Well, I did it. Twenty-two days and counting without peanut butter. :)
Three weeks corn, sugar, gluten, soy (and almost fruit) free. For the past 2 weeks, I was actually completely grain free too, which I didn't think was even possible for me.
I wish I could say I have had a revolutionary change in the past few weeks. I know so many people that have cut out grains and have felt a remarkable difference. People say the cravings should be going away by now and I have found they have gotten worse. Its a little unfair that I have been battling low iron, weak adrenals, and Ehrlichiosis, so grain-free probably didn't have a chance to revolutionize me the way it has for some people. Some days I have felt better, but some days I feel about the same as I did before, which is beyond discouraging. Most days are better though, so that is good enough for now.
Here's a few things I learned about myself and this stage of my journey....
-No matter how healthy you eat, someone else eats healthier and will gasp at things you allow yourself or your family to eat. This bothers me more than I would like to admit. There are food bloggers that will scare you that everything you put in your mouth will kill you and that food manufactures are completely evil. While I would agree with some of their points, for us, we have to find a balance with which we can live and function. We trust the Lord more than we trust our ability to expel all toxins from our life. We will all eventually die and no amount of healthy eating will alter that.
- I don't like very many raw vegetables. I wish I did. I can eat raw spinach, peppers, red onions, mushrooms, tomatoes. Beyond that gets out of my comfort zone. I have tried to expand my palette in this area.
-A Food Processor is INVALUABLE!! Use it every day.
- I chew gum like there is no tomorrow. I told someone I feel like a smoker with Nicorette. It really helps scratch the itch for something sweet.
- My children will thrive on whatever I feed them consistently. Addison told me the other day, "I like water way more than juice now Mom." They LOVE raw veggies, especially cauliflower. I am very thankful that they will not have to break bad habits and that they will always have a love for healthy food. They have been troopers to try lots of new things in the past 3 weeks.
-This type of eating will significantly increase your grocery budget. There is no getting around it. It is an investment. For us we didn't eat out very much, so we did save a bit there, but safe to say I blew the grocery budget out of the water. If it is a matter of creating a better quality of life for our family, some increase in spending is totally worth it.
-I want a Vita-mix! Protein shakes are growing on me.
- I am very thankful for the internet! There is an amazing amount of blogs and websites FULL of gluten free, paelo, sugar free - whatever you want! - recipes.
- Cooking 3 meals a day for almost 21 days straight for 4 people creates A LOT of dirty dishes. Thankfully Chad has been home and taken over dish duty, which has been a life saver!
- To eat like this, you HAVE to plan and you HAVE to cook. Otherwise you will cheat or starve.
-Going out to eat is not worth the effort.
-There are really a ton of wonderful things you can eat if you are willing to try new things.
-No matter your size or previous eating, you WILL lose weight if eat like this (unless you constantly eat). This has totally reinforced what I already knew - fat doesn't make you fat! I have been eating tons of nuts, coconut, coconut oil, olive oil, coconut milk, cheese, full fat dairy, (which are all very high in fat), eating whenever I'm hungry, didn't workout at all, didn't count calories and have unintentionally LOST weight. Its not fat that makes you fat, it is sugar. Period.
-I am not the type of person that gives up on every having toast, sandwiches, pasta dishes or dessert. I have worked to find healthier ways to reach similar results.
Moving on...
Here are some of the foods we tried the past few weeks.
Bread attempt #2. Better than the first.
Bread attempt #3. Pretty good. Definitely usable. I don't like that fact that it is not a normal size loaf, but she says that almond flour doesn't cook all the way through if you use a normal size loaf pan. I don't have the size she uses, so I use 2 mini-loaves.
Cauliflower Rice - great!! Put raw cauliflower in the food processor and pulse until it looks like rice. Put it under the broiler for about 10 minutes with butter or coconut oil. Seriously its not bad even for non-cauliflower lovers like us.
Deep dish broccoli and chicken pizza. Great taste. Made the pizza sauce, crust and toppings. The chicken was from a local farm and it was the best part of the pizza.
Savory quiche and sweet potato and sausage hash. My family didn't enjoy the hash. It is just sauteed sweet potatoes with browned sausage (I used chicken sausage, no sugar, which is tough to find). I put cinnamon b/c the recipe called for it, but next time would probably leave it out.
Leftover hash the next morning with green eggs. 3 eggs in the blender with a splash of milk and a 1/2 cup of kale. Scramble with raw cheddar cheese. Really tasty. I make so many eggs for myself b/c I never actually get to eat them all. I have 2 little egg snatchers. :)
Sorry for the half-eaten dinner picture - Chicken parmesan, broccoli with bread and oil. I was so hungry I forgot to take the picture until half-way through. Spaghetti squash is another amazing find. It totally does the trick for a pasta substitute and is super easy. I pop mine in the microwave for about 12 minutes, slice it open and use a fork to scrape it out. We also had spaghetti squash with grass-fed beef meatballs last week, but I forgot to take a picture.
The spaghetti sauce was super easy too - 2 small cans of tomato paste, 2 cups of water, seasoning and let is simmer. The chicken is dusted in almond flour, browned on the stove and then put in a dish for the oven. Pour the sauce over, shred mozzarella cheese and bake for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan when it comes out. Yummo.
Our family loves bread and oil with Italian meals (ok, any meals) and it is nice to have almond bread to use now!
So now that I'm done with my 3 weeks, what to do now? I'm honestly not sure. I am going to stay gluten free for a while and see how it goes. According to my natropath, this process was supposed to heal my body and help my sugar intolerance. I'm not really convinced that has happened yet and I don't want to jump back to "conventional" eating and undo any progress I've made. Some changes will be permanent or at least the new norm. My family has embraced this idea, which has helped. Many people I've talked to have given suggestions of rules to live by:
1. 80/20 - eat strict (however your family defines strict) 80% of the time
2. Eat strict at home, so that you can be more relaxed when out.
3. Eat strict during the week and relax a little on the weekend.
We will fall into one of those categories eventually. I will never cook a huge pan of white pasta for our family again, but we will also go out for ice cream on occasion. For right now though, I will stay gluten free. I am nervous at add any sugar back in, so I will stay sugar free as much as possible too.
Hopefully this has helped someone and given you some ideas of new, healthy recipes to try.
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