Posts Tagged ‘soy free’
Lastest Addictions
Gluten-Free Vegan Cookies: New Flavor & Free Shipping
Rice Yogurt
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)
Neurotic Label Reading
Sometimes it seems like I spend an inordinate amount of time and energy food shopping and reading ingredient lists and nutrition facts. Not that this is anything particularly new- I was raised to be a label reader, but since discovering the gluten intolerance, I’ve developed an even stricter criteria for what qualifies as cleanliness. When I stop to think about the hours I spend searching for clean ingredients, it does make me wonder how my time could be better put to use. Do you ever jump for joy when you find the words “gluten free” ACTUALLY printed on the container? I do! Not that this is a sure fire fix, but it does make it much easier.
The fact is that wheat products, soy, or dairy derivatives are added to everything now.
Basically these are the criteria that I use:
- Gluten Free
- Egg Free
- Dairy Free
- Soy Free
- No Transfat (hydrogenated oils)
- No HFC (high-fructose corn syrup)
It definitely helps to have stores like Trader Joes and Whole Foods who, at least, don’t carry products with HFC or transfat. I’ll stop venting now. I’m sure that it will only get better in the future as demand fuels the market.
Peace.
Fast Recovery… Berry Smoothie
In my brief stint at Oregon, before quitting law school, the athletic department’s nutritionist required us to either down a “Balance Shake” in a can or a bar immediately following a hard workout. She wasn’t entirely fond of me since I refused to ingest these products. Not only did they contain dairy products, but they were loaded with the dreaded HFC (high fructose corn syrup) and coated with hydrogenated oils (trans-fats). GROSS. This wasn’t the stone age either- it was the fall of 2002. And, she was supposed to be a nutritionist! (Never mind that she was overweight herself, probably from snacking on too many of these free bars and shakes that were given to the school as some kind of promotional deal….)
Instead, my compromise was that I would bring along a Clif bar or almond butter and jam sandwich. These wholesome snacks, however, were very hard for me to consume after really exerting myself… especially if it was hot. I have a terribly sensitive stomach! And hard efforts make me nauseous. To be honest, for most of my running life, I have avoided eating anything for quite some time after a strenuous workout. I have also always been known by my coaches for slow recoveries.
And that is something I would like to change.
There is frankly too much evidence available now about muscle breakdown and recovery for me to neglect this aspect of training any longer. I have forced myself to get over my food aversion mostly through liquid forms of energy replacement. Bellow is a recipe for the smoothie that I consumed today after a moderately-paced 16 miler. It was sunny and hot toward the end, and I felt really zapped of fluid.
In a blender:
24 oz filtered water
1/4 C unsweetened cranberry juice
1.5 C of organic frozen mixed berries
2 tsp stevia powder
1 Tbs agave nectar
3 Tbs rice protein powder*
1/4 tsp sea salt
If you like a thicker smoothie, you can add ice.
- Fruit- bananas, melons, pineapple, mango, peaches, nectarines, plums.
- Dried fruit that has been soaked the night before in a little water to plump it up like: apricots, raisins, currants, dates, figs, prunes, etc. Provides fiber, flavor, nutrients.
- Juices (especially high antioxidant juices like unsweetened pomegranate, blueberry, acai, gojiberry- trader joes has some excellent varieties) Make sure they are free of HFC and other added sweeteners.
- Greens: powdered greens, spirulina, chlorophyll, blue-green algae, kelp. If you have a vitamix or K-tec, then add some whole greens like kale or sea-vegetables to the smoothie!
- Bee pollen
- Almond butter, handful of nuts (like walnuts or almonds)
- Flax oil, or flax seeds (preground if you do not have a very powerful blender) for Omega-3’s and fiber from the flax seeds.
- Dash of cinnamon- tastes great and helps regulate blood sugar.
- Powdered vitamin C, Emergen-C packet, liquid trace minerals.
You can be creative and add whatever you like. Sometimes I make “desert” smoothies too… with rice milk, agave, brewed chai tea, cinnamon, and ice. Great ending to a hot summer’s night.
I’d love to hear more ideas for creative smoothie making!
Happy sipping.
Snacking Simply… Raw, Grain-Free, Paleo-Friendly
That being said, I don’t know why I haven’t been eating more dates. I’ve read this recipe in a few raw food “cookbooks,” and I think it is ingenious:
Ingredients: 1 date, 1 pecan
To make: pit date, if needed. place pecan inside date.
enjoy.
Pure genius.
Ins & Outs of Iron Supplements
Over the years I have tried countless different types of iron supplements in multiple forms. There are liquids, capsules, tablets, and soft gels. Iron is available over the counter, by Rx, in natural food stores, and at your local big box grocer. They are not, however, all created equal.
As a general rule, I avoid tablets whenever possible. They are the hardest of the forms to digest and often leave me with stomach pain. I also figure that the less my body has to work to break the product down, the more potent it will be. I’m not saying that the liquids won’t give you a stomachache! Many of them surely will, but depending on the type of iron it contains- you are probably absorbing more of it.
(For me, liquid ferrous sulphate is like taking a black enema in a bottle- sorry to be graphic.)
