It's written in the book.

The title of this blog post is a line from "Behind the Lines", the first track from "Duke" by Genesis.


Today, at Acacia Lodge, there was a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection taking place. It just so happened that the CQC lady who was on the 2nd floor (where mum is) was the same lady that I complained to about mum's last nursing home. She remembered me (we nerds are very memorable!). We had a long chat.

As a result of our long chat:-
1) I shall chill a bit!
2) There will be feedback books in every resident's bedroom. Anyone can write in them. What is written can be good or bad. I won't have to make any more verbal complaints to the manager (a great relief for both of us!).

In other news...

I've been adopted by a pair of black cats. Is that doubly-lucky, or what? Pets are a great de-stressor. Did you know that in Romania, black cats are considered to be unlucky? Jay (of Jay's Kitchen in Henley-on-Thames) told me.

Here they are drinking some Gold Top milk from the top of the bottle (i.e. cream).


I won't let them come in the house, though.

See also Dog's Diary vs. Cat's Diary

My Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

The best gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipes on GFG.

It's a cool rainy Sunday here in West Hollywood. I am sipping a hot coconut milk chai to the velvet croon of Chet Baker. And I am thinking about cookies. Not just any cookies. Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. The best of the best. Sifting through my variations like a saxophone player in the groove of a beat. How do I like them best? That is the question. Because cookies will be baked today. And I've got a handful of chocolate chip cookie recipes to choose from. I've got choices.

Maybe I'll go with a classic style, bumpy with heavenly chunks of a vegan dark chocolate bar. Or the slightly chewy-crisp favorites made with gluten-free rolled oats from Bob's Red Mill. Wait. But then I remember my buckwheat flour chocolate chip cookies. Slightly sweet and verging on cakey. Perfect with a glass of cold vanilla rice milk. And then, to make matters even more complicated, I suddenly crave my quinoa flake cookie dough seductively studded with dark chocolate chips.

Decisions. Decisions.


Read more + get the recipe >>

Spaghetti Bolognaise and The Earth Diet?

Hi Liana, I want to incorporate The Earth Diet into my lifestyle but I love to eat things like chocolate, pizza, tacojs and spaghetti bog! I know you have recipes to all of those on your site, - but nothing beats my grandmothers spag bog! How can I do The Earth Diet and still be able to eat things like this??? - Patrick, UK

 Hi Patrick!

You absolutely can create The Earth Diet to suit your lifestyle. Just to refresh TED is a lifestyle that focuses on the abundance of what the earth naturally provides. It is not about sacrificing what you love.

So you can still be focusing on the abundance of what the earth provides naturally AND be eating your grandmothers spaghetti bog! After all some natural ingredients in that dish may be tomatoes, beef and fresh herbs and spices.

You may even like to eat just one meal in the day of foods that are naturally provided by the earth, and the other meals can be whatever you like. We also suggest to people who say their addiction has them eating 5 chocolate bars a day - eat 4 instead a day and replace the fifth one with a piece of fruit. Or eat 4 chocolate bars a day and replace the fifth with your own chocolate recipe that we provide on the website. Your body will get in tune with the difference in food that contains chemicals and the food that does not. And your body will naturally resonate towards the foods that make you feel good. Because we are feel good beings :) We all want to feel good - do we not? ;) So enjoy your grandmothers spaghetti bog -fully and completely! You may like to then eat a bowl of fresh sweet strawberries for dessert? ;)

With love, Liana :)

Both Sides Now: Nerds!

Firstly, here's the song "Both Sides Now" sung by Judy Collins in 1967.


"I've looked at x from both sides now, from up and down and still somehow, it's x's illusions I recall. I really don't know x at all."

Basically, anything can be looked at in a positive or negative way. Which brings me to the subject of nerds. Please note: The following may be a little tongue-in-cheek.

I'm a nerd. Did you notice?

Nerds: The good
1) We're single-minded & very focused. If you want something to work, get a nerd to do it. Just about every gizmo on this planet was invented, designed or developed by nerds.

2) We don't crave a partner's attention. We're not really people-people. Gizmos, on the other hand.....

3) Errrm.....

Nerds: The not-so-good
1) We're single-minded & very focused. If you want more than one thing done at a time, don't get a nerd to do it. A nerd trying to multi-task can result in unintentional hilarity. Do not talk to us when we're concentrating on something!

