Germ factories!

Oh I missed the boat on my Thursday post-again! I have a good reason though. I'm sick. AGAIN! Booo! I worked Thursday and felt completely fine all day until about 3pm. Then it just hit me. I felt achy and my throat feels super sore and my glands are swollen :( As the evening progressed I became congested and the coughing started.

Such a bummer as I've been sick twice already since starting my new job. They've been really understanding about it, saying that this is what happens when you start working with children. They are little germ factories! I still feel bad though. I'm not normally sick. In fact, aside from 1 day of food poisoning last year, I  haven't been sick for 2 years!

I'm taking my vitamins(which I will be adding more of, after watching Food Matters), trying to keep my eating clean, drinking my water, and trying to stay healthy. I've been lightly puttering around trying not to over do it. I covered my shift for today as I was scared of making my coworkers-or even worse any babies sick!

Over the weekend I have a couple dinners to get done, some errands to run for the business, a bank appointment, and I still have a lot to do around here! The plan is to rest up again tonight and take it easy so I can get better. I need to fight this.

My eating has been good, except last night. I was within my points and I added veggies but I had noodle soup, not so healthy. It felt good on my throat though. It's the one thing I always want when I'm sick.

In other news have you been hearing all the hype about an ingredient in most milk substitutes (and some other foods) called carrageenan? Well I had no prior knowledge of it until it was stirring up all kinds of attention recently. At first I just kind of thought, eh...probably something else being said isn't good for you, kind of like the whole egg debate of not long ago. 

So this week I decided to do a little looking into the negativity about carageenan and have now decided that I'm not willing to chance eating it. Long ago in my teenage years until my mid 20's, I struggled horribly with IBS. I finally have it under control for the most part and I really don't want to do anything to flare it again, let alone the other supposed possible affects of consuming it. So for the time being I am trying really hard to acquire a taste for Oat Dream milk and Hemp milk, the only two products I've been able to find that do not have carrageenan in it. I'm hopeful that in many of us writing to these companies asking they remove it, or even develop a new product without it, I will be able to have my beloved almond milk/soy milk once again. Until then, for our house, it's adios! For my small amount of coffee creamer I have gone back to organic dairy creamer.

Here is a peak at some recent eats in no particular order;

#1-Roasted veggies(onions, carrots, baby potatoes, parsnips, garlic and grape tomatoes) with tzatiki and cod nuggets.
#2-Sprouted grain bagel with an egg and cheese.
#3-Kashi bar
#4-Quaker oatmeal w/chia seeds, whole wheat English muffin with P.B. & jam.
#5-Ramen noodle soup loaded with veggies and 2 slices toasted cheese bread.
#6-Spinach and  Ricotta lasagna rolls. These were the Safeway healthy brand and I added low fat cheese to them. They were just ok. I wouldn't buy again, but needed to use them up!

Tonight we decided to watch the documentary Food Matters.

It was really, really good. I recommend watching it if you have the opportunity. We have been trying to watch a lot of documentaries from Netflix lately. I really enjoyed Vegucated, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, and Hungry for Change. It's making me reevaluate my groceries going forward. I have a mostly whole food, but there are still a handful of things we eat now that once we use up will no longer be a regular staple in our home anymore. 

One of the things it made me want to start incorporating more of in my diet is Superfood. I used to be really diligent about making sure I consumed a few of them everyday but that healthy habit has fallen to the wayside. Some of my favorites are;

• Hemp
• Chia seeds
• Amazing Grass
• Spirulina
• Acai
• Bee Pollen
• Cacao nibs/powder
• Green Tea
• Goji berries
• Coconut water
• Maca (I just bought this for the first time!)

My goal for this week, and going forward is to drink 1L of water every morning before I eat breakfast. I take thyroid meds in the AM, and I'm not able to eat for an hr after anyways. 

I also took the time to do up a tenative meal plan for the week. We actually did crapo following last weeks, so many of them are reappearing this week.

Hubby is having a boys game night here Friday. We are making lasagna (well cooking I should say-using up ones in our freezer!) and making pull apart bread for them. I'm not sure what I will be eating yet.

I tried making the Zecret Zucchini bread from the Forks Over Knives book but it failed! I stuck a tooth pick in and it came out clean so I left it to cool and when I cut in the very bottom inch or so wasn't cooked :( It needed 10 more min. Boo! I hate when that happens. It smelled good though so I will try it out again soon.

Well that's it for me tonight. I'm off to take some cold med's and get some Zzz's! Have a great weekend :-)

Are you concerned about carrageenan? 
Do you believe in Superfoods? If so, which ones do you use most?