Happy Mother's Day - Make SWEET memories and Think Clean Thoughts!

So I have survived 1 1/2 weeks of my Candida diet. No sugar in ANYTHING. No vinegar. No fruit. No dairy. No yeast. Pretty much no cheats.

If you think you have gone sugar-free (like I did) you will probably be surprised by how many places you are still getting sugar when you actually start reading labels and thinking twice before putting things in your mouth and cooking. 

They really do sneak it in everywhere. I thought wheat was bad for being an additive in everything. Well sugar is worse. In hindsight I was still getting lots of sugar in my diet. A lot less than mine pre-clean days but still a lot more than I thought. 

Salad dressings, canned tomatoes (some), french vanilla creamer, yogurt, marinades for meat, crackers. You have to watch closely - it is everywhere. 

It kind of explains why my sugar cravings didn't go away even though I thought I had gone sugar free. I hadn't. I was still feeding my Candida.

But now I really and truly have gone sugar free. And I am excited to report that the SUGAR DEVIL has left the building. Do I still want something sweet here and there - Yes. Do I miss it - Yes. 

Do I feel possessed and frantic if I don't have something sweet after meals or when the mood strikes - NO. Hurray. Victory. Freedom. 

So if you are battling with your sugar tooth and can't understand why its not going away - maybe its because you are still feeding it from unexpected places. Read labels. Give up fruit for a while. Really give your body a break and you will notice a difference in cravings. You will have about 5 days of intense, crippling withdrawal. Sorry. But it will get better. 

I feel a sense of freedom from not being a slave to my sweet cravings. I hated them as much as I loved the fleeting moments of satisfaction I got from that sweet hit of dark chocolate. It never satisfied me. I always wanted more. Its a curse that I didn't want. And for now at least it is at bay.

So wish me luck for another week of willpower. The less you give in, the less you give in.

And there is lots of sweetness all around. Just not food. Like my kids giving me the SWEETEST mother's day gifts this morning. Life is SWEET indeed.

Happy Mother's Day to all the SWEET and INSPIRING mother's out there. Especially to my sister and friends who are constantly teaching me ways to be a better mom. Your ideas and support help me everyday. And to my Mom and Mom-in Law who don't read this blog. You are amazing. Love you gals.

These are two of my awesome Mother's day gifts. A flower pen and holder from my 5 year old and a coaster from my 4 year old.

A almond, chocolate, mint, coconut milk tart thingy. A creation to try and satisfy my sweet tooth. It was okay. I'll be working on this recipe a bit more before sharing. I used Xylitol and Stevia for sweetener but have since been advised that I should try and stay away from Xylitol so I won't be making it the same way again! Back to the drawing board.

Chicken, brown rice pasta soup I made for the girls with some chicken stock I made from a rotisserie chicken. They both enjoyed it. A win!

I thought this was an ideal Candida diet meal until I found out on Tuesday that I can't have PORK - OMG. I love PORK. Darn. I also can't have apple cider vinegar. Tear. Vinegar is off my list of things I can eat. Tough for salad dressings. But I found some coconut vinegar at Vita Health and its allowed. I will be experimenting with it this week.  I'm excited to try it. 

I had a Chocolate Vega One Chia and nut butter smoothie everyday this week. I'm a bit addicted. Its totally Candida Diet Friendly so its okay.  These are saving me as at least its one meal I can just blend, sip and go. Convenient and tasty.

A salad dressing I made out of avocado. It was okay. I will work on it a bit this week and probably document the recipe soon. It needed more spices.

I made some taco meat so we had Candida friendly Taco(less) salad a couple times this week. A nice change of pace from our regular chicken breast salad.

This was an awesome breakfast. I just layered olive oil/butter, spinach, free run egg, green onion and sun-dried tomatoes in a fry pan. I seasoned with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Then I just add a bit of water and the lid and let it baste for about 5 minutes. Delicious. Clean. Candida-diet friendly. No toast necessary.

I made a cauliflower, broccoli and chicken stir-fry. I used Bragg's liquid amino's, lemon juice, EVOO, sesame oil, garlic and Stevia for a marinade. Added some ginger, garlic and s & p. Easy and clean. I just bought some coconut amino's to use instead of Bragg's. Haven't tried it yet but excited to experiment with it as its supposed to be a better alternative for Candida than the Bragg's for soy sauce. Baby loved this recipe.

