food intolerances

chard + spinach salad w/ salmon in balsamic vinaigrette 

Woo! More pictures of food. Many people have asked me if I blog about food because I take photos of my meals often, and it's funny because I never really thought about it. Anyhow, I've been on a new "diet" or rather got tested for food intolerance awhile ago because I was having digestive suckiness. My intolerances seem to be potato and then a combination of fruit + sugar. So, all this month I'm on a potato and sugar free! It's a fun experiment and I've also been taking bitters to aid my digestion. Avoiding potatoes is hard, not just because I like them, but they're in all sorts of processed foods. Yeast is often grown from potatoes, so that eliminates a lot of beers, breads, etc. Also, maltodextrin and dextrose, often used as preservatives, are in about everything at Trader Joe's. Good news is, I've found a lot of stuff I can eat. Bad news is, I pretty much have to cook everything I eat because I haven't tackled how eating out will work yet ("Hi, can I have a list of all the ingredients in all the products you used to cook this?"). I've also been eating more meat than I use to, which is neither good or bad, as I'm not a vegetarian. Having more chicken/canned tuna/ etc. in my diet makes being full easier, with the loss of most starches. Even with an increase in my meat consumption, I eat way less daily than most - which I only mention because I support actions like Meatless Mondays, etc.

falafel (from powder) w/ chard, olive humus, & yogurt sauce

I've been potato & sugar free for about a week now. I feel like I have more energy - this has also coincided with a weekend of glorious sunshine in Portland, so it's hard to be sure. A more obvious improvement has been in less hunger pangs and stomachaches, which I appreciate.

Some other fun food adventures have been:
One ingredient banana ice cream (this is so great and cool!)
No knead bread (a time commitment, for sure, but worth it!)