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Anna Harris

Conquering Cravings & Disordered Eating Habits with Real Food

February 18, 2014 by Anna Harris 10 Comments

Feb header photo By Anna Harris, Contributing Writer

This journey begins at least 15 years ago, when I was a chubby adolescent. I can remember even then, having doubts with food and my body. At 11 I began to notice the way my belly hung over my skirt waistband and that I didn’t have the willowy, ideal type of figure. After our grain-heavy meals I remember feeling sleepy, lousy and unenergized. I didn’t feel like running outside and jumping on our backyard trampoline. Constipation was typical for me to experience. Our 14-person family ate hearty meals, and we were expected to scrape our plates. My mom cooked basic but generally healthy meals from scratch, (stretching pricier meats and dairy with carbs) utilizing food co-ops and bulk grain/legume orders. She often made homemade whole wheat bread, and honey-sweetened granola was a breakfast staple. In many ways we kids were unbelievably blessed with our food heritage but there were subtle signals that all wasn’t ideal.

My low-fat diet and disordered eating habits

My weight, especially around my waistline, continued to accumulate throughout my early/mid teens and along with the weight came lashings of mental guilt and pressure to be lean and “hot”. I began to experiment with various diets-always at odds with my parents’ expectations to eat what was served.  I watched my once-sturdy older sister subsist on an anorexic diet of hot grain cereals and little else. She seemed so successful at dwindling into a shadow of her former self that I plunged headlong into the fat-free mentality, some days eating mainly iceberg salad dressed with sickeningly sweet fat-free dressings. I’d consistently eat straight carbs with the hopes that zero fat consumption would allow me to reach my goals of slenderness. I began to come to the realization that I was severely lacking in willpower and beat myself up over my lack of discipline. I would often cave to the siren smells and textures of desserts, binging badly and finding me caught in an ugly cycle of strict dieting followed by an unbridled pig-out on sugar, carbs, and fat. I was miserable and while life continued, my self-loathing and desire for change was never far from my mind. One fateful day, though, at the age of 17, I discovered that I could purge everything I’d eaten. At the time, this knowledge seemed a panacea, and within months, my weight had dropped to below 100 pounds. While my parents worried and confronted, I became increasingly secretive and determined to hold onto my “magic” secret. After more than two years of this pattern, I became possessed, addicted. My life was a spiral towards an early grave. I was weak, unable to focus, to connect emotionally, or even to think much beyond my food cravings. My hair fell out in clumps and my molars cracked and becoming cavity-ridden as most nutrients were leached from my body. Feb blog 1

Loves starts my healing process

At 19, hope emerged in the form of my future husband, who so covered me in the most unfathomable love that I began to take steps toward light and health. While healing was a long time in unfolding, my husband never failed to prop me up and believe in me.  Eating was still a form of torture, as I knew that there would be the inevitable war within my mind of guilt over anything that passed my lips and the compulsion to control my body by purging.

Two years into our marriage, I became pregnant with our firstborn, and in the short time between our daughter and son, I never stopped struggling mentally, even though I was allowing myself to actually retain what I ate. I thought there would be no end to the battle even though we did eat generally healthy, with me cooking most of our meals at home, including salads and vegetables at every meal. During this time I had a strange digestive bout where for a few months straight every single meal caused me acute stomach pain and bloating. I had some minor testing done but we never really figured it out. Raw vegetables could cause particularly painful symptoms of gas and stomach spasms. Also, my infrequent trips to the bathroom could be downright excruciating since I had a difficult time eliminating.Feb blog 2

Finding Nourishing Traditions

While I was pregnant with my son, our second child, I was overwhelmed with depression over my failure to keep a perfect body compounded by the physical stress of an ever-growing body. Some days I would eat several handfuls of m &ms and drink jugs of sweet, milky black tea to keep my energy up. I also consumed many fruity, honey-thick smoothies that kept my blood sugar running at a non-stop high.

