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Gluten-Free Cooking for the Lazy: My Tips

Amber on November 29, 2011 3 Comments

I do not consider myself a foodie or a gourmet. I like to eat food, I like to cook food, but the reality is that I’m not that creative. I follow basic recipes, I prepare mostly simple meals, and I eat the same foods often. In fact, in university, my roommates often commented on just how much pasta I ate. I would make a big batch and then have the leftovers for days. It saved me from having to cook as much, and the repetition didn’t bother me at all. Plus, pasta is yummy.

When my husband Jon went gluten-free to help his irritable bowel syndrome (it worked) and I followed after discovering that I feel better when I don’t eat gluten, it challenged my cooking habits. If I couldn’t eat pasta, bread or baked goods, how would I survive? There was a whole lot of melodrama for about 15 minutes, before I discovered that eating gluten-free really isn’t all that hard. Here are my tips for lazy gluten-free cooking.

Tips for Gluten-Free Cooking

Stick to basics you already eat. Corn, rice and potatoes are all gluten-free. So is oatmeal, if you buy the right kind. Meat, dairy, beans, veggies and fruit are gluten-free, as well. This means you can eat mashed potatoes, nachos, steak, scrambled eggs, homemade granola and a whole lot of Asian cuisine. Eating foods that are naturally gluten-free is cheaper, and most of the time it’s more satisfying, because it doesn’t feel as if it’s missing anything.
Keep quick meals and snacks on hand. I am currently buying a lot of hummus, cheese and tortilla chips. I also always have rice cakes and peanut butter on hand for a quick and easy snack. If you’re changing your diet in a big way, make it easy on yourself. You don’t want to have to spend a long time preparing every bite you put in your mouth – sometimes you just want a quick fix.
Most baked goods are fine without gluten. I mix up an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend using Gluten Free Girl’s instructions. This works for most of the foods I make – chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, pancakes, waffles and pizza dough. I do use xantham or guar gum in most baking, because I find that it makes the finished product less crumbly, but otherwise I substitute my flour blend for regular flour and most people don’t even notice the difference.
Accept gluten-free bread for what it is. Yeast breads are the one thing that really can’t be replicated without gluten. Gluten-free bread is expensive, small, and disappointing at first. If you’re expecting regular bread, well, it’s just not regular bread. I avoided it altogether for the first two months. Now I’ve gone long enough without regular bread that I’ll eat it in a grilled cheese sandwich or something similar and I enjoy it, because I’m not expecting it to be something it isn’t.
Choose your pasta wisely. I’ve had good luck with corn pasta, and Tinkyada rice pasta. Other rice pastas I’ve tried were really mushy on the outside and hard and chewy on the inside. Look for recommendations, follow the directions exactly, and choose recipes with flavourful sauces. This pasta doesn’t stand on its own in the same way that wheat pasta does, so consider it a vehicle for other flavours. My gluten-free lasagna was great, though, thanks for asking.
Surf gluten-free recipes. I’m one of those people who bookmarks recipes I plan to cook someday, even though I know that someday rarely comes. By searching out gluten-free recipes I’m reinforcing that there are lots of things that I really can still eat, and picking up useful tips. Plus, really, who wouldn’t love homemade oreos? There’s so much great food that doesn’t need gluten – explore it!
Don’t go overboard buying gluten-free food. On my first post-wheat shopping trip I wanted to put every single gluten-free item in my cart. Cookies, crackers, pasta, bagels, waffles, donuts, you name it. Never mind that I hadn’t eat a regular bagel in years, I was going to buy the gluten-free kind. I also bought at least a half-dozen different kinds of gluten-free flour. This is expensive (those bagels were something like $6 for a four pack), and you’ll end up with a bunch of stuff you won’t finish. It’s exciting to find food you can actually eat when you give up wheat, but don’t let it go to your head.
Find some gluten-free restaurant options. Sometimes you just want to order pizza, or pick up some takeout. Being gluten-free limits your options. So do a little legwork, and find a few local restaurants that will work. Indian and Thai food is often gluten-free. So is most sushi, provided that you use gluten-free soy sauce. Also, lots of pizza places offer a gluten-free version now. If you track them down, you’ll be able to take a night off from cooking now and then when you’re just not up to it.

