Mamavation Monday: Counting Calories #mamavation

I admit it with no hesitation.  I have NEVER in my entire life been a calorie counter.  Not even for a day.  Last week I read several Mamavation posts that talked about calorie counting and took some time to confront myself about why I have never counted calories as part of a diet effort.

After much reflection here is what I came to:  I don't know.  Maybe I never really thought it was a relevant idea.  Perhaps I've been too lazy with my eating.  Maybe I just don't care.  I cannot come up with a good reason that I have never paid any attention to calories.

I started this thinking last Monday.  As I made lunch (a simple salad) on Monday, I looked at the calorie counts on my favorite toppings (Bac-o's, French Fried Onions, Cheddar Cheese, Blue Cheese Dressing).  What an amazing salad with a frightening calorie count! 

Also on Monday, my sister "invited" me to try out MyFitnessPal.  I am still looking over the app, and working on forming my thoughts about calorie counting.  I do think that it would be beneficial to at least try counting for a few weeks.  Over the past week I have not been counting - but I have been noticing.  I am starting to pay attention to what I am feeding myself so I can make better choices on my intake.

This week I will begin tracking what I eat on a "normal" day.  Now, I am aware that any time you start to pay attention, you are likely to do a better job of control.  I want to get an idea of what I am eating normally and begin a plan to reduce my calories and increase my activity.

Are you a calorie counter?  How did you begin counting?  Has it helped you in any way? What advice do you have for me as a beginner?

Up & At'em: No Cereal Breakfast

Baked Oatmeal Muffins

We are getting creative as a family as we look for solutions to meals on the go and no-cereal breakfasts!  Last weekend we experimented with baked oatmeal together.  As a family we worked together to create 4 varieties of baked oatmeal muffins.  Below are recipes for our baked oatmeal.  Please understand that if you are the type of person that needs specific measurements for cooking, this recipe will not appeal to you.  I do not bake with measuring cups, rather with what looks and tastes just right.

The boys loved helping to pour, mix, smell, taste, and sample our baked oatmeal muffins as we tested out a variety.  We made approximately 2.5 dozen muffins in a very short amount of time and with very little material.  Just start thinking about what you like in your oatmeal - mix and bake.  We baked at 380 for about 20 minutes - or until the muffins were dry and stuck together.  Recipes for our muffins are below Azariah.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pie

Oatmeal

Applesauce

Chocolate Chips

Canned Pumpkin

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Apple Pie

Oatmeal

Finely diced Apple

Applesauce

Cinnamon

Brown Sugar

Clove

Ground Flax Seed

Banana Dream

Oatmeal

Pureed Banana

Unsweetened Dried Coconut

Chocolate Chips

Walnut Chunks

Pumpkin Pie

Oatmeal

Pumpkin

Pureed Banana

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Muffin Cup Lunch!

Do you have a favorite simple pre-school friendly lunch?  Our "big" boys are 4 and almost 3.  They love fruits and veggies - and Asian Toasted Sesame dressing.  This lunch was a hit - especially when they got to use cheese spreaders to put peanut butter (and soynut butter) on their celery!

Get'em Moving: No Cereal Breakfast

By now you know I'm weird.  There's no doubt about that.  Among my weirdness is a desire to teach my children not rely on cereal for breakfast.  Quite honestly it has taken more training for me than for them.  Cereal is easy, and we received WIC for quite a while, which provided WAY too much cereal and made it very easy to slip into the unhealthy trap of serving it every morning.

We have been working on modifying diet at our house, and breakfast has been a big part of that.  In fact, I would say that breakfast tends to be the most tricky part for me.  Why?  I'm diabetic, so I prefer low-carb meals.  Cassius is allergic to eggs and peanut - that knocks out most granola bars, waffles, and pancakes.  So we look for other options.  I've decided to spend a few posts sharing some of our favorite non-cereal breakfasts with you.

