Effects of Starch andSugar on Nina's Belly

In one of these pictures I am 4 months pregnant.  The other, well, I just ate too much starch and too much fruit.  The resulting coctail in my belly caused a ton of bloating and inflammation.  Yuck! This wasn't even from eating anything "really" against the rules; just mostly legal junk food.  Can you tell which is which?

I feel pretty disgusting, although it's not the emotional roller coaster that cheating with illegal foods is.  I am super tired, and my seasonal allergies have all of a sudden flared up again.

I still feel really good when I am eating primarily animal products, and I have so much more energy without the crazy insulin spikes that I used to have.  For the few weeks before this, I was eating very well, mostly primal foods (no grain, lots of meat, some nuts/seeds, some veggies, a little bit of fruit, and very little starchy foods).  For breakfast I eat 3-4 eggs cooked in bacon drippings and ghee or coconut oil, 2-3 pieces of bacon and/or an avocado.  I have been having coconut milk yoghurt for a snack, but I think that is one of the things contributing to my stomach issues.  Even though it's a "healthy" brand, it's still got crap in it.  For lunch I was having left overs like the Beef and Liver Chile, or a hamburger, or a croc pot chicken with veggies.  I was using a bit of chicken stock too.  Dinner was kind of like lunch, and I would through in some baked goods using almond meal and hiding some squash in them so that Nick would eat some veggies.  While I was doing this I actually dropped a few pounds...so I tried adding in more starches and fruit, and that is how I ended up where I am now :/ I need to figure out how to keep the weight on without making myself uncomfortable....So, I guess I am proof that fat doesn't make you fat, and if you are looking to drop weight, the best way to do that is to eat foods that show your body that good nourishing food is plentiful! Healthy animal products, including the fat, is a good way to do that.  If you just aren't that comfortable with animal products, or you aren't getting good quality meat, you should try to eat fish or add coconut oil and avocado to your diet.  Remember if you are getting healthy a lot, you are either really just thirsty, or you aren't giving your body the nutrients you need, and you should add in some more nutrient dense foods.  I'm coming to the conclusion that everyone should be eating WAY less grains....

Paleo Bread and Baked Avocado Breakfast

I have a really juicy post coming up soon, but I needed to get this recipe somewhere accessible.  So enjoy this (it's really good!) and hold on to your hats for the next post. 

In the meantime, here is a generic "paleo" recipe for grain free bread:

paleo bread:
1.5 c almond flour or almond meal
1/4 c ground flax
1/4 tsp celtic sea salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
5 eggs
1 tbs honey
1 tbs cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 tbs coconut oil (plus some extra to grease pan)


Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  This will leave the bread yummy and moist, but still able to handle toasting.  If you want it a little crispier right out of the oven, it can definitely handle a few more minutes.  Oh yeah, if you look at the ingredients, you see baking soda and vinegar...this will bubble up - and you should let it, it helps the bread be a little less dense :)

Oh yeah, this is an awesome base for making banana bread, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, or....french toast!!

I really like to eat breakfast.  I saw something a while back about baking an egg in an avocado, and thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find a recipe! It's super simple, and oh so delicious! And not to mention that it's brimming with wonderful nutrients and health fats, so it will really hold you over until lunch time.  Which is excellent.  And what's nice is that it's not overly heavy either.  I can devour this and then take Nick for a walk downtown to the playground.  So, here it is:


1 avocado, sliced in half (remove the pitt and scrape out a little extra fruit to make room for the egg if needed). You may also want to hack off a tiny bit of the bottom so that the avocado doesn't tip over.
2 eggs
Bacon, and any other fixin's that you like (i.e. tomato, salsa, whatever)


Preheat the oven to 350 and put your skillet in the oven while is heats to warm it up.  Crack one egg in each half of the avocado and place in the warm skillet.  Place 2 slices of the paleo bread in the skillet to toast with the eggs and avocado.  Let bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how runny you like your eggs.
While the eggs are cooking, it is SO worth it to fry up some bacon!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

No More Garlic Allergy!!

Well, I have "cured" my garlic allergy, which as it turned out wasn't really an allergy at all.  My suspicion about having a rather large yeast problem seems to be what has been wreaking havoc on my system.  I'm not entirely surprised.  This means I am a huge leap closer to being in the full GAPS diet protocol.  Or Simple Carbohydrate Diet.  Or eating Primal/Paleo.  Whatever, it's all pretty much the same thing. 

Recently I have been really good about cutting out dairy and gluten, and keeping it out.  Not only that, but I have made some really good progress in terms of going totally grain free, and I have cut out most fruits too.  It's definitely an adjustment, but with the way I have been feeling, I barely look back.  When I do "cheat", usually because I have not packed enough food for a day out, or am away from home longer than I anticipate, I feel pretty yucky.  And then the cravings hit...having milk, and bread, and cheese, and chips around is like keeping a pack of butts in the house after you have quit smoking.  I shut what I could into the closet so that I don't have to look at it when I open the cabinet, but my subconscious knows it's there!  So far so good!

Anyway, so I figured out that the garlic allergy was actually a yeast problem by adding coconut oil to my green smoothies on a more regular basis.  I knew something in them was causing me some digestive upset, but I wasn't sure what.  So I tried changing up the ingredients, and lo and behold it was the coconut oil.  It's no coincidence that the coconut oils has wonderful anti-fungal properties... so I started using more of it instead of avoiding it.  And after about a week, I stopped getting bloated.  Hmmmm, know what else is a potent antifungal? Garlic! So I tried eating some fresh garlic....nothing! WhoooHooo!! Boy how I missed that flavour! And the added bonus is that I started to be able to tolerate probiotics!! I am only taking Nick's dose of 5 billion, and I should be working my way up to 50 billion....so I have a ways to go.  But definitely progress; so this means that just by eating the coconut oil and garlic and by avoiding sugar, dairy, and grains as much as possible, I have started to kill off the yeast!

So while I feel super encouraged that I have identified what my issue is, I know it's going to be a tricky road to go down...avoiding all sugars, including fruit, and all grains, and all starchy veggies....Hmmm.  That's a toughie.  So I came up with a sort of sugar free treat to help bridge the gap between all out sugar and sugar free.  I know from experience that trying to go cold turkey is a recipe for disaster. 

Now I feel really good about having separated my problems from Nicks...and he is getting better too.  Although, his symptoms went south as soon as I tried to eat some handy gluten free convenience foods, (I think it's the corn), so it just cements my resolve to quit all grains.  Luckily he really seems to like the real foods...I just need to get him to take one bite at a time! 

This little gem is the perfect summertime cool down, great for kids and adults!  For adults, I recommend a fancy cup, and for those who drink can add some rum and this would be totally fabulous.  For kids, just pour into Popsicle molds. 

 

 

Creamsicle!

This is ridiculously yummy, and it tastes just like the real thing! All you need is coconut milk, orange juice, pear juice, and vanilla extract...and ice for the adult beverage.

Firstly, I open my coconut milk the night before (the kind from a can - with the cream, not the light version - coconut fat is really good for you!), so it will get nice and firm. 

Then I squeezed the juice from one orange and added just a dash of pear juice (you probably wouldn't miss this if you didn't have any).  And about a teaspoon of vanilla extract.  I poured this off into popsicle molds, and then blended the rest with ice to create this wonderful, amazing refreshing elixir!  It was absolutely perfect for the 90-100 degree weather we had!