Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The Complete Low Carb High Fat No Hunger Diet - Keto-Hybrid Diet - Journey To Health

After reading THM, Wheat Belly and Grain Brain. I wanted to read more about this low carb, high fat diet/lifestyle. I wanted to read about the different types of diets that there was out there. The two mains ones are the ketogenic diet and the paleo diet.

This book is, obviously, about the ketogentic diet. You may have ready about this diet before, in online articles and blogs about children with epilepsy. It has been proven to reduce the amount of seizures they are having, just by eating a low carb, high fat diet. If that isn't reason enough that everyone should be eating this way, I don't know what is.

I do remember first reading about that diet, and thinking how hard it would be. Now that I have been doing so much reading about this, it doesn't seem so hard. Mind you, if you are using it to help a child with epilepsy, you have to be quite a bit more strict than and adult just using it as a lifestyle change.

I will admit, I read this book (most of these books) in the summer, so they are not really fresh in my mind. I am not about to read them all again, so I will try to give my best opinion on them.

The Keto-Hybrid diet book was written by a mother-daughter duo . They simply wanted to share how this diet change has greatly changed their lifestyle for the better. It is a blend of the ketogenic, low carb and paleo diets, but most of the focus is on the ketogenic diet.

They are all about counting their "Macro" percentages. So keeping track of the percentage of calories that come from carbs, fat and protein. At first they say to record it, but eventually it is supposed to be come second nature and you wouldn't need to write it down anymore.

It was a good read, and I like the general idea of this diet. But there were a few things that kinda bugged me. Like not eating carrots or bananas. I understand wanting to keep the carbs low, but I think getting carbs from veggies and fruit is part of a healthy diet.

Again, this was another "diet". You can make it a lifestyle, but there was so much focus on losing weight. It is also not as well researched as some of the other books out there.

I did record my macros for a week, and I did go into ketosis (where you burn fat for calories), but it's alot of work keeping track of that stuff every day. I don't really have a tonne negative to say about this book, it's just another good read to reinforce the benefits of a low carb, high fat lifestyle.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Grain Brain - Journey To Health

Grain Brain is quite similar to Wheat Belly, except it's focus is more on what grains do to your mind. It's actually quite an eye opening read. Even after Wheat Belly.

I am not going to talk too much about it, because it is so similar in its recommendations. It's dietary guidelines differ slightly, but the low carb, high fat premises remains the same.

Again, I do recommend reading it if you want to do more research into what grains do to your body.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Wheat Belly - Journey To Health

My step-dad had a copy of Wheat Belly laying around for quite some time, slowly reading through it. And then I heard a few other people talk about it, and I was convinced it was time for me to read it.

It taught me a tonne about grains, and especially about our modern wheat and how it has been genetically modified SO much.

Reading this book turned me into a very anti-grain individual. I don't think anyone will ever be able to convince me that I NEED to eat grains to be healthy. 

Will I occasionally eat wheat products just for the plain enjoyment of the food? Bet your sweet tuchas I will.

But I will never eat it as part of my "healthy" diet. There is not one single vitamin, mineral or fiber in grains that I cannot get in veggies and fruit. Not even one. In fact, veggies tend to have the same if not more fiber in a cup by cup comparison to grains. They are just not necessary.

It kills me now to see people grabbing products labelled "Healthy Whole Grains" and consuming them like they are doing their body a favor. That term is no more than a marketing gimmick created by the food industry to sell more products. They don't care a lick if you are healthy, they care if they sell you as much crap as possible.

Anyways, I digress. Wheat Belly build upon the low carb, high fat concept that I was introduced to through Trim Healthy Mama.

My ONLY issue with Wheat Belly, is that he would would say never ever ever have any grains ever again. That, and fake replacement for junk foods. I want real food people. I just want to eat food that is healthy for me. If I am going to eat junk, I want it to be the fully gloriously terrible for me junk. Not a terrible tasting replacement for junk.

Also, I got the message from the book that if you eliminate grains, all your health issues will resolved forever. IBS? Gone! Allergies? Gone. Cancer? Gone. Athritis? Gone. Your dead? Alive! You catch my drift? Don't get me wrong, I am sure so many of these things will improve when you change you life. But it's not a cure-all.

Or maybe it is. Honestly I haven't followed the diet for more than 2 weeks.

That being said. Go read "Wheat Belly". It's worth the read. I own it, I will borrow it to you. It is a great start, and lots of good science!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Potty Training In 3 Days

Tallet turned 2. It was time to start thinking about potty training. I remember hearing about a 3 day method when my bro was a toddler, but I didn't really look into it. I headed to Facebook for potty training advice. I got lots of good advice, and some not so good. Another Mom in a mommy group recommended this 3 day plan, so I went for it. I was skeptical at first. Three days didn't seem long enough. Here is my experience:

Woke up in the morning. Tallet and I had breakfast. Coralee came over for out workout. After she left, we started potty training.

In the days leading up to potty training I made sure we had all the supplies on hand. I made sure I had enough food in the house, and no plans so I could totally focus on Tallet and potty training.

The supplies I found useful were:
-potty
-flushable moist wipes
-20-40 pairs of underwear
-gummy bears
-stickers
-potty training chart
-small toys as prizes for completing a row on the chart

The first thing I did was to take off Tallet's diaper and put on gitchies. I explained to him that he was a big boy now and that he needed to keep those gitchies dry. Then we went and packed up all his cloth diapers into a box. I told him to say bye bye diapers. He helped me pack them up and chanted "bye bye diapers" the whole time. Then we went to the bathroom and I showed him the potty and told him that is where he needs to go potty from now on.

