Monthly Archives: December 2010

Gluten Free Cookie Fun

Walking into The G's Healthy Gourmet with a couple of borrowed kids I am greeted by the sounds of Christmas carols playing over the speakers and the sight of children rolling dough and sprinkling flour. Tiffany, the Pastry Chef, and her husband, Nick, the Executive Chef at The G's, greet us at the door. We settle at a table while Tiffany brings us our supplies…rolling pins, a block of cookie dough, a bowl of her own specialty gluten-free flour, cookie cutters, milk (because what goes better with cookies than milk?) and a plate of cookies to munch on while we are working.

Rolling out the slightly cold dough and pressing the cutters into it is a lot of fun for the kids. It's hard to get the cold dough started, the adults help get things going. Some of the children seem to really like the idea of flouring the table, the rolling pin, the dough, the floor; Tiffany assures the adult guests that they have someone coming in to clean up after the event is over. Rolling, cutting, reshaping and re-rolling the dough, the kids are having a lot of fun. Excitedly chattering away about the choices of cookie cutters they are using the children quickly fill up their baking trays. After getting each child to initial their parchment paper lined tray Tiffany and Eric, her assistant, take the cookies back into the kitchen and slide them into the oven.

Ten long agonizing minutes. Waiting and waiting for those cookies to come out of the oven. Playing with flour. Making shapes out of left over dough. Is it ten minutes yet? Are the cookies ready yet?

Then the wait is over and the warm cookies arrive. A pretty pile of holiday shapes all waiting for their final transformation. With them come bowls of fluffy frosting (a serious temptation for little fingers), parchment paper frosting-filled bags and the excitement of creating a masterpiece.

It was clearly obvious that everyone, kids, parents, the folks at The G's, had a good time. Each child went home with their cookies carefully placed into a stack of take-out boxes, proudly carrying the haul of their handmade creations. What a sweet way to start the holiday season.

What’s In Your Water?

by Miraadditives, ingredients, labeling, water

Water | Abhijit Tembhekar | Wikimedia Commons

Everyone seems to be drinking more water these days, that's a good thing. Unfortunately though many kids are drinking flavored water drinks that are presented as healthy. You know the ones I'm talking about. They come with names like Vitamin Water and Fruit2O. Let's not even start with the whole sports drink issue.

I was horrified when the pediatrician told my daughter that she needed to add more water to her diet, suggesting that she start drinking Propel. My daughter was thrilled and turned to me with a gleeful look on her face that faded when she saw my expression.

I am continually amazed at how manipulated we are by manufacturers. There is no other way to say this other than to just say it. Water is water period end of story. Why are they trying to fancy it up with all sorts of chemical additives for color and flavor, and why are they adding preservatives. Preservatives? What's in water than needs preserving?

Are many of us dehydrated? I believe the answer is yes. Do we need 8 glasses of water per day? That depends on what your bio-individual needs are. If you live in a climate that causes you to lose a lot of moisture or you exercise a lot or you don't eat high moisture foods and take in other liquids it all adds up. However I also believe that by the time we feel thirsty we are generally more dehydrated than we realize.

Dehydration is known to cause headaches, can lead to worsening asthma, hypertension and other health issues. Proper hydration is also key to helping the body eliminate toxins. That is why it's important to make sure that we are getting enough fluids to stay well hydrated. Breathing, digesting, sweating, and excreting all cause us to lose fluids.

If what we need is to stay well hydrated what we do not need is all of the extra chemicals that come with most packaged water drinks. Not only that if you look at the label you will see that they are misleading you by claiming to only have a certain number of calories. What you need to remember is to look at the label and see how many calories are in a serving and how many servings are in a bottle. One bottle of VitaminWater has 50 calories and 13g of sugar per serving. The label purports to contain 2.5 servings per bottle. Most people I know drink the whole bottle; that means 125 calories and over 32g of sugar per bottle. And those are empty calories. Providing no nutritional value and not filling you up at all.

Let me give you a hint, there are no calories in water. If you are looking for a little flavor in your water consider adding a slice of fresh fruit, a squeeze of citrus, a slice of cucumber, or a sprig of mint. These all add a lot of flavor without adding sugar, calories, “natural flavors”, or other chemicals. Just drink water. It's what your body needs.

Recipe Calendar

by Mirarecipes

I'm excited beyond words.

