Pinon Rice Bake with Artichokes and Goat Cheese

Brown rice with artichokes, roasted corn, chiles, pine nuts and goat cheese.

Here's a favorite make-ahead rice dish recipe with Mediterranean flavors- artichokes, plum tomatoes, pine nuts and goat cheese. Entertaining made simple. And there are never any leftovers.

Having someone new over for dinner always sends me into a flurry of activity fueled by nervous energy and worry. I obsess over obscure details (like an iTune playlist), change my mind about the menu (wait- enchiladas or lasagna?), forget ingredients (dagnabbit! the green beans are still in the car). So I've learned (yes, the hard way) to always make a few key dishes ahead of time. Then dinner is basically done.

And I'm not stuck in the kitchen spilling olive oil on a new silk shirt.

I can relax (well, sort of). And- goddess willing- I won't set the oven on fire because I'm too busy discussing politics or the yummy Anderson Cooper.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Our Family's Top Ten Gluten-Free Products

Gluten-free baguettes made with Pamela's mix.

Our Family's Top Ten 

Gluten-Free Picks

*

These quickie reviews of our family's favorite gluten-free products are not sponsored by the manufacturers. I accepted no free samples, coupons, or other please-blog-about-us incentives. These picks are our personal, most often used favorites.

1. Pamela's Products Amazing Wheat Free & Gluten-free Bread Mixwith sorghum and millet flour is the best tasting gluten-free bread mix by far. Seriously. We've made it with eggs and without eggs. Both ways are delicious. We've even made killer rustic baguettes with Pamela's (pictured above). My son Alex has made it into cinnamon swirl bread, and pizza crust, with great success.

2. Next up: Gluten-Free Pasta. One of our family's favorite gluten-free pastas is Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta. It's far less starchy than your average rice pasta, and higher in protein. The spaghetti style has the bite of a good Italian linguine- perfect for those of you who prefer your pasta al dente.

For those unable to do corn, Tinkyada Pasta is also excellent. The Tinkyada Large Shells are perfect for stuffed shells (see my Gluten-Free Italian Baked Stuffed Shells recipe here). And the Tinkyada Brown Rice Lasagna makes light, delicious lasagna (I use the noodles uncooked- find my lasagna recipes here).

3. Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix in bulk is the best all-around all-purpose baking and pancake mix. Why? It features buttermilk and almond meal. Beginners can use Pamela's mix as a one-to-one sub for wheat flour in gluten-free baking.

For those who need a dairy-free gluten-free baking mix try Namaste Gluten-Free Waffle and Pancake Mix. (In our house, we add chocolate chips to our pancakes- or blueberries.)

4. Highly regarded Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free milled flours and mixes has finally added a gluten-free polenta and cornmeal to their esteemed line of products. Lucky us! For those who love polenta and care about quality- we now have Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Grits + Polenta. Look for the GF symbol on the package.

5. Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes is a hot breakfast cereal rich in vegan protein and calcium. We enjoy it as a warm bowl of comfort drizzled with maple syrup. And we absolutely love using it in baking- especially in cookie, muffin, and cake recipes (especially nice when oats are called for). Browse GFG quinoa recipes here.

We also enjoy Ancient Harvest Organic Quinoa grain as pilaf, tabbouleh, and a high protein alternative to rice (I cook it in my rice cooker- here's how).

6. Gluten-free flours blends taste different. Less sweet than wheat. One trick we like to do? Use the best vanilla extract- Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract. Rich, deep vanilla flavor. No icky, flabby fillers (like corn syrup).

7. A new gluten-free flour fave is Bob's Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour. It adds moisture, flavor, and a subtle sweetness to GF flour blends. Not to mention, protein and fiber. A little is all you need- add a tablespoon or two for added moisture and texture, or sub out a half cup flour in your usual flour blend with a half cup coconut flour.

8. Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil makes gluten-free baked goods rich and buttery. It's our new favorite vegan butter and shortening replacement in baking recipes. Great for cookies, cakes, biscuits, and scones.

9. Our favorite non-dairy milk to use in gluten-free and vegan ice cream is- hands down-- Native Forest Organic Classic Coconut Milk. Creamy good. Also lovely in spicy curry sauces, as well as a staple in baking.

10. Organic Raw Blue Agave is a low glycemic natural vegan sweetener that is wonderful for subtle sweetening in sauces, beverages and baking.

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Mexican Black Bean Soup- In Memory of Sher

Sher's black bean soup recipe.

Sher and I never met. We were what people refer to as blogging acquaintances. We exchanged occasional comments on one another's blogs and admired each other's penchant for rustic Mexican recipes. Real food, with big flavor. Last Sunday lovely Sher passed away suddenly- from a heart attack. She was 59. Today food bloggers are joining in memory of Sher- and her enthusiastic love of good food- by posting one of her recipes. I suspect this would please her no end; as her blog title suggests, the first question asked by her family on any occasion is...

What did you eat?

Today we are collectively offering, One of your recipes, Sher!

