http://www.npr.org/2012/02/17/147047545/should-sugar-be-regulated-like-alcohol

Where do you stand on the issue?

Guest post by Amy Richards

So you found out from your doctor that you — or your partner, or your child,  or your best friend – can no longer eat gluten. With a growing awareness of celiac disease and of gluten sensitivity, more people are becoming aware that the “stomach ache” that they always get isn’t necessarily normal, and are going to their doctor to find out what it is.

photo: ppacificvancouver, flickr

But back to the situation. You (for all intents a purposes, let’s say it’s you that are the one affected by celiac disease) can no longer eat gluten. So your social life is shot, right?

Wrong.

If you’re more likely to hang out at a bar and drink your glutenous substances, then yes, you’re going to have to switch your default drink from beer to something a bit harder…but even then, there are a number of gluten-free beers out there. Really. Here’s an alternative.

But we aren’t here to talk about the bar scene – we’re here to talk about everyone’s guilty pleasure…and wallet-emptier – dining out. Who says that you can’t go out to restaurants when you have a gluten allergy or sensitivity? Nobody.

But you are likely to encounter a few more obstacles than your typical diner…bu still, it’ll be worth it to not have to cook for an evening a week, right? To just sit back and relax with those close to you without having to worry about the food preparations? I thought so.

What follows are a few guidelines to not stress so much about dining out with a gluten allergy.

Before You Go

Oh, the wonders of technology. The internet has allowed us so many things, and the ability to do them quite quickly. Finding a celiac friendly restaurant is one of them. Most restaurants these days have their menus posted online – and if they have an alternate gluten-free menu, it will probably be online as well. So don’t be afraid to take full advantage of this information, and peruse the menu before you sit down, with the pressure of ordering.

There are also a lot of gluten-friendly resources that can point you in the right direction, if you don’t have any way of determining where the celiac-friendly restaurants are in your area. Resources include:

• glutenfreerestaurants.com (operated by the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America)
• glutenfreeregistry.com

And if you have any questions about the menu or preparation, call ahead during off-peak hours and do your darnedest to actually speak to the chef and speak to him or her about your dietary needs. After all, a restaurant is in the business of pleasing its customers.

When You Get There

So you’ve taken the leap, and have decided to go out to a restaurant that you’ve screened ahead of time.

Once you’re actually there, you should probably be prepared to take the time to educate your server about celiac disease, and to be able to quickly and easily translate the specifications of your condition to your waitstaff. Aim for an “elevator speech” – 3 sentences of explanation, at the most.

Even if you are at a celiac-friendly restaurant, most likely not everything on their menu is going to be able to be prepared gluten free. So have a back-up choice for your entree and be flexible – work with your server and possibly even the chef to figure out what meal is going to best accommodate your needs and tastes – do what you can to be cooperative.

After You Leave

Hopefully your evening went well and smoothly and you were able to enjoy your night out away from the kitchen. And if that’s the case – this is a restaurant you’re going to want to tell all your gluten-free friends about. But really, if you find a restaurant that works for you and your diet, keep going back. Become a regular patron, and by continuing to go to that restaurant, you will be “voting with your fork,” and possibly encouraging more restaurants in the area to follow suit with the celiac-friendly menu  options.

While it may sound like a lot of preparation goes into dining out with celiac disease or while gluten-sensitive, it’s mostly about being prepared to articulate your dietary restrictions to your hosts. You’re not an obnoxious client who wants the menu changed to his every whim, you are a client who is looking to enjoy a meal, but happens to maintain some strict dietary requirements. These are two very different scenarios – and as long as you are courteous and gracious, the waitstaff and chef should be more than happy to accommodate.

Amy Richards is a freelance writer who has loved ones with celiac disease. She likes to give them gluten free gift baskets when they make her smile, which is often. She hopes that everyone finds a way to integrate celiac disease into their life, and not let it dictate life.

Sometimes people experience disconcerting physical symptoms without having any idea what the source is. Often, the true cause of your discomfort isn’t just in your head. As has become increasingly the case, you may be experiencing this discomfort due to celiac disease, which frequently mimics various abdominal conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome, gastric ulcers, parasite infections, Crohn’s disease, and even anemia.

photo by whatmegsaid, Flickr

Celiac disease can affect the peripheral nervous system, brain, bones, liver, and other vital organs. The condition causes an immune reaction in the small intestines when consuming foods containing gluten, the protein commonly found in pasta, bread, and other foods made with wheat, rye or barley.

