More on Trim and Healthy Mama

I’ve been having fun with some of the different foods that are encouraged to eat on the Trim and Healthy Mama plan.  Each time something turns out yummy I want to share it because I’m such a visual person and there are no pictures of food in the book!

This is Slim Belly Jelly which sounds disgusting to me.  The belly jelly part, I have plenty of belly jelly excuse me, the point is to get RID of the belly jelly.  Ha! It’s not pretty like this jelly either and what I made is more like jam anyway.  lol  It’s basically fruit, water, stevia extract and glucomanan.  Simmered up and thickened and then stuck in a jar and put in the fridge.  EASY!  We like it on our Trim and Healthy Pancakes, stirred in our yogurt and on my new favorite love:  Chia Pudding!

I honestly didn’t know how I was going to feel about this.  It’s rather ugly and kind of lumpy, like tapioca (gag).  But I was willing to try since Chia is so nutritious and I just want to be healthy and keep up with all these little people!  I bought this particular Chia seed at Trader Joe’s and the recipe is:  1 cup milk (almond, coconut, whatever you like, I used almond) and 1/4 cup chia seeds.  Then you are supposed to add 1/4 cup honey but there’s NO way I’m going to do that so I added vanilla and stevia extra, like 8 drops and stirred it up.  You just stir it up and stick it in the fridge.  And a few hours later you have a yummy, creamy, slightly crunchy bed time snack!  This is how I served it:

Just added a plop of my blackberry sugar-free jam (aka slim belly jelly).  My husband says it has a little tapioca like texture, almost. The seeds are little crunchy, not so slimy.  He loved the flavor though!  I also bought some Chia seeds from Costco and the pudding I made from that looks even thicker.  The kids all want their own, how can I refuse them?

Strawberry and I hosted a luncheon for her blog writers and we made it an S luncheon (S for Satisfying or Fat).

Here’s what we had:

Cornbread Salad with Dill dressing

Maca-foni and Cheese

Lemon Coconut Cake

               

The cake was so much tastier than we expected, especially when it was chilled.  There was a lot of left over so Strawberry has been eating it for breakfast!  Amazing that eating cake for breakfast is approved for THM!

The is the “corn” bread.  I didn’t actually like it by itself, but mixed in the salad it was delicious.  I think whole wheat bread is so much prettier.  I only used half the loaf in the salad so I sliced up the leftovers and put them in the freezer, maybe it would make a good grilled turkey and cheese sandwich?!

And finally, I wanted to show you these weird low-carb “rolls.”  They are mostly made of eggs but are perfect for hamburger buns!!  Mr. Taffy really likes them!  I didn’t add cheese to these ones but the original recipe has cheese in them.  They go together VERY quickly.  I still think whole wheat rolls are more beautiful, but these will do for now. 

I gave him 2, with chicken burgers on them, a side of corn bread salad and watermelon.  Watermelon isn’t plan approved but it makes my husband happy and I’m not going to complicate his eating anymore than I already have!  lol  He’s lost almost 30 pounds in less than 6 weeks!

I’ve also got some pretty lofty fitness goals.  We cleared out our family room and sold all the furniture in it and turned it into a workout room.  The only thing that is in there is the TV and an X-box Kinect machine.  Mr. Taffy bought us a workout program for it and I’ve been working on getting stronger by punching blocks and kicking walls and jumping rope.  Jumping rope is so hard for me!  There are three levels and I’m determined to master each level.  Well, yesterday I met one of my personal goals and actually made it through the entire first level without 1) stopping.  2) peeing my pants!  I was so happy!  I’m going to keep at it, I’m think if I can make it all the way through the hardest level I’ll be ready for whatever Israel throws at me! 

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

P.S.  I linked up the recipes in the pictures and text if you want to look at them!

Turkey Veggie Chili {THM-E}

I wish I would have added a little low-fat cheese to my chili before I took the photo, it would have been so much prettier!