Read more + get the recipe >>

The Inuit: Lessons from the Arctic

The Inuit (also called Eskimo) are a group of hunter-gatherer cultures who inhabit the arctic regions of Alaska, Canada and Greenland. They are a true testament to the toughness, adaptability and ingenuity of the human species. Their unique lifestyle has a lot of information to offer us about the boundaries of the human ecological niche. Weston Price was fascinated by their excellent teeth, good nature and overall robust health. Here's an excerpt from Nutrition and Physical Degeneration:

"In his primitive state he has provided an example of physical excellence and dental perfection such as has seldom been excelled by any race in the past or present...we are also deeply concerned to know the formula of his nutrition in order that we may learn from it the secrets that will not only aid in the unfortunate modern or so-called civilized races, but will also, if possible, provide means for assisting in their preservation."

The Inuit are cold-hardy hunters whose traditional diet consists of a variety of sea mammals, fish, land mammals and birds. They invented some very sophisticated tools, including the kayak, whose basic design has remained essentially unchanged to this day. Most groups ate virtually no plant food. Their calories came primarily from fat, up to 75%, with almost no calories coming from carbohydrate. Children were breast-fed for about three years, and had solid food in their diet almost from birth. As with most hunter-gatherer groups, they were free from chronic disease while living a traditional lifestyle, even in old age. Here's a quote from Observations on the Western Eskimo and the Country they Inhabit; from Notes taken During two Years [1852-54] at Point Barrow, by Dr. John Simpson:

These people [the Inuit] are robust, muscular and active, inclining rather to spareness [leanness] than corpulence [overweight], presenting a markedly healthy appearance. The expression of the countenance is one of habitual good humor. The physical constitution of both sexes is strong. Extreme longevity is probably not unknown among them; but as they take no heed to number the years as they pass they can form no guess of their own ages.

One of the common counterpoints I hear to the idea that high-fat hunter-gatherer diets are healthy, is that exercise protects them from the ravages of fat. The Inuit can help us get to the bottom of this debate. Here's a quote from Cancer, Disease of Civilization (1960, Vilhjalmur Stefansson):

"They are large eaters, some of them, especially the women, eating all the time..." ...during the winter the Barrow women stirred around very little, did little heavy work, and yet "inclined more to be sparse than corpulent" [quotes are the anthropologist Dr. John Murdoch, reproduced by Stefansson].

Another argument I sometimes hear is that the Inuit are genetically adapted to their high-fat diet, and the same food would kill a European. This appears not to be the case. The anthropologist and arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson spent several years living with the Inuit in the early 20th century. He and his fellow Europeans and Americans thrived on the Inuit diet. American doctors were so incredulous that they defied him and a fellow explorer to live on a diet of fatty meat only for one year, under the supervision of the American Medical Association. To the doctors' dismay, they remained healthy, showing no signs of scurvy or any other deficiency (JAMA 1929;93:20–2).

Yet another amazing thing about the Inuit was their social structure. Here's Dr. John Murdoch again (quoted from Cancer, Disease of Civilization):

The women appear to stand on a footing of perfect equality with the men, both in the family and the community. The wife is the constant and trusted companion of the man in everything except the hunt, and her opinion is sought in every bargain or other important undertaking... The affection of parents for their children is extreme, and the children seem to be thoroughly worthy of it. They show hardly a trace of fretfulness or petulance so common among civilized children, and though indulged to an extreme extent are remarkably obedient. Corporal punishment appears to be absolutely unknown, and children are rarely chided or punished in any way.

Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Since adopting a modern processed-food diet, the health and social structure of the Inuit has deteriorated dramatically. This had already happened to most groups by Weston Price's time, and is virtually complete today. Here's Price:

In the various groups in the lower Kuskokwim seventy-two individuals who were living exclusively on native foods had in their 2,138 teeth only two teeth or 0.09 per cent that had ever been attacked by tooth decay. In this district eighty-one individuals were studied who had been living in part or in considerable part on modern foods, and of their 2, 254 teeth 394 or 13 per cent had been attacked by dental caries. This represents an increase in dental caries of 144 fold.... When these adult Eskimos exchange their foods for our modern foods..., they often have very extensive tooth decay and suffer severely.... Their plight often becomes tragic since there are no dentists in these districts.

Modern Inuit also suffer from very high rates of diabetes and overweight. This has been linked to changes in diet, particularly the use of white flour, sugar and processed oils.

Overall, the unique lifestyle and diet of the Inuit have a lot to teach us. First, that some humans are capable of being healthy eating mostly animal foods. Second, that some humans are able to thrive on a high-fat diet. Third, that humans are capable of living well in extremely harsh and diverse environments. Fourth, that the shift from natural foods to processed foods, rather than changes in macronutrient composition, is the true cause of the diseases of civilization.

Book Review: "The Human Diet: Its Origins and Evolution"

I recently read this book after discovering it on another health site. It's a compilation of chapters written by several researchers in the fields of comparative biology, paleontology, archaeology and zoology. It's sometimes used as a textbook.

I've learned some interesting things, but overall it was pretty disappointing. The format is disjointed, with no logical flow between chapters. I also would not call it comprehensive, which is one of the things I look for in a textbook. Here are some of the interesting points:

• Humans in industrial societies are the only mammals to commonly develop hypertension, and are the only free-living primates to become overweight.
  
• The adoption of grains as a primary source of calories correlated with a major decrease in stature, decrease in oral health, decrease in bone density, and other problems. This is true for wheat, rice, corn and other grains.
• Cranial capacity has also declined 11% since the late paleolithic, correlating with a decrease in the consumption of animal foods and an increase in grains.
• According to carbon isotope ratios of teeth, corn did not play a major role in the diet of native Americans until 800 AD. Over 15% of the teeth of post-corn South American cultures showed tooth decay, compared with less than 5% for pre-corn cultures (many of which were already agricultural, just not eating corn).
  
