Eagle Creek

Last weekend, I went on a 3-day backpacking trip with some friends. We endured rain, snow, difficult river crossings and a vicious mouse attack, but managed to have a good time nevertheless. Here are a few pictures:

Punchbowl falls

Tunnel falls

Basalt cliffs

Apparently mice like cheese!

May's Gluten-Free Recipe Rodeo

As promised in early May, here is a round-up of summer fresh gluten-free recipes, hand selected in the spirit of Celiac Awareness Month. So grab a glass of lemonade, park your carcass and kick your boots off, Honey. There are some mighty fine and tasty gluten-free recipes out there.

My theme? Grilling, picnic food, and dining al fresco. You'll find recipes for omnivores, vegans, ovo-lacto vegetarians and pescatarians. Enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry Margaritas For Two at Pinch My Salt
Amy Sherman's Curry Deviled Eggs
Nicole's Homemade Mayonnaise at Pinch My Salt
Carrot Mint Salad at Cookthink
Parmesan Crisps with Roasted Tomato Salsa from Karina
Bea's lovely savory tarts
Elise's Asparagus Frittata at Simply Recipes
Food Blogga's Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Fresh Pineapple Chutney
Curry Burgers and Southeast Asian Grilled Veggies from Rambling Spoon
Elise's Curry Rice Salad at Simply Recipes
Grilled Lime and Chile Chicken at Kalyn's Kitchen
Salmon Burgers from Wheat-Free Meat-Free
Book of Yum's Pesto Grilled Veggie Pizza

Sesame Chicken Salad from Coconut & Lime
Quinoa Salad with Shrimp, Cucumber, Mango & Mint from Hedonia
Texas Caviar Pasta Salad from Sugar Magnolia
Amy Sherman's Warm Steak and Orange Salad
Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad from Karina's Kitchen

Grilled Eggplant with Balsamic Honey Syrup from Alanna at A Veggie Venture
Grilled Nectarines with Honey Balsamic Glaze from MattBites
Goat Cheese Potato Gratin from Ilva at Lucullian Delights
Gluten-Free Bay's Quick and Easy Cilantro-Lime Broccoli Slaw
Kalyn's Kitchen Mango Salsa with Red Bell Pepper
My Calabasitas

Nami-Nami's No Churn Pomegranate Ice Cream
Ilva's Chocolate Cookies
Go Dairy Free's Brownie Bites
Nami-Nami's Coconut Cream with Poached Rhubarb
Oatmeal Date Chocolate Cookies a Heart Smart recipe from Mrs. GF
My Dark Chocolate Brownies

Food Blogs Now Featuring a Gluten-Free Category:

Cookthink
La Tartine Gourmande
Nami-Nami
Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
101 Cookbooks
Go Dairy-Free
Hogwash

If you have a gluten-free label or section on your food blog- I'm sorry I missed you! Please feel free to leave your link in Comments below and I'll add it in (and thanks for thinking of us gluten-free folks!).

For a list of Gluten-Free Blogs- see the I Blog Gluten-Free Bloggers List.

And what about that luscious looking yellow tomato salad featured at the top of this round-up post?

So easy it's scary.


Yellow Tomato Salad

Pick the most ripe and juicy tomatoes you can find and you won't need to fuss.

5-6 medium sized vine-ripe yellow tomatoes, sliced
2 tablespoons good fruity extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Fresh chopped parsley or basil, as needed
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Tip: If it's hot out, chill your serving plate first.

Arrange the sliced yellow tomatoes on a chilled salad plate. Drzzle with the extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Dust with fresh herbs. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper.

Serves 4.

Vaccines

I am a label reader. Whenever I'm thinking about buying food in a box, which is rare, I typically read the whole label to look for sinister ingredients. So when I got a booster vaccine for tetanus last week, naturally I asked for the product information.

Along with a nice dose of tetanus and diphtheria toxoids, my medial deltoid received 0.28 mg of aluminum, up to 0.3 micrograms of mercury, and up to 100 micrograms of "residual formaldehyde". I got the vaccine because I like being able to chew, but I wasn't able to lift my arm for several days. I don't know if that was due to an immune response to the tetanus and diphtheria (probably) or if it was caused by the aluminum, mercury and formaldehyde they injected into my arm.

We work with formaldehyde in my lab, and I can tell you it is not to be messed with. I had to take an entire training course just to use it, during which I learned that if there's enough of it to smell, it's toxic. 0.1 parts per million in the air is enough to cause a burning sensation in the mucous membranes. We always use it in the fume hood. Formaldehyde is a toxin, a carcinogen, and a teratogen (causes birth defects). So I'm sure you'll understand why I wasn't too happy about having 100 ug of it injected into my body.

I'm not criticizing the concept of vaccines, I just wish they'd make more of an effort to clean them up!

Exercise Didn't Keep Us From Getting Fat

One of the surprising things I noticed when I was poring over data from the NHANES survey (US CDC National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) from 1975 to 2006 is that the number of inactive people has diminished in that same time period from 50% to 24%. This is shocking to most people. We have this romanticized idea that in the 1970s people were more active, as if everyone chopped wood and walked 15 miles to work in the morning. The reality is, there were office jobs, housewives and cars without the large numbers of runners and gym-goers we have today.

Granted, NHANES data are self-reported and should be taken with a grain of salt. However, Chris at Conditioning Research pointed me to a study looking at changes in energy expenditure from the 1980s to the present in North America and Europe. It doesn't suffer from the same biases because it's based on direct measurement rather than self-reporting. Here's the executive summary: we're expending slightly more energy than we used to, partly because we exercise more and partly because it takes more energy to move our heavier bodies around.

