Perpetual Healthy Eating and Fitness Rant & Rave thread

[merigayle]

can you have any grains or beans? soy?

here is a no vinegar dressing, non dairy-- http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/08/low-fat-tahini-chickpea-dressing.html

if you can have lemon juice you can sub that for the apple cider vinegar, can you not have AC vinegar? http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/06/02/crazy-good-ranch-dressing/

[merigayle]

ranch dip http://theveganstoner.blogspot.com/search?q=dip

[Courtney]

can you have any grains or beans? soy?

here is a no vinegar dressing, non dairy-- http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/08/low-fat-tahini-chickpea-dressing.html

if you can have lemon juice you can sub that for the apple cider vinegar, can you not have AC vinegar? http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/06/02/crazy-good-ranch-dressing/

Beans are allowed sparingly (whatever that means?), and only a couple grains are ok (quinoa is the only one I'd ever really heard of).  No vinegars at all.  I can do a lemon juice or lime juice I think. 

Soy would be allowed, but I know I have a bit of an allergy to it, so I typically avoid it if I can.  Not like crazy, but I don't drink soy milk, or anything. 

I appreciate you looking for ideas  

I can have avacado, so I bought one, but I have no idea what to do with it.    I don't usually like it much, but I'm willing to try!  What should I do with it? 

[Run Amok]

I love avocado tossed with lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Or make it into guac with shallots, cumin, salt, pepper, lime. Can you have grapefruit? I like to make a salad of supremed grapefruit and sliced avocado. No dressing or anything... just eat as is. Also, avocado smashed on toast (rub with a garlic clove) with salt & pepper on top is really good.

[Courtney]

I may try the guac idea.  Maybe I could dip raw veggies in it.  I love bell peppers of all kinds for this. 

No fruit   That's not to say that is going to actually happen! 

[Ice Cream]

She did explain what the reasoning was, and while I'm not sure I buy it, I was going to give it a shot.  I actually think I gave myself an anxiety induced nausea episode the night before I was to start it, and then I ate that way all day, and I was visibly down.  DH couldn't figure out wtf was wrong with me when he got home.  And then all weekend, I was sneak eating and binge eating.  Stuff I had a decent handle on up until this.  My shitty weekend was not a big help to all of this, but I gave up on the eating plan before it got very shitty.  Lucky for me, we get a lot of sunshine even in January here in CO.  It's beautiful and sunny right now.   

She told me that nearly no one can stick to this diet, but that she wanted me to try.  I did, but I seriously lasted a day before I was shoving cheetos in my mouth.  It feels impossible, and I can't get myself amped up to even really try, becuase I don't want to.  The idea of eating nothing but meat and veggies for weeks is not something I can wrap my head around. 

There must be something wrong with the diet if nearly no one can stick to it. 

[merigayle]

Systemic candida is a bitch to get rid of and i have two patients who have it about 95% gone. Ohshe glows website has a great avocado sauce for spaghetti squash, on phone so cant really link, it would e under pinterest main dishes i made board.


I made 5 portions of hot and sour soup and 6 portions of cabbage pad thai, this fat better start melting off! Lol

[nadra24]

There must be something wrong with the diet if nearly no one can stick to it. 

Elimination diets are kind of like that, though.

[Magic Microbe]

Systemic candida is a bitch to get rid of and i have two patients who have it about 95% gone. Ohshe glows website has a great avocado sauce for spaghetti squash, on phone so cant really link, it would e under pinterest main dishes i made board.


I made 5 portions of hot and sour soup and 6 portions of cabbage pad thai, this fat better start melting off! Lol

There is no real peer reviewed scientific evidence to show that systemic candida even exists.

[cgraz]

What about spices, like cinnamon? You can make an easy breakfast cereal with quinoa, kind of like oatmeal. It is pretty good. Adding cinnamon is one of those things that makes me feel like I'm eating something that's a "sweet" even if I haven't put in sugar.

I swear I have seen avocado used to make chicken salad somewhere recently, probably Pinterest. I have definitely seen people sub that in for creamy things. You could mash that up with some chunks of chicken, and wrap it in lettuce for a kind of "sandwich" for lunch. I know my paleo friends do a lot of lettuce wraps instead of using bread.

What about other things with a lot of flavor, like garlic? If you can make roasted garlic, that is a great way to add flavor to other veggies. Or other herbs and spices. And salt? Pepper? Those simple things go a long way.

I love me some carbs, believe me - but one of my new favorite meals is roasted chicken (spatchcocked!) with garlic and salt & pepper rubbed all over it, with roasted carrots (I have a great secret for making them come out awesome!), and cauliflower mash. I make the cauliflower by just steaming it (I use chicken broth for the liquid to give it extra flavor - would a brand of chicken broth with no bad stuff in it be a possibility, if there is such a thing?) and then mashing it with salt & pepper using my stick blender. No butter needed, no milk. It's not mashed potatoes, but it is really good. It feels like a decadent, comforting meal, but there is really nothing "bad" in it.

[Courtney]

There is no real peer reviewed scientific evidence to show that systemic candida even exists.

I know, which is why I'm unsure.  But there has to be something to it, considering the yeast infections I get, despite the preventive measures I take.  I just don't think I can entirely do this diet without doing some damage in the form of binge eating, depression, etc. 

Cgraz, I'd love to know your secret for carrots!  And those are all great ideas that I can definitely be on board with, I think I'm also going to try some stuffed peppers using beef and quinoa. 

[Magic Microbe]

I know, which is why I'm unsure.  But there has to be something to it, considering the yeast infections I get, despite the preventive measures I take.  I just don't think I can entirely do this diet without doing some damage in the form of binge eating, depression, etc. 

Cgraz, I'd love to know your secret for carrots!  And those are all great ideas that I can definitely be on board with, I think I'm also going to try some stuffed peppers using beef and quinoa. 

I suspect it is your microbial flora (not systemic candida but your entire community of gut flora). There is quite a bit of evidence pointing to an unhealthy (ie abnormal) intestinal flora leading to both IBS and yeast infections. In fact this is the very reason that antibiotics sometimes causes yeast infections and diarrhea, bloating, etc. Ever tried probiotics?

My issues are also likely related to microbial flora hence why my dr was trying to get me to test giving up dairy and why I am actually really trying probiotics for a while.

[cgraz]

For the carrots, I swear they come out better if you use full-size carrots and cut them down into carrot sticks, instead of just using baby carrots. (As much as I love the convenience of the baby carrots...trust me!) So peel and cut your carrots into sticks, then if you can use olive oil toss them in a little of that, just enough to lightly coat them. Lay them on a shallow pan in a single layer (I usually use a cookie sheet lined with non-stick foil, because I hate to wash pans!) and add salt and pepper as you like. Then seal the pan with a top layer of foil for the first 15 minutes of cooking - put them in a 400 degree oven. After 15 minutes, take the foil off, and cook until browned - maybe another 15 minutes? I just kind of keep an eye on them, because I usually have them in the oven with the chicken too.

Cooking them covered first really makes them start to get tender before they brown up and caramelize, so they get that nice roasted flavor without burning by the time they cook through. It makes all the difference!

Between the carrots and the mashed cauliflower, with roasted chicken, this makes a real comfort food kind of meal, and it is all very good for you - just chicken and veggies! This is what we had with my family on Christmas Eve at my sister's, and she didn't really make enough carrots - we were practically fighting over them. When my niece wouldn't eat her carrots, everyone else volunteered to snatch them up so they wouldn't go to waste! LOL. Seriously this has launched carrots up into my top favorite cooked veggies. 

[Run Amok]

I have a fridge full of veggies that need eating and am trying to get back with the program of actually cooking. Tonight I'm trying this: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/whole-wheat-spaghetti-50400000122932/  I might use shallots instead of onions though. Skip the bread crumbs and limit myself to 1 cup of pasta.

[diablita]

cgraz, that sounds delicious.

And Courtney, I'd feel the same way that you do.  Give yourself permission to eat in your healthy (but not uber restrictive) way if you feel the need to binge.  Maybe that will help?

[diablita]

I have a fridge full of veggies that need eating and am trying to get back with the program of actually cooking. Tonight I'm trying this: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/whole-wheat-spaghetti-50400000122932/  I might use shallots instead of onions though. Skip the bread crumbs and limit myself to 1 cup of pasta.

Looks delicious; please report back.

[Run Amok]

...apparently I will be roasting carrots later this week! I also have some asparagus to eat... that sounds like a good combo!

So, I suck at following recipes and made my own take on it. I carmelized onions, roasted the kale with garlic (then tossed with lemon), cooked pasta- combined these three, then topped with two over easy eggs. Half a head of kale, half an onion, 1 cup of pasta, and 2 eggs made a HUGE bowl of food. I'm taking the other half to lunch tomorro with a field roast sausage. Very tasty combo, will make again. I might try the original recipe sometime but I was roasting some chicken for dd anyway and the whole poaching eggs, blah, blah, blah just was too fussy/too much work for a monday night!

[cgraz]

Nice! Sounds like making your own take on it worked out really well. I love it when that happens...getting inspiration from a certain combination in a recipe and then making it in a way that works with what you like, or the time you have, or what you have on hand.

[merigayle]

There are tests to test the different flora in your gut and one of my patients had NONE of one and has to take some specialized probiotics with this one strain in it. I am not sure what the test was, she went to a local hospital's integrative medicine clinic and they did TONS of tests. If i remember when i am at the office i can look it up and see if i wrote down what test it was, pretty sure i wrote down the specialized probiotic she was taking.

[Ergonomic Mouse]

I am a big believer in probiotics, and I take one every morning well before I eat anything. I think it has helped my digestion ( I struggle with ibs-c), my skin, my hair, my mood.
I take jarrodophilus brand.

I feed a specific brand to my dogs also, and have noticed a huge difference in Hanks skin, and coat. He no longer itches himself crazy or has foot issues.

And, of course, i continue my love affair with Kefir. 

I am off to the gym this morning to meet a friend. Weight circuit and then maybe a swim.

Lunch is lentil, cauliflower curry, apple and peanut butter.

Have a good day all!