Almost through the holiday season and looking forward to getting back to a routine and some more control over my food. We've got back to back hockey tournaments and one of them meant we had to pack up and go to a hotel in Victoria for a few days. It's soooo hard to shop and eat wheatfree when I don't have my own kitchen and am reliant on whatever we can fit into the hotel room fridge and grab to eat at the rink. This isn't an excuse - it's a reality. However, an interesting thing that I've realized is that I am greatly looking forward to being totally wheat free again. Eating wheat products has felt like a burden and I don't get the same enjoyment from wheat things anymore. Bread is now boring to me, and that is something I would never have thought possible in my life. Even treats that once enticed me are easy to leave alone - who would have thought, eh?

Here's a recipe that I got from the Wheat Belly Blog . If you don't subscribe to it, I strongly suggest that you do. The Wheat Belly Blog provides a lot of helpful tips and recipes and links. The blog is done by the company of Dr. William Davis,  the man who started all of this ,so it's got a very positive energy that I really enjoy.

Here's the recipe:Mocha Walnut Brownies

Richer than a cookie, heavier than a muffin, brownies are ordinarily an indulgence that leaves you ashamed of your lack of restraint. Have one . .  . or two or three, and you will surely pack on a pound of belly fat. 

But these mocha walnut brownies, as with other recipes that Dr. Davis provides, will not pack on the pounds. With no wheat to trigger appetite, nor any readily-digestible carbohydrate to generate blood sugar highs and lows, you can have a nice brownie or two or three and nothing bad happens: You don’t send blood sugar sky-high, don’t trigger formation of small LDL particles and triglycerides, you don’t trigger appetite, you don’t gain a pound of belly fat. You simply have your brownie(s) and enjoy them.  

Serve these brownies plain or topped with cream cheese, natural peanut or almond butter, or dipped in coffee. 

Ingredients:

8 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate (100% chocolate)

4 tablespoons coconut oil or butter, melted

2 large eggs, separated

½ cup coconut milk (or sour cream)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups ground almonds

2 tablespoons coconut flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons instant espresso

Sweetener equivalent to 1 cup sugar or to taste (e.g., liquid stevia, Truvía, erythritol)

Preheat oven to 350º F. 

Melt chocolate using double boiler method or in 15-second increments in microwave. Stir in melted coconut oil or butter. 

In small bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Add egg whites, egg yolks, coconut milk, and vanilla extract to chocolate mixture and mix thoroughly by hand. 

In separate bowl, combine ground almonds, coconut flour, walnuts, cocoa powder, espresso, and sweetener. Mix thoroughly. 

Add dry mix to chocolate mix and mix together thoroughly. If dough is too stiff, add additional coconut milk, one tablespoon at a time. 

Place mixture in 9-inch baking pan and bake for 25 -30 minutes or until toothpick withdraws dry. 

If you enjoy sweet things, this recipe will make you happy. 

Have your best day possible. 

Ramblings, sagging, and other things...

Here's a nice product for those who don't want to give up bread. You can buy it at this link

So, as I read more and more about weight loss from low carbs or wheatfree, I have come to accept that when one is obese, as I am, then when the weight is gone, the skin is left so saggy that it requires surgery to get rid of the excess - otherwise it droops and sags and my abdominal skin will be left dragging on the ground. I guess my legs will have skin hanging around the ankles like old nylons that have fallen to the ground.

Oh my, that just isn't encouraging. Should I, perhaps, be heartened that I'm no longer losing any weight? As I mentioned before, I was seeing some concavity to my cheeks, but that stopped and nothing else has happened. I do feel better, I sleep better, I eat much less, but the weight remains stable. I am convinced of my wheat allergy due to the increased energy and other aforementioned benefits, so I'll stick with it.

Still, it seems more than a tad unfair that I have to look totally ugly in my obesity, and then I will still have to look totally ugly when I lose weight yet have to tote my excess skin around in a wheelbarrow. I know there are surgeries available, but do I want that? And then, I have to ask myself why, oh why, am I even worried about this when nothing is coming off anyway? 

