Whole30 Week 3 Eats/Update

I am going to be totally 100% honest here.  How am I doing on the Whole30?  Good and bad, in equal parts.  Here is the good:

-I have finally broken free of my desire for sweetened coffee!  This is huge, probably the biggest thing for me.  I don't care to sweeten my daily cup o' joe anymore and I am truly ecstatic over this.  Some cinnamon and cream and I am good to go.
-I am totally dunzo with peanuts and beans, and don't miss them in the least.  They make me uncomfortable and give me crazy nausea.  Good riddance.
-I'm fine with drinking water, tea, or decaf coffee, whereas I used to crave  diet drinks.
-I do not miss treats, cookies, etc at all.
-I do not miss cheese at all, goodbye cheese.  (I do continue to use cream and butter though.)
-Starch is a big problem for me, intestinally.  Anytime I ingest any amount of starch I pay for it big time.  I have felt much better eliminating starches from my diet.

The Bad:
-8 weeks of absolutely nothing sweet at all has been rough.  It was fine the first 6 weeks or so, but now I am just dying for a little dried fruit.  That's all I want!  No cookies or treats, just some dried fruit as a snack.  I have had some here and there and then felt really guilty.  I have been able to stop myself, but a few times I have soooo wanted to go to town on something and just barely been able to walk away.
-I am tired of snacking on nuts and I overindulge and then feel gross.  It is annoying to only be able to snack on protein and nuts.  I keep lots of veggies in the house but they need some sort of preparation/thawing and that is not really what a snack is, essentially.  Snacks are my downfall!
-I have not done as good a job as I hoped I would.  Taking bites and tastes of things I shouldn't.  However, I have been 100% faithful to the no peanuts and no beans.
-My blood sugars have been a little wacko, I can't pinpoint why exactly.  I feel like things I used to ingest without issue are now giving me a lot of trouble.  I'll have to continue to monitor this.  I have not been using any sweeteners of any kind, so I know it's not that.  It could just be my diabetes progressing, who knows.
-My tummy has actually been kind of bothering me.  No discernible pattern to it, it could be anything, I could have a bug, not be drinking enough water, I don't know.  I'm not sure why, but I felt amazing during my sweetener detox, and then now that I am doing Whole30 I've had some problems.  It very well could be that I was super strict on my detox but once I got into Whole30 mode I relaxed a little, and that's whats bothering me.  I am going to try to be way more compliant and see if that helps.

All in all, I'm still pretty happy with where I am.  No sweetener in my coffee is great, and I think I've broken my treat-addiction, which is thrilling, for serious.  I'm not sure there is a way I'll be able to incorporate any amount of fruit back into my diet without some major blood sugar issues, but I'll try, once Whole30 is over.  I am also stoked to have successfully rid my diet of cheese, beans, and peanuts.  That is major improvement for me.

Annnnyyyways folks, lets talk Whole30 eats shall we?  This week is an interesting one!  I whipped up some cod with an onion curry sauce on Monday, and some crazy good spiced carrots.  These carrots will change what you think of carrots forever.  Make them ASAP!  Here is the recipe.   The cod was super simple.  Saute some onions until browned, sprinkle about 2 tsp of curry powder over, pour in two tbsp of broth, reduce, and pour over sauteed cod (which I also sprinkled liberally with curry powder).  Takes maybe 20 min. tops.

We are also going to have some Nom Nom Paleo inspired bacon-avocado sammies with a fried-egg topped salad, and tomorrow I am super pumped to make some slow cooker ribs with my own Paleo Barbecue Sauce recipe.  The sauce is simmering on the stove right now and smells awesome.  With the ribs I'm going to make a quick side dish of sauteed cabbage and 'shrooms.

And that's about it folks.  I am thrilled to officially be on vacation through 1/3!  I'll be in Chicago with family for a wedding for about a week, so I'm not sure how much cooking I'll be doing, but hopefully I'll have some fun posts and positive Whole30 updates for you.  I also need to do a Justus Drugstore restaurant review, an amazing locovore farm-to-table nose-to-tail joint located in bumblef*ck Smithville, MO.  Truly an incredible meal.  I'll do a recap when I have a bit more time.

Lastly- some stupid fun pics.  What do you think- have I gone off the deep end?

