Cookin' It Up!

Day 3 LBS Menu

Wednesday

Cottage cheese, omlet, string cheese, veggie stir-fry, salad, chili (no beans) w/ cheese, celery w/ chesse. I'm getting tired of the same foods, but I'm not quitting. I did not feel emotionally well all day, but by evening I was feeling much better and not tired. I think I finally made it to the top of the mountain!

Day 1 and 2 LBS Menu

Sorry it took so long to get this posted. Here is the breakdown of what I ate Monday and Tuesday and how I feel.

Monday:

Cottage cheese, Oat bran, celery w/ cream cheese, tuna steaks and salad, swiss cheese, celery w/ cream cheese, salad and Italian Casserole, swiss cheese. All these things included no flour, no sugars, and no fruit. I woke Monday morning with my normal headache and achy body. I got a really bad headach mis afternoon and had to go take a nap. I slept for an hour and slept hard, which is unusual for me. I went to bed fairly early too. I drank water all day and took a 1/2 mile walk.

Tuesday:

Cottage cheese, cooked oats, fresh broccoli, cauliflower, and bell pepper, chicken and dumplings, green tea, meatballs with stir fried green beans and mushrooms. I goofed with the chicken and dumplings at a restaurant. I didn't eat my bedtime snack because I was in bed by 7:30. Stomach felt yucky and I was very tired. By dinner time I couldn't sit up anymore.

This has been very hard, but I really want to feel better. I'm tired of living like this. I am pretty sure all the headaches and stomach issues are from sugar withdrawls. A few more days and I will hopefully be feeling a lot better.

Low Blood Sugar

My Stuggle With Hypoglycemia

Growing up I was quite skinny and I ate like it was going out of style. I ate unhealthy, but so did the rest of my generation. I remember my Senior year in high school my breakfast included a Dr. Pepper and a Reses Cup. MMM! Then for lunch a Dr. Pepper and a Reses Cup. And if I was lucky one of my friends would buy me a slice of pizza. Now, before you jump all over my parents for letting me eat as such, I lived in my own place my Senior year. Paying my bills took its place over feeding myself. I was responsible for myself which I obviously didn't do a good job. Anyway . . . fast forward 10+ years and add a husband and three kids.

After my first child I quickly returned to a size 3 (I know sickening). Again, now I was living on my own, but now having to support a child. I worked at a surgery center where we kept saltines, graham crackers and a soda fountain machine at all times. (Why the sodas? I don't know.) And on Friday's the center bought a catered meal for lunch. So I ate crackers all day every Monday through Friday and drank Dr. Pepper. Then on Fridays I would gorge myself on lunch. Everyone would save the leftovers in the fridge and I would take them home with me. That was my weekend meals. So needless to say, I have had a bad history of eating poorly.

First comes marriage and then comes baby number 2. My shape definately changed after my son and size 3 was no more, but I still only weighed 5 lbs heavier than before I was pregnant. And I started cooking . . . a lot. I started having lots of gastric problems and allergy problems. (Insert here: that I have always had headaches and migraines.. My mother would send Tylenol to school with me starting in 4th grade because of my chronic headaches. My mother had chronic headaches too so she didn't think anything more than a hereditary condition.) 

Cihld 3 came and now I wasn't able to shake the pounds. I was having more headaches, severe gastric problems, miserable allergies (I never got sick as a kid and now I felt like I was always sick), limbs going numb, blurring vision, dizziness, and many other symptoms. I started looking into grinding my own wheat because I loved bread and wanted to make fresh bread. I bought a wheat grinder and Bosch machine and recieved the cookbook Set for Life: Eat More, Weigh Less, Feel Terrific. I started following the principles in the book and suddenly I stopped having headaches, I started actually having to go to the bathroom (I know that is TMI, but during school I never used their restrooms. I went all day with no potty breaks and then went potty when I got home. But was still only having maybe one BM per week), and I had energy. Best of all I was happy. My husband didn't know what to do! He actually wanted to come home because his wife was actually smiling and didn't have roller coaster mood swings anymore.

For two years I lived on my new eating plan. Then we moved to AL and healthy eating went out the window. Fast food on every corner and very, very few healthy restaurants. Nearest health food store is over an hour away. And all food is more expensive here than in Texas. So I started eating poorly again. All the old symptoms returned and more! We started do research and I have come to the conclusion that I am hypoglycemic. This is not a doctor's diagnosis, but just having a knowledge base in which to attack the problem is enough for me.

Now most diet plans for hypoglycemia consist of low-carb/high-protein. I'm not convinced that is the only solution. I'm going to attack this with whole grains, raw vegetables, and lean meats. I will be documenting my findings here on my blog, so if you are interested please check back. I will also continue to post recipes that I find are healthful and tasty. If you have read all this - wow - kudos to you! Thanks for reading.

Our No Sugar Menu

So here is what I fed my kids this week, particularly my son, which did not include white sugar. It is amazing the difference. He doesn't ask for food between meal/snack times! Even his chewing on his shirt subsided a little. I think the chewing may also be him teething, he hasn't gotten his 6yr molars yet. So we have decided to stick with our plan of no white sugar - it seems to have helped tremendously!

Tues -

Breakfast - Homemade Donuts with powdered Sucanat

Snack - apple

Lunch - Spaghetti w/ homemade sauce

Snack - Deviled Eggs

Dinner - Homemade pizza

Wed -

Breakfast - Homemade Banana Cake

Snack - apple

Lunch - Noodles w/ homemade cream sauce

Snack - Homemade gelatin

Dinner - Homemade chicken nuggets/green beans/homemade french fries/hominy

Thurs -

Breakfast - More banana cake

Snack - Homemade choc shakes using sucanat

Lunch - Ham sandwiches w/ mustard

Snack - Homemade gelatin

Dinner - Cracked Wheat Tacos

Fri -

Breakfast - Oatmeal

Snack - stove top popcorn

Lunch - ??

For anyone interested I hope that helps! I'm also open to any other suggestions on other prep ideas with no white sugar.

Tempting Chocolate Cake

Well after our vow to eat no white sugar this week, a neighbor stopped by with a homeade chocolate cake! Now the reason for the cake was a noble one and we are very grateful. This morning at about 6:30am, our neighbor knocked on the door saying that she had a flat tire and needed help. My husband was heading out the door already so he stopped and fixed her tire. So as a thank you she brought a yummy chocolate cake.

So now I'm off to make homemade cookies with sucanat instead of white sugar so that my kids won't feel left out. I guess I'm going to have to eat that chocolate cake . . . after the kids go to bed of course. And I'll share with my husband since he did all the work this morning!

No Sugar!!!!!

I'm experiementing. We already have made major changes in my family's diet, especially my son's. He is a very smart little boy full of energy and curiosity. And trouble and an incontrolable appetite. During my own diet changes and research I discovered that white sugar makes me hungry, especially for snack foods.

So today I told my 5-yr-old son that he was going to try something with me. No sugar for 1 week to see if that would help curb his appetite. I do not starve my child, but he just never seems full. He is not overweight, very thin in fact. Yes, I realize that he is a growing boy and needs to eat, but he has now gone to chewing holes through all the collars on his shirts.

I didn't realize how many things actually have sugar in them! But we have stuck to our plan so far and already I've noticed a difference. He couldn't eat all his lunch today and he hasn't chewed his shirt most of the morning! But we will try this and see if there is a big change by the end of the week.

Any suggestions are encouraged!