Sharing Rambling, Resources and Recipes for Learning in Life

Sharing Rambling, Resources and Recipes for Learning in Life

Category: Health

EducationHealthParentingRamblings

Essential Minerals are Changing our Lives!

By AudreaLeave a comment

I have heard and read a lot about natural remedies and health options. I was raised taking “sugar pill” homeopathic medicine. They weren’t really sugar pills, they were natural medicine from God’s creation and they really worked. My husband was raised in a family of nurses who are fully trained in western and synthetic medications. I believe both of these things have an important place in our lives and health. I believe that we should always seek natural first, but be willing to consider manmade or synthetic when we need them!

Before, I say anything else. I want be clear about a few things. My husband is very good about wrangling my experimental nature in with the wisdom of the necessity of researching FIRST. I am not a medical expert of ANY kind. I am not recommending ANYTHING for you, I am just sharing what has made such a big difference for myself and my daughter. This information would hopefully empower you to have a conversation with your doctor or to do your own research for things that might help you improve your and your children’s well being!

Since, I love all things natural based, I have experimented a couple of times with making my own toothpaste. One of the ingredients in the recipe I use is Trace Mineral Drops. I ordered the brand recommended on the Weed ’em and Reap website that I got my toothpaste recipe from. So, we use Concentrace Trace Mineral Drops.

Since, I love learning and I love my daughters, they have been one of the things that have propelled me further and further into research on natural remedies for everything from cavities to sleep to focus to reading. Both our girls have had WAY more tooth decay (a.k.a. cavities) than I ever expected. I haven’t had a cavity yet and my husband has only had about 4. So, when our oldest had 7 at the age of 5 I started looking for natural ways to help and that led me to the toothpaste.

This same daughter also struggles with attention and focus and sleep. As, I have done more researching and reading I have read a lot about the importance of magnesium for a huge range of things in our bodies. Some of those are sleep and calm. As I read more and more about this mineral, I remembered the drops we had in the pantry for making toothpaste and I looked to see which minerals they included.

They include magnesium, chloride, sodium, potassium and sulfate, lithium and boron. The highest percentage of all of these? You guessed right! Magnesium. Since, our oldest struggles with sleep she would/will often struggle with getting tired. Tiredness for her would be manifested in extra or hyper energy, crankiness and low to absolutely no emotional control. So, after a lot of discussion AND consulting with their pediatrician, we tried giving some of these drops to the girls. We just wanted to see if they would help with any of the attention or emotional control issues our oldest was having. We gave the drops to both girls just to keep things even, and they are essential minerals so it seemed like they’d benefit anyone.

This particular brand of drops tell you on the bottle that they have a strong flavor and they’re telling the truth! So, we started with mixing a pediatric dose into a lunch box sized cup of apple sauce. It worked perfectly as long as all of the applesauce got eaten. This usually wasn’t an issue unless we forgot about it until a full breakfast had been eaten. Also, occasionally the girls got tired of eating applesauce. What we have currently settled on after trying many things from mixing with honey to diluting in water is to fill a 2 ounce cup with juice (apple juice does not work, grape and a mango mix work the best for us) and adding the drops. We have also increased the amount of drops our oldest takes from the pediatric (ages 1-3) dose to just under 1/2 a dose (she takes between 12-15 drops a day). Everyone seems to be pleased with this method and they are still able to get it down if we forget until after breakfast.

These drops have had a BIG impact on our daughter’s well being. She is better able to regulate her emotions when she has them. These and lavender oil rubbed on her feet or behind her ears also help her sleep better at night. We also use epsom salts in her baths if she seems over tired or extra keyed up. We have tried other magnesium options like gummies, but they do not have the same effect for her. When we were doing the gummies instead of the drops she had a pretty major emotional episode with no real apparent reason. But, when she has the drops those episodes become decidedly less frequent. So, for our family these drops are the only way for us to give her the magnesium she seems to need to balance her emotions, will, and abilities.

