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Monthly Archives

March 2016

Infertility

Autoimmune Paleo: Our First Three Months in Review

March 23, 2016

Some of you may remember us mentioning that in 2016 we are going Autoimmune Paleo (AIP) in hopes of addressing possible underlying infertility issues.

Well, we’re nearly twelve weeks into the diet and wanted to share with y’all how it’s going.

Of course on the first day, we had a dinner guest, so it really put the pressure on. Making all new recipes to try out on guests? Not my typical style but it’s how the cookie crumbled.

That evening we served Bacon Wrapped Asparagus as an appetizer, Steak, Sweet Potato Fries, and Roasted Brussel Sprouts for dinner, and Apple Pie as dessert.

Yup, it was a very safe AIP meal to serve but I didn’t think serving our guest a hearty helping of Liver Pate, roasted turnips, and cauliflower rice was the right thing to do.

applie pie

And yes, the pie was de-lish, topped off with coconut whipped cream For a grain-free, dairy-free, nut-free, everything-free pie, it hit the spot but let’s not act like it was the real deal since it wasn’t. Very close though!

Since that time, I have basically lived in my kitchen.

We can’t eat anything processed so every. single. meal. is made at home. I’ve undoubtedly cooked more in the last few months than in all our years of marriage…which wasn’t that hard to beat since I’ve never loved cooking. It’s growing on me though and becoming quite therapeutic.

I’ve found a few favorites that I basically make weekly. Chicken and Acorn Squash Soup, Carrot and Sweet Potato Chilli, Cherry Pie Bars, Carob Cupcakes, and Bacon are my go-to foods and for good reason.

pie bar

It’s become obvious that I’m bacon-ing and sweet potato-ing my way through life while in fact I am actually supposed to be vegetable-ing instead. EEP! But this next month I am making a more concentrated effort to focus in on the veggies and get my 8-12 cups per day.

I haven’t noticed too many drastic changes yet which is slightly disappointing when other seem to have a night and day difference immediately. I’ve seen subtle changes in my energy levels and my 15-year-long constipation battle has completely resolved…which is a VERY welcome change. I got my hormones re-tested and they’re still trash…but I am holding out hope that as my body heals, those will respond in time.

Hats off to Jonathan, Mr. Supportive Husband of the Year for doing this diet with me although he has no reason to health-wise. He’s begun the re-introduction phase of the diet  and is more or less back to a normal diet with no difficulty.

I on the other hand? One day I was brave and tried an egg…and ended up almost vomiting and passing out immediately after eating it. Then I had a raging headache for a day. So not ready to reintroduce eggs apparently. Another day I ate homemade popcorn and my thyroid was swollen and throbbing for 48 hours straight and I became an insomniac. No corn either I guess. AGH! I am coming to grips that this will take some time and as I heal, I will likely tolerate these foods I am reacting to but not right now.

The plan is to give it several more months and then see what my hormones and thyroid levels are doing and then I will likely begin reintroducing food once again.

Anyone else doing this diet? If so, send your fave recipes my direction! 🙂

Mission

What We’ve Been Working On

March 18, 2016

You may or may not have noticed that we haven’t blogged in a month.

There, there. It’s OK friend.

It’s actually quite positive that we haven’t been blogging. We’ve been up to something very exciting!

Jonathan and I have been working our buns off as we gear up and get ready for…

Drum roll please.

Our first-ever online business!!!!

Back in December, we started dreaming about our future.

Naturally, we held two full day long meetings at a whiteboard. We ordered takeout. We taped sticky notes all over an entire wall. We thought big. We wrote out our life priorities and goals for our family.

Totally normal, right?

It looked and felt like a business meeting and that’s when I knew something big was about to happen.

At the end of those sessions, it was apparent there were a few felt needs from our audience. It’s been humbling to have you trust us with sensitive and personal matters as you tell us your story and ask us questions. Corresponding with so many of you over the years has been nothing short of amazing.

It was also obvious that we had the desire to help people through using our God-given gifts, knowledge, and talents to create high quality, practical, and inspirational products to meet those needs. Sure, we’ve helped some people but we want to help so many more.

The idea for our online business was born.

We are now the happy employees of True Good & Beautiful, LLC. We are still on staff with FOCUS and have NO plans to leave, just in case you were wondering. Our online gig is meant to be part-time.

I can’t tell you all the deets in how it will take shape (since we don’t even know that!) but I can tell you that we have a few businesses brewing, each based on the core felt needs we’ve seen. Our online home will always be the True Good & Beautiful Blog. We have no plans to stop providing free and relevant content right here.

Since those onsite meetings, we’ve been INSANELY busy. Blogging remains a priority to us but we simply needed additional mental white space and margin in our life the last several weeks.

We’ve been hustling -waking up at 5:30am and working a few hours before the tiny human in our house wakes up. Once she’s up, all bets are off but I occasionally get more time to read and study during naps. Jonathan gets home, we eat dinner, put the tiny human back in bed, and begin working again until bedtime.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

That’s basically where we’ve lived off and on for the past few months and it’s been exhausting and yet so fulfilling.

We have plans to launch our first online product later in 2016 and as we get closer to the launch, you’ll undoubtedly be getting leaks from us! 🙂

As for blogging goes, we still need that margin in our life as we dig deep into projects and hit goals. You can expect us to blog once per week from here on out until noted otherwise. Not that anyone was pestering us about this (those who did, you know who you are!) but we wanted to be transparent with how often you can rely on us generating new content for your reading pleasure.

Thank you for your support and encouragement in these endeavors. We are so excited to see where this all leads! Serving you all has been a gift to us and we are grateful for the opportunity to do that more.