I made some coconut milk, pecan, pumpkin ice cream one night. Just a bit of Stevia for sweetener. It was okay. 

A pumpkin scone recipe I invented. I used flax, coconut flour and almond flour. Stevia as sweetener of course. Might share the recipe this week as they turned out pretty good.

I needed to use up some left-over spaghetti squash and clean marinara so I just fried it up with some leaks, sun-dried tomatoes and topped with some canned chicken, spices and sauce. My goal is to have less than 5% food wastage in our house. This is how I do it. Re-inventing left-overs so they are still clean and tasty. 

An omelet with tomato and sun-dried tomatoe and about one ounce of mozza cheese. I'm allowed 3 ounzes three times a week but I'm trying to just cut it out. This was my one dairy of the week. Not bad mama. Not bad.

I baked banana bread and banana muffins for the kid. Torture. I couldn't even lick the spoon. But  baby LOVED them so it was worth it. Hubby and the girls also adore this recipe. 

We had grilled chicken and cauliflower yesterday for lunch. We did the cauliflower in a roasting pan on the bbq. It tasted so SWEET. Amazing. Just seasoned with s & p, butter, EVOO, and basil/parsley. 

The almond flour and flax banana bread I made for the rest of the family that I can't eat. Drool. I'll NEVER eat this again. Oh well. I will just have to keep experimenting to find something as good without banana's.

Fitness Friday - Mama Gets Fit with a Tabata Plyometric Workout - Here's a sample

Well, I have been faithfully working out for the past 8 1/2 months. For the first 6/7 months I was loving getting to the YMCA for my group classes at 9:15 a few times a week. But baby's getting older and I am feeling bad about disrupting his nap so my Y visits are getting fewer and farther between. 

Now I was never good at working out at home. I hate jogging and I find the treadmill BORING as heck. Haven't turned mine on in about 2 years. So I HAD to come up with a home workout that I enjoyed and THIS IS IT. 

I can get this done in about 35 minutes. Its an all over body workout. You don't need any equipment except a laptop or phone that you can use for the Tabata Timer. Go to www.tabatatimer.com for the free timer. 

Each round will take you 4:00 minutes. Basically you do each move as hard as you can for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. Each round you will do the moves twice each for a total of 8 moves. 

In between rounds I usually need a 1-2 minute recovery for water and if I'm really energetic I like to do some light weights (say biceps after round 1, shoulder press after round 2, triceps after round 3) for an "active recovery". Just to help with this chicken arm situation. 

If you push as hard as you can for 20 seconds you will be sweaty and you will get fit. If you don't know all of these moves just Google them or do a search on Pinterest. Or replace the unknowns with something you do know. Just keep moving. 

I don't talk about fitness a lot on my blog but it has been a huge factor in getting my health (and body) back. I am having "mood" issues and I always feel so much better after my work outs. 

I was losing some motivation this week - I don't need to lose any more weight and I'm getting a bit tired. Baby is still up 3 times a night 10 months in (arghhhh). But Wednesday my cardio instructor gave us a pep talk on "keeping going, never stopping" especially in the tough seasons of our life. It was timely.

I  like feeling fit. I like running up the stairs without getting winded. I like throwing my baby in the air and watching him squeal. I need to stay fit.

I found something I love. I just need to keep it up.  

You can't get bored with this - especially if you keep changing up the moves which I do everytime I work out.

This is just a sample of what I did this morning during babies nap. But he's up now so I gotta go. Have fun. 

Vega One Chocolate Chia Smoothies - Helping me with the transition to the Candida Diet

The smoothie you can drink with a straw or eat with a spoon?

So as you may or may not know, I am now on a full Candida diet. The first phase. The "you can't have  any yeast, sugar, fruit, chemicals, or vinegar phase". Its tricky I tell you.

I survived a week so far with no pretty much no cheats. Its getting easier as I go - I had to go through some dark chocolate, decaf coffee, french vanilla creamer and apple withdrawal first. But once I got through it and refocused on shopping and re-training myself on how to cook this way (again) its going alright.

These Vega One Smoothies have been keeping me going. They are sweetened with Stevia and from what I gather from my online research, Vega One All in One Nutritional Shakes are Candida-diet friendly. Thankfully!

