Let them eat cake!! And other treats... without getting big as a house

Me and the hubby are back, full force, on our Weston Price nutritional plan. However, this month we've taken it a full step further and are following Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution for 30 days. It's two weeks in and B has already lost 11 pounds and I've lost 6 lbs. As previously discussed, we put this weight back on vis-a-vis the Yo-Yo diet bender that landed us in French Polynesia stuffing ourselves with a daily loaf of French bread and pots of creme brulee. And these little piggies jiggled their way all the way home...

On Paleo, similar to the Weston Price plan, we have experienced: weight loss, decreased joint pain, less bloating, no gastroinstestinal problems, more bowel regularity, clearer skin, more energy, not a ton of cravings and my allergies have improved! There are a lot of benefits, all of which are predicted by Robb Wolf in his book The Paleo Solution. I hadn't seen my trainer for couple weeks since vacation and he was staring at me in confusion (since it had only been 2 weeks and I work out every week). He asked, "How much weight have you lost since I last saw you?" 6 lbs! Apparently you can really see it in my face. Don't get me wrong, I'm not actually dealing with any real weight problems, but these small changes are obvious and I feel better. My trainer said, "Just goes to show-- it's all diet." This was a little reference to the fact that I have consistently worked out and not seen a huge difference, until I stopped eating candy (stop the presses! shocker! not eating candy improves chances for weight loss!)

Today's post is just to give me a bookmark for some of the treats I've been making. Some of these treats are not approved for first 30 days of Paleo Solution (or by Robb Wolf in general), but they are still a far cry from Betty Crocker, and fit within Weston Price guidelines (except for the Truvia... but I usually use raw, unrefined, green stevia). I know that any of these sweeteners, including artificial, are the cause of most problems, but I'm trying to find a balance between rigid dietary guidelines and taking in the sweet things in life (metaphorically and literally).

This week's delicious desserts:

Melon "Sorbet" (<-- full recipe here)

This one is solidly paleo (don't add sugar!). The weekend was really hot and we were dying for ice cream, but we can't have any... so we were desperate and when there's a will, there's a way. I had a really ripe cantaloupe, I cubed it, stuck the cubes in the freezer (in a bag); when frozen I tossed cubes in food processor (blender would work too), added a touch of coconut milk to get some good quality fat in it (and a creamy texture), I pureed it and Voila-- ice cream!! It didn't need sugar, or stevia because the cantaloupe was so ripe. This would work with other melons too. 

Sugarless, Non-dairy Cantaloupe "Ice Cream"

Chocolate "Cake" with Chocolate "Pudding" Frosting (<--full recipes in links)

We had a friend come by for dinner the other night and I decided to make a dessert of pudding to follow our very paleo dinner. Then today, it was a friend's b-day and I wanted to make her a cake! I know she's health conscious, so I thought it should be a guilt free treat (guilt on one's birthday sucks). Ok, well this "pudding frosted cake" requires a leap of faith, and some imagination to enjoy... although it is quite good in its own right, and is deceptively chocolate-cakey, it doesn't hold a candle to Betty Crocker. Let's get real. I see all these paleo/gluten free blogs saying: my black bean brownies and my avocado chocolate pudding are tasting better than the traditional, "the best ever" but seriously?? Denial is not a river in Egypt. This is yummy, but let's stay realistic-- there's no sugar and no flour and no dairy! That said, it's pretty good for you, and I am willing to argue that if you run a cost benefit analysis on health benefits between this versus Betty Crocker, this one would win in nutrients and therefor: flavor! The flavor experience of mainstream chocolate cake is just not worth the long term losses to health. See Robb Wolf's blog discussions on insulin intolerance (here's one of many) to fully understand why you have a persistent muffin top and feel crummy and tired.

The cake recipe is in the link above, and the frosting is actually the recipe for chocolate avocado pudding that I thought would be a great stand in for frosting (can you believe the cake in the picture is covered in avocado!?) Somehow, eating a whole bowl of this avocado pudding just wasn't what I expected, even though it is quite yummy on it's own; it's better as frosting. As far as the recipes go, I don't use agave; that shit is hype. You're better off using raw honey or even maple syrup for the nutrients, but all of them still give you an insulin hit that will hit the muffin top. Robb Wolf recommends no sweeteners at all, but occasional stevia, and I use the raw green stuff. It's kinda weird and herbal tasting, so for this batch, I used Truvia (which is 0 calories and refined, but tastes great and still reduces the insulin hit). That said, I'm not the poster girl for Truvia... all artificial sweeteners are trouble, just like the rest of the sugars.

