March 2014 - Humbug Stew

Gluten Intolerance Lecture – Alessio Fasano

Posted by christina | Mar 31, 2014 | Uncategorized |

I often say on this site, don’t listen to me. Check my facts. Make your own decision. I am a reporter not a doctor. But this guy, you should listen to this guy. He is a doctor. He teaches pediatric gastroenterology at Harvard. This is what they are teaching now in the best medical schools. Its a long lecture but worth watching if you or anyone you know is confused about the following 1) Isn’t leaky gut still theoretical? Only like gravity is theoretical. Its being taught at Harvard as fact. 2) Wouldn’t I have less than perfect digestion if I had celiac disease? No. Most people have no digestive issues at all. He cites fatigue, anemia and fibromyalgia (around minute 11) as the most common symptoms. 3) Is there really a link between other autoimmune diseases and celiac disease? A link? How about every last one of them is on Chromosome 16 AND they all seem to require a breakdown in zonulin reaction AND a leaky gut. And when he says all he specifically mentions Autism as part of ALL. 4) OK so I just need to give up gluten, right? Nope, the problem is a damaged microbiome, genetically iffy zonulin regulation and then a food that sends a person over the edge. It is possible that celiac disease is one manifestation of zonulin problems (minute 35). This...

Gluten-Free Egg-Free Lamb Mini-Meatballs

Posted by christina | Mar 31, 2014 | Uncategorized |

OK so who needs an easy tasty elegant appetizer for passover that can be prepared in a disposable metal pan? There is a Nigella Lawson recipe for lamb mini meatballs that is amazing. I saw her make them on television and thought, well I have to try that. Of course, the original recipe calls for semolina and eggs and requires that you fry the meatballs. Obviously none of that is going to work for me. So I tried standard egg replacer. Don’t. They fell apart. I tried doing without the eggs. Also not good. That may work for beef...

The Link Between Gluten and Mental Illness

Posted by christina | Mar 30, 2014 | Uncategorized |

Sometimes food really can rot your brain. If you or a loved one are wondering if its really possible that “Bread Madness” exists (Dr. Peter H.R. Green of Columbia made me aware of that term) and wants more than anecdotal evidence, here you go. The following is a round up of articles published in peer reviewed journals on the impact of gluten on mental health including the well documented links with depression and schizophrenia, the link with bipolar disorder and others. Read it, share it with loved ones. Explore PubMed and see what else has been written. Then please, give going 100% perfectly gluten free for one month a try. First, you can read about what bread madness is http://www.sott.net/article/261516-Bread-madness-schizophrenia-or-gluten-sensitivity And why doctors are saying that children with any mental or behavioral problems need screenings http://www.celiac.com/articles/21856/1/Doctors-Recommend-Celiac-Screening-for-Kids-with-Mental-Disorders-Low-Cholesterol/Page1.html The most common mental illness is a kind of depression and anxiety. Note that many of the patients profiled had Marsh 1 lesions. Those are considered the mild ones compared with the more advanced Marsh 2 or 3 lesions of most celiacs. Also note that HALF of the celiacs had psychological symptoms and that they improved on a gluten free diet. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24576676 Here you can read the whole article about depression and gluten http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24369320 Of course if you are bipolar its gluten and dairy that may need to be given the boot. Dairy...

Pizza Can Be Incredibly Bad For You

Posted by christina | Mar 26, 2014 | Uncategorized |

Whenever I explain why we are bringing our own cooler of food somewhere I tend to get one of a handful of reactions. One of the most common is the shocked horrified version of “OMG you can’t eat PIZZA?!?!” Now actually we can eat pizza, I just have to make it myself with Daiya cheese and we need to “save up” to be able to eat the tomato sauce, but actually I am kind of glad that we can’t mindlessly eat pizza, especially after what Food Babe uncovered in her expose of the pizza chains. In addition to GMOs, artificial flavors, and wood pulp, she found a LOT of MSG. To truly understand the horror of eating that much MSG, you need to understand lab rats. You see lab rats are fed nothing but carefully measured amounts of rat chow. Rat chow tastes boring so, unsurprisingly, even if the rats are allowed unlimited amounts of chow, the rats are almost all the correct weight for a rat. But sometimes scientists need morbidly obese rats for their experiment. Ever wonder where they get them? Are the rats a special breed? Are the rats fed a tastier rat chow. Do they make them nervous? Nope, they just give ordinary Sprague-Dawley rats some MSG and BOOM, obese rats. This is especially awesome because they don’t even have to invest in extra rat...

Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Vegan Lunchbox Graham Crackers – Nairn’s

Posted by christina | Mar 25, 2014 | Uncategorized |

I like to bake, but every so often I get burned out and want a snack in a presealed package. Although we have often used Enjoy Life bars, sometimes I want something a bit less sweet and with a smaller ingredients list. When I discovered Nairn’s graham crackers I literally bought out the Fresh Market near my home. I have gone back again and again and purchased as many as they have in stock. Nairn’s are made in Scotland where people are way ahead of us here in the US when it comes to gluten free living. The ones...