Even though the drops were working well for our daughter, I still kept learning and reading as much as I possibly could on more things that would help her or just natural things we might need in order to support our bodies to do the things God calls us to do. One thing that kept coming up when I would read about magnesium was it’s ability to help mom’s with their energy levels, quality of sleep and emotional control (it is said to help alleviate anxiety and possibly depression). So, since it had helped our daughter so much and since I was struggling a LOT with anxiety this past school year (even before Covid-19 hit!!) I decided to try taking the drops myself. We are always trying to stay on a budget and I especially have trouble using extra things that I might not “need” that will end up costing us extra money. That is why I was hesitant to try the drops at first, I wanted them to last as long as possible for the girls. For that reason, the first time I started to take them I would only take half of a dose. And, honestly it seemed to intensify my emotions, so I stopped. Then I was struggling again and reading more and more about how this specific mineral was supposed to help. I also think it was during this time also that I read a post about something Adrienne at Whole New Mom had tried once that didn’t work, but she tried again because it was supposed to and it did. Those things combined together to push me to try the drops again and commit to taking them for a month. I took a full dose every morning and they REALLY started to make a difference. The best way that I can describe it was that it felt like I was lifting my head up out of a heavy fog that I had been living under. It started to feel like there was possibility in life again and I wasn’t sad and overwhelmed all the time.

Recently, we were running low on drops and I hadn’t ordered more yet. So, I stopped taking them to make sure we didn’t run out for the girls. Since our schedules have been rather scattered since March, it took longer than usual to order, and I went awhile without them. I also managed to hurt my shoulder somehow during this time. The pain from my shoulder was going through my back and growing despite my efforts to stretch it out. The essential oils I was putting on my shoulder would help at night, but by the end of the day I was in more and more pain. The new drops came in and I had a day where I just felt awful all day. I skipped my workout in the morning and just dragged, had no energy and more and more pain in my shoulder throughout the day. That night I took a double dose of the drops and went to bed early. My pain was greatly relieved the next day and I felt like my energy was really starting to come back. I have not missed a dose since then. I even got up out of bed one night when I realized I had forgotten to take any that day.

These drops and more specifically, in my OPINION, magnesium have really made a world of difference for our family. In helping both my daughter and I regulate our emotions much better and giving us better rest. I sleep so much heavier and feel like I get much higher quality sleep when I take these drops, especially if I take them at bedtime. I have not switched to taking them at night yet, but I am certainly contemplating it. I wanted to share this with you to give you something to discuss with your doctor or for you to research for yourself if you are struggling with sleep, calm, energy or anxiety. Please do not take my word in deciding to take these drops or anything like them, use wisdom and the professionals in your life to guide your journey! Also, I want to be completely transparent. I still get tired, today in particular has been pretty rough! In addition, our daughter is still her super energetic-anti-sleep-try anything and always has a better and different way of doing things-self. BUT, this mineral must really be as important as I’ve read and these drops have really helped both of us be able to regulate life better. What minerals have you found to be essential to your well being or that of your children? Where do you find reliable information on natural options to optimize health? Please share in the comments below to help us continue learning together!

HealthParentingRecipes

Homemade Larabars or Bites

By Audrea1 Comment

I have done a couple of Whole30’s. In doing those I have only tried a few Whole30 approved snacks. This is because, in case you haven’t noticed in some of my other posts, I don’t like to spend extra money on things. This is partly to be responsible with the money God has given us to steward and partly because my husband is most assuredly NOT a fan of Whole30 or many of the other “healthy” things I try. He was raised on white bread, Little Debbie snacks and margarine and he loves them! He is also a healthy weight and gets better numbers at his check ups than I do! He is also super frugal and doesn’t want to “waste” money that we don’t have or have to!!

Larabars were one of the Whole30 snacks that I did indulge in. On busy mornings, with getting all of us to school for the day, they were a lifesaver. They are a fairly expensive lifesaver when you are used to buying Little Debbie snacks or Sunbelt granola bars from the discount store in their hometown of Gentry, AR. One other drawback to Larabars for me was that most of them are made with walnuts and at the time I was reacting to walnuts. My mouth would get sore and then it progressed to the back of my throat itching and sometimes swelling a little. Because I had heard from my husband’s aunt who is a nurse that nut allergies can progress, I thought it would be in my best interest to steer clear of walnuts for a while.

So, I looked up homemade Larabar recipes to save myself money and the possibility of anaphylactic shock. The one I keep going back to is by Chocolate Covered Katie. I use this recipe as the base for all the versions of my homemade larabars, which I normally make into bites now. I started doing this because it is just easier to scoop them with my small cookie scoop instead of trying to press them into something and cut them up. I am hopeful that since one of my husband’s other aunts sells Pampered Chef that I may be able to score their Snack Bar Maker Set for Christmas! Then I might make them into bars again. You can click here for that original recipe. Below you can see how I use the main ingredients from her recipe as the base for my recipe(s).

