Welcome back to Grain-Free Tuesdays! We are very happy to see you again. If you know the drill please scroll down to the bottom of the page to post your link. This linky is a resource for folks on the GAPS/SCD or Paleo diets so please only post recipes and content that follows the guidelines for those diets. Thanks!

A couple months ago I did a post called GAPS/SCD Recipe Roundup. My idea was to do it every full moon. I discovered in the process it is best to do a bloghop once a week on a regular basis–this has resulted in Grain-Free Tuesdays! There are lots of excellent bloghops focusing on Real Food, but since we are currently on the GAPS diet, I am personally interested in the grain-free recipes at the moment. There are more and more people going grain-free, either with GAPS, a Paleo diet, the Body Ecology Diet or SCD (specific carbohydrate diet).

The grain-free diet is also a very practical way to boycott industrial agriculture and support family farms since most processed foods contain some kind of grain, as it is a very cheap filler. It is also good for your gut and promotes diversity. There is currently a huge demand for nutritional information, experiences and recipes for folks on the GAPS diet or who are simply grain-free. I myself am one of these people and am eager to try out tasty grain-free recipes. I also just love all the amazing and creative ways that people are discovering for cooking grain-free. It is not only fun but gets you to think out of the box.

This bloghop is based on the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet. It is grain-free, sugar-free and processed-food free–no industrially processed fats either (in particular canola). Please only use honey or fruit as sweeteners, other natural sweeteners such as maple syrup and agave are not used on the GAPS or SCD diets. Natural stevia is OK too. I know the Body Ecology Diet includes quinoa and millet, but I prefer to leave those items out of this particular bloghop as well. Fermented foods are highly encouraged!

Unfortunately I was sick for most of last week and having a hard time keeping up with things, I was really bad on Saturday, the day of the full moon, so I missed doing the GAPS resource roundup for this month. Instead I am gonna highlight some of my favorite posts from this last month of Grain-Free Tuesdays: Of course I have to post this great video of the Real Food, Little Dude which was contributed by Mrs Ed’s Research and Recipes (by the way she has a fantastic site with heaps of great information on going grain free, I recommend checking it out)

For folks getting started on a grain-free diet, the idea of having to go bread-free may seem horrifying, fortunately you don’t have to not eat bread to be on this diet, there are many great recipes using nuts or coconut flour. RealFoodForager has contributed a tasty coconut flour bread and provided a great video tutorial to go with it here.

Grains have become a food staple only in the last 10,000 years. That may sound like a lot of time, but in evolutionary terms it is just a drop in the bucket. Our digestive tracts are actually geared for the “primal” diet of hunters and gatherers. And when agriculture of grains became more prevalent, these cultures developed a way of preparing them so that they were digestible to humans. –RealFoodForager

Another really great site for all kinds of info on going grain-free as well as this variety of recipes for fermented foods, check out DaiaSolGaia’s site. They also have an extra interesting bloghop going called Paradigm Shift, that I really get a kick out of, please drop by and add your links to that 🙂

Up to this point my partner and I haven’t been using too much coconut flour, which I have noticed that many grain-free folk use a lot of. We reacted badly to it the first couple times I tried using it. I think the texture of the coconut flour we were using was too rough on our intestines or something. But that was a few months ago and I am starting to feel that it is time for us to try it out again. Especially after I got a look at this recipe for Banana Bars over at Nurtured Family Life.

Of course every good diet, whether it be grain-free or not needs a good nourishing bone broth to keep your minerals at optimal levels. A Moderate Life supplied us with a great Crock pot recipe here. A great way to minimize your electrical usage as well as provide health for your body!

Last but not least, I have had this video by Natasha Campbell McBride open in my browser window for weeks, meaning to share it with you all at my Full moon GAPS resource roundup, but since I missed it I have to post it here for now. It is just a short video talking about Parkinson’s disease. I know a surgeon who is now unable to work since getting this disease, unfortunately he is unlikely to listen to my lowly chef opinions on causes of disease, but maybe some of you have friends or family who will be willing to listen. Anyway it is scary stuff, and I am sure glad to have gotten on this diet when I did. Especially with the amount of radiation and other toxins in our world.

Well I hope you enjoyed that selection from other Grain-Free bloggers. Again I am sorry I missed the full moon roundup this month. I think the main reason I was actually not feeling so hot is that I upped my probiotic dose and was having some die-off symptoms. Hopefully that is all it was and not from the extra radiation we are starting to get here on the West Coast from the Japanese nuclear disaster. I was out in the rain on Friday, the day before I came down with a massive headache on Saturday. I am highly sensitive to such things so I suppose it is possible. It is really sad to be concerned and afraid of the rain. I actually really love to be out in the rain and really can’t stand umbrellas, so I am having to learn to stay indoors when it is raining these days–and it rains a lot in Vancouver!

Please share your favorite grain-free or fermentation recipes, GAPS experiences or resources, tips on cooking from scratch, homemade cleaning products or cosmetics, herbal remedies or even your favorite way to detox. Detoxing is a very important part of the GAPS diet, and many people who are on the GAPS diet are sensitive to industrial chemicals and prefer to make their own shampoo, dishwashing detergent and soaps.

Please be sure to link back to this post and leave us a comment at the bottom.

Please just share one link each week.

Please also tweet, stumble, digg and/or share this post on facebook–I will also share your links. In the meantime, happy cooking, eating and connecting with local farmers 🙂

The Linky will open Monday evening around 10:00 (Pacific coast time) and be open all week. Happy Eating! May your gut flora be as diverse, plentiful and beautiful as the stars in the sky and the flowers on the earth.