Elimination Diet; End of Day Four

Only three more days! And guess what? My cravings have pretty much disappeared. Sometimes it just takes a few days of getting it "out of your system" for cravings to diminish. Does this mean I will never eat chocolate or peanut butter or dairy again? Heck no, because I never had a problem with eating too much of it in the first place. However, if I really felt I ate too much and didn't have control over these foods, I might end up giving them up for good.

By the way, thanks for your suggestions on a dairy and soy free yogurt. The only issue I have is that the most popular suggestion I received, coconut yogurt, doesn't come in a plain flavor! Thankfully the cultured coconut milk does come in plan. The flavored ones all contain ingredients I can't have either on the elimination diet, or FODMAPs. My life is over. hehe, jk.


A few more new things I've discovered since my last post;

- I love organic chicken. Seriously, it tastes like a whole new product! I always buy natural chicken (without added hormones) but the extra benefits of the organic chicken really show up in the taste. Maybe it's just the particular brand I bought? Who knows, but it's delicious.

- I am not really feeling any better, overall, but then again, I never felt bad. I think my real elimination diet was my FODMAPs diet. I've felt great since taking all of those foods out of my diet. Actually I'm finding out that I really shouldn't be drinking the cultured coconut milk. It's giving me bad gas. I'm not supposed to have coconut according to FODMAPs, but someone told me that some people can handle the milk. Apparently, I can't.

I was hoping giving up dairy would help my allergies (I've heard some people swear by that concept...) but I'm still getting random allergy flare ups in the middle of the day. Maybe I should be more patient?

- I'm able to survive on only about 200-250 mg caffeine per day, still! Sure, you may be thinking that's still a lot, but considering just last week I was doing 300-350 mg/day, I'm pretty proud of myself. We even have coffee available to us all day long, for FREE, at Market District, but I haven't touched it.

Here are some things I've been eating:

Lunch is still a spinach salad with veggies, quinoa, and balsamic vinegar. Tomorrow I'm going to add organic chicken to my salad.

I've also been packing this delicious acorn and butternut squash soup, for which I will post directions and the recipe soon. It turns more soupy once it's heated (the picture below was taken when it was cold).

I'm also packing my granola, veggies chips, and a banana.

I've also started eating these curry flavored twigs. They are fabulous!



Dinners have been steamed kale, topped with tomatoes and nutritional yeast. This combination is actually very satisfying. I have some type of fish every night for my protein. Last night it was salmon, tonight I did tilapia.

We gave out Halloween candy tonight.

This was staring me in the whole time (and still is...).

Now that the Trick-Or-Treating is over, I will make my new favorite "elimination diet dessert"!


I mix about 1/2 cup frozen blueberries with about 3/4 cup almond milk and some Stevia in the Magic Bullet. I then put it in the freezer for about twenty minutes. It's incredibly satisfying and I plan on making this even when I'm no longer on this diet. Who needs ice cream when you have this?!?! Ok, maybe I still want ice cream, but this is a great substitute every once in a while.


I'll post again on Sunday, my last day! I may end the diet Sunday evening, since I started on last Sunday evening so technically that would be a full week.... We'll see how I feel!

Elimination Diet: End of Day Two

This diet should be called "The Restriction Diet". I am constantly craving the foods I cannot eat. It pretty much goes against everything that I preach to my clients (Aside from the pure aspect of the diet. I mean, this diet is obviously very healthy and natural). I'm talking about how I tell my clients not to restrict anything, but to listen to their cravings and enjoy their "treat" foods in moderation. With this diet, clearly that's not possible.

I used to be fine with just a piece, or two, of my Lindt's 90% dark chocolate, but now I feel as though I could eat an entire box of chocolates and still want MORE! That's what happens when you restrict yourself from the foods you love. I could say the same thing about cheese. I keep seeing it in the fridge, and watching Nick eat it....I want it so bad!!


Here are some of the things that have bothered me most, thus far:

- Corn is in everything. Yeah, yeah, I already knew that. On this diet I am not allowed to have corn. All I want is one small piece of candy, or something sweet, but everything has corn. I am allowed to have agave nectar on this diet (because it's "natural" I guess....) but since it's 90% fructose, I can't have it (FODMAPs). I'm going crazy. I sound like an addict.


