My 5 Days of Paleo – WIAW Halloween Edition

Thanks for all of your comments on my Accent Vlog. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you must! It is so much fun that you’ll want to make one too.

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Now, onto my post’s title today: Five Days of Paleo. What?! Paleo? Is she crazy? Doesn’t she have enough restrictions without giving up grains too?

Hold your horses there my fellow bloggers. These five days of Paleo were not intentional. It just so happens that I ran out of both my quinoa flakes and my brown rice protein powder on Sunday… And I’m not going home til Friday night. Hence, a week of “forced” Paleo.

But don’t get me wrong, I’m actually quite excited. While I do love my protein breads and quinoa porridge, I don’t think my stomach always does. I’ve been noticing lately that after eating quinoa flakes my stomach gets particularly bubbly, and sometimes even bloated.

Of course, we don’t want that! So a few weeks ago I looked up some different reasons why I may now be reacting poorly to quinoa flakes. What I came up with was a description off of the Whole9 Approach’s website about what grains do to our bodies:

Many with gluten sensitivities report similar reactions when consuming non-gluten grains, leading us to believe that there are bigger problems with “grains” (including non-grains like quinoa) than gluten. These other grains are still calorie-dense and carbohydrate-dense, promoting an unhealthy hormonal response when consumed in a “normal” serving size.

But where will I get my carbohydrates from? There is nothing – not vitamins, minerals, fiber or phytonutrients – found in grains that you can’t find in copious amounts in fresh vegetables or fruits.

Taken from Gluten-Free Part 1 and Gluten-Free Part 2 on the Whole9Life website.

More on what I’ve been eating later on though… It’s time for WIAW!

Thank you Peas and Crayons for this awesome Halloween Extravaganza. It’s been a lot of fun!!

However, I haven’t exactly been following this month’s theme for the past few weeks– No spooky snacks or Halloween-themed treats. So today I wanted to make it up to you all and share with my top five “scary” Halloween movies:

*the quotation marks are my acknowledgement that these movies aren’t “scary” to most people… most likely just to me*

5. Get a Clue

This movie is based off of The Westing Game, a great children’s chapter book about a rich millionaire whose ghost is suspected of coming back to haunt his heirs. It’s just one big mystery, and is full of puzzles (which I love!).

4. Halloweentown High

One of the first Halloween movies that I ever remember watching. Sure, it’s a little kiddish, but really, does Disney ever get old? Plus, who hasn’t ever wanted to be a witch?

3. Hocus Pocus

Okay, I take back what I said about wanting to be a witch. I would never want to be these witches! I still to this day close my eyes when Bett Midler’s red-headed witch is revived. Creepy!

2. Casper Meets Wendy

Alright. I just can’t make up my mind today! If I had to be a witch, I’d definitely want to be like Hilary Duff in Casper Meets Wendy. She is just so cute, plus she gets to hang out with the coolest and friendliest ghost around! I’d love to have a friend who could walk through walls and turn invisible. Pshhh. I’d love to be able to turn invisible.

1. Scooby Doo on Zombie Island

This is probably one of the scariest Scooby Doo movies that I have seen to date, and trust me, I’ve seen a lot. I’m like a Scooby Doo fiend! What I like about this one is that it is so different than previous Scooby Doo shows, mainly because this time the monsters are actually real!

Alright, enough Halloween chit-chat. Time for some food.

Here is my last banana protein bread on Sunday before I emptied my protein powder jug:

Yes, just looking at this picture makes me want to shed a tear.

Now that I can’t eat my usual protein powder or quinoa flakes, you may ask yourself: What do I plan on eating for the next five days?

Well, since I can’t have eggs or any nuts/coconuts/avocados (which are all MAJOR Paleo sources of fat and protein) I’m going to have to increase my macronutrients elsewhere with meat, which will be fine, but nothing compared to my breads, pancakes and porridge…

Breakfast

On day one I had a banana and some chicken. It wasn’t awful by any means, but let’s just say that my stomach is not fit to handle meat in the morning. Instead, today I just had two bananas. Not ideal, but much better than yesterday!

Lunch

For lunch I did a little experimenting and whipped up a very simple recipe:

Squash, Chicken and Green Bean Soup

2 servings or 1 large serving

Inspired by KathEats

Ingredients:

• 2 servings (or 1 cup cooked) chicken
• 1 can unsalted green beans, drained
• 1/4 cooked butternut squash, cubed

Directions: Combine all ingredients, heat and enjoy!

Leftovers are also great because it lets all the flavors meld together. In Kath’s original recipe she includes chopped apples, which I think would make a wonderful addition. This time though I just wanted to keep it simple.

Snack

I ate these grapes while walking between classes. It was so cold and rainy today! My face was permanently red and frozen.

Dinner

For dinner I had the same thing both yesterday and today, although today I had substantially less chicken, which was way easier on my stomach. Yesterday I felt like I had swallowed a brick for the rest of the night!

A salad with a lettuce mix, shredded carrots, cucumber slices and grapes.

And grilled chicken. I also had more unpictured grapes later on.

Snack

And what do you know? More bananas. To even out the sugar I also had some cucumber slices. Got to get my vegetables in!

Here are how my first two days went so far:

Day One:

It wasn’t even remotely hard because I have zero temptation. Haha. Seriously, without the protein powder and quinoa flakes in my room to taunt me, eating paleo was a breeze. Basically every non-paleo food at my school I am allergic to!

Stomach wise, it was so-so. My body just can’t handles that much meat at once I think. Even though I have been taking some digestive enzymes that are supposed to be helping with all of that, I was definitely on overload by the end of the day. Weirdly enough though, I felt “heavy” but I was actually hungry constantly. Maybe it was all of the fruit and simple sugars?

Day Two:

Today my stomach felt much better and less weighed down. I also ate a lot less meat, which I think contributed to the improvement. Right now I feel kind of stuffed, even though I didn’t eat an outrageous amount of food for my snack tonight. Hopefully this feeling wears off soon.

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I’m hoping that my remaining three days of my mini-Paleo challenge continue to get better. Come Friday night when I get home (or Saturday morning) I will most likely indulge in some protein power and quinoa. However, if by Friday I feel like a million bucks, I won’t be one to deny what’s right for my body.

Proponents of the Paleo lifestyle, particularly those who follow the Whole30 approach, say that going Paleo was the best decision that they ever made. There are dozens of testimonials on the Whole9Life website that support this idea.

Some of the testimonials that were of particular interest to me were: Acid reflux, acne, allergies (food and seasonal), candida, circulation, cravings, eating disorders, GERD, IBS, reactive hypoglycemia, and weight loss, things that have all crossed my mind or have affected me in one way or another.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

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Have you tried the Paleo diet before? How did you feel? Do any of these testimonials resonate with you?

Do you have a hard time digesting a lot of meat? If so, what do you do?

What is your favorite “scary” movie?

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

*Edited to add a video of this man who goes OMG when trees start falling during Hurricane Sandy. Hilarious!

WIAW- Randomness, Workouts and Recipes

Hello everyone! It’s Wednesday so you know what that means…

If you missed any of my last few posts, check them out here: Weekend WIAW (3 Recipes), Sunshine in My Fridays, and Holiday Hustle: Thanksgiving Workout.

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As always, thanks to the lovely Jenn from Peas and Crayons for hosting this awesome party. Seriously, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have this to look forward to every week!

Today’s WIAW will again feature some of things that I made over the weekend, as well as my some thoughts.

To start off… A new recipe!

As a food allergy gal, I seriously miss my daily serving of bread. I used to eat this one kind of lite whole wheat bread multiple times a day. Toast with peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled chicken sandwiches… heck I even topped my bread with Greek yogurt on occasion! Mostly though, I miss the convenience of bread, and the delicious sandwiches that it made.

So, when I saw this recipe over at The Brain and Body for a microwave English muffin, I knew that I had to give making sandwich bread a try. Now, my recipe looks absolutely nothing like Sarah’s, but it was the inspiration that I give her credit for. Okay, are you ready?

Microwave Sandwich Bread

High fiber, Gluten-free, vegan, high protein, sugar free, low sodium, corn-free

Ingredients:

• 1 scoop brown rice protein powder (16 grams)*
• 1 tbsp brown rice flour (8 grams)*
• 1/2 tsp baking powder (sodium and corn-free)
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (60 grams)*
• 2 tbsp water (more or less if needed)
• add salt or seasonings if desired

Directions:

1. Mix together all of the ingredients and spread the mixture out in a cereal bowl. Cook for 2 minutes. If moist on bottom flip over and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

2. Let cool slightly then slice carefully with a thin, sharp knife.

3. Fill with meat, veggies, tofu, nut butters, jams, etc. and enjoy!

*Substitution notes: The protein powder and rice could be replaced with any flours desired  and should yield good results (just make sure to use equivalent amount in weight). I cannot make any guarantees though because I haven’t tried any variations. The pumpkin puree could also probably be subbed with another squash puree, banana puree (for a sweet bread), or an equivalent amount in egg.

I filled my sandwich with chicken and lettuce. It was so good! I hadn’t realized how much I had missed my sandwiches…

Oh, and what’s that in the picture?

No, not the sandwich!

Why, it’s butternut squash!

But it’s not just any butter nut squash. It’s…

Microwave Butternut Squash!

That’s right, I have now done it again. First I made acorn squash in the microwave, and now butternut. My life is almost complete.

How to Cook Butternut Squash in the Microwave

Inspired by my microwave Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe butternut squash
• 1 plate
• 1 sharp knife (I actually used a butter knife and it worked!)
• 1 spoon
• 1 microwave

Directions:

1. Cut the squash in half.

2. Scoop out the seeds and place both halves on a plate.

3. Microwave the squash for 10-15 minutes and check it with a fork. Microwave for a few more minutes until soft, tender and done.

After seeing Jenn’s butternut squash fry recipe on her last WIAW, I decided that it was a must-have for my Friday Food Finds. However, time was not on my side, so instead I decided that microwaving it would just have to do for now.

I also attempted to make some mini cookie dough cakes featuring rice flour, applesauce, and apple chunks. Basically I just mixed together those ingredients with some stevia and baking powder, and Wah-La!

They turned out alright, but not exactly what I wanted. Before I post a recipe I am going to keep on experimenting!

So, that’s 3 out of 4 recipes complete for my FFF. I’d call that a MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Now for some randomness from my weekend:

My mom and I made some Candy Corn Popcorn from a recipe on Fitnessista.

Basically you just melt some butter, candy corn, sugar, salt and vanilla together all in a pot on the stove. Then pour it over some freshly popped (plain) popcorn.

Let cool. Then EAT UP!

My mom said it was delicious. I mean, how could it NOT taste good?!

For those of you with allergies, this is not an allergy-free recipe, which is why I did not post it with the others. I’m sure that there are some ways to modify this if you are allergic to a few of the ingredients. Either way, it’s a really cute concept!

Random side bar:

I actually put away all of my things when I cam back to my dorm this weekend!

Last week I left a lot of my stuff still packed and lying around. Not this week though- I was proactive!

Look! I even got serious:

HAIR-IN-BUN = GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS.

Let’s see. What other randomness do I have to share with you all today?

How about the back of a Cheez-It box?

If that’s not random, I don’t know what is!

Alright. Not so random is the workout that I posted yesterday on Eating 4 Balance. It’s called Holiday Hustle: Thanksgiving Workout.

It’s fun, it’s fast, and it’s super easy to adapt to whatever fitness requirements you may have. I did 30 second intervals yesterday, and today I increased them up to 40 seconds. To keep time I used this handy little Tabata tool I found through a Yahoo! search.

And yes, I prefer Yahoo! over Google. Don’t judge.

Anyways, this workout is great at increasing your heart rate and working up a sweat in a small amount of time. And as a bonus it includes a plank, perfect for Carrots N’ Cake’s 4 Week Plank Challenge.

Here are the details copied straight from her site:

The Plank Challenge is actually really simple. It will take place for a total of 4 weeks (October 22 – November 16) and will only require 10 minutes or less of your time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week. Monday and Friday will be time trial days when you hold a plank, time yourself, and record it. On Wednesdays, I’ll (Carrots N’ Cake ) post a plank/core workout (10 minutes or less) on CNC to help you build up your strength and stamina. Basically, the weeks will look like this:

• Monday: Time trial
• Wednesday: Plank/core workout
• Friday: Time trial – try to beat Monday’s plank time!

Who’s with me? I did a 30 second plank yesterday, and a 40 second plank today as part of my Holiday Hustle. I’m sure that I could go longer, but for now I’m happy with small doses.

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Boy do I have a lot of questions for you all today!

What is your favorite thing to make in the microwave? Ever tried cooking squash?

What is your favorite type of Cheez-Its? Mine used to be Sour Cream and Onion, Mozzarella, or the Four Cheese.

Have you tried out my Holiday Hustle workout yet? It’s a perfect way to get into the Thanksgiving spirit!

Are you going to join me in Carrots N’ Cake’s 4 Week Plank Challenge?

Jammed Packed Weekend, Recipes and WIAW

Hope you all are having a wonderful week! It’s Wednesday so you know what that means… WIAW with the lovely Jenn from Peas and Crayons!

The theme is still “Fall into good habits” so I am going to first talk about how I have been doing with my goals.

1. Limit my intake of fruit. I just eat way too much! I think yesterday I consumed 4 or 5 bananas? Totally unnecessary. Instead, I am going to try to snack on more vegetables. This has been so-so. I’ve been eating less bananas, which is great. But I’ve also been eating more pears and grapes. A lot more pears and grapes. I think I am still eating less than I was before though, so this habit is a WORK-IN-PROGRESS.

2. I am going to go on walks just “to go on walks.” Not for any classes, and not because I am going to a dining hall. I am going to walk just for fun. For me and my health. Hmmm… last week I called this an EPIC FAIL. Well, it still is an epic fail, so today I am going to make conscious effort to walk for 15 minutes for no-reason-at-all. Baby steps.

I’m also going to add a third and fourth habit to this list that I recently have been struggling with:

3. I need to get more sleep. Every morning I wake up at 6:00 or 6:30 and have not been going to bed at an appropriate hour. Unless I am studying or doing homework for a class, my goal is to get 8 hours of sleep most nights.

4. I am going to stop snacking so close to bed-time. The general rule is 2-3 hours before bed, you consume no food at all. For me this would equate 7:00 or 8:00.

So, with that out-of-the-way, here is what I ate. It will be a combination of food I made over the weekend, pictures from when I was home, and food that I have been eating at school.

Breakfast

I made a microwave banana protein pancake inspired by the Fitnessista’s gluten-free, high-protein pancakes.

WIAW- Holy Cow (Is this a Photo Dump?) Edition

So… just so you are aware, I decided that this post would NOT be a photo dump edition. I mean, I have all of these wonderful pictures to share, but why not use them up in two posts instead of one? As my microeconomics teacher would say, that would be more efficient…

Along the production-possibility frontier… Wait? Did I just lose you?

Let’s get on back on track with a picture of my nice, long nails:

See? Nice long. Maybe too long, I don’t care.

But then this happened, and I do care:

Basically I had to rip off cut all of my long nails to make up for that stupid, short thumbnail who decided it would be a great time to break. But I digress!

After viewing photos of my nails, you may be kind of wondering if this post will feature any real food. Yes. Yes it will.

And to “organize” my thoughts, here is a WIAW to guide you along. Thanks once again Jenn! Check out the other amazing bloggers here.

Breakfast:

I have been loving a hot bowl of cream of rice every morning (and night) since I bought the small box at Kroger’s on Saturday. Sadly I ran out of quinoa flakes and walked 2 miles to the store, looking for more, and they didn’t have any! So, I settled for gluten-free cream of rice, which I’d never had before.

It tastes just like cream of wheat, which was my favorite breakfast when I was younger (see note below). Cream of rice has no fiber, less protein, and more calories than quinoa flakes though, so as soon as I get home, I’m stocking up!

In this bowl I added 1/4 cup pumpkin to a serving of cream of rice made with water. Not the best decision ever, but not the worst decision either. It was just “okay.”

Honestly, I much would have preferred this bowl of oatmeal that I made my mom before I left:

KERF’s whipped banana oats mixed with pumpkin, stevia and cottage cheese. Topped with pecans, maple granola, and a tablespoon of almond butter.

Keep DREAMING!

Favorite breakfast as a child?

So I know I said before that this post wasn’t going to be a food dump, but I have just decided that it is going to be a word dump. I saw this awesome food questionnaire on Half-Baked Bec and thought it was a great idea! You all know how much I like SURVEYS (ABC and Nostalgia… check them out!).

As I mentioned above, my favorite breakfast as a child was Cream of Wheat. Whenever it got cold outside, my brother and I would beg our dad to make us his special “homemade” cream of wheat. Basically he just made a huge pan of cream of wheat cooked in water, then added a ton of milk and sugar. My brother and I gobbled it up. My dad was the only who could make it perfectly creamy without a single lump (my mom’s on the other hand was quite lumpy and inedible). 

This one of my favorite memories as a child: Sitting on the kitchen counter near the stove, my dad making Cream of Wheat, and him singing what he dubbed “the cream of wheat song.”

Cream of wheat, cream of wheat. Nah. Nah. Nah. Nah. Nah. Cream of wheat…. AHHH! (<<< Our favorite part was the end!)

Coffee or Juice?

Coffee. As a kid I love orange juice, but I would much prefer a cup of plain, black, decaf coffee. (As one of my friends put it, “As black as your soul.” Really? Too kind).

The one food you eat most often at breakfast?