Here is my base recipe:

1 cup nuts

1 1/3 cups dates

That’s it. From there the options are rather endless. I’ll include two versions that I have made below to give you some ideas.

Chocolate:

Add 3-4 tsp. cocoa powder

Yesterday, since I had dates left over after my chocolate one ones I also made Cinnamon Raisin.

Cinnamon Raisin:

Reduce dates to 1 cup and add 1/3 cup raisins (or use all 1 1/3 cup raisins, these are sweeter)

Add 1-3 tsp ground cinnamon

Add a generous sprinkle of ground cloves

Add about 1/4 tsp nutmeg

I also added 3 tsp of peanut butter to make them richer

Directions for all variations:

Place all ingredients in a food processor, various recipes I’ve looked at say you can use a high powered blender, but I’ve only used a food processor. Mix until it is a smooth and slightly clumpy mixture. Scoop the mixture out with a cookie scoop (round more with hands if you prefer) into a ziplock bag or airtight container. Store in the refrigerator. I have also pressed these into cupcake papers in cupcake tins to make a slightly larger serving size and cuter presentation. You could also stir in additional chocolate chips or chunks to the chocolate version and raisins to the cinnamon raisin version if you want to. This last time with the chocolate version, I added a few pieces of my paleo chocolate before I ran the food processor just to make them richer.

I really enjoy these as a healthy fruit based indulgence for myself. I also REALLY love that my girls feel like they’re getting candy and they’re eating fruits and nuts. I was SO thrilled that since I have not been reacting to walnuts lately and my mom has given us several bags of them lately that I was able to make these with walnuts instead of almonds this yesterday. They are so smooth and decadent!! Also, we are all getting a boost in Omega 3 fatty acids which are supposed to be helpful for children with ADHD symptoms. My oldest has no diagnosis, but focus and controlling impulses can be difficult tasks for her. Therefore we value any diet additions we can make that will help her strengthen her focusing and impulse control. We are currently focusing on adding magnesium through Concentrace Essential Mineral Drops and Omega 3’s through diet.

If you try either of these or your own variation, I’d love to hear about it!

HealthRecipes

Chocolate Chip Cookies (White Bean Version!!!)

By Audrea2 Comments

I am currently doing the 30 Day MakeFatCry Challenge by Betty Rocker. It is a challenge that gives you a 15 minute workout each day, including active rest day workouts so your body gets a break while you still move each day. During the challenge you get the workout emailed to you each day. Some days include some “extras” in the form of extra workouts or recipes. She also offers a Challenge Meal Plan that is whole food based to nourish your body with all of the macro and micro nutrients it needs to look and feel its best! Since the meal plan is not free, I haven’t tried it. I did try one of the recipes she sent as one of the “extras” today though.

Today I made Chocolate Chip cookies that are flourless. Now, most of the time that I see “flourless” cookies or desserts it means almond meal or coconut flour. I think both of those are likely wonderful ingredients and very healthy. Unfortunately, they are also very expensive and I am not yet ready to invest that much money into experimenting. So, I was excited that flourless in this recipe truly meant flourless.

Here is her original recipe:

1 can of white beans (drained and slightly patted dry)

1/3 honey or maple syrup

1/3 walnut or almond butter

1/4-1/3 cup ground chia seeds (optional)

1-3 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (she uses dairy free from Enjoy Life or similar)

Heres the directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment
  3. Put everything except the chocolate chips in a food processor and blend until smooth
  4. Stir in chocolate chips
  5. Scoop out with a cookie scoop onto the parchment
  6. Cook for 12-16 minutes

I didn’t have everything in the ingredient list so here’s the recipe I actually made:

1 can of white beans (drained and slightly patted dry)

1/3 honey

1/3 walnut butter-ish (I processed walnuts in my small food processor until that were a paste)

1/4-1/3 cup ground flax seeds (I didn’t have any chia seeds left)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks (I used my paleo chocolate chopped into pieces and a small handful of Nestle Chocolate chips when I could tell near the end of scooping that I was out of chocolate in the dough)

