Day 18...and a little on the serious side.

Day 18! I only have 12 more days to go. However, I am not sure that I am ready to give up this crazy experiment yet. I am actually enjoying this....I enjoy trying to micro-manage things so this diet thing is right up my ally. It's all about control...and OH how I love to control things...muwahahahahaha! (evil laugh, crack of the whip)

Yesterday I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast....it's called Flax Plus. I took a gamble buying it, I know. Because when I opened it up, it smelled like horse feed. But, it is all natural, full of seed like things and has no wheat gluten/oats in it. Horse feed, for those of you who don't know, really does smell good. And, strange as this may sound, I have considered eating it before just because it smells like a giant granola bar. I used to take barrel racing lessons from a guy that would walk around with a handful of feed as a snack. Talk about some serious fiber.

I used organic fat free milk and I still diluted it. Seriously...here is a calorie saving trick...pour the 1/2 the amount of milk that you need into a measuring cup and then fill with water to make up the rest. I started this little habit back in high school because I just don't enjoy the taste of milk and I can't eat cereal if it's too milky. Anway...I also cut up a banana and put it in. And my breakfast was good and satisfying..even though I couldn't eat it all. It was filling!

I have a new favorite food to eat right now....it's cabbage. Now I know that most of you are thinking....eeewwww! cabbage! Just give me a chance, will ya? Cabbage is good for you, is a source of fiber and pretty filling with little calories. SO here is what I have been doing:
First, use a cast iron skillet. For two reasons, one....those new fancy teflon coated skillets leech teflon into your food and that is not good. Two...cast iron leeches IRON into your food..which is good. Plus, I just think that nothing cooks like a cast iron skillet. You can buy one at any store..but those suck and take years to season properly. Your best bet is to call up your grandmothers and ask if they have one they want to part with. I cook with one that is over 45 years old. Why did our grandmothers food always taste sooooo good?...because they used fresh ingredients and cast iron.

It's best to use butter but since I am trying to only use organic Dairy products and I can't find organic butter....I use olive oil. Just remember, that if you use oil to cook it slower and on a lower heat setting as oil burns easier.

Chop the cabbage, chop an onion and throw it all in the skillet. Add salt and pepper to taste. I also like to mince some fresh garlic and toss that in but since some people don't care for garlic, you can leave that out. Cover, cook until the veggies are cooked down to a tender crisp texture, stir occasionally. You can add what every veggies you want. Sometimes I add mushrooms and green peppers. Plus, when I am feeling especially saucy, I add in some tuna and sautee it for the last five minutes or so. (I like those flavored Starkist Creations kind..smoked is the best) I did this yesterday, and it tasted like the inside of an egg roll without the roll part...which has wheat in it. and It was really good. I paired it with cottage cheese and green beans.

Now..downside to cabbage...it smells kind of like a giant fart when you cook it. Plus...if you don't already eat a lot of fiber (luckily I do) then it can give you giant farts as well. But its good and good for you and that may quite possibly out weigh the bad side effects.

For dinner, I made lasagna..for everyone but ME. :( Because I can't have the noodles. SO, instead....I cooked whole grain rice (and not minute rice..that stuff sucks. Go for the real stuff, it takes longer but tastes SOOO much better) and put tomatoes in it. Add a little salt and pepper. It was pretty tasty and I didn't even miss eating the lasagna..all that much. not really anyway. Ok. Maybe just a little...but that's only because I cooked it. Pretty much home-made. and it smelled awesome.

I mean, if you know me, you know that I am a pretty darn good cook. Not to pat myself on the back or anything...but I am. I think it has a whole lot to do with how I grew up. AND speaking of how I grew up, after talking with Greg...I blame it all on HIM! ha ha. Not really, but get this...It wasn't until I got married and moved away from home that I started really having all of these health problems. Granted the majority of it started after I got pregnant but I was only married for 9 months before I got pregnant...

Most people didn't grow up like I did. I feel like I had a charmed childhood. We didn't have a lot of money, but I grew up on a farm. Where we had a HUGE garden and canned our own veggies every year. I rarely had food from a can. AND we had peach, apple, pear, and cherry trees. So all of our pies were usually made from home grown fruit. We ate eggs from our own chickens and the majority of the meat we ate came from animals we raised. Fresh food, that's what I am saying. On holidays, our meals had homemade noodles..none of this crap in a bag that we buy now. Our Christmas hams came from pigs we raised. Our greenbean casserole had beans from our garden. We made homemade salsa, beef stew, sweet peaches, pickles and we canned it all. In jars. We would make batch after batch of cherry cobbler and freeze it so that we could have a taste of those fresh cherries in the dead of winter. Chicken stew was made from chickens we raised. Beef came from neighbors cows or one of my show steers. We had lamb too..but I didn't eat it.

My grandparents heated their kitchen with a pot belly stove and it wasn't unusual to see something simmering on the top of it. I would GIVE anything to live like that again. My kids are missing out on so much because we live the suburban life. I didn't marry a farm man. He doesn't understand my pressing need to raise things. He doesn't understand why I HAVE to have a garden and that I can spend hours out in it. But, I think, because of the way I was raised, and the fact that I spend the majority of my childhood eating mostly natural food and meat without all the junk in it, that could be why my body sort of freaked out when I moved out. I have no proof. It's just a theory, much like my wheat theory. These are the weird thoughts I have. And it does make a little sense, doesn't it?

Oh...and Greg has a cold. Which sucks for me...because I am sure that I am going to get it. And I have just been healthy for a week now. A WEEK! That is it. But, since we were child free this weekend and we celebrated that fact...and because I was still feeling a little amorous last night and practically jumped him as soon as he got out of the shower....(he had to work at 10 pm) I will get sick. I just know it. He came home early...tired, sick, sneezing, blowing his nose...All this after I spend three days swapping...how do I say it...um...fluids with him.

GREAT! (but it was worth it..tee hee)