Fast, Cheap, And Easy

Except now I'm complicated, expensive, and full of beans.

Yesterday was one of those "run around all afternoon" days. The kids and I all had dental cleanings in the afternoon, and I had some errands to run. I was making soup for lunch in the Crock Pot and it wasn't ready before I had to leave, so I grabbed some baby carrots and a thing of applesauce and ran out the door. It was a sad lunch. (Oh yeah, I've decided to allow myself one apple or thing of applesauce each day. More on that in a future post.)

The kids and I *love* these GoGo squeeZ applesauces. They're all natural, just apples (and occasionally other fruits or spices depending on the flavor), no additives or sugar or anything. The thing I love is that they taste great! I've tried canned or jarred 'natural' applesauce and it always tastes funky or bitter. They aren't paying me to endorse it, I just love this stuff. My favorite is the apple cinnamon!

 Our dentist is on the north side of the city, an hour away. We loooove them and continue to go even though we moved to the suburbs seven years ago. They're great with us, great with the kids, full of pampering goodness... I'm somewhat dental-phobic; I have a lot of anxiety about having ANY sort of dental work done (not cleanings but anything that involves potential pain or injections in my gums FORGET IT). They're very understanding, give me massages and parrafin hand wax, give me lots of Valium AND let me have happy gas. I still have anxiety but part of me looks forward to those happy-hazy-woozy dental times too! So I'm willing to drive an hour to have great service.

Perfect Smile Dental Spa. They aren't paying me to endorse them either, I just love them that much! Ask for Irma, she's the best! (You can name-drop us if you go though, we do get a gift certificate!)

Another bonus of having a dentist on the north side of the city is that some of my friends live up there. My friend Sarah has people over most Tuesday nights so I took advantage of our dental visit and went to hang out at her place. OJ came up after work, hung out a bit, then took the kids home so they could get to bed on time. Me? I stayed at Sarah's until 2AM - COMPLETELY irresponsible! But fun! Hey, it happens rarely for me. I'll enjoy it when I can.

This meant, however, that I had a piss-poor lunch AND we all needed dinner on the go.
Also, it's the end of August, it was an EXPENSIVE month for us (basically we spent 20 days on vacation), and there's still some month left at the end of our money.
Thus far I've managed to go out and eat on this new diet by picking restaurants that have somewhat higher-quality foods and getting entrees like salmon, chicken, or steak with vegetables. Tasty but pricy. Of course if I'm out with the family, they eat where I eat, so then we're buying restaurant entrees for four. The cost adds up pretty quickly and we just couldn't afford to do it this time. I needed something cheap and easy.

I have no idea how to handle 'fast, cheap, on the go' food on this diet plan. Salads are out of the question for dinner (I can manage them for lunch) because they simply don't satisfy me. Perhaps when I've been eating this way for years instead of mere weeks, I will come to look at a salad as a meal and not something to be tolerated as a preface to a meal. Right now, while I'm working on it, I am nowhere NEAR that point. If I got a chicken salad, I'd eat the chicken, pick at a few of the lettuce leaves, and be unhappy and hungry all night long. And I heard rumors that chocolate cake was going to be visiting the gathering later in the evening. If I ate a grumpy, sad salad, I'm not sure if I'd be able to resist delicious cake later.

If you HAVE to do fast food, and you're extremely limited on food choices, what do you do? You can't eat wheat, sugar, dairy, starchy vegetables, fruit, or any other kind of grain. You're also not supposed to be eating processed food. At the same time, this is real life and not every day is going to be a perfect day. What are the best choices when you can't be 'perfect'?

Here's the choice I made. I decided to make sure I was avoiding gluten since I'm fairly certain I had a reaction to it earlier in this plan. We hit Taco Bell. I obviously skipped out on the 'no processed food' rule last night. I also allowed myself a grain (corn, in the tortilla chips) and dairy (cheese). I got Nachos BellGrande and Pintos N Cheese.

