HCG and My journey to health.

Hi Lovelies!

I want to share with you changes that I have made and are in the process of making for my life. Most of you would know that last year I came very close to dying when I delivered my last baby, Marcella. During that delivery I was on life support and was left very weak while my body recovered. I can honestly say that it took a good year to really get my groove back. During those 12 months I experienced some of the lowest emotional moments of my life. There is something to be said about not having control over your body and needing help with basic tasks as having a giant effect on your mental health- Especially as the primary care giver, and then almost needing to be the primary care receiver. My ability to breastfeed my new baby was gone, and my ability to have another baby was also gone. I was literally in a state of emotional breakdown. I wanted to just pass away. At this point my hormones where all over the place as well, contributing to my feelings of hopelessness. In the state of mind that I was in I started to medicate with chocolate and was literally eating myself to death. In my mind I thought it was a socially acceptable way to die.

I was already overweight when I came out of hospital, but filling my emotional holes with food added another 30 kgs to my already excess weight.

Thankfully as time went on, my hormones settled and my mind and body calmed, I was able to think more clearly and start getting back into life. At first I wanted to get back into GAPS to help us get back on track with healing both for my husband and myself, but I still was not in the right frame of mind to be able to do it well and consistently. SO thankfully in my weakened frame of mind, a friend shared with me about how she was using HCG to regain her health, which began my journey into looking at it more closely.

I have been following Cyndi O'Meara and Changing Habits for a many years. I have really enjoyed the research that she had done and respect her integrity quite a lot, so when I saw that she has a protocol it really started to get me thinking. I read that Phase 2 of the Diet was for 43 days. 43 days! I can do that! I was struggling with the idea of 2 years (at that point) but I saw 43 days as something that I could manage. The more I read the more I realised that this wasn't just about losing weight, but focused heavily on removing inflammation and looking at foods that help your body, instead of hindering it. That part was super important to me, because while I wanted to lose weight I've never just been about losing weight, but more focused on gaining health.

So I jumped in, did my reading, and got started.

.....and I'm very glad that I did.

At the start of my first round I was 140kg! and pushing a size 26, at the end of that round I had lost 10 cms from my hips and waists each, and dropped 12.5 kgs, in the 6 weeks. It wasn't really super easy, I had my hard days when I would go to bed early so I could get into the next day, but then I would wake up and jump on the scales and see it move in the right direction, and that would motivate me to keep going.

The change helped encourage me to get moving more too. I had been pondering the idea of being able to run a 5 km fun run. Now that I am a President of the Australian Chapter of the Hope for Accreta Foundation, I know somewhere down the track, being able to run 5kms will be useful. Also I would love to get out and be active with my children, camping, hiking, and do long bike ride trips. To do that, I want to know that I have the fitness behind me to get through it. So dropping that weight in the first round helped make the next step of getting active and increasing my fitness much easier.

SO here are my Before and After Pics from Round one.



Since then I have started my second round and in total I'm at 19.5kg lost, with another 2.5 weeks to go. Getting very close to my first 20 kgs mark! I hope to lose around another 60 kgs. But more than that, I'm looking forward to things that I will be able to do more and more as I lose more fat and gain more muscle, and gain more Life!.

Before starting University I was very active person, I was able to do the splits and do cartwheels. I would like to get back to that- Getting back to being able to trust myself and my body again. We aren't done with GAPS at all, we will still at least be doing advanced GAPS, High Fat-Low Carb in between rounds, to help with our overall general health and healing, Particularly for my husband who has now joined me on the HCG Journey.

Something else I want to mention about the HCG Protocol for me is that I have found it has really helped with my hormones. After Marcella's birth and the hysterectomy my body was really struggling to be in balance again, but within a week of starting HCG it was like they came back into alignment, Which was an added bonus that I didn't expect!

For the benefit of myself and others that would like to follow my journey, I have started Vlogging my journey, and sharing some of the reasons that I have started... here is one major one :)





So I look forward to sharing the rest of my journey to life with you. You can keep up to date with my journey on my Facebook page, From Life Support to Life.

If you are reading this and want to take a look for yourself and start the journey you can follow the Link below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings, Christina.

Fat Head

Science For Smart People

Over time I have watched this video a number of times, and find it very enjoyable and informative. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Christina

Day 56 - weight loss

I love waking up in the morning and seeing that I have lost another kilogram. As of today Ben and I have both lost 15kg. You can really see that weight loss on my husband well, because he has less to loss. He now only has another 11kg to go before he reaches a healthy BMI. My weight loss is not as easy to see, because I have a lot more to go, around 53 kgs to within the healthy BMI for my height. However I am no longer worried about that, in that I know on this diet my body is going to get to it's own normal size. Plus I love that we aren't exercising like crazy (insert picture of the biggest loser ad, with the commando yelling at you) for the weight to be falling off us. We may loss weight a little faster if we were, but spending 4-6 hours a day training is not a natural way to loss weight.

On and interesting note research has shown that over weight women that loss 15% or more of their body weight will double the chances of dying with in the next 5 years. Men will increase there death rate by 1.5. So lets say you weight 130 kgs and you loss 50kgs then you have probably brought your funeral forward. Why is that? Now depending on your age you body will adjust to those changes slightly differently, the younger you are the better your body can adapt to those changes. But generally speaking those that are overweight, obese, and morbidly obese, have got that way by consuming food that aren't good for you, or empty calories, devoid of micro nutrients. Which leaves the body nutritionally deficient. This is where we start to see the body breaking down, cause many of the modern illnesses that we see today.

