All-In-One

Hey there! I’m just popping in to let you know that I have decided to do all of my blogging at Heart, Soul and Strength. I was going to try keeping one blog for food and one for other stuff, but I don’t want to keep up with two different blogs. So, I am blogging here about whatever I feel like blogging about:) Hope you’ll come visit!

Too Many Rules!

Hey there my friends! I know it’s been a while since I have posted and I should get the ‘Slacker’ award for my blog, but things have just been~~well, HARD! Many of you know that I have struggled with eating issues and body image in the past, and if you didn’t already know, ya do now So, when I saw a new Dr. back in January, he wanted me to eat~grain free, diary free, gluten free, totally sugar free, AND low-oxalate! Can you say OVERWHELMED?!! Have you ever had someone tell you couldn’t have a certain thing? Then, after being told you couldn’t have that certain thing, did you then want it with everything in you?! Well, I know that feeling all too well!

I think sometimes the more ‘rules’ we have, the more we want what we can’t have. I also know that food rules STRESS ME OUT!!! I have reverted back to wanting to lose weight and counting every calorie that goes into my mouth. I have reverted back to feeling like a failure because I can’t seem to follow all the ‘rules’! I have been very critical of my body even though I am at a healthy weight. My point is~THIS IS NO WAY TO LIVE!!

I talked with the Dr. this morning about some hormonal issues and was totally honest with him about my struggles with food. I am SO relieved that he agreed with me that the main thing is THAT I EAT HEALTHY! I know I have to stay gluten and diary free and low-oxalate does seem to be a good thing. As far as staying grain free~forget it!

Anyway, it is HARD work for me to keep my thinking in the right place about food and body image. I am at a healthy weight, but I still have to battle the wrong thinking. I know there are SO many women in the world that struggle with this kind of thing. I know I am not alone and I know that God is the only one that can truly change my heart! I also know that God wants my focus to be on Him rather than eating a perfect diet or having a certain body. I think it’s kind of ironic that we (or at least I) can be so caught up in eating a ‘perfect’ diet when in reality the STRESS from trying to do that is probably worse on our health than eating a non-perfect diet!

I know this another picture-less post, but I just wanted to give an honest update

How about you~can you relate to trying to follow too many rules?

Just not feelin’ it~

Well, it looks like I have not been in the mood for blogging lately~oops! I am still trying to figure this ‘diet’ thing out and it has not been easy. I have had some wonderful meals and think I should take a picture and post on my blog, but I’m just not feelin’ it I am NOT quiting my blog all together, just kind of trying to re-group. Hope you’ll be patient with me and keep stopping by. I will be back to ‘normal’ soon~whatever that means~I mean, who defines ‘normal’ anyway?

Hope you are all doing well!

A Minor Setback

Hey everybody! How is your week going? Mine has been pretty busy and a little confusing. I haven’t been posting because of my confusion

It all started this past Saturday evening. My stomach started feeling like~well, I don’t know what it felt like, but it wasn’t good! Let’s just say I almost ended up going to the ER. I was in SO much pain I hyperventilated really bad and thought I was going to meet my maker~not to mention scared the bajeebers out of my poor hubby who was trying his best to get me to relax and breathe. I actually got mad at him at one point for telling me to breath because of course I WANTED to breathe! It kind of reminded me of being in labor, only there was no cute little baby to reward me at the end!

So, obviously I made it through that episode, but things just haven’t been right and I’m not sure why. I talked to my Dr. and he said to stop taking calcium citrate with magnesium. He was thinking the magnesium in it was the problem. I stopped taking it and still~something is not right. Way too many trips to the bathroom (tmi)! I know it’s not the stomach flu that seems to be floating around the world because I don’t feel ‘sick’. My gut is just not happy I keep wondering if maybe it’s the beloved coconut bread I have been eating so I am going to ‘try’ really hard NOT to eat any coconut flour today. I WILL be very SAD if it turns out that I am having trouble with coconut flour. It does have lots of fiber in it though.

I haven’t had any spectacular meals to show you because, frankly, I’m at a loss as to what to eat at the moment. Hopefully, things will be back to normal ASAP. My Dr. did say that I could eat some rice or oats if I feel like I need to. He isn’t totally against me eating grains at this point. He also said I could use a tiny bit of honey as long as I don’t go wild with it I was going to make some Pumpkin Coconut Flour muffins that call for honey, but I guess that will have to wait. Maybe some rice is just what my tummy needs~who knows~.

Coconut Flour Bread & A Confession

I have had a couple of people ask about the recipe for the coconut flour bread that I am eating these days so I thought I would post it today. I originally found the recipe at Life As A Plate. I just found this blog not long ago and I am ever so glad that I did! I have made several changes though and thought I would show you what I do. Actually, my daughter usually makes this for me I think I’ve only made it once.

Coconut Flour Bread

I didn’t change much from the original recipe but I needed it to be dairy free. I used to use real organic butter in the bread before I realized I needed to cut out dairy. It was SUPER yummy with real butter! Now, I am using Earth Balance dairy free/soy free butter. It’s good that way too. Anyway, here is the recipe my daughter makes for me:

3/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup flax meal

2 Tbs. arrowroot

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. onion powder

1/8 cup sesame seeds (I leave these out due to tummy)

7 eggs (you can get away with only 6 eggs)

1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil (original recipe calls for 1/2 c.)

2 Tbs. full fat coconut milk (original recipe calls for sour cream)

Combine dry ingredients except 1 Tbs. sesame seeds if using.

Combine eggs and coconut milk (or sour cream) and beat into dry mix~then add butter or coconut oil.

Pour into greased loaf pan and sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbs. sesame seeds if using. I use a small loaf pan~not a regular size but not mini loaf either~not sure what size mine is exactly because I’ve never measured it

Bake @ 325 for 40 minutes. I always cover mine with foil after the first 15 minutes to keep top from burning but your oven may be different than mine.

Let cool in pan for a bit then take out of pan and cool the rest of the way on cooling rack. Slice and enjoy! A BIG thank you to Life As A Plate~this bread has changed my life!

Okay, now I have a small confession to make.  I ‘cheated’ on my ‘diet’ last night! I ate a couple of things I wasn’t supposed to! Cereal has always been one of my favorite foods and when I’m tired and don’t feel like making anything else, I WANT CEREAL!! Why am I telling you this? Because I don’t want people to think that I have it all together and I never cheat!! I am not always the best at doing what I’m told to do to better my health I WANT to stick to the ‘diet’ that has been prescribed for me, but sometimes, I’m weak and cave. Any tips you may have would be greatly appreciated!

Hope you enjoy the bread recipe and have a great weekend!

Pure Torture!

About 2 or 3 times a month, our church meets in small groups at different people’s homes~we call it care group. Last night, I had the honor of making snacks. I picked a recipe that I can’t eat, but I can at least look at it

Cookie and Cream Cheesecake Bars

I found this recipe at Living Graciously blog. They must have been really good, because they were GONE!  They were easy to make too and I may make them again sometime soon for my family. The biggest problem I had making them was the SMELL!! They smelled SO good. I felt like a smoker who has quit and just wants to take in the smell. Anyway, that was torture!

So what did I have for dessert yesterday? Well, after my very late lunch, I still had a hankering for something and then remembered this:

frozen cherries with coconut milk

I put about 6-8 frozen cherries in a small prep bowl and put about 1-1/2 Tbs. of canned coconut milk over the top. The coconut milk freezes on the cherries for a yummy little treat!

I used to do this all the time and have posted about it at some point. The difference is, back then I would put dark chocolate chips on top, and now I must settle for no chocolate. It’s still yummy though! If you can have chocolate, I encourage you to give it a try with it

Well, I’m off to physical therapy. Hope you all have a beautiful day!

What is your favorite dessert? If I could eat anything I want, I think my pick would probably be pecan pie with ice cream of course!

Makin’ a List and Checkin’ it Twice

I know, Christmas is long gone, but I’m making a different kind of list. I’m back to Living Free after a long break! I have been blogging at Heart, Soul and Strength lately . That blog is mostly about health stuff, but I have found myself wanting to talk about FOOD!!

I am currently on a gluten free, grain free, dairy free, sugar free (not even stevia), low oxalate diet! What a mouthful! So, the other day I was feeling completely overwhelmed by all of this and I thought ‘I just need to make a list!’. I started going through the low-oxalate food list and grain free cookbooks and writing down different possibilities for meals that meet all of my dietary restrictions. That way, when I feel lost and overwhelmed, I can just go to my list and pick out a meal~and KNOW that is it safe Whew!

Normally when people go grain free, they rely more on nuts and nut flours, but I can’t do that because of oxalates. My stand by flour these days is coconut flour and I LOVE it! Anyway, I wanted to show you what I had to eat yesterday.

Spirulina smoothie with 2 boiled eggs

I had been stumped as to how to make a smoothie with NO sweetener of any kind. My fruits are pretty limited due to oxalates so no bananas in this baby! Then I remembered~coconut water! I used 3/4 c. coconut water, 1/4 coconut milk(canned), 1 tbs. ground flax, 1-1/2 tsp. spirulina powder, frozen mango and pineapple.

Lunch:

Chicken, mashed cauliflower, coconut flour bread w/ avocado

That’s not a very good picture, but I can assure you, it was delicious! I cooked the chicken in wheat free tamari and some herbs and had garlicky mashed cauliflower. The bread and avocado were just the icing on the cake

Dinner:

Salad, beef and broccoli~chinese style and coconut flour bread

Again, terrible picture (gotta work on that), but tasted heavenly. I actually used deer tenderloin instead of beef. So, yummy! The deer and broccoli had sesame oil and lots of garlic. I planned on cooking cabbage with this, but ran out of energy. Never fear, this is a meal we WILL be having again!

My Dr. only wants me to eat every 5 hours and all of these meals kept me plenty satisfied until time to eat again WooHoo!! Off to a good start on my ‘list’!