Anyway... most meals I can substitute out things easily enough like quinoa for rice and so on, but there are some things I can't. Like breads, pastas, cakes, cookies, etc.
I am a baker. Well, I'm an all-round cook. I make everything from homemade yogurt to breads, cakes, roasts, great veggie dishes, etc. I just like to cook. But, I cannot eat a lot of what I cook. I make bread 2-3 times a week. I can't eat it. I make some sort of cookie for the kids about once a week - I can't eat it. And there are times I really crave a buttered, toasted bagel, piled high with tomatoes, green peppers, pickles, avocado slices, swiss cheese, roasted ham or turkey (fresh made - not deli slices), and either sprouts or some lettuce. But I can't eat bread and feel good. I feel lethargic and I start to crave things. Plus, if I wanted to waste 200-300 calories, it wouldn't be on a bagel and those are wasted calories as I get almost nothing nutritionally from it!
So, I got to thinking. There are all these gluten free cookbooks now. There are people who have found ways to make good alternatives. Why not give that a try? So, I got this book: The Joy of Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Baking.
While I know that these treats will still be treats, they can at least be less nutritionally reprehensible and will keep me from craving crap. And while my family can eat that stuff no problem, who says they should be consuming so much refined sugars and flours?
Now, for the family, I won't use artificial sweeteners, but they could use more protein and fiber from the nut flours too.
I just wish these things weren't so expensive. Coconut flour is nearly $8 for a pound and almond flour is $10 a pound. Stevia and the like for sweeteners are expensive too. Sugar and white flour is cheap! Oh well, these will be for once in awhile, not as an every day part of my diet.
Maybe some people at our ethical society will be happy with my switching to more gluten free items too as we have someone allergic to wheat, someone else with Celiac's disease and another who is gluten intolerant and then add me who just blows up like a water balloon from it and then feels like crap afterwards.
I will try some of the breads first - or the pizza crust. Man, I would love a friendlier pizza!
I do less baking these days than I used to, for sure. But having the know how and ingredients to do a low carb baked treat every once in awhile has been very helpful. I keep it to a 'one a week or less' schedule, and bake smaller servings/portions, as a means of controlling my intake. It works pretty well and the ingredients, expensive as they are, last a long time with this sort of approach.
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