"Struggling with TF" Support Thread

[quietserena]

So I've had this on my mind a lot lately. We were a lot better at TF until not too long ago and seem to have fallen by the wayside. There are many reasons for it but I'm trying to change that.

Here are my plans:
* plan for the meals today and tomorrow, every day.
* cook a big pot of some sort of stew every week, so that this is always a lunch option and possibly make baked oatmeal so that daily breakfast is taken care of. This means I only have to plan for dinner!
* stop buying sweets and fast food and eat the food that's cooked and in the fridge
* daily glass of kefir, first thing in the morning

As you can tell, I'm starting kind of slow. I already have some good habits that I've not stopped doing (soaking beans and grains, thought I could be better about oatmeal), but it's about getting me to *cook* instead of taking the way too easy way out.

Is anyone in with me?

[velcromom]

I'm in! I am just getting back into incorporating TF into our diet after dd came along at the end of Aug. Once my freezer was depleted of soaked cooked beans, bone broth, prepared stuff made with those, TF fell by the wayside for a while. I even stopped brewing my apple kefir! Surprising because I had dh bring my kefir to the hospital when I was recovering after my c/s, thought that was a sign of commitment, lol.

So now I'm getting back into it. I was never further along than TF101, lol, but I feel good about getting those basics down and having them be the norm for our diet.

I soaked beans & stocked the freezer with them last week, and have bones in the freezer to make stock with when enough accumulates. My juice kefir grains are getting back into the groove and when I get enough paypal I'm hoping to get some actual water grains so I can compare to my converted milk grains & see which I like better.

Also just got a small crock today with the idea in mind of making a batch of sauerkraut to see if the family might actually eat it... lol. I'm not crazy about the idea of fermented veggies but this seems like the most gentle way to start.

I still need/want to:

Prepare some kind of breakfast food that I can heat and eat - soaked grains of some kind to make hot cereal. Also a source of protein for breakfast... hmm???

Take my friend with a grinder up on her offer to let me use it. Whole wheat flour has smelled rancid to me lately so I'd love to have fresh for my breadmaking adventures & for snacks that I bake for the kids.

Find a more frugal recipe for a water kefir beverage, that tastes good enough that I'll actually drink it. Buying juice to make kefir all the time is too expensive.

Find a reasonably priced source for coconut oil and stock up. I want to get the kind that doesn't taste like coconut because dh hates that flavor.

Get a new batch of milk kefir grains and utilize them to learn to make a variety of kefir cheeses. We eat a lot of cheese, might as well learn to create a more healthful version of it.

[Metasequoia]

Serena, I actually came to start a thread of the same title! We went to the beach for a couple of weeks the first week of September & have been a little lazy since then. We went out for pizza the other night & I just felt so crappy & guilty for feeding that junk to my family. It's tough knowing how horrible processed foods are, particularly white flour & white sugar. I vowed to get back on the wagon. In fact, just an hour or so ago I mentioned to Dd1 that I have been neglecting our kefir & fil mjolk & that I need to "feed" them soon. I hope they're still okay.

velcromom, what is this apple kefir of which you speak? We usually just do berries & bananas.

How about some turkey sausage with morning porridge? I lurve the NT breakfast porridge. We ate so much of it (that & baked oatmeal) that we got sick of it. I think we over that & could probably eat it again.

A friend of mine makes a delicious veggie dish for breakfast - she shreds celeriac root, carrots & another mild root veggie (can't remember right now) in ghee & coconut oil with a little salt - it's SO yummy! I think she calls it veggie grits. She'll often serve it with turkey sausage or eggs. I need to get me a salad shooter gadget like she has so I can shred the veggies quickly.

As for what I do to simplify, I usually cook up a huge batch of stock weekly & freeze it in 2 cup portions. I'd like to look into finding a local fishmonger so I can make fish stock on a regular basis too.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been slacking. Makes me feel better.

