Shift

I hope to use this blog as an organizational tool to help me better meal plan and feed my family. Still hoping to use minimal sugar and gluten, this will be an everyday-type, all-encompassing menu blog. Therefore, I will be using categories to try to keep things organized : Season, meal, focus, and possibly even main ingredients.

Some of the categories I am going to start out with are:
spring
summer
autumn
winter
breakfast
lunch
supper
snack
beverage
dessert
gluten free
refined sugar free
dairy free
vegan
vegetarian

One foot in front of the other

I'm still working my minimal sugar and gluten intake. I did have a breakdown this weekend. Who knew a half cup of chocolate chips was over 500 calories? Jeezapete.

I found this article over the weekend. It is fairly basic, but has good info to know.

http://www.skinny-bits.com/2012/07/skinny-on-sweeteners.html

I hope to have something worthwhile to say before too long.

Hidden Sugars, again

As I wrote before, it is the hidden sugars, the sugars called by other names, that make dramatically limiting sugar so challenging. They are everywhere. We know not to eat Skittles. But Salsa? Why would anyone put sugar in salsa? 

These following terms represent added sugars: brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, invert sugar, maltose, malt syrup, molasses, sugar, and sucrose.

Here is an info graphic about Sugar Consumption. I had told my sister a few months ago that when I ate sugar, I noticed my arms and legs were achy. On this info graphic, they list "aching limbs" as being tied to sugar consumption. Hhmmm.

When I start to feel weak, like I really don't need to be worried about all this sugar my family is eating, I just look for inspiration. Sarah Wilson is at the top of my list. I don't remember how I found her, but I am glad I did. Her approach is kind but no nonsense. I have bought both her e-book and her e-cookbook. They are both worth the money.

I think the best answer is to make all your own food. I am learning that we just can't trust the food industry or the government. I don't want to sound like a paranoid woman. But I just keep seeing that very few people out there are looking out for the health of my family. I must do it. I must read every label. I must bake and stir and grow and freeze and can and dry and mix and puree, as much as I am able.
 

Debrief

So, my sister and I were just together at the beach for two whole, entire weeks. It wasn't long enough. It never will be. Even though, we had a wonderful time enjoying each other's children and catching up and just being together.

Before our trip we had lots of goals for our time together. They were pretty much all food related. We would eat/serve no processed food. We would eat/serve no refined sugar, no gluten. Karen and I would eat no dairy. Karen and I would eat raw for 3-4 days.

Before my children and I headed down to the coast, I dehydrated corn chips, flax crackers, and granola--all raw. Karen and I discussed many meal options. We were ready for achieve.

The thing is, really, overall, it was pretty overwhelming. I definitely am one to bite off more than I can chew, and this case was no different. I wouldn't say that we were unsuccessful, but we were not stringent enough to meet the goals full on. We ate very little processed foods. Honestly, I can't think of any right now, but I know there were a few. I ate gluten one time the entire two weeks--gumbo, a personal weakness. I ate about two bites of chocolate and ate ice cream two nights. Karen and I almost made it two days eating raw. In the end, it was the desire for alcohol that did us in. I had not had any alcohol for 3 weeks prior to the raw bust though.

I can't do it all. I really can't. I have to decide what is important to me. How do I want my family to eat? What do I want my children's relationship with food to be? How do I want my children to see me and my relationship with food and with my body?

The answers to these questions are fluid. But for me, right now, gluten and sugar are where I want to focus my energies. I don't think much of either are healthy for any of us. I don't want to make a big deal of it. I don't want to draw all this attention to it. I just want to serve healthy food that I can feel good feeding my family and myself. And, I want them to eat it.

So I do feel okay about our beach goals because I think we were intentional and not overly dogmatic. And really, that is about all I can do, all I can be. 

Now we are back home, missing my sister and her family and eating as best we can.

Week Two, mid-week: Katie

Yesterday I found a website for moms, a well-grounded life, that I like. One thing she writes about is sugar addiction. I read something from her that was new news to me:

Seeking Balance :: Refined sugar is devoid of any nutrients. Our body needs nutrients to complete the digestion process. In order for sugar to be processed, it must actually grab vitamins and minerals from your body’s stores to complete its digestion.

So sugar robs us of nutrients every time we eat it. This leaves us with an unsatisfied feeling and a need to replace the drained nutrient reserve. We become hungry and crave more food. 

For my second week, I am doing fine. I've walked with weights one day and done yoga one morning. I haven't had any alcohol so far this week and I've had no sugar or gluten. My coffee consumption is back to its sky-high levels though. Small steps. 

The children and I are going out of town coming up. These are times where I falter. I've got to prepare for the car travel and the dining out of home experiences. 

Week One: Katie

I read a good article this morning on the evils of refined flours. Many of the symptoms resulting from eating refined flour are the same as those for eating refined sugar. The article also hints at possible reasons why so many people now have issues with gluten.

I have a theory, and that is that really everyone in our country should drastically limit or eliminate gluten from their diet. I think the increase in processed foods, genetically modified grains, over-processing of grains, and other modern day conveniences have made gluten a poison. I have another theory, and that is that I like to have lots of theories.

One quote from the article: “It is so much easier to overconsume any food where the work of chewing or digesting or separating fiber from starch has been done for us,” says functional nutritionist Julie Starkel, MS, MBA, RD.

So my first week of this self-directed journey went well but contained two missteps. I went out to eat with a friend on Wednesday to a deli that makes splendid pimento cheese. I love pimento cheese. So I caved and got the sandwich. Grilled pimento cheese. Delicious. Then, yesterday I couldn't let go of the notion of eating chocolate. So, after several hours, I caved and fixed me a big bowl of popcorn with chocolate chips in it. It was yummy and just the snack I needed. I maybe because I paired the chocolate with popcorn it didn't trigger more sugar cravings like often happens. Onward into week two....

Here I go again...

So, I've been doing fairly well with the no sugar. Not near perfect though. I had a birthday party slip. Then this evil man at the grocery store was giving samples of "Sin in a Tin." I caved and tried. Then I caved and bought. Then I caved at ate the whole damn thing in about 24 hours.

I read a sentence in a blog a few days ago that continues to reverberate in my head : "It is more peaceful for me without the struggle." She is talking about the struggle of how much sugar to eat. She does better without any. The same is true for me. I know I still have struggles ahead. I probably always will. But I do find a peace when I am not eating any sugar, a peace that I don't have when I am riding the roller coaster of sugar highs and lows, the lack of control and guilt that goes along with sugar binging.


So today, I am back on the wagon, which is a not the right metaphor. I am continuing the journey. I am continuing to learn. I am going to continue to be kind to myself. One way to be kind is not to struggle.