Archives for March 2013

03.26.2013

How to make Soaked Brown Rice Flour

Soaked grains is a must…

I know this is a GAPS blog (and many of you are on intro), but eventually many of you will want to dabble into learning or maybe try eating rice. It is one of the first grains added back into the diet after GAPS. I get it- grain free is awesome and I don’t myself personally eating any grains in the near future (but please don’t compare yourself to the girl who eats 3 foods…).

pretty soaked rice!

Why soak your grains?

Here is all the extensive research done my my fellow Village Green Network bloggers (they are come smart cookies!)

Soaking Grains: A Traditional Practice

Soaked, Sprouted, or Soured: The Healthy Way to Treat Your Grains

Phytic Acid-The Bane of Grains

Grain Preparation

 

Make your own rice four–the story.

The reason why I  even have rice flour in my house is that I live at home with the rest of my family. They need a “safe” flour that is not-cross-contaminated-glutenfree-allergyfree-caroline-safe. Does that make any sense? Well, nobody could think of a source so for a long time flour was just out of the question.

One day, my mom had a brillient idea. I am not allergic to being around her rice. Why not soak and dehydrate rice and then blend it into flour. Let me show you what we did.

brown

REUSE Liquid (whey)

You will reuse the “whey liquid” each time you soak your rice. For cycle 2 and cycle 3 you will add an additional 2 Tbsp to the liquid.

So here is how it will look:

Starting your rice! : add the required 2 Tbsp of whey to your water and rice–strain (keep a bowl underneath)–save liquid

Cycle 2: get your saved liquid and add 2 more Tbsp of whey to the liquid–use this to soak your rice in–strain  (keep a bowl underneath)—save liquid

Cycle 3: get your saved liquid and add 2 more Tbsp of whey to the liquid–use this to soak your rice in–strain  (keep a bowl underneath)– save liquid

Cycle 4: Hurray your liquid can be reused as-is from now on. Just keep reusing it. It  can be reused for months, hey maybe even years!

*Keep the reserved whey liquid in the fridge when you are not using it. We keep ours in a ball jar.

**if you are using apple cider vinegar just start over each time.

 

Reuse liquid for soaking ( for cycles 2 & 3 add 2 tbsp each time to liquid) on 4 th cycle just use liquid as is( no need to to add any more whey) that liquid is good to use for a Lon time. It will begin to smell like cheese- does not taste like cheese

 

 

How to make Soaked Brown Rice Flour

 

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of Brown Rice

2 Tbsp raw milk whey (learn how to make it here) *you can use apple cider vinegar instead if you are dairy free.

Filtered water (I used Berkey water)

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

soak rice 1

Part 1– Soak

1. Measure out 2 cups of brown rice into a jar.

2. Add 2 Tbsp of raw milk whey or apple cider vinegar.

3. Add filtered water in the jar-leave 1 inch from the top.

4. Place soaking jar in a warm area for 8-18 hours ( you choose what time span is convenient for you. The longer soaking time may taste slightly different- but it is hardly noticeable.

 

soak rice 2-

 

 

Part 2–Strain

1. Strain rice in a fine mesh strainer (keep a bowl/jar underneath to catch the liquid, you will reuse it!) –Check out directions under REUSE liquid section above.

2. Rise rice well under cold water.

 

Part 3make flour: dry and grind

3. Get out your dehydrator trays. Put parchment paper/dehydrator paper/ silicone matt under the screen. Place the screen on top of the paper. (This is so the rice does not fall through, but is not just “resting” on the paper).

4. Scatter wet soaked rice on the screen. It does not have to be perfectly evened out because it dries and shrinks.

5. Dehydrate on 145 for 2 hours.

6. Once done, take the dried rice from the tray (easiest way is to fold the edges of the screen inwards and tilt it into the blender. Rice will fall all over the place if you are not careful!)

7. Blend in a vitamix or heavy duty blender. Start on low and slowly increase to high speed and then keep it on high for 60 seconds until fluffy.

8. Store in a sealed container to keep it fresh.  Keeps for many months. Use in replace of wheat flour- it has similar ratios (but no gluten).

