Gluten-Free Pumpkin Corn Muffins

Gluten-free corn muffins with a pumpkin twist.

Today's muffin recipe is seasonal favorite- a tender and golden pumpkin corn muffin. It's one of the most popular recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess.

The coyotes were up bright and early this morning, yelping in the cool blue air as my old English tea kettle sputtered and complained. Tea for breakfast is not an efficient way to wake up. It's more of a coaxing than the throttle of a double espresso fueled Americano, but right here, right now, it will have to do. At least this week.

The closest cafe is an hour's drive away. 

When people ask what it is I miss most living out here in the rural desert, my answer is always the same. But the list is growing...

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Acne: Disease of Civilization

I often focus on the bigger facets of the disease of civilization. Things like cardiovascular disease and cancer, which are major killers and the subject of intensive research. But the disease of civilization is a spectrum of disorders that affects the body in countless ways, large and small.

I recently read an interesting paper written by an all-star cast, including Loren Cordain, Staffan Lindeberg and Boyd Eaton. It's titled "Acne Vulgaris: A Disease of Western Civilization". The paper presents data from two different groups, the Kitavans of Papua New Guinea and the Ache hunter-gatherers of Paraguay. Both were systematically examined by doctors trained to diagnose acne. Out of 1,200 Kitavans and 115 Ache of all ages, not a single case of acne was observed. Hunter-gatherers and other healthy non-industrial cultures have nice skin. I dare you to find a pimple in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

In Western societies, acne is a fact of life. The paper states that 79 to 95% of modern adolescents suffer from some degree of acne, along with about 50% of young adults. That's an enormous difference.

The paper presents a very Cordain-esque hypothesis to explain the high incidence of acne in Western societies. In sum, they state that the Western diet causes hyperinsulinemia, which is thought to promote acne. This is due to insulin's effects on skin cell proliferation, its interference with the retinoid (vitamin A) signaling pathway, and its effect on sebum production.

They then proceed to point the finger at the glycemic index/load of the Western diet as the culprit behind hyperinsulinemia. It's an unsatisfying explanation because the Kitavans eat a diet that has a high glycemic load due to its high carbohydrate content, low fat content, and relatively high-glycemic index foods. I think the answer is more likely to reside in the specific types of carbohydrate (processed wheat) rather than their speed of digestion, with possible contributions from refined vegetable oil and an excessive sugar intake.

Calorie Restriction CBS4 Video

Cordell (and practically almost all other serious CRONies)

- Blood pressure of a child
- Cholesterol of a teenager
- Risk of heart disease; close to zero

Charlie Rose - Calorie Restriction

Jump to 4:35 to watch the part on the Calorie Restriction Rhesus Monkey study. The study started in 1989 and are now starting to show some big differences in health. The whole show can be seen on youtube just look for the 1st part and watch all of them.

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Recipe Index

Welcome to our Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Recipe Index. This GFCF recipe collection is a labor of love dedicated to all the beautiful Aspie and autistic angels out there- and the ASD families supporting neurodiversity with their own daily labors of love. We strive to make your day a little more delicious. 

And we didn't forget you lovely lactose intolerant and dairy allergic folks. This dairy-free, casein-free index is for you, too. xox

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Moroccan Coconut & Chick Pea Soup

A delicious gluten-free soup with Moroccan flavors

On a whim I threw together this North African inspired fusion of flavors led by cravings and intuition. We slurped it down and scraped our bowls. Turns out that sweet potatoes, chick peas, roasted green chiles and coconut milk make for one scrumptious soup. I think you'll love it.

Dairy-free never tasted so good.

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Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is milder form of NASH, in which the liver becomes enlarged and accumulates fat. Ready for a shocker? The prevalence of NAFLD is thought to be between 20 and 30 percent in the Western world, and rising. It's typically associated with insulin resistance and often with the metabolic syndrome. This has lead some researchers to believe it's caused by insulin resistance. It's a chicken and egg question, but I believe it's the other way around if anything.

There are certain animal models of human disease that are so informative I keep coming back to them again and again. One of my favorites is the LIRKO mouse, or liver-specific insulin receptor knockout mouse. The LIRKO mouse is missing its insulin receptor in the liver only, so it is a model of severe insulin resistance of the liver. It accumulates a small amount of fat in its liver in old age, but nothing that resembles NAFLD. So liver insulin resistance doesn't lead to NAFLD or NASH, at least in this model.

What else happens to the LIRKO mouse? It develops severe whole-body insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, high fasting blood glucose and hyperinsulinemia (chronically elevated insulin). So insulin resistance in the liver is sufficient to cause whole-body insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia and certain other hallmarks of the metabolic syndrome, while liver and whole-body insulin resistance are not sufficient to cause NAFLD or NASH. This is consistent with the fact that nearly everyone with NAFLD is insulin resistant, while many who are insulin resistant do not have NAFLD.

In all fairness, there are reasons why NAFLD is believed to be caused by insulin resistance. For example, insulin-sensitizing drugs improve NAFLD. However, that doesn't mean the initial metabolic 'hit' wasn't in the liver. One could imagine a scenario in which liver insulin resistance leads to insulin resistance in other tissues, which creates a positive feedback that aggravates NAFLD. Or perhaps NAFLD requires two 'hits', one to peripheral insulin sensitivity and another directly to the liver.

In any case, I feel that the most plausible mechanism for NAFLD goes something like this: too much n-6 from polyunsaturated vegetable oil (along with insufficient n-3), plus too much fructose from sweeteners, combine to cause NAFLD. The liver becomes insulin resistant at this point, leading to whole-body insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, impaired glucose tolerance and general metabolic havoc.

