Quick Update and a Break

Hello my bloggie friends

I just want to give a quick update first. I have been mentioning candida in several of my posts lately and have been waiting to hear back from a test I had done. I went to my ND this past Friday and found out that my test results showed NO candida!! This is why it is SO important not to diagnose yourself if you think you have a candida probelm!!!She (the ND) and I were both SHOCKED to say the least. That means we still don’t know what I DO have as far as my yeast infection symptoms (which are very severe and painful). There is one possibility that sounds like it might be the answer, but honestly, I would have rather it been candida! IF I do have the other possibility, there is no cure–just manage it. I am not talking about something like Herpes or any kind of STD either. What it may be is thought to be an autoimmune disease and can be related to hormones as well. There is really no known cause. So, as for now, I am just taking it one day at a time. I trust that God will give me the answers I need concerning my health. I won’t lie and say it is not bothering me, but if this is the hand I was dealt I have to trust that God will give me the grace to deal with it the same way He has gotten me through so many other things in my life

I have decided to take a full break from blogging for a while. I have said in the past that I am going to cut back etc., but I think I just need to live my life privately for a while. Thanks for all your supportive comments in the past

Holy Yoga!

I am SO excited at the moment! I recently saw on Polly’s blog that she was going to the Holy Yoga teacher training and was very intrigued. I’m not going to teacher training, but I did look at the Holy Yoga web-site and found that there is a Holy Yoga instructor about 30 minutes from where I live!! I am so happy! It has been my desire to keep yoga as Christ centered as possible and some of the classes I have been to have been a little –well, weird.

 I also found another Christian yoga class about 20 minutes from home that meets once a week. I’m going to check it out tomorrow night. I really want to deepen my yoga practice and keep my focus on Christ while doing that. I would love to go to Holy Yoga teacher training one of these days and offer yoga at my own church. We’ll see what God works out in that department later

I mentioned in this post that I was considering doing the P90X series. After some thought, I have decided that it would not be something I would enjoy. I don’t know why I always feel like I have to kill myself to feel like I’m getting a good workout! I know yoga works for me and it helps me feel very balanced and relaxed but worked at the same time. Things like the P90X and even the FIRM make me feel keyed up and competative. I don’t come away from doing the FIRM feeling balanced! Don’t get me wrong, I have NOTHING against those workouts. They just aren’t what I’m looking for right now. I also know yoga is working my muscles because I did a FIRM workout the other day that used to make me so sore I could not walk the next day. This time when I did it, I was not sore at all!! That means my legs are stronger than they used to be

I had a great day today that included lunch with a friend from church. I didn’t take any pictures. We just enjoyed catching up! I hope your week has started off good!

TaTa for now

P.S. Polly, if you read this–I just want to thank you for mentioning Holy Yoga on your blog so that I too could enjoy it:) Your blog is a real blessing to me!! I love the way you radiate Christ!!

Abiding in Him

I am home alone this afternoon! I think a nap and some yoga are in my near future. I just had to get on here and share what  a GREAT sermon we had at church today. The message was about abiding in Christ (John 15:1-5). I came away feeling very encouraged because I don’t have to strive and struggle in my life! Whew! I just need to abide in HIM and I WILL bear much good fruit

I do have a couple of meals to share with you, but will keep it short and simple.

First, I made (almond flour) sugar free chocolate chip scones yesterday that were to die for!

I started out planning to make cranberry scones by adapting a recipe from ‘The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook’ by Elana Amsterdam. Somehow, they turned into sugar free chocolate chip scones–I have no idea how that happened, but they sure were tasty.

Then for dinner last night (and lunch today) I found a new favorite!

This is spaghetti squash with green onions, red pepper, diced chicken breast and a teeny bit of montery jack cheese. I don’t normally eat cheese, but I think I’m okay with a couple of tablespoons

Okay, so maybe I have two new favorites! I have been eating this salad a lot latey too!

