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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Not here nor there

I am thinking of renaming my blog (s). Actually starting a new one and leaving Sweet dreams/Patiperra behind. The new one would be called something like "inbetween2worlds" or "entre2mundos". Because I have come to the conclusion that my blogging, my life in general, my attempts to raise balanced kids, my research is all about having my feet steadily grounded in two different worlds. Exciting and exhausting at the same time.

I will probably not have much time over for blogging in the next few days. I am not here nor there right now. In real life I am living a some sort of floating life in so many dimensions that it isn't even explainable. But once I have landed on either feet I will be back...

Now, back to emptying cupboards... beans and cheackpeas will be donated to friend, one year old candies and wheat sticks are now happily residing in our biodegradable waste, Specialty ingredients in a airtight box... etc etc etc...

Here another friends reflection on not being here, but there, in her thoughts. I think I should also start practicing mindfulness...instead of walking around thinking I must suffer from an undiagnosed ADHD...


Monday, August 20, 2012

Reflections on Gravity - Part 2.

In June I wrote about my own experience and thoughts of this fixation on women's weight. What it does to us to always want to be thinner and smaller (yoyo dieting, never happy with yourself).

Now Paleo Parent Stacey gives her own story online, including pictures. It should be enough to give all of you out there who are not happy about your looks a second thought.

 What losing 135lbs looks like

It is not about your appearance, it it about how you feel! And how you feel is tightly connected to what you eat and how you take care of your body (and soul - stop thinking of your weight and looks and start enjoying life - with good nutrious food!!!).


And by the way, I think the road to a balanced body and soul is by getting rid of bad habits...often related to (food) addiction (read: mostly commonly spelled out sweet-stuff, whatever-bread-you-are-digesting, or hidden-sugar-in-processed-foods).


Have a beautiful day!


Friday, August 17, 2012

Candy Day

Nowadays nowbody that remotely knows us questions our weird policy on (some) food. People know that we are the freaks and I am ok with that. Strange because I used to battle a lot with myself when I stepped out of my mainstream shoes.

So here is the thing. We do not have a candy day. Surprised? Shouldn't be, as we do not eat sugary stuff anyway (do not count my 86% chocolate to candies, but yes it is debatable). I've been awaiting for the day when Kidone would realize that she is missing out on something important. But until just a few weeks back she never noticed. Not even some six months ago when we went to the store and met a daycare friend who was there selecting his "Saturday Candy". Not even though the Radio program for kids (BUU-Klubben) persistantly ask EVERY Saturday EVERY kid that calls in whether they will be eating (Saturday) candy today. Jeees, I always think at that point that is it really necessary to force it on them? Like all those one-year olds that during their first week at day care get introduced to juice, buns, and icecreams...I didn't know about the frequent icecreams at daycare when Kidone started as a one year old... foolish me still thought six months later that she got her first icecream with her granparents in Chile...

I thank hubby for opening up my eyes to the amount of candy that Finnish kids eat. I wouldn't have started to reflect on it, if he hadn't years ago commented the absurdity of eating candy every Saturday. In Chile, (when he was young) kids had candy at parties, nowhere else. And I understand that... because the candy section in Chile is lousy in comparison with what we have in Finland...hey come on, all countries without salmiak/lakrits loose in comparison to the Nordic countries! I'd go for cookies rather than sweets to fill up my sugar cravings there.

Anyway, back to my point. Which is: we do not have a candy day. Someone is starting now to understand because her friends have also become so big that they talk about this magic moment... but so far we have managed without. And as you might understand, we do not eat candy any other day either, but we do eat homemade natural sweetened muffins, or coconut-icecream, or even both as tonight. To celebrate the weekend!

Here my recipe for a very special icecream (just made it up today):

10 dates (soaked)
1/3 pineapple (sweet)
1 can coconut milk
vanilla extract
1 tbsp honey
aprox 2 cm of chopped and peeled fresh ginger
2 leaves of gelatin, dissolved in 0,5 dl hot water
(kefir grain/optional)

Mix all ingredients except gelatin, which you add when it has cooled a bit.
Add to icecream machine and let the machine do its job for a good while. Freeze until to be served.

And as always, ENJOY!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Party pics











My take on the weekend Parties

Today I am hungover... I bet you it has been the most intensive, creative, hard-work weekend in a decade! And add to that my last weekend which wasn't that much easier and in between a very (research) intesive week... I think I should be going back to bed right now and sleep off the exhaustion...

