The first thing I thought of when I was told no more potatoes was of my beloved garlic mashed potatoes that accompany every roast that comes out of my oven. What would a juicy roast be without that side dish of bliss? So when I put in a pork roast the other day, the first since the potato ban started, I needed something to ease the pain. I came across a recipe for mashed cauliflower and thought, why not? I made my recipe the way I normally would, simply substituting cauliflower for potatoes. I was prepared to hate it, ready to grimace; I didn't, on either count. I enjoyed it! I went back for seconds! While it isn't exactly like the potatoes I used to love, it tastes very similar, has a similar texture and is really quite good!Mashed Cauliflower
1 large cauliflower head, chopped into florets
4 large cloves garlic, cut into half
2 t. Celtic Sea Salt
1 t. pepper
1/4 c. milk
Add cauliflower and garlic into pot with enough water to cover them. Bring to boil, then let simmer until they get nice and soft. Transfer to blender, add rest of ingredients, and grind up until smooth.
I also plan to try this recipe with the ingredients I use for my cheesy potatoes, which would mean adding cheese, sour cream, and onion to the ingredient list. Results on that another time!
Labels: Recipes
Food Intolerance Resources
Published by Tawny on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 1:04 PM.
Below is a list of resources that have information regarding food intolerances of all kinds. This list will continue to grow and expand as more information becomes available and I find more sites that have useful and credible knowledge.
Online Resources
Books
Press
Online Resources
- Food Intolerance Awareness - A free informational site based in the UK.
- Food Interol - An Australian based informational website, has a forum you can join.
- Allergy Capitol - An article on food intolerance.
- BBC Health - An article from the BBC about food intolerance.
- Food Can Make You Ill - An informative site with resources and personal stories.
- Allergies Explained - An interesting read on potato allergy and intolerance.
Books
- Food Allergies and Food Intolerance by Jonathan Brostoff and Linda Gamlin
- The Food Intolerance Bible by Antony Haynes and Antoinette Savill
- Healing Foods: Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn's and IBS by Elephant Publishing
Press
Labels: Resources
So What Is Potato Intolerance?
Published by Tawny on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 4:26 PM.
A potato intolerance, like any food intolerance, is "A delayed negative reaction to a food, beverage or food additive; a true food allergy occurs within minutes of ingesting the triggering item. Food sensitivity is less directly related to the immune system than are food allergies. It is often caused by the absence of specific chemicals or enzymes needed to digest a food substance, such as lactase deficiency." (Wikipedia) So a a true food alergy means that a certain food or food group cannot be eaten or it will cause fast and furious symptoms that are often severe, whereas a food intolerance means an individual can eat that food without any obvious initial response to it, but because it cannot be broken down and digested properly it can start to have long term effects on your health. Food intolerance can cause a huge array of symptoms, both physical and mental, that are often mistaken or misdiagnosed as other conditions. Migraines and headaches, catching colds or becoming sick easily, depression, anxiety, moodiness, weight gain and loss, thyroid issues, stiff muscles and joints, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, diarrhea and constipation, stomach upset - the list goes on and on! When a person eliminates a food that they are intolerant to from their diet, many of these symptoms will ease or vanish entirely. Yes, it's really as simple as that! I've read numerous cases where unresolved conditions as severe as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's were cured completely by following a diet free of an offending food.
For the purposes of this blog, the offending food is that humble little tuber, the potato. This seems rather straight forward in the main, right? Potatoes of all shapes and sizes must be avoided. The problem is that potato is cheap, widely available, and good in a variety of forms; in short, the potato is a staple on today's supermarket shelves. It's lurking in places that most consumers would never think until they're forced, like me, to delve into those ingredient lists. Don't believe me? Take a look at what the potato intolerant person must avoid:
And so, the pototo free individual will find themselves spending more time in specialty grocery stores combing through natural food aisles for packages without any of the above on the label and learning how to cook from scratch. The real scratch, with no helpful canned or bagged items to help out. In order to enjoy pastas, breads and baked goods you'll have to order un-enriched baking items and make them yourself. You'll learn to can and freeze food yourself to help with future food prep. Mainly, you'll discover a new way of eating that you make yourself and isn't waiting for you on a store shelf.
