About Me

Today is the beginning of my blogging life. I seem to spend my days cooking or researching food, if I'm not eating it; so I might as well share my journey with you. Hop on & enjoy the ride with me.

My cooking journey has changed quite a bit, from my early days, when I trained as a chef.
Back then I was into butter, sugar, fat, salt & pepper, not to mention carbs! Delish you might say! And back then I'd agree with you, but not now!

I've learned an awful lot since then! My own journey is one of having a sensitive stomach, allergies & practically living on antibiotics!

I now know that the projectile vomiting baby I was, is called reflux. It runs through my family!

Dust allergy & small inflamed nasal passages = infection! My Nana would be so proud of me now! I found her cookbook, all hand written & a reference to joining the naturopathic society in 1959, my birth year. She was always giving me her powders, rubbing olive oil into my hair & getting me to chew daisy leaves for mouth ulcers. One smart woman! I used to think of her as a herb nut, now I stand beside her, in spirit anyway.

About 7 years ago I had a holistic doctor, when I lived in a small Very cold town in the North Island of New Zealand, called Taupo. He was brilliant! I had become sick & there was no diagnosis. I'd had all the tests, taken some different kinds of pills & had Dr Glen puzzled.
By combining natural health with modern medicine, I got the best of both worlds.
He told me to go dairy & gluten free for 6 months, which I did. After the 6 months was up I tried dairy again & found I was highly intolerant to it, even though the test for allergy came back negative.
I went off it again but was incorporating wheat into my diet again by that stage. I seemed to tolerate it, and still do... to a point. I hadn't linked my sluggish system to wheat at that stage.

I've stayed dairy free for the 7 years now, & don't regret that decision. I miss cheeses mmmm blue vein, pear & walnut with greens, but not the effects it leaves me with! I still eat 85% organic dark chocolate & am happy to be able to do so, without suffering the extra mucous in the back of my throat. One simply Must be able to enjoy a few things in life right?
From time to time I eat wheat products, like when you're out & your friends offer you a healthy alternative, like a wrap...because thats more healthy than a sandwich right? Wrong! But sometimes you just have to go with the flow, & I value my friends, so I put up with the symptoms.
What does wheat do to me? Well lets just say I need to eat a LOT more fibre if I consume too much of it.

Along the way I"ve learned a few things, as you do. That its mostly about the processing of the grains, and related products made from them. If I eat Spelt bread for example, which is an ancient non processed form of wheat, I'm fine.

One of the things I do is to incorporate other seeds & grains into my diet too. I believe we've saturated ourselves with too much of one thing. e.g. wheat is used as a filler in packets of spices, and as a thickening agent for many, many products as well. So I go for the natural, organic products when I can afford to, and eat seasonal foods.
I believe that citrus is available in Winter for a good reason, because thats when we need more vitamin C. Its all common sense really, if you stop to think about it.

A lot of people say "I cant afford to go organic", but really, can you afford not to? The way I buy is one organic product a week, of my dry goods. For example, I'll  buy extra virgin, cold pressed coconut oil, once every 6 months or so. Its expensive, but not compared to the face products I used to use! Thats right, I use it on my face, my teeth, in my hair & on my body! Not to mention in my cooking, as a replacement for butter, or other oils, that lose their healthy benefits when heated.

Anyway, I think thats enough brain food for today. I'll continue to share as I think of it, meanwhile enjoy some good healthy recipes, that aren't loaded down with wheat, dairy or processed fats & sugars. In most of my recipes I use as close to the unprocessed form of the food as possible.

My mission is to pass on what I've learned, cook for you & your family if you need some extra help, & learn & grow some more.

Enjoy & feel free to leave me a comment.

My journey continues...

I"ve been under a dietician for the last few months. I"ve been on a low fodmap diet, & recently bought the Monash Low Fodmap App. 
My days are filled with wondering what the heck I can eat thats going to  be tasty, low fat & different.

Amazing things show up when  you go on one of these elimination diets for a while. It turns out I dont tolerate fat!
So its out with the fats & in with the veges! I used to eat a high fat, high fodmap diet & never knew!

Dieticians are pretty skilled people! If you get that far into the gastric systems of the medical field, its pretty cool, what you can learn. Gut pain! Ugh! Living with that is NOT fun! Trying to work, sleep & eat pain free seems to fill my days.

One of the things I've noticed is that its difficult if not impossible to eat out! Last night I went to the movies, so I had an early dinner of the leanest premium minced beef with veges & rice. After the movie, I bought a juice from a Tank juice bar, heaven to my nutrient starved body. It hydrated me, gave me a vitamin C shot, & fibre. Really enjoyable way to have a snack where you can read all the ingredients. Win!

I've found I can tolerate low fat milk again, Win! I'm dreaming ice cream for this Summer. Insert your favourite recipes here please. I might make my own blueberry & strawberry kinds. The base recipes I learned at university, when I trained as a chef, are full fat & high in sugar, so I"m going to try & adapt those recipes to make a more healthy ice cream I can enjoy.

I really must start posting more on my blog again, for those of you who follow me. Sorry its been so long, my excuse is Facebook! I have a page over there that I post to a lot, so go look there first.

Happy Spring if you live down under like me, Happy Fall if you're everywhere else.