Making my Way Through The UnDiet Cookbook + Giveaway

Almost exactly seven years ago I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. It feels like a lifetime ago.

My doctor told me to eat a "healthy, well-balanced diet" and to avoid things like nuts and seeds that might cause problems. He offered traditional medicinal options including medication, surgery and hardcore, experimental medication -- none of which sounded like great options to me. I made the decision to see a naturopath, made major changes in my diet and saw incredible improvement.

Before my diagnosis, I knew nothing about Crohn's Disease and didn't know anyone who had it - so I did what any good person does and took to the internet! I searched for blogs and other folks who also had Crohn's. While reading the comments on a random blog post one day, I discovered the blog of a Toronto nutritionist who also had healed herself from Crohn's Disease.

Her name was Meghan Telpner.

I started religiously reading her blog and decided to treat myself to some of her cooking classes for my birthday. Gluten free, dairy free cooking was all new to me, so I needed all the help and inspiration I could get! I documented our weekly classes here on the blog and the recipes I learned from Meghan became staples in my new way of eating.



After the cooking classes ended, Meghan continued to be an important person in my life. I followed her blog, helped out at events, cheerleaded for her programs, took a life-changing adventure to St. Lucia and beamed with pride when her first book, UnDiet came out. While it was awesome that I could finally stop using the duotang of recipes and had them in proper book form, it was mostly so inspiring to see someone I admired so much reaching their goals and doing awesome things in the world.

This past March I was taken down with that horrific godzilla flu and was pretty much confined to bed for over a week. After a nap one day, I checked Facebook and saw that Meghan had posted a job description for an 'Executive Assistant and Director of Outreach and Customer Happiness'. I eagerly read through the job description and when I got to the bottom of it I thought to myself - that is the perfect job for me. I applied. I interviewed. And a few weeks later I had my first day in the kitchen, working with Meghan (and her small but kick ass team).

I knew that the UnDiet Cookbook was going to be coming out in the fall and Meghan and I discussed some of the plans leading up to the release of the book. Because of things that we were working on, I actually had a manuscript of the book (in a word document) on my computer before the book even came out. I started to peruse recipes and got really excited for what was to come.

The book included 130 gluten free, dairy free recipes including some old revamped favourites (from the duotang days) and a whole bunch of brand new, shiny ones! The first recipe I made from the Word doc was the Banana Berry Oatmazing Muffins - Corbin joked that they were muffins from the future since the book hadn't even been released.

He also said they were some of his favourite muffins ever.

They were incredibly easy to make, adaptable (depending on the type of berries you used) and didn't taste "gluten free" - they just tasted like a delicious muffin!! I brought them into the kitchen for Meghan and Maeve, and Maeve declared it one of her favourite muffins as well. Success!

However cool it was to have the word doc version, it was even better to get my hands on the actual book. The recipes themselves are amazing, but when you couple the recipes with the beautiful photography from Catherine Farquharson and Miya Visneyei and incredible food styling, it really is something else. Every photo is amazing, and that visual appeal is so important to me in a cookbook!

The book starts with an introduction to Meghan's story, what it means to live the UnDiet Life and provides some guidance on how to get started in the kitchen. From there, the recipes are broken into 8 sections, followed by an awesome Lifestyle section including beauty care recipes, entertaining, travel tips and some thoughts on how to live the very best, most vibrant life.

I have peppered my book with stickies, highlighting the recipes I want to make and have had a blast cooking my way through it. 

I'm obsessed with the 'Begin with Brekkie' section. The Sweet Potato Zucchini Hash Brizzles are absolutely delicious and so easy! I paired them with poached eggs and it was the perfect combination. I also loved the Chocolate, Chocolate, Say it Twice Pancakes (which are like eating cake for breakfast) and the Vegalicious Quiche complete with millet crust!

Everything in the book is vegetarian / vegan friendly, and there are also options to make many recipes in the book nut-free, grain free or protein-powered. Meghan's UnDiet philosophy is all about breaking the rules and leaving the labels for tin cans - and advocates for people to eat what works for them while remaining open to the evolutionary nature of what our bodies need at different times in our lives.

