Whole food diet update

Well, it's not been a good whole food week. Three breaks in it! Argh!!

The first was breakfast a couple of days ago. I ran out of granola so I had peanut butter on toast. I really could have decided to have oatmeal but with it so hot out, that option did not appeal to me at all!

The second, was when I came home to my darling husband's cooking - fish and chips. At least they were done in the oven. I made myself a plate of veggies to go with it.

And last night, I stopped at Burger Pit on Hwy 11. They make fantastic burgers and their fries are fantastic!! We are headed away for the weekend and in the hustle and bustle of getting ready, I did not plan dinner.

So, what have I learned?

Again, I realize the power of planning. I cannot count on my husband to have prepared a healthy meal for me when I get home on Tuesday's and Thursday's at 8:00pm. So, I will need to have something in the fridge and ready to go. I will have to make those two meals on Sunday or Monday.

If I'm going to eat granola everyday, I should really make more before I run out! And, make a double batch so that I don't have to do it every two weeks. It only takes about a half hour to make, but in the summertime, a half hour is sometimes hard to find in a crunch!

That leads me to my next realization. No matter how much I think that summer is going to be relaxing and that I'll have all kinds of time...I don't! Summertime is really busy! We don't have a single free weekend until Labour day. Then, I start working Saturday's again. Summertime is also filled with spontaneity, that lacks a bit more the rest of the year. So, again, planning has to take centre stage if I want to successfully follow a whole food diet. And let's face it, I'm a small business owner and a Mom - my life will always be hectic, not just in the summertime.

We leave today for a weekend in Tobomory. I packed my granola in little baggies for each breakfast. I also made three salads and put them into large ziplocks (I will do this every week - the ziplocks don't take up much room in the fridge, and I can put a paper towel in the bag and squeeze out the air to maintain freshness). My snacks are packed (1/4 cup of nuts into snack baggies) too so all that I have to worry about is suppers. Supper is usually easier to make whole food choices with because any restaurant that doesn't have a drive through has some kind of meat, rice, and veggie option.

The one thing that I am so pleased about, is that despite the three slip ups, I have not jumped off my bandwagon! Each day, I try again to make it a whole food day. That speaks volumes to my attitude change. The old Kerri would have said "this is obviously too hard to do in the summer, I'll start again in September". Yhea me, pat on the back, and carry on.

Yours in health,
Kerri Fullerton ND

Food allergies

We were really careful when introducing foods to Patrick. He still, at 20 months, has not had an egg, any nuts, orange juice or cow's milk. We were particularly careful with him because his dad has so many sensitivities and I expected some issues. Despite our best efforts, Patrick broke out in a good case of eczema in early June. It started on his knee, and soon covered most of his leg. When it moved to the other leg, my heart broke. He would get out of bed and stand there scratching both thighs as hard as he could.

I was faced with two options. I could take out any possible allergenic foods (wheat, dairy, goat's milk, corn, barley, oats, kamut, spelt, etc) and start the re-introduction again (argh). Or, I could spend a couple hundred bucks and have his IgG testing done (a simple blood test that tells you what foods your body reacted to). Being a busy Mom, I chose option B - blood work.

Am I ever glad that I went with option B! I never would have guessed at a couple of these. His results came back with highly reactive foods of:

• wheat, barley, cheddar cheese, egg white, green peas (really?!?), lentils (come on!!), rye, spelt, sunflower, and kamut.

So, all gluten containing grains are out and two of my favourite legumes to feed him, gone.

His moderately reactive foods include:

• almond, asparagus, cow's milk, all other cheese, cucumber, egg yolk, oat, red tomato, sesame, soy, sugar, white potato, white rice, and yogurt

Thankfully the foods on the later list don't need to be eliminated. We can feed them to him every few days.

This then begs the question - what do you feed this kid?!?

When we're home, it's not that difficult. Thankfully, we eat a lot of rice anyway. He loves fruit so that makes snacks fairly easy. Cereals are pretty easy to find - corn flakes, corn puffs, oat squares, rice cereals. I can hold my own when it comes to baking, but need to learn how to alter my flours a bit (the muffins I made this weekend need some work!!).

