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Ancient wisdom : swapping grunts for groats & other great grains

April 14, 2016
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A few years ago I had great success from the Paleo diet, and quickly noted that cutting all grains had a tremendous impact. I stopped feeling bloated and was no longer trumpeting a daily butt tune – like seriously I was barely gassy at all! I knew there had to be something to it, and ever since then I have been curious about grains – trying to understand what it was about them that didn’t agree with me.

More recently while working through reintroductions during the elimination protocol, I have discovered a number of new grains. These are both delicious and don’t affect me like the ones I would regularly indulge, in a previous life of spaghetti carbonara induced pain comas.

The ‘ancient super grains’ as they are referred to, provide some excellent health benefits and for many, don’t cause the same post meal symptoms of lethargy, bloating and discomfort. When I discovered these varieties existed I felt cheated. I finally and naively realised, just how much our diets are driven by the buyers in our supermarkets. Sure they jumped on the quinoa / gluten free food trend circa 2010 – but what about all the other grains we don’t see on the shelves? Amaranth – who? Millet – that’s a budgie snack isn’t it? Bulgar what? These different, mostly unknown grains are considered ‘ancient’ because Amaranth sustained the Aztecs and Incas in the Americas pretty well, Buckwheat grew in the Himalayas and Millet thrived in the arid climate of Africa. These hardy crops can all be traced back for thousands of years but it’s high time that they were resurrected to our palates.

 

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So what makes the aforementioned grains different, and often more gut friendly? Some interesting facts:

Millet, not just for budgies – it isn’t just a birdseed, no sir. Delicious and nutty millet packs a lot of protein in each bite, so great for veggies and vegans. It’s also rich in magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese. An all round impressive filler-upper.

Amaranth is really clever – it’s a pseudo cereal which not only sounds hilarious but means it’s a sneaky seed bringing some impressive benefits, while masquerading as a cereal and acting like a vegetable. It contains lysine which is a toning amino acid, negligible in most other grains. It has bundles of calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium and even vitamin C. This seed knows what’s up.

Buckwheat groats than don’t make you groan – makes a great filling porridge, behaving like an oat but once again, a case of mistaken identity. It contains no wheat and is actually a fruit seed related to sorrel and rhubarb. It’s easy to digest and is helpful for treating diarrhea.

They are all gluten free – which is great for celiacs, those with intolerances, IBD, leaky gut auto-immune and frankly everyone who prefers anti-inflammatory foods.

They contain less cytokines – cell signalling molecules that stimulate immune response and the movement of white cells towards sites of trauma, infection and inflammation. These aren’t great to ingest too much of, if like me – you have a condition like Crohns where your body is monumentally confused about what it’s cells are supposed to be fighting.

They thrive with less pesticides – these crops grow in some of the harshest conditions and require lower levels of pesticides, fertilisers and irrigation. In short they are staunch characters less reliant on un-natural nasties. They also haven’t been recklessly hybridized or chemically modified like the commonly consumed grain: wheat.

They are more nutritious – unlike wheat and white rice, these grains arrive to the kitchen in their whole form, with germ and bran intact. Each grain is unique in it’s benefits but they each are high in fibre and protein and have a really distinctive flavour.

They are cheap – well certainly cheaper compared with the fashionable quinoa. 1kg of quinoa retails at around £5 whereas millet costs £3 and amaranth £4 ( based on an online whole food retailer, April 2016)

They are sustainable crops – “botanists estimate that although there are 80,000 edible plant species in the world, modern agriculture focuses on only about 150. Just 20 crops provide 90 percent of our consumption. So resurrecting ancient grains brings much needed diversity to our modern day diet and could go a long way to reducing the over consumption of common wheat.” (source) 

They are easy to pronounce – because at some stage we all embarrassed ourselves or witnessed the mispronouncing of ‘quinoa’, here is a handy guide to pronouncing your new nutritional comrades

Amaranth – am·a·ranth

Millet –  mil·let

Buckwheat – buc-weet

Paleo thinking suggests that modern human digestion isn’t designed to cope with refined sugars, starchy carbs, grains, legumes, and dairy products that have crept into our diets over the past 10,000 years. And that in part is likely true. But what hasn’t helped in the grain department is the tampered with evolution of the wheat crop, which has dramatically increased levels of intolerance in recent decades.

