SCD – in thriver words

If It’s Paleo, It’s Gluten-Free

paleo If it’s Paleo, it’s gluten-free so go ahead and give it a try! I have been stuck at my office literally watching concrete dry for the past 4 hours. Yes, I knew in advance concrete would have to set up. No, I didn’t realize things would go exactly like they went, so the snacks I brought weren’t enough. Now, I’m starving.

I need to find some food that’s quick, close, and microwaveable. The neighborhood store has Tastefully Plated® frozen Paleo meals. I think I’ll give one a try. The sausage & egg scramble with cauliflower grits sounds interesting. It has 21 grams of protein and 280 calories. Not only is it gluten-free, this selection is also milk free.
plate
Now that I’ve removed the meal from the box, I finally understand the Tastefully Plated branding. Each meal comes seated on a white plastic plate that has been vacuum sealed with plastic. The plate is a step up from most frozen meal packaging. The problem is, when you shrinkwrap sausage, eggs, and cauliflower grits, the result looks a whole lot like a regurgitated meal on the plate and that’s not too appetizing.

Knowing that we eat with our eyes first, perhaps the viewing window in the boxes isn’t such a great idea. The plate is the unique part, and it isn’t even visible when the meal is in the box. Perhaps the die-cut in the box could just show the edge of the plate and feature a photo of the food. Looking at the product in the store, I kept wondering why it said Tastefully Plated when it looked like something I may have plated a couple of times after a late night of drinking too much Scotch.

I will confess that I’m not a frequent purchaser of frozen entrees or meals, so in a sense I’m comparing this frozen meal to my memory of a home or restaurant cooked version of it. I was recently reminded how widely quality can vary. On a Thursday afternoon, I grabbed some scrambled eggs at a racetrack snack bar that had limited gluten-free choices. That night, I stayed at an old resort hotel. The building was beautiful, but the room was showing its age. The next morning, I ordered room service scrambled eggs and bacon thinking they’d be a repeat of the previous day’s meal. Boy was I wrong. The eggs were light, but firm and unbelievably good even after sitting under a metal cover.

In fact, there was no comparison between the racetrack meal and the hotel meal. The hotel, in spite of its deteriorating decor, fuzzy TV reception, and questionable plumbing still can deliver an incredible egg. It is possible that the difference is that those eggs are cooked on site rather than being rewarmed on site.

I mention this to say that while it would probably be more fair to compare a frozen entree only to another frozen entree, that’s not what happens in my real life, so it’s not what’s happening here. This frozen Paleo meal was passable. The sausage seemed a bit more bland than my usual brand. The eggs were fine, but not full of flavor. The cauliflower grits, were watery and lacking substance.

The meal wasn’t so bad that I’d say I’ll never eat it again, but it wasn’t good enough for me to remember to choose it again on purpose. Perhaps I’d be more pleased with the braised beef with chipotle sweet potatoes & broccoli, or the grilled chicken breast with plantains & petite green beans. I like those food combinations.

I am grateful that these Paleo meals exist. They got me out of a jam without having to resort to frozen gluten-free pizza, mac & cheese, or tacos. And they offer other interesting combinations like braised pork with roasted potatoes, mango chutney, and salsa verde; cajun style shrimp with root vegetables, corn relish & plantains; and sweet potato hash with scrambled eggs and chicken apple sausage.

Paleo Tastefully Plated meals are appropriate for anyone who follows a gluten-free diet. With that being said, I can only see buying these when I’m in a jam.

So, what’s the takeaway? Perhaps this: anything that’s Paleo is, by definition, gluten-free! Anything that’s Specific Carbohydrate Diet compliant is, by definition, gluten-free. Anything that’s gluten-free may or may not be Paleo or SCD compliant.

If it’s any of the three, it can be tasty – especially when it’s made with love in your kitchen.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

http://www.tastefullyplated.com/

Holiday Indulgence–Is It Worth It?

For those of you who are tempted to fudge a little here and there, I recently asked myself this question–Was a recent holiday indulgence worth it?

After 9 months of strict adherence to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Thanksgiving arrived. I cooked sweet potato pie, corn casserole, cornbread dressing (stuffing if you prefer), an amazing sweet potato and squash soup, and gluten-free macaroni and cheese for my extended family. While I cooked, I tasted. At the dinner table, I tasted. For a couple of days afterward, there were leftovers in the fridge that…I tasted. Now mind you, a taste isn’t a serving. It’s just a couple of spoons full, and I never tasted anything containing harmful gluten.

Then came the cold December afternoon when I returned to my office ready for an afternoon snack. No, not just ready…I felt like I was starving. While I was out of the office, the most beautiful, red holiday basket had arrived. Sporting a huge bow and from the most exclusive flower shop in town, it was filled with chocolate chip, key lime, and iced spice cookies, party mix, candy, and one gluten-free item – a tin full of dark chocolate hazelnut toffee. Not more than 5 seconds after I finished reading the label, I ripped off the plastic seal and popped open that tin.

After all, I was starving and there were huge hazelnuts embedded in the toffee. I broke the toffee away from a nut and popped it in my mouth. After all nuts are allowed on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Still hungry, I continued. The third nut I peeled had a tiny bit of candy still attached. Chocolate, caramel tasting sugar – YUM! I didn’t try nearly as hard to remove all the candy from the fourth nut…or the 5th, 6th, or 7th. After all, it was only sugar (not gluten) AND I had been strictly following the SCD, perhaps I was ready to reintroduce some items into my diet. This justification worked so well for me that I used it again the next day when I pulled the lid off the tin.

