My testimony

Gassy, bloated, itchy, acid reflux-y…not exactly the shining list anyone would want to use to describe themselves. Which is exactly why I never mentioned my symptoms…ever. The gassiness was, of course, the most socially embarrassing of the symptoms and the one I sought to rememdy with altoids, beano, tums, gas-x. Nothing worked. Part of the problem was that I had felt that way for so long, I couldn’t remember there ever being a beginning, so I assumed my body was tempermental and quirky and I’d just have to live with it forever!

 Then, a few years ago, my sister started complaining of bloating and extreme stomach aches, bowel irritablility and all the things I was experiencing myself- though hers was much more severe. Her wieght fluctuated up and down due to her inability to eat without feeling awful and the constant bloating. Unlike me, though, she recognized that something was out of order and tried desperately for two years to figure out what. Finally, after tons of unhelpful doctor visits, she saw a naturopath, who almost immediately saw that food was the likeliest problem. They ran some tests and found that she has a gluten and dairy intolerance along with H. pylori. Once she cut out gluten and dairy (and treated the H. pylori with antibiotics), her health improved dramatically.

That got me thinking.But I still didn’t do anything about it, suffering in silence until finally my acid reflux was plaguing me daily and my restless legs kept me up every night.  I went for a visit to the Bastyr Clinic in Seattle and my naturopath started me on an elimination diet (and iron supplements for my restless legs). I chose to do the all-out, eliminate everything diet, which included almost anything you think of as food aside from garden vegetables: dairy, gluten, corn, soy, nuts, alcohol, caffeine, sugar and citrus. I, in my infinite wisdom, promptly decided that sugar, caffeine and alcohol were highly unlikely and continued eating those as normal. I hope by now you see the irony here.

I felt much better and I suspect now that, well, because I’m not exactly in the habit of downing spoonfuls of sugar, most of the foods I was able to eat under the new regimen didn’t contain much or any. Then, as I added foods back in, I would feel fine eating them one week and then out of the blue it would hit me. So I couldn’t pin it down, the symptoms were all over the board as far as what I was and wasn’t eating. After about two or three months on the elimination diet, I decided to get a second opinion by taking the allergy test. Expensive, but at least it might give me a new direction to try.

The results came back and there it was- sugar cane, along with whey (dairy protein). The least likely suspect I would’ve guessed. Its been maybe a month since the diagnosis and I’ve probably had a total of two weeks that I haven’t inadvertantly had sugar of some sort. Just two days ago I made some Bob’s Red Mill GF cinnamon raisin bread. I had given a quick read to the ingredients and thought that I was getting off sugar free. After eating the bread and having some mild symptoms, I gave another look to the package and realized the culprit was right there: molasses and vanilla powder (sugar, corn starch and vanilla extract). Lesson learned- READ CAREFULLY, not quickly.

At the time of the allergy test I was unaware that you are likely to get more accurate results if you have recently eaten the suspected foods- I had been off of gluten and dairy for a few months and had I known this then, I would have relished the excuse to run out and buy a cheese jalapeno bagel- maybe my last! The results showed no spike in any of the gluten/wheat categories and an ambiguous, maybe-maybe not, spike for the whey. My little heart still hoped that dairy had nothing to do with it. The thought of life without cheese seemed dreary indeed. Then, at my husband’s work Christmas party, the dinner buffet left me literally with nothing to eat but raw vegetables (and of course, the dip was off limits), so I decided to do a full scale test of the dairy intolerance. I ate about a plate-full of cheese bites- monteray, pepperjack, swiss and cheddar. Heaven. For the evening, at least. The next day was not so pleasant and had I not known what I might be in for, I probably would’ve thought I had the flu.

The things is, without my sister’s discovery, I likely would’ve never persued it and become healthy again. In fact, I wouldn’t have even suspected that I was unhealthy! Food intolerances when ignored  still ravage your intestines and can cause more disfunction later. I’m thankful for finally figuring this out and considering all that I am now reading about the health impacts sugar has on our bodies as a whole, I see that this may be an unlooked for blessing. The other godsend in all this is that I am surrounded by friends and extended family that not only have a gammut of intolerances (which makes family gatherings more enjoyable because everyone cooks to accomodate them), but who also know a thing or two about nutrition and the value of real, unprocessed, God knew what He was doing, food. 

My sister’s experience helped me to figure out my intolerances and the wisdom of people around me has been a huge lifesaver when it comes to getting the better of it, so if anyone would like to share their stories, symptoms or tips, please comment below or on any one of the posts and recipes!

SF Citrus Glitters

mmmm lemony

A friend recently lent me her vegan (and substitute friendly) cookbook, “Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I tried this recipe with some unusual, but delicious results!

Ingredients:

3 to 4 Tbsp xylatol, beet or other granulated sugar sub

1/2 cup vegetable shortening OR coconut oil **

3/4 cup sugar ( I used xylatol here as well)

1/4 cup coconut milk

2 Tbsp zest of lemon, orange and lime

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I used a mix of GF all purpose and Quinoa flour)

2 Tbsp finely ground cornmeal

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Set your oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper to prep. Cream your shortening or coconut oil with the 3/4 cup of sugar. After it has become light and fluffy, add the milk, zest and vanilla. Add the rest of the ingredients and whip until soft dough forms. Roll heaping tablespoon sized scoops into balls and roll them in the remaining granulated sugar. Put those puppies on the baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes after coming out of the oven before transferring them to a rack. They’ll firm up as they cool. Store in an airtight container.

** I had no vegetable shortening on hand and so I made the high risk decision to use my coconut oil instead. It has the downside of not being quite as solid as shortening, but creamed pretty well. If you decide to try this, bake the cookies for a few minutes longer, until they’re nice and golden brown, so they won’t be tooooo moist. The coconut oil definitely gave them a very tropical taste and the flavor was intense. One cookie at a time, kind of intense. But delicious!

No need to pine Pad Thai

Pad Thai is my number ONE, drool over it, can’t live without it, dish and when I realized that, due to the sugar, I would not longer be able to eat it, I was…well…at first I was okay with that. Just figured, like everything else, I’d have to make it myself. Then I actually tried and had a very large noodley disaster on my hands. Not to be defeated, I tried a different recipe, with much better results. Literally, this recipe tastes just like the pad thai I’d order at my local Thai place.

Ingredients.

1 package rice “stick” noodles- I use Royal Blossom brand. Just make sure they aren’t the WIDE rice noodles.

1/3 cup fish sauce

1/2 cup tamarind concentrate (its important, get the concentrate, not the sauce. May need to make a trip to a local asian market)

1/2 cup palm, coconut or beet sugar (if using palm sugar, make certain it is PURE palm sugar)

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 chicken breasts, diced

1 red onion, sliced thin

3 more cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 green onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal

1-2 eggs

bean sprouts

chopped peanuts, toasted

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 lime or a bit of lime juice

A bit of olive oil

1. Put the palm sugar, tamarind, fish sauce and 1st round of garlic in a saucepan and heat on medium-low, stirring, until the palm sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let cool a bit before putting it into a tupperware or bowl and getting it out of your way.

2. In a large pot, heat water to boiling and add the rice noodles. Cook for 3-4 minutes (don’t overcook) and drain. Rinse the noodles for a minute under cold water and then leave them to continue draining in the sink.

3. In a wok or large frying pan (and I mean large) add the oil and heat on med-high. Add the chicken and cook until just about done, 3-4 minutes per side. It will finish cooking in the next bit. Remove the chicken from the heat and set aside.

4. In the same pan, heat up more oil and sautee the rest of your garlic and red onions. Don’t brown, just soften them. Add the noodles and fry for about 1 minute, but keep them moving in the pan, so they don’t literally fry.

5. Add the sauce, a few tablespoons at a time, mixing into the noodles after each addition. Remember, pad thai isn’t soupy, so don’t overadd. Plus, the sauce is pungent and it is easy to overdo it. You can always keep the sauce separate and add more when you need it later.

6. Add the chicken back in along with the green onions and fry for another 2-3 minutes.

7. Move everything in the pan to one side and crack the eggs in the bare spot. Let cook for 1 minute, then scramble until fully cooked and mix back in with the remaining ingredients.

8.  FInally, remove from heat and serve with the bean sprouts, cilantro, lime wedge and peanuts for garnish.

This recipe didn’t actually call for adaptation, since many Thai recipes use palm sugar anyway, but it was a simple recipe that actually worked for me and I was so delighted, I had to share it!

original recipe found at http://savorysweetlife.com/2009/06/a-favorite-thai-stir-fry-noodle-dish-at-home-pad-thai-recipe/

photo credit