Fattening Up

I have been wheat-free for almost a year and a half now… Bri was wheat-free at home during that time, but has lately eliminated almost all of the wheat from his diet too.

As I have said in earlier posts, quitting wheat caused a dramatic improvement in my overall health and well-being…. but not a huge impact on my waistline.  All those health improvements were more than enough to keep me wheat-free… don’t get me wrong… I am NOT complaining.  I didn’t quit wheat for weight loss…. It would have been a nice side effect though.

So many people on the Wheat Belly Facebook page talk about their dramatic weight loss and post these amazing before and after photos.  While I was/am overjoyed with my own health improvements…. I was a bit jealous…. and I wondered if I had missed some key information.   So I ordered Dr. Davis’ book, Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back To Health.  No huge diet revelations there, but he did talk a bit more about carbs… and discouraged replacing wheat with “gluten-free” crap.  Hmmm….. yeah…. I’d discovered gluten-free pasta and gluten-free baking mixes and gluten-free bread….. *sigh*  I’d just replaced one carb for another.  Kicking the wheat was letting my immune system heal… but not helping my waistline.

I also started following another blog called Healthy Living How To on Facebook and she often talked about good fats… like coconut oil and avocado…. isn’t that exactly what we’ve been told NOT to eat?  Right?  Isn’t fat bad?   Well…. not so much, actually…. fat may be GOOD.  Check out this book: The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet

So at this point I thought “what the hell?”  I told Bri that we were going ‘low-carb’ and knocking out the processed foods.  Basically he is a really good sport about most things I want to try (except for raising chickens… I just can’t talk him into chickens… yet).  So he agreed that he would eat whatever I cooked. So I started with breakfast.  He wasn’t ecstatic that I wanted to take away his cereal… I’d already switched him to a gluten-free cereal months ago.  But he agreed and I promised that I just wanted him to try it.  I’m not a huge fan of breakfast (unless I get to sit around and have a lazy weekend morning as well), so this was a bit of a challenge for me too…. I’d have to actually eat breakfast.

We’ve been eating this for breakfast for a few months now.  Both of us have noticed that we’re not starving by lunch anymore. (Bri used to need a snack mid-morning just to make it to lunch.)  We have also added in more coconut oil (wait ’till I tell you about the brownies!) and avocado, cut out most anything that comes in a box…. and we’re losing weight… and not starving.

I know this isn’t hugely scientific… I’m just telling you what we are doing and what seems to be working for us.  Read the books that I’ve mentioned for the actual scientific stuff…. I’ll tell you about the recipes and changes that have been working for us!

                                            Breakfast Bake

• 1 c. frozen hash browns
• 1/5 lb. turkey sausage
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. milk
• 2 c. grated Cheddar cheese
• Garlic salt
• Pepper
• Paprika

Instructions

1. Grease 9 x 9 inch dish and sprinkle the bottom with the hash browns. Brown sausage; drain then layer over hash brown.  Top with cheese. Combine eggs, milk and spices (to taste) and pour mixture over other layers.
2. Bake 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

Bri divides this into 6 slices…. I eat half a slice.

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