Glenn Beck Needs a Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Soy-Free, Nut-Free Diet

Posted by christina | Mar 22, 2014 | Uncategorized |

Apparently Glenn Beck needs someone who cooks like I do. In an article in The Blaze, he indicated that his doctors think he has multiple food sensitivities. To cope he wants to hire a chef to follow him everywhere and prepare his gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free, bean-free, nut-free and sugar-free meals. I could probably do the job. Of course there might still be a job available that involves being attacked by hyenas instead which I would probably enjoy more. So I need to make sure that isn’t true before I apply. While I genuinely get nauseous thinking about spending my days following Glenn around, I do think that he puts a pretty accurate face on the most common symptoms of food sensitivity. He went gray very young, which seems to be common in the world of the food sensitive. He is high strung and moody. He seems to take everything too seriously. He comes across as slightly, but not dangerously, nutty. FYI for anyone who thinks I am picking on him because of his beliefs, we also know that Keith Olbermann had similar issues with gluten (Olbermann is a celiac) and again the same behavioral symptoms. I am not talking about the opinions, just the moodiness. People are always looking for bloodwork or gastrointestinal symptoms to show the evidence of an issue, yet it now appears that the most...

Low Salicylate Gluten Free Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Posted by christina | Mar 13, 2014 | Dinner Stews |

In the winter I like stews and slow cooker meals. It adds a little heat in my kitchen and I come home to a good smell and something that needs just a salad or a microwaved green veggie to be a complete meal. Since mornings at my house are hectic enough without adding chopping to the equation I cut up all the veggies the night before. That way its just dump it in, turn it on and let it cook all day while I do something else. The tapioca mentioned below is not necessary, it just makes the sauce...

Easy Gluten-Free Vegan Mocha Brownies with Coffee Icing

Posted by christina | Mar 9, 2014 | Dessert |

When I was a child, my favorite dessert was this mocha brownie with coffee frosting. I recently found what I think was the original recipe in the Betty Crocker Cookie Book and thought that I could probably remake it to be safe for our new, very limited diet. I realize that posting something like this during Lent is probably not kind, however, for those of you who do not cut out chocolate or dessert during lent…this is a good one. Not only is it gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, corn-free, nut-free, and low in salicylates, but it is also easy...

Additive Free Low Salicylate Fruit Punch

Posted by christina | Mar 5, 2014 | Uncategorized |

I know what you are thinking, a recipe for fruit punch? Is she for real? How hard can it be? As it turns out, when you need to control salicylate load and artificial ingredients, it is surprisingly challenging. I discovered this while hanging out for half an hour in the juice aisle of my local Whole Foods which was actually the THIRD grocery store I had visited in search of a fruit juice made entirely from pomegranate, passion fruit, pear, banana or mango juices since these are pretty much the only fruits allowed on the diet. As it turns out things marked pear juice contain apples (yes red and yellow delicious apples are allowed, but since all other varieties are questionable and juice is a concentrated product…no apple juice) and virtually everything contained grape juice. Now there is such a thing as pure pomegranate juice, but I defy you to get a six year old to drink it. It is pretty sour, especially by grade school preferences. So after spending at least 10 minutes doing my best impersonation of a self-absorbed nightmare Whole Foods shopper standing there blocking the aisle and reading every last container of juice, I discovered a single brand that did not contain any apple juice, grape juice or other offending juices. The brand is called Ceres and it has a mango flavor that contains only...

Ellen’s Famous Chicken

Posted by christina | Mar 3, 2014 | Dinner Party Main Dishes, Uncategorized |

Ellen is the almost 90 year old mother of one of my best friends and one of my son’s adopted grandmas. The first time she offered him this chicken, he was about seven months old and he literally learned to use a spoon that night in order to eat it. The second time he howled when he saw other people eating some because he wanted all of it to himself. This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, corn-free, nut-free, bean-free, fish and shellfish free, nightshade-free, and egg-free. It is also really easy to prepare. It can be made kosher and can be made safe for Passover and does not use a lot of utensils to prepare (however, due to the lemon I would avoid preparing it in a disposable aluminum pan) Anyone avoiding salicylates should avoid the herb coated skin of the chicken. This recipe is a bit oddly written as Ellen herself had never written it down so I just observed her and documented what she did. You can measure for all the steps if you prefer, or you can just do what she does and eyeball it. Ingredients (all amounts are for one chicken) 1 chicken cut into standard parts (2 Drumsticks, 2 Thighs, 2 Wings, 2 Breasts cut in half horizontally (across the breast) to make them thigh sized). Make sure the skin is on and the...

Month: March 2014