Living Gluten Free :: advices

Identifying ripe fruit. 2nd part: Peach, nectarine and plums

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 11:58:00 +0100

In order to identify when a peach, nectarine or plum is ripe, you can follow the same guidelines that were described in the 1st part: slightly soft to the touch, pleasant smell and bright and attractive colour. But in the case of fruits that have very thin skin, another useful indication of ripeness is that they can be peeled easily with our hands.
Usually, people systematically use a knife to peel the skin of any kind of fruit. Some people eat fruit with skin, which I personally don’t advise, because of the different products - chemical pesticides in conventional crops and natural pesticides in ecologic ones - that are spayed on fruits, and because of the many anti-nutrients that are naturally present in the skin in order to protect the fruits from insects and funghi.
But the most natural way of eating fruit is by peeling with one’s hand and biting with one’s teeth. That way, you eat more slowly, so that it is better digested.
But the greatest advantage is that you avoid eating fruit that isn’t ripe. If you can’t peel the skin of a peach, nectarine or plum with your hands, it means that this fruit is not ripe yet.
Following this, you can see a video about how to peel a peach with your hands.

Continue reading Identifying ripe fruit. 2nd part: Peach, nectarine and plums

Enjoy the summer eating this so healthy food: fruit!

Thank you to my daughter Núria for showing us how to peel a peach with hands and for editing the video.

Identifying ripe fruit. 1st part: Tropical fruit

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 16:22:00 +0100

It’s very important to eat fruits that are ripe. But unfortunately most of fruits are picked when they have not reached maturity yet and they are sold unripe, specially in the countries that are not the producers, because fruits must resist the transport without being spoiled.
In this case, it would be better to finish the ripening process at home, although the fruit will never have the same sweet taste and intense perfume than a tree-ripened fruit.
So, how can we identify when a fruit is ripe?
In this article we will show you some photos and we give some explanations that could help you identifying when a fruit is perfectly ripe.

Continue reading Identifying ripe fruit. 1st part: Tropical fruit

When tropical fruits arrive to the destined country, the distributors use different techniques to quickly ripen and sell fruit with a more attractive aspect. In other cases, fruits are ripened during the trip.
One of the most used methods for a quick ripening is the use of cameras of ethylene gas. The ethylene gas is naturally produced by several fruits, such as bananas, peaches and tomatoes, and help the maturation. In the cameras, an artificial ethylene gas is employed. The process of forced maturation with ethylene gas results to inferior quality fruits, that have the same colour as ripe fruit, but the texture is hard and has no taste nor smell.
Usually small greengroceries give precious advices about how many days a fruit that is bought needs to ripen. It’s worth to buy in these shops and to let them give us advice.
Also, look for shops that sell fruits that haven’t been ripened by camera and let them ripen naturally in the kitchen. Although the ideal is a tree-ripened fruit, it’s better to have a slow maturation than a fast one with artificial gas.
In order to ripen fruits at home, keep fruits at room temperature in the kitchen in wicker trays during the day, and keep fruits inside paper bags during the night to protect them from insects.
To aid the maturation of the unripe fruits, you can add ripe bananas or apples in the bag. The natural gas that release is going to boost the maturation of the other fruits.
In general, fruits release a very fragrant odeur when they are ripened, and acquire the colour of the fruit, without any green part. When fruits are too ripe, they begin to show brown bruises, a part from bananas and some types of mangos, that show light brown speckles when they are ripe.
Also, when they are too ripe and spoiled, the smell becomes alcoholic and they can begin to show some fungi.
When fruit is ripe it can be kept in the fridge to prevent that it spoils too fast. The skin of the banana turns brown in the fridge, but the flesh is still good.

Bananas

Bananas are available all year long.
Ripe bananas are yellow with small brown speckles. If the banana have dark streaks and blotches it means that it has been through the camera procedure.
Unripe bananas have a undigestible starch. After maturation, this starch is converted into digestible sugar.

Ripe banana

Unripe banana

Banana ripened in camera

Pineapple

Pineapples grow in summer in South America and Africa, so the best season in Europe is winter and autumn.
Ripe pineapples have a golden or yellowy-orange colour, and release a fragrant odeur.
They begin the process of maturation from the bottom to the top. When the yellow colour covers at least 20% of the fruit, they begin to be ready to eat. Also, we can recognise when they are ripe because the leaves will come off easily when you tug at them.
When they are too ripe the smell becomes alcoholic and they are very soft at the bottom.
If a pineapple has been collected before it’s ripe, it will not be able to ripen afterwards. It will become soft and tasteless.

In this youtube you can find more information about how to identify a ripe pineapple and how to cut it.

In this photo you can compare a unripe pineapple (in the left) and a ripe pineapple (in the right)

Papaya

The season of papayas is summer and autumn in South America and Africa, so they are available in Europe all the winter and spring.
The flesh of the papaya has an orange colour when it’s ripe, the skin is yellow and it’s slightly soft to the touch. The taste will be sweet if it has ripened properly, but if it has been collected unripe then it will be tasteless although it is yellow and tender.
If it’s bought when it’s still a little bit unripe (the skin is partially green and the rest is yellow), then it can be left to ripen at home for a few days.

Unripe papaya

Ripe papaya

Mango

The season of the mango is spring, but some types are picked in summer, autumn and even in winter.
You can use the touch to know if a mango is ripe: it’s slightly soft. Do not rely on the colour of the mango, because every type of mango have a different colour: orange, yellow and also green.
A way to know if the wild mango with green skin is ripe is when it shows brown speckles.
Another way is the smell, that must be sweet and remind you of the taste of a ripe mango.
In this site you can find a good guide.
Mangos can ripen at room temperature.

Ripe mango

Ripe wild mango

Chirimoya

The season of the cherimoya is autumn in South Europe (Spain and Mediterranean countries).
The skin is dark green with some brown areas when ripe and it’s slightly soft to the touch.
Cherimoyas continue to ripen after they have been harvested.
In this photo you can compare a ripe cherimoya (in the left) and a unripe cherimoya (in the right)

Thank you to my daughter Núria for the English corrections.

How to render animal fat

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 09:33:00 +0100

Animal fat is the best for cooking because it’s the one that resists better heating.
But nowadays it’s difficult to find not hydrogenated animal fat in the groceries or butchers, and even more a fat that comes from pastured and organic animals. Read more about animal fats and health here.
In this article you will learn how to make homemade animal fat.

Continue reading How to render animal fat

Ingredients:

Beef tallow: bones from the spine or others, fat meat such as shank
Duck fat: duck breast with fat or a whole duck with skin
Lard: Unrendered pork lard

Instructions:

Duck:
Cut skin and fat into medium pieces and put into a medium heavy-bottomed pot.
Add 1⁄2 cup water and salt and simmer over medium heat until water evaporates and skin pieces are crisp and have released all their fat, about 1 hour.
Strain clear fat through a sieve.
Source: http://www.thebittenword.com/thebittenword/2009/03/rendered-duck-fat.html

Pork:
Chop the lard up before throwing it in the crock pot.
Add about 50-100 ml water and salt and simmer very slow with the lid on.
After an hour or two, once the fat has started to partially liquefy, remove the lid of the crockpot to allow any remaining water to evaporate.
As soon as you notice that the mixture is about half liquid and half solid, it’s time to start removing some of the rendered lard in order to help the remaining fat chunks cook down furthe. The best method for separating the solids from the liquid is to use a ladle, a sieve (or some cheesecloth), and a separate bowl to collect the liquid lard. As you do this, return the solids to the crockpot to continue the rendering process, wait a few minutes, and repeat. Little by little you will continue this procedure until there is only small amount of relatively dry solids in your crock.
The solids that are left behind are called “cracklings.” They consist of minute pieces of tissue that had previously held the pig’s fat together. This is also where the little streaks of red meat mixed with the back fat end up. At this point the cracklings should be soft and not yet crunchy in texture. When you’re satisfied that you’ve gotten virtually all of the liquid lard out of the cracklings, you’re done with the lard making process. It is best to let your bowl of liquid lard sit for a few minutes to cool in order to be able to ladle it into jars without the risk of them breaking from the heat of the lard.
Meanwhile, throw your cracklings on a cookie sheet and bake them at about 190F for about 20 to 30 minutes. Once they’re crispy, they’re ready to be eaten.
Source: http://robbwolf.com/2013/02/21/render-lard-and-free/

Beef Tallow:
Make a bone broth, simmering them with salt for about 12-24 hours.
Strain fat through a sieve.
Let it cool down at room temperature and keep in the fridge for a day.
A lot of fat must have risen and congealed while the broth cooled in the fridge. Then, you can get the fat from the surface keeping away and cleaning the gelatine or water.

Preservation:
Naturally rendered lard has a fairly long shelf life in well-sealed jars even at room temperature but it’s best to keep it in the fridge just in case it takes a few months to use it all up. It will last almost indefinitely in your freezer.

How to succeed getting kids (and adults) eat lacto-fermented vegetables

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Sun, 18 May 2014 17:36:00 +0100

Lacto-fermented food is very important in order to recover the gut microbiome, read this article to know why. But lacto-fermented food, such as sauerkraut or lacto-fermented carrot, has a very strong sour taste that sometimes is not very well appreciated by kids and some adults, specially if they have a bacterial overgrowth at mouth. Beside the sour taste, also there are some people with sensitive teeth because a damaged enamel (read here a remedy).
Here you will find some tricks in order to make lacto-fermented food more tasty and succeed in eating such an important therapeutic food.

Continue reading How to succeed getting kids (and adults) eat lacto-fermented vegetables

The main idea is mixing the sauerkraut or other lacto-fermented vegetable with something else that the person likes better.
Begin with a small amount of sauerkraut versus the other liked food, and slowly increase the proportion of the first one and reduce the second one.

1.- Apple Kraut:
Add some kind of fruit puree or compote or sauce to your sauerkraut: apple, pear, banana, strawberries and any kind of berries or fruits.
You can use also carrots or any other vegetable that the person enjoys.

2.- Meat balls, hamburgers and pancakes:
Chop any food together with sauerkraut. For example, with meat to make meat balls, meat hamburgers or meat pancakes.
Meat has to be previously cooked. Then chop meat and sauerkraut together with meat grease and gelatine (for example from a meat stock) in order to stick all together and make your balls, hamburgers or pancakes.
Be careful when you heat them because lactobacillus die at temperatures over 40ºC!

3.- Salads, soups:
Mix sauerkraut together with a salad or serve in a soup.
Be careful when adding in a soup, lactobacillus die at temperatures over 40ºC!

4.- Juices and smoothies:
Juice or blend sauerkraut together with your favorite vegetables and fruits, or just add a little bit of the sauerkraut juice to your juice/smoothie.

5.- Add sweetener:
Mix or blend sauerkraut together with some authorised sweetener. For example, if you are on a GAPS diet, use dates or honey.

6.- Traditional dishes with sauerkraut:
Make the traditional dishes where the sauerkraut is usually an ingredient, but just don’t heat it too much (don’t go over 40ºC!). Here you have some good recipes:
http://thesahmsurvivalblog.blogspot.ch/2012/07/polish-sausage-and-saurkraut-gaps.html
http://discoveringreallife.com/2013/06/04/gaps-meals/

You can also try any other strategy that I suggested in this article to make kids eat vegetables.

In some time they will finally love sour taste.

Sensitive teeth

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Fri, 16 May 2014 09:35:00 +0100

Dr. Campbell-McBride says:
"Your teeth are sensitive because the enamel on them is too thin and is poorly nourished. So, I recommend that you stop using all toothpaste and replace it with olive oil: dip your toothbrush into good quality cold-pressed olive oil and brush as usual; rinse with water. This is based on an Aurvedic procedure called 'oil pull' which has a good ability to detoxify the mouth and initiate healing in your teeth and gums. Brush with olive oil twice a day. To nourish your teeth you need plenty of animal fats in diet and vitamins A, D and K. The animal fats will provide large amounts of those vitamins, but to add more you can take a good quality cod liver oil (preferably fermented). Sour cream made at home from raw organic cream will heal your enamel quite quickly.
While you are healing your teeth, reduce the amounts of fermented vegetables in your meals and drink their juice instead (added to soups and meat stock).", GAPS FAQS

Continue reading Sensitive teeth

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How to prepare nuts

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:42:00 +0100

Nuts are very rich in beneficial nutrients: contain a huge amount of minerals, mostly magnesium, calcium and potassium; vitamins, such as folic acid; unsaturated fatty acids, proteins, fiber, antioxidants, etc.
But they contain some anti-nutrient substances that avoid the correct absorption of these minerals and can disturb health in some persons.
This other post on gemmacalzada.com there's more detailed information about these anti-nutrients.

Following is the information about how to prepare all kind of nuts to avoid one of the disadvantatges of these food: phytic acid.

Continue reading How to prepare nuts

1.- Dispose nuts in a container.
2.- Soak nuts in purified water (chlorine free) at room temperature (warm). The level of water must cover all nuts and exceed 4 centimeters.
3.- Add a pinch of salt and some drops of lemon juice.
4.- Leave to soak for 12 hours.
5.- Drain off the soaking water and rince off nuts several times with clean water.
6.- Dehydrate nuts: use a dehydrator machine, or bake them into the oven for 4 hours at 100ºC until dry.
7.- Then, you can keep them in a sealed container or optionally roast them for about 20 minutes at 150ºC.

It’s preferable to use peeled nuts, otherwise, you must peel them after the procedure, nut’s skin is very irritant for the intestine.

Nut flour: Grind nuts with a food processor until they’re finely ground.

Nut butter: Grind nuts with a food processor. Nuts turn into flour, then a thick paste and finally smooth butter. It can take 15 minutes for almonds, just about 5 minutes for peanuts, and about 10 minutes for hazelnuts, time depends on the food processor. Stop and scrap down the sides as needed throughout the process. You can add salt, cacao, honey, vanilla or whatever flavouring you desire to the butter, so you can make your “nutella”. If your appliance doesn't have a strong motor, stop every little bit to prevent overheating.

Nut milk: Add water to the nut butter and mix.

There aren’t any studies about the amount of phytic acid that it’s possible to remove with soaking and dehydrating, but roasting achieves a reduction of 40% of phytic acid.

If you are following a GAPS diet, almond flour is the base for bakery. Then, you risk to exceed the amount of tolerated phytic acid in a day for your body. The same is applied to the peanut butter. So then, the amount of nuts in a day must be limited, and avoid buying ready to use almond flour, but prefer home-made soaking and dehydrating almond flour.

On these other articles you can find how to remove phytic acid in whole grains and pulses.

Cooking whole grains

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 19:48:00 +0100

Whole grains are usually regarded by most nutritionists as healthier than white rice because they contain more nutrients and causes a lower insulinic response. But not all are benefits, in certain people brown rice can create certain problems. This post on gemmacalzada.com gives some details about the pros and cons of whole grains.

This article shows how to prepare whole rice or whole grain to avoid one of the drawbacks of these foods : phytic acid.

Continue reading Cooking whole grains

Whole rice

1.- Rinse rice with water. Dispose in a container.
2.- Soak rice in purified water (chlorine free) at room temperature. The level of water must cover all rice and exceed 4 centimeters.
3.- Add a pinch of salt and some drops of lemon juice.
4.- Leave to soak for 24 hours.
5.- Keep in the fridge 10% of the soak water.
6.- Drain off the soaking water and rince off rice several times with clean water.
7.- Cook at low temperature.
Follow the instructions on the package, basmati and thai rice use to be ready in 35 minutes and the rest of the rice need about 50 minutes, but cooking time can be shorter because it has been soaked.

Next time you prepare your rice you can use the water you kept from the last soaked rice. Repeat the cycle at every preparation. At the end, you can get a reduction of 96% of phytic acid.

Source: Stephan Guyenet

Quinoa

1.- Rince quinoa with water. Dispose in a container.
2.- Soak quinoa in purified water (chlorine free) at room temperature. The level of water must cover all quinoa and exceed 4 centimeters.
3.- Add a pinch of salt and some drops of lemon juice.
4.- Leave to soak for 12 hours.
6.- Drain off the soaking water and rince off quinoa several times with clean water.
7.- Cook at low temperature.

This procedure allows a reduction of 60-77% of phytic acid. Fermentation of quinoa for 16-18 hours before cooking allows a reduction up to 88%.

In these other articles you can learn how to eliminate the phytic acid in nuts and pulses.

School and Work Lunch

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 19:59:00 +0100

Daily life for people with gluten intolerance became a little bit complicated. Some schools and canteens don’t prepare gluten-free meals and maybe you don’t trust that it's absolutely free of traces. Even more, if you want to eat organic, home-made and if you have more intolerances, then it’s completely impossible.
I give you some ideas of cold meals to bring at school or at work. They are very easy and quick, because we don’t like waking up even earlier in the morning to prepare them. You can cook the rice, potatoes or meat the previous night, but there’s always something to do in the morning: adding raw vegetables, making sandwiches, put in the lunch box, etc.

Continue reading School and Work Lunch

* Sandwich made of gluten-free bread
* Rice pasta salad or plain rice
* Taboulé of quinoa
* Potatoes salad

with:

* ham (Parme or Jabugo)
* foie-gras (without additifs nor gluten)
* boiled eggs, omelette
* smoked salmon (once per week maximum)
* smoked or ham duck
* chicken breast in small pieces
* bacon
* mackerel or sardine in thin (without BPA)
* sausage (without additifs nor gluten)
* saucisse Vienna ou chipolatas (sans additives ni gluten)

and you can also add some vegetables and fruits, raw or cooked, in pieces, slices or grated: onion, tomato, cucumber, broccoli, spinach leaves, salad, apple, …

Olive oil is the best for seasoning.

Other possibilities:

* Hummus with “pain des fleurs” toasts with sticks of carrot or cucumber.
* Spanish omelette (avec onions et pommes de terre)
* Breaded meat or fish with vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, carrots, …
* Quiche of chopped meat or vegetables
* Russian salad: potatoes, green beans, carrot, green peas, mackerel or sardine in thin, olive oil, boiled egg, olives.

Photo by Rubbermaid LunchBlox - Lunch Containers

Fructose intolerance

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 14:47:00 +0100

Fructose intolerance appears when there’s a malabsorption of fructose in the intestine. Fructose is then fermented by the gut flora and gas and other chemical harmful substances are created.
The most common symptoms are bloating and gas, tummy aches, and eventually, in the acute cases, diarrhea or constipation, heartburn, nausea and vomiting.
There is a respiratory test for diagnose of this intolerance, here you can find more information.
If the result is positive, then it would be needed to avoid all the fructose-rich food: fruits, some vegetables, grains and sugars. In any case, the sensitivity is different for every person, and it can change depending on the days: stress, fatigue, etc.
Fructose intolerance use to be together with lactose and sucrose intolerance. So it’s better to test for these intolerances too when there’s a known fructose intolerance.

Continue reading Fructose intolerance

High-fructose fruits:
Apples, bananas, grapes, citrus fruits, cherries, mangoes, berries, pears, melon, watermelon, papaya, kaki, pineapple, quince.
In general, cooked fruits have a lower fructose content than fresh fruit.

Very high-fructose fruits:
Dried fruits: figs, apricots, peaches, prunes, raisins.

Low-fructose fruits: avocado, grapefruit, lemon and lime

Others: chestnut, sauces (sweet and sour sauce, molasses, barbecue sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise, salad dressings, ice-cream toppings), beverages and sweet alcoholic drinks, processed food (soups, frozen foods, breakfast cereals, canned foods, boxed dinners, bakery, cakes, energy bars)

Sweeteners: sugar, honey, high-fructose corn syrup, agave syrup, maple syrup.

Low-fructose sweeteners: stevia, rice syrup, artificial sweeteners. Even though these sweeteners are safer for people with fructose malabsorption, eating too much at once could still provoke gastrointestinal problems, so use them in moderation. Sugar alcohols, such as xylitol, sorbitol and maltose, do not contain fructose but often cause gastrointestinal symptoms in sensitive individuals

All products that contains fruits contains fructose: fruit juices, canned fruits, fruit jellies, jams.

It is possible that you also react to other similar short-chain carbohydrates, such as fructans, polyols and galactans, found in cabbage, artichoke, peas, onions, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, leeks, peanuts, tomato, zucchini, mushrooms, wheat, rye and pistachios.

If you want to know more about fructose intolerance, and you would like the advice of a Nutritional Therapist to design the diet that better suits for you in order to avoid fructose intolernace and to heal your gut flora click here.

How to succeed getting kids eat vegetables

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:27:00 +0100

If your kids don’t like vegetables, you can try to hide them in another dishes they prefer or try topping with a home-made sauce (mayonnaise, ketchup, béchamel, tomato, etc).
You can try to find another way of cooking them that taste better for them: baking in the oven, boiling, steaming, grilling, frying, etc. Although steaming is, of course, the healthier way, it’s more important at the beginning to succeed make them eat the vegetable. Some time later, you can try cooking them in more healthier way.
Also, you can try different kinds of textures and presentations: puree, soup, small bits, grated, sticks, etc. Often, vegetable juice is well accepted if mixed with some fruit. You can begin with a juice made of carrot and apple.

Continue reading How to succeed getting kids eat vegetables

More ideas are:

1.- Tomato sauce:
Tomato sauce is traditionally made with some onion, but you can add some basilic, carrot, etc.

2.- Meatballs:
Add very tiny bits of garlic into meatballs with some persil.

3.- Mayonnaise:
You can make a spanish “allioli”, that it’s a mayonnaise with some garlic.

4.- Cannelloni or lasagna:
You can stuff your cannelloni or lasagna with vegetables, for example, spinach, or a mixture of meat and vegetables such as carrot, onion, zucchini, eggplant, etc.

5.- Omelette:
Making spanish omelette with potatoes and chopped fried onions. Chop them thinly enough so that they do not realize that there’s onion inside, at least in sight, to hide onion taste is more difficult.
You can also add spinach, asparagus, zucchini, or any vegetable in an omelette.

6.- Chinese spring rolls:
You can fill spring rolls with chicken and any kind of vegetable.

7.- Pizza:
You can bake a pizza with vegetable toppings.

8.- Pasta:
You add to their favorite pasta very small chopped vegetables.

9.- Vegetable creams:
You can cook a vegetable puree and then add some sour cream. This is the case of the french vichyssoise, made of leaks and potatoes. You can also make zucchini cream, carrot cream, etc.

10.- Breaded:
Steam your vegetables and then bread them with flour or some dry bread crumbs turn into flour, and then fry them.

11.- Russian salad:
This is a mixture of small bits of boiled potatoes, green beans, carrots, green peas, together with some tuna (I recommend better mackerel), boiled eggs, olives and mayonnaise sauce.

12.- Gratin:
Gratin is a traditional french way of cooking some food, such as potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli, but you can do it also with any other vegetable. The traditional french gratin is made by topping the vegetable with some cheese and baking in the oven with the grill program, but if you can’t have cheese, then you can put some almond powder, coconut cream or béchamel sauce.

13.- Potato cakes:
Make some vegetable cakes with smashed potato.

14.- Vegetable spaghetti:
Use a julienne peeler to cut carrots and courgettes into fine strips and steam them for some minutes or just raw.

15.- Salads
You can create funny and beautiful salads with some decorations.

16.- Crepes
Make tasty crepes with grinded vegetables and some sticky ingredient, such as dates.

17.- Vegetable chips
Kale chips are really delicious, and carrot chips are very good too. You just need to dry them during some time in the oven at very low temperature or using a dehydration machine.

Finally, another trick is to give as a reward one tablespoon of some food that they does like, but still healthy, like potatoes, bread, crackers, cheese, yogurt, sausage, hamburger, etc., for every tablespoon of vegetable they succeed to eat.

Also, if you let them make their own salad and they have fun preparing their meals they will like to eat it too.

I also recommend you to search on websites about vegetarian food, they often give many good ideas on cooking vegetables in a tasty and healthy way.

Remember that the healthiest way to cook vegetables is steaming, so that’s the goal, and for the the salad, the more it’s cut the more vitamins are lost.

Cooking pulses

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:44:00 +0100

Pulses use to be quite indigestible for most of the persons. They contain anti-nutrients that alter the digestion and avoid the proper absoption of minerals. Some advices to cook them in order to make them more digestibles are:

1.- Soak them in four parts water to one part legume with a pinch of salt and some drops of lemon juice. Change the water once or twice. Lentils require 12 hours soaking, chick peas and beans need 24 hours.

2.- Cook slowly in water for 15-20 minutes for lentils or 1 hour for chick peas and beans.

3.- Add herbs or vegetables with digestive properties: two sage leaves or some slices of fresh fennel during the cooking.

4.- The skin of the legumes is the most indigestible part. It’s better to remove it after the cooking of the chick peas and beans.

5.- Salt must be added at the end.

The association of pulses with a cereal gives a complete protein source.

Continue reading Cooking pulses

List of Food with Gluten and Modern Cereals

gemmac@livingglutenfree.com (Gemma Calzada) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 15:41:00 +0100

In the article 10 Reasons to Avoid Gluten and Modern Cereals we explained why all modern cereals are dangerous. In this post you will find a list of all modern cereals that must be avoided.

Continue reading List of Food with Gluten and Modern Cereals

When there’s a gluten intolerance or hypersensitivity means that gut flora is damaged, even if there isn’t a celiac disease, because it means that the person can’t digest well some food and even more, there’s a leaky gut so partially digested food cross intestine wall. In this page you can find more information about this subject.

So if new food is introduced to replace gluten then the risk of appearing new intolerances is present. This is why I don’t advice to replace wheat by quinoa, buckwheat, tapioca or other new grains. It’s better to repair the intestine before introducing new food.

The cereals to avoid are: wheat, spelt, kamut, rye, barley, maize, sorghum, millet, oats.

Permitted cereals are: teff (in moderation), fonio, rice.

Permitted seeds are: quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat.

Common key words on labels that indicate the presence of gluten or ingredients that may contain gluten:
wheat
wheat starch, maize starch, etc
malt, malt flavouring, malt powder, malt vinegar
wheat flour, maize flour, etc
wheat fibre, maize fibre, etc
bran
wheatflakes
wheat meal, wheat semolina, etc
wheat germ, wheat germ oil
beer, brewer’s yeast
yeast, baking powder, raising agents
cornflour
breadcrumbs
vegetable proteins of wheat, maize etc

Products to pay attention to as they may contain gluten:
Cold meats (ham, salami, bacon, dried sausage, blood sausage, foie gras, patés), sausages, hamburgers,
sweets, candy, chocolate, nougat,
soups, creams, sauces (mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, etc), stocks, condiments, herbs, seasonings, spices,
icing sugar, dried fruits,
taramasalata, sushi, miso, surimi, ragi (Indian millet),
Mac Cain frozen chips,
crisps, tortilla chips, nachos, salted nuts, salted sunflower seeds,
rice milk, grain-based alcohol (whisky, vodka),
omelette, potato puffs, potato balls, potato gratin,
rice crispies, soya flakes,
vegetarian products (burgers, etc), canned, preserved or frozen vegetables,
dehydrated or granulated tea or herbal tea, coffee granules,
food supplements, medications,
cosmetics, lipstick, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant,
play dough, paint, glue, stamps,

Pay attention to the communion host in the Christian mess!