My mom commented the other day, seeming a bit bewildered by how much fat I am eating. It made me stop and think about how much my diet has changed and how much fat I am really eating. When I bought into the fat is bad mantra, I avoided fat like the plague, everything was low fat and low calorie, but I still wasn’t losing weight. Sure I managed to drop about 15 pounds on the Medifast powder and water diet of about 800-900 calories a day, but even that stalled out.
Since I started the silver-aloe protocol, my diet completely changed as I started researching and finding out more about candida and reading the Body Ecology Diet book. I started drinking kefir smoothies for breakfast and eating lots of fresh veggies and oily fish, including my favorite salmon. My favorite way to make it is to brush the filet with olive oil before seasoning and cooking it, as it helps keep the salmon nice and moist. Then there were the oily salad dressings, usually made with either olive oil or hemp oil and apple cider vinegar. If I’m not eating meat I usually put a good amount of hemp seeds in my salad which have a good bit of fat in them along with the protein. For snacks I often eat organic almonds or pepitas (aka pumpkin seeds).
Oftentimes I’ll saute kale or another leafy green in either coconut oil or ghee, especially as I can’t seem to handle two meals with raw vegetables in a single day very well. (Speaking of which, kale sauteed in ghee with a tablespoon or two of minced garlic and Himalayan sea salt - freaking awesome!) It’s not too bad when I eat two meals of raw veggies, but my intestines can get a little cranky about all the roughage. Plus there’s the tablespoon of coconut oil I take religiously every night, as it has anti-candida properties.
So, I’m eating all this fat, and my weight is coming off. Not at the super fast rate it was at first when I started on the silver and aloe, but a pound or two every week or two. According to all the conventional dietary and medical knowledge, all this fat should be making my butt swell up like a hot air balloon. But instead it’s deflating. Hee hee!
I really don’t understand the dynamics in play here, but in concert with the silver-aloe protocol and the anti-candida diet, eating healthy fat seems to be a major game changer. One thing is definitely clear. Fat is helping me be not fat, and that’s a good thing!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Workout Bliss!
I am kicking some serious booty working out! Maybe it's the One World Whey or the astaxanthin I started taking last week, but I am seriously on fire lately. I'm not even breaking a sweat on my cardio and really going at it. Either way my endurance and stamina is way up. As the fat is coming off I am starting to see some of the muscle trying to show itself in my biceps. It's always been there, just hidden by all the flab. Still, it's kind of nice to say, "hello there little muscle!" now that I can see it. It was so cool to kick my trainer's butt in cardio today. I beat him by 0.15 of a mile on the stationary bike during our circuit today!
I had a little setback with my digestion over the weekend, but I'm not 100% sure why. Perhaps I ate something wrong, or it could be that I forgot to soak my sprouts in water with grapefruit seed extract before eating them (bad, bad, bad me!). It wasn't that terrible, mostly just annoying, but I did get a little sick. Even still it's not nearly as bad as the day to day drama I used to live with before starting my journey slaying the evil candida monster.
I am still in awe that I've lost 22 whole pounds. It seems to be going at around a pound or so every week or two, kind of doing its own thing as it feels like it. Strange though, I'm really starting to trust the wisdom of my body and figuring that it's doing what it needs to do when it needs to do it. It's such a totally new concept for me, because everything I have done up until now has been about fighting my body. Fight it on the depression, fight it on the allergies, fight it on the eczema, fight it on the monster zits. But then look where that got me ... a one way ticket to Sickville.
The rash under one of my arms is trying to flare up a smidge, but I'm slathering the Sovereign Silver First Aid Gel on it and it is keeping it happy. My ears are acting goofy too, and the eczema and itching have gotten a bit worse. Fortunately the Sovereign Silver First Aid Gel is coming in handy there too. I get a Q-Tip and roll it in a huge squirt of the gel and then swirl it around all in the ear canal. It feels like I'm giving myself a Wet Willie, but it works. So far I've been doing it twice a day and it seems to help. The color of the discharge in my ears has changed from yellow to white over the past few days, so apparently it's doing something in there. I may try a couple of drops of the liquid in there to see if it improves the results if it continues with the itchiness.
I have to remember that these things aren't setbacks, just more layers of the toxic onion trying to peel off. Believe me with the crap I have put in my body over my lifetime, there are lots of toxic layers. But they'll come when my body is ready to release them, I am confident.
I had a little setback with my digestion over the weekend, but I'm not 100% sure why. Perhaps I ate something wrong, or it could be that I forgot to soak my sprouts in water with grapefruit seed extract before eating them (bad, bad, bad me!). It wasn't that terrible, mostly just annoying, but I did get a little sick. Even still it's not nearly as bad as the day to day drama I used to live with before starting my journey slaying the evil candida monster.
I am still in awe that I've lost 22 whole pounds. It seems to be going at around a pound or so every week or two, kind of doing its own thing as it feels like it. Strange though, I'm really starting to trust the wisdom of my body and figuring that it's doing what it needs to do when it needs to do it. It's such a totally new concept for me, because everything I have done up until now has been about fighting my body. Fight it on the depression, fight it on the allergies, fight it on the eczema, fight it on the monster zits. But then look where that got me ... a one way ticket to Sickville.
