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April/May 2008
Features
Natural Cleaning Products Lead To a Healthier Home
Subscribers OnlyEllen Sandbeck cleans her whole house with vinegar, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. On special occasions, like when in-laws are due, she pulls out a bottle of cheap vodka. Not to imbibe. To disinfect, polish and shine. “You can clean almost everything with these,” says Sandbeck, author of Organic Housekeeping (Schribner). “Most households contain dozens of unnecessary cleaning products and most of them are costly and dangerous.” Sandbeck, 50, of Duluth, Minnesota, is an expert at organic landscaping, gardening and vermicomposting (she grows and sells composting worms). Known as the “Non-toxic Avenger,” she made the decision to go natural over two decades ago, in large part for health reasons. “I was an allergic kid from an allergic family,” she says. “One summer, I had a skin reaction to the sun. Another summer, I reacted to grass. I had an allergy to apricots. Then I was allergic to dogs – and I really, really wanted a dog when I was a child,” she says. She outgrew many of her sensitivities but still cannot eat chocolate or shrimp.
6 Favorite Natural Cleaning Solutions
Subscribers OnlyMake a natural polish by mixing one teaspoon lemon juice with two cups vegetable oil. Place a small amount on a clean, dry cloth. Rub polish into the grain and buff.
Allergy Safe Home Cleaning Product Labels
Subscribers OnlyTwo of the biggest health hazards in your home are under your kitchen sink—drain cleaner and oven cleaner. Other household products also contain chemical additives that are harmful and should be avoided, says chemist Martin Wolf of Seventh Generation. Examples of three dangerous additives that are widely used. Butoxyethanol (butyl cellosolve, butyl oxitol, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether) Used in many glass cleaners, all-purpose cleaning sprays and abrasive cleaners, this additive is a neurotoxin that can depress the nervous system. Manufacturers instruct consumers to “use in a well-ventilated room.”
Buy These Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Products Now!
Subscribers OnlyThere are many environmentally friendly cleaning products on the market today. Here are some resources to get you started on maintaining a healthier indoor environment.
Research Roundup: Plastic Bottle, Celiac Disease and Antibiotics
A widely used chemical, bisphenol A, or BPA, has been making headlines recently. BPA is used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastics are used in food and beverage packaging, including water bottles and baby bottles; epoxy resins are used to line metal food cans and in some dental materials, such as sealants and composites. It's a difficult chemical to avoid; in a study published in 2005, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found BPA in the urine of 95 percent of the participants. Many animal studies suggest an association between BPA and numerous health concerns. These include insulin resistance and early puberty, as well as problems with the immune system, fertility and other (male and female) reproductive tract issues.
Classic Gluten-Free Recipes From The Experts
For those who love every aspect of food, life doesn’t get much better than spending a weekend at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), the prestigious culinary and pastry arts college. Only one thing tops it—a gluten-free weekend at the CIA. From a four-star dining experience to an all-day gluten-free baking class, this was a veritable busman’s holiday for someone with celiac disease (like me). I started my culinary adventure on Friday night with dinner at CIA’s American Bounty Restaurant, a working classroom for professional culinary students. Here a team of attentive students doted on me, arriving in pairs to present the evening’s specials, wine recommendations and a special list of items that were gluten free.
Gluten-Free Baking Tips
Gluten-free breads benefit from added moisture during the first five minutes of baking. To add a burst of steam, throw a few ice cubes onto the bottom of a preheated oven or place a small pan of water, about ½-inch deep, on the lowest rack when bread first goes into the oven.
Get Cooking Gluten-Free!
Use this contact information to begin your gluten-free baking adventure.
Departments
Life Story
A New Game Plan for Eating Gluten and Dairy Free
First Down Star quarterback Rich Gannon’s record-breaking career with the Oakland Raiders ended abruptly in 2004 when his neck was injured from a hard hit on the playing field. An NFL Most Valuable Player who took the Raider’s to the Super Bowl in 2003, he’s now retired from football and working as an NFL television analyst for CBS. Rich isn’t the only person in the Gannon family whose medical issues have brought major lifestyle changes. Over the years, after many months of ill health, wife Shelley discovered that she and their two daughters, Alexis, 13, and Danielle, 10, have food sensitivities. Today, the family eats gluten and dairy free. Field Position It started in 1997 when Danielle was a new baby. She was losing weight and seriously sick with diarrhea and vomiting, bloated and crying constantly.
