Making a difference page 77

[honeybuns]

Grays Harbor has a lot more rain than even 20 miles away. We can be cloudy when areas ten miles away are sunny. I have lived in Western Washington my whole life with a brief stint on coastal Oregon. This year, for the first time in my over 50 years of living here, the rain got to me.

I have found that there is a wide and varied mix of people.

Crabcakes, I'll send you a PM with more info.

[honeybuns]

I am in my element today. Rainy, windy, sunny........you name it, we've had it. I have the dogs outside with me and when it rains we duck into the greenhouse and pot something up or decide what to divide next, count the pots I'll need to grow the contract heuchera crop this year.... 350 pots should get me through. I may only use 200 but I am NOT going to run short. When the sun is out I've been transplanting snowdrops, leveling an area for my new 36" x 36" planter that is payment for last year's crop. There a few other areas I'll be creating this year and I've had my brain working on those as well.

It is pretty darn easy for me to take a plant and make many more and grow them well. What I am not so good at is actually getting them in the ground. The ones I divided and potted up two years ago are surviving (thriving?) in spite of me so I promised them a home in one of the beds. Now to keep my promise.....

I am finally getting it through my thick skull that when I wear undergarments and jeans that fit me well I feel wonderfully thin. On the flip side when I wear things that do not fit well I feel like I am going backwards! DUH!~!

Crabcakes, another PM coming your way soon!!

[honeybuns]

Calories.....lets talk calories.

HWC has 60 calories per tablespoon. That is 960 calories per cup. Whole milk has 160 calories per cup or 10 per tablespoon. 10 calories vs 60 calories. Do I NEED to have HWC in my coffee and tea? Uh, no. Not with that kind of calorie difference. I need to cut the dairy for a month anyway but not until after the Greek yogurt is gone. Hoping dairy isn't the problem but pretty sure it is.

[honeybuns]

Okay, its official. Dairy and I do not belong together. Two days dairy free and I can breathe freely. I haven't been able to do that in who knows how long. Found, on a search, a blog of a lady that taste and performance tested all the soy, coconut and almond non-dairy creamers and told the good, the bad and the ugly. I found her favorite when I was grocery shopping today, brought it home and my skeptical husband tasted it and was pleasantly surprised. Almond Breeze almond milk. He'll be going dairy free with me starting in March. Still too early to tell if that has been the cause of my perpetual bloating. It also has less than half the calories of whole milk and WAY less than the heavy cream!

[RaeVynn]

I've been sadly thinking that I, too, need to drop the dairy entirely (except grass-fed butter) if I want to see the end of inflammation, and maybe even some weight loss.

Here's to keeping on!

[Crabbcakes]

Sorry to hear that you need to drop the dairy, but if it solves problems, glad you found an answer. I just adore good cheese, HWC, labneh, kefir... Second and Third have been dairy free almost their entire lives, so I know good food can be had without moo-juice.

[honeybuns]

In the few days since I dropped the dairy, I have also dropped two pounds and do not have the constant bloating. Good things!

RaeVynn, why don't you do a short trial and see how you feel without dairy. You should be able to tell quite quickly. It hasn't even been a week for me and it is quite clear that dairy was the problem. I am still using a small amount of butter and some cheese but have cut out milk and cream.

[RaeVynn]

I have been

For me, I'm avoiding milk, cream, and yogurt (*sad face*). I am allowing myself the Kefir yogurt cheese, and grass-fed cheddar, and other well-aged cheeses. I'm also cutting down on nuts.

My eczema has backed off well, and I have also dropped a couple of pounds so far.

I'll be testing this out for a few weeks.

[honeybuns]

I'm sad about cutting out yogurt as well, but I keep telling myself how much better I feel already. I have ten pounds of New Zealand butter in the freezer and I might as well make ghee out of it. By the by, don't bother with the almond yogurts. Yuck.

[honeybuns]

Tonight's dinner is marinated flank steak with rosemary garlic roasted carrots and baby reds. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Someone on this forum turned me on to Haagen-Daaz Dark Chocolate ice cream. (nameless wonder? jenn? I forget) OH MY GOODNESS. So delicious. Can you guess what we are having for dessert?

Last week I spent a couple of days with a chilhood friend. We grew up next door to each other and have known each other half a century. Both of us have ended up in the horticultural world and it was wonderful to get my geek on with a fellow horthead. Best of all, she was diagnosed with celiac a few years ago so meals at her place were nothing different than what I eat. Had my first trip to a Whole Foods store. Whole Paycheck is right, but how nice to be able to shop easier. Yes, there is still label reading but not near as much as you would have in a regular grocery store.

Another friend of mine, after I told her about it, ordered Rich Food, Poor Food and says it is well worth the money. She has learned a ton of things from it already and is slowly transitioning her husband away from "the dark side". Good for her, I say.

I'm doing a coconut milk comparison right now. Thai Kitchen is smoother and not as watery as Taste of Thai, but I can get that one at Winco for a dollar a can less. Up next, Native Forest. My local natural foods store has creamed coconut with nothing but coconut. The one from Trader Joe's has so much other crap in it that I won't buy it.

I have been having more fun in my greenhouse lately. The one epimedium that I got 42 cuttings out of has 24 of them leafing out already. One hundred daffodils are in full bloom with a couple hundred more freshly potted. Time to divide the geum and check on the rhubarb divisions.............hope I don't bore anyone. This is my passion and I've had it under wraps for far too long!