Wrapping up Summer 2015

We’ve had a busy summer and I have loved prepping for the fall.

The kids and I took a few weeks off during the summer from homeschooling, but hit the ground running on July 29^th. My kids love school for the most part. They get excited about all the stories we have the opportunity to read. This year is Kindergarten for Kai and “Kindergarten-ish” for Audrina since she’s such a firecracker and wants to keep up with her big bro.

I love school too. I get excited to read to my children, most of the stories I’m reading are new to me as well and I LOVE their workbooks that I chose this year. They are bringing out good things in both of my kiddos.

Every “first day of school” we try to make it a celebration. This year we went to the Zoo, since it costs one-million-dollars to go on a regular day between the passes and parking, I took advantage of our discounted tickets I’d purchased weeks before on a sale-site.

Box Day! With Sonlight Curriculum

Our annual family photo at the Zoo

A fun way to capture our time by the monkey exhibit

Candida will still occasionally kick me down, and I’m nervous about the third trimester being my most difficult with digestion in general. I will just have to see how things go. I’m on a regimen of antacids for all the awesome heartburn that comes from having your stomach shoved into the upper portion of your esophagus, but for the most part I’m doing okay. Eight weeks and counting! Yay!

The photo I took a couple weeks ago. Week 30!

Matt and I had the (very, very, rare) opportunity to go to the coast BY OURSELVES and do absolutely nothing for two days. It. Was. Amazing! I couldn’t believe how quiet it was. We brought so little on vacation when it was just the two of us, AND I wasn’t prepping or cleaning up a meal every fifteen minutes. Talk about relaxing! We had such wonderful conversation, shared a coffee while we looked out upon the surf while enjoying 65 degrees of a windless evening. Perfection.

As October approaches, I’m realizing just how full the month is getting already. After October wraps up, I feel like it’s “go time” since the baby is due around November 16^th. I’m nervous about the transition, but so ready to see her sweet, little face, and very, very ready to have my body back. There’s no guarantee I won’t continue to live in yoga-pants though…let’s just be realistic. 

Top Pic: Matt and I at the coast for our last "Babymoon" 2015                                                                       Bottom Pic: Matt and I at the coast for our first "Babymoon" 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Candida on Hold, Baby on Board

Candida on Hold, Baby on Board

 

Well, about six months ago I was fighting my battle with Candida with everything I had. Our budget was suffering because I was buying so many fresh vegetables and organic meats. (No one tells you that eating completely clean and healthy will make your budget weep.) We were DOUBLING our food budget for several months when we realized we just couldn’t dump that much money into one category anymore when things were already so tight.

So we reassessed how to still battle Candida AND not push ourselves into debt…and then I found out we would be expecting baby #3 sometime mid-November of this year.

I was training for my first, official (paid for it, got my bib-number and everything) 5K and ran the whole d@*mn race with sore boobs and a body that wanted to quit because I felt so nauseous, but I made it!

I also tried my best to stick to my Candida diet but I ended up losing another five pounds, not because I was vomiting, but because I didn’t want to eat ANYTHING I’d been eating with vigor for the last four months.

I envy the women who can eat all the veggies they want during pregnancy but I’ve never been one of those women. I thought maybe because I was eating so clean that the hormonal part of pregnancy wouldn’t hit me as hard-wrong. 

So wrong.

I incorporated carbs (saltine crackers mostly) and other foods I hadn’t consumed in months back into my eating habits. My body went through a rough transition as I rediscovered carbs and sugars.

So far I’m doing well overall. I’m gaining weight at a VERY healthy rate right now (the first time I haven’t gained seven pounds in a week with any of my pregnancies). I’m enjoying fruit this summer, which I have always loved and missed more than most foods when I was on my strict diet.

The down side is, I still will occasionally have a Candida-attack where I wake up in the middle of the night with raging gas pains, sweat-beads on my forehead and my bum glued to the toilet for two-plus hours or so. The next day involves extreme fatigue and “bowel-rest” (a term I learned from my husband who works as an RN) where I don’t/can’t eat much of anything.

My naturopath doctor told me I could not be on any Fluconozole (sp?) while I’m pregnant OR breast-feeding so I will have to slowly get a hold of my eating habits post-pregnancy and then go back into fighting Candida after I’m done breast feeding #3.

