Yankeegals Cafe The World through my eyes…

2009 in Review ~ Our raw food testimony

2009 was an Amazing year for my family. This is going to be a pretty long post, so I will make it solely about our dietary changes that we have made this past year. I also have a Religious testimony to share, but will save that testimony for the next post.

OK~~~ March of 2009 we decided to change our eating style, when we found out one of our daughters had a gluten intolerance. I started searching online about what exactly that meant. I had already known that artificial flavors and colors attribute to autism and many other disorders, such as hyper tension. As I read page after page, hours on end, I came across something called the raw diet way of eating for optimum health. About 3 days after reading up on what eating a majority of raw foods  meant to the human body. I met a lady online and found out that she only lived in the next town over. She was a (M.O.M) Mother of Many. She invited us over for dinner. We had not mentioned anything to do with food yet. We arrived and she had made a big pot of chili and corn bread. As we all sat down to eat, I noticed she was just eating a salad and I casually mentioned to her if she liked Chili. She said yes, but has been trying to stick with her RAW food diet!!! LOL

My husband and I looked at each other and chuckled. She began to tell us all about what eating 80% raw foods has done to her family. She told me that for the past 8 months she and her family have been raw. She said that her husband was on medications for several things and suffered from (IBS) irritable bowl syndrom, Gurd, and blood preasure issues. She had a few issues herself she said and within a month of eating raw foods, they were cured!! WOW! I was amazed. I then told her about how I was just reading and studying about raw foods that past week. She was surprizingly shocked and then reached for the freezer and brought out a assortmant of raw desserts. Raw flourless brownies, Raw flourless chocolate chip cookies, and even some raw chocolate, which is an amazing super food, when eaten raw!
It was so cool.

I decided to slowly transition my family to a more natural organic whole foods diet. I took the basics first and did away with processed packaged foods that were loaded with preservatives, MSG etc. This meant for  us: no more Kraft Mac & Cheese, no more Coco puffs or fruity pepples. No more hamburger helper, frozen waffles, pancakes, TV dinners,french fries,chicken nuggets, Texas toast or frozen pizzas. No more fast food places, or fried food even! I stopped buying canned soups, convience mixes, chili,taco,pot roast and meatball seasoning packets too.No more bisquick, No more Crystal Light because (Aspartame causes Migrains and cancer) No more soda or concentrated juices. We were never into Kool aid because I had a thing about how some people use Kool Aid to dye fabrics, and if Kool Aid is powerful enough to dye fabrics…what on Gods Green earth is it doing to the inside of my kids bodies??? To me, that is border line child abuse. *G*

Ok, so I would need to spend a bit more time in the kitchen, but wasn’t my kids worth it??  I went online and found out how to make my own bisquick. Next I needed to find out what to do about  Vegtable shortening, so I bought a coconut oil from Walmart and as it was not organic, I replaced vegtable shortening with it. Super healthy. Cconut Oil has so many medicinal properties. I highly encourage you to check into it. Vegtable shortening is a highly prosessed Hydronated oil and wrecks haven on your colen, amoung other things.
Next came the peanut butter. This is a daily stable in our house, and so it was needed. I found at Costcos, they sell a double pack of organic healthy peanut butter that is creamy and soooooo good! It was only a buck more then the Jiff that I was use to buying too! I was not sure my son would go for it. He is the picky one, but sure enough, he welcomed the change. Then the Jelly, I was always buying the All Fruit Polanders. I decided to juice some grapes one day, and throw in some pectin and raw sugar, and make enough grape jelly to last the whole year! DONE! :o)

Bread, I was buying good old Wonder bread and switched  to one called Natures Own. It is the only one with no high frutose corn syrup in it, or MSG. There was something else it did not have in it, but I am drawing a blank. *G*

Next was Meats-I was use to buying frozen meatballs, bagle bites,chicken,hambugeres,fish sticks, mozzerella sticks, and who knows what else.

We ate really unhealthy, and were constantly praying for good health while eating a whole lot of crap. This gave a whole new meaning for praying over our deep fried foods, while asking the Lord to have it bless, and nourish us. Were we honestly thinking that the fried fatty foods would magically convert to spinich in our gut??

The bible says that we parish, for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6

Most of us grow up eating what we, ourselves were raised on. If it was good enough for mom and dad, Well, it will be good enough for us…But, how is your mom and dad? How are our parents health right now? Are they even still with us?

My dad is on 6 different medications right now and my mother is on 4.

How about our grandparents? How did they pass away, if they are no longer with us. What ever happened to dying of old age?

