I think it's important for you to know something about me before I go much further sharing food ideas with you. It will help you make more sense of the way I do things, especially food things.
I have reactive hypoglycemia.
I am reactively hypoglycemic.
I react to hypo (low) glycemia (blood sugar).
It means that my blood sugar level drops easily and quickly when I don't eat at regular, small intervals. If I don't eat, my brain doesn't get its glucose, leaving me absent of energy. All at once.
When I haven't eaten in, say, a couple hours, the symptoms come a knockin':
-draining headaches
-mental stupor
-MOODINESS, irritability, general annoyingness
-total drowsiness...
-basically an inability to function without eating some protein. And fast!
After 22 years of living with recurring headaches and total weirdness when I was hungry, Chad talked me into seeing a doctor last winter.
I took a three-hour Glucose Tolerance Test (fast overnight, drink sugary drink, get blood drawn once an hour for three hours, feel like you're going to faint/die while sitting in the waiting room) and lo and behold: Reactive Hypoglycemia. There's a name for what I have. And no pills or shots to be heard of! Just some little dietary changes.
And so to keep the migraines away and keep myself from snapping at my loved ones (I have a very patient husband), I have adapted these eating guidelines:
-avoid simple, refined carbs (no sugar!)
-increase intake of complex carbs (grains! veggies! beans!)
-increase intake of fiber (grains! veggies! beans!)
-eat smaller, more frequent meals (harder than it sounds!)
-eat fruit--fresh, or canned without sugar--instead of fruit juice (mangoes! apples! strawberries!)
-avoid naughty fats (chicken nuggets...)
I've taken to describing food with words like "substantial" and "satisfying" and "natural" and "real." Ingredients have to be darn good to earn those titles from me, but I think I've tracked down a lot of things that fit nicely into that description.
Those are the kinds of foods you will find on this blog.
It's changed my life, eating this way.
I urge you to figure out the kind of diet that's best for your body.
Look into food allergies. Research healthy foods that sound good to you.
Rejoice in the vibrant, natural colors of things grown from the earth and realize "It just grew that way!"
The way I eat may not be the exact right way for you and your body, but I think it's generally good to avoid processed, pre-packaged things. Striving to know exactly what you're eating every time you eat can't be bad, right?
Give it a go and let me know what you discover.
This stuff thrills me in a weird, obsessive sort of way.