About

For anyone who followed or occasionally viewed Meatless in a McWorld, you’ll know that this blog was originally a joint effort between my sister and me, to add (more) flavourful and nutritious food to the blogosphere! I was the “creative” side, frequently concocting recipes, and my sister was allegedly going to supply some awesome facts about different foods as the resident history buff in our family. While I loved having the creative outlet and a place to post recipe experiments, she never quite got around to posting much. Coupled with a huge change in my diet (see below), I opted to change the name of the blog to Navigating the McWorld and revamp the blog a little bit. You can expect to see recipes (assuming I can get off my lazy butt and actually post some creations), that are generally gluten free, grain free, egg free, soy free, legume free, nightshade free and dairy free…among other things. I am simply trying to navigate this new territory I find myself in, and I hope you join me on my journey!

So…a little bit more about me. My name is Krysten and I am responsible for the recipes you’ll find here!

I have been vegetarian for about 8 years now (since 2006) but have definitely gone through many food ruts. When I started my meat-free quest, I was definitely not the healthiest and was not educated enough to create both delicious and nutritious meals. About 5 years ago, I started listening to my body a bit more and realized my much loved dairy was causing some issues and cut it out of my diet. However, during my first year of university 4 years ago, growing tired of the cafeteria food, I started living off of carbs. Once in my own apartment, it was definitely easier to experiment with meals and figure out new ways to balance my meals. I grew much more confident in the kitchen but was often still quite lethargic and experienced digestive issues regularly. Then, about a year and a half ago, I was experiencing chronic back pain and knew there was something else in my diet that was disagreeing with me. I decided to start by taking wheat out of my diet.

At first, I was definitely not educated about wheat and ended up just replacing my regular wheat products, like break and muffins, with gluten free versions. My back pain definitely went away and I was feeling a bit better. However, my summer job involved camping in a remote location for 2 months with pasta as the main meal staple. At the point I took the job, I had only just begun to cut out gluten and wasn’t even sure it was working so I didn’t bother trying to get more gluten free options for me while away (my typical “I don’t want anyone to make a fuss over me” attitude). Closer to the date of departure, I realized that the 2 months of pasta would be the ultimate test and I was right – by the end, I was in a lot of pain and knew that gluten had to go! In August of 2012, I officially became gluten free and took it much more seriously. Instead of just replacing my favourite bread products with gluten free versions, I decided to focus my day-to-day diet on fruits, veggies and proteins. I instantly started feeling better and became inspired by many amazing vegan and gluten free food blogs out there. I slowly starting playing with recipes and even started making up some of my own. My passion for food and nutrition has grown ever since.

Shortly after I started this blog, in the fall of 2013, I started realizing that I wasn’t actually as healthy as I thought I was. It started with periods of very low energy, likely associated with borderline iron levels. Although things mildly got better after I started taking multi-vitamins with iron, my running suffered and I was just generally unwell. Slowly, I started getting other symptoms, and I slowly started having to cut more and more foods out of my diet. Finally, enough was enough, and I went to a naturopath in April 2014, who diagnosed me with leaky gut. Through many trials and tribulations we have only now, in September, got a good balance with all my supplements. Although I still generally don’t feel great, I am hoping that through optimism and a new diet, I can kick this leaky gut in the butt!!

Asides from my love of food, I am (or maybe was?) a running junkie, yoga bum and a hiking enthusiast. I just started my master’s in oceanography and have starting calling the east coast home. My creative outlet has always been in the kitchen, so I hope you enjoy some of my creations and enjoy coming along for my journey.