New Year Changes One Little Step at a Time

New years resolutions are passe, goals for life are the future.  Since going sugar free over 18months ago I've not resolved to quit anything but change life choices for the better.  Each day I learn something new often that's from my children.  Having them has been the most significant change & growth in myself.  When I reflect upon the last year I see significant growth in myself in health & knowlege, thankfully not in girth (for the second year in many I did not gain any weight).

Change for the better.  Having worked in implementing change for most of my career, I believe the best way to manage it is baby steps.  Not necessarily for myself as I love change, but most are fearful & won't embrace unless spoonfed.  So for anyone thinking they can't cope with behavioural issues from self or kids or suffering ills then consider that food might have an impact - start with eliminating one thing at a time.  So start with just eliminating artificial numbers or sugar.

So for me I would like to try some new things this year; sourdough baking, healing to increase food tolerances, & test running a Thermomix would be good! (just to make life a little easier with cooking from scratch).  Along with my own experiences, the kids will be starting kinder & school respectively, so that will be more knowledge for me along the way aiding their journeys into the new.  I love seeing them grow & am always looking for them to get the best out of opportunities, hence wanting them to be free of the effects certain additives or foods can cause them to not enjoy life to the full.

Its increasingly hard for others to accept that there are effects from natural foods, even when living with it on a daily basis for a few weeks.  People expect reactions to be instantaneous like allergic reactions. With intolerances, they can take days (or weeks) to appear.  Its only after months of diarising I have been able to prove repeat symptoms or trigger.  I'm also mindful of every food that passes our lips or chemicals we encounter.

The holidays were a 'good' time to continue learning about effects of food, using it as an opportunity to further challenge certain food groups & foods.  When I say 'good' yes we had a good time, but tongue in cheek some effects were not good in company of guests or tired parents.  Salicylates are a no-no for myself & son, & amines in moderation for my daughter.  I seem to be able to tolerate some salicylate or symptoms are not so visible, but long-term this is such a hard group to avoid as it contains so many otherwise healthy vegetables, nuts & oils.  Hence wanting to see if there are ways to re-introduce certain foods with assistance.

Preservatives however are something I do not want to reintroduce & because of them I have not actually eaten bread now for 6 months as all packet gluten-free bread contains them & other unsavoury ingredients among the list of foods we are avoiding.  The kids are restricted with one bread from the bakery thats preservative free & so far seem to be ok on wheat, though long-term I would like them to eat less wheat.  I've tried gluten-free packet bread mixes before with varying success but never had the guts to try making a loaf from just basic ingredients.

Over the Christmas holidays I was shown how to make sourdough bread (with rye culture & wheat flour - both of which I'm intolerant to) & came home full of vigour to start my own culture with a gluten free alternative... which I did.  However my baking attempts since have been failures.  I'm on a learning curve though & todays loaf was finally edible (Quinoa & White Rice Flour).  I bought various gluten free flours today to further my experiments.

The culture was so easy to establish I don't know why I was hesitant to even try... I think fearing it would become mould or poison us could have done that.  But so far I've kept it healthy looking & smelling, feeding it regularly.  Todays loaf was the first I made using the full amount of culture (200g) without adding any regular yeast & the first loaf thats not been a complete un-risen brick.  I'm using the basic recipe & method from Toxic Oil which differs from what I was shown, but given I didn't take notes & had had a few drinks I can't recall the quantities.  I do recall it was pliable whereas the ones I've made are sloppier & it doesn't say to even knead.  I'm thinking I need to make the mix more drier & attempt folding so will research further & discuss with a friend who makes sour dough regularly (though not gluten free).  The fun & frustration always comes when using non-wheat flours.

Upon a a little research I did encounter this sourdough blog & a lovely little story about a young boy asking about allergy safe foods for himself.  It touched me as I now hear both my children turning & asking me if something is ok for them to eat, or telling other adults they need to check whether it has salicylates or additives in.  It amazes other adults they are so aware & that both my 3 & 5 year old can say salicylate let alone know approximately what they are.  My children don't have allergies per-say they are intolerances, as not immediate or life threatening, but same necessity I make sure they are aware of the effects & to eventually learn to know for themselves what they are putting into their bodies - which after a trip to emergency ward each for swallowing foreign objects you'd think they'd know all about the dangers of that!

