Month: February 2016

February 28 Update: New Recipes, Whole 30 Halfway Point (again) and New Resources for You

Are you ready for the big Downton Abbey finale? I’m so excited, I can hardly wait. How will they tie up all the loose ends? Will Edith finally get her guy? Don’t we all hope so? Will Granny have a heart attack when she finds out what Spratt has been up to? But alas, the Oscars are on tonight so we’ll just have to wait one more, dreadfully long week to have all our questions answered. In the dull, waiting times, I’ll give you this lovely post to read and some yummy recipes to try. I can’t help but think that perhaps Lord Grantham would feel better if were following a paleo diet!

Back to the reality of the 21st century in the good old USA. First up, a quick update on my Whole 30 Day Sugar Detox: on day 12 and chugging right along. I’ve been doing a lot of recipe development lately and it is just impossible not to taste what I’m preparing. Just not possible. I’ve been working on a gluten free flour mix that is free of gums. It looks lovely in the mixing bowl, but the real test is in the oven of course. Those flour blends have turned into pie crusts, focaccia bread, pizza dough and bar cookies. Yes, I did taste each and every one of the recipes so technically, that would disqualify me from my Whole 30, but no, I am not starting over. This was not a slip-up. This was work. I hope you will eventually be super happy with this extreme sacrifice on my part. 🙂

Aside from that recipe testing, I’ve stuck very closely to the no sugar plan. I’m convinced that it has had an effect on my joint pain and I will do anything to make walking less painful. I’ve gotten into a groove with my breakfasts and lunches so that has been a relief. There isn’t a lot of variety, but that doesn’t bother me so much. Those two meals are far more about getting in the proper nourishment in a quick and efficient manner than fixing something gourmet. Then dinner gets to be more interesting. A couple sample breakfasts from this week:

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Bacon, wilted kale and a Millennium Falcon*

*If you cut a pear in half, use your knife to slice out that hard part near the stem and then use a melon baller to remove the core, you magically transform a plain, old pear into a Star Wars snack. I can’t tell you how many lunches have turned from bland to grand with this one little trick. My children are so easily impressed.

For that kale, I poured about half a teaspoon of the rendered fat from the yummy bacon into a non-stick skillet, ripped up the kale into bite size pieces, sprinkled on a little salt, put the lid on for about 5 minutes, and voila! I had been eating spinach every day, but the kale is so much better. To my tastebuds anyway.

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And then I got tired of kale and was apparently too lazy to cook another vegetable. Raw carrots it is.

My summary of days 6-11 of the Whole 30 this time around: nothing exciting. I’m not feeling amazing like I had hoped, but I’m not feeling bad. Figuring out the benefits is not as easy when they’re not dramatic. This is surely due in part to the fact that I was already eating pretty well to start. I can say that I have less joint paint, my skin is clear, and I am not craving sweets nearly as much as before.

Are you doing some sort of Whole 30 or Sugar Detox as well? How’s it going?

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New recipes up this week (you did get a preview of these in last week’s note so there are no big surprises here):

Pork Carnitas with Pineapple Mango Salsa Slaw

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A great crock pot meal for when you can’t be at home watching over your dinner.

Paleo “Shake and Bake” Chicken with an AIP version

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AIP version on the left, Paleo on the right. Delicious all around!

AIP-Friendly Hamburger “Buns”

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Everybody in my house (except me) likes to eat with their hands and these “buns” pass the pick it up with your hands test. Messy eaters rejoice. No, they’re not this yellow in real life. I need a new photographer.

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My technical support expert is working on adding a Recipe Index to the menu bar as we speak. There, you will be able to quickly search through all of the recipes I’ve posted. Currently, when you view the site on your desk top computer or tablet, you see a recipe index on the side bar, but you don’t get that if you’re viewing the site from your phone. Soon, you will see the Recipe option in the drop down menu at the top of your screen.

We’re still working on that resources page where I’ll tell you what all these weird ingredients are, where to find them and what to do with them. I promise, it is coming.

That’s all for this week. As always, I so appreciate you reading along and forwarding this to your friends. I am constantly evaluating my motives for starting and continuing to build this blog and I keep coming back to the hope that maybe, just maybe, something I put up here will help someone else to find a healthy life, one where you don’t feel sick after you eat. I went for years taking the medicines and following the advice of doctors that clearly didn’t really have my best interest in mind. I wish I had known about paleo sooner.

I hope it’s a good week for you!

Valentine’s Dinner Review, Whole 30 Do-Over and New Recipes

It’s 70 degrees outside, sunny and it’s Sunday, our rest day. We have a couple things on the schedule today besides church, but we still squeezed in a three mile hike and it was wonderful. Walking is difficult for me sometimes, often times, but this hike was amazing. I thought we were going to have to turn back at first, but once I got going, my feet decided to play along and I was able to hike and enjoy and not be constantly preoccupied by the pain. I had some great conversations with my son. It was a gift and I’m so, so thankful for it.