We are now seeing a whole new generation of malnourished people that are being told to eat less, to loss weight. The answer isn't to eat less the answer is to eat more, more nutrient dense foods, but also more natural good fats, found in coconut oil, olive oil, butter, cream, animal fats, avocados, eggs, and so on.

In today's society we have such a fear culture around fats. Fats have been giving a really bad rap by the Medical and Food industries. Fats are one of the major food groups that you can't live with out, but we have these whole new range of products that are no fat, low fat, reduced fat, and so on. We have a whole new industries created around producing what I call bad fats, vegetable oils, canola oil, Margarine, trans fats, etc. These didn't exist 50, 100, 200 years ago. We are told not eat animal fats, saturated fats, coconut oil, and to reduce the number of eggs, and avocados we eat, as they are high in cholesterol. Now I could write a whole article on fats, and I might down the track, but lets just leave it, our bodies were designed to be able to deal with NATURAL fats, ones that are straight from animals or one that require very little processing. Our bodies know how to use them.

See one of the reasons that people who loss lots of weight and loss it fast tend to die earlier is that there bodies have often been protecting them with that weight. When toxins (chemicals, Trans fats, colours, msg, preservatives, BPA's, and whole host of other things) enter the body, the bodies first response to to protect itself. Now it does that by binding the toxin with fat, so that is can't harm the vital organs. Now if you take away the tool that your body has been using to protect it's self then those toxins are released into the body, where they are free to settle and do harm to your vital organs, the brain, liver, kidneys, and so on. So how does one loss weight and regain really health?

This is were I think some of the beauty of the GAPS Diet is.

Step one: Remove all the foods/ or food like products that are putting toxins into the system. You need to go preservative free, chemical free (as much as possible), colour free.

Step two: Start giving the body a constant supply of good fats, and nutrient dense foods,like bone broth.

Step Three: Start rebuilding the gut flora, so that food can be digested properly. Then you can get the most out of your food.

Step Four: Start rebuilding the bodies supply of nutrients, vitamins and minerals.

Step Five: Allow you body time to heal, because that is what it is doing, healing from the damage we have done to it, by we I mean society, environmental, food industry, advertising, parents, and of course ourselves.


And this is another reason I love the GAPS program because it is designed for healing. I don't need to think about the ins and outs of foods, Dr Natasha has done that for us. However if you do, like me you start to see the beauty of what she has done by putting it all together for you.

Children and GAPS

I have been ask to write about children and GAPS. I can't say that I am the best person to do this. Our children are eating full GAPS 6 days out 7, with the exception of one day a week when we visit my mum and she cooks for them. Also I haven't made our children do intro. However in saying that they have done intro with fruit and carrots. We have always been a household were the children weren't allowed to be fussy. I normally keep fruit on hand, if they don't like what I am making and don't eat it, I won't make them something else, and I ask them to at least try what is on their plate. Dessert is a privilege and one that must be earnt by eating your dinner. If you can't eat your dinner you can't eat dessert. In saying that as well we don't often have dessert.

So I don't have a lot of experience with picky eater, as I'm sure some of your out there will have, please share your experience and tips in the comments.

Anyhow here are some of the things that I do with my family
- Get the children involved in the cooking process.
- Talk with the children about why we eat these foods.
- Have lots of food for children eat or snack on.
- Grow what you can.
- Try not to make a big deal out of eating.
- Have fun experimenting with a different way to cook.

Getting Children Involved
Starting a journey like GAPS for some means a heap more time in the kitchen, cooking things that they aren't use to, or not had to cook in the past. It can be very overwhelming at times. My advice, if you have children that can help, use them! Clearly some of you won't be able to do this, your child/ren are too ill, or too young. As my older children (6,7,8) love Breakfast balls in the morning I have taught then, if they want them for breakfast, they need to get the meat out of the freezer the night before. They are also capable of smooshing the meat, herbs, salt, pepper, and egg together and rolling them into balls ready for me to cook. Of course, I supervise, while doing another kitchen job. Two of my younger children (3 and 5)can get the carrots and veggies ready for our morning juice/milkshake.

I am also in the process of teaching my older children to care for the milk kefir. They love Kefir icey poles, so for them it means that they also get to make some icey poles. As they and I get used to this routine, I will get them involved in more an more.

Talk with the children about why we eat these foods
When we first started this diet I think that hardest concept for my children to get their heads around was why not these foods. After all we have spent the last several years teaching them that fruit was healthy and good for you, and now all of a sudden we weren't eating it. It took I think the first month to explain to them that fruit was still healthy, it's just that our bodies were not, so our bodies couldn't get the goodness out of food. We had to let our bodies heal so that we could eat those things again.

Also my children really love it when I can explain to them what part of their bodies each food is helping. Ie Walnuts are good for the brain, Carrot's are good for the eyes, and so on. I often find them telling me "Look Mummy I'm feeding my heart" while eating a tomato. :0)

Have lots of food for children to eat or snack on
GAPS food is easy to digest so the body doesn't have to do a lot of work to absorb it. So many people, children included feel hunger a lot when they start GAPS, especially if you start with intro. So having extra cooked veggies, boiled meats, boiled eggs(when you get that far) in the fridge is really handy. You really don't want to be a position with children saying they are hungry, when everything you can feed them takes an hour plus to make.

