Sugar and Yeast Detox, Phase 1 - Day Done

I almost lost my mind.  I couldn’t seem to remember things like I used to.  I had to reset passwords and reset them again because I couldn’t remember what I reset them to.  Just the other day I made myself lunch, packed it in a cute bag, and left it on the counter.  I didn’t realize it until I was at the gas station where I couldn’t figure out how to operate the new credit card taker thing (machine?)  So I went all the way home and got my lunch and drove to a different gas station where they also had a new machine, but forced myself to use it anyway.  Then I completely forgot how to get to work from this other gas station, so long story not so short – I was late to work.

I blame the sugar/yeast detox diet and its lack of blueberries or really its lack of flavonoids that are supposedly good for memory. (For more information and details about the benefits of blueberries, read  Your Mind on Blueberries.)¹ And more so the lack of carbs.  Carbs are often viewed negatively in dieting, but they do provide energy for the body which includes the brain.  So, it might seem like a stretch, but carbs help the brain to process thoughts maybe even help power memory.  (Interested in more? Read How your Body Turns Carbohydrates into Energy.)²   Is that why I’m losing my mind?  Is that why I can’t find the fitbit that I swear I put on the edge of the bathroom sink?  Is that why I’m so clumsy that I knocked everything off the bathroom sink and now have a huge fear that I may have flushed the fitbit down the toilet?  Is this why I get so dizzy that I have to stop to steady myself so that I don’t fall over?  Is this why I actually do fall over sometimes?  Am I just needing more carbohydrates?

Or is it because this diet is so labor intensive that all I do is think about planning menus and buying food? And because I’m doing so much cooking, I’m doing even more cleaning. This diet is a lot of work.  I’m exhausted, forgetful, unbalanced, and HUNGRY!  And yet The Husband seems to have skipped all of my maladies and is just hungry until fed.  Then he seems to have more energy than before the sugar detox.  So…I don’t want to say this diet isn’t worth it.  I think it that it is.  It definitely gives you an idea about how much sugar really is in all of the foods that we normally eat even when we think we are eating healthy. 

We did make some delicious discoveries on this journey of no sugar and no yeast including: 

Coconut Almond Balls a/k/a Fat Bombs

These fat bombs as we began to lovingly refer to them are delicious little morsels of almond butter, coconut flour, and unsweetened coconut flakes.  Mix all the ingredients in a ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes and voila dessert is served.  On the days when we didn’t think we were going to make it through, we ate a few of these and were able to press on.

Avocado Omelets

Eggs were also a lifesaver on this diet.  I think eggs have a bad reputation because they are so high in cholesterol, but they are an excellent source of protein and excellent

source of energy for the body.  We experimented with a number of different omelets and frittatas, but the Avocado Omelet was my favorite.  The eggs were made savory with onions and bell peppers and the avocado added a creamy coolness that paired nicely with salty olives.  I will continue to make this even after the phases of this diet are complete.

Asian Turkey Meatballs and Slaw

One night my mother-in-law brought us pork meatballs and slaw which she had discovered while she was doing a similar cleanse.  They were so delicious that I found a recipe I had saved long ago for Gluten Free Turkey Meatballs and altered it to fit our diet.  I also found a delicious recipe for Bok Choy and Cabbage Slaw. The meatballs in my recipe were a bit dry, but the slaw was delicious.  It had crisp cabbage and bok choy mixed with tahini and coconut aminos.  I’ve never cooked with bok choy, but I think will in the future.  It adds a freshness and somewhat of a peppery flavor that is unexpected in a vegetable.

Going Forward

I think that Phase 2 will be much easier to maintain. (If we decide to continue with Phase 2!)  We can add grains and fruit, so hopefully my memory and energy will return.  Watching the sugar intake will be difficult and I don’t think we will cut it out completely, but hopefully we will make better and healthier decisions.

References

Franz, M. (2011). Your brain on blueberries. Scientific American Mind, 21(6), 54-59.

