End of Month Recap - August 2011

August was one whirlwind of a month for sure.  I can't believe it's over already!  We stayed very busy.  I got quite a bit of food preservation done.  And I learned more about my gut/the direction I need to take (the hard way as usual, but at least I learned).  Here's how it went.

FOOD

1. Eat full GAPS-legal food (minus the stuff mentioned below) - I'm eating full GAPS minus dairy.

2. Make bedtime snacks less sweet - more veggies, broth, etc. - doing pretty well with this.  Oddly enough I'm finding that I actually crave a savory snack at bedtime most of the time now.  I'll reach for veggies w/ pesto before something sweet.  Or dinner leftovers.  Love it!

3. Eat plenty of healthy fat daily (coconut oil, lard, EVOO) - check.  I've been bumping up the coconut oil again lately.  I think I'm doing ok with it.

4. Avoid foods that I'm sensitive to or that Abram is sensitive to - coconut flour, dairy, peppers, onions, carrots, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, dried beans - check.

5. Continue Sunday night fun/finger food night, and do breakfast one night a week - check.

6. Dairy free - As tough as this is I think going dairy free is really helping Abram.  I'm sure it's helping me too.  So for now I'm sticking with it.  I was going to add it back in before doing GAPS intro, but now that I see how much it helps Abram I'll probably wait quite a while before trying it again.  Maybe when we can get raw milk again I'll start trying.

7. Fermented veggies - Continue eating sauerkraut and fermented veggies regularly - check.

8. Food preservation - I froze tons of beans and corn and canned salsa.

9. Eat in season - enjoy things fresh while we can - check.  Zucchini anyone? :P  We used fresh produce in a variety of dishes, including zucchini cakes, zucchini bread, zucchini boats, zucchini sausage muffins, corn pesto, peach bread, peach ice cream, egg zucchini casserole, zucchini fries, sd peach muffins and smoothies.  Plus just eating things plain, like fresh fruit, corn on the cob, broccoli and beans.

10. Travel - We're taking a couple short trips this month. So that means lots of food planning and prep - cold soups and smoothies for me - check.  It was nice to have such nourishing food with me when we traveled.

11. Beef/meat - I want to experiment this month. I've noticed for quite some time now that I don't feel good/am extra bloated and gassy when I eat a lot of beef. Not sure why since read meat and animal fat are so good for you. But there are a few factors I need to look into. When we have beef I tend to eat more than if we have another kind of meat. I love beef. And I crave lots of red meat lately...so I eat a lot of it when I make it (for snacks, etc.) So is it just eating too much meat that is the problem (of any kind) or is it specifically beef? Also, for the past year about the only beef we've been eating was from Justin's Uncle...which is fed corn and soy...2 things I can't eat myself without major tummy upset. So is it any beef that bothers me or will eating grass fed beef this year make a difference? I'll have to figure it out. It was always so frustrating to me when I would make a big roast and then make beef broth with it. I would eat beef and veggie soup for several days in a row and then feel worse than usual (which is why I've only been doing chicken broth lately). So I want to figure this out. Yesterday we had one of our last (if not last) pieces of beef from last year. And by the evening and this morning my tummy was in knots again. So we'll see.
I've been trying to pay extra attention to my meat consumption this month.  Sadly I think the verdict is that I just can't eat a lot of meat at once.  No matter what kind it is.  Although it seems that muscle meat is harder to digest.  We had tacos a couple weeks ago using ground chicken.  The next day I had some of the meat in my soup for breakfast.  And then mid-morning I snacked on a bunch of it (more than I should have).  I also ate quite a bit of salmon that evening.  The next morning...horrible stomach ache.  It was like someone turned off my digestive system and there was a brick in my gut that couldn't move.  As much as I've wanted to deny that this happens, it does...all the time.  I know that I feel a lot better when I go light on meat.  Is it because meat is bad?  Absolutely not!  It is very healthy and essential for proper nutrition.  But...here's my theory.  Meat/protein is hard to digest if your gut does not function properly (like mine).  So I eat meat...and my body can't digest it properly...and I don't get all the nutrients from it.  Then I crave more meat because I'm not getting what I need.  So I eat more of it.  And my gut has to try to work on digesting more meat...unsuccessfully.  And it just piles up.  My leaky gut can't handle it...especially in large quantities.  You can read a bit about protein digestion in my stomach acid post.  Anyway, it seems that I crave meat because my body is not digesting it properly and giving me the nutrients from it.  And if I eat a lot it just kind of shuts things down b/c it's too much for my gut to handle.  So until I heal and seal my gut I need to take it easy with meat.  I can eat some.  But just not go overboard like I do at times.  Dealing with the aftermath of overeating meat is not pleasant to say the least.  But I guess that's how I learn.  Lesson learned for sure!  I need to stick to mostly broth, animal fat and egg yolks to get my meat/protein nutrients for now.  They are much easier to digest.  And the closer to raw meat is, the easier it is to digest.  Then fill the rest of my diet with lots of veggies.  After writing this (I work on my recap post in advance) I also found a post on Yolks, Kefir and Gristle that reiterated the same thing.  Too much steak = brick in the gut :P.  Maybe if I eat more broth and sauerkraut with my meat or eat fewer muscle meats I'll do better.  Amazingly I just saw yet another post on this topic on The Nourishing Gourmet.  Apparently everyone is thinking about protein digestion these days :P  And I guess my theory sounds pretty valid.