I'm certainly not blaming the obesity problem on an increase in physical activity, but I do think we can safely rule out inactivity as the reason we've gotten fatter. In my mind, this only leaves one major possible cause for the obesity epidemic: changes in diet. Don't get me wrong, I think exercise is good. It has numerous positive effects on physical and mental health. But it's not as powerful of a tool for fat loss and general health as diet.

Anecdotally, I do know several people who lose fat when they exercise regularly. I also know some who don't lose fat when they exercise. Exercise and a healthy diet converge on some of the same metabolic pathways, such as sensitivity to insulin. But diet changes are far more effective than exercise at correcting metabolic problems. The reason is simple: the problems a person corrects with a good diet are caused by a poor diet to begin with.

Gluten-Free Mint Chocolate Cookies Recipe

Mint chocolate cookies and a glass of ice cold hemp milk.

I'll say it up front. For all those perceptive Readers out there. This post? It's a redux slash revamp of a previous chocolate cookie recipe. Why? Because Darling, we are always tweaking and gently nudging recipes toward perfection around here. Though as you and I well know, perfection is unattainable (in the gluten-free vegan baking world, that is). But we can come close. Very close.

And with this latest peppermint chocolate chip incarnation we are a good nibble closer to the best chocolate cookie yet. So of course, I had to tweak and share. These remind me of those Girl Scout cookies called Thin Mints. Except they're chubby (though I suppose one could flatten them a bit if one was so inclined).

These peppermint laced fudgy sweethearts are crisp chocolate goodness.

We freeze ours and serve them slightly chilled. Those of you more adept at fancy baking could try creating heart shapes. (I never have the patience to fuss with dough. I'm more of rustic make a mess in the kitchen blasting Neil Finn kind of baker than a precise "mis en place" to Sarah Brightman kind of gal. But if cookie cutters are your middle name? Knock yourself out.)

These are lovely warm from the oven with an ice cold glass of vanilla hemp milk (pictured is Hemp Dream).

Read more + get the recipe >>

Lime Chicken Taco Fun

 Fast + delicious- lime chicken tacos.

Grilling season is upon us. But don't you worry, sweetcakes. This particular gluten-free goddess is not going to waste a heartbeat lamenting hot dog buns. And I'm not going to spend hours in the kitchen trying to replicate hamburger rolls, that even in their wheat loaded incarnation were more of a starchy dry-as-dirt nuisance. Something invented to hold the all fixins' together, but that, when push came to shove, I ended up tearing off piece by piece, peeling around the edges to get to the good stuff.

This was ages before the California In N Out protein style burger was invented (which was, in my humble, wheat-free opinion, sheer, utter low carb genius). Who knew a burger wrapped in lettuce leaves would be so darn tasty? But I digress. Let's get back to the barbecue question.

Are you going to pine for long lost spongy buns?

Read more + get the recipe >>

Tostada Nueva- an easy gluten-free lunch

 The tostada- made fresh + light

The recent summer weather has nudged me out of my primavera surliness and ignited my desire to paint again. I suddenly feel energized. Focused. Turned on. I've been toning wood and masonite panels left, right and upside down, laying on thick and juicy strokes of pigmented Gesso in rose, peach and ocher- warmth as a foil to my preferred palette for cool brushy skies and sea blue abstractions.

This is a welcome turn. As many of you know, it's been a somewhat weird and challenging seven months. It feels good to be back in my tiny studio again, blasting music and standing upright, paint brush in hand.

And what have I been eating this hot and breezy week, you ask?

Have I got a quick and easy solution for those sultry summer nights when it's simply too darn hot to turn on the oven. I'm calling the recipe Tostada Nueva. This is not your typical fried corn tortilla topped with shredded iceberg lettuce, red tomatoes and greasy ground beef. No Mam.

It's light and fresh and snappy. And it's dairy-free (translation- cheese-less) so you can serve it to your GFCF Sweethearts.

I used a gluten-free tortilla for the tostada base- they cooked up flaky and just crisp enough. (I fried them briefly in my iron skillet with a splash of light olive oil.)

Tostada Nueva

I topped my gluten-free tostada with slices of gluten-free casein-free Applegate Farms Honey and Maple Turkey Breast and pieces of cooked and crispy (nitrate free!) Sunday Bacon, but you could use any of your favorite deli meat. The heirloom yellow tomatoes are bright and citrusy- perfect for summer.

Ingredients:

For each person you'll need:

1 brown rice tortilla-wrap
Olive oil, as needed
3 slices of Applegate Farms Honey Maple Turkey
2-3 pieces of crispy cooked Applegate Farms Sunday Bacon
A handful of organic baby greens
1 smallish yellow tomato, sliced

Honey Mustard Dressing

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey mustard
1 small clove garlic, finely minced
1 dab of agave nectar
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Instructions:

If you are making dressing for four servings, I might quadruple all the ingredients listed except for the garlic- one clove is probably enough.

Assemble your ingredients.

Just before you are ready to eat, heat a little olive oil in a medium hot skillet. Fry the brown rice tortilla on both sides, briefly, until it is slightly golden and crisp. Remove with tongs and place the hot tortilla on a serving plate. (Drain it on a paper towel first, if you like.)