Here’s the steps I followed:

I had a little bit of extra work because I didn’t just have everything on hand. I had flax seeds, but not ground. So, while the beans drained in the colander, I used my seed grinder to grind the flax seeds. Then I got out my walnuts from the freezer because I didn’t want to use peanut butter, but I have been given a lot of walnuts lately. The walnuts went into my small food processor and started grinding while I put the beans, honey (always be sure to spray your measuring cup with oil before measuring honey to make pouring it out easier and wasting less of it), baking powder and baking soda into my large food processor. Somewhere in here is when I remembered to turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Then I scooped out enough of the walnut “paste” for the recipe and left the rest in the small food processor. Later, I added raisins, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and made oatmeal raisin bites (similar to Larabars) for my daughters. Then I ran the large food processor until everything was smooth. While that was going, I chopped some of my paleo chocolate that I had in the fridge to equal 1/2 a cup. Once it was smooth (it went really fast), I scooped that out into a bowl and stirred in the chocolate chunks. Then I put foil on two cookie sheets (I didn’t have parchment paper) and used a small cookie scoop to scoop the cookies out onto the cookie sheets. As I got close to the end of the dough I could see that there was no chocolate so I threw in a small handful of Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chips. Once I finished scooping. I put the cookie sheets into the oven on two different racks and set the timer for 6 minutes. A trick that I’ve learned from my dad, the baker, is to rotate your cookie sheets on their shelves halfway through cooking. After six minutes, I switched the cookie sheets and cooked them for 7 more minutes. After I took them out, I let them cool on the cookie sheets. Okay, I did eat one as soon as they came out of the oven. Then I scooped them off the foil with my small dessert spatula from Pampered Chef and put them in my cookie jar.

Here’s what I think of them:

They are good and I think they get better as they sit in the cookie jar. The coconut oil in the paleo chocolate adds a crispiness to the edges of some of the cookies. They are NOT Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies (my absolute favorite dessert, IF my dad makes them). I had been having a chocolate chip cookie each morning with my tea during my quiet time, but that didn’t seem like such a healthy choice. I think this is a lovely alternative. It seems like these would be high in fiber with the ground flax seed and beans and that is something I am focusing on currently in this journey of remembering that and treating my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. There are some nutrition facts on Betty Rocker’s page, but they didn’t include the fiber content. The comments did say they are in My Fitness Pal though, so that would likely give that content. If you try these, I’d love to hear how they turn out for you. There are tweaks and versions mentioned in the comments on Betty Rocker’s page, if you’re interested in them.

EducationHealthParentingRamblings

Finding Peace in the Chaos

By Audrea2 Comments

This virus that is sweeping the world is certainly creating a LOT of chaos. The chaos is permeating every aspect of life from the news to Facebook news feeds, from the grocery store to the drug store, from home to church to work. However, within the chaos this virus is causing is an invitation to peace.

While schools, job sites and even stores are closing their doors, homes are too. The difference is the doors to our homes are closing us in. We are being invited to unplug from our busy lives and jobs and activities and spend “real” time with the ones we love the most. God gives us children to invest ourselves and our relationships with Him into. Sometimes that investment seems too much, especially when we are pulled to work, home, activities, homework, and SO MUCH more. Right now we have one of the rarest opportunities to draw closer to Him and them at the same time.

He is our only protection and guarantee in “these uncertain and unprecedented times”! We have been caught off guard, but He has NOT! He has shut down the world to reintroduce us to what family means and should be like. We are being forced to take the time to spend with one another, to invest in our children’s education to a level many never even thought about attempting. Your children are getting the best chance to learn in the next couple of weeks as they get to work with the “teacher” who knows them best in a one-on-one or small group setting! You may feel unequipped for this, but don’t worry, the curriculum has been provided for you and the love necessary is already in your heart.

So, instead of choosing the panic that is gripping so many, I am choosing ( and I pray you can too) to hold and breathe in and bask in the peace being given instead. I am choosing to relish these days with my daughters. I am breathing in their scent as I rock them, I am trying to step back when emotions run high and realize this is a gift, a rare jewel of “forced” family time. Peace is ours for the taking as we are being commanded by the world to follow God’s command to take a Sabbath. We have ignored His command so often that He has shut down the world just to give us the rest and relationships we need. I choose His plan and His peace!

