Day Forty of My Health Journey, EASY Biscuit Recipe, Biology Lesson and Info on Food Additives

I believe that inspiration is a great thing! That's why I have made this blog. I have thought about shutting it down a few times, because there are few followers and even fewer comments. I have wondered if anyone really reads it very much or pays attention to what I am saying. But then I think that if I can help even one person then it's worth it. I have never divulged my weight - I just tell how many pounds I have lost. I am not that brave yet, but I will say that I would like to lose at least sixty more pounds - preferably seventy or eighty. MAYBE when I get to my goal I will post a picture, when what I consider the nightmare is over. It all happened because of my smoking. When I stopped smoking I began eating. But, yes, my focus is on inspiration. I lost one of my main inspirations this week. I had been following a blog called Green and Crunchy for over a year, and I really loved it. She posted what they eat several times a week usually and I found it so inspiration for myself. I learned a lot from her. She closed down her blog this week, and I am so saddened, but I certainly understand her reasons. She has lots of little ones under her feet and is expecting another one. She's very blessed, and I am glad that she wants to spend so much time with them, even homeschooling them.

Speaking of inspiration, however, I do have my own now. Well, I always did have - my health. But I have hit 19 pounds lost now, and so I am really motivated! I haven't even eaten raw much this week. Our funds just haven't allowed it. It's really been some slim pickin's, but I am just thankful to YHWH that He provides!

For supper on Tuesday (I decided to take my dashes out of the days of the week. I guess it's kind of silly. I did it because we are forbidden to say the names of false gods, and the days of the week are certainly named after false gods, but I know that YHWH knows that we are trapped into this one.), but on Tuesday night we had a piece of toast, an egg and a pepper.



 On Wednesday morning we had nothing, but later in the afternoon we had another fried egg and a pepper. By then all the bread was gone.



My husband had two dollars and some change and we were trying to thing of what to buy with it. I suggested potatoes, because they are filling, versatile and relatively cheap, so he came back with about ten potatoes and some chicken bullion. 

He made a delicious potato soup.





I had watched a video the other day on how to make sweetener from dates. Here it is:



I had been wanting some tea, but had been out of honey, so I decided to try this, as I had some dates in storage.It turned out pretty good, but I wish I had a Vitamix blender like his. I still had chunks of dates left and had to strain it. Next time I think I will try it in the food processor.



I used four teaspoons in my cup of tea. My husband still uses white sugar.



Today I got some out to put in my tea and it had actually thickened up a bit.



I really like dates as a sweetener. I think I may use this as an alternative to honey some from now on, though honey has it's health benefits too, so I won't turn to dates altogether, but it is a delightful sweetener.

On Thursday I took the rest of the potatoes and cut them up into about 1/4 inch strips and seasoned them with steak seasoning, paprika, turmeric, curry, blended herbs and chili powder, and baked them for about 40 minutes at 450 degrees. That was our lunch. We had no breakfast.



Later on we were hungry again, and there seemed to be nothing here. I had flour and milk, but no vegetable oil. I began to think about mayonnaise, so I found a recipe for biscuits with mayonnaise. 

It was:

• 2 cups of self rising flour

• 6 table spoons of mayonnaise

• 1 cup of milk - but I used more

It said when making mayonnaise biscuits to make them in muffin pans, so that I did. I baked them at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. I didn't really time them, so you will have to watch. They turned out beautiful.







We had some for breakfast this morning with our tea. The mayonnaise made the biscuits have sort of a buttermilk flavor. They were really good. I think I am going to start making my biscuits in this manner from now on. They are easier than having to drag out the rolling pin and the biscuit cutters, etc., and the mayonnaise makes them more moist. My husband said he prefers them this way.

Now, for all the other info --

Here is the next page on food additives. You can collect all of these in a folder and make your own little booklet.



