Trim Healthy Mama "Guest Post"

Instead of bringing you a guest post for this week's healthy eating series, I'm just going to point you to some great posts which have already been written about the Trim Healthy Mama diet by my good friend Jacinda, who blogs at Growing Home. 

So without further ado:

5 Favourite Trim Healthy Mama Recipes
Here you'll get a taste (ha ha), along with great photos, of some of the unbelievably delicious looking dishes you get to eat while on the Trim Healthy Mama plan.


How I Lost 40 lbs in 2 months post-partume (and how you can too)
Jacinda gives really great, practical tips on how one can lose weight in a healthy and reasonable way after you've have a baby.

Trim Healthy Mama Review
Here you can learn a bit more about the plan specifically, and Jacinda's take on the whole thing.


Tomorrow or Saturday we'll let you know what WE thought of Trim Healthy Mama! :)

Week 4 - Trim Healthy Mama Diet

This is probably the diet you are least likely to have heard of out of the ones we've tried over the course of the last month.  It is based on a pretty recent book called Trim Healthy Mama, written by two sisters. It's really aimed at mothers who are trying to lose their baby weight - but also provides alterations to carry on as a lifestyle once you have reached your desired weight.  I've read many reviews and two good friends have been doing, and loving it.  Many people are saying it gives them more energy - which is really what I want!

That said, today I'm going to explain it really briefly and give you our meal plan.  On Thursday I'll share some other posts from a friend who has written about it and posted a number of recipes, and on Friday (or maybe Saturday) we will tell you our experience with the diet!

This is going to be a REALLY basic breakdown of the plan.  Basically the idea is that you eat one fuel source at a time (fat or carbs) so that your body is burning one type of fuel source and not storing a bunch of the other one.  That means meals are broken into two major categories - "Satisfying", which are high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrates and "Energizing", which are high in carbohydrates and protein, and low in fat.

There are a few other subcategories, and once you're just trying to maintain your weight you can eat more "Crossovers", which are a more balanced meal of fat, protein and carbs.

Pretty simple eh!?  They also focus on low glycemic foods like berries and sweeteners other than refined sugar, as well as staying away from white (and even whole wheat) flours.

Here's what we ate for our Trim Healthy Mama week:

Monday
B: Fried Eggs
L: A - thin crust pizza with meat, cheese, veggies, baked brie (out for lunch)
D: A - Cajun Shrimp with bok choy and jasmine rice, S - Meatloaf with mashed potatoes (out for dinner)

Tuesday
B: Blueberry porridge
L: Macaroni salad (at parent's)
D: Cheeseburger Pie

Wednesday
B: Cottage cheese, almond butter, raspberries
L: Chicken wings, shepherd's pie, ceasar salad
D: Cheesy Cauliflower Soup with Bacon

Thursday
B: Fried Eggs with Lettuce and Sauteed Mushrooms
L: Grilled Cheese, leftover soup, salad
D: S: Naked Steak Burrito, A - Rye Bread with Laughing Cow Cheese, lettuce and almonds

Friday
B: Oats and Berries with 0% Greek Yoghurt, apples and almond butter
L: S - pork and beans with a few nachos, A -
D: Cabbage Rolls

Saturday
B: Oats, Berries, Yogurt
L&D: A - tuna and salami sandwiches, S - off plan for day!

The Paleo Diet - Our Thoughts and Experience

Well - my week *trying* to eat Paleo was not very successful, and I think there are some ways I could have made it more so. Andrew did much better.

Like Laura said in her guest post, eating Paleo forces you to be more prepared - and I wasn't.  I didn't have a meal plan at the start of the week, and I hadn't stocked up on Paleo friendly groceries.  So as it was there were many nights when I had no idea what to make for dinner, and didn't have the necessary ingredients anyway.  We ended up eating out more than we normally would.

Also, somehow we basically ate chicken the whole week.  This was, again, due to my lack of planning, and I am sure that had we had more variety of meats I would have felt more satisfied - both physically and emotionally.

Those two things aside, I found this way of eating very hard to stick too.  Maybe it's my first trimester state, feeling nauseous half the time and ravenous the other!

Breakfasts weren't too bad - I've never had so much bacon in a week - although some questioned the healthiness of that.  The smoothies we made tasted different than our usual ones, but they were still very delicious. 

Lunch also was pretty good.  We started making these amazing salads with avocado, hard boiled eggs, chicken and other veggies.  I usually don't really enjoy salad but these were really good!

For snack time we started eating a lot of almond butter with various fruits, and I found it was especially nice with peaches.  As I'm writing this I'm seeing that a lot of good did come out of this week! :)

That said, even though we were eating yummy food - it seemed that they never really filled me up.  That was the hardest thing - I never felt satisfyingly full!  Mid-week I went out for lunch with my parents and though I tried to order a Paleo-friendly salad (spinach, beets, walnuts, red onions and balsamic vinaigrette), my parents ordered a bunch of appetizers to share.  Next think you know I was filling up on baked brie, coconut shrimp, and the most amazing quesadillas.  Also a Godiva triple chocolate cheesecake...  At first I thought "Ugh. I feel so full (in a gross way)".  But within fifteen minutes I was feeling satisfyingly full and the feeling stayed around for hours into the afternoon!  It was that feeling of "fullness" that I missed the most. 


Besides the above mentioned meals we had, one recipe we tried we really loved was Paleo Chicken Lo-Mein.  Also one night we had bun-less homemade burgers with sauteed mushrooms, onions and avacado and they were very yummy.

Paleo Q&A!

As we're looking at the Paleo Diet this week as part of our healthy eating series, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have my best friend, Laura, share her experience.  Andrew and I first really learned about Paleo from her and her husband, and knowing it has been really great for them, we've discussed it a number of times in the past.  I'm SO happy that she agreed to share her experience with you, and I think you'll really appreciate the sunny disposition that shines through, and her no-nonsense approach to answering some of the basic questions one might have about such a different way of eating!

Paleo Q&A by my best friend Laura!

Hi! You may have heard of the paleo diet. It is pretty popular right now and there is a lot of information out there about it. I'm going to be sharing my own personal experiences with the diet. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more I recommend doing some research online.

What is the paleo diet?

The paleo diet involves eating real, unprocessed foods. This includes meat, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and healthy oils. Foods to avoid include grains, legumes, dairy, sugar and anything processed.

When and why did you start the paleo diet?

My husband and I have been following the paleo diet for almost two years. We originally started the paelo diet as part of a month long challenge at our gym. People we knew who followed the paleo diet all said that eating paleo made them feel amazing with even energy levels throughout the day and greater strength. Although we thought we had a pretty healthy diet we decided to try it out. We've been eating paleo for almost two years now and plan to continue to eat this way. We see it as a paleo lifestyle rather than a "diet".

So what do you eat!?

It turns out that we used to eat a lot of sugary, processed foods. Now we focus on eating balanced meals with real foods. I actually snack less than before because my meals keep me full longer.

Typical meals include:
Breakfast - Scrambled eggs with ham and vegetables, banana-almond pancakes or a kale-berry smoothie.
Lunch - Leftovers or a salad with a serving of meal.
Dinner - Meat and lots of vegetables. It sounds like this could get repetitive but there are a lot of options when cooking meat and vegetables.
Snacks - Apple with almond butter, nuts or fruit.

We try to eat the best quality foods we can find. Where we live this is relatively easy and affordable. We have purchased whole organic animals that we have divided with friends and get eggs from local farms or from friends that keep chickens in their yards.

What are the biggest challenges?

1. Planning ahead. It can get stressful when you are hungry but you haven't planned what you are eating. Most traditional snacks are not paleo so it is hard to grab something quick to eat.
2. Eating with friends. We eat with friends quite often and it really doesn't seem fair to ask people to change the way they cook for us. After a few months of eating paleo we decided that we would eat whatever we are served when eating with friends regardless of whether or not it is paleo. This works for us. I think this would be a lot more difficult for people following a strict paleo diet.