We took our winter break this past week. The kids and I both needed a timeout from school. Somehow, our week felt busier than normal. I made a conscious decision to take it easy on Friday and spend some time with good friends and lounge on the sofa a bit. Hopefully, this little rest will translate into a productive few weeks ahead. Deep breaths.

The Valentine’s dinner I prepared last Sunday was a big hit. My boys were camping in some frigid temperatures for the weekend, so I figured they would want/need a warm and comforting meal when they arrived home and thawed out. I set the table all pretty, turned up the thermostat and presented them with a beef roast with carrots and potatoes and grilled asparagus. My husband practically drooled. IMG_4086

And of course, we followed this up with the Chocolate Cake I showed you last week. With a little dab of fresh whipped cream on top. They ate on this cake for a couple days and then I wrapped it up and put it in the freezer. They were not happy. But we’ll all be happy when we pull it out in a few weeks and indulge! I, for one, can’t wait!!

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Which brings me to my Whole 30 Day Sugar Detox update. I made it to day 15 – half way – almost to the downhill section – and I caved. I started thinking about those chocolate cake scraps that I froze after making my heart shaped cake. That was all it took. Just a little thought and then I had to have some. I ate too much to feel like I could gloss over it and carry on with the Whole 30. I allowed myself some dairy for the Super Bowl, but this was too much and I knew it. So I started fresh the following day. I am now on day 5. I had arrived at the place where sweets were not a constant temptation and I thought that hopping right back on the bandwagon would be easy, that I would not feel like I was starting over from scratch. I was wrong. It’s been a challenging few days. Oh well. I’ll do better next time.

If you haven’t seen it already, I wrote up a little article on cooking fats. People ask me pretty regularly what kind of oil I use for cooking and what I use for baking when we’re not using butter. So I did some research to make sure I got my facts straight and wrote a little fat primer for you. Mine is just one more voice on the internet and I’m certain you will find others who disagree with me. I’ve presented to you what I believe to be true and how I have translated that knowledge into practice in my kitchen. I hope you find it helpful.

When I wasn’t eating trimmings of chocolate cake, I was sticking very strictly  to my Whole 30 Sugar Detox. Breakfasts continued to consist of eggs, some sort of vegetable, and usually bacon or sausage. These are delicious, quick, filling breakfasts that I find myself looking forward to each morning.

Applegate Chicken Apple Sausage and sweet potato hash browns. Yes, all of my sweet potatoes are white or purple. I planted equal numbers of traditional orange ones, Hannah whites and garnets, but it seems the voles ate all the orange ones. At least they got plenty of vitamin A!

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Pederson’s Paleo Bacon, eggs and sautéed greens

IMG_4140Ground pork, spinach, tomato, scrambled eggs

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Lunch is salad. Always salad. I went a little crazy one day and added a hard boiled egg and chopped green apple. Somedays I’m rushed in the mornings and I’ll just have an egg. So for lunch, I make sure to always have a huge pile of greens to compensate.

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With our break from school this week, I did have more time to cook. On the flip side, I have felt convicted about the amount of time I’m spending working on the blog and shooing my kids away. After all, they are my true job right now and it’s a job that I know will end some day. I want to want to spend all this time with them. So, I tried to only work on blog things after they were in bed or on the weekend (like now). As a result, not many recipes actually made it to the write-up stage this week, but they will be coming. Here’s what you can expect in the coming days:

  • Crock Pot Pork Carnitas with pineapple mango salsa/slaw, taco and nacho versionDSC_2173
  • Pan seared burgers with autoimmune friendly “buns”
  • IMG_4107Paleo “Shake and Bake” Chicken Nuggets

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  • Fried Shrimp tacos

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  • One Pan Chicken and Veggie Bake (no picture of this one yet)

 

This week, I posted the beef roast mentioned above. I also put up a recipe for paleo banana bread. This is nothing fancy, but my gang considers it a treat, and I consider it recycling. I don’t really like bananas, but banana bread is like cake! The next time you have browning bananas lying around looking for a home, try this bread. It is, of course, gluten free and dairy free, but full of yumminess.

That’s it from around these parts. My technical expert is working on putting up a recipe index as well as the resources page I’ve been working on. Look for that soon. I get lots of questions about ingredients and cooking tools and I hope many of them will be answered with this resources page.

Happy cooking this week!

 

A Few Notes on Fat

As I typed “bacon fat” into one of my recipes once again, I was suddenly struck with the thought that I have not been telling you what kind of bacon fat to use – or not use. I just assumed you would know.