Whole30 Fail- and Apple Pie Muffins

I soooooo wish you guys could smell these suckers.  I could not believe the crazy apple deliciousness coming from the oven yesterday.  Better still, they took mere minutes to throw together.

Grain Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free Apple Pie Muffins (makes 11 small muffins)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of clove and ginger, if you like
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup organic, unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/2 cup honey, maple syrup, or SF liquid sweetener

Combine with a fork or whisk your first 7 ingredients.  Break up those pesky coconut flour lumps!  In a separate bowl, mix your eggs, applesauce, oil, and sweetener together.  Add wet to dry and stir well.  Scoop into muffin tin and bake at 350 until golden brown.  20-25 minutes or so.  Feel free to throw in some mix ins at the end, cherries, raisins, walnuts, whatever!  Because of all the applesauce, these are pretty crumbly.  You really don't want to overbake them though so if a crumbly muffin isn't your thing, maybe just skip this one!

So- onto my Whole30 update.  I definitely got off track this weekend.  I am pretty bummed about it.  I went on a cooking/baking bonanza with Chanukah and have not adhered as strictly to my detox as I'd like.  And wow, am I feeling it today!  I feel sluggish and bloated and pretty uncomfortable.  Anytime I eat starches, in even the smallest amounts, I really pay for it the next day or two.  Those sweet potato/carrot latkes?  Yeah, they are pretty tasty, but I seriously just cannot tolerate them.  Those sweet potato fries that came with my daughters burger over the weekend?  Sorry, don't even think about it.  Ugh what a mess I feel like today!

Is it the end of the world?  No.  I am not going to beat myself up about it.  It's one or two days out of the month.  I'll survive.  But it is a great reminder of how much better my body functions when I adhere strictly to my plan and dutifully avoid starches and treat type foods.  The havoc it wreaks on my tummy and blood sugars are just not worth it.

It really is too bad though because last week I was thinking to myself how much more comfortable I have felt after eating from eliminating any extra starches, sugars, and legumes in my diet.  I was really feeling triumphant there for a minute!  So hopefully by the end of this week I'll feel back on track.  Again, it's not about winning or losing, failing or succeeding, its how you feel.  If I felt absolutely no change whatsoever after eliminating these foods, would I continue to avoid them?  Probably not.  But I can tell you I feel waaayyy better not eating legumes, peanuts, and peanut butter, and I most likely will not be adding them back in.  I don't feel that cheese is an issue for me, but the jury is still out, and I still see no reason to eliminate butter or cream.

An ongoing problem is still munchy time, and that is where I ran into issues this weekend.  I do my grocery shopping on Mondays, so by Saturday/Sunday night there is seriously nothing Whole30/Type 1 diabetic/GFG snackable.  There is food, but nothing to eat, if you will.  So I am tempted to eat stuff I shouldn't, right before bed to boot.  Baaad idea folks.  Do not eat stuff your body doesn't like before bed, unless you want to sleep like crap and wake up feeling like poop.   So this is an ongoing journey, and I keep discovering new issues and fixes and side effects and this and that and the other.

Lastly, I have decided I'll be adapting my baking slightly.  For one, I have eliminated baking powder.  It is not a paleo ingredient as it contains corn and can be quite problematic for some people.  Secondly, since most of my baking recipes will be eaten by others, and not myself, I see no reason to only use non-sugar sweeteners.  Certainly when stevia or erythritol will work I will continue to use them, but I will be using real liquid sweeteners more often, in the form of maple syrup, raw honey, and molasses where I can.  I am still a proponent of stevia products and quite like erythritol in certain applications, but honestly, since I've found that any type of sweetener, nutritive or not, raises my blood sugar, I guess I don't see the point of using the fake stuff anymore.  It seems to me that I am simply not able to eat anything sweet in any amount, however infinitesimal so I may as well bake with wholesome, pure, organic real ingredients.  Honey, maple syrup, and molasses contain some vital minerals and nutrients, albeit in very small amounts, and are considered "paleo/primal" to a degree, right?

This is my thinking for now.  Agree?  Disagree?  What sweeteners are you all using these days?  Any diabetics out there that have also experienced blood sugar surges after eating foods made with non-nutritive sweeteners like xylitol, sucralose, stevia, etc?  Please share!

