First, I want to say that I am no expert and I am not trained in any health or dietary profession. I only know from my own experience what has helped me to be healthier for now more than five years. For me, it was a decision I made based on my quality of life and my need to feel better.
I was having severe “attacks” which I came to discover were NOT gallbladder attacks as my (now former) mainstream, general health practitioner would have had me believe which would have led to my gallbladder being unnecessarily removed. Thanks to a wonderful MORE THAN CHIROPRACTOR (Dr. Keith Lewis, Healthy Life Doctors in Upper Arlington, Ohio) who really cared to dig down and find what was causing my digestive distress, I discovered I had a sliding hiatal hernia that was causing esophageal spasms when my stomach got caught in the hernia. It was so painful that I thought I was having a heart attack and even had the squad called for me when it happened in Whole Foods once.
My doctor gave me a list of anti-inflammatory foods and inflammatory foods to remove from my diet. He also gave me a list of acidic/alkaline foods to help me understand what foods to try to eat more of that would help heal my digestive tract. One thing I have discovered is that when you are contemplating a change, it is your motivations that will determine whether you are able to make those changes stick in your life. For me, my motivation was extremely high. While going through this period of time, my digestive tract and diaphragm were so damaged from the attacks that I was unable to lift a basket of laundry or a gallon jug of milk (this was before I had my own fresh milk), and I was unable to bend forward for just about any purpose including switching the laundry or picking up something from the floor. I felt so sad watching my children pick up the slack of the things I wasn’t able to do. I never knew when an attack would completely immobilize me. So, for me, having the map to wellness that these lists provided was like an answer to prayer and I was willing to give up almost anything just to feel better.
The first big changes were no refined sugar and no refined flour. These two food items are hidden in more processed foods than you may realize, and it is sometimes difficult to recognize them on the ingredients list due to the number of aliases companies now have for them), but that wasn’t the big challenge for me because I already did most of my food prep from scratch. I made homemade bread and rolls once or twice a week, homemade ice cream, baked cookies and cakes, etc. You get the drift! My cooking/baking was healthy in that it was organic and made from “real” ingredients, but was also full of refined sugars and flours.
It’s pretty easy to say “no refined sugar” until you begin to realize the huge commitment that is. As alternatives, we began using coconut sugar which is higher in fiber and a lower glycemic index than sugar. We also increased our use of maple syrup which is packed full of minerals and also has a lower glycemic impact. We also use raw honey, which is a natural sweetener with health benefits of its own, but it has a higher glycemic index. I tried using various forms of stevia, but had trouble with the aftertaste, so my use of it was very limited.
As for cutting out the refined flour, I began experimenting with coconut and almond flours. Please keep in mind that when I began this journey, “keto”, “paleo” and “grain-free” weren’t popular catch words like they are now. Whole Foods didn’t even carry items that I could use for this journey. I frequented the customer service desk asking for various brands and items as I became aware of them and gradually Whole Foods began stocking some of them.
I also found that not all almond flours are created equal. Some aren’t as finely ground so the foods made with them don’t exactly have a palatable texture. Eventually I found some brands that worked for me and I began scouring the internet for recipes that would help me navigate this new nutritional journey.
I discovered many bloggers who had “grain-free, sugar-free” recipes on their websites and slowly made my way through them trying some of their recipes. Some FLOPPED badly! Micah still reminds me of the “foam chocolate muffins” I made one morning when my friend/pastor’s wife was coming over for coffee. Oh my! They had no taste, no texture, it was like putting tasteless, brown foam shaped like a muffin in your mouth. They didn’t even taste chocolate! How can you mess up chocolate? But I did find some bloggers/sites whose recipes were fairly dependably edible, even tasty. Over the years, I have compiled a list of websites and bloggers whose recipes were fairly reliable in producing edible grain-free, sugar-free foods.
Now, the next step in my journey was to realize that maple syrup, coconut sugar and almond flour, as healthy as they are, didn’t help me much in the weight department. Initially, after giving up grains and sugars, I dropped about thirty pounds, and I felt so much better as I began to heal. However, maple syrup still has calories that turn to fat, so as my use of maple syrup increased, so did my weight.
Enter Trim Healthy Mama. It was introduced to me last year by several friends all in the span of a couple of weeks, so I began reading about the plan. Part of what made eating sugar-free and grain-free difficult was my struggle to make meals that both I and my family could eat without necessitating the need for two meals to be made. The plan (which I will explain in a coming post), recipes and products of THM have been a life-saver to me and my family. Finally, I have the resources to eat how I need to eat to lose weight and maintain that weight loss and the recipes to prepare meals that both I and my family can enjoy.
Since being on the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan, using some of their products (their baking blend and sweeteners have made the biggest impact for me), I feel the best I have felt in years. I have lost almost twenty-five pounds since last July and I no longer feel like I am starving. I feel well and energetic and I enjoy trying the recipes in their cookbooks. I have been very pleasantly surprised with the ease of most of the recipes and with how they taste. The men in my life agree even though sometimes I need to add a few items to help fill them up. It has been such a blessing to me.
If you have questions or comments about going sugar-free or grain-free, please contact me. I would be happy to encourage you along your journey to get healthier and give grain-free and sugar-free living a try! It may feel overwhelming at first, but when you realize the benefits, it will become easier and easier to make that choice, one day at a time. Not all of you will want or need to be as strict as I am, but I never want to go back to the way I used to feel and that is my motivation to keep on track!
Watch for an upcoming follow-up post where I will make the anti-inflammatory guidelines as well as the acidic/alkaline foods chart available to you!
