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Beakers? You’re Talking ‘Bout Beakers?

We’ve been in the lab dabbling…

One of the reasons our blog has been a bit slow as of late is because we have been focusing on some other projects.  Some of those have been personal while some are professional.  One of those projects was helping with some business development.  Boy, have we learned a lot.

Our blog staff has a lot of crossover with the folks at Blue Mountains Limited.  They are a small family company.  We have been working with them to help develop their website, smooth out their product listing and streamline a bit.  It’s been great.  In fact, we have been working so closely together, it is kinda tricky to separate our personal work from the business work.  It’s a good problem to have. 

We’ve also had a chance to give input on their product line.  They recently launched their first product, and we think you ought to know about it.  Below is a photo and here is a link to their website and Amazon listing.

The thing we really like about this product is the versatility.  Yeah, they might appear to be just a fancy set of measuring cups.  But they have both novelty and utility.  They are made of borosilicate glass, which is tough.  We were a little leery at first, because the glass seemed so slim. But they have held up to a reasonable amount of abuse.  The kids have used them, in their special kid way, and they have survived unscathed.  They have been dropped, bumped, poked, hit and held up just as well, if not better than all the other tempered glass we have in the kitchen. 

So, not only do they look cool, but we have used them for all kinds of projects.  For whatever reason, our kids have really been into bead projects lately.  We have filled a beaker with beads, put it on the table and the kids have played and created.  I have made my buttered coffee in them with an immersion blender.  We have made mixed drinks in them (hot and cold).  We have made a bunch of homemade salad dressings and sauces in them.  They come with a lid, so we make huge batches of sauce and store it in the fridge.  The handle makes them handy for dipping bone broth out of the crock pot.  We have used them to create our own essential oil mixtures to diffuse.

In other words, they have been really handy tools to have around the house.

Right now, BML is running a Memorial Day Giveaway promotion.  Sign up for a chance to win.  They won’t spam you.  But, they do have some cool stuff they will be sending out in their newsletter soon.  You won’t want to miss it.  We have shared some of our favorite recipes with them and given them permission to post them first.  So don’t miss out on some exclusive info. 

I must say, it has been an honor and a privilege to work with BML.  It has also been humbling.  I’ve been stretched and forced to grow in ways I didn’t know were possible.  When I signed on to help, I had no way of knowing the challenges ahead.  That being said, I have gained a ton of confidence through this entire process. 

In conclusion, I must say a big THANK YOU to the fine folks of BML and to you, our reader.  You both have helped us to grow and become better.  Thanks for all the encouragement!

Have an awesome day!

P.S. – If you purchase a set of beakers, let us know what you think about them.  We’d love to see your photos and learn about the creative ways you might use them.  Use #getoutoftheweeds, #bluemountainslimited, #beakerlife or simply tag us and BML on social media.   Also, don’t forget to leave BML a review on Amazon.  That will help them out a lot.

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Small Changes

I was stuck.

In some ways, I’m still stuck.  But, I think I’ve about worked my way out of the rut.  It was kind of like that Chik-fil-a commercial.  I thought I was in a groove.  Turns out it was a rut. 

I dug this rut while being super focused on one long, drawn out, demanding project.  For whatever reason, I dialed in almost 100% of my mental and physical capacity to accomplishing this one series of things.  It was to the exclusion of being productive in other areas of my life. 

Now, there are times that you have to put your nose to the grindstone and push through whatever it is you have going on.  But I forsook a lot of the things that helped me get to a place where I could grind.  I let my diet slip, I pretty much stopped exercising, and I was not making quality sleep a priority.  Also, I was not being the best husband and father.  That stung the most.  I was not living up to the standard I had set for myself.  My family was paying more of the cost than they should have.

Basically, I was undermining my success by forsaking the basic things that I claim are important to me.

When I realized what was going on, it became obvious what I had to do.  I had to circle back around to the basics.

Now, I had not compromised myself in a day.  Nope.  It was a long, drawn out process where I made a series of small concessions.  A little junk food here, a little slacking off there and pushing a great many things to the back burner.  By the time I realized what was going on, I was more than just fatigued, I was pushing burn out.  I didn’t have enough juice in my battery to turn my engine over.  I was using more and more caffeine to kick start myself.  I knew it was time to reevaluate things when I woke up one morning, drank a cup of coffee in the grouchiest way possible and promptly passed out for 4 more hours.  My family was left there, just blinking, trying to figure out what just happened.

There I was, Mr. You-Can-Be-Healthy-Blogger, not doing a dang thing he encourages others to do.

Maybe you have had times like this too. 

So, what do you do when you are stuck in a rut?

Well, they say Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Neither was my hypocritical situation.  So, I opened up my journal and looked back to the things I did to get my life on track in the first place. 

I kicked things off by writing down five things I was thankful for.  It was a lot harder than it should have been.  I then made a list of all the little things I had let slip.  Rather than beat myself up for being a colossal failure, I chose one thing off that list that I could do that day.  Then I did it.

It was a really small victory.

Next, I challenged myself to do that same small thing consecutively for the rest of the week.

For this effort, I had six more days with a small victory.

I then went to the next improvement on my list.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.

If you are in a rut, don’t get too intimidated by all the stuff you know you need to improve.  Instead, choose one thing you can do today to make things better.  Then go do that thing.  Then do it for a week, then a month, then a year.  Keep winning the small victories.  A small step forward today is better than waiting to take that giant leap tomorrow.  All you have is right now, so you might as well do a small something to make this time better.

All of my success has been predicated on taking small steps.  I’ve not been blessed with enough talent or faculty to be successful my first time out.  It pains my ego to admit that.  But I have been bestowed with more than my fair share of stubbornness.  Rather than use this to be crabby, turning up my nose to the status-quo whilst doing nothing, I attempt to wield it as a tool to garner success.  I ask myself, “What would the best version of me do in this situation?”  Then, I try to do those things.

What is one small thing you can do today?  What does the best version of you look like?  How does that person act?  What would they do, or stop doing today? 

If I can do it, I know you can too.

We can’t wait to hear from you.

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Where the Heck Have You Been?

I’m really sorry about that.

I know I’ve been absent from posting the past few months.  I apologize for that. 

Truth is I’ve been in the weeds.  Life kinda smacked me upside the head.  There was no single culprit to point to.  But, something had to give, and posting new blog posts gave way. 

It has been a difficult season in a lot of ways.  I have had to reapply many of the hard fought lessons that I have written about over the past year.  I have been forced to redefine joy. 

I came to the realization that I am going to continually bear a burden.  I am going to be continually pushing the stone up hill.  I must continually pick up my cross and soldier on. 

It sounds arduous, pointless and hopeless. 

But it really isn’t.

I have discovered that I am a much better person when I have a goal to accomplish.  I’m in a better place when I overcome difficult situations.  I can find joy in bearing my burdens well.

So, I need to start by apologizing to my family.  They had to bear the brunt of my growing pains.  I also apologize to you, especially if you have been reading for a while. 

I have hinted at quite a bit in this short little post, and we will try to shake all that out in the near future.

But, in the meantime, I’m going to take this opportunity to say thank you.  I appreciate everyone who has checked in on us.  Also, I appreciate any and everyone who has read our posts. 

Lastly, I’m excited to soon be sharing with you some of the fruits of this season’s labors.  We have partnered with a company to bring you something new and hopefully super-handy.  We’ll talk more about that later.

So, I’ll leave you with the following question.  It is a question that I have been forced to answer almost daily for the past couple months.  It is a question that has kept me grounded and moving in the right direction.

What are you grateful for?

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Fat Man Slim

You can lose the weight.

At my work, they have been incentivizing folks to get out and participate in a series of local races.  I’ve been trying to send out encouraging and useful messages to those folks who have signed up.  As part of it, I’ve had several folks come up and ask a lot of questions. 

