Recipes

There are just too many diets out there. There is no coincidence they are called diets, because so many people wish to lose weight. Diets, however, often indicate you’re cutting something out in order to feel healthier but the reality is that if you starve your body of what it needs, it will retaliate.

For someone like me who – while losing weight and gaining muscle are certainly appealing – requires my body to function on lower levels of inflammation, I have dedicated my eating toward whole foods and simple ingredient recipes. That means for me, I cannot introduce gluten or dairy into my diet. By doing an elimination diet I also discovered my body does not do well with refined sugar or preservatives so I have catered my recipes to be as pure as possible.

Pure. Gluten Free. Expensive? In some cases yes but so is a really good aged cheddar, am I right? Truthfully though the biggest expense is the gluten-free flour. Other than that, always look out for sales on produce, coconut milk, and protein.

My eating protocol:

• Low fibre! This is not only a good idea for folks with IBD or IBS but generally a good idea in maintaining your gut lining. Have at it with all the salads you’d like but try to reduce the amount of ‘high residue’ foods. The more residue, the more gunky your bowels become. If you are skirting toward high fibre veggies try to cook them down a bit more than normal. If you have IBD you may wanna go all the way down to mush, but for those just looking to pass food smoothly, just slightly overcook them.
• High Protein! I can’t do a whole lot of exercise so any protein I can get into my body, the more fuel I have to last me the day. If you’re vegetarian or vegan there are tons of ways to obtain protein such as legumes and vegetables but again, try to select the veggies that are low in fibre.
• One starch, one protein, one vegetable. This is the easiest way to ensure you’re getting all of the nutrients you need in the day without overdoing it on the starches.
• No gluten! There are soooo many amazing gluten free options out there now, you can’t go wrong. I will share more on this in a new post.
• No dairy (or shall I say, no cow’s milk). We both tolerate non-cow’s milk and every once in a while will indulge in vegan cheeses.
• No refined sugar. Yeah… insofar as baking goes, you can basically swap out sugar for maple syrup or honey. Im not a big agave fan personally but go nuts if you are. The ONLY exception I’ve found to not tolerate the switch is cookies that are meant to spread.
• No preservatives. The things you cannot pronounce? Yeah those things. When I cut that out for fun I noticed a dramatic reduction in that extra layer I was carrying around. Its not a must but try it…. you might find a difference too. As such, I try to make a lot of my recipes from scratch.

To begin exploring my recipes click on the images below. Drop me a line to let me know how they turned out. And don’t be afraid to tag me at @crampmystyleblog.