Maker's Diet Breakfast: Phase I

According to the plan we selected (male potato type) there are three breakfast options during Phase I. We won't do everything perfectly, since I'm still suffering from sticker shock with the raw honey, raw milk for kefir, everything organic and free, etc. I plan to let these things sort of sneak up on me, all  subtle and inexpensive-like.

1. Eggs and fruit

3 Eggs cooked however you like in coconut oil
Sauteed Mushrooms, onions and bell peppers
1 serving of grapes

2. Smoothie

Plain whole milk Yogurt or Kefir
Coconut oil
Frozen Berries
Honey
Vanilla extract (opt.)
Protein Powder (opt.)

3. Yogurt

Yogurt with honey and fruit
Handful of raw almonds

Breakfast happens to be my weak spot, especially on the weekends. What's been working so far is to just boil up a bunch of eggs every few days, and eat those with some fruit, or a smoothie if I'm feeling optimistic (I'm bad at smoothies. It never works out.). Hard boiled eggs seem to be my best bet for actually accomplishing breakfast, which is to say, it's absolutely no work at all and really hard to mess up.

As far as how the diet in general is going....

Meh.

But that's okay. I suspect some of my issues with being unable to resist cravings stem from being pregnant two years in a row. During this time, myself and everyone else stuffed me full of whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it. I /really/ like how this diet works, the types of meals I've been making lately. Once we get some consistency, it will be even better.

Some positive things I've noticed already:

~Waking up has been a teeny bit easier

~Detox happened once or twice, but it wasn't very intense

~My people seem a little healthier. We've got mold in the house, and dust, not enough sunshine or fresh air, some family health issues, and a history of sort-of bad eating. Just a week or two of  intentional dieting and we're eliminating some of that 'generally always sick' feeling. Yay!

Circulatory Herba-Smoothie - Bulk Herb Store

Something I'll be adding to our breakfast on a daily basis once it comes, is the Circulatory Herba-Smoothie mix from the Bulk Herb Store. The idea of the herba-smoothies is that you'd be making and eating your own supplements/vitamins. I'm all for that -- the effective supplements in the stores are really expensive and hard to come by. This particular mix contains rosehips and ginkgo, both of which I've wanted for a long time! Also, there is a suggested smoothie recipe. Here's hoping I can finally get it right.

Launch of the Maker's Diet

My mom and I will be joining forces as we attempt to subject our families to a very simple, yet rigorous diet change. The Maker's Diet for Weight loss has been sitting on my Kindle bookshelf unused for almost 1 year, but I think having a partner in crime should prove motivating and fun. :)

Each phase is supposed to last 4 weeks, but I'm going to move things along much faster and cut that in half for the sake of actually sticking to it. We're in Phase I now, the cleansing phase. Per my new years resolution, I'm not going to count our mistakes so far as 'not starting yet'. I'm just going to keep pushing forward.

Confession time-- I never actually told Ben what I was doing. Or when I was doing it. Or any of the rules. Because I've discovered that when it comes to my sweet, loving hubby who just wants a piece of pizza, I am a major wimp. Which is different than a normal wimp. So my explanation for suddenly developing a desire to do all the grocery shopping by myself (sort of) with great excitement was simply that Mom and I are doing a 'thing'. A thing? Yep, a thing.

But I'm pretty sure he knows by now.

Quick note:

Frittatta's are super awesome and my daughter loves them. Ben doesn't, but that's okay because he likes Salmon and steamed Broccoli apparently. Hopefully there will be photos and recipes soon.

Toddler Safe Herbal Remedy for Skin Rash

Mother and Child - Xi Pan

According to Steven H. Horne, author of the ABC Herbal for Children, the three phases of herbal treatment and prevention in children is as follows:

ACTIVATE or energize the system; BUILD the body's immunity; and CLEANSE.

I kept this formula in mind while treating a very nasty rash that appeared on my one year old's lower back almost a week ago and had amazing success! Here is a summary of my new favorite Rash Regimen...

Since the rash didn't seem to fit the profile of any common skin problems I could find in my research and didn't stick around long enough to go to the doctor, we never diagnosed whether it was fungal, bacterial, or viral. This made me very uncomfortable, since I felt like I couldn't tailor my treatment to the specifics of the issue. I decided to give myself two weeks to take care of the problem before we at least went in for a diagnosis (I think it's a good idea to determine a timeline for yourself while utilizing home treatment methods just to be safe and keep yourself balanced. I'm probably a bit more jumpy now than I will be in a few years).

Garlic Bath: Once a day or more, I made a large batch of garlic tea to add to Erin's bathwater. She sat in there for at least 30 minutes at a time.

Peppermint/Yarrow Salve: After every bath I rubbed Erin down with an herbal salve of yarrow, coconut oil, and peppermint. In a pinch, pure coconut oil would have worked pretty well.

Tea Tree/GFS extract external application: Using a fresh Q-tip we all made sure to swab the affected area several times a day with a diluted solution of Tea Tree Oil and Grapefruit Seed Extract.

Fresh Ginger: I added fresh ginger to pretty much every dinner meal for about three days (Stir fry, soup, fried rice, etc. Ginger is pretty versatile.)

And that's it! As far as diet goes, I just generally tried to keep her away from sugars and white flour, while making our meals as healthy as I could without stressing about it too much. In less than one week Erin's dark rings and tired, whiny behavior went away, as well as the alarmingly gross looking rash that had begun to spread up her back by the time I noticed it.

I'm really excited about treating the WHOLE body, building it's strength and immunity so that it can heal itself. This was one of my first tests/experiments, and I feel like it went really well! I'll will continue to update our progress, and I also plan to review the book, The ABC Herbal, by Steven Horne, in the near future.