From my biology book, today we cover the circulatory system. All cells in the body have needs that must be met. That is what the circulatory system does. It consists of the heart pump, and blood, which is a watery mixture of proteins, salt and other substances, along with certain cells. The heart has four chambers. The smaller chambers (atria)  force the blood into the more powerful chambers (ventricles). Oxygen-rich blood leaves the heart through the aorta. It travels to the cells via a network of capillaries and vessels, and returns to the heart via venules and veins to the right atrium of the heart. Adrenalin controls the flow of blood when there is an emergency. The hypothalamus stimulates the reflexes that rushes more blood to the skin when the body is hot. The body fluid known as lymph is transported through the circulatory system with the blood. It is a colorless, watery liquid that sometimes oozes from the skin after it has been scraped. It is a defense of the body. It also controls the filtration of body fluids and flows into the lymph nodes. There scavengers called lymphocytes actually devour foreign articles, such as bacteria. Lymph nodes are located in areas such as the tonsils, the arm pits and the groin area. These sometimes become infected because of this. The lymph nodes also collect protein, which has becomes separated from the blood and either returns it back to the blood or may send it to the spleen. The lymph nodes may also harbor immunizing substances and store them, which otherwise, would be eliminated by the kidneys. The most strenuous task of the lymph nodes is the absorption and transportation of digested fats. In the intestines there are lacteals (lymph capillaries) in the villus (small finger-like projections in the small intestine). As the lacteals swell with fat they have to be pumped out, which stimulates the mucous glands. The lacteals only absorb the fat. Proteins and carbohydrates enter the blood capillaries. The fats are then deposited into the blood stream via lymph vessels to a large vein. What happens from there can be seen in this excellent video, which I think I have posted before.



So that's about enough to digest today, I believe. I was going to do some benefits of food, but I think that would be too much. I will see in again in another day or two.

Blessings and love,
Kimberly ♥

Loss of Hair Color, Dry and Brittle Hair Could Be a Lack of Much Needed Minerals

For the last couple of years my hair has been turning blond. It's really mostly in the back. At first I thought that the whole thing was turning blond, and I was kind of happy about it. I have never been a blond before. Well, the whole think didn't turn blond - instead I have streaks of blond, and those streaks are really dry and brittle. I suspect, after studying, that it is a thyroid disorder. In fact, the last time that I went to the doctor she tested my blood, but I have never been back to get the results. I don't use any chemicals on my hair other than shampoo and conditioner. No hair spray, no mousse, no gel, no nothing, so it's not that my hair is burnt up for those reasons.

Here is a photo of the back of my head.



Here is a photo, which shows more of the hair toward the bottom. My hair is really quite long.



It really looks here like my hair is white-streaked, and some of it is, but most of it is blond-streaked. Here is a closeup of one of the streaks so that you can tell.



Well the point is that there is something wrong with me medically. I am going to go to the doctor again soon to get my results, but I think I am going to also have her test my levels of copper, magnesium and selenium - especially my copper. What I have been diagnosed with as asthma could actually be lack of copper. Here's why.  This website (which I highly recommend you look at)  says that lack of copper can cause difficulty breathing among other serious disorders. It says to get more copper into your diet to eat things like cashews, navy beans, lentils and things like that, so pretty soon I am going to try to up my intake of these since I eat very few of them.

This is also another excellent website pertaining to vitamins and minerals.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

Day Thirty Seven of My Health Journey and Info on Food Additives

Well today I have been very hungry, and I know why. For the past several days I really haven't been eating breakfast, and so today while my husband had a fried egg and bread I had a banana. I do better, if I am not going to eat one meal, not even eating so much as a banana, because when I feed my hunger it comes back stronger.

Sun-day, besides only having the bowl of chicken bone soup, which I wrote about, I had 1 3/4 sandwiches. My husband came home with a few slices of bread, so we each had a sandwich, and I was still hungry so we made one more and I wanted to halve it with him, but he insisted no. I talked him into at least eating 1/4 of it, so while I had my 1 3/4 he had 1 1/4.

The sandwiches were either chicken or turkey (I am not sure which, American cheese and cilantro.



I did pretty good, considering that was all I ate all day Sun-day. 

On Monday, while my husband had the last piece of bread, served as 1/2 of a grilled cheese sandwich...



I had a glass of Welch's grape juice.



I wanted to show you my George Foreman grill too. I love this thing! It is excellent for making grilled sandwiches. Right up above you can see the inside of the grill, but here's the outside.



The blue lid opens up to reveal a place, where you can keep your buns/rolls/bread warm if you are cooking a meat inside the grill.



