Long time, no see...

Hello interweb friends! Yes, I am still alive and kicking. I know I had a few of you wondering. Well, let's just say 2012 has not yet been dull. But, let's rewind, and I shall explain.

Me, hiding ;)

When last you heard from me, I was gearing up for some awesome holiday fun! It turned into a whirlwind of family, parties and food! It was great, but busy. Or so I thought...

Then the new year rolled around, and life really got interesting. As most of you know, I work at a doctor's office, as the manager. I also have a manager under me, who heads up our northern offices, while I maintain the central offices. However, she decided to take a little "vacation" called maternity leave (j/k, I know that's no vacation!!), and she abandoned me to manage all four offices full time from mid-January until mid-April. FUN! Between commuting and actually working 5-6 days a week, I was hitting 55-60 hours on a regular basis. Um, yuck. Thankfully, that is over and done with, and life is starting to go back to normal. At least, as far as work goes. I really hope I never have to work an hour of overtime again in my life. Even if it means I never make that much money again!

Also around the time I first disappeared, Luke and I started going back to church (looooong story), which has been an adjustment to say the least. It has been very emotionally draining and time consuming. But, I suppose there have also been some good things about it. But mostly I've felt the time crunch as a few precious hours of my weekend slip out of reach each Sunday.

Some very good news though - we finally made it through the pre-grad school process! Luke was accepted into three great MBA programs, and in the end we picked the one that made the most sense logistically and financially. Come August, Luke will be returning to his true blue cougar roots at BYU. The next great adventure awaits! Now we just gotta get through graduation from his undergrad program this week ;)

Luke @ BYU in 2002

So yes, life has been extremely busy! We both feel like we've been running a marathon the past few months. Thankfully they end is in sight. We've got a nice Caribbean getaway coming up, as well as a summer jam-packed with gardening, hiking and LOTS of pool time.

As well as being busy, my life has also been somewhat frustrating. Why, you ask? Well, I have been sick. A lot. And this has led to the crux of my blog absence. I'm bitter. I feel like I'm doing everything "right" and it's not working. I've been eating Paleo/grain-free for almost a year now. I'm even doing a sugar detox (more on that later). This is what I eat on a normal day:

Eggs
Chicken
Turkey
Bacon (occasionally)
Beef
Seafood
Leafy greens
Squash
Sweet potato
Avocado
Tomato
Other veggies
Nuts/seeds
Berries
Apples
Dark chocolate (occasionally)
Herbal tea
Water


Other than my two little indulgences (chocolate and bacon), I eat pretty damn healthy! So why am I still getting sick? On a very regular basis even? I take probiotics and vitamins. I sleep 6-8 hours a night, in complete darkness. I've even started exercising again in the last month and a half.

I'm at a loss.

So, yes, I have been a little resentful of the food going into my mouth. As a result, I've become a little less passionate about coming up with or posting about my great new, fun recipes and finds. I do have a few theories of trigger foods I can test, and I've got an appointment lined up with a specialist, to see if there actually is an MD out there who can help me. We'll see.

But I miss you guys. I miss sharing my successes, and even my failures, on the blog. I miss being excited about food. I still have my moments where I'll stumble across something that I am anxious to photograph, to post, to share with the world, because I loved it, and I have a feeling someone else out there might as well.

I've decided to stop being a downer, and get back on board, because I am still passionate about food. Plus, life is starting to get a little easier again.

Delicious food that I love!

 So, I guess I just wanted to say thanks for sticking around as my life has been so emotional and stressful (and thanks to the NEW followers for coming by!). I've got some great recipes on the way. And I am so very glad to have you all here.

- Stephanie

Giving in to (gluten-free) bread

Gluten free perfection a la Karina

Ever have one of those days? Where you try to think about everything and anything except for the one thing you're craving most?

Today was one of those days. I know in my last post, I talked about heading down a more grain free path. I've actually been doing pretty good so far. Not strictly Primal/Paleo, but I've been trying to reduce the number of carbs and actual grains consumed. The problem I've run into is being sick.