Some people think that anything in a supermarket is food & can be readily consumed, however we are finding out that there is so much artificial chemical in "foods" purely to increase shelf life or be more appealing.  I'm glad my eyes have been opened & wish to impart that same inquisition to my kids to make their own discoveries & take charge of their health & well being.  I do fall into that parent-trap of treating them like little adults at times when it comes to their understanding, but also break-down answers into small simplicities when questions or the vague looks arise.  I baby them in many ways but also want to prepare them to fend for themselves in time & by having appropriate adult conversations with them empowers them ... plus it makes them enjoyable people to converse & be with all day long.  Never one to goo-goo ga-ga, we've had full on chats (even if one-sided early on) since they were born.

Whilst baking oat bars & anzacs today, my son asked why I hadn't put nuts in the oatbars as I had the last time & only in the anzacs we made afterwards.  I explained this was because my daughters daycare centre (like his kinder) had children that were allergic to nuts & could put them at risk of their throat swelling & inability to breath.  He took this in, giving me an example of a friend who is anaphylactic & asked if they would die, so that led to discussion of epi-pens & notifying an adult if a friend was in need of help.  He then asked about what would happen to him if he had penicillin (he's heard me tell the doctor that he is allergic), so I explained the difference of a rash appearing & how it would be itchy & we'd stop taking it, so no he wouldn't die from it.  Deep deep things on that boys mind, but he takes it all in his stride.  Last week the discussion was all about drowning after he overheard a little girl discuss it with her mummy next to us on a cafe.  A year ago we didn't talk about even animals dying, they were merely asleep... though he eloquently pointed out that the path or road was a silly place to sleep as they might get trod on or run over by a car.... hmmmm.

We went for blood tests last week to determine any mineral deficiencies which could be causing or adding to our intolerances.  En-route we discussed what would happen to the blood to test it & that he would grow more back, so it was ok to give some.  What I hadn't forewarned was that a needle would be used or not to look, thankfully he was busy chatting up to the entry point... when he decided to look & let out a yelp, thankfully the needle was then in & he admitted didn't hurt, so the tears subsided immediately.  I can never look, I felt sick when I saw it going into him.  He was so brave & clearly interested in the whole process.  When we got our results this week he was equally interested in what the doctor was explaining though am sure bamboozled by all the jargon... no doubt I will get those words quizzed upon me in weeks to come as he processes.  We are low in a couple of minerals/vitamins & I will use a magnesium supplement, nutritious foods & sun to assist increasing.  We have also started a daily probiotic which I add to yogurt or fruit & have noticed benefits already.

Garden

My foray into veggie growing.... how it started step by step in pictures:
       

                                                                       

    

Christmas Wrap Up

So its Xmas eve & the turkey is getting fat... well actually thawing to be truthful.  Today is mostly a cooking day as all pressies are bought & wrapped, food shopping all done & drinks chilling.

I'll make a few sugar-free deserts for the kids & I, which I'm sure others will enjoy.  We have an abundance of bananas, so will make some ice-cream & some muffins for sure.

Having just returned from camping with friends & their children I'm so proud of my kids for sticking to  sugar-free & failsafe diet so well.  There were a handful of marshmallows toasted on the camp fire, but only white ones & just one shortbread each - so that was it for sugar.  I remained sugar-free & didn't cave to the group pressure or even chocolate left open on the bench.  I just don't feel tempted these days, I'm so happy to eat foods I know will be good for me.  Staying on a farm we got to eat farm bacon (without nitrates) & fresh picked veggies.  I was even shown how to make sourdough bread & have come home & started my own culture... so watch this space for further disastrous bread attempts!! Clearly not my forte but no one could call me a quitter.

We were on a subsequent Amines & new Nitrates challenge which from sons perspectives would be be a pass, but after getting home & reaching day 4 once again my daughter clearly failed - I would say Amines only at this stage.  Its the 3rd Amines challenge we have done & each time she has gotten defiant, stroppy & unable to control her bladder - wet bed & couple of accidents in day time.  I appear to be ok on Amines, as any symptoms I got were from the salicylates in wine or sulphates :( (I wasn't technically challenging myself this week)

... Well Xmas Day is over for another year & a lot of fun was had by all.  The kids were made up with all their gifts & my super happy little man was just amazed at the whole event & so grateful, not one tear or wrong doing all day.  Madam on the other hand was a tad testy but enjoyed things when they were going her way.  Before they went to bed Xmas eve they left food out for Santa & his reindeers & it was magical to see their faces in the morning when just crumbs & carrot tops were left.  Mr.5 did question why we were leaving sugar biscuits out & a mince pie - which I explained away with that you don't get a tummy like Santa's unless you eat sugar.  He said he didn't want to get a tummy like that (I hope Santa was listening).  But given Mrs.Claus actually did all the hard yakka this year it might have been fairer to leave some sugar-free treats instead!!

