Eating Frisian

Now that my workout schedule is curtailed, I have had extra time to delve into some cooking, European football, rowing, and socializing.

This life is kind of nice, actually; I don't feel like an extremist anymore. I am able to walk pretty well now, swim and bike for up to 60-90 minutes without too much pain, so I can keep some level of fitness. I haven't gained any weight (in fact, those 10 pounds are staying off... just wait'lll you see my 6-pack!), I've met some great people, and I've learned quite a lot about nutrition.

For the last few weeks, I've been eating a mainly Paleo diet (meat, vegetables and fruit, plus some seeds, nuts & natural fats). While it's tasty and keeps the weight off, it's darn expensive, time-consuming, and leaves me low on energy sometimes. I'm quite a firm believer in the "Whatever works for YOU" theory of nutrition, because once you cut out the obvious stuff (junk food, processed food, refined flour and sugar, excessive alcohol, etc) I believe there are many variants of a successful "diet". People can be healthiest and happiest eating vegetarian or omnivore; low-fat or high-fat; high-carb or low-carb depending on their bodies and genetics. Brendan Brazier does well on his mostly raw vegan Thrive diet, for example, while others subscribe to Paleo or Atkins ideology. Michael Pollan seems to advocate a more environmentally-conscious plan for eating (based on plants and whole grains) which is equally laudable.

To each his own.

With my middling success on Paleo, I've decided to take it as a base and modify my diet to focus more on what my ancestors ate... not in prehistoric, ancient or even medieval times, but rather from about the 15th or 16th century AD.

Why? Well, I am in a somewhat strange position here in North America, in that I am born of two Frisians, whose parents were Frisians, and whose parents, in turn, were Frisian and Dutch. I am able to trace my ancestry back in the Netherlands for many generations. Oh, very probably there is some cross-mixing somewhere, as my name has been traced to South Africa and inevitably, the Frisian communities in Germany, as well as the Polish, co-mingled to some extent. But what I am saying is that, for the most part, my particular set of genes may have developed to thrive on food common to that region of the world.

Thus, I am really very curious to see how well I do on a traditional Frisian/ Dutch/ West German diet. Or maybe I really do have too much time on my hands!

So what are these traditional foods? Well I did some research, and I found a good starting point at www.medievalcooking.com; there is a document specifically outlining Frisian cooking during that time period. As I said, that is a bit too far back in time to be practical for me, but I'll try to start there and add /subtract later as I learn more...

Meat:
We are looking primarily at fish, pork, beef, lamb, and goat... pretty much in that order. I know that fish, fishing, and sailing were the prime focus of the paternal side of my family for generations. Poultry was also available (goose, duck, chicken). I had the idea that cows tended to be used for milk and dairy foods (first?).

Dairy:
In a word: lots. Why do you think they call those dairy cows "Frisians" anyhow? In fact, Northern Europeans are one of the few groups of people who can actually digest milk and milk products into adulthood. This is a notable deviation from the Paleo and Atkins prescriptions.

Vegetables:
Root veggies reigned supreme... potatoes, turnips, beets, onions, parsnips, carrots. Pumpkin, cucumber (lots of pickles!) cabbage, spinach, kale and collards were also used.

Fruits:
Apples, pears, melons, and various berries were predominant.

Grains:
Rye or pumpernickel bread was a staple of the diet for centuries.. and I mean the supremely dense, dark stuff (Westphalian pumpernickel). It is pretty much like the German Volkornbrot or Roggenbrot. I was exposed to it growing up but always hated its bitter, dense texture; now I'm going to give it another go... I found Volkornbrot at Loeb and I'm eating it with raw goat cheese now! Other available grains included (but were not limited to) oats, millet, and barley.

Nuts, seeds & legumes:
Hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, and some varieties of beans

Wish me luck... I'm going to post pictures if I can...

Oh... beer, wine, coffee and tea were all copiously consumed!

Falling Apart

It can always be worse.

Oh, it can ALWAYS be worse.

Bone scan today. Guess what? No bone issues with my right foot... so whatever is causing the pain, numbness and tingling is NOT a stress fracture.

But.. I do have a stress fracture. And it hurts like a motherf...

In my good foot.

Probably from limping around for a month with this horrible boot cast.

So this morning I set out to the hospital with a boot cast on my right foot. I left the hospital with the same boot cast on the other foot. Don't ask me how I am supposed to get around on two ruined feet.

