Subversive Plots

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Rachel

My “mid-life crisis” seems to be pushing me in some new directions. Limited thinking is peeling off like old chipping paint on the outside of a turn-of-the-century Victorian house. So, while this is NOT the perfect year for me to start a garden, I’m doing it anyway. We rent a house, and very likely we will not be here next summer. All we have is the Now… and my limited knowledge about gardening (this will be my second attempt, first one at the last house was a total flop)… Fueled by A) tidbits of gardening wisdom I get from my friends and acquaintances, B) desire to get more sunshine on my skin (my Vitamin D status is still un-healthfully low, and C) this TED video on subversive plots / backyard gardening. Roger Doiron makes the case for backyard gardening. I love the bit about how all the work should not be on the women, but men should help out, too. (Inspiring thought for me in my traditional female-homemaker role, though here we are so caught in the nuclear family net that most of this work will be falling to me.) Roger founded Kitchen Gardeners International: “We are a nonprofit community of 24,000 people from 100 countries who are growing our own food and helping others to do the same.”

A backyard garden fits in the weave of the lifestyle choices I’ve already come to appreciate: teaching my children where their food comes from, appreciating the Earth, slowing down, eating more whole and Primal foods, getting more sunshine and barefoot connection to the ground, lower-cost organic food, and family time together. So, I’m adopting a “Just Do It” attitude, knowing once it gets rolling we’ll not be able to ignore it too much: it will get us Out There.

KGI has exactly what I need as a beginner: a garden planner tool with reminders of when to sow, etc. It’s FREE for the first 30 days. I’ll be digging into this over the next few weeks.

” …it takes a very long time to learn the ins and outs of gardening. One must be very kind to oneself and unflustered by incomprehensible failures. .” -rvisser on KGI.org

Erik’s Reboot

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Rachel

Here’s a quick update for those of you wondering about how Erik is doing on his weight loss program, which is working for him! He’s slimming down!

Reboot Juicing Breakfast: Blended Spinach with juice, Amazing Grass and some supplemental capsules

Breakfast: Amazing Grass, supplemental capsules, and Blended Spinach with juice.

My first ideas were posted here: Erik’s 2nd “Juice Fast”
Shopping List for Erik’s juice fasting program
Cheat Sheet (coming soon!)
More need-to-know’s are detailed below.

Erik and I concur: When beginning a fast, days 2 and 3 are the hardest. Day 4 the cravings are dying down and it gets much easier after that.

The juice fast routines are basically:

A.M. blended spinach-juice, cod liver oil, Vit D, Amazing Grass (probiotic, antioxidant), Maca, Milk Thistle Seed. And, he enjoys his coffee.
Lunch: soup, trying for the lower calorie or vegetarian types. Or cauliflower with a dip like hummous. Sometimes a chai (see below) or Dandy Blend instant beverage.
Dinner: blended spinach-juice again if at home. Salad if at a restaurant?
Evening: homemade chai sweetened with stevia and erythritol, unsweetened almond milk OR a cocoa (see below)
Shot of magnesium with coconut water
Basically, relearning to eat small portions at all times. Over the past couple of years, I have really seen Erik eat far smaller portions. These first two “fasts” have really helped him get to know his own body better.
Ideally, I try to get a zinc supplement into him on an empty stomach and/or towards evening.

In order to get "over the hump" of the difficult first three days of a juice fast, I recommend drinking as much as you want of all of the "approved" drinks (like all those mentioned on Erik's Reboot program) and up to three servings of green food powder such as Amazing Grass.

Erik will be morphing his “diet” into an Intermittent Fasting model using the low-calorie “juice fast” routines I am detailing here along with some days when he eats a regular Primal Blueprint diet. This will allow for low-calorie fat burning days on his juice fast, but not for long enough for his metabolism to go into starvation/fat-storage mode. Primal Blueprint guidelines call for a moderate protein, higher fat, high vegetables and low carbs.

I have also been developing a supplements chart for our family-of-four, to help us stay on track with supplements. Mainly, we have moved to taking our fat soluble vitamins in the morning, giving us the calories from fat to use through the day. Another tip I’ve just started using is to mix our evening magnesium with some coconut water for a balance with potassium. A tasty way to do this is with Coco Cocoa!

Recipe: Coco Cocoa

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Rachel

This quick recipe blends antioxidant-rich dark cocoa, which is also high in magnesium, with coconut water, which is high in potassium. A tasty way to get these two balancing minerals together in a low-calorie, sugar-free way.

Cocoa powder—Navitas Naturals Cacao Powder–> (or other cocoa powder)

Sweeteners: KAL stevia extract–> and/or Erythritol–> (or raw honey)

Coconut water–>

Optional: Vanilla extract, Blue Diamond Unsweetened Almond Milk Beverage, coconut milk

Directions:

In a large mug, mix 1 Tbsp. cocoa powder with 1 tiny scoop of KAL pure stevia extract and/or 1 tsp. Erythritol (or raw honey). Heat coconut water to just hot enough for enjoyment, then pour into the mug and stir.