The Whole Foods Market Food Blogger Budget Recipe Challenge

Gluten-Free Goddess blog has made it into the finals for The Whole Foods Market Food Blogger Budget Recipe Challenge. The recipe? A personal (and family) favorite- my Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas. Why am I mentioning this? Because, Dear Reader, if you visit and vote for my vegetarian enchilada recipe, you just might win a $500 Whole Foods Gift Card- and other prizes!

How cool is that?

This audience sweepstakes will run from today through Wednesday, October 8th. Anyone who posts a comment on any of the contest recipes (at the Whole Foods website only) will be automatically entered to win a $500 gift card or other prizes. So please support Gluten-Free Goddess by giving the Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchilada recipe some comment LOVE.

The winning recipe will be selected primarily on audience feedback, and the winning blogger will receive $250 worth of Whole Foods gift cards (I'm giving mine to my two sons, Colin and Alex, if I win). The winning recipe will also be featured on the Whole Foods website.

Starting this Friday, September 26, 2008 the Whole Story blog will feature a daily Q+A with one of the 6 finalists.

And much good luck to my blogging pals: Hannah, Jaden, and Rachel!

Stay tuned-

And thank you for your support!

Another use for Honey

I wrote a while ago that I use Manuka Honey because it's good for the throat to prevent infections, and it can be used topically too. Well now a new study shows that Honey is more effective than antibiotics at killing bacterial infections involved in chronic sinusitis. Many people in their lives get affected by sinusitis, whether it be an acute form or chronic. When it's chronic it can be a difficult thing to deal with and it seems like it never ends. Well luckily for me mine did and what cured it? A cold virus cured my bacterial sinusitis. That was kind of strange for me but the virus probably just got all the cells killed in the lining of the nose and the bacterial infection went out with the cells they so highly clung for a year :) No sinus problems since that 1 off thing I might add. I think it was actually caused by food being coughed up into sinuses at some point (broccoli). Weird hu?


So ok back to the story, in sciencedaily article it states;

Honey is very effective in killing bacteria in all its forms, especially the drug-resistant biofilms that make treating chronic rhinosinusitis difficult, according to research presented during the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in Chicago, IL.*

In eleven isolates of three separate biofilms (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and methicicillin-resistant and -suseptible Staphylococcus aureus), honey was significantly more effective in killing both planktonic and biofilm-grown forms of the bacteria, compared with the rate of bactericide by antibiotics commonly used against the bacteria.

Source

One way to do this might be to dilute some Manuka honey (stronger than regular honey) and use with a neti pot or something to irrigate the sinuses. This could allow the honey to get to work in more areas of the sinus that trying to poke some thing up the nose and coating it that way. I wish I had known about this earlier, as it might have saved much trouble :)

Agave Syrup

Anna brought up agave syrup in a comment on the last post, so I thought I'd put up a little mini-post so everyone can benefit from what she pointed out.

Agave syrup is made from the heart of the agave plant, which is pressed to release a juice rich in inulin. Inulin is a polymer made of fructose molecules. The inulin is then broken down either by heat or by enzymatic processing. The result is a sweet syrup that is rich in fructose.

Agave syrup is marketed as a healthy, alternative sweetener. In fact, it's probably as bad or worse than high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). They are both a refined and processed plant extract. Both are high in fructose, with agave syrup leading HFCS (estimates of agave syrup range up to 92% fructose by calories). Finally, agave syrup is expensive and inefficient to produce.

The high fructose content gives agave syrup a low glycemic index, because fructose does not raise blood glucose. Unfortunately, as some diabetics learned the hard way, using fructose as a substitute for sucrose (cane sugar) has negative long-term effects on insulin sensitivity.

In my opinion, sweeteners come with risks and there is no free lunch. The only solution is moderation.

Michael and Aprils CBS3 News Report (new)

Michael and April who most CRers in the CRS know did any interview back in 2007 and I put the video somewhere here on the blog, check through archives in last couple months. This video is slightly different and contains different parts of the interview not seen in previous news report

Okinawa's living relics

OKINAWA LIVING RELICS

The best video I've found on Okinawan longevity. This is a new one and I enjoyed it!

How to Fatten Your Liver

Steatohepatitis is a condition in which the liver becomes inflamed and accumulates fat. It was formerly found almost exclusively in alcoholics. In the 1980s, a new condition was described called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), basically steatohepatitis without the alcoholism. Today, NASH is thought to affect more than 2% of the adult American population. The liver has many important functions. It's not an organ you want to break.

This week, I've been reading about how to fatten your liver. First up: industrial vegetable oil. The study that initially sent me on this nerd safari was recently published in the Journal of Nutrition. It's titled "Increased Apoptosis in High-Fat Diet–Induced Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in Rats Is Associated with c-Jun NH₂-Terminal Kinase Activation and Elevated Proapoptotic Bax". Quite a mouthful. The important thing for the purpose of this post is that the investigators fed rats a high-fat diet, which induced NASH.

Anytime a study mentions a "high-fat diet", I immediately look to see what they were actually feeding the animals. To my utter amazement, there was no information on the composition of the high-fat diet in the methods section, only a reference to another paper. Apparently fat composition is irrelevant. Despite the fact that a high-fat diet from coconut oil or butter does not produce NASH in rats. Fortunately, I was able to track down the reference. The only difference between the standard diet and the high-fat diet was the addition of a large amount of corn oil and the subtraction of carbohydrate (dextrin maltose).

