Yesterday marked the start of National Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week, a week-long effort to spotlight this chronic  neurological disease. MS is long thought to be an autoimmune disease which damages the central nervous system (think brain, spinal cord and optic nerves).

This video has a good explanation of what Multiple Sclerosis is, better than I can speak to:)  

The side of MS that I can speak to, is as one of the 400,000 Americans diagnosed and living with the disease.
 
I was diagnosed with MS 2 1/2 years ago, after months of medical tests and a great deal of anxiety. I had not been feeling well for a while and knew something was not right in my body. I went to my general doctor and she started testing me for everything under the sun and then some. I was picked, prodded and poked more times than I care to remember. I was feeling weakness in my legs and numbness on the right side of my face. I found this odd, as I was in an incredibly healthy place at the time, where an hour of kick-boxing would be followed by an hour of pilates.
 

What we thought was just a mix of low vitamin levels and the flu, continued to get worse. I was starting to experience a weakness in the right side of my body, which felt the way your foot or hand does when they fall asleep. But unlike your hand of foot falling asleep, which goes away quickly, this feeling was not going away at all. My right side wanted to move, but despite my best effort, it would not. Frustration was beginning to build up inside and my body was telling me this was something more. I can not emphasize enough that our bodies have the ability to tell us when something is not right and it is our responsibility to listen to these signs. 
 

After some research on my own and quite a few heated discussions with my doctor, I was sent to go through a series of MRI’s, to see if there was any unusual brain activity (ok, well unusual for me) . Let me tell you that waiting for the results of a MRI on one’s brain, is a little anxiety provoking to say the least and the longer you have to wait to find out results, the longer you have to sit and think about what might show up. Talk about a powerless feeling that comes over a person when you are left to wonder. Scared only begins to break describe how I felt. The mind really is both our friend and our foe, huh?  
 

Once my MRI results came back, I found out there was “white matter” on my brain and I needed to get in to see a Neurologist quickly. I complied and soon would begin my challenging relationship with the world of neurologists. More MRI’s were ordered and then a spinal tap was done. You see, there isn’t one particular test that can be done to diagnose a person with MS. Rather, it is a process of elimination, for some cases are easier than others to diagnose. In my case, the spinal tap was the final step in confirming what had been suspected.
 

On a sunny and hot day in August, shortly after my 27th birthday,  I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I remember my Neurologist at the time asking me, “are you ok with this?” I could only wonder what the heavens that meant and proceeded to ask him if there was a rewind button I was allowed to hit and turn back time. He didn’t get my sarcasm and I immediately knew this was a relationship which would be troubled in the long run, but I was really just in shock, so I think I mumbled something to him along the lines of, ” Yeah, well this pretty much sucks…” 
 

Shortly after my diagnosis, I was introduced to the wonderful world of “disease modifying drugs”. These do not come in pill form, rather they beauties come in shot form and are no walk in the park. These are not cures. There is NO CURE FOR MS.  

Disease modifying drugs do not necessarily improve the condition of a person with MS, rather their goal is to slow down the progression of the disease. For some people they work rather well, for others they sometimes prove to be worse than the actual disease. They do leave their marks, I have plenty of bruises on my body from “shooting up” and I do wonder if they will ever go away.
 

Once I was diagnosed, I had this awesome idea that I would be back to my “normal” self within a few months and this wouldn’t be anything more than a memory, must like my first boyfriend . Aaaaahhh, you do not know how many times I wish I could go back and recapture that innocence. The last few years have changed me in so many ways: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. 

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More to share with y’all about moving forward, what this diagnosis has taught me and a guest post from one of my favorite ladies

If you are interested in learning more Multiple Sclerosis, I encourage you to visit The Rocky Mountain MS Center by clicking here.

The National MS Society has a great deal of info. you can find, by clicking here…

HAPPY MONDAY, friends!!!! Hope everyone had a good weekend. Hard to believe the Olympics are over, huh? I have been a bit obsessed with the Winter Olympics, as I usually am. Seeing the downhill skiing brought back many memories growing up in a beautiful ski resort and eventually racing both GS and Slalom. I blame my disfigured feet on years in ski boots, but what can ya’ do but embrace the memories:)

Life in the mountains...

