Gardening in the suburbs.

I bought myself a present a few months ago--a raised vegetable garden. Normally a present that I would buy myself would be more along the lines of a purse or a big chunky necklace (if you know me, you know I love my big chunky necklaces!) But I've wanted to put in a veggie garden, but our soil here is hard and full of rocks. Not to mention that we have rabbits that my husband likes to shoot (oh, that's a whole other blog post right there!)

When I was very little, my parents had a suburban garden on the side of the house. I don't remember much about it other than having it. My grandmother, who was raised on a farm in southwestern Oklahoma, always had a garden too. It just seemed like having a garden was what you did. And now it's my turn.

My garden isn't very big. About 2' by 4'. Just big enough for me not to become totally overwhelmed. I actually started gardening by accident. I used to have a compost bin on the side of the house until some critters got into it. A few months after emptying out the compost, this was left behind...

A pretty little tomato plant with actual tomatoes growing on it. I was so excited. "I'm a gardener!" I exclaimed to the Golfer. "No you're not. That's what they call a lucky accident." Well, whatever they call it, I get to claim it.

So across from MY tomatoes, we started the Freeman Family Farm. After the Golfer built the raised bed, I hired some local child laborers to do the planting for me. Here's the oldest mixing the organic soil and the compost together.

For this very first round of planting, I decided not to try to grow anything from seed and go with some already growing. The Golfer says that's cheating, but I say it's just smart.

I kept it seasonal. We have red, green and yellow peppers, jalapenos, basil, strawberries, cucumbers, squash and that blank space in the front is okra that I did start from seed. The Golfer put in a irrigation system for me so that I wouldn't come home to a dead garden every time we leave town. We also planted a watermelon plant near the tomatoes. So about the time that everyone is carving pumpkins, we'll be carving a watermelon.

This is the Freeman Farm today! The cucumber vines have taken over the whole thing. I have some little bitty peppers and jalapenos growing and the signs of some squash and cucumbers on their way as well...

It's fun to go outside and show the boys how these vegetables are growing. I think there's probably some mama merit badge somewhere for growing a garden with your kids. If there is, I should get one.

The strawberries, which I thought would be the easiest, aren't. They aren't very big and juicy like a strawberry should be and they are a little warped and weird looking. They taste good, for the 2 seconds that it takes to eat them.

But something is eating my tomatoes and it's making me angry! Those tomatoes that I had absolutely nothing to do with, are now being eaten by some kind of worm that is eating 100 times his weight and size in tomato leaves and probably rabbits (or worse...)

Guess no one said gardening in the suburbs was easy.

I don't like to move it, move it. Don't like to...move it.

Tomorrow starts my second week. I'm unsure what to call it. My new diet? My new lifestyle? My new health? My new life? Whatever this is, it's new. As the saying goes, out with the old...

So far, so good. I've avoided sugar and alcohol, even when going to dinner with friends. The restaurant served the wine (that everyone else was enjoying) in these fabulously big glasses that I would have loved sipping out of. But I said no. I drank my club soda with lime happily. That's right. Happily. (The wine would have made me even happier, but that's beside the point.)

Unfortunately, my energy level hasn't gotten much better. This great site that my friend Jennifer recommeded to help me with my switch to a paleo diet said that that the first 2-3 weeks when switching to a paleo diet are hard. Your body is detoxing off of all of the junk that it is used to having. My energy level was already low without a new diet making it worse.

Which brings me to exercise. I don't like it. I don't like to exercise. If it happens accidentally, great. Accidentally as in you get a little exercise by walking briskly through Target or carrying clean and dirty laundry up and down the stairs. But on purpose? Yeah, thanks, I'll pass. I don't like to sweat. I don't like to be overheated. Exercise causes both. Honestly, if I could spend the rest of my life not working out,  ever, I'd be a happy lady. But that's not how it works. I suppose I could never work out again if I wanted to weigh 500 pounds and be unhealthy, but I don't want that. So that means I have to get up and move it.

So God sent me yoga. Not hot yoga, but plain good ol' fashioned yoga. That's right. God sent it to me. I had prayed and prayed to fall in love with exercising, that I find something that I actually enjoyed doing. He knew how much I didn't like to sweat so He sent me yoga.

I still struggle to get out the door. I am a professional at finding other things to do than work out. But with my new...lifestyle...I've made a promise to myself. I've promised myself that I will move every day, that I will get up and move and that hopefully that movement will turn into exercise. So I walk the dog or I head to yoga and I never, ever regret it when I do.

The Doctor's Detox Smoothie

A big part of my getting healthier is starting with a smoothie. My doctor wants me drinking this at least 5 mornings a week for the next 2-3 months. Drinking a smoothie every morning for breakfast? No problem!

Except here is a pic of the typical smoothie that I'm used to drinking:

OJ, organic vanilla yogurt, a banana, blueberries, some spinach, a little flax seed maybe some chia seeds. Healthy right? Of course it is. Nothing wrong with a smoothie like this. My boys love smoothies like these and I'm so glad. I mean, how else do you get your kids to eat spinach and flax seed?