I love to cook my meats in here, because the grease runs off and it is so much healthier than frying. My husband hates it because it also removes all the juices, and makes the meat dry. However, we did have chicken made in the grill last night, which I will show you.

I took two views of the plate. I could not decide which one to post. We had grilled chicken, corn on the cob and green beans, along with a couple of slices of Italian bread. I really like my corn raw, but since we were having everything else cooked we cooked it as well.





Last night we really cheated, as my husband drug in a bag of potato chips and a soda. After I had drank two glasses of the soda (Aged Vanilla Cream Soda - I think by A & W) my urinary tract was already irritated. I am so use to drinking water, Welch's grape juice, herbal teas and fresh juice that my body just can't handle harsh soda too well anymore. He only picked the soda because he really likes to have Welch's grape juice for supper, but it's so expensive, so he tried to substitute it with the cheaper soda. Not a good thing! As far as the chips go, I am going to have to make some zuchini chips pretty soon to satisfy his snack cravings. He likes those. I am really pleased that he is not dragging in any sweets though. Our sweets level is practically at nil. For the whole month of July, so far, we have had three sweets. That's a pretty good record for us.

This morning I had the banana, which I mentioned earlier. Just now, before I started typing this post I made me three miniature sandwiches. I lifted the bread on one of them to show you what they are... simply Italian bread and the mystery meat - chicken or turkey.



I am still hungry! There's not too much here besides celery. I can't wait to get more raw again. I have so been craving fruits! 

Yesterday I woke up and weighed and had hit the seventeen pound mark. I was so happy, but with the chips and the Italian bread I returned to the sixteen pound mark. I know I will get back on track again though and it will continue to go down.

My husband gave me a book on food additives, which he had, so I thought that I would photograph it and share it with you. Here is the cover.



I figure I will try to photograph a page every few days or so and share. Here is the first page.



My laptop is on a very large screen resolution. If you are on a smaller one, such as 800 x 600 then you will need to click on the photo to see the whole thing. I know that my husband's is 800 x 600 and it cuts the photo off.

He also gave me a book about biology. We collect many types of books. Health, history, religion, philosophical, technical, etc.



I thought I would start giving some facts out of this book too. We have 206 bones, which make up about 25% of our body's bulk. They are connected to other bones by ligaments and to muscles by tendons. The femur (thigh bone) is the largest, and the stirrup in the ear is the smallest.  Bone is composed of two different types of tissues. One is dense and is like ivory. The other is fibrous. Muscles constitute just about 40% of the body weight. The surface of joints is covered with cartilage. Synovial fluid lubricates the joints. Bones are very elastic like - especially in one's youth. They may be compared to the springs and shock absorbers of an automobile. This is especially true of the disks in the spine, which separate the vertebrae. The skin holds the body together and acts as a barrier from foreign materials. It also retains things, which should not leave the body. It also contains the blood vessels and nerves. the skin regulates body temperature, and also relays messages from the body to the brain, via the nerve system, such as if you are burnt or have suffered an injury. This concludes a summarization of the chassis.

You may be wondering why I haven't been doing the benefits of foods too much lately. Well the answer to that lies in that I rearranged my bedroom a bit and the books ended up under my lamp. I have just been too lazy to dig them out.



I will try to begin that again, as well. School starts soon - just about 3 or 4 weeks away :( so I will try to get as much done as I can before then. I am not sure how much that will slow me down.

Thanks for reading!

Oh, and I have started another blog of my writings here if anyone is interested. It's called "Speaking of YHWH" because most of my writings are on Him and His Word.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

Day Thirty Five of My Health Journey

Wow! I finally hit the 16 pound mark! I am so excited! As much raw foods as I eat one would think I would be as thin as a rail, but any amount of cooked food keeps me up there. That's why during this whole month I have been yo-yoing back and forth. I haven't eaten many sweets at all. On the Fourth of July weekend I had the deep dish apple pie, and last week I made the oatmeal crunch thing, and one day I made some home-made ice cream (which I still have one serving of that still in the freezer), but I don't know. I guess it's just the meat, the little bit of bread and the cooked vegetables that does it. I am ready to move on! I am in the mood for LOTS of fruits, but this is the time of month when our funds start running pretty low, so I don't know if we will have to wait a few days to do that or not. But anyway, I am excited that I have FINNALY lost sixteen pounds!

