Sunny Sunday week in Review - Lots of Sun and a little too many Sweets

What a week. Here are the highlights in events:

• Came back from my brother's rustic vintage wedding last Sunday totally bagged and in Candida flare up mode.
• Threw a BIG BOY MUSTACHE party for my one-year old big boy on Wednesday. He had a complete blast partying with all of his (our) friends. His egg and gluten free Betty Crocker boxed Mustache cake was a hit with all the kids. 
• Big Boy slept through the night for the first time ever this week. Well, other than the one time he had a severely high fever. What bliss. I knew it would happen eventually if not consistently.
• I invented a Candida diet friendly version of Black Bean brownies that I am completely in love with. I made FOUR BATCHES in one week. If that's not love I don't know what is. If that's not a sweet tooth calling for help I don't know what is. 
• Had an old (crazy and fun) friend from out of town visit. Got together with 4 of my high school besties and we took a photo-shoot together in our wedding dresses. What fun. A bit of a ridiculous site but great fun. I'll share a picture when I get some. We were all able to zip up our dresses but there was a bit of gasping for air and not much bending over to pick things up. I weigh about 10 lbs less than when I got married but could barely get into my dress. A combination of the weight relocating to my belly after three kids (sigh) and my boobs being way bigger than normal (see next point). 
• I traveled to a little resort town in Manitoba (Clear Lake - also known as my happy place - a wonderful resort gem in Manitoba) for a girls weekend yesterday. I drove 3 hours (each way) and only spent about 8 hours there. Short but it was worth it to see my girlfriends. Why the short trip? I really need to start weaning my one year old. He did fine without me but I should be able to leave him without a panic for the day. He is still fully breastfeeding. Not sure how I think I'm going to go back to work. But I don't really want to give back my boobs to the breastfeeding Gods yet (sigh). 
• My sister was in for a visit with her little guy from B.C. 
• I didn't find a nanny for when I go backed to work. I might be screwed. Time to hit panic mode soon.

So what does all this mean for my diet and health. 

Well. I am struggling to keep to my Rules.

Rule #1 - Bed by 10 for my adrenal fatigue and insomnia - broken several times. 

Rule #2 - No sugar - broken a couple of times as I taste tested recipes and had bites here there and everywhere. 

So overall I am a bit on the tired side and my Candida is not in a full fledged flare but its definitely not gone. My moods are okay but my sweet tooth - my evil, evil sweet tooth and hunger are back in business. Which makes it hard not to cheat. But I'm trying, really trying to keep at it. 

I have been at this Candida diet since May 2nd. 10 weeks. 10 weeks of little to no sugar, fruit, pork, vinegar, dairy, high carb veggies, mushrooms. 10 weeks of lots of supplements. This is hard. A hard time of year to be doing this. 

So I'm enjoying all the visiting. The reconnecting with friends and family. The sunshine. But I'm finding this diet hard to stick to. I'm doing it as best I can. Here are some of the meals I enjoyed this week to help me along the way. Hope you can find some inspiration to keep it clean as you go about your summer sunshine fun. And let me know if you know someone looking to nanny three perfect children for a lovely, clean, and happy family..........................................

Chicken breast baked in a Candida diet friendly s & s sauce made from Stevia, tomato sauce, coconut amino's, paprika, onion and garlic. Served with steamed beans and roasted cabbage. 

Grilled chicken breast with leftover cabbage. Served with a salad topped with some roasted sweet potatoes and avocado's. 

The modifications I did to the Betty Crocker boxed Gluten free cake mix to make it egg free. It turned out amazing. I was very happy my experiment worked as I didn't want to waste a $5 cake mix. Not sure about this nanny/going back to work business so I've suddenly become even more money conscience. And that's scary. 

I've finally converted over to Green smoothies. I started by adding zucchini to my Vega One Chocolate smoothie. But this week I took it up a notch and actually added a Kale/Turnip Greens blend to my smoothie. I had lots of these. At least one a day. You really can't taste the greens. Really. I resisted this for a while but I think I have become a believer. Green  Smoothies aren't gross. 

One batch of many - Black bean brownies. Sugar-free, flourless, dairy-free and fabulous. FOUR batches. All gone. 

Another sweet potato salad with egg and chicken.

The mustache cake. This was so easy to make. Mother of the year I'm not. But my kids get cute cakes when I'm in the mood.  Simple but cute.

Some food from the birthday party.

My friend made me a Candida diet friendly dinner before we tried on our wedding dresses. I didn't get a shot of the food but did get a shot of the napkin. Too cool. I have the heart of a Ukrainian dancer (and used to have the legs before the varicose veins took over) so this spoke to me. 

Yum. Yum. Yummy. This was so good. Chicken Thighs scewered and grilled. Roasted veggies and steamed fresh green beans. One of those "I dare you to say eating clean is not delicious" meals. Yum.

I used to worry about what booze and clothes I was taking for a girls weekend. And frankly the only blender being packed would have been for frosty vodka beverages. But times have changed. This was the lunchkit I packed for my girls weekend. I bought a bullet for such occassions. Worked like a charm. I bought that awesome lunch kit that came with three round salad tupperwares this week for $7.50. Score.  Really really awesome. It will be awesome for work should I ever find a nanny or childcare.

My salad to go. The only way I can stick to this diet on the run. 

Today's lunch. Grilled shrimp, Zucchini and curried cauliflower. I also made a sweet onion poppyseed dressing for the salad. Recipe to come this week. That was a good clean low carb meal. If I must say so myself. And I am.

Taking care of your body is A LOT of work. Especially in weeks when routine is out the window and friends come calling. But it can be done. Don't give up. Cheat a bit if you have to. Don't beat yourself up. And start again fresh next week. That's what I'm doing. Wish me luck.