My New Toy!

I got a new toy earlier this week.  On Tuesday, my birthday actually.  But it wasn't really a birthday present.  Just happened to show up on that day.   Here's a picture of it:

In case you don't know what that is. It's a dehydrator.  The Nesco FD-75PR 700 Watt Food Dehydrator, to be exact.  It rocks.  I've been wanting one of these for a while.  I'm so glad I finally broke down and bought one.  This one has the top heater/fan, which helps dry it evenly.  It comes with 5 trays, 2 fine screens, and 2 fruit leather screens.

I broke down and bought it because I found bags of slightly brown bananas for $1 a bag.  Ended up being less than 30 cents a pound, which is pretty good.  I bought two bags. So I had to get a dehydrator to handle them all. :)

Bug helped me cut the bananas.  It was tedious. Especially since some of the bananas were definitely getting ripe. But he did good.



We ended up with 3 trays of bananas.  I, being of slow mind, forgot to oil the trays.  They were a pain to get off.  But we ended up with a 16 oz plastic container of banana chips.




We also did a tray of strawberry/banana fruit leather.  This was with the extra mushy bananas and some strawberry puree I had in the freezer from last summer.  We put the bananas and strawberries into our Magic Bullet to puree, Bug was very excited.

Since I had the dehydrator, I was able to hit up a sale on pineapples (clean 15).  I picked up four pineapples for 99 cents each!  We cut up 3 of them and dried them.  The other one we'll eat fresh (we love pineapple in this house!).  

I'm also exploring what else I'll be able to make.  I'm thinking sweet potato chips, dried herbs, and lots more fruit leather! 

What do you like to make in your dehydrator? 

This post is linked on Simple Lives Thursday.

The Diet - Part 2

The time got away from me.  I didn't mean to go a week between these posts.  But it happened.

So I left off talking about Eat Fat, Lose Fat and Nourishing Traditions.  There is a lot of info in them and I'm not going to explain it all here and now.  But I do want to tell you what I'm trying to eat.

So here's the run down.   First off, no high-fructose-corn-syrup (HFCS), MSG, or partially hydrogenated oils.  This is pretty typical for people eating REAL food, since none of that is real food.

The other thing I've cut out of my diet is SOY.  Soy everything.  I'm even trying to cut out soy lecithin, even though most sources say it doesn't cause any health problems.  The reason I've cut out the soy is two-fold.  One, most sources of soy are GMO and not organic.  The other, bigger reason, is because of the horrible health problems it can cause.  Soy can cause hormone issues and is also a goitrogen and can cause thyroid problems.  Both of these things I suffer from.

So, if I'm not eating that - what AM I eating?  The main thing I have added in, is coconut oil.  I am trying to have a couple tablespoons of coconut oil before or with every meal.  This is doing a few things.  It helps level the thyroid levels.  It also helps fill me up and keep me satisfied.  Really, if you want to know all the health benefits of coconut oil, read Eat Fat, Lose Fat.

Other than that, I'm trying to eat as many proteins, good fats, fruits and veggies as I can.  I am eating grains and starches, but I'm trying to keep them to a minimum.   And when I can, I'm soaking them or buying sprouted flour bread.

I'm not being really strict with myself.  Really the biggest change is just making as much stuff from scratch as I can.  I can eliminate so much of the unhealthy stuff from my diet if I eliminate the processed foods.  Even the 'organic' and 'natural' processed stuff isn't healthy in large quantities. 

In the last few weeks doing this, I've dropped about 6 lbs.  And I haven't even been doing it faithfully every day!  I feel a LOT better.  My energy levels are up.  My hormones seem to be leveling out.  I really am sold on this!  I can feel my system reacting when I eat too much grains or processed foods.

I'm going to try to use this blog to share what I'm cooking and what I'm eating.  I'd also like to share how I'm feeling and the progress I'm making on gaining back, for the first time, my health.

The Diet - Part 1

When I first started this blog, I didn't really have a vision.  I knew that I wanted to focus on real food, but I hadn't completely researched what real food was to me.  One of the biggest things I've found the past couple months, is that those who are trying to eat healthier don't necessarily agree on what that real food is.

There are as many real food diets as there are nasty fake food diets.  You can eat primal, raw, vegetarian, vegan.   I knew I had to get off the HFCS, MSG, hydrogenated oils, but what I was supposed to eat I wasn't so sure. 

I innocently put out a question on Facebook asking for my friends' resources for information on food.  I was pointed to Weston A. Price and Nourishing Traditions.  I just so happen to be able to start reading Nourishing Traditions (NT).   So much of the research and information made sense.  What I was reading was supported by many of my friends as well.  Apparently, I got on the healthy eating train late.

