Please keep in mind we are not nutritionist or doctors. We recommend checking in with your doctor before making any changes to your diet and exercise routine. Most of our information is based upon our own experiences and research, although we do hope you keep an open mind.
Here is a part of Michelle and I’s journey to better health that we have not really shared on the blog too much. And we felt it was a story worth sharing.
We are not medically diagnosed with Celiac we just chose to cut out gluten a few years ago. We learned everything through trial and error, and we are still learning because our bodies are always changing.
Changing into a gluten free diet did not happen overnight.
First we took out wheat (ate spelt based products)
Still did not feel great… decided to take out gluten completely.
Still not there…
Next we cut out meat (except fish –ate very rarely)
Still no changes in how we felt…
Next reduced our soy and sugar intake
Feeling a little better…
We took out meat and eggs completely
And now we also watch our intake of soy, corn, and sugar.
Doing MUCH BETTER!
Do we think eating a GF lifestyle has helped our digestive issues? YES
Do we think eating GF has helped us feel better? YES
Do we think eating a GF diet would solve all our problems? NO
Let us explain.
This all happened over a 2-3 year period. We think making small changes over a period of time helped out digestive issues. Remember yourbody is an amazing machine and is capable of healing when you provide your body with the tools needed.
We are not saying a gluten free lifestyle is the answer for everyone. But it sure has helped us. Although not eating gluten was not enough for us. We were still not satisfied with how we were feeling, which lead us to eliminate more foods out of our kitchen. Some people might think this is extreme…”I could never give up this or that!”….but for us it was not.
Eating gluten free has been a blessing to us. We feel bad for those who have such a negative attitude towards this way of eating. We truly enjoy our food choices! We have learned to understand our bodies so now we know what makes us feel great and what makes us feel icky.
We saw on the news the other day the new ‘trend’ of the gluten free diet. First off, we are not huge fans of the word ‘diet’. We prefer the word lifestyle but we understand the word diet is inevitable.
How did we overcome the huge change in our way of eating? We kept a positive attitude!
We consider viewing a gluten free lifestyle as, “LOOK at all the food we get to eat”. Keeping it positive instead of being negative by thinking of what we can not eat. Write out a list of the foods you can eat, you will be amazed the long list of things!
As much as we think it is great gluten free products are getting attention and awareness; we find it difficult when people say they are on a ‘gluten free diet’. Why?
Mainly because they will come to realize that gluten is in just about everything, get overwhelmed, panic and give-up. Than we hear – ‘ugh, gluten free diet is too hard, I am going to give-up.’ We feel the words gluten free are getting some wrong messages nowadays. Some people are doing it for the wrong reasons…and sometimes this gives a bad rap for those who have to eat this way.
We feel a better approach is to just incorporate more non-gluten products into your diet, like gluten free grains, less processed foods, more fresh produce (which already are gluten free). **This is for people who do not have to eat gluten free but just want to do eat more gluten free things.
Now again do not get us wrong we would love for more and more people to eat more gluten free foods, but we understand this is not a perfect world It is not that gluten is necessary bad for you, it is difficult for many to digest, like us.
When we started our bakery we wanted to help educate and change the way people view gluten free baked goods. When we see other companies promoting gluten free products and see their ingredient list … all we see is ‘ingredient’ fillers like sugar, preservatives, etc. instead of ingredients that provide nutrition. This is where gluten free products can get confusing! People may think a product is healthy just because it is gluten free but that is not always the case! It can still be filled with ‘junk’ and highly processed.
At our bakery we strive to use more ‘whole’ grain gluten free flours, less sugar, sprouted nuts and seeds, and no preservatives.
Yes gluten free baking can be a challenge at times but it can be done! We will share more brands we like, recipes,tips on what we have learned from our years of baking gluten free. Hopefully we will help and inspire others to see that gluten free is not so bad
If you are interested in eating more gluten free foods start small and listen to your body. It is not all about eating 100% gluten free (again unless you have to) it is more about eating a variety of foods. We understand that eating gluten free can be challenging but hopefully with more people becoming aware of the issue and taking it more seriously, so people do not have to feel like outsiders.
Our gluten free cupcake
Questions:
If you are someone who has to eat gluten free, does it bother you if companies make gluten free products in a non-dedicated facility?What are some things that helped you transition into this way of eating? What is the one product that you would love to see gluten free?
For those who are not gluten intolerant (for those who can tolerant gluten) is it hard for you to be around people with gluten issues? Would you ever considering eating more gluten free foods?
What are your thoughts on the ‘new gluten free diet trend’? Do you think it is good? Do you think there are mixed messages?
Check this article out. We tried to keep this short, as you can see there a lot of different views on this topic.
Delicious! I am craving it again Promise it is mouth watering good!!!
Michelle and I did great at our weekend farmers markets!!!! Thanks again to all our customers who come out each week to support our bakery!!!
Some new items we had at the market:
Mixed berry crumb muffin
Cinnamon sugar coffee cake
Now who has fresh roasted peppers at their farmers market?
I do!!
The farmer next to me roasted peppers for his clients! It is pretty cool!
Does anyone have any unique things at their farmers markets? What is your favorite thing about farmers markets?
After unloading the cars and doing some cleaning Michelle and I usually whip up a green smoothie when we get back from the markets! We are both so thirsty and hungry that a green smoothie usually fixes both cravings
Dinner was roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli.
Our dessert Saturday night was our layered coconut bar
40 minute walk outside (it was so pretty out) plus some strength training exercises. It felt nice to get outside for our workout… I think fall is just around the corner!
A little bit later we made a new version of our avocado pudding.
Glorious. I really enjoyed this avocado pudding. It was not too sweet and and had great flavor!
Then I was craving something for dinner and this hit the spot
Roasted kabocha squash, garlic, and onions, on top of chopped romaine and fresh basil!
Not only did this dinner satisfy my cravings…. it was simple. Just the way I like my meals!
Dessert was a new dessert we played around with and sold at our weekend markets to get people’s feedback.
We call it our S&S bar because it is a sweet and savory dessert. Overall we are pleased with it, but might change just a few things
Well that is just some of our grub that we had this weekend. What was some of your favorite meals or snacks or desserts?
Stayed tuned we will be back later with another great recipe!
Other News:
We have been working on updating and fixing up our Twin Cakes Bakery online store. We have made a few changes already but plan to do more. Also we will be having a Labor Day Sale – 25% off any orders over $30! The sale starts this Thursday!
Michelle and I have been planning this socca Sunday meal for a few days now! I am so excited to finally share it with you all We slept in this morning, so it was more of a brunch!
Last time I was in Charlotte I stopped by a health food store to grab some of Justin’s almond butter that we have seen manybloggerslove. Luckily, for me the store offered samples of it! We were both eager to give this almond butter a try and we thought it would taste great with our socca.
Michelle and I were discussing our plans of our next socca Sunday… yes we plan these out, and thought figs would taste great with the almond butter socca idea we were already planning. We were going with a upgraded version of the classic PB & J!
Justin’s Maple Almond Butter (I bought these samples with my own money)
and fresh figs (love fig season)
And of course socca!!
Today’s socca I did:
1 cup garbanzo bean flour
1 1/4 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp coconut oil (for the pan)
In a large bowl I put the garbanzo bean flour, water, salt, cinnamon and whisked together.
I put the 3 tbsp coconut oil in my 10 inch pan into a pre-heated oven of 400 degrees. Let the oil get hot for 4 minutes. Next I poured the cinnamon socca batter into the pan and baked for 40 minutes.
I topped the socca with the almond butter and fresh figs..no need for jelly when you have sweet fresh figs to use instead ; )
Yummy almond butter
Fresh the toppings with figs
Final Dish
Time to slice up
A little piece of heaven
Each bite was pure sweet bliss!
Michelle and I really enjoyed the combination of the almond butter and the sweet figs with the garbanzo bean socca! YUMMMMMM A little savory….with a little sweetness!
Wow, thank you for all the wonderful comments and emails about us sharing our thoughts on veganism. THANK YOU for your support We love you all!!! Looks like we all dislike food labels and putting pressure on ourselves is never a good thing.
As Michelle discussed her issues with labels and being vegan I have similar feelings. I am not a fan of food labels of any kind and from everyone’s comments yesterday no one really is. So I am glad I am not alone there
People ask me if my boyfriend is vegan? No he is not.
Does it bother me that he still eats meat? Yes and no.
I admit when I first starting really changing my diet my views on the world changed too. I was the ‘hard-core’ person who would pressure on my family to eat the way I did… now a few years later I have learned that putting pressure on others got me NOWHERE! Now I just let my family and friends do their own thing and I do my thing! I try to ‘hopefully’ inspire others my leading by example
My boyfriend still does eat chicken and fish from time to time. But since I do all the cooking in the house he rarely sees meat which he is fine with him. He told me ever since traveling overseas he really does not crave meat as much anymore. Typically when we go out to eat that is when he will get meat. I told him that I am fine with him having meat occasionally but I prefer him to buy the meat locally.
I know Michelle feels the same way I do about realizing that this is not a perfect world and people are still going to eat their meat. But we just hope more and more people start to really consider where their meat is coming from and to support their local community instead of the large scale factories.
For more great reads about this subject our dear friend Gena recently discussed her views as well along with another dear friend Averie shared her thoughts.
Here are some meatless inspirations (meals that I have made for my boyfriend that are also allergy friendly and he loved them all)
Creamy rice with sautéed veggies ( I used our raw zucchini tahini hummus as the creamy dressing)
Another meal was quinoa with roasted broccoli
Along with pan sautéed turnips and cauliflower with daiya cheese
Looks like meatless meals are just as bold in flavor, texture, color, and satisfaction! YAY!
Now I am not trying to put anyone down or anyone’s significant other down. I was just trying to show that I started off being that person who was harsh when people ate meat (especially my BF), but over time I let it go and let people eat what they want. And now my family and my boyfriend really enjoy meatless meals. Patience and leading by example with no hard feelings is key!
Ok enough serious talk now… we really did enjoy everyone’s comments on yesterdays post. It means the world to us to hear from all of you and see different people’s perspective on things. We learn so much from our readers!
This morning Michelle and I did another bodyrock tv exercise call the 600 rep sexier toned body. It was a tough one. A little different than some of her other workouts because the workout was based off all reps not time. It was a nice change but I do prefer the time interval workouts
We have gotten a few request for what our favorite bodyrock tv workout is… and that is tough. We like them all (well the ones we have done so far). Here are some good ones to get started with:
Michelle and I had a great very RELAXING weekend where we took time away from the computer! Our parents are in town so we have been spending time with them.
Here are pictures of some of our eats lately
Roasted veggies with more of our zucchini based basil sauce, fresh rosemary and black sesame seeds.
DELICIOUS!!! I am really enjoying my simple veggies dishes for dinner lately!
Also yesterday Michelle and I treated our parents to socca!! In honor of our socca Sunday tradition!
We made ours a little on the savory side with fresh local basil and tomatoes!
I am starting to really enjoy fresh tomatoes from all my farmers. This tomato here was called a Pink Lady. It was delicious.
Have you ever had a Pink Lady Tomato before?
It is funny how I am craving tomatoes when I am not a huge fan of them. By having fresh local tomatoes makes a BIG difference in the overall taste! The tomatoes you see in the stores are nothing like local tomatoes… in my opinion
And we made some of our gluten free vegan donuts for the parents! They loved them. They could not believe that this donut was actually ‘healthy’ YAY
And we have been enjoying our famous banana chip bars with the folks…
Heavenly! A winner for everyone!
I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing weekend like I did! It was great to catch up with our parents, but we have some issues that will be taking some of our time here soon. So we are not sure how much computer time we will be having.
Twins Question: What is the best thing you ate and did all weekend? Anything special?
Do you live in the same town as your family? If so do you see them often? If not, do you get to visit often? What is the hardest thing about being away from family for you ?
Yesterday Lori and I did another Bodyrock TV workout called Sexy Pain Train.
Loved this workout! I really enjoyed the whole workout and was able to really give it my all
After our workout we made a not so great smoothie…note to self Sun Warrior rice protein does not go well with grapefruit
Yes I still took a picture of this smoothie even though it was not the prettiest of smoothies.
After that we had a business meeting in Chapel Hill and decided after the meeting to check out a local coffee shop that we pass by all the time. The coffee shop is called Jessee’s.
We each got a cup of coffee and wrote down a to-do list.
