Author Archives: dianne rishikof

Gluten Free Cookbooks

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A new cookbook has arrived, and I was asked to review it. With almost 100 recipes, CarbSmart Low-Carb & Gluten-Free Fall and Winter Entertaining by Tracey Rollison & Misty Humphrey, is a kitchen essential for when you need to entertain guests and you want to serve delicious dishes that are low carb and gluten free. The recipes are easy to prepare without relying the usual processed foods.

Original and tantalizing recipes like pepperoni chip dippers and Swiss pecan crisps jumped right off the page. These are both creative gluten free alternatives to crackers.

This book is perfect for people who have struggled with balancing the desire to provide guests with scrumptious dishes and yet maintain the healthy goal of celebrating the holidays without added sugar or gluten free.

You can find it on Amazon here. The same publisher has another gluten free cookbook: Easy Gluten-Free Entertaining

Holiday Survival Guide

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This time of year is tough. Who among us doesn’t feel larger at New Year’s then we were before Halloween? Since losing weight is a challenge for most people, the best practice this time of year (or anytime) is to prevent weight gain. But how to do that when the parties and family feasts are plentiful?

Here are some tips:

  • First, don’t set yourself up to fail. Don’t aim to never have dessert. How realistic is that? When one fails at this, often what follows is giving up and over-indulging.
  • So, set realistic goals. Have one dessert at Thanksgiving instead of 4? Don’t snack on the office candy tray, but eat dessert at parties?
  • When you do indulge in desserts (as you will and should!), make it an indulging meal. Not an indulging day or month. Often we think, “oh, I’ve blown my diet or goals for today, so I’ll just eat whatever I want and start over tomorrow.” By doing this, you could potentially eat thousands of extra calories!
  • Since hunger and cravings are terribly difficult to overpower, give yourself a better chance by controlling your hunger. If you are starving, you will overeat as you will be too hungry to control your portions or make wise food selections. Here’s how:
    • Don’t starve yourself during the day so you can binge at night. Have healthy, high protein and fiber snacks/meals so that when party time comes you can make wise choices.
    • Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water, throughout the day, every day. Being dehydrated can manifest as hunger and cravings.
    • Get proper sleep. Without enough sleep you won’t produce enough leptin, the hormone that helps you feel full.
  • At a party:
    • Only eat it if it is fabulous; skip it if you can. In other words, don’t just eat it because it is in front of you, make discriminating choices.
    • Take a small plate. Filling up a small plate will have a lot less calories than a full large plate.
    • Don’t linger around the food.
    • Chew gum or have a mint when you want to stop eating (these things dull taste buds).
  • Holiday meals
    • Make a few substitutions
      • sugar substitutes
      • skim milk instead of cream
      • non-fat greek yogurt instead of sour cream
      • chicken broth instead of butter (in stuffing or mashed potatoes)
    • Smaller portions
  • EXERCISE
    • Family walks
    • Family football games (instead of watching football)

Above all: ENJOY YOURSELF

 

photo: stockimages

Gluten-free Pumpkin Cake

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Here it is, your Thanksgiving dessert (to go along with the Pecan Pie Pudding, of course). It is so delicious and moist, you might consider this cake even if you don’t avoid gluten.

I used a gluten free cake mix for the ‘flour’ to make it simple and easy. Ignore the directions on the cake mix box and follow below.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Ingredients:

1 gluten free cake mix

1 box of butterscotch pudding mix

1 can of pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1/3 cup of avocado oil (oil is automatically fodmap free)

1/4 cup water

2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice

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Put all ingredients together in a bowl. Blend with an electric mixer until thoroughly mixed (just a couple of minutes)

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Use a 9×13 pan (or whatever shape will work with the ingredients-I might try a bundt pan next time). Bake for 1 hr and 5-10 minutes at 250 degrees. Check 1 hr 5 minutes, stick a toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean, take cake out of oven to cool. If the toothpick wasn’t clean, keep cake in for a few minutes and recheck.

Does Constipation Cause Accidents?

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This one is for all you parents out there.

It’s No Accident: Breakthrough Solutions To Your Child’s Wetting, Constipation, Utis, And Other Potty Problems
Steve J. Hodges

Dr. Hodges says that constipation is to blame for most accidents, whether they be nighttime or daytime, pee or poo.  He says that kids can be pooping regularly and still holding large amounts of old poop in their rectum. This causes pressure on the bladder, and loss of muscle sensitivity and control of the rectum. It’s worth considering if your child is struggling with this problem. He lays out treatment plans and schedules, and includes two bonus chapters. One on nutrition written by a dietitian and one on behavior written by a psychologist.

And even if you are sure your child isn’t constipated, there is still great info on peeing accidents and holding. Holding leads to bladder muscles becoming so strong that they spasm and overpower the ability to hold in pee. He lays out treatments for this.

