Another Paleo/GF Support Thread?

[crunchy_mama]

Seems the last one dropped off again, wondering if we could get a new one going. I have had difficulty this pregnancy and have been on and off on the grainfree. Currently I am also trying to very low carb for dh as he is trying to lose weight for work so if others have easy and quick meal ideas I am all ears.

Last night we had shrimp stirfry w/ asparagus, small bit of carrots, and a small bit of onions. I made a bit of a sauce w/ a small amount of pb(just a bit for seasoning)- fish sauce- and crushed red peppers- mostly though I used lots of oil though- spicy oil, sesame oil and coconut oil. I am trying to keep his carbs to 30 a day or less. Tonight I think it will be meatloaf w/ some green beans.

The problem I have had for myself this pregnancy is when I go superstrict on no grains I stop sleeping. I gradually sleep less and less each day until I am going crazy from exhaustion. Being 39 weeks pregnant I cannot afford not to get sleep as have had 2 early babies and labor could come any minute. However, of course eating grains brings it's own problems. Anyone have a clue why I cannot sleep? I woke up this am at 4something starving. So, I am eating pears and almonds. The cod liver oil seems to keep me from waking up in the middle of the night, but now I just wake up early and cannot go to sleep in the evening. I am doing epsom salt soaks for magnesium, but it doesn't seem to help.

Oh, and I am super excited as in 2 weeks time I will be getting some grassfed meat! I am splitting 1/2 a cow w/ some friends- I have literally been trying for years to do this, but finally found someone I could afford. Usually we eat lots of venison, but the last 2 years dh has not had good luck. I hope we are able to get some good deer meat as well, but at least we will have beef and grassfed chicken of course.

So, anyone else want to join in? I am really hoping that things go back to more of a normal for me after this pregnancy is done but I also know w/ a new baby it will be a challenge feeding myself well, so I can use all the support I can get.

[ruthmg]

What about different carbs for you, like winter squash or sweet potatoes? Your DH should understand you have different nutritional needs due to pregnancy.

[FairyRae]

I'm totally in!

Not sleeping w/out grains...that is something to look into! I wonder if the allergies forum mamas (thinking of biochem folks like whoMe) would know anything a/b that...

[crunchy_mama]

I am sure something is off balance- I don't know if nutrients are off or if it is a blood sugar thing. I am trying to get more other carbs in, but my brain gets tired of trying to figure it all out sometimes. The thing is I will feel just fine on the little sleep for the first couple days, like superwoman, but then it builds up and I am exhausted. I don't know how to explain it. I know there is nothing there nutrient wise- I know biologically speaking I am better w/out them and generally when not pregnant it has never been a problem- I just don't understand what has changed w/ this pregnancy- other than a need for more carbs- which I am not sure if that is a need of some nutrients that I am not getting somewhere or if there is an imbalance somewhere. Caloriewise I should be fine.

That is good idea about the sweet potatoes I need to put some on to bake.

This am I made some scambled eggs w/ copious amounts of tallow and coconut oil. I seem to have on and off issues w/ eggs though- although I love them. I am trying to keep my consumption down.

Anyway- rambling on about myself- how is everyone else?

[FairyRae]

I'm working on a (not very paleo ) grain free, sprouted lentil based bread recipe for ds. (Feel free to share any ideas you have!) I made him a nut based bread that he is ok w/, but so many nuts just honestly make me nervous w/ him as he has shown a slight sensitivity to some of them in the past. Sprouted lentils have around a 1/4 of the carbs/starch of regular lentils (I *think*), and from what I've read they digest more like a vegetable (like most sprouts) so I'm looking at it in that light. (I've been trying to pay more attention to carb stuff lately, and even just dropped my daily carb-rich banana in my smoothie to try it out while kind of *watching* them in general...we'll see how that all goes! I love being my own guinea pig )

As far as food goes--just really simple stuff today. We had green smoothies w/ the nut toast and ghee for breakfast (we were out of eggs--today is the farmer's market day so we just got some!), then a green salad w/ chicken and apples and fermented dressing for lunch (I used a kimchi juice in place of vinegar when making my dressing and it worked just fine!) w/ potato chips on the side for ds (I managed to hold off b/c of the carb thing ), some nuts in the afternoon for me and dried 'fruit snacks' for ds, and we just now ate a bunch of deviled eggs as a dinner time snack and will probably have some steamed brocolli w/ ghee and maybe later some coconut milk ice cream. Mmmmm...for some reason we LOVE brocolli and ice cream over here. Not really typical square meals or anything that special, but we are managing to stick to grain free pretty well atm!