Spinach, romaine, broccoli, red peppers, green onions, organic canned chicken with avocado. I usually also have a few baby carrots on the side. Makes a perfect quick, simple lunch!

I’m still in awe at how well the ear staples are working for me. I’m not craving sugar and am feeling better than I have in ages!! I guess if God can use a donkey(Numbers 22:21-32), he can use ear staples

I’m off to take that nap now!

What’s New?

Hi everyone! I can’t believe it has been at least a week and a half since I last posted!! Man, time flies when your having fun busy. This post may be a little random because I have several things to share that are not related to each other at all

The first bit of interesting news is that I got my ears pierced stapled! No, I am not some kind of hippy or anything. These staples are a form of acupuncture that you leave in. You can read about it here.

If you read about ear stapling, you would see that a lot of people do it to try to lose weight. That is NOT why I had it done. It is not just for weight loss. My ND recommended it to help balance my hormones and energy and to help with sugar cravings. She obviously thought it would be very beneficial to me because she did it for FREE! I probably wouldn’t have had it done if I had to pay for it, but I figure if it’s free it’s not going to hurt to try. At least I know she wasn’t just trying to sell me something Speaking of hurting, you may be wondering if it hurt. Umm, yeah! Not extrememly bad pain, but enough. It hurt worse after it was over and they (I have one in each ear) were very tender for several days. The worst part was when I would forget they were there and go to scratch my ear! NOT good! I also had some trouble sleeping with them in the first couple of nights.

So, today is day seven since having this done and what have I noticed? The first thing I noticed was a decrease in depression! That alone is fabulous! Then I started to notice an increase in energy–woohoo! I kept wondering when the sugar cravings would improve. The first few days I could still be very tempted by sugar.  On about day 4, I noticed a dramatic improvement in my cravings! THAT IS A MIRACLE!!  You guys probably have NO idea the struggles I have had with sugar cravings. That’s not something I really talk about on my blog. All in all, I think the staples are helping me and it was worth the momentary pain

Okay, enough about my ears! I have been following a low-carb diet due to candida and I was SO excited to find this new protein powder yesterday!

This is Healthy N’ Fit protein powder and it is 100% egg white protein. What made me so excited about this powder is the fact that it only has stevia in it for a sweetener. So many other protein powders still have fructose etc. in them! It is also loaded with amino acids. How does it taste? YUMMY!! I had my first smoothie with it this afternoon.

This is a spinach smoothie with almond milk, a few frozen cranberries and 1/2 cup plain unsweetened yogurt added in. Perfect! Now, I know there are a lot of Jay Robb fans (Hi Heather  out there, but this stuff is cheaper! At my Kroger, Jay Robb is $22.00 for 10 servings. The Healthy N’ Fit was $35.00 for 34 servings!! I have to go with the cheaper! I have never tasted Jay Robb due to the cost, but I really felt like this was worth it.

I have been feeling great on a low-carb diet (and the staples:)! I am doing yoga some and some other workouts–like the FIRM. I really want to feel stronger! I think I am what a lot of people would call ’skinny fat’. I’m at a low weight, but don’t have a lot of muscle. Hopefully, my diet and exercising will help me gain some of the muscle I lost when I was struggling with an eating disorder. I have been thinking about doing the P90X workouts. I’m not trying to get ‘ripped’ or anything, just stronger with less fat and more muscle. Anybody ever done those? What were your thoughts? I really don’t want to kill myself! I am also wondering if I do harder workouts, will it make my weight go up due to gaining muscle. If it does, that’s okay, as long as I know it’s from muscle and not overeating or gaining fat! Would appreciate your input

This post is getting pretty long, but Clare gave me a sweet blog award about two weeks ago and I am just now getting to it!! Terrible, I know! I am supposed to tell 7 random things about myself so here goes.

1-I am pretty OCD about some things but not others. For ex. I HATE crooked pics, open cabinet doors and I CAN NOT buy something that is dented!! But, as for keeping my house spotless–I gave up on that years ago!!

