apple dijon kale salad $5.53 recipe / $1.38 serving

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apple dijon kale salad

$5.53 recipe / $1.38 serving

I'm in love.

The dressing alone was enough to make me swoon. It's just a very simple and basic dijon vinaigrette, but it's so good that I kept dipping my spoon in for taste after taste. And because kale is so "sturdy," it stands up well to being pre-dressed with the vinaigrette. I just made the salad moments ago, but I'm sure it will still be tasty tomorrow, even after having the dressing on it all night. In fact, I'm sure the juice from the apples will start to mingle with the dressing and make it even better.

I love that this salad mixes so many tastes and textures in one bowl. You have the almost bitter flavor of the curly kale, the sweet and crisp apples, crunchy walnuts, and super sweet raisins. All of which is topped off with a tangy dijon vinaigrette. It just all works.

Eat this salad with a cool glass of crisp white wine, some awesome crusty bread, and maybe some cheddar cheese. That's what I call the perfect summer dinner.

Apple Dijon Kale Salad

Total Recipe cost: $5.53
Servings Per Recipe: 4 large salads (or 6 side salads)
Cost per serving: $1.38 (for four)
Prep time: 30 min. Cook time: 0 min. Total: 30 min.

INGREDIENTS		COST
1/3 cup	olive oil	$0.96
1/4 cup	apple cider vinegar	$0.24
1 clove	garlic	$0.08
1.5 Tbsp	dijon mustard	$0.16
1/4 tsp	salt	$0.02
10-15 cranks	fresh cracked pepper	$0.03
1 bunch	kale	$0.99
1 medium	granny smith apple	$0.87
1/4 cup	raisins	$0.36
1/2 cup	walnut halves	$1.82
TOTAL		$5.53

STEP 1: Tear the kale leaves from the stems. Cut the leaves into thin slices and then rinse well under cool water (in a colander). Allow the kale to drain as you prepare the rest of the salad.

STEP 2: In a blender combine the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, clove of garlic, salt, and pepper. Blend until the garlic is minced and the dressing is smooth.

STEP 3: Wash the apple and chop it into chunks. Roughly chop the walnut halves. Make sure the kale is as dry as possible and then combine it in a large bowl with the apples, walnuts, and raisins. Pour the dressing on top, starting with half, and toss to coat. Add more dressing as desired (I used the whole batch).

Step By Step Photos

I love kale because it's super healthy and always super inexpensive at my local grocery store. I love it both raw and cooked. Win-win.


First, tear the leaves from the stems. This is really quick and easy because the stems are super stiff. Just tear the leaves off without regard to size or shape. Discard the stems.


Next you'll want to cut the kale into thin strips. Because it's so "hearty" when raw, it's easier to eat if it's cut into small, thin strips. To do this I grab a bunch of the leaves, compress them into a tight ball under one hand and carefully slice it into thin strips as I slowly move my fingers out of the way. After it's cut, rinse it well under cool water.


Now it's time to make the AH-MAZING dressing. Just add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, one clove of peeled garlic, salt, and pepper to a blender.


And blend that sucker until smooth. Now here's the hard part: don't drink it all. You need to save it for the salad!


Now chop the toppings. I cut the apple into small cubes, but you can do whatever you like. I roughly chopped the walnuts because smaller pieces mean more in every bite... but pieces that are *too* small means not enough texture. Find the happy medium. The raisins are already the perfect size.


Before you build the salad, make sure that kale is as dry as possible. Shake the water off and if you're feeling like an over achiever, get in there with a paper towel to absorb some more. Put the kale in a large bowl, add the apples, walnuts, and raisins. Pour the dressing on, starting with half, and toss to coat. Add more dressing as desired. I desired ALL of it. ;D


And now you're ready to eat.


Seriously, add a glass of some dry riesling or something else crisp. You won't be sorry. Oohh, this would be great with some grilled meat. I LOVE SUMMER.

honey ginger broiled grapefruit $ 2.27 recipe / $0.57 serving

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honey ginger broiled grapefruit

$ 2.27 recipe / $0.57 serving

As soon as I cut this grapefruit open, I realized how much I LOVE grapefruit. It's been too long, dear grapefruit. Sweet, tart, fragrant grapefruit...

You probably need to be a grapefruit person to like this recipe, and a ginger person for that matter. Grapefruit can be somewhat bitter, which turns some people off and attracts others. I like the tart/bitter flavor so much that I usually don't put any sugar on them at all, but when paired with spicy ginger, a little extra sweetness didn't hurt. The result is a warm, juicy, sweet, slightly spicy, and super fragrant breakfast treat.