 How do I know if I have celiac?

Tests are required to confirm celiac disease because symptoms can vary greatly from one person to the next. A complete medical history is usually required since celiac tends to run in families. Some people with the condition have no gastrointestinal symptoms at all, as celiac has no universal symptoms. Each person with the disorder may present a different set of symptoms, some which are far from obvious. General complaints common among celiac patients can include the following:

• Recurring abdominal pain

• Intermittent diarrhea

• Bloating

• Fatigue

• Anxiety

• Rash and canker sores

• Depression

• Muscle cramps

• Joint pain

• Dental and bone disorders

• Tingling sensation in the legs and feet

 What is the treatment for celiac?

photo: Dag Endresen, Flickr

There is no cure forceliac disease. Fortunately, the condition can be managed with certain treatments. Some patients can tolerate small amounts of gluten without experiencing any systems. However, it is recommended that all patients diagnosed with celiac follow a gluten-free diet following initial diagnosis. A basic gluten-free diet includes:

• Avoiding foods made from rye, wheat and barley. These include cereals, breads, cakes and pies, and pasta.

• Avoiding oats, since some preparations may contain small amounts of wheat. Some celiac patients, though, may be able to tolerate small amounts of oats after a period of time on a pure gluten-free diet under a doctor’s supervision.

• Avoiding some processed foods which may contain gluten. This doesn’t mean all processed foods should be avoided. Check ingredients carefully to be sure there’s no gluten in any of your products. Some common offenders include canned soups, candy bars, ketchup, salad dressings, yogurt, and instant coffee.

photo: Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake, Flickr

 What are the risk factors for celiac?

Since celiac tends to run in families, a family history of the condition is one possible indication. It is important to note that celiac can affect anyone, even those with no known family history of the condition. Celiac tends to be more common if you have certain conditions, such as Down syndrome, microscopic colitis, type 1 diabetes, and autoimmune thyroid disease.

 What are the possible complications associated with celiac?

Malnutrition is possible, since certain vital nutrients may not be getting absorbed into the bloodstream. This could result in anemia, weight loss or stunted growth and delayed development in children. Loss of calcium and bone density is also possible, especially if excessive amounts of calcium and vitamin D are lost. Due to damage to the small intestine, some people suffering from untreated celiac may become lactose intolerant. People with celiac who do not follow a gluten-free diet may increase their chances of acquiring some cancers, such as bowel cancer and intestinal lymphoma. All that said, it is important to realize that with a proper diet and adequate treatment, you can still lead a perfectly normal life with celiac disease.

Donna Savage is a nutritional counselor with a family history of digestive problems. Irritable Bowel Syndrome Treatments can include all natural products as well as a healthy diet of specific food choices.

I can’t tell you how much I am dying to fall in love… with the incredibly healthy granola that is Go Raw.  (And not just because (full disclaimer) they were kind enough to send me three different samples).  Completely unblemished in its nutritional stats, Go Raw granola meets every holy standard there is, not just for cereal, but for any food:  it’s wheat-free, it’s gluten-free, it’s sugar-free (any of its sugars come from dried fruits), it’s 100% organic, and you get so many vitamins and minerals – including up to 10% of your daily iron per serving – that it’s as nutritionally-rich as a supplement.  That said- I’m not in love with it yet.

There’s also the fact that it’s raw:  the granola’s main ingredient (whether it’s Live Granola, Live Chocolate Granola, or Apple Cinnamon) is sprouted organic buckwheat groats (yes- I mean ‘groats,’ not oats), which are made through a process which involves acquiring locally-sourced buckwheat groat seeds, sorting them by hand, soaking them in filtered water, and then letting them sprout.

You can think of it as a natural form of processing, or, put more reverently, a hands-on form of nurturing in which the inherent goodness of the seeds are allowed to fully come through and blossom.  The groats are eventually dried at an avg. temperature of 98 degrees, thus qualifying them as raw, as opposed to your typical cereal, which is baked.