During this time I had discovered Sally Fallon’s “Nourishing Traditions” (#affiliatelink) at a friend’s house. I inhaled that book. I drank in the non-politically correct notions about the importance of healthy fats with all the thirstiness of a diet-book malnourished soul. My viewpoint was upended and I welcomed this new knowledge with hope, it just resonated in my mind. It made sense that fats and meats should have their place of value and were needed by the human body. However it wasn’t until my son was born and I reached a place of utter defeat that I began to put these revolutionary principles into practice. I figured I was already chubby and unhappy and I hadn’t much to lose.Feb blog 3

I begin to eat healthy fats and regain health

Relenting, I began to eat fat, a river of yogurts, coconut oil, butter, creamy, full-fat dairy, and olive oil began to invigorate my post-partum depleted, eating-disordered body. Life in the form of grass-fed beef, broth, and raw milk percolated from our stovetop and fridge. My son seemed more satisfied with nursing than my daughter had. Slowly, maybe a pound a month, my accumulated baby weight began to slip away. I found myself oddly satisfied with meals rich with eggs, sprouted toast, and bacon. Suppers became glorious for more than just my well-fed family, as I now began to partake in the crispy-skinned roasted chicken, the oil-basted vegetables, and lavishly-dressed salads. Dark chocolate, coffee and whipped cream was typical decadent desserts. Honey and maple syrup became all the sweetness I needed.

My raging need for sugar shrank dramatically. My moods improved with my overall satiation and steady weight loss. Guilt and shame became such thing of the past; I had become someone radically different.  I was so energized, sharing with my friends, and anyone else who might listen, my new food breakthrough.

My confidence spilled over in the form of my blog, where I could find an outlet for all my wonder and strong opinions. I was able to build muscle tone, and even found myself becoming a tiny bit of a workout fiend, (even reaching the point where, after two children, I could get all the way through an Insanity workout!)   I researched constantly, cooked, photographed, and reveled in the joys of having a local organic garden in our backyard. Since that initial breakthrough, I remain a deep advocate of traditional foods.

I cannot state emphatically enough the necessity to nourish oneself down to the core. I realize that unless a body is truly being fed with nutrient-dense foods, there are bound to be repercussions in the form of uncontrollable cravings and a host of other symptoms indicative of malnourishment.  There are signals that our body is crying out for sustenance.

To even further my arsenal of food understanding, I have also discovered “Trim Healthy Mama” (#affiliate), a joyful book crammed with tools necessary to a lifetime of healthy fitness. With the solid foundation of knowing what our body truly craves, I have learned additional information on how to tweak our diets to reflect our metabolic/blood sugar needs.  I am grateful to continue on this ever-expanding journey towards health and freedom.Feb blog 4

Filed Under: Main Dishes Tagged With: Dieting, Eat Healthy Fats, Eating Disorders, Food, Food Cravings, Healthy Fats, Nutrition, Recovering From An Eating Disorder

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes (Soaked)

January 16, 2014 by Anna Harris 19 Comments

January Vertical

by Anna Harris, Contributing Writer

Meet a toddler’s breakfast nirvana and a mama’s healthy breakfast solution, fluffy buttermilk-soaked pastry wheat pancakes studded with winning bits of chocolate, flavored and enriched with classic pancakes additions of vanilla, egg, and butter. (To read more about the soaking method used in this recipe, read here.)

I realize that chocolate chip pancakes are not anything close to sophisticated cuisine.  To some of us they might not even sound remotely desirable. My three-year-old son, however, would beg to differ, as these are his weekly breakfast staples. It’s likely that as mamas (and some of us have grandiose visions of what the family meal table should look like-Eggs Florentine over homemade sourdough English muffins, Spelt Crepes filled with creme fraiche and local berries, Coconut Granola with home cultured yogurt-that sort of thing) we have the highest hopes for diverging our children’s palates and to nourish every cell of their tiny, developing bodies. I know that for myself, this is indeed a fierce longing.

Post may contain affiliate links. Thanks for supporting this blog!

Additionally, I was raised in a food-centric, large,  and ravenous family where the notion was held that a cleaned plate was akin to godliness and wasting or throwing food away was practically a crime. So you can imagine my befuddlement when our second-born not  only showed little interest in food but was very (to add insult)…picky! I tried training, coaxing, allowing my toddler to get hungry, nothing much seemed to interest him in my whole-raw-milk-honey-drizzled-yogurt, or eggs,  perfectly raised yeast and sourdough breads, or even the soothing simplicity of warm oatmeal. I confess I even tempted him with store-bought cereal, the brightly packaged, fruity “kids” yogurt, and organic pop-tarts with no success at incurring a voracious manly appetite.

My whole being was perplexed and distressed because my tiny man truly is small as well, Elliot has spindly, long limbs left unpadded by even a hint of baby chub. It was as if he always had something more exciting to do, as if it were such a chore to sit down and eat. I believe the turning point was with these pancakes, being both sweet and easy to chew, something he could quickly recognize. He began to consistently eat breakfast with very rare conflict. For months at a time I fed him pancakes, with both a sigh of relief that he was being fed with the sustaining combination of whole grains and fats but also with a sigh of acceptance at his quirk of being absolutely ok with hardly any variety, something my own soul regularly craves.