It was waaaaay more delicious than Taco Bell has any right to be.

I feel kind of crappy today but it feels more like the general "you stay up too late every night and then LAST night you didn't get home until 3AM and then you had to be up at 7:30 to get the kids to school so your sleep is ALLLL screwed up" crappy, not like the kinds of "you are sooo unhealthy you done gonna die" crappy I've felt earlier this year. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying Taco Bell is going to make its way back into my diet with any sort of regularity, but I don't think it was the worst occasional choice I could make either.

Yesterday's Blood Sugar Solution journal.

However, I AM curious as to what healthy options you choose at fast food restaurants when you have to go. What's the best choice you make (or would make), and why? What do you recommend? (At any of them, not just Taco Bell! McDonald's, Subway, Burger King, Long John Silver's... what else?)

Week One FOR REAL THIS TIME

As I mentioned, we went scrapbooking all day Saturday... yesterday proved busier than I'd expected so here we are, Monday morning, finally 'officially' starting week one of the six week program! Week One is called "Eat Your Medicine: Nutrition Basics". I've pretty much been doing this already but here's a breakdown for everyone playing along at home:

Avoid:

• Sugars in any form whatsoever (including agave, maple syrup, stevia, and artificial sweeteners)
• All flour products (even gluten-free)
• All processed food
• All gluten and dairy

That's for anyone on the plan. For those on the advanced plan, like me, also avoid:

• All grains, starchy vegetables, and fruit. (winter squashes, peas, potatoes, corn, and root vegetables)
• You CAN have one-half cup of berries a day.

After the six weeks, we will start reintroducing (slowly) these foods to see how they affect blood sugar, energy, and weight.

Focus on food QUALITY. 

• 500 calories of cookies is not the same as 500 calories of broccoli
• Food is information and it controls your gene expression, hormones, and metabolism
• Portion size matters

There's a lot of talk about mastering glycemic load - he says it is more important than mastering calories; low GI diets don't spike blood sugar and insulin. The basic idea is that you need to combine protein, fats and whole-food, fiber-full, low starch carbs (preferably from vegetables, nuts, and seeds, with limited amounts of whole grains and fruits). Also, never eat carbs alone - always combine them with protein and fat. 

• Eat real food (IE fresh, not processed)
• Clean up your diet (avoid additives, pesticides, antibiotic-and-hromone-fed animal products, etc)
• Go organic
• Stay local and sustainable

When eating carbs:

• Eat "green" carbs freely - largely green and/or leafy vegetables and seaweed
• Eat in moderation: whole grains, legumes, dark berries, stone fruit, apples and pears, and fiber
• Eat limited amounts: starch vegetables and high-sugar fruits (such as melons, grapes, and pineapple)
• Avoid completely: processed carbs, gluten-containing whole grains, dried fruit, and resistant starch ("resistant starch" could even be sawdust! He says some breadmakers use it to 'lower the net carbs')

He also talks about eating phytonutrients, largely from the fruits and vegetables you choose. We all know they're good for us, and each one has different nutrients that affect our bodies in different ways. Check out the book if you want more info about specifics. but basically just eat a lot of them and eat a variety. Other good things to include:

• miso and other whole soy foods (none of that processed soy stuff)
• ground flaxseeds
• herbs
• garlic and onions
• green tea
• dark chocolate

Oh yeah, GOOD NEWS! You can have a little chocolate. It has to be dark, at least 70 percent cocoa, and you should eat no more than 2 ounces a day. Try to save this for after the first six weeks but you don't HAVE to. 