[lil_earthmomma]

Hello fellow grain free mamas!!!

I've been very active on www.marksdailyapple.com and loving the primal lifestyle. It's not as strict as paleo, and jives more with my personal nutritional philosophy of high fat, low carb.

I still eat dairy as I have no problems that I know of with dairy, but I've cut it down and up'd the fat content! Tomorrow I'm going to try my hand at making clotted cream for serving on coconut flour banana bread french toast! mmmmmmm

I've completely ditched grains, but plan on continuing to feed my dc limited amounts of quinoa, as it's not a grain, but full of protein and they like it.

How are your kiddos doing with the whole grain free lifestyle?

[crunchy_mama]

I am really interested in the nutbread are you using Elana's recipe? That has always looked good to me. I know I feel like an experiment as well, that constantly changes.

Pretty good day here, egg w/ fat for b-fast w/ pears and almonds- lunch was a sweet potato w/ lots of coconut oil and pecans, spinach w/ sesame seeds and again more fat , supper was meatloaf-sunflower seed and flax meal for binder- no topping- sauteed green beans and some mashed cauliflower. Probably another sweet potato before bed as it seems to help w/ the bs if I eat before bed.

I had a bit of a problem w/ bs today, but that is because I didn't have enough meat I think, lunch was pretty sparse. Usually I have better lunch planned, but it didn't happen. Hopefully tomorrow goes better.

I did more looking into paleo and pregnancy and low carb and pregnancy in general. Unfortunately there is not a lot of info, but from what I can gather it really is pretty normal to have an increase in carb cravings.

[crunchy_mama]

I am not grainfree w/ the kids here. More out of laziness I think- to be honest- although their grain intact is WAY below typical kids. I don't keep crackers or bread around- as it is too expensive or much of a hassle to make my own- but they eat tortilla chips sometimes and rice sometimes as well. they really don't ask for grains though, they do pretty good eating whatever I serve. I do waffles and pancakes and such but make those w/ nutflours usually.

I am really working on upping my fat again as well as I had gotten a bit slack. I think I went a little overboard today though as everything was swimming in it and it just felt excessive. I want to make sure I keep my calories up good though = as I am surely not trying to do this for dieting being prego but for health.

[lil_earthmomma]

Actually I ordered Bruce Fife's Cooking with Coconut Flour.

Elana's Pantry is all about almond flour. I tried a couple of her recipes, but really hate the texture of almond flour baked goods! I now use almond flour with coconut flour in certain recipes, and for breading meats etc.

I will post the recipe tomorrow! It's really good, uses a lot of eggs though (8 to be exact), and I know FairyRae had one with less eggs.

ETA: I LOVE her almond butter brownies!!! They are incredible!

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by lil_earthmomma

Actually I ordered Bruce Fife's Cooking with Coconut Flour.

Ooo--I put it on my Christmas list. I really am enjoying using it for pancakes, orange cake from the nourishing days site (soooo good!) and making that banana bread--I've changed the recipe a bit and added a bit of honey, and sometimes cranberries w/ walnuts and orange extract. I would love to see the banana bread recipe you have too lil_earthmomma--I might try out more egg-filled recipes now that I'm *thinking* of watching my carb intake. I want to come to your house for breakfast tomorrow! (That french toast sounds divine!)

As far as keeping all of us grainfree, ds is mostly grain free, just b/c I don't make anything anymore w/ grains. We have some leftover brown rice wraps in the freezer he and dh have had w/ taco meat, and rice here and there (dh has it once in a while, although he's liking the riced cauliflower.) Dh eats whatever he wants when he's out (which is anything and everything.)

