Saturday, August 9, 2014

Ten Things of Thankful: Mutiny Experiment Edition

I have been absent on The Hop for weeks. OK, let's be honest with ourselves...it's been months. If you are newer to this place, I’m certain I seem new to you at this moment...and I am perfectly fine with that. But I must confess that I used to be here faithfully each week. But life got in the way…blah, blah, blah.


But this morning, as I was ruminating on my first week through The Mutiny Experiment (there are 4 posts in which I have discussed it to some degree…lest you be interested in further explanation on why I am sounding something like a deranged woman in my list of thankfuls below, you can click here to find the initial one), and I was overwhelmed with a thankful heart.

And knew I must share my thankfuls…not just on the blogosphere, but here specifically at The Hop.

So thank you, Lizzi, for keeping this beautiful thing going and allowing me the chance to jump in as I’m able and inspired.

Without further delay, here is my Ten Things of Thankful Mutiny Edition:
  1. So far I have been able to find eggs and berries on sale at decent prices…knowing at some point I may not, I have been glad for it while it's been available.
  2. That I bought a 5-pound bag of quinoa a few weeks ago, not knowing that we would be making good use of it so expeditiously.
  3. That there are several ways to combine these foods to give some semblance of variety: quinoa, beans and chicken served cold or warm; black bean and chicken soup; scrambled eggs with spinach and quinoa; quinoa and black bean burgers (includes spinach and eggs also); spinach salad with cold roasted chicken and hard-boiled egg. Now I ask you: does that sound ALL that bad? I suppose if you don’t like one or more of those ingredients it would, but I think it’s provided us with sufficient variety so far…we ARE only one week in, with three weeks to go.
  4. Physically, I feel better…no more headaches, no mid-afternoon slump, none of that. And that I am thinking more carefully about what I put into my mouth and seeing the correlation between good food and feeling good.
  5. I have this magnesium thing straightened out and haven’t had restless leg issues (yes, it is a real thing, people…I have had a few people ask me about it. Sure, it sounds C.R.A.Z.Y. but it is VERY REAL) for the past 2 nights…although Mr. AR said that when I first fall asleep and he’s still awake, my legs have been giving some violent individual jerks. Fortunately for me, I am sleeping through it.
  6. That I found a bit of a loophole and have enjoyed some frozen yogurt the past two days. Lest you be curious, I don’t think it totally negates my objectives. And if anything, it makes me MORE thankful for it/variety/a taste of sugar than I ever was before. At the same time, it is not an all-consuming desire for sugar when I eat it…but I am wondering if somehow it is helping me sleep better? I figure I’d better not risk it and keep eating a little bit of frozen yogurt before bed. (Confession: I also added one slice of whole wheat bread to each dinner, which may also help eliminate the RLS.)
  7. That in searching message boards to discern why my restless leg had flared up so terribly, I had a minor panic attack that I might end up GAINING weight on this fast-of-sorts b/c of the increased in fat and protein in my diet. So I am thankful for myfitnesspal.com where I am able to track it and make sure that I am not too skewed in one direction or another.
  8. The discovery that berries (strawberries especially) are lovely on spinach…even without dressing; even the PBA like it…which is saying something. (NOTE: I have had strawberry and spinach salad in the past, but was always drowning in a vinegrette…I encourage each of you to try it WITHOUT the dressing; you’ll barely notice that it’s gone. I promise!)
  9. I am spending WAY more time in the kitchen that I usually do…this “little to no processed foods” thing is kind of hard. Which, I know full-well, is why we haven’t done it before. Don’t get me wrong, we are still stocked with processed foods in our house…as I won’t throw away “perfectly good food” although I know it’s NOT “perfectly good food”. But I did spend money on it and I can’t just let it go to waste. I am trying to have the boys, to some degree, “eat down the stash” during this time so that when we are finished, we can all start new. So yes, I guess I am encouraging my kiddos to eat the craptastic diet just a little while longer. For the record…not ALL the time, just occasionally, so it’s not a full-force effect on their systems. All this rambling to say in this: I am thankful that I am a stay-at-home/homeschooler mom who IS home and CAN spend time in the kitchen to prepare things from scratch: roasted chicken, home-made yogurt, washing the fruit and veggies, making the quinoa, boiling the eggs…all those things that take time, or need some “baby-sitting” which would be a struggle to accomplish if I were working outside the home.
  10. And rounding out my list for today: I am not NEARLY as hungry as I was at the beginning…which, I assume, was part of my body detoxing from my overt sugar addiction. Or just me over-eating.

So what are you thankful for this week?

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22 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear your leg's been a jerk! ;) Glad you've figured out a way of making it less so. Sounds like you're doing really well at sticking to your diet. Well done :) I know it's not easy at the beginning. Strawberries are good on ANYTHING, by the way, and especially good with cucumber, with black pepper ground over them.

    I downloaded my fitness pal and it stressed me out so I'm leery of it and avoiding it at the moment.

    I still don't get on with quinoa, but I'm glad you're finding ways to make it work for you :)

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    1. I know that quinoa's not for everyone...probably more about how it looks than how it tastes...those little "wormy tails" are a little gross for sure.

      I understand how myfitnesspal could do that...I intentionally did not download the app on my phone b/c I didn't want to be a slave to it... :)

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  2. Didn't know that strawberries work so well on spinach! Will have to try it!

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    1. Oh yes, they are lovely...blueberries too, but we think strawberries are the best. :) Thanks for stopping by! :)

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  3. I'm having really bad restless leg issues in those past weeks of pregnancy, and it is indeed driving me nuts. I've been taking more magnesium, and sometimes it seems to work, but then again, when all I want to do is sleep at night, my legs have different plans. Your new diet sounds interesting, glad your guys at home go with it! I've been trying to cut down on processed foods as well, but still feed this sweet tooth of ours with home-made goodies.

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    1. Yes, I'm still not sure if it was the addition of gluten back in (I don't know why it would make a difference but it might), the little bit of sugar in the frozen yogurt, or the magnesium, but I am thankful to have found a solution!

      And home-made goodies are always SO much tastier than processed, pre-packaged stuff...nicely done! :)

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  4. gotta say I am a strawberry and balsamic vinegar fan ... no oil just the vinegar boiled down so its thick... I dont know if I could give that part up... anyway I am glad youre finding some healthy solutions to this problem... and Im also happy to see you here! Its always a treat when you have space to be here!

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    1. HmmmI don't think I have ever boiled vinegar down like that...I might have to try it. In three weeks, of course! :)

      Thanks for the kind words and warm welcome...I am glad to be here. :)

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  5. Wow! Seven foods for an entire month! I'm glad you are feeling better.

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  6. I know a "fast" like this would certainly help tame the sugar monster in me. I applaud you for leaping into this lifestyle change.

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    1. Thanks...it does seem to have helped for now. Hoping to stick with many of the changes after the month is over...it's easy to get back into bad habits. Hopefully the way I feel will help encourage me to stick with it.

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  7. Amazing how you are feeling better and seeing results just by changing foods...I am a believer that we have the ability to heal are own bodies and that all the processed food that we are consuming just puts a strain on our bodies... keep it up and I will need to look into this too :)

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    1. Yes, processed "craptastic" foods are the worst...but they do make life easier (at least in the short-term), so I know WHY we eat them. Just wish they weren't even an option for temptation!

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  8. I'm glad you are feeling fuller and finding recipes to use your 7 foods in a variety of ways. Mostly for your boys' sake. Hopefully their heads aren't getting bitten off so much. :)
    Restless leg is for real. Just ask Bryan. He gets kicked all the time.

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    1. Nope, heads are mostly intact...surprsingly. But we do have 3 more weeks, so stay tuned!

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  9. Oh, don't I know RLS is real! I've had it for years and it's awful. I'm making some serious changes to my eating habits starting tomorrow. The kids are going back to school and I have time to really focus on it. I'm so muddled with the summer madness I haven't been paying attention at all and I'm not feeling my best either. Time to get back into a healthier routine.
    Glad to see you back...it has been a while!

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    1. Thank you for the warm welcome! And best of luck in changing your eating habits...everyone in our group that began this battled mild to sever headaches for the first few days, as we detoxed from sugar and/or caffeine...but now, over a week in, we all agree that we feel better than we have for as long as we can remember. Hope you find the same to be true!

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  10. You bought FIVE POUNDS of quinoa? It's EXPENSIVE! And you're CHEAP. I mean, FRUGAL. I've been experimenting with quinoa recipes with mostly good results. The whole family likes the recipe for quinoa cakes that taste like salmon or crab cakes.
    My dad has RLS. I have a bit of it, when I'm really tired.

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    1. Yes, it is expensive...much to my chagrin. When I first began eating it, it was much cheaper. As it has become more popular (I blame myself for promoting it), the price has gone through the roof. And yes, I bought 5 pounds, b/c I had a gift card AND the price per pound was the cheapest I could find. Otherwise...no way.

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  11. First, I am so impressed by this whole experiment. And I'm so glad you're finding it satisfying - can't think of a better word, so forgive me if that's not quite right. I get really excited by good food and by people who get excited by it. Two years ago we started to really pay attention to what we were eating and it has paid off big time. About a year ago, we got even more attentive because we started to figure out that Kidzilla has some specific food issues - dyes, HFCS, etc. As of now, we're eating pretty much only whole, organic, non-processed foods and we all love it and feel terrific. I could go on forever about the benefits we've seen.
    True that berries and spinach are a good combo. And I used to be a dressing addict until I started eating really good salad ingredients and combos - now I use very little, if any. Amazing. Looking forward to some more great recipes from you!

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    1. Satisfying is a perfect word. Challenging is another lol.

      I hope I can squeeze out at least one more, but without being able to add spices or anything like that, I am a little limited. I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the encouragement! :)

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