Food Journal

I hate them. I've tried keeping them numerous times over the years, and every time, I make it one, maybe two days before I say forget it. Part of my problem, I think, is that I was trying to be too detailed in what I logged. Neurotic measurements, precise calorie counts, time records to the minute. For some people, that may be the right path to take; for me, it was too much.

It's time for me to take another stab at it though. This time, I'm just going to jot down the time and rough amount of what I ate. Portions aren't my big problem. An overwhelming love for sugar is. To that end, the point of this food journal will just be to bring a mindfulness and accountability back to what I'm eating. It's already helped me make better choices this morning -- I had 3/4c. organic plain yogurt with a tablespoon or so of sunflower seeds and a handful of raisins mixed in, instead of having puffed corn cereal with rice milk. Or, more to the point, instead of also having puffed corn cereal with rice milk.

Part of why I decided to start this today is that it's a baseball day -- hurrah! I'm going to the last businessperson's special of the season for the Phillies (which means I'm going to be tempted by gluten free beer and crab fries), and then the Sox are on ESPN (which means I'll be grabbing a stool at my favorite bar to watch the game). I don't expect to be a saint, but maybe a food journal will help me scale back the indulgences a little bit. Stay tuned.

Raw Vegan "Lasagna"...Is Delicious

I feel like I can't keep up with all the posts I want to write, but eventually they'll all make their way up here, if not in the ideal order. I have yet to post about my meals in NYC this past weekend, but I'm going to skip ahead to tonight's dinner, a loose reproduction of my Saturday night entree.

But first, a quick nod to juice. As you know, I love the stuff. As you probably also know by know, I am a huge fan of cocktails. I have yet to make fresh juice to mix into a cocktail, but I have started passing my juice off as a cocktail in and of itself. Here, yesterday's carrot juice cocktail -- on the rocks -- in all its glory.


In case you didn't figure it out by the title of the post, I made raw vegan lasagna for dinner tonight. When I ate it at Pure Food and Wine over the weekend, I couldn't believe how dang tasty the stuff was. With the aide of the (un)cookbook Raw Food/Real World [see bookshelf at right], courtesy of my beloved Snacks, I was eager to give it a shot. I didn't recreate the recipe faithfully (I almost never do), but I think it came out quite well. It even passed the man test. A health-conscious, veggie-loving man, but still.

For the pesto, I took about 2.5 cups of basil, maybe a 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds, one clove of garlic, a tablespoon or two of lemon juice, a drizzle of amazing olive oil, some salt, and some pepper, and put it in the cuisinart attachment of my blender. (Oh, I also hate measuring; I play to taste, not numbers. Sorry if that isn't super helpful.)


Before:
After:


The "ricotta" (I know, I know. It's not ricotta. It's not cheese. Call it something else. But for ease of explanation, we'll call it "ricotta," eh?) was about a cup and a third of soaked raw pine nuts, about a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast, a little more lemon juice, a pinch of kosher salt, and water added slowly until it became the consistency of ricotta. This was also whipped up in the cuisinart attachment.

For the tomato sauce...I cheated. I bought a jar of Trader Joe's organic tomato sauce. It's been cooked. So sue me.

To assemble it all, I peeled the zucchini and cut into thin (1/8") strips. I topped with the "ricotta," pesto, and sliced cherry tomatoes from my sister's garden. These tomatoes made the dish. Try to tell me these don't look beyond delicious:


I just kept layering the zucchini, ricotta, pesto, and tomatoes until I liked the look of it. Best part? No waiting for it to cook. Assemble and devour. Hurrah for instant gratification.

We paired it with one of my favorite wines, a 2005 J. Lohr Cabernet Sauvignon. My friend Brooke gave me a bottle of this once, and I always think of her and her family, which only makes the wine that much more wonderful.

Gluten Free Goodness: Party Time

When I found out I had Celiac Disease, one of the things that bummed me out the most was feeling like I'd miss out on celebrating with friends. No birthday cake, no pumpkin pie, no wedding cake when the time was right. Sure, there are naturally gluten free (GF) options -- lots of ice creams are GF, and you could always go the healthy fruit salad route. But there's something about your best friend bringing you a carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting for your birthday that's just tough to beat. Lucky for Celiac folk, we can still partake in these sugary little rituals. Here are my favorites.

Namaste makes amazing cake mixes (I find mine at Whole Foods). The Spice Cake is my favorite, but the others are pretty great too. I often add shredded carrots to the Spice Cake mix to make carrot cake instead.

