Why I Fight the Fat

Today is day 15 of my 21 Day Rapid Fat Loss program. Now some of you may wonder why a person who is objectively not fat would want to do a fat loss program. And that's a fair question. For me, it's all about being healthy and feeling comfortable in my own body.

I was not an athletic child. When I say "not athletic" I mean that physical activity was my own personal nightmare. I hated sports of all kinds. P.E. class was a daily form of torture, in which I tried to do the bare minimum and hope the coach wouldn't notice. I hated exertion. All I wanted to do was sit still and read books. Books of all kinds, any book would do. Actually, as a child I read some rather age inappropriate stuff because I could not NOT read. If I didn't have my own novel with me I would read anything that I found lying around. At age 12 I decided to read the Berkeley Public Library's children's section . . . in alphabetical order . . . you get the picture, right?

(not me, but just like me!)

Luckily for me I have skinny genes, so despite the lack of exercise I was never overweight. I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted and I never gained much weight. It was a pretty good deal until I hit my 30s. That's when my pear shaped body started to reveal itself. I was still a skinny-minny on top, but down below I was carrying a wider and wider load. I didn't weigh much more than before, but I was 100% cellulite. From being thin and frail, I had become flabby and frail.

Beyond aesthetics, I have always been rather lethargic and prone to various annoying, but not too serious maladies. This lack of energy and the amount of time I spent being sick started to increase dramatically over the years. Every time I ate, my stomach would swell. I had become the victim of allergies and recurrent sinisitus and when I hit 40 I started getting colds that instead of going away would get worse, becoming bronchitis - or even pneumonia - that would knock me out for up to six weeks and more. 

I had started running and weight training by then, but was never really able to get into shape because as soon as I would make some progress I'd get bronchitis, be out of action for weeks and then have to start all over again from zero. I can't tell you how frustrating that is. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired!

Then, thanks to the help of a good friend, I discovered that I am gluten and lactose intolerant. The doctor who diagnosed me, with genetic testing, told me that I had basically been poisoning myself every time I ate for my entire life. Wow. 

I have been gluten and lactose free for the past two years. It has not been easy. Imagine living in Italy, the land of pizza and pasta, breakfasts of cappuccino and cream-filled crescent rolls, and not being able to touch any of it! It has been a real trial and error process of trying to find things I can eat. Just about all packaged food has one or the other of my problem ingredients in it. The enemy is hiding everywhere.

So, my interest in Female Fat Loss After 40 and Shawna Kaminski's 21 Day Rapid Fat Loss program is twofold. For one, I want to drop the flab. And secondly, I want to be a strong and healthy person. I don't mind being small-framed and delicate, I love my body. But I am tired of being weak and without energy.

This has been a long post, so I will give you more specifics about how I am doing in my 21 day journey another day. Let me just say that I'm loving it!

Chiacchiere - A Carnival Treat

One of the things I love about Italy is how every holiday has its traditional sweet. I have a real sweet tooth and love to eat any kind of cake, cookies, candies, you name it! That's gotten a lot harder since I discovered that I'm intolerant to both gluten and lactose. There are some commercial products available without those ingredients, but for the most part I think they're pretty blah, taste-wise. So, if I want something sweet, I pretty much have to make it myself.

Luckily there are lots of sites on the Internet offering recipes for people with dietary limitations (see my sidebar for some I love). But, it's not always easy to reproduce my Italian holiday favs. As it's Carnival season I've been craving the light, crispy, sugar-coated delights called "Chiacchere." Well, they're called chiacchiere down here in the heel of the boot, in other areas they have all kinds of different names. 

I got lucky and found a great gluten and lactose-free chiacchiere recipe and thought I'd share it with you.

First of all, for any of you who don't know what "Chiacchiere" are, take a look at these yummy creations . . .

Photo from Flickr

Ingredients:

• 300 gr gluten-free flour 
• 60 gr sugar
• 2 large eggs 
• 25 gr vegetable margarine
• 1/2 glass of liqueur (for example: Martini bianco) 
• Oil for frying

Directions:

1. Sift the flour and add the sugar, eggs, softened margarine, and liqueur.

2. Blend well until the dough is smooth and compact. Add more flour if necessary.

3. Wrap in a soft cloth (a clean, dry dish towel will do fine) and set aside to rise for about 30 minutes.

4. Roll a section of the dough out to a thin layer, then use a pastry wheel to cut it into the shapes you desire. (I found my dough to be a bit sticky. It helped to roll it out on floured waxed paper.)

5. Fry the pieces of dough in plentiful hot oil. Be careful not to let the oil get too hot, or the chiacchiere will darken too quickly.

6. When golden, lift the chiacchiere out of the oil with a slotted spoon and lay them on blotting paper to absorb the excess oil.

7. Finally arrange them on a serving dish and sprinkle with powered sugar.

8. Enjoy!

For more info on chiacchiere read my article at Charming Italy.

By the way, besides being the name for these delicious sweets, "chiacchiere" means "chit-chat" or "small talk" in Italian!

Photo from Flickr

Plum Cake

Our single plum tree has been busy producing a bountiful crop of luscious purple plums. So many plums that we really can't eat them all ourselves. Just between you and me? You can only eat so many plums each day. So, we have also been giving away large quantities to family and friends.

 

Usually when I have this much of a fruit, I'll make jam. I may end up doing that soon. But, last night since we were having friends over, I decided to make a cake.

 

Baking, one of my passions, got more complicated about a year ago when I discovered that I was intolerant to both gluten and lactose. That means I can't eat anything with even traces of wheat, barley, malt or any kind of dairy products. With patience and practice, however, I have learned how to cook and bake within my dietary constraints.

 

A nice example is this Plum Cake. I do not remember where I found this recipe, but it is absolutely fantastic. Super easy to prepare (my kitchen philosophy remains "if it ain't easy, I don't cook it!") and delicious.

 

Ingredients:

125g vegetable margarine, softened

120g sugar + 2 tbsp

180g Gluten-free Dry Flour Mix

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

pinch of salt

24 halves pitted damsons (or other dark plums)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

Cream together the margarine and 120g sugar until soft and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat into the mixture before adding the beaten eggs a little at a time. Mix thoroughly to combine then spoon this batter into an ungreased 22 or 25cm springform cake tin. Cover the top with the plums, placing them skin side down.

Mix the cinnamon with the remaining sugar and use to sprinkle over the top of the cake. Place in an oven pre-heated to 170°C and bake for between 40 to 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake emerges clean.

I had planned to take a lovely picture of a single slice, served with vanilla ice-cream, but my family's patience with my picture-taking mania ran thin and they devoured the cake before I had time to shoot a single shot.