Smoked Salmon and Spinach Goat Cheese Strata

A secret ingredient makes this gluten-free strata recipe special.

The day was clear and chilly here by the mesa. Perfect for a pinon fire in the kiva. We lit vanilla candles and played my favorite mix of winter music- traditional Jewish and Celtic with a little Tom Waits, Sarah McLachlan and Joni Mitchell- pining about rivers or snow or waltzing Matilda- thrown in.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Gluten Free Anniversary #5

One year ago today I was living on Cape Cod, blogging about my fourth gluten-free anniversary and contemplating a bowl of peppermint ice cream for breakfast. I was just getting the hang of this whole blogging thing, wondering if anyone would even be interested in the gluten-free recipes I wanted to share.

This morning I sit typing in my tidy New Mexico casita, sipping a mug of hot chamomile tea- a thousand miles away from one year ago. Dry snowflakes fall on the junipers outside my window. The Old Women Mesa is softened in a tender blanket of white.

Five years gluten-free. It's a milestone. And bittersweet.

I still do not eat out (the risk is too great for me; one speck of gluten and I pay for it all week). And I miss eating out- I miss the romance of it. I miss the spontaneity of exploring new restaurants. I miss travel. The social isolation, the stigma of special needs can feel heavy at times. Celiac disease does not exactly dampen one’s tendency toward introversion. The lingering health issues are discouraging. Forty-seven years eating gluten take their toll. My body continues, even after five years gluten-free, to pay a price from malabsorption.

In many ways my health has dramatically improved. I am free from the most acute symptoms I suffered. And cooking gluten-free has become second nature; it is no longer the massive challenge it felt like in the beginning. New gluten-free choices are emerging, daily, in the marketplace. All good news.

But the best part? Reading your comments and receiving your e-mails, Darlings. It nudges me out of my myopia and gives me a clearer sense of the big picture. I am not alone in this disease. And there are more of us diagnosed every single day.

So here’s to all of us.

Happy gluten-free anniversary! Whether it is one week, six months, or five years, I raise my glass to you.

Holidays :)

Finally get a break from college! -- But no idea what I'll spend doing yet. My friends tend to keep goin gout to get insanely drunk to the point of throwing up, and I can't be around all that... its just disappointing that I live in that sort of culture. But other than their what is in this country considered 'normal behaviour' they're really cool people. I've never or been lead to be friends with anyone that cause trouble, smoke or are complete asses.

On friday afternoon I spent about 20 minutes after the end of college day explaining CR to my tutor (felt like 2minutes!). She said "why the motivation now, what changed?" This is in response to when I said to her that I attitude changed to education a few years ago. I told her that It was a change in diet, but what seemed to work really well was fish oil. She asked if there was anything else I take... and I told her that I supplement around 40-60 different nutrients a day vitamins, minerals, fatty acies, phytonutrients and all that stuff. She said "why?" and I basically told her about CR. Everytime the topic gets brought up though it seems like they want to know more information so I have to repeat the same things over and over again, but I don't mnd too much. She was facinated by CRON anyway and was quite impressed with my knowledge too. My lecturers will be learning about CR in the coming months anyway because I'm doing some reprots on it :)

On saturday morning I was at work, everything was going well and I suddenly lost my voice! "oh no!" -- it wouldn't be so bad if the job didn't entail me speaking on the phone for hours, but no only that, I have been ill a few times over the last few months which was very unusual! I just thought not again! So anyway I got home about an hour after the soar throat came on and downed some green tea and resveratrol suppelement and hoped that this didn't progress any further. Luckily the soar thraot went away within 2 hours and my voice came back, the same day my sister developed the same problem problem with losing her voice and having a soar thraot, but she still has it. It seems like another viral infection going around beacuse lots of my cousins and aunts have it. If I became ill with this I was going to 'freak out!' but it never came to that, and what happened many times in the past two years happened in this case. I felt a soar throat but then just went away as quickly as it came.

Other than that I'm trying to do a lot of research on resveratrol because I'm taking it at the moment until around January as an experiment. But will taking it undo the life extending effects from doing CR? It's frustrating with the lack of information on CR+Resveratrol in Rodents.