Play it Safe When Reacting to Bee Stings
Rebecca Cunningham wasn’t overly concerned when her daughter, Sophy, was stung on the bottom of her bare foot by a yellow jacket. As an emergency room doctor at the University of Michigan Health Center, Cunningham tended to minimize most of the childhood scrapes that Sophie and her younger sibling, Ella, endured. Compared to what Cunningham saw at work every day, a bee sting was nothing. She lifted her daughter onto a picnic table, calmly examined her foot, put some ice on the sting and comforted the whimpering little girl. That summer two years ago, Cunningham, her husband John, and their two young girls were camping with extended family in a remote spot in a national park in Michigan. Hiking into the woods miles away from city noise and the stress of high pressure jobs was something this family, which resides in Ann Arbor, loved to do. Sophy had been stung once before. This was no big deal.
Surprising Dairy-Free Alternatives
When Rachael Epstein, owner of Sprout organic hair salon in Baltimore, Maryland, discovered that her 4-month old son, Ezra, was allergic to cow’s milk, she went on a hunt to find a substitute. For a while, she tried a soy-based formula but he reacted to it in the same way, with constant congestion and alarming episodes of breathing difficulties. Ezra’s pediatrician didn’t believe the formula was the problem — he diagnosed the baby with asthma. But after Ezra was rushed to the emergency room one night because he couldn’t breathe, Epstein changed physicians. Ezra’s new doctor, a naturopath, took Ezra off the soy formula and all dairy products and recommended rice milk. Ezra liked it and, fortunately, it didn’t cause a reaction. The difference was notable. On dairy or soy formula, Ezra suffered constant allergy-induced asthma attacks. After quitting both, the episodes stopped. The doctor’s advice to quit dairy and soy and start on rice milk “was single-handedly responsible for curing Ezra,” Epstein says, who adds that her son was a skinny baby. For the next five years, Ezra, now almost seven, continued drinking rice milk. Although generally healthy, he was underweight. He just couldn’t seem to put on the pounds the way his dairy-consuming friends did.
Dairy Free Alternatives
Consult with your health practitioner prior to making a dietary change. For more information about alternative milk products, check out these sources.
Allergic or Sensitive to Milk?
Allergy to milk proteins (casein and/or whey) is not to be taken lightly. “When someone is allergic, they must avoid dairy foods completely or they will have a reaction, either immediately or within two hours. The reaction involves histamine,” says Maryland-based nutritionist, Kelly Dorfman. Symptoms can include wheezing, vomiting, hives, angioedema (fluid collection that causes swelling) and anaphylaxis — an immediate, acute reaction that can cause severe breathing difficulty, loss of consciousness and, in rare cases, death.
So Good
Substitution Solutions for Wheat, Dairy, Eggs and Sugar
Subscribers OnlyBaking can become a daunting task when standard ingredients like wheat, eggs, dairy or sugar are no longer an option. The following tips and suggestions from chef Rebecca Reilly will restore confidence in the kitchen and help you create baked goods that everyone will love. If you’re just beginning a special diet, expect a little trial and error as you master the basics of using new ingredients. Baking is a science and experimenting is part of the fun. Once you determine which ingredients work best for you, enjoy the sweet taste of success. Bake on!
Allergy Free Baking Secrets
Subscribers OnlyFor improved smoothness and crumb structure, add an extra egg or egg white to your recipe. When adding one egg, reduce the other liquid in your recipe by 2 to 3 tablespoons.
Allergy-Free Breakfast Muffins
Wake up to a delicious new morning ¡¦ and a healthier one, too. Here¡¯s the recipe for an allergy-free way to start the day. Begin with alternative flours, like Montina, teff, coconut and gluten-free oats, to fortify your baked goods with extra fiber and protein. Then toss in generous amounts of wholesome ingredients, like blueberries, coconut, carrots and flax, to ensure a supply of antioxidants, essential nutrients and vitamins. Finally, banish all gluten and dairy. Eggs, too, if you choose. The result? Fresh, flavorful muffins that turn your early meal into a breakfast of champions.
Gluten-Free Muffin Toppings
Subscribers OnlyMake your muffins extra-special with a topping. Before baking, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, chopped nuts, chocolate bits or this crumb topping.
Gluten-Free Flour Blend
Subscribers OnlyThis gluten-free flour blend is a great all-purpose baking mix.
Gluten-Free Ingredient Shopping Resources
Subscribers OnlyCan’t find an ingredient? Shop at these resources...
7 Tips to Making Perfect Muffins
Subscribers OnlyMost muffin recipes use a 12-cup pan which holds about 1/3 cup batter in each tin. These regular-size muffins usually bake in 20 to 30 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven. For larger muffins, increase baking time by about five minutes; for smaller, decrease by five minutes. Mini-muffins bake in about 15 minutes.