Happy Birthday J!

Flourless, Gluten free, Sugarless, Non-dairy "Chocolate Cake"

Container Garden & Drip Irrigation

Today is urban living at its finest. Brian and I have been slowly restoring the house and creating a little hippie-esque sanctuary in our neglected urban neighborhood (that we lovingly call "the hood"). Since my urban granola blog is about revisiting and revitalizing urban life through a sort of hippie and homesteader twist, today I thought I'd show you some surroundings and take the focus off of food. And, I'm here to confirm that a city girl (who regularly wears 4 inch high heels) can install a drip irrigation system for a container garden in one day, by herself.

First off... The Hood. Above is a pic of a wall Elliott Smith posed in front of for an album cover. Obviously vandalized, it is down the street from here and is only one small example of the extensive urban nihilism I'm surrounded by.  Now it's time to create an oasis amid the chaos... 

Let's start with drip irrigation. Below are a couple of how-to videos, and the company DripWorks has an easy to understand how-to PDF on their website. I've been planting herbs (see my last post) and other plants on the deck. It's been overwhelming to stand there with a hose watering 16 pots everyday and I decided that a timer and some plastic tubing could do the work for me. So today I installed 70 feet of drip irrigation on our deck. This was a surprisingly easy project once I got past how daunting I thought it was going to be (note: the difference between reality versus distorted thinking). It required patience to install all the C brackets to hold up the 1/2" mainline and drip extensions, but it only required beginning labor skills... like Tinker Toys for adults. If you can put together Ikea furniture, you have a PhD in building compared to this easy job. The biggest task was understanding the methods and having a clearly laid out plan. So I studied these videos and the Drip Works website. Patti Moreno (Garden Girl) has wonderful tools for Urban Sustainable Gardening...

Just some quick thoughts before you go shopping. I bought all my supplies from a local hardware store. Get to know what you need first, review different drip heads, know the timing for your soil type (slow vs. fast draining), and be prepared with a shopping list. You can buy kits, but most of what I found are too generalized, and you'll need to get your own little details. The basic shopping list for a deck container drip irrigation is:

Spigot

Splitter valve for spigot (I got one with 4 splits, to add another drip line and a hose)

Timer

Backflow device

Filter

Pressure Regulator

Swivel Adapter

1/2" main line pipe

1/2" C fasteners to hold up pipe

Spray paint to match fasteners to your deck paint (if you like a streamlined look)

1/2" corner elbows

1/4" tubing

1/4" barbs (to connect 1/4" to 1/2" mainline)

selected nozzles, or drip heads (my pics below show adjustable heads that allow from 0 gallons per hour up to 10 gph)

The biggest thing I learned for the container gardening drip line is to install a 1/2" main line that surrounds the deck first, then it's super easy to sprout off any variety of 1/4" drip extensions into the containers and hanging planters. It's such big accomplishment, but nobody needs to know how easy it really was. Ha! Here are some pics... 

1/4" drip line extending to pot from 1/2" main line

Potato vine will get huge now!

At sunset, 1/2" main line running beneath mint box

Our oasis...Those curtains are hiding a view of ugly apartment buildings

But within the curtained deck is our little oasis

Miles "The Cheeseburger" Buddha likes his urban oasis

He slept on the couch all day while I installed drip lines

The mint now has its water and I can relax with a Mojito!

Hi My name is Julie and I'm a Carbaholic (Part II): A day in the life of recovery

Well, after the inspiring bitchfest of Part I, who wouldn't want to read Part II!? So, it's been a week since I've gotten back on track. I'm fully following the Weston Price nutritional plan, as advised by my nutritionist, and I'm already feeling more life in me.  In recounting the past eight months off of the plan, while deep in my carb/sugar addiction, I can say without a doubt, that so much of my wellness, sleep, mental health, physical health, and outlook on life is effected by food, and especially too much sugar in my body. But it's not just carbs, quitting sugar or breads, but the balance of proteins, fats and types of food. Already, just a week of morning smoothies with maca, almond butter, and quality grass fed whey has been changing the first half of my day. I'm feeling great! So here's a little window into a day in the life...

Nothing like a ripe banana in my morning smoothie!

I stocked up at the grocery store on organic produce (picked up some gorgeous peonies because they're in season here). I'm even attempting to pay attention to seasonal produce, and found a guide at Field to Plate. I'm trying to keep it simple. Sticking with what's on hand, and getting creative. I have a lot of recipes that I put together while 5 months on My Fitness Pal. I met a lot of amazing friends there, who loved my recipes, so they have been tested. My sundried tomato meatloaf with gorgonzola is a hit! Daily, I'm back to logging my carb-protein ratio, that way I can have mirror on myself. It's a little bit more difficult to deny the Red Vines, when you announce to your friends that you're eating them... didn't eat any this week, though I wouldn't skip enjoying some on free day. Everyone needs a free day. Moderation is my new motto. Anything too extreme, for me, can be like a rubberband pulled too tight. Boomerang!!

Several varieties of mint. It grows like a weed

A few weeks ago I planted more fresh herbs, and have some others that are hanging on from last year's planting. It's urban living here, so I grow the herbs in planters on the deck. This weekend is drip line installation... I found some great resources online to learn about installation. I love these herbs! I've been grabbing the herbs from the garden and trying them out in all sorts of things...from sautes to smoothies. Yesterday I made a pineapple basil protein smoothie. It was so tasty!

Sage with water drops

I've been obsessed with drinks like Mojitos, sans the alcohol. I've been making a watermelon mojito spritzer and a pineapple one... 

Watermelon "Mojito" Spritzer (makes one glass)
Stir together:
Ice
1 organic lime, squeezed
2 tblsp organic fresh mint, torn and crushed
4 ounces crushed watermelon, or watermelon juice
2 ounces sparkling water

Replace watermelon with fresh pineapple juice, to switch it up! Adjust ratios to your liking. Cucumber is nice in these too!

Grass finished steak in raw cultured butter with herbs and peas

I'm so thrilled to have my organic herbs accessible right outside my door, that I'm discovering some new variations on using them. Today for dinner, I grilled a nice grass fed (and grass finished) steak and sauteed herbs in raw cultured butter. I grabbed EVERYTHING, including mint, and garlic, chopped them up finely and made a nice little sauce with fresh peas. I find that this recipe by Nadia G for steak is foolproof if you have no idea how to cook a steak. The balsamic drizzle is pretty amazing too!! Hey, I said my food was healthy, I didn't say it was Kosher! You could replace the butter for some nice organic cold-pressed olive oil and lower the heat when you saute so you don't burn the olive oil.

If you don't believe that steak with a little butter is healthy for you... check out Part I of this blog and notice the lady in the bikini wearing the black hat. She's very healthy, she's almost 40, she ain't fat and she ate cartloads of bacon, red meat, eggs and butter to look this way. Thanks to the Weston Price Foundation eating guidelines she's gorgeous and feeling great! Now that's a day in the life of a recovering carbohydrate addict!


** last note... Just because I spent the past few months eating gummy bears, doesn't mean that I wasn't getting prepared to be back on track. My two favorite discoveries have been these cookbooks. Oh and I absolutely love cooking in one pot-- the Tagine:

Good Meat - Deborah Krasner
Eat Good Food - Bi Rite Market Cook Book 

Hi, my name is Julie and I'm a "Carbaholic" Part 1: Pay the grocer

This post is dedicated to Alexis, who inspired me past my tipping point to write again... Thanks.

Ugh. I need one more of those. Ugh. Let's say it together. Ugh! Carbs. Fucking carbs. Pardon my language, but I mean come on. Carbohydrate consumption has become so pervasive in our big fat society and I'm just one more cow mooing among the masses who's stepped on the wagon train of carb addiction. Where do I begin? Or rather, start over. In the past week I've had several little hints from the "universe" to wake me up from my dim denial that I had entirely fallen off the wagon and (hopefully) "hit bottom." I'm a professional so I think it's ok here if I use some clinical terminology: I relapsed. And I relapsed hard.