The rash under one of my arms is trying to flare up a smidge, but I'm slathering the Sovereign Silver First Aid Gel on it and it is keeping it happy. My ears are acting goofy too, and the eczema and itching have gotten a bit worse. Fortunately the Sovereign Silver First Aid Gel is coming in handy there too. I get a Q-Tip and roll it in a huge squirt of the gel and then swirl it around all in the ear canal. It feels like I'm giving myself a Wet Willie, but it works. So far I've been doing it twice a day and it seems to help. The color of the discharge in my ears has changed from yellow to white over the past few days, so apparently it's doing something in there. I may try a couple of drops of the liquid in there to see if it improves the results if it continues with the itchiness.
I have to remember that these things aren't setbacks, just more layers of the toxic onion trying to peel off. Believe me with the crap I have put in my body over my lifetime, there are lots of toxic layers. But they'll come when my body is ready to release them, I am confident.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
An Arnica Montana Kind of Day
I'm not sure if the One World Whey is contributing to this or not, but I am so sore from my killer workout yesterday. My abs hurt, my butt hurts, my legs and chest hurt, and my back hurts. I haven't been this sore in a long time. I don't know if it was because the workout was killer, or if the addition of the whey protein just gave more power to put into it. Either way, I've been popping arnica montana pellets and using arnica gel pretty much everywhere today.
I'm sure my trainer will be the usual sadist that he is tomorrow when he finds out I'm sore. He says "the best way to deal with soreness is to work it out." Which of course means that he's going to work everything that's sore even harder tomorrow. By Friday I may not be able to move!
I had to face a harsh reality of weight loss today - my boobs are shrinking. I suppose that's a good thing in the grand scheme of things, but it necessitated a trip to the mall to go bra shopping tonight. So, I've officially dropped a full bra size in the past two months. It would have been much nicer if those inches had come off my butt, but I'll take what I can get!
Everything else seems to be going well. I've been able to reduce my usage of the homeopathic allergy meds to twice a day now, so they seem to be clearing up a bit more. This new immune system is pretty powerful!
I'm sure my trainer will be the usual sadist that he is tomorrow when he finds out I'm sore. He says "the best way to deal with soreness is to work it out." Which of course means that he's going to work everything that's sore even harder tomorrow. By Friday I may not be able to move!
I had to face a harsh reality of weight loss today - my boobs are shrinking. I suppose that's a good thing in the grand scheme of things, but it necessitated a trip to the mall to go bra shopping tonight. So, I've officially dropped a full bra size in the past two months. It would have been much nicer if those inches had come off my butt, but I'll take what I can get!
Everything else seems to be going well. I've been able to reduce my usage of the homeopathic allergy meds to twice a day now, so they seem to be clearing up a bit more. This new immune system is pretty powerful!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
It's a Conspiracy...
What is it with people trying to make me eat the exact stuff I'm trying to avoid? Seriously, it's nuts. Everywhere I turned at work today, there were bagel platters and cookie platters all over the place. All filled with the wonderful things that will make my gut very, very cranky: sugar, lactose, gluten, and refined carbs. Sheesh!
My dad has taken to calling me "grass eater" because I am eating so many vegetables, mostly leafy greens. Dad's never met a vegetable he likes, with the exception of battered and deep-fried-til-it's-blackened okra. He eats something like two doughnuts a day, so I have started calling him "doughnut eater." It works!
Sometimes it is so hard dealing with everyone else around me shoveling all this toxic garbage into their faces as fast as they can, and it's so hard for me to find things that are safe for me to eat out in the wide world. I get bored with food easily so it's definitely going to be my next challenge to come up with more creative ways of putting together the foods I can eat, while still getting all the food combining rules from the Body Ecology Diet right. Mostly it's making sure that you don't even put protein fats, animal proteins, or protein starches together. Fortunately veggies pretty much combine with anything.
I just got almost two weeks worth of samples from One World Whey in that I started on Sunday. It's definitely pretty tasty, and I did have an AWESOME workout this morning. Maybe it's the whey, maybe not. Only time will tell. It's a little on the spendy side, so I'm glad they offered samples first. I really like mixing it in to my morning smoothies, and the offer it in chocolate too. The vanilla is pretty awesome too, and they have strawberry but I haven't tried that yet. One of my smoothies will last me a good 4-5 hours before I get hungry again with the whey in it, so that's definitely a plus!
My dad has taken to calling me "grass eater" because I am eating so many vegetables, mostly leafy greens. Dad's never met a vegetable he likes, with the exception of battered and deep-fried-til-it's-blackened okra. He eats something like two doughnuts a day, so I have started calling him "doughnut eater." It works!