I have to thank Amelia for sending me this link to Broiled Grapefruit with Ginger from Girl Cooks World. I've wanted to try broiled grapefruit for quite some time, but I wanted to do something more than just plain grapefruit. Adding ginger is exactly what I was looking for. I swapped honey for the brown sugar because I love honey and ginger together and I felt it would be a little less sticky sweet. Brown sugar will definitely give you a more classic, brown, caramelized topping than honey, so keep that in mind.

One more note: cooking times for this will vary quite a bit depending on how hot your broiler is, how close you place the rack to the broiler, and the size of your grapefruit. Broiling happens fast, so just check the grapefruit every couple of minutes until it's cooked to your liking.

Honey Ginger Broiled Grapefruit

Adapted from Girl Cooks World: Broiled Grapefruit with Ginger and Brown Sugar


Total Recipe cost: $2.27
Servings Per Recipe: 4 (1/2 grapefruit each)
Cost per serving: $0.57
Prep time: 5 min. Cook time: 5-10 min. Total: 15 min.

INGREDIENTS		COST
2 large	grapefruits	$2.00
4 tsp	honey	$0.15
1 inch	fresh ginger	$0.12
TOTAL		$2.27

STEP 1: Wash the outside of your grapefruit. Slice each grapefruit in half and place on a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or foil.

STEP 2: Peel a knob of ginger and then, using a small holed cheese grater, grate it onto the open surface of the grapefruit. Drizzle about one teaspoon of honey over the surface of each grapefruit half.

STEP 3: Adjust the rack on your broiler so that the tops of the grapefruit will be 3-4 inches from the heat source. Preheat the broiler, place topped grapefruit in the oven, and broil until golden brown (5-10 minutes). Check the grapefruit every couple of minutes to avoid burning. Broilers are hot and they cook quickly!

Step By Step Photos

Grapefruit can be very expensive, so you might want to bookmark this recipe for when they're in season. They'll be less expensive and taste better too! You only need a small piece of ginger. A little goes a long way in this recipe. I only used one of those small "arms" on the ginger in the picture.


Cut the grapefruit open and place on baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or foil. Peel the ginger (using a vegetable peeler or scrape with a spoon) and then grate it right onto the surface of the grapefruit using a small holed cheese grater. Lastly, drizzle about a teaspoon of honey over top of each grapefruit. If you want a sweeter grapefruit, use brown sugar instead.


Broiling is a mystery to a lot of people, but you can think of it like indoor, upside down grilling. It's basically placing strong heat very close to food to achieve browning. With a grill, the heat is below the food. With a broiler, the heat is above the food. Most electric ovens have a heat element on the roof of the oven that is used for broiling. My gas oven has a drawer under the oven's main compartment so that food can be placed under (and close) to the flame.


Adjust your oven rack so that the top of the grapefruit will be 3-4 inches from the heat source. Broil for 5-10 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brown sugar will definitely create more of a brown, caramelized color than honey. It's hard to tell in the picture, but my grapefruit was slightly golden brown. Most importantly, it was warm, juicy, and perfectly sweet.


It was so delicious, in fact, that I had a hard time finishing the photos before eating one!

This simple, quick, slightly fancy breakfast is perfect to impress guests. I keep thinking how awesome this would taste with some vanilla yogurt!

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UPDATE: If you didn't already know, I FINALLY joined twitter a few days ago! I've never used it before, so I'm still trying to figure it all out. Hopefully soon I'll graduate from twitter-school and begin to tweet those clever quips that twitter users are so famous for (hopefully). Hop over to @Budget_Bytes if you want to encourage me along the way!

And, as always, you can find me in my comfort zone on Facebook.

Cheers!

sweet potato corn cakes with garlic dipping sauce $5.96 recipe / $0.60 serving

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I've been dying to post this all week because they're SOOO good and I just know that you'll love them as much as I do... and if you don't, I might be forced to ask myself what is wrong with you.

These are "every bite is better than the last one" good. They're so good that they make you wonder why other food even exists when flavors this bright and vibrant are possible.

...and thats what I was thinking when eating the reheated leftovers a minute ago. So, can you imagine how good they were fresh? Probably not. It's unimaginable. You have to experience it.

Anyway, enough gushing. Onto the important stuff.