Making the switch, I really just try to sub grain-free stuff for the grains so ds can keep eating what he was eating before--hence looking for a fitting bread recipe. Ds loves dipping toast in his eggs in the am so I really want to figure one out...

Crunchy_mama, the recipe I tried was from Healing Foods--an SCD cookbook. It's for 'pumpernickel bread' and I'll happily share it w/ you if you're interested, although I didn't love it (and probably won't make it again). It has almond flour (we've been trialing almonds lately w/ good results!) and walnuts and sunflower seeds, among other things. I really want to try the flax rye bread on elana's pantry though. We'll see! I'm looking to make a grainfree bread that is great toasted as that's how ds likes it.

As far as dropping grains in general goes for ds, it's kind of an out-of-sight-out-of-mind thing I think. If he really wants to eat grains I'll support him and get him what he wants, but there are so many awesome subs that its not an issue, today. And I think I'd *try* to get him to stick to grain-like seeds like buckwheat, quinoa and amaranth, but we'll just see what happens! We each have our own paths, and what's best for me (today) isn't necessarily what's best for him, you know? He seems to need more carbs than I do, proportionally in his diet. I'd be interested in reading more about that I think--I wonder if Mark's Daily Apple has anything on that--I've been obsessed w/ his site recently--so awesome!


ETA: Ds has a pinhead rash all over his butt. I'm pretty sure it's the almonds in his new bread. I've got to get to work on a lentil bread or other bread recipe for him! Maybe a sprouted quinoa bread recipe...hmmm...(quinoa's not technically a grain, so it would still *sort of* be grain free ) Or maybe I'll still try the elana's pantry flax-rye bread using a blend of ground pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in place of the almonds...if I do I'll lyk how it turns out!

[crunchy_mama]

FairyRae- sorry about your baby's rash How about subbing other seed flour for the almonds? You guys cannot do coconut right?

I love this talk about cookbooks- I have a bit of Christmas money and am trying to figure out what I want! I have : Grain Free Gourmet and Cooking w/ Coconut Flour. I don't much care for the GF Gourmet as so many recipes call for lots of milk products- milk itself is easy to sub- cheese and such not so much- not when it is the base of the recipe. I like Cooking w/ Coconut Flour ok, especially for the muffin recipe, the kids love those and it has great low sugar recommendations for stevia- I use the straight powdered leaf.

I was looking at buying Elana's Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook- I just love her recipes! I love the texture of the almond flour baked goods- I prefer those to the coconut myself- it is interesting the differences in tastes!

FairyRae- can you give more of a review of the new book you have? How much dairy does it use? what kind of recipes does it have? ARe they "easy" to follow?

I am looking at these books as well:
Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet: The Grain-Free, Lactose-Free, Sugar-Free Solution to IBD, Celiac Disease, Autism, Cystic Fibrosis, and Other Health Conditions (Healthy Living Cookbooks) (Paperback)

It is highly reviewed as having lots of ethnic dishes and using simple ingredients which is very intriguing to me and supposedly a good soy sub- my luck w/ subbing the taste of soy in stirfrys and such has been hit or miss. Again though I worry about the dairy.
http://www.amazon.com/Recipes-Specif...ef=pd_sim_b_34


I am looking at this one as well, which again is very highly rated. From what I could figure out she uses honey and stevia to sweeten- almond, coconut, and brown rice flour for baking- and coconut oil and coconut milk. I am not keen on the brown rice flour, but am wondering how many recipes it is in- she has some raw recipes as well and evidently lots of good info about making your own nut milk and various other things.
The Spunky Coconut Cookbook: Gluten Free, Casein Free, Sugar Free (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/Spunky-Coconut...pr_product_top

Any other recommendations? I have lots of blogs I like to check out, but would love to have some actual cookbooks instead of always running to the computer!

Oh, and I slept last night-all night from 9-5! I tried to make sure my tummy was nice and full and I made a quick bit of hot cocoa(w/ coco milk) for before bed as well. So, perhaps it is just a problem of me inadvertenly cutting calories when cutting out the grains. Anyway, I am going to keep on fat loading - make sure I get more protein today as well and try to eat as many carbs as it seems I need. Wondering, wondering, wondering when this baby is going to come!

