128. Easy Way To Avoid Processed Food

This is the best way to avoid processed food in my opinion. Especially if you have a busy lifestyle: Make two meals for 4 in one day.

I find it’s just as easy to make two meals, as one, so do all your cooking together, and then all you have to do is heat the food up for the next four days (if there are two of you).

My friend is able to get by on two bananas every lunchtime. So she just has porridge (oatmeal) and a proper meal at home. I don’t mind bananas, but two at once is a bit much, so I have other fruit and a potato or Ryvita.

But the good thing about making two different meals together, is that you can cheat and include some of the same ingredients.

I prepared a general bowl of chopped mixed vegetables which I divide in two, then I boiled potatoes to make mashed spuds for both meals. I microwaved chicken and minced pork separately, and ended up adding sweetcorn to the white sauce made for the chicken, and adding extra red peppers for the tomato sauce made for the minced pork (masquerading as minced beef!)

So I ended up with chicken and Vegetable Pie and I called the other one Italian Pie, because it was like Bolognaise, but with mashed potato instead of pasta. And the spuds were not mixed with milk or butter, and they still had their skins – very healthy! Who says you have to stick to traditional recipes?

The whole lot didn’t take more than 45 minutes, yet it saved me loads of time for the rest of the week. Normally when I lose track of time, and look in the fridge when my tummy starts to rumble, I don’t fancy cooking, and am tempted to go out and buy something, invariably processed. That’s when I try to justify it to myself and say “Well I’m allowed one take-out once a week”, but I’ll conveniently forget that it’s the second time that week. This way, you can be lazy and still avoid processed food.

127. Back Home

I’ve been away looking after my sick parents. They usually take turns to be ill, which is handy because they can look after each other, but it was bound to happen that one day they would both be ill at the same time. But now they’re doing ok.

Glad to report that they both eat a healthy and varied diet. It meant I had to fit in and consume bread and cow’s milk occasionally. They were ill; they didn’t need me complaining about food.

I’ve put a bit of weight back on, but I don’t think it’s due to my diet, but simply lack of exercise.

34. Gluten Free Pizza Base

I was supposed to put this together with the pizza sauce (that would’ve made sense), but better late than never – here is the pizza base recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 teasp of Dried Yeast Granules
240ml or8fl.oz. of warm water
1 teasp of Sugar
100g or 4oz of Rice Flour
75g or 3oz of Cornflour
1 tbsp of Potato Flour
1 1/2 tbsp of Olive Oil
1 teasp of Salt
Some extra oil for greasing

Instructions

1. In a bowl, dissolve the yeast in half of the warm water. Add the sugar and mix well. Leave for 15 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 220C, 425F, Gas Mark 7 then lightly oil a large pizza pan or tray. Prepare toppings for the pizza.

3. Place the remaining dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, and add the yeast mixture and mix well, adding the remaining water a bit at a time until the consistency of a very thick batter.

4. Pour the dough into the centre of the prepared pizza pan or tray and spread around evenly. Bake at the top of the oven for 5 minutes until it is lightly set.

5. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 190C, 375F, or Gas Mark 5.

6. Add your toppings to the pizza. Return to the oven and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes.

33. Food Diary Day 15 & 16

Day 15
Porridge

Coffee

Smoothie with apple juice, banana and summer berries

Went for an 8 mile walk with the ramblers, and ate:

apple

sandwiches made with the filling from the fish pie (yes, bread!)

banana

lots of water

Later at my friend’s house, 2 coffees (only had 3 hrs sleep last night, so you can imagine what an 8 mile walk did to me!)

Fish pie, same recipe as Day 1

porridge


Day 16
Apple

Porridge

Decaf Coffee

mixed nuts and dried apricots

banana

Fennel Tea

Lunch in a café with friends

Chicken tikka masala tortilla wrap, with lettuce and tomato

Cappucino (oops – it wasn’t even nice)

Fish pie

smoothie with plain goats milk yoghurt

green tea

apple juice

32. Dairy-Free Crème Anglaise (custard)

I haven’t tried this, but my step mother has, and she thinks its wonderful!

