The Sweet Escape - Life Without Sugar

October 2012 is a wonderful benchmark month for me.  It marks a year since I truly committed to a grain-free/sugar-free diet full time.  It also marks the first year of my life of not getting sick once.  No sniffles, no sore throats, no chest colds- NOTHING.  This feels like an absolutely miraculous turnaround for me.  I used to think I was someone who just had a fragile constitution, a "crappy immune system," or was just genetically prone to certain things that I've had all my life such as enlarged tonsils, acne-prone skin, and a tendency to catch whatever bugs were going around.  I was ever on the look out for the herb or supplement or other magic bullet that would help me achieve a heartier constitution and allow me to get on planes, go to shows or parties, or walk into Whole Foods Berkeley without contracting something that would put me out of commission for a week.  I also eagerly sought the pill or practice that would get my PTSD-destroyed memory faculty and focus back to its steel trap self.

Just before this time last year, as chronicled in my first post on this blog, I was plagued with frequent "strep throat" and an increasing variety of other ailments that I hadn't connected to my diet.  I was overjoyed as I cleared up these health issues by following a primal-style, anti-candida diet.  But as the months went on and began to approach a year, I was in disbelief at my own sustained wellness, higher energy, what still feels like someone else's clear complexion, better focus and greater productivity.  Even as I began formally studying nutrition and bolstering my understanding of the ability of foods to heal the body and mind, I was still in awe of the results I was getting when I put it into practice for myself.  I "knew" that "80% of the immune system resides in the gut" and that healing the gut could potentially heal one's seemingly unrelated ailments.  But I didn't truly come to know this deeply until I experienced it for myself.

I have one nagging problem that will be a goal for the year to come, which is that in the week prior menstruation I tend to experience extreme fatigue as a symptom of PMS.  Even this has begun to lessen in the past couple of months, but for much of the year, there was a day or two each month that I'd have to work in bed.  My study schedule gets thrown off because I'm unable to do anything outside of work on such days, and I essentially lose up to 5 days per month of productivity during the toughest months.  So while I'm encouraged by the last couple of months' cycles not requiring any work-in-bed days, this concern is definitely a work in progress that I will be focusing on for the next several months.

I am also finally at the point in my life where I can dip my toes into meditation, which I seem to be ready for, versus merely interested in/terrified of, now.  Even just my short and recent forays into it have yielded positive effects on my mood and focus.  I look forward to continuing to delve more deeply into that practice.

This year has been all the motivation I need to stay on track with the changes I've made and I am totally grateful for the sweet rewards I've garnered from a year of escape from sugar and grains. 

And looking forward to the warming and nourishing foods of Fall!

I was asked recently by a Vega One user whether there was any suitable alternative to Vega that was nutritionally comparable, vegan, and less costly, which can be a concern with any supplement- they can quickly add up to being a substantial part of your monthly budget.  I was interested in this inquiry for a number of reasons.  1) I couldn't believe anyone was drinking Vega because last time I tried it I found it to be pretty unpleasant tasting and (perhaps unrelated) I actually vomited the next morning (came out looking just like it went in) and that sealed the deal, never had Vega again.  2) I think meal replacements are a great thing to keep on hand for when you're in a rush or if you have a very hectic schedule.  This kind of preparation can help you to avoid resorting to convenience foods in a pinch and I was happy to see which option might be most nutritionally sound and budget-friendly.  3) I had been struggling all summer with how to eat a satisfying breakfast that was also a cold breakfast, which was all I could tolerate during month after month of 100+ heat.  So I thought a meal replacement shake could be a good solution to that.

I started with some internet research to quickly narrow down the options and peruse the nutritional content of available products.  The stipulations were that the contenders had to be vegan, they had to be complete meal replacements (not just protein powders), and they had to be fairly accessible (in other words, you could find it in a health food store vs. having to order it online, pay shipping, wait a week to get it...this is about convenience after all).  The two options I came up with for actual taste tests were Vega One All-in-One Nutritional Shake (which my friend had been using) and the Garden of Life Raw Meal.  Both options were available in two different flavors each in convenient single serving packets perfect for this comparison.  Also, both products could be mixed with water or mylk, so their usage instructions were identical.  Here's how they measured up toe to toe.

Vega One:  First I mixed the chocolate variety with water.  Mmmmm!  It tasted like a delicious dessert and nothing like the Vega I remember.  Even in just water this stevia-sweetened contender was smooth and totally tasty.  However, shortly after finishing it, I DID get that lurch in my gut that signaled to me that I may not be digesting this very well.  The nutrition facts on this meal replacement are very comprehensive and impressive, and many of the ingredients are whole-food ingredients.  However, the vitamin and mineral selection were all isolates like you would find in a multi-vitamin.  These are not the ideal way to get your nutrients, and my stomach was certainly getting that message.  Also, this meal didn't hold me over for very long.  And no wonder, it only contains 138 calories!  This is not a sufficient meal unless you're on some kind of unsustainable starvation diet.  But kudos to Vega for making a really yummy product that left me excited to try the Vanilla Chai later that week.  

This time around I added a tbsp of coconut butter to the Vanilla Chai with water to bump up the calories and good fats in an effort to make this more of a "meal".  Normally I'm fairly picky about chai flavored things.  It didn't really taste like chai, but I loved it!  My out loud reaction was "Mmmm!  Christmas cookies!"  Another great tasting beverage.  Again, I found that it didn't make me feel super amazing, though I was satiated longer by the addition of the coconut butter.  So, Vega All-in-One: not a bad experience.  $69.99 for 22 servings in a jar.  That's $3.18 per serving.

Raw Meal: I noticed right away that a serving of Raw Meal was much bigger, about twice the size in fact, of a serving of the Vega One.  But the macronutrients and vitamins and minerals were also doubled to an unnecessarily high level.  34g of protein?!  That's way more than most people need in a meal and is more than half of what I personally need in a day.  So I split the serving into two.  This still yielded almost identical calories and other nutritional content as a single serving of Vega One.  I mixed the chocolate flavor with just water and right away you can really see the effect of the fact that Raw Meal is a fully food-based RAW product.  If you leave it sitting for too long it will start to thicken the way flax or chia seeds will.  But I found I had plenty of time to drink it at a relaxed pace before this went too far.  Taste-wise, you can also clearly tell that this is all real food.  It's not amazing and dessert-like like the Vega, but it's still totally drinkable in my opinion.  I still found the same problem of this drink being too low-calorie and  low-fat to sustain me for more than 90 minutes.  But during that time I felt good and didn't experience any digestive discomfort.  

As I did with the Vega test, I tried the Vanilla-flavored Raw Meal with a tablespoon of coconut butter blended in for increased calories, satiety, and fuel.  This flavor was even less exciting than the chocolate as predicted, but tasted like it could be versatile and was still pleasant enough that the taste wasn't a total deterrent.  A jar of Raw Meal is about $55.99 for what they call 14 servings.  But it should REALLY be used in half serving sizes to avoid protein overload.  So if we consider this jar 28 servings, that's just $2 per serving!

Who wins and why?  

As far as cost, Raw Meal used in a half serving is clearly more economical.  But Vega One definitely has the upper hand when it comes to taste and texture.  I would keep Vega One around if I had a sweet craving or wanted a dessert that would feel like a healthful alternative.  But I would not rely on it as a regular meal replacement.  It may taste good and boast a seemingly impressive nutritional fact panel, but it is only as good as what you actually ABSORB from it.  It contains some synthetics, and does not offer the HUGE benefit of retaining the natural enzymes and copious unmentioned co-factors that you get from the raw, whole-food nature of the Raw Meal that will actually assist your body in absorbing the nutrients on the label, which are quite similar to Vega One anyway.  And in my opinion you can feel the difference.  

Both do suffer the problem of conforming to conventional thought on nutrition in being designed as low-fat and low-calorie.  Taken with just water, a 140 calorie drink is a snack at best.  But I was impressed enough with the Raw Meal as a base to work with that I promptly went out and purchased a whole jar and am now on my second jar.   

Despite this product containing grains, which I don't include in my primal-leaning diet, I now use this Vanilla Raw Meal daily.  The grains are sprouted, making them much more absorbable and helping to avoid the nutritional pitfalls of grain consumption.  I do always boost this product to elevate it to true meal status when it comes to calorie count and macronutrient ratios.   I add 1 tb raw coconut oil, two raw egg yolks (vegans will obviously choose something else- I'd recommend lecithin and algae), and a few drops of liquid stevia, and I am going superhero-style for hours.  I will further flavor this with either 2 tb of raw cacao powder, which is great for adding more calories, nutrients, and a subtle stimulant effect.  Or I will add a pinch of cinnamon and 1 tsp of Teecino for a cappuccino-style flavor that is free of stimulants.

Long story long, I am super grateful to have been asked about vegan meal replacements, because it turned me on to Garden of Life Raw Meal, which I happily use now.  It is a winner nutritionally and economically, and tastes good enough to make me look forward to my breakfast each morning!  It can be found at just about any health food store and more product info is available here.  I hope that you have found this product challenge helpful too as a vegan or as someone in search of quick, healthy meal options!

Peach season has come to an end.  I indulged in a few local peaches this summer and they were by far my favorite fruit treat.  A good local, organic peach needs little to nothing added to be wonderful.  When I wasn't eating a peach on its own, I did a quick no-cook dessert like this Peaches and Cream Crumble.  It takes about two minutes to whip up and requires no exact measurements.  

I started with chopped pecans (soaked and dried first, which should be done well ahead of time and stored as a staple), then thinly sliced a ripe peach and tossed the peach slices with a 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon.  I pressed some of the pecans into the bottom of the dish, then layered some peach slices followed by more crumbled pecans, and so on.  Then I drizzled coconut milk (full-fat, canned) over the peaches just enough to see it travel to the bottom of the dish, but not so much that the other elements were swimming in cream.  Then I finished with an extra sprinkling of cinnamon on top.  

This was a naturally sweet, cool, and creamy dessert (or breakfast?) that I will look forward to again next summer.  There's nothing like a Texas peach!

I am often asked in my day job if there are any protein bars on the market that are suitable for a whole-food, anti-inflammatory diet.  My answer is always "Not that I've EVER seen."  I occasionally re-scour the food bar section of a health food store to see if there are any new possibilities and I'm always disappointed after reading the nutrition panels on any unfamiliar options.  At worst, protein bars are full of highly refined ingredients, preservatives, texture additives, and sugar.  At best they are less processed but still contain agave, evaporated cane juice, or other sweeteners that are bad news for teeth, weight maintenance, and nutrient digestion/absorption.  I'd settle for something sweetened solely with something like whole dates, but I've yet to see one.  My suggestion is always to make your own, which is actually quite easy and allows full control over your ingredients.  Making small batches of DIY protein snacks also allows you to avoid preservatives and other stuff that is only necessary in making something that needs to be able to sit on a shelf for weeks (who wants that anyway?)

Today I whipped up these Snowball Refrigerator Snacks and had a couple with a glass of iced green tea on a break.  This is a perfect afternoon snack because both contain energizing nutrients that will perk you up without the need for coffee or sugar.  These Snowballs are also high in protein, fueling fats, and antioxidants.

This recipe will just make about 4 pieces, so increase the amounts as needed, but keep in mind that you only need one or two per serving as they are very filling, and they are so easy to make that making more than one small batch a week is not going to feel like a pain.

These are a close variation of a versatile recipe from Nora Gedgaudas, who I LOVE: Nora's Nut Ball Snackers.  I greened and veganized mine:

Snowball Refrigerator Snacks:

2 Tb Coconut Butter (such as Coconut Manna) warmed to a stir-able paste 
1/4 Cup Almond Flour or other ground nuts
* Or substitute equal parts of a nut butter for the above ingredients.
1/4 Cup raw cacao powder
1 Tb chia seeds
1 Tb spirulina
1/2 tsp raw vanilla bean powder
10-15 drops liquid stevia or a pinch of stevia leaf powder
A pinch of sea salt
2 Tb unsweetened shredded coconut

Mix all but the shredded coconut in a bowl with a spoon or spatula.  If necessary, adjust your wet or dry ingredients to make the mixture easy to shape.  Or if it's still too moist, just pop into the fridge to firm up for a couple of minutes.  Once you have a pliable "dough", shape these into approximately 1-inch balls, working quickly to prevent the dough from softening too much as you go.  Then roll each ball in the shredded coconut and pop into the fridge.  It's so hot here in Austin that I needed to put each one into the fridge right away before moving on to the next.

The one downside here compared to a store-bought protein bar is that these need to be kept cool.  So keep them in the fridge for snacking at home.  If you need to take them as portable snacks, I would freeze them solid over night and keep them in a leak-proof bag or container.  They still may melt on you depending on temperature and duration out of the fridge. Or pack them in a little cooler as Nora suggests.  That's the trade off in this case, but I think it's worthwhile.

These taste even better than I'd expected and are SO filling.  And as Nora's recipe shows, you can endlessly tweak these to your taste.

Enjoy!

Last week I visited a friend in Louisville, KY.  Travelling is always a bit of a challenge while following a special diet.  But traveling to Kentucky?  I was worried.  They do have a Whole Foods Market there, but it's not quite as diversely stocked as the trusty flagship in Austin.  One evening while on our way to a drive-in theater, my friends wanted to stop for ice cream at a popular neighborhood stand that offered classic desserts and snacks.  I will let you in on a secret.  I LOVE old-fashioned drive-thru or walk-up places.  I yearn to eat just about anything delivered out of a window of a place like that (in this case, I'm referring to Louisville's Dairy Kastle).  I think it comes from a life of watching movies with scenes involving eating in the car like American Graffiti, Vacation, The Graduate, etc., and a general love for all things retro.  

I wanted to see Dairy Kastle, but I didn't want to be stuck without something for myself while my companions partook in tempting frosty desserts!  So I Googled health food stores in Louisville and found a highly rated shop called Rainbow Blossom that had a location nearby.  What a pleasant surprise this store was!  They have EVERYTHING you could want for a special diet like paleo, raw, vegan, or hypoallergenic, even things that seem a bit obscure to show up in a place like Louisville.  Kudos to their buyers!  They also have a Live Juice bar inside!  

I found the sometimes elusive "So Delicious -No Sugar Added- Coconut Milk Ice Cream" there, which I thought was a long shot. I couldn't believe they had that in their small ice cream section.  This is a rare treat for me because of the processed alternative sweeteners it contains, but it was the perfect thing to grab in preparation for a visit to an ice cream stand in 100F weather.  I didn't feel deprived at all, and felt like I could join in on the good time with some Coconut Butter Pecan.  I was overjoyed!

I stopped by again before leaving town to stock up on airport food.  I will certainly visit this amazing store anytime I'm in Louisville and I highly recommend dropping in if you're in the area and need vegan groceries, high quality fresh foods, or specialty snacks.  They have all your reliable, familiar options, plus everything else you could want.  Rainbow Blossom is the best small natural food store I've ever been to.  Lucked out in Louisville.

At yesterday's farmer's market, I picked up the tiniest watermelon I could find.  This is an experimental watermelon, my first in many months.  Since the inception of this blog, I have had little to no sweet foods in order to heal my gut from candida overgrowth and get hormones and things back into balance.  As I am finally starting to feel in the clear with that, I have been experimenting with small amounts of fruit, such as a little bit of apple or berries or date.  Not wanting to let summer pass without partaking in the wonderful seasonal fruits grown here in the Austin area, I am choosing something different each time I visit my local farmer's market or co-op. This week I ate my first peach of 2012, which was delicious!  This weekend I tried watermelon.  Watermelon used to be one of my very favorites.  

My last vivid memory of watermelon entails eating a bunch of it while I was sick with with a sore throat a few years ago.  Looking back, this was one of several episodes that I now point the finger at candida for.  I didn't feel as run down as one would with a flu, but had lost my voice and had strep symptoms.  This would occur again several times before I made the candida connection and switched my diet.  So I'll be honest, while I wanted to try this delicious fruit, I was also slightly anxious about it.  Last night I cracked into the melon and cut a small slice.  I ate it and enjoyed it without really wanting much, certainly not feeling any urge to cut another slice.  This felt more empowering than disappointing.

So now what to do with the rest of this little watermelon?  I decided to make a sorbet in my ice cream maker so that I could keep it in the freezer.  I'll go through this melon so slowly that freezing seemed like a necessity.

Summer Watermelon Sorbet Recipe:

1 Small Watermelon, about 6 inches in diameter
1 Tb Lime Juice
5-10 drops liquid stevia
1 pinch sea salt

You'll notice in the picture that I blended the seeds right in with the flesh of the watermelon so that they would be part of the sorbet.  This is not at all necessary and most might find it unappealing.  But watermelon seeds are a good source of zinc and other minerals when chewed and digested, so I left them in.  I just added all the above ingredients into the blender, blended til smooth, and poured them into my ice cream maker until it froze to a softly scoop-able texture.  These proportions made about 18oz of sorbet.  

The lime adds some bright tartness and this turned out to be a delicious dessert.  I only had a spoonful or two as I didn't seem to want more than a taste again today.  But it was definitely tasty and would also make great popsicles!  

Johnson's Backyard Garden (my favorite source of produce in Austin) had carrots this week at their farmer's market stand and I decided I would give them a shot since my candida symptoms have cleared up enough to do a little experimenting with sweeter plants.  I was truly tempted to snag one of their first watermelons of the season, but I'll save that for an upcoming week.  

I considered carrot cake, but then also considered the current temperatures in the 90s and settled on carrot cake ice cream instead.  Quicker, healthier, and cooler.

Carrot Cake Ice Cream

1 can full-fat coconut milk
4 small carrots (such as the locally-grown ones pictured above, or 1.5 large carrots)
1 small pinch (no more than that) xanthan gum
40 drops liquid stevia (or to desired sweetness)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 pinch sea salt

Blend all in a blender until smooth and process in ice cream maker until sufficiently firm.

Spice this to taste, I tend to go heavy on the cinnamon and allspice.  Also, I added 2 tbs of cashew butter and a half tb of lemon juice to attempt to capture a bit of that tart, creamy flavor that you get in a carrot cake's frosting.  But it ended up not being detectable and could have been left out.  Or alternatively, if you can make some true cashew "cream cheese" and add a considerable amount to the recipe, maybe it would come through in the final product.  

FYI, the recipe above minus the carrots and spices is my go-to ice cream recipe, which I can adapt in any flavor direction very easily with other additions.  I'll be making LOTS of ice cream this summer with this base recipe!

These, my friends, are not sugar-free, wheat-free, or paleo.  These beauties are vegan, jelly-filled doughnuts made by Red Rabbit Cooperative Bakery here in Austin as seen at Wheatsville Co-Op, which I frequent at least weekly and which was, as you'll recall, the site of my past sweet cheats before I gave up grains and sugar for good (the Red Rabbit doughnuts being some of my absolute favorites). 

So why am I posting about this on my sugar-free blog?  Wheatsville posted this picture and announcement of the availability of this and other new doughnut varieties on their facebook page a couple of days ago and it's ALL I can think about.  Cravings in general have diminished significantly in the past couple months, but every now and then, something like this pops up in my field of vision.  My first thought is "Omg, I HAVE to try these!  I'll just have one just to have the experience and that's it." 

In general, I think taking this dietary approach of occasionally indulging in your favorite foods and being very reasonable and moderate about it all is probably the best approach.  That is, if you don't have a full blown sugar addiction a la moi.  You don't often see a recovering alcoholic just drinking on occasion, and I'm finding that I need to follow a similar path, particularly when these indulgences are ever-present and available at places I visit often as a routine (all bets are off next time I'm in Europe though). 

I wish I could try a stupid doughnut and be done with it, but I know I'm a "can't eat just one" type of girl, so I'm finding total avoidance to actually be a more liberating choice for me.  Not only would the experience likely fire up the habitual and emotional aspect of sugar cravings, but having the amount of sugar and wheat back in my system contained in just one of these doughnuts would also physically kindle my body's desire for sugar, which I've worked so hard to get over in the past several months.  With all the candida symptoms that were previously apparent to me having now totally disappeared, it's further motivation to not take steps backward when it comes to my progress with addressing the dysbiosis that was causing me trouble.

My next thought was "Maybe I could make a paleo version..."  But this consideration didn't last long.  Some may call me a naysayer for this, but I don't think you could make an adequate grain/sugar-free version of a jelly doughnut, and I'm sure not gonna bother trying even as much as I love to make analogs.  So I'm just gonna feed this doughnut craving with green juice and with plenty of fat, which will take the form of stevia-sweetened coconut milk ice cream this evening.

With all that said, these doughnuts ARE delicious and made by a great company.  So next time you're in Austin, I encourage you to give them a try at Wheatsville if you are able to occasionally eat sugar or wheat (tell me how the jelly-filled ones are!). 

As I review this rather vent-y blog entry, I'm almost too disgusted by its unimportance in the grand scheme of things to even post it.  But it is, at the very least, a way of being accountable (to the internet?) for my actions in order to keep me on the sugar-free wagon.  And perhaps others who are confronting emotional eating or sugar addiction or are healing from candida will find it relatable.  But still, you can file this post (and the blog in its entirety for that matter) under First World Problems.  :)

 

Omg.  My new favorite snack.  This insanely easy and satisfying snack was thought up by Brittany Angell and you can see her recipe here on her lovely blog.  I opted for a sweet version:

Cinnamon "Sugar" Coconut Chips-

-1/2 cup large coconut flakes (I used "Let's Do...Organic" brand, which is widely available)
-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
-a small pinch of powdered stevia leaf
-a small pinch of sea salt

Toss these together until the coconut flakes are coated. Then warm them in a pan over medium heat for just a few minutes.  Don't use any oil, as the flakes contain naturally perfect amounts of coconut oil.  Remove from heat and let the chips cool down a bit.  They will get all crispity as they come back to room temperature.  So good!

For this variation, I think the powdered stevia leaf works well (a rarity in my book), but if you really want the crystalline texture of sugar, a little bit of xylitol could be substituted.

I think a chili-lime version would be delish.  Or next time I'm craving popcorn, I bet nutritional yeast and garlic salt would be AMAZING!  It's the crispy crunch of these chips that really hits the spot for those of us who tend to avoid conventional snacks.  Plus, they are done in minutes, which is crucial when you've got a craving!  

   I recently wanted to commit to regularly juicing in an effort to maximize my raw vegetable intake and to minimize my fiber intake, which has been preventing comfortable digestion lately.  A few years ago I invested in a Champion juicer for my partner and I to use.  We used it just a handful of times, afterward allowing it to sit for years before we decided to sell it on Craigslist.  It crossed my mind to repurchase a juicer, but that would just make the decision to sell an amazing juicer for half its cost totally unbearable.  So I decided to experiment with the other kitchen appliance I've already invested in- my blender.  

   I use a Blendtec, though a Vitamix or even possibly an old cheap blender will work in this case (though perhaps a bit less well).  I fill my blender with veggies and fresh herbs, that are suitable for copious consumption raw, which I recently educated myself about and learned a lot of helpful information.  Here's a quick guide to safe raw veggies.  I add about 4oz of water and blend until I have a drinkable smoothie consistency (you may or may not need to add any water based on your blender's capabilities).  I then strain this smoothie through a fabric straining bag.  A nut milk bag or even a clean paint strainer will work.  I gently and thoroughly squeeze all the moisture from the contents of the bag until I'm left with a shriveled, fibrous wad of plant cellulose.  The resulting product is a deep green liquid that includes not only the original water content but also all the nutrient-rich and intensely flavored water that was extracted and squeezed from the veggies.  Here's a cute video of a sweet raw foodie doing this with her Vitamix.

   I have made green juice in this way for the past couple of weeks 2-3 times a day.  The end result has been a noticeable and unexpected reduction in food cravings, exceptional digestion and elimination (TMI, sorry), and a serious energy boost that I was not able to get from smoothies or cooked veggies, due in part to the fact that you can only consume so many veggies per day in their whole form because of the filling bulk of their fiber.  I have been learning about the non-necessity of high dietary fiber lately and even the downsides to a high fiber diet when it comes to nutrient absorption, which I may save for later post.  However if you are using fruit, I would advise keeping your beverage in smoothie-form instead so that you aren't extracting and consuming high amounts of fructose without the fiber from the whole fruit to slow it's uptake by the body.

   Someday I may still invest in a juicer, but this has become an amazingly easy and cheap alternative that is already delivering clear benefits.  So glad I got started with this prior to the impending long, hot Texas summer!