Top with the turkey, fresh baby greens, yellow tomato slices and cooked bacon. Drizzle with the Honey Mustard Dressing. Season with more sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

Boom. Dinner is done.

Does it get any easier?

Serve with a side of my Easy Guacamole with Lime. Or how about some of my Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad?

Note: I like Applegate Farms because their products are organic, nitrate and antibiotic free, as well as gluten and casein free. Not to mention, delicious.

California "Raw" Almonds

I bought about a pound of almonds yesterday for a backpacking trip I'll be doing this weekend. I like to soak raw almonds, then lightly toast them. It sweetens them and breaks down some of their anti-nutrients.

When I arrived at the grocery store, the only raw almonds they had were from California. I prefer to buy domestic products when I can, but in case you haven't heard, "raw" almonds from California are no longer raw. They are required to be sterilized using steam or antiseptic gases, despite their relative safety as a raw food.

The worst part is that they are not required to label them as pasteurized; they can still be labeled as raw. The Almond Board's argument is that there's no difference in quality and pasteurized almonds are safer. I find this highly offensive and deceptive. It flies in the face of common sense. If you walked up to someone in the street and asked them what the phrase "raw milk" means, would they say "oh yeah, that means pasteurized"? A raw seed can sprout. A pasteurized seed can't. Remember all those enzymes that break down anti-nutrients when you soak beans, grains and nuts? Denatured by heat.

I tried soaking them like I would regular raw almonds. I covered them in water overnight. In the morning, I noticed that the soaking water was milky and had an unpleasant smell. The outer layer of the almonds (the most cooked part) was falling apart into the water. They also didn't have the crisp texture of soaked raw almonds.

Tonight, I toasted them lightly. They definitely taste "off", and the texture isn't as good. There's no doubt about it, pasteurized California almonds are inferior. Despite my preference for domestic products, I'll be buying Spanish almonds the next time around. If enough of us do the same, we'll hit the Almond Board in the only place that counts: its wallet.

One of the most irritating things is that the new rule is designed to edge out small producers. I can't see any other reason for it. Raw almonds are a safe food. Far safer than lettuce. Should we pasteurize lettuce? Pasteurization requires specialized, expensive equipment that will be prohibitive for the little guys. I'm sure the bigger producers will generously offer to fill the production gap.

Vitamin D

Those that had sufficient levels of Vitamin D who had breast cancer were 94% less likely for it to spread and 73% less likely to die from the disease. This comes after another study found that colon cancer was prevented by taking just 1100IU per day. People taking D3 were 72 Percent less likely to get colon cancer.

Vitamin D: Essential for Prevention of Diseases




Vitamin D - Breast cancer

Real Food VII: Lentils

Lentils are a healthy food that comes with a few caveats. They have more protein and less carbohydrate than any other legume besides soybeans and peanuts, and they contain a remarkable array of vitamins and minerals, particularly B vitamins. One cup delivers 90% of your RDA of folate, so between lentils and liver there's no need for those sketchy prenatal vitamins.

Lentils must be properly prepared to be digestible and nutritious! I can't emphasize this enough. We did not evolve eating legumes, so we have to take certain steps to be able to digest them adequately. As with all beans and grains, proper soaking is essential to neutralize their naturally occurring toxins and anti-nutrients. Anti-nutrients are substances that interfere with the absorption of nutrients. Soaking activates enzymes in the seeds themselves that degrade these substances. It also cuts down substantially on cooking time and reduces flatulence.

Phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that's abundant in beans, grains and nuts. It can dramatically reduce the absorption of important minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium and zinc, leading to deficiencies over time. It may be one of the main reasons human stature decreased after the adoption of agriculture, and it probably continues to contribute to short stature and health problems around the world.

Lentils and other seeds also contain trypsin inhibitors. Trypsin is one of the digestive system's main protein-digesting enzymes, and seeds probably inhibit it as a defense against predators. Another class of toxins are the lectins. Certain lectins are able to bind to and damage the digestive tract, and even pass into the circulation and possibly wreak havoc. This is a short list of a few of the toxins found in beans and grains. Fortunately, all of these toxins can be reduced or eliminated by proper soaking. I like to soak all legumes for a full 24 hours, adding warm water halfway through. This increases the activity of the toxin-degrading enzymes.

Here's a method for preparing lentils that I've found to be effective. You will actually save time by doing it this way rather than cooking them without soaking, because they cook so much more quickly:

1. 24 hours before cooking, place dry lentils in a large bowl and cover with 2" of water or more.
2. After 12 hours or so, drain and cover the lentils with very warm water (not hot tap water).
3. Drain and rinse before cooking.
4. To cook, simply cover the soaked lentils with fresh water and boil until tender. I like to add a 2-inch piece of the seaweed kombu to increase mineral content and digestibility.

many thanks to *clarity* for the CC photo

Horseradish Potato Salad Bliss

Fabulous gluten-free red bliss potato salad with horseradish.

Ready for some spud love? Here's one of my favorite potato salad recipes. And just in time. Summer has arrived almost instantaneously here in the desert north of Santa Fe. Last week I was layering t-shirts and hoodies to keep warm. I stood shivering at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market (wind always makes me cranky). It felt more like March than May. This weekend? It was quintessential summer weather. Hot bright sun. Dry air. An almost too-warm casita. We turned on the ceiling fans.