Fats are essential to our bodies! They do not make you fat. Eat the right kinds. Omega-3's are what you want. The best fats and oils come from:

• Wild or sustainably-raised cold-water fish
• avocados and olives
• extra virgin olive oil, walnut oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil and butter
• grass-fed and range-fed animals

Be careful with protein! It's important to our bodies too but every body is different. Some people do great on animal products, some do great as vegans, some need a mix of both. Pick high-quality animal products if you eat them. Make sure you get some source of protein at each meal or snack. Try:

• beans or legumes
• whole soy products (tempeh, tofu, miso, and natto)
• nuts
• seeds
• omega-3 or free-range eggs
• mercury-free fish, shrimp, and scallops
• organic, grass-fed, and hormone-, antibiotic-, and pesticide-free poultry, lamb, and beef (more poultry than lamb and beef).

He says red meat is a treat. He also says pork is the worst, but doesn't give any explanation for that or back it up in any way. We love our pork over here so I'm sitting stubbornly against that one. I need an actual REASON. For all I know, maybe he just hates pigs. 

When you are setting up your pantry for cooking, it's really hard to find certain things that don't have wheat, or funky additives, or sugar. He recommends:

• Tamari (which is wheat-free soy sauce)
• chili pastes and hot sauces
• Tahini
• salt and fresh pepper
• spices (beware of spice blends, some of them have sugar and additives!)
• fresh herbs (grow your own or check the salad section at the grocery store)
• broth or stock (make your own if you can; read labels carefully. I couldn't find ANY that didn't have additives at first, even the organic ones. Then I found some good ones hiding in a separate tiny 'health food' section at my local Jewel-Osco).
• canned or boxed tomatoes, beans, artichokes, fish - check your labels, make the best choices you can
• fresh lemon and lime juice

Personally, I'm having a hard time giving up ketchup (I don't use a lot of it but I do use it in certain foods) and I can't find ketchup without sugar. The organic ketchup at my grocery store at least doesn't contain any additives and it doesn't have high fructose corn syrup. For now I'm not beating myself up over this choice... I don't think a little ketchup will make or break me. I may look into making my own but haven't yet.

I also miss barbecue sauce. Mostly because I was on vacation in the South and oh my was there some tasty-sounding barbecue! :( I didn't eat any of it. I know that barbecue sauce is usually FULL of sugar. I will be able to eat barbecue again one day, so I passed for now.

Country roads, take me home... to the place... I belong... (this has been in my head for days. You're welcome.)

Laying out your plate: basically it should be 1/2 low-starch veggies, 1/4 protein, and 1/4 whole grains or starch vegetables. Unless you're on the advanced plan, like me, in which case it should be 3/4 low-starch veggies and 1/4 protein for 6-12 weeks.

Also be sure to eat on time. Don't skip meals. Eat 3 meals and 2-3 snacks each day. This keeps your metabolism going strong all day. Try to schedule meals for the same time each day. This will also keep your blood sugar balanced.

He also talks a lot about food allergies and why we are cutting out certain foods, especially the gluten and dairy. He talks a bit about the cost of foods and gives some advice on how to eat well for less money. Let's face it, eating healthy costs a lot more. There are ways to save money but it's still been a bit of a hit on the pocketbook. I'm still working on this too. I'll talk more about my experiences with the costs of food and how I've saved money as I get better at that part!

Develop a plan for surviving restaurants. We're all going to eat out. Try to choose restaurants in advance that you know have foods you can eat. Ask lots of questions. Plan ahead. Things like that. 

Bring an emergency food pack with you whenever you leave home. Pretend it's medicine - if you were insulin-dependent (like me!) you wouldn't leave home without your insulin pen, needles, and blood test kit. Bring yourself some food every day too. Things like

• nuts
• veggies (like carrots or cukes)
• a healthy whole-food protein bar (check these ingredients too! A lot of these health-food bars aren't all that healthy. I like Larabars myself. This is another one of my small 'cheats'. I'm allowing myself one Larabar a day. They have dates in them and while dates aren't berries, I don't think the diet gods will strike me down. I eat the peanut butter cookie one (just dates, peanuts, and salt) or the blueberry muffin one (just dates, blueberries, peanuts, and salt). They're pretty good!
• a bottle of water

And of course we're supposed to journal throughout the day... write down what we are, how we feel before the meal, how we feel after, how the FOOD made us feel, what our symptoms are and if they've increased or decreased. Write every evening about our experience with food that day and how it impacted our day. 