I think it would have to be our Great Grandparents that were probably eating a more whole foods diet. Why? Because they did not have all the boxed foods that they have nowadays. Hmmmmmm.
Anyways, I also started juicing and doing green smoothies which are sooooooo filling! I replaced the poptarts with homemade ones for transition foods for the kids. Then I stopped making the homemade ones, due to the cream cheese and sugar in them. I then started making Vegan muffins for the kids to snack on. We gave up white sugar, which praise the Lord, it has been 8 months since I bought a 5lb bag of white poison, I mean sugar! lol

It was actually during a trip to Costcos that taught us what white sugar does to our bodies. There was a demonstration of a guy using the ever popular Vita-Mix blender. He was making ice cream in less then a minute. He put some raw sugar, strawberries,milk and cabbage into the blender. He said that each time we put white sugar into our bodies, our bodies react to it as if it were bleach, a poison..and started attacking it as such. Yikes! Later when I went home, I researched it on my own and found that what he had said was true.:o(

Then he explained how the cabbage nutralizes suagr in general, so it will not mess with our blood sugar and  that sugar in the Raw does not act as a poison to our bodies. Yes, in large quanities, it will still cause Diabietes, but your body can identify it as a whole food and not a poison.
As far as snacks go, I still buy chips twice a month, but not the Lays,Cheetos or Doritos which are filled with MSG. This is why you can’t have just one and be done! *grin* MSG is a food enhancer, for those who do not know. It enhances the flavor of the food, so you want to overeat and indulge!!! There are some natural MSG found in meats. This is the heavaly processed MSG that I am talking about. I am talking about the powdered stuff that   is added to 99% of our processed foods that we are shoving down our kids throats.

For snacks, we buy organic tortilla chips in bulk at Costcos. I also buy something called Veggie Straws  which everyone just loves.. except me. I have never been a chip person.

As far as dairy goes, we still are eating eggs, but only once a week. They are from our chickens. We only buy Raw cows milk. This is only during the times that our Goat is not giving us raw goats milk. For myself though, I was never one for milk either. I do buy Organic vanilla Soy milk that I use in my baked goods etc..
Oh, getting back to the bread. During the summer months I was making our own bread. Just the simple basic bread recipe on the little packet of yeast. Everyone devoured it!

With the cold weather though, I was finding that I could not get my bread to rise right, so stopped making it until the warmer months.

I have lost 43 pounds this past year.I had lost more nearly 50, but gained it back. My goal was 50 actually. I gained it back when I fell prey to eating out, and over other peoples homes who were not eating the way I eat at my house. I think I may start just brown bagging it. *grin*

This coming year my goal is again, 50lbs. I just bought some new workout dvds today and weight elastics to go with them. I feel very determined and motivated as I type this.
As far as protein goes, and this is the most contriversal topic among carnivores and vegatarains….Let me just say, if you educate yourself, you will come to find out that meat protein is the worst kind of protein you can eat. Meat is what is causing heart diseaes throughout America, and  Despite what the main stream doctors are feeding us. (no pun intended) There is amazing amounts of real protein in so many other natural foods.

Carbs make us feel sluggish, so I am not advocating carbs by no means. You need to callenge yourself and sample a little of this and that, to see what your body reacts too. Wouldn’t it be amazing to feel as you did in your teens. So vibrant and alive! waking up each morning and literetly jumping out of bed, ready to start each new day. Ending each night with still loads of energy to spare. No body aches or pains EVER!  Sleeping for 6-7 hours a night, and sleeping straight through, waking up and feeling as if you slept 12 hours!!
Vitamins–I do take vitamins, because I always have. I do not get outside for more then a few minutes a day, and the sun is barely shining these days.  I take 6000IU’s of D3 each and every day. A couple years back, you never heard of anyone taking D3. But since the sun is the only source out there..and even some main stream doctors such as Dr. Oz are hopping on the band wagon and advocating how good it is for you..It is getting a buzz! 

I have tested it, I went several days without my D3, and I felt more run down.
If you have ever been sick in the summer time and went outside in the sun before. That feeling, that lifting up, pick up feeling that the sun gives you when you are out in it. That is what the D3 does for us. We get ours from Swanson.com. The bottle says to take one 1000IU a day. If you research it, you will find that for every 25lbs you are. You can take one 1000IU though. If you are feeling sick, a adult can stomach 10 1000IU’s and heal themselves in 3 days flat! It is pretty amazing.

All 7 of us take them each day. I also take Super B. I have been taking it for years and want to continue.

So there you have a basic run down on what my family was eating and where we are right now.
Yes, some days I fail, and make bad choices.  I do not buy any meats anymore, but do buy black bean burgers, a carrot veggie burger, and salmon burgers.We eat one of these burgers once a week. We also treat the kids to frozen pizzas sometimes and did a comparison, and found that the Tombstone frozen pizzas are the most natural. No MSG either!
My fridge is mostly fruits and veggies. I have taken some new pictures of it to share like I did last time. I need to have hubby hook up the camera to the new puter though. I will add them later.

