GERD's The Word, Gout is Out

     Welcome back! 🙋Okay, I haven't written for a while so I guess you aren't the one who left. It's been a crazy summer. Quick update...As the world stayed home more, I started my masters.  I finished two classes this summer and still have my sanity (Some of you have known me for a while and are questioning if I ever had it). We spent more time playing outdoors with our son and less time being busy with things that no longer matter as much in the grand scheme of things.  

    Just when I thought I had a handle on life, my husband's foot started hurting...a lot. He's had gout before and had been drinking too many sodas again so we did the usual giving up sodas for him and waited...and waited...and waited. The pain was getting worse.  He went to the doctor who said it was tendonitis. We looked up tendonitis and did everything research said, and the pain continued to get worse.  During this time, my husband started making changes in his diet because my losing weight helped my arthritis pain in my foot a lot. Nothing was working and he had to take time off from work because it was too painful to walk. Two more doctor visits (and no sleep for days) found that it wasn't tendonitis and is a very bad case of gout. The doctor's advice, diet changes are needed. It was like deja vu. 💡My life changed drastically the day I was diagnosed with GERD, and now my husband was going to get a taste of the same not fun, but needed medicine.

    So, that's where we're at. My husband is now down 24lbs so far and is finally able to walk without too much pain.  What does this mean? One positive is that I no longer have to buy tons of junk food that I can't eat and keep it in my house mocking me. Another is that I'm only having to cook one meal most of the time. Luckily, we're extremely blessed with a five-year-old who loves every fruit and veggie and begged me for raw green beans instead of cookies a couple of weeks ago. This kid is in Heaven with all the fruit and veggie options in the house.  

    Overall, my husband's anti-gout/anti-inflammation diet looks very similar to my GERD diet, but he can have some fruits, such as oranges and cherries, that I can't have and some veggies, like peppers and onions, that I can't have too. He can also have tomatoes, which is either a fruit or a veggie depending on if you are in science class or looking at options for a fruit salad. 

    So, new challenges! I'll be trying out new recipes and posting our successes.  There will be a lot less meat (He should only have 4oz a day). This morning I kept it simple.  My husband had a scramble with one whole egg, some liquid egg whites, a serving of chopped potatoes cooked down, onions, red and green peppers, and olives. It was loaded with protein, and we added one serving of a whole wheat, high fiber cereal that was actually really tasty.  for 415 calories, he had 24g of protein, 8g of fiber, and tons of vitamins.  Earlier this week, I made my chicken stir fry with ginger and honey, and it was a big success with both of the guys in the family. We've already frozen potions of it, along with some pinto beans and red beans with a little shredded chicken breast in them for lunches on days when there are no leftovers. 

I'll be starting a Google Doc with foods that are good for gout/inflammation issues and will share it when I'm done so that others can benefit from it too.  Look for that to come soon.

So, my first entry was called GERD's the Word, and now we are adding our new motto, Gout is Out. Yes, I am an elementary teacher and do have to rhyme or make alliteration with everything.😉

Oh yeah, I've also started the 75 Day Hard Challenge (today is day 8), but that's a whole different entry. 

My two guys.

The Quarantine 19

I keep hearing people talk about the Quarantine 19 (like the freshman 15). I get it. Being stuck inside for most of the day, or outside but still not on your regular schedule, can throw your eating off. All of a sudden, that highly motivated healthy eater becomes a hungry, munching dragon ready to devour her husband who is getting in between her and her next snack. I'm not talking from experience. Why are your looking at me like I'm talking from experience?! Okay, I'm totally talking from experience. This happened to us just last Saturday. Ben handed me food and told me to eat as he slowly backed away from me. I'm determined not to gain the Quarantine 19. I actually have a goal of losing a few lbs and working on toning up through exercise during this time so I need to have a plan.

We are going to snack. There is nothing wrong with snacking as long as there is portion control and some healthy eating to balance it. Maybe mix some healthy snacks in there. Side note: My dad once told me he was eating healthier and had a trail mix. I looked at it....it was mainly M&Ms....like almost all M&Ms. A few raisins and peanuts doesn't make it trail mix guys. 🤣

I decided to do a blog entry revisiting some of my favorite healthy meals and snacks that I have been eating.

Breakfast:

1. 2-3 servings of liquid egg whites on an English muffin (I love the cinnamon raisin ones) and 1/2 cup of fat free milk. I can't do regular milk because the fat triggers GERD.

2. 2-3 servings of egg whites with two pieces of toast (no butter). I put the eggs on the toast for flavor.

3. 2-3 servings of egg whites (seeing a trend here 😉) cooked and then placed in a high fiber, low fat tortilla (I use Ole' Xtreme Wellness tortillas because they have 11 grams of fiber and 1.5 grams of fat) with 2 tbs of fat free cheddar cheese. I then role up the tortilla into a burrito and cook it on the stove for about 3 minutes on each side to brown it. The whole process takes less than ten minutes, and I can walk away from the stove while the burrito is browning to get other things done.

4. 1 serving of Bran Flakes with 1/2 cup of fat free milk. Watch out for some bran cereals that come with fruit or granola because they can be loaded with sugar. I just use a plain bran flakes cereal and add in about 8 raisins to it if I want to make my own raisin bran cereal.

5. Breakfast burritos part 2- I cook breakfast burritos for my husband that are different than mine but still healthy. For his, the inside has breakfast potatoes (read the back of the bags if you buy frozen instead of cutting the potatoes fresh. Potatoes have 0 grams of fat, some hashbrowns have 8 grams per serving). I cook the potatoes with onions and peppers. Then I cook some breakfast turkey sausage (If you have a Kroger affiliate around you, their Simple Truth breakfast sausage has only 4 grams of fat per serving, and you normally don't need a full serving per burrito). I do a mixture of eggs and egg whites (about 4 servings of liquid egg whites to 2 whole eggs). Then I mix everything in a big bowl and make burritos with the mixture and some fat free cheese. This process takes a little longer to make all of the burritos, but I normally make about ten at a time and can wrap them and freeze them for my husband to grab on the go in the morning. He likes adding a little salsa to them after heating them up.

