musings of a gluten free runner

Archive for the ‘Favorite Products’ Category

I really never used to wear sunscreen.  I told everyone that I drank enough carrot juice to protect my skin!  And then one day something clicked… I think it was turning 27 and realizing that I was nearing the down-slide to 30 and middle-adulthood.  It was like a hazard light went off in my brain: I AM AGING.   Obviously this seems overly dramatic, but I have a mother who has always been obsessed with skincare and it was just a matter of time until I joined in the compulsion.

For me it’s not just about finding the MOST effective products, but also finding the LEAST toxic ones.  Many active ingredients (like glycolic & salicylic acids) have been found to be potentially hazardous, but they give great results.  Just like any effective medication, there could be some side effects… it’s just a matter of how much you are willing to compromise.

One things that kill me are parabens.  These are simply chemical preservatives added to products to make them last longer on the store shelves.  They have been linked to cancer, neurotoxicity, mutations, and they are an endocrine disruptor (ie. they mess with your thyroid & hormones).  So why are cosmetic companies still adding these harmful preservatives to everything from makeup to shampoo to lotions?  We know they’re bad and many “natural” companies have abandoned them… there’s really no excuse.

And onto the hottly debated topic of Sunscreen.  Studies have linked certain UV filters to the transsexualization of male fish, hormone disrupting activity and low birth weights in infant girls.  One of these culprit chemicals is oxybenzone, which is common in many sunscreens.  To lower the toxicity of sunscreens look for physical and not chemical blockers (ie. zinc oxide) in their non-nano form.  This means that the particles are large enough to sit on the surface of the skin.  The downside to this is the dreaded pasty-ghost-white film… but many products are getting better.  A way around this is to use a tinted moisturizer with spf on your face.

I really like Juice Beauty’s tinted moisturizer (SPF 30).  It is the least harmful one that I’ve tried.  My mom swears by Skinceuticals Physical Defense SPF 30.

The cosmetics database from the Environmental Working Group, a DC-based nonprofit, has 1,000’s of products rated on their safety levels.  It’s a wonderful resource to lookup your favorite products and see their toxicity level.  I used to buy Aveeno’s Positively Radiant facial sunscreen until I looked it up a couple of years ago.  Today we are so bombarded with environmental pollutants and toxins from every angle (food, water, air, homes, etc.) that it is no wonder that an alarmingly high number of us have some kind of hormone, auto-immune, endrocrine (thyroid) or adrenal problem!  One of the easiest things we can control is what we put onto my body.

Here’s the 2009 Guide to Sunscreens.  Now, I’m off to enjoy the nice weather!

Also check out: Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

It’s Monday and I have a headache.  OK, maybe it’s not really a headache… maybe it’s just that I have an endorphine hangover from the excitement and stress of last week’s events and I need a vacation.

Well, after going downstairs for a hit of Americano (bad!) and snack, I realized that I really take the Lärabar for granted.

Lärabars are always there when you need them.  They are my food in a pinch.  These bars are vegan and have no gluten, no soy, no gmo’s,  and are only sweetened with fruit. Except for the newer Peanut Butter Cookie flavor, they are completely raw. (I don’t eat peanuts for other reasons though).  All the flavors even have fewer than 6 ingredients.  How many other foods can say that?

They also make a great bar to take on the road for a recovery food.  Every ingredient is a food in a recognizable state to your body!  That means less waist to build up and process and the more nutrients the body can absorb from the food.  Reading the ingredients for most “energy bars” is a frightening and (hopefully) sobering moment.  I wish people would stop to realize that if they can’t pronounce something, they probably shouldn’t be eating it.

My Favorites: Cherry Pie (cherries have been proven to have anti-inflammatory properties, so great after exercise!), Pistachio, Cinnamon Roll and Jocolat Chocolate Hazelnut.

One upside about the company being bought out by General Mills is that you can find them everywhere from cafeterias to gas stations.  And as anyone with food allergies or restrictions can relate to:  they mean not having to go hungry.  So, thank you Lärabars.  I owe you more than one.

Dark chocolate is my favorite dessert.  Often I have a double whammy of my homemade cocoa with a few squares of premium chocolate.  The irony is that I never liked chocolate until after I discovered that I was allergic to gluten.  I’m not sure why, I just hated the waxy consistency and felt like it was over-dominant and overly sweet.  Even as a child I always gravitated to the more subtle flavors like cinnamon or vanilla.

Actually what made the difference was all the chocolate research and tasting that I did for my cookie recipes.  I became obsessed with chocolate production, with cocoa mass content, with the purity of the ingredients and with the absence of soy lecithin…. something that I very much contribute (along with low quality milk solids) to the waxiness of my childhood Halloween candies.

It’s no secret that cacao is a superfood.  The bean is high in antioxidants and a delicious source of minerals… including IRON.  Next time you are shopping for dark chocolate, look at the nutrition label and check the iron count.  The brands vary, but all the bars that have a high cocoa content should supply a really decent amount of iron!  It by far my favorite iron-rich foods… pumpkin seeds are second!