Everything I've made has been a success so far! Favourites include the Creamed Mushroom Love Soup, Flourless Ginger Pear Tartlets, Balsamic Roasted Vegetables, Golden Girl Citrus-Spiced Tempeh and the Let's Stay Together Crackers (which impressed Corbin immensely "you're making homemade crackers?!")

Even though I've gotten a pretty good head start with the recipes, with 130 in total, I still have a ways to go! I haven't even dipped into the beauty care section (homemade toothpaste? yes!!) and want to try my hand at making some of the condiments from scratch, like the Spicy Mango Chutney.

This book is beautiful.
The recipes are awesome.
And it's already a staple in my kitchen.

I may be a bit biased, but I truly mean it. Even if I weren't working for Meghan I would have bought this book on release day and be cooking through it just the same (just without the bootleg word doc preview maybe...)

Meghan was a person I needed to meet seven years ago and her recipes, enthusiasm, passion, drive and philosophy have played a huge impact on my healing and my life. Her story reassured me that I was on the right track with my own healing and everything else that has followed has been a big beautiful bonus! I'm grateful that I now get to go to work in the kitchen where so much changed for me and work alongside someone who has been such an incredible mentor, cheerleader and friend.

---

The UnDiet Cookbook is all kinds of awesome and I'm really excited to be able to give away a copy to one very lucky reader! (And since I see the author on a pretty regular basis, I can probably even get it signed for you!)

Congratulations to Faith!! I'll be emailing you to get your details so I can send the book out to you ASAP. 

To win your very own copy of The UnDiet Cookbook:

Leave a comment below with your name, email address + the recipe you'd want to make first from the UnDiet Cookbook (you can take a peek inside the book to get some ideas or see what other folks have been enjoying on the Virtual Book Tour!)

Contest closes at 11:59pm Thursday November 12. I'll pick a random winner from all comments received and notify the winner by email. Contest is open to US and Canadian residents.

Good luck!!

Lego Movie Costume DIY

For Hallowe'en Corbin and I were invited to a Will Ferrell themed party and it seemed like doing a costume together would be the most fun. I scoured Will's IMDB and found a lot of strong contenders but based on our mutual adoration for a certain movie, there was one clear winner:

Lord Business and Princess Unikitty from The Lego Movie.

This seemed perfect for us and a fun opportunity for some arts & crafts. I picked up some paint, brushes and bristol board and Corbin helped secure the right sized cardboard boxes and a 72 hour marathon of building and painting began!

Corbin and I make a great team (probably because everything is awesome when you're part of a team) and it was a joint effort to bring both costumes to life. Princess Unikitty was outfitted with a hockey helmet inside to keep everything stable, while Lord Business had a fedora strapped to some cardboard to stay put. My tail was made from cardboard and bristol board and then attached to a belt for wearing. After building the structures we painted the faces and pieces and added costume pieces to bring everything together. The end result was pretty fantastic!

Taking public transit in our costumes was maybe not the best choice (having peripheral vision comes in handy while trying to hold on on the bus), but we got to the party safely. Everyone loved our costumes and later it was funny to chat with people who didn't know that it was us inside. It was also humorous to observe people checking us out without realizing that we could fully see them doing so from inside the masks. 

There's more footage of Corbin dancing out there, but this will suffice for now. Side note: Part of the hilarious...

Posted by Ashley Gibson on Sunday, November 1, 2015

Watching Corbin dance as Lord Business was pretty epic and hilarious.

All of the work was definitely worth it and we had a fun night at the party. The walk home was also pretty great (we decided that taking the bus a second time was a bit too risky seeing that it would likely be even more crowded and by that time people would be more intoxicated and we weren't sure that we'd fit in an Uber with our giant heads + my tail) Folks who hadn't seen the movie would shout things like "LEGO MAN" and people who were familiar with the movie started losing their minds over Princess Unikitty, even singing to me about Cloud Cuckoo Land. Totally made my night!!