First - This recipe makes a HUGE batch, so feel free to half it. I wouldn't suggest trying to half a raw egg, instead just add more than half breadcrumbs (probably 3/4 cup) to make up for the extra moisture.

Second - These are fried. You'll just have to accept that. I tried to bake some and they were horrid. Dry, poor texture, just not good. If you're brave enough to try baking them yourself and actually have success, please share your technique... because I just couldn't make it work.

Third - I demand that you to try these.

Sweet Potato Corn Cakes with Garlic Dipping Sauce

Total Recipe cost: $5.96
Servings Per Recipe: 10 (two cakes each appetizer/side)
Cost per serving: $0.60
Prep time: 20 min. Refrigerate Time: 30 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes min.
Total time: 1 hr. 20 min.

INGREDIENTS		COST
3 lbs.	sweet potatoes	$3.17
1 cup	frozen corn kernels	$0.30
2	green onions	$0.19
1/4 bunch	cilantro (divided)	$0.21
1/4 tsp	cayenne pepper	$0.02
1 tsp	cumin	$0.05
1 tsp	salt	$0.02
1 large	egg	$0.25
1/3 cup	yellow cornmeal	$0.19
1 cup	plain breadcrumbs	$0.50
1/2 cup	vegetable oil (for frying)	$0.43
1 cup	plain yogurt	$0.55
1 clove	garlic	$0.08
TOTAL		$5.96

STEP 1: Begin by cooking the sweet potatoes. The fastest way to do this is in the microwave. Prick the skin of each potato with a fork. Wrap one potato in a paper towel, place it on a plate, and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Carefully remove it from the microwave, squeeze it to make sure it's soft in the center, and the allow it cool as you cook the next one. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them open and scoop the flesh into a large bowl.

STEP 2: Slice the green onions and roughly chop a handful of cilantro (about 1/8th of a bunch). Add the green onions, cilantro, frozen corn kernels, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper to the bowl with the cooked sweet potatoes. Stir until well combined. You can taste it at this point and adjust the seasoning as desired.

STEP 3: Add the breadcrumbs, cornmeal, and egg to the bowl. These ingredients will bind the mixture together and keep it from falling apart while cooking. Stir until evenly combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to absorb moisture.

STEP 4: While the sweet potato mixture is refrigerating, mix up the garlic sauce. In a small bowl combine the yogurt, one clove of well minced garlic, and a handful of cilantro leaves (roughly chopped). Stir until combined and then refrigerate until ready to serve.

STEP 5: After the sweet potato mixture has refrigerated, it's time to cook. Add enough vegetable oil to fully cover the bottom of a medium skillet. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until the surface appears wavy (if it begins to smoke, remove it from the burner immediately and turn down the heat). Shape the sweet potato mixture into small patties (about 2-3 Tbsp each) and cook about 4 at a time in the hot oil. Cook until golden brown on each side; about 2 minutes per side. After cooking, place on a paper towel covered plate to drain. Add more oil to the skillet as needed.

Serve warm with the garlic yogurt dipping sauce.

Step By Step Photos

Start by pricking the skin of each sweet potato to allow steam to escape as they cook. No one wants to clean exploded sweet potato out of their microwave.


Wrap one potato in a paper towel and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Carefully squeeze it to make sure it's soft in the center and then cook the next one. I used one paper towel for all four sweet potatoes.


They'll be super hot when they come out of the microwave, so let them cool just a bit before cutting into them. Slice it open and scoop out the cooked flesh.


Place the cooked sweet potato in a bowl and add the frozen corn kernels (they'll help cool the sweet potato the rest of the way), sliced green onions, roughly chopped cilantro, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Stir it all together.


Now it's time to add the binders. I used one egg, 1/3 cup of cornmeal (it helps bind and gives more texture than just breadcrumbs) and one cup of breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs are not in the picture (don't ask). Stir it all together and then refrigerate for 30 minutes.


While the sweet potato mix is refrigerating, make the garlic yogurt sauce. Finely mince a clove of garlic and roughly chop another handful of cilantro. Stir those into a cup of plain yogurt. You can add a pinch of salt if you'd like. Refrigerate the sauce until you're ready to serve.


After the mixture has chilled, it's time to cook. Take about 2 Tbsp of sweet potato mix and shape it into a small patty. My mixture was still pretty wet/sticky, but it was shape-able.


Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. You want the oil to be quite hot before adding the cakes. It should look wavy on the surface. You can take a pinch of the sweet potato mixture and add it to the skillet to test it. It should sizzle heavily. Add about four patties to the skillet and cook until deep golden brown on one side, then flip.


