I just attended a local hospital’s women’s health expo and spoke to a diabetes nutrition educator who was horrified that I would pursue a low carb diet. “Why would you do that?” she asked. I dropped a lot of names, none of which she was familiar with. I just wrote her an email and decided to post it here and at my other blog for my own (and anyone else’s) future reference.

Dear health practitioner,

Different people find health and wellness through different means, but it is through a gluten-free, casein-free, low-carb, low-grain “traditional” diet that I personally was able to reverse autoimmune hyperthyroidism, regain my fertility and address chronic depression.

A powerful book about the wisdom of limiting or avoiding grains is on the site of author Melissa Diane Smith. She wrote a book called Going Against the Grain that explains connections between grain intolerance and other health issues and explains why grains give so many people problems.
http://www.melissadianesmith.com/

I recently saw two speakers talk about avoiding grains at a Gluten Intolerance Group gathering in Richmond, VA.
Dr. Stephen Wangen, author of The Irritable Bowel Syndrome Solution, has written a new book called Healthier Without Wheat. Information is available at www.HealthierWithoutWheat.com
Dr. Rodney Ford makes the case that gluten has neurological impacts on people who do not have celiac disease. Information is available at www.DrRodneyFord.com
These men both gave fascinating presentations.

In terms of traditional eating, the group I referenced is the Weston A. Price Foundation
http://www.westonaprice.org/
Some quick information from the WAPF on healthy vs. unhealthy fats is at
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html
An article on proper preparation of grains is at
http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/be_kind.html
and in Sally Fallon’s book, Nourishing Traditions

A growing number of people are finding better health through increasing their intake of vegetables and decreasing their carbohydrates. Some people even point to a theory of food combining that claims putting carbohydrates with animal proteins inhibits proper digestion of food and leads to an acid/alkaline imbalance, which contributes to inflammatory conditions and to an overgrowth of Candida (yeast).

Some of this information can be found at The Body Ecology Diet – http://www.bodyecologydiet.com/ and in the BED book by Donna Gates.
Some general resources on the benefits of limiting carbohydrates can also be found at
The Gut and Psychology Syndrome – http://gapsdiet.com/
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet – http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/

A great read on why follow the wisdom of our ancestors is Nina Planck’s book, Real Food: What to Eat and Why. A farmers’ daughter and a proponent of farmers markets, Nina also has a new book out for fertility, mom and baby. See her website at http://www.ninaplanck.com/

I hope you’ll get a chance to look into some of these resources and share this information with your patients.

In health,
Crunchy-Chewy Mama
http://crunchychewymama.blogspot.com/

“But he showed remorse,” said my kind friend when I called her crying to apologize that my son had bitten hers at school. “What more could you want?”

Um, for him to not do it at all?

Really, what I want is for my son not to feel that kind of out-of-control anger. I know he’s three and a half and that some socially inappropriate behavior is, well, developmentally appropriate. But I also know that when he went through a similar phase two years ago, some body work and energy work really seemed to help.

And I know that as someone who suffered from undiagnosed depression all through my childhood, it’s no fun to feel unhappy inside. Although medication helped through a few dark periods in my adulthood, it’s become crystal clear to me that what has made the most profound difference has been a combination of non-drug remedies: a gluten-free, casein-free diet; regular exercise and yoga; and body work and energy work, including acupuncture, chiropractic and craniosacral therapy (CST).

So when my son had a biting episode a few weeks back for the first time (a 12-hour playdate is a rough thing for overtired cousins inhabiting a small space on a rainy cold day), I made an appointment with the acupuncturist who saw us when he had an ear infection months ago. While I waited the three weeks before that opening, I also got him in for CST work, which I though was probably more useful for him (lasting a full hour) but is twice as expensive as the acupuncturist who works with kids.

The acupuncture was scheduled for Friday at the end of the first week of school. E seemed to enjoy school fine and had none of the crying some other kids did upon leaving their moms for the first time. But on Tuesday, the second day, he did bite the arm of his friend, G, in what was probably a tussle over a toy. “It might have been provoked,” the teacher said, having not seen the lead-up. But I was deeply troubled.