Ingredients
175g of 6oz Soft Silken Tofu
1 tbsp of Apple Juice
2 teasp of Barley Malt Powder
120ml or4fl.oz. Rice Milk
1 tbsp of Arrowroot
1 teasp of Vanilla Extract
1 teasp of Maple Syrup
Instructions
1. Place tofu, apple juice, barley malt powder, and half the rice milk in a blender until smooth.
2. In a small bowl mix the remaining rice milk and arrowroot and stir until smooth.
3. Transfer the tofu mixture to a pan and heat, stirring, over medium heat for about 1 minute.
4. Stir in the arrowroot mixture and heat until it thickens, constantly stirring.
5. Remove from the heat then add maple syrup and vanilla extract. Mix well. Serve hot or cold.

31. Food Diary – Day 13 & 14

Apple

Porridge

Apple

1 Egg with mayonnaise

Cottage cheese and flax oil

Coffee

Chicken and Vegetable soup

Goats milk yoghurt with muesli and honey

Cornflakes with UHT cow’s milk

(Run out of goats’ milk and the corner shop doesn’t sell it)


Day 14
Really misbehaved today. I’ve got very little food in the house, and due for a delivery. Started to make a fish pie, but then realised I have no potatoes, but still carried on thinking I’ll find an alternative.

In the end (and probably due to the time of the month), I went out and bought chips (french fries) from the Fish and Chip shop. The worst type of potatoes you can eat, cooked in cheap vegetable oil that’s not hot enough, so they’re drenched in fat. Now my poor guts are suffering the consequences. I’m not ill – they just protest by way of pain, whenever I abuse them!

It doesn’t end there – I bought a a small chocolate bar too, after being bombarded with images of Easter eggs on TV. Well, I was watching the Saturday night movie, About Schmidt, and both the chocolate and the movie were a lovely treat.

Throughout the day though, I did eat my usual healthy stuff too; porridge, apple, banana, green tea, and the last of my delicious chicken and vegetable soup.

I’m now drinking Camomile tea in the wee hours to try and make my tummy go to sleep. I must do my online shopping order asap.

31. Food Diary – Day 13 & 14

Day 13

Apple

Porridge

Apple

1 Egg with mayonnaise

Cottage cheese and flax oil

Coffee

Chicken and Vegetable soup

Goats milk yoghurt with muesli and honey

Cornflakes with UHT cow’s milk

(Run out of goats’ milk and the corner shop doesn’t sell it)


Day 14

Really misbehaved today. I’ve got very little food in the house, and due for a delivery. Started to make a fish pie, but then realised I have no potatoes, but still carried on thinking I’ll find an alternative.

In the end (and probably due to the time of the month), I went out and bought chips (french fries) from the Fish and Chip shop. The worst type of potatoes you can eat, cooked in cheap vegetable oil that’s not hot enough, so they’re drenched in fat. Now my poor guts are suffering the consequences. I’m not ill – they just protest by way of pain, whenever I abuse them!

It doesn’t end there – I bought a a small chocolate bar too, after being bombarded with images of Easter eggs on TV. Well, I was watching the Saturday night movie, About Schmidt, and both the chocolate and the movie were a lovely treat.

Throughout the day though, I did eat my usual healthy stuff too; porridge, apple, banana, green tea, and the last of my delicious chicken and vegetable soup.

I’m now drinking Camomile tea in the wee hours to try and make my tummy go to sleep. I must do my online shopping order asap.

30. Dairy Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

I’ll be creating sections on different elimination diets. The first post in the Dairy Free section is this delicious recipe for Dairy-Free Cream of Mushroom Soup.

Ingredients:
2 finely chopped Onions,
2 tbsp of Olive Oil
350g or12oz Mushrooms, finely chopped
1 tbsp of Paprika
1 teasp of Cayenne Pepper
600ml or 1pt of Fresh Vegetable Stock
Salt
225g or 8oz Medium or Soft Tofu
1 tbsp of Vegetable Oil
2 tsp of Lemon Juice

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan then add the chopped onion and sauté for 4-5 mins.

