New Series on the Way!

I apologize for my recent absence. As I mentioned earlier, my husband went on a job that was 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, for a little over 30 days straight. While he was gone, we mostly ate the food I'd prepared and frozen ahead of time, and I didn't get a lot of time to craft, as I didn't get much time without the kids. However, his layoff came last night, so today was my first day with my husband in over a month. :)

Due to the demands of working 30 days straight, he developed a lot of less-than healthy habits, including daily energy drinks, fast food breakfasts, and whatever snacks he could eat quickly. So he expressed a desire to clean up his act once the job was over and he could allow himself to properly detox (aka be useless for a few days, lol).

Back when my middle son was around 6 months old, I did The Maker's Diet. While it IS a "diet" in that it has some very strict beginnings, what it really is is a method of healing your system and then moving onto a healthy way of eating once you're healed. Not only did I lose quite a bit of weight (which was not the reason I did it, but a very pleasant side effect!), but I felt so amazing! I had so much energy (that didn't require caffeine and a crash afterward), and I just felt so healthy and clean. So starting Monday, my husband and I will be embarking on it together. I am so excited to get back that feeling of health, and to be doing it with my husband by my side this time.

The diet is in 3 stages - stage 1 being incredibly restrictive (to allow healing), stage 2 easing into normal eating, and stage 3 is a normal healthy way of eating based on traditional nutrition. Stage 1 and stage 2 are each 2 weeks long, so at least for the next month, most of my food-based posts will revolve around the diet. I'll even label each recipe with its stage, in case others want to join us. :)

I wish I would've taken a picture of our grocery cart filled with produce this morning. I have a very limited palette having grown up on "normal" american food like frozen pizzas, hamburgers, and hot dogs; but this diet pushes my limits. It makes me eat foods I wouldn't normally because I don't have any other choice. One of the things I'm most looking forward to trying this week is steamed cabbage with bacon.

So stay tuned for our adventures! (For those interested in eating primal, stage 1 will mostly be primal food, so the recipes may help in that area as well).