Why wait for 2011?

With New Years fast approaching, everyone is trying to sort out their new goals for next year.  Dreams of eating better, exercising more, and taking some much deserved R and R are always big ones, but why are we waiting for a new year? Start your goals now and you’ll have a much better chance of making them lifestyle habits rather than forgotten resolutions.  Prove to yourself that you have the power to achieve your goals no matter what time of the year.  Take it one step at a time towards becoming a better “you”, and remember the SMART goal acronym: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.  You can make it a SMART-R goal by remembering to Relax.  No one expects you to change over night, and neither should you.

I never fully followed up on my allergy diet results.  The conclusion I’ve come to is that my body does not respond too well to unhealthy acidic foods.  Things like dairy and sugar do not make my body happy.  Eating lots of green veggies, fruit, whole grains, lean proteins, and lots of water keeps me feeling optimal.  I savour every bite of a lemon Lara bar, and cold coconut water is way better and definitely more satisfying than any other sports drink (for more than one reason!).

This morning I went a little crazy at Noah’s after my Bikram class, and I picked up a product called Omega Swirl.  It’s an absolutely delicious way to get people to get their essential fatty acids.  I bought the Strawberry Banana Smoothie Flax Oil bottle, but normally I would buy the fish oil version (which I promise does NOT taste like fish oil!).  Fish oil takes fewer steps in the body to digest and absorb than flax oil.  This is a personal preference for me, but if you’re really that worried about the taste, I highly recommend trying the Strawberry Banana flavour.  A 16 ounce bottle is a months’ supply.

Christmas was great at my house.  On Boxing Day I put the extra turkey to use in a delicious gluten free spinach turkey lasagna.  It was a satisfying way to end my day of Ikea shopping and cleaning.

How were your holidays? Anything special from Santa this year? Let me know at abigail@myinnerglow.com

Day 13: Soy, hot yoga, and a recipe!

I started using my 25 sessions of Bikram yoga tonight, and it was awesome! I forgot how much I love the feeling of leaving a hot yoga class.  After pushing your body for 90 minutes, the feeling when you walk out the door and winter doesn’t feel so cold anymore is amazing.  Before I left for class, I tried a Boku Bar.  The brand isn’t so popular here in Canada, but it definitely should be! It was delicious, and gave me the power to get through yoga.  The ingredients are so simple and delicious, I think I may have to order some!

Today I added soy back into my diet, which worked out perfectly since it’s Meatless Monday.  One thing I’ve noticed since adding foods back in is that I actually really like eating allergen-free.  It’s hard to avoid sometimes, and I’m certainly glad I can add things like cocoa and citrus back in, but the benefits I’ve noticed since I started the diet are awesome.  I have more energy, my nails are growing faster, my skin looks pretty clear… I’m a happy girl.

Tonight when I got home from yoga I whipped together this super simple tofu stir fry.  One thing I want to point out, when you’re buying tofu or other soy products, make sure it’s organic.  Close to 95% of Canada’s soy beans are genetically modified, and who wants that in their food?  Soy (organic or not) also contains phytoestrogens, so consuming too much soy can have a slight hormonal effect.  But eaten in moderation (like all things) it’s a good source of vegetarian protein and adapts amazingly to recipes.  Personally, I prefer the fermented version of tofu, called tempeh.  It has probiotics and enzymes that make digestion easier.  But for tonight, I had tofu for the sake of this diet. I haven’t listed the amount of veggies to add in, so go nuts and all the vegetables you want!  I’m sure there are fancier ways of making this meal even more delicious, but I just used what I had. Enjoy!

Super Simple Tofu Stir Fry
Total time (prep to cleaning): 35 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 pack of organic tofu (extra firm, and herbed if you wish)
Sesame oil or coconut oil
Onion
Garlic
Steamed broccoli
Steamed asparagus
Red pepper
1 tsp ginger
Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or tamari sauce
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. In a large frying pan (or wok, if you’re feeling fancy) heat garlic, onion and sesame oil on medium-low
2. Chop broccoli and aspargus into bite sized pieces.  Steam them until they’re soft enough to fork.  You still want them crunchy, so monitor carefully
3. Cut tofu and red pepper into cubes/pieces, and throw them in the pan.  Increase heat
4. Add broccoli and asparagus to the pan, stir in ginger and add Bragg’s or tamari to taste
5. Remove from heat and serve, adding salt and pepper as desired

The Weekend: Sugar, Eggs, Cocoa

Ugh.

