Your Personal Paleo Code: Review and the start of My Code

I recently started reading "Your Personal Paleo Code" by Chris Kresser. Now, I think Chris is a seriously smart guy who always writes really well thought and researched articles on health. It is thanks to him that I got rid of my chronic heartburn, by reading his series of articles on GERD. So when I found out he had written a book I went straight to bookdepository.com and ordered it!

The great thing about Chris is that he doesn't advocate a "one size fits all" policy when it comes to adopting the paleo diet. I think that is the fault with a lot of others, who say that everyone should be eating this and no one at all should be eating that because it doesn't fit with the rules. Chris acknowledges that everyone is different in terms of their reactions to food and how their body tolerates different foods. He does generally advocate avoiding grains, legumes, sugar and industrial/seed oils of course but when it comes to other gray area foods he advises that we figure out what works best for us.

So, all that said, he advises a "30 day reset" which cuts out certain foods e.g. dairy. I think you should read the book so I'm not going to give it all away. After the 30 days, you can reintroduce foods gradually and examine your reaction to them. For those with an autoimmune disease (e.g. Hashimotos which I have) there are the additional modifications of eliminating eggs and nightshades. When I first read all this, I thought that there was no way I would be able to do it and I thought I would just read the book and not actually implement the 30 day reset. But then I realised that I still have lingering problems and have plateaued in weight loss so I really want to give this an honest shot and work out once and for all what I can and can not have.

I am now on day 4. The hardest things about the reset are that you have to plan and cook so much. I have spent more time in the kitchen the past few days than I have spent out of it! But I have discovered a few little things so far:

- Cooking a big batch of a dish and then dividing it into plastic containers and putting them in the freeze saves time for later and is also handy for the days where you just can't face doing any cooking
- Meatballs or burgers are handy for breakfast. I made up a batch of pork and apple burgers and froze them in bags of 2 for my breakfast.
- Keep activated nuts handy at work and when going out, for the times when you get hungry but there's no appropriate foods available to you.
- Go back to the tradition of a "Sunday Roast" every week - and then you can use the carcass to make bone broth to drink and use for cooking that week! I am making my first batch tomorrow with a nice free range chicken.

Another hard thing is eating out. In fact, the thought of this was really getting me anxious. Like going out to eat with friends and not being able to eat anything. Or being that annoying person who is really fussy about what they eat (you know, if other people were like that it wouldn't bother me. I wish it wouldn't bother other people!!) But today I went to a cafe for brunch with my partner and his parents and I was able to get a salad of grilled chicken, pumpkin, pine nuts, spanish onion, mixed greens and balsamic dressing. I just asked them to swap out the feta cheese for avocado and I was sweet. Then I had a black tea on the side. It made me feel so relieved because I realised there are always things like salads that I can order and also steak and vegetables is able to be ordered at most restaurants. So at least now I have that anxiety somewhat alleviated.

I will give a list of what I've been eating so that others can have an idea of what it's like.

Breakfasts - I usually have a combination of these things:
- Sweet potato hashbrowns are my new favourite breakfast staple. Literally all you do is grate the sweet potato and fry it in a clump with some coconut oil in a pan, then flip it after a couple of minutes, until it's the crispiness you desire.
- Pork burgers from the freezer that I reheat
- Avocado
- Fruit

Lunches:
- Usually leftovers from the night before or a skillet with some meat, pumpkin, spinach and other vegetable

Dinner:
- Bolognese made without tomato using Danielle Walker's recipe. It was absolutely delicious and mum said it was the best thing I have made. Instead of the red wine I used 1/2 cup beef stock and 1/4 cup red wine vinegar and it turned out perfect.
- Chicken Korma with Cauli-rice

Snacks/treats:
- Activated cashew nuts
- Coconut macaroons made with dessicated coconut, dates and strawberry jam (a treat only)
- Cookies made with apple, coconut, ginger and cinnamon powder, coconut oil. Both these recipes were from Mickey Trescott's "Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook"

I've been drinking herbal tea instead of black tea and coffee. I had a headache for a few days but I think the withdrawal symptoms are gone now.

Another great thing about "Your Personal Paleo Code" is that Chris describes how other factors such as sleep, stress and movement can greatly influence weight loss. So I am going to focus more in making sure I get more sleep at night, make time to relax throughout the day and work on reducing my worry and anxiety through time management, and also move more. Chris says that even if you do 30 minutes of moderate activity per day, it doesn't undo the damage done from sitting all day. Luckily I have a job where I stand and walk around a lot of the time but once I get home ( and I only work part time) I tend to just veg out on my bed and go on my computer, maybe going out for a 30 minute walk or doing 5 minutes of skipping sometimes. So that's probably a good 7 hours of sitting I still do every day once I get home from work.

