ABOUT Barbara Hankey-Rogers
A native of California, Barbara grew up in Los Feliz and Marina Del Rey, California. After graduating with a business degree from USC, she spent many years working in the family car business in different capacities. It was in her 20’s when she developed a passion for cooking. In the early 70’s Julia Child had an influence on Barbara and so cooking soufflés and Baked Alaska became a regular occurrence as did taking cooking classes in Santa Monica, Indian Wells, La Quinta, San Miguel de Allende, Cabo San Lucas and Italy. Her other passion is her love for animals. She resides on the board of Loving All Animals in Palm Desert.
Barbara is currently enrolled in the Escoffier Culinary School to continue her culinary education. She currently resides in Palm Desert, California with her other half, Gary and her two dachshunds, Sushi and Tinker Bell.
It's a no grainer cookbook
welcome to It's a no grainer cookbook
As you have made it this far, then you must love food and you may have also realized that not all foods, especially grains and gluten, may like you!
Welcome to It’s a No Grainer Life – an alternative culinary journey to creating a happy tummy through creative, healthy and tasty dining even if gluten and grains like you!
I’ve always been interested in food, nutrition and health and with age this focus became even more prevalent. Throughout my life, I was in a constant flux of weight gain and loss and so I began to experiment with a variety of diets. I amassed many nutrition books, cook books and read everything available on the market in my attempts to tackle my eating choices.
At times this search became overwhelming – fat free, no carbs, low carbs, liquid proteins, Atkins, Weight Watchers, vegan! I could fill the pages of this website with data from studies about how these diets affect the body but I am sure you have all read or heard about them so I won’t bore you with the details!
Finally, after years of experimentation with mixed results, I noticed something was still amiss. Only now it wasn’t about my weight, it was about my health. I was experiencing digestive issues with no relief in sight.
My doctor's book Lean and Fit changed my life even so much so that my other half dispensed with his blood pressure medicine after following this way of life... grain and gluten free!! It was also then that my digestive issues disappeared and I finally reached my goal weight!
It was this revelation that changed my life and forced me to re-learn how to eat and thereby how to cook delicious and healthy meals without the gluten and grains.
With It’s a No Grainer Life, I am offering healthy alternatives that may help you attain your goals and help bring balance to your body and life.
Gluten is in all grains so getting rid of the grains is a good first step. Grains have been mistakenly promoted as healthy, which in reality are anything but. They are difficult to digest, anti-nutrient and can cause inflammation in the lining of the stomach which can easily lead to leaky gut. Since World War II, our grains have been dramatically altered (dwarfed and hybridized) adding more sugar and more gluten which has caused an increase in obesity, chronic diseases and causes our blood sugar to spike to unsafe levels throughout the day.
Typical grains include corn, pop corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, kamut, muesli, teff, spelt, quinoa, cornmeal, brown and white rice. Even though white rice does not have the inflammatory problem as the other grains, it is high in carbs, so I eliminated it altogether and replaced it with riced cauliflower.
I have also chosen to cut out legumes as they are very high in lectins. Lectins are a plant protein that wreak havoc on the lining of the stomach. Recent studies show that lectins can feed the bad gut-bugs in our intestines and cause them to break through the stomach and intestinal lining.
I love to cook and eat so taking the time to discover simple yet delicious grain/gluten-free recipes became a wonderful journey which I am now happy to share with you! The rewards have been truly amazing - I am never bloated, my overall health is great, I do not have any skin issues nor allergies, I sleep better and my weight is at its best level ever. I continue to exercise regularly and practice portion modification.
I am not saying that we can’t ‘cheat’ now and then, but it is truly my hope that you will enjoy and share this delicious and healthy alternative with your friends and family even if grains and glutens are your friends!
I wish you all the success in your journey to a healthier you!!!