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Sliding into home plate on my face

i.e. running out of gas before the day is done.

I blamed it on 3 kids, on being 40, on my hashimoto’s thyroid disease, on my workout, on my food, on my period,……. you name it, I blamed it. The last few years I would sit down after putting the little ones to bed and barely be able to pick myself back up again when it was time to walk to the bedroom. Taking supplements helped, but I was afraid it was my thyroid. I’ve been lucky, but was it time to up my dose?

One morning I’m going through the cabinet and, hey what is that back there? I pull out a huge, almost untouched can of Garden of Life Raw Meal. A friend gave it to our oldest when she left for college knowing college freshman don’t eat well, “This might help.” Great gift, right? She probably should’ve taken it with her.

That afternoon I made a shake instead of my afternoon cup of coffee. That evening my eyes were still open all the way through the news!  So I tried it again the next day- same result. Its now my afternoon go-to. I simply must send Candice another thank you letter.

Here’s a thought. I’ve been paleo for almost 3 years now. Veggies are the foundation of my food pyramid, and I’m pretty faithful. I eat protein with every meal, but a lot of it is animal protein. Raw Meal is vegan, plant protein based product. Could there be something to this vegan thing? Probably. A seed was planted with that thought. I’ll let you know if I decide to do a trial vegan run.

It’s all part of the adventure, and its all in the soup.

Spiced Tea

My grandma’s spiced tea. That’s where my head goes when I smell orange and cinnamon. As I was growing up my grandma’s spiced tea was a holiday treat everyone looked forward to. You should understand, my grandma did everything by means of instant and processed foods, so spiced tea was a combination of Tang, instant tea, red hots (yes, the cinnamon candy) and a few other things that would make you hum from a sugar high and feel warm when its cold outside. Sadly I don’t have her recipe, but I have found this substitute.

Spiced Tea

One bag Tulsi numeric ginger tea

2 or 3 drops orange essential oil

1 teaspoon honey

 

It warms the heart.

You buy them books and buy them books, but all they do is chew on the covers. Is there protein in that?

College food. It’s all in the Soup. And by Soup I mean life.

When your first born leaves home you can’t help but have that fear you’re sending them out into the world to be eaten alive. What’s that old saying, “feeding them to the wolves?” Well,  she’s at the University of Arkansas, so they’re hogs, but still. With all the stress of being out in the world, taking care of oneself isn’t usually high on the priority list for an 18-year-old.

She has a meal plan, a drawer full of vitamins, they have really nice dining halls, tons of options, but you just don’t know. What will she eat?

Evidently not dairy. That’s seriously a picture of her and her roommate’s fridge.

And at the end of the day is it my business what she’s eating? She’s “grown up” now. Her successes and failures are her own. This is where we trust the words we’ve preached these past 18 years actually took a foot hold even if she never even looked up from the computer while we were going blue in the face. Deep breath Mama.

Truth is I don’t know anyone my age who still eats the way they did in college. We flirt with it sometimes, but for the most part, the freshman 15 (or whatever the number) was enough, and we’ve moved on with our lives. And so I will let her have her fun and her ramen noodles, Flying Burrito, and whatever else she may be eating (or drinking). College food is just that. And hopefully at some point, she’ll be a little more eager to come home and visit.

I’m her number one fan. #woopigsooie