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Dec/Jan 2013

Features

Gluten and Allergy Apps

Launched in February 2010, AllergyEats, the online directory allows people to rate their experiences related to celiac disease and food allergies at restaurants across the United States. The site includes restaurants’ gluten-free and allergy-friendly menus, allergen lists and links to nutritional information and websites. The AllergyEats app debuted in August 2011 and won the About.com 2012 Readers’ Choice Award for best food-allergy app.

Wine. Vino. Vin.

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Wine. Vino. Vin. It’s the most popular alcoholic drink in the world and the third or fourth most popular of any beverage on the planet. Enjoyed for at least 9,000 years, there are ancient references to wine from the wedding at Cana in the Bible to drinking on Purim in the Talmud. Even Louis Pasteur, the father of pasteurization, sung its praises: “Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.”

Healing with Sourdough

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Several years ago, my special dietary requirements—no gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, plus sensitivities to commercial yeast and most sweeteners—prompted me to experiment with old-fashioned sourdough techniques, using gluten-free flours. It took me one year to produce a successful loaf and a few more years to develop variations on that recipe.

Food Allergy Bullying

For little Thomas, second grade should have been the year of learning about dinosaurs, outer space and multiplication. Instead, second grade quickly turned into a year of horrors. Two boys bullied the happy, blonde boy who loves baseball, swimming and football—repeatedly kicking him, punching him and calling him names. The teacher was on medical leave for the entire year, so a series of long-term subs came in and out of his Virginia classroom.

Types of Casein

Can you tolerate dairy overseas but not at home?

Departments

Life Story

Jessica Alba

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Multi-talented Jessica Alba plays many different roles. A wildly popular actor, the 31 year old has starred in Dark Angel, Fantastic Four, Sin City and Machete. A wife and parent, she is married to producer Cash Warren and is mother to two little girls, Honor and Haven. An activist, she has raised money for AIDS research and does charity work for groups like Habitat for Humanity and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. An environmentalist, Alba is passionate about green products, throwing her super powers behind the Safe Chemicals Act and testifying in front of the U.S. Congress. She’s the spokesperson for the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Coalition. Now Alba adds “entrepreneur” to her list of accomplishments. In January 2012, she launched The Honest Company, a company providing non-toxic products for the home, babies and children.

So Good

BLT Dip

When I was young, a lunch out consisted of a BLT sandwich—toasted white bread smeared with mayonnaise and layered with bacon, lettuce and tomato slices. I loved this sandwich but it made a clumsy meal for a child, with the lettuce and bacon slipping out from the bread and juice from the tomato dribbling down my hands. A real treat for the ladies who took me out was a BLT club—three slices of bread and extra fixings.

Baking with Cranberries

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Imagine serving Pancakes with Cranberry Maple Syrup for breakfast on Christmas morning, Cranberry Orange Quick Bread and Cranberry Coffee Cake for brunch with friends and Apple Cranberry Tarts for a holiday open house. These great gluten-free cranberry recipes–all made without gluten, dairy or eggs–are safe for guests with common food allergies and are guaranteed to delight your family and friends.

Presenting a Better Bird

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Armed with smart cooking methods and a range of tasty poultry cuts, these gluten-free, allergy-friendly recipes will turn your seasonal gathering into a festive feast of flavor.

Poultry Rules!

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When shopping for your holiday bird, keep these 10 things in mind.

Shopping List: Poultry Recipes

Subscribers Only

For gluten-free or allergy-friendly ingredients, check out these resources.

5 Gluten-Free Cookies, 1 Dough

You’ll be amazed at how easily this simple dough recipe transforms into five different cookies. Now you can relegate holiday baking to a day rather than a week. Decorated with sparkling sugars and glitzy icing, these gluten-free, dairy-free cookies become delicious works of art. No one will ever suspect they all originate from the same recipe.

House Call

Pediactric Allergies Q & A - Peanut Allergy, Pets, Anaphylaxis, and More!

