Clean Eating and Easter Candy

It’s here……Fri-YAY!

Holy Moly, the week flew by! I had such a fun week with my third graders! Of course it ended with a bang—stomach bug for me (started with strep for Mr. Pennington). Teacher germs. Gross. I do have to say, though—while I’ve had some sick days for myself due to endo symptoms, I FINALLY think I’ve built up some immunity. It only took 6 years.

I think a big part of staying healthy this year, though, came from this amazing, healthy lifestyle change that Mr. Pennington brought into our home. I’ve told you all about his dorky documentary habits and his weight loss due to his diet. And I’ve had a LOT of people ask me exactly what this “diet” is that we are on. Mostly people who haven’t seen him in awhile lay eyes on him and are in total shock and think we are hiding some fantastic secret.

We really aren’t! But I will be happy to share what we are doing to maintain this lifestyle change that even our kiddos are benefiting from. HE should really be typing this, but admittedly, he doesn’t even know where to find a comma on the keyboard, much less how to make use of the punctuation mark, and he knows his teacher wife will have a fit if he has too many errors. So, you get me. Lucky you!

I really can’t go as in depth as he could. So here are the basics…

1.         Avoid buying food in boxes, steamable bags, and cans. They’re typically full of preservatives, artificial colors, flavors and SUGAR. We strive to only eat 50 grams of sugar a day. (If I’m being honest, I happily go over that if it’s natural sugar from fruits)

2.       Avoid dairy that isn’t NonGMO and organic. Non GMO is the key here (for anything, really…not just dairy). I haven’t had a glass of milk in probably 20 years. BUT, I love my coffee creamer. I’ve recently switched to lattes with almond milk and my belly is much happier. My kids, however, still can drink that vile dairy product so we buy them strictly Non GMO organic milk and they have happier bellies too. (My oldest son has colitis so a happy belly for him is a big deal)

3.       If you can’t pronounce the ingredients….put it back on the shelf. Period.

4.       Limit your red meat intake. My hubby was a steak and potatoes kind of guy. His blood pressure was super high and his cholesterol was looking a little rough. We cut out red meat altogether and it made a huge difference. We use ground turkey, chicken and all natural pork sausage here and there.

5.       Chill out on the pastas, breads, and other starchy carbs. If you have to eat them, do so in moderation and buy Non GMO multi-grain or whole grain foods. I’m a SUCKER for starch. This one has been hardest for me, but by not eliminating it altogether like some fad diets suggest, it’s much easier on me.

6.       Don’t be a dip. Or eat a ton of it. Ketchup, barbeque sauce, mayo…all these things are pretty unhealthy and full of sugar. We use avocado in place of mayo in our tuna or chicken salad, and use salsa in place of ketchup. And mustard is actually decently healthy. Thank the Lord, because Mr. P wouldn’t be alive without it.

These are just the main things we are doing. Do we slip up and eat junk? Heck yes. Last week I ate more Cinnabon “bon bites” than I care to admit. I paid for it big time, but my taste buds were happy. Allow yourself a cheat here and there. Just be reasonable about it. Two cheats a week is the way we started. Not cheat DAYS or even really cheat meals, but just 2 cheat items (hello latte!). And let's face it....it's almost Easter. I'll be devouring a cream filled egg very soon. Fo sho.

At first it’s tricky, trust me. But the more you do it, the better you feel, and the easier things get. Even our kids tend to choose our healthier choices at the store over all the junk that’s marketed straight to them.

If you have any questions, I’m here to help! I’m sure I’ll need to ask him the answer, but…I’m here. Just ask! J

XoXo

Jessica

Saturday Night Documentary PARTAAAAY!

Happy Saturday!

What a crazy week! I’m so glad my favorite night of the week is here! We had a snow day from school on Thursday and I spent yesterday in the peds ER with my littlest guy who’s dealing with some sort of viral nastiness. I managed to get some groceries this morning, visit the chiropractor (where I ended up getting x rays and learning that my body is a whole jumble of messed up…more on that later), and came home to hang this cuteness in my master bath.

But evening is here, the kids are with their dad, and Mr. Pennington will be home soon. I love Saturday nights because it’s the one night we can stay up late (like….10pm), drink our wine (if my endo is willing to let my body tolerate alcohol) and snuggle in for a movie. Or in our case a documentary! Mr. Pennington went from a beer, pizza, wings, and steak kind of guy to a total clean eating health nut several months ago. He needed to get his blood pressure down and refused to do it with drugs. As a result, he’s lost 35 pounds and looks and feels great! I’m so super proud of him! Part of his continued motivation is watching documentaries on all the toxic junk in our food. I can’t lie…I’ve always been pretty healthy and these documentaries don’t really hold my attention, but nonetheless I indulge in them with him.

Last weekend I got to choose so we watched a documentary that’s near and dear to my heart: Vaxxed. I am an anti-vaxing mama. Partially because I have an immune deficient child who never built immunity after his 2 month vaccines (but did suffer all the side effects). Partially because I’ve seen the damage an MMR vaccine can do to a child through one of my good friend’s son. And have seen her bust her ass to bring her little boy back…it hasn’t been easy and is a day by day regiment of supplements, vitamins, clean eating, detoxing, environmental screenings, and an extremely watchful eye on EVERYTHING he’s exposed to. She seriously is my hero…and she thinks she’s just an ordinary mom! And finally, I’m just not comfortable with pumping my babies full of toxins. I could go on about this topic for hours, but will spare you. I, of course, respect every parent’s right to choose what they believe is best for their child. I do suggest watching this documentary though, no matter what your standpoint!

Back to “Saturday Night Doc’ Night”, tonight is one of my choosing as well! (It’s the simple things in life that make me happy, folks!) I just bought my digital copy of Endo What? and also ordered my Endo What? tee shirt. I came across this documentary this morning and was so excited! And a little disappointed that I didn’t even know it existed until today. After watching the trailer, I really started researching how I can put my story out there and other ways I can help spread awareness. I told my husband that he really needs a fat promotion at work so that I can quit teaching (yeah right) put my opinionated big mouth to good work advocating for women with this disease and to spread awareness about it! I’m really looking forward to my life as a crunchy, rally attending, hippie who fights this disease as hard as it has fought me all my adult life! For now, I’ve sent a lot of emails to volunteer at events and tell my story. I also signed up to be contacted to have an Endo What? screening somewhere close to me. Until I have some emails back…my big mouth is asking YOU to please check out the Endo What? website. Watch the documentary (you KNOW you’re dying to have your own wild Saturday Night Doc Night!), donate to the cause, check out the School Nurse Initiative…which is amazing! Check it out, guys! Help set the record straight that this disease is more than just “bad periods” or “normal pain”. Do it for me if you know me. Do if for one of the 1 in 10 women in your life who is affected by endo.

I’ll jump off my soapbox for a minute to get back to the chiropractic visit I mentioned. Hopefully someone might have some advice on this weird situation. Sooo, I have been having these fainting episodes lately. And have been weirdly dizzy. I had x-rays done today and my C2 and C3 (cervical vertebrae, in the neck) are twisted/rotated as a result of scoliosis (that I had corrected at age 13. Coincidentally that correction could be the cause of all my reproductive organ issues!).  There are holes in these vertebrae that allow your vertebral arteries, and obviously blood, to travel to your brain. With this rotation, when I raise my hands above my head, the artery gets pinched off which in turn limits blood flow….and life goes fuzzy while I ooze to the ground. I’m seeing the chiropractor weekly now, more if needed. If anyone else has dealt with this, what did you do? Yoga (with no child’s pose because that has made me dizzy for months and I didn’t know why), exercises, stretching….any advice is good and more that I have now! While this is a pretty big deal healthwise, my biggest concern is that when everyone is “throwin’ your hands way up in the air, waving ‘em around like you just don’t care”….I’ll be the jackass who appears to care because I can’t lift my hands up above my head. The struggle is real, my friends.

Mr. Penington has entered the casa which means doc night is about to commence. I think you better go download it right NOW also! Have a happy weekend!

XoXo

Jessica