The checklist in the book.

That's a lot of stuff! Wooo. Basically, getting healthy is a full-time job. It's crazy. He's got downloadable printable cheat sheets on his website (click here to get them), which is GREAT because there's a lot of stuff to remember. These are just the HIGHLIGHTS from the chapter on the first week of the plan. 

OK scratch that. I thought the book said they were printable but apparently they're not. They are just online checklists. BOO to that. I'm not at my computer all day; that's one of the reasons that online communities often fail for me. He has the same checklist available in the book so you can either join his online community to get it or buy the book to get it. I'll write mine out in the paper journal I made and carry it with me; that's easiest for me. I'll be journaling there too. If I have any amazing food insights I'll be sure to share them here.

Week One, Day Three

Another five steps along the preparation path for week one! Today's steps are all about shopping and cooking.

Step One: Prepare your inner shopper.

Once again this isn't actually a step but a heading they seem to have mistakenly put a check box next to. When I counted the check boxes for this week to determine how many steps I needed to tackle each day, I didn't catch that they put check boxes next to some (but not ALL) of the headings. Oh well. There are two videos to watch to tick this off. Here we go.

Step Two: Watch the How to Read Labels video.

You can find How to Read Labels here. 
It is four minutes long and talks about (obviously) reading labels, marketing, ingredients, additives and problem ingredients, food sensitivities, unfamiliar ingredients, and serving real food.

Step Three: Watch the How to Understand Basic Nutrition Facts video.

You can find How to Understand Basic Nutrition Facts here.
It is four minutes long and talks about glycemic load and phytonutrient index, serving sizes, whole plant foods, unprocessed foods, fiber, carbohydrates, fats, and oils.   

Step Four: Learn a few basic cooking skills.

As far as home cooks go, I consider myself fairly seasoned. No problems here.

Step Five: If you don't like to cook, complete the journaling exercise.

I *do* like to cook. I don't cook as often as I'd like to, usually because I don't have a plan or I don't feel like I have the time to throw something together. Often I fall trap to the 'we have lots of food but nothing SOUNDS good' issue - maybe that's a food addiction problem? I need to prioritize home cooking more than I do.
I also have been making cooking more enjoyable for myself with music.   I made a playlist on my phone - I just call it my 'energy' playlist - and I pump the tunes when I'm in the kitchen. It gets me moving and makes me feel good. I also think that feeling good when you cook makes the food taste better. I mean, really; who wants to eat food basted in hate and anger?

Week One, Day Two

It's week one of the preparatory phase for The Blood Sugar Solution and I'm tackling another five items today. Most of them involve getting your kitchen ready for this big lifestyle change. 

Step one: Set a date to officially start the six-week program.

OK. There are two prep weeks to this before we jump into the six week program. I started week one of prep yesterday, so my six week program will officially start on Friday, August 10th.

I will be on North Carolina at that time, at the tail end of a 10 day vacation. I thought long and hard about starting before or after vacation. It's going to be ridiculously difficult to start something like this while on vacation, out of my own kitchen and home element. On the other hand, I'm sick all the time and it won't be much of a vacation if I'm not feeling good. So either stay sick in the cabin all the time, eating 'vacation food', or put in a bunch of extra work and planning to be able to start this new health plan and hopefully feel well enough to get out and enjoy things with my family. We're planning lots of fun activities like hiking and swimming in natural water spots and bonfires and gem mining; it should be a fairly active vacation. I'd like to be WITH my family for those things.

As part of my prep next week I will spend a good deal of time planning out meals as best as possible in advance of the vacation. I'm also bringing my exercise program with me.

Step two: Prepare Your Healthy Kitchen

Well, they have a check box by this but really it's a headliner for steps 3, 4, and 5. So... done! (as soon as I tackle those anyway!)

