Category Archives: Food Sensitivities

Let’s Talk About Poop

This article has been updated. It was originally posted August 2014.

Do you talk about poop at the dinner table? We did when I was growing up. My Mom, being a Naturopathic Doctor, asked each one of us if we had a good bowel movement that day.

I continued the tradition in my family.

Your poop can tell you a lot about your body. How often you go, how long it takes you, and what it looks like in the toilet are all clues. If your bowel movements are off, you are more likely to get sick – becoming more susceptible to germs and other more chronic conditions. Your stools are also a good indication if you are eating appropriately.

Continue reading →

Is Your Produce Safe to Eat?

We are about to be bombarded with a new level of food manipulation. Are you ready? Below I have linked a must see video and included links to other resources to get you up to speed on the newest produce-related technologies and ways to avoid it.

Manipulation of farmed produce began with pesticides, many of which were made from chemicals left over from WWII.

Eventually, genetically modified (GM) seeds were developed to allow more chemical spraying “without damaging” the plants.  (Learn more about GMOs here.) Originally declared safe, these GM foods are damaging and negatively effect the microbes in our bodies, especially the gut.

More recently, gene editing (most often referred to as CRISPR technology) took “genetically modified” to a whole new level. (Watch the video in the link to learn more.)

And, now we will be forced to eat a plastic coating, known as Continue reading →

Fast Corn-free Tacos

Almost everyone loves tacos. However, it can be a challenge to make them dairy-free, gluten-free and GMO-free.

Yes, your traditional corn tortilla or taco shell is made of corn, which is considered gluten-free, but corn is a GMO-crop and one that is sprayed heavily before harvesting. Organic corn is is often cross contaminated. Corn is also a high-mold crop and many people have sensitivities to it (even if they do not realize it). Other corn tortillas and taco shells are made with toxic vegetable oils and/or added preservatives.

Luckily, some creative companies have figured out how to make good tasting tortillas and taco shells that are corn-free, gluten-free, and even grain-free. Once you have these, you can get creative with the rest of the ingredients, using your favorites. Continue reading →

Food Symptoms: Do the Foods You Eat Affect Your Health?

I know first hand that the foods we eat affect our health. I learned this early, when I was sixteen, after being on penicillin daily for 6 years. I had rheumatic fever and I was told that I would need to be on antibiotics indefinitely, or until my monthly throat cultures started coming back negative. The cultures never did, until I changed my eating habits. In fact, within one month of changing my diet my cultures started coming back negative and stayed that way for a whole year, at which time I was officially done with rheumatic fever.

And it was not just me. My whole family started eating better and there were four of us that could stop taking penicillin daily. This was back in the 1970s when Pringles, Kraft Singles, Kool-Aid, and Tang were all the rage. We stopped eating and drinking those. We also stopped eating Special K cereal for breakfast and Hostess HoHo’s as our lunch desert.

In addition to removing the processed foods, we also started eating more whole foods like oatmeal and seeds for breakfast, fruit for snacks, and a green side salad with every evening meal. We cleaned up our diet and it healed us.

Not only did improving my diet as a teenager heal my rheumatic fever, I also stopped getting chronic swimmers ear, my dyslexia started improving, I no longer got car sick, and I started getting better grades in school.

The State of Our Food Today

Fast forward to 2017. Unfortunately, we live in a different world where it is not as simple as Continue reading →

Tips for Baking Healthy, Gluten-Free, and Dairy-Free With Links to Substitute Ingredients

I finally figured out what I have been doing wrong all these years. I love to take classic dessert recipes and convert them into healthy gluten-free and dairy-free options. (That means GMO-free too.) But, it was not until more recently that I figured out a few secrets that took my creations to a new level.

Growing up, I was the baker in the family. Being the only girl in a family of seven, I did not have much competition, so it was often me who made the deserts and birthday cakes. Back then, to make a recipe healthier meant using whole wheat flour instead of white flour and replacing sugar with honey. I loved it.

