Fast Food

My three course breakfast did good by me today. Real good.

I was feeling slightly hungry when I made the girls lunch, I snacked on my favorite snacky snackerson as of late.

And a couple of banana chips too.

After my attempt at banana chips last week we’ve been living banana chip loco here. Even Maxine, also known as Queen of Banana Denial, will eat these. Score one for Team Banana!

I figured I would wait until I felt hungry again to eat lunch and got back to work doing things around the house. Before I knew it was almost 4:30! I lead a breastfeeding support group for pregnant and nursing mothers and we had a meeting tonight.  I had totally lost track of time and had to whip up dinner and get out the door FAST.

Dinner tonight was Curried Lentil Burgers, and I basically followed the same recipe I used a couple months ago.

I cooked about 8oz of brown lentils (rinsed, drained) in veggie broth, water and tomato sauce for about 40 minutes. Added a cup or so of frozen corn in the last ten minutes of cooking. Transferred it all to a mixing bowl and added a cup or so of whole wheat flour and stirred until well combined. Spooned some into a frying pan that was lightly coated in EVOO, flattened into patties with said spoon and cooked for about 5 minutes on each side.

Served with a tossed salad of red and green leaf lettuce, romaine, cukes, carrots, tomato and green pepper.

So this really wasn’t a FAST meal in terms of prep but I’m still a little shocked at the speed I managed to throw this together, made a separate meal for the girls, got packed up and the car loaded, changed clothes and scarfed it all down.

Have you ever noticed that if you have 3 things to do, you get 1 thing done – but if you have 10 things to do you get 8 things done? Oh the amazing power of a deadline!

Raw Food Musings

Me and my new best friend.

Lunch went unphotographed because we got home starving and waiting the hour and a half for my battery to charge would have been a huge joke.

My eyes tend to glaze over when I read about what people are eating without pics. What can I say, I’m a picture person. Without pics I would otherwise skip this but for food combining purposes I’m going write about it today. I’ll keep it brief.

I made a new kind of green smoothie today; spinach, cucumber, half an avocado and unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Today I left out fruit (that I would usually put in) because I now know fruit is supposed to be eaten alone. This would be considered properly combined because nut milk is “neutral”. It was totally yummy even without the fruit. Not sweet but that was fine. It was like salad in liquid form.

I also had two slices of Ezekiel sesame bread (sprouted grains, not raw but a good transistion food) with the other half of the avocado that I mixed with some salsa to make fast guacamole. (Thanks Pat for that idea!) Totally yum and still properly combined as I understand it.

I was totally held over and didn’t even start thinking about food again until 5 or so. This is pretty remarkable for me. Usually I’m thinking about what I’m going to eat at my next meal or snack within an hour or two of a meal.

Since it had been well over 3 hours since my last meal it was “safe” to have some fruit.

I had as much as I wanted and didn’t worry about portions. I had a bunch too. This bowl plus two more like this I’d say. It was so juicy and sweet!

Then we had some fun with the camera.

Household randomness.

Ponies on parade.

Cat Bird Feeder

Some silly girls.

Look! Ava is back in the womb!

I had a salad planned for dinner. Easy peasy, nothing new under the sun, but wanted to spice it up. Literally.

Carrot Ginger Dressing from The Raw Food Detox Diet.

This would be raw carrots, curry, fresh ginger, garlic, sunflower oil and apple cider vinegar all thrown into the blender. VOILA! Salad dressing.

Organic red leaf, green leaf, spinach, green peppers, cucumbers, mushrooms and raw corn (thanks for raw corn on salad the idea Heather!)

I usually make Good Seasons Italian dressing for salads… I use store bought seasonings mixed with my own water, vinegar and oil. I feel like this is better than store bought bottled dressing, but when I think more about it, it’s still “processed”. I really like the idea of making my own from scratch. And this was great! Carrots? Ginger? Curry? Garlic? What’s not to like?! Zak got up after dinner and said he was looking for more things to put this dressing on, and then asked if it would be wrong to drink it straight from the container. It really was THAT good.

I was a little skeptical on the raw corn, but it was so sweet and juicy, I loved it. I shaved it straight off the cob and split it up between my salad and Zak’s salad.

I spent more time today thinking about eating raw foods and worrying about properly combining foods. WHY am I doing this? What is it that I hope to get out of this?

Of course my first goal is to be healthy. The benefits of a raw food diet and proper food combining really appeal to me. I want abundant energy to play with my children, run, take care of my family and my household, to do all the things I enjoy. I want to maintain my weight, maybe even lose a few more pounds, WITHOUT feeling deprived.

