The joy of eating tasty old and new favorites.

I realize it's been a while since I have shared some good meal photos on my humble blog. As my diet has expanded back to a more "normal" variety of foods, with less restrictions, my meals haven't been quite a notable as I rotate the same GB friendly meals over and over with a few of my old favorites in between. However, I notice that because I am able to eat some of my old favorites with no consequence again I am getting a bit lazy with my eating. For example, we have had Olive Garden a few too many times the last few weeks since I discovered that I can eat my (carrot free) salad with my own dressing and the cappellini pomodoro. Chocolate has also become my friend again, since it does not cause nausea anymore and digests fine (though I noticed it does make the mucous in my nose get thick... probably from the milk, which I am learning I have a potential intolerance for). The darker the chocolate the better I do, probably because there is less milk. But I digress.

The long and short of it is that I started getting lazy with my eating. Still mostly healthy, but not quite as healthy as I was during the early months of my GB fixing journey. So, keeping the food interesting, easy to prepare, and flavorful is a challenge at times. The creative juices for meal planning have stopped flowing at times so I resort for the easy outs, which is probably not helping my system continue to clean itself out of the toxin overload it is carrying. In order to stay focused, I need to keep finding new foods to share with you, so here are a few of my favorites from the last few weeks.

This dish was my "ode" to being able to eat broccoli again. Stir-fry with chicken, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, peppers, green onions and broccoli. I used toasted seasame oil, lime, and honey to flavor the chicken and used it as a sauce during cooking. Soy sauce was also abundant, of course. I love how the broccoli sucks up all the sauce so you get a great flavor explosion when eating it.

I discovered a new favorite salad last week. Spring mix with cucumber, mushrooms, red peppers, diced marinated artichokes and flax seed oil and lemon dressing. On the side I serve toasted whole wheat flax seed bread with olive oil and salt and pepper. Quite possibly the best salad ever. I served this to my husband tonight for dinner and he commented on how great the salad dressing was. Who would have thought a simple flax seed oil and lemon dressing would taste so amazing? Shelf stable junk dressing be gone! Homemade is so much better! Oh, and I could seriously eat that bread with EVOO at every meal. It's that good. And believe it or not, it's Schnucks brand bread! I "heart" Schnucks store brands. Not that I'm biased or anything from my previous work/research on store brands, cuz I'm not (though really, I am... Schnucks is one of the best out there).

Now, this dish deserves it's own blog. It is by far the best butternut squash risotto known to man. I have requests from my friends all the time to make this dish, it is so wonderful, especially when it's cold outside and squash is in season. It's a butternut squash risotto with fresh sage, and dried red chilis. A wonderful combination of savory, sweet, and spicy. I've been making this dish for about two years now, and it calls for a ton of butter and Parmesan cheese. Given the state of my GB, I decided the only way I would be able to enjoy it this year was to try to make some changes. I substituted some of the butter for EVOO at the beginning, and used less at the end, plus I omitted the cheese altogether. Drum roll please..... it tasted just as good, if not better, because I could truly enjoy it without overloading my tummy with lots of fat. I did not miss the extra butter or cheese at all.

Last, but not least, was my recreation of another of my husband and my fall favorites. This is a dish I kind of created one day, and it came out wonderful. Italian sausage with kale, diced tomatoes and rigatoni. Previously, I would coat the whole thing with Parmesan cheese, but of course, I omitted that this time. I also made a substitution of the Italian sausage for turkey Italian flavored sausage, and the result was awesome. To up the flavor quotient, I included fresh rosemary and thyme and it made the dish come together spectacularly. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. :)

Now I just need to figure out how to get through Thanksgiving this year. My husband's family is not known for a low-fat turkey dinner. My husband frequently drinks a glass of whole milk with his meal (blech!). I'm bringing my famous cranberry pear pie (trying to come up with a healthier version, especially a shortening free crust), but I think I might need to bring a salad for myself as well...

Learning to listen.