Bananas. Banana ice cream. Banana “cookie dough.” Banana protein batter. Banana protein balls.

Snack:

Speaking of bananas and cream of rice cereal, the recipe I have for you today contains both!

Breakfast Cereal Microwave “Bake”

Sugar free, gluten-free, vegan, microwave

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Cream of Rice

1/2 large banana

2 Tbsp water

1/8 tsp baking powder (corn-free)

Toppings

This is after it is cooked without any toppings.

Directions:

1. Mash the banana into junks and mix with 2 Tbsp of water.

2. Then add the cream of rice, baking powder and stir.

3. Place in the microwave and cook for 2-4 minutes (I have a weak microwave, so it may take less time for you).

4. Remove when it is somewhat cooked, but still a little soft.

5. Add toppings and enjoy!

I topped mine with fresh blueberries and the remaining banana mashed with 1/2 tbsp of chia seeds.

Look at those gorgeous blueberries! I had to dig them out of a fruit salad on the cafeteria’s fresh produce bar… Hehe. There were barely any left when I was done with them!

Lunch:

Here is another recipe, but that’s for another day!

Microwave pumpkin “bread” slices with chicken.

Pumpkin recipe to come soon.

Sandwiches are generally considered a “lunch food.” If you had to choose between a grilled cheese and a peanut butter and jelly, which would you pick?

Peanut butter and jelly. Grilled cheeses always contained too much cheese. Except now this would have to be almond butter and fruit-only jam on gluten/yeast-free bread. YUM.

You can only put four ingredients in your salad (not including greens); what do you throw in the mix? Additionally, which greens and dressing do you pick?

These toppings are all slightly boring, but they are what I put on my salad basically every day: Cucumber slices, shredded carrots, and sometimes grapes/steamed rice.

One food you can’t live without at lunch?

Grilled chicken. It’s what sustains me throughout the day. I need my protein!

Snack:

A 2 lb pound bag of carrots that I bought on Saturday.

It lasted me until Monday I do believe…

Ohh… and look what I found:

A carrot ball and bat, which I now appreciate thanks to Kat and Katelyn.

Dinner:

Salad and grilled chicken like always. This time my salad also included radishes. Oh, I do not like these! Way too bitter, but if it is the only vegetable other than lettuce that I can eat again, I probably will get these little suckers.

Do you see this HUGE plate of veggies and chicken, or am I just imagining things? The chef today gave me five.. FIVE pieces of chicken. WHY???? I only ate the broccoli because cauliflower hurts my stomach… and now I know so does broccoli!

It’s the end of the day. You’re tired, hungry, and your fridge is empty. If a fast food (from a chain) is your only option, where do you go and what do you order?

A bottle of water. Or apple slices. I’m boring.

TV/computer on or off while you’re eating?

Most of the time my computer is on as I’m looking at blogs or doing homework. In the dining halls though I don’t watch the TV.

The one food you eat most often at dinner?

Can this be the same as lunch? It can? Okay, thanks… CHICKEN!!

“Dessert”:

Another bowl of cream of rice (3/4 serving) with stevia and sliced bananas.

Choose between these two American desserts: cheesecake or apple pie?

Apple pie. I have never liked cheesecake; I personally think it is one of the most disgusting desserts ever created (and I’ve even tried the cookie dough kind from The Cheesecake Factory- I had to spit it out- SO GROSS!). Apple pie is awesome. Now I just need to make an allergy-free version of my Low-Cal Apple Pie recipe on my old blog.

Choose between these two foreign desserts: tiramisu (Italy) or flan (Spain)?

Tiramisu (One of my mom’s favorite desserts). Flan contains eggs and has a weird texture. We made it in Spanish class and I wasn’t impressed.

Ice cream: cone or cup?

Cone. I think ice cream is meant to be in a cone. No debates.

Now for progress on my Fall Habits… (Going to look up what goals I made NOW).

1. Limit my intake of fruit. I just eat way too much! I think yesterday I consumed 4 or 5 bananas? Totally unnecessary. Instead, I am going to try and snack on more vegetables. I am doing better with this, but the main reason is because the dining hall is always out of bananas.

2. I am going to go on walks just “to go on walks.” Not for any classes, and not because I am going to a dining hall. I am going to walk just for fun. For me and my health. EPIC. FAIL.

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So check back in tomorrow for that Pumpkin Sandwich recipe! HAPPY WIAW.

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Pick a question above and answer it! (Or better yet include them in your next post and link back to me so that I can learn EVEN MORE about you all!).