EAT

Why Your Aches & Pains Are A Good Thing

October 2, 2015 By Karen

Do you sometimes feel like a human guinea pig?

Perhaps you’ve even experimented with different foods, in an effort to figure out what might be a trigger for you.

Let me preface this first by saying – if you have Celiac disease, or an Autoimmune condition, this is in NO WAY a license to re-introduce gluten!

Got that?

However, your dietary triggers could also be dairy, eggs, or nuts – or any number of different foods.

Let’s take a closer look at eggs for a moment.

Are eggs a regular part of your diet?

They use to be for me, too.

I often enjoyed scrambled eggs, or an omelet for breakfast.

And I absolutely LOVED making soufflé! (As fancy as that sounds, it’s not that hard. Seriously!)

At this point, however, it’s literally been years since I last ate eggs.

In recent weeks, however, I decided to re-introduce them – as a human experiment, if you will.

Using me as the guinea pig.

Hitting the Road

July 24, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

Don’t you just love vacations?

Or, do you find vacations and travel challenging – especially when it comes to navigating your special dietary needs at hotels and restaurants?

It can be challenging, no question about it!

However, after awhile, it usually becomes second nature – once you’ve learned to recognize some of the common pitfalls you’ll want to watch out for.

As it happens, I’ve just wrapped up a ten-day vacation in Eastern Washington – which for me means piling everything in the car and hitting the road.

It’s a perfect way to travel!

The great thing about a road trip, in my humble opinion, is that you can take everything you need with you – without having to deal with limits on excess baggage, or airport security.

And for anyone who has Celiac Disease, or is dealing with food allergies, that makes a road trip ideal.

Because you can simply bring everything along, relying on local grocery stores to stock up on fresh produce and whatever else you might need.

Of course, that also means you might not exactly be traveling light.

In fact, if you’re like me, the words “travel light” might not be in your DNA.

But that’s exactly what makes a road trip so ideal!

5 Simple Ways to Kick-Start Your Health

July 10, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

Sometimes it can feel downright overwhelming to get your health back on track!

You want to eat better – and you’ve tried – but despite your best efforts it still isn’t happening.

You try to go to bed earlier, but get sidelined watching a favorite late-night show on TV.

Or, you’re convinced that you do your best work late at night. (more on that later)

You have days, perhaps, when you really feel like crap – and that’s when you tell yourself (again) that you really, really need to get a handle on things.

We’ve all had days like that, right?

Yet even when you know better, it’s often hard to begin.

My advice?

Slow down. Take baby steps.

Pick one of the following, to start – yes, just 1! (After all, you have to start somewhere).

Jump-start your digestion

Hardly a day goes by, that I don’t hear another tip for what you absolutely MUST do first thing in the morning.

Do You Have A Shag Carpet?

June 30, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

While it’s true that my background is interior design, this is not a post about how to choose the best carpet for your home.

Rather, it’s about those little soldiers that line the interior of your small intestine – the ones that have the appearance of little shags. In other words, they literally look like shag carpeting!

The medical term for those little soldiers is “villi”.

Their job is to be super vigilant about any intruders that might enter your digestive tract, and dispose of them immediately.

When they’re doing their job properly, they’re readily visible – waving about in the breeze.

However, as most anyone with Celiac Disease can tell you, what’s happened is that those villi have completely worn down – as in totally atrophied. Which means they are no longer able to do their job.

The only cure is strict adherence to a gluten-free diet.

That’s the good news!

While the condition is not permanent, it does require vigilance.

If you are struggling post-diagnosis to adhere to a gluten-free diet, you might want to consider working with someone who can provide support and accountability during this challenging time.

But wait – there’s more good news!

Options for bringing out change are available to you – and it makes no difference where in the country you are located.

(The hardest part is simply finding the time in your busy schedule).

Filed Under: EAT, HEALTH & WELLNESS Tagged With: Celiac disease, gluten-free, shag carpet, shags, small intestine, villi

Travel & Your Special Diet

June 16, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

How does your body handle travel?

Are you easily exhausted, or apprehensive about having enough food to eat? (By that I mean the RIGHT kind of food, of course).

Hopefully, you haven’t given up on travel, at least not yet.

While it can indeed be challenging, it doesn’t have to be mean deprivation or going hungry.

I recently flew to Austin, TX, to hang out with my son for a few days. My first night there, we enjoyed this fabulous gluten-free, Japanese inspired meal at a restaurant called Uchi.

(They were very accommodating to my special diet, by the way – which makes for a very stress-free meal!)

Now normally, I’m not a big meat eater.

But this Hot Rock Wagyu Beef totally blew me away. Not only was it delicious, but the presentation was rather awesome. And yes, you even get to cook the meat yourself on that very HOT rock (so cool, and so much fun!)

The rock was heated to 500-600 degrees! (I was curious, so I asked).

I also asked about the bed of salt underneath the rock, since I’d noticed cloves and juniper berries scattered among the crystals.

The reason?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: EAT, TRAVEL Tagged With: Austin, gluten-free, special diet, travel, Uchi, wagyu beef

Is Removing Gluten Always the Answer?

June 12, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

Should you remove gluten from your diet?

I get asked this question a lot.

And the short answer is “It depends”.

It depends on what’s going on in your body.

It depends on the signs and symptoms you’re experiencing.

And it also depends on your test results!

Of course, if your tests come back negative, then you’re in the clear – at least for the time being – more on that later.

But it’s super important that you get the RIGHT tests!

And you don’t want to stop there, either.

How To Find Your Path & Stick With It

May 29, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

Is exercise a challenge for you?

If so, I hope you know that you’re not alone!

Getting regular exercise wasn’t always easy for me, either.

Yet nowadays, people often ask me how I stay so fit and trim. (They don’t know that I use to be 15 pounds or so heavier).

I wasn’t an overweight kid, but I wasn’t skinny either – as much as I wanted to be.

(My mother would describe me as cute and round. Which I didn’t like at all.)

I also wasn’t the least bit athletic.

That all changed about 30 years ago when I went to my very first aerobics class.

I was instantly hooked.

Or rather, I was SO sore the next few days – every muscle in my body ached and I could hardly move.

I decided, in that moment, that I would never again let my body get to the point where it would be so PAINFUL to get back in shape!

Regular exercise instantly became non-negotiable!

And I’ve never gone back on my word.

3 Simple Reasons to Cook at Home

April 3, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

Are you someone who enjoys preparing and cooking a meal?

Or, would it be more accurate to say that cooking isn’t your favorite pastime – that, given a choice, you’d prefer someone else did the cooking for you?

Or better still – why not dine out?

Well, here are 3 simple reasons why it’s always a good idea to prepare your own food and eat at home.

You’ll Save Money

Do you balk at the price of organic produce?

Have you convinced yourself that only the ‘elite’ can afford to eat “that way”?

First of all, I want to stress that organic food is not a fad.

It’s not a food snob or an elitist thing – it’s a straight-up health thing.

Also – it’s the way food used to be grown. (Your grandparents will likely agree with me here.)

Think about that!

Second, if you frequently eat out (or rely on frozen or packaged foods for easy, quick meals) – you’re definitely not saving money!

5 Simple Ways to Pamper Your Skin

March 13, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

Did you know that your skin is your largest organ?

It’s also your body’s #1 defense against the outside world.

Back in the early days when I first went gluten-free, I attended a lecture that was geared toward gluten-free folks like you and me.

The presenter was very insistent that there was no need to be concerned about putting gluten-containing products on our skin.

He said it was virtually impossible for gluten in skin care products to be a problem – because we weren’t ingesting it.

At the time, I thought it made sense.

But guess what?

He was wrong!

Are You Vulnerable?

March 6, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

Growing up, I thought I was fairly invincible.

This would explain the concussion at age 8, from falling off my bike. (I was trying to stand on the handle bars).

It would also explain the ski accident four years later that put me in a cast for several months.

(While you might still find me on the slopes, I’ve never again skied downhill quite so fast).

When it came to food, I thought I had an iron stomach.

I was extremely proud of the fact that I could eat pretty much anything.

Fast forward a good many years, and things have definitely changed.

In fact, the older I get, the more vulnerable I seem to be.

Is this simply what happens as you get older? Or is there something more going on?