Gluten free=lose weight?

"Natasha!  I have been gluten free for 2 weeks...cravings are gone!  I've lost 2.5 lbs!  You were SO right!"  This from a dear friend who, for a couple of years, has had immense cravings for chocolate cake in dealing with personal hardships.  I told her to start with casein/gluten free, and do one at a time, so she chose gluten and she is already seeing results!  I feel so rewarded by her success in just 2 weeks! 

I am a firm believer that if you have cravings, it is a food sensitivity and elimination dieting can help you figure out the culprit.  It worked for me because I too cut cravings and ousted hypoglycemia by eliminating gluten/wheat from my diet.  I can always thank my son for his strict dietary needs that lead me down this path.  When he was an infant, I cringed at even thinking he may be lactose intolerant.  Boy was I in for a rude awakening!  He wasn't just lactose intolerant...he had a milk allergy!!  I have since found out he has additional food sensitivities which caused most of his behavioral issues. It was a blessing in disguise!  If he had not been born, I would never have figured this out.  I would have continued mocking these theories, so I am thankful! 

"Food" for thought...

After attending a Health Fair last weekend, it made me realize something...a lot of the patrons did not exercise prevention in their younger years and are now looking to reverse inflammation. Detoxing your body of foods you are used to eating can be like withdrawing from a drug.

Most age related disease manifests itself out of inflammation which starts with food.  If you do not know the foods which cause it, then you are hurting yourself.  If you practice an 'everything in moderation' mantra, then you are helping yourself in the long run. 

Yes, it is possible to reverse some damage to improve quality of life, but most successes are psychologically charged.  It is harder to 'teach an old dog new tricks.'  This is why I teach my kids to eat alternatively.  I hope to keep them from craving these foods as they mature.  They will eat it with friends when I can't control their intake in later years, but I believe I'm arming them with knowledge and habits for life.  Ultimately, I hope they will return to their foundation, and while their bodies are developing, I hope to build strong minds and bodies.

How I stay disciplined ...

Once upon a time it was Christmas night & dinner rolls danced from my head into my plate & over the lips went two or three rolls made of wheat enriched flour. On into the next morning did my indulgences go...as I devoured over-processed instant grits made with butter & cheese. Yummmmm, right? Well, yes while the taste was delish, the feelings of sugar drops dancing throughout my body all day reminded me of how I pass up many of these wheat/dairy/processed foods that taste oh-so-good! Staying gluten & wheat free is how I keep cravings at bay!

The wonders of HUMMUS!

Who knew you could replace cheese or salad dressing with hummus for a tasty alternative?  If you have dairy sensitivities, & are also looking to cut the fats, go for healthy hummus!  The key ingredients of hummus are chickpeas & tahini (sesame seeds), which are rich in:

                                       *fiber & protein
                                       *folic acid, zinc, and magnesium.
                                       *Calcium & iron

Beans are known to lower blood cholesterol & help to prevent cancer.

It is delicious in lasagna when you can't use cheese.  Try it!  It's delish!!!!

All the colors of the rainbow!

My lunch is sautéed tuna, kale, spaghetti squash, onion & peppers in olive oil & flavored with Penzy's salt free seasoning. A whole lotta yum & healthy all at the same time!

S-t-r-e-t-c-h out your ingredients to avoid getting too much of one thing!!

I love cocktail sauce but it contains a lot of sugar, and I also love guacamole (made with lots of "gaaaahlic", as Emeril says!), so mix them.  I love to eat boiled shrimp for a snack, & dip it into a mixture of avocado & cocktail sauce, & you have lower fat & sugar content in your dip!  This is far easier than making homemade cocktail sauce in order to cut on sugar!

The cocktail sauce adds tons of flavor to the avocado, so no need to add seasonings. 

*2 tablespoons of cocktail sauce = approximately 5-10 g of sugar
*2 tablespoons of avocado = 4.5 g fat

Avocado has good fats, so you need them, but if you are cutting back on fats, you can tweak it to your specifications.  Even out the score so you don't have to sacrifice taste for old fashioned "dieting"!

Confessions of a self proclaimed "antitoxin health princess"

I'm going to make fun of myself by saying I'm a hypocrite! I crave this JUNK! The higher the sugar the better so don't give me that whipped icing crap! Another dirty secret of mine....I'm notorious for buying mini birthday cakes, eating it whole on a single Friday night just because...& no it wasn't my birthday, (but it's been probably a year since I last did it, so maybe that's progress)!  Let's not forget to mention that I love White Chocolate Reese's cups (eating the whole bag in one sitting yes), & pizza with triple cheese!  EEEEK!  I admitted my sins to you...well, most of them anyway!

Since I have a portion control issue, and sort of a sweet tooth, I stay away from sugar all day Mon.-Fri. and I "treat" (or maybe I should say, "contaminate") myself with this "mystery food". I call it that because there are a lot of synthetic ingredients in many of these products...ahem, except for Little Caeasars! Hale to the Little Caesars for not including whey (found in milk) in their sauce, as I can put that on my son's gluten & yeast free pizza crust. Patrick cannot have the Little Caesar's crust because he must have gluten/yeast free, however I commend them for not having whey in their crust for those not effected by milk products! Many pizza places include it in their sauces and crust.. It may not effect many, but it's a problem when trying to avoid milk proteins.

Oh, and did I lie by saying that I avoid sugar on a weekday? Yes, but my cravings are so fierce that my drug of choice has to be my favorite...Rainblo chewing gum. If I don't have Rainblo, any 'ol bubble gum will do! I began resorting to gum at night because I wanted to avoid snacking at night, but by the time I'm finished with all of that gum, I might as well have had a sugary snack! I tried sugar free, but darnit...my body says, "SUGAR PLEASE"! Still though, the sugar free has aspartame and whatever else synthetic in it, so it's not much better.

So you see, my interest in foods evolved over time. Patrick showed me a lot...maybe too much, but I learned that much of what I ate had been causing most of my chronic fatigue in years past.  Get tired of being tired & then watching your son come up with behavioral challenges, and it is enough to make anyone look at their foods with a fine tooth comb!

You can read more on food addictions aired this morning on Good Morning America....

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/hunger-fix-helps-food-addicts-lose-weight-17395274

So, before I rant about toxins in foods and unhealthy eating, let me first say I am upset with the lack of monitoring by the FDA to ensure food safety, and I'm not criticizing anyone for choosing this food over that. Additionally, the FDA is not required to disclose to the public everything that goes into processed foods. In concluding, eating preservative, dye, gluten, casein and whatever else free is expensive and time consuming. I however hope to learn ways to cut on both so I can reap the benefits of doing so & I can pass the tips along to you. That in itself takes time and money to figure out, so stay tuned.....