Lunch/Supper

Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir Fry
-6-8 cups of veggies ( I use the Normandy broccoli mix at Sams and frozen peas because those are my favorites)
-1 lb of chicken breast
-6 tbs of honey
-6 tsp of ginger

I start by cooking my 1 lb of chicken breast (I use the tenders) in a pan until they are cooked through. I've also done this with extra lean ground turkey. In a pot, I mix and cook down all of my veggies. You can do fresh or frozen. I normally use frozen because I keep plenty on hand, but I throw in whatever I have fresh on hand also, like snap peas. Cut up the chicken in smaller pieces and mix it in with the cooked veggies. Add your honey and ginger, starting with smaller amounts and adding more as needed. It's that simple and so delicious! I always have leftovers to freeze for days when I need a meal. That way I don't reach for something unhealthy.

Winter Lentil Soup (Stewp is what I call it)
-1 lb chicken breast
-about 2lbs of potatoes, chopped
-1 cup of green lentils
-1 1/4 cups of green peas (or 1 can of no salt added green peas)
-1 3/4 cup of green beans (or 1 can of no salt added green beans)
-25 baby carrots (or you can use carrots. I always have baby carrots in my refrigerator.)
-8 cups of low sodium chicken broth
-1 can of no salt added black beans (optional, or you can choose another bean you love to add fiber)

This is a dump recipe that I created when I was hungry one night, and it has become a favorite. I cook the chicken in a separate pan and then chop it. Then I start with just the chicken broth and the chopped potatoes in the pot because they potatoes take longer, and I want them really cooked down. Bring it to a boil. I then add the other ingredients, bring it to a boil, and then lower the fire to medium and let it simmer for a while. After a while, I mash some of the potatoes to thicken it up. That's when it becomes more of a stewp than a soup. We still have some winter days in our spring so this is nice for those days. I make a big pot and, you guessed it, freeze 1 cup portions to have when I need it. I use no salt added to control how much salt I want to add to it.

Turkey Burgers (so much better than the frozen ones at the store)
-1 lb extra lean ground turkey
-1 serving of egg whites
-1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs or 1/4 cup regular bread crumbs

That's it! I mix everything all together and make 5 patties. For mine, I just use salt because I can't have a lot of seasoning. Ben loves Pampered Chef's Smoked Applewood rub so I use that on his. This is an easy meal when you don't have much time.

Burrito Bowls
- These are one of my favorite family meals because everyone can put what they want in them. I cook chicken breast and ground turkey (with taco seasoning for the ground turkey), pinto beans, black beans, rice (you don't need much. We use 1 cup for all of us for a couple of meals), lettuce, fat free cheese, and pico de gallo (for the husband since I can't have tomatoes.  A typical burrito bowl for me include about 3 oz of chicken, 2 tbs of rice, 1/4 cup of pinto beans, 1/4 cup of black beans, lettuce, and 2 tbs of cheese. I normally make plenty, and we make the leftovers into burritos the next day.
Hint! I use canned beans to make it go quickly but hate the sodium. So, I buy no salt added beans so that I can control how much salt we put into them.

Snacks

Almost No Fat Banana Bread
This is one of my favorites, and my son and students love it too. This one isn't my recipe. It comes from Allrecipes. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/23426/almost-no-fat-banana-bread/ It's delicious and freezes well.

Gingerbread Cookies (not just for Christmas)

-3/4 cup mashed bananas ( I normally use applesauce to replace butter, but I didn't have any so I just used mashed bananas. You can sub applesauce if you don't like bananas.)

-1 cup brown sugar

-1 serving of liquid egg whites

-3/4 cup molasses

-4 cups of flour (I used white flour because I didn't have any wheat flour. Wheat flour would have upped the fiber content)

-2 tsp ground ginger

-1.5 tsp baking soda

-1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

.75 tsp ground cloves

.25 tsp salt

Directions:

Mash the bananas well. Mix the mashed bananas and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add egg and molasses and mix again. In a separate bowl,( I know, I hate dirtying two bowls too.) mix the flour, ginger, baking soda, ground cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Add the dry mixture to your wet mixture a little at a time and mix together. Cover and refrigerate for a while, depending on how hard you need the mixture to be. I just dropped by spoonfuls so I only refrigerated the cookie dough for about an hour to make it easier to work with. If you want to use cookie cutters, I would recommend refrigerating the cookie dough for a few hours. 

Drop by spoonfuls onto your cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. My first batch was fine at 10 minutes and my second one burned a little.

I hope some of these gave you some new ideas to try. I'll continue to post some of my favorites over the next few weeks. The picture was my supper tonight, sweet and sour chicken stir fry!

Cheater, Cheater IHOP Eater

Since being diagnosed with GERD, I've been extremely careful with what I eat. This has gotten me looks and comments about how I don't eat "normal food." I hear," One cookie won't kill you." and, my personal favorite that I have heard so many times,"If I had to eat like you I would want to die."  It honestly doesn't phase me because I know that I'm feeding my body what it needs. Others have told me that they have GERD and eat whatever they want and just pop a pill or deal with the pain. If that's your plan and it works for you, all the power to you. Every case is different, and the pain is unbearable and not worth it for me.

So, story time. 🎶 Just sit right back and you will hear a tale of a fateful trip🎶....sorry, childhood memories coming back with that one. I just wanted to tell a story of what happened to me today and why I'm so strict with my eating. We rarely go out to eat. My GERD control freak self can't do it because I can't see them preparing my meal. Most "healthy" meals at restaurants are ruined for me with how they are cooked. We once ate at Texas Roadhouse where the waiter confirmed that everything, including steamed veggies and baked potatoes, is cooked in butter. Luckily, he was able to request no butter with my steamed veggies, but the baked potato was a no go.

This morning we decided to eat as a family at IHOP. My son's eyes got twice as big as he saw his cupcake pancake, eggs, sausage, and bacon. My husband had chicken fried steak, pancakes, and eggs (of course I heard about how his stomach hurt after because it doesn't go with the food he normally eats anymore). I sat there and was perfectly content with two poached egg whites, a plain Thomas English Muffin toasted, and a glass of apple juice, all GERD diet approved. I lie, I totally wasn't fine with it. I eyed both of their meals and craved one bite of pancakes with yummy butter pecan syrup. Anyone who knows me well knows that I firmly believe that every day is worth sprinkle infused food (I had funfetti cake for my birthday every year before this.) so my son's cupcake pancake looked like the promise land. But, I have GERD and that's just how it is, so I ate my plain food and soaked in the fun of us all going eat out together.

