A Gluten Free Food List

We can only scratch the surface of this topic in this article because there are so many options today for those who can’t eat gluten. A gluten free food list is radically different than it was in the recent past. Only five years ago someone who was diagnosed as gluten intolerant or with Celiac Disease lived on very little variety in their diet. Thankfully there have been major advances in the food industry to provide us with delicious and varied foods for our enjoyment.

In the past people that had gluten sensitivity were sentenced to vegetables, rice and fish or meat.

No cereals were allowed, nor crackers, pasta, desserts or sauces. It is clear that the best diet for any of us is one packed with lots of fresh veggies and fruits. We can choose which form of protein we want to consume. That being said, though, there are so many foods we can get in our local store for a quick and tasty meal. There are fast warm up foods  or  things  we  can  bake   like  gluten   free  pizza.

The best and easiest idea is to create a variety of stir fries and salads and alternate them throughout the week. These are quick, simple and easily adapted for your taste with different herbs, spices and meats. Experiment with different flavors – never under estimate the effect that the addition of lemon juice, orange, walnuts or apple can make to your average garden salad!

Many people that have gluten sensitivities or intolerance have a craving for a lot of sweets before they wean themselves off the gluten. Thankfully there are many ranges of gluten free cookies and sweets that cannot be distinguished from the “regular” kind.

One of the great aspects of going gluten free is that once you have been that way for a while your cravings for sugar also decrease making it far easier to get satisfaction from your food.

In compiling gluten free food list there are three main things to remember:

1)  NEVER eat anything packaged or bottled that is not marked “Certified Gluten Free” even if there is no wheat or flour listed in the ingredients. Flours are excellent cutters (for shake-ability) in herbs and spices and smoothing agents for sauces.

2)  Packaged food combinations are much trickier to guarantee gluten free. Sauces, spice mixes (taco or spaghetti), soups are highly suspect when it comes to eating gluten free.

3)  Be careful in restaurants that claim to have gluten free items on their menu. If even a bit of flour or bread crumbs from another dish contact your food it can trigger a reaction that could last for a couple days. Restaurants don’t know how serious this illness can be.

Alright, that being said, here are some foods to choose from:
nuts
cheese but not cheese spreads
beans, peas and seeds
tamari soy sauce
rice, rice flour, rice crackers (as long as they are labeled gluten free)
corn meal
pop corn; plain or with butter
Quinoa
Millet
tapioca
corn tortillas
jello
jam
flax seed
herb teas; not mixes unless . . . you know
oils,
vinegars
fruit juices; pure

For those who like their pasta there are certain brands that make pasta based on whole grains like rice and quinoa. These are lighter in texture than your regular pasta which might take a little getting used to but they still come in a variety of shapes!

A life lived healthy is a life lived happy. Good luck putting together your own gluten free food list!

Posted by Susu in Nutrition

http://www.cool-health.com/a-gluten-free-food-list

Whole Grain Foods: Better Nutrition, Better Diet

Nutrition experts say you should eat three servings of whole grains every day.

Find out why whole grains are best for good nutrition and the role they play in your diet.

You might not yet know the difference between whole-grain foods and refined grain foods, but chances are you’re probably already including some whole-grain foods in your diet. If you have a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast or some popcorn at the movies, you are eating whole-grain foods. The first thing you should know about whole grains is that they have more nutrition than refined grains, are better for your heart, and can help you lose weight.

Whole-grain foods are made from the entire grain seed. When a whole grain like wheat or rice is crushed, cracked, or cooked in processing, parts of the grain kernel, such as the bran and the germ, can be lost and, along with them, some of the fiber, vitamins, and minerals. According to the FDA, for a food to call itself "whole grain," it must contain at least 51 percent whole grain.

Whole Grain Foods: The Benefits

"Whole-grain foods are an important part of any healthy diet. If you are trying to lose weight or eat a heart-healthy diet, you need to include whole grains. Whole grains are one of the best examples of choosing quality calories over empty calories," says Eric Plasker, DC, author of The 100 Year Lifestyle and a health, wellness, and nutrition expert who travels the country giving seminars on well-being and living a healthy balanced life.

Here’s why Plasker recommends whole-grain foods:

Nutritional benefits. Whole grains are rich in disease-fighting antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. "Whole grains are high in fiber, so they help regulate your digestion," he says.

Health benefits. Research shows that whole grains reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.

Weight loss. "Because whole grains are more filling, they help you eat less and can help you lose weight," advises Plasker. People who regularly include whole grains in their diet have a lower risk of obesity and lower cholesterol levels.

Whole Grain Foods: Portion Guidelines

In 2005, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, issued every five years by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, separated its recommendation for whole grains from refined grains for the first time. They encourage all Americans to include at least three one-ounce servings of whole grains every day, half the suggested total in the grains category. Before 2003, although Americans were eating about 10 servings of grain every day, only one serving was from whole grain.

Here are some examples of whole-grain foods:

• Brown rice
• Bulgur
• Popcorn                              
  
• Whole-grain corn                       
• Whole rye
• Wild rice
• Whole wheat
• Whole oats

Whole Grain Foods: Making the Switch

If you grew up eating white bread, switching to whole-wheat bread can be somewhat of an adjustment. Factors that determine if consumers will make the switch to whole-grain foods include convenience, cost, and taste, but surveys show that taste is the most important factor.

Once you get used to whole grains, you may find that they have more taste and texture. "You can tell the difference just by picking up a package of whole-grain bread and white bread. The whole-grain package is heavier. It won't make you heavier, but it will fill you up with flavor and nutrition," says Plasker.

Chris Iliades, MD | Medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH

By http://www.everydayhealth.com/weight/whole-grain-foods-better-nutrition-better-diet.aspx

Major fat-burning discovery

Harvard researchers discover a hormone released by exercise.

When you're taking a brisk walk on a beautiful day, what are you thinking about? The sun, the breeze, how good it feels to loosen up the stiff parts. The last thing you're thinking about as you pick up the pace is what's happening to your body chemistry.

When you exercise, your body chemistry changes in ways that we only now are coming to understand. Over the past 20 years, scientists have identified natural molecules in all of us that influence our appetite and our metabolism—and, hence, our weight. Now, researchers at Harvard Medical School and elsewhere are identifying the molecules that not only affect our weight, but also cause other health benefits of exercise.

"Our muscle cells need a source of energy when they exercise," says Dr. Anthony Komaroff, a professor at Harvard Medical School. "Muscles get that energy by burning fat and sugar brought to them by the blood. That's been known for nearly a century. However, it's not the whole story. "

 

The hormone irisin

In January 2012, a research team led by Dr. Bruce Spiegelman, a Harvard Medical School professor, published a new study in the journal Nature. The study was done in mice, but may well apply to humans. The study showed that exercising muscle produces a hormone called irisin.

"Irisin travels throughout the body in the blood, and alters fat cells," explains Dr. Komaroff. "Body fat is stored inside fat cells. Most of these fat cells are called white fat cells, and their function is to store fat."

 

White fat vs. brown fat

Why do we store fat? When we eat more calories than we burn by exercise, the extra calories have to go somewhere. They're stored partly as fat. Our distant ancestors didn't eat as regularly as we do. Forty thousand years ago on the Serengeti, our ancestors were able to get a serious meal only a few times each week. In between meals, they needed some source of energy. A large part of it came from the fat they stored away after a meal.

In 2009, studies from Harvard Medical School and elsewhere discovered that humans have not only white fat cells but also brown fat cells.

"Brown fat cells don't store fat: they burn fat. If your goal is to lose weight, you want to increase the number of your brown fat cells and to decrease your white fat cells," says Dr. Komaroff.

Irisin does that, at least in mice. And those newly-created brown fat cells keep burning calories after exercise is over. But it gets better.

 

Irisin's other effects

We've known for some time that a regular program of moderate exercise protects us against type 2 diabetes. For example, a lifestyle program that included regular moderate exercise reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by nearly 60%—more than any medicine yet invented. How does that happen? Irisin may be an important part of the answer. In addition to its effect in creating brown fat cells, it also helps prevent or overcome insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes.

Although Dr. Spiegelman did his studies in mice, he found that humans have irisin, too. While not yet proven, it is very likely that irisin has similar effects in humans.

"Studies like these are just plain interesting, in and of themselves," says Dr. Komaroff. "They help us to understand better how our body works. However, the discovery of irisin also could have some very practical and beneficial applications. Theoretically, irisin could become a treatment to help us maintain a healthy body weight and reduce the risk of diabetes."

Yes, other medicines with a similar promise have come and gone. However, irisin is not an unnatural pharmaceutical. Rather, it's part of our natural body chemistry. That may make it more potent and less likely to have adverse effects. So there is justifiable excitement about the discovery of irisin, and about the speed with which science is discovering the chemistry of exercise, appetite, metabolic rate and body weight.

However, our environment, and its effect on our own behavior, plays a huge role in determining how much we exercise and how much we eat, and therefore how much we weigh.

"We don't have to wait for a magic potion," says Dr. Komaroff. "We already have a proven treatment that profoundly protects our health: exercise."

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Health_Letter/2012/June/major-fat-burning-discovery