Category: Food and drink

Coffee Alternatives

I love coffee! Those magical beans that when you roast them, grind them and pour hot water through them, transforms that water into a delicious, dark, bitter elixir of life. Add some frothy milk and I’m in heaven.

Unfortunately coffee is not my friend. It gives me fake energy. I think I can do more than I can and it drains me. I use it medicinally – if I have a headache that will not shift with anything else, coffee usually works. I also drink it before a function like a wedding. I know I’m going to be stuffed anyway, so I might as well give myself the chance to fake being well! But I cannot have it everyday – or even every week. I very quickly get addicted, I need more and more of it to be effective and it interferes with my sleep and all my other fibro symptoms get worse. Quality sleep is difficult to get anyway – coffee just makes it worse. I think maybe, it feeds the Troll.

So what so I do? There’s a few other hot drinks that replace my morning coffee. I’ll have herbal teas, or a ginger and honey infusion. At least once a day I’ll have a turmeric latte (I will dedicate an entire blog post to this soon.) The one drink I’ve found that comes the closest to satisfying the coffee itch is Crio Brü. I alluded to this in my post about instant kettles. 

So what is Crio Brü?

I’m glad you asked! Crio Brü is a drink made from 100% cocoa beans. They are roasted and ground and you prepare them in a similar way to coffee. I make mine in this cup.

crio bru But you can use a French press or just boil it on the stove and sieve out the grounds.

It’s delicious hot or cold. I take it without milk or sugar, although you can add either or both if you wish. I will sometimes add some cinnamon or cloves, a mint leaf, some vanilla, or a strip of orange peel depending on my mood. It’s rich, dark and emotionally satisfying. Crio Brü does contain theobromine which is similar to caffeine, but negligible amounts of actual caffeine. Theobromine is toxic to dogs – so make sure you keep it well away from them!

I am a self confessed chocolate addict. I have been known to eat an entire family sized block of dark chocolate in one day. While I don’t do this anymore, I do still like my chocolate. I have found that not only does Crio Brü replace my desperate longing for coffee, it also satisfies my chocolate cravings!

If you are looking replace coffee, or need a sugar and fat free alternative to chocolate, then I strongly recommend trying Crio Brü!

I get mine from here. Cheers!

Instant Hot Water

I’m going to talk about one of the things that make my life a little easier. First thing in the morning – regardless of how good or bad a day it is, I cannot lift a hot kettle safely. I simply do not have the strength and muscle co-ordination to do so. That means no coffee, tea, ginger drink or turmeric latte! Not even a Crio Brü! But don’t panic dear friends, my fantastic knight in tarnished armour found a solution for me.

It is an instant hot water kettle. We actually have two different ones, and we can’t quite decide which one we like more. One of them is from Aldi (as many of our favourite things are!). And the other was found on E-bay.

What’s so great about an instant hot water kettle?

Firstly, they have a reservoir of water. One holds 2 litres of water, the other holds 3 litres. This means I can fill it up (or my knight does) and let it sit without having to check it all the time.

Second, it only boils the amount of water you need at a time. This saves time and electricity. If you only need 200-250ml of water for a cup, why boil a whole litre?

And thirdly, and most importantly for me, I don’t have to pick it up to pour into my cup. I just pop my cup underneath the nozzle, press the button (or turn the knob) and boiled water will come out directly into my cup. No fuss, no risk of spilling boiling water on myself or burning my hand by touching the outside with my other hand. It’s fantastic.

Ambiano Kettle from Aldi.

This is the Aldi one. It holds 2 litres of water in the reservoir. At the push of a button it boils 1 cup of water and then dispenses 200 or 250ml of water (depending on which side the switch is pointing at). It goes straight into your cup and if it’s getting a little too full you can stop it quickly and easily by pushing the button.

 

 

 

“Decent” brand kettle from E-bay.

 

And this is the one my knight found on E-bay. We find it amusing that the brand is called “Decent”. It is decent, but doesn’t really sell itself very well! The reservoir on this one holds 3 litres and also has the option of choosing different temperatures. Which is great for green tea, or if you just don’t want to wait until your cuppa cools down enough to drink. This disadvantage is you do have to watch it closely and turn it off BEFORE your cup is full, as it continues to pour out a little water after you turn it off.

 

On the whole they are both great. If you don’t want to buy one from E-bay, then keep an eye on the Aldi catalogues, as they often repeat their popular items and I’m sure they’ll come up again. Otherwise, you can find instant hot water kettles here.  This is not an affiliate link. I’m just being helpful!

Gut Health, GAPS and Fibromyalgia

One of the problems that is common in people with Fibromyalgia is gut issues.

In my case, multiple food intolerances and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I’m not allergic to any foods, so I’ve been told I’m “just fussy” but that really isn’t the case. When certain foods cause your waist measurement to increase by over 10cm in a few hours (and the subsequent pain associated with that), or causes vomiting and diarrhoea, it’s more than being “just fussy”.

There is an increasing awareness of gut health in the general community. There is also an increasing body of evidence that many chronic health conditions may be linked to gut health. I am hopeful that Fibromyalgia is one of them.

As part of my Fibro journey I’ve been on multiple elimination diets, low salicylate diets, and low histamine diets just to name a few.
It’s been difficult and exasperating and disappointing. Trying time and time again to find a diet that didn’t cause unwanted side effects. A diet that resolved or even reduced the number of IBS attacks while still giving me the nutrition my body needs.

Discovering more and more intolerances and still having pain and bloating was heartbreaking. At times, I would just throw up my hands and say “F*** it!” and eat a whole packet of chips and some chocolate and have a cocktail or a glass of wine. I almost always regretted it. I was considering buying shares in buscopan, and I occasionally missed appointments or social events because I just couldn’t be too far from a toilet.

In April this year I started GAPS. The Gut and Psychology Syndrome diet was created by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride originally for autistic children. I’ll talk a lot about GAPS as so far it seems to be working! I’ve been able to reintroduce eggs – something I haven’t been able to eat for years. I’ve introduced butter, yoghurt, milk kefir and some cheeses, without any unwanted side effects.

The success I’ve had with my GAPS journey makes me hopeful that my gut issues will one day be a thing of the past. In the meantime – lots of experimenting with GAPS legal foods to create tasty new recipes.