Homemade gluten-free cupcakes, yum!

I finally made my cupcakes that I salivated about all week! YUM! The bf thought they weren't sweet enough; but to me, magnificent!

Visit Joy the Baker to find the recipe I followed (including the icing). 

Healthwashing - Have you heard of it?

Lately, I've been reading a lot of food labels. I've always been a food label reader, but I used to focus on the nutrition fact chart, you know this one, that's on everything. 

Source

But more and more at the grocery store, I've started looking at that ingredient list first, and the nutrition facts chart second, if at all. Marketing can be a mean game and more and more company's are trying to sell their products based on their "low-fat" or "low-calorie" or now more and more "gluten-free" or "organic" labels. These companies are trying to brainhealthwash you!

The very best example I have of this, comes from a fabulous nutrition blog I read daily, written by Meghan Telpner, a Toronto-area holistic nutritionist. In this post, she writes about guessing what the food is based on the ingredient list. You'll never guess. And furthermore, you'll never guess that this is being marketed to consumers as healthy! 

More and more we need to stop looking at the number of calories and pay a million times more time reading the ingredient list. If you find things on there that you don't know what they are, it's likely some sort of chemical that you really don't need in your body, let alone your child's. Just because something is "organic" or "gluten-free" doesn't equal healthy. Organic sugar is still sugar, for example, and hydrogenated oil of any kind is a trans-fat and should be avoided like the plague.

So all of this was brought on today, by a little visit into Shopper's Drug Mart. I was killing time out for a walk at lunch time and just popped in to see how much they charged for a particular item. While in the "Live well. Be well. Vitamins and Nutrition" section, I happened upon this:

 

 

What do you see? I see energy drinks and flavoured liquid marketed as water. Down in the corner just out of the frame are a few bottles of flax oil and 3 tubs of coconut oil – the only thing of value in the whole display.

Shameful... 

There are so many more examples of this everywhere. Got any good ones to share?

What will my little backyard grow

I have a teeny, tiny backyard. The joys of living in an urban townhouse setting (I'm not complaining). This summer will mark my sixth summer here. The first or second year I bought a few perennials that I planted along the patio stones and filled a few pots with colourful annuals. I've been buying new annuals year after year and keeping the same look to the backyard. I'm thinking something different this year. Something more useful -- edible stuff.

My first thought was vegetables. I love fresh garden vegetables. My parents have had a garden in their backyard for as long as I can remember. True signs of summer (or school being out) used to be the bean stalks and beet leaves poking out of dirt for the first time. However, I just don't think that is feasible in my tiny space... someday though.

Over the May long weekend I was in Vancouver and Victoria. While in Victoria I was staying with my friends Chris and Wendy. Now if you want to see a backyard vegetable oasis, check this out! I'm so jealous! And a couple months ago when he mentioned his "spring garden" was doing wonderfully, while my "garden" still had snow... well he heard about it! :)

Chris' beautiful garden

So instead of a bounty of fresh veggies in my backyard, which would likely just be food for the resident bunnies and squirels, I'll be planting an herb garden. Likely just in pots around the yard and balcony. Can't wait to taste some fresh basil, mint, cilantro, parsley, etc.

This is what I want!! (Source)

 

 

If you're in the area over the summer, do stop by for a fresh mojito!

Let's recreate Mexico in my backyard this summer!

Gluten it is!

So for those following along on my elimination diet, you'll be happy to know that my culprit has been identified! Gluten has been found guilty on all accounts, not just wheat as I had hoped. Thankfully, dairy is ok – fancy organic cheeses here I come!

As a budding nutritionist, this has been a fascinating experience for me. First-hand accounts are always more interesting than reading about something. Seriously, food teaches something to me everyday.

So in celebration of all things gluten-free and that summer has FINALLY arrived in Ottawa, I will spend my evening baking these... with none other than coconut flour!

Courtesy of Elana's Pantry and Joy the Baker

Gotta love the amazing food bloggers out there for inspiration for maybe not a gluten-free diet, but most definitely a less-gluten diet!

