The Whole30- a challenge was made and accepted.

You know I love to eat and try new things. But the problem is, there are some foods that I just can’t enjoy in moderation. I will pig out on bread, whole grains included, and all kinds of sugar, including honey, maple, and molasses. In fact, you know I wanted to make a career out of it, before Chef Raina took me aside and told me it wasn’t happening.

Fast forward to February. A friend sent me a copy of “It Starts With Food” by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, and in the book, they talk at length about systemic inflammation, and how it is the root cause of so many ailments. They go on to say this inflammation is reversible, just by changing the food you put on your plate.

So, I thought about it. I realized that all that sugar was playing with my emotions, giving me a quick high that didn’t last. I then realized that bread was a food I could not stop eating, even in moderate amounts, so I had to make a change. I read the book again, talked to some friends, did research on the Paleo way of eating, and made a commitment (along with Karen) to start the whole30 in the end of April.

The whole30 is a challenge wherein you do not eat grains, dairy, legumes (including peanuts and soy), seed oils, all kinds of sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol (including cooking with it), and no white potatoes. But you do get to eat organic meats, seafood, eggs, fruits, and vegetables (except corn and white potatoes).

Shopping for this was its own puzzle. It felt very weird not buying yogurt, cereal, pasta, spuds, etc. And instead, I’m stocking up on canned coconut milk, sweet potatoes, root vegetables, bananas, apples… essentially spending most of my time in the produce section. I am ordering more from Creswick Farms, The Fish Monger’s Wife, and Visser Farms. 

I also find I’m not dining out as much, because it is a pain. I go out, and I have to order salads without cheese and croutons. If I’m with my dad, I end up passing my dinner rolls to him. As much as I love Fatty Lumpkins, sandwiches are a no-no at this point.

But this has been so rewarding. For starters, I am losing weight, which is just a bonus. Two, I have more energy. Saturday night, I went for a 13 mile run and I didn’t need a gel or sports drink to get me through. And third, my mood, which has been known to be up one day and down the next, is finally leveling out. I’m not deliriously happy, but I’m not Captain Grumpy-pants either. It’s finally in the middle.

As for what my dad thinks? He’s been griping about eating sweet potatoes, but I’ve told him that I will not cook two dishes each night just to satisfy him.

At the end of the thirty days, I have the option of reintroducing grains (gluten or not), dairy, and legumes, but to be honest, I’m not missing some of this stuff. I will probably reintroduce dairy (at least full-fat yogurt and cheese), and grains will be an occasional treat, but I don’t miss legumes. And if I wanted to, I could do an old fashioned bean soak and cook em with a ham-hock, but I just don’t know.

And the way this is going, I might turn this into a whole60, whole90, or keep it for life.

Something’s not right here.

So it’s January, which means both Food Network and Cooking Channel are pimping “healthy” menus and offering recipe makeovers. And on Cooking Channel, they have 3 shows devoted to healthy living. “Drop 5 lbs with Good Housekeeping,” “Not My Mama’s Meals,” and “Hungry Girl.”

Drop 5 is hosted by Melissa D’Arabian and features healthy recipes, tips for everyday living and is by and large a useful, practical show. Granted, I’ve caught them using margarine on occasion, but it’s still a good show.

Not My Mama’s Meals is hosted by Bobby Deen and is basically his attempt to remake his mother’s recipes so they’re lighter and healthier. But instead of resorting to artificial ingredients, he uses real food. I don’t agree with his love of whole wheat doughnuts and pie crust, but at least he’s trying.

Then there’s Hungry Girl, hosted by Lisa Lillien. She favors heavily processed foods, such as Splenda, has no concept of what real food actually is, and is enough to make me sick. I caught the tail end of one of her episodes recently, and she was making French toast out of hot dog buns and fat-free ricotta cheese. I’m fairly certain that if you cut her open, she’ll bleed Splenda.

Hungry Girl angers me because I’ve battled with my weight my whole life. You know I’ve been too fat, and you know I’ve been too thin. Right now, I’m a little chunky, but I’m working on it. And through all of this, I’ve had to learn to embrace real food. I know that you can lose weight and not have to resort to using Splenda in everything.

I want to punch her in the face, but at the same time, I want to show her compassion. I want to take her to a great local restaurant and show her the light. I want to order her a pastrami on rye sandwich and watch her eat it. I want to give her a cookie made from butter, eggs, sugar, and flour, and watch her smile.

Then again, I’m pretty sure she chuckles at night, knowing she’s got a nation of idiots who adore her every move.

Diet: trying something different.

Given that my weight seems to be in flux and I have trouble controlling my carb intake, I’m going to try something different. Rather than go low-fat, I’m going to lower my carb intake and raise my protein and fat levels. The protein and fat will fill me up and I don’t need a lot to do it. And on top of that, I’d like to get off my iron supplement and see if I can control my anemia through diet alone. (I’m also considering the Paleo diet, but I’m not quite ready to dump all grains and all dairy.)