Also, I’ve had folks make a lot of assumptions.

The last myth I busted was about being fat.  One person asked me how long I had been running these races.  They sort of assumed I have been a life-long runner.  Nothing could be farther from the truth. 

I told them I used to be 100 pounds heavier. 

They asked if I lost all the weight by running.

The answer to that questions is no.

The truth is I lost the majority of those 100 pounds while hobbling around with a broken ankle.  Exercise didn’t equate to weight loss for me.  My “secret sauce” was to clean up my diet. 

Basically, I started eating real food and stopped eating junk food.  When I did that, the weight fell off of me. 

It sounds simplistic because it is. 

For me it was less about being physically lazy and more about being mentally lazy.  I knew I shouldn’t have been eating all that sugar and processed crap.  I did it because it was easy and convenient.  Also, junk food is cheap.  I sacrificed my health in the name of saving a few cents. 

Funny thing was, when I dialed in my food, I started having more physical energy.  I started sleeping better, too.  My heartburn issues went away.  Most of my allergic reactions went away.  My digestive issues went away.  Heck, even my back pain went away.

Many folks would look at the way I eat and label it “low carb.”  In broad terms, I suppose they are correct.  But really, I don’t eat a low amount of carbs; I eat an appropriate amount of carbs.  Based on the testing I have done on myself, my body works better when I eat fewer carbs than the average person.  Some people run well on more, but I don’t. 

After I cleaned up my diet and dialed in on the nutrient ratios that made me feel good, I stuck with it.  I did it enough that it is second nature now. 

Unfortunately, many folks who lose weight end up putting it right back on.  I think that is because they forced themselves to do something and eat a certain way that is unnatural for them.  In turn, their body reacted, losing weight.  However, after that, they rebelled, and went right back to being fat, sick and tired. 

What I did was to dial in on a way of eating I could thrive on.  I did that because I didn’t want to be the fat dad who couldn’t keep up with the kids.  I did it because I didn’t want to be the fat husband who was unattractive to his wife.  That’s not the person I wanted to be.  So I did something about it.

There are many blog posts on our site about how I lost the weight and kept it off. 

But, what is more important is that you understand you can lose weight if you want to.  Sure, it is hard work at first, but it gets easier.  It is not complicated to get started and stay on track.  You can do it.  It is worth it.  Your future is worth it.

If you have any questions or just need a little encouragement, let us know.  We want to see you succeed.  Losing all that weight has made my life immeasurably better.  I want you to have that relief, too.

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Vienna’s 5K finish! #first5k #anthem5k #firstrace #louisvillerunners #sherunsthistown (at Louisville, Kentucky)

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5K Race Prep – Don’t Forget to Trim Your Toenails

Cut your toenails right now!

Why? 

Glad you asked…

We are getting stoked for the Anthem 5K coming up this weekend.  There is nothing more we can do from a training standpoint. 

However, there are still a few little things that can be done to get ready for race day.  Here are a few of the things I do to get ready.

1) Trim your toenails now.  I am prone to have foot issues during a race.  I get blisters, hammer toes and every now and then, bloody toes.  There are a handful of things I do to prevent this.  One is walking around outside barefooted as much as possible.  It’s too late for that for this race.  But, I do trim my toenails a couple days before the race.  This gives enough time to recover if I cut one too close.

2) Lay out your race attire the night before.  The last thing you want to do is be fumbling around the morning of the race trying to find the clothes you want to wear.  That is a stressful waste of time.  Instead, get it ready a day before the race. That gives you enough time to do a load of laundry, if you must.

3) Leave an extra layer or change of clothes in the car.  It’s going to be chilly at the start of the race.  If you dress for the start of the race, you’ll find yourself hot and needing to shed a layer shortly after the start.  Rather than carrying that extra layer around, leave it in your car (or room or with a loved one, or wherever).  Embrace the cold.

4) Do your nutrition without stress.  That is to say, I wouldn’t make too big of a fuss about breakfast and race nutrition.   Heck, I’m going to skip breakfast.  For the 5K distance, I do better on an empty stomach.  Also, you shouldn’t need any electrolytes, caffeine or any other kind of gels, goos or other carby fuel to get you through.  But you do you. 

5) Be mentally prepared for high-fives.  This is one of the largest and best supported 5Ks in the nation.  People are everywhere.  And I don’t just mean the racers.  There will be a lot of folks out there cheering you on, too.  If they offer a high-five, take advantage of it.  If they don’t offer a high-five, give one anyway.  Give as many high-fives as possible.  More high-fives = more fun.

And there you have it.  This is the least comprehensive race advice ever given.  But, I bet you didn’t think about your toenails.  Anyway, go out and have fun.  I’ll be looking for you out there.  I’m rooting for you.  I have a high-five with your name on it.

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Her Very First 5K – Who is More Excited?

She thinks she can win.

In fact, she is so confident, she has been asking what her medal will look like. 

The problem is she has never run a 5K before.  When I warned her she was going to have to train for the race, she confidently stated, “I’ll train twice, then I’ll win it.”

I love her confidence.  It really is contagious.  But, little does she know what she is getting into. 

Let’s back this story up to give you a little context.

I need goals to work towards.  For example, I work out, but never really push myself physically, unless I have an event in front of me to prepare for.  I was feeling a little stale at the end of last year, so I decided to sign up for a series of local races.  I did this to get myself in gear and train with a purpose.  I registered for Louisville’s Triple Crown of Running.  The Triple Crown is comprised of a 5K, 10K and 10-mile races spread out through the spring.  They draw huge crowds, are well supported and are fun to run.  Most folks, me included, also sign up for either the Kentucky Derby Marathon or Mini-Marathon.  The Derby race takes you through the iconic Churchill Downs.  The race course is fairly flat, lending itself to a fast race.  I signed up for the Mini. 

My daughter got swept up in the excitement and said she wanted to run the race as well. 

I know without a doubt she can handle the 5K.  So I figured, why not let her in on that one race?  I did place one caveat on the whole thing.  If she can be driven enough to train on her own, I would take her with me to the 5K.  Now, I don’t mean she had to go out by herself to train.  Rather, I wanted her to take the initiative to make training a priority. 

And boy has she.  She constantly wants to go train.

I use “train” loosely.  I could think of nothing more boring to a 5-year-old than a regimented training schedule.  Instead, we just play a lot with the occasional longer walk and jog built in.  I am planning on us walking the whole thing, jogging where she feels like it.  I’m not pushing her to a certain pace or time.  I just want her to experience it and have fun.  No pressure.  So, I have been estimating the time while we play and let her know what to expect.  “Right now we would be about half way done.”  “Right now we could probably see the finish line.”  “Right now you’d be running across the finish.” 

She gets excited by this and plays that much harder. 

To bring this full circle, am I training hard to break my 5K personal record?  No way.  Not even close.  But I am more excited for this 5K than any other I have done.  I am excited my daughter is so excited.  It is going to be harder than she thinks, but I know she can do it.  Perhaps I am excited just to be a part of this experience with her. 

What is a memorable first you had with your kids?  What was something your kids insisted on doing, having no clue what they were signing up for?  Was it fun?

We can’t wait to hear from you.

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Sleep Hacks – 6 Ways I Get a Better Night’s Sleep

Sleep better = live better

There is no doubt a good night’s sleep is a major part of getting the most out of life.  But, it is not always easy to get to sleep, stay asleep or get enough sleep.   I have struggled with getting enough shut-eye lately.  So, I decided tackle this problem head on by (re)trying out a few things. 

Here are 6 things that really help me out when it comes to getting the best sleep I can.