Here I am enjoying my cup of joe
It was a really cute coffee shop. I loved the decor of the shop and the cozy feeling atmosphere! And the cup of joe Lori and I enjoyed was perfect.
After our pit stop for some caffeine we headed home to get orders ready. Plus tried out a new gluten free vegan cupcake and frosting we have been working on.
YUMMMMMY…and we have a winner ; )
Yes we pack every order ourselves. Everything in our bakery is handmade by us!We love what we do even if we have weird and long hours. Also remember our $6 shipping sale going on at Twin Cakes Bakery… well today is the last day, so stock up on some goodies
I just cut some beets, yellow squash, and acorn squash into french fries shapes and steamed them. When they were done I topped them with off with cinnamon and sea salt.
Little bit later we were still hungry so we made some lentils with fresh rosemary
Before heading off to bed I enjoyed one glass of my homemade kombucha. I have been enjoying it at night lately and love to end my day with it.
Today is going to be a busy day, had to get up early to get it started! ; )
To-do today:
Bake 50 cupcakes for a birthday party
Ice up and decorate 50 cupcakes
Bake muffins, coffee cake, donuts, scones for farmers market
Pack car
Clean, laundry
emails, blog, work on recipe Friday pos
Get online orders together, print labels, package orders
Workout
Speaking of workout
Lori and I enjoyed some of our workout truffles for our pre-workout snack.
Time to go workout and get things checked of the to-do list!
Be back later with a delicious, fun, light, fresh summer dinner!!! You won’t want to miss it.
Thanks for all the sweet comments about what a day in the life of pure2raw twins is like Hugs to you all!
Ever since we had our first beet smoothie, thanks to Katie, we are in love. The last few weeks it seemed like we were enjoying one a few times a week!
Here are some pictures of the ones we have been enjoying!
Pardon our twin Vita-mix’s in the background ; )
Love the thick texture the beets can provide ; )
The smoothies shown above were a variety of different combinations but with the one key ingredient… beets! I have been noticing that my tummy really loves beets both in smoothie form, roasted or steamed
Today I present you…
Pure2raw recipe: Plum Beet Smoothie
Ingredients:
2 cups water
3 plums
1 grapefruit
1 small red beet
1 grapefruit
Juice of one lemon
2 tbsp hemp seeds
3 stalks of greens (I used amaranth greens)
1 packet stevia (optional)
1 spoonful sunflower lecithin (optional)
This smoothie for me made about 6 cups!
Now if you do not like grapefruit then you will not enjoy this smoothie. So feel free to put in your favorite fruit : )
What about you, have you ever tried beets in your smoothies?
Well Michelle and I have been working on a fun video for you all! We hope you like it
We have received a lot of questions about what do we do exactly during the day. Well we decided to make a little short video of it. We tried to show ‘fun’ things Now keep in mind each day for us is DIFFERENT. Some days we are on the computer more than others and than other days we are in the kitchen fulfilling orders.
We aim to get up at 6am (though lately we have not gotten up till 6:45am).
We head to the kitchen to make some warm hot water.
Sit on the couch and try to wake up!
Next we discuss what needs to get down for the day. And try to start our day around 7:15am. Sip on another glass of water while we get things going in the kitchen (make raw desserts) or checking emails, etc.
Our unbaked mint brownie bar.
Around 8 or 9am we will have a little pre-workout snack. Thirty or so minutes later we will do our workout.
Our typical workout lately has been:
5-10 minutes warm-up
15-25 minutes of hard high intensity workout (Bodyrock tv workouts)
5 minutes cool-down
Next we shower and make our post-workout smoothie (usually a green smoothie). This happens around 11am or so.
Next we either go back in the kitchen, return phones calls, respond to emails, blog, or run errands.
About 2 or 3pm we make another meal. This meal varies.
Random meal: A small banana pudding with spirulina and cacao nibs.
More work on computer is done and a round of cleaning.
Around 6pm dinner is being made.
Dinner was some steamed beets, squash, fresh rosemary, some raw and steamed leeks, topped with a new spread we made (recipe coming soon) and sea salt.
All mixed around! Glorious!!! There are no words to fully describe this meal Out of this world good! Love it, love it, love it
Some days we have little snacks (usually something for twin cakes bakery).