“As part of the agricultural revolution, modern grains underwent substantive hybridisation with the good intentions of increasing production, increasing profitability and ultimately reducing the cost to the consumer. Unfortunately this was not all that was modified in the hybridization of modern grains. In selecting for yields, disease tolerance and improved storage life it is now postulated that inadvertently the protein structures were changed and toxins may have been built up in the make-up of conventional grains. This in turn is suspected to be one of the reasons that so many people are becoming intolerant to wheat and why the modern grains store so long. Insects and pests are naturally repelled by these same toxins.

If you held up a conventional wheat plant from 50 years ago against a modern, high-yield dwarf wheat plant, you would see that today’s plant is about 2½ feet shorter. It’s stockier, so it can support a much heavier seedbed, and it grows much faster. The great irony here is that the term “genetic modification” refers to the actual insertion or deletion of a gene, and that’s not what’s happened with wheat. Instead, the plant has been hybridized and crossbred to make it resistant to drought and fungi, and to vastly increase yield per acre. Agricultural geneticists have shown that wheat proteins undergo structural change with hybridization, and that the hybrid contains proteins that are found in neither parent plant.” explains David Perlmutter author of Grain Brain

When I tell people I have Crohns disease, people often ask ‘Oh so do you need to be careful with your diet?’ but the reality is, we all need to be mindful about the foods we consume, how they were bred and farmed and their affects on our digestion. And this definitely needn’t be restrictive – in fact the ancient grains are super tasty and if you like cooking, getting inventive with them opens up a world of possibilities. Here are some great looking recipes for millet, amaranth & buckwheat.

love Gutsy

ancient wisdom

 

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Top Tips for Feeling Tip Top

April 5, 2016
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As you will remember from my last post, I recently felt like my Crohns health had taken a bit of a nose dive. I panicked and began look for reasons and ways to blame myself for it.  I recently read a great post from fellow IBD blogger Jenna Farmer, about the self blame game. It’s a common, unhealthy habit, grasping at your potential wrong-doings and reasoning everything, when some things really are sometimes beyond your control.

As the weeks went by and I continued eating well, my fatigue began to let up. I realised that perhaps, instead of losing the faith in my efforts thus far – I should consider that maybe my body was just fighting off something grotty that it previously wouldn’t have had to strength to handle? Instead of knocking me down with a full blown virus, perhaps it was just putting up a good fight, and my flare-like response was actually much milder because of all the positive steps I’d been taking for the last three months.

I realised that reframing this experience made me feel much calmer about it. Ditching the blame and anxiety and replacing them with praise for the efforts I had been making. Because we can never really know for sure where we would be without making those efforts.

In a bid to celebrate my conscious efforts towards staying well, I wanted to share my 7 top tips for helping you feel tip top, when living with a chronic illness. So here we go:

1 Just say no. 

If you’re not feeling up to going out, going to that party, traipsing through town to meet someone or even getting dressed in those snazzy waist pinching trousers – just say no. Ta.

Your time is yours, and your healing will thank you for it. Stay at home, stick on your cosy joggers and spend time recuperating, feeling safe and guilt free because it feels nice to be true to what you want sometimes.

2 Get witch-crafty

Making your own natural remedies is not only rewarding for your self care, but super fun. So bubble up your cauldron and get brewing some magic potions. Here’s a few that I’m converted to:

Turmeric milk is a golden drink, is a great anti-inflammatory, and taken regularly can boost skin health, digestion and immune system. If taking it doesn’t appeal – just chuck a few sprinkles of turmeric powder in your smoothie or tea, turmeric is a magic medicine of nature and it’s cheap as chips.

Raw Garlic as an anti-viral. Mash a clove onto a spoon, cover in honey and gulp the whole thing down. Great to treat viruses, sore throats and thrush.

Coconut oil + beeswax mixed with a few drops of your favourite organic essential oil  to create a relaxing temple balm. And here’s a round up of some great DIY lip balm ideas if you like to lube up those pucker pieces.

3 Blitz, blend & blast

Investing in a food processor or blender will open up a world of possibilities, and you can get some pretty well priced options now. Using one will help you boost your nutrient intake, and make quick fruit filled breakfasts instantly hassle free. I also love having one so that I can make sweet bites that don’t contain refined sugar, and so I can grind up nuts into tasty dessert bases and protein balls.  I get a lot of sweet inspiration from my favourite raw blog ; This Rawsome Vegan Life

4 Share the load

Living with a chronic health condition isn’t easy alone, and if you want to make more mindful health choices – it can be hard to find a community online that’s supportive and not merely trying to sell you some faux cure. When I was diagnosed with Crohns, I couldn’t believe how many forums and message boards were full of despairing people, who accepted no responsibility for their every day choices and the additional impact that those choices may have on their condition. It made be feel hopeless and resigned to my disease and doomed to a future of sickness and surgery. It took a lot of effort to find my place, and my people. But once I found some like-minded thinkers – I’ve never felt so supported and empowered about my say in the matter. This facebook group has been my best discovery and these nutritionistas my good friends. But if what you’re looking for doesn’t exist – why not create it yourself? Something my tech hero Seb Tucknott recently created: IBD relief is an online platform for networking and sharing tips for conscious living and wellness with IBD, and he created it, simply because it didn’t exist before and was so badly needed. Let your chronic woes become your chronic will to change things.