• Childhood mortality seems to be similar among hunter-gatherers and non-industrial agriculturists and pastoralists.
  
• Women may have played a key role in food procurement through foraging. This is illustrated by a group of modern hunter-gatherers called the Hadza. While men most often hunt, which supplies important nutrients intermittently, women provide a steady stream of calories by foraging for tubers.
• We have probably been eating starchy tubers for between 1.5 and 2 million years, which precedes our species. Around that time, digging tools, (controversial) evidence of controlled fire and changes in digestive anatomy all point to use of tubers and cooked food in general. Tubers make sense because they are a source of calories that is much more easily exploited than wild grains in most places.
• Our trajectory as a species has been to consume a diet with more calories per unit fiber. As compared to chimps, who eat leaves and fruit all day and thus eat a lot of fiber to get enough calories, our species and its recent ancestors ate a diet much lower in fiber.
  
• Homo sapiens has always eaten meat.
  

The downside is that some chapters have a distinct low-fat slant. One chapter attempted to determine the optimal diet for humans by comparing ours to the diets of wild chimps and other primates. Of course, we eat more fat than a chimp, but I don't think that gets us anywhere. Especially since one of our closest relatives, the neanderthal, was practically a carnivore.
They consider the diet composition of modern hunter-gatherers that eat low-fat diets, but don't include data on others with high-fat diets like the Inuit.

There's some good information in the book, if you're willing to dig through a lot of esoteric data on the isotope ratios of extinct hominids and that sort of thing.

Penne Arrabiata with Brown Rice Pasta

Gluten-free penne arrabiata- spicy and easy

The last meal of our two-week honeymoon in Italy was in Rome- on the way to the airport. And I'll never forget it. It was penne tossed in a spicy red sauce. My first Arrabiata. Here's my gluten-free version- a simple and fast recipe perfect for a weeknight supper.

Penne Arrabiata Recipe with Brown Rice Pasta

Use fresh Roma tomatoes in this classic Italian recipe- or go postmodern and grab a can of spicy diced tomatoes from the pantry. Hey I'm no snob- I've used both. And both are delicious. Make this quick and easy pasta sauce as spicy or as mild as you like. There's plenty of room for improvisation in this simple recipe. Follow your taste buds.

Ingredients:
14 oz. gluten-free penne pasta, such as Tinkyada Brown Rice Penne
4-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4-6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 pint Roma tomatoes, diced- or 1 14.5 oz. can Muir Glen organic fire roasted diced tomatoes with spicy chiles
2-4 oz. chopped roasted green or red chiles- hot or mild, according to taste
Hot red chile pepper flakes, to taste
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
A goodly splash or two of balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons shredded Parmesan or vegan cheese, or omit for dairy-free
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and cook the penne until it is al dente- tender but still slightly firm.

Meanwhile, in a large deep skillet, heat roughly 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat; add the onion; stir and cook until softened. Add the chopped garlic; stir and cook for a minute.

Add in the fire roasted diced tomatoes, chopped roasted chiles, red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper, and balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine.

Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, lower the heat and keep on a low simmer while you boil the penne pasta.

When the penne is ready, drain it and pour it into the skillet.

Drizzle the cooked penne with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (or use pasta water). Toss the penne gently to coat it in the Arrabiata sauce.

Serve in warm bowls. Sprinkle generously with shredded Parmesan or vegan cheese, and some fresh chopped parsley.

Pour some cheap Italian red (and read this fun piece at the New York Times blog by Freakonomics author on Cheap Wine). Thanks Elise, for the heads up this article.

Serves 4.

Notes: 

Fresh Roma tomatoes are traditional- but in a pinch I've used all kinds of different varieties- even yellow heirloom tomatoes. Why not? [Just don't tell Mario Batalli.]

More Mediterranean Recipes Featuring Pasta:

Mediterranean Tuna and Artichoke Pasta
Pesto Zucchini Tomato Gratin
Mediterranean Pasta Frittata
Pasta with Toasted Pecans, Raisins & Artichoke Hearts

Sexy Spring Pasta with Roasted Asparagus

Gluten-Free Spaghetti and Meatballs

Arthur De Vany

Arthur De Vany is being interviewed by the immortality institute on the Ustream channel this sunday 20th July 2008. For the details go here. This will be interesting, he did speak at the Calorie Restriction Conference in 2004 I believe about what he think the optimal way of living is. You can head on over to his blog to find out more about him here

I must admit, hes not doing so bad for his age!

Life expectancy calculator

I thought it would be a little bit of fun to input some data into this calculator and see what age it says I am expected to live to. I don't entirely believe these are all that accurate, but it was just something to do :)

You know a lot of things in life are just chance events, anything could happen [my cipro incident for example]. The calculator has some improvements now it seems because it no longer puts too much emphasis on your grandparents or parents history when it comes to things like cancer, because it clearly states about the relationsihp between smoking induced cancer deaths, rather than just cancer. All my grandparents died at around the age of 85, but died of lung cancer relating to life long smoking. So maybe they would have lived to age 90 or so.

