First, thank you to all who took the time to answer the 1 question poll on what you want to see on this blog. Also, thank you to those who found out what was The Big Deal.
This summer is winding down but not before we celebrate my youngest son’s birthday. He’ll be 17 on the 17th. He’s asked me to make him a two tier birthday cake with frosting. He’s a brave kid. I’m totally doing what I call cheating and using a box mix from Cherry Brook Farms and the frosting was made by Whole Foods. All are gluten and dairy free. Someday I’ll learn the fine art of cake making in the world of gluten and dairy free, but for now I’m focusing on other foods.
This week I’ll continue to play with my green smoothies to see what different combos taste like. Over the last week I picked up some new hot peppers I’d like to cook with and some different types of plums to snack on.
As part of taking care of myself and trying to get my body to settle back down and release some of the weight, I’m walking everyday for an hour, stretching (helps get rid of the Fuzz) and journaling everything I eat.
I write down what and how much of everything I eat and if I feel not as good as I should after eating anything in particular. So far I’ve noticed that all grains seem to be bothering me and corn kernels. I’ll need to stay away from them as the swelling is not something fun. I’ve also noticed that my body is not that happy with Frank’s Buffalo Wing sauce.
I’m not sure just yet what all of that means, but by keeping track I’m becoming a detective as far as what my body is irritated by and that is a huge help. I find that sticking with mostly vegetables, fruits and small portions of lean fish and chicken, some pork and very little beef, my body does seem happier. Funny I think I’ve heard this was good for a person before. Why do I have such a hard time learning this?
If you are experiencing swelling or irritation, keeping track of everything you eat might be a great way to start to detect what else is bothering you. If you live gluten free and cheat, well you already know what’s bothering you. But if you are sure you are not having cross contamination and you are still having issues, time to become that detective and start eliminating other foods.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to be patient with this but I know in the end I will feel so much better.
So for my menu this week it will be vegetable heavy but I’ll be including some seafood and chicken and letting the rest of my family eat the quinoa and rice.
Monday– Italian Torta- Budget Friendly and Minute Meal
Tuesday-Birthday Dinner out at Brad’s favorite place- Chima
Wednesday– Guajillo Chile Shrimp and Chorizo over quinoa – Minute Meal, Budget Friendly if you buy shrimp on sale.
Thursday– Greek Meatloaf (recipe can be found in The Gluten-Free Diner cookbook), boiled potatoes and green beans- Budget Friendly
Friday-POM Chicken with vegetables and quinoa- Budget Friendly
Saturday– Chicken and Vegetable Kebobs- Budget Friendly
Sunday– Ham and peas with pototes au gratin- Budget Friendly and Minute Meal
More menus from lots of bloggers found on OrgJunkie.
Diane, I'm finding that eating few grains makes me feel better too. It's just a lot harder, I think. Grains make for quick, filling, cheap meals. But I'm with you – lean meats, lotsa fresh veggies, and I'm feeling great. Even too many potatoes seems to wreak havoc with me. Guess we should all listen to our bodies at bit more, huh?
Alta- Oh I wish my body would just knock it off and let me eat anything but those days are long gone. Even if I didn't have food intolerance, I'm getting older and things just don't sit the same. Night shades like potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and eggplant can often play with our bodies. They can make a body swell and ache. Of course I'm crazy about all of those foods. But this week I need to focus on what I can eat and start getting creative so I don't get bored and head for that easy PB & Jelly sandwich on the gf bread in the house. Time to get baking some grain free breads for that occasional meal. Need to find some new summer veggies too. What are your favorite?
Love your budget friendly kebabs – great photo.
Michelle- Thank you. I just love playing with kebobs. What do you like to add to yours?
Oh that Shrimp and Chorizo recipe looks AMAZING! Please, may I have that recipe?!
Emily- I'll post that really easy recipe this week for the shrimp.
I would love to see the Chicken, Vegetable and Quinoa recipe. I've heard good things about adding Quinoa into a GF/CF diet. With those key words budget friendly in there 🙂
Thanks for the info about the getting rid of "fuzz"!! Not sure how I missed that post but glad you brought it to my attention!! I'm new at this gluten free eating but still struggling with feeling achy and not so good some days. I'm going to try the writing down everything I eat and how I feel. I've done this in the past when struggling with my crohn's and remember learning lots!!! I'd be very interested t0 know what grain free and gluten free breads you make?!?! Grains sometimes flare up the crohns and would be my guess it doesn't help the achy feeling either!! Thanks so much for you blog…it's been a HUGE help to me in this new adventure!!!
Rosa- I too loved that info on the fuzz. My husband and I check on each other every morning now to make sure we got rid of the fuzz.
Great job on keeping track of everything you eat and how you are feeling. It can be fascinating to weed out what the culprits are. I find if there is a day I'm not feeling good and I've felt good when I ate 5 out of the 7 things I ate that day, I have to try each one of the two on separate days and after 4 days so my body has had a chance to calm down.
So far the grain free bread I've made is from Elana Amsterdam's Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. You can find it in my Store at the top of this blog. Great recipes that we love.
I hope you'll check back in and don't forget to jump over to facebook to chat more.
I have been reading your blog for a while but realized I had never actually commented. I too have found a food journal invaluable in tracking what upsets my body – I am gluten- and dairy-intolerant, but have other food sensitivities as well – corn and eggs being the two main ones. My issue with corn was discovered through food journaling in fact.
Valerie- Thank you for saying hi and for the great information. So tonight I have to write down I ate a few spoonfuls of icing right from the container. But I didn't have a slice of my son's birthday cake and icing. So I think I'm ahead of the game. I think.
The Ham and peas with pototes au gratin looks amazing! Could you post the recipe??
Miss Joy- Thank you for asking. I'll share that this week.
Diane Eblin