It can take a little while to get used to the idea that your diet has changed. I think it’s important to allow yourself the space to mourn a little, while keeping in mind what you’re doing and why. After not too long you’ll adjust to your new reality, and you won’t feel as if you’re missing anything. After all, there’s still far more food that you can eat, than food that you can’t eat.

Have you ever given up gluten – or dairy or meat or some other staple food? How did you cope with the change? I’d love to hear your tips, too!

Tagged With: Food, Gluten-Free, Navel Gazing

Guest Post: Eileen Valazza Shares her Plant-Based Diet

Guest on November 22, 2011 1 Comment

I first came across Eileen Valazza a couple of years ago, and it was love at first blog post. She has an uncanny knack for expressing just what I’m thinking, only way more eloquently. When she offered to write a guest post, I jumped at it. She’ll be discussing her decision to adopt a plant-based – or vegan – diet. While I’m not vegan, I did recently go gluten-free, so I was very interested to hear more about what drove her decisions around diet. Here’s what she had to say.

If you had told me at the beginning of 2011 that I was going to become vegan by the end of the year, I would have laughed outright. While eating cheese. And bacon. And is there such a thing as bacon-wrapped cheese? Yes, I would have liked me some of that.

There I was, with a newborn that couldn’t breastfeed without a lot of interventions, and not exclusively. He had a tongue tie, and I spent all-told five months feeding him through a supplemental nursing system. (If you know what that is, then you know that five months of using an SNS at every feeding is a freaking long time. If you don’t know what that is, then just imagine a tube attached to…well actually, don’t imagine that. Let’s just say it was not fun.)

I was heartbroken that I couldn’t breastfeed as easily as other mothers seemed to be able to. And I was totally stressed out, since feeding my baby took hours and hours of the day. My husband and I ate pepperoni pizza almost every night for dinner because we were too tired to cook anything else.

Eileen Valazza vegan plant-based diet Seattle Halloween

This year it was pretty easy to prevent Z from going on a candy binge, the whole not-walking-yet thing definitely worked in my favor!

A blip.

One day during this hazy “underwater time” (as I call my son’s first six months) I downloaded Crazy Sexy Diet on my kindle while I was breastfeeding. And…I couldn’t finish it. Because she had just too much energy. I was like, OMG calm down you are making me tired with all this talk about juicing! and health! and energy! and, and…I can barely get my clothes on in the morning.

It was so overwhelming. So far from where we were. And yet I heard truth in there somewhere, and I was inspired in spite of myself.

Surfacing.

A couple months later, around the time my son was starting to eat solid foods, I finally finished the book. And I wanted more of that energy. So back to the kindle I went, and this time I got even more scientific. I wanted to answer the question how should our family eat?

The China Study, The Kind Diet, The New Food Revolution, Disease-Proof Your Child…I read all of these in the palm of my hand, as I sat feeding my baby. All of them pointed me toward a whole foods diet with little or no animal products.

Eileen Valazza vegan plant-based diet juice

The whole family about to get a massive hit of micronutrients!

Is a vegan diet absolutely the healthiest there is? No, since it’s possible to be vegan and still eat a diet low in nutrients. [Amber: After all, potato chips are vegan - and gluten-free, to boot.] Is it possible to be super-healthy while still occasionally eating meat? Yes, absolutely. But for myself, when I combined the health considerations with my values in regards to animals and the environment, I decided to strive for vegan.

Which was all well and good, but I needed to know…

OMG what do I eeeeat!?

I didn’t want some ridiculously restrictive 21-day meal plan full of foods I had never heard of. I knew I wouldn’t like nine-tenths of the stuff on there, and I wasn’t going to make the transformation that quickly anyway.

I knew I had to do this my way. But what was “my way”?

It certainly didn’t involve a detox (shudder) or willpower or anything like that. Been there, done that, went back to eating pizza.

Eileen Valazza vegan plant-based diet baby eating avocado

Plant-based baby.

Here are a few things that helped me:

Taking it slow.
I tried to take a long view of the whole thing. If I was going to feed our family healthy food for our entire lives, then I couldn’t get burned out in the first month, or even the first year. Conserving my energy and enthusiasm was vital.

Denying denial!
I adopted a policy of never denying myself. If I wanted something, I ate it. I might try to reflect on why I wanted it in that moment (was I stressed out? no healthy food in the kitchen? could I replace that treat with a healthier, vegan version?) but only afterward.