[Metasequoia]

I think I just realized that you were referring to water kefir when you said apple kefir, huh? Darn, I was imagining milk kefir with an apple flavor, now it sounds gross when I type it but it sounded yummy when I read it in your post, velcromom.

[quietserena]

Welcome you guys! I'm glad I'm not the only one...

velcromom,
I get my CO from MRH and while it does taste like coconuts, I've found that my ever so picky DH doesn't taste it too much in cooked food. And, te price can't be beat.

For breakfast, I often have scrambled eggs in half butter half CO. Sometimes, I sautee onions first, then add eggs.

So good to hear about the grain mill!

I don't do water kefir so I don't know from experience but some of the recipes for water kefir on Dom's site seem inexpensive - water and sugar and some sort of fried fruit for flavor.

Metasequoia,
GMTA! I'm glad you're in too!

I love that veggie grits idea! I'll have to keep that in mind. What is celeriac root?

Stock is something I've not ever made a habit of doing. I don't have a source of pastured bones aside from the occasional pastured chicken we eat. I need to go by the HFS and halal stores and see whether they've listened when I asked about having frozen soup bones. I'm their worst customer! I go in, buy very specific things and always ask for more stuff!

I just don't feel all that great about making stock from factory farmed animals' bones. But perhaps it'll be useful to have at least that. I don't know, I waffle on that one, a lot.

Off I go to have mashed sweet potatoes with CO for breakfast. Not exactly my low carb ideal but it's just vegetables! I did have a mini Mounds when I passed through the kitchen. Gah, I can't help myself when there's candy just out!

[Metasequoia]

Celeriac root is a root veggie (obvisously ) & it's roundish, about the size of a large turnip or a small kohlrabi. I looks hairy because it has a lot of small, fibrous roots. To prep it, you just peel/slice off the outer skin & then shred it.
When my friend makes the "grits" she doesn't brown them & they don't form into something like a hashbrown, it's more of a sauteed dish, but oh so yummy!

Fwiw, I feel the same way about factory animal bones for stock, I've never come up with an answer either way. I'm fortunate enough to have access to pastured animals. Do you have a fishmonger near you? I bet you could get some good scraps (heads, etc) from him from safe fish that aren't farmed. I don't suppose you have a WF chain store nearby? I even question making stock from their soup bones, but I figure it has to be better than Acme/Giant/your conventional grocer.

[momma4fun]

This is a great thread idea!

So I was just thinking this morning about how thankful I am for thanksgiving because I could easily feed my family on some very basic staples and the leftovers for the next two weeks. (I made a 27 pound turkey)

Then I thought how nice this is, and how it's actually a good time of year because it will save us money on groceries which means a bit of money for some christmas presents?

But then I thought, what if thanksgiving happened more often? What if every month or 2 I spent a couple weeks making lots of stock, condiments, etc to prepare for a feast. Then I'd be in the same boat I am now, with lots of leftovers and leftover stock and condiments.

Plus, I think tis is probably similar to how food worked in traditional times, alternating bouts of stocking up on fresh food/killing an animal and feasting on it for a long time.

You know? I was doing bad for a while there but with the motivation of thanksgiving my house is full of great traditional foods again. So maybe, when you find yourself in a rut, cut corners where you can no so you can prepare for a feast later, and then do it as best and as much as you can!

So I'm trying to wrap my head around this and how it could work.....

In the meantime, I definitely want to focus on taking my cod liver oil. I have never been able to get in the habit of taking it on a regular basis. I believe that if I could take it regularly I'd get some extra energy.......

and it seems like lack of energy is the only reason why I'm not consistent with all the food prep......

any one else got energy ideas?

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by momma4fun

any one else got energy ideas?

Raw liver -- it's easy to take if you freeze it, then cut it up into pill sizes. You just take the "pill" like any other supplement pill. Cut it as small as you like, but make sure you get the equivalent of about a teaspoon a day.

I just started this yesterday, so I don't have a personal story yet, but here's a link that describes more of the anti-fatigue effects of raw liver:

http://editor.nourishedmagazine.com....actor-of-liver

I gave a little frozen "pill" of liver to my husband yesterday, and he didn't even complain, didn't even taste it. And he is highly sensitive to taste issues.