Bread products are a whole other can of beans though. Gluten free breads are not very tasty - at least not the ones that I've tried from the market. They tend to be dry and crumbly. Good for toast, not so good on their own.

We found some bagels and buns for him at our last trip to Nature's Emporium in Newmarket. They sell Aiden's gluten-free bread products - they really are squishy! Other than being a little costly (four buns was about $7), they are fantastic. We cut them and put them in the freezer.

Waffles are something that we found long ago as an occasional treat. Van's can be found in the freezer section of the health food section at Zhers (wow, that was a mouthful!).

Of course, rice cakes and rice crackers work fine. They do tend to be low on the fibre side of things though. There is a company called Enjoy Life that makes products free of the top ten allergens. They have some higher fibre cereals, and bars that Patrick really likes. We will definitely be trying out some more of their products.

As I find more products that are tasty, I will continue to share with you. As I master my baking, I will pass along the recipes.

The really good news is that Patrick's legs are almost completely clear of eczema. It only took about five days of the new diet for his suffering to end. I've also noticed that his huge tonsils are starting to come down and not look so enlarged. Huh.

Yours in health,

Kerri Fullerton ND and now, gluten-free Mom

Gluten-free dinner for all!

Last night I made Millet Stuffed Portobello mushrooms for supper. Wow - delicious!

I had my business coach over, Kathy Hay, and since she's a vegetarian, I served the mushrooms with steamed cauliflower and the bean salad that she brought over. It was filling, tasty, healthy, and full of good fibre and protein. Paired nicely with the Shiraz we had too.

My husband, Brendan, believes that it would have been a lovely accompaniment to a grilled rib steak - and I happen to agree!

It didn't take long to get the millet in the pan and simmering. Then there is a 25 minute wait time - good time for preparation of the side dishes - before you can stuff the mushroom tops. Then, they are in the oven for almost half an hour, so you have time to get the table ready and actually cook any side dishes. So, not a quick crazy weeknight meal, but certainly not a slave-all-afternoon meal either. From start to finish, about an hour and fifteen.

It is always nice to find recipes that you can please the whole crowd with. Served as a stand alone healthy vegetarian meal, or as a side dish to round off a nice steak, these mushrooms hold up. I will definitely make them again (and Brendan said that he would happily eat them again - which is not often said about vegetarian meals!).

Happy eating!

Kerri Fullerton ND

Why a whole food diet?

I decided to start practicing what I preach (where nutrition is concerned) last October. After having my son a year earlier, I decided that it was time to stop having so many excuses. I wanted more energy, I wanted to sleep better, I wanted clearer thoughts again, and I wanted to be a healthy size.


I started with some simple changes (note that I said simple, not easy). As a general rule, I eat only three meals per day. I've never been comfortable with the 'eat every three hours' thing. If you're eating fibre rich foods, it's not necessary and snacking is where people tend to eat the most packaged foods. This is where blood sugar imbalances occur. I am not willing to go hungry though, so I allow myself one snack per day if necessary and I try to make it a handful of nuts and some fruit.


The other change that I made was that I stopped eating anything that I couldn't stop at one. For me, that means all sweets and some crackers (I can eat a portion of Triscuits but could easily eat the box of wheat thins!). For a friend of mine, it's bacon and chips. It's an evolving list as I go along. I've added a few things back in and taken a few more things out.


Since the end of October I've lost 24lbs, 3 inches off my chest, 4 inches off my waist, 4 inches off my hips, and 3.5 inches off my thighs.


Not bad considering that I've never gone hungry or eaten a bar or drank a shake.


Now, in the past, this weight loss would have been unnacceptable - taking 8 months to lose 24 lbs would have been too slow. I would have given up and decided that it wasn't working. Thank goodness that I had a new attitude this time.

Last week I did my monthly weight and body measurements so that I would have an accurate starting point for the whole food diet that I am embarking on for the summer. I will share with you what kind of changes happen with my body, my sleep, my energy, and my mood.


The first week (last week) of my whole food diet was a little rough. With the long weekend at the cottage and friends over for the week before, I was not prepared at all! No groceries, no meal plan for the week. This is key folks - planning makes healthy eating possible. So, I ate granola (recipe in this month's newsletter!) for breakfast, salad for lunch, and meat, rice and veggies for supper. Not exciting, but it worked.