2-I have homeschooled my (3) children most of their lives. MANY ups and downs on that one–mostly ups though

3- I LOVE animals!! We have three dogs, two cats and two turtles (those are my daughter’s) I think she loves animals even more than me!

4-I am a book addict!! Mostly cookbooks, as you know if you have been reading my blog long.

5-I LOVE fried okra, but sadly can’t eat it anymore! Hey, maybe I can make it and coat it in almond flour!

6- I HATE beets and kombucha!

7-I was born three days before my brother’s first birthday. I bet he thought that was the WORST present EVER!

Thanks Clare for thinking of me. I give this award to anyone who has never received it before  

Sorry this post was SO long! I’ll try to post more often so this doesn’t happen again. I really like to keep it short and simple  

A Different Kind of Challenge

I had a bit of a rough day today. I can’t really explain it all, but it was just an ‘off’ kind of day. I started out the day with an hour of yoga from Yoga Today. It was a lovely practice and it was FREE I like FREE!! After that, it seemed like everything went downhill. My eating was ‘off’ and my mood was ‘off’. Why is it when you are having an ‘off’ day, everything seems to be out of whack?

Oh well, life is not always easy and that’s okay. One thing that was really bothering me today was the fact that I put much more effort into working out, yoga, diet etc. than I do my spiritual life. Then a friend of mine told me about a really cool challenge she saw. I think it started with the blog Raising Olives. We are so quick to take on physical challenges (at least I am), but what do we (I) do to grow spiritually? This challenge is to read through the entire Bible in 90 days! Yes, it can be done! No, I have never done it! You can see the schedule here if you would like to join in. I’m not trying to talk anyone into doing it, but if you are interested, it’s available to you Of course, I will be a little behind since it started on Jan. 1st, but I’m sure God isn’t watching the calendar.

Why am I doing this? I want to give God a chance to work in my heart, I want to know Him better and I want get my focus in the right place. God will not love me any more than He already does if I do this, but I will hopefully learn to love Him more!! There is nothing wrong with eating right and exercising and I will continue doing yoga etc., but that shouldn’t be my main priority.

I read a really thought provoking quote yesterday. This quote is talking about how we as humans view God.

“The problem is that many folks try to grasp some sense of who I (talking about God) am by taking the best version of themselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness they can perceive, which often isn’t much, and then call THAT God. And while it may seem like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I (God) really am. I’m not merely the best version of you that you can think of. I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think.” from ‘The Shack’ by William Young

Feel free to join me in this if you would like and maybe ask yourself–How do you view God? Is He just a ‘bigger’ version of you?

Off to go read now

XOXO

Eat, Spit and be Merry=)

Okay, that has got to be the dumbest post title EVER! BUT, they all pertain to my day so far. I’ll start with the ’spit’ because I know that one had to have gotten your attention

As many of you know, I have been struggling with chronic yeast problems for the last year (at least). I was doing some reading online yesterday about Candida and read about a spit test. I had seen this before but never gave it much thought. I did my first spit test yesterday afternoon and it wasn’t looking good. They say that you get better results first thing in the morning, but mine was pretty bad in the afternoon! So, I decided to do it again this morning and see what happened. I’m sure you will be glad to know that I did NOT take pictures of my spit in a glass Anyway, this morning’s spit was REALLY bad!! Was I surprised? NO! I’m guessing my Candida is worse than I thought. I also sent off a test that the ND had me do and should hear the results of that soon.  I think I am a walking yeast molecule!! ( Just for the record, my daughter thought this was pretty cool and did it herself. I think she’s fine though as far as yeast goes.)

So, after my science experiment this morning, I proceeded to do my devotion. I am reading through the Book of Mark and still praying about a particular Bible study. Then I did a glorious 75 minutes of yoga on my own. I really like Yogadownload and going to classes when I can, but I think my favorite is just doing what my body feels like doing all on my own. This makes me very happy and content I was looking at a yoga book this morning and found this quote that I liked:

“If your practice doesn’t increase the joy in your life, it is the wrong practice for you.”