Now this sounds brutal, and in a way, it is. For someone who is used to convenience and being able to pick up take-out at a moment's notice - well, it's a change. So much more thought must go in to what you put in your body. You can't leave home without first thinking about where the day will take you and what you might need to eat. Meals have to be well thought out, as most elements will have to be pre-prepared. But there's a beauty to it as well. There's something infinitely fulfilling about changing and adding and refining a recipe until the finished product is a meal you'll begin to really want. There's also something satisfying about knowing exactly, right down to the last teaspoon, what went in to the food that you're eating. It's like the extra effort involved makes the end product just a little bit more delicious.
A bonus, of course, to eating this way is that besides doing away with symptoms of food intolerance, it's also a healthier way to eat overall. You control the amounts of everything you consume and it's rather amazing how you learn your body in the process - what upsets your stomach, what really pleases your palatte and best of all, what it feels like to be nutritionaly healthy.
For the purposes of this blog, the offending food is that humble little tuber, the potato. This seems rather straight forward in the main, right? Potatoes of all shapes and sizes must be avoided. The problem is that potato is cheap, widely available, and good in a variety of forms; in short, the potato is a staple on today's supermarket shelves. It's lurking in places that most consumers would never think until they're forced, like me, to delve into those ingredient lists. Don't believe me? Take a look at what the potato intolerant person must avoid:
- Potato includes all kinds of potatoes including yams and sweet and all potato relatives including Kabuki squash, Jicima, and Jerusalem artichokes.
- Any food containing potato starch or flour. Most soups, stews and prepared foods contain one of these.
- B Vitamins (Niacin, Riboflavin, and Thiamin) are cultured on a potato base. These are used to enrich most baking flours, pasta products, breakfast cereals, and rice.
- Dextrose is a potato sugar derivitive. Dextrose is found in canned foods, bacon, lunchmeats, ham, and iodized salt (the iodine gives it a bad flavor so dextrose is added to make it palatable again).
- Most baking powder contains potato starch, as well as tapioca.
- Most yeast is grown on a culture that is made from potato.
- And product that has modified food starch, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, vegetable broth, MSG (also called "natural flavorings"), and propylene glycol (found in soda and ice creams).
- Plastic wraps and food storage bags are made of potato starch to make them biodegradable.
- All penicillin-type antibiotics are grown on a potato culture.
And so, the pototo free individual will find themselves spending more time in specialty grocery stores combing through natural food aisles for packages without any of the above on the label and learning how to cook from scratch. The real scratch, with no helpful canned or bagged items to help out. In order to enjoy pastas, breads and baked goods you'll have to order un-enriched baking items and make them yourself. You'll learn to can and freeze food yourself to help with future food prep. Mainly, you'll discover a new way of eating that you make yourself and isn't waiting for you on a store shelf.
Now this sounds brutal, and in a way, it is. For someone who is used to convenience and being able to pick up take-out at a moment's notice - well, it's a change. So much more thought must go in to what you put in your body. You can't leave home without first thinking about where the day will take you and what you might need to eat. Meals have to be well thought out, as most elements will have to be pre-prepared. But there's a beauty to it as well. There's something infinitely fulfilling about changing and adding and refining a recipe until the finished product is a meal you'll begin to really want. There's also something satisfying about knowing exactly, right down to the last teaspoon, what went in to the food that you're eating. It's like the extra effort involved makes the end product just a little bit more delicious.
A bonus, of course, to eating this way is that besides doing away with symptoms of food intolerance, it's also a healthier way to eat overall. You control the amounts of everything you consume and it's rather amazing how you learn your body in the process - what upsets your stomach, what really pleases your palatte and best of all, what it feels like to be nutritionaly healthy.