Cook on the other side in the same manner. It should only take about two minutes per side. Try not to make your patties too thick otherwise the inside won't heat through before the outside browns. About a half inch thick is good.


Place the cooked sweet potato cakes on a paper towel lined plate and cook the next batch. Add more oil as needed, always allowing it to heat up before adding more sweet potato cakes.




Why, hello there little warm, delicious sweet potato cake...

Week 8: Spring Session

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Week 8 Nutrition Challenge:
Time sure does fly when we are having fun!  It's already Week 8 of our Spring Session and we have 7 weeks of great healthy eating habits going strong!  The last nutrition challenge is a tough one but a great way to get healthy and stay healthy and you'll probably help your budget too!  Avoid eating out during the week.  Americans eat out more than ever before.  The primary goal of a restaurant is to make money.  To make money their food needs to taste really good.  Fat and sugar make food taste really good.  Foods high in fat and sugar are also high in calories.  That is not so good for your waistline or your health.  
This week prepare all your meals and snacks at home.  This takes a lot of planning to be successful.  Plan out your meals, prepare and freeze meals in advance, pack your lunches, be prepared for emergencies by carrying bars or fruit with you.  If you plan ahead and know what you are going to eat at each meal for the entire week it is much easier to stick with your healthy eating plan when you get into the hustle and bustle of the week.  It takes a little effort but skipping restaurant food is GREAT for you!    


All Nutrition Goals for Week 8 (and great habits to make a part of your life):

• Drink lots of water!
• Avoid "junk" drinks.
• Eat a healthy breakfast.
• Eat an apple everyday.
• No sweets! (or cut back)
• Try a new healthy recipe.
• Don't eat after 8 p.m.
• Measure out your portions.
• Avoid eating out during the week.

My Story (part 3)

