Vegan Gluten Free is the Way to Be

Following my first post Experimenting with Gluten Free Vegan I have found my balance in this new lifestyle, which is not a diet per se, but I can definitively say this is now a statement for me.

Haven't posted for ages as been very busy with work and felt a bit off the vagon and overdid fod over winter, then done a juice detox in spring, then weather got cold again and just kept finding excuses for when I couldn't just keep my mouth shout and carried on eating foods that weren't doing me any good: one day (or maybe 2 or 3) stick to juices or liquid food for then, by day 3, being so hungry to contemplate eating anything and most of the times giving in or trying to get back to the way I lost weight last spring The Beck's method of having one's fav food once a day, in my case half a bowl of pasta at midday but had realized my body has changed: having cleaned itself with healthy habits, now it reacted badly to sugar (pasta or bread in general) so after the pasta I felt hungrier that before.

So finally made up my mind and gone back to VGF, the first few days, as usual, where the trickiest as had to watch and think constantly but got to day 5 successfully having even had a night out and stuck to the plan.

Result: no more sugar cravings, feeling full, healthy, positive and in control and currently experimenting as much as possible in the kitchen

RECIPE:

Whole meal rice with taboulleh

Experimenting with Gluten Free Vegan

It might sound a tad tricky to begin with, but it's not so difficult once you get the hack of it and you're mentally strong.

Yesterday I had I successfull gluten free vegan day and was so inspired that I decided to use AA methodes and take 1 day at a time and reward myself daily for what I accomplish.

I felt powerful, happy and in control: a strong minded being can successfully control his/hers body

Last year I had a raw vegan juicing spring summer, when I also learnt how to water fast and control my hunger, in fact everything was under control, I was steadily loosing weight until the temperatures lowerd and body started craving hot foods (mainly soups and stews).

I must admit I gave in and gained back 2 kg of the 10 I had lost, but instead of mortyfing myself I said: hey, you had a slip up, but think what you were eating last winter (pasta, sweet smoothies, healthy but very high in calories) and how you've learnt to control hunger and cravings and all the progresses you have made.

It's all very mental and psychologic, as, as well as losing weight, the vegan gluten free diet boost my energy ( I need all I can get as I lead a very active life ) and makes me feel great.

Sometimes, however, is not just hunger but craving of certain foods, confort foods. If I am tired I tend to crave carbs in the form of pasta and pizza (I am Italian and I own an Italian restaurant with hubby and he's a wonderful chef, plus all the food there is homemade)

Some people crave sweets and apparently is worse, so that I have to consider myself lucky.

I always try to look at the bright side of life in all aspects and, although, changing one's way of being and of relating to certain kinds of foods is difficult, switching habits isn't impossible, so I will keep up the work and as I said take it slowly one day at the time.

And how are you doing with your 2013 goals? Getting better in the area of switching to healthier eating habits?

HOW  TO FEEL FULL ON A VEGAN GLUTEN FREE DIET IF YOUR BODY ONLY FEELS FULL WITH CARBS?

Although you might think it's going to be all based on salads, juices, smoothies, that however colorful tasty and nice in spring/summer, now need to be replaced or accompanied by more filling foods.

So in our aid here come the old fashiond bowls of stews with GLUTEN FREE grains and cooked with very little oils.

you can get any of your favourite recipes and adjust it to low fat gluten free vegan by

Choosing from any of the below as a whole grain or in flour 

• Rice
• Sweetcorn
• Quinoa
• Millet
• Amaranth
• Bucktorn
• Sorghum
• Teff
• Oatmeal (low in gluten but not gluten free)

 and create your own great filling (both physically and mentally) bowl!

Total Detox Juice

INGREDIENTS:

1 piece of ginger, about 2x2 for medium spicy

6 sticks of celery

3 large cucumber

this produce about 2 glasses like the one in the picture, I usually drink one for breakfast and the other for mid afternoon snack

Nice and refreshing, ideal for a day when you feel a bit bloated from overdoing the day before!

Enjoy with joy!

Hunger or Anxiety?

