Thanksgiving and the AIP

I love Thanksgiving and I love turkey dinner. The first year of eating this way on Thanksgiving was ridiculous. My mother traditionally makes a lot of gluteny things for Thanksgiving. There’s cannelloni for the first course, bulgur wheat stuffing with apricots, traditional bread stuffing, Paul Prudhomme’s oyster dressing, and we always had crescent rolls. On top of all that there was also mashed potatoes, broccoli souffle, and corn. I can’t eat any of the things I just mentioned. Not one thing. And that was my Thanksgiving every year. Imagine the table that first year when i brought my own food! It was overburdened and ludicrous.

Throughout the year my mother went paleo (fake paleo actually but that is another blog post), my father has not officially committed despite his gout and blood pressure medication. He is losing weight though, so I can tell he is doing something and being conscious of this on some level. So, we removed the traditional dishes from the table and now we have a paleo/ primal Thanksgiving. We use This stuffing recipe and this year I am using gluten free cornbread to try another stuffing recipe that I will post if it works out. I have found my MS can tolerate corn, but it does cause weight gain like any other carb if you eat too much.

My mother couldn’t let go completely, she still plans to make the cannelloni but she is making gluten free crepes and replacing the flour in the cheese mushroom sauce with cornstarch. We’ll have roasted Brussels sprouts, cauliflower casserole, The sweet potato stuffing, gluten free cornbread stuffing, smashed potatoes (nightshades this MS’er wont be eating) turkey and capon. I also ordered gluten free pies from Sugar on Front Street which will be phenomenal. My mother just called me and said she is making stuffed mushrooms.

I remain in love with turkey dinner and Thanksgiving. I am so excited my family supports this lifestyle and embraces the food. I have so many things to be thankful for, one of the biggest things is that I have my health back. I am on the top of my game right now and loving life. I attribute a majority of the success I am having to cutting trigger foods out of my diet. Thanksgiving is the perfect example of how food is entwined inexorably with celebration. And it is also the perfect example of a type of menu that is enhanced by cutting out gluten. All the new thanksgiving dishes are way better tasting than the old ones. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I am slightly disgusted by gluten at this point.

Thanksgiving is a time to enjoy family and friends with great food and count our blessings. It’s not a time to stress out. Eating this way is so non traditional, it can cause stress for other people to even hear about it. Keep it on the down low. Bring your own food if you can and just quietly slip it on the table near your seat. Let everyone else enjoy their gluten laden traditions and know that you are healing yourself by not eating it. Happy Thanksgiving!!