A spirit of exploration!
Becoming vegan meant altering a lot of recipes I loved, and also experimenting with all sorts of new foods. The bulk food section at Whole Foods was my friend. Beans and grains are so cheap! I could buy a little bit, and explore new things without too much of a commitment.

Not telling anyone.
I’m not a major pronouncements kind of person anyway, but even more so when it comes to talking about diet. If I was going to be in a situation where it was relevant, I would hedge by saying “I’m trying not to eat cheese” or something like that. Even mentioning I was eating vegan often meant people would try to defend their food choices to me, or to challenge my decision. All of which was awkward and made me cringe.

These days, I’m more comfortable talking about my values and why we eat the way we do, but I just opted out of those conversations at the beginning of my journey.

Eileen Valazza vegan plant-based diet kitchen shelving

I admit, my pretty shelves are no small part of why I love the plant-based lifestyle.

Okay, so really, what DO we eat?

Today, as my son approaches his first birthday we’re eating an all whole foods plant-based diet. It includes fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. No animal products, and very little refined foods.

That translates to lots of green smoothies, juice, salads, nut butter sandwiches, and main dishes like bean burritos, veggie burgers, lentil tacos, and all sorts of other things I’m still exploring! Surprisingly, cutting out whole categories of food has broadened my repertoire among the types of food that we do eat.

And, miraculously, we have kept up the breastfeeding. Now that my son eats more solid whole foods, he no longer needs supplementing. From “failure to thrive” at the worst of our breastfeeding struggles, to the 50th percentile for weight. Woo hoo! (That’s my favorite part of our story.)

Thanks Amber for inviting me to your online home!

If you or any of your readers have any questions about a plant-based diet, do let me know in comments. And if any of your readers live in Seattle and are interested in connecting with other parents exploring a plant-based diet, they might like to join Plant-based Parents, a group I’m starting on Facebook for information-sharing and support.

Eileen Valazza is a life coach and mama. After reading every book she possibly could about nutrition, she went on to receive a certification in plant-based nutrition from eCornell. She now helps people make peace with what they eat, starting with love and compassion for themselves. You can also find her on Twitter where she’s @evalazza.

Tagged With: Food, Guest Posts, Parenting

Give us this Day

Amber on October 17, 2011 17 Comments

Give us this day our daily bread…

Last month I wrote about my husband Jon’s decision to try a gluten-free diet. At the time, I wrote, “I donâ€™t personally believe that gluten is bad for everyone. Most of us can eat it without consequences.” I would have agreed with Michael Pollan’s take, published a couple of weeks ago in the New York Times Magazine. When asked what he thought of gluten-free diets, he answered, in part, “Could it really be that bread, a staple of Western civilization for 6,000 years, is suddenly making millions of us sick? I’m dubious.” It just seemed far-fetched to me that a food that so many of us consume on a daily basis was evil.

In contrast to my husband, who has always had what he calls a bad gut, I’ve always had a stomach of iron. Other than morning sickness related to pregnancy, and the occasional case of the flu, I can eat pretty much whatever I want without consequences. As Jon gave up bread, and I started preparing gluten-free food for him, I gleefully noshed on full-octane pizza dough and took my daughter out for burgers. But then I had a strange experience, pretty much from out of the blue.

After not consuming gluten for about three days because I was eating with my husband, I met a friend for coffee and ate a cookie. In fact, it was one of the homemade oreos I immortalized in my post about working from a local cafÃ©. It was good – every bit as good as I remembered. But within an hour or so of eating it I felt bad. I felt bloated and a little nauseous and just generally not good, and the next day I had a mild digestive upset. It wasn’t anything major, but it surprised me, because of me belief that I can eat anything.

Since we were already mostly gluten-free at home, I decided to try going gluten-free for a few weeks myself, and then I bought a lovely loaf of locally-made organic sourdough bread. I thought maybe the cookie reaction was a one-off, or it was caused by all that sugar and fat, so I needed another data point. I am engineer, after all. Bread in hand, I sat down to a lunch of soup and half a loaf of sourdough. And man, did that bread taste good, all covered in butter. I ate it with relish. And then, about an hour later, I felt crappy.