                                                                     (source)

      Have/do you all ski? Snowboard? If not, would you want to try either?

Brownies, mmmmm…… I spent a bit of time on Sunday making a batch of brownies, which are something I can not remember making in a great long while. I am glad that I did as it was good to be reminded that they are simple, quick and the ingredients are usually in the FoodCents house. Well, tasty goes without saying.

The recipe I used comes from the lovely Ginny at Just Get Floury. Ginny has been kind enough to be my Blog Mentor, though the “Adopt-A-Blogger” program. I scored on getting Ginny, not only is her blog full of wonderful recipes and great ideas but she is also an incredibly kind and funny gal’ to chat with. The lovely Ginny blogs from Chicago, where she is in law school. Go check out her tasty treats and beautiful pictures of her travels!!!

Go make these brownies, they get even better as they sit, that is if they can last that long:) BTW, I did find myself covered in flour at the end, because I am a messy little kid in the kitchen. I embrace that though, life is too short to not have a little fun with flour!!!

STUFF N’ THINGS

• Love Veggies & Yoga is having a great giveaway, check it out here
• Go check out More to Life Than Lettuce, for a cookbook giveaway
• The FANNEtastic one herself, is holding a great yoga giveaway

“To ensure that all cereal mixes are entirely gluten-free and safe to consume, we carefully selected only naturally gluten-free ingredients from a broad range of suppliers.  In addition, all incoming ingredients are tested for gluten and stored in our dedicated gluten- and wheat-free facility.  It is our goal to completely eliminate the risk of any contamination with even traces of wheat, rye, or barley – for your safety and your well-being. ”
 
You have your choice of three different “bases” for you personal creation, then add any number of dried fruits, seeds and nuts. These are all good and REAL foods you can feel healthy about and nutritional stats. come printed on the package.  Finally, you get to make these babies you very own with any sort of name that is printed on the front of your package.
 
The first creation I worked up was  “Mr. T’s Crunch”  …… because we all know I have a “thing” for The T Man and what better way to show that respect for the man with the chains, than in a solid cereal. This mix contained:

• Cinnamon Granola
• Cherries
• Raisins
• Cranberries
• Almonds
• Coconut
• Sunflower Seeds
• Walnuts

While I wish the granola was a little bit thicker, it has an incredibly great taste to it with just the right amount of cinnamon. The nuts, seeds and dried fruit are all very plentiful in my cereal and add a nice combination of sweet, tangy and crunchy. 

For my other mix, called  “Good Mornin’ “ I chose a different route, which contained the following:

• Good Morning Flakes
• Apricots
• Cherries
• Blueberries
• Cranberries
• Almonds
• Pistachios
• Sunflower Seeds
• Walnuts

 
These Good Morning Flakes have a WONDERFUL texture to them and are a nice and solid base for any combo you can come up with. The dried fruits were well pronounced and worked well with the nuts and seeds in the mix.

In both mixes, I loved the abundance of nuts, seeds and fruit which are included. These are nice and fresh tasting ingredients, which are  plentiful throughout the mix. Due to the fact that these are nice and fresh (have not been sitting in a grocery store for who knows how long) I found both mixes to stand up well to both milk and yogurt. These were a great start to the day, with a nice mixture of solid carbs, healthy fats, powerful protein and energizing fruit. I have also used these cereals as an afternoon snack and because they are well balanced they do not leave me with an afternoon crash.
 

I LOVE the fact  Custom Choice is kind to the earth, through using minimal packing to ship out the cereals. They have just added online gift certificates, so if you have a special someone in your life that doesn’t do gluten, this would be a nice little surprise for their cabinets and stomach

I can not finish this up without mentioning the FANTASTIC customer service that Custom Choice Cereal provides. These guys are on top of the products and there to help consumers with any questions they might have along the way. I can think of more than a few companies that could you a little customer service training for these guys!!!

