Embracing My Health

Back in April, I found this recipes for Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancakes. In some shape or form of the recipe, they have been a staple in our home. Me being me though, I’m always messing with recipes. Recently, I’ve landed on a combination that, for us, has been perfect. One of my goals in tweaking this recipe was making it packed with nutrition because Amira loves to eat them cold out of the refrigerator. I typically double this recipe so I have extras on hand just for that purpose.

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup sweet sorghum flour
2 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tbsp gluten-free baking powder
1 tbsp ground chia seeds (I buy mine online at Hildago Foods which is much cheaper than Salba brand)
1 scoop of Amazing Grass Kidz Superfood Chocolate Powder (optional)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I use vanilla hemp milk)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp agave syrup
2 tbsp safflower oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Create a well in the middle and add remaining ingredients. Use a whisk and mix gently for about a minute.  If the batter is too thick (chia soaks up liquid fast!), mix in more liquid (more water or hemp milk) to preferred consistency.  Let the batter rest while you preheat your griddle on medium-high heat. Grease griddle lightly with extra virgin coconut oil. Flip your pancakes when you see the air bubbles begin to disappear.

We serve them with maple syrup, fresh fruit, applesauce, peanut butter, or whatever else you love on your pancakes. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! If you try them, let me know what you think.

Shopping the produce section can be disheartening these days. Paul & I LOVE avocados and we’ve been doing without more often because they cost $3 a piece! Grocery prices have gone up in every aisle. Most of us are looking for ways to stick to our commitment of eating healthier without eating through the cash in our wallets at the same time.

I’ve always preferred buying organic produce, and after Amira was born, it was even more important to me. But we’ve been on harder times financially in recent years and buying all organic produce just isn’t practical or possible. When lists came out giving me invaluable information on which produce items are most heavily sprayed and covered with pesticides and those that aren’t… now that’s some information I can use! So here’s a quick cheat sheet for you!

12 fruits and vegetables that you can BUY CONVENTIONAL if you can’t afford the organic:

• Broccoli
• Eggplant
• Cabbage
• Banana
• Kiwi
• Asparagus
• Sweet peas (frozen)
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Sweet corn (frozen)
• Avocado
• Onion

12 fruits and vegetables that you should try to always BUY ORGANIC:

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet bell peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Lettuce
• Grapes (imported)
• Pears
• Spinach
• Potatoes

Click here for a complete and printable list of 43 fruits and vegetables from the best to worst in terms of pesticides. And to read detailed information on pesticides, nutritional variations between organic and conventional produce and GMO produce, read this article on Dr. Mercola’s website.

I’m finding the online version of FitDay a little frustrating. After using the PC version for so long, the limitations of the freebie online program is disappointing. I think I’ll skip using the online version and just include my food on my daily entries. So real quickly, here’s today:

1/2 cup hempmilk
a banana
Chicken Baja Bowl at Taco Del Mar
3 marshmallows (you know there is nothing healthy at marshmallows at all… nothing… sigh)
Bora Bora Apple Cinnamon Nut Bar
Cherry Chocolate protein shake with 1 tsp salba oil

My energy levels were horrible today. I’m going to chalk it up to not having enough sleep over the last week. Tomorrow I’m going to be taking a day of fasting and prayer to hold up some dear friends that are going through difficult days. The last time I attempted to fast, my blood sugar didn’t allow me to complete the day. I’m hoping that my blood sugar levels have stabilized over the last year of improved health. It’s definitely been less of a problem. That said, I haven’t tried to go without food for a day. So, we’ll see.

Talk to you tomorrow.

I missed Day 2 yesterday because I spent the morning taking care of Amira. She woke up sick because of something she ate. I think it was wheat related, but I’m not certain. The rest of the afternoon, I was helping another friend who is going through an extremely difficult time. I’m grateful that I was in a place to help them. The thing I noticed about my day yesterday was that while I cared for Amira & my friend – I didn’t take care of myself by eating well. I let myself off the hook for sticking to the food choices I’ve laid out for myself.

Helping and being there for others doesn’t mean not taking care of ourselves. There is a temptation to think of these things as mutually exclusive. I’m reading a book on parenting right now. The introduction to the book said: before you do anything else… you must take care of yourself. You can’t expect yourself to be and do the things you want to as a parent unless your physical, mental and emotional needs are taken care of as well. This is another example of it.

Today is Day 3 and I’ve done okay. I skipped breakfast (yeah, a no-no), but ate a good lunch of a turkey sandwich and a side of cantaloupes and bananas. We went to an art festival and I indulged in a scoop of ice cream. I was surprised how “ungood” it was… AND it didn’t sit real well either. It’s a good reminder that often the idea of a certain food is more enticing than the actual thing itself.