Grow what you can
This point has a double purpose. One it can help with the ever growing food bill, and two, much research has been done into getting children to eat veggies, and growing it themselves, along with cooking it, is seeing many parents and school succeed in this area. Even if you only start with one product, like tomatoes. The is no tomato like a home grown one, Once you eat your own you won't want to turn back. As you go along give your children a veggie that is theirs to grow, put them in charge of it. You will be teaching them a valuable life skill, and giving them something to be proud off. When we eat food that our children have grown we say a special thank you to them at the dining table. I love seeing their faces light up when we say how much we like that particular veggie.

Try not to make a big deal out of food
While we have the rule that if you don't like what your given then tough!, we try not to make a big deal out of it. The children know the rules, they don't need us repeating it over and over. If they are hungry they can have some fruit or a carrot, but there will be nothing else until the next meal time. However in saying that we do make them try what is on their plate before they leave the table, and there have been times when I know they haven't even tried the food and are just being stubborn, in which case I have made them sit at the table until it is eaten. Which in most cases has them sitting there for a good amount of time, refusing to eat it. Then they finally give up and eat it in a few short minutes. When these situations arise, and we make a stand, we don't back down. However I don't sit there talking to them about it, putting pressure on them, I simply carry on with what I am doing, until they relent. I don't think it is necessary to do this at every meal, with every child. You know your child and you know all the other factors around that moment. Be wise, pick your battles.

Have fun experimenting with different ways of cooking
For many moving onto the GAPS Diet, going through the stages will having you cooking things you may never tried before, or cooking in ways that you have never done before. Or in most cases cooking with out things you are used to using. Have fun with this process, if you have fun, they will have fun, and the whole experience will be much more enjoyable for everyone. There are some amazing foods that you enjoy on GAPS, you just need to be open to them, and open to the creative process.


Like I said before our children are not 100% full GAPS, however we have seen positive changes in their bodies, and minds. They have also learnt that eating junk makes them feel unwell, gives them eczema, for Elijah it induces vomiting at times. For others it can cause bed wetting, headaches, generally unwell. Which I see as a valuable lesson.

I hope this has helped you some. For more ideas, recipes, and testimonies, I will put some links below for you to check out.
Christina


http://www.mamaeve.com/caring-for-baby-a-toddler/best-baby-food/gaps-diet-getting-a-picky-eater-to-eat/

http://www.cheeseslave.com/autism-recovery-with-the-gaps-diet-one-mothers-story/

http://www.nourishmd.com/home/1604-doing-the-gaps-diet-at-disney-world

http://www.healthhomehappy.com/

Day 21.

Wow, so we have being doing this long enough to make a new habit. We actually I wish that where totally true. We have not cheated, and I think I am starting to develop the habit of cooking all the meals and thinking ahead to our next one or two or three. I'm getting use to waking up and have only mineral water first thing. So while I'm getting used to all these things about the diet, there are somethings that I am still not yet used too. One of which is going to the supermarket and not getting a treat, or seeing a new product on the shelf and not even thinking about trying it. Even though I know well and good that these things will offer no nutrition at all, and in actual fact cause harm.

Unlike Ben I don't feel like having a tantrum over these food because I can't have them. I think it just takes time I get to get used to not being able to have them. The more I think about it the more I think is a great way to get people off all that junk and help them become really aware of what they are eating, and putting into and onto their bodies. Giving the body a rest, and spending time learning to listen to what it is saying to you.

Ben and I were talking about it recently how the messages that our bodies is giving us and the way we interrupt them has been corrupted in a sense. Take for example the story of Fats. We have a whole food industry designed to reduce and remove fats, and spend a lot of money advertising there product as no fat, low fat, reduced fat, and so on. However our bodies really need good fats (not vegetable, trans or processed fats) to function. When our bodies have enough of these good fats, our brain sends a message to our stomach, "We have enough now, you can stop eating". Well if you are not consuming fats, or
your consuming these bad ones, your brain never gets enough, so instead sends messages that it needs more.

So you can see how we can slowly get disconnected from what our body is saying to us.

Sugar craving have gone for me, that's not to say that I don't still get the mental cue, ie the children have gone to bed, it might be nice to have a little treat. I don't need it, I don't really crave it, it's just an old habit slowly dying.

Food today
mineral water
chicken stock
veggie stir fry, with ghee and chicken stock
crispy walnuts and slivered almonds
Lamb chops and stir fried veggies, with beef bone broth gravy.

Ben has been starting yoghurt over the last two days. Starting with 1 Tablespoon yesterday, 2 tablespoons tomorrow, until we get up to a bowl full. I currently have 4 litres culturing at the moment, as our family loves homemade yoghurt, and there is never really enough. Due to Ben really missing snack we have introduced the Crispy walnuts and the Almond Slivers which he is enjoying a lot. Also over the past two days, he hasn't required a day sleep which has become quite routine at our house. He is also being more productive. ;0)

Gaps day 20 - The Norm.

So I am still hanging out to eggs in our diet, and Ben is hanging out for some variety as well. So we gave them another go today in Omelete form. Well so far so good for me, Ben however is feeling a little heavy in the stomach after having them, so we will wait and see how things go tomorrow, as to whether I can have them or not.


Ben REALLY MISSES SNACKING. I have to laugh at him so much because today he was sulking over a packed of chips. He was very very sad because of them. It is actually hysterical watching a grown man writhe around because he can't have them. In actual fact he is really grieving the fact that he is not a 'normal' person, in his own mind. He is really frustrated that he can't be like all these other (seemingly normal) people that can eat apparently whatever they like and there is no consequences. However he isn't actually seeing that they are not healthy. Yes, they may be normal and eating normal food, from the point of view of statistic norms. However that same 'norm' spend a lot time dealing with headaches,prescription drugs, chronic illness, colds, immune issues, needing pills to live normal lives, and needing care.

