I'm freshly back from an eight-day stay in beautiful Ireland, and was amazed at how I wasn't sick the whole time. Not even a smidge. I do believe my GI tract wants me to move to Limerick.
Until such time as I can make that happen, I am taking a lesson - fresh foods for the win. Before I left, my rheumatologist told me to go gluten-free, as he believes it will greatly help reduce inflammation. I'd fallen off the Paleo-wagon because I am lazy, and promised him I'd do it when I returned. In Ireland, great pride was taken by many restaurants in using all fresh ingredients, most locally grown (including the meats). Most meals were heavy on protein (quiche, lamb stew, mussels, shepherd's pie, bangers & mash, chicken) with the occasional pie crust or side of bread and potatoes. Fresh food, fresh air, lots of walking. and good sleep, and I felt fantastic.
And so, I'm back home and gluten-free and semi-Paleo. (I say semi because I'm using beans for today's lunch.) I've decided to try for a gluten-free, HFCS-free, dairy-free, semi-Paleo existence. The kitchen has been cleared. My gym bag is packed. Let's do this thing. Again. But this time with inspiration provided by my best friend - more on that soon.
Today's lunch: half a can of black beans, half a baked shredded chicken breast with Penzey's "Forward!" spice, one chopped avocado. (Same as yesterday's lunch. Delicious.) For those not going dairy-free, some shredded cheese would be a great addition to this. Microwave for 2 minutes on high and you're good to go. (It's also easy to put together a few lunch batches of this at the beginning of the week, making life easy for the kitchen-lazy.)
