Yes, Still Here!

I keep finding myself running short on time these days and not finding a moment to do a proper post. Hopefully this week will find me catching up with things at work and at home and I can get back to it.

My computer is still down and I am going to have to work out a way to buy a new one because I've resigned myself to that fact that it's just toast now.

My mother had another bypass surgery this past week (another one in her remaining leg). She's still in the hospital. They did find another issue with a blockage in her shoulder area, which means she will be going back under the knife at some point after she recovers from this last surgery.

Me, I'm still plugging away on the low carb/Paleo/Primal eating. I haven't had the time to create any new recipes lately, either. All in good time.

She Didn't Give a Fig!

As a young girl of 11 my mother married a man who was in the Navy. After her marriage we moved from my native State of Ohio to Pensacola, Florida, where my step-father was stationed. That summer of my 11th year my mother miscarried a pregnancy and I was sent to stay with my then step-father's sister and her daughter, Suzy, in Georgia for a little over a month while mother recuperated. Suzy was a couple years younger than I, but we became fast friends and enjoyed exploring our surroundings together.

It had not escaped me that the flora and fauna of the Deep South was much different than what I was used to in the Midwest. The warmer weather all year round meant that more tropical plants and trees could thrive. Still, it was odd to see so many plants and trees I was only use to seeing in photographs or on television or in an encyclopedia. Being the inquisitive young girl that I was, I asked questions and took it all in.

One day, after exhausting much of what there was to do around the grounds of her plantation-sized country home, Suzy suggested we take a walk around her very small town. As we were walking Suzy suddenly stopped and ventured into a yard and walked up to a tree with some sort of odd-looking fruit hanging from it. She plucked one of the fruits from a branch and handed it to me, then plucked one for herself. "What is it?" I asked. "It's a fig!" she replied, smiling at my not having a clue. We didn't have such things as fig trees in Ohio. I knew my grandmother ate "Fig Newtons" all the time, but I never thought they tasted very good. I was a little hesitant to eat a fig because of that, but I was also taught not to be afraid to try new things.

"Are we allowed to take these?" I asked. She went on to say that the lady who lived there let her eat the figs all the time. Suzy bit into the fruit, and I followed her lead. The light sweetness of the fleshy fruit was delightful, and was made even more-so by the warmth the sun had bestowed upon it. It was the best fresh fruit I had tasted up to that point in my life. I savored each bite, standing there in that strangers front yard.

About that moment the lady who owned the fig tree burst out of her front door yelling at us for stealing her figs. Suzy and I took off running full sprint as the lady chased us down the street. After tasting that one single, solitary fig I could understand why the woman wanted them all for herself. We had finally run far and fast enough that we lost her (or she had given up, satisfied that she put enough fear in us that we wouldn't do that again). When we were sure that the coast was clear, we finally stopped to catch our breath, and I looked at Suzy and said, "I thought you said that lady didn't care if you ate her figs?!" Suzy just smiled, cocked her head, and shrugged. It wasn't the last thing Suzy would fib to me about, but it sure made for an interesting summer.

That fresh fig would turn out to be the last one I would have for 35 years. Until yesterday. Oh, I have had dried figs a few times since then, but they just aren't the same as the fresh ones. But yesterday, as I made a trek to one of only two of our local grocery stores which specialize in the upscale and/or more exotic produce and meats, I happened upon a treasure that I had never before seen in my area (I am back in Ohio, by the way)...fresh figs!! As soon as I spotted them I made a bee line and picked up the container and nearly embraced it like a long lost lover, which was kind of embarrassing since my husband was standing right next to me.

I had already told my husband the fig story, so I didn't have to explain my reaction to him. I just said, "Look, Ray! Fresh FIGS! I'm getting them!"

"I have no doubt you are!" he replied, grinning.

I had often wondered if the fact that the one fresh fig I had tasted was thieved, and therefore magnified my memory of how wonderful it was. As soon as I got those babies in the car I plucked one from its resting place and bit into it. No, it wasn't that the forbidden fruit was illicit that made it so good...it was heavenly!

I have eaten about ten of them since yesterday. Even though I am low carb and rarely eat fruit, I must say that the next time fig season comes around I will be buying more. Our ancestors took full advantage of fruits in season, and as long as I don't make fruit a daily menu item, I am just fine.

Plus, as far as fruits go, I could do much worse. This link gives the nutritional information for figs.

Just having been taken back in those memories was well worth it, anyway. ;-)

There but for the grace of God, go I

It would be enough to be an Ancestral Diet advocate simply because it has helped me and many others shed excess pounds. And if you look around the Interwebz you don't have to go very far to find many people who have adjusted their eating habits to a more Ancestral way and have healed themselves of Diabetes, high blood pressure, high triglycerides...the list goes on. For myself, I didn't have any diagnosed maladies, other than being obese, when I began low carbing, but that doesn't mean I wasn't headed in that direction. All I need to do to keep myself on the straight and narrow is take a look at my mother; she, a woman in her late 60's who has had several strokes, a heart attack, diagnosed with Atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, Diabetes, and has had a double heart bypass, more than one abdominal and lower limb bypass, and has had a leg amputated below the knee. My mother, off and on throughout her adulthood, followed Atkins. It was, however, more off than on. She was never really very obese, but definitely had the top-heavy apple shape. She would use the low carb approach to shed some extra pounds and then go right back to eating whatever she wanted, until the cycle started all over again, never considering it a lifestyle change. She has paid for that, and dearly. Of course, I am sure that in the scheme of things she had never thought a low carb diet was anything more than a tool to lose some weight when needed, and until now there wasn't the evidence we have that cutting out sugar, grains, and processed carby junk was really good for you.

By the time my mother was the age I am now (47 next month!) she had already been diagnosed with malignant hypertension, and was on a host of medications. At the same time my grandmother, who was also an on again, off again Atkins follower, was also diabetic, had high blood pressure, and was obese. She just couldn't seem to give up her toast and margarine in the mornings. It didn't help that this was at the height of the low fat fad. Grandma's doctor, of course, recommended a low fat diet, and me (being the "cook" of the family) dutifully prepared low fat meals ahead and froze them for her so they would be at the ready for her to eat. I feel pretty guilty for that now, knowing I contributed to her death not long after when she had a massive coronary.

I have counseled with my mother as to what she should be eating, but unfortunately she still seems to think that eating sugar free cookies is okay because they are sugar free and she can always take some insulin to compensate for the way they make her blood glucose rise to dangerous levels. After all, the doctors and dietitians tell her that's what she should be eating. I am making headway with her, and she is allowing me to prepare healthier foods for her, up to and including cookies made from nut flours and coconut flours instead of wheat flour. Her 68th birthday was last week, and today I am baking her a chocolate cake with raspberry glaze, at her request...made from coconut flour, of course. Some would call that a bad thing, "smoking candy cigarettes," but I don't see it that way. At this point, she wants her damned cookies, and if I can provide her with a healthier option, why would anyone say it was a horrible exchange?

It may be too late for her to recover from all the damage that has already been done by eating crap her whole life. But I have to try, and if it prolongs her life even by a little, it's full of WIN. She doesn't want to die yet, she says she has more work to do. I am selfish and want her around for as long as I can have her, and knowing the pain and suffering she has already endured, if it makes the rest of her life a little more tolerable, it will be worth it.

If genetics plays any role in disease (and there is evidence for that in some cases), the deck is stacked against me. I will fight for my health until the end. The only thing I can hope for is that my diet and lifestyle will keep me healthy, and thus far I have seen nothing but positive things health-wise. On a positive genetic note, my great grandparents lived to be almost 100 years old. God love their saturated fat eating hearts!

Having seen all that my mother has been through, it is my motivation for staying the course in this lifestyle. It is also the reason why I continue to champion an Ancestral way of eating, and try to get the word out to other family members, friends, and virtual strangers through this blog. I do care. I would hope we can all live the happiest, healthiest lives possible, and I believe an Ancestral approach to eating is the best and easiest way to do that.

My beautiful mother, in better days.

Low Carb and Zits

The Low Carb Conversations with Jimmy Moore and Friends that I participated in is up, and if you get the opportunity, please take a listen.

Since we only had a half an hour for the podcast I didn't have the opportunity to elaborate on the topic of acne as much as I would have liked, and I really didn't delve too much into my own "Low Carb Story", only enough to tell how I got started down this road to renewed health and vitality. It was probably a good thing Jimmy knows how to keep control of his topics, and rein in the guests should they start to go astray of the main conversation (not that that happened...I kept control of myself, ha ha!). Plus, it gives me material for a blog post. A win-win situation all around!

If you listen to the podcast you know that I stated I had never really had an issue with acne. It's true, I have been blessed with pretty much blemish-free skin, except for a few eruptions here and there since adolescence. Everything I have ever read from people who have had acne and gone on a low carb eating plan has indicated to me that it does indeed help with acne, and many other skin issues. But what happens if you are low carbing, or following a Paleo or Primal lifestyle and you get zits anyway? Could the diet be to blame?

A few months ago, a friend of mine, who had then recently started a Primal lifestyle, messaged me, telling me that she was experiencing acne outbreaks on her forehead, nose and chin, and asked if I thought she should cut back on the copious amounts of saturated fats she had been consuming. My gut instinct told me that it wasn't the fat, but I knew she was worried because one of the things conventional wisdom has beat into our heads over the years is that eating a fatty diet can cause acne.

I replied to her asking how much dairy she had been eating and if she had been eating any fruits that may have caused an allergic reaction. Sometimes allergies manifest themselves by way of skin outbreaks. She replied telling me she wasn't having a whole lot of dairy all the time, and that she hadn't eaten any unusual fruits that she hadn't been eating before her lifestyle change. But I had also remembered that she had mentioned in earlier conversations that she was supplementing with B vitamins, and that made me remember that sometimes when one over-supplements with B12 and/or B6 it can cause acne outbreaks of the tiny little whitehead looking bumps my friend experienced. I messaged her with the information and she also said that in addition to her B vitamin pills, she had been drinking a popular beverage that was also loaded with B vitamins. Like magic, after she stopped the supplementation, the acne disappeared.

As for the rest of my low carb story that I didn't talk about...I am thankful to have started my journey on Atkins. It lead me down the path to discover what was really good for my body, mind, and soul. I don't "do Atkins" anymore. I have discovered that a more Paleo template of eating works best for me, gravitating more toward Primal on most days. I keep experimenting all the time with what foods make me feel the best and how I react to them. Since we're all different self-experimentation is the only way to know for sure what you will thrive on. Perhaps in my next post I will explain why this lifestyle change is so important to me personally, and why I want to help spread the word that conventional wisdom about food and health needs a major overhaul.

Coconut Flour Pancakes

Until today I have never made anything with coconut flour; I have wanted to, but my husband loathes coconut, and I hesitate to make anything that we can't all enjoy. Last weekend I took a trip to the health food store and picked up a bag of coconut flour anyway, just to do some experimenting, figuring if I am the only one who eats what I make with it, well, more for me...although I was pretty sure my two children still at home wouldn't mind some coconut flour treats. I wasn't counting on them both being gone this weekend, however, so whatever I came up with was going to be all mine if my husband wouldn't eat it, or I'd have to freeze some of it for later. No big deal and worth a gamble, especially since a little bit of coconut flour goes a long way.

Today was the first opportunity I had to make something with it, and I wanted to try to make coconut flour pancakes as the almond flour pancakes I made several months ago were disappointing, and occasionally I want a pancake, darn it, but not enough to cave in and eat wheat flour.

I looked up several recipes online for coconut flour pancakes. Most of them called for raw milk (which I don't have access to), or coconut milk, which I did have. I had discussed with my husband that I was making these and that I wanted him to try them, and knowing how much he detests coconut it just seemed like I'd be adding insult to injury by adding coconut milk. What to do? As absorbent of liquids that I'd read coconut flour was I couldn't just leave out the liquid and add more egg (that might have been a rubbery, nasty mess), so I used water. It worked out fine.

I also used my own proportions and didn't follow a recipe online, just to see what I could come up with myself. Longer story a little shorter, my husband thought they were great and didn't think they tasted like coconut. I know he's telling me the truth because there were no dry heaves after he took a bite. He ate the whole plate I served him, three pancakes total*. And me? I thought they were delicious and ate the rest of them. =) There was nothing left over to freeze for later, ha!

Lisa's Coconut Haters Coconut Flour Pancakes

Ingredients:

4 Large eggs

1 1/4 C water

1 t organic vanilla extract

1 t baking soda

1/2 C organic coconut flour

1 t sweetener of choice (I used Xylitol), or omit

1 pinch salt (omit if not using sweetener)

Instructions:

Combine wet ingredients and beat well with a whisk. Whisk in dry ingredients until well combined. Drop 1/4 C dollops (or a little less) on a pre-heated, well greased griddle or in frying pan using a healthy fat (butter, ghee, coconut oil, etc.). Keep the pancakes small for ease of flipping. Flip pancakes when edges look sort of cooked. Cook second side, then serve with your choice of toppings.

Makes approximately 14 smallish pancakes.