Throughout the day I would constantly remind him "Tell mommy when you have to go pee on the potty" and I would quiz him "Are your shorts/gitch dry?" and give him praise when they were dry. I watched him closely all day. If he started to have an accident I would take him to the potty. It was essential that I catch him in the middle of an accident.  You get sick of your own voice repeating the same things over and over. But it works. I watched him closely for signs he had to go pee, especially before he started verbally asking. He would dance around or grab his crotch.

Rewards:
Peeing on potty - One gummy bear
Pooping on potty - Two gummy bears and a sticker on his chart. Once he fills a row he gets a small toy. We bought a multi-pack of hot wheels and will give him one at a time.

Day 1

10:40 - Started Training
10:45 - First accident. I went upstairs to get him a shorter shirt and when I came back down he said "I need help" and he had peed in his shorts.
10:52 - Large accident
11:30 - Large accident
11:37 - Medium accident
11:52 - Peed on potty, had a small accident beforehand
12:18 - Peed on potty, small accident beforehand
1:13 - Peed on potty, small dribble in pants
1:48 - Accident, caught him in the middle of it and he finished on the potty.
2:08 - Big accident, then finished on potty
3:20 - Peed on potty
3:35 - Pooped on potty
3:58 - Peed on potty. I asked him by accident if he needed to go.
4:55 - Peed on potty, gitchies slightly damp.
5:40 - Peed on potty, one drop in gitch
6:10 - small accident then peed on potty
6:42 - Peed on potty - told Eric to "Hurry, carry you" which means to carry him.
6:55 - Pooped on potty
7:03 - Caught him peeing his pants, then finished on potty
7:13 - Accident - then peed on potty a very small amount
7:35 - Accident, then peed in potty after.
8:00 - Peed on potty before bed.

Honestly, I was EXHAUSTED by the end of this day. I could not wait for him to go to bed. I was tired of staring at his gitch and hearing myself speak. It didn't seem like we were getting very far, but I knew it could take 3 full days so I still had hope. We are using pull ups for night because I don't have a proper mattress cover.

Day 2

9:30 - Wake up. Pull up fill of pee. Refused to sit on potty.
10:50 - Peed on potty. Asked verbally after me reminding him to ask me. Small dribble in pants.
11:15 - Peed on potty. Told me by "dancing" - No dribbles.
12:10 - Big accident, grabbed Eric's hand and showed it to him, then finished on the potty.
12:25 - Small accident, but then asked to go "pee potty" and had a big pee on the potty.
1:40 - * ASKED TO PEE ON POTTY*
2:35 - Asked to pee on potty, small dribble in gitch
3:15 - Asked to pee on potty, small dribble in gitch
3:40 - Asked to pee on potty, no dribbles!
4:25 - Grabbed Eric's hand and pulled him to potty, peed on potty
4:55 - Grabbed my hand and said "Go Pee" and peed on potty
5:30 - Said "I need help" and then peed on potty. Small dribble in gitch
6:50 - Grabbed my hand and led me to washroom, peed on potty.
7:30 - Bath
8:00 - Bedtime. Did not pee on potty before bed.

Today was a much easier day. He was grasping the idea of asking to go potty, and that was the main goal.

Day 3

9:15 - Woke up. Pull up full. Did not pee on potty.
11:00 - Went to bathroom alone, I followed him. He peed on potty.
1:45 - Asked to pee on potty
3:00 - Asked to pee on potty. Small dribble in gitch
3:15 - Pooped his pants. YUCK! Then he pooped and peed on the potty.
3:35 - Asked to pee on potty - dry gitch
4:45 - Asked to pee on potty - dry gitch
5:20 - Asked to pee on potty - dry gitch
7:45 - Eric and Tallet were wrestling and Eric caught him dribbling, peed on potty
8:15 - Did not pee on potty before bed.

This was by far the best day, and I think I could say that he was essentially potty trained. The pooping is hard because he doesn't always poop every day, so there are way less opportunities to teach him.

Day  4

I did not keep a log for this day.  His pull up was dry in the morning. We were heading to stay at Hecla in a hotel for the weekend. It was a good day. I caught him dribbling once when Terry was spinning him in a chair. Other than that he was dry all day, and even pooped in the potty at night before bed!

Day 5 & 6

Were essentially perfect days, except on Sunday morning (Day 6), he peed a bit in his gitchies before asking to go potty.

Day 7 and beyond. He has pooped his pants once at Coralee's house, but other than that has been essentially accident free.

Needless to say, I am a HUGE fan of the 3 Day potty training method. It clearly works. Well worth the money.  We still have a bit of work to do with the pooping, and we need to eliminate the nighttime pull ups ASAP. The method doesn't recommend them, and neither do I. I think it slows the training. I just bought a mattress cover so we probably wont be using Pull ups tonight. Last night he work up at 12 asking to go potty, and went straight back to bed after peeing.

I am sure he will have a few accidents here and there, especially in public when a potty is harder to get to. But that is ok, it will teach him he needs to hold it longer or ask to go sooner.

I would love to hear your stories! What has worked best for you?

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

I Miss You

Lately I have really been missing the blogging world. Sometime in the last few years the shift from blogs to Facebook has happened. I miss the intimacy of blogs. I miss hearing about people's  lives. I am tired of counting likes.

My last series of blogs really dropped off hard. I am going to try to pick that back up, as well as start to post here quite a bit more often. I hope it works out.

And I hope to find more active bloggers to follow again!
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