No Calorie "Foods"

Ok, this is weird.  I was at the store the other day looking for a more natural version of Caesar dressing (I ended up with Brianna's brand which is quite tasty) and I ran across a selection of calorie free salad dressings.  That is just a bit disturbing to me, calorie free?  How can food, made from you know - real food, be calorie free?  Everything has calories, minus water - but anything that you would need to make salad dressing will have calories.  So then what is this dressing made of???

I looked it up:  Walden Farms makes everything from spreads to sauces to dressings and they are all calorie free.  Though that might seem like a great idea, I'm here to tell you to stay away - it's NOT real food!  And what was even more disturbing is that some of the ingredients on their nutrition labels are foods that have calories, so what did they do to them to make them "lose" their calories?  Hmmm..

Here is a sample ingredient list for their Caesar dressing:

Triple Filtered Purified Water
White Vinegar
Cellulose Gel (cellulose is an indigestible fibrous substance found in plants - the reason it has "no calories" is simply because we can't digest them, and does anyone really know how they make it into a gel?)
Salt
Anchoives (which have calories)
Parmesan Cheese Flavor (non-dairy)
Romano Cheese Flavor (non-dairy)
Garlic (which has calories)
Onion (which has calories)
Black Pepper
Natural Spices (?)
Natural Flavors (?)
Lactic Acid
Xantham Gum
Food Color (made from fruits or vegetables)
Sucralose (Splenda)
Sodium Benzoate

And if that wasn't enough to raise an eyebrow, read over the list from their Calorie Free Mayo:

Triple Filtered Purified Water
Cellulose Fiber
Cellulose Gum
Salt
White Vinegar
Corn Starch (has calories)
Egg White (even dried versions have calories)
Xantham Gum
Beta Carotene
Egg Flavor (what's that made of?)
Mustard (calories)
Lemon Juice (real lemon juice has calories)
Food Color (made from fruits and vegetables)
Sucralose (Splenda)
Sodium Benzoate

Come on, people!  Are you really comfortable putting such a product into your body? 

My purpose in this message is not to say that the people at Waldon Farms are bad people.  They understand there is a need for foods that don't add to the average American waistband and want to provide people with options.  My purpose, however, is to say "WAKE UP" - this is not what our eating habits should look like.  We are so focused on eating whatever we please that we give into temptations that offer us "delicious taste" without the consequences (though there are still consequences for feeding your body chemicals).

Your body is is pleading for you to make some changes.  Stop eating the crap and start eating real food.  Food that comes from the earth is food your body was meant to digest and from which it receives the greatest benefits.  Yes, some of those foods are high in fat and high in calories but they also are full of necessary nutrients - so just choose to eat them in moderation.

But don't be fooled by chemically processed look alikes.  In the end, it's just not worth it.

Quick Note

Last night I experienced some awful stomach pains due to gas, therefore something I ate was not digested well.

Menu:

3 Chicken Tenders (baked) with buffalo sauce (Louisiana hot sauce, olive oil, cayenne pepper)
Feta dipping sauce (greek yogurt, buttermilk, red wine and apple cider vinegar, feta cheese, green onions)
Quinoa with butter (less than 1 tb), salt, and pepper
Spinach salad with tomatoes, carrots, avocado, and organic Champagne viniagrette

My guess is the dairy was the culprit.  I think I'll recreate this meal next week without the dipping sauce and see how it goes.

Pour Some Sugar On Me....

An update - period week came and went as usual.  Nothing reallly changed that I noticed, other than less spotting the week before.  I still experienced Day 1 cramping and clotting as usual.  I felt miserable for a good few days and then was back to normal.  All that to say - I don't think yeast is my problem.  I mean, it likely is a part of the problem but my month without sugar as an attempt to kill them off did not work as hoped.

After I realized it wasn't working, I went a little overboard on the sugar and gluten front.  I ate cookies, cake,  sandwiches, and more cookies this past weekend (we were traveling which did not help).  It was an extreme amount, just more than I'd been used to.  My sugar intake has definitely increased - TB of maple syrup in morning tea, kefir (sweetened with cane juice), maple syrup in afternoon tea, granola with yogurt... those kind of things.  So not bad things, and I'm trying to use only natural forms of sugar - but certainly more sugar than I had in the last month.

Today it all hit me though, I feel pretty awful.  My bowel cycles have been the same so there's still pressure and bloating there.  But right now I feel like I have a rock on top of my pelvis.  My stomach, hips, and lower back all hurt from the pressure.  I can't understand the biology of it and what exactly is going on - but it does shake me a bit as if to say, "Hey, I can't handle this crappy food you're eating - so STOP it!" 

Where do I go from here?  I would like to say I'm done with crazy elimination diets, but I'm not 100% sure of that yet.  I just want to eat well.  I want to eat foods that my body was designed to digest.  I want to take note of those things that cause a reaction and minize them - but maybe not completely eliminate them unless the reaction is that bad.  I'd like to just create my own list based on what I have been learning and what my body has been saying.  I will create my own list, and though I may never find complete healing, I will at least know that I'm doing my best.

I guess that leaves me to say - food list and meal plans to come...stay tuned.