It was definitely a Hallowe'en to remember and I had such a blast creating our costumes with Corbin! That being said, I'm going to appreciate taking the bus this week without a massive head complete with 18 inch horn. So. Much. Safer!

I hope you had a super fun and creative Halloween!!

PS - If you haven't yet seen the Lego Movie, you should make that happen. 

21 Day Fix Extreme - My Experience

Back in the spring, I was really excited for the release of 21 Day Fix Extreme. Many of my fellow coaches and challengers had done the original 21 Day Fix and LOVED it, and I thought this would prove to be an awesome new challenge for me. It boasted:

• 30 minute workouts, each with weights and/or a resistance band
• variety in the workouts - plyo, upper body, lower body, pilates, cardio & yoga
• modifier for every exercise
• food plan, complete with portion controlled rainbow-coloured containers
• opportunity to get shredded 

I was super stoked to do this program and had a group of gals all set to do it with me...

And then I got the godzilla flu. I was out of commission for 10 days complete with fever, no appetite, lethargy, weakness and fainting. It was AWFUL!! It took me awhile to get back into the swing of things and I definitely wasn't in shape to do the program (Heck, I couldn't even get out of BED for 10 days, let alone do jumping jacks with weights!!)

After I regained my strength and my health, I got back into working out daily. I did many of the 21 Day Fix Extreme workouts and dabbled in the program, but never completed the full 21 consecutively and NEVER embarked on the meal plan. 

Why?

Back in 2006 when I first decided to lose weight I counted points, which at the time was a glorified way of counting calories. It did a great job of helping me learn about portion and was instrumental in me losing 35 lbs, but it also created an obsession with numbers.

Be it points or the number on the scale, I was a wee bit obsessed and not always in a positive, helpful way. A lot changed - I learned more about healthy eating and real food.

I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and went gluten & dairy free.

I lost more weight in an unhealthy way after my break up then gained it all back + more. But I remained obsessed with numbers and the scale until I stopped counting points and banished the scale. I found freedom in not weighing myself and viewing all food as choices, rather than good or bad foods that had a number attached.

In doing so, I found a balance with healthy eating and finding those goods feelings inside myself - not based on any number. So I was resistant to try using the containers because I didn't want to feel restricted / inhabited / confined to numbers again.

In the 21 Day Fix system, the containers help with portions, focusing on whole foods and gives you a system to follow (each colour represents a food group). You count the number of each container you have each day, but those are the only numbers to follow. Watching my challengers and fellow coaches follow this plan and have super results was incredibly inspiring and I also wanted to really understand the program. Yah, I could read about and learn everything there was to know - but that's very different than actually DOING!

With all of the traveling I did this summer, I also had let a lot of treats creep into my daily routine. Treats are great and delicious - but they should actually be a treat, not a daily occurrence. 

So with all of that in mind, I declared that I was going ALL IN in October, committing to a full 21 days of the program and giving the containers a go. 

I loved all the variety in the workouts. There are 7 different workouts that you're doing, so over 3 weeks you only do each workout 3 times. I really enjoyed seeing myself get stronger each time I did a workout - be it with heavier weights, the ability to do more reps, use better form or not have to modify. I started out with 3, 5 and 10 lbs weights. I'm about ready to retire the 3's and need to pick up some 8's!! 

I find Autumn to be very motivating (and am also motivated by the handsome, bearded men in the workout - hah!!) She is fierce, but not scary. I want to work harder because of the things that she says!!

I committed to the meal plan last week and found a few interesting things:

• Planning is key- I knew that going in and do like to have a meal plan each week, but ensuring that you get the correct number of containers each day definitely requires some thoughtfulness and planning. If you have everything on hand, and can make a few big things to help you get through the week, you're golden!
• There are so many snacks - I'm not usually a snacker, but in order to get in all of my containers for the day I was required to change that, which was actually awesome! My energy levels were stable and I felt like I was eating so much food. I also tried out a bunch of new, fun snack recipes and will be incorporating them into my routine. 