Graham Cracker Sandwiches got my boys moving this morning.  Literally.  Manasseh was snuggled up in my lap, he did NOT want anything to do with waking up.  I told him what his brother had gotten for breakfast and he jumped up and began to follow instructions immediately.  So here they are:

Graham Cracker Sandwiches

1 Graham Cracker

Peanut Butter (or other nut butter)

Craisins (or raisins)

Banana slices

Seriously - it's that simple.  The boys at them quickly and felt satisfied when they were done.  They had fruit, protein, and a bread.  They ate them with a side of almond milk.  A complete breakfast!

It starts today

A lot of reading, video viewing, lifestyle evaluation, and planning have gone into our decision to go a bit further with our (at home) vegetarian lifestyle.  Today we start a whole-food, plant-based diet.

What is that?

Whole foods are  unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed.  Plant-based means well, they come from plants (fruits, vegetables, nuts...)

It's that simple.  The big change for us is a reduction of milk products - we eat a lot of cheese and some yogurt, the boys like milk also.  We also will be giving up most breads and pastas.

Why would you do a crazy thing like that?

Here's the thing; I am diabetic, overweight, tired, anemic, cluttered, and I have digestive difficulties.  Mr. Crum, well, he's got a little bit of a belly again - but we can all stand to live healthier lives, right?  Crackers is a bit pudgy - I know, he's a toddler, they're made that way - but one of the offices we visit was concerned about his height/weight ratio.  He doesn't eat a lot of fatty foods, and we don't want him to face some of the same problems his mama has.  Monkey seems to have a bit of a gluten intolerance.  

We have been working on living a greener lifestyle and even do what we can to grow our own foods - we are not very good at that yet.     Learning to eat what we can grow, in season, and what we can get locally will help us lower our footprint.

We want our boys to grow up strong and healthy.  I recognize that the government has a suggested food pyramid that is supposed to help people do just that.  I also recognize that most Americans are sick - we do not eat foods that keep us healthy.  I want my boys to live a lifestyle that does not just help them heal more quickly when they are ill, but helps them avoid getting ill in the first place.  After a lot of reading and research, we have decided that we will give this diet a try for a month.  After a month, we will re-evaluate.  

Why in the world are you starting this during the holiday season?

That's the part where I think we're a little bit crazy.  It is so hard to make big food changes at this time of year!  But - I am sick now - riddled with blood sugar issues and other complications that come with it.  Every day that I hesitate is inviting more problems and more lasting effects.  I need to start this now for myself.  I need to be healthy for my family so that I can be fully available to them as they grow into men.

What are your thoughts on this type of lifestyle? 

What would you miss the most?

Do you have a great website for recipes?

Do you want some inspiration to change?  Here are a few websites we have found helpful.

UK Cancer research info

Forks Over Knives - this documentary is available on Netflix

Healthy. Happy. Life. - this blog has a lot of great looking recipes.

What's in your noodles?

The truth?  I very rarely serve noodles to my family and boxed foods, like Mac&Cheese are extremely rare.

But - I LOVE noodles.  I can't think of very many ways to eat noodles that I don't like.  The problem is that I am a type 2 diabetic.  For the most part, noodles are just plain out of the question.

Today was one of those extremely rare days.  I pulled out a box of "noodles and cheese" for my boys.  Monkey usually will not eat them, he's not a pasta guy.  I can't just serve them plain noodles and cheese either - I'm one of THOSE moms that can't leave a "good" food alone.  I searched the cupboard, looking for something to make it slightly healthier for my family, I checked the fridge...

Here's the end result:
Noodles & Cheese with hidden curried cauliflower
and some hummus
and some cheddar
and some parmesean

Sound gross?  I only gave Monkey about a spoon full, he gobbled it down and wanted more.  My noodles experiment was a success!

Do you hide things in your noodles?  What do you do to make this traditional lunch healthier for your family?

(By the way, tonight is lasagna night - my "noodles" will be thinly sliced yellow squash

Onion Pie

*This is not an egg-free recipe.