Instead of assigning myself a daunting task like a resistance training circuit 3 times a week, I am going to focus more on being active throughout the day and spread resistance exercises out over the day. I am going to get up regularly from sitting down to go for a short walk, do some star jumps or skipping, or do a quick set of lunges or burpees. That way I can do the resistance exercises that I desire to do, but in a much less daunting way. I am more likely to do it if I know I just have to do 20 star jumps and then relax. Or just do lunges on the way to the bathroom. Or do 10 incline push ups on the stairs everytime I go up them. I think being more active throughout the day and getting lots of incidental exercise in will really help. I think that is a much more natural way of movement rather than sitting all day and going to the gym to use some equipment for 30 minutes.

So watch this space! I am feeling very motivated at the moment. I think if I can get through 3 weeks without sugar, I can get through 30 days of this reset diet.

Answering the Common Arguments Against Paleo

I realise that when faced with the thought of not having grains anymore, people can get really defensive and stubborn. It is a strange, strange thing. I felt the urge to tackle some common arguments against the Paleo/Primal diet, in my own words and opinions.

1. But Aren't You Depriving Yourself of Lots of Things?
- Well, first of all, of course you are going to be depriving yourself of certain foods any time you attempt to eat a healthy balanced diet that our bodies are designed to eat. That's the whole point is it? To reduce the junk food, fast food and sugary beverages that are so cheap and prolific in our society. I'm pretty sure that any sort of "diet" tells you to cut these things out, or at least drastically reduce them only to be had in "moderation". Actually, going grain-free led to me eating a much, much wider range of fresh foods on a regular basis that I wouldn't usually have eaten before.
- The conventional wisdom which sadly still holds strong in many people's minds is to reduce intake of high fat foods, and switch to low fat choices. Well, sorry, aren't YOU depriving yourself of the deliciousness that is crispy bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast, or a rich triple cream brie, or a fat juicy steak? I feel more sorry for you, because going grain free has opened up a whole new world of flavours and richness to me. When you're stomach isn't (temporarily) filled with bread and rice you have more room to enjoy the flavours of the meat, spices and vegetables which aren't drowned out by starch anymore.
- Eating this way, i.e. cutting out starchy carbohydrates and refined sugars, has been the only way that I have been able to really control my binge eating disorder. It's a small price to pay for being free from the blood sugar crashes and carb cravings that only fuel the disorder.

2. Following a Primal Diet is expensive. Only rich people can afford to eat like that.
- It's really not as expensive as you would think when you take into consideration what you don't have to buy anymore. Changing my lifestyle has allowed me to save money I would have otherwise spent on drugs to alleviate GERD, so that alone is a saving of $30 a month. So that's $30 extra to spend on meat and cheese! :) I'm sure other people out there have a whole range of medications they wouldn't have to take if they went Paleo/Primal so they'd be saving even more than me - on not only the drugs themselves but the doctors visits and the blood tests to monitor side effects caused by taking the drugs!
- You're saving money on all the packaged foods you used to buy from the middle of the supermarket like bread, pasta, biscuits, crackers, chips and bottled sauces.
- If you find a well priced, good quality green grocer or farmer's market you can buy a whole load of vegies  and it costs less than you think. Fruit and vegetables add lots of bulk to meals without costing the earth.
- You can buy meat when it's on sale and stick it in the freezer for later use.
- Buy specialty ingredients like coconut oil and flour in bulk online. Maybe go in on it with a friend.
- Ultimately, if you're savvy enough then this doesn't have to be an expensive way to live. But even if it IS more expensive than say, living on packaged food, well I'm happy to accept that trade off - isn't your health and happiness worth that?

3. But I Can't Live Without Bread or Pasta!
- Boy, do I hear this a lot, mostly from friends. One work colleague even said to me "I'd rather be fat." Well, that's your choice. If you'd rather be sick and plagued with chronic illnesses then that's your bed to lie in.
Now, I was a self professed lover of Italian food, namely pizza and pasta. And I had toast for breakfast, and sometimes lunch, and sometimes afternoon tea, every freaking day. But when I found out there was a way that I could cure my GERD without drugs I simply jumped at the chance, I was so sick of the pain. It took a little while to completely get rid of the grains but guess what, I'm here, I'm living without bread and pasta. 
- I can definitely live without the stodgy feeling you get in your stomach after eating bread and pasta; the lethargy, the bloating, the heartburn, and the food baby! I've said it before, I'll say it again, closing the door on grains opens the door to a whole new world of delicious foods, all of which can be enjoyed without regret  (mental or physical!) later on.

