Food Plan Week 1- Reality

Ok, so after one day we realized the girls were just too young to do the sugar purge, so we are just doing a Paleo diet for 30 days for them, with minimal dairy.  After just 3 days Samantha was raving about the delicious banana and how gooooood it tasted.

Breakfast:

 I made some paleo chocolate zucchini muffins, blueberry muffins and strawberry muffins for the girls.  Jer and I downed eggs, zucchini and egg "pancakes" and chicken stock we'd made.

Lunch: the girls had left overs or just whatever I could scrounge up (being that our house is purged of all foods except what we bought last week).  I had salads and left-overs too.

The food we gave to friends.  This doesn't include what we had to throw away.
Why did we have four boxes of OPENED GRAHAM CRACKERS?!?  

Dinners:

Spaghetti and zoodles- HUGE hit.  Even with my picky eater Charlotte.

Pork roast (given to us by friends, so wasn't "planned) with cauli-rice and broccoli--really yummy!

Roast chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts- the chicken was a hit...the veggies, not so much...even for me and Jer.

Pork chops with sweet potato tots

Avocado cream enchiladas

Snacks:
sweet potato chips got old REAL fast.  Especially since I don't like them to begin with.

I made smoothies for the girls...only Sam will eat them, though!

Unsweetened applesauce (for the girls) with coconut oil, flax-meal and cinnamon- all warmed up.  The girls LOVE this.

Salty roasted nuts (garlic salt, ghee, ginger and coconut aminos)- yum!!!!

Almond butter on a spoon with coconut oil- whenever I didn't feel full after a meal or had a sweet craving, I just downed this and it did the trick.

diced avocado and tomato coated with the homemade paleo ranch


Results- days 1-3 were rough as I just felt achy allllllllll over.  I didn't want to move.  It hurt to just think.  I made sure to take naps when I could as I knew this was going to be the case.  BUT- and this is huge- When I was awake I was AWAKE.  No foggy brain.  Day three was rough as Sam had a major meltdown and Charlotte was doing full-on scream city--but I had patience through it all and by 8pm was still wide awake and able to do chores and plan for the next day!

Jeremy says he can't believe how much he enjoys working out.  I don't like it, but I like the feeling afterwards.

This One

Add caption

Playdates

A new friend but often requested.  Both are skinny minnies :)

I've said it once and I'll say it again- these two are practically twins in personality!

She loooooves watching them go at it!

Dinner

A few weeks ago.  Sam chose headbands for her and Charlotte

Signing for more "CREAM"

Food Plan Week Two

Breakfast:
eggs mixed with stuff and eaten with paleo bread
waffles
double chocolate banana muffins (for the girls...until Friday!!)


Snacks:
Cauli-hummus (can't believe I didn't find out about this before- I've missed hummus so much since I realized legumes wreak havoc on my intestines)- meh, was ok.
spinach chips
carrots
zucchini chips
roasted nuts
paleo cheese crackers for the girls
freeze dried fruit for the girls


lunches:
 turkey bacon club salad
left-overs
taco salad
paleo bread with lunchmeats


Meals:
chicken and zucchini poppers with asparagus and side salad
pork chops with golden coins (carrots cooked with ghee and cinnamon) and mashed cauliflower
spaghetti and zoodles (it was a big hit!)
paleo mac n cheese- NO one liked this one.  We might try another that uses nutritional yeast...and we're getting a little tired of cauliflower!
Tacos salad and mexican caulirice- Jer and the girls loved it...it was just too watery for me.
potsticker asian noodle soup- OMGOODNES this was awesome.  Definitely a keeper!!

desserts:
not finding any that are good without sugar!  I plan on eating some of the girls' coconut icecream on Friday!

Babies and Purses

The arm stays up the whooooole time the purse is on her shoulder.  

Sam decided to help and loaded her up with another baby and purse.

Food Plan Week One

Ok, so the goal is eventually a full-on paleo diet.  But to get there we are resetting our body to be able to differentiate between the different types of sugars.  In order to do that we have to detox.  Blech.  My mom and dad started 4 days ago and...well, I'm not looking forward to that.  We're starting on Tuesday.  Mainly because we have Sam's b-day party planned and dinner plans with friends, but partly because I needed time to plan AND the school year to be done.

