Fabulous Flaxseed Oil

Mom has been hounding me for what seems like forever to eat flaxseed oil and cottage cheese mixed together.  ???  She says a lot of cancer patients eat this to fight cancer.  Apparently it carries oxygen to the cells, cancer can't live where oxyen is, etc.  I do not have cancer, thank God, but she SWEARS that flaxseed oil will help cure many ailments.  I have a rash on my legs as part of my diabetes called NLD.  I believe it's spelled Necrobiosis Lipoidica Diabetacorum...or something close to that.  It has been on my lower legs for about 7 years.

At first, it started out as one or two little red spots and I kept thinking it would go away.  It slowly spread and I eventually went to a dermatologist who looked at it, consulted with other colleagues, and then told me she had never seen that before in her life and had no idea what it was.  I had no insurance at the time and wasn't willing to fork out $800 for a biopsy so that was the end of that for a few more years.

My sister, who is a nurse, suggested I go to her dermatologist, that he could probably look at it and tell me exactly what it was w/o a biopsy.  So I made an appointment and went a couple of weeks ago.  Turns out she was right.  He knew exactly what it was, but he did tell me that it was really rare.  He also said that it was treated with steroid cream and light sessions, but that insurance no longer covered the cost of the light sessions.  He then told me he would give me the cream, and as much as he hated to suggest this due to skin cancer risk, that I could go to a tanning bed and get the same results.

So as of a couple of weeks ago, I now go to the tanning bed 3x/week to try and lighten the rash....there's no actual cure.  To tell you the truth, I don't see a difference yet but I know it takes some time.  To speed things up, I finally decided to try the magical flaxseed oil that mom has been pushing on me to see if it helps.  I certainly don't see how it could hurt.

Today was the first time trying this mini meal.  I was supposed to add 2 TBSP of ground flax seeds to the bowl as well, but for the life of me, cannot get my coffee grinder to work.  Apparently you are supposed to grind up your flax seeds to get the full value...otherwise they pass right through your system and don't do much good other than to act as a source of fiber.

There is a video on You Tube that shows how to do this.  It's 6 TBSP of cottage cheese to 3 TBSP of flaxseed oil.  You use the cottage cheese as a binding agent to mix with the oil.  Don't ask me...I don't really understand the science behind it.  But you use an immersion blender to fully mix these two ingredients until it's a pudding texture....about 60 seconds.  Then you can add fruit, nuts, etc.  I added a few raspberries, blueberries and walnuts.

I'm going to be honest.  As appetizing as the end product looks, it tastes like ass.  The oil taste is really gross.  If I would have used 3x more fruit it might have masked the flavor better, but this was just nasty and that's all there is to it.  Now, if you're fighting cancer or some other major ailment, then I can see happily eating bowl after bowl.  But for a leg rash...not so much.  I paid $13 for that stupid bottle of oil so I am going to use it.  If I actually see some improvement in my legs by the time the bottle is gone, then I will probably buy another and continue to use it.  I'm just being up front about the taste.  I definitely need to add more fruit!

 And here is the link to the video on how to make it in case you would like to try ass pudding :)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSoddptWL0s&noredirect=1

I got my Ebay listings put up for today and a few scheduled for tomorrow.  I need to do some meal planning this evening after dinner and do the grocery shopping tomorrow.  As I said in my first post, I'm getting my cooking inspiration from Biz's blog.  In fact, I'm making some chicken tonight that I saw on her blog a few posts back.  I sliced my chicken breasts in half long ways and put them in a marinade of Greek seasonings, olive oil and fresh lemon juice  I'm going to grill them on the Foreman grill and then serve them atop Caesar salad.  I bought a mini loaf of bread from the bakery that I will heat, slice and serve on the side and that will be my carbs.  I'm not going to make it anywhere near 150g of carbs today.  Turns out it's going to take some real effort to change my mindset that 150g is just way too many for a diabetic.  I know it's not (see yesterday's blog post), but I'm just not ready, lol.