In the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, I awoke with severe cramping. It wasn't just my stomach, or my usual food reaction or womanly cramping either. No, these cramps started just below my breasts, and traveled in waves down to my pelvis. This was the weirdest pain I have ever felt, with waves of pain traveling down my body every 5-10 seconds. I went downstairs and heated up my corn bag. I tried laying in different positions (lying on my right side seemed the least unbearable). I tried going to the bathroom, drinking water, stretching, everything I could think of. In the end, I just cried. And, yes, to answer my husband's favorite question, it helped! Ok...no, not really.

Finally, after an excruciating hour, I woke my husband up, and asked him to go downstairs and get the Pepto (didn't feel like I could make it down and up again). I took it, but was still really worried. My husband got online and did some googling. We figured, whatever was going on, most serious stomach problems seem to develop over a period of 12-24 hours. So, we went back to bed, and made plans to call the doctor in the morning. The Pepto finally kicked in, and I was able to sleep again.

I got up for work a couple hours later, and the pain seemed to be at bay. I was hesitant to go to the doctor if the pain hadn't returned, considering I had a busy day ahead of me. So I waited. I wondered if it had been food related, so I trashed everything I'd eaten the day before that was out of the ordinary for my diet.

The lack of sleep caught up to me mid-morning and threw me into a headache. Which wasn't helped by the fact that starting around lunchtime, everything edible sounded repulsive to me. So I had a hard time choking down food. Then in the afternoon, I started feeling some cramping/aching. Not as severe as the nighttime episode, but also unlike cramps that I normally experience.

And I've felt like that ever since. Any time I bend over, turn to the side, basically move my core in any way, I feel the pain. Also when I'm just sitting, I can feel the ache. And the nausea/selective appetite has been pretty bad. I still don't know what's going on, but I plan on calling the doctor tomorrow morning.

So anyway, back to that mouth-watering photo above. What does all of this have to do with me and my plans for a grain free diet? Well, one of the only things that has been remotely appealing the past few days has been Corn Chex cereal with homemade almond milk. I've been eating that for breakfast (and even a dinner or two).

I have had a hard time eating breakfast over the last few years, dealing with some nausea, which my doctor believes to be related to my hypoglycemia. I love breakfast foods, and I generally eat within an hour of getting up, but some days it's a struggle. That's what this week has been, only it's been pretty much the same story with every meal of the day. So finding appealing foods has been difficult, especially when trying to eliminate one of the staples in my life - gluten free grains.

Ever since Karina, everyone's favorite Gluten Free Goddess, posted this recipe on Tuesday, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Up until today though, I've been so busy, and haven't even had time to think about baking. But I woke up this morning, and it was pouring rain. What did this mean? Baking!!

Yes, having a day cool enough to bake in June in Utah is not common. If I plan on baking something during the summer, normally I will do it at the very end of the day, when I can open the windows to cool the rest of the house.

Luckily, I had a few recipes that needed making this week!

So, I gave in and made the bread. It turned out to be pretty good. It is denser than a lot of breads, but it's hearty. I loved the tang of the olives in it (would probably double them next time), and it made for a great dipping bread. I had it for dinner with some tomato soup.

I substituted a couple of things - sorghum flour instead of brown rice, buckwheat instead of rice bran (I couldn't find anything online for a good sub for rice bran, so I just guessed).

I will keep you all up to date on my stomach issues. If anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way!

And if you feel like baking on a cool summer's eve, make this bread!

Haters

Oh boy, is this a strong subject matter for those of us unfortunate enough to be eating gluten free. Lauren @ Daring to Thrive brought to my attention a recent Dr Oz segment on how "eating gluten free makes you fat."

This bothers me a lot.

A LOT!

"A gluten free diet is a low carb diet" IT CAN BE. That's the thing the segment needed to expand upon, rather than forcing down our throats that the diet makes you fat. In my humble opinion, it's the carbs - the refined, processed foods - that are the culprit for those who gain weight on the diet.

