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Been awhile.

It has been quite some time since I have posted.  Life is crazy and I'm lazy, and all those other excuses. Right?  Anyway.  I'll bring you up to date on my health situation.

In January, I went in for my annual check up.  The doctor, at my request, tested my thyroid via TSH blood test.  I have experienced thyroid issues in the past, so this is why I requested it.  My levels were less than .01 which is extremely low.  For anyone wondering, TSH is thyroid stimulating hormone released by the pituitary gland.  It tells the thyroid to make more thyroid hormone (T4 or thyroxine).  If your level is that low, it can be an indication that your thyroid is producing too much T4, thus the pituitary gland isn't requesting that the thyroid make anything.  Does that make sense?  So I went to an endocrinologist to see what was going on.  The right side of my thyroid has a nodule (goiter) that is ridiculously huge.  He told me to have the right half removed.  I am not a fan of this option.  Somewhat for vanity's sake, I don't want them cutting into my neck yet again (as this happened when they removed a parathyroid when I was 24).  So I have been trying to figure out what I can do to fix this enlarged thyroid.  I have discovered iodine and its ability to heal the thyroid.  I continued on my herb protocol for several months before starting up the iodine.  It basically detoxes bromine and fluoride, of which I am sure I have more than is acceptable.  Unfortunately, thyroid problems make life pretty unbearable.  I have no energy and complete lack of motivation- and that goes way beyond just being lazy.  I am also dealing with adrenal fatigue and acid reflux.

I am trying brassica tea twice a day for 10 days and then HCl (hydrochloric acid).  I am hopeful that it will work.  I've read good things about brassica tea.  It has SGS, a phytochemical found in broccoli, added to the tea.  This SGS will kill H. pylori, a bacteria found in almost every person's stomach, which causes ulcers.  So I'm trying it out.  I'll let you know how it goes.

For the adrenals, I am going to try high doses of Vitamin C.  I just ordered some liposomal Vitamin C.  It is supposed to be more bioavailable than regular Vitamin C supplements, so you don't need to take as much.  There was a fascinating story about a man in a coma after getting the swine flu in New Zealand.  The hospital wanted to take him off of life support and let him die, but his family insisted on trying intravenous Vitamin C.  His condition improved within a week, so he was no longer on life support.  Then they stopped treatment and he went back downhill.  They started up again, but on a really low dose, so he started taking liposomal Vitamin C in a drink.  He rapidly recovered.  So, apparently this form of Vitamin C is as powerful (if not more) than getting it through an IV.  We'll see.  I'd love it if it miraculously cured all my ailments, but I'm just shooting for helping my adrenals!

Anyway, I have been struggling to accomplish anything over the past several months and am hopeful that will all change soon.  Wish me luck!

Laura

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.