Hypothyroidism, or low thyroid, affects millions of people in the U.S. and many go undiagnosed. The effects of thyroid deficiency range from weight gain, allergies, insomnia, low energy, dry skin, depression, and joint pain, to heart disease and heart failure, when left untreated. (check, check, check...)
It’s more common in women over 40 and when diagnosed, is treated with thyroid medication for life.
If you suspect you may be suffering from low thyroid, it is important to get diagnosed and work with your physician to bring your thyroid back into balance. There is a lot of controversy surrounding thyroid health and finding the right path for you may take time and patience.
1. Get enough iodine. Iodine is needed for your body to make thyroid hormones. In countries like Japan, with a diet rich in seafood and sea vegetables, like kelp, the incidence of thyroid disfunction is very low.
2. Take a multivitamin. Selenium, vitamin A and iron are all essential to proper function of the thyroid. Many do not get enough selenium in their diets.
3. Consider coconut oil. Many holistic practitioners recommend experimenting with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil a day to restore proper thyroid function.
4. Take vitamin D. Research over the last 20 years shows that people with low thyroid levels also have low levels of vitamin D.
5. Watch the soy. While eating natural, fermented soy products like tofu and miso may not be a problem, eating foods or taking supplements high in soy isoflavones, may depress thyroid function.
6. Avoid consuming raw cruciferous veggies in excess. Goitrogenic foods like Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, kale, turnips and cauliflower can have a negative impact on thyroid function if eaten raw in large quantities. However, cooking reduces that effect. Eating reasonable amounts, even raw, is probably not a problem. These foods appear to be a problem only if you are also iodine-deficient.
7. Avoid refined sugars and starches. Reducing junk food has become a global recommendation for good health, as it feeds the body without supplying essential nutrients that whole foods do, many of which may support thyroid health.
8. Exercise regularly. Overall health is maintained by good circulation of the blood and exercise is essential to aging well...Make sure you get up and move regularly throughout the day.
image by cindy ferguson.J.K. Rowling: "Fringe Benefits of Failure":
"So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned."
A dear friend asked me yesterday if we would do it again (open the restaurant) if we could go back. It was a tougher question to answer than I thought. Financially, of course we would never do it again. Sometimes we dream of going back in time: never opening EZ-Out, selling all our investment properties at the high, paying off our house, and living debt free and comfortable. But I wonder if I went back and didn't support that dream how our life would be now. Who knows, maybe really, really fantastic:).
At times I have thought we were weak for failing. I have been embarrassed and cringe when I drive by our empty restaurant. When Tim brought home IN-N-OUT from the American Fork store disappointment and french fry grease sat heavy in my stomach. The repercussions have been difficult and will continue to be.
and yet. . .
there has been a stripping away of the inessentials in my life. I have very purposefully focused on a few key areas. "I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged." For me that has not been behind a typewriter. It has been on my knees again and again.
and what have I discovered?
I am stronger than I thought. My friends are indeed priceless. I know what I value above anything else.
Perhaps only those who know how to deal failing can one day fail better (I'll let you know when we get there).
Maggie Stievfater has one of the best articles about how to become great--she says, "Its about being willing to suck." Read the whole post--but just in case you don't. . .
"And it made me think about how this is like writing, like art, like pretty much everything worth doing. So many times I have tried to teach art or music to someone and they will give up right away when they realize that they are not instantly good at it. It takes practice, yes, and most people get that. What they don't seem to understand is that it also takes the ability to deal with your own sucking. Because what comes out of those practices -- those early manuscripts, those wretched sketches, that horrible tune -- will not look wonderful. You might not even be able to tell a difference from one practice session to another. For months. You have to live with that.
So that's the real reason of why I can play so many musical instruments. I am willing to live with myself while I do things badly, and I'm willing to do things badly again and again. I don't get frustrated when things don't turn out well; I'm a patient creature, and I know what the other side will look like. I can live with the suck."
"As I watched Samantha’s video [a young mother, chosen for the Green Smoothie Girl Makeover], I wrote in my notes, “She reminds me of me. When I was her age.” Very ill. So tired of drugging my babies and watching them struggle. Desperate for something else, something better than drugs and fatigue.
What a crucible for powerful change that awful place in my life turned out to be. Sometimes we have to hit rock bottom before we climb out."
image via birthologie
"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely."
-Louisa May Alcott
Watch "The Big Bread Lie" for great info on how to read bread labels.
Two great articles on Word of Wisdom Living on bread. Here and here.
I know several of you have fantastic bread recipes that you use. Please post them!