Friday night we headed to my in-laws for the weekend. I learned another lesson - don't expect your husband to tell anyone about your new diet adventures! We arrived to pizza. Oops. Now they know what I'm not eating. I did eat the pizza since it was already ordered, payed for, and sitting there. Had it not been, I would have made myself something else.

What I will do differently next time is this - I will pack more of my own foods. I did pack my granola for breakfast, fruit and some nuts for snacks. Next time I will bring some salads too.

Already in a week, I have more energy and my bowels are very happy. Can't wait to see what this week brings!

Off to do some meal planning for this week. I've pulled a few recipes off of vegetariantimes.com to try. Stuffed tomatoes for tonight!

Yours in health,
Kerri Fullerton, ND

Organic Gardening

I just wanted to say thank-you to the powers that be for a wonderfully beautiful day instead of thunderstorms.





I was able to go outside and pick my first batch of strawberries from our patch. Aren't they beautiful?

Patrick had given up on strawberries - after a few flavourless batches from the store, who could blame him? Last weekend we were able to sample our first berry from our patch - he's hooked again.

I can't wait until he's up from his nap so that we can share these lovely berries. I doubt that any will be left over after snack time!

Growing your own food is so rewarding. Knowing that there isn't a trace of chemical makes it even better. Picking when it's perfectly ripe and enjoying it the same day is such a treat. There is no better berry anywhere. I love knowing that Patrick will be connected to his food from the start. He takes so much pleasure in helping out - pulling weeds, taking them to the compost pile, and of course, picking the food. I hope that we are cultivating more than just good berries! An appreciation of where food comes from and how it's grown is such a gift.

If you don't have the space in your yard, plant in pots. It is just as delicious and just as it is rewarding.

Happy planting - and eating!!

Yours in Health,
Kerri Fullerton ND

Whole Foods Diet - how realistic is it anyway?

Food engineering is a bit of a funny term. It does not refer to Farmers or to Chefs', but to scientists who try to find ways to make fake food taste good and make you think that you're getting the same nutrition as what real food has. They have been working hard, and been very successful.

When I started my practice over 6 years ago, I used to say 'eat more whole grains', and people knew what I meant. Now - that's not the case. When I say 'eat more whole grains', some people think that I mean buy Wonder Invisibles for their sandwich bread. I also used to be able to tell people to eat 35 grams of fibre each day and they could just read labels to know if the food had it. Now, there are all kinds of isolated fibres (like inulin) that do not have the same effects as intact fibres (like bran). But without a distinction on the label, people are lost.

So really, the safest and best diet to follow would be a whole food diet - one that does not include processed foods at all. But how realistic is it to eat only whole foods in today's world? With family obligations and work it does seem a little daunting.

Well, I'm going to give it a go. For the month's of July and August, I will eat only whole foods - fruits, veggies, legumes, meat, dairy, nuts and seeds, and whole grains. That means, no breads, pastas, crackers, cereals, baked goods - just whole food. I gave up sugar about eight months ago so at least I have that step down already.

I asked my husband if he would do it with me ... he laughed pretty hard. 'Not eat bread? Are you kidding?'. For the purposes of this experiment, his refusal actually works to my advantage. Most of my patients are faced with families that are not interested in changing their diets this much. So I will be able to tell you about what it's like to be the only one in the family eating a whole food diet. I will be able to share how I've been able to have family meals without cooking three meals!
I will blog about my experience and well as any body changes that may occur.

I will post here every Friday with a thorough update of how things are going, what recipes that I have discovered, and I will tweet more regularly about the day-to-day challenges and insights.

I hope that you will join me (or at least follow me) on this adventure and share your thoughts and questions as I go along.

Yours in Health,
Kerri Fullerton, ND

Natural Insect repellent

It's that lovely time of year when the bugs are a humming! How do you protect yourself when you don't want to use the heavy chemical sprays? This is especially important to me now that I have Patrick. We don't want him inhaling all that stuff off of our clothes and hair.

Our first step to protecting ourselves is our dinning tent in the backyard. I bought one big enough to put his sandbox and water table in there with plenty of room for a couple of chairs as well.