5 Make Time

Wether it’s working a bit more part time, or giving up your Sunday afternoons for meal prep, yoga or meditation – you need to create some time in your schedule to help yourself feel good. It’s easy to say ‘I don’t have time’, especially if you have a family and a hectic work schedule – but finding time is all about prioritising you, at least once a week – see tip number 1 for a key hint to making way for you.

6 Become Interested & Invested

The whole reason I started this blog was because I decided that I had a lot more questions than I did answers about my condition. What better way to combat that helpless feeling than to enjoy the process of asking questions? Learn about your anatomy, about nutrition, seek alternative schools of thought to the mainstream. If you have more knowledge at your fingertips, you’re able to make informed choices and feel empowered to do so. Sadly a lot of our doctors aren’t really as invested in reading up on the latest environmental theories or research around our conditions, so they are rarely going to entertain any such conversations. They only discuss proven scientific research, which is primarily funded by pharmaceutical companies who unsurprisingly negate to explore any studies that consider environmental factors and less-medicated approaches. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do your own research eh?

7 Eliminate & Observe

Consider cutting out some known problem foods, like wheat, dairy, grains and refined sugars, and note the results. A great way to keep track of what you’re eating and the response is this impressive app MySymptoms which helped me easily note what I was eating, and any symptoms I experienced. It then produces a handy report, and graphs which help you notice any correlations. The reason I like it iss because you can easily input your foods and it also remembers your favourites so you needn’t type them in each time. You can even scan barcodes of some pre-packaged foods. You can also create your own symptom sliding scales. So I created one for my eczema severity, one for amount of blood in my stool, and even one for the weird blotch i’ve been getting on my face. It’s an excellent tool, and there’s nothing quite like it as far as i’ve discovered. Well worth the pennies.

These are just my top tips, but i’d love to hear yours. What would you add to this list?

Love Gutsy

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Elimination : A Nutritionist’s Guide

February 9, 2016
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As regular readers will know, I am now in the full throes of my elimination diet. It began, 5 weeks ago by cutting out a crazy number of foods from my diet. I am now at reintroduction stage, which is really interesting, and I feel a little like a baby tasting everything again for the first time, more appreciative than ever of the textural differences, flavour nuances and versatility of certain foods.

Doing this elimination feels like the one of the toughest dietary challenges I’ve ever put myself through – but the things I will discover are going to be invaluable for my sustained gut health.

I have been working closely with nutritionist Molly Sanders of duo Molly and Erica, who has been guiding me over Skype each week of the protocol and for this post, I wanted to ask her and Erica more about how elimination works. Together, they answer some of my early and ongoing questions about elimination.

molly + erica


What is the purpose of an elimination diet?

M: Essentially, to eliminate any foods that could be causing or contributing whatever condition, especially inflammatory conditions, a person may be suffering from. For the “average Joe,” so to speak, a less strict elimination diet for 10 days to a week, especially in the spring can be really useful to give the body and the digestive tract a bit of a break.

E: It’s a great way identify which foods people are sensitive to. Eliminating all of the most common allergen foods and then reintroducing them back into the body one by one over a long period of time. This method helps the person listen to their body’s reaction to each individual food and helps to isolate which foods are causing the problems in their daily diet.

Who is an elimination diet useful for?

M: Mainly people with inflammatory conditions (Crohn’s, eczema, colitis, etc.) would benefit from an elimination diet and people with multiple allergies.

What are the different stages of an elimination diet?

M: First we cut a number of foods out completely – anything that may be causing an issue for you. Then a long series of adding foods in one at a time. The first stage can be anywhere from 1-3 months. The second stage is a pretty slow going process, adding in a new food item every 3 days or every week.

What sort of things will I be cutting out?

M: It really depends on what the issue is. For most people the big allergens – gluten, dairy, corn, soya, eggs – they all go temporarily.

Why can’t I eat certain foods like white potatoes, they seem harmless enough?