Sometimes it is so hard dealing with everyone else around me shoveling all this toxic garbage into their faces as fast as they can, and it's so hard for me to find things that are safe for me to eat out in the wide world. I get bored with food easily so it's definitely going to be my next challenge to come up with more creative ways of putting together the foods I can eat, while still getting all the food combining rules from the Body Ecology Diet right. Mostly it's making sure that you don't even put protein fats, animal proteins, or protein starches together. Fortunately veggies pretty much combine with anything.
I just got almost two weeks worth of samples from One World Whey in that I started on Sunday. It's definitely pretty tasty, and I did have an AWESOME workout this morning. Maybe it's the whey, maybe not. Only time will tell. It's a little on the spendy side, so I'm glad they offered samples first. I really like mixing it in to my morning smoothies, and the offer it in chocolate too. The vanilla is pretty awesome too, and they have strawberry but I haven't tried that yet. One of my smoothies will last me a good 4-5 hours before I get hungry again with the whey in it, so that's definitely a plus!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Two Short Months - A Whole Freaking World of Difference!
Wow, tomorrow will be the two month anniversary of the day I started my journey with the silver-aloe protocol and Body Ecology Diet that Robert Scott Bell suggested to me. It's strange because it still seems like yesterday and almost a lifetime ago at the same time. Just this morning I hit 22 pounds lost. That's 22 pounds in two months! And not on the 800-900 calorie powder and water diet I was on. So I started this journey at 215 pounds and I'm now at 193. That's only 13 pounds away from my goal of 180. Once I'm there I'll re-evaluate and see how much more I want/need to lose.
My melasma (hyperpigmenation) spots on my face appear to be slowly fading on their own as well over the past week or so. Yay! Interestingly my complexion overall seems to be getting more and more radiant, so much so that I'm wearing less and less makeup. The girl I see when I look in the mirror is looking more and more like the girl I was 5-10 years ago.
On a funnier note, my boxer is now addicted to coconut oil. I read an article on Natural News from Dr. Carolyn Dean that suggested putting coconut oil onto rashes for pets, and I started putting it on him. He gets horrible rashes where his back legs join up to the rest of his body. He now points to the coconut oil jar with his nose when he wants some, and loves to lick it off my hands after I put it on his rashes. It's pretty funny, and his rashes do seem to be improving. So now when I take my daily dose of coconut oil, he has to have some too.
For another fun adventure, my sun lamp that I use to get up in the mornings died last week. With my delayed phase sleep disorder normally this would have been a big problem, but I'm not having trouble getting up in the mornings even without it. My sleep cycle seems to be completely normalized now, where it never has been before. Now I'm still going to get an electrician to try to fix it, because I'm used to using it, but it's nice to know I don't have to have it.
So let's review the progress I've made in two short months aside from the hugely fantastic freaking awesome 22 pounds I've lost. I was only expecting an improvement in my allergies, certainly not all of this. Eyelid eczema - gone. Bad rash under my armpits - gone. Weird occasional skin eruptions on my legs - gone. Monster zits from hell - gone, even after going off the birth control pills that were keeping them under control. Rosacea and redness - gone. Depression and mood - significantly improved. Allergies and sinuses - significantly improved and only taking homeopathic medicines now, with occasional sinus headaches still occurring. Energy level - way up. Stress level -way down and handling stress so much better. Intestines being a complete drama queen - so much better, still an occasional spell, mostly because I'm still discovering the foods that trigger it to act up. Delayed phase sleep disorder - normalized.
Gee, that's a whole lot of stuff for two months. I have known instinctively that something has been wrong with me for several years now and have gone to doctor after doctor looking for a diagnosis. And to think none of them were able to offer any help, or even acknowledge that anything was truly wrong. I think as far as they were concerned this was all in my head. There's a few I would like to go back and show them the "all in my head" 22 pounds that just fell off my rump.
My melasma (hyperpigmenation) spots on my face appear to be slowly fading on their own as well over the past week or so. Yay! Interestingly my complexion overall seems to be getting more and more radiant, so much so that I'm wearing less and less makeup. The girl I see when I look in the mirror is looking more and more like the girl I was 5-10 years ago.
On a funnier note, my boxer is now addicted to coconut oil. I read an article on Natural News from Dr. Carolyn Dean that suggested putting coconut oil onto rashes for pets, and I started putting it on him. He gets horrible rashes where his back legs join up to the rest of his body. He now points to the coconut oil jar with his nose when he wants some, and loves to lick it off my hands after I put it on his rashes. It's pretty funny, and his rashes do seem to be improving. So now when I take my daily dose of coconut oil, he has to have some too.
For another fun adventure, my sun lamp that I use to get up in the mornings died last week. With my delayed phase sleep disorder normally this would have been a big problem, but I'm not having trouble getting up in the mornings even without it. My sleep cycle seems to be completely normalized now, where it never has been before. Now I'm still going to get an electrician to try to fix it, because I'm used to using it, but it's nice to know I don't have to have it.