3 onions, thinly sliced.  The original recipe recommended vidalia onions.
1/4 c butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
1, 9 inch pie shell, baked
1/4 c parmesan cheese
1 pinch paprika
2 tbsp hot sauce
1/4 c parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 375.  Cook onions in butter until soft, reserve juices.  Mix onions with eggs and sour cream.  Add in juice from onions, butter and cheese until well blended.  Pour all ingredients into pie shell.  Top with cheese and paprika.  Bake 20 minutes.  Turn heat down to 350, bake an additional 30-40 minutes, until lightly browned on top.  Allow to cool before serving.


*** I am NOT a direction follower when it comes to my food.  This is not exactly how I made mine, I forgot things like "put cheese on top..." and "allow to cool".  I thought it was good warm, I enjoyed the onion pie.  Others were not quite as sold on it.  I think we would have preferred a little more egg, and we might have liked a crust - ours had no crust, as crusts have carbs!

My Egg-free, Peanut-free, Gluten-free, Low Carb Life: Menu 5

Truth be known, I did NOT follow my diet this weekend.  Am I proud? No, but I'm also not frustrated with myself.  I took a 3 day break and am starting fresh.. right now.  My no carb (or ultra low carb) diet is working for me right now in the way I want it to work, so it's back on for another week.  Randy is done with it, but he'll still be eating low carb (because his wife packs his lunch).

Without further adieu, here is the menu for this week:

Sunday - Onion Pie - I'll be posting the recipe and pictures for this one soon, hopefully tomorrow
Monday - Broccoli Casserole - this keeps showing up and getting pushed off for other things
Tuesday - Veggie Soup with tomato base
Wednesday - Curried Chicken, broccoli (rice and oranges for the carb eaters)
Thursday - Sausages, Peppers, and Onions
Friday - Stuffed Peppers (filled with ground turkey and veggies)
Saturday - Cheese Quesedillas, guacamole, salsa, (pears for my carb eaters) - I'm giving myself a scheduled break for dinner on Saturday (=

Diet evaluation

Okay, so it's kind of early to evaluate my diet.  I officially started the no carbs thing on Monday.  Let me tell you though, I can feel a difference.  I have more energy and have been more productive.  Overall, that makes me happy.  I did not weigh myself at the beginning, so I don't know for sure if I've lost anything.  I have been keeping track of my blood glucose and it is starting to drop.  Yesterday I had a MONSTER headache, I think it might be due to choosing to go coffee and soda free starting on Thursday.

I'm working on the menu for next week, and I think that, at least for me, it will continue to be carb free.  Randy says he hasn't decided yet, but he has lost 3 pounds this week, according to the scale at work!

I have gotten some great tips from friends and family members.  Please leave comments with any tips that you have.. or recipes.

My Egg-free, Peanut-free, Gluten-free, Low-carb life: Menu 3

Here is this week's menu for our house - some day I'll get it figured out BEFORE the middle of the week.  This week Randy and I are going carb free (or at least as much as we are able) - no fruits or breads at all.  Oh my do I want some chocolate! I did not include breakfasts and lunches, as lunch is always leftovers.

Monday - Zucchini Lasagna in the crock pot (sounds gross but my is it great)
Tuesday - Green Peppers stuffed with ground turkey and veggies, topped with cheese
Wednesday - Boca Burgers and Brussel Sprouts
Thursday - Chicken and Green Beans
Friday - Broccoli Casserole
Saturday - Soup
Sunday - Taco Salad (minus chips or tortillas)

minus carbs

You may not know this about me, I am diabetic.  (for information about about diabetes, click here).  I have not been on medication for this medicine for several months because of a gap in insurance.  We've worked (some) on keeping our sugar intakes low,  but that only helps so much. 

I see only a few effects of the disease right now, but I am fully aware that the longer it is uncared for, the sooner I will start to see some major difficulties.  One problem that I do have is a recurring yeast infection -- I'm sure you did not want to know that, but it's true and that's the background for the rest of this story.

I've been doing some reading over the last several months about the problem of recurring yeast infections.  It seems that many people have what is called Candida.  It's a yeast infection that never really goes away.  Yeast grows and grows in our systems.  Most people do not notice the effects of yeast in their lives.  I notice it regularly.  Yeast feeds on sugar.  If you've ever made bread or other baked goods with yeast, you know that you put sugar in it to help your batter grow.