This led me to start thinking about fats in general, which ones we are supposed to be cooking with and which ones we should not. So for your reading pleasure, here’s a little primer on fat:

Animal Fats

If you’ve been following my instructions and using reserved bacon fat to cook (good for you, thank you for listening), BUT the bacon that fat came from is the typical grocery store variety (not so good for you), then I’m very, very sorry.

Grocery store bacon is NOT the kind you should be eating on a regular basis and you most certainly don’t want to reserve that fat and cook with it.  You see, whatever bad stuff is circulating in that sad pig is going to accumulate in it’s fat stores. If your piggy has been fed antibiotics, hormones and all sorts of other medicines to keep it healthy all while being fed a poor diet and housed in cramp quarters, then all those hormones, antibiotics and other medicines will show up in it’s fat. You don’t want to eat that stuff.

Bacon is one of those foods that gets a lot of attention in the paleo-sphere because paleo gives you permission to eat bacon to your heart’s content. We paleo-ers know that fat and animal protein are NOT bad for you, in fact, they’re good for you. The caveat is that you have to be consuming the right kinds. It’s never easy, is it?

Good bacon is naturally more expensive than poor quality bacon, so if your budget only allows one pound of the good stuff a week, then that’s all you should be eating.

As of this writing, at the beginning of 2016 in Raleigh, NC, a pound of local, pasture raised, no hormone, no antibiotic, no nitrates, no nitrites bacon is selling for $9.99/pound at Whole Foods in the fresh meat case. You can also buy it in those sealed packages at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s for $6 or $7, but those are 12 ounce packages (a pound is 16 ounces) so the price is essentially the same per pound. Whole Foods carries a brand called Pederson’s that is even labeled paleo, because it contains no sugar. I don’t believe Trader Joe’s has one without sugar. Though if you notice in the nutrition facts, even the varieties that contain sugar in the ingredient list somehow generally don’t contain sugar in the end product. There must be some sort of sugar extractor tool somewhere. I’d like to have one.

I have looked for “healthy bacon” at every mainstream grocery store around here and haven’t found a single one. There are even brands now that are labeled as healthier in some way or fashion, but if you read the fine print, there are still nitrates and/or nitrites, the animals are not pasture-raised, they are not hormone free, or they are disqualified from acceptableness in some other way. These grocers may get there eventually, but as of now, your best bet is a health food store or ordering online or a farmer’s market. There are several options if you want to order online, just google paleo bacon. It is more expensive though. But, as the old adage goes, you get what you pay for. In this case, you’re paying for the convenience of having bacon delivered to your door. There are worse things.

Well, that’s a whole article right there, but we’ve only talked about one type of fat: bacon. Everything I said above goes for the other animal fats: beef tallow, pork lard and duck fat being the primary ones you would use for cooking. Check your source, check the fine print, check the ingredient label. And check your local farmer’s market as more and more of them are carrying things besides fruits and vegetables. If you happen to find meat products there, then you would be buying local as well as healthy and that’s a big score.

What do I do with these animal fats? 

  • Sautéing vegetables
  • Oven baked sweet potato fries
  • Scrambling or frying eggs
  • You can whip it into an amazing mayonnaise. See the recipe in Practical Paleo.

 

Industrial Seed Oils

What about all the oils? You know that paleo says to avoid “industrial seed oils,” but what does that mean? Cottonseed, canola, soybean, sunflower, safflower, corn, etc. etc. all fall into this category. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing the industrial moniker comes from the fact that they are very highly processed.

Why are they so bad? Each of these vegetable oils (sounds healthy, right?) are composed of mostly omega-6 fatty acids, the very ones that are associated with increased incidence of inflammatory diseases. I could regurgitate it for you here, but I think Chris Kresser has done an excellent job of explaining why these oils are so dangerous. In his article, he provides lots of evidence to that fact. Take a few moments and go to this article and skip down to where it says “Industrial Seed Oils: Unnatural and Unfit for Human Consumption.”

What I hope you’ll take away from that read is that:

1. if you’re not careful, you will consume an extremely unhealthy percentage of your calories from these oils and

2. they are directly related to increased risk of almost all diseases

That sounds scary, but it is avoidable. How? Eat real food. Food that doesn’t come in boxes or through a drive up window. I completely understand that if you are currently eating lots of packaged foods and convenience foods or if you eat out on a regular basis, then making a change to a whole foods diet can be overwhelming. But overwhelming is not the same as impossible. Small changes add up over time and equal big changes. After two years of paleo eating, my family eats almost nothing from a package. Yes, that means I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but it’s a trade-off. I see that investment of time and energy as an investment in our future.

