Where's your TV

Alright, the modern things we have are pretty much in every home, car, computer, and now even phone that is used regularly.  I am as guilty as anyone carrying around my awfully tempting cell phone everywhere I go.  I love getting quick updates on my friends and having that external connection because I am so bound to my home.  Regardless, people who come over ALWAYS comment on one thing at my house... "Where is your TV."  They ask this question generally minutes after coming into my home.  We have a corner fireplace that looks like it would be the perfect framing for a nice large flat screen TV and it wouldn't take up too much space in this awkwardly shaped "great room;" yet over the fireplace hangs a family picture, the same one that I said would hang over it four and a half years ago when we were still negotiating on the house and I said I never wanted a TV in the living room. 

Nonetheless, when people come to my home that response is the first thing I hear about.  Why do I not want a TV right there near the kitchen where I can watch it while I cook, where people can watch it when they come over, where it is nicely centrally located in my home?  Because I don't want it on while I cook, when people come over, or centrally in my home. 

The heart of a home is the kitchen.  It is where I prepare food for my family.  The kitchen is where I teach my children about what food does for their bodies, about fractions, and where I hear all of their questions.  When I am in the kitchen it is the perfect time for us to interact and learn about one and other, I feel that would be greatly impeded if my children or myself had the television going on.  The kitchen would become a stressful area with too much extra stimulation and distraction.  Preparing food would become a hurried hassle instead of an enjoyed part of our day.  For me, that is enough reason to relocate the TV. 

When people come to visit I enjoy having the time to interact.  I have been to many family member's homes and there is always a TV in the "living room."  Watching TV is not living it is existing to watch fake lives.  I enjoy watching TV, but it just does not fit in well to social experiences as a main event.  As a child I remember being yelled at for "not being a window" at family gatherings where suddenly watching golf right after watching hours of football was essential to your next breath; and I want more for my kids.  I want them to have the opportunity to develop stronger relationships with the people we invite into our home.

Being centrally located in my home is not a necessity because it is not and will never be a central or essential item in our home.

Do you have TVs?  Where is your TV?  Yes, of course we have TVs.  Our big TV is downstairs.  We have had this particular TV for nearly a year.  Our family has maybe used it for about 100 hours this year.  We watch movies on it and play games on it.  It is in a nearly unfurnished room that gives us the ability to have plenty of space to play games and enjoy our family time.  We also have two tiny TVs.  This is great because if we really want to we can take it to any room and watch a TV show or movie, but these are also used infrequently.  We do not buy cable, honestly I would not want to have to police a TV as much as would be required if I had cable available to my children. 

What Parents As Teachers representative said about not having a TV.  My PAT representative said that my children's vocabulary was larger than average children their age.  They work on more abstract and creative things than many of the other children she saw.  My children have a different pattern of development than most of the children that she works with and seem to pick up on understanding language faster.  Their gross motor skills develop rapidly (though generally later) than most of the children she works with.  She said she felt this all was a result of not having extensive amounts of television around them all day long.  They were able to listen more carefully to words because there was not extra noise to sort out. 

Anyhow, I have my reasons.  I know that some of my guests dislike my TV policies, but they work for our family; and how great is it that it already fits nicely in with my newer primal lifestyle.  I'm loving it :)

Please tell me if you have a reason you think it improves family or could be really important, I would love to hear all about what I have not looked at!

The Affects of Thyroid

I saw the wonderful doctor today!  Over the past few months I have kind of been through a whirl wind of energy and depletion.  Before I went on the Primal Diet I was completely wiped of energy.  After beginning it my energy level improved immensely and I began losing weight!  YAY!!!  When I went to see an allergist and immunologist we spoke about my past medical history and he decided we should probably look at autoimmune disorders as a cause for the incredible weight gain and speed I had.  He found that I have hypothyroidism.  It looked pretty mild at first and we treated it with a relatively low dose of Cytomel. 