- There are no yogurts that don't contain either dairy or soy. Unless, that is, you know of any. Anyone?!?!?!?! I am just not that into almond milk, and the cultured coconut milk is good, but it would be much better with some.....unsweetenend cocoa ;)


- Stevia is gross. I hate it. It has that bitter taste like aspartame.

(**Speaking of aspartame, I received a couple comments about it on my last post. As it turns out, it's in my Flintstone multivitamin. A couple people wrote comments about the dangers of aspartame. I agree we shouldn't eat a lot of it, and I always tell people to mix up their artificial sweeteners instead of sticking to one and only one (I use Truvia, Splenda, and I guess...aspartame. I use very little, maybe one or two packets of either of these sweeteners each day) . I just want to point out that there are also plenty of studies that show bad affects from natural sweeteners, like Stevia. There is a downside to everything. This is why I always say eat everything in moderation. I don't think a Flintstone vitamin will hurt me. I prefer the chewable vitamins because the nutrients are absorbed better when broken down, then swallowed, in my professional opinion.**)

Ok that's enough complaining for today. Oh wait, one more things, I'm not feeling any better, or different. I'm guessing this might take more than 2 days!


Now let's take a look at few of the things I ate.

I am still only doing about 200 mg caffeine per day, which is down from my usually 300-350 mg. I'm feeling just fine. I plan on sticking to this, and actually working my way down eventually.


I had my gluten free oats, pureed pumpkin, and crunchy almond butter for breakfast. I used almond milk to cook the oats.




Today I was on the road because I had to teach a diabetes class in Toledo, which is about 2.5 hours away.

In the parking lot I ate this cultured coconut milk with a handful of my homemade granola (molasses, gluten free oats, almond butter, and almonds). The coconut milk has not caused me any bloating issues. On the low FODMAPs diet I should not consume coconut, but the milk (cultured) seems to be just fine.




I enjoyed this salad in the car too (don't worry, I'm a safe driver!). It's a spinach salad topped with quinoa, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette.



For another source of calcium I steamed some fresh kale. Kale contains less oxalates so more calcium is available for absorption from kale in comparison to spinach, which contains many oxalates.


I steamed the kale and topped it with a dash of salt and a ton of pepper. I then sliced some butternut squash on top. I had about 4 ounces of organic chicken for my protein.


I've been snacking on plain rice cakes and nutritional yeast at night. Does that sound strange? It's actually very tasted. The rice cakes are lightly salted and perfect. I have also been eating my veggie chips, which are a new favorite snack.


Strangely, I haven't missed my popcorn. I am too busy missing my chocolate. Nick has been very supportive and has even given up ice cream this week (something else I'm missing) to make it easier for me.


I'll be back on Thursday or Friday. Thanks for reading! I'm about to go snack on some rice cakes and nutritional yeast (or "nooch" as some of you say...).

In case you missed them:

Intro Elimination Post

Day One Post

Elimination Diet; Day One

Today is Day One of my 1-2 week long elimination diet! I plan on posting updates a few times throughout the week because really want you to know what I'm going through and how I'm feeling, just in case you decide to do an elimination diet yourself one day.

Early Morning

7:00am: The first thing I typically do is eat a bit of granola and drink my coffee (pre-workout snack). Well, I couldn't enjoy my granola because of some of the ingredients (mainly peanuts), so instead I created a new (peanut and gluten free) granola, which I really enjoyed.

Granola: gluten free oats, almond butter, molasses, almonds and walnuts



I'll just go ahead and admit that caffeinated coffee is not supposed to be included in this elimination diet. However, I'm just not able to go from drinking it, to not drinking it, overnight! It's almost like telling a nicotine addict that they have to stop smoking cigarettes, tomorrow. I can give up every other delicious aspect of my diet, but the coffee is here to stay. So you might think I am cheating, and that's fine, I won't deny that. I typically ingest about 300-350 mg caffeine a day (300 mg is the max for health purposes, I'm working on cutting back), but this morning I only made about 220 mg worth of coffee. So I am clearly trying to cut back for the purpose of this diet (who knows, maybe I'll stick to it)!



