Thank you so much for this blog, sharing your story, recipes and tips! I went through similar experiences to you throughout my life…only to be given a diagnosis of depression and/or IBS, knowing there was more to it than that. At age 35 a nutritionist finally did a test and my results were the highest she had ever seen for gluten intolerance or Celiac. My endoscopy later also showed flattened duodenum indicative of Celiac. I also found I have to be dairy free, soy free, sugar free in addition to the gluten free. After really sticking to a diet of veggies, protein and quinoa or brown rice, things are starting to improve. I also went through a phase of “hot flashes”/ sweating, neuropathy, headaches and such and didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t realize there was a “detox” stage after going gluten free until I read your story. Very interesting!! Now I understand!! I just ignored the symptoms but also wondered what was going on, why am I not feeling better if I’m gluten-free?? Finally, after 2 years of serious stuggle (thinking I was going to die at one point) I feel I’m truly healing and can function more normally each day. I found I had to be patient with the entire process, and still have to be…..but there are days when I have to scream and release the frustration! Thank you again for everything! ]]>
If guys drink SILK, when they get out on the dance floor, they won’t know whether to lead or to follow! ]]>
From the 2002 book Dangerous Grains, by James Braly, M.D. and Ron Hoggan, M.A., they reported that the cultivation of grains by humans began around 9000-10000 BC. While incorporating grains into the daily diet, it fundamentally altered the nature of human society, it also permanently shifted the physical evolution of humans. They write, “with the inclusion of grains in the diet, our ancestors became smaller, their bones became weaker and more diseased, and the size of their brains diminished. Human brain size, based on head circumference, has diminished approximately 11 percent since the advent of agricultural societies.” They also note that pre-grain humans were an average of 5 to 7 inches taller than their grain eating descendents.
Using the effects of Celiac Disease on modern humans as a model, Braly and Hoggan conclude that it was not just the ingesting of any grains that caused the diminishment in physical stature, but grains that contain gluten. Modern children who suffer from Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disorder triggered by the presence of gluten in the body, are physically smaller and more diminished than their peers. The natural progression of their development is stunted by the nutrient deficiencies their disease causes, causing many to stop growing well before late adolescence. Furthermore, adults with Celiac Disease display a marked reduction in bone density. Early civilizations didn’t seemed to notice, because they no longer needed to follow their food. They could simply grow it where they lived.
Assuming Braly and Hoggan’s theory is correct, can we help but wonder how different the human story would have been had our stature never been compromised?
So now we know to avoid these so called foods, and be healthier.
It should be knowned that independent studies in Europe, Russia, China, Canada and medical universities in the US have come to the same conclusions; animals fed with GMO crops have greater percentage of offspring that are stillborn, and by the third generation many if not all are sterile. In a very recent study in Russia and France, both have found that rats fed the new GMO corn are coming down with lots of cancerous tumors. Search the web with, France rat GMO study, etc.
If GMO foods are so wonderful, then why are companies like Monsanto afraid to label their GMO foods at the market, and spend over $41 million to defeat prop. #37 in California last Novenber, but only by a narrow margine?
People have the right to knew what they feed their families. ]]>
Corn was developed in Mexico around 7000 years ago. One of the first early corn foods was tortillas or little cakes. The important thing that the early people of Mexico learned was to break down the outer skin of the corn for it to be ‘healthy’ as a food. The way this was done was with water and ash from the fire pit and soaked for a few days. Today Lime, as use in pickling, seems to work as well. This process is known as nixtamalization.
I have to back up here for a moment to build a foundation for my comment.
Plants like anything else want to live. To protect themselves, some plants and trees grow thorns all over. Some plants like grains grow toxins to ward off predators. The thing about grains is that they don’t care about you. Though they have no teeth, claws or legs to kick you, or run away, they are anything but defenseless. They have an array of chemical defenses, including various lectins, gluten, and phytic acid that disrupt digestion, cause inflammation, and prevent you or an insect from absorbing vital nutrients and minerals, hence slow starvation in humans. The non pollinated petri dish wheat of today have way more gluten than just 100 years ago.
Corn arrived in the US and Africa around the same time, but the nixtamalization process was not brought along with the corn. People in Africa who depended mainly on this unprocessed corn for food got very malnutricious and came down with diseases like pellagra, before reasoning was descovered. Corn should not be used as food for humans, pets and even cows. Cows may have four stomachs, and chew their cuds to help with diigestion, but even their stomachs are not designed to eat corn and is detrimental to their health too. In reality, corn is detrimental to anyone’s health unless it has been through the nixtamalization process.
Even soy beans needs fermenting first because in their natural form, soybeans contain phytochemicals with toxic effects on the human body, animals too. The three major anti-nutrients are phytates, enzyme inhibitors and goitrogens. The Chinese raise soy for over a 1000 years before using as a food, which can about by fermentation.
Over 91% of soy and 86% of corn has been GMOooed in the US. GMO crops are heavily sprayed with herbicides and pesticides, which gets into the soil and in the plants through the roots. ]]>
Preheat your over to 350 degrees (F) while you gather the following items:
Hint: Always choose organic where possible, as organic foods are grown without the use of toxic chemical pesticides and herbicides.
1 cup of coconut flour
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of sea salt
5 free-range eggs
1/2 cup coconut butter (or oil)
1 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 cup almond milk
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Directions:
1. Mix 1/2 cup of almond milk with chia seeds and set it aside for 30 minutes.
2. Combine coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, vanilla, and coconut sugar and mix well.
3. Add eggs, coconut butter, chia seeds (the texture should be thick) and the rest of almond milk.
4. Blend in the frozen blueberries by hand, being careful not to crush the blueberries.
5. Pour this batter into paper muffin liners that you’ve placed in a muffin baking pan. Fill them completely.
6. Bake the muffins at 350 degrees (F) for 35 – 40 minutes, or until they are golden brown on the outside and completely cooked on the inside. Toothpick time!
Enjoy!
]]>I, too, thank you very much for all you’re doing.
I wanted to see the show, but we only have the low end of satellite TV (retired), & it wasn’t one of the channels we get.
I wish it was out on the net so I could see it.
Good luck with all you do!! You are one really great lady!!!
I, too, will continue to educate whenever I can, but it is frustrating – so I will try my best to be patient with all, although it will be an “uphill battle”, for I am Irish, Jewish, & Scottish, but I’ll try.
Leslie
]]>Hope this helps.
Leslie 