Dinasaur Breath and Randomness

Warning:  Gross alert.

Wow.  I woke up in the middle of the night because my breath was so bad, despite having brushed my teeth before bed.   And not because I ate guacamole last night (the onions and garlic in that are lethal!). No, I ate my 'usual' rice and beans.  I'm pretty sure my nasty tongue is reflecting the detoxing that's going on inside me right now - a side effect I didn't consider much before I started this challenge.  Being the stubborn mule that I am, I refused to get up to brush my  teeth, so I turned over so my back was facing Jeff so that I wouldn't blast him out of bed with my dragon breath, and slept off and on the rest of the night, continuously waking up from my breath.  Seriously, my breath kept on waking me up!  I woke up this morning with a nice, nasty looking tongue (white-ish coated), and a pasty feeling like I had recently rolled my tongue in a plate of white flour. It's something I've experienced several times while fasting in the past.  I decided it was a great opportunity to oil pull.  Have you heard of it?  There's a bunch of websites that pop up, if you google "oil pulling".  The basic premise is that there are a bunch of toxins and bacteria floating around our bodies (makes sense so far), and many land up in our mouth (okay), and by swishing, sucking, or "pulling" small amounts of oil through our teeth, we remove many of those toxins from our body, and we live a disease-free life and one day die healthy.  Or something. There's a whole lot more to it than that, but that's "oil pulling in one sentence". The claims made regarding the benefits of oil pulling are pretty extreme, for those who believe in it.  I'm not sold on the idea, partially because it is gross swishing oil around in my mouth for 10-20 minutes at one time; however, I thought my mouth could use a bit of extra lovin' this morning, so I gave it a shot.  I assume/hope that what I spit out at the end of 12 minutes would have killed my cat had I fed it to him (don't get me wrong, I love my cat, and I wouldn't feed him sesame oil spit - I just hope that my 12 minutes of swishing accomplished something!).

My kids are really great.  This morning, I made them saskatoon pancakes.  Apparently, they turned out well,  because Taelyn and Mason kept taking turns saying how they tasted soooooo good, and then the other one would remind the first "Sssshhhhhh!  Don't tell mom that it's yummy!"  They're so considerate and helpful. Taelyn is marking the days on the calendar until I can eat "normal" food again. A few days ago, Makenna had an eyelash on her cheek, and so, naturally, she made a wish.  Her wish was that February would be over soon, for my sake.  While I am not looking for any sympathy or pity during this experiment, (after all, it was my choice),  they are doing their part to make me feel very supported.  I am also loving the comments they make regarding my food, and ultimately, what it is a reflection of.  The comments reflect that they are giving some consideration to how others live and how privileged they are.  It's one thing to talk about world hunger at the supper table.  It's another thing to eat homemade pizza, salad and fresh pineapple while the person across the table is eating rice and beans....again. 

I am attending a breakfast at church this weekend.  Because I am a table leader, I feel compelled to attend; however, I'm not very interested in explaining my food plan to everyone I meet.  That said, I will not veer from my original plan, and hope that my cup of tea will look like a plate of food to all I encounter. :)

And now, lunch time.