GT1; L (a-b-); (se); PROP-T; NN Sa Bon Nim Admin & Columnist
Posts: 49,367
Gender: Female
Location: ''eternal spring'' Cuernavaca - Mex.
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''Just follow the book, don't look for magic fixes to get you off the hook. Do the work.'' Dr.D.'98 DNA mt/Haplo H; Y-chrom/J2(M172);ISTJ The harder you are on yourself, the easier life will be on you!
SWAMI Warrior ~ Taster, NN, ENTJ Sun Beh Nim Moderator
Posts: 10,878
Gender: Female
Location: Northern New Mexico
Age: 51
I just found out (doh! I have so many foods on my swami green list that I'm not used to eating -- 10 years on the BTD did that) that maple syrup is a bennie, whereas agave is just neutral. I think I'll start using maple syrup instead, starting tonight when I ate 5 small pieces of maple syrup candy (100% maple syrup).
SWAMI Warrior ~ Taster, NN, ENTJ Sun Beh Nim Moderator
Posts: 10,878
Gender: Female
Location: Northern New Mexico
Age: 51
Here's the thing with will power (at least mine): I'm exceptional at cold turkey; it's moderation that I don't do well at. So what usually happens around foods that are allowed, but don't do me any favors, is that I add them in gradually, usually after abstaining for some time, then they become more and more frequent until I have some sort of crisis (like not being able to wear my pants because they don't fit ) and then I have to go cold turkey again. I do remember that I gave up the wheat because it causes me to crave sugar, so I'm going to see if that's still the case, after the first of the year. If it does, out it goes.
Here's the thing with will power (at least mine): I'm exceptional at cold turkey; it's moderation that I don't do well at.
It's wonderful that you understand yourself. Whatever approach works for you is what works. If you find yourself slipping again, you can always go back to your "bottom line".
Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. ~Mary Jean Irion
last night we enjoyed a fabulous prime rib roast at a friends'.....oh, boy, this season is too much! (well, literally)...but it can be healthful as well. Our host had green beans, an arugula salad with raspberries, and many other things... And last night, the solstice, was dark and cloudy, wet and rainy, but we all just enjoyed it by a warm fire.
I'm exceptional at cold turkey; it's moderation that I don't do well at.
We could be twins in this regard Drea.
I had to go to the Post Office yesterday to mail out a few sewing orders. On the way back home I stopped at Whole Foods. I was walking the aisles, every aisle, trying to find a snack I could have, on my grain-free life. I found ONE treat type item....(they are getting a lot of new items/foods in advertised as "Raw") a carob concoction with figs...but even then it still had one avoid ... oilves. I left frustrated and sad but relieved I didn't buy anything.
I'm finding if I go anywhere in a grocery store besides the produce area, it gets me anxious and in that craving mindset....because there isn't anything out there I can buy that would be okay.
I did get myself a carb treat a few days ago. I got the WATER CHESTNUT FLOUR. 8.5 ounces for $1.39. It's a tiny box, lol, which is probably good. I'm going to make a water chestnut pancake this morning. I'm betting it might come out like a potato pancake. Wish they made Taro flour. That would be yummy as a pancake since fried taro tastes soooooo good!
Knowledge is power. SWAMI gives you the diet that will unlock the key to better health, and it's all based on your unique individuality.
Wellllll, I tried to make a water chestnut pancake.
You have to keep in mind, that, I am NOT a cook and I've burned many a pot left on the stove...filled with water.
What a disaster that was! I kept trying to get the right consistency for a batter using water, eggs salt & agave. I either had soup or cement for batter. In fact, the batter came out light gray; it even LOOKED like cement. That should have been warning enough.
So I tried frying the soup.
It fried up okay, (I had to really blot off all the oil afterwords) but what I was left with was something akin to rubber. Tasteless, real hard to chew and I kept thinking, as I'm trying to break this stuff up in my mouth to swallow, I bet my small intestines are NOT going to be happy with this. All I could taste was the bit of butter and agave I put on top to try to make it go down easier.
So that's how that experiment turned out.
Knowledge is power. SWAMI gives you the diet that will unlock the key to better health, and it's all based on your unique individuality.
SWAMI Warrior ~ Taster, NN, ENTJ Sun Beh Nim Moderator
Posts: 10,878
Gender: Female
Location: Northern New Mexico
Age: 51
Speaking of taro flour...I picked up some candy box at TJ's the last time I was there, and the second ingredient was "wheat syrup". Huh? I put the box back on the shelf. How does one get syrup from wheat? Perhaps it's akin to barley malt? *shakes head*.
And almond flour hasn't produced any good pancakes? Someone recently posted a link to a gluten-free bread recipe doesn't have any grains. I can't remember the thread. Sorry.
I groomed 5 dogs, worked non-stop from 8am to 5:30pm, had no breakfast or lunch, and am just now sitting down to dinner. Not good. Dinner is good, however: sauteed fresh ginger, garlic, red, green, and yellow bell peppers, bok choy, and tofu. Seasoned with wf tamari and ume vinegar. All bennies or diamonds. Oh, and a glass of red wine.
Well, the Almond Pancakes I made were "delish" (more like a deep fried cookie) but they do require quite a bit of oil to cook them, then butter and agave....so, I can't really say they are "that" healthy for me, lol!
Knowledge is power. SWAMI gives you the diet that will unlock the key to better health, and it's all based on your unique individuality.
yeah, mine too. but I think there's a finer grind of almond flour or a recipe that would work better...Elana's Pantry is a site that has a lot of almond flour baking... yesterday some art teacher friends got together and made ornaments and drank wine....there were lots of treats, and I took tiny bites of them, some were pretty bad.....when I came home I had a small beef pattie to ground me. OK....so that's it!!!! No more leeetle tastes!!! Sugar season over!!!
Here's what I made for the treats yesterday: pecans (2 c.) two eggwhites, fluffed a bit some amount of sugar (kinda needed more, maybe half c. would be good...?) vanilla, cinnamon buttered foil on a cookie sheet, mix all ing. together, spread on cookie sheet 350 for 10 min. It was goooood!
Pan fried lambchops and leftover okra & stir fried veggies from last night.
(Okra is frozen; can't find a good source of fresh okra for now.)
Veggies were: Fresh water chestnuts. (These are heavenly. However...Not only are those suckers are very hard to peel but it's difficult to tell if they are bruised or mush inside when you buy them.) Red Bell Pepper Green Beans Touch of white onion.
The water chestnuts were lightly dusted with rice flour to keep them from sticking to the pan. I think Lewis added just a teaspoon of Umeboshi plum vinegar to the pan while cooking. These vegetables were so good last night!
Knowledge is power. SWAMI gives you the diet that will unlock the key to better health, and it's all based on your unique individuality.
Location: Fukushima Fall-Out Zone (a.k.a., planet earth)
Peoples! I meant to post something earlier but have been slammedisimo at work: I had the most fabulous salad for dinner last night. I find that if you use high quality ingredients, you really can't go wrong and you really don't need a lot of ingredients or a complex preparation. Such was the case last night, when I literally threw the following together. It is all superfoods for my Gatherer type, except for...wait for it...you know PT has to have her...organic mayo (What? Gotta love me?). Here's what the salad was. Took all of about five minutes to prepare. We are talking a delicious, nutritious chi-fest here, peeps:
PT's Colorful Chi-Fest Salad
Note: as usual with moi, no precise measurements are given. Sorry!
1 container of organic fresh grape tomatoes
1 container of organic fresh spearment leaves (you need the entire container, as these are not a garnish here, they are your greens--don't fear the flavor, embrace it! Trust me on this!)
