Bye bye nut butters..... and what else I have been up to

Yeah, I can't believe I am writing these words or that I posted it on social media, but I did.  Yes my blog name is in peanut butter.... and yet here I am giving up the one thing that I love so much.  Why am I doing it, you may ask.  Well, it was Thursday and customary brekkie for dinner night.  I made pancakes and had peanut butter and felt ill.  Now, mind you I had eaten bananas, more nut type things (maybe a bite) and felt fine up until that grand finally.  I just don't want to feel that way any longer.  

I went thought my cupboards for all the nut based things and packed in up in 2 boxes to send to my oldest sister and niece.  Even D is having a hard time with nuts.  He was eating nuts a few times a day - mixed nuts with chocolate and Lara bars.  His favorite was Peanut Butter Cookie.  So there it is.... bye bye nuts!  Also, banana are out as well, my throats feels off - not quite like a closing up feeling but almost.  I guess it's hard to describe.

Here are some other things that have been going on....

This is y walk to work.  The first one is actually very early morning.  The other I think I was walking to an appointment.  If I can walk there then I certainly will - unless I have to carry a ton of things, then I may drive.

Below are a few of the things I do at work (Birmingham Roast) - mainly cooking and baking.  LOVE the baking - even if it isn't gluten free I still love to do it.

Breakfast Bagel

Pumpkin donut muffin

Pastry case - looks a bit different now since more than half the things in there currently I am making.

Jack After Surgery

My big dawg had surgery recently - nothing major just some tumors removed but it was the day my mom came up from Florida for her birthday.

My mom - we were at my sisters getting ready to head up to Traverse City for the weekend to celebrate and go wine tasting.

We went to many wineries (can't even remember them all).  We stopped at the Jolly Pumpkin for lunch on Thursday when we first got to TC and had lunch.  It was wonderful and found out it was even haunted.  We had commented that no one looked particularly happy there, maybe that was why!  LOL.  Ciconne Vineyard & Winery was our last stop and OMG it was the worst wine ever!  No one was walking out there with a bottle.  YUK - and they kept getting worse!  My sister and I got a flight of 5 to try and only managed to get to 4 - we just couldn't do it.  One friend of mine mentioned that the wine there was good and another comment how bad it was.

My quest was for the perfect latte with coconut milk!  The above was a stop in Sutton's Bay after we had gone to Morsel's in TC and they changed up their alternative milk selection to oat and soy..... really?!?  Oat and soy!!  Most people I know that drink alt milks go with almond first.  They said the owners decided it was a better choice.  Well, not in my book!  I don't tolerate either of those.  Oh well!  Too bad for them because every time D and I went to TC we stopped there at least twice a week.

My favorite overall was Good Harbor coffee.  The best coconut milk latte!

Best latte in TC!

Our room in TC was right on the beach (Sugar Beach Waterfront Resort) but unfortunately it rained both Thursday and Friday.  The temp on Friday was 64!  There was no way we were going into the bay that day.  Of course wouldn't you know it, Saturday was sunny and 85.  The day we had to be in the car!  We had a few incidents that I won't mention but the hotel took care of us, so we really had no complaints.

Our room was decent, but the exercise room lacked.  But my sister made the best of it and we did a few youtube videos and walked/ran the TART trail.

TART Trail about 2 miles outside of downtown Traverse City

Of course, we had to go to the local sweet shop called Sweet Tartlette for a birthday treat.  I got a blueberry macaron and a gluten free peanut butter cookie.

Top is GF PB Cookie with sea salt and bottom is the Blueberry Macaron.

Sweet Tartlette

We then headed to Muskegon on Saturday so we could be at the Fine Arts Camp to pick up my nephew early morning on Sunday and hear his concert.  He plays violin and so well!  He also plays football, basketball, loves baseball right now.  His does archery, gymnastics and who knows what else but my sister and her husband makes sure the kids get to try anything and everything they want.

One thing everyone was so kind to do for me while we were there was go to a local restaurant called The Boar's Belly.  I was so excited.  Unfortunately it was just ok.

Front of the menu, didn't take one of the back!

PB&J Burger

The view from our room was excellent, as well as the exercise room.

The view from our room at the Shoreline Inn

It was a good trip - a lot of driving but great to spend time with family.  So that's what I have been up to for the last couple of weeks.  I am gearing up to start teaching mat pilates soon and classes through the NTP.  So between work and those things I feel I will be pretty busy and I'm trying to plan ahead and get my classes all mapped out so I don't have to think about what I am teaching a few hours before.  

I will be on Skype with my functional md soon.  Was suppose to be tomorrow but he hasn't received my lab results yet, so he wants to hold off.  I'm hoping my Candida is under control!  I will be posting after that visit.

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New job and things to come!

This week called for some changes.  My last job ended and a new job began just as quick and I am loving it.  I've headed back a foodie job!  Not back to Plum, but to Birmingham Roast where I am working the back of the house.  I'm cooking and hopefully creating.  I get to make food with organic and gluten free ingredients (not everything is gluten free) and I've jumped completely in.

