Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Pumpkin Curry



I came up with this last night and my roommate approved it's tastiness...So hereyago:

2tbs coconut oil(or butter for you non-vegans)
4tbs almond meal(or 3tbs all purpose flour)
1c rice or almond milk(or cow's)
1/2c pure pumpkin(or canned)
2ts curry powder(more depending on desired strength)

-In a sauce pan melt coconut oil on low heat.
-Stir in pumpkin and milk.
-Stir in flour and curry.

I put mine ontop of brocoli slaw and wild rice to make a "cole slaw" but you can put it ontop of whatever you fancy.

Let me know what you think!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Identity Crisis

I was the girl:

that ordered desert first...and often skipped the entree and ordered another desert.

that baked pies and cakes for every occasion.



that ate 2 dozen donuts in one day.



that drank drinks so sweet, it made other people's teeth crack.



who never cooked anything other than deserts unless it was a holiday or I was trying to impress a girl.

who dipped already sweet fruit in sugar.

that lived for good BBQ.



that lived on frozen tv dinners, Mochi, dried fruit, It's-Its, pie and BBQ.

that never read the nutrition labels or ingredients and didn't give a hoot about it

who once recieved 10 pies for her birthday.



that threw sprinkle & icing parties. (If you never attended one, you've truly missed out on something epic)



that ate so much at The Texas State Fair that she had to make herself throw up just to go eat more.

who drank 1-2 gallons of milk a week.

who was more a 5-hour-rule girl than a 5-second-rule one.

that traveled everywhere with beef jerky, dried mango and Smirnoff in her backpack.



that never went to a store, got gas or saw a movie without buying at least one candy bar, usually three, sometimes five.

who thought street/fair/carnival foods were gifts of the gods and seized every opportunity to shove my face full of them.

that never in a million years thought I'd give any of that up.

Wait, you mean to tell me I was allowed to eat that all along?!

-In case you were wondering, Vegas has two Whole Foods and three Trader Joe's...and most of the people who live there have no idea that Trader Joe's is a grocery store.

In case you were wondering further, The Bellagio Cafe has Organic, Free Range Chicken and steamed veggie options.

In case you were wondering even more, they sell raw, unsalted almonds in the airport.

You're welcome.

-I managed to turn a picky-eating, non-healthy eating friend(who asks not to be named as to preserve her reputation) onto hummus. I found this exciting and fabulous up until realizing I am now going to become one of those Health-Preaching Hippies.

*My. Nose. Didn't. Get. Horribly. Burned. (Don't ask me about my thighs or chest if you know what's good for you)

-In other news: My roommate made barley last night and I tried it for the first time. I was cleared on this grain over a week ago, but having no idea how to procure or perpare it, I'd been holding off...A somewhat different experience from when they cleared me on oats and I ate 4 bowls that day(that's oats + water, plain, if you're wondering, and it was one of the best days of my life)

*I also learned that I AM allowed to have cashews, when all this time I thought I wasn't allowed. Vegan cashew cheese here I come!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

The best laid plans...

You'd think I'd've learned by now that things rarely go as planned, especially for me, the girl who exemplifies Murphy's Law.

So my flight was delayed over an hour and Whole Foods was closed, thus my Dad drove me all over Vegas at 1AM looking fr a 24hr store that has produce(hookers, strippers, gambling they've got covered!). An hour, countless veggie-less stores, going the wrong way on a road when a "turn lane" was in fact a median, and a cop confrontation later, we found a store with pure oats.

The next morning, after discovering that the "microwave" was, in fact, a safe, I learned oats can be eaten, raw, by the fistfull, straight from the canister.

Later on, at lunchtime, I learned that a plate of veggies from room service will set you back $45.



Man, this experience is teaching me SO much!

More on my Vegas eating adventure later, I've got a plane to catch...

Thursday, June 24, 2010

A Southern Baptist Minister & his Sober-Gay-Vegan Daughter walk into Vegas...



