GLUTEN FREE & WEIGHT LOSS
Your Health
Weight Management
IThe problem with celiac or gluten intolerance is that no 2 people have the same symptoms. As far as weight issues, some will be painfully thin, others will put on weight and be bloated and some, like me did both at some stage!
The main goal is to fix your health first by eliminating gluten, and you will be amazed at how your body naturally loses (or gains) weight without you trying!
Fermented Foods
Introducing fermented foods into your diet is one of the easiest and quickest ways to balance your internal workings with beneficial bacteria. Yogurts, kefirs and hard cheeses as well as sauerkraut all have good bacteria , and the fermentation process will consume most of the sugars-so no lactose and therefore they are less fattening.
I start each day with 1/2 a glass of kefir, just to make sure the right bugs are working internally.
FODMAP food program
The FODMAP diet was developed at Monash University in Melbourne by Peter Gibson and Susan Shepherd. They identified the particular foods that were not absorbed in the small intestine and passed into the large intestine and subsequesntly fermented, creating symptoms such as bloating, pain and irritable bowel syndrome. The main culprits were, fructans, fructose and lactose along with some others. A FODMAP diet improves your health and stops the pain almost immediately. Combine with a gluten free diet and you are on a winner!
Lactose Intolerance
Milk’s main sugar, lactose, is often a problem and is not tolerated well by most people. Dairy also has a high amount of carbs and this means it is highly insulin promoting. So ditch the milk-it is pasturised and sterilized and has no remaining good bacteria, and comes from cows who are fed on a diet of corn and soy and growth hormones and antibiotics.
Fructose Intolerance
This again is improved on the FODMAP diet and sugar cravings will be gone by the end of week 2 in most people. The main thing to remove from your diet is fruit juice (very high in fructose-therefore fattening and a high insulin spike) and all stone fruit. Obviously all kinds of sugar and especially artificial sweeteners-these are like poison to the body and should be avoided at all costs.
Paleo Diet
"What is Paleo ? by Paleo Chef Hubert Jansen
Paleolithic age is a prehistoric period of human history and Paleo is the short form word derived from the term Paleolithic. The premise of living a Paleo lifestyle would then be centered around how our bodies have not 100% adapted to eating foods in this day and age that were not available to us tens of thousands of years ago.
That's really an understatement, as food these days become more and more processed. What we put in our bodies is nowhere near what our bodies are actually capable of processing.
A Paleo diet seeks to reverse this, and eat things like meat, vegetable, nuts, seeds and fruits. This means absolutely zero alcohol, grains, legumes and dairy whatsoever. It also means steering clear of processed foods by any means necessary. In general, eating only what our thousands of years old ancestors would hunt and forage for and finally eat.
If you’re wondering how big a deal this is, simply look at the western patterns of food consumption. Most of their foods are refined with sugars, adulterated with vegetable oils, dairy products and grains. As a result, there’s an epidemic level of heart attacks, type-2 diabetes and obesity rampant there.
If anything, just take a step back whenever you’re going grocery shopping. Check what you buy. Find out what the ingredients are and how natural it is for your body to process. Yes, it may be a lot of effort at first, but isn’t life worth it?
Change doesn’t have to be drastic. It needs to be gradual if it’s going to be permanent. And the first step you need is to know more. Be involved in finding out what you eat, how you’re going to prepare food on a daily basis or where you’re going to be buying the ingredients for your next meal. "
The Secret Paleo Program
by Chef Hubert Jansen
Lots of recipes and tips for healthy shopping and cooking
The Paleo Miracle Diet
by Mary Seibert
For more information and a video on the Paleo Miracle Diet from Mary Seibert as seen on NBC & Fox TV
Top 10 Healthy Snacks
These are the things to have on hand when you are too tired to think!
Be ruthless and go through your cupboard and throw out or give away any pasta or biscuits or anything else that contains gluten. This also means any flour you might have sitting there, If it's not there, then you can't use it!