That’s how I felt this morning.  This time of year is awful for any kind of diet or detox, and making “exceptions” becomes all to frequent.  Friday I added sugar back into my diet, but it wasn’t until around 10:30 at night that I tried it.  I put a bit of white sugar (I shuddered at the thought of it) in my tea.  I felt fine, but I didn’t have it in a huge amount.  I already know that just 1 teaspoon of sugar can shut down your immune system for several hours after you consume it, so I should keep my consumption to a minimum.  Normally I’ll use stevia or raw honey in my tea instead.

Saturday I added eggs back in.  I was so happy! I made my favourite egg white pancakes for breakfast.  I didn’t notice anything.  Saturday night I had some drinks, and I think the sugar combined with some festive snacking made the mild eczema I have flare up a bit.

Today I added cocoa back in.  I eagerly pulled the slice of Organic Oven gluten-free dark chocolate cake my boss gave me out of my freezer and dove into it.  Which only added more lethargy to my mild hangover, as I climbed into bed for another hour or two of sleep.  I don’t think the cocoa effected me as much as the sugar did, I feel pretty acidic right now.

When I say “acidic”, I’m referring to the body’s pH (potential hydrogen) level being out of whack.  The body is normally in a slightly alkaline state, and foods like red meat, unhealthy oils, sugar, and coffee can put it into a very acidic state.  When the body is in this state, it is ripe feeding ground for disease and sickness.  One of the things I remember very clearly from school is my first teacher saying, “Cancer cannot grow in an alkaline body”.  Coming from someone that had treated a wide range of cancer patients, this statement stuck with me.  Foods like vegetables, green juices, properly filtered water, and fermented foods help to keep it in an alkaline state.

The heavy feeling I have right now is a great reminder to as clean as possible, and limit my drinking!

Questions about the effects of sugar, allergies, or how to keep your body alkaline? Email me at abigail@myinnerglow.com

Day 9: Wheat

I’ve mentioned before that I cut out gluten a year ago, and its benefits were tremendous for me.  So when my allergy diet told me to add wheat back into my diet today, I felt kind of sneaky, “Ha, I can have gluten because my diet TOLD me I could!” Now, for everyone that isn’t aware, gluten is a combination of two proteins found in several types of grass-related grains.  It has a sort of gooey, elastic texture that makes bread, well, doughy.  It’s found predominantly in wheat (all types), but also kamut, farro, triticale, spelt, rye, barley, and sometimes oats.

So what does this leave for grains? It leaves rice, millet, quinoa, amaranth, teff, and kasha/buckwheat.  People with a celiac condition cannot digest gluten, and it causes major digestive issues (usually a doctor will see that your immune system responds by “scalloping” your small intestine).  It effects everyone differently, ranging from symptoms of abdominal pain, diarrhea, irritability, or depression.  For this unfortunate bunch, they have to avoid everything gluten, which is quite a difficult task.  It’s hidden in everything.  But for me, I found that just avoiding the main grain sources helped to sort out my issues pretty quickly.  Within three weeks my skin had cleared up and I didn’t have that heavy feeling after a meal.  It was pretty amazing. Not to mention that the gluten-free chocolate cake I had for my birthday last year was probably one of the tastiest cakes I’ve ever had.

I was kind of stumped as to what I could indulge in today.  I haven’t added sugar back into my diet, and sugar and wheat kind of go together a lot of the time.  I found these flax pita breads at Loblaws that are all natural, no sugar added (only honey), and whole wheat.  I had one at breakfast with some almond butter and sliced banana, and I felt okay.  I think in small, infrequent doses my body can handle wheat and gluten just fine.  Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I felt a little bit itchy on my chest and face throughout the morning.  I was waiting for a wave of digestive issues and acne flare-ups after having my one little pita bread, but nothing happened.

Since I already knew that me and gluten aren’t the best of friends, I didn’t have anything else for the rest of the day.  The hardest time to avoid it is eating out.  I swear, every time they bring out a bread bowl, it’s a personal challenge.  It takes a lot for me to hold back from ripping into one of those warm dinner rolls and dipping it in a nice olive oil.  But you get used to it, I promise.  It gets easier, and it’s just like with dairy, I suggest trying going gluten free.  It started as just an experiment for me a year ago, and it turned into a lifestyle.

One thought I had when I started was what about the all of the bread in the various European diets?  They love their breads over there, so why aren’t there more celiac cases?  Interestingly, the wheat grown on that side of the pond has less gluten than the wheat grown in North America.  If you’ll notice, the French and Italian breads are usually a lot harder, versus the fluffy Wonderbread we have here.  No, bread is not supposed to double as a pillow.  It has traditionally been a very firm product, that when frozen could do some serious damage if used as a weapon (the rice bread in my freezer feels like a brick when I bring out; I’d also recommend separating the slices with wax or parchment paper before they freeze, it’s a huge hassle to pry the pieces apart).

