Food Combining

The other cool thing I learned about digestion goes along with the Appropriation Cycle. It’s about food combining. I had heard about food combining before, but it wasn’t explained very well to me; I didn’t understand the reasons behind it. But Traci explained it in a way that finally made sense to my little brain.

Because fruit contains all the enzymes needed to digest itself, it doesn’t stay in the stomach very long. Most of the digestion of fruit happens in the small intestine and should be eaten by itself and on an empty stomach. If you eat fruit with something else, it takes longer to get out of the stomach and begins to rot and ferment the rest of the food in your stomach. It is even possible to become addicted to the feelings of fermentation (a cheap brewery). Fruit is not a good dessert!! It will ferment your whole meal and could give you gas or bloating.

In order to break down complex proteins, the stomach needs a very acidic environment. Starches, on the other hand need a very alkaline environment to digest properly. But Acid and Alkaline combined neutralize each other. Finally I understood. When you eat proteins and starches together they cannot properly be digested. If digestion doesn’t stop, it will at least be greatly hindered. In the mean time the food that is just sitting there begins to putrefy, the starches will ferment, and we get gas, flatulence, heartburn, indigestion, etc.

So put visually in a venn diagram it made sense to me.

At the center of the diagram is the Neutrals:

High water content vegetables- lettuce, broccoli, carrots, beets, etc.

Sweeteners

Fats- olive oil, nuts, seeds, etc.

Then 3 separate circles overlapping the neutrals:

Fruit: by itself, on an empty stomach.

Proteins:

legumes- beans, peas and lentils

animal products- meat, eggs and dairy

Starches:

Grains, potatoes, hard squashes, dried corn

I don’t know that I am ready to totally separate my meat and cheese from my bread, but I can definitely separate my fruit. I can at least make better choices and understand what I am doing to my system.

Speak Slower

In one of my recent classes this article was shared by the instructor.

An adult speaks at about 170 words per minute, but a toddler only hears at about 120 words per minute. Even Teens only hear at about 145 words per minute.

Conclusion: They may not be ignoring you or being defiant. They may not be comprehending what you are saying.

Fred Rogers practiced speaking at 124 words per minute. (Maybe that is why he was so popular. "Finally an adult I understand!!!")

I shared this recently with a friend. She consciously started speaking slower and was just amazed at how her little girls began following her instructions. "It was like magic."

Appropriation Cycle

You know I love to learn new things, and when I learn, I love to share. I am not proselyting, so don't get the wrong idea, I am just getting excited about this stuff. --end of disclaimer.

The coolest thing I have learned is about the Appropriation Cycle. Traci talks about this on pages 27 and 28 of her free e-book.

"As our bodies go through the day, they tend to place emphasis on different functions of digestion. The first part of the cycle is Appropriation, or the taking in of foods from the digestive tract into the blood (food goes in the mouth and through the stomach and small intestine, A.K.A digestion). The second is that of Assimilation, or using the nutrients for cellular building, fuel and repair (bulk of food is in the large intestine, nutrients are in the cells), and the last is the cycle of Elimination, or ridding the body of wastes (bulk leaves the large intestine and metabolic wastes from cellular repair and refueling are excreted through liver and bowel or kidneys). Each of these 3 cycles lasts for about 8 hours, accounting for the 24 hours in a day. Each of these cycles has natural evidence of our presence. Our appetites are at their peak during the appropriation cycle in the middle of the day... "

"It is the American Way to be Appropriating (taking in food) all the time!... Whenever food is taken in during either of the other 2 cycles, it diverts the energy from that cycle back to digesting the newly appropriated food and thwarts the cycle the body would normally be in. So, if we eat food during the Assimilation Cycle, then the energy used to assimilate our nutrients in our cells is diverted to the stomach. This can rob us of using the value in the good foods we had consumed earlier. IT can also rob us of energy, much needed repair, and seriously contribute to an overweight condition."

"Even more devastating is when we consume foods during the Elimination portion of the cycle, and rob our bodies of its focus on system-wide eliminations. Knowing how vital good elimination is to health makes it imperative that we do everything we can to support the Elimination Cycle."



Generally, the appropriation cycle begins between 10a.m.-12p.m. and lasts until 6-8p.m. Assimilation begins between 6-8p.m. and last until 2-4a.m and Elimination from 2-4 am and last until 10-12p.m. (This is for teens and adults. Infants go through their cycle every 3 hours. This becomes longer as the child ages until they reach puberty.)