Some Applegate Farms brand (you could use any turkey) organic sliced turkey, torn up
Generous sprinkling of Eden brand organic, shelled, roasted, salted pumpkin seeds (you could use homemade roasted pumpkin seeds)
Some Spectrum brand organic mayo
Some (can't remember the brand, which is a shame, as I really like it) organic, extra virgin olive oil
Generous dash of Celtic brand sea salt
Place mayo and olive oil in your serving bowl. Tear up the fresh spearmint leaves and "muddle" (mix, with sort of a mortar and pestel type action if possible/ideally, to release the aromatic, delicious spearmint oil from the leaves a bit) them in. Toss in all the grape tomatoes and mix so that they are nicely coated with the dressing. Add the turkey and the sea salt to taste and mix yet again. Last but not least, top with the pumpkin seeds. You can leave them on top (gorgeous looking) or mix them in (that's what I did).
This simple, quick-to-make salad makes a beautiful, colorful presentation (and very Christmasy, with the red tomatoes and green spearmint) and is absolutely delicious!
Sideline factoid/note: I usually add lemon or lime to all my dressings but you will note that I didn't in this, as I feel that, with tomatoes, you don't need it, as mayo and tomatoes are the perfect marriage and the tomato is acidic enough. I remember, as a child, my dad grew wonderful Beefsteak tomatoes. I would cut one into slices, and simply put mayo and salt on the slices, and to this day I maintain that that is one of the most delicious things EVER, that marriage of tomato, mayo and salt. This salad is sort of an homage to that, only kicked up a few notches. Enjoy! I post it here, as it is grain-free, so I know youzzz might appreciate it.
edited to add - P.S. I've made the above salad before with basil instead of the spearmint (basil and tomato are another CLASSIC marriage, like tomato and mayo), but I need to save my basil for a casserole I'm making tonight to take to my Mom's on Christmas. Eeenyhooo, so I tried the spearmint leaves and WOW! They were truly wonderful in that salad. I'm finding that fresh spearmint is wonderful in a lot of things you think it might not be wonderful in. PLUS it keeps a LOT longer than basil in the fridge. Just saying.
"If you are on one of Dr. D's diets and it isn't joyful, you aren't doing it right." - moi -
Very creative!!! And it sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing!
As I was eating it, I thought, I gotta post this one!
Very refreshing, light, energizing, yet substantial, too, on account of the turkey and pumpkin seeds.
Like I added (possibly as you were typing your reply, so I'm not sure if you saw it), I often make salads of grape tomatoes and fresh basil leaves, but this is the first time I tried spearmint. SO good!
Never a dull moment on the GTD!
"If you are on one of Dr. D's diets and it isn't joyful, you aren't doing it right." - moi -
I am NOT that creative...or would I even take the time to mix all that stuff together, I mean, that's WORK!
I mean, um, that's like
......COOKING
the thing I avoid like the plague!
My idea of a KK easy to prepare salad is 1/2 head of neutral or beneficial lettuce chopped up with umboshi plum vinegar poured over it. I've always been a vinegar fan. I really do like to K.I.S.S.
Besides, I save all my oil/fat intake for frying; not salads.
Knowledge is power. SWAMI gives you the diet that will unlock the key to better health, and it's all based on your unique individuality.
OMG...KK. evoo would do that salad a favor!!! the added fat won't hurt you...it's some kinda superfood!
We only get 6 tablespoons a week of oils on the plan. That's not much. You have to realize that we "used to" use a lot of oil in cooking.
My husband is still learning how to cook in a fry pan with less fat, and NOT let the food stick to the pan. We need all the tablespoons we can get just for the frypan, L O L !
Knowledge is power. SWAMI gives you the diet that will unlock the key to better health, and it's all based on your unique individuality.
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) and then I have to go cold turkey again. I do remember that I gave up the wheat because it causes me to crave sugar, so I'm going to see if that's still the case, after the first of the year. If it does, out it goes.
but relieved I didn't buy anything.
But nothing has really worked so far. hmm, taro flour....?
Huh? I put the box back on the shelf. How does one get syrup from wheat? Perhaps it's akin to barley malt? *shakes head*.
black dot every time! 
but it's difficult to tell if they are bruised or mush inside when you buy them.)