So, I thought I would share some of my favorite eating and baking chocolates…. (a note of disclaimer: the darker the better for me!) And although there are some lovely raw chocolates, they don’t have the complexity of flavor that I find from some of these amazing chocolate gurus.  Here are my faves in order for least intense to most hard-hitting.

1) Sweet Earth Baking Chocolate- 65% Big Baking Chips

Small chocolate producer in the Bay area.  These are the big chips I used in the Sift Bakery Double Chocolate cookies.  They are organic and Fair Trade Certified, vegan and soy free!  They have a number of other quality items too.  These were my snack during long days at the bakery!

2) Vivani’s 85% Bar

Just the right amount of bitter bite and smooooth.  When this goes on sale at New Seasons, I buy a case full.  This bar is truly astounding. Organic with just three ingredients: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, raw cane sugar.  They have an Allergy note on the website, saying that the machines are cleaned to a very high standard.  I have never had a problem with these and I am very sensitive.  There are many other chocolate bars that I’ve tried and won’t eat again because of reactions, but these feel very clean to my system.  Chock it up to German fastidiousness.

3) Theo Chocolate’s Venezuela 91% Bar

This company is from Seattle and it rocks.  The Origin Bars all have distinct flavors, like fine wines or coffees where you feel you are tasting the nuances in the soils from different regions of the world.  hmmm.  And 91% is just hardcore, but not bitter.  I love it.  The higher the cocoa content, the less I feel like I need to satisfy the jones.  No soy, no dairy, it’s beautiful!

4) Michel Cluizel’s Noir Infini 99% Bar

OK, I admit that 99% cocoa content sounds extreme, and maybe it is… but this bar is sweeter than expected.  The first time I bought a tiny square of it at Portland’s chocolate boutique (HEAVEN) Cacao, I was expecting it to taste like chomping on a square of baker’s chocolate.  Was I wrong!  The Noir Infini is an intense experience and not for the mainstream snicker’s addict… but it is a cocao-lover’s dream.  In addition to a tiny amount of sugar, it contains bourbon vanilla, a hint of orange and undisclosed spices.  Lucky for me I can’t taste the orange, I just taste intensity.

Here’s my cocoa recipe again:

1-2 TBS Raw Cocoa (I love Nativas Naturals)

pinch celtic sea salt

2 packets stevia (I love NuNaturals)

6-8 oz Hot H2O

2 oz Coconut Milk (like SoDelicious- I use the unsweetened)

optional: sprinkle of cayenne or cinnamon or both!

I can’t contain my excitement for this new coconut milk! It totally took me by surprise. We were in Ashland for the Easter holiday weekend (UP is a Catholic school, so they get a four-day weekend) and I started jumping up and down when I saw this in the Co-op. By the way, the Ashland food co-op is like my home away from home. I practically live there when we’re visiting. Luckily Ian is a sport and let’s me make a daily (sometimes twice daily) trip. Why is it so exciting? They have mate on tap, three kinds of raw-granola in their bulk section, a juice bar!!!, a huge assortment of kombuchas, amazing fresh fruit and gorgeous young coconuts & dates… my mouth is watering… I’m going to stop now.

When we got back to Portland I was elated to find that my very own Whole Foods in the Pearl is carrying both the orginial and the unsweetened varieties. I picked up a carton of the unsweetened version last night and made some hot rice porridge for desert. It was so creamy I wanted to cry.

Want to order vegan & gluten-free cookies for Christmas? Order by Sunday at noon and your package will ship Monday, 12/22/08 USPS priority. Enter Promo code FRIEND for a 30% discount on all orders through the end of the year. Happy holidays!

We’ve also added beautiful letterpress cards (from Egg Press!) to our inventory that you can purchase to go along with your order. Email us your personal message and we’ll include it in the card.

Awe, my addiction has a new outlet…. of course, I’m talking about chocolate. Ian thinks I’m crazy- it’s too bitter for him (he hates coffee and IPA and Kombucha too). But, somehow my tastes just keep getting more extreme. I’ve been munching on 99% cacao bars from Michel Cluizel! They are stocked by our local gourmet chocolate boutique named Cacao. I guess you could say I’m like a kid in a candy store there. Cacao presents chocolate like fine wines, olive oils, or coffees. Maybe you could call them the Chocolate Stumptown. They specialize in thick, unbelievably rich “drinking chocolates” that almost resemble hot pudding. My favorite is made with coconut milk and exotic spices that feeds my need for cayenne laced coco-ness.

Ok- one more product idea: RICE YOGURT! Why did it take so long for someone to think of this? I actually found this for the first time down in Ashland, Oregon (home to the best Co-op in the world)! Another one of those: “its about time,” things. And then a few weeks later it came to New Seasons!

This stuff is pretty sweet, so it more of a dessert thing than a lunch thing for me…. but I love the blueberry kind! And I have really missed yogurt since I stopped eating the soy-stuff. One of my favorite foods was the Vanilla soy-yogurt from Wildwood! Ricera isn’t the same, but it is close and lets me pretend.

Now if someone will please come up with a gluten-free, vegan cheese without soy! (I know this would probably take a miracle)