Great resource on Gluten Free Living

Heather Strang experiments with creating traditional meals using non-traditional ingredients such as spelt flour and vanilla soy milk. 

Heather’s quest extends beyond gluten free living, which is challenging enough.  In addition to avoiding gluten, she also lives dairy free (she’s lactose intolerant) and keeps it low sugar to boot!

Hat’s off to Heather and her willingness to share what works and what doesn’t!

While it’s well known that cruciferous vegetables are great cancer fighting foods, what isn’t well known is why this class of cancer fighting veggies are called cruciferous.

Fortunately, Alison Anton is a Nutritional Chef and Food Writer in Northern California, shares the origins of the name that is as formidable as their cancer fighting properties:

They are called "cruciferous" because, if given the chance to come to full bloom, these vegetables have flowers with four petals that resemble a cross - or crux in Latin. These veggies include arugula, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, radishes, turnip greens and watercress.

Each one of these power-packed vegetables contain vitamins-a-plenty, mega-minerals and other substances that research has proven to be active forces in fighting disease. Says the Linus Pauling Macronutrient Institute , "One characteristic that sets cruciferous vegetables apart from other vegetables is their high glucosinolate content [that] can help prevent cancer by enhancing the elimination of carcinogens before they can damage DNA"

One of Chef Anton’s recommendations is the ultra powerful vegetable Kale. With more calcium than a glass of milk and in a form that is easier for the body to assimilate than milk, it is also super rich in cancer fighting carotenoids.

When I tried eating Kale, I was convinced it was probably the best food on the planet because it tasted so nasty!  Any recipes or suggestions to improve Kale’s taste?  Chef Anton?  Anyone?

One of the most common "symptoms" of allergies is not a runny nose or itchy eyes, but instead is that constant battle with fatigue.  At one point, I was convinced that I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome because I was constantly battling fatigue.  Fortunately, I began addressing environmental and food allergies which helped combat not only the allergies, but also the fatigue.  At the time though, it never occurred to me that the fatigue was linked to my allergies.

In my experience, I’ve found traditional MDs would rather run tests than try to chase down a food based allergy.  My own mother still is seeking the "holy grail"… a pill that will relieve her constant fatigue.  She has yet to have a Medical Doctor suggest a food allergy… even though her daughter and her daughter’s children all have food allergies.  The doctors don’t ask and my mother doesn’t offer it up either.  She’s looking for a pill and her long list of doctors is more than willing to test away.  She finally found a doctor who would prescribe thyroid medicine for her.  It helped for about 6 weeks… now a year later, she’s dependent upon the medication and she feels more fatigued than ever.

Doug Samuel over at Allergy Details offers a GREAT explanation of the allergy/fatigue connection:

The first is that an allergic reaction is like being sick. Normally, we become sick when we have an infection. The body fights it off, which takes lots of energy. Result: you get tired.

An allergy is the body mistakenly thinking that an ordinary substance such as a wheat protein or gluten, is an infection. The body is wrong, but it treats the substance in the same way as an infection. Result: you get tired, just like having the flu or a cold.

The other reason, and I know this happens in my case, is that allergies can affect your sleep. If you can’t sleep properly, you will feel a bit tired the first day, more the next, and eventually you will become chronically fatigued. Add this to the tiring effects of the body fighting the substance you are allergic to, and its not surprising that you get so tired.

If you’re constantly tired…. suspect an allergy.  Ask others around you to help "diagnose" you because chances are you’re too run down to accurately see the cause for yourself.   Begin by addressing the environment and if that doesn’t help, begin addressing food based allergies.  Doug offers a great self test for food allergies on his site  and he offers a list of the most common food offenders.