food – Page 4 – Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

Purging: The Microbiome Diet & the Minimalism Game

The Food Part: Gut-friendly food

I’m amazed. Giving up dairy, sugar and most grains last Monday hasn’t been as hard as it normally is. The only thing I can think of that accounts for the difference is that I felt really ready and motivated to try this experiment.

Normally when I give up sugar for a month, I think about sweets—ice cream, muffins, and chocolate in any form—hourly. I’m truly in awe that I’ve been okay…that is until last Thursday—four days in—when I drove by Starbucks. Now, I’m not a big coffee drinker. In fact I don’t like it. Still a couple years ago, I started needing a little caffeine fix on Thursday afternoons. I get a mocha to mask the taste of coffee and very often I only drink half. I found myself pining as I drove past the green goddess. And the urge didn’t dissipate until Sunday. It didn’t help that I was visiting a friend in New York where Portland’s Stumptown Coffee was in nearly every shop. Stumptown is my favorite, and I longed to go inside a small coffee house with a good conversation […]

Purging: The Microbiome Diet & the Minimalism GameMaggie Downie2017-12-29T21:17:52-05:00

Come Purge with Me

Over the weekend I was in central Pennsylvania, which is known for the best potato chip. The secret ingredient is lard, which makes everything better. I know this because my Grandma’s pie crust has lard and it is delicious. Pie crust aside, I know this because I love food. I love it too much. So much that trying one bag of potato chips seemed insufficient, so my friends and I decided to have a chip taste test. Kay and Ray’s was the winner, but we got to go through multiple bags and multiple brands. I’m pretty sure I still feel the grease dripping out of my pores.

With this as just one example of how poorly I’ve been eating, I’ve decided it has to stop. I need to make a change for my waistline, but more importantly for how I feel. And even more importantly for the parts of me that I don’t feel—arteries, kidneys, liver—but that I want to fuel in a better and healthier way.

Starting Monday, May 9th I’m going back to my December Detox. See the link for full details. I’m making a few tweaks. I’ll be eating sweet potatoes, quinoa, some rice, and legumes if […]

Come Purge with MeMaggie Downie2018-01-13T16:22:55-05:00

Just a Spoonful of Sugar

As I write this, I’m snacking on some popcorn, which I can gladly say has zero grams of sugar. Since I did the ten day detox (no grains, sugar or dairy) last month, I’ve been very mindful of how much sugar I eat. Note: I still eat it. I’m just trying to be aware.

I’ve always known that there is added sugar in everything, but I’d never stopped to really think about where or how much I should or shouldn’t consume in a day. In prepping for the detox, I read that Prego Sauce has the same amount of sugar as two Oreo cookies. Based on both their websites today, Prego actually has a bit more than two Oreos (a serving of Prego: 10-grams of sugar, a serving of Oreos (which is three cookies) 14-grams of sugar). Just two cookies and you’re actually getting a little less sugar than if you have the sauce. This surprised me, and I was annoyed. I don’t even eat Prego, but the idea that all sorts of food are adding unnecessary sugar annoyed me. I make a delicious spaghetti sauce without any sugar. I don’t want […]

Just a Spoonful of SugarMaggie Downie2017-12-29T21:52:41-05:00

Detox Debrief

So, you may recall that right before Christmas, I did a Detox that basically eliminated grains, dairy and sugar (except in fruit). Here are the highlights of how that turned out:

I could not have done it alone. Having some people on board made a big difference, especially in the beginning. It was good to have people to keep me on task or to talk to when I wanted chocolate cupcakes.

Though the book I’d read swore I wouldn’t be hungry, and I think I was eating a lot, I was starving the entire time. I’d wake up hungry in the night. I’ve never felt such a bottomless, constant pit of hunger. If I ever get on Survivor I will do this detox before to help prepare myself.

In ten days, I lost six pounds. Since then, I’ve put three back on. That much weight that quickly is never healthy.

On day seven for the first time in my life I actually did stop craving sugar and carbs. I’ve heard people talk about cravings stopping, but I’ve never actually experienced that myself. I usually give up sugar in the form of dessert in February, never all types of sugar. I’ve never stopped craving it […]

Detox DebriefMaggie Downie2018-01-13T16:46:49-05:00

Do a December Detox

Do you want to join me on a 10-day detox this December? Please keep reading.

This holiday season I will not bite the head off of any more chocolate Turkeys.

This is not a detox where you don’t eat. That has never appealed to me. I’m way too active to skip meals and drink only tea, and I get really crabby when I don’t eat. My desire to do this detox comes from a couple of areas. One, I always like a good food experiment, and, two, I’d been eating so terribly that on Halloween I looked at a bowl of Reese’s and thought the idea of sweets were disgusting. That was perhaps a first in my entire life I was repulsed by food. But it’s been working in my favor. Since then I have been eating better. December is really hard month to stay on track, so a couple friends and I are trying this little challenge. Here’s the info (if you’re still reading):

A friend and I got together to combine forces from the most recent books […]

Do a December DetoxMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:10-04:00