Dear Sugar free - drug free family! 

Wait-a-minute....drug free? We are practicing Latter-day Saints. We don't do drugs....or do we?

I am willing to lay bare the affect gluten has on me in hopes that IF you are also suffering from gluten intolerance, but not outright gastrointestinal torture, you will be able to observe for yourself the seductive, gluten prison in which you may be held captive.

Gluten is the protein found in wheat, spelt, barley, rye, oats (unless gluten free), Pero, (Mormon Coffee), Maltodextrin AND BEER! A byproduct of the gluten is called an exorphine. Yes, like morphine's ex! This substance binds to the morphine receptors in your brain. If you are sensitive to morphine, you are probably intolerant to wheat.

 
When I was hospitalized the week before Katie was born due to unknown causes and was in so much pain I asked for a catheter so I would not have to move to go to the bathroom. They gave me morphine. Coming off of morphine the week after Katie was delivered was the most intensely agonizing few days of my life. I ached. I was sick to my stomach. My head was messed up. My body trembled with fearful thoughts about weird stuff!

When Benson was trying to come, but we could not get a Doctor there, they said they were going to give me something for the pain and send me home. I said, "No morphine" as she was giving it to me. Again, I agonized for about three days coming off of it.

 
When I had pneumonia and pleurisy, I emphatically demanded they not give me morphine, and they did not.

 
What does this have to do with wheat? Well, I am going to tell you. When I eat gluten, I get "high" so to speak. Now, this is not something I notice when it is happening. The "high" does not show up until I start to crash. So morphine gets you high and then you crash, exorphine just makes you crash. Both are still bad!! Bad, bad, bad.

When on wheat, my brain tells me I am hungry for more gluten long before my tummy ever grumbles. I can eat a great big breakfast containing wheat and be hungry in 30 minutes. Even if my belly is full....my brain is asking for more food!! I don't just want food! I must have it. I am crabby if I don't get more gluten. I don't just mean kinda crabby, I mean mean-streak crabby. Yelling! Very derrogatory towards those I love. When I have "wheat brain" poor Vic can do nothing right. He's a jerk and why did I ever marry him in the first place?

 
However, when I am gluten free (it takes about 3-4 days to clear out my system now, whereas at first it was a solid week) I am not hungry until my tummy growls at me. Then I look at the clock and say, oh, it's time to eat? I am kinder, more patient, gentler, and not mean. I don't freak out if I cannot eat right away. AND I appreciate my dear husband and children for the amazing people they are. The things that they do that annoy me are kept in proper perspective and I AM JOY!!

As I started to keep a food journal and notice how things make me feel when I eat them, I struggled with conflict with the scriptures and what wheat means for me personally. Here is what the scriptures say: D&C 89:14, 16-17 "All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man, but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven and all wild animals that ran or creep on the earth...All grain is good for the food of man;...Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and swine." 

Read it yourself and pray about it. That is what I did. The book Wheat Belly tells about the history of wheat. We have engineered it differently than the Architect of the World engineered it. The wheat today is different than the wheat even 30 years ago! A man won a Nobel Peace Prize for hybridizing wheat to make it shorter and easier to harvest and have more berries per staff for higher yield. His motivation was to end world hunger and that is noble.

Now for a little "Gospel Philosophy" about what has happened to our food source. This is all Joy, not doctrine. Satan is so sneaky. He has had years to observe man and learn his weaknesses. He is a master at making bad things look good, and perverting goodness for his own designs. Food is a wordly thing. He cleverly disguises his plan because not everyone is affected by new wheat. It is ending world hunger in many areas.

 
Let me pose this question: Why do we have food storage? Yes, the Prophets have told us to and that's why we do it.  It's for the tough times, the times when we are going to struggle, the end days. When is Satan going to hit us the hardest? Tough times, times when we struggle, the end days. What has been the mainstay of food storage? Wheat. So if he can pollute our food source....He was there during the Anaconda Plan in the Civil War and he watched what happened with the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The best of soldiers are rendered helpless without proper provisions. Rethink your food storage.

 
For those of us, who refuse to take drugs, alcohol, and other altering substances into our bodies, Satan has perverted even our food sources in attempts to cord us. He had me. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has put so many wonderful people in my path to help me recognize that soft, strong flaxen cord that Satan had placed around my brain. He almost won my marriage and children.

Does living gluten free take all my trouble away? Of course not! But it frees up my brain for higher thinking, better actions and enormously sweeter circumstances. We are still plugging away at cleaning up some of our dumb choices, but we are doing it together and without drugs!!