So here was my result; "Your calculated age expectancy is 98 years"

Should be enough time for Aubrey to get enough funding for his plan to cure aging in humans. With Calorie Restriction I expect it to at least get me to ages equivalent of todays centenarians or if I'm lucky become a super centenarian. But by then surely medicine will be well advanced enough to deal with aging. I think moderate CR alone would get most people who started CR at a young at to about 100 years, and a fair few between 105-115... or is this just being too optimistic?

To take the life expectancy test go here

Sunscreen and Melanoma

Melanoma is the most deadly type of skin cancer, accounting for most skin cancer deaths in the US. As Ross pointed out in the comments section of the last post, there is an association between severe sunburn at a young age and later development of melanoma. Darker-skinned people are also more resistant to melanoma. The association isn't complete, however, since melanoma sometimes occurs on the soles of the feet and even in the intestine. This may be due to the fact that there are several types of melanoma, potentially with different causes.

Another thing that associates with melanoma is the use of sunscreen above a latitude of 40 degrees from the equator. In the Northern hemisphere, 40 degrees draws a line between New York city and Beijing. A recent meta-analysis found consistently that sunscreen users above 40 degrees are at a higher risk of melanoma than people who don't use sunscreen, even when differences in skin color are taken into account. Wearing sunscreen decreased melanoma risk in studies closer to the equator. It sounds confusing, but it makes sense once you know a little bit more about UV rays, sunscreen and the biology of melanoma.

The UV light that reaches the Earth's surface is composed of UVA (longer) and UVB (shorter) wavelengths. UVB causes sunburn, while they both cause tanning. Sunscreen blocks UVB, preventing burns, but most brands only weakly block UVA. Sunscreen allows a person to spend more time in the sun than they would otherwise, and attenuates tanning. Tanning is a protective response (among several) by the skin that protects it against both UVA and UVB. Burning is a protective response that tells you to get out of the sun. The result of diminishing both is that sunblock tends to increase a person's exposure to UVA rays.

It turns out that UVA rays are more closely associated with melanoma than UVB rays, and typical sunscreen fails to prevent melanoma in laboratory animals. It's also worth mentioning that sunscreen does prevent more common (and less lethal) types of skin cancer.

Modern tanning beds produce a lot of UVA and not much UVB, in an attempt to deliver the maximum tan without causing a burn. Putting on sunscreen essentially does the same thing: gives you a large dose of UVA without much UVB.

The authors of the meta-analysis suggest an explanation for the fact that the association changes at 40 degrees of latitude: populations further from the equator tend to have lighter skin. Melanin blocks UVA very effectively, and the pre-tan melanin of someone with olive skin is enough to block most of the UVA that sunscreen lets through. The fair-skinned among us don't have that luxury, so our melanocytes get bombarded by UVA, leading to melanoma. This may explain the incredible rise in melanoma incidence in the US in the last 35 years, as people have also increased the use of sunscreen. It may also have to do with tanning beds, since melanoma incidence has risen particularly in women.

In my opinion, the best way to treat your skin is to tan gradually, without burning. Use clothing and a wide-brimmed hat if you think you'll be in the sun past your burn threshold. If you want to use sunscreen, make sure it blocks UVA effectively. Don't rely on the manufacturer's word; look at the ingredients list. It should contain at least one of the following: titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, avobenzone (Parsol 1789), Mexoryl SX (Tinosorb). It's best if it's also paraben-free.

Fortunately, as an external cancer, melanoma is easy to diagnose. If caught early, it can be removed without any trouble. If caught a bit later, surgeons may have to remove lymph nodes, which makes your face look like John McCain's. Later than that and you're probably a goner. If you have any questions about a growth, especially one with irregular borders that's getting larger, ask your doctor about it immediately!

Savory G-Free Waffles- for breadcrumbs & panini

Savory waffles for grilled sandwiches and gluten-free breadcrumbs.

Several readers have requested my savory waffle recipe- the base recipe I use to make those golden Crunchy Gluten-Free Breadcrumbz. And who am I to refuse such a worthy request? Average waffles these are not. Not only are these crispy vegan gems wheat-free and egg-free, they are infused with herbs and garlic, rendering them suitable not only for conjuring Italian style crumbs, but grilling up warm and melty panini as well. Use these like you would use sandwich bread.

So take this simple recipe as a blueprint, add your own creativity to the mix and do great things. For nothing is as noble as cooking something delicious and food allergy safe for those you cherish.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Vegan Banana Ice Cream

Vegan banana ice cream.

I've been busy behind the scenes here at Gluten-Free Goddess -- but I'm never too busy to create a new dessert recipe for you. Her Awesomeness forbid. I wouldn't abandon you to steam in the summer heat, sweltering without respite, without a new frozen confection to cheer you up and cool you down. 

Not me. I'm not a remote and apathetic kind of goddess. Nope. 

I get you. I listen. And I feel your non-dairy gluten-free frustration. All the way out here in the hills of Ojo Caliente.

So what that means is this ice cream recipe is vegan- in other words, dairy-free and egg-free for all you lovely casein-free beauties out there.

I start with frozen bananas- because they're so creamy good when frozen. They jump start the whole homemade ice cream making process. So go fetch your ripe bananas and toss 'em in the freezer right now.