The more I think about it the more I actually don't want to eat like the norm, because I don't want to have to deal with the health issues that face the norm. I want to eat like a nourished person, because someone that is nourished in every way in their life, don't face these issues. That is the life that I want for me and my family.

On another interesting note, on Friday my children consumed some unhealthy food, I am allowing them to choose for themselves, so that they can learn the lessons of greater health. They were given lollies, which they happily consumed. We my eldest daughter had been having a few bed wetting issues. Well most of the week they eat Gaps food. During the week she had no issues with wetting the bed, and she even commented to me that her stoles were really good. However Friday night she wet the bed, and my second eldest daughter had a sniffy nose that evening and night as well, and my last daughter broke out in eczema. Well two days back on GAPS foods, and they are getting back to being well. I'm hoping that this lessons is not a long one for them to learn.

Food
mineral water
Chicken stock
Stir fry veggies, in a mix of ghee and broth.
Roast Lamb with roasted veggies
Omelet with stir fried veggies.

Gaps Intro day 10!

Day 10, Oh we are so close to the two week mark. Today has been my moody day. I think that has far more to do with my son getting over somethings, so has been drinking from me all night, which means very little sleep for me. I hope that passes soon. We weighted ourselves to day it looks like Ben has lost 6kgs, and have lost 4kgs, very happy with that, and looking forward to increasing those numbers. However this diet isn't about the losing weight, it's just and added bonus. It's about healing and re balancing our bodies. Beside being moody, I have feel pretty good health wise. Food for today. Mineral water, Chicken Broth, Pork, Mushrooms, Peas, onions, cooked in beef broth, Dinner tonight was boiled Chicken, bokchoy, peas, with mushroom and chicken gravy, and of course of a serving of fermented veggies. Short and sweet for tonight guys :0) By for now, I hear my bed calling me.

Gaps Intro day 9

Day 9 done and dusted. For me at this point things are getting good. I've settled in to the routine more, and am no longer having head aches. I think the one thing that I really miss at the moment is snacks. You know once the children have gone to bed, and mum and dad treat themselves, with a little something. Lately that has been chocolate. I'm also missing something to crunch. However I think I am settling in at this stage. I'm a little afraid to move on. Not sure if that makes sense but I feel like we have made so much progress, that I don't want to mess it up. My body is feeling good, I'm losing weight, symptoms to going away. So I don't want to ruin any of that by moving to fast along the program. I explained to my mum today that we are doing a diet, so Ben and I will be bring our own lunch to her house on Friday , and she will be cooking for the children. She took it really well. She knows the pain that Ben has been through so is thankfully very understanding. I did have another test today, one of the children near by had a birthday today, and we were invited to come over to diner and cake, Ben didn't think he would cope at this stage with all the temptation. So I took the children, which was fine because it was a communal dinner there wasn't any real need for me to eat. I just eat before I went. The children however might have learnt a little lesson. They has pizza, and chips and bread, cake, ice cream and so on. Well very shortly after coming back home, Elijah vomited. The older children knew straight away it was because of the food. One of them even said to me that maybe they need to stay on the gaps food. yay! I'm trying not push them at all, just letting them learn there own lessons on this. Of course most of their food at home is gaps food, with a few extra, and I try not to allow them to spend too much of their pocket money on lollies, instead encouraging them to spend there money of other things that they would love to buy. Today was the first day that Ben woke up before me and got straight out of bed. Normally he is really tired and would stay in bed for a while. He has very little in the way of symptoms today, of course still his stomach pain but he is lot better than he was yesterday. Also much better in his mental state as well. Very pleased. I don't really like living with a Ogre much. He says he is getting bored with the food, so maybe I need to move on for that reason. We will see. I made some more pickles today that are on the bench fermenting as I type. We also had some family over for a quick visit and was able to share about what we are doing with the diet and so on. I even sent them home with three bottle of fermented veggies. :0) Ok so food for day. Mineral water Beef stock. Then turkey Chicken soup. I enjoyed this soup so much we had that for lunch and Dinner. Thanks for reading :0)

Gaps Intro day 8

I feel like today was the a day to start getting life back to normal, it was our first big adventure out as a family while on Gaps. We took the children to the library and the shops to spend their pocket money and birthday money. They have been waiting nearly two weeks due to the car being out of order. I started study again, I have put it off whole on the first part of intro because my mind just couldn't take in the information at the time, for those of you that don't know I'm studying to be a naturopathy, and nutrition is my current subject of study. Actually now I'm starting to thinking that maybe at the end of my study I might take on the training to be a GAPS Consultant as well, but that is a while a way so we will see when we get there. It has been the same with the children school work, up until now I didn't really have the brain space to teach them or even correct their work. However life is starting to fall back into normal. We took out some great books from the Library about Volcano's as Sophie has been talking about them the last couple of weeks, so I though why not jump into a unit study on them, so we have some interesting reads, and I got a build your own volcano kit, which you build, paint, and then erupt. So we will have some great fun with that and it's totally not food related. :0) I think one of the biggest challenges is when cooking not to just stick things in your mouth. At the moment I'm tending my cultures to keep them alive, I'm making yoghurt, Kefir, milk and water, and Kombucha, the children are eating them but we are waiting until we introduce them back into the diet, which we are not that far away from doing, I want to wait until after we get our probiotics and supplements. We have ordered them but they are probably still a week away. I know that we probably should have got them before we started the diet, but we had a window of opportunity were we couldn't really go to far from home, and could get strong on the diet before we HAD to face the world, so we took it. So I'm very excited about that order coming. Something that I have been thinking about recently is that just because you are limited to your food choices doesn't mean you can't be creative. I have also order a veggie twister

