My Food Journey 2011

The past year has been a discovery journey, in many senses, but more than anything some of the discoveries have had practical implications far beyond my own imagination.

First of all, what I have learned is to use my own brain when it comes to the food that we eat. That means bye bye authorities' dietary recommendations and it also mean A LOT of reading to make my brain apt for thinking on its own.

Two, no actually three, Swedish experts have through their books had a major role to play in this journey. Anna Hallen and her personal story (Anna Hallen Blog) opened my eyes and mind and got me wanting to know more. Andreas Eenfeldt's book the Food Revolution (Diet Doctor Blog) made me seriously distrust everything government ever said to be healthy. This is also when I decided myself to change not only my diet but my lifestyle, skipping processed foods, most carbs and embracing proteins and (real) fats as my main nutrion sources. First the change was inspired by the hope of getting rid of all sorts of craving, stabilizing my terrible mood swings and I won't deny it, also to loose some weight (see Patiperra's post in Spanish "Pan da poto"). In hinsight the change in diet was quite easy, while I followed the strategy later explained to a friend interested in the diet ( "Pan da poto - pero como eliminarlo?").

After 3-4 months of strict low carbing I started to feel hunger when I was actually hungry, satisfied when my body had had enough and my mood swings were almost gone. My body seemed to be in a balance it had never experienced before. But I was also a bit bored with the high (animal) fats and the restrictive LCHF rules which excluding many valuable foods from my diet. Also, after 4 months of label reading I was painfully aware of all the additives and sugars included in the rest of the family's food. On a day of open crossfire confrontation with Kidone, I just so happened to come across Ulrika Hoffer's book about the Wise Choice family (The book, the Blog, and Patiperra's discovery: "Reclaiming the hoods"). Her message went straight to my spinal cord. Things were about to change for the rest of the family as well. But it was only almost two months later when Kidone's mood swings got worse that I decided to give Hoffer's suggestions a real try ("Let the challenge begin"). Almost over one night was sugar, wheat and most milk products thrown out of this household with remarkable results (About changing lifestyle 1, About changing lifestyle 2). Kids suddenly started eating much more veggies, real food, and just seemed so much more balanced. Gone were the days of "pataletas" (serious tantrums) and instead we had a fightfree summer! Incredible! Kidone gained weight like never before and Kidtwo, well he continued growing and eating as before.

After this experience I started investigating even more what wrong sort of food really does to our body. I watched Robert Lustig's Bitter truth about sugar (Toxic sugar, Sugar - deceitful and dangerous), all episodes of Sugar Trap from the 80's (Kids and sugar) and I started following Doctor Davis's Wheatbelly blog ("A Must Read!", Wheat Belly Blog). There was no turning back; I was hooked on information about food and its impacts on our bodies.

Since September the food issues have been of primary importance in practice but also much more challenging, as Kidtwo started daycare and I myself went off on my own endeavors. Sweetdreams has been my freetimee hobby, helping to sort out my thoughts on food but also sharing my insights and doubts with those truly interested in the subject.

We have not looked back since that last week in May when we introduced the wise choice diet in this family. It's really impossible to think we would ever return to the old habits again (which I would says were never unhealthy to begin with, we ate mostly homecooked foods, but also a lot of pastas and bread, which I know now have a bad impact on our wellbeing). But we are still accomodating ourselves to this lifestyle. I am still looking for the ultimate recipe of healthy, sustainable, and most important of all, EASY living. To accomplish all this, there is a need of activating the brain, planning weekly shopping lists, where and when to buy what, and find the time for cooking from scratch. All for the healthy, easy living. My latest blog discovery, Wellness Mama, seems to be covering much of these topics.

In 2012, I aim at more excercise (untile now this has mostly been biking from point A to B) and start sleeping decent nights again. As for food, I hope the ingredients will be more organic and locally grown - abandoning our dependence on the big hypermarket ("Going Green") and exploring alternative food supply chains, such as the community food circle and the open markets. But that,my dear friends, will be the story of 2012!


Happy New Year 2012!

Yogurt delux

I tricked the kids into thinking they had strawberry yogurt tonight. When in fact this is what was being served:

1 avocado
1 handful of almonds
1 banana
1 dl of cold coconut milk
Some frozen mangos dices (not as much as in icecream)
Some frozen strawberries (not as much as in icecream)

Mixed throughly. Served with sliced fruits/muesli. I guess you could throw in some probiotics powder to get the benefits of real yogurts (without the artificial crap and sugar).


