Homemade Almond Milk

I make almond milk for my family. My husband has smoothies for breakfast and we're at a season of life where my older three kids have cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, so they use this almond milk.

1 bag raw almonds 12oz
1 gallon purified water
1-2 cups honey

Alternative:
1 handful soaked almonds
1 quart purified water
a couple dashes powdered stevia
blend and strain. Refrigerate.

Soak almonds in purified water with a tablespoon of salt overnight.
Rinse the next morning and make the milk.

Use 1 cup almonds in 4-5 cups purified water. Blend for 90 seconds.
Strain. Repeat.
You can use the leftover almond pulp in baking, just go.ogle "almond pulp recipes"

Real food meals on a budget and snacks

I was talking with a dear friend about budgeting groceries, easy meals and snacks. She wanted the ideas written down, so here they are. I'm sure I won't be able to remember them all now, lol.

I can't afford to buy most things organic at this point in our lives, so I do the best I can. We get meat at Costco and sometimes from farmers. I am able to get some frozen organic vegetables, organic fresh baby carrots and salad at Costco for good prices.
I shop at Aldi for most of my other food. They have great prices and good variety on fruits & veggies. Aldi is a great company and treat their employees well. They have processed foods, but they also have a lot of whole foods. I use their raw almonds to make almond milk. A bag of almonds at $4.29 makes over a gallon of almond milk for my family.

I do meals pretty basic - meat, veggie and sometimes fruit.

Pork loin - cut your own or buy precut. Season to taste. Bake at 350 for 30minutes or until done. Some seasonings could include:  coconut aminos (use in place of soy sauce), honey and garlic for a teriyaki type flavor;  honey;  honey mustard;  crush pork rinds and add taco seasoning (I make my own with cumin, oregano, salt, chili powder and garlic powder), dip pork in crumbs and fry in coconut oil or bacon grease.

Chicken thighs with skin on - sliced mushrooms and wine; honey mustard;  coconut aminos, honey and garlic; salt; kale on the bottom, chicken on top, salt.

Ground pork - cook with italian seasoning and salt for homemade sausage; shred zucchini and turnips and saute, then mix with ground pork, form into patties for Sausage Veggie Burgers; hash - shredded veggies with ground pork and seasonings.

Veggies:  roasted veggies (turnips, carrots, celery, zucchini, yellow squash, etc) - cube and toss with oil and garlic, minced. Roast at 375 for an hour or so; frozen green beans; peas; broccoli, cooked or raw; fresh veggies and hummus.

Snacks:  fruit - apples, clementines, celery with pb, plums, peaches, grapes, mangoes, watermelon, etc.

Dessert/pick me up:  Fat bombs - 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/3 cup honey, 8 oz unsweetened shredded or flaked coconut - blend in food processor or high powered blender. Plop into a lipped plate or pie plate, spread and score into 36 sections. Refrigerate.
Chovocado pudding
Frosty 

Three and a half months later...

It's been three and a half months since our MRT tests and modifying our diets to remove our sensitivities. 

E4 was 17lbs in January and now she is 21lbs 9oz! She started sleeping through the night within a couple weeks of changing our diets. She's very chubby and solid and happy (when she's not acting like a cranky toddler ;). She even has neck rolls that I have to clean out! That was never a problem until the last few weeks!

I'm also feeling better, my stomach isn't hurting when I eat, thanks to some healing with Gastrazyme, my stools are pretty regular/normal, my skin is pretty clear and I feel pretty good. 

It is clear to me that the test was accurate, through the dramatic change in my little lady (whose chubby feet can be seen above). Over 4 1/2lbs in under four months is pretty amazing. She's absorbing nutrients and she is not nursing for 95% of her calories. It's a relief to know what's going on and have her feeling better, with some pressure off of me. Sleep improvements have been quite wonderful, as well.

I have some friends who are doing the MRT testing, I'm looking forward to seeing their results and hope that they get the help they need, as we have. 