Which I think is really fun. It means that I can add noodles to our soups to make life more fun. I'm also thinking of trying to make a seafood soup, just to change this up and exposes us to lots of variety will still in the limitations. I feel like my creative juices in the kitchen are coming back. SO I'll keep you up dated on those as I give them a try. After watching Course 2 of the GAPS Diet on Youtube, we heard more abut magnesium and think that Ben in particular my have a deficiency in that area. So we have also ordered some Magnesium oil for us. So will let you know how that goes and how we are using it when it arrives. We also brought another juicer yesterday, we did have one but I gave it away when we brought our thermomix but as we soon will be introducing carrot juice every day we thought having one would be handy, this particular is not top of the range, but it does separate the pulp and the juice which means that it's easier to keep the pulp for a recipe, or to feed our worms. We have also got our Fermented Cod liver oil coming as well. We have been taking it for just over a month, before we started the diet, but stop everything we had start and will reintroduce it back in slowly when they arrive. One step at a time, so it seems that we will be here on stage two for a while now. Oh we received a package in the mail yesterday, I had totally forgotten that I had ordered them, it was actually a couple of months ago, they were a preorder item. In the package was 5 fun egg and pancake pans, they are all different shapes, like a heart shape, star shape, a pig, a frog, and a bear. SO this is another way I'm going to make food fun in our house. Yesterday when we were in the Library, I heard Ben sneeze. It wasn't until that point that I realised that I actually hadn't heard him sneeze for while, and neither had I. Before starting the diet we both would have sneezing fits almost daily were we would sneeze over and over again. Ben in particular had lots of mucus and sinus, itchy eyes, and the like. So there is another positive for doing this. However saying that today was his worst day feeling his stomach was bad, he was irraible, grumpy, snappy, and generally unpleasant to be around. We both have lost some weight. Not sure how much as we don't own some scales but we are thinking of buying some so that we can monitor that side of things as well. Ok enough chatter here is what we eat today. Mineral water - we are making a mix of water and colloidal minerals in a jug ( we purchase ours from www.changinghabits.com.au) and leave on the table overnight so that it is room temp in the morning. Chicken stock Lunch we had left over pork, diced and heated in some stock with peas and carrots. Dinner was boiled turkey legs, in chicken stock, served with peas, carrots, and Marrow, with chicken and onion gravy. Ok bye for now. Christina.

Gaps Intro day 6.

Yay! we are on stage 2, well the start of it anyway.

Today we introduced fermented veggies, and peas into our diet. I'll let you know how that has gone tomorrow. We now have far more choices open to us and I'm really trying not to rush it by introducing too many things at once. We are vaguely following "What can I eat Now" 30 days on Gaps Intro ebook by Healthy, Home, and Happiness. http://www.healthhomehappy.com/2011/06/what-can-i-eat-now-30-days-on-the-gaps-intro-diet.html Now it really should take you longer than 30 days to fully complete Gaps intro, taking your time to make sure that everything is sitting well with your body, Healing takes time. However it is a really good resource that can help you get a good idea about each stage and recipes that you can follow.

So we will be staying on stage two until we have included everything that you can include at this stage back in. But one or two things at a time so we can see if there are reactions, so it might take a while. Or then again we might get feed up of same stuff and move forward quicker. Will see how we go.

Ok Yesterday Ben had a really bad stomach pain, I have now asked him to number the pain so I can have more of an idea about whether it is getting better or not. Yesterday was a 5, today was a 4. Yay small victory. Also helped along by a bowel movement. Lack of BM stopped him from sleeping last night, finally getting to bed around 5 this morning. Which has been a common thing in our house over the several years. So far last night was the only night that we has been up this late since we started, so I'm hoping to see less and less of these nights in the future. On another interesting note, Ben has his normal day sleep this afternoon, after which he woke up and shared a very vivid dream, were he was hiding in a cupboard and ate some dry biscuits...LOL. then in the dream asked me if the diet could be salvaged, my reply was no.... SO He then continued to eat the whole packet of dry biscuits. LOL I think someone is missing sweet biscuits.

Last night I saw GAPS Diet Course Two on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7wVa7o-J3k Course 1 is there are well. Which is really worth watching if you are thinking about doing this diet, or just interested to know more about it. The teacher Melissa Washburn also had bad stomach pains like Ben so it was really encouraging to hear that it took about a month on the diet before she saw some real changes in herself. I also really love how she talks about The diet just being one aspect of healing (a pretty major one). She has come up with an Acronym for the Healing journey.

H- Hunger no more - Nourish yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually.

E- Eliminate Toxins (emotional and physical) and stresses that keep you stuck. End the negative chatter in you mind. Exercise!

A - Adopt your life - the life you want. Attitude and Gratitude. Allow for rest, rejuvenation, and sleep.

L- Let love be your motive. Love God, self, family, health, life and opportunities. Work on Loving relationships. Love your work.