People say to me all the time that they can’t make that big of a change. They could never give up take out pizza, or crackers and cheese or ice cream or you fill in the blank. But the truth is, you can! You just have to find the right motivation. And eventually, it will be second nature. At the beginning, it will feel like this will never seem normal, but it really will.

Pay attention to what you’re eating. Lots of folks have given up gluten as a first step toward healthier eating and that’s a great place to start. However, way too many people simply sub out gluten-filled foods with the new and engineered gluten free alternatives. Take a look at the ingredient list for all the fabulous gluten free products on the shelves you will see that almost all of them contain these industrial seed oils, plus tons of other additives. And LOTS of sugar. Even our USDA food pyramid/plate has recognized the need to reduce sugar intake, so there must be something to it!

I got off on a little tangent there, so let’s get back to those seed oils. You know that if you ever eat in a restaurant, you will be consuming industrial seed oils. It’s just a fact. It’s all they use. Even our beloved Whole Foods does it. They are getting better, but if you go to the hot bar and read the ingredients on the little signs, you will find that almost all the prepared foods contain canola oil. So when you’re cooking at home, do your best and avoid these oils.

What do I do with Industrial Seed Oils?

  • Throw them out!

Avocado Oil

So what are you supposed to cook with, besides the animal fats? Avocado oil is one great choice. It performs well under high heat and is very neutral in taste. You can even buy it at Costco for a great price. You can whip it into mayonnaise too and it’s absolutely delicious. I have read about avocado oil having a great, fruity flavor, but I haven’t found one that does. I like it because it’s neutral.

What do I do with Avocado Oil?

  • Make Mayonnaise
  • Salad Dressing
  • Sautéing
  • Frying

 

Olive Oil

What about olive oil? If you search the internet, you will find a wide variety of stories regarding olive oil’s usefulness or acceptability for high heat cooking. Even some sources that I respect say that it is ok to fry in olive oil, so I asked my functional medicine doctor. His opinion is that no, it is not ok for cooking. Olive oil oxidizes easily, which is why it is almost always sold in dark bottles. Light, air and heat can all cause oxidation. Oxidation means free radicals are formed which means trouble for your body. Oils that are unsaturated (like olive oil) are more susceptible to oxidation. Fully saturated oils are not susceptible because they are saturated. Travel back to high school chemistry class and you will remember that if a compound is chemically saturated, that means that all of it’s bonds are full. There is no space for an invader to come in and bond to that compound and alter it into something undesirable.

So:

Saturated fat = stable = not easily oxidized

Unsaturated fat (olive oil is an example) = less stable = easily oxidized

Good olive oil is fairly expensive so I prefer to save it for salad dressings. Once again, pay attention to the labels. There are “healthy” olive oils on the market that are mixed with industrial seed oils. Manufacturers are sneaky. You have to be alert.

What do I do with Olive Oil?

  • Salad Dressing
  • Drizzle over cooked fish and veggies for a fresh, fruity taste and added healthy fat
  • Dip for gluten free bread
  • Wash your face
  • Moisturize your skin

 

Ghee

Ghee is another good choice for cooking and some baking. You may have heard of clarified butter. Ghee is the same thing. It’s butter that has been cooked slowly to remove all of the milk proteins – it is essentially butter oil. As a result, even people who do not tolerate dairy for one reason or another, can usually tolerate ghee without any problems. Ghee also has a very high smoke point, meaning you can cook with it at very high temperatures. I say that it is good for some baking because I haven’t used it as a full replacement for butter or shortening in a baked good recipe. Primarily because it’s so expensive. I’ve used it in lots of recipes for adding a little butter flavor. I cook my eggs in ghee as well.

What do I do with Ghee?

  • Any high heat application like sautéing, searing or frying
  • cooking eggs
  • baking
  • slathering on fresh toast or banana bread (yum!)

 

Coconut Oil

Do you remember the big uprising a few years ago (maybe 10?) regarding movie theater popcorn? How it was so horrible for us because of all of the saturated fat? Do you remember that the popcorn was cooked in coconut oil? And now coconut oil is all the rage. Yes, the fat in coconut oil is mostly saturated, but it is composed primarily of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), which are more easily absorbed and utilized by your body. MCFAs have been associated with increased metabolism, improved glucose tolerance and reduced body fat. And remember, saturated fats aren’t all bad, especially when it comes to cooking. See the olive oil section above for that chemistry lesson again.

Coconut oil, once public enemy #1, is now being touted as having all sorts of miraculous medical benefits including everything from weight loss to the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. This is a new field of study and I think we are likely to see much more about coconut oil in the future. There are already many scientific articles published and available on Pub Med, which is the online resource for scientific articles put together by the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. All that to say, these are trusted resources. If you’d like to read more of the science, see this abstract regarding coconut oil’s potential benefits.