What changes have you seen since starting the diet?

1. We are a lot less lazy when it comes to meals! Following the paleo diet requires you to always have a food plan. We can no longer toss a frozen pizza in the oven!
2. I definitely have more energy than before. I used to get really tired in the afternoon and would have days where I didn't feel energized enough to workout. This is rarely a problem anymore.
3. We both experienced a physical change from eating paleo. I recommend taking before pictures when trying this diet. Even without weight-loss, your body can change a lot by eating different foods!

I don't think the paleo diet is for everyone. It takes a lot of commitment to follow and can be difficult at first. That being said, eating paleo has been great for me and my husband and I recommend trying it!

The Paleo Diet + Meal Plan

What is Paleo?

Paleo, short for Paleolithic, is sometimes commonly referred to as the "Caveman Diet".  It is made of up nuts, fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and eggs.  And that's it.  No dairy, grains, legumes, or sugar.  Food quality is also very important, so you will often find Paleo people eating food that is organic, free-range, grass-fed, etc.

I really don't know a whole lot about the ideas behind what is and is not included in the Paleo diet - but there is a TON of information (complete with inforgraphics) at this website: Fitbomb: What is the Paleo Diet?  My understanding is that proponents of the Paleo diet believe that our bodies are not ideally suited to digest and receive nutrients from foods which were cultivated by mankind, thus eschewing anything which came from the Agricultural Revolution.  I have some big issues with the ideology behind this diet, but we'll discuss that on Friday when we tell you about our experience!

Before that, we'll be sharing the experience of my best friend and her husband who have been following the Paleo Diet for two years now, and have found it to be really great for their lifestyle.   I am super excited about letting you hear from her.   We'll also share some really neat recipes we tried and loved.

For now, here is the meal plan we used for the week we ate Paleo!

Our (Almost) One-Week Paleo Meal Plan
*Note* This is what we actually ate that week.  You'll see there were some holes.  Come back on Friday to hear about why!

Monday
Apple with almond butter, Eggs and Bacon

Big Salad with eggs, avacado, tomatoes
Non Paleo at parents - macaroni salad

Tuesday
Bacon and Eggs, Smoothie (Swiss chard, mullberrys, almond milk, ice, banana)
Big Salad
Paleo Chinese Stir Fry
Snacks: Peaches and Almond Butter, Sweet Potato, Leftover smoothie

Wednesday
Fried Eggs and Avacado, Smoothie (see above, with frozen mango and coconut oil)
Andrew: Leftovers
Stephanie: Out to eat: Beet and Spinach Salad, and non paleo appetizers (quesadilla, coconut shrimp, baked brie) and non paleo dessert: triple chocolate godiva cheesecake
Free Range Roasted Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes

Thursday
Bacon & Eggs
Leftovers
Swiss Chalet Chicken & Spinach Salads
Stephanie: Pepperoni Pizza Slice

Friday

Bacon & Eggs
Stephanie: Pasta & Meat Sauce
Andrew: Salad with grilled chicken
BBQ - Sausages, pork chops, chicken, tomatoes Stephanie: half a baked potato

Saturday
Paleo Pancakes
At the beach!: Avocado, Pepperettes, Watermelon, Orange
Dinner: Hamburgers (no buns), guacamole, tomatos, sauted onions and mushrooms.

Sunday - Took the day off.

Our Week Eating "Traditionally"

So far we have tried three of the "diets" in our healthy eating series (and blogged about two) - and this was definitely our favourite!  To see what a "Traditional" diet involves, check out this post where we explained it.

We found that there were not a lot of changes we had to make from what we normally ate - we just altered the way we prepared it.  We soaked our oats overnight, made bone broth instead of using bouillon cubes, and ate sourdough bread instead of traditional yeast bread.