For my eats today, I had eggs and grain free bread for breakfast–no picture. How interesting can eggs and bread be anyway? For lunch, I had my heart set on some poached salmon that I made for dinner last night. My tummy was feeling pretty out of whack last night, so I skipped the salmon thinking I would just eat it for lunch today. Well, what happens when there are three teens and a hungry hubby in the house? They ate ALL the salmon–and roasted asparagus!! I ended up having chicken salad -hold the mayo- with raw veggies.

I used organic gluten free canned chicken and added green onions, red peppers, 1 tsp. olive oil and salt and pepper.

I have an appointment with the ND this Friday that should be pretty interesting so stay tuned

Now, I know all of you want to go spit in a glass, right?

Added note: After more research, I just wanted to say that I would not use the spit test for an official diagnoses for Candida. I mainly did it for fun and out of curiosity. It is important to note that I have a gazillion other symptoms and am having an actual lab test done to see where I stand with candida. So, if you go spit in a glass and it looks all funky but you have no other symptoms–no worries

A Day with Hope

First of all, I want to say thanks to those that left supportive comments on my last post You guys are awesome!

Yesterday, I was so happy to be able to hang out with my dear friend Hope. We always say we are kindred spirits because we are so much alike and can relate to each other in so many areas. Hope and I go to church together, but find it hard to always spend time catching up. Well, thankfully we finally had several hours of a day that we could just hang out.

That picture isn’t very good–sorry My hubby took like a billion and they just weren’t turning out. Not enough light maybe? Anyway, Hope and I spent most of our time sitting at Barnes and Noble  talking our little heads off. Then we left B&N to run to Target for a minute only to end up BACK at B&N to chat some more!! I think we would NEVER run out of things to talk about, but it’s SO funny because we inevitably end up talking about food, diet, health etc. That’s not all we talk about though.

Hope is one of the people that spurs me on spiritually and I love her for that! There was a time in my life when I was really struggling with my eating disorder and Hope called me EVERY day to go over Scripture together. So, yesterday, we also talked about how we can hold each other accountable in certain areas of our lives. I have to be very careful with New Year’s Resolutions and goals in general. I tend to set myself up for failure a lot of times and I don’t need that! I am trying to learn to walk in God’s grace and not my own expectations

As I have been thinking and praying about goals (I don’t want to call them Resolutions) for this year, here are some general ideas:

1-be able to set goals but still be flexible

2-spend more time reading, praying and journaling

3-continue on my journey to better health–physically and emotionally

4-make yoga a part of my regular routine–I have really slacked off in my   yoga practice and am realizing how much better I feel when being more consistent.

5-cardio/strength 3 days a week (will most likely use Wii Active for workouts)

6-a real biggie for me is: I want to come to a place where I am content with the body God gave me and stop putting such high expectations on myself. I don’t want to strive to be a certain weight, but let my body get to it’s natural weight and be totally okay with that. That has been a desire of mine for a long time but it is also VERY HARD to get to that place! In other words, I want the eating disorder tendencies to LEAVE ME ALONE !!!!!!!! I have asked Hope to hold me accountable to only weighing once a week (on Fridays). I have not owned a scale for a long time, but now that I have the Wii Fit, I can weigh anytime I want which could turn in to a huge trap for me.

Did I ever tell you guys that I actually burned a scale before? Yep! My hubby was burning a big wood pile one time and the scale was causing SO much turmoil in my life that I threw it in the fire. I felt like I was casting my idol on the fire and it felt good and bad all at the same time!

Anyway, obviously goal #6  is going to take LOTS of prayer and faith This has been a long journey out of my sinful eating patterns, but I want to keep taking the next step and not look back!

HOPE–Thank you for your sweet friendship and for loving me through the good and the bad

Readers: Do you set New Year Resolutions? Why or why not?

