Shout Out To Nutrition

I've been sitting on this information for a while.
I wasn't sure if I should share it or not.
After a discussion this morning about cancer and Shakeology I have decided, it was time.
This man is my grandfather.
He has many medical issues, including cancer throughout his entire body.
He can not eat solid food, only pureed.
Last month he came very close to passing away. 
It was very scary to think I hadn't seen him. On a last minute (literally last hour) trip, I hopped a train to NJ to see him.
During that trip I learned that my Mom had shared her Vegan Shakeology with him.

It's been a few months now. But, when he was in Hospice, he couldn't eat. He was literally nutritionally 

starving. My Mom was there to see him just about everyday. She had her Shakeo with her and decide 
to give him some. The Tropical Vegan actually and he loved it. She's sat with friends in hospice and 

has seen them basically starving. When your already very ill, and then you aren't getting nutrients you 

get even weaker. Obviously the dietician checked everything in relation to his medications etc etc and it 

was approved for him. Which I'm not surprised about. There's nothing bad in it!

I'm not going to tell you that Shakeology is curing his cancer, that he will live longer because he's drinking it.
I don't know either of those things.
But what I will tell you is that he LOVES it. That he prefers it to the bland puree they have to feed him.
That the nutrition it supplies him gives him more energy.
He can drink this himself with a straw. He doesn't need to be fed.
His dietician/nutritionist approved the use of Shakeology once a day.
Why? OH, because there is more nutrition in that one scoop of Shakeology then there is in all of the bland, over boiled, pureed scoops of food they can feed him in a day.
He is NOT the only person I know PERSONALLY who drinks Shakeology for nutritional supplementation during cancer and even during cancer treatments (Chemo).
There is a reason people look to it.
Stop running from your health. Unelss you are going to eat more fruits and veggies in a day than you could possibly consume, then you aren't getting all of the nutrition Shakeology can give you.
I'm proud of my Grandfather.
But, I'm even more proud of my mother who shared this with him.
She knows the nutrition it brought to her, to me and to my own family.

Kombucha DAY 6...

This is my first time delving into anything that has to do with cultured foods. 
We are anxiously awaiting the completion of our first round of Kombucha.  
This is DAY 6. 

I.Am.Afraid…to touch it, smell it, move it…ruin it. 

But that's ok. Sometimes you have to just fail forward.
Get up and try something new.

In 3 more days I will take the next step in this process.

I'm not completely clear on them. So many questions!

The directions say "pour off a couple of ounces for a taste test…when the tea is brewed to your taste, pour the tea into glass bottles and cap. Place in refrigerator."

Here is some learning I need to do: 
What do I do with the old scoby?
Can I reuse them and make two batches at once?
Is the scoby forming properly?
Can a larger scoby be cut into multiple scoby?

HELP!!!

Do You Elf?

I don't Elf. If you don't know what I'm referring to, brace yourself. It gets creepy.
Awesome, but creepy.
FUN, but creepy.
Creative, but creepy.
Creepy, but STILL kind of cool.
I'm just kidding (maybe not, I could be totally serious about it being creepy).

When I was first introduced to The Elf On TheShelf, it was a gift sent to us by my husband's family in Massachusetts. I remember his Step-Mother's voice on the phone asking me if I had heard of it, and she was so excited. I hadn't heard of it even once before then. She's too sweet and always finds awesome gifts for our kids. Anyway, back to the I don't Elf...

It came in the mail and I was like "Um, what is this creepy thing"?

But I humored her.
Took the book out and ready it and read the instructions.
Then I put it all back and packed it up. My son was only 1 year old. The box said they had to be three and my husband and I didn't see the point in doing all of those shenanigans for a baby. He would touch it when he wasn't supposed to. Possibly damage it, or put it in his mouth. He would have no idea what we were even doing. But, the big reason we didn't use it was, because the child was supposed to name it and he could barely speak. SO…The Elf, he stayed on the shelf.

By the time our son was three, we had our little baby girl. I was NOT trying to go to all of the lengths I saw everyone going to on Facebook.  I had an infant to care for, and a house to pack to move 3,000 miles away. The Elf, he stayed on the shelf.

Three years go buy. Guess where that bad boy is?

You got it! He's on the shelf. Nice and crisp and perfect in his box. With his creepy glaring eyes saying "WHY must I stay in here"?
I don't know little creepy Elf who is looking at me, I think keeping you ON the shelf is our tradition.
So, the Elf, he stayed on the shelf.

 

DIY Princess Tiara Tower Rachel Re-Does It!

