Relearning

There have been people that have tried to teach me how to crochet.  I would learn, try to keep at it, and then life distracts me.  Then when I go to pick it up again, I am clueless beyond the chain stitch.

Today, I learned again.  And, I learned something I had never learned before.  How to make a circle.  The circle is supposed to eventually be a hat.  We'll see.  I learned with 8 or 9 other people.  It was a lot of fun as well as being funny watching people mess up.  Including me.

I also learned something else today.  The flour I use is a very high quality flour.  It is chemical free and GMO free.  It is Wheat Montana.  One cup of this flour that I made a conscious decision to buy through the local buying club which is a once a year purchase is worth SEVEN points.  Well, seven on the web site and eight on the pocket tracker.

I know I can make this work.  And I did warn that I would be talking a lot about this as I worked through it.  It just seems to me that these dietary changes we made several years ago which got my diabetic husband off of insulin and on Metformin, off of blood pressure and cholesterol and liver medications completely is considered "bad" according to the points system.  The core program (filling foods) when looking at the points of some of these foods is still not all that great.

The flour bothers me greatly.  Not just because we have several hundred pounds of it, but because I cook with it a lot.  Our pancakes which are healthy and use whole foods is very high in points.  The waffles are made from the same batter.  Our breads are made using this flour.  I make my own whole wheat bread and because I choose a high quality flour that is chemical and GMO free, it is a higher point value.

The core foods are confusing.  Dry fat free powdered milk is considered a core food but goat milk is not.  Incidentally, I had first thought that goat milk had less points than store-bought whole milk, but it doesn't.  And whole milk is not a "filling food."  (Core food.)

There is no goat as a filling foo

d.  Goat is listed, but it is not a filling food.  (Core food.)  Beef cube steak is a filling food???  Oh my word!  Did someone miss the memo about goat being a leaner and healthier red meat that cow?  Did they also miss the memo of how cube steak is made?  

Canned turkey is a core food.  Ground turkey is a core food.  But turkey breast cooked with the skin is NOT a core food.  Someone missed the memo again.  Ground turkey breast is made with a lot of fat and skin unless you are very careful and specific with your label reading.  

Guinea is listed.  There is only one listing for it.  (Guinea hen.  I guess no one ever cooks the roosters.)  It is not a core food.

Eggs are a core food.  That is good.  But so is egg substitute and powdered eggs.  And frying the eggs makes it no longer a core food, but the points value doesn't change????  That makes sense.

I was talking with C about this and she is just as baffled as I am.  I definitely have tons of questions for Monday because a lot of this does not make sense to me.