Food and Personal Goals of the Month - September 2010

Ah, finally September!  A new month, new goals.  But...I can't really set all of my goals until tomorrow.  Tomorrow will determine a lot.  So these are "sort of" goals.  And as the month goes on they could change/go out the window depending on how I feel, Dr. appts., etc.  But I'll give it my best shot.  Aim high.  And hope for the best.

FOOD

I'll start with food as usual.  But maybe not be as specific anymore since I've listed my fertility and gut health goals for a few months.  To see them check the goals for June, July and August.  For the most part they are part of our regular eating now.  I will be keeping up with them with a few adjustments.

1. Eating for the 1st trimester??* - there are some specific nutrients critical to fetal development in the 1T.  So I want to do my best to get those in.

Throughout pregnancy:
B Vitamins - meat, poultry, lentils, whole grains or Brewer's yeast
Vitamin C - fruit and vegetables or raw juice
Vitamin E - olive oil and nuts or vit. E supplement (Dr. Ron's)

During 1T (vitamins - organs and limbs are made up of vitamins and need them to develop well):
Vitamins A and D - butter, eggs, pork, seafood or cod liver oil

I also have to just kind of see how things go.  See if "morning" sickness kicks in.  That will partly determine what I eat.  I'm already not feeling great, but can still eat most things.  But that could soon change :)

*If I am not pg, then I will be continuing to focus on the regular fertility foods and prepare for another transfer.

2.  Gluten/grain free - Over the last couple weeks I have cut most gluten and grains out of my diet.  I know I don't have celiac.  But I don't know if I am gluten intolerant.  I can say that I have noticed an improvement in my digestion during the last couple weeks.  Even while on progesterone...which usually makes digestion awful for me.  I have not been strict about it, just cutting things out most of the time.  But I think I will try to cut out gluten totally.  And limit other grains.  Last night gave me more incentive to do this.  I made a fresh batch of sourdough bread yesterday.  I rarely eat any bread these days.  But since it was fresh I had a small piece (from a mini loaf) with dinner and a small piece at bedtime.  Right after eating my bedtime snack my belly instantly bloated out and my stomach hurt.  Could be the gluten.

3.  I got some lard from the co-op last week.  So I have to try cooking with that.  First I have to figure out how :)

4.  As always I try to eat in season.  September means apples and pears!  And a variety of yummy veggies.  Rebecca and I had our first brussels sprouts of the season yesterday (from the farmer's market...ours aren't ready yet).

5. Raw milk - I have been thinking about this a lot and talking with Justin.  Especially after reading so much about dairy in the eCourse.  I think we finally decided we would like to try raw milk.  But of course it's not that easy.  We contacted our local dairy farm...they don't have any open shares.  We are on their waiting list.  I contacted another farm that is still in West MI, but not as close.  They do have open shares.  I can call next week to set things up if I want.  So we have to decide if we want to make the 1 hour round trip every week for good milk.  I still have to talk to them and find out if there are any groups in our area that take turns picking up milk.  That would make a difference.  I really want the milk.  But not sure about the drive.  Especially in the winter.  Maybe I'll see if we can try it for a month and go from there.

6.  Food preservation - September is another busy month for food preservation.  I hope I can keep up.  Applesauce and pearsauce are always a must.  I'm still debating about canning peaches.  We'll see how next week goes.  I would like to do more salsa and spaghetti sauce (maybe one more batch of each) and a batch of chili sauce.  If I can find a good source I'd like to freeze broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts.  And maybe do more fermented preserving.  Plus I still have to make and freeze pesto.  We have a fair amount of basil, and we just planted more spinach.  I'd like to make pesto with both.

7.  Here are a few misc. cooking/baking projects I would like to try this month:

 *sourdough chocolate cake
 *soaked tortillas
 *crackers
 *peach pie
 *yogurt

HEALTH

Over the last few months I have been learning a lot about health and nutrition.  And I still have so much more to learn.  So I am going to have some health goals this month.  I will have two categories.  One is sharing some of the things I've learned.  I hope to do some series on health topics.  The other is research.  There are some specific things I need to learn to continue on my healing journey.

1. Possible healthy eating/lifestyle series (depends how much I have time for...hope to do them all at some point) - cereal, microwaves, fat - good and bad, nitrites/nitrates, artificial ingredients, aluminum, soy, phytates, nuts, gluten/grains, sugars and dairy.

2.  Research topics
 a. multiples - obviously this will only happen if we find out we are having multiples...which wouldn't be until later this month.
 b. digestive process - I need to do this to continue working on my OCD.  My perspective of what's normal has gotten skewed over the years, especially since my colon surgery.  I think learning the details about digestion and what really goes on will really help me.  Learn what healthy digestion really is and how our bodies use what we eat.
 c. pregnancy and childcare - learn more about natural care during pregnancy and for raising children (i.e. nutrition, cloth diapers, first foods, etc.).

COST REDUCTION

1. Continue recording spending and sales.
2. Food budget - $150/week.
3. Continue to plan meals based on sales/what we have on hand and on what's in season.
4. Continue to make as much food as possible from scratch.
5. 2nd hand shopping when necessary
6. Simplify - continue to minimize where possible.

FAMILY/PERSONAL

1. I just ordered some new makeup to try out.  Found out last week that the organic makeup I was using has soy in it :(  We'll see if this one works ok.

2. Sewing machine - There is a good chance I won't get around to this, but I want it on my radar.  I really would like to get back into sewing.  I haven't done it in years.  And I think it would be a great way to save money.  And a good skill to teach Rebecca some day.  I loved having homemade clothes growing up.  Hopefully I can do the same for my kids.  My first step is to figure out how to work my sewing machine :P  It's my grandma's old machine.  Nice, but confusing.

3. A local farm (the place where we might get our milk) is having a cheese making class on the 18th.  I'm considering doing that.  They also have a farm tour on the 25th that I'm considering, depending on what time it is.

4. Activities - these are the things that we are involved in/are starting up soon:
 a. Kindermusik!! (Sept. 8)
 b. nursery cmt
 c. Little Lambs (Rebecca's class at church.  Starts Sept. 12.  I'll be a helper every 6 weeks.)
 d. MOPS (open house Sept. 18, first meeting Oct. 1, I'll be helping with MOPPETS)

5. Fun stuff.  Next Saturday Rebecca and I are planning to go to the Curiuos George exhibit at the GRCM with some of my family.  Rebecca is beyond excited to see CG and see her cousin Carson.  We also might go to Art Prize on the 25th with some of my family.  We haven't made final plans yet.

6. Justin - Justin started class yesterday, so we're back to being on our own one night a week.  And he is going to France for a week, leaving on Saturday.  We'll sure miss him!

7. Rebecca - some things to do with Rebecca this month:
 a. Keep working on potty training
 b. Keep working on letters, numbers, spelling/sounds, counting, math, etc.
 c. Teach her a little more about babies
 d. Start setting up her new room?
 e. Start transitioning her to a regular bed?

8. Long term goals - still have these on the list.  I hope they won't be on much longer.  Especially the 3rd one :)
 a. Overcome OCD
 b. Stop using miralax
 c. Successful IVF cycle/pregnancy :)

I think that's it for this month.  Lots of goals.  Lots of uncertainty.  Praying God will put everything in place and this will be a very exciting month for us.  I trust that God is listening to Rebecca's prayers.  Every night she prays for "a baby brother AND a baby sister." :)