The way that some folks talk about gluten, you’d think it was as bad as glyphosate, but that’s not necessarily the case. With folks sans celiac opting for a gluten-free diet left, right, and center, experts weigh in on whether or not this is a healthy choice.

For the one percent of the population who have celiac disease, an autoimmune condition that causes the small intestine to react to the presence of gluten by attacking itself and inhibiting the absorption of important nutrients, gluten is indeed a dangerous protein to consume.

Non-celiac gluten intolerances may not be as dangerous as celiac, but they can be uncomfortable, causing all manner of digestive and other health issues. These intolerances affect anywhere from 0.6 percent to over ten percent of the population, depending on who you ask. Some doctors even think that those who tolerate gluten are actually the anomaly; Dr. Steven Gundry, Founder of GundryMD and New York Times bestselling author of “The Plant Paradox,” notes that “a vast number” of people who do not have markers or genes for celiac are intolerant in some way to the protein.

It can be tough to know whether or not this applies to you, however; as Naturopathic Doctor Serena Goldstein explains, “It takes food about 24-72 hours to pass through our entire system, which is why if there’s someone who’s sensitive, they may not feel it right away.”

So What If You’re Not Gluten Intolerant?

A rapidly increasing number of people are switching to a gluten-free diet: according to a 2016 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine, between 2009 and 2014, the percentage of the population who ate gluten-free despite not having celiac disease more than tripled – and some medical professionals think that’s a bad idea, including the researchers behind the BMJ study that found that restricting gluten could have harmful health effects on people who don’t suffer from celiac disease.

But there’s more to these results than meet the eye. The researchers didn’t actually find that there were any health hazards to cutting gluten from your diet – what they found, rather, was that people weren’t replacing gluten-laden whole grains with healthy alternatives.

“We don’t need gluten to survive,” explains Dr. Amy Lee, Head of Nutrition for Nucific and Chief Medical Officer of a prestigious Southern California weight loss center. She notes that while whole grains are rich in B vitamins, iron, and fiber, you can easily get these nutrients from somewhere else.

“I don’t think it’s crucial for people to eat gluten-based whole grains,” she says. “You can certainly live without them. There are many alternative sources of fiber, not the least of which are nutrient-packed vegetables.”

The problem is that many who cut out gluten opt instead for overly processed gluten-free breads, pastas, and snacks. One Spanish study found that on average, those on gluten-free diets consumed significantly more calories and fat and less protein and fiber as their gluten-eating counterparts, an issue that Mark Hyman, MD, says is the fault of an overzealous food industry looking to capitalize on our tendency to “demonize” a food substance, whether it’s fat, carbs, or, in this most recent case, gluten.

“In a nutshell, this industry manipulates basic foods items and turns them into ‘Frankenfoods,’” says Hyman. “Don’t be fooled: Gluten-free junk food is still junk food loaded with artificial sugars, food coloring, added gums to help things stick together and additives to increase shelf life while decreasing yours.”

Gundry agrees.

“The best way to follow a gluten-free diet is to avoid the gluten-free aisle of the grocery store at all costs,” says Gundry. “That’s because the non-gluten replacements are more troublesome than gluten they replace.”

Is All Gluten Created Equal?

There’s also the matter of grains that may not contain as much gluten as conventional wheat. Goldstein notes that if she advocates for a gluten-free diet, it’s due in part to the poor quality of gluten products in the United States.

“Gluten processed in the U.S. is not of optimal quality,” she says. “There are people who are celiac and can eat bowls of pasta back in their native country (e.g. someone I knew had no problem when returning to Norway and her grandmother made pasta from scratch).”

“While in theory we should be able to eat everything, health concerns and food quality tend to hinder that option,” she continues.

But conventional wheat is not our only option. Alternative wheats, such as Kernza, a more sustainable perennial superwheat created by the Land Institute, or kamut, an ancient Khorasan wheat, are lower in gluten and higher in protein than conventional, thus making them more filling and leading you to lower your gluten intake substantially. A 2014 Italian study even showed that people with IBS tolerated kamut better than modern wheat, a major vote of confidence, especially considering the fact that, according to Dr. William Davis, “IBS has become nearly synonymous with ‘non-celiac gluten intolerance’ (NCGI), i.e., celiac disease-like symptoms but without the accompanying small intestinal destructive changes.”

The moral of this story is that while there’s nothing nutritionally wrong with opting out of gluten (whether you’re intolerant to it or not), choosing quality whole foods to replace your gluten-laden treats is the best course of action.

Related on EcoSalon
The Plant-Based Diet Heads to Primetime
Uh-Oh, Paleo Dieters – Were Our Ancestors Actually Vegan?
Is Dieting Making America Fat?

The post Should You Be Eating Gluten-Free? Experts Weigh In appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnShould you eat gluten-free or is gluten sensitivity a myth? Maybe it’s time we re-framed the conversation.

The big headlines in the world of food media during the last couple of weeks were something along the lines of “gluten sensitivity isn’t a thing.” This was on account of new research out of Australia showing that non-Celiac gluten-sensitivity may not exist.

You can imagine what the internet did with that news.

It would be hard to deny that gluten-free has hit trendy status, with the variety of products, bakeries, restaurants and store devoted to gluten-free practices. And that annoys a lot of people, which meant that the reaction turned into an online mob of negativity.

Here are some of the headlines in reference to the new study:

“Being Gluten Free is Dumb – And Gluten Intolerance May Not Even Exist“

“Report: You’re Not Sensitive to Gluten, Dummy“

“Gluten Sensitivity is Apparently Bullshit“

Hello, nastiness! Granted, it’s the internet, so people are trying to get traffic, and all of those headlines are very clickable. But they’re also weighted down with some infantile name calling.

What are we to make of it all?

First let’s talk about the study. In 2011 Peter Gibson, a professor of gastroenterology at Monash University and director of the GI Unit at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia published a study which found that gluten affected people who didn’t have Celiac disease. This was research that was a strong argument for non-Celiac gluten sensitivity, in other words, people who wouldn’t have the debilitating reactions to gluten like those with Celiac, but nonetheless wouldn’t feel great eating it.

Like any good scientist, Gibson continued his research, and a few weeks ago published some new findings. His research group was comprised of people who had non-Celiac gluten sensitivity. They were all fed a high gluten, normal gluten, low gluten and placebo diet, each for a week period. The result was that Gibson and his team, “could find absolutely no specific response to gluten.”

Everyone jumped on that issue. Could we now all go back to eating doughnuts and bagels?

As usual, it’s not that simple.

What’s interesting about this study is what the researchers did think was causing the gastrointestinal issues: FODMAPs.

Wait, what? FODMAPs stands for Fermentable Oligo-Di-Monosaccharides and Polyols. Sorry, that’s still complicated. We’re talking certain preservatives like benzoates, propionate, sulfites, and nitrites, as well as things like lactose, fructose, and artificial sweeteners like sorbitol, mannitol.

While gluten didn’t affect the gastrointestinal issues of the individuals in the study, FODMAPs did. In fact according to Jessica Biesiekierski, a gastroenterologist and co-author of the study, “reduction of FODMAPs in their diets uniformly reduced gastrointestinal symptoms.”

You know what FODMAPs sound like? An ingredient list of processed food products. Something we all know we should avoid, whether we’re gluten-free or not. Take out all those additives and we feel better. It’s no surprise that this didn’t make the headlines.

Gluten has certainly been fueled by its rise to popularity. As Michael Pollan said, “Gluten, I think it’s a bit of a social contagion. I think that the number of people that are genuinely gluten-sensitive cannot be growing as fast as the market niche is growing.”

There’s no denying that argument, but while there is certainly a percentage of people who have jumped on the gluten-free train as a means of weight loss or as a “I want to be like all the cool kids,” there are plenty of people who have discovered that kicking conventional flour from their diet makes them feel better.

So be it.

We are all allowed to choose what we eat and don’t eat, especially if we don’t want to eat things that don’t make us feel good.

If we take a step back and look at the bigger picture for a moment, one thing is certain: as a culture we eat too much white processed flour and white processed sugar. Things that are inherently bad for us.

Personally, as someone who tends to avoid conventional flour it’s often in a search for a healthier less processed option, not because I have a crazy, severe reaction to gluten itself. Gluten-free cooking and baking for me means experimenting with buckwheat flour, seeing if I can make crackers out of ground almonds (yes, I can) and getting excited about putting quinoa in a cake. It means finding alternatives to processed food that I know isn’t good for me.

I recently went into a newly opened gluten-free bakery in Paris – Boulangerie Chambelland – and was thrilled when the owner excitedly told me about the rice and buckwheat flour that they were milling in their own mill in the south of France. The breads were beautiful and you could tell a lot of passion and energy had gone into launching a business to show that things can be done differently. The long term goal is to sell their flour in bulk in the bakery, so individuals have access to more than just industrial flour at the grocery store. That’s not a commitment to a trend, that’s a commitment to good ingredients.

I don’t have Celiac disease, and while I think I feel better without eating gluten, I don’t think I have a full-blown sensitivity (I would actually love to have been a participant Gibson’s study). But I do know that I won’t touch conventional white flour with a ten-foot pole. It’s not about being gluten-free, it’s about not using ingredients that are stripped of all of their nutritional value.

Which is also why I think that Gibson’s study aside, we should be skeptical of gluten-free food products. Some Girl Scout Cookies are now gluten-free cookies. Chex, the cereal that happens to be made from rice and not flour, rebranded in order to be more appealing to the gluten-free crowd. Turn a box of gluten-free crackers, cookies or any other product over and besides the omission of wheat flour, you might find almost the exact same ingredients as a box of regular cookies.

