The Maker's Diet Day 6: Adding in "Tea"

Our taco salads at the Mexican restaurant last night were great!! (And my addition of a few corn chips were really good as well!).

Back on track today...I've added in a new addition for the kids (and a more regular addition for myself...hubs has been using this regularly for several months now): Apple Cider Vinegar "Tea." You only get the benefits from using real Apple Cider Vinegar, such as Bragg's. Here are some of the benefits:

*rich in natural minerals, vitamins and enzymes
*helps the body eliminate toxins by binding to them
*fights bacteria and fungus (esp Candida)
*breaks up mucus throughout the body
*cleanses the lymph nodes to allow the lymphatic system to work better
*aids in digestion if taken before meals

My husband takes a Tbsp or so in the mornings along with warm lemon water. I've started putting some in a glass of water before each meal (aiming for 1 Tbsp/day). And the kids are now drinking a cup of "tea" each day -- warm water with 1 Tbsp ACV and a little honey.

Breakfast:
Kids: green apple, 2 zucchini muffins each, 1 piece turkey bacon each, bowl of plain goat yogurt with fresh strawberries
Not sure what we're having for breakfast yet...not super hungry yet. I've had one piece of turkey bacon so far :) -- made smoothies and some more turkey bacon for hubs and myself.

Lunch:
"Bunless" turkey burgers with avocado slices, lettuce, (tomatoes & onions on mine) Bubbie's dill pickles and fresh blackberries.

Snacks:
Raspberries + goat cheese + turkey rolls for the 3 year old
Dried blackberries for the 5 year old
Sunflower seeds + almonds for hubs
a turkey roll for myself

Dinner: (birthday party barbeque)
Turkey hot dogs
Deer sausage
Fruit
These AMAZING cupcakes!! (without the frosting)

The Makers Diet Day 5: Keeping the Pace...

We're still keeping the pace...no more detox symptoms, feeling good. The kids woke up this morning asking for cereal or oatmeal and made faces at me when I told them we were still not eating those foods :) But, after offering to make another batch of Zucchini Muffins they were happy! I definitely have to be ready and creative to keep the pace with the kids. But, it still seems to be working out fine.

Hubs and I are going out to eat tonight with some friends at a Mexican restuarant, so that should be interesting. I know we should be fine with a grilled chicken taco salad (omiting cheese, sour cream and whatever else we can't eat!). I've decided I'm adding a small quantity of corn in (a phase 2 food) tonight (aka: CHIPS for the salsa) -- ha! But, I still think we'll do fine with the taco salad...and a small amount of chips :)

So, here is the plan for today:

Breakfast:
Kids: 2 zucchini muffins each, turkey sausage, fresh strawberries
Hubs: turkey bacon, 1 egg, 1 zucchini muffin
Myself: turkey bacon, fresh blackberries, 1 zucchini muffin & cup of coffee (no, I haven't dropped it but I have been using coconut milk in it instead of any sort of creamer...my blood sugar does not drop doing that & it is filling)

Snack:
3 year old: fresh blackberries, goat cheese, 1 boiled egg

Lunch:
Kids: turkey lunch meat, fresh blackberries & raspberries, raw sprouted pumpkinseeds, raw seed "crackers" & smoothie (spinach, frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, almond milk, coconut oil)
Leftovers for Hubs
Greek salad (cucumber, tomato, red onion, dried dill, dried parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper) with tuna & a smoothie for myself

Dinner:
Leftovers for the kids (chicken salad, chicken/apple sausage, carrot sticks, fruit)
Adults out to eat!

The Maker's Diet Day 4: Detox

I shared that yesterday morning hubs was feeling some detox symptoms...well, I woke up at 5:30am today feeling some major detox symptoms as well (nausea, heart beating fast, thirsty, etc). After downing a bunch of water and eating some applesauce, I went back to sleep and felt much better later in the morning (enough to spend 3 hours at the zoo with my 3 year old!). I've felt these same symptoms before when detoxing, so I'm pretty sure that's what it was.