Dh is doing so great w/ the no grains/ low carb! At first I switched over his b-fast- which had been nasty sugary cereal for as long as I have known him. He is now eating sausage or eggs and he says he feels much more satisfied. He went by McD's one day for b-fast as he was running late and he said he was starving rabidly hungry ALL day and did nothing but gorge after that- it was great he made that connection.

I hope he can keep this up after the weightloss challenge. I love him,but I wish he was healtheir. His cholestorol ratings are all wonky and interestingly his little sheet that came w/ his yearly health assessment said that cutting carbs was one way to help with that. I was shocked that it didn't go on about fat. He is very interested in making his numbers better as when he does better on his assessment then he gets paid money- nothing like greed to motivate you He has a lot of secondary issues as well that I can only see getting worse unless he cleans up his diet. He does good for lunch and supper and now even b-fast- but he drinks too much sugar and eats crappy snacks.

Anyway, lets see how today goes! Hoping for labor soon! As of tomorrow I will be as pregnant as I ever have been!

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

FairyRae- sorry about your baby's rash How about subbing other seed flour for the almonds? You guys cannot do coconut right?

We are fine w/ coconut (thank God--it is my savior!)--I just haven't found a coconut bread recipe ds really likes--and I find they don't hold up well when toasted. I think I'll try another seed blend for the flour in the bread today. I think I was semi-emotionally invested in the idea of using almond flour for some reason, as it is the base of so many grain free and SCD recipes for baked goods. I'm kind of glad I didn't prefer the almond flour bread to other things I've made w/ seeds. I had put off making a bread to trial the almonds, but I guess we'll just see how it comes out w/ a seed blend! Elana's pantry recipes seem to work well w/ seed subs...

Here's an almond flour and squash bread recipe I may try and modify as well. I just want to find one recipe that can be our go-to for ds's toast when he wants some...(I'm amazed at how I don't ever crave bread any more! It's awesome! Meat and veggies sure sound mouthwatering though! Now, sweet, grain free baked goods, otoh, I sure love some of those! )

I was looking at buying Elana's Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook- I just love her recipes! I love the texture of the almond flour baked goods- I prefer those to the coconut myself- it is interesting the differences in tastes!

FairyRae- can you give more of a review of the new book you have? How much dairy does it use? what kind of recipes does it have? ARe they "easy" to follow?

I'd get the almond flour cookbook if I were you (I have it)--even if you can't use almond flour (like us, I guess ) I've used lots of the recipes w/ pumpkin seed/sunflower seed flour and liked them a lot. The chocolate cake is soooooo good...

Healing Foods has TONS of dairy, I'm dissapointed I got it (only b/c we can't do dairy, and now almonds too--makes lots of the recipes kind of out of our reach atm. I'm sure the recipes are good, but the huge amount of cheese as the base of many of them is a lot for me/dissapointing.) Believe me, if we can do dairy at some point or get our hands on a good sub (like the daiya foods one) we will be using lots of SCD recipes! (And I'm honestly terrible w/ cookbooks--I get them as much to read through and spark ideas as I do for using the actual recipes--it's really bad. I practically never use recipes from them [aside from baking recipes], but LOVE them...I'm so crazy! If I had an addiction it would certainly be to buying books--currently food related --whenever I have the money...)

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

I am looking at these books as well:
Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet: The Grain-Free, Lactose-Free, Sugar-Free Solution to IBD, Celiac Disease, Autism, Cystic Fibrosis, and Other Health Conditions (Healthy Living Cookbooks) (Paperback)

It is highly reviewed as having lots of ethnic dishes and using simple ingredients which is very intriguing to me and supposedly a good soy sub- my luck w/ subbing the taste of soy in stirfrys and such has been hit or miss. Again though I worry about the dairy.
http://www.amazon.com/Recipes-Specif...ef=pd_sim_b_34

I looked at that too--I'd probably go w/ that if I were to buy any SCD book again.