No Blue Screen – Read instead:  It has been suggested the blue light spectrum signals your body that it is daytime and suppresses your natural melatonin production.  Blue light is what you get from your phone, T.V. and other devices.  So, I’ve been shutting off my devices an hour earlier than I used to.  This has given me the opportunity to read, journal or talk with my wife more.  Honestly, I have been going to bed about 30 minutes earlier than I used to by turning off the devices an hour earlier.

Nighttime routine: Routines are just behavior patterns.  I have a morning routine.  By the time I’m done with the routine, I’m fully awake, no coffee needed. (Coffee is still desired though.)  A routine is a signal for your body.  So why not have a routine that ushers in a good night’s sleep?  My wife and kids do this, and it seems to work just fine.  So, I have been copying them, trying to get my own routine dialed in.  It is working.  By the time I’m done, I have no desire to do anything else other than go to bed.

Get your stuff ready for the morning:  This is part of my routine, but deserves a little bit of differentiation.  To make my morning routine as efficient as possible, I lay out my clothes, food and anything else needed for the next day the night before.  I do this to eliminate stress in the morning.  Also, if I have all my stuff laid out, I don’t have to worry about waking anyone else up by fumbling through drawers and closets.  For the sleep side, I can go to bed without the stress of trying to remember everything I’ll need for the next day.

Brain Dump:  I have a lot going through my mind.  I know you do, too.  I have been taking a few minutes and just getting these thoughts out of my brain.  For me, it is random stuff that gets stuck in my head and keeps me from going to sleep.  If I write them down, I create some separation from the thought and won’t forget to explore it later.  My brain seems satisfied enough with this that it’ll allow me go to sleep. 

Get in the bed early:  I can’t sleep in.  That is not to say I couldn’t sleep in, but everything in my house gets up before the sun comes up.  That means I can’t sleep late.  Also, I really like getting up at the same time every day.  There is something peaceful about that.  If I want to get more sleep, I have to go to bed earlier.  If I am honest with myself, I am only productive for about an hour after the kids go to bed, so why stay up later than that?  Sleep is more beneficial than more YouTube or Netflix.  A few years ago, once a month, I made it a point to go to bed when the kids did.  Those were some of the best night’s sleep I have ever had.  I had the benefits of sleeping in, but was still up early.  Going to bed earlier has had no negative side effects.  I think you should try it, too.

Topical Magnesium: This is a spray I put on before I go to bed.  Magnesium has been used as a sleep aid for hundreds of years.  I’m not 100% sure how it works, but it works for me.  When I use it, I get deeper sleep with more vivid dreams.  This means I wake up less often during the night.  For me, that alone is worth using it.  It is said that many folks are deficient in magnesium.  If you are having trouble staying asleep, this may be something you want to try.

Things I’ve tried, but now avoid:

Melatonin:  I have tried a few different natural “sleepy time” products that had added melatonin in it.  I couldn’t tell a major improvement of sleep quality or quantity.  Also, there has been some research which indicates the use of external melatonin causes your body to produce less in response.  This means that after a short period of time, you can’t go to sleep at all without exogenous melatonin.  I don’t want that to happen to me. 

OTC sleep aids (Night Ibuprofen for example): I have taken these in the past to help me fall asleep when I didn’t think I could.  For example, I have taken this right before long plane flights across the country.  I have taken nighttime ibuprofen with some good effect after long races or other sustained efforts that left me beat up, drained yet unable to go to sleep.  It kept some inflammation down, took the edge off some soreness and helped me to fall asleep.  I know those cases are because of hormone imbalances.  Those are rare exceptions.  The problem for me is that it is hard to wake up after I take an OTC sleep aid.  Even if taken at night, I struggle to get going the next morning.  I have never awakened after taking a sleep aid and said, “Wow! I feel refreshed!” 

Alcohol: Alcohol is a depressant, so in theory it should help you go to sleep, right?  That doesn’t seem to be the case for me.  In fact, I feel more energetic when I consume alcohol.  In addition, I just don’t get good quality sleep after consuming it.  In fact, I know if I consume alcohol right before bed I will wake up more often during the night, I won’t sleep as long and I will most likely awake still feeling tired. 

Herbal Tea and other warm decaffeinated beverages:  I figured I would sleep better if I got some warm liquids in me.  This has been a home remedy for thousands of years.  The problem is that it simply doesn’t work on me.  It seems that any liquid I take in before bed is destined to keep me awake until I empty my bladder.  This might work better if I had better timing.  But as of right now, it doesn’t help at all.

Travel Sleep hacks:

Use a sleep mask:  I have trouble sleeping if there is light in the room.  My ideal sleep spot would be deep in a cave somewhere without any electricity.  Every hotel room I have ever stayed in is flooded with light.  The curtains always let a sliver of light through, the T.V. and microwave always have a light on and the smoke detector flashes at me all night long.  To combat this, I pull out my trusty buff and wear it like a blindfold.  This helps me get to sleep despite all the light pollution in the room. 

Drop the temperature of the room:  In order to simulate my ideal cave sleep room, I drop the temp of the room down before I go to sleep.  I make sure that it is cold enough to need the blanket that is on the bed.  If I don’t, I just can’t stay at sleep. 

Ear Plugs:  Along with the light pollution, there is a ton of noise pollution at hotels as well.  I can hear the road, the kids upstairs, the T.V. in the next room and the stairwell door slamming shut over and over again.  To combat this, I use foam earplugs.  The foam ones are soft enough not to hurt if I sleep on my side.  Also, foam plugs tend to have the best noise reduction rate. 

Keep my schedule the same as when I am at home:  I travel across time zones a lot.  But, if I am going to be out for less than a week, I try to keep my schedule on Eastern Time, just like I would be at home.  This way, I am not completely thrown out-of-whack in a couple days. 

In conclusion, sleep is important.  Get enough of it.  There are folks out there that can thrive on a few hours’ sleep.  They are the exception to the rule.  Make sure you are getting the amount you need.  If you need better sleep, give these tips and tricks a try.  If you try one (or all) of them, let us know how it worked for you. 

We can’t wait to hear from you.

[getoutoftheweeds-blog]

What Are You Really Saying? – Is it Possible to Get Better at Communication?

She just doesn’t get it… and that’s my fault.

There is a big emphasis these days on being a good listener.  And rightfully so.  A primary driver to trust is the feeling of being listened to.  A good listener collects many more data points than just the words being said.  There are body language and linguistic clues peppered into all conversations that point towards the overarching meaning of the conversation.  I’d go so far as to say that being willing to listen is almost as good as being a full on active listener in the eyes of the one doing the talking. 

Yet, collectively, we are really bad at listening.

It is way too easy to block out unpleasant messages and feed ourselves a steady diet of the things we want to hear and see.  Heck, social sites pattern your likes so that they can only feed you things you are interested in.  They dare not offend your sensibilities, because that may cost them money.  I feel like this feeds the perception that we live in a divided and divisive world. 

But what if that wasn’t an accurate premise?  What if we live in a day in time that is far better than anything throughout our history? 

I think we live in a great time in history.  It is by no means an easy time, but I think it is about as good as it can get…for the moment.  But I can’t prove this. 

I can prove that the overarching message being communicated with us is a negative one.  If you look online or on-air, everything has a negative spin.  I understand why.  Human beings are captivated with trouble, struggle and despair.  We are drawn to it like a magnet.  Our news broadcasts are tragedy reports.  Our political coverage is all about who is going to suffer because of it.  There is no sober exchange of ideas.  Even if there were, we wouldn’t be interested in it.  We want things juicy and salacious. 

Maybe this is because we have it too easy.  Maybe this is because we are boring.  Maybe it is just the way it is.  But, I can’t have a discussion with my wife the same way they do on the 24-hour news cycle.  When we argue that way, we inevitably end up hurt, angry and nowhere near the compromise we need to make.  We get more entrenched in our own ideas and cling to them more tightly than the idea of building something better. 