As I went to take my Flintstone multivitamin, I noticed it has aspartame, which is not a part of this diet. I still took the vitamin because I'm not about to go buy a special vitamin for this diet. I've already spent $100 more on groceries this month!

Mid-Morning Breakfast

9:30 am: After my workout I ate my gluten free oats, using almond milk instead of water. I also mixed in pumpkin puree and almond butter. I typically sprinkle some Truvia on top of my oats, but since Truvia contains sugar alcohols, I bought Stevia to use instead. I really don't like it as much as Truvia :(

Mid-Afternoon Lunch

1:30 pm: I didn't have to work today so I had the ability to put together a fairly substantial lunch.

I made a salad with organic spinach, organic chicken breast (marinated in rice and balsamic vinegar prior to cooking), butternut squash, and Daiya "cheese".

Have you seen or tried this stuff before? It's awesome!! I hear it melts really well too. It definitely tasted like cheddar cheese, in my opinion (I'm not sure Nick would agree though).


Here is my only problem with this "cheese":

No calcium!! Ok, so it's not supposed to be a replacement for cheese, but still, is it really that hard to fortify with a bit of calcium?! For once I'm begging for fortification.

I also had some of these veggie chips, which I purchased at Market District. These things are so addicting. They are made with a bunch of dehydrated squashes and green beans.

Late Afternoon

I'm getting most of my calcium from almond milk and cultured coconut milk. I chose the cultured coconut milk so I could get some probiotics and prebiotics each day (I typically rely on kefir and/or yogurt for these). Did you know that this cultured coconut milk has 30% DV of magnesium (great for diabetics!) and 35% DV of B12 (great for vegans!!!!)?! And, it tastes pretty delicious. Buy the original flavor if you don't want a bunch of added sugars.


I also snacked on more granola, more veggie chips, a bit of quinoa, and some almond butter throughout the afternoon.

Evening Meal

7:00pm: I'm allowed to have fish on this diet, so I stocked up on salmon, cod, and tilapia. Tonight I had some tilapia. I simply baked it in the oven with a bit of EVOO on top, and some simple seasoning (garlic free).

I ate my carrots and broccoli with some balsamic vinaigrette. Typically I use blue cheese dressing, but there are ingredients in the blue cheese dressing that I have to eliminate.

Some Things I've Learned Thus Far

- I have two addictions; chocolate and caffeine. I will say, however, I am very proud of myself for surviving my first day with about 100 mg LESS caffeine than normal! And I'm feeling pretty good. As for the chocolate, I typically eat a piece right after dinner. I literally have nothing sweet to eat right now. It's rough (especially since we have 5 bags of Halloween candy in the closet....).

- I miss condiments! Three times today I wanted to use a condiment, but couldn't (Red Hot, blue cheese dressing, and soy sauce). I need to find something I can use instead of these.

- It's really hard to get enough calcium without being able to eat dairy and soy! The almond milk is fine, but the coconut kefir is something I need to watch because I'm not supposed to have coconut on my low FODMAPs diet. I think the coconut flesh is worse, but coconut milk may still cause problems. So far, however, I'm fine.


Stay tuned for another update as the week progresses. I hope you are all having a wonderful week, so far!

The Elimination Diet Experiment

I was recently approached by a doctor from The Ohio State University who works with individuals who have intolerances and allergies to certain foods and ingredients. He asked me how much I knew about elimination diets, to which I replied, "I know the basics, but not the details."

The main purpose of an elimination diet is to restrict all of the foods and ingredients to which many individuals tend to have allergies and/or intolerances. After discussing the diet details for a while, the doctor asked if I could be a resource for his clients who are trying to figure out how to eat on this diet (the diet typically lasts between 14 and 28 days). He then proceeded to ask me if I would try out the diet myself in order to learn firsthand how to eat on this highly restricted diet. You will probably think I'm crazy (since I already have a fairly restricted diet), but I agreed to try it. In reality, this is something I should have done a long time ago, since I have always had stomach and GI issues. I'm only trying the diet for one to two weeks. Who knows, maybe I'll feel even better!