The problem for me is that this kind of smoothie makes my blood sugar spike. The sugar in the juice and the fruit and the yogurt starts my day on a sugar high. I can't do that any more. So here's my new smoothie. My liver detox smoothie:

First is the liquid. Either one cup of water or coconut water. I recommend it being cold. I use the coconut water.

Next comes the greens. Either spinach or kale. A good hand full will do.

Then some red cabbage. Never thought I'd be putting red cabbage in a breakfast smoothie.

Adding to the veggies are some beets. I've really grown to love beets. But I love them roasted in a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. In a smoothie? Uh...sure.

 

Next I add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Apparently cinnamon is really good for you. Lowers blood sugar, lowers cholesterol, treats yeast infections, is an antioxidant, may reduce inflammation, and fights bacteria. Awesome right? Love cinnamon! My problem is that I'm used to getting my cinnamon on toast with butter and sugar. Now it's going into my smoothie.

My doctor has me add the following supplements to my smoothie: resveratrol (found in red wine, yea!) and tumeric (anti-inflammatory and disease preventative). I have to add 10ml of each. Both of these are an important component to my liver detox.

Yea! Something sweet! You can add either a pear, pineapple, or mango to my smoothie. Berries are not recommended.

Two new words that I love: good fat. Avocados are a good fat, just like me. I like to think of myself as a good fat. I added 1//2 of the avocado. Could also add some olive oil, another good fat, but I like the idea of creamy avocado better.

What I don't have a picture of is the protein powder that I have to add. It's called Vital Clear and it is a veggie based protein powder that is for liver detox. 5 scoops of Vital Clear goes into my smoothie.

All of this will make for a very thick smoothie, so be sure you all plenty water or coconut water. I've found adding a little ice helps too. Makes is a little colder and a little easier to drink.

Before...

After!

Thank goodness for the beets, tumeric, and red cabbage that turn it this nice red color. The whole recipe makes about 16 ounces=1pint. About the same about that you would pay good money for at your local smoothie shop.

 

I'm not gonna lie to you. That first sip is a doosie. Especially when you're used to always drinking a sweet smoothie like I was. But the more you drink it, the more you get used to it. With each sip I try to focus on how healthy this little drink is going to make me while trying to ignore the Pop Tarts that my boys are scarfing down next to me.

The Sugar Addiction is Real

Yesterday was Day One of my liver detox. To say that it sucked would be putting it mildly. Giving up caffeine and sugar both in the same day was the dumbest thing that I've ever done.

I felt like total crap. The morning started out fine. I was so good. Drank a smoothie, passed on the coffee, took my Maca, and had a healthy lunch filled with veggies and protein. And then I started to get a headache. It was a bad one. One that stops you in your tracks and makes you feel like your brain is going to start oozing out of your ears at any moment. I had ZERO energy. I couldn't get off of the couch. I was so fatigued, so tired, I felt like I hadn't slept for DAYS. It was terrible.

Laying on the couch, eyes closed, unable to sleep because my head hurt so bad, the same phrase kept playing over and over again in my head. "This sucks. This suck. This sucks. I can't do this if this is how I'm going to feel every day. I can't do this. I can't do this." But I'm going to have to do this. I prayed that tomorrow would be a better day.

Here is my problem. I didn't realize until yesterday afternoon how much I use sugar and caffeine to get me through my day. Sugar is my friend and my worst enemy. I didn't realize how much I needed it to feel good. I. Am. Addicted. To. Sugar.

Hi, I'm Stephenie and I'm a sugar-a-holic.

Not in a eating cookies and cakes and candy all day long kind of way, but in a fruit, fruit juice, diet soda, processed food, fast food, piece of chocolate after lunch, ice cream at night kind of way. And each time I had that sugar, my blood sugar spiked causing all sorts of other issues. Hello Hypoglycemia! I have truly become dependent on sugar to function and now I'm having to take my body off of it and my body isn't liking it. Not one bit.

This morning started out the same way. Had my smoothie and some eggs and bacon. Felt okay enough to run to the grocery store to buy the plethora of veggies that I need for my paleo diet. But I had no energy. On a scale from 1 to 10, my energy was at a 1 at best. It was 9AM and I felt like I had just finished walking 39.3 miles (I've done that. Believe me, I know what it feels like.) Just putting the grocery bags into the trunk felt like a major ordeal.

So I headed to Starbucks.

Yes, I allowed myself to have a skinny sugar-free vanilla latte and it was the best thing I've ever had. Like manna from Heaven it was!

Since my coffee fix, today has been better. I'm making sure to eat something every 2-3 hours, like the doctor told me to do. I've decided that trying to change all of my eating habits, while giving up sugar and caffeine simultaneously, was a BAD idea. So I'm allowing myself that one cup of coffee only and I'm saying goodbye to my beloved Diet Coke at lunch. I'm focusing on eating lots of protein and veggies only and having NO sugar of any kind.

Because I have do this if I want to feel better. This won't suck. I can do this. This won't suck. I can do this.