I'm 32 weeks and things seem to be going well with the baby. He wiggles and rolls a lot, which I love. I've gained about 21 pounds, which is pretty good for me! (I gained 50 pounds with my third pregnancy!) I'm anxiously awaiting Tyson's student loan next month so I can buy the baby things I need and get our room ready for our little guy. You'd think since he's number 4 I'd have everything, but after 9 years of kids most of the stuff needs replaced! We need a new carseat (the infant carrier we used for the last two is getting ready to expire), a new changing table (we bought one used for $25 with dd1 and it finally died after dd3), some new diaper covers and I'm sure other things!
Oh, I've been reading a lot lately about "traditional foods" and I'm finding it very fascinating. Right now I'm reading Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck. I definitely recommend it, it's a great read. There's a lot of technical information, but she has a pleasant writing style so it isn't boring to read. The basic idea is that post-industrial processed foods are bad for us (big surprise!) and that traditional foods, like butter, grassfed beef, lard, raw milk, pastured eggs, fresh vegetables, etc are good for us. So really, a lot of what I already felt instinctively, but she gives a solid scientific base for it all.
Most interesting to me is the information on grains, particularly how our bodies digest them, and how harmful the over consumption of them is. I've always eaten very carb/grain heavy, but told myself it was okay since I eat whole grains almost exclusively. But after looking at some of the science behind it, I can see my grain heavy diet has contributed to a lot of my health issues, particularly my difficulty with losing weight. Grains and legumes contain phytic acid, which is a kind of antinutrient that inhibits the body's ability to absorb vitamins and minerals. They also contain protease inhibitors which affect our ability to digest protein. Which is not to say that we shouldn't eat grains and legumes! Just that we need to eat them in moderation, and more importantly, soak them before eating. Soaking helps to break down the phytic acid and causes your body to digest the grains or legumes as if they were vegetables. I've been doing this just for a couple weeks and already see a big reduction in gas and digestive issues for me! And it's not difficult, soak rice for an hour or two before using, soak beans overnight, let bread doughs have plenty of time to rise (overnight is best). Right now I'm soaking some jasmine rice to eat later with some green curry lamb meat balls, yum!
5 comments:
I've had a few different people suggest that same book to me lately!
Like you, I felt I ate the healthy grains, so I would be fine. (barely, quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat pasta).
I have yet to read that book, but I am interested.
Do you find shopping off that diet to be much more expensive, though? We're on a lower end for our grocery budget.
I think whether or not it's more expensive depends on how you're eating to start with. Like I think if someone eating almost entirely prepared processed foods would probably find they saved money. OTOH, if you're eating very frugal and cooking from scratch, but buying things like powdered milk and margarine to save money, it's definitely going to be more expensive.
For me, I've just had to prioritize. I think meat is the most important, since poorly raised meat is really bad for you, so that's what I set as number one (getting grassfed beef and bison, pastured chicken and pork, etc). Veggie, I prefer organic and local, but if it costs too much more than regular, I don't buy it, because I feel like that money is better spent on high quality meat and dairy. And dairy wise, raw milk can be really expensive and hard to get a hold of. I'm still trying to find a decently priced raw milk source, so I buy milk that is pasteurized (but using the HTST process that basically means it's barely pasteurized, just enough to be legally sold), but is also organic, 100% grassfed, local, and non-homogenized. It's $4.49 a quart, though! And I can only get it 45 minutes away. So, if I can't get that, I get Kroger brand organic whole milk. It's only a few bucks for a half gallon, and unfortunately it's "ultra pasteurized" but their cows are at least partially grassfed.
Oils are similar, I prefer organic cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and orgainic expelllar pressed coconut oil, but if I don't have the money for them, I just get as close as I can. Even non-organic evoo and refined coconut oil are still a ton better than vegetable oil!
this is very interesting. I have been wanting to purchase a half side of beef for a while now, but have not had anyone interested in going in with us. I may have met someone recently though who has expressed interest. IT's much easier to share the cost and the beef, than buy it on our own.
Katie, I would like to send a gift for the new addition to the fam and his sibs & rents. Can you tell me what works best for you, ie what best fits your needs, a gift cert, cash, whatever, and if a gift cert to where?
We've had a much better year this year than last and while we don't have a bunch of confidence that we're seeing a permanant uptick in the marketplace I would like to pass along some of what the Lord has blessed us with to your family.
Let me know if that's ok with you and if so what works best.
Dawn: On an unrelated note we have 13 pastured steer topping off on our farm and have found a local (Southern MI) butcher, but have not marketed them in any way. In fact don't really know how to do so, but we have pastured beef close to being ready to butcher should it be something of interest that would work out for all involved.
Anne Marie, I didn't realize you were just up in Michigan! I'm only about an hour and a half from the MI border. Actually, I have a friend who was wanting to go in on a half a steer with me (neither of us has the room or money for a full half, so we were going to split to get 1/4 each). Keep me updated on getting your steers butchered, I might be able to figure out a way to buy some (I would just need to know around the first week or two of September when dh gets his student loan so I could set the money aside).
And thank you so much for thinking of us, that's so sweet! Really anything would be wonderful, locally we just have a WalMart that sells baby things, but I usually wind up in Lafayette (45 minutes away) at least once a week, and they have Toys R Us, Target, that kind of thing. You can send me an email at cherrybomb77 at gmail dot com if you need my address. I'm so glad this year has been good for you, God Bless you!
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