Tasty Foods: Zucchini Hummus

I'm tempted to run upstairs and whip up a batch of zucchini hummus just so I can take some photos for this post, but I'm out of avocados and there are no grocery stores open after 10 PM in SOMA (don't get me started on the EBAY Now ads that make ZERO sense to me.  Who goes to the park, thinks they are starting to burn and orders sun screen for delivery in about an hour????? By the time your sun screen arrives you WILL have a sunburn, I'm sorry to say.). 

Rod and Judy were awesome enough to share the recipe they served for zucchini hummus when we went over for dinner at their place the first time. I have to say, I like it more than "standard" hummus, and I really like hummus. 

Zucchini hummus is amazingly light and doesn't have the same heaviness that a bean based hummus has (though I guess you may be okay with that fullness). It's raw, it's vegan and it's delicious.  

I made two batches for our wedding. Originally I was going to make a double batch using the recipe from ibreatheimhungry, which is pretty darn delicious on it's own. It was the morning before the wedding and I had a couple of avocados that needed to be used so I decided to throw them in the mix.  

Zucchini hummus + Avocados = AMAZING!  

The original recipe is as follows.  I made it the first few times using my Ninja and it took a while to really break everything down and get it smooth.  We got a BlendTec (of Will it Blend? fame) and it made short work of the hummus (about 45 seconds).  Play with what you've got to find out how awesome this recipe is.  

It's amazing as a dip but I've also discovered how rad it goes with just about everything. Top a steak with it. Top a chicken breast with it.  Breakfast sausage?  It's delicious. 

ORIGINAL LOW CARB HUMMUS (from ibreatheimhungry.com)

Ingredients:

4 cups peeled & chopped raw zucchini

3/4 cups tahini (sesame paste)

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 teaspoons kosher salt (or to taste)

1 Tbl ground cumin

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until thick and smooth.  Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.  Pour into a shallow bowl and garnish with parsley, paprika and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.  

My modified version of this recipe swaps out the 1/4 cup of olive oil for 2 avocados.  The remaining ingredients remain the same as do the instructions.  
 
This was one of the first non-AIP foods I tried eating and it appears I can tolerate seeds (sesame paste), which made me really happy.  Cumin is technically not AIP friendly, but I was going a bit nuts and just wanted "regular" food. I haven't had any sort of noticeable reaction to this recipe, so it's in regular rotation. 
 
Speaking of AIP, I think I need to get back to being super serious about it. For days now, my sinuses have been swollen (they feel like they "pop") and I've had terrible headaches. I'm not sure if it's the pressure changes due to the rain or what, but I'm pretty miserable. Loosening up made getting through the wedding a bit easier, but I really need to isolate foods to find out what is tolerable and what is not (the sunbutter cookies I came up with last week were amazing. Hopefully they weren't the issue). 

Waging a war.......... on YOU

I've been really terrible at updating the blog lately.

I've been busy with work, school, wedding prep and projects.

We finally got the invitations done and mailed out.  It was the perfect excuse for me to buy a craft cutter and now I just need to find enough time to work on .svg files for paper crafting as well as creating jewelry designs and finishing out the semester :)

I've noticed that weight loss/health has taken sort of an angry path these days.  Everyone is intent on getting ripped, demolishing fat, getting their asses kicked, etc. I'm not sure why every woman thinks they need to get below 20% body fat and needs six pack abs. I really don't want to "kill it", whatever "it" may be. I'm sick of the screaming commercials for some new ass kicking workout.

Does it really have to be that way?

Don't get me wrong. I don't think there is anything wrong with being strong.  I don't think there's anything wrong with being muscular. I've worked plenty of jobs in my life that required me to be strong.  But really, do we need to look like body builders (I've always been rather grossed out by them personally).

Is this necessary? Or attractive?

I'm not sure what people are into killing, but if killing it equals the above, I'll let it live.

I have to say if I've learned anything in the last 3 years its to be gentle with myself.  I didn't get that principle in all the years I did yoga. I pushed myself to be the most flexible in a class. I pushed myself as hard as I could. Which is totally NOT what yoga is about. I pushed my body by working out 3 hours a day, 7 days a week.

My shoulder injury has taught me to be gentle with myself. I have learned my limits. I may not like my limits all of the time, but I accept them.

I don't need to destroy fat. I don't need to punish myself for my food choices by spending an extra hour at the gym if I eat something "bad". Hell, my entire diet is "bad" by the standards of most of the diet industry. I eat fat. Lots of fat.  I eat protein, a pretty good amount of protein. I eat veggies, probably more than I ever did as a vegetarian in my youth.

As much as it pained me, I threw out everything I thought I new about health and fitness and I've changed my life for the better. Without supplements. Without shakes. Without punishing my body. Without punishing my spirit.

Take a second to think about it before you wage another war with yourself.  Take a second to think about being gentle and kind to yourself.  It might make all the difference in your life and in the world. Our lives are full of enough crap - everyone's a warrior, everything needs to be destroyed, killed, ripped, etc.