The Sourdough Starter Experiment

I was really keen on learning to make sourdough bread from a starter, but you couldn't buy starter at our local natural food store, and it was too late to order it online.  I had taken out The Bread Bible from the library, and found that in it she explained how to make your own sourdough starter - using only flour and water!  It seemed simple enough, so I bought the necessary flours (organic rye and bread flour) and followed the instructions!  It was supposed to take two weeks to get a usable starter, and things were going swimmingly by day four - my starter was rising and even had the `citrusy` smell it was meant to.  Then on day five I accidentally forgot to halve the starter before I fed it and, though I tried to remedy it, it never rose again and I had to call it a bust.  Really too bad because I was quite excited.  So instead we bought sourdough bread which had been traditionally made without yeast.  It tasted like normal bread!

Soaking the Oats

Another tenant of a traditional diet is sprouting, soaking or sourdoughing your grains.  We love to have oats in the morning, and so were happy to be able to continue doing this if we simply soaked them overnight!  The results were actually extraordinarily delicious! (Recipe below) Somehow the combination of yoghurt, water and oats overnight made a gooey (in a good way) texture to the oatmeal.  And the cinnamon and maple syrup gave it delicious flavour.  Plus it is so easy to prepare in the morning because all you have to do is warm it up!

Chicken for Three Meals

Another thing we really liked about the way Weed 'em and Reap used the traditional diet, was by cooking a whole piece of meat on Monday, and then using it for meals throughout the week.  Following the same principle, we had a roast chicken (organic and free range) on Monday.  On Tuesday I used the leftover meat to make chicken salad, and after that used the bones to make bone broth which we used for Chicken Noodle Soup on Friday!  It was a great use of a whole piece of meat, and it cut the cost/meal of buying higher quality meat.  I used a recipe to make the bone broth in the slow cooker (see below), and it turned out AMAZINGLY delicious - with no fuss.  We're doing it again this week!  I strongly encourage you to try it out.

No Raw Milk

Unfortunately, we had to continue to drink pasturized store-bought milk because in Ontario, it is illegal to sell raw milk.   Guess we'll have to get our own cow!

A Successful Effort!

So as you can see, we really had a good time with this week's healthy eating experiment.  We're sure that there is much we'll carry through out of this series and into our "regular" life from the Traditional way of eating!

Recipes

Soaked Maple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Slow Cooker Bone Broth - you really can use any vegetables.  I didn't have celery, carrots or onions on hand, so I used asparagus ends, kale stems and garlic scapes and it turned out delicious.

BBQ Comfort Meatballs - this is a recipe I've made before and we do love it.  For the sauce I use half ketchup and half bbq sauce, and I don't brown the meatballs before baking them.  This week we used organic ground beef.

Have you tried at all to prepare foods traditionally?  How did it go for you? 

Can There Be Healing Through Traditional & Sustainable Foods? - A Guest Post

Below is an amazing story of how learning to eat naturally, and prepare foods traditionally changed one woman's life.  I was SO excited when DaNelle said she would write a guest post for this series.  Since discovering her blog I have REALLY enjoyed her informative and humurous writing.  She is obviously passionate about living naturally and sharing that passion with others.  Here is a little bit of her story, but her sure to head over to Weed 'Em & Reap so you can read things like The Most Hilarious Goat Birth Ever!

:)

TRADITIONAL & sustainable FOODS HEAL – MODERN & unnatural FOODS KILL
by DaNelle

I knew this was the solution to regain my health. Would I have heartache & trials? Would I struggle? Yes. This life is not perfect & people are not perfect. But our purpose in this life is to learn, to overcome, to grow and progress. And call me crazy, but I believe God did provide a way for us to maintain our health in the best way possible during our time here. He placed an incredible variety of plants AND animals on this earth. And he placed them here for our nourishment. 

What do you think of when I say real food? I think of things like whole milk, butter, cream, farm fresh eggs, warm bread, fresh garden vegetables, whole cuts of meat like steak, lamb chops or bacon & hearty soups make with real homemade broth. If you thought of those same foods too, you are right! Traditional food has nourished people literally for thousands of years, and is something your ancestors would recognize. A typical grocery store carries only 10% real food and most in the produce department. The rest is highly processed and shouldn’t even be considered “food”. I am amazed at what is called “food” in our grocery stores today. Yogurt in a tube, cookies in a tub, protein in a powder, & 100 calorie packs of whatever – what would your great-grandma think?

