Continuing Healthy Choices

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Day Two of the rest of my life. :-) If I'm going to make these changes a permanent part of my commitment to healthy eating and honoring God with the temple of my body, then I need to keep going in the right direction from this point.

For breakfast, I enjoyed the homemade granola from the Daniel Fast book with my mixed coconut and 1% cow’s milk. I would love to eat more Kashi, but I’ve been out of cranberries for a while, and blueberries have gotten more expensive. I don’t want to eat it with just raisins. :-)

I also enjoyed a cup of decaf coffee (my first since before Easter) with Peppermint Mocha creamer mid-morning as I worked on school with the girls. That was delightful, let me tell you! (Ok... so it was a bit too early in the day for me to do a selfie, but look at my awesome cup from a sweet friend in Texas!)

Lunch was an incredibly tempting proposition, but the girls and I persevered. First, we finished off the grilled veggies from Tuesday night, when Dan grilled for us. Then, we each finished off the few bites of our individual pizzas that we had put away as leftovers last night. Finally, we jumped into the leftover hot dogs and brats from one of the grill nights. I was so excited to eat a brat, after so long without meat as a main meal! I sliced it in half (as I always do, to cut calories and keep from over-stuffing my tummy), souped it up with my homemade ketchup and some spicy brown mustard, and dug in…. only to find it was a PINEAPPLE brat! Yuck! The sweet flavor was quite a downer after I had gotten myself so worked up. Needless to say, I let my older daughter finish my brat, and I reminded myself that this was a great opportunity to exercise self-control (as opposed to grabbing a hot dog and eating it, instead). I wasn’t truly still hungry after the veggies and bites of pizza, but I knew my tummy would be complaining very soon. In the afternoon, we snacked on dried fruit, and I worked on dinner, which needed to be ready to deliver to a sick friend by 3pm. 

For supper I was quite proud of myself for tackling the Tuscan soup from the Daniel Fast cookbook. Since I’m off my 10-day Daniel Fast, and since I was also providing it for a sick friend, I added some sausage that I already had browned in the freezer. The soup included carrots, diced tomato, cannelloni beans, onion, garlic, lentils, and spinach, and it was yummy awesome!  I thickened it, as I have most of the others, with more of the pureed veggies from making veggie broth. Not sure how long it will be before the puree goes south, though, and I can’t seem to use it all before that happens. I also served the soup with Saltine crackers. All in all, it was a comfort food that I knew contained some really healthy ingredients that I otherwise never would have tried! :-) Day two of continuing with healthy choices - CHECK!

Freedom with Boundaries

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Happy 20^th birthday to my sweet son, Sam! (at Pensacola) Mom misses you!

This is my first day of giving myself a bit more freedom. You’ll see very soon why I gave myself such stringent guidelines before I even woke up today. Discipline is not my strong suit.  So let’s see how today went.

Until my coconut milk is gone, I’m planning to mix it ½ and ½ with cow’s milk. This is a continued sacrifice, but I don’t see how else to motivate myself to finish the coconut milk off. Once I go to cow’s milk alone, I would find it very difficult to go back and finish off the coconut milk. So I enjoyed a glass!!! of milk (mixed) with my apricot breakfast bar from the Daniel Fast book for breakfast. It still had a strong coconut flavor, but it was more of a pleasant taste than the overwhelming dirty-sock flavor of coconut milk alone.  Since I drank the milk instead of using it with cereal or granola, I didn’t make my every-other-day cup of coffee today, so that I’ll be able to enjoy it tomorrow.

After the girls had left for school, I faced the same challenge as last week, but with new freedoms, the temptation was even stronger! My first thought – let’s order from Sarpino’s (an incredible Italian fast-food place that delivers) for lunch! But I didn’t…. The fridge is full of healthy leftovers, as well as full of veggies that need to be turned into healthy meals. So I know I can’t spend money to get “yummy” food. But the leftovers just didn’t light my fire today. :-) Finally, my eyes lit on the jar of natural peanut butter I picked up at Sprout’s. Delicious!!! I’ve always been a sucker for PB! I used the multi-grain bread that my mother-in-law brought to me last week (when I was off of yeast products) to make Peanut butter toast, and made a cup of decaf hot tea to go with it. Yuuummmmm Yuuummmm! What a delightful treat, after so many days of staring at that bread with longing!