Me in Moorea. Could you recover from this? I'm just sayin'...

After our return from Tahiti, I stopped following any of my healthy beliefs (ah the blissful Island of Moorea). Oh, I know, poor me with my uptown problems! But no one ever tells you that when you return to your fast-paced urban life, that you're going to realize what real insanity is. I'd to like to blame this carb addiction on a return from a trip to an island with pure turquoise waters and colorful fish; that my depression upon the loss of that place, that life, was so severe that I spiraled into a pit of Red Vines and Chocolate Covered Gummy Bears... but it is true. At least, that's the point at which all the crappy eating returned, for both Brian and I. It was really difficult to return from almost two weeks of French bread, Cappucinos, white sands and bathwater warm clear seas.... But really, I'm not exaggerating my uptown problem; urban life is difficult...stressful at baseline. It's a far cry from driving circles around a 45 mile circumference island where the only care in the world is a sun hat and not hitting a lazy dog sleeping in the road.

That said, it's an inside job and I can only blame myself for all the candy that I've eaten in the past year. So I'm trying again. A confluence of events led me back to journaling here.... Last week I stood in line at the grocery store with a woman who looked in my cart (chocolate bars, Red Vines, Gushers fruit snacks, crackers, blah blah blah) in actual horror. And it was horrifying. The moment was strange though, because I'm typically surrounded by people with carts as bad as, if not worse, than mine (because our food culture is fundamentally horrid). I'm not alone, but she was only carrying a medication in her hand and that was it. There was a split second of knowing, a shaka-buku wisdom (my trashy food--her meds--something is wrong here, I knew). I smiled at her, looked in my cart and acknowledged her by saying, "Yeah, I know. Terrible." We gabbed about how hard it is to avoid the candy aisle and how all the foods that kids eat (like my Gushers) are so addicting... then she started crying. She told me about her young son's three weeks without a bowel movement and chronic constipation. Despite doctor's interventions, his problems persisted. She felt helpless. I felt less helpless, but sad. Not just sad for her, but sad for me, sad for you, and sad for us.

Why didn't I feel helpless? Because having written this blog, seen my nutritionist and tried something different, I know (despite my cart-full of candy) that there is another way. I told her about my nutritionist, about Weston Price, about the lost food culture of America (that we've lost control of) and that there is another way. She left with some empowerment. Hopefully she will see a nutritionist and a Functional Medicine doctor for her son, rather than just stuffing him with ex lax, Miralax, benefiber... yadda yadda. Solutions sure. Maybe? But not solutions to the actual problem: our children literally don't have access to real "food" anymore.  The milk and cheese (milked from poisoned cows not allowed to eat the grass they thrive on). The bread (too much!). The meat (poisoned, suffering, sick animals). The fish (genetically modified swimming in cesspools). The produce (genetically modified with pesticide in their flesh). We have few sources of food that our bodies don't have to simultaneously detox from while we strain to get nourishment.

The week continued like this, pushing me closer back here... I saw another friend who spoke of her child's constipation and heard further stories of constipation. I received an email saying how appreciated my blog is and that this issue is important. I learned that Walmart will be selling genetically modified fresh corn (without labeling, in the produce section) that has been known to cause organ damage. I see the news about how fat we are, and the advice we're given is skewed. We take laxatives to repair digestive systems that are already so fucked up by the "food" we eat, then we add these chemical problems to functional digestive problems.... and then we go to the doctor. I'm all for doctors; they are healers and miracle workers. But let's help out their already overburdened system... Let's pay the grocer for real food, and not the doctor for desperate solutions.

Is it a floor wax, poison, or a great source of Vitamin C? Experience the Rainbow...

March just blew by without a blog post in sight. Sorry about that. Good news! My readership has doubled from 2 readers, to 4 readers so I'll get to stay in business! Now that I'm not just writing to myself, I had better step up my game. Not likely. But I am happy to catch up on some of my musings and studies.

Yesterday was a disastrous, but enlightening experiment...

