social media – Harmonious Belly

This week was an unusual one – I had a bunch of evening meetups, so there wasn’t much cooking going on at my house. I won’t deny it – I love going out to restaurants – but I also love cooking at home. Next week looks busy too, but I hope I can get more cooking in, despite.

Probably my favorite dish I made this past week was a gluten-free tabbouleh. I tested this recipe for the upcoming cookbook by Shauna and Danny Ahern last July; I loved it then, and it’s just as good now. I did make some adjustments – upped the amount of a few things, primarily, to match my personal tastes. It was great with some greek yoghurt on the side. I can’t give you any more details until the book comes out (maybe in October? I can’t remember exactly), but when it does, I’ll post the recipe.

As for my garden, the little plants in the ground are slowly growing up. The tomatoes, cucumbers, and tomatillos have loved the recent hot, humid days, and I hope for more hot (though not necessarily humid) days to encourage growth. I see tomato plants from nurseries, and experience a little bit of “size envy”, but I have to remember that those plants were probably grown quickly in a hot house and not from seed in paper pots in someone’s backyard.

I’ve added a couple of things to the site itself – at the top of the right sidebar is a line of icons leading you to the Harmonious Belly twitter feed, Facebook page, RSS feed, and a new contact form. The contact form is the best way to get in touch with me with questions, comments, or suggestions. That and formspring.

Finally, I made the decision to eliminate sugar from my diet again. Even the little bit I’ve been eating seems like too much right now, so I’m going to go back to just abstaining. My plan is for doing this for two weeks, and at that point I’ll see where I am. I think it will only be a positive adjustment, especially with respect to my running and general feeling of well-being. Perhaps this will usher in a new era of kombucha brewing!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

This is going to be a relatively short post, as I’ve just been very busy this week and very tired from getting over some sort of monster bug. It sucked a lot of my energy, so I spent more time sleeping this week and last than in recent memory.

I’ll take this opportunity to tell you about the Harmonious Belly Facebook page and Harmonious Belly Twitter feed! Please feel free to become a fan and to follow me. My social network presence is still in the early stages, so I hope for the quality of my content to grow and mature as time goes on. I value the support I receive from you!

I mentioned above that I’ve been sick. I do not know what it was exactly but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I often cut out dairy when I’m sick, but this time I cut out all refined sugar and most unrefined sugar; I only put a little raw honey in my tea to help soothe my throat. I think this was an excellent decision, and apart from feeling better a couple days earlier that usual, I’ve noticed other positive benefits – improved skin quality, less crazy cravings, and less mood swings.

Also, ditching the sugar makes everything else taste… better, sweeter – it’s pretty amazing. I’ve now been off refined sugar for 12 days and hope to extend that as long as possible. I do anticipate eating sweet things again, but my focus will be on unrefined, traditional sweeteners – maple syrup, raw honey, and coconut sugar. However, the best fruit season is quickly approaching, so I expect that fresh fruit will accommodate my altered sweet tooth. We’ll see. 🙂

Now, I’m not saying that staying off refined sugar has been easy; I’ve definitely been tempted, mostly by chocolate. Being bed-ridden for a few days, and sleeping as much as possible, kept my mind off of the sweet stuff. This past week has been the most challenging – for instance, when I was bagging my bulk cashews, the chocolate-covered almonds were calling my name! I was able to resist, though, thank goodness.

I try to keep in mind how much better I feel when I don’t eat refined sugar, and how I feel when I do ingest it at higher quantities than my body can take (answer: not good). It can be quite overwhelming, physically. I understand that it suppresses the immune system, too – in fact, I ate a big bowl of commercial ice cream the day before I got sick! Coincidence? Hmm…

I will talk more in future posts about my struggle with sugar – it has been the most difficult thing to tame since eating a more traditional diet. There may very well be some truth in the idea that sugar acts like a drug.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Photo is of the Topa Topa Mountains in Ojai, CA, one of the most beautiful places on earth.

This post is participating in Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade.