Hey. Oh, Hi!

Didn't see you there. I've just been super busy. I went ahead and applied for restaurant jobs in the city lying blindly about having had "a ton of experience working in high-traffic/high-volume restaurants" and guess what? It worked! So now I'm working full time in a restaurant on the upper west side and I have no business being there. Not to mention- the cost of commuting from good ol' Long Island just to get to this restaurant costs me about 25 dollars each day. Wee! I'm hoping the pay will ultimately justify this insanity.

Wisdom from Within

In the midst of my obsession with this diet I've forgotten that this blog started as a source for daily musings from my day-to-day life. It wasn't meant to be yet another "healthy foodie blog."

Although… I don't have much of a life these days. Maybe that's why I'm obsessed with the diet thus turning my blog into yet another site of food pictures/health related articles.

Ah, yes. Resolving my psychological problems everyday with just a little reflection.

*Ommmm*

See? Why pay someone $100 an hour when you can figure this out with just a little reflection?

And food.

There's always food.


"I won't be impressed with technology until we can download food." ~ A wise but unknown soul

Hormones and Estrogen Dominance...

Because I'm just too much woman for my own damn self.

Today I'm going to talk about hormones.

Hormonal disruption could be one of the biggest health crises that effect our population today. This is because it affects every single one of us. Whether you display any observable symptoms of a hormonal imbalance or not, being alive in the 21st century is all the requisite you need. 

If you can check off any of these then your hormones have been affected:
Drinking bottled water

Taking birth control

Consuming nonorganic produce

Consuming dairy products (treated with or without BGH) 

Consuming processed or sugary foods on a regular basis 

Leading a relatively sedentary lifestyle

Rather than go on a tangent about the way these things affect our bodies, I'll leave you with a video to watch! (Lazy Bryn is lazy). Now there are many, many sources from which you can find this information. I just found Barbara O'Neill's presentation to be pretty well rounded for those who are not well read on the subject to begin with.

So if you're interested in learning more about the issue (most notably estrogen dominance), and have a good hour to kill, then you should definitely watch this. It's a pretty good overview of the way our endocrine systems work (or are meant to work) and how dangerous something like too much estrogen can be to our overall health.

*Try to look past the sister wife getup... and the fact that she alludes to homosexuality as an affliction caused by an imbalance. Oh yea and that she advocates premarital abstinence as the ideal form of birth control. It's just… it's just one of the wonders of being a devout Christian and a scientist. I'm still baffled at their existence.

To take Tina Fey's words just a wee bit out of context, 

"It's like watching a dog walk on its hind legs." There's just something not right about it.

Quick Healthy Mexican Dinner

Tonight I didn't have much time to put together anything elaborate so I decided to make one of my favorite dishes- tacoooos! Taco meat is one of the easiest things to cook and therefore one of my favorite. It's low carb, high fat, and super dileeshis.

Deconstructed Taco Dinner!

• In this recipe there will be no shells to toast oh so carefully lest they turn to blackened waste (and let's face it, shells are useless. You only get about one good bite until it just gives up and turns to nachos). 
• There will be no chopping of onions until your eyes bleed just to make a simple guacamole. 
• There will be no sour cream/cheddar/cilantro/tomato/jalapeño/superfluous bullshit on top.

Ingredientes.

For Taco Meat:

1 Pound Organic Grassfed Ground Beef (Or regular ground beef. I won't judge).

1 Packet of your favorite Taco Seasoning (Mine is Trader Joe's brand)

1 1/2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste (Don't toss what's leftover!)

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

*Optional- 1/2 Tablespoon Clarified Butter

For "Guacamole":

Smash an avocado. Put some lemon or lime juice on it. Fin.

Not poop.

Place your ground beef onto a hot pan and flatten it out until it looks like a giant meat pancake. Flip the giant meat pancake after one minute of cooking. (It's okay if it falls apart. You're going to smash it up anyway! This method just ensures quick and even cooking). After the meat is cooked add your tomato paste and make sure it is well spread throughout before adding the seasonings and proceeding with the smashing. Smash.

*I've made this recipe with and without tomato paste, but personally I prefer the flavor that the tomato paste adds. If you choose to use it, you're not going to use an entire can. Here's a way to store the remainder so they're ready to use in perfect serving sizes.

Go to any place that has a salad bar or salsa station (my place of choice is Moe's Southwest Grill), and you should find that they have these little plastic containers stacked up for to-go dressings or salsas. 

Steal a few-*ahem… respectfully acquire some at your discretion, and you would be surprised at how useful they can be at home. In this case, one container perfectly holds the portion needed for this recipe. Just store them in the fridge and when you need one-BOOM! Pop one of these out of the fridge. ¡Que conveniente!

Burrito. Taco-Taco. 

Anyway after all of this fun mexican cooking my mother calls and says she's coming home with Moe's for dinner. 

Fuck. 

What You Don't Know Can't Hurt You...

Oh wait, yes it can.

If you're familiar with the healing principles of the paleo or ketogenic diets, then what I'm about to say will probably not be of any news to you. If you're not familiar, then I hope I can plant a seed of interest!

The typical modern day lifestyle- inactivity combined with most of the materials we put on, around, and inside our bodies- are simply poisonous. From plastics, pesticides, preservatives, hormones, antibiotics, grains, gluten, sugar- we are inundated with chemically altering substances that wreak havoc on our internal systems.

Yes, I'm aware of how I sound right about now. I swear I'm not an agoraphobe who spends her days building a bomb shelter and feeding stray cats. I'm just well informed!

Just look at the number of people in developed countries who suffer hormonal imbalance, depression, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, thyroid disorder, sleep disorders, learning disabilities, Alzheimer's, etc. Is it so unrealistic to consider that these substances could be the cause of our ailments?

I could elaborate on the subject but I wouldn't know where to begin. If I started I fear the writing in this post would expand to a harangue surpassing the volume of Gone With the Wind. Anyway, I do a shit job of paraphrasing what is already being said by countless other spokesmen out there who are far more qualified than myself.

So while I'm not prepared to re-spew the vast amounts of information I absorb on the subject, I would like to share some of the sources from which I've acquired my information. I want to share the materials that I personally have found to be the most honest and informative.

*Disclaimer: You will almost never find two experts that agree 100% on a diet and lifestyle choice. A lot of research out there will condemn one thing while other research exists to support it. Sometimes it's hard to know what's best to do. So just use your discretion and see what works for you. In any case, it is likely that what works for one person will not work for another.

An artfully placed avocado next to my book. Why you ask? It's the law.

The first resource I'd like to share is a book that I purchased last summer while researching the paleo diet. For those who wish to better understand the intricacies of human body functions, along with the corresponding impact that the SAD (Standard American Diet) has on them, I'd highly recommend it. The book is called The Perfect Health Diet, by Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet. It's not a strictly paleo plan but does advocate most of the paleo principles. What drew me to it and still continues to bring me back, is that it includes actual scientific studies to substantiate its claims.

No, it doesn't just mention a study here and there like every other book on the market with the word "diet" in the title. This book actually contains abridged versions of lab reports conducted by various credible sources (by credible I mean- studies not funded by pharmaceutical companies).

The Nerd Diet.

I'm a girl who likes cold hard facts. It especially comes in handy when arguing on principles that go so against traditional wisdom…

"Whole grain bread is heart healthy!" Really? Direct poor fool to studies proving quite the opposite.

Having studied neuroscience in college I'm no stranger to reading through lab reports. But the great thing about this book is that the studies have been simplified to only the most essential information, so that you don't even have to be versed in scientific jargon to understand the information. In addition, every chapter is filled with personal and third-party testimonials about the ways this diet has improved a person's health.

Once you've read even just one chapter of The Perfect Health Diet, it all just seems to make sense. You'll wonder why we ever started eating the way we do now.

Obligatory Fat Bomb Post

Just a quick post on what I made this morning. I've been making these for ages now but I've never thought to show them. These babies are a staple in the keto-style diet so it's always felt a bit redundant to post pictures of it. That being said- here goes…

Aren't they adorable?

Fat bombs! No, it's not my ass I'm referring to but the little calorie packed concoctions that keto-people consume to up their daily fat intake. They're usually comprised of some combination of the following: butter, coconut oil, heavy cream, MCT oil, almond butter, bacon fat, beef tallow (listed in order of most commonly used ingredients).

Unlike most other whole food recipes these are really easy to make and require no baking. Also, they're really, really good.

Family photo.

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
1 Tablespoon Butter
2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Packet of Stevia in the Raw

*Makes two small fat bombs.

Chocolate.

Mix that shit together in a pot and pour it into cupcake liners. Pop it in the fridge and wait 15 minutes. Done. For full flavor effect dash a little bit of sea salt on top.

*If you want to make "Reese's" fat bombs:
When you pour the mixture into the cupcake liners and put them in the refrigerator to cool, reserve half of the mixture in the pot. After about 5-7 minutes the layer should be solid enough to hold a dollop of peanut butter. Plop on that peanut butter then pour the remainder of the mixture on top. Allow to cool another 15 minutes.

I Don't Like Hard Work

So as I mentioned in my last post, I've been gluten-free for about two years now (not including of course my most recent setback at ye' ol' bakery). But as far as clean eating goes, I've always been fairly consistent. So I'm no stranger to having to cook my own meals; I've made countless dishes of kale and quinoa, avocado salsa, shrimp ceviche, cauliflower pizza, herb roasted salmon, sautéed chicken-blah-blah and many other whole food wonders. It's no secret that cooking requires at the very least, time for preparation and an attention span. If you get enjoyment from cooking, even better! 