I posted on Vega One a while back and at that time I wasn't totally sold on it. The French Vanilla flavour is so-so. But given I have to give up Whey protein indefinitely (confirmed food sensitivity from my IGG tests) I decided to revisit it.

And guess what, I have found a combination of ingredients and textures that works with the Chocolate flavor to make a kick ass Candida-Diet Friendly smoothie.  Its really, really good. Really.

Its challenging when you suddenly have to make your smoothies without banana's and yogurt. But the ground Chia seeds and nut butter gives it the creaminess it needs. And the coconut and cacao nibs give it a nice little crunch.

This is not a low-calorie smoothie. But I'm making this for breakfast and it is doing an amazing job of keeping me full until lunch. No easy feat. And I need the calories right now. But if you want to cut down the calories you can halve the shredded coconut, Chia or cacao nibs and/or omit the nut butter. Its a forgiving recipe.

So I now give a full thumbs up to Vega One. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Not sure how I would be surviving without it. And it contains the equivalent of 3 servings of greens, a healthy dose of probiotics and a decent amount of protein.

Vega One Chocolate Chia Smoothie

by MamaChanty

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 minute

Keywords: blender breakfast snack candida-diet friendly gluten-free low-carb paleo sugar-free vegan Chia Vega One

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Ingredients (1 Serving)

• 1 scoop Chocolate Vega One Nutritional Shake
• 2 Tbsp ground black Chia seeds
• 1 Tbsp organic cacao nibs
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (carton variety)
• 1 Tbsp Nut butter - I use an almond/hazelnut blend
• 10 ice cubes - be generous with the ice

Instructions

Throw it all in the blender. Pulse until nice and smooth. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving to let the Chia thicken up. Enjoy!

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Make Your Husband Happy (if you have the time) Low Carb, Gluten Free Baked Enchilada's

Okay - I'm ready to share another recipe.

They say there are 5 stages of grief. Well it took me 5 days to get over the loss of banana's and yogurt from my diet but I reached the last stage: acceptance.

I'm ready to accept that I have to give them up. It needs to be done.

I have actually been following my strict Candida diet for 5 days now and I must say that today is the least hungry I have been in a very long time. I wasn't hungry for lunch an hour after breakfast and I wasn't hungry at my usual lunch time. What? And my thoughts weren't consumed with chocolate all day. Double what?

Maybe its working? Maybe its a coincidence?  Maybe I got over some five day hurdle?

I hope it gets easier from here because I was going through major withdrawal the first 5 days. Sorry if I sounded a bit whiny on my last two posts - I was really stressed about how I was going to give up the sweets. My cravings were SO strong that I felt a bit panicky. But it has passed for now.

So as a parting gift to my old diet, clean but dairy and fruit friendly, I'm leaving you with a recipe I made last week before I got my food sensitivity tests back. Its clean, low-carb and delicious. But it has dairy so its not longer in the cards for me.

My hubby LOVED this recipe. He was impressed. I love when I do that. But I did spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen putting this masterpiece together so don't attempt this during the week. Unless you feel like cooking before bed and baking it the next day or have the day off. But it was worth some extra effort and would be great for when you have guests.

Cheesy Gluten Free Low Carb Baked Enchiladas

by MamaChanty

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: bake entree gluten-free low-carb wheat belly coconut flour beef Mexican

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Ingredients (Serves 4 - 6)

Meat Mixture

• 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped
• 1 lb grass fed organic ground beef
• 3/4 cup red pepper, chopped
• 3/4 cup yellow pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup corn (optional - this was a make hubby happy ingredient)
• 1 1/2 tsp chili powder (more if you want some heat)
• 1 tsp cumin
• salt & pepper to taste
• 10 oz can enchiladas sauce (low carb - mine had 4 grams of carbs per 1/2 cup)
• 4 oz can green chili's, divided into two

Cheese Mixture

• 1/2 cup plain unsweetened Greek Yogurt
• 2 oz green chili's (left over from above)
• 2 oz cream cheese, softened if necessary
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 Tbsp Cilantro, I used fresh frozen
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Tortilla recipe - made 4 tortilla

• 1/4 cup organic coconut flour
• 3 Tbsp ground golden flax
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 8 eggs whites or 1 cup of egg white in carton (handy to buy and you can get free run for a good price)
• 1/2 cup water
• pinch of salt
• Coconut oil for pan - add more after each tortilla.

