Food for thought...and our bellies

Check out this amazing Bible passage I read from Psalm 56: 8-13

"Thou has taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Thy bottle; Are they not in Thy book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord whose word I praise. In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Thy vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to Thee. For Thou has delivered my souls from death, indeed my feet from stumbling, so that I may walk before God in the light of the living". 

What I love about this passage is that God has taken note of the times that I have wandered from what I wanted to do, saved the tears of frustration that I cried when I asked myself "WHY oh WHY did I do that AGAIN??!!", and through it all is FOR ME!!! The God of the universe is FOR ME!! He's cheering me on and has promised that when I call out that He is for me that in that day my enemies will turn back! I'm so grateful for that. I WILL give thank offerings to God! He has delivered my soul from death (and will continue to do that!) and I WILL walk before God in trust and in the light of the living. 

For the next 97 days, I'm completely convinced that the Lord has put on my heart for "the light of the living" to be this path of Trim Healthy Mama with 80-90% plant foods. I trust He is guiding my path and giving me ideas of what to eat. Giving Michael grace to deal with my struggles of "I just want to eat chips! I'm gonna do it. I'm mixing carbs and fats cause I can't take it any more!" Yes, this conversation happened...last night. A whopping 3 days into this! Keeping it real....Hello, my name is Jennie. I'm addicted to carbs... But seriously, I'm so grateful for a son and hubby that smile and say, "Tomorrow will you be glad you had that?" "Is there something I can fix for you?" Even when I do sound like Eyore. (And I've realized, as totally sorry as it is...caffeine makes me cranky. Even just a little. As I sat down "in my right mind" last night-after NOT eating chips, btw!- I realized I had a regular cup of coffee in the morning and then a glass of tea at lunch. Yep, that's all it took. By 5 in the afternoon, I was coming "off" the caffeine, which means either crying or screaming. Thankfully, since it was just two servings, it was the Eyore prevailed. If it had been 3 or 4, it tends to be more, shall we say...aggressive. I've learned that the hard way (just ask my boys!). So I don't do that much caffeine any more. But come on...1 cup of coffee and 1 glass of tea. Gotta respect those limits, and keep it to less than one. And I'm sure Michael is happy to go and buy me some more decaf coffee. 😉)

So, here's what my menus look like for the next couple of days (and photos from the last two).

Breakfasts: The Beauty

Lunch: I'm aiming for higher (healthy!) carbs, lower (healthy) fat meals for lunch. 

(This would be an E on Trim Healthy Mama)

Here's what Josiah and I had for the last three days. Yep, leftovers make for easy lunches. 

 This was sweet potatoes (left over from Christmas, which cost me $.50/package of six small ones for organic sweet potatoes!), organic black and kidney beans on salad with some guacamole salsa (which was free from HEB). All together, this meal probably cost me about $2. And it was delightfully delicious. Even Josiah thought so.

Yesterday, we made the quinoa salad from the THM cookbook. When I went to my pantry, this was the only quinoa I had.

 This was not my first choice because of the bulgar, which is wheat, which is gluten, which is NOT my friend. However, in the spirit of "use what you have", I used it thinking that the small amount of wheat probably would not be too bad. I think I was right. And the salad was beautiful...

and delicious...and enough for Josiah and I have to for lunch today. I used the last of the black/kidney beans, added an organic cucumber, tomato (which we got for 50% off) added some organic garlic, lemon juice and olive oil and cilantro...because EVERYTHING is better with cilantro!! All in all, (because the quinoa was free from Michael's work) this entire bowl  of salad (which is four meals) probably cost $4. And is packed with protein, healthy carbs, healthy fats, fiber and veggies. 

Back to the menu plan...

Lunches after today: taco salad (because tacos is what we "do" for new year's eve...so it won't fit the higher carb, low fat "E", but will be a higher fat, low carb "S"-because I'm eating guacamole and a lot of it!! 😁, Saturday will be turkey chili (E),Sunday is black eyed peas (It's new year's day, right?!) with sauerkraut and apple crisp.  and Monday will be chicken with wild rice soup (E) and a salad.