This is a feeling that I have way more often than I like at admit.  Truth is, there is burden for communication on the teller just as much as the listener. 

What I mean is, if I am going to come to a compromise with someone, I have to articulate my points in a way that they can understand.  If they want to help me be constructive, they can acknowledge my points and counter appropriately.  In the end, we look for the outcome that is best for both of us.

We all know this. 

We just don’t like to act like we know this.  Well, I don’t anyway.  Sometimes, in a heated argument, I try to win more than I try to work it out.  I get defensive and fall prey to my fears.  Because of this I build walls.  The problem with building walls is that by the time I’m done creating a sufficient enough structure to protect myself, I’m in isolation and I can’t get out.  Instead of building a fort, I build a prison. 

That’s not healthy. 

It’s in no way beneficial either.

So, I have to keep true to the goals of my family.  I have to strive for them, knowing that I need my wife and kids to come alongside me.  What is the point of arriving at the goal broken and pissed-off at my family? 

I don’t have a great closing for this post.  I’m just processing my failures.  I recognize where I am falling short and doing everything I can to take responsibility for the things I can control and make all our lives better. 

How would true communication benefit your family?  What can you do to help yourself be a better communicator?

I can’t wait to hear from you.

[getoutoftheweeds-blog]

Self-Neglect and Self-Love

I have some hard questions for you. 

Let me start by clarifying a few things.  First of all, when I say health in these questions, I mean the total package of nutritional, physical, mental and emotional health.  Second, these questions are serious and should not be treated lightly.  Third, you need to write your answers down. 

Let’s start with a few questions that clarify the potentially hellish outcomes first:

How much does it cost to neglect your health?

If you don’t make the changes you know you should make, what will your life look like a year from now?  How about 5 years or 10 years?

Who will really be paying for your self-neglect?  Your kids?  Your significant other?  Your future?

Next, let’s tackle a few questions that illuminate a potentially higher path:

What does a whole and healthy you look like?

What would a healthy version of you do right now to make things better?

How would the healthiest version of you overcome the obstacles which you know are limiting your potential?

Who can help you along the way?

These are hard questions to answer.  I have forced myself to answer these over and over again in order to try to be the best person I can be. 

You know what?  I fail to reach my potential way more often than not.  So, I’m not sitting on my high-horse, looking down at you with all the answers.  No, I’m covered in life’s crap.  I’m just coming along to tell you that it is worth answering these questions.

There is a Biblical principal which commands to love your neighbor as yourself.  Almost everyone is familiar with this notion, whether they consider themselves religious or not.  It is almost universally understood.  We can boil it down to “The Golden Rule” of treating others the way we want to be treated. 

But what does it really mean to love yourself?  Do you love yourself if you are doing things you know you shouldn’t be doing?  Do you love yourself if you don’t live up to your potential?  Do you love yourself if you don’t take responsibility for the things going on in your life?  Do you love those around you if you aren’t being the best you that you can be?

I don’t know that there are universal answers to my questions.  I do know that my life seems better when I am striving to make it better.

So, if you want to do something to make things in your life better today, take some time to answer these questions.  When I did, it was like a cloud lifted and I could see how I was actually living my life.  It afforded me the opportunity to turn off the auto-pilot and take control of my life. 

If you have any tips or tricks for really loving yourself, life and those around you, please leave us a comment.  We’d love to hear what you have to say.

[getoutoftheweeds-blog]

Parenting Through Tantrums, Injuries and Stories

Experience is the best teacher.

For example, let’s say your five-year-old throws a tantrum in the car, screaming and writhing with contempt for being told “no.”  Let’s say she then, in overly dramatic fashion, attempts to slam the car door with force as a display of the astronomical level of anger she is experiencing.  But, in the course of slamming said door, forgets to remove her other hand, thus slamming a finger or thumb. 

First of all, you have to render aid.  That’s just the right thing to do.

Second, milk the situation to get the maximum level of object lesson you can get out of it.  This is a cause and effect illustration that should be used.

Here is a sample conversation:

5yo: “My thumb still hurts.”

Parent: “I’m sorry.  You see how letting yourself get out of control can hurt more than just your finger?”

5yo: “I want to go swimming.”

Parent: “I’m sorry Dear.  The doctor said no swimming until you’re completely healed.”

5yo: “But I want tooooooo…”

Parent: “Be careful there.  Last time you got all worked up you got hurt.” 

5yo: “But Iiii waaaant tooooo….”

Other Parent from another room: “Hold on, Honey, I’ll get the first aid kit.  It sounds like we have another fit coming on.”

I’m just kidding, ok.

In all seriousness, there are some things our kids just have to experience.  They have to learn how to deal with the consequences of their decisions.  It stinks, but it is reality.  As a parent, I’d like to sanitize the world so nothing bad happens to my kids.  Also, I’d like to sanitize my kids so they don’t embarrass me.

But kids aren’t robots.  They are not programmable. You can’t set them and forget them.  That means that they have to have the freedom to make decisions.  They also need freedom to make things right on their own. 

Now, I’m not saying to be totally hands-off.  But I am saying that hovering and aggressively nudging them to the outcomes I, the parent, want will backfire in the long run. 

My kids have a good heart.  They really do.  But it is taking quite a bit of effort to get the point through that the whole world doesn’t revolve around them.  It is just hard for them to understand.  That is how they develop.  They first explore the home, then the yard, then the neighborhood, then the town, and so on.  They keep circling back to the parents because they are safe.  But, they also hold the parents ultimately responsible when something in their little world is off.  I mean, who else are they going to complain to?  While obvious to us adults that they are not the center of the universe, they have no paradigm for anything different. 

Despite all this, I have found an (often) effective way to talk to my daughter about this injury.  It is much easier to get the point across when I tell her stories about me messing things up when I was a kid.  She’ll ask me why I did what I did.  And I’ll tell her about the lessons I learned through my mistakes. 

I don’t think this strategy is going to work as well on my son.  But, I’ll have to figure that one out as he develops more. 

I’m not sure I really have an overarching point to this post.  I think this is more of a reminder to myself that parenting is hard work, but it is the best job in the world.  Also, this is a reminder that my little ones, while nasty and mean sometimes, have no clue about life or getting along in the world.  It is also more and more obvious that bad choices don’t make for a bad person.  Instead, they make for an opportunity to make things better or right. 

In fact, I really had no idea about the world until I had kids.  So, while lessons like this stink on multiple levels, it is a chance for me to become a better person and a better parent. 

I should thank God for unruly, selfish, stubborn little kids.  Without them, I would have no idea that I am the exact same way.  I’ve just learned to hide it better in public.  They offer me many chances to actually grow and get better.  Maybe they are training me.  Maybe we can grow together. 

I’m curious, what lessons have you learned from your kids?

[getoutoftheweeds-blog]

Ten Ways to Survive an Elimination Diet

Do you want to try an elimination diet, like Whole 30?  Did you fall off the wagon?  Do you want some help making it through?  If so, this list is for you.  Reflecting back on the Whole 30 I just completed, these 10 things made it possible for me to make it through. 

1.       Get Your Groceries together before you start.

One of the best ways to set yourself up for success is to get your fridge, pantry and menu squared away before you get started.  One of the biggest gut checks you will hit is what to eat when you have nothing to eat.  Eliminate failure by stocking up on “compliant food” before you get started.  Also, have a plan in place for what you are going to snack on and how you are going to handle eating out.  That will go a long way in helping you to stay on the path.