Which really sums things up well. As we all know eating is not just about putting food in you mouth. There is a psychological side to food and eating that we all partake in. Whether it be a particular food smell that reminds of you childhood, or a time you were sad, or happy, etc. For me I wasn't doing too badly eating more of the should eat foods, and lot less of the should not eat foods. Then my father passed away. Well Chocolate became my friend. I couln'td walk into a shop with money in my pocket and not buy any. It was my go to drug of choice, if you like. So when you take all those foods out of your life, you need to be prepared to face those emotional battles with something new. I'm yet to struggle there, but I'm sure there will come a time when I will need to face a demon with out chocolate in my corner to numb the pain. As am a believer I hope it will bring me closer to my Lord.

Ok Food for today
Mineral water
Chicken stock - I was filled by that I didn't want anything else this morning.
Snack - Ferment pickle.
Lunch - Yesterdays Pumpkin soup. Scoring another meal I didn't have to cook.
Dinner - Was boiled slow cooked chicken, with peas and carrots, and a choice of fermented veggies, about 2 tbs. I have made a few so that we can feel like we have more variety and not so limited. We have Saurkraut, pickles, Kimchi, and purple carrots.

So we will see how those go tomorrow. Also a detox bath. I'm currently trying to have them daily.

See you tomorrow, and any questions please feel free to leave me a comment.

Eating your own Harvest!

One of my families main goals for 2012 is try to grow 50% of our the organic food we eat. There really is nothing like serving a meal to your family when you know that you all had a part in putting that food on the plate.

Now 50% for a family of 8 is a lot of produce and we are not fully expecting to be able to do that right away, maybe not even this year, but we are working towards that goal. There are things that we will never be able to produce like rice, wheat, or of course things that don't grow in our climate. In saying that our goal is the try and change our eating habits, so we eat less of what we can't grow and more of what we can grow, when we can grow it.

We are starting a new habit in our house at the moment, were the children, my husband or myself, take a bowl, bucket, basket into the yard in the morning and see what is growing and ready to pick. Then we take it inside and start to plan what we can make for the days meals. The children are loving it, as am I. Today for example we found that our chickens had laid 16 eggs! (We have twenty chickens). Which was Great! So the children and I started planning what can we make with those eggs. My children always want boiled eggs, but I managed to convince them to try something else. We were given a leg of ham for Christmas, so decided to make a double recipe quiche with ham and other veggies that we found growing in the garden, such as silver beet, onions, purple dragon carrots, and add some corn from the freezer.

Then they found some butter beans and I had broccoli in the freezer, so we make and butter bean and broccoli salad, which is always a favourite in our house. It went down a treat! Everyone was satisfied and so were our spirits knowing that most of that food was grown or given to us. What a feeling!

Now not everyday can be like this. Tomorrow there will be no butter beans because they were all picked today, but there will be beetroots, and the tomatoes are starting to grow and even a few are ripening, the corn is growing so fast, and soon we will be eating that.

Also with all this harvesting go on, we must remember to aim for planting at least one thing a day, so that in months to come there will be other things in the garden ready to harvest.

What an exciting journey we are on. I totally love that idea of getting more and more away from the supermarket. If only I didn't need to buy toilet paper. Oh well, maybe if I order that online and get it delivered I can skip that stop on shopping day.

Happy Gardening, and I would love to hear your food or gardening goals.

What are Treats?

When I was a child if you asked me this question the answer would have been fairly simple, Lollies, Cakes, Ice cream,Take Away, Chocolate...pretty much everything that is sweet and unhealthy. You got treats for being Good, behaving yourself or because someone loved you.

So growing up with this mind set, when I did well on an exam, or Achieved something I would "Treat" myself. When things were not going so great in life and feeling down, I would "Treat" myself, as a pick me up.

Our Ideas of Treats is fashioned in many ways by many people. Advertising, "You deserve....", Parents, "If you behave ...."

Now being a Parent myself my Idea of a "Treat" has changed a lot. When you really think about things and look at them for what they are, is it really rewarding and nice to give someone you love a food that there bodies are going to have to recover from... Very few treat foods that one can buy from the supermarket, are made with Health in mind. Most are full of processed sugars, poisons, chemicals, and things that you wouldn't dream of eating if you really knew what it was.

SO that being said does that mean that I can't treat me family...Of course you can. But wouldn't the best treats be ones that give your family health, that makes them actually feel good after eating it? My mind set has started to change from that of giving food that will cause damage, to one of "Packing in as much nutrition in as I can". For example, Apricot ice cream made with real food, not chemicals. Blueberry Kefir or Yoghurt Cake. Blueberries are full of antioxidants. Yes while the cooking process kills some nutrients, it makes others available. Just a few of the many suggestions out there. Plus food that is made with real food, like butter, and Rapadura or Raw sugar, and don't forget Fruit! A real favourite on our house in fruit salad and yoghurt.

Treat food doesn't have to be boring and when they are made at home and you have put the effort into making them you feel this pleasure and joy of giving something that you know will benefit you family. Plus the added bonus is that you will probably eat less of it than the something you picked up at the store, because it takes long to prepare and your family can appreciate your efforts. :)

So here's my recipe for the Day.

Blueberry Kefir Cake
Ingredients
125g Butter
1 Cup Caster Sugar
2 Cups plain flour - you can use white or wholemeal, we like the wholemeal version Better.
3 Tsp. Baking powder
3/4 Cup of Kefir or yoghurt
1 cup of blueberries, fresh or frozen.