One Week In on Whole30- and Paleo Carrot & Sweet Potato Latkes

So easy and yummy!  Buy organic pre-cooked sausage and you'r dunzo!

I am cruising along on my Whole30.  It is only fractionally more difficult than my detox because cheese is totally off limits, as is peanut butter, a go-to for me.  But I have noticed much less intestinal upset lately and I feel less bloated for sure.  We'll see if that's just a coincidence or not as the month progresses.  I am starting to get a little irritated that even little bites of fruit are off limits, but those little bites of fruit, if eaten at the wrong time, wreak havoc on my blood sugars, so it's really for the best I avoid them altogether.  This week we've had sausage/shrimp with peppers (which could not be easier.  Roast some shrimp and cut up sausage in 380 degree oven for 20 minutes and serve over sauteed peppers and onions), chicken thighs with salad and cauli puree, and on a particularly lazy night of the week I had deli meat wrapped around a pickle.  Hey, no one said Whole30 was glamorous amirite?

But on to the real meat of this post.  Chanukah is HERE people.  And while I am not super into Chanukah or anything, it is a fun and festive time, especially with a munchkin, and while I am not ok with her devouring starch and gluten filled potato latkes, and traditional sugar cookies, I am just fine with her having some Paleo Carrot & Sweet Potato latkes prepared by yours truly, as well as some grain-free (not) sugar cookies (recipe coming soon).

Paleo Carrot & Sweet Potato Latkes (makes 18 good sized latkes)

3 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and grated (I used my grater attachment in the cuisi)
8-10 medium sized carrots, peeled and grated (I used my grater attachment in the cuisi)
4 eggs, beaten
4 tsp coconut flour
salt and pepper
EVOO for drizzling

This makes quite a large amount!  I decided to freeze half for next week and keep half for this weekend to bring to a party.  Halve the amount if you like, or just freeze the extras for munching.  Feel free to play with spices and herbs too.  I kept mine plain since I was making them primarily for S, who will no doubt be eating them slathered with applesauce.

Toss your grated carrot and sweet potato into a really huge, really large bowl.  In fact, you may need to divide this into bowls, like I did.  Pour in your beaten eggs, and sprinkle your coconut flour throughout, and toss in some salt and pepper.  I totally eyeballed the amount so you'll have to do this on your own, but I'd suggest at least a teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.  Stir stir stir!  You want the egg and flour very evenly distributed.  With a large serving spoon, spoon the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet, using the spoon to flatten and form into circles.  Once you're done, drizzle a healthy bit of EVOO over each pancake so they brown up nicely.  Conversely, if you want to be truly authentic with these bad boys, fry them up in a large saute pan.  This will not only take a hundred and ninety years, but you and your house will stink like nobody's business and you will likely never make latkes ever again.  Your choice!

Bake at 400 until golden brown.  If you're like me, you'll want the edges to burn a bit.  I love that extra crunch!  If you aren't eating these right away, you'll simply re-drizzle them with some EVOO and pop in the oven to crisp up, at 380ish or so.  Serve with applesauce, or sour cream if that's your thing, or nothing at all!

Happy Chanukah to my fellow MOT, and stay tuned for some easy and yummy (not) sugar cookies!

What's Up Whole30? Plus- DIY blush, and an Emi-Jay Headband Review

I am four days in on my Whole30.  Piece of cake, haha.  No really, it is no big deal.  I find myself wanting to snack on nuts all the time, except, we don't have any, so I don't.  Which can be annoying because when you're on Whole30 there isn't a whole lot to snack on that is acceptable if you want your blood sugars to also be super tight.  Certain "treats" like green apples are allowed on Whole30, which would be a great snack for someone else.  So, that is really the only complaint I have.  My best suggestion for how to overcome a Whole30-induced snack attack would be to make sure you always make more than you need for your meals so you have leftovers to munch on.  Every single blog says that, I know.  And every time I read it I roll my eyes a little because honestly, if you just ate a chicken thigh, or a pork chop, or whatever, do you really want to eat it again cold in a few hours?  Maybe you do. If so, I'm jealous.  But I am really digging no legumes and no sweeteners.  My blood sugars have stayed consistently lower, and I lost 2 lbs, which was not my intention, but I think speaks volumes about how our brains perceive sweeteners and how we metabolize them.  This also coincides with me going to Chicago for 5 days for a funeral, Thanksgiving, and a bachelorette party, all instances where I can assure you I overindulged as much as the next paleo T1D.