Step three: Rid your kitchen of disease- and obesity-producing Frankenfoods.

Here he gives you rules on what NOT to eat, to ideally be followed for life. He says "if you read these rules and think there will be nothing left to eat, then you have been eating in exactly the way that will make you sick and will keep you that way." That is certainly a fear of mine! I guess that's saying something. Here's the rules in brief:

• Get rid of most foods with labels - labelled foods you keep should have fewer than five ingredients
• Get rid of all sugar (any form) and any foods with a form of sugar on the label; same goes for white rice and white flour. For me all flour has to go, even whole grain stuff, because I'm in the advanced stage.
• Get rid of anything with high fructose corn syrup.
• Get rid of anything with the word 'hydrogenated' on the label.
• Throw out any highly refined cooking oils such as corn, soy, etc. Also avoid toxic fats and fried foods.
• Throw out any food with ingredients you can't recognize or pronounce, or are in Latin.
• Throw out any foods with preservatives, additives, coloring, or dyes, "natural flavorings", or MSG.
• Toss all artificial sweeteners - ANY of them, or any foods with them. Include sugar alcohols - basically any word that ends in 'ol'. 
• If it was grown on a plant, not made in a plant, then you can keep it in your kitchen.

I'm a little confused because I've looked ahead at some of his recipes and sometimes he uses raw honey. I know I won't be using it because I'm on the advanced plan, so it'll be out for at least six weeks, but it would seem that honey is a sugar? Yet we keep it? Maybe it's not a sugar. Whatever, I'm keeping mine, I just won't eat it for six weeks. 

This is going to be a little rough because my son turns eight tomorrow and we're having his birthday party so I won't be getting rid of everything until after Monday (it's a sleepover of course!). I'm going to go clear out everything I don't need for the party right now though!

...

SEVERAL HOURS LATER...

My husband was a great help with this task. It was pretty overwhelming. I guess I hadn't cleaned up my diet as much as I'd THOUGHT. I know I fall into traps of 'I'll just buy this for the kids' and 'but we need this for a paaaaarty'. We did keep some things for Drake's birthday party tomorrow, and we will do a final kitchen clean out on Monday evening. 

All the opened items that needed to be trashed.

The hardest thing here was tossing the cooking / baking staples I have used my whole life. Flour. Sugar. Panko. Worcestershire sauce. Soy sauce (it has wheat). Powdered sugar. Brown sugar. My entire 'cooking staples' cabinet is almost empty. My anxiety is pretty high over this one. I feel a little nauseous, a little like crying.

All the unopened items that will be donated to the food pantry.

Biggest points of panic: soups. I keep chicken noodle soup on hand for when I'm sick. With all my stomach problems it's become quite a staple. I guess I'll have to plan ahead and make / freeze my own? Also broths. All my chicken broth had undesirable additives. So did my canned tomatoes. Will I have to make *everything* on my own from now on??

And pastas. I've been eating Dreamfields pastas because they have a low amount of digestible carbs. Giving them away makes me really sad. I won't be eating any pastas for at least six weeks though. And they aren't whole wheat anyway.

A bag of stuff my husband couldn't stand to let go. He's taking it to work with him.

A bag of stuff for my mom that I know she'll use.

Overall this was REALLY emotionally draining. I wanted to cry more than a few times. I did a little dance of joy when I found some bags of nuts I didn't know I had because that means there's actually still something in the house I can snack on. We decided to keep a few things for the kids - mac and cheese, yogurt, ice cream, popsicles. I won't be buying more when it's gone, and if it becomes a problem for me I'll toss it, but they should be eased into it a little bit. Largely because there's practically nothing left to eat in the house except nuts and frozen fish, which they really don't like. My son helped me clean out one of the freezers though and was excited that we are getting rid of all the unhealthy stuff. Kids are amazing.