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Anyway, for years I felt the same way. I dragged myself out of bed. I considered it a huge success if I could make a real breakfast and get the kids out of the house that day. I always cleaned the house though. I can’t stand a dirty house. Also, I think it was my way of coping “If I was dishes at 11, make lunch at 12, sweep the floors at one, then I can make it to nap time. Then movies at 3, outside at 4, dinner at five, and then they go to bed!”
What kind of existence is that?  Poor kids. Poor Tom. And sad for me. I so wanted to be super mom, and I felt like my body was my own worst enemy. Needless to say, I couldn’t sleep well and therefore had very little patience. I tried to keep up with Tom and all his doings, but it didn’t always work. Some days the house was messy and that’s just he way it had to be. It took me a few years to get through all of Tom’s books… I spent years feeling like a complete failure.
Going from the day of my wedding to when Amy was a year old I was sixty pounds heavier. This made no sense to me given that I spent three years throwing up constantly.  I’ve been told that my body was in starvation mode because of the HG and because of that, it now stores anything I eat and will not let the body use it as fuel. So I did/do retain what I eat and boy does it stick! I worked out for a year at a gym, had a trainer that entire time, was down to 1500 calories a day, and I lost a grand total of FOUR pounds. My trainer was sure I was eating at McD’s every day and if I would just stop eating, then I’d lose the weight.
I really hated that. I told him I was working hard at it. I’m a dedicated person and if I wanted to lose weight then I should be able to do it, right?  Well after a year I decided I was not going to put in all that work just to have nothing to show for it, so I did go back to eating fast food and drinking soda and all that other stuff. Why not? was my thinking.
About this time I decided that I’d go to a doctor and see if he could help me out. Before I went in for my first appointment I thought I’d type up all of my symptoms, how long I’ve had them, and what I’ve tried.
It was two pages long.
I took it in with me, and the nurse looked at it and said “if you were 40, I’d say you’re going through menopause, but you’re half that age, so I have no idea what this could be. Let me give it to the doctor.”
What did the doctor say?  Do you want to guess? 
If you guessed that he said “wow, you poor thing, you’ve really had it rough these last few years, let’s see what we can do!”  I would laugh at you. Well, not really…
Instead he browsed the letter and then said “you know, doctors don’t really like it when people do this.” 
 ::::since I don’t curse, you may insert your own bad words here:::
I stuttered a “oh, I’m sorry. I just thought it might help…” and he said “look, I can’t treat you for every little thing.”  I said “Oh, I know, and I don’t want you to. I just thought that maybe seeing all the symptoms at once might trigger a “this sounds like…” kinda deal.” 
He didn’t respond.
He said I needed to be on anti-depressants. I said absolutely not. He said “well, we at least need to get you sleeping (I would go to be at 11, but still not fall asleep until 2am)  so I’m going to put you on Ambien.” I have a great-aunt who died from sleeping pills, and I’ve always been afraid of them, but I decided that I would take the Ambien because I hadn’t slept in three years, and I was desperate.
He said I should lose weight---even though my second symptom was “inability to lose weight”—and I should be on blood pressure medication. I don’t remember the numbers, but I do know they were borderline, so I’m not sure why the rush for meds.
I asked “is there anything else I can do, so that I don’t have to be on meds?” He said “oh sure. You can eat right and exercise.”  What really astounded me was the lack of compassion… I could barely function and he’s telling me to just get up and exercise. It seemed more of a “if you weren’t so fat, you’d be fine” rather than a concerned “Wow, I know this is difficult, let’s start working on it.
I’m open to the idea that maybe he found me annoying, too confident, or maybe I just downright irked him, but at this point it is obvious that this doctor has *some* issue with me. I didn’t (and still don’t) get it because my other friends had rave reviews of this doctor. And when I would relay my story, they couldn’t even comprehend him behaving this way. I don’t know if we just clashed, or it’s because I didn’t go in with the mentality of “well, you’re the doctor, I’ll do whatever you say.”  I would assume it’s the latter, but I hate to make him sound that… immature.
Anyway…
I took the Ambien for about three months and really did start to feel better. I would look forward to going to bed at night because I knew I could sleep without being awake every 45 minutes, and sleep works wonders! After the three months the doctor said he didn’t want to renew the prescription, which was fine with me. He thought I should be being active enough at this point to be tired naturally. Well, I’m sure if I had energy that idea would have worked.... A few months later I found a natural sleep aid (melatonin and chamomile, mainly) and would take that. I still take it.
So even with the sleep I still felt like I had no energy, I was depressed, and found that I could barely interact with the kids above caring for the basic necessities. This is never how I pictured the lives of my children. It just made me feel that much worse.  If I got up and swept the floors for 30 minutes, I’d then have to sit on the couch for two hours just to recover. When I woke up in the morning, it would take me an hour of getting around, before I could stand up straight without pain. Everything just hurt all the time.
In 2008 we found out we were expecting another baby. I think we were both terrified, but we knew we’d just get through it. We did have to find a 5 day a week sitter who could come in the mornings, so I could sleep, which made things a little easier (on me, at least). However, we lost Grace at 17 weeks along (cord wrapped around the neck), and thought that might emotionally break me.  Well, the good news is: I’m not an alcoholic! I figure if I can go through all the stuff I’ve been through and not turn to the bottle, I never will.
About seven months later we were happy to announce we were expecting again. This pregnancy was a little easier because Tom was wonderful and paid sitters to help with kids, let me sleep, and he brought food home every day. Not only could I not cook, but no body in the house could use the oven or the microwave, because the smell would stay in the air for hours, and I just couldn’t handle it. Tom’s mother was also invaluable: she would take kids on the weekends, do my laundry, and generally be on call. It was a much easier pregnancy, but still full of issues.
Finally, after Elizabeth had been born and after my family had been seeing Dr. Rob for about two years, it was finally my turn to get treated.
Dr. Rob figured out that I had several pinched nerves in my back, hence the pain in walking, the inability to sleep, and why I couldn’t hold babies for more than five minutes at a time. I had some issues with several vertebrae in my back, one (or two?) was so bad that Dr. Rob couldn’t even touch it. He used some magic red laser treatment thing, and after a few weeks or so, Dr. Rob really worked some magic. Even though I dreaded going to my appointments, because it hurt like h.e.c.k. and it typically made me cry, I could tell it was doing more good than harm. I don’t think it was anything Dr. Rob was doing wrong, but it does go to show how inflamed I had been. I was finally able to sleep for hours at a time, rather than waking up every 30-45 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. My constant headaches were lessening considerably. Instead, of 3-4 migraines a week and a daily “annoying” headache, I then had 1 migraine a week and the annoying headache had disappeared. My arm stopped being so numb, and I could hold kids for longer stretches of time.
It was like a miracle.
After a few more months of treatment the weekly migraine went down to maybe once a month, if that. Sleep was rapidly improving. And I felt hopeful for the first time in a long time. Again, Dr. Rob took his time with me, answered any question I had in great detail, he generously offered new treatments at a reduced or free cost and really cared about me and the family, and most importantly, he never once spoke down to me, implied that I was lazy, or doubted my commitment to helping my family.
Unfortunately, about two months after I started working with him as a patient, my family had to move to another state. Dr. Rob and his staff were one of the reasons we were so bummed about leaving AL… how many doctors can (honestly) say “my patients appreciate me so much that they hesitate to move.”?  Dr. Rob even offered to research new chiropractors for me. And he did… not long after we moved to Kansas, Dr. Rob sent me a list of chiro’s who could help me.  It did take about 8 months for me to get into the office, because I was too stressed with getting kids into a new school, moving into a (then) massive house, and still taking care of a new baby, but I did eventually get in with Dr. Stacy who is awesome.  She’s been working with me for about a year. My migraines are now a rare occurrence, thankfully. However, my back is still out of whack a lot. My pinched nerves tend to flare up often, and while getting adjusted does help somewhat, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever be pain free. 
 