Brook's Bread
This is now an original recipe. It was based on a very good recipe, but I have tweaked it to make it healthier and fit in my KitchenAid mixer.
Makes 2 loaves
2 1/2 cups hot water
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1/3 cup honey
Let yeast, hot water and honey sit until yeast gets foamy and bubbly (10 minutes or so).
Then add. . .
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon RealSalt
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Slowly add. . .
6-ish cups freshly ground wheat.
+++If your family is transitioning to whole wheat bread add in a 2-4 cups of unbleached, unbromated flour. I've tried King Arthur.
+++Or you can add 2-4 cups of a mix of freshly ground spelt and kamut (available at the bulk bins at your local health food store).
Don't add too much flour. This is the trick to soft and airy bread. Only add enough flour so the dough starts to come off the sides of the bowl, but is still sticky to the touch.
Knead for 5-8 minutes once it is all combined.
Cover bowl and let rise to the top (or about double in size).
Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees.
Cover your hands in some olive oil and divide the dough in half.
"Shape" the dough in the pan.
Ask for a set of these pans for Mother's Day. I did really notice a difference in my bread when I started baking with them. Plus, they are so pretty.
Put the pans in the oven.
Keep oven at 170 until the bread has risen one inch above the top of the pan.
Then preheat the oven to 350. Don't take the pans out of the oven! Cook for 30 minutes, or until the top of the bread is golden brown.
Take out.
Spread butter on the top.
Watch your family eat the loaves in minutes.
Start the process again, because you really needed some bread for sandwiches the next day.
Slip you loaves into bread bags. I used a beautiful vintage flour bag (used in this picture), from a sweet friend. I love it.
(image via www.maryruffle.tumblr.com)i want a white eyelet dress.
and cowboy boots.
i want chickens (four or five)
and a milking goat.
i want rows of peaches in my pantry.
and tomatoes.
i want a cold storage full of potatoes and apples.
and braids of garlic and onions.
i want to wear rubber boots and skirts
and a cap i knitted.
i want my children to know where carrots come from
and eggs.
i want sun-warmed quilts
and nights by a fire pit.
i want mason jars filled with peonies
and sunflowers.
i want lavender to grow beside salad greens
and blue morning glory beside pumpkins.
i want the skills that my grandparents taught
to not be lost.
feeding sheep, catching fish, hunting deer, crocheting blankets, shooting marbles, sewing clothes, and making grape juice. . .
fresh from my own vines.
these are the dreams of a farm girl who never had to do any chores--but to collect warm brown eggs, bottle-feed warm lambs, and pick warm raspberries.
(thoughts I wrote last January)
I like this post of Word of Wisdom Living about creating food traditions in our families.
You can find this cute poster and others here.
Lemon Cashew Hemp Bars (Raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)
Makes 12 bars (6 for a more generous snack)
1 cup cashews
1 cup pitted dates
1/3 cup hemp seeds
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
1) Place the cashews in a food processor and process till ground up.
2) Add the dates and hemp seeds and pulse repeatedly. Then, add the lemon and lemon zest and leave the motor on until the whole thing has formed a big, uniform, sticky ball.
3) Take a large sheet of saran wrap and place it over the bottom of a small baking dish. Press the mixture down into it, till it’s even in thickness. Cover with another sheet of saran, and freeze for at least 30 minutes.
4) Unwrap the "dough," lay the rectangle flat on a cutting surface, and cut into 12 bars.
5) Wrap up individually and store in the fridge or freezer till ready to eat. I’m not sure how long they’ll keep, but I suspect up to two weeks is perfectly fine, and longer if you freeze them.
6 Now ye may suppose that this is afoolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by bsmall and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.
7 And the Lord God doth work by ameans to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very bsmall means the Lord doth cconfound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.
The Power of one—One can change the world
Let me add just one more suggestion to this list: “Press forward with . . . a perfect brightness of hope” (2 Nephi 31:20). Don’t get discouraged! Your journey will be challenging at times, and it will not always be easy.
You are the banner! Your lives of purity and virtue are the banner that will cause the nations of the earth to look up
May you realize that in you is the control of your life and what you are going to be, what you are going to do. Remember that your choices may control to some extent others whose lives will be a part of your life. Remember also that if you succeed, it isn’t because of luck. Success comes from faith and work and prayer and from constant righteous effort. It is a question of agency—of what you choose to do with gifts of God—everything upon the earth, wherein there is life. This reverence for agency and life make us greatly concerned about the world in which we live today. It is a world beset with evil, with frustrations, with ugliness. It makes us realize that we must make a strong stand for the right or we may not stand at all.
