Here We Are Again...

I have two other blogs, one which chronicles (sort of) my life raising my beautiful daughter, Emma, who is 6 1/2 years old who lives with long term physical, behavioral, emotional and cognitive effects from being the victim of shaken baby syndrome and my other blog began as a hobby book reviewing blog and has morphed into a giveaway (multiple products) and book reviews and news. However, I have been so busy lately with school and work (I am also a single parent) and raising my daughter, I have sort of slacked on my book blog responsibilities (see my profile and you can see my other blogs! Please?).

I am 32 years old. I was 26 when Emma was injured. I have been noticing some changes in my body, my mental health, my desires and weight (eh, I guess that should be encompassed in my body). I have battled depression over the years but now my body is taking a turn that I am not liking. I have began feeling fatigued, not your regular old fashioned tired, but more like I could fall asleep while walking to the mailbox tired, pressure in my rib cage, burping although my stomach is empty, severe nausea, indigestion, gas and such. I know it's not because of lactose because I have gotten rid of that in our lives (we use almond, soy, rice, hemp and coconut milk). The tipping point was the pain. My body hurt. My lower back. My joints but the scariest pain was in my hips. I started freaking out. I really thought I had Ovarian Cancer (classic symptoms!)and went to an urgent care. My blood test was normal, even negative for h. pylori. Luckily I work for a radiology company, because I went through a ton of imaging studies and all normal. The PA that I saw that day suggested I get rid of gluten, add digestive enzymes and see how I feel. Well, I am already familiar with the GFCF diet which is extremely popular in the Autism community (which is AWESOME!) but extreme for me and my lifestyle. I looked into LIMITING gluten for my daughter. She doesn't have autism but the brain damage and cerebral palsy causes digestive problems. I wasn't strict on it with her but now I need to be! As this will be more strict for both of overall health and wellbeing. Thankfully we love rice! Rice noodles, brown rice, white rice, etc.

However, I am shocked at all the hidden gluten in food! Because of that fact, I need to be more diligent in cooking whole foods and maintaining our health. Besides, we live in tumultous times. Bad economy, our environment is awful and who knows what is in our food! I look around and am in fear. In fear of my daughter's future. I feel that it's important to be as green as possible. I am learning about living green and trying very very hard and at the same time I am frugal. I can't afford a lot so I need to be careful about wastefulness. So, although I would love to not use papertowels, well I have a ton in my cabinet and so I will be PHASING what I have out. I have a few bottles of detergant, when they're gone,... well, on to eco friendly versions! I have fallen in love with Farmer's Markets and buying locally. I am a carnivore, not a big time one, but still one nonetheless but I don't want my daughter and I eating slaughterhouse, feedlot, chicken crammed in to tiny cages meat. Thus, Farmer's Markets! Meat is much more expensive there soooo that means we eat less meat!

As I go through this transition, I want to chronicle and share. I hope you have feedback and ideas for me, too! I would love recipes, product ideas, and so on!

Tonight I am eating left overs but tomorrow, I am making an African Pineapple Peanut Stew that I found the recipe for on a blog called The Way The Cookie Crumbles. Doesn't that look FANTASTIC???

Hope to hear some feedback soon and please, introduce yourselves!