Healthy Livin' support group, Month of August 2009!!

Hi Diane, welcome, I'm new here too. Mostly people just chat about all kinds of stuff in here and throw in pieces of what they are doing to be healthy, or how they know they are NOT being healthy.

for example, we went to the black hills of SD for the last few days, where we ate out every meal. Yum. My kids decided that sweet potato fries dipped in Au jus are a definite delicacy. I get healthy points for the sweet potato nutrients, right?

and just now I fed them Organic Quaker instant oatmeal, with artificially flavored maple (high fructose corn) syrup.

Hopefully the good outweighs the bad eventually...

I've got a zucchini waiting to be turned into zucchini bread. Might try doing that with the kids later today.

 

Welcome Diane! Maybe do a search on this site for the Healthy Living threads and glance through. You'll get an idea of what we do in here. I hope you stay!

Peggy, Yes, of course you get credit....good job!

I think sticking around this thread keeps the right ideas on our minds. We mean to do well, but slip sometimes. But that's okay, we all encourage each other and just keep moving forward as is best for each one of us! We also enjoy sharing weather and family things. I LOVE this thread!

It's supposed to be 90ish today, 80's tomorrow, then back down to 70's---I hope! It's 8am here right now. I have all the windows open, and there's a cool breeze. Trying to cool the house down as much as possible before it starts getting hot!

Lots of things to do to get ds15's stuff ready to go: final items to buy, clothes to wash, check lists to make sure he has everything, pack stuff...... Yesterday I took him to get his hair cut. We went to the Fred Meyer store next to the haircut place, and found a large duffle bag, just like he wanted/needed for 50% off! Yes!!! I hope all goes well for him there! He's sooo looking forward to this! He needs a lot of sleep though or he has a hard time functioning. Our oldest was at the same school for the past two years, and said he often didn't get enough sleep. So, I'm a little concerned about that aspect for this guy! We shall see! He's not the academic guy like his brother, but I think he'll be fine, he's great in other areas! This'll be his first time to ever go to school, he's always been homeschooled, so this'll be interesting to see how he does!

DD and I have over 30 hours of volunteering in with the Humane Society now. We're going today for a couple of hours, maybe tomorrow, and definitely another 2 hours on Friday. When you get to 60 hours, you're allowed to take one of the dogs into town. They wear a vest thing that says "Adopt Me" on it, and you take them different places. It's good for the dogs and it allows more people to see him/her that may not otherwise! This is my dd's goal, she sooo wants to do that! So, before school started, she wanted to get in as many hours as possible. We cuddle cats and walk dogs. That's been my exercise---walking the dogs, and it's gone well.

Okay, another book, better stop now!

 

Hi! Welcome Diane! Both Peggy-Ty and Deena gave you a great welcome, and Deena's suggestion of going back through old posts is a good one. That way you can get to "know" us better. Please introduce yourself and come on in!

I'm not sure that the Healthy Livin' title is correct anymore in that we don't set weight goals or exercise goals or keep track of calories, etc. But, I enjoy having a group of people who will support me when I am doing things right, and who will support me (or give me a well-meaning kick) when I am doing things wrong. Sometimes the people here make me stop and think in my head, "Do I want to tell them we did this....?" For me that helps!

I am still working my way through a couple of bags of fresh veggies from the Farmer's Market. FIL gave me a bunch of tomatoes that I am going to roast and freeze. I love using the sauce in things- but it never makes it all the way to winter! I use it too fast!

I like to can jams and relishes for the winter too. I made peach jam last year that was like "summer in a jar"- it was very flavorful and we used it all up! So I'll try and make more of that this year. I use fructose in canning instead of sugar (there is a family problem with white sugar). The price of fructose has doubled in the last six months though!

PTKW- I haven't been to the Black Hills in YEARS!! It is a beautiful area! Were you on a family trip? A reunion? Mmm, sweet potato fries and au jus. Yum. Unfortunately, my kids favorite zucchini bread recipe has cocoa powder in it- so probably not the most healthy choice! And we love fired zucchini!

Oh Deena- lucky you to be cooling off! We are heating up again! What a great deal on the duffle for DS! Hopefully it won't take long for him to develop a routine at school that will work for him! Good job on all of the hours at the Humane Society. I don't think I could do that with my pet-hair allergies! DS #1 has been working at a food pantry though, and that is being a good experience.

Well, I'd better run! Chat later! MT3

 

Mt3, the trip was wonderful! We put on 2,000 miles, and it was fun spending a lot of time with hubby. We read some of Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story" stories while travelling, worked on memorizing Psalm 91, and talk-talk-talked. Thank you for asking. I stocked up on hugs and kisses from that sweet grandbaby, and we saw fabulous, beyond-our-expectations answers to prayer. We have four grandchildren now, and another one on the way.

Peggy, I have two large zucchini sitting here waiting to be made into z. bread, but the recipes I have all have too much sugar, too much white flour, etc. Do you have a delicious, healthful recipe that you wouldn't mind sharing?

Deena, I'm enjoying reading your "books!" I also have a child away at school and will pray for your son's adjustment along with my daughter's. 'Sounds like you and your dd are getting in a lot of mother/daughter time along with walking the critters.

Our summer apprentices left for their own schools yesterday, so--no longer having to cook for four active teens--maybe I can get serious about losing the 10 pounds (no kidding!) I put on this summer tasting and pre-testing my own cooking.

Diane, do you have any ideas for motivation? What are your best guides to staying healthy? Welcome to this mini support group!

 

P.H., I think I just use a regular junk food recipe, but when I get it out, if it looks healthy, I'll send it your way. I COULD do that right now...but....I'm glued to the computer...and need to go make dinner. what are apprentices?

I just gorged myself on the first tomato of the year from my garden, leaning over my sink, eating it like an apple, not sharing one bite with the kids (who are also tomato addicts).

Deena, that Humane society volunteering sounds fun. Hubby and I did that when we were dating. They didn't have a deal like that with # of hours to get to take a dog to town. That's what we wanted. We did it because we couldn't have a dog in our apartment (yes, we were shacked up).

well, time to go make deer chili! hmm, rice or corn bread? hmmm...decisions decisions...

 

CORN BREAD!!! I love corn bread!

 

Yum, rice in deer chili sounds good, but we LOVE cornbread at our house! I've taught my kids to eat it like I was raised- with maple syrup on it. DH is the only holdout and puts honey on it. LOL

Oh, P.H.- sounds like a wonderful trip! I loved Paul Harvey stories (I haven't heard any for a while). I got to meet him when I was a young girl- he towered over me! Congratulations on another grandbaby on the way!

That will be nice to go back to cooking how you and DH are used to.

Peggy-Ty (I don't know what to shorten that long name too for easy typing- sorry!)- you had me chuckling at the image of you eating the tomato over the sink saying "No!" to the kids when they wanted a bite! LOL Now the next tomato is theirs, huh? FIL shared a BUNCH of big tomatoes this year. They are delicious, but I miss the roma tomatoes that he planted last year. They said they couldn't find any roma plants this year. Bummer.

My best zucchini bread has cocoa powder in it and I'm sure is not a "healthy" food- even with a veggie in it! :roll: A friend gave me a delicious loaf last summer, maybe I'll see what her recipe is. I'll share it if I get it!

What's going on for the weekend? House and yardwork here. Still temps in the 90's this weekend, so outside early!

Have a good one! MT3

 

MT3, you can call me PTKW or P.... (lol). Peggy was already taken, or I would have something more simple!

Cocoa powder has lots of antioxidants. I'd say it would improve the health benefits of Z.Bread. Can't wait to see the recipe. Not sure when I'm finally going to bake mine. If I were smart and motivated I'd do it today so we have breakfast in the hotel tomorrow and possibly Sunday. Hubby is a Navy Reservist, so we go along and get cheap groceries at the commissary and hit Sams Club and all the civilized stores...and Restaurants!