2) We can be socially inept. Body language=Double-Dutch. If I button-hole you in a fascinating (to me) conversation, I won't notice any of your subtle signs that you want to escape. The best way to interrupt a nerd is to hold up your index finger and say "Interrupt Request". If you're lucky, the nerd will say "Interrupt Request Acknowledged" and allow you to get a word in. This of course doesn't work for telephone conversations. Shouting "Stop talking while I'm interrupting you!" very loudly is the only option. We also "teach granny how to suck eggs" by stating the bleedin' obvious - just in case you didn't get it the first time.

3) We can be a bit obsessive. From Duty Calls:-


Finally, if you think that I'm really nerdy, see "The big bang theory" on YouTube. :-D

Positive Feedback: How a tiny push can make all the difference.

As an ex-Electronic Engineer, I'm very familiar with the effects of Positive Feedback in electronic circuits. The Schmitt trigger is a classic example of a slowly-changing input resulting in a suddenly-changing output.


While I was chatting to another visitor in mum's nursing home yesterday, I had a "Eureka!" moment. I was talking to her about my sudden mood changes when the bleedin' obvious suddenly occurred to me.

When my mood starts to fall, I start doing less. This lowers my mood further. This forms a vicious circle and my mood suddenly falls to a low value and stays there, with me lying in bed/on the sofa feeling like crap and not blogging.

When my mood starts to rise, I start doing more. This raises my mood further. This forms a virtuous circle and my mood suddenly rises to a high value and stays there, with me walking, scrumping, photographing, Zumba-ing and blogging all about it.

So, do something that you think you can't do. You'll feel better for it!

F.A.O. anyone who links to my blog: The title has changed. It's now:-

Nige's Diet & Nutrition Blog
Diet, Nutrition & Fitness Information + Random stuff.

Please update your links. Thanks.

The Diabetes Epidemic

The CDC just released its latest estimate of diabetes prevalence in the US (1):

Diabetes affects 8.3 percent of Americans of all ages, and 11.3 percent of adults aged 20 and older, according to the National Diabetes Fact Sheet for 2011. About 27 percent of those with diabetes—7 million Americans—do not know they have the disease. Prediabetes affects 35 percent of adults aged 20 and older.

Wow-- this is a massive problem. The prevalence of diabetes has been increasing over time, due to more people developing the disorder, improvements in diabetes care leading to longer survival time, and changes in the way diabetes is diagnosed. Here's a graph I put together based on CDC data, showing the trend of diabetes prevalence (percent) from 1980 to 2008 in different age categories (2):

These data are self-reported, and do not correct for differences in diagnosis methods, so they should be viewed with caution-- but they still serve to illustrate the trend. There was an increase in diabetes incidence that began in the early 1990s. More than 90 percent of cases are type 2 diabetics. Disturbingly, the trend does not show any signs of slowing.

The diabetes epidemic has followed on the heels of the obesity epidemic with 10-20 years of lag time. Excess body fat is the number one risk factor for diabetes*. As far as I can tell, type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance, which is probably due to energy intake exceeding energy needs (overnutrition), causing a state of cellular insulin resistance as a defense mechanism to protect against the damaging effects of too much glucose and fatty acids (3). In addition, type 2 diabetes requires a predisposition that prevents the pancreatic beta cells from keeping up with the greatly increased insulin needs of an insulin resistant person**. Both factors are required, and not all insulin resistant people will develop diabetes as some people's beta cells are able to compensate by hypersecreting insulin.

Why does energy intake exceed energy needs in modern America and in most affluent countries? Why has the typical person's calorie intake increased by 250 calories per day since 1970 (4)? I believe it's because the fat mass "setpoint" has been increased, typically but not always by industrial food. I've been developing some new thoughts on this lately, and potentially new solutions, which I'll reveal when they're ready.


* In other words, it's the best predictor of future diabetes risk.

** Most of the common gene variants (of known function) linked with type 2 diabetes are thought to impact beta cell function (5).

You are powerful beyond measure.