Major Carb Adjustment

Well, here's the deal.  I was diagnosed with diabetes & also hypothyroidism when I was 30 years old.  I am now 42, will be 43 in July.  I have been on and off of pills for the diabetes all these years but I've never taken very good care of it.  There was a time when I lost the first 100 lbs. that I had the sugar under control and my numbers were stable and under 120.  That was a very short time period though, just a few months if I remember correctly.

Due to my ignorance and stupidity I now have all sorts of issues that I believe are caused by the diabetes.  I am hoping with reigning my numbers back in and keeping them under control once and for all, that maybe some of my "issues" are reversible.  Some may be, some may not.  Shame on me if they're not.  If you are reading this, have diabetes, and are not taking care of it because nothing hurts (yet), please, PLEASE heed my advice.  Don't be a moron.  That's my new motto now...with everything.  Don't be a moron.

My labs that came back a little over a week ago were bad enough to scare me into getting serious about my health.  I believe most of our health problems can be tied to what we eat and drink.  No, I am not a health nut (obviously!), lol.  I am not a homeopathic wannabe.  I just think it's common sense.  I am not anti-pharmaceutical but I probably could be if I did enough research, like my mother.  Speaking of mom, she has been riding me for what feels like years to jump on the flaxseed wagon.  She finally wore me down the other day and I went and bought a bottle of flaxseed oil and a bag of whole flaxseeds.  But I will save the rest of that conversation for tomorrow's post.  Today is about the evil carbs!

When I got my labs back, I knew I had to make changes but realized I had no idea where to start.  Cut the carbs, yes.  But what number?  How many?  How badly was this newly reformed carb lover going to have to suffer?  Yes, I know it is ridiculous to have this illness for this long and not even know the basics of how to deal with it, but I've already admitted to my stupidity.  I went to the American Diabetes Assoc.'s website to look up how many carbs to eat.  Recommended amount was 45-60 per meal.  So if you ate the absolute most allowed, you're eating 180g a day???  I thought surely they got that wrong, must be a major typo, and set my own limit at 50g/day about a week ago.  I stuck to that as my limit and most days have been way under.

Then I had a conversation with a fellow blogger and diabetic today and told her about the numbers I found on the ADA website and didn't she think that was ridiculous???  Um...no.  I learned that "normal" people eat 250-300g of carbs per day, so 150-180g is considered lower carb and perfectly fine for a diabetic.  In fact, she said she has a friend who is a diabetes RN and they strongly recommend not eating any less than 125g as a bare minimum. 

Woot!!  Momma's having her tuna salad on PITA BREAD today!!!  Let's just understand that I am a sandwich FREAK.  Have always loved them...mostly for the bread, partly for the convenience.  Let's face it....rolling up your low sodium ham or low sodium turkey and putting it on a Dixie plate to eat next to your carrot sticks is just not the same as having a sandwich.

So anyhoo, I had some Joseph's pitas and the net carbs are 4g each.  I got really crazy and split my tuna salad between TWO pitas, just because I could, for a grand total of 8g of carbs today.  I had an egg white scramble w/ ham and veggies for breakfast, so no carbs there.  So at 2pm today I realize I still had 142g of carbs to go, if my new goal was going to be 150g.  How did I make that happen?  I made chicken and dumplings for dinner.

I wish I could have added some yummy veggies to this like diced carrots, celery, onion, even zucchini but alas, the hubs does not eat veggies.  Only lettuce, as in Caesar salad.  So when I make a dish to feed both of us, it has to be sans vegetables or he won't eat.  There are many nights that I make us 2 separate things if I want a one pot meal that includes veggies and I'm sure you'll see pics of that in the future.

That's about it for today...it was pretty quiet around the house.  Just me and my babies on a rainy day.  I'll leave you with a pic of my precious Scarlette....being nosy and spying on the neighbors.  :)

A New Chapter

I had a blog a few years ago that was strictly for weight loss.  I lost 100 lbs.,  albeit not all I needed to lose.  I got burned out on calorie counting, writing and all that went with it and stepped away for a few years.

