delicious almond and rice flour thumbprint cookies- taste unbelievable and no wheat or refined sugar!

For so many, anxiety surrounding food is at an all time high during the holidays. Here are some healthful holiday tips to help you relax and enjoy yourself at the dinner table, holiday party or buffet:

1. Throw out willpower- The word “willpower” often suggests that we have a profound distrust in our own ability to make good decisions for ourselves and our health. Replace “willpower” with “respect”. When we respect ourselves deeply enough to make choices that will affect our health only for the good, then willpower is not necessary. How much do you respect yourself?

1. Eat with Joy!- Make every decision over the holidays, but especially your food decisions from a place of joy- no guilt, no anxiety. Does that shortbread of Aunt Martha’s look decadent? Would it bring you joy in your heart to eat a piece? Then do it! Does the decision to eat a second or a third piece still feel as joyful? If it does, do it! Chances are,  if you respect yourself deeply enough to know that by piece number three you are probably doing your body a dis-service, then you will make the choice- with joy- to hold off. Understand that being really, truly good to your self is more worthwhile, and more satisfying, than overindulging.

1. Be educated- sometimes, indulgence over the holidays comes from simply not having the information to make a good decision. Do you know how fried foods cause damage to your cells? Do you understand why it is important to have things like fibre and minerals in your diet? Do you know what the best options to reach for at the holiday dinner table are? Do you know how to prepare clean, healthful foods without sacrificing taste? Asking questions like this to a qualified Nutritionist can really help clear up the myths and misconceptions surrounding food, dieting and losing weight.

1. Get moving- burn those extra calories off and keep your bones and heart strong during the holidays by taking time to exercise. This doesn’t mean spending hours in the gym- go sledding with your kids, go for a walk, vacuum!

1. Fill up before you go go- make sure you have eaten your main meal before you attend a holiday function, that way you are not as apt to over eat.

1. Follow the 80/20 rule- if you are eating clean, nutrient dense food, free of chemicals, preservatives, and artificial additives 80% of the time, then indulging (with joy!!) the other 20 % will do little harm. Remember- it all comes down to respect for your body. Give your body what it needs to be happy, and when the time comes to indulge in a little decadence, your soul can be happy too!

- by Barb Thomas, RHN, NCP, Holistic Nutritionist and owner of Love2eat Nutritional Consulting. www.love2eat.ca

Here are some wheat free muffins I made with barley flour.

I have been committed lately to keeping my exercise regular, even on these long, dark winter nights. After all, as Sally said in When Harry Met Sally, I am going to by forty- someday.
So on the evenings I don’t feel like leaving the house, I will pop in a great workout dvd to get myself moving and sweating and feeling like it is possible for me to be able bodied well into my hundredth year. And it has been going really well. In fact, some of the dvd workouts have been the best I have done in forever. Muscles flexing, heart pumping, loads of energy, and afterwards I can just crawl into a hot bath. Heaven.
But then this weekend hit. Like, really- hit. I went to do my workout and suddenly I felt like I was walking through mud. My legs wouldn’t raise without burning, my lungs were struggling. That was friday. I rested saturday and when I tried again on sunday, the same thing happened. So what changed?
Well, as a Nutritionist, I naturally look to food first to answer questions about health. It is, after all, what fuels our body. When I looked back on my nutrition over the last week, I saw a trend that was new for me. It had been a busy, Christmassy sort of week with meals out and baking around the office. I realized that my consumption of wheat was well over what my body can normally tolerate. I have never digested this common grain well, and when I eat it daily or at the very least, quite frequently, my body gets kind of upset. As the proteins in the wheat float around undigested in my body, a low level cellular inflammation begins to appear. My temper is quicker, my stomach is bloated and everything just kind of aches. And I am not the only one that feels this way. Many of my clients have a sensitivity to something (it doesn’t have to be wheat, but often is) and don’t even know it until they cut it out of their diet for a while. I know when I’ve had too much, because I know the signs- my body tells me. But unless you know what to look for, you might think that your body always aches “just because” or that your moods are all over the place just simply because that’s “just how you are”.
I have removed wheat from my diet again for a while, and already I feel so much better. My stomach has flattened back out, and my exercise tonight was much smoother. Balance is being restored. So the question this Nutritionist and lover of all things food related has to ask you is: what is causing you to ache? What are you not digesting, what are you sensitive too? Listen to your body. Eat a clean diet and see what happens. Do your cheeks feel hot when you eat bread? Do your joints ache after you eat a steak? Do you get a headache once you have finished your ramen noodles? What could your body be trying to tell you, and, more importantly, is there a possibility that you could feel better than you do today? Better than you have in years? Now THERE’S something to chew on…

In Canada, it is possible to eat wheat for every meal and every snack. For some, that could mean consuming it up to six times a day! A bagel for breakfast, a bran muffin with your coffee break, a sandwich for lunch, a granola bar in the afternoon and pasta for dinner. Even if all those choices are made in healthful ways with the whole grain in mind, it is still a lot of one thing going into your body repeatedly. With this ongoing onslaught of one product in your system over and over again, the proteins from the grain become hard for your digestive tract to break down completely. This creates an inflammatory condition in your intestines, and intolerance to the protein, gluten, or the grain, wheat, occurs. Once the inflammation becomes systemic, the body can manifest symptoms in so many ways- from an actual allergy, to stomach pain with gas and bloating, to sore joints to headaches, concentration issues and more.

Wheat is easy to access when you are out and about. It is at every fast food restaurant and forms of wheat are hidden in everything from breakfast cereals to condiments. Whole wheat does contain high amounts of b vitamins, complex carbohydrates and fibre, but so do many other foods. We do not need to rely on it to live, and in fact, reducing it somewhat for everyone in our country could do us all a world of good.

When families are transitioning to a gluten free lifestyle, their first instinct is to try to replace wheat with other gluten free grains and go on making the same choices for their meals. From my experience, I can tell you that this can be a very frustrating way to live. Gluten makes bread soft, fluffy and fragrant, and to suddenly try to make a sandwich with a hard loaf of rice bread can be a huge disappointment. If you are not celiac and simply need to reduce gluten, then spelt flour, which has 50% less gluten is a great choice. It bakes the same as whole wheat and still tastes great. If, however, you are completely gluten free, then my suggestion is to put aside your old dietary patterns and begin looking at a new way of eating.

Look towards the Eastern cultures for new ideas for your family’s meals. Protein and vegetable based meals like curries, stir fries, sushi and salads are a great start. Also consider the hunter-gatherer way of life- grain free eating with beautiful cuts of organic fish and meat, loads of fresh veggies, seeds, nuts, veggies and fruits can work very well for some.

There are also delicious, amazing gluten free grains that are incredibly versatile. My clients by now are probably sick of hearing me talk about quinoa, but it is without a doubt one of my favorite grains on earth.

Actually the seed of the gooseberry plant, quinoa is a complete protein, just like a steak or a piece of chicken. It cooks just like rice and makes lovely, grainy salads and porridges. You can bake with the flour, but should follow a recipe because you cannot just substitute it straight across for wheat. There are many great cookbooks that help you learn how to cook with quinoa, and endless possibilities for it. One note on quinoa: you must remember to rinse it well in a sieve before cooking, or your meal will have a bitter taste.

Buckwheat is another amazing grain. It is almost a complete protein and has a lovely, pilaf like texture to it. Buckwheat noodles are a great choice for children’s lunches because of their high protein, high fibre content.

Barley, teff, rice, oat, kamut… the low gluten or gluten free grain list is long and varied. If you are interested in beginning to work with these grains, then I recommend you check out a few cookbooks with tried and true recipes. My favorite cookbook is a local book called, SLICE: Health Inspired Food” written by two Calgary gals, Barb Davies and Jennifer Rallison. The book has all kinds of gluten free/alternative grain recipes in it that are fantastic.

One last word on working with gluten free grains. If you get it in your head that you would like to bake something “normal” like cookies or banana bread, then I highly recommend that you pick up a flour that is already pre-blended to bake like regular flour. Namaste Foods has a great line of gluten free flours, and the whole foods stores also have their own blends. These flours usually contain rice, sorghum, potato starch and a leavening agent. There are typically low in fibre though, so I do recommend adding a bit of flax or oat bran to your blend before baking.

Going gluten free can be tough. If you try to have a sense of humor about your culinary adventures as you get used to being wheat free, it helps. The most important thing to remember though is to read, research and arm yourself with the tools you will need to be successful- recipes, fresh food, portable lunch containers, professional nutrition advice from an expert, and the will to feel the best you’ve felt in years. Give yourself a couple of months to make the transition if you can, and watch for the subtle, powerful changes in your body that reducing or eliminating wheat can make to your life!

One of the most exciting things about this new market is the abundance of Gluten Free options that have represented. Speaking as someone who spends her time talking to families about the benefits of reducing or in some cases eliminating gluten or wheat from their diet, I can tell you that the arduous nature of this task is never met with excited, happy-to-hear-it ears. Families are always flumouxed when they hear “Gluten Free” and often respond with, “But what will my children eat??” Well, the vendors at the new market have got it going on!! “Wild Maize Bakery” has a lovely little selection of gluten free flour blends that incorporate vegetable powders right into their cookie mix, and a great, yummy gluten free focaccia that would be perfect for pizzas for the kids. Their mission is to help families transition to a gluten free lifestyle.  ”Sugar N Spice Gluten Free Bakery” has a beautiful gf focaccia as well, and also does lovely, light breads and cakes. “Twisted Basil” is doing all sorts of interesting things with to-go style gluten free salads that you could pick up in a pinch, plus they have gf muffins and savory dips. Even Community Natural Foods is there with a selection of wheat free baked goods.

So yes, all you Gluten Free Families, it’s time to blast south down Macleod Trail and get your wheat free buns over to the Kingsland Market. Life can be tough going without gluten, but this innovative, switched on group of producers has made it a lot easier.

While  standing ankle deep in the 24 inches of mineral rich top soil that Gert Lund has on his organic farm, one student remarked, “Now I understand- when we eat food that is grown in dirt like this, our bodies benefit from all the extra nutrients”. And she’s right. We are so privileged to live in farming country. When I was a child, I thought that a trip through the prairies was so incredibly boring. Now the vast landscapes of lush green plants is more exciting than shoe shopping to me, as I continually imagine all those great nutrients getting sucked up by the bodies of my growing kids. Why would we NOT eat food that comes from around here? Why would you spend your hard earned dollars on gala apples from New Zealand, that have taken a month to get to your plate, when you could buy a beautiful, deep green bag of nutrient dense spinach from Lund’s? And if you eat food you know from people you know, then you can trust that the QUALITY of your spinach is second to none. Because I have met Gert, and shaken his hand and heard his stories, I know he would never put even a drop of pesticides on his crops. I know that life is tough for him because of this, but that he continues to farm this way, anyway, because he loves his plants, the earth, and your health, THAT much.

Next time you shop, head over to a farmer’s market. Stick out your hand and meet the guys and gals that grow your food. Ask tough questions, and demand quality. Engage them, buy from them, and thank them. Support them. Because if our local farmers stop producing due to lack of demand, where will your food come from? Not from 24 inches of topsoil, I can guarantee that. And when your good food is gone, your health is gone. Chew on that.