Time for a little TMI

I don’t think I have any male readers (besides Mallard). 

 But if you are a guy and you don’t want to know anymore than you already know about female hormones… you may want to steer clear

Here we go:

I have had less than 5 periods since I gave birth to Snuffy 2 1/2 years ago.  I wasn’t concerned for the first 7 months because I was breast-feeding.  The only periods I did have were very short and extremely light.  By the time I had finished breast-feeding Snuffy, I was dropping weight rapidly.  I had just started school at Xavier and I was extremely stressed out.  My weight sank to a dangerous level.  I assumed my lack of menstruation was due to my low weight and stress level.  Eventually, I re-worked my schedule and found ways to deal with my stress effectively.  I began to use exercise as a stress reliever.  My weight leveled out and then climb a little higher than necessary.  So, I assumed that my periods would regulate.  That didn’t happen.  I have been at a healthy weight for almost a year now and still nothing. 

 I finally decided to speak with my OBGYN about the issue.  First, he suggested taking out my IUD.  Although my IUD was non-hormonal, my doctor still thought there was a chance that the device was the culprit.  I had the IUD removed and still no period.   The next step was to have some general bloodwork done to check my thyroid.  That came back normal.  Then there was more bloodwork to check for PCOS and irregular hormone levels. 

I recieved the results of that bloodwork recently.  I do not have PCOS.  I do have irregular hormone levels.  My estrogen levels are extremely low.  So, now my hormones need to be regulated. 

I’m not exactly excited to deal with monthly periods again.  But, I do know that regular periods are a sign of a healthy body.  There are long-term detrimental effects of amenorrhea.  Most of thes effects are related to osteoporosis and bone density.   Both my paternal grandmother and my maternal great-grandmother have/had osteoporosis.  So, unfortunately, I need to get my hormone levels up to a regular level.

I’m aware of the need for normal hormone levels, yet taking oral hormones is not something that is easy for me to do.  I don’t even take over-the-counter meds anymore!  So, before embarking on a pharmaceutical rollercoaster, I took things into my own hands and began to look for information on treating my amenorrhea hollistically.  I tried some widely recommended herbal remedies.  They didn’t bring any change at all  

At least I tried to go the hollistic route.  Now, I have to accept the fact that I will be relying on modern pharmaceuticals.  I find it odd that I am eating a high-raw diet yet I’m taking prescription medication.  Anyway, I now have a med routine.  I have two medications to take on specific days of my non-existant cycle to move things along.

I have been on the first meds for 4 days now.  I feel emotional and tired.  Ugh.  Self-inflicted PMS

I am contuing to eat 99% raw! 

The only things I have ingested that are not raw since I last posted are:

Decaf Americano with Stevia

Annie’s Light Gingery Salad Dresssing

and

The last of my almond butter

Raw Almond Butter is not cheap.  I do love Maranatha Raw AB  but due to it’s price I have been mixing it with Whole Foods brand AB to save $

So, I decided to try to make my own AB.  I only had about 1/3 cup of almonds. 

 I put them in my food processor and after a few seconds, the blade stopped spinning and that was it for the food processor

That food processor has been used less than 10 times! 

I soooooo need a Vita-Mix!

Moving on…

I hauled out the old blender.  The one with no handle (it broke off months ago) and no lid.  It has the top but not the small lid.  I have to keep my hand over the hole in the top while I blend. 

I added some walnuts that I had on hand and began to blend.

I had to stop the ancient blender every 30 seconds so this took quite a while.

I was pretty proud of myself.  I only got about half a jar of WAB (walnut almond butter)

I’ve been experimenting with cooking and baking for years.  For some reason un-cooking makes me feel so much more accomplished lol

Unfortunately, the second time I tried this I had to alternate between my old blender and my immersion blender because both overheated.  There may have been smoke…    The whole thing took over 2 hours!

Mallard made me vow to buy my nut butters from now on

After the fact, I found some information regarding raw almonds in the US. 

Apparently, all of the almonds that enter the US are processed which includes substancial heating

 If I had a Vita-Mix I would be making all of my own nut butters and mylks.

What kind of blender or food processor do you use?