If you want to read some more of these arguments, this is a good article. 

Ultimately, what people choose to eat is up to them, and I am not going to go round saying these things to people unsolicited, but I felt the need to rant a little! This is the way I choose to live and the way that makes me the healthiest and happiest.

Happy Happy Chef + A recipe for Creamy Chicken, Carrot and Leak Soup (Grain Free)

It's my 9th day without sugar (hooray!) and I have had a busy morning cooking and baking. First, I made my own almond milk using nuts I had let soak overnight. This was because it is an ingredient in what I made next, Danielle Walker's Grain Free Sandwich Bread:

Oh, I really love this bread. It smells delicious while it is baking and I love the taste and texture of it, especially when I toast a slice. I'm perfectly happy to not be able to have normal grain bread when I can eat this! My favourite thing is to put some butter and jam on top. I use a really good quality jam or you can make your own. 

Next up, I had the desire to make a chicken and leak pie (recipe down the bottom), so called my sister who is an expert in pies for a recipe. I made it grain free by using quinoa flour and gelatin to thicken it instead of wheat flour. Gelatin is so good for you so I'm quite happy with it and it turned out really well. Okay, I couldn't be bothered to make the almound flour pastry so I made it into a soup instead. But now that I know how to make it, next time I will make a larger quantity and make it into a pie. 

Oh, and last night I whipped up some homemade pesto in a food processor, using almonds instead of pine nuts and adding in avocado as well, then I stirred this through cooked chicken with some cream. I had peeled a zucchini into strips and sliced it to the size of fettucine, and used this as my "pasta" which I then stirred through. This worked out well! You can't taste the difference between zucchini and pasta when it is in sauce. Next up I'd like to experiment making "fettucine" carbonara...stay tuned. 

I am so happy now because all the recipes turned out so well. Making so many delicious recipes more than makes up for the fact that I am not eating sugar. If I can eat all these great things I don't care if I never get to eat sugar again. And guess what, I have noticed my skin is clearer from not eating sugar as well. 

Yesterday realised that this isn’t something I am just doing for 21 days…this is the way I want to eat for life. I feel a lot more free from compulsive eating now that I’m out of sugar’s “grasp”, so to speak. I’m not anxious about what I can eat. I’m not really having any sweet cravings, and if I do they are easily alleviated by a small amount of fruit or by tea. My love for cooking and baking is still being indulged as I try new dishes and creations. And in the future I will bake sweet treats but they will be just that – TREATS – not something I eat every day! More like a once every 1 or 2 weeks kind of thing that I can share with friends. Good quality dark chocolate is going to taste so much nicer when I have it less often and can really savour the bittersweet flavour. I’m looking forward to trying 85% Lindt!! 

Creamy Chicken, Carrot and Leak Soup (serves 1)

- 1 chicken thigh fillet
- 1 carrot
- 1 leak
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ~ 2 cups vegetable stock 
- 1 tsp gelatin
- 1 tablespoon quinoa flour
- 1/4 cup thickened cream (I'm sure coconut cream would work too if you can't have dairy)
- Salt & Pepper

- Put the chicken thigh fillet into a small saucepan and pour in enough stock to cover it. Bring to the boil then cover and let simmer until cooked. This takes about 15 minutes altogether. 
- Remove the chicken and let cool on a plate. Save 1/4 cup of the stock.
- Meanwhile, dice up the carrots and steam them in a covered microwave proof dish with 1/2 cm of water on the bottom, in the microwave for 2 minutes. Let drain. 
- Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Thinly slice the leak and dice the garlic, then saute in the oil until softened.
- Add the quinoa flour and stir to combine.
- Slowly add the stock and the cream, season with salt and pepper, and stir to combine.
- Stir in the gelatin, letting simmer for a couple of minutes to thicken up. 
- Slice up the chicken.
- Finally, add in the carrot and chicken and voila!

Very Crispy Fried Chicken (Paleo; Grain & Dairy Free)

One thing I've been sad to miss out on since going grain/gluten free is KFC fried chicken. Man that stuff is so amazingly greasy and delicious. I had previously made crispy chicken before using a combination of almond meal and parmesan cheese but it wasn't perfect and I felt like experimenting, and also trying out different herbs and spices to mimic the flavour of KFC chicken.

What I ended up with was crispier than I even hoped for and positively delicious! And totally guilt free, unlike KFC chicken (who knows the sordid details of how they prepare that stuff).