I honestly don’t know what I’m reacting to – whether it’s actually gluten, or wheat specifically, or white flour, or what. I’m also fairly certain that if I started eating it again that I would stop noticing that crappy feeling within a couple of days. But I’ve noticed some positive side effects since I’ve gone off gluten, which make me inclined to stay off of it. For one thing, like Jon my sinuses are clearer now than they were. For another, my skin is also noticeably clearer. I don’t have Celiac disease, and my reaction to gluten is hardly life-threatening, but I also don’t think it’s all in my head, especially because I was never expecting this.

For the time being, the kids are still eating gluten. I’ve toyed with the idea of clearing it out of their diets to see what happens, but the truth is that I’m just not ready to make this kind of decision on their behalf. They’re not displaying any obvious signs of distress on their current diet, and asking them to give up wheat would be a big deal.

For instance, Hannah went to a birthday party just this past weekend and ate vast quantities of pizza and cake. If I were clearing gluten out of her diet I would have to provide alternative food for her to eat. And sometimes she would find herself in the position of having to abstain from having a treat the rest of her class got to enjoy, if I didn’t happen to get a heads-up that a mom was bringing in birthday cupcakes. It would be inconvenient for me, yes, but more to the point it would be a big sacrifice for a six-year-old to make. If she had serious allergies we would do it in a heartbeat, but she doesn’t, so imposing dietary restrictions feels extreme.

I honestly don’t know how long I’ll remain gluten-free. Right now it’s working for me, and I’m mostly okay with it, although I do have my moments. I can bake gluten-free cookies and gluten-free cake and gluten-free banana bread and they’re all great, but gluten-free bread is never the same as actual bread. And when I bought two boxes of Girl Guide cookies out of habit and then realized I couldn’t eat them, I may have cried a little. But I’m committed, and I’m an adult, so I’m sticking with it for now, even though those Girl Guide cookies do look awfully good.

Have you ever given up gluten, dairy, sugar, meat or something similar? What was it like? And what would it take for you to try eliminating gluten from your own diet? I’d love to hear!

Tagged With: Food, Gluten-Free, Navel Gazing, Parenting

All of our Eggs in One Basket

Amber on October 16, 2011 2 Comments

Today is Sunday, but I’m putting on my blogging hat because it also happens to be Blog Action Day. More than 1500 bloggers in 80 countries around the world are joining forces to talk about food. Today is World Food Day, so it’s the perfect opportunity to raise awareness around a very important issue. And make no mistake – it is important. According to the ONE Campaign, 13.3 million people in the Horn of Africa are in crisis right now. Drought, high food prices and conflict have conspired to put their access to food in jeopardy. And they’re not alone – around the world 925 million people are hungry.

I’m a mom. I can’t imagine not being able to buy food for my children. I bet you can’t imagine it, either.

Food security is a serious, global concern. The ability to access food is critical, and not just for people in developing nations. Even those of us who normally live in relative comfort can find our food supply in jeopardy in the event of natural disaster. Climate change also poses a threat, with rising sea levels and changing conditions that may lead to flooding, drought or both, depending on where you live.

The problem is exacerbated because we have come to depend on a very limited number of food species for our basic sustenance. Corn is one of the biggest staple crops – we feed it to our livestock, we eat vast quantities of it ourselves in processed foods, and we even use it as fuel. The average American consumes 1500 pounds a year – and most of it doesn’t feed us directly. In fact, the majority is used to feed animals that we eat later on. If our corn went, we’d be hard-pressed to feed ourselves. When we are so dependent on a single crop, we’re putting our food security at risk.

We’re not just dependent on a single crop, though – in many cases, we’re dependent on a single company. Monsanto plays a dominant role in the global seed industry. It controls more than 40% of the global market on corn, and in North America it’s much higher. Last year DuPont – no small player themselves – urged the US government to rein in Monsanto, which it said was engaging in anti-competitive practices. DuPont estimated that Monsanto had 98% of the US soybean market, and 79% of the US corn market, which are two of the most dominant food crops. Monsanto, for their part, claimed they had only 36% and 29%, respectively. That’s clearly not true, though, based on what I heard from one of their own reps.