Fri-day I mentioned that I didn't eat anything all day - up to when I posted the blog, and I did not know if my husband and I were going to do a water fast or not, as we had talked about it, so I did not know what he would come home with in his hands, and he came home with chicken. We had fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and corn.



That's all that we had Fri-day. Satur-day after the Sabbath we had the same, except minus the green beans.In front of the chicken is a clove of garlic and some garlic peelings.



And then late Satur-day night, or should I saw Sun-day morning we had spaghetti made only of pasta and sauce.



As for today, I have only had a little bown of soup. My husband saved the bones from the chicken that we had yesterday and used the to make a little soup. It contained a minute amount of chicken, celery and pepper. These were the main ingredients, but of course, he added some spices and things. It was not his best soup! I don't like soup with bones in it. I like to eat something, which is ready for me to put in my mouth without having to spit out bones, but I told you we are hard up this time of the month, LOL. Well, I am just glad that YHVH (God) provides! We could have nothing. All of our blessings come from Him. Here's the soup.



I don't know what we will have tonight. My husband does must of the shopping, because things are so high on this island. I hope it's something healthy and nutritious that will be the beginning of another sixteen pounds lost.

Love,
Kimberly ♥

Day Thirty Three of My Health Journey, a Tour of My Kitchen and an Old Photo of the Bronx

Greetings everyone! I am not feeling too well today. It's kind of a mixture of things. Allergies are one of the things. I just got over a bout of getting dust in my eyes. It felt more like sand in there! But I have the runny nose and sneeziness and all that accompanies it. I hope that the rest of you are well!

As far as what I have eaten, last night I had the sandwich and the oatmeal treat, which I mentioned yesterday, and today I have had nothing but my water. Just ice cold filtered water!

I keep some by my side in an insulated cup all the time.



I really haven't been that hungry today, but it's now just about 4 pm and I am actually getting a little hungry. I don't know if my husband and I will make this a water fast or if he will want to eat something later. We'll see, and I will report later!

I promised last week that this week I would show my kitchen. Well, here it is.

To start with, I have a white desk in my kitchen, which I keep a few of my appliances on. My kitchen is so small that I use the underneath of the desk for storage. It was a mess! This is before. Just about everything here I threw away. I gave my husband the bicycle pump to put someplace else.



If you look in this older picture, taken last year, where the coffee pot is, I have a little white shelf. Well, the coffee pot is no more! I threw it in the trash! I stopped drinking coffee, and my husband barely drinks it anymore, as now he enjoys tea, and when he does he prefers to make it in the coffee sock, so that was one appliance I was glad to be rid of!



Well, I took that little shelf, removed the shelves from it, turned it on its side and slid it under the desk and placed my appliances on it. I really like how it turned out.



This is the top of the desk. I love its shabby chicness.



I also cleaned out my cabinets. I forgot to take before photos, but I promise that they were a mess!







I hung up a spice rack, which I had neglected to do since I repainted last summer.



This gave me more room in my cabinets.



I took the table cloth and place mats off the table for a fresh new look, and made my husband move his radio.



Just ignore the crudeness around the A/C unit. Last year I made a little dressing to put around it, but didn't put it back up this year.



Also don't pay any attention to the curtain. I just have it pulled to one side right now because the hook broke on the tie back on the right side. I have to sew that back.



I brought a little plastic shelving unit, which I had in the bathroom, to the kitchen and have placed a lot of my pots and pans and lids in it, as well as some jars of stuff (dates, nutritional yeast, my husband's coffee). I really like the organization now, and think that it will be easier to keep clean. I really had no where for my pots and pans before, and they were stacked up on my oven.



 Here are the pots and pans that were stacked up on my oven before. I HATED that.



As far as around the stove, sink and refrigerator, it still looks the same.

Here are some older photos, which I took last year, which really hasn't changed.













And here's an old photo of the Bronx (Grand Concourse and Fordham) that my husband showed me last night, and I wanted to share with you. I love nostalgic things like this!



Love,
Kimberly ♥