Buy it on amazon

Thanksgiving Fun with Food

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Every holiday is a perfect excuse to do something creative with food. And now, those of us who aren’t overflowing with our own ideas have pinterest.

And there aren’t just sugary unhealthy options on my Thanksgiving board. Here is the pb&j sandwich my son had for lunch last year on Thanksgiving day (he had to have something to hold him over until the 4:00 feast). And there are fruit and vegetable platters that are shaped like turkeys- they are a must see! Check out my collection of Thanksgiving pins now!

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All About Gluten

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I recently wrote a comprehensive article about gluten for Paleo Demystified’s Blog. I wrote about who should stay away from gluten and why, and how to figure out if you are one of those people. Please read the article!

Also, I posted a gluten related blog a while ago too.

And two more articles: one from Time magazine about the rise in Celiac Disease. And one in the New York Times that is a very comprehensive article about gluten.

Happy reading!

Healthy Halloween Treats

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We all like candy. But let’s face it, candy isn’t good for our kids and isn’t good for us (or am I the only one who eats my kids’ candy after their bedtime?) I found a few ideas out there and thought I would compile them.

English muffin Monster Faces

Peanut butter pumpkins

Strawberry Ghosts

and there are many more healthy and not-so-healthy ideas on my pinterest “Halloween” board

Enjoy

 

 

When Poop is the Best Medicine

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Fecal Transplants-yes, it does sound gross- are the next big thing. Of all those tips for keeping your gut flora healthy, or rebuilding your gut flora, a fecal transplant is the most effective. If someone else’s poop has millions of healthy bacteria in it, that will beat any probiotic, most of which contain 1-8 types of bacteria. It is just not something you can do yourself. OpenBiome in Medford, MA, has started the long process of making it easier to get through your doctor.

Here are some quotes from the article on Boston.com about OpenBiome.

“To keep your digestive and immune systems functioning properly, your body needs to maintain a natural balance of bacteria in your gut. But antibiotics taken to treat infections kill both “good” and “bad” bacteria indiscriminately. They kill it all, upsetting the balance and making the gastrointestinal tract susceptible to C. difficile, a “bad” bacteria. The resulting infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, affects more than 500,000 Americans per year, causing fever, nausea, abdominal pain, and serious diarrhea—and kills 14,000 Americans per year, especially in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

There are antibiotics that treat C. difficile, but as many as 20 percent of the infections return.

Our poop, it turns out, is a plentiful source of this good bacteria, and how do you get one person’s good-bacteria-filled poop into an ailing person? A fecal transplant.”

Read whole article here or visit www.openbiome.com

Transform your IBS with FODMAPs

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a pain in the ass! It affects approximately 15% of the population. The good news is: there is a new treatment in town.

IBS symptoms include:

  • bloating
  • gas
  • abdominal pain
  • diarrhea
  • constipation
  • alternating diarrhea and constipation.

These symptoms can also be indicative of more serious conditions such as Crohn’s Disease and Celiac Disease (autoimmune disorders that cause damage to the intestine), so a doctor needs to rule these out before a diagnosis of IBS can be concluded. If your intestines are otherwise healthy, but you routinely experience the symptoms above, then you would be diagnosed with  IBS.

Some of the possible causes of IBS:

  • A current gastrointestinal infection
  • A past gastrointestinal infection (post-infectious IBS)
  • Antibiotic use
  • One or more food sensitivities
  • Gut dysbiosis—imbalance in your gut bacteria

Each of those causes can be the result of unhealthy gut bacteria (or flora).

Not surprisingly, then, the solution to IBS is to try to change your gut flora. (Also not surprising, Crohn’s and Celiac patients have gut dysbiosis too, and therefore can also benefit from the following protocol).

FODMAPs

FODMAPs are a group of naturally occurring sugars that are fermentable. In a healthy gut, foods with FODMAPs wouldn’t cause any symptoms. But for some people, these sugars are big trouble. They travel through your small intestine, unabsorbed, and are therefore available for your gut flora to eat. When bacteria eat FODMAPs, they release gas, which in turn leads to all those symptoms listed above.

FODMAP is an acronym that stands for:

  • F: Fermentable
  • O: Oligosaccharides (Fructans and Galactans)
  • D: Disaccharides (Lactose)
  • M: Monosaccharides (Fructose)
  • A: and
  • P: Polyols (sugar alcohols)

The list of foods that contain one or more of these FODMAPs is very long. Which means of course, that following a low FODMAP diet is pretty restrictive. But it works for 75% of people with IBS. Imagine that!

The restrictive part is only for a few weeks, and is called the elimination phase. After getting your symptoms under control and resetting your gut, you reintroduce these foods, one at a time, to see if they still produce symptoms. Some will and some won’t.

But then you’ll know what bothers your tummy. And the idea is to eat the most varied diet you can, without experiencing problems. Since there are so many foods involved and you want things to get this right the first time, this diet works best with the guidance of dietitian.

 

photo credit freedigitalphotos.net