....until about five minutes after we left the restaurant. I had been done eating for a while, and I was starting not to feel well. All of the signs of my GERD attacks from before were coming back to me. My back hurt from the acid, my chest felt tight, and I had to say excuse me a million times because we are trying to teach my son manners and mommy was burping often. I took Tums as soon as we got home and have some extra strength Zantac calling my name when I am done with this because, hours later, the pain is still there. I've been sucking on ginger candies all day to help as well.

I ate everything that I should have, but my doctor warned me that restaurants don't always cook food like they say they do, and often people are triggered accidentally after they thought they were eating the correct foods. Our best guess is that my English muffin was actually toasted where they cook all the other food, meaning it was cooked where they put oil and butter.

Eating the way I do is a lifelong thing. When people say they would want to die if they had to eat like me, I want to tell them that they would feel like they are dying if they had my GERD and didn't eat like I do. So, whether it is GERD or some other kind of medical condition that makes you eat a certain way (or if you just want to eat the way you want to because whose business is it to judge you for the food that you are putting in your mouth, your mouth...repeat that...your mouth, not theirs), you've got this! You are amazing! Forget anyone who doesn't understand. It's not their job to understand. It's their job to be them, and it is your job to be you.

                               My son's breakfast from this morning because, y'all, the sprinkles!

Sometimes I Get Emotional....Well, Emotional Eating That Is

Emotional eating, it's been there with me my entire life. This is one of the things I can confidently say I know that I am not alone in because I see people post about it in fitness groups on Facebook all the time. We do great, we are set with healthy choices, and then something goes wrong and that craving for homemade granola over low fat yogurt quickly spirals into an entire pint of Blue Bell's crazy cookie dough, not that I know from experience or anything but y'all crazy cookie dough could definitely be someone's kryptonite and bride's cake may have helped me usher in my 30's.

I have joked with my husband before about my non healthy relationship with Little Debbie growing up. I told him that Little Debbie was my best friend during those awkward teen years because she always stuck by my side...well, to my side. Some can eat one swiss cake roll and be done. I would eat one and then plot on how I could hide the fact that I ate another from my parents. It was an unhealthy relationship, but I didn't know how to get away from it. When I was sad, Little Debbie made me feel a little better. When I was discouraged, Blue Bell was there to save the day. When I was stressed, good ole Ruffles knew how to calm me down. I was ashamed that I emotionally ate, which led to even more emotional eating. Shame can keep us trapped far longer than we ever thought. It was a cycle for me.

Then, my twenties happened. I went through a divorce at only 23. Out of respect for the other person involved and because it isn't just my story to tell, I won't include any details other than I went through a divorce and it was the hardest time in my life at that point. I decided to try something new. Instead of emotional eating, it was emotional working out. Every time I would start feeling depressed, I would go run. I found this great track that almost no one went to so I could run and then just talk/ yell to God how much everything sucked (Sorry to everyone who corrected me about saying the word suck growing up. As you can see, it still stuck, but your voices reminding me to say stink are always still there every time I use it). I lost weight and got healthy. I felt amazing! I had finally beat the emotional eating right?

Nope. In 2012 I had a tragic accident. Okay...so I had an accident on a kid's inflatable water slide, more comedic than tragic. It left me needing two surgeries and being told I could no longer run. Cue the emotional eating again. The great thing about being stuck on a sofa after surgery...people feel bad and buy you all your favorite foods to pig out on. The bad thing about being stuck on a sofa after surgery, well, read the last part of the sentence before this one. I put on about 30 pounds in a few months.

I would love to say that now that I am down 80 lbs that I have fully conquered emotional eating, but I haven't. Last week, we got some hard news about a family member's health, and out came the jelly beans. Just yesterday, I had something discouraging happen and I broke out a serving of reduced fat Nilla Wafers....the Nilla Wafers people. My husband looked straight at me when our pastor then had a part of his sermon on how do we do when we are discouraged or things don't go our way. How do pastors always know about those emotional eaten Nilla Wafers? 🤣

This post isn't to say, "Hey, look at me! I've conquered this and you can too! This is how you do it in three easy steps!!' It's saying that you aren't alone if emotional eating has been a struggle for you. It's one I am daily working on. For me, putting on worship music and very loudly belting it out so that the entire county around me helps. One of my sisters loves to go for bike rides in nature when she is stressed. I mean, I now have a metal plate and five screws thanks to a water slide accident so I'm thinking I can't afford the medical bills that would result from me biking. I know that the key is to stop associating food with comfort and getting over stress and start actually dealing with the source of the emotions. So, that's where I'm at right now. I'm taking it each day knowing that, even though my emotional eating is now GERD friendly healthier options than before, it's still emotional eating and that's not too healthy. A Nilla wafer should just be a Nilla wafter, and a jelly bean should just be a jelly bean.

So, if you are in the same boat as me, let's try to both work on it this week. Find someone to encourage you, or, in my case, stare at you when the pastor is talking directly about you. 😳 When you get stressed out or discouraged, know that Little Debbie and Duncan Hines won't solve the problem and will possibly leave you with a stomach ache later. Let's get creative in how we can replace emotional eating with something healthy. Feel free to comment on this post or on my post on The Cajun Coloradan Facebook page if you are in this with me or if you have some great ideas for me.

                                                       The Starer...aka my amazing husband

Husband update!

So, I'm a week late on the one month update for my husband. My second blog post was about how he and his friend were going to do a 30 day challenge to eat the way I eat. There was a lot of laughing (me) and crying (him), but I am so proud of him for sticking it out.

We realized on..oh day 1 or so that we would have to change a few things up if he was going to stick to it and I was going to keep my sanity.  The words, "I'm going to die" were used and "I haven't eaten anything all day." Rest assured, he was eating. There are some foods that I don't eat because of the acidity that are still healthy. So, I've worked a few of those into his eating. I'm looking at you salsa 😉. I also can't have any meal over 3 grams of fat. I upped this to five grams of fat for my husband because he was struggling with snacks and meals that qualified under how I eat. I think the first week brought a lot of perspective for him to see just how much of a struggle it was for me when I started out.