** the other day I blended white rice out of the bag and made flour (without soaking it and dehydrating). It turned out very gritty while the soaked brown rice was SUPER fluffy–just like or even fluffier then wheat flour. You can soak white rice too for like 30 minutes and then dehydrate. It helps the rice absorb more liquid but it also seems to produce a very fluffy flour after you dehydrate. It is worth the extra step for sure.

flour 1

 

Part 3–cook it (If you are not making flour)

1. Put soaked/rinsed rice into a crock pot.

2. Add in 2.5 cups of liquid (we use bone broth), 2-3 Tbsp of fat (we use butter), and 1 tsp of sea salt.

3. Cook in the crock pot (on high setting) for 2 hours. DONT LIFT LID, until it is done.

~Stay Gutsy, Caroline

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03.25.2013

Listen to the VGN Summit speakers for FREE! –day 2

I am just bouncing-off-the-walls-excited to listen to these AMAZING speakers! ….and let me tell you, you don’t have to pack up your bags to listen or even step out of your own house. This is all on your own schedule, and I prefer to listen in my pjs with my puppy beside me :).

Don’t miss it!

Now I know it is already day 2 (and if you did not know about this summit, then you already missed Day 1 of 5 Amazing speakers–but don’t worry !). I have a good excuse-I have been sick for many weeks battling an infection, but after lying in bed listening yesterday, I KNEW I could not share this with you all! So please forgive me 🙂

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Are you a real foodie?  At home mama?  Paleo-meat lover? Nutrition-health nut? Looking into living and looking vibrant? Then THIS is what you have been waiting for!

Do you crave information about healthy living?

As a blogger and a blog reader I know that research is a “hobby”. We all just CRAVE information for healing our bodies form the inside out. Most of these speakers are in the same situation as you-they just want the best of the best. The search night and day and many have alot of experience with their own families, and patients, and customers. Face it- we can’t learn it all on our own, no matter how hard we try. That is why the Village Green Network (VGN) blogging community is so special. It attracts people who really care and strive for the BEST!

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What are the experts talking about?

Now lets get down to the basics. You probably want to know: who is speaking and what are they going to talk about. Let me go through the categories and their speakers. CLICK HERE to see the daily schedule.

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Healthy Eating

Diane Sanfilippo, author of New York Times bestsellerPractical Paleo – The 21-Day Sugar Detox

Bill Staley and Hayley Mason, authors of Make It Paleo – Make It Paleo

Julia Ross, author of The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure – Healing the Mind and Body with Food

Dr. Kaayla Daniel, author of the Whole Soy Story – Practice Safe Soy

Kelly the Kitchen Kop – Transitioning Your Family from Junk Food to Real Food

Mark McAfee, Organic Pastures Raw Dairy – The War on Milk

Jenny McGruther, Nourished Kitchen – Techniques for Making Real Food Easy & Affordable

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Healthy Body

Liz Wolfe of Cave Girl Eats – SKINTERVENTION

Vanessa Romero, Healthy Living How To – Losing Weight & Healing Your Hormones in Your 40s

Donna Gates, author of The Body Ecology Diet – Conquering Systemic Infection: Essential to Good Health

Robin Konie, Thank Your Body – Movement for Eliminating Chronic Pain and Weight Loss

Dr. Carolyn Dean, author of The Magnesium Miracle – Why You Need Magnesium

Matt Stone, 180 Degree Health – Metabolism and Stress – An Inner Tug of War

Dr. Dean Howell – NeuroCranial Restructuring (NCR)

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Healthy Babies & Kids

Kristen Michaelis of FoodRenegade.com – Why Pre-Conception & Pregnancy Diets Matter

Sally Fallon Morell, author of Nourishing Traditions – Feeding and Caring for Babies and Children

Emily Bartlett, LAc, of HolisticSquid.com – Treating Eczema from the Inside Out

Robyn O’Brien, author of The Unhealthy Truth and founder of Allergykids.com – Generation RX

Genevieve Pazdan, of MamaNatural.com – Cloth Diapers Made Easy

Sarah Pope, The Healthy Home Economist – Is Breast Really Always Best?