It is official, I feel awful from all of the stress of the last week. I am so worn out mentally, emotionally, physically from all the goings on last week that I had to stop and really listen to my body last night though I wanted to ignore it badly! Between the stress of buying our first house, working a ton of extra hours at work, three early mornings in a row (when I'm used to late mornings), and day trip to and from Chicago during all that I plum wore myself out. Stress. Stress. And more stress. There is only so much this bubble girl can take before it shows up in a physical manifestations. So, with much regret I had to cancel on attending my girlfriend's graduate recital last night so that I could listen to what my body was telling me and stop for a while. Luckily, she is an awesome friend and was very understanding and is going to let me watch the video of it later.

After a very long day at work (for a Saturday) yesterday I came home and tried to take a nap in the hopes that I wouldn't feel so exhausted afterwards and could make the drive to see my friends recital. No such luck. With all of early mornings and stress I had decided to drink some coffee that morning and the caffeine was still in my bloodstream apparently. I couldn't sleep at all (though I did drool a little for the whole 3 minutes I did sleep before waking back up). Talk about exhaustion. My eyes were heavy and my body was moving in slow motion, plus my throat felt quite raw and a bit swollen. Clearly, my body was sending me a message. STOP!

If you had talked to me a few years ago, and I felt that way, I would have ignored and kept going. However, I would end up sick for weeks on end afterwards with a cold or just general over exhaustion symptoms. Although I still find it difficult to listen all of the time, I do my best to make my health a priority and listen to the subtle signals my body sends me. Interestingly, the more I listen, the less subtle I realize the signals are! If I had listened to my body better years ago when I first started getting heartburn, who knows if I would have ended up with gallstones! I could have prevented and minimized just by listening harder to how my body reacted to different foods and meal sizes. Sure, I listened a little, but not enough until it was already too late.

Unfortunately, our society is so focused on being superhuman we look down on anyone who can't push themselves to the limit 24-7, even when sick. Too many companies/bosses don't believe their employees when they need to take a sick day, and so many times that sick day isn't asked for until the illness has already progressed so far that it will take twice as long to recover. Not so long ago, I met a man who's company required him to give three days notice if he was going to take a day off when he is sick. What?!?! I don't know about you, but I don't have the ability to predict three days in advance that I will develop the flu or a sinus infection or that I'll break a bone. Anyway, the point is that we operate in a society where you aren't "allowed" to be sick. If you are like me, and have a weaker immune system, you constantly feel like no one believes you when you are in fact sick enough that you have no option but to stay home (even though for the previous 3-5 days you went to work despite not feeling well and subsequently infected all of your coworkers).

So I am working to change that unhealthy mantra, slowly but surely. I am allowing myself to take a day (or two) off to let my body rest and heal. Someday, my nervous system will be operating efficiently and I won't get sick as much, but I have many many more chiropractic adjustments to go until my spine in free of subluxations and healthy! Until then, I'm taking the day off and listening to my body.

A quick dose of food "porn"

I haven't put up any pictures of my food "porn" lately, so here is a quick, but belated, dose for you. Homemade chicken fajitas with lots of red and yellow peppers, covered with avocado, cilantro, and salsa. Yummy. It made for an extra special meal following my first personal training session last week. I don't eat a ton of meat anymore, but I wanted to make sure I had some amino acids and protein for my muscles and the chicken helped out the cause. And it made my husband happy because he didn't have to cook his own chicken on the side like he does with the rest of my vegetarian dishes!

If Only Starbucks Were As Enlightened...

My taste buds rejoiced greatly today. I was able to enjoy a latte, worry free, for the first time in months! No nausea, no upset stomach, no nothin'. Just plain old enjoyment. Why, you ask? Because Whole Foods' Allegro Espresso Bar has rice milk lattes!!!! And boy oh boy was it good! It was perfectly sweet and creamy in just the right amount like I used to drink with skim milk. Unfortunately, though, I don't have an Allegro Cafe or Whole Foods where I live and therefore can only enjoy said drink when I make the hike to Chicagoland every few weeks. Sigh. So, that's why I say "If only Starbucks were as enlightened in to the awesomeness of rice milk" for those of us who can't have cow's milk. A girl can dream, right?