On weekends like this you kick off your shoes and peel off your long sleeved black jersey, opting instead for the lime green tank top. You feel your bones begin to knit as you soak up the longer daylight and linger by the roadside during post-dinner walks in the rose hued sun. You smile at the young jackrabbits and their impossibly erect ears. And your thoughts turn to dining al fresco, sitting beneath the dappled shade of the portal with a chilled glass of white and a zesty potato salad.

Life in the slow lane.

Read more + get the recipe >>

US Fructose Consumption Trends

As you may have noticed, I suspect fructose is involved in overweight and other health problems. It seems to have adverse effects on fat deposition in the liver and insulin sensitivity that could be related to its association with weight gain. I looked through USDA estimated per capita consumption of different sweeteners to get an idea of how fructose consumption has changed in the US in the time since adult obesity rates have doubled.

In 1970, we ate an estimated 72.5 lb/year of cane and beet sugar (sucrose) per person, which is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. We also ate 0.4 lb/year of corn syrup, which is most commonly 55% fructose, 45% glucose. Consumption of other unspecified sweeteners was 12.0 lb/year, for a total intake of 84.9 lb/year of added sweeteners.

In 2007, we ate an estimated 44.2 lb/year of sucrose, 40.1 lb/year of corn syrup, and 12.9 lb/year of other unspecified sweeteners, for a total added sweetener intake of 97.2 lb/year. Doing the math, and generously assuming that the "other" sweeteners are 100% honey (~50% fructose), here are the results:

• 1970: 42.5 lb/year of added fructose.

• 2007: 50.6 lb/year of added fructose.

At 19%, it's not a staggering increase, but it's definitely significant. I also think it's an underestimate, because it doesn't include fruit juice or total fruit consumption, both of which have increased. Other notable findings: grain intake has increased 41% between 1970 and 2005, due chiefly to rising consumption of processed wheat products. Added fats and oils have increased 63% in the same time period, with the increase coming exclusively from vegetable fats. The use of hydrogenated shortening has more than doubled.

What has caused the dramatic expansion of American waistlines in the last 30 years? No one knows for sure, but I think it's probably related to diet since the percentage of people who exercise has actually increased in the same time period. My money is on the wheat and sugar, with possible contributions from hydrogenated oil, polyunsaturated vegetable oils and chemical pollutants. The reason is that wheat and sugar seem to have devastating metabolic effects on populations throughout the world, such as the Pima.

Lessons From the Pima Indians

At 38% and climbing in 2006, the Pima indians (Akimel O'odham) of Arizona have the highest rate of diabetes of any population in the world. They also have staggering rates of obesity (~70%) and hypertension.

Things were very different for them before 1539, when the Spanish first made contact. They lived on an agricultural diet of beans, corn and squash, with wild fish, game meat and plants. As with most native people, they were thin and healthy while on their traditional diet.

In 1859, the Pima were restricted to a small fraction of their original land along the Gila river, the Pima Reservation. In 1866, settlers began arriving in the region and diverting the Gila river upstream of the reservation for their own agriculture. In 1869, the river went dry for the first time. 1886 was the last year any water flowed to the Pima Reservation in the Gila river.

The Pima had no way to obtain water, and no way to grow crops. Their once productive subsistence economy ground to a halt. Famine ensued for 40 desperate years. The Pima cut down their extensive mesquite forests to sell for food and water. Eventually, after public outcry, uncle Sam stepped in.

The government provided the Pima with subsidized "food": white flour, sugar, partially hydrogenated lard, and canned goods. They promptly became diabetic and overweight, and have remained that way ever since.

The Pima are poster children for mainstream nutrition researchers in the US for several reasons. First of all, their pre-contact diet was probably fairly low in fat, and researchers love to point out that they now eat more fat (comparable to the average American diet). Another reason is that there's another group of Pima in Mexico who still live on a relatively traditional diet and are much healthier. They are genetically very similar, supporting the idea that it's the lifestyle of the American Pima that's causing their problems. The third reason is that the Mexican Pima exercise more than the Arizona Pima and eat a bit less.

I of course agree with the conclusion that their lifestyle is behind their problems; that's pretty obvious. I think most Pima know it too. If they got their water back, maybe things would be different for them.

However, the focus on macronutrients sometimes obscures the fact that the modern Pima diet is pure crap. It's mostly processed food with a low nutrient density. It also contains the two biggest destroyers of indigenous health: white flour and sugar. There are numerous examples of cultures going from a high-fat diet to a lower-fat "reservation food" diet and suffering the same fate: the Inuit of Alaska, the Maasai and Samburu of Kenya, tribes in the Pacific Northwestern US and Canada, certain Aboriginal groups, and more. What do they all have in common? White flour, sugar and other processed food.

The exercise thing is somewhat questionable as well. True, Mexican Pima exercise 2.5 times more than Arizona Pima, but the Arizona Pima still exercise much more than the average American! Women clock in at 3.1 hours a week, while men come in at a whopping 12.1 hours a week! I am a bike commuter and weight lifter, and even I don't exercise that much. So forgive me if I'm a little skeptical of the idea that they aren't exercising enough to keep the weight off. 

The history of the Pima is a heart-wrenching story that has been repeated hundreds, perhaps thousands of times all over the world. Europeans bring in white flour, sugar and other processed food, it destroys a native populations' health, and then researchers either act like they don't understand why it happened, or give unsatisfying explanations for it.