I dug deeper in my research than I probably have ever done, because I needed to know which foods were good for my body and which were not. I studied history and how our ancestors ate. I studied the scriptures. I also studied life BEFORE the Industrialization of Food, before we all became so confused as to what our bodies really need. I was so so very tired of all the rules thrown at me about food every time I turned on the TV, or read a magazine, or talked to my neighbor, or scrolled Facebook.

I looked at each food group God placed on the earth (meat & seafood, fruits & vegetables, dairy, or grains) and thought:

Is this whole & natural?

Would/could a traditional society (meaning my ancestors) eat it?

Is this the way I believe God intended me to eat it?

Could I produce this myself without any machines?

How much of this could I grow/provide to my family if I couldn't buy it at the store?

I eat all food groups & simply try to obtain the best quality of each one.

TRADITIONAL, REAL FOOD CHANGED MY LIFE! It helped me lose 35 lbs. & helped reversed my chronic disease in the process. 

In a nutshell, eating a traditional diet means you are brave enough to turn away from all the nonsense of food rules thrown at us today and willing to embrace REAL FOOD. In it's whole, unprocessed form. And become NOURISHED.

 DaNelle writes at Weed 'Em & Reap.  She lives on an urban farm with her husband Kevin and two children, and has a great collection of hilarious stories from their life there.  She loves to share real recipes  and information on living a more natural lifestyle.   

I'm sure you'll benefit from reading her blog as I have!

What is "Traditional" Eating? (and our Meal Plan)

Sunday

Father's Day! 

Breakfast burritos with bacon

BLTs (can you tell my husband likes his bacon?)

Chicken Salad Wraps

Monday

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

LEFTOVERS from Sunday dinner.

Shredded Beef Tacos

Tuesday

Fried eggs, raw milk, fruit salad

LEFTOVERS from Monday dinner.

Baked Sweet Potatoes with butter

Wednesday

Yogurt with nuts, cinnamon, maple syrup

LEFTOVERS from Tuesday dinner.

Greek Chicken Pie

Thursday

Quinoa Fritattas

LEFTOVERS from Wednesday dinner.

Grilled Steak - We just purchased our 1/4 of a steer and I am ready for steak!

Friday

Soaked Oatmeal with butter & honey, raw milk

LEFTOVERS from Thursday dinner.

Homemade Pizza - my recipe.

Saturday

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Smoothie

LEFTOVERS from Friday dinner.

Eat out

Snack choices this week:  Oatmeal Cream Cookies - yes we are eating cookies for snacks

Desserts this week: Orange Almond Chocolate Crunch & Homemade Ice Cream

- See more at: http://www.weedemandreap.com/2013/06/weekly-meal-plan-6162013.html#more

Sunday

Father's Day! 

Breakfast burritos with bacon

BLTs (can you tell my husband likes his bacon?)

Chicken Salad Wraps

Monday

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

LEFTOVERS from Sunday dinner.

Shredded Beef Tacos

Tuesday

Fried eggs, raw milk, fruit salad

LEFTOVERS from Monday dinner.

Baked Sweet Potatoes with butter

Wednesday

Yogurt with nuts, cinnamon, maple syrup

LEFTOVERS from Tuesday dinner.

Greek Chicken Pie

Thursday

Quinoa Fritattas

LEFTOVERS from Wednesday dinner.

Grilled Steak - We just purchased our 1/4 of a steer and I am ready for steak!

Friday

Soaked Oatmeal with butter & honey, raw milk

LEFTOVERS from Thursday dinner.

Homemade Pizza - my recipe.

Saturday

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Smoothie

LEFTOVERS from Friday dinner.

Eat out

Snack choices this week:  Oatmeal Cream Cookies - yes we are eating cookies for snacks

Desserts this week: Orange Almond Chocolate Crunch & Homemade Ice Cream

- See more at: http://www.weedemandreap.com/2013/06/weekly-meal-plan-6162013.html#more

Sunday

Father's Day! 

