I’m a clean eater. What does that mean, exactly? Well, it’s about eating from nature’s bounty: fresh foods in their most natural state. Nothing with a label, nothing processed: purely nuts, seeds, fresh produce, healthy fats and lean proteins. Not sure what to make of this? How about whetting your appetite with kale cashew pesto with chia seed falafel; fresh spinach salad with roasted eggplant and avocado-basil dressing; and leek and tomato-apricot soup?
I learned at a very young age that I had an intolerance to dairy and sadly had to forgo the dixie cup ice cream at birthday parties. Then, along came college where gluten intolerance hit me full force. I wasn’t ready for this double whammy, especially eating such a restrictive diet under the confines of a mere dorm-room fridge. I struggled for many years in college and beyond, wondering what I could eat (what my body wouldn’t reject) and what I should eat (to replenish the nutrients I wasn’t getting from gluten and dairy). After 10 years of chronic stomach pain and other unpleasant side effects, visiting every doctor in Manhattan and even venturing out to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, I was written off as a medical mystery: “Nothing is wrong with you,” and “I can’t help you.”
So I decided to heal myself in a natural way, I started working with a medical doctor specializing in functional medicine and healed myself with food that keeps me content, feeling good about myself and smiling every day. I learned how to create a homemade salsa, dressing, marinade, guacamole, hummus and so much more by experimenting in my kitchen with fresh produce and herbs.
My attitude toward this lifestyle wasn’t always so positive though. There was a point in my life where I thought I would never find anything I could eat without getting sick, as our society breeds off over-processed, over-salted convenience foods. But, I put in a lot of time and research when I made the big decision to take charge of my health. I went back to school, learned a lot about how food heals and started a blog that’s all about gluten- and dairy-free living. My goal is to help people who have similar issues with and intolerances to foods or people who suffer from a medical illness where certain foods need to be restricted, to learn that it is easier than you think to adjust your lifestyle –and if you keep with it, you will succeed. I bring my own food to barbecues, on airplanes, along for car rides and sometimes even to weddings. Hey,a girl’s gotta eat. And eat, I do. I love food; it’s what healed me.
Food is what took me off pain killers and steroids when I was suffering from colitis, bacteria overgrowth, dysbiosis, parasites and pathogens. Food is what brought a smile to my face when I was in chronic pain. It took patience, time, research and learning how to listen to my body by starting each day with a fresh green juice.
It’s about eating fresh: fresh vegetables, fresh fruitf resh, lean proteins, and healthy fats.
It’s not about the gluten-free pizzas or the vegan cookies or the dairy-free ice creams. Yes, I’m sure they all taste great. But if these companies are taking out the gluten, dairy, fat or sodium, well … what exactly are they putting in? Kind of scary to think about, isn’t it? Just take a look at the ingredient list, and I’m sure you’ll be blown away (or unable to pronounce) what’s inside.
Let’s start by taking a step back and eating the basics: fresh produce, lean proteins and healthy fats. Challenge yourself to forego the food store for local farmers markets … I bet you’ll be surprised how creative you can get. And the best part? Your taste buds will transform, and you’ll soon realize you don’t need that fake sweetener or that sugary iced tea or those cookies.
Why? Well, when you use fresh, naturally sweetened foods such as beets, carrots, sweet potatoes and fresh herbs such as mint, cilantro and parsley, you will be fully satisfying your taste buds with all-natural tastes. Believe me, I never thought I’d say those words … never thought they’d come out of my mouth. But I assure you, fresh ingredients and herbs can make anything taste good. It takes patience and practice and a bit of learning, but that learning curve isn’t steep, and you can do it.
Here are a few fun recipes to try yourself.
Vegan Falafel Balls with Kale Cashew Pesto
Yield: 4 servings
-2 cups chickpeas, cooked
-1 large sweet onion, roughly chopped
-3 cloves garlic
-1/3 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
-1 tablespoon fresh lime zest
-2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
-1 ½ tablespoons cumin seeds, toasted
-3/4 teaspoon sea salt
-1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
-1/4 teaspoon chili powder
-1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
-1 tablespoon rice flour
-2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a small skillet over medium heat toast cumin seeds. Toast until golden brown, approximately 3 minutes.
In a food processor combine chickpeas, onion, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, cumin, sea salt, white pepper and chili powder; pulse process until coarsely chopped. Add olive oil, rice flour and ground flax seeds. Using your hands, mold into golf-sized balls.
Place falafel balls on a nonstick baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and serve warm with Kale Cashew Pesto (below).
Kale Cashew Pesto
-2 cups kale, steamed and roughly chopped
-¼ cup scallions, chopped
-½ cup cashews, toasted
-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
-1/4 cup rice milk
-2 cloves garlic, roasted
-½ teaspoon sea salt
-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
-1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
-1 teaspoon chili powder
Place kale and scallions in food processor and pulse until chopped.
Add cashews, nutritional yeast, rice milk and garlic; pulse again to combine.
Slowly add sea salt, lemon juice, oil and chili powder.
Continue pulsing until smooth.
Serve as a dipping sauce with Falafel.
Blood Orange Kale Chips with Caramelized Cherry Onions
Yield: 2 servings
-1 large Vidalia onion, sliced into thin rings
-1 cup water
-1/4 cup fresh red grapes
-1 medium blood orange
-2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
-1 teaspoon agave nectar
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-Sea salt and pepper, to taste
-Pinch of paprika
-4 cups fresh kale, roughly chopped
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place onion in a medium-size bowl and fill with water. Place in the microwave for 10 minutes.
In a separate bowl, combine juice from the blood orange, balsamic vinegar, agave nectar, olive oil, sea salt, pepper and paprika; whisk to combine.
Place kale, orange juice mixture and onions in a large bowl; using hands, gently toss to coat. Add fresh grapes.
Arrange kale and mixture in a single layer on prepared baking sheets. Bake until crispy, approximately 25-30 minutes.
Carrot Coriander Dip
Yield: 4 servings
-6 large carrots, shredded
-2 tablespoons raw cashews
-1/4 cup almond milk
-1/4 cup hemp milk
-1/2 teaspoon coriander
-1/4 cup fresh parsley
-1 teaspoon lime juice
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/4 teaspoon sea salt
-1/3 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Place all ingredients in a blender; pulse until smooth.
Transfer to the stove top, cook on low heat for 4-5 minutes or until thickened.
Enjoy atop grilled vegetables and tofu or as a dressing on salads.
Amie Valpone, HHC, AADP, is a culinary marketing consultant, recipe developer and food writer specializing in gluten-free and dairy-free culinary nutrition. She is also the publisher of “Easy Eats”, a gluten-free, online magazine.
Hey unicorn planet hugger. Wanna great earth friendly tip? Go vegan! Even if only for a day. Save the animals, the oxygen, the water, oil, soil, etc. FYI: there’s more protein per calorie in broccoli that there is in that T-bone. I’m just saying! Ok, so today’s video is my first “Ask Kris” segment. yeah! You ask questions, I answer said questions. And if you have a question for my next segment, lay it on me here tootsie! If I don’t know the answer, you can bet your sweet buns I’m only an email or phone call away from a fantabulous expert who does! Hunting knowledge is my personal pass time/obsession. In fact, knowledge is the only things we should be hunting.
Today I am healthy, vibrant and pain free, but it wasn’t always this way. A few years ago, I became afflicted with intense, severe muscle pain and joint swelling, leading to hospitalization. It wasn’t until I discovered I had a severe gluten intolerance that I was able to turn it all around.
My symptoms began with random traveling joint pain. Then more joints started to ache. My feet were so swollen that my shoes would barely fit. Symptoms quickly worsened: bloody urine, heart palpitations and shortness of breath. Off I went to the emergency room. After being evaluated, I needed to be monitored, but there were no beds available for admission. Next stop, mediflight to another hospital in another state. I was diagnosed with lupus nephritis with multi-organ involvement.
Three hospitals later and on a slew of medications, I retreated with family as my body required 24-hour care. I needed assistance getting out of bed, washing my hair and just walking. I had so much brain fog, depression rapidly set in. What was happening to my body? Thoughts of taking my life came during my worst days as I lay in bed, sobbing alone. Days and weeks passed, and I pondered what had happened to this healthy, organic food eating, juicing, supplement-taking, bottled water-drinking body of mine.
I realized that my joints would scream after most meals. I requested a gene test for celiac disease from my specialist. She said, “Don’t even waste your money!” I found the test online and ordered it. Lo and behold, I had two gluten sensitive genes, one from each parent. It was at that instant that I became gluten free and within days my brain fog started to clear up, and the joint and muscle pain began to resolve. That was my salvation and the birth of a gluten-free fanatic.
As I have come to realize this journey as my gift, my mission is to spread awareness of the link between gluten and lupus or possibly other autoimmune disorders. I strongly acknowledge the potency of nutritional food choices; it literally saved my life. I now share my story with lupus support groups in New York City.
Today as a nurse practitioner and celiac educator, I focus on testing for gluten intolerance and celiac disease, as well as treat and nurture patients with celiac disease from the afflictions gluten can cause, especially multiple vitamin deficiencies. If you have joint or muscle pain, infertility issues, anemia, brain fog, irritable bowel syndrome, thyroid disorder, osteoporosis, gastrointestinal or an autoimmune disorder, get tested (preferably gene tested) for celiac disease. It can ultimately stop the rapid progression of this rising autoimmune epidemic in women.
Today I am a healthy and a vibrant gluten-free cook and foodie working on my first gluten-free cookbook. I empower women, especially those who have suffered a chronic illness, to live beyond their diagnosis and to live a full out and fabulous life!
Margaret A. Romero is a board-certified nurse practitioner specializing in women’s health and integrative medicine. She has a private practice at the Giving Nature Center in Chelsea, New York City.
I was elated the day my 10-year-old son, Oliver, came home and announced the five words that would warm any mother’s heart. No, not, “Mom, I ate my vegetables,” but “Mom, I am popular now!”
Not that I care particularly that Oliver is popular in the captain of the football team or class president sort of way, but when you have an engaging child who loves to be around other kids and his behavior ends up annoying and turning those same children away, it is heartbreaking.
If you have a child or live with someone with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you will know what I mean when I say that every day can be a challenge and test every ounce of patience that you have! While the symptoms of ADHD vary in every individual, in my son’s case he could be distractive, impulsive, and sometimes downright provocative. Getting him up, dressed and at the table for breakfast in the morning could require military-like precision: a change of plans could set him off in a spiral of uncontrolled behavior; his sister could easily provoke him, causing endless sibling fighting; and his behavior could swing from charming and sweet to a hellion at the drop of a hat. There would be days at a time when I literally would feel like every day was Groundhog Day and collapse in exhaustion and frustration. We went through so many babysitters one year that I almost threw my hands up in the air and gave up!
So one day we all woke up and the bad dream was over, completely over! Oliver is easy to deal with now and just a pleasure to be with. He wakes up now every morning on his own and makes orange juice for the whole family. He and his sister are now the best of friends and rarely fight. And he is asked over to other children’s homes now for play dates. There are no more of the dreaded calls from school, and Oliver is just happier and has so much more self-confidence. The house is finally calm and we are all able to breathe a sigh of relief.
By now you are probably wondering how Oliver made such a 360-degree turn in his behavior. Was it behavior modification or the endless parenting classes that we went to (although I am sure all of those helped)? No! One day we decided to visit Dr. Bock in Rhinebeck, New York, the author of “Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies.” For those of you who are not familiar with Dr. Bock, he has clients from all over the world and he literally heals (or at least greatly improves symptoms of) many children with ADHD, autism, asthma, and allergies through supplementation and diet change.
After a battery of blood tests, stool samples, and an in-depth interview, it was revealed that Oliver has gluten and dairy intolerances as well as iron and zinc deficiencies. While Dr. Bock put him on supplements and we saw the results of that immediately, the main thing we saw set him off was gluten!
Unfortunately gluten is in everything or at least everything a 10-year-old boy loves! Gone were the beloved morning bagels, the donuts that my husband would take him to have for “treats,” pizza, pasta, cookies, and even the garlic knots and sandwiches he would crave at school.
The good thing is that Oliver has seen the changes in his own behavior and likes the “new him.” In fact, he likes the way he feels so much that it is now him that takes staying on the diet so seriously. When he does lapse and has something with gluten, either by accident or on purpose, we all see the immediate difference.
If you are anything like I was, you completely roll your eyes when a mother explains that her child is on a gluten-free or dairy-free diet or has this or that food sensitivity. At bake sales and birthday parties I thought it was comical the lengths parents had to go to make sure everyone’s food needs are met.
Well it is embarrassing to say, but I have officially joined the food sensitivity group and have taken my son completely off gluten and dairy. It has been so worth it! Never again will I look at another parent’s choices with what I realize now was judgment.
I never thought a small change such as a change in diet could alter a child’s behavior so dramatically, but I have seen it with my own eyes. I recognize that I am lucky. Oliver only has mild ADHD and is able to function at an extremely high level in a challenging school, but the changes we have seen in Oliver are dramatic both at home and at school. For anyone who has a child with ADHD or autism, I ask them to open their minds and hearts and get their child tested or take their child off gluten and dairy for a month and see if changes happen.
These days there are so many wonderful substitutes for the “regular” foods. We have actually had fun trying them all. Both of my kids have a thumbs up and thumbs down system for letting me know how they fall in the rating and whether I should buy them again! Eating gluten-free does not have to be a life sentence and can be beneficial for everyone in the family!
Katherine Pennington is a diet and lifestyle counselor, raw chef, writer, and founder of Be in Balance. She also writes her own blog, Raw Mom Hotdog Kids, about the struggles of feeding kids healthy food in a junk food world. Katherine lives with her husband and two children in New York City.
So you’re vegan and gluten-free? No wheat? No meat? What to eat? Well, a lot actually.
Instead of Bread -Starchy vegetables can take the edge off of bread cravings. Try a baked sweet potato with a drizzle of coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast flakes.
-Most gluten-free breads actually contain eggs. I recommend making your own. I’ve tried a few gluten-free flours on the market, and I like Perfectly Elizabeth’s muffin mixes. To replace eggs, use a few tablespoons of well-soaked flax seeds.
-Ethiopian restaurants are known for delicious spongy bread called “injera,” which is made out of teff (and no dairy). I recommend that you call ahead to confirm the ingredients used, as some restaurants will combine teff and wheat flour to appease American tastes.
-Try your own panini (grilled sandwich) with two big slices of grilled eggplant.
-There are many good tasting gluten-free tortillas. Even mainstream markets have authentic corn flour based ones, but I also like to use big lettuce or red cabbage leaves to make nutrient dense wraps.
Pasta Schmasta -Of course there are lots of non-wheat pastas in any shape imaginable. Many Asian marts carry noodles made of out of sea vegetables like kelp; Sea Tangle Noodle Company is one brand. Shirataki makes noodles out of tofu; talk about high protein!
-If you have a Saladacco spiral slicer you can make lovely raw noodles out of zucchini and if you don’t, just slice your zucchini very, very thin.
-Nature’s own “bisgetti” is from the autumnal spaghetti squash; just roast and top with your favorite marina sauce.
Ugh, the Protein Question!
Where do you get your protein? You will have to avoid seitan (wheat gluten), which does have a lot of protein, but you have a plethora of foods to chose from: tofu, tempeh, sea vegetables, quinoa, nuts, seeds, lentils and dark green veggies. Athletes can add soy, hemp or pea protein powders to smoothies and shakes.
Don’t Forget Dessert -Raw food desserts are perfect for gluten-free vegans. If you don’t have a raw food restaurant near you, I highly recommend Jenny Cornbleet’s book, “Raw for Dessert.” Cornbleet is a master at making raw food easy for everyone.
-Turtle Mountain’s So Delicious coconut milk based products are some of the best tasting vegan and gluten-free ice creams and treats on the market.
-Sorbet is a vegan, frozen fruit dessert that is often made with a sweetener and fruit puree. Sorbet should not be confused with sherbet, which actually contains dairy.
-Mochi is a macrobiotic treat made from whole grain brown rice and can usually be bought in perforated sheets, so you can just tear, bake and eat. It’s kind of like an edible craft project. Mochi is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. These work for breakfast too with jelly or tahini smeared on them.
When shopping it is important to know what to avoid:
Ingredients that indicate the presence of wheat: modified food starch, gelatinized starch, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, soy sauce, vegetable gum, vegetable starch and my personal favorite “natural” flavorings.
I hate to repeat the obvious, but some are not obvious. Foods that often contain wheat are: most breads, cakes, pastries, cookies, bread crumbs, pasta, couscous, cereals, kamut, crackers, enriched flour, bran, bran germ, malt, starch, gluten, semolina, bulgur, vital gluten, durum, graham flour, whole wheat flour, spelt, cracker meal and farina.
Foods and terms that indicate the presence of milk: artificial butter flavor, butter, butter fat, buttermilk, casein, cottage cheese, cheese cream, ghee, caseinates, curds, custard, half and half, rennet casein, lactose, lactulose, lactoferrin, lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate, nougat, pudding, yogurt, whey, sour cream, caramel candies, chocolate, high protein flour, non-dairy products, lactic acid starter culture and flavorings (artificial or natural).
Foods and terms that indicate the presence of eggs: albumin (also spelled albumen), mayonnaise, eggnog, lysozyme, surimi, meringue, lecithin, macaroni, marzipan, nougat, marshmallows, flavorings (artificial or natural) and many types of pasta.
Also, avoid shopping out of bins. Even though buying nuts, seeds, legumes and spices from bins are an economical choice, you do increase the risk of cross contamination.
The Food Allergy Research and Resource Program recommends avoiding both Dairy- Free and Non-Dairy products since it is unclear what percentage of lactose is legally allowed in these products. Changing these regulations would apparently be a tedious process. If you are allergic to dairy, the safest bet is to go on a package-free whole foods diet.
Lastly, a few words about eating out and being social: I would avoid Italian unless you really like plain salads with oil and vinegar dressings. Indian food might also seem like a great option, but even most Indian vegetarian restaurants use lots of dairy. Diners are another no-no. There is just too much you can’t eat, so why torture yourself? You might get away with a meat- and cheese-free bowl of chili, but also consider that the risk of cross-contamination is pretty great.
It’s also important to be social. Invite your fellow gluten-free vegans to a potluck. Hosting dinners is another way to not only “eat safe,” but also educate others on how delicious your diet truly is. I’m afraid if they don’t like raw vegan chocolate cheesecake, they may be beyond our help!
Patricia Biesen is a blogger for ChicagoNow. She writes Eclectic Eating Chicago, which is a blog that helps readers with food allergies or specialty diets find delicious alternatives. She is also a Protect Allergic Children consultant with the Eat, Live, Learn Foundation. She is currently enrolled in the distance-learning program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