Turkey Veggie Chili

1-2 pounds lean ground turkey

4-5 garlic cloves (minced)

1 large white onion (chopped)

1 medium bell pepper (chopped)

4 Large Carrots (sliced) (Carrots aren’t plan approved, but I eat them anyway because my body likes them and I personally don’t believe of all the things I’ve eat in my life that carrots are what made me fat!  lol )

2 Medium Zucchini's (sliced/chopped)

1-28 oz. diced tomatoes or 2-15 oz. cans of tomato sauce (my family doesn’t like the texture of tomatoes)

2 can of black beans

2 can of other beans (I used white kidney beans)

1-2 Tbsp. chili powder

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. Cumin

Sea Salt to taste

Fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp. xylitol or Truvia (opt.)

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1) Heat olive oil in soup pot. Sauté onions and garlic, being careful not to burn garlic.

2) Add chopped peppers and sauté a few more minutes.

3) Add ground turkey, brown the turkey in the onion mixture and add all the spices except the salt. 

4) Add carrots and zucchini once turkey is browned and mix together well.

5) Pour beans and tomatoes and add any water if chili needs thinning.

6) Salt to taste and allow to simmer for a couple hours.

The non-THMer’s in my house got some nice organic tortilla chips along with their chili.  I also served low-fat shredded cheese and fat-free sour cream.  This is an E because of the beans and the tomato sauce and probably the carrots too, but I ignore those.  (smile)

I liked this recipe for several reasons:  Tons of veggies, high-protein, good-carbs, went together quickly, Mr. Taffy had seconds and it was so tasty that even Marshmallow LOVED it! 

Less of me and more of HIM,

Mrs. Taffy

How to eat Trim and Healthy

It’s really easy, in a complicated way.  Your body burns either fats or carbohydrates.  It can’t use both energy sources so it ends up storing what it doesn’t need.  The Trim and Healthy way, simply put, is to not combine your carbs and fats.  And avoid all sugar.  The goal is to keep your blood sugar even, without the spikes.  In Trim and Healthy lingo:

Fat =S =Satisfying         Carbs=E=Energizing

Meals are built around lean proteins like:  fish, especially salmon, chicken, ground turkey, sometimes higher fat meats like roasts or ground beef.  Then you choose what kind of meal your having, either an S or an E.  How you build on your protein will determine the kind of meal it is.

For example:

This is an S dinner.  S for satisfying. It’s called Fooled Ya’ Pizza and the recipe is in the book.  The crust is made with cauliflower, egg whites and mozzarella. cheese.  I topped it with pesto sauce and chicken and cold tomatoes.  I love this so much I could eat it every day!  Marshmallow loves it too and often eats half of mine!  The recipe makes a 12 x 18 pan size, so I divide that up in thirds and make each third different for the person who is eating it:  Me, Strawberry or Mr. Taffy.  I make the rest of the kids a regular pizza like the one on my recipe page.  This is an S meal because of all the cheese.  Cheese = fat.

Here’s an example of an E meal.  E for Energizing.  It’s a BLT on sprouted grain (Ezekiel) bread.  I used turkey bacon and toasted the bread.  I used a little smear of low-fat mayo (don’t want to mix fats and carbs, but a little tiny bit of “light” is allowed) and it was delicious! I could eat this every day too!  ha!  It’s an E because of the bread.  Bread = Carbs.

Here’s an example of a S breakfast.  S for Satisfying.  It’s a Trim and Healthy Crepe, this recipe is in the book too.  I loaded it with fresh berries and put low-fat whip cream on top.  I think, because it’s already an S meal, I could have used full fat whip cream but I didn’t have any.  I ate 2 and was stuffed!  This meal is an S because of the whole eggs used.  Whole eggs = fat = satisfying.  Egg whites = nothing  (Okay maybe something but they are pretty insignificant and I can make a pretty mean egg white omelet, loaded with meat and veggies and give my husband a piece of toast with slim belly jelly and it becomes an E meal!)

One night I made this for dinner.  It’s my interpretation of Cheese Burger Casserole, Trim and Healthy style.  The bottom layer is steamed cauliflower.  Then I put a layer of turkey bacon, followed by cooked ground turkey, I sprinkled cheese on the top and warmed it all up in the oven.  I served it with ketchup (for the children) and chopped cold pickles for Mr. Taffy and I.  We had snow peas and fresh strawberries on the side.  It was delicious and I was stuffed. Because of the cheese, this meal was an S.  S for Satisfying.  S because of the Cheese.

