IS GLUTEN FREE A NEW FAD DIET

I have spent the last 3 weeks reviewing real life case studies of “Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity or NCGS” – which is typically defined as a reaction to gluten that is not autoimmune (which is the case in Celiac Disease – CD) or allergic (wheat allergy).

It is also often referred to as gluten intolerance. 

These people are producing antibodies to many different components of wheat (beta-gliadin, gamma-gliadin and omega-gliadin, glutenin, wheat germ agglutenin, gluteomorphin, deaminated gliadin), not just the one typically tested for in Celiac Disease (alpha-gliadin).

What’s more is people can react to other types of tissue transglutaminases (enzymes in the digestive tract that help breakdown the wheat compound), other than tGT-2 (which is the one tested for in Celiac), including Type 3, which is primarily found in skin, and type 6 which is primarily found in the brain and nervous system tissue.

Most people assume gluten intolerance only affects gastrointestinal symptoms but this is not the case. Gluten intolerance can affect nearly every tissue in the body, including the brain, skin, endocrine system, stomach, liver, blood vessels, smooth muscles and even the nucleus of cells. And is associated with dermatitis, psoriasis, Hashimotos hypothyroisim, peripheral neuropathy, schizophrenia, Autism Spectrum Disorder and more.

A lot of people diagnosed with NCGS or CD look to the “gluten-free” alternatives like gluten-free breads and pastas and a whole shopping isle of other processed foods made with rice, corn, tapioca, quinoa, teff etc.

The problem is there is a high chance they can be producing antibodies to these foods too. We know thatabout 50% of people with CD show signs of casein intolerance, the protein in milk. So in this case going gluten free isn’t enough.

There are many pros and cons to intolerance testing and there is only one test that I would recommend for screening for gluten intolerance and that is Array 3 from Cyrex Labs in the US (working on getting it offered here in Australia). But for now doing a gluten free challenge is still the best test for gluten intolerance. That is remove it for 30 days, then add it back in and note what happens and how you feel.

Next time you hear a story in the media about, “Wasting billions of money on gluten free” or “gluten free as a fad diet”  and “gluten in tolerance may be completely fake” – please know that these stories are completely inaccurate and irresponsible journalism.

And whilst I do agree that food manufacturers have cottoned on to “gluten-free” being the next big thing and hence are taking advantage of it by producing packaged, processed gluten free foods it doesn’t mean that Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity is not real. It is actually very real – complex – and very under diagnosed due to lack of accurate testing.

So the answer is: don’t replace gluten with gluten free crap but rather eat real foods – like quality meat, seafood, vegetable, fruit and nuts and seeds.  

Love Chantel

RECIPE ALERT!!! BANANA BREAD

Ok so I learnt my lesson – Don’t post delicious banana bread photos (even though my food photo skills still need some work) UNLESS I am going to give away the recipe… GOT IT. Sounds fair to me. I know how it feels to be scrolling through social media and come across a delicious picture that you really feel for and are in the mood for cooking it, all to find out there isn’t a recipe or it’s too hard to find so you have to wipe up the drool and move on.

My apologies for not sharing the love at the time! I just needed a little more time to write it out with my improvisations. This recipe comes from Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar page, which came up when I searched gluten free banana bread. It is actually called Chai-Spiced Banana Bread. And if you follow the recipe I am sure it would be even better than my version. I didn’t have a lot of the spice ingredients at the time so I missed out on the “Chai-Spiced” part. What was left was still a very tasty banana bread.

So please, continue to remind/hassle me if I don’t share ever again.

Go forth and give your old, black bananas a new take on life.

INGREDIENTS
Dry Ingredients

1/2 cup buckwheat flour (a added 2 tablespoons less buckwheat and added it as banana flour)
1/2 cup almond meal (blended activated almonds I had in the cupboard)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cardamon (I didn’t have this)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger (I didn’t have this)
1/2 tsp all spice (nor this)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

Wet Ingredients

2 large eggs
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup your choice of milk (full fat or nut milk or coconut milk) ** I used coconut milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 medium very ripe bananas

METHOD

1/. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and lines loaf tin with baking paper.
2/. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
3/. In a seperate bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar and milk. Add in bananas and mash into the wet mixture with a fork. Don’t mash into puree though, leave a few chunky banana pieces.
4/. Add the wet mixture to the dry and fold through until just combined.
5/. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle pecans (or other nut) and cinnamon on top.
6/. Place loaf on the bottom shelf of the oven. Cook for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. If you find pecans are browning too quick place a piece of foil on top while the remainder of the loaf cooks.
7/. Once cooked through allow loaf to cool slightly before removing from the tin and slicing. Serve with a lather of quality butter (I use Westgold butter, from NZ grassfed cows) !!!!

