What is wheat good for?

’nuff said.

Are you metabolically deranged?

With a PhD in organic chemistry and the ability to push some serious weight, Matt LaLonde probably knows a thing or two about optimal nutrition.  He was interviewed by a cereal-aholic in Toronto back in June:

Q&A: Mat Lalonde discusses The Paleo Diet | Appetizer | National Post

Key Quote: “…metabolic derangement should first be addressed by improvements in food quality and lifestyle.”

Carbs! Not fat!

So excited to see this in the news!!

Scientists now saying carbs, not fat, are to blame for America’s ills – latimes.com.

Paleo/Primal Food Pyramid

April 20, 2011 – UPDATE: Do you want your own poster, mug, or t-shirt with this design on it?  Get one here at my CafePress store!

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January 11, 2011 – UPDATE: I’m delighted if you’d like to use this pyramid in your blog, but please credit me appropriately.  Thank you!

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I’ve been frequenting the PaleoHacks website in order to stay motivated and fine tune my paleo/primal diet, even while I’m in the midst of my food allergy jazziness.  A few months ago, someone asked what a paleo food pyramid would look like.  Here was my attempt!

In case you’re wondering, this would indeed be my personal recommendation for optimal health based upon my experience and research.  It also, strangely, sends us toward a more kind diet for the environment.  But more on that later…

Primal Challenge #2 and My Elimination Diet

from my nutella video

Primal Challenge #2

Remember last year?  I did this Primal Challenge hosted by Mark’s Daily Apple.  I took pictures of my groceries and made a video about my homemade nutella!  Well, Mark is at it again and since I’m on an elimination diet right now, it seemed rather easy to join in the Primal Challenge!

What’s the elimination diet?

Evidently, I’ve got some food allergies, according to my doctor.  So, after some crazy blood tests, I’ve eliminated about 45 different foods (from beef and egg to mustard and blueberries) for two weeks.  When the two weeks are up, I will bring them all back in, one at a time for two days at a time, to see which are the real offenders.  One of the big offenders was wheat and all it’s gluten grain cousins.  But that’s no big surprise.  All that said, since last year’s Primal Challenge, I’ve been eating pretty primal!  And I recently had some blood work done that confirms for me that it’s working.  I’m only young, but even I can see an improvement in my cholesterol numbers.  Yay!

But since I’m eating rather low carb anyway, and I’ve cut out gluten grains for this elimination diet, it’ll make this years Primal Challenge more like a celebration of eating fewer foods…  Er, or something like that.

Gluten-Free Timbits!

Timbits!!  What’s a timbit?  You must be American.  *sweet smile at you*

Timbit (proper noun): a bite-sized doughnut hole sold at Tim Hortons in Canada. Introduced in April 1976 these treats are now available in various flavours that differ from store to store. Flavours include chocolate, jelly-filled, “dutchie”, honey dip, sour cream glazed, and apple fritter.

Sour cream glazed is my favourite.  But now that we’re going more gluten-free/paleo/primal/vlc, we’re trying to limit the amount of (wheat) grain products we have in our diet!

So a while back I had this brilliant idea to try frying my coconut flour muffin batter in coconut oil.  ”Would that make a timbit?” I wondered.  So today I tried it.  Yummy awesomeness!!

Recipe is after the jump!

Noodle-less Stroganoff-ish

This was a delightful dish that was super easy.

I started with two slices of grass-fed flap meat, cut into slices (about 0.75 lbs).  They went into a cast iron skillet and browned and cooked.  While they cooked, I sliced up four zucchinis into quartered slices.  Once the meat was browned and cooked, I added the zucchini.  With the cover on, the zucchini steam-cooked with the meat.  Once the zucchini was cooked (nice and soft), I added:

• three (3) tablespoons of goat’s milk yogurt
• two (2) tablespoons of gorgonzola cheese
• one (1) table spoon of cooked spinach (leftovers)
• salt and pepper

Then I mixed all that together with the “au jus” from the beef (and the beef and zucchini).  It turned into a lovely brown gravy-like sauce that tasted similar to stroganoff!

It was so yummy!  Ryan and I each had seconds.

How fine a line is it?!

According to this article from british paper The Guardian, a Californian doctor has “discovered” a new disease.  That disease?  Healthy eating.  They’ve cleverly named it “orthorexia nervosa.”  It’s defined as having a “fixation on righteous eating.”

