Sleepless Night

Had trouble sleeping last night, partially because my ankle is bothering me I believe, so I got a little more reading done in Battling the MSG Myth book. It really is an interesting read, and I am learning so much new information. For anyone who is interested in beginning a life without MSG, or interested in learning about MSG in your diet - I highly suggest you pick up this book. I'm not even done reading it yet, and I highly suggest it.

I went yesterday and picked up more chicken, and hamburger. I love having local access to a place I can get these things - and I know where they come from, and what I'm eating when I'm eating them. We've always purchased our meats from there, we prefer them over meats from Krogers, WalMart, etc. The taste difference is incredible, and we can always tell the difference if we eat it from anywhere else. 

I am still trying to find local places to get Leaf Lard, so I can render my own lard. I'm also trying to find local farms I can get raw milk from, as well as a good place to get fresh eggs from. My area is not the best area for these things apparently. 

I also was able to find mayo at my local WalMart that is not loaded with all the ingredients that I am now trying to avoid - so I am slowly replacing all of the items in my kitchen that may be the cause of my problems. I can't wait to get all of those items out of,my kitchen and replace them with items that are not loaded with all of these ingredients. I cannot believe I've subjected myself and my family to all of this all this time - all for the matter of convenience. I am so thankful for Jodi's article in the paper, even if it doesn't cure my migraines, at least my family and I will be eating things that are better for us than pre-packaged junk. It will take me awhile to find ways to make things we enjoy, and to find replacements for things we enjoy, but I am ready to take on that challenge. 

Are any of you on Pinterest? I've been pinning lots of new things lately to help me along this journey, if you want to check it out here's my link. http://www.pinterest.com/hillaryreese/

Where to buy locally grown food

Mail Delivery!

After a tough day today, I arrived home to a pretty exciting mail delivery. And I have a few days to read up on the material allowing I get my homework done tomorrow for my Excel & Access class, but even then - I have 4 days off work next day per my Doctor to let my ankle rest, so it will give me some time still to spend on homework for next week and diving into this new reading material. 

Since I mentioned my ankle, if any of you ever think you "just" sprained your ankle... if it still hurts just as bad the next day, go get it checked out. Otherwise, you may end up like me!

Not so fun!

 This is actually a really bad sprain, but really messed everything inside up - which led to this boot, and physical therapy. And now time off work - because the boot has led to unbelievable amounts of pain in my knee, right leg, hip, and back. Hopefully though next week PT will be able to get me into a brace that I can wear with my shoe, and I will be back in business. This boot is a nuisance. Especially this time of year, with the weather being the way it is here right now.

Outside my house a week ago

How is the weather where you are? I don't know about anyone else, but I am really ready for Spring and/or Summer. I am over the cold weather. I would love nothing more than to curl up outside and let my kiddo play in our fenced in yard and read some of the stuff that came in the mail today. 

And last but not least - have you heard about the movement from Subway?
Check it out -- http://foodbabe.com/2013/09/23/are-you-eating-this-ingredient-banned-all-over-the-world/  AMAZING!

The Perfect Parfait Porridge

Via The Food Babe, a health breakfast option that is not only healthy, but seems very

easy

http://foodbabe.com/2011/08/21/the-perfect-parfait-porridge/

Food Babe’s Parfait Porridge

Prep Time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

Author: Food Babe

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• ¼ cup oat groats rinsed and drained
• ¼ cup ezekiel cereal, muesli, or ¼ cup steel or rolled oats (for texture)
• 1 tsp of currants
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• 4 ounces unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp of chia seeds (optional)
• 1 cup fresh or frozen fruit of your choice

Instructions

1. In a “to go” glass container of your choice: Place oat groats, ezekiel cereal/oats, cinnamon, currants, chia seeds, and almond milk in the container and stir
2. Top mixture with fresh or frozen fruit
3. Let mixture sit in fridge overnight or up to three days in fridge

Notes

Enjoy for a breakfast or snack – cold right out of the fridge, room temperature or warmed in the oven for 10-15 mins at 300 degrees.

*Please choose all organic ingredients if possible*

Rendering Lard

I friended Jodi on Facebook following her newspaper article, and am learning so much from her and the research I'm doing. She posted yesterday she was rendering lard, which peaked my interest, and she shared the blog post I am going to share with you.

Thought this might be useful to others as well, a blog post with "how to's" for rendering your own lard.

http://www.myhumblekitchen.com/2011/02/how-render-lard-the-right-way-snow-white/

I can't wait to try it!

The Beginning

My experience with migraines began just over two years ago. Never having experienced an actual migraine before, I felt at a loss. What had begun as what I thought was a headache coming on, I took some Tylenol and went on with my day. By the time I got home, my head hurt so bad I felt like I could barely see straight, I was dizzy, the light was enough to make me want to just cover my eyes and wait for it to be dark, every little noise felt like shards of glass going into my ears, I was nauseous, and all I could think about was laying down when I got home - but, I am a mom of a little boy who at that time was two years old and needed me. 

