I AM BACK!!

After more than a year of silence, in which MUCH occured to take me away from this blog, I'm back! Quite a bit has changed: I'm now a Mom! And much has remained the same: I am still gluten-free and a whole-foodie.

During my pregnancy however, as my super-awesome metabolism let me eat pretty much anything I wanted, I slowly slipped back into processed and sugared foods. After the baby was born, I developed a severe case of post-pardem depression (which I continue to battle now.) To cope, it was either eat or become a horrible raging lunatic. I am still prone to the ravages of PPD, but food (and coffee) has helped me cope with the crazy changes to my mood and emotions.

Now I find myself TOTALLY addicted to sugar, having gained many pounds in a brief period of time. It is time for that to end! As I type this, I am consuming my very last white russian for a long long time. As of midnight tonight, I am cutting sugar completely out of my diet.

I am eliminating:

• White sugar, "raw" sugar, brown sugar, turbinado, succanat etc.
• Artificial sweetners, especially my beloved Splenda
• Honey, molasses, syrups of all kinds
• Processed foods such as rice crakers, rice cereal, etc.
• white rice in any form.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet definitely changed my life. But it's too hard given my current lifestyle to continue longterm. I am therefore creating a new hybrid-diet just for me and my family, that takes the best from all my favorite diet philosophies. I'm incorporating knowledge (and recipes!) learned from Sally Fallon, Suzanne Somers, Dr. Perricone, Dr. Swartzbein, Myra Kornfeld, Elaine Gottschall, IIN and others, plus goodies gleaned from the Better Homes Cookbook, Joy of Cooking and others.

I am using the network at SUGAR SHOCK! for support. I befriended Connie Bennett on facebook some time ago, due to our mutual interest in IIN. I've enjoyed her Blog Talk Radio show on and off. Finally, I got a copy of her book. And I'm using it to inspire me to complete my healthy renewal once and for all!

So hurrah, many posts from me to come. Namely, I plan to track my progress at eliminating sugar, and to report on the recipes I find and try - whether they are worth adding to regular rotation or not.