Breakfast burritos with bacon

BLTs (can you tell my husband likes his bacon?)

Chicken Salad Wraps

Monday

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

LEFTOVERS from Sunday dinner.

Shredded Beef Tacos

Tuesday

Fried eggs, raw milk, fruit salad

LEFTOVERS from Monday dinner.

Baked Sweet Potatoes with butter

Wednesday

Yogurt with nuts, cinnamon, maple syrup

LEFTOVERS from Tuesday dinner.

Greek Chicken Pie

Thursday

Quinoa Fritattas

LEFTOVERS from Wednesday dinner.

Grilled Steak - We just purchased our 1/4 of a steer and I am ready for steak!

Friday

Soaked Oatmeal with butter & honey, raw milk

LEFTOVERS from Thursday dinner.

Homemade Pizza - my recipe.

Saturday

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Smoothie

LEFTOVERS from Friday dinner.

Eat out

Snack choices this week:  Oatmeal Cream Cookies - yes we are eating cookies for snacks

Desserts this week: Orange Almond Chocolate Crunch & Homemade Ice Cream

- See more at: http://www.weedemandreap.com/2013/06/weekly-meal-plan-6162013.html#more

We are really excited to be sharing with you about the second diet in our healthy eating series because we really enjoyed our week eating that way!  But you might be wondering at this point - what IS a traditional diet?  Allow me to explain!

What is a "Traditional" Diet?

A traditional diet is much more about HOW you eat instead of WHAT you eat.  I first heard about preparing foods traditionally from the book Nourishing Traditions.  However, it wasn't until I discovered the blog Weed 'em and Reap that I was able to really understand what it entails.  So here are the basics!

How Do You Eat Traditionally?

• Eat REAL food
• Drink raw milk - cow, goat, sheep
• Eat meat in whole form (no boneless skinless chicken breasts!)
• Use drippings to make gravy and bones to make broth
• Sprout or soak grains, beans nuts and seeds before eating or using in recipes.
• Eat organic fruits and vegetable
• Eat wild-caught seafood

Basically you want to reduce any processing and use real food as much as possible, in a way which makes it easiest for your body to get the most nutrients out of it.   In our guest post later this week, Danelle will be sharing some questions which help us asses which foods we should be eating, and which we should be saying "no thanks" to!

Resources:

Why A Traditional Diet is Better Than A Whole Food Diet
How To Create Meal Plans With Real Food
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Nutrition & Physical Degradation by Weston A. Price

Our One-Week Meal Plan

You will see that in the meal plan below, we started with a whole chicken, and it became the basis for three meals that week. 

Monday - Meat Day
Egg Salad on Rye Bread
Avocado & Cream Cheese Sandwiches with Sourdough Bread
Roast Organic Free Range Chicken, Potatoes, and Asparagus

Tuesday - Casserole Day
Soaked Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal
Sandwiches + Leftovers
Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps

Wednesday - In Season Day
Fruit Salad & Fried Eggs
Leftovers
Baked Sweet Potatoes with butter and big CSA salad

Thursday - Seafood Day (we didn't have seafood...)
Soaked Oatmeal
Leftover Salad and Sweet Potato
Ketchup/BBQ Free Range Organic Meatballs with Rice

Friday - Quick and Easy Day
Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie
Leftovers
Out to eat - Homemade Bone Broth Chicken Noodle Soup

Saturday - Soup Day
B - Cora's
L - Cora's Leftovers
D - Pork Tenderloin and Quinoa Salad, Green Beans

Sunday - Pizza Day
B - Soaked Oatmeal
L - Saucy Chicken with Rice and Broccoli and Salad
D -  Leftovers

We will be sharing the recipes for our favourite meals later this week! :)

Our Gluten-Free Experience

As part of our healthy eating series, we will be trying each of the four "diets" for one week each.  Two weeks ago was our first diet and we attempted to eat gluten-free for seven days.