I think we can all agree that Girl Scout Cookies and Rice Chex do not a healthy diet make. Ultimately, gluten-free processed foods are still processed foods, and while it’s nice for people who are gluten intolerant to indulge in chips, crackers and cookies once in awhile, we shouldn’t let a gluten-free label mislead us into thinking that it’s the height of healthy living.

So what are we do to? Be gluten-free or not? That choice is a personal one, but as a culture we need to re-frame the question and the conversation.

If you’re pointing the finger and laughing at someone who chooses a gluten-free diet, you might as well be pointing that finger at yourself, because if you’re stuck on processed foods, and that includes pizza and doughnuts my friends, you are as bad off as anyone else.

It’s not about gluten-free bagels and regular bagels, it’s about what foods and ingredients actually make for a healthy diet. You know what that is? Not food products.

It’s real food.

Related on EcoSalon

The Gluten-Free Flour Guide

Sunday Brunch: Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls

Nutritional Breakdown: The Oreo Goes Gluten-Free

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Anna Brones

The post Is Being Gluten-Free Dumb or Not? Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

These gluten-free and vegan thickening agents will redefine your next creamy, decadent sauce or soup.

Often for a soup or sauce, I am reduced to making a “roux” – a mixture of equal parts butter and flour – to thicken the dish. Even after all the vegetable goodness thrown into the soup, there is that itchy overtone bringing down my dish’s nutritional integrity – the empty calories, gluten and lack of nutrition inherent in wheat flour. While it’s not the end of the world, I’d rather not mess up my plant-based flow with wheat and non-vegan butter. Fortunately, there are vegan and gluten-free thickening agents that can do the trick.

1. Arrowroot

Arrowroot is a powder-like starch that comes from the rhizomes of the Maranta arundinacea plant, commonly found in St. Vincent and Jamaica. It is a gluten-free, easy-to-digest starch that works well in sauces, gravies, pie fillings and puddings. Whisk arrowroot powder into a bit of cold water before adding to a hot liquid. Use 1/2 tablespoon per cup of liquid. Its flavor is neutral.

2. Cornstarch

Derived from the corn grain, cornstarch is already widely popular and called for in many recipes. Cornstarch is often preferred over flour to thicken sauces and soups, because it forms a translucent mixture, rather than an opaque one. However, cornstarch retains a slightly sweet overtone that may be sensed by the palate. To thicken a sauce, use ½ tablespoon per cup of liquid and let it sit for a minute before it thickens. For those abstaining from corn-derived products, arrowroot replaces cornstarch in a 1:1 ratio.

3. Guar Gum

Guar gum is the ground seeds of guar beans, which are de-husked, milled and screened before becoming guar gum. Grown mostly in India, guar gum is traditionally used as a thickener, binder and volume enhancer. It is stronger than arrowroot and cornstarch, so one cup of liquid requires only ¼ to ½ teaspoon.

4. Kuzu Root

A common ingredient used in macrobiotic recipes, kuzu root starch has long been considered medicinal by Eastern healers for more than 2,000 years. It is believed to cure common ailments, such as digestive and nervous system related problems. Use ½ teaspoon per cup of liquid. Whisk into a bit of cold water before adding to a hot liquid.

5. Tapioca

Tapioca starch derives from the Manioc root. Native to Northern Brazil, tapioca is now widely used around the world. It creates a jelly-like texture. Neutral in taste and a great thickener for low-temperature sauces or gravies, tapioca starch requires one tablespoon per cup of liquid. Whisk into a bit of cold water before adding to a hot liquid.

Aylin Erman is founder of GlowKitchen. There she shares step-by-step picture recipes of her plant-based creations. Aylin lives and works in Istanbul as a writer and editor at the country’s first-ever green-living and sustainability platform, Yesilist. Like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter to keep up with food news and recipes.

Related on EcoSalon:

The EcoSalon Gluten-Free Flour Guide

8 Substitutions for a Healthier Kitchen

Trying to Clean Up High Fructose Corn Syrup

Photo Credit: Hey Tiffany!

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ColumnHow does a foodie decide what to eat and what not to eat?

It was early in the morning, NPR was on, and my mother and I were sitting at my kitchen table drinking tea. An interview came on the radio with an executive of a certain well known specialty food chain that prides itself on healthy foods. He was describing his diet, which was something along the lines of vegan paired with an acronym that described a diet with no oil, low salt and no refined foods. I looked at my mother and we both rolled our eyes.

Before you judge me for judging someone else and their dietary choices let me say this: I am very conscious about what I eat, and so is my mother. I live in one of those gluten free, often vegan, a little bit of lamb tagine here and there kind of worlds. If I’m in a French bakery you can be sure that I will order a croissant, and pronounce it correctly. It has taken a long time, but I know what works best for my body. You know what else works best for my body: not existing in a world of black and white. Celebrating living. Call it French, call it European, whatever it is, it’s about enjoying what’s in front of you, the company that you’re with and the moment that you’re in.