[mbravebird]

I, too, have lots of trouble maintaining TF diet when we go through upheavals in schedule, etc. It's frustrating, because I know how important it is and how good it helps me/us feel! I healed my adrenals in part from a TF diet. Recently, I made a list of all the TF things I want to be doing, and then whittled it down to the important things I thought I could do, no matter what the situation we were in. So my new stripped-down list is:

coconut oil
cod liver oil
raw liver pills
raw milk

And then, once I'm managing that, add:

kefir
fermented veggies (sauerkraut for us)

And then, once I'm managing that, stick to a menu of:

weekly broth and soup/stew
weekly pastured beef dish with leftovers
weekly pastured chicken dish with leftovers
weekly bread

And I've never made it farther than that without our schedule going kaplooey due to some large event, falling off the wagon (which for us means eating lots of homemade pasta carbonara -- oh, yum, oh my, I wish it didn't involve pasta because I could live on the stuff), finally getting back on again and having to start it all over.

Oh, and I need to add nettle infusion somewhere in there, too, but somehow without overwhelming myself. When I'm overwhelmed I don't do anything at all...

[snowbunny]

With me, I have areas that work really well and areas that don't seem to work at all. I've fortunately gotten into the habit of a weekly roast or stew, and then I make stock once a week too which I use in broth soups throughout the rest of the week. It's a nice rhythm.

My biggest thing is that I always forget breakfast except on the weekend, and I know it's really bad to skip it. I also forget to take my CLO and BO supplements which is too bad because I feel so much better when I take them regularly.

• I'd really like to focus on meal planning and sticking to our meal plan because that's how all the soaking, sprouting and involved preparation gets done.
• Next, I'd like to focus on getting a solid breakfast--replete with protein and veggies--every morning. That might be tough because I'm not really a big fan of egg dishes. I've been thinking about doing a green smoothie with veggies, fruit and raw egg in the morning but only if the flavor of the egg would be disguised! Anyone do those.
• Then, I'd like to make sure I'm taking my supplements regularly. I've been thinking about adding these to my morning smoothie, but worry that it'd give it an off flavor.

[HerbanGirl]

Great thread, QuietSerena! Momma4fun, I was just thinking the same thing about Thanksgiving...our house is now full of healthy leftovers (minus the boxed stuffing my mom insists on making every year and I have a pot of turkey stock going in the kitchen, which will soon be half stock and half turkey-veg soup. Isn't that nice??? Since there are only two of us at home, I do end up making bigger batches of most meals and having leftovers for the next few days. It's not the most exciting menu, but I'd rather have the same healthy food for a few days than a different non-TF dish every day!

Here's the thing that's hardest for me: I have gone from being a longtime veg*n (17 years) to total omnivore, but DP is still mostly vegetarian. He'll occasionally have the nibble of bacon or beef here or there, but he hates the smell and taste of poultry. I'm feeling stuck on how to get more meat into my diet without us having to eat separate meals all the time. This is especially important now that I can't eat eggs or dairy very often, as they used to be my major source of protein and fat. This turkey soup I'm making will last me a while, but I have shied away from making other meat dishes like roasts and such. Any thoughts on this? I'm tempted to just go back to eating more eggs and dairy, even though my body doesn't handle them beautifully...

Sorry, I hijacked the thread a wee bit there! Anyway, back to the OT...I try to keep lots of snacky foods on hand so DP and I can nosh on healthy snacks throughout the day: crispy nuts, hard-boiled eggs, liverwurst (for me), cut-up veggies, hummus/bean dip, grass-fed cheeses, oily fish (we're both of Northern European descent, and this seems to be really important for us - and DP does eat fish/seafood), and soaked oatmeal (occasionally).

If I can make a good, hearty TF breakfast, lunch and dinner are way easier and I don't get the munchies nearly as much.

Thanks for starting this thread, QS!