Instructions

Meat Mixture

Fry garlic and onion in coconut oil in a sauce pan over medium heat until softened. About 2 minutes.

Add ground beef and fry until browned (about 12 minutes).

Add peppers, spices, corn, enchilada sauce and half the can of green chili's. Simmer for about 5 minutes to let the spices "wake up" and the flavors blend.

Set aside.

Cheese Mixture

Just mix everything together until fully combined. Set aside.

Tortilla

Mix together all the ingredients until thoroughly combined. Let stand for about 10 minutes to let the coconut flour absorb the water.

Heat a frying pan to med/high heat.

Melt coconut oil in pan.

Using a 1/3 measuring cup put a 1/3 cup of the batter in a frying pan - spread it out with a spatula to spread the batter around. Don't panic - just gently smooth out the top. It will start cooking but it is forgiving - you can keep spreading even as it is cooking.

Cook each side for a couple of minutes (until browned). I did a tortilla and then layered in the ingredients below as I cooked the next one. If you want to do the whole batch before layering you will need to put wax paper between each tortilla so they don't stick together.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a greased 8 inch glass casserole dish layer the ingredients as follows:

1 - Tortilla

2 - Meat layer - half of the meat mixture

3 - Tortilla

4 - Cheese layer - half of the cheese mixture

5 - Tortilla

6 - Meat layer - remaining half of the meat mixture

7 - Tortilla

8 - Cheese layer - remaining half of the cheese mixture

9 - 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese for the top

Bake for 30 minutes with the lid and an additional 15 minutes without the lid. Broil on high for a couple of minutes if cheese is not browned to your liking.

Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

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The Week Ending May 5th - A tale of Two Diets - Pre and Post Candida test results

So if you caught my post on Friday you will know that I got my IGG food sensitivity tests back. On the bad list - banana's, pineapple, yeast, whey, yogurt and mushrooms. I will be eliminating those from my diet. I literally cried over the banana's and yogurt being on that list. That really hurt. Really.

With those results I also found out that I had a high immune response to Candida. This confirmed what I had unfortunately suspected -- I appear to have a pretty severe Candida overgrowth. If you are wondering what that is you can check out the Candida Diet webpage. We all have Candida, mine has just decided to make themselves a little too comfortable and have been bullying the good bacteria. Probably because I fed and continue to feed them too much sugar. Big huge sigh.

So I started off the week eating my old version of clean - which meant no, or at least very little processed foods, minimal sweets, low-carb, wheat-free and grain-free. Kind-of Paleo but with some dairy here and there. And I was eating 2 - 3 servings of fruit a day. And of course some dark chocolate and maybe a wheat-free dessert here and there.

But after Wednesday my clean eating world shifted and I had to change my diet yet again. Even though I still need to meet with my Naturopath I decided to just start my Anti-Candida diet right away based on my own research. I needed to take control of the situation and not let those hungry sugar loving beasts control my life anymore.  So what does that mean.............

Its a restrictive diet. Hard. But let's hope not impossible.

So basically I will be allowed to eat

• Meat, fish, eggs - so far, so good - no change here - still organic/hormone free/grass fed/antibiotic free/nitrate-free as much as possible. And always sugar-free.
• Veggies - as much as I can. Before I was omitting white potatoes and corn. Well now there are a whole bunch of new veggies to add to the off-limits list like sweet potatoes, beets, carrots and squash - can you hear me crying?
• Fruit - ooops - how did that get on the list. I'M NOT ALLOWED TO EAT FRUIT. How am I supposed to survive? Brutal, brutal, brutal. Oh yeah, I'm allowed avocado, lemon and lime. Yay! Sarcasm.
• Nuts and seeds - Thank-god I can still have my Chia but it really goes good with fruit. Tear.
• Healthy Oils - olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil 
• Grains - quinoa, buckwheat, wild and brown rice. Well, that's great except I don't eat grains because of my blood sugar issues. I am probably going to have to re-introduce some grains later in the day and see if I can handle them because I don't think I can survive off just meat, veggies, and nuts. 
• Sweeteners - nothing except Stevia and Xyletol. So of course I will be doing lots of experiments to try and make a decent dessert out of these.
• Dairy - butter and yogurt. Great, except I have a FOOD SENSITIVITY to yogurt so I can't have yogurt. Really? Is that fair.