When I got up from my nap (eat your heart out, tired mamas!), I poured the last few ounces of tea over ice to make a half cup of iced tea that lasted me through my afternoon, until I was making dinner. I did a good job NOT snacking all afternoon. This was probably helped by the fact that I didn’t have the dehydrator running with something yummy in it all afternoon. :-)

For supper, I made the flatbread pizza with Macadamia Nut cheese from the Daniel Fast book. It was plumb wonderful! However, because I’m off the first ten days, I did make the following modifications: I used veggie sausage crumbles on my portion, and I added a tablespoon of parmesan and a tablespoon of mozzarella to mine. This recipe necessitated making the flatbread recipe first, which has to sit for 30 minutes and bake for ten minutes before assembling the pizza. Then I had to make the spinach artichoke dip from the cookbook (I made a half batch, and added about a ¼ cup of mozzarella to this, too) and bake it. I cut the flatbread into four portions (for me and my three kiddos) before baking, then let each person top his or her own. They chose from sliced veggies, cooked chicken, and whatever else they could find. For the most part, they enjoyed all of theirs, although I LOVED mine! I even saved a little of it for a leftover another day, and am looking forward to it! I served it with the remaining white bean salad from yesterday (yeah, that did NOT improve with age!) and it made a filling, healthy dinner.

The miracle of miracles for today was that I MADE IT TO CHURCH at Eagle Heights! I haven’t been able to attend a Wednesday night service in forever, partly because by that time of day, things are pretty rough in my fuzzy little head. Malachi was driving, since Dan was at work till 8pm, so he had the privilege of walking his dizzy mama all the way down the hall to the adult service, then coming back for me afterward. :-) What fun! He’s a sweet guy, though, and teased me the whole way, instead of grumbling or mocking. :-)

Overall, it was a great first day to continue making wise decisions while giving myself a bit more freedom. What suggestions do you have?

Day Ten: Modified Daniel Fast

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

When we woke up this morning, the house was 67 degrees, and soon fell to 66 degrees. Isn’t it funny that, although I know I can start adding things back in tomorrow, it was today that I was most tempted for a cup of coffee? I just want something warm that tastes comforting! J But God wants me to find my comfort in Him, not in a coffee cup. So that's what I did.

I had my granola from the cookbook this morning, with my classic coconut milk. (I think it might be growing on me? It didn’t seem quite so gross today.) I ran out of my dried cranberries, and I’m a bit low on the blueberries, so thought I’d wait till those are replaced before I eat the Kashi again. It needs all the help it can get! :-)

My hubby is off today (It’s his weekend), so I’m planning the White Bean Salad (from the Daniel Fast book) for lunch. I think he’ll enjoy it, and it will broaden the girls’ horizons, which is good for them. :-) They think they’re about to die from having their diets stretched so far this week. I think they’ll live. :-) The salad wasn’t the most popular thing I’ve made, but it wasn’t the worst, either. There was a bit left over, which will be even worse tomorrow, I’m thinking.

For supper, Dan grilled again, as he had done last night. We did the Veggie Kebabs from the Daniel Fast book, which basically entails chopping a ba-jillion (that’s actually a number!) veggies, then marinating them in soy sauce, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and I don’t remember what else. We used cherry tomatoes, zucchini, onions, red and yellow peppers, red potatoes, carrots, and all sorts of yummy veggies. Dan grilled it up in a grill basket while he did his venison steaks. It was yummy yummy!

I suspect that if I release myself from the food guidelines without setting boundaries for myself, I’ll go crazy and lose the ground (both in my health and in my relationship with the Lord) that I've fought so hard for during this time. Since I want to continue the healthy choices I’ve made, and I still suspect there could be some continuing health benefits from limiting my sugar intake (ya think?!), these are the boundaries I’m setting for the remainder of the week:

•  I will eat dairy (cheese, sour cream, or milk to drink) only when the rest of the family is doing so. Even then, I will do so in moderation, using “half of my normal serving” as a guideline.

• I will enjoy a cup of (decaf) coffee no more than once every 48 hours. That is about what I’ve always done, but I’m going to make it a hard and fast rule to keep me honest. 

• I will not have dark soda until the Ohio trip (mid-April). From now till May 26, if a decaf flavored lemonade option is available (for instance, in restaurants or at Panera), I will choose that. (I only drink decaf soda anyway, whether dark or light.)

• I will not eat fast-food meats (burgers, chicken nuggets, etc). Instead, I will choose the less processed cut of meat (steak or grilled chicken topping on a taco salad, etc).