I am looking at this one as well, which again is very highly rated. From what I could figure out she uses honey and stevia to sweeten- almond, coconut, and brown rice flour for baking- and coconut oil and coconut milk. I am not keen on the brown rice flour, but am wondering how many recipes it is in- she has some raw recipes as well and evidently lots of good info about making your own nut milk and various other things.
The Spunky Coconut Cookbook: Gluten Free, Casein Free, Sugar Free (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/Spunky-Coconut...pr_product_top

I've looked at that b/4 w/ interest!!! The br. rice stuff is what kept me from buying it, but if you do buy it, please let us know how grain-free it is! I really want to learn more about using stevia!! Oh--and thanks for the input on Bruce Fife's book...there are so many recipes available online I should really think more a/b it b/4 getting it...

Yay on the sleep!!! Sounds like you'll need it w/ your closely impending labor!!! How thrilling!!!

Ds was up from 4:30-7:30 last night (almond reaction I'm sure--that is one of his regular I'm-having-a-food-reaction symptoms--waking up in the night and staying up, although he wasn't crying which was good...) so I am soooo tired!

Speaking of books, do any of you have Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint? I'm thinking of adding that to my list as well as I can't stop reading MDA!

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by FairyRae

We are fine w/ coconut (thank God--it is my savior!)--I just haven't found a coconut bread recipe ds really likes--and I find they don't hold up well when toasted. I think I'll try another seed blend for the flour in the bread today. I think I was semi-emotionally invested in the idea of using almond flour for some reason, as it is the base of so many grain free and SCD recipes for baked goods. I'm kind of glad I didn't prefer the almond flour bread to other things I've made w/ seeds. I had put off making a bread to trial the almonds, but I guess we'll just see how it comes out w/ a seed blend! Elana's pantry recipes seem to work well w/ seed subs...

I know the almond flour is so much easier to me and personally I really like the flavor. I like the flavors of pecans as well, I have found that unfortunately I don't like the flavor of straight pumpkin seeds though- however mixes w/ sunflower, pumpkin, brazil, cashews etc are yummy. I haven't made a coconut bread recipe myself- actually I am kind of afraid to make any kind of bread as I am afraid it will incite binging. I try not to do too many baked goods.

Healing Foods has TONS of dairy, I'm dissapointed I got it (only b/c we can't do dairy, and now almonds too--makes lots of the recipes kind of out of our reach atm. I'm sure the recipes are good, but the huge amount of cheese as the base of many of them is a lot for me/dissapointing.) Believe me, if we can do dairy at some point or get our hands on a good sub (like the daiya foods one) we will be using lots of SCD recipes! (And I'm honestly terrible w/ cookbooks--I get them as much to read through and spark ideas as I do for using the actual recipes--it's really bad. I practically never use recipes from them [aside from baking recipes], but LOVE them...I'm so crazy! If I had an addiction it would certainly be to buying books--currently food related --whenever I have the money...)

I hate to hear that! I have lots of cookbooks as well that I don't use too much, but would sure like some w/ recipes w/ ingredients I actually eat instead of subbing everything in there- sometimes I want something easy!

I put a question to the author of the SCD book on Amazon about the amount of dairy in the recipes- hopefully I will get some kind of response.


I am still trying to figure out if there is anyway to contact the Spunky Coconut author, but no luck!

Ds was up from 4:30-7:30 last night (almond reaction I'm sure--that is one of his regular I'm-having-a-food-reaction symptoms--waking up in the night and staying up, although he wasn't crying which was good...) so I am soooo tired!

Speaking of books, do any of you have Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint? I'm thinking of adding that to my list as well as I can't stop reading MDA!

OH, sorry to hear you got no sleep Hopefully his reaction is not long lasting!

I have not read Primal Blueprint, but it does sound very interesting. I really appreciate the fact that he seems to take into consideration all facets of life into your health and not just diet- ie adequate sleep, good exercise, not letting the pursuit of diet perfection get in the way of life itself- I wonder how much time is devoted to each of the various subjects in the book itself.

Great day here- I feel soooo much better! Apple pancakes(apples grated w/ the juice squeezed out and eggs+cinnamon) deep fried in coconut oil w/ homemade sausage. Grilled chicken salad for lunch and NO idea for supper!