Sometimes life is too overwhelming for me, I can’t handle it, and I freak out in my mind thinking about a million things. The only thing I can think to do in those times is eat. And I just keep eating. Then after wards I feel so guilty that I just wished I had not done it. I feel like I will have this forever and I just some how have to live with it. Is this true? –Sally WA - Australia

Hi Sally, thank you for your blog request :) 

Only you can decide whether this be true or not. It is all you. We would of course like to tell you it is not true, and even if we do tell you it is not true, you will still question it.  What you speak of is current in your life right now. After right now there is another now, and then now, and another now after that. Human beings are beings that are being human. We do not exist any one way as we are moving matter. You can be sad one day and happy the next. You can be sad one hour and happy the next. You can be sad one moment and happy the next moment. We can literally alter our state at that speed. We have thoughts and we have a physical body. The mind thinks and the body follows. You can literally begin to change your thinking right now and experience an entirely new you – you are powerful beyond measure. Every human being on the planet is the same. You can assume that every person you meet has extra ordinary capabilities and you could be there to remind them that life will be however we choose.  

As you remind others you remind yourself. 

If you have a blog request email blogrequest@theearthdiet.org 

 

 www.TheEarthDiet.Org

Two Wheat Challenge Ideas from Commenters

Some people have remarked that the blinded challenge method I posted is cumbersome.

Reader "Me" suggested:

You can buy wheat gluten in a grocery store. Why not simply have your friend add some wheat gluten to your normal protein shake.

Reader David suggested:

They sell empty gelatin capsules with carob content to opacify them. Why not fill a few capsules with whole wheat flour, and then a whole bunch with rice starch or other placebo. For two weeks take a set of, say, three capsules every day, with the set of wheat capsules in line to be taken on a random day selected by your friend. This would further reduce the chances that you would see through the blind, and it prevent the risk of not being able to choke the "smoothie" down. It would also keep it to wheat and nothing but wheat (except for the placebo starch).

The reason I chose the method in the last post is that it directly tests wheat in a form that a person would be likely to eat: bread. The limitation of the gluten shake method is that it would miss a sensitivity to components in wheat other than gluten. The limitation of the pill method is that raw flour is difficult to digest, so it would be difficult to extrapolate a sensitivity to cooked flour foods. You might be able to get around that by filling the pills with powdered bread crumbs. Those are two alternative ideas to consider if the one I posted seems too involved.

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Raisin Scones

A warm gluten-free scone. Hot tea. Breakfast bliss.

Are you sick of the snow yet? My heart goes out to you. So many of you have been hammered this winter. Spring will arrive this year not a moment too soon. My advice? Bake some scones. Scones are easy to throw together. The oven warms up the kitchen and chases off the chill. And in less than half an hour you have a tender gluten-free morsel to share and savor. Gently spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, and studded with sweet bursts of raisins, I predict these cinnamon raisin scones will make you smile.

And speaking of predictions, Punxsutawney Phil better man up and predict an early respite come February 2. My fingers are crossed for all of you shoveling out from under. Not that I'm superstitious, or subscribe to the precognitive powers of double furred rodents, but. I remember the long dreary bouts of cold and gray all too well. I spent almost fifty-five years in the grip of Old Man Winter, praying the illustrious marmot would not see his shadow.

Will we have an early spring?

I hope so, Darlings. I hope so.


Read more + get the recipe >>

Still Struggling to Trust the Carbs? Step out with this lentil soup!

Another soup recipe?!

Struggling to step out of your comfort zone and try new foods? Carbs still not safe? Selecting foods you can justify by their nutritional value can be quite helpful to get you started. Take lentil soup, for instance. Knowing that lentils are good for you—a great source of protein, oh-so-satisfying fiber, as well as carbohydrate—may get you through. And remembering that carbohydrate is a necessary nutrient, which fuels our active (and sedentary) bodies.

Lentils are also a valuable  source of iron, thiamin, and folate. Being inexpensive, easy to prepare, tasty and versatile places them high on my list of ingredients to keep on hand.

And once you try this soup, I’m sure you’ll be hooked, even if you’ve never liked lentils before. Lentils come in all colors and sizes, (the so-called red ones which really look orange are a lot lower in fiber) and are interchangeable in lentil recipes. By the way, this soup, by itself, is not an adequate meal. But serve with a salad (with nuts and dried fruit, perhaps) and some bread for a healthy, balanced, and delicious dinner! This one is sure to please.

Grilling just isn't an option these days!

Lentil Soup (adapted from Jane Brody’s Good Food Book)
Serves 8

2 Tbsps. olive or vegetable oil

2 large onion, chopped

3 carrots, sliced

¾ tsp. oregano

¾ tsp. thyme leaves

1 28 oz. can tomatoes with their juice, coarsely chopped

7 cups broth/stock (chicken, beef or vegetable, regular or reduced sodium)

1 ½ (or 2*) cups dried lentils ( brown or yellow)

½ tsp. salt (omit if using prepared commercial broth/stock)

6 oz. dry white wine

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

• In a large stockpot heat oil and sauté the onions, carrots, oregano and thyme, stirring, for about 5 mins.

