WELCOME
I am excited to have the opportunity to share my journey with you and hope that you will be encouraged along with way. I just celebrated my 40th birthday and 20 years of marraige to my best friend. I always feared 40, but to be honest I have never felt better in my life. This blog has been 4 years in the making, mentally anyway. I have struggled with its direction, do I focus on health, family, faith, personal issues/growth, recipes??? The thought that I needed to focus on a particular subject of my life has stymied me. So as I reflect on the direction of this blog I realize, Hey, I’m eclectic, why not have my blog reflect who I am? I am passionate about many things and like to keep and open mind. . . Therefore, this is how “My Eclectic Life - Eat, Drink, be Merry, be Free, be You!” was born, covering all the above thoughts and others if I feel led.
ROAD TO HEALING
My childhood was an active one but also a sick one. I suffered chronic stomach-aches and headaches. From the time I was in kindergarten I would call home daily to be picked up because my stomach hurt. This continued on through all of my years and by the time I was in highschool I had both Pepto Bismal and Tums in my purse for daily consumption. During my sophmore year in highschool my stomach had ballooned out like I was 7 months pregnant. A sonogram showed that my bowels were horribly backed up. It was not unusual for me to go a month without using the restroom and then I would have a week of diarrhea. I would sit through class with such terrible side pain I would break out in a sweat -hard to learn under those conditions. No testing to solve the problem, so no relief. The headaches really kicked into high gear my senior year in highschool. I thought they were sinus headaches and took sinus medication with no relief. The first time I realized I was having migraines I was 21 years old.
From the age of 12 through 27 I had been on more antibiotics than I can count. I had every childhood virus possible. Chicken pox, mononucleosis, seems like I had a stomach viruses at least 2x a year and chronic bronchitis began in my teen years. After my first child was born I had a terrible case of candida which took several antibiotics to cure. Strangely new infections of different origins would pop up. I had staph infection twice. One due to an absessed breast from neglected mastitis, another from a blister on my heal. I just wasn’t healthy. Depression quickly became my nemisis. I had suffered depression off and on from a very young age but I would have periods of time when it was debilitating. Though, if someone would ask me, I would deny it completely. After all I was a young home schooling mother of three who had my act together. As our family grew so did my bouts of stomach issues, migraines and depression. It was not unusual for me to have 3 migraines a week. I was plagued with unexplained rashes, excruciating stomach pain, severe daily neck/back pain and a feeling of helplessness. Will I always feel like this? Is this what living feels like? I did not know what feeling good felt like, people talked about it, but I was at a loss.
After the adoption of our 4th child, in 2007 our family embarked on a mission journey to SE Asia. We came home after 18 months. That’s a story for another time. I lived those 18 months in completely pain and suffering. There was not one day that I can recall that I was not hurting. At one point I could not lift my head up because my neck was in so much pain, and this lasted for weeks. I had a terrible case of edema. When I look back at pictures I barely recognize myself, my face was so swollen. Other factors during our time there left me feeling completely helpless and almost hopeless. This darkness continued for years. The pain continued for years. My weight became a focus. I lost a significant amount of weight, and it wasn’t hard, I had no appetite. I was 36 when I realized I was suffering from symptoms of fibromyalgia.
Finally, at the advice of a friend and the loving push of my husband I received help. I saw a psycologist regularly. She prescribed drugs like any “good doctor”. Something in my gut said no. Medications had never brought me sustainable relief in the past and I wasn’t buying into it now. I then began seeing an alternative nurtritionist who was also a chiropractor. That was 15 months ago. He truly was given the gift of healing. He believed that I could be completely healed of all these issues and that detoxing would clear my muddled head. I began an intensive detox program which included mud packs, adjustments and parasite cleansing. At first I felt terrible, worse than ever, and wanted to quit. I continued to see my psychologist and she continued to suggest the meds. Not that I am against medication, I know there are circumstances when people need them, but there was a force within me that gave me the strength to say no, there was a better way for me. I know that force is the Spirit who delights in me and takes no joy in my illness. His strength led me to continue on with natural cleansing both physically and more importantly spiritually, which I will expand upon at a later time. Within a month my pain began to subside. My migraines began to diminish in severity. For the first time in my history I had no pain in my neck and back. The dark cloud of dispair vanished overnight. It was like looking at the clear steady sky after a hurricane.