You'll thank me later.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Grains and Human Evolution

[Update 8/2011: as I've learned more about human genetics and evolution, I've come to appreciate that many Europeans actually descend from early adopters of agriculture more than they descend from the hunter-gatherers that previously occupied Europe.  Also, 10,000 years has been long enough for significant genetic adaptation.  Read The 10,000 Year Explosion for more information].

You've heard me say that I believe grains aren't an ideal food for humans. Part of the reason rests on the assertion that we have not been eating grains for long enough to have adapted to them. In this post, I'll go over what I know about the human diet before and after agriculture, and the timeline of our shift to a grain-based diet. I'm not an archaeologist so I won't claim that all these numbers are exact, but I think they are close enough to make my point.

As hunter-gatherers, we ate some combination of the following: land mammals (including organs, fat and marrow), cooked tubers, seafood (fish, mammals, shellfish, seaweed), eggs, nuts, fruit, honey, "vegetables" (stems, leaves, etc.), mushrooms, assorted land animals, birds and insects. The proportion of each food varied widely between groups and even seasons. This is pretty much what we've been living on since we evolved as a species, and even before, for a total of 1.5 million years or so (this number is controversial but is supported by multiple lines of evidence). There are minor exceptions, including the use of wild grains in a few areas, but for the most part, that's it.

The first evidence of a calorically important domesticated crop I'm aware of was about 11,500 years ago in the fertile crescent. They were cultivating an early ancestor of wheat called emmer. Other grains popped up independently in what is now China (rice; ~10,000 years ago), and central America (corn; ~9,000 years ago). That's why people say humans have been eating grains for about 10,000 years.

The story is more complicated than the dates suggest, however. Although wheat had its origin 11,500 years ago, it didn't become widespread in Western Europe for another 4,500 years. So if you're of European descent, your ancestors have been eating grains for roughly 7,000 years. Corn was domesticated 9,000 years ago, but according to the carbon ratios of human teeth, it didn't become a major source of calories until about 1,200 years ago! Many American groups did not adopt a grain-based diet until 100-300 years ago, and in a few cases they still have not. If you are of African descent, your ancestors have been eating grains for 9,000 to 0 years, depending on your heritage. The change to grains was accompanied by a marked decrease in dental health that shows up clearly in the archaeological record.

Practically every plant food contains some kind of toxin, but grains produce a number of nasty ones that humans are not well adapted to. Grains contain a large amount of phytic acid for example, which strongly inhibits the absorption of a number of important minerals. Tubers, which were our main carbohydrate source for about 1.5 million years before agriculture, contain less of it. This may have been a major reason why stature decreased when humans adopted grain-based agriculture. There are a number of toxins that occur in grains but not in tubers, such as certain heat-resistant lectins.

Non-industrial cultures often treated their seeds, including grains, differently than we do today. They used soaking, sprouting and long fermentation to decrease the amount of toxins found in grains, making them more nutritious and digestible. Most grain staples are not treated in this way today, and so we bear the brunt of their toxins even more than our ancestors did.

From an evolutionary standpoint, even 11,500 years is the blink of an eye. Add to that the fact that many people descend from groups that have been eating grains for far less time than that, and you begin to see the problem. There is no doubt that we have begun adapting genetically to grains. All you have to do to understand this is look back at the archaeological record, to see the severe selective pressure (read: disease) that grains placed on its early adopters. But the question is, have we had time to adapt sufficiently to make it a healthy food? I would argue the answer is no.

There are a few genetic adaptations I'm aware of that might pertain to grains: the duplication of the salivary amylase gene, and polymorphisms in the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and apolipoprotein B genes. Some groups duplicated a gene that secretes the enzyme amylase into the saliva, increasing its production. Amylase breaks down starch, indicating a possible increase in its consumption. The problem is that we were getting starch from tubers before we got it from grains, so it doesn't really argue for either side in my opinion. The ACE and apolipoprotein B genes may be more pertinent, because they relate to blood pressure and LDL cholesterol. Blood pressure and blood cholesterol are both factors that respond well to low-carbohydrate (and thus low-grain) diets, suggesting that the polymorphisms may be a protective adaptation against the cardiovascular effects of grains.

The fact that up to 1% of people of European descent may have full-blown celiac disease attests to the fact that 7,000 years have not been enough time to fully adapt to wheat on a population level. Add to that the fact that nearly half of genetic Europeans carry genes that are associated with celiac, and you can see that we haven't been weeded out thoroughly enough to tolerate wheat, the oldest grain!

Based on my reading, discussions and observations, I believe that rice is the least problematic grain, wheat is the worst, and everything else is somewhere in between. If you want to eat grains, it's best to soak, sprout or ferment them. This activates enzymes that break down most of the toxins. You can soak rice, barley and other grains overnight before cooking them. Sourdough bread is better than normal white bread. Unfermented, unsprouted whole wheat bread may actually be the worst of all. 

Another China Tidbit

A final note about the Chinese study in the previous post: the overweight vegetable-eaters (read: wheat eaters) exercised more than their non-vegetable-eating, thin neighbors. So although their average calorie intake was a bit higher, their expenditure was as well. 

Although I speculated in the last post that affluent people might be eating more wheat and fresh vegetables, the data don't support that. Participants with the highest income level actually adhered to the wheat and vegetable-rich pattern the least, while low-income participants were most likely to eat this way.