• Add tomatoes, broth and lentils and bring to a boil.

• Reduce heat and cover, simmering for an hour. Lentils should be tender.

• Add the salt (optional), wine, and parsley, and simmer the soup for a few more minutes.

• Serve and enjoy!

PS: Looking for another chance to try out lentils? Visit my old post http://dropitandeat.blogspot.com/2010/11/lemony-lentil-stew.html for a delectable lemony lentil stew.

 *(use 2 cups to count as a protein, if following an exchange plan.)

It's Party time again!

The title is named after George Van Dusen's jolly little number.


I got an invitation to a party at mum's care home today.


Jenny Wood, mayor of Henley visited again.


Mum's hair was a little dishevelled due to her putting a cloth napkin on her head earlier, when there was a cold draught coming through a nearby window.

I was suited and booted with a dicky bow and got too hot. In retrospect, doing Zumba the night before wasn't a good idea!

During the high tea, I fed mum on strawberries & cream. She stayed wide awake and alert throughout the do. The lady to my left was overweight & type 2 diabetic but was fed sandwiches & cakes(!) Suffice it to say that she went into a hyperinsulinaemic sleep and was almost completely uncommunicative when her nephew & niece arrived.

I was bit naughty food-wise and I also had a glass of Champagne which went straight to my head, making me quite merry. I went for a walk to the local Car Service Workshop to clear my head and pay the bill for the repair of mum's car (it needed a new distributor and timing belt as the distributor was knackered and the old timing belt was nearly 13 years old).

For "supper", I gave mum a chopped banana with cream. She was not only wide awake, but talking and making some sense! I started to flag a bit and a lady told me that I looked tired and should go home, so I did. I kept myself alert during the 45 minute drive home by blasting myself with freezing air and playing "Duke" by Genesis at high volume with the window down!

Move More: You are NOT going to believe this!

At 7:30pm tonight, I walked to the place below. It's in the same building as the Co-op.


I did a 45 minute Zumba session. I was the only man in the room! My pulse rate went over 100% MHR but I seem to have survived.

Before 11th December 2010 and Uh-oh! There may be trouble ahead..., if someone had suggested to me that I try Zumba, I would have told them to not be so daft. During the walk home, I phoned my ex-G/F to tell her what I'd just done, as she's very into keep-fit. My, how she laughed!

Here's a Video ad.

Variety is the spice of life.

In Half a breakfast, I couldn't finish my breakfast and it looked a bit yuk. Today, I microwaved a rasher of middle bacon, 2 sausages and 2 eggs (Full English) with Tesco Market Value Stir Fry vegetables (a colourful mix of vegetables with seasoning, 750g for £1) and a sprinkle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) on top. It looked like this.


I ate the lot!

Here's a Full English with sliced mixed peppers, a sprinkle of Losalt & EVOO on top.


Here's a Full English with sliced mushrooms, a sprinkle of Losalt & EVOO on top.


Here's a Full English with finely-chopped onions, a sprinkle of Losalt & EVOO on top.


Delish!

Blinded Wheat Challenge

Self-experimentation can be an effective way to improve one's health*. One of the problems with diet self-experimentation is that it's difficult to know which changes are the direct result of eating a food, and which are the result of preconceived ideas about a food. For example, are you more likely to notice the fact that you're grumpy after drinking milk if you think milk makes people grumpy? Maybe you're grumpy every other day regardless of diet? Placebo effects and conscious/unconscious bias can lead us to erroneous conclusions.

The beauty of the scientific method is that it offers us effective tools to minimize this kind of bias. This is probably its main advantage over more subjective forms of inquiry**. One of the most effective tools in the scientific method's toolbox is a control. This is a measurement that's used to establish a baseline for comparison with the intervention, which is what you're interested in. Without a control measurement, the intervention measurement is typically meaningless. For example, if we give 100 people pills that cure belly button lint, we have to give a different group placebo (sugar) pills. Only the comparison between drug and placebo groups can tell us if the drug worked, because maybe the changing seasons, regular doctor's visits, or having your belly button examined once a week affects the likelihood of lint.