If you're not in the mood to bake your own -- or if you want to surprise one of your Celiac friends with dessert and don't know where to start -- I highly recommend paying a visit to Mr. Ritt's. I'm fortunate to live in the same city as what could easily be the best GF bakery in the country, but those of you who live farther away don't have to miss out. The have a collection of products that ship well, and they're well worth it. My roommates in college surprised me with a cake from Mr. Ritt's for my first Celiac birthday, and it made all the difference. They also do amazing wedding cakes; the price for some is even lower than your standard gluten-full wedding cakes, and most of them taste at least as good, if not better. Just to hammer home the point: Mr. Ritt's is amazing.

Whole Foods also has a great GF bakehouse. You can find muffins and breads, but you can also find some killer chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies. I live about a five minute walk from Whole Foods, but I never buy the cookies. Why? They're so tasty, all ten or so would be gone by my front door.

Trader Joe's didn't miss out on the GF market, either. If you want a little treat, I'd highly recommend these GF Ginger Snaps. Warning: don't think for a second you'll only eat one or two.

If ginger snaps aren't your thing, you can always go for their tiramisu, found in the freezer section. I assume just about everyone like tiramisu, so it's my last suggestion for this post. Seriously. Gluten free tiramisu, and it's delicious.

If you have any other GF party favorites, post them in the comments section -- I'd love to hear about them. Enjoy!

Willpower

In general, I'm not a big fan of willpower. I usually prefer coming up with better systems that all but eliminate the need for straight up willpower. Right now, however, it is sheer willpower that is keeping my from reaching into the company fridge for a Diet Coke, walking across the street for frozen yogurt, and scarfing down a handful of the dark chocolate peanut M&Ms. I keep telling myself that forgoing the caffeine and sugar today will make it ten times easier to forgo them tomorrow, as well; it won't start that vicious blood sugar spiral.

Besides, I do have some deliciousness to look forward to tonight -- we're going to try (gluten-free) beer can chicken on the grill, with lots of delicious grilled veggies, grilled pineapple or peaches for dessert, and maybe a great bottle of wine. I can resist the fake, chemical-laden quick treats in favor of wholesome deliciousness tonight.

I'll try, at least.

Eating Overhaul

I don't diet. I can't. It doesn't make sense to me, and trying to lose weight is never, ever enough motivation for me. I tried one once, and it lasted two hours. Then I ate some chips. If, however, I have to overhaul my diet to improve my health, then I can become a dedicated little eater.

My first experience with a radical diet change came a few months after my 21st birthday when I found out I have Celiac Disease. I couldn't imagine a life without beer, bagels, and my dad's amazing pappardelle with wild boar. Over the years I've discovered a number of great gluten-free alternatives, and the whole experience has made me particularly receptive to the idea of changing my diet to change my health.

Shortly after the Celiac Disease diagnosis, I found out I also had candida in my system, and was put on a yeast-free diet. This does not mean "don't eat yeast." It means "don't eat anything that could feed the yeast." And what feeds yeast? Sugar. Alcohol. Vinegar (which happens to be in just about every condiment made). Fermented foods, like cheese. To starve the yeast, the diet has to be adhered to 100% over a prolonged period. It was tough to start my senior of college on such a strict diet, but it seemed to do the trick. After four months I could, in moderation, add the other foods to my diet.

I've mentioned the elimination diet that I'm currently trying, but haven't explained it here much yet. When a family friend found out how sick I'd been, she suggested I get in touch with Debra Lermitte, who runs a company called HealThy Self. (I love the name.) She's fine tuning an elimination diet called FareWell, and it's been a great tool for getting to know my body better. What I really love about the program is that there's a support group component. Debra's always available for a pep talk or to answer a question, and the group of participants doing the diet (there's about six of us in my session, including fellow "Holistic Health Junkie", Jen) meets roughly once a week to trade recipes, share progress, and encourage each other.

The basic premise of the FareWell Diet is to strip all the major triggers from your diet for two weeks to get it to a clean, recharged state. After two weeks of mostly fruits and vegetables, everyone was feeling pretty good. We all reported we'd lost weight, had more energy, had clearer skin. (Caveat: the first week was tough as many of us went through withdrawal from sugar, caffeine, etc.) Once the two weeks were over, the reintroductions started, with a new "trigger food" introduced every three days. The goal is to listen to your body and discover sensitivities you weren't previously aware of.

To help us along, Debra put together clear guidelines of what foods to eat when, as well as a list of common symptoms associated with the various introduction foods. I'm about 2 weeks into the introductions, which puts me 2/3 of the way through the program, and I'm feeling great and getting to know my body much better. Debra also puts together a great weekly newsletter with health tips and interesting factoids. She even gave Full Well a sweet mention in this week's issue. You can find information about it, or get in touch with her, at her website.