Recently I was listening to the radio in the car, and I heard Trish Jordan, Director of Public and Industry Affairs for Monsanto Canada, addressing the issue of Roundup-resistant weeds. Monsanto owns the patent both for the weed-killer Roundup, and the genetically-modified food seeds that can withstand being sprayed by the chemical. They sell farmers their seeds and their weed killer, and make money both ways. The problem is that some weeds are now displaying the same trait – they can survive being sprayed by Roundup. You can listen to the whole story yourself. If you want to fast forward to the part that made my jaw drop, skip to the 20:10 mark in the interview. Ms. Jordan states that Monsanto is not as dominant in Canada as in the US. In Ontario Roundup-ready soybeans account for 70-75% of the market, while in the US it’s about 95%.

No matter how you slice it, we’re putting a lot of our eggs in Monsanto’s basket. Even if we truly believe that they are a benevolent company (and many people do not view Monsanto as benevolent), we are counting on a private company, which is not directly accountable to citizens, to ensure that our food supply is secure. While I am aware that I am very well-fed compared to much of the world’s population, I would rather not entrust the continent’s food security to any single entity – particularly one that I did not have a hand in choosing.

So, what do we do? The answer is the same, whether we’re talking about the developed or developing world: invest in small-scale sustainable agriculture. The World Bank believes growth in agriculture is twice as effective at reducing poverty as other sectors. When people grow food, they bring food security to themselves and their region. We need good policies to make this happen internationally, and we need governmental and non-governmental organizations to work together to help farmers. At home, we need to vote with our food dollars. Buy local produce from your farmers’ market. Read ingredient lists, and choose whole, unprocessed foods whenever possible. Avoid factory farms and genetically-modified seeds by buying organic. And let your elected representatives know how you feel.

By informing yourself about food politics and food issues, and making your voice heard, you can ensure that everyone has food security. That’s something worth going out of your way for.

Tagged With: Bloggy McBloggerson, Enviro-Mama, Food

Talking TCM and Changing Your Lifestyle with Allie Chee

Amber on October 7, 2011 4 Comments

I connected with Allie Chee – also known as Texanese Mama – on Twitter. That’s not particularly noteworthy, because I probably connect with more people using Twitter than by any other means. But then she sent me a message, I checked out her blog and we started emailing back and forth a little, and I could see that she had a really interesting story to share. Now that I’m all about collecting people’s stories, I asked to interview her, and she agreed.

Allie grew up in Texas, and her lifestyle was very typical for an American child in the 1970s. But a course of events exposed her to some different ideas, and she slowly started to change her lifestyle. She eventually overhauled her entire lifestyle, from what she ate, what she did, what her home looked like and the words she chose, in accordance with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurvedic precepts.

When Allie was expecting her first child in her early 40s, she held strong to her new lifestyle, and approach to health and nutrition. It led her to choose to give birth at home, attended by a midwife. She shared that story in a guest post here last week, called Swimming in the Bliss of Natural Birth. While Allie acknowledges that home birth is not for everyone – and indeed, I did not choose it for myself for a variety of reasons – I found her story compelling, and admired the way that stuck to her guns and advocated for herself and her birth.

During our interview Allie shared the story of her journey into Traditional Chinese Medicine, and talked about how that informs her daily life. I asked her whether she thought that making dramatic, wholesale changes to your lifestyle is realistic for most people, and we discussed her experiences as a first-time mom at age 42. It was really interesting to listen to what she had to say, and I learned a little bit about an entirely new worldview through our conversation. You can hear it for yourself here:

Interview with TCM Nutritionist Allie Chee [ 32:08 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Next week, I’ll be sharing an interview with another mom – my local city councilor, mother of two and one-time surrogate Selina Robinson. While Allie and Selina have very different stories, they both bucked convention to do what they knew was right. If you’ve ever been curious about what it’s like to serve as a surrogate, or you have your own designs on local politics, you’ll want to hear what Selina has to say. Subscribe to the Strocel.com Podcast in iTunes, and you won’t miss a thing!

Tagged With: Childbirth, Crafting my Life, Food, Interview, Podcast

Going Gluten-Free

Amber on September 13, 2011 20 Comments

My husband Jon has always had what he calls a bad gut. His mother says that his digestive issues started at around age three, and he’s been plagued by them ever since. There have been times when Jon’s digestive issues were milder or more severe. Sometimes there were obvious triggers that set off a particularly rough patch – like undertaking massive renovations to our house, and all of the associated expense, work and stress. But through all the ups and downs, he’s always had a touchy stomach.

