Month: March 2013

The time to watch the film Hungry for Change for free is drawing to a close. Did you know that when scientists need a fat mouse they feed him MSG? I didn’t until I saw this film, and I read a lot of stuff. There are two days left to view the film. The link is here http://www.hungryforchange.tv/ FYI if you do decide to do a juice fast, watch Fat Sick and Nearly Dead on Hulu first. That scene where he is in bed for a week is not an exaggeration. I had a headache for ten days and I actually kept eating food the whole time. Oddly, since then, no problems. I can have all the juice I want and feel good. Yes there are dull scenes with everywoman making bad food choices but they are worth slugging through to get to the horrors of processed food. Enjoy the...

OK, the Engine 2 diet allows for a lot more whole grains than I would like to see, but in general the emphasis on healthy eating and science based diet changes is dead on. This is a new one hour reality special where Rip Esseltyn (son of Caldwell Esseltyn and firefighter) goes into people’s homes and shows them all the stuff that they think is healthy which is not. I am not convinced that the level of stringency on avoiding fat or meat in the Engine 2 diet is warranted or even advisable for many people (children especially seem to need more of both, and while there are no primates that consume dairy after weaning, there are definitely meat and egg eaters), but most of what he does and debunks is pretty standard stuff (kale good, refined mystery vegetable oil…not so much), and he has some easy ideas for cooking. Really easy. Four ingredient easy. So if you are looking to get some foodie tips, and want to watch a reality show that is positive and where people are trying to do things better, you can check it out here. Also note, if you are married to a manly man who things eating veggies is somehow NOT masculine and that somehow real men eat barbecu, then you are really going to want to see this....

This week the New York times once again gave celiac disease a role in the magazine section. The story was of a man who had trouble walking and twitching muscles. He felt generally lousy. His motor skills declined. He was hospitalized and they ran a battery of tests. They could not find any of the common problems. The twitching stopped and they sent him home only to have him end up back in the ER again within two weeks. Eventually they figured out what was wrong with him. He had a B12 deficiency. Which is incredibly common especially in people over the age of 50. It is easy and inexpensive to test for and easy to find. Except that they never looked for it. This is the original article in Diagnosis http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/03/24/magazine/diagnosis-wobbly-walk.html?ref=diagnosis Now I am not a doctor, but I can read. And the New York Times did an article on what B12 deficiency looks like. Its a combination of motor and neurological and mental (sometimes) deficits. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/health/vitamin-b12-deficiency-can-cause-symptoms-that-mimic-aging.html?_r=0 Does this collection of symptoms sound familiar to anyone else? There are tales of children with severe autism who temporarily improve after b12 shots. Like these (read down to the comments for the “me too”s) http://healingautismandadhd.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/vitamin-b12-our-miracle-supplement/ Or this (skip down to the actual study where again it didn’t work on every child but when it worked…it worked.) http://www.livestrong.com/article/484058-b12-shots-for-autism/ Because children with...

This may be my shortest post ever but its a quick shout out to all my friends who will be celebrating Passover next week and need to do it gluten-free. Gefen makes a pretty good gluten-free chocolate frosted cake mix that is kosher for Passover. The problem is that if you follow the instructions on the box (which I think may have been translated by someone who thought his English was better than it is), the frosting turns to soup and the cake ends up too dense. So here are my tips for fixing the mix. 1) Do not, under any circumstances, add that whole tablespoon of water to the frosting mix. Use a teaspoon. That will give you something that is at least icing. I am convinced this is a mistake in understanding English measures. 2) Add some kosher for Passover instant coffee granules to the water you will be using to make the cake. Do not add a lot of coffee as potato starch based flours seem to amplify flavors. Try about 1/2 a teaspoon. Otherwise the cake is just too sweet. 3) Beat the eggs silly. Get some air in there. Flourless chocolate cake is delightful because the eggs add air. So beat the batter longer than they say to and at a higher speed. I am planning to try out a few more mixes this...

Whenever I read about the hassles involved in eating gluten and dairy free I read about the actual purchase, preparation and management of the food. That, honestly, was one of the smaller hurdles in my mind. The larger hurdles were in dealing with doctors and schools and friends and family. It was waiting for months to see what the diet would do. It was dealing with the unrelenting medical and peer pressure to feed your child “normal” food. It was wondering if this was even going to work or if you were screaming at someone about cross contamination for no reason. I know that I got antifungals strictly because the doctor did not want to deal with me. She stared at me as if perhaps, I had left my tinfoil hat at home today. People, some of whom are doctors, will tell you that there is no scientific evidence that this diet works and that research has not shown it to be helpful. Then they try to tell you that milk is necessary, and wheat has fiber. This makes me wonder if they forgot their tinfoil hats. If we need milk how do you explain 1 billion people in China when most of who do not drink milk? Or in Africa where there is virtually no dairy. Wheat does not grow well in hot swampy climates, yet humans are...

OK…its not Foodmatters which is a better film on the topic of nutrition and life expectancy but Hungry for Change is still pretty good and it gets at a lot of the issues of concern around diet and how what you eat can save you or kill you. This is a limited time offer so you will want to take advantage of it while its available. There are ten days to view the film. You can watch between March 21st and March 31st. You do have to pre-register and yes, they will market to you later but I did this last year and they do not send you stuff every single week nor do they send you stuff you cannot use. Its all good stuff. The link is here http://www.hungryforchange.tv/ FYI if you do decide to do a juice fast, watch Fat Sick and Nearly Dead on Hulu first. That scene where he is in bed for a week is not an exaggeration. I had a headache for ten days and I actually kept eating food the whole time. Oddly, since then, no problems. I can have all the juice I want and feel good. It’s worth it, just don’t do it when you need to be lucid for the next ten days. Enjoy the...