Good enough that Paul and Amira both shared it with me and liked it:

1 serving Sun Warrior Protein (Natural Flavor)
1 mango
1 med Fuji apple
1 small bunch of spinach, stems removed
2 tbsp golden flax seed meal
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 packet SweetLeaf SteviaPlus

I had intended to include some avocado in this recipe, but forgot. I’ll try it next time. Avocadoes are great for adding healthy fats and a creamy smoothness.

After losing my tooth, I’ve found eating vegetables, especially raw vegetables like salads, is very uncomfortable and difficult. Other foods are a challenge too – but especially veggies. Given how critical vegetables are to my health, I’ve been getting my daily servings in the form of smoothies. I have a juicer which has been really helpful. I would love to get a VitaMixer some day – but for now, my old juicer will do me.

I’ve been tracking down green smoothie recipe combinations. I’m still in experimentation mode right now – but will share favorites with you as I find them. If you have any favorites, please do share!

A premade greens drink that I really like is The Ultimate Meal. In reality, it is more than just greens as it has pretty much anything and everything you could need in a single serving – hence their naming it “The Ultimate Meal”. I love it served with an apple and banana as they recommend… and I also like it with mango. I also add some cinnamon to taste. I’ve found cinnamon cuts some of the bitterness that can sometimes come with a greens smoothie. The health benefits of cinnamon are also excellent, so it just makes sense.

In each greens drink, I also make sure to include a small amount of a healthy fat. I’ve mentioned before, including a small amount of fat will allow your body to absorb all the potent nutrition in a greens smoothie.

And if you are doing a lot of greens smoothies, remember to chew. Yes, counterintuitive, I know. But don’t just swallow the drink straight down. Keep it in your mouth. Your saliva is an important part of proper digestion. Our saliva is mostly water but also contains enzymes, antibacterial compounds and electrolytes. Let your saliva mix in with everything you eat — don’t rush it. The salivary enzymes, such as lysozyme and ptyalin, begin the critical digestion process before the food you eat is even swallowed. There is a saying: “Drink the solid foods, and chew your liquid food…” It takes some attentiveness and practice, but it will improve your bodies ability to assimilate what you give it. That ability is the cornerstone to building a healthier body.

I’m finding that choosing the right foods and the right amounts is pretty easy for me during the day (mostly). Evenings, however, the snack-a-beast tends to rear its ugly head. I’ve been asking myself why that might be. What habits have I made that encourage unhealthy snacking? And why do I feel like snacking if and when I don’t need food?

The reasons that I think are contributing to my nighttime snacking are:

1. Not eating enough and ending up hungry and craving food at the end of the day
2. Social eating– evenings are when I get to spend time with Paul. Making a snack and chatting together before a movie or at a break is an enjoyable time.
3. There’s a tendency for the eating to be more mindless — when I am eating, I tend to be distracted by a movie, visiting with friends, talking, working on the computer, etc.
4. Misplaced reward – when I’ve been good all day, I find myself thinking, “I can afford this or that treat – I’ve been good all day.”

I think for a lot of people, evenings are the let-your-hair-down, it’s “my time”, “I can finally relax” time. We’ve been pushing ourselves through the day to get all our responsibilities completed. During the day, we are accustomed to being disciplined about what we are doing. I think that may make it easier to apply discipline to our food choices. But evening rolls around and we shed our productive, efficient, and responsible selves and let ourselves treat ourselves to either the wrong kinds of food… or food we don’t need. We feel like we deserve a break. And we do.

Except.

I am working to be healthy. I want to live my life with optimal physical health and fitness. So here’s where I become motivated to redefine what “my time” means. Does it mean I can eat whatever I want… in whatever amounts appeal? It can’t if I’m going to live the life I want physically.

Here’s where we brainstorm together. What fills the need for … or is even better… than eating in the relaxing evening hours? Ideas? What lifestyle habits can we create to give ourselves the rest, relaxation and rejuvenation we need at the end of day without compromising our physical health and well-being? Share them. I’ll be doing some research and will share what I find alongside with your wisdom too!

I’m cooking a pan of broccoli right now.  It brought to mind something that I think may feel counterintuitive to someone who might be thinking about losing weight.  To benefit from the nutrition packed benefits of vegetables like broccoli, you need to eat it with healthy fats.  It doesn’t need to be swimming in fat, but you do want to add healthy fats like extra virgin olive, flaxseed, nutseed, avocado and coconut oil.  Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is probably my favorite for cooking vegetables.  I love adding a 1/4 avocado to my salads too.  Yum!

In reality, you want to add healthy fats, in some form, to every meal.  Many of the vitamins that our body requires for optimal functioning are fat soluble.  In other words, they need fat to be absorbed properly.  If you are going to go through the work of eating these high quality, high nutrition foods filled with phytonutrients, antioxidants and critical vitamins… do yourself a favor and make sure your body is able to benefit from it!