The good news is that fruit contains all of the enzymes needed to break itself down. You can eat fruit in the morning, on an empty stomach, and it doesn't divert energy away from the other cycles in order digest it. Fruit can digest itself. Cool aye?

When I read this it made so much sense to me. When we would get up for early morning seminary, Dad began making us a big breakfast. I could do it for a while, but then my body rebelled. I began to have diarrhea an hour or 2 after I ate. I ended up spending seminary in the bathroom. So I quit eating breakfast. I felt much better after that. I have also noticed that I do not feel good the next day if I eat much after 6:30 at night. There have been phases in my life when I would skip breakfast and not eat until 10-11a.m. I felt fine, but then would feel guilty because "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." I have started to observe the appropriations cycle, eating only fruit in the mornings, and I have not been hungry and my energy is up.

More Cooking Experiments

My second batch of bread turned out much better. I am used to mixing my bread for 10 minutes in the Bosch. But, apparently when you use sprouted wheat breads, no more than 2 minutes in the Bosch is necessary. The dough breaks down if you mix longer than that. That explains why my first batch was so heavy.

My biggest goal for the week was to make sure than I had veggies or salad with every evening meal. I love salads, but Jonny has never been a big fan: "rabbit food." Since they take extra time and thought and I have not received a lot of encouragement, I have largely omitted them. Silly, I know, but I am trying to do better. The funny part is that Jonny has finally come around to realizing that if he doesn't eat veggies every day, he feels worse.

I have tried some new recipes. Her desserts are very good. Steven says that these are the best chocolate chip cookies I have made. (He is becoming quite to food critique. I don't know if that is a good thing.) I loved the creamy mushroom rice and the Mexican rice. Today I made an old standby to provide a break from new things.

Overall I like the changes that I am making. I do feel better.

Pinewood Derby

The boys had their Pinewood Derby last Saturday. They both did pretty well.

Isaac's is the black one patterened after "Kit" on "Knight Rider."

Steven placed 2nd.

Thoughts from the Hearth: No Teenagers Allowed!

This is from my friend, Rachel's blog. She has articulated beautifully my own goals. I hope I can do as good a job at this as she has.

Thoughts from the Hearth: No Teenagers Allowed!



There was a time when I had had so many miscarriages, I didn't even want to try anymore. For a long time I was content with this attitude. But slowly I realized that I did want young adults in my life. I wasn't really wanting babies, but I did want some of the older kind and having a baby would be sure way to get one of those older ones. Slowly, I was ready to try again.

Rachel is right: Young Adults are Awesome.

Thoughts on Schooling

Perhaps I have given the wrong impression. I do not believe that everyone should be homeschooling. Nor do not think public schools are evil and that homeschool is the answer. Well, I do think that there is evil in the pretext of public schooling, why else would it be so high on Marx's list of must haves? But that is a digression. I certainly do not think the people teaching and administrating at the schools have anything but the best intentions. They are there because they passionately believe in what they are doing and are trying to make a difference in the lives of children.

I do not think that schools were necessarily better 100 years ago than they are now. What I do object to is the cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all way of teaching (much of which was around 100 years ago). I do not believe that children are all the same or should even have to learn the same things, let alone at the same rate or age. Daniel Boone is a good example for me. He had minimal schooling, but he was very educated. Yet, his intense schooling had nothing to do with a pencil and paper and books; he had a different mission. I do not object to standards. After all, I have standards that I want my children to meet before I let them graduate. But I do not think that politicians are the best ones to set standards.

What I like is options and variety: Choices. There are many ways of teaching that are perfect for others, even though I would not choose them. And I am perfectly fine with someone not choosing my way. I just want to have the choices available and the opportunities to take advantage of them. I would like to see each child mentored on an individual level with a curriculum catered to him/her; but that is my way.

One problem I do see in public schooling is that it has largely alleviated parents of their responsibility to school their children. Public schooling has become a crutch to lean on so that parents are not required to make some of these choices or even to consider possibilities. Not that all parents do not take it seriously, but many do not think it important; it is being taken care of. The one thing that repeatedly came up in all of my classes was "what about the parent's who do not care, or support, or etc.?)

Anyway, what it comes down to, is that I love education! I get excited when I see the many different approaches taken to learning both formally and informally. I do not want to see those options restricted be they public, private, charter, home, or something else. They all have a place and fill needs.

Enough of that.

A Fun Day

Yesterday we were able to go the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in Bellingham. We were first given a 1 1/2 hour guided tour. Then we were able to walk around and ask questions.