I want to stop craving certain foods to the point where it’s all I think about. It’s a little embarrassing to admit this but thanks to food and healthy living blogs I’ve come to know I’m not alone out here. I’ve come a long way with food cravings… from totally avoiding treats of any kind, to eating moderate amounts of processed foods that eventually that leads cravings impossible to ignore, to overeating when I finally do let myself have whatever it was that I was avoiding. I’ve gone through periods where cravings are not an issue and have times food and sweets are all I think about.

I think the answer for me really lies with processed foods. I was so comforted to read this over the weekend:

Vegans, vegetarians and organic consumers alike: if you are eating any refined foods, you have addictions running through your blood stream.

Yes, yes, YES!

I’ve come to find that if I can avoid eating refined foods, even things that I think are “good”, like Kashi crackers, Heart to Heart, organic cookies and snack foods, it just makes me want MORE of it. If I let myself eat these things without restraint, I would stop thinking about it, but I would also gain weight. No dice.

So what’s the answer? How do I NOT think about food AND maintain my weight?

Today and for the last few days I’ve had almost nothing that was processed. I did have Ezekiel bread at lunch, but since it’s a sprouted grain it’s pretty innocent. It didn’t leave me wanting more and I felt perfectly satisfied after every meal and snack today. And even right now, hours after dinner, I’m not thinking about what I’m not letting myself eat or what I wish I could have. THIS is how I want to live. Do I need to properly combine foods at every meal? Do I need to eat mainly raw foods? I’m not sure, but it’s certainly worth experimenting with if it means that I can live my life without feeling like I’m waiting for my next meal or snack AND maintaining a healthy weight.

And Gena’s post today couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. If you are interested in learning more about food combining, check out the clif notes on food combining for a great recap.

This got a little lengthy, so I guess I’ll wrap it up now with a happy ending.

Will wonders never cease… chocolate is “neutral”. Green and Blacks 70% Dark Chocolate was my post dinner treat.

Chocolate Ever After.

Bottomless Pit

I’m happy to report that my questionable run this morning was fabulous! 10.8 miles in 1:37:54, a 9:00/mi pace. We did a 6.5 mile loop and stopped back at the running store for water, and then went for another 4.3 mile loop.

Between loops, my friend Shawn and I snacked on a couple of these guys.

My pace group went on to do another 4 miles after that but given my last long run a couple weeks ago was 9 miles, I decided that even though I was feeling good, I wasn’t going to push my luck.

The fastest pace group they had was 9:00 miles. That’s definitely slower than I wanted to go but knew that slowing down a bit was probably a good thing. I kept feeling like I wanted to take off and run faster during the first mile but then I surprisingly settled easily into our pace. I think my boat load of green veggies and my slower pace are both responsible for how amazing I felt today. I had tons of energy and felt great through the whole thing. It was also really nice to have some company too, those solo long runs can get lonely!

On my drive home I ate half of this Clif Bar, and decided I’d run a few errands too since I was child free.

Once home, I dove head first into lunch.

A veggie sandwich on whole wheat bread. A laughing cow wedge, romaine, cukes and roasted red pepper.

Then I put my feet up to drink some green and read!

I swear these green smoothies are like dessert. So sweet and creamy! Today’s was made with the last of the spinach, a big chunk of firm tofu, banana, mango and a few splashed of hemp milk.

An hour later I was hungry again. Must. Eat. Something. Another hour, hungry again. Eat. Hour. Hungry. And on and on for about the next 4 hours or so.

I forgot how relentless my hunger can be after long runs! And that isn’t even everything. There were there were also unphotographed pretzels, heart to heart, fage…. bottomless pit is a good way to describe how I was feeling.

We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around the house together. Around 5 we headed out on a family walk/ride to the playground. Maxine and I fell behind and we let Zak and Ava go on ahead.

Our playground ride soon turned into a playground walk (and tricycle carry).

Then a playground hop.

Eventually the blue eyed ones managed to catch up with the brown eyed ones.

Time to head home. Is that a salad on my head?

No, just a tired Maxine.

Dinner tonight was a pair of His and Hers crack wraps. I whipped up some garlic hummus and promptly smeared it into a flat out wrap, wrapped up and grilled lightly with olive oil until heated through. I usually add cheese but left it out of the wrap today today because we were having avocado on the side. I didn’t even miss it.

The photo shoot took place in the dining room for the light, but we really ate dinner at the table in the kitchen where all the cool kids hang out.