Truly, I often feel incredible guilt and even horror that I fight obesity when so many in the world are starving. Well, I can't help them all, but I can at least have some self respect and attend to my own body in a way that is healthy. Another day, another set of wheat free meals, more joy.

Have your best day possible.

Is it really this simple?

Is it truly this simple? I mean, honestly, I don't have cravings for bread or carbs in general; my  appetite is half of what it has been for the last 10 years; I can't eat a full serving of dinner in a restaurant; my jeans are looser....I could go on and on but you get the picture. It's working!!

I'm able to remain wheatless without any effort. I've kind of re-designed how I eat. I have a bowl of wheat free cereal for breakfast , and then I pack a hard boiled egg, an apple, some Greek yogurt with fruit, and a wheat free bar for the day as well as some nuts to get me through the 4 pm hungries. I'm hungry when I get home, but those horrible blood sugar drops aren't happening and my head doesn't ache - which was how I always felt when I was hungry in the past.

I can't make it through the week totally wheat free - especially now when I leave work only to face the hordes of fellow Christmas shoppers, or shivering in the rinks at my kids' hockey tournaments, or Christmas dance and choir recitals etc - no time to have a sit down meal in a restaurant and no time to eat at home, so about one meal a week I end up with a sandwich - but no problem getting back on the wheatless path for the next meal.

I  feel liberated! It still remains to be seen if this will last or if it's just the initial euphoria that comes with a new diet - I know all of you who struggle with weight know what I mean. You start a new *food plan* and you're all revved up with the hope that this one will do the trick. Then, it happens, the weight doesn't budge and it's just too hard to self motivate to deal with the hunger and the emotional deprivation. Well, it's not happening for me that way - at least not yet - so I'll keep on keeping on with this and enjoying every wheatless moment.

Have your best day possible.

In my short time on a wheatless lifestyle I'm already recognizing a pattern - I eat wheat on weekends. This is twice in a row - so no point in going to the great river of Denial - there it is. This last weekend we had a friend over for dinner who always bring a great soup starter - my favorite dish in the whole entire universe (did I make it clear I like it?). That would be - drum roll please.... oyster stew. Don't forget, I'm a west coast lady so fish is a staple, but my friend makes it like no else. Here's a recipe that's close to hers:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 pints oysters with liquor
• salt and pepper to taste
• dash of ground cayenne pepper, or to taste
• chopped fresh parsley for garnish

My friend also adds chopped tomatoes, onion, and some other tasty little things. 

Heat four bowls and add a tablespoon of butter to each bowl; keep hot.
Heat milk, cream, and oyster liquor just to the boiling point; add oysters and bring to boiling point once again. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Ladle into hot bowls and top with chopped parsley, if desired.

My friend changes the heavy cream to milk so it's less fattening. But I'm sure as your reading this, you're wondering why this is a problem since there is no mention of wheat in the recipe. Well folks, it's the french baguette you have to eat with it!

And don't try to tell me that the stew can be eaten with out this delicious french contribution because truly, it can't. So, I thought about it and decided that I would eat just as much of it as I wanted because life is hard at times and like the rest of you, I have stress and worries and if I want to drown them in wheat, well hell, I will. Much to my surprise, however, I found that I didn't actually want a whole lot of the bread. Two small chunks were tasty and great and left my taste buds doing the happy dance. 

I have to say, that shocked the hell out of me. I would normally eat half a baguette, if not at dinner, then munching on it later in the evening. I'm still in shock at how easy it was to leave the rest.

I've also noticed that aside from my caved in cheeks, I'm also finding my pants a little loser. Nothing to get excited about yet - I don't need a small size, but there's some space there that wasn't  in existence before two weeks ago when I started this wheat free life. 

