Inside The Polished Apple

Success is all in the preparation.  For this part of the food challenge we have been largely unprepared.  Never mind that my world was tipped upside down from my recent Advanced NSA Seminar, the food challenge must continue!   Day 21- or Day Zero - I delayed the start of this portion of the challenge so that it wouldn't coincide with my day of travel and airports.  Which meant it was a part-Vegan day, a little bit of cheat day, merging into some meat later in the journey.  When I say cheat, all I mean is I had some yogurt with breakfast, had an incredibly stressful morning so barely ate anyways, and then cleaned out the fridge (Vegan) for lunch.  I had my first meat at the airport with a taco salad (yes, I am in the US) and wine-great combo.   Day 22-25 (Days 1-4) I have very little recollection of food this week-Scott has cooked 3 dinners and we also went out for one.  Relatively standard-meat and vegetables, although we are figuring o...

We're continuing our Ten Day food experiment of eating a Vegan Diet. It's already Day 4 of Vegan (Day 14 of the challenge) and it feels like a fail, but we will persevere. Day 14 - I will say that I'm enjoying learning some new recipes, such as variations on the basic soup recipe-here's a cabbage-lentil-loaded soup. I felt the need for dessert so I baked some plums with a nut-fig-flax-hemp topping. Dessert passed the Scarlett test with 2 helpings. Loaded vegan cabbage soup Plum pudding Day 15 - Complete disaster today.  Missing my eggs, I tried to make a frittata out of silken tofu.  Spongiest, greenest, non-eggs, I ever ate a mouth full of.   http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2012/02/fresh-herb-tofu-frittata-with-harissa.html It was green day, as I also made rice pasta with non-meatballs.  I tried them with white beans, spinach, flax, and some misc. items that didn't work out.  It tasted ok, but was very green and was just a bean paste. ...

I'm stretching the truth a little, I am Vegan for 10 days, I am travelling and have to figure out how to eat until the end of this challenge.  I did a poor job at planning this challenge as I am now at a seminar (for NSA chiropractic) until Monday, at which point, I will no longer be vegan!   I am daunted at the thought of eating out for the next few days, so I'm planning ahead.   First I packed: nuts! (cashews, almonds, pecans, and a few seeds thrown in). hemp hearts granola a few tea bags but that has nothing to do with eating Vegan. That was all fine for border crossing, by the way.    Then I bought a few items at the store-would have liked to say it was Whole Foods, but no.  I was shopping for a take-home toy and wandered into the food section.   Some food I bought: Rice crackers Hummous Pears, apples, oranges Applesauce Avocados Sugar snap peas and carrots Almond Milk Almond Butter Prepared 4 Bean Salad (probably not ...

Ten days of eating Vegan are under way.  This is the food experiment I am dreading the most, but I will try my best.   Why am I wanting to try Vegan? Amount of Protein.   I am curious if I am getting too much protein with my usual carnivore diet.  I haven't convinced myself that I will be calculating my daily protein consumption, but maybe this will give my body a break if I am getting too much.  So far, I'm sticking to my grazing-3 meals and 3 snacks a day & will try to balance them all with protein, fats and carbs. Alkaline State.   Vegan diets support your body being in an alkaline state, which is better for us for many reasons and if I find the time that would be a blog post alone.  I threw this comment out to a practice member and she suggested we get some pH strips to measure, so we did.  (Just from our Health Food Store, but apparently you can also get them at Home Care Centres.) Inflammation.   Too much of the wr...

I wish I read Steiner (the founder of the Waldorf schools) but that will be something I save for the future.   In the meanwhile, an NSA chiropractic friend posted this amazing quote from Steiner.  I wanted to share, as I love when my NSA world collides with my Waldorf world.   "To one who is able to behold it rightly, the skeleton reveals its spiritual origin. But one who looks at the skeleton in its present form - I mean in its form as present-day science regards it - is like a person who says: there I have a printed page with the forms of the letters, but does not read their meaning because he is unable to read. He does not relate what is expressed in the forms of the letters to what exists as their real basis; he only describes their shapes. In the same way the present-day anatomist, the present day natural scientist, describes the bones as if they were entirely without meaning. What they really reveal, however, is their origin in the spiritual." Rudolf Stein...

It's on to five days of No-Wheat & No-Added Sugar and it feels like a rest period after the initial cleanse.   Day 6- Reintroduced my regular foods (aside from what I'm avoiding).  It took my stomach and digestive system a couple of hours to think about the omelet that I had for lunch.  Then I probably went overboard and had left overs for dinner-rice pasta, sausage, spinach salad, and a glass of wine.  An hour later and I'm still thinking about it, even though the portion size was easily half what I normally eat.  And I haven't finished that glass of wine and haven't decided what to do with it.   My appetite was reduced today, but I still have good energy.  I'm also craving more vegetables and fruit compared to my norm.   (Later-Threw out the glass of wine-shocking-and experienced a near comatose state after dinner.) But by ... Day 7 - I feel Normal! Days 8-10- It's really not too exciting for these days.  Our office hosted m...

It was probably my lesson not to text (or Facebook) and work out at the gym at the same time.   A few weeks ago, I was at the gym, on my phone, and this woman started complaining along the lines of, " I would sooner be anywhere but here working out.  Its so difficult to make myself come here, but I have to do it.  I can think of ANYWHERE that I'd sooner be."  (yes repeatedly). I realized that she was talking in my direction so I smiled.  I wasn't able to commiserate and I had a dozen ideas floating in my head.   "Why is she talking to me?  And complaining?-do I look like I'm in misery and want to complain too?  Is this how people connect at the gym?  Why is she here if she doesn't want to?  Is her boyfriend (husband) making her do this?  Did her doctor tell her to lose weight?" And then my coaching information kicked in with an immediate, "Isn't she the one that wants to be here?  Isn't this a gym that we walk in t...