This was confusing at times too. There's a lot of stuff in food! Calcium chloride! Ferrous something or other! Artificial colors! Natural flavors! Sodium benzoate! Carrageenan! Lecithin! And many, many more. Very overwhelming. What's ok, what's not ok? We had to keep asking ourselves 'was it grown on a plant?' 

Finally, this is frightening. We are, like many in these economic times, struggling financially. The cost to replace these foods with healthy items is going to be painful for us. Honestly, I'm not sure how we're going to do it. I've kind of been pantry-eating the past week as it was... now my pantry is almost bare and I feel more than a little panicked at the thought of finding the money to fill it with foods to nourish my family this week. Health is costly. I just keep reminding myself that in the long run, sickness costs more.

I did it. I know I should congratulate myself for it but right now I just feel kind of sick over it.

Step four: Watch the Supermarket Savvy video at his website.

You can find Supermarket Savvy here. It's 11 minutes long. 

Discusses - soda pop, liquid calories, breakfast, oils, proteins, plate proportions.

Step five: Get your essential kitchen tools.

In the book he has included a list of tools he considers necessary to prepare and cook food. He says to make sure you have most of them. I'm not listing them all here. Luckily I enjoy cooking and I already have a well stocked kitchen. The only things I am missing from the list are:

• dutch oven
• an immersion blender
• a coffee grinder for flaxseed or other spices
• a fish spatula

Of those, the only thing I really want is a dutch oven (not the farting kind!). It's actually been on my list for a while. I've been making stocks and things this past year and it would really come in handy. I think, at least for now, I can live without the other three. I've never needed them or noticed their absence in my kitchen before. I'll have to investigate the cost of dutch ovens though and bump that up the list because I have wanted one for a while.

Any recommendations for a good dutch oven?

Anyone else inspired to clean out their pantries after this?

Keep On Keepin' On

My husband told me this morning that I look thinner. I weighed myself this afternoon and there's no weight change, but I haven't done any measurements in a while so I don't know if my body has actually changed. It was nice to hear, especially since I AM making efforts to build health. Whether it's an illusion or reality, it was a nice reinforcement.

I'm only a couple days into my plan to put my health first instead of second, and already I feel better. Not great, mind you, but I have noticed a subtle difference, mostly in the afternoons / early evenings. I'm a little more energetic, a little more productive, and my stomach hasn't been hurting quite as much. Unfortunately the fatigue is still there in the mornings and it comes back in the evenings, and the stomach issues are still around, just not as prevalent during the day. This also gives me hope.

I'm not doing anything mind-blowing. I'm just focusing on the real basics. Automate the foods I am eating - limit to a basic plan for each meal at a set calorie amount, and avoid all other foods almost all the time. Eat meals on time. Exercise. Take my meds and supplements, and take them on time. Track my blood sugar and all health issues. Keep up with all doctor visits and tests and stay on top of my health care providers until we get me back to normal. And GO TO SLEEP ON TIME and get ENOUGH sleep (something I have ALWAYS struggled with).

I'll talk a bit more in future posts about automating my meal plans and exercise, which has been a challenge because of my health issues and fatigue. It's kind of a Catch-22; I know exercising generally helps you have more energy, but I've been too tired to exercise! I'm working on it.

Supplements

Hey, so yeah. Do NOT Google Image search the word 'cleanse'.
There's some really gross stuff inside people's colons. MY GOD.

One of my Facebook friends (a distant cousin that I'm not close to at all) has been posting recently about doing a cleanse and how great she feels; she's posted several links to the company she's using - Advocare. I'd never heard of them before, so I went to check it out. I'm admittedly very wary of the word "cleanse" - to me, it brings to mind  starvation, lots of pooping, crazy sugar and carb withdrawals, feeling even sicker than I do on a regular basis already, scary frothy green smoothies, etc. One big frightening mess, in other words. I'm not even sure I buy the concept of "our bodies are full of toxins and we need to get them out in order to HEAAAL!"