IBS Diagnosis

Over the course of his life, Jon has undergone a whole lot of diagnostic tests and seen a whole lot of specialists. He’s seen family doctors, gastroenterologists, allergists, dietitians, psychologists and alternative health care providers. He’s taken various medications, exercised, worked on his mental health, kept food journals, read books and adhered to special diets. Some of it seemed to help for a time, but none of it really solved his problem.

Since no obvious cause could be found for Jon’s stomach issues, he was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS. As I understand it, this diagnosis means that you regularly suffer from lower abdominal pain associated with diarrhea or constipation, but that no physical cause can be found. People with IBS are often told that it’s “all in their head” – or at least made to feel that’s the case – because nobody can identify a clear reason for their digestive issues.

Suspecting Celiac Disease

At one point about eight years ago I read about Celiac Disease, and recognized some of the symptoms from my daily life with my husband. Jon went for a blood test, and his test can back negative, which was both a relief and a disappointment. It was a relief because I was concerned that removing gluten from our diet would be hard, and a disappointment because it would have provided both an explanation and a solution. At no point, though, did we actually try eliminating gluten.

The past few months have been hard on Jon, for a number of reasons, so his IBS has flared up. We were out of ideas for what to do about it, though. And then about a month ago I was on a playdate and my friend Roxanna made an offhand comment about how diet can affect us. I was in the middle of my two weeks sugar-free at the time, so I was going through a dietary experiment of my own. This meant that I was in a place where I could see that eliminating certain foods may be difficult, but it’s also totally do-able if you’re motivated enough. I thought maybe it would be worth experimenting with some dietary changes to see if it helped Jon’s IBS symptoms.

Going Gluten-Free

I did some reading, and found some more information on gluten sensitivity, and proposed to Jon that he try going gluten-free. While he did have a negative blood test, there is increasing evidence that some people are sensitive to gluten, even if they don’t have a Celiac diagnosis. So he committed to going gluten-free for two weeks to see what effect it would have, and I (mostly) joined him.

We are now past the two week mark and it has made a definite difference for Jon. His digestive issues have significantly improved. He’s even noticed that his sinuses cleared up. For my part, I’ve found gluten-free cooking is far easier than I anticipated. Since potatoes, corn and rice are all gluten-free, dinner is really quite easy. My first experiments in gluten-free baking – chocolate chip cookies and brownies – worked out beautifully. My kids can’t get enough of them, and I’m honestly not sure you could tell the difference if you didn’t know. That’s all positive.

Of course, there are some sacrifices in going gluten-free. There are fewer convenience foods that Jon can eat, and we can’t just call up and order pizza or run through a drive-through. Gluten-free baked goods and baking supplies are more expensive and harder to find. But really, we can do this.

Hoping for Continued Improvement

Going off gluten hasn’t completely solved all of Jon’s problems, but we’re still the relatively early days. Many people report that it takes weeks or months for all symptoms of gluten sensitivity to clear. Perhaps a month or two from now we’ll be saying that it really is a miracle cure. All that I know for sure is that right now, for Jon, the slight inconvenience of going gluten-free is outweighed by the noticeable improvement in how he feels. He doesn’t need a diagnosis, he has personal evidence.

The kids and I still eat gluten, mostly because of the cost of gluten-free. By reserving the really expensive bread for the person who needs it, we can reduce the expense. Plus, I don’t personally believe that gluten is bad for everyone. Most of us can eat it without consequences. But for those who can’t, I think it’s really unfortunate that they can go decades without realizing that it’s causing them so many problems. Hopefully, as the research advances and more people go gluten-free, we’ll have the tools and the awareness to pinpoint gluten sensitivity earlier, so that people don’t suffer unnecessarily for so long.

Now, I’d love to hear from you. I’m still in the early days of gluten-free cooking and shopping, so if you have any tips on how to make it work, I’d love to hear from you! I’m also curious as to whether or not you would ever try giving up gluten. What would it take for you to pass up the French bread and opt for the rice crackers instead?

Tagged With: Food, Gluten-Free

Sugar-Free Update

Amber on August 30, 2011 8 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I filled you in on my sugar-free experiment. Basically, the upshot is that following my son’s third birthday I consumed vast quantities of cake. So much cake, in fact, that I no longer felt good. I recognized that this over-consumption of sweets was something that I did often, and it wasn’t working for me. So I decided to give up refined sugar for two weeks to see what effect it would have on me.