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)

Well, the holidays are over and time to get back to ‘normal’ life–whatever that means. We had a fabulous Christmas but I don’t have any pics loaded on the computer yet. I have been extremely lazy about getting on the computer. My favorite gift that I received was a Wii Fit Plus from my hubby. I LOVE IT!! I also got some Christmas money and got the Wii Active. I quickly learned that the Wii Active can kick my tail!! It is more of a workout than the Wii Fit–although the Wii fit can burn some booty too Anyway, I am currently pretty daggone sore from them both!

I thought I probably should get on here and kind of explain why I haven’t been blogging for the last few weeks. It really had little to do with the busyness of the holidays. After reading this post by Heather, I thought that I too should be able to be honest on MY blog. Ya see, I kind of stepped back because I have been feeling like a hypocrite or a lunatic–which ever one is worse. I say that because of the fact that my diet is EVER changing and confusing. I say I’m doing one thing only to find that it doesn’t work for me. Every time I think I have something figured out–I realize that I don’t. Then I feel all this pressure to stick to what I said–EVEN IF IT’S NOT WORKING!! So, that is BAD, right? Yeah!

This past year has been one of the most confusing where my health is concerned. I loved what Heather said about labels and gave that a lot of thought. Thanks Heather I am NOT labeling myself anymore. I am NOT vegetarian(for real), high raw, vegan, low carb, macrobiotic yada, yada, yada!

I DO, however, HAVE to stay away from gluten due to Celiac and I HAVE to stay away from things that feed my candida.  I have tried way TOO hard to force my body to do one thing or another and it has been miserable!! This past week has been so freeing because I am eating what sounds good–as long as it’s not going to worsen my health. Last night, I had cooked cabbage and onions with ground deer meat that I seasoned with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and paprika(sorry–no pics–I gobbled it up!). It HIT THE SPOT!! Gasp, I ate deer! Yes, my hubby is a hunter and that is something I have never felt comfortable enough to share on my blog due to all the veggie fanfare That’s all I’m sayin’ on that note. So, I am eating meat again and feeling SO much better. I DO think that some people just don’t thrive on a veggie diet and I’m learning that I’m one of them.

Along with the meat in my diet, I am mainly eating eggs and tons of veggies. This seems to be helping my yeast some and for that I am SO grateful. It’s NOT about labels, but about finding what will make me well!! I am also HAPPY to report that I am eating some almond flour and doing okay!! You have NO idea how happy that makes me!! I got ‘The Almond Flour Cookbook’ and have made several things out of it. Of course, I have to tweak and use stevia instead of agave due to the candida, but it’s working.

Last but not least, my hubby has agreed to eat whatever I’m eating with a few exceptions–a.k.a he is eating cheese and I’m not–little things like that. It has made life SO much easier and he’s losing weight to boot

Sorry about the picture less post. I’ll be a little more prepared next go around See ya!

Lots of smileys in this post–that is a good thing!! Hope you’re smiling today!!!!

VERY IMPORTANT P.S.–HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HEATHER!!!!!! I think this day calls for some protein ice cream!!

Funky Town

Do any of you remember that old song called ‘Won’t you take me to Funky Town’? I remember like yesterday the year I got that record for Christmas. Yes, that was before the beloved CD’s, i-pods etc. I loved playing that record on my good ol’ fashion record player. Some of you may be too young to remember that song, but it was a huge hit back then.

So, this past week I have been in Funky Town! Now, I’m singing ‘Won’t you get me out of Funky Town’?!! I have had NO desire to blog or be transparent with anyone (except a lovely fellow blogger who has been SO kind to let me e-mail her with my woes ). What can I say? Holidays are HARD! It seems like everything is centered around food–and food has not felt like my friend lately. I have been trying to follow the Anti-Candida Diet and was very successful–for 11 days. Then, I got on a slippery slope that I have had trouble getting off of. Eleven glorious days of NO cheating and then BOOM! What happened? I have no idea, other than sugar won Ricki, I think I am back to day 1 !

Now, it’s time to get back on the wagon and hang on for dear life! This Anti-Candida thing is a wild ride that I would much rather NOT go on, but I don’t really have a choice. Who knew that yeasty beasties could be SO stubborn. I’m pretty stubborn, but I think this takes the cake–literally! I would love to have a piece of cake!!

