We love long weekends! (And it might take you all weekend to read this!)

Tomorrow is labor day! I am really glad to have the day off, not because I've been particularly overworked lately, but because I get to spend the whole day with Justin! Since he's been in the academy, he's had to put in long days, even staying until 10 or 11 at night on some occassions, and it feels like we don't get to see each other as much. I'm always glad to get to have a whole day with him, especially when we don't really have anything to do! Those days don't come too often.

So for anyone who was paying attention, I'm doing really well with my goal to eliminate aritifically flavored/colored, caffeinated, and carbonated drinks. So far, it's been two weeks, and water and milk are the only things I've had to drink! It's not really had because I liked drinking soda, it's more because I like having something flavorful to drink. However, I get plenty of flavor in all the food I eat, and don't need the additional bad things in my drinks! I wish I could say I feel like a new person, or that I've lost 5 pounds, but really, I think the benefits are long term with overall better health, and sparing my body from unneccessary toxins.

Last Saturday, I decided to get rid of white flour. Not entirely, because there are some occassions where white flour has no substitute. However, I used my awesome wheat grinder to make some whole wheat flour, and started off the week with Brother Keay's famous Whole Wheat Waffles. All of the boys that spent so much time at their house (justin, mike, chris, ben, etc.) talk about these waffles all the time, and how good they were. Mike made them for us last April when we went to their house for General Conference, and they really are fantastic!

When I made them, I didn't have buttermilk, so I made my own, which I think was detrimental to the recipe. I would use real buttermilk, and decrease the oil next time. I want to do a little more tweaking to the recipe, but I'll put it here in original form in honor of the Keay family, and the legacy of this recipe! :)
(I don't think it's a secret recipe, because Mike had no qualms with giving it to me. However, maybe keep it to yourself?

Brother Keay's Whole Wheat Waffles:

2 C Buttermilk
1 C Wesson Oil
4 Eggs
2 C Whole Wheat Flour
3 t. Baking Powder
1 t. Soda

Beat until thick and creamy. You can't overbeat. This batter will keep in fridge or you can make waffles and freeze them.

Originally, this was made with white flour. You can try that too if you want.

If I end up creating a slightly less oily version of this (although it's sooo good... I have a hard time explaining it to my heart) I'll put it up here. Until then, here's a delicious way to start using whole wheat!

On a bit of a different note, I've been doing a bit of reasearch lately about food, and ways I can establish a healthier lifestyle in what we eat. We are pretty active, and we eat healthily, but I still feel like there's something wrong with the way we approach food, and the things we eat.

Just a quick note, my cousin Megan has an excellent blog where she talks about her struggles with her son Seth's autism, and her family's efforts to be all natural in an attempt to reverse his autism. I explain it terribly, but she is really doing an excellent job with her adorable kids, and it seems that her efforts are paying off with great improvements in Seth. If this rambling that I'm doing sounds interesting to you at all, you should definitely check out her blog (link is on the left- "Megan and Rhett") and see the neat things she's doing. The ideas she has compiled there have really gotten me thinking more, and have steered me a bit in this mini-quest.

Anyway, I found this book at Borders yesterday called Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. The idea behind the cook book, and way of eating that it encourages, is this:
We have had wonderful advances in technology that we have experienced over the last century, or even two centuries. However, the "improvements" we have made to the foods we eat by stuffing them full of refined sugar and grains, preservatives, and chemicals, really have not helped us at all, but instead hurt us. The author calls for a return to the traditional foods that our ancestors ate, and says that when we can again eat this way, we can help our bodies to be beautiful, strong, and healthy, and naturally prevent the many diseases that plague our country and world.

Personally, it makes sense to me. I am not one to make radical changes to anything, but this is the kind of thing I have been thinking in the back of my mind over the last few months. Why do I need to take vitamins for all the nutrients I don't get in my food? I eat plenty to be able to get all the right nutrients through my diet. Pioneers didn't have vitamins, or protein shakes, or fortified cereals. They had real food, and they were healthy.

Of course, I am definitely not advocating a complete abandonment of traditional medicine, because there are some great improvements to our health and many treatments of disease that most people cannot control with just food. But I do think that a traditional diet deserves a second, or even third look, and I am doing just that.

I really think that there's so much to learn about the world and how things work, and the best way to do that is to research it out with reputable sources, and see what makes sense to you. Maybe this is just a kick I'm on right now, but I think that there really is something to a diet that sustained mankind for thousands of years before we invented boxed meals and fat free ice cream. I just want to check it out more.

The book I'm reading is:


Check it out, if your interested in this at all. Also, if you have any insight or opinions about this, leave me a comment!