Sarah E. Welch

Eating yeast free does not have to mean giving up tasty food, and as I’ve discovered, it doesn’t even mean giving up dessert. Tonight for dinner, we had coconut curry chicken and triple berry cobbler. Does that sound like I’m suffering?! No :) The “recipes” are below. I use that term very loosely, as I hadn’t intended to blog about either. The curry chicken is just one of my throw together meals. The cobbler was just an experiment, but it worked, so I’ll share :)

Coconut Curry Chicken

This is a great, throw together meal–especially when you have leftover chicken and various veggies in the fridge. I frequently make my own curry powder from whole seeds, but this was a week night throw together, so I used a pre-purchased blend. If you aren’t already a die hard fan, you should really check out Savory Spice. It’s a local Colorado chain, but they’re also online, so you can enjoy their awesome where ever you are. Also, the amounts are my best guess. Unless it’s rice or bread, it’s highly unlikely to ever encounter a measuring device in my kitchen.

• coconut oil (olive oil or ghee would also work)
• 2 tbs garam masala
• 2 tbs turmeric
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 c veggies (I used a mix of small sweet peppers and cauliflower)
• 2 c chopped pre-cooked chicken (I used a mix of chicken tenders and roasted legs)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 c large flake coconut
• 1/2 c water
• 2c rice

1. Heat the oil in a wide bottom pan on medium-high heat. Add the spices to the oil and stir to make a paste. Add water if needed. Let this mixture cook for a few minutes to develop the flavors in the spices.
2. Add the onion to the mixture and stir to coat the onion pieces with the seasoning.  Cook until the onions are about half clear and add the remaining vegetables.
3. Add the coconut milk, cover, and simmer the vegetables until about half cooked through.
4. Add the diced chopped chicken and coconut flakes and reduce to low. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5. Serve over rice.

Triple Berry Cobbler

• 10 oz mixed berries (I used strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries)
• 1 tsp agave syrup
• 1/2 c water
• 1 c almond flour
• 1 c coconut flour
• 1 c medium coconut flakes
• 1 c almond milk, unsweetened
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (available at Savory Spice, sub vanilla extract if you must)

1. Filling: Wash and chop berries. Cook over medium heat with agave syrup and water until berries begin to burst and thicken.
2. Crust: Mix remaining ingredients. Pat into a disk and cut into smaller shapes. (It is too crumbly to make a full crust.)
3. Pour berries into deep dish casserole and add crust to top.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Note: I intend to try adding an egg to the crust on my next go around. It should help the crust stay together. I’m also considering trying the addition of almond butter.

food, yeast free

photo by Uwe Hermann

I’ve been thinking about what I’ve wanted to say about sugar and carbs for a couple of weeks now. My thoughts and feelings about these old friends have changed dramatically, more dramatically than I thought possible. As I began to realize how differently I felt on and off sugar and carbs, I had little moments of déjà vu where I remembered what other people had said about how they felt after breaking their “sugar addiction” or “sugar habit”. I remember bristling whenever one of these people went on and on about how living without sugar was the only way to live or acted disgusted when they saw someone eating candy. Writing this post has been hard because I’m afraid I’m turning into ‘one of those people’.

Don’t worry, I’m really not turning into one of those people. I’m not going to judge you if you eat a hot fudge sundae in front of me. I’m not going to lecture you on the evils of carbs while you’re enjoying a bagel or plate of pasta. I will quietly think about how much better I feel without those foods in my life, though, and I will be happy to share with you if you ask about my peculiar eating habits.

So, how do I feel about sugar and carbs now that we’ve parted ways? I feel free. That’s the best way to put it. I did not realize how much of a driver sugar was in how I felt until it was gone. I didn’t even have a real big sugar problem, comparatively. I only rarely drank soda, maybe two or three a month. I had dessert with about the same frequency. My body managed sugar well, too. I always had great fasting blood sugar numbers, as were A1C’s I have taken. A1C tests your blood sugar over the last few weeks. My last test was a 4.1, where normal is 4-5.9 and lower is better. So, my feelings of freedom for sugar are not the results of a diabetic or pre-diabetic learning to manage blood sugar. I was a moderate sugar consumer with a body that managed blood sugar quite well.

Now, I’m an almost no sugar consumer, with an incredibly happy body and mind. My thoughts are clearer and more sharp. My mood is more even and overall more positive. I don’t get cranky between meals, and I don’t need to eat as frequently. Now, I recognize that this isn’t all from reducing sugar and carbs. It’s also from avoiding yeast, since I have an allergy. It’s from eating more protein and vegetables. Those changes are part of the package, though, because if you can’t eat sugar and carbs, you have to eat something.

food, yeast free

source: http://bit.ly/iLugfL

About five weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a yeast allergy. It wasn’t a huge surprise, because I knew some food wasn’t treating me right. If you’ve been reading along, you’ll know that the list of banned foods was a surprise however! I scheduled an appointment with the nutritionist my allergy doc Neil (love him!) recommended for two weeks later. At first, I tried to follow the banned foods list, but after a few days, I gave up until I could talk to the nutritionist. It was too much to handle on my own, without any kind of game plan.

I did scheme however. I figured out that yeast free was basically Paleo with a few additions, notably rice, beans, and sweet potatoes–and a few extra limitations, depending upon which Paleo guru you follow. My nutritionist Meg (love her, too!) agreed that this was a good plan. She also talked me through the banned list, and I even managed a couple of small concessions. I buy very high quality dried herbs and spices from Savory Spice Shop. I also buy them in small amounts, so they don’t sit around on the shelf for long. There is a lower chance of mold with these spices, but Meg did warn me to cut everything else out and if I wasn’t feeling better, cut that out, too. So far, so good :) After hearing that coconut has anti-fungal properties, I jokingly asked about coconut sugar, but Meg ok’d this in small amounts, too–like a touch in a large pan of sauce. It’s been three weeks, and I’ve only done this once. It’s nice to know it’s there, though.

So, how am I feeling? I’m feeling amazing! I don’t have dry skin anymore. If you know me very well, this is huge. I’ve fought with dry, sensitive, allergic skin my entire life. My skin is normal. I think I might even have a T-zone.  My stomach and whole digestive system feel great, better than it ever has in my life. My energy is increased. The only problem I have is making sure that I eat enough. It takes a lot of food to get your calories in when you cut sugar, dairy, and breads! I’m not used to eating this much. On the other hand, those calories are lasting a good, long time. I’m going longer between meals than I was before, and a late dinner just isn’t a problem for me anymore. There’s still a cherry on top, though: even with all of this eating, I lost fifteen pounds in the last three weeks. Whoa. I expected that I would lose some, but not this much, this fast. Honestly, if someone told me that stat in that time frame, I’d be afraid that they were starving themselves or on an unhealthy diet, but I feel great.

I have had my weak moments, but just a couple. About a week into the new diet, I had some gluten free toast at a local diner. It was mostly made of rice flour (ok!) but also had potato starch (not ok!) and sugar (not ok!). I ate 1.5 pieces. I could tell that things weren’t quite right, but it wasn’t horrible. I’ve had a couple of tiny, tiny sips of Rich’s coffee with cream (not ok!) and Barq’s root beer (not ok!). I found the coffee yummy. While the soda was yummy, it was thick like syrup on my tongue (even diluted with melted ice as it was). It tasted like a dessert. The absolute worst though, was this past weekend. I ate a hotdog (not ok!) with a stripe of ketchup (not ok!) and about a tenth of the bun (not ok!). We were at the drive in movie theater, and I really hadn’t packed enough protein-rich snackage. It was so not ok. I spent almost the entire next day with a migraine. I think I’ve learned my lesson :)

All in all, I’m incredibly happy with how this is working out for me. I’m totally onboard with this new way of eating. I’m a little nervous about travelling, since I’m cooking nearly everything at home (did I mention I made my own mayo this weekend?!). I’ll figure it out, though. Ethnic foods tend to be a little easier, as long as there is someone who speaks English and knows what’s going on in the kitchen. Diners and family restaurants are easier, too, because the food is simpler and usually made to order rather than prepped ahead of time or just reheated like a lot of chains. If all else fails, I can get a roasted chicken at a grocery store and grab some pre-chopped veggies. I’ll be fine.

P. S. In a future post, I’d like to share how I feel about sugar and carbs after my time off the sauce, but I’m trying to figure out how to do it in the best light possible. My feelings are dramatically different than they were three weeks ago, and I don’t want to come across as judgmental. I’m just not (on this ;) ).

food, life, yeast free