M: Great question – if you’re doing elimination to try to manage an inflammatory issue, it’s likely you’ll be eliminating a class of foods called nightshades: aubergines, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes. There are actually tonnes of nightshades in nature, but only a handful of them are edible – the rest are seriously poisonous, even deadly. The inflammatory reaction some people get is due to the presence of glycoalkaloid – found in small amounts in the above mentioned potatoes / aubergines etc , but the buildup can become an issue – so it’s a good one to experiment reintroducing.

How important are supplements during elimination?

M: You can certainly do an elimination diet without supplements, and if you are doing a lighter style elimination protocol, you may not need them. But for people with serious inflammatory conditions, the supplements are important not only to keep you from feeling like crap, but to make sure you’re getting high doses of nutrients that may not be coming in through the diet or may not be properly digested.

Are there some foods that you’ll discover you can never eat again?

M: For some people, that’s a possibility but for most things you’ve eliminated, you will eventually be able to include it back into your diet. When I say that to clients, they tend to go into mental freak out – “What if I can never eat bread? Or cookies?” But the truth is when you come off an elimination diet – or when you try out a food that you’ve eliminated and you have a bad reaction, you won’t WANT to eat that food again because it simply makes you feel like crap.

E: There are definitely foods that you will know you will not want to eat again because they cause you so much discomfort and pain. Eating wheat and gluten to me is not worth it as it bothers me so much. Most people cannot imagine giving it up but that is because they do not understand what it feels like to have such an adverse reaction. It is much easier these days to have diet specifications because there is much more information out there.

Can you do elimination on a tight budget? Surely lots of fresh produce is going to cost a fortune?

M: It’s absolutely possible! Your grocery bill may be higher, but especially for people used to eating out for many meals, the cost will balance out. Otherwise, frozen veggies and fruits are good options, root vegetables are inexpensive and don’t forget to check out the reduced produce section – bruised or ugly doesn’t mean it’s gone bad!

E: Fresh produce does cost more than more carbohydrate centered foods. But you also can see how much money you are saving that you are not spending going out. We as people are more inclined to spend £6 at a café for a croissant and a latte but are quite shocked when six apples cost us £2. It all does balance out in the end but at the time can seem to be much more money when you go buy your groceries all in one place versus going out to eat here and there.

Can I go out with my friends to eat?

M: You can do whatever you want…BUT it can get a little tricky. Definitely look at the menu before you go somewhere and don’t be afraid to call ahead or ask your server what kind of accommodations that can make for you.

E: In my own personal experience as I have Celiac’s disease, going out to eat was the toughest part. One of my favourite things to do is go check out new restaurants. A few things you can do ahead of time:

1. Call the restaurant or go online and check out the menu, see if there is anything that can be modified to suit the stage of elimination that you are at. Also call ahead and let them know that you need to make modifications and if the kitchen is willing to help you out, most times they are but some kitchens are strict.

2. Always eat before you go out, most often than not you are restricting carbohydrates that are more filling, so therefore make sure to eat something at home first so that you can feel satiated when you do go out with everyone, this will avoid you feeling too envious of the other patron’s plates.

Gutsy: If I can chip in here, I would say this has been one of the trickiest parts for me, certainly in the initial phase, while cutting most things out. Eventually once rice was reintroduced, I could enjoy Sushi and Japanese soups with rice noodles. I realised how important going out was for me, but I saved a pretty penny in the mean time when I was focused on batch cooking great meals and staying at home! Inviting friends over to my place more just made me feel good, even if they wanted to have a spoon of mayo or a side of pitta break with their dinner. It’s much easier to stay firm and not tempted at home in a controlled environment!

Isn’t it impossible to do something like this alone? 

E: Most definitely! That is why Molly and I are in this business together, we recognise that a support system is key to success. We have a page called Molly and Erica’s Brazen Foodie Community. This is a place where people can ask each other questions about what they were feeling by removing the foods, share recipes and gripe with each other if they wanted. When I first discovered that I was Celiac ten years ago I relied heavily on these kind of group chats as it was not as well known back then.

Gutsy: For me, having my partner do it with me was key. It meant we just got on with it, and moaned together. But having Molly & Erica’s food page and support over Skype was such an asset. We laughed and swore a lot, they are great because they don’t judge or take the moral high ground when you getting emotional over sugar cravings, they totally get it! I would whole heartedly recommend working with them, they are a formidable down to earth bunch of nutritionistas!  

What are the key tools, ingredients and components to a successful elimination diet?

M: The nitty gritty is going to change from person to person, but the big one across the board is definitely preparation. As I mentioned, the “no-go” list is going to be different from person to person, so finding recipes that work for your restrictions, planning your meals, planning your snacks, and having an honest conversation with yourself about what you will struggle most with are both really important.

E: Time is a word I heard a lot when Molly and her community did the first elimination diet together. It does take some time to organize your meals to ensure that you have enough food throughout the day to keep you satiated. Sunday is meal prep day and you do have to dedicate yourself at least a few hours to do the most time consuming meals. Having a blender is very helpful as you can make a smoothie every morning to help with removing the carbohydrates. Many people rely on toast, muffin or cereal in the morning as something quick with their coffee on the way out the door. A smoothie can be prepared the night before and quickly blended in the morning.

Can you tell us a success story of one of your clients that followed an elimination diet?

M: I have a client now that has been going to doctors for years with a general feeling of crappiness and couldn’t really find out much. So when I saw her, I suggested a pretty intense elimination diet and a hefty supplement regime – I suspected across the board nutrient deficiencies was an issue. She responded within days! Higher energy levels, better sleep. Within a few weeks quite a few of her complaints – joint pain, spasming colon, even brain fog – were gone or significantly better. It’s just amazing to me, and of course to her, how quickly she felt better.

E: Molly did a great job at committing to the elimination diet, she recognised when she was feeling frustrated and reached out. She was more upset that she was getting upset, that is why a community is so important. She also had a lot of fun on it, her energy levels were increasing so much. She had to take walks around the block of our office every hour just to get it out all the extra energy. She also felt really good as she was no longer irritated by foods that were bothering her – she even stopped having period cramps!

Gutsy: And my success story is still in the making, so stay tuned on this blog for my updates.

Naughty Nightshadws

Thanks to Molly & Erica for their contribution!

 

 


 

love Gutsy x

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Turn and Face The Strange

January 19, 2016
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changes2

2016 has certainly got off to a dramatic start, losing a bright star from our universe. Although this post is about food, it’s about doing things differently and doing them with confidence. Something Bowie did better than anyone. So I have included Ziggy’s smouldering face, to begin my roundup of the fortnight.

Only two weeks in to my one month elimination protocol and it already feels like a lifetime. This short stretch has already been full of enthusiastic high points, bratty moan filled low points and I’ve learnt so much about just how pathetic and emotional my needy relationship with food really is.

I started week 1, full of vigour. I cooked up some great meals, and really went to town, creating elimination friendly versions of delicious things. By week 2, I was feeling like a limp spinach leaf. Our meals began to all taste similar, and I found myself lusting after easy fillers like eggs and rice, I never usually dig rice.  When you’re feeling fed-up with all the restrictions and mumble about all the foods you miss, you can always count on someone to chirp up; “well at least you can eat sweet potato” – well, believe me that person, the taste of sweet potato quickly gets old. Mashed, chipped, roasted, snore. What also gets old, very quickly – is thinking so much about food and talking about it constantly, in an almost crazed, obsessive manner. Jabbering to people who politely nod along but can’t relate because they have the normal luxury of being able to nip out and buy a ready prepared lunch. The most effective person to complain with is Aimee, as we both feel each others frustrations.

Here are my personal HIGH POINTS and LOW POINTS so far:

5 HIGH POINTS OF THE FORTNIGHT

1

When I blitzed up some figs and coconut and rolled em’ in cocoa for a sweet nibble in the afternoon. And they actually confused a colleague and passed for chocolate truffles and sort of vaguely tasted like chocolate truffles too.

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2

When I fried up some impressive fishcakes, without eggs or flour! I made use of Molly’s excellent suggestion that the goopy consistency of wet chia seeds, makes a decent bind instead of egg. I mixed this up with roasted salmon, chopped spring onion, grated lemon zest and rolled in tapioca flour before frying up in coconut oil. I made 16 fishcakes, which lasted 2 meals and a lunch.

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3

When I used dried porcini mushrooms, bone broth and coconut milk to make the most delicious cream of mushroom soup and felt smug because it was actually nicer than any mushroom soup I had made before. Recipe here I made mine without bacon.

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4

Making some impressive puddings despite not having sugar or nuts to fall back on. Nifty lemon notcheesecake bites and Aimee’s ingenious banana pancakes, using chia seed bind, mashed banana and coconut flour, served with maple syrup and black cherries.

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5

Managing to cook a decent and filling meal for 3 vegetarian mates. Sweet potato + brocolli curry with cauliflower rice. We may, or may not have been texting later that evening comparing our farts.