Cara Comini, Health, Home & Happiness – Recovering from Autism with Diet

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Healthy Living

Chris Kresser – Chrono-Disruption: The Dark Side Of Artificial Light

Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception andGenetic Roulette – Health and Environmental Dangers of GMOs

Matt & Betsy Jabs, DIYNatural.com – Natural DIY Projects: Save Money & Improve Your Health

Mary Cordaro, MaryCordaro.com – Nesting Reframed: Creating Healthy Homes

Daniel Vitalis, founder of Surthrival – Rewilding Yourself

Louisa Williams, author of Radical Medicine – Radical Medicine

Heather Dessinger, Mommypotamus – Homemade Beauty Products Safe Enough to Eat

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Healthy World

Joel Salatin, Polyface Farms – Folks, This Ain’t Normal!

Brandon Sheard, Farmstead Meatsmith – Welcome to the Sausage Party: How to Slaughter & Butcher Animals at Home

Tamara Wilder, Paleotechnics.com – Paleo Technology: Ancient Skills in a Modern World

Chris Kerstonof Chaffin Family Orchards – Sustainable Grass-based Farms Can Save the Planet

Kristin Canty, Director of Farmageddon – The Attack on American Farms

Birke Baehr, 14-year-old Future Organic Farmer – What’s Wrong with Our Food?

Graham Merriwether, Director of American Meat – From CAFOS to Sustainable, Grass-fed Agriculture

 

Listen now while you can!

Each day there is 5 speakers that you can listen to FREE for only 24 hours. After that 24 hours you cannot listen to the speakers from the day before. Each new day brings 5 new speakers. That is about 5 hours of listening time (each one is about an hours).

Sign up here to get a daily email to remind you of the speakers for that day. From March 24-30

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I dont know about you but that is A LOT of listing time. I cant be glued to my computer for that long 🙂 Good thing you can get the package of ALL the speakers recorded. That way you don’t even need to worry about the schedule or listing 5+ hours a day.

Click here to buy the package which includes: Downloadable videos of the presentations & the recordings from all the experts.

This package will be 60% off ($79) for this week only. After that it will be $199.

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Now its back to listening to the VGN summit for me 🙂 Join me in learning!

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~Stay Gutsy, Caroline

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03.06.2013

Healing update #4

If you are sick almost every day (like me) there are some rules or guidelines I like to follow that give me purpose in life and focused on healing…

 

rule #1: Do something that makes you happy. (Right now for me that is cuddling this new guy in the pictures below. I don’t think I have smiled and laughed this much in a years!)

rule #2: Pray. Wait, maybe that should have been #1..lets just say that the order has no significance. God is the creator of all of us and he is the one that allowed us to be sick in the first place. Only He has he answers and it is our responsibility to figure this out–we are on this journey for a reason-I promise. (For me, I open up the bible each day to a random passage and somehow it connects to my life at the moment-I love it, it is so encouraging.) Remember miracles happen!

rule #3: Find support. There are people who are going through the same thing as you. It may not seem like it- but you will be led to these people wether you are looking for them or not. Talking and exchanging ideas is priceless! (I sure have done my share and have met amazing people along the way. My sickness leads me to the most amazing hopeful people.)

rule #4: Listen to your instincts. If you cannot detox or get out of bed, then don’t (or do as little as possible if that is not an option). Eat what your body calls for-as long as its healthy. Exercise only if you think it will be good for you today. Your body is smart- you cant trick it!

rule #5: HOPE. If there is one thing I have learned these past 2 months-it is to hope. Hope for a miracle. Hope for resources. Hope for a good day. Hope that your “fire” doesn’t die. Hope that you find a purpose through all of this. Hope even if you don’t have a reason to. NEVER Give up!

 

Now you may have your own set of “rules” of things that keep you going, but this is mine all summed up. I may be missing a few things, but I hope you get the point.

Cooper +

The Flu.