Another tool is called blinding. This is where the patient, and often the doctor and investigators, don't know which pills are placebo and which are drug. This minimizes bias on the part of the patient, and sometimes the doctor and investigators. If the patient knew he were receiving drug rather than placebo, that could influence the outcome. Likewise, investigators who aren't blinded while they're collecting data can unconsciously (or consciously) influence it.

Back to diet. I want to know if I react to wheat. I've been gluten-free for about a month. But if I eat a slice of bread, how can I be sure I'm not experiencing symptoms because I think I should? How about blinding and a non-gluten control?

Procedure for a Blinded Wheat Challenge

1. Find a friend who can help you.

2. Buy a loaf of wheat bread and a loaf of gluten-free bread.

3. Have your friend choose one of the loaves without telling you which he/she chose.

4. Have your friend take 1-3 slices, blend them with water in a blender until smooth. This is to eliminate differences in consistency that could allow you to determine what you're eating. Don't watch your friend do this-- you might recognize the loaf.

5. Pinch your nose and drink the "bread smoothie" (yum!). This is so that you can't identify the bread by taste. Rinse your mouth with water before releasing your nose. Record how you feel in the next few hours and days.

6. Wait a week. This is called a "washout period". Repeat the experiment with the second loaf, attempting to keep everything else about the experiment as similar as possible.

7. Compare how you felt each time. Have your friend "unblind" you by telling you which bread you ate on each day. If you experienced symptoms during the wheat challenge but not the control challenge, you may be sensitive to wheat.

If you want to take this to the next level of scientific rigor, repeat the procedure several times to see if the result is consistent. The larger the effect, the fewer times you need to repeat it to be confident in the result.


* Although it can also be disastrous. People who get into the most trouble are "extreme thinkers" who have a tendency to take an idea too far, e.g., avoid all animal foods, avoid all carbohydrate, avoid all fat, run two marathons a week, etc.

** More subjective forms of inquiry have their own advantages.

Chaenomeles japonica - flowering - quince, Japanese - quince (H)

This morning, while on my constitutional, I saw a bush in someone's front garden with some fruit on it and thought "I'll have one of those!" This is what the bush looked like.


When I got home, I took some photos. I nicked another Crabapple for comparison.


I then cut the fruits open.


Quinces are very sour, but the frosts had sweetened it somewhat so it was edible raw. A checkout lady at the Co-op told me that it was a Japonica Quince later in the day.

Polite Requests.

I delivered a large wad (0.25"/6mm thick) of studies with a covering letter to my mum's new GP on Monday 17th Jan 2011. Here's what I wrote in the covering letter:- Personal information deleted.

"Dear Sir/Madam,

I have some requests concerning Mrs *****.

1) Please monitor Mrs *****’s serum B12 & homocysteine. Until Jan 31st 2010, Mrs ***** was receiving 1,000ug/day methyl B12. This was stopped by the management of Lashbrook House after I complained too much. Long-term use of PPIs in old people can adversely affect B12 absorption (evidence attached).

2) Please advise the staff at Acacia Lodge to walk Mrs ***** using the 3-wheeled rollator that I bought for her as often as she is able. Prolonged inactivity results in Insulin Resistance (IR) in skeletal muscle (evidence attached). IR results in hyperinsulinaemia on eating sugars & starches. Hyperinsulinaemia results in drowsiness and stupor (which makes it more difficult for Mrs ***** to do anything).

3) Please advise the staff at Acacia Lodge to reduce Mrs *****’s intake of sugars & starches. A low-carbohydrate/ketogenic diet is beneficial for people with impaired cognitive function (evidence attached). I have recently persuaded Acacia Lodge to give Mrs ***** cooked breakfasts and have supplied Acacia Lodge with Burgen Soya & Linseed bread (12g carbs/slice). This has resulted in improved cognitive function in the mornings.

I don’t want to impair Mrs *****’s quality of life, so she can still have chips or mashed potato (not both in the same meal as happened on Fri 10th Jan, after which I found Mrs ***** asleep in her wheelchair slumped over with her nose squashed against the arm of the chair). She can also have desserts and the occasional chocolate and/or biscuit.

4) Please allow Mrs ***** to have 5,000iu/day Vitamin D3 (provided by me), as UVB cannot penetrate window glass. 5,000iu/day is much greater than the RDA of 600iu/day but it’s a safe amount (evidence attached). That amount of Vitamin D3 has many beneficial effects (rather a lot of evidence attached!) other than bone health (for which 600iu/day is sufficient).