A few weeks back I posted one of my Rachel Re-Does It posts of my daughters new and improved Princess Shoe Cubby (SEE IT HERE) She loves it and astonishingly enough is using it well! I'm not the most organized person, not even close. But, what I do find is that is organization is as simple as possible I am more likely to use it, just like my three year old. This led me to my next Lillian projects: Princess Tiara's. I can not tell you how many have been broken from being left on the floor and stepped on, so it was time to take control of that mess.  I looked at my previous headband holders you can see HERE. The tiaras were just too big, and took up too much room.
So what's a girl to do?
Surely having less Tiara's was not the answer.
Then I had a eureka and made the Tiara Tower.  The tower also doubles as a super large piggy bank, so as she's growing and playing princess she can be saving for a real Tiara down the road.

Lillian's Tiara Tower sits nicely on her Princess Shoe Cubby!
 Now what to do with those purses? Hmmm...

DIY Rachel Re-Does It…A Halloween Tree.

Why a Halloween Tree you ask? The answer is simple: because it's not everyday that your sister has the PERFECT sized dead tree in her yard. I couldn't just let this baby get turned to mulch.

For years I've seen the super adorable branches painted black with lights on them and wonderfully laid across fireplace, mantles, or used in pots standing as an outside decoration. I have never had to chance to make them. Then this tree came along and my Rachel Re-Does it light bulb went on into full blow creative mode. When that happens, I can't stop the locomotive, so I go with it!

That would be a holly tree, and oh boy were the leaves prickly with their horrible thorns. I learned quickly to use my husbands thick leather gloves. I ran my hand down each branch and pulled the leaves off. I ended up deciding to cut a few feet off of the bottom to make it stand nicer in the pot.

 

Next I filled the pot with rocks around the base of the tree. I did not permanently instal it in the pot for now. My plan is to hang it in the garage for next year (if I can get it in there without my husband realizing I'm storing a dead tree).  

I got a can of regular spray paint. NOT the cheapest one on the shelf at Lowes. That paint does NOT work well and you will ultimately have to go buy another can of the better paint. Save yourself the dollar upfront and get a better quality spray paint. IT DOES MATTER! 

I set the tree in the pot and in the field where I went to town spraying every part of that thing! It took about one can of paint to complete. 

Once painting was complete I used lights only up the center of the tree. I didn't have enough lights to do each brand separately, and if you've ever read one of my Rachel Re-Does It projects before, then you know I prefer to do things with as little money as possible. 

We used small plastic bats to attached as decorations as well as these ADORABLE glow in the dark hanging ghost we made last year. Yes, we made then, out of glow in the dark beads, melted in cookie cutters. I can post the How To for that another time though. Back to the tree...

My goal was to redo the pot to stay Halloween themed and use a backlight at the base to increase the branch visibility. However, today is Halloween and I forgot to finish this post until RIGHT NOW. So, we will see if I get that done today. It's not likely. ;) 

Don't mind the adorable little girl on the right side of the pictures. She thought I was taking pictures of her and went into full blown "Cat Walk" mode. I don't know where she gets it from.  We topped our tree with an old witch decoration we had from the Dollar Tree. Can't beat a dollar. My hope is to expand and grow the trees ornaments over time. So next year we should have MORE on there! 

Rewind the Future

     Did you watch the entire video? You did? Cool, now watch it again.
I had watched it multiple times to make sure the message soaked in.  I have even seen a few small behaviors that I have done in the past. Behaviors that led me to personally to be over weight at 24 years old and getting sicker by the day. So many bad choices.

     Sometimes I wish I could go back to the future, errrr, I mean time travel back ten years ago and grab myself and shake the stupid out of me. But, I can't. What I CAN do is change my future, heal from the inside out and live a healthy life from here out. Show my kids they have a choice. They can choose health, or…well you watched the video.

     Ten years ago (even 5 years ago) I didn't FEEL like changing. I didn't FEEL like learning another way. I thought the healthy eating thing was a quack and annoying. I was living my life the way I wanted to and paying the price.

     I was OK with having PCOS, IBS, anxiety, insulin resistance and acid reflux just to name a few of the diagnosis I have had, and was medicated for over the years.  If you don't think the food like products you put into your body effect your health, then you are on a road to finding out the long hard way. The way I was on.  It doesn't have to take you 10 years. It just takes one day. Just CHOOSE better one day. Then wake up and choose better for the next day. Wake up and choose again. One day at a time. Choose today, message me on FB HERE  you're interested in changing your life, your future and doing it one day at a time. I know, I've done it. You can do it too.

What This Dr. Had to Say About ME I Found Infuriating...