Love,

Chantel

NUTRITIONAL INFLUENCES ON SOFT TISSUE INJURIES

Soft tissue injuries are amongst the most common injuries in sport and normal life. Most people have experienced or know someone close to them that have battled with shin splints, plantar fasciitis, tendonitis, achilles tendonitis, knee or lower back pain. The commonality of these injuries is concerning and should be addressed with a thorough understanding of all contributing factors. These injuries usually occur during physical activity, and although impact forces influence these tissues, this is not the only culprit.

As you have probably noted a common theme in my posts is that what you eat influences what happens inside your body. Nutrition, plays a significant role in preventing soft tissue injuries.
Just to make sure we are on the same page, a little anatomy first.

What is soft tissue?

Soft tissue is tissues that connect, support or surround other structures and organs of the body, not being bone. It includes, tendons, ligaments, fascia, skin, fibrous tissues, skin, fat and synovial membranes (which are connective tissue) and muscle, nerves and blood vessels (which are not connective tissue).
Connective tissue is responsible for responsiveness of whole body movement. Most soft tissue injuries relate to poor connective tissue. Collagen (a protein made up of a triple helix chain of amino acids) is an abundant protein of connective tissue. The longer the collagen the more strength it exerts.
Research indicates that individuals who have weak collagen experience more injuries through out their lives. Notably wrinkles, arthritis and circulatory problems also indicate poorer quality collagen that cannot prevent the tissues from pulling apart. The level of complexity of making collagen makes it very dependent on good nutrition and very susceptible to the effects of pro-inflammatory foods.

Top 3 Pro-Inflammatory Foods to avoid:

1.  Refined Sugar. Eg. Table sugar, high fructose corn syrup, soft drinks, sweetened beverages, candies, sodas etc.
2. Industrial Seed and Vegetable Oils and Trans Fats. Eg. corn, cottonseed, canola, peanut, rice bran, grape seed, sunflower, safflower and soybean oils. Artificial trans fat found in highly processed, refined, fried foods like doughnuts, margarine, fast food, frozen foods, chips, cookies, crackers, candy, instant soups, cake mixes, pasta mixes, microwave popcorn etc.
3. Processed Foods (artificial food additives)
4. Gluten and other refined grains. Eg. Cereals, breads, pasta, pizza, muesli, rye, barley, wheat.

These foods lead to inflammation in the body, which results in an increase in white blood cells, which attack free radicals and release enzymes that break down collagen. Chronic exposure to pro-inflammatory food in addition to a nutrient deficiencies leads to the production of poorer quality collagen negatively affecting ageing, joint stability and soft tissue. Hello injuries!

BONE BROTH BENEFITS

For most of us the the thought of throwing in a heap of bones into a slow cooker, leaving it simmer for 24 hours, and then drinking it, sounds a little gross. Well at least it did for me. But then I opened my mind and experienced the benefits and never looked back!
What is bone broth? It’s a traditional process that places on emphasis on preparing and eating from nose to tail, the whole animal. Broths, stocks and bone broths have been used around the globe throughout history for babies and young children, in Asian households using fish bones and broth and in Europe broth is used in soups, stews and preparing sauces.

“Bone” is alive, it is a living tissue. We often think of bone as a hard, strong, calcium filled structure and somewhat dead! But this is not the case! Bone is in fact rigid but at the same time slightly elastic due to collagen and it is an organ making it very much alive and up there with the other organ super foods like liver, heart, brain, kidney and sweetbreads. “Broth” is the liquid or in this case gel-like liquid that occurs as a result of simmering bones in water.

Bone broths are typically simmered on low for a long period (greater than 20 hours) which encourages extraction of minerals, nutrients and other important components of the bone and joint structure. The end product should be a nutrient dense gel-like liquid and bones that crumble when pressed lightly between your fingers.

Why should you consume it regularly?

“Modern nutritional research continues to prove what traditional cultures learned through observation over time, when we eat a specific part of an animal, it nourishes that same part of our body”. For example the highest source of Vitamin A is not broccoli or carrot but rather the tissue in the back of an eyeball. Vitamin A is specifically known to be crucial to support eyesight, amongst many other roles. Keep this concept in mind when considering the below points.

Bone Marrow:

Bone marrow is where the body manufactures red and white blood cells. It’s the fatty, slimy part that contains protein and loads of minerals. Bone marrow plays a crucial role in the immune system and in bone health.

