advertisement

Lean and Lovin' it: Is a grain-free diet a path to better health?

Carrie Vitt has quite a story to tell and the ending turns out to be, well, good and delicious.

But it didn't start out that way.

As she chronicles in her blog, Deliciously Organic, chronic migraines and plethora of migraine medication motivated her to veer off the pharmaceutical path and turn to organics as a more natural road to well-being.

Using a one-step-at-a-time philosophy, Vitt began by switching from chemically farmed lettuce to certified organically grown varieties. With that one, seemingly minor shift, her migraine frequency decreased.

It sounds easy, but, as she writes: “When I first started using organic, unprocessed ingredients, I felt like a stranger in a strange land.”

Finding good recipes that didn't use processed foods, since she'd given sugars, white flours and partially hydrogenated fats the boot, wasn't that simple. “Just substituting ingredients in recipes didn't exactly work out,” she adds.

She persevered, creating recipes so delicious that friends convinced her to start blogging.

That would be a pleasant short story, except for what happened next. Vitt's life took a rather dramatic turn when what should have been a simple dental procedure turned into a nightmare. She believes a filling was improperly removed and triggered Hashimoto's disease, a condition where her immune system was attacking her thyroid. The disease resulted in hives and zapped her energy, leaving her more and more depressed.

When her doctors had no answers, she turned to nutrition and with a nutritionist began a grain-free diet high in healthy fats (like organic, pastured butter), grass-fed meats, fresh organic vegetables and fermented foods (like sauerkraut). It took several years, but she recovered and today is in remission.

Vitt shares more of her inspirational story, intimate portrait of her family and solid recipes in a new book, “The Grain-Free Family Table” (2014 William Morrow, $29.99). She tells readers how to revamp their pantries with healthy ingredients that make meal prep easier. You won't find any wheat (or ingredients that may include wheat) or any other grain, even rice.

You will find Vitt's take on grain-free bacon-wrapped meatloaf, graham crackers, granola, eggplant and zucchini lasagna and grain-free cinnamon rolls. At the end of many recipes she tells cooks how to alter recipes to make them paleo friendly and dairy free. There's no nutritional analysis, but you can see by the beautiful photos that it would be hard to find a healthier, happier looking family than hers.

A final section explains the basics, like how to make chicken stock, mayonnaise, ketchup, bread, yogurt and even nut milks (like almond milk) and shares product sources for some harder-to-find items.

With one quick trip to the grocery store you can try Vitt's spin on fried rice with cauliflower stepping in for the rice. Enjoy!

Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write him at don@theleanwizard.com.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.