[momma4fun]

wow, thanks for the raw liver link. I will start trying that tomorrow! I have a beef liver in my freezer and I'm gonna go chop it up ino smaller chunks right now!

[velcromom]

Some great ideas, thanks mamas! I'm having trouble getting the protein I need since I've been struggling with reflux, eggs as a dish on their own aren't sitting well with me for some reason. Guess I could disguise them somehow, or find some free range eggs and eat raw in smoothies... raw is supposed to be easier to digest, right? I love the idea of a green smoothie in the morning... hm, kiwi, apple, kale, kefir.. a K smoothie? Sausage sounds good. Breakfast is tough. I'm wondering if the chicken liver/bacon pate might be an appealing addition to breakfast. On toast, maybe? I've never made it, it just sounds good.lol Has anyone done the pate & does it freeze well?

Hm, we do stock with whatever bones I have right now. We get chickens that aren't given antibiotics or hormones but they aren't free-range. If I wanted to do stock only with pastured critters, I wouldn't get to make stock except rarely, and I really feel the gelatin component is important as ds and I both struggle with gut health. Am I wrong in thinking the gelatin component is still good even if the animal was fed a feedlot diet? I also use the stock to replace powdered mixes for gravies and sauces, so in that respect it saves us from ingesting other negative things that the processed mixes are made from.

Well one step at a time, I guess. Meat is one thing that I am ambivalent about... I can't afford to switch over to the kind of meat I want to feed my family, but I am a dedicated carnivore who does better with lots of protein and don't want to eat less meat either...

[nicolelynn]

I actually LOVE making menus, planning for TF and shopping. I did beautifully up until March when I was forced to work full time (with a 40 minute one way commute) from part time and just don't have time.

We manage to eat fairly well at home (except that DH won't give up cold cereal so when I'm hungry and lazy I end up digging in once or twice a week) and I'm back to making chicken stock now that the weather has cooled off. But I haven't got back in the groove of making ferments. Our main trip up is that we end up eating out twice a week or so. Like today...we were going to come home from church and I was going to make a TF friendly lunch. Then we got all the way home and I realized I left my purse at church. Church is 30 minutes away. So by that time we were starving so we resorted to Hebrew National polish dogs at Costco. At least I heaped the sauerkraut on! Anyways...

My goal is to eat so well at home and packed lunches that eating out twice a week won't mess us up too much. My next main goal is to get back on track with having at least a few ferments on hand. Right now we just have yogurt and our HFS knock-off of Garden Of Life's probiotic blend.

Not to get OT but Herbangirl- what's your source for liverwurst? I'd love to try some...

[HerbanGirl]

Originally Posted by nicolelynn

Not to get OT but Herbangirl- what's your source for liverwurst? I'd love to try some...

I get Wellshire Farms brand at Whole Foods. I had a more local source from the neighborhood butcher (made in SF) but it just didn't taste like I remembered it. The Wellshire Farms brand tastes exactly right! Of course, the second ingredient is nonfat dry milk, not exactly TF, but I figure if it's the only dry milk I'm getting, doesn't the liver sort of win that battle? :

[quietserena]

Wow guys, I'm overwhelmed by the support!



I did ok today, no meals were eaten out of the house and while they weren't strictly TF, they were still better than fast food.

I set some beans to soak and will make a stew tomorrow so that I have my lunches (and maybe breakfasts!) for the week. I have some potatoes so I think I'll make beef stew for dinner, though I have to swing by a store and get some stew meat.

