Eating out of the box....

No. I am not speaking about TV-dinners or take-out!
I'm speaking figuratively. I wonder why I still work so very hard to put myself back in the box, after having broken out, over and over and over again. If you are wondering what I'm talking about I'm talking about yesterdays blog... where I say I will "...once again embark on a Vegan diet...". I have nothing against a Vegan diet, or most other diets for that matter, I just don't want to limit myself by putting another label on me or put myself back in a box. It also seems to me like it is much more balanced to go more with the flow - than you can do if you choose to label yourself in that manner... Yes, obviously I need to stay away from dairy - but everything else is optional for me and so it should be. I also believe it is much more healthy and balanced for my children to learn to listen to their body, as far as food is concerned, for what is healthy and what works from moment to moment, rather than trying to stick to or follow a very strict diet or food plan. Obviously I don't think eating "twinkies" everyday of their lives is the best solution, but within reason and if they truly listen to their bodies and spirits they will know and eat what works the best for them. It also goes hand-in-hand with the philosophy of life in general that me and my husband have for ourselves and our children.
Here I am once again eating a bit of humble pie, not much more than 48 hours after my last blog and "decision" of going vegan... realizing that I made a mistake and changing... again.
Now, honestly speaking, as far as my own eating, it won't change much at all... but I'm leaving the door open to where I can choose what works in each moment and not have a blanket-policy that I have to stay "true" to in order for my life to work right. What a relief!
Happy healthy, Out of the box eating to all of you!
Anette

FOOD ETC

Food is one of my and my husbands passions.
Some of you may know that our family has dabbled in all kinds of food adventures. What I mean is, during our 20+ year stint together, we have spent several years on a "junk-food" diet, several years as meat-eaterians, another couple of years as Lacto-ovo-Vegetarians, some more years as Vegans and, add to that another year of our family eating gluten-free and you can see that we have covered a lot of different foods and diets.
Most recently I've been eating mostly vegetarian and the rest of the family more of an omnivores diet, where 90% of the meat comes from Elk, Deer and Cows, all grass fed, and hunted or taken down by my husband and son.

Both my husband and I love to cook and experiment with new recipes and cooking delicuous food. We also brew our own beer and have succesfully created some of our own beer recipes, we've also dabbled in mead making and wine making. So anything that we put in our mouths we are quite passionate about. One of our favorite family activities is to cook or bake together and if we have no plans for the weekend, you can without fail, find all of us in the kitchen together.

One of the new directions my food-adventures is taking me is into a lacto-free world. I just discovered that I'm allergic to milk and pretty much all milk-products, so once again our family food adventures is taking another turn! After some deliberation and looking inside my heart and brain, I realize that I will once again embark on a Vegan diet - which fits both my spiritual convictions(eat no meat) and my physical body(drink no milk) - seems like a no-brainer to me. I must admit that my husband is a little bit worried, he has become quite dependent on his ham and eggs in the morning, and is currently under the conviction that unless you eat meat occasionaly you have a very hard time being a stable person... so hopefully after a few months with me on my new food adventure he will change his mind... :) Only time will tell.
It also looks like the girls will join me... but we will know for sure after Troy cooks his favorite cookies wether or not they truly have the desire to, or not. Of course if I bake some more Vegan cookies, that may level the playing field.
If any of you have any great Vegan recipes or ideas feel free to share...
Hejdå till nästa gång,
A

Plastics...

I've recently done some research because I wanted to know both #1 How bad is the PBA'a (bisphenol A) in our water bottles and, #2 How safe is pex-water-lines in our plumbing systems. Here are my results;
PBA's are worse than I thought, there isn't really a safe level of PBA's, very miniscule amounts can lead to, among other things breast cancer, prostate enlargement, birth defects and sterility in both men and women. PBA's were even found in unsafe levels in people being exposed to PBA's in packaging plants, not from drinking or eating out of plastic, but from being around bisphenol A containing plastics, in the factory.
All this is something that was discovered as early as 1997, but DOW-chemicals and several other large plastic manufacturers did not want this to become public knowledge, and they have kept trying to squelch it, and/or discredit any studies showing this and similar results for any plastics. Along with large ad-campaigns for the use and benefits of plastics.

PBA's are dangerous at any temperature even if heat does increase the amounts of PBA's contained in the water or beverage in such a container.

The other big red flag about plastics is that they are always produced in petroleum facilities and they are made from petroleum products.

Another potential problem is that there are around 50-60 other known toxins that are probably leaching out of plastics as well. Somehow most research into them is going very slowly, partially for lack of funding and partially because the "big" petrochemical companies don't want the research to come out or even be done in the first place. Even the EPA and/or people working there are funded in parts by the large petroleum companies and/or chemical companies.