Still, the idea of cleaning out toxins, if it IS true, intrigues me. The idea of filling my body with healthy, beneficial fuel and cleaning out the junk appeals to me. So every time I hear of someone going on any kind of cleanse, I check it out to see what the deal is. Usually it's the crazy scary mess kind of cleanse. This Advocare thing doesn't sound like that though. It sounds like it's mostly a variety of supplements, taken in conjunction to maximize their benefit, along with a healthy eating and exercise plan. Basically Advocare seems to be a high-end (so they claim, anyway) nutritional supplement company, and of course they want to sell you their products and packages and whatnot. They sell through individual distributors; I don't know if my distant relative is a distributor or just an end user and frankly, I'm not keen on asking because I don't want a sales pitch. I'm open to supplements. I've even taken a variety of them in the past. I'm even open to Advocare... their products sound pretty decent from the little research I did. What I need in my supplements though is good quality at a fair price, and I haven't done any pricing research yet.

What I'd like to figure out now is what sorts of supplements I'd like to take and then price them out and get the best deals. Walgreens and CVS almost always have supplements on sale, Buy One Get One Free. I still don't know if those are the best values because I don't buy them often... quite frankly, supplements are expensive, and when you start taking multiple pills several times a day it can get REALLY pricey. We're quite poor these days so we don't have a lot of options.

After doing a bit more research, and building on what I used to do and what I already know, these are supplements I'm interested in adding to my regimen:

probiotics - I hear lots and lots of good things about them. I do eat yogurt but not every day. I'm going to try to eat more yogurt as well. I have a lot of GI problems of late though, and I'd like to do anything that might help with those.

fiber - I'm supposed to be taking Benefiber daily because of my GI problems. I haven't been lately because we ran out and, well, money. But I'm really miserable most days and again, I need to do whatever I can to help myself feel better.

multivitamin - I think we should all take one daily.

milk thistle - supposed to be great for liver problems. I have a fatty liver and would like to help my liver repair itself.

omega 3 fatty acids - I just keep hearing more and more good things about them and how we should all be getting greater amounts of them, and we don't eat a lot of fish, so I'd like to supplement.

amino acids - I'm not sure about this. I read a little about how they are good for building muscle, which in turn will help your metabolism increase, but I need to do more research.

echinacea and garlic - I don't know if they come together, or if there's some kind of combo immune boosting supplement, but I'd like to do some more research and possibly take something with these during the winter. I tend to get sick a lot, and I hate it.

vitamin B - specifically B6 and B12, as I hear they're good for energy boosts. I've been suffering extreme fatigue for months now. I NEED more energy. I can't live like this, it's awful. I just don't know if this is a vitamin you can overdose on, so I need to check... I don't want to take too much if I'm going to take this and a multivitamin.

So that's my wish list. Now I just need to figure out the most cost-effective way to get these items in my house. It's hard to be healthy when you're poor. :/

What supplements, if any, do you take?

Fooducate

One of the tools I have been using to help improve the quality of the foods I eat is a great little iPhone app called "Fooducate". You can scan UPC codes on millions of different grocery products, and Fooducate will give you a grade for food (A-F), a list of reasons why the consider the food 'good' or 'bad', and a listing of five similar alternatives to that food with better grades. It's been really fun - AND eye opening - going around my kitchen, scanning foods and reading about them. I'm trying, for now, to limit myself to A and B graded foods. If you have an iPhone, I highly recommend the app.

If a food isn't in their database, you can send them the food's information (they have you take three pictures and email it to them) and they will add it. I've sent in three foods and have already received notification that they've added two of them! It's pretty neat.

Calories

My general goal, for now, is to get myself to a point where I'm eating four 400-calorie meals each day. (I'll up it to five when I eventually get pregnant.) At 1600 calories a day, I should lose weight consistently. I'll also work on steadily increasing the quality of my food, of course.

The calorie idea is inspired by The 400-Calorie Fix. A simple, rather ingenious idea really. Wish I'd thought of it myself! LOL!