Overall, he has done amazing. I'm so proud of the changes that he has made that are sticking. He has been trying to cut out soda for years, and this challenge has done it for him. I'm no longer stocking up on potato chips and cookies. Within just a few days, he noticed his joints weren't hurting like they usually do after work and his body was just feeling better overall. In his words, "I don't feel like death." How many times have I heard, "You get older and things just start hurting." Well, he changed what he was fueling his body with every day and things stopped hurting.

Challenges along the way. We have had a few interesting days. He has probably had about five days where he completely went off track. July 4th was one of them. I may have cried quite a bit that day. Holidays are a reminder to me that other people, like my husband, can eat stuff whenever they want and then go right back to healthy eating and be fine. If I do that, I will be in a lot of pain and on medicine. It just isn't worth it, but it's okay to say that it stinks sometimes (like 20 times in one day). And it stunk watching my husband load up on hot dogs, deviled eggs, and chips while I sat there with chicken breast and a baked potato. I mean, I wasn't dramatic about it or anything 😉, but I may have sung,"You've lost that loving feeling" to him in the car that day after he ate like he wanted to and I couldn't.

So, lets get to the good stuff. How is hubby doing now, a week after the challenge is over? He is sticking to it!!! This challenge gave him an insight into just how good his body feels when he is putting good food in it. Every time he has a "cheat meal" (I hate that term. It's still just a meal. No shame in it) he feels miserable after and declares that he doesn't know why he does it when he knows he won't feel well. He has decided that this is his new permanent way of living and he will just go off of it for one meal when he has days when be dealt wants something.

After one month, he is down 15lbs and feeling great! It feels great to cook one meal for the whole family now, and we are trying new healthy meals each week.

                                                Don't get jealous ladies, this one is all mine. 

Let Them Eat Cake!

Okay, I'm going to be completely honest. I was totally bummed yesterday. I'm used to eating my GERD friendly diet every other day, but holidays still get to me. Barbecue was out of the question, and there was no way I was making my traditional apple pie. So, I decided to do something to cheer myself up.

The challenge: Could I make one of my childhood favorites healthier and GERD friendly without losing the quality? I decided to take Mrs. Betty's Apple Coffeecake.

Y'all no one cooks better than a Southern church lady. It's a fact, not an opinion, so don't even try to debate me on it. I don't care that I live in Colorado now. I still want to be considered a Southern church lady when I cook. I took this challenge because I couldn't ruin Mrs. Betty's coffeecake.

The original recipe called for oil and eggs. That knocked me out of the running because each serving would be 14 grams of fat, and I can only have 3 grams of fat per meal. So, I replaced the eggs with servings of egg white substitute and the oil with applesauce. Because of the sweetness of applesauce, I cut the sugar in half from two cups to one cup. I was afraid of it being too sweet. My husband said this is a fear that I should never have. 🤣

Here were my ingredients:

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of applesauce
2 servings of liquid egg whites
3 cups of flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of salt
2 tsp of vanilla
4 cups of diced apples

I first creamed the sugar and applesauce together. Then I added all of the other ingredients to the bowl. The recipe calls for four cups of apples. I used medium honeycrisp, and it took two and three quarters apples. I could have increased the fiber by using wheat flour, but I decided to try with white flour for the first time trying this. I poured everything into a greased pan (I used a 9 X 13) and baked it at 350 degrees. Mine took 35 minutes before I felt it was ready.

What were the results? Half of the pan is currently gone. It cured my Fourth of July I can't eat any delicious food funk! It actually got better as the day went on and tasted more moist.

Feedback from my husband and father in law was that it needed more sugar (my father in law said this as he ate his second piece 😉) My husband said a little cinnamon sugar on top would have worked instead of more sugar in the cake. My mother in law said it was sweet enough already. It was more dense than Mrs. Betty's so I would whip the egg whites before adding them to the mix next time to give it a lighter texture. I plan on trying this again for sure, I mean for scientific blog purposes only of course.

Now, for the nutrition. I put the recipe in My Fitness Pal so that I could get the nutrition. The big one for my GERD diet is fat. I love the original recipe, but 14 grams of fat would have had me in pain and possibly telling Ben what to tell the hospital workers if an ambulance has to come get me (I may be a bit dramatic sometimes). This new recipe has 0 grams of fat per serving instead. I wouldn't recommend eating the entire pan because of course it is still a dessert, but I would definitely make this to cure those I need some dessert blues. These facts are for 1 piece when I divided the pan into 16 pieces. You can see from the picture above that it was a good size piece.

Mission success!!! 🎆🎉

Help! I Hit A Roadblock!

So, you've decided to eat healthy. You've bought healthy food, made a plan, and are determined to really stick to it this time. Your motivation is high, and your bank account is now low (healthy food isn't exactly cheap). What could go wrong right?

Roadblocks. 🚧 They are always there no matter what your goal is. What you don't expect is that many times the attempted roadblocks on your healthy journey are the ones you care about the most. Family, friends, coworkers. What do you do when temptation is all around and others are encouraging you to just eat "a little" (let's be honest, it turns into a lot and you wind up feeling guilty, miserable, and, frankly, craving more)? Sometimes people do it innocently, like grandmas who love you so much and just want to make sure you are fed and full....every...minute...of...your....life. People who really love you and support you will still get it wrong sometimes, but most of the time they will make an effort to support you. There will always be others though. Not everyone or every situation will be supportive. Someone I know was recently at a work event where people repeatedly put soda and cookies in his face trying to get him to eat them even though they knew he was trying to eat healthy.

In the end, the responsibility falls on the person trying to be healthier. So, how do you do this?There will always be roadblocks, but let's talk about some detours that have helped my family.

1) Always have snacks with you!- If you have a healthier option on you, you are less likely to "need" the non healthy option. This seems pretty easy, but it requires planning. At any given time, you can ask me and I'll have a small apple in my purse. (Reminder to myself: put a new apple in after son confiscated the last one at the park today). I snack throughout the day when I'm working. As a teacher, this means snacking at planning, eating my lunch, and snacking right after the students leave and I'm working in my class. "I'm always on the road all day" I totally get this one. My husband drives a semi and is often waiting in line for hours for his load. He needs snacks that can easily be eaten in the vehicle while he is sitting in line. I pack a portion of nuts for him, an apple, and something small like a fig bar. Other small options that you can always have on hand in a purse, in a pocket, or in your car: one portion of lower fat granola, some dry cereal (I'm pretty much an 80 year old with my eating habits so bran flakes is my go to), or a small piece of fruit (cutie, apple). For those with access to a refrigerator, low fat string cheese is a great option.