My family had the flu for over 2 weeks (im still struggling, and this post has been “in the making” for over 2 weeks!) We all started to feel run down mid February and then every few days I go through this cycle. Sick-in bed, no energy to move. Take a bath or sauna hoping with will make me feel a bit better-does very little. Feel a tad better but still have a fever and don’t sleep well. Oh my energy is coming back!-finally. Feeling super good- im going to take a walk or something. Then just when things start looking good-back flat on my back sick in bed. This cycle has happened 4x already!!! Each weekend I get very sick. I pray this this be the last weekend.

We were all so weak and dizzy. I canceled most of my appointments for this past week so I could just rest. The laundry and dishes and everything else took a back seat. Rest was most important.

 

I don’t believe can be healthy.

What?! Of course I do…or at least that is what I try to do. But deep down. I dont.

Dr. Conners did some muscle testing with asking questions. He asked me to say something like “I believe I will be completely healed”. Ha! I tested weak for it while I tested strong for many other statements.

What am I going to do about it? First off, he did some special EFT tapping with extra things added like rolling eyes, and humming a tune while I would say “I believe I will be completely healed”. It seems a little wacko but, what every works-right? He explained that he was trying to help me break the circuit. Tapping on acupressure points while saying a statement helps the body realize the truthfulness of the statement and will help the brain break that “negative” circuit, like in my case. He retested me and it was a bit stronger.

for I know dr conners

Healing the memories

That was not the end of my healing with the emotions. I cannot heal without God. That is simple.

I learned that emotions can hinder the body from healing fully. When I was muscle tested for heavy metals, it showed that emotions were tied into this big mess. I knew I had some things to work on. Talking to someone you trust is powerful and very helpful.

There was this little game that we played. I had to remember a painful time (the first one that pops into my head). The more vivid the better. The game is to feel the feeling you did in that situation–it hurts right? The reason why it still hurts is because the emotion never got resolved or healed. Now imagine–where was Jesus in that situation–or where would you have liked him to be? Was He holding your hand when no one else could? Was He keeping you safe as things clashed? Was He whispering into your ear as you watched everything fall apart around you. You can imagine it any way you want-but make sure you ask God to guide you to remember what you are suppose to. Replacing Jesus in the painful situation will allow you to see the situation in a completely different way, in a way that you could not see before. You might just feel different afterward, at least I did. This “game” is called healing the memories.

Something I never thought about is that why not ask God why I am sick? There is obviously a purpose and it is our responsibility to figure it out. For me, maybe it is so I can heal and understand people in the same situation one day. Maybe I need to go through this journey to truly find out who I am inside and out.

I opened up to a bible passage today and this is what stood out, I hope it speaks to you as it did to me. “Take heart daughter; your faith has made you well.”  ~Matthew 9:22

 

NAET

I continue to do NAET. I feel like it gives me relief after the 25 hours and allows me to keep adding things back into my life. I have almost treated 40 things so I am becoming pretty experienced and am getting to know my body even better in the process.

I treated fish- and thank goodness I did because sadly now Im allergic to the one food I could eat -bison. Not too sad for me, I was getting sick of it anyways. Things are always changing and I just embrace it. If I just held on to things and pondered over it for too long, I would miss out on what is happening in the NOW!

I also treated magnesium. I knew something was up with magnesium and my body, because every time I used magnesium oil on my body I would feel like I had the flu–not a detox, but just sick. So I treated it with NAET. I felt terrible and surprisingly it did not clear the first time. After the 25 hour mark, almost on the dot, I started to feel run down. Too bad it was a weekend and I just was achy and flu-ish until I got it retreated and wow did that make a difference! It thought I forgot what it felt like to feel good–or semi-good 🙂

The last one I treated was coconut. Why? Because if you look at my lip picture below you will see that I was desperate for relief.

Dr

Inflammation

Some days I feel like a itchy puffer fish. Swollen lips, itchy skin…its not fun.

Bloating, rashes, redness, tired, thyroid problems, sinus pressure, leaky gut… the list just goes on and on. But these are all “symptoms”. I try not to dwell on my symptoms (its easy to) but really in the long run they just help remind you to heal the root cause.