We were able to play the Theremin, the first electronic musical instrument. We saw some fun static electricity demonstrations. They boys were able to record their voices on a wax cylinder just like Thomas Edison did. We saw old radios, music boxes, phonographs, Morse code machines, laden jars, and a lot more. Most of which we could play with. It was great.

Kitchen Creations

Well, I have been trying some new recipes this week. Traci's Transformational Recipe's came in the mail so I have been trying some out. I have to go slow for three reasons. One, I have to gather some ingredients. Two, I do not want to wear myself out. But most importantly, I do not want to wear out the taste buds of my family.


Several years ago I began making soy milk. We liked it pretty well. But I eventually got out of the habit. But now that Jonny and I both have thyroid issues, I want to stay away from too much soy. This week I started making almond milk. This I like much better. The down side is that almonds are SO much more expensive than soy beans (soy beans being dirt cheap. I just can't get over the mark up on soy milk. I made it for less than 20 cents a gallon). Rebecca loves the almond milk. She hasn't touched cow's milk since she first tasted the almond milk. Daniel likes it too. Steven isn't so thrilled, although he has never been a milk drinker anyway. Jonny said, "I could get used to this." Isaac was funny though. Out of all of us, Isaac is the one most sensitive to cow's milk and the most addicted to it. So much so that his Doc was surprised that he was not anemic because of the amount of cow's milk he consumes. His Iron levels are very low, but not to the anemic levels yet. With Isaac's autistic tendencies he is very resistant to change, especially about food. I said to Jonny: "I wonder what would happen if I washed out the milk jug and put almond milk in it instead." Within the hour I found out. Isaac apparently mistook Daniel's cup of almond milk for his cup of cow's milk. Isaac said, "Mom, my milk tastes funny. It tastes like honey and nuts." Jonny and I just laughed.


The peanut butter cookies were a great success. The potato casserole didn't go over quite as well. The almond milk ice cream was liked by those who liked the almond milk and not by those who didn't. (more for me!!)


Today I made sprouted wheat bread. First you soak the wheat and blend it. Then you add the yeast, oil, and honey. My water was hotter than I had realized and so I killed off some of the yeast. Consequentially, it didn't rise as much as it should have, but it tasted good. Jonny has always been real sensitive to whole wheat bread and likes the idea of a more digestible type of bread. Once I learned about how flour becomes mucus producing when heated, I was wondering what to do. I am hoping this might be the answer.

Using my School Break

The appeal process takes about 4-5 weeks. By then I will not have enough time to complete my classes before the winter 2011 semester starts, so I will not be able to do my student teaching until the next fall. So what ever happens, my May 2011 graduation date will not happen.

I had a good birthday though. We went to the Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinner and had wonderful food that I did not have to cook. I did have to live through some cub scout skits though. Not the best floor show, but all in all, a good evening.

I have enjoyed my break so far. For some time now, I have had this nagging feeling that I need to improve my health and nutrition. About four years ago I came across the School of Natural Healing founded by Dr. Christopher. I was very tempted to enroll in their Master Herbalist's program. Dr. Christopher's own story is very compelling and he spent his life developing herbal formulas and teaching others. I do believe he was inspired. This was when I first read about the mucusless diet. This diet avoided foods that caused mucus in the body that causes disease. For example, wheat is very healthful, but when you turn it into flour and back it at a high temperature, all of the good stuff is killed and the chemical composition of the wheat becomes mucus producing. If on the other hand, you soak the wheat berries and cook them at a temperature below 130 degrees, the wheat is still alive; It will still grow. But Dr. Christopher's guidelines were very vague and I didn't know how to really do it. I found other sources for healthful food not quite as extreme as Dr Christopher's but better than what I was doing.

But that nagging feeling was coming back. I am beyond thinking that I stumble onto things. I firmly believe I am lead to sources of knowledge that I need at the right time. A couple of weeks ago, I began to look for recipes for the mucusless diet. I was not having a lot of success until I found Traci Seller's website. She was faced with health issues and needed to make the mucusless diet work for her. She too was faced with the limited information that Dr Christopher had given and decided to not only figure out how to live the diet, but to make it taste good. I have been reading her book and learning so much. I know this is what I am needing right now and Jonny is even not too opposed to the changes. I will go slow though. I have been sharing some of what I have been learning with Steven too an he is getting into it. He got so excited when I told him about all of the desserts in the cookbook. I had to laugh.

Anyway, I am keeping myself busy.