Maybe add some vanilla extract and/or some almond milk. Maybe some whole coconut milk if you want some fat.

Recipe: Super Nut Butter (on celery)

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Rachel

I’m rediscovering nut butter on celery as a super fast snack! This blend works in several superfoods that my family would not normally eat as stand-alones.

In a clean jar with lid, stir up a batch using these ingredients:

In order to mix coconut oil in smoothly, bring all nut butters to room temp. Melt coconut oil. (Next time, I’ll try mixing the oil with the pumpkin seed flour first.)
Peanut butter for flavor, if necessary (avoid due to mycotoxins)
Almond butter or any other nut butter (freshness really affects flavor!)
Ground walnuts for crunch and an EFA brain boost
Tahini for a mineral boost (sesame seed butter. Brands vary in taste due to freshness and roasted or not. My friend prefers EastWind. I like it freshly ground at my co-op.)
Ground pumpkin seeds for zinc boost (highly recommended for older boys and men or those with low stomach acid)
KAL stevia extract powder for sweetness
Extra sea salt if needed (I use Redmond RealSalt)
Children might enjoy better with raw honey mixed in. (I’ll try this with my son who doesn’t like the stickiness of nut butters)

Spread on celery or whatever!

I haven’t worked out the proportions yet, for the coconut oil and ground pumpkin seeds to a consistency I like. Honestly, I’ll probably just stir it up without measuring and adjust later–I can always add more of any ingredient.

No Mercury in Our Mouths, please!

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Rachel

This week, after over a year of living in a new state, I finally took myself and my children to the dentist for cleanings and checkups. To find our new dentist, I first asked my friend and “partner in crime” (more like: partner in natural living)–she had moved here from Michigan a couple of years ahead of me, and what an incredible resource she is! I already knew that I want to get my own mercury amalgam “fillings” removed at some point. The sooner the better, but it’s a pricey procedure. I knew that I wanted to work with a dental office that fully embraces bio-compatible dentistry (and would still be in my dental insurance network, for highest levels of cost coverage). So, I spent a couple of hours looking at the lists. Even after pouring over the short lists of bio-compatible dentists (checking maps and my insurance network), I ended up choosing the same dentist as my friend. Apparently, we are lucky to live in a metropolitan area with even a few enlightened dentists. (Let’s hope that some young people from “Weston Price families” and Waldorf families will grow up to study truly holistic dentistry!) Let’s get started, shall we? Here are the lists I looked at: Continue reading →

Rachel’s Typical Breakfast

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Rachel

I continue my quest for truly simple nutrition, so that I’m spending minimal time in the kitchen and still getting the best nutrition I can.

The following is copied out of my FitDay.com account for what I ate this morning. This is very typical for what I eat almost every morning. Sometimes I eat more by adding on a piece of meat or almond flour muffin. Sometimes I leave out the egg yolk. Inspired by revisiting the book Eat Fat, Lose Fat, I plugged this into FitDay so that I could look at adding a tablespoon of coconut oil (same fat as 3.5 Tbsp of canned whole-fat coconut milk) prior to each of three meals. At a total of 461 calories, and with a daily target of 1400-1800 calories (for weight loss, based on my personal calculation using Primal Blueprint Weightloss formula as my guide), I still have enough calories budgeted for the rest of the day if I stick to Primal eating and do not cheat by eating sugar.

Food Name	Cals	Fat (g)	Carbs (g)	Prot (g)
	461	35.7	16.4	8
Canned Coc Milk 1.75 oz = 3.5 Tbsp. (same fat as 1 Tbsp. Coc…	114	11.8	2.7	1.1
Eve Primrose Oil, 1 tsp*	50	0	0	0
Fish oil, cod liver	123	13.6	0	0
Almond Milk Unsweetened 1 cup	40	3.5	2	1
Dandy Blend 1 Tbsp.	15	0	3	0
Zukay Kvass 1/2 cup Beet Ginger	13	0	2.7	0.3
Morning Blended LEMON SPINACH	29	0	5	2.4
Brazil nuts: 1 nut	22	2.3	0.4	0.5
Egg, yolk only, raw	55	4.5	0.6	2.7
TOTALS:	461	35.7	16.4	8

My 5-year old daughter takes her egg nog with chocolate milk. She also gets a squirt of Trader Joe's chocolate syrup into her mouth with her brazil nut. I do not give the kids a multi-vitamin. (They do not drink the spinach, either.)

*I’m not even sure I will continue with the Evening Primrose Oil after I finish this bottle, so I’ll free up some calories for more interesting food.