The flavor in coconut oil varies widely by brand. Some people do not like the taste of coconut and others love it. I’m somewhere in the middle. I have been using the one they sell at Costco and I’m very happy with that. It’s flavor is fairly neutral. However, I have read that coconut is one of those flavors that you get used to so the more you use it, the less you taste it. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but it is true for me that I don’t taste it much anymore.

Just an aside, coconut oil is very moisturizing so I sometimes use it as a hand lotion or lip balm and I wash my face with it. If you’ve never heard of oil cleansing, I cannot recommend it enough. See this article from The Wellness Mama, which is the one I read to get started. She recommends olive oil and castor oil, which do work well, but I like coconut oil better.

What do I do with Coconut Oil?

  • Baking
  • Frying
  • any type of cooking really, but will usually impart some coconut flavor
  • washing your face
  • skin moisturizer

 

Palm Shortening

Last, but not least, is palm shortening. Think of this as the healthy version of Crisco shortening. This is another coconut product, but does not have coconut flavor at all. It is a saturated fat, but there are no trans fats. There are a couple brands available in most grocery stores: usually Nutiva and Spectrum. Nutiva has a yellow color, Spectrum is white and both have a relatively firm texture at room temperature. My preferred brand is Tropical Traditions, which you can only buy directly from their website. They often have sales and when they do, I buy it in gallon tubs. It’s softer than Nutiva or Spectrum, but I find that it works better in baked goods, which is how I primarily use it. I also like it for frying my tortillas. I’m not sure what makes this fat superior to others for the tortillas, but I think the taste is lighter than if I fry them in coconut oil. Palm shortening has no discernible flavor.

What do I do with Palm Shortening?

  • Any type of cooking, including high heat like frying
  • Baking, as a substitute for butter or shortening

 

There you go! A long, but somehow brief overview of the primary fats in a paleo kitchen. I’m working on a resources page that will *hopefully* be a neat and tidy place for you to figure out what all these weird ingredients are, where to find them and what to do with them.

A Loving Update

Happy Valentine’s Day! No matter what this holiday means to you in terms of earthly relationships, I hope you know that you have a Father in Heaven who loves you. Because He loves you. Because He loves you. No strings attached. He loves you with a love that never ends, He loved us first, before we loved Him, He loves us the most, He is the very definition of love. We would not know love without His example. No matter how you feel about this particular day of the year, I hope you’ll rest in the knowledge that you are indeed loved in a most powerful way and because of that, you too have the capacity to show that love to others.

If there’s someone in your life you want to treat this Valentine’s Day, even if it’s you, I have a special goodie for you to share: A decadent chocolate cake, filled with chocolate cherry frosting and drenched in chocolate ganache. It’s made without gluten, seed oils, or refined sugars. Those things cause leaky gut and a host of other problems and a leaky gut is very decidedly unromantic.

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My daughter and I had some good, quality girl time in the kitchen preparing this special treat for our boys. We know they’ll be surprised! Especially, since we’re on a no dessert, no candy, no treat kick around here until early March. I know the kids have had a few treats here and there (I’m looking at you grandparents), but that’s ok. They are eating way less sugar than normal so it’s still a win.

We’re making an exception for Valentine’s Day with this cake. Sadly, I will not have any, but don’t feel too sorry for me. I’m on day 12 of my Whole 30 Day Sugar Detox and doing really well. Chocolate cake is delicious for sure, but I want to see this through. It can wait a few more weeks. I’ll freeze a slice for myself and enjoy it guilt free in 18 short days.

I have just a couple recipes for you this week, besides the yummy cake:

  • A hearty, one pan dinner of Chicken with Mushrooms and Broccoli. This one stemmed from a desire to recreate chicken divan and morphed into something a little different and totally autoimmune protocol friendly.DSC_2112
  • Super quick, crispy potato chip crusted fish! Yes, I know you’re not supposed to eat chips on the Whole 30, but there were a few crumbs in the bottom of the bag and one piece of fish in the fridge and I needed a quick dinner. This was ready in 10 minutes. Ten minutes! I sautéed some veggies while the fish cooked and I had an extremely satisfying dinner and cleaned out the fridge and pantry to boot!

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  • Tuna patties, ala 1950s. I was just cooking for us girls and the little IMG_4073one actually enjoyed these. Usually we make paleo pizza when it’s just us, but no cheese makes pizza less than desirable. And I’m trying really hard to rein in the budget a little bit and canned tuna is healthy and cheap!