How your body turns carbs into energy. (n.d.). Dummies. Retrieved from http://www.dummies.com/health/nutrition/how-your-body-turns-carbohydrates-into-energy/.

Sugar and Yeast Detox - Phase 1, Day 9

In my first post, I promised to blog everyday about this sugar yeast detox that the husband and I have inflicted on ourselves.  We are still doing it and that is why I haven’t had time to post much.  This diet is labor intensive.  I plan elaborate menus that include snacks and then create grocery lists from the menu, go shopping for the ingredients, and then concoct them into something that is hopefully edible.  OK – I admit that it isn’t all that different from my normal life and diet, but because this is such a low calorie low carb diet, I have to make sure that I buy enough so that we aren’t still hungry after eating.  And for me that is the hardest part; making sure that I eat enough calories.

I will not lie.  This diet has been difficult.  Friday was a tough day and all I wanted was comfort food – fried chicken and biscuits or maybe a nice glass of wine to finish off a weird week.  What’s worse is that is exactly what the husband wanted too.  But we persevered and unwound with dry salads from Dion’s that I doctored up with fresh lime juice and olive oil and salted sunflower seeds.  We devoured the evidence so there are no pictures.

While difficult to maintain, this diet has been fun too.  The husband has been boiling eggs for ourbreakfasts – the days when we don’t have a delicious mixture of plain Greek yogurt and unsweetened coconut.  He puts them in a pot of boiling water along with an egg timer that looks like a blue egg, but this egg sings tunes like Oh Susanna, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and Hail! Hail! The Gangs All Here so that you can tell the doneness of the egg by song. Thank you to my beautiful mother for finding such a treasurer.  It has added a bit of entertainment to this diet!

Here are some dinner highlights:

Roasted Herb Salmon

We roasted salmon in the oven that was drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and a few other spices that seemed good at the time. It was served with zucchini "pasta" and grape tomatoes.  It was very fresh and almost seemed too fancy to be diet food.

Spaghetti Squash "Pasta" and Meatballs

I've made something similar to this before, but I made a tomato sauce that seemed to take forever to make.  This sauce is much more simple - diced fresh tomatoes seasoned with oregano and warmed with a little bit of garlic.  We roasted a spaghetti squash that was carefully seasoned with salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings.  Then we made the meatballs out of ground beef, an egg, onion, and more garlic.  We boiled the meatballs out top of the stop and then put them in the oven to get a bit crispy.  They were a bit bland, but I would try them again and add more spices to the meat.  Overall it was a delicious fresh take on common spaghetti.

We have also altered some of our usual recipes like turkey burgers and chicken fajitas.  We serve the burgers without bread and fajitas are served in a bowl with beans and bell peppers.  Today is the half-way mark.  We are going to make it to phase 2!

Sugar and Yeast Detox - Phase 1, Day 1

A few weeks ago the husband told me that he would like cut back on his sugar intake.  At first I thought he was kidding!  I have done sugar-free, grain-free, dairy-free diets before and I honestly couldn’t eat enough.  I was hungry all the time.  So, when he said that I was completely shocked.  Of course, his idea of cutting back on sugar and I my idea of not eating any sugar, didn’t match.  It didn’t help that he had a birthday filled with delicious bar food and beer at a very nice bowling alley.  The cutting back sugar diet failed before it really had a chance to begin.

Enter the sugar and yeast detox diet!  Phase 1, Day 1 begins the day after Easter, so it would not interfere with any celebrations.  We have a menu for the week and the fridge is full of healthy non-sugary, non-yeasty foods.  We just have to eat enough of these foods so that we don’t lose too much weight.  Yes, we don’t want to lose weight.  What we do want is to be healthy and have energy.  And what better way to get there than a 21 day cleanse with no sugar (and that includes most fruit!), no yeast (and that includes all grains!) and no dairy except for yogurt.

To keep us honest, I’m going to chronicle our progress.  I will keep the uninteresting parts brief and elaborate more on the meals that require the most creativity and the encourage the most response for the now sugar (almost free)  husband.