 

5 LOW POINTS OF THE FORTNIGHT (you’ll notice I didn’t photograph these.)

1

Aimee and I decided to make our own vegetable crisps. Finely slicing, frying and roasting them for over an hour, resulting in 3 measly packets of crisps which we carefully rationed eating. This turned out to be a hilarious waste of a Sunday afternoon, when I spotted some perfectly good ones in Pret for 99p.IMG_2753

2

Spending £80 on a weeks food shop in week 1, when we would normally spend £50 between the two of us.

Expensive-food-bill-2-205x205

3

Getting the most INSANE cravings at work which caused me to cry and think excessively giving it all up for a Yorkie dipped in some darling black breakfast tea with a splash of almond milk.

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4

Having to wash up the 68th saucepan of the week, because all we do is prep, eat, prep, wash up , prep, clean kitchen, eat, prep, wash up, prep, clean kitchen – repeat daily.

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5

The night I went to a vegan cafe before an evening class, full of hope that I would find a safe and tasty meal. The parsnip soup was sold out, so I had to order a fennel and cucumber salad for dinner, surrounded by people eating steaming jacket potatoes and vegan bean burgers. But there I was, laughing with my salad.Woman eating outdoors

I should mention that LOW POINT number 3, the sugar cravings, is still mercilessly clawing on. This makes us behave in strange and tragic ways. We fall asleep drooling over pillow talk of biscuits, we get antsy when we spot a Tesco supermarket bag with a photographic donut printed on it. On the bus, we both find ourselves leering wide-eyed through the window at patisseries and restaurants.

The sugar cravings got so mighty that I had to seek advice from Molly. She explained, that the feeling is to be expected. Not simply because I want sugar, but because my gut candida overgrowth is the puppet master of my appetite right now. The yeast overgrowth is likely to be slowly dying out. Doing this elimination, I’ve been inadvertently starving it of it’s favourite things that quickly break down into sugars; like bread, pasta, alcohol. Because it refuses to go quietly, it’s making me feel low, and desperate for my favourite sugary treat, chocolate. Molly explained, if I want to make it quick and painless, I need to kill off those cravings with some extra efforts. That involves cutting out my secret survival weapons; honey and dried fruit. Of course this news did not turn my frown upside down. But knowing that in a way these cravings are a measure of success and positive changes, rather being weak and close to crumbling is really encouraging.

Now on to weeks 3 + 4 with a well stocked fridge, a wry smile and two solid weeks under my belt.

Love Gutsy x

 

 

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In Praise of the Coconut

January 4, 2016
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This post is solely dedicated (and desiccated) to the wondrous coconut. We have recently been spending a lot of time getting to know each other and the more I discover, the more impressed I become by this omnipotent creation.

Feel free to read on while listening to this apt little earworm.

For a start, the coconut has so many sides to it’s persona. Is it a nut? A fruit? A seed? Well guess what folks, our friend is all of the above. It’s whatever you want it to be, it is all things to all people.

Every single bit of the coconut can be utilised so it has rightly so earned itself an impressive nickname as  “Tree of Life” and can produce drink, fibre, food, fuel, utensils, musical instruments, and so much more.

But why do I love the coconut? Well you must know by now that I am on an elimination diet. No dairy, grain, sugar or nuts for a month over here. Now I have been using coconut oil as a tasteless fat to cook with for a while now. I’ve even done that ‘oil pulling’ mouth cleanse thing with it, and made a successful sensitive skin balm by mixing it with chamomile and argan oil.

But in the kitchen, the coconut really comes into it’s own. Let me begin my ode to the loyal drupe and it’s many uses:

A fat : Lube up your cooking with the friendly opaque stuff.

A faux grain : Mix up some textured sweet treats, using desiccated coconut for bulk, flavour and crunch.

A cream : Thick like double cream, whip it, lick it, mix it and utilise it’s potent puddingy powers.

A milk : Shove it in your smoothie for a delicate and thinner creamer, full of flavour.

A water : Billed by many as ‘the most refreshing drink’ and even endorsed by a very thirsty Rihanna.

A sugar : This one came as a gigantic surprise to me. But this raw, natural, unbleached nectar comes from the sap of the palm tree and can be used as a granulated friend in baking and sprinkling!

Never has there been a more willing creation, in playing substitute in this often frustrating sport of elimination. I thank you coconut, it seems I can turn to you with all my problems.

Here’s a Haiku in it’s honour:

White Fruit, Nut, Seed, 

decorate and desiccate

bountiful nectar.