Thank you,

Nigel Kinbrum (son & attorney)
01252 ****** (24-hr Ansafone)
07768 ******"

The GP phoned me on Friday 21st Jan. He's taking my requests seriously and has asked for a week to read all of the evidence that I provided. Here's hoping!

Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Stew with Sausage

Hearty and tasty gluten-free slow cooker stew.

Here's a bright and delicious slow cooker stew recipe with sausages - and it's tasty using any sausage you choose, from free-range roaming buffalo to furry-friendly vegan. Scrumptious. Seriously. Make it for the Big Game. You know, the one with a pigskin ball and helmeted men in shiny tights. Throw all the ingredients in a Crock Pot and go root for your favorite tight end. Make a hot artichoke dip and grab some gluten-free chips. Game on.

Go Cubs!

Okay I confess. I'm not watching the game. Game fever is something utterly, totally beyond me. Apparently I lack a few mirror neurons. Sports? Yawn. I dare you to make me comprehend football. Go ahead. Try. Many have tread that tortuous path and failed, my friend. Great minds have worked tirelessly to convey the rules, to communicate the strategy. The triumph. The back field in motion and the blitz.

But what they don't realize? Deep down inside my private tiny girl heart- my neurons don't CARE. They really don't. And I know you think that if only I let you explain The Game to me I would finally, miraculously, ecstatically get it! And paint my face red and blue, but. It's never going to happen. 

It's a non-conforming neuron issue.

So, the Patriots? Are they the soccer team Mel Gibson coaches? Excuse me while I alphabetize my spice rack.

Read more + get the recipe >>

I love onions.

I also love the ONION. The following YouTube video is safe for work.

New directions.

When Rosso suggested to me in December 2008 that I start a Diet & Nutrition blog, I said to him "but whatever will I write about?"

Well, 100+ (quality?) posts later, I seem to have found a thing or two! The thing is, talking about just Diet & Nutrition can become a bit boring after a while, hence the "+ Random stuff".

I shall be having more pictures and music videos.

QUIZ: What is the object in the picture below and how old is it?


Here's Perfect 10 sung by Julie & me at the Woodcutters in Bracknell on 20.1.2011. It's darker in there than it was in 2009.


Any requests (other than "no more singing!")?

Quiz solution: The object in the picture above is the original timing belt from my mum's 1998 VW Polo 1.0L. Not bad for nearly 13 years old.

Why Carbs Got a Bad Rep. And What you Can Do About It.

My home-baked, white flour challah from last night.
(Today's french toast!)

 It’s all fat’s fault. It started with fatphobia, a fear of fat. Yes, back in the 80’s when Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Sinatra’s New York, New York were hits, Americans were instilled with a near fatal fear of fat-containing foods.  Meanwhile, carbohydrate was deemed safe and free to consume, without restraint. Ah, the good old days.

Heart disease became linked to saturated fat, and the message got oversimplified. Instead of saturated fats, the true culprit, all fats were grouped together as unacceptable.

And so food companies, ever interested in meeting consumer demand, supported our desire to eliminate the fat from most food products. Welcome Snackwell fat free cookies, fat free ice cream, reduced fat peanut butter—you name it.  Clients would declare, so proudly, that they had eaten 5 or 6 fat free sandwich cookies, clinging to the “free” part of the description. That they had consumed as much from these ”safe” cookies as they would from regular Oreos, never crossed their minds. They simply homed in on the fat content.

As fats were vilified, intake of carbohydrate-rich foods expanded, as did our waistlines. As you eliminate one of the three main building blocks of foods (fat) you are left with only two others (protein and carbohydrate) to fill the void. And we were given incentive to increase our intake of these items—they were “free” (of fats) and seemingly good for us. And their portions increased as well, as our guilt for eating them bottomed out.

So obscenely large I had to dig out my food scale and see what it weighed. Yes, 7 oz!

Unless you grew up in Brooklyn (which I happen to) a bagel was something Lenders made. It weighed about 2 ounces, the equivalent of two slices of pre-sliced bread. But even commercially baked bagels bulked up to 4 and 5 ounces, as in Dunkin Donuts, Finagle a Bagel, and Einstein.

No, not all bagels weight this much!

The thought of energy balance, of eating to meet your need, was absent, as larger amounts of carbs were eaten, regardless of hunger or need.