There is so much more information in the book, I’m just barely scratching the surface here. I’m still learning and there are a fantastic group of women on Facebook that discuss these things and help each other figure stuff out.  If you are struggling with weight or just want to feel healthier, Trim and Healthy Mama might be what you’ve been looking for.  I don’t do everything correctly but I’m still have positive results so I must be doing enough correctly and that’s what matters most.

Since I’ve had so much extra energy, I already got the first two months of our next homeschool year planned.  I’ll share my plan in the next post.

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Trim and Healthy Mama & Daddy

You can easily search my weight loss label and read the story of my struggle with weight.  Yuck.  Truth be told.   I quit.  I quit trying.  I plateaued at 170 and I got discouraged.  So I quit.  And you know what quitting does, it makes you gain back weight.  Not all the weight thankfully but enough to make my clothes feel bad and to start getting more depressed about it.

Enter Trim and Healthy Mama.

This was my most favorite Christmas gift!  I really wanted it, it was so “expensive” in my mind and I was so worried about wasting money and never “doing” the book.  I was worried that these were vegetarians and that I could possibly do this with my big family at the same time.  It’s taken me a long time to get through this book, I’m not even completely done with it yet, but I’m getting there. 

I tried doing the plan for a while in February and was seeing results, but I needed my husband to be on board, it’s so much easier to do things when there is oneness in the house.

So three week ago, basically the day after we got back from our anniversary getaway we started living “to the Plan.”  Mr. Taffy is totally on board because he does not want to go to Israel as a 300 pound man.  Oh his aching feet!

Here’s my personal weight details in numbers:

213-Highest weight EVER.

170-Lowest weight that I could get to by counting calories.

189-The weight I went back up to because I quit.

178-The weight I’m at now since starting the plan three weeks ago.

That’s 11 pounds in 3 weeks!  And here’s the really cool thing, I’m not hungry all the time like I was when I was counting calories.  AND, I’m not shaky all the time like I was when I was counting calories.  AND, since I’ve given up all forms of sugar I don’t crave sweets anymore. That one still surprises me! 

This was my breakfast the other morning, along with a cup of coffee, sweetened with Stevia and half & half.

The plan has a learning curve that is pretty intense if you ask me, only because it goes against what you hear all the time and what you think you know.  As I approach my plateau number I’m honestly a little nervous, but at the same time I’m not because eating this way is a joy and it’s not complicated (once you get the hang of it) and it’s satisfying and I’ve noticed my body healing in other ways because of eating this way and that alone is worth the changes!

Wanna know more?  Either order your own book from Amazon or Above Rubies or you can read a little more about it here…next time.  (smile)

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

How I deal with other childhood illnesses

I like to prevent as many colds as possible and I feel it’s worth it to spend a little time at prevention.  Each morning I give my little ones each a spoonful of multi-vitamins and liquid calcium (I take the calcium too) and they each take a Cod Liver Oil, and garlic in the winter. I have the teens taking Fish Oil from Costco. I don’t like to load them up too much in the morning but my sons especially benefit from the fish oil, it helps their concentration and their emotional stability. It’s a frantic day at our house when we run out!

Keeping their bodies well-nourished with supplements and real food and glasses of purified water is a perfect foundation for fighting off the germs they come in contact with.

I’m going to share some of the things I do when particular illnesses come up, but please understand that I have to write a disclaimer here. I am comfortable treating my family this way, so is my husband, I am by no means suggesting you do the same, just sharing what works for us. Take your children to the doctor if that’s what you are comfortable doing! No judgments here, healthcare is highly personal, just like the decision to homeschool. Do what you feel like the Lord is leading you to do!