Very Crispy Fried Chicken (Serves 2)

2 chicken thigh fillets 
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 tsp of each of the following: cayenne pepper, dried oregano, dried coriander, dried basil, paprika
1 tsp Moroccan seasoning
1 tablespoon of garlic granules (I have a feeling I was a lot more generous than that amount though...)
A good amount of cracked pepper and cracked sea salt
Beef dripping (I think this is the best fat to use to get it really nice and crispy)

- Mix all the dry ingredients together
- Cut the fillets into strips then bang them with a meat mallet to tenderise them. You may need to cut slice them again to make smaller strips if need be. 
- Heat the dripping in a large fry pan, enough to make about 1 cm of oil
- Dip each chicken strip into the egg to coat it, then into the dry mixture. Make sure it is well coated with crumbs and press the crumbs into the strip with your fingers to make sure they stick. 
- After you have crumbed each strip, place them into the hot oil

- After a few minutes turn the strips and cook for another few minutes on the other side until they are golden brown

- When they are ready, let them dry on a cooling rack. 
- Serve with your choice of side dish. I'm quite partial to steamed veggies tossed in butter. Enjoy!

Flourless Chewy-Nutty-Chocolate Cookies

Inspired by my recipe for ANZAC biscuits, I wanted to create a double chocolate biscuit. I thought a similar recipe would produce the combination of crunchy/chewy that I wanted, and all I had to do was make a few little changes and add in a few key ingredients:

I thought adding some hazelnut meal in addition to almond meal would give it an almost nutella-like chocolate taste. And, I was able to use half the amount of coconut sugar as last time with the addition of chocolate! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I received rave reviews from the people who tried these.

So, here are the ingredients you need:

- 3 tbs cocoa powder
- 100g dark chocolate (I used 50g but decided after that it wasn't enough. You can adjust to your own taste and maybe use even less sugar)
- 3/4 cup dessicated coconut
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 1 cup hazelnut meal
- 1/2 cup coconut crystals
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup (or honey if you prefer)
- 125g salted butter (next time I'll experiment with coconut oil or cacao butter but I'm not sure if they will give the same texture)
- 1/2tsp bicarb soda
- 1 tbs boiling water

Chop up the chocolate roughly:

I prefer the texture of cutting up the chocolate myself rather than using whole chocolate chips. That way you get the big chunks as well as little crumbs of chocolate spread throughout the dough.

Melt the butter and syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Dissolve the bicarb soda in the boiling water then add this to the butter/syrup mixture.

Mix together the dry ingredients, then mix the wet ingredients in until it looks like this:

Roll tablespoon sized balls onto lined baking trays and flatten very slightly as they will spread while cooking.

 Bake in a preheat oven at 150 degrees celsius for about 15 minutes. Cool on a metal rack. Voila!

 Once they have cooled, I recommend wrapping the cookies in cling wrap if you want to keep them fresh. I find that grain-free baked goods are quicker to go stale.

Grain-Free ANZAC Biscuits

The Aussie favourite, created grain-free for a Paleo treat.

ANZAC biscuits were hard biscuits sent to our troops in the first world war because the ingredients meant they would last a long time without needing refrigeration. To Australians, they represent the sacrifice of our diggers in the war, and are traditionally eaten on ANZAC day. I have always loved them, especially when they are created with that perfect combination of crispy and chewy. It’s hard to get that being grain-free, and tonight I had a strong craving for a crispy ANZAC biscuit. And guess what?! I DID IT!*

Look, they are grain free and egg free. BUT they are of course a treat because they have a fair amount of sugar in them. So be sure to make these when you have someone to share them with, because trust me, THEY ARE ADDICTIVE! 

1 cup blanched almond flour

1 cup roughly chopped nuts (I used almonds and walnuts)

1 ½ tsp flax seed meal

1 tablespoon coconut flour

3/4 cup dessicated coconut

1 cup coconut crystals
1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tablespoons golden syrup (I’m sure honey would work too)

125g grassfed salted butter

½ teaspoon bicarb soda

1 tablespoon boiling water

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius and line some baking trays with baking paper

In a food processor, roughly chop the nuts until they are about the size of oats

Mix together the dry ingredients

On a low heat in a small saucepan, melt the butter and golden syrup

Dissolve the bicarb soda into the boiling water, then add this to the butter/syrup mixture.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.

