Better Way of Eating (For Me)

Just to explain a bit about my lack of blogging in the last little while, I thought I'd talk a bit about why I've been so busy. For a long, long time I've struggled with a lot of health issues including exhaustion and stomach/digestive problems. None of my doctors ever really helped, much less had any ideas to what was the cause of my problems. I would write an entire blog of my distrust of most doctors, but I'd rather this be a happy blog, so I'll refrain from that. Anyway, for a couple of years now, I've been doing a lot of research about holistic heath care and noticed the same things kept coming up in my research regarding changing your diet.

A few years ago, I attempted to eat yeast free after reading one of these books, but couldn't deal with the limited foods I was eating for more than a few weeks. Although I remembered feeling much better during this time period, I wasn't motivated to try it again until I reached the point of spending more time asleep than awake.

Finally, one day I just made the decision to try the diet change. For those of you who don't know what a yeast free diet is, basically you give up grains, dairy, sugar, most processed foods, and vinegar. I tried this for a few weeks, but in the couple of times I slipped up, I began to notice a trend. Every time I would eat a piece of bread, I feel asleep immediately. Therefore, I began to suspect I have an issue with gluten, so I started eating gluten free. Currently, I am eating totally gluten free and as yeast free as I can manage.

For me, this change hasn't been too hard. I realized how much my body has been craving unprocessed food, and I've been surprised that gluten free food tastes about the same as "normal" food. I've spent a small fortune of books to research and on food, but for me, this is a small price to pay to feel better.

And I DO feel better. I've been eating this way about a month now. I've lost weight (yay!) and my stomach issues are completely gone after many years of suffering. I'm having a lot more energy and no longer take a nap on most days.

If you are wanting to improve your health, I encourage everyone to do their own research to find ways that might make your own life better.

If you are interested in learning more about candidia (and yeast free eating) or about celiac disease (and the gluten free diet), here are a few books I have found useful:


Hormones, Health, and Happiness by Steven R. Hotze, M.D.

Complete Candida Yeast Guidebook by Jeanne Marie Martin with Zoltan P. Rona, M.D.

Both of the above books are great resources for eating yeast free plus there is a lot of general health info as well. (I have the hard cover of Dr. Hotze's book, so that is why my picture shows a different cover than the one on amazon.)

The G Free Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck

and

1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes by Carol Fenster



are both great resources for celiac info and eating gluten free. If you are planning on buying a gluten free recipe book, I highly, highly recommend buying the above book first because it has so many recipes for all kinds of normal food adapted to a gluten free diet. I bought a couple of other books before I found this one and so wish I hadn't wasted my money.

I know I don't normally get so personal in my blog and I have no intentions of turning it into a health blog, but I felt very compelled to pass along this info in hopes that it would help others who need help.

BTW, tonight someone else who is new to gluten free eating was thrilled when I provided her with a list of normal gluten free food you probably would normally find at a grocery store. The next time I blog, I'm going to make a list of these things, along with a list of company websites that might help others.

I Don't Know What Happened.....

Hey everyone! I know, I know. I should just start out all my posts with "sorry I'm so late". At least this time I have an excuse. Last Friday night, I was on the computer and everything was fine, then on Saturday, I was woken up by someone else in the house who noticed something wrong with the surge protector hooked to my computer. Who knows what happened, since I'm not anywhere near a computer expert, but my surge protector died, as well as my internet connections. It took until this afternoon for someone to fix it for me. I have a new post all ready to go except I need to take a picture for it tomorrow. I'll have a very informative post either tomorrow or Thursday.

A Time of Reflection

This week has been a time of questions and reflection for me. Some in a good way, like learning some personal changes I thought for a long, long time are actually working well for me. I'll talk more about those in the next post because there is a lot that might help other people. Others made me question if some people were ever honest with me in the first place. My gut reaction says no, but I'll never be for certain. Conflict can bring on reflection in making one question their own character, which is something I have pondered with the last couple of days. If you know something is stupid, so you go along with the crowd? Is it worth doing something if it goes against your morals and values? Even if that means promotion for your business? Is lying to protect myself really worth it in the long run?