I'm also thinking of adding some phase 2 foods into my and the kids' diet right now. The Maker's Diet consists of 3 phases, and if you complete each phase you do so in 40 days (2 weeks on phase 1, 2 weeks on phase 2 and then finishing out on phase 3). However, Rubin states in the book that you can start on any phase that you choose. He says, "If you are significantly overweight or obese, or if you have health problems, I recommend you start on phase one. If you are extremely healthy and want to stay that way, or even improve your health, you may start on phase three....However, I believe it is a good idea for everyone to start on phase one at least for a few days in order to restart your metabolism and attack the three i's (insulin, infection and inflammation)."

I feel like we are full enough, but it also feels very repetitive at this point without a whole lot of choices of foods. I don't forsee us sticking completely with phase 1 for another 10 days for sure! I have lost about 3 lbs, which is nice :) ...and added bonus for sure! And I feel like my head is clearer (not as foggy as many people with Fibro would describe their norm). And I also have not had the really bad headaches that I get almost daily (not migraines, but I usually have a bad headache nearly every day). I'm not feeling wonderful, but I do feel some improvements. I'll take that!

As I look over what we have been eating for the past few days, I feel like I want to add a few foods from phase 2 into our diet, namely lunch meat (and I always buy nitrate/nitrite free anyway), green apples (apples come in at phase 2 but green apples are lower on the glycemic index), black beans and possibly a sweet potato or two (or the puree in muffins). I feel like we need just a bit more, and then we can stay there for a few days and reassess.

Breakfast:
1 zucchini muffin each for the kids; 3 pieces turkey sausage; handful of fresh raspberries & 1 piece each of turkey bacon (rushed morning!)
an egg & 2 pieces of turkey bacon for hubs
smoothie for myself (plain goat yogurt, raw almond butter, coconut oil, fresh strawberries, frozen blueberries)

Snack:
green apple

Lunch:
kids -- turkey hot dogs; strawberries/raspberries; goat cheese for the 3 year old
chicken salad; guacamole on lettuce; strawberries & green apple for myself
leftovers from last night's dinner for hubs

Snack:
trail mix for the kids (raw/sprouted sunflower seeds, dried peas, dried blackberries)

Dinner: (t-ball night)
organic chicken & apple sausage links; green peas/green salad; fruit (a throw it together night)

The Maker's Diet Day 3: Grain-free Waffles

I woke up with slightly more energy than usual this morning :) I didn't feel like I needed a cup of coffee as soon as I made it to the kitchen! So, maybe I'm starting to see some improvements.

Breakfast:
I made these Grain-Free Waffles this morning, using coconut flour & almond meal and coconut oil. They were SO good! I have a regular size waffle maker that makes two square waffles. This recipe filled the waffle maker one time. So, I doubled it to make 4 waffles. They were very filling...the kids ate blueberries on theirs and some turkey sausage.

Lunch:
*Both kids are at school today for lunch, so I sent leftover meatballs for the 5 year old and turkey hot dogs for the 3 year old with strawberries and one zucchini muffin.
*I had a chicken salad, and hubs took leftovers from last night to work.

Snack:
Trail mix (pumpkinseeds, sunflower seeds, dried peas & dried blackberries)
Goat yogurt with blueberries
Fresh raspberries

Dinner:
Taco bowls (turkey taco meat, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, plain goat yogurt, goat's milk cheese, salsa)

End of day recap: We seem to be holding on :) The kids are doing great! They are eating such a variety of foods now that we've taken out their staples of crackers & bread. And they have not complained at all (amazing for a 3 yr old & 5 yr old!). :) Hubs and I are both craving "crunchy" foods right now...chips! Everything right now is soft! But we're staying full, so there really are no complaints. He felt some possible die-off effects this morning...dizzy and drugged feeling. He drank a ton of water and started to feel better and was fine through the rest of the day. I have not felt any of those effects yet, but I have been doing other detox things before starting this diet where I felt all of that. So, maybe I'm not going to? Or maybe later? So far so good though.