Key quote:

“There is a fine line between people who think they are taking care of themselves by manipulating their diet and those who have orthorexia.”

Mike Adams, aka The Health Ranger, has a lovely rant on the website Natural News about the ludicrous nature of such a claim.

Key quote:

Getting back to this fabricated “orthorexia” disease, the Guardian goes on to report, “Orthorexics commonly have rigid rules around eating. Refusing to touch sugar, salt, caffeine, alcohol, wheat, gluten, yeast, soya, corn and dairy foods is just the start of their diet restrictions. Any foods that have come into contact with pesticides, herbicides or contain artificial additives are also out.”

Wait a second. So attempting to avoid chemicals, dairy, soy and sugar now makes you a mental health patient? Yep. According to these experts. If you actually take special care to avoid pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified ingredients like soy and sugar, there’s something wrong with you.

But did you notice that eating junk food is assumed to be “normal?” If you eat processed junk foods laced with synthetic chemicals, that’s okay with them. The mental patients are the ones who choose organic, natural foods, apparently.

Ah well…  If this is crazy, I don’t wanna be sane.

Why You Should Avoid KFC

I hadn’t eaten at KFC in about a decade.  Several weeks ago, I went there with my eyes open and had a Grilled Double Down. I asked for it with no sauce (have you read what’s in that sauce?!); but they unfortunately didn’t honor my request.  I didn’t discover this until after I’d left.

It was really yummy; but I’m sad about what I put in my body.  As I said, eyes open!

• Grilled Chicken (CAFO), marinated in chemicals (including soybean oil and MSG!)
• Bacon (CAFO)
• Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack Cheese (or something else; depends on their budget)
• Colonel’s Sauce (Soybean Oil, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Egg Yolk, Sugar, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Paprika, Xanthan Gum, Monosodium Glutamate, Spice, Chicken Broth, Garlic Powder, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Potassium Sorbate, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Wheat, Salt), Natural Flavor, Chicken Fat, Dehydrated Chicken and Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten.)

Check out the Ingredients List!  Kudos to them for posting it, at least.

If you’re in the mood for KFC, maybe stick to salads.  And don’t ever get anything boneless from there!

If you are in the mood to try a Double Down, just go ahead and make your own!

This post is categorized in food; but i’m not quite sure that it’s accurately labeled.

NON-FAT or FULL-FAT?

Stephan Guyenet, over at the blog Whole Health Source, linked to an article about how full-fat dairy actually can increase cardiovascular health! Here’s the blogpost.

Remember to try to find raw, unpasteurized, not homogenized dairy if you’re going to include it in your diet, from A2 dairy cows and not A1 dairy cows.

TISANE!

Herbal tea – aka tisane – is a joy to me. Ima coffee-in-the-morning* and tea-in the-evening gal and one of my favourite teas is Good Earth (thanks to Amy Mac for introducing me to it!). But I’ve been troubled by the number of boxes and teabags that I find myself recycling and tossing, respectively. Even though I’m recycling, I’d rather not even do that to the environment. So recently I’ve been dreaming about being able to make my own herbal tea and avoid the use of boxes and teabags. I’ve been dreaming about making my own ginger-mint tea.

So on Sunday, I harvested some mint from the urban garden that Brian and I share (I left the mint from my previous post on my patio to continue to grow roots) and cut up the fresh ginger root that I had in my fridge and spread them out on two dehydrator trays and left for the day. When I got back, I had dehydrated mint leaves and ginger!

Today I ground up some cloves and chopped up some cinnamon bark to go with them.

Clockwise starting top left: Mint leaves, coarsely ground cloves, dehydrated ginger root, and chopped cinnamon bark.

Then I took 1/2 tsp of each and mixed it together in a bowl and added boiling water – one cup. I have two bowls because I tried adding desiccated coconut and pepper to one bowl to see if it added flavour. It did not.

Then, after 5 minutes steeping time, I strained the tea into a mug! It tastes spicy and yummy! I added a small amount of stevia to heighten the flavours.

I’ve been sipping this tea as I write this blog post.

Next time I think I’ll try adding some loose leaf rooibos or star anise seed. Also, I think I’ll try using less cloves and more ginger.

Have you tried making your own tea?

* It’s actually a double americano with cream but who’s counting?

MINT EXTRACTION SUCCESSFUL!

My friend Brian and I share a plot at a local urban garden. We’ve planted carrots and broccoli and cabbage among a few other things. Brian’s been growing herbs over at his apartment but I was too scared to try herbs. Until recently!

I saw that there was wild mint growing near the water hoses at the garden – many different varieties of mint! So I asked the garden manager if I could dig some up and take it home to grow on my balcony. He said yes!

Last weekend, I pulled up some regular mint and some chocolate mint and using the leftover dirt from Brian’s herbs, I transplanted the regular mint into an old coconut oil bucket and the chocolate mint into a plastic bag-lined paper bag on a tin pie plate. Then I watered them both well.

Over the last few days I’ve been checking the dirt and pulling off dead leaves so the plant can give energy to the live leaves. And today! Today I noticed that the live leaves no longer feel wilted! They’ve livened up! The roots have started to grow! The transplant was successful!! I know it’s only mint and mint is hardy and it was likely to succeed. But I’m still excited.

Homemade Ginger-Mint Looseleaf Tisane for me!!

To Boldly Go Where No Meat Has Gone Before – Meat enterprise – Gizmodo

From Gizmodo.

DIRT

It’s a good thing.  I consider it mother nature’s vaccine.  I like to play in it.  Grow stuff in it.  And sling it at that cute boy I married.  

We can tend to sometimes think of dirt as dead.  Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, ya know?  But dirt is a community of organisms.  It’s alive.  And we’re killing it.

Modern agricultural practices are eating away at our soil.

One of my favourite food bloggers linked to a new film called, you guessed it, DIRT.

Here’s the trailer…

Just like FOOD INC, KING CORN, and BIG RIVER were all films worth talking about, DIRT is worth our time.

Egg Troubles?

Many people have trouble figuring out what the labels mean on their egg cartons.  Which types of eggs should we buy?

• Organic?
• Free-range?
• Cage-free?
• Battery?

If you’re confused, check out this great article from About.com.

Fav quote:

The advantage to pasture-raised eggs is that the hens are able to eat a wide variety of the natural food of chickens — greens, grubs, etc. Not only do many people find these eggs to be much tastier, but there is accumulating evidence that the eggs from these hens have better nutritional profiles — less cholesterol, less fat but more healthy Omega-3 fat, and more of other nutrients such as Vitamin A, lutein, vitamin E, and beta-carotene.

Personally, I like to buy pasture-raised eggs.  But when I can’t get to the farmers’ market, I buy organic omega-3 eggs (humanely-raised, if possible).

And what about stevia?

I little over a year ago, I wrote about how stevia had been approved by the FDA for human consumption.  I’ve been using stevia for about five years now and so-far-I-haven’t-had-any-problems.

A day or two ago I came across this little tidbit on a paleo blog I read.  And I wanted to share.

There’s some scientific evidence to support the notion that Stevia is safe, even in type 2 diabetes patients^{1, 2}. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated to have antihypertensive properties, as shown by Chan et al.³ and a long-term study⁴.

The bottom line is that Stevia seems to be safe, but we need more research to rule out possible side effects.

Yay!  Stevia = safe!  But hmmm…  Could there be side effects?  Wonder what those could be…  Perhaps it’s best to continue to use stevia in moderation, eh?

The great thing about this post too, is that they list references.

1. Gregersen S, Jeppesen PB, Holst JJ, Hermansen K. Antihyperglycemic effects of stevioside in type 2 diabetic subjects. Metabolism. 2004 Jan;53(1):73-6.
2. Barriocanal LA, Palacios M, Benitez G, Benitez S, Jimenez JT, Jimenez N, Rojas V. Apparent lack of pharmacological effect of steviol glycosides used as sweeteners in humans. A pilot study of repeated exposures in some normotensive and hypotensive individuals and in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2008 Jun;51(1):37-41. Epub 2008 Mar 5.
3. Chan P, Tomlinson B, Chen YJ, Liu JC, Hsieh MH, Cheng JT. A double-blind placebo-controlled study of the effectiveness and tolerability of oral stevioside in human hypertension. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2000 Sep;50(3):215-20.
4. Hsieh MH, Chan P, Sue YM, Liu JC, Liang TH, Huang TY, Tomlinson B, Chow MS, Kao PF, Chen YJ. Clin Ther. 2003 Nov;25(11):2797-808. Efficacy and tolerability of oral stevioside in patients with mild essential hypertension: a two-year, randomized, placebo-controlled study

WHERE’D Y’ALL’S MILK COME FROM?