For me, I learned to be proud of what I stand for, no matter what the cost. In the end, I'll be the one with my self respect and pride, and knowing that I didn't just follow the crowd for self motivated purposes is something that should never be regretted. In that regard, I am very thankful that this event happened the way it did. I know I'm a lot bigger and more honest person, and I have a lot to be thankful for in not having to pretend that things are happy and perfect when they aren't. It's the people who haven't come to that conclusion who I should pity.

It never ceases to amaze me sometimes how potentially bad things can sometimes can really be for your best interest.

Confessions of a Bad Blogger

Yes, I know my blog has been abandoned for quite some time. Lots of real life stuff going on, but I promise I will try to start blogging again later this week to share some of it with you. Don't worry or get too excited because none of it is earth moving type stuff, just very, very busy lately.

FYI.....a shop update

In case you noticed that the etsy mini was removed from my blog, that is because I am taking a summer break from selling. Crocheted things just don't sell well for me this time of the year, and I decided my time was better spent preparing for a fall launch and enjoying the pretty summer days, rather than to keep promoting at a time when it's really not worth the effort for me.

On a positive note, I have already made a few clothing items, which I'll be sharing with you in a few months. There are a lot of ideas I've tossed around for a long time, but never could find the time to make while I was running my etsy shop. I'm looking forward to making some of these things and being able to share them with you later on.

My Doggies

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Life has been kind of hectic and online stuff suffers then. Last time I posted, I promised some pictures of my dogs, so I thought I would do that today.



As you may remember from earlier this year, I lost my 21 year old cat and then my favorite dog a week later. Since then, a lot has been different at my house lately. Our remaining dogs have gone through a lot of changes from their own grieving, to accepting a new life, and even their relationships with each other have changed. Our pekingese and one of our dachshunds never really liked each other before, but now they are a lot better. The two dachshunds are sisters, but now they are inseperatable. Also, the dogs are way, way more mellow these days, which is a good thing because they don't bark all the time when they are outside, which I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled about.


As awful as it sounds, I was the one who had the hardest time with this transition. I grieved for months and sometimes still do over the dog that I lost. For me, it was also really hard to watch these changes in my other dogs. Granted, there are a lot of positive things that happened, but when you are grieving, it's hard to accept different on top of that. However, in the recent weeks, I've been doing a lot better and have been enjoying having my animals again.


In particular, I enjoy sitting on my porch with one of dachshunds who seems to be fascinated by some baby birds living in a pot of ferns. Don't worry, she never tries to hurt them. I don't know what she things, but she sits quietly beside the raised pot, even though she can't see the birds unless I hold her up to give her a peek. Another favorite time is after dinner when the dogs all snuggle around me, all vying for my attention. Little by little, all this is beginning to feel normal again.

**A few notes about the pictures**
-Pictures taken about a month ago. First picture is my pekingese, who has plopped himself in the middle of the garden. Very often, he comes in the house a very dirty little boy because he enjoys playing in the garden and not so much in the grass.

The second picture is my larger dachshund. She had scab on her face after a problem that she had with her eye. This has since healed and she is completely fine now.

The last picture is my small dachshund, as she has rolled over in the grass. Very often, she lays in the grass or finds a sunny spot on the driveway, lays on her back and wiggles around. I assume she is attempting to scratch her back.

A few more garden photos

Here are some more pictures from my picture taking day in my backyard a few weeks ago. Everything is different now that many of the early spring time flowers have gone away, so I'm working on some other plants in the garden now.

This picture is my favorite. I love how my new camera captured these red tulips up close.


Usually, I buy flowers a bit before they are ready to be put outside, so I keep them on my covered porch. These geraniums were on my porch until about a week ago. Now all my flowers have been made into pretty container gardens.


I don't remember the name of this bush, but it's obviously some kind of purple flowering type thing that blooms in the spring.


I like to have a lot of color in my garden, even when there aren't a lot of flowers in bloom. I have one of these Japanese maples on each side of my garden path. They turn colors from green to this purple- red shade throughout the year.


Next time I will share some pictures of my dogs, and that will conclude my photo taking adventures for a while.

In other news, I am getting very close to getting my craft room finished. I love it so far, and it has a lot more usable storage than my previous room had. I'll be sharing photos soon.

Although I'm not listing anything new in my etsy shop, I am still busy crocheting as well. Seems I'm having a hard time starting one project and finishing it. Currently, I have many things in near states of completion, and it drives me crazy to have so many things sitting around. I plan to have one of my larger projects completely done by this weekend.