Health and Fitness, February, 2016

[Harriet]

Kathryn, that's so interesting. Dr Davis of Wheat Belly says that our wheat has been so drastically altered that he thinks we'd be correct to call it a poison. He says the percent of people harmed by gluten is very small compared to almost 100 percent of people harmed by the new (1970s) wheat, but by now it's just about the only wheat we have left to eat. There's a protein, gliadin (sp?), that he blames, so I wonder if she is allergic to that protein. He says it acts as an opiate and causes our appetite for MORE wheat to increase.

Today I entered ingredients for several of my go-to meals online and printed out the tallies. These are single-person meals I like when I'm by myself. Hopefully I can keep this info on hand and it will help me stay on track.

Saw a sale on 60 percent cacao Ghirardelli single squares. Not ideal, but pretty close. I will have them at a different time of day than the conventional wisdom of suppertime dessert. It would be more likely to cause acid reflux at that hour.

[LadyMaverick]

Last night dinner at DMom's home was fresh apple pies with ice cream. That's it. That is the sum of what was served for dinner. Oh wait! There was also freshly baked applesauce/raisin bread too.

I complemented DMom on how beautiful her pies were and how wonderful they smelled. Then i distracted myself with some nuts and a slice of cheese. I kept a glass of water in my hand to remind myself not to eat the pie or bread. I really didn't feel deprived which was a huge change. Can it already be getting easier to not eat sugar and white flour? I can only hope.

Tonight I made a recipe called "Cry no more Brownies". They have some weird ingredients (to me) but no white sugar or flour. I am completely surprised how good they taste and the texture is just like *normal* brownies.

[Harriet]

LadyM, you sent me on a net adventure. Looked up the brownies and they are credited to the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook, and found the Gwen's Nest review of the book with large photographs, which was cool. May have to look for that book.

Admission - - I didn't take their first book seriously on the shelf, because they had their photos on the cover and they looked like models, so I didn't see them as particularly wise or knowledgeable. I'm more interested in the science of things and so I overlooked them in favor of others. But reading the review of this second book I see that they seem serious about good nutrition.

Very interested to read that they have a baking mix - not sure if there's a recipe in the book or if they market it, but either way it's interesting.

Dr. William Davis' Baking Mix was also one I missed at first (he wrote Wheat Belly) and I was more interested in Dr. Perlmutter's Grain Brain for the science behind it all, and Perlmutter doesn't really get into recipes as much.

Here's Davis's recipe and a video below it of him making up his mix on Dr. Oz. Below that photos with bread recipes to use it. The mix needs to be refrigerated they say - glass container.

[Nancy]

I did 30 min . On the ex. Bike.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I looked up the brownie recipe too.

I'm glad you are enjoying the recipes from the book.

My weight seems to be moving now. I'm just concentrating mainly on calories and protein and letting the rest work itself out. And of course, logging it all. And not going out of the apartment so that reduces the temptation and I am drinking diet soft drinks.

I'm on the treadmill more in order to get the steps in and just using it 10 - 20 minutes here and there. It does help with perking me up when I'm starting to drag (for instance, while dinner is in the oven and I might snack since I'm hungry.)

[Nancy]

Rounding up hens has been my exercise today. That got my ♡ going!
Walked on the loop w ddog after lunch.

[Ramblinrose]

Love it Nancy...

Went to my morning class yesterday and today and did 4 miles on my gazelle last night. Eating on plan and have lost two lbs since Monday. Lent is helping

[LadyMaverick]

Today is day 12 of giving up sugar & white flour. Going sugar free seems somewhat easy now. It seems harder for me to check ingredients for white flour. Yesterday at Cheesecake factory meal I asked for sugar free cheesecake. Not a problem. They use splenda which I don't like to eat but went ahead since it was a special and unique occasion. I asked for the piece of sugar free cheesecake to be cut in half (to share with DD). However, after all these questions and special care.....I was 1/2 way though eating my half of the cheesecake when it dawned on me - this might have white flour in it! ARGH! It never crossed my mind until that moment. I don't make cheesecake very often so the ingredients are not familiar. i just assumed it was graham cracker crust, cream cheese and sugar. I know 1/2 piece of a cheesecake is not much flour but that isn't the point - I didn't even remember to check. Bottom line.....If I don't cook it myself I don't know.

The special ingredient in the "Cry no more brownies" was OKRA!!!! REally! I love okra but have never tried baking with it. It disappeared in the chocolate batter and no one knew it was there. DH and LO are not fans of okra so I am sure they would have refused to try the brownies if they had known the ingredients. I just told them it was sugar free and had no white flour. The recipe was on the counter top so they could have looked to see the ingredients but they didn't seem to care. They just went directly for the taste test.

I am on a learning curve of using almond flour, coconut flour, flaxmeal, etc instead of white flour. It is a process.....

[Nancy]

Took a walk w ddog this morning for ex.

[Ramblinrose]

Well I made it to my morning class this morning... Did 2.5 miles on my gazelle yesterday and already have 2.3 today.

I am down another pound so that makes three so far. It's very hot here at the moment...88* and 18* above normal. Yesterday I put on a pair of capris. I weighed less last year when I wore them, but they are looser on me now, especially in the waist. That was an interesting discovery and one that made me happy

LadyM... I have a recipe for no carb bread. It's made of eggs, cream cheese and baking powder. Haven't made it yet, but when I do I'll let you know how it turns out. My cheese cake has no flour, but it does have sugar. Guess you could substitute with sevia... That would be interesting. Have to look in my no carb cook book to see it there is a recipe there for that.