Is all this talk about gluten making you start to wonder if your diet is on the right track?  I’d be happy to help you with a diet consultation.  Shoot me an email at abigail@myinnerglow.com

First day back: Dairy

It’s over!  And here I was thinking I’d be kissing my fridge door, knowing I could begin indulging yet again.  Actually, I didn’t even really want to start adding foods back in.  I feel pretty good, I was getting used to the routine of things.  So here’s how the second half of this diet works: I add one allergy-prone food back in each day for nine days.  There is a specific order to follow: milk, wheat, sugar, eggs, cocoa, soy, corn, citrus, and peanut butter.  I’m supposed to eat the test food repeatedly (preferably on its own) throughout the day and closely observe how I feel throughout the day and the next morning before breakfast.  I’m supposed to consume the food by the teaspoon (or 1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on the item).  So today was milk.  I never really consumed milk before this diet, my downfall is/was cheese (I half blame my parents, they love cheese and bring home the most delicious, random cheeses I’ve seen).  So I started my day with some goats milk yogurt on my oatmeal.  I made a creamy mustard sauce for my fish at dinner, and I ended my evening with a piece of extra old cheddar cheese and a bowl of goats yogurt with cinnamon, almonds, and stevia.  I felt like I had some phlegm in the back of my throat (so cute) initially, and by the end of the day I felt like the little breakout on my forehead was a little more red than the beginning of the day.  Lesson I’ve learned: Dairy doesn’t make me feel amazing.  I’m not lactose intolerant, from what can tell, but it certainly doesn’t keep me feeling my best.  I can live without dairy, it’s just really convenient to be able to have it when I want.  For all those lactose intolerant’s out there: there is nothing wrong with you.  All normal mammals stop producing lactase, the enzyme needed to break down milk main component, lactose, once they’re weened.  Almost every other culture has lost that ability, it is the mass consumption of dairy products in North America that allows us to keep producing it.
Now, most of the nutritionists will probably have their own personal argument about dairy.  Here’s my thing.  It’s not made for humans.  I caught the middle of Pink’s video for Raise Your Glass, and here’s a reverse example of what we’re doing to cows:

That’s pretty effed, if you ask me.  Much like my Meatless Monday post, I could make an entire blog about not eating dairy.  I’ll leave you with a few facts about it instead.

• Today, milk means a substance that has been pasteurized, homogenized, and synthetically enhanced with vitamin A and D.  This is not a natural product.  Aside from this, it’s not the same ratio of protein:fat:carbohydrates as mothers milk.  Cow’s milk has three times more protein and almost four times more calcium [than human milk] – the perfect ratio a calf needs, which when grown, will weigh three or four times as much as a human adult.

• Cow’s milk is high in calcium, yes.  But it is also very high in phosphorus, which combines with calcium in the digestive tract and actually prevents the absorption of calcium. Let’s consider this: cows do not “make” calcium, they get it from the same source that we can, the earth.

• Human milk has almost double the carb count than cow’s milk (9 grams as opposed to 4.9 grams).  This makes milk carbohydrate-“deficient”, and might explain why milk is sweetened in some cases, or why it goes so damn well with cookies.  Basically, having cow’s milk or it’s products provokes a craving for sweets.

• Raw goat’s milk is the next best choice for young children when breast feeding is not possible.  It’s nutrient values are similar to cows milk, but appears to cause fewer allergic reactions.  Yogurt and fermented milks (kefir, buttermilk) are easy to digest and absorb, and fair much better as an occasional treat.

I’ve gotten some people saying to me, “Listen, I can cut out milk, but not cheese”.  I get it, I really do.  But if you’re plagued with common problems such as asthma, allergies, strep throat, tonsillitis, ear infections, pimples, acne, or obesity, try cutting out dairy for a month (including other animal milks).  It’s one month out of the many you’ll have, and it could make all the difference for you.

More questions about dairy, or want some help getting it out of your diet? Send me an email at abigail@myinnerglow.com

Reference: Colbin, Annemarie. Food and Healing. New York: Ballantine, 1996.

Allergy-Free Weekend and Sweet Potato Pancakes!