We cut things out, we add them in. One week it’s no white flour the next it’s salt. If we’re lucky enough to be in a place where we can think about what we eat, the routine becomes about determining what works and what doesn’t work for us. But how good are we at really doing that? Temptation sets in and we can’t help but each for that flour/butter/sugar/egg concoction while a little voice in our head tells us that we should know better.

We go on our quinoa rampages, but even that isn’t great. Moral of the story: there is no right or wrong way to eat. There is merely identifying what works well for you, both physically and emotionally, and incorporating that into your daily routine, while at the same time maintaining a certain level of social grace.

Here’s the real problem: We live in a society where mass media tells us we have to look one way and fast food chains encourage us to eat another. That leads to an ongoing battle within ourselves where we feel so guilty about indulgences that our only alternative is to turn to overly strict diets. We can’t commit to the personal responsibility of cutting out most processed grains, so we end up on the Paleo diet. We can’t resist the temptation of a buttery baked good so we nix out any trace of dairy in what we eat. We’re not able to turn down a second glass of wine so we go on a booze-free cleanse. Do we live with dietary restrictions, or do we restrict our diet because we simply can’t trust ourselves to eat well? In a world that we know isn’t black and white, there’s a balance to be had somewhere in the middle, somewhere that allows us to live well and eat in moderation.

There are people with real food allergies; the kind of thing that they will die or get severely ill from. Then there are the rest of us. If a certain food makes you break out in hives, don’t eat it. But if you manage to find a balance where most of the time you eat well, don’t get down on yourself because of a moment of indulgence. We all have them and we all need them. Appreciation is as much a part of good food as preparation is.

Looking through a vintage cookbook from the 1950s, I was thinking about how much butter and sugar there was, and how many variations of cookie could be had in one book. But this was back when society wasn’t facing an obesity epidemic, people ate real and not processed foods, and if you made a batch of cookies, you ate one. Not seven. There’s a lesson to be learned somewhere in those pages.

Yes, we should all eat more kale, reduce our intake of meat and stick to whole grains, but our focus on specific ingredients or beneficial elements – hey! it’s packed with omega 3 AND antioxidants! – detracts from our understanding of real food. Diets let us oversimplify, reducing what we eat to individuals elements that all put together, don’t paint the full picture of who we’re eating with, where our food came from, its effect on the planet and a whole other laundry list of items. Eating is just as much about emotion as it is about physique.

Food is supposed to give us pleasure, and while a variety of different diets certainly provide a lot of pleasure, guilt is just as much a part of the problem as individual ingredients. Know what your body needs and eat it. Eat food with friends. Indulge on occasion. Remember that eating is a multidimensional process; celebrate it.

You know what Julie Child says? “Everything in moderation… including moderation.” I couldn’t agree more.

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

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Protein-packed and ahead of the grain gang.

I am a creature of habit when it comes to breakfast, but I often force myself to break the cycle for the sake of an exciting ingredient. Amaranth is a new find on my part, and it completely defied my expectations with its uber-light, yet creamy texture. This recipe turned out delicious and is definitely going to be repeated for a high-protein and high-fiber start to my day!

Amaranth is one-of-a-kind. Although it acts very much like a grain, it is actually the fruit of a plant. It boasts a nutritional profile that tallies off both the protein and fiber boxes – it is packed with 5 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein per cup. It contains up to 30% more protein than wheat flour, rice, and oats do. Amaranth is also free of gluten, which is inherent in many other grains, and it is a great source of the essential amino acid lysine, which is rather limited in other grains or plant sources. Cooked amaranth is 90% digestible, is high in vitamins and minerals and prevents disease, supports the immune system, prevents grey hair, and lowers blood pressure.

It is an unusually healthy food that you should experiment with, and why not for breakfast?

Amaranth Cereal Breakfast

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Serve with fruit. I chose fresh figs and bananas. I also added a teaspoon of no-sugar-added strawberry preserves for some extra sweetness and a sprig of mint for an aromatic touch.

Perfect way to start the day!

Bon Appetit!

The post Recipe: (Protein Packed) Amaranth Fruit Cereal appeared first on EcoSalon.

A childhood favorite revamped.

There’s something incredibly nostalgic about macaroni and cheese. Even if you rarely ate the meal as a kid, you most certainly recognized the commercials for the box brands and knew what it was. For me, mac & cheese was an after-school staple, a weekend lunch, a quick dinner that never fell short of filling the carb and cheese quota I necessitated as a youngster.

But it’s no nutritional powerhouse. Sure, advertisements can skirt the overall lack of nutrition with a “high in calcium!” banner, but last time I checked, just because something includes dairy ( e.g. ice cream, crème brûlée, pizza) doesn’t mean it’s a nourishing and balanced meal. Across the board – in both store-bought and homemade versions of it– macaroni and cheese has a lot of room for improvement in terms of nutritional benefit.