It might grate on my butter-devoted nerves when Elliot balks at the sight of a golden pat melting across his single pancake, but oh! it brings me joy and relief to see him fed for the morning and his plate forked clean.  I also smile knowing that I can at least fry those pancakes in coconut oil or butter until the edges are so crisp they crackle at the bite and that he loves when we pour a trickle of real maple syrup atop. While those wonderful foods together (I am referencing my experience as a Trim Healthy Mama ) may not be the friendliest to my mama waistline, they are absolutely sublime for fueling my whippet-thin toddlers.

Practically speaking, I don’t whip up a batch of these fresh every day, becoming a veritable short-order Betty Crocker for my young ones fickle appetites, I typically will make a batch every week though, wrapping extras and storing in the fridge to pull out for the following mornings. We have a very loose rotation of simple and generally frugal breakfasts. Here are some of them.

Inexpensive & Healthy Breakfast Options

  • Overnight soaked oatmeal with toppings of butter, maple syrup, honey, raw milk, cinnamon, raisins, or walnuts.
  • I often will make of Trim Healthy pancake batter made of oats, cottage cheese, and egg whites for myself that sits in a half-gallon jar on a make-as-I-please basis.
  • Egg-based breakfasts, scrambled or fried, with or without homemade toast. (With eggs, as much as I adore them, my children just always think they taste better from our plates, which I guess is ok with me, as long as they are eating them.) Here is one of my especially nutrient dense scrambled egg recipes. 
  • Smoothies can be popular with the children when it’s warm, I can put loads of homemade yogurt, honey, and whatever frozen fruit we have, inside.
  • Super-simple favorites: A banana and peanut butter for Elliot, in particular.
  • Toast and pan-fried ham or bacon.
  • Leftovers, Eden and I are versatile and will happily eat leftover pasta (Eden) or leftover brown rice and quinoa (myself) along with leftover cooked vegetables and protein source. French toast using up odds and ends of bread fall into the yummy leftover category.
  • Just recently, my children also have been converted to enjoying vanilla-infused yogurt and toast. Perhaps this is due to the frequency yogurt is served in our house, they just can’t get away from it!

Since that critical point of my son’s toddler breakfast issues, we have come along way and he will eat what the rest of the family eats, even if it means us lending a hand in the momentous task of bringing the offending spoon to his weary mouth.

Soaked Chocolate Chip Pancakes
 
Author:
Anna Harris
Recipe type: Breakfast/Brunch
Cuisine: American
Serves: 4
Print
 
Kid-friendly and simple, chocolate chip pancakes that both offer traditionally-prepared grains and fluffy texture, fried generously in coconut oil for diner-crisp edges and deep nourishment.
Ingredients
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, sifted
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1-2 eggs
  • 2 tbs. butter, melted
  • 2 tbs. coconut sugar/sucanat
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ¼ tsp. fine sea salt
  • ⅓-1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life brand with only 3 ingredients, also dairy-free)
  • Coconut oil, butter, ghee, peanut/sunflower oil for frying
Instructions
  1. Measure sifted flour into a bowl, mix gently with buttermilk, allow to sit overnight.
  2. Whisk together vanilla, egg, coconut sugar, melted butter, add salt, baking soda, and baking powder, pour into flour mixture. Add chocolate chips and stir gently to combine.
  3. It's helpful to let the batter rest for 10 minutes before frying. Use a ¼ cup measure to pour out onto a heated, well oiled skillet or frying pan. Cook on medium heat until bubbles begin to form around the edges, flip and cook on the other side until cooked through and browned.
3.2.2208

I will also note, that while our family seems to digest dairy with ease, this recipe is so simple to make dairy-free by substituting coconut oil and milk or almond milk and sunflower oil for the butter and buttermilk. Just be sure to include an acid medium along with your alternative milk (lemon juice, apple cider vinegar) or you could always use half yogurt and half water for nice results. Spelt, barley, or kamut flour can be substituted for the more domesticated pastry wheat as well.