As of December, I haven't had any refined sugar, or artificial colors/flavors (in their pure forms). I may have accidentally had this stuff in restaurant food, but I haven't had any candy, cakes or soda pop, etc. that use refined sugar or corn syrup. Sure there's been some maple syrup, and raw, cold-pressed agave syrup in an organic treat now and again, but that's it! Yesterday, Brian and I had our usual weekly free day, but decided we'd really go off rails. I mean, we decided to go NUTZ! If you know this diet, then you know that 7-11 (our local convenient store) is not the place to be purchasing Weston Price approved foods. We were like a couple of recovering drug addicts that just met a free dealer and found out our baby was hit by a bus and there was nothing left to live for. We went off the deep end. Off the deep end these days was an average day in the past: Twizzlers, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, Reeces Peanut Butter Cups AND Sprite... No. 2 Corn (corn syrup) aside, the levels of artificial coloring in those products could kill a large rat.

Well, I'm not a large rat, more like a large monkey (pic below is me, after taking my dose of Skittles), but lemme tell you...I could have DIED today from pain. Before today, I have been glowing. Seriously, no exaggeration, no-tooting-my-own-horn-vanity... Glowing! Strangers have remarked on how healthy I look. I have felt good. good. good. Whatever pain I've felt has been the result of weight lifting and not from toxic sludge in the sewers of my intestines. Not today. Today, I woke up in so much pain. Had it been just me, I would have written it off as a bit of arthritis or tendonitis, but Brian was in pain and he's like the hulk, usually. He doesn't bitch and moan about his aches and pains like I can. I couldn't move my hands. My knees were almost worthless and on fire. And Brian was hobbling around complaining about his knees, too. It's 8:00pm the following day, almost 24 hrs later, and I'm just starting to type without pain. Brian said we hit bottom. All addicts need to know their bottom; sometimes we need to know our edge, to know how far, is far enough. Mark my words-- NEVER will I eat a bag of Skittles again, or Twizzlers, or Sour Patch Kids (but really Skittles are what I ate yesterday). **Hey don't get me wrong-- I LOVE Skittles, I used to eat at least a bag a week, and you should too.**

Skittles. What's in them? The bag claims that they are an excellent source of Vitamin C. Really? They are also an excellent source of No. 2 Corn. The second ingredient is corn syrup, and if you're one of my third grade readers, you know that "corn syrup is bad" and a whole lot of poison on a deep existential, humanitarian, cultural, economic and agricultural level. Apparently, there's also some beef in Skittles (does that mean I get my protein!?), but I'm not sure if it's 100% grass fed. Shucks, my guess is-- not. My guess is there are probably some downer cows in that gelatin, but that's only a personal best guess...

In response to your email regarding SKITTLES BITE SIZE CANDIES. Thanks for your email. The gelatin used in our SKITTLES BITE SIZE CANDIES is derived from beef. The gelatin used in our STARBURST FRUIT CHEWS is also derived from beef with the exception of our STARBURST GUMMIBURSTS where the gelatin is derived from pork. We hope this information is helpful.

Have a great day!

Your Friends at Mars Snackfood US

It must be that beefy gelatin that gives them a nice chewy, floor wax texture. Here is Skittle’s ingredient list, which you cannot find on the psychedelic trip through their website:

Sugar, Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Apple Juice from Concentrate, Less than 2% Citric Acid, Dextrin, Modified Corn Starch, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Coloring (Includes Yellow 6 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 1 Lake, Blue 1), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

I don't see beef, or gelatin, on the ingredient list, so which ingredient is the gelatin? Dextrin? Yes, and after a quick Google search I found out that Dextrin is also great for use in Pyrothechnics! WTF is all this crap? There are EIGHT artificial colorings. Wow. And I was wondering why I felt like I took a dose of poison. I can't compute this. I feel like I need a PhD in Food Engineering to understand what this all means. I'm pretty sure none of this is actually food? I'm truly overwhelmed, so I'm going to just stay focused on the Apple Juice. Thank goodness there is some apple juice in there so I didn't completely poison myself.


**This is a disclaimer statement. The author of this blog has no ill will toward Skittles or Mars Snackfood US**

Wherever you go, there you are: An experiment in getting ethical food in the middle of nowhere!

