Chemical free paint?

Wow I just totally have to share that I am so impressed with this paint called The Fresh Aire Choice I picked up at Home Depot. For the past two holiday seasons I've set up my front room as a showroom for my soaps and body essentials. This year I decided to keep the showroom instead of returning it to it's past use as a parlor. Who needs a parlor anyway? So now I'm knee deep in a redecorating project for that room. I dropped by the Home Depot to decide on paint colors and got into a conversation with a knowledgeable salesperson. The conversation started out with me complaining about the Behr paint billed as an all-in-one primer and paint. I informed him that first of all it stunk real bad and I could hardly paint with the toxic smell and second of all it took three coats. So the primer aspect wasn't really working at all. He took the opportunity to point out that the all-in-one paint had a lot less chemicals than the regular Behr paint. So I was in this quandry about whether to buy a paint that stunk real bad in the name of fewer chemicals when he showed me The Fresh Aire Choice. If you're in the market for chemical free paint you should check it out because it really is chemical free. And we were so impressed with how well it went on and the fact that it virtually had no odor. The only downside is there are only 66 color choices. So for those of us match frieks it's a little bit limiting. But I made up my mind that I wanted to try it so I chose a color and off I went. You can see the results. The blue is kind of bright but I think it's growing on me.

Gluten free diet ... living without?

Over twelve years ago a nutritionist challenged me to get off wheat. What I discovered is, after having a headache every day for fifteen years, I could virtually extinguish my migraine-like headaches by eating gluten free. Of course I've fallen off the wheat wagon many times. It is just plain hard to live in a world of glutinous options especially when you're traveling or eating out! But several years ago when my oldest son tested positive for wheat allergy, I had to regain my resolve, it wasn't just me who suffered when I didn't work hard at providing alternatives. A teenager living in a glutinous world had even more challenges. I called the school dining hall to find out what options there would be for him. The answer: "we don't do that". So it was up to mom to figure it all out. Through trial and error we soon discovered how important it was for him to adhere to the diet. I would pick him up from school and I could tell by the way he carried himself when he ate pizza. Not only did it make him fatigued it affected his entire demeanor and cognitive abilities. I'm really proud of him today, as an athlete trying to perform at the top of his ability he knows what he needs to do, and he's doing it! This past summer, I decided to try the diet on my youngest son who's symptoms were moodiness and chronic dark circles under the eyes. The result: a new kid!

Last year my little sis gave me a subscription to Living Without, a magazine for people with food sensitivities. It's been a good source of baking ideas and medical information. But one of the things that intrigues me is this idea that I'm "living without". It leaves me with this feeling that I'm somehow missing out. Well I'm here to tell you that embracing a lifestyle that chooses to eat the foods that fuel your body without burdening it with foods you're allergic to is far from living without. I guess you could call it living within. Sure, living within the constraints of my body's needs has been so frustrating. And having two kids that have followed my genetic disposition for food sensitivity has been really hard! At first I internalized it as pressure, I felt this great huge burden to provide for them. And while I have been working hard at providing options for them I've had this growing list of new food sensitivities to deal with for myself. So at times I would be providing sometimes up to three different meal options for my family of five! Providing food for myself and my family this past year truly has been one of the most challenging tasks of my parenting "career".

But what I've discovered as the key to success in this journey is as simple as the perspective shift from "living without" to "living within". It is that simple. I'm living within the constraints of mine and my family's needs. And what I've discovered is that food can taste really good, even without wheat, sugar, eggs, etc. In the past I hadn't been much of an experimenter in the kitchen. One of the things that becoming a soap artist has taught me is to experiment with new things all the time. And those experiments of good and bad have led to great new discoveries of what I like, things that I didn't know I would like. So now after years of following food recipes to a tee I'm finally experimenting with them. Having multiple food sensitivities of my own, and the needs of my boys, have pushed me to a new level of creativity in the kitchen.

But I could not have gone down this path without the help of people who were willing to share their ideas, people I REALLY appreciate! I met Jody last year, soon we were conversing about diet and discovered our common concerns. She being farther down the road than me has been an amazing source of ideas and inspiration. Thank you Jody! She also pointed me to Tom and Ali's cookbook and blog. Ali's recipes are amazing! She has totally engineered her recipes to perfection. I have not tried a single one that wasn't good, in fact, most of them are just downright awesome. I followed the elimination diet in their cookbook and on their website and it has been enlightening. One of my discoveries is that I'm allergic to rice. Even though many of Ali's recipes incorporate rice flour I've been able to adjust the flours in her recipes and they still turn out fabulous.