Other Nourishing Gourmet Pancake Recipes: 

  • Sourdough Pancakes 
  • Basic Soaked Pancakes
  • Whole Grain Blender Pancakes (I do the gluten-, dairy-, and egg-free options)
  • Blueberry Lemon Pancakes made with sprouted flour

Filed Under: Baked Goods, Breakfast and Brunch, Nourishing Frugal Recipes Tagged With: Breakfast and Brunch, Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Chocolate Chips, Nourishing Frugal Recipes, Pancake Batter, Pancakes, Wheat Pancakes, Whole Grain Pancakes, Yogurt

Salted Pecan Honey Brittle (Dairy-free & Naturally Sweetened)

December 10, 2013 by Anna Harris 11 Comments

Salted Honey Pecan Brittle - A beautiful gift made with unrefined sweeteners! (Dairy-free)

Luscious fats combined with the seething heat of local honey and coconut sugar become the nut-studded hard-crack confection called brittle. This wholesome brittle is crammed with crunchy, toasty-nut goodness, sweetened with equal amounts coconut palm sugar and honey, and enriched with your choice of coconut or dairy to round out the flavors.  This recipe is also fun, in my opinion, because I totally become immersed in the process of watching chemical reactions take place within the sugars and then the exciting color-changing froth from adding baking soda. (The baking soda creates air pockets in the hardened brittle making for a more delicate crunch.)

After perusing plenty of honey-themed cookbooks and desserts, this recipe is the natural connection to the realization that honey can be as versatile as refined sugar in the holiday food arena. So, many burnt batches of brittle later, I have come through with a more thorough understanding of candy-making. I love that honey can substitute for the oft-used corn syrup and that coconut palm sugar can caramelize so beautifully. Both of these ingredients have more depth of flavor than your typical white sugar  and the subtle fruitiness I find in the coconut sugar complements nuts wonderfully. Make this brittle appropriate to a dairy-free lifestyle by using the coconut options instead of the cream and butter. Both offer lovely, but different, flavor inflections.

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Filed Under: Dairy Free, Desserts, Gluten Free, Snacks, Uncategorized Tagged With: brittle, candy, Coconut Sugar, holiday baking, Nuts, pecans, wholesome sweeteners

Fig & Walnut White Chocolates

November 25, 2013 by Anna Harris 10 Comments

thenourishinggourmet-november

By Anna Harris, Contributing Writer

Creamy honey-sweetened white chocolate confections are studded with the crunch of toasted walnuts and the syrupy chew of black mission figs.

As it turns out, white chocolate from home, naturally sweetened and flavored is a challenging creature. Lots of research backed up this recipe that just kept writing itself out in flavors in my mind’s taste buds. So the trick with homemade white chocolate seems to be to add loads of additional flavor as well as to properly temper this fickle and fragrant fat. The flavor comes from the honey, in this case I used dehydrated honey, or honey granules to keep the intensity of sweetness without extra moisture. A heavy cream powder or coconut cream powder for a paleo version, adds richness and that “white” chocolate flavor. The pure, raw cocoa butter on it’s own, while it smells utterly heavenly and promising, needs a boost to combat the oily taste of it on it’s lonesome.  A pinch of fine salt, those gorgeous black and miniature beads from  real vanilla beans, these ingredients deliver the hoped-for heavenly flavors.

While some may find some of the ingredients finicky and may not wish to whip up a batch weekly, around the holidays, with fancy and unhealthy ingredients alluring us with every shopping trip, I find this recipe perfect for real food lovers like myself. I do appreciate the blessing of a dessert that is not only decadent and addictingly delicious (I think I ate 8 pieces during my photo shoot alone) but offers sweet benefits of wholesome fats and natural sweeteners. For even more nutritional bonuses, soak your raw nuts in salted water over night and dehydrate them before lightly toasting!

Note from Kimi: I highly recommend the below coconut milk powder! It doesn’t have any of the same concerns as regular milk powder, and is very delicious. It makes AMAZING hot chocolate. Plus, it looks like it’s cheaper than the heavy cream powder. 🙂 Just note that it does have a trace of casein in it, so those very sensitive to dairy, should be cautious (it hasn’t bothered me at all, but you should be forewarned if extremely dairy sensitive).

Here is a list of needed ingredients for this recipe (affiliate links): Pure Honey granules (make sure you get a pure version), coconut milk powder or heavy cream powder, Navitas Cocoa butter, or organic cocoa butter melting disks,  and vanilla paste.
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Filed Under: Dairy Free, Desserts, Sides, Uncategorized, Vegetarian Tagged With: Dessert, Honey, paleo

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The information you find here at The Nourishing Gourmet is meant to help you become a better cook! This site is primarily for sharing family friendly recipes. It's not meant to give medical advice or to make any health claims on the prevention or curing of diseases.This site is only for informational and educational purposes. Please discuss with your own, qualified health care provider before adding in supplements or making any changes in your diet. Also, any links to sponsors or affiliates (including Amazon) may give me a percentage of the sale or a pay per click. Thank you for supporting this site.

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