Sugar-free sweet treats that I made for the big day were some Banana-Choc Muffins, Cheesecake & a Christmas Fruit Cake/Loaf.  A tradition for my family has always been to have shortbread in the morning & as I'd gone for the convenience of shop bought sugar ones for camping the kids had 2 each of those & I sampled one. In the grand scheme of things I would say 1 commercial biscuit for the year was acceptable.  Had I bought enough butter I could have made some myself with dextrose.

The Christmas cake turned out pretty good flavour-wise & substituted pudding for the 3 of us. It didn't rise quite as well as I'd hoped but texture-wise was dense & pudding-like.  The others actually didn't even eat their commercial pudding that they were insistent on buying.  But I can imagine that will get devoured after the cricket & beers tonight.  We had ours with fresh cream & was tasty enough to go back for a second helping & will be polished off again today.  I will post the recipe on my facebook page later.  It was one I conjured up to be sugar-free & semi-failsafe by bastardising a Christmas cake recipe from Sweet Poison Cook Book & a banana loaf recipe of mine.  It omitted spices, so no salicylates, & alcohol, so the kids could eat it.  Most of the sweetness comes from the banana, pear & swede (YES swede) so just a little dextrose & RMS is required.  In hindsight I should have added baking powder to assist rise.

All in all I would say we have had success in remaining sugar-free & failsafe over the lead-up & festivities.  Had we not been dealing with challenges & strict failsafe during this time I would have been more stalwart on sugar too for the kids but somethings gotta give when time is precious.   Below I'll list a few things we have done to limit sugar & take focus away from food, to share & record for next year.

1. Use an advent calendar in which you can put small novelties instead of chocolates.  I put in handmade hair ties, Trashies, erasers, costume jewellery & Christmas tree decorations.  Next year I might breakdown a Lego kit to be built each day for my son which I saw a friend had done & looked more exciting.
2. Provide kinder teachers with a small bag of alternative treats (marshmallows & caramels for Failsafe) to swap for candy canes given with cards (that I wasn't able to get to myself first & remove!).  This was to limit additives (colours), but in future I would provide stickers, pencils, small toys in lieu of food to avoid sugar.  
3. Provide/bake own Xmas party food.  This included Reindeer Gingerless Breads, Shortbread Stars/Trees & Carob cupcakes in green & red wrappers, with white dextrose icing. 
4. Give craft activities to do at Xmas parties to limit eating time e.g. Making reindeer food (decorate boxes, fill with oats & glitter), decorate a card, wooden tree ornament or christmas hat

Mostly though I'm happy to say this Christmas I did not go with gluttony.  I tried to limit what we bought, however the other half insisted on some "normal" Christmas food for him & visitors, which meant there was more than we really needed.  I did not however go to bed with an aching belly & exercised restraint myself when it came to indulging.  I ate extra food a little later in the evening than a normal day as drinking but I would hope the scales don't show that when I do my next weigh in.  I had bought a new pair of summer shorts just last week to replace the ones I bought last year - they are fitting very comfortably - happy to say they are the exact same brand & style, but a size less!  I'm probably only a couple of kilos less, but there's definitely been no gain in weight over the year.  

Due to Failsafe & Amines in particular I was conscious I didn't want too much excess food to be left over & devoured in the week proceeding.  Even with the smallest Turkey there's loads left.  So I've frozen some of it to prevent build up & same with muffins I made a full batch of.  The excess bananas from a double-up purchase, I've sliced up & frozen for use as ice-cream/cooking.  I will however be limiting Miss.3's intake of all that given her reaction. 

Now as ever in the post-Christmas wind-up its how to get creative with turkey & ham!  This morning we had Egg & Ham pies for brekkie.  For lunch cold turkey, potato & ham salad (with homemade garlic mayo - yum!!)  Tonight we had Spring Rolls from the Friendly Food recipe, but with turkey instead of veal.  They were a big winner, will be making that recipe again, but try chicken or add other veggies. 

So wrapping up this post, I trust you have all had a happy christmas time & wish you all a very merry new year.  Meanwhile if you have any suggestions for creative turkey recipes please comment below to share. 

