“The diet of the average American is deficient in 7 nutrients. Vegans, on the other hand, have been shown to have higher intakes of 16 out of the 19 nutrients studied, including calcium. So when a meateater asks you “Where do you get your B12?” you can counter with “Where do you get your vitamin C, vitamin E, calcium, fiber, folate, iodine and magnesium? And while you’re at it, you can ask them how they keep their sodium, saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol intake under control.”
Evolve Campaigns (via rebeccaadele)

(Source: evolvecampaigns.org.uk)

see-you-in-my-sleep: For people who don’t understand Fibro.

see-you-in-my-sleep:

For people who don’t understand Fibro.

(Source: misspeanuthead)

chronicillnesscat: [Image: 6-piece blue colored background with a Siamese cat with blue eyes. Text reads: Top “But you don’t look sick” Bottom “And you don’t look like an idiot, what’s your point?”]

chronicillnesscat:

[Image: 6-piece blue colored background with a Siamese cat with blue eyes. Text reads: Top “But you don’t look sick” Bottom “And you don’t look like an idiot, what’s your point?”]

Curing the Incurable: ATTENTION EVERYONE

chronicillnesscat:

kwisten:

THIS IS IMPORTANT.


Please take a minute to SIGN THIS PETITION against MAXIM, who recently posted an article on their website titled “5 Diseases We Wouldn’t Mind Having”, where they highlight chronic conditions that are “cool” and/or “good to have.”


The articles…

Thought I’d share this with you all.

meganshealthy:

Yoga For Your Abs

Boat

1. Sit with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Grasp your legs under your thighs, slightly above your knees.

2. Lean back slightly. Lift your feet off the floor so that your shins are parallel to the floor. Press the sides of your feet together.

3. Extend your arms straight out in front of your at shoulder height, with palms facing up.

4. Straighten and raise your legs toward the ceiling until your body forms a V shape.

Rock roll push-up

1. Begin in plank.

2. Draw your right knee up, bringing your kneecap toward your nose.

3. Draw your right thigh up toward the midline of your body.

4. Point the toes of your right foot, and squeeze your raised right leg into your body.

5. Repeat on the opposite side.

Reverse Plank

1. Begin in seated staff.

2. Press down into your hands. Lift your legs and hips off the floor.

3. Bring the soles of your feet toward the floor so your ankles, hips, and shoulders make a straight, diagonal line.

4. Allow your head to drop back slightly so your chin points toward the ceiling.

Low Lunge 

1. From downward-facing dog, step your right foot forward between your hands, aligning your knee over your heel.

2. Lower your left knee towards, but not touching, the floor.

3. Raise your torso and lift your arms overhead, drawing your shoulder blades down your back.

4. Repeat on opposite side.

Cobra

1. Lie belly down, toes and forehead pressing gently into the floor.

2. Place your palms next to your body along the sides of your chest, with your elbows bent and your fingers pointing straight ahead.

3. Press down into your palms, curling your shoulders and chest off the floor.

chronicillnesscat: [Image: 6-piece blue colored background with a Siamese cat with blue eyes. Text reads: “‘You have bipolar disorder?’” Bottom line: “‘But you don’t look sick…’”] How I look isn’t relevant. How I feel is. 

chronicillnesscat:

[Image: 6-piece blue colored background with a Siamese cat with blue eyes. Text reads: “‘You have bipolar disorder?’” Bottom line: “‘But you don’t look sick…’”]

How I look isn’t relevant. How I feel is. 

chronicillnesscat: [Image: 6-piece blue colored background with a Siamese cat with blue eyes. Text reads: TOP: “Chronic depression and anxiety.” BOTTOM: “You should get out more, it’ll make you feel better” ]  Yeah, I’ll just overcome my crippling anxiety and agoraphobia right away - I can’t imagine why I didn’t think of that myself.

chronicillnesscat:

[Image: 6-piece blue colored background with a Siamese cat with blue eyes. Text reads: TOP: “Chronic depression and anxiety.” BOTTOM: “You should get out more, it’ll make you feel better” ] 

Yeah, I’ll just overcome my crippling anxiety and agoraphobia right away - I can’t imagine why I didn’t think of that myself.