HEALTH

1. Exercise - I can tell I feel better when I exercise, specifically things like jogging. It really helps my digestion. And having strong abs/a strong core helps as well. So I'm trying to really work on my core this month and continue jogging most mornings. I have heard good things about rebounding. But I don't really know anything about it. I'll have to look into it. I also want to look into other types of exercise, like strength training and yoga/pilates. I pretty much do all aerobic exercise. I would like to add other elements. Currently my strength training includes wearing and carrying a baby :P I want to be more toned and more flexible. I haven't really made many changes here.  I still bike or jog every day.  I need to look into other stuff.

2. Healthy lifestyle series - cloth diapering - check.

3. Continue to push myself out of my comfort zone/defeat OCD - handle travel differently.  We took 2 mini vacations this month.  I have to say I did a lot better with the travel than I have done in the past.  I still have work to do, but a definite improvement.  No skipping meals.  No major anxiety.  I'll take it :)  And as I was preparing for the trips I found that my anxiety leading up to them wasn't actually about the travel itself.  I was just stressed about packing and prepping.  I wasn't really thinking about/worrying about the travel itself.  That is a big change for me.  I was able to think logically/rationally and remind myself that it was only a few days that we would be gone.  Even if I didn't feel the best it wasn't that big of a deal.  We'd be home and back to normal routines in just a few days.  So there was no reason to worry.

4. Coconut oil - I want to start using coconut oil as my facial moisturizer and see if it helps improve the look of my skin - I've been using it all month.  I can't say I notice huge improvements.  But at least my acne still has not gotten worse postpartum.  So that's good.

5. Vitamins - For now I am going to continue taking a multi-vitamin - check.

FAMILY/PERSONAL

1. Activities and Outings - here's what we did this month:

Double JJ, WI, MI's Adventure, Children's Museum, Grand Rapids Art Museum

2. Rebecca

a. Keep working on potty training - check.

b. Keep working on letters, numbers, spelling/sounds, counting, math, writing, etc. - check.  Rebecca is really taking off, so we need to keep working on this stuff.  Her writing/coloring ability has blown me away this month.  It's amazing how quickly kids learn/grow/change.

c. Daily task chart - continue this and be good about associating the task with the chart immediately - I made up my own daily task  chart with pictures so she can see what to do/what to mark.  She really likes it.

d. Chore chart/banks - develop this (implement whenever it's ready...maybe next month) - Justin and I are still trying to decide what Rebecca's chore(s) should be.

e. Create a plan for learning/teaching. Over the next year I would like to have some more structured teaching for Rebecca. I am not sending her to preschool yet (very unnecessary at the age of 3 in my opinion...but that's just me). But I would like her to continue to learn. And since I've toyed with the idea of homeschooling anyway (though it likely won't happen...but who knows) I figured this would be a good experimental year. I don't think I'll buy any actual curriculum. But I want to have something more structured. So I need to develop my own way of teaching her. Maybe focus on a different skill each day (letters, numbers, reading, math, science, etc.) I'm not sure yet. But I want to use this month to figure it out so we will be ready to get started in September.
I have a general plan set up.  Maybe I'll post more about it later...after I try it and work some kinks out.

3. Abram

a. Work on development/milestones - check.

b. Staying dry - Abram seems to be very talented at peeing out of his diapers...at night and during the day. So we're still trying to figure out how to get the diapers fitted just right. And I'm looking into other inserts/diapers for night time - check.  Separate post to come on this.

c. Infant probiotic - I need to get into a routine with this and do it daily. Then see if I notice any differences in the next few weeks - still only doing this periodically.  I need to do it more regularly.

d. Cradle cap - we've gotten rid of a lot of it.  I'm hoping to do a separate post on this soon.

e. More diapers - I bought more Bum Genius diapers.  Now I do laundry about every 2 days.  I can manage that.