I was a little worried about the weekend.  Those are my worst days.  But I actually did really well, there was no late night snacking. Sunday was one of the harder days, I went to a buffet brunch.  I made my way past the omelette station, fine, I’ll get over the eggs, but when I saw the chocolate fountain I had to turn around.  Jesus, I have to leave. Still, I persevered and stayed true to my plan.  I’ll be honest though, I messed up twice.  And it was the same mistake!  I had some orange juice at brunch, and a glass on Friday.  Which is odd because I never really drink juice, it just seemed like an awfully refreshing idea.  Juice isn’t really that good for you, besides the vitamin count.  You’re getting all of the sugar without any of the fibre, which spikes your blood sugar.  It’s a bunch of calories without the substance, which can lead to further cravings.  I may put some in a smoothie, or mix some apple juice with my apple cider vinegar in the morning, but that’s really it.

My snack this week has been prunes.  I love prunes, and something I didn’t realize until recently is that prunes are dried plums.  I feel kind of stupid, I think I should’ve known that already lol.  The health benefits are amazing though, very rich in antioxidants.  In a quarter of a cup, prunes have almost 17% of your daily vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), lots of fibre (as much as an apple!), plus potassium (yay heart and bone health) and copper.  The soluble fibre in prunes help to normalize blood sugar levels, leaves you feeling full, and increases insulin sensitivity which is helpful for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.  The insoluble fibre in prunes decreases transit time and provides bulk in elimination, and also provides prebiotics (the food for the good bacteria, probiotics) for the large intestine. I swear, prunes aren’t just for those over 65 (but don’t eat too many in excess… keep it to 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time).  They’re pretty delicious.

If anyone saw my post yesterday, I bought this crazy yoga package – 25 sessions of Bikram yoga only $35! I used to do hot yoga pretty regularly, and I definitely saw the benefits (I may have used lifting my leg over my head as a party trick once or twice… which in hindsight isn’t much of a trick as much as it is a good way to make a bad impression, whatever).  So I’m going to get back into it.

When I decided to go gluten free a year ago, there was one thing that kept me from failing.  Sweet potato pancakes.  I love these things, but when I tried to recreate them without eggs yesterday it wasn’t quite the same (maybe it would have turned out differently if I’d used a proper egg replacement, not just the 1:3 flax to water mixture).

Ingredients
2 cups of diced sweet potatoes
2 eggs
1/4 cup almond butter
1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions
Heat a pan greased with coconut oil over medium heat
In a food processor, blend ingredients together
Make pancakes as usual!
Serve with goat’s yogurt, maple syrup, or fruit

I think I’m going to attempt a mall today… wish me luck!

Healthy, Happy, Allergy-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I felt like a bit of an evil genius this afternoon when I remembered these cookies.  As a recovering caffeine-addict and sweet tooth-beholder, I needed a fix, and fast.  So I turned on the Christmas songs and the oven to 350F degrees and away I went…

Ingredients
5 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1/2 generous cup apple sauce (it was probably closer to 3/4 cup)
3 tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup brown rice flour
1.5 tsp egg substitute (I used 1 tablespoon of ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons of water since I didn’t have any on hand)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2  tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1.5 cups quick-cook oats

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees if you haven’t done that already
2. Grease pan with coconut oil or line with parchment paper
3. Melt coconut oil (I did this by putting the oil in a glass cup, and placing the cup in a pot of water in the stove.  I put the heat on medium-low and let it melt)
4. Mix together the coconut oil, apple sauce, honey, vanilla and water thoroughly with a wooden spoon
5. Add in the dry ingredients (this includes the egg substitute)
6. Stir in the oats and raisins (I imagine this recipe would also be amazing with organic chocolate chips… and maybe some cocoa… Did I mention I’m also a choco-holic?)
7. Drop onto the pan by the generous teaspoon
8. Bake for 15ish minutes and allow to cool (or eat them off the pan, like I did)

More reasons to love these cookies:

• Oats help lower cholesterol and blood pressure
• Cinnamon lowers blood sugar and helps control cravings
• Coconut oil helps to weight loss by being burned for fuel instead of stored as fat, and helps increase immunity, lower cholesterol, and prevent the growth of candida (bad bacteria that feeds off of sugar)
• Honey is full of vitamins and minerals, amino acids and antioxidants
• Flax seed is super high in omega-3 and fibre
• These cookies are free of wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, and gluten!

Here are some super high-quality Blackberry pics of them:

Now get baking! Happy Friday everyone

The “Allowed” List – yes, it exists

So what CAN I eat on this diet?

Before you assume that I’m living on water and supplements, I actually have quite a good list of “allowed” foods.  I can have…

• Rice and rice cereals
• Oats and oatmeal
• Barley
• Any fresh fruit (except citrus)
• Canned fruit (if in their own juice and without artificial colour, sugar, or preservatives)
• Most fresh vegetables except forbidden vegetables
• Homemade french fries
• Potatoes
• Chicken or turkey (non-basted)
• Louis Rich ground turkey (I think this is a brand of turkey)
• Veal or beef
• Pork
• Lamb
• Fish, tuna
• Water
• Single herb or other plain tea with honey
• Pure grape juice, bottled
• Pure frozen apple juice
• Pure pineapple juice
• Potato chips (no additives)
• Ry-Krisp crackers and pure honey
• Raisins (unsulfured, from health food store)
• Pure honey
• Homemade vinegar and oil dressing
• Sea salt
• Pepper
• Homemade soup

I don’t eat some of these things, like pork, frozen juice, and canned fruit.  The point of this diet is to assess allergies to milk and dairy products, wheat, eggs, corn, sugar, chocolate, peas (includes peanuts), citrus, soy, food additives, and preservatives.  If this sounds like the majority of your diet, and you’re wondering why you have bad skin, or always feel sick/bloated/overweight/emotional/any other unpleasant state, maybe you should consider trying this diet.  My diet has been so clean today, I feel so good about myself.  For me, this diet was also to help kick my caffeine habit.

Today’s tip: Plan your meals! It’s so much easier to eat clean when you’ve planned out what you’re going to eat.  It leaves less room for picking and snacking (I’m not sure if this is considered cheating, but I snacked on some Live Garden Vegetable chips today, and they had lemon in them.  Whoops…).  I took a trip to the Big Carrot last night and stocked up on lots of fresh veggies.  I made kale chips when I got home, and I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it, but I ate an entire head of kale, they were THAT good!  Here’s how I did it:

Ingredients
1/2 to 1 head of kale
1/2 red pepper, seeded
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Turn oven on to 300F degrees
2. Blend red pepper, nutritional yeast, and salt together until smooth
3. Wash kale and cut off hard stems at the bottom.  Place in a large bowl
4. Pour red pepper coating on top, mix until the kale is evenly coated
5. Place on a baking sheet and bake 20ish minutes.  Flip the kale and bake for another 20ish minutes.  Watch it carefully!
6. Remove from oven and let it sit for a minute before completely devouring

Just so I cover my bases, some of my recipes are inspired from other bloggers.  Often times I’ll take what they’ve posted as a guideline.  My kale chips were inspired by Love Veggies and Yoga.

So what do you guys think? Am I still crazy for trying this diet? Do you think you could do it? Feedback!!

Abby

Breakfast Quinoa

As per request, here’s a very simple breakfast that’s gluten-free, delicious, high in protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals!
Ingredients

1/2 cup dry quinoa
1/2 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 banana, mashed (or whatever fruit you want!)
1/4 cup of raisins (unsulfured)
1/4 cup of chopped almonds
1 tsp of cinnamon
Optional: 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey

Directions:
1) Boil quinoa, almond milk and water together.  Reduce heat and cover until liquid is absorbed.
2) Mix in the rest of the ingredients and drizzle maple syrup on top

Tip: Eat slowly! It’s so easy to devour this meal, and on more than one occasion I have felt soooo bloated afterwards.  Enjoy!

Allergy-Free Eating: Day 1 in Review

Starting my day I wasn’t too worried.  I’d gotten seven and a half hours of sleep, and I was feeling okay (okay for someone that normally depends on caffeine to REALLY feel awake, that is).  I made a bowl of quinoa for breakfast, and stopped myself before throwing in some raisins.  I realized that they weren’t from the health food store, and likely had sulfur in them.  Not a big deal though, I survived without them. Mid-morning snacks were herbal tea, an apple and a handful of walnuts.  Lunch I kind of screwed up a bit.  I made a brown rice pasta-tuna dish, which is fine according to my diet plan, but I looked a little more carefully at the tuna label after making it and saw that the tuna I’d used had corn starch and sugar in it.  I didn’t have time to make anything else, so I sighed and threw it in my bag.  The rest of the day went well, I had a hemp protein shake mid-day and chicken with broccoli for dinner.  Not the most exciting meal, but it did the trick.  My energy was low during the day, but I got through without caffeine!

Big lesson of the day: Remember to read labels more carefully!  Be aware of what kinds of foods you are purchasing, and know that organic does make a difference.  I’ve forgotten that a little bit recently.  The scary part about avoiding things like preservatives and chemical additives is that if the government has done “sufficient” testing and sees that in low doses the chemical does not immediately or visibly effect the body, the label does not have to list it.  It doesn’t seem fair to me, as a consumer, especially if I DO have an allergy.  This generation is kind of a big science experiment for things like colouring, preservatives, hormones, and genetically modified foods.  We don’t know the long term effect of these things.  Be aware everyone!