Please submit your coconut haiku in the comments!

 

Praise you

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Just Call Me “The Eliminator”

January 2, 2016
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January is pretty infamous for the phenomena of synchronised health kicks, new athleisurewear leggings, instagram super-juicing selfies, new tribes of gym hitters and faddy promise-the-world diets. But this January I am hitching a ride on the wagon of other people’s resolutions. Not so I can lose a few pounds of post yule flubber like them – but it’s a generally more accepting time to become an awkward eater. It’s an ideal moment to turn food focused and annoyingly particular, because well, everybody else is.

This month I am beginning an elimination diet.

People’s immediate reaction to the words ‘elimination’ and ‘diet’ after assuming it’s some weight loss regime to starve myself is to ask with a raised eyebrow; “well what exactly CAN you eat then?”

An exclusionary diet isn’t supposed to be about suffering or starving yourself, but it is about cutting out all the potential allergens, irritants and foods which may cause your gut and it’s garden of flora to be messy and overgrown, in need of a hoe and some new topsoil. As someone with Crohns it’s an excellent starting point to wipe the nutritional slate clean, feed up on the good stuff, before introducing the potentially problematic, trickier foods later into the equation. Much like ensuring a fair test in a lab, using my body’s shiny test tubes of digestion, my food consumption becomes the controlled variable, so that a month later, I can note any observations when I add those independent variables back in, like say a Yorkie or a lump of Cornish brie.

It has to be super strict, because one little slip-up renders the whole experiment void. I am lucky to be working with nutritionist Molly Sanders, who lives in Toronto. We are talking regularly over Skype and email, to learn more about my Crohns and it’s dietary triggers, as well as developing an ongoing eating plan to promote sustained wellness and remission. This particular plan is excellent for anyone with immune issues or conditions. So good news for me, as my partner Aimee and her eczema will be joining me throughout the intrepid exclusion.

The first month or ‘protocol 1’ as Molly has outlined; has 3 main aims:

  1. Reduce Inflammation
  2. Increase nutrient status
  3. Eliminate potential allergens

By now you’re probably wondering what foods I am eliminating for the month, so here’s a list :

Grains (bread, rice, quinoa, spelt, pasta, noodles, flour)

Sugar

Legumes (beans, peas, peanuts)

Dairy (cheese, milk, cream, butter)

Nuts/seeds

Shellfish (prawns, crab, mussels)

Nightshades (white potatoes, aubergines, tomatoes)

Eggs

Chocolate

Alcohol

Coffee

Black tea

Green tea

Now that you understand why I am doing this mad thing and are maybe even feeling a little impressed with me and hungry for some Nutella on toast, let me now confess and assure you that I am utterly terrified. I am one of those live-to-eat people, always gawping at food, for whom the promise of a filling lunch gets me through a tough morning at my desk, who reaches for a cheeky 3pm biscuit to pull me out of the afternoon slump, who inhales nuts and seeds when ‘grazing’ and procrastinating, and who on the commute home, dreams of melted cheese greeting me out of the oven. Yes, I feel pretty nervous about this protocol. And the things that makes me most nervous are;

Dairy: I don’t eat milk anymore (switched to almond years back) but by jove, cheese is always on my mind – and I just love a creamy sauce or a yoghurty dip.

Chocolate: Because it soothes me like a babe being swaddled.

Nuts: Because I am used to snacking on those when I want chocolate but know better.

Eggs: Because they bind things together into patties and pancakes of quick fix comfort.

The other eliminatees don’t worry me too much, as I have good experience of eating Paleo in the past and my diet is practically grain free already. I already don’t drink alcohol or coffee, so will only be giving up my morning brew for some herbal teas – no problemo.

The good news is, I have this blog for when it gets tough, Aimee to laugh with and keep me sane plus Molly down the line for sensible support. I have made a meal plan and know that the key to eating this way is preparation. Knowing that it’s not forever, should allow me to feel creative and positive, so that we can have fun with it.

We’re officially starting on Monday January 4th, and I have so far made a lamb bone broth, and will whizz together some fig blitzed coconut balls for sweet treats. Aimee is going to rustle up some salty winter vegetable crisps, and I am going to make a big batch of soup. So far we have argued only once, about old jars (?!)- probably because we have started our post Xmas sugar wean and are feeling the needy pangs.

But it’s okay, because food isn’t everything, right?

