How ironic is it that the more you detoxify your body by removing foods that make you sick, the more you get sensitive to other toxic foods...I guess finding the right diet for you is all about fine tuning ;).
Currently, I am:
- Gluten free
- Low grains/grasses to nearly grain free (I try not to have more than 1 serving per day...More than that feels like it's too much for my body. My favorites are buckwheat and wild rice ~ I like strong flavors.)
- Low starch (Starchy foods seem to give me similar symptoms than gluten grains)
- Sugar free (I only use natural sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup and coconut sugar in small amounts. I use agave syrup only once in a blue moon, because it's not a liver friendly sweetener. Most of the desserts I have are fruits, fruit based or fruit sweetened...I plan on making some dry fruit syrups and see how my body reacts. I know manage to drink my teas without any added sweetener.)
- Yeast free (I can't stand the smell nor the taste of yeast anymore and my body doesn't seem to like yeast anyway).
- Nightshade free (The hardest part may have been to get rid off tomatoes since they are everywhere but since I realized how addictive they were, I found the motivation to stop eating them. I have found some very good no-tomato sauce recipes using carrots or butternut squash and beets (for color), with proper seasoning, it tastes about the same as real tomato sauce so I don't feel like I'm missing something. Potatoes make me sick within 24 hours. I've always had trouble digesting peppers no matter how much I loved them and eggplants give me a funny sensation in my mouth).
- Soy free (Because it's a health hazard. I only have a little splash tamari once in a while)
- Peanut free (Not that I'm allergic but I never liked the taste & texture, plus when you do a little research it's not such a great food...Sunflower butter has a similar taste and is more nutritious)
- Few(er) eggs (I noticed that my belly doesn't agree with lots of eggs and surely not on a daily basis...I wonder if it has to do with the feed. For this reason, I will stick with pasture fed eggs and plan on trying duck eggs as well).
- Few legumes/pulses (These can be hard to digest so I don't eat them too often and usually stick to a few "favorites" such as kidney beans, cannellini beans, azuki beans, lentils and peas/split peas...I find garbanzo beans/chickpeas very acidic)
At this point, dear reader, you are probably wondering (just like my mother did) : what is there left to eat? Well, there's plenty!
- Nuts & seeds + nut/seed butters (I love making milks out of soaked nuts/seeds or butters ~ for express milks)
- Fruits & vegetables (I particularly enjoy greens, members of the cabbage family, squashes & pumpkins as well as a few root vegetables)
- Meat, poultry, fish, eggs (Preferably free range and grass/pasture fed)
- Raw milk & dairy products (Great for homemade yogurt, whey and clabbered milk)
- Homemade lacto-fermented foods and drinks (Don't neglect the good bacteria, you need them)
- Miso (I use a soy free miso made with azuki beans)
- Nourishing herbal infusions
My favorite ways of cooking & enjoying these foods are raw, steamed, boiled and oven baked.
I feel healthier, less aches & pains, less fatigue and more energy. I also have nearly no cravings (especially not towards junk and sugary foods) and experience less hunger due to the fact that I have a varied and nutrient dense diet (so I eat less that I used to). No more mood swings, cranky liver, pounding heart/tachycardia nor hypoglycemia either ;).
I have so many tea blends that I enjoy but this one is one of my all time favorites!
