Pandy

What you might know as mashed potatoes or mash, we called pandy when we were small. I had Carb Lover's Cauliflower from The Paleo Diet Cookbook as part of a dinner recently. It was meant to replace mashed potatoes and I had it to vary what was on the dinner plate instead of getting sweet potatoes all the time. But it neither had the look nor the texture of mashed potato. I had parsnips as part of dinners as well recently and noticed the texture of them when cooked was much softer than carrots and reminded me a little bit of mashed potato, even in the taste. I decided to put my own twist on the Cauliflower Mash recipe on The Healthy Gut Cookbook to try and do a better, and more familiar mash than the paleo diet carb lover's cauliflower. It turned out pretty much just like the pandy I used to eat when I was young. Same look, same texture, similar taste. I divided it into four portions, as you can see above, and stored three for dinners for the next few days in my usual meal prep. To reheat the stored portions I added a little bit of water to a small pot - just enough to cover the base - before adding the mash and warmed on a medium low heat on the hob, stirring occasionally, until I could tell from the steam that it was warm. It was a judgement call rather than timed. I used a bag of frozen cauliflower florets for convenience but you can use a large head of cauliflower cut into florets if desired. It'll still give the same result. I said on my instagram that I'd put the recipe here today so here it is.

Cauliflower 'Pandy'

Serves 4 as part of a main meal

Utensils:
2-tier steamer pot
food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade

Ingredients:
400g frozen cauliflower florets* (or a large head of cauliflower cut into florets)
3 large (or 4 medium) parsnips peeled and sliced
2 tbsp chopped chives
half tsp sea or Himalayan salt
60ml (2fl oz) ghee

Method:
Add 3 or 4cm (1.5 or 1.75in) of water to the base of the steamer pot and bring to the boil on the hob over a high heat while preparing the vegetables.
Add the parsnips to the lower tier and the cauliflower to the upper tier of the steamer**. Place them on the base, reduce heat to medium low and steam for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Place the chives, salt and gee in the food processor. Add the steamed vegetables and pulse to a smooth mashed potato-like texture.

Notes: *I didn't actually measure out 400g of florets. This is a guess based on less than half of a 907g bag of frozen cauliflower florets filling a tier of my steamer pot. 400g is 14oz for those of you not in metric land.
**I did it this way because the upper tier didn't sit properly on the lower tier of my pot when the cauliflower was on the bottom as the florets took up a lot of space, but the cover sat comfortably on it with either vegetable on the top tier.

I used the pandy in a dinner that also had spinach, pork chop and carrots as you can see below. A typical Irish dinner growing up would have consisted of potatoes, bacon and cabbage. I never liked cabbage and it doesn't really agree with me unless as small amounts of sauerkraut. So I went with spinach because it's a leafy green that I can easily digest and pork chops instead of bacon because they can be grilled, saving time and hob space. I'll be having pandy again next week I'd say.

Nutrition Details (per serving)

Kcal 140; fat 15.2g (of which saturates 9.3g); cholesterol 9.6mg; sodium 147.5mg; potassium 169.3mg; carbohydrates 6g (of which sugar 1.7g); dietary fibre 1.7g; calcium 1.3%; vitamin A 2.3%; vitamin C 27%; iron 1.3%; magnesium 2.5%