My toddler has just been diagnosed with several food allergies. I’ve been going through my kitchen shelves, reading labels and giving food away. Now I’m wondering about our dog—should I be looking at his food, too?

Research Roundup: Baked Eggs, Undiagnosed Celiac Disease, Goji Berry Allergy

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine recently published data on the first 100 children to undergo oral food challenges with baked egg in their outpatient food allergy clinic, a setting similar to a typical allergist’s office. The team had studied oral food challenges with baked egg previously in a controlled research environment. This time, parents prepared muffins with baked eggs at home according to a specific recipe.

Try it

Living Without's Favorites: Seaweed Snacks

There’s a delicious snack hitting grocery store aisles—Japanese nori by Annie Chun. This toasted seaweed treat delivers fresh ocean flavor which adults love but kids will gobble it up, too. No need to mention that nori is naturally loaded with vitamins A, B2 and C, plus omega-3s, magnesium and iodine—all necessary for good health and a strong immune system.

Living Without's Favorites: Four of a Kind

You’ll be tempted to hide the new bars from Kind so you can keep them all for yourself. These gluten-free snacks are packed with protein, fiber and 5 grams (or less) of sugar to quickly curb your appetite when hunger hits.

Living Without's Favorites: Good Eats

Five kids and seven different dietary needs inspired Jill Motew to create Zema’s Madhouse Foods, a company that offers baking mixes that work for the whole family. These vegan and gluten-free mixes contain super-nutritious, ancient grains—teff, quinoa, amaranth, millet, flaxmeal, chia seeds and hemp seeds. They’re allergy friendly and free of refined sugar, yeast, sesame and rice with no additives, preservatives or trans fats.

Living Without's Favorites: Your New BFF

Need to reduce the allergens (dust, pollen, cat dander, dog hair) in your home? Start the New Year coming home to a freshly vacuumed house every day—with no effort on your part. Neato XV-21 from Neato Robotics is a dream come true: a robotic vacuum that works on all floor types. No random patterns here.

Read it

Living Without's Favorite Books: Dine like a Caveman

Diane Sanfilippo, a certified nutrition consultant specializing in gastrointestinal and blood sugar issues, has penned an important book on the Paleolithic diet. Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole Foods Lifestyle (Victory Belt) gives the why’s and how-to’s of consuming only real foods—those available before the dawn of agriculture, meaning no grains, legumes, pasteurized dairy, etc.

Living Without's Favorite Books: A Weighty Subject

Are you trying to shed pounds but find yourself binging on nutritionally stripped processed foods loaded with sugar and calories? Pick up The Science of Skinny; Start Understanding Your Body’s Chemistry—And Stop Dieting Forever (DaCapo Life Long) by Dee McCaffrey. An organic chemist and nutritionist who lost 100 pounds after overcoming her own food addictions, McCaffrey examines the physiological lure of junk food and explains the science behind why we often “can’t eat just one.”

Living Without's Favorite Books: Low-Guilt Baking

Just in time for your holiday baking, famed breadmaker Peter Reinhart teams with Denene Wallace (a baking expert who’s gluten intolerant and has type 2 diabetes) to offer fabulous desserts and baked goods for those needing to nix gluten and sugar—and the guilt. The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking, 80 Low-Carb Recipes That Offer Solutions for Celiac Disease, Diabetes, and Weight Loss (10 Speed Press) creatively uses nut and seed flours to boost the nutrient and protein content, not to mention the taste, of your favorite bakery items.

Living Without's Favorite Books: Yes, You Can

Even with special dietary needs, you can enjoy delicious, nutrient-dense, satisfying foods. Dawn Allen shows you how (and how easy) in her book, Culinary Creativity, Let Your Restrictions Set You Free (Dawn’s Animal Connection).

Food for Thought

Bittersweet

The road to allergy awareness

In Every Issue

Editor's Note

Grapevine/Tender Touch

Ask the Chefs