2.       Embrace avocados and coconut.

I’m pretty sure you could survive indefinitely on just avocados and coconut.  Granted, avocado and coconut are not everyone’s thing.  But, the products made from these two things are about as simple as they come.  For instance, coconut oil and avocado oil are both great choices for cooking, finishing and dressing.  Coconut milk makes an awesome dairy replacement.  Smash up an avocado, add a little salt and you have an awesome mayo replacement.  Coconut aminos are an awesome soy sauce replacement.  Both are delicious cooked and raw.  Avocados and coconut both stand on their own and make great additions to other recipes.  Both are good with bacon.  There is a huge (and growing) list of products made from coconut and avocado.

3.       Eat at home as much as possible.

Eating out was the hardest thing for me while doing an elimination diet.  If at all possible, avoid eating at restaurants.  This is because it gets old having to ask about all the ingredients that aren’t on the menu.  What kind of oil is it cooked in?  What is in the side dishes?  What is in the salad dressing?  Can you swap this for that and cook it in clarified butter?  Is your olive oil 100% olive oil?  Where did it come from?  …I think you get the point…

When you cook at home, you eliminate all these variables.  At home, you are in 100% control of all aspects of the meal.  For me, it is much less stressful to try to tackle an elimination diet this way. 

If you miss the social aspect of eating out, just invite those people over.  You take care of the meal and let them come enjoy the time together.

4.       Get the whole family involved.

This is easy to say, but hard to execute.  But, if you, as the responsible adult you are, have gotten rid of all the junk food, your family is more or less forced to participate.  If your kids are young, this is easy enough.  If your kids are old enough to argue about it, they are not going to like it.  That’s ok.  They are resilient and will eventually come around to the way things are now. 

Your spouse may be a harder sell.  It is best to get them on board from the get go.  If they don’t want to participate, at least get them to agree to help you have the best possible outcome.  If they must eat junk, let them.  All we ask is that they don’t eat it in front of us, that they speak in positive, supportive ways about what we are doing and they don’t purposely (or passive-aggressively) try to make us stumble.  I want my spouse to have the best life possible, don’t you?  Are you willing to help me reach this goal?  It is only for a month (or however long). 

5.       Chill out.

You will question your sanity and perseverance while doing an elimination diet.  That is normal.  I try to keep some daily reminders and encouragement in front of me.  For example, when I agreed to do the Whole 30 with my family, I made it a point to stay in contact with my brother.  He not only held me accountable, but also helped me get out of a rut.  He is a great reminder of why I was doing it in the first place. 

Also, the diet shouldn’t be the only thing you talk about, think about and be about.  The point is to enhance your life, not consume your life.  We like to talk about it... but wait for someone else to bring it up.  Also, just politely decline offers for “non-compliant” food. Don’t make a scene.  Just be an awesome you.  The elimination diet is something you are doing, it is not who you are.

6.       Up your DIY snack game.

When it comes to snacks on an elimination diet, you can choose two of these three things: Cheap, Compliant, Tasty.  You will not be able to get all three from anything you buy.

However, you can make your own snacks at home that achieve all three and then some. 

Homemade jerky is easy.  Homemade kale chips are easy.  Homemade veggies and dip, super easy.  Homemade veggie chips, easy.  There are hundreds more options for homemade snacks.  Most can be made for a fraction of the price of what you will pay for comparable items at the store.  You have total control over the ingredients, so nothing is snuck in that you don’t really want to be eating.  Basically the only thing you lose by making these things at home is shelf-life.  Trust me, your homemade snacks won’t need to last a month.  You’ll gobble them up long before then. 

7.       Electrolytes – take more of them.

If your elimination diet has you dialing back the carbs, you may need to take in more electrolytes.  As you eat more natural food and stop putting junk food in your craw, you will drastically slash your salt and electrolyte intake.  While that is not necessarily a bad thing, it does come with some consequences.  For me, those were cramping, muscle spasms and fatigue.  So, it is a good idea to have some “compliant” electrolytes on hand.  You can buy these, but you can also achieve the same goal by adding a pinch of salt to you water.  I found those little salt packets (you know, the ones you get from fast food restaurants) are the perfect amount for a bottle of water.  You can also chug pickle juice.  It’s surprisingly refreshing. 

A good homemade electrolyte mix looks like this:

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon of salt (provides both sodium and chloride)

 1 to 3 Tablespoons of Lemon juice (Citrus juice is natural source of potassium)

1 teaspoon Calcium Magnesium powder (You can find these at almost any “natural food” store, also easily found online. It is not expensive.)

Coconut water

Directions:  Mix it all together and drink. 

Just so you know, straight up coconut water has a lot of sugar in it.  If you are watching your sugar intake, add an ounce or two and top it off with plain old water.  If you want to flavor your drink, add some tea (my favorite), kombucha or even a tablespoon of juice (fresh squeezed, if at all possible).

8.       Fermented food – eat more of it.

You all know about the importance of probiotics.  Rather than hash all that out again, just know that you can eat food that accomplished the same goal as the probiotic pills.  For me, I would rather eat sauerkraut, kimchi or pickles than take a pill.  I like eating fermented food better because it is more satiating.  You can make fermented food at home easily enough.  Also, fermented food is readily available at almost every store.  My favorite fermented food is kombucha.  Check out this article about making kombucha at home.

9.       Eat enough.

There will come a time in your elimination protocol where you are hungry enough to think about giving up.  Don’t do that.  Especially early on, make sure you are eating enough.  Don’t be afraid to eat more than one salad, extra servings of veggies or even an extra helping of everything.  The point of an elimination diet is to stop eating food that is slowly poisoning your body and to figure out what foods your body runs best on.  The point is not to lose weight.  Eat enough so that you can stay in the game. 

10.   Get off your butt.

This has a double meaning.  The first is to move more.  Even if you exercise all the time, I bet you can find a way to get even more active.  This doesn’t necessarily mean working out more.  This means walking more by parking farther away, pacing while on the phone and taking the stairs.  This means walking to the corner store rather than drive.  This means take your bike instead of the car.  This means a post dinner stroll with the family instead of screen time.  This is obvious.

The less obvious implication is to not get consumed by your elimination diet.  Don’t wallow in it.  You are to be a person who figured out how to best fuel yourself to live the best life possible.  You are not a person who eats a certain way to be trendy or cool.  You are not a food evangelist who tells others what they should be doing.  While you will have some profound discoveries and insight into your life while doing it, your elimination is not all of life.  Use it to enhance where you are going in life.  Use it to propel you towards your goals.  The elimination diet is a tool which you will use (maybe repeatedly) to make your life, and the lives of those around you, better.

And there you have it.  These ten things will certainly help you make it through your elimination diet. 

Now, I need some answers from you…

Have you ever tried an elimination diet?  If so, what did you learn from it?  What tips and advice do you have to give?

Are you planning on trying an elimination diet soon?  If so, what do you think your biggest challenge will be?  What do you know you need in order to stay on track?

We can’t wait to hear from you!

[getoutoftheweeds-blog]

Why I Don’t Drink Milk and Why You Should Consider Abstaining, Too

Post Whole 30 Food Intolerance Test – Dairy

Stop acting like a baby.

WARNING:  Before I get started, I’m cautioning you that dairy is a hotly debated topic.  It has caused many a political, nutritional and scientific firestorm.  Some family members won’t talk to each other about this topic because of the divisiveness.  There are major debates going on right now at state capitols, in Washington and in homes all over the country over some of the things I mention today.  Also, there is a large and growing body of evidence both for and against some of the information I will present to you today.  I’m neither a scientist nor certified nutritionist.  I’m just a regular person who has done a lot of research to try to figure out if I should be eating dairy and if I should be feeding it to my family.  I’m not claiming to be an expert or to have all my facts totally sorted out.  Some of your buttons will be pushed today.  Consider yourself warned.