Interestingly, education showed a (weaker) trend in the opposite direction. More educated participants were more likely to eat the wheat-vegetable pattern, while the opposite was true of less educated participants. Thus, it looks like wheat makes people more educated. Just kidding, that's exactly the logic we have to avoid when interpreting this type of study!

How To Make Crunchy Gluten-Free Breadcrumbs

Golden gluten-free bread crumbs made from toasted waffles.

Why not talk about simple pleasures? Like how to make really tasty gluten-free bread crumbs. Golden. Toasty. Slightly crunchy. When I first went gluten-free I missed the crunchy goodness that a buttered bread crumb topping adds to a home cooked recipe- especially comfort food. In fact, one of my favorite simple comfort recipes when I'm dragging my butt and too tired to cook is spaghetti tossed in extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic, red pepper flakes and pan toasted bread crumbs.

So, after I found a decent (even wonderful) gluten-free pasta (Tinkyada Pasta) I tried making herbed crumbs for several of my favorite comfort foods, including my go-to Italian spaghetti with garlic and crumbs recipe.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Wheat in China

Dr. Michael Eades linked to an interesting study yesterday on his Health and Nutrition blog. It's entitled "Vegetable-Rich Food Pattern is Related to Obesity in China."

It's one of these epidemiological studies where they try to divide subjects into different categories of eating patterns and see how health problems associate with each one. They identified four patterns: the 'macho' diet high in meat and alcohol; the 'traditional' diet high in rice and vegetables; the 'sweet tooth' pattern high in cake, dairy and various drinks; and the 'vegetable rich' diet high in wheat, vegetables, fruit and tofu. The only pattern that associated with obesity was the vegetable-rich diet. The 25% of people eating closest to the vegetable-rich pattern were more than twice as likely to be obese as the 25% adhering the least.

The authors of the paper try to blame the increased obesity on a higher intake of vegetable oil from stir-frying the vegetables, but that explanation is misleading. A cursory glance at table 3 reveals that the vegetable-eaters weren't eating any more fat than their thinner neighbors. Dr. Eades suggests that their higher carbohydrate intake (+10%) was partially responsible for the weight gain, but I wasn't satisfied with that explanation so I took a closer look.  Dr. Eades also pointed to their higher calorie intake (+120 kcal/day), which makes sense to me.

One of the most striking elements of the 'vegetable-rich' food pattern is its replacement of rice with wheat flour. The 25% of the study population that adhered the least to the vegetable-rich food pattern ate 7.3 times more rice than wheat, whereas the 25% sticking most closely to the vegetable-rich pattern ate 1.2 times more wheat than rice! In other words, wheat flour rather than rice was their single largest source of calories. This association was much stronger than the increase in vegetable consumption itself!

All of a sudden, the data make more sense. Wheat seems to associate with health problems in many contexts. Perhaps the reason we don't see the same type of association in American epidemiological studies is that everyone eats wheat. Only in a culture that has a true diversity of diet can you find a robust association like this. The replacement of rice with wheat may have caused the increase in calorie intake as well. Clinical trials of low-carbohydrate diets as well as 'paleolithic diets' have shown good metabolic outcomes from wheat avoidance, although one can't be sure what role wheat plays from those data.

I don't think the vegetables had anything to do with the weight gain, they were just incidentally associated with wheat consumption. But I do think these data are difficult to reconcile with the idea that vegetables protect against overweight.

Cancer in Other Non-Industrialized Cultures

In Cancer, Disease of Civilization (1960), Wilhjalmur Stefansson mentions a few cultures besides the Inuit in which large-scale searches never turned up cancer. Dr. Albert Schweitzer examined over 10,000 traditionally-living natives in Gabon (West Africa) in 1913 and did not find cancer. Later, it became common in the same population as they began "living more and more after the manner of the whites."

In Cancer, its Nature, Cause and Cure (1957), Dr. Alexander Berglas describes the search for cancer among natives in Brazil and Ecuador by Dr. Eugene Payne. He examined approximately 60,000 people over 25 years and found no evidence of cancer.

Sir Robert McCarrison conducted a seven year medical survey among the Hunza, in what is now Northern Pakistan. Among 11,000 people, he did not find a single case of cancer. Their diet consisted of soaked and sprouted grains and beans, fruit, vegetables, grass-fed dairy and a small amount of meat (including organs of course).

Easy Agave and Lime Salmon Recipe

Easy gluten-free salmon with agave and lime.

Don't feel like cooking? Keep some wild caught salmon on hand and you almost won't have to. Got limes and agave? Smile. Salmon recipes don't get any easier than this. This is almost not cooking- which makes it a perfect recipe for a lazy summer supper.

We served our salmon with grilled veggie kebabs- another one of my easy summer staples. I grill my vegetable skewers on our handy Grilleration Forman grill because we don't have an outdoor grill. Hard to believe, I know. How can we live without a proper grill? And in New Mexico, for goddess sake! It's tricky, truth be told. If you saw our little casita you would understand. There's really no proper spot for a grill- or room to store it for the winter, now that you mention it. Yes, we have winters here in northern New Mexico (weeks of zero degree mornings). And only two closets.

Two. Very. Small. Closets.

Some days I feel like we are camping in the middle of a great big sand box.

Read more + get the recipe >>

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Mike Linksvayer, a 36-year-old chief technology officer at a San Francisco
nonprofit group, embarked on just such a diet six years ago.



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CR Mice

Calorie Restriction started at middle age extends lifespan of mice. Videos of the mice from both groups are included in the video, and the CR mice appear to be very active in comparison to the ad lib fed group.

Mortality and Lifespan of the Inuit

One of the classic counter-arguments that's used to discredit accounts of healthy hunter-gatherers is the fallacy that they were short-lived, and thus did not have time to develop diseases of old age like cancer. While the life expectancy of hunter-gatherers was not as high as ours today, most groups had a significant number of elderly individuals, who sometimes lived to 80 years and beyond. Mortality came mostly from accidents, warfare and infectious disease rather than chronic disease.

I found a a mortality table from the records of a Russian mission in Alaska (compiled by Veniaminov, taken from Cancer, Disease of Civilization), which recorded the ages of death of a traditionally-living Inuit population during the years 1822 to 1836. Here's a plot of the raw data:

Here's the data re-plotted in another way. I changed the "bin size" of the bars to 10 year spans each (rather than the bins above, which vary from 3 to 20 years). This allows us to get a better picture of the number of deaths over time. I took some liberties with the data to do this, breaking up a large bin equally into two smaller bins. I also left out the infant mortality data, which are interesting but not relevant to this post:


Excluding infant mortality, about 25% of their population lived past 60. Based on these data, the approximate life expectancy (excluding infant mortality) of this Inuit population was 43.5 years. It's possible that life expectancy would have been higher before contact with the Russians, since they introduced a number of nasty diseases to which the Inuit were not resistant. Keep in mind that the Westerners who were developing cancer alongside them probably had a similar life expectancy at the time. Here's the data plotted in yet another way, showing the number of individuals surviving at each age, out of the total deaths recorded:


It's remarkably linear. Here's the percent chance of death at each age:


In the next post, I'll briefly summarize cancer data from several traditionally-living cultures other than the Inuit.

Cancer Among the Inuit

I remember coming across a table in the book Eat, Drink and Be Healthy (by Dr. Walter Willett) a few years back. Included were data taken from Dr. Ancel Keys' "Seven Countries Study". It showed the cancer rates for three industrialized nations: the US, Greece and Japan. Although specific cancers differed, the overall rate was remarkably similar for all three: about 90 cancers per 100,000 people per year. Life expectancy was also similar, with Greece leading the pack by 4 years (the data are from the 60s).

The conclusion I drew at the time was that lifestyle did not affect the likelihood of developing cancer. It was easy to see from the same table that heart disease was largely preventable, since the US had a rate of 189 per 100,000 per year, compared to Japan's 34. Especially since I also knew that Japanese-Americans who eat an American diet get heart disease just like European-Americans.

I fell prey to the same logic that is so pervasive today: the idea that you will eventually die of cancer if no other disease gets you first. It's easy to believe, since the epidemiology seems to tell us that lifestyle doesn't affect overall cancer rates very much. There's only one little glitch... those epidemiological studies compare the sick to the sicker.

Here's the critical fact that modern medicine seems to have forgotten: hunter-gatherers and numerous non-industrial populations throughout the world have unusually low cancer rates. This idea was widely accepted in the 19th century and the early 20th, but has somehow managed to fade into obscurity.  Allow me to explain.

I recently read Cancer, Disease of Civilization by Vilhjalmur Stefansson (thanks Peter). Stefansson was an anthropologist and arctic explorer who participated in the search for cancer among the Canadian and Alaskan Inuit. Traditionally, most Inuit groups were mostly carnivorous, eating a diet of raw and cooked meat and fish almost exclusively. Their calories came primarily from fat. They alternated between seasons of low and high physical activity, typically enjoyed an abundant food supply yet also periodically faced famines.

Field physicians in the arctic noted that the Inuit were a remarkably healthy people. While they suffered from a tragic susceptibility to European communicable diseases, they did not develop the chronic diseases we now view as part of being human: tooth decay, overweight, heart attacks, appendicitis, constipation, diabetes and cancer. When word reached American and European physicians that the Inuit did not develop cancer, a number of them decided to mount an active search for it. This search began in the 1850s and tapered off in the 1920s, as traditionally-living Inuit became difficult to find.

One of these physicians was captain George B. Leavitt. He actively searched for cancer among the traditionally-living Inuit from 1885 to 1907. Along with his staff, he claims to have performed tens of thousands of examinations. He did not find a single case of cancer. At the same time, he was regularly diagnosing cancers among the crews of whaling ships and other Westernized populations. It's important to note two relevant facts about Inuit culture: first, their habit of going shirtless indoors. This would make visual inspection for external cancers very easy. Second, the Inuit generally had great faith in Western doctors and would consult them even for minor problems. Therefore, doctors in the arctic had ample opportunity to inspect them for cancer.

A study was published in 1934 by F.S. Fellows in the US Treasury's Public Health Reports entitled "Mortality in the Native Races of the Territory of Alaska, With Special Reference to Tuberculosis". It contained a table of cancer mortality deaths for several Alaskan regions, all of them Westernized to some degree. However, some were more Westernized than others. In descending order of Westernization, the percent of deaths from cancer were as follows:


Keep in mind that all four of the Inuit populations in this table were somewhat Westernized. It's clear that cancer incidence tracks well with Westernization, although other factors could be involved in producing this result (such as poorer diagnosis in less Westernized regions). By "Westernization", what I mean mostly is the adoption of European food habits, including wheat flour, sugar, canned goods and vegetable oil. Later, most groups also adopted Western-style houses, which incidentally were not at all suited to their harsh climate.