So let's review the progress I've made in two short months aside from the hugely fantastic freaking awesome 22 pounds I've lost. I was only expecting an improvement in my allergies, certainly not all of this. Eyelid eczema - gone. Bad rash under my armpits - gone. Weird occasional skin eruptions on my legs - gone. Monster zits from hell - gone, even after going off the birth control pills that were keeping them under control. Rosacea and redness - gone. Depression and mood - significantly improved. Allergies and sinuses - significantly improved and only taking homeopathic medicines now, with occasional sinus headaches still occurring. Energy level - way up. Stress level -way down and handling stress so much better. Intestines being a complete drama queen - so much better, still an occasional spell, mostly because I'm still discovering the foods that trigger it to act up. Delayed phase sleep disorder - normalized.
Gee, that's a whole lot of stuff for two months. I have known instinctively that something has been wrong with me for several years now and have gone to doctor after doctor looking for a diagnosis. And to think none of them were able to offer any help, or even acknowledge that anything was truly wrong. I think as far as they were concerned this was all in my head. There's a few I would like to go back and show them the "all in my head" 22 pounds that just fell off my rump.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
The Meat Goes On
I guess I am still in the process of rebuilding from period from hell. The meat cravings are still going on, just not quite as bad. I brought hemp seeds and leafy greens for lunch the past two days, but have still found myself running out at lunch for meat. Yesterday was salmon, today chicken.
Actually today I was really craving sushi but I talked myself out of it because of the white rice. I used to eat sushi all the time but with the white rice being higher glycemic and thus more likely to feed the candida monster I have relegated that to the status of very occasional treat. But a girl's gotta have sushi every now and then, candida or not.
With the period from hell I almost forgot to update on my toe. By Saturday it was COMPLETELY HEALED!!!! I mean, it looked like nothing ever happened, aside from one little spot where I had to trim off some dead skin. Is that crazy or what? Go Sovereign Silver First Aid Gel!
The kale cravings seem to be dying off a bit now that I've been on the King Bio Liver Detox formula for a while. I'm still eating it, but I think that the whole kale obsession was my liver. I cut down on my homeopathic sinus and allergy meds to twice a day from three times a day as an experiment. So far so good!
Actually today I was really craving sushi but I talked myself out of it because of the white rice. I used to eat sushi all the time but with the white rice being higher glycemic and thus more likely to feed the candida monster I have relegated that to the status of very occasional treat. But a girl's gotta have sushi every now and then, candida or not.
With the period from hell I almost forgot to update on my toe. By Saturday it was COMPLETELY HEALED!!!! I mean, it looked like nothing ever happened, aside from one little spot where I had to trim off some dead skin. Is that crazy or what? Go Sovereign Silver First Aid Gel!
The kale cravings seem to be dying off a bit now that I've been on the King Bio Liver Detox formula for a while. I'm still eating it, but I think that the whole kale obsession was my liver. I cut down on my homeopathic sinus and allergy meds to twice a day from three times a day as an experiment. So far so good!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The Period from Hell
I haven't posted in a few days because I have been feeling under the weather thanks to the period from hell. This was the first "real" period after stopping my birth control pills in addition to the fact that my liver seems to be in epic detox mode. Between all the kale and green stuff in my morning smoothie, plus the addition of the Liver Detox formula from King Bio, I am sure my liver had something to do with all the craziness. I started the liver detox formula after I suspected that the kale cravings are liver related since kale is supposed to be very potent for liver detoxification. Robert Scott Bell suggested using the King Bio formula.
Now on to the not fun stuff. On Wednesday I could feel a little PMS coming on so I started taking the King Bio PMS Relief. Thursday was flat out nuts. I started having ravenous meat cravings and actually had to leave work at lunch to get some meat because my broccoli and hempseed was not cutting it. By the afternoon I could not remember any usernames and passwords at work, which was actually quite funny.
Friday I finally started and had a really heavy flow for a first day. I was pretty crampy and nauseated as well, moreso than usual. Still it wasn't too bad and the PMS Relief took care of most of it. By Saturday the flow was horrible and my sanitary protection was wholly inadequate to deal with it. It was bad enough that I was actually scared that something was wrong. I hated to bug him, but I contacted Robert and assured me that this was ok and likely just the result of detoxifying and gave me some remedy suggestions to help.
By Monday it had all but stopped, and I rarely finish that quickly. Oddly I feel strangely more balanced and almost lighter now today, so I really think my body was just trying to use the cycle to force some toxins and other stuff out as hard and fast as possible.
The switch to the whole food GTF Chromium still seems to be going well. I can't really tell any difference in how I feel on the new stuff versus the Chromax, but that's a good sign I think, considering I was on 500 mcg of the Chromax and I'm only on 300 mcg of the GTF Chromium. So far so good.
Getting used to my new body with a mid of its own is a whole new concept for me. It is a lot smarter than I ever gave it credit for. My whole system seems to be flushing itself out as hard as it can. Speaking of flushing out, I can't wait until payday tomorrow. I am in dire need of some new not plus size pants!
