That overwhelming feeling

Lately, I've been feeling overwhelmed. I'm not sure why, but when it happens, it takes a toll on my body. Today I'm feeling under the weather. Something similar happened back in June when I was under some stress as well.

This time however, I feel like my 'stress' is more self-inflicted. I don't need to feel stressed, but I am. Here's why (I think):

• I've been fighting allergies for a while now. Despite my previous attempts to quell them, they are still sometimes there, it's getting really tiring. I'm now waiting to get in to see an allergist. However, my family doctor's 'favourite allergist' also happens to be the busiest one in town, she tells me. Great. I get to wait months. In the mean time, I'm loading up with lots of natural sources of antihistamines, including quercetin and vitamin C and hope that it quells the symptoms somewhat.

• School is back in session and despite my greatest efforts, I feel behind already. I know I'm really not, but I feel like I should be further ahead in my readings. 

• Weekends are too short. To get everything I want to do done has become an impossibility. Before I know it, it's always Sunday night. This weekend I've made a list of what I'd like to accomplish, but now I don't know where to start! 

I know I need order to stay stress-free. I feel my life is lacking some of that order right now and I find it hard to deal with. Or maybe I just need to find an organization project, because often that does the trick.

But I can't just sit here and write about how stressed I'm feeling without doing something about it. So, let's just git'er done! I know if I can get through most of my list I'll feel a lot better. I'm also taking on another challenge starting Monday. The ever fabulous Fab Detox, put on by the very lovely Meghan Telpner. The last time I took part in this detox, I felt the best I have in a while. I'm hoping to get similiar results this time around, but preparation is going to be key! I need to get my kitchen in order! My very top priority for Sunday -- groceries and meal prep! That's how to eat well and stay sane -- it's all about preparation. And I can do it.

So let's forget about feeling sorry for ourselves and get our bums moving -- because it's going to be great. Better if my nose would stop running... but conquering the list, will conquer the stress, and hopefully conquer the nasal leakage!

I feel better already.

Speaking of feeling better, my family was blessed with a beautiful addition this week. Evan William Perry entered the world at 9:30 p.m. in Edmonton on Sunday evening. He's a doll. I love him and I've not yet met him. His cute as a button face now occupies the home screen on my phone. And whenever I feel I need to smile, I reach for my phone and I look at his most perfect face: his bright blue eyes (who I see a lot of my brother and dad in), his little smirk, his wee ears and his hand in a fist looking ready for a punch and I can't help but smile. True love, I tell you, true love.

Detoxing, fabulously

I've been absent... Life took over. If I wasn't at work, I was at school, studying for school or sleeping. That's been my life for the last few weeks. Things are on the up and up now though. Some big assignments for school are behind me, so a bit more free time. Hurray!

As I mentioned in my last post (that seems oh so long ago), I made some major changes to my diet over the last few weeks. But the best news is, that I'm having great success! My allergies have piped down a lot and my digestion has never been better! I still have room for improvement, but things are heading in the right direction – so that makes me smile (a lot).

I've been getting some interesting reactions when people find out what I've eliminated from my diet: "so where do you get your protein? your calcium?" My response... uh... plants, some grains and some meat. There is still SO MUCH I can eat that I'm not finding it overly cumbersome. Eating out, on the other hand can be a bit of an issue sometimes... ah well, I'm likely saving way more money by eating mostly at home anyway.

Last weekend, amidst the craziness, I was in Toronto for the weekend visiting friends and relatives. But the real reason for going this particular weekend was to attend a couple of workshops with the lovely Meghan Telpner! One of the workshops I attended was based on her successful Fab Uplift Detox program. Included in the price was also registration into her coached Fab Uplift Detox program that started this past Monday.

This detox is so timely to what I'm going through right now with food allergies/sensitivities and I thought it would be a great "reboot" button for my body. And so far so good! The first four days weren't a big change from the way I currently eat -- just cutting out the meat (which there wasn't tonnes of to begin with), so I didn't see big changes, but Friday marked the start of the real deal leading up to a juice and smoothie fasting for a day, which from my calendar looks like it will fall on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it and feeling great thus far.

I hope to post a few more times about some of the things I'm eating and how I'm feeling so you can follow along and maybe join in next time, but also for myself, so I can look back and see how far I've come.

Enjoy the ride. I know I will.

A weekend in the kitchen

I love to spend time in the kitchen because I absolutely love to bake and make things from scratch. This weekend I took some time from my day to try a few new things. All the recipes can be found in my Delicious bookmarks.

Here's a sample of my weekend in the kitchen (I know some of the photos are bad... my kitchen has terrible lighting...):

First thing I made were Oatmeal Spelt Peach Cookies: I  bought a basket of amazing, succulent Ontario peaches last week and they were ripening faster than I could eat them. Spelt is not a gluten-free grain, but it is wheat-free. I'll eat them in moderation as I react more to wheat, but still somewhat to other gluten grains.

Keeping with the peach theme and my absolute love for jam, I made Peach and Plum Jam Muffins. The recipe called for blackberry jam, but I had plum jam. I love peaches and plums, so I went with it. And it turned out great. I remember when I was a kid, my brother and I watched the Urban Peasant a lot, I'm not sure why, but the two things I remember from it was his love for sherry (he seemed to put a splash of sherry in everything!) and that he always preached that you should "use what you have". So I did.

Next up were Strawberry Mint Popsicles. Again, I screwed up the recipe, I misread. It was supposed to be strawberry basil (there was another recipe for Mint Lemonade on the same page). Again, I went with it... with good results!

And it didn't stop there. Just prior to dinner on Saturday, I whipped up my own homemade BBQ sauce. I'm not a big fan of store bought BBQ sauces. I usually read the label and then put it back on the shelf with disgust -- I can't stand the amount of sugar in it! I found a better option once when I visited Whole Foods, but given that I live 5 hours away from the nearest Whole Foods, it's not an easy thing to pick up when you run out. So I went with this one, which has no sugar at all! Bonus.

For dinner, I made this amazing kale salad. Our most recent produce delivery included a huge head of kale, so what to do but whip up a great salad. I served it with some fresh local made-in-store sausages I picked up the day before at The Piggy Market in Westboro. Nom nom nom. So good! The key to this salad is to let it sit for a while after you mix it up. The kale leaves will soften from the olive oil in the dressing making it much more palatable.

Sunday morning I tackled my most complicated recipe of the weekend -- blueberry scones (gluten-free)! I love scones and blueberry ones are a bonus. This recipe included a few ingredients I've never used before but are easily found at most natural foods stores, such as Rainbow Natural Foods, which is where I found my loot.

Ok, I know enough, right? But one more. Blueberry grain-free pancakes for Sunday breakfast, made with almond flour. The recipe didn't call for blueberries, but I had some left over from the scones, so had to do it! Yum yum. Served with some chopped strawberries and pure maple syrup. 

So now you know what I did for a good part of the weekend. What did you do??

Amazing-town homemade blizzard

I came across this recipe a week or so ago. It's from Angela Liddon, who blogs at Oh She Glows about healthy living. She also creates tonnes of vegan recipes -- I've tried a few, not because I'm vegan, but because they are delicious, the no animal products is just a bonus in my opinion.

I recently made her Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch "Blizzard" -- and well, here I am blogging about it because it was that good. I feel the need to spread the word further. Dairy Queen has nothing on this -- and it's also gluten-free, seriously it doesn't get better. Try it!

Source - Oh She Glows

Weekend recap

We've all had weekends where we felt productive, right? This weekend was one of those for me.

On Saturday I had a great day of catching up with a couple friends that I haven't seen in a while. Lunch with B was lovely and dinner and movie with R was equally great. In a city where I have no family it is beyond comforting to know that I have such a great family of friends.

Today was a great day and I barely left the house. For me, stress, or what my brains notes as chaos, presents itself when things aren't in order. I love and feel comforted when everything in my home is in its place. During the week, chaos generally ensues and sometimes I don't always have the time on the weekend to tidy up, but this weekend I did -- I had an entire day (and a bit of time on Saturday too), I accomplished a lot!

• Filed my taxes
• Paid all my outstanding bills
• Cleaned up every room in the house and removed and put away everything that didn't belong or that was out of place
• Ironed a pile of clothes that might have been hanging around and slowly growing for literally weeks (i.e., more than a month)
• Tidied and cleaned the kitchen - the most chaos reducing part of it all! The only thing I could have done more would have been to remove everything from the pantry cupboard and reorganize it
• Cleaned the bathrooms
• Vacuumed the entire house
• Cleaned the hard-surfaced floors
• Did 7 loads of laundry! Clothes, bed sheets, and some other odd and ends that needed a run through the washer
• Bought groceries for the week

Ahhhh... chaos reduced! All it took was a whole day (and a bit) of work. Granted this isn't possible every weekend, but it always feels good when I do have the time.

On the agenda for next weekend: school supplies shopping! Woohoo! I'm starting my 2-year part-time program for Registered Holistic Nutrition on Wednesday, March 23rd. So excited!!! Also next weekend is the BF's birthday, so will have to make some plans for that as well! Good times ahead. Now just to get through these next 5 days in between...

Happy week, all!