My kid is nice. He’s usually patient and kind. When he does physical stuff, something seems like it’s just not right inside. That’s an awful feeling, and I don’t want him to have it. To me, the biting is a symptom. Maybe he’s feeding off of my stress. Maybe it’s partly the change of season, as the acupuncturist suggested. Maybe it’s that we’ve been trying some dairy in his diet, and maybe it doesn’t agree with him any more than it does with me.

What I do know is that he and I both had a nice day Friday and a pretty mellow weekend after a week of volatility and meltdowns. All the doctor did was use a little roller on a few spots and then put little acupressure stickers on his ears, hands and feet. Thinking we might try needles on him next time, she did a demo on me with a quick insertion to two points that address the kidney meridian and fear. “You’ll have a good day, too,” she nodded to me.

And I did. Within a few hours, the sense of urgency and crisis was gone. My son and I had a lovely time together. We’ll see if he can hold onto that calm through today, the first day of the second week of school.

A few months back, I finally did a cheek swab test on my son to see if he did in fact inherit gluten sensitivity from me. I’d ordered the test from Enterolab almost a year earlier on the advice of Melissa Diane Smith, author of the fabulous book, Going Against the Grain. For some reason, I just had a block against finding out. I wanted to keep my boy gluten-free until he was three anyway. With all the added gluten in today’s grain and the increase in gluten sensitivity, I don’t think it’s healthy for anyone to have much of it period, and certainly not when the gut is so immature.

The results showed that my son has one of the main genes that predisposes to gluten sensitivity and celiac sprue and one “non-celiac” gene that also predisposes to gluten sensitivity. Mainstream doctors would not diagnose celiac disease without blood testing and/or an endoscopy, but those would likely not yield positive results unless he had eaten enough gluten to do damage to his gut. That’s not a risk I’m willing to take.

However, we are trying him now on cow’s milk and will then do a stool test to see if he shows casein sensitivity. The idea is that the more integrity we can build in his gut now, the healthier he will be in the long run. But I don’t want to keep him off of all dairy unless we know. There is so much good to be had in full-fat, farm-fresh dairy — real milk.

So we’re trying to just be up front with him, always pointing out that different people eat different things. Since this is not an issue of allergy, I want to keep out the fear, but I do want him to understand that we sometimes make choices based on information that doesn’t have an immediate impact. That’s next-to-impossible for someone his age to get, but I’m trying to present it just as things are and hope that it will help him eventually make choices that are good for his body rather than get stuck in some kind of right/wrong dichotomy.

The Original Pancake House in Falls Church, VA now offers gluten-free pancakes using Bob’s Red Mill GF blend, milk, egg and canola oil. The pancakes did taste good — we got one order of blueberry and one of pecan — (choices also include plain, banana and chocolate chip — not as many choices as the regular pancakes boast at OPH). Shredded potatoes tasted like canola oil, which does no one any favors. We got some turkey links that were okay (not guaranteed nitrite-free or anything), an a fried egg that wasn’t too pale in the yolk, and the real maple syrup was indeed probably worth the extra money (can’t remember if it was 50 cents or $1.50, but who wants anything that’s probably half corn syrup?). Decaf was not memorable either way.

I was calling it my last big carb binge before trying to seriously start a more veg-focused diet (including juicing and more raw food), but it was fun to be able to have breakfast out in the world for once. It’s better at home, of course, but I’m still really glad they are offering the GF cakes.

Visit http://www.originalpancakehouse.com/

This is not the most stellar recipe post, but I thought I’d share that lately I’ve been making a quick side dish out of the extra farm eggs we have now that I’m no longer nursing and eating two each morning (and I keep forgetting to decrease my order size!). My son loves eating these savory pancakes. I essentially beat a couple of eggs and add to them grated potato, zucchini, carrot and chopped onion (maybe some spinach, too) with some herbs, salt and pepper. Then I add some tapioca flour or rice flour and/or arrowroot. It’s very unscientific. I just add until I feel like the mixture will hold together. I think I tried adding in some coconut milk once — maybe I mixed that with the flours first and then added to the egg. At any rate, I fry the mixture in a pan with olive oil or coconut oil and flip at least once. Pretty simple and good.

Mother’s Day was also my husband’s birthday. I got my special time running a half-marathon, and then we went out for brunch with friends. He didn’t get much special time, having promised a neighbor we’d babysit for them. D’oh! But he did mention an idea to buy a slice of rhubarb pie for himself, so I got motivated. We also had way too many eggs because I keep forgetting to reduce my farm order to one dozen now that I’m not longer a nursing mom eating for two. So I thought, as long as I’m making crust and heating up the oven, I might as well make some quiche and a pie!

The results were yummy. I used my no-frills gluten-free pie crust recipe. For the quiche, this time I used sorghum flour, a little millet flour and rice flour with coconut and olive oils plus some oregano, pepper and basil. For the pie, I used almond flour and rice flour, coconut oil and butter plus some cinnamon and nutmeg, and maybe a dash of vanilla.

I cobbled together a few recipes for the pie with some GF substitutions and came up with this;

Gluten-Free Rhubarb-Apple-Strawberry Pie (no dairy, low sugar)

Mixture to coat fruit:
3 Tablespoons arrowroot and tapioca flours
1/4 tsp sea salt
juice of half a lemon
1/3 cup Sucanat (most recipes called for a cup or more of sugar)
1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash-1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp vanilla (alcohol-free would be better)

Fruit:
A bunch of rhubarb cut into 1″ pieces
Half a pint of strawberries cut up
One apple cut into chunks — I used half of a gala and half of a granny smith

Mix all the dry ingredients together & then mix with fruit to set for 15 minutes.
Before I put mixture into the pie crust, I tossed it with about a Tablespoon or more of coconut milk (not low fat) just for a little creaminess and a little extra sweetness.
I added a little coconut oil on top too, just because the other recipes said to dot with butter and I thought maybe it could stand some more goo. I did not put a top crust on this even though all the recipes I saw called for it. The pie baked fine.

Bake time and temp I have to make a best guess as I was also cooking the two quiche and a chicken.
375-400 worked for me, and I would guess about 45 minutes, though I would check before that and not be surprised if you didn’t like the looks of it until an hour.

All agreed that it was delicious. My husband got his supplemental sugar with ice cream. I just poured some extra coconut milk on mine. Rice dream or coconut sorbet would work, too. We served it mildly warm and loved it, but it was just as good out of the fridge the next two days.

This recipe adaptation comes from Bruce Fife’s Cooking with Coconut Flour

I’ve reduced the sugar and replaced butter with coconut oil to make a fully dairy-free and gluten-free cupcake.

These are high protein, high-fiber and rich, even without the butter.

3 Tablespoons coconut oil (melted)
3 eggs (warmed in water first so they don’t clump up the coconut oil by resolidifying it)
2-3 Tablespoons sugar (pref. Sucanat, Rapadura or date or maple sugar, or regular brown sugar)
2 Tablespoons coconut milk (not low-fat)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (preferably alcohol-free if you are being strict about being gluten-free)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Blend the following:
oil
eggs
sugar
coconut milk
salt
vanilla

Combine coconut flour (first sifted or at least de-lumped) with baking powder. Whisk dry mix into wet and mix until there are no lumps. Pour/spoon into muffin tins.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8-15 minutes (shorter length for mini-muffins).
Supposed to make 6 full-sized muffins.

Variations/Notes:
-Add in some carob powder to the whole batter for a chocolate-like flavor
-Add almond flavoring for more of a marzipan taste
-Don’t add in cinnamon — in my opinion, it just doesn’t really work well with the coconut flavor unless you’re making some more nuanced concept dish.

-You could easily double the recipe and go up to only 1/2 cup of flour, but then you’re in for a half-dozen eggs! A little coconut flour goes a long way! But it also requires a lot of egg! (No, I’ve never tried this with egg substitute.)

This is what coconut flour waffles (with a little almond meal and flax meal) should look like:

This is what they will look like if you accidentally put in 2 T of xanthan gum instead of arrowroot (which we use instead of corn starch in this recipe, and we use coconut milk and almond milk)

At our Waldorf school’s Parent-Child class, the daily snack kids make is whole wheat rolls, which are eaten with freshly churned (shaken in a jar with marbles) butter. When the rolls come out of the oven and we sit down to give “blessings on the meal,” fresh organic apples are cut as well. The teacher was open to us substituting a gluten-free recipe until we came to the realization that you don’t knead GF flour, which defeats the pedagogical purpose of children getting involved in the tactile experience of moving their hands in the dough.

