For over a year Lar has been following a strict, low fat, low sugar, high-alkaline diet with the hopes of lessening her endometriosis symptoms. The diet basically consists of lots of veggies, fruits, no gluten, no alcohol, and occasionally organic chicken and fish. So when she was in town for the holidays I tried to make it as easy as possible for her to stick to her diet. Here were some healthy eating highlights:
1. The mocktails at Kimball House were amazing. I didn’t even miss the alcohol with the delicious blend of clove and lime. 2. Lar loved the quinoa and sweet potato appetizer at The General Muir.
3. The Superfood salad at Farm Burger is incredible: lacinto kale, roasted carrots, pecans, honey cinnamon, spiced pumpkin, caramelized onions, dried cranberries, tahini dressing, nutritional yeast. Lar and I each got one with half a quinoa burger on top. 4. Lar made a yummy, healthy breakfast for the family yesterday: gluten-free, almond biscuits and an egg white scramble with peppers, onions and sweet potato.
5. Last week Lar made vegan french toast with blueberry and chia seed jam. She used Exekiel bread, which isn’t gluten free, but it’s made with sprouted wheat, which is easier to digest. 6. Almost after every dinner at my parents’ house, my dad cuts up a bunch of fruit for dessert.
I also made a ton of vegan, gluten-free dough balls. They’re not pictured because I couldn’t get them to look appetizing, but check out this blog for inspiration. I used her recipe, but substituted the whole wheat flour for gluten-free flour. Another favorite was this shredded kale salad. I’ll definitely be making that again soon.
Lar does splurge every once in a while – especially around the holidays. She tried a piece of this Cro-dough (Revolution Doughnut’s version of a cronut):
I am so in awe of how much Lar has changed her lifestyle to make it healthier – she even makes her own, all-natural deodorant! And while I probably won’t be making my own deodorant anytime soon (mostly because I’m too lazy), I do want to try to eat healthier like her. More kale, less beer! That’s my motto. How about you, dear reader? Are you on a health kick this January? If so, what are your favorite recipes? I need some inspiration!
PS: Thank you to everyone who responded on our Four Simple Goals Recap post. I loved reading about your experiences!
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Dearest Lar,
I’m so glad you made it into Seattle safely. It didn’t seem as hard to say good bye yesterday because 1.) I’ll get to see you in less than two weeks and 2.) I know you’ll be in this country for the next four weeks!
I hope you and Matt get some time to explore your new temporary home. Hopefully the weather won’t be too similar to Scotland.
See you soon!
xoxo, Cath
I am not trying to eat better so much as eat more fruit. I want to eat at least two pieces of fruit a day because I feel like I don’t get enough right now. The hardest part is always making sure you get to the grocery to buy the stuff you’re supposed to be eating. So far, so good for me.
That’s awesome! My biggest hurdle is grocery shopping too. You always read that to stick to eating healthier, you have to plan out your week in advance and go food shopping on the weekend. I never do that and then Monday morning comes around and I curse my fridge for not enough ingredients for juicing. I just need to get in the habit of planning out my week better.
I feel like I’ve become healthier just reading this post! Wow.
Haha. I felt the same way while writing it! Now I just have to stay motivated even when Lar isn’t in town 😉
Lar I applaud you! I really don’t think I could ever stick to a diet so strict.or a diet at all. Does it help with your symptoms? When I asked my old doctor (who did my surgery) about changing my diet he said that it wouldn’t really help me. Maybe it’s different patient to patient? I still do get really bad pain from time to time and wonder if changing some of my eating habits would help.even though I think I eat quit healthy overall.
Lar can probably answer this better than me, but I’ll take a stab at it. I believe the diet has helped a lot with her digestive problems (both of us have always had sensitive stomachs which may or may not be related to endo), but not necessarily with her symptoms. I know there are different types of endometriosis and some respond to the diet better than others, which is probably why your doctor wasn’t encouraging about it. Lar has met some women in Scotland that have found a change in diet has really helped them, but it is a pretty extreme diet!
yeah it seems VERY extreme.for me anyway. i’m already a picky eater. i think my husband would divorce me if i banished more foods from our repertoire 😛
Hahaha. Troy would do the same with me – if we were married!
Lar is super good about eating well! For a couple months now, I’ve been eating more veggies and less carbs. I still splurge every once in a while. Ok, who am I kidding, a lot of the while 😉 But mostly, I stick to my veggies!
Go you! I’m the same. I splurge a lot, but I’m also trying to eat more veggies. And I’m going with alcohol for the month of January, which has been harder than I’d like to admit! Lar is definitely more disciplined than I am, which is why she’s my role model 🙂
How does Lar cope with the diet? How did she feel about changing her diet so severely and how does she handle the social complexities of being on a diet? Will Lar be in Scotland much longer?
All great questions. This type of diet/lifestyle change isn’t easy. I remember when Lar first started eating cleaner, she really craved sugar and felt hungry a lot. Now that she’s been doing it for a while, it’s not nearly as hard – same goes for the social complexities. She’s gotten used to explaining her diet in social settings and out at restaurants. The hardest part is probably not drinking alcohol while living in the UK. Going to pubs with friends, family and co-workers is such a big part of British culture. Lar is almost always the only one at the pub drinking water, which doesn’t sound fun.
Right now it looks like Lar and Matt will be in Scotland for at least one more year. I’m trying to get them to move back to the states where healthcare is a bit more. . . proactive (albeit expensive)!
You guys found some great foods around town!!! I’m vegetarian, but mostly cheese-atarian and bread-atarian, which doesn’t help with the weight I want to lose. That salad at Farm Burger sounds AWESOME!
I have been trying to eat more fruit, salads, bring my lunches to work, etc – but I find that a lot of stuff spoils before I get to finish it (single servings are becoming more popular, so that helps though it’s more expensive), OR that I get tired/bored of the things I do finish so I don’t want them the next week anymore.
Am I the only one with this problem? What do you guys do to keep the diet limited but interesting? 🙂
I definitely struggle with the same thing. I’ll buy a bunch of produce on the weekend and use it for the first half of the week and then it goes bad. On weeks that I can go shopping twice (and buy less at each trip), I’m more successful. Lar actually gets her groceries delivered to her flat in Edinburgh! It sounds so luxurious, but because she and Matt eat so many veggies every week, it’s really worth the cost for them.
I definitely get bored fast so I try to find good, filling, but healthy recipes online.
Also, I’m a total cheese-atarian and bread-atarian too! I’ve been trying to limit my intake, but I’d seriously pass up chocolate for cheese. Yummmmmm.
Kitcath,
You and Troy were so sweet to be so accommodating to my crazy, crazy diet.
You won’t believe it, but the people we are staying with here in Seattle even have a more extreme diet than me! I’ll have to tell you about it via skype. It makes me realize I should stop moaning about how hard it is to eat the way I do.
I miss you so very much. Worst idea ever not to live right by you! Argh!!!
LOVE,
Lar
I can’t imagine a more extreme diet! Is it easier to eat healthier there? I have a random assumption that Seattle is healthier than Atlanta/Scotland, but it’s completely unfounded 😉
Love, cath