Using Kraft Macaroni & Cheese as an example, box brands include the likes of whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, salt, sodium tripolyphosphate, citric acid, sodium phosphate, lactic acid, milk, calcium phosphate, yellow 5, yellow 6, cheese culture, and enzymes. Artificial coloring and preservatives prevent the assimilation of nutrients and with often over 500 milligrams of sodium, box brands are blood pressure’s natural nemesis.

And while homemade macaroni and cheese both is better for you and can cut the sodium, enzymes and preservatives from the mix, the classic recipe made from scratch will include the following: white pasta, butter, plain white flour, milk, and grated cheese. White flour is essentially the result of having stripped everything useful from wheat, adding synthetic vitamins, and bleaching it. The vitamins in white flour are toxic, and because the flour is devoid of fiber, it passes slowly through the intestine, giving more time for the body to absorb the toxicities. The bleaching process also increases the flour’s gluten content. Additionally, the butter and cheese are by no means used scantily in homemade macaroni and cheese, so you can be sure the result is high in artery-clogging saturated fat, sodium, and the hard-to-digest animal milk protein, casein. To say the least, homemade macaroni and cheese is also no poster child for health.

Today, it’s hard to justify eating macaroni and cheese when little is to be gained (except for taste, of course). I’m all about eating what gives you pleasure, and if you are craving little white flour noodles flavored with powdered cheese every now and then, don’t hesitate to dig in! But there are times when the conscience outweighs the desire and when part of me wishes there were a healthier alternative. So, I created one.

This recipe is a vegan version of macaroni and cheese. The cheese has a sweet potato base. Skeptical? I was too until I tried it. The sweet potato is baked and mixed with mustard and nutritional yeast to give it the “cheesy” taste. Nutritional yeast is one of those ingredients that has changed my life. It’s the only plant-based source of vitamin B12, which is music to vegans’ ears. It is super versatile and one of the few ways to match the taste of cheese without using dairy. Combining the “cheese” with whole-grain or whole-wheat pasta, the result is a rich, satisfying macaroni and cheese experience, without the food baby to show for it.

Whole-Wheat Macaroni & Sweet Potato Cheese

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of cooked noodles (according to package instructions)
• 1/2 baked sweet potato
• 1/4 tsp mustard
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• Dash of salt
• Dash of freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast and 1/2 tbsp of olive oil for crust

In a medium-sized bowl combine the sweet potato half, juice of half a lemon, mustard, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, olive oil and salt and pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Fold 1 cup of cooked noodles into the sweet potato “cheese”.

Place the mixture into a serving-size baking dish.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast over the dish and drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil. This will allow the top to crisp while cooking.

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes, or until the top begins to brown. Serve and enjoy!

The result is super soft and creamy. Its flavors satisfy the sweet, salty, sour and bitter taste buds, making it a decidedly complete dish without you craving anything else, except for maybe more of what you just ate!

Bon Appetit!

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

Image: Pink Sherbert Photography

The post Nutritional Breakdown: Macaroni and Cheese Gets A Sweet Potato Revamp appeared first on EcoSalon.

Learn how to use 21 types of gluten-free flours, from sorghum to millet, and try out tempting recipes like Chocolate Amaranth Quinoa Cake.

Going gluten-free doesn’t have to mean giving up baked goods like bread, cakes, cookies and muffins – but it does make baking a considerably more complicated enterprise. Instead of just all-purpose flour, gluten-free recipes might call for four or more varieties of flour, some of which the new gluten-free cook might never have heard of. Here’s a quick rundown of the 21 most commonly used gluten-free flours, how they’re used and example recipes that are so drool-worthy, you won’t miss the wheat at all.
The best way to get started with gluten-free baking is to get a cookbook or browse recipes online, and start with a small variety of flours or a gluten-free flour mix. Some brands, like King Arthur and Bob’s Mill, are readily available at most supermarkets. You can find a wider variety at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and other natural food stores and online at Amazon.com, Jules Gluten Free and Authentic Foods.

