Food-Preparing to go gluten-free--AND healthy

This is the first topic that I've written by request. That's kind of awesome!

I have been asked for tips for shopping gluten-free. This is a great question because a lot of "gluten-free" products on the shelves are pretty awful--especially if you are used to lots of gluten, with high fructose corn syrup mixed in. Switching can be pretty overwhelming. My brother is the type of person who goes all-or-nothing, so when he went gluten-free he went cold turkey. My switch happened over a period of several months, partially because I was focusing on other aspects of health before I realized I was gluten-sensitive. (For more on gluten-sensitivity, read this article, although I have heard stories of many other symptoms of gluten-sensitivity.) Because this is the way I did it, this is how I will organize my tips. However, if you're like my brother, just throw everything in your kitchen out and start over ;)  In all reality, probably 90 percent of the stuff in your kitchen has gluten. Also, some people just find "gluten-free" products and stock up on them. I don't recommend this for two reasons. First, a lot of them taste awful. Second, most of them are made with grains other than wheat, and while they are better than wheat products, I still wouldn' call them healthy. You really want to cut as many grains out of your diet as possible.

If you're planning on going gluten-free, my recommendation is to make a commitment not to bring any more gluten-products into your house. For now, assuming you don't eat out more than a couple meals per week, just focus on your home. While you're eating the rest of your gluten-filled products, stock up on the following items:

• Coconut oil--I buy mine from Vitacost, and if you use this link, we both get $10 off our next order :)  You'll need coconut oil in most gluten-free recipes. Plus, there are approximately 9 million other amazing uses for coconut oil, but that's another blog. I recommend buying organic extra-virgin coconut oil, but you can do your own research and decide what's best for you.
• Coconut flour--I buy this in the bulk section of Whole Foods for $3.99/lb. Coconut flour lasts a long time because most recipes only call for a small amount, so you'll only need 1-2 lbs of this, unless you're feeding a big family or make dessert every day. Whole Foods is by far the cheapest I've found it. If you're not near a WF, look around, but if all else fails, you can purchase it online here.
• Almond flour--I also buy mine in the bulk section of Whole Foods. I think it's $5.99/lb, but I'm not positive. Some WF I've been to don't have almond flour in their bulk section. You can buy it in the baking aisle, too, in a package, but it costs a lot more. If you can't find it bulk, I recommend getting it here.
• Gluten-free baking powder. Yes, you need to make sure it says gluten-free. I think Trader Joe's only sells it around Christmas time, but I found it at Whole Foods in the baking aisle. Or maybe the aluminum-free baking soda is what TJs only sells at Christmas. Oh, I'd get that, too.  Baking soda doesn't have gluten but you really don't want aluminum in your food. It's been correlated to alzheimer's disease in some studies.

These are the three most-needed products to start your grain-free/gluten-free adventure. You'll probaby also need these:

• You'll want to stay stocked up on eggs when you're using coconut flour. It's a thirsty flour and requires lots of liquid to bake with.
• Arrowroot starch/powder. I got mine at WF but it might be cheaper on vitacost (see above link). You'll need this for PIZZA and CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!
• I recommend a julienne peeler. It makes pasta from zucchini.
• Zucchini. :)
• Honey, depending on whether you are trying to cut down on sugar too. I use a lot of recipes from Elana's Pantry. She uses agave nectar, which I believe is NOT healthy, in a lot of her recipes. However, I've tried many of the recipes and just subbed raw honey for the agave, and they turned out great! I recommend raw honey, but it's up to you how healthy you're trying to be. Trader Joe's has a decent price on organic raw honey. Wherever you get it, just make sure to read the ingredients. A lot of bottles labeled as "honey" are actually filled with high fructose corn syrup. (Yuck)
• Parchment paper. I'm not sure what the difference between this and wax paper is, but I am told there is a difference. You will need this to bake with almond flour. Almond flour is really sticky and will stick to your pan really bad if you don't use parchment paper.

Stock up on these items, and remember, while you're shopping, don't bring anything with gluten in it home! If you're craving something, go down the gluten-free aisle at Whole Foods or your local health food store, and grab a snack. Or, better, go get some fruit! In the meantime, decide whether you're going to eat all of your old food or get rid of it, and if you're keeping it, menu-plan to use it all as quickly as possible. You don't feel the effects of eating gluten-free until you're 100% gluten-free for at least two weeks, so make a goal, such as "I'm going not have anything with gluten in my house two weeks from now." Adjust the time frame realistically based on how much food you have in your home. I'll post some of my favorite gluten-free/grain-free recipes and websites in my next post. Have fun shopping!

Food, Faith & Freud-Putting things in the right order.

I'm currently co-facilitating a therapy group using a curriculum called Seeking Safety (SS). SS is designed for individuals who have experienced trauma or used substances. Rarely, however, do we ever discuss trauma or substance abuse. Instead, we focus on coping skills. The creator of the SS curriculum believes that healing comes in three steps: first is learning how to be safe by developing safe coping skills. Only after these skills become natural do you move on to step 2: processing the trauma. Finally, individuals learn how to re-connect to the community and give back. You have to put the good coping skills in before you have the strength to keep the bad out.