That would be Zak wondering why there was Parmesan cheese on my steamed veggies and not his. He’s even saying “Cheese!” as I snapped this pic.

I think Zak said “This is so good” about 10x during our meal. Sometimes the best meals are the simplest ones.

And a happy ending.

But even sweeter than that is two sleeping children and Season 1 of 30 Rock on DVD on a Saturday night. Suh-weeeet!

Just Us Girls

So we made it to the playground.

We snacked. We were pensive.

And then we were off!

There was running. There was screaming.

There was colliding. There was falling.

Then we were off again.

Maxine asked me to “hold her money” while she ran around like a wild child.

I had an apple with almond cinnamon hummus today at the playground, and that was apparently “lunch” because I didn’t feel hungry again until the late afternoon, when I had a random 2% Fage/cereal/granola/chocolate chip/hemp milk snack in the afternoon while I checked email.

Zak called to say he was going to be late, so for a quick dinner I whipped up a homemade veggie burger, this time swapping out the black beans and using pinto beans. My mom made her own veggie burger with pinto beans and liked it, so I was up for something a little different.

I mashed up a whole can of pinto beans, stirred in some bbq sauce, a little cooked corn and some whole wheat flour. I made a patty with a small handful of bean mash, to cook up one burger for myself and leaving plenty for a few more burgers.

Veggie burger and a pile o’ steamed veggies, topped with a bit of parm. Loved the pinto bean burger, it was fab!

Hoping for an early bedtime since I’m solo tonight. Would love love love to crash on the couch and watch The Office and 30 Rock! We shall see…

A Salad as Big as My Head

See? I’m not kidding!

I ate the whole dang thing!

It was exactly the same as yesterday’s apple, tofu, cashew, feta, miso salad but with mushrooms today too.

Maxine helped with today’s afternoon snack: Magenta Monsters. Magenta would be Maxine’s new favorite color.

I don’t know how magenta these really were but we rolled with it!

And when no one was looking I tossed in a few spinach leaves and they didn’t even notice! 😉 I’m getting them acclimated to the taste of spinach *insert evil cackle here*

And I turned my Magenta Monster GREEN GREEN GREEN as soon as theirs were poured!

For dinner, inspiration struck as I heated up left over chili for the man of the house and he put together a veggie dog in a piece of wheat bread and said he was in the mood for a chili dog…. oooo good thinking!

I opted for fries in place of bread.  Into the toaster oven!

Holy Veggie Chili Dog!  You can’t even see the fries behind the mountain of beans!

Topped with mustard, ketchup and a chopped up pickle!

And now Maxine is standing here naked, hanging on my arm telling me she wants Heart to Heart… come on mommy I’m hungry I want cereal I’m hungry I want cereal Mommy Mommy I want cereal come on Mommy Mommy? Mommy! (she’s dictating and I’m typing it live) so I guess I better wrap this up.

What a Crock

For lunch today I made one of my favorite salads.

Red leaf lettuce, spinach, 3/4 of a large Gala apple, chopped (I ate the other 1/4 while I prepped) some tomato and basil feta cheese, cubes of extra firm tofu and a few cashews.

Everything into a large bowl, then I added 2 Tbsp of this amazing Miso dressing.

Cover. Shake it like a Polaroid picture!

When I say tossed salad, I mean tossed salad.

While making lunch for myself and the girls, I decided to get dinner started at the same time knowing we had plans to be out all afternoon. We love Vegetarian Chili and this recipe can be made on the stove or in the crock pot. I decided to go the crock pot route this afternoon so that dinner would be hot and ready as soon as we walked in the door AND the kitchen would already be cleaned up from lunch.

Vegetarian Chili

2 15 oz cans of Pinto Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of Light Red Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of Dark Red Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained
8 oz of frozen corn
1 can of diced tomatoes
8 oz of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
2 – 3 cups of water and/or vegetable broth
1 clove of garlic, minced
Cumin, Paprika, Chili Powder, Cayenne Pepper and salt, to taste

Place all ingredients in pot and stir! How easy is that?

As noted above, you can use water or vegetable broth. I chose to use vegetable broth today because I had some open in the fridge that I wanted to use up before it went bad.

I used A LOT of cumin and chili powder. I didn’t measure, I just add spices in an amount that I think is about right (erring on the side of caution) and then adding more if needed after I test it. If had to guess I’d say I used at least 2 – 3 Tbsp each of cumin and chili powder, 1 Tbsp of paprika and a dash of salt and cayenne pepper (leave out completely if you don’t like it spicy, add more if you like to spice it up!)

This is one meal that the whole family will actually eat! Because of that I don’t put too much cayenne in, and Zak and I can spice ours up separately if we like.

I put the crock pot on high for about an hour as we got ready to leave. Before we left I turned it to low knowing we’d be gone about 3 to 4 hours.

This can easily be cooked on the stove too. Put all ingredients in a large pot and cook on high until it boils. Reduce heat to low and cover, cook for about a half hour. This makes a lot of chili, probably 8 servings, but it’s an easy dish for Zak to bring to work for lunch and is good for at least another dinner too.

After lunch we were out the door to my friend Sharon’s house to meet up and visit with our girlfriend Tara to celebrate her 30th birthday! Sharon just turned 30 last Thursday. Welcome to the club, ladies! I was getting lonely. 😉

Sharon had read this mornings post about the date bars and was intrigued. Since Zak was asking when I would make more, we decided to make them at her house.

A date bar lesson!

Plus it gave Tara a very healthy birthday treat to stick a candle in!

The little girls had a blast playing together while the big girls chatted and caught up. We snacked on date bars, Sharon’s home made hummus and kashi crackers.

Three 30 year olds! And 3 very NON-30 year olds.

(Not pictured: Maxine who decided to embrace her inner two year old and refused to be in the picture.)

Once home, the house smelled divine and I was SO glad dinner was ready!

Served with a 1/4 of an avocado and a handful of crackers on the side.

And my favorite way to eat dessert, incorporate it into my meal!
1/2 container of 2% Fage with a 1/2 c (+/-) of Kashi Heart to Heart with a generous sprinkle of chocolate chips.

Zak got home from work early today and took the girls swimming to the pool at our fitness center, which is where they all are right now.

Shhh…. hear that? Me either.

Lettuce Go On a Date

You know how you get a new car, and then suddenly it seems like everyone everywhere is driving the same car, when in the past you’d barely even noticed said car?

Well that seems to be the case for making snacks with dates too.

Date siting #1

It all started innocently enough with Elizabeth’s post on date bars. They looked amazing and on my next trip to the grocery store I bought a pound of medjool dates.

Date siting #2

Then came Mary’s post two days later on making her own Larabars, and the wheels in my head continued to turn.

Date siting #3

I’m a big fan of Larabars but cannot seem to find the much coveted Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars in any of the stores around here! I love being able to chuck a Larabar into my bag when I’m running out the door. Easily portable and still real food with lots of staying power. I’ve been looking for this PB Cookie flavor to no avail.

So if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad…

I bring you: Almond Crusted Coconut Peanut Butter Date Bars

OK, the name still need a little work. But on with the show.

10 pitted medjool dates, chopped
1/4 c creamy natural peanut butter
3 Tbsp shredded coconut
1/4 c sliced almonds, pulverized

Place chopped dates into into the food processor to form a paste.

Transfer date paste to a bowl and with a fork, stir in peanut butter and shredded coconut.

A little sample proved that this tasted great, and I loved the slight crunch the coconut gave the bar, but was still too wet and sticky for my liking.

Enter: the “Almond Crusted” part of the recipe.

Place sliced almonds in food processor to turn them into almond dust.

Shape the date mixture into squares (or whatever shape your little heart desires) and then flip them around in the almond dust.

Done!

Store in an air tight container and leave in the fridge. These are vegan, raw, and gluten free!

The big question though? Zak loved them, so did I! Ava ate about half of one before she decided she wasn’t fond of it. Maxine took the teeniest, tiniest nibble and declared, per usual, that she didn’t like it.

In other news, it was raining over the berry patch this afternoon.

Then it was pouring!

No one was snoring, but we were delighted to see one of Ava’s favorite books in the berry patch!

We have three strawberry plants, and they’ll probably produce about 12 strawberries between the lot of them. I figure they’ll last me one breakfast.

After the “rain” let up, we planted our vegetable plants in the garden that we bought on Friday. And speaking of Friday, I decided to take my bike out for a quick spin to test drive the tire I had repaired earlier in the day (which had been punctured by an industrial sized staple, still stuck in the tire).

A quick 4 mile loop around the neighborhood and I was home, rear tire still inflated. Phew.

For dinner was sundried tomato hummus wraps, I topped mine with red leaf lettuce, sliced tomato, shredded cukes and a bit of shredded cheese. Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make hummus when I had the food processor out for the date bars! 😉

Feeling like I still needed a little more protein + something sweet, I had a 1/2 container of leftover Fage with some PB granola and chocolate chips!

Now I’m checking out the forecast and plotting my workout for the AM. Chance of showers at 6am? 10%. Chance of run at 6:30? 95%. I suppose I have to leave some room for error.

Blogger Mad Libs

______! (Curse Word)

This picture does NOT do my rear tire justice but it is as flat as _________ (singular noun).

Thank God ______ (man’s name) worked from home today. I called him on my cell phone and had him come _____ (verb) me up.

I walked/_______ (verb) holding my bike in one ________ (body part) and _____ (number) minutes later ______ (man’s name) arrived.

He brought me a pair of _______ (article of clothing) and said we were going shopping to the _______ (noun) center.

Our loot.

Back home with my plants and a flat tire, I felt _______ (adjective) when I got the mail and had a little _______ (noun).

Tonight for ________ (meal) we had _______ (plural noun) with our ketchup.

Then the phone rang and unfortunately I left the ________ (plural noun) unattended upstairs in my office with a pair of scissors.

_____! (Curse word)

I felt better when I remembered the new pin I got today for _____ (number between 24 and 26) cents.

I’m such a _______. (noun)

Good luck! And be glad I’m not homeschooling YOU.

My House is Your House

Lots of visitors today! Sharon showed up just in time to help me fold laundry! 😉

The girls played while we folded and chatted. Ava entertained the little girls by allowing them to watch her play My Little Pony games on the web.

More MLP action. We’re getting Lauren addicted early.

Everyone stayed for lunch, the girls had (what else??) Annie’s Mac and Cheese while Sharon and I dined on red pepper hummus with cucumbers and kashi crackers, apples with cinnamon and deviled eggs made with VANILLA yogurt! Totally unique and yummy! (Thanks Sharon!) I also made Sharon try an almond butter stuffed date for dessert. Come to my house and I’m going to make you try all the things I’m loving these days.

We also made Peanut Butter Granola!

I followed this recipe, but subbed canola oil for margarine, maple syrup for honey, chopped dates for raisins.

It turned out ok, I still like my usual granola better though. It’s a little soft and is missing *something* that I can’t put my finger on. I sent Sharon home with a sample of the PB granola and made her promise to report back here on what she thought once she had a chance to test it out.

Shortly before Sharon and her gang left, Tara arrived! I’m so happy to have Tara home from school and living in the area for an entire year before she’s off on her next adventure.

Tara came today armed and dangeous: nail polish!

Getting a pedicure in your underwear. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Tara brought ME a surprise today too!

A jar of her amazing homemade pickles and this rockin’ pickle fork! It’s a fork that stays on the jar, so you don’t even have to walk from the fridge to the drawer to stab a pickle!

Observe.

How freaking cool is that??

Getting close to dinner time, we cooked up some Morningstar Veggie burgers Tara brought and made salads as big as our heads. I was excited to try the new Organicville Sundried Tomato & Garlic salad dressing I swagged yesterday at Gluten Free Living.

Our dinner time spread.

The salad: red leaf, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, red pepper, cukes. Burger toppings: LTO + a slice of organic provolone, PICKLES and mustard!

The verdict on the dressing? I liked it, but I like their Miso Ginger dressing better. 😉

Ava and Tara.

Me and Max.

At least Tara and I know how to smile appropriately for the camera. Someone needs to teach these girls some camera manners!

Who wants a Fage kiss??

And just when I thought she couldn’t get any cuter, Maxine proposed to Tara over dinner. “Tara, do you want to get married to us?” And Tara graciously accepted her proposal! Needless to say, the girls just completely adore Tara. 😉

Zak got home just in time to accompany us on our after dinner ride/walk.

One of us was a bit sad that we weren’t turning left to head to the playground.

I think we’ve done enough for today! Tomorrow, kid. Tomorrow.

Planned Chaos

Tons of running around today! (Minus any actual running.) With a little forethought and planning in the food department, it was easy to still eat healthy despite no time to cook.

I had a meeting this morning at 10 on the other side of the city. Knowing time would be of the essence this morning after a workout, shower and getting ready, overnight oats were most definitely in order.

Last night I soaked a half cup of rolled oats in a 1/4 c of plain LF yogurt and 1/2 c of Silk Enhanced soy milk.

After being awoken in the wee hours of the morning by a 5 year old who shall remain nameless, I didn’t manage to fall back to sleep until nearly 6. I canceled my AM workout plans in favor of sleep.

Ellen arrived to stay with the girls and with 10 minutes to spare before heading out the door, I topped my oats with ground flax, pre-prepped strawberries, a sliced banana and some walnuts. Oatmeal! Coffee! GO! GO! GO!

Breakfast held me over well for my meeting that went almost 2 1/2 hours, but by the time I got home I was starving!

Time to backtrack: Last night when I was making chili, I also made babaganoush and roasted red pepper hummus at the same time. Many times when I’m cooking dinner, I cook a few other things at the same time, to stock the fridge with foods for meals and snacks later in the week. It also gets me off the hook for serious cooking for the next few days. And I figure if I’m going to make a mess in the kitchen, let’s make a mess in the kitchen!

These two eggplants have been giving me the stink eye for a few days now, wondering when the hell I was going to make them into eggplant parm like I’d promised.

I explained to them that I didn’t have as much mozzarella cheese as I’d thought, so instead I was going to roast them and puree them with lemon, tahini, garlic, salt and olive oil.

I made babaganoush a few months ago and was unimpressed, and thought maybe I’d just messed something up. So this time I followed a different recipe, and looked at two recipes to come up with something in between.

Roasted and sliced open and ready to have their insides scraped out into the food processor.

The result?

Meh. I’ve never had babaganoush besides my own, so maybe it tasted like it was supposed to taste? Plus, it was GREY for crying out loud. All I could taste was the tahini. Two tablespoons of it was overpowering. It was ok, we’ll still eat it, but I’m in no hurry to attempt this again. At least those eggplants aren’t haunting me every time I come into the kitchen now.

Does anyone out there like babaganoush? What could I be doing wrong? I will freely admit that I do like to say BABAGANOUSH.

After baba came humma. Roasted red pepper hummus, that is.

You can bet your bottom dollar I shoved those two crackers into my mouth as soon I took that pic! This was a bit thin because I used a few too many roasted red peppers.

Fast forward to today, home from my meeting and wasting away to practically nothing, I snacked on baba and hummus while catching up with my one of best gal pals who had stopped by to visit. For lunch I made us bean quesadillas and made her try a green monster!  Tara was totally impressed and fully on board the spinach in a smoothie movement.

My mom came to stay with the girls tonight (Ava says: TWO baby sitters today?!) while I went to an interesting food event put on by our local, large chain grocery store, Wegmans called Living Gluten Free. The event first caught my attention because we have friends who are sensitive to gluten and I’m always wondering what’s “safe” to cook for our get-togethers.  I was also excited by the list of vendors that would be there; Bob’s Red Mill, Simply Organic, OrganicVille (love their Miso Ginger dressing!), Foods Should Taste Good, Brown Cow, Nature’s Path, Pamela’s Products and many more.  I was looking forward to sampling some of their products I so often see in the natural food section, but sometimes hesitate to buy because I’m unsure if it will be something we’ll like.

Tonight I learned that when someone is sensitive to gluten, also known as Celiac Disease, the villi in the small intestine becomes flattened and damaged and isn’t able absorb the nutrients in foods during digestion.  Symptoms of gluten sensitivity include diarrhea, fatigue, increased appetite, bloating, weight loss, irritability and fatigue.  Some people also have an allergic reaction that shows up in the form of an itchy, blistery rash on their skin!  Yikes! Many times people are unaware they have CD until they are diagnosed with unexplained anemia or osteoporosis. It’s estimated that 1 in 133 Americans suffer from Celiac Disease.

People with CD must avoid wheat, rye, barley, spelt and in most cases oats!  (ACK!)  Safe alternatives include rice, corn, soy, quinoa, nut flours and potato to name a few.

There’s a boat load to know about CD, so you can learn more about Celiac Disease here.

It was an informative event and I was glad to have the chance to attend. At the end we were all sent home with SERIOUS goody bags, not to mention the myriad of samples handed out by the vendors. Tonight’s dinner consisted of cereal, nut bars, gluten free desserts, breads, yogurt, granolas and more!

The girls immediately snatched up and devoured the EnviroKidz rice crisp bars upon my return!

One of the coolest parts about tonight’s event was that many of the vendors there representing these companies were the actual founders and owners of the company itself! I was shocked! I would much rather support small businesses like these than a large, billion dollar corporation. Some of these people founded their businesses once they themselves were diagnosed with CD. Many of these small companies are working to support sustainable, organic farming, which makes it a bit easier for me to spend a little more on their products. Especially when I got to talk with them face and face and learn about their products. I liked seeing that these companies are run by “real” people.

What a day! Looking forward to a run in the morning. Here’s hoping for a peaceful night.