Now on to the not fun stuff. On Wednesday I could feel a little PMS coming on so I started taking the King Bio PMS Relief. Thursday was flat out nuts. I started having ravenous meat cravings and actually had to leave work at lunch to get some meat because my broccoli and hempseed was not cutting it. By the afternoon I could not remember any usernames and passwords at work, which was actually quite funny.
Friday I finally started and had a really heavy flow for a first day. I was pretty crampy and nauseated as well, moreso than usual. Still it wasn't too bad and the PMS Relief took care of most of it. By Saturday the flow was horrible and my sanitary protection was wholly inadequate to deal with it. It was bad enough that I was actually scared that something was wrong. I hated to bug him, but I contacted Robert and assured me that this was ok and likely just the result of detoxifying and gave me some remedy suggestions to help.
By Monday it had all but stopped, and I rarely finish that quickly. Oddly I feel strangely more balanced and almost lighter now today, so I really think my body was just trying to use the cycle to force some toxins and other stuff out as hard and fast as possible.
The switch to the whole food GTF Chromium still seems to be going well. I can't really tell any difference in how I feel on the new stuff versus the Chromax, but that's a good sign I think, considering I was on 500 mcg of the Chromax and I'm only on 300 mcg of the GTF Chromium. So far so good.
Getting used to my new body with a mid of its own is a whole new concept for me. It is a lot smarter than I ever gave it credit for. My whole system seems to be flushing itself out as hard as it can. Speaking of flushing out, I can't wait until payday tomorrow. I am in dire need of some new not plus size pants!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Tuesday, June 7 - The Discovery of Italian Kale
So far the GTF Chromium switch is going well this time. I haven't noticed any difference between taking the 300 mcg of the whole food stuff vs. the 500 mcg of the Chromax form. The only thing is remembering to take it, LOL!
I'm starting to feel a little PMS coming on - bloating, a little tiredness and some intestinal discomfort. It's not too bad though. I started up with my King Bio PMS Relief again and it seems to be helping. Today I stopped by the farmer's market and got some Italian kale. It's a little different than the curly kale I've been eating, perhaps a little sweeter. Since my tummy is a little goofy with the PMS I sauteed it in a little ghee and put some hemp seeds on it. I wasn't sure it was going to tolerate raw stuff tonight like I usually eat.
I guess it's all part of this whole process I'm in of learning to listen to and work with my body, instead of fighting it like I used to. Speaking of listening to my body, I checked with Robert Scott Bell about my kale cravings. I really think those are indicative of my liver needing help cleansing. My body is a lot smarter than I have ever given it credit for and those cravings have to be a sign of something my body needs. Kale is a pretty potent detoxifier for the liver. He suggested a few things to help support my liver as it continues through this process of detoxifying. There's no doubt I've got loads of garbage stored up in my body and the liver has got to out process it all from my body. It's somehow comforting that these lines of communication seem to be opening up so that my body is starting to tell me what it needs.
I'm starting to feel a little PMS coming on - bloating, a little tiredness and some intestinal discomfort. It's not too bad though. I started up with my King Bio PMS Relief again and it seems to be helping. Today I stopped by the farmer's market and got some Italian kale. It's a little different than the curly kale I've been eating, perhaps a little sweeter. Since my tummy is a little goofy with the PMS I sauteed it in a little ghee and put some hemp seeds on it. I wasn't sure it was going to tolerate raw stuff tonight like I usually eat.
I guess it's all part of this whole process I'm in of learning to listen to and work with my body, instead of fighting it like I used to. Speaking of listening to my body, I checked with Robert Scott Bell about my kale cravings. I really think those are indicative of my liver needing help cleansing. My body is a lot smarter than I have ever given it credit for and those cravings have to be a sign of something my body needs. Kale is a pretty potent detoxifier for the liver. He suggested a few things to help support my liver as it continues through this process of detoxifying. There's no doubt I've got loads of garbage stored up in my body and the liver has got to out process it all from my body. It's somehow comforting that these lines of communication seem to be opening up so that my body is starting to tell me what it needs.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Monday, June 6 and Kale Quinoa Salad with Hemp Garlic Dressing
Well Sovereign Silver does it again. My toe is solidly scabbed up and normal color is returning to the flap of skin that was cut loose. There is no pain now even when I press on the wound. So not only does it heal your gut, but also your toes!
Now for the big news of the day. I have officially lost 20 whole pounds! Pound number 20 just popped off last night apparently. That is 20 pounds in less than 2 months! I am now at 195. I never believed it could be possible, especially after struggling for so long on ultra low calorie diets and now finally eating normal quantities of food for the first time in ages. I am so excited!
I decided tonight to experiment tonight with my new bottle of Hemp Oil I got from NaturalNews.com. Unfortunately the bottle had an unfortunate mishap and the top of the cork was broken off during shipping. Seeing as how no one in our family drinks alcohol, we do not have a corkscrew. So, as you can see from the picture, when you don't have a corkscrew, a long screw and screwdriver works quite nicely!