The same principle is found in Christianity. Many Christians are quick to point out the sin of others, but this is not what Jesus did. He told the woman at the well about living water before he confronted her sin (see John 4). I'm sure that Jesus knew all about her life when he first saw her, but he did not speak of it until after he told her about living water. Jesus knew that when we try to do things in our own power, we will fall back to depending on our own bad coping skills. If, instead, we drink of the water that He gives us, we will have the strength to take the bad things out.

I think that putting the good in before taking the bad out is a formula we can apply to various parts of life. Personally, I tried for years to avoid junk food and cut sugar out of my life. I would not buy it so that I wouldn't be tempted, only to end up on a midnight run to Dairy Queen to get my chocolate fix. When I stared eating healthy, I did not have a goal of taking junk food out, but of putting healthy food in. It wasn't until later that I realized that when I made sure to get enough healthy fats, protein, probiotics, etc, in my diet, I didn't crave the "bad" foods I'd tried for so long to avoid.

Try putting the good in before addressing the bad. You can do it through pointing out the positive in those around you, in how you spend your time, or in the thoughts you have toward yourself. How might this principle change your life?

Food-My Story

My mother has often told me about taking me to the doctor when I was a toddler because I wouldn't eat anthing except cereal. She thought I would be malnourished because I refused to eat anything else. The doctor told her that if I wanted cereal, she should feed me cereal. And so she did. As I got older, I incorporated a few other things into my acceptable edible list. Like macaroni and cheese and pretty much anything with chocolate in it. Looking back, I'm suprised I survived, but I made it through childhood with no abnormal illnesses or diseases.

I moved to California in 2004 as a sophomore in college. I remember thinking I would never get used to the different culture. Specifically, I would never eat tofu or care if my food was organic. I really thought people who ate these things were hippies. I suppose a lot of people feel the same about me now.

In 2010 I joined a group at my church called Single Life Workshop. I'll probably write a post on that someday down the road, but it's not really important to this subject. What is important is that I met a lovely girl who would later be my roommate. She fell into the hippy category, but only as far as food goes. We became friends quickly and both happened to be looking for a new place to live at the same time. I moved my mac and cheese and chocolate cake into the same kitchen as her kale and coconut oil. I was a little worried. I later found out that she was too.

A few months into our stay, a mutual friend was over and she and I planned to make chocolate cookies. The same night we volunteered to watch my roommate's then 3-year old daughter. As my roommate was leaving, she gently told us that if we made the cookies, she did not want her daughter to have any. I chalked this up to hippy-ness, but I got curious. The next day I asked her just what was so bad about our cookies. That started my informal education on hydrogenated oils (the main ingredient in the butter we had bought to bake cookies with). Do you know that this ingredient is made in a lab and our bodies don't know how to digest them? Yuck. They basically stay in your body for life.

To make the story shorter, I started making changes in the food I bought. This is a picture of the foods I threw away when I started eating healthy. Yes, I literally threw them away. The easiest way to avoid hydrogenated oils is to buy organic. So I started coming home from the grocery store with organic versions of my favorite foods--do you know they make organic pop tarts? True story! I also found a love for agave nectar and (of course) organic cereal with organic fat-free milk! (Actually, I switched to almond milk for a while but that's another story!) Around the same time I was trying to lose weight. I've never been considered very overweight, but I wanted to lose 5-10 pounds. I joined a gym. I kept buying low-fat and fat-free products with no hyrogenated oils, colors, nitrates, or antibiotics. I bought protein powder and drank shakes after every workout. I lost zero pounds.

I soon lost steam and quit the gym. A few months later I read some articles about health. Some were by The Healthy Home Economist about some were by Maria Emmerich. Others were by Dr. Mercola. (Dr. Mercola is one of my favorites because he is a medical doctor.) I did hours and hours of research. Basically what I found is that if you want to lose fat, you should eat fat. I realize this is counterintuitive to everything you have learned about health and nutrition, but I began to incorporate real butter into my diet. I switched from fat-free to whole milk. I began eaing coconut oil by the spoonful (coconut oil is my favorite health food, which I use for many many food and non-food purposes! 100% of its calories are from fat!). When I thought about what I was eating I assumed I would gain weight--a lot of it! But I made the changes anyway, giving these so-called health experts a chance. That was a year and a half ago and I now weigh 16 pounds less than I did then. I am never hungry and, while I enjoy being active, especially in the summer, I have not been in a gym in close to two years. I eat gluten-free and mostly grain-free. I limit my sugar intake, but I refuse to eat things that don't taste good. I've discovered a love for my kitchen--epecially baking!--and love almond flour and coconut flour and (again) coconut oil and real butter and whole milk. I moved back to the SF Bay Area to finish school, and my new roommates, who don't eat healthy at ALL, tell me I should sell my baked items. Best of all, I have energy (I used to think I had chronic fatigue syndrome, but now I think it was/is gluten sensitivity) and I feel great--physically and mentally/emotionally!  I love teaching others about what I've learned about health and nutrition. I hope to share more about my story with you in future blogs. Until then, check out these helpful websites for more information and some yummy recipes:

Healthy Home Economist: how to eat healthy on a budget!
Dr. Mercola: the medical side, see above!
Maria Emmerich: healthified recipes!
Riddle Love: meal plans (most gluten-free!)
Free Coconut Recipes: self-explanatory