Finally the reality hit. Americans’ weight was climbing. In spite of having cut the fat, our weight, as a population, was increasing. (By the way, for those of you still fat phobic, this only further supports the fact that fats don't link with weight gain.) The culprit? Well, according to such authorities as Barry Sears (The Zone Diet) and Dr. Atkins (of restrict-carbs-to-make- ketones fame), the obvious conclusion was that carbs were bad. 


And boy did that message take off! They reinforced their messages with a distortion of a truth about carbs—that they increase insulin levels in the blood stream. They pathologized this situation, making it seem like a bad thing. Yes, insulin levels increase upon eating carbs. But a healthy body handles carbohydrate quite well, thank you. Yes, even diabetics can and should include carbohydrate as a chunk of their intake. (I say this as both an RD and a Certified Diabetes Educator.)

When panicked, we tend to not trust ourselves, instead latching on to information, even illogical and incorrect information.

Carbs don’t increase your weight. Period. 

Excess calories do. And the way we were eating carb-rich foods clearly resulted in taking in too many calories. And by choosing more processed, less filling carbohydrate-rich foods, it was quite easy to over consume them. For instance, eating a 5 oz. bagel was a breeze. But could you easily eat 2 ½ cups of cooked oatmeal? Because they’re the same, calorically.  And a 12 oz. can of apple juice? That’s about 3 ½ whole apples. Which would fill you up more? See the point. And the bagel pictured on this page (purchased from local bagel shop)? That’s like having 7 (yes, seven) slices of bread! But we tend to see foods as units—a sandwich, for instance, or a bagel, failing to recognize just how large the portion really is.

That isn’t to say that you should only eat high fiber grains, though. Truly, it’s simply about the portion. They eat white, processed pasta in Italy, and white baguettes in France, as part of their healthy Mediterranean diet. And the record shows it doesn’t cause weight gain. But they also include legumes, and fruits and vegetables on a regular basis. And they rarely eat in their cars, or on the train. And they tend to take time to eat. And I suspect they really enjoy those crusty baguettes and croissants. Get the picture?

Still struggling to trust the carbs? Make a substitution for a protein source, not an addition, just to prove it’s okay. Take baby steps. Once your worst fears don’t come true, do it more frequently. Start with foods you might see as healthier, to get started.

This one was too cute to cook. The rest got tossed with olive oil and baked!

Go ahead. Give it a try. You’ll see that bad things don’t happen. I promise!

Eating Wheat Gluten Causes Symptoms in Some People Who Don't Have Celiac Disease

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a condition characterized by the frequent occurrence of abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, bloating and/or gas. If that sounds like an extremely broad description, that's because it is. The word "syndrome" is medicalese for "we don't know what causes it." IBS seems to be a catch-all for various persistent digestive problems that aren't defined as separate disorders, and it has a very high prevalence: as high as 14 percent of people in the US, although the estimates depend on what diagnostic criteria are used (1). It can be brought on or exacerbated by several different types of stressors, including emotional stress and infection.

Maelán Fontes Villalba at Lund University recently forwarded me an interesting new paper in the American Journal of Gastroenterology (2). Dr. Jessica R. Biesiekierski and colleagues recruited 34 IBS patients who did not have celiac disease, but who felt they had benefited from going gluten-free in their daily lives*. All patients continued on their pre-study gluten-free diet, however, all participants were provided with two slices of gluten-free bread and one gluten-free muffin per day. The investigators added isolated wheat gluten to the bread and muffins of half the study group.

During the six weeks of the intervention, patients receiving the gluten-free food fared considerably better on nearly every symptom of IBS measured. The most striking difference was in tiredness-- the gluten-free group was much less tired on average than the gluten group. Interestingly, they found that a negative reaction to gluten was not necessarily accompanied by the presence of anti-gluten antibodies in the blood, which is a test often used to diagnose gluten sensitivity.

Here's what I take away from this study:

1. Wheat gluten can cause symptoms in susceptible people who do not have celiac disease.
2. A lack of circulating antibodies against gluten does not necessarily indicate a lack of gluten sensitivity.
   
3. People with mysterious digestive problems may want to try avoiding gluten for a while to see if it improves their symptoms**.
4. People with mysterious fatigue may want to try avoiding gluten.
   

A previous study in 1981 showed that feeding volunteers a large dose of gluten every day for 6 weeks caused adverse gastrointestinal effects, including inflammatory changes, in relatives of people with celiac disease, who did not themselves have celiac (3). Together, these two studies are the most solid evidence that gluten can be damaging in people without celiac disease, a topic that has not received much interest in the biomedical research community.