The Pima are canaries in the coal mine, and we can learn a lot from them. Their health problems resemble those of other poor Americans (and wealthier ones also, to a lesser extent). This is because they are both eating similar types of things. The problem is creeping into society at large, however, as we rely more and more on processed wheat, corn, soy and sugar, and less on wholesome food. Obesity in the US has doubled in the past 30 years, and childhood obesity has tripled. Diabetes is following suit. Life expectancy has begun to diminish in some (poor) parts of the country. Meanwhile, our diet is looking increasingly like Pima reservation food. It's time to learn a lesson from their tragedy.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Oat Muffins

Gluten-free blueberry oat muffins.

We woke to the sound of water. It is raining in the desert this morning. The overflow is spilling over the edges of the canales, splashing onto the wedges of flagstone scattered in the sand around our casita. It feels like we are living inside a Zen fountain- waterfalls on all sides. The mesa is hidden in mist. The air is heavy with the scent of juniper and wet bark. I am deeply comforted by all of this.

Moisture is a rare commodity here.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Your Gut Talks to Your Brain

I've been reading through some papers on a gut-brain connection that regulates food intake and blood nutrient balance. I've learned some interesting things.

First of all, when fat hits your small intestine (especially long-chain fatty acids), it sends a message to the brainstem via the vagus nerve. This rapidly inhibits eating behavior.

The hypothalamus can also inhibit glucose production by the liver in response to fat in the bloodstream, by sending it signals via the vagus nerve.

A recent paper that got me interested in all this showed that when you put fatty acids on the upper small intestine, it sends a signal to the brain, which then sends a signal to the liver, increasing insulin sensitivity and decreasing glucose production.

The upper small intestine is not just a passive nutrient sponge. It's a very active player in the body's response to food, coordinating changes in food intake and nutrient disposal.

Some thoughts on lab results

Cholesterol
My HDL went up by 50%, that is quite a huge improvement.

Total Cholesterol 3.7 (144mg/dl)
HDL 1.5 (59mg/dl)
LDL 1.9 (74mg/dl)
Triglycerides 0.6 (53mg/dl)
TC:HDL Ratio 2.5

Here is a website showing what risk group you're in according to lipid profiles. Clearly I'm well below even the 'very low risk' numbers.
LINK HERE

I used to eat much less fat than I do now, thanks to April and MR who recommended increasing my fat and protein, my cholesterol looks a lot better now. I spoke to a few people involved in low carbohydrate diet a while ago, and they suggested increasing the amount of saturated fat, which does actually raise HDL, but it also significantly raises LDL cholesterol too. I think that what made my HDL increase was increasing good fats and a little more exercise.

Anyway you can few my results HERE

Pork Roast with Mushrooms and Brown Sugar Apricot-Pomegranate Sauce

Slow cooker pork roast with apricot jam.

My first pork roast recipe- ever. And it's a home run. I apologize for the sports metaphor but I've been sitting at my desk for an hour. And not a single sentence has been birthed. Even after one hot mother of a mug of coffee (and a decaf peppermint green tea that really doesn't count because, well, it's tea), I'm still in a post Sunday fog today, basking in the afterglow of a Sunday afternoon spent with friends. We ate and drank our way through six hours of non-stop conversation. I get all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. And I'm more than a little tempted to wax poetic about friendship and how we choose our true family and what a head banging blue-in-the-face relief it is to sit at a table with soulful people who wrestle with big questions and hunger for authenticity and integrity while also making you laugh out loud without covering your teeth and feel proud of your mayo-free potato salad.

But I won't. I'll tell you about my first pork roast instead.

I'll say it up front. It took decades to get me here- to ease into a place in my life where I might actually, finally, consider buying a hunk of pork and roasting it. I started off slowly, slyly, trying turkey bacon ten years ago. Then I graduated to the real deal roughly six years ago. Organic Sunday smoked bacon. Nitrate-free, of course. And when my body did not protest and the world as I knew it did not go up in a hellish ball of blistering flames, I decided to move on to the hard stuff. I was ready.

It was finally time to roast a pork loin. And Dear Reader- was I intimidated. You know it. In fact yours truly was almost quaking in her Rocket Dogs. Well, maybe not quaking. More like, shivery-nervous. So I decided two things.

First- that I would use my trusty slow cooker. Simple. Familiar. Not too much to screw up. Second- that I would make a sauce with pomegranate juice and a jar of apricot jam. It just seemed like a good fit.

And guess what? Tender, juicy, tangy-sweet deliciousness ensued.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Diabetes and Your Small Intestine

In the last post, I introduced you to the remarkable antidiabetic effect of gastric bypass surgery. It rapidly reverses diabetes in 83% of patients, and it seems to be due to bypassing the upper small intestine specifically, rather than caloric restriction. This points to a special role of the upper small intestine in regulating food metabolism. I told you I was going to look into the mechanism of why this effect happens, and here's the short answer:

It's complicated and no one understands it completely.

Now for the long answer. Nutrient homeostasis is very important and we have sophisticated ways of coordinating it among different tissues. Part of the small intestine's job is telling the body that nutrients are on their way into the bloodstream. Two ways it conveys this signal are by secreting hormones into the bloodstream, and by sending signals to the brain and liver via parasympathetic nerves.

The small intestine secretes dozens of hormones, one category of which is called the incretins. Incretins by definition increase the secretion of insulin by the pancreas, among other things. They were discovered when researchers realized that oral glucose elicits more of an insulin response than intravenous glucose. The reason is that cells in the upper small intestine secrete incretins when they detect glucose.

There are two known major incretin hormones that are secreted by the small intestine, GIP and GLP-1. There was a recent study by the lab of Blanca Olivan which looked into the levels of incretins in patients who had undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, a common type in which 95% of the stomach and part of the upper small intestine is bypassed.

