WIAW #27: Of Coconuts and Chia Seeds

This Wednesday, my eats may look a little different. As I mentioned when I shared my recipe for Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, I’m cutting back on dairy for the next few weeks (not permanently I hope) and when I do add more in I’m going to try and keep it to about half what I have been consuming. If you read Renaissance Runner Girl regularly, you know I eat a lot of dairy, between multiple servings of Greek yogurt, the healthy helpings of cheese, and near-daily scoops of ice cream in the warmer months, so I’ve had to replace all that goodness with something. Like pumpkin and chocolate, which I enjoyed before I became a blogger. And coconuts and chia seeds, new discoveries in the past year or so.

 

 

 

The reason for this change starts with the stomach cramping I experienced at the Pamby Half Marathon the weekend before last. I haven’t felt so cramp-y since the last time I was glutened, and I had a permanent little tummy bump for nearly a week before the race, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t accidentally ingested any wheat! I went to the doctor and before taking any more drastic measures involving scans and things, I was advised that I should cut back on not just dairy, but also oats, rice, bananas, and a few other foods that might be the cause when combined in my apparently still delicate stomach. Now, being gluten free has never been an issue for me, but when you cut back on all of those things and take into account my tree nut, orange, and avocado allergies, the world starts to look a little less full of goodness. My go-to happy pre-run breakfast is muffins made with well, let’s see, bananas, oats, and yogurt. Umm…

 

 

 

 

However, something’s changed since I first eliminated gluten from my diet. I’ve become a blogger and joined the blog world, and in reading other blogs and trying out new ingredients and recipes, I’ve discovered lots of new foods I can enjoy. No rice flour for a little while? Well, I’ll just experiment with peanut flour and coconut flour, like I did with the cookies. Cut back on dairy? Coconut milk is pretty tasty, perhaps I’ll give the coconut yogurt a spin. This is coming from a girl who never ate coconut at ALL as a child, and only started to taste a little in the past year or so. My early breakfast on Monday after a 2-mile walk with Sasha included one of those cookies made from coconut flour, along with half an apple and a gluten free corn muffin made with coconut milk and yogurt. 

 

 

 

 

Brunch around 11am started with a salad packed full of goodness. Lots of veggies, sockeye smoked salmon, blueberry vanilla goat cheese (I can still have goat and feta cheese as they don’t cause food to stick in my stomach), cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and some quinoa on the bottom, topped with a honey mustard dressing. Then, a slice of my Veggie Feta Frittata. I ate all of these things before I started blogging, but I didn’t keep all the ingredients on hand – I’d have pumpkin seeds or chickpeas only when I had a salad out. Now, I consider them essential to a fully stocked cupboard.

 

 

 

 

For a snack around 2pm, I couldn’t just reach for my usual Greek yogurt. So I took a deep breath and attempted to be a blogger like I never had before. I made some chocolate chia seed pudding. 

 

 

 

 

I confess that I did not enjoy the result. Although I do identify with many of the notches on Arman’s and Meghan’s lists, I can never be a true stereotypical healthy living blogger, because I do not like smoothies or slippery foods. Chia seed pudding definitely qualifies as that. I like food that has to be chewed, and that’s all there is to it. (Also, no tree nuts = no almond butter or cashew milk, so I REALLY can’t be officially part of that club, but you do you is my motto!) Anyway, my improvised snack was a couple of small plums with some peanut butter eaten straight from the jar. (I also don’t make oats in those jars. Oats go in bowls or ramekins. That’s all.)

 

 

 

 

Dinner was pretty normal. A grilled chicken burger, a baked sweet potato, and some roasted asparagus. Dinner is definitely the easiest meal, since veggies and fish and chicken are somehow never the culprits of any stomach issue.

 

 

 

 

Dessert would usually not be so easy, since I scream for ice cream all the time and it’s been pleasantly warm for October around these parts. However, I made do with fruit and more cookies. And a slice of my Pumpkin Apple Spice Loaf with pumpkin spice peanut butter smeared on top. Let’s see, a bread recipe that calls for flaxseed and coconut oil? Blogger alert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tweet “Eating like a healthy living blogger? #Coconuts #GlutenFree #WIAW”]

 

 

 

 

Do you ever find yourself thinking about your “healthy living blogger” acquired habits?

 

If you had to cut out some of your go-to foods, how would you replace them?

 

 

 

 

 

© 2015 Renaissance Runner Girl. All rights reserved.

Advertisement