Our office, Elan Family Wellness Centre, is hosting an event for my CRAVE Business group tomorrow night.  You can come!  And when you see what we're serving, it may persuade you.   All of the registration information is here: CRAVE chat .  The topic is  "Bring on the Goal Setting" with speaker Nadine Nicholson.    " Connect with some of the best and brightest intelligentsia and enhance your network with fabulous new resources!" In keeping with our food challenge this month, I thought the food that we offer should be consistent.  So I came up with what I thought were a good couple of suggestions. Pecan Shortbread Cookies 1/2 c. butter 1/8 tsp stevia 1 TBSP vanilla (I used less) 2 1/2 c. almond flour 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp baking soda 1 c. chopped pecans In stand mixer, beat together butter and stevia.  Add vanilla and mix again. Combine all dry ingredients Combine butter mixture with dry ingredients Use parc...

The 5 day low glycemic cleanse continued. ..  Day 2 - Coincidentally, the stomach flu hits our house.  This morning at 2:30 AM it was Scarlett.  Scott already had this two days ago.  Does this mean that I'm next?  We were up about 3 hours-I fell asleep in time for me to get up for work.  I have no ability to differentiate exhaustion from lack of sleep or the cleanse.  Otherwise, all's ok.   I realized I ate about 7 extra servings today-2 servings of fruit, and the rest vegetables/ soup broth.  And a handful of pecans.  It feels a bit like cheating, but not really.   Needless to say, it was a pretty quiet afternoon with Scarlett recovering & napping, and my being tired by dinner!   Day 3 - Today's my headache day, but very low grade and varying with the food I eat.  I'm still eating extra (ie. so far its been blackberries, avocado, and cucumber) in addition to the 3 shakes and 2 bars a day.  I have very lit...

Oddest Sunday morning in our house ever.   Scott started his cleanse today; I'm on my first day of "normal" food, but with no-wheat, no-added sugar. (Today is Day 6)  Scott juiced-just carrots and an apple.  I had forgotten that we even had a juicer in the house.  Then he decided to add all of the pulpy goop to his shake.  That was his breakfast. I finally had coffee again (and Kombucha and a pear.) Scarlett and I made gluten-free pancakes.  Just from a mix, but she ate 1 1/2 pancakes.   Then I saw that my sprouted quinoa actually sprouted!  Isn't it pretty?  (yes, first time).   That was to go with the oats fermenting on the counter from the night before.  In yogurt.   Then I made some yummy protein bars-mainly to try a new food item.   Not my recipe, but its from:  Kitchen Stewardship  (and its pinned on my Pinterest board) Quinoa Oat Protein Bars Print Recipe...

I feel I have accomplished something great this holiday when my daughter is bored.   I am sure you are familiar with the, "I'm bored.  I have nothing to do."  In our house, it has shown up as an insistence on play dates.  She has her play date arranged-which friend is coming over, what toys both of them will play with, what scenes they will act out with their ponies.  That's all before she asks us to have a friend over, or we have a play date arranged.   Instead, and partly due to the fact that she's temporarily sick, and the basement was torn up for re-arranging, and the Christmas decorations were in the middle ground between packed and unpacked, she's been forced to play with us, or with Raven, or by herself, or out in the yard.  Not to count the attention she received from Grandparents and family all last week up to Boxing Day.  We have still taken her to a few activities-play places, parks, the zoo, but really I've been wanting that n...

Its Day One of my Cleanse & not too much to post so far.  After today, I think I'll move to a Monday check-in for my Monthly challenge. Today is Day One of Five for a Low Glycemic Cleanse using USANA RESET cleanse.  I've cheated a little if you count 1/2 apple, 1 avocado, and 1 cup of Almond Milk cheating.  And Kombucha tea.  The cleanse does allow 1 serving each of vegetables and fruit, but I will be eating more than that (A BMR of 1490 is not sustained by about 1100 calories a day!) I've had a little energy swing (LOW), but that's it so far.  Hence, the avocado! I'm finding that I seem to have more time on my hands since I'm not preparing as much food as usual.  Scott and Scarlett are eating relatively normally, but I haven't had to cook today-aside from some soup that I just put on.  I'm also not thinking about food, which I usually am-what to cook, what I crave.   Boring, but probably good for Day 1.  It's been a nice...

I've heard it a few times over the last couple of days-that 2013 is the Year of the Goddess.  It felt right, but I wasn't sure what it meant, so I did a little bit of research.  Here's what I have come up with... I thought perhaps it was because of the '13', as I know that is a number that is important to the female/ Goddess.  I believe it is a lucky number to have 13 women gathered, although the number is considered unlucky for the rest of the world.  That's where my knowledge ended.  Then I also learned that we are heading into the Year of the Snake, according to Chinese astrology-a water snake year, in fact.  Water is yin, with the snake also being sacred to the Goddess.   Who is Goddess?  " she is maiden, mother, queen and crone. she gives birth to life and she also takes life. her Soulful roots lie down in the depths of our emotions- she is not above them or beyond them, she IS them. she is also the earth and all her bounty- she is t...