One thing that makes me very happy about this company is that they try to be sustainable.  We recycle everything we can.  Unlike the last job which was all about waste.  Nothing was about being compostable or biodegradable.  Can we talk about how good the coffee is?!

I HIGHLY suggest the Kuppa Joy or the Almond Joy - OMG!  SO good.  Probably not the best place to work when you consider yourself a coffee snob! I did get decaf though.  I certainly don't need any caffeine.  I do have to mention that I have been purely wiped out when I get home.  I mean total crash!  I haven't worked a manual job like this in 10 months, so I really didn't think I would have such a hard time with it.

I have taken naps and meditating as well as doing yoga.  On days off I will be lifting, so as of right now I do have 3 days off so it works perfectly with my schedule and I walk to work.

My stress level has for sure peaked, so I need to do everything I can to keep it in check.

  So mediation, walking, yoga.  This is mental and physical stress and I can appreciate both.  The most stressful thing about this is the hit in pay.  It's so dramatic that I have to pinch every penny I possibly can and only spend on things I really need to and push back the wants for needs.

On the positive side it frees up my time to teach some classes (yoga and kick boxing in September) and I will have more time to study for NTC and try to build my Beautycounter business.  If you haven't looked into it yet please do so!  The products are the best.  I haven't found one thing I didn't like and all the products are clean.  WHA?!?  Beautycounter.com/heathermattice.

As a side note to all this, my sister called me and wanted to talk to me about being happy and finding a job I love.  She said cold calling is not my thing and I have to agree.  I think that is the one thing that can freak me out.  Almost every job required some form of cold calling.  I mean I will certainly do it and if I believe in what I am calling about I am all in.  It was the same when I was at Plum Market.  If I believed in the product I could sell it like nothing.  Do you find that you are happy with your job?  Or are you the type that believes no one likes their job and should be miserable?!  I have heard the later fear too much recently and I don't believe that should be true.  I don't mind hard work at all and if is mine the hours put in around the clock make it all worth it.  So, where do you fall?

I thought I would add some recent eats too.  I have been playing around with my morning smoothie bowl when I came across this coconut yogurt from GT's.

I go back and forth between mixing my protein powder with yogurt or an avocado.  This morning I just had the yogurt mixed with it and maca and I was so hungry later that I snacked on grass fed ground beef, coconut butter and finished the bag of Siete Tortilla chips.  Lessen learned!  I need more fat!

Then you know I am all about one skillet cooking, so nothing has changed there!

They all look the same I know.  I need to branch out and really start creating!

Autoimmune sugar reaction

It was Monday night.  D and I decided we would go out for dinner and Mexican sounded good.  We went to a place not far from us Mohave Cantina in Clawson.  We have been there a few times before and the food has been good.  We go have dinner (I didn't eat much, got fajitas - like 3 bites, just not hungry) and a drink.  I got everything that went with it, just didn't eat it.

 Then we wanted to go to a new coffee place that just opened in downtown Birmingham, appropriately named Birmingham Roast.

I check out the reviews on FB and everyone is stating how much they love it.  I'm game, I love coffee and don't even think about getting decaf since Tuesday was the 4th and I would be off work anyway.  I get the Kuppa Joy - no decaf and he didn't do almond milk....  It was described as a creme brûlée with dark chocolate.  Sounded so good and tasted even better!  I drink about half and we get home and take the dogs for a walk.  We get back and I drink the rest of it.  A while later I was hungry so ate some more of my dinner and shortly after I began to feel nauseous.  

I know what you are thinking - it was dinner.  Yes you may think that but nope.  It's never been how I work.  It's never what I ate last, it's what I ate before that.  So me eating the Mexican food triggered the milk and sugar I ate prior.  Does that even make sense?

Ok, so bad stomach, bathroom trip (only one) and I went to bed.  I woke up feeling the same way.  It didn't stop me from lifting heavy (in my basement gym), going for my long walk or even eating.  But I certainly felt horrible ALL DAY LONG!  I didn't get much sleep Tuesday night since it was the 4th and big dawg hates the loud noise!  I ended up waking early because I was so warm.  I decided to get up and go to the gym.  I did a HIIT treadmill workout.  Here is a breakdown I did for 45 minutes.

1 minute @ 4.0 @ 4%

1 minute @ 4.0 @ 6%

1 minute @ 4.0 @ 8%

3 minute run @ 6.0 @ 0%

Repeat several times for approximately 45 minutes.  I then did 5 rounds of 20 kettlebell swings with 25 lbs and bodyweight squats.

The rest of the day remained the same.  I didn't feel great for about half the day.  I had some brain fog in the morning but that all seemed to lift after lunch and I have been feeling pretty good.  Only slightly tired.  I'm still trying to get use to my very minimal cardio/lifting routine.  Thursday morning is lifting, no cardio, only walking.  Friday is yoga.

Thursday night is pancake night and will post up an AIP friendly recipe, hopefully!