Paleoish

I guess it was okay that I thought about the Whole30 diet for a bit, because I did start it when I planned, which was the Monday of my spring break. I knew I would have some detox symptoms, and I didn't want to be teaching full on and making my students suffer. (Better just my children and husband.)
Since my birthday fell in the middle of spring break, we had a celebration the Saturday before, with a surprisingly Paleo friendly dinner of Salmon and veggies, though it also had rice, cheese, and bread. And of course, we finished up with cake - probably the best carrot cake I've ever had. I made sure to have another 2 pieces on Sunday, since I was going cold turkey on Monday.
And that's what I did. Monday morning I woke up and ate eggs and bacon. That worked pretty well, and I felt great on Monday. Tuesday I didn't feel so well, and by evening I had a headache. Someone said sweet potatoes, which are permitted, would help, so I had one of those for lunch. I had oatmeal for breakfast on Wednesday which is verboten, but since it's still gluten free I decided it was an okay cheat. I also put milk on it (again, not allowed) but only sweetened it with raisins.
Dinners haven't been too bad. I've also put the new blender to good use with spinach, frozen mango, and orange juice smoothies. I tossed almonds in one day. Thursday through Saturday I went downtown for a conference every day. Thursday I took my smoothie and some boiled eggs with me. Friday I had lunch before I went, but then did a major cheat by attending a wine and cheese party on teh 17th floor of the Omni- great views of the city and fun people and delicious cheeses. Oops. But I resisted the crackers!
Saturday I bought the protein plate for lunch- turkey slices, cheese, olives, and boiled eggs.
Today I'm going to make up some egg muffins with broc and veggies for breakfasts next week. Lunches might be tough, but I'll figure it out.
I got a grill for my birthday, so that's nice for cooking up lots of chicken and having it on hand for salads, which were my lunches most days last week.
I'm starting to feel better on this. I think modifying it a bit is okay. I'm going to try to avoid cheese, but I think yogurt should be okay, and a little milk with my oatmeal.

Gluten Free experiment fail

This morning Ali wanted pancakes, as usual, so I decided it was time to try the gluten free mix I'd brought home.
Everytime we've had pancakes for the last couple of years, I get a sick headache. (That's a migraine/headache accompanied by nausea.) I get them more from pancakes then from waffles, which my family makes with a high oatmeal/low flour ratio, so it seemed that the flour might be the culprit. In any case, while I tested negative for celiac a year or so ago, it does seem like white flour/gluten might be a bit of a trigger, especially when it isn't well cooked, as pancakes tend to be (or not be?)
I cooked up a pan of turkey bacon* and then put together the batter. It smelled like cake batter- very sweet. The texture was a bit odd, and the pancakes did not signal it was time to turn with the telltale bubbles, even though the instructions said they would. I gave Ali the first pancake, it looked fluffy to him, and he doused it with syrup and started eating. He only got about half way through. The second batch I gave to Leila, but I split the pancakes in two and recooked the middle side first. She said they were too sweet.
I had mine with apple sauce instead of syrup, which worked well as it counteracted the overly sweet pancakes.
Verdict: The pancakes don't cook very well. The middle is definitely undercooked and they work best being split and cooked again. I could try to make thinner pancakes by adding more milk.
The kids were not happy with the switch, especially Ali. He said it isn't teh flour that is making me sick. Hmmm.
As far as no headache- I don't know! I chose the wrong day to do this as I already woke up with a sick headache! You'd think after so many science fair projects I would know to have a control, or at least optimum circumstances.
I'm thinking about going on the Whole30 program for a month. (Apparently one isn't supposed to "think" about it, but instead start immediately, so I may have already failed.) Kyran from Planting Dandelions is doing it or a version of it. I've been thinking about something similar, and this one looks good. My concern is no oatmeal, and that's what I eat for breakfast every morning! Also, I want to start during my spring break since some people have reported withdrawal symptoms, but my birthday falls smack dab in the middle of it. (My birthday always messes with me giving something up for lent, too.) I guess this is why one isn't supposed to think about it!

*complaint: Turkey bacon doesn't crisp up properly.