Andrea's Pantry Staples

I have wanted to share this list for along time because I believe a well stocked pantry is VERY important to minimize the overwhelm of cooking meals at home. When I say well stocked I don’t mean that you need to have everything under the sun in there either. I simply mean that you have the basic building blocks to create a really great meal at any time. These are the items that can usually be found in my cupboards. What does your pantry look like? Comment below and let me know!

1. Jasmine or Basmati Rice: These are my favorite two and I always have them on hand because they are a great staple gluten-free item.

2. Brown Rice: I am not a huge fan of brown rice, but I do like it Chicken Tikka Masala because it’s texture holds up nicely to the sauce, so I keep a little of this on hand.

3. Almond Flour: I make my own almond flour from the process of making my own almond milk. If you want to see how I do that, CLICK HERE!

4. Oat Flour: This is another common gluten-free flour that you find in a lot of recipes, so I like to keep it on hand.

5. Oats: I always have either GF regular oats or quick cooking steel cut oats on hand because I eat oatmeal so often for breakfast. It will always be my go-to breakfast because I love it so much.

6. Diced Tomatoes: These can be used in so many different styles of cuisines so I always keep them on hand. They are perfect for a super quick tomato sauce too.

7. Tomato Paste: I love keeping tubes of tomato paste on hand (usually from Trader Joe’s) because they can add an extra dimension of flavor to so many meals. I also need it for homemade tomato sauce, so….duh!

8. Tubes of Ginger Paste: I love the Trader Joe’s tubes of minced ginger because then you don’t have a knob of ginger going bad in your fridge when you only need a tiny piece for a recipe. I love to season soups, bowls, chicken, etc, with a ginger/garlic combo.

9. Broths (Veg and Chicken): I loooove to make soups, so these are an obvious must have. I only use chicken and veggie broth in my home so that’s all I stock. I always buy low sodium broths so I can control the salt level.

10. Great Northern Beans: These are one of my favorite soup beans.

11. Black Beans: A necessary for any Chipotle inspired burrito bowl or mexican inspired dish.

12. Kidney Beans: I love how big kidney beans are so they really bulk up a meal.

13. Nori Sheets: Great for sushi bowls and for making homemade miso soup.

14. Almond Butter/Peanut Butter: I like to freshly grind mine at my grocery store and choose whatever I’m in the mood for.

15. Coconut Sugar: I use coconut sugar in place of regular granulated or brown sugar whenever I can. I use it as my sweetener for my oatmeal too.

16. Chia Seeds: I put chia seeds in my smoothies and in my oatmeal.

17. Flax Seeds: I put flax in every smoothie I make (technically I store these in the fridge).

18. Hemp Seeds: These also go in my oatmeal.

19. Chocolate Chips: I keep them for obvious reasons, but I love to snack on 5-10 when I have a sweet tooth at night.

20. Arrowroot Powder: I use this in place of cornstarch as a thickening agent, but it’s also found in a lot of GF recipes.

21. Almonds: I make my own almond milk so I always have a big Costco bag of these on hand.

22. Salsa Verde (specifically from Trader Joe’s): I love to keep salsa on hand for an easy snack, but I also love pouring a jar over chicken breasts in the crockpot for an easy dinner.

23. Tomato Sauce (canned): I only keep the little cans of this on hand for when I make Chicken Tikka Masala.

24. Dry Red Wine: This is my preference when it comes to drinking wine, but I also like to have it on hand to add to the base of my tomato sauces. It adds such a richness to your tomato sauce.

25. Rice Paper Sheets: These are a quick easy dinner or lunch if you have lots of veggies on hand to use up. You can simply wet them and make spring rolls in no time at all.

26. Konjac Noodles: These are a new favorite of mine. They are almost calorie-less, gluten-free and I really like the texture. They are not as sticky as a rice noodle and have a little bit more of a bite, so I prefer them to rice noodles.

27. Red Lentil/ Other Gluten Free Pastas: Pasta will always be my go-to easiest meal to make for dinner, so I like to keep some good GF options on hand. I love red lentil pasta the most, but chickpea is also tasty!

28. Lentils: These are an easy way to bulk up a soup, so I love having a big jar of them to throw in vegetarian soup.

29. Polenta: Another GF alternative to eating a wheat product with your meal. The Italian in me wishes I could easy cheesy polenta every night.

If you made it to the end of this, GREAT JOB! I hope you enjoyed getting a peak into my pantry. What are your staples? If it’s not on my list, tell me what it is!

Have a beautiful day,

Andrea

My 'Party's Over' Detox Skin Tips

Welcome back! If you don't follow me on Instagram (...but like why aren't you?) then you wouldn't know that I spent 5 days last week in Chicago working a wedding and then frolicking with friends in the city. This meant more gluten than I normally eat, little sleep, wine instead of water, and all sorts of anti-clear skin habits. Am I paying for it? You betcha. Was it worth it? HELL YES! Because spending quality time with my best friends is priceless and I have the tricks to get my skin back to where I want it once the party's over. 