Update on some stats

Blood pressure 98/60 (avg 2weeks)
Temperature 35.6 (Morning temp. avg 2weeks)
Weight today 106 lbs
Calorie intake today: 1650k/cal
Sleep time: 8-10 hours a night (higher due to some weeks of stress I think)

Blood tests to come in January
Previous blood tests can be found here www.matthewlake.plus.com/results.htm

ALSO, GOOD LUCK TO APRIL! -- Just read her blog that she is considering doing more strict CR :)

Bread Machine Tips- Old Post

Warm, gluten-free bread with sorghum flour, just baked.

This gluten-free bread machine post has been updated by yours truly and has moved to a new location where it is much, much happier.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

One more click and you're there.

Nava Atlas- A Cookbook Review

Nava Atlas [one of my favorite vegetarian cookbook authors] was kind enough to send me a copy of The Vegetarian Family Cookbook. Babycakes, where do I start? This hefty tome is chock full of fresh and fabulous recipes - more than 275, in fact - from breakfasts and snacks to comfort foods, main dishes and desserts.

What do I like? I like that her recipes are doable, and not based on hard-to-find ingredients. In fact, most everything she uses is already in my pantry. I like her tips in the Introduction about being a vegetarian, planning meals for a family, and cooking within a busy schedule. I like that there are vegan options throughout the book (perfect for all you non-dairy and egg-free cooks out there). Nava's style of cooking reminds me of my own, and her approach to recipes is akin to my own philosophy: use fresh, seasonal ingredients whenever possible, and go for simplicity.  

I'll be inspired for months to come.

For those on gluten-free diets there are lots of tasty sounding recipes that are naturally gluten-free and others that are easily tailored- substituting wheat pasta with brown rice pasta, for instance. Obvious ingredients to avoid on a gluten-free diet include bulgur, barley, cous cous, seitan, flour tortillas and various breads, of course, but I'm guessing any savvy celiac can spot these, and either switch out a safe substitute, or move on to another recipe [and there are plenty] focused on vegetables, fruits, cornmeal, rice and quinoa.

If you're brand spanking new to this whole gluten-free diet thing, you might want to become a little more fluent in cooking gluten-free before you tackle a non-gluten-free cookbook like this, but if you're at all like me, Darling, you prefer to experiment and educate yourself rather than looking to be spoon fed. I personally enjoy [and cook from] a wide assortment and range of cookbooks - and none of them are "gluten-free". 

In fact, Dear Reader, I don't even own a gluten-free cookbook. I haven't found any so far that capture and evoke my personal approach to cooking. I'm more inclined to peruse cookbooks like Nava's, and those by Susan Curtis, Barbara Kafka and Jamie Oliver.

Recipes I'm looking forward to trying? How about her Cabbage, Apple and Raisin Slaw, Scalloped Cauliflower, Skillet Black Beans with Potatoes and Tortillas? Sounds yummy. And I might even be brave enough to try tackling Vegetable Sushi. Stay tuned.

©2005-2010 Karina Allrich. All rights reserved.

Best Gluten-Free Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Classic comfort food - gluten-free mac and cheese

Classic Comfort, Kicked Up

Mac and cheese- how I love thee. And not from a box. Give me the good stuff. The real deal. Comfort food. Something worth craving. Something creamy and comforting and crunchy on top with a hint of spicy heat.

This gluten-free macaroni and cheese recipe is based on my pre-celiac go-to cheesy mac favorite with cheddar cheese. I kicked it up with chopped jalapeños and crunchy gluten-free bread crumbs. Sweet grape tomatoes. Was it tasty, Darling.

I usually make this dish in a single casserole dish, but last night I spooned it into individual gratin dishes.

Are you GF/CF, dairy-free, or a gluten-free vegan? Don't despair. I am now, too. Find my just as yummy dairy-free recipe for dairy-free Baked Mac and Cheese here.

Or better yet, my vegan cheesy uncheese sauced mac n cheese.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins

Gluten-free sour cream blueberry muffins .

As promised, here's my latest muffin recipe, using Pamela's Gluten-Free Baking and Pancake Mix. Oy vey, these are good. And so easy. I didn't even get out the mixer; I stirred the batter by hand with my favorite wooden spoon. If you're in the mood for a different berry or fruit, by all means, substitute the blueberries. Whatever makes you happy, Babycakes. Go for it. This batter would cozy up to cranberries, spiced apples, you name it.