Grain Flours

• Amaranth – Cultivated for over 8,000 years, amaranth was a staple food of the Aztecs and is rich in protein and amino acids.  Usually paired with other gluten-free flours like almond meal and arrowroot powder, amaranth flour is used in all kinds of baked goods, including pancakes and flatbread. Try adding additional flavorings or spices like cinnamon, vanilla or garlic to make up for amaranth’s relatively bland flavor. La Tartine Gourmet’s Chocolate Amaranth Quinoa Cake will tempt you into trying it.
• Corn – Perhaps the most familiar of the gluten-free flours, corn flour is simply finely milled corn, also known as masa harina. Be sure to purchase dedicated gluten-free corn flour from a brand like Bob’s Mill, since corn can be cross-contaminated with gluten-containing grains. Use it for the usual corn-based baked goods like cornbread or add it to pancakes, biscuits and cakes. Try Anna Brones’ recipe for Olive Oil, Sea Salt & Polenta Cake.
• Millet – Available in wide varieties like pearl, proso, foxtail, finger and teff, millet is a grass-like annual plant that packs a lot of protein. While it has traditionally been rare in the west, millet is easier to digest than many other grains, making its flour an increasingly popular choice for gluten-free cooking. These flours can be used as a substitute for sorghum or bean flours in recipes. It typically requires an added binder like xanthan gum to hold baked goods together. The New York Times has a recipe for gluten-free rice and millet flour crackers.
• Oat – Like corn, oats and oat flour must be purchased from manufacturers who certify that it’s gluten-free due to possible cross-contamination. With its natural sweet flavor, oat flour is ideal for pancakes, muffins and cakes. You can make your own simply by pulsing oats in a food processor. It’s a great flour for new gluten-free cooks to start out with, since it doesn’t necessarily need to be mixed with other flours to produce a desirable result. Check out this recipe for healthy Banana Walnut Oat Flour pancakes at SparkPeople.
• Rice – Made from either white or brown rice, rice flour also has a sweet flavor and is sometimes used as a one-to-one substitute for wheat flour, though it’s most often paired with other gluten-free flours. It’s a great choice for breading, since it fries or bakes up nice and fluffy. Rice flour absorbs a lot of liquid, so you may need to adjust the amount of liquid if you’re adapting a wheat flour-based recipe. It can also be crumbly, requiring the addition of a thickener like arrowroot powder. Don’t confuse rice flour with sweet rice flour, which is a highly starchy flour used to thicken sauces. Try Gluten Free Goddess’ Whole Grain Strawberry Muffins, which also includes almond, sorghum and coconut flour.
• Sorghum – Sweet sorghum is a popular ingredient in gluten-free baking mixes, lending a texture that’s close to whole wheat flour. It’s not ideal to use on its own, especially since it can be hard to digest and doesn’t contain complete proteins. Try a recipe for Artisanal Sorghum Bread at Gluten Free Girl.

Bean Flours

• Chickpea – Rich in protein, chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour yields a thick, moist texture when mixed with water, making it a suitable egg replacer in many recipes. It’s also great for breading and is often used to fry up Indian pakoras. Unroasted chickpea flour, known as besan, has a strong bean scent and flavor while European chickpea flour, made of roasted chickpeas, is more subtle. Use it to make the traditional French street food Socca – thin, chewy pancakes drizzled with olive oil.
• Soy – Soy flour is made from crushed raw soybeans and packs 23.5 grams of protein in a half-cup. It can be used as a one-to-one substitute for wheat flour, but it does brown more easily, so watch baking times carefully. Soy flour and rice flour come together to create some killer chocolate chip cookies in Brenda B’s recipe at Food.com.

Grass Flours

• Buckwheat – With a strong, fairly bitter flavor, buckwheat can easily overwhelm a recipe, so it’s usually mixed with other flours. Despite its name, buckwheat isn’t actually related to wheat at all, and is entirely gluten-free and a rich source of antioxidants. It’s often used to make pancakes, crepes and soba noodles. Try it in Figgy Buckwheat Scones from Kim Boyce’s cookbook, Good to the Grain, and Anna Brones’ Buckwheat Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies.
• Montina – Made from milled Indian rice grass, Montina flour is one of the lesser-known gluten-free flours and can be hard to find. It’s sometimes included as an ingredient in gluten-free flour blends. High in fiber and protein, Montina is grown and processed in Montana, hence the name.
• Wild Rice – Dark brown to black seeds from aquatic grasses we call “wild rice” are milled into a tan-colored flour with a soft texture and a nutty flavor. It’s not a terribly common ingredient in gluten-free cooking, but some bakers like to experiment with it. Add it to other flours in recipes for muffins, breads, scones, pastries and pancakes.

Nut Flours

• Almond – Just as rich, nutty and satisfying as you’d expect, almond flour is typically added to other flours in small quantities. It’s soft and light, just the texture you want in a lot of baked goods. Almond flour is a starring ingredient in Gluten Free Goddess’ recipe for blueberry muffins.
• Chestnut – Finely ground chestnuts will bring the flavors of fall into sweet and savory dishes. Chestnut flour is popular in the south of France, where it’s used to make crepes and other patisseries. It’s also the star of a Corsican treat called Torta Pisticcina. Try making your own chestnut flour madeleines. It can be used to substitute up to 1/4 cup of wheat flour in standard recipes.
• Coconut – High in fiber and low in carbohydrates, coconut flour is very light and dry, soaking up moisture like a sponge. Its super-fine texture means you should measure it a bit differently than most other flours, scooping it from the container with a measuring cup rather than pouring it in. Learn more about coconut flour at Nourished Kitchen, and try it in our Fig and Coconut Walnut Cake.

Seed Flours

• Flax – While this isn’t technically a flour but rather a meal, finely ground flaxseed is yet another ingredient sometimes added to gluten-free baking mixes to impart flavor, texture and nutrients. It can also be used as an egg substitute. Try it with slivered almonds, dried cherries and dried cranberries in simple, tasty Power Bars at Elana’s Pantry, or whole flaxseed in Anna Brones’ recipe for Five Seed Crackers with Olive and Cilantro Tapenade.
• Hemp – Here’s another highly digestible, protein-packed flour with a lot of flavor. Hemp seed flour is dark and nutty, and works best in baked goods that are strongly flavored so it doesn’t overpower the other ingredients. Try it in Happy Hemp Protein Loaves by Marni Wasserman.
• Salba – Ground salba (chia) seeds are another great substitute for both eggs and flour.  You can make your own by grinding chia seeds in a coffee grinder or food processor. Use 3 parts of another gluten free flour with 1 part chia flour to substitute wheat flour in recipes.
• Quinoa – This is the highest-protein flour there is, and it’s tasty, too. It is often mixed with other flours, and goes well with almond meal, soy flour and buckwheat flour as well as bean flours. When replacing a considerable amount of flour in a recipe with quinoa flour, it’s generally best to reduce the cooking time and temperature, and increase the amount of moisture in the recipe. Try it in Sweet Quinoa Flour Muffins by Green Chi Cafe.

Root Flours

• Potato – Ground from cooked, dehydrated whole potatoes, this rich, starchy flour can be pretty heavy and definitely imparts a potato flavor on anything it’s used in. But that can be a good thing, depending on what you’re cooking. It’s often used as a thickener in soups and stews and can add moisture to baked goods when used in small amounts. It’s slightly different from potato starch flour, which is more processed, made of only the starchy part of the potato. Potato starch flour has a blander flavor and fewer nutrients. The Cup That Cheers has a 1929 recipe for Potato Flour Muffins.
• Arrowroot – Ground from the root of a plant that grows in the West Indies, arrowroot flour is fine and powdery and thickens into a jelly-like texture when mixed with water. It can be used as a cornstarch substitute, a thickening agent or as a flour substitute in a ratio of one teaspoon of arrowroot powder to one tablespoon of wheat flour. Check out Nourishing Traditions’ Gluten-Free Almond Cookies recipe at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
• Tapioca – Commonly known as tapioca starch, this flour is made from ground cassava root and is most often used as a thickener and binding agent. Authentic Foods has a recipe for Pao de Queijo, Brazilian Cheese Bread, that uses primarily tapioca powder along with parmesan cheese, milk and eggs. Check out Gluten Free Girl’s Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls.

Photo: Andrea_Nguyen

The post The Gluten Free Flour Guide appeared first on EcoSalon.

Big Macs aren’t good for you. You’d think the world would know this by now, but more often than not we witness McDonalds drive-thru traffic jams that our own friends and family are in. It’s one thing to hear, to know better, to understand; and it’s another thing to internalize, accept, and react accordingly. So let me say this again: Big Macs aren’t good for you and here are some reasons why.

An Icon is Born

In 1967, McDonald’s franchisee Jim Delligatti began to serve double-decker cheeseburgers on a double-cut bun in an effort to find a way to structure the messiness caused by the company’s token “special sauce.” Expanding from its humble beginnings in Uniontown, PA to locations across the nation as soon as the next year, the new burger was labeled the “Big Attraction” with its two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions and sesame-seed bun. Today, the Big Mac has come to be a symbol of everything stereotypically American – capitalism, commercialism, and gluttony.

The original sales price of the iconic Big Mac was 45 cents, compared to the current $3.00, and today McDonald’s sells as many as 550 million Big Macs per year in the U.S., with a scope of some 120 countries.

The Fat Facts

Let’s talk about the one of the Big Mac’s biggest offenses: fat. A Big Mac is by no means a stranger to it. Each serving packs 550 calories, 260 calories of which come from fat. That’s nearly half of the entire burger’s calories and 45 percent of your daily balance! And of this whopping 29 grams of fat, 10 grams are saturated and 1.5 grams are trans. A Big Mac also contains 75 mg cholesterol, which is 25 percent of your daily allowance. And similarly alarming is the Big Mac’s sodium content. Each serving contains 1,070 milligrams.

Now, if you’ve done some of your own research, don’t be fooled by the Big Mac’s apparent virtuous side. According to the nutritional profile made available by McDonalds itself, each serving contains 3 grams of dietary fiber, 25 grams of protein and offers 6, 2, and 25 percent of our daily vitamin A, C and calcium requirements. Sounds positive, right?