My definition of “sugar-free” meant not adding sugar to my food, and not consuming sweets. I still ate lots of fruit. I even ate dried fruit, like raisins and dates. I chose not to worry about small quantities of sugar in processed foods, like bread and salsa, and instead focused on my big sources of sugar – candy, ice cream and baked goods. The point of the experiment wasn’t to deprive myself or to make my life difficult, it was just to see if I felt any different when I wasn’t constantly eating sugar.

I did last two weeks without consuming sugar. I wouldn’t say that I felt amazing, or noticed any obvious benefits. I didn’t lose weight, I didn’t sleep better at night and I did not become a more patient mother. However, there were some upsides. The first is that after a few days I lost most of my sugar cravings. I could eat apricots for dessert while the people around me were eating cake, and I was able to enjoy the fruit without feeling as if I was missing out. The second is that I discovered that many of the things that I add sugar or honey to, like tea, oatmeal and my chocolate coconut snacks, are really just fine without added sweeteners.

Probably the biggest benefit, though, was that I had to get creative with my snacking. Normally, when I feel the nibblies coming on I grab a handful (or five) of chocolate chips or I eat a few cookies. I couldn’t do that. Instead I started eating fruit, or (of all things) green beans from my CSA share when I needed something to nibble on. In fact, even after the experiment is over green beans remain my snack food of choice. I feel like I’m eating better, even if I don’t feel noticeably healthier.

Going sugar-free wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. One hot afternoon while out on a walk I nearly wept when I thought about how good a frozen treat would taste right at that moment. Also, in addition to snacking on fruit and veggies, I also started eating lots and lots of salt and vinegar potato chips in place of sugary snacks. And finally, my big cheat was my gummy vitamins, which I continued to eat because they are vitamins. But I still only had two every day, as directed on the package, so I doubt that I got that much sugar from them.

My two weeks ended on Sunday, and I did have some sugar in celebration. I sampled the blueberry sorbet and blueberry pie I made, and they tasted good. After eating them I felt jittery. And then I developed a low-grade headache and got really crabby with my kids. I decided that sugar was the culprit, and that I just hadn’t noticed the lack of crabbiness until it returned. But then I got my period about 20 minutes later, so likely that was the source of the headache and the hormonal mood swings. I’m totally pinning the jittery feeling on the sugar, though.

Since then, I haven’t felt compelled to consume many sweets. I bought myself some good bittersweet chocolate, which I’m doling out to myself one small piece at a time. I will likely eat some ice cream from time to time, and have at least one more piece of pie. But I am finding that I am satisfied with less, and that I don’t feel the same kind of continual drive for sweet foods that I was feeling. So I’m calling the experiment a success, even if it didn’t change my life.

Would you consider giving up sugar for a short period to see what effect it had on you? Or have you done it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Tagged With: Enviro-Mama, Food, Navel Gazing

Enjoying the Harvest

Amber on August 29, 2011 11 Comments

Yesterday I went on a food preservation bender. It’s blackberry season! It’s blueberry season! The first corn is ripe! Since yesterday was farmers’ market day in my suburban enclave, and since I went on a berry-picking frenzy on Friday, my pantry was stocked. It was time to put some away for the winter – or even just enjoy it now by adding sugar and baking it in pastry. So, while at home alone with two children on a Sunday afternoon, I took to my kitchen.

I made blackberry jam.

I blanched and froze corn.

I made blueberry sorbet.

I baked blueberry pie.

Hannah was “the little chef”. She wore an apron. She took her job very seriously. Jacob licked the spoon. He did not wear an apron. He took his job very seriously, and his clothes have the stains to prove it. I sampled my first refined sugar in two weeks. I will write more about that tomorrow.

Today, though, I will rest. I think it has been well-earned.

Have you done any canning, freezing or preserving yet this year? Tell me all about it!

Tagged With: Food, Gardening, Seasons

Food as Art

Amber on August 26, 2011 9 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I bought apricots at the farmer’s market. This is not really remarkable. However, when I got them home, I was so struck by their beauty that I had to capture it. Their colour, their shape, their texture – they all just spoke to me. Each one was like a stunningly perfect work of art.

It’s not surprise that I find food appealing. After all, we’ve all evolved to appreciate food. Hunger is one of our most basic instincts, and the desire to satisfy that hunger is strong. When I’m hungry, I can hardly think about anything else. Somewhere, in the deep, prehistoric recesses of my lizard brain, someone is yelling, “Eat a sandwich already!” at top volume, and it makes it really hard to concentrate.

