Don't worry, I don't mean a "lose wieght" kind of diet. It's just an over haul on our nutrition for a while. So here it is. We are currently on day four of a grain free, sugar free, processed free, dairy free diet. It's called the G.A.P.S. diet. It stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome. The basic premise is that the processed food that we eat damages our guts and makes it where we can't absorb the nutrient we need to. Which can result in many issues. Most of which I won't get into here because I fear most people already think we are nuts! ; ) http://gapsdiet.com/Home_Page.html
http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2010/02/the-gaps-diet-what-it-is-and-why-you-might-consider-doing-it.html http://nourishedkitchen.com/what-is-the-gaps-diet/ http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/overwhelmed-by-the-gaps-diet-help-has-arrived/ If you are truly interested, then look into it. For our family it is kind of an experiment. We are attempting to see if this major life style change will in fact help with curtain things. Mainly, ADHD symptoms, bed wetting, joint pain, energy level, focus issues, and dairy allergies. All of the above have been found to be helped by this diet. And while we don't know if it will actually work, we figure, heck, it's just life style changes and won't hurt anything, so why not try it? We have been reading and researching this diet since I was pregnant with Deakin. So about, 7-8 months. There are several blogs devoted to it and how it has helped their family. So I read those and asked for the book for Christmas. I approached Robert prepared to say that I would wait until he deployed and me and the kids just do it. But Robert liked the sound of it too, so he said lets all do it together! : ) Which has been a great blessing to have help from my partner! So once we got settled in Kansas we ordered a Blendtec (so that we can juice) and a food dehydrator. All the while we waited for them to be delivered I worked on menu plans. I purchased one month's worth of plans, printed them out and tweaked them for our dairy free needs. We fixed our kitchen to be able to accomodate a mama in it cooking for 2-4 hours a day. Searched all around this area for the types of food we would need. And prepared the kids and ourselves emotionally for this. March 7th we woke up and began, after the day before spending well over $100 just on produce for one week! I had three weeks worth of menu plans ready and jumped right in. We had grain free, sugar free cinnamon roll muffins for breakfast that morning. Which sounds yummy, but wasn't really. BUT I will say that each day they have gotten yummier as our pallets quickly get used to the lack of sugar and grains. We will go through roughly 6 dozen eggs a week on this diet. So we have lots of eggs. Last night we had a super good sirloin and roasted veggie dinner! We've had a couple of flops in the meal plan. Meals that I won't cook again. Typically the diet is suppose to have an introduction stage at the beginning that helps speed up the detox. But since I'm breastfeeding I can't do it. So we decided to hop right into the main diet. When Robert returns from Afgahnistan we will revisit the possibility of doing it more fully. And we are staying loose and relaxed. We've said that we will only do it for three weeks for sure and then reevaluate. Robert doesn't want me frazzled and stressed from all the extra work. There are times where both Robert and I are like, "No. We stop after three weeks." and then other times where we feel really good about it! We have all experienced some detox symptoms. Our bodies feeling run down. Both Cal and Bryse spent a few hours with upset stomaches and vomiting. Robert and I both experienced extreme fatigue the first day. I woke up hot all over and trembling the second day. But we are learning that usually those things mean we need to eat some fruit. My favorite things about this diet is that I have learned to be more bold in the kitchen! I feel more confident! I've done so many new things! Last night I cooked a sirloin in a skillet (bc we can't afford to buy a grill right now) and roasted veggies that I've never cooked before and they turned out really good! I made mayonnaise for the first time! I made almond butter and peanut butter from scratch. We literally have NO premade, prepackaged foods in our house right now! I feel freed from worry about what is in our food now! I really don't mind the extra time I spend in the kitchen because Robert bought me a dock with speakers for my phone and I've listened to TONS of sermons while cutting, baking, cooking, peeling, and preparing our foods. It's great alone time. And I always know what we are going to have, so I don't have to think much. This morning Robert sat at the table with the kids and cut up apples, pears, pineapples, and bananas to put in our new food dehydrator! We'll see how that turns out. But the kids had a blast helping. They help me a lot in the kitchen too. I feel closer to my family. Tomorrow will be a challange because the church we are visiting is 25 minutes away and while we would usually go out to eat (one of our favorite things) I will pack us a lunch and snacks. Being out of the house is really hard. Especially walking through a grocery store and seeing oreos. And like I said, we may decide it's not worth it after three weeks and try again after Robert gets back from deployment. Lord knows he will need some major gut healing because we just found out, to our surprise, that he will be on antibiotics every single day of his nine month deployment! Wow. Anyway, that is our newest change! So far it's going well. It's hard to be weaned off something as addictive and sugar and grains (carbs), but we are surviving!
