For the new year, Dave finally decided enough was enough! He was tired of his lifestyle of coffee all day to “function,” followed by a night of insomnia and heartburn, to cyclically return to a day of coffee (and now pastries to help with the heartburn) in order to have enough energy to once again “function” for the day.
This had been his cycle for far too long, and he knew it was time to do something differently.
We discussed possible eating plans and ideas, and he admitted he didn’t want to do a vegetarian diet. He wanted more meat. (Ok, I give him credit – I haven’t prepared meat at home in 2 years, and he hasn’t complained.) He was, however, willing to give up many things: coffee, pop, sugar, white rice, white flour, and other processed toxins. So we opted for “clean, natural” eating, together – with a temporary cut out of ALL sugar, including fruit and starchy veggies, to help tame our sugar addictions.
And this dear man has jumped on the bandwagon with excitement! He has grabbed this new adventure by the bull horns, and started to explore the kitchen and rediscover his own thrill of playing in the kitchen.
Oh yes, I made him wear the apron! 
Today is the 22nd. Which means he has now gone for a record-breaking 22 days without sugar, pop, coffee, refined grains, or any other “off limits” food items! We have not eaten out, and have cooked all of our own food — including making mayonnaise, salad dressings, chicken stock, coconut milk, and even ketchup all from scratch. All from fresh, natural ingredients.
Some recipes flop, and we don’t finish them; others are tolerable but we eat them; and others have been divine!
So as we start to amass successful ventures, and learn to do more of these made-from-scratch meals, we want to share them with you!
Stay tuned! I am trying to organize all the photos, and get it all set up. But hopefully many more recipes will be coming soon! And I hope you’ll try some of them out, too! (as possible, depending what foods are available in your location.)
Happy eating!
~Kate and Dave
We even get some flour-free, gluten-free, naturally sweetened desserts on birthdays!
that dessert looks nothing like I want to eat. I think I may keep my insomnia.
i just realized this sounds really mean. sorry…supposed to be a jokeeeee
*lol* no worries
I’m happy to keep all the chocolate-butter-pecan cake for myself! 
Awesome! Glad to hear you guys are doing great! Michele and I are doing the primal blueprint which has been a huge adjustment but a great change. We’ve always done well eating and buying organic, etc. but needed to really get a hold on the amount of food we had been eating and what we were putting in our bodies. It’s been great. We both decided to not go vegetarian but a ton of our meals are vegetarian based, gluten free. Delicious! I’ll keep you posted as to our progress:)
Awesome!! That’s similar to what Dave is aiming for now – too bad there’s not more organic meat available here. We do get local eggs, but haven’t gotten to visit the farm to see how they’re raised. And the only organic or clean meat I’ve seen here (other than local caught fish) is super pricey organic chicken breasts. But since we want the WHOLE chicken so we can get it all, and make stock, we opt for those.
And YES! Serving sizes were tripping me up
I let myself not care about them for the first 2-3 weeks, since I was just glad to be breaking a sugar addiction. But it’s time to start curbing that now, too.
I’d love to hear how you guys do, and what recipes you like!!
Yeah, that sign is in Clovis. You know Clovis is nothing after drniivg 8 hours across Texas (which also seems to feel like it has a low speed limit after drniivg through it all day).
I am so proud of you both! I can’t wait for the recipes!
what i will do to apply this to my life is open my heart to the possiblity that after trnyig to care 4 my siblings perhaps these same traits would make me a good caretaker in a family and perhaps i know deep down i am an excellent caring and sacrificing girl. maybe its time to admit it and show it to a guy. but right away?? that will be hard. im not a big risk taker, so now i will grow as a person n take this risk. i will leap. i will open up. i will show him that i am an excellent partner in family not just financially or emotionally .but as a caretaker who is muslim and would instill the best character in my kids. they would know their Islam just as my mother taught me. n i will be happy to express this to them since this is what i didnt know. but thanks to this webinar, n my implementating mindset im ready to do this. im ready 4 marriage inshA!!