On top of the way that hunger drives us, plants themselves benefit by looking appealing. When I pick a piece of fruit and carry it away from a tree, I’m scattering its seeds. Okay, I’m not scattering its seeds, I’m most likely putting them in my smelly green bin, but most animals are not me. Most animals just drop the seeds wherever, allowing the tree’s progeny to grow in a spot that the tree could never reach on its own. So the colours, the flavours and the smells are all designed to appeal to me.

This time of year, I think, is especially rich with food art. Blueberries, blackberries and tomatoes are ripe. I bought the first apples of the season at the farmer’s market last week, and I recently harvested the garlic from my garden. If fruit is nature’s artwork, she’s in the midst of a creative frenzy. I am loving every moment of it. You could almost say (at the risk of making a pun) that I am eating it up.

Before I consume or preserve each little masterpiece, I pause for a moment to appreciate its beauty. It’s an exercise in delicious mindfulness, and a reminder to embrace the season you find yourself in. While fall is lovely, and winter has its charms, there won’t be fresh ripe apricots forever. You need to appreciate them while you can.

What’s ripe in your garden – or at your farmers’ market – right now? What are you enjoying?

Tagged With: Food, Gardening, Seasons

Sugar-Free Experiment

Amber on August 15, 2011 19 Comments

Back in April I wrote a blog post about the evils of sugar. I read an article in the New York Times Magazine suggesting that sugar is toxic, and decided to start eating less of it. And at first, I did. I started eating less ice cream, I started drinking my tea without any sweeteners, and I started reading labels at the grocery store. I felt very virtuous.

That was almost four months ago now, and slowly my resolve has weakened. My family went on vacation, and everyone knows that you eat candy on vacation. Summer finally came to Vancouver, and I have an ice cream maker demanding to be used. I went to BlogHer and they had big statues made of Twizzlers in the lobby that left me craving red dye and sugar like nobody’s business. And finally, this weekend was Jacob’s birthday and I found myself eating two cakes (one for school, one for home) and licking chocolate frosting straight from the spoon.

Now, this would all be fine and dandy if it was working for me. I am not the food police, and I am not suggesting that your consumption of sugar is a problem. I am not even suggesting that my consumption of sweet foods in moderation is a problem. But the truth is I am simply not able to consume sugar in moderation. When something sweet is placed in front of me I will eat myself sick with it. I love sweet things, and I pretty much can’t get enough of them. And so eating all of the candy and cake and chocolate wasn’t working for me.

I like raspberry syrup on my raspberry ice cream

As I dragged myself, and my sugar hang-over, out of bed on Sunday morning I decided to conduct an experiment on a whim. I am going sugar-free for two weeks. As I was thinking out loud about it Jon decided to join me, but he caved by lunchtime on the first day. My children are still eating leftover birthday cake with glee, and I’m not about to demand that they go sugar-free, as well. So it’s just me, alone in the world, while my family noshes on sweetness. But I think I can stay strong and pull it off – it’s only two weeks, after all.

To increase my chances of success I made some exceptions to the “no sugar” rule at the outset. I am not going to sweat small quantities of refined sweeteners in processed foods. My bread contains sugar, and I’m still eating it. Ditto for my salsa and the ketchup I put on my burger. I’m steering clear of sweet treats and foods that are high in sugar, but I’m not going to worry about the small amounts I’m getting in my salad dressing. I am also eating lots of fruit, including dried fruit like raisins, and I’m consuming small quantities of honey and maple syrup.

Going sugar-free could be viewed as something of a fad diet. But speaking purely for myself, that’s not the point. I’m not trying to lose weight, I just want to see how I feel when I’m not constantly consuming refined sweeteners. Some people say that giving up sugar was the best thing they’ve ever done, and maybe I’ll feel the same way. Or maybe I’ll find that eating less sugar doesn’t make much difference for me. But either way, I’ll know.

In the meantime, if you see a short, blonde woman licking the outside of the chocolate store window, it might be me. Because resolving not to eat sugar does not remove the desire, as I am currently discovering.

Have you ever given up refined sweeteners? Did you consume alternatives like honey, or go cold turkey? How did it go for you? And if you haven’t, would you consider it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!