The Lord has never promised us that we will be free of problems and challenges. He has, however, promised that with faith we will have the strength to meet any eventuality in this life.
The righteous woman’s strength and influence today can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times. She has been placed here to help to enrich, to protect, and to guard the home—which is society’s basic and most noble institution. Other institutions in society may falter and even fail, but the righteous woman can help to save the home, which may be the last and only sanctuary some mortals know in the midst of storm and strife.
Melvin J. Ballard, "Struggle for the Soul", New Era, Mar. 1984, 32
It surely is a good time for every man and woman to examine themselves and discover whether we are on the Lord’s side or not. I should like to say to you, my brethren and sisters, that all the assaults that the enemy of our souls will make to capture us will be through the flesh, because it is made up of the unredeemed earth, and he has power over the elements of the earth. The approach he makes to us will be through the lusts, the appetites, the ambitions of the flesh. All the help that comes to us from the Lord to aid us in this struggle will come to us through the spirit that dwells within this mortal body. So these two mighty forces are operating upon us through these two channels.
How is the battle going with you? How is it going with men and women in the world? That is a very important question. The greatest conflict that any man or woman will ever have (I care not how numerous their enemies may be) will be the battle that is had with self.
But you never can tell how the battle is going to go unless you are taking good care of the spirit. We know that unless one takes proper food and exercise, speaking physically, there is no growth. If you would have a strong spirit which has dominance over the body, you must see to it that your spirit receives spiritual food and spiritual exercise
The man or woman who is taking neither spiritual food nor spiritual exercise will presently become a spiritual weakling, and the flesh will be master. Whoever therefore is obtaining both spiritual food and exercise will be in control over this body and will keep it subject unto the will of God.
I said that the assault that the evil one will make upon us to capture us will be made through the body. That is the line of contact. You have all heard the adage that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. It will break at its weak point. Generally we will observe that our weak link is in the flesh. The devil knows the weak link, and when he undertakes to capture a soul he will strike at the weak point. There may be strength elsewhere, but he never attacks us where we are strong. He attacks where we are weak.
It is not bodies, it is immortal spirits that the devil wants. And he tries to capture them through the body, for the body can enslave the spirit, but the spirit can keep the body a servant and be its master.
For nearly six thousand years, God has held you in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the Second Coming of the Lord. . . . God has saved for the final inning some of his strongest children, who will help bear off the Kingdom triumphantly. And that is where you come in, for you are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God.
All through the ages the prophets have looked down through the corridors of time to our day. Billions of the deceased and those yet to be born have their eyes on us. Make no mistake about it—you are a marked generation.
As you exercise your faith through prayer, the Lord will help you make defining decisions in defining moments. He will hear and answer your prayers through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. You will not be left alone. You have been given the blessing to be able to receive the guidance of the Holy Ghost. In Doctrine and Covenants section 8, the Lord promises each of us, “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart” (D&C 8:2). That is what happened for me, and that will happen for each of you.
I bear witness that the Lord hears and answers our prayers and that He will guide and direct us as we seek to do His will and keep His commandments. This is the process of receiving personal revelation. http://lds.org/general-conference/1990/04/small-and-simple-things?lang=eng
This week I have been thinking again about what I can do to make my families personal care products safer. I know many things in the products we use are absorbed through our skin and into our joints, tissues and organs. We use many products with different chemicals on an everyday basis: soaps, lotions, shampoo, conditioner, antiperspirant, make up, baby cream, etc. and then there are household cleaners (perhaps I will save that topic for research in the near future.) I also heard a report on national public radio this morning about the dangers of some plastic containers our products come in and how the chemicals from the plastic can leach into our products. There are many great organic products but the balance comes finding ones that are also affordable. I would love to hear what others have found that they like. • Sodium Myreth Sulphate • Lauramide MEA • Sodium Laureth Sulphate • Sodium Lauryl Sulphate • Cocoamide MEA • Polyethylene Glycols • Tromethamine The main reason she recommends staying away from these ingredients is because of their “contamination with the carcinogen 1,4 Dioxane." According to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Database, this ingredient is in 46% of cosmetics and is linked to “cancer, developmental and fertility toxicity, allergies, immunotoxicity, organ toxicity, skin, eye, and lung irritation.” http://www.holistic-beauty-and-acne.com/natural-beauty-cleansing-bar.html |
i catch this view of myself in the mirror a lot.
me, in an apron.
a lot of factors have led up to this image.
food storage.
bread making.
studying the word of wisdom.
animal, vegetable, miracle.
