Month: April 2012

For all the weird ways that the goverment can over reach on safety rules (mandatory Hep B vaccine…for kindergarten?) and earn the “Nanny State” moniker, the safety rules in the United States are kind of appalling when it comes to personal care products and cleaning products. They can and do put lead in lipstick. There are things marked “Safe & Natural” that are neither and unfortunately you actually do need a degree in organic chemistry to figure that out. A “green” label is not necessarily an indicator of safety. Plenty of brands that you might think are safe are not. Others that are inexpensive and available in every grocery store are quite safe. Enter The Good Guide. These guys actually have the required doctorates and they rate products for safety and environmental impact and then explain the ratings. The product reviews are helpful to anyone trying to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals and toxins that their child is exposed to. Most chemicals are absorbed through the skin and then the liver and kidneys need to get rid of them. It is an added strain. Often there are inexpensive products that don’t cause the same issues. For example a children’s bubble bath called Earth Baby Organic is no safer than the CVS Tear Free brand. Did you know that Mr Bubble Extra Gentle is BETTER than both and as...

Possibly my all time favorite movie about the impact of diet on cancer and heart disease is now available on Hulu. It’s a bit off topic for this blog, but it points out yet again the critical role that nutrition plays in keeping each of us healthy. It is also one of the reaasons that I keep all my dinners to less than 1/3 lb of meat or fish per person (ideally less than 1/4 lb). It is really well done and got a good review from Roger Ebert. Enjoy! The link is here...

If you suspect an issue with gluten, dairy, or soy there are tests you can do to rule out both celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. You can also test for both allergies to dairy and soy and sensitivities to dairy and soy. The problem is that they are different tests. If you want to rule out full blown celiac disease, start with the genetic test. If you don’t have any copies of the genes DQ2 or DQ8 then you don’t have celiac disease. I have both genes so I qualified for further testing. Prometheus labs does a great test that tells you how many copies of each you have. The second test that your doctor will probably recommend is the IgA transmutase blood test. I am not a doctor, but I don’t like to rely on a single blood test. I have had tests that showed no white blood cells, and the repeat showed the same, and then a third test two weeks later was normal. Blood seems very reactive to me and the result you get today is not necessarily the same as the result you will get in two weeks. They are great for telling you about acute issues, but if I relied on a single blood test I am not sure I would ever have known I had gestational diabetes. Plus three year olds do not...

Celiac disease has made me love Passover. While a lot of Passover food contains wheat in the form of ground matzoh, Passover means that for about a month each year, my local grocery store has a huge selection of gluten-free items that are not readily available during the rest of the year. This year I stocked up on gluten-free corn-free panko, five kinds of macaroons and pie crusts made from coconut. It is the one time of year when I can choose between Gefen or Yehuda brand gluten-free matzoh. Not only are they tasty but for gluten-free crackers they don’t fall apart easily, they don’t contain nuts, and they are corn and rice free. Whee! You can get Fox’s chocolate syrup made with real cane sugar. There is coffee cake mix and chiffon cake mix and all of it gluten and corn free and available at your local major grocer. It was a great tip from an orthodox friend and I pass it on to you....

While I do have a lot of dessert recipes, in my personal life I treat dessert as something to be rationed. We drink very little juice or milks and stick to coffee, unsweetened tea, and water. Yes, we have cupcakes and frosting on birthdays. Yes we have pancakes once or twice a month on Sunday, but sugar freaks me out. Apparently I am not alone in this concern. Here are some links to 60 minutes story of the week which explains better than I would why sugar is so dangerous. This is the 60 Minutes story. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57407294/is-sugar-toxic/?tag=pop;stories Here is the older piece from the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all And here is the original highly addictive 90 minute long lecture by Dr. Robert Lustig, pediatric endocrinologist at UCSF. FYI there is 4.2 grams of sugar per teaspoon. I found this helpful in evaluating foods that used juice or dates (both fructose) as sweeteners....