• When the family has pizza, I will eat only ONE piece, and enjoy the daylights out of it, while finishing my meal with a classic Daniel Fast leftover or recipe. (Yikes! Did I really just say that?!)

• I will continue to use my Daniel Fast recipes for sweets (the oatmeal raisin cookies and the apricot breakfast bars) until the Ohio trip, with the exception that I will enjoy a dark-chocolate covered almond once in awhile.

What other guidelines do you think would be wise? Have I not gone far enough on any of these? I know, I know… cutting out soda completely would be a lot healthier. I’m getting there, OK? J  I’ll continue to update from time to time as I add things back in, and we’ll see where we’re at in a few days!

Thank you for joining me on my Daniel Fast journey. I hope you’ve been encouraged to try some new recipes yourself, and maybe to make a fasting commitment of your own to God, whether form certain types of food, or from some other area in which He is prompting you. God bless you on your journey!

Day Nine: Modified Daniel Fast

Monday, April 4, 2016

One…More…Day!! No coffee today. No sugar. No cheese. No meat. No cow’s milk… But a sweeter, closer relationship with the Lord is worth it, right? Right!

Psalm 22:25b – “I will pay my vows before them that fear Him.” That’s what I’m striving to do with this blog – to use the decisions and the commitments God is using to change my life to encourage you and others who read these little ramblings. Thank you for joining me on this journey.

One of the books I'm reading right now is entitled Tongue Pierced: Howthe Words You Speak Transform the Life You Live. Here’s a quote from the chapter I read today: “You and I are never more like God than when we use our words to speak the truth of His will for our lives into existence.”  

Lots of doctor’s appointments today, and no time for a detailed record. Thank you for checking in. Stay faithful!

Day Eight: Modified Daniel Fast

The last couple days' posts were scheduled (to post on Friday and on Saturday) after I wrote them on Thursday. At the time, I didn't realize why God had prompted me to do it that way. However, I've spent the last two days flat on my back with the worst dizziness and headaches I've had in many months. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness, and for His healing! It's been so nice to be out of bed some, and able to interact with my family today. So, before the day is over.... here is today's post. :-) Thank you for your feedback in person and via email. I hope these posts have been a blessing and encouragement to you in your journey with the Lord.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Psalm 16: 7-8, 11 ~ “I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. You will show me the path of life; in the presence is fullness of joy; at the right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” [paraphrased; emphasis mine]

These verses were such a comfort to me this morning. As I hit the one-week mark on this journey, it is easy to become discouraged because I have not seen the miraculous results in our child’s life that I have asked God for. Furthermore, the wholesale change in my eating habits has not, apparently, made a drastic difference in my dizziness, restfulness, or headaches. But I continually go back to the fact that it was God who counseled me to do this, and the results are His responsibility, not mine. I will not be moved, or shaken, because He takes longer to answer than I had scheduled (how infantile, to put the God of the universe on my human timetable, anyway!). Instead, I will rest in the pleasures of the closer relationship He and I have developed through this time, and I will continue to seek Him ever more earnestly in the days to come.

I really wanted to make it to church today, but it is a big deal for Dan to be able to have me there, knowing he might need to leave at a moment's notice, and that he needs to get me right home afterward. There were some people he still needed to talk to regarding the issues of the last couple weeks, so we decided together that I needed to stay home this morning. And by tonight, I wasn't able to attend because of the dizziness and exhaustion. Ah well... the Live Stream services from Val Verde continue to be a huge blessing! My son's youth group put on tonight's service, and he preached the closing. I have no greater joy than to "see" my children walk in truth! ~III John 4

For lunch, I was able to put together the Black & White Chili (also served last Wednesday night), since the kids had all requested it again. This time, my hubby got to try it, too. Unfortunately, he doesn’t care for chili in general. His comment was, “You took out the part of chili that I like (the meat) and put in more of what I don’t like (the beans).” Haha…. But he had seconds! He’s always super sweet about trying my creative failings in the kitchen. :-) I also attempted to make corn muffins from the Daniel Fast book, but I didn’t have rice milk (the only liquid in the recipe), so I substituted coconut milk. I soon discovered that coconut milk is not as watery as rice milk, and the muffins turned out like little sand-flavored rocks. They were OK in the chili, but not really edible by themselves. Again, my sweet hubby drizzled his with honey and got them down with a good attitude! He’s a keeper, for sure!