Corn oil is one of the worst vegetable oils. You've eaten corn so you know it's not an oily seed. To concentrate the oil and make it palatable, manufacturers use organic solvents, high heat, and several rounds of chemical treatment. It's also extremely rich in n-6 linoleic acid. The consumption of corn oil and other n-6 rich oils has risen dramatically in the US in the last 30 years, making them prime suspects in NASH. They have replaced the natural (more saturated) fats we once got from meat and milk.

Next up: fructose. Feeding rats an extreme amount of fructose (60% of calories) gives them nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), NASH's younger sibling, even when the fat in their chow is lard. Given the upward trend of US fructose consumption (mostly from high-fructose corn syrup), and the refined sugar consumed everywhere else (50% fructose), it's also high on my list of suspects.

Here's my prescription for homemade foie gras: take one serving of soybean oil fried french fries, a basket of corn oil fried chicken nuggets, a healthy salad drenched in cottonseed oil ranch dressing, and wash it all down with a tall cup of soda. It's worked for millions of Americans!

Excerpt from the documentary "How to live to 101".

A good part of the documentary on Okinawans and their longevity

Okinawa study has been going on for over 20 years now and they have the longest life expectancy in the world, and more centenarians than any other country. They have the lowest rates of almost all diseases of aging such as heart disease, cancer, dementia, diabetes, osteoporosis, they live healthy right up until they die, and the reasons for this are discussed in this short 8 minute video on living longer.

Some key points;

Eat fewer calories *
Eat vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish, and lean meats
Maintain a good social life and support
Practise something called "hara hachi bu" (eat only until 80% full)
Avoid or limit processed foods
Read "The Okinawa Program : How the World's Longest-Lived People Achieve Everlasting Health--And How You Can Too"

Doing the above might give you longer healthier life and maybe you could reach your 90's, 100, or become a super centenarian 110+ years.

Chicken and Balsamic Peppers

One of our family's favorite (and easy!) baked chicken recipes.

This recipe has moved here.

A New Toy

I bought a new toy the other day: a blood glucose meter. I was curious about my post-meal blood glucose after my HbA1c reading came back higher than I was expecting. A blood glucose meter is the only way to know what your blood sugar is doing in your normal setting.

"Glucose intolerance" is the inability to effectively control blood glucose as it enters the bloodstream from the digestive system. It results in elevated blood sugar after eating carbohydrate, which is not a good thing. In someone with normal glucose tolerance, insulin is secreted in sufficient amounts, and the tissues are sufficiently sensitive to it, that blood glucose is kept within a fairly tight range of concentrations.

Glucose tolerance is typically the first thing to deteriorate in the process leading to type II diabetes. By the time fasting glucose is elevated, glucose intolerance is usually well established. Jenny Ruhl talks about this in her wonderful book Blood Sugar 101. Unfortunately, fasting glucose is the most commonly administered glucose test. That's because the more telling one, the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), is more involved and more expensive.

An OGTT involves drinking a concentrated solution of glucose and monitoring blood glucose at one and two hours. Values of >140 mg/dL at one hour and >120 mg/dL at two hours are considered "normal". If you have access to a blood glucose meter, you can give yourself a makeshift OGTT. You eat 60-70 grams of quickly-digesting carbohydrate with no fat to slow down absorption and monitor your glucose.

I gave myself an OGTT tonight. I ate a medium-sized boiled potato and a large slice of white bread, totaling about 60g of carbohydrate. Potatoes and bread digest very quickly, resulting in a blood glucose spike similar to drinking concentrated glucose! You can see that in the graph below. I ate at time zero. By 15 minutes, my blood glucose had reached its peak at 106 mg/dL.


My numbers were 97 mg/dL at one hour, and 80 mg/dL at two hours; far below the cutoff for impaired glucose tolerance. I completely cleared the glucose by an hour and 45 minutes. My maximum value was 106 mg/dL, also quite good. That's despite the fact that I used more carbohydrate for the OGTT than I would typically eat in a sitting. I hope you like the graph; I had to prick my fingers 10 times to make it! I thought it would look good with a lot of data points.

I'm going to have fun with this glucose meter. I've already gotten some valuable information. For example, just as I suspected, fast-digesting carbohydrate is not a problem for someone with a well-functioning pancreas and insulin-sensitive tissues. This is consistent with what we see in the Kitavans, who eat a high-carbohydrate, high glycemic load diet, yet are extremely healthy. Of course, for someone with impaired glucose tolerance (very common in industrial societies), fast-digesting carbohydrates could be the kiss of death. The big question is, what causes the pancreas to deteriorate and the tissues to become insulin resistant? Considering certain non-industrial societies were eating plenty of carbohydrate with no problems, it must be something about the modern lifestyle: industrially processed grains (particularly wheat), industrial vegetable oils, refined sugar, lack of fat-soluble vitamins, toxic pollutants and inactivity come to mind. One could make a case for any of those factors contributing to the problem.

Blue Corn Muffins with Green Chiles

Harvest time in New Mexico is just an excuse to declare a fiesta and eat roasted green chiles and corn until the cows come home. Or you turn blue. I'm not kidding. I can't keep up. I love me my Green Chile as much as the next Gringa, but. Breakfast, lunch and dinner? Hola. Maybe I lack the gene. I'm starting to crave lettuce. Celery sticks. I'm dreaming of multi-colored cherry tomatoes. Something crisp and raw and fresh.

You know, bunny food.

And speaking of blue, higher-in-protein blue corn just happens to be a New Mexican specialty. (There's even a Blue Corn Cafe in Santa Fe, and rumor has it- if you call ahead they'll accomodate a gluten-free request). When you bake with blue cornmeal it it isn't exactly blue, I find. More like dark green. But maybe it's just me. We all see colors differently you know.