All fish is good, especially the oily ones like tuna and salmon as they are high in good Omega 3. Small tins of tuna with flavourings, (I particularly like the lemon pepper) make a great snack on a rice or corn cracker
1 Fish.
2 Steamed vegetables
Asparagus, broccoli, any that you fancy steamed in the microwave with a little butter and lemon pepper. For a really quick snack, zap some frozen mixed chopped vegetables in the microwave and then sprinkle with grated cheese.
Most sushi is gluten free. If in doubt -ask. If you are following a strict FODMAP diet, you may have to give a miss to the ones that have onion.
3 Sushi
4 Mexican food
Most mexican food is corn based flour so is gluten free. Check the menu as to which ones have the wheat flour.
Most of the fillings are also gluten free.
My children'ts favourite! Take 1 large potato for each person. Prick it all over with a fork, cook in microwave 4 mins. turn and 4 mins. then cross-ways cut open, add butter and mash it flat with a fork. Add toppings like tuna, coleslaw, mince meat, grated cheese, tomatoes, avocadoes, chives,what ever you like. Enjoy!
5 Smashed Spud
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Cold sliced meats
Any cooked sliced meat can be used, but not the store bought salami or metwurst. They are high in nitrates(not good for you) and often contain gluten. Dress them up with sliced tomatoes or egg or even asparagus on gluten free crispbread.
6 Chicken, lamb, beef, pork , game
All meat, lamb, beef, pork, however you like to cook it. Roasted or grilled or BBQ. Chicken, duck and even kangaroo are all low fat, very good for you and high in protein. No sausages however, as they are full of gluten.
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Kebabs
These can made from anything you have on hand, but are especially good with prawns or chicken peices or even lamb bites. Grilled on the BBQ or on the griller, you can put capsicum or tomato pieces in between. Don't forget to soak the wooden skewers in water for 1/2 hour before, so they won't burn to charcoal!
Eggs-in all of their variations
Hard boil them and have them in the fridge, for when you are hungry and don't want to wait! Scramble them for breakfast. and add chopped tomato and chives . Make a fritatta wiht whatever meat and vegies you have on hand. Make a quiche with frozen ready-rolled gluten free pastry. Make a savoury omlette-the list is endless.
Salads in all combinations
Tossed green salad, or greek salad or bean salad or even gluten free pasta salad. Don't use commercial salad dressings, however as they contain gluten. Make your own or just use balsmic vinegar.
For my FREE chart you can print out showing what you CAN and CAN"T eat on a Paleo Diet
The plain science behind gluten intolerance and Celiac:
It is important that you remeber that Celiac and gluten intolerance are not "just a fad" but an auto-immune disease that can cause untold suffering and a diverse range of symptoms.
The little finger-like projections (villii) that are in all our intestines, that catch all the nutrients and necessary vitamins and minerals, in a Celiac or gluten-intoerant person they no longer work.
Firstly, as a reaction to gluten, they produce an inflamatory reaction and they lie flat and don't do the job of collecting the vital nutrients that are necessary for our body.
Secondly, and what is worse, they then begin to atrophy and die off. So very little vitamins and minerals and nutrients are collected, the body sends the signal to the brain to "eat more", but eating more doesn't help. So we have bloating and pain and in a lot of people, weight-gain or weight loss, nerve dmage in the extremities, giving tingling or "pin-and-needles" in the feet or hands. This is often mis-diagnosed as sciatica or fibromyalgia. This also leads to vitamin deficiencies, which can show up as rashes, dental problems or failure to thrive in children.
The good news is that as soon as you eliminate gluten from your diet, these vilii regenerate and start to function as they should. This process does not happen overnight. From personal experience and other's reports, it takes about 2 years for your internals to return to normal.
However, you will feel better almost immediately.
Wikipedia has the following to say about Coeliac/Celiac desease and explains how the damage creats serious problems such as vitamin deficiency and leads to such diverse symptoms as chronic pain, bloating, aenemia, constipation and/or diarrhoea, fatigue and other organ system failures.
Click on the link below to go to Wikipedia:
Coeliac disease. ( | s | i | l | i | . | æ | k spelled celiac disease in North America and often celiac sprue) is an autoimmune disorder ...
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