Spread it!

There seems to be a steep rise in momentum on the Saturated Fat vs Sugar debate as the cause of obesity & increase of chronic diseases.  Whatever the reason, lets keep that train rolling.

I'm on the Sugar is evil side of the track & love my butter thickly spread!

A couple of recently aired doco's on Australian TV have most likely perpetuated the broadening to the greater general public & rise in interest.  The first is "The Men Who Made us Fat" a BBC series from the UK.  The second is ABC's Catalyst "Heart of the Matter Part 1 - Dietary Villains".  Both visualise & reinforce the reading matter I've been gripped by for almost 2 years now & advocate avoiding sugar & seed oils in favour of saturated fat, who until now has been widely dubbed the heart attacker.

Governments worldwide & the Heart Foundation villify Saturated Fat still as they have for many years, having ignored John Yudkins Sugar warnings & taken Ancel Keys flawed Fat theory as gospel. Generations have been eating Low Fat, Omega 6 rich, fructose sweetened & highly manufactured "foods" - creating an obesity epidemic & a haven for chronic diseases to exist.

If this makes your blood curl then get on board & sign the petition from Get a Fresh Start/The Big Fat Truth :

Heart Foundation: Stop giving advice and promoting food that causes heart disease!

If you simply just want to know more about this & eat healthier for life yourself then a good start is to read Sweet Poison, followed by Toxic Oil.  Both layout the information for the layperson, simplifying a lot of the scientific jargon.

We can't change the last 40 years, but lets change the next 40 years

40 is quite a significant number, for myself as that birthday looms & also for the 40 years of damage we have all been doing to our bodies.  Just watching The Men that Made us Fat - 1974 seemed a year of major change in the way my nation ate.  So consequently I knew nothing different, until I discovered Sweet Poison.  I grew up on those British ads like "a finger of Fudge is just enough" & "Milky Way, the snack to eat between meals", no wonder I was misled to believe it was ok to just have a bit of a sweet treat.  But its the addiction to sugar & our bodies inability to say no to more & more fructose that makes us fat (& sick).  And thanks to an abundance of the sweet stuff in our society & the food industries desire to get rich - we got fat.

The doco points the trigger finger to Earl Butz.  I ask - "Did this man make our Butz big?"

It appears he certainly made a BIG impact on the way Americans & consequently their foods spread into the worlds everyday food.  His slogan "Get Big or Get Out" to Farmers, should have simply just been "Get Big" to the rest of us.

A subsequent key turning point for the US & the other countries that followed suit was the 'Ancel Keys vs John Yudkin' debate of 'Fat vs Sugar' as the cause for weight gain.  The former over-ruled & discredited the British scientist... who had his finger on the pulse way ahead of his time.

We could wish if only that had been different maybe this obesity epidemic & subsequent "new" resulting illnesses would not be so endemic in our new world.  History is what it is however, so for the sake of our own health & that of our children lets not ignore Yudkin once more.  "Pure, White & Deadly" is an insightful read, add to your booklist this year.  Then lets look forward to the next 40 years being healthier & conscious.

Many will choose to continue the path they are on & many think that fat is only external & a measure of gut girth.  Whats clearly shown in the documentary that is worth for ALL to note is "internal fat".... fat that sits around your vital organs.  You can't see it, but if you've been eating sugar pure or hidden for most of your life you can bet its there.  I for one plan to continue reversing those effects... & preventing this happening to my children.  So all you potential TOFI^ wake up & smell the Coffee - straight black decaf probably safest for now!

On a lighter note - heres a yummy Fructose-free & Failsafe dish that I conjured up for lunch today:

ChiQuinoa Dish

Rinse 1 large cup of quinoa, cook in boiling water.  Meanwhile finely chop about 1-2 inch of leek, & crush a garlic clove.  Sauté both in butter until soft.  Add some finely chopped cooked chicken* & 1/2 cup of vegetable stock**.  Mix together well.  Add the drained quinoa, some chopped parley & toss together.  Serve warm.

This made a filling lunch for myself & 2 kidlets. You could also serve as a side dish.

Simple ingredients & very yummy.

*    I keep cooked roast chicken meat sliced up & frozen in ziplock bags for sandwiches.
     It makes Failsafe that little bit more convenient.
**  I boil up Failsafe veggies to make stock & freeze to use in other meals.
^   TOFI - Thin Outside, Fat Inside.