I’ve been on a wild ride with my health the last 2+ years and obviously have followed the latest craze and done Whole 30… three times. I’m a sucker for another great plan that will miraculously fix my “issues.” What did I discover? I am feeling worse. Ugh. And by feeling worse, I mean bloating, stiffness, pain and some craziness in my head (anxiety/depression/panic attacks). Hello, inflammation! I have arrived and you have my attention.
So food testing I went and discovered ginormous levels of candida alba-something and a slew of foods my body hates right now and in general, everything makes me feel like kaka. Amongst the list were super easy ones to eliminate when you already feel like you are eating birdseed: garlic (what?!), eggs, cashews, ginger, pineapple, beef, navy beans (put it on there 50 times, I’m nailing this one)…
I know what you are thinking, why am I telling you this? Because during this time, I have subscribed to just about every single email list I could possibly be on to find new recipes and ways of cooking. Daily, I print recipes, take screen shots of the lovelies everyone is putting on Facebook, file emails, and on occasion upload the shining stars to my food planner (Plan to Eat, because that is what Jen Hatmaker did and if she’s doing it I am doing it). All my efforts are now getting dusty because I am now FULLY saturated and beyond gorged.
Today I unsubscribed from all of them. Goodbye Michelle Tam, Danielle Walker, Paleo Running Mom, Kelsey at Little Bits Of, Natasha’s Kitchen… we’ll probably meet again, but it will be on my terms. Then I deleted all of the saved for later cookbooks from my Amazon cart and went upstairs and put all the awesome new cookbooks neatly in a drawer. Something shifts in my soul…. and I breathe. Then I grabbed the piles of printed recipes and I sorted and three-hole punched allllll the recipes. My gosh, it filled 2 three-ring binders…
In order to move forward from this fresh line I drew in the sand, I started coaching myself. I’m telling you, I am my own best customer and it will give you a feel for how coaching works.
What was the original intent for all the recipes? Clearly, to cook differently than I had been because my old cheese and garlic laden recipes would no longer work.
How often do you cook meals each week? 5-6 nights per week, plus I need things that are easy to grab and on hand for lunches and snacks.
Knowing your schedule and the rhythm of your family life, how many new recipes are doable each week? I probably only have the energy for 1-2 new meals and my family probably only wants to go on that adventure 1-2 times per week.
What do you need in order to implement a plan where you add 1-2 recipes a week? Well, a holding tank for new recipes would be helpful. This is probably the three ring binders I just put together.
What else? A system for making well-liked recipes a staple and eliminating the duds.
What’s worked best in the past for organizing your staple recipes? Well, right now I have half of my recipes in an old school recipe box and half are on my iPad in an app. I miss using a recipe box and just pulling out the recipes for the week and usually I am watching TV on my iPad while I cook, so it is not convenient to use my recipe app.
What else do you need, in order to move forward on this? I have always wanted to have a 6-week meal plan to take some of the thinking/planning out of what I am going to make each week.
Anyone picking up what I am putting down? So from here, I estimated the time each task would take (getting all my staples in my recipe box and creating a 6-week plan that includes 1-2 new recipes each week). From there, I added those 2 items to my Household To-do list and then next time I am watching movies or TV with the kids, I will start making progress on them because let’s face it, as much as I want this all done RIGHT NOW… we can function just fine without it in the interim. Stopping all the emails was life giving enough for this week.
Hope this helps give you some ideas about simplifying areas of your life and check Facebook for the staple recipe that is getting me through this interesting season of eating!
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