• I didn't feel restricted - I enjoyed having a plan to follow and I didn't feel like I was depriving myself because there was so much food. Counting containers didn't freak me out like I was worried it might and it was great to have a goal to work towards. 
• More protein please - the meal plan forced me to focus on protein, which was a good thing! I was having protein at most meals and incorporating it into my snacks as well, which was great. 
• Let's change things up a bit - I tried some new recipes that I really enjoyed. I made a bunch from the Fixate Cookbook and some from the 21DFX meal plan book. I haven't talked about this on the blog yet, but I started eating meat again back in the spring (it was part of my recovery after I was sick...) I'm focused on eating ethical meat from quality sources, and still eating a predominantly plant-based diet that is gluten & dairy free. It's been an interesting transition for sure, but I feel amazing. Cooking with meat is still foreign to me, so it's been good to try some new recipes and find new favourites. 

Some of my favourite meals included: Shakeology smoothies in the morning, big salads with tofu, hummus & lots of veggies, chili, taco salad, cashew & oat hot cakes and eggs with veggies & goat cheese. 

Some of my favourite snacks were: sliced fruit with nut butter, plain (goat) yogurt with fruit & seeds, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin energy bites. 

I'm proud to report that on Sunday I finished Day 21 of the program and did a week of the container system. And as a result, I dropped 6 inches - not bad for 3 weeks!! I didn't take my own advice and didn't do progress photos -- I need to find a spot in my new house to take them! 

I am proud to have completed all 21 days and am looking forward to more workouts with Autumn come the new year! I am going to be using more of the 21 Day Fix recipes (and continuing to play with the Fixate cookbook) and I think I will follow the meal plan hardcore again come January. 

If this sounds like a program you would like to try (either Extreme or the original) I would love to have you join me in one of our upcoming challenge groups! You can do anything for 21 days! 30 minutes a day at home + colour coded containers + support?? Totally manageable - and I'd be with you every step of the way! 

Where are my fellow 21 Day Fix-ers at? What is your favourite workout? Do you have a favourite 21 Day Fix approved recipe?

Weekend Adventures

This weekend I had a lot of 'me' time and I feel like it was well deserved. July was an amazing month, but boy was it busy! After Fringe, I was basically in the city for less than a week. I took off to Nashville for an incredible experience at Summit, came home for 4 days and then got back on a plane to go to Alberta for 10 days. I'll be blogging more about both of those trips -- I can't wait to share all that I learned / saw / did / experienced - ahhhh!!

My weekend started off with a super fun party in the east end of the city to celebrate the first birthday of the Confidential Musical Theatre Project. I've had the pleasure of performing in 2 shows with this company and both have helped me grow as a performer! It's an exhilarating (and terrifying) experience that I think every actor should pursue. I got to sing "I Still Believe in Love" from They're Playing Our Song and broadcasted it live on Periscope (you can follow me @ashleydtl to catch those sorts of things!) It was an awesome night and I had a blast connecting with fellow performers and reflecting on all that has happened in a year!

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. Since I moved to the west end of Toronto (after being an east ender for a loooong time) I've been discovering all sorts of great places in my hood to substitute all of my old haunts. I decided to explore Roncesvalles on Saturday as I was looking for a dress to wear to a wedding in September.

Most of my wardrobe comes from Damzels and I had wanted to visit the west end location for some time - it did not disappoint! I found myself trying on countless dresses and had to choose between a bunch of dresses for the wedding. I found a beautiful green dress to wear and also grabbed a sweet bamboo t-shirt that is so soft! I love the service when I go to Damzels and always leave happy.

Since it was a 'me' day, I treated myself to a quickie mani at The Ten Spot and enjoyed some huevos rancheros for brunch at The Ace. 