Collagen and gelatin:

Collagen is the protein matrix in bones, tendons, ligaments, skin, arteries, hair and just about everywhere and is broken down by cooking into another protein called gelatin. Gelatin as the name suggests gives the jelly like appearance. These proteins provide your body with the raw material to help support and rebuild your connective tissue. The health of your joints depends on the health of the collagen in your ligaments, tendons and on the ends of your bones. It pays to start looking after your joints early as the number of people who undergo preventable knee, hip replacements is astonishing. Skin, hair and nails, just like gelatin, is made of collagen. Gelatin-rich broths help build connective tissue, which makes skin smoother (less cellulite, fewer wrinkles) and healthier. Gelatin may also have benefits for healing and supporting the gut lining.

Glycine (non-essential amino acids):

Stimulates the production on stomach acid which is very important as the stomach works optimally at an acidic PH. It also aids fat digestion in the small intestine. It plays an important role in liver detoxification and is important at balancing out the effects of excess methionine (present in muscle meats and eggs). Glycine is also precursor to the bodies own natural antioxidant, glutathione (we want plenty of this guy)!

Glycosaminoglycans:

Think Glucosamine, Chondroitin and Hyaluronic acid. Very special molecules found in bone and cartilage that help keep our joints healthy. Great for post injury, osteoarthritis or other causes on joint pain. And important for growing and supporting healthy joints. Broth is superior at delivering these components over supplemental tablets mainly because broth gives you the entire complex of cartilage components which affects absorption and utilisation in the body. Also the methods of extraction are far gentler than the destructive heat and pressure involved in the production of glucosamine tablets.

Calcium, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Sulphur, Potassium, Sodium, Iodine (fish bones)

Overall, the proteins found in bone broth exhibit overall anti-inflammatory action. This is why it has benefits in improving and treating osteoarthritis, leaky gut, joint pain and fatty liver. The strong anti-inflammatory effects of the proteins in broth is another reason why it can be used to aid recovery from injury and illness.

Personally I have seen the following improvements:

• stronger hair and nails
• reduced cellulite
• improvement in the appearance of my skin
• increased immunity
• improved digestion
• quicker recovery from training

It is my go to food when:

• I feel I am getting a virus
• One time when I got diarrhoea from something I had eaten
• When I am stressed and my digestion plays havoc
• To aid healing (cuts, grazes, when I slammed my finger in the door)
• When Jan feels a cold sore starting
• To reduce sunburn (although interesting fact is that since eating a anti-inflammatory diet I don’t get sunburnt very much and if I do my recovery is so much quicker)

And its a staple in our diet to balance out the effects of eating lean muscle meats along with eating more nose to tail.
– I have read and know stories of people who have healed broken bones remarkable quickly through consuming broth daily. 

Recipe

Based on using a 6.5L slow cooker

Ingredients

2kg Bones (Marrow, chicken backs, beef knuckles, chicken feet, lamb necks, hooves)
Note: It will come back to quality! Use only bones that come from well-raised, well-fed animals. We use marrow bones from grass fed cows from Master butchers.
1/2 cup of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar (aids in the extraction of minerals)
1/4 cup of sea powder (source of sea minerals, namely iodine)
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 tsp tumeric, or 2cm of fresh, minced
3cm ginger, minced
fresh herbs of choice
salt and pepper

Method

1. Add bones to slow cooker.
2. Add apple cider vinegar and allow to sit for 20 mins with the lid on.
3. Through all other ingredients in.
4. Add filtered water, enough to cover the bones but about 1-2 cm below the top of the slow cooker to avoid spillage.
5. Allow to simmer for 20 hours.

Once you have switched the broth off. You will need to remove the bones from the broth with a pair of tongs and place into the bin.
Then use a ladle and strainer to strain the liquid from the vegetables and other parts into a glass container. You can eat the vegetables or use them for making something else however in my experience they are tasteless as they have leached most of there nutrients into the broth so I don’t enjoy them. ( I am happy to hear suggestions).

Place lid on glass container and place into the fridge for 8 hours.

A solid layer of tallow will form on the top. This can be removed and thrown out or used like butter for cooking.

You should be left with a gelatinous broth to consume as stock, to add to cooking dishes, to add to smoothies, or to heat up on the stove top (NOT microwave) and enjoy as a hot drink.

How to strain bone broth below!

I like to drink my broth straight as a snack or as a add on to my meal. I particularly like it for breakfast with an egg and veggie scramble mix.
I hope this article will encourage you to drink bone broth regularly.

Love Chantel