[crunchy_mama]

http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/

I found the blog to the lady who wrote the spunky coconut cookbook. She has some recipes there so perhaps we can test them out first! She is certainly not a grainfree purist, but it seems she certainly has some really interesting recipes and a decent amount of grainfree goods as well.

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

I am still trying to figure out if there is anyway to contact the Spunky Coconut author, but no luck!

She has a blog I've come across b/4: http://www.thespunkycoconut.com Maybe you can reach her through it?

I wonder how much time is devoted to each of the various subjects in the book itself.

I was just looking at the chapter breakdown this am: http://primalblueprint.com/table-of-contents.html Looks really good!

I took a nap w/ ds so feeling a lot better. It is atypically BEAUTIFUL out today where I am so we spent a lot of the day outside at a park. So haven't spent much time cooking--for breakfast I had eggs w/ a green smoothie (mixed greens, strawberries, coconut milk plus some supps), and lunch was a salad w/ apples, fermented dressing, brazil nuts and egg salad on a lettuce wrap (we're eggy today!) Dinner plan is chicken wings w/ better BBQ sauce (from GoE) and brocolli (we didn't eat it last night--we had a lentil/veggie Indian puree instead--I had those lentils on my mind!)

Those apple pancakes sound good!

[lil_earthmomma]

Coconut flour banana bread:

I made a tweak to the original recipe as the first time I made it it wasn't banana-y enough!

1 (2 with my addition) ripe banana mashed (I added an extra banana and it was perfect! )
8 eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk (I used reg milk)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla ex
1/2 tsp almond ex
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sifted coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Mix together the first 7 ing.

In a seperate bowl, mix flour and baking powder together. Mix dry and wet ing together. (I used a stick blender to make sure there were no coconut flour lumps) Add in nuts or chocolate chips or whatever.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 50-60 min. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

It made great french toast this morning!!! mmmmmmmmmm...

FairyRae: Try this bread recipe, it's suppose to toast well I haven't tried it yet:

6 eggs
1/2 cup butter or CO
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sifted coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder

Blend wet and dry ing together till there are no lumps. Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 min in greased loaf pan. Remove and cool on rack.

I would definitely remove right away, as I let the loaves cool in the pan last night and some moisture from steam etc. made it extremely difficult to remove. But last time when I removed right away it popped right out!

I will continue to share my recipes as I tweak them.

Oh, and another shout out to Elana's almond butter brownies, if you haven't make them, MAKE THEM! (I'm sure any nut butter would work.)

ETA: I have been reading on Elana's site that not all almond flour is created equal. So far I just bought the stuff that they make at my HFS. Do you think this is why I haven't loved the granular texture? Maybe I'm working with a meal that isn't fine enough?

[Chouette]

8 eggs for 3/4 cup of flour! Wow! That sounds like a coconut/banana frittata to me!

I'm so new to all of this, but I'm learning so much from those of you who have been doing this for a while now. Especially you expectant mamas, as we will probably try for another babe next year.

I baked my second batch of coconut flour muffins today and they are a hit with my toddler, so they will be good lunchbox fare. But I ate way too many of them myself. Hopefully once the novelty of them wears off, I'll have a little more restraint. I dunno, though.

I've been finding it way easier to just eat meals without breads rather than try to substitute, but I think that's probably because I'm only a little over a month into this, and all that substitution seems overwhelming right now, when I'm just getting used to cooking meat again, and making sure I'm eating enough fat, and not too much protein and on and on. My husband, my toddler and I all eat so differently anyway, that I'm very used to cooking three different meals for us to eat together. Tonight I had a burger patty with some sauerkraut, he had his on a sourdough bun with the condiments, and she had buckwheat soba and seaweed in some miso broth (this is the only soup she'll eat, so this will become the vehicle for getting bone broth into her!)

So how have you folks been eating more fat without eating more protein?