In dire need of a respite from my current life, I decided going to Sin City would be the perfect cure for my woes...the land of free alcohol and BUFFETS. *Sigh*

Luckily, I will be accompanied by my Daddy<3 and don't plan to step foot near The Strip. Plans have been laid to go directly from the airport to Whole Foods to the hotel, where I will float leisurely in the pool for the weekend(and I swear to all that is HOLY my nose even thinks about burning & I'm lobbing the damn thing off!)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

My Life is HARD

Tonight at my Women's Group someone brought homemade spice cake. Last week someone brought homemade peach cobbler (that's 2nd in ranking to pie!). Both times they were warm, aromatic and calling my name...before I got sick the only thing anyone ever brought were cuties and stale, gross cookies from the dollar store. It's a good thing I took a nap today and my stomach was full of some choice lettuce, 'else I would've cut someone.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Pure Torture




Did I:
A)Dive face first into a bin of candy?
B)Burst into tears when offered free samples?
C)Die on the spot?
D)Murder any small children?

Surprisingly, no.


Will I be visiting The Jelly Belly Factory again? HELL NO.

Pie Withdrawl



If you'd told me a month ago that I'd go more than a week without pie I would've laughed. Yet, here I am, 4wks without...& I'm sure not laughing.

Don't think I'm not concocting some brilliantly awesome pie to make within the confines of my diet, cuz I am! Oh, you just wait.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Pumpkin Chicken Chili



2 zucchini
3 celery stalks
2 chicken breasts
2c (or one can) black or red beans
1c (or 1/2 can) pure pumpkin
1 yellow onion
1 red onion
chili powder
olive oil



-Cut onions in half and place face down, with chicken in a glass dish. Cover onions, chicken and bottom of dish with olive oil. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, turning chicken over at 20 minutes
-Chop, then steam celery and zucchini
-Heat beans in boiling water and drain
-After cooked and somewhat cooled, chop chicken and onions
-Combine celery, zucchini, chicken and onions with beans
-Add pumpkin
-Season with chili powder to taste

*Optional- I put my chili onto romaine lettuce and topped with plain Greek yogurt to make a taco-esque option.

I came up with this on my own and I'm kinda proud of myself :)

Better Than Ice Cream

1/2c nuts (I used almond flour)
1c frozen banana
1c diced fruit of your choice (I just added more banana)
1/2ts vanilla extract (I used organic, pure, non-alcoholic)
1/4-1/2c non-dairy milk (I used 1/4c almond milk)

Blend in processor or blender until smooth.


The "better" part is purely hearsay and subject to one's own interpretation...in my case, I feel it depicts healthiness vs tastiness. Nonetheless, this is an acceptable substitute seeing as how pureeing sweet potatoes, as was suggested to me, did not equate to a palatable option.

Can I eat that?

(List below was given to me in June 2010, click here for current list, as of 2014)

NO:
-Caffeine
-Alcohol
-Anything containing yeast
-Breads- cereal, cake, rolls, pretzels, pastries, cookies, sweets, pizza
-B-complex vitamins or selenium (unless labeled Vegetarian and "yeast-free")
-Vinegar- mustard, salad dressing, pickles, BBQ sauce, mayo, olives
-Commercially prepared or processed food- soup, dried nuts/fruit, chips, cider, soy sauce, root beer or sauerkraut
-Pickled, smoked or dried meat
-Pork or Beef
-ALL cheese or milk product (except one serving yogurt or cottage cheese at designated time)
-Mushrooms
-Tempeh
-Tamari and Miso
-Peanuts, pecans, or pistachios
-Malt or chocolate
-Canned/prepared tomatoes (fresh ok)
-Sugar- honey, syrup, brown sugar, fruit juice, processed, high fructose corn syrup
-High glycemic index foods
-Spices
-Citrus
-Tofu or soy products (including edamame)
-Figs, prunes, dates, raisins
-Artificial colors or flavors
-Anything processed, frozen or canned (unless DR approved)

NO, for now:
-Barley
-Spelt
-Whole wheat
-Fruit (except for one serving of aproved fruits when blood sugar is low)
-Fresh coconut
-Couscous
-Walnut and cashews