2. Add the mushrooms, paprika and cayenne and stir. Reduce the heat, cover and cook gently for further 9-10 minutes.

3. Stir in the salt, pepper and stock and bring to the boil, then simmer for a further 3-4 minutes.

4. Then place the tofu, vegetable oil and lemon juice in a blender until smooth.

5. Stir this mixture into the saucepan and heat, without allowing it to boil. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve immediately.

29. Food Diary – Day 12

Apple

Porridge

Apple juice

Coffee

Baked potato, with goats cheese and spring onion, and a bit of soya spread

Flax oil, Cottage cheese, onion, chives

Apple

Decaf Coffee

Homemade Chicken and Vetetable soup (for recipe see below)

1.5 litres of water throughout the day

28. Chicken and Vetetable Soup

It’s my own, so there are no quantities! Come to think of it, you can use whatever vegetables you like, but this is what I made today:

Soup base; dried pulses, beans, barley etc, soaked overnight
(if gluten allergy, leave barley out)
Cabbage
Leeks
Celery
Onion
Worcestershire sauce
Horseradish sauce
Yeast free vegetable stock
Chicken stock (homemade if gluten allergy)
Cooked chicken, no fat or skin

Simmer for 20 mins then add the diced chicken and stir for further 5 mins

26. Pizza Sauce

Quick Pizza Tomato Sauce (also suitable for pasta dishes) 35mins

Makes approx 240ml/8fl.oz.

Ingredients:

200g/7oz Tinned Chopped Tomatoes

120ml/4fl.oz. Tomato Juice

Salt and Black Pepper

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 small Onion, finely chopped

1 Garlic Clove, crushed

1 small Celery Stick, finely chopped

60ml/2fl.oz. Fresh Strong Vegetable Stock


Instructions
1. Place the tomatoes, salt and pepper in a saucepan together with the tomato juice. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small frying pan, add the onions, garlic and celery and sauté gently for 10 minutes until soft and transparent.
3. Add the vegetables to the tomatoes together with the stock. Bring to the boil then cook and a gentle boil for at least 15 minutes. At this stage, it can be cooled slightly and puréed in a blender for a smoother sauce.
4. Use as a base sauce for all types of pizzas.

25. Food Diary - Days 8, 9 and 10

Been away for a couple of days, and didn’t stray TOO far from my healthy unprocessed and wheat free diet!

And the times I did fall off the wagon, it was through no-one’s fault but my own, as my friends had lots of healthy food with them, but on the Sunday at about 4pm, we went out to hire a movie and I suddenly felt extremely hungry. I’d only had two hours sleep from 8.30 – 10.30am, so I had porridge for breakfast and went to meet them.

I forgot I’d not eaten lunch.

So I was climbing the walls in the video shop, and ended up buying a huge packet of Doritos and sour cream and chive dip (for all three of us), but I had to stuff my face in the car on the way home.

That’s what happens when I forget a meal. Very naughty.

Later we all had baked potato and cheese, with green beans, broccoli, mixed peas and sweetcorn.

And I had no willpower whatsoever when my friends got the chocolate out. I only had a few pieces, and considered it a treat for being so good up until now, and I don’t feel guilty for it!

On the Monday I had ‘Oats So Simple’ which wasn’t pure oats, but individual sachets of made up oats and maple syrup favoring. Although the instructions said to make it with milk, I made it with water as usual, and it tasted lovely, but it did have salt, sugar, and ‘flavoring’ in it.

Later we went for a walk and took cheese sandwiches with us. That was the first time I’d eaten bread in ages, and I’ve no idea what spread was on them, but they tasted good! Again – no guilt!

Drinks on both Sunday and Monday included lots of water, apple juice, coffee during the day, and fruit teas.

Today I thought of what I could put in my porridge to add more flavor, and I came up with natural ginger and cinnamon, as well as a bit of honey that I usually have.

Needed 2 bowls today, as I was very hungry, and too lazy to cook!

Did cook tonight: minced pork with tomaotes, peppers and spinach, and wrapped the whole lot up in pancakes made with rye four, goats milk and free range eggs.

