Sugar withdrawals

Sugar addiction is real, people! And it can produce VERY real symptoms. All day today (and it's only day 2!), I've had a jittery feeling and a terrible headache! Not a migraine, so that's good, but an intense headache all the same. I've also been dreaming about how good a Dr. Pepper would taste right about now. And a Haagen Dazs Bar. Or the rum cakes that I got for gifts for friends from the Cayman Islands last week. They're sitting in my room taunting me! A green apple and almond butter as "dessert" didn't cut it. I need chocolate, folks!

Ok, no more whining. The creators of the Whole30 are big about not whining. It's 30 days, right? I can do anything for 30 days. A quote from their book says "It is not hard. Don't you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. IS. NOT. HARD. You won't get any coddling, and you won't get any sympathy for your 'struggles'". Ok, I'm done.

I spent most of the day in the kitchen prepping all kinds of yummy food. My "Against All Grain" cookbook got a workout. As did her blog :) For lunch I made buffalo chicken tenders, dairy-free ranch dressing, and homemade sweet potato fries. My mom got these sweet potato tater tots from Alexia foods the other day and omg, are they delicious. However, they are NOT Whole30 or Paleo approved. So I resorted to sweet potato fries. They were good too. I also had a cucumber-tomato salad and sauteed zucchini.

Next, I made some vegetable soup to keep in the frig. It's a good snack. I also made homemade ketchup because I needed it for the ribs I was making for dinner. You can find that recipe HERE. And last but not least, I made sticky asian ribs. A recipe I designed myself. I've been craving PF Chang's ribs and decided to try and recreate it. Wow, were they yummy! Took forever though. I marinated them overnight and then they roasted in the oven for 3 hours. But they were totally worth it. My family had them with brown rice and mixed veggies. I reheated some mashed cauliflower. I think you'll love this recipe. And if you don't, lie and say you did :)

Asian Sticky Ribs

For the sauce:

1 cup ketchup (a Paleo recipe can be found HERE)
2 T rice vinegar
2 T sesame oil
2 T coconut aminos (or gluten free soy if not on Whole30)
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sriracha sauce 
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

2 lbs baby back ribs

Note: I would add 2 T honey if not on Whole30. I think it needed some sweetener.

Directions:
- Mix sauce ingredients together. 
- Baste ribs with 1/2 the sauce and marinate overnight (I know it's hard but these ribs need to be marinated overnight. Just do it)
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees. You could also roast them on an outdoor grill over low heat.
-Place ribs on large cookie sheet. Baste ribs with more sauce, cover with tin foil and roast for 3 hours. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Baste every hour or so. 
- Any leftover sauce can be used for dipping. Serve hot and with plenty of moist towelettes! 

Migraines, beware!

Ugh, sometimes my body really irritates me! Lately, I'm back to regularly taking migraine medication. And not the over the counter, Excedrin stuff, but the prescription, heavy-duty, wipes-me-out-for-the-afternoon kind. I just got back from a cruise with a friend of mine and a migraine put me in bed for a whole afternoon one of the days! Not cool, not cool at all! I tried to cut back on the wheat while I was away. Gluten-free bread for sandwiches, tell the waiter "no bread, please" every night when they were passing around those warm, addicting, sourdough rolls. Sigh, life is hard. ;)

So, when I got home, I decided to try and take my health back! I'm going to try something new though. Instead of the 21 day sugar detox (which works quite well every time I've done it), I'm going to do the Whole30. Has anyone ever tried it? It's very similar to the detox, except it adds in more fruits and potatoes. So that's nice. I'm not much of a potato person but it does give a different starch to play around with from time to time. It's not on the menu for this week though. Maybe I'll grab a couple for next week.

Also, I'm modifying a bit and adding in some hard cheeses. I don't have a problem with dairy and the cheeses I'll add will be additive free, organic, and I'll try to stick with mostly raw. I got some raw Gouda today at Sprouts. Yum Yum!

My snack from today: Gouda, ham, and a bit of pear

So there you have it. I've got a BUNCH of new recipes up my sleeve. Look for them soon (like tomorrow. I've got a new ribs recipe marinating in the frig right now)!