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Archive for the ‘Diet’ Category

How to make kale edible

Posted in Diet, Fibromyalgia, MS, Recipes, Uncategorized on June 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Because, let’s face it, it ain’t chocolate…

  1. Chop very small
  2. Saute with onion and garlic
  3. Add a tablespoon of coconut vinegar
  4. Add freshly chopped herbs (mint and dill)
  5. Add some lamb, rice, and coconut amigos.
  6. Enjoy a tasty dinner which doesn’t even have a hint of kale about

Alternatively, blend with pineapple, cilantro, mint and avocado. Really, it’s better than it sounds.

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Diet and Nutrition Aisle

Posted in Diet, Gripes, Uncategorized on June 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

When I went to get my elimination diet book, I had to face the Diet and Nutrition aisle at Barnes and Noble. OMG, SO DEPRESSING! It took me a long time to dig through all the diet plans that promise you’ll lose 20 lbs in 30 days and find the single book on a diet that has been used by doctors and nutritionists for years to pin point food sensitivities.

Losing weight is about finding a diet you can eat for the rest of your life and moving more.The problem with diets is, if it’s not a plan you can stick too long term, the pounds will come back along with a few more of its little friends.

Under normal circumstances, I walk my dog 4 miles before breakfast and clock up 105,000 steps a week. While there are some exercises I need to add to my routine, I actually do far more exercise than a lot of people who are a “normal” weight.

Now, there are implications if one is heavier, but shouldn’t we be focusing on health first? Eating whole foods, cooking meals at home rather than eating out all the time (yes, I know this is a drag) and moving more instead of being hooked up to electronics? I am guilty of that too, so this is not a judgement, more a comment on how dependent we have become on our devices.

 

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Here I go yet again…

Posted in Diet, Fibromyalgia, MS, Uncategorized on June 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Back to cleansing (and blogging apparently), only this time I’ve not been sold some expensive powder mix. I am working from a book, “The Elimination Diet” by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre (Grand Central Life & Style, March 2015). I love this book for a number of reasons:

  • It’s easy to read
  • It makes sense to me
  • It’s focus is on health and feeling well and not on losing weight (though I am)
  • It provides recipes for all stages of the diet
  • There is liberal use of ginger, garlic and fresh herbs (a plus for those of us who hate vegetables from the brassica family)
  • There are no calorie counts provided
  • The plan is laid out for you, which makes it super easy to follow.

I am on day 5 of the plan. This is the detox phase where the number of ingredients is very small (certain veg, fruits, chia seeds, garlic, ginger and fresh herbs) and everything is either blended or juiced. The book is written for a 2 day detox, but this can be extended up to 7. I had plumped for 4 days given how long I’ve felt ill and have extended this to 5 since I can smell success on the horizon!

So how do I feel? Well, tired and I’ve been having headaches, but overall I beginning to feel better. My energy has improved, my body doesn’t seem to hurt as much and the grumpy cat is actually quite happy! I am very surprised at the happy part given how miserable this made me last time, but what is even more surprising is I’m not hungry all the time. I actually have hope that this will help improve my life.

 

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Brownie heaven…

Posted in Diet, Recipes on November 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

So many gluten free products seem to end up dry or gritty. These little beauties are awesome though!

Gluten free brownies

  • 7 ounces high quality dark chocolate
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/2 cup of shredded coconut
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 organic free-range eggs, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla essence
  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8×8 cake pan with parchment paper.
  2. In a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, melt the chocolate and butter together.
  3. In another mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
  4. Add the eggs, vanilla and melted chocolate/butter mixture and combine.
  5. If mixture is too stiff, add a little almond milk (or your milk of choice).
  6. Scrape mixture into prepared cake pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
  7. Cool for 10 minutes in tin and then place on a cooling rack.
  8. ENJOY!

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Fennel Risotto

Posted in Diet, Recipes on October 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I love risotto. Normally I would make it with butter and parmesan cheese, but this version was lovely and didn’t even need the cheese. WIN!