This slippery slope has led to another slippery slope that I MUST get off of–NOW!! You see, I have this pattern. I try REALLY hard to do the right thing, I fail, I get angry with myself=restricting. My rational thinking this week has been ‘It is better to not eat at all than to eat and take a chance on the sugar/gluten monster winning’. Restricting can make everything seem under control–for a moment.  Problem is, my gut starts SCREAMING for food, I get light headed, I get depressed, I get angry because I’m hungry etc.

So, what do I do when I am really not loving food but am surrounded by it everywhere I go? I just have to do the best I can. That’s all I can do. I don’t know what tomorrow is going to look like. I don’t have a clue if I’m going to be able to fight the cravings when they come. I don’t know what to take to eat when I go to gatherings. I don’t know if this yeast will EVER go away!  About the only thing I DO know is that God gave me grace to get through 11 days and HIS grace does not run out!  I have to cling to that with everything in me. I have NO hope apart from HIM!

I hope you all are enjoying this Holiday season. Remember, it’s NOT about the food or the gifts! The only reason we can celebrate this Christmas is because Christ was born to come and save us from ourselves! I need HIM everyday. I am a hopeless case without Him

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Everyday Should be Pancake Day!

I have decided that pancakes are in order, not just on Sundays! I have had pancakes for the past three mornings!

My first set of pancakes was on Saturday:

Coconut Flour pancakes with Sweet Almond Sauce

The Sweet Almond Sauce is on Ricki’s blog, here. The recipe for the coconut flour pancakes is:

1/2 cup canned coconut milk

2Tbs. coconut oil

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla (I never use it because I don’t care for it much)

1/8 tsp. salt

3 Tbs. packed coconut flour

1/8 tsp. baking soda

Warm coconut milk and oil a little if your coconut oil is solid. Then I simply throw everything in the blender and give it a whirl. Easy Peasy! Fry as usual.

I couldn’t find the blog that I originally found this recipe on. It was called Starch Free Recipes, but when I went to look it up, it was not found. So, I figure it’s okay for me to go ahead and share it with you with much thanks to the original blogger!

Then on HEAB’s traditional pancake Sunday, I had these:

Heather's protein pancakes with carob Sunbutter sauce

Heather’s Protein Pancake recipe is here and pretty yummy I might add. I   always look forward to seeing what kind of pancake creation she will post each Sunday. This time, she posted (a day early) pancakes with Mole sauce. I had every intention of making the Mole sauce, but I didn’t have any instant coffee. I ended up making Carob Sunbutter sauce. DELISH!!

I basically followed the Mole sauce recipe without the coffee. I added unsweetened almond milk to make it the consistency that I wanted. That looks like a ton of Sunbutter on my pancakes, but it only had 1 TBS. in the sauce–not that I’m worried. It just looks like half a jar of nutbutter there

Today I had:

Pecan Flour pancakes with eggs

That isn’t the best picture, but trust me these pancakes were REALLY good! I got the recipe on Diet, Dessert and Dogs. The original recipe called for almond flour, but I don’t do well with too much almond flour or almond butter. I had pecan flour on hand and they turned out great! I just topped these with a little Smart Balance and had eggs on the side.  Just a side note here–I used to have this horrendous fear of eggs!! Back in the ED days, I was SO afraid of the fat in them. Now, I am eating them (1 egg + 2 whites) almost every day! LOVE them and they make me feel GREAT Anyway, these pancakes had the perfect amount of lemon taste. Next time, I may add poppy seeds and have lemon poppy seed pancakes!

The cool thing about all of these pancakes on this post is that they are ALL sugar free and grain free!! WooHoo!! They fill me up and keep me satisfied for hours!

What is your favorite pancake recipe? I think next on my list may have to be German Chocolate pancakes like I saw near the bottom of this post on Cindy’s blog Mmm, can’t wait!