I began to lose weight even more rapidly, I had energy, I was able to think more clearly and was no longer misplacing myself, and best of all I no longer felt at all depressed.  (Had I not gone to some pretty progressive physicians, I may have never gotten treatment though.)  After being on Cytomel for awhile, I was switched over to Armour thyroid; and within a very short period of time I lost the energy I had built up, got foggy and disoriented, gained a whopping 12 pounds in one week, and I definitely was beginning to feel overwhelmed and depressed again.  Thankfully, today it was decided I most probably have Hashimoto's disease (the most prevalent cause of hypothyroidism), and we are increasing the dose.  It always makes me feel better to know that there is an improvement coming :)

My suggestion is that if you have these symptoms and have not had a lot of luck with physicians or felt a little bit discriminated against due to weight with physicians you have seen, you should search around town for a few very progressive physicians and/or an immunologist or low-carb physician.  Being obese is not always caused by overeating; however, finding a doctor that will look beyond saying eat less and exercise more can be difficult.   


Common symptoms

• Hair loss
• Fatigue/sluggishness
• Cold intolerence
• Confusion/mental fog
• Depression
• Weight gain
• Dry skin
• Puffy face
• Hoarse voice
• Elevated cholesterol
• Muscle aches, tenderness, stiffness, primarily in your shoulders and hips
• Pain and stiffness in your joints
• Swelling in your joints
• Muscle weakness, especially in your lower extremities
• Excessive or prolonged menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia)

So what exactly is Hashimoto's disease?  It is an autoimmunity to thyroid.  Your body will actually kill off its thyroid production by producing antibodies that attack the thyroid.  This process also causes inflammation much like how the body responds when fighting off any infection.

The good news is that after going primal there is a good chance that your thyroid will begin to regulate itself a little bit better :) 


For more information - Mayo Clinic

Promote Family Time

My children and I commonly talk about loving each other to the moon and back.  Yesterday, when I ran out of work early, I decided we should head out on a walk, but when you are getting the kids ready I have found that it just kind of goes crazy around here if we have a predetermined destination... Two want to go, and two almost definitely protest making it a hassle and no good.  So, yesterday as I had in my head I thought we would go to the park I told them we were going to the moon.  That created quite the stir... questions like how we could, why we needed walking shoes, and what kind of outfits to wear... of course we were not going to the moon, but we got creative juices going about what would happen if we were.  That distraction kept anyone from protesting our unknown adventure.  I think we may start going to the moon everyday :)

I have a primal commitment to walk with the kids and spend quality family time everyday, which is really hard in this world we live in today.  Despite being home with them throughout the day, I am working and busy with chores, and trying to fit in time for some of my personal interests (something I spent years completely ignoring as it was not high priority).  A special thank you to Mark Sisson for writing The Primal Blueprint and giving me words to live by in essence.  I needed someone to tell me I had to do the things I enjoy, or I may have completely forgotten what they were. 

On the walk to the park we really had a wonderful chance to enjoy each other, talk, and grow as a family :)  This is my favorite part of everyday.  Learning together and bonding is probably the most important committment I recieved from The Primal Blueprint.  Anyway, here is your reminder:  WALK, PUT TIME INTO WHAT YOU LOVE (even if the dishes slide a few hours), AND PROMOTE FAMILY TIME! 

Tart and Tangy Chicken Salad

So we do a lot of stuff in the crockpot, what can I say I am a BUSY woman. My whole family loves this meal, and my daughter and oldest son love how they can manage to pitch in and really prepare a meal that the whole family loves!

I commonly will purchase the packaged chicken breasts at Sam's, if you poke through the packages they will probably range from about $11 to around $16. Anyway, I used to repackage them into smaller packages, but since we primarily eat chicken and our weeks are so jam-packed, I have begun doing things a little differently these days. Now after I have set up two meals worth of chicken I pop the rest of it in th crockpot, add water and salt (it's best if you actually let it sit in a tiny bit of seasalt and water for 30 minutes before even turning it on. Then, let it slow cook about 5 hours (or until done). This meat is perfect for chopping up or tearing apart to make chicken salad.

How I prepare this for my family of 6:

• 2-1/2 chicken breasts (torn to bite size pieces).
• 1 whole dill pickle diced.
• 2 stalks of celery cut small (or sometimes we just stuff these).
• 1 diced Granny Smith apple.
• GF Mayo from Sams Club until your preferred consistency (about $6, of course it's HUGE).

We usually serve this as a dip using one of the components or GF potato chips we get from Sams.

Our children love this meal, and it definitely satisfies their taste buds! I like to add a lot of black pepper and cayenne to mine, mmmmmmmmmmm Spicy!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancakes

Alright so, here's the nitty gritty on the pumpkin pancakes.  They are not gritty AT ALL.  They also are not light and fluffy... What are they?  Delicious and filling!  These are amazing, but you must know they take a lot longer to cook up than regular pancakes. 