We’re so excited about the baby. We recently found out we will be having another girl. Our other two children were ecstatic when we told them they would have a sibling and have maintained their enthusiasm.

A lot of life right now is less structured and we are taking a “wait and see attitude” about the incoming of a new, little, human, and what our physical health looks like in the future.    

My daughter picking strawberries from our patch

Basil from our garden (it made the BEST pesto!)

Our first gathering of veggies from our garden boxes

My son eating an ice cream, because summer and ice cream go so well together

Candida-What Can You Eat???

 So if you have Candida, what can you eat? 

I'm working with one of the cleanest food-lists known to man (that might be an exaggeration, but it feels like it when you realize bacon doesn't make the cut). 

In order to battle Candida, my nateropath gave me a list very similar to "The Whole30" food list, with the exception of pork. It included potatoes, rice, fruit (aside from meals so it will pass through your system faster), etc. I asked him if this would slow down the progress of fighting off the Candida and he said, "Yes, but this list is available so people don't go crazy."

I made the choice to go crazy.

The list I'm working with is this one.  

I'm further restricted by my own preferences due to taste, so I'm eating about half or more of what is included.

 Here's a few of the "recipes" I've either created or modified from recipes I've found online.

What is Chicory Root? Okay, so when I found out I had to give up my morning cup of coffee, this mama was not. happy. period. 

I want to get rid of the Candida as fast as possible and even decaff coffee has some caffeine in it. It can stress your adrenals and inhibit healing, so I decided to take the leap and cut it completely. I immediately started hunting for an alternative to my cup of warmth and comfort in the morning. 

What I found was Chicory Root. At first I was so afraid to even try it. It didn't smell great (or even like coffee). and I was imagining the Biblical mandrake root that women used to dig up because they thought it would make them fertile...because of the way this particular root was shaped...

I certainly am not looking for fertility in my morning cup of joe, but I decided to give it a try. And luckily I have been "coffee cupping" before, where you try all these samples of freshly brewed coffee. You have the opportunity to smell the beans, smell the grounds, smell the brew. During that experience I found that the coffee I didn't like the smell of, I actually LOVED the taste of and this was true with Chicory Root.

It is delicious! It has kind of a nutty flavor and I'm so thankful to have it. I just put in a teeny bit of sugar-free sweetener and some almond milk...voila! Warm cup of joy to greet me in the morning! 

I purchase the Chicory Root in bulk at New Season's. 

 

 

 

 

 

  One of the other recipes I make include tomato soup. I add garlic salt to everything now (in small portions) but I swear it's my saving grace when it comes to flavoring my food. If you click here this is a delicious recipe for tomato soup with avocado-yum!

Another thing I immediately started missing in my diet was pasta! I always swore I could live on pasta and bread if my body and longevity would allow it. ;) 

I quickly discovered that spiralizing zucchini and yellow squash. I saute it briefly, add some meat, sauce and it is SO good!

1 Spiralized Zucchini

1 C. Trader Joe's Sauce (This one has approved for Candida ingredients and has the lowest sugar content.)

1/2 C. New Season's cooked Basil Chicken Sausage

Something else I miss like crazy are my sweets! My sis-in-law gifted me some almond flour and I played around with egg, almond milk, and Stevia sweetener and came up with these little treats...

The "cookies" that are my favorite right now, are one egg, one cup of almond butter and four tiny packets of "Stevia in the Raw" sprinkled in. Mix them up. bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and they're the closest thing to a cookie I've eaten in ages.

That's the other thing, I eat almond butter by the tub. I know I probably shouldn't eat as much as I do but I'm pretty sure I average 1/4c. per day because it's somewhat sweet and crunchy, and I miss peanut butter. 

I am allowing myself quinoa as the only grain. I blend fresh tomatoes in my Ninja, saute an onion, add LOTS of garlic to the onion and pour in the tomatoes after the onions are translucent. (I'll sometimes add celery to this too).
Then I pour in 1c. of quinoa, add 1.5c. of chicken broth and bring to a boil with the lid on. Then I bring it down to simmer for 30min. or so until the quinoa is cooked. 
After grilling some chicken thighs with garlic salt and oregano, I place some chicken on a bed of the quinoa and it's delish!