And by the way, if you're looking for a dairy-free egg-free blueberry muffin, I've come up with a vegan Brown Sugar Blueberry Muffin recipe you might like. I also have a hazelnut flour based dairy-free blueberry muffin here.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Books

I thought I'd share with you a list of books that have in a lot of ways made me who I am at this point in time. Books are so great, I can sit down and read them for so long! And in high school I didn't even want to spend 1 minute reading a page, maybe it was the fish oil? hehe. I've just became so interested in everything, I just wish I could absorb all the knowledge better.

So heres a lsit of my most recent books that I enjoyed reading, and please do recommend some if you think I'll like!

Age of Spiritual Machines - Ray Kurzweil
Fantastic Voyage - Ray Kurzweil
The Singularity is Near - Ray Kurzweil
120 Year diet - Roy Walford
The Spike - Damien Broderick
Okianwa Diet - wilcox brothers and suzuki
Nano
The Final Theory (science beyond Newton and Einstein)
Citizen Cyborg - James Hughes
Longevity Diet - Walford, Delaney
Living with the genie
More than Human - Ramez Naam
Quantum Reality
The new Quantum Universe
The First Immortal - Halperin
Anyone Can do it - Duncan Bannatyne
Our Molecular Future
Nanotechnology
Molecular Biology of the Cell 4th edition

So please list some books that you think I should buy and read. Warren from the CR society recommended "CyberEvolution and Future Minds" and i'll be ordering this one next week, can't wait, he says its awesome.

Reading and Day dreaming

I've not really read much lately so I thought i'd order some books, I really started to enjoy reading after I found Kurzweil Book so facinating! In fact his "Age of Spiritual Machines" was the first book that I read fully and it changed my outlook on the future and he certainly has had a massive influence on the direction of my life... Thank you! -- he was also kind enough to get three autographed books sent to me last year, how awesome is that!

So anyway I thought I'd read some other stuff than technology, the future and all that kind of thing. I bought a book called "Anyone can do it" by Duncan Bannatyne and what an amazing read so far... basically he is saying that anyone can do what he did, he earned himself 160 million in a very short space of time. He left with school with no qualifications, he was really poor, and one day he decided he would become very rich. He never invented anything, he was just careful with his money and he built up small businesses. I'm only about 1/4 way through the book and so far he has led a very interesting life. He also thinks he's going to live forever, in that video on the link above he says he will live to 500 because he loves life.

While at work I've just been thinking about all my family members that are extremely wealthy and how they made it, and its all to do with being sensible with money and working hard. They all moved to places like austrailia and spain now, except my uncle who lives a couple of minutes from me and I go see him a few times a year. My family in Austrailia have invited us over and we use one of their 3 'massive' houses for 4-6 weeks or so, but my mother never took us, even though they offered to pay for everything while we were over there. You may have heard of the Oracle? Well she (my mothers aunt) was in a very high position in this company in austrailia. And her sons own companies, one which creates all those flashing signs you see in places like vegas, new york etc... And two of my uncles own like 10's of properties and is worth millions... I just can't believe it! -- They should all be donating to the mprize! lol. I'm really suprised that people who have billions and millions have still not donated to the mprize. Yes there has been a few, but I hope there are a lot more. I think one of the problems is their public image, what if people say "why didn't you donate to something more important, like cancer, heart disease, children in africa" and so on. But the more people that donate the louder the message becomes.

Maybe this book will inspire me to make goals for myself, to somehow make myself wealthy by working hard. One way was buying property, but I the prices now are so damn high, i'm not sure if that will ever be a possibility, at least not right now. Duncan says you can go the same way as he did, maybe you can? The population is getting older now, maybe it will soon be a good idea to open up some care homes or something. I'll just carry on day dreaming at work (its boring) and think something up one day. Then when I become a multi-millionaire help all my family out and donate shit loads to the mprize.

Other than day dreaming and reading, I really have to finish this damn human physiology essay. ahhhhhh.

Mprize and other stuff

At the moment I am talking to a lot of my family and friends about LE. Soon I'll ask if they can contribute anything at all to the mprize. If I manage to get the money, whatever it amounts to, I will be sending it off to the Mprize on christmas. And hopefully I'll also be making a big donation too.

So this Christmas please consider donating to the MPRIZE because CR may only give is 20, 30 or 40+ years extra life. I'm pretty confident that I will make it because I am young enough, but there are many out there who haven't discovered CR yet, or might have only started when they were middle aged. We have a lot of optimistic people that are projecting major advances in technology to allow us to live a long time, but it's not so clear that most of the older generation will ever have a chance in making this biotech revolution if things do not get moving as fast as we would like.

We know that human lifespan can vary by a significant amount, take calment for example, she lived to 122! And that is around 40 years more than the average person lived to when she died in the late 1990's. So we know it is possible to reach this age, and CR gives us the best possible chance of making it to 120 and beyond. There are still many doubters in the scientific community, but wasn't that also true when adult onset CR didn't work in rodents for many years until it was done properly?

We only have theories and mathematical models of why CR won't work in humans, and that's all they are right now. On our side we have overwhelming evidence that CR has a high probability of working for us, just wait until we have long term CRers reaching 50-80 years old and looking young and healthy :) CR anti-aging effects is already becoming apparent in monkeys at UW. The picture published a while ago shows that the CR Rhesus monkey's look years younger and even their health is far better than ad lib monkeys.

We'll see lots of clues of CR's anti aging on humans well before we start reaching 100, when lots of us are looking and feeling unusually young for our age after doing CR for an extended period of time :D

Be Cool!

No i'm not talking about that movie :)

A study was published just the other day on mice that were engineered to have a lower body temperature than normal, but they could eat all they wanted during their lives. I've always wondered if temperature had anything to do with Calorie Restrictions life extension, now this research shows that maybe yes, lower body temperature does 'contribute' to CR's magic (and no famines needed). It seems CR is working at many different levels to retard disease and aging. It's good to see that lower temperature = longer median lifespan because almost all my fathers side of the family, including my father, have got body temperatures almost as low as me... And I know this is only anecdotal, but they all look at least 10-15 years younger than their age (including health biomarkers).

Reduced body temperature will have a high probability of having an effect to lifespan in humans also, as shown in the baltimore study, where the data was analyzed and one of the factors in reaching old age were having a lower body temperature than average [1]. So this study isn't the first to suggest that warm blooded animals would have an increase in longevity from reducing temperature.

After seeing this study I thought that I should see how low my temperature does actually get in the mornings, especially when I increase my overnight fasting time. I woke up around 8:30 this morning and took my temperature right away, it was 34.85 degrees celsius (94.73 degrees Fahrenheit). Oh crap! I didn't expect it to go that low... obviously I don't really want it extremely low because I do want to wake up in the morning! :) but my thermometer is around .4 lower than a temperature reading I got at doctors one time, so we can say my temp was around 35.2 degrees Celsius (which is still very low). I just bought a 'Braun 4520 Thermoscan Ear Thermometer' which is the one my doctors use. As temperature naturally increases throughout the day [2], I think for three days I will track it every hour and then see my peak temperature and lowest. Although I won't be tracking during the night.

[1] Scientists unravel secrets of long life
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2167316.stm

[2] Body Temperature
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1911_Animal_heat.png

Hello!

My name is Matthew, and I will be sharing my experience with CR and err stuff... I won't always be posting things about my CR, but will talk about other things which interest me too!

First of all I should introduce myself! I live in the united kingdom in a country called Wales. I live like right by the capital city, so away from the poor areas of the country. I am a student doing an access course in science, which I hope gets me a place in medical school, and if not, biomedical science degree! -- So I can help in the effort to cure aging. I think Aubrey De Grey is awesome! He's such an amazing guy for getting the message out there, travelling all over the place talking at conferences and getting more people to listen. He has a good plan too! See his website here: http://www.sens.org/

I should first thank the people that got me involved in CR, April Smith for the help with getting CR started and pointing me in the right direction, and Michael Rae (MR) for all the help on supplements - thank you!!! :)
Ray Kurzweil also for the books he has written. Age of Spiritual Machines was the first book I had read, fully. He got me interested in technology, the future, and made me very optimistic. If he's right, the 21st century and beyond will be very interesting!

My CR
I am 5ft 7" 108 lbs and have been doing CR for just over 20 months, but I've been eating healthily since I was 18. I actually started being a bit more conscious about the foods I eat before I found out about CRON. I was regularly having fruit on my cereal, stopped having sugar in my tea, and just avoided junk food on and off for at least a year or so before CR -- and this led to a bit of weight loss but it couldn't have been too much because I've always been quite thin (i'll get a picture up of me when I was younger sometime). So making better food choices started around 18-19 and my CRON diet started when I was 20.

I frequently get people thinking I am around 15-16 years old, but I'm 22. When I was 16 people thought I was about 11 years old! So perhaps I have good genes? I hope CR keeps me young for a long time!
Me at 22