* STICKY *

The content of this site can now be found at Mama Buzz. I have made the move in an effort to devote less time to online writing and more time to being Mama and daycare provider. In other words, I'm minimizing and simplifying. :-)

Authors/Publishers:

Book reviews are all posted over there, under "Reviews". If I owe you a review, you will be able to find it under that section on the main page
or under
"Book Corner" under "Reviews and Giveaways" on our top menu bar. 

Personal Readers:

No worries!  The Maximized Living series and the 52 Weeks to the All Natural Lifestyle series will still be posted over there. They will be found, as they go up, in the right hand, top column, under "Living Life at Home".

Older posts an also be found at "Green All Natural Living" in the drop down from the top menu bar label, "Living Life at Home".

Mama Buzz is more mult-dimensional than this site, so it may be hard to find those posts. An easy way may be to either:

1. Follow me on Twitter, where I will tweet the new posts that have gone up (Please note: I do not accept Twitter followers that are NOT active twitter users or do not have a profile picture. I do this to keep track of who is following me.)

2. Subscribe to the RSS feed of Mama Buzz so that all posts go into the feedburner of your choice (or come to your email) and you can read the ones that interest you while scrolling past the ones that don't. (this can be found in our side bars)

or

3. Subscribe to the Mama Buzz newsletter, in which I will highlight the posts that would have normally been on here, with links to them. This newsletter comes every 2 weeks to your email inbox. (signing up for this can also be found in our side bars)

Thank you so much for supporting me here at Hidden Valley Simplicity. I look forward to connecting with you at Mama Buzz!


Blessings!

Step by Step Carnival

Welcome to the January 30, 2010 edition of step by step to the all natural lifestyl.




Brandon Harshe presents 5 Strategies to Help Your Kids Become the Healthiest Rascals You’ve Ever Seen posted at The Atlas of Life.



Eliza Fayle presents A healthier alternative to commercial shampoos posted at Silver and Grace.



Kristin Conroy presents Eating Organic, Natural Food Without Breaking the Bank posted at Words Are Food, saying, "Committing to eat organic, natural food doesn't have to result in an empty wallet!"



savvybrown presents Stick this up your nose | Savvy Brown posted at savvy brown, saying, "This article is about how to use a Neti Pot. the whole blog is following one woman's journey to become healthy and green"



Howling Duck Ranch presents A Year in Provisions posted at Howling Duck Ranch, saying, "The story of how I quit my job and moved to a remote village on the west coast of BC in order to live my dream: to grow all my own fruit and veggies, learn to raise food animals, and process and preserve all of the above. I am now a serious food provisioner and rarely go to the grocery store anymore!"



Autumn Beck presents Best Cloth Diapers for Nighttime posted at All About Cloth Diapers, saying, "Finding a nighttime solution that works for your baby can be extremely stressful. No parent wants to change a diaper in the middle of the night and the last thing any parent wants to do is change sheets!

Whether your child is a light-wetter or super-soaker it doesn’t matter; 12 hours or more in one cloth diaper is a long time."

* Snack Ideas on the Candida/Sugar Detox: Week 3 of 52 Weeks to the All Natural Lifestyle *

Week 1, Part A
Week 1, Part B
Week 2, Part A
Week 2, Part B

It's been a bit nuts around here given the my daughter almost being hospitalized with the flu, and then my husband and I getting hit with it (me harder than him. I quit counting after the 10th vomiting session) and Monday's events. Not to mention transitioning this blog to Mama Buzz. . . .

Whew!

Starting Sunday, I'm planning a month long sugar and yeast-overgrowth detox. It shouldn't be as difficult as last year. I have gotten back to breads and sugars in the past half a year, but not half as much as I used to consume it. And I'm down to 1/2 a cup of full strength coffee a day so I think it will be a fairly easy process this time around.

My main goal is to complete wean off carbs/sugar/caffeine addictions and get back to more natural eating. Doing daycare and a crazy life has had me relying on boxed mac-n-cheese and Ramen noodles and I want to be more deliberate about what I eat. Doing a detox helps me with that.

My main goals for it are:
~ No sugar! (including fruit)
~ Eat nothing with yeast or gluten in it
~ Drink 70 oz of water daily (a little more than half my body weight in water)
~ Drink one quart of yogurt/kefir/spinach smoothie a day
~ As little processed food as possible
~ No dairy, except in smoothies. *gulp--no cheese!!! *
~ Eat 80-90% vegetarian and if I do eat meat, eat organic or vension

I plan on posting my meal plan for it as soon as it's done and I also plan on doing a diary of it to go along with this series.


On the detox, snacks will change a bit. I'm one of those people who eats all day long. Not in an overweight, unhealthy way (I'm 5' 10 1/2" and 135 lbs) but in a small meals all day long, kind of way. But doing a detox means the cheese and crackers and pretzels will have to go. What is one to eat for snacks while avoiding sugar and wheat/gluten?

One simple rule of thumb is:

~ If you want sweet, eat fruit! (Unless you're doing a yeast/candida detox. For at least a month you will want to avoid fruit, even though it's a natural sugar)

~  If you want crunchy, eat vegetables!

    It is difficult in the beginning. Our brains crave tastes and textures and fruits and vegetables don't deliver. But I promise you, there will come a time -- at the last in one month, the more usual, three months--where you will actually crave the apple over the brownie. And if you eat the brownie, it will be too sweet for you!

