Update

Due to a comment from my friend Dottie on the previous blog post, I decided to write an update. It's hard enough to write one blog let alone two:)
 I have maintained a 19-20 lb weight loss.  I am still not feeling 100% and am going to my final doctor appointment tomorrow with a new GI doctor; a woman.  I have also developed a painful condition called "burning mouth syndrome."  It affects my mouth, my tongue and sometimes the rest of my face.
I am actually tired of talking about all this because they can't find anything wrong which makes me feel like "it's all in my head."  My dermatologist suggested I stay off all wheat for a month. Her sister had some similar symptoms and she felt better after a month of not eating wheat.  So I have have been wheat-free for 6 days.  My chiropractor said to eat things that are NOT processed and that are as close to being natural as possible.  Sounds good to me, I've got nothing to lose well...um...except more weight. I am going to look on his web site for links and yummy recipes. 
Not feeling well is a great motivator to eat well but it's not a fun way to lose weight. Is there any FUN way though? 
Hoping the wheat-free might also help my headaches which have returned in number and intensity.  So, this is my journey; not sure why I'm on it.  I am trusting God and trying to take one day at a time. 
I still swim, mostly every day ;  it's harder to get up and go when it's cold and dark, but it is worth it to get up and go. 
Will post some good recipes that I come across. 

Not Sugar Free

But oh so good.  Found it at Costco.  Great in coffee too!

Grandma's Pumpkin Bread

There is nothing like a recipe in a person's own handwriting.  This is Donaldo's mom's recipe-oh so good....probably not so good for you.  She was a wonderful baker and she lived to be 89.  The recipe is especially sentimental when the person who wrote it is gone.  I once went to an estate sale on our street and grabbed up the woman's recipe box.  And what do you think I found?  Recipes from all the neighbors who are now gone.  It was a special find for me. 

                                                 

                                

Stealing Blogs............

 

Yes I have resorted to stealing a blog right off of someone else's blog-my sistopher kindly put this pumpkin pie recipe on her blog.  Thanks Kath.  Hope you can read it.  That's what I get for stealing.

 

All Things Pumpkin

I love to decorate for fall-even more than Christmas.  This was at the Perry Hotel in Petoskey

                          
This time of the year I start craving pumpkin; pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes none of which are sugar free.  I am looking for a pumpkin pie that is sugar and wheat free.  When I find one I will post it! Let me know if you have a recipe.   

Food And Spirits

     
For a quick meal-burger, pizza, salad or sandwich, the Noggin Room at the 100 year old Perry Hotel is tops.  We had a great pizza there and the next night we had a turkey burger.  They give you a big basket of fresh-popped popcorn.  How can you stop eating that?? 
We sat on the porch in the sun late Saturday night and watched people come in and out.  The flowers on the porch were beautiful especially the geraniums.  Don wants to know how they get them so beautiful.   
Downtown Petoskey is a beautiful place to be!

Raw Foods

                         

Have you ever heard about a raw foods diet?  Just read about it in the newspaper; a woman who had breast cancer went on a raw foods diet and skipped chemo.  She has been cancer-free for 6 years.  With the return of my headaches and not being too patient with anymore pain, I am going to look into this.  Let me know if you know anything about it.

All Things Cherry

                          
We first found Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor and fell in love.  Mostly because there are tons of free samples like chocolate covered cherries, dried cherries, salsa and chips, cherries and nuts, jams and so on.  They have a store in Charleviox and when were there Sunday, we felt like we needed an afternoon snack.  Oh yea!  That was the place to go!!  I must say I like their dark chocolate covered dried cherries, but refrained from buying them.  I love cherry almond jam and this dressing look quite different, so after we made pigs of ourselves, we bought these two things.  They also do mail order. And of course there is nothing sugar-free.

Spice

                             
We found this wonderful spice several years ago up north in Alden, MI near Torch Lake.  I would love to go back to that beautiful town with cute shops on beautiful Torch Lake.  It is a bit of a drive from my dad's place, but we found we can buy the spice at Roast and Toast in Petoskey.  So I had to stock up this past weekend.  We use this spice on everything!
I fell off the no-sugar bandwagon this weekend.  The stuff is totally addictive.  Once you take a bite-it's hard to stop.  And my stomach felt better so I felt "I owed" myself.  Funny how we think that. 
My new symptoms are itching all over and I still have a very dry mouth and lips; very uncomfortable.  I see the rheumatologist on Friday.