I really want to clean the bathrooms today. going to do that now. right. now. ready. set. go.--

 

Cornbread? You all must be from the south! Up here cornbread is not real big. But fresh tomatoes are! Yum!!

P.H., you asked what my motivation is to staying healthy? Trying to keep up with my twin boys that are almost 5 and my two grandchildren who are just 3 and 1. The thought of keeping up with them all day when they are together keeps me motivated to stay healthy!!

My best guides to staying healthy are exercising with Leslie Sansone's dvds and studying natural health. I'm working towards my Master Herbalist certification and Holistic Wellness certification. All through home study 'cause I don't have enough energy, time or freedom to go somewhere for school!!

I also love Nourishing Traditions and Sue Gregg's cookbooks. Any one else familiar with those?? Wish we could have fresh veggies year round but our growing season is really short. We had snow coming down in mid-May and things are cooling off now already. Granted, this year was a little more bizarre than usual, even for Canada.

Thanks for the welcome, girls!
P.S. I'm pretty sure I have a healthy zucchini bread recipe here...somewhere...
will post it once I find it...

 

Good. My zucchinis are begging to be used!

 

Ems and I would love to volunteer at our Humane Society or Animal Control. Sadly, they do not allow anybody under 18 to volunteer.

It is a shame because I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned from volunteering in shelters like this.

 

P.H.,
Yup, my kids are 27 (she's the mom of the grandkids), 26, 22 and 18. Yes, I started over.
We adopted our youngest two from Haiti. Our oldest said she wasn't going to be having kids for a long time because they were young, going to college, etc. Yup. Three months after we brought our two-year-old twins home she blessed us with a grandson.

Hehehe, I said God has a sense of humor.

Ok, going to look for that zucchini bread recipe!

 

Found it!
This may be a challenge for some as it calls for whole wheat pastry flour (different than regular whole wheat) or spelt flour. I would just use half whole wheat, half white flour if you don't have the w.w. pastry or spelt flour.
Also, baking in a two stage process neutralizes phytic acid. Phytic acid naturally occurs in the bran part of all our grains and causes the nutrients of the grain to not be absorbed as easily by our bodies. Soaking for a period of time in an acidic environment causes the phytic acid to be deactivated and thus the nutrients more readily available.
So now that I have totally confused you, on to the recipe...

Zucchini Bread (Sue Gregg's Whole Grain Baking)

Stage 1
Blend
1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup cultured milk (sour raw milk, yogurt, buttermilk, or kefir)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup grated zucchini, unpeeled
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix in until just moistened...
1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
or 2 1/4 cup spelt flour

Cover bowl and let stand at room temperature 12-24 hours.

Sift together and set aside (don't mix in with the above ingredients just yet)...
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Stage 2
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease loaf pan.

Just before baking whisk in..
2 eggs
leavenings, salt and spices

Fill greased loaf pan.
Bake 325 degrees for 60-70 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Bon Appetite!

 

Fantastic! Yes, I've read about Phytic acid in S.Fallon's book, so I've already soaked whole wheat overnight for pancakes (to partially ferment it). It made quite a different type batter. Kind of dough-y and didn't bake clear through very easily. Very, very tasty, though!

I've just fried up the zucchini that was begging to be used, but I'm sure to get some more before long. And I'm eager to try this. Exactly the type of thing I was hoping for! THANKS! Praire Home

Editing this to say, Yep, God does have a sense of humor. For our 25th wedding anniversary, my beloved husband asked me what I wanted. I said, laughing, "Another baby!" And God answered with two! (Also international adoptions.)

btw, there's book some say is real good--MeditationsforAdop.Parents. *similing here* You can find it in CBD and Amazon, etc. Or google it, if you're interested. (I wrote it.)

