4.27.2010

Recipes

I will be adding recipes as I have time.  They will be white free, wheat free, sugar free or a combination.  They may need to be tweaked to meet your needs.  But, they are recipes I thought would be helpful.  The Sweet Savvy website is a great one for alternative sugars!  She has tested recipes with different sugar types and it is really helpful!  Go to her site and enjoy it! 

Carob Benefits; Chocolate and Migraines

Carob Chips Benefits
Carob chips are a healthy replacement for the chocolate chips. Comparatively, carob chips have more dietary fibers than the chocolate chips. Also, carob chips are rich in protein and high in fiber. The calcium content of carob chips is higher than that of the chocolate chips. The absorption of calcium is blocked by oxalic acid present in chocolate and carob chips do not contain oxalic acid. This is another nutritional benefit of carob chips. Chocolate chips contain phenylethylamines which is many a times responsible for triggering migraines. Carob chips do not contain these small nitrogen containing molecules. Apart from these nutritional benefits, carob chips have some health benefits. Carob chips are used for treating diarrhea in children. Sometimes, carob chips are used to provide relief in traveler's diarrhea. Besides, carob chips are beneficial in GERD.

The Third Week

Time to tell you about the third week, but there's not that much to tell.  Pretty much status quo!  Which, is good!  I am falling into a pretty good routine now with this diet, and that's a good thing because the more research I do the more I realize that I should stay on this diet.  Not to mention feeling much better overall.  Diet.  No, I don't think that's a good word for it.  "Diet" usually means an attempt to lose weight, and that would be great but that's not the real reason for it in my case.  I wish I was losing more weight - I have lost a few pounds - but it is more about health. A good reason, for sure!  So, I will attempt to find a new word for it, this healthy fare I am eating.  I will welcome any thoughts about that, so feel free to comment. 

So, the eating is going fine.  I took frozen leftover rice noodles and sugar-less spaghetti sauce to work for lunch today.  It was really good, even the second time!  Tonight for dinner, we had fried pork chops (salt, pepper & italian seasoning), cooked cauliflower with melted cheddar cheese, a green salad and sourdough bread.  I could eat all but the bread (white flour but no white sugar).  No big deal, I was stuffed and we don't often eat bread with dinner anyway.  There would be a touch of sugar in the amount of homemade ranch dressing I had, but I decided it would probably be such a small amount (from the mix) that it wasn't going to be a big deal.  I look at the nutrition facts on the packages, and the grams of sugar, and try to figure out if there's enough to be concerned with.  There are some things that have sugar under a "less than 2%" list of ingredients.  Pretty much I am eating probably about 98% white sugar and white flour free.  I do like the Newman's Own Light Italian dressing I bought, but it's a little strong with a vinegar taste, and I don't prefer strong dressings.  It was nice to have ranch dressing after 3 weeks!  

Ah, chocolate!  I am still missing it at times!  We bought carob chips, and it's just not quite the same.  But, I will make cookies with them and we'll see how they are.  Stay tuned for that.  I have not yet had time to make my own chocolate with agave and cocoa.  I'll try that and let you know what I found.  Life is very busy right now, and even though I am still keeping up with eating the right things, I haven't tried new recipes this week.  I hope to do more experimenting this weekend. At the end of next week I will be driving east to move my daughter out of her dorm room, and bring her home for the summer!  We are very happy that it's almost time for her to be home for some months before moving out again!  She loves to experiment in the kitchen, so her and I will have fun trying things.  I'm thinking she will enjoy using agave in some recipes!  I'm excited she'll be home to help me!  All for now... good luck with your "healthy fare" this week!!