Wonder about Wheat and Weight Loss?

"What is your position on wheat? Is it good for you, bad for you, essential for your diet? I know cutting out wheat is a big "fad diet" right now, but is there more to cutting out wheat than just weight loss? Are there potential problems, or is it necessary for your body to have wheat?"

Great Question!!

Big picture -- if you can eat wheat without symptoms, it is unnecessary to eliminate from diet -- you'll be missing out on lots of healthy foods and giving yourself a lot more work!  If, however, you do not feel your best, a change in your diet may really help!  READ ON!

WHOLE wheat, for many, our house for sure!, is a very healthy food -- as in it easily provides many nutrients that everyone needs!  It is a great source of FIBER, as well as a great combination of vitamins, minerals, and PHYTOCHEMICALS!  Fiber for one, has several ways to help with WEIGHT LOSS!  Click to see why!

That said, there are some people with a WHEAT ALLERGY (mostly children, and it's often outgrown), as well as those who are allergic to one protein called gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye, the condition is called CELIAC DISEASE (relatively uncommon, only a few in 100 people), and some have a gluten or wheat INTOLERANCE/SENSITIVITY (more common and more difficult to diagnose because symptoms may be delayed up to a few days!).

In individuals with these conditions, the body defends itself from what it mistakes as an enemy.  This causes inflammation that often negatively affects the WHOLE body.  Symptoms described below.

WEIGHT LOSS's association with wheat/gluten is often due to:

• The severe restrictiveness of the diet -- Resulting WHOLE foods diet!!
• Becoming educated about FOOD LABELS -- Click to see how!
• Hopefully eating less processed food -- Therefore eliminating many other substances harmful to your health
• If you do have Celiac Disease, you may very likely experience WEIGHT LOSS after you change your diet.  In addition to the first reasons listed, these individuals may lose weight as a result of the repair/healing of their body from the rest the whole body, immune and digestive systems especially, get from the absence of gluten in their diet!

Aside from often welcomed weight loss, overall changes in health, reduction in following symptoms are often LIFE-CHANGING!

If you experience SYMPTOMS of irritable bowel, such as unexplained bloating, gas, cramps, diarrhea, constipation, weight gain, joint pain, fatigue, asthma....as well as the traditional diseases that ail America, from diabetes to heart disease, you may want to see if you have a gluten or wheat intolerance.

You can test for this condition at HOME.  Simply, well it's not so simple, but it is straight forward: cut out ALL gluten for 2 weeks.  You must read labels carefully and you'll probably want to mostly eat at home.  If you are unsure about a product, or if you need to eat out, you can always call the FOOD company or restaurant to find out!

Laraballs, a yummy, fast, healthy treat in many flavors, are gluten-free!  

Try a NEW FLAVOR today!

Plus, here are some GLUTEN-FREE options:

Celiac Disease Foundation has a great website to further education you and get you started on a gluten-free diet: www.celiac.org and their Gluten-Free Resource provides many food companies and at the very bottom many other helpful websites.

You might also like Grains Galore! a post about MANY healthy grain options!

COMMENTS: Do you feel dramatically better?  Have your symptoms subsided?  Often, changes occur very fast, within a few days.

You may not even have a full blown allergy.  After giving your body the rest it needs (sleep will help too, but I'm referring to immune/digestive rest as described earlier), you may be able to re-introduce wheat into your diet without symptoms returning.  Though, as you'll see, you've probably cut a lot of unnecessary extras as well, so those might best stay out of your diet, at least for the most part!

Italian Fennel Salad for Cancer Prevention and More!

My brother-in-law, Alessandro, from Sicily made this fabulous salad as part of a huge, delicious Christmas dinner -- he is a talented chef with a lovely restaurant, Alessandro's in Geneva, Ohio.  Ever since...I have been craving this salad!  The thought of it makes my mouth water!  Finally made it today!

Along with turmeric, thyme, cumin, among others, FENNEL has been identified by the National Cancer Institute as having cancer-preventing activity.  Cumin and fennel contain TERPENOIDS, phytochemicals that may also help slow tumor growth, as well as help reduce cholesterol.

Italian Fennel and Orange Salad

Fennel bulb
2-3 oranges
vinegar
pepper

Simply slice thinly, the white of the fennel and oranges, and toss with pepper and some vinegar. The further ahead of time you do it, the more all the flavors deepen, but you can really eat it right away! Add the greens as a pretty garnish, and enjoy!

If you don't have fennel, it's a yummy way to eat an orange on it's own. Also, the oranges, olive oil, salt, and pepper mixed with any other greens is also delightful!

STILL be sure to try it with the fennel as fennel is loaded with nutrients -- one being folate, that all-important vitamin for conception and early pregnancy, and speaking of MOMMIES and MENSTRUATING WOMEN - fennel may help with milk production, and gasiness in babies, and pain during menstruation.

Other spices found helpful to National Cancer Institute:

TURMERIC -- the anti-inflammatory Indian spice found in many curries and abundant in MUSTARD
Try EASY SANDWICH SNACK

THYME -- try Hearty "Turkey" Meatloaf

CUMIN -- found in salsa: try BREAKFAST BURRITOS or MEXICAN FIESTA BOWL

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Do you like to cook with spices? What are your favorites? Do you know how they benefit your health, because which ever spice, it probably does!

3 Awesome Reasons to Eat Eggplant!

There are a million reasons to eat eggplant, starting with taste! I just love the texture; I love chomping into a nice piece of eggplant! It’s a veggie, AND it’s hearty! It is also abundant in many vitamins and minerals (such as most of the B-vitamins -- did you know there are 8 different B vitamins?, and iron and zinc), and soluble fiber, and like most veggies it’s practically calorie-free! Soluble fiber is the type that helps lower cholesterol. Fiber is great for a million reasons too, but we’ll save that for another post!  Try Easy Eggplant Parmesan!

Ok, so here are today’s awesome reasons to eat eggplant!

1) If you know of anyone who has a cancer tumor (though I really hope you don’t!), you might find it cool that a component of eggplant has a way to prevent tumor growth! Anthocyanins, a type of phytochemical found in blue and purple fruits and vegetables, does this by preventing new blood vessels from forming which would feed the tumor.

2) Have a cold? Eggplant has antiviral properties, so they may help you get rid of that nasty cold or flu that you have been trying to ditch! It’s because of chlorogenic acid found in eggplant, and this substance may also help prevent diabetes.

3) Hopefully, you are healthy as can be! Even the healthiest people in the world have free-radical damage; after all, it happens primarily as we burn calories each day (other causes)! So, the fact that eggplant is a great source of antioxidants is major health benefit which helps protect us from free radicals -- which are a cause of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and aging!

I love the way Hari Sharma explains the following: “Diabetes, kidney problems, liver problems, almost every disease is related to the damage caused by these free radicals. If we remove the damage we are causing ourselves, all these diseases can be prevented.” He also wrote an inclusive list of many causes of free-radicals, such as stress, cholesterol, meat, fat, alcohol, and smoking, in the same article.

Now, do you wonder how you can eat some eggplant?  Try this EASY EGGPLANT PARM recipe!

TELL ME IN A COMMENT: How do you like your eggplant? Grilled? Fried? Boiled? Baked?