 

hi P.H.
That is funny! So where did you adopt from? and there ages?
I know this is totally off topic!
But I love meeting other crazy moms out there who have adopted and are slightly more seasoned (ahem!)

 

"Slightly more seasoned" Ha-ha-ha! I'm actually quite well seasoned: In fact, I think I hold the esteemed title of being the most well seasoned on this board, according to an informal "contest" we did a while back--though there are two or three others who are nipping at my tail feathers. A couple of the gals promised to send me a box of "Depends," but I'm glad they haven't kept their promise.

Actually, you don't have to worry about getting "off topic" on this particular thread. Momtothree opened it up kind of like a fitness club, where we can gather to chat as we try to impove our health.

I'm just hurrying through this morning to report a 2/lb weight loss last week. Hooray! Eight more to go before I'm back to our pre-summer marathon of cooking, but I'm on the way and going in the right direction. Thanks gals, for your support and prayers.

Diane, we'll share more about our wonderful adoption experiences soon. I've got to run to the field now.

 

Patty--Your Humane Society doesn't let anyone under 18 volunteer? I wonder why? Ours starts it at 10 with an adult. So I can't just go drop my dd off there and come back 2 hours later. I stay with her and do all the stuff with her until age 16, I believe. I'm glad, I'm enjoying it! Plus my dd has learned sooo much and LOVES it! She says she wants to be an animal trainer when she grows up, so this is great experience for her!

We took my ds15 to his school yesterday. I know God led us that direction, but I miss him already! I think he'll do fine, but home will certainly be different without him! I'm praying he gains a better/closer relationship with God, and makes some good, Godly friends! I also pray for him and his schoolwork--he's not the intellectual over-all that his brother is, but he's got some absolutely beautiful other qualities! He's taking Bible, Geometry, World History, Spanish, Health, English and will be in the handbell choir. They have a voice choir, but ds is not a singer, so I'm so glad they have the handbell choir option! Only 3 years of science are required, and since he took Biology already, which is what they offer for 10th grade, they asked if he would mind not taking a science this year, so he can be back on the same schedule as the rest of his class next year. He obliged! He has always been homeschooled, so I think he has a full enough schedule for this year of adjustment!

PH--I lost two pounds when I was eating right and exercising for a week a couple of weeks ago! Then my ds's bday party came up, and all the busy-ness and packing and stuff, and I gained it back. However, I now know the efforts are worth it, so I am starting this week eating better and doing what exercise I can, then will get into it full-swing next week.

How's everyone else doing?

 

Just wanted to let you all know Devin has lost another 15 lbs. He has lost a total of 57 lbs in just over a year. It is coming off slowly but it's coming off. I am a very proud momma. I am also done a size in pants. Haven't been on the scale and don't want to. But it feels good to fit in to a size smaller. Hope everyone is doing well!!

 

Yay for everyone's weight losses!!

 

Hi all. Have you ever had life spinning so quickly that you can't find your way around? That has been me the last couple of weeks!

Hi Amy! So good to see you and hear how you and DS are doing! Congratulations to both of you! Keep up the good work, and stop in more often if you can!

Diane, thanks for the zucchini bread recipe- yum.

How neat for you two to have a common bond with adoptions. PH, chuckling at your anniversary "request"- I'm sure not many husbands hear that! lol

Congrats you guys on the weight losses!! That is great to hear! I've been trying to use my exercise ball and work on my core. I don't know that I am down any weight, but my jeans are not quite as snug!

((Deena))- praying for you during this adjustment time. I'm sure the house will seem quiet when both boys are at school. Maybe you and DD can make a photo CD or a video of things in your town/home to send to the boys before Christmas. A package from home for them, and a way for you to "include" them too. Just a thought.

Where has gardenturtle been? Hi to Patty and PTKW!

I'm off to type up our church newsletter for a while- everyone have a great day! Drink your water and kiss your kids!

MT3