It didn't dawn on me at first that this could be a migraine. I figured I was coming down with something, I do work in health care after all. Maybe I'd caught something, and it was making me feel Ill and giving me this horrible headache.

A few hours later, I was on the couch, reduced to tears and curled up in a ball from the pain. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, but I knew this was nothing like I had ever experienced in my life. I felt helpless that night, my son knew I felt bad, and he wanted nothing more than to make his mommy feel better, curling up with me on the couch while I was there - wondering what was causing this pain.

My fiancé called me that night, on his lunch as usual, and immediately rushed home and loaded me and our son up in the car and took me to the ER. He had never seen me this way before, and knew something wasn't right. Nearly five hours later, tests, bloodwork, etc. later, which all came back clear...the ER doctors told me I had experienced a "severe migraine", gave me 3 shots of medicine (thankfully, these helped), and sent me home with orders to see my family physician within a few days. 

After following up with my physician a few days later, he prescribed me a PRN medicine in case it happened again, and I went on my way.

A few weeks or so went by, and it was there again. But in between there, I had experienced several headaches, but never anything as severe as that night in those in between days, until that day a few weeks later. Unfortunately, this cycle continued, good days...and bad days. The PRN med was only nine pills, and $50 bucks each time. Less than six months later, I was back in my family doctor, something had to be done.

I walked out with a referral to see a neurologist. My mind was racing, I've always been relatively healthy, minus the minor illnesses (colds, etc) and sinus issues. This couldn't be happening.

I went to see her less than two weeks later. She reviewed my results from when I had been in the ER, we talked, went over what had been happening, and I left with orders for blood draws, and prescriptions for a twice a day medication and a PRN medication if I needed it, and to follow up in 6 weeks. 

The medication helped somewhat, but I was still getting bad days, just not as often at first. On the next visit, the medication was increased. I am awaiting now on my next follow up visit. I still have the bad days. 

Recently, I read an article in my local newspaper, of a local woman, who like me - suffers from migraines - although she was much worse off than me, so it makes me thankful for my situation to be as mild as it is right now, but it worries me if mine continue to get worse if I will end up with bad days as bad as hers were. She discovered a foundation that she credits for saving her life - and ending her bad days, by way of diet. This has opened my eyes to many things, and has me researching so many things. Maybe the answer to her migraines - is also the answer to mine?? 

This is the story of my journey, of hopefully finding a life without migraines, as well as a journey into new things for my family along with this journey, of canning, and learning homesteading.

If her story could help me, and does help me, I hope her story, and mine, along with sharing my journey, can help others.

Helpful Information

The book Battling the MSG myth the ingredient list in that book is critical information.  Here is another list of ingredients to stay away from, 

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html

Take that ingredient list and go through your cupboards and find the worst offenders. Likely, you will be overwhelmed because this stuff is in everything.  

A good blog read :: http://foodbabe.com

Good Brands

Here are some good brands, breads are hard! 

Koepplinger's  (Walmart only) (bread)

Pepperidge farms Hearty White or Sourdough bread

Heinz (Walmart only)

Ketchup Simple Truth (not perfect but the best in the store by far)

Ranch- I make my own (recipe is on Pinterest)  

French-I make my own (recipe is on Pinterest)

Chocolate Chips -Enjoy Your Live Brand (Meijers or Amazon)

Sour Cream-Daisy

Cottage Cheese-Daisy

Cream Cheese- Can’t find ANY!!  

Hot Dogs and lunch meat- Oscar Meyer Select or Simple Truth

Mac and Cheese-Annies (in the natural food section)

Dietary program credited with saving life of young mother

There have been times in the life of Jodi Ledley (right) when it would have been diffidult for her to smile like she is with Jane Kraft in this photo. Ledley suffered from intense headaches until Kraft lead her to a dietary change which Ledley said saved her life.

For more than three years Jodi Ledley battled severe headaches.
She searched for the source of her suffering through traditional methods, such as visits to doctors and clinics. After nearly $70,000 in medical bills, Ledley was no better. Her headaches progressed in strength and frequency until they were controling her life.
Her future looked bleak until she changed her diet. In the past year, Ledley and her family have avoided many foods containing MSG ingredients, preservatives and dyes and GMOs. Her symptoms are gone and the 36-year-old mother of two is convinced her dietary change saved her life.
Ledley said she had no real health problems, except for a tendency for migraine headaches, until about four years ago. But suddenly those headaches grew so severe she found herself making several visits to area emergency rooms. including the ER at Hardin Memorial Hospital, where Ledley works in the lab department.
In the coming months, Ledley found medication was not the solution to her suffering. It only diminished her pain enough to make daily life livable, not normal.
“This led to severe debilitating, chronic pain and migraines where I would lay on the bathroom floor in between bouts of violent vomiting episodes for hours,” Ledley recalled. “I never felt good; there were just slightly functional days between the ‘big ones.’”
Botox injections helped somewhat for a while, she said, but after taking 30 shots of the drug every three months for more than two years, Botox was no longer helping, either.
She underwent a process on her neck to block the nerves. Her insurance wouldn’t pay for anesthesia, so she had the procedure without it.
“Imagine laying on a table and hearing the beep, beep, beep while doctors put hot needles in my neck,” said Ledley. “But I was desperate to try anything.”
Again, there was no relief.
She reduced her hours at the hospital and closed her professional photography business. Ledley searched for answers at the Michigan Head and Neck Institute, but, they, too didn’t have a solution.
A pain doctor suggested a neurostimulater implant would control the pain by disrupting the pain signals to her brain. Coming home from that appointment, said Ledley, she pulled her car off the road and cried in desperation.
“I was more upset than I have ever been in my life,” she recalled. “I am not getting that implant, this couldn’t be happening to me. I have a wonderful husband and kids and now my life is not just over, I’ve been sentenced to a life of suffering. I felt bad for them.”
But at her lowest point came hope. She began looking into the Weston Price Foundation. Price was a pioneer in nutrition who studied groups of unindustrialized people and compared them to the same genetic line of people who had been industrialized and were eating processed food.
Ledley decided to give the organization a try.
“I thought, ‘It can’t hurt me,’” she recalled. “It gave me hope … One of the principles of The Weston Price Foundation is to eat whole unprocessed food. This is real food, like butter, lard, unrefined salt, raw milk, nothing fake and nothing with additives. It made sense to me and I started getting the chemical additives out of my food.”
That isn’t as easy as it might sound, she said. MSGs (monosodium glutamates), for example, can be marketed under at least 70 different names. At times, food labeled “no MSGs” contains the flavor enhancer. A list of food additives is available at www.truthinlabeling.com, she said.
“As soon as I followed the list, all the medical problems were gone,” said Ledley. “Since I changed our diets in February, no one in my family has been sick.”
Her husband’s blood pressure has returned to normal, she said. Her son’s asthma problems have been reduced to the point he has participated in a 5K run and ran at the front of the pack.
“There was nothing that didn’t hurt me. But since we changed our diets, I haven’t been sick a day. I feel crazy good,” said Ledley.
But if she accidentally eats food with the preservatives, Ledley notices a change in herself almost immediately.
She cans much of the food her family eats now and checks labels closely for additives.
“I buy the brand with the least ingredients,” Ledley said. “I buy brands with only ingredients you would actually cook with in your own kitchen and buy organically when it is financially possible to avoid pesticides and genetically-modified foods. Simple Truth (Kroger) brand is great.”
Under the guidance of Jane Kraft, the local chapter leader of Weston Price, Ledley has become an advocate for the program and shares her story with anyone willing to listen. She is hoping by telling others of her experience, she can encourage people to examine what they are eating, especially those with health issues.
“It could clear up a whole host of symptoms with other people,” she said. “I believe 80 percent of our health problems can be solved by eating real food … I am so thankful that I met Jane Kraft … and started going to the Weston Price meetings. I really feel from the bottom of my hear they saved my life.”
Weston Price meets every fourth Thursday of the month at the Hardin County Council on Aging. The meeting begins at 7 p.m., but vendors are available at 6:30 p.m.

By DAN ROBINSON
Times staff writer

Weston A. Price Foundation Information

http://www.westonaprice.org

About the Weston A. Price Foundation

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. Dr. Price's research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble activators found exclusively in animal fats.

The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism. It supports a number of movements that contribute to this objective including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture-feeding of livestock, community-supported farms, honest and informative labeling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies. Specific goals include establishment of universal access to clean, certified raw milk and a ban on the use of soy formula for infants.

The Foundation seeks to establish a laboratory to test nutrient content of foods, particularly butter produced under various conditions; to conduct research into the "X Factor," discovered by Dr. Price; and to determine the effects of traditional preparation methods on nutrient content and availability in whole foods.

The board and membership of the Weston A. Price Foundation stand united in the belief that modern technology should be harnessed as a servant to the wise and nurturing traditions of our ancestors rather than used as a force destructive to the environment and human health; and that science and knowledge can validate those traditions.

The Foundation's quarterly journal, Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and the Healing Arts, is dedicated to exploring the scientific validation of dietary, agricultural and medical traditions throughout the world. It features illuminating and thought-provoking articles on current scientific research; human diets; non-toxic agriculture; and holistic therapies. The journal also serves as a reference for sources of foods that have been conscientiously grown and processed.

PLEASE NOTE: The Weston A. Price Foundation is NOT a trade association.

Healthy 4 Life: Our proposed alternative dietary guidelines for good health.

http://www.westonaprice.org/images/pdfs/healthy4life2011.pdf