Before school, work, and stress slowly murdered the cooking enthusiast inside me, I was able to whip up these recipes without a second thought. 

I am currently trying to revive her.

So here's a lil' snap of today's breakfast… okay the ingredients for the breakfast. Once it was fully prepared it didn't look all that appetizing (as most keto-friendly meals tend to look). Also, I ate it before I could remember to take a picture.

Avocado-Cheddar Omellete cooked in butter

However, I did manage to take a photo of my first attempt at homemade ice cream! I tried to keep the recipe as simple as possible using just a few ingredients that I had around and of course- no sugar.

Low Carb Ice Cream with Chocolate "Fudgey Bits" and Peanut Butter

For the Ice Cream:
1 Cup Almond Milk
1 Cup Organic Heavy Cream
1 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Packets Stevia in the Raw (can use Truvia or any other sweetener you prefer)
1 Teaspoon Kosher salt

For the Fudgey Bits:
Half a Cup Coconut Oil
Two Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Packet of Stevia in the Raw

*Optional- Two tablespoons organic peanut butter

Mix the ice cream ingredients together in a bowl and allow to set in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. When you are ready to make the ice cream, mix the ingredients for the fudge bits in a separate bowl. *If the coconut oil is solid, stir them in a small pot on low heat until all ingredients are well mixed.
Turn on the ice cream maker and slowly pour in the ice cream mixture. Wait five minutes before adding the fudgey bits mixture. The stark cold temperature of the ice cream will solidify the mixture turning it into… fudgey bits. Didn't think I'd find an excuse to say fudgey bits so many times. Anyway! After that you can leave your ice cream as-is or add in the oh-so-bad-for-you and oh-so-delicious peanut butter.

Et voilà. God damn homemade ice cream. It tasted pretty good too! It's not cloyingly sweet like the ice creams you'd buy in the stores, and the- fudgey bits… had a slight coconut under taste. But I quite enjoy that flavor, so for me it was a welcome presence.

Next I will attempt to make a dairy free version, as a cup's worth of heavy cream in my body still feels slightly repugnant to me. Yes I'm aware that that's exactly what ice cream is, but now that I've seen what goes into it it just doesn't sit right. Leave me alone.

I must admit though… I kind of enjoyed the process. I do believe the cooking enthusiast is coming alive again!

Ketonly the Lonely

Two years ago I decided to give the gluten free lifestyle a try. Turns outs gluten is actually pretty shitty and removing it from my diet alleviated a lot of the symptoms I was experiencing (some of which I didn't even realize I had until I no longer felt them). Anyway, I found it fairly easy to maintain and never once had a set back. That is until last November…

Between a full time schedule in neuroscience courses, a rigorous rehearsal schedule for an all-too-stressful college production and working part time at a fucking bakery, there was just no way that my hips would stand a chance.

I was exhausted. I was stressed. I was nearing the steep precipice of post grad life with no direction frighteningly fast and it was maddening. Suddenly those baked goods which I was once able to see as just sugar and flour became a godsend. Brownies? No, no- free, fudge-coated-quaaludes. Oh, Oprah... Where were you last November when I stood at the bread counter surreptitiously eating my feelings?

Courtesy of Steinberg's Bake Shoppe- a sugary, gluten-ey, poisonous haven for kosher baked evil.

It only took one month of "cheating," reintroducing foods that I hadn't touched in years, for my body to retaliate. I felt like crap again almost instantly, and I've still not been able to get back to my original state of health.

So now I'm here dealing with the fallout of a merciless semester and zero self-discipline. I have been toying with a low-carb/ketogenic diet for quite a while but as you might imagine, discipline is an integral part of following a diet of any sort, so it hasn't been as effective as it could be. 

But I do my best to abide by the principles and remain as low carb as my mood will allow, and so far it has certainly made a difference in some aspects of my health. I'm no longer dealing with the crippling anxiety that just two years ago kept me from leaving my house. So.. yay? 

Anyway, I figure I might be more motivated to fully adopt the lifestyle if I try to document it. Post some pictures of my crappy looking keto-food, share a bit of my insight, my experiences, etc. and maybe help others out in the process.

I'll admit I've been hesitant to write about it as I hate talking about diets almost as much as I hate adhering to them. But at the moment, my giant ass is about all I've got going on in my life. So it's either write about that, or post links of all the Youtube videos I've been watching as of late. 

I mean… I could do that too. Anyone wanna see a really cool trick you can do with just a can of 7Up and a flamethrower?