The results are in (partly)

In my last post, I described going gluten- and dairy-free for ten days. Last Thursday was day 11, so I opted to reintroduce gluten into my diet that day. My naturopath told me to eat a lot of it to ensure symptoms showed. So my day went like this:

• Breakfast: My usual protein shake, but with it two small slices of spelt bread toasted
• Lunch: A wrap (whole wheat) sandwich with veggies
• Dinner: I kind of had two since I was traveling to Vancouver and my day was quite long. When I got to the airport I got a small dish of penne pasta with a simple tomato sauce and then while on the plane I got a veggie sandwich (which was not very good and I didn't eat all of it, but it was the only thing that didn't have cheese on it!)

And the verdict – symptoms returned! So obviously not good news. But I have a still a few experiments to do before declaring myself anything and permanently changing my diet.

First, because I cheated a bit while on my travels this week (not much mind you, but maybe a tiny bit of cheese and bread here and there) I'm going totally gluten- and dairy-free again for three days. Today is day 2. On Friday I will reintroduce dairy and see how I feel. Saturday, I will continue eating gluten-free, and possibly dairy-free as well if I have symptoms following my reintroduction the day before. Finally, on Sunday, my plan is to eat lots of gluten grains, but not wheat grains. So I'll be loading up on spelt, kamut, barley, and rye in hopes that maybe, just maybe it's only wheat that's affecting me.

More to come...

Life without gluten and dairy

Last week, I visited a naturopath for the first time. I should have done it long ago, but alas last week it was. My initial complaint was that I was having allergic reactions indoors, mostly at work and I wanted to get to the bottom of it instead of popping over-the-counter antihistamines. That's what I like about naturopathy, it seeks out the root cause instead of treating symptoms – something that my nutrition program is teaching me as well. So seeking help from a naturopath was my first option.

During my first appointment we talked for at least an hour and of course that uncovered other issues as well that may or may not be linked to my reactions. So apart from doing an blood allergy test for grasses, molds and indoor allergens, I agreed to do a mini elimination diet. Since Monday, I've been gluten- and dairy-free.

Source

Dairy-free isn't a huge thing. I never drink milk any more (I've switched completely to almond milk with GMO-free soy milk every now and again), I usually bake and cook more with yogourt than I actually eat straight. So butter and cheese are the only things I have to watch out for.

As for gluten, well that's more of a challenge, because wheat is in everything! Reading labels has become an everyday activity. I also follow some great nutrition blogs that have all kinds of gluten-free or easy to change to gluten-free recipes. The key is to eat real, whole foods, and then there is no label to read! The real test will be my first dinner out on Friday night. Luckily it's Thai, which is based around rice and rice noodles, fingers crossed that I'll find something tasty!

The world is full of change

This is an overdue post. I wrote it mid-week last week but life got busy and I never got it posted. So pretend it really is May 3rd :)

What a busy few days...

1. I'm changing, by learning. Last week I completed my first course with my program at the Canada School for Natural Nutrition. I can sum it up in one word. Wow. This program is going to blow me away. So unbelievably interesting and fun. I loved every minute of it and look forward to more. I'll be taking one more course, just one full day in June, and then I'll be on a summer hiatus until mid-October. Can't wait to get back at it though.

2. Another change, another wow... our federal election. The conservative vote didn't surprise me that much, it was all the others! NDP with over 100 seats. The Liberals all but defeated. The separatist movement dead in Ottawa? And the Greens have a seat in parliament, ousting a conservative cabinet minister in the process. How is all that not a collective historic wow. The result is what it is. My leftist-self would have liked to have seen the Liberals pull through a in Ontario and hold the Conservatives to a minority again. I think there is a lot of be said for parties working together for the betterment of all Canadians as it puts all ideas/positions into discussion, at least. I only got one vote to make a change, and I used it.

3. This whole Osama thing is a bit weird. Karma, baby, karma.

That is all.