My New Adventure: Homeopathy, Butter, and Getting Healthy Again

I went to a local dairy farm today. All the dairy comes from grass(not treated with pesticides)-fed Jersey cows that are not given any extra hormones.  It isn't pasteurized or homogenized.  I bought 2 gallons of raw milk, a quart of cream, a quart of yogurt, and a pound of cheddar cheese.

Bella, Balian, and Isaiah got to see a bunch of calves, one of which was very vocal with his mooing.

Before you start getting hysterical on me about how I'm going to end up in the hospital because of diseased milk, let me 'splain.  Just FYI:

In Texas, to sell raw milk, it has to be bought on the primes is of the farm, and the farm has to have a dairy retail permit.  In order to keep their permit to sell raw milk, the milk is tested once a month for any disease that people tend to think would be in unpaseurized milk (TB, etc.).

Now, let me backtrack a bit.

My Doc put me on anti-depressants.  At the time, it was a good move, because I was a wreck. For. Real.

BUT, it wasn't something I was ok with being on long-term, or for LIFE!  I felt better for the first month or so, but then, just as I had suspected, medicating didn't get to the root of the problem, but rather masked symptoms, and my symptoms started coming back.  Not ALL of them, but most of them.

I just kept having this thought that it was a nutrition issue.  Was something I was eating, not eating, etc., causing a lot of my symptoms?

I looked into the gluten thing.  I mean I had something crazy like 14 symptoms associated with gluten intolerance, and so many people seem to be sensitive to wheat, right?  It was worth a shot.  But after trying to go gluten-free for a couple of weeks, I didn't feel any better.

I really wasn't feeling depressed.  I was anxious.  Stressed out to the point that my back was tense ALL the time.  Constant loud noise just sent me through the roof, and with 3 kids noise is inevitable.  Too much going on at once, like during school-time when I was trying to teach Bella and the boys were occupied (but still moving, wiggling, or talking), were the absolute worst times.  I just couldn't handle it.

My time with Jesus- fabulous.  I feel closer to The Lord than I ever have.  Getting into the Word.  Doing prayer-walks, journaling, writing songs, and really the most constant communication I have had with Him, ever.  Actually being able to hear those still small whispers as if they were screams, at times.

I'll admit that I haven't been running lately.  I know that's huge, but seriously.  Anyone that has 3 kids and is a night owl that doesn't like to run at night, and can't get her butt out of bed any earlier...if you are able to find a way to fit it in with little ones and homeschool...along with everything else, then by all means, PLEASE share your wealth of knowledge as to how you fit it in :)

The other thing that I have thought about is that this is the first place I have lived since I started college that I haven't been a part of a small group, or had a close-knit circle of girlfriends.  I have a few girlfriends that I know from all different places, and we also have a home church.  I usually get together (via play dates) with one of my girls every week.  But one-on-one time with these ladies has been rare, if at all.  I am so thankful for carpooling to BSF with my friend, Dani.  That 45-minute drive has been such a blessing, kids in tow and all :)

I won't always be surrounded with community.  And sometimes, even when I am, I go through times of loneliness.  But honestly, right now, I don't feel lonely.  I really think that this is one of those times that God has been teaching me that He is enough.  I can only truly be satisfied in Him anyway.  Friends, fellowship, and true community are amazing Blessings, but we won't always be in a time of plenty, and wealth has many faces.  We always tend to think about money, but sometimes it's simply having a wealth of community.  Right now, my wealth is communion with The Lord. 

Jamie is a new friend of mine.  I met her at church, when she and her family moved back to Granbury from doing missions in Germany.  She is homeschooling her daughter, Victoria, who is Bella's age, and has become Bella's BFF.  She and I seem to be very like-minded, always looking for the most natural way to do things.  Talking to Jamie about the past 3 years, she just kept saying "You need to go see Barbara."

Barbara is a classic Homeopath, meaning she practices Homeopathy, or natural healing.  It's not weird.  It's actually quite logical.  Most MDs will look at the symptoms, and when you have a lot of different types of symptoms, they tend to think they are separate things.  Homeopathy looks at the whole person- physical symptoms, emotional symptoms, life events, etc., and they try to get to the root of the problem, and find how the symptoms are somehow connected.  A Homeopath will spend hours pouring over one case, trying to fit all the pieces together.