A friend mentioned to me yesterday that she was considering blogging again and I spent the rest of the day contemplating the idea for myself.  I decided that I did kind of miss that hobby and the virtual relationships that are tied to it, but this time I didn't want it to be solely about weight loss.  I wanted it to just be a simple blog about life.  My life....and everything in it.  That will include what was my boyfriend in my previous blog, Dwayne, who is now my husband.  My two fur babies, Boomer, our Labradane and Scarlette, our Peekapoo.  It won't take long to figure out that these 2 little turkeys are just as important to us as human children are to most others.

I also have a myriad of health issues I'm working on and thought this would be a good place to journal about it.  I am learning through groups on Facebook that I am not alone in my health struggles and shouldn't act like I am.  It's perfectly okay and actually quite important to advocate for yourself.  After all, if not you, then who?

First and foremost, the diabetes is a real issue.  I am on 2 meds for that, along with another med for Triglycerides and a med for my Hypothyroidism.  I am really trying hard to get the diabetes under control with what I eat.  So low carb is the name of the game for me, and I just recently re-discovered a blog that I absolutely adore, My Bizzy Kitchen.  I believe her blog is also known as The Biggest Diabetic Loser.  Her name is Beth, her nickname is Biz, she blogs about her daily life, much of it being food-related and keeping her diabetes in control, and unfortunately, the loss of her husband back in December.  I've been catching up on her blog the last couple of days and am looking forward to basing a lot of what I'm eating on what she cooks.  It always looks so tasty and she often provides the breakdown for carbs/protein/fat, etc.

For work, I sell new and used items on Ebay and have an online store called TJ's Timeless Treasures.  I think I'm going on 4 years now.  This is probably the biggest source of my stress...isn't it always about money?  This is the outlet I use to keep my part of the bills paid around here and let's just say it's a roller coaster.  But I will say that the thrifting (or junkin') and the garage sales can be fun, and will enjoy posting pics of some of my finds along the way.

Also, my most favorite hobby....gardening.  I can't say I'm extremely good at it, but I try.  My husband likes to call my patio Death Row when some flowers don't make it, but whatever....I keep trying.  :)  We built a raised bed/garden box this year...just one....to try my hand at growing a few veggies.  I've got tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash and okra.  At the moment, it's looking like the cukes and okra might not make it...but we'll see.  I will enjoy taking pics of the vegetables that actually make it to the table for eating.

And food pics.  Yes, I'm one of THOSE people.  Well, not the one that posts a pic of Every. Single. Bite. they put in their mouths.  But I do like to post pics of things that I found especially tasty and think they're worth sharing.

I'm not planning on making the main focus of this blog about weight loss, but for the record, I weighed 240 lbs. on Monday.  I used to weigh 340 lbs. several years ago, started the weight loss blog, lost 110 lbs. through calorie counting and walking, got burned out and hung up my hat.  So over the last 3-4 years, I've put 10 lbs. back on.  I have to say, I'm not mad at myself, lol.  Many, many people in the weight loss community pack back on every single pound and then some.  I didn't.  Thank you God for that.  I learned some valuable lessons while losing that are still with me today and probably have a lot to do with why I've basically maintained my weight.

With that said, I know 240 lbs. is not a healthy weight.  It is considered obese on every chart out there.  If I had to pick a specific goal, it would probably be around 170 lbs. with me being 5'10.  I know my middle sister, who is a nurse, is 6' tall, 150 lbs, and looks like a beanpole.  I have no desire to look like a bean, nor do I think you HAVE to in order to be healthy.  On the flip side, my focus right now is getting the sugar/carbs under control...not counting calories.  I have a set # of carbs that I do not want to go over in a day's eating and that's where my focus is.  I have to assume w/ limiting the sugar/carbs, some weight will naturally fall off in the process.

And so it begins....the next chapter.  Let's see where it leads, shall we? :)