Due to a pulled back muscle, I spent very little time in the kitchen last week.  These were easy meals.

Noodles & Company – It wasn’t a fancy Mother’s Day dinner, but one of my guys picked up dinner at Noodles & Company and brought it home.  He made sure they knew it needed to be gluten-free and took necessary precautions. I had Pad Thai with shrimp.

Chicken and Brown Rice – I threw this one in the crock post quickly, without chopping onion.  I used chicken thighs with bone and skin.  It turned out very moist without brining.

Leftovers – The chicken and rice made a lot and we had leftovers one night.

Buckwheat Pancakes with ham and fresh fruit.

Veggies on Eggs – Sautéed zucchini, onions, red pepper, and garlic served on scrambled eggs.   My family loves this simple meal.  It could be served with gluten free toast.

My second son graduated from high school yesterday.  We had lots of family and friends at our house for a party afterwards. I didn’t need a hefty meal since most people would be party hopping.  Tacos were easy and well liked.

Hey Peeps! Not a lot of time to gab today. Did a crazy P90x PLYO workout today. LOVE that one- his approach is totally different than Cathe’s workouts for HIIT and I love it. Almost an hour today and I was a sweaty mess:

OMG. My glutes are on fire. 

Still loving all the alternative protein sources I’m using, and gosh I sure love a shake in between meals. It breaks up the day. Today I used fresh blackberries and Egg Protein Powder.

What is your favorite Protein Shake/Smoothie concoction?

Anyway- first week of Valerie Waters Bikini Body Express down and I feel great. The workouts are kicking my a** and I feel leaner without a doubt and like I’ve worked every muscle group in this body! BOOM. My diet is great and I feel better getting my meals in throughout the day. No more Excedrin PM! Taking my Vitamins! Adding in probiotics next week! 

Have a great Saturday!

*Disclosure: GNC is a client of my company, FitFluential. They did send me these products at no charge but all opinions are my own. 

The Gluten-Free Homemaker a Year (or Two) Ago
Fish Sticks
Shop Carefully & Buy the Food You Want

Gluten-Free/Celiac
Frito-Lay Announces Initiative to Validate and Label Products as Gluten Free
Many People Are Choosing to Go Gluten-Free
Tips for Eating Whole Grains on a Gluten-Free Diet
Going Gluten-Free is a Serious Health Matter
What Does Gluten-Free Mean?
Domino’s Unsafe Strategy and Why It Matters to Investors

Cooking/Recipes (not necessarily gluten-free but adaptable and/or inspirational)
Better Than Take-Out: Chicken & Broccoli Stir Fry
Celiac-Safe, Gluten-Free Recipes
Coconut Curry Shrimp Soup
Shrimp and Goat Cheese Pizza

Home/Family
15 Inexpensive Home Decorating Tips
Easy Eco Shifts That Can Save You Nearly $3,000 a Year
Foods as Cleaning Products

Computer/Internet Tools
Convert PDF to Word Software
Top 6 Google Chrome Extensions for Facebook Users
5 Popular Logo Maker Tools

Animal/Nature Photos
Cute Animal Pictures
Amazing Bimmah Sinkhole
Epic Driftwood: Monster Tree Washes Ashore
African Bush Elephant

To view my disclaimer and previous Surfing Saturday posts, visit the Surfing Saturday page on my blog.

Hi Laura,
Good moves you are making to start eating sensibly! And good question. There is a difference between hunger and appetite. 


Hunger is when your body sends signals that it’s time to refuel: It might be your stomach growling, a headache, or a light headed feeling you get when your blood sugar starts to drop. Hunger prompts the question, “Can I get something to eat?”


Appetite is when your senses of taste and smell signal there is something that you would enjoy eating. Appetite begs the question, “What would I like to eat?” Appetite comes when you see a juicy steak, smell fresh cookies baking, or when someone brings out the birthday cake. Even after you are stuffed full from a satisfying meal (ie, not hungry), someone can offer you a slice of apple pie and suddenly you realize you would love one. That’s appetite.