On to the topic at hand.

Let’s start out in the wild.  Mammals grow and sustain their young on milk.  If you observe nature, all mammals have a weaning point.  We humans seem to be the only species that consume milk past our infancy.  Have you ever seen a full-grown cow suckling milk?  Perhaps this is a sign that milk consumption after a certain age is no longer advantageous.  However, human adults are major milk consumers.  Is that good or bad?  I don’t know, but there are some compelling reasons both for and against dairy consumption.

Dairy was the first thing I tried coming off of during my Whole 30.  I love dairy.  Well, I don’t love all of dairy.  I love cheese, butter and cream.  I’ll even dabble in yogurt every now and then.  But, I could probably go the rest of my life without drinking a glass of milk and not think anything about it.  I don’t hate milk.  I just don’t have any desire for it.  I love the things that are made from it though.  I thought this idiosyncrasy was interesting, so I decided to figure out why. 

You could make a strong point that milk is perhaps the perfect food.  It contains the optimal ratio of fat, protein and carbohydrates to grow little-bitty mammals into great big beasts.  In fact, there is no better nutrition source for newborns, humans included.  Indeed, there are many campaigns out there designed to convince us that milk is one of the healthiest things we can put in our body.  (Got Milk?)  Just last night I saw a commercial about how chocolate milk is one of the best post-workout drinks around.  I don’t necessarily disagree with that.  But I don’t totally agree either.

If milk were so perfect, how come a lot of people struggle with dairy? 

To me, this is a really complicated question.  On one hand, there is the individual stuff, ingredients if you will, that make up milk.  On the other hand, there is milk as a whole entity. 

When it comes to the ingredients, there are two different things folks tend to struggle with. 

First, there is the whey protein.  Not everyone can digest whey well.  Have you ever noticed how bad your farts are after chugging a protein shake?  That is in part to the whey not getting broken down correctly.  Your body has a limit as to how much of this protein it can process at one time.  The undigested stuff gets passed along your system, later fermenting in your bowels.  Depending on the health of your gut, you may not handle it well.  Also, undigested or partially digested proteins can stimulate an auto-immune response in some people. 

Second, there is the lactose.  Lactose is milk sugar.  Just like with the whey, not everyone can digest lactose well.  In fact, when I was a kid, I was lactose-intolerant.  This is very common.  However, this lactose is part of what makes dairy irresistible to some people.  It is checking off a lot of the same boxes in your brain that sugar and opiates do.  Also, gut bacteria thrives off of this stuff.  Those bacteria can send your brain chemical signals to desire more.  I suspect this is a big reason why I love dairy so much.  I’m addicted to it. 

You should also know that both the whey and the lactose have the ability to spike your blood-sugar levels.  So, if you are watching your carb intake, you don’t get a free pass with dairy.  You might want to avoid whole dairy products.  It’ll bump you right out of ketosis, if that is your goal.

The fat in dairy seems to be some of the most nutritious fat you can get your hands on, with one major caveat.  That caveat is fat is the body’s storehouse for certain things.  For example, there are measurable amounts of antibiotics, growth hormones, and pesticides found in conventional dairy fat. 

These reasons are why a lot of folks choose to buy organic milk.  Organic dairy fat just has less crap in it.  This is precisely why we buy organic butter, cheese and cream.  All three of which are almost purely milk fat.  In fact, the very first dairy food I tried after my Whole 30 was butter.  I had no negative side effects.  Yay.

That being said, organic dairy doesn’t get a free pass either.  While, the cows have better diets, are given less antibiotics and no growth hormone, there is still something deleterious that happens to grass-fed, all-organic, grocery store available milk.  That is pasteurization.

Pasteurization kills all the living microbes in the milk.  While this is great for mass production and storage, it might not be so great for the end user.  Pasteurization denudes the natural enzymes in the milk that are supposed to aid in its digestion. 

Imagine I gave you a special box.  I told you about all the benefits that were in that box.  There are things in there that are going to help you out so much!  It is hard to even explain how beneficial it is.  But you need it, you want it and you deserve to have it.  It’ll make your kids grow strong!  It’ll make your bones stronger for longer.  We’ve added vitamins to the box to make it even better for you!  It tastes good, it looks good and it can be used in a variety of ways.  You want it, right? 

The problem is it takes a special tool to open the box.  My beneficial claims are based on you having this tool to open this box.  But I don’t give you the tool.  In fact, I’m not allowed to give you the tool.  Even more, I could go to jail if I do not totally destroy that tool.

This is how the dairy industry functions in regulation and in practice.  Those enzymes are the tool you need to maximize those claims.  Pasteurization destroys those enzymes.

Now, I am not against pasteurization.  It can’t be denied that pasteurization kills all the potentially bad things in milk that might (or might not) make you sick.  It is also the only real solution for longer-duration food safety.  That milk in the cooler at the store took a long time to get there.  The same can be said for that juice, those eggs, and even almonds. 

However, that which is good for the masses might not always be good for me.  Given current federal and state law, you need to have your own cows to get the most nutritious and digestible milk possible.  You’re probably not going to do that.  I’m not going to do that either.  There are other loop-holes to get raw milk.  They tend to be expensive though.  There are other risks as well.  They may be worth it to you, they may not.

My solution is to avoid the liquid which is milk altogether.  We don’t even buy it anymore.  We use coconut milk as a replacement, when necessary.  And on those occasions that I do partake in animal milk, I know I’m drinking something that closely resembles milk, but lacks all the components to be the real thing.

Does the same hold true for all dairy products? 

My answer is no. 

You see, even though they can hail from pasteurized milk, cheese and yogurt goes through a fermentation process that renders them more digestible.  So, while those enzymes are not coming from the milk itself, they are added into the process.  These enzymes and bacteria break down the whey and lactose into easier to digest components. 

Quick note:  One thing to look for in yogurt is the sugar content.  Some producers/manufactures add extra sugar to their final product to make it taste better. 

As for butter and cream, these products are made almost exclusively from milk fat.  Since there are relatively low amounts of whey and lactose in them, they don’t pose the same issues milk does.    At least, that has been my experience.

In closing, after coming off Whole 30, I was really curious how my body would react to dairy.  I tested it on butter and had no side effects.  However, I’m not jumping back into dairy with both feet.  In fact, I’m not planning on adding milk into my diet.  I can’t ignore the fact that I will not be able to get the most benefit out of it.  Next, I will try cheese.  I don’t expect any negative reaction, but you never know.  That’s why we test it out. 

At the end of the day, you are going to have to make up your own mind about dairy. 

What was (or is) the first food you are going to test after you 30 days?

We can’t wait to hear from you.

[getoutoftheweeds-blog]

Whole 30 is Done – What Now?

So what am I supposed to do now?

Yesterday marked the end of my Whole 30.  So, I get to go on a pizza, beer and ice cream bender, right?  I earned it, didn’t I?

WRONG

Just so we are all on the same page, I will have to continue with this Whole 30 way of eating until I can test out my food intolerances.  For me, I see this taking at least another 30 days.  I don’t think I can properly test those “non-compliant” foods in much less time than that.  Now, I’m not talking about incorporating junk food and copious amounts of sugar back into the equation.  That would be stupid.  I’m talking about trying dairy, rice (and rice products), wheat (and wheat products), beans and other whole naturally occurring food that I have been avoiding for the past 30 days.

How do you do it?

These “non-compliant” foods need to be tested one by one.  My plan is to try a serving with a meal and see how it makes me feel in the moment, an hour or so after and even as far out as the next day or two.  I will introduce a carbohydrate, let’s use rice as an example, and take notes on how it makes me feel.  I would note how it affects my digestion and quality of sleep as well.  So, if eating rice I notice that I feel a little sluggish a couple hours after eating it, I would make note of it.  I’ll do the same for beans, wheat, etc..