Fennel Risotto, serves 4

  • 1 onion chopped
  • blub fennel chopped
  • 1 pepper chopped
  • 1 pack of sliced mushrooms
  • 100g of homemade pasta sauce (See Pasta Sauce)
  • pint vegetable stock
  • 3.5 cups of wild or brown rice
  1. Sauté onion with a little olive oil. Add pepper and fennel after a couple of minutes followed by the mushrooms a couple of minutes after that.
  2. Cook until the vegetables are soft and the onions translucent.
  3. Add rice and sauté for a couple of minutes
  4. Add about ¼ of the stock and simmer until it is absorbed by the rice.
  5. Keep adding small increments of stock until the rice is cooked (check package but about 50 minutes) Stir homemade pasta sauce and serve once it’s all heated.</li>

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Pasta Sauce

Posted in Diet, Recipes on October 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Since I am on this cleanse, lots of foods are out and there is an emphasis on whole minimally processed foods. I love red sauce, (not just on pasta) so I decided to have a go at making and preserving my own. I have kept the ingredients to a minimum so that I can add different things depending on the meal.

Pasta Sauce, makes 2l (~64 oz)

  • 2 onions copped
  • 6-8 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1 glass red wine
  • 6lbs of tomatoes
  • Fresh basil
  1. Slit the skins of the tomatoes and blanch in boiling water until skins start to peel. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
  2. Sauté onions and garlic on a low heat with a little olive oil stirring frequently. The aim is to cook the onions so they are translucent but not very coloured, so low and slow.
  3. Add wine and leave to reduce
  4. Peel the tomatoes, and chop coarsely removing the core.
  5. Add tomatoes, cover the pan and leave to simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally and adding the chopped basil about half way through.
  6. Using a hand blender, roughly blend so that there is still texture, but no large pieces of tomato or onion.
  7. If not using immediately, bottle and seal. For information on canning see “Boiling Water Bath Canning – Including Jams, Jellies, and Pickled Products“

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Reasons to be cheerful 1, 2, 3

Posted in Diet, Gripes, Weather on October 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

  1. Rain!!!! Glorious, glorious rain!
  2. Paleo breakfast cereal
  3. Wholefoods

Two days of rain 🙂 Some of it was pretty heavy too. I love the sound and the smell and the fact that it just isn’t sunny. The downside is the numpties on the roads. The drivers in this area are not good on any day in any weather, but the rain adds an extra dimension to this. You have the morons who slow down to a crawl in the 3rd lane, and the maniacs who continue to tailgate and weave. Both classes are prone to forgetting even the most basic of safety precautions such as turning on their headlights.

Paleo breakfast ceral really doesn’t have any downsides. It’s nomilicious and I know exactly what went into it.

There is a reason wholefoods is called whole paycheque. On the upside, I have found some awesome things that are making this new diet easier, such as sugar made from coconut blossom, unsweetened vanilla almond milk and cultured coconut milk. They also have lots of organic stuff. Now if they could just be a wee it cheaper, I’d be grateful.

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My afternoon shake

Posted in Diet on October 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The “Green Goddess”, not so celestial actually

This is a picture of my afternoon shake right after I had retrieved my phone from the cup. What is most telling is that not only did it not sink, it left an indentation.

Now do you see why the Grump Cat is grumpy?!

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So here I go again…

Posted in Diet on October 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Lead into a song maybe? You got to love the 80’s for music…

So blogetery ate my blog. It was a new blog too. I was actually quite enjoying ranting about how miserable my 21 day cleanse was making me. And let me tell you, it was making me very miserable! I’m on day 6 now, and having been allowed 4oz of chicken and 2 eggs a day, I am feeling better than I was.

Days 1 – 5 consisted of vegetables, more vegetables and shakes. The shakes also contain vegetables. Getting the picture? I was starving, had a migraine and was very, very grumpy. By day 4, I felt so awful I took the day off work. By yesterday morning, I was desperate and went to my acupuncturist for advise. Yesterday evening, I was eating rice, chicken with home made red sauce. Real food! I’m not saying vegetables aren’t real food. They just don’t taste good; they need to balanced with proteins at the very least.

So why am I subjecting myself to this hell? I have MS. I was only diagnosed recently after many years and many doctors and now I know what’s wrong with me, I want to do what I can to make myself better. Yeah, this isn’t fun, but having MS is even less fun.

Lets hope day 6 is the start of things to come and not days 1 to 5. If not TheGrumpyCat will be very grumpy indeed.

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