Regarding stock:
I do think that for gut health, some stock is better than none. Need to get that l-glutamine in, and it's found in stock, in gelatin iirc. I have been meaning to start taking an l-glutamine supplement just to see if it makes a difference. I have a problem with my tongue being 'shredded' for no good reason and it takes days for it to go away. It's almost like I had a whole box of some sort of puffed cereal but I don't eat cereal on a regular basis. (I slip up and have a bowl every few months since we have it in the house for DH. Boys! Trouble, I tell ya!) It seems that l-glutamine is the way to fix that. I'm somewhat afraid that the rest of my digestive system is like that too, which is so scary. Now that I've reminded myself of that, I'm going to go make up a bunch of capsules of it because I've found I don't particularly like it dissolved in liquid.

momma4fun, I love the idea of a 'feast' once every few weeks and having all the leftovers. It makes a lot of sense to me but my problem is that DH isn't in the mood to eat the same sort of food a few days in a row. How do you cope with that one?

snowbunny, on most days I actually only have two meals a day. I have a late breakfast that ends up being early lunch and the have dinner when DH comes home. The whole business of eating breakfast as soon as you're up doesn't work very well for me most days. I do have days where I wake up hungry but that's usually because either DD is going through a growth spurt and nursed all night or I ate something sweet right before bed so there was an insulin crash sometime during the night. My great grandparents used to get up early, and do quite a bit of work before breakfast was made and ready to be eaten so I figure this sort of thing has been in my family for quite some time.

mbravebird, I love your gradual steps list. I am planning on doing something like that but I don't have any idea what I want to do after I've accomplished the initial short list. I can't seem to get through it either. :

nicolelynn, your goal is pretty much saying what I mean just in prettier words. Thank you. I keep having days when DD wants so much of my attention that I realize that it's 4pm and I have no idea what we'll have to eat for dinner and we resort to something premade. I need to get way better about that.

HerbanGirl, thanks for the hummus remind. I ran out of tahini not too long ago and just don't think of replacing it when I'm at the store but I really need to. Hummus and soft boiled eggs was one of my staple breakfasts for the longest time. I can just sit down and eat a whole bowl of hummus by myself... Tomorrow, I'm going to figure out how to cook chickpeas because I don't want to use the canned ones any more. There are preservatives in the canned beans! I thought that the whole point of canned was so you don't need preservatives! I need to be better about reading labels, obviously.

Guys, you rock. I'm making baby steps but they're in the right direction!

[lynchyk]

Seems like breakfast is a problem for alot of people, so here is what I do. Since I only have access to pastured eggs every few weeks or 2 months I buy quite a few at a time and am afraid to leave them sit for that long. So I make 1 or 2 "egg casseroles" and freeze in pieces so you can take out whenever you need a quick breakfast. I go to work at 6am so this is perfect for me to take to work. You can add whatever you have on hand, cheese, veggies, leftover bacon, sausage...

HTH, Kelly

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by lynchyk

Seems like breakfast is a problem for alot of people, so here is what I do. Since I only have access to pastured eggs every few weeks or 2 months I buy quite a few at a time and am afraid to leave them sit for that long. So I make 1 or 2 "egg casseroles" and freeze in pieces so you can take out whenever you need a quick breakfast. I go to work at 6am so this is perfect for me to take to work. You can add whatever you have on hand, cheese, veggies, leftover bacon, sausage...

HTH, Kelly

I love this idea. I think I could do this. What's your recipe?

[fourgrtkidos]

I'm motivated because I am watching how wonderfully my health is changing and I have sooooo much more energy.
For me... it is a knowlegde issue.
Besides the NT book, what are someother sources??

If you do not like sauerkraut.... I made cucumbers the same way, great on salad.
Komucha seems to me like the easiest way to get some good stuff everyday.
Thanks for the liver "pill" idea. I made liver and mushrooms/onions and a liver meatloaf, but couldn't figure out what else. It is yummy for the first plate ful then it is almost like you taste buds go on OverLOAD!! and I nor my family can eat more.

~Michelle
TF newbie

[HerbanGirl]

Mmm, the sauercukes sound interesting! Did you use the NT sauerkraut recipe?

Other books that I really enjoy are Full Moon Feast, Real Food, The Untold Story of Milk (just started but it gets raves all over this board), Wild Fermentation, and Eat Fat Lose Fat. Also, my new favorite cookbook is Nigel Slater's Appetite - not always TF-oriented, but very simple everyday dishes that are easily converted to TF.