This inevitably brings up the whole debate over raw vs. cooked, which could be a rather lengthy discussion, but since I’m just talking about a raw cereal, it need not be.  Studies have shown, and experts have echoed, that cooking cereal (above 100 C, or 212 F) leads to the lessening of protein digestibility; so as it turns out, you get greater protein benefits from cereal that’s raw.

But for Go Raw, it’s not necessarily all about being raw over being baked—their approach is more holistic than that.  Clearly their mission is to produce a food that’s as pure and unprocessed as a food can be (http://www.goraw.com/index.php), in contrast to much of the cereals you find in the mass market, and I completely applaud their unwavering approach toward offering purity in a cereal.

The taste of the world’s healthiest granola, meanwhile, is an acquired one.  More than simply adapting to a cereal that doesn’t have a gram of sugar added (again, other than the dried fruit- whether raisins and dates in Live Granola, or coconuts, dates and unsulphured apples in Apple Cinnamon), the biggest adjustment to getting acquainted with Go Raw is its rawness.  You simply know that you’re not eating a baked/cooked food.

The buckwheat groats do have a nice texture – a subtle crunchiness – but they also really do have the taste and feel of being alive: a potent tingly-ness that is likely to be challenging to most who aren’t raw foodists (including myself). With milk (ideally almond, rice or soy, to keep with the healthy, sustainable theme), Go Raw granola is definitely more palatable; I also have tended to mix it with some baked oat cereal (OK, Cheerios), or organic corn flakes to balance this new type of taste out with something a bit more in the comfort zone.

Apple Cinnamon is my personal favorite.  The Live Granola is just a notch down flavor-wise, w/the same consistency, while the Chocolate is definitely the hardest taste to adjust to:  there’s something about the taste of the cacao, buckwheat groat, and sesame and sunflower seed mixture that is fairly sweet on one hand, but also, well, rather bizarre on the other (it may even be a touch soapy, depending on your own palette, as it was for me).  My girlfriend, meanwhile, who mainly restricts her sugar intake to honey-only, enjoyed the Chocolate, though she didn’t find it anywhere near as satisfying as the honey-sweetened baked granola that she loves.

All that said, because I’m so enamored of GoRaw’s pure and healthy ambitions, and its organic and locally-sustained practices, I only consider this round 1.  Next time I have some Go Raw granola, I’ll be interested to see if my palette will have adjusted a bit, like listening to a new album the 2^nd or 3^rd time after a little time away.  I encourage you to give Go Raw a try and draw your own conclusions.  If you’ve never had raw cereal before, I can’t imagine a purer or healthier  granola than this….

or a Bad Thing?

As further proof that the gluten-free movement (or ‘trend,’ ‘niche,’ or ‘phenomenon,’ if you prefer…) is going mainstream, there was an article published last Sunday (11/25/11) in the New York Times Magazine called Should We All Go Gluten-Free?, much of which was about corporate gluten-free culture, a side of the industry that I haven’t yet paid much attention to.

The article, by Keith O’Brien, discussed the rising awareness of celiac disease, not just in the States but also abroad, but most notably, it profiled a marketing guy for General Mills, who’s using his business acumen and extroversion to reach as wide an audience – or, more specifically, market – as possible.  General Mills is the Minnesota-headquartered corporation responsible for such big-name brands as Yoplait, Pillsbury and Bisquick; popular ‘Big G’ cereals including Cheerios, Lucky Charms, and Wheaties; and, much to my surprise, they also own the high-quality organic protein bar, Lärabar.

While the gist of the article is that General Mills, a producer that reaches masses of customers with its foods (as compared with small gluten-free specialty companies such as Bob’s Red Mill, Enjoy Life and Udi’s), is likely to make a huge impact on gluten-free product consumption, there’s no mention of where they’ll be getting all the ingredients they’re going to need- the corn, the rice, and, yes, the sugar.

photo: theimplusivebuy, Flicrk

Corn Chex and Rice Chex, both cereals that General Mills has adapted to become certified gluten-free, are great-tasting cereals, and each is very low in sugar- just a couple of grams per serving, which is very impressive for a mainstream brand.  But, that said, the amount of corn and rice that GM needs to produce these cereals is immense; so where does it all come from?