Croup-I hate the croup. I had is often as a child. I can remember the panicky feeling of not being able to breath, of coughing and having it do absolutely nothing. Because of my own experience I can often tell when my children are getting croupy or could possibly wake up in the middle of the night barking like a seal. The best way to get those lungs to open up is get the child in a temperaturally different environment. In Minnesota, that means wrapping a big blanket around the child and heading into the garage. The change in temperature will often help the lungs open up, ease breathing and help the child to calm down. It also works in the bathroom by running all the water spigots on HOT. The steam from the water will have the same effect, though I think the cold works quicker. No dairy products until the croup is completely gone!  Since the croup is basically a head cold moved down south, I continue to treat it like I would a cold, using the items I mentioned in the previous post.

Pink-Eye-Thankfully my children haven’t had much experience with this “cold in the eye” but when I do suspect that it might be starting or if I they wake up with a gunky red eye, I've found two ways to treat it.  Besides using a warm wash cloth to clean the eye, I also will make a charcoal slurry and use it as eye drops.  If you don’t know anything about charcoal I highly recommend reading Charcoal Remedies by John Dinsley. Fascinating read!  Another remedy is breast milk, if you have any on hand, or rather, in breast, the natural antibiotics in your milk will clear that eye up VERY quickly.  So amazing!

Tummy Trouble-  This has got to be a large families worst enemy.  Just thinking about it makes my stomach roll!  Probably anybody’s really, but in the large family the amount of laundry…oh my.  Well, anyway, I personally love Tummy Tune-up at the first utterance of, “Mom, I don’t feel good…my tummy hurts.”   Usually Tummy Tune-up will take care of it before we are running for the toilet, but not always.  When it’s really bad I will give my children charcoal in the capsule.  Charcoal not only neutralizes the stomach acids, it’s also bonds to the offending organisms and carries them out the opposite end (always preferable in my opinion!) Peppermint Tea is also a good one for tummy’s that just need a little settling.  Maybe #1 son ate too much dinner or #5 daughter snuck some extra cookie dough, peppermint tea is my first choice. 

Sore Throats- Like I mentioned in the previous post, Bee’s Aide is the first place I go for throat relief.  But if that doesn’t work, gargling with good ole’ warm salt water is my second choice.  My oldest three children had strep throat once, when they were little, before I knew anything about natural healing.  I thought Strawberry had it once when her tonsils were covered with white dots and nothing I was trying was working, I paid the copay, got her the strep test.  T’was nothing….just go home keep gargling, it should clear up a in few days…wow.  I think it was tonsillitis, it’s painful but just has to run it’s course. 

Ear Aches- Okay, this is going to sound really weird but remember those garlic pills I keep mentioning?  Well, those little amazing things are AWESOME for ear aches.  When my children are crying from sore ears I will use a pin to poke a hole in one of the pills and gently squeeze the contents of the pill into the aching ear.  After the pill is empty I will gently massage the part of the neck that is directly below the ear to help the oil to really get in there.  Then I will give the child a warm washcloth to hold on their ear while they lay on the couch.  I will also give them some Tylenol to help with the initial pain.  Garlic has always worked for me, the kids’ biggest complaint is how weird it feels but it doesn’t hurt, as in cause EXTRA pain. 

I’m so thankful to have quality resources to help me treat my family naturally!

Please share any other ideas you have to help your family stay and keep well!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

P.S.  I wanted to mention that I am a Beeyoutiful Affiliate, I’ve used their products for years and found out that I can make a little extra money for being an affiliate.  Why not?  If you decide to try any of the products that I mentioned in this post, would you consider ordering through my affiliate link?  Thanks so much!

How I deal with Cold and Flu Season

The season is upon us, not only the holiday season but the cold and flu season.  Last week we had a little round of minor colds and it made me realize that I wasn’t prepared to deal with it.  I like to have some things on hand to deal with sickness and get us well as naturally and quickly as possible.  No flu shots here.

And even though it was a financial sacrifice, the trade off is worth it.  I could have easily spent as much in copays at the doctor’s office. 