Today I'm sharing what I've been doing to get my skin back to where I want it & my body feeling normal again. These are my "Party's Over" Detox Skin Tips. Whether you're back from vacation or just celebrated your birthday week (...or month haha) I hope you find these tips helpful to getting back on track with your skin & body.

1. Get rid of all the guilt. Do not spend one second stressed about the fact that you had 2 donuts instead of 1. We've all been there. We've all done it. But that's the point. It's done and all you can do is accept that you cannot change it and get back on track now.

2. Cut out your trigger foods for a week. The first thing I had to do when I got back was get back to eating gluten-free every meal. I usually had one or two meals with gluten when I was in Chicago and since it affects my skin so much, I have cut them out for a week to boost my clear skin and feel better. Whatever your trigger food may be, skip it for a few days or a week and it'll help you to start feeling like yourself again.

3. Do an At Home Detox Facial: Chances are you were a little more lax with your skincare routine when on vacation so it's time to get your skin back into shape. This is especially important for me because my diet caused some serious texture issues and breakouts. I cannot recommend this enough. Here's how I do it.

1. Start by cleansing your face & toning. I'm currently using this Juice Beauty Green Apple Brightening Gel Cleanser, but if you don't have it try to go for one with a gentle chemical exfoliation to help get rid of any congestion. This cleanser was in my July Favorites; click here to read why I liked it. 
2. 1st Mask: Chemical exfoliation; I like the Herbivore Botanicals Blue Tansy Mask because it's great for blemishes. Leave on for 15-20 min until dry and wash off & tone again.
3. 2nd Mask: Detox and clarifying; I prefer the Aztec Healing Bentonite Clay because it boosts circulation and detoxifies so well! Click here to read my post on this mask. The clay comes as powder and I like to mix it with apple cider vinegar or water and add a few drops of tea tree oil until it forms a thin paste. I apply it and leave it on for 30-45 min depending on how long it takes to dry/how long I can handle it. It tingles! Rinse and tone again.
4. 3rd Mask: Hydrate & Nourish; I love the Farmacy Honey Potion Renewing Anti-Oxidant Hydration Mask to hydrate and heal my skin after I've neglected it. It warms on contact and is such a comforting and nourishing experience. Leave this one on for about 15 minutes and have a cup of tea. Rinse off, tone, and apply your normal spot treatments & serums. 
5. Lastly it's time to re-hydrate your skin due to your preference of wine over water. I like to throw on my Laneige Water Sleeping Mask in place of my moisturizer so I can really benefit from all the hyaluronic acid and feel hydrated when I wake up.

4. Try reducing your caffeine intake. I know what you're probably thinking. Wait, I need MORE coffee to recover from a great time than less, but trust me. Your skin and your body will adapt better with less caffeine. Try sleeping more instead! Crazy I know...

Go ahead bookmark this post for easy access next time you have a girls night out, staycation, or simply need weekend recovery. If you're like me, you're not 21 anymore and can use the tips to getting back on track. Maybe you'll feel a little less stressed about skipping your routine when it's time to simply have fun!

Have a great week,

Andrea

My Elimination Diet Experience

If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen that during April and May I underwent an elimination diet to figure out which foods were bothering me. A lot of you were interested in the process and results so I figured I would share a little bit about my history that led me to do this type of diet, what it was like, and what I discovered about my digestive health. 

*Disclaimer: Always check with your doctor before starting an elimination diet or any type of diet. I am not a nutritionist and this post is meant only to share my experience with you guys! 

Background:
First let's talk about my history. A little over 10 years ago, while visiting my family in Brazil, I ended up with a twisted intestine. They were able to fix it there but when I came back to the U.S. I ended up having more pains. They did every test under the sun but weren't able to diagnose anything else. Since my twisted intestine, I have had a love hate relationship with my digestive system. Many foods continued to make me sick and surprise, surprise, more tests came and no answers were discovered. I finally decided to play with my diet and take out the foods that made me sick. 

For the past 10 years, I've been vegetarian 80% of the time because meat has just never settled well for me. I would go through phases of eating no meat and then slowly phasing it back in, but my symptoms always came back. I wake up with symptoms at 3 am more than I'd like to admit and spend 60% of the time probably feeling bloated and looking 3 months pregnant. There's plenty more symptoms but in case you're reading this on your lunch break, I'll spare you the details. I have medicine that I was given to help my intestines not spasm so much, but the thought of living my life taking pills in order to eat certain foods just didn't feel like the life I wanted to live. After talking to my doctor a earlier this year we decided I needed to try more probiotics (I started making my own kombucha which I LOVE) and changing my diet up.

My Elimination Diet:
In the beginning of April, a friend texted me and asked if I wanted to do an elimination diet with her and be accountability partners. I had always told myself that I should try one, like the Whole 30, etc, but had never just bit the bullet and done it. The one we did was based off the book 'The Elimination Diet: Discover the Foods that are Making You Sick and Tired --and Feel Better Fast' by Tom Malterre & Alissa Segersten, which is a little bit different than the Whole 30. If you're interested I highly recommend buying the book and going off of that and checking with your doctor first. 