2) If you are tempted by sweets, HAVE A BETTER SWEET AVAILABLE!- I have already talked about apples, but sometimes that just doesn't do the trick. When I first got diagnosed, sweets was such a struggle. I love sugar! Gilmore Girls was one of my favorite shows growing up, and I aimed to eat like a Gilmore Girl. There are always sweets in the teachers' lounge...ALWAYS...and I felt like I was always depriving myself. So, I started keeping two jelly beans in my purse. Yep, just two. When I was trying to avoid cake, donuts, and every other sweet known to man in the teachers' lounge, I would just suck on my two jelly beans to enjoy them slowly. I took care of my sugar craving and saved myself a lot of calories and sugar. If you don't have GERD, you can do the same thing with a mint. If you do have GERD, avoid mints because they are a trigger.

3) 🎵Have a little help from my friends...🎵- Yep, that would be a Wonder Years reference, another part of my childhood. Despite all attempts, sometimes it just stinks. Have some kind of accountability person that you can talk to, even if it is just shooting them a text saying that there are donuts at work today for the third time this week and you really want one and sometimes it just stinks because life would be easier if all you saw was carrots and broccoli and everyone ate like you and.....okay, so I may be drawing from experience from this one. I normally text my husband, and his usual response is, "You've got this". Those three little words set me up for complete success and help me to walk away with a little more confidence. It's also cool to have friends that totally understand that you might eat a little different and support you in it, like when they are all ordering burgers and fries and you are sitting there with your English muffin with no butter or jam (yep, that happened recently. Shout out to my amazing friends for no judgement and plenty of laughs that night!)

4) It's okay to say no!- I feel like some of us need to read that daily. I was raised with amazing Cajun manners. You always show respect. Part of this had me feeling guilty for turning people down with food. "You wouldn't want to hurt their feelings" was the little voice I heard every time. The truth is, it's okay to say no! It's healthy to say no sometimes. Like I said before, your family and friends love you and want to support you. Sometimes we are the ones making ourselves feel badly. We go over to eat at my in laws house after church on Sundays. Nine times out of ten, I stop at a store and pick up some chicken breast tenderloins to cook for myself to go along with something else for lunch. I know that my GERD diet is different than what most people eat so it's just easier for me. This week my mother in law had steamed some broccoli so I just paired it with my chicken for lunch (followed by fat free Cool Whip in a sugar cone which I highly recommend for dessert! Yum!). When I first started, I felt so guilty about not eating what my in laws had cooked. I even considered eating something that I knew would give me a reaction because I didn't want anyone to feel badly. No one had made a comment or tried to make me feel badly. I had to get past my own self imposed guilt. This one was helped along by the hubby who gave me a look like I had just landed an alien aircraft when I said maybe I would just eat a little. I had to teach myself that it is okay to saw no.

You've got this. Roadblocks happen, but detours always help. To quote a song we use to sing in kids church that has been constantly in my head while typing this, "Hey, what do you say? Move that mountain out of my way!"

And to those waiting on my Cajun food post...keep watching because I'm working on some recipes this week. The one I am most excited to try to recreate isn't Cajun, but it was a huge part of my childhood. For those from BBAG, I'm going to attempt a healthier version of Mrs. Betty's apple coffeecake!


                                 My amazing little guy decided to do sit ups with me today. 

Just A Cajun Girl Living In A GERD World

Y'all, don't get me wrong. I love living in Colorado. I love being next to the mountains and having amazing parks to bring my son to. I enjoy having so many healthy options restaurants and stores. Colorado was ranked number eight in healthiest states for 2018.

But...I'm from Louisiana, which was ranked number 50. I'm convinced that part of that ranking was the Cajuns. Our food is delicious. I grew up on gumbo, jambalaya, bread pudding (okay, my mouth is literally salivating), and beignets. I won a church cooking contest with my crawfish pie. Now, y'all know it's good when it wins at pentecostal church cooking contest. That was Cajun grandma good.

The problem is that Cajun food doesn't exactly have a reputation for being healthy, and I've been in this GERD world for six months now. I haven't had a single Cajun dish for six months. I have been known to boude' about this in my house. My husband has even learned that word and uses it on me now. So, can Cajun food be made healthy and GERD approved without tasting like Disney's version of gumbo (I'm still not over that)? What happens when I can no longer have the Cajun Trinity and Tony Chacherie? (Don't worry, I'll let Ben have it in his.) That's what my challenge to myself is this week!

When my parents moved into their new house, my mom took all three of her girls to the back of the house where things were stored and told us that we would be able to look through her cookbooks and keep some. I tried to keep my heart rate down as I saw my sisters grabbing the "fancy" southern cookbooks because I knew exactly what I was looking for and was able to grab it before they even noticed the treasure before them. No one cooks better than a Cajun grandma, no one. I collected a treasury of church women cookbooks and the local cookbook made by senior citizens. Those cookbooks have been stained as I tried to learn all the secrets inside of them.

This week, I'll be going through all of my cookbooks and attempting to make some of them GERD friendly while still tasting delicious. Easy, no (probably my toughest challenge yet actually), but this Cajun girl is missing her Cajun food.

If anyone has any specific Cajun dish that they would like me to try to take on, leave a comment here or just comment on my post on my Facebook page when I share this. I'll be doing a new blog post with my results and recipes for the dishes that we like.

So, wish me luck and allons!

                                                  The pot of gold at the end of a rainbow!

Say What?!

See bottom of post for a meal idea

We've all been told just how powerful words are. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" Yep, the lie detector test determined that's a lie. We tell kids to be nice. "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." (So many years of silence....I'm kidding!) But, do we tell ourselves that? What power do the words we say to ourselves have over us?

I know this sounds "kumbaya"ish , but I've really been reflecting on this as my four year old has started mimicking everything we say, I  mean everything. I accidentally taught him "buttnugget" the other day and then had to tell him that mommy was wrong and we shouldn't say that. I also had to turn away so he didn't see me laugh 🤣 Think about some of the things we say about ourselves. Would you really allow someone to say that about you?