But it’s still more complicated than that. Recent studies show there are hormones that signal you to have an appetite based on your usual eating times. If you regularly have lunch at 11:30, you’ll start to sense “it’s time to eat” just around that time. If you always have a snack at 9 pm, you’ll notice a nudging feeling that it’s time to find a snack each night at that same time. Evidence suggests you can break these habits as well. Trying to reduce your snacking? Ignore the signals you’re getting and in time your body will readjust and stop telling you to think about food when you’d like it to be the last thing on your mind.


The bottom line is, feeling like you want to eat something is annoying and uncomfortable, regardless of the underlying reason. It can be distracting no matter why you’re having a craving. And nothing terrible will happen if you ignore these signals. You simply do not have to eat every time you feel like it! Take a walk, call a friend, have a glass of water, choose healthy foods at mealtimes. Learning to say ‘no’ to those pesky feelings will actually make them go away faster.

It’s day 10 of the 10 Days of Gluten Free blog hop!  I am covering topics related to getting started on the gluten free diet.  Be sure to visit the other participating blogs listed at the end of this post.  Each one is covering a different gluten-free topic and has a great giveaway you can enter.

Ease Into Gluten-Free Baking

To wrap things up, I wanted to talk a little about gluten-free baking.  Even if you don’t particularly like to bake, you might consider doing it occasionally.  Baking your own gluten-free breads and treats can save you money.

Gluten-free baking is not something you want to jump into right away, though, particularly if you are feeling overwhelmed by the diet.  But once you have had time to adjust and are ready to give it a go, keep these things in mind:

1.  It’s different.  Gluten-free baking is different than baking with wheat flour.  You might think, “Of course,” but I mean it.  It’s different in multiple ways.  Expect that.

2.  Use a flour mix.  Although I am a fan of combining individual flours and starches, it is probably easiest to start out with a gluten-free all purpose flour mix.

3.  No need to knead.  The purpose of kneading dough is to develop the gluten.  With gluten-free doughs, that’s not necessary.  Occasionally a little kneading might be called for to work ingredients together.

4.  It’s wet.  Most of the time gluten-free doughs can’t be kneaded even if you wanted to because the dough is much more wet than a wheat based dough.

5.  Adding gum.  Most gluten-free baking recipes include a gum.  It’s usually xanthan gum but sometimes guar gum.  Gums help to replace gluten in holding the baked good together.

6.  Don’t despair.  You will have some failures.  Don’t fret.  We all have those, even after years of baking.  Try to make use of the flops.  Bread flops can be used in a breakfast casserole, for French toast, or as bread crumbs.  Cake flops can be used in a trifle, and cookie flops can be made into cookie crumbs for a pie crust or ice cream topping.

Jules is covering the topic of gluten-free baking at her blog and has great tips as part of this blog hop.

Giveaway

Shelley Case is giving away a copy of her book Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide.  The title is an appropriate description.  This book would be useful to anyone on a gluten-free diet.

Giveaway Guidelines

• This giveaway is limited to U.S. residents 18 and older.
• You are allowed one entry per “10 Days of Gluten Free” blog post for a total of 10 entries on this blog.
• Enter by leaving a comment on this post (and other 10 Days of GF posts)
• The giveaway begins May 7, 2012 and ends at 11:59 pm eastern time on May 18, 2012.

No purchase is necessary.  Odds of winning are based on the number of entries.  The winner will be randomly chosen and will be contacted by email.  The winner will have 48 hours to respond.  If the winner does not respond, a new winner will be randomly chosen.

10 Days of Gluten Free Continues:

These bloggers have great tips and ideas to share with you.  Please stop by and remember to enter the giveaways.

• Resources – Wendy @ Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Karen @ Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Heather @ Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Janelle @ Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Carrie @ Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules @ Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn @ Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa @ Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Laura @ Gluten Free Pantry

I have never liked beer so it wasn’t something I missed when I went gluten free.  But I know many of you do like beer, and I wanted to tell you about a new one.

Omission Beer is a new brand of gluten-free craft beers.  Brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing in Portland, Ore., Omission is the first craft beer brand in the United States focused exclusively on brewing great-tasting craft beers with traditional beer ingredients, including malted barley, that are specially crafted to be gluten-free.

