4 steps to NO MORE FOOD/SWEET Cravings (Step 4)

I'll apologize right now for being so late in posting step 4. I had to be sure that this was the step I could stand on and had experienced in changing our new way of life. I'm assured now! After experiencing two full weekends away from home and one was on us at the last minute with no time to prepare; I can officially say step 4 is Give Yourself a Break!

Good grief son, where is your other shoe while dad is yelling from the garage do you have everything ready to load? Uhh do you think I thought about grabbing food? No! So while last minute things happen in our lives it is imperative to have planned organic snacks such as mixed nuts, fruit, frozen cold pressed juice, protein/fiber balls, salads on hand at all times. Grab it and throw it in a cooler, lunch bag whatever. There is going to be a curve ball thrown at some point. I have never been so sure of this change now that I didn't have a plan. What an amazing learning experience and confirmation that #foodmatters and I was #hungryforchange. (click on links for awesome documentaries, recipes, and so much more; no I'm not being paid to advertise for them!)

Out the door we went, and we all ate horrible...back to the original processed foods, restaurants, etc to meet the demands of our stomach. Sure we could've stopped and got the better choices from a store, but we were so limited on time & funds that made it not possible. We had to eat CHEAP...but we didn't fall for McDonalds whoot whoot!! See I'm using an excuse...what I thought was cheap; now we're dealing with abdominal cramping, digestive issues, gained weight, and the lil' guy's behaviors are off the chart gain. Those side effects don't come cheap either...I''m a failure was the first thought! No I'm not...we fell off the track and now we have to get back on. It is very clear to me and this experience is a confirmation that nutrition, food types and choices make all the difference in the world.

So if you have fallen off track or maybe even derailed and felt like you've been left there to rust away; I've got good news...tomorrow is another day. Dust yourself off, pick yourself back up, and change your choices. Thankfully we've made it back home (very very broke by the way) and managed to have just $30 to go to the store. If you buy organic food...you know $30 isn't going to get much and we've got a week to live before payday. (Do I want to admit this, no...hell no! But I found that in my transparency other's gain. For that, I in my embarrassment will be humbled enough to say it can still be done)

So the scoop, we had either in freezer or pantry; 4 lbs of grass fed hamburger, a 2lb bag of organic pinto beans, a few apples, a tomato, left over gluten free birthday cake, 3 jars of half used and different kinds of salsa, a onion, rib bones, a pkg of quinoa and Kale, head of lettuce, cornbread mix,
and a grass fed beef heart.

We went to Aldi's this morning with our $30 and bought:Yes all organic, etc...

a. peanut butter
b. 2 pkg sliced ham
c. loaf of bread (Did you know that sourdough bread doesn't have added sugar...just a note)
d. 2 boxes of spaghetti
e. 2 jars of spaghetti sauce
f. Shredded grass fed cheese
g. 2 cans of refried beans
h. 2 pkg Basil and Tomato chicken sausage
i. 1 bag of blue tortilla chips


Mind you that's all we have...meals will be

Tonight:Taco Salad (put the rib bones in and roasted this morning and then on into the crockpot to make bone broth...cooks for 48 hours. Then took out the beef heart to thaw and marinate for 24 hours)

Tuesday: Beef heart with side of quinoa and kale

Wednesday: Spaghetti with basil and tomato chicken sausage

Thursday:Beans cooked in bone broth and cornbread

Friday: Pay day baby!! With two pounds of hamburger left over!

Sweet! Now I'll admit even with organic this is not the best of our meals nutritionally, but it's sure better than that restaurant and gas station food. I only shared this last info to prove that you can eat better even on a tight budget. Can't wait for whole fruit and veggies back in the fridge this weekend
....and more so for the garden to start producing. I hope and pray this helps somebody!

Give yourself a break...tomorrow is another day to dust off and do the best you can! Hugs!!

4 steps to NO MORE FOOD/SWEET Cravings (Step 2)

For those of you still needing or wanting to read Part 1 of this journey, please click here.

My lettuce is growing beautifully in the window! :)

Well update on Mr. K; he's officially off the RLS meds as of tonight. That means since Jan. 1st he has been taken off 4 different meds. We have one more nighttime med to go but that won't come until we go back for his 3 month lab. This leaves only 4 medications (4 dosing times and 7 pills) to go...I'm so hopeful. We have used a therapeutic essential oil from Young Living called Grounding for the last 3 nights (including tonight). He has had no issues going to sleep, he has not gotten up complaining, he has slept all night. Now with that said, here's a note on sleep disorders if you haven't read my past blogs. Even though he's in bed, appears to be asleep, and doesn't get up doesn't mean his body is deficient of sleep; good sleep called REM sleep. 

Restless Leg Syndrome, Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, Sleep Apnea,etc are real issues that cause daytime behaviors especially in kids. If we don't sleep well then ADHD, emotional, defiant, etc type symptoms might occur during the day because they are actually tired and that's how they respond. So we also know that; we're probably going to have to have another sleep study to see how bad/good it really is. With his deficiencies that we found;  he has now a full regime of supplements because unfortunately we can no longer get all we need from the food sources like once upon a time even though we've went fully to organic whole foods. 

Koda and I both are feeling on the downside tonight so I'm hoping it's not what has been going around. I know we're still deficient in our nutrients, etc...and can't wait until we do a whole family detox during Spring break. We're waiting until then because we know it's going to be hard the first few days, and trying to go to school under such circumstances so we want to support Koda as a family doing this.

So now that's been updated; let's get right to the 2nd step:

#2 Netflix & Chill ;) 

(for the uninformed reader...Netflix and Chill is the new "have sex" slang: Netflix and chill is an English language slang term using an invitation to watch Netflix together as a euphemism for sex, either between partners or casually as a booty call.) (Source: Wikipedia)

or do exercises like I do watching the educational documentaries. Wow! I'm glad I don't have any teenagers right now & have to listen to see if they're Netflix and chillin'. 

Tip: Eat before watching such suggestions. 

Be Educated with the food you eat; where does it come from? What's in it? What does those ingredients mean? So to help you out and to give you a jump start to what took me quite some time to find and get (no need in all of us waiting 42+ years to pay attention and get the right information. 

Here's the list:

Food, Inc. (Warning: some graphic slaughterhouse video's)

Food Matters

Hungry for Change

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2

Forks over Knifes

Fed Up

Cooked

Spinning Plates

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Inside: Chipotle

Super Size Me

More than Honey

Somm

I Like Killing Flies

That'll keep you busy for awhile. I'm personally so thankful that Netflix has these as part of their selections. I realize this is one of my short ones but there's a lot of information here about the 2nd step....You wouldn't read it all; so I just gave you the videos and excuse to watch. 

I've got to take of myself so I'm going to bed. Say a prayer if you will. TIA!!

Blessings,

~Yvonne