Speaking of pork chops, I made them last week.  Can someone tell me why people eat these things?  I guess I probably got the wrong kind.  I don't remember what cut they were.  They tasted like chicken, only even less flavorful.  Like tougher chicken breast, that forgot to be tasty.  It was fine, I marinated it for a whole day in a mixture of dijon, red wine vinegar, and herbs, but geez, definitely not a fun meal by any stretch.  I even seared them on the cooktop first and then stuck them in the broiler.

On this week's menu is a shrimp/sausage bake with peppers, chicken thighs with cauli puree and salad, and slow-cooker ribs.  I'm also going to attempt some yummy GF sweet potato latkes for my angelface for Chanukah, and some GFG snickerdoodles to take to a party.

In other news- how many times have you been using one of your favorite blushes, and used up just about all of it so that you no longer use it, but there's just enough left that you feel bad throwing it out?  I think I had about three different blushes in this same stage.  Plus a little bit of sad bronzer languishing in my makeup drawer.  So I decided to DIY a customized shade of blush.  It was super easy.

Customized DIY Blush
1.  Assemble your (powder) blushes you'll be combining.
2.  Get an empty blush container.  (If there's a little bit still left, don't worry about it)
3.  In a small bowl, combine all your leftover blush.  Feel free to add a pretty shade of eye shadow, or some shimmer dust if you like.  I had a tiny bit of MAC ricepaper and also added some Bare Minerals shimmer mineral veil to lighten up the shades.  I used some bronzer too, so didn't want it to be too dark. (did you know you could use cocoa powder as bronzer?)
4.  With a small spoon or cap, crush all the powder and mash it around, stirring occasionally.  Once the colors are evenly distributed, you are ready for the final step.
5.  Get some rubbing alcohol.  If you have an eye dropper, even better, but I just poured a little bit in the cap from the bottle.  Transfer your powder to your blush container, and then either drip your alcohol in with your eye dropper, or pour in slowly.  You only want to pour enough to cover the powder, you don't want to overfill it.  Swirl your container a bit to even it out, and then let it sit on your counter top until dry, probably overnight.  If you did overfill your container with alcohol, it will simply take longer to evaporate.
6.  You're done!  Now you have customized blush, and don't have to feel bad about throwing away 12 almost used up blushes.  This also allows you to create that perfect color you can never find.  Like a pinky brown.  Why can I never find a pinky brown?  Not red, not orange, not purple.  A nice brown with pink undertones.  Geez.

Lastly- I'm sure you have all seen Emi-Jay headbands by now.  I have avoided them thus far because I felt stupid paying $5 for a piece of ribbon.  But, you can adjust them to your head and they do stay put during my grueling hour long workouts at Fusion.  Pick one up!  They are cute to wear even if you're not working out, and they come in a thousand colors.  It's hard for me to find headbands that actually stay put, because I have a pin-head, just like my daughter does, and headbands are always flopping around and I spend more time readjusting them than wearing them.  These ones you can just retie to fit your needs. Score!

Is anyone out there dumb enough to be doing a Whole30 right now too?  How's it going?  Let me know in the comments!  I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Changing Things Up!

As I alluded to last week in my Aspen Recap post, I think it's time to make some changes 'round here.  More transparency, less pump and dump recipes, more variety, more fun, and more challenges!  By fun, I mean, this is a blog about my GFG lifestyle, so if I want to do a post about nail polish, or shopping for toddler shoes, or shit I want to buy, or shows I watch, or whatever, I'm going to do it!  I am more than the sum of my recipes!  And by challenges, I mean, I want to grow through this blog.  And hopefully, you want to grow too.  Recipes one after another aren't going to help anyone grow.  Sure, they are a great resource when you're in a pinch, but emotional, mental, psychological growth?  Uh uh.  I want to challenge myself, challenge myself to be healthy, to embrace a healthier lifestyle, to put my health first!  To stop justifying poor choices I make because of this or that, to stop letting little things slide all the time when I know I shouldn't, but am too lazy.  I can be better, I can do better!  And this isn't a vanity thing, (well, partly it's allllways a vanity thing isn't it?) it's a make-positive-sustainable-changes-now-before-it's-too-late thing.