***EDIT: Bolded items above now on yes list as of 2012!***

YES:
-Fresh/steamed vegs:cabbage, kholrabi, brussel sprouts, brocoli, cauliflower, broc sprouts, onions, kale, garlic, beets, artichokes, red/green vegs, leafy vegs, corn, fresh tomatos, rutabegas, avacado, celeriac, snow peas, chives, collards, turnip, squash, dandelion, wax beans, green beans, eggplant, zucchini, kohlrabi, leeks, okra, spinich, cucumber, lettuce, watercress, romaneesco, ginger, endive, fennel, asparagus, bok choy, arugula, celery, chard, pepper, mustard greens, radish, sweet potatoes(sparingly)
-Fresh/free-range/organic/lean protein-chicken, turkey, egg white, fish once/wk
-Herbs(fresh, organic)- basil, mint, cilantro, chervil, dill, parsley, rosemary, tarragon
-Shitake or maitake mushrooms (not recommended)
-Raw lacto-fermented pickles (Bubbies)
-Beans- yellow & green peas, lentils, kidney, pinto, mung, garbanzo (chickpeas), adzuki, red, lima
-Complex carbs (15g/meal, 50g/day max)-buckwheat, millet, quinoa, whole grain oatmeal
-Rice- brown, rice cakes(DR approved), rice crackers(DR approved), rice pasta(sparingly), rice milk(sparingly)
-Unprocessed nuts & seeds- flax, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower (butter, too), almonds (butter, too)
-Unrefined oils- olive, sesame, safflower, corn(try to stay away)
-Fruit- banana(sparingly), lemon, lime, black currents, cranberries
-Coconut oil- organic, unsweetened
-Stevia sweetener(sparingly)
**Additions to YES as of 2011**

*Approximately 70% of my "approved foods" I have never tried, or even heard of.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."



In February, I went skiing for the first time and rode down the bunny slope on my face(I'll tell you that story another time), enduring second degree ice-burn on my nose.



Then, got a bacterial infection in the wound and was given antibiotics.



However, as a result of having been prescribed too many antibiotics over the years, they weren't working. In the meantime, my nose kept getting sunburned and progressively more infected.



I was prescribed a very heavy dose of antibiotics and it started clearing up(or I thought it was).

Then, I contracted Chronic Mucocutaneous Candidiasis in my nose wound and on my hands and feet.





Apparently those heavy antibiotics were wiping out my immune system and all the probiotics in my intestines. Let's also mention here that I have IBS. As a result of that, and having basically no probiotics in my intestines, the Candidiasis spread to my GI tract where it turned into Candida Albicans. (You still following this?)

Then (yup, there’s more), apparently I have leak-gut due to my weakened immune system and IBS, so the infection spread to my blood, becoming a Systemic Candidiasis. Once the infection was in my blood is spread rapidly to all my organs. This includes EVERY cell of my body: skin, eyes, lungs, heart, brain, liver, kidneys, etc., etc. (Wait, there’s more) THEN, I got Aspergillus fumigatus.

By that point, in early May, I was horribly sick, but they couldn’t figure out what was going on and since I don’t have insurance I was reluctant to let them perform all the tests they wanted to…then, things got pretty scary and ugly(I’ll spare the gross details here, but feel free to ask me).

I had no choice but to agree to the tests and by the end of May they finally figured out what I have, much to the doctors’ surprise. Apparently only people with HIV, HPV or cancer and premature infants contract Aspergillosis (none of which apply to me).

(Wait, there’s more) On top of having Aspergillosis, it turns out I am also Hypoglycemic (yay, go me!) The problem with having both these conditions is that Aspergillosis feeds on sugar, so, in order to kill the fungus, I have to eliminate sugar from my body, however, due to my Hypoglycemia, my body NEEDS the sugar (cue the violins).

Apparently the chance of all these factors aligning for me to be in the position I’m in is one in a trillion, thus confirming just how special I truly am.

So, in addition to all my medications, being overwhelmingly exhausted, and in quite a bit of physical pain, I am now on a very regimented, restricted and monitored diet which excludes gluten, dairy, sugar(except for one serving of fruit if my blood sugar is low), anything processed, most things cooked, most carbs(I can have up to 50g a day-but only 15g at a time- 50g is equivelant to a tortilla, in case you were wondering) and basically everything that I normally eat.

Honestly, changing my diet has been the hardest part of this entire process, and I'm barely a month into it. I’m starting this blog to document my journey through this whole new way of eating. So I’m raising a glass of herbal tea(I hate tea, btw) to this new endeavor. Cheers.