So how do you make them?  It is really quite simple.  After making the pancakes I listed yesterday we got down to half of the batter, then I added in a can of Libby's Pumpkin Pie Filling (naturally gluten free!) and all spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg (I did not measure or use much of these, just to taste since I did not use eggs.  If you do not feel comfortable doing this but want that pumpkin pie taste Libby's also has an already seasoned can).  Then, you add water a half a cup at a time until it is thin enough to pour and cook. 

Please note, the reason I said these take a long time to make is because they have to cook at a pretty low temperature.  Cook them too high and they stay mushy (my kids kind of like them that way, but not me).  Anyway, there were way too many for us, so there will probably be way too many for you.  I love the KeePeez lids, just popped one over the top and I am ready for tomorrow!

Mom's Better Than Bisquick Pancakes

Congratulations, you've started your primal lifestyle, you can eat meats, fruits, vegetables and nuts and seeds (in moderation). 

It took awhile but about three weeks in I realized that the kids were just not getting fully used to the primal diet, they seemed a little bored and were ALWAYS hungry.  In an attempt to fill them up we decided to occasionally allow some rice to add a little variety.  So, our new policy is that we are hardcore primal every other month and the second month we are primarily primal and ALWAYS gluten-free. 

In an attempt to fill these children up on our third month I decided to hunt for some kind of pancake that would be acceptable.  We had tried to do the banana pancakes and other recipes that we had stumbled on, but they still did not really seem to fill the kids up (a real challenge with three boys!). 

I was feeling creative, and just began tossing stuff into the mixing bowl hoping it would all pan out.  First, I made regular pancakes and then I used the leftovers to turn pumpkin.  I ended up making way too many, but with no eggs it kept great in the fridge and fed us breakfast for three more days!  My daughter called them "Mom's Better Than Bisquick Pancakes." :)

4T of raw sugar or other substitute

3T of baking powder

1/2 cup of GF potato flakes

6T of sunflower oil (this is super cheap compared to other oils we use)

3T of flax seed 6T of water = 3 eggs

1-1/4 cups of milk (I use almond or coconut)

6 pinches of seasalt

Add rice flour a little at a time until you get a consistency you like.

These pancakes cook well, just like a regular pancake.  They are less gritty than other rice pancakes I have had, although there will still be some.  I think if you wanted to add more potato and less rice it would make it even less gritty, but overall the whole family loved these, and they kept the kids full until well after noon!

Sorry, no pancake pics today, the kids ate them before I could get a picture!  Watch for tomorrow when I tell you all about making the leftovers into pumpkin pancakes and how that all turns out. 

I am not really sure that anyone is watching, but if you leave comments I would be glad to have ideas on others interests! I have been trying to plan meals on a budget as going primal has left me with a more expensive food selection and children that seem to have a hard time getting full.  That being said, I plan for the week; so I was thinking I could start posting a shopping list so you can follow me day by day and experience the savings too.  Let me know what you think!

Additionally, these KeePeez bowls I happened on one day in Sams Club are amazing.  I really love them.  They make it easier to store in what I am already using (less dishes for me!) and they stack very nicely in the fridge and to store.  I highly recommend them.

Making it up

Alright, just to get back on track here, I would like to apologize to any of you who have been stopping in to find NOTHING new.  I have been very consumed in myself for the past couple of months and on the road a lot!  As part of going primal I have decided to pursue something that really calls on my heart and I have began a photography business, so I thought I would share a little about it with you.  You can check out my website  here and I will be relocating my blog soon to a subdomain.  Please keep an eye out I have came up with several new meal ideas in the massive amount of traveling I have been doing.  We are still on the primal diet and plan to stay there, but our philosophy is that if we really want something not primal we never stray from gluten-free and I absolutely love Sams Club for this reason!  They have tons of gluten free items!  Cheese puffs (I have never liked these but hey everyone else does), Gluten-free multigrain crackers and chips, and tons of other stuff! 

I love it when places actually carry things we can use and make it easy to find them!  Many stores have began marking their items with labels you can watch for pink ones at Walmart and Natural Foods (one of my favorite stores) has began making them easier to find too! 

Watch here in the next several days for my newer recipes for pancakes, pumpkin pancakes, chicken salad with a spin, and several other new meals that will not leave you wishing for more or break your budget!