In between brunching & my manicure, I checked out all sorts of neat little stores on Roncesvalles and had a lovely afternoon! I picked up some awesome cards at Scout and coveted some beautiful jewelry and handbags at Frock. After I nearly walked all the way down to Queen Street, I walked back up to where I had parked my bicycle and biked to the Junction in the sunshine to get a cupcake at Bunners.

Peaches and cream? Heck, yes!

It was a perfect day to be out on my bicycle and walking in the sunshine, exploring different neighbourhoods that are close to me. I maybe capped all of that off with a nap - that's what weekends are for, right?!

How was your weekend? Do you have any favourite spots in the west end of Toronto?

Fringe 2015

I have to say that Fringe is always one of my favourite times of year - it's kind of like Christmas for actors. You stay out late, see old friends and rush from venue to venue taking in as many shows as your schedule will allow - I love it! With nearly 150 shows happening right now, there truly is something for everyone and a week into the Fringe I am feeling oh-so-inspired.

I started off by seeing People Suck for its opening night last Wednesday which was a great way to kick off the festival! The premise is simple - sometimes people suck - and the cast delivered that message through some very funny songs and physical humour. There was a Gilbert & Sullivan-esque number about grammar that I found especially enjoyable and revelled in all the different ways that people can be terrible. My friend Megan (who I connected with YEARS ago through a message board back in the day) co-wrote and starred in the show and it made me so proud to see her shine! They've been getting great reviews and have had a few sold out shows, which is all kinds of awesome!!

I knew that I would spend most of Saturday engaging in Fringe activities, but I didn't anticipate pushing through 11 hours of musical adventures! I spent the early part of my day in the Annex Theatre, being inspired once again by mega talented friends in Adventures of a Redheaded Coffeeshop Girl with Rebecca Perry and Starry Notions with Ryan G. Hinds. Rebecca has been all over the Fringe circuit over the last couple of years and is about to embark on an incredible adventure to Edinburgh for their Fringe. She is so talented and works like crazy - it's just so great to see. Before Fringe I had seen glimpses of performances by Ryan G. Hinds, but never a full show -- gah, I was missing out! He is so charismatic, hilarious and rocks glitter lips like it's nobody's business. His show gave me feelings in my eyes and I was captivated by his performance (and especially loved his homage to Disney villain, Ursula)

I spent my afternoon enjoying time with friends, having snacks and got to see Rounding the Bend and I'm Right Here before the day was done. I loved hearing wonderful female harmonies performed by a very talented cast in Rounding the Bend and was reminded of the impact that social media has on our lives in I'm Right Here. Four shows felt like a pretty solid day and I had the chance to see lots of lovely friends in the Fringe tent that evening. 

On Sunday I saw Summerland and I loved every second. 

With a cast of 100 students, this show reminded me of why I decided to go to musical theatre college. I had tears in my eyes for most of the 90 minutes and probably could have easily watched 90 minutes more. So much raw talent. Awesome musical arrangements. Beautiful dancing. A magical story. So special. I was a bit of a wreck at the end of the show and have sung its praises to anyone who will listen since Sunday afternoon. Part of what I love about the Fringe is that for $10 you can be treated to an epic piece of theatre and entertainment that transports you to another world for a moment in your life. I would go see it again in a heartbeat just to feel all the feelings again. Sum-mer-land. 

I also had the pleasure of seeing Sword Play: A Play of Swords on Sunday night. It was the perfect way to end the weekend with a lot of laughing and memories of my very first Nintendo back in the 80's. 

My Fringe adventures will continue this week! Now that word of mouth is spreading and many reviews have come out, I've narrowed down my picks and booked advance tickets to a few shows. I can't wait to see Morro and Jasp Do Puberty (they're always fab), The Orchid and the Crow (Daniel Tobias is an outstanding performer and it will be great to see him in a very different kind of show) and The Dinner Table which is a site-specific show with only 12 audience members and some of the city's best storytellers + dinner. 

There is still time to get out and see some incredible theatre and party it up in the Fringe tent! Follow along with the #FringeTO hashtag and enjoy some of the amazing talent that is gracing stages all over Toronto this week!!