I also made some nacho cheeze kale chips

I massaged one bunch of kale with a little less than a tablespoon of EVOO

I mixed about 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast with 1/3 cup of water and poured the mixture over the kale.

I sprinkled some sea salt

Then I dehydrated at 105 degrees for 12 hours.

Yum!

I stopped by the farm down the road again. 

This time I bought 4 ears of corn, a watermelon and a pint of cherry tomatoes.

I’ve now realized that almost all corn, factory or family farmed, is from GMO’s.  After watching Food Inc ., I don’t know how I feel about supporting that even indirectly

The watermelon was so ripe! I haven’t eaten watermelon in years.  This was just what I had hoped for crisp, sweet and juicy!

Mallard took notice of my change of diet.   On Friday,  I told him that since I feel so great, I plan to stay high-raw. 

I told him I was going grocery shopping on Saturday.  He looked at our full pantry and asked me what we were going to do with all of that food.

Mallard will most likely not be going high-raw… ever.  But, a lot  of the food in our pantry were things that I use in vegan baking and cooking.  Those are things that Snuffy and I eat. 

But, I realized that there were things that had been in the pantry for quite a while. 

Things that weren’t vegan. 

Things that had way more chemicals and preservatives than I want in my child’s body.

Things that I had purchased for a recipe that I had since decided I would never make. 

In no time at all, I had filled a tote.

The After

Organic or Unsweetened Cereals, Foils and Wraps, Oils, Bananas, Mallard’s Roasted Almonds, Snuffy’s Yogurt Raisins

Canned Beans, Canned Fruits, Oils, Sauces

Oats, Couscous, Buckwheat, Quinoa, Teas, Mix-Ins, Flavorings, Nut Butters, container of Clif Bars, All Natural Pro-Bars, Luna Bars, Whole Wheat Mac, Rye Flat Crisps, Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze

The bottom is Protein Powders , Amazing Grass, Shakers and room for my dehydrator.

Based on the after you can imagine how bad the before must have been

I’m off to devour an entire cantaloupe!  Yum!

So, many of you seem to find yourselves very close to veganism!  I had no idea!  It seems that yogurt is what stands between many of you and vegan diets.  That was a tough one for me too. 

 Of course you can always switch to soy. 

 But, too much soy isn’t something I want either.

  I tried to make my own out of almond milk and it was pretty…meh. 

 I kind of cut myself of from all forms of yogurt.  I relied on it far too much.

  I could go through 3 serving a day easily. 

I would also tend to “save  room” for a dessert of yogurt and nut butter right before bed.

  I had to get out of that habit

This past week, I have been exploring raw food.

I made beet burgers out of the raw cookbook I mentioned in my last post.

That’s dijon mustard on top.

It was in the recipe.  I didn’t think dijon mustard was raw…?

I wish I could say I loved ‘em. 

Another recipe from the same book

Made with:

dates, almonds, carob powder, raw honey

The almonds were supposed to soaked but I wanted them too bad to wait

They were prett good but I think I would love anything with dates

Next, I started experimenting with Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Kitchen

I made Sun Burgers

They had such a colorful ingredient list

They turned out RAWesome! (bad pun, sorry)

I actually turned my oven on the lowest setting and put them inside to warm and dehydrate a little.

My next uncooking adventure was something that I had wanted to try for a very long time

Ani’s donut holes!

I got to use a real vanilla bean for the first time ever.

The smell is incredible.

O

M

G

Yes, they are that good.  Dear lord.  Ani’s recipes have me falling in love with raw food!

I have actually been 98% raw for 3 days!

The only things that I have eatenn that are not raw are:

organic catsup

maranatha almond butter

Iced Americano (decaf w/ stevia)

I will admit that it’s an odd feeling.  The first day or two I felt … weird. 

But today I feel great!

I sprouted quinoa yesterday and it made me feel as if I had invented the wheel lol

I have always wanted to try sprouting but was intimidated by the concept.

I chose quinoa for my first sprouting experience since it is the easiest thing to sprout. 

It takes only a few hours.