Dinners: I've made Thai on the Fly soup from the THM cookbook and had that for three dinners in a row. Yep, it's that good. and that easy. Tonight for dinner we are having turkey pot pie (but I'm not eating crust) and a salad, tomorrow night will be left overs and then fondue (it's also what we do for New Year's eve!), Saturday evening is cheeseburger pie from THM and a salad. Sunday will probably be some taco reruns. Monday is spaghetti and meatballs (I use konjac noodles instead of pasta) with brocooli or a salad. 

One of the MANY things I LOVE LOVE LOVE about Trim Healthy Mama is the ability to eat foods that taste good, and many that are similar to what I would have enjoyed full of bad fats and sugar. Case in point, I'll be joining my family for fondue! I'm just making the chocolate with Lily's chocolate (sweetened with stevia not sugar) and having strawberries and blueberries with an angel food cake that Josiah and I are making that is on the plan. It'll be delightful! And I just might enjoy it all with a creamy cup of (DECAF!) coffee.

My friends along my 100 day journey

I'm going to take the next couple of posts to introduce you to some of my "friends" that I'm partnering with on my journey over the next 100 days. 

This is my new favorite saying! In fact, I'm seriously thinking of printing a copy of it and taping it to my pantry door! Know who said it? Hippocrates...and if it was true in his day, it's certainly true in mine! I really believe that God made our bodies to respond to nutrition in our foods, the problem is not that foods can't help heal our bodies, it's that the choice of foods I'm making are the kinds of foods that do heal. That's why I'm on this journey. To put the good stuff in my body so that it can get down to the business of getting well.

In that spirit, here's a friend that I'm bringing along for probably almost all of the 100 days of my journey. My pal: green smoothie. You know those friends who are helpful, encouraging, make you want to be your best self...that's my smoothie! Is she the best tasting breakfast I've ever had? Nope, but clearly "best tasting" doesn't equate to "best friend", right?! But she tastes good.  Here's her photo (or a photo of what's in her)

See all that medicine! :-) This actually is a spin off of a recipe from Trim Healthy Mama called the "thin thick".  This beauty has okra (weird? but so helpful for healing my gut, regulating blood sugar, burning off fat and boosting metabolism-and you can't taste it at all!), collagen, gelatin (both great for healing my gut and making strong hair, nails and skin) , MCT oil (great for my thyroid and metabolism), fermented mushroom powder (another weird one, right? but it actually tastes great! super for healing my gut, helping battle stress and boosting immunity), supergreen food powder (loaded with green superfoods, plus probiotics and other great immune boosting, gut healing herbs and whole foods), matcha green tea powder (great for immunity, energy and metabolism), sunflower lecithin (great for brain health, nerve healing and gut healing), flax and chia seeds (great sources of healthy fats and fiber) and whey protein powder (my absolute favorite is Trim Healthy Mama Pristine protein. However, in the spirit of "use what I have", I know that there will be days coming when I'm out of the good stuff and have to use other things I have on had. Just as good nutritionally, just not as smooth and tasty.) . In just a couple short minutes, I've made (and cleaned up) a breakfast that is a nutritional powerhouse. In fact, I calculated it this morning and it has 39g of protein, 20g of fiber and 9g of super healthy fats. What a beauty! I think I'll start calling my smoothie "Beauty". Every bestie needs a nickname, right. And wouldn't YOU rather be called "Beauty" than "modified thin thick"??!!

So, while I'm hoping to often post what I'm eating for lunch or snack or dinner, just know, Beauty is joining me for breakfast for the next 99 days.

Coming tomorrow...my movement friends.