And before I left the hospital, I locked myself in the restroom and actually sobbed with rage.

Bone Health and F-A-T

I've come into an strange conundrum.

By eating super, super clean for 7 weeks in a way that bordered on obsessive (including charting every item and quantity that went into my mouth in a very detailed Excel spreadsheet!) I managed to lose 10-12 pounds of bodyweight; some of which is associated water, some is fat, and some.. unfortunately.. is muscle.

While I am happy to see my abs again, I have a problem. Most of the last 6 weeks I have been out of commission with my foot, so the calorie deficit came almost all through diet (yay for raw vegetables). And while my maintenance level is still quite high for the average girl, I managed to lose other measures of health too.

So now I am sitting here with broken bones and entering into the zone of what is callled (shudder) the "female athlete triad" - oh, how appropriate the acronym: "F-A-T". Definitely not a harbinger of health, and definitely not the way to go if I want to be cycling again before the end of the summer. 10 times more frustrating because I am definitely not "under-fat" or underweight by any standard measure, even by the seriously flawed BMI.

I ate like a monster yesterday in desperation... hoping to "jump-start" things... but today I'm back to super clean whole foods plus mega amounts of Ca, D, Mg, Zn and multivitamins. If the bone scan shows more than 2 fractures I will need to address this with the doc.

In fact, I might need to address this with the doc anyways...

In this, my last outlet of rage, I let out my most agonized and frustrated scream:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Incredible Edible Beanie

I made flourless brownies from beans yesterday evening, and then I had them for breakfast.

Skeptical?

Don’t be… they are awesome. Fudgy, tasty, nutritious, not too sweet… feel free to improvise, but here’s what I did:

The Incredible Edible “Beanie”

Navy beans (soaked, cooked & rinsed, from 125g dry)
Chickpeas (1/2 can drained & rinsed)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup skim milk
2 tbsp vinegar
4 heaping tsp instant coffee + about 4 tbsp water
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch alkali – hence I used the vinegar)
½ cup Splenda-brown sugar blend
4 tbsp ground flax
2 tsp cinnamon
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp baking soda
½ cup walnuts

Pam for pan (9” x 12”)

Nutritional Information
Each (makes 16)

133 Calories
6g Protein
5g Fibre
5g fat (1g saturated, 0g trans fat, 1 mono, 2 poly)
10% RDA of Iron
783mg Omega-3 fatty acids

Puree all ingredients – except cocoa, brown sugar & walnuts - in blender (unless you have a super blender or food processor). It is important to puree the beans well.

Pour into mixing bowl and stir in cocoa, brown sugar and nuts by hand.

Bake for 30 mins at 350F but check carefully… it’s better to undercook. Let cool completely on stovetop, then chill in fridge before cutting & eating.

I know it's hard to wait, but these have a better flavour and consistency when chilled.

Enjoy!

June Report on the New Year’s Goals

I think it’s high time to do another one of these. Now that I’m laid up: bad leg bruised from the walking cast, bad foot tingling and shooting pain into my toes, with my “good” foot hurting like a m@#)$(%* from the limping, let’s see how well (or poorly) I am doing.

I was going to do a net worth analysis but I will save that until the halfway point in the year: medical, physio, and other costs are adding up… about $400 so far this month. The walking cast cost me 200 bucks, uninsured.

I did go to Europe - and I got back in one piece - so that goal was accomplished.

My athletic goals are pretty much all forsaken now. I am hoping beyond hope that the pain in my “good” foot in the same area as the “bad” one isn’t indicative of another stress fracture of the 4th metatarsal. If I have to spend the rest of my summer in a g(*@$%& wheelchair I think someone will find me hanging from a noose in my sweltering hot apartment.

If I ever do bike/run/walk again in my cursed life, I may indeed be faster: I am now 12 pounds lighter than when I arrived home from Europe. Sure, the Guinness and “frites” packed on some insulation, but I’ve lost a good 7 more in my quest to heal. Eating three pounds a day of calcium-rich greens will do that to anyone. Now I just don’t feel like eating - as I realized while I force-fed myself a red onion and a bunch of spinach today - so I’m bound to lose more. Actually, I don’t feel like doing much at all.

As for schooling/ CFA: I gave it a good attempt. But one thing I can attest to now: I never want ti have a CFA designation. In fact, I do not want a finance-related career.

Too bad that’s what I spent 5 years of my life working toward. So shoot me.