We usually do more blogging in the evening along with more computer work till about midnight or 1am. Sometimes we are even in the kitchen till very late!
Ok now for the fun video! We tried to keep it short and not too boring Therefore we did not show exactly everything we do because that would be boring, haha.
We finally got around to trying those lovely hemp products we received samples (we did not pay for these samples) from Living Harvest.Thanks again!
As I mentioned before we have used Living Harvest Unsweetened Vanilla milk in the past and loved it (which we bought with our own money). Living Harvest non-dairy milks have always been the brand we have used.
Although we do not drink much “milk” anymore (because dairy does not do well with us). Not even non-dairy alternatives, no real reason, we just don’t crave it or use non-dairy alternatives that often.
Though we thought about trying out these dairy free milk alternatives in our smoothies since we have never really tried it before. We have seen many others put some sort of milk or non-dairy alternative in their smoothies, so we thought lets try it too
Last week, after our workout we made a delicious chocolate shake with hemp protein.
Looks a little different the most hemp proteins we have tried. I know it is not raw, so I guess that explains it.
Did about 1 cup of the chocolate hemp milk to 3-4 scoops of hemp protein powder. Blend in blender!
Results: We loved it! It was smooth and had a decent flavor and texture to it. The chocolate hemp milk has a good flavor although it does contain sugar! We prefer the unsweetened hemp milk!
Is this something we would eat everyday? No
As we do not have a lot of “protein powders” in general. They do not sit well with us, but we do like to have them a few times a week : )
Last week while I was in Charlotte I made Gary a hemp based smoothie every morning and he loved them!! YAY!
Here is what I did:
Banana Vanilla Tropical Smoothie:
1 cup hemp vanilla milk
1/2 -1 cup water
1 frozen banana
2 handfuls of spinach
1/2 bag of frozen fruit blend (mango, pineapple, strawberry) (it was a small bag)
3 scoops of hemp protein
Blend in blender **note I did not really measure the fruit I just threw some in there till I got the texture and flavor I wanted!!
Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie:
1 cup chocolate hemp milk
1/2 cup- 1 cup water
1 1/2 frozen banana
1 – 1/2 cups strawberries
3 scoops hemp protein
2 handfuls of spinach
Blend in blender!
You can use whatever dairy alternative you like and add less or more liquid depending on your desired thickness of smoothie. Also add more or less fruit depending on your level of sweetness.
We really like Living Harvest non-dairy hemp milk for our dairy substitutes! The hemp protein powder also had nice texture and flavor. Great for those who like protein powders!
Thanks again Living Harvest for sending us the samples. We still have to try the hemp ice cream
Hopefully later we will have a fun video for you all to watch! It is still in the works
Twins question: Are you a milk person?
If you are sensitive to dairy like us, what is your non-dairy milk alternative you like? Why? Do you go by price or flavor when choosing a non-dairy milk alternative?
Or are you a person who always makes your own ‘milk’?
Going along with what I mentioned earlier, here are some pictures from my Carrboro Farmers Market on Saturday
7am – everyone just about ready for the traffic of people to come walking through!
I was luckily enough we had a local guitar player come and play some music and he sat directly across from me.
He was a big hit and having live music was nice!
After the market (thanks again for our local clients who come out to support our bakery, we love you all) Michelle and I made a simple chocolate green pudding. *warning it is not the most flattering color pudding
Roasted beets and squash covered in our hummus with fresh rosemary.
The hummus really gave a wonderful creaminess feel without having any dairy. Love that!
Michelle enjoying her dinner on the porch! Love summer evenings sometimes (lately though it has been extremely hot and humid so we do not get to sit outside that much).
We have something fun, and different, for tomorrows post ; ) We sure hope you all like it!
And per request here is a picture of our final gluten-free vegan yeast-free baked donut!
Remember Twin Cakes Bakery is offering $6 shipping on ALL orders for just a little awhile longer.
Passionate about fitness, nutrition, health, un-baking, high-intensity workouts, yoga, wine, traveling, certified chefs and making delicious food! We hope to inspire others to appreciate food as nourishment to the body.
Our blog shows our journey of finding balance between food, fitness, and life!
(source)
It is not that gluten is necessary bad for you, it is difficult for many to digest, like us.