 I ate it atop my beet burger

Here are some of my recent raw eats

Delicious Organic Blackberries

My friend, Sarah, had brought some to school with her lunch and I demanded to know where she had bought them!

Cherry Tomatoes from farm just a couple miles from  my house.  It’s actually on my way to work and school!

I stopped in for the first time a few days ago

They had corn, tomatoes, peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers…and mulch lol

As I was filling my bag, one of the employees offered my a cherry tomato to try and I was sold!

I hadn’t had one that good since I ate them straight from my mom’s garden

Lots of bananas, apples, kale, cashews, almonds and portabellos were consumed this week as well.

I don’t know if I will stay so raw yet.

I do know that if I am to have another child, I will be raw through pregnancy.

So many women that have had cooked vegan and raw vegan pregnancies have told me that there is a huge difference in the way they feel and the length of labor. 

Jinjee has experienced both cooked vegan and raw vegan pregnancies

 Her story inspired me to make the decision to make the next pregnancy a raw one

Sharah’s pictures say a lot as well

…just something to think about

I am looking forward to trying some more raw recipes!

FOR SOME REASON, THE COMMENTS ARE NOT WORKING HERE.  I’M CURRENTLY WORKING TO FIX THE SITUATION.  IF YOU HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS, E-MAIL ME WITH YOUR ADVICE !

I feel like a new woman since cutting out dairy.  Seriously. 

I’ve had a lot of fun veganizing my own recipes and trying the recipes from Veganomicon.

I made a vegan version of my

Strawberry Pie

I made a whole wheat crust with whole wheat pastry flour.

The filling was a blended strawberries, fresh halved strawberries vegan sugar (still sugar but I let it slide) and cornstarch

I topped that with CoolWhip’s healthier cousin

Mallard ,who still does not like vegan food, …  ate half.

I tried to make Veganomicon’s cupcakes.

I usually pride myself if being a fantastic baker

Not this time

Cupcake Flop

Was it the time?  The preparation?  The world may never know…

I spoke with Alyson about different ways to add fats into my diet since the only source of fat for me in the last 6 months has been nut butters. 

I guess I just love them so it’s an easy way get my fat in.  I really don’t use oil in everyday cooking.

There must be some variety though.

Choco-cadoats

1/2 cup of oats cooked in 1 cup water

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp Nustevia

1/4 smashed avocado

 I’ve seen this tooling around health blogs

So I gave it a try

Wow.  I may love that more than peanut butter.

However, I plan to experiment with making my own nut and seed butters soon.

In reading about minimally processed vegan food, I have come accross a lot of fantastic info on raw food.

Though the title lacks creativity, the book itself contains some great info and tasty-looking recipes

Beet Burgers

Raw Carrot Cake

Of course there is a lot more to raw food than just pink burgers and pretty desserts. 

The whole concept intrugues me.  In fact, I may go completely raw through pregnancy if I am to have another child. 

It seems to make the pregnancy and delivery easier on the body.

I know one high-raw mama who is proof of what raw can do for vitality in general!

I can’t imagine what a raw diet must do for energy levels.  Switching to a vegan diet has made me feel so much more alert and I don’t even drink caffeine anymore.  The only caffeine I have is the cocoa in my oats once in a blue moon.

Sharing what I have learned about health has become such a positve force for me.

Mallard and Snuff had a family birthday party to attend (I had to study for exams)

I sent a simple pasta salad.

1 box of whole wheat noodles cooked until aldente

one package of organic tomatoes

two chopped bell peppers

and about 2/3 of a bottle of organic Italian dressing

I mixed it the night before and put it in this vintage tupperware that my grandma gave me when I got engaged

I can’t help but laugh when I look at it.  But the concept of the lid design actually works!

When I press the center of the lid, the sides latch.   Go 1973!

I also made this vegan bean dip

I have kind of unofficially decided to incorporate more raw foods and eventually become high raw vegan.

But I have had some Amy’s meals and burgers in my freezer for months that need to be eaten or given away.

Amy’s All American Burger

Ezekial bread

Kale

Nayonaise

Organic Ketchup

yum.

I’m pretty sure I can get Mallard to eat some of the dinner meals when he is “hungry but doesn’t know what he wants”