Recipes For a Healthy Altenative to Sugar
This fragrant product ranges in taste from mild to penetratingly assertive. It can be light in color or deep amber, depending on the nectar the bees favor. Honey is easily digested, has antimicrobial properties, contains traces of important nutrients and antioxidants and is a carbohydrate source that’s easy on blood sugar levels. As an all-natural food, honey imparts a bold, textured sweetness to baked goods. With its concentrated flavor, a small amount packs a big punch. You’ll use less of it than sugar to get the same sweetness.
Honey Frosting
Crystallized honey, also called creamed honey, makes a delicious all-natural frosting. Purchase crystallized honey from your local bee farmer, co-op or grocery store. For potential immune system benefits, look for locally produced raw honey.
Substitution Solutions for Eggs and Dairy
Can’t eat eggs or dairy? There are alternatives for these popular ingredients. Here are tips for baking egg free and dairy free...
Honey and Pollen Allergies
Although no published research confirms it, pollen allergies are said to be helped by consuming local honey.
Laura’s Gluten-Free Flour Blend
You can create your own flour blend to suit your taste or try this one.
Food Allergy Awareness Milestones
This year as spring unfolds, I’m reminded that life is full of milestones – another graduation in the family, another wedding, another big birthday. Those of us with food allergies or sensitivities share other kinds of benchmarks: the day of our first major reaction, the day we were diagnosed, the first time we finally felt that we controlled our condition versus it controlling us. In the 1990s when I was diagnosed with celiac disease and went gluten free, I lived on dry rice cakes and wheat-free corn bread. If I dined out, I ordered a plain hamburger patty or grilled fish and baked potato. The only way to get any product variety was to order by mail.
Sugar-Free Dessert Recipes You Will Love!
Dessert can be just as scrumptious—and a whole lot healthier—when it’s made without white sugar or artificial sweeteners. Try using wholesome alternatives, like agave, maple syrup, or tapioca syrup. You'll find that these natural sweeteners bake up treats that are rich, flavorful and satisfying. So go ahead and indulge. These recipes are also deliciously free of gluten and dairy.
Sugar-Free Black Forest Tapioca Pudding
Here’s a yummy twist on traditional tapioca pudding, deliciously updated with rich chocolate and tart cherries.
Gluten-Free Flour Blend for Sugar Free Desserts
A quick recipe for a gluten-free flour blend needed for some of our sugar-free dessert recipes.
House Call
QA- Allergies and Food Sensitivities
FOOD ALLERGIES AFFECT MORE THAN 12 MILLION AMERICANS, INCLUDING 6 PERCENT OF CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF THREE. ALLERGIC REACTIONS CAN RANGE FROM MILD TO ANAPHYLAXIS, A SERIOUS CONDITION THAT CAN CAUSE HIVES, SWELLING, NAUSEA, CLOSING OF THE BREATHING PASSAGES AND EVEN DEATH. THERE IS NO CURE, JUST THE STRICT AVOIDANCE OF THE OFFENDING FOODS. NINETY PERCENT OF ALL FOOD ALLERGIES ARE CAUSED BY EIGHT FOODS: WHEAT, MILK, PEANUTS, TREE NUTS, EGG, SOY, FISH AND SHELLFISH.
Try it
Living Without Favorites: Gluten-Free Baked Goods
After her two-year old son was diagnosed with multiple food allergies, Maggie Malia began experimenting in the kitchen to create treats the whole family could safely savor. Now Maggie’s Gluten-Free Goodies make it easy for you to enjoy three Malia family favorites—sugar cookies, brownies and chocolate cake.
Living Without Favorites: Bake a Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Cake!
Picture a recent birthday celebration. Picture the birthday cake, made especially for the guest of honor who can’t eat gluten or dairy. Now picture the difficult six-year-old guest, Patrick. A picky eater and son of the neighborhood’s best baker, Patrick is noted for turning up his nose at a variety of foods, especially cake not made by his mom, the culinary expert.
Living Without Favorites: Allergy Friendly Animal Crackers!
Do you miss snacking on animal crackers? In America, this popular cookie takes the shape of lions, bears and elephants. So it’s a surprise to open a box of Australian-based Orgran’s animal crackers and find crocodiles, koalas, wombats and kangaroos inside.
Living Without Favorites: Wholemato Insulin-Safe Ketchup
A favorite condiment, ketchup is usually sweetened by high fructose corn syrup or artificial ingredients. But Wholemato Organic Agave Ketchup’s tangy-sweet taste has a healthy twist—agave nector. Agave nector is a robust natural sweetener comprised primarily of fructose, which makes it sweeter to the taste buds. Yet agave doesn’t adversely impact blood glucose and insulin, so it’s ideal for diabetics or people who have concerns regarding glycemic levels.