So we decided that we’d just bring our own GF rolls. At first I brought in yeasted rolls like those at school, but they looked nothing like the nice, round wheat rolls. I decided that for a mama (and maybe her son) with Candida issues, I might as well avoid the yeast and instead make more of a mini-muffin. Since we don’t have anyone with a nut allergy in class, I’ve started using almond flour to make these less carby, empty calories. Here is the recipe I’ve hit on that I think works.

Dry mixture

• 2 cups flour — I used almost a cup of almond flour and the rest a mixture of brown rice, millet and arrrowroot
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet mixture

• 1/2 cup coconut oil and olive oil mixture per your preferences (or go with butter if you can tolerate it)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (not low-fat)
• 2 eggs beaten (organic, preferably pastured from a farm)
• 1 T sucanat (or rapadura, date sugar or maple sugar)
• 1 tsp molasses
• 1 tsp ground flax

Mix the wet ingredients together with a mixer and then add to the dry mixture

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes
Makes 30 or so mini muffins

I didn’t try using cup liners and allowed my food to touch the evil Teflon, so I don’t know about the sticking factor with cup liners.

Addendum:
My son wanted to make “heart cookies” again. Although this was not cookie dough, we did have some success after I froze the dough. They weren’t exactly pretty, but they made the kid happy. Cooked them 6-8 min.

My camera battery died before the cookies came out of the oven, but here are a few of our successful baking experience making cookies to take to our Waldorf school tomorrow, where the class will be be baking Valentine cookies with whole wheat. We always bring our own gluten-free alternative to our Parent-Child class.

I always like to add almond or another nut flour in recipes to add to the protein and fat content so that the cookies don’t cause a crazy sugar reaction. They are also quite low in sugar compared to some other recipes, but I’d still rather have something good with my something not-so-good.

These recipes have been adapted from The Gluten-Free Gourmet and Gluten-Free Baking Classics (via adaptation by Monica Corrado of Simply Being Well)

Dry ingredients to mix together first:
- 2 1/4-1/2 cups of GF flour
I used maybe 1/3 almond flour, 1/3 arrowroot, 1/3 tapioca and the rest brown rice flour
If you use only dry sugar/sucanat/rapadura (or date sugar or maple sugar), use closer to 2 or 2 1/4 cups of flour
If you want to substitute some molasses or maple syrup (or honey) for sweetener, add in a little more flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt

optional
up to 3/4 or 1 teaspoon cinnamon
a shake (1/8 teaspoon) nutmeg

Set this dry mixture aside

Gooey mixture
- 3/4 cup to 1 cup oil — I used half coconut oil and half butter. We can tolerate a little dairy, and I do think butter makes for better cookies. Use a little more oil if using less wet ingredients (i.e. no liquid sugar)
- 1/3 cup sucanat, rapadura, date sugar or maple sugar — sugar that still retains some of its food quality and hasn’t been stripped of everything
- a small glob (maybe 1 teaspoon) of black strap molasses

Mix these together with a hand mixer. You might want to heat the oil/butter some first to encourage the chunkier natural sugar to melt/mix well.

Add to the gooey mixture:
- 1 egg (could try a few tsp. flax meal in hot water set aside for a few minutes as egg replacer, but I didn’t)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (Frontier GF/no alcohol)
optional:
- 1/2 teaspoon almond flavor or another flavoring (Frontier GF/no alcohol)

Add dry to gooey and mix with mixer until it looks like dough you could roll into a log to chill in the freezer for a bit

Put some rice flour on your rolling pin and parchment paper and roll out the chilled dough to cut into shapes

Place on cookie sheet (grease first with coconut oil if it’s a sticky one, or put on parchment paper if you want to avoid Teflon)

Bake at 350 degrees for 7-14 minutes. I made my cookies quite thin (so I’d have plenty of them) and baked for 7-8 minutes. I also did a few trials in small balls and they cooked well in 8-9 minutes.

These cookies were light and had a shortbread quality — not particularly chewy or soft. And of course with the natural sugar, they are on the brown side (and uneven in color since I didn’t warm my oil and also added the egg at the same time as the oil and sugar instead of after). But they were perfect for cutting into shapes, and they sure were tasty and satisfying!