Think about the impact those words have. Affect a positive change in your mind and you will see positive changes in your body.

Armpits aren't supposed to feel that much pain!

I've been looking for a massage therapist that does orthopedic massage for over a year now.

Getting a regular "relaxation" massage only exacerbates my shoulder issues.  I've had a Massage Envy membership for a while now and once the therapist I had been seeing in Folsom was unable to keep working, I hadn't used many of my prepaid massages.  In fact, I gifted most of them over the holidays and had planned to cancel.

I had called the Massage Envy near my place (at the Metreon) several times asking if they had anyone who did Orthopedic massage and was told no every time.

Well, Massage Envy didn't process my cancellation and charged me for another prepaid in December.  I really didn't want to get a massage that was going to increase my pain.  I scheduled a facial instead.  While I was waiting I took a look at their therapist bios.  Wouldn't you know, they had TWO therapists that do orthopedic massage.

I booked an appointment with Kim for the next evening when I saw that!   I figured I would give her a shot and cancel the next day if she didn't work out.

A thing to know about orthopedic massage: it is NOT pleasant. It is not a relaxing massage that relieves stress.  It is painful. VERY painful.

Kim poked and prodded and pushed and pulled.  In fact, most of my one hour session was spent on my left shoulder's inflamed connective tissues and scar tissue.  But I didn't mind.  I knew I was there for specific body work and Kim seemed very knowledgeable. It hurt like hell though.  After 13 years of physical therapy, surgery and discomfort, I knew it would be.  If you've never had anyone "poke" you in the armpit, the armpit is capable of feeling intense pain.  I don't recommend testing it out though.

She had a few recommendations for me diet-wise (most of which I have already adopted, she was impressed with my natural health knowledge).  One of which was to make a super strong ginger tea using about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches of fresh ginger and 6 cups of water.  Let it boil to reduce it to about 2 cups of "tea" and drink that throughout the day.  I'm going to give that one a shot since I'm not taking any supplements during this phase of AIP, including turmeric.

I know that the amount of inflammation in my shoulder is less than usual, but I had hoped that AIP would possibly eliminate it.  On the plus side of AIP, I think my nasal allergy symptoms are improving.  They are not gone yet, but they are improving.  I was able to have a massage laying face down and not sneeze or have my nose run.  I was even able to mostly breathe through my nose during the entire session (the right side of my nose still gets "stuffed up" when I lay down. It is really bothersome, but it seems to drain faster when I change positions than it used to).

I did find a resource that would have helped immensely when I started on my AIP journey almost 3 weeks ago.  Paleo Plan is a fantastic website that helps make the paleo lifestyle easier and more convenient.  I've gone there for recipes and info over the last year.  What I didn't realize was how comprehensive their 21 Day Paleo Cleanse eBook was.  I purchased the Toadally Primal Wellness Bundle and the 21 Day Paleo Cleanse was included.  

I highly recommend checking it out.  The $25 price is a drop in the bucket when it comes to the ease with which you will be able to make the transition.  It has 3 weeks of menus, shopping lists and even tells you what days you need to do prep work for another meal.

Even if you don't think you have allergy or autoimmune issues, give it a shot.  I have to say I'm down 8 pounds since the 6th of January and almost down to my goal weight.

Eat FAT?

I wanted to write about a realization I had the other day that was pretty awesome.

I've struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember.  I've tried every diet on the planet (low fat, low calorie, vegetarian, high fiber, Weight Watchers, etc).  I spent most of my life being stressed out about what I ate, when I ate it, if I was working out enough, counting this and counting that.  Let's just say that wasn't the most wonderful way to live.  Freaking out about food and whether or not I was spending enough time at the gym is surprisingly stressful.

I've made a lot of changes to my diet in the last couple of years and I realized the other day that I am not constantly thinking about food or beating myself up about not going to the gym or working out any more.

I went on my first diet when I was 11 years old.  I remember eating nothing more than lettuce and yogurt for months on end.  I also started exercising obsessively around then as well (at least 2 hours a day).  I lost a bunch of weight, but ended up getting seriously sick with pneumonia and gaining it all back.

When I was 16, I lost about 40 pounds, but was spending 2 or more hours a day exercising and became a vegetarian around that time.  I never felt awesome, but I thought I looked great.

I became a firefighter when I was 18, which only fueled my gym addiction.  In addition to the grueling work of fighting fires, I was working out at least 2 hours a day during season and spending 3 or more hours a day at the gym during off season.  I was also eating the brilliant diet of Diet Pepsi and some sort of carb-y goodness (a sugar cookie or bagel) and drinking copious amounts of coffee to kill my appetite.

I was thin, but didn't seem to be very toned.