Also on the no-list is:

• Caffeine. I was already off of caffeine but apparently even de-caf should be off-limits. I'm holding off on that one until I talk to the doctor. I at least need my decaf. 
• Vinegars and any condiment with sugar. 
• Alcohol

Okay. So. A little advice. Don't go out of town for the weekend to a wedding shower and stay at your "baking addicted" mother's house on day three of an anti-candida diet. Seriously - it was torture. 

But I haven't had one piece of dark chocolate, one drop of French Vanilla creamer, one taste of yogurt or one plate of apple nacho's in 5 days. It's been HARD but I did it.................take that you sugar loving beasts!

This was early in the week when I was still eating dairy that I made these AWESOME Baked Enchiladas. I'll get you the recipe this week. You shouldn't have to suffer just because I am.

Chia porridge with fruit salad on top. I think that might have been my last piece of fruit. The memories.

Omelet with ham, broccoli and cheese. I just realized I can't put cheese in my omelets or frittata's anymore...........

I think this was Day One of Anti-Candida. Now all my smoothies will be fruit free. So I'll be  using lots of avocado's to try and thicken them up. And Chia of course. 

A Spring mix salad Chicken with Apple Cider dressing. I had to take this out shopping with me  since there isn't really anything I can get "fast food" anymore.

Vega One French Vanilla Smoothie with avocado and ground Chia. I'm just starting to experiment with ground Chia. I like. Doesn't stick in the teeth so much.

A big salad for lunch with egg and hemp. I think I will be eating a LOT of eggs.

The salads I made for our road trip since we couldn't stop for fast food. I made a broccoli and quinoa salad with egg and apple cider vinegar dressing. It was actually really good. Maybe I'll make it again and share the recipe.

Shower food. I had to share this pic because these were so cute - and simple to make too! Too bad I couldn't eat one.

I like to refer to this as "The Table of Torture".  I spent four hours in this room with these desserts and didn't have one bite.  Cruelty.

The savories looked just as good but just as off-limits. I ate a few gluten-free chips and a bit of ranch corn and bean dip . It was a cheat but not a major offense.

An egg salad "sandwich" being eaten in the car. Wrapped in lettuce instead of bread of course.

When we got home I made myself some bbq'd pork chops with a Candida Diet friendly bbq sauce. I used tomato paste, tomato sauce, paprika, chili, onion powder, garlic, butter, Xylitol and salt/pepper. It was really good. Hubby was impressed.  A good way to end the week.

Other than my being sad and mourning the loss of fruit and yogurt I actually had a great week. I felt pretty good. My energy levels are good. My iron deficiency is at bay. I had a good weekend out of town. And the SNOW IS GONE. The temperature is rising. I think I can finally safely put away our winter boots. The kids are loving playing outside. 

Life is good. I just have to find sweetness in other things.

Good News, Bad News and Worse News - But Progress Towards Solving the Adrenal Mystery

So I got my IGG Allergy tests (including Candida) back from the Naturopath. I had an awesome recipe to share today for Baked Enchilada's but it will have to wait until next week. Today I'm just going to talk about my adrenal journey. If this is where your eye's glaze over feel free to come back another day when I'm back in recipe mode. 

But today its all about solving my adrenal fatigue mystery. I have fairly severe adrenal fatigue and don't want to be on adrenal support for the rest of my life so I'm pretty determined to figure this out.

As you might know, I have a pretty much lifelong history of stomach aches (self-diagnosed IBS), insomnia, severe sugar cravings and poor immunity. And probably a relatively high-stress lifestyle - I tended to push myself to the limit at times and am a bit of a high anxiety person. Okay - that's probably a bit of an understatement. I am high anxiety.

Anyway, in 2010/2011 I went through some REALLY stressful times. Had one of those years where I just had it piled on me and it finally broke me. Living off adrenaline and coffee just didn't fuel me anymore like it used to........I burned out. I felt terrible. So on top of my lifelong friends noted above, I also went through some pretty severe anxiety, panic attacks, brain fog, memory issues and extreme fatigue. Oh yeah, and anger and shoulder/neck/throat tension that got so bad I was in excruciating pain for 18 months. Fun times.

It took a while but I eventually ended up at a Naturopath. I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue. I got B12 injections, took adrenal support, made some lifestyle changes (more childcare, earlier to bed) and got relatively better. Or at least well enough to try for baby number three. 