Soup From Scratch - It’s Easier Than It Looks

Making soup from scratch can be a daunting experience for most people. As a result, preparing soup often means using only a can opener and a microwave oven. I must admit - canned soup is easy to make and it can be difficult to give up such a convenience. But even the most cursory look at the label of most canned soups demonstrates that the convenience comes with a price: additives (MSG in particular,) preservatives, corn starch, and way too much sodium. While making your own soup is fairly simple, there is quite a bit of prep work (which means quite a bit of cleaning up afterwards,) but I think it’s worth it. Once the prep work is done, the rest of the work is fairly simple - sauté certain vegetables in oil, add broth, spices and other vegetables, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 30 to 60 minutes. And I find that the prep work is easier if I do a little bit at a time. Usually, I’ve done all the prep work the day before I actually make the soup and I’ve spaced it out over the whole day. I clean up as I go, so as not to be left with a huge stack of dishes, but you can also let everything pile up and then wash a bit at a time afterwards to make the whole experience seem less labor-intensive.

The only issue I had with these recipes was the fact that they both used canned tomatos. The Winter Vegetable Soup uses half of a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes and the Mushroom & Leek Soup uses 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. You can, of course, double the Winter Veggie soup to 8 servings, but only if you have a soup pot large enough to handle the increased volume. Big soup pots are expensive and not everyone has the money or the room to keep one sitting around the kitchen. The Mushroom & Leek Soup uses only 1 T of tomato paste from a can that has 8 tablespoons, which means that if I’m storing the rest in the refrigerator, 7 of those tablespoons get moldy before I have a chance to use the rest. The solution? Put the excess servings in the freezer. You can divide the diced tomatos into two equal portions and store the one you’re not currently using in a freezer-safe container, and using an ice-cube tray, you can separate the tomato paste into individual 1 tablespoon portions and freeze them until you’re ready to use them.

It may not look pretty, but it does prevent waste and it saves money. You can put the whole tray in a zip-lock freezer bag or scoop the frozen paste out and store it in a freezer-safe container.

One of the great things about soup is that you can boil down a large quantity of vegetables, particularly  greens like kale and spinach, making a meal that is nutrient rich. For a base, I use mushroom broth. I’m fortunate enough to be able to find an organic mushroom broth by Pacific at my grocery store, but it may not be available to everyone. The following recipe is for mushroom broth from scratch, if no pre-made broth is available or you simply prefer making it yourself. Most of the recipes for broth that I’ve come across use 4 cups of water to yield 4 cups of broth, but I’ve found that simmering the soup reduces the volume, so I start out with more water. You can also add water to the finished broth to increase the volume needed for the soup recipe. I use dried porcini mushrooms, but you can use fresh mushrooms instead. Keep in mind that all the vegetables are strained and discarded, as the nutrients have been boiled out in the broth, and that you need 8 oz of fresh mushrooms (white or crimini) and only 4 dried porcini mushrooms to yield 4 cups of broth. 

Mushroom Broth (Low Carb/Gluten Free/Vegan)

Ingredients:

7-8 C water

3 oz leeks, trimmed and sliced

2 cloves garlic, sliced

4-6 pieces dried porcini mushroom

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp dried thyme

freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

*Combine everything in a stock pot and bring to a boil on high heat.

*Cover, turning heat to medium low, to simmer for one hour.

*Strain vegetables through a sieve (you can line it with cheesecloth) and discard.

You can save the broth in the refrigerator for up to four days, or in the freezer for up to six months.

Winter  Vegetable Soup (Low Carb/Gluten Free/Vegetarian)

This is a hearty soup that relies on a secret trick - using parmesan rinds to add flavor. This recipe is based on one found in “The Low Carb Gourmet” by Karen Barnaby. It’s a fantastic cookbook with gorgeous photographs (food porn alert!). It’s out of print and never made it to paperback, but if you can find a used hardback copy, it’s worth it.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

50 g/ 1/2 C diced celery

2 g/1/2 T fresh parsley, chopped

1 oz leeks, trimmed and sliced

4 C mushroom broth

1/2 - 14.5 oz can of diced tomatos, no added salt

100 g daikon radish, diced

89 g/3 oz - 1 C finely chopped green cabbage

67 g/1 C finely chopped green kale leaves (remove stems)

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 parmesan rind  (a small portion will do, around 2 square inches)

20 g/4 T freshly grated parmesan

Preparation:

*Heat oil in a medium-sized soup pot over a medium-high heat. Add the celery, leeks and parsley and sauté until lightly browned. Add the mushroom broth and tomatos and bring to a boil.