So here's a note of gratitude for the people who've shared their gluten-free experiences with me. And you know what I've discovered now that I've made the perspective shift to living within? It's really not as hard as I thought it was because mom feels so much better and so do the kids! And there's also something satisfying about taking an insurmountable challenge by the horns and going with it.

So here our some of my favorites for Tom and Ali's blog to help get you started:

Gluten free waffles I have to make these every Saturday now! We freeze the leftovers and the boys eat them throughout the week. They taste great slathered with my new sugar free jam!

Cucumber Tomato Basil Salad I was eating this daily at the height of our tomato and cucumber harvest. So fresh and scrumptious!

Spicy Summer Black Bean Salad This was another amazing harvest salad recipe. Love the flavors all together, and the black beans for protein.

Maple Raspberry Scones Now this one is downright awesome. I was so sad when our raspberry harvest came to an abrupt end with the coming of frost.

When to hire a mold expert

Don't bother. Recently we hired a mold expert to do indoor air samples as we were concerned about a mold problem in our home. The tests came back and according to our "expert" we didn't have anything in our home that needed treatment. Yes the air samples had mold in them. But according to the experts the mold we had in our sample wasn't statistically significant enough to point to an indoor source. He believed that what was in the sample had been tracked in by people and dogs. My symptoms told me otherwise. The expert looked at me like I was crazy when I told him I was sure we had mold.

At a loss for what to do next and a word for the experts that we didn't have a treatable mold problem, we installed an infinity air purifier to our HVAC system. The air purifier kills mold, dander, bacteria,viruses etc. Within 5 days I was feeling much better and actually in certain parts of the house had no symptoms. However, certain rooms would flare up my symptoms. So we bought an $8.00 mold kit from Lowe's. Big surprise ... the test was positive for mold! The picture above is our mold petri dish after 5 days.

So the hunt for a mold source was on. We removed carpet in our home office. We had already removed my son's carpet before the air samples were done, but when we went back in to remove the carpet in his closet we discovered mold underneath the carpet and up his wall and in his ceiling. So much for the expert advice! My recommedations for anyone out there with mold suspicions: "find it yourself!" In our case the expert did not lend a bit of help to the situation, in fact he temporarily through us off the trail of what we needed to find. I was getting sicker by the day. I am so thankful for my husband who hung in there with me on the hunt.

Moral of the story ... be your own mold detective. If you find yourself facing a mold situation you might refer to this website for information http://www.aehf.com/

Ravenous for greens

My doctor recently turned me on to green smoothies. It has turned my taste buds upside down! I'm like ravenous for greens now. Over the past several years I've noticed that I feel my best when I'm eating lots of leafy greens. But I usually get tired of chewing a salad before I get full of it. So this simple approach to adding more greens to my diet has really given me the energy boost I needed to get through the holidays and now the January funk that usually follows the flury of holiday activity.

To get me going on the green drink, my doc recommend Victoria Boutenko's book "Green for Life". I highly recommend this book, a great read, full of great information about how and why to consume more greens. She mentions that soon after consuming more greens she started looking at greens differently. I've had a similiar experience. When I walk to the produce section I get excited about experimenting on the next green drink. She explains the importance of using a variety of greens in her book. So trying new things all the time is definitely the way to go. I look at a handfull of carrot tops, you know the green part, and think, "I wonder how this will taste in my smoothie".

It took me a while to get started because I felt like I needed to read the whole book and get to the recipe section. But now I realize how easy it is. So I thought I'd let you know what I've discovered as three simple steps to more energy. Take your blender, add two cups of water, one piece of fruit, and two large handfuls of greens. Blend. It's that simple. I feel great when I drink it regularly. I look forward to discovering what the next smoothie will taste like depending on the fruit or greens I have available. And I look forward to shopping for the next load of greens (and shopping is something I really detest). My favorite smoothie is pear and spinach with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. Also, most of the recipes I've seen have more fruit than I use, so if you're just getting started and want to sweeten your smoothie up a bit add more fruit.

For more information on Victoria's book go to http://www.rawfamily.com/index.htm