The Eliminator

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‘Healthy Living’

October 22, 2015
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I am staring at my second gluten free beer of the night. My intention was to go home and make a salad of bitter greens and eat some oily fish because a) I bought those greens last week and they are rotting as I type and b) oily fish in a can is both cheap and relatively healthy, if not exactly saliva inducing. That’s what a responsible broke person with auto­immune issues and a crummy thyroid would do. They would go home after work and patiently make that meal that aims to be both frugal and nourishing and as such succeeds also in being BORING AND JOYLESS AS FUCK. So I went to a nearby pub and got a great gluten free burger and two beers instead. I rested my legs. I revelled in doing nothing.

I’ve been extremely tardy in putting up my blog posts, but not because of my innate laziness. I work long hours, sometimes with commuting it amounts to 10 am ­ 10 pm, and that leaves time to shove anything ready­made in my mouth, browse the internet in bed, and fall asleep to dream of smashing all clocks like that kid in Hook. The alarm goes off nonetheless and I drag my puffy corpse out of bed to make an enormous coffee and maybe eat a boiled egg or if I’m feeling hopeless, a peanut butter cup.

This is not good for me, not by any standards. I know this. I know this intimately because with a body that is running at a disadvantage already, my food selection leaves me scraping by on energy fumes. I also know this because in bouts of chutzpah and motivation, I read books and blogs prescribing lifestyle and dietary changes, always with the same mermaid­haired, white­toothed, white­kitchened woman beaming at me with her “quick and easy” coconut rice, evil­free paleo curry and her 5­ minute breakfast smoothie and her immaculately lit and arranged grain ­free, sugar­free raspberry bars. Where do these bitches find the time and money to wrap things in twine?! These images fill me with deep guilt and self­disgust as I stare at them wearing a t­shirt off the floor, my greasy fringe grazing my unplucked eyebrows framing my baggy eyes staring at this unbelievable woman while I brush some chip crumbs off my chest and emit a hungover burp. Where do these people live? What do they do? I’ve come to the conclusion that they are all in some way, in finances or lifestyle, moms in LA. No one else could possibly proclaim the “simplicity” of that kind of life and believe what they are saying. It’s worse when they make some concession to the harrowed, hurried, stressed lives most people live with the encouragement that eating this way or sleeping that much or using lavender twigs as barettes is worth the effort. It is out of touch, it’s classist, and it’s patronizing.

The people I know work lousy jobs for the most part, for measley pay. They look for joy where and when they can. In going out with friends after a long day instead of getting that much ­needed 8 ­hour sleep. In having some sweet, sweet alcohol to take the edge off having 50 customers treat you like a whim­robot all day instead of making themselves a puritanical banana, camu­camu, date smoothie or paying $12 to have someone else do it. They eat potato chips because potato chips are fucking delicious and so few things in life that cost less than a twoonie/pound bring that much instant satisfaction, especially at 3 a.m. They hit snooze instead of waking up at dawn, in line with their circadian rhythms, to meditate on the crushing pace and fruitlessness of modern, capitalist life. The people I know need to pay rent.

But they aren’t dumb dumbs. They are also educated and aware and they know about their gut bacteria and environmental pollutants and all the ways modern life can slowly degenerate you. They try, when and where they can, to make good choices for their bods, because it does make you feel better to drink some water occasionally instead of a third gut­rotting coffee. Sometimes they buy probiotics on their credit card. My issue with the glut of current health blogs is the illusion of bright simplicity and vitality. Where’s the grit? Where are the single moms with canned food? (Jack Monroe excluded obviously, who is a wonder). 99% of my meals do not look like they do on instagram and you know what, nor should they. If the focus is health then let the focus be health, the messy, down­to­earth, salty, hearty pursuit of health. It should be about how to feel more functional without also feeling like a wet hemp napkin on a night out with friends, or like a failure because you can’t afford organic kale and now you’re going to get ab cancer. Oh wait you don’t have abs so it’s fine. Selling people images of pistachios placed just so, of god damn wooden boards and charming china, of women in “natural makeup” eating a bowl of food that costs as much as my free time and money budget for the day to make; is not helping anyone save the people who can already live like that. I want to see recipe pictures with chipped, ugly plates and the guts of the operation. We need blogs for working people, for stressed, depressed, clean­laundryless, scrambling for bus fare types. Direct and unmanicured and realistic about what’s possible. I’m hoping to make this one of those spots.

It won’t always be magnificent and hardly ever Pinterest­worthy, but I do hope it will give you some ideas for what to eat instead of the leftover half of Ritter Sport on your table, with as little fuss and money, and as much satisfaction as I know that chocolate can give.

health dani

 

Sincerely Glandy x

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