 

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As I said above, the Whole 30 Sugar Detox went pretty smoothly this week. I did indulge in some cheese at our Super Bowl Party, but that was a conscious decision and I didn’t let it derail me. Dairy is not a trigger for me so I knew that I could have a little (and I did have just a little) and it would not send me running for the candy my husband has hidden somewhere around the house. Whether or not dairy causes inflammation for me is yet to be seen. Twelve days into this detox, with that one intake of dairy, and my feet are feeling a little better. The pain varies from day to day, but it is severe enough most of the time that even a small improvement is noticeable and I am so, so thankful for any reprieve!

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Other happenings on the blog this week: the long promised article on Histamine Intolerance is up. You’ve quite possibly never heard of this and therefore think it doesn’t apply to you, but give it a read and see if anything resonates. It was a surprise to me that I have this condition.

In the works:

  • A primer on cooking fats, which ones you should be cooking with and eating and which ones you should leave behind forever. It’s almost finished and will be up next week.
  • A resources page to help you understand all these weird paleo ingredients and where to find them.

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My breakfasts and lunches this week looked very similar to last week.

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I’ve read a lot of other blogs where people chronicled their Whole30 experience and honestly, I’m pretty surprised to see the amount of fruit and chia seed pudding folks are eating. Maybe they’re all doing extreme workouts every single day, but they don’t say so. And they seem to be getting amazing results. So my thoughts…..

  • I am not getting amazing results. Hopefully, this is coming. It is hard to stay motivated when you don’t feel all that different. The Whole30 people say it really does take getting to the half way point or even a little further before you really experience all the increased energy, reduced inflammation, weight loss, obedient children, etc. Oh, maybe that last one doesn’t have anything to do with the sugar detox.
  • Maybe I, too, should be eating more carbs. I make sure I eat fruit or sweet potato on workout days, but I’m talking one piece of fruit or a regular/small serving of potato. I know that I don’t handle seeds well so that chia pudding everyone raves about is not for me.

All this to say, reading about other people’s experiences can be valuable, but you can’t expect the same to work for you. I’m having to be patient and figure out what works for me.

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I so appreciate you being here, reading, following along on my journey and trying my recipes. This is all so new to me and I appreciate every bit of feedback you offer. Please don’t hesitate to comment if something doesn’t make sense, if one of the recipes doesn’t turn out well for you or if you’re curious about some paleo ingredient or other thing. I want this to be useful for you!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Histamine Intolerance: What it is and What to do about it

For a very long time now, I’ve know that I do not tolerate leftovers well. Sometimes I experience mild heartburn, sometimes severe heartburn lasting an entire day. Usually there is background sinus irritation – drippy nose, headaches.

Certain foods produce a more extreme reaction, like tomato based products: chili, spaghetti sauce, pizza.

The same friend I mentioned who opened my eyes to the possibility of healing autoimmune disease with diet and lifestyle (read more about that in My Health Journey article) was not just dealing with an autoimmune disease. She was also dealing with histamine intolerance with her daughter. I remember her basically breaking down as she shared how she got up really early each morning to cook fresh meat for her daughter. And then more fresh meat for lunch and more for dinner. I had never heard of this before.

She kindly explained that the histamine level in the meat would increase after being cooked (i.e. Leftovers) and the histamine was contributing to her daughter’s flare-ups, therefore, she was cooking fresh, from scratch, three meals a day, seven days a week. This sounded like some fresh kind of hell to me, but then I started thinking about my own symptoms.

You’ve probably heard of histamine as it relates to allergies. If you get red, watery eyes or a runny nose come spring or fall, you are experiencing a histamine reaction. If you’ve ever taken Benadryl or another allergy medicine – they are all anti-histamines.

But there is another place where histamine can affect your life – with the foods you eat. I have been meeting with a functional medicine doctor for a little over a year now. We mainly discuss my Crohn’s disease and the management of that, but he is looking at my whole body, the entirety of what is going on with me. So I talk with him about all of my symptoms, seemingly related to Crohn’s or not.

One of those symptoms has been chronic sinus inflammation, pressure, infections, pain, etc. He suggested that this might be related to a histamine intolerance. He sent me a couple articles, linked for you here, that helped explain in simple terms what histamine intolerance is and what foods are particularly high in histamine.

In case you don’t have the time or just don’t want to take the time to read all of that scientific jargon, I’ll outline the basics for you here.

What is Histamine?

Histamine is a chemical neurotransmitter produced by the body during an allergic reaction. So what does that mean? Imagine a game of hot potato. The people standing in a line getting ready to pass the potato are the neurons in your body. Neurons are just the special name for nerve cells. Neurons are what deliver messages throughout your body that get things done. The neurotransmitter is the potato. It is hopping from one person (neuron) to the next all down the line in order to get the message delivered to the right place. The type of neurotransmitter that is being passed determines the end result reaction.