At that time I also got IGG food sensitivity testing done. These IGG allergy reports are done based on a blood sample and basically identify foods that are reacting to cause an immune response in your body. I'm not going to get into the details but that's not a good thing. 

The test I did included the top 90 foods. They are split into dairy, fish, fruit, meat, nuts/grains, vegetables and miscellaneous. When those test results came back I was reacting to all sorts of things across the board. Dairy - 3 foods of the 8 tested. Fish - 8 of the 11 tested. Fruit - 11 of the 16 tested. You get the picture. My body was having an immune response to almost everything. 

Lot of the reactions were low but I was still having a reaction. The problem was that it made it near impossible to identify what my actual food sensitivity was. I wasn't about to cut out all those foods.

What was apparent was that I had severe "leaky gut" syndrome. My stomach lining wasn't working probably so all sorts of foods were passing through to my blood stream but we weren't able to pin point what the trigger might be. And frankly, I wasn't fully into the whole "you are what you eat" mentality yet. Like I said, I got better "enough" based on my old standards and didn't really end up doing much with this information.

Fast forward to 2012. Another baby. Gave up caffeine during my pregnancy and started sleeping better for the first time in my life. After baby was born I had lots of weight to lose.  And through fate, luck and lots of reading I ended up going down the gluten free, low-carbohydrate eating path. It started off as a means to lose weight (and it worked) but I started feeling incredible. More energetic than I have probably felt my whole life. And that was the catalyst for me to completely overhaul my entire diet and go "clean". 

So I was (and am) sleeping much better, my digestion is working properly (when I am faithful to my diet guidelines), my immune system is working better (almost no colds or flu's this year) and I had lots of energy. Great. 

Except something was still not right. I started getting anxiety again. My sugar cravings are ridiculous. I get really hungry and I get moody. I'm not a moody person - I don't like it. That sounded moody - darn. So back I go to the Naturopath. Diagnosis - ADRENAL FATIGUE. Again.

But that doesn't really make sense. I'm not stressed out at all this year. I am having an awesome year. I am loving every single minute of maternity leave. I am eating clean. I am exercising. I am sleeping (okay - baby is a pathetic sleeper but I get enough sleep that I generally don't feel tired). I find it really odd that a person would have adrenal fatigue when they aren't stressed in the least and they have lots of energy.

Ahhh, but other things can stress the adrenals. Namely, sleep and digestive issues. So what is going on. I don't want to feel like shit anymore. I want to have patience with my kids. I want this figured out. 

First, I went back on adrenal support and I tell you those pills work for anxiety. They are natural and awesome. But I don't want to stay on them forever..........in my dream world I wouldn't be on any supplements except maybe Vitamin D. 

Next, we got tons of blood work done. Result - anemic. Dangerously low iron levels and lowish B 12. That explained why I was starting to get severely fatigued and dizzy. 

Then I did the stomach acid test. Result - very low stomach acid. Okay - makes sense that I'm getting anemic and low B 12 if my stomach is not absorbing anything. 

But why. 

So I decided it was time to get my food panels re-done. And I got my results..........................I haven't discussed with my doctor so this is just my interpretation but here goes.

THE GOOD NEWS

This is one section of the report which shows how I am reacting to fruits. 

The number of foods I am reacting to has been reduced significantly. Seriously.  In 2011, I was showing some sort of reaction to about 62 of the 90 foods tested. This time I was only reacting to 21 of the 90 foods. And most of these reactions were very low. This leads me to believe that my clean eating has significantly helped with my general leaky gut problem. Yay - happy dance. That's awesome. I've worked hard on my diet so I'm really glad it is doing something to help me with these problems. Yes - I am proud of myself. Big pat on the back.

And given now we can clearly see what I have sensitivities to now, there is a chance that cutting out these foods could cure me? Cure stomach issues I have had since childhood. I'm hopeful. Maybe. That would be so cool.

THE BAD NEWS

The bad news was that what I am having moderate/high reactions to are the following:

• Whey 
• Yogurt
• Yeast
• Banana's
• Pineapple
• Mushrooms

Okay - I can deal with that.............except the yogurt and banana's. Most people would freak out about the yeast but I don't give a crap. I gave up donuts and bread months ago and I can live without it. And I love mushrooms but I can live without them. There are lots of options for whey protein so other than $100 worth of protein powder in my basement that needs to be eating (drank) that's okay. 