**If you would like to read more about elimination diets, please check out this link, which explains them very well.**


I cannot provide the list of foods which must be eliminated (since people pay money for the actual details and support!), but I will provide examples of some of the foods I will be eating in the next week or two. And in case you were wondering, I am still following the low FODMAPs diet at the same time....

(the above photo is the list of foods I can and cannot eat)


Here are some of my staples on this diet:

Almond butter

Black beans

Quinoa

Gluten-free oats

Brown rice flour

Plain rice cakes

Veggie chips

Butternut squash

Spaghetti squash

Not included in the picture: Daiya cheese, organic chicken, and coconut milk kefir


I'm starting on Monday. I'll be keeping you updated as the week goes on.....


The things I do for work, my goodness. Wish me luck!!

Question: Have you ever tried an elimination diet? If so, did you learn about some foods to which you were intolerant or allergic?

Gluten-Free For Better Health and Weight Loss?

Think you should start a gluten-free diet to help you lose weight? Think again! Recently the gluten-free industry was "warned" about the nutritional content of their foods. Read this article for the full details.


Gluten free foods tend to be lower in fiber, protein, iron, and calcium, compared to their gluten-filled counterparts. This is because many of the grains and other ingredients used to replace wheat flour are low in these nutrients.

Think your gluten-free cake or brownie mix is better for you?

Think again.

I've noticed a majority of the gluten-free products actually contain more sugar. No thanks.

The real reason a gluten-free diet may help someone lose weight is pretty clear to me....it automatically restricts a person's food options! Think about it. When you can't have gluten you can't stop at the demo table at your local grocery store to try the latest food craze, you can't eat at a majority of the restaurants (although this is slowly changing), and many times you can't eat foods that are served to you when you're a guest at a dinner party.

So the bottom line is that a gluten-free diet may help you lose weight, but not because gluten causes us to gain weight, it's actually because you will likely end up eating less in the long run (or at least until you get used to the new diet!). Do I suggest this? Not at all, unless you really need to go gluten-free for medical reasons.

The good news for Celiac sufferers is that companies might start using more buckwheat flour (a whole grain, which does not contain wheat) in their products, which will significantly impact the nutrition of these products.

Examples of Gluten-Free Whole Grains
(source: www.wholegrainscouncil.com)

Amaranth

Buckwheat

Corn (whole is best)

Millet

** Oats (oats are only gluten-free if the package indicates they are gluten free) **


Quinoa

Rice (brown is best)

Sorghum

Teff

Wild rice

I recently tried this gluten-free product and was very pleased with the taste, and nutrition profile.

The ingredients in most of Mary's Gone Crackers products contain quinoa, brown rice, flax seeds, and sesame seeds, which all provide some type of health benefit. I highly suggest checking out some of these products!

Question: I don't think anyone should go gluten-free unless they have to, but gluten-free products can still be enjoyed by anyone, so what's your favorite? Personally I really like the above products, and Bob's Red Mill's wheat-free flours.

Acorn Squash "Boats"

Several weeks ago Katie posted these beautiful zucchini boats, which inspired me to do some "boating" of my own, but instead with the acorn squash from our garden.

I popped them in the oven (whole, not cut in half yet) for 30 minutes at about 350 degrees. Next I cut them in half, laid them seed side facing down, and then placed them back in the oven for about 15 minutes.


Next I flipped them over, scrapped out all of the seeds, and placed about 2 tsp of Smart Balance margarine and ~1 tsp Splenda brown sugar in the boats.



Next I added ~1/4 cup brown rice (brown rice is a whole grain, wahoo!).



Then I added ~1/4 cup black beans (beans are packed with soluble fiber, which is a great way to lower cholesterol, and they also have many disease-fighting plant nutrients).



Next I added ~1/4 cup lean ground beef, which had been seasoned with cumin and cinnamon. By the way, I bought grass-fed beef today at the store. I can't wait to use it. I've never tried it before! It's supposed to have a higher content of omega-3 fats.