What are the signs and symptoms to be looking for? 

Last time I did an elimination diet, I had a major discovery when I tried wheat based products again.  After eating bread, I noticed my sinuses would start to clog up, followed by a headache and phlegm in my throat.  I also noticed that after a few hours, my joints would become achy.  I have several old injuries from back in my “glory days.”  They are nothing major, some minor ligament damage, some old broken bones and a formerly pulled back.  But after eating bread, those spots would flare up.  Sometimes they would be obviously swollen.  I was floored.  I had no idea my body was reacting this way to a food I had consumed at almost every meal.

I expect the same result again.  But, human bodies are really good at adaptation.  Maybe I have grown out of it.  The only way to know is to test it out.  

So, what do you do with this information? 

In a nutshell, you use it strategically.  You will have an idea of what carbohydrates your body can handle well and which ones it does not.  This is very valuable information.  I use this information to make specific food choices so I can feel good all day long.  You should do the same.

After that, I will start testing the ratio of fat, protein and carbs I consume.  But, that is for another post.  For now, we need to stay focused on figuring out the foods that fuel us well and those that our body doesn’t play well with. 

I will leave you with a word of warning and encouragement.  We did this month of clean and healthy eating to set ourselves up for a healthy life.  Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by falling back into your old eating habits.  You have to pay close attention to that.  Make no mistake about it, there is still a lot of hard work to do to stay on track.  The good news is that the more you make a habit of eating well, the easier it becomes.  Don’t stop now. 

What food are you going to test first?

[getoutoftheweeds-blog]

Whole 30 Update – Week 4

I tamed the nagging. 

Now, there was no other person nagging me.  In fact, it would have been easier if there was.  But with as much as I have been on the road this month, I have had to nag myself.  Not only is it the nagging thoughts of temptation, but also the nagging pokes to stay on the right track.  I was giving it to myself with both barrels. 

I had the awesome opportunity to have dinner with my family this week.  It is always nice when my travels take me through my hometown.  I got to sit down to a meal with my parents, brother, sister-in-law and my nephews.  It was such a privilege to have a meal with them. 

They are the ones who inspired me to do this Whole 30 in the first place.  It was really nice sitting down to a home-cooked meal without having to fuss about the oil it was cooked in or the ingredients in the dressing.  Everything was Whole 30 compliant.  Not only that, but it was a great meal as well. 

My biggest problem with this Whole 30 has been variety.  I have been eating the same thing over and over again.  Now, there is some mental relief with this, but it is boring.  But, my problem is not with the food, it is with not being able to cook when I’m on the road.

As my mom was cooking, I realized that my plight would be so much easier if I could cook in my hotel room.  Having the ability to cook my own meals would open up so many more options.  As I reflected, I realized that it was the protein portion that was giving me the most fits.  I have struggled to find meat I could eat without cooking.  In the vast majority of places I’ve been recently, I haven’t been able to find compliant deli meat (without sugar or preservatives).  Having the ability to cook would make this a moot point. 

Now, I will say, the venison Epic Bars have kept me going.  I used to be a fan of the salmon and bacon bars as well.  But, for whatever reason, Epic decided to start adding maple sugar to those.  I bet they are selling better now, but you can’t eat them and stay true to Whole 30. 

This leads me to this little caveat:

One of the main goals of the Whole 30 is to get you to take a serious look at what you are eating.  I love this and have been following this advice for a while.  It can be really discouraging when a company changes one of your favorite products.  Those Epic bacon bars used to be something I would use as a treat on special occasions.  Well… not anymore.  I’m not willing to spike my blood sugar (and ultimately back-step away from my goals) for no benefit other than momentary craving relief.

Some people are proponents of “cheat days” when they are dieting.  Whole 30 makes it apparent that the only one getting cheated is you.  Don’t forsake your future for some momentary pleasure.  A year from now, I can be ashamed of giving in or I can be proud of myself for sticking it out. 

So, when I say that I have tamed the nagging, I mean I have become even more resolute to stick it out.  I got a big confidence boost when I figured out a solution to my travel food problem.  I got an even bigger boost when I was sitting at a table with a group of people who are working towards the same goal I am.  

So, I am more than grateful for that one meal with my family.  In the grand scheme of things, it was but a few moments.  But, those moments helped me focus intently on staying the course.  It reminded me why I am doing what I am doing.  It reminded me that I am not alone.  It empowered me to solve my issue and get on with making the goal happen. 

I am obliged for that reminder and encouragement. 

What unlikely thing has happened to you to help you stay on course? 

We can’t wait to hear from you.

[getoutoftheweeds-blog]

Homemade Kombucha – Why Aren’t You Making Your Own?

Let’s make some kombucha!

Before I dig into it, I want to lay out for you my top three reasons why you should be making your own kombucha.

1) You’ll save a ton.  Most commercially available kombuchas are really expensive.  You’ll be looking to pay anywhere from about $3 to upwards of $7 for a bottle of this stuff.  Good news is that you can make it for pennies.  You’ll get gallons of homemade kombucha for the full retail price of just one bottle.  Now, I’m not saying you have to stop buying kombucha at the store.  I like to buy them to try out new flavors before I try making them at home.  Also, some of the commercially available ones have flavors that I just can’t readily get my hands on.  So, we splurge on a fancy kombucha every now and then.

2) You’ll be growing your own custom scoby.  Scoby stands for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast.  Scoby is the organism that turns your tea into kombucha.  When you start brewing your own kombucha, you start growing your own scoby as well.  You will start with someone else’s scoby, but over time, it will differentiate itself and develop its own identity.  The microorganisms in your scoby will be an expression of your particular situation.  Your specific environment, temperature, tea, sugar and time will produce a one-of-a-kind scoby that makes one-of-a-kind kombucha.  Basically, you are creating a custom strand of probiotics, b-vitamins and organic acids.  Now that’s cool.

3) It is super easy.  I mean, it is so easy that a busy family of four can make it without much fuss.  We spend about 30 minutes every other weekend making our own kombucha.  Much of that time is waiting on the tea to cool down enough to add to the jug.  Reality is that there are only a handful of minutes of actual work that goes into making kombucha.  If you can boil water and stir, you have what it takes to be a kombucha all-star.

Cool, right? 

Now, how do you actually make this stuff?  A quick search online yields hundreds of articles and videos on how to make kombucha.  If that’s the case, then why not just google it?  Why continue to read?  Well, I’m going to give you a few little secrets that we use to save time and hassle. 

First of all, we use the continual/continuous brew method.  That saves a bunch of time.  You have less to sanitize, less to handle and generally less to mess with.

How is that?

First of all, a big part of making kombucha is making sure you are growing your scoby and not other bad bacteria, yeast or molds.  Those make for a bad time.  So, you want to start with sanitized jars, jugs and utensils.   This is done easily enough with boiling water.  We simply fill our jugs with boiling water, cover them with a clean towel and let the hot water kill everything.  We do the same to our stir sticks, lids, and anything else we might be using.  With the continuous brew method, we turn a sun tea jug into a miniature “clean room.”  As long as we pay close attention to what we are doing, we do not have to re-sterilize the jug every time.  That saves time. 

Next, to save even more time, we opt for a longer brew time and skip the second ferment.  Many kombucha home-brewers do two ferments on their kombucha.  The first one is done in a large vessel.  The second one is done in the individual bottle.  So, traditionally, you brew a large batch of plain kombucha.  Then, after a week or so of fermentation, you put it in individual bottles along with whatever you are going to flavor it with and a pinch of extra sugar.  For example, after you ferment your tea in the big jug, you pour it into a bottle with some ginger, scoop of mashed blueberries and a pinch of sugar.  You seal the lid tightly and put it in a dark place to ferment for another week or so.  Your finished product is a bottle of fizzy blueberry-ginger kombucha. 