It was a rough day physically. There was lots of dizziness, coupled with a minor headache that I think was rooted in a stiff neck and shoulders. I’m just not sleeping well, and it’s discouraging to not be seeing more of a benefit from the changes I’ve made. For reals…. It’s been a week! Before I started this, I was told “You could probably see a difference within a few days!” Now people are telling me, “It might take a few weeks.” That’s a bit discouraging. :-/

For supper, I ate some leftovers of the other healthy stuff I’ve had in the fridge. Most of these healthy dishes are definitely more appetizing fresh! But alas… I hate to waste food, and I’ve already messed up on the onion soup. GGrrr…

Finally, when Dan got home from church with the kids, he set them to making Ramen and asked me to go out with him somewhere where he could catch the Royals’ opening game. We found a little Mexican restaurant that we hadn’t tried before and I ate the chips and salsa, even though I didn’t know the ingredients. I tried some Espinaca dip (which I’d never ordered before), thinking it would be mostly spinach and tomato, but it was quite cheesy, and I knew it wouldn’t fit my commitments, so I saved it and brought it home for the kids. The hardest thing at the restaurant was to drink the water I had brought from home, instead of ordering a nice BIIIIG refreshing soda! They didn’t even have hand-flavored lemonades… just the pink lemonade from the fountain, so I made the right choice, but it was HAAARD!! God is faithful!

Day Seven: Modified Daniel Fast

Saturday, April 2, 2016

We finally had our last meeting of the very long and difficult week this morning. Hopefully, from this point, we’ll all be able to go forward with spiritual and emotional healing, and see God work miraculously in the lives of those involved.

Before we left for our early-morning meeting, I had my delightful bowl of 7-grain Kashi with coconut milk, and more dried fruit than cereal. The dried blueberries and cranberries, in addition to raisins, really improve the flavor of the cereal, and drown out the milk completely. I use just enough milk to moisten the cereal. At this rate, this first half-gallon of coconut milk is going to last me a lifetime! :-( NOOOOO!!!!

I’ve been very busy with my dehydrator, using apple chips or banana chips, and even the odd carrot chip, to settle my munchies without adding either liquid (since I’m limited) or sugar to my diet. When the kids went fishing with my dad today, I sent with them a bag of the fruit leather that I had made from unsweetened applesauce, and a bag of the dried fruit I had made. They enjoyed it immensely! J And I felt good about being able to provide them with a healthy snack. Who is this lady offering them dried fruit instead of homemade cookies? I’m gonna lose my Grandma card! J

For lunch, since the kids were gone with their grandpa, I wended my way through some of the leftovers. Our microwave died last night, so I reheated the spin dip on the stove, which dried it out a bit further. Then I mixed some salsa with the Great Northern Bean dip, since it already had the avocado in it. That improved it to “nearly edible,” and I used tortilla chips to eat some of it, but didn’t finish it off. I finished my broiled polenta crisps (from Monday?) with the spin dip, and one of the kids snitched the last bit when she got home, so that is gone for now.  While I had the kitchen to myself, I used the dehydrator to dry the cilantro and the last of the green onions that were threatening to go south on me. I love having an inexpensive way of preserving food that otherwise might be wasted! Dehydrators are SOOO COOL!

The biggest challenge I faced today with my food choices might seem strange to some of you. I’ve always been kind of a private snacker. I am a hoarder by nature, and this translates to my relationship with food. I can make a package of Oreos last 8 months (I did this during one of my pregnancies!), or a dozen authentic buckeyes from Ohio last 6 months. Yes… I’ve had chocolates spoil before I ate them. Because of my hoarding tendency, I am more likely to hide a treat in my room, and enjoy just a bite of it when no one is around. This works well when you’re making a snickers bar last a month, but it doesn’t work well when you want to be honest before God about what you’re eating. The first thing I thought when all my kids were gone today was, “I should have a glass of milk.” Then I remembered I had told God I wouldn’t, so my next thought was, “Well maybe a cup of coffee then.” Same story… I’m humbled to admit how close I came to failing in my commitment, but by God’s grace, I stayed strong, and stuck with the plan. I didn’t even snitch a crumb of the no-bake cookies (yes, one of my favorites!) that the kids made and left open on the table after having them for dessert! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!