24. Food Diary Day 7

Breakfast
Apple
Porridge

Smoothie (same as yesterday)

Coffee

Lunch
Apple juice
Spaghetti bolognaise with spinach

Fennel Tea

Dinner
Baked potato with bolognaise

Water throughout the day

(went jogging this morning for the 1st time in ages, and nearly collapsed!)

23. Three Ways To Ensure Proper Digestion

Most people in the western world eat their food far too quickly and fail to chew their food properly. What happens because of this, is that their food simply doesn’t break down effectively enough, and not only is this food wasted as a valid nutrition, but a lot of what cannot be absorbed properly, your body stores as fat.

Secondly, you are likely to feel hungry much sooner than you would do otherwise.

You owe it to yourself to take your time eating your food, and to chew it properly. I once tried doing this with a piece of toast with butter and jam on, and the rule was I couldn’t swallow the food until it was complete puree. This took a lot longer than I thought it would, for the normal bite size I was having, so I took tiny bites. It took about 10 minutes to eat the whole slice of toast.

But the good news is, not all food is as difficult to ‘puree’ as toast or bread. And you don’t have to puree food in order to chew it better than you have been doing.

Secondly, this may seem hard to get used to, but try the ‘one week’ rule for giving everything a chance, and you should be ok: Don’t drink with food, and for at least 15 minutes before and 45 afterwards.

This will allow your food to be broken down better. And it will force you to chew your food slower and better too.

Another trick that will not only optimise food adsorption, but will result in weight loss, is to eat fruit BEFORE your meal. Our stomachs are actually designed to break down fruit carbohydrates much quicker than protein, so it may take 20 minutes or so before your fruit is absorbed, but it can take up to 90 minutes for a large steak for example, to be broken down.

The fruit prepares the stomach for the intake of protein, and it will break it down more effectively. If you wait until later to have your fruit or a sweet, your body is working much harder to break down the protein. Anything that makes your body work harder than it should is jeopardising your overall health.

Eating an apple before every meal is talked about in the book ‘The 3 Apple a Day Plan’ by Tammi Flynn
http://www.amazon.com/3-Apple-Day-Plan-Foundation-Permanent/dp/0767920414/ref=sr_1_1/104-8754403-6622308?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174327960&sr=8-1

which goes into more scientific detail of how this works.

22. Food Diary Day 6

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

Breakfast
Smoothie made with banana, plums and apple juice

Porridge, made with water, and a few raisins

Lunch
Beetroot

Prawns, cottage cheese, flax oil, onion, red pepper, chives, tiny bit of mayonniase and ketchup – in other words; very rich prawn cocktail! - with celery, and 1 slice of Ryvita.

Smoothie made with three very ripe bananas that had to be eaten quick, summer fruits, goat’s milk-pro biotic yoghurt, and a dash of vanilla essence (NOT flavoring).

This was very rich, but enormously scrumptious, so I had two glasses; a pint of the stuff!

Dinner
Half apple

Had friends round later and made Spaghetti bolognaise but with pork mince instead of beef! And I microwaved the meat first to get all the fat off it, then blended it into a powder.

Had wholewheat spaghetti too, and my friends liked it. I’m allowed wheat occasionally, although when I’ve been good and done without it for a while, the symptoms such as an itchy nose(!) and itchy arms tend to be much worse after I do fall off the wagon, than if I ate wheat all the time.

Goat’s milk - strawberry pro biotic yoghurt

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

20. Food Diary Day 6

Breakfast
Bowl of home made muesli with oats, raisins sultanas, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, fresh banana, sliced pear, and cornflake crumbs! + goat’s milk

They were out of my soya milk this week, so I’m using goat’s milk on my cereals. In theory, this should force me to eat fewer bowls of cornflakes, and more porridge as I don’t make that with milk.