Would YOU like to try YOUR OWN CUSTOM CHOICE CEREAL?

The guys at Custom Choice would like to give one FoodCents reader a chance to win their very own cereal mix!!!

For the first entry: Check out Custom Choice Cereals website  and create your own mixture. Leave me a comment  with the ingredients…

For extra entries:

• Become a fan of Custom Choice Cereal on Facebook  and leave me a comment letting me know you did!!!
• Tweet ”I want to win customizable & #glutenfree #cereal from @CustomCereal and @FoodCents” . Leave another comment….
• Follow @CustomCereal on Twitter, leave a comment to let me know you did…
• Follow me (@FoodCents) on Twitter, leave me a comment to let me know…
• If you have a blog, mention this give away and leave me a comment for another entry

Please note this giveaway is limited to those living in the United States & will end on March 6. 2010 at 12:00 noon EST.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and staying safe & warm, especially for my East Coast friends.

Today, I present to you “Time to get pictures off of my memory card”/”A little of this, a little of that…” 

Chobani: my choice for Greek Yoghurt, best texture of those I have tasted...

I just wish you were organic....

My first oats in a jar, what a great idea to whomever came up with this...

Just not a hot oats fan, as much as I try...

Cupcakes from Happy Cakes Denver, always a winner in my book!!!

Speaking of  a WINNER, using  Random.Org the winner of my POM Wonderful Giveaway  is…

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6	(Mara @ What's For Dinner)

Timestamp: 2010-02-07 15:21:30 UTC

I am off to get my goodies ready for SUPERBOWL fun!!!! I am taking the Colts on this one, but I absolutely OK with either the teams winning. It’s been a great long while since I have actually liked both teams in the SB. As much as I love a good SB, I hate to see football season end. At least baseball is not too far off…………

POM Wonderful

The taste of the plain POM Wonderful is still a little bitter, but I actually enjoy that. I am not one to typically drink juices, as I prefer to eat the fruit. However, with POM I found a small amount often was a great source of afternoon energy and it was something that I would slip on slowly. POM Wonderful is a great addition to a smoothie, both for vitamin purposes and to add a little liquid to the smoothie.  The juice isn’t cheap, but I have since purchased a bottle on sale, which lasts me a great while. I love the versatility of POM Wonderful juice, as I have used it to make cocktails and also as the basis for a grilled chicken marinade.  I do have to say that the bottles I received were difficult to open, oddly enough.

I was also sent POM’s Iced Coffee in the following flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate and Cafe au Late.

Chocolate

Vanilla

Cafe au Lait

I have to preface this part of the review with the fact that I am not a fan of sweet drinks and I like my caffeine in the form of hot coffee. I tried a taste of each, but they were not to my liking.  I asked my older brother to taste the three flavors and give his opinion on them, as he has a better tolerance for sweet beverages than I do. He reported back  they all did indeed give him a nice afternoon buzz (these babies have 175mg of caffeine per bottle), but they all were too sweet for his liking as well.

The kind folks at POM want to give away a “Surprise Package” to one lucky reader. You have upto 4 ways to enter and win!!!

   How To Enter

• Leave a comment letting me know something you LOVE ABOUT YOURSELF!!! (For me, it’s the fact that I am easily entertained)
• If you have a blog, link back to this post. Please leave a comment telling me you did so.
• Follow me on Twitter (I am @FoodCents) and let me know you are, or if you already are that is good too. Either way, leave me another comment letting me know!!!
• Tweet this giveaway, be sure to include @FoodCents  and leave a comment here to let me know.

This giveaway will end at 1:00pm(Eastern Time) on Thursday, February 4th.