In the next post, I'll address the classic counter-argument that hunter-gatherers were free of cancer because they didn't live long enough to develop it.

Cancer and the Immune System

My understanding of cancer has changed radically over the past few months. I used to think of it as an inevitable consequence of aging, a stochastic certainty. The human body is made of about 50 trillion cells, many of which replicate their DNA and divide regularly. It's only a matter of time until one of those cells randomly accumulates the wrong set of mutations, and loses the molecular brakes that restrict uncontrolled growth.

Strictly speaking, the idea is correct. That is how cancer begins. However, there's another check in place that operates outside the cancer cell itself: the immune system. A properly functioning immune system can recognize and destroy cancerous cells before they become dangerous to the organism. In fact, your immune system has probably already controlled or destroyed a number of them in your lifetime.

I recently read a fascinating account of some preliminary findings from the lab of Dr. Zheng Cui at Wake Forest university. His group took blood samples from 100 people and purified a type of immune cell called the granulocyte. They then evaluated the granulocytes' ability to kill cervical cancer cells in a cell culture dish. They found that it varied dramatically from one individual to another. One person's granulocytes killed 97% of the cancer cells in 24 hours, while another person's killed 2%.

They found some important trends. Granulocytes from people over 50 years old had a reduced ability to kill cancer cells, as did granulocytes from people with cancer. This raises the possibility that cancer is not simply the result of getting too old, but a very specific weakening of the immune system.

The most important finding, however, was that the granulocytes' kung-fu grip declined dramatically during the winter months. Here's Dr. Cui:

Nobody seems to have any cancer-killing ability during the
winter months from November to April.

Hmm, I wonder why that could be?? Vitamin D anyone??

Gluten-Free Pasta and Italian Recipes

Who doesn't love Italian food? It's a staple in my house. And lucky for those of us with celiac disease, gluten-free pasta is not only widely available now- but truly delicious. My favorite brand of gluten-free spaghetti, spirals, shells and lasagna is Tinkyada. If you cannot find Tinkyada in your local store, you can order it in bulk at Amazon here and save (free shipping!). Mangia!

My Favorite Gluten-Free Italian Recipes

Alex's Favorite Baked Chicken Mediterranean
An Easy Savory Winter Vegetable Ragout with Shaved Parmesan
Apricot Mushroom Pork Roast

Asparagus Leek Risotto

Baked Grape Tomatoes with Basil and Cornbread Crumbs
Basil Pesto
Beef In Pomegranate Sauce
Beef and Mushroom Stuffed Acorn Squash

Creamy Sauced Pasta with Artichokes & Bacon
Crustless Roasted Vegetable Quiche

Easy Chicken and Balsamic Peppers

Easy Mediterranean Fish in Foil Packets with Rice
Egg-Free Olive Oil Mayo

Fast n Easy Little Garlic Shrimp Pizzas
Fast n Easy Pasta and Veggie Toss
Fried Zucchini Chips 

Garlic Chicken Lasagna
Garlicky Shrimp and Spinach Bake with Mozzarella
Gold Potato Frittata (Baked)
Grilled Vegetable Pasta Salad


Herbed Flatbread with Roasted Vegetables
Italian Pasta Frittata with Goat Cheese + Sun-dried Tomatoes

Lasagna Vegetariana

Mediterranean Chicken Soup for the Soul
Mediterranean Eggplant with Crumbled Beef, Tomatoes and Mint
Mediterranean Pasta Frittata with Goat Cheese
Mediterranean Spinach and Rice Bake with Chicken and Mozzarella
Mediterranean Tuna and Artichoke Pasta

Pasta Smothered with Roasted Vegetables
Pasta with Toasted Pecans, Raisins & Artichoke Hearts
Pizza! 

Penne Arrabiata
Pesto Zucchini Tomato Gratin with Bread Crumbs
Pomegranate Glazed Green Beans and Portobellos

Quinoa Salad with yellow tomatoes, olives, basil and mint

Roasted Acorn Squash Risotto
Roasted Sicilian Potatoes
Roasted Tomato Soup

Roasted Vegetable Frittata (Baked Crustless Quiche)
Roasted Vegetable Lasagna
Roasted Vegetables In a Nest
Roasted Vegetables and Feta on Broiled Polenta

Sexy Spring Pasta with Roasted Asparagus
Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese Strata
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Spaghetti with White Vegetables and Pine Nuts
Stuffed Peppers with Ground Turkey

Vegan Pasta Pie
Vegetarian Putanesca

Warm Winter Salad with Roasted Squash and Potatoes
Winter Pesto

Zucchini Tomato Mozzarella Pie

Gluten-Free Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Delicious sour cream chicken enchiladas- gluten-free.

Yummy. Easy. Chicken enchiladas. I never tire of them. And I'm not alone. My chicken enchilada recipes are among the most popular recipes on the blog. It's understandable. Enchiladas make a perfect make-ahead recipe for a weeknight supper or a pot luck gathering. And they are easily gluten-free. Make enchiladas earlier in the day- and dinner is done.

As easy as uno, dos, tres.

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