I know, I know. Kristie, where are you going with this? Aren't you supposed to be writing about GERD and eating healthy? Yes, and this is totally part of it! I can change my eating, exercise, and get off of all medicines, but I'm not taking care of my health if I'm not watching what words I'm feeding myself.

The other day, I found myself telling the hubby, "Dude, I feel so fat. I feel fatter now then I ever was." One, yes I did say that. Two, yes I did say dude. Being an elementary teacher means your vocabulary never has to grow up right? What was the husband's response? Did he help me throw a pity party compete with streamers and fat free cake (gotta still include my good friend GERD to the party)? Nope, he stared at me like I had grown a horn or something and said I needed to stop talking like that. He actually sounded offended that I would talk about the woman he loves that way. I feel like everyone needs someone like my husband in their life....Someone like my husband ladies, not my husband. He's all mine 😉 We need people who won't coddle us and will just straight up tell us when we need to start loving ourselves more and start speaking the truth. The truth wasn't that I was feeling fatter. The truth was that I was frustrated because the scale hadn't moved for a week. The truth wasn't that I felt fatter than I ever was. The truth was that I was frustrated by my own unrealistic view of myself. The truth was that I needed to start seeing myself differently.

My grandfather use to say when the words are in your mind they belong to you but the moment you say them they belong to everyone around you. You can apologize, but you can never fully take them back. I'm challenging myself to take that advice and to go a step further because when the negative self talk is in my head, it's already doing damage. When I look in the mirror and get disgusted because *gasp* I have fat on my stomach (insert the word thighs, arms, or even big toe here), I'm not embracing the fact that I'm healthy and that God gave me this body to love and appreciate. When I tell myself that it would be easier if I just give up because what's the difference anyway, I'm not acknowledging the fact that I've never been one to just give up when things get harder. Why would I start now?

I want my son to believe in himself. I want him to know just how awesome he is. As a teacher, I know that kids learn from  modeling and doing so I know that the only way he will learn this is by watching us.

So, while this blog post may seem a little off topic...GERD... acid reflux...boogie man...ahh! (okay, I've hit the keywords I'm supposed to hit now), it's just as important to feed yourself with words that really fill you and inspire you. I talked in my last post about working out to music. Ben calls my music women music because all of the songs are...basically how much I rock 🤣. I start with "Fight Song" because it reminds me that I exercise to take back my life and end on "You Say/Who You Say I Am" every day because it reminds me to speak those words over myself.

In case no one told you today, you totally and completely rock. Yep, I'm talking to you. 😉

Cool Shout Out Time: I talked to someone I love so much today, let's call her Super Ninja, and she has been working so hard to take back her health. I'm so proud of her! I told y'all in the first post that I am now your biggest cheerleader. I love hearing when people are working and reaching goals! My energy level totally goes up, and it makes me want to push that much harder so we can do it together! You guys totally inspire me! Keep telling me your victories because a dance party celebrating you is so much better than a pity party that I use to throw, even without the streamers. 🎉

*And now the moment you have all been waiting for...the moment that might save this post for people thinking I've gone off the deep end instead of writing about my GERD...my new meal idea! Ben has been stretching me to expand beyond my basic meals now that the whole family is eating healthy. So, I'm baking a pork tenderloin with a light parmesan coating tonight. Throw in a veggie (green beans) and a small baked potato and you have a meal that is restaurant quality but "I pay a whole lotta money for my kid to go to preschool and work as a public school teacher" budget friendly. Be careful when choosing your pork tenderloin. I bought two from two different stores, and they have very different fat amounts.

Let's Get Physical, Physical!

All I can think of when I read the title of this post is Olivia Newton John in full 80s workout gear. When I was a kid, I sweated to the oldies more than once or twice. In fact, to this day, I can still do the entire dance to "It's My Party, and I'll Cry If I Want To" right alongside Mr. Richard Simmons himself, and I know that "he's a rebel and he'll never be any good."

The first thing I had to do when I was diagnosed with GERD was get my diet in order. The second thing I had to do...get moving. The hard part is that it seemed like such a catch 22. GERD can be triggered by intense exercise, but exercise is also a way that they recommend to help alleviate GERD symptoms. So, I should workout to get rid of GERD, but it can also trigger it??? I decided to tread lightly, focusing on workouts that didn't stress out my core muscles.

The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity each week. I pretty much listen to them since I have so much heart disease in my family. I'm pretty sure all of South Louisiana has heart disease in their family.

I've heard many excuses about not being able to workout because there isn't enough time. I'm not here to judge or put down anyone saying this because I was that person! By the time I drove to the gym, worked out, had a hydromassage (I'm pretty sure you have to do that after exercising, right?) and drove home, an hour and a half had passed. Then I was stressed out about cooking a healthy dinner and falling behind in everything happening in my house. If you can get to the gym and it works in your schedule, that's awesome! You get it girl! (boy, woman, man, fish-okay, I'm easily distracted and just looked up at our 200 fish) I loved my workouts at the gym. I loved taking time for myself and doing something for myself...and I loved the hydromassage!!! It hasn't been practical in this season of my family's life. So, back to the drawing board.

In today's society, there are so many workouts online. There is this little known site called YouTube where you can watch everything from workout videos to kids playing with playdough. The key is to actually workout with the workout videos and not watch them while eating a snack...guilty! Y'all, I don't know what is wrong with me, but I get so much joy out of watching workout videos or the Biggest Loser while eating something unhealthy. I mean, I genuinely just got joy just typing that.  Because I have workout restrictions with my foot-a plate and five screws holding it together- most workout videos don't workout for me (hehe see what I did with that cheesy joke?). I had to modify so much that I didn't feel like I was working out.

I think the key is finding things that get you moving. You love outdoors? Go for a walk or hike or do some yoga outside. No workout equipment at home? Get to highstepping in place. Throw in some arms crosssing and touching your knees as you go. Got some cans of beans? Congrats! You have some light weights to workout with. I have 5 and 10lb weights that I bought for less than ten dollars at Wal-Mart (I invest big in my workouts obviously). Ben saw how much I love working out and bought me some resistance bands (Amazon) and a weighted medicine ball for Mother's Day. There are tons of workouts for these on Pinterest.

What's the point of this? I've had some people ask me what workouts I'm doing, but there is absolutely no magic formula. I've actually changed my workout so often because, as stated before, I get distracted easily and can't do the same workout every day. Currently, I workout on our elliptical (thank you Lord for the person getting rid of a free elliptical), use my weights for a quick arm workout, do 150 crunches, and 100 leg lifts on each side. Then I stretch to finish. Is this perfect? nope. Am I a professional trainer? nada. I figure out what works for me and what gives me those endorphins and go with it. As spoken by the very wise Elle Woods "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don't kill their husbands; they just don't" 😉 Find positive music that gets you moving if that motivates you. I change up my songs all the time because I like certain beats when I workout, but I love finishing my stretching to Caleb and Kelsey's "You Say/Who You Say I Am" to get me refocused on who I am and do some emotional health management too.

Huge shout outs! One of my friends decided to start eating healthier two weeks ago. Out of respect to her privacy, I won't use her name so let's just call her Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman has made changes to what she eats and has been exercising and is down 8lbs! My hunka hunka burning love hubby started two weeks ago and is down 12 lbs! I was most impressed with him on Friday. He decided to go to Taco Bell and cheat, and he actually looked at the calories on the menu board to make better choices. Score!!!

Say hello to my goal jeans! Y'all these are the "maybe I'll fit them again one day" but in reality it's ten years and five sizes later jeans. Am I done? Nope! Am I supermodel skinny, hahahaha! 🤣 (I just got a core workout in laughing at that one.)  But I am healthier, and it felt so good to get into these again. 

Pizza Challenge!

Ben has been craving pizza 🍕since starting his 30 day "Eat Like Kristie" challenge and has made it very known...very known y'all. My husband is probably made of about 50% pizza at this point from all that he has eaten over the years. He didn't think I could create a healthier pizza. Because I love challenges (and because I haven't had pizza in 6 months and it sounded amazing!), I decided that we would do a pizza challenge!

We used three different crusts in our challenge. The first was just a Martha White mix, the second was a wheat crust recipe (http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/252206/whole-wheat-pizza-dough/ ) and the third was one I found that Weight Watchers suggests. The last one was simple but intimidating. It is just one cup of fat free yogurt and one cup of flour mixed together (Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes). Simple enough, except for the fact that my husband hates yogurt. I kept hoping that the yogurt taste would magically cook away. We decided the only fair way to judge would be to split each pizza in half. "We all try them all!" (and yes, I was singing that Office reference in my head as we talked about it)

Ben and I required different toppings. Ben wanted a hearty pizza with lots of toppings. On his side, he had 1/4 cup pizza sauce, 1 cup fat free mozzarella, 1 cup skim milk mozzarella, 7 turkey pepperoni, 1 tbs bacon crumbling pizza topping (this was the one topping he didn't like), 2 tbs onions, 2 tbs bell pepper, 1 tb mushrooms, 1 tb olives, 1 tbs parmesan, and some Italian seasoning.

On my side of the pizzas, I had to use nonstick cooking spray instead of pizza sauce (huge GERD trigger!) but it worked out pretty well.  You can also just use a little olive oil. I then added 1 cup of fresh spinach, 1.5 oz of chicken breast, 1 cup of fat free mozzarella, 1 tbs of parmesan, and some Italian seasoning. Mine was simple, but I was still excited at the prospect of pizza.

The best thing about making your own pizza is that you control what goes on it. You control the calories, carbs, protein, and fat. Since being diagnosed with GERD, I've embraced controlling what goes in my body through cooking my own foods and experimenting with modifications. "I've got the power!" (I'm full of pop culture references tonight, okay... always.)

So...which crust won? Ben was pleasantly surprised that he didn't consider any of them bad. He said they were all good but the wheat crust was his favorite. He liked the Weight Watchers one at first but said that he tasted a yogurt aftertaste. I loved the pizza with the Weight Watchers crust! I ate half a slice of the other two and a full slice of that one. The best part was that one slice (1/8 of pizza, 1/4 of my side) was only 130 calories, .7 grams of fat, and 16.7 grams of protein. Each of my meals can have up to 3 grams of fat so I could confidently eat more than one slice of pizza using this recipe.

Mrs. Martha White failed to impress. I would only use it in emergencies. Once again, making it yourself normally tastes better.

Our stomachs are full, and my kitchen now has so much pizza in it. Guess who isn't cooking tomorrow.😉

If you have any questions about the toppings or anything else about or pizza challenge, go ahead and comment below or ask me on my fb post when I share it.

And now.....dessert!!! Ben has been crazing brownies so Enjoy Life is coming to the rescue. We have tried several of their products before and like everything so far. Since I can't have chocolate, I'm enjoying an ice cream cone (fat free cool whip in a sugar cone) Treat Yo Self! (Parks and Rec reference. I can't stop y'all) Us Patricks know how to party!

The wheat crust. Ben got started before I could take a picture.

The yogurt crust! We grabbed this one quickly.

Martha White crust.

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

Announcement: Since my husband has been begging for pizza, we have decided to do a pizza cook off tomorrow. We have three different healthier pizza crusts (no cauliflower because I want to still have a marriage after this cook off), pesto and olive oil, and various toppings that can be included all topped with fat free mozzarella for me and skim milk mozzarella for him. Tune in to see recipes, pictures, and what we thought!

In my first blog post, I talked about some of the foods that I eat. The next step I faced...how do I make all of these random foods into meals?! For the first couple of weeks, I ate some seriously weird meals. I sipped bone broth while eating egg whites. I ate an apple while eating egg whites. I ate a handful of almonds with some egg whites on the side....there were a lot of egg whites people. And, for a while, it worked. My pain was gone, and I was losing weight. But, it wasn't sustainable. I needed to figure out how to take these random foods and make them into a lifestyle.

So, if you are in the same position I was in, I have good news! I'm posting some of my favorite healthy meals that have been approved by my whole family. Being approved by a toddler and a male who only loves meat and potatoes is pretty much the whole spectrum.

Breakfast:

*eggs-For my eggs, I use only egg whites. If you are not into the egg white scene, I mix one whole egg with 3 tbs of egg white substitute for Ben's eggs. You get the flavor of the yolk and cut out fat. 

