I'm NOT on a Diet

It's been over one year since I changed my eating lifestyle. I went REALLY strict for many of those months (Dr. Fuhrman's 6 week challenge many times over cutting out all salt, sugar, dairy, meat, refined carbs). Right now I'm more on a 80/20 plan. I eat lots and lots of fruits and veggies all day long and once in a whiel I'll splurge. Today's splurge consisted of eggs benedict this morning (that was QUITE a splurge is is not the norm of my splurges). After that auspicious beginning I ate dehydrated bananas, a few dried bananas, potato  leek soup for dinner. And some peanut butter mixed with 1/2 tsp of raw honey.

My meals nowadays are usually really really simple. In the past dinners used to be huge and varied. Now I am satisfied with something quick and rather bland. A salad is fine. Or a bowl of soup. I could eat oatmeal every single morning as long as it had raisins or bananas in/on it. And I can munch on a bowl of small tomatoes for lunch.

It's not a diet anymore. It's how I eat. It's how I'll eat forever. I hope. I cannot believe how I can sit with a bowl of cherry tomatoes and enjoy each and everyone, much like I enjoy grapes. Yup. That is my life in a nutshell. Chocolate candies don't excite me. For the first time ever I passed up the opportunity to buy super cheap black jelly beans before Easter. But hand me a piece of dark chocolate covered Marzipan and I'll eat it. Give me some kalbi and chances are I will go back for seconds. A fresh just caught fish meal? I'm there.

I'm not on a diet. I'm eating healthy. Most of the time. And I feel good.

How about you?

Excalibur and Dehydrating

For months I have wanted a good dehydrator. In fact I blogged about borrowing an Excalibur dehydrator here back in October 2011. My friend, Kris, from Attainable Sustainable, let me borrow hers and from that moment I have been pining over having my very own. But it is pricey. So I made sure to do my research which consisted of asking others (including Sylvia of Licious Dishes) what brand they prefer.

I finally broke down and bought one on Amazon. I got the 9 tray one. It looks like this only black. And I bought the ParaFlexx sheets to make fruit leathers and crackers. I reasoned it out in my head. I saved money in January by not going to Starbucks or Jamba Juice at all. I have been very frugal in my driving so I actually saved hundreds in gas money.  And I came up with a few more reasons that I could "afford" to finally splurge on a dehydrator. From all I heard Excalibur is top of the line goodness. And now that I have it, I know this to be true.

An inside look

Good drying guide included on machine. I like 135 but I think raw foodists keep it in the yellow (more like 105)

The best of the lot, according to those I talked to (Licious Dishes included!)

Bananas are extremely 'ono dehydrated.

I always cut them this way but next time I'll cut them as "coin" shaped

My first try at fruit leather though it wasn't that great. This was just leftover smoothie. Not a good idea.

kale chips and pineapple are both HUGE WINNERS!

Tomatoes on the top shelves

Strawberry, rhubarb and honey blended together in Vitamix.

After dehydrating just put on a piece of wax paper and rolled it up. SO SO DELICIOUS!

Scored free tomatoes from 'Ano'ano Farms

YUM!

Kids...OMG!

So I anticipated catching up and even storing some blog posts during the spring break of two weeks ago. Let's just call that my wishful thinking period. Reality is that I had three grandchildren and a daughter or two in on the mix. And all dreams of fancy footwork in the kitchen went to pieces.

And so it reminded me about how hard it is for those of you with little ones. Or even semi big ones. The day to day grind of entertaining kids, shuttling them to and fro, cleaning up, playing games, going outside, coming back in, going outside, coming back in leaves a Mama (or Puna) with little time to ponder and conjure up a great home cooked whole foods meal (not even going to talk about exercise).

Visions of me driving through McDonalds or buying fries for the kids wherever fries were sold came to mind as did boxed mac n cheese and hamburger helper.

And then I listened to Hungry for Change that likened sugar to cocaine. Ouch. And that reminded me of how dairy products are filled with hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, and pus. Oh my. Okay. Got it.

So my meals that week weren't necessarily gourmet exquisiteness. They were quite simple: stir fries, pastas, peanut butter honey sandwiches (that the kiddos made themselves), cut fruits, smoothies. No juice or soda. No sugary cereals. No dairy at all and maybe meat a time or two (kalua pig I(of the hunter gatherer type) and cabbage comes to mind).

So to all my child rearing friends and family members: keep it simple. Make lots so there are leftovers. Freeze even the one servings for a quick microwave zap lunch one day. Do whatever it takes to get you through another day of joyful living with your kids because like everyone on earth who has had kids say: they grow up fast. (Oh. And then they have their own kids and ship 'em to you whenever they can. But it's a lot more fun the second time around.)

Bundling up little ones takes a while!

Now I know why parents love t.v. There is something so wrong with this scene but SORRY! Better this than Mac 'n Cheese.

So much work but oh so fun!

This is all of 'em!

Try taking a 4 kid pic

Someone always wants to clown around

The same swing her Mama used when she was a kid.

The same swing his Dad used when he was a kid.