So with that in mind, I’m going to try this:

1. More red meat (from responsible sources) and dark leafy greens. These foods are rich in iron… and yes, I know I need to eat the greens with some form of Vitamin C to unlock the iron in them.
2. Whenever I can, whole-milk dairy. I can’t find full-fat Greek yogurt, but I can eat full-fat cheese. And seeing as I make my own pizza, I’m going to switch to whole milk mozzarella and ricotta cheese.
3. More seafood (from responsible sources). Fish, especially fatty fish such as salmon, is high in Omega-3 fatty acids.
4. In terms of fat, I’m going to get away from seed oils and use butter, bacon fat, lard, and olive oil. Lard actually has more mono-unsaturated fat than extra-virgin olive oil! As for seed oils, they turn rancid VERY quickly due to their poly-unsaturated fat content. And yes, I know if you add fat to a dish, it needs to be done sparingly. As I recall from my time at the CIM, the lab instructors I had reminded me time and time again that you need enough fat to coat the pan. All you need is 1-2 tablespoons of anything you choose.
5. And I’m going to maintain a high-fiber diet. But rather than rely on functional fiber, like what’s found in Kashi Go Lean Crunch and Fiber One, I’d like to get my fiber from vegetables.
6. I’m also experiencing the sugar blues. I found that all the refined sugar I was eating, even natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup, was giving me a quick high that didn’t last. One cookie became two, two became three, soon enough I was eating the entire batch.
7. I’m  going to stop calorie counting. A healthy life is so much more than calories in=calories out.
And since I’m not racing this year, I feel that this is a good time to try something new. What do you think?

Figuring it out… the calorie mess

I think I figured it out. You know I love to eat full-fat, as I believe it provides more satisfaction than eating low-fat all the time. However, there’s a problem. When I go out to eat, restaurant portions are so big that meals can easily top 1,000 calories/serving, if not more. That’s too much, even for me.

 

So what am I to do? I figure if I eat full-fat at home, I can limit myself to a small, delicate portion. If I go out, I can order from the “light” menu and save myself. For example, I know Applebee’s has a under 550 calorie menu, Bob Evans not only has a light menu, but a “savor-size” menu for smaller appetites. Another thing that might help me is avoiding the bread basket (if it’s offered), as rolls just provide nothing but empty calories. 

 

At home, I’m also going to not make cookies unless someone requests them. All that sugar can’t be good. So what I’m doing is focusing more on making whole grain breads and pizza dough, as it’s practical.

About my wheat bread…

In a previous post, I wondered what I was doing wrong with my whole wheat bread, why it was coming out so dense. Well, I talked to Chef Raina and Charlie Muller, and I learned that the secret was to add two cups of white bread flour. So now the recipe looks like this:

In a mixer fitted with the dough hook, add:

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1 tsp sea salt

1/3 cup Demerara sugar

1.5 cups of lukewarm (110F) water

Knead on medium speed (I use setting 6) until a ball forms, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a oil-lined bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm area and let double in size, about 2 hours.

Shape into a loaf and place in a loaf pan, then let rise again for another hour or so.

Preheat oven to 450F. Brush the top of the bread with olive oil. Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven, set aside on wire rack to cool. Slice and serve.

I still struggle with the shaping of the loaf, though… I’ve asked if it would be better if I shaped it into a boule.

A challenge!

Dear friends of mine, I have a challenge for you:

Instead of going out to eat, which costs lots of money, I have a better idea. Let me cook for us. It pushes my creativity more when I cook… plus it’s something to do. I don’t get as frazzled as I used to, and besides, I’m sure it would be a blessing to you as well.

Face it, until I find employment, I’m not going to be able to do a lot of things. Even after I find a job, I promised that I would focus on getting my bills paid and my debts eliminated.

So what do you say?

Motivation

Sorry I haven’t updated in awhile. Life has been hectic here at the house… and I feel lazy. When I last visited the motivation question, I had wondered why people would question my desire to bake cookies and make peanut brittle. Now I see that question in a new light.

In February, you know that I failed my baking final in an epic way and was reduced to baking at home. When I bake at home, yes, I make cookies, but now I understand that the world has opened up to me. I not only can make cookies, but there’s a world of candies, cookies, breads, cakes, etc that I have the ability to make if I so choose. I can do more than the little things.

And when I do these things, I have support. Raina still helps me when she can, I can always ask Hilde and Charlie Muller for advice, and since I like America’s Test Kitchen on Facebook, I can always ask them. They respond pretty quickly.

And one other thing: when I bake at home, I can make cookies they don’t have recipes for at the CIM. I guarantee you that if you look through the BPA 111 and 112 manuals, there’s no recipe for bacon chocolate or molasses spice cookies.