Fiber Fool

I haven’t talked in depth about the dietary changes I’ve made over the past 15 months or so. It has very much been an evolutionary process. I think that is the best approach. Small changes are easier to handle without feeling overwhelmed. That overwhelmed element is important to monitor, especially if your eating is emotionally charged.

I started by increasing my fiber intake. I aimed for 30-35 g a day at the beginning of 2011. As I’ve lost weight my caloric intake has dropped so I’ve also dropped my fiber a bit, aiming for 25 g a day but being okay with myself if I have a 20 g day now and again. Then I reduced carbs and increased protein. Let me qualify the “cutting carbs” though - I did not eliminate anything completely from my diet but severely cut refine sugars. I still eat grains, though I try to stick to whole grains. I still eat carb-heavy vegetables, just in smaller portion sizes and perhaps less frequently. I most definitely still eat fruits too. I still struggle with getting enough protein within my calorie and carb limits (if you have fav portable lunches or breakfasts with ~30 g of protein, please share them with me!). When I manage to get ~100 g I feel a lot better so there is a tangible reason beyond seeing the numbers on the scale and tape measure getting smaller!

Needless to say, most pancakes did not fit into this new way of eating and I had tried my share of whole grain pancakes only to be disappointed - for lack of a better explaination they tasted too “healthy.” I’m pretty sure I went over 6 months without having a pancake (other than the German variety).

The philosophy around my eating now is rooted in both moderation and variety with a focus on eating whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible. Though a peak at my desk will indicate I have not completely eliminated processed foods. Sometimes life is just too busy and it is better to eat a little something processed than to not eat. So several months ago DH and I started having pancakes fairly regularly on the weekends. I played with many partially and 100% whole grain recipes. I’ve hit upon what I think is now “my pancake recipe.” Each 4.5-5″ diameter pancake is only 80 calories and packs almost 2 g of fiber and 4 g of protein! They are still light and fluffy and golden brown. [Note: the panckes pictured above are not from the most recent revision of the recipe, in fact they were from a version sometime before the new year.]

While this pancake’s texture and taste suits our palettes I would like some feedback from others before I post it here on the blog. The recipe calls for the usual pancake stuff - milk, eggs, salt, soda, and brown sugar. In addition you’ll need white whole wheat flour (King Arthur makes a great one that is pretty readily available), oat bran, ground flax seeds and low fat Greek yogurt. I’d like at least a few people to try the recipe as is, but I also wouldn’t mind hearing how it goes with regular whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour (I have 1 volunteer for that). The oat bran could be replaced with wheat bran or wheat germ and one could use chia seeds in place of the flax seeds. If you want to test the recipe out, I’d like you to be able to make them and get comments back to me by May 5th.

Hands on time making the batter is probably less than 10 minutes if you pull everything out first. Then there is a rest period and the actual cooking time. It is probably about 1.5 hours from start to being done eating them if you cook 4 at a time, less if you have larger griddle that accomodates 6-8 pancakes. It makes 24 pancakes and they do reheat nicely in a toaster oven either straight from the fridge or freezer.

If you are interested and can make them and get comments back to me by May 5th, please let me know in the comments and let me know what if any substitutions you’d be making and I’ll send you the recipe.

Thanks!