You always have a small amount of histamine circulating throughout your body, but when you experience an allergic reaction or an immune reaction, your body releases a whole lot of histamine. Then you experience the symptoms typically associated with allergies: itchy, watery eyes, itchy skin, hives, trouble breathing, and in extreme cases, death. But histamine has another function that is critical to digestion: it activates gastric acid secretion. You need these acids to aid in digestion, but too much can cause heartburn, vomiting, diarrhea and eventually peptic ulcers.

Where does histamine come from? 

As stated above, there is a small amount of histamine circulating in your body at all times. More is released during times or allergic or immune reactions. But histamine is also naturally occurring in many foods.

This is a general guideline and it is important for you to keep a detailed food diary as you try to figure out what your histamine threshold is and which foods are triggers for you. My personal experience has been that not all of the “high” histamine foods are a problem for me. Whereas, some others cause immediate and extreme symptoms. Here’s a list:

High histamine foods:

  • Alcohol
  • Aged cheeses
  • Preserved and pickled foods like sauerkraut
  • Canned meats and fish
  • Shellfish
  • Some nuts
  • Some beans
  • Chocolate and cocoa
  • Most foods with preservatives
  • Leftover meats – as soon as the meat is cooked, histamine begins to accumulate
  • Chicken is higher in histamine than other poultry and higher than red meat

There are two other categories of foods to be aware of: histamine liberators and Diamine Oxidase (DOA) blockers.

Histamine Liberators: foods that aid in the release of histamine in the body:

  • Citrus fruits
  • Nuts
  • Beans
  • Chocolate and cocoa
  • Preservatives
  • Tomatoes

Diamine Oxidase Blockers: DOA is the primary enzyme responsible for the breakdown of ingested histamine. So if you consume foods that block the breakdown of histamine, you will naturally experience a buildup of histamine. Some of these foods are:

  • Alcohol
  • Tea
  • Energy Drinks

What does it mean to be histamine intolerant?

If your body cannot tolerate the normal levels of histamine found in foods, then you are said to be histamine intolerant. This is generally due to having a lower than normal level of DOA, the enzyme that breaks down histamine. In a normal, healthy person, histamine is produced and/or consumed and then broken down and the balance is maintained well. In a histamine intolerant person, that balance gets out of whack.

If you are histamine intolerant, you will suffer from one or more of an amazingly wide variety of symptoms. The ones I listed above: stomach upset and typical allergy symptoms, but you might also have headaches, heart arrhythmia, vertigo/dizziness, difficulty sleeping and many more.

How do you know for sure if you are histamine intolerant? 

There is a blood test for DOA levels, which would be helpful, but a detailed food diary is really the best way to go at first. If you have the blood test and it indicates that you have reduced levels of DOA, that will confirm the histamine intolerance, but it won’t tell you which foods are triggers for you.

What do you do about it? 

I can’t honestly tell you that I know all the possible ways to deal with histamine tolerance, but I can tell you what I do and it works.

  1. I avoid high histamine foods. So no sauerkraut for me.
  2. I limit moderate histamine foods. Meaning chocolate occasionally, canned tuna once every two weeks, etc.
  3. I take a supplement called HistaminX twice a day.
  4. If I have to eat leftovers, then I take another supplement called Histamine Block.

By following each of these steps, I rarely suffer from symptoms of histamine tolerance anymore. Occasionally, I will forget and eat some leftover chicken, but my heartburn is so stinking severe afterward that it’s a long time before I make that mistake again.

If you suspect you may have a problem with histamine intolerance, I recommend you see a functional medicine or integrative medicine doctor. I haven’t found too many (I mean zero) mainstream physicians who are familiar with this condition. Also, start keeping a detailed food diary noting everything you consume and how you feel afterward.

I certainly hope this was helpful to you. If you’d like to see more “scientific” articles of this nature, please let me know in the comments. I am a science nerd at heart and love stepping out of my mommy shoes and doing research now and then.

February 6, 2016 Update: Super Bowl Foods and Whole 30 Day Sugar Detox update

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!?!?! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. We are not big sports fans in this house, but we do love watching the Super Bowl. This year will be extra fun with our own Carolina Panthers in the game.

My son is now in the youth group at church and they will have a big Super Bowl party on Sunday, but he has chosen to stay at home with his family. Cue the heartstrings.

I’m sure his decision has everything to do with love of his family and nothing to do with the fact that we eat dinner in the living room and said dinner consists of entirely snack foods plus the holy grail of treats: Coke! It’s ok though because it’s paleo Coke. Just kidding.

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We don’t have a set Super Bowl menu, but each year I try to throw in more healthy options and see what I can get away with. This year’s menu is as follows:

Except for the cheese sticks and queso dip, all of this is Whole 30 or 21 DSD approved. Meaning, you can make all of these foods without added sugar.