Next I added ~2 T of FULL FAT shredded cheese and some spinach, then placed them under the broiler for about 2 minutes.



Ok, so I need some photography lessons. This picture doesn't make my mouth water, but these acorn boats were fabulous. Please, do yourself a favor, and make some today (large acorn squash work best)!



Question: Have you ever gone "boating" in your kitchen? What did you use as your boat?

Grand Opening and a WINNER!

There are many rules about blogging when you work in the corporate world. Because of those rules, I wasn't allowed to post about the opening of the first Market District in Ohio until after it opened. Well, it's October 16th, and the newest Market District has now been open to the public since Thursday!

I can't show you pictures from the inside, but I will show you my dietitian sign;


This is displayed right over my head so that all customers know where to find me. And look, it's spelled correctly! Not that I would expect anything less from Market District. If you want to go on a virtual tour of the Market District in Pittsburgh, which is very similar to the one in Ohio, check out their website.


Here are some pictures from outside;


Most of these pictures were taken while construction was still underway.



Did I mention that I am now neighbors with Nick? Yep, he opened a new restaurant right next door!

Yes, the dietitian is dating the manager of Burgers, Dogs, and Fries. But don't fret. They also sell locally made veggie burgers, which are apparently amazing. Why don't I know firsthand? They contain onion and garlic, which as you all know causes me mad bloating and gas. I think I'll pass. They also sell turkey dogs and turkey burgers, and may even start selling whole wheat buns soon!


Nick and I both happen to work less than a mile from our home. We both plan on riding our bikes to work on most days, but as of now we only have one bike, so he's been riding it and I've been driving. I hope to buy him a bike of his own for Christmas.



On opening day the place was PACKED! I made about 700 of these....

I called it a pumpkin and yogurt parfait:

- 1 layer pumpkin (pureed pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg)

- 1 layer Stonyfield Banilla yogurt (banana and vanilla!)

- Sprinkling of walnuts

- Squirt of whipped cream

At home you could make this parfait in a pretty parfait dish. This was a HUGE hit!!

I'm loving my job so far, and everyone with whom I work. Yes, it's a TON of work (even on my days off...) but overall it's a job I hope to have for a very long time. Please come visit soon!




And by the way....the winner of my giveaway is...... KIMMY J!!! Please e-mail me your address at GCsmiler19@yahoo.com.



Now I'm off to get ready for the big OSU game tonight against Wisconsin. Nick and I are planning on watching the game in the privacy of our own home, while sipping on some Oktoberfest beer :) Have a fatastic and healthy weekend everyone!

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread (Wheat Free!)

It's October and I'm in heaven. I have my never-ending stash of pureed pumpkin and I'm a happy girl. The only bad thing is that I found out, despite having read something different, pumpkin doesn't freeze well. In fact, I had to throw away three pounds of my pumpkin because it was ruined after I froze it. Sad.

Now I must go through my six pound cans of pumpkin within a week, because it really shouldn't be in the fridge for longer. I wanted to make a new pumpkin bread with all of my canned pumpkin, so I found this recipe and went to work. But of course, I didn't follow the recipe 100%, I never do. Here are my modifications:

3 cups of sugar ----> 1.5 cups of Splenda for baking

1 can pureed pumpkin ----> No change
4 eggs ----> No change
1 cup vegetable oil ----> 1 chose Smart Balance canola oil
3/4 cup water ----> vitamin water. HA! JK
2/3 cup peanut butter ----> SoyNut butter

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour ----> brown rice flour (wheat free and gluten free)
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg


I also added walnuts on top.



It's a good sign that your final product will taste amazing when you find yourself licking the batter bowl clean.....

And of course, the final product did taste amazing.

I could have very easily made more modifications, but I wanted this to be extremely moist. After all, I haven't had bread in a very long time and I was ready for some heaven in my mouth.

Last night Nick said, "It's the best bread I've ever had". Wow, really Nick?! I'm flattered!

