Breakfast!

Gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, corn-free, added-sugar-free breakfast tart:

Rice cake

Spread with peanut butter

Topped with sliced strawberries.

People always comment on how hard it must be to eat such a restrictive diet plan.  I don’t find it hard at all.  I like being forced to be creative in finding tasty, healthy things to eat.  Without having certain limitations, I never would have found some of the great combinations I’ve come up with.  I promise to share my ideas, if you promise to give me some more.

The food you’re not eating, but should be

• 1 lb brussels sprouts, sliced in half lengthwise
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil
• Garlic (optional)

Place contents in ziploc bag.  Shake to coat.  Place on baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

The insides get sweet, the outside leaves get crispy and golden.  HEAVEN.

Drinking problem — solved!

In giving up processed foods and chemicals in favor of a healthy lifestyle, I also gave up soda.  Not entirely, but I went from drinking 2-3 diet cokes and at least 3 frescas per day, to drinking 2-3 diet cokes per week.  In the same period of time, I went from having 6-7 migraines per week to 3 or 4 a year.  Imagine that.

I do believe in being hydrated, and I know that water is the best thing for hydration.  The problem with plain water is that it is, well, unadorned.  Sure, add lemon slices, whatever, BORING.  If I can’t have tremendous flavor, I need fizz.  Bubbles.  Little puffs of water happiness.

I began alternating between buying cases of Perrier and Pellegrino at Costco.  With the Pellegrino at less than $1 a bottle, it was a good deal, right?  Except that price did not include the guilt.  The guilt of drinking bottled water.  Bottled water is bad, we all know it now, or should.  Regardless of the prices some people pay for bottled tap water, which is just utterly ridiculous to me, the energy it takes to produce, fill, and ship the bottles — bottles that millions and millions of people buy and then DON’T recycle — should make us all want to run out and buy THIS wonder:

Soda Making Madness

This little guy, the home soda maker, takes up almost no counter space, uses no electricity, and makes seltzer and soda for a cost of about 25-35 cents a liter.  Fill it up with cold water, push the button a few times, and BAM!  Fresh, homemade soda.

Sure, a lot of people say they hate the taste of tap water.  I don’t buy it.  I think it’s old-fashioned snobbery.  However, because I, too, crave variety, etc., the Soda Maker provides more options than just seltzer. 

It comes with a sample pack of soda flavors, regular and diet.  The orange and lemon-lime are good, fake Dr. Pepper not bad, the rest not so good.  I’m not interested in the chemicals, anyway.  So I make my own soda!  I buy juice, real fruit juice, and add it to the carbonated water.  Flavors I’ve made so far include lemon, lemon-lime, lime, black cherry, grape, cranberry, orange, blood orange, and grapefruit.

Need caffeine?  Easy.  Make iced tea, and then carbonate it.  Or not.  I like having different flavors of tea around, maybe some green and then herbal, boil a pot of water, and steep the tea for a long time.  Then pour a little into water bottles, fill the rest with water, and viola!

Both of these — the soda and the tea — are all-natural (and sometimes organic) beverage options.  Not only am I enjoying having it all right at hand to make whenever I want, I’m saving money, the environment, and my health all at the same time.

Food: One day you’re in, the next . . . you’re OUT!*

*with apologies to Heidi Klum 

I may have some food allergies.  I’m going to the allergist as soon as I can find one that will take me, and that will determine some.  Unlike ragweed or mold, however, food allergies are often sensitivities that don’t show up on a traditional scratch test.  The only way to make a true determination is to eliminate potentially allergenic foods for 30 days, then slowly add them back in, one by one, and see if there’s a reaction.

Here is a partial list of foods I cannot have at the moment:

Wheat     Rye     Oats     Dairy     Soy     Meat     Corn     Brown Rice

There ARE things I can eat:

White Rice     Eggs     Seafood     Vegetables     Fruit    

Nuts are a different story.  I have not yet been told to give them up, but I fear this is coming.  Until then, I’m going to eat what I want (on the shrinking approved-foods list).

This is quite an interesting challenge for me, since, not long ago, I went for MORE THAN A YEAR AND A HALF without setting foot in a grocery store.  All of the food I needed to buy to keep in the house was available at Target.  I would buy the occasional fruits and vegetables at Costco, but really, I just ate out or ate at home.  A friend came to visit last summer and said to me “Wow, your cupboards and pantry and fridge are full, but you don’t have any food.”

My response?  “No, I don’t eat food.  I eat chemicals processed to look and taste like food that come out of boxes or cans.”

After that, I did stop almost all processed foods, and started eating healthier.  At that point, however, I had no restrictions on what I could eat.

Now, I have to become a very creative chef.  This type of diet lends itself to Asian cuisine.  Fortunatelly, I love Asian food and could eat it all day, every day.

Since I am always hungry and refuse to give up eating, food preparation and consumption is going to become my new hobby.   It’s becoming fun.  I’ll have to try not to be too obsessive . . .