I'm For That

DaiGluFree is the term my husband came up with to somewhat describe the way we eat. We not only don't consume any dairy or gluten products, we basically only eat fruits, vegetables, beans and fish. And yes we are getting enough protein and energy from the foods we eat! We've been eating this way for almost 6 yrs now, and we are still here!!

As much as possible we eat our food raw. We never fry anything for obvious reasons: fried food=grease=bad for most everything=not going to do it! When we steam our vegetables it is for less than 5 min so as to keep the bright colors and the crispiness of the vegetable, which means more nutrients for you!

We eat fish about once a week. We prefer wild sockeye salmon, not farm raised. We avoid farm raised because they usually aren't from our country and even if they are, we aren't sure what they are feeding them on that farm! We also like fresh ahi tuna that my husband seasons up and grills lightly. It is important not to overcook fish so as not to lose the nutritional values.

We eat our fruits separate from all other foods to reduce gas. We've found that eating fruit at least 30 min before or 45 min after a meal makes for smooth digestion. Fruit on its own is very easy to digest, but when it is mixed with other foods the digestion is slowed down and the fruit remains in your stomach longer, thus causing it to ferment. We also try to not drink water during the meal but rather about an hour before or after the meal to keep the digestive juices working naturally on their own. With this being said, we have and do slip up on this and must suffer thru the gasousness!!

To sweeten our foods we do still only use honey! Which brought us to a new adventure last spring when we decided to become beekeepers! This adventure deserves its own post, so "bee" looking for it!! Let's just say we are still having to purchase our honey from other beekeepers! Enough said for now!

Eating the DaiGluFree way has been surprisingly rewarding in many ways! We are healthier, feel younger, lost some needed pounds and have been able to maintain! I can honestly tell you that stepping out and drastically changing the way you eat is much easier to do WITH someone else! We encourage each other and can reprimand each other when necessary! I'll be honest here, I am the only one who has had to be reprimanded!! My husband is quite disciplined and is very good about giving me "the look" when I suggest or start to pick out something not suitable! I appreciate this immensely, because I never want to go back to the way I was!

That’s what my husband said when he came home from work. “I climb up and down a ladder all day long and I’m having a hard time doing it!” He told me he wasn’t eating anymore junk. I promptly began cleaning out the pantry and refrigerator. You see, I had done this at least eight other times in our 20 year marriage. We had gone through WAVES of trying to eat healthy and each WAVE involved cleaning out the pantry and refrigerator. Out of sight, out of your stomach! These WAVES usually lasted about 3 weeks at the most. They would have looked more like a calm lake had we stuck to it.

So while I took care of the kitchen, he on the other hand spent the rest of the evening on the computer looking up health problems and finding their causes as they related to food. From time to time he would holler to me from the other room, “no white sugars”, “no more dairy, that includes the frozen yogurt we’ve been eating and I don’t care if it says Fat Free”, “and no more cream in the coffee”. Now those were fighting words because neither of us could stand black coffee and the cream and sugar substitutes were out of the question with all the chemicals in them. My orders continued, “We need more fruit in the house – do we even have fruit?”, “nothing with gluten in it – so get rid of all breads”. All the research confirmed what he thought - his health problems were caused by how we were eating.

Heartburn and/or acid reflux were common, especially when going to bed. We invested in over the counter medication to prevent his symptoms, and I was the lucky one who got to carry them in my purse for those flare ups. With the invention of heartburn medication to take BEFORE you eat, then WOW! Let’s eat whatever, whenever!

Another common ailment my husband had was constant mucous problems which caused us to invest in a humidifier. We quickly resembled the going to bed scene from the movie, “Sleepless in Seattle”. Not a real attractive scene for a wife to watch. Not to mention the wonderful sounds he made hacking up mucous – which was constant throughout the day!

We both woke up tired and had to have coffee – of course with cream and sugar. As the day went on we started getting tired again and needed another cup of coffee to pick us up. But if that wasn’t available, then a soda would do.
I, on the other hand, didn’t experience all his health problems, except for the “I’m tired and I need coffee” thing. But I did have the Dunlap disease (my belly had “done lapped” over my belt). My legs were fine, even my butt was fine. But the belly wasn’t fine! So I was willing to try our healthy eating thing again no matter how long it lasted.

My orders continued, “No eggs”, that was fine with me because I had learned to use applesauce in place of eggs when baking, (Health Wave #2, I think) and I wasn’t a big fan of eating eggs anyway. “Only use olive oil – cold pressed”, now I had known that since Health Wave #1 – and he hadn’t noticed that olive oil was the only oil in the house for the past 14 years?! “No fried foods”, now come on! That was also Health Wave #1, so I had to comment! “Bill, we’ve been following this – don’t you remember?”

All he could say was, “Anne, this time is different, I’m sticking to this from now on, I’m not going back. It’s not going to be a diet; this is going to be a way of life. I don’t care if you join me or not, but I’m changing what I do!” Lucky for him I had just finished the book, “Created to be his Help Meet” by Debi Pearl. www.NoGreaterJoy.org The emphasis - submission to your husband! Okay, we were now in this together!


GETTING THE TRASH OUT OF THE REFRIGERATOR AND PANTRY
Now this act is quite similar to cleaning out your house before you move. It can be chaotic, draining, and satisfying. The chaos starts when your children realize there is no more ice cream. The draining involves all the sodas, mayonnaise, ketchup, etc. that you’ll be pouring down the drain. The satisfying is how you will feel when you see just how empty the spaces look and start to realize you are now committed to cleaning your life out and starting fresh and healthy!
Food I couldn’t use anymore I gave to my friend’s daughter who was about to get married. Her comment to me (with a big smile, of course) was, “I’ll only HOLD THEM for you till next month when this doesn’t work out”, how dare her! That was all the motivation I needed to prove her wrong! During the previous health waves I had taken food to local food pantries, needy families, or other neighbors that could use the food. So it wasn’t a total waste.
You will need to literally CLEAN the pantry and refrigerator. In most cases the space will be barren; practically everything we were consuming was bad for us! And to answer my husband’s previous question… no, we didn’t have any fruit in the house. If you’re like me, scrubbing the refrigerator shelves is not on my weekly cleaning schedule. So you may come across a science experiment or two.


NO WHITE SUGARS!
Start reading labels! Sugar is in practically everything. And don’t try to convince yourself that it is straight from a sugar cane plant, and hence is naturally good for you! White sugar (by the way, the contents of the little pink, blue, and yellow packets are the color white too!) has been PROCESSED in some form or another. Webster’s will tell you processed means “a natural phenomenon marked by gradual changes that lead toward a particular result”. The “changes” are either adding chemicals to and/or taking the natural from – in this case, sugar.
I’d recommend visiting this sight www.renewedhealth.ca , he has done wonderful research on what your body needs.

We learned to only sweeten our food or drinks with honey or 100% pure maple syrup. Remember our coffee dilemma – can’t use cream or sugar anymore - we use either soy milk or rice milk and honey. Now coffee isn’t 100%great for you, but it is our little treat now and then! We especially like ordering a soy misto with 3 honey’s from Starbuck’s. www.soymisto.com
You may ask how you bake without sugar. WE DON’T BAKE! When you eliminate sugar, gluten, eggs and dairy from your kitchen…you won’t bake either! And, yes, you will survive! We live on fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts and beans. And we feel great!


NO DAIRY!
Humans are the only mammals that still drink milk after being weaned from their mothers. But that doesn’t mean we are suppose to. Turns out my husband’s mucous problems were a direct result from dairy; some may say he must be allergic to it. In that case we are all allergic to it in some form or another, hence the words - lactose intolerant, clogged arteries, high cholesterol, constipation – the list can go on and on. When Bill eliminated all forms of dairy, he was IMMEDIATELY mucous free! And has not had a problem since! His heartburn/acid reflux problems are COMPLETELY gone also! I guess it was a good idea to try this Health Wave one more time – FOR HEALTH’S SAKE!
Where do you get your calcium? Almonds, cabbage, broccoli, cantaloupe – just to name a few! And get this, none of them are fattening! Plus they are loaded with other great qualities! Raw almonds also contain a host of other minerals along with calcium, easy to digest, makes heartburn go away (yet if eating the whole foods way – you won’t even get heartburn!!), wonderful for your skin and quite filling! Cabbage is loaded with calcium and other minerals; it heals ulcers, clears skin and can stimulate the immune system. Cooked cabbage smells horrible while cooking, but raw cabbage smells wonderful and tastes great as is! Broccoli, besides being full of calcium has also been in the news for its ability to fight off cancer cells!

A resounding YES!! to that question! We have juiced for years and seen results. Juicing gets the nutrients into your system quicker than any pill you can swallow! “Faster than a speeding bullet!” Literally! Just swishing the juice around your mouth and gums, gets the potent nutrients flowing into your bloodstream!

My husband and I start our day juicing 5 large carrots and 1 whole apple each. (We prefer Golden Delicious, but all work great) The apple sweetens up the carrot taste, and is a way to get that “apple a day-keeps the doctor away” started. That one glass of juice fills us up and gets us energized for the day! The combination of carrots and apple keeps the colon cleaned out. My husband always says, “the key to a happy life is a happy colon”!

We juiced a bag of cranberries and 1 apple to knock out the beginning signs of a sore throat, and it literally KNOCKED it out! Only needed one glass. Although that mixture is perfect for your urinary tract and kidney functions as well! As a side note, the only reason the above mentioned sore throat was coming on in the first place - was the direct result of going 4 - 5 days not juicing because we forgot to take the juicer out of town with us. Juicing works!!

You can find a juice recipe for about every ailment from the book “God’s Way to Ultimate Health” by Dr. George Malkmus at www.hacres.com , in fact, this was the book that got us started juicing years ago. They mention the Champion Juicer www.championjuicer.com as their juicer of choice, we bought one of those to get started. It was pricey, but could also be used to make applesauce, fruit paste to be spread out on dehydrator sheet for a healthy fruit roll up, etc. It has many functions! We ended up giving the juicer away to a friend who’s relative was in desperate need to start juicing to fight off the cancer report she’d been given.

With money tight at the time, we bought a Jack LaLanne Power juicer, www.powerjuicer.com, and have fallen in love with it! We can’t make applesauce with it, but we weren’t doing that anyway. Our Power Juicer is easy to use, easy clean-up, and we sometimes take the pulp from the carrots and apple (which get automatically shot into a separate bucket), and make fantastic burgers from them! We’ve seen the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer for sale at Costco, www.costco.com, for $89! That is a deal for a good juicer! We’ve had our same one for years with no problems, just great juice!

Need more proof juicing works? One of my dear friends has Hepatitus C, she started juicing years back - you’ve never seen a healthier specimen - energetic, hyper, fun, I could go on and on! Oh yeah! and she’s 50 yrs. old! She doesn’t have any problems or side effects as a result of Hep. C. Juicing keeps her healthy, but God is the true healer! Aside from the carrot and apple juice, she also juices:
1/4 beet
1 apple this is for Cleansing your system
3 carrots
1 cucumber



1 celery stalk
3 carrots this soothes digestion and the celery has a calming effect.
1 pc of raw ginger She likes to take this at night.

Juicing works! If you start juicing and have a hard time adjusting to the taste of some vegetables, just add an apple to it!

You can’t get juice from a bananna! That’s where our Vita-mix comes in handy. Or any blender will do. We make smoothies in the blender, and drink the whole thing! Our favorite recipe is: 1/2 blender full of frozen strawberries
2 handfuls of frozen blueberries
1 peeled bananna
1 good drizzling of 100% pure maple syrup, or honey
cover it all with water and blend!
This is our wonderful dessert - it has taken the place of fattening ice cream in the evenings.

Always serve juice from the juicer immediately - juice it up, stir it up, then drink it up! Juice is the most beneficial for you when it is freshly squeezed, so drink it right after being juiced.

The following list came from page 4 of The Secrets of Power Juicing By Jack LaLanne. This booklet comes with your juicer when you buy it.
Some (not all) of the vitamins and minerals from certain fruits and vegetables.

Apple.....................boron, cellulose, and pectin
Cherry....................calcium, vitamin C, iron, and potassium
Cranberry...............antibiotic and anti-viral elements
Orange..................natural aspirin and boron
Papaya..................vitamin A and potassium
Peach....................boron, antioxidants, vitamin C, and beta carotene
Pineapple..............bromelain, manganese, vitamin C
Prune....................sorbitol, natural aspinin (sorbitol is a natural laxative)
Beet......................folic acid, iron, calcium and potassium
Broccoli.................beta carotene, vitamin C, calcium,iron,folic acid, and chromium
Cabbage...............antioxidants, calcium, potassium
Carrot....................beta carotene, vitamin A,C, pectin, flourine, and potassium
Kale.......................antioxidants, calcium, iron, vitamin A and C
Parsley..................antioxidants, folic acid, iron, vitamin A and C
Tomato..................beta carotene and vitamin C
Spinach.................antioxidants, potassium, iron, calcium and vitamin C

Get creative and start juicing some really great combinations! A helpful hint when juicing several items, juice the softest ones first.

Remember to try to get hold of the book, “God’s Way To Ultimate Health” by Dr. George Malkmus, www.hacres.com. Whatever ailment you may have, or may get, there is pretty much a juice recipe for it!! Juicing Works!

Let me hear some of your recipes and/or how juicing has worked for you!