An Epiphany

I am two weeks into boot camp and loving it. I love the feel of new muscles budding out of places ne'er seen before. I love the fun and inclusion of working out. I love that I do this without kids, talking to adults and sculpting my body in the process.

I especially love that I can now do TWO military push ups instead of ONE a week ago.

What I have discovered on this journey through a change in nutrition and food journaling is that my body does not like dairy. I took it out of my diet one week before boot camp began, and started to see the difference then. No bloating, no nasal congestion, no fatigue and really full feeling after eating. No trips to the bathroom - so to speak..... So I began to listen to my body once again, and what I heard it saying was .....cut out the cheese please.

So I am a modified lactose intolerant chick now. I still eat cottage cheese, but only two times a week, and never two days in a row. I also have plain, unflavoured yogurt with fresh berries and homemade granola. Other than that, I really try hard to not eat it. My body, and tummy love me for it.

I used to think that I was cross- contaminated, or "glutened" as some say when really it was dairy. I used to doubt my ability to eat truly gluten free when I felt sick after, when it was dairy. I used to think my body was self-sabotaging when it was really dairy. Take dairy out of the equation, change nothing else, and BINGO it was dairy as the culprit all along.

So now I am a gluten-free, dairy-free girl!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I got adventurous and made some new muffins. Roger is taking them to work, and I need something quick and easy to eat now that I am bootcamp. They were wonderful - moist, lemony, they did not taste gluten free at all!

**for the flour I used Carole's quick mix (sorghum flour, potato flour and tapioca starch) but you could use any gluten free flour that you like.

LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFINS

1 1/2 c. sugar 1/2 c. powdered milk 3 eggs 1 c. oil 3 c. gluten free flour 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp xanthan gum 1 1/2 tbsp. poppy seeds 1 1/2 tsp. lemon extract 1 1/2 tsp. melted butter 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla Grated lemon peel from 2 lemons Cream together sugar, powdered milk, eggs and oil. Add flour, salt and baking powder alternately to creamed mixture with 1 1/2 cups milk. Add remaining ingredients. Beat 1 to 2 minutes. Pour into muffin pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.