HealthParentingRamblingsRecipes

The Power of Protein

By Audrea1 Comment

It continues to surprise and motivate me how much the needs of your children drive your ambitions. Our oldest daughter struggles with focus and impulse and emotion control when something isn’t her own idea. Given that struggle for her, I have looked into more and more information on ADD and ADHD. One great resource I have stumbled upon is ADDitude Magazine. I signed up for a webinar with them through an email I received as a teacher. I thought this may help with some of my students as well as my daughter. Since that webinar, I have received several emails and read many articles about diet and behavior therapies and other alternative treatments for ADD, ADHD and their symptoms. As I have read these articles two things have come glaringly through. One is to avoid sugar and the other is to increase protein.

I have been working to do that for my daughter. We have especially been working on increasing protein at breakfast to help improve focus and control. It has had a HUGE impact on her behavior. We have also been working on limiting sugar since the end of the holidays. The combination of limiting sugar and increasing protein seems to really pay off at school. I have heard from both her regular classroom teacher and her interventionist that she has seemed a lot more focused and well behaved since coming back from Christmas break. It is such an exciting thing as a mother to finally find something that works! It is also so exciting to find something that is relatively simple but impactful! A positive increase in control and focus without a diagnosis or medication is positive all around!

One of her current favorites for breakfast is a breakfast burrito. I simply scramble a couple of eggs and dump them in a tortilla. Then we add some shredded cheese and some crumbled bacon that we cooked in the oven at the beginning of the week. I roll them up and then cut it in half (one half for each girl). I love this recipe because it is increasing the protein the oldest is getting and it is increasing the Vitamin K that both girls are getting. The latter has been a focus of mine since the girls have both gotten crowns on their baby teeth because of cavities. Since I have never had a cavity, all of this dental stuff is new to me and super alarming! So, of course I have been researching ways to improve their diet to help strengthen their teeth. If you have any tips or tricks that you have had success with for focus or teeth remineralization, I’d love to hear about them!

EducationHealthRamblings

Whole30 Journey

By AudreaLeave a comment

I’ve done a Whole24 before and had REALLY good results from it! It increased my energy and regularity and it helped TREMENDOUSLY with my sugar cravings and even sugar toleration. Even now, almost two years later, I drink unsweet tea or unsweet tea with flavoring at Sonic which is still sometimes almost too sweet. I have managed to work up a toleration for Dr. Pepper again, but that took awhile!

So, in trying to finish up the weight loss portion of this temple journey, I’ve toyed with the idea of doing another Whole24 and making it the Whole30 this time!! I’ve only toyed with the idea because deprivation is HARD and usually unsustainable. After all, this journey is supposed to be about sustainable, holy, Christ following changes! The last time my sister and I lugged our munchkins to the Library and the Savoy Tea Company I stumbled across Dallas and Melissa Hartwig’s book, It All Starts With Food. And, I’ve read most of it. There is SO much MORE information in this book about their perspective and the whys and the lifestyle philosophies behind the Whole30 than I found reading on the internet prior to my first Whole24. It turns out that the Whole30 is supposed to springboard you to a sustainable, healthy-eating lifestyle that generally propels you toward greater health with a few thoughtful indulgences along the way just for fun! Hmmmm…. sound like any goals you’ve read on here or found in your own journey toward honoring Christ with the health of your temple!?!

Since it turns out that the philosophy of this way of eating lines up with my heart’s desire to honor Christ, I am going to take the plunge again! It also happens to line up quite nicely with my September 6 goal while still allowing me to start after we take the girls out for a last hurrah tomorrow before I go back to work on Wednesday. The more difficult part will be that it also lines up quite nicely with going back to work (aka increased stress). I also means provided lunch during in services and NO END of sweets and temptations during Meet the Teacher Nights and the the first week or two back at school! Although, health-wise this will be great and help me stay on track during a VERY derailing time, it will also likely lead to some struggles! However, I think, although I truly don’t want to be sacrilegious, “if God is for me who can be against me” can apply even here. I know that these last 4 pounds do not matter to eternity! I also know that they are important to me. And I know that God cares about me and therefore cares about what I care about. I think this will turn out to be a lovely chance to honor Him, and allow Him to continue to shape and sanctify my perspective to focus on Him in all things, through all things and NO MATTER what things!

FaithHealthRamblings

Still Going…. Strong!?!

By Audrea1 Comment

I am still going on this journey of weight loss and health and MOST importantly Jesus worship!! Although, I admit that I am constantly having to readjust my focus to the latter and am more often out of focus than in. My self-imposed timeline of September 6th gets me quite off track in the Jesus focus, but also keeps me on the straight and narrow.

I think I will have to work more at keeping focused ALONG WITH staying on track between now and my next post. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I have lost 11 pounds as of this morning and 12.75 inches so far. I have 5 pounds and 5.5 inches left to lose. I have also completed the Alpha Phase of the T25 workouts from Beachbody. I think that is what I can attribute most of my lost inches to. I continue to track my calories on the My Fitness Pal app and have recently adjusted them back up to 1280 a day instead of 1200 at the suggestion of my accountability friend. I was feeling hungry all the time and dizzy sometimes. With that information and her suggestion that people never go below 1200 calories a day I felt it was best to up my calorie setting. I have trouble using up every single allowable calorie. I feel like I have to have a green number on the side of my totals at the end of the day. This way I can leave 20-40 calories on there and still get enough in my body for what I’m doing.

Like I said earlier, my focus isn’t always what it should be, but I’m working to get there. step by step. I am too grumpy about “deprivation” too often. However, it is up to me if I view it as deprivation or working toward a goal. I was just reading an email from Stephanie at Six Figures Under and although it was a budgeting tip from a budgeting blog, it fits for this journey too. She was talking about decisions we can and need to make today that our future selves will be able to thank us for later. And just like starting a new business or blog or setting up a budget or an IRA fund will give our future selves something monetary to thank us for, we can make health decisions that we can thank ourselves for later. We can budget our calories just like our dollars, we can start a fitness commitment just like a business, we can invest in groceries that truly nourish our bodies and sometimes even our souls just like we invest in an IRA. And then our leaner, healthier, happier and (maybe one of these days when I get my focus right) more peaceful future-selves will thank us for that, too!

EducationHealthRamblings

Halfway There (kind of)!

By Audrea2 Comments

I have reached the half way point of my weight loss!  I have lost 8 pounds and have 8 more to go!  I will hit the halfway mark in my 5 week exercise plan tomorrow.  This morning as I was contemplating the difficulties of this journey and hoping against hope that these last 8 pounds will come off faster than the first 8.  I realize this is a rather unrealistic hope as the closer you get to your ideal weight it is typically harder to lose weight.  However, the hunger I’ve been dealing with and the tiredness after my workouts has been wearying.  So, I am hoping to get to the end of the weight loss part of this journey sooner than later.

I remembered this morning, as I was thinking through all of these halfway points I’ve hit or am coming upon, that this is the part of the “race” that I always struggled with in the half-marathons I’ve run.  I’d try to tell myself that I’d already finished half and I had less left than I’d already accomplished.  It never worked though, and I always felt like I could not run a step further and had to take a walk break.  And, once I took the first walking break, I had to take more and would alternate between walking and running for the whole second half of the race.  I do NOT want to do that in this race.  I am trying to accelerate during the second half this time.  I DO NOT want to prolong this part of the journey!

I also added (kind of) to my title because I am working hard to keep in mind that this journey is forever. Once I reach my weight loss goal, I may or may not have reached my inches or clothing goals. Then once I’ve reached all of those goals I have to maintain them and that is the part of the journey that, for me, is uncharted! I’ve successfully lost all of this weight before! Some might even say I maintained it for a little bit. However, I don’t think I actually, truly maintained it. I was nursing my youngest when I reached my goal weight the first time and only maintained the loss as long as I nursed. Once I stopped nursing, I started gaining. That was because I wasn’t actually maintaining my health or well being and therefore wasn’t able to maintain my weight loss either.

So, now I am staying aware of my tendency to take breaks in the second half of journeys so that I do not take a break this time. And I am working to prepare myself mentally and praying for strength spiritually to maintain or even accelerate my progress in the second half of this part of the journey, and BEYOND!!

EducationHealthRamblings

This Journey… Oh This Journey

By Audrea1 Comment

So, I started this journey at 144.4 pounds.  My goal weight is 128 pounds.  My non scale goal is more muscle than fat and some definition.  I have been doing my best to be faithful to the process while still living life.  I am trying to make changes that I could do forever since I am coming to accept that this is a life long journey.  There have already been some pretty great super-highs and some pretty rough super-lows.  I have done my best to stick with the process and the point through them all.  It’s hard, it’s draining and it can be rewarding!