Dr Hyman mentions that gluten makes people w/ gluten sensitivity fat. I definitely agree with that. I have friends who have severe inflammatory responses to gluten - retaining water, puffy faces, etc. That boils down to the primal theory that our bodies are not as tolerant to grains as we would like, due to the fact that most of our human history, grains have not had a prevalent part to play in our nutrition (up until the last century or so). Our biological makeup was never meant to consume these inflammatory grains on a regular basis (enter the Standard American Diet, stage left). Thanks to all the wonders of industrializing, and modern medical health, we have become a world more able to sustain its numbers, but in doing so, have caused these toxic grains to become the mainstay in our diet.

According to this study from 2009, 63% of American adults are overweight or obese.

This insane obesity trend report from the CDC maps out what percentage of Americans are obese in each state.

And yet, the gluten free diet is being knocked on here. Out of the 300+ million people living in America, 20 million of those are on a gluten free diet. 6% of the American population are potentially getting fat from not eating gluten. Hrmm.

For more info about primal/paleo living, check out this fantastic site.

I really like this article I found by Matthew Solan, who writes for Men's Health. He quotes a Dr Lara Field, a dietitian at the University of Chicago:

Still, cutting out gluten can lead to weight loss—but not for the reason gluten-free advocates think. A strict gluten-free diet forces you to stay away from some refined carbohydrates that can lead to weight gain, Field explains. And that, she says, is where the weight-loss secret lies.

Gluten is found in many of the familiar weight-gain culprits: pizza, beer, burgers, pancakes. "Gluten itself probably isn't the reason you've packed on pounds," says Field.

"Eating too many refined carbohydrates is what expands your waistline." Commit to staying gluten-free and your food choices can become a snapshot of a healthy diet—with creative carb substitutions, fruits, vegetables, brown rice, seeds and nuts, along with meat, fish, eggs, and milk products.

Gluten free Oreo's are just as bad as real Oreo's. That's the bottom line. And that is what Dr Oz failed to make clear in his presentation of the gluten free diet. If you're replacing, food-for-food, all the unhealthy things you used to consume when eating gluten, of course you're not going to get any skinnier.

I am not condemning those who indulge in the occasional gluten free goodie. I have quite a sweet tooth myself, and it's only the mild reaction I get to sweets that keeps me shying away from OD-ing on chocolate every night. I love me a good brownie, cookie, cupcake, pie, etc! And when I first went gluten free, I tried so hard to recreate these recipes to help me feel less deprived. And I succeeded! Yes, eating gluten free goodies can be just as rewarding as the old stuff.

The key is to indulge moderately. I usually allow myself one sweet a day. One serving of one sweet a day, not a whole batch of cookies. If I slip up (ie, eat more than that), I don't beat myself up over it (although my tummy often does that for me). But I have learned that I can't feel deprived, or I will binge.

Sorry for the long-winded rant. I'd love to hear what you all think on the matter.

And once you've had time to stew over this injustice, head over to Karina's site. She's not the GF Goddess for nothing. This post brought tears to my eyes. Once you've read that, hopefully you can do as I've struggled to do over the last couple of days, and move on. Forgive those who offend us GF-ers. Those who are too ignorant to allow changes that benefit the lives of those of us who have no choice.

Yes, we get on our soap boxes. Yes, we rant, yes we obsess. But at the same time, our lives (and the lives of those we care for) depend on us doing these things. We have to check labels. We have to be annoying to waiters. We have to discuss ingredients with hostesses.

We do these things, not to make anyone else's life harder, but to protect ourselves. To keep us out of the bathroom for five straight days. To keep us from using up a year's worth of sick days at work due to one moment of ignorance. To keep us living our lives as they were meant to be lived.

Honestly, I wouldn't have my life any other way. Would I rather have to depend on medication the rest of my life for this? No. Or how about having to go to regular doctor appointments, constant blood work, tests, therapy, treatments? No, absolutely not. I am so thankful that I am the one in control of treating this disease for myself.

My life is so very good, despite the things I can't change - the problems I am dealing with right now with my body, the stresses in my job and at home. Life is full of so many beautiful things. Wonderful, loving people, an amazing world around me, lots of opportunities, and really good food! So, despite all the haters, I plan on enjoying it all, and I hope you all are able to do the same :D