That’s nice and all, but my family ain’t got time for that. 

Honestly, we rarely just drink kombucha for the sake of drinking kombucha.  Most of the time we are using the kombucha as one ingredient in a larger concoction.  For example, I like to add kombucha to my smoothies.  We will sometimes mix the kids a drink of carrot juice, kombucha and some other vitamin or supplement, like collagen.  We have made kombucha gummies and pops.  I have added kombucha to other tea to take it up a notch or two.  Instead of flavoring in the bottle and waiting, we just add the flavoring agents directly to the glass then add the kombucha and drink it.  So, rather than taking time to sterilize and fill all those individual bottles, we just fill a large gallon-sized glass jug and keep it in the fridge.  Granted, we lose out on the carbonation.  But that is a small price we are willing to pay.

So, without further ado, here is how we make continuous brew kombucha at our house:

What you will need:

Sun tea jar

Large vessel to brew your tea in (we use half-gallon Mason jars)

Organic black tea

Organic sugar

Filtered water or Spring water (Use water without Chorine or Fluoride in it.  Those will kill your scoby.)

Wooden or plastic stirring spoon

Scoby or kombucha

Coffee filters

Rubber bands or sun tea jar lid

Kettle or pot to boil your water in

Clean kitchen towels

Gallon sized glass jar (to store the finished ‘bucha in)

Instructions:

1) Sanitize everything.  As stated previously, we use boiling water to sanitize our stuff.  Don’t forget to run some boiling water through the spout of the sun tea jar.

2) Bring a full tea kettles worth of spring or filtered water to a boil.

3) Add 2/3 cup of sugar to each half-gallon jar (or whatever vessel you are brewing the tea in).

4) Once that water boils, pour it over the sugar and stir until dissolved.  I try not to fill the jars more than half-way with the boiling water.

5) Add 4 tea bags to each jar.  (That is to say, we use 8 tea bags per gallon of water.  You need to make it strong.)

6) Once the tea bags begin to steep, fill the jar the rest of the way with room temperature filtered/spring water.

7) Cover the top opening with a clean towel to keep stuff out while it brews.  Let it brew until it is very dark.  You want it to be super strong.  (We let it go for at least 30 minutes, sometimes more than an hour.  If you make your tea in the morning, you can let it brew until you get home in the evening.  The point is, make it strong and let it cool to room temperature.)

Note: If you don’t have a scoby, you can use a plain flavored store-bought kombucha as a starter.  That is to say, buy a plain (unpasteurized, if possible) kombucha that has the brown stuff in the bottom of the jar.  That brown stuff is bits of scoby.  It will eventually grow into a full scoby for you.  This is what we did.  Just know that it will take a little bit longer for your very first brew to finish if you are using plain kombucha as a starter.

8) Add your scoby (or starter kombucha) to your clean and sterilized sun tea jar.

9) Fill the jar with your strong sweet tea, leaving at least an inch at the top.

10) Wipe the rim of the sun tea jug with a clean towel.  (I generally use a bit of boiling water on a paper towel to clean up the rim.)

11) Cover lid opening with two clean coffee filters.  Hold them in place with either rubber bands (my preferred method) or screw the sun tea lid on, making sure to leave the spout open. (Just rip that little lid off.)  The scoby will need to “breath” a little in order to turn your tea into kombucha.  The filters also keep unwanted stuff out.  I double up on the filters so I can throw the top one away, should I see anything unwanted touch it.

12) Store out of direct sunlight at room temperature.  We put ours on top of our fridge in the back.  The temperature is pretty stable there.  Stable temperature makes for predicable ferments.

13) We let it brew for two weeks.  You’ll know it is done when the liquid goes from dark brown to light yellowy tan.  Also, you’ll see that your scoby had grown bigger.  The longer it ferments, the more vinegary it will taste.  My kids call this “hot bucha.”  They love it.  The shorter it ferments, the sweeter it will taste.  Experiment with it and you’ll figure out what you like best.

14) We pull the sun tea jar down to the counter, hanging the spout over the edge.  We then fill our sanitized glass gallon jar. (You can use a funnel, just make sure it is sanitized, too.)

Note: The spout for the jug is about an inch from the bottom of the sun tea jar.  This means enough kombucha is retained to keep your scoby going and provide some batch-to-batch consistency. 

15) Make more strong sweet tea (repeat Steps 1-7). 

16) When cool, remove the coffee filters and pour the tea into the sun tea jar. (Steps 8 & 9)

17) Wipe the lid clean again, cover and put it back up on your fridge (or wherever) to ferment. (Steps 10-13)

18) Keep it going.

Note: Your spout can get junked up with scoby and dangly bits.  To keep bad things from growing, I wipe the spout off, as needed, with a towel or paper towel that has been dipped in boiling water.

And there you have it. 

Making kombucha at home is easy.  You should not hesitate to try making it.  Also, know that this is a scalable operation.  Right now, we are making two gallons worth every two weeks.  (Two sun tea jars.)  Our production might have to go up from there as our kids are growing and taking larger and larger servings. 

If you have any questions, we are here to help.

If you do make it, send us a photo or a short snippet letting us know what you think about your home brew.  We can’t wait to hear about it.

[getoutoftheweeds-blog]

Whole 30 Update - Week 3

If I had to describe this week in one word it would be… steady.

I have fallen into a pretty stable pattern by now.  At this point, I could probably keep this thing going for a long time.  While not easy, eating this way is definitely easier than it has been for the prior two weeks.  Don’t get me wrong, I still miss my cheese.  But it’s all good.

The hardest thing is still finding good food while eating out.  The biggest problem I have is not all the ingredients are in the menu listing.  For example, I ordered a kale and brussel sprout side dish the other day.  They failed to mention the candied fruit and super sweet mystery “dressing.”  Ugg.

Now, I can hear you saying, “You don’t have to eat out.”  You’re right.  But you’re also wrong.  You see, I get the opportunity to take my coworkers out to eat on a regular basis.  It is something I get to do for them.  I can’t stop doing that just because I’m trying a new way of eating.  The good thing about this is that I am forced to figure it out. 

One of my solutions to this is to have some simple go-to foods.  Sure, it lacks spice and variety, but I know I’m not getting off track.  In fact, simplifying my food options makes it easier in a lot of ways.  I just go with what I know works.  I don’t fret it.  I’ll add more variety after these 30 days while I’m testing out the “trigger” foods that have been eliminated.  Basically, I’ve had the same breakfast, same lunch and same dinner every day.  Sounds kinda blahhhh.  But it works.  It is beautifully simple.  In fact, I’m completely satisfied with the limited nature of it.  I’m not slave to cravings. 

One thing I am missing is the satiation.  The first time I tried an elimination diet, I was better able to control my hunger pangs.  It is much harder now.  I think this is, at least in part, because I’m eating more carbohydrates one Whole 30 than I used to consume.  With most convenient forms of meat and dairy out of the picture (fat and protein), I find myself eating more veggies.  Now, I’m not saying eating more veggies is a bad thing.  In fact, I’ve been amazed at the amount of vegetable matter I’ve consumed.  What I am saying is that carbohydrates are not as satiating as fats and proteins.  Practically speaking, I can’t turn to the organic packaged meats and cheeses that were my staples while travelling.  Instead, in addition to the veggies, I find myself chugging water to get rid of hunger.  It works.  So, I have more greenery and more hydration these days.  Both of those are good things in the long run.

Looking forward to next week, I foresee more of the same.  I’ll have challenges that I’ll have to figure out. 

How has your Whole 30 been going?  I  can’t wait to hear about it.