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by Chouette

I've been finding it way easier to just eat meals without breads rather than try to substitute, but I think that's probably because I'm only a little over a month into this, and all that substitution seems overwhelming right now, when I'm just getting used to cooking meat again, and making sure I'm eating enough fat, and not too much protein and on and on. My husband, my toddler and I all eat so differently anyway, that I'm very used to cooking three different meals for us to eat together. Tonight I had a burger patty with some sauerkraut, he had his on a sourdough bun with the condiments, and she had buckwheat soba and seaweed in some miso broth (this is the only soup she'll eat, so this will become the vehicle for getting bone broth into her!)

So how have you folks been eating more fat without eating more protein?

I have done grain free and grain light for about 4 yrs now. Not perfect the whole time for sure, surely with ups and downs but as I go the slips are progressively less and w/ less harmful food. Have been gluten free entirely for over a year now, so if I do have grains it is generally a whole one like brown rice that I slip with- which causes much less damage. For me I have found that what works best is just avoiding the subs. I do better with very little baked goods in general- whether they are grainfree/gf or not. That and I am just not much of a baker to be honest- have always been more of a cook.

You have to find what works for you though. Sometimes having that nice grainfree treat keeps you from a grainfilled one- so it is a good back-up for if you have cravings. Right now my cravings aren't bad- thank goodness! So, I say if it is working for you currently then do it that way, if not change something!

Something else is that I find that I am drawn more and more to raw treats if I want something for a treat I would rather have a raw vegan chocolate cake- mmm!!! Those for me make me feel great after eating it and I don't have the tendency to overeat like I do w/ grainfree baked goods.

For fats I just cook most everything in fat and add it on top. This am my "pancakes" were fried in coconut oil and then I topped it w/ more coconut oil. Salads w/ lots of oil- veggies sauteed in oil- using all cuts of the meat instead of just lean ones and eating chicken skin.

Originally Posted by lil_earthmomma

Coconut flour banana bread:

FairyRae: Try this bread recipe, it's suppose to toast well I haven't tried it yet:

6 eggs
1/2 cup butter or CO
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sifted coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder

Blend wet and dry ing together till there are no lumps. Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 min in greased loaf pan. Remove and cool on rack.

I would definitely remove right away, as I let the loaves cool in the pan last night and some moisture from steam etc. made it extremely difficult to remove. But last time when I removed right away it popped right out!

I will continue to share my recipes as I tweak them.

Oh, and another shout out to Elana's almond butter brownies, if you haven't make them, MAKE THEM! (I'm sure any nut butter would work.)

ETA: I have been reading on Elana's site that not all almond flour is created equal. So far I just bought the stuff that they make at my HFS. Do you think this is why I haven't loved the granular texture? Maybe I'm working with a meal that isn't fine enough?

Oh, I might have to try that for french toast! That would make a good Sunday morning b-fast(I like to do special big b-fasts on Sunday). I haven't had french toast in Forever!

The almond meal I always used was the stuff from Honeyville or from TJ's both worked great for me. I have never used BRM or anything else, so I am not sure on what the differences are really- although it does seem she makes a big deal about it.

Originally Posted by FairyRae

She has a blog I've come across b/4: http://www.thespunkycoconut.com Maybe you can reach her through it?

Great minds think a lot! Reading her blog though makes me even more desperate for a new food processor!!!!

I was just looking at the chapter breakdown this am: http://primalblueprint.com/table-of-contents.html Looks really good!

Cool, thanks for the link, it does look really, really interesting!

I took a nap w/ ds so feeling a lot better. It is atypically BEAUTIFUL out today where I am so we spent a lot of the day outside at a park. So haven't spent much time cooking--for breakfast I had eggs w/ a green smoothie (mixed greens, strawberries, coconut milk plus some supps), and lunch was a salad w/ apples, fermented dressing, brazil nuts and egg salad on a lettuce wrap (we're eggy today!) Dinner plan is chicken wings w/ better BBQ sauce (from GoE) and brocolli (we didn't eat it last night--we had a lentil/veggie Indian puree instead--I had those lentils on my mind!)

Those apple pancakes sound good!

It has been wonderful out here as well!! Glad to hear you got some rest it makes so much difference!!!

