Traveling & The Genotype Diet

Ok, I know it's been a while-oops...

So I went out of town for a week in May and I was concerned with the Genotype Diet being so new still and all that I was going to face some food/eating challenges. I'm here to tell you that I did better than survive! I was surprised how easy it was. Being the Hunter it's fairly easy to find a steak, chicken or suitable fish dish just about anywhere that includes steamed veggies and rice or some other appropriate side, and even if some of the foods that ended up on my plate weren't on "The List" it was easy enought eat around them. For instance at the pub one night I ordered fish tacos. It came with three tacos plus black beans and rice. The only thing not on "The List" was the actual taco wrapper, white flour tortillas. So I ate out the taco filling plus the beans and rice and it was the perfect amount of food.


The folks I was travelling with were very supportive and accomodating as well as intrigued by The Genotype Diet, though I think they were getting tired of brown basmati rice as a side after a few days. I think I could eat it nearly everyday and not tire of it. There are so many different ways to change it's flavor to make it interesting.


One of my new favorite ways to eat brown basmati that I discovered while on this trip is to shred fresh parmesan cheese over it after having slathered it with butter and salt. I'm talkin about the fresh stuff, the real deal, not the pre-grated/shredded/powdery kind, which has a completely different tast. Have I mentioned I'm NOT trying to lose weight on this diet? Just thought I'd clarify that.


I also discovered that I can have at least 2 bites of a wheat product such as cake ;-) during a birthday celebration or homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and not have tummy troubles or food coma! Whoo Hoo! I haven't tried more than 2 bites, cuz that's usually all I seem to need to sate my wheat craving.


Also Also there was a package of flourless chocolate cookies at the house I was staying at that came from a local grocery deli that were surprisingly sans any really nasty ingredients so I ate one! Ahhhh yum! Here's a recipe I found online for them that I've tried and loved as well as my best friend and her 4 kids. If it's kid approved you know it's good! And while the cookies are wheat free which is great, they have A LOT of sugar in them so if you're staying away from sugar don't read on cuz you'll want to lick your screen...





Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies
By Robin Raisfeld & Rob Patronite Published Apr 13, 2008

The annual Passover abstention from flour need not be so abstemious, as François Payard demonstrates in this recipe for chewy, gooey chocolate-walnut cookies. Egg whites add a meringuey quality, but fudginess prevails in these jumbo-size beauties, available at Payard’s Upper East Side pâtisserie and featured in his new book, Chocolate Epiphany (Clarkson Potter; $35).

François Payard’s Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies
2 3/4 cups walnut halves (I like my chocolate pure so I left out the walnuts)
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (Ghiradelli makes an awesome one!)
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites, at room temperature (start w/2, add more if needed, batter should be brownie mix consistency that can be scooped)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Spread the walnut halves on a large-rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 9 minutes, until they are golden and fragrant. (1) Let cool slightly, then transfer the walnut halves to a work surface and coarsely chop them. Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and lower temperature to 320. Line two large-rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. (2) In a large bowl, whisk (or combine in an electric mixer on low speed) the confectioners’ sugar with the cocoa powder and salt followed by the chopped walnuts. While whisking (or once you change the speed to medium), add the egg whites and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened (do not overbeat or it will stiffen). (3) Spoon the batter onto the baking sheets in 12 evenly spaced mounds (small-pin pong balls-they spread), and bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked; shift the pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through to ensure even baking. Slide the parchment paper (with the cookies) onto 2 wire racks-baking the cookies on parchment is key!! Let cookies cool completely, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Italics are mine.

Happy eating!

Playing with Teff Flour

First and foremost the fact that chocolate is on my superfood list makes my heart sing!! It just about makes up for the fact that wheat is on the avoid list.

So one thing I've been doing with my food list is google searching and or hopping on Wikipedia to look up foods I've either never heard of or am not too familiar with. At the very bottom of my carb list it says, "Teff", and I had a series of thoughts that went something like, "hmmmm, never heard of that...", "what the heck is that?" and "what the heck can I do with it?"

Google to the rescue! What in the world did we do before Google?? Anyway up pops Bob's Red Mill: http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipe/ingredient.php?pid=386 and there are 15 recipes that use Teff Flour! Whoo Hoo!! Jackpot!

One in particular catches my eye-Chocolate Mint Refrigerator Cookies, because I have all the ingredients less the Teff, which I pick up during my next grocery run. I'm so excited that everything is on my good or neutral lists that I whip up a batch of cookies as soon as I return from the store. Here's the recipe for you to try.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Mint Extract
1 cup Teff (Tef, T'ef) Flour
1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1/8 Salt
1 cup Walnuts-Baker's Pieces-optional

Cream together butter and honey. Add vanilla and mint extract. Combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Add walnuts. Place in plastic bag, and shape into a log about 1-1/2" in diameter. Refrigerate for 1 hour or more. Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice refrigerated dough into 18 cookies. Place on oiled baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, watching carefully to prevent burning. Makes about 18 cookies.

