Good Morning! A 3-day weekend, or 3-day challenge?

This Friday morning I am contemplating what foods I will come across during this weekend filled with festivities....hmm?  I am spending the weekend at cookouts, parties, gatherings you name it!  Well not so much, parties as events, and not so much gatherings as a clocked-out 1/2 hour break.  I will be spending much of my 3-day weekend at work celebrating with all those lovely people that planned in advance to celebrate the gorgeous weather at my place of work.  

The challenges one would typically face at a weekend like this is the interactions with food.  Of course when there is a party there is always food!  My challenge this weekend is food but it's more so a challenge because of my hectic schedule.  

Can I stay on track spending hours upon hours at work?

Can I make the right choice and plan ahead?

What if I am starving do I have a go-to food that I can munch on?

All these worries plague me and often I feel the pressure of trying to make the best choice and plan ahead and stay on top of my diet.  But then again, there are weekends when we want to throw our cares to the wind and say "to heck with it," and eat fruit salad, potato salad, desserts galore!  

I leave the stomping grounds approximately 11am today and will not return until Monday late afternoon.  My quest is to stay on track, plan ahead, make smart choices and duh, utilize the Walmart and Target grocery stores on every corner in case I get into a bind.  

I know what to eat, how to stay on track but it's much easier said than done.  This weekend concludes the end of my second weekend of this plan and I hope to continue my success under the pressure of a holiday/work weekend overload!

Let's review!

I want to point on these items that I have had success with through these past 2 weeks.  I have been reviewing as many products and trying everything in sight but I do want to point out that I had a few trusty touchstones already in my pockets when I started this.  

#1. Veggies!  I absolutely love vegetables. These are key to my list of groceries, day in and day out!  Tomato, zucchini, celery, carrots  you name it.  Steam it, saute' it, baked it or spread it.  No matter what vegetables are a staple in gaining success in this diet.  

#2. Vegenaise!  I love this product.  I discovered it back when I was at Kripalu and researching a recipe for a African Salad.  A little bit of champagne vinegar, apple cider vinegar, strawberries, mango, dates and jasmine rice and dollop of this guy and all was right in the world.  Of course now I cannot do fruit or vinegar but I am determined to find alternatives to fill in for this great option for food.  

It has a sweet taste, similar to mayo but there is just something about it when you pair it with these ingredients.  I would recommend this to anyone.  It fits for sure the "home-run" criteria!

#3. Earth Balance.  This is thee best thing next to butter.  It is lactose, gluten and egg free, and it tastes exactly like butter.  I used to eat this before I "had to."  I love it.  Earth Balance has three different kinds I believe of this.  A soy, soy-free and olive oil.  The kind that I have is similar to original except that it is whipped.  Awesome product.

Now let's conclude the weekend post with a few foul hits this week.  

I tried this Brown Rice Yeast Free Loaf.  OMG! is all I have to say.  On the back of the bag it actually instructs you when toasting to stand nearby, in case of fire.  It burns very easily,except that when I was toasting my two slices I stood there for about 5-7 minutes and the toast was not toasting, setting no fire, not doing anything, it was simply warming the bread.  I did not quite understand it.  After my warmed bread came out of the toaster, really I gave up on standing there, I took the plunge.  All I have to report is....don't do it.  It was very chewy, very unbalanced in taste and texture was not to my liking at all.  

Brown-Rice Yeast-Free Loaf: 1 bad carrot

Next up is the famous "Rice Krispies, gluten-free."  Okay so first of all I am a fan of any and all cereals.  This we know.  This is a fact.  When looking for a cereal I wanted something familiar that I knew tasted good.  I turned to many of my "rice-products" to find some options.  Although this reports to be gluten-free, this however is not a healthy choice for two reasons.  It does not fit the home-run criteria of dairy, gluten and yeast free.  The third ingredient is sugar, plain old white granulated sugar, so that fails there.  Second it has sugar already added.  Did I mention this?  Why aren't there cereals that are great tasting but sugar free to start with?  I can pile the teaspoons of sugar on myself, by adding some fruit, or sugar itself, but I was disappointed to see that plain old crisps of rice are already preloaded to taste better with none other, sugar!