So for 10 days we are doing NO sugars and low carb foods. This means NO FRUIT.  It took me a while to put this together, as I'm more worried about the girls.  I haven't tried eggs for Charlotte yet and I want to give them familiar foods to avoid them being hungry on top of cranky.  This is the plan thus far to make this sugar-detox bearable for us and the kids:

WEEK ONE

Breakfasts:
Carrot Pumpkin Spice Muffins- Charlotte went to town on these!
Vanilla Pancakes (to be eaten with clarified butter and almond butter)-tasted like a dry egg omelet with coconut.
Bacon and zucchini pancakes (for Jer and Sam and Me if Charlotte can handle the eggs)

Lunches:
Bacon Avocado muffins
Chipotle Chicken Salad (this one's for me!)
Left overs
Cauliflower wraps with chicken
guacamole with sweet-potato chips

Meals:
Chicken and dumplings- Sam didn't notice a difference from Jer's regular ones.  Need to make sure to use Almond flour in the future as the dumplings broke apart and each bite was slightly crunchy due to the finely chopped almonds.
Jermey's spaghetti sauce with zoodles
Fried caulirice
Pork chops and spaghetti squash (haven't decided on the flavor yet on those...maybe asian?  Savory?)
Roast Chicken with sweet potato tots and brussel sprouts
Avocado cream enchiladas with a salad and Ranch

Snacks:
sweet potato chips
raw/sauteed veggies (carrots and broccoli)
Hard boiled eggs
nuts and seeds
unsweetened coconut milk (for Charlotte)
muffins
Dessert:
Pumpkin cake with chocolate whip
Bitter Bounty Chocolates- DID NOT like. :(
chocolate icecream (if I have time this week..)

Now don't even get me started on the price tag for the first week.  I was shaking in the car and called Jeremy to calm me down.  He reminded me that most of what we bought will take a looooong time to use up.  Also, the 10 day detox is harder than the rest of the re-set, and after that things are a lot more flexible.

New Endeavors

There's been a LOT changing in our household.  SO much.  It's a LOT to process, but it's all been very good and perfectly timed...so much so that it's definitely NOT a coincidence!

Anyway, I'm going to journal about it, and it just seems logical/natural to do so here.  There are several other blogs that I came across that were helpful, so maybe I'll be able to return the favor to someone else.
The official program is called 8 weeks to wellness, so the label will be 8ww.

Symptoms:
For me, I'm constantly tired.  And when I'm not, as soon as I eat, I'm tired.  I'm tired of being tired.
Head/ear aches.  I'm constantly popping ibuprofen.  At least once a day, if not twice. And sometimes, it doesn't even help.
Backaches.  Oh, my back.  I'm only 31.  I should be able to get out of bed in the morning without pain, no?
Numb hands.  When I wake up, 90% of the time my hands are completely numb.  I've tried different mattresses, pillows and chiropractic adjustments...the adjustments help, but as soon as things slip back out, I'm numb again.
No energy.  This goes with being tired all the time.  I can count on my hand the number of times I've felt "awake."  It's glorious.  But very short-lasting.
Acne.  Ok, I'm not being vain here.  After having Charlotte I've had acne that is on par with what I had as a teen.  It is painful and EVERYwhere.  Ever had a bra strap sit on a newly red and painful zit?  Not a good way to start the day.
Digestive issues.  I won't go into details.  Just suffice to say it's painful and urgent.  Not fun when you're a teacher and kids are taking a test/quiz.

For Samantha: we're hoping to help with her hyper-ness and impulsivity.  Digestive issues are a problem here too.
For Charlotte: I'm hoping this lifestyle change will help with her skin sensitivities. Ditto on the digestive issues.
For Jeremy: well, obviously he's had (and still has) digestive issues...what with his large intestine being gone and all.  He currently has high blood-pressure and cholesterol.  And a horrific sleeper.  I can count on my hand how many times he's slept through the night.  And he's tired all the time too.

I have to say, one of the perfect timing parts is that my mom and dad and everyone under that household is doing this too.  SUCH a huge blessing.  Their symptoms are worse than all of ours combined.  But that's not my story to tell.

Next up, the meal plan...

Samantha

Child of mine.

You are crazy fun.  And crazy loud. 

Mainly due to this one's influence...

Luckily, we love her too.

Your feet are rarely both on the ground at the same time.

You love adventure.

And are always in the midst of a never-ending-story.

It's so hard to hold in all the excitement you have in such a tiny body.  It tends to leak out in loud, high pitched noises.

You've been harnessed with my need to get things right the first time...

Luckily, we are working through things a second time together.  And slowly you are learning that's ok.

And when we reach new milestones...

...You are able to soar...

...And enjoy life again.

You are mischievous...

...in the best possible way.  No one can make Charlotte laugh like you.

Whenever I'm worried about you being weighed down by all that you carry...

...and growing up WAY too fast...

You quickly remind us that you are (in fact) still a child.

And VERY care-free.

Which is why you continue to steal hearts.

And crack us up.

Happy Birthday, My Love.

Chatter Box

The videos I have of this are just precious- I tried to get snaps of her mouth in the various forms as she chats away on the phone.  

Fuzz-head.

Marker Addiction

It passed for a while, and now it's back.

The Aftermath

But I worked so HARD to color under my shirt!

Sometimes, I just let her go to town so I can get dinner going or grading done.  When she's done, she'll be enthralled "wiping it off" with a damp washcloth for another 30 minutes post self-marking session.  

One time, however, I had to explain to the pediatrician that she did not have carotenosis- she'd just gotten a hold of an orange marker.

God Daughter

Jeremy and I became Godparents for the first time together.  Samantha was particularly excited to have another "God-sister."  

Welcome to the family, Clara!