Elimination diet... elminated... and some craftyness for good measure

On week 2 day 6, I gave up on the elimination diet. I hadn't noticed any changes in how I was feeling; still having regular headaches and stomach cramping etc. Besides, it was REALLY tough making everything from scratch on top of taking care of my kids, making them meals, gardening, my crafting obsession... yada yada. 

The day I gave up just happened to be the same day as the birthday party for my friends son. I figured, if I'm going to break a diet I may as well go all out and guess what? I really didn't notice any difference in how I was feeling after all that! So either the food items causing me issue were still in the allowed diet, OR my issue isn't food related at all. 

I am hoping to try a different diet/test soon. I have a friend who has FM (fructose mal-absorption) and she's working out a week long meal plan for me. If I do find out I have FM, than it makes sense that the elimination diet did nothing for me since so many of the 'good' items I was allowed to eat are big no-no's if you have FM; like coconut milk, broccoli, honey and agave. I was having those items pretty much everyday on the elimination diet. 

So, for those of you who were hoping to see how all that panned out, sorry if you're disappointed! I am hoping to still figure out what is going on with my body, so stick around for the ride if you can. 

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Now, I also wanted to share with you some of the creations I have made over the past few weeks. I have two craft shows to prepare for in April and recently a local store contacted me about selling some items there as well so I have been busy preparing. 

What do you think? 

More of the wooden items, and more can be found on my FB fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/AbbyRoseCreations

Now this I made for myself. I was inspired by some other dream catchers I had seen online... I just had to make one and I love it!

Elimination diet, week 1 review.

Geeze this is hard! I'm having headaches all the time, which is pretty much normal for me. At this point however, I'm not sure if it's my regular daily headaches or if it's related to having withdrawals from not having sugar?

Anyway, I didn't exactly stick to the meal plan. Life got busy and I couldn't spend so much time making things from scratch, but here are some pics from this weeks menu:

Crispy brown rice squares from the Comprehensive Elimination Diet Food Plan

Not very tasty and they don't stay in firm squares, but my girls like them. 

Brown rice sushi; crispy mango, sweet potato and vegetarian california roll.
They were okay but I found the rice flavour kind of overpowered everything. My wasabi was also 10x too hot.

Spicy sweet potato fries with chicken strips and homemade ranch dressing from this recipe.

Turkey meatballs with spinach and mushrooms in a pesto sauce over rice pasta.
Turkey meatballs were AWESOME! Recipe here. The rest was a bit 'meh'. Pesto recipe here.

Spinach salad with strawberries and almonds. The balsamic vinaigrette was not very good.

Leftover turkey meatballs with teriyaki fried veg and vermicelli. Gluten free teriyaki sauce is so simple! About a 1/4 cup of gluten free 'soy' sauce, aka tamari, 1/4 cup of water, 1/2 tsp of ginger powder, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and a squirt or two of agave or honey. Delish! BEST MEAL OF THE WEEK!

Brown rice pudding (cooked rice in half water/half coconut milk) topped with blueberries and sunflower seeds. It would have been much better if I had had cinnamon... maybe next time.

Blueberry muffins from the Comprehensive Elimination Diet Food Plan. Gross. The Amaranth flour smells funny and has a bad texture. I know these look good, but no no... they aren't. Don't be fooled! 

It is officially the last day of week 1 and so far I haven't had any noticeable changes in my health or weight. As I mentioned earlier, I'm still having daily headaches among other issues. Here's hoping this week proves to be better. I need some energy to enjoy all this great weather!

ps... I would kill for a piece of chocolate right now... or even just a smear of butter.... 

Elimination diet week 1 meal plan

This is harder than I thought it was going to be! The first time I did an elimination diet I only had to plan for myself and I didn't have 2 children to also plan and make meals for. It's so much more difficult this time around.

Also, this time I'm trying to be more creative so that I can extend the diet a little further (without sacrificing taste) and also to spice things up so I'm less likely to cheat.

Yesterday's preparations were making crispy rice squares, blueberry muffins, 'mayonaise' and ranch dressing. All are not only gluten free, but also egg, dairy and sugar free. My daughters have both approved the crispy rice squares, even though I think they're bland. Abigail also tested the other three, and did not approve of any of them. I personally find the blueberry muffins grainy in texture, and also bland in general... if only I could spread a nice big smear of butter on them! The 'mayonaise' and ranch dressing obviously don't taste like the real thing, but they're pretty good otherwise.

Now, onto the week one meal plan. I'm planning breakfast, lunch and dinner for myself as well as the family dinner that everyone else will be eating. I tried to make things easy on myself by making the meals similar so I have less prep. We'll see how it goes.

Monday

Breakfast – breakfast rice pudding

Lunch – brown rice nori rolls w/ sweet potato, mango

Dinner – chicken fingers and sweet pot fries w/ salad

Family Dinner – chicken fingers and regular fries w/ salad

Tuesday

Breakfast – smoothie w/ coconut milk, rice milk, banana, berries, spinach and flax

Lunch – fruity spinach salad

Dinner – black beans and yellow rice and salad

Family Dinner – chicken/rice and salad

Wednesday

Breakfast - oatmeal

Lunch – black beans and yellow rice

Dinner - turkey meat balls w/ rice pasta and pesto sauce

Family Dinner - spaghetti

Thursday

Breakfast - cream of rice w/ rice syrup and cinnamon

Lunch – lentil soup

Dinner – chicken w/ roasted veggies

Family Dinner – pork chops w/ roasted veggies and potatoes

Friday

Breakfast – Nutri-Ola (homemade granola type thing)

Lunch – nutty green rice

Dinner – thai chicken w/ fried veggies and whole grain rice

Family Dinner – chicken w/ fried veggies and whole grain rice

Saturday

Breakfast – Rice pancakes w/ blueberry syrup

Lunch – lentil soup

Dinner – roasted chicken w/ brussel sprouts, carrots and sweet potatoes

Family Dinner – roasted chicken w/ brussel sprouts, carrots and potatoes

Sunday

Breakfast - smoothie

Lunch – quinoa salad

Dinner - soup w/ roast chicken leftovers

Family Dinner - soup w/ roast chicken leftovers

Detox preparations

I'm starting my baking tonight for my detox. I will be making crispy rice squares and blueberry muffins. Most of the recipes I will be using for my detox I found here: http://www.functionalmedicine.org/content_management/files/ifm_Comp_Elim_Diet_091503.pdf

I have about a bazillion other recipes I'll be trying including salad dressing recipes, other baked goods, rice dishes and pasta sauces. I should probably take pictures as well right?

Stay tuned... detox officially starts Monday.