I usually buy my raw milk from Organic Pastures Dairy.  I buy it at my local grocers.

Details on why raw milk here. And here!

But raw milk is expensive so I only buy enough for drinking straight or I buy cream.  I’m certinaly not going to use raw milk to make cappuccinos!  I’m essentially pasturizing the milk when I steam it!  So I buy cheaper, pasteurized milk for when we make cappuccinos.  Except, I try to buy organic, whole and non-homoginzed milk.  So I buy the Organic Cream Top Milk from Trader Joe’s.  I liked that it was non-homoginized but I didn’t like that I didn’t know where it came from!

But now I do!

I just found this little website that will tell me where the milk in my grocery store jug has come from!  Ie. which dairy!  Now you can know if your milk is coming from a reputable dairy or not!

I discovered that my Organic Cream Top Milk is coming from a great dairy in Northern California called Straus Family Creamery.  I’m so excited to know this!

Check out your milk!  You can also check your cheese, yogurt, ice cream or any dairy product!

Agave Concerns

My affaire with agave nectar was passionate but short-lived. I discovered it while doing Weight Watchers, when I was looking for low-calorie sweeteners. I stopped using Splenda a long time ago. I currently use Stevia because I can tolerate the aftertaste. But inbetween those, I flirted with agave syrup. And agave syrup flirted back. It promised an all-natural satisfaction for my sweet tooth while being low-glycemic. It promised not to make me fat.

But why is this sweetener low-glycemic? It seemed like a contradiction! Too good to be true!

It was…

I follow the thoughts from all sorts of food camps. As a Weight Watcher Lifetime Member, I know quite well what the Good Health Guidelines are (which follow the national food plan), I follow a few raw vegan blogs just to see what’s happening over on that side of the river, I pay attention to the whole food community (the Price-Pottenger people and Michael Pollan) and I faithfully read my low-carb, primal and paleo diet blogs.

And here’s the thing, most food camps are decrying agave syrup!

Here’s a quote from one of my favourite whole food blogs:

The process by which agave glucose and inulin are converted into “nectar” is similar to the process by which corn starch is converted into HFCS. The agave starch is subject to an enzymatic and chemical process that converts the starch into a fructose-rich syrup—anywhere from 70 percent fructose and higher according to the agave nectar chemical profiles posted on agave nectar websites.

Agave syrup isn’t natural.

Here’s a quote from a raw foods website I found:

Agave Syrup is advertised as “low glycemic” and marketed towards diabetics. It is true, that agave itself is low glycemic.  [But] we have to consider why agave syrup is “low glycemic.” It is due to the unusually high concentration of fructose (90%) compared to the small amount of glucose (10%). Nowhere in nature does this ratio of fructose to glucose occur naturally. One of the next closest foods that contain almost this concentration of glucose to fructose is high fructose corn syrup used in making soda(HFCS 55), which only contains 55% fructose.

This quote goes on to explain why fructose is low glycemic:

…glucose is metabolized by every cell in the body, and fructose must be metabolized by the liver. Tests on animals show that the livers of animals fed large amounts of fructose develop fatty deposits and cirrohosis of the liver. This is similar to the livers of alcoholics.

And why is this bad?  In a post from a paleo blogger we find this:

Fructose makes your liver create new fat, gives you more small dense LDL and oxidized LDL — the worst, true artery “clogging” kind — and gives you a fat belly.

The raw food blog continues:

Fructose appears to interfere with copper metabolism. This causes collagen and elastin being unable to form. Collagen and elastin are connective tissue which essentially hold the body together. A deficiency in copper can also lead to bone fragility, anemia, defects of the arteries and bone, infertility, high cholesterol levels, heart attacks and ironically enough an inability to control blood sugar levels.

Fructose … reduces the sensitivity of insulin receptors. Insulin receptors are the way glucose enters a cell to be metabolized. As a result, the body needs to make more insulin to handle the same amount of glucose.

Fructose consumption has been shown to increase blood lactic acid, especially for people with conditions such as diabetes. Extreme elevations may cause metabolic acidosis.

Consumption of fructose leads to mineral losses, especially excretions of iron, magnesium, calcium and zinc compared to subjects fed sucrose.