Variations:*Substitute carob powder and chips for cocoa powder and walnuts.

*Substitute chocolate chips, almonds, pecans, flaked coconut, minced dates for raisins and walnuts.

*Substitute cashew butter, almond butter, or tahini for butter.

*Add 1 tsp baking powder and bake as drop cookies without refrigerating. I added b. powder and it still need fridge time for sure!

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serving Size: 1 CookieCalories 170, Calories from Fat 90, Total Fat 10g, Saturated Fat 3.5g, Cholesterol 15mg, Sodium 5mg, Total Carbohydrates 19g, Dietary Fiber 3g, Sugars 8g, Protein 3g.

I loved these cookies! They were my first discovery of something "bready" I could make using only ingredients that are good for me! While Teff Flour, at least in this recipe, is a bit on the grainy side, the flavor and the fact that these cookies are actually good for me, far outweigh the grit factor!

I'm still working on perfecting the final product but so far making cookie balls (I opted out of trying to make a log) larger than smaller is good, a smidge smaller than a golf ball, and waiting til they're completely cool before removing them from the pan is important if you want them to retain any sort of recognizable shape. Also timing for me was much less than the recipe says. It's possibly because I was using a toaster oven, though that hasn't ever effected timing for me before. Mine were done in about 7 minutes so don't put them in and walk away like I did for the first batch. It was not good... By the way they weren't named Refrigerator cookies for nothing. Refrigeration is an important step and even though they said the butter should be softened, next time I'm going to try cutting in cold butter to see if they hold their shape better, and if they actually turn out looking like edible cookies I'll post a picture :-)

So Far...

I've noticed that my skin was clear right before my period when it's usually breaking out. That in and of itself is reason enough to stick with it! ;-) I've also noticed that I'm not experiencing "food coma", getting really sleepy and lethargic, after I eat like I used to which is another fantastic benefit!

So far so good!

For any of you thinking about trying out the Genotype Diet or for anyone who has just begun, I'd highly recommend picking one or two foods to trade in at a time. I chose to start with breakfast because I found easy trades for what I already ate. For example I ate oatmeal with almond milk nearly every morning and neither of those things are on my superfood list, in fact they're on my avoid list! So I simply traded oats for brown rice cereal and almond milk for hazelnut milk. I made a copy of the food lists in the book and carry it with me to the grocery so I can explore new foods. I'm realizing that I'm approaching the change in diet with a lot more wonder and curiosity than I did the first time around with "Eat Right".
Another thing I'd recommend is going to the store when you're full, not hungry lol That's not a good time to try to figure out what you can and cannot eat. It makes for major crankies!

The biggest challenge for me so far is my committment to avoid all wheat, which also means sprouted. At first I thought, "no problem, I have 2 great cookbooks that are completely gluten free. I'll be able to find all kinds of substitutes for the bready, crackery things I normally eat." What I didn't bank on was the fact that the combo of flours she has come up with and perfected over the years uses 3 different flours, 2 of which are on my avoid list-drat! Next! Not sure what that is yet so if anyone has any fantastic ideas I'm open to hearing them. What do you eat for lunch if you're not making sandwiches or wraps? I know there's a world of food options out there for the taking but I got stuck in the PB & J rut, and a person can only eat tuna and gluten free crackers so many times a month, not just cuz it get's boring but because of the whole fish/mercury thing.
So what do you eat for lunch?

In The Beginning...

Years ago, probably about 10 by now, "Eat Right For Your Type" kept crossing my path til I finally checked it out from the library. I had been diagnosed with both Fibromyalgia and Epstein-Barr Virus and along with those came chronic fatigue, depression, weight loss, etc etc. I wondered if I followed the guidelines for my type, O, if it might help w/all the physical yuck I was dealing with. I was religious about it for 6-9 months and I think it did help, and at the same time it added another stress to my life when I couldn't handle anymore stress. What the heck was I supposed to eat if I eliminated wheat, dairy, corn and potatoes?? Those foods are in everything! I finally decided to loosen up about it, and tried to limit those things among others as much as I could without causing undue stress.

Fast forward to a couple months ago when "Eat Right" started coming up again, but this time for my fiancee and his family, a bunch of whom all typed their blood at home with a kit from the Naturopath's office. So I dug out my old, crumpled, faded O list to share with them and went searching online for a better one, but couldn't find one even on the "Eat Right" website. Instead I started updating my own list via their updated food lists. They've done a lot more research and have added a lot since the book was first published, and discovered that he'd written a new book w/updated info and a new way of looking at things that seems to me to be more refined than the original.

After waiting a couple weeks for the "Genotype Diet" to become available at the library I delved in to all the fun tests and measurements to determine my Genotype, which I've discovered is the Hunter, and corresponds to my O blood type and "Eat Right"!

So I'm off and running on another new journey, much much healthier than I was the first time, and still looking to feel even better!