It’s summer.  A perfect time for Blue Paradises, Mojitos and Mr. Mike’s Double Double Martinis.   BUT Can we have them?   Isn’t alcohol, such as Shmirnoff Vodka, made from grains and thus NOT gluten free?

FIRST!  Definitions and How To’s.

Understanding the process of how distilling ( not just the back yard kind) is done helps you understand the confusion around the topic.  Wiki says – “Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their boiling points. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction.”

Basically… heat formented crap up… the alcohol has the lowest vaporizing point, even before water, so it turns to gas first.  Once it is vaporized, it looses all the properties of the original crap ( be it wheat, grapes, or mud).  It rises and is forced through a cooling tube and condenses.  It is then painstakingly dripped out the other end.  Voila Alcohol.  Sorry… ” Distilled Spirit!”

So, Gluten Free? Here is what “THEY” have to say about it:

Celiac.com Says Errrr… A Lot.  Summed up, though, they say ” not a hope in hell unless a flavor or grain product has been added in AFTER the distilling process.”

Sunscreen – Yes.   Sighs.   For some people, even coming in contact with wheat can cause epic rashes and reactions so with summer here….  Ya.  Lotions and sprays start to come into question.  So to the google we go.

Our Place – Living Gluten Free did some research last summer on this and has done up a great list!

The following is a list of Gluten Free Sunscreens, as always, it is recommend that you contact the company directly if you have questions or concerns…Especially since companies change their ingredients frequently. Please note that the companies with Organic Products are denoted by a “*”.

* Rocky Mountain Sunscreen
*Keys Solar Rx Moisturizing Cosmetic Sunblock, SPF 30+
Blue Lizzard Australian Sunscreens
Coppertone (all products)
California Baby
Banana Boat (Sunscreens Only)
Bare Minerals Tinted Sunscreen for Faces
*Desert Essence SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen (Note: Does contain Xanthan Gum)
*Coolibar Products (website allows you to choose by active ingredient)
*Lavera Sunscreens
*Natures Gate Organics Mineral Sunblock: Sun Screens and Tanning Lotions
Dermatone Sunblock Creme with Zinc
*Jason Natural Products
Topix Replenix: CF Advanced Anti-Photoaging Complex SPF 45
Alba Sunscreens (please check label or call company, not all products are GF)
Obagi – Nu-Derm Healthy Skin Protection SPF 35

Sugars that spike and drop quickly put our bodies through roller coasters that give us bursts of energies and valleys of inability to focus.  Hunger or fatigue that we often counter with a ” quick snack” of more sugars which repeats the cycle.   For kids this can mean that even the healthy whole grain cereal breakfast with milk wears off before recess and leaves them distracted or spiking and dropping repeatedly through the day.

So… the ” Why are you doing this?” answers.

ADD, ADHD, Chronic fatigue, Fibro, diabetes, and the general wear and tear of a society based on doing more, faster and longer all require from us a constant reliable energy source.  We know that candies, sodas and the processed foods are NOT good fuel sources for our bodies… but they are not the only forms of sugar that enter our body.

I’m not going to go into allll the different types and compounds of sugars but do check out a listing and some definitions check out the Sugar & Substitutes.  I have become more and more surprised ( and a little grossed out ) by the amount of sugars found in the foods I thought were ‘good choices’.

• 13 teaspoons of sugar in low-fat yogurt;
• 10 teaspoons of sugar in one serving of pickled beets

So.   I am going to be reading and reading and trying to K.I.S.S .   Sustainable, delicious and satisfying need to be part of this.  A parting quote for this post?  A get started perspective…

Reading Labels
A word ending in ose means it is a sugar. Watch for the positioning of any of these sugars. If it appears near the top of the list, the product has a high sugar content. If only one is listed or if it listed near the bottom, the product is considered low in sugar.

However, be aware that sugars may be listed separately; and when added together, they will constitute a significant portion of the product. Another thing to watch for is if a product is labeled sugarfree or sugarless. This does not necessarily mean the obvious. It generally means that the product contains NO SUCROSE, but still may contain other forms of sugar.

I haven’t posted much ‘personality’ pieces the past month due to a WHOLE HELL of a lot going on.  My brother’s liver failure and successful transplant, hospital ICU’s, 8 hour drives back and forth countlessly, and relocating my Irish Horde to help my parents out with their Home Fort and the K9′s that reside there. ( No not just the human kind of animals!)  This truly has left little time to Blog.  Now?  I am down in Vancouver with my mother in the rented 7th floor apartment, 5 blocks from the hospital,  and might find some time between hospital visits to put thoughts to paper… errr keyboard. My first thought?  What we are eating.

Nothing.

Kidding.  My cousin Jeremy is a well educate foodie.  The science and makeups of foods, nutrients and health being his thing.  Yes, I am sure he has a title and once I remember it I will share.  He has repeatedly tried to enlighten my stubborn mind to the benefits of probiotics and other “good bacteria” and their awesomeness when dealing with ADHD, digestive disorders, celiac, and Fibromyalgia and allergies.  Have I mentioned STUBBORN?  So, with it just being Mother and I in a lone apartment with a controllable test environment…  we are being brave.