Here’s what I keep on hand for the cold and flu season:

• Odorless garlic-Garlic is a natural germ fighter.  I give this to each member of my family except the baby, every morning with breakfast.
• Berry Well-I just love this stuff, at the first sign of a cold I’m giving this to my children by the spoonful.  It’s a blend of raw honey and elderberries and propolis.  I think the honey and berries must be fermented somewhat because there is a small  percentage of alcohol, though no more than found in a ripe banana. 
• Bee’s Aide-At the first complaint of a sore throat I’m giving squirts of Bee’s Aide, more raw honey and other natural ingredients.  This stuff works particularly well on me and I can usually get a sore throat healed within 24 hours.  It’s intense, sometimes makes me gag, but it’s better than getting a strep test and enduring a round of antibiotics!!
• Winter Breeze-This is a non-petroleum based chest rub that I have been comfortable using on my newborns.  It’s great at night time when they have stuffy noses or a chesty cough.
• Eucalyptus Oil- This is by far the best thing, along with Tea Tree Oil to put in the Vaporizer to ensure a good nights sleep when little ones are stuffed up and uncomfortable. 

My two favorite teas for the cold and flu season are Echinacea Complete Care and Throat Coat.  I particularly like Echinacea and the children love the Throat Coat, stir in some raw honey and you have  a powerful combination for comfort and healing.  I bought a case of Echinacea tea from Azure! 

I will write up another post explaining what I do when specific childhood illnesses rear their unwelcome heads.  I’m not going to give medical advice, just share what works for us. 

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

P.S.  I wanted to mention that I am a Beeyoutiful Affiliate, I’ve used their products for years and found out that I can make a little extra money for being an affiliate.  Why not?  If you decide to try any of the products that I mentioned in this post, would you consider ordering through my affiliate link?  Thanks so much!

My Crunchy Little Secret

I may not look very crunchy (maybe you think I do!  lol)  But I’m pretty crunchy at heart, so crunchy in fact that I have a little secret that I am going to share with you!  As long as you promise not to laugh.  Well, okay, I don’t care if you laugh, just don’t laugh so loud that I can hear you through the computer!  Are you ready?

I use cloth pads. 

There I said it.  I’m not really ashamed or anything and if we were talking in real life I would be happy to wax on about all the benefits and awesomeness of cloth pads, it just feels weird to write about.

I started using them about 5 years ago after reading a post by another blogger out there. She’s not blogging anymore so I can’t share that post with you.  There is a lot of information out there in internet-land about cloth pads, free patterns too! I just made up my own pattern after using a few that I found on-line.

Over the weekend I made some new pads.  Mine were losing their softness and I didn’t have quite enough to last through a whole cycle.

Personally, I’ll never go back to using disposables and here’s why:

• Soft and comfy.
• The chemicals in disposable pads actually pull blood  out of your body, cloth pads make your period lighter.
• CHEAP!  If you make them yourself.  I think they are expensive if you buy them, but if you can’t sew it’s  still worth it to make the switch.  Besides, I’ve been watching the price of disposables go up anyway.
• Very “green.”  If you care about that sort of thing.  I just hate throwing stuff away.

I’m sure there are more reasons and you’ll find them if you do a little search on the subject.

So that’s my  crunchy little secret.  I wonder, are there any other cloth pad wearers out there?  Don’t be shy, share your secret with us!!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Weight loss Journal #Whatever

Sorry I haven’t been keeping this up!  It’s true, I haven’t been as committed as I was at the beginning and I had a couple weeks where I was fluctuating between 175 and 177.  I don’t actually think I “hit a weight loss wall,” I think I was being a slacker.  But over the weekend I gave myself a pep talk and managed to get my butt back in line!  This afternoon I weighed in at 173.6.  I didn’t make it to my goal of being 170 by Banana’s Birthday, but that’s okay.  I only have 10 pounds to go!  My ultimate goal is to get to 163 by our anniversary on May 29.  I should be able to do that. 

Most effective for me…staying away from gluten and sugar.  I can pretty much eat a lot of every thing else and still lose weight, you know like nuts and dried fruit and eggs and rice, meat and cheese.

I had Strawberry take some pictures of me…I can actually see a difference in these photos.  The pants are size 12!!

              

And now a look at the real me…

             

Snappity, Snap, Snap, Snap!  Oh…yeah…    (I have to get my wedding ring resized!  I hate my naked fingers!)

