ED2: Wine

I have been happy so far with what this diet has shown me. I was actually worried that nothing would trigger a reaction and it would be for nothing. I am starting to heal, now that I have found out what it truly is that is wrong. So now, I can move on to the last couple of food challenges, so I can go on my merry little way to eating what I want and not be so paranoid about what is in each item.
I will be retrying chocolate and yeast bread sometime in February, so I will hopefully post about those again around that time.

Today will be wine. I have selected my absolute favorite, a muscat ice wine. I will have 3 - 1oz servings. I am very cautious about this, since I drink wine about 2 times a year and I usually only have about 3-4 ounces each time. Alcohol is not high on our list, unless it is to cook with, hence my hesitancy.

I did not have a reaction to peanuts.

To all Ohioans who oppose vaccines

There are 2 bills up for voting this Wednesday, November 19, 2014. I highly recommend contacting your local senator and representative so they are aware of what they are voting on. Here is the email I sent tonight to Senator Scott Oelslager.

Please oppose Amended HB 536 and SB 381, on Wednesday, November 19, 2014, as both are attempting to impose expansive new vaccine mandates for children attending day-care centers and family day-care homes including vaccine requirements for Chicken pox, Diphtheria, Haemophilis influenza type b, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Influenza, Measles, Mumps, Pertussis, Pneumococcal disease, Poliomyelitis, Rotavirus, Rubella, and Tetanus. Both bills also restrict vaccine exemptions for religious and conscientious beliefs by imposing the unreasonable burden that the exemption must be certified in writing by the child's physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant. Vaccine exemptions in current Ohio state law for school aged children law have no such restrictions. 
Religious and conscientious exemptions should not have to be certified by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant, that is what a medical exemption is for. These restrictions are expensive for families because they require unneeded extra health care provider visits, and they don'€™t exist anywhere in other vaccine exemptions in Ohio state law. 
If this goes through, you will either see more families turn to homeschooling or many will just leave the state and go to a state with more freedoms.

This information has come from NVICadvocacy.org.

Who said the Catholic Church had the power to...

Lately I have been sickened by what the Catholic Church says. They think they have the power to tell people that something is or is not holy and what to believe. In the recent past, they have said there is no hell, Jesus is not really coming back , and there is no Salvation unless it is through them, and many others.
It's not just the recent stuff though, they have been doing this for a very long time. They have all of these saints days and they were the ones who officially stated that celebrating Christmas was a holy day.
Who in the world gave them this power? The key word is the world. God does not give one person or group of people power over others. They have no right to say what is or is not holy, unless it comes straight from the Bible.
This is why I read the Bible for myself, to find out what God has said. There are even holidays the Jews celebrate, that are not in the Bible. They are nearly adapted traditions. If it is not a holy day listed in the Bible, then it should not be celebrated.
I urge everyone to do their own research as to how holidays have come to be. After, you will be sickened to learn that everything the average American celebrates is an abomination to God.
 I have written many other posts on unholy days and the holy days we should be following.

There is one holiday that we do still celebrate that is not grounded in pagan roots and is not in the Bible. Thanksgiving. It was established to celebrate God for the bountiful harvest he had allowed. Unfortunately, people have turned it into a commercial freak show with parades, football, and now shopping incentives, all geared on taking you away from the family you should be praising God for giving you.

Purge the toys!

Last night, the last straw was drawn. I am so tired of toys everywhere in my house. I would be fine if they could clean up after themselves, or after the many times they are asked to. So, this morning, every toy in the house was gathered up. 2 trash bags full were put in the back of our truck and will go to Salvation Army this weekend, 1 trash bag went in the garbage, then the rest went into plastic crates in the locked storage room. That is right. My children do not have any toys to play with. They need to learn how to appreciate what they have been given. As soon as they can start taking responsibility for what they have left, pens, pencils, crayons, and paper to write on, then they will get 1 toy back. After that there will be other requirements decided on, in order to obtain more toys. I have also decided that there will not be any more junk toys coming into our home. If they get anything as a present, it must be educational. My children should have known that this would happen. I have been threatening this for the past week or so. If I say something, then it will definitely be done. If you are my child, you do not disobey me, or there will be consequences, period!

ED2: Peanuts

Today, I will have 2 tsp of organic peanuts, at 3 separate times.

For the soy challenge, I did not notice any problems, although I have no idea how people regularly drink the stuff. I thought the taste was horrible.
From now on, I will be eating only fermented soy on the few occasions that it is in my food.

Dating

We are not even close to begin letting our children date, but we need to have a plan and be on the same page when the time does come. I have recently started watching the Duggar family show on YouTube and really like the aspects of courtship. I came across another blog today, by accident and really like what she has to say. I have read a few other of her posts and feel very in line with what she says.

http://www.generationcedar.com/main/2013/04/recreational-modern-dating-is-absurd.html

I encourage you to pray and seek God's guidance for your own situations. I do know that I do not want what I had. My husband is blessed not to have had numerous heart breaks and disappointments. I was his first and only girlfriend. I wish I had saved my first kiss for my husband.

ED2: Soy

After going to the Dermatologist today and finding out what I have is fungal, I will be holding off right now on mushrooms, so I do not get a false reaction.
Tomorrow, I will do the soy challenge. I will have 1/2C of soy milk 3 times. I am not really happy about the fact I have to drink soy milk to do this, but I figure, I will never drink it again and will load up on probiotics and eat extremely healthy the whole day to try to counteract the nastiness of this drink.
At least after this, if I do not have a reaction, I will not have to worry about what I eat when we do go to a Chinese or Thai restaurant.

New Baking Adventures

It just so happens that the Food Network Magazine in the past month or 2 had an insert booklet with quick bread recipes. So, I am going through them. Today, I made the chocolate bread substituting the cocoa powder with the carob powder and also a pear bread (I used my homemade pear sauce and pear butter instead of the recommended applesauce and apple butter). They are both currently in the oven and the kitchen is smelling delicious. I can not wait to try them for dessert tonight.
I did try to make the Parmesan & Herb bread recipe in the booklet thinking I could make it without the herbs and additions to make a plain bread to have for toast or a substitute sandwich bread. I encourage you not to try this! It was horrible.  I will be sticking to the sweet breads for dessert type things and Eric's biscuits when I want something plain or savory.

ED2: Carob

Since I had such a reaction to chocolate, I have been advised not to try coffee, tea, or alcohol just yet. I went to my chiropractor and am now on an herb tincture called Arteben. It is nasty tasting stuff, but if it helps at all, then I won't complain too much.
I'm still contemplating doing challenge days for soy and peanuts. So, In the mean time, I decided to try carob for a chocolate alternative. So far, so good. I made the coconut milk carob shake with toasted carob powder. It is quite good and have not had headaches. In a few days, I will try mushrooms.

ED2: Chocolate - update

This is so disappointing. I had my 3 test servings of chocolate today and have had a horrible headache every time. Since this has happened, I am not allowed to retest chocolate again until at least February.
So, now it is leavened products and chocolate! These were a big staple in my life before this diet. No wonder my body started acting out. I pray that the last few test days go well. I still have soy, peanuts, avocado, mushrooms, spinach, apple cider, wine, coffee, and tea.

Please keep me in your prayers. I do praise God for my awesome husband who is bending over backwards making up new recipes so I can eat with the rest of the family.

ED2: Chocolate

Since I am now eating quite a variety of foods again, I skipped a few days to give my body a little rest. I was also having quite a bit of stress and a big flare up, since I tried to eat Italian bread as a pizza crust without sauce. I cannot eat bread with yeast in it. Plain and simple. I am so floored that that seems to be what at least part of the problem is. My precious husband has been brain storming trying to get things in the house that I can eat. I made lemon poppy seed quick bread the other night and had no reaction to it. So, it looks as though we will be making quick breads and biscuits to substitute bread for at least me. We may even phase out yeasted bread entirely from our household, but that is up in the air right now.

Today, I am having chocolate coconut milk. 3 cups split. I made it with Dagoba organic cacao and organic sugar. I blended it with our immersion blender and it was like drinking a chocolate milk shake. I may just have to make this again!

There was no noticeable reaction to nightshades, so now I can have pasta with red sauce again.