Breakfast

Plain Greek Yogurt with unsweetened coconut – It wasn’t as boring as I thought it would be.  It was a bit of a sour way to start the day and the new diet, but it could have been worse.  Because the husband had to eat his at work, I packed it to go.  I put the coconut and some walnuts for snack.  He forgot that the coconut was supposed to go in the yogurt.  I’m not sure how, but he managed to eat it the dry desiccated coconut with a spoon.

Lunch

Salad with chicken and black olives with a lemon and olive oil dressing – It was not that different than our usual lunches, but the black olives were a treat.  I added more chicken in place of a pita bread and chips though.  The husband was surprised how filling it was!

Dinner

Herbed Salmon with Zucchini Pasta and Grape Tomatoes – The husband said, “The salmon was on point!”  And I agree!  It was seasoned with dried dill and thyme and a little bit of salt and pepper.  It was cooked just right where the edges were crispy and the center firm.  (I like to eat things that I know are cooked, so burnt is better than mushy in my opinion.)  The zucchini was spiralized into thin pasta like curlicues and sautéed in olive oil and water.  I added a clove of garlic for flavor and grape tomatoes for color.  The zucchini had a slight crunch giving a freshness that true pasta will never have.  I would definitely make this again.  Who doesn’t like to be on point?

Day 1 of Phase 1 was a success!  We had good food and we weren’t hungry.  We are on point so far!

The Inspiring Spiralizer

Spring.  It’s right around the corner.  The February sun is tempting us, teasing us with the possibility of warmth, the possibility of something new, something worth rolling out of bed to experience, the possibility of inspiration.  While the weather can’t exactly decide what it wants to do and we can’t depend on the sun to create these possibilities, we have to find inspiration in other things.

I happened to find inspiration in a kitchen gadget that I received for Christmas called The Spiralizer.  It is a tool that can turn a regular run of the mill zucchini or yellow squash, in my case, into a beautiful bowl of spirally pasta.  Inspiring? Exciting?   It is if you haven’t eaten traditional pasta in months.  So, to me The Spiralizer is the best invention since the Salad Shooter.

Zucchini or squash pasta tastes healthy, but not healthy  as in boring or “I know that I’m really eating imposter pasta,” but healthy as in fresh, as in “mmmm this is different, this is good,” as in I want seconds!

My first attempt at using The Spiralizer was a great success.  I followed the recipe for Low Carb Zucchini Pasta.  (Shocking that I actually followed a recipe, I know!) OK, so I didn’t have any zucchini, so I substituted yellow squash instead. (Guess I didn’t follow the recipe after all!)  I washed and then cut the top and bottom off the squash, then pushed and turned it through The Spiralizer.  The result, as you can see by the picture, looked much like traditional wheat pasta.

Then I made a variation of the sauce that I use in the Italian-Paleo Eggplant with Crumbled Beef, Tomatoes and Mint (minus the mint) recipe.  This sauce is very different from the usual meat marinara sauce.  It does not call for tomato sauce or tomato paste, but rather fresh tomatoes.  It also calls for vinegar, but I use apple cider vinegar to add just a hint of sweetness.  This is an excellent sauce on top of eggplant, but the squash is much more fun to spiralize than roasting the eggplant.  However, why couldn’t an eggplant be spiralized?

See what I mean?  The Spiralizer is inspiring!  If only it was in spring.

Spinach Chips aren't the Answer

Today was an all-around hard day.  It was hard for the normal reasons (work, life, balancing it all) which made it hard for the dieting reasons. For those of you who don’t follow this blog, I’ve put myself on a sugar-free, yeast-free, gluten-free diet.  For two weeks I have to avoid a number of foods in what is called a”cleanse.”  I’ve been pretty good. I have managed to avoid potatoes for about 5 days, but it seems like so much more!  I’ve gone about 2 weeks without my favorite snack in the world – corn chips.  I’m craving the salt, the satisfying crunch, and the somewhat sweet taste.   I don’t know why I think that having chips would make the day any better, but craving them is making the day that much worse.

