between our visit to the fair three years ago, last year, and this year, we have sampled quite a variety of foods.  I thought I’d pass on some of our experience to help anyone confused by all the “on a stick” and deep-fried products.

Love it:
- French Meadow Bakery’s scones.  Fresh out of the oven, these perfect-texture scones can be topped with a variety of fruits and/or cream.  SOOOOO good!

- French Creperie’s Peaches and Cream crepe.  I got this last year and loved it.  This year it was still delicious, but trumped by the previously-mentioned scone.

- Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade.  Make sure the sign says fresh-squeezed, or you’ll end up with some powdered formula imitation lemonade.

- Cheese Curds.  We buy from The Mouse Trap in the Food Building, and they’re always piping hot.

- Gourmet Wild Rice Burger from Wild Rice Specialties.  Also in the Food Building.  I saw people all day walking around with mediocre-looking burgers and couldn’t bring myself to buy one.  But this baby, with a slice of white cheese and sauteed onions and peppers.  So delicious!  No wonder the Star Tribune gave it 4 stars!  Husband had some of it and was equally impressed.

-  Pronto Pups.  This is a Husband favorite, not mine.  I’ve had something against corn dogs my whole life, and though these aren’t corn dogs (the batter is made from wheat flour, not cornmeal), I could do without. He gets at least one every year.  :)

- Australian Battered Potatoes.  We haven’t bought these since the first time we went to the Fair together, simply because the serving is SO HUGE.  That first fateful Fair, we started wtih these potatoes and the “all you can drink” milk stand, and we could barely eat another thing the rest of the day.  That said, if you’re with a group of 4 or more, or you don’t mind eating one or two and throwing the rest away, or you travel with a cooler, they are delicious and come with a variety of toppings.

- Malts from the Dairy Building (not to be mistaken with the Dairy Bar).  The quality of the ice cream and the real fruit blended in makes them the yummiest ones at the Fair!

- Deep-fried Pickles from The Preferred Pickle.  Sounds disgusting, no?  But served up with a side of ranch, these are surprisingly good.

- Chicago Dogs.  Another Husband pick.

- 1919 Root Beer.  Don’t bother with any other kind.  This is on the outside of the Food Building.

- All You Can Drink Milk.  It’s just milk, but all you can drink for $1?  The best beverage bargain at the Fair by far.

Like it:
- Big Fat Bacon.  Husband would put it on his “Love it” list.  It comes on a stick and has some sweet-ish sauce on it.

- Fudge Puppy.  A hot dog-shaped Belgian waffle on a stick, covered in fudge and whipped cream.  Certainly a heavy indulgence for breakfast, but hey–it’s the Fair.

- Isabel Burke’s Olde Tyme Taffy.  We got some last year, skipped it this year.  I think I’m more of a fan of saltwater taffy than Husband is.  You can watch them pulling it right in front of you.

- Axel’s Bonfire Stuffed Tater Tots on a Stick.  I don’t know that I will get them again, but for a one-time try, they were decent.

Will not get it again:
-  Malts from the Kiwanis.  We were nearby their stand and had a coupon, so I decided to sample one.  They are nowhere near the quality of the ones you can get in the Dairy Building.

- Sweet Martha’s Cookies.  I risk being strung up for saying this, but these cookies were an extreme disappointment.  Friends and family have raved about them, so my expectations were pretty high.  We got a large cone of them this year (versus buying one of the buckets of 4 dozen, thank goodness), and after my first bite, I looked at Husband and shook my head.  The batch we got were straight off the pan, so they were warm.  The texture was okay, a little bit more crunchy than I expected.  The taste was pathetic.  All three of the varieties of chocolate chip cookies I make at home are far, far better than Sweet Martha’s.  But at least we can say we finally tried them.

- Kids’ Meal at Giggles’ Campfire Grill.  It sounded like a bargain: chicken, fries and a dessert for $1.50.  The chicken was not, in fact, chicken, but some sort of breaded foamy product in the shape of a smiley face.  Anja was not impressed.  She ate some of the mediocre fries and all of the graham crackers, but I’d just as soon pack her a few graham crackers from home next time and save myself even the measly amount spent on them.

Sunday Sunshine 08.02.09 August 2, 2009

It CANNOT be August already. Waaaaaaaah!  Since I need something to cheer me up…

Might have to do this for Anja’s birthday some year, especially since I already have a Candyland board cake that I cut out of a magazine somewhere.

Timeless Toys by Antique Mommy (read through the comments, too!)

And last, one of my favorite shots I took of my cousin’s wedding earlier in July: