I've been writing and rewriting this blog post for days and finally just smacked myself in the head and started over! I was making it too hard and too confusing, which is how I feel, trying to get used to eating a certain way to heal my body. I've since decided that I will just do it in pieces and just explain it simply so that everyone understand what it is that I am doing...and myself too, for that matter.
So, the fist thing that I will tell you is that I have Graves and Hashimoto's...just that in itself is enough to make anyone cringe. Having them both makes it very hard to treat and even when my levels are in range, I still have very high antibody counts that add misery to my misery! After feeling like death with "normal" lab ranges, I started researching it all over again and found that even with those ranges in the "normal"...your high antibody counts can also make you miserable and sick. I then looked into what to do to get these antibodies down to normal and the most effective way, to me, was to change my diet and see what happens and that is my journey right now.
The first thing I did was to take Gluten out of my diet and that is hard at first but to my surprise, I have found many, many, ways to live without it. Everyone knows that I love to cook and eat, I love making new recipes and I love feeding everyone that I can and I just knew that this would be horrible and that I would be miserable and so hungry, but alas...I am none of those and I actually feel so much better this week, just that fast!
There are a million and one websites and pages to look at online and everybody has an opinion as to how you should go gluten free..my advice is to look at everything about it, talk to people about it, and then make your decision based on what works for you...not everyone has time to make up specialty recipes or the money to buy everything gluten free and if you are like me, you have brain fog that makes you seem crazy at times and an inability to stay focused, which in turn, makes you anxious and confused! Crazy huh? I know, so I'm taking my time to slowly explain exactly what I am doing to heal my body as best as I can.
The first thing I did was to see exactly what has gluten in it and I was amazed to find gluten in a whole host of things that I never thought it would be in, such as, my vitamins and supplements, gravy mixes, condiments, hair products and make up too..not that I wear a lot of make-up because that takes energy and want to and at this point in time, I just don't have any of that. After figuring out what to avoid and how to read every label there is, I took notes as to what to replace everything with. I know that wheat and bread products are out unless they are certified Gluten free. There are even some meats and dairy products that have gluten in them... really?? This is why it is so important to buy fresh, organic, meat and dairy products (if you eat them at all). I have learned that when you really start to look for gluten free foods, there is a plethora of them out there and there are many ways to improvise your cooking that makes it a little easier to deal with and to cook.
Here are just a few adjustments that I've made so far:
1. If you are still wanting to fry things, there is always gluten free flour that you can use, my choice this week has been King Arthur gluten free flour. It really was not that different than regular flour, not that I fry a lot of foods or use a lot of flour, but it worked out great on a really yummy recipe I made this week. Lemon Chicken Picatta..
Lemon Chicken Piccata
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Jo Cooks
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise
- salt and pepper to taste
- all purpose flour, for dredging
- 4 tbsp butter, unsalted
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup chicken stock or dry white wine, I used wine
- ¼ cup brined capers
- ⅓ cup fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.
- In a large skillet melt 2 tbsp of butter with the olive oil, over medium to high heat.
- Add chicken pieces to the skillet and cook for about 3 to 4 min per side until browned. When chicken is cooked, remove chicken from skillet.
- Remove skillet from heat. Add lemon juice, chicken stock or wine, capers and scrape up the brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Return skillet to heat and bring to a boil. Taste the sauce and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Add chicken back to skillet and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove chicken to a platter and add remaining butter and whisk for about a minute. Sauce will thicken a bit.
- You can return chicken to skillet and garnish with parsley. Alternatively you can pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with parsley.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 148g Calories: 265 Fat: 19.5g Saturated fat: 8.5g Unsaturated fat: 0.0g Trans fat: 0.0g Carbohydrates: 7.0g Sugar: 0.6g Sodium: 248mg Protein: 18.5g Cholesterol: 73mg
**This recipe is from Jo Cooks, I found it on Foodgawker and it was just sooooo good, I had to try it. I changed the regular four for gluten free flour and used chicken stock in place of the wine!
2. Another handy tip I learned was that you can use brown rice to your hearts content and there are several brands that are Organic and gluten free. I was already using brown rice quite a bit in my daily recipes, but now it is my life line because I am not eating as much pasta as usual. There are some good gluten free pastas out there and I'll get to that next. Brown rice can be used in so many ways, I just never even knew, until I had to..lol! Here are some ways that I've been using brown rice.
*I use it as a filler in my meatloaf, stuffed peppers, or cabbage rolls. I add veggies and chicken stock to it to use as a side dish and I use it when making any kind of a stir fry.
*I will do a separate blog post with all of these recipes in it.
3. I have also learned that it's ok to eat 2 or 3 vegetables with your dinner...lol! I've always been one of those cooks who made everything balance at dinner time, you know, a meat, a bread, a veggie, maybe two veggies and if we were lucky, a dessert too! If It didn't look balanced, then I would think it was wrong, maybe that's the OCD coming out in me? I have no idea, but now, veggies are my friends and the more the merrier!
4. I have learned that you can use herbs and spices to add to everything and it just makes it all better...I always thought that I used plenty of different spices, but this week, I have used so many more and have played around with them, thus making my meals all that much more better!
5. The most exciting thing that I learned this week, was that I don't have to give up pasta completely! I love, love, love, my pasta and I was so sad to learn that it was, of course, full of gluten or even that the store brands of Gluten Free pastas have corn flour in them and for me, that just won't work and then a friend pointed me in the direction of Tinkyada Pastas...low and behold, they are gluten free, corn free, and soy free! Yippee!! I can order them online and they are affordable! I won't eat them a lot because I can't have tomatoes or tomato products yet, but...I can add them to soups or stir fry's and that is good enough!
I know that you've seen me state that there are foods that I can't have and some of those are because of the Hashi's and some are because they just make me sick when I use them. I will post the next blog soon and explain why I can't have them and what they are. I hope this blog hasn't confused you even more, I am trying to get you the information in away that doesn't make you scream and run for the hills...think about this and look up all the gluten you want to know about gluten and what you can do for yourself. The blogs that I write are just a go to for hopefully, good information and inspiration. Research everything you can about your illness and research everything you can about what it is going to take to feel better and what will work for you. We must be our own advocates when it comes to our health, no one will care more about ourselves than...well....ourselves! I hope you feel well today and you have a great day too!
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