Some Nutrition Info.
(Serving size; 1/18 slice)

180 calories, 3 grams fiber



Other Modifications I Could Have Made

- 1 cup of egg beaters instead of 4 eggs

- 4 T ground flaxseed + 3/4 cups water instead of 4 eggs

- 1 1/2 cups Splenda sugar for baking, instead of 3 cups sugar

- 1 cup applesauce instead of 1 cup canola oil


Question: Can you think of any other possible modifications? Do you like pumpkin bread?

Previous Fall Recipes


Butternut Squash and Duxelles

Pumpkin Soup

Gina's Psuedo Apple Cobbler

Last year's Pumpkin Bread

My first attempt at pumpkin fro yo

Before pumpkin season ends I plan on making Anthony's pumpkin bars, pumpkin ravioli (wheat free), and also some pumpkin custard (idea from Melinda). And after that? I plan on turning into a pumpkin.

Have You Seen These Label Claims?

Today's Dietitian has really been making me happy lately. They recently posted a fabulous article, which talked about label claims. Here are some terms you may have wondered about at one time or another;



1) "Made with expeller-pressed oil"; this means the oil was extracted from its source (typically a nut or seed) by a crushing mechanism, as apposed to a chemical method, which typically uses hexane to chemically extract the oil. Hexane is a petrochemical that is apparently used also for paint diluent. Yuck!


2) "Stoneground wheat flour" or "100% stoneground wheat"; Similar to the term "natural" there really isn't a legal definition for this term. Stoneground wheat is supposedly created by grinding flour solely in stone mills, as apposed to the more commercial method of using a roller mill. Since there is no legal definition for this term companies can claim their product contains "stoneground wheat flour" even if it has only gone through the stone mill once, then was completed using a roller mill. Tricky.

Stoneground wheat is meant to sound less processed, similar to "steel cut oats", which are oats that have been cut rather than rolled. Are they any better for you? In my opinion not really. They may contain a bit more protein and soluble fiber, but I've found that this really depends on the brand.


3) "X grams of whole grains per serving". Ok...so what? This means nothing to those who don't know how many grams of whole grains they need each day. There are 16 grams of whole grains per serving of whole grain, and we need three servings per day. So that means we need a minimum of about 48 grams of whole grains each day. If a product claims to have "8 grams of whole grains per serving", that's half of a full serving of whole grains (eight grams is half of sixteen), and about one-sixth of your daily needs (eight is one-sixth of forty-eight).

These chips provide a little over a serving of whole grain, in one serving of the chips.



4) "High in antioxidants". This is the one that gets to me the most. Have you ever picked up a snack bar or a sugary cereal and seen this claim loud and clear on the box? Vitamins A, C, and E are all antioxidants, which just so happen to be added to most processed foods. Because of this, many processed foods make the claim that they "contain antioxidants" or are "high in antioxidants". It's not a lie, but are these products the best way to get antioxidants? Not at all! Antioxidants work synergistically with other compounds in the food (many times phytonutrients, or plant nutrients), which is what gives them their disease-fighting potential. In these highly processed cereals, snack bars, and even juices, those phytonutrients are typically non-existent, therefore there is no synergism potential.

The best way to get antioxidants is from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, not a snack bar that has had them added, and especially not from a supplement that supplies you a mega dose of antioxidants.


Wild rice contains vitamin E, which is a very powerful antioxidant. Scientists haven't even figured out half of the phytonutrients in whole grains, which may be working with vitamin E to help it provide its vast array of benefits to our bodies.


The same is true when it comes to fruits, vegetables, and fish. We know about many of the healthy components, but not all. There is a symbiotic relationships going on here that you simply can't mimic with fortified foods and supplements.


Including fortified foods, vitamin water, and multivitamins with >>100% of the daily value (DV) of several antioxidants is not in anyone's best interest. Consuming all these antioxidants from unnatural sources can in fact create a pro-oxidant situation in your body. To read more about this I highly suggest reading the book Superfoods Rx by Steven Pratt, MD and Kathy Matthews (see the link on my Amazon Widget to the right).

Want to read more about label claims? Check out some of my past posts;

Probiotic label claims

Food and Supplement Label Claims

Demystifying Label Claims


Thanks for reading!


BTW, don't forget to enter my giveaway, which ends on Saturday!