After attending the LDS Addiction Recovery Program for nearly a year in order to try to understand why I was consistently overeating, this information was given to me. I am sharing so that if any of you or your friends are also struggling with this addiction to gluten, you will know that there is hope. 

Jesus Christ makes us all whole through his Atoning power. Love, Joy 

GF Coffee Cake

1/2 C Coconut milk (So Delicious or Trader Joe's) 
1/2 C Xylitol
1 beaten egg
2 T melted butter or coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon salt (I use a little less if using sea salt because it has strong flavor)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Cup Chickpea flour
Mix well with a fork and let sit for a few minutes to activate baking powder, then mix again. Pour into sprayed 9x9 pan and spread topping. Bake at 375 for 22-25 minutes
Topping: 
1/4 C Coconut Palm Sugar
1 T Chickpea flour
1 T melted butter or coconut oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix together with a fork and sprinkle over top of batter. 
Coconut milk makes baked good fluff up beautifully! I am sure rice flour would work just as well. 

$$$Tip. Last time I mentioned VegaOne protein powder from Whole Foods. It is 25% less expensive at www.vitacost.com Vitacost is like the Amazon of nutrition. Check it out!! They also sell, coconut amino acids (instead of soy sauce) preggy pops, ear candles.....

My discoveries...Replacing bread; UGG What is a mom to do?

My children are huge sandwich lovers... What does a mom do when we eliminate wheat from our diet? SCHOOL LUNCH aHaHaH!  I was very overwhelmed and knew I wanted to get my family in a healthy state so I prayed about my dilemma since my children are showing signs of food allergies like eczema and crazy diarrhea not to mention angry dysfunctional crazy mood swings. So, after I prayed; people, blogs, websites etc. showed up in my life to help me through this process.

This is what I discovered to help me replace bread... Rice flour, Coconut flour and Pamela's flour.
I love it! The children love it. I follow the recipe on Pamela's it is called bread (made with pancake and baking mix). on this site: website.http://www.pamelasproducts.com/search-recipes/

I made some modifications to the recipe, I add carrots, spinach, kale and collard greens to eat. To extend the life of the flour I took my beautiful friend Cheryl Walser's advice and I blend oats in a blender and add it to the mix i substitute for a cup of the flour called for in the recipe.  I feel like this is economical plus it is giving my family the fiber they truly need.  They love it! I hope this post is helpful for you today. Please share your experiences what has and is working for your family?

 The replacement flour I use now. I got the coconut flour from Costco and Pamela's mix on amazon grocery

I purchased this at Wal-mart, it can be found at any grocery store. For a good price. I will have more recipes for this flour.

                      For the baby I found these little snacks that work great and at a low cost.

 I have also replaced bread products with these beauties, thanks to my sister in law Kilene for introducing me to them. They can be found at Costco. Delicious!

                                           These are really good also. Also a Costco product

 I would  use oil like the yellow beauty on the left now (also a Costco product) I use coconut oil. It tastes   like Hawaii in a bottle. I love it.

Lastly I wanted to add these foreign objects, at least they were foreign to me a couple years ago. I would use them in salads and dinners. However, I never just put them in my mouth as a snack. That is right people they are carrots and celery and once my taste buds changed these actually tasted good. I will take them out and just snack on them. I found that purchasing already cut produce like these helps me I know it would save money to purchase whole stalks of celery and long carrots. I would have the intention to come home and cut them like these pre cut veggies, once home I never got around to actually cutting them so now I save my self the heartache and trouble and I just purchase them already cut. 

                                                          Have a fabulous healthy day. 

Kourtney tells all... About this blog of course.

I don't know about most of you... I have been exposed to many headliners about diet, such as Americans are the fattest people on the earth, how to lose weight by eating your favorite snacks, gluten free as a rising trend, candida yeast is the new epidemic. I have  found it all very confusing. So, in order to eliminate the confusion and get my body, my husband and our children's bodies in a more healthy state I have decided that eliminating sugar and gluten in our family will help us feel better so we can live good healthy lives. I know many who have also taken on this challenge I thought it would be a good idea to have them share their experience with us. How nice it will be to learn for others see what their experience has been and what has worked best for their family. As a blog community it will be nice to have ideas on what other parents have done to replace items with healthy ones, what is on their menus and how they make it all work. Some of my recent failures have been trying to make my own rice flour By grinding my own rice. I made bread with it, let's just call it the brick of rice it was so dense and so heavy it totally shredded the garbage bag when it was tossed in the trash to feed the animals at the land fill. I also thought as I was feeding my baby rice cereal I wonder if this will workto make  bread lets just say the rice soup was less then edible. I hope that this blog can encourage other families to eat healthier, that we can learn from each other through great successes and hilarious mistakes and lastly that we will be able to share what has worked for our families in our menu in replacing certain items. Let's get back to healthy whole families and enjoy this life one that God wanted for us. Here's to green smoothies and coconut oil.