Okkkk soooo………… I went to the grocery store yesterday. The fridge was getting a little empty and I figured the store would be a great way to remedy the situation. I picked up some organic chicken and planned on grilling it today. I knew today was the day to grill the damn’ thang’, as much cooler temps. are moving their ugly faces in and I didn’t feel like hassling with grilling in temps. that would peak in the teens. I marinated said chicken in a little of this & a little of that, because that is just how I roll. Around 1:00 this afternoon, I was ready to grill. Yes, I have been known to grill at 1:00pm on a Tuesday, for not having the security of a employers health insurance (ie: I do my own thang’), allows nutty peeps like me to cook in the middle of the day.

After some marinating, I threw said chicken on the grill. It grilled and I thought all was fine. Then I cut open to check and lets just say, much like Lindsay Lohan designing leggings, things just didn’t look right. Upon further inspection, the chicken did not smell right. In less than 3.14538 seconds that chicken went sailing into the trash. In my years I have learned to trust my intuition about meat/poultry: if it doesn’t look, smell or taste right …. IT’S NOT!!! The $8.38 I spent for that spoiled chicken was not worth risking what could have happened had I served it to myself and others. Not worth it, kiddos, not worth it. I will take the issue up with the store, but not bringing it back in its stanky form. Usually just having the receipt will do the job.

So…………. I had great intentions of having organic chicken breast around to make tasty food this week, but alas that did not happen. It happens, s**t happens and life goes on. However, food must still be eaten. Now I am lost as to what to eat, so rather than go figure something out I have decided rather to share this just gripping story with all of you. Geee, how did y’all win the flippin’ lottery, right?

If anyone wants to invite me over for dinner, I am game:) In the meantime, I will be staring stupidly at the kitchen and see what forces of the nutrient world pull me in. This sheer excitement is probably killing y’all, huh?

STANKY CHICKEN:1  ME:0… Though I think the fact that I will not be upchucking all night, gives me at least 1/4 of a point….

In regards to 2009, I would be lying if I said it had been a superb year for me. It’s been interesting to say the least. It has been heartbreaking at times, full of laughter at others and utterly bizarre as well. I have had to watch good friends leave, while having amazing strangers enter & become great characters in the story of life.

This year has taught me what true friendship means, how amazingly blessed I am to have both the friends & family I do and that life has odd ways of bringing new friends into our existence.

This year, more than the last two, have made me truly realize that I do indeed have MS. I tried to deny it as much as possible but this year there was no more of that. It reared its ugly head in a very unacceptable manner, one in which I could not turn my head to. Now more than ever it has challenged my body and in turn my spirit. If I had a good picture for all this, I would be inserting it here, but sometimes words are better than pictures or perhaps I have yet to find the right one. If I ever find it, I will be sure to alert the presses so y’all know!!!

I know I am ready for this year to be over. I know it hasn’t been the best one, but sometimes that is just how it goes. If I have learned anything it’s that we do not have complete control over events. When you understand that life involves a certain level of flexibility, the journey is a wee bit easier then. The ability to laugh is important, this I know and has only been instilled further in me this year.

Finally, to all my readers & friends I have made since finding the bloggie world (by accident at that) THANK YOU. It’s been a super fun experience to meet people who understand why I get a thrill out of going to the grocery store, why I have this deep desire to try odd foods and who don’t believe that a recipe needs to be followed to a “T” !!! My eyes have been opened to many new foods, ways of eating and common bonds shared: all thanks to the bloggie world. Most of all thank you for reading my random posts and the super amazing comments and emails I recieve. So much support and love have been shared in the words and I can not begin to express how much they mean.

I hope in 2010 to make some changes, both with the blog and for myself. In regards to the blog, I am still bouncing some ideas and things around – we will see what happens. Personally, I hope to spend more time doing Pilates and less time being fascinated by Hollywood (yeah, we will see on that one). I shall hopefully plan a trip for the summer, to celebrate no longer being a 20-something  – I am thinking Big Sur, CA, anyone been?

Best to each and every one of you for a beautiful and interesting 2010. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, please be safe friends. 1,934,426 THANKS TO YOU ALL!!! Remember how beautiful you all are as we go into this new year

HEY FRIENDS!!!! How is everyone? Can you believe it is just 1 week until Christmas??? I hope y’all are far ahead of me on the shopping thang’, because I have barely started – whoops!!! Is anyone headed anywhere sunny, warm and beachy? If so, may I please come along?