During detoxing my nutrionist took me off of wheat along with other various possible allergy triggers without an actual food intolerance test. As soon as I finished detoxing I added wheat products back into my diet. After all I felt great. My stomach issues began to resurface off and on. After a thorough food intolerance test, my lifelong pain issues began to become clear. I am gluten intolerant. Intolerant to wheat, barley, rye, malt, spelt, oats, dairy, eggs, potato, ginger, apples, mushrooms, cantalope, cardamom, cloves, grapes, mango, mustard, tomatos, pears, pork, turnips, processed sugar and various everyday spices. At first I didn’t know what to eat. I became a researcher. Through trial and error I have found what works for me, for our family and what doesn’t. I am a firm believer that food - the right foods - can be your medicine. The wrong foods can lead you down a road of pain and suffering. As my body continues on this road of healing I believe in time I will be able to add back in raw foods that my body has rejected. I follow many food blogs that I adapt to meet our families needs. Often the raw food blogs require no subsitutions/altering so that has become a favorite. I am a vegetarian, celebrating 6 months of no meat or dairy, and our family as a whole eats a 90% plant based diet, often raw. My diet and regime has me at a constant, healthy, steady weight, with a minimal easy to follow exercise program, and at least 30 minutes of vitamin D time daily. In my blog I will share with you recipes that I have created, ones I have adapted to meet our needs and referencing to food blogs that I use on a daily basis. I pray that you will be encouraged by my body and mind transformation and that the recipes, will bring health and enjoyment to you and your family. By the grace of God all is well with my soul and I say to you... Eat, Drink ,Be Merry, Be Free, Be you!
MY INCREDIBLE FAMILY
I am blessed beyond measure with a husband, Mike, of 20 years, four children, Connor 21, Carrie 19, Caley 12 1/2, and Chaya 8 1/2 years. My son married his high school sweetheart, Katelyn, and have given me the immeasurable gift of a grand daughter, Emma Grace born in June. I have been home schooling for a whopping 15 years. I am here to tesify that it does work. My older two are in college and thriving. Connor is majoring in Behavioral Psychology, Carrie is in the process of publishing her first novel and majoring in Communications with a minor in Psychology. Interesting that my two older ones are studying Psychology, I guess I gave them years of practice!! It’s like second nature to them. :) My 12 year old asked for college books to study Paleontology this year and is beyond her years in digital art, if I do say so myself, my almost 9 year old dreams of life as an oral surgeon for Smile Train and as a Disney pop star. More importantly they are AWESOME people and I love being with them! How I have “schooled” my children has varied from year to year. Some years totally loning it at home, some years involved co-ops and some years I dropped them off for a day or two of enrichment learning with a private school for home schoolers. This year we are incorporating a thought that has been lingering in my mind for some years -student led learning. Granted, math is non-negotiable for a choice of study but as far as the science, history and literature choices, I let them make it. I wondered if my 8 1/2 year old would say she had learned enough and preferred to do Just Dance and watch My Little Pony all day. Totally not the case. I was wowed by their choices and look forward to a wonderful year with late afternoons that will likely include lots of My Little Pony and definitely Just Dance. I am the reigning champion of Katy Perry’s “ Hot and Cold”, go figure :/
Raw Chocolate Bars
1 13oz can or carton garbonzo bean (chickpeas)
So, I can't give you my Granny's cookies, though they ingnite the sweetest memories for me. You won't find white flour, vegetable shortening, sugar or eggs in these. She may in fact think I had lost my mind to change the recipe but I had to get as close as I could to enjoying them without killing myself in the process! When ever I wasn't feeling well my Granny would ask me, "What's the matter with you? You allergic to something you et?" ( that's not a typo, she was a North Florida Native and if you have spent time in North Florida you don't need an explanation) Little did I know, she was right. I was intolerant to almost everything I ate. Granny, I hope you will forgive the changes and know that I made them with love and happy thoughts of you in my heart! In honor of Granny....
The weather has been kinda rainy the last few days, but as always when the sun peaks out in Florida, it's automatically hot. One of the things I love about Florida is the year round sunshine. I also love that ice cream and popsicles aren't hindered by "seasons". Everyday is a good day for ice cream or popsicles!
You will not see brown rice in my recipes, though we used to eat a lot of it. Our go to for dinner psuedo-grains these days is quinoa. Quinoa is not really a grain it is actually an edible seed, but is prepared in much the same way as rice but in a lot less time. Quinoa is a power house food - providing all 9 essential vitamins, making it a complete protein. It is cholesterol-free and gluten free and as of yet can almost only be found organic. The good news is you can get a big bag at Costco for a very reasonable price. There are so many possibilities with quinoa, I also use ground quinoa in cookie and muffin recipes, it is a great substitute for usual flours. 
Cacao Energy Bites