Living Without Favorites: Ready Made Gluten-Free Soups
When Jerry Shafir founded Kettle Cuisine over 20 years ago, his vision was to create great-tasting natural soups for top restaurants. Kettle Cuisine is noted for soups made with the finest natural ingredients, including organic vegetables, and chicken and beef raised without antibiotics. Shafir became aware of the gluten-free market when his daughter Kate, now a college athlete, was diagnosed with celiac disease as a toddler.
Living Without Favorites: Gluten-Free Chewing Gum
Verve’s Glee Gum is gluten free, dairy free, soy free and nut free. It has no preservatives, no artificial colors or flavors and no artificial sweeteners. Its unique gum base is made the old fashioned way, with chicle. And it tastes great. We especially like the new bubblegum flavor.
Read it
Living Without Books: Super Natural Cooking
Heidi Swanson, mastermind behind popular culinary websites 101cookbooks.com and mightyfoods.com, brings delicious fun to whole-food cooking. Swanson’s gorgeous book, Super Natural Cooking (Ten Speed Press), transforms healthy food into fabulous favorites. Sneak super-foods into your kids’ diet with Chocolate Turtle Bean Tostadas or Dairyless Chocolate Mousse.
Living Without Books: New Taste to Gluten Free
So many countries, so much food, so little time. But let’s start in Vietnam. Did you know many Vietnamese dishes are gluten free? They’re also delicious. And since most dishes call for natural, seasonal ingredients, Vietnamese cuisine is good for you. Andrea Nguyen’s Into the Vietnamese Kitchen (Ten Speed Press) will hook you on this country’s fare. Nguyen and her family were airlifted out of Saigon in 1975 with few belongings other than her mother’s hurriedly packed small notebook of recipes.
Living Without Books: Education on Cooking from James Patterson
Thirty years ago, James Peterson wanted to become a chef but had no cooking experience. Working his way through stacks of books and professional kitchens, he taught himself to cook. Now a culinary teacher with 13 cookbooks and a James Beard award, Peterson distills three decades of expertise into one definitive, all-inclusive book, Cooking (Ten Speed Press). This large, beautiful tome contains 1,500 instructional photos and 600 hard-working recipes.
Living Without Books: Making Informed Food Purchase Decisions
Margaret Wittenberg, global vice-president of Whole Foods Market, shares insider’s expertise on foods sold at large-scale and natural food stores in New Good Food (Ten Speed Press). Featuring seasonal produce charts and preparation advice, the book is an outstanding resource for answering basic shopping questions—What is it? What’s in it? What do I do with it?
Living Without Books: Lose Weight Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free and Feel Fabulous
No need to feel deprived while on a special diet, say naturopathic nutrition consultant Jan Purser and food writer Kathy Snowball. Joining forces to create The Eat Well Cookbook: Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free Recipes for Food Lovers (Independent Publishers Group), the Australian friends shed pounds and felt better after significantly decreasing or eliminating wheat and dairy from their diets. Enjoy a breakfast of mouthwatering French Toast with Fig, Apple and Raisin Compote.
Make it
Some Favorite Gluten-Free Muffin Recipes
Subscribers OnlyCathy Meehan, baker at Garden of Light Natural Foods Market in Glastonbury, CT, created these muffins, which are featured on the cover of this issue. The muffins are moist and tasty with a hint of lemon. When reader Susan Adamson couldn’t find gluten-free pita bread at the store or on the Internet, she created it herself, with delicious results. A fun alternative for sandwiches and perfect for dipping, this bread is gluten free, dairy free and can be made without egg.
Food for Thought
Cooking For Children With Food Allergies
One of the greatest challenges of chef Dominique Tougne’s career didn’t begin at work. It began several years ago at home when he discovered that his now 7-year-old son, Theo, had food allergies. As executive chef at Bistro 110, a popular Chicago eatery, Tougne had long been aware of food allergies—but the serious nature of his son’s condition provided a heightened perspective. Theo is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame seeds. Tougne’s daughter Elodie, 5, also has allergies to these foods and to eggs. Learning how to manage his children’s conditions is a priority for Tougne. The experience has also made him more vigilant about handling diners’ special requests. “We can't guarantee 100 percent safety, of course, but we make every effort to accomodate,” he says. Tougne creates delicious, mouth-watering fare at Bistro 110 while striving to assure that the restaurant is as safe as possible for food-allergic diners.