Each batch of Omission Beer is tested using the R5 competitive ELISA test to ensure that it contains gluten levels that are well below the international standard for gluten-free of 20 ppm. You can find test results for each batch on their web site.

Omission was originally only available in Oregon, but beginning this week, they will start distributing the beer nationally. The phased rollout will begin on the West Coast and is expected to be available nationwide by mid-June.

Omission sells two gluten-free beers, a lager and a pale ale.  I was sent a sample of each.  I had a taste and then passed the rest on to my gluten-free son (yes, he is now 21!) and my husband.

We haven’t tried a lot of gluten-free beers, but we all thought this had a genuine beer flavor.  Both versions were typical of what you would expect from those varieties.  It is definitely a brand that my son will be looking for when it is released nationally.

Sorry, but because this is an alcoholic drink, the company is not allowed to do a giveaway.

What is your favorite gluten-free beer?

Disclaimer:  I was sent samples of the beer for review, but the opinions in this post are my own (or my family’s).

Discovering Gluten-Free Processed Foods

After you have given yourself time to adjust, you might want to start trying specialty gluten-free foods.

While I don’t recommend a diet that contains a lot of processed foods, most of us find life much easier if we include a few.   Here are some staples I like to keep on hand along with my favorite brands.  Some of these I could do without, but I stock for my son.

• Pasta (Tinkyada or Jovial)
• Bread (Kinnikinnick yellow label, Udi’s, or Rudi’s)
• Cookies (Kinnikinnick or Pamela’s)
• Snack Bars (Pamela’s Whenever Bars)
• Crackers (Glutino)

The items listed above are foods that usually contain gluten.  However, I also keep other gluten free foods in my pantry such as pasta sauce to go with the gluten-free pasta.  View my list of 30 Processed Foods that are Usually Gluten Free.

You still need to read the labels on those foods because usually does not mean always.

Where to Buy?

Specialty gluten-free foods can be found in health food stores, health food isles of regular grocery stores, and online.  Shop around to find the best price.  I have found that prices can vary significantly.  Check out all the shopping tips at Laura’s Gluten Free Pantry.

Giveaway

Shelley Case is giving away a copy of her book Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide.  The title is an appropriate description.  This book would be useful to anyone on a gluten-free diet.

Giveaway Guidelines

• This giveaway is limited to U.S. residents 18 and older.
• You are allowed one entry per “10 Days of Gluten Free” blog post for a total of 10 entries on this blog.
• Enter by leaving a comment on this post (and other 10 Days of GF posts)
• The giveaway begins May 7, 2012 and ends at 11:59 pm eastern time on May 18, 2012.

No purchase is necessary.  Odds of winning are based on the number of entries.  The winner will be randomly chosen and will be contacted by email.  The winner will have 48 hours to respond.  If the winner does not respond, a new winner will be randomly chosen.

10 Days of Gluten Free Continues:

These bloggers have great tips and ideas to share with you.  Please stop by and remember to enter the giveaways.

• Resources – Wendy @ Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Karen @ Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Heather @ Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Janelle @ Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Carrie @ Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules @ Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn @ Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa @ Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Laura @ Gluten Free Pantry

This, my friends, is the Rear Naked Choke in action. (I think, feel free to correct me if it isn’t.) Clearly Golem in front is not amused but the guy in back is totally laughing. See? Funny.

The Rear Naked Choke Hold came back to haunt me tonight. There I was, sitting in on a jujitsu demonstration as part of my attempt to try out every program Lifetime Fitness offers before my month in fit heaven expires, when I was yet again the only person in the entire room snickering like a 12-year-old boy*. For the record, it’s called “naked” because it means the person doing the submission hold isn’t using anything but their arm to do the choking portion of the program. And it’s still really really funny. I know, I know this is serious windpipe-crushing stuff and MMA fighters are some of the best athletes on the planet. (Truly, they are.) And yet: go stand in front of the mirror and try to say “I’m going to mount you and put you in a rear naked choke hold until you submit” with a straight face. Can’t be done. (And no this was not a live reading of 50 Shades of Grey although if you haven’t seen it yet you must check out Ellen’s reading. Hilarious! And clean!)

Anyhow, my point. As I sat watching what was a very impressive jujitsu demonstration I realized all over again how many things that we do in a gym environment totally wouldn’t fly anywhere else. Just this morning, for instance, as I tried to work out the knot in my right butt cheek courtesy of my corrective exercises by rolling all over a medicine ball, I felt someone looking at me. Someone who was waiting for the ball. Sheepishly I rolled it over and mumbled, “Sorry, I’m done molesting it now. Your turn!” Or the time I had an entire conversation with a friend while I held bridge pose (lay on your back, hips up in the air like you’re petitioning the Goddess of Fertility) and neither one of us so much as blinked. Context is king.

And hey, what happens in the gym stays in the gym, right? (No, no it doesn’t actually. But that’s a post for another day.) But there’s one area that I do have a really hard time transitioning from gym to street and vice versa: my workout clothes. No it’s not a fashion issue (at least not that anyone has told me) but rather one of propriety. In case you haven’t noticed, gym clothes take the definition of “clothes” a lot looser than, say, sportswear. (Okay, what is “sportswear” anyhow? I always hear about it in couture collections – as in “This is Balenciaga’s sportswear line! OOh! Aah!” – and yet they never look the least bit sporty. At all. I don’t get it.)

Like a lot of girls, I usually wear super-tight capri leggings to workout in and while many of those girls seem to be totally comfortable heading to the preschool recital still wearing them, I always feel a little… exposed. It’s weird – it doesn’t bother me a bit in the gym but drop me in the middle of a suburban Target store and all of sudden I get shy. I mean, it kinda looks like you left the house in your tights and forgot your skirt, right? Then there are gym shorts in all their various permutations: running, split, booty, compression, bike and missing. (True story: once saw a guy at my gym cycling in a polo shirt, tighty-whities and black dress socks. Sorry, enough with the random asides.)

Before you call me a prude, I’m not the only person who has these qualms. Several schools and colleges have banned their students from wearing “yoga pants” and one school even famously banned the students’ moms from lolling about in their Lulus in the carpool line because they were “too revealing.” Some women deny that the pants show any more than other clothes but the fact that there’s even a whole website dedicated to girls wearing yoga pants (note: if you click through you will want to punch someone in the face within 5 seconds) makes me think they’re in the minority. Here, let Kim K demonstrate the perils of Kapris for you:

This is also a good demo of how gray is so much less flattering than black. Although I still own a pair.

There’s also the flipside: while the pants may show too much of a pretty young thing, they also show too much of, well, the rest of the population. Poor Bryce Dallas Howard got eviscerated this past weekend for daring to wear yoga pants out of the house and not be a size 0. (The woman JUST popped out a BABY for pete’s sake. Post-partum women get a total pass on yoga pants. And pajama pants. Heck, I loved anything with an elastic waist.)

Image and exceptional commentary from Jezebel

For myself, I have come to a strange compromise that involves so many layers that it makes me glad I spent all those hours playing 3-D Tetris in college (see mom, it DID come in handy!). For example, tonight. I wore my gym leggings with a baggy tee over the top for a quick meeting at the gym for an article, then I threw on a cotton skirt and a fitted jacket over the top of those to have dinner at a restaurant with my family, after which I had to run back to the gym for the aforementioned jujitsu class (late) and I pulled off my skirt as I raced down the hallway with my running shoes untied — causing one little boy to gasp “are those your underwear?!” Finally I threw the jacket back on and ran to the church to pick up my boys from cub scouts, realizing belatedly that I’d left the skirt in my gym bag and the last place you want to be essentially pants-less is in a church. Basically, I’m like Superman. If Superman were a flasher.

How do you feel about yoga pants outside of the gym – appropriate or not? For those of who get shy like me (and I’m not knocking those of you who don’t!) what do you do? Always shower and change at the gym? Shimmy into a new shirt at a stoplight? And what do you do with your sweat-soaked sports bra that is now seeping dampness through the new shirt?

*I would like to note that the men teaching the technique remained very professional through the whole thing and politely ignored me as I tried desperately to remember what real grown-ups do.