No two people see the exact same shade of blue. Kinda like politics. And life.

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Worlds oldest male 113

ARTICLE

Anyone measured his daily calorie intake yet??? :p

Seriously, the guys advice is to eat lots of vegetables, drink green tea, eat fish, drink milk, don't snack, don't smoke, and don't drink alcohol. Sounds like what a lot of us do on CRON now.

Here is a wiki article on the guy

This was him the other year in a picture. He said he wants to live forever... probably not likely, but I hope he has his wish to live at least another 10 years to beat Calments record of 122 years as the oldest person ever recorded.

longevity in response to treatment with serum collected from humans on calorie restricted diets

In vitro cellular adaptations of indicators of longevity in response to treatment with serum collected from humans on calorie restricted diets.
Allard JS, Heilbronn LK, Smith C, Hunt ND, Ingram DK, Ravussin E; Pennington CALERIE Team, de Cabo R.

Laboratory of Experimental Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.

Calorie restriction (CR) produces several health benefits and increases lifespan in many species. Studies suggest that alternate-day fasting (ADF) and exercise can also provide these benefits. Whether CR results in lifespan extension in humans is not known and a direct investigation is not feasible. However, phenotypes observed in CR animals when compared to ad libitum fed (AL) animals, including increased stress resistance and changes in protein expression, can be simulated in cells cultured with media supplemented with blood serum from CR and AL animals. Two pilot studies were undertaken to examine the effects of ADF and CR on indicators of health and longevity in humans. In this study, we used sera collected from those studies to culture human hepatoma cells and assessed the effects on growth, stress resistance and gene expression. Cells cultured in serum collected at the end of the dieting period were compared to cells cultured in serum collected at baseline (before the dieting period). Cells cultured in serum from ADF participants, showed a 20% increase in Sirt1 protein which correlated with reduced triglyceride levels. ADF serum also induced a 9% decrease in proliferation and a 25% increase in heat resistance. Cells cultured in serum from CR participants induced an increase in Sirt1 protein levels by 17% and a 30% increase in PGC-1alpha mRNA levels. This first in vitro study utilizing human serum to examine effects on markers of health and longevity in cultured cells resulted in increased stress resistance and an up-regulation of genes proposed to be indicators of increased longevity. The use of this in vitro technique may be helpful for predicting the potential of CR, ADF and other dietary manipulations to affect markers of longevity in humans.

Gluten-Free Pasta with Homemade Ragù Sauce

Gluten-free pasta with homemade red sauce.

Before I share my new ragù pasta sauce recipe, I have a note about the blog. Gluten-Free Goddess now has a FAQ page. (Thank you, David Lebovitz for the reader-friendly blogging tip.) What took me so long? Who knows, Babycakes? I sure don't. I could blame it on my preoccupation with Mad Men. Or hot flashes. Or the simple fact that living out here in the rural sand swept hills of Northern New Mexico is making me crazy. Not shooting caribou from a helicopter crazy, but. 

Crazy enough.

At any rate, now that I've come to my senses (I'm sure it's only temporary) you, Dear Reader, will find a platter of helpful links and answers to the most frequent questions asked here at the brand spankin' new Gluten-Free Goddess FAQ page. If I've overlooked anything obvious or important, I'm sure you'll let me know- won't you?

On to ragù! Up until quite recently I had never attempted a meat ragù. My red gravy of choice was always a simple vegetarian marinara sauce with plenty of garlic and basil- vegan by default (and choice). It's a recipe that I've been simmering on my stove or in my slow cooker for years. Decades, in fact. Way better than the jarred stuff. Sometimes I add ground turkey. Or free range organic beef.

Here's the recipe.

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Inactivity and Weight Gain

Most of the papers I read in the field pay lip-service to some familiar stories: thrifty genes; calories in, calories out; energy density; fat intake; gluttony and sloth.

It may sound counterintuitive, but how do we know that inactivity causes overweight and not the other way around?  In other words, isn't it possible that metabolic deregulation could cause both overweight and a reduced activity level? The answer is clearly yes. There are a number of hormones and other factors that influence activity level in animals and humans. For example, the "Zucker fatty" rat, a genetic model of severe leptin resistance, is obese and hypoactive (I wrote about it here). It's actually a remarkable facsimile of the metabolic syndrome. Since leptin resistance typically comes before insulin resistance and predicts the metabolic syndrome, modern humans may be going through a process similar to the Zucker rat.

Back to the paper. Dr. Nicholas Wareham and his group followed 393 healthy white men for 5.6 years. They took baseline measurements of body composition (weight, BMI and waist circumference) and activity level, and then measured the same things after 5.6 years. In a nutshell, here's what they found:

• Sedentary time associates with overweight at any given timepoint. This is consistent with other studies.


• Overweight at the beginning of the study predicted inactivity after 5.6 years.
  


• Inactivity at the beginning of the study was not associated with overweight at the end.

In other words, overweight predicts inactivity but inactivity does not predict overweight. With the usual caveat that these are just associations, this is not consistent with the idea that inactivity causes overweight. It is consistent with the idea that overweight causes inactivity, or they are both caused by something else.

Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies- Vegan & Gluten-Free

 

Espresso laced chocolate chip cookies- gluten-free + vegan.

You knew it was only a matter of time before I'd post another cookie recipe. I love baking cookies- it's painfully obvious. (What the bleep else are you going to do in the desert, stuck out in the middle of sand and pinon with no neighbors to speak of- if you don't count the coyotes and stink bugs, that is?)

That's right. You start thinking about gluten-free flours and raw agave nectar and semi-sweet chocolate chips. You conjure cookie dough in your mind's eye- a richly flavored hearty dough made with buckwheat, millet and quinoa flours. You add a generous dusting of cinnamon. Some strong and hot espresso. Bourbon vanilla.

You taste the dough on your fingers.

This is gonna work, you say out loud. So you write it all down on a slip of paper. You slide a baking sheet into the waiting oven. The kitchen starts to smell like the bakery in Stranger Than Fiction. Warm and spicy and sweet all at once. (What, you don't have Smellavision?)

Your husband walks through the pink stained wooden door. He smiles.

Here, you say, breaking apart a tender, melting biscuit and lifting it to his lips.

Have a cookie.

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Roasted Corn Chowder with Lime

View toward Abiquiu, New Mexico.

Roasted Corn Chowder with Lime

A young rattlesnake curled on a flat warm stone by the laundry room door yesterday. So easy to miss, I almost walked right by him as I carried a basket of rolled clean socks and sleeve-tucked tee shirts. He was next to invisible, pristine and silent, his distinctive pattern dovetailed into pinon-filtered sunlight.

It was pure animal instinct to turn my gaze left and spot him. One sharpened second out of my usual preoccupied saunter. I backed away and sprinted (with a moment of rare agility) into the casita to fetch Steve.

I think you should see this! I blurted, interrupting his work at the laptop. My husband didn't hesitate. He's found the Save key before I can deposit my dryer warmed cargo on the bed. He knows the desert gives up unexpected gifts. He doesn't want to miss a trick.

We stared in tandem at the tiny threat for three minutes until the youngster uncurled and nosed himself back into the rock embankment.

After all the excitement, I settled in with a mug of tea and searched through blogs, looking for some indefinable solace or connection. One moment of relief from my isolation. Looking for others navigating the serpentine process named the incomprehensible name of peri-menopause.

What I found instead was one veiled advertisement after another. Chatter about soy and phyto-estrogen creams. Herbal remedies promising relief. A litany of symptoms and wallet emptying cures.

But no wild wisdom.

The perky Remember, it’s natural! doesn’t help me much through this intricate, sweaty mess, Darling. It does nothing to quell my dizzying, racing heart. We seem a generation without much guidance in these feminine arts beyond denial. We really have no ample bosomed baudy comfort. No grinning painted shaman. At least I don't. Every woman before me in my extended family had hysterectomies. Cutting out the sickened uterus. Circumventing hysteria (the root word and meta implication after all). Then came the HRT they swallowed with promises of eternal youth conquering the cruelty of Nature via horse urine.

When I was new in this process, oh yeah. I tried the yam creams. The vitamin E. The herbal teas. The yoga poses. After awhile you begin to weigh the cost and benefit of all this focused energy. You get tired of fighting. Fighting It. Cajoling It. It's exhausting, and I exhausted and bored myself with all the research and reading. What I spent on menopause books and yam cream could have bought several cases of organic dark chocolate.

Twelve years into it now, I just feel ridiculous.

How many hot flashes does it take? How many sweaty necks and palms and damp upper lips- as you stand in the bank lobby listening to a mortgage broker discuss the local art scene (and it is all you can do not to claw your way to the door)? How many sleepless two A.M.'s, lying in the dark listening to your husband's even breathing? How many bumps of acne, and broom hair that pulls out in fragile nests when you brush it, standing in front of the mirror noticing, with a startle, there is a stranger looking back?

A creature other than yourself. Some tired woman with an eggshell smile. Longing to feel engaged. Ravished.

Visible.

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A Practical Approach to Omega Fats

Hunter-gatherers and healthy non-industrial cultures didn't know what omega-6 and omega-3 fats were. They didn't balance nutrients precisely; they stayed healthy by eating foods that they knew were available and nourishing. Therefore, I don't think it's necessary to bean count omega fats, and I don't think there's likely to be a single ideal ratio of n-6 to n-3. However, I do think there's evidence for an optimal range. To find out what it is, let's look at what's been done by healthy cultures in the past:

• Hunter-gatherers living mostly on land animals: 2:1 to 4:1


• Pacific islanders getting most of their fat from coconut and fish: 1:2


• Inuit and other Pacific coast Americans: 1:4 or less


• Dairy-based cultures: 1:1 to 2:1


• Cultures eating fish and grains: 1:2 or less

It looks like a healthy ratio is between 4:1 and 1:4 n-6 to n-3. Some of these cultures ate a good amount of n-3 polyunsaturated fat, but none of them ate much n-6 [One rare exception is the !Kung. SJG 2011]. There are three basic patterns that I've seen: 1) low fat with low total n-6 and n-3, and a ratio of less than 2:1; 2) high fat with low total n-6 and n-3 and a ratio of 2:1 or less; 3) high fat with low n-6 and high n-3, and a low carbohydrate intake.

I think there's a simple way to interpret all this. Number one, don't eat vegetable oils high in n-6 fats. They are mostly industrial creations that have never supported human health. Number two, find a source of n-3 fats that can approximately balance your n-6 intake. In practical terms, this means minimizing sources of n-6 and eating modest amounts of n-3 to balance it. Some foods are naturally balanced, such as grass-fed dairy and pastured lamb. Others, like coconut oil, have so little n-6 it doesn't take much n-3 to create a proper balance.

Animal sources of n-3 are the best because they provide pre-formed long-chain fats like DHA, which some people have difficulty producing themselves. Flax oil may have some benefits as well. Fish oil and cod liver oil can be a convenient source of n-3; take them in doses of one teaspoon or less. As usual, whole foods are probably better than isolated oils. Weston Price noted that cultures throughout the world went to great lengths to obtain fresh and dried marine foods. Choose shellfish and wild fish that are low on the food chain so they aren't excessively polluted.