As for PEX, the new plastic water lines used in plumbing, more research needs to be done. The state of California did not allow the usage of PEX until last fall, after pressure from "the big boys", but there is currently a lawsuit pending by several agencies, among others, the Sierra club and the Pipe fitters Union of CA. to disallow the usage of PEX. PEX is also not recyclable.
Solutions?
When it comes to plumbing - go back to copper maybe? - it is fully recyclable and better than anything else out there. Unfortunately, on that note - it is at least 3 times more expensive to install than anything else. And after talking to my husband, the plumber, he disagrees strongly with my views and findings on PEX. In fact we have PEX water lines through out our home, and he has been installing it since it came on the market (I believe around 10 years ago) and none of our clients have ever had a problem with it, and it is much more quiet than copper.

What about water bottles and even soda bottles if you drink that - Well, in Europe, most soda companies re-cycle the glass-bottles, why can't we do the same here?

When we go anywhere we use only stainless steel or glass. I personally don't use SIGG - Aluminum bottles with a proprietary liner that they are guaranteeing is safe, but nobody is allowed to know what is in it. Besides, their current CEO is the former CEO of one of the largest cosmetic companies in the world. A for profit company that wants us to take their word for it.... I'm sorry, but I've heard that story one too many times to believe it with that much money at stake.
Something else important to know is that the 5-gallon plastic water Jugs are NOT PBA-free so re-filling your safe water bottle out of the office purified water container is probably not your best bet.
In our family we even use glass in the refrigerator for storing left-over foods etc. Why use anymore plastic than necessary. I don't want to support the plastic industry anymore than I already do just by buying, pretty much, any item in the store, be it food or clothing or toys, the packaging is almost exclusively plastic.
Don't get me wrong there are some good uses for plastics, I just think we are over-using it esp. when it comes to storing food, drinks and perishables.
Well I will get off of my soap box now and refill our recyclable glass water bottles for todays adventures and be grateful that we have so many different choices and options at our disposal!
Hej då!

Another New Year Already...

I almost can't believe how fast this last year slipped by. It seems to have disappeared very fast.

As I was cutting up grapes for my sprouted quinoa salad, and my kids were making tuna-sandwiches, I couldn't help but notice that, the only thing originating in Utah was the Great Harvest Bread, that they were using for the tuna-sandwiches. The Tuna was from Thailand, the herbs for my salad came from Arizona, and the rest of the fruits and vegetables were grown in California and Mexico, I sprouted the quinoa myself, but I'm not sure where it grew.
Wow - and here I had just been patting myself on the back for having done "pretty good" on the new years goals from last year...

Well, the message that I'm getting today, in oh, so many different ways is that there is beauty in imperfection. Our home always seems to have at least one more project than what we have time for, and when I'm cleaning the house the same thing seems to happen, there is always that one corner or room that I just didn't get to clean before I ran out of time. The fact that it isn't perfect means that it's lived in, that things and people are still growing and learning, that I still have time to change for the better and that we all have room to play and have more fun.
So maybe there is beauty in the fact that I didn't do a perfect job on my goal from last year?

Goal #1 was to buy things locally grown and produced as much as possible.
I must admit that I have let that one slip a lot, I have let my taste buds and/or my wallet determine more what I buy than whether it is locally grown and produced. My saving grace in this category is my husband, he and my son have made sure that all the meat in our freezer is local, grass-fed and non-hormone or antibiotic treated, elk, moose, deer and cow, and even a fish here and there. We did also get some chickens this year and they do produce all the eggs that we need locally. :) We also did grow our own tomatoes and some herbs with success for the 1st time in almost 10 years - so I guess we did actually see some success even in this.

Goal #2 was to buy fare trade and organic.
That one I have not been as vigilant about as I could, but there are a few items I make sure are fare trade and organic including chocolate and coffee.

Goal #3 was to buy things with 5 ingredients or less.
This has been one of the most fun goals for the year as it really involved the whole family - all of us started reading labels and become a lot more educated consumers, and if something has more than 5 ingredients we simply make it ourselves or make do without.

Goal #4 was to only buy things that I could not reasonably make myself.
Well, where do I start? Esp. during the Holiday season did we make a lot of things ourselves, but I still haven't found the time or the desire to sew any clothes reasonably, but we bought almost only organically produced clothes on sale, or we found it used at the thrift store. Any furniture that we bought during the year was either pre-used and we re-furbished/re-finished it, or we made it ourselves. We did and do make our own beer, and even sometimes our own wine - and that seems very reasonable (and cheap), and at the same time we enjoy it a lot! All-in-all I think we did OK with this one.

Goal #5 was to buy only things that are toxin-free or harmless.
Hmmm, Yes the finish that we bought for the shelves we made for the living-room was probably not toxin-free...

As I look back, I think I did "pretty good", not so much because I was perfect, because I wasn't, but because it has made me and the rest of my family more aware and we are now conscious of what we do and how we spend our money and resources. If that is what my children learned from the year of 2009, than it was truly a successful year!

I will write about my resolutions for 2010 next time - now it's time to get back to home school and my kids.

Hejdå,
Anette