Well, now that I've identified my weekend eating pattern, and lived to tell the tale, I'll see what next weekend brings. In the meantime, I'll continue on with the nuts, vegetables, wheat free cereals, and other things that are taking the place in my life where bread once lived. 

Have your best day possible.

Here's a weird thing - I'm losing interest in food. I went out for dinner a couple of days ago and even the wine wasn't very enticing... although I still drank some. I don't feel hungry as soon as I normally do and I don't have the low blood sugar thingy happening either. Feels a bit like being let out of a prison. I wonder if it will last?

I think that feeling like I'm a prisoner of food isn't uncommon for fat people - if it doesn't start out as an eating disorder it certainly becomes one as I've tried diet after diet, and joined gym after gym, failing at all of them - anyway, it ends up that I"m always aware of what I'm eating, but not in a good and healthy way - it becomes associated with stress and worry and obsession. So, to have some relief from that is great - but I'm distrustful that it will last since nothing else has. I mean really, could it actually have been so simple as a wheat allergy?

It seems like with my drastic food reduction I should be losing weight but all I've noticed is that my cheeks are getting kind of concave. Odd eh! I guess that since my body is covered in fat cells it's depleting the easy ones first, but if I had the choice, it would make the stomach or butt fat cells a priority. Oh well, I don't have control over anything else in life so why should I have control over my melting fat cells? or maybe they aren't melting - maybe my cheeks just gave up and fell in?

Okay folks, have your best day possible.

Back on track..

I've been thinking about my weekend - I had some bread - it was really good bread, but then all bread is really good bread to a wheat addict. I didn't *pig* out - just a sandwich because I was unprepared and didn't have access to any food that would be good for me (one of my sons had 7 hockey games at his weekend tournament, and a daughter had a bottle drive, and then there was the usual stuff that goes with having a large family). So, I learned that I always have to be prepared with food I can eat easily at hand when I'm in out of home locations. Not hard to keep some nuts in the car - and some fruit.

The positive part of this was that I didn't beat myself up emotionally and surprisingly, it was very easy to not jump back on the wheat wagon. I've had no trouble getting back to my food plan and I'm not actually missing wheat products at all.

So, why couldn't I do this when I tried Atkins so many times? I could always stick with it for a while but the intensity of my commitment to the diet always wore me out. I don't feel that way at all this time - instead, I just  think about avoiding wheat. Weird - and I can't find a single neuroscience piece to help me understand this.

A nice side effect of my wheat avoidance life style is that my face seems less puffy and the pants I put on for work this morning are a bit loose. Not a dramatic change for most people, but if even a half inch is gone, then I'm doing the happy dance. However, I'm determined not to focus on weight but to keep my mind on health. Still, I'm sure all would agree that a little less of me would be a good thing!!

Oh well, no point in thinking myself into a stupor - just continuing on. Hey, have your best day possible.

I've been on dozens of low carb diets but failed at them all because I couldn't manage the cravings. I'm not finding that to be a problem so far. In fact, yesterday I was out of town on business and I wasn't in a place where I could eat my home made lunch, so I went to a restaurant and ordered a scrumptious salad of mixed greens, shrimp, feta, and some vegetables with a nice balsamic dressing. The potential trigger for me was that it arrived with some delightful looking pita bread!! Well folks, pita to me is a prime drug/substance of choice. The pleasure center of my brain sees a nice fluffy, fresh from the oven pita and it starts doing the neuronal happy dance.I didn't even have time to ask the server to take it away because she disappeared too quickly. To cut to the point - I not only didn't eat it, I didn't even struggle with not eating it. And, I didn't finish my salad because I got full and lost my appetite. Very different experience for me!!!! 

I've found some wheatless tasty things too - I'm not a big treat eater - although many not believe that when they look at me, but truly, I'm not. However, with Christmas coming up I wanted to have some wheatless cookies or bars to eat on the type of occasion when that sort of social thing is happening and I don't have lots of baking time, so I looked harder in my local grocery store and was pleased to find some commercially made cookies and bars that are wheatless and fit the bill. 

