Sick...Again! and a yummy recipe

I don't know what is going on  but I have been sick again this week.  Sinus, chest, head, blah!  The healthier I eat, the sicker I get!  I'll keep on trucking though.  I haven't seen results in weight loss since my initial big dip, but that's ok.

I wanted to get a few recipes up this week, but it fell to the back of my to do list behind resting and getting better.  I am glad I did my day of cooking as I have been able to enjoy good food without much work.

Right now I'm baking a coconut cream pie, low carb style!  I plan to turn it unto coconut cream pie ice cream and I cannot wait to see how that turns out!  I made the pie before and it was sooo good that I nearly ate the whole thing in a day with a sliver here, a sliver there but this time I'm going to be smart and portion it off and freeze pieces so I won't be nearly as tempted.  I am getting better at controlling myself around food than I used to (I have wanted to gorge on kettle chips for ages and haven't!).  I also won't be using splenda like I used to since I don't care of it and it makes me crave more.  I am using a small amount of xylitol and stevia.  I am trying to get used to less sweetness.

Well, before I give the whole thing away, I will post the recipe I used, even though I do not have a picture nor have I tasted it.  It smells amazing cooking though! (edited to add a picture and that it is yummy!)

Coconut Cream Blender Pie

1 cup full fat yogurt or cream (I have yogurt to use up so I used that)
1 can coconut milk (not light)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking power
pinch salt
1/4 cup xylitol
4 packets stevia (equals sweetening to 8 tsp as each packet is equal to 2tsp).

Blend well in a blender.  Pour in a large pie plate or a round casserole dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until top is golden brown and it is set.  Refrigerate overnight to help crust develop. 

Where Have I Been?

Well, I can't account for the whole time I was gone but for the  most part I was sick.  Not sort of sick, not really sick, but the sickest I have ever been in my entire life!!  I am entirely serious.  Mark keeps saying he can't believe how sick I am, that he's never seen me so bad ever.  It's true.  The first couple of days were a blur because of my extreme fever.  It's funny as I had been tracking my temperature for reasons I'll write of after then all of a sudden, it was super high.

Then when my fever broke, I started getting cold sores.  I have always had them from time to time.  But not like these suckers!  My whole right side of my face was puffed up and it was so blistered I couldn't move my mouth. My neck glands were so swollen that I could not sleep laying down since it hurt my neck so bad being on a pillow.  Yesterday they were at their worst and today they are almost gone.

How?

The miracle of coconut oil!  I had been putting it on since I got the cold sores and the healing process has been going very fast.  I've healed what would normally take a week in two days.  I am simply amazed.  This morning I was carefully wiping my mouth off after eating something and layers of scabs came off (sorry, gross I know!). There is no swelling, just some scabbing which will probably go away quickly.

Wow.  Food really is medicine!

So why did I get so sick?  First of all, I think a big reason is that I haven't been taking my Vitamin D and cod liver oil regularly.  I did last year and never got sick (except the odd cold).  As well, I believe that I have adrenal fatigue.  I was actually going to write about it much sooner, actually, right after my last post I was thinking of what I was going to write.  Then things started happening.  There was a lot of stress in the family, our washing machine broke, things piling up around the house, money problems, other things I can't even remember, Christmas, just stress stress everywhere.  Plus I had taken to eating poorly because I have no energy to do anything.

I started looking up about it and came across Matt Stone's 180 degree health blog.  I was blown over because he could of been talking about me.  It's been nearly a couple of week since I read it (well, 10 days as I found it the day I wrote my last post).  He talks about RRARF, recuperative (or is it restorative) rest and refeeding.  It is a way of healing your metabloism so you can function again.  Basically, you find out if you have metabolic damage by taking your temperature every morning for a week.  If it unusually low, then you proceed (my average is 96.5, sometimes its lower).  Then, you spend about a month resting and eating.  Not just eating everything, but a specific way and as often as your body needs.  And I haven't gotten to what you do after that yet.

I don't want to butcher it but if you sign up, you get a free e-book which explains everything.  It just makes so much sense to me and why I am the way I am.  It helped me understand why I am so darn tired all the time and have so much trouble losing weight.  It is a life numbing, crippling fatigue that I am hoping that I can over come because no one understands what it is like.  I plan to start in January simply because of the stresses of December and holiday eating.

I am still recuperating from being sick so I have not been cooking.  I was hoping to have some holiday recipes on the go but I think I have to find my kitchen first ;)

Vegetable Oils

Link: What Vegetables Go Into Vegetable Oil? - Nagging Question - Top Stories - CHOW:

"When making generic vegetable oil, the goal is to create a flavorless, odorless, mostly colorless product as efficiently as possible. That’s done using a process called solvent extraction, in which the base plant (e.g., soybeans) is ground up and mixed with a chemical solvent. The most commonly used solvent is hexane, which boils at a low temperature. The hexane dissolves the oil, then the solid plant matter is removed and the remaining mixture is heated so that the solvent evaporates, leaving behind only the oil. The oil is flavorless and odorless because the volatile compounds responsible for the taste and smell also evaporate when heated. Taylor says only trace amounts of solvent are left behind, if any."

Hmmm, I don't think this makes me want to eat vegetable oil anymore, lol!   Solvent in oil, ew!!  It has been a long time since I have purposefully used it, although I bought some to use in soap making to see how it works.  

The problem is, it is so prevalent in foods. How to avoid it?

Don't eat packaged foods!

Simple but efficient.

Canola especially is becoming a real problem. It is everywhere and being touted as the healthiest fat there is. Sally Fallon wrote an article about this that should be read if you haven't already:  The Great Con-ola by Sally Fallon

I grew up thinking that fat was bad. Butter was bad. Real mayo was bad. We ate fakey margarine and fakey mayo, low or no fat. Skim milk. Fat and skin cut off meat (although we secretly ate it and loved it!).

What I am now learning is that fat is good. Our cells need it, our brains need it, it is healing and nourishing *IF* you eat the right kinds. Kids need fat to develop. We need it to be satiated. Fat does not make you fat.  I don't claim to be an expert on it but I do know that we've been duped. I still have a lot to learn because even though I read and read, the science is hard for me to understand. However, I do not need to fully understand the mechanisms of how our bodies need fat in order to know how much better I feel and how much better things taste with good healthy fats.

A quick list of the best fats are as follows (I do not have all the healthy fats listed as many are unavailable where I live):

-butter

-olive oil (best if not heated)

-coconut oil

-lard

-tallow

Animal fats are best from grass fed, organic sources but I know for me, it is literally impossible to find (other than what fat comes on the meat, and it isn't much). Coconut oil is great for the metabolism and it is food for high temperature cooking, such as frying (I can't afford enough of it for that purpose since it is very expensive here). No fats should be hydrogenated. That is a whole other kettle of bad news for health.

So basically, don't be scared of fats as long as they are the right kind! They are good for you and your body will thank you for nourishing it :)

Photo from: http://www.roflcat.com