Diabetic Nurse and a Possible Coeliac Issue

I went to the diabetic nurse's clinic on Monday. Got there on time but waited over fifteen minutes after the scheduled appointment time for the nurse to arrive. She was particularly busy that day as she was paged several times during the appointment as well. She weighed me before going into the room. I was up to 82.5kg fully dressed with shoes on. The dietitian told me to try not to go above 80kg but I won't see her until January so I've a few months to alter my eating habits and get leaner. The nurse asked me the usual questions but never examined my feet or took my blood pressure. Had she remembered to take my blood pressure I would have told her about the blood pressure issue I had towards the end of July, but I didn't remember that because she never took it. She did ask about my feet though. I don't know my HbA1c yet. That'll come with the other blood tests she ordered - thyroid, liver function. I did a urine sample for kidneys. The results will be sent to my GP and I'll get them then. She hooked up my glucometer to the computer and printed out the results. She could tell that eight units of Lantus was working well for me from the print out. My blood sugars are in range 50% of the time though. I recently changed from three units of NovoRapid with each meal to four, two and four. Her experience dealing with diabetic patients showed when she recommended taking more with my breakfast. She showed me a pattern on the print out I hadn't noticed just from my glucometer readings. I was consistently higher before dinner (afternoon meal). It clicked in my mind that my late morning snack on a piece of fruit was the culprit. She recommended I take the extra insulin rather than give up the snack. I take five units with breakfast now. I asked her a couple of questions that I'd wrote down from other diabetics' experiences told on a group on facebook. She couldn't be 100% definite on them so I'll save them for an endocrinologist, if I ever see one!
Speaking of which, she wrote to my GP to get him to arrange a referral to one but nothing came of that so she's supposed to write to my GP again to see what the story is. I might ask him about it myself if I'm talking to him about my blood test results. The endocrinologist comes to Tralee from time to time, as far as I'm aware, even though he's based in Cork. I don't mind having to go to Cork for an appointment as long as I get to see him and utilise his expertise to make dealing with diabetes a bit easier.
On the same day I went to the diabetic nurse my bowel was at me again. This time it didn't feel like the fibrous dinner mentioned in the previous blog. I felt a bit sick and had a nap of over an hour in the late afternoon. I was thinking it must be the soups I was having for breakfast. If I buy I usually get Avenmore but Cully & Scully were on special offer so I went with them. They don't have the official crossed grain symbol but they are labelled gluten free. I asked on the Coeliac Experiences group on facebook if anyone else had any trouble with them and if it was just the fact that I'm sensitive to dairy. I was reminded that by law they can't label a product gluten free unless it's less than 20ppm. Another person said they don't feel good after those soups because of milk in the ingredients. I'm thinking there's enough milk in them to cause a reaction and that it wasn't cross contamination. I still had the last of them the following morning though, because I don't want to throw out good food that doesn't have gluten in it.
That's it for today's blog. I hope to be talking about my HbA1c in the next one. Oh! Before I go, I told the diabetic nurse about having Dr. Coy's chocolate and she said it was ok to have a treat like that, even maybe every second day as long as the treat doesn't become a habit. She also gave me the name of a glucose drink for lows that I can get on my diabetes prescription so I'll arrange that the next time I'm at the GP.

Recipes

I wanted to do a couple of recipes of what I was eating the past couple of weeks but I also wanted to do a general blog post. So I'm dedicating a second blog post today to recipes. I have a photo for the green energy soup. I included a version of the chicken recipe in the photo in the previous post without the stock.

Green Energy Soup

Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 kale leaves de-stalked

15cm (6") piece of cucumber

half a red bell pepper*

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon

1 avocado, peeled, stone removed

250ml (1 cup) coconut water

1 medium tomato*

4 tbsp chopped fresh dill plus extra to serve

1 garlic clove

quarter of an onion

half tsp sea or Himalayan salt

freshly ground black pepper* to serve

olive oil to serve

*not AIP compliant but can be omitted without affecting the taste too much. Nutrient values may be affected though.

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blitz on a low speed until completely smooth.

Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan set over a medium heat and warm through.

Pour into bowls, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with black pepper and a few sprigs of dill.

Note: This has 15.2g of carbohydrates, 13.2g of which are sugars, per serving in case you're counting carbs for diabetes.

Credit: PLANT-BASED PALEO by Jenna Zoe

The next one is a GAPS diet recipe but I don't see any major red flags for someone on AIP.

Lemon Peppercorn Poached Chicken Breast

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 sprigs thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

1l (1.75 pints) home made chicken stock

60ml (2fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice (I have substituted coconut water when I haven't had enough lemons)

1 lemon, sliced

1 tsp sea or Himalayan salt

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Method:

Bundle the thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth and tie tightly closed.

Combine the chicken stock, lemon juice, cheesecloth bundle and salt in a large deep sauté pan. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil.

Add the chicken breasts and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and set aside for 15 minutes.

Remove and discard the lemon slices and cheesecloth bundle.

If not using immediately, let the chicken cool and store, tightly covered, in the fridge for up to a week.

Note: To reheat the leftover poached chicken breasts, place in a pan over a medium-high heat with 60ml (2fl oz) of stock per breast. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until warmed through.

Credit: HEALTHY GUT COOKBOOK by Gavin Pritchard & Maya Gangadharan

Fibrous Dinner And Diabetes

It's difficult to maintain concentration when you have two autoimmune diseases, even when it feels like they're under control. I have a project in mind that I should be working on but I get easily distracted by social media and youtube apps on my phone. It's easy to fall into a comfort zone, zone out from the rest of the world, forget your troubles for a while and completely lose track of time when that happens. It could be a mental health issue as well, but autoimmune and mental health generally go hand in hand I'd say, just that people cope with them in different ways. That's when you can cope.
This week I think the very fibrous dinner in the picture affected my digestive system. What you see in it is poached chicken thigh fillet, spinach, carrots, parsnip and carb lover's cauliflower sprinkled with pepper and garnished with chives. The chicken thigh fillet is a variation on the lemon peppercorn poached chicken breast recipe from the healthy gut cookbook. The carb lover's cauliflower is from the paleo diet cookbook. Normally I get the urge to use the toilet after breakfast. I did, as usual, yesterday and had a shower afterwards thinking I was done for the day. But the urge came again later and I ended up going three times altogether. I think it might have been the dinners cleaning out my system because that was the only thing majorly different I was eating this week. I didn't feel unwell like I would if it happened as a result of junk food. That's why I think it was the fibre in the dinner. It's a tasty dinner nonetheless.
I've been trying to include more cooking and natural foods in meals. Last week for breakfast I had green energy soup from the cookbook plant-based paleo instead of shop bought stuff. But I'm still topping up breakfast with gluten free bread. Cooking more is a way to be prepared should I ever make the transition to the AIP diet.
I posted on Instagram last night. There was a photo of my Lantus pen after taking a dose. I captioned it "I love the smell of my staying alive juice". I do though. Whether it be NovoRapid or Lantus, I love the smell of them both. Speaking of insulin, I increased my breakfast and supper insulin from a baseline of three units to a baseline of four. I keep dinner at a baseline of two. I say baseline as what I'd take if I'm not over 8.9mmol/l. I usually am these days. Anyway, if I take more than two units (again assuming I'm within range) with dinner I'll go low before supper, especially if I'm active. I took two units the other day with dinner and was 4.4 before supper. I took four units for supper. I wasn't very active after supper and when I tested before Lantus I went up above 10... even though I took four units with supper! That's how tricky it is to control. Dinner carbs are less and slower acting. That's my theory as to why that happened.
I have an appointment with the diabetes nurse on Monday. I expect my HbA1c to be higher than it was in April because my blood sugar has been harder to control since July. I have a few questions to ask her about diabetes and hope to get bloods done as well for pretty much everything. How I get on will be the subject matter for the blog next week I'd say.
I can't think of anything to say on the coeliac side of things. That's a good thing though because if there isn't much to say it means things are under control.

Travel and Routine Disruption Effects

I was wondering what I'd talk about this week and I thought I might as well talk about how I'm feeling after a recent trip away. But first, I know the brand name of the chocolate treats from last week's blog. Dr. Coy's is the name.
I went on a trip to Dublin at the weekend. I prepared food for the journey but I also had to eat when that food was gone. I had breakfast in the hotel and I ate at Milanos on Dawson street later that day. the staff were helpful when I told them I have coeliac disease and they even said that another coeliac had already had breakfast that morning. I had gluten free bread, a poached egg and fried tomato. I was served beans as well but I didn't eat them. I chanced a cup of regular tea with milk as well. Later that day I had a gluten free Fiorentina pizza in Milanos. I also had a slice of gluten free carrot cake for dessert with a cup of tea. I had a serving of the fish dish left over last week so I saved it for Dublin. I still hadn't eaten it when I arrived home from my trip so I ate it then.
In order to make breakfast easy to prepare I bought a gluten free pizza before leaving for Dublin so that it'd be in the freezer the morning after I got home. I had something in the press to rustle up a dinner with and had grilled pork chops in the fridge for a few days that I could use as sandwich meat for supper. But I had nothing for dinner yesterday so I ate out.
I'm sensitive to dairy so not eating my usual meals and drinking tea caught up with me. A few skin issues made me feel like my immune system was compromised by going away. Dublin isn't a foreign country but it can feel like it because of the hustle & bustle of a big city compared to a town in the South West of Ireland. That and eating in strange locations with versions of food that my body isn't used to. I read that travel can have an effect on your gut flora. I feel that probably happened to me, even though it was when I woke up the morning after returning home that I really felt the effect. Maybe I'll take a pro-biotic supplement with me the next time I travel, or get some there.
It's amazing how sensitive my body can be to a change in routine. I didn't grocery shop until yesterday so I wasn't eating particularly healthily. I also forgot to take my insulin before breakfast yesterday. Another consequence of a disrupted routine. I was about to eat when I remembered and my glucometer and pen pack was in the bedroom so I decided to wait until after breakfast to test and take insulin. I was trending high all day as a result. I even felt a little bit unwell and took a nap before going to lunch. I waited until after the nap to test and take insulin to time it with my going out to lunch. I wasn't as high as I felt but still high. So overall a journey away disrupted my system and disrupted my daily routine but it was worth it. It's a pity that happens though.
I'm considering getting the flu vaccine because of feeling my immune system has been compromised by the trip. It's been two or three years since I've had flu and, while I think I might be ok, maybe I should get it just in case there's a strain my system isn't prepared for this year.
Well I wrote for longer than expected considering an hour ago I didn't know what I'd write this week. But how tough travel and routine disruption can be on an autoimmune body gave me fuel for thought.