*hash brown potatoes-I buy frozen hash brown potatoes because I'm normally cooking breakfast at 4 am on weekdays and I shouldn't be trusted cutting potatoes with a knife at this time of day. I can't have peppers and onions, but Ben can so his are the potatoes o' brien. I use non stick cooking spray and cook them in a pan over the stove with salt and pepper. 

*turkey bacon- There are so many kinds, but we found Applegate and love it! It has no fat but tastes better than other turkey bacon that has fat in it. It's already cooked so you just brown in in a pan over the stove (once again only using non stick cooking spray)

*pancakes- I absolutely Kodiak pancakes! They have very little fat and have a lot of protein. I bake mine at 425 degrees to reduce the fat of cooking it on the stove in oil/butter. Ben is not a fan so I use Hungry Jack for his pancakes and cook them over the stove. I only use non stick cooking spray, and we finish them with a little real maple syrup ( a little goes a long way. To save on syrup, you can also dip your pancake in the syrup instead of pouring it over).

*breakfast sandwich- I like having an English muffin with some egg whites to make a breakfast sandwich. I normally use cinnamon raisin English muffins. You can also add a slice of turkey breast or ham from the deli.

Lunch and Dinner:

*parmesan chicken/fish- 🎶 "Chicken parm you taste so good" 🎶 (Yep, that's a Payton Manning reference) Dip chicken tenderloins or fish (pay attention to what type of fish. Some are high in fat) in a mixture of fat free milk and egg whites. On the side, I make a mixture of parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and Tony's (or whatever seasoning you like). I then dip the milk dipped chicken/fish in the parmesan cheese mixture. I lightly coat it on both sides and then cook it in a pan on the stove using only nonstick cooking spray or in the oven. If on the stove, brown both sides, and then add a little water to continue cooking it until done. If on the stove, follow the directions for the temp and time for the type of fish or for chicken breast. This is Ben's current favorite meal.

*fajitas- This one is pretty basic. I cook chicken breast, onions, and peppers in a pan with non stick cooking spray and fajita seasonings. The difference for us has been the tortilla. We use to eat it with flour tortillas. A quick switch to white corn tortillas saves calories and fat. I like to heat the tortillas in a pan on the stove using...you guessed it...non stick cooking spray. Ben was amazed at how much he could eat for less than 300 calories and about 4 grams of fat.

*red beans and rice- I'm a Cajun through and through and need my red bean fix. I'm actually cooking a huge pot of red beans  for tonight. For mine, I just cook red beans from scratch on the stove and add salt. For Ben and Zander's, I'm adding a pound of extra lean group turkey and some Butterball turkey sausage. Even though it is turkey sausage, the sodium and fat add up. So, be careful with how much you add. A little goes a long way. You can add rice when serving, but I no longer add rice to mine because I have gotten use to not having as much rice.

*burrito bowls- Another family favorite! I love that each member can customize it. I put out a little buffet of cooked chicken breast, rice with a little cilantro, black beans, pinto beans, lettuce, fat free cheddar, and fat free sour cream. I normally only use a little rice, about 1/4 cup or less, and make sure I focus on beans and chicken breast to get some healthy protein.

....and now....the update you have all been waiting for. Ben decided to do a 30 day challenge to eat healthy with me. I've gotta admit, the first day was rough. He was hungry, cranky, and had decided that I was starving him. There were flashbacks to my own behavior six months ago. Day 2 was so much better as he realized his body was already starting to feel better. His joints that usually hurt were no longer hurting. He has completely surprised me with his dedication, and has already made plans for his cheat meal after the 30 days. The surprise was when he said it would be a cheat meal and then he was going right back to the healthy eating. This has become his new lifestyle since seeing the changes in his body already. We went to the grocery store this weekend, and my husband actually checked the nutrition labels! I never thought I would hear,"Wow, that's a lot of fat" or "Did you see how much sodium is in this?" from Ben. His favorite breakfast bowl had 33 grams of fat. His beloved sub had 28 grams of fat. He summed it up pretty well the other day when he said that most people want to eat healthy, but they don't have the tools or know what they are looking for when they look at nutrition labels. I thought I was taking the summer off from teaching, but these lessons are some of my favorites because I know that I'm investing in my family's healthy future. As of Saturday, he was down ten pounds in less than a week and loving his new meals. Don't get me wrong, there are still many pizza cravings, but it's a process, he hasn't given in once, and I couldn't be prouder of him.

This picture is from 2011. It has been my goal picture, my dream. I've saved it on my phone, printed it as motivation, showed it to everyone who would look hoping that it would motivate me. I was only this weight for a couple of weeks before gaining some of the weight back and eventually gaining so much more than I ever thought possible. I saw this picture this morning and realized I'm the same weight I was in this picture. It's not a goal or dream anymore. It's my current reality and it is my past because this girl has got some new goals!

GERDs the Word!

GERD, such a weird word, okay it's an acronym but still. When the doctor told me I had GERD, I laughed and told her she was wrong because I was coming in for back pain and something seriously wrong with one of the main organs. I was in so much pain that I couldn't walk straight up. I was pretty sure I needed surgery and was already dreading the sub plans. Oh the sub plans...

I didn't even get heartburn so how could I have GERD?!

So, what is GERD? Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder. Basically, so many things trigger my acid reflux. Sometimes, it feels like acid reflux. Sometimes, it feels like a line of pain across my back. Sometimes, it feels like something is stuck in my throat and I just can't get it out. For the first couple of weeks I was convinced that there was nothing I could eat without being in pain

 Then, I made a plan. Those who have known me for a while, or anyone who has seen my desk at work, know that I love post it notes and I love making lists and plans. 

So, for people who have asked me what I eat...the answer is so much! I eat small meals/snacks every two hours or so. I eat low fat, low acidic foods. I've included a link to a Google Doc. This shows all of the foods that I eat. Are these the only healthy foods in the world? No way! Am I a nutritionist/dietician? Nope. But, this is what works for me and my body and what has been approved through my doctor. So, if you find yourself popping some Tums for dessert or don't enjoy that acid reflux waking you up at night (or if you just want to try something new), check it out!

Let me know if you try it. I'm all about support systems. I cried while grocery shopping the first time after my diagnosis, and I may have called my husband and announced that there was nothing in the store that I can eat. On the very rare occasion, I can be a little dramatic.

Google Doc of Foods I Eat (This will change as I discover new things to eat)