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Grease a round spring form Cake tin.
2. Using an electric mixer, or whisk, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating to combine.
4. Add half the flour mix (flour and baking powder, and half the kefir, stir to combine.
5. Add the remainder of flour mix and kefir and stir until combined. Be careful not to over work the batter, just until combined.
6. Spread mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with blueberries. Press blueberries in slightly.
7. bake for 50 mins,or until a skewer comes out clean. If the top of the cake seems to be getting too dark, cover with foil.
8. Let cool and sprinkle with Icing Sugar.

Eat and Enjoy! The better the Ingredients the better more nutrients.

Warm Winter Meal

So winter is the time for Hearty, warm casserole meals, so here is one that has lasted us for 4 meals.

Beef and Beans Casserole
Ingredients
3 cans of Tomatoes, or 15 frozen tomatoes.
5 tb Worcestershire sauce, we use organic
One piece of Beef casserole steak, diced
1 can or equivalent of Kidney Beans, Or any beans that you have on hand
3 cloves garlic, crushed or diced
1 onion diced
Mixed vegies, I had carrots, corn, green beans, peas, I also a large Swede, which I diced, you could also add potatoes, or any other vegies that you have available.
Herbs, I used dried Basil, Oregano, parsley, Marjoram.
Salt and Pepper to taste.

A few years ago, I realised that by buying a boxes of tomatoes, was a lot cheaper than buy per kg, and then I also had the thought of freezing them in lots of 5 that would be equal that same 1 Can of crushed, or whole tomatoes, with the added bonus of no preservatives. As we go on with our journey of grow our own, I hope to actually use all our own organic tomatoes for this. Another extra bonus is that they taste great, better than any canned tomato that I have tasted. Plus the saving is heaps. 10kg of Tomatoes cost between $5-10, so on average 1 packet of tomatoes cost around 20cents. You can't buy canned tomatoes that cheap.

So in saying that they first step in the recipe for me was to put my three packs of frozen tomatoes into the slow cooker to defrost.

After they have melted down a little, you can easily pull the skins off if you wish.

The next is very easy, you simple add all of your ingredients to the slow cooker,(add enough water to just cover the ingredients), except the salt and pepper, and let it cook for 5 or more hours. Before serving taste and add your salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with mashed Potato, Rice, Pasta, or simply crusty Bread.

I served mine with Fettuccine Pasta, and Fresh baked bread.


Giving Left Overs New Life
For us there was plenty left over and I added more than we would need so that it could become another meal. So the children and I had some for Lunch the next day, and still plenty left for another meal.

SO I then added another batch of tomatoes, and bit more water, Lentils, chick peas, and more beans, which then turned this casserole into another meal, of mostly beans, which the family enjoyed with rice and a sprinkle of cheese. Could also have served it as buritos, in wraps with cheese, or taco mix, or again mashed potatoes. Really Anything that your family likes.

And again there was still enough for Lunch for the children and myself.

Something I am realising is that when you respect food, and not waste the ingredient that you have one meal can actually do many meals. So what was intended for one meals actually did 4 meals.

Enjoy your winter meals!

Potatoes

The Food Stable of the Table

Two more months of winter to go... I'm itching to getting the garden ready for this years harvest! Last week we received our Diggers club seed Catalogue. Which got me thinking about what we want to grow in the coming season. Last year, we were a bit slow getting started and some of the seeds that we purchased arrived mid spring and didn't seed until summer, buy which time it was a little late to get a big harvest for our tomatoes and Caps, and eggplants, they really need the whole spring and summer for produce a good harvest. So having learnt my lesson from last year, I want to be on the ball this year.

So while flicking through the Catalogue I can across potatoes. For us it's a staple at our family table, not every night but at least once a week, and can be used in so many ways, mashed (of course), Baked, soups, Quiches, Casserole and many, many, more ways. SO that got me thinking, how many potatoes do we need for the whole year!

Well after some simple calculations we worked out that we will probably go through about 120kg of Potatoes, that's 10kg month. So the next questions was, can we grow that much?, and how many seed potatoes do we for that?

The Diggers Club, some years ago did a trail to see on average how many potatoes are harvested for 8 Tubers (seed potatoes) of 8 different varieties.
There Findings:
King Edward 11.86kg
Dutch Cream 14.14kg
Desiree 10.8kg
Spunta 13.2kg
Kipfler 5.81kg
Bintje 8.93kg
Pink Eye 11.6kg
Nicola 5.9kg

http://www.diggers.com.au/

So each different variety has it's different benefits, some of good for salads, others for baking, and others more for mashing, and some a mix of all. Also they each have a slightly different nutrients available for the eater.

so on average each variety listed would give us the 10kg for a month that we want from 8 seeds. Do we have that much space? Well yes! but I don't really want to take up the whole garden bed growing potatoes.

However potatoes are the perfect veg's to grow in containers! So here's what I have figured. I can Grow 12 different varieties or more if we like in Large containers, which the children can paint and place the pots around the garden as decorations. Making our garden interesting to look at and at the same time, growing what we need, and not taking up the garden space.

So what varieties are we going to grow? Well while I got the idea from Diggers, being in Tasmania, with all the quarantine laws, can't actually buy seed potatoes from them. But The Lost Seed company can sell to us,

http://www.thelostseed.com.au/USERIMAGES/procart77.htm

So Have really enjoyed looking through all the different variety's that I can choose from. Plus I really like the unusual, and have this sense of adventure about trying new things, so we are planning to try all 19 different varieties that they have to offer. For me I see it as an investment, because we get the chance to see what grows well for us, and what we enjoy eating, plus, if we collect our own seed potatoes from them we don't need to buy them again, in the years to come.

Why Bother?
You might say "Why bother?", "That seems like a lot of effort for Potatoes, that don't cost me that much anyway?"