So, I'm diabetic, which means my body does not process sugar like it should, AND I have some form of recurring yeast infection - which grows on the sugars that I'm not processing well.  Yuck.  Most of the regimens that I have seen for dealing with Candida involve dieting -- taking out ALL forms of sugars (even fruit) for 6-12 weeks, even more.  Maybe it's bad, but I just cannot seem to do this.  That is SUCH a long time.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been reading Alpine Weight Loss Secrets, a book that I will do a review and giveaway for in a couple of days.  Stefan Aschan has inspired me to get back on track with this whole, lose weight to help with the glucose levels thing.  One thing that he recommends is making a commitment for a week.  I can totally do that.  Maybe.

This week, starting tomorrow, Monday January 10, I am making a commitment to myself to have a no carbohydrates week.  No sugar, no bread, no fruit, etc.  I will keep my glucometer handy because I know that my body will think it is starving of sugars.  It may even send me signals that it is in need of sugars.  I hope that at the end of this week I will be able to look back and say, "I can do this for another week"... and maybe in 2 weeks or a month or 2, I will be able to restart on foods with sugars and not have the effects that I have seen from yeast foods!

And back to Gluten Free

I did a good job at keeping Manasseh on a gluten free diet for about a week.  He had no trouble with his belly that week.  Then I got lax and after a few days of mama being lax about gluten, he started in with belly troubles.  He just cries and cries when I have to change his diaper, and he doesn't want to wear underwear because he can't control his body right now.  Ugh!  So here it is, 2 days before Christmas, and I'm putting my 2 year old back on a diet.  This is NOT going to be fun to deal with over the next 2 weeks as we're traveling and in and out of family activities.  Have I mentioned that my dad's family is Ukrainian and we love gluten?  Breads, cookies, pastries of all sorts... Not sure how I'll deal with that yet on New Year's Day!  Does anyone have suggestions about how to help him through the holidays?

My Egg-free, Peanut-free, Gluten-free, Low-carb life (did I mention we don't eat much meat)

Okay, so a couple of months ago we found out that Cassius is allergic to egg whites and peanuts, since I breastfeed, I had to avoid those foods for a period of one month, then try eating them again to see how he reacted.  He reacted with some pretty good congestion.. no more eggs and peanuts for me until he is done nursing!

Several years ago I was confirmed to be diabetic... that means, low carb goodness for me.  Not an easy task, especially for a bread lover in a family of bread lovers!

A couple of weeks ago Cash's therapist recommended that we try a gluten-free diet with Manasseh to help with "hyperactivity" (for the record, I don't think he's hyperactive.. I think he's 2 1/2).  I did a little bit of reading about gluten free diets and symptoms of gluten intolerance and I wonder if he might have some difficulty with gluten.

SO... officially today, we start our new diet.  It's not as bad as it sounds, it just takes some creativity!

Tuesday night - Chili and broccoli (the chili had soyrizzo in it instead of meat)
Wednesday - Breakfast: Yogurt, Lunch: Cocktail wieners, carrots with taziki sauce, tomatoes, and bananas, Dinner: Hot Italian sausages with sauted onions and peppers.
Thursday - Breakfast: Bananas and Blueberries (yogurt for mama, no fruit), Lunch: Cheese Quesedillas on corn tortillas, tomatoes, frozen veggies, Dinner: Veggie Stir Fry with Brown rice and oranges
Friday - Breakfast: Egg (for Manasseh), Oatmeal for mama and Cash, Lunch:  Cheese soup, salad, yogurt Dinner: Meatloaf with applesauce and cornbread instead of eggs and crackers, Mashed Garlic Cauliflower,  Chinese green beans
Saturday- Daddy date with Manasseh for breakfast and Lowes, Mama and Cash will eat cereal while Nasa's away, Lunch: Parmesan breaded chicken, salad, oranges, Dinner: Tacos with beans (not meat) and corn tortillas, applesauce.

Not so bad, huh?