Next step - we try to stay inside during the peak times (dusk and dawn).

But what about when you can't (or just don't want) to stay indoors? Or when you want to go hiking through the woods? What products are good?

I like to shop Canadian whenever I can. This year, we will try out Druide's Citronella insect repellent. Sadly, it is not recommended for kids under 2 - but nothing ever is. He will face another summer under a mosquito net - poor kid!

I will keep you posted as to whether or not it works for us.

And of course, we will all take (Patrick included) the homeopathic Ledum. I have had wonderful success, both personally and with patients, with ledum. Although it won't stop the bugs from biting, it greatly reduces the swelling and itching that goes with them.

Happy bug season!

Kerri Fullerton ND

My weight loss journey

I thought that I would share some of journey with you as the start date for the weight loss program Learn to eat, not to diet approaches.

I have struggled with food and weight most of my life. As I look back, my weight problems were really only perceived problems - meaning that what I had was a body image issue, not a weight issue. Nevertheless, my body image issue changed into a weight issue in my late 20's. It blossomed (along with my waist line) after my son was born a year and a half ago. I was horrified to realize that I had crossed the line into 'obesity'. My BMI was over 30.
It goes to show, that it doesn't matter what you know. I didn't have any 'new' information when I decided that I was tired of being overweight and over-consumed with food thoughts and body thoughts. I'm a Naturopathic Doctor for heaven's sake - I have more information about nutrition and healthy living than most people. So what changed?

My attitude. I finally decided that it was time to stop dieting and start living a lifestyle that would take me to my goal. I also gave up the notion of a timeline - I'm in this for the long haul, no matter how long it takes. This is forever. Abandoning a healthy lifestyle because it's not happening at the rate I'd like or because I've achieved my goal weight just won't do anymore. These lifestyle changes have to happen to keep me small, energetic, and authetic. I have lost 25 lbs so far and am still losing. I have the delightful problem right now that my pants keep falling down.

This is what has inspired the weight loss program at Rooted. I would like to inspire and coach people who are also tired of being overweight and are ready to make permenant changes in their lives.

If you can relate to my story, then you are someone who could benefit from this program. I will teach you how to live, how to eat, and how to think so that you can enjoy life again and stop the madness around diets, and deadlines.

Imagine if you hadn't given up all those times before - you'd be at your goal weight and feeling good by now.

Summer program begins on June 16th.

Fall program begins on September 8th.

See you there!

Kerri Fullerton ND

What Fish Are Safe To Eat?

We are told that eating fish is healthy and that we need our omega three fatty acids. But what fish are safe to eat and how much to eat can be confusing.
Here is a link to a comprehensive list of fish and their corresponding mercury levels. Although it does not get into the actual nutritional values of the different fish, it at least let's us know which are safe to eat regularly, and which fish we need to avoid altogether.

What Fish Are Safe To Eat?

Yours in Health,
Kerri Fullerton ND

Breast Cancer Vaccine?

There is a breast cancer vaccine in development. It has been used in mice and they hope to start human clinical trials in the next year.

This vaccine is being developed by an immunologist named Vincent Tuohy. It would be given to women in their 40's, since it would detroy healthy tissue if the women were to lactate. The vaccine seeks out alpha-lactalbumin (a protein found in many breast cancers and in lactating breast tissue, but not non-lactating tissue).

Breast cancer affects so many Canadian women every year. It is scary, the treatments are invasive, and many women don't survive. If a vaccine can help save more lives, I'm all for it. But...

With so many looming questions about the long-term safety of vaccines I have some doubts. Guardisil was supposed to save many young women from cervical cancer by creating immunity to HPV strains. There are still a lot of questions about it's safety.

Western medicine is not know for it's patience. I know that women with high risk for breast cancer and reasearchers want these vaccines on the market ASAP, and I understand their point of view. However, what I would like to see is these clinical trials go for 20 years - follow these women and see what happens to them. Are they really healthier for having it or do they develop other conditions in a higher percentage than the rest of the population? Do these women start to develop other cancers? Once we know for sure that these women really are better off to have had the vaccine, then I say put it on the market and let's go. But without these answers, it's just another shot in the dark.

Yours in Health,
Kerri Fullerton ND