Tom introduced me to “this great guy” a little over a year ago. His name is Robert Scott Bell, and he really is amazing. He had never had any interaction with me, but sometime last year I was fairly sure I was pregnant, so I panicked (Tom doesn’t even know this) and I emailed RSB and said “I’m the wife of Tom Woods and I’ve had horrible pregnancies, do you have any tricks for perhaps helping me before I get sick?”  He responded five minutes later and said “call me, here’s my number!”  So I did. He was really kind and compassionate and didn’t say anything like “why the heck would you be pregnant again?!” He was very chill and said “wow, let’s see what we can do for this little child.” -- So why is it that the M.D’s are such jerks (not all of them) and yet the “weirdo health people” are the ones with real answers and are the most truly compassionate? –he said “Uh yeah, it’s your liver… it’s over-taxed.” And then he proceeded to give me a list of five supplements, the dosages, and the reasons behind why I was taking them… and then he says “Okay, it’s time for me to get back to my radio!” 
Whaaa? He talked to me during a radio break?  Now that’s what I call awesome. He also gave me some great advice for my kids on their food and gut issues, so between Dr. Rob, Dr. Stacy, and RSB, we feel like we have an all-star team.
That pregnancy didn’t end up “sticking”, but I’ve been trying to clean my liver ever since. And Robert Scott Bell is always available when we need some quick advice. Thanks, Robert!
When Tom came to be last October and suggested the Primal blueprint, I thought “thank you, God!” because I knew the whole family needed an food overhaul, but that Tom would never do it if I just threw it out there. So we planned for a few months, and began GP in January of 2012. Six months later and here are the changes I’ve seen in myself:My sleep is better (except when my nerves act up)I feel happierMy headaches happen rarelyMy aches and pains in all my joints have gone awayMy hair has gone from falling out in handfuls, to maybe half a handfulI have more energyMy depression has significantly gotten betterMy complexion is much clearerMy memory is ten times better (still not optimal though)I dropped 20 lbsI wake up easier in the morningsI don’t have to walk around for an hour before I can stand up straight anymoreMy blood pressure dropped by 20 points
My eyesight changed! It is now 20/20 and 20/40 with glasses. Pretty awesome.

While things are getting better things are still not quite right:
Despite diet (Primal) and working out I stalled at 20lbs weight lost. It just won’t budge beyond that. My nerves and back still give me troubleI still have trouble falling asleepMood swings still occur, but perhaps that’s just going to happen for foreverI still don’t have that “boundless energy” that so many Primalist talk about.My hair still falls outI can either be starving or not hungry at all
I am still sensitive to heat. 
The main thing to me is my weight loss. I am still about 50lbs overweight. I’ve never been the pretty girl, so I’ve never wanted to be skinny out of pride. I would like to get back to my size eights because they fit better, their easier to find in stores, and my family has blood pressure and heart issues, and I’d like to minimize my chances of dealing with these issues. And if losing weight means that I’d have more energy and be happier, than that’s another reason I’d want to lose it.
What I really want to know is why my body so messed up? I know the soda and pregnancies did not help it, but I know there’s something more to it. And I’d like somebody to figure it out and just tell me how to fix it for once and for all. 


Oh, and I'd also like to write "The Doctor" and say something like "You dismissed not only me but my entire family saying "it's all normal." when in fact: one had severe reactions to gluten, dairy, and eggs. The other one had severe food intolerances and metals poisoning. One had nerve damage in her spine. And the other had yeast infections that you should have spotted right away. Thanks for all the love and concern you showed us, and all the amazing support you offered our way. Not."


And I would if I weren't so nice. And a coward.