Their results are very interesting! Compared to controls losing an equivalent amount of weight on a low-calorie diet, the bypass patients saw a HUGE increase in their oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) GLP-1 secretion (9.8 vs 112.5 pmol/L), a large increase in GIP secretion, and a corresponding increase in insulin secretion (575 vs 769 pmol/L). Two-hour OGTT blood glucose levels went from borderline diabetic to "normal", by American Diabetes Association standards. Fasting glucose and insulin dropped substantially. The bypass group gained considerable glucose control, better than the matched controls on a low-calorie diet.

It looks like part of the mechanism involves whipping the pancreas to produce more insulin in response to glucose. It also affected fasting insulin, although that could simply be due to calorie restriction because it went down in both groups. Interestingly, non-diabetic patients who get a Roux-en-Y bypass often get reactive hypoglycemia, where their pancreas overproduces insulin after a meal and they get dangerously low blood sugar. Dr Mary-Elizabeth Patti calls it "diabetes reversal in people who don't have diabetes". So the effect doesn't seem to be specific to people with diabetes.

There is some suggestion that the effect on incretins is due to bypassing the duodenum, which is part of the upper small intestine. Here's how the (very sophisticated) reasoning goes: when the duodenum doesn't get glucose dumped on it, that somehow increases release of incretins by the small intestine further along the line.

There's actually an antidiabetic drug that mimics GLP-1; it's called Byetta. There's another that inhibits the breakdown of GLP-1 called Januvia. A second effect of GLP-1 is to delay stomach emptying, which both drugs do. They have been effective for some diabetics.

Well this turned into a long post, so I'll follow up on the parasympathetic (nerve) signaling of the small intestine next time.

Sun Damage Experiment

We have had excellent weather here where I live, and can expect at least another week if weather reports are correct :) I wish it was like this all the time, as I said before it really gives me a big energy boost and I generally feel really happy.

So anyway, I seen something in the news paper the other day that suggested tomatoes protect against sun burn and act as a low level sun screen when 50g are consumed with some olive oil. The protective compound is thought to be Lycopene. Cooked/processed tomatoes give you more. I posted something on the Calorie Restriction Society email lists early on in my CR where I noticed that I have much increased protection from sun damage, DESPITE being very pale person. For an experiment (and before I done this I was quite confident of my observations) I decided to go out in the garden and sun bathe for three hours in mid day sun when the sun index was rather high and putting me at risk of sun burn. So my sister was out there too trying to get a tan and the result was;

I never got sun burned one bit, no redness, very slightly brown... however it was a totally difference case for my sister who eats a normal western diet and is not CR'd. She ended up red and burned, even though she lightly tanned all over to start with!

Is is all that green tea I drink? Is it the tomatoes, is it the CR? It's probably all of them reducing the inflammation response and clearing up those free radicals. I repeated this experiment the next day and got exactly the same result. I noticed this over the last 3 years now but never did this test.... casual sun exposure before used to make me go red, however now it didn't.

I don't expect to see quite the same result if I lived in another country where I would probably roast within 5 minutes... however it shows a nice protective effect WITHOUT sun screen and might contribute to the general anti aging effect of the skin.

I don't actually go in the sun that often, after getting my sunshine vitamin I mostly avoid it to stay looking young. I actually had a nice comments over the past few days , my friend think I could probably do another 3 years in high school because I look so young, and this other guy thought I was still in high school LOL. That's great because I left high school over 7+ years ago now! And would you believe it, there are some people that hate looking younger than their age and want to look older! Haha :)

See the study here:

Tomatoes found to fight sun damage
Tomatoes could be the new weapon in the fight against sun damage to the skin, research at the Universities of Newcastle and Manchester has revealed. According to a study presented at the British Society for Investigative Dermatology this month, eating tomato paste could help protect against sunburn and sun-induced skin ageing.
READ FULL HERE

I DON'T RECOMMEND TRY AND SPEND HOURS IN THE SUN AND GET BADLY SUN BURNED. BUT WOULD APPRECIATE ANY FEEDBACK IF OTHERS HAVE NOTICED CASUAL SUN EXPOSURE DON'T MAKE THEM SUN BURN AS EASILY.

Pomegranate Smoothie - Dairy-Free

Pomegranate smoothie- dairy-free bliss.

I'm delirious. I could blame it on the wind. There is a loco spring wind here in New Mexico, you know. And it can make you, well. Crazy. It rough rides up the Chama River like nobody's business and bitch slaps the mesa behind us. It buffets the casita absolutely senseless and whips tumbleweeds into missiles. I'm not kidding. There are moments when you wonder if the roof will lift off. 

You start looking out the window for flying monkeys. 

So you hunker down and pull out pots and pans to conjure mashed potatoes into colcannon just to cope. You bake comforting Roasted Vegetable Lasagna. You feel like whipping up your own brand of frenzy.

In the gentle guise of a vegan smoothie.

Because you crave pomegranate. We all know deep and vibrant hued fruits are good for us. You've read about all those studies, right? How all those yummy antioxidants and goodies like anthocyanin feed our brains and keep us sharp, on the edge, where we need to be?

Psychology Today reports that preliminary results indicate that people who eat a cup of blueberries a day perform 5 percent to 6 percent better than a control group on tests of motor skills. I'm not good at math (will blueberries help?) so I'm unsure if "5 to 6 percent better" is a huge deal, but. Hey.

For the sake of my asymmetrical motor skills (I was the geek who was never- ever- picked for any team in school) I'm willing to eat a few more blueberries, pomegranates and cranberries. Not because I harbor hopes of better motor skills.

But because they taste so good.

Read more + get the recipe >>

The Miracle Diabetes Cure You Don't Know About

What would you say if I told you there's a cure for type II diabetes that's effective in 83% of people, extremely rapid, and requires no lifestyle changes? Would you think I was crazy? Well maybe I am, but the cure exists nevertheless.

All it requires is a little intestinal mutilation. It's called gastric bypass surgery. It's an anti-obesity surgery where the digestive tract is re-routed, bypassing 95% of the stomach as well as the duodenum and jejunum, which are parts of the upper small intestine.

The effect was first reported in 1995 by Dr. Walter Pories. Initially, researchers thought the cure was simply from caloric restriction due to a smaller stomach volume, but since then the story has become much more interesting. The key finding was published in 2004 by Dr. Francesco Rubino, who showed that bypassing the duodenum and jejunum but not the stomach of type II diabetic rats was enough to cure their diabetes. The effect wasn't due to caloric restriction, since both groups ate the same amount of food.

What this suggests is that there's some kind of feedback coming from the upper small intestine that affects glucose control and insulin sensitivity. What could be causing it? It just so happens there are some pretty good candidates: hormones called GLP-1 and ghrelin.

I'm going to dive into this and see if I can figure out what's going on.

Sorry for the cheesy post title, I'm practicing for my best-seller. Maybe I should add the word "secret"? How about this: "101 Secret Diabetes Cures THEY Don't Want You to Know About".

Cob

I've been thinking a lot about natural building lately. Here in the US, we are practically forced into occupying homes that are expensive and destructive to the environment. I met a woman last weekend who lives in a yurt and has an outdoor composting toilet. She paid $3,000 for the yurt, making it a dignified way to live on a low income. She's worried because what she's doing on her own property is illegal. She's living in a safe, efficient, inexpensive structure that is extremely light on the land, an it's illegal under her county building codes.

A conventional home that costs $200,000 may end up costing $400,000- $600,000 including interest paid to the bank and all fees. If you can save money and cut out the bank, you might be able to build your own code-compliant house for $100,000 or less, including the land. It isn't difficult to see the financial advantage of building yourself.

Conventional homes are also highly destructive to the environment, partly due to materials and partly due to inefficiency of the completed structure. As usual, I'm looking for alternatives.

One possibility that has caught my imagination is a material called cob. It's made of sand, clay and straw that's mixed together and allowed to harden into a durable monolithic structure. It's a traditional form of construction throughout the world, but the word comes from the UK, where thousands of cob buildings are still standing after up to 500 years. It's similar to adobe, except bricks are not used.

Cob uses inexpensive materials that can typically be gathered on-site or nearby, and have a low embodied energy. The straw is an agricultural waste product and is very inexpensive. Building with cob doesn't require much skill or strength. It can produce highly efficient structures in appropriate climates due to its high thermal mass. It's also extremely durable if cared for properly. Cob has all the attributes of an effective vernacular building technique.

It's also not code-compliant in most places in the US, but that may change as it becomes more familiar. That's also a reason why I'm considering alternatives like strawbale and timberframe construction. It's possible to build code-compliant cob houses in the UK.

Last weekend I went to a "Basics of Cob" workshop at the Ancient Earth school of natural building on Whidbey island. We learned how to mix cob and then we built a bench out of it. The bench will eventually be coated in a smooth earthen or lime plaster. Cob is an amazing material. It's sculptable when wet, but becomes very hard when it dries. It's compatible with a number of other natural building techniques like strawbale and light straw-clay. It really is at the intersection of construction and sculpting. When you build with cob, you aren't limited to straight lines and right angles, so you can create spaces that are highly functional and aesthetic, while also being space-efficient. Here are some photos from the workshop:

May Brings More Than Flowers- it brings celiac awareness!

May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month. Around this little casita, that's no big deal. After all, we live with celiac disease 24/7 (and have been gluten-free- in our various kitchens- since December 19, 2001). Living gluten-free- to us- is second nature. But what about the over two million and several hundred thousand other celiac citizens- the vast sea of the Undiagnosed? You're out there. Somewhere. Swimming in gluten. And you don't even know it's wreaking havoc.

This post's for you.

Throughout the month of May, Gluten-Free Goddess will be spotlighting gluten-free recipes that pop up in sweet and unexpected places- especially food and cooking blogs, and sites that don't necessarily focus on gluten-free cooking. Spotting and tagging safe recipes for celiac disease in a blogging community with a passion for taste, fresh ingredients and style will be not only fun- but help to raise awareness for celiac disease.

Read on for the first fabulous find.

The first tempting recipe find is this sexy Warm Steak and Orange Salad posted by food writer and recipe developer Amy Sherman at Glam Dish- tasty morsels served with style. It's impossible to feel deprived when you can dig into a dish like this. Get more Amy at her Cooking With Amy blog, too. She's got some tasty gluten-free recipes to share- like these delightful crepes.

Find out more at Celiac Central: The NFCA

I never fainted!