I don't expect everyone to benefit from avoiding gluten. But for those who are really sensitive, it can make a huge difference. Digestive, autoimmune and neurological disorders associate most strongly with gluten sensitivity. Avoiding gluten can be a fruitful thing to try in cases of mysterious chronic illness. We're two-thirds of the way through Gluten-Free January. I've been fastidiously avoiding gluten, as annoying as it's been at times***. Has anyone noticed a change in their health?


* 56% of volunteers carried HLA-DQ2 or DQ8 alleles, which is slightly higher than the general population. Nearly all people with celiac disease carry one of these two alleles. 28% of volunteers were positive for anti-gliadin IgA, which is higher than the general population.

** Some people feel they are reacting to the fructans in wheat, rather than the gluten. If a modest amount of onion causes the same symptoms as eating wheat, then that may be true. If not, then it's probably the gluten.

*** I'm usually about 95% gluten-free anyway. But when I want a real beer, I want one brewed with barley. And when I want Thai food or sushi, I don't worry about a little bit of wheat in the soy sauce. If a friend makes me food with gluten in it, I'll eat it and enjoy it. This month I'm 100% gluten-free though, because I can't in good conscience encourage my blog readership to try it if I'm not doing it myself. At the end of the month, I'm going to do a blinded gluten challenge (with a gluten-free control challenge) to see once and for all if I react to it. Stay tuned for more on that.

Back to Your Roots. Simple Planning and Cooking to Keep You on Track.

I’m driving home from work. It’s 6:30 PM. And I’m hungry, very hungry. I get stuck in rush hour traffic and now I’m starving. Unless I know that the hired help will have dinner ready for me when I get home, my thoughts wander to take out. And since I don’t have hired help awaiting my return, I know I’d better have a plan in place for dinner. Because I need immediate gratification. And I won't feel good eating out too frequently, especially when I'm hungry and vulnerable.

Nutrition knowledge is great. But if the groundwork isn’t laid to prepare a meal, even to mentally prep for eating, your knowledge will get you nowhere. Yes, even nutritionists can be impulsive if they fail to plan. Cooking in advance helps enormously. Soups and stews work like a dream—they freeze and reheat well, contain lots of satisfying ingredients in one bowl, with only one pot to clean up! And they typically make enough for multiple meals, so leftovers can be enjoyed for many days.

Tonight’s dinner (mentally prepared during my lunch break) was leftover Back to Your Roots soup—a root vegetable puree that is delectable, even reheated from the freezer.  It is total comfort food, creamy and satisfying, but relatively low in saturated fat (given the number of servings it makes). Don’t let the half and half scare you. The bulk of the soup is pureed yummy veggies. The cream is a tiny morsel of this meal! And so satisfying and filling.

Tonight, I served it with a small omelet. I arrival home from work at 7 PM. Dinner? Served at 7:20 PM. And yes, it beats fast food and take-out any day of the week! I had never tried many of these vegetables yet they were a perfect combination of flavors! This is now an absolute favorite, guaranteed to please.

Back to Your Roots Soup (makes 10 generous servings)

(adapted from New England Soup Factory Cookbook by Marjorie Druker)

Ingredients

3 Tbsps. oil (olive or canola, or  butter)

3 whole cloves garlic, peeled

1 large onion, peeled and diced

2 ribs celery, diced

4 large carrots, peeled and sliced

4 parsnips, peeled and sliced

1 large turnip or rutabaga, peeled and cut in chunks

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 bulb celeriac, peeled and cut in chunks

12 cups stock (chicken, vegetable, regular or reduced sodium cartons work well). Some water can be substituted as well.

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

2 cups half and half

salt and pepper to taste (skip the salt if using regular stock versus reduced sodium)

Heat oil (or butter) over medium heat. Add garlic, onion ,celery, carrots, and parsnips. Saute about 8 minutes. Add turnip, sweet potato, celeriac, and stock.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium.

Simmer until vegetables are soft and tender, about 40 minutes.

Remove from heat, adding nutmeg.

Puree soup with a hand blender until smooth (those wand-like devices that save you the trouble of pouring scalding soup into the food processor).

Add the half and half and stir.

Savor every spoonful! And let me know what you think.

I have a few other soup favorites I'd be glad to share--just say the word!