Then came Christmas lunch. May as well try the scalloped potatoes, and then finish off the toffee.

Four days later I have two New Year’s parties to attend and I am doubled over in pain or I would be if I weren’t talking to the repairman who’s here to fix the alarm. I can’t believe I used to work like this all the time. It feels like someone detonated a bomb below and to the right of my belly button. I’m contemplating the minimum amount of time I can spend at each party because I’m afraid I may need to stick close to a bathroom. I plan to take a second dose of activated charcoal and hope for the best.

In the midst of this pain and anxiety, I hear the question nagging at the back of my brain: Was straying off the SCD worth it? Hmmm. The toffee was delectable, and the potatoes satisfied my longing for filling carbohydrates, but now I’m on track for what may be a lengthy healing process. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Was it worth it?

YES. Yes, the transgression was worth it.

Ahhh yes, the transgression was worth it, but not in the hedonistic way you may think. It was worth it because the discomfort I am experienced reminded me in a very concrete way WHY I choose each moment of every day to adhere to an eating plan which allows my body to heal. Such discomfort also serves as a reminder of how difficult it used to be to focus and function before I went gluten-free. I feel amazed and proud of my progress.

And I feel proud of you for wanting to feel your best and for being willing to make choices that will keep you on the path of healing. To be tempted is to be human. Give yourself a break if you weren’t perfect last week, but don’t use yesterday’s mistake as an excuse to give up on yourself or to stop making good choices. Just use it as a reminder of WHY you choose to consume only foods that contribute to your optimum health.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Cheri

No Grain, More Gain

Ever wonder why your digestive system seems to be rebelling even though you’ve been meticulously gluten-free? Me too.

Being quite the social butterfly, I used to think I must be getting bad information from waiters on a regular basis allowing minute amounts of gluten to infiltrate my diet. I no longer believe this.

Lacking a definitive scientific study on which to rely, I will simply tell you what I’ve learned through trial and error. The less gluten-free grain I consume, the better I feel.

Mind you, the effect is not immediate, but it is quick. It takes about a week of eliminating complex carbs from my diet for me to suddenly feel 10 pounds lighter, have my bowel function to return to normal, have less sudden energy drops from low blood sugar, and to feel totally free of intestinal discomfort.

It is possible that Elaine Gottschall had it right when she wrote “Breaking The Vicious Cycle” outlining the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. While not widely accepted by the current medical and nutrition community as significant, Elaine’s book was not written by an untrained, uneducated, or uninformed lay person.

Elaine was a biochemist and cell biologist whose daughter was a patient of Dr. Sidney V. Haas. As you may know, Dr. Haas was a pediatrician and researcher who in 1924 published a medical paper detailing his use of the banana diet for treatment of Celiac Disease. His research led to the development of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). During his career, Dr. Hass treated over 600 cases of Celiac Disease and in 1951, along with his son, published a medical textbook entitled “The Management of Celiac Disease”.

The basic premise of the SCD is that the elimination of all carbohydrates that are polysaccharides (complex carbs) from the diet in favor of monosaccharides (simple carbs) can correct malabsorption and reverse the course of many intestinal disorders by starving out an overgrowth of bacteria or yeast from the system.

The first time I followed, yes that’s right I said the FIRST time, the SCD, I ran a 101º fever for a week. After that week I began to improve. After a year on the diet, my belly felt better than it ever had in my adult life, and my skin, which had always been prone to breakouts, was completely clear. After a year and a half on the diet, I began to add back complex carbs – yummy tortilla chips, gluten-free crackers, arrowroot cookies – oh yeah! Except that after a while I went from oh yeah to oh OWWW!

No matter what I would like to be true, I feel better without grain. I feel better without potatoes. I feel better when I limit the chocolate, sugar, milk, and soybeans in my diet. When I consume tortilla chips, my belly hurts. When I bake with potato starch, my belly hurts. When I eat gluten-free pasta for 3 days in a row (I make a mean mac & cheese and the leftovers are awesome) my diarrhea returns.

I don’t know if all grains act as toxins to my system triggering a brain response or whether my symptoms are attributable to bacterial overgrowth or whether it’s a combination of the two. I’m not sure I need to know. I know that my system responds positively on the SCD. I know it makes logical sense because eliminating foods that are harder for my digestive system to break down takes a load off my body. My body can then redirect its energy to healing and proper functioning. What more do I really need to know?

Of course I need to know what I can and cannot eat. That’s easy. I can buy “Breaking the Vicious Cycle”, or visit http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/legal/legal_illegal_a-c.htm.

Waiters and chefs in restaurants will need to know what I can eat, so I’ll carry Cooking2Thrive® SCD server cards with me to communicate the information easily.

That covers what I need to know. You may want to know if there are good SCD recipes available.

That answer is easy as well. Cooking2Thrive will soon release a series of chef-tested recipes that are SCD compliant and scrumptiously tasty. These recipes include: Empire Waist Cheese Crackers, Health Nut Applejacks (pancakes), Lemon Kiwi Muffins, Coconut Pound Cake, Cheesecake, Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies, 3 Pepper Fried Chicken Tenders, Meat Loaf, Pistachio Encrusted Chicken, Personal Pizza Margherita, Gorgonzola Tarragon Deviled Eggs, Stuffed Summer Squash, Apple Slaw, and many more.

Hopefully science will eventually support the trends many of us already anecdotally observe. In the meantime, if you’re gluten-free and experiencing recurring digestive problems, please consider taking the burden off your body. Follow the SCD for awhile (if it’s SCD compliant, it’s automatically gluten-free). You too may find that with no grain you see more gain.