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

This and That

Marshmallow slept through the night last night!  Which means I did too!  I’ve been very energetic today and have some ambition to write a blog post!

I got some cast iron pans over the weekend and I am having a great time learning how to use them!  I’ve made pancakes, tortillas, bacon, cornbread (Strawberry) and english muffins in them!

English Muffins are my new favorite thing to make on baking day.  I’ve been using this recipe with good results and actually hand-kneaded the batch shown above (first time!).  The batch above is whole wheat raisin cinnamon.  My very first batch was just plain white flour english muffins.

These ones were not made in my cast iron pan and my first few looked burned, but they didn’t taste burned.  Very fun to make!

I also made homemade tortillas for the first time this week.  I only made a small batch {6} because I didn’t want to waste a lot of time and ingredients in case it didn’t work out, but it totally did and it was pretty fun too!  Thanks to that and pinterest, I will be able to make our favorite Enchiladas for Banana Taffy’s 17th birthday next week, totally soy free!  I found a recipe for homemade enchilada sauce too!  Woohoo!

Chocolate Taffy came down with a mild case of pink-eye so I wanted to try and treat it myself.  He’s a good sport, or patient…

His eye was achy, sore, puffy, a little red and he woke up with his eye stuck shut with gunk.  So I took my activated charcoal and made a slurry.  A slurry is where you add charcoal to water and let the charcoal settle to the bottom. 

         

While that was resting I boiled a dropper and poured the slurry through some cheese cloth.  I could have probably skipped this step, but since it was going into his eye I wanted to make sure all the charcoal bits were out.

Then the treatment began.  I put two drops into his eye, about every hour or so.  We were gone one day for most of the day, so I just did it when I could.

His eye felt better the next day and was completely well after 2 days of treatment.

No more gunk, puffiness, pain or redness.  (The darkness around his eyes is evidence of his soy sensitivity, he was away from home for a couple meals one day and it always shows up on his skin around his eyes and neck and arms.)  Anyway…if Charcoal fascinates you like it does me, I recommend reading Charcoal Remedies.  Fascinating! 

Here’s just a few random pictures from the past week:

     

The Valentine Cupcake that Strawberry made her siblings for Valentine’s Day.  And sweet Chocolate, holding his extra sweet Marshmallow.

My bread fiasco…this happens so much now no matter how much I oil the pans.  I either need new pans or I’m going to try a new recipe!  A new recipe is cheaper, so I’ll try that first!

        

         

Our productive trip to the thrift store. We’ve given Strawberry a new challenge, actually her daddy gave it to her.  Each day when she gets up, she is to completely put herself together for the day, dressing like she has some place to go or somebody to see.  Along with this challenge, he is treating her to a “real” hair cut at my salon and an eye brow wax.  We are hoping that the stylist can also give her some ideas for fun ways to wear her hair that doesn’t take hours to complete!  My part of the challenge is that she is responsible for dinner one night out of the week and one breakfast on the weekend.  Sort of a home ec/young lady challenge. 

Growing in grace she is, and so proud of her we are!

Here Chocolate is helping with what I call Peanut Butter Pandemonium!  I buy these 15 pound buckets of peanut butter from Azure and have to get it from the bucket into something more manageable, like a jar.  My Bosch is fantastic at stirring the oil back in.  The first time we did this we made such a HUGE mess.  This time was much better as we knew what to expect and the only part that was really chaotic was when Blue-Raspberry dropped a jar of it on the garage floor.  Ah well…at least it wasn’t the carpet!

I decided to make yogurt.  I have all the supplies and in keeping with my Grocery Groaning's Challenge I’m try to use what I have and not go to the store.  But I do have a little confession, I had to buy some half and half this week and some fruit.  But I only spent $18.00 and I’m still well under my $500 goal.  I’ll do the break down in a separate post.

So that’s it.  I pretty much do this all week:  Clean, teach, clean, cook, clean, work-out, cook and carry Marshmallow around on my back.  It’s not glamorous, but it’s honest and it makes me happy!

Find Joy Where YOU are!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy