So this was another of those make-it-up-as-I-go meals...
2 bell peppers
2 cans black beans, drained
1 small can chopped green chilies
Cumin, onion powder, garlic powder
1 pack angel hair (12-16 oz)
Puree bell peppers in food processor. Add beans, chilies and seasonings. Puree until it forms a thick sauce. Cook angel hair until almost done. While angel hair is cooking, simmer sauce. Drain pasta and return to pot. Toss with sauce and salt to taste.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Tonight's Yummy Supper
This is what we had along with the loaf of homemade bread:
Garlic Green Beans
(adapted from Fit for Life)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic, minced or pressed
4 c frozen green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces (I used 1 lb frozen, then doubled)
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
2 c water
1 vegetable bouillon cube
Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
In large heavy saucepan, heat oil. Add beans and saute over high heat to sear, stirring frequently. Add garlic and saute a few more minutes. Add thyme, salt, water and bouillon. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add lemon juice.
I doubled the recipe and I'm glad as it wouldn't have made much otherwise! And they were so good, we all ate a lot of them!
Garlic Green Beans
(adapted from Fit for Life)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic, minced or pressed
4 c frozen green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces (I used 1 lb frozen, then doubled)
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
2 c water
1 vegetable bouillon cube
Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
In large heavy saucepan, heat oil. Add beans and saute over high heat to sear, stirring frequently. Add garlic and saute a few more minutes. Add thyme, salt, water and bouillon. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add lemon juice.
I doubled the recipe and I'm glad as it wouldn't have made much otherwise! And they were so good, we all ate a lot of them!
Saturday Thoughts
It's been a rough few days and I'm in need of some comfort food! I think I'll pull out my bread machine and make a loaf of homemade bread to go with supper tonight. Don't know what we're having yet, just that we'll have bread with it LOL
After eating out Wednesday I woke up with my gallbladder bothering me a little. It wasn't bad, just, there. I take ginger capsules after a fatty meal and I think forgetting to take them after lunch is probably what did it. Yesterday I ate a fair bit of fat at lunch but took ginger and was fine.
I'm considering doing a flush next week. It's been 13 months now since I've done one. I was going to wait a couple more months but my gut tells me to do it soon. So I will. Can't wait to get it over with :-P But I know I'll feel so much better afterward!
After eating out Wednesday I woke up with my gallbladder bothering me a little. It wasn't bad, just, there. I take ginger capsules after a fatty meal and I think forgetting to take them after lunch is probably what did it. Yesterday I ate a fair bit of fat at lunch but took ginger and was fine.
I'm considering doing a flush next week. It's been 13 months now since I've done one. I was going to wait a couple more months but my gut tells me to do it soon. So I will. Can't wait to get it over with :-P But I know I'll feel so much better afterward!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Temptation Avoided! (For the Most Part...)
I was gone today from 815am till 630pm - doctors appointments, grocery shopping, etc. My mom was with the boys and me all day. For lunch we went to my favorite non-pizza buffet. And I didn't cheat! I watched my mom and Ethan eat whatever, including dessert. In fact, I fixed Ethan's plates. And I still was a good girl! Then for supper I picked up Subway because I was exhausted and didn't feel like cooking. I got a veggie sub :-) I actually enjoyed it! I had a heavy lunch so my relatively light supper was nice! BUT... I did get cookies for all of us from Subway - 1 each of our 3 faves, plus 1 for Ethan. I split the 3 in half and divided them between Jesse and me. Which totalled 1 1/2 cookies each. I only ate half of mine, so I had a whole 3/4 of a cookie LOL Not bad for all the temptation I was faced with today!
My stomach is feeling the effects of eating out twice + being gone all day + over a week of not enough sleep. I'm sure it will feel lots better tomorrow when I'm eating at home again!
My stomach is feeling the effects of eating out twice + being gone all day + over a week of not enough sleep. I'm sure it will feel lots better tomorrow when I'm eating at home again!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Another Cheat Meal, and a Yummy Lunch!
Last night we went to my in-laws' for supper. I knew we were having gumbo so I ate my carb meal at lunch, planning on just eating the chicken and juice from the gumbo for supper. Well... By the time we ate, I was so hungry! Not only did I eat my gumbo with rice, I had some potato salad too! And I had zero veggies all day :-( I will say, my cheat meal was definitely worth it! And I did pass up the ice cream and cookies for dessert :-)
Today I am determined to do better! I changed my mind twice about what I was fixing for lunch but ended up cooking some steaks in my cast iron skillet, with a lot of sauteed mushrooms and red bell peppers (done in the skillet separately) to go with them.
And what did I learn from yesterday's experience? My body responds much better to eating my protein meal at lunch rather than a carb meal! Carb meal for lunch = more hungry at supper = more likely to cheat!
Today I am determined to do better! I changed my mind twice about what I was fixing for lunch but ended up cooking some steaks in my cast iron skillet, with a lot of sauteed mushrooms and red bell peppers (done in the skillet separately) to go with them.
And what did I learn from yesterday's experience? My body responds much better to eating my protein meal at lunch rather than a carb meal! Carb meal for lunch = more hungry at supper = more likely to cheat!
Friday, February 12, 2010
"Why don't you just let them take out your gallbladder?! You'll be so much better off..."
If I could count the number of times I've heard that the past few years... So I will attempt to answer.
First off, God gave us a gallbladder for a reason! It is NOT an unnecessary organ (more on this later). I do not doubt that there are situations where a person needs to have it removed - infection, etc. But these don't happen very often.
I have prayed about whether or not it would be best to have my gallbladder removed every time it gives me problems. And every time I get a clear answer - LEAVE IT IN. It would certainly be easier in the short-term to have it taken out! To not have to worry about another attack and the extreme pain that goes with it. To be able to eat whatever. To not hear from people why I'm just being stubborn and/or afraid of surgery and/or how much better off I'll be. But God keeps leading me to more resources about how this is NOT in my best interest. So I have to trust Him...
Here is some of the information I've found about why gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy) is NOT a good idea! The information below comes from these 2 websites: http://www.gallbladderattack.com/gallbladdersurgery.shtml
http://www.naturalnews.com/007733_gall_bladder_conventional_medicine_gallstones.html
These are only 2 of the many sites with valuable information about the consequences of gallbladder removal!
The gallbladder has an important function in digestion. And, if you just remove it, you are compromising your digestive health for the rest of your life. Surgeons who remove gallbladders are complacent in educating patients about nutritional changes they need to pursue after losing this important digestive organ. For example, you're not going to get the same quality of digestion you would have had if your gall bladder were in place. You're not going to get the excretion of the bile from the gallbladder into the small intestine, and as a result, you're not going to efficiently digest foods that are moving through your digestive tract. This is especially true for dietary fats, including essential fatty acids. Without a gallbladder, you're not going to be able to digest dietary fats with any degree of efficiency. This means that if you don't take bile salts as a nutritional supplement every time you eat healthy fats, you'll miss out on all-important omega-3 fatty acids and other healthy oils. That's why people who have had gallbladder removal surgery usually suffer the classic signs of EFA deficiencies: poor nervous system function, irritability, learning difficulties, heart disease, poor blood sugar control, and so on.
In order to break down and digest fats, your body must produce bile, which is done in the liver. Your gallbladder is merely a sac for holding some of the bile that the liver produces. Whether or not you have had your gallbladder removed, your liver is still producing bile in order to digest fats. Without the gallbladder, however, the bile is not as readily secreted in the body, and the liver can become overwhelmed when faced with large amounts of any fats, especially saturated fats and hydrogenated fats. And for some people even small amounts of fats can cause discomfort. (One of the side effects of gallbladder removal can be the dumping of bile which is now not as easily regulated and can send someone running to the bathroom immediately after eating.) A more common side effect is a decrease in the secretion of bile. If the bile produced by the liver becomes thick and sluggish, painful symptoms and bile stones can occur. Bile stones can form in the liver as well as the gallbladder.
Gallstones can also be found in the liver and the bile ducts leading to the gallbladder. The attack is often (but not always) caused by a stone blocking a duct. And yes, this can still happen after having your gallbladder removed. As seen by research, stones are formed partly due to what we eat. If we take the gallbladder out and continue to eat the same lithogenic forming diet that we did before, why should stones not form? They will. You may never know it. You may be asymptomatic for the rest of your life. Or, you may get a stone stuck in a bile duct.
The most common problems from having your gallbladder removed, apart from actual pain are impaired digestion: bloating, gas, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea. You are/were already having trouble digesting fats. So why would removing the organ that regulates the metabolizer of fats improve your digestion? It may help with the pain, but know that 34% of people who have their gallbladder removed still experience some abdominal pain.
Abdominal pain, nausea, gas, bloating, and diarrhea are common following surgery. Postcholecystectomy syndrome (after gallbladder removal syndrome) may include all of the above symptoms plus indigestion, nausea, vomiting and constant pain in the upper right abdomen. Sound familiar? You're right -- gallbladder attack symptoms. Up to 40% of people who undergo gallbladder surgery will experience these symptoms for months or years after surgery. How is this possible? You no longer have a gallbladder and that was the problem, right? Look to the whole biliary tract. Now that the gallbladder is no longer present to act as a reservoir for bile, the common bile duct may expand as the bile backs up in the bile duct between the sphincter or muscular opening at the small intestine and the liver from which it flows. If it drips constantly into the small intestine this can cause problems of a different kind. However, this syndrome with accompanying pain appears to have the flow of bile obstructed by either a narrowing of the sphincter or a malfunction of the sphincter.
Functional biliary pain in the absence of gallstone disease is a definite entity and a challenge for clinicians. Which is to say that at this point in time, they don't really know what to do with gallbladder problems that aren't related to gallstones. Often, following cholecystectomy, biliary pain does not resolve. Which means after gallbladder surgery you may just be stuck with the pain.
First off, God gave us a gallbladder for a reason! It is NOT an unnecessary organ (more on this later). I do not doubt that there are situations where a person needs to have it removed - infection, etc. But these don't happen very often.
I have prayed about whether or not it would be best to have my gallbladder removed every time it gives me problems. And every time I get a clear answer - LEAVE IT IN. It would certainly be easier in the short-term to have it taken out! To not have to worry about another attack and the extreme pain that goes with it. To be able to eat whatever. To not hear from people why I'm just being stubborn and/or afraid of surgery and/or how much better off I'll be. But God keeps leading me to more resources about how this is NOT in my best interest. So I have to trust Him...
Here is some of the information I've found about why gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy) is NOT a good idea! The information below comes from these 2 websites: http://www.gallbladderattack.com/gallbladdersurgery.shtml
http://www.naturalnews.com/007733_gall_bladder_conventional_medicine_gallstones.html
These are only 2 of the many sites with valuable information about the consequences of gallbladder removal!
The gallbladder has an important function in digestion. And, if you just remove it, you are compromising your digestive health for the rest of your life. Surgeons who remove gallbladders are complacent in educating patients about nutritional changes they need to pursue after losing this important digestive organ. For example, you're not going to get the same quality of digestion you would have had if your gall bladder were in place. You're not going to get the excretion of the bile from the gallbladder into the small intestine, and as a result, you're not going to efficiently digest foods that are moving through your digestive tract. This is especially true for dietary fats, including essential fatty acids. Without a gallbladder, you're not going to be able to digest dietary fats with any degree of efficiency. This means that if you don't take bile salts as a nutritional supplement every time you eat healthy fats, you'll miss out on all-important omega-3 fatty acids and other healthy oils. That's why people who have had gallbladder removal surgery usually suffer the classic signs of EFA deficiencies: poor nervous system function, irritability, learning difficulties, heart disease, poor blood sugar control, and so on.
In order to break down and digest fats, your body must produce bile, which is done in the liver. Your gallbladder is merely a sac for holding some of the bile that the liver produces. Whether or not you have had your gallbladder removed, your liver is still producing bile in order to digest fats. Without the gallbladder, however, the bile is not as readily secreted in the body, and the liver can become overwhelmed when faced with large amounts of any fats, especially saturated fats and hydrogenated fats. And for some people even small amounts of fats can cause discomfort. (One of the side effects of gallbladder removal can be the dumping of bile which is now not as easily regulated and can send someone running to the bathroom immediately after eating.) A more common side effect is a decrease in the secretion of bile. If the bile produced by the liver becomes thick and sluggish, painful symptoms and bile stones can occur. Bile stones can form in the liver as well as the gallbladder.
Gallstones can also be found in the liver and the bile ducts leading to the gallbladder. The attack is often (but not always) caused by a stone blocking a duct. And yes, this can still happen after having your gallbladder removed. As seen by research, stones are formed partly due to what we eat. If we take the gallbladder out and continue to eat the same lithogenic forming diet that we did before, why should stones not form? They will. You may never know it. You may be asymptomatic for the rest of your life. Or, you may get a stone stuck in a bile duct.
The most common problems from having your gallbladder removed, apart from actual pain are impaired digestion: bloating, gas, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea. You are/were already having trouble digesting fats. So why would removing the organ that regulates the metabolizer of fats improve your digestion? It may help with the pain, but know that 34% of people who have their gallbladder removed still experience some abdominal pain.
Abdominal pain, nausea, gas, bloating, and diarrhea are common following surgery. Postcholecystectomy syndrome (after gallbladder removal syndrome) may include all of the above symptoms plus indigestion, nausea, vomiting and constant pain in the upper right abdomen. Sound familiar? You're right -- gallbladder attack symptoms. Up to 40% of people who undergo gallbladder surgery will experience these symptoms for months or years after surgery. How is this possible? You no longer have a gallbladder and that was the problem, right? Look to the whole biliary tract. Now that the gallbladder is no longer present to act as a reservoir for bile, the common bile duct may expand as the bile backs up in the bile duct between the sphincter or muscular opening at the small intestine and the liver from which it flows. If it drips constantly into the small intestine this can cause problems of a different kind. However, this syndrome with accompanying pain appears to have the flow of bile obstructed by either a narrowing of the sphincter or a malfunction of the sphincter.
Functional biliary pain in the absence of gallstone disease is a definite entity and a challenge for clinicians. Which is to say that at this point in time, they don't really know what to do with gallbladder problems that aren't related to gallstones. Often, following cholecystectomy, biliary pain does not resolve. Which means after gallbladder surgery you may just be stuck with the pain.
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
I was warned it would take a few months for my gallbladder to heal and this week proved it!
Tuesday I was at the grocery store and I was craving junk food. I ended up bringing home some brownie bites - the ones they make fresh in the bakery. They tasted sooo good to me! I snacked on them all night. Big mistake...
I don't know if it was the chocolate or the sugar or another ingredient but something sent my gallbladder into spasms :-( It hurt. Not the excruciating pain I normally get with my gallbladder, but bad enough that I couldn't sleep. I finally got to sleep about 345am. I don't know if the mint tea helped (mint is a natural antispasmodic) or if it was just time but the pain finally eased.
Of all days for it to happen, I had to be up early Wednesday and was gone almost the whole day! My gallbladder was still bothering me a bit so I just ate fruit all day. Yesterday I ate regular food but very lowfat. Today I plan on eating normally. Hoping it goes well...
Tuesday I was at the grocery store and I was craving junk food. I ended up bringing home some brownie bites - the ones they make fresh in the bakery. They tasted sooo good to me! I snacked on them all night. Big mistake...
I don't know if it was the chocolate or the sugar or another ingredient but something sent my gallbladder into spasms :-( It hurt. Not the excruciating pain I normally get with my gallbladder, but bad enough that I couldn't sleep. I finally got to sleep about 345am. I don't know if the mint tea helped (mint is a natural antispasmodic) or if it was just time but the pain finally eased.
Of all days for it to happen, I had to be up early Wednesday and was gone almost the whole day! My gallbladder was still bothering me a bit so I just ate fruit all day. Yesterday I ate regular food but very lowfat. Today I plan on eating normally. Hoping it goes well...
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