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that this week we celebrated the magic number five. On Friday I went shopping all ingredients (mostly fruits, HAHA!), on Saturday I baked (mostly glutenfree empanadas and gluten/egg/fairyfree cakes, and of  course coconut icecream - thank you, thank you, thank you Spunky Coconut - what a savior!) and on Sunday I decorated Sandwiches, made funny vegetable faces and two sets of cakes. That was the morning program... Then we chugged off one set of daycare girlie-girlie party (with the little bro compensating for all the missing boys), and another party for godparents and family friends (or Kidone's best of friends outside of daycare). There was a 15 minutes break inbetween the two parties, when we managed to clean the tables and the entrance before the new guests arrived. Then to end off the day (a part from cleaning the disaster in the kitchen...) I biked into town to see what Madonna has been up to these past three years. Got home at 1 a.m. Do I need to tell you that I woke up with an aching body this morning?

Anyways, this is my take on the festivities:

- First, my gratitude to the lady who let us pick her raspberries in her garden in the central park, they were delicious and our food wouldn't have been as nice and delicious without them! At the same time I am glad that hubby called just at 9 p.m. when I was about to go and buy some nasty looking strawberries in the hypermarket, which I never did because they closed while we were talking - there is a meaning to everything!

- My kids loved the food offerings, I think Kidone ate all-in-all 10 (!) empanadas this weekend... and ALOT of olives while baking them (and have to admit, some raisins as well). Kidtwo specialized in eating blueberry icecream... couldn't get enough of that. Hubby was impressed by my decication to decorate ladybug sandwiches, watermelon fruit cake and coconutcream (his pics on the process of making them coming soon).

- During the daycare party I noticed that other kids were not too impressed by my dedication to spice up the veggies  or the cream cake having been replaced with a watermelon-fruitcake... I was a bit concerned that this would actually ruin the party but hubby and me managed to recap their attention by taking them outside and play treasury hunting and water balloon splashing games. All well, focus away from food when those things happen... and then reevaluate the food offerings for next year... Read: no watermelon fruitcake for kids who are expecting a sugar rush... give them something as close to the real thing that they do not notice the difference... next year, they will have the coconutcream raspberry cake that the other party guests enjoyed...

-Never give up! I realize I am freaky and fanatic with what we choose to eat, but this year compared to last year  was a true milestone-experience! Most of our family friends were either just starting to shift or did not even think about the harms of food last year when I made my first Råsmart-inspired cakes. The cakes were rustic and beginner-level on both taste and presentation...This year I truly enjoyed being creative in the kitchen. You see, I envy my Facebook-friends who have started making incredibly beautiful marzipan and cream cakes - the creative me shouts out "I wanna do the same!!!" every time I see the pics - making tomatoe lady bugs and watermelon fruitcake filled that need.  But most importantly, yesterday with the family-friends, I got so many compliments on both the presentation and the cakes... and for being an inspiration for others to do things differently that for once I felt the very much needed and important support from my non-virtual surroundings. There are now several friends who are dedicated to avoiding sugar and wheat, and if they aren't, they are at least very concious about it - and that is something I cherish. I mean, they could have just got tired of my fanatic message and said, thanks but no thanks to the party invitation....THANK YOUR FRIENDS - LOVE YOUR SUPPORT!!!!

-Best thing Madonna could do to herself and the world is to retire, buy a farm, and go "homesteading". That would be to follow current trends and to be cool. Point a machine gun and "shooting" like crazy towards the audience in a country who has suffered from two school shootings in the past five years is not cool - it is disguisting. And I truly hope I am not saying this because I have got old (also true, its over 20 years since I was a fanatic Madonna fan...) but because it is just NOT cool.


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Naturally knocked up

Recently I read the book "Utan" and got a glimps into the world of all those women and men who long to become parents but just cannot conceive. I have no personal experience from problems of reproduction, I was fortunate enough to be blessed with two pregnancies before becoming too stressed about my own fertility. But I have a few friends who have been through or are still going through the agony of an endless waiting for the blue line on the strip.