Barbara is not only a Homeopath, but she also has a background in psychology and nutrition as well.  And she at least believes that God is the Creator, based on our conversation.

She took one look at my symptoms, and said immediately that I had a lot of vitamin deficiencies.

As we dug deeper and got into medical history, life events, diet, etc., she just kept taking notes...and kept shaking her head.  Like she was saying,"this poor girl is so messed up..."

3 years ago, my labor with Balian was pretty traumatic.  Induced with Pitocin, without pain meds. They broke my water.  Fast delivery without pushing. Cord wrapped around his neck.  Body went into shock after.  Had to give me a shot to stop me from hemmoraging.  Insane, really.  For those that don't know labors otherwise, this really isn't normal.  It isn't natural.  My body rebelled.

Because of losing a lot of blood, I became deficient in vitamins and minerals necessary to deal with stress.  Add to that, not only the stress of the labor, and adjusting to a new baby, but also getting out of the Navy, moving twice in 2 months and ending up halfway across the country, the unexpected future because of Neil not having a job lined up yet, finding a home...and you get the picture.  I just couldn't handle it all.

My deficiencies continued.

The ironic part is that Barbara said that I was showing a lot of B-vitamin deficiencies, and my blood work, via the MD, came back normal, and my B12 looked amazing on paper.  Barbara explained to me that it can take up to 30 years for b-vitamin deficiencies to show up in blood work, because the body takes from vitamin stores...meaning the skin, the gums and teeth...other places in the body that need those vitamins as well (think pregnancy gengivitis, for example).  So...when symptoms show up, it is the body's way of saying it needs more nutrients.

Then, we went on a vegan diet.  Healthiest thing you can do, right?  Apparently not.  

I not only left that appointment with 3 raw vitamin supplements (you don't want to know what's in them), and a homeopathic remedy, but I also received a very different lesson on nutrition than what I have ever been taught.

When you hear "if you don't do anything else, please eat coconut oil and REAL, full-fat butter", you kinda do a double-take.

Barbara recommended that Neil and I read this book:

Interesting, huh?

Raw milk.  Culturing your own milk. Soaking flour before using it.  Sprouting grains.  Grass-fed cows.  Organic free-range eggs.  No chocolate.  Only (true) natural sweeteners.  Nothing processed.

And I thought cooking would get easier...

Pretty much the book takes nutrition back to the way that cultures have eaten traditionally, forever.

It goes so much more in depth than I have ever read about nutrition.  And that says a lot.  I've read a lot.

We typically hear that animal fats cause blocked arteries.  But we never hear that the reason behind it is not the animal products themselves, but rather the processing of them, or the way that animals are raised.

In brief, if we just consume things the proper way, the natural way that God created them, and stop mucking everything up, we would all be much, much healthier.

Not just in the way things are processed, but even the processes we use to do our cooking.

Pretty eye-opening.

But so far, I'm feeling pretty good because of the supplements, and hopefully changing my diet will help keep me from being deficient in the vitamins I need.

When I have "accidentally" forgotten to take my Rx, I've felt better, and had much better days than when I have taken it, if that says anything.

Only time will tell.

In the meantime...I've got a quart of pure cream sitting on the counter so it will sour...so I can turn it into butter and buttermilk in the morning.  Butter to cook with, and buttermilk to soak my flour in so my body digests it more easily.

Food for thought, huh?

I'd love to see your comments on this one ;)

Yummy Vegan (and oil-free!) Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I've tried a couple of recipes from Vegan cookbooks for Chocolate Chip Cookies, and well, to be honest, they were gross.  I decided to take matters into my own hands.
I adapted the super-amazing Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe I had from my friend, Lori, to cater to our new no eggs, no oil diet.
Neil tasted these, and I was saying something about the texture being slightly different, but Neil's words were "Why are you critiquing these??  These are GOOD!"
Considering my husband's history with ingredient #1, that says a lot!
This recipe is oil, butter, and egg-free.  Even soy-free, so long as the chocolate chips don't have soy.  Cholesterol FREE.  only about 2 g. fat, 100 cal.(from sugars, flour, and beans), 2g. fiber, 2g. protein, and 8.9mg sodium per cookie.
Did I mention that they were yummy?  mmm...whole food, plant-based goodness...

makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup canned butter beans, drained, but not rinsed *
1/4 cup natural (unsweetened) applesauce
3 tsp. ener-G egg replacer**
4 Tbsp. warm water
1 cup raw Turbinado sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 tsp. vanilla
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
11/2 - 2 cups vegan chocolate chips+

In a blender, mix the beans, applesauce, egg replacer, water, sugars, and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.
Transfer to a mixing bowl.  Stir in the flour, salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips.
Drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 min.

Enjoy!!
(see notes below!)

* any white beans can be used for this recipe.  Butter, white kidney(cannellini), navy beans, great northern, etc.  I like to use the Edens Organic, because they don't have added salt, so it's only like 15mg/serving!
** ener-G is usually found in the gluten-free section of stores.  It's a powder that comes in a yellow-ish box, mostly made out of potato starch, and it really does replicate the rising action of eggs.  If you have a Whole Foods, they have it.  It may be more difficult to find in other stores, but check health food stores and there are also TONS of places that sell it online! The water listed in the ingredients is all the water you need, DON'T ADD MORE thinking you need it for the egg replacement!
+ check the ingredients!!  No dairy or animal proteins = vegan.  most semi-sweet chips have refined sugar, but I was able to find some that were sweetened with malted barley instead of refined sugar in the bulk section of our grocery store.

What I'm Reading Now: The Engine 2 Diet

I know.  It sounds like every other diet plan out there.  But it isn't.

Those of you that know me know that I am NOT a dieter.  I am all about health as a way of life.  The more natural, the better.  I've always been a fan of preventing or dealing with sickness with diet as much as possible.  I want to know how to get rid of a physical ailment without taking medicine.  The holistic approach.  

This is the ultimate in holistic medicine.

Whole foods, plant-based awesomeness is contained in these pages.  

It's written by the son of Dr. Esselstyn, the doctor who has done a TON of research on the affects of the American diet and disease - as well as the opposite - a whole-foods, plant-based diet and the affects on preventing AND (in some cases) REVERSING disease.  Heart disease.  Diabetes.  Stroke.  Alzheimers.  Cancer.  Erectile dysfunction.  High blood pressure.  High cholesterol.  Arthritis.  Osteoporosis. 

Just to name a few...

This book tackles it all in laymen's terms.

Rip Esselstyn is a tri-athlete and a Firefighter - hence the name of the book.  There's lots of firefighter and triathlon race stories.  

There is a special section on dispelling the myths associated with whole food, plant-based eating.

Protein.  Oils.  Omega 3s.  Being satisfied.  Nutrient deficiencies. 

No meat (not even fish).  No animal by-products (gasp!  no milk, cheese, eggs, yogurt, butter, etc.).  No processed foods (like "vegan" processed meat substitutes).  No oils (not even olive oil).  No refined sugar.  No simple starches (vs. complex - like Whole wheat, oat, etc.) 

We aren't there yet.  Our refrigerator is still loaded with milk and yogurt and cheese...and I just bought a huge thing of Extra Virgin Olive Oil...

but we're learning.

The more we learn, the more grossed out we get with the way we (and everyone else in America) is eating.

And it's especially making us conscious of what we're feeding our kids. 

The last part of the book has actual recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so that you can put it into practice.

It's a lot easier than it sounds, and there are more and more cookbooks coming out that are not just "Vegan" but whole food, plant-based, because really, vegan isn't good enough...Vegans typically still eat a lot of processed foods and a lot of oils...so a lot of vegans are still unhealthy.

For more on whole food, plant-based eating, watch Forks Over Knives (the research), and Forks Over Knives presents: The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue (application).  

The more we read, the more sold we are on this as a way of life for prevention, and reversal of whatever in lurking in our bodies at the moment (ahem...IBS, acne, eczema, and who knows what blockage or free radicals...).

Once we're on the other side, I'll tell you all about it. 

For now, I'll keep reading and learning, so that I'm motivated to never buy butter or yogurt again!

Or maybe even re-lactate so that Isaiah can get human milk awesomeness (vs. cow milk) for another year...

Who knows.

You already think I'm crazy.  Why not be just plain weird? :)

Things are Getting Crunchier Around Here...

Just when you thought we were a pretty stinkin' natural-liking, granola crunchy, organic-loving, weird family...


Things just got crunchier.


As of this week, we are officially trying to go vegetarian.
WHAT?
The goal is really to eventually go as vegan as possible, but for now, vegitarian is a start.
I know.  You're full of questions.  And yes, Neil is allowing this.
For those that don't understand just how incredible of a change this is... when Neil and I first got married (like, within the first few weeks), I cooked something without meat for dinner - I think it was Ravioli with zucchini and walnuts or something.  His response:  "Where's the meat?"  Apparently, if something didn't have meat, it was "just a snack."  seriously.  So, we have had meat every night for dinner for the past 6 years.  yes.  every night.  Unless it's Sunday - then we definitely have meat for lunch - and dinner is lighter - but still may have meat on a sandwich.  yeah.  lots of meat.


The truth of the matter is that this switch is for Neil's health.  Yes, he's perfectly healthy right now.
This is the deal:
Both Neil's mom and brother have been diagnosed with (taking a quote from my sis-in-law's blog, Heart Healthy Family)"Prinzmetal's Angina.  This heart condition, which is hereditary, causes the body to lack the nitric oxide needed to dilate the coronary arteries in the heart.  Instead of a plaque build up or blockage, the heart has a "spasm" and clamps shut.  The same releases found during a heart attack are found during one of these "episodes."


Neil's mom had her first episode at around age 30.  His brother Kyle was 27.


The research that is out there shows that the risk of having an episode is drastically reduced by increasing leafy greens (and veggies in general) and by eliminating animal fats as much as possible.
If you haven't seen the documentary, Forks Over Knives, it's a good eye-opening one.  It actually touched on Angina a bit, and it's good for knowledge for anyone as well.


The number one concern that people have about vegetarian, and especially vegan, diets is getting enough protein.  Neil did some research on this by asking the question "can I be a vegetarian and not eat beans?"  That's funny right there. Ha.
He found the website www.nutritiondata.com that breaks down every food that you can think of and gives loads of information on it.  One thing it does is shows the quality of protein (how many of the 9 amino acids it has) and the nutrient balance completeness score.  Search some stuff and you'd be surprised.  For example, everyone seems to be raving about Kale - how it's a super-food.  But compare it to spinach, and you'll see that Spinach is actually better.  But the cool thing is that you take something like kale, and it says it would be more complete if added with something else, then it gives suggestions on what to match it up with to give complete nutrition.  Great resource because it helps us know things like how much protein(and other nutrients) we each (based on gender, height, weight, and activity level) need each day, how much protein and other nutrients are in the foods we eat, if they are lacking in nutritional value and we need to match it up with something better, and even what the rating is as far as fullness factor (just FYI, spinach has a higher fullness rating than chicken).


Anyway, back to protein - it's entirely possible if you have a good combination of fruits, veggies, nuts, bread and pasta, etc.  (did you know that a cup of almonds has like 30g of protein??)


So we're going pretty much meatless for dinners.  I got some crab meat to make crab cakes - other than that, no meat for dinner.  We're hoping to phase out a lot of stuff as time goes on- replacing animal-based things for plant-based things.  We'll see how it all goes.  Just taking it a step at a time...


So far this week:  Minestrone Soup with Salad and yummy bread.  I even got Neil to eat Garbanzo Beans - and he LIKED it!!


Coming up: Crab Cakes with oven-baked Ratatouille, salad, and bread. 
                   7-vegetable medley with couscous, salad, and bread.


Hopefully I'll be able to get more creative as far as sides.  For now, I'm just using what I've got as far as recipes.


Recipes, cookbooks, or other helpful resources would be greatly appreciated!!