So at the end of the day, Rice Krispies Gluten-free gets a bad carrot from me!

Rice Krispies gluten-free: 1 bad carrot

Let's Review what we have eaten so far.....

Udi's gluten-free bagels.  I love Udi's absolutely hands down, but these for an egg-sandwich could have been better.  I would judge the consistency as more like an Angel  Food Cake than a bagel.  It was a white fluffy texture with a hard outer shell edge.  I was desperate for an egg sandwich and I had to suffer just a bit.  

Udi's Plain Bagels: 1/2 a happy carrot.

In terms of an entree' option, I chose Amy's Rice Macaroni & Cheese (fake cheese).  I, again, love Amy's Products.  She offers many rice products, dairy-free, gluten-free and yeast free options.  I particularly love her pizza's! (*more to come on those later)  I was really craving the typical pepper covered Kraft Mac n' Cheez, but I settled for my gut-friendly option of Amy's.


With each bite, I had to eat only one elbow at a time, due to the overwhelming rice-based cheese that is steaming from the dish.  It is a strong aroma that is a bit of a turn off for me.  Eating one elbow at a time allows me to stomach the dish.


Unsuccessfully I ate only a 1/2 a cup or 1/2 of the entree.  I doubt that I would purchase it again but will continue to look into Amy's products and see what else she has out there!  I am keeping my eyes and ears open and hoping to find something, at least one thing, that resembles junk food but obeys all the "home run" rules for my gut.  Along this journey I will surely be up for any comments and ideas from all of you!

Åmy's Rice Mac n' Cheez: 1 bad carrot.

At the end of the day there are worse things than not having the "perfect junk food option" that obeys the "home run" rules.  Amongst other things I did find a great option for a gluten, corn, dairy, soy, yeast, nut, rice-FREE website.  It is called "Breads from Anna."  It has an incredible selection of breads offered with every allergy considered.  It appears to be a great site, please check it out.  https://breadsfromanna.com/

$7.42 per order for the banana bread loaf seems pretty affordable and the "home run" qualities seemed to be fulfilled, we may just have to work on the "Nom-nom" of the product.

*Nom-nom: the taste, the zest, the flavor that bursts at the seams; full of juicy goodness.

*Home run qualities: meets the criteria of dairy, gluten, yeast-free diet of the author!

I hope you all enjoyed your Monday today folks and be on the look out for some up and coming guests that will share their dailies with you all in this 3 meal a day life we all lead.  

Grocery Store Extravaganza

I spent the better part of my first day off after my vacation at the grocery store reading food labels.  It was pretty tiring, I have to admit, reading each of the boxes to figure out which was a "home-run" (was gluten-free, dairy-free and yeast-free).  I was planning on hitting up Whole Foods, thee one and only grocery store that I treat as my medicine cabinet, but my mom was on her way to Wegman's and I figured, I'd hitch a ride and check it out.  

Boy was I surprised.  They had specialty isles just for gluten-free alone, dairy-free and special shelves and signs, more so than I have ever seen in any Trader-Joe's, Whole Foods, nothing!  It was great.  Of course there was no cell service, so the minute my mom left my side to find her goat cheese, it was like entering into a whole new world.  

All in all I found a handful of products that met the majority of my needs, some scary, some acceptable, some even familiar.  I was put at ease when I realized I had filled up an entire cart with food for me to eat.  

The key thing that I had to keep in mind was that even though it has the stamp approval for dairy-free, gluten-free and even no refined sugars, is it good for you?  That is the question that as a future Registered Dietitian, I had to ask.  Alot of times people get caught up in gluten-free, dairy-free, no trans fat, added amino acids, probiotic hoopla that they don't remember to pay attention to the point of eating this food.  Is it something you would eat?  Is it something you would include in your normal diet?  Are you just buying it because it hits a "homerun?"  

example review #1:  Glutino Pretzels, gluten-free, dairy, casein-free, blah blah blah, great taste, minimal salt, as it appears, but if you look at the serving size, 8 pretzels and then follow the list to the sodium!  You would be flabbergasted to know that 8 pretzels has approximately 400 mg of sodium!  YIKES!  Ladies and gentlemen of the non-nutrition, non-hyper into healthy eating world, let me tell you that 400 mg of sodium in any serving is not really ideal, especially if it's just a snack, and only consisting of 8 pretzels.  In a day you should have maximum 2300 mg of sodium, most of the population has over 3000 mg daily.  So if you figure you eat three meals a day and perhaps 2-3 snacks.  Break that down into 2300/3= 750mg per meal.  Allow for snacks, takes about 7-800 out of the mix.  For an entire day we would say about 500 mg of sodium per meal in it's entirity, 2-300 per snack, having 2-3 snacks for day, leaving you with consuming anywhere from 2200-2400 mg of sodium per day.  In an ideal world that is an ideal intake of sodium for a healthy individual.  

P.s let's stay away from Glutino pretzels for now and figure out another healthier snack option out there that fits the "homerun" criteria!

Glutino Pretzels: 1 bad carrot

Give me a "G!"  Give me a "Y!"  Give me a "P?"  Just give me something because I'm starving!!!!

Is it gluten-free? Is it the paleo-diet?  I am not sure, all I know is that I my diet must follow this criteria and I overwhelmed.  Where to start?

After receiving test results from my naturopath I left the office thinking, "what am I going to eat now?"  I hurried to work for the next 48-hrs and contemplated how best to approach this new finding at the age of 31.  I work pretty much at "thee worst place for decadent foods."  I was face to face with fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies, tiramisu, pasta salads, danish and breakfast breads, you name it, it is there and covered in frosting or butter.  Needless to say I was faced with the small truth that although I am a "foodie" at heart, and know a gazillions things about anything or anyone that asks me for nutrition, health or dieting advice, I too have started eating pretty poorly.  

As I would begrudgingly walk past the cookies and hand out the pastries to our many guests I started to come up with a plan, to help not only myself, but all those other people in my life that constantly have a battle, crazy, love-hate relationship with food.  The best way to tackle all this new digging I would have to do was to "START A BLOG!"  

What better way to tell my future clients, this brand of pretzels is great, tastes great, low in sodium and is gluten, casein, wheat, milk and egg free.  Who knew?  So in helping myself I can help and teach others and have this blog to reference as a great tool!  

I hope to stay true to who I am in this as well, that is a promise I make to you.  I wont tell you product A is marvelous or great, when I haven't tasted it.  I wont tell you this brand of vitamins is the better product even though it was like taking horse pills.  I will do my best to share with you my personal experiences with food, nutrition, community, physical fitness, YOGA, meditation, designing your own life, telling your story and so much more!  

STAY TUNED!

DAIRY-FREE, GLUTEN-FREE, YEAST-FREE, is this is sale or is there something amiss with your diet?

Hello there all my name is Sarah and I am about to start a journey into the world of food, more so than ever before.  As you may read in my "About" section, you will learn that I am a true foodie.  I am a lover of all things nutrition, physical fitness and anything about health that I can sink my teeth into.  


I just learned recently that I have some new challenges when it comes to food.  Not only do I have the everyday challenge of looking like I belong in STAR magazine or a JCPenny catalog on a daily basis like theh rest of us, now I have to find a way to maintain a balanced diet AND do it without including any dairy, gluten or yeast in my diet.  Challenging? Yes!  Impossible? No!


Today I begin my blog about navigating through these food challenges, how I best survive, what I ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as all the stress involved in deciphering through what ingredients were in each and every morsel I put in my mouth.  


I hope you enjoy this and we all leave the dinner table full and content!


Thanks!