The Stack of books that have come in for me to read is daunting…  truly!  But the first on the list is Body Ecology Diet.   I hate the word diet… it implies grapefruits and cayenne powder concoctions that are FAR from healthy and more flashes in the pan than true health.  I do understand the need for Balance, Moderation and Sustainability.  I also understand the need to go Cold Turkey on some foods because, man… they should be listed as drugs.  They are WICKEDLY addictive.

For me those Drug Foods are chocolate… Diet Coke… and chocolate. The stress of the past while has caught up to me and, instead of treating my body better to allow it to help me out, I ate on the fly and stuffed every comfort food I could into it.  How I managed to stay on the wagon with being Wheat Free is a miracle.  That is where my good behavior ended though.  Starbucks or a double double is not a breakfast, Diet Coke & am Oh Henry is NOT a lunch and (honestly) McDonalds fries does not qualify as a supper. There were days that, yes, that was all consumed on the same day.  Can you say Crap in Crap out?  My energy crashed, my emotions spiked and my patience with those around me SUCKED and my self loathing Reigned!  Cutting back just kept me craving… so… Cold Turkey rehab it was!

It took  until day 4 for me to begin to get the energy back.  The removal of ALL simple sugars ( even my beloved rice pastas and mashed potatoes ) sent all those Bully Bad Bacteria, that I am sure have names, screaming like Heroin Addicts needing another hit, their life sustaining supplies cut off. Each of their triumphant deaths leaving behind their toxins and crap in my system waiting to be flushed out by the gallons of water I was SUPPOSE to be drinking.  ( Note SUPPOSE to be…  I wasn’t drinking nearly enough.  I consciously upped the input.)  Sluggish and feeling hung over, I knew it was due to the  month (life) long Party of Crap Food that I have been indulging in like a Frat kid during spring break.

Days 5& 6 I had EMOTIONS!!!! ( also factor in some PMS which did NOT help the situation.)  I burst into tears on my poor brother.  My frustration over not being able to fix my baby brother or understand his charades attempts to communication completely over came me.  He was good about it and flicked my forehead, then gave me a comforting cheek rub.  I think it might have been too for him to be able to comfort as well as be comforted.  I felt like a ninny though!   Then the grocery store became my next victim.

Being in Vancouver is opening up all sorts of character shops and we love checking them out. The corner grocery on Granville Street looked enticing and (giggles) a bit snooty.  A DELICIOUS temptation to step into.   It did NOT go well.  I was FURIOUS.  Surrounded by foods that I would ” NEVER EAT AGAIN!” ( Insert Oscar Award Winning scene here).  I fumed through the aisles and walked out uninspired and uncooperative.  Winnie the Pooh’s storm cloud had NOTHING on me.

Now, nine days in, I am getting my brain back too.  I am able to walk past the cupboard with the ” secret stash” on the top shelf and not even be remotely interested in it.  I find I am less likely to graze and, overall am feeling better. Losing weight? I refuse to step on the scale because I KNOW I will be heart broken if I haven’t, however, my pants seem coincidentally larger than I remember them being.  I am going to have to invest in a belt! (Mom says she is losing!  I won’t divulge her secret locations of weight loss but she wishes it were others! LOL)

So here we are…  What am I replacing all these Drug Foods with?  You will have to stay posted. For right now?  I am off to make myself some awesome lunch!  Maybe some more of that Thai Red Curry Soup… lots of creamyness…  shrimpies…  mmmm

Along with so many of the allergy and intolerance issues comes the very clear indicator of regular or not regular.  Being a mom of three boys, potty training has always been ‘ a delight’.  Finding out that one of my son’s had bowel issues made me feel less like failure in the Baby Olympics and relieved that he wasn’t just ‘lazy’.  The bowel was.

Enter the World of Fibers.

The lady in the swirling tummyless dress on TV does not make Metamucal any more fashionable.  I confess to not having read much into all the various contents of each of the different fiber options, I simply took the Dr’s advice, bought Clearlax for my son and have managed to set it up as just part of our day now.  At 6, he gets to make his own juice every morning (ya ya.. and working on the evening regiment still.).

Then I got to thinking what if I could find a product that had some food value to it as well.  Not just a ‘pipe scrubber’ but something to help the poor little guy get some kind of nutritional value!

Flax Seed?

Ok, looks reasonable.  Four key side effects were noted in several of my readings.  1) Laxative effect.  2) The oils turn rancid quickly 3)Phytoestregens – a THUS FAR proven effective hormone   4) Cyanide.

UMMM  CYANIDE?  Hello!

“ Like many other foods (cashews, some beans, and others), flax contains very small amounts of cyanide compounds, especially when consumed raw. Heat, especially on dry flax seeds, breaks these compounds down. However, our bodies have a capacity to neutralize a certain amount of these compounds, and the U.S. government agencies say that 2 tablespoons of flaxseed (~3 T of flax meal) is certainly safe and is probably an “effective dose” for health purposes. Various researchers who have used up to 6 daily tablespoons of the seed in different studies indicate that the amount they were using was safe.”

Ok.  seems reasonable.  Now… Gluten?  Everything I have read so far says GREEN for Flax.  It’s not a grain it’s a plant. ( I know, wheat is a plant too.. but you know what I mean.)  So.  It sound like one of those ” try it… see if it works for you.”  case by case thing.  Going to give it a shot.

Wonder how the kids will feel about a “Milk Shake” for breakfast EVERY morning?

Wish me ( and my son) luck.