Interested in Keto?

As soon as it was evident that I’d lost weight, people began asking how I did it. Truthfully, my weight fluctuates as much to ten pounds up and down so it took a while for people to start questioning how I’d done it, but I was glad to tell them once they asked. Most people had heard of keto but didn’t know anything about it. Some people thought I was asking for a heart attack with all that fat. Some questioned how my cholesterol levels must look (assuming they must be awful). After a few weeks and months, more and more people started asking me more about the diet. They wanted to know what I ate in a day. Did I count calories, carbohydrates, fiber, etc? I was happy to tell them, but I also wanted to arm them with knowledge. I wanted them to decide for themselves based on research if this diet was one that they could believe in and actually stick to. I realize that on any particular subject there will be multiple sides with varying opinions, but I want to always make sure I don’t make decisions based on trends or fads.

I am going to link several studies. If you are interested in learning more about a ketogenic diet, these studies will help you learn more and see what research shows. I hope they will be helpful and that you will be inspired to do more research on your own. Also, Mark Sisson has a great website and podcast about primal eating and the ketogenic diet.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2716748/

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-keto-diet-gains-popularity-scientists.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/diagnosis-diet/201809/latest-low-carb-study-all-politics-no-science

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat

Whenever I read articles or “studies” which claim that the keto diet is all meat and no vegetables, I get irritated. Mostly, because I don’t know anyone who eats like that. I am extremely sensitive to protein so I eat meat (fish, chicken, turkey, or uncured pork) once or twice a week at most. Most days my diet mostly consists of several salads, cheese, eggs, and avocados. I also eat broccoli, green beans, and berries. If the fiber grams are subtracted from the total carbohydrate counts, my carb count still comes in below 50 grams daily.

I always recommend that if you are planning on starting a new diet or exercise program that you talk to your medical doctor first. I am closely followed by my own doctor. My bloodwork is also done every six months. I am very happy to report that my numbers are excellent.

D8E58B26-1580-4556-914A-3C3D3CB4E8C1.jpeg

 

One last thing, I went off the diet for a week while in Disney World (we had the dining plan). I felt horrible! I went to bed with a massive stomachache for the first two nights. I could hardly wait to get back home and back on the diet. The experience solidified the fact that this diet is the one that works well for me and that leaves me feeling the best overall.

I would love to hear your comments or questions.

Best Stain Cleaner {Puracy}

Throughout my life I’ve tried to look for ways to be more “natural”.  I’ve cleaned with vinegar and essential oils. I’ve tried the newest “all natural” cleaners. I’ve even made my kids do school experiments to see which cleaner is more effective with Petri dishes, mop water, and various cleaners. Within the last couple of years or so, I’ve stumbled across an American brand of cleaners that is natural and not harmful to the environment. The brand is Puracy. I love their cleaners. I especially love their stain remover. I love it so much that I make a point to carry some with me anytime I’ll be doing laundry (on vacation, short trips, every day of my life basically). We use their shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand soap, lotion, stain remover, and general all purpose cleaner. My daughter even uses it at college. When one of her roommates, who works at a famous ice cream shop, came home with a shirt stained with chocolate ice cream my daughter told her she had to try the stain remover. Her roommate assured her she’d tried everything to get the stain out. My daughter told her she just had to try it. Of course, it worked and now she’s a Puracy devotee too. I don’t get anything for passing along my love of this brand to everyone out there. I just like to know what works and what is worth my time and money, and I want to pass along that information to anyone else who may be looking for something natural and effective. 8d8bdb3d-68e5-4fc4-acdf-67010cfbaa9b

Party On{Dinosaur Birthday Party}

I can’t believe I haven’t shared one of my favorite parties of all time.

David is like every other five-year-old boy I’ve ever met! He loves dinosaurs!! He knows most of their names, and whether they were carnivores or herbivores. He knows about how they fought. He surprises me regularly with his dinosaur knowledge. So there was no question that we would have a dinosaur birthday party for his fifth birthday.

506ee3d8-eb70-45d7-84ec-147eab2f378fce259b24-29af-4190-9877-a635bdca3bf905b7496c-0df5-4671-ad96-f61558567846537b0079-a038-4cb1-bc3c-b07f9b5fd4a8We served “dinosaur” eggs. I made these deviled eggs by cracking the shells and placing them in water with food coloring for awhile. I also bought some silicone dinosaur molds for small chocolates. I made fossil cookies out of sugar cookies and when they were just about done, I pressed a small dinosaur toy into the cookies. My daughter made a volcano cake out of Rice Krispies and a real cake. We put a cup in the middle and put dry ice in so it would look like it was erupting.

1c5fc5f3-c528-4e8a-903d-aa562bccf371ea450f78-8dcb-485b-bc27-1294ef761ab7894ce623-3dde-4ab4-9cff-8aaa1db38ced652867a9-b23f-4eed-bc05-4b8a32c99532For activities, we had an ice age game. I had a cooler of dinosaurs and icy water. In 20 seconds, the players had to rescue as many dinosaurs as the could. 369f73fd-3b53-4137-adc4-4958efb6048e

We also made dinosaur bath bombs. Bath bombs are all the rage, so this was a fun activity.

209d2e0e-4c7f-4d43-8dbf-996ae5ba0216

We did our trivia game as usual. We also did a photo scavenger hunt. I find this is one of the only ways I can get lots of pictures of the party-goers. We did the unwrapping game as always. We also did Dino egg pong (just like beer pong without the beer). I also bought wooden 3-d dinosaur puzzles. They were so hard, only the adults could do them, and even then, most gave up.

c4b4d841-8ef7-4f4c-a6df-48c7578428301faa1401-d6f0-46a9-a0a5-5f8b816eed16d334506c-e657-4c28-a2f6-472529724bb7

e175f6df-c672-435d-8713-dd1352b86d99b6e880b4-cee7-44ce-8e05-1f3f22fe66bd

It was a very busy, but fun party!

Happy New Year

2018, you were a rough one. Many of your 365 days were so very hard, but they were also scattered with so many blessings!

I am so hopeful for the new year. 2019, I pray you are a great year!

In the next few days, I hope that my presence here on this blog will be more frequent. I am trying new recipes. I have lots to share about the things that have gone on in the last few months. I have some new things on the horizon.

Happy New Year to you and yours! Here’s to today and the days ahead!

toast party ball cheers

Photo by Caio Resende on Pexels.com