I don't think adding gobs of fish oil on top of the standard American diet to correct a poor n-6:n-3 ratio is optimal. It may be better than no fish oil, but it's probably not the best approach. I just read a study, hot off the presses, that examines this very issue in young pigs. Pigs are similar to humans in many ways, including aspects of their fat metabolism. They were fed three diets: a "deficient" diet containing some n-6 but very little n-3; a "contemporary" diet containing a lot of n-6 and some n-3; an "evolutionary" diet containing a modest, balanced amount of n-6 and n-3; and a "supplemented" diet, which is the contemporary diet plus DHA and arachidonic acid (AA).

Using the evolutionary diet as a benchmark, none of the other diets were able to achieve the same fatty acid profile in the young pigs' brains, blood, liver or heart. They also showed that neurons in culture require DHA for proper development, and excess n-6 interferes with the process.

With that said, here are a few graphs of the proportion of n-6 in common foods. These numbers all come from nutrition data. They reflect the percentage n-6 out of the total fat content. First, animal fats:


Except salmon oil, these are traditional fats suitable for cooking. Except schmaltz (chicken fat), they are relatively low in n-6. Next, vegetable oils:


These range from very low in n-6 to very high. Most of the modern, industrially processed oils are on the right, while most traditional oils are on the left. I don't recommend using anything to the right of olive oil on a regular basis. "HO" sunflower oil is high-oleic, which means it has been bred for a high monounsaturated fat content at the expense of n-6. Here are the meats and eggs:

n-3 eggs are from hens fed flax or seaweed, while the other bar refers to conventional eggs.

A few of these foods are good sources of n-3. At the top of the list is fish oil, followed by n-3 eggs, grass-fed butter, and the fat of grass-fed ruminants. It is possible to keep a good balance without seafood, it just requires keeping n-6 fats to an absolute minimum. It's also possible to overdo n-3 fats. The traditional Inuit, despite their good overall health, did not clot well. They commonly developed nosebleeds that would last for three days, for example. This is thought to be due to the effect of n-3 on blood clotting. But keep in mind that their n-3 intake was so high it would be difficult to achieve today without drinking wine glasses full of fish oil.

Omega Fats and Cardiovascular Disease

I noticed something strange when I was poring over data about the Inuit last month. Modern Inuit who have adopted Western food habits get fat, they get diabetes... but they don't get heart attacks. This was a paradox to me at the time, because heart disease mortality typically comes along with the cluster of modern, non-communicable diseases I call the "diseases of civilization".

One of the interesting things about the modern Inuit diet is it's most often a combination of Western and traditional foods. For example, they typically use white flour and sugar, but continue to eat seal oil and fish. Both seal oil and fish are a concentrated source of long-chain omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids.The 'paradox' makes much more sense to me now that I've seen this:

It's from the same paper as the graphs in the last post. Note that it doesn't take much n-3 to get you to the asymptote. Here's another one that might interest you:

The finding in this graph is supported by the Lyon diet heart study, which I'll describe below. One more graph from a presentation by Dr. Lands, since I began by talking about the Inuit:


Cardiovascular disease mortality tracks well with the n-6 content of blood plasma, both across populations and within them. You can see modern Quebec Inuit have the same low rate of CVD mortality as the Japanese. The five red triangles are from MRFIT, a large American intervention trial. They represent the study participants divided into five groups based on their plasma n-6. Note that the average percentage of n-6 fatty acids is very high, even though the trial occurred in the 1970s! Since n-3 and n-6 fats compete for space in human tissue, it makes sense that the Inuit are protected from CVD by their high n-3 intake.  [Update: I don't read too much into this graph because there are so may confounding variables.  It's an interesting observation, but take it with a grain of salt.. SJG 2011].

Now for a little mechanism. Dr. Lands' hypothesis is that a high n-6 intake promotes a general state of inflammation in the body. The term 'inflammation' refers to the chronic activation of the innate immune system. The reason is that n-3 and n-6 fats are precursors to longer-chain signaling molecules called eicosanoids. In a nutshell, eicosanoids produced from n-6 fatty acids are more inflammatory and promote thrombosis (clotting) more than those produced from n-3 fatty acids. Dr. Lands is in a position to know this, since he was one of the main researchers involved in discovering these mechanisms. He points out that taking aspirin to 'thin' the blood and reduce inflammation (by inhibiting inflammatory eicosanoids) basically puts a band-aid over the problem caused by excess n-6 fats to begin with.  [Update- this mechanism turns out not to be so straightforward. SJG 2011]

The Lyon Diet Heart Study assessed the effect of n-3 fat supplementation on CVD risk. The four-year intervention involved a number of diet changes designed to mimic the American Heart Association's concept of a "Mediterranean diet". The participants were counseled to eat a special margarine that was high in n-3 from alpha-linolenic acid. Overall PUFA intake decreased, mostly due to n-6 reduction, and n-3 intake increased relative to controls. The intervention caused a 70% reduction in cardiac mortality and a large reduction in all-cause mortality, a smashing success by any measure.

In a large five-year intervention trial in Japan, JELIS, patients who took EPA (a long-chain n-3 fatty acid) plus statins had 19% fewer cardiac events than patients taking statins alone. I don't know why you would give EPA by itself when it occurs with DHA and alpha-linolenic acid in nature, but it did nevertheless have a significant effect. Keep in mind that this trial was in Japan, where they already have a much better n-6/n-3 ratio than in Western nations.

In my opinion, what all the data (including a lot that I haven't included) point to is that a good n-6 to n-3 ratio may be important for vibrant health and proper development. In the next post, I'll talk about practical considerations for achieving a good ratio.

Gluten-Free Quinoa, Rice, and Side Dish Recipes

Karina's Favorite Quinoa, Rice, 

and Vegan Side Dish Recipes

My favorite gluten-free side dish recipes often include quinoa (here is an easy way to cook quinoa), baked rice, risotto, cornbread stuffing, roasted vegetables, and calabasitas. Reader favorites include Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad and Lime Quinoa Salad with Mint. (Be sure and rinse quinoa thoroughly in cold water before cooking.)

Side Dishes

Acorn Squash with Green Chiles

An Easy Savory Winter Vegetable Ragout

Art School Rice with Curried Apple and Carrots

Asparagus Leek Risotto

Baked Brown Rice Risotto

Baked Grape Tomatoes with Cornbread Crumbs

Balsamic Roasted Veggie Smothered Baked Potatoes

Calabasitas- Zucchini, Corn, Green Chiles, Lime and Black Beans

Champagne Vinegar Potato Salad- serve warm or cold

Cider Roasted Vegetables

Cinnamon Applesauce

Cool as a Cucumber Salad

Crispy Potato Sticks with Roasted Tomato Salsa

Curried Apple Cornbread Stuffing

Curried Brown Rice with Carrots and Raisins

Dijon Roasted Vegetables

Easy Guacamole with Lime

Greenwiches and Lettuce Cups

Grilled Veggie Skewers and Dirty Rice

Heirloom Potato Salad

Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad- serve warm or cold

Hummus Tahini with Spiced Oil

Jalapeño and Lime Hummus

Joey's Kicked Up Rockin' Guac with Tomatillos

Kale Salad with Quinoa, Tangerines and Roasted Almonds

Karina's Kicked Up Colcannon

Karina's Potato Latkes

Maple Roasted Acorn Squash

Nachos Fabuloso

New Mexico Green Chile

Peanut Coleslaw with lime and cilantro

Pesto Zucchini Tomato Gratin

Pinon Brown Rice Bake with Feta

Pomegranate Glazed Green Beans and Portobellos

Roasted Blue, Red and Gold Potato Wedges

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Roasted Sicilian Potatoes

Roasted Vegetables with Two Sauces

Roasted Yellow Tomato Salsa

Ruby Applesauce with Cranberries

Snappy Crunchy Coleslaw- no mayo

Spaghetti Squash New Mexican with Black Beans and Lime

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Berry Dressing

Sweet Potato Latkes

Sweet Potato Shoestring Fries

Two Potato Salad with Sweet Potatoes and No Mayo

Warm Coleslaw with Chili-Lime Dressing

Zucchini Gratin

Quinoa and Gluten-Free Grains

Quinoa: How to Cook It- the easy way

Quinoa Mushroom Pilaf

Quinoa with Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Leeks and Slivered Almonds

Quinoa Salad with Blueberries, Strawberries, and Watermelon

Quinoa Salad with Lime and Mint

Quinoa Salad with Kale, Tangerines and Roasted Almonds 

Quinoa Salad with Pears, Baby Spinach + Chick Peas in Maple Vinaigrette

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets, Chick Peas + Orange 

Quinoa Salad with Spinach and Tomatoes

Quinoa Salad with Yellow Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, Basil + Mint

Quinoa Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Sweet Potato

Quinoa Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Quinoa Taco Salad

Quinoa Tossed with Summer Vegetables

Ratatouille on Polenta with Baby Greens

Red Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Cranberries + Pecans

Rice Pilaf and Variations

Roasted Acorn Squash Risotto

Roasted Vegetables on Broiled Polenta

Spanish Rice Bake

Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Recipes for Soups, Stews, Chili and Roasts

Here is my collection of gluten-free slow cooker recipes for the Crockpot. I love using a slow cooker year round. In the winter it warms the house with comforting spices and inviting aromas and in the summer it helps keep the kitchen cool- not to mention, it does all the work and frees up the day. Reader favorites include African Bean & Sweet Potato Soup, New Mexican Stew with Ground Turkey and Beef in Pomegranate Sauce.

Gluten-Free 

Slow Cooker Soup and Stew Recipes

African Bean and Sweet Potato Soup

African Coconut Chick Pea Soup

Big Easy Soup with Andouille Sausage and Beans

Buffalo Sausage Stew

Butternut + Bean Chili

Crockpot Curry with Coconut Milk

Curried Butternut Soup

Curried Carrot Soup with Pan Toasted Cornbread Croutons

Karina's Beef Stew

Kicked Up Coconut Split Pea Soup

Mediterranean Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mexican Pumpkin Soup with Black Beans and Lime

New Mexican Stew with Ground Turkey

Potato Soup for the Sensitive Soul

Pumpkin-Sweet Potato Soup

Purple Cabbage and Sweet Potato Soup with Sunbutter

Roasted Corn Chowder with Chicken, Lime and Cilantro

Roasted Hatch Chile Stew with Sweet Potato

Roasted Tomato Soup

Santa Fe Pumpkin Chowder

Sneaky Tomato Soup

Spicy Vegetable Soup with Lime

Turkey Soup

Vegetarian Mulligatawny with Coconut Milk

Slow Cooker Chili Recipes

Santa Fe Chicken Chili

Two Artists Chili

Slow Cooker Roast and Meat Recipes

Beef and Potatoes au Chocolat

Beef in Pomegranate Sauce

Pork Roast in Brown Sugar Apricot Mushroom Sauce

Gluten-Free Dinner Recipes and Comfort Food

Italian style comfort food- baked stuffed shells

My collection of gluten-free dinner recipes- favorite main dish recipes from my humble Brown Sugar Turkey Meatloaf to slow-cooked Beef in Pomegranate Sauce. For an easy company-worthy entree, try my Agave Lime Salmon recipe.

Vegetarian or vegan? I didn't forget you, Babycakes. Vegetarian and vegan dinner recipe favorites are listed below for a green change of pace. The most popular gluten-free vegetarian recipe? My Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas.

Make tonight delicious!

Baked chicken Mediterranean with sweet peppers.

Chicken, Turkey and Pork Recipes

Alex's Favorite Baked Chicken Mediterranean

Balsamic Roasted Pepper Chicken

Baked Stuffed Shells

Brown Sugar Turkey Meatloaf

Chicken and Artichoke Enchilada Bake with Green Chiles (New Mexican Style)

Chicken and Spinach Rice Bake with Mozzarella

Chicken Tropicale with Peppers and Pineapple

Curried Apple Chicken Stir-Fry with Rice

Easy Baked Chicken Chili Rice Casserole

Garlic Chicken Lasagna

Jazzed Up Turkey Tetrazzini

Lime Chicken Tacos

Kale Soup with Chicken Sausage and Sweet Potato

Maple Apple Sausage

New Mexican Stew with Ground Turkey

Peanut Broccoli Chicken Stir-Fry

Pineapple Salsa Chicken Enchiladas

Pork Roast in Apricot Mushroom Sauce

Roasted Corn Chowder with Chicken & Cilantro

Rustic Chicken Soup for the Soul

Santa Fe Chicken Chili

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Stuffed Cabbage with Roasted Sweet Potato, Quinoa and Sausage

Stuffed Peppers with Ground Turkey

Turkey and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Turkey Meatballs and Asian Style Stir-fry Noodles 

Turkey Meatloaf with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pecan Crust

Turkey Nachos

White Bean Chicken Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Lime

Mediterranean eggplant with beef, tomatoes and mint

Beef and Buffalo Recipes

A Hearty Meat Sauce for Pasta

Beef and Mushroom Rice Bake with Cranberries

Beef and Mushroom Stuffed Acorn Squash

Beef and Potatoes au Chocolat

Beef in Pomegranate Sauce

Big Easy Soup with Beans and Andouille Sausage

Buffalo Sausage Stew

Buffalo Sausage Stuffed Peppers

Dijon Roasted Vegetables & Sausage

Irish Cottage Pie

Cranberry Buffalo Roast Stew

Good Karma Meatloaf Pie topped with Dill Mashed Potatoes

Karina's Beef Stew

Maple Meatloaf

Mediterranean Eggplant with Crumbled Beef, Tomato & Mint

Melted Peppers and Dags (yes, dags) on Rice

Roasted Hatch Chile Stew with Beef, Sweet Potatoes and Corn

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie- A Rancher's Version with Black Angus Beef

Easy agave and lime salmon

Seafood

Agave Lime Salmon

Baked Cod with Roasted Sweet and Sour Vegetables

Easy Garlic Shrimp Pizza

Garlicky Shrimp and Spinach Bake with Mozzarella

Mediterranean Fish in Foil Packets with Rice

Pineapple Salmon Brown Rice Bake with Sour Cream and Green Chiles

Salmon and Spinach Goat Cheese Strata

Shrimp Fried Rice and Veggies

Tequilla Lime Salmon

Tuna and Artichoke Pasta with Pine Nuts

Vegetarian enchiladas with spinach, feta and chick peas

Vegetarian Comfort Food (ovo lacto vegetarian, and vegan)

A Veggie Lover's Shepherd's Pie

African Coconut and Chick Pea Soup

An Easy Savory Winter Vegetable Ragout

Artichoke and Jalapeño Savory Pie with Jalapenos

Baked Brown Rice Risotto

Baked Frittata with Gold Potatoes and Sour Cream

Baked Mac & Cheese - Dairy-Free

Baked Stuffed Shells (see notes)

Balsamic Roasted Veggie Smothered Baked Potato

Cider Roasted Vegetables

Crock Pot Curry

Enchiladas Griegos for Two with Spinach and Feta

Gluten-Free Pizza!

Green Chile Egg Bake

Kicked Up Baked Mac n Cheese

Karina's Kicked Up Colcannon

Karina's Latkes with Homemade Applesauce

Maple Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Cornbread Curried Apple Stuffing

Mediterranean Pasta Frittata with Goat Cheese

Pasta Frittata with Kale

Pesto Zucchini Tomato Gratin 

Quinoa Mushroom Pilaf

Red Quinoa with Butternut Squash and Cranberries

Roasted Acorn Squash Risotto

Roasted Brussels Sprouts Medley with Butter Beans and Rice

Roasted Corn Chowder

Roasted Green Chile Tortilla "Lasagna" Bake

Roasted Vegetable Cheddar Quiche

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Roasted Vegetable Noodle Kugel

Roasted Vegetables and Brown Rice

Roasted Vegetables on Broiled Polenta

Savory Vegetable Kugel

Savory Vegetable Pancakes

Scalloped Potatoes- Dairy-Free

Sexy Spring Pasta- with roasted asparagus

Spaghetti Squash New Mexican with Black Beans and Lime

Spinach and Cheddar Quesadilla

Stuffed Cabbage with Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa

Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

Sweet Potato Latkes with Ruby Applesauce

Two Artists Chili

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Vegetarian Loaf with BBQ Sauce 

Vegetarian Puttanesca

Vegetarian (Veggie Lovers') Spicy Shepherd's Pie