The Salads are Bomb! Sometimes I would eat a salad and feel like this..

But now I love every last bite of my salads! I can mix in avocado, diced chicken, humus, tomatoes, and although I detested Apple Cider Vinegar (the ONLY vinegar allowed on the Candida diet) I genuinely like the taste of it in the candida salad dressing I make, you can try it by clicking here. You could try this one too, it sounds delicious.

This salad has the Basil Chicken Sausage from New Season's

 
The humus pictured here is the best brand of humus I have EVER eaten. We purchased it long before my strict diet so I was overjoyed to learn I could still have it. The ingredients are simple and don't include fillers like "yogurt" to make the humus stretch further. It's just garbanzo beans and spices. period.

I am learning how to utilize cauliflower. Since I have a nicer blender I can make cauliflower "rice" pretty easily. I mix it with grilled chicken and Coconut Aminos (which taste like soy sauce a bit). So it's nice to change it up every once in a while. 

For breakfast I usually have this...

I saute a big handful of diced baby spinach for a few minutes, add egg whipped with almond milk and gently mix in the spinach before it's cooked. I cook it until set enough to flip over in once piece. Add humus and sliced tomatoes. Very delicious and a great way to start out the day NOT feeling hungry.

Well, that's it on the food front for now. I can't tell you all how amazing I feel after a short six weeks (today!!!!).
I did a spit-test a few days ago just to see if it compared to the first one I did when I was figuring out how severe my Candida was.

My first spit-test on December 24th

 

My spit-test February 10th

Here's a pic of me enjoying life after a "paint nite" with my mom and two of my sisters, just to balance out the "gross" of being forced to look at spit after all that yummy food. 
Cheers to health! 

 
 

Thank the Lord for a Strong-Willed Woman!

I’ve known for about four or five years that I was a strong-willed-woman. I’m sure many people who have known me longer would have been able to clue me in on this a lot sooner, but I kept fighting the idea that I am strong-willed because I didn’t like the stereotype that went along with it.

My desire has always been to be one of those “wispy” women. A quiet woman with a “…meek and gentle spirit…” (1 Peter 3:4). And I do believe I possess these qualities as I’m molded by trials, motherhood and my marriage; but I’m embracing the other side of me, the more dominate side of me, that is in truth-a firecracker.

As I’ve come to accept this side of me, I realized (and am still realizing) just how valuable this quality can be.

First of all, I get s+*t done. I am a mover and a shaker when it comes to what most people would consider “too much work” or too much of a challenge. I have returned items, received discounts, negotiated schedules and asked for what I need when it comes to customer service from businesses.

I have the ability to be very organized and find things in a closet, even if it looks like a mess, I usually know exactly what’s in the that mess.

The part that struck me this week so profoundly is that I should thank God for my strong will when it comes to this diet so I can battle my Candida.

Ya’ll have NO IDEA how badly I want a doughnut! Most days it’s craving a piece of toast, oatmeal, crackers with peanut butter on them, or even rice.

I can’t have ANY of this right now and there are highs and lows.

But I haven’t CHEATED ONCE!

I even spit out coconut chips that were not my regular “lightly salted” ones. I grabbed the wrong bag that were salted and “sweetened with agave”.  I could tell the difference right away (since I haven’t eaten sugar in 5 weeks) and down the sink they went!

I haven’t had one piece of cheese, one sip of alcohol, one carb-nothing. And I realized that this is all because of my strong will!

It’s also because of the Lord’s blessing through providing support from my awesome husband, family and the ability to buy insane amounts of organic vegetables and meats every week. But it’s also because I’ve been blessed with a strong will.

So I’m quickly learning to appreciate this quality in myself and in all the other strong-willed people in my life.

God has designed each of us with unique personalities and experiences that shape those personalities. I am so grateful for all the people in my life who are not strong-willed in the same ways I am. I think there are so many benefits in how different personalities complement each other; and how every person has something to offer when it comes to life.

I’ll be posting later on what I’ve actually been eating. Some of the dishes are delicious, and some are getting monotonous. It’s all in the name of health! At this point, my husband and I say to each other, “at any cost.” My health is worth any medical bill, and any grocery bill. 

At any cost.