Let me start by saying that there was an added element to this experiment as I had just the week before started feeling really morning sick.  It wasn't as bad as some have it (no throwing up), but I basically felt nauseous all day and just wanted to eat saltine crackers - which in case you didn't know - have gluten in them!   But we decided we would give it a go anyway!

You can check out our meal plan for the week here. 

The thing is that gluten-free has become much more popular in recent years and you can get pretty good substitutes for just about anything.  So we boought gluten-free bread and gluten-free crackers, and used rice pasta instead of wheat pasta.  Andrew was quite impressed with each of these substitutes, having quite low expectations and being pleasantly surprised.  In his own words, he thought rice pasta would be "gross", and actually found it delicious.  The bread he also noted tasted different but was still very good.  My pregnant palate being perhaps a bit more discerning (read: picky), felt that although the bread and rice pasta were indeed good, the crackers just didn't cut it.  I REALLY don't like rice cakes, and so didn't want anything that tasted "ricey".  The crackers we got were yummy, but they tasted oddly of peanut butter although peanuts weren't on the ingredients list.  And they just weren't saltines.  But I ate them, they did the trick, and I was thankful!

One thing we really came away with is a new regard for those who do have to eat gluten-free because of health reasons.  Although there are many substitutes, those people are making a sacrifice for their health or the health of their family, and that is worthy of respect.  I also have a greater appreciation for restaurants which have gluten-free options.  One of our favourite new restaurants is The Works - a burger place with something like 70 different topping combinations!  I remembered that they had a gluten-free bun option and it was wonderful to be able to enjoy a meal out.

That did lead to another learning experience, which is that often there is gluten in items we wouldn't have thought of.  We both happily ordered our burgers with gluten-free buns, and each of us had chosen burgers with onion rings on top.  If you are familiar with gluten, than you know where this is going!  We thoroughly enjoyed our "gluten-free" meal, and it wasn't until the end when I was looking over the menu and noticed in small print at the bottom "All of our toppings are gluten free except the following:....onion rings..."!  We were surprised but of course laughed it off.  However we can see how it would be especially hard to adjust to a gluten-free diet at the beginning, and if one has a very strong gluten sensitivity, it would be likely at some point or another to run into gluten where you weren't expecting it.

As expected, it was more expensive, simply because speciality gluten-free items are more expensive than their gluten counterparts.  However, I imagine this could be slightly counteracted by learning to make your own gluten-free bread, crackers etc.

Overall, we don't feel that eating gluten-free is something which would be beneficial to us as we showed no signs of a gluten sensitivity before, and there seem to be mixed opinions as to whether it is healthy for a person who doesn't have one to be eating gluten-free as the norm.   However, we do have more appreciation for those who do eat gluten-free, and also a better understanding of the impact it can have on ones physical and emotional life as well.

I was hoping to do a whole post on recipes we enjoyed, but as they were mostly recipes I found elsewhere online, I will simply link to them below:

Rice Pasta Linguini with Garlic Sauce

Boerekohl - Except I use sweet potatoes, fresh kale, mild italian sausages and put the sausages in a pot with about 2 inches of water, the potatoes on top, the kale on top of that, put it on medium heat, cover and let cook for 20 minutes or until the sausages are cooked though.  SO easy.

Crunchy Quinoa Salad

Also, though we didn't have it this week, I have had it before and this Tuxedo Cake is AMAZING. 


Anything else you wanted to know about our experience eating gluten-free?

Where we've been all week!

We kick off this really exciting healthy eating series, many of you tell me you're looking forward to it - and then we just disappear for a week - what could cause such a thing to happen?!

A family vacation - that's what!  I had hoped to continue blogging while we were away but board games and water sports filled up my days and we decided it would be best to use that time to focus on our family - and postpone the series for a week.

So we're planning to finish up Gluten-Free Week tomorrow, and then carry on with the rest of the weeks as planned.  I have seen two of the upcoming guest posts and they are REALLY interesting, and we had a really successful time with the diet we tried out last week!

If you've missed some of the past posts you can check them out here.

Otherwise we hope you look forward to seeing what next week has in store! :) 

Thanks for your patience,