Now that I've tried this elimination diet, I'm curious about some others I've heard about. Being me, I'm sure I'll be doing research in the coming weeks, and you can expect to see what I find out here. When the diet is over, I'll also post my reactions (or not) to the different foods that were reintroduced. So far, though, I haven't discover that I react to anything I really love. Whew!

Gluten-Free Goodness: Game Night

In the three years since I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease the gluten-free (GF) products on the market have increased in both number and, more importantly, quality. Here are some of my favorites, most of which can be found at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, your local health food store, or, of course, the internet. So, without further ado, I give you proof that even with Celiac Disease, you can enjoy a tasty night of pizza and beer. Hurrah!

My cousin, Logan, first told me about Redbridge about a year ago. I'd been dying to try it, and finally found it at Total Wine in Delaware. (I live in Pennsylvania where the alcohol-buying situation is frustrating at best.) A few months later, something magical happened. I was watching the Red Sox beat the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, and there, at the beer stall under section 202, I saw bottles of Redbridge in the bottom of the cooler. It was the first time I was able to drink a beer in a ballpark, something I never thought I'd be able to do. I'm a Sox girl through and through, but the Phillies definitely went up a few dozen points in my book that day. I've had a few other GF beers, but Redbridge is hands down my favorite. If you want the full list of GF beers I've tried, just let me know.


I've sampled a number of GF pizzas these past few years, and was always disappointed. Until, that is, I discovered the goodness that is Glutino Spinach and Feta. It's a pizza that actually tastes like -- that's right -- pizza! They have a few other flavors, as well, but I haven't tried them yet. I'm too in love with this one. (I find it in the freezer section at Whole Foods.) Glutino has done an amazing job of creating GF products that don't compromise on taste or texture. They also make awesome pretzels.
I can't buy them and keep them at home anymore because I would eat the whole bag. And that's not good news for anyone.

There are lots of other great GF products out there, and I'll try to post new favorites regularly, but this should at least help get you through a low-key night of a watching a game. Next time, GF free products for birthdays and other celebrations.

The Back Story

Right now I'm right smack in the middle of a 24-hour health-love fest. Last night was my first meeting for the FareWell diet, an elimination diet I'm trying with my favorite health-questing pal, Jen. At 10am I had a phone appointment with the amazing nurse practitioner who changed my life three years ago by diagnosing me with celiac disease. And after work today I get to pay a visit to Eva, acupuncturist extraordinaire, for my weekly tune-up. I want to give each of these three pieces the attention it deserves, but to be able to tell the full story, I think you need some background.

The back story, short version: Four years ago my health took a major dip. I went from feeling sort of blah all the time to feeling downright sick all the time. Panic attacks, no energy, inability to sleep. But the kicker was the pain. In the fall of 2004, right when I was studying in Rome, surrounded by delicious food and beautiful art, I started to have pain in my back. Then it spread to my left leg, then my left arm, and, before long, my whole body was in agony. I found a chiropractor, and he helped, but the results never lasted more than a day. When my parents came to visit in December, I was in so much agony that my souvenir from Ravenna was a cane to help me hobble around the city. In Assisi, we got a special handicap parking pass so we could park in the central square because going up the stairs from the main parking lot was too painful. By the time we got to the airport, my dad had to steal a wheelchair because I couldn't walk to the gate. The next seven months were filled with appointments to various specialists, all with the same outcome: we don't know what's wrong, and it might just be in your head.

No. Way.

There was something wrong, and I didn't have the faintest clue what it could be. We knew what it wasn't. We knew it wasn't rheumatoid arthritis, and it wasn't a slipped disc in my spine, and it wasn't a tumor pressing on the nerves. Knowing what it wasn't was a start, but I still needed answers. Finally, in July of 2005, I got them.

My boss that summer, seeing how much pain I was in, suggested I make a trip to the Women to Women clinic in Maine. I took a little wellness road trip to Yarmouth with D., one of my closest friends since 7th grade (we were a head taller than everyone else on the first day of school, so we found each other pretty quickly), and had the appointment that changed everything. After reviewing my diet and talking to me for half an hour, my nurse practitioner suggested I might have a gluten intolerance. If I stopped eating gluten -- a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and oats -- I might feel better. Within three days I was pain free.

When my latest health crisis rolled around, I knew I'd have to bring in the experts from Women to Women again. Check back later to find out what they had to say three years later. Hint: It's all good news. Really good news.