Nutritional Information

Entire recipe:

Per Pancake:

Calories: 38

Fat: 2

Carbohydrates: 2.42

Fiber: 1.4

Protein: 2.4

(The alcohol is the vanilla extract)

*I had also made him eggs, just in case he wouldn't eat the pancakes, so he had both. I only had pancakes...I'm not really selfish pig, but I may have to make a double or triple batch of these next time, especially if the kids are home! ;-)

Wheat Belly Sighting

There are actually a lot of wheat bellies around, but that's not the sighting I am talking about. I noticed the latest edition of Woman's World Magazine has an article featuring Dr. William Davis, of the Heart Scan Blog, whose book Wheat Belly is soon to hit the shelves.

You would think with a blog name like No Pain, No Grain that Dr. Davis would be a man after my own heart, and for all intents and purposes, he is...I just happen to believe there is more to health and weight loss than cutting out the wheat, though it's a pretty good start. Grains are evil.

Do I think you can lose 30 pounds in 30 days by cutting wheat from your diet? Well, it happened to me, so I'd say it's possible, but your mileage may vary. If you cut the wheat and find that you're not losing much you may also try cutting starchy vegetables (like potatoes) and dairy and see how things progress after that. Regardless of any weight lost, you will be doing yourself a favor by not eating wheat. Dr. Davis highlights some of the benefits in the WW article:

I am definitely putting this book on my wish list, it should be a good read.

Oh, Sugar Sugar...

Lately there seem to be several voices crying in the "healthy eating" wilderness that we need to turn our attention away from simply stating low carb eating is the panacea for all of our health and obesity woes. They are urging us to look beyond what many of us have come to take as gospel: carbohydrates make us fat and sick, and if you reduce your carb intake to a bare minimum you will lose weight and improve many of the diseases of modern civilization you may be afflicted with.

It has been hypothesized that it is simply a matter of too much sugar in our diets that is causing the increase in obesity and diseases of modern civilization, and perhaps the highly processed grains, and maybe the vegetable oils, too. But really, they question, is it the whole of the carbohydrate macronutrient group that we need to be wary of? After all, other groups of natives that have been virtually untouched by Westernized ways of eating do quite well with eating diets very high in carbohydrates, with no ill effects whatsoever (1, 2).

And is it anything to do with insulin resistance, or leptin resistance? Is the jury still out on the whole insulin resistance issue? Many in the upper stratosphere of the Paleo movement would like to argue (and do) that the Carbohydrate Hypothesis is erroneous, and lacking in scientific backing.

It is statements like these which make me scratch my head and say, "Oh really?!"

I absolutely agree that sugar is bad, especially in the abundant quantities in the American diet. I don't eat grains, and I try to avoid vegetable oils at all costs, but are these people serious when they say they think we obese Americans can lose weight just by avoiding sugar alone?

Obviously, any change toward cutting sugar is going to reflect a positive change on the scale and in the tape measure. I have had friends in the past who swore off their favorite sugar laden food and lost weight. But what about those of us who for many years, even decades, bought into the notion that we were supposed to eat low fat, with lots and lots of "healthy" grains and carbohydrates, became obese, then cut our calories and portions, thus starving ourselves to lose pounds, damaging our metabolisms and probably frying our adrenal glands and thyroids in the process? Yeah, and many of us are women. Has it not always been obvious, and a scientific fact, that men typically lose weight faster than women? And, honestly, with the exception of less than a handful of these Paleo scientific experts in the blogosphere, not many of these gentlemen have ever been obese, or even a little overweight.

I have been on so many different weight loss diets in my lifetime. I have lost a significant amount of weight on low calorie, low fat diets, only to gain all the weight back and more because I was starving. The only eating plan that allowed me to lose weight, improve my health, and never feel hungry has been a low carbohydrate eating plan. I lost 60 pounds from my 5' 2" frame, and maintained that for quite some time. It wasn't until I decided to do my own N=1 experiment after reading many Paleo bloggers who believed that we humans were designed to be able to handle carbohydrates like potatoes and rice, that I gained some of that weight back. I am now eating "clean" again, avoiding those Paleo-approved starches, and losing weight.

My take on this is obviously based on my own personal, anecdotal experiences, but my experiences and applications of low carb eating have been backed up by science, so I am counting them as valid. While I believe that people who have never damaged their metabolisms may indeed be able to eat these starchy vegetables and ancient grains without any detrimental effects, I, and so many others in my same boat, may never be able to incorporate these foods into our daily eating plans.

Do I think low carb is a panacea for all the maladies that present themselves in modern civilization? Pretty much, but my definition of low carb may not be everyone's ideal definition, either. We all need to find out for ourselves what our bodies are capable of handling with regard to the damage we've already done.