Spinach Chips paired with Coconut Fried Chicken

I don’t usually like to let negativity seep into this blog, but without those chips or any kind of sugar, I

thought venting might help a bit.  I did look for a solution to my craving and found a recipe for Spinach Chips.  I’m not a big fan of kale (yet) and these seemed like a viable replacement for kale chips.  I mixed 2 cups of spinach with salt, Italian seasoning, and olive oil and then spread them on a baking sheet.  Getting them off the baking sheet was a little challenging.  The “chips” were so thin that some of them broke off before I could transfer them to a plate.  You can imagine that eating them posed the same challenge.  I tried using a fork but that was awkward, so I managed to use a combination of a fork and my fingers – messy and oily!

The taste wasn’t what I was expecting.  It tasted like spinach, of course, but more like wilted spinach. Maybe I overcooked them or maybe the spinach leaves I had were too ripe.  I’m not sure.  They didn’t have the crunch that I was hoping for, but they did have a nice crispiness to them.  They might make a good salad topping. I’m willing to try the recipe again to see if I can make it better.  Unfortunately, I still want corn chips.

Quinoa as in whaaaaaat?

I’m having quinoa for breakfast.  What?  That’s what I first thought when I saw the word a few years

ago, which I suppose is appropriate since it is pronounced, "kinwa,” as if you were going to say the word “what” and hold out the aw sound.  Quinoa is a grain that is a part of the amaranth family.  It has become more popular recently because it’s high in protein and low in carbs.  I imagine if rice and pasta got married and had children this would be the outcome - a healthier and all around better version than they are alone.  Where rice and pasta are pretty bland without sauces and seasonings, quinoa has a nutty flavor to it – more savory, more interesting.  No matter how long it’s cooked, it seems to have a slight crunch to it.

Hot Breakfast Quinoa

I’m eating it as a breakfast cereal.  I followed the directions on the package, but boiled it in almond milk instead of water.  This seems to have enhanced the nutty flavor that I mentioned earlier.  Instead of focusing on the savory, I made it sweet by seasoning with cinnamon, coconut butter, and sprinkling a little bit of desiccated coconut on the top.  The coconut made the slight crunch a little less noticeable.

Quinoa isn’t a bad replacement for oatmeal in the morning.  I definitely recommend trying it.  However, it does take some time to cook quinoa, especially at higher elevations, so you might want to consider making it the night before if you are in hurry in the morning like I am.

The Yeast Free – Gluten Free – Sugar Free Cleanse (Candida Free Diet)

Yes, the “I’m Gonna Eat It” girl is dieting.  No, I’m not crazy.  I’m tired of feeling tired and I want to have a healthy 2015.  I am going on a yeast free, sugar free, gluten free, also known as candida free diet.  I’ using The Yeast Connection and the Candida Free Living books for guidance.

There is a long list of food to avoid including refined sugar, fruit, yeast, wheat, processed meats like lunch meat and sausage, vegetables that are high in starch content like potatoes and carrots, dairy products, beans and legumes, and caffeinated beverages. (I have decided that I can’t do without caffeine.  I tested it for one day and after a terrible headache and falling asleep on the couch at 7:30 pm, I decided that some sacrifices are not worth the outcome.  It’s bad enough that I have to give up my morning banana and peanut butter!)

Don’t worry! I’m still gonna eat!  While there is a long list of foods to avoid, there is an equally long list of food to enjoy. This includes most green leafy vegetables like lettuce and kale, some grains like quinoa, buckwheat, eggs, most meats except for pork, and coconut.  The challenge comes in preparing meals – it is going to take time as everything has to be made from scratch and carefully prepared.  There are no shortcuts and no pre-made dishes.  This will be especially hard for lunches when going to work.

I’ve done a variation of this diet before and I survived, so I’m confident I will again.  The cleanse is only for two weeks and then I can start reintroducing food.  This will help determine what foods bother me.