The years progressed and my diet changed (I brought back limited amounts of animal protein to my diet but was still strictly eating low fat and high fiber/grains), but my body never really changed.  Even at my thinnest, I still looked soft.  I made an attempt at a low carb diet once under the advice of a personal trainer.  I have to say about 6 hours into it, I wanted to kill someone for a muffin.  I stuck with it for a few months (but it was still low fat) and was able to get pretty toned even on only an hour a day at the gym.

About a year after that, I got into a car accident that curbed my gym habit hard!  After finally getting things back in order from that, I started to have debilitating pain that prevented me even at times from walking.  Needless to say, I started gaining weight (even while on Weight Watchers during this time) and I swear doing Weight Watchers made me feel even more hungry!  All I could do was think about food.  Plan out my meals. Allocate my points. Calculate how much of ANY activity I could do to earn more points.... It was terrible!

In 2010, I stumbled upon

ant it changed my relationship with food forever.  I had been reading about coconut oil and all the wonderful things it can do for you, including boost your metabolism.  I have to say that changing to a high fat, moderate protein and lower carb diet was quite a transition for me.  The idea of actively seeking out fat and ADDING it to my diet had me nervous.  I was worried I was going to blow up even more than I already had.

I bought my first jar of coconut oil and forced myself to start eating it (even though it went against everything I thought was the right way to eat).  Well, it's been 2 years and I haven't gained any weight from adding fat and in fact, my weight is down.  It's not a rapid weight loss miracle, but slowly and steadily, I was keeping weight off, not losing and gaining repeatedly.

I've got more to share about this subject, but I had a moment of extreme gratitude when I realized that I haven't told myself "you better go hit the treadmill" or "you need to exercise for x amount of time" to make up for some item that I have just consumed.  In fact, it was awesome to realize that I allow myself to have dessert now without worrying about how much weight I'm going to gain.  In fact, I can't remember the last time I tried to mentally calculate the calories or fat grams I'm eating.  I'm looking and feeling better than I have in a LONG time. And I think for the first time ever, I can really say I'm comfortable being me.

Adventures in Allergy Treatments - Day 12

NASAL ALLERGIES

Okay, today has been the worst day since before I started the treatments.  I have been sneezing on and off and had to blow my nose quite a few times today.  I am not alternating between running like a faucet and being so congested I can't breathe though.  Also, no sinus pressure and no sinus pain even though I've been sneezing and my nose has been running.

I have another treatment scheduled for Monday, so hopefully I get back on track. I still maintain that even with the sneezing and nose running today, my symptoms are entirely better than they were. I swore I was allergic to myself because it didn't matter where I was or what I was doing, I had extreme allergy symptoms. I thought when I went to North Carolina last year, that I would get away from whatever I was allergic to.  Not so much, which lead me to think I was allergic to my self.

GLUTEN SENSITIVITY

As far as the whole bee thing goes, I think part of the issue with my arm is hypersensitivity to inflammation.  After getting stung by that darn bee yesterday, my entire arm hurts and I've had some of the burning and tingling in my pinky and up the back side of my arm to my scapula.

While I've been tested for Celiac before and the test was negative, it seems as though I have a sensitivity issue more than an actual allergy.  I have had joint pain as long as I could remember, been lethargic, always cold and had some intense digestive issues over the years.

The pain in my left arm had been so intense that I could not use my arm.  Multiple specialists couldn't figure out anything that could have been wrong, and I had tried so many homeopathic remedies it was ridiculous.  I had even tried cobra venom. COBRA VENOM!!!!!!!!

After being told "just don't use it" about by arm (not that easy when you are a lefty, but I did it. I managed 3 semesters of art school teaching myself to be right handed), I didn't really know what else to try and had resigned myself to becoming a righty and learning to do everything over again.  Until a friend told me how awesome she felt after going gluten free.

I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.  I don't think there is really any one "right" way to live, you have to listen to your body to find the right balance for you.  I had maintained a low fat, high fiber diet for most of my life.  I added fat back into my diet in September 2010 after reading "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon. Just that addition made a world of difference in how I felt.  But I was still eating a lot of grain based foods (though I was at least eating my grains properly soaked/sprouted/fermented).

In January 2012, I made the leap to gluten free.  For a bread addict like myself, it was not super easy, but it was easier this time around than the time I had a trainer put me on a low carb diet (I thought I was going to kill someone for a muffin) because I was also eating low fat as well as low carb.

I can say that after 6 months of gluten free, I have become really good at listening to my body.  I usually tell within 3 hours if something has gluten in it or has been cross contaminated.  I also kept a pretty boring diet for the first few months so I was really able to pinpoint any issues.  For the most part, I'm eating a modified paleo diet (I like my raw dairy) because there aren't a ton of really good gluten free alternatives to bread and baked goods.

Again, I don't think there is any one right way to live, but if what you are doing obviously isn't working (you shouldn't feel like crap all the time - that is NOT normal), it may benefit you to try an alternative to what you are doing.