From NT, I found Eat Fat, Lose Fat (EFLF). As soon as I started reading it, I knew it was what I needed.  Between NT & EFLF,  all my health problems were described and it told me exactly how I had been eating.  It also offered the solutions that made the most sense.

Tomorrow, I will tell you what those solutions are and what 'diet' I have been using to regain my health and lose weight.

Friday Finds - July 16

I'm getting closer to really starting to blog.  I think.  :)

But until then, here are a few more items to ponder over. :)

Food Renegade ~ Candy From Strangers
Dr. Ayala ~ Marketing to Kids: Candy ads decline as fast-food ads gain

(Do you see a theme going on??)


And a recipe that looks wonderful ~ I'm going to try and make it with better ingredients (whole wheat bread, yogurt cheese, etc).  I'm hoping to do some blueberry picking this next week so maybe this will be breakfast next weekend!

Frugal Living NW ~ Blueberry French Toast Bake

I think that's it for now!  Enjoy! 

Friday Finds - June 25

I finally got the book "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" by Mary Enig & Sally Fallon.  I just checked it out of the library, but after 3 chapters, I know I want to own it!  I will probably start in with some real posts soon, based on what I'm eating and learning from this book.  It's as good a place as any to start. 

Here's what I found interesting this week:

Man-Made Flavors Are Bad For Your Health - Kelly the Kitchen Kop (Guest Post by Dr. Michael Teplitsky)

USDA Dietary Guidelines 2010 - Baloney! - GNOWFGLINS -- There were a few posts this week on the USDA Dietary Guidelines.  I enjoyed Wardeh's take on it and her call to action. 

Cold Culture Eating - Sacred Appetite 

 

I read a lot more than that... but I can't think of anything specific at the moment.  I guess it just was one of those weeks. :) 

 

My Friday Finds

I come across so many interesting blog posts across the 'net, I thought I'd share some interesting ones.  Since I'm not adding new content here yet, I might as well share other people's thoughts and information!

Your Thyroid: Understanding The Keys To Health from Food Renegade really hit home for me.  I was diagnosed last fall with hypothyroidism and have been exploring ways to manage it without synthetic hormones.

Real Gardening vs. American Lawncare from Kitchen Stewardship, along with her related post Michael Pollan on “Can Grassfed Feed the World?” were wonderfully well written and brought up a good point on whether the whole world can be supported by eating real, whole foods (my thought: of course, that's the way God created the world to be!)

That's a good start. :)  I think I might start doing this on a regular basis as I need a way to share all the good stuff I read.

Thursday Cooking Club ~ Tomato, Avocado and Chevre Toast

My friend Lisa has started a Thursday Cooking Club on her Facebook page.  It's an ingenious idea.  Post one recipe a week for everyone to try and then discuss what we changed it and what we thought.

The first week's recipe was Heirloom Tomato Sandwich with Herbs and Creamy Tofu Spread from Whole Living. The original recipe sounded pretty good, but I never rarely stick with a recipe as its written.  When Lisa posted the recipe, she commented that she was going to use goat cheese in place of the tofu.  That immediately clicked with me as I love chevre. The soft, tangyness sounded perfect with tomatoes and herbs.

I didn't plan well this week, so I didn't have the fresh basil on hand.  What I did have, was Fine Herb Chevre from Trader Joe's.  This chevre has enough flavor that I didn't need to add any additional herbs.  I also wasn't satisfied with just tomato.  I had an avocado in my fridge that needed to be used, so I figured, "Why Not?".  I just used boring old toast, because someone ate the last slice of the yummy seed bread I was going to use.

But with all the throw-together-ness of this, it turned out really yummy.

My Recipe (not that you need one for this):

1 Slice of Toast (I just used TJ's Organic Oats & Honey ~ would have tasted much better with an artisan bread.)
Herbed Chevre (You can easily add your own herbs into a plain chevre) 
Tomato (fresh from the garden, if you have it, mine wasn't!)
Avocado

Spread desired amount of chevre onto the warm toast (get a tad bit of melting going on), layer on thinly sliced tomato and avocado.  Top with a basil leaf, if you have it. *I did not add any additional oils to the chevre, as I felt it was unnecessary.  I think the reason it was added to the tofu (in the original recipe) was to give it the right consistency.  Chevre is already spreadable.

Estimated WW Points: 4 Pts
Toast - 1 pt (It's easy to find 1 pt bread that is organic/all natural.)
Chevre - 1 pt (Chevre is 2 pts per oz, I used about 1/2 oz for one slice of toast.)
Tomato - 0 pts
Avocado - 2 pts (I used 1/4 of an avocado.)

Verdict:  This was very yummy.  Although simple, it is not something I would have thought to do.  I will be trying this again, for sure!  And for only 4 points, you can add a side of fruit and have a satisfying lunch.