food inc.
jamie oliver's food revolution.
green smoothie girl.
cali's classes.
essential oils.
herbs.
committment to a new lifestyle.
jamie oliver inspired me to get in the kitchen.
i've never loved cooking.
baking, yes.
cooking dinner, no.
not at all.
shopping, preparing, planning, cooking, cleaning up--i could leave it all thank you very much.
and i did.
we ate out all the time.
tim and i both loved it, so why not?
i would estimate that we ate out 7+ times a week, easy.
fast, yummy, fun. . .
jamie made cooking in your own kitchen appear the same. . .
fast, yummy, fun.
i love to watch him cook.
his excitement is infectious.
and it made sense.
of course my family would be blessed if i could learn to cook. . .
but i didn't just want to cook, i wanted to enjoy it.
i started searching for recipes online
buying cookbooks.
reading food blogs
(this is my favorite--although i have never tried a recipe--i look at the images and sigh)
and somewhere along the way between this fall and now
i learned, i can prepare nourishing, fast, yummy food for my family.
meals that earn thumbs up.
and it makes me so happy.
i am passionate about food now.
i love choosing foods for their nutritional value.
i love, love, love the color of fresh fruits and vegetables.
i love the smells.
i love knowing that i can do it.
i thank jamie oliver for his inspiraiton
and i thank him for being a male role model in the kitchen.
i had his award video up this morning (i re-watched it last night), ready to link its awesomeness on my blog.
i heard it playing and came in and saw davis watching it.
or should i say re-watching it--because we watched it together last spring (warning: that adorable englishman uses a few curse words in his passionate speech about food).
he watched the entire 21 minutes, totally engrossed. i talked to him about what a few of the words meant (not the curse words:)). he loves the part when jamie brings out a wheelbarrow full of sugar and dumps it on the stage--to show how much sugar school kids consume in their chocolate milk alone.
i am happy for all of the positive messages about food i can give my children--to shore them up against the barrage of poor messages they receive.
and for myself, to remind myself that what i am doing is important.
not just important, but fun.
that is the best reminder.
remember my goal of finding 20 (i actually made it 30) healthy meals my family loved?
well, i was impressed by a concept that a friend, gina, shared with me.
she lets her family "rate" the dinners. each get a vote.
wow.
that rocked my world.
i am super attached about what i cook and take it personally when people don't love it when i've put all the time and effort into it.
so i decided to try a little experiment.
since all these recipes are new to me and our family i decided not to be offended and treat it as a family project.
thumbs up or thumbs down.
simple.
each family member gets a vote.
five thumbs up--we add it to the recipe book.
anything less and we try again.
the kids love it.
we wait in anticipation as each family member tries it.
it is with much jubilation when a recipe can be added to the number.
davis is keeping track of how many we have and how many more we need.
(and the dessert list is growing every day).
so far:
1: lentil tacos
2: sun-dried tomato quinoa
3: vegetarian chili (with ground turkey:)) (from robyn's 12 steps to whole foods book)
4: pecan-cranberry quinoa
5: whole wheat angel hair with sun-dried tomato basil sauce
6: orange-infused & walnut-crusted & coconut-smeared tilapia over brown rice
and every salad has got a thumbs up--especially my newest creation thanks to art city trolley restaurant (i'll work on a recipe for the blueberry, almond, cranberry, romaine, apple salad with maple syrup dressing from the 12 steps book). davis had THREE servings.
the spring rolls didn't make the family dinner cut--but got a thumbs up from the girlfriends:).
museli
1/3 cup coconut oil oil
1/3 cup agave nectar or honey
1/3 cup good quality pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
4 cups uncooked rolled oats (oatmeal)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 tbs ground flax seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries*
1/2 cup golden raisins*
1/4 cup dried blueberries*
1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped cashews
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 tbs sesame seeds
pinch of sea salt
In a small bowl combine oil, agave nectar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and almond extract, and stir until well combined.
In a large bowl add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Slowly fold in the wet contents of the small bowl and coat the dry ingredients well.
Store in an airtight container. Eat on top of your yogurt, with rice or nut milk, or just as a snack!
*Use your favorite dried fruit or add it in before you eat!
adapted from Zupa's recipe for homemade granola.
Maple Syrup Dressing (from Ch. 3 of 12 Steps to Whole Foods by Robyn Openshaw)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
6 Tbsp. maple syrup (pure grade B)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup brown mustard
1/4 yellow or white onion
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Blend in high-powered blender until smooth.
Brook's note: I made this without the onion (just because I didn't have one) and it was delish.