The idea spurged from one left over diced avocado after tonight's dinner (someone claimed she would eat it at then changed her mind...just to be tricked into eating it anyhow a bit later...cruel mother).

Btw, I would really like to attend a course of how to replace conventional recommendated nutrition with this high density stuff. For example, exactly how much broccoli or almonds do you have to eat to replace the calcium intake from one glass of milk? Such knowledge would make me sleep well at night.

Jackpot!

Waow, I think I hit the jackpot of blogging mothers!

Check this out:

Wellness mama

Who needs outdated books when there are frequently updated blogs like this.

Will try to browse through it...when I have time again...maybe March...

Island observations

It's strange. When I go to my parents' place with the kids all of a sudden all kind of rule bendings are allowed. I surprise myself with buying premade meatballs and thin Swedish white bread (tunnbröd). The thin bread is some kind of natural reaction of being close to Sweden, when I was a kid I always got thin bread when we went to Sweden. Is made out of white wheat flour, and I consider it quite empty on nutrients, but hey, we are on vacation; I can allow this within the 80-20 approach... And not to talk of the ice cream session the kids had with their grandparent yesterday!!! They were literally jumping up to the roof with that treat (the kids, not the grandparents). What is so lovely with those special moments nowadays is that they are truly special moments, the kids understand that and that is what makes them so happy. When we used to have bought icecream (make our own nowadays, based on avocado and bananas) every week, the reaction was the reversed; if we didn't have it they would be let down, nagging at the icecream freezer at ther supermarket. Nowadays they walk by both the icecream and the candies without even noticing. The trick is to let them have the treats at special moments so that next time we are at the supermarket we are not faced with the whole "throw-myself-on-the-floor-and-screem-ICECREAM"- You see we  nowadays have not only one but two kids with a strong will - and that is what makes life just a little bit more exciting!

What I also found intriguing was the discussion I had with Kidone regarding our boat trip out to the island. She started talking about the candy on the boat. I immediatelly associated it with the tax free shop's 1 kg candy bags (the ones I myself used to get when I traveled over to Sweden as a kid...) and I was thinking "my oh my, I am not up for this battle". Then I promised her we would check out the treats on the way home and see if we could get something for new year. Well guess what? My daughter is still completely unaware of the big bags of candies hidden in the tax free shop. She had been talking about the small candies in the cabin, and was all so excited of getting to bring ONE of those home with her. For her the boat trip is still all about one Marianne candy and the playground ball sea - not at all associating the cruise to the "food ´& beverage experience" on the cruises. How sound. I hope it will remain that way for YEARS to come.  Best of all is that as long as we, the parents, are in control, we really can keep it that way. Feels comforting somehow.

No Poo

I've been living a shampoo free life for months now. Just using conditioner on my hair, and it has done real wonders to my otherwise so died out hair.
Well, some days ago I came across the real "No Poo" solution (google it if you want to know more) - where you also skip the conditioner and instead use baking soda (!!) and apple cider vinegar (!!!) in your hair. I tried it today.
Just asked hubby what he thinks of my hair today. He said he had been looking at it, that it looked fantastic... he almost fainted when I told him what I had put in it.... then he said he didn't want to smell and then corrected himself after smelling saying it smelled "rico". So, ladies, anyone out there with dry hair and up for treatment : No Poo it is!

Here a pic of my hair today:

Some interesting links - note to myself

These are links I need to dig into, when I have the time. For the time being I just store them here and if you want to read go ahead.

The Gluten File

How to keep feces out of your bloodstream

The case of going Gluten Free

Eating Animals

Just as I was pinnin g out the new sustainable meet policy for our family after watching the movie Food Inc, I found this link under Mark's daily Apple:

Eating Animals

Three ex vegetarians/vegans that had changed their mind about eating animals. Their current views are in line with my thoughts... and I stress, so far it is only in my thoughts, I have not brought myself to buy the meat that is three to six times more expensive than the conventional meat yet. But I will, and at the same time, meat consumption in this family is bound to go down. Healthy and sane at the same time.

Thought I should bring this article in here since I now some of my readers are vegeterians, even vegans, and my own hubby has a past in the movement. May I add that I do highly respect such choices, just doubtful whether it is the most beneficial for our bodies in the long run. However, probably a lot healthier than the exccessive meat eater diet, no doubt about that.