Roll tablespoon sized balls of mixture in your hands then place onto baking trays, flattening them out to about half a centimetre. Make sure you leave enough space between biscuits as they will flatten out a bit more while baking.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. (They will still be a little soft to the touch but will crisp up while cooling.) Let sit for a few minutes then cool on a wire rack.

*I adapted this recipe from the traditional one found in "Beautiful Biscuits" published by the Australian Women's Weekly. 

Can you ever really cure binge eating?

Binge eating disorder, compulsive eating, non-hungry eating, comfort eating. Call it what you want. I'm sure everyone has it in varying degrees. Any person who says they've never comfort ate is probably lying!

I would consider myself a reformed binge eater. I used to be so consumed by eating, and would spend so much of my time stuck in the cycle of deprivation, rebellion, binge, guilt, and disgust (then back to a new start each Monday). It made me depressed, angry, and hateful of myself at the worst of times. Oh I could tell you lots of stories about what I used to do, but if you've been there, or are there now, you already know. 

Of course, reading "If not dieting, then what?" really changed my outlook and helped me a LOT. And for a while it really worked and I stopped binge eating. But then I drifted back to my old habits. I yoyo-ed around like this for a while but ultimately, addressing the behavioural reasons behind binge eating was only half the story for me. I didn't like the fact that I kept falling off the wagon and having to get back on again and I just kept putting on weight. Clearly, there was something more going on and I later found out that it was to do with hormones as well as what type of food I was eating. 

If you read the whole of this blog you would be able to see the journey I went on and the things I discovered along the way that helped me. In a nutshell, what finally stopped me from binge eating was when I realised that, for health reasons, I would need to cut out ALL grains for good. I couldn't cheat and have wheat now and again, and after reading "Wheat Belly", there was no way in hell I could be tempted to. After I read that book, that was it. Once and for all, wheat (the biggest offender) and grains were gone. The paleo lifestyle was in. 

Because I couldn't ever have those old starchy treats at all, it quite simply stopped me bingeing on them. No longer was I eating things that actually made me want to eat MORE (instead of the logical feedback mechanism that should be happening, where you stop eating when you've had your fill). And no longer was I eating the things that make hypothyroidism worse. I still let myself have all the fat, nuts, dairy, eggs, fruit and veg, and of course chocolate, that I wanted. But it's hard to really binge on those foods, as they are a lot richer than donuts or bread or biscuits (which I used to be able to eat huge amounts of in one sitting!)

If I ever crave something sweet or something baked, I bake grain free using almond or coconut flour. And because I know those things are better for me it comes without the guilt attached. Take the guilt out and binge eating reduces by half. I hardly ever go a day without having a little treat, even if it's just some dark chocolate. 

Okay, after briefly explaining all of that, let me get back to the point I wanted to make! I don't think I'll ever be completely "cured" of binge eating. There are still times where I keep on eating the chocolate even after I'm satisfied. Or I compulsively look for something that I can eat even when I'm not hungry. In my head I liken it to reformed alcoholics. They can never again have even one drop of alcohol because the risk of falling off the wagon is just too great. They have to go completely cold turkey, for ever. In a way, they are always an alcoholic - just no longer practicing, I guess is one way of putting it. Of course, binge eating and alcoholism are hugely different diseases with widely varying health and social repercussions (and both are valid). But I just know that if I ever went back to eating grains, telling myself that it's just a bit here and there, it wouldn't work. I think I would go back to my old ways - for a whole multitude of reasons that led me to binge eating in the first place, emotional, behavioural and hormonal, that are unique to each person. 

So, the short answer to my question, in my humble opinion, is probably no. BUT I think you can turn binge eating around and reform it. Everyone over indulges from time to time and that's normal. And that's a place I'm happy to be at, because it doesn't happen very often at all.

If you want any more detail on anything I've said please ask me.  

Paleo Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

It's my boyfriend's birthday tomorrow and he put in a special request for carrot cake, which is one of my favourites as well. The above picture is a version I made before I went grain-free, which I decorated with royal icing coloured and shaped into carrots. However to make a paleo version, I adapted one of Danielle Walker's recipes from her book "Against All Grain" for snickerdoodle cupcakes. 

I made a few small adjustments. I subbed in coconut oil instead of cacao butter, and added 1/2 cup of grated carrot and 1/2 cupped chopped walnuts, as well as another extra tablespoon of coconut milk. To lessen the taste of honey, I used 2 tablespoons of honey and 1/4 cup of coconut sugar to sweeten the batter instead of the specified amount of honey. 

To make the cream cheese icing, I whipped together about 200gm of cream cheese and 1/2 cup of coconut sugar, before sprinkling cinnamon on top. Voila!