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When first looking for houses I rejected this one immeadiatly on the grounds that the kitchen was too small. Robert fought for it though! And when he came to Kansas to see all the houses it turned out that just one fall back (small kitchen) was better than all the other houses. So we went with this one with promises from my task oriented husband that he would have it workable in no time at all! ; ) So, here I am with before and after pictures to show off my sweet hubby's work! I mean, I helped some and basically was in charge of what I wanted, but he did 98% of the work. Technically, all this took him about 6 weeks of off and on work. I have the pictures posted as one "before" followed by a similar picture of the "after". Along with a couple of extra "after" pictures at the bottom. List of changes: Wall paper removed, painted, cabinet installed, shelves mounted to wall in corner, pot rack bought and mounted, wood paneling scrubbed of the green paint, small ceiling fan removed and new lighting put in it's place. We still have a little bit more to do, but that is mainly dining room stuff. We will have new floors some time. We will have a hutch in the dining room for storage of my dishes to free up more cabinet space for food (since there isn't a pantry). Robert is wanting to install metal shelves with lips all along above the crabinets for storing produce. We just started a special new diet (that is another blog) and have produce running out our ears (or more realistically sitting in the floor of the dining room). But we can't agree because I don't want shelves above the cabinets, I want two large wooden crates mounted to the dining room wall with netting over the bottom half of them. So once we there are still a few more changes to be made. Robert is currently building an 8-10 seating dining room table. But the first goal was to get the kitchen workable! And we did and are very proud!
I've been laying in bed awake since 4:45 with these words racing through my head and finally gave up just now (6 am) to come and get them out! ; ) This is mainly for my younger friends who are new to marriage and have just started or haven't yet gotten to "the hard part" yet.
Last night my Amazing Man and I were talking late into the night, like we do sometimes, and he came to a realization. That two of his favorite Men of God to seek advice from early in our marriage have since divorced their wives for completely ubsurdly unbiblical reasons. Robert enjoyed getting advice from these men because they gave him easy advice. Their advice left him feeling alright, because "heck, we all mess up" and didn't challenge him at all. And it got me thinking about seeking advice for the difficult marriage stuff. Rule of thumb, young married person. Anytime you are seeking advice on a difficult subject (a SIN subject) and you leave feeling better about yourself, it's probably bad advice. John 3:30 says that we must become less and God must become more. Your BEST Godly friends will keep directing you toward God and away from yourself. They will say, "Shut up and look up" when you don't want to hear it. Their advice will leave you uncomfortable and frustrated because the death of self, is hard and painful. These friends that give sound Biblical advice care more about the calling of God in your life then they do about your feelings. Because God is more important than you! Because one of God's goals for your life has never been comfort, but sanctification. And as iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17) isn't comfortable or fun but necessary and God glorifying. If you are the iron, you are being beaten by your friend sometimes! Now, don't hear what I'm not saying (that is one of my favorite quotes from my dad, hee hee). You shouldn't be friends or seek advice from people that beat you over the head with the Bible or yell at you all the time. But with friends that tell you what you need to hear even when you don't want to hear it. "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions," 2 Timothy 4:3 Truly Godly advice always points toward God. The only applause you should be getting is, "Hey, Sally! Great job dying to yourself and glorifying God!" That means denying yourself. That means serving your spouse when they aren't serving you. Why? Because you love God and your life isn't about you anymore, it's about HIM and HE said serve one another, love one another unconditionally. If you have a girlfriend that says, "He did WHAT, girl?! Yup! I wouldn't've cooked him dinner either!!" That is self glorifying and God denying. There can not be more of you AND more of God. It must be less of you, more of Him. Otherwise, it's more of you and less of Him. Our flesh MUST be beat down and suffocated so that we can move out of the way and point toward God. The only good in me is God. I don't want to have anything to do with myself apart from God. "Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24 That advice you're seeking from your friend, or that advice you're giving your friend? It should ALWAYS put God's calling before their feelings. Always. |
LindseyI'm the mama and wife. Updating you on our life! Archives
January 2022
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