I used the last of my date honey (better make more! That stuff is versatile and yummy!) to make the Apricot Breakfast Bars from the Daniel Fast book, because I was in the mood for something sweet besides the oatmeal cookies I had made earlier in the week. These bars are much more flavorful, especially with the diced dried fruit, and really hit the sweet spot I was struggling with.

For dinner, I apparently hit another home-run. There is a recipe in the Daniel Fast book called Chunky Potato Soup, but my family likes a creamier soup, instead of broth-y. I used the last of my veggie broth (Looks like I’m going to be cooking some more this weekend) with chopped carrots (finished those off), celery (out of that, too!), and onion, as well as the last few crumbs of broccoli and cauliflower that the kids hadn’t finished off earlier. Add potatoes and seasonings, then run it through the food processor to blend everything together, and VOILA! The color is less than appetizing, because it has green and orange veggies in it. But the flavor is fabulous! Some of us ate it without anything added. I tried part of a bowl with veggie sausage crumbles, but thought it was better without. None of the kids added cheese, although I had told them they could, and a couple used bacon. It was quite flavorful, and everyone voted to do it again soon! Yay! Another victory for healthy eating!

Day Six: Modified Daniel Fast

Friday, April 1, 2016

Happy April Fool’s Day! I slept sooo poorly again last night. I had tried the Alteril suggested by a friend (I only took one, instead of two). While I felt very drugged overnight and until about 9am, I lay awake for more than an hour at different times of the night. It did help me get to sleep earlier, though (about 11pm, instead of the usual midnight or later). Ah well… the investigation continues! J

The girls and I had a blast celebrating April Fool's today. I bought these zippered food storage bags on Amazon last week, and have been using them first to get the girls, then their cousins, and finally, to share treats with the senior class on their last school day before their Senior Trip. We put homemade cookies in them (yes, I helped, without so much as licking the spoon!) and the girls wrote each student's name on them. Unfortunately, I didn't get any hilarious texts or stories out of the deal, but we had fun, and that's an important way to make memories with my girls. heee-heee.... still laughing!

I was also STARVING overnight! Lots of tummy growls and fat-burning! I was tempted to eat breakfast at 5:30 when I was up, but I put it off until 8, which is more my usual time. I enjoyed a bowl of the homemade granola from the Fast book, with some extra dried cranberries thrown in, all with the ever-present Coconut milk! Deee-lightful! I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to start using some cow’s milk, and maybe a cup of coffee here and there, after ten days, which will be next Wednesday. Because of my limited fluid intake (32-40 oz total per day), it is just too difficult to drink only water and have no other flavor for when I’m hungry, but don’t want to eat an hour early. It might not make sense to the reader, but that’s the decision I’ve come to, with the Lord’s guidance. 

On a brighter note, I am getting encouragement on the scale, even if I’m not sleeping or feeling any better overall. It is a blessing to see those numbers move, and to know it’s in direct response to my obedience to what God has asked of me. Spiritually, I’m also seeing benefits in my family. There is a peace in our home this week that has been very refreshing. I’m still praying for certain specific actions, but I know God is in control, and seeks holiness for my family, more so than even I do!

For lunch, I attempted another recipe from the Daniel Fast book, the Great Northern Bean Dip. But I 

made a definite error in judgment! When I tasted the dip, it was good, but I thought, as bland as it was, that it would benefit from the half-avocado that I had sitting in the fridge. And since the avocado had been cut two days before, it needed to be used, even though I had stored it in an airtight bag with lime juice. Adding the avocado was a mistake. It took a basic, albeit bland, dip and made it a funky-flavored dip that vaguely resembles a gastric emergency. Yuck! We ate it with Romaine leaves, and I chopped up broccoli, cauliflower, a yellow pepper, and grated carrot to add to the wraps to give them some crunch. All in all, not only was it not a very filling meal, but it had a strange aftertaste, and since my girls don’t care for avocado, it was not pleasant to make them eat it.

For dinner, I had a little better success. I made the Spinach-Artichoke Dip from the Daniel Fast book. The kids were all distracted elsewhere, so they were unaware that the major ingredient was 8 oz of tofu. After baking it, I served it with their choice of tortilla chips, or in a tortilla, or on my flatbread. I personally ate it on my whole wheat low-carb/high fiber tortillas from Hy-Vee, and enjoyed it immensely! I put some crushed macadamia nuts on my wrap, to give it some texture, and found it to be wonderfully flavorful. Yes, it would have been better with cheese, but isn’t everything?  Have you ever found a recipe that is as good without cheese as with? :-)