They say that if you tell people about the diet you're going on there is more a likely a chance that you will actually follow it.  with that said, I'm going to blog about the new foods that I'm trying.

Deboning Da Fish

My dad wanted to go fishing for his birthday, so one cool Sunday morning in August he picked me and my husband up and we met my sister at Fenton Lake about an hour north of Albuquerque.  It was perfect fishing weather: cool with a light rain.  We set up our lines and cast out into the unknown yet small lake and waited and waited.  A big part of shore fishing is waiting, which is probably why some people consider it relaxing and others boring.  It can be both, but the waiting also creates an air of anticipation – waiting on the edge of a folding chair, waiting for the unknown, waiting for a possibility, waiting for that slight moment when the tip of your pole dips and snaps back upright, waiting for that bite, waiting for the exhilaration of setting the hook and reeling in a mystery – is it a fish, a boot, lake muck, who knows? – waiting.

Eventually my dad walked back up to the truck that was parked not too far away.  As soon as he was out of sight, the waiting ended.  My sister’s (the Pie Goddess) line jerked, she grabbed her pole, set the hook, and reeled it in.  I ran to get the net to the surprising cacophony of clapping and cheering from fellow fishers.  The Pie Goddess had an audience!  I unnecessarily netted the fish.  It was little and the Pie Goddess decided to throw it back.  My dad missed the entire show, but from then on the bite was on!  At least for the Pie Goddess.  She had a number of missed bites, but caught two more and kept one.  I even managed to catch a little one that I threw back.  Somehow the girls caught the fish and the boys were skunked!

But this is what the waiting game is all about: it’s fun – you never know what might happen or what might not happen.  But luck is always on my side with this game because my dad and sister don’t eat fish, but my husband and I do!  So even if I don’t catch anything, I always go home with the fish! 

But that means I have to figure out how to cook it.  (I always manage to have someone else clean it!)  However, I still had to debone out how to debone a trout.  Wikihow gave 3 options on how to do it.  Because this fish was still on the small side, I decided to cook it with the bones in.  The cooking part was actually a lot easier than I expected.  I thawed the fish, combined olive oil, parsley, and a little salt and pepper and basted the inside of the fish.  Leaving the bones in with all of the seasoning seemed strange, but I did it even though it felt wrong. I wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven. It cooked fast too – maybe only 10 minutes.

And then for the deboning.  I couldn’t do it; I was too nervous of ruining the whole thing.  The husband stepped up to the plate and did a fabulous job!  He put his fingers into the hot fish and pulled the entire backbone out.  Impressive!  There were no bones left in the meat of the fish!

Trout is a bit on the wild side and has a definite fishy taste to it, but the olive oil and seasoning mellowed it out.  We paired it with some shrimp (concocted by the husband) and some veggies for a yummy, healthy dinner.

Potato Chips

I never understood what the big deal was about potato chips. They’re greasy, they’re salty, and they’re noisy. Crunch, crunch, CRUNCH.  And they’re served with everything from deli sandwiches, to hamburgers, to appetizers at birthday parties.  This was one food item that was hard to avoid as a kid.  Luckily, I didn’t like it, so it was easy to just say no.  The corn chip has always been an excellent alternative.

But now that I’ve been cleared for eating potatoes, I have given the potato chip another chance.  I’ve discovered Ruffles Natural Reduced Fat Sea Salted Potato Chips.  They are soy free and corn free, but most importantly not taste free.

These chips don’t seem to be nearly as greasy as other chips that I’ve tried. That means you can have a handful of chips and the only residue left on your hands after you have gobbled them all down is salt. What’s even better is that there are only three ingredients in these yummy treats instead of a novel of unpronounceable mystery products. Yes, they’re still noisy, but I don’t seem to mind it now that I’m the one making the noise.  Crunch, crunch, YUM!

Why a picture of an empty bag of chips?  Because I ate them all!