Homemade healthy Wendy's Frosty type smoothie

Hen I was sick a couple weeks ago, all I wanted was a frosty. But because of refined sugar and dairy, I couldn't have one from Wendy's. So I asked some friends for help, and my friend, Kristen, showed me a recipe for mousse and said to add ice and blend it.
The first time I made it, I didn't follow the directions and added too much cacao powder, but it was still yummy.
The second time, it was perfect.
The third time, I tried following the recipes use of dates for sweetener, but there were hard pieces.
The forth time, I made up my own recipe, using my experience from the first three times and viola! Delicious!!!

Knockoff Wendy's frosty chocolate smoothie

1 can coconut milk
4-5 Tbsp cacao or cocoa powder
1/2 cup melted honey

Blend well.

Add 2 cups ice (I use the little balled ice from son.ic).

Enjoy.

One month update

I talked with Anne Fischer Silva, of A New Leaf Nutrition, again today, to touch base, so I thought I'd update here.

I can't believe how well we're doing. E4 is eating 50% or more of her calories herself and has put on a pound or so. I haven't weighed her, but she's definitely heavier! She's not having the allergy facial rash and is sleeping very well.
I freaked out a little during the first couple weeks, because we were getting the toxins out of our systems and there was some residual reaction, but once that was gone, things improved immensely. She's regularly sleeping from 7pm-5am, when I nurse her and put her back to bed for an hour or two.

I was sick for a whole week a couple weeks ago, and while I would nurse her, DH was making her pork chops and she was eating almost a whole pork chop at every meal!

We're eating foods off the list I posted a few weeks ago and it's so lovely to have options and variety!

Anne is having me take betaine hydrochloride with pepsin to help with my digestion, which is exactly what I need. My body will get used to making enough of it's own after awhile.

I was just talking with a dear friend, who has been there through this incredibly difficult journey, and she said I should share this - E4 would survive now if I suddenly couldn't breastfeed anymore. She wouldn't be happy about it, but she could.
Two months ago, that was not the case. We are greatly blessed and so happy to have these tests and Anne to help is.

ETA: I weighed E4 today and she's gained 2 pounds in 5 weeks. Amazing. And answers to our prayers for a happy baby.

Gastritis

I had a gastritis attack on Tuesday. I couldn't be vertical for more than about 2-3 minutes before starting to feel like I might hurl, as well as dealing with intense stomach pain that didn't let up until late afternoon/early evening. It feels like labor, only without a break between contractions. I think I'd rather deal with labor. Thankfully, my husband was able to come home early to take care of our family. I was recovered yesterday, with what felt like trapped air in my abdomen, rather painful, but a relief from the day before.
I took three activated charcoal capsules, a cup of slippery elm bark tea and half a cup of marshmallow tea (after spilling almost the whole jar of marshmallow root onto clean dishes) over the day to help absorb whatever toxins or irritants that were in my system. I have no idea what triggered it or why it happened. I'm thinking it must be from detoxing from the foods I'm sensitive to.

I've been noticing over the last 9 days that my stomach is a bit finicky. I can't drink very much while eating or I feel full and uncomfortable. I can't eat a lot at once, either, or my stomach doesn't feel good. I'm currently not feeling very good, because I think I overate, even though I didn't feel full. My theory is my stomach is trying to heal and figuring out exactly how to do that and digest properly, so there are some kinks being worked out after who knows how many years of being damaged.

E4 stopped sleeping well a week ago, but slept through the night again last night! (Praise the Lord!) She's pooping a lot and that's what she does when her tummy is recovering. So, while gross, it's good. I believe she's teething and may have a little cold and thus the not sleeping well the last week. I was afraid the new diet wasn't working afterall, but it seems to just be regular teething woes. I forgot that could happen. :)

Continuing onward!

Week 1 after MRT results

I talked to Anne Fisher Silva last Monday, January 28. E4 & I had ham that evening for dinner and she slept amazing. In fact, she slept much later than she normally does! Tuesday, she was a happy little camper and in a great mood. She's been having detox symptoms all week, cough, diarrhea, rash on the face, general crankiness after the first couple days. She's also teething, so the crankiness could be attributed to that. Tuesday night, after the first full day without our sensitivities being consumed, she went to bed at 7, woke at 1030 coughing, so I nursed her, then went back to sleep until 7!!!am (she has been waking at five for quite awhile to nurse and then will go back to sleep for 30-60 minutes, before being up for the day, usually), I nursed her and then she went BACK TO SLEEP again until 9:45am and was in a wonderful mood! She's NEVER slept that much and that well before. Her little body really needed the rest! She slept right through her morning nap! Wednesday, she was less demanding and crotchety than usual.
I couldn't believe that the changes in our diet could work so quickly, and was very hesitant to get too excited. My friends were rejoicing, though!
Wednesday night, she went to bed and slept until 645, nursed, then went back to sleep until 9 or 10! I was excited, but didn't want to get my hopes up, because I knew, from past experience, that it could fall apart at any moment.
My body was exhausted, even though I was getting much better sleep, so I told Anne about it and she said my body was probably trying to catch up and relaxing from having to be hypervigilant all the time.
I started detoxing the first or second day, lots of bathroom trips. By Thursday, E4's nose had cleared a lot, she has a little bit of snot sometimes, from teething, but not all stuffy like she has been most of her life.
Thursday night, E4 woke at 0245 and fussed a little, but went back to sleep. She woke at 645, nursed and went back to sleep for a couple hours. On Friday, she had red patches on her cheeks, a classic reaction sign for her, and I freaked out a little. Thankfully, I have rational friends who helped calm me down and talk me away from the edge (of going back to what I thought had been working). She was very cranky and didn't know what she wanted, just that she was cranky. I was taking a charcoal capsule every couple days, to help remove the toxins from my body. I emailed Anne, because I was freaking out and asked about my mint toothpaste, mint lotion and mint handsoap. She told me to discontinue use of ALL mint products, so I tried making my own toothpaste. First attempt failed, I can't stand the baking soda taste. Second attempt - successful!
I took another look at E4's MRT test results and noticed that her reaction to fructose was nearing the avoid zone, so I'm wondering if we just need to be really careful how much fruit we consume, since it has fructose in it.
I found something on a website 
that made a lot of sense involving detox and symptoms and die off and I believe this is what was happening with E4 and me. "Many people confuse these symptoms with allergies or food sensitivities within the first two to three days and attempt to stop the healing process before it is concluded and consequently not allowing the first important phase to complete its task to recuperate. The body should allow at least 10 days for the first phase to complete and this can be longer for others who have more severe conditions. "

I felt better after reading that, and decided to stay the course. Afterall, we've tried everything else!
Friday night, I put E4 to bed at the normal time, but she kept waking up. While I was trying to get her to sleep, E3 woke a couple times, crying and saying "ow". I had a bad feeling, so I let E4 out of her woombie to crawl around and play, since she clearly wasn't going back to sleep, and brought E3 to the couch and got her some towels and a bowl. E4 was happy as a little clam, crawling around and eating pork that I'd cut up for her and put in a Snack Trap. Not too long after, E3 threw up. After a few hours, everyone was back to sleep and E3 and I slept on the couches in the living room. I was glad the next day was Saturday. DH took care of the kids in the morning, so I could sleep in a bit. E3 hasn't gotten sick again, but E1 says he doesn't feel good periodically, we'll see what happens.
E4 is doing pretty well now. I gave her a bath with baking soda and epsom salts to help with the detox. Lord willing, she'll be over it soon!

All that to say, I'm pretty impressed with our progress in the first week, and am cautiously optimistic. We're going to be doing the MRT with E3, too, since she still has some food issues and I don't know exactly what they are.