That's a good question and the answer isn't any easy one at all. There are many articles or how to recognize hunger, how to overcome cravings, how to control them with water/tea/distraction techniques and so on. All of which I have tried and experienced. The outcome of it, is that if one's strongly minded one can do it successfully.

Yes you can beat anxiety.

But a lot has been written on how to do it, so the purpose of this article is not to give you solutions but look at the base of the problem.

Over the past few year I have experimented a lot with myself (juices only, liquids only, raw diet, vegan diet, non gluten, etc)and I was controlling my self, with more or less health benefits, and at the same time observing other people. How do others behave with food? Do I think a lot about the quality and quantity of what I put in my mouth while someone else just throws in anything that's edible (or not, this is really personal) and maybe obsess about work or clothes. I personally don't understand why most women suffer to be beautiful wearing heels and miniskirts or using wax. That's why I love the world, because we're all so different!

As I started to take on a new behaviour towards food, I started to notice the "mistakes" people were making.

I have 2 very good advantage viewing points

1. my restaurant, where I see about 30 different people every day having lunch while fighting their demons

2. my entourage, specially the children point of view thanks to the friends of my own kids

In the restaurant I get different 

Spring Reboot - Day 10 and 11

Day 10 Wednesday - Reboot with lunch

was the plan, as the bug left me quite weak and felt like needed a bit more than just juice so had

breakfast my usual juice of carrot/ginger/apple, I make about a litre and share it between the morning and a mid afternoon snack when I get back home from work

lunch celery salmorejo with alfalfa sprouts and polenta with sauted veggies

dinner: fennel green juice and 2 pieces of rosemary organic goat cheese

Day 11 - On the scale 69.80kg totally over the moon

breakfast, the usual

lunch celery salmorejo with sprouts (I have little time, so that I like to cook at least for 2 days and I don't mind eating the same thing two days in a row)

polenta with stir fried veggies mediterranean style - divine

Dinner: red beet juice

Spring Reboot week 2 - day 5 to 9

Well, my daily journal got a bit boxed, but not my reboot.

Last Friday day 5 I weighted in at 70.70kg and did well all day BUT got invited over to a friend's house for dinner and managed to have my juice, some celery with homemade hummus, some mixed salad and, this was the mistake, 2 slices of toasted bread with tomato and spanish ham. God it was so delicious, but believe or not the next morning I weighted in at 71.6kg.
Come on it's not as if I've eaten 900 grams for dinner, but I believe it's fluid retention or similar.
I have discovered that lunch more or less I can have anything, but dinner has to be extremely light, even when not rebooting

Day 6 - Saturday, liquids all day again
Carrot/ginger/apple for breakfast
Pepper Gazpacho for lunch
Green juice for dinner

Day 7 - Sunday, not bad all together...
Sweet Potato Juice  for breakfast
mixed salad and some pasta with tomato for lunch
Carrot/Ginger/Apple juice for mid afternoon snack (and a piece of homemade apple cake)
Cilapple juice for dinner
Spent the whole day at home as kids got a stomach bug from the kids of the friends we went to see on Friday (not people to hang out with: give bugs and make me skip diet)

Day 8 - Monday, the bug got me
so spent the day on ginger and lemon water, then got hungry mid afternoon and had a small bowl of pasta with tomato sauce and a piece of apple cake
went to bed and slept 12 hours to recover

Day 9 - Tuesday, on my feet again
breakfast: small glass of my kids breakfast pink smoothie
lunch: lentil soup and bowl of pasta with pesto, asparagus and zucchini
dinner: vegetable soup

CilApple Juice

I must admit I was very skeptic about this juice and only went for it because I had a bunch of cilantro about to go off... But it turned out to be a very good choice, great balance between the cilantro and the lemon, will definitively go for it again.

Very good choice for when it's compulsory to keep the juicing interesting with challenging flavours

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch of cilantro

1 bunch of spinach

1 peeled lemon

6 thick celery stalks

3 golden apples

drink and enjoy!

It produces about 3/4 of a litre so it's a whole meal!