June 2014 - Humbug Stew

Are Microbes Causing Autoimmune Conditions?

Posted by christina | Jun 30, 2014 | Uncategorized |

When I rant about how diet can cure autoimmune conditions I am sure that I sound kind of out there. It is an outrageous theory. To say that a whole series of ailments from autoimmune arthritis to obesity to autism can be stopped or reversed by a combination of antibiotics, antifungals, changes in diet, and microbiota sounds strange. You must be wondering WHERE on Earth I am getting this bizarre theory and what sort of evidence I can possibly have that all of these conditions are related. I am glad you asked. This area of scientific knowledge is growing rapidly. So rapidly that this current (June 2014) article is actually a summary of what scientists already know. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24882755 If you want to read more about it, or understand all the mathematical modeling necessary to allow us to develop solutions to the scary side effects of dysbiosis, the following article has a pretty readable abstract indicating how few genes mammals have and how much we rely on our microbes to define our immunity, our metabolism and our reaction to pathogens. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4000997/ This article is from the journal Lupus published May 2014. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24763536 This is from the Brief of Functional Genomics about the microbes most likely to be impacting type 2 diabetes and obesity http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23616309 A more complete analysis of gut flora and obesity http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3754967/ There is an interesting sentence here...

Are Natural Flavors Generally Gluten-Free?

Posted by christina | Jun 29, 2014 | Uncategorized |

I have read elsewhere on the internet that “natural flavors” rarely contain gluten. This is simply not true. I am writing on this topic today because I have been rather miserably spending the evening in the bathroom yet again. I won’t revolt you with the details but suffice it to say that once again I got up this morning and looked at the sort of belly that comes only from a gluten reaction or a second trimester pregnancy. And now I am getting my normal body back again the hard way. And what, you may wonder, was the offending food? A pre-made margarita. Now on the one hand, there is no need for cocktails to profess their gluten status or their nut status or really give us any information whatsoever about their ingredients. That said, margaritas are generally a combination of tequila (gluten-free) triple-sec (gluten-free) and lime juice (allergen-free). Salt is also not an issue. And sure, sometimes they use sweet and sour mix but in general I drink margaritas without any gluten issues. I may have tequila issues, but no gluten issues. Margaritas may cause me to be more opinionated, but not sleepy or bloated. However last night, I ate only my own food prepared at home and these margaritas. And I had so little margaritas that there were literally zero tequila issues. But boy howdy were there...

Gluten-Free, Corn-Free, Soy-Free, Low Salicylate Barbecue Chicken

Posted by christina | Jun 29, 2014 | Uncategorized |

I love barbeque chicken, but bottled sauce is out of the quesiton. Yes, it is possible to find an organic and gluten-free barbecue sauce and even one that is corn free. But a soy-free, corn-free, gluten-free, GMO-free, low salicylate sauce…nope, not likely. So the following is a recipe that can be made in a fraction of the time you would spend reading labels in the store and swearing under your breath trying to figure out if the sauce was safe. That said, even if, by some miracle I found a sauce that met all my criteria, most barbecue sauces...

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free 15 Minute Pasta Sauce

Posted by christina | Jun 28, 2014 | Everyday Dinners |

While pasta sauce always has the problem of salicylates and nightshades, there is no reason for any major allergens to be present in a pasta sauce, yet after an exasperating 20 minutes in the spaghetti sauce aisle I realized that almost all pasta sauces contain soybean oil. It may be organic and GMO free, but it is still soybean oil. So, in sheer frustration, I decided to make my own. Since I rather lazy about this sort of thing, the sauce had to be made entirely out of things that I had in my house and that required almost...

Easy Vegan Soy-Free “Cream Cheese” Frosting

Posted by christina | Jun 23, 2014 | Uncategorized |

You might think that you could just swap a safe vegan imitation cream cheese for the dairy kind in a frosting recipe. Unfortunately that does not seem to work. At all. Fortunately I am unwilling to give up. So after several watery, slimy, rubbery, and crusty versions…some of which needed to go directly into the trash, this one worked. I made a version a few years ago using a soy based cheese. That one is good, but now we know that soy is also on our list of not approved foods…and now Daiya has a cream cheese substitute so we decided to try it out. Generally I am not crazy about the Daiya “cream cheese” flavor because its a bit sweet, however in a frosting like this one the sweetness is not a problem. This recipe makes enough frosting to comfortably cover a two layer carrot cake. It is a bit stiff. If you like a softer frosting add one tablespoon of milk substitute (I use flax milk) at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Remember that it will be stiffer when chilled. Ingredients About 2 lbs confectioners sugar, ideally sifted 2 oz (1/4 cup) Daiya brand imitation cream cheese (contains coconut and pea protein but is soy free and vegan) 1/4 cup organic whipped Earth Balance buttery spread not packed 2 tsp GF vanilla ½ tsp...