Other news on the GB front though... one of the new supplements recommended by the GB Attack lady is doing wonders for my digestion. The supplement is called Digest Ease and it has really helped to get rid of all the "issues" I was having with my digestion. She said that I have a low-functioning gallbladder due to stress and this product helps to relax me and therefore allow my digestion to kick back in at a normal functioning level. Our bodies go in to what is known as a "fight or flight" state when we are stressed and this rushes blood and energy away from the stomach so our brains and muscles to can react quicker to the stress. Hence, our digestion is compromised. Now, she identified this symptom in me in a quick 30 minute conversation, which means she's pretty darn good because she hit the nail on the head. I've been super stressed, for, what? 29 years? Okay, maybe a few less than that, but my stress levels are pretty high. I've been taking the supplement since Monday/Tuesday and I feel great. Perhaps a bit too relaxed because I've noticed that all the stress is trying to release itself- I've been wanting to cry at the littlest things these past few days! I read a story about some sick kid, I want to cry, I watch a (only slightly) sappy movie or TV show, I want to cry, etc, etc. I'm welling up over the littlest things, it's so silly! But, hey, if it means I could enjoy that cup of rice milk latte this morning and not have any nausea, heartburn, or spike in blood pressure from the caffeine- and all without taking my digestive supplements- I will deal with the sensitivity as long as it lasts!

Lots of goings on!

Big news for the bubble girl, my husband and I bought a house this weekend! Ah! Scary! We are first time home buyers so we are a bit nervous about it but very excited. Fingers crossed I did all of my math right and we will be just fine financially in the house... it's a surprising jump in cost from renting to owning! At least now our money will not be thrown away every month and we can build some equity with our investment. This has been a goal of ours since getting married four years ago (almost to the day, definitely to the weekend), and we worked hard and long to get our credit scores up and our finances in order cuz it was not pretty at all back then! So, as we get closer to our closing date and then move in to the house I will keep you posted on how I attempt to stay sane in the process. Because finding peace and serenity among chaos is definitely one of my mental health goals!

Speaking of health, my gallbladder had a little temper tantrum last night. I ate a few Kit Kat bars, so what, right? Not so much. Well, that and I had a salad dressing with dinner at a friends house that had "onion juice" as one of the ingredients... and I think we all remember how well onions go over with my GB. Anyway, I noticed a slight discomfort when I went to bed last night, ignored it and woke up at 4am wishing I had gotten my tired butt out of bed at midnight to take my supplements so I could have slept the whole night through and avoided the whole waking up in the middle of the night thing. By 5am I had things quieted down and was able to fall back asleep a little later for a much more restful sleep. One thing you would be surprised (or not) about, is that falling asleep while your GB is flaring up does not make for restful sleep in the bit even if you do sleep the whole night through. It's a strange thing I noticed. I ended up sleeping until 10:30am but felt nice and rested, so it worked out. My stomach was definitely cleaning itself out today after last night's attack, but I'm used to it.

The odd thing about this GB attack was that even after the referred pain behind my right shoulder blade went away, I was having pain under a rib near my spine. It felt as though the rib was out of place and it was difficult to lie on. Usually, lying on my right side feels best during a GB attack/spasm, but not last night, and I am still even feeling it occasionally now. I will have to talk to my chiropractor about that on Monday, perhaps there is a rib that shifted out of place that triggered that pain. According to my x-rays in September there was a rib near that area out of place, but I was pretty sure we adjusted it back. Either way, it reminds me about how a healthy spine is so important to how your body functions, because I know my back got out of whack again this weekend and I wouldn't be surprised if the nerves to my GB were being pinched and contributing to the issue.

After all of my GB recovery today I am feeling more motivated to do the flush and see what kind of results I get from that. The phone consultation with the GB Attack lady was good. She feels that my body is very much in a "fight or flight" state (ding ding ding ding!) from stress and that it has caused my GB to be low functioning. She will be sending me a new supplement to take to help relax me and return my vitals to a more normal state of ease. I can't wait to try that one and see how it changes things. She was also very concerned about my unusual food allergies that have come on in the last few years and recommended I do a Coffee Enema. She especially recommends I do it the morning of my flush.

