The Joy of Allergies: Homemade Protein Bars

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Homemade Protein Bars

It's raining, it's pouring. But, boy am I glad to be able to see farther than a foot in front of me. All that dreary fog we had for well over a week was getting the best of me. I was going crazy with claustrophobia! Plus I love my rainboots, and am looking forward to pairing them with some cute sweaters in the week to come.

In other exciting news, besides our fabulous weather, my brother is officially engaged! He popped the question to his amazing girlfriend last weekend. We celebrated with a delicious dinner and champagne toast at my mom's house last night. I am so excited and honored to get to be a bridesmaid. I can't wait for the big day.

Another source of excitement for me is my new training schedule. My goal is to run one more half-marathon before training for a full (probably this summer). So, I'm going to do the Run, Ladies, Run half in Friday Harbor in March. This is going to be an awesome girl's weekend with my mom and dear friend Lynn, and hopefully an equally awesome run. To start prepping, I have been on the lookout for some "better" nutritional sources. I find I get so hungry as I am running. I typically turn to Clif bars, but not only does that add up cost-wise, it does in sugar and junk ingredients, as well. Not finding what I was really looking for, I decided to try making my own, and I will never go back! Not only do these taste amazing, but they are packed full of good, pure, organic ingredients as well as protein and not a lot of sugar. I made these with almond butter, which I do not serve to my kids simply because I'm too nervous to try. But we keep it in the house as a protein source for my husband and me, since we don't do peanut butter. I think sunbutter or any other nut butter would easily work in this recipe. Will someone please try and let me know? :)

Homemade Protein Bars
1 1/2 cups gluten-free oats
1/3 cup coconut flakes
2/3 cup nut butter
1/3 cup honey
1 mashed banana
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. This is easiest if you use your hands. Messy, but easy!

2. Refrigerate for an hour or longer.

3. Roll into balls (the size really depends on preference. I rolled mine into 2-3" balls)

4. Refrigerate or freeze

So here is the nutritional breakdown per ball, which will obviously vary depending on brands of ingredients used and size. This list is based on the ingredients pictured above:

Fat - 5.5g

Carbs - 32g

Fiber - 8.5g

Protein - 10g

Sugar - 10g

Compared with Clif Chocolate Chip bar, who's main ingredient is brown rice syrup and includes over 30 other ingredients:

Fat - 7g

Carbs - 40g

Fiber - 4g

Protein - 10g

Sugar - 23g

Not bad, right?

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Welcome to the Joy of Allergies!

You may think I’m off my rocker with a name like "Joy of Allergies," but living with food allergies doesn’t have to be an unhappy battle with illness. In fact, discovering allergies, specifically food allergies in my case, has been a blessing in disguise in our family.

As a kid, I don’t remember hearing too much about allergies. I am pretty sure I was affected by the typical seasonal crud, but nothing food-wise really bothered my friends or me. Or did it? When most people think of allergies, they think of hives, feeling itchy, congestion and nasal symptoms, and in extreme cases anaphylaxis. Well, food never caused any of those for me. However, I did have headaches a lot as a kid, and constant tummy troubles, and come to think of it I was constantly congested and did have some patches of itchy skin. As an adult I have discovered I am allergic to wheat and dairy. Since removing those from my diet, I am symptom-free! Every now and then, often by mistake, I consume one or both of these and can immediately feel the effects.

When my oldest daughter, Grace, was one, I fed her peanut butter in an attempt to get some much-needed protein in her diet. Instantly she broke out in welts, was itching like crazy, and was swelling up every place the peanut butter had touched. She even rubbed her eyes, which caused her eyeballs to swell. I did not know this was possible, but my poor girl’s eyes were literally bulging out of her head. It was crazy! She has since had some reactions when she has been in the same room as peanuts, or even if someone has just had it on their breath. We carry an epipen and avoid peanuts like the plague. In the past year I suspected there must be something else in her diet that was causing her trouble. She complained of tummy aches, frequently got bumps on her shoulders, was often itchy, and had some strange behavioral issues. We had some further testing done and discovered in addition to the peanuts, she is also allergic to wheat, dairy, soy, and eggs. Upon removing them from her diet we have seen a dramatic difference.

On to my youngest, who was the driving force to getting us all tested in the first place. Emma was six months old when she developed a persistent dry cough that didn’t go away for about four months. She was finally diagnosed with asthma, and when put on a couple of steroid inhalers, stopped coughing. Then she started getting ear infections….one after the other. She eventually had tubes put in, and we were hopeful that would be the end of the misery. Only it wasn’t. Much to our surprise, Emma continued to wake up all night pulling at her ears, itching at her hands (which along with her cheeks and legs were covered in eczema), and grabbing at her nose. I took her in for an allergy test, which confirmed she too was allergic to many things including wheat, dairy, eggs, and banana (of all things!). The very day we eliminated these foods from her diet, her personality seemed to shift from a grumpy, tired baby to one that had a little more life and great big smile. But the biggest blessing (at least to Mommy and Daddy) was that she slept through the night, and even woke up singing the next morning. Now that she has been on an allergy-free diet for almost six months, Emma no longer uses an inhaler on a daily basis, has not needed antibiotics, does not use any sort of cream nor does she have any sign of eczema, and doesn’t require the use of antihistamines. She is also a great sleeper so long as she doesn’t have any teeth cutting through!

My husband recently discovered he is allergic to yeast and eggs. It's a little soon to determine whether avoidance is making much of a difference (and just how strict he is on that avoidance is a little fuzzy to me). But, I am looking forward to seeing how it might affect his Rheumatoid Arthritis and overall inflammation.

Yes, I would say that discovering allergies in our family has been a huge blessing. I was overwhelmed at first, I’ll be honest! One of my favorite hobbies is baking. How on earth does a person bake without wheat, dairy, soy, and eggs? Well, it is possible, and can actually be quite tasty. And I’m here to say that baking is still one of my favorite hobbies, so it is true that it can still be fun! My hope is that this blog will help others discover some yummy allergy-friendly recipes, get some guidance on allergy topics, and also help me keep myself organized and log my own experience as I walk this journey with my family.

Feel free to contact me

joyofallergies@gmail.com

facebook.com/JoyOfAllergies

- Stephanie