Thanks for that blog link I had ran across that before but never bookmarked it-- looks like some good recipes. I don't have my GoE book anymore(lost in the fire) so I am happy to see some of the recipes.

We had ginger/lime/mustard roasted chicken for supper w/ greek sauteed green beans and the obligatory sweet potato. I sauteed some more spinach as well, but then I didn't want to eat it- weird pregnancy thing I guess. Dh is still doing so good! I am so proud of him! He said he is not going hungry or really feeling deprived either. He is eating lots of veggies- he is not partaking of the sweet potatoes though or any other high carb grainfree fare.

I am up in the middle of the night I was not as diligent today w/ everything- no epsom salt soak and I think that perhaps I didn't eat enough fat today- although I didn't feel hungry- I had a bit too much yesterday. Anyway, hopefully I can get a nap before the kids wake up though.

[FairyRae]

lil_earthmomma thanks for the recipe!

I made the elana's rye flax bread and it's pretty good (using 1/2 ground sunflower/1/2 ground pumpkin seed in place of the almond flour, and leaving out the water--it seemed wet enough). I think ds will like it. I'm thinking to next try her regular 2.0 bread recipe (the flax taste is pretty strong). I'm feeling confident about having a grain-free bread sub for him though. I'm so glad! Oh, I've been using mini bread pans for my bread baking which has made a big difference w/ the nut/seed flours, and I've been cooking them at 325. Just wanted to share that!

Originally Posted by Chouette

My husband, my toddler and I all eat so differently anyway, that I'm very used to cooking three different meals for us to eat together.

You are amazing! I find it challenging enough to make one meal for all of us! My ds really likes to share his food w/ me as well and/or eat off of my plate, and I like to be able to eat his leftovers (I can't handle any wasted food, you know? Even if it goes on the floor... ) Dh has his own bread and milk and some other things (real gluten and dairy in them) in special spots in the kitchen, just for him. But other than that (and when he eats out) we pretty much all eat the same stuff...

But like you have all mentioned, I tend to do better NOT eating the baked goods (even grain free) *for the most part*, but having them at special occasions, etc., and probably around 1x a week. I've done a LOT of soul-searching/ letting-go-of-baggage around food though which has helped me NOT feel like I need to eat ALL of something I bake. I just NEVER want ds to feel deprived of anything, and since I'm making all of his food from scratch anyway, and the grain free alternatives are often EASIER to make and yummier than gluten free grainfilled options, I'm sticking with them for now! I also feel a LOT better about it when I make things from scratch and feel like all or most of the ingredients are nourishing to me and my family--that way if we *do* eat a pie for dinner, (which has happened ), I feel it is nourishing and 'good' for all of us. (Have you seen the squash pudding pie recipe from GoE? YUM!!!)

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

I don't have my GoE book anymore(lost in the fire) so I am happy to see some of the recipes.

I'm so sorry!! If you can think of any recipes from the book you miss, just lmk, I'd be happy to pm them to you!!!!

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

I am up in the middle of the night I was not as diligent today w/ everything- no epsom salt soak and I think that perhaps I didn't eat enough fat today- although I didn't feel hungry- I had a bit too much yesterday.

Now that I think about it, when I was in the last month or so of my (non TF, vegetarian, carb addicted) pregnancy, I totally didn't sleep through the night ever, and would wake up feeling unable to get back to sleep. I just thought that was 'normal' for pregnancy--when maybe it was highly food related (as everything really is!) I hope you get some rest today!!

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by lil_earthmomma

I've been very active on www.marksdailyapple.com and loving the primal lifestyle. It's not as strict as paleo, and jives more with my personal nutritional philosophy of high fat, low carb.

A little OT, but lil_earthmomma and other MDA readers, have you tried doing any of the work out kind of stuff recommended on MDA? I'm *thinking* about trying some of it (like the 1x a week sprints--have you heard of lean running? It's WAY fun!) Also, I'm *thinking* of getting some water shoes for the winter, just for when I'm out and about (as recommended on some barefoot running sites--it's way cheaper than some of the other almost-barefoot options)--I LOVE going barefoot and was excited to read how good it is for your feet and body!