LYFE Kitchen

Posted by christina | Jun 19, 2014 | Uncategorized |

It’s a challenge to eat out with celiac disease so I am always happy to find new places that we can eat. One such place is LYFE Kitchen. LYFE kitchen is a fast casual chain with a difference. Not only do they have no artificial ingredients, but they also have a wide variety of vegan, gluten-free, and gluten-free vegan dishes. The people who work there seem to understand the needs of the food allergic. We did not get sick. Now this is high praise since we get sick if we get gluten-free communion that the priest has allowed to touch the other hosts. I know there are scientific tests that can be run but if you want to know if something is contaminated, feed it to me. If I am up in the bathroom at 1am…you know. The food here is all healthy. So it kind of tastes healthy. And every entree is supposedly under 600 calories. That said, they do have sweet potato fries (including garlic parmesan ones which can be made without the parmesan) and they have burgers and a pizza like flatbread. We skipped the chia budino. Chia budino is the sort of recipe that can be made by a six year old. My currently eight year old does not like it. So it may be great but we passed on it. One word of warning....

Salmon with Maple Mustard Glaze

Posted by christina | Jun 15, 2014 | Uncategorized |

It is copper river salmon season again. Time for awe inspiring salmon dishes. For those of you who live in terror of eating fish due to cross contamination with shellfish, this is one way you may be able to get around it since the fish are not netted in the ocean nor are they farmed. That said, check your fishmonger or grocer’s procedures to make sure you do not get sick. Salmon is a funny fish to cook with. While most fish requires a light hand with the seasoning, salmon almost begs for strongly flavored pairings. This recipe actually...

Easy Allergen-Free Three Ingredient Avocado Spread

Posted by christina | Jun 10, 2014 | Uncategorized |

Need a gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free, egg-free, bean-free, seed-free, nightshade-free, tree nut free, vegan dip? Want one that is ridiculously easy and requires no chopping and a five minute prep? I got this mini recipe from my nephew. When he spent a semester in Argentina, this was what they put on toast each morning in place of butter. He apparently became rather addicted to it as did I. You can mix it up a bit. I have added olive oil and chili oil to the basic recipe on certain mornings when I am feeling adventurous (I eat this for breakfast), but the basic recipe that I am sharing here today is the one I use most. I use it on toast for breakfast, as a dip with bean chips at parties and as a spread on sandwiches. Since people have varying ideas of what tastes good and since lemons and limes come in a variety of flavors, I recommend that you add half the following amounts and then just keep increasing until you like the taste. This is how I like it but I know people who like less salt than I do and some probably also like it less sour. Ingredients 2 ripe avocados Juice of 1/2 lemon or two limes About 1/4 tsp salt (depends on taste) Equipment Fork Spoon for scooping out avocado flesh Knife for...

Gluten-Free Soy-Free Vegan Macaroni Salad

Posted by christina | Jun 8, 2014 | Side Dishes |

Macaroni salad with gluten free macaroni is a challenge. Rice noodles tend to continue to soak up any sauce you put them in which makes any pasta salad that needs to be chilled overnight rather dry. So the question I had was, could I make macaroni salad that did not require a four hour chilling period, but could instead go from concept to table in under an hour and without absorbing all of the dressing? The following is such a macaroni salad. Now, like most gluten-free pasta, it does keep soaking up the sauce so if you refrigerate it...

Roundup, Glyphosate, Toxicity and the Microbiome

Posted by christina | Jun 4, 2014 | Uncategorized |

When I started writing this post I was just going to write about how glyphosate interrupts microbial activity and why it might adversely impact the human microbiome. However, when I went looking for the data, I decided to rewrite the post. This one is for all of you who think that organic doesn’t matter. The following article was published in the peer reviewed journal BioMed Research International. It shows clearly that Roundup is more toxic than plain old glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) and that far from being one of the safer herbicides it is among the most deadly to human cells in vitro. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3955666/ Please note the following quote from the article the next time you are tempted to eat a nacho or corn dog. “ Most importantly, 8 formulations out of 9 were up to one thousand times more toxic than their active principles. Our results challenge the relevance of the acceptable daily intake for pesticides because this norm is calculated from the toxicity of the active principle alone. Chronic tests on pesticides may not reflect relevant environmental exposures if only one ingredient of these mixtures is tested alone.” Yes you read that correctly, up to one thousand times more toxic than the active ingredient. And while it may be fun to vilify Monsanto, it is essentially unfair. Pesticides are a more universal problem. Here is...

Month: June 2014