A slow decline in energy left me frustrated and finally got me to seek medical help. A few blood tests later and I got an answer:
Celiac Disease. Still waiting on a biopsy to confirm that diagnosis, but I have decided to start following a gluten-free lifestyle. Currently on my 4th week. It's hard, and can be frustrating. I spend a lot of time reading labels in the supermarket, and currently hate eating out at restaurants (unless they have one of those spiffy gluten-free menus, like
Elephant Walk, yummy). After my first race on a gluten-free diet, I learned that even some "safe" carb laden items like potatoes didn't work well with my stomach. I was directed by a friend to the
Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which eliminates all complex carbs. Luckily my friend knew of a fellow triathlete and SCD guru, Doug. He has been a great resource for me and is full of knowledge about this subject. I don't think that I will 100% follow this diet, but I really like the principle and will loosely follow the rules. I'll bake from the list of
SCD approved recipes, which have proven to be delicious so far. They are so simple, fresh, and healthy. I'll start off with Doug's own pancake recipe, which is just so yummy I can't even describe it. Check it out below, especially the short list of very healthy ingredients. It's really impressive and they are probably the best pancakes I've ever made. I ate these while carb-loading the day before my last triathlon, and my stomach has never felt better going into a race.
Start by mashing 2 bananas with 2 eggs
Once it is relatively smooth, add baking soda, vanilla, salt, and nut flour(s). You can add more or less nut flour depending on how thick you want your pancakes. The less flour you use, the thinner the pancakes will be.
Cook small pancakes over medium heat. Take care when flipping!!
You can add chocolate chips if you want :)
They brown very easily, no worries!
WOW- yum!! So good!
In case you are wondering, you can buy almond flour at Trader Joe's, and can buy in bulk from online sites like
Lucy's.
The recipe Doug gave me just called for almond flour, but I figured that the
peanut butter powder I had in my cabinet would work really well with these banana pancakes so I went half almond flour half peanut butter powder. Also, the peanut butter powder (which is peanuts with the oil pressed out, very low-calorie considering it's peanuts) is stickier when combined with liquid and I figured it would hold the pancakes together well. It worked very well!
Recipe
This makes about 10 silver dollar sized pancakes and is good for 2 people with a tiny bit of leftovers. Can easily be halved for one person.
2 bananas, ripe
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
approx. 1/2 cup almond flour (I use half peanut and half almond flour. Would be great with just almond though)
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
Mash bananas. Mix in eggs. Stir in vanilla, salt, baking soda. Add nut flour. You might want more or less depending on how fluffy you want your pancakes. The thinner the batter, the thinner the pancakes. You can add whatever fillings you want- fruit, chocolate chips, nuts... whatever! I personally like chocolate chips but Dan loves them plain.
Cook silver-dollar size pancakes on LOW heat. They are not as cohesive as regular pancakes so be careful flipping. They also brown more than regular pancakes, but don't worry, they still taste amazing.
Get the recipe direct from Comfy Belly :)