Yes, there are only four of us. I realize that’s a lot of food. But that’s part of the fun!

So those are our big Super Bowl plans. It’s a little stressful watching the game with the kids because they have heard that the commercials are “the best part,” yet we have to watch with our hands on the remote ready to mute or switch channels lickety split in the case of something inappropriate, which there always is. We will take it as a teachable moment though and move on.

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This week has been a good deal less chaotic than last and I’m very thankful for that. I’ve had great success with my Whole 30 Day Sugar Detox – finally. I figured I might as well give credit to both programs. I have the 21 DSD books and really recommend them. I don’t have any of the Whole 30 books, but their website has so much information, I feel like I can confidently complete the challenge with what they provide there. I did sign up for their emails, which delivers little bonuses to my inbox like recipes and tips. I appreciate those folks making this affordable!

The way I see it, the main difference between the two plans, aside from the number of days, is that 21 DSD allows non-sweet treats. There is even an almond butter cup recipe in one of the books that looks amazing! Whole 30 says NO to anything that resembles a treat, even if it’s made with wholesome ingredients. Something about tricking your brain or training your brain. I get it. We had my pumpkin pancakes last week while I was just on 21 DSD and I definitely didn’t do as well last week. Certainly, I cannot completely blame the pancakes, but maybe it did have an impact? Such a big part of this whole thing is mental, rather than physical.

All I know is that this week has been easier. I did have a slip up one night and ate some chocolate. I thought I could just avoid all the no-no foods that lurk in my cupboards for a whole month, but turns out, I can’t. The kids got on board (not by choice) and put away all of their candy as well. My husband hid it all and we get it back March 3rd. I fully expect the kids to dig right in as if nothing changed. I hope that my desire for all that sweet stuff will have greatly diminished by then.

One adjustment I’ve had to make is to include some starchy carbohydrate in every meal where my husband is present. He has Type I diabetes and he just cannot eat as low carb as I can. We tried this week with stir fry served over spaghetti squash “fried rice.” Because the squash tastes so sweet, I thought there would provide enough carbs for him. But later that night his blood sugar took a pretty sharp dive, which is really dangerous. I just assumed that he had eaten some of his chocolate stash for dessert, but he was so full from dinner that he didn’t. Lesson learned. He is kind and tries not to eat his goodies in front of me and the kids. His chocolatey kisses give him away though. 🙂

If I do an intense workout, I will make sure to eat some sweet potato or a piece of fruit or two that day. Otherwise, I am sticking to meat and vegetables.

Despite all my fails on the photography front, I did manage to snap some pics of my breakfasts and lunches this week to show you what I’ve been eating.

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Applegate Chicken Apple Sausage with some green apple and spinach.

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Another Applegate Sausage with some sautéed spinach and eggs.

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This one is just ground pork, Neiman Ranch Italian Sausage and lots of spinach. Are you noticing a theme here? I love to make an elaborate breakfast, but reality is that I just don’t usually have time.

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Lunch looks like this almost every day. Salad greens, gluten free deli turkey or chicken, half an avocado, almonds and montmorency cherries (they’re sweet, but are supposed to help my arthritis so I enjoy that little treat), balsamic and olive oil.

Dinners contained a little more variety:

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We had the Super Bowl meatballs one night with some roasted sweet potato and green beans.

Another night was the stir fry with chicken. I tried to get my kids to enjoy spaghetti squash by sautéing it really well, adding an egg and some coconut aminos, hoping it would taste a little like fried rice. Nope, no go. They hated it. I thought it was good, but spaghetti squash has so much water, I feel like no matter what you do it, it is going to be watery and that’s irritating. Definitely not my favorite vegetable.

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We ate eggs and bacon one night, with a side of chicken wings. If you’re wondering which came first: the chicken or the egg, the answer is both, if you’re at my house! I know, we’re weird. Actually, I was just testing them for the blog. And they passed the test with flying colors. Seriously, they are amazing. Check out the recipe.

And then there was the rushed night with a rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods and a great big salad with some fruit on the side for my family. This is such a great option for busy nights. AND, big bonus, I get the bones for broth!

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That’s about it for this week. I’ve got a couple articles in the works that I hope will be helpful – one on histamine intolerance and one on fats: the good, the bad and the ugly. Look for those next week.

If you’re trudging through the sugar detox or Whole 30 with me, congratulations on making it through another week! March will be here before we know it. Or so they say.

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“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding (of my weaknesses) no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary (moms) and increases the power of the weak (in heart who need chocolate). Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run (even me with my broken feet) and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:28-31 (parenthetical comments by Elizabeth, not God)