Labels: Potato
About the Author
Published by Tawny on at 3:59 PM.
Hi, my name is Tawny Stillar!
For two years I struggled with a myriad of physical and emotional symptoms that doctors couldn't explain. I went through test after test, tried medication after medication and then, ultimately, gave up. I was told I would have to live with it and I did my best to do just that. Unfortunately, my best wasn't good enough in this scenario and the pain drove me down alternate routes of healing that I probably wouldn't have looked into otherwise. I was referred to a Naturopath, who diagnosed me with adrenal insufficiency and potato intolerance. And that's where this particular journey began.
While looking for information on food intolerance I was amazed by the amount of information designed to help out other intolerances, but disappointed that I couldn't find similar sites for my condition. Inspired by other bloggers who were putting their knowledge, recipes and coping lifestyles for their own diets on the web, I realized that the best outlet for helping myself would be to maybe help others in the process and "You Say Potato" was born! This blog will continue to grow to include potato free recipes, informational sources, and other helpful tidbits for the potato free individual.
In addition to being potato intolerant, I am also fruit/grain intolerant. This means I can eat fruits and I can eat grain, but not in combination; they must be consumed at least 6 hours apart. You'll see that reflected here as well in my posts and recipes, as anything I eat, besides being potato free, must be one or the other of these. I alternate them every other day, so you may see the terms "Fruit Day" or "Grain Day" come into play. This simply means if a recipe is compatible with grain day, that it will contain no fruit and vice verse.
As for me apart from the food and health aspect of my life - I live in beautiful Washington state with a very supportive husband, two rambunctious children and our bulldog, Bella. Besides staying home with my little ones, I run an online business that started as a natural parenting company but has grown to include many facets of natural living. Besides being an advocate of attachment parenting and natural living, I'm also extremely passionate about fiber arts and spend most of my time not already taken by my family and online pursuits with my knitting needles and spinning wheel. My other hobbies include cooking and baking, gardening, reading, and enjoying time with friends.
Thank you for visiting!
For two years I struggled with a myriad of physical and emotional symptoms that doctors couldn't explain. I went through test after test, tried medication after medication and then, ultimately, gave up. I was told I would have to live with it and I did my best to do just that. Unfortunately, my best wasn't good enough in this scenario and the pain drove me down alternate routes of healing that I probably wouldn't have looked into otherwise. I was referred to a Naturopath, who diagnosed me with adrenal insufficiency and potato intolerance. And that's where this particular journey began.
While looking for information on food intolerance I was amazed by the amount of information designed to help out other intolerances, but disappointed that I couldn't find similar sites for my condition. Inspired by other bloggers who were putting their knowledge, recipes and coping lifestyles for their own diets on the web, I realized that the best outlet for helping myself would be to maybe help others in the process and "You Say Potato" was born! This blog will continue to grow to include potato free recipes, informational sources, and other helpful tidbits for the potato free individual.
In addition to being potato intolerant, I am also fruit/grain intolerant. This means I can eat fruits and I can eat grain, but not in combination; they must be consumed at least 6 hours apart. You'll see that reflected here as well in my posts and recipes, as anything I eat, besides being potato free, must be one or the other of these. I alternate them every other day, so you may see the terms "Fruit Day" or "Grain Day" come into play. This simply means if a recipe is compatible with grain day, that it will contain no fruit and vice verse.
As for me apart from the food and health aspect of my life - I live in beautiful Washington state with a very supportive husband, two rambunctious children and our bulldog, Bella. Besides staying home with my little ones, I run an online business that started as a natural parenting company but has grown to include many facets of natural living. Besides being an advocate of attachment parenting and natural living, I'm also extremely passionate about fiber arts and spend most of my time not already taken by my family and online pursuits with my knitting needles and spinning wheel. My other hobbies include cooking and baking, gardening, reading, and enjoying time with friends.
Thank you for visiting!
Contact Me
Published by Tawny on at 12:43 PM.