I have managed in the last 6 weeks to lose just under 6 pounds and 8 inches. I know that this is great and sustainable progress. And that is what I tell myself when the going gets rough! It is also feeling SOOOOO slow! My original goal was to reach my goal weight by the time I went back to school for in-service on August 7th. That doesn’t seem likely given my other and more important goal of doing this without being on a “diet”. It is WAY more important that I model healthy, balanced eating for my girls. So, we have charts for ourselves counting how many fruits and vegetables and cups of water we have each day to give them ownership of their health and good things to add to what they eat. I have one too so that I can continue to focus on what actually matters most: treating my body like a temple, not getting this temple to look like this or fit into that (those are just nice side effects, I’m hoping for!!)

So, I’ve had to extend my date goal to my 40th birthday on September 6th. I continue to tweak things like lowering my daily calorie intake a couple of times in the My Fitness Pal app that I use. I am currently at the lowest calorie amount I will allow myself since these changes need to be sustainable. And I only lowered the calories after I felt that my body had adjusted to where the previous count. When I started tracking calories this time I was starving for 3-4 days. Then things seemed manageable and my weight wasn’t going down like I wanted it to. So, my accountability friend and I decided it would be best for me to stop entering my exercise into the app. That lowered my allowable calories by 100-200 calories. I felt like I was starving for another few days. I think that was due in part to being at training for most of those hungry days. Since I am choosing to “live life” through this process I ate the food that was provided. This meant that sometimes the food had more calories than fullness in it. Then, once I felt like I got good at managing that level of allowable calories, I increased the amount of weight I wanted to lose each week within the app. That brought me to my current allowable 1200 calories a day. This seems doable most days. Life still makes it harder some days than others! Such as when we take the girls out for donuts for breakfast. However, I also want to reach my goal weight!! I hope and pray that THEN maybe I can have a meal or even a day or two when I don’t enter everything I eat and I am still where I need to be health and weight wise.

Like I said earlier, I am coming to accept the truth that I know. There is no finish line and this is a forever journey (at least until my “new” body in heaven!!). Still, I do think it is a legitimate expectation that when I am maintaining there will be more wiggle room. However, for right now I try to keep everything pretty tied down. I do know I cannot handle going lower with my calories. So, if I plateau than I will have to pay closer attention to my macro counts to try to keep moving forward. I may add exercise if I find myself truly stuck, but that I also have to monitor that closely because I can only handle so much time commitment with my family’s schedules. Because I only have so few things left that I can change or moderate AND more importantly and wisely because slow weight loss is the longest lasting weight loss, I will continue to work to be content with my slow progress. I will also remind myself to thank God and rejoice because it is progress! I just read today from Kelsey at Hiitburn that we should focus on “progress not perfection”. I think that mentality matches up very well with this journey toward Jesus in this temple of His that He’s loaned me!

Thanks for reading! It helps me to type about it!!

HealthRecipes

Homemade Toothpaste, Take 2

By Audrea1 Comment

I did finally get around to making toothpaste again. The texture improved this time. I still used this recipe from Weed ’em and Reap minus the essential oils.

1/2 cup Filtered Water

1/4 cup Bentonite Clay

2 TBS Calcium/Magnesium Powder

3 TBS Coconut Oil

1/4 tsp Unprocessed Salt

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

10 drops Trace Minerals

Stevia (optional, I don’t put any in mine)

The recipe on the website also calls for 30 drops of essential oils. I didn’t put any in mine. This time I let it mix a bit longer in my mini food processor and it turned out downright airy! I also increased the water to about 3/4 cup since it was too thick/dry last time. It was truly like a mousse. The interesting thing was that after putting it in my jar and sealing it it continued to expand so I actually had to take more out of my jar and add it to my mom’s (I gave her some to use). Then after leaving it overnight, it deflated quite a bit. However, it was still thinner/creamier this time and more the consistency of actual toothpaste. I do not feel like I have it mastered at all yet. I would like to make it with the oils to improve the flavor and I would still like the texture and consistency to improve. It’s rather salty tasting without the essential oils and Stevia, but not too bad.