Snack ideas:

~ Rice cakes with different butters--cashew, almond, sunflower seed butter (peanut butter is advised against during a yeast detox but I'm not sure why)
~ Vegetable sticks with hummus
~ Vegetable sticks with homemade guacomole
~ Nuts, nuts, and more nuts
~ Smoothies
~ Yogurt (dairy is discouraged on a yeast detox but I allow yogurt in for the acidophilus)
~ Black bean brownies

It seems boring, especially if you have a major love for crackers (like I do. I'm a Triscuit freak!) but after awhile you'll actually start enjoying these snacks. In fact, I miss the days when my body enjoyed these foods more than processed foods, and I'm excited to get back to that way of living.

* Quite the Day *

I lived in this house in 2000 with a friend of mine. She got married and we both moved on. 2008 brought me back again with my husband and daughter.

I've seen the creek rise but never experienced a flash flood. So, when my cell phone started alerting me to flash flooding I didn't take it that seriously--though the rising water did grab my attention.

When they stopped by and said I "may" want to pack a bag, I still (foolishly) did not take them seriously.

I should have!  Within an hour, I had a fireman in my house telling me I couldn't even grab clothes and that we needed to leave NOW. With my daughter (who has the flu) in my arms, and a fireman grabbing me on each side, I stepped off my porch into knee keep water and waded through some nice moving water to the back of an ambulance - which then took us to a fire station until friends could get me to my in-law's house.

My husband is now at home, having driven in from the job site, and has three sump pumps running, trying to save our washer, dryer, deep freezer, wood pellets, and his masonry supplies.

Moral of the story? It's better to pack a bag, just in case and have to unpack it later because you didn't need it, than not pack one and leave without anything!!!

Our usual pretty, little creek:

Up and over the flood wall:

Untitled from mama buzz on Vimeo.



Untitled from mama buzz on Vimeo.

* Got Questions#2: What can I Eat? *

What kind of foods can I eat on a yeast detox diet?

I answer this, having never done a strict detox. . . so I haven't come up with meal plans that reflect that (although I am seriously considering doing on starting in February) But even with the detox I have attempted to do, I learned how to eat alot of beans and lentils, as well as began buying gluten free pasta. This is much easier to do in today's world, as more and more food manufacturers are jumping on the gluten free bandwagon.

Foods to avoid on the gluten free diet

• Alcoholic drinks
• Fruit juices
• Cheese
  
• Vinegars
• Dried fruits
• Refined flours
• Mushrooms
• Breads
  
• Pickled vegetables
• Soy sauce
• Sugars (this will include fruits during the main part of the detox)

For an even more comprehensive list check out this site.

Foods that can be consumed on the yeast detox

• Fish
  
• Poultry
• Meat
• Vegetables
  
• Seeds and Nuts
  
• Lemon
• Whole grains
• Yogurt
• Cold pressed olive oil
• Beans
• Lentils
  

 Again, check out this site for a more detailed list on foods that can be consumed.  

I was never once able to find recipe ideas online for eating this way. (Hmmm. . . maybe an e-book idea here!) but I did find some great gluten free blogs to follow that had recipes.  Gluten free is not the same as yeast detox diets but they often have recipes that avoid the foods once should be staying away from on a candida detox diet. If a recipe sounded good but it had, say cheese in it, I just either took the cheese out or substituted with goat cheese instead.
Glutenfreemommy
Glutenfreegirl
Glutenfreegoddess

You can check out the recipe section on this site as well. I don't have many, but i have a few recipes that fit into the candida detox plan as well.

Thanks for asking! You've inspired me to try a month long candida detox myself, and while doing it, post my menu plans for it. Now if I can just find the time to do so. . .    :)

Complete Candida Yeast Guidebook, Revised 2nd Edition: Everything You Need to Know About Prevention, Treatment & Diet

Healthful Eating: A Cookbook for Those with Candida, Celiac Disease & Diabetes

The Bible Cure Recipes for Overcoming Candida (Bible Cure (Siloam))

Got Questions? 

is something I've started, well, because, people are asking me questions due to things they read on here.

I am not an expert. Not at all!

But I do enjoy thinking through things and offering counsel, based on my understanding of God's Word and the spiritual, mental, and emotional side of us humans.

I also like discussions on parenting, green living, and Christian living. Anything that makes me think, is a good thing for me!

So ask away!

If I don't have an answer, well, I'll post your question on here and maybe we can get some people to comment their opinions and you'll get it answered that way!

Hidden Valley Lessons Carnival

Welcome to the January 23, 2010 edition of hidden valley lessons.  May these encourage you to know you are not alone in this mothering thing!

gracenglory7575 presents Toys in the Kitchen. posted at Hidden Valley Simplicity- An older blog post, dug out of the archives.



Tracey presents God Bless You, Moms posted at GIRLS TO GROW.



Erin presents What About Mii? I Mean, Me? posted at Home with the Boys- "Just because we are SAHMs doesn't mean we don't need to take care of ourselves too!"



Erin presents My Word for 2010 posted at Home with the Boys- "Turning things around at home in 2010!"



Sarah Clark presents The Mother Load: Cleaner living through mom's cooking posted at The Mother Load.



Autumn Beck presents I ruined my cloth diapers! posted at All About Cloth Diapers- ". . .Well, perhaps “ruined” is a slight exaggeration. After all, they are still usable. So what’s wrong with them?

THEY’RE ALL PINK!!

And I have a boy."



EHP presents Pregnancy Day by Day Tip #8: Remember to Parent to *Your* Child posted at Extra (Hour)dinary Parenting.




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