Fructose also raises serum triglycerides (blood fats) significantly.

Being low-glycemic isn’t necessarily a good thing.

And in this post from a polular paleo proponent, a study is mentioned in which they studied the effects of glucose versus fructose (agave is 90% fructose):

After ten weeks, both groups had gained about three pounds. But they didn’t gain it in the same place. The fructose group gained a disproportionate amount of visceral fat…! Visceral fat is the most dangerous type; it’s associated with and contributes to chronic disease, particularly metabolic syndrome….

The fructose group [also] saw a worsening of blood glucose control and insulin sensitivity. They also saw an increase in small, dense LDL particles and oxidized LDL, both factors that associate strongly with the risk of heart attack and may in fact contribute to it. Liver synthesis of fat after meals increased by 75%. If you look at table 4, it’s clear that the fructose group experienced a major metabolic shift, and the glucose group didn’t. Practically every parameter they measured in the fructose group changed significantly over the course of the 9 weeks. It’s incredible.

Fructose is worse than glucose.

Here’s an article from NaturalNews.com that goes into much more detail.

Here’s an agave post from a pro-dairy blog that links to several good resources.

And finally, here’s good post from another low-carb blog I read.

For your health, avoid agave.

Is beauty is only skin deep?

You try to eat organic, pastured, local foods. You keep a clean home. You drink plenty of water and avoid soft drinks. You think you’re treating your body well, right? But did you know that whatever you put on your skin, you are ingesting?

Last night I pulled out a ton of lotions and shampoos and other random cosmetics from my counter and found this website – Cosmetics Database. I went through each bottle of stuff, and if I couldn’t find the actual product, I looked up the individual ingredients. If any of the top five ingredients were 4 or higher on the danger scale, that product got sacked. Out of 40 items, only 3 were safe. 3. A cuticle oil, a facial spray, and my Witch Hazel. Even my mineral powder foundation is dangerous! The mascara was borderline.

So it’s all gettin’ tossed.

Here’s an example. I had a bottle of Ocean Potion 100% Aloe Vera in my cabinet. 100% Aloe Vera! That’s good right? Wrong. I turned the bottle over and checked out the ingredients. Ew! Why on earth does 100% Aloe Vera gel need Yellow No. 5?! Here’s the product listing on Cosmetics Database. It’s a moderate hazard at 6/10! But think about it! I’m putting that on my skin when its in need of healing!! When my skin needs healing, I shouldn’t be slathering hazardous chemicals all over it!

It’s over, cosmetics industry. You and I are through. Except for my mineral powder foundation. I use a nut oil base to protect my skin from the powder. So I’ll use that foundation up. But once it’s gone, I’m gonna find a less hazardous version. Same with the rest of my makeup.

Check it out, and see what you’re ingesting with your daily lotion, shampoo, or foundation. Even Neutrogena body lotion isn’t safe. Neither is Physician’s Formula. For example…

The Sugar Alcohol Myth

A few weeks ago, Ryan and I were invited to have dinner with some delightfully genuinely lovely friends of ours.  We stopped at Trader Joe’s to pick up bread as requested.  Because I like to consume my grain soaked, sprouted or fermented if possible, I chose the Trader Joe’s Sourdough Rye bread.  It’s made with real sourdough starter!  And I grabbed two “no sugar” chocolate bars to share for dessert.

No sugar?  Yeah, right!

We had a lovely meal with our friends.  Lots of laughter and encouragement.  She served melons for dessert and we shared the chocolate bars.  I took one of the wrappers home with me to see what made this chocolate bar so special.

Maltitol.

Do you know what it is?  It’s a sugar alcohol!  A carb!  According to wiki, it “does not promote tooth decay and has a somewhat lesser effect on blood glucose.”  It comes from corn.  They sweetened my chocolate with sweet corn alcohol.  ”Excessive consumption can have laxative effect and sometimes can cause gas and/or bloating.”  Check and check.  Finally, maltitol syrup has a glycemic index of 52, which is close to that of table sugar (60)!  This little substance will raise your insulin levels.  Just like sugar.  What good is it then?

So this Trader Joe’s No Sugar Chocolate Bar had it.  I’ve read that Slim-A-Bear Klondike Bars have it.  What else has it?

Beware the “no sugar” claims.  If it’s not aspartame, it could be something almost as bad!

Next time, I’ll stick with the fruit.