Other things we gave up were, corn syrups, artificial flavored baking extracts,white table salt,Imitation maple pancake syrups,cheeses with food colorings in them, flourinated toothpastes, and comercial toothpastes in general, shampoos and conditioners with Sodiem Laral Sulfate in them, anti-persprints,store bought hand soaps and lotions,air freshners,all candles, except the beeswax and Soy based ones,store bought laundry soap, bath soap detergents, mouth washes(they contain aspertame) and pretty much anything un natural that you would place on your skin that would get into your blood stream.

Now I know that there are some folks who are actually allergic to raw foods! Wow! when I studied up on this, it sounded crazy. But there are some people who break out and puff up like a blow fish when they eat, or touch certain raw foods. This is called, Oral Allergy Syndrome, and YES, it also can be cured!! If you find that you would like to eat more raw foods, but simply feel as if your hands are tied, I would encourage you to Google up on oral allergy syndrome. There is a cure!  Sometimes it is just because you have a leaky gut. Having a damaged intestinal lining allows molecules that don’t belong into your system, where they  mimic allergies. It is something to look into. From what I have read, people who suffer from OAS, also suffer from  birch, grass and ragweed pollen in the Spring and Summer months.  You can read more about Vegan food allergies here.

I am sure I am leaving out some stuff, but there has been so many positive changes, I can not possibly remember them all!

Until next time…..

I just read the most amazing article about energy and had to pass it on. I was reading up on a sea salt flush that I am getting ready to start and stumbled across this blog. It all makes so much sense and I hope it can also help out other drained out and weary moms out there.

Energy: The Simple Truth

Energy is a hot topic in our culture, and for many it is the ultimate currency. Just as all the misleading dietary information is confusing people, so is all the erroneous information about energy. I think it’s high time to set the record straight about energy. Fortunately, like all great truths, it’s really very simple.

There is only one thing to know about energy. Energy is a current of electromagnetic force of dual polarity (-)/(+). In the physical body it is at its greatest potential when the body’s cells are clean and clear. You are ENERGIZED when you have open pathways (no mucoid matter in the bloodstream, lungs, or throat and no waste matter stuck in the intestines or intestinal walls) and when the energy can move freely between the cells and tissues. I like to imagine cells conducting energy by “kissing” each other with electricity. Energy can only reach the cells and conduct if there are no blockages.

Let’s be absolutely clear: You do not become energized by consuming calorie-dense substances. Instead, you become energized by removing blockages between cells and within pathways so that the electromagnetic current can travel like a lightening rod through the body. If you are feeling weak or lacking power for your workouts when you eat this way, it is ALWAYS due to one or more of the following three reasons:

1) You have awakened matter that your bowel cannot release on its own. Therefore, your center is blocked and the awakened poisons have been released into your bloodstream, making you feel ill and tired. You need either bowel cleansing or a less than perfect meal to give your bowel a break from the transition to clean foods—one or the other, but preferably the former.

2) You are so addicted to the stimulation of cooked proteins, whey or soy protein workout products, coffee, refined sugar, flour, soda, etc. that your body is not coping with the change. The problem is that you’re having withdrawal symptoms—not that the clean diet is failing to deliver energy. You probably need to transition more slowly. People are often deceived into thinking they need meat when, after a week of a meat-free diet, they go out and eat a steak and suddenly feel “energized.” This is a FALSE FIRE!

The wave of false fire is not real energy. It is just the stimulation of the acidic animal protein that an addicted body responds to. Additionally, when the animal is killed, the “fight or flight” hormone—adrenaline—surges through the bloodstream of the frightened animal. That adrenaline is in the meat when consumed, and is often confused with a feeing of energy—again, FALSE FIRE! Acidic, dense substances—whether animal flesh, dense nut/seed bars, protein bars, or yogurt and granola—can never give you real energy, only stimulation. To an unclean body addicted to the stimulation, continuing to consume such substances feels good and familiar. Stopping too suddenly leads to withdrawal symptoms and a feeling of weakness. Hence, people often associate a clean diet with feeling weak. This is why making a gradual TRANSITION away from the old foods, rather than going cold turkey, is so crucial. It will help you avoid many pitfalls!

3) You are mentally programmed to believe that only consuming calorie-dense substances can sufficiently energize you for a workout. The fact is, eating muesli, granola, a power bar, or a shake before a workout can actually physically drain energy from you. But mental programming is a powerful thing; for years you’ve been absorbing the erroneous propaganda that you need these substances for energy. So now it’s a case of mind over matter: work to reverse your thinking and align with the greater truth.

Most of all, keep an eye on the big picture of cleansing. A clear body is an energized body.