Very True potatoes can be brought, just about anywhere very Cheaply. However Commercially grown Potatoes are drenched in chemicals. While they are growing, and then again when they are harvested. Potatoes like onions and Garlic, after a while will sprout ready to grow and reproduce itself, to stop this happening and getting as much longevity out of there product they are sprayed with Growth retardant. Now those of us with children, babies, including anyone we love, don't want to be feeding them chemicals that retard there growth. Yes some of that comes off when you peel the potato, but just think how long has the potato been sitting with it on it's skin? and just how long the has it been sitting in storage before it has gotten to you? You don't know because it's nature sights of showing it's old have been "Retarded".

So for me I See growing me own, the best that "I" can provide for my family. Now that maybe not be something that you can do for your family, so what then. Well the next best thing is to buy from someone you know, Or a small producer that sell at farmers markets, where you can ask the questions about what they have use to grow them and the like.

Growing Your Own. How Too!

Potatoes are really very easy to grow. Last year we used the no dig method of laying newspaper down, over the weeds and Grass, watering it down, and then a thin layer of straw, then simply placing our seed potatoes on top, then covering them with compost/soil mix. Then as they grow, "Hill" them up, which simple means adding more soil around the plant, the more you do the more potatoes you can grow. Water regularly and harvest when the flowers have died.

So this year we are growing in Containers. Several ways you can go, with the container. So far the cheapest that we can find to buy are at Bunnings, 13.00 for each pot, same pots I'm using for my fruit trees. Other wise you can use pretty much any container, just make sure that it has enough drainage. Potatoes are not fussy about soil types but really like good drainage.

So once you have your pot, and your seed Potatoes (you want to buy good quality seeds to start with), You ready to begin. Simply put some dirt/compost in the bottom of your container, only about a finger deep, then place you seed potatoes on top, cover with more soil, water and wait for them to grow. Once the sprouts start coming up add more soil, you need to leave some of the top leaves above the soil. As they grow keep adding until you fill the whole container with soil. Then Continue to water regularly, and enjoy the flowers! (they show that the plants are working on growing big potatoes) Once the flowers have died down you are ready for a treasure hunt! This is the fun part, our children really love getting in the dirt and seeing what they can find and discovering what you have grown! Treasure Hunt!

Some special Notes: While potatoes are not fussy about there soil, they will grow bigger, if you use good quality compost in your soil mix. Also when growing in pots it can be good idea to add a few worms to your pot, to help with aeration of the soil. Crop rotation is important with potatoes, you shouldn't grow them in the same soil for three years.

So on a positive note I will leave you with a recipe that we enjoy!
Jacket Potatoes!
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/21892/stuffed+jacket+potatoes

providing Health for my family.

Over the Last 6 years, I have become increasingly aware of the way our medicating society has causes more problems than it has really solved. General main stream culture has taught us when we are sick or ill, to go to the doctor and He/She will find the problem, give us a drug, or tell us what to do to get better. The Doctor has the authority and has spent years are University learning medicine, so he knows far more about my body than me. So we just go along with what we are told, and don't really spend a lot of time researching for ourselves of seeking advice from other health care professionals, like the chemist, the Chiropractor, the Nutritional Therapist.

So for me the journey of discovering some of the truths about health, started 6 years ago, when I was pregnant with my first Child. During that pregnancy I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. At the time as well the Doctor that I had told me that I would probably need to inject myself daily with Insulin, if my blood sugar levels where not controlled. For me this was devastating news at the time. I was extremely ill with Morning sickness, that didn't last for the morning but for the whole day and the whole pregnancy. So was depressed to start with, then to get this news, it was like my body was failing me, and my unborn child.

After attending the Diabetes education class and seeing the Dietician, I had to being testing my blood 4 times a day. so after two weeks of doing everything that the medical professionals told me, my sugars didn't stay under the magic number 7.0 and was dreading the day that I would have to go back to the doctor and report that I had failed to control my blood sugar with diet and exercise. Both of which were not easy when vomiting a lot! (hadn't yet learnt to line my hand bag with a plastic shopping bag).

Now having the personally that I do, I was first defeated, but then went into battle mode. Right this is a war and diabetes your not winning! I thought the best battle plan would then be to start researching,get to know the enemy, really looking into the disease, what causes it, how does the body produce insulin and so on, so began the journey of understand how my body works. The more I learnt about how the body works, or doesn't work in regards to diabetes, the more I learnt that there are some natural ways to help support your body deal with the problem, and start to heal itself. None of which was taught to me at the Diabetes class that I HAD to attend. In class I learnt that food was the enemy, if it tasted good it was a bigger enemy. Where what I was learning (on my own) was that food is your friend (if used right) and it taste good too.

Thus began my journey of not trusting what the medical profession was telling me, I'm not saying I am against Doctors, If we had a broken bone or where in an emergency situation we would go to the doctor. However we are ultimately responsible for our own health, not the doctor, and they are called medical Practises for a reason, they are practising on us, Yes they do know a lot, but no they don't know everything. And we should not be afraid to get a second opinion, as well as look at different ways of treating the same problem, and make sure it is the problem that is being treated not just the symptom.

I also want to say that I don't believe that Doctors intend to get the wrong information, or only prescribe drugs,(however some do only prescribe drugs) no I think that most people who go into these professions do so wanting to help people, and that's what they believe they are doing. And Yes they are helping some people. But they are not the be all in health care. Even doctors will say that prevention is better than cure.