This blog post will document my effort to maintain our high maintenance, "clean" "conscious," "ethical," healthy eating regime while in the middle of nowhere U.S.A.. Without getting too specific (for the sake of privacy-- what privacy? it's 2011. good point.), I'll just say that my husband and I will be traveling to an unincorporated town in Wisconsin, that's at least four hours from any city that has a Whole Foods. So, in order to put my money where my mouth is, I'm conducting my biggest experiment yet! I'm not going off this nutritional plan; somehow, some way, I'm sustaining it. Even if I have to eat snow and forage for twigs in the forest. The Null Hypothesis of this experiment posits that "it is not possible to sustain a hippie, clean eating, slow food, Non-GMO, ethical diet in the middle of Walmart's middle America without access to a city." My goal as this experiment's Principal Investigator, is to prove that the null hypothesis is bullshit wrong.

I will be updating this blog as the experiment progresses over the next week. It begins in Los Angeles, as I prepare for travels a few days in advance. I think ahead. Hmmm... are there any local farms? There must be. What about CSA programs? Where will I get raw milk? It's dairy land, there must be raw milk somewhere! In my afternoon research, I have found only 4 farms listed and a couple others off the beaten path that sell raw milk. It's dairy land; this is a seriously controversial issue (it's not hippie dairy land California, after all.). Will I drive 6 hrs for milk? I might, just to prove a point that the consumer always has the power. I can't find meat yet. Then I try a search at the very helpful, grass fed site, EatWild and I find a bunch of great farms, but still many hours away. I'll have to research that when I'm actually there and can get a sense of the conditions. In the meantime, I'll support online sellers, to sustain us for the first day or two.

To begin: I have ordered a box of grass finished and pastured meat from U.S. Wellness Meats. I was concerned about shipping issues to this very rural area, where at times overnight shipments have been delayed by days. So I put an e-mail into U.S. Wellness and here's the first exchange I've had in my experiment:

Hi There,

We are ordering this so we have access to high quality meat while we are traveling in Wisconsin. We are hoping to receive this shipment by Friday, Feb 25. If this is not possible, please let us know. We may be willing to pay an increased Fed-Ex charge if that's something you offer.

Thank you for providing great meat products!

Julie
---

Hi Julie,

Thank you for the patronage.

Your order should land in Wisconsin on Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.

No extra Fed Ex charges required.

Sincerely,

John Wood

founding member

"Our animals eat right so you can too!
U.S Wellness Meats
204 E. Lafayette Street
P.O. Box 9
Monticello, MO 63457
URL: www.uswellnessmeats.com
Toll Free: (877) 383-0051
Direct: (573) 767-9060
Fax: (573) 767-5475
YouTube: http://www.grasslandbeef.com/Page.bok?template=video.html

--

Thanks so much John! It means a lot to me and my family that we have access to such great quality meat!

Julie

--

Hi Julie,

Your welcome and thank you for the kind words.

John

--

Well that's a pleasant start to my experiment. Next, I order an organic sampler box from Diamond Organics. Not quite as pleasant. The produce looks gorgeous and they have some quality pasteurized, but non-homogenized milk products. Though not on the "best" list by Weston Price Foundation, they qualify as "good," so that's good enough for this experiment. No trip to a dairy farm will be necessary this phase. The reason it's not so pleasant however: the shipping cost. Yikes! If I wanna be deeply ethical and "green," I'd drop this idea. Shipping distance is about 2,500 miles (talk about not local) and they only ship overnight because the products are perishable. Not only is there airplane fuel involved, the shipping fee was the same cost of the order. Great idea Jules, overnight ship a heavy box of potatoes. I'm exaggerating (only slightly). That said, we will be receiving two boxes of organic, slow food. I'm looking forward to being there for their arrival. Big bunches of Organic Kale right there in Walmart country. Before I bad mouth Walmart too much, they are negotiating changing their model to include more of what I've been talking about. So if you can't drop your first born's tutition on shipping organic to your midwestern home, please have the courtesy to vote for the health of your people, by buying whatever organics they have at Walmart.

Until my next update, here's an *uplifting* video for you and a link to an informative blog about buying organic online if you live truly in the middle of nowhere, go here: http://hubpages.com/hub/--Buy-Organic-Online. Yes, I fall asleep studying this and that's why I've started having dreams about cows.

Trying not to clip my own wings (oh, and a recipe for high protein flax bread. why not?)