 This is a sensitive issue and many couples do not talk about their unfullfilled desire to become parents with friends. As a parent of two, I also understand that this is not maybe the preferred topic of my childfree friends to embark on together with me. (After having read the book, I innerly hope I have never made anyone sad for being too occupied with my own motherhood, although I am quite aware that this is most probably the case...my deepest apologies dear friends, it was never my intention!). Actually, as I said to a friend (also mother of two), I think the most sensible way for those with fertility problems to reach out and find (natural) help is through what internet has to offer. There you can anonymously discuss and learn natural ways of healing your body, without feeling that somebody is intruding in your private zone. There you can find solutions that might work for you or that you feel comfortable.

So, today when I came across this blog: Naturally Knocked Up, I just wanted to share it immediately with all of you fellow readers of my blog. I know many of you are already mothers (or fathers) and maybe this isn't a topic for you personally. But I am also quite certain that all of you know someone that might be glad to read this blog. Please spread the word! Without introducing too much hope in anyone's life, maybe, just maybe it can provide the necessary advice and help for someone out there! And if not, well, at least you got rid of some toxins in your body and started a healthy life - and that is never a bad thing either...


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Go Borgå!

I am glad to announce the news from a municipality east of here:

No more sugar at Daycare (in Swedish)

They have decided to stop feeding sugar to kids at daycare. Envy those living in that municipality. Almost a reason to start house hunting... Not too far fetched as not so long ago my anchestors populated the streets of this nice little town, known for its old wooden houses.

Anyway, what is the best part of this note that I linked to is to read the comments... Parents are just so used to having sugar present at b'days that they do not even stop and question what it really does to the kids, and particularly kids who can have a tendency to become addicted to this substance...not only does sugar screw up the whole metabolism but by having sugar present at the afternoon meal also creats associations that sugar always has to present... so that the kids for sure transmit this same myth to their children... and on and on it goes...from one generation to the next.

I've been battling a lot myself with my conception of healthy food, and how I was taught what was healthy when a kid... Not so long ago my mom also noted the same (she has become enlightened with my propaganda...) saying "well we didn't know anything better back then". That was when I had just told her about the sugar mountains that my brother and I used to make on our morning porridge when I was around the age of fuve...we competed on who could build the highest...

Nope, sugar was not a topic back then. Although Nancy Appleton had already written her first book on the evils of sugar back in the 70's and the "Sugar Trap" had been broadcasted in the US in the 80's - little was known among the masses, not to speak of over here. But then again, sugar (or processed foods) was not so readily available back then as it is now. It's then sad to see that the same misinformation persist still to this date, and that when there are good initiatives, someone tries to destroy them by saying that "that's not really a problem, focus on something that is more important". The municipality is sending out a strong message with this policy, and I really hope it leads to more initiatives like this! Because it is important, and it is a problem, and it is time for us to recognize that already!


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The difference between here and there

Yesterday I was standing in line in the hypermarket  (again, I know... but it is the closest place with assumambly "ecological" vegetables). With my celery, carrots and ecological eggs in my hand and I looked at the people before me in the line. Don't like to be judgemental, but sometimes this really pisses me off... their wagon was filled with sugar and wheat filled foods and fat free milk. Hey according to the state dietary recommendation -almost healthy stuff! But it isn't, and they were on the brink of being obese. And there it hit me: the difference between the Nordic countries and America is that I have to PAY for their bad choices. In the US, it is they themselves that pay their medical bill. Here, it is funded through taxes. Charming! The state is both creating the problem by giving bad advice, and milking us for money to maintain business rolling. At the same time the politicians talk about the health care cost expenditures going up, unsupportable in our state budget. Well, HECK YEAH! Change your freaking recommendations and start treating bad (unreal) food for what it is (for example by taxing it, just as alcohol) and then maybe, just maybe we wouldn't be so sick...

Another difference to ohter places in the world is the school and daycare lunch. As I've said before, I used to praise it. Today, I almost get a nervous breakdown when I think of it. And my kids are eating that stuff - every day. Why? Why? Why? I admire the mommy bloggers in the US, who have taken charge of their childrens health, feeding them good food and preparing healthy lunch boxes. I admire all those parents fighting off ADHD and autism through dietary changes. But I ask myself, with the system we have here up in the north, would that be ever possible? I mean while the kids are bound to daycare and school, we the parents have almost zero control of what they are fed.

Enough said for today. I might save this as a draft as I feel it is (a bit) loaded.