I came to the conclusion quite a while ago that I needed to blend up some spinach in the morning and I wanted it to be easy, fast and taste good enough to slug it down. I add 2 Tbsp. lemon juice (Organic in a bottle, from Costco), one tiny scoop of KAL stevia extract powder, and about 1/2 cup water.

Instead of spinach for my husband, I give him Amazing Grass (a green food powder).

I blend raw egg yolks (as free-range as I can get) with unsweetened almond milk, vanilla extract and stevia extract. Top with a shake of ground nutmeg for a Morning Eggnog.

This morning regimen is NOT easier than if you just ate some scrambled eggs. However, it’s what I’ve come up with after several years of living with allergies, working toward Primal, and having picky eaters. This is just what I do.

Shopping List for Erik’s Reboot

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Rachel

1. Juice to blend with spinach, could be any of the following:

Trader Joe’s Country Peach or Strawberry Kiwi
Fresh pressed from your own juicer
Lemonade?
If you want to get calories from a different food instead of juice, you can blend your spinach without juice and use Rachel’s Blended Lemon-Spinach

2. Baby Spinach—Costco, about 1 – 2 pounds per week for 2 handfuls per day, one handful per meal

3. Pick one: Amazing Grass Green Formula–> OR Barlean’s Greens–>

4. Cod Liver Oil (CLO) (provides Vitamin A and some Vit D). Pick one. More info on CLO–>.

Now Foods, Cod Liver Oil, Double Strength, 650 mg, 250 Softgels–>

Nature’s Answer Cod Liver Oil Liquid–>

Twinlab Cod Liver Oil–>

5. Vitamin D3 supplement. Please educate yourself on the amount YOU need. This is highly individualized and should take into account the amount of Vitamin A you are taking in the Cod Liver Oil (CLO) and how much Vit D your CLO brand contains.

Now Foods Vitamin D3 Softgels–>

Nature’s Answer Vitamin D-3 Drops–>

Better yet, get one that’s combined with Vitamin K2: Thorne Research Vitamin D3/K2 Drops–>

6. Soup? I recommend making your own, or buying soup in a box (like tetra-pak; this avoids BPA, a hormone interrupter, in metal can linings) or fresh from the deli or restaurant.

7. Blue Diamond Unsweetened Almond Milk Beverage—near the soymilk in the refrigerated milk section. Look for the bright pink stripe on blue half-gallon box of milk

8. KAL stevia extract powder–>

9. Optional: NuNaturals Pure Erythritol Crystals–>

10. Coconut Water–> You need this to mix with magnesium and for making Coco Cocoa

11. Optional for Coco Cocoa: Navitas Naturals Cocoa Powder

12. Ground spices to make homemade chai (Vietnamese Cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, maybe fennel)

13. Dandy Blend–> – a delicious, instant beverage powder which will help with liver cleansing and provide some minerals. Good with the almond milk and in the homemade chai.

14. You may also want:

Sparkling Water—good prices at Trader Joe’s or maybe try a SodaStream

Stevia flavors for natural sodas

POM Pomegranate Juice

Green tea or herbal teas: peppermint, Rooibos, Honeybush, Jasmine Green, Celestial Seasonings’ Roastaroma

I could add to this list, but these are the basics. Feel free to post or email me to ask a question!

Recipe: Cherry Mocha

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Rachel

One of my old recipes which I posted on Food.com (it was Recipezaar.com, back in 2004) is still hanging around and a few people still stumble into it and enjoy it. It’s not something my hubby will be enjoying this next couple of weeks while he’s on his “juice fast” Reboot Challenge v.2, but he sure does like this drink. I usually pull the recipe back out when he is low-carbing (or would that be spelled “carbbing”?). I personally have been questing after my own perfect cup of masala chai during this Minnesota winter. There’s nothing like a hot cup of something creamy and sweet on a cold winter’s night. So, I give you this Low-Carb Cherry Mocha –> (my version is on Food.com which gives serving nutritional info, or you can see the same recipe below).

To make a more natural version, I recommend for the sweetener a mixture of: Continue reading →

Erik’s 2nd “Juice Fast”

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Rachel

Several months ago my hubby decided to try a different king of weight-loss diet. He watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and as a result, endured a 14-day liquids-only “juice fast” like the Reboot. We purchased a juicer and I did a lot of work sourcing fresh produce from farmers markets (this coincided with harvest season in Minnesota, so it worked out well). But, it was a ton of work for me and we decided we didn’t love owning a juicer and we returned it to the seller.

Now he wants to do another juice fast, because of course he lost weight on the first time. But, without a juicer, what should he do? Well, I compiled a list of nutritious liquids that he could use. Continue reading →

Hearth and Gnome

Simplicity Living. Urban Waldorf.

Category Archives: Ancestral/Hybrid Food