I've made several trips to the store this week as I've seen what we need to really stick with this diet for the first two weeks. So, here are my recommendations if you choose to try this out :)

-almond meal (the bulk bins at Whole Foods are MUCH cheaper than the packaged version)
-coconut flour (I've only found it packaged...Bob's Red Mill)
-unsweetened coconut flakes (I'm going to try baked chicken nuggets using this instead of flour)
-coconut oil
-coconut milk (really good drizzled over berries for a dessert!)
-frozen blueberries, raspberries, cherries
-fresh strawberries, fresh raspberries
-lemons & limes (for water or salad or seasoning meat/fish)
-raw almonds (I did soak them overnight and then dried them in the oven on the lowest setting)
-raw sprouted sunflower seeds & pumpkin seeds (I found these -- easy!)
-dried berries & vegetables (I bought these blackberries & peas -- make sure to only buy the ones that are allowed in the first two weeks)
-fermented veggies are highly recommended for aiding digestion, but I'm not up to fermenting my own yet :) I have found that Bubbie's products are recommended, so I did buy 2 jars (pickles & sauerkraut) to try it out.
-plain goat yogurt (we have been using Meyenberg for quite some time now...works for all of us!)
-local raw honey (or at least local honey used in small quantities)
-LOTS of fresh/frozen veggies
-chicken, turkey (beef and game are also allowed)
-turkey hot dogs and turkey sausage is still a must for our family right now with young kids
-canned tuna/salmon
-fish to bake

The Maker's Diet Day 2: Grain-Free Muffins & Meatballs

I baked these Grain-Free Blueberry Muffins yesterday...SO good!!! I have the Zucchini Muffins mixed up to try today. I reduced the amount of honey from 1/4 cup to 1/8 cup for the zucchini muffins, so we'll see how they turn out. I thought the blueberry ones were plenty sweet and would probably be fine with less honey.
**Update: The Zucchini Muffins are SO good & only using 1/8 cup honey was perfect. With all of the spices, there was no need for more honey.

I'm also planning on trying out these Chicken Pancakes. I will leave out the banana right now as those are not allowed until week 5. I'll probably add in flaxmeal and maybe a little honey since the sweetness from the banana will not be in there. So, we'll see how they turn out as well.

I have Turkey Meatballs cooling right now for lunch.
1lb ground turkey
couple of shakes of wheat-free teriyaki sauce
couple of shakes of garlic powder, onion powder and ground ginger
1-2 Tbsp of flaxmeal (since I didn't use oats or breadcrumbs)
1 handful of spinach, chopped

Roll into 15 meatballs.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

**Update:
Breakfast:
2 grain-free blueberry muffins + 1 slice turkey bacon for the kids
2 scrambled eggs with purple onion/spinach + sliced cherry tomatoes + 1 slice turkey bacon for myself

Snack:
fresh raspberries and goat cheddar cheese for my 3 year old

Lunch:
grain-free Turkey Meatballs + fresh raspberries + Bubbies bread & butter pickles + frozen cherries

Snack:
Grain-free Zucchini muffin + smoothie (fresh strawberries, frozen blueberries, plain goat yogurt, raw almond butter, coconut oil, water)

Dinner:
Baked teriyaki chicken + stirfried veggies + grapefruit slices

**End of day recap: We did not seem nearly as hungry today between meals as yesterday. I think the grain-free muffins REALLY helped today! And adding coconut oil & almond butter to the smoothies really makes them filling as well.

What I'm most amazed about (after only 2 days) is that my kids are NOT begging for their snacks! They typically snack on gluten-free crackers, dry cereal, GF bread and fruit (with other things thrown in). My 3 year old always wants sandwiches for lunch. And they have not asked for the other food really at all. Again, I think the muffins have helped in that as well. But, they are eating more food at each meal and trying more foods. My 3 year old ate roasted cauliflower last night at dinner and ate all of her fish (she usually picks at dinner), and my 5 year old is eating tons of food as usual...but it's all good choices.

Tomorrow I'm trying out this recipe for Grain-Free Waffles using coconut flour and almond meal. I've decided that we really need something along these lines once a day...we cannot do just eggs/meat/fish, fruit, veggies, almonds/pumpkinseeds/sunflower seeds all day long for two weeks.

Menu Plan Monday: April 5, 2010

This is our first week of The Maker's Diet (you can read more here about why we are doing this and what it's all about). The first two weeks are basically grain-free, sugar-free, preservative-free, and bean/legume-free in order to regulate blood sugars and begin the healing process. The Maker's Diet does allow for a variety of meat and game, however we usually just eat chicken and turkey. So, I want to slowly try other meat to see if that affects us or not.

