Trim Healthy Mama Plan (8 page)

Note:
Middle-chain triglyceride (
MCT) oil is the lowest oil of all in calories and your body burns this sort of fat faster than any other form of fat. You can learn more about this oil in
Chapter 18
, “Specialty Food Stars.” Sometimes it might be okay to use
two teaspoons of MCT oil in an E meal. For example, you might use one on your salad and then include one in one of our drink recipes like Beauty Milk found in the “More Drinks” chapter of the
Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook
or Healing Trimmy (in the “Hot Drinks” chapter of the
Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook
). Drinks like these help end your meal with more filling power. However, MCT oil packs a great fatty-tasting punch, so you don't have to make a habit of that two-teaspoon exception. Using a half teaspoon of MCT in each of those courses is also another option.

If dairy products and you play well together, that is great because lean dairy can be a boon to E meals without having to add a meat (helps your budget). One-percent
cottage cheese is a great source of protein as is 0%
Greek yogurt. Notice we are not encouraging a lot of “fat-free” dairy products with added fillers. Zero-percent Greek yogurt does not have any additives or other strange ingredients to make it “fat-free.” It is simply yogurt made from naturally skimmed milk with the whey fluid (which contains most of the carbs) drained out. This is very easy to make at home if you love cooking from scratch. One-percent cottage cheese can be found without additives in a couple of brands like Nancy's and Friendship. However, all forms of 1% cottage cheese are on the plan if they do not contain added sugar in the ingredients. If you cannot find a 1% cottage cheese that fits your purism standards, some 2% cottage cheese brands do not contain these fillers (like Daisy brand) and can be used with E meals if you do not have stubborn weight to lose.

If dairy and you are not compatible, check out
Chapter 26
, “Heads Up: Allergen-Free Mamas!,” for other protein ideas. Gelatin and collagen peptides are excellent forms of superfood protein that can be used with all meal styles since they do not contain any fat and they are naturally dairy-free.

The Trim Healthy Mama approach to grain-based bread is not to put a big X over it (however, it is very easy to be gluten-free on plan if your own body finds that necessary). We simply make sure that
grain-based bread flours are sprouted or a sourdough variety. The reason for this is that any grain in flour form causes a more speedy rise in blood sugar. Sprouting or souring bread flours slows this down and helps create a more balanced blood-sugar level, which is always our goal.

The exceptions to this are whole rye, whole barley, oats, or quinoa. These are more
gentle even in flour form, and you can use them on the plan without worrying too much about sprouting them for blood-sugar purposes. We cannot include brown rice flour in this exception. It has a greater ability to cause blood sugar to spike. All wheat varieties should always be sprouted or soured.

Time for your second quiz. Be careful; we may trick you.

If you thought the answer was A, you're the winner…in another quiz, not ours. While
fruit is a good choice and on the plan, extracting the juice from the whole fruit is a nightmare on your blood sugar. It is FATTENING, as you'll learn more about in
Chapter 12
, “Thirsty Mama.”

If you chose B, congratulations: You're the runner-up…again on somebody else's quiz, not ours. While pretzels are considered fat-free and looked on fondly by the dieting world, we call them fatzels. They're white-flour blood-sugar spikers. Even if you find a whole-wheat variety, if they are not made from fermented or sprouted flour, they will quickly spike your bloodstream. This also applies to all whole-wheat-flour products including pasta, crackers, and that wheat bread in the turkey and cheese sandwich. Don't let this throw you into a pit of despair. Life is still awesome because sprouting or fermenting grains predigests much of the starch. Along with sprouted whole-grain breads, sprouted pastas are also on the plan and can work in your E meals. There are many brands of sprouted breads to choose from in stores these days. (Or be adventurous and make your own. There are some THM-friendly sprouted bread recipes easily found online, and you'll find a fabulous one in the “Breads and Pizza Crusts” chapter of the
Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook.
) You can even purchase sprouted pretzels if you just have to have them!

Answer: C is it! While a turkey and cheese on wheat is not a burger and fries, it is still a common, deceivingly innocent meal, contributing to the obesity epidemic in our culture. We've already addressed the fact that the regular wheat bread is a blood-sugar spiker. It
is also the combination of the heavy fats (mayo and cheese) with the fast-spiking flour product (don't forget those pretzels on the side) that makes this meal a fat bomb ready to explode. People with super-high metabolisms are exempt from this fat explosion, but that blood-sugar high is still dangerous for their long-term health.