Supplements

My new things to help with inflammation are:

-Matcha green tea (supports T1 autoimmune side)–read this book to learn if you are T1 and T2 autoimmune (click here to download)

-MSM (helps open the detox 2 pathway which most autoimmune patients are poor at)

-Nettie pot: this is not “new” but I just never mentioned that it helps keep my sinuses clean.

-Volcanic ash: I got this to sprinkle around my house (I think I will do it after the snow melts). Even though I already have EMF protection, this will help even more “soak” up the extra EMF’s around my house.  There is a big link between stress and autoimmune and EMF’s are an “invisible” stress.

Quercetin: The kind I got is just the powder form (no fillers)- it comes from a special kind of tree. This too helps with acute allergic reactions, but I am taking it daily to help with general inflammation. This too is good for the T1 dominant autoimmune.

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Lip “rash”

Thanks to everyone who responded to my “plea” for help with figuring out my lip problem. I know I can do my own research, but many times I miss something and things other people say pop out and spark my mind to think more. Take a peak at the conversation on fb–you all are awesome help!

So I was wondering, is it something more then just chapped lips? They were painful!! Every time I would open my mouth each crack would split open-ouch! The worst was waking up and it looked “healed” but they were sealed shut, so if I was going to even drink water I had to deliberately crack the lips.

The mouth in TCM is the opening to the stomach and around the mouth is the colon-that is where I had my flaking. The top lip = small intestine and the bottom lip= large intestine. Just looking at my lips got me a little worried about the health of my guts.

I think I have a clue as to why this “rash” got so bad–but that will be in my next post because it is a big topic and finding for me!

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Sad news.

May of you knew I was starting NTA- nutrition therapy association. Sadly I had to drop at the last minute. I got the flu the day the class began. By the time I was able to think clear, I was 2 weeks behind. I dropped the class and even to this day (4 weeks later) I still am not better–so I am thankful that I made that decision. I prayed about it too and it was right. Sometimes we don’t have control over things no matter how much we want them. Im not going to focus on what I am missing but instead just do what I can, when I can. This post has been in the “making” for over 2 weeks–so even blogging has taken a big backseat for my health.

Cooper11

Puppy LOVE!

If you follow me on Instagram, you would know that my family just got a new puppy. He is adorable!! If you want to see a video of him watch it on youtube here (I taught him how to climb the stairs–maybe this was a mistake with a puppy who pees every 20 minutes.)

My favorite part is every morning when I come downstairs he comes running to my feet, waiting to be picked up–so sweet.

His name is Cooper. He is a white-ish golden. We also have a cat (Ollie) who is his “brother”. They have a love-hate relationship..its doesn’t help that they are the same size!

We have always had a dog in our house, I don’t remember a day without one. Until our dog suddenly died (Jasmine-8 years old) of cancer a few weeks ago. We did not see it coming :(. Since I cannot go places-due to my sensitivities (I’m limited to my house, the car, the outside, and my two dr’s offices–though even in these places I get reactions) the dog is my buddy. They sit at my feet when I research, when I am sick in bed, force me outside even when I don’t want to, and basically just make me happy and laugh.

I believe happiness and fresh air can help cure an illness– and Cooper has brought me both of those. I laugh every day. I think its helping. I love to take care of people- I have ever since I was a little girl. Once I was the “sick” one 24/7 I had to stop doing things for people. I could not run errands for my mom, I could not spend time with my sisters like we used to, I could not bake a loaf of banana bread for my ever-growing-brother. It made me sad. I could only take care of myself–but I hated it. I have started to do what I like to do-care. I can do it every second of the day if I want to with this puppy-I don’t have to go anywhere, it is in my “safety zone”, my house.

broccoli!

So I could talk about this puppy for ever (just something we do with our pets..) but I don’t want to make you bored. I think he could have his own blog post, filled with pictures of this cuteness :). Oh yes that is Cooper eating broccoli–his favorite food. A boy after my own stomach!

 

I just wanted to pop in and keep you all updated on my healing journey. Each day is a blessing and I try to embrace it to the fullest!

~Stay Gutsy, Caroline

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