My Experiments

Since going gluten-free and dairy-free about seven years ago, my baking wonders have not always been so wonderful. Replacing dairy ingredients with coconut versions was not that difficult, especially with all the new options that have come out the last few years. However, replacing the flour has been a little more challenging, especially when using natural sweeteners.

I have experimented will all sorts of flours. In the past, I strictly used rice flour (which is inherently gluten-free) and replaced all the required flour in a recipe with rice flour. However, the resulting treat was always too crumbly. I also tried other gluten-free flours like garbanzo bean flour and quinoa flakes without much difference.

The newest trend in gluten-free baking is to add Continue reading →

What Is In Your Fruits and Veggies??? – What to Look for When Purchasing Produce

Are you purchasing produce that is making your healthy or sick? If you are still eating produce grown with pesticides, please consider the following:

  • pesticides are known to accumulate in the body over time
  • pesticides tend to accumulate in the fat tissue of the body, such as breasts and prostate glands, which can affect healthy tissue in these areas
  • studies have linked the amount of pesticides eaten to emotional stability

You may consider eating organic to be more expensive, but in the long run you are saving much more in health problems and future medical bills. Continue reading →

Egg Substitutes – Leavening and Binding Options

20160430_151405Egg sensitivities are on the rise. Chicken eggs might be hard to digest or even cause an allergic reaction when eaten. A number of factors might be involved. For example, some believe that children become sensitive to eggs after their bodies are exposed to the egg proteins found in certain vaccines. Conventional store-bought eggs are another possible culprit since many are produced by chickens given antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals and fed genetically modified (GM) feed, which may ultimately alter the egg itself.

If you are sensitive and/or allergic to eggs, there are several alternatives. Continue reading →

Shopping GMO-Free and Gluten-Free at Trader Joe’s (or Any Grocery Store)

Best - 20150930_103936People often ask me what I purchase when I grocery shop at Trader Joe’s. If you are not familiar with it, Trader Joe’s is what I consider a discount health food store. You can find many “natural” or “healthy” items there at a good price.

However, I shop at Trader Joe’s like I grocery shop everywhere else, very selectively. Not all “health food” products, no matter where you shop, are created equal. Continue reading →

Know Your Pesticides – The Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen by EWG

1“... children are much more sensitive and vulnerable to chemicals than adults are.”
― Dr. Philip Landrigan, MD (Dean for Global Health at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City)

If you are not yet familiar with the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and their food lists, you should check them out. Known as the “Dirty Dozen” and the “Clean Fifteen,” these lists help you to minimize your pesticide intake. Continue reading →

How to go Gluten-Free – Part 2

This is Part 2 of a two-part blog. Part 1 discussed the many affects of gluten on the body and why you may want to eliminate gluten from your diet. If you are ready to eat gluten-free, this article will show you how, including suggested steps to take and alternate food options. It will also explain what to consider when eating out, selecting body products, and even purchasing vitamins and medications. Continue reading →

Why to go Gluten-Free – Part 1

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             Photo Credit: Kaz1980 via Compfight cc

What is all the hype about gluten? Have you been wondering if you should start eating gluten-free? If you find that you have unexplainable health problems or multiple food sensitivities, you need to read this. More often than not, a person who is gluten-sensitive has seen an endless line of doctors with few results.

This two-part blog post will discuss the why’s and how’s of “going gluten-free.” In this article, I will discuss gluten in detail, explaining the various ways gluten can affect your health and well being. In Part 2, I will explain the steps to take as you remove gluten (and other culprit foods) from your diet. You will learn the many places that gluten can hide and be given suggested food replacements and menu ideas. Most people feel better when they remove gluten from their diet. However, if you are dealing with health issues, eating a gluten-free diet will accelerate the healing process. Removing gluten especially helps with digestive issues, allergies, brain-related issues, and autoimmune diseases, but there is so much more. Continue reading →