Bali, anyone???

Sorry for the lack of posting on my end, bad blogger. I swear I have not been hiding out because of some relationship with this guy…

Nope, rather I have been doing many things to hopefully keep my MS at bay and encouraging it to hightail itself to a foreign country. I even offered it ALL of my frequent flyer miles, but thus far it has not taken me up on said offer. What a selfish jerk, right?

I am actually going in this afternoon to this baby

Tunnel of Doom, as I like to call it...

Yup, the old MRI machine/tunnel of doom. I don’t like it and it does not like me. You would think that since we have known each other for a few years now, that the relationship would have improved, but that would be a lie. If anything, we dislike one another more now than a few years ago. I don’t think we will ever even so much as like each other, but so be it…

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On a food note, the other night I was putzing around in the kitchen. I was making tacos, which I could eat 5 out of 7 days a week and not get sick of them. I prefer the blue corn tortillas, for they are AMAZING. Anywho, I like to top tacos different ways and kind of threw together a salsa/topping/call it whatever you want that was rather tasty. Sorry for no pic., but like I said I was tinkering around in the kitchen and such. Anywho, it went a little something like this.

        Tinker Around Salsa/Topping

• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 small tomato, diced (larger if you like more tomato action)
• 1 lime
• 1/2 of an onion (red works best, but whatever will work), diced
• 2 tablespoons of chopped green chiles (I used the stuff from the can/jar)
• Couple shakes of garlic powder
• Salt
• Pepper

   Process

• Mix the avocado, tomato, onion, green chile together. Squeeze in the lime juice. Add garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix a few times and taste. If it is good to go, beautiful. Some might like chopped up cilantro in this, I am not a cilantro fan, hence no cilantro love in this mix. Best if you let it sit in the fridge for a bit, really will taste better, but it is still good right away. Enjoy on tacos, chicken, with chips, etc….

Ok, sweet cupcakes, I am off to tackle Friday. I need to go get on the food train, because I can not eat after 10:00 this morning, so time to go store some calories. Hopefully all will go well and the drugs they are using to sedate me will at least give me a couple hour break from life.

Come back soon for a POM giveaway, some lame attempts at baking and a recap of Friday Afternoon Club at the doc’s.

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STUFF N’ THINGS

• Foodie in the City is having a Chobani giveaway
• Fun Starbucks giveaway over at TheCleanEatingMama
• The always lovely IowaGirlEats is hosting an amazing Food Should Taste Good Giveaway

I ate cheese & crackers for BREAKFAST today. It was fantastic, why don’t I eat it for breakfast more often? I am not much of a sweets person in the morning (oatmeal gets consumed everyone once in a while). There was limited options and I was in a rush, so I could get to the dentist nice and early, while dealing with cold and snowy weather.  Cheese & crackers you will be making a rotation in the morning food dept. You did a damnnnn fine job!!!

3BBag Update

Thank you to everyone who entered the Reusable Produce Bag giveaway. I love these bags, I even carried my lunch in one the other day…. dork? I am ok with it:)  Congrats. to the following winners, via RANDOM.ORG:

Here are your random numbers:

10	1	13	3	2

Timestamp: 2009-12-02 21:46:22 UTC

• Ashley
• Mama Pea
• Matt Johnston
• Siglen
• Kate

 Please email me (foodcents at hotmail.com) your shipping info. and I will pass it on to 3BBags so you can get your bags!!!!

It’s rather chilly in Denver today. I need to go find some hot beverage PRONTO and find something warm to make for dinner. Ideas????

STUFF N’ THINGS

•  Might you like a little Pop Chip love in your life? Head on over to Iowa Girl Eats for a chance to win a case
• Rhodey Girl has a great giveaway going on, jump on over for a chance to win!!!