That image to the left? It's a recipe calendar…my recipe calendar. Put together with the favorite, most loved recipe posts of this past year.

This is the first time I have ever set them down in glossy-print-and-photo; I'm so happy to see and hold this calendar, for me it represents another professional step forward.

One of the neat things about it is the CD style case which presents each month upright in the holder. On the back of each month is a recipe. When the year is over the cards are sized to fit in a regular 4″ x 6″ recipe card box making them easy to keep and use year after year.

If you're looking for a great gift or stocking stuffer (for yourself or for someone else) I'd be more than thrilled if you would choose to give one of these. Ordering is as simple as clicking on the button in the left sidebar.

Wishing you and yours a happy healthy holiday season. Thanks for all of your support and encouragement over the last 12 months, it's been great and I look forward to the next twelve.

Winter And Vitamin D

by Mirahealth, immune system, questions, seasons

Recently I have been getting a number of emails with questions about vitamin D; I'm sure it's generated by all of the press about the changing recommended levels, levels of exposure and how important it is for our health.

Where to get Vitamin D

Vitamin D, known as the “sunshine vitamin” is a fat-soluble vitamin produced in the skin by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) type B rays. For food sources we can look to fatty fish and eggs as a good source of vitamin D. It is often added to milk.

I have a personal theory that part of the reason behind the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency is that our parents were forced to take cod liver oil by their parents. They hated it so much they decided not to give it to their kids. The science of the times did not recognize how important cod liver oil was and it was considered “old-fashioned.” As a result of this, I, and many others of my generation, grew up not taking it. So we didn't give it to our kids. While I'm not sure how much scientific veracity there is to that theory it certainly seems to fit the current situation. Decreased cod liver oil consumption combined with reduced sunshine/increased sunscreen and suddenly many people, including pregnant women and their infants, are deficient.

The importance of Vitamin D

Why all of the scientific attention to vitamin D lately? It turns out that it's very important for our health and there are significant consequences to being deficient. Not only does vitamin D help support our bone structure, it's vital to immune system health, increasing activity of our natural killer cells and macrophages. Many studies now show that it may help protect against cancer, cardiovascular disease and there are even suggestions that vitamin D deficiency may be a contributing factor to increased influenza rates during the winter months.

How much should I take?

One question I recently received about vitamin D was concerned with how much to take:

“I was taking 400 IU but a while back started reading about re-examined attitudes toward D and upped it to 2,000 IU. Then I thought that might be too much so I am currently taking 1,000 IU. Your thoughts?”

Here's a little information to help you understand vitamin D better.

I believe, and the studies support, that we do not get enough and that the levels set by the government are too low. If you wear sunscreen you need to be aware that SPF8 and over will effectively block UV-B; this means your body cannot synthesize D from sunlight.

If you do not get enough outdoor exposure, are over 60 years of age (our ability to synthesize D decreases as we age), and/or live in northern latitudes you are probably not getting enough vitamin D. Someone who lives in New England or further north generally does not get sufficient vitamin D during the winter months and can become deficient. Especially if they did not have sufficient stores to begin with.

How to find out if you need more? You need to get a blood test. It is important to get the 1,25 OH-dihydroxy, not the 25(OH) vitamin D to find out what your levels are. Taking between 2,000-5,000 IU per day is not unreasonable, especially in the winter.

Osteomalacia (vitamin D deficiency) is often treated with 5,000-50,000 IU for three to six months. Once a good level is reached doctors usually drop people to 1,500-2,000 per day. Most doctors aim for at least 30-40 ng/dL (nanograms per deciliter) although many Functional Medicine practitioners prefer a level of 50-80 ng/dL. It is important to note that too much vitamin D can be just as bad for you as too little, which is why it is important to get tested and know what your levels are.

How to get vitamin D

When you take vitamin D is it best to take it as vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) combined with K2 which is the most effective form. D2 (ergocalciferol) is not as effective.

I personally prefer to take a sublingual D3/K2 liquid formulation to make sure that I am getting the best possible absorption. A combined liquid formulation also ensures that I am getting a synergistic balance of the proper amounts of D3 to K2.

The very best way to get your vitamin D? Get sunshine. Whenever possible get 15-20 minutes per day before you put on your sunscreen.

More Information

Here are a few other resources which provide good information about vitamin D: