I got a Vitamix blender for Christmas.  This baby is so wonderful.  I've made green smoothies every day since I opened it up.  Then, last night we made apple juice.  We blended up the apples in the Vitamix and then strained the juice out in a muslin bag I made just for that purpose.  The apple juice is for healing my gallbladder.  You probably don't want all the details.
Anyway, the Vitamix is awesome!  It is the best Christmas gift I think I have ever received.  Mostly because it is something I feel will improve not only my health, but the health of the rest of my family.  Okay, so maybe IT won't improve our health, but what I make in it can.  I have been sticking to at least 1 quart of green smoothie every day.  I give each of the kids a glass of it as well.  They love it!
As I'm sure you probably already know, a green smoothie is fruits blended with some leafy greens.  My favorite is kale.  I didn't so much like it with chard.  Spinach is okay as well, as are most types of lettuce.  Mostly I use kale, though.  You can't even tell it is in there.  Some days my smoothie is green and some days it is more purple.  It all depends on what I put in it.  Some fruits I have used are plums, pears, oranges, lemons, limes, pineapple (love it!), mango, berries of all sorts, and always, always banana.  I've seen it recommended that children and people new to green smoothies add a sweetener such as honey, but I don't think it needs anything more.  
Green smoothies are a great way to add more fruits and green leafies to your diet.  I am aiming for at least 50% of my diet to be raw foods.  Eventually I'd like to be between 60-80%.  The green smoothies are a great start!  I'm not sure Jeff is all that excited about that much raw food, but the smoothies are a start.  I've learned you just take things one step at a time!

Well, it's been a while.  Things are pretty busy around here.  Things fell apart around Halloween.  I overdid it on candy- I have absolutely no self control around it.  I started getting waves of nausea for a minute or two throughout the day.  I thought it was from all the candy.  Except it didn't stop when I got rid of all the candy three days after Halloween.  Yep, I limit our consumption of candy to three days and then it goes.  We had so much left at the end of the three days!  So on Thanksgiving the nausea got worse.  It was awful.  I think I know what the problem is now.  My gallbladder.  I am no doctor, and have not seen a doctor to confirm my suspicions.  I will be going to one in the near future when we have medical insurance again (just a couple weeks to go).  I have researched my symptoms, tracked my symptoms with my food consumption.  They definitely go hand in hand with gallbladder issues.
So a meatless, low fat diet is in order.  Low fat means no dairy.  I am finding it difficult.  I still have a little bit, but have to be very careful.  Last night I made macaroni and cheese for dinner- none for me.  Instead I had a salad.  In the three days I have been eating this way, I have definitely felt better.  I am hoping that the herb formula I am taking for the liver and gallbladder will help as well. 
So we had gone grain free for a bit.  I didn't really feel like going grain free helped me much.  I am pro-grain.  Definitely.  So grains are back in full force in my life.  I even ground 5 batches of spelt flour the other day.  Most of it is in the freezer.  I decided to grind it all at once so I wouldn't have to pull out the wheat grinder every other day.  The kids enjoyed freshly made graham crackers after school on Monday.  Ashley is begging me to make some bread.  I've been a bit lazy and haven't gotten to that one yet this week.  Guess I'd better get on that!

I've eaten a few bad things in the past couple weeks- mostly on the weekends.  Our vegetable intake is still much better than it was before going grain-free.  I'm ready to add some whole spelt back into my diet.  In the form of fresh, homemade pasta and homemade bread.  As much as I love muffins, they have a bit more sugar (and they are actually lower in sugar than most when I make them) than I would prefer to have right now.  I'm still sticking to very low sugar.  I am amazed at how well I've done with hardly any sugar in my diet.  That has always been the hardest thing for me- desserts.  I love dessert.  I will return to eating dessert when I feel a bit more healthy.  I definitely feel like I am not getting enough food to eat in a day.  I'm not hungry or anything, but just feel like I need more.  Adding some bread might just help with my energy levels.  Having a little boy sleep at night would probably help as well. He is sick right now and isn't sleeping well.

quinoa

I made quinoa for my breakfast today.  I cooked it in half water, half milk.  We added just a bit of raw honey and some cinnamon.  Kind of like serving oatmeal, but it isn't oatmeal.  It is a different texture- it kind of pops as you chew!  (kind of cool in a way)  My almost 2 year old and 5 year old loved it.  I thought it was pretty good, but I'm not used to it yet.  I always tell my picky eater (the 10 year old) that she has to eat something several times to develop a taste for it- and then she will like it.  I think that is how quiona is for me.  I didn't hate it or anything.  It was just so different from what I am used to (oatmeal) that I need to get used to it.  It got better as I ate it- just like with trying beets last week, the more I ate the more I got used to it, the more I liked it.  Quinoa will definitely be a regular breakfast at our house.  Next I plan to try it in place of rice and maybe in tabbouleh.

By the way, you'd think no sugar for over a week would lead to weight loss?  Nope.  What is up?????

one week later

It has been a week without grains now.  Okay, so maybe there was a little bit of a grain in the crust when I had a piece of pie on Saturday.  We had friends over.  Okay, so I had some zucchini bread too.  One piece.  I limited myself to only having it on Saturday.  At one meal.  It hasn't been that difficult.  The zucchini bread I made for the kids was the only thing I was really longing for (and I had one little piece).  I will be making them things that aren't as tempting for me from now until I get to have grains again!  That means no pumpkin bread for them.  Sad, because it is October and we all know that means we should be eating pumpkin everything.  Oh well, it is better this way.  I would just end up making pumpkin cookies and then eating all but the few I let the kids eat!  Yeah, that's how it usually goes.  I'm just being real here.
How do I feel?  Not so different.   I think my body is in detox mode.  I haven't lost any weight.  I have a little bit more energy than before, but there were three days in a row that I woke up before 6am (which is not normal for me) and I was very tired those days.  I finally slept to a normal time yesterday and I'm good again.
Some things we have eaten the past few days- taco salad (chips for the kids, none for us), Chipotle salad without rice, roast with carrots, green beans and onions as well as potatoes with gravy (thicken with arrowroot), salad, broccoli, green beans with caramelized onions, eggs, cheese, apples, bananas.
Some new things I'd like to try this week- quinoa and buckwheat.  Both of these are not truly grains, but seeds.  Quinoa is great in place of rice or used in tabbouleh instead of bulgur.  Buckwheat can be ground into flour and used in baking.  It doesn't rise like a grain, so it is best used in biscuits and things that don't really rise.

grain-free

This week I have done something I never thought I would do.  I stopped eating grains.  Now don't get all excited.  It is only temporary.  I will tell you why.
Jeff has been sick.  It was bad.  For a week.  I finally started him on heavy doses of probiotics.  He is down to a normal dose now.  He has been dealing with digestive issues for quite some time.  I think it has to do with food poisoning while he was in the Army.  Switching to raw dairy has helped, but with this last illness sticking around for so long I decided we should spend some time trying to help him heal.  Now, if you've read much around here you know I'm not into eating tons of meat.  So this isn't a carb-free, all protein thing.  We are amping up our vegetable intake and limiting sugar. (I made some raw fudge with honey because I need SOMETHING to satisfy my sweet tooth once in a while.  It is ridiculously sweet and a tiny piece is all you need.)  We are increasing our meat consumption simply because we need a little extra protein to make up for the protein in the grains we would normally eat.  I have no idea how long we will stick with this, and I am not making my kids cut out grains. 
So what have we been eating?  Well, let's see.  The other night we had baked potatoes.  The kids had that as well.  Last night we ate green beans with (almost) caramelized onions (because I'm not patient enough to cook them that long), roasted beats, and salad.  I've been eating eggs, fruit, and cheese during the day.  Tonight we are having some steaks that have been in the freezer for the longest time.  I'm kind of excited- it has been a long time since I last had steak.  I haven't decided what we will eat with it.  Veggies, of course.  Maybe broccoli and spinach?  Saturday night we will be having a pot roast with carrots, green beans, and onions cooked with it and mashed potatoes with gravy- one of my favorites.  We had that growing up almost every Sunday.  Of course we had jello and cinnamon rolls with it, but we won't be having those tomorrow.  I might make bread or rolls for the kids and the friends we are having over that evening. 
I have been surprised at how well I have been able to stick to this.  Usually it is very difficult for me to give up certain foods (sweets).  I think all the vegetables are really helping.  I'll be sure to post how we feel as time goes on and how it goes when we add grains back into our diet.

essiac

One of the herb formulas I found at AngelaHarris.com is Essiac Tea.  If you know nothing about Essiac and you are into herbs, definitely look into it.  It is touted for healing cancer.  It is the primary formula in her health protocol and is the first one listed- and the last one I tried!  I FINALLY made some.  It was a little daunting to me because it takes over 12 hours to make (12 hours of that is just letting it sit in the pot, covered).  I was also waiting till I had an amber gallon jug in which to make it.  I halved the recipe so it would fit in that jug, ending up with about 3/4 of a gallon.  I have been taking it twice a day and feel that it is making a difference already.  I don't necessarily feel any different, but I can tell it is working.  I can't really explain how I can tell, maybe it is that I have a little more energy and motivation.  That may sound strange, but after battling with depression for most of my life, even in the good times I lack motivation to do anything.  Doing the dishes spontaneously yesterday was very out of the norm for me. I usually avoid it like the plague until I have to do it because we have no dishes left. 
I intend to add more her formulas back into my routine, adding one new one a week.  I was taking several of them before, but I stopped after a while.  I think they will make more of an impact when combined with the Essiac Tea.
I plan to start my kids on it as well, but that means I have to give it to them 15 minutes before they eat breakfast.  That requires me getting up before they start eating.  My kids wake up earlier than Jeff and I, so they usually go and get their own breakfast.  I'm thinking this means I am going to have to start getting up earlier!  Going to bed earlier, as well as rising earlier would probably be better for us anyway.