Question from my friend:

Why are you avoiding potatoes, bell peppers, and tomatoes?? I don’t know if I could live without those!!

I forgot what’s the name of those herbal tea “drops” that you told me about a long time ago??

Okay, easy one first – the tea drops. The drops are green tea, not herbal – but still very tasty. I brew our iced tea at home, but I use the tea drops anytime I’m out and about. There are two brands that I use. Pure Inventions and HerbaSway. Pure Inventions makes a very good product line of teas, especially the peach flavor. They are pricey though (around $30/bottle) and I recommend finding someone to buy them from on eBay. It will save you as much as $9 a bottle, occasionally more. I tend to buy from this seller, but you can always find others selling it on eBay. I can usually get the HerbaSway teas for quite a bit cheaper than the cheapest Pure Inventions. I buy the HerbaSway teas from our local discount natural foods store, Super Supplements. They sell the peach tea for $16/bottle.

Onto the more difficult question. First, I love potatoes, bell peppers and tomatoes! I’m with you on finding it difficult to live without them. And I won’t forever. But while I’m working back toward optimal health, I’m going to go without for a time. Here’s why.

All three of these foods are the nightshade family. Nightshade plants can cause an inflammatory reaction in the body. Nightshade plants contain an alkaloid called solanine, which many people find causes pain and inflammation in their bodies. (Note: the solanine is found in the green portions and any growths of a potato – remove these to reduce/eliminate solanine consumption. Same is true with green peppers which are actually just that, green and unripe.  Eat the red, yellow and orange peppers to avoid excess solanine.) For example, many arthritis sufferers find if they remove the nightshade plants from their diet, the pain and inflammation in their joints are significantly reduced. Eczema and psoriasis sufferers have found relief by removing nightshade plants from their diets as well. The nightshade plants also contain other problematic elements like nicotine, scopolamine , atropine, solanine, and more)

Nightshade plants haven’t been proven to cause problems in everyone. Most people will benefit from removing them from their diet for a while and then reintroducing them. Once you reintroduce them into your diet, you will find if you have a reaction or not.  From that, you will know whether it is smart for you to avoid them in your diet permanently.  Also, if you do include them in your diet, try to go organic. Nightshade plants are notorious for being heavily treated with pesticides… and because of their thin skins, they absorb a lot of the toxic pesticides.

One additional note on potatoes. Potatoes are virtually pure starch… aka sugar. The body breaks down the starch in potatoes directly into sugar. Since I’m working to bring down the amount of sugar my body processes, eating potatoes is going to be counterproductive to that. I’m not avoiding sugar simply because of the calories but because of the what sugar does to the body (I can share more about that in another post down the road.)

When I think about my food choices, my number one goal is optimal nutrition. With that in mind, here is a general list of the foods I want to include and those I want to avoid. I’m choosing foods that reduce inflammation in the body. Inflammation in our bodies, scientists are finding, is the cause of many, if not all of our ills. Inflammation has been tied to allergies, asthma, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. In the last few years, it’s become clear that inflammation is the enemy in our bodies to fight. If we want optimal health, eliminating and preventing inflammation is a key way to do it. (Good article on Conscious Choice on this topic)

Foods I will be avoiding:

• Grains: wheat/gluten
• Dairy: Cheese, eggs, milk (kefir and whey protein will be an exception)
• Fats: butter, shortening, margarine
• Protein: beef, soy, tofu, eggs
• Desserts: anything with sugar, HFCS/corn syrup
• Nuts: peanuts
• Vegetables: corn, potatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, tomatoes
• Drinks: alcohol, coffee, milk, soft drinks

Foods I will be including:

• Grains: rice, tapioca bread, teff, amaranth, quinoa
• Fats: cold-pressed oils including safflower, sesame, walnut, vegetable, coconut oil
• Protein: wild fish, legu8mes/beans, free-range/organic chicken
• Desserts: fresh fruits, desserts sweetened with natural sweeteners such as honey, molasses, maple syrup, Stevia, agave syrup
• Nuts: all nuts and seeds except peanuts and only in moderation
• Fruits: focusing on getting high nutrition powerfood fruits, and minimizing high glycemic fruits (like watermelon, cantaloupe, raisins)
• Vegetables: All veggies except those mentioned above — focus on getting leafy greens and powerfood vegetables.
• Drinks: water, non-caffeinated and herbal teas, hemp milk

Notice I’m saying foods to avoid and those I will encourage. I’m not pushing for perfection or 100% compliance to these food choices. I am pushing for a lifestyle shift, where the majority (say 90% or more) of my diet comes from anti-inflammatory foods. I’ll share my favorites foods as I go along. I already know a few that I already love and will be sharing.