Monday, February 6, 2012

A week and a why



"OH MY GOD, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!?!"

This is the panicked question that I get most often when I tell people that I'm no longer eating grains. After the panic, I usually get a series of questions about exactly which ingredients I'm eliminating. Rice? Yes. Corn?? Yes. BREAD?!?! Yes. Then, the eye roll and the shoulder shrug.

The overall attitude is usually that this is just another fad diet and I'm its latest victim. The truth is, the grain-free lifestyle has been around since long before Atkins and South Beach repackaged and marketed it. In its purest form, it is a modern reproduction of the diet that cavemen followed. Grains as a diet staple are actually a relatively new idea. Science tells us that life expectancy and overall health actually decreased when we stopped hunting and gathering and started homesteading.

But enough propoganda. The question I also get is, "Why?" The quick answer: I'm fat and I want to finally stop being fat. The longer answer: I've had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome since I was a teenager and the research says that the syndrome has the awful catch-22 of being reversed through weight loss while also making weight loss very difficult. It ties into blood sugar issues which can be leveled out with a grain-free diet. I also had gall bladder issues before pregnancy which were exacerbated by my last-minute c-section. The grain-free diet has been a way for other ladies in my situation to avoid gall bladder removal.

One thing about this decision is that it takes a lot of planning each week since I make pretty much every meal for us. I'm hoping to post the week's dinners each monday. (Lunches are usually leftovers from the night before.) Some nights I might just cook a piece of meat and throw it on a gigantic salad. I also try to pre-make breakfast foods for us, and if I do that, I'll post it as well.

A couple reminders - we are eating dairy and some tree nuts, we cook primarily with coconut and olive oils but don't require that they be absolute virgin pressings, and while we've cut out most soy I need my soy sauce.

Breakfast for the week - slices of breakfast casserole.

Monday - Gingered carrots with Mahi Mahi and sauteed tatsoi with garlic and pine nuts. (Seriously tasty!!!)

Tuesday - Lemon-baked free-range chicken cutlets over salad with homemade "house" dressing.

Wednesday - Stuffed Peppers

Thursday - Baby back ribs

Friday - Baked salmon over salad with "house" dressing.

Saturday - Red curry beef with cabbage

Sunday - Free-range roast turkey with brussel sprouts and grain-free stuffing



This post is part of Menu Plan Monday and Monday Mania.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting to read about your reasons. (I just posted on mine too.) Sorry to hear about the PCOS. Have you ever read Nourished Kitchen? She always has great recipes (and has PCOS too). It's one of my favorite blogs. Your menu for the week looks delicious.

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    1. I actually started reading Nourished Kitchen after following a link on your blog! I love it! I hope you don't mind, but I also jumped on to some of the linkies you were using like Menu Plan Monday. Hope that's cool. Now I'm off to read your post...

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