It is important to keep in mind that not all nutrients are the same across the board, and this supposed uplifting aspect to the Big Mac is shadowed by its downsides as well as the quality of its ingredients. For example, the protein you get from animal products differs substantially from the protein you receive from plants, in terms of quality, assimilation, and overall health benefits. The fiber, protein and vitamins in a Big Mac are frankly not that compelling.

If You Can’t Pronounce It, Don’t Eat It

Given the stats, it doesn’t take a wild guess to know the Big Mac is compromising big time in the ingredients department.

Among the many ingredients that make up the Big Mac bun, for example, are high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, calcium silicate, wheat gluten, emulsifier (mono- and diglycerides, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of fatty acids, ethanol, sorbitol, polysorbate 20, potassium propionate), sodium stearoyl lactylate, dough conditioner (corn starch, ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfate, calcium peroxide, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, enzymes), and calcium propionate (preservative).

That’s a mouthful.

Aside from the fact that most of those are nearly impossible to pronounce at first go, many of these ingredients are dangerous. Azodicarbonamide is even banned in some countries around the world because it is a respiratory sensitizer and may harm people with asthma or those prone to allergies – to say nothing of the obvious culprits in the list, such as high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.

The “special sauce” is indeed special – for its creepy add-ins, that is. The sauce includes high fructose corn syrup, sugar, the preservatives propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, and hydrolyzed (corn gluten and wheat) proteins.

And if you knew what any of that actually meant, you’d realize “hydrolyzed proteins” is just a fancy way of spelling out monosodium glutamate, or the infamous MSG. The flavor enhancer, MSG, has been picking up a lot of heat these days, because it is reported to cause headaches, flushing, sweating, numbness, a rapid heart beat, chest pain, nausea, and weakness, among other things. The sauce also contains the fertility-damaging polysorbate 80 and its preservatives are known to inhibit nutrient absorption – if, of course, there were any particularly beneficial nutrients to speak of in the Big Mac to begin with.

Best of the Worst

On a positive note, the only time you should eat a Big Mac is by association. A Whopper contains 760 calories and 47 grams of fat, a Wendy’s quarter-pound single with cheese has 500 calories and 26 grams of fat, a Hardee’s Thickburger comprises 910 calories and 64 grams of fat, a Sonic Cheeseburger with mayo packs 700 calories and 42 grams of fat, and a 10-sack of White Castle sliders has 1,700 calories and 90 grams of fat. But that’s the only health list a Big Mac will top.

So, instead of rolling through the drive-thru, consider making a homemade, “real” version of a burger.

Vegan Chickpea Burger

Serves 5

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas, mashed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large white onion
• 2 hot peppers (or 1 jalapeno)
• 2 scallions
• 2 garlic gloves
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1.5 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 3 tbsp ground oats
• Buns, avocado, tomato, red onion, and lettuce for garnish

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

Image: Leo Almighty

The post The Breakdown: Looking at the Nutrional Value of a Big Mac 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.

In the relatively short amount of time I have been on a gluten free diet, the wheat free and gluten free marketplace has become a booming business. It’s not surprising, since Celiac Disease affects 1 out of 133 people. But, what is surprising is that 97 percent of people with Celiac Disease go undiagnosed. And according to the Mayo Clinic, “young people today are more than four times as likely to have Celiac Disease than was the case 60 years ago.”

Celiac Disease should not be mistaken with a food or wheat allergy. It is an autoimmune disease and digestive disorder based on the severe intolerance of gluten found in all forms of wheat. And once you start looking, wheat is in everything – from less obvious foods like soups, soy sauce, licorice, ice cream and salad dressings, to obvious foods like bread, cereal and crackers.

While four years ago I scratched my head in bewilderment wondering what in the world I was going to eat, now I am able to find an ample amount of pre-made foods, companies, grocery stores and personal care products that cater to those with wheat and gluten intolerance. I had no idea (nor did a slew of specialists I visited in my search for the answer to my woes) that the culprit of my intense health maladies was an unsuspecting grain that looks so carefree blowing in the breeze. Turns out, I’m not alone. Most people with Celiac Disease as well as wheat allergy sufferers are clueless as to why they are in ill health.

Some symptoms of Celiac Disease, which may appear at any time in a person’s life, include: recurring bloating, gas or abdominal pain, migraine headaches, nausea, and fatigue, weakness or lack of energy, among many others. Celiac Disease/wheat allergies are often confused with IBS or food poisoning.

The complex structure of wheat makes it very difficult to digest. If you have been suffering from unexplainable symptoms, you might consider talking to your doctor or nutritionist about trying a wheat free diet to see if your health improves.

A word to the wise: the blood test administered to determine whether you have Celiac Disease does not always produce an accurate result. Go with your gut… literally. If you feel better not eating wheat, avoid it! Doing so will take research and education, but it’s getting easier and easier to forgo the grain.

Image: Vox Humana

The post Can You Stomach Wheat? How Giving up Grain May Better Your Health appeared first on EcoSalon.