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

Apple juice

Lunch
beetroot, not pickled
1 cold boiled egg
Cottage cheese, flax oil, onions, peppers and 2 slices of Ryvita multigrain

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

small amount of dried fruit and nuts

Dinner
Very small baked potato, pork with plum and apple sauce, mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, sweet corn and green beans)

Plum and apple sauce recipe:
three large plums with skins on, blended with a small cup of apple juice
1 tsp of tomato ketchup, and finely chopped onion

I never made this before. I just make meals out of what I’ve got in. And this took about 10 minutes to make.

Maybe I should put a disclaimer on this blog. After all this is a diary of what I eat, not necessarily what you should eat. As I make recipes up out of my head, I do occasionally poison myself, but since switching to non processed food (ketchup aside) I haven’t done so far!

Again, approx 1 litre of water

18. Food Diary Day 5

Cornflakes in the middle of the night again – Terrible insomnia. I need more exercise to tire me out.

Breakfast
Half apple juice/ half mineral water

Porridge with raisins

Small raw carrot

Lunch
Cottage cheese, beetroot, flax oil, onion and chives, with 3 Ryvita

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

Several pieces of dried fruit, and a few mixed nuts

Dinner
5 thin slices of ham and soft goat’s cheese, rolled up - honestly, that was enough!

Half apple juice

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

16. Food Diary Day 4

I’m calling it Food Diary from now on. Accountability is way too long a word.

I spoke too soon last night. I had terrible insomnia, and my stomach was like a vacuum, so I had to feed it at about 3am with a bowl of cornflakes with skimmed goat’s milk, and a pinch of fruit sugar - then again at 5am with ham and shredded carrot.

As my food delivery came early this morning, I didn’t eat breakfast as such. I just picked at my food as I unwrapped it.

Apple juice

1 apple

handful pistachio nuts

1 egg and a slice of Ryvita with soya spread

I had to eat the egg because it was cracked. I know I probably should have thrown it out for hygiene purposes, but I don’t like wasting food.

Usually if there are more eggs broken, I ring them and they refund me for the whole box of 12, even if only three are broken. As it was just one I didn’t bother. I did email to tell them they are losing money, and that a suggestion would be to clearly label shopping bags with eggs in, but they won’t implement it, as it makes too much sense.

Later whilst working I strated to flag. The thing about working from home is when you feel like you want to fall asleep, there’s nothing to stop you. But that would be lethal, as I’d just be awake all night again – hence:

Caffeine coffee with fruit sugar and goats milk

Lunch
Apple

Half a portion of fish pie

Green tea

Dinner
Last half portion of fish pie

Went out and drank:

2 Pineapple juices

2 mineral waters

1 litre of mineral water throughpout the day

15. Don’t be Scared of Carbs!

If you cut out carbs, or reduce them dramatically, you run the risk of rapidly depleting energy levels, as well as increased anxiety, irritability and even depression.

You are also denying your body a great food source. Food combining, or separating carbs from protein is one school of thought, but not mine. For a start, unless you can afford your own personal chef to go wherever you go, it is extremely difficult to implement such a diet.

The key is to eat balanced meals, and to eat the RIGHT carbohydrates.

Good carbs include:

oats
wholewheat
rice – preferably wholegrain
potato – preferably with the skin left on
sweetcorn
rye
bananas
all fruit

You can still lose weight and gain all round good health when you eat carbs with your meals. Just don’t overdo it. Try and make sure your carbs are about a third of your whole meal, and never more than half.

14. Accountability Day 3

Breakfast
Porridge and raisins

Blackcurrant Tea

Banana

Dried fig, dried apricot, and a few mixed unsalted nuts

Decaffeinated Coffee, with one fruit sugar

Lunch
Cottage cheese, Flax oil, chives, garlic, chopped ham, chopped red pepper, 3 Ryvita

Green tea, with a bit of honey

Dinner
Fish Pie, again - still glorious!

The first improvement I noticed was that my food cravings had completely disppeared after only one day! That’s pretty fantastic.

I always used to have a bowl of cornflakes in the evening or something else to eat. Now I’m eating less but I don’t feel hungry at all. Today I had the banana and dried fruit and nuts at about 12, so I didn’t need lunch until 2.30pm.

Even then, my lunch was about a third of what I used to eat at lunch.