Is Whole30 for me?

I was chatting with friends in my Leap4Life Facebook group about changes we're hoping to make in 2016 to help us get/stay fit and healthy, and one friend mentioned that she's going to do Whole30 in January.  Not being familiar with it, I looked it up, and wow, what a program!  It's similar to a paleo diet, but even more strict and requires that you follow it religiously for a full 30 days, with NO cheating whatsoever, not even the tiniest little bit.

I've done the low-carb thing in the past and lost a lot of weight in a very short period with virtually no added activity, so I know this would work for me, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to tackle something with that many restrictions again.  Still, what I'm doing now (which is really nothing!) isn't working.  As a carb addict, I can't control myself and I have no one here to keep me accountable.  The dogs don't care if I sit and eat a whole package of cookies in one day.   I've increased my activity level considerably in the last few months, but it hasn't helped yet, and won't as long as I'm binging on junk in between walks.  I've got to kick the addiction, and the only way to do that is cold turkey.

Is this something I can stick with long-term?  I don't know, but the idea behind Whole30 is to severely limit the type of foods you eat for the full 30 days so that your body is starting with a clean slate, then you can reintroduce certain foods and see what you can tolerate.  It really does sound like a great plan and I think I've talked myself into trying it.  There are a few things I already know will be really difficult for me to give up (No cheese?  Yikes!), but if I just look at it for the short term, I think I can do it.  What's 30 days, right?

The other thing that I know I'll have trouble with isn't food related at all, but will still bug me - not being able to weigh myself until the 30 day period is over.  I always weigh myself first thing every morning and that will be a real change in my daily routine.  Still, if the program requires that I weigh myself the first day and not again until after 30 days, then I guess I'll just put the scale away.

If you want to see what it's all about, check out the Whole30 website. You can find the accompanying books that outline the plan as well as recipe books by following this link to Whole30 on amazon.

So I guess this blog post puts it on record, and I'm now accountable to all of you to at least try the Whole30 plan.  Wish me luck!

~ Marie Anne

Coconut Flour Lemon Bread Recipe – First Attempt

Finished Coconut Flour Lemon Bread
©Marie Anne St. Jean

I’m still trying to get back on the low-carb bandwagon, and have been researching alternatives to baking with white or wheat flower.  I found organic coconut flour at my local Mennonite/Amish market, so thought I’d give that a try.  I don’t know how coconut flour compares to regular flour in carb count, but it is gluten free and likely better for me in that regard, so I figured I’d give it a try.  Paleo is another new dietary regimen buzz word, and I guess coconut flour fits into that program also.

I’ve never used coconut flour (or any flour other than made from wheat), so I did a little research first to see how it compares to white flour when baking.  I’m glad I did, because I found that it reacts so much differently than regular flour, and requires more liquid than you would think.   I searched for bread recipes with coconut flour and found several, and they took between 6 and a full dozen eggs – yikes!  Most called for a sugar substitute as the sweetener, with some giving directions for using white sugar, but I decided to try honey instead and added a little lemon juice to liven things up a bit, thinking since honey is more liquid than sugar, I could use less eggs.

I think what I came up with worked out great.  Coconut flour isn’t going to give you a real bakery bread-like texture, but will result in something more akin to cornbread.  Think of it as banana bread without the bananas – it’s not sweet, but not like ‘real’ bread either. This isn’t something you can make sandwiches with, but it’ll taste good with a pot of beans, or with a little butter and honey or jam with your morning coffee or tea.

Since the trick to working with coconut flour is getting the ratio of flour to liquid correct, I was surprised that I nailed it on the first try.  Here’s my recipe, followed by notes of what I might change next time:

Ingredients for Coconut Flour Lemon Bread

¾ cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp sea salt

5 eggs

½ cup butter (1 stick), softened

1/3 cup honey

1 tbls lemon juice

Sift together coconut flour, baking powder, and sea salt in a bowl.

Mix together eggs, butter, and honey in separate bowl until well blended.  (If the butter is lumpy, use a mixer on low for a minute or so, and break up lumps as much as possible).

Add sifted dry ingredients to egg mixture and mix well by hand (a heavy spatula worked well for me), adding lemon juice.  Batter will be thicker and less liquid than cake batter, but not as stiff as cookie batter (it will resemble cornbread batter at this point).

Spoon mixture into a greased loaf pan (it doesn't pour well) and bake at 350* for 40 minutes.  Turn out onto wire rack to cool.

Mixture will resemble cornbread dough
©Marie Anne St. Jean

Notes: 

- I wasn’t sure how much honey would be needed as a sweetener, so I started with approximately 1/3 cup, but don’t think the result was quite sweet enough.  I’ll probably increase to ½ cup when I make this again.

- I also wasn’t sure how much lemon juice I should add, so I started with 1 tablespoon.  I didn’t really get the lemony flavor I desired, so will increase to 2 tablespoons the next time I make this recipe.

- Since bread made with coconut flour doesn’t really rise, it looked pretty skimpy in the loaf pan.  I think I’ll try using smaller loaf pans next time.  I might also increase the coconut flour to a full cup and add an extra egg, and increase the amount of honey and lemon by a small amount if using a regular sized loaf pan again.

Fresh out of the oven
©Marie Anne St. Jean

If you make coconut lemon bread using this recipe, please let me know how it turns out, and whether you tried any of the changes that I suggested.  I've already eaten half of this first loaf this afternoon, so I'll undoubtedly be trying the new variations soon, and will post my results again.

Now that I've tried coconut flour, I think I'll try making my own almond flour and see what I can do with that.

~ Marie Anne

(Yes, you can even buy organic coconut flour through amazon.com)