Of course, being the kale-o-holic that I am, it had to involve kale. I just grew some lentil sprouts as well, so I threw a bunch of kale and lentil sprouts into a bowl together, then boiled up some quinoa for protein.
Now for the fun part! I decided to make my own dressing using the hemp oil. I used:
1/8 cup of hemp oil
3 tsp. of raw organic apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. of lemon juice
1 tsp. of minced garlic (from a jar, but hey, I'm tired after work - at least it's organic).
I mixed them all up in a cup and added salt and pepper to taste. Then I poured some of my new dressing over my salad. It's an interesting flavor. I'm definitely going to have to refine it and play with some spices.
Here is my result. It turned out pretty yummy for my first hemp oil experiment.
Now for the big news of the day. I have officially lost 20 whole pounds! Pound number 20 just popped off last night apparently. That is 20 pounds in less than 2 months! I am now at 195. I never believed it could be possible, especially after struggling for so long on ultra low calorie diets and now finally eating normal quantities of food for the first time in ages. I am so excited!
I decided tonight to experiment tonight with my new bottle of Hemp Oil I got from NaturalNews.com. Unfortunately the bottle had an unfortunate mishap and the top of the cork was broken off during shipping. Seeing as how no one in our family drinks alcohol, we do not have a corkscrew. So, as you can see from the picture, when you don't have a corkscrew, a long screw and screwdriver works quite nicely!
Of course, being the kale-o-holic that I am, it had to involve kale. I just grew some lentil sprouts as well, so I threw a bunch of kale and lentil sprouts into a bowl together, then boiled up some quinoa for protein.
Now for the fun part! I decided to make my own dressing using the hemp oil. I used:
1/8 cup of hemp oil
3 tsp. of raw organic apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. of lemon juice
1 tsp. of minced garlic (from a jar, but hey, I'm tired after work - at least it's organic).
I mixed them all up in a cup and added salt and pepper to taste. Then I poured some of my new dressing over my salad. It's an interesting flavor. I'm definitely going to have to refine it and play with some spices.
Here is my result. It turned out pretty yummy for my first hemp oil experiment.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Baby Broccoli with Hemp Seeds and Ghee
It's been tough finding new ways to prepare foods to keep things interesting, especially as I'm trying to keep my foods raw as much as possible. When I discover a new recipe I'm going to post it here.
Since I have discovered that even cultured butter makes me sick now, I decided to try ghee and have had no problems. Ghee is simply butter that has been heated to remove the water and milk solids, and has no lactose. I used Purity Farms Ghee because it is organic. Their website has a lot more information about the process of making ghee from butter.
Tonight I prepared some raw baby broccoli using ghee that was awesome. I imagine this would work well with steamed broccoli as well, but it's hot out and I didn't want to cook it! It's really simple and only takes a few minutes. With the addition of the hemp seeds for protein, this really makes for a complete meal.
Ingredients:
Bunch of raw baby broccoli
1-2 tbsp. ghee (also called clarified butter)
2 tbsp. hemp seeds
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Himalayan sea salt to taste
Melt the ghee to a liquid and pour over the raw broccoli. Then add the hemp seeds and toss everything up really well. The ghee will cause the hemp seeds to stick to the broccoli and give it a nice buttery taste. Then just put a little of the Himalayan sea salt and fresh ground pepper on it and enjoy!
Since I have discovered that even cultured butter makes me sick now, I decided to try ghee and have had no problems. Ghee is simply butter that has been heated to remove the water and milk solids, and has no lactose. I used Purity Farms Ghee because it is organic. Their website has a lot more information about the process of making ghee from butter.
Tonight I prepared some raw baby broccoli using ghee that was awesome. I imagine this would work well with steamed broccoli as well, but it's hot out and I didn't want to cook it! It's really simple and only takes a few minutes. With the addition of the hemp seeds for protein, this really makes for a complete meal.
Ingredients:
Bunch of raw baby broccoli
1-2 tbsp. ghee (also called clarified butter)
2 tbsp. hemp seeds
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Himalayan sea salt to taste
Melt the ghee to a liquid and pour over the raw broccoli. Then add the hemp seeds and toss everything up really well. The ghee will cause the hemp seeds to stick to the broccoli and give it a nice buttery taste. Then just put a little of the Himalayan sea salt and fresh ground pepper on it and enjoy!
Sunday, June 5
Toe is doing ok. It's a little tender if I press on the wound but otherwise not hurting and I'm able to walk normally. It looks really nasty, but there is no swelling or signs of any infection. The skin that was cut away has solidly knit back to the toe, but it's purple under the skin today. I can't tell if the flap of skin is dead/dying or not. I'm keeping the silver gel on it and making sure it's exposed to plenty of air. Getting the silver gel into the wound immediately after the cut must have made a huge difference, I've never seen a cut this bad heal this quickly.
I lost another pound, so I am now at 19 pounds lost, weighing in at 196 pounds. I actually weighed myself twice to be sure, because I have been hanging out at 197-199 for several weeks now. I'd like to get down to around 180, which is definitely do-able I think. My weight is going to be higher because of my weight lifting, but once I get to 180 I'll re-evaluate and see how much more I may need to lose. My size 18W pants are getting way too big now, so I'm going to have to get some non plus size pants. I hate that, LOL! Actually most likely I'll get Mom to help me take them in, because that's cheaper than buying new ones.
I have now been to two different Vitamin Shoppes over the past couple of weeks and the sales guys have actually flirted with me at each one. That has never happened before. Apparently I'm getting cute!
My friend and I went shopping the other day and we discovered Steaz!!!!! It's an organic sparkling green tea with all organic fruit flavors (including elderberry juice), no calories, and sweetened with Erythritol and Stevia - both are candida/Body Ecology Diet friendly natural sweeteners. They aren't cheap, but it's a nice treat when all I've had to drink for the last little bit is water, unsweetened iced tea with stevia, and almond milk for the last two months. I like the orange flavor, but my favorite is the blueberry pomegranate flavor. Yummy!!! I drink a lot of the Numi hot teas in the winter, but that just doesn't do it for me in the summer months. This is a perfect way for me to get some healthy antioxidant goodness.
I lost another pound, so I am now at 19 pounds lost, weighing in at 196 pounds. I actually weighed myself twice to be sure, because I have been hanging out at 197-199 for several weeks now. I'd like to get down to around 180, which is definitely do-able I think. My weight is going to be higher because of my weight lifting, but once I get to 180 I'll re-evaluate and see how much more I may need to lose. My size 18W pants are getting way too big now, so I'm going to have to get some non plus size pants. I hate that, LOL! Actually most likely I'll get Mom to help me take them in, because that's cheaper than buying new ones.
I have now been to two different Vitamin Shoppes over the past couple of weeks and the sales guys have actually flirted with me at each one. That has never happened before. Apparently I'm getting cute!
My friend and I went shopping the other day and we discovered Steaz!!!!! It's an organic sparkling green tea with all organic fruit flavors (including elderberry juice), no calories, and sweetened with Erythritol and Stevia - both are candida/Body Ecology Diet friendly natural sweeteners. They aren't cheap, but it's a nice treat when all I've had to drink for the last little bit is water, unsweetened iced tea with stevia, and almond milk for the last two months. I like the orange flavor, but my favorite is the blueberry pomegranate flavor. Yummy!!! I drink a lot of the Numi hot teas in the winter, but that just doesn't do it for me in the summer months. This is a perfect way for me to get some healthy antioxidant goodness.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Saturday, June 4
I am such a klutz. My ever-hungry boxer was howling this morning wanting his breakfast at 6 AM. So I stumbled to the back door without my glasses or contacts half asleep and let him out then got a can of dog food from the fridge. Lo and behold I dropped it right on my left big toe. Apparently the serrated metal rim must have hit it because I realized after squinting really good that I was bleeding like crazy all over the place.
I went and got my glasses so I could see and I had a huge gash right at the edge of my toenail that had cut into the tip of my toe. The gash was about 3/4 inch long across the toenail edge and cut straight down into the tip of the toe about a 1/4 inch. So I had this huge flap of skin that was cut loose on the tip of my toe. Gross! I rinsed the toe out with water and grabbed by Sovereign Silver gel and packed the gash with the gel, all the while it was still bleeding everywhere and the silver burned like %*$#@ (insert your favorite expletive here). As if it wasn't hurting bad enough already.
I found some non stick wound pads and some self adhesive ace bandage and made a compression bandage to try to stop the bleeding and then took a dose of silver hydrosol orally before propping up my foot and going back to bed. It took a little while to get back to sleep because it was hurting pretty bad.
When I got up I took the compression bandage off and it was only oozing a little. The flap of skin that had been cut loose looked good and I left the bandages off for a while to give the toe some air. It was pretty tender at that point but the pain has gone down to nothing and I was walking normally by mid afternoon.
I have a band-aid on it loosely now to give it some protection but still allow plenty of air circulation. The oddest thing is the flap of skin that is nearly cut away seems to still be alive and somehow knitting back up to the rest of the toe. I was figuring that it would die and I would need to cut it off in a day or two. The minimal pain and the knitting of the skin must be due to the silver. I haven't ever seen anything try to heal this fast, especially with a wound this bad. Now that the skin is knitted I can't get the silver into the wound itself when I reapply it. I am putting it all over the cut and the flap. Hopefully it will penetrate the skin to get in where it needs to be. What the gel doesn't get I am sure the Sovereign Silver hydrosol I'm taking orally will get.
My intestines are still a little squirrely with some mild bloating and gas. I am putting through a LOT of poop. These new probiotics are definitely doing something.
I went and got my glasses so I could see and I had a huge gash right at the edge of my toenail that had cut into the tip of my toe. The gash was about 3/4 inch long across the toenail edge and cut straight down into the tip of the toe about a 1/4 inch. So I had this huge flap of skin that was cut loose on the tip of my toe. Gross! I rinsed the toe out with water and grabbed by Sovereign Silver gel and packed the gash with the gel, all the while it was still bleeding everywhere and the silver burned like %*$#@ (insert your favorite expletive here). As if it wasn't hurting bad enough already.
