Sugar Detox Update

Day 6 here on sugar detox! Shannon and I are doing fabulous. It surprises me that I don't miss fruit. I mean REALLY surprises me since I am a fruit LOVER. Fruit is what I snack on all day long every day. But, because of this 21 day sugar detox, I am limited to 1 green-tipped banana or granny smith apple, and 1 sweet potato a day. I shockingly have not cheated. I thought I would end up eating more green apples a day, but I haven't. I have been forced to turn to more nuts for snacking as well as carrots, celery and almond butter (homemade), grape tomatoes, roasted veggies etc...

Have you ever tried jicama? It's a Mexican root vegetable that is slightly sweet and has the texture somewhere between that of a raw potato or apple. It is pretty good. I was surprised. It is a great pair for  homemade guacamole. Good snack.

I have always drank almond milk but when needing a snack at night or craving "milk" I had to have the real thing. I wonder why? Cow's milk is super sweet! I have been drinking almond milk exclusively and haven't missed cow's milk. I feel great. I don't feel deprived and I'm being honest. Because I'm eating more vegetables and protein, I feel satisfied after eating. And because I haven't been eating sugar, I don't crave or want sugar. It's been such a neat experience and shocking too. I really thought I would have a harder time not having anything sweet.  

I never realized how much sugar (even natural) is in EVERYTHING we eat (recipes) and buy. Here have been some of the shockers for me at the grocery store: some salsa, peppers in adobo sauce (extremely spicy...ticks me off they would put sugar in it!), most brands of chicken and beef broth, Lawry's Seasoning Salt, Cavender's seasoning (greek seasoning)... Prepackaged seasoning mixtures are almost always full of junk. So, I'm learning to make my own seasoning mixtures. 

I LOVE pork chops. Grilled or baked pork chops are the way to my heart. Seriously. And my favorite seasoning for them? Cavender's Greek Seasoning. Because I can't use it, I looked up a recipe to alter and make my own. 

2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1-1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

I splashed the pork with some beef broth (without any sugar!) and then sprinkled the mixture above on it. Baked it up and it was incredible. I served with roasted brussel sprouts, bacon, and apple tossed with red wine vinegar. Favorite meal this past week. 

For most people, breakfast includes something sweet. Most people don't do just eggs every morning. And I'm not different. We would usually have a fruit/spinach smoothie for breakfast because it is sweet. Breakfast has been the most difficult to get creative with but this morning was a definite success. Make these muffins as written and I bet they're delicious, but because I'm on this detox I altered it a little and ate it with warm coconut butter. 

• 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup raisins (omit on sugar detox)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
• 1/4 cup honey (replace with 1 smashed green-tipped banana on sugar detox)
• 1/8 cup shredded carrot
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder

I devoured 2 muffins right away. Favorite breakfast so far. 

On another note: happy day of voting...

Clumsy Feet

Picture challenge- November 2: shoes

These are our kicks for working out.
I do like my chucks even though I want to buy a pair of Inov-8's for workouts that involve any running.

Those feet cause me a lot of problems. You want to know one thing I really can't stand about myself? How clumsy I am!!!! It makes me angry and sometimes (like today) it makes me cry. I can try to be the most careful Keshia ever and sometimes it just doesn't pan out. I constantly drop things, run into walls, and stub my toe. Shannon says he "pulled a Keshia" whenever he does something clumsy. Good thing he's pretty...

Today I was making some homemade mayo and in transit of taking the food processor bowl off the machine I dropped it and it splatters everywhere. :( I had to start over. And if you've ever made mayo, it is a little tricky. It takes patience because you have to mix the oil and egg slowly to create an emulsion. If you go too quickly, it will never become the consistency of mayonnaise. I cried. At least it did turn out good in the end. It makes yummy egg salad...which we devoured at lunch time.

Why did I cry earlier because of my spill? Is it because I'm hormonal and pregnant? Maybe...but I doubt it because I cry every now and then when I'm clumsy and not pregnant. I cry because I'm angry with myself. Earlier this morning I made coconut flour muffins for breakfast and spilled coconut flour. Seriously! The powder flew. Ugh.

Oh well. The muffins were yummy with some coconut butter spread on top. If you've never experienced coconut butter you are missing out! (My mother-in-law loves this stuff! *wink wink)

Happy November 1st: Hello Sugar Detox

Happy November! 

I love this month. Normally, I have a little decorative tin can that sits out all month along with some little note cards for us to add something we're grateful for every time we walk by and think of something. Keshlyn even got into it last year. Then, on Thanksgiving night we read them all. It was quite rewarding last year. This year, my tin can is all packed up in storage. *tear. So, we'll just wing it. But, today, I'm grateful for my wonderful MIL allowing us to live in her home for free until we get into our rental in January. 

Normally, I don't do the whole picture a day thing, but my best gal, Jilly-o, challenged me to a picture a day with her this month. She text me the following: 

So here we are. Day 1. Picture of me...and my love. Isn't he so handsome? I just love his smile...and the scruff. I LOVE the scruff. 

Do you ever feel like your body is telling you something? Like you need more water? You need more sleep? You need more exercise? You need less sugar? 

I totally feel like I understand my body's needs. I'm a pretty healthy gal. We eat clean most every day. But, I also love to bake from scratch. So, that presents a problem once I get on a roll. The good thing is I bake, we test, and I give away. It's fun for me. This past month...it seems we have tested a lot of treats. My body is SO done! I need a break. 

I am always intrigued with reading about many things, but this is especially true with health and I am a FIRM believer in eating clean. There's some good info over at balancedbites.com about sugar and all of the different types you can find on a label in all of the processed, packaged foods as well as what it does to your body (there's a lot more symptoms besides just weight-gain, people.) I also LOVE the site paleomg.com. Julie Bauer is fun to follow. She's funny and inspiring. She recently did a 21 day sugar detox (did wonders for her her chronic acne...she also cut out nuts).  I bought the little booklet, read up and decided November 1st to Thanksgiving would be the perfect time to do it. Shannon was totally on board. My body is in desperate need of a detox right now. I'm following the detox pretty closely, but I'm not ruling out having a little more fruit like berries or an extra green apple if I feel like "the baby" I needs it. This sugar detox eliminates all sugar (artificial-which I would never use anymore. I have evolved from a couple years ago- and natural alike). No honey, no pure maple syrup, no carbs, no fruit! Ok, ok. It allows 1 green-tipped banana OR 1 green apple a day. That's it. Today Shannon and I did pretty good, but if we end up eating a little more fruit I won't mind. As long as we are eating clean and not doing any other "sweets." We started out with Pumpkin Pancakes (made from pumpkin and eggs and some spices), had a salad with homemade dressing and grilled chicken for lunch, carrots for a snack, garlic lemon chicken with steamed veggies for dinner and "chocolate pudding" for dessert... 

This chocolate pudding is actually pretty darn good. It's coconut milk, avocado, 1 green-tipped banana, pure cocoa powder, and pure vanilla all blended together. Then I froze it. YUM! Perfect treat while blogging.

Happy Day of Sugar!

Trick or Treat!? Happy Day of Sugar! 

Keshlyn enjoyed going door to door to get candy! She was funny because she told us we weren't allowed to go to the door with her. We had to wait over to the side.  "I can do it all by myself!" She was done after two little neighborhoods (which I was glad. Less junk. Knowing her mama, this will last her until next October...) It was a brief adventure.

Ky, he enjoyed being pushed around in the stroller and we didn't hear a peep out of him. He enjoyed a few smarties along the way. He thought he was big time. Easy to please.

Rewind a few hours...

I love homemade chicken tortilla soup. I decide to make a pot. I begin prepping for dinner. Chicken thighs are boiling. I am chopping onion, garlic and jalapeño peppers. Chopping happily, I wonder, "why do people wear gloves when handling jalapeños? I don't know."

I throw them in a pan with some olive oil to sauté. I rinse my hands. I have an eye itch. I rub the corner of my eye. A few seconds pass..."I think my eye is stinging. No. Wait. Yes it is stinging..." A few more seconds pass..."No, my eye is on fire!!!!" I dance around in a circle, run in the bathroom. I splash water in my eye and grab a towel. I soak it and start patting and squeezing water into my eye. It's not satisfying the burn. I grab a cup of water and start rinsing my eye. Oh so slightly- relief comes. Still feels like a match is being held to my eyeball. While holding a wet towel to one eye, I manage to google on my phone, "what to do when jalapeno is in my eye!" It pops up. I can't read it. Still rinsing my eye. My paramedic husband returns home from running an errand. Finally. 

Me: "I need your help."

Shan: "Nope"

Me: "Seriously. Read my phone. "

Shan: As he starts to scan my phone and reads that using whole milk to rinse when jalapeno juice gets in your eye, he begins to kind of laugh and says, 

"Oh you have pepper in your eye? Rinse it with milk. I just dumped a whole glass of milk on a big burly guy's head last week because he was crying like a baby from being pepper sprayed in the face." 

Guys. 

I poured milk into my eye and sure enough, after a few rinses the burning began to subside. SO...what did I learn?! 1) Don't ever ask a question you don't REALLY want to know experience the answer to, 2) jalapeños will burn your eye like a mother, mother,

3) WEAR GLOVES!

Fat Feet

Look at those chubby yummy feet! I like to eat his toes. Finding shoes for this little guy is difficult. He can't wear most of the cute sandals out there because they're too tight on his feet and leave blisters. Dress shoes are hard too because they are too narrow. And even if they do fit ok, kid shoes seem to never stay on. They often slip off while he's running.

So I have discovered a solution for an everyday shoe for him that I love.

Skidders! I love them because the top part is like a sock, so it stretches to fit his big feet and best of all- because it's like a sock- they stay on great!

Have you found any other good brand of shoes for little chubby toddler feet?

Morning Funny!

My best friend, Jillian, sent this to me this morning because she thought her Mormon, Kentucky born- and-raised friend would get a kick out of it. I did. Made me laugh. (Even though I happen to have some very different political views from Romney on some things...it still made me laugh)





I quite enjoyed watching the speeches via YouTube of both President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney at the Al Smith dinner. It was fun and refreshing to see them both not take themselves so seriously and to be able to crack jokes at each other in a tasteful way. Haven't seen it? Need a little laugh if you're following the debates and geared up for election? Obama's speech here, and Romney's here.

Other side notes:

1. Our voting system bugs me. No wonder people become apathetic and don't vote...because people are so confused by the electoral college and if their vote really "counts." Regardless of who wins the popular vote in a particular state, that state may or may not require the appointed electoral to even vote with the majority of the state! What!? So then why did we vote? Just for fun!? (Same thing for the caucus I participated in here in NV... our vote really didn't matter.) The candidate who receives the most votes nationwide does not necessarily become president. That blows my mind...I wish the voting system was more straightforward.

 2. What really bothers me is the fact that there are 4 tickets for president...but we only get commercial after commercial and televised debates of 2 of these. What is wrong with this picture? That only the wealthy truly get the support and publicity to run? Only the wealthy make good leaders? I know it takes money to run for president, it just seems so unfair that others who could be great candidates don't stand a chance. I would have loved to have seen debates including the other two. Looks like there's an illusion via media to believe the the general GOP and Democrat ideals are the only ones that exist or matter...so far from true.

3. Dear Gary Johnson, (garyjohnson2012.com) you would have had my vote if it wasn't for your stand on certain "civil rights" (namely legalizing all abortion. Period. I can understand certain circumstances like rape, threat to mother's health, etc, but for personal or social convenience, no way- and especially not on tax money as it can be now. I disagree simply because my belief is as yours that life is precious and needs to be protected. But our difference is that I believe that a baby is a human life too...even before medically defined "fetal viability".) Man! How I wish Ron Paul was on the ballot...

Costume Preview

You know me. I'm a sucker for a deal. When I found myself at party city a while ago with clearanced costumes at $5 each I went for it. And it just so turned out that the clearance costumes facilitated a family theme: The Wizard of Oz.

Shan is the Tin Man and the size is 12-14! :) I'm going to have fun making that one work...i actually don't think it will be too hard. I'm so glad that my husband is a good sport and just plays along!

The only size of the scarecrow they had was 3T. Ky is 15 months. But I knew I could make it work. So I'm working on it right now. This is the original fit on him right this second...huge! He is so adorable if I do say so myself.