Food and Personal Goals of the Month - October 2010

Here we are in October.  Where has this year gone?   (Oh yeah, I spent it doing fertility treatments :P)  It is definitely fall here.  Hopefully we still have some nice days before the cold stays.  As usual I'm setting some goals for this month.  But I may not accomplish half of them :P  Mostly just trying to get through each day right now.  Tomorrow will be 8 weeks.  And this past week I have already seen an increase in nausea, etc.  I know it's not going anywhere soon.  So this month is tough to plan.

FOOD

I'll start with food.  Something that is on my mind all the time right now.  What sounds good?  What sounds gross?  Should I eat something now?  Is my stomach too empty?  Will this make me feel better or worse?  That's what my day is like.  I just try to go with what sounds good and not worry too much about it.  I had leftover pizza for breakfast today :)  It was homemade so it's actually quite healthy.  And I had a big pile of veggies with it.  Odd, but that's what sounded good.  In general anything sweet sounds totally disgusting.  And the more salt the better :)  I can't say I'm eating as healthy as usual/as I'd like.  But I'm doing my best.  So I'll do my best with these goals, but nausea generally determines what I can handle.  So I just take things one day/one meal at a time.

1. Eating for pregnancy, specifically the 1st trimester.

Essential nutrients 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)

Essential nutrients 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

2. Mostly grain free.  This is very tough some days.  I know grains are hard on my gut.  So I try as much as possible not to eat too many.  But when I'm nauseous that is usually the only thing that I can get down.  So I just do what I can.

3. Cook or bake with lard.  I have my lard in the crockpot right now to cook it down.  Hopefully it works, and I'll get to try it out soon.

4. Eat in season - apples, pears, pumpkins, squash, root veggies.

5. Food preservation - I will keep working on canning applesauce and freezing some veggies as I'm able.

6. We are getting four large organic chickens tomorrow.  I'll have to break them down and freeze them.

7. Chewing.  Back in July I mentioned a few diets/books I'd like to read/work through to help heal my gut.  One of them was The Maker's Diet.  Then my SIL saw the author speak, and I read about him on another blog as well.  One of the things he talks about is chewing your food well.  Like many people I chew a few times and swallow.  But chewing your food well can really aid in the digestive process.  So I am trying to be more conscious about chewing my food very thorougly.  It's not a natural thing, so you have to remind yourself/make yourself do it.  But hopefully it will be one more simple thing I can do to help my gut.  Especially right now when I can't eat as much healthy, gut-friendly food as I normally do.

HEALTH

1. Continue my healthy eating/lifestyle series.  Potential topics - microwaves, nitrites/nitrates, artificial ingredients, aluminum, soy, phytates, nuts, gluten/grains, sugars and dairy.

2. Research topics

a. 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.

b. 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 - a big 2nd hand sale Oct. 8/9
6. Simplify - continue to minimize where possible.

FAMILY/PERSONAL

1. Sewing machine - Just keeping this on here so I don't forget about it.  Probably won't get to it this month, but you never know. 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.

2. Activities

a. Kindermusik
b. nursery cmt
c. Little Lambs (Rebecca's class at church. I'll be a helper every 6 weeks, Oct. 3 and 10)
d. MOPS (first meeting Oct. 1, I might be helping with MOPPETS)

3. Fun stuff.

a. 9 week ultrasound - Oct. 12
b. Nephew's birthday party - Oct. 9
c. Justin's work Halloween party for families/kids - Oct. 30

4. 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 - maybe in November?

5. Memorize scripture.  I would like to work more on my spiritual growth.  And a good way to do this is by memorizing scripture.  So I have to figure out a passage or some verses and work on memorizing them.  This should be fun.  I used to love doing this as a child in Sunday School.  I remember getting huge Hershey's bars for always knowing my memory verses.  What great memories.

6. Long term goals.

a. Overcome OCD
b. Stop using miralax - hoping to start working on this after the 1st trimester, when I can eat good food again.

I think that's all for this month.  Like I said, just trying to get through each day right now.  I'm sure there will be some other misc. projects in the kitchen.  But nothing planned at the moment.  I'm looking forward to November and having energy and an appetite again :)