I found some non stick wound pads and some self adhesive ace bandage and made a compression bandage to try to stop the bleeding and then took a dose of silver hydrosol orally before propping up my foot and going back to bed. It took a little while to get back to sleep because it was hurting pretty bad.
When I got up I took the compression bandage off and it was only oozing a little. The flap of skin that had been cut loose looked good and I left the bandages off for a while to give the toe some air. It was pretty tender at that point but the pain has gone down to nothing and I was walking normally by mid afternoon.
I have a band-aid on it loosely now to give it some protection but still allow plenty of air circulation. The oddest thing is the flap of skin that is nearly cut away seems to still be alive and somehow knitting back up to the rest of the toe. I was figuring that it would die and I would need to cut it off in a day or two. The minimal pain and the knitting of the skin must be due to the silver. I haven't ever seen anything try to heal this fast, especially with a wound this bad. Now that the skin is knitted I can't get the silver into the wound itself when I reapply it. I am putting it all over the cut and the flap. Hopefully it will penetrate the skin to get in where it needs to be. What the gel doesn't get I am sure the Sovereign Silver hydrosol I'm taking orally will get.
My intestines are still a little squirrely with some mild bloating and gas. I am putting through a LOT of poop. These new probiotics are definitely doing something.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Friday, June 3
The GTF Chromium switch seems to be going well this time. I'm a little more tired than usual today, but that may be because I got up early and drove to one of our other offices 2 hours away for work. I also forgot a dose of my Sinus Relief and Regional Allergy stuff last night and I woke up with a little bit of a sinus headache, but that quickly cleared up. Either of those could explain the tired, not just the chromium switch. If it continues tomorrow I'll up the chromium dose by 100mcg a day to see if I just need more.
I had an epic blowout from the Dr. Ohhira probiotic switch yesterday morning that was pretty bad. When I say epic, I am not exaggerating. The smell was really ripe, not anything like what I'm used to. Today everything was nice and solid, but there was still the strange nasty smell to it. Before now I wasn't getting any smell. I seriously was not sure the toilet would ever be functional again after I was done with it, but God was merciful and the toilet soldiered through and flushed.
I'm still having the weird kale cravings. It literally is all I want, aside from the occasional broccoli sprouts. I have it with my salmon, I put hemp seeds on it, I put sprouted garlic sunflower seeds on it, I scramble it in my eggs. The thing is it really doesn't even taste that good just by itself. The vinaigrette I'm using is made with apple cider vinegar and olive oil, and the ACV gives it a nice kick though. Still I think it's funny that I'm craving it so badly. It must be the liver detoxing.
I had an epic blowout from the Dr. Ohhira probiotic switch yesterday morning that was pretty bad. When I say epic, I am not exaggerating. The smell was really ripe, not anything like what I'm used to. Today everything was nice and solid, but there was still the strange nasty smell to it. Before now I wasn't getting any smell. I seriously was not sure the toilet would ever be functional again after I was done with it, but God was merciful and the toilet soldiered through and flushed.
I'm still having the weird kale cravings. It literally is all I want, aside from the occasional broccoli sprouts. I have it with my salmon, I put hemp seeds on it, I put sprouted garlic sunflower seeds on it, I scramble it in my eggs. The thing is it really doesn't even taste that good just by itself. The vinaigrette I'm using is made with apple cider vinegar and olive oil, and the ACV gives it a nice kick though. Still I think it's funny that I'm craving it so badly. It must be the liver detoxing.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Wednesday, June 1
I have a little bit of a sinus headache today, but not too bad. I could feel it coming on last night. Taking some Headache Relief and extra Sinusalia along with plenty of SinuOrega spray. I guess there's more draining going on, and I can feel it coming down the back of my throat.
I'm retrying the switch to the GTF Chromium now that I'm out of PMSville and I've used up all my old stuff. We'll see how it goes, and if I need more than the 300mcg a day since I was taking 500mcg a day of picolinate/histidinate. I set alarms on my smartphone so I'll remember to take it and put a bunch of the pills in my purse so I will have them.
Today is payday, so I'm going to get some of the Dr. Ohhira's probiotics. I've heard lots of good things about them on the Robert Scott Bell show as well as elsewhere, so I think that may be a good switch from the New Chapter ones, especially since they don't require refrigeration.
I'm retrying the switch to the GTF Chromium now that I'm out of PMSville and I've used up all my old stuff. We'll see how it goes, and if I need more than the 300mcg a day since I was taking 500mcg a day of picolinate/histidinate. I set alarms on my smartphone so I'll remember to take it and put a bunch of the pills in my purse so I will have them.
Today is payday, so I'm going to get some of the Dr. Ohhira's probiotics. I've heard lots of good things about them on the Robert Scott Bell show as well as elsewhere, so I think that may be a good switch from the New Chapter ones, especially since they don't require refrigeration.
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