So in reference to more transparency- here's some truthiness for ya.  I was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes- LADA.  It's a rare form of diabetes, making up a very small amount of total diabetics worldwide.  It's also relatively newly discovered, and many people are either misdiagnosed, or undiagnosed until disaster strikes.  So I am extremely lucky to have been diagnosed early, and correctly.  Regardless, it was quite a shock, and I'm still processing.  It also came on the heels of a few other diagnoses, of which I am also still processing.  I need to think about my life and my health in a totally different way.  I need to come up with new mechanisms, find new tools and resources, and challenge myself to grow, change, and adapt so I can live my healthiest life, be my best self.  I am going to successfully manage my chronic illnesses, I will NOT let them manage me.  I am going to have a life!  These things will not become my life.  I am going to overcome and have fun doing it!  There's more to this story (there always is) but that's for another day.  Today is about getting the ball rolling on these changes, being more truthful, more accountable, and upping the fun factor.

So- truthiness, check.  Next up- accountability.  I want to be more present when making food choices.  I want to make wiser decisions.  I want what I eat to have a positive impact on my overall health.  I want what I eat to be essential to my health.  I know this sounds a bit high and mighty, I'm totally aware.  I'm not saying I'll live the rest of my life like this.  But for now, I really feel like I have some big changes that need to be made.  I have been thinking about this for awhile and finally came up with a plan today.  Probably not the best time of year to be making some fairly radical changes, but hey, don't want things to get too dull around here do we?  Here is my  8-week plan:

This plan was designed in stages.  The first stage is just really about eliminating sweeteners.  This is going to be rough!  I love my paleofied/gfg'd treats as much as the next blogger.  So stage 1 is entirely about tackling this issue.  There are some supplements I lean on for extra protein that I'll still be relying upon until I begin Stage 2, but other than those, I am going to be pretty stringent.  In Stage 2 I'll tackle a few other pesky problems.  Dairy (I looove cream in my coffee), legumes (peanuts and peanut butter ahhhhh!  and beans etc) and I'll get into the nitty gritty of food additives.  All the while reducing my intake of unnecessary starches and carbs that are wreaking havoc on my blood sugar levels.  I am hoping to achieve a number of things here.  First- I really feel like I am too attached to my sugar substitutes and sugar-free treats.  Haha perhaps you've noticed?  I'm ready to cut the cord.  For now anyways.  I'll still be posting recipes for treats (yes I'm aware I'm doing a sugar detox right before the holidays) and I'll still be making healthy snacks for my family, but I feel that as a diabetic I need to keep sweetened foods at an arms length.  For the time being.  I'm currently not on insulin, managing this on my own, so I just don't have the luxury of being lax with my diet right now.  Second- I'm hoping to identify some food sensitivities I may have.  Does dairy bother me? Does it cause blood sugar spikes?  Are legumes responsible for intestinal upset?  Is fructose? (This I already know is a big fat yes.)  And thirdly- I am always on a quest to banish bloat for good.  Eliminating grain and gluten was a biggie, but I could still make some improvements.  I'm not crazy enough to think anyone is going to want to do this with me.  But just in case you are interested- Jenna at The Paleo Project has also just begun a 21 day sugar detox- so pop over to her site and join in on the fun!  It's actually a really great time to do the 21 day detox because it will end right before T-Day.

Alrighty- truthiness, check.  Accountability, check check.  Now for something fun/frivolous!  We had a fun Halloween with my little Fairy Princess!  And as you can see, I think she had fun too!  (And no, S did not have any candy.  I did however let her have a pretty junky "dinner" of celery and peanut butter, and squash chips.  I figure it's still better than a sugar coma.)

That's it for today folks!  Hope you dig the changes I'm making, and if not, I apologize!  But I want to live my best life, and squeeze every ounce of joy and contentment and success I can out of this one.  Join me!  Tell me how you are going to try to live your best life!  XoXoGFG