Joy's discovery of food intolerances

Thank you for the invitation to join you, not only in the quest for better living, but expression about it.  Facebook is as cluttered as my system fighting to function with gluten in  it.  This is a great forum to get to the point about better health.  

In high school, I was always gassy and uncomfortable after lunch.  I thought my 501s were just too tight.  Now, that may have been the case, but since decluttering my digestive system, evidence keeps appearing showing me that food intolerances have been a part of my life for a long time, albeit a silent pest. 

Food intolerances, if not violent, are like termites, they do a lot of unseen damage. Before you realize it, your health starts to cave in and being in my 40s, I just chalked it up to getting older:  pain in my knees, muscles, stomach, headaches, sleepless nights,  and general crabbiness.

I first heard about "gluten free" while selling Thrive food storage products.  We had committed to cleaning out the preservatives and boxed foods a few years ago and we cut Katie & Benson down to one McDonald's trip a month.  Although the latter was met with much objection, now they forget to ask to go. 

My next hint was after we moved to Texas. My wonderful friend, April, who it seems can't eat anything but air, is intolerant to gluten, soy, dairy, peanuts, sugar, beans, night shades, eggs.  Wow, what is left, right?

Needless to say, her friendship has been a gift from the Lord preparing me to accept the reality of my own food intolerances.  By the way, she has beautiful hair, skin, nails, teeth!  Picture of health for not having what seemed at first any food to enjoy.  Little did I know....

Next, my new friend Rae, enlightened me by suggesting  WHEAT BELLY .  After reading that; wheat was out for about 3 weeks.  April noticed a difference in my attitude. It did not hurt when Benson crawled on me.  No longer was it painful for someone to touch me.  Holidays came and went, so did the good attitude and back came the soreness.

Both my wonderful Moms suggested watching the Rose Parade New Year's morning as we visited.  Two telling me the same thing.  Well, sorry, Mom(s) the parade escaped me, but you gave me something better.   The local station had a vibrant woman in her 50s speaking about leaky gut, gluten, hi-fi foods.  Her vitality sucked me in.  She summed up all the bits and pieces of the tidbits of learning and pulled them all together.  

Her name is JJ Virgin.  VIRGIN DIET, LOSE 7 FOODS, DROP 7 POUNDS, JUST 7 DAYS. Amazon delivered her book and a companion cookbook written by someone else in just a few days.  After devouring intelligence like, "If it makes you miserable, why would you eat it?"  "Iceburg is no more than a vehicle for pesticides, don't buy it, don't eat it." "Ranchers use corn to fatten cows and pigs, then we pop it and call it 'diet' food."

The basic premise is:  Strip out gluten, soy, dairy, corn, eggs, peanuts, sugar & artificial sweeteners for 21 days.  Keep a food journal.  Think, see, and listen to how you feel.  Then add those foods back one a week for four days.  Observe for the remainder of the week.  Move on.  

Immediately gluten was out!  No longer could I deny that I am gluten intolerant.  Peanuts were no big deal.  We eat almond butter anyway.  Corn---tortilla chips--ugh. I was suspicious of dairy already.  I never suspected soy.  That little mean trickster. SUGAR.  She promised it would only be hard for a couple of days.  Now, EGGS???  I traded my eggs for a pea-protien shake.  12 g protien, no more than 5 grams sugar.  I use VegaOne from WholeFoods.  Within less than a week, I felt like a new person.  

The swelling has gone down until  I got  a hold of soy in some salad dressing and within 20 minutes was bedridden.  Everything hurt.  My head was spinning. I felt sad. my injured knee was swollen very tight.   All from a teaspoon of dressing with soybean oil in it.   p-o-i-s-o-n

I have added back corn chips, but only once a week.  Eggs make me tired.  After enjoying So Delicious Coconut milk, I could care less about drinking calf-fattener in a carton. I do enjoy quality cheese once in a while.  

So, here we are.  I want to share this with everyone so they can reclaim their health and vitatliy.  I have lost 10 lbs this month, I have gained a new lease on life.   My next book to read GRAIN BRAIN

I am not the only one affected in our family from grain brain. This week's goal, stay on program and get the wheat out of the lunchbox!!

Love to all,

Joy