      I make it no secret that I very much disliked a good portion of the medical care I received while living on Travis AFB in California. That's not saying the nurses and hospital staff in general were bad, they were great. It's the Primary Care Dr's I had problems with.
     You see, when you have military insurance (Tricare) and live on a military base with a teaching hospital, you kind of have to use the hospital. To use a regular off base Dr. you end up jumping through hoops. Those hoops were my choice to jump through or not, I realize that, but at the time it didn't seem worth the trouble. I dealt with the ever changing PCM Dr.'s as they graduated the teaching hospital and moved on. I dealt with barely seeing the same Dr. more then twice. While "they" said my Dr. should have only changed twice at the most while I was there, I can count at least 4 in the 2.5 years they serviced us. This last doctor, she sure was a doozy. I am 100% throwing her under the bus, and I'm ok with that. Whether it's wrong or right, there is a reason for this post. Just let me get to it.
     Since when can a Dr. lie in their write ups, mistreat and talk down to their patients and have any left at the end of the day? Oh, I know, when they are a military doctor and their patients aren't really "customers" but at the will of the system.
     See the NORMAL PCM who either works for, or owns, their own practice has to have some version of customer service skills or their patients will go elsewhere. This doctor didn't have to worry about that. From the day I met her she was rude to me, but I tolerated her. I even went to the Dr. as minimally as possible to avoid her.
    Since having our healthcare end, (thank you for the 5 months of misinformation prior service my husband was enlisted in), I had been reviewing my medical records. Today I needed to go to an urgent care facility to get medication that is necessary for my thyroid to function. I have an under active thyroid and with that comes a slew of health "issues" and symptoms.  I was looking for my last blood work since I was being told the urgent care facility would have to run NEW blood work on me. Something I didn't look forward to paying out of pocket for, but I was going to do what I had to do.  That's when I came across this little gem of a write up and my blood started to boil:

     After reading her write up, you can clearly see I went to her for a REASON. Because I was in physical pain. My body was freaking out and I clearly was trying to get help to find out what was wrong. Here is where I get mad (I'm trying to use nice words)… 

"They are moving themselves and she has been packing. She does not exercise nor do much of anything. Her children keep her very busy and states that she has unexplained weight gain but has not changed her diet and again does not exercise." 

IS SHE KIDDING ME? I do not do much of anything? Excuse me, you horrid doctor who doesn't deserve a license, I had been working out for over a year. I had dramatically changed my diet. I had lost 50 pounds and if 10 pounds coming back over night was nothing to worry about, maybe the LIST of other symptoms should have been? All signs that my thyroid was out of balance, every last one of them!

     She looked at me. She looked at my size. She looked at the number on the scale and made the assumption that I was lazy and did nothing and didn't take my nutrition seriously. Well Dr. C, I spent 5 years learning about nutrition to help my child, what did you spend? Six weeks in med school learning? Yeah, good luck with that.

     You judge a book by it's cover and you judged wrong. Had this Dr. been a well trained Dr. in regards to my medical issues, she would have understood that my thyroid was having problems. She would have understood that loosing weight is exponentially harder for someone with either of my conditions and that stress and weight gain are signs that there is an imbalance in the every important thyroid. 

     For the record, we packed our entire house and filled two PODS with all of our house hold goods OURSELVES (accept one night my friends helped). But, the larger furniture, WE MOVED. Some of it I moved alone while my husband was at work and I minded BOTH of my small children. That was not easy and was surely a workout. 

     As for the "she doesn't want to take medication for this condition" in regards to my Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome(PCOS), she again LIES. This Dr. had tried to force me on birth control from the day she met me without having ONCE ran my blood work to get the baseline for my hormone levels. Which by the way have a long history of being very, very out of control and not level at all.  THAT, Dr. C ,is irresponsible to do. So I said I would not take the pills, until she ran the blood work. She refused. Funny, it doesn't say that in my records. When I asked for the referral to the Endocrinologist, who is the specialist who would truly understand my medical conditions, she told me no. She also told me that SHE was moving in a week, so there was no reason for her to run my blood work because she wouldn't be there to read the results. Thanks, but I can read them myself.   

     What's my point here? GET COPIES OF YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS, annually if you can. Even better, ask for a copy of the Dr's notes after each appointment. This "entry" in my records will never change, it will never be deleted. How many other entries did this Dr. make that were blatant lies? I don't know, I had to stop reading. All I can hope is that this Dr. C ends up at a base where she treats her patients with respect and understanding, not rudeness and disregard. 

In the mean time, I will be doing what I do best: reading everything I can and learning everything and anything to find relief and help for my thyroid issue because knowledge truly is power.