I have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mama’Cents. I can not begin to express the amount of love, respect and so many other things I have for my mama’!!! She is not only my mama’, but one of my dearest friends. She has been a constant source of support since my MS diagnosis and always keeps my snarkiness in check !!! I am not sure what I did to deserve such greatness from a mother, but I will gladly continue to take it:) LOVE YOU, MAMA’!!!

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Little stalks of heaven!!!

I love asparagus, anyone else? This time of year the price per pound of it goes down. I guess it’s a Thanksgiving thang’, but it doesn’t need to only be served at Thanksgiving dinner. Grab some of these tasty veggies  and experiment with them. Grill ‘em, roast ‘em, steam ‘em or whatever else you might like. I find that if you are going to roast or grill it, a nice little marinade of 5 minutes & some balsamic vinegar really makes this super tasty. Throw whatever else you wish into the marinade (I love lemon as well). Leftover roasted or grilled asparagus is great in the leftover department, throw it on a salad or a sandwich.

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I recently contacted the company 3B Bags or “Belief Beyond Bags”, to learn a little more about their products. I had seen their products and their story on local media in recent months, so I was curious to know more. I love the fact that the three owners of 3B Bags are three friends and mothers who saw a need to create a product to eliminate the use of the plastic produce bags.

Pack of 3 bags

The company recently sent me a couple of packs of the Reusable Produce Bags to try out myself and review. Each pack comes with three bags. Two of the bags are 11×14 inches, while the third bag measures 14.5×18.5 to hold your super large produce.

The first thing I noticed about these bags, upon receiving them, was the minimal packaging the company chose to use for this product. I think this is important to note, as it peeves me how wasteful companies often are in packaging their products. The packaging is 100% recyclable and extremely minimal, which I love. I liked the fact that these bags, made of 100% nylon, had no funky smell to them as products often do when you first open them up.

Since receiving these bags from the company, I have used them countless times. Each bag holds a TON of produce. I have put 15 apples in one and had no problem with the bag holding all that weight. Each bag has a drawstring to ensure your produce doesn’t fall out, as it often does with regular plastic produce bags. In addition, the bags are see through, making produce code easy to see at check out time.

I really do love these bags, I am using them all the time. I had to get in the habit of putting them into my reusable grocery bags, so I would remember to bring them to the store. Just like anything, you have to get in the habit of making sure to bring these bags, but quickly it becomes second nature. I have even used the large one to put all my groceries in, when I realized I had one in my purse and had forgotten to bring a regular reusable grocery bag. It worked like a charm!!!

I will admit the bags are not cheap, as they sell for $7.50 for a three pack. However, since using them I do think that they are worthy every penny. I foresee these babies lasting a very long time, which makes it a good investment for the wallet and the earth. They are incredibly versatile and easy to clean as well, which can not be beat!!! I have already bought some to incorporate into Holiday gifts. Thank you to the 3B Bag ladies!!!

For those of you in the Denver area, I have seen the bags at King Soopers and Vitamin Cottage, so you might want to keep your eyes out for them!!!

I got to try these out, now you all have a chance to as well. 3B Bags has offered to give away a pack of the Reusable Produce bags to 5 lucky winners.

• Go here check out the 3B Bags website. Leave a comment on this post about something you learned, others uses for the bags or any other nifty tidbit you come across on the site.
• Follow me on Twitter for another chance to win. Please leave a comment on this post, letting me know.
• Follow 3B Bags on Twitter for another chance to win. Please leave a comment on this post, letting me know.
• Tweet this giveaway, be sure to include @foodcents & @3BBags in your Tweet. Again, please let me know you did so my leaving a comment!!!
• If you have a blog, link to this giveaway, for another chance to win.

This giveaway will end at 1:00pm on Sunday (November 29, 2009). Please note this giveaway is only open to US residents.

3B Bags is also offering free shipping when you buy 4 or more of the Reusable Produce Bag packs, until December 5, 2009.

Ok, time for me to go get my grocery shopping on and then some pilates. Have a beautiful day!!!