Cinco de Mayo

Doesn't this look like a fiesta? This lime slaw was a wonderful, crunchy alternative to the lettuce that many use in their tacos. Yes, I said tacos -- one of the big favorites around here since everyone has different tastes and they can each pick and choose. The Slaw was simply raw kale massaged with lime juice and olive oil until softened, mixed with raw purple cabbage and sliced scallions. A couple tablespoons of veganaise and another squeeze of lime finished it.

I had been dragging my feet about adding chicken to my diet. I had never liked chicken very much pre-vegan and never missed it as a vegan. During the vegan years, my months dabbling in macrobiotics and learning about the energies of food convinced me that chickens carry a nervous, frenetic, frightened energy. So preparing and eating chicken tacos for my family was a new mental shift.

Why eat it if you don't want it, you may ask. Well, I'm still out of my comfort zone with this new diet, and still tracking this new way of eating and how it affects my health hour by hour. Fish is my favorite animal flesh and eggs seem nutritious, but neither imparts the grounded strength of steak or liver. On the other hand, fish and eggs do not burden my system and sap my energy the way the heavier meats do. I want the strength and the regenerative neurological benefits of the meats, but I miss feeling light and fresh and energetic. One important side note is that my veggie intake has drastically dropped since adding meat. I am just too full. I have a hard time forcing myself to eat what my body doesn't want. I am still trying to find a balance and am not entirely happy with the diet just yet. So maybe it's worthwhile giving organic chicken another chance.

Back to the tacos . . . I marinated the raw, boneless breasts in nothing but freshly squeezed lemon juice for two hours. By the time I was ready to cook the chicken it had opaquely whitened like a ceviche! I realized that the lemon must have "pre-digested" the meat. I quickly sauteed the chicken in coconut and olive oils and it was the most flavorful, tender chicken I think I've ever had. I loved it, and it helped me to feel well -- strong yet energetic --  for a whole 24 hour period. I will be eating more chicken now.

Along with the chicken and slaw, I also offered hard corn taco shells and soft flour tortillas (I had one of the corn ones), cumin roasted chick peas, chopped tomatoes, sauteed red bell peppers and onions, avocado slices, radish slices, salsa, sour cream and cheese.

Back to my choices, briefly, I have been CRAVING chick peas, but not other beans. During this in-between phase of my eating-to-heal diet, I'm going to listen to cravings, and watch the aftermath. I loved the chick peas and I felt great eating them. I didn't have any dairy or flour -- didn't want it.

For the cumin peas, I mixed canned chick peas with olive oil, salt and cumin and roasted them for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, stirring once to dry the peas out evenly. The result was easy, delicious and addictive!

I wish I had a photo of the tacos. It was a veritable feeding frenzy once I served everything buffet style, so I missed snapping the tacos in the midst of my scramble to stuff a shell. Here's my round-two though:

One taco shell was more than enough for this health-seeker, so I had my second helping in the form of a taco salad. Delicious!

I enjoy vibrant colors, so I just want to share the rinse water from the cabbage with you. Isn't it lovely?

Back in the Land of the Living

I like the serendipitous color combo of this cabbage in the spinner. So -- I'm back! It turns out that my malaise was from a nasty intestinal bug that a grandchild had brought to the crawfish boil. It honestly knocked me down for a week! Thinking about the little one who also suffered, I wondered how he could have lived through it, but then I remembered that I am the one who is immune-compromised and I'd also been recently stressing my system with the extreme diet change. There were two days I consumed nothing but ginger ale (only 2 cans during that time -- that was all I could manage) and I didn't eat much the rest of the week, having no appetite and wanting nothing but sleep. I lost 5 lbs. and am still much weaker than normal. But I feel SO MUCH BETTER!

With this imposed "digestion reboot", I've had a chance to reassess my whole-hog (no pun intended -- Wilbur!) leap into the Wahls Protocol. As motivated as I am to optimize health, I need a more measured approach. I've always been able to read the body's signals in real time, and I need to remember this. I may not be the person who can consume 9 cups of veggies a day along with the amount of animal protein prescribed. I am still the person who craves fresh green juices. I don't have them every day, but they are so delicious and deliver such palpable energy and wellness that I'm not sure I will ever feel motivated to discontinue them. I know juiced veggies are not supposed to count in our 9 cups, but I wonder if my 10 cups of raw veggies which became 3 cups of juice could possibly count for three of the required cups?

It's been about a month since I began "dabbling" in the Wahls Protocol, and a couple of weeks of being completely gluten-free and legume-reduced. Some dramatic changes are apparent in this short time. At first I thought it was my imagination, but now I am sure my skin is less saggy-- more elastic. The dryness of my skin has also gone away -- most noticeably on fingers and toes, which leads me to wonder if the animal protein or the lack of gluten is improving circulation. Finally, I have been losing a lot of hair! I attribute this to the "shock to the system" that a diet change presents. Stress has always manifested in loss of hair for me for some reason. It grows back once things normalize, but these cycles are long, so it is harder to pinpoint cause and effect than with the skin changes.

That's enough note-taking for today. Next post will be about food!