We can't leave option D unaddressed. We love us some painted toenails, but here's a little tip for your health journey. Most
nail polish contains a laundry list of toxins. All are disturbing but the big three are formaldehyde (a known human carcinogen), dibutyl phthalate (DBP, which is linked to birth defects), and toluene, which damages the nervous and reproductive system. These are absorbed into the bloodstream. We don't want to take away pretty nails, but do seek out brands free of these obnoxious chemicals.

Corn is a grain, so does that make it E-friendly? We have a gray answer for this one. Corn is used to fatten up animals and we don't promote it enthusiastically on plan. If eaten too frequently, corn and most corn products won't do your health and waistline any favors. The exceptions are sprouted whole-grain corn tortillas, which can be used in an E setting. A few baked blue corn chips are a nice snack with Greek yogurt and salsa or on top of an E-style chili. As you can see, we are not being corn Nazis and demanding that a kernel of corn never again cross your lips. A little bit of corn in an E-style chili really does add something incredible…little pops of sweet. We use it in moderation in some of our E recipes. We're just saying, go easy! Corn is not a gentle-burning grain, so don't make it a go- to food. Seek out organic sources of corn if GMO foods concern you but non-GMO does not take away the fattening effects of too much corn.

Popcorn—what would life be without it? Drenched with butter and sprinkled with salt and nutritional yeast, it is just about one of the most amazing Crossover snacks eva! But even when you're at Crossover stage, don't sit there every night eating that snack. Just watch what will happen to your once loose jeans: Good-bye to them! Save it for a now-and-then treat. You can eat popcorn in an E setting; just follow these guidelines:

That is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler to put grain in warm water overnight, or not? Poor Hamlet would have been just as stumped as many of us are on this question had he been able to connect to WiFi.

Dried grains,
beans, and seeds are protected by substances called
phytates that keep them dormant for storage. This is a good thing—a real good thing. God allowed us to be able to store grains without them rotting. Mankind might well have starved to death without this protective ability.

But here's where all the controversy starts. Many believe that in order for these dormant foods to unleash their full load of nutrients, they need to be soaked, sprouted, or fermented. It is true that these methods make superfoods out of foods such as grains because they:

But there are some untruths involved here as well. These techniques are predominantly used not so much for the above benefits but in an anxious effort to reduce phytates (and lectins), which are not necessarily the evil villains that they are made out to be. (See more about this in
Chapter 31
, “Balance Is Beautiful.”)

So should you feel guilty if you don't soak every bowl of oatmeal you eat as a Trim Healthy Mama?

No.

Go ahead and soak if you want all those benefits and the characteristic flavor and texture that comes from soaking and fermentation methods. But you sure don't have to if it is only the fear of
phytates you are worrying about.

Soaking grains is not one of the Ten Commandments in the Bible nor is it a commandment of the Trim Healthy Mama Plan. Old-fashioned oatmeal is a budget-friendly
food, an all-American staple, and has weight-loss merits due to its slow-burning energy fuel. Many Trim Healthy Mamas have lost countless pounds without bothering to soak oatmeal overnight.

Soaking does have its merits, though. Serene soaks all her grains, simply because she wants to make all her grains as digestible as she can for her family—and, let's face it, she's a sucker for extra steps. Check out her recipe for Super Prepared Purist Grains (found in the “Good Morning Grains” chapter of the
Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook
), which she soaks with rye flour or sourdough starter. Pearl mostly does not worry about soaking her oatmeal but does make sure to eat all her bread fermented or sprouted, to protect her blood-sugar health.

As part of a widely varied diet, grains and beans still have plenty of nutrition to offer you even if you never soak them. A bowl of unsoaked oatmeal will not leave you depleted of minerals. As a Trim Healthy Mama, your diet will be rich in vitamin C from lots of greens and berries, which counteracts any problems with phytate binding with minerals in your grains, beans, seeds, and nuts.

E-FRIENDLY MEAT

E-FRIENDLY EGG SOURCES

E-FRIENDLY DAIRY

E-FRIENDLY GRAINS

E-FRIENDLY
FRUIT