I have to presume that, by necessity, GM relies on industrial farming to achieve the levels required for a mainstream market.  That includes the use of pesticides – which they acknowledge using in their 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility Report – and about 10 million cubic meters of water used in 2010.  But at least they’re up front about it, and, if you read through the Environment section of their report (which starts on p. 54), you’ll find that GM appears to want to do good by it, by beginning to implement solar power, wind energy, and striving to reduce their footprint in various ways.

photo: Peter Blanchard, flickr

So, with all that said, is General Mills’ promotion of the corporate gluten-free lifestyle a good thing?  At this point, it simply comes down to two opposing elements:  the widespread and affordable availability of gluten-free foods– from cereal to bread to, as was illustrated in the article, Progresso cream of mushroom soup, on one hand; and on the other, the challenges that come with factory farming, sustainability, and making those kinds of foods available to a growing gluten-sensitive and gluten-free diet-adopting marketplace.

The trade-off is complicated:  do we need to eat gluten-free packaged foods, such as Corn Chex, pasta, or bread?  Of course not.  However, should all of us have free access to these types of foods if we want them?  It seems that indeed we should.  But at what point do our desires conflict with our own longer-term interests of sustainability and the environment?  Right now?  Maybe.

And, finally, who’s keeping an eye out on these sorts of things?  Anyone?  The Cornucopia Institute, my go-to resource for food ratings, is a small, modestly-budgeted organization that tends to stick to products that are geared toward people who are health-conscious to begin with; corporate gluten-free companies like GM are generally beyond their radar.  And so then, as is too often the case, it seems that we as consumers are left to mind the store on our own.  So what is our proper mode of action?  At least for now, it seems to be:  shop as consciously as you can, whatever form that takes.  At least that’s a start.

this Thanksgiving

For many of us, Thanksgiving challenges us with the potential to eat more food in one meal than we usually would in a typical day—this by now we all know, and either have adapted to accordingly, or just simply succumb to having a bloated experience.  One of the most, if not in fact the most filling aspect of these meals comes in the form of wheat and/or flours included in the meal.  Here are some hidden wheat and refined flour areas of the Thanksgiving Experience to keep an eye out for:

Gravy

Although I do what I can to make Thanksgiving dinners as vegetarian-heavy as possible, some family members are going to be doing turkey, and chances are very good you and your family will be too.  So then, pass the gravy?  Not so fast.  Traditionally, gravies are thickened with refined flour, which are heavy, caloric, and completely unfriendly to those going aiming to go gluten-free.  So here’s what you can do:  avoid the gravy altogether; water it down significantly with some hot water that’s around for tea; or just take your turkey straight- you can always add a little bit of hot water for added moisture, and/or spoon some mayo and/or mustard onto your plate.

photo: rfduck, Flicrk

Casseroles

 Savory casseroles (as opposed to sweet ones such as that crazy marshmallow-yam dish) may either be pasta-based, or, occasionally, will have added bread crumbs (even many of the vegetarian dishes I’ve been combing thru online this year have bread crumbs included).  You can do one of a few things:  skip it, especially if there are numerous other options, which there probably will be; do your best to eat around the bready parts, which may be too challenging; or, if it’s a really good dish, just go ahead and indulge, as long as you’re not gluten-sensitive.

Salads

Croutons; avoid these…it’s the last thing you need at a big meal.

 Meatballs, or any other food ‘Balls’

God forbid you should indulge in meatballs, but if you do, know that they too are often filled with breadcrumbs; vegetarian-friendly balls also tend to include breadcrumbs, or perhaps seitan, which is a gluten-based meat substitute.

Pies, both savory and sweet

photo: jessicafm, Flickr

I guess savory pies are pretty rare at thanksgiving, but sweet pies – whether apple, pumpkin, pecan or something more exotic – are completely ubiquitous.  Here’s where you can really gain the system:  wherever pies are crust-dense, whether the browned top or the shell bottom, you can save a lot of calories, and stomach bloating (sorry- there just isn’t any better way to get the message across), by avoiding it.  Eating the fruity or nutty main ingredient along w/some filling and perhaps some ice cream or whipped topping should be plenty to top off your great meal.  No need to add the crust, as tasty as it may be- if you can summon the will power to lay off it, you’ll ultimately be thankful for reducing your wheat and refined flour Thanksgiving intake.

Bread and/or rolls

OK- this one isn’t hidden in the slightest, but it still doesn’t make any sense to me:  isn’t their enough food already?  Skip the rolls unless your eating under unusual circumstances in which your meal is limited to really small portions of each dish.

When all is said and done, I’m sure you’ll eat plenty – even without the Thanksgiving wheat and flour – hopefully just the right amount…happy thanksgiving!

I was a little surprised to learn that most Americans expect their honey to be completely clear, with that particularly golden-colored hue.  On one hand, sure- that version of honey looks really pretty, and pretty foods tend to be among the most popular.  But my intuition tells me that most people wouldn’t pay that much attention to what their honey looks like.  Except that it’s clearly very unlikely that most consumers would buy the milky-colored, thick version of honey, which is the way many raw honeys simply come.

But with the recent news that most American honeys sold in the store aren’t really honey, we’re in a whole new landscape of honey consumption.  After all, most Americans buy their honey at grocery stores, and almost all of those honeys, such as Busy Bee, Mel-O, and Sue Bee, are not only not organic or raw, there’s so much pollen taken out of them that FDA doesn’t even consider them to qualify, technically, as honey.

Not Quite As Sweet as They Look (photo: Joelk75, Flickr)

They’ve become honey-syrup hybrids of some sort, and the reason they can be sold on store shelves is because the FDA doesn’t have a system in place for checking the honeys for authenticity.  So that means that tons of people are using faux honey, whether in their tea, on their sandwiches, or in their baking.  And, very potentially, some of the products that we buy, whether cereals or breads or desserts, could contain this same type of faux honey.

The Real Deal- Raw Honey (photo: William Ismael Willpower LifeForce, Flickr)

It’s not like eating this version of honey is going to make us sick, it should be pointed out…I think it’s more a case of knowing what you’re consuming, and having some control over it.  If you go raw, as in raw honey – preferably local – then you’re getting real honey, which hasn’t been processed or pasteurized, has a much lower glycemic index than the pretend stuff, is an unrefined sugar, and, if you have a palette for honey, you’ll also recognize how much better it tastes.

Raw, unprocessed/unpasteurzied honey is the real deal, and when it comes right down to it, you get what you pay for.  So if you’re going to buy honey, I encourage you to buy raw honey- for the taste, for the health, and for supporting small (and ideally local) producers, as opposed to industrial farming.  If you shop carefully, you’ll find some good deals on the raw stuff; if you don’t have good access to it, well then that’s what online shopping is for.

We all have our Own Truth

I still remember the first time someone talked smack about diet soda.  Years ago, I was lucky enough to obtain a press pass to the U.S. Open tennis tournament, and that meant that in addition to great access to the matches, I also had access to the press center.  The press center, as is often the case at sports venues, had a glass-door freebie fridge; it was filled with Evians, sodas, and diet sodas.  Though I was already beyond the point where I drank regular soda, I drank diet soda fairly regularly.

Meanwhile, back at Flushing Meadows, where the U.S. Open lives, I ran into a friend, and we watched a couple of matches together.  I told him about my press access, and at one point when I went told him I was getting another diet soda, I asked him if he wanted one:  “no thanks,” he said, “that stuff is garbage.”

photo: Joelk75, Flickr

 Giving Up On Diet Soda

Though I did continue drinking diet soda for a while longer, the message gradually – over several years – sank in, and I realized that this guy (his name was Charles) was right.  Soda, whether regular or diet, is, for all intents and purposes, garbage: lots of chemicals, and either unhealthy sweeteners or unhealthy artificial sweeteners.  Tons of us still drink it of course.  Heck, even my parents drink it all the time, keeping their fridge stocked with cans of Diet Coke, and the occasional Squirt, or Minute Maid lemonade diet sodas for my mom.

It all begs the question: why do so many people make diet soda such a staple of their diets?  You probably know the answer to this one:  Because it tastes good.  And because water is too dull and boring.  And because diet sodas don’t have any calories…so what’s to lose?  Well, actually, not so fast:  even if we were to say, for the sake of argument, that diet sodas have no health risks, such as cancers or other milder forms of disease, diet soda creates a dependence on sweetness, and a taste for sweet things.  If you regularly drink diet soda, which is of course sweeter than water, or tea, or even some juices, you expect sweetness more in your overall diet, don’t you?  Seems like there’s no way around it.

photo: Like_the_Grand_Canyon, Flickr

 Some Tolerate Diet Soda Better than Others

That said, my parents, who are in their late 60s, have been drinking diet sodas regularly for decades, and their health is basically just fine, knock wood.  Not ideal or perfect, but fine.  That doesn’t mean diet soda is just fine though.  It just means that, as with just about every food or beverage that we consume, some people are affected more than others.  On one hand, I’m grateful that my parents have the health that they do; while they’re far from athletic, they don’t have any major health issues, and both still work full-time jobs, which is nothing to shake a stick at.  So what would happen if they didn’t drink diet soda so frequently, and drank water or (watered-down) juice instead?

In their case, not too much, I believe.  Why?  Because they’ve gotten to a point in their shopping habits that they rarely keep any sweets around the house- just some granolas and some diet bars that are sugar-sweetened…but otherwise nothing that one would want to pig out on.  But generally, for those who make diet sodas their go-to drink, day in and day out, there’s a tendency for them to replace the sugars they miss from these diet sodas with something else- cookies, or ice cream, or candy, or sugar- and calorie-laden alcoholic beverages.  Drinking diet soda for many is subconsciously considered a good dietary deed: since they’re not indulging in sugary drinks, they can instead take those calories saved and spend them somewhere else, right?   Isn’t that’s the deal?  I put money in the bank by only driking diet soda, and so I get to take out a withdrawl it in the form of goodies!

Hooray!!

More on the truth about diet sodas in my next post.  Stay tuned…!

With my recent awareness of the Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Scorecards, I’ve started making changes in my food choices.  This is a very challenging process, as you might imagine, because who likes giving up products that they’ve been buying (and eating) for years?  I’m now in the process of changing out one of my mainstay veggie burgers.

First, a distinction between making ethical choices and environmental/health ones:

It’s one thing to give up meat if you’re a vegetarian, or animal products if you’re a vegan, for ethical reasons; but it’s another to give up products simply because they aren’t organic.  I don’t use the word “simply” here lightly- as I’ve mentioned in a prior post, for farmers to acquire the “organic” designation, they need to jump through numerous bureaucratic hoops, some of which aren’t really relevant to what really counts: that their produce is sustainably-grown, and pesticide-free.  As long as they have those qualities (which of course one must take on faith to a certain degree), I’m totally fine with the fact that a given stall at my local farmers’ market is not organic.

After discovering the Cornucopia’s Cereal Scorecard, which – let’s be honest – I’m still adapting to, I decided I should check out their stance on veggie burgers and fake meat products, or what they call “meat alternatives.”  And it was there, alas, that I realized my beloved Dr. Praeger’s  California veggie burger, which I’ve been eating for roughly eight years, are not organic.  And it’s not just that they aren’t organic that’s the issue, it’s that they’re very likely made with soybeans that are hexane-extracted; in other words, soybeans that have been processed through the use of hexane, a toxic chemical that’s “a byproduct of gasoline refining,” according to the Cornucopia Institute.

I know that’s hard to hear, and for some even hard to believe, but the Cornucopia Institute is a non-profit research organization that, unless it’s involved in payola (which is extremely unlikely), has no stake in who it calls out as being non-organic and likely toxically-produced; it seems to me that the only thing they bow down to is the truth (feel free to do your own research- if you learn anything new or eyebrow-raising, I’d love to hear about it).

So, friends, at last we come to the harsh truth: I’m eliminating a staple food from my diet, in this case Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger, which I especially liked for it’s a mixture of whole soybeans and vegetables that you can see right there in the burger; no mysterious soy protein isolates, or textured vegetable protein, or any other funky, less-than-desirable meat alternative ingredients.  With a well-cooked Dr. Praeger, some ketchup, mustard, and lettuce, I had a satisfying main course.