I've also had to do some thinking about if I'm going to determine the success and suitability of the Wheat Belly plan by weight loss or inches lost, or how I feel, or .......? I haven't fully decided but I have decided that pounds lost isn't going to the issue. I know I feel better, and I know I can't be harmed by eating more vegetables and less wheat based carbs, so for now, I'll just keep on with the plan and consider weight loss later.

So, have your best day possible and I hope your food plan is working for you.

Doing okay so far...

It's always easy enough to stick with an eating change at the beginning. I'm sure you've done the same a thousand times too (well, maybe it's just me whose tried and failed a thousand times) - anyway, the motivation is high and the novelty triggers some endorphins to make the diet self rewarding - then, harsh reality sets in. The brain is wired to go to the negative (for survival because nothing that's fun and easy relates to keeping us alive) and it's wired to the familiar. So, once the novelty wears off, the endorphins are no longer triggered and we fade back into the same old eating patters. However, I'm still in the early days so it's been easy to stay on the Wheat Belly/Paleo style plan.

I've also found some food products that might help. Breakfast is a challenge for me because with 8 of us trying to get ready and fed and lunches packed up it's a zoo and I lack creativity at that time of the day but I found a cereal called Baker on Main that I just love. It's crunchy and filling and tasty - a great combo.

I'm still  starving by 11 a.m. but my schedule doesn't allow for eating then anyway so no problem staying clear of food. I do find, however, that I'm not getting the weird feelings in my head (almost dizzy, almost a headache, just not quite right) when I'm hungry on this diet so I'm able to tolerate the hunger much better. I'm hoping the hunger will lessen with time. I also bought some Skinny B which I will try later this week.


I've been reading lots of blogs on wheatless eating and many mention clearing out their cupboards of wheat products. I can't do that. How on earth would I feed by kids without bread and pasta? I know millions of you do that quite well, but I can't. I need a quick go to meal on occasion as I run home from work and try to get something cooked before hockey practice or dance or piano lessons. And no, my kids aren't over scheduled, there's just a lot of them. Also, they love this type of food on occasion and they don't show signs of weight issues or slow thinking or any of the symptoms of wheat allergies - so why do it. I'm trying to find fast alternatives for myself such as frozen fish to microwave and then I have some of the salad we all have with our meals.

Yup, still early days and still learning and exploring how to live wheatless, not witless.

Have your best day possible.

First steps...

Today I was sent a link to the Wheat Belly book by William Davis MD. It hit me like a rock on my hard skull. I've been fat for a long time now. Not just overweight, not just fluffy, I mean fat. I've also developed the curse of fat people - Diabetes type 2. It runs in my family - we all have it, even my skinny relatives - but that's no excuse - I may have had a genetic disposition to D2, but I wasn't likely to avoid it with my weight no matter what my ancestors passed on to me.

Anyway, back to my fatness. Like most fat people, I've failed every diet known to human kind - twice or three times on most of them. Doctors never believe that, they all seem to think that we fatties sit around eating bon bons all day. Well, I'm the mom of 14 - 8 still at home, and I work full time - and I have a mom with Alzheimer's- so how many minutes in a day do you think that leaves me to sit around stuffing myself. Sure, I eat the wrong thing at times, and I eat too much at times, but so do slim people. So - what's my problem? Am I doomed to this weight and an early death by food?

I figured I was, and I was grieving that. Then, my cousin sent the link to Wheat Belly and I looked up the web page. My oh my ..... I know that's it. I always knew I craved bread and pasta and as I read the Wheat Belly book (which of course I ran straight out and bought) I felt like every word was written to me.

So, the next logical question is - why do a blog about this? Well friends, I blog about other things too - it's a great way to meet other people who walking the same path, and to keep myself honest. If I do well, I'll let you know. When I fail, I'll write about that too. I'd love to hear from you and what you are doing on your journey  - whether it's with food, or wheat, or life in general.

That's my intro to me - have your best day possible.