Of Plants and Provisions- The whole inflammatory story

Well, after almost 6 years, I'm blogging. I can't believe it's been six years. Like my sis said when I told her, "Well that just goes to show you how five years can pass in the blink of an eye!". So true! In the past six years, our family has joyfully walked through graduations, football championships, track meets, Redbird Community Church, hunting (well, they boys have, not me! 😄), Classical Conversations, so very many great memories. I wish I would have been blogging all these years, because even going back through these old blogs has been so enjoyable. But hey, can't go back. Just forward. It's been more joy than pain, and for that I'm so very grateful.

So what, you may ask, brings me back to blogging. Isn't it so 2009? Probably, but you are reading it, so maybe not as passe' as it may seem. The answer lies in a couple of things. First, half of my boys now no longer live at home. I want them to at least have a clue as to what is going on at home. Second, I really enjoy writing the blog (and reading it months and years later), which is kinda funny because I'm generally NOT a "journaling" kind of gal. I like having a creative outlet and a place to put thoughts and a way to stay in touch with family that's not here (that's kind of like #1). Thirdly, I'm needing some accountability on a new journey. I figure if I put it out there that I'm on this journey, at least the couple of people that read this blog will be holding me somewhat accountable.

And right now I'm hurting...physically. I was in an accident in September (being hit by a truck when I was walking along the road near my house) that left me with a severe concussion (all those symptoms are gone, praise GOD!), three herniated thoracic discs (in my middle back), constant lower back pain and on and off issues in my shoulder and ankles. As I'm journeying toward healing, I've tried SO.MANY.THINGS to help the pain and really there hasn't been any one thing that seems to help significantly (or any things put together). So in addition to the things I'm trying, I'm adding a pretty radical change in my diet. There is a lot of evidence around talking about how you can tamp the inflammation in your body by consuming anti-inflammatory foods and avoiding inflammatory ones. I've read about these things for years and have had seasons where I've done much better than others at following those guidelines. Having had bloodwork done recently, and knowing what I know about MY body, it's clear that inflammation is a problem. And I am hopeful that reducing inflammation in my body will significantly reduce the pain. Because they are connected! Bad news...the foods that most Americans generally LOVE and CRAVE are pretty inflammatory (think sugar, wheat, dairy, corn, caffeine). Good news, inflammation can be reduced in relatively short order by eliminating those foods. (Now if only it was as easy to execute as typing this!)

So as I've prayed for wisdom, I feel the Lord has given me the idea to go for the next 100 days eating a whole food 80-90% plant based diet following the general concepts of the Trim Healthy Mama plan. (Don't know THM? It's AMAZING! Check it out at www.trimhealthymama.com. In a nutshell, it's a plan using real, whole foods that balances you blood sugar (and thus improving your health) by eating every three-four hours not mixing carbs with fats. It's that simple.)

I'm also adding in some exercise as my back allows (It SO STINKS to have to pay attention to this! UGH!), aim for 100 oz of water every day, be diligent about taking my supplements, purposefully spending time reading and memorizing Scripture and walking through Caroline Leaf''s 21 day Brain Detox (www.drleaf.com) program to retrain by brain about regarding right thinking about food. 'Cuz we all know eating isn't always about the food, right? Can I get a witness?!

Oh, and I'm going to do this all on a budget. I have a lot of things on my plan currently in my pantry that I have purchased over the past year because I think I'll eat them. Have I eaten them? Um...no comment. Well, they ARE still in my pantry! But in the next 100 days, they'll be consumed because that is part of my journey. Use what I have. Bloom where I'm planted. Don't look around for what I don't have thinking THAT is what I need to be successful. I'm starting today. I've started today.

Tomorrow I'll be more specific with the "whats" of my 100 days. Then I'll post some more of my "whys". And of course, I'll post more fun family things too, for those who are more interested in seeing details of my crazy, wonderful life than my juice and smoothies.

Thanks for coming back! Here's to the next 100 days! I'm believe that I'll thank myself in 100 days for doing the hard work today.