The best of EcoSalon’s stories this week.

Have you caught the buzz about Bully, the new film aiming to bring this life-wrecking activity out into the open? Fighting off censorship that would have kept it from reaching its target audience, it is now sparking the discussion its creators hoped to engineer. Get the full story here. (And three cheers for Canada, which currently has two competing anti-bullying bills going through its legislature).

If you’re a card-carrying foodie and you’re put on an elimination diet – end of the party for your taste-buds? Not so, as Sara Lingafelter explains – it’s helping her remember the pleasure that comes with slow food, starting with this citrus-free hummus substitute.

In the words of Sherlock Holmes – when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Since the impossible seems to be part of the deal when it comes to Arizona’s recent law on conception, we must consider everything to be the truth. Check out Mallory Ortberg’s pre-natal advice for the mentally adventurous.

If you work for Kashi, you’ve probably had a stressful couple of weeks. After revelations about the company’s genetically modified and pesticide-reliant ingredients went viral, they’ve been fighting a publicity meltdown. Is it as simple as questionable sourcing practices that need to be cleaned up or just plain eliminated? Jessica Marati takes a closer look.

Finally, you may have heard that the world is warming up (yes, really) and the glaciers – the largest reservoirs of freshwater on Earth – are in retreat. Check out these 25 pictures of gorgeous glaciers from around the world. Last chance to see?

The post The Friday 5: Elimination Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

In a guest series, a foodie takes on an Elimination Diet. 

I’m a foodie. At least, as much of a foodie as a former vegan who still has an aversion to dairy and many animal products can be.

But at a mere 35 years old, after months of anemia and years of low iron, with my rheumatoid arthritis symptoms troubling me –  despite being on the “gold standard” of conventional medicine –  when my primary care doctor suggested I see a nutritionist about an Elimination Diet to see if changes to diet may reduce my symptoms and help me get healthy again, it sounded worth a try.

The list of prohibited foods for Elimination Diets vary, but for the one I’m following the list is long, and boils down to this: No gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, citrus, corn, nightshades (tomato, potato, peppers), peanuts, sweetners (including sugar), chocolate, alcohol, coffee (even decaf), and “Any artificial ingredient or preservative” according to the “Elimination Diet Guidelines” my nutritionist sent me home with.

That leaves out a few fine points – no dried fruit if it’s sulfered, no pepper-based spices other than black pepper, and small amounts of agave syrup and real maple syrup are allowed, for example. After the first several weeks, foods are slowly reintroduced to determine whether I have a reaction to them. The whole process takes six to eight weeks and is supervised by my nutritionist, who is available via email in between appointments to answer my many questions.

I knew I would miss generous cups of decaf all day, two egg breakfasts, brown sugar and cocoa nibs on my morning oatmeal, Thai takeout, after-dinner bites of chocolate and my favorite food – potatoes – but there are so many other wonderful things to eat, my attention turned quickly to what I could have.

Even experienced label-readers would be surprised at how hard it is to find anything that isn’t a “whole food” that’s safe to eat: corn, corn syrup, other artificial sweeteners, soy, barley malt, and peanut oil are in a shocking number of products I optimistically pick up on the grocery store shelf and set back down in their place, inspired to mix up my own from scratch instead.

Ten days in, I feel great. I’ve carved out half a day on Sunday and two nights a week to plan, shop and cook to fill the fridge and freezer with meals and snacks so I never find myself without something “allowed” to eat. I’m as food motivated as a golden retriever, and I haven’t been hungry or unsatisfied at all. My grocery bill has gone way up, but my eating out bill is zero (the best I can do on most menus is a bottle of sparkling water, unless it’s citrus flavored, accompanied by a long conversation with my dinner companions about exactly why I joined them for dinner but won’t eat) so overall, I’m actually saving money. And after years of eating what’s convenient, I’ve remembered the pleasure that comes with slow food, with preparing thoughtful meals and appreciating them with good company.

So for the next several weeks, I’ll be sharing what I learn, along with the recipes that make this whole thing possible. First up, a protein packed citrus-free hummus-substitute that’s been one of my staples. It’s delicious with carrots for dipping; shaken with a little apple cider vinegar and sesame oil for salad dressing; or mixed with smashed avocado and slathered into celery sticks. If you’re sensitive to pine nuts, you can substitute walnuts.

Citrus-Free Hummus

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 large cloves garlic, quartered
• 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tbsp tahini
• ¾ cup pitted greek olives (no pimentos)
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 Tbsp water (optional)
• ¼ cup pine nuts (or walnuts)

Directions
Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium-low heat. When warm, add garlic and saute gently until softened.

Place olive oil/garlic mixture, garbanzo beans, tahini, olives, apple cider vinegar and salt into a food processor. Process until well blended and a thick paste. With motor running, drizzle in additional olive oil and/or water slowly until the consistency is creamy and to your taste.

Add pine nuts and pulse just until broken up, but still crunchy.

Top with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

The post A Foodie Elimination Diet: Citrus-Free Hummus appeared first on EcoSalon.

A look at food intolerances, food sensitivities and how we need to look closer at our daily diet.

When it comes to American food culture, perhaps the very embodiment of our cuisine – Burger King – sums it up it best: have it your way. We can have Italian for lunch, Thai for dinner, super-sized, low fat, deep-fried or no onions. As a nation, our taste-buds are accustomed to choice.

However for an increasing number of individuals, having it their way means forgoing certain food groups altogether. According to various studies, the reported number of people with food allergies and intolerances to various food groups is on the rise.

Simultaneously, the growing popularity of elimination diets – such as those which cut out dairy, wheat, soy, corn, and/or sugar – is demonstrated by the appearance of gluten-free aisles in grocery stores and the ever-growing variety of Tetra-Pak cartons offering lactose-free milk substitutes.

It seems that only in a country with such an abundance of food, could people start forgoing certain food groups altogether. But is the popularity of elimination diets a function of marketing and a national obsession with weight loss? And why do food intolerances seem to be far more prevalent in the Western, developed nations where there is unlimited access to a wide array of food?

Roughly 30 percent of Americans believe they have a food allergy. According to registered dietician Tracy Stoker, this could be due to the fact that the difference between a food allergy and food intolerance or sensitivity is commonly misunderstood.

“I think elimination diets, if done carefully, are a good way to get an idea of a food sensitivity, intolerance and maybe even an allergy,” Stoker says. “A food allergy spells out a radical [and immediate] reaction like hives, swelling, even anaphylactic shock while intolerance means they don’t have the ability to break down the food so they may get something like diarrhea [if they eat it].”

Nowhere is the phenomenon of elimination diets manifested more than in the widespread avoidance of gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. In 2011, sales of gluten-free products reached more than $6.2 billion.

Many skeptics say that intolerance to gluten is a fad or trend motivated by a false hope of weight-loss. However, some experts estimate that in addition to the three million Americans who have the severe autoimmune disorder known as celiac disease, 18 million people in the U.S. are sensitive to gluten, a number that continues to grow.

Suzzanne Myer, a registered dietician who specializes in elimination diets, helps patients identify and eliminate the foods that she says cause a range of problems including anxiety, eczema, acne, sinus problems, IBS, asthma, and insomnia. She says her approach, which is somewhat at odds with the tenets of western medicine, is often overlooked.

“Western medicine did this thing where we now think, ‘Oh I’ll just take a pill to solve my problems,’” Myer says. “There needs to be more awareness [because] one in three people have a problem with gluten. We used to believe you either had celiac disease or you didn’t, but now we know it can be more like a threshold – you can just have a sensitivity.”

While a severe allergy or disease like celiac can show up in an allergen blood test, a minor insensitivity often does not. Angie Spinelli is a musician and blogger who has maintained a blog about her diet – which excludes most gluten, dairy, and sugar – since 2008.

After struggling with various health problems including acne and allergies, in 2005 Spinelli decided to try an elimination diet after doing her own research.

“When I was in my twenties, my diet was really awful – the ‘standard American diet’ – whatever was fast and cheap,” Spinelli says. “I went to so many dermatologists for my acne and none of them could do anything for me. None of them suggested cutting out dairy or wheat, which are the major triggers for me.”

After seeing major initial results from changing her diet, a subsequent blood allergy test showed that Spinelli did indeed have mild insensitivities. However, she says there are still skeptics who would reduce her dietary limitations as unnecessary.

“There are a number of people out there that believe that [gluten sensitivity] is a fad because it’s difficult to prove,” Spinelli says. “My blood antibody test did show mild level sensitivity but some allergists don’t even agree that that’s a true allergy.”

Despite the lack of research on the issue, elimination expert Myer believes it’s possible that people like Spinelli are more prone to have food insensitivities due to the nature of the Standard American Diet (SAD) and the high levels of stress that are so common in American society.

“Stress can cause problems just as much as food can, so can eating on the run and not eating whole foods,” Myer says. “The SAD may exacerbate our sensitivity to these foods. When you’re not giving your body enough nutrition to support all the things it needs to do, the gut – which is the largest active immune organ in the body – becomes more permeable, it allows more [unwanted] things to pass through into the blood stream.”

Myer says the effects of this phenomenon are seen more and more as people around the world begin to trade traditional, locally sourced diets for processed convenience foods.

“A lot of indigenous cultures’ diets had a lot of naturally occurring pre-biotics and pro-biotics and things that were healthy for them,” Myer says. “Then with the [exportation of the SAD], they are eating less of these things, and more things like white bread and soda pop, and we’re seeing more incidences of food intolerances or sensitivities.”

The fact that eliminating foods that contain gluten, sugar, and corn usually results in a diet that is less processed is perhaps why so many people connect elimination diets and weight loss. Spinelli, whose blog features recipes and advice on how to maintain her diet, doesn’t seem to feel limited by her new way of eating.

“In other parts of the world they eat real food and make their own food from scratch they don’t buy the kind of junk we do,” Spinelli says. “When I started the blog, I couldn’t find a lot of info out there from people that were avoiding gluten, dairy, and sugar so I just decided to do my own thing and tweak recipes myself. Now I cook from scratch as much as possible.”

Flickr: HealthAliciousNess

The post Elimination Diets: Good Marketing or a Real Phenomenon? appeared first on EcoSalon.