Jordan and I finally got motivated enough to try making our own kombucha, and we learned a few things along the way that I think all you mamas should know before you try it yourself.

1) That layer that forms on the top is just another scoby, not mold!  When I first saw it I freaked out a little bit and went "Aw man, I'm gonna have to throw the whole thing out!"  Luckily a friend of mine who has been making her own kombucha for years now happened to be over when I went to pull my first batch of "booch" out of the closet to check it.  She said, "Oh, no, that's just another scoby!"  Thank you E, for being there just when I needed you. :)

2) Drinking kombucha is not a good idea while you are pregnant or nursing.  This same friend of mine brought this up, just to make sure I knew.  She said according to Dr. Hale of Medications and Mother's Milk, it is a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, a 5 being the worst!  I was so surprised to hear this, since it is supposed to be so good for you.  Apparently it works as a detox, which is a problem because you don't want to pass the nasty stuff your body is purging on to your baby.  I feel like I want to do a little research on this one, especially since I know so many women who drink kombucha while nursing, myself included!  I'm assuming it would be less of a problem since I'm nursing a toddler and I give some to her in a cup too, and she's only nursing here and there throughout the day, so how many toxins could I be passing her anyway?  And if she's drinking it too, then I'm thinking it's detoxing her body too.

3) Start slow.  Apparently it is a good idea to start with about a third of a cup a day to get your body used to the booch and then gradually increase it.  I had no idea about this one, until I made the unfortunate mistake of giving my 2 year old a whole cup of it.  She LOVES it, and guzzled the whole thing before asking for more.  Well it was obviously a shock to her system, because a few minutes later she thew it all up all over the livingroom floor.  Lovely.  I learned my lesson.

Do me a favor and post either another tip, if you make your own too, or a question about kombucha in the comments below.  I love when we can all learn from each others experiences!

So I set a goal for myself that I honestly thought was completely unrealistic.  So unrealistic in fact, that Jordan and I agreed that I would get to choose our destination for a BIG trip if and when I reached my goal weight (same deal for him reaching his goal).  We figured it would take us so long to reach our goals that we made this deal without even considering the fact that trips cost money that we don't have.  I picked Chile as my dream destination and said I wanted to spend a few weeks in Santiago with friends and then travel south through the lake district and down to the Patagonia, finishing the trip off with camping and hiking at Torres Del Paine for a few days.

Well, needless to say, this trip won't be happening anytime soon (although Jordan did offer to take me to Mobile, Alabama instead - HA!), but I am still thrilled beyond belief that I am actually about a pound and a half UNDER my goal weight!!!!  I find it a little hard to believe.  I had to go out and buy a pair of pants in a size 6 the other day, after a congregant mentioned that my pants were falling down!  A little embarrassing to say the least, but she honestly meant it as a complement - and I took it as such - on how skinny I have gotten.

Now, I'm guessing you're wondering how in the world I lost that much weight.  As much as I would love to tell you that I suddenly got super motivated to exercise and that I work out all the time now, that would be a huge lie.  I do get in about a 15 to 30 minute walk maybe twice a week, but other than that I haven't been devoting any time to cardio workouts.  And no, I haven't been counting calories either.  I eat as much as I want throughout the day, including over eating at meals sometimes.  I eat plenty of carbs too, but just not the empty carbs that I used to stuff my face with all the time.

Here's what I've done to lose the weight:

1. Cut out things that were giving me hives on a daily basis (wheat, dairy, and corn - including anything with maltodextrin on the label)
2. Cut way down on my sugar intake and only eat something sweet if I REALLY can't resisit (plus I started reading every label and I won't eat anything that works out to more than 5 grams of sugar in one sitting, period - so if I have to eat half of a cookie, I eat half of a cookie)
3. Limit my fruit intake to basically a half a piece of fruit a day (I am SUPER sensitive to even the sugar in fruit, so this works for me)

Here are things that have made this become easy... well, easy after the first month or two anyway, once I was over the feeling of withdrawal!

1. Make sure I have carbs with whatever I'm eating so that I don't feel deprived by not eating wheat (examples: rice, quinoa, lentil chips, flaxseed crackers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice noodles, bread baked with almond flour or coconut flour - or sometimes a packaged gluten free bread mix with potato starch, etc.)
2. Unlimited snacking, lots and lots of snacking (examples: cashews, pistachios, almonds, sunflower seeds, veggie chips, nori, rice cereal with almond milk, carrots, hummus or guacamole with lentil chips, peanut butter, more peanut butter, and more peanut butter - I love peanut butter and love to eat it by itself!)
3. Meal planning - this could be a whole other post, so I'll just say for now that meal planning has made it easy to have well rounded/healthy, filling, delicious meals on the table - not to mention how awesome this has been for our budget since we are eating out a lot less now.
4. Knowing which restaurants serve things I can eat that I am also excited about - my favorites are sushi, Vietnamese food, and Mexican fajitas, without the tortillas of course.

When I first decided I was going to make some big big changes in my diet I was completely overwhelmed.  I had no idea how worth it it would be in the end!  I still totally enjoy my food - maybe even more than I used to because I appreciate it so much more now and am completely conscious of what I am putting into my body.  Plus, I feel like I have much more energy now, I feel sooo much better about my mommy body, and I am ridiculously proud of myself for making changes that were difficult but influenced my day to day living (and probably my long term health, too) in positive ways on so many levels.

It just took determination, planning, and of course learning what things would help me stick to that plan.  If you are at all interested in making some similar changes, I hope you will be able to glean from my experience and find what will work for you too.  I bet it'll be totally worth it!