But banana's - I LOVE banana's. They are awesome in banana bread. They are awesome in a smoothie. They are portable. They make an awesome topping on my Chia porridge. 

And yogurt. Really. Don't take away my yogurt. Please.  OMG - I will never eat yogurt topped with banana's again.

And this time its pretty apparent that these are my food sensitivities. These results aren't hard to interpret. My leaky gut is not making the results hard to read. My body does not like banana's and it does not like yogurt. I'm going to have to ELIMINATE them from my diet. I want to cry but I will do it. Because it will be worth it if it solves the adrenal mystery. 

THE WORSE NEWS

The whole banana ordeal is really a mute point. I can't eat banana's anymore anyway.........I can't eat any fruit. I don't know what the heck I'm going to eat. I have a seriously high Candida overgrowth.

I don't swear much but I want to swear. A string of swears.

That sucks. Those buggers love sugar. You get rid of them by eliminating sugar. Including fruit. Including everything. The Candida diet is RESTRICTIVE.

If you know the kind of diet I have been eating, most people would find it restrictive. Ha, its a walk in the park compared to the Candida diet. No dairy, no coffee, no sugar (except Stevia), no fruit. No sweet potatoes, beets. The list goes on.........and on.

I suspected that I might have had this. But I was tested for it in 2011 and only showed a moderate reaction. I'm so much healthier now and eat so much better that I thought, prayed, hoped that my suspicion wasn't correct. But I was right.

So my "mama's pantry" is going to have to change yet again. And my recipes are probably going to start looking different again. No more apple butter sauces. No more Greek yogurt in everything. No more chocolate everything. No more maple syrup or agave.

If this sounds like a pity party, it is.

Buts its only because I know that I'm going to do what I have to do to fight this beast. This sugar crazed beast called Candida.

But if it means I can get better, fully better and be the best version of myself at some point then I will do it. And if my sugar cravings don't consume my thoughts and I'm not hungry all the time that would be just fabulous.

If this seems like a lot of information. It is. I'm just working things out for myself. And I'm sharing along the way. I used to be too proud to show my weaknesses - I liked being known as an efficient little Type a machine. Well, look where it got me. Burn out. So I'm sharing my journey and maybe it will help someone out there. If you don't feel great or your moods are all over the place there are people and tests that can help you figure things out. You don't necessarily need pharmaceuticals. You might just need to give up banana's. Hey Mom? She doesn't read my blog so she won't see this but I think she should.

I am blessed to have the resources to get these tests run. They aren't cheap. But they are definitely something to think about. So wish me luck and say a prayer that I can find the willpower to do what I need to do.

Have a great weekend!

3 Picky Eaters Approved Paleo Gluten Free Chicken Strips

The only thing I didn't like about this recipe was that I couldn't send the left-overs to school for lunch because of the almonds (nuts). All five of us thoroughly enjoyed these chicken fingers.

My 5 year old loved them and asked for seconds. She even held one up, stared at it and said "How did you make this Mom"?

My 4 year old "I don't eat meat and I don't like much of anything" daughter cleaned her supper plate, ate them again for a bedtime snack and the next day for lunch. Are you S-E-R-I-O-U-S. This is meat we are talking about.

Baby picked them off his tray until they were gone. He has already learned to sift through what he doesn't like and pitch it over the side of his highchair so he definitely liked it.

Needless to say, if I can make one entree that our whole family will eat that's a good thing. Hope they turn out just as good for you. And of course they are wheat-free, low-carb and not full of processed junk. You can feel good about serving this to your kids.

Paleo & Gluten Free Chicken Strips

5 or 6 medium sized boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch strips
2 free run eggs, well beaten
1 - 2 Tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil

Breading Mixture
1 cup blanched almond flour (can't see why almond meal wouldn't work)
2 Tbsp organic coconut flour
1/4 cup ground golden flax
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp fine sea salt
pinch of black pepper and parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put beaten egg in a shallow dish and the breading mixture into a separate shallow dish for dredging. Pat the chicken pieces dry with a paper towel before breading to help the egg/breading mixture stick. Dip each chicken strip first into egg and then into the breading mixture. Place in a well-greased baking sheet or casserole in a single layer. Drizzle the chicken strips with olive oil. Bake for approx. 35 minutes. Serve and watch them disappear.