Leaves Falling and Recipe Gathering

It's the Holiday Season...but not that one!

So I was walking into Costco a couple of weeks ago to pick up a couple of things, and I saw all the lovely Christmas decorations.

It was the BEGINNING of September. What???!!!!

Really, Christmas decorations being out before the middle of November, in my humble opinion, is a sin! Before my birthday is an abomination! (My birthday is at the end of September, in case you were wondering.) It's Autumn, people! We should be eagerly watching for the leaves to be falling from the trees, not looking for snow falling from the sky.

My brother doesn't even acknowledge Christmas decorations are in the store until the weekend after Thanksgiving. He will look at the shelves and comment, "Look at all those empty shelves. You would think the store would want to put merchandise on those shelves."

My brother cracks me up. Never a dull moment around that man.

But this does make me start thinking about that wonderful holiday tradition that everyone in my family loves...cookie baking season. I'm going to start hunting around for awesome Paleo/Primal cookie recipes. Keep coming back for more yummy ideas as I find and test them out.

Since it's currently Autumn, what are your favorite Fall recipes? Do any include cookies?

Heart Healthy? Or Not?

My mother has a congenital heart defect that causes holes to develop in the heart muscle. Recently she had heart surgery. Again.

This is the second heart surgery she has had in her life, but the procedure was totally different. The first time she had surgery, they cracked her breast bone and opened her up. Then they put in a plastic piece to fix a hole in her heart.

That was 40 years ago.

 

Now, however, they didn’t even put her completely under anesthesia; she was in “twilight mode.” They used a catheter that went up from her groin arteries to reach her heart. Once there, the doctor used a tool that entered the holes (there were four of them!) in her heart, injected a glue-like substance, and removed the tool. The substance expanded and stuck to the heart muscle around it, closing off the hole.

We joked that my mother had her heart spackled. Ever having an awesome sense of humor, she thought that was funny.

I love my mother.

While visiting her in the hospital, though, I noticed something that bothered me. They had her on a “heart healthy” diet…makes sense when you consider she just had heart surgery! But the first thing they fed her was spaghetti with meat sauce, salad with Italian dressing, and a breadstick. Really?! That’s heart healthy?

When the attendant came and took her order for breakfast the next morning, her options were 1 of the following:

• Cream of Wheat
• Oatmeal
• Rice cereal

She also had the option of applesauce or bananas, turkey sausage, and wheat toast or an English muffin.

I sat appalled at what they were feeding my mother, and it took everything in my self-control to not throw a fit in the hospital! Pasta and bread stick? Cream of wheat AND wheat toast? Really?

Feed her meat, I wanted to yell! Feed her an avocado slice and some sauteed onions or tomato slices with her turkey sausage. Add some strawberries (she loves them!). And for goodness sake, add an egg to the plate!

I realized I would be in serious trouble if I went into the hospital for any cardiovascular issues. Between my allergies and intolerances, the “heart healthy” diet that the FDA encourages heart patients to follow would either starve me or kill me!

Apparently they brought her fish that evening…she’s allergic to the mercury in fish. Thankfully they listened to her and brought her something else to eat. I think she said it was a chef salad…and it was wonderful! 

Have you encountered any dietary issues while staying in the hospital? How did you address those issues with the staff? Did they listen? Please share, so we can all get some ideas on how to handle this situation.

No More SAD

Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint, and Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Diet Solution, refer to the diet most Americans follow as the "standard American diet," or "SAD." This diet consists of:

• Lots of carbohydrates in the form of grains and legumes.
• Plenty of calcium in the form of dairy.
• Limitation on meat and fat intake.
• Processed foods that are loaded with sugar and chemicals.

The SAD diet has been proven in several studies to cause problems with inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, irritable bowel disease, and a host of other issues. Robb Wolf gives a great comparison of the Paleo diet to SAD.

I, however, have another name for SAD.

Swollen
Anxious
Depressed

I was a bad Hoosier cave girl a couple of weekends ago and ate far more wheat and sugar than I ever should. It started with a birthday cake that I bought (I have a major weakness for butter cream icing) for my husband and brother, because their birthdays are within about 3 days of each other. We had friends over, so cake was a celebratory offering.

Yeah, I know. I have GOT to stop thinking like this!

I figured one piece would not kill me. My body may be unhappy the next day, but I would deal with it. I had a great idea and plan, until...

No one took the leftover cake home with them. We were stuck with over half a cake!

My husband didn't take it with him to work the next day, so it stared at me ALL DAY LONG!

Did I mention I have a major weakness for butter cream icing? I ended up eating several pieces over the weekend (the pizza we had Saturday night probably didn't help, either).

I ate more of that cake than I ever intended. And, man, did I pay for it! My legs have swelled to the point I feel like I have rubber bands around my knees. My digestive system is sluggish. I'm feeling slightly anxious and depressed at the same time (which really messes with your head, believe me). Trust me, the cake was NOT worth this misery.

I think, the next birthday that crops up in my group of friends, I'll make the cake myself with "Paleo" ingredients (at least without lots of wheat, milk, and processed sugar). Hmmm...maybe I'll try my Paleo Pineapple Upside Down Cake again (that will be another post).

For now, it's back to the Paleo eating and calisthenic exercise to get the swelling back down. Maybe I'll go harvest sage from the garden before I cut back the sage bush. That might help, too.

Has your diet been making you feel sluggish? Share your thoughts with me.