Elimination Phase:
For the first 3 weeks I eliminated the following; beef, pork, citrus, nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, etc.), soy, corn, gluten, added sugar, nuts, alcohol, chocolate, & dairy. Basically when people would ask what I couldn't have it was easier to tell them what I could eat because that list was shorter! haha I also eliminated caffeine because I knew it has an effect on my digestive system and I didn't want it to skew the results. I used to drink one cup of coffee every morning and a few afternoons a week, so this was a difficult change for me. 

The first three weeks were tough. I craved foods I didn't even really like that much and had never craved before. I had terrible headaches for the first 4 days because of the caffeine withdrawals. The good news though, is that I never felt hungry. I was eating so many fruits and vegetables and foods that were nutritionally dense, but not calorie dense, so I felt great! It was crazy to see how quickly I felt like my stomach shrank in half and I was full quicker. The three weeks honestly went quicker than I expected once I got used to the foods I could and couldn't have. I was basically eating extremely clean and unprocessed and it felt great! I had energy after my meals instead of feeling comatose and ALL of my symptoms went away. I had the best skin I've had in years, with no breakouts and I felt like I was glowing. The only drinks I was having was 2 cups of chamomile tea a day (in replacement of coffee) and SO much water. I'm usually great with water intake but this was even better! 

The one thing that was hard for me at first was that I felt like I lost my love for food for a few weeks. If you've been following my blog or IG you know that I LOVE to cook. Food is my passion and I cook most of my meals almost every day. I found myself feeling like I was just eating for sustenance and not for enjoyment which was hard when you love creating meals. Eventually I got over this feeling though, when I started looking at cooking in a different way. I started challenging myself to create my favorite meals using substitutes and cooking became fun again!

The Reintroduction Phase: 
After the three weeks are up, you start adding one type of food in for 3 days to see what your body's response is. If you pass and have no symptoms, you get to keep it in your diet and move onto the next food. If you don't pass it, you have to wait for your body to clear the upsetting food and remove it again but continue on. The book is great at outlining the order and way that you should introduce the foods so again I highly recommend checking it out so you can do the process properly. 

The Results & Where I'm at Now:
So what did I discover? Beef and pork are in fact triggers for me. When I did three days of each back to back, I was so lethargic and exhausted that I knew it was a sign that my body didn't like them. Going into this I had a feeling it wasn't just these two however, so I wasn't surprised to see that I didn't have my normal symptoms from them. I knew there had to be something else.

Enter in testing gluten. When the time came to test, I had something with gluten for dinner and the next morning all of my symptoms were back. The same thing kept happening over the course of more gluten meals. The interesting part I found was that I broke out terribly on the third day and it just kept happening with more gluten. 

So where am I at now? I eat a gluten free diet with no beef or pork. Even though I didn't end up with symptoms when testing dairy, I still try to eat a very minimal amount (I am so thankful I can still have my ice cream cones this summer), because I have noticed in the past how it can affect my skin. I still haven't gone back to caffeine on a regular basis and I honestly don't know if I'll go back anytime soon. I have only had 2 cups of coffee since I started 2 months ago and will drink an occasional green tea if I feel like I need it. I'm sleeping better and even lost 14 pounds during the process which wasn't intentional but I was happy about! My anxiety was also much lower during this process which I found really interesting. 

The thing I am most proud of however is that I was able to practice self control and accomplish something so difficult! I promise you it’s worth it in the end to so! You will feel great about yourself!  

My Recommendations:
I highly recommend that you do more research and talk to your doctor if this sounds any bit intriguing to you. I think everyone should try this diet at least once because it's very eye opening. I felt like I was finally living without the fog when I was eating clean and unprocessed. Sometimes you don't realize how negatively something can be impacting you until you remove it. Here are some things to remember if you want to try this out:

-Do this process with a friend. It was SO helpful to have someone I could text all the time and ask questions to, give feedback to, and just talk about how I was doing. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between our symptoms. It also happened to work out that on days when I was feeling really low she was doing well and was able to pick me up, and vice versa. Support is EVERYTHING in these types of situations.

-Don't try this when you have many special events going on. The less temptations you have the easier it will be to stick to the diet and not stray. It's not fun to go to a wedding and not be able to eat the food, so plan accordingly.

-Meal plan and prep every week. This was huge for me and I really think it's the bulk of why I succeeded. I never questioned what I was going to eat next and always had many options available that I was excited about. The book contains many great recipes for all of the different phases so it was nice having some options and ideas. 

-Give your friends and family the heads up that you are doing this. If you let everyone close in your life know that you are doing this diet, they will be less likely to invite you out and tempt you into situations where you make bad food decisions.

-Plan on not eating out for awhile. The only times I found it difficult to find something to eat were when I had to eat out (i.e. I went out of town). Bring plenty of snacks wherever you go so that if this happens, you at least have some back up foods. 

I hope this over view of my Elimination Diet experience was helpful for you! Please feel free to comment below or email me with any questions you have. I love talking about it because it was such a positive experience for me. 

Have a beautiful day and don't forget to take your health seriously! We only get one shot!

Andrea