This morning with only 5 hours sleep because I wasn't tired and could not fall to sleep until early hours. With just 5 minutes until my appointment I rushed out the door and got there in time, I had already missed 2 appointments previously and these tests were supposed to have been done in Feb! I actually wasn't nervous this time and just got it done with no problem, in fact probably was the least problematic of all of them, maybe I'm really just getting used to it now, and I didn't faint which is great! Fainted in 2004 and not nice :)

I will check on Friday to see if the results are back, I suspect I wont know them now until next Wednesday, but when I get them I'll be sure to update my personal CR website where you can find all my previous lab results.


On another topic, I have decided that Sundays is now a fasting day. I feel quite good when I fast and doing it just one day a week will nudge calories down a tiny bit and maybe provide some benefit. I'll let you know how that goes... but I did do a 2 day fast just over 1 week ago and had no problem with it.


The Secret To Long Life May Not Be In The Genes
And here is an article for you to read from sciencedaily.com

A research on the bone health of one of the oldest persons in the world, who recently died at the age of 114, reveals that there were no genetic modifications which could have contributed to this longevity. The research team, directed by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona professor Adolfo Díez Pérez, pointed out a healthy lifestyle, a Mediterranean diet, a temperate climate and regular physical activity as the reasons for his excellent health.

Full article here

What about the secret to long life is in how MUCH and WHAT you eat ;)

Roasted Vegetable Magic

Fresh veggies chopped and tossed with garlic and olive oil.

  

What do you throw together for dinner when you're just too tired to cook?

That is my question to you, Dear Readers. Chances are you've been there. I know you have. Dog weary. Emotionally spent. A tad cranky. Blood sugar perilously low. It's way past time to eat. The kids have been munching cereal straight from the box. And there you are, staring into the pantry without a trace of culinary passion and only the scantiest clad hint of inspiration.

What you really want to do is strip off the remains of the day and sink into a welcoming tub with a chilled glass of Riesling and hope that dinner will magically appear in an hour.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Gluten-Free Dessert Recipes

The best gluten-free dessert recipes at Gluten-Free Goddess®.

Looking for fabulous gluten-free dessert recipes for your celiac sweet tooth? Here is my collection of truly tasty gluten-free treats- from buckwheat chocolate chip cookies to praline pumpkin pie, from rich dark chocolate brownies and cupcakes (with mocha frosting!) to easy fruit crisps and elegant coconut layer cake. All my dessert recipes are wheat and gluten-free, and many are egg-free and dairy-free, as well.

Make today delicious.  xox Karina

Gluten-Free Goddess® Desserts

cookies

Almost Sausalito Cookie Squares

Brown Sugar Buckwheat Thumbprint Cookies 

Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Biscotti

Chocolate Chip Cookies- new

Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares

Chocolate Cookies with Chocolate Chips 

Coffee Biscuits with Chocolate Chips

Crunchy Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gingersnaps and Star Cookies 

Lemon-Iced Ginger Thins

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Peanut Butter Quinoa Cookies

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies

Quinoa Pumpkin Cookies

Raspberry Coconut-Almond Cookie Bars

Rice Crispy Treats

Snowy Lemon Cookies

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Flourless chocolate cake

cake + cupcakes

Apple Cake with Cranberries

Applesauce Crumb Cake with Cinnamon

Banana Bundt Cake

Banana-Blueberry Muffin Cake

Banana Snacking Cake

Blueberry Babycakes

Blueberry Cobbler

Brownie Cupcakes (fudgy)

Cherry Clafoutis

Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Icing

Chocolate Layer Cake

Chocolate Truffle Cake

Coconut Apple Cake

Coconut Carrot Cake

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cake

Coconut Frosted Banana Cupcakes

Coconut Layer Cake

Dark Goddess Cake

Flourless Banana Snacking Cake

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Frosted Banana Spice Cake

Lemon Almond Yogurt Cake

Maple Frosted Pumpkin Cake

Orange Creme Cupcakes

Peach Cake

Peanut Butter Banana Cake

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Quinoa Breakfast Cake

Rustic Strawberry Cobbler Cake

Sour Cream Apple Cake

Sweet Banana Polenta Cake

Vanilla Cupcakes with Mocha Icing

Vegan Flourless Chocolate Cake

Raspberry coconut-almond bars.

brownies + bars

Blondie Style Quinoa Bars with Dark Chocolate Chips

Blueberry Brownie Bites

Brown Sugar + Spice Pumpkin Bars

Cappuccino Brownies

Chocolate Brownies

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies

Chocolate Quinoa Brownies

Coconut Chocolate Nirvana Bars

Dark Chocolate Brownies

Decadent Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Maui Wowee Bars

Raspberry Coconut-Almond Bars

Vanilla Brownies

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

pie, fruit crisps, cobblers + crumbles

Apple Crisp

Blueberry Crisp

Blueberry Crumble-Crisp - new

Cherry Almond Crisp

Cranberry Crumble

Peach Cobbler

Peach Crisp

Pumpkin Pie- crustless

Pumpkin Pie with Praline and Coconut-Pecan Crust

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble with Quinoa Flakes- new

Sweet Potato Pie

fruit

Blueberry Crumble-Crisp

Cherry Clafoutis

Pie Crust Recipes

Strawberries Citronge

smoothies, sorbet + ice cream

Chocolate Sorbet

Dairy-free Banana Ice Scream- with lime

Mexican Hot Fudge Sundae

Nectarine Ice cream- Dairy-free with Coconut Milk

Peach Ice Cream- vegan

Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Shavings- vegan

Pomegranate Smoothie

Strawberry Hemp Smoothalicious

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Sherbet

Triple Berry Parfaits with Homemade Coconut Milk Ice Cream