Now, you all know me, and know that I am all about the natural health. Right? Right. A coffee enema (or enema of any sort) is where I start to get a bit uncomfortable with the natural health. Call me a bit of a prude, or just a plain old scaredy-cat, but I am a bit freaked out at the nothing of doing an enema. Funny story though... Four years ago, I was at a training session for a job I had a taken and met a girl who recommended I do one. We were at lunch and I, of course, had to ask the meal provider to make special provisions for my salad so it had not carrots in it. She immediately started asking me about my allergy and how long I had it, and I shared. Come to find out, she had developed a severe allergy to sugar a few years back and it got so bad that her whole body would become covered in hives if she ate anything with sugar in it. Trying lots of different things to stop the reactions, she ended up taking the advice of a whole health practitioner and did an enema and the reactions stopped as a result. I dismissed her suggestion because the idea of doing an enema wasn't exciting to me back then either. But isn't it funny how things have come full circle now? The GB Attack lady believes the enema will help to cleanse and detoxify my liver, which is the root of where those strange allergies are coming from in her experience.

Hm. I don't know. I still need a few days/weeks to digest this information. However, I so desperately want to be able to eat an apple in the fall and stop my GB from hurting all the time that the notion of doing both an enema and flush in one sitting is becoming tempting. I've been researching it and there doesn't seem to be a ton of harm in doing it, and the GB Attack lady is beyond confident that my stones are more than soft enough and that the flush will be even more effective for me with the enema before hand. Relief is near, it's just going to take a bit more inner strength than I imagined...

Personal Training Kicked My A**

Yesterday I had my first day of personal training and loved it. I've never had such a focused workout. My heart rate was up but not insanely high during the whole thing (which is a very good thing since I am still working on getting rid of my hypertension) and we were able to work every major muscle group in a thirty minute session. I've signed up for once a week until the end of the year and I couldn't be more excited.

The only side effect to having been a couple lazy bum the last, um, four years, is that I have like no muscle. So, for most of the day yesterday I felt like my legs were going to collapse beneath me periodically, and now today I can hardly walk my quads are so sore! Yikes! All in all though, I think it's a good thing and worth the temporary pain/discomfort until my body gets reconditioned. This is really important to my overall wellness and should help me in a lot of other areas of my life, particularly my singing. You wouldn't believe the amount of athleticism involved in some arias (well, any aria for that matter) and I know that getting fit and building muscle and core strength is going to help me in my singing.

I had my phone consultation with the gallbladder lady on Tuesday and will fill you in on that a little bit later. Right now, I am going to attempt to move my sore legs so they can stretch out a bit. I might hobble like an old man today, but I'm sure I'll feel a bit better tomorrow!

Tasty Dinner for Election Night

First, I must do my patriotic duty to tell everyone to vote!!! Being apathetic is pathetic, vote! I personally got up early to vote at 6am. Got there about 10 after and waited for 40 minutes. Not to bad, I guess, but still longer than I expected. I'm sure if they had more than 8 voting booths it would have made the line move quicker. All I know is that I have never waited that long to vote, ever. Even in the last presidential election I didn't wait more than 5 minutes, which I accredit to the wonderful election board and their systems (and sheer number of voting booths) at my hometown polling place. Anyway, vote! Wait in line, everyone is doing it!

Just wanted to share some quick pix of my dinner for tonight that is uber-healthy and super easy to make. Tuna and kalmata olive salad stuffed peppers. I made this recipe by combining elements I like from a few different tuna stuffed pepper recipes, and oila! A super tasty meal. I think I improved the recipe a bit this time by adding more moisture, so hopeful it is just as good or better than the last time! And did I mention how healthy it is? All good fats from the olive oil and fish (GB friendly!) and loaded with flavor. The green pepper is awesome with the mixture.

Just before being topped with bread crumbs and going in the oven. I could have eaten it like this it looked so good. But alas, I knew the tuna needed a bit more cooking, so I wasn't gonna risk it.

And right out of the oven. Oh, I can't wait! It might have to be my lunch instead of dinner!

Now go vote! And enjoy watch the poll returns all night tonight!