*Add the daikon radish, cabbage, kale, bay leaf and parmesan rind. Add 1 tsp salt. Simmer for about 1 hour (vegetables should be tender and soup should be thick.) Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove parmesan and bay leaf. Sprinkle each serving with 1 T/ 7 g parmesan before eating.

Makes 4 servings and each has 93.11 cal, 6.63 net carbs, 4.38 g fat, 1.5 g fiber and 3.13 g protein.

 Mushroom & Leek Soup (Low Carb/Gluten Free/Vegan)

This is also based on a recipe from Karen Barnaby.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

4 oz leeks (about 1 leek, minus the green leaves), trimmed and chopped

1 clove garlic, forced through a press

8 oz white mushrooms (I use crimini mushrooms, and peel them), diced

4 C mushroom broth

1 tsp dried savory

1/8 tsp dried oregano

1 T cooking sherry

1 T tomato paste

1 bay leaf

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 oz raw spinach, finely chopped

Preparation:

*In a medium-sized soup pot, sauté the olive oil, leeks and garlic for a few minutes. Add broth, mushrooms, spices, sherry, tomato paste, and the bay leaf. Bring to a gentle boil, cover and simmer over a low heat for around 30 minutes.

*Remove from heat and strain out the vegetables. Remove the bay leaf and pulse vegetables in a blender or food processor until coarsely ground (I used to be afraid of my food processor, but we became friends, even though using it means more to wash up afterwards.)

*Stir the spinach into broth and add pulsed vegetables. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 servings and each has 68.96 cal, 6.36 net carbs, 3.38 g fat, .33 g fiber and .58 g protein.

Vegetarian “Fried Rice” and Broccoli & Bok Choy: How I Learned to Live Without Take-Out, Part 3

I remember a time when Chinese food and pizza was pretty much all that was available for food delivery service and take-away. Now, if you live in a fairly metropolitan area, you can find a wide variety of restaurants representing food cultures from all around the globe, and many of them have take-away and/or delivery service. Thanks to the internet, ordering food online has become de rigueur and restaurants that normally wouldn’t provide delivery can now use the option of a food courier service.  And with all the variety available, the majority of restaurants available for take-out with delivery seem to be Chinese.

When I first began to experience the symptoms associated with Fibromyalgia (namely, chronic pain and exhaustion), I relied heavily on food delivery. I didn’t have the energy to cook or wash dishes, so I ate of lot of prepared food. I used to get most of my groceries delivered and many of my meals from restaurants that provided delivery service.

One of the staples of my pre-low-carb-whole-food diet was Chinese take-out.  My favorites were vegetable fried rice, garlic eggplant, dry-cooked string beans, and spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce. Once I started doing low carb, my days of overdosing on cornstarch, grease, and MSG were over. I was able to find a few low carb recipes that satisfied my desire for that particular taste. As a general rule I don’t eat soy (or flaxseed) products, as they contain phytoestrogens, but fermented products like soy sauce are supposed to be ok. And fortunately, with the currant awareness about gluten-sensitivity and celiac disease, it’s fairly easy to find gluten-free soy sauce these days.

Aa I mentioned in my previous post about Indian food, one of the many things I used to dislike about Chinese take-out was the rice. Don’t get me wrong - I love rice. It just doesn’t love me. Every time I ate rice, I felt bloated, with a thick lump of starch like a stone in my digestive tract. I had no trouble giving it up when I began low carb and I much prefer cauliflower rice. It’s considerably lighter fare, and my stomach has a much better time digesting it. By using gluten free soy sauce, sesame oil, green onions and fresh garlic, I was able to create a “fried rice” dish. While it may not taste exactly like traditional fried rice, it does satisfy my desire for that particular taste. If you’re going to use sesame oil,  it’s important to know that it needs to be refrigerated - it goes rancid pretty easily and is often packaged in smaller bottles to keep spoilage to a minimum.

Vegetable “Fried Rice”

Ingredients:

1/2 T sesame oil

1 clove garlic, forced through press

2 oz bell peper, diced

10 g green onion (about 2 shoots), thinly sliced (about 2 T)

1 stalk celery (about 62g/3 oz), washed, trimmed, and using a vegetable peeler, strip the outside of the stalk.

100 g raw cauliflower, grated (use the one with the large holes)

1/2 T gluten-free soy sauce

sea salt, to taste

Optional:

1 egg, well-beaten

Preparation:

*Heat the oil in a medium-sized non-stick skillet over a medium-high heat.  Add the bell pepper, celery, and half of the green onions and sauté for 1 - 2 minutes.

*Add the garlic and cauliflower and blend and sauté, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes until cauliflower is tender. Turn off the burner and add the soy sauce and salt to taste, and stir mixture until well blended. Garnish with the remaining green onion.

Makes 1 serving and has 127.7 cal, 6.33 net carbs, 7.02 g fat, 5.55 g fiber and 2.83 g protein.

Variation with egg:

I’m not crazy about fried rice with egg, but if you want to use egg, follow the above instructions up until the part where you add the soy sauce and salt. After turing off the burner, use a spatula to move the vegetable mixture to one side of the pan, creating a space. Pour the beaten egg into that space and allow to cook for about 30 seconds. Then blend the egg and the vegetable mixture together until the egg is cooked to your desired consistency. Add the soy sauce and salt to taste and garnish with the remaining green onions.

Makes 1 serving and has 197.7 cal, 6.33 net carbs, 11.52 g fat, 5.55 g fiber and 8.83 g protein.

Broccoli & Bok Choy

Broccoli and bok choy is a fairly common pairing in Asian cuisine. Bok Choy (sometimes referred to as pak choi or just plain Chinese cabbage) is a pretty amazing vegetable. It’s a cruciferous vegetable, being a member of the cabbage family and it’s relatively low in calories, carbs, and has no fat. Bok Choy is an excellent source of the anti-oxidant vitamins C, A, and K. It aslo contains the following minerals: calcium, potassium, manganese, iron, magnesium and phosphorous. Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable, nutritionally  dense with folates, fiber, calcium and ascorbic acid. To give it a more  authentic flavor, I use sesame oil, fresh ginger, and gluten-free soy sauce.

Ingredients:

1/4 C mushroom broth

1 T sesame oil

2.5 oz baby bok choy

3 oz broccoli florets

1 clove garlic, force through press

1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/2 T gluten-free soy sauce

sea salt, to taste

Preparation:

*Trim bok choy, separating the leaves from the stalks. Bring the mushroom broth to a  gentle boil in a medium sized non-stick skillet over a medium-high heat and add the broccoli florets and the bok choy stalks.

*Cover and simmer for about 4 minutes over a medium-low heat. Uncover and cook until liquid is evaporated. Remove from heat and add the bok choy leaves, garlic and sesame oil. Return to the burner and cook, stirring frequently for about 2 minutes. Turn off heat and add the ginger and soy sauce, tossing thoroughly. Serve over cauliflower rice.

Serves 1 and has 172.01 cal, 6.13 net carbs, 14 g fat, 3.96 g fiber and 4.05 g protein.

Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients:

100 g raw cauliflower

1/2 tsp  sesame oil

Preparation:

*Grate the cauliflower using the largest holes on your cheese grater.

*Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add cauliflower and cook, stirring constantly until cauliflower is soft and starting to get a little toasty, approximately 3 - 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl.

Makes 1 serving and has 85 cal, 2 net carbs, 7 g fat, 3 g fiber and 2 g protein.

Anonymous asked: Do you know of any low carb whole food vegetarian cookbooks?

I don’t - that’s why  I had to start coming up with my own recipes. There are 2 low carb vegetarian cookbooks by Rose Elliot: The Vegetarian Low Carb Diet and The Vegetarian Low Carb Diet Cookbook and they’re worth checking out.