It's 1776, and I say to you, "One day a rectangular thing called a 'display screen' will float from my living room wall and show me colorful moving pictures of the world. People will talk to me and the display will be called a 'plasma' display. The display will work because of a solution that consists of millions of phosphor-coated miniature glass bubbles containing plasma. An electric current will flow through the display screen, causing certain plasma-containing bubbles to emit ultraviolet rays, triggering the phosphor coating to produce the proper color (red, green or blue). That's how I will watch pictures on the wall in my home." Remember, it's 1776, oh and then I tell you that "I will write about this topic, on a thing called a 'laptop' which has another type of display, and a thing called a 'keyboard' in which I can communicate with the world and watch these moving pictures in my very own lap, while on my couch."

(The picture is Abigail Adams. In 1776, she was fighting for women getting the right to vote, get an education and not be treated like second class citizens. Had she not been having to fight for archaic bullshit that seems like basic humanity, she might have been dreaming of a plasma tv)

This idea probably would have landed like a fart in church... 1776, a time when the Declaration of Independence was drafted in ink and electricity wasn't due to fully hit the suburbs of wealthy industrial countries until the early 1900s- 125 years later. 100 years later, I'm watching my old school plasma tv and typing this on my laptop. So what's my point? My point is that the unimaginable must be, and is always possible. Had I told you about my plasma tv in 1776, you would have told me to fuck off, in a slightly British accent you may have said, "Please do fuck off." I would have felt dismayed, because it was only some intuition and a dream I had, a slight glimpse of possibility, but nothing close to reality of a modern 1776 lifestyle. That kind of dismay sucks and is present now- everywhere. You've been there-- shot down by your own fear, or by another. Hey, don't misunderstand me I'm not some magical thinking, cupcakes and rainbows dreamer. As proof, I worked at UCLA for many years in a scientific research program, and we conducted blockbuster, big money science-- no cutsie pseudo science. So I'm the first person to fall prey to, and advocate, what's called healthy skepticism. I think skepticism is very important for survival. So much so that I openly offer a YouTube video to teach you how to be a skeptic.



All that said, why am I writing about this topic? It's because at any given moment, I can fall prey to my own personal skepticism (read: self-doubt), and my own fears about possibilities. I'm not trying to invent a plasma television, I'm just trying to invent a yummier high protein bread, have a little faith in my own goals (which I've got a laundry list of) and not clip my own wings. I've come to think lately, that for reaching some of my goals I'm just going to shut the skeptic off. I'm trying not to clip my own wings, but today was tougher than others. Rather than fully immersing myself in finishing a task for a big (hush hush) opportunity I've received, I watched 17 Again on Cinemax and gave myself a headache. It was only a few hours of my mostly productive day, but it was the few hours delegated to the most important thing of my day. If you know me, you know that I've been trained to call this Upper Limiting (it's a form of self-sabotage...to learn about this very helpful concept check out Gay Hendricks). For now, for tonight, I'm done with it! Because the miracle plasma tv exists, so do my dreams.

As for my recent dream... as promised, yummy low carb bread... dreams do come true. You can make sandwiches with this bread, and if you add a bit of cinnamon and sweetener, it makes some damn good low carb french toast. For serious, people.

High Protein Flax Bread
(189 calories per serving, 7g carbs, 10g protein)

DRY INGREDIENTS
2 Cups Organic Golden Flax Meal
1/4 Cup Natural Flavored (unsweetened) Whey Protein Powder (cold processed, grass finished is best)
1 Teaspoon Sea Salt
1 Tablespoon Organic Baking Powder
(Optional 2 tsp of Sweet Tree Coconut Palm Sugar for sweeter uses, like French Toast)
(Optional herbs like Garlic Powder, Thyme, Rosemary for savory uses, like BLT sandwich)

WET INGREDIENTS
1/4 Cup Melted Extra Virgin, Cold Pressed Coconut Oil
1/4 Cup Water
4 Beaten Eggs

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350. Put parchment on a baking sheet. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry, and combine well. Let mixture rest for a few minutes to thicken, and for flax meal to absorb wet ingredients. Pour batter onto pan, spread out and evenly away from the center of pan. Batter should not touch sides of pan, but you can experiment with your own pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the bread springs back when you touch the top, or when the edges are brown.Cool and cut into slices. The result is a pan style flat bread, approx 3/4 of an inch.