So, here is our menu plan for this week (I'll add in green salad, steamed veggies and other cooked veggies):

Monday: Baked Tilapia

Tuesday: Baked Teriyaki Chicken with stirfried veggies

Wednesday: Turkey Taco Salads

Thursday: (t-ball night) quick Grilled Chicken and Apple Sausage links with fruit and green salad

Friday: Turkey Burgers (no buns) and toppings

Saturday: Turkey Hot Dogs

Sunday: Roast Chicken and Veggies

Breakfast (rotating)
blueberry/strawberry/almond butter smoothie with turkey sausage
Grain-free Blueberry muffins with Boiled Eggs
grain-free pumpkin pancakes with turkey sausage
scrambled eggs with pancakes/muffins

Lunch (rotating) -- for the kids (hubs eats leftovers from dinner & I eat a salad with various toppings)
chicken salad with fruit and celery sticks
tuna salad with fruit and almonds
meatballs with fruit
turkey hot dogs with fruit

Snacks
raw sunflower seeds and dehydrated peas
raw almonds (soaked & dried)
plain goat's milk yogurt with flaxmeal and frozen berries
smoothies
strawberries/blueberries/grapefruit
goat's milk cheese with fruit

The Maker's Diet

I've taken a break from blogging the last few weeks...I've been reading more online about various healing diets. I've known this is the direction that I would like to take our menu planning, but I was not sure exactly which direction that would be :) We have several chronic health issues (Fibromyalgia in myself, sinus infections in both kids & my husband and stomach issues in all). We have mostly followed the Eat Right for Your Type diet (we are all blood type A's) and find that we really do much better while eating the foods that are right for our type (mostly chicken/turkey, vegetables, fruits, and gluten-free grains).

However, I think we need to take things to a new level. I know that certain foods have negative effects on our bodies, but I truly believe that certain foods can be healing to our bodies as well. So, we are starting The Maker's Diet today. I went to the health food store last night to stock up on more foods that we can eat, and I removed (and hid) all of the foods in our pantry that we cannot eat right now. The first two weeks on the "diet" are the most restrictive, but in stage 2 (the next two weeks) more foods are added back in. And finally in the 5th week, more are added back in and you reach the maintenance stage. It's a 40 day diet at the end of which I hope just mostly stay at that level. We are not taking their supplements, but we are all taking a high-quality probiotic as well as other vitamins/supplements. So, I feel that we are ok in that area.

I hope to chronicle what we are doing so that I can look back and see what did or did not work for us. In the first two weeks, the diet consists mostly of good quality meats/fish/poultry/eggs (no pork and no shellfish being the main restrictions), only goat's milk yogurt and goat/sheep's milk cheese (we already eat plain goat's milk yogurt), coconut oil/organic butter/extra virgin olive oil for fats/oils, lots of vegetables, a good variety of raw nuts/seeds (no peanuts at this stage), fresh seasonings, berries/grapefruit/lemons/limes and mostly purified water to drink. So the biggest restriction in stage 1 is no beans/legumes (except for lentils) and no grains! That will be the biggest issue with my kids as they snack on dry cereal, granola, and crackers! But, I am finding some good recipes for muffins and pancakes made with almond meal instead of grains. I'll post about those when I try them out.

So far for day 1 we've had:

Breakfast:
**smoothie for the kids (& sent one to work with hubs for a snack)...small handful of spinach, water, goat yogurt, raw almond butter, frozen blueberries & fresh strawberries, maybe 1 tsp of coconut oil -- SO yummy!!!!! And they also had some turkey sausage (allowed but probably not the best as it's not nitrate/nitrite free).
** scrambled eggs with tomatoes & turkey sausage for hubs and myself.

Mid-Morning snack:
**raw sunflower seeds and dehydrated peas for the kids
**they also finished up our banana/clementine supply with one each (not allowed on this stage but they were in the refrigerator!)

Lunch:
**nitrate/nitrite free turkey hot dogs for the kids
**then later, tuna salad for the kids with strawberries & raw almonds (soaked & dried in the oven)
**egg salad & green salad for myself
**leftovers for the hubs (chicken, okra & green salad)

Afternoon Snack:
**plain goat yogurt with flaxmeal and frozen blueberries for the kids

Dinner:
It will be baked tilapia for all with a large green salad for the adults (still working on getting the kids to really eat salad) and carrot sticks/fruit for the kids.

I can see all of us being hungry between meals during these first two weeks without beans and grains. We'll see...