Organic and Environmentally Sound

One thing I won’t miss about them is how long they took to cook; I prefer to grill my burgers in the broiler, and the Dr. Praeger’s veggie burgers take about 20 minutes to grill fully on both sides.  So what’s my replacement?  Until I start making veggie burgers myself (I’ve done it, and it’s a very labor-intensive process), I’m transitioning toward making Trader Joe’s Organic Tofu Burger my new go-to veggie burger.  It gets a firm thumbs-up as being USDA Organic from Cornucopia, but figuring out how to cook them is a challenge.

Thus far I’ve cooked them three times: the first time, through luck, actually worked out the best: sitting in the broiler until browned nicely on the outside, but still moist in the middle.  The second time I broiled them, they got a little too burnt and lost their moisture (my g/f barely touched hers before giving up); the last time I tried the frying pan, which left decently browned outside, but undercooked within, tasting more like barely sautéed tofu rounds.  Next time, I’m going to try oiling both sides, and will do my best to replicate that first go-round.  I’m still early in the learning curve with these puppies, but I’ll get it down soon. In the meantime, I can relax about where the tofu comes from, and just worry about the cooking.

with Healthy Hot Cereal

Nearly-registered dietitian Elizabeth Jarrard offers up this great guest post on hot cereals- thanks Elizabeth!

Breakfast is a more of a ritual than an option in my household. It’s a healthy habit to have- research has shown that those who eat breakfast are more likely to maintain a healthy weight, and forgetting to break the overnight fast results in dropping blood sugar levels, fatigue, poor concentration and irritability. Unfortunately, the cereals, muffins and bagels that most of us have reached for since childhood are nothing more than sugar bombs that only satisfy momentarily.

I deserve better than that, so I reach for foods that are high in fiber (which will keep me full, and help with digestion), protein (also boosts satiety), stick to healthy fats (unsaturated fats from nuts, seeds and plant oils), and cut back on refined sugar and processed sugar substitutes. As the weather gets cooler, I find myself craving something warm to eat alongside my coffee every morning. My three go-to hot cereals are oatmeal, quinoa, and teff porridges.

Oatmeal doesn’t have to be a flavorless bowl of oats! First start with old-fashioned or quick organic oats (both are whole grains). If you are sticking to a gluten-free diet, oats are naturally gluten free, but because of cross-contamination, it is safest to buy Certified Gluten Free Oats.  Besides being an unrefined whole grain, oatmeal is chock-full of soluble fiber, which may decrease your “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and increase the “good stuff” (HDL), decreasing your risk of heart disease, as well moderating blood sugar levels.

But be careful of those Quaker Instant Oat Packets-they’re loaded with extra sugar. Make yours at home, to make it more nutritious and cheaper!! You can cook it on the stove or in the microwave, with 1 -1 ½  cups of water to ½ cup oatmeal. I then sweeten it with stevia (a natural, unrefined sweetener), and mix in all sorts of things, such as: chia seeds, walnuts, or flax seed to boost heart-healthy anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids; canned pumpkin with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to channel holiday warmth; fruit and nut butter (almond, peanut, pecan); or, I’ll go out on a limb and give savory oats a try- mix in vegetables, low-sodium Tamari, and hot sauce!

quinoa and red quinoa

Not one to get stuck in a rut, if I’m feeling like I need a protein boost I’ll swap my oatmeal for quinoa, (pronounced keen-wah) a nutritional powerhouse beloved since the days of the Incas.  Technically a seed – but we count it as a whole grain – and gluten free, quinoa contains more protein than any other grain, and contains all the essential amino acids to help our body form new proteins. Again, I cook this on the stove with 2-3 times the water, but for a little longer, at 15-20 minutes. Similar to oatmeal, I flavor it either sweet or savory depending on my mood! If you want to get extra special try red quinoa!

Teff is the most obscure of my breakfast pals. An Ethiopian grain that is made famous in Injera bread, it also makes a great breakfast porridge. This teeny-tiny gluten-free grain is very high in calcium. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add ¼ cup teff and let simmer for 15 minutes. I think this grain tastes best with unsweetened almond milk or soy milk, stevia, and cinnamon.

teff

What’s your favorite healthy breakfast?

Elizabeth Jarrard is a nutrition student with a degree in Nutritional Sciences from Boston University, and is 3 months away from becoming a registered dietitian. She believes strongly in the power of a plant-based diet, running, adventure, and laughter! You can follow her on Twitter or check out her blog: Don’t White Sugar Coat It.