Here are the best Iron Supps I’ve taken (and I still have a cabinet full of others!):
1) Floradix- This stuff is expensive, especially when you consider how much elemental iron you are getting per serving. However, it works great if you are not terribly low and don’t mind the cost. They even have a version gluten and yeast free version called Floravital. Gentle enough to be taken after meals, this was my old standby in college.
2) SSS Iron Tonic- Another liquid. I ordered a few bottles along with the liquid B-complex. I was attracted by the claims that it works better than injections. It surely did work for me, right away I felt my iron come up and noticed a difference on runs within a week and a half. It did, however, give me a very constant stomachache for the month that I took it. Although there are no gluten containing ingredients on the label, the manufacturer cannot confirm that it is GF…. which was enough for me to stop taking it.
3) Hema-plex- I know, this is a tablet… but it is a good one. There are tons of beneficial ingredients packed into this little pill. It includes other blood builders such as beets and greens, as well as vitamins that enhance iron’s absorption. Another plus is that one tablet has 85 mg of iron as an amino acid chelate! Hemaplex is also wheat and yeast free, but they do not say gluten free. The ingredient in question for me is the barley grass juice, while I know that it shouldn’t contain gluten… if the grass had sprouted before it was juiced…. then there is a small chance. Uggh. Click here for a link to purchase.
4) Gentle Iron- This bottle was actually the first iron supplement that I ever purchased. I was in college and severely anemic… I couldn’t keep my eyes open in class and thought I had mono. Looking back, I’m sure it was the celiac disease, because I went through six-week stretch of everything running straight through me. Ironically, I started to cut out anything with fiber, fruit, then veggies, then nuts, and finally I was down to plain bagels. And nothing helped! I even had to go to the doctor for stool samples! (they told me I must have had a food born bacteria, but that it had worked its way out). Needless to say my track season was literally in the toilet that year. Anyways- As much as I’ve strayed, I keep coming back to this old standby. It is even Gluten-Free. Unfortunately each pill is only 25 mg…. but true to its name, it is truly the most gentle.
If you don’t have a sensitive stomach, then you can go the cheap route and get a ferrous sulfate liquid or the super cheap route and get ferrous sulfate tablets. Again, you should see faster results with the liquid, but it might also be harsher on your stomach. If the cheap iron tablets are a bit much for you, there’s always the extended release option too.
How to take Iron:
My stomach is so sensitive that I only take mine at night before bed. I left my dinner digest a little first, just because I think the less you have in your stomach the better it is absorbed.
Take the iron with Vitamin C. Try it with OJ or an Emergen-C. If you take a liquid iron, you can even make a little cocktail. 
Take your iron with a B-complex vitamin and make sure it contains plenty of B12.
Do not take other minerals with your iron! Minerals, especially calcium and zinc can block iron absorption. You’ll also probably hinder the absorption of the other minerals as well. Make sure your OJ isn’t fortified with calcium. Save that one for breakfast only.
Do not take iron with coffee, tea or soy milk. Caffeine is another substance that seems to hinder iron absorption. The same has been found with the tannins in tea (black and green, not herbal), and soy protein. Try not to consume any of these substances within 2-3 hours of taking your iron pill. This is also true with absorbing the iron from food- try not to drink caffeinated beverages or teas (herbals are OK) with meals.
Better get to the afternoon run. Cheers!
Nutshell…
We even ordered desert….and I don’t want to spend any more time describing it, because it is making me drool thinking about the grilled pinapple and brown sugar sherbet.
Highly recommended.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Saturday we finally had a house warming party….. I think it has been 2 and 1/2 months…. but better late than never. It wasn’t the greatest idea as far as timing, not only because of Hood to Coast, but because it was the first weekend we had practice with the team. That meant that both mornings we were up at 6:30 or earlier… Yesterday I was dragging so much!
Ahhh…. the cookies….. everyone was expecting something from me, but I haven’t hosted anything since going GF in March. So I REALLY wanted to make something that would be entirely undetectable from the real thing. SUCCESS!!!
I also accomplished the dairy free part, but couldn’t quite get soy free. Being short on time, I only managed to stop by Whole Foods…. and all their chocolate chips had soy lecithin. So annoying (just like the annoying soy additives to almond milks!)
I was hoping to recreate the recipe in a half batch on Sunday, but I ended up napping instead. It was much needed because, as it was, I was dragging yesterday at the Cafe.
1 C palm oil
1 1/2 C light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbs vanilla (gf)
2 C gf flour mix*
1/4 C fine white rice flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 C shredded unsweetened coconut**
10- 14 oz chocolate chips
1 C toasted walnuts (optional- also could use pecans, etc)
Preheat to 375. Line pans with parchment or silcone sheet or grease.
Beat oil and sugar well, add egg and vanilla and continue on medium speed until fluffy.
Add dry ingredients except coconut. Mix until well blended. Mix in coconut, chocolate, and nuts. Drop onto sheets in balls, they will spread a little.
Bake 8-10 minutes
Cool on wire rack
*Use a GF flour mix that does not already contain leavening agents or gums. I used a combination of garbanzo flour that was freshly ground along with brown and white rice flours and potato starch. The standard rice flour mix of 2 C rice flour, 2/3 C potato flour, and 1/3 C tapioca starch would work fine too.
**For a more traditional cookie, feel free to leave out the coconut. The unsweetened kind gives more texture, moistness, and fiber to the cookie- almost giving it an “oatmeal-like” mouth feel for me.
