FDA Wants to Hear From You About Gluten-free Labeling

Thanks to 1in133.org, a group of folks who built a giant cake for Congress in May of this year, the celiac community and other great organizations, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has re-opened the comment period for the proposed rule on the "gluten-free" labeling of foods.  This rule was originally published in 2007, but nothing has been done about it (i.e., no laws have actually been passed).  How important is this?  Very.  As the gluten-free community grows, so does the marketing of so-called "gluten-free" products.  Currently, it is up to each company to set their own standards.   Some are doing a really good job.  They go above and beyond the FDA proposed requirements of 20 ppm of gluten allowed in products after testing.  Others, however, are not. Those who have Celiac Disease or gluten allergies cannot tolerate even a trace of wheat, rye, barley or other products derived from gluten-containing grains (like soy sauce or some anti-caking agents, etc.).  We need proper labeling so that Tender Foodies in the U.S. can be sure that gluten-free labled products are being processed properly.  Gluten-free labeling could also influence the laws around other allergen labeling as well.  As the gluten-free community, and as the Tender Foodie community as a whole has grown, we have also learned.  Lend your experience and voice to this bill.  Do you think it should be more strict?  Have you had experiences with reactions to foods labeled "gluten-free"?  Do you think it is a good rule as is?  Are you super happy that this proposal is resurfacing?  Let them know.  Those with Celiac Disease comprise 1% of the population, or  1 in 133 people.  The gluten intolerance community (those with sensitivities to gluten) is expected to be around 18 million people.  Add those with a true gluten allergy, and you have a large group of folks that need to know if gluten is in their food.  If you are one of them.  Let the FDA know what you want to have happen.

Go to www.regulations.gov between now and October 3, 2011.  The docket number is FDA-2005-N-0404.

You Buy Organic. But What About Your Lawn?

Organic produce and meat are becoming popluar dietary choices for many of us.   Some folks have even put in organic gardens, hoping to save money and grow the organic veggies they love the most.  We, the crunchy, the green, and the health-aware, are a group of people who have become conscious about what we put into our bodies and on our gardens.  But what about our lawns? 

I've heard for years about how pesticides and commercial fertilizers have been seeping into our water supply, are being found in high quantities in fish and other animals, and are directly making people sick.  I've even met a few sad folks who have been poisoned from something as "harmless" and ant spray.  So I was intrigued to find two articles recently that help explain how our obsession with pesticides is turning against us.   And what we can do about it.

The Dark Side of the Perfect Lawn

The first article, The Dark Side of Lawns, helps us understand why and how our everyday lawn care practices affect our health and the health of our planet.  Now don't get all "Oh, you are such a left-wing environmentalist" on me because I said the word, "planet".  These are really interesting and well-researched articles.   Super smart people from Harvard and the National Cancer Institute have been studying the use of pesticides and their resulting data is really clarifying.   According to the former, garden pesticides "can increase the risk of childhood leukemia seven-fold."  According to researchers at Harvard School of Public Health, "frequent exposure to pesticides increased the incidence of Parkinson's disease by 70 percent."  There is nothing political or partisan about those facts.  Even if you have the liver of a Superman, most of us cannot process all of the chemicals and toxins that we pump into our bodies via the earth.  It's not just the big companies that are doing it.  It's us, the little people, too.

Because the FDA does not require it, Commercial fertilizers also do not include specifics on their label about non-active ingredients.  Non-active ingredients can include high amounts of heavy metals.  We don't want those in our water either.  This article is a must read, so please read more....

An Organic Lawn:  First Step - Think Differently

I really love it when web sites and information sources not only tell you what NOT to do, but also give you a plan that will help you make a change.  The second article, Your 6-Step Organic Lawn Plan, will probably take seven steps because as they say in their introductory paragrah, thinking organically demands a change of mind. As I learned from the experts that helped me save my organic garden from blight, healthy plants require the immune system in their soil to be healthy, too, just like humans do. That takes nuture, not control.

As a Tender Foodie, I've had to change my habits and my way of thinking many times.  With each new mysterious symptom, with the realization that many of these symptoms could be cured with food and lifestyle changes, and with each new kind of food that crosses my path, a whole fresh world has slowly opened up to me.  With a few exceptions, my food is more delicious and more nutritious.  My body likes that and responds in kind.  As a result, I have become concerned with "why" so many people have food allergies and other health problems in the first place.  I also wonder why people with food allergies have multiple food allergies, many of them life-threatening.  The number of people with food allergies has risen so sharply in the last decade or so, that this is concerning researchers, too.  And it isn't just because more people are being diagnosed.  There is actually a change in our environment and our food.  Research Says So.  At least, it is beginning to.

For people with food allergies, "you are what you eat" takes on a whole new meaning.  So does, "know where your food comes from."  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about 80 million U.S. households dump nearly 90 million pounds of herbicides and pesticides on lawns in a year.  The grass doesn't use very much of that.  So the rest gets into our ground water, rivers and lakes.  Our crops use that water.  Cows, fish, chickens, and sheep ingest that water.  We drink that water, eat those crops and ingest cows, chickens, fish and sheep.  I think this subject is worth a little change of mind.  A change of heart.  And a change in practice.  Don't you?

Recipe: Old Beau Steaks

The Sum of Experiences - Culinary and Otherwise

I've been thinking about the past, lately.  There are times when all but the super human wish that we could change something, take a different path, or erase that drunken rant that showed up on your best friend's wedding dvd.  There are, after all, such things called "mistakes".  If we only hadn't done, said, chosen "this" we would be SO much better off.  Earlier in my life, when well-meaning people would say, "Oh, you wouldn't be who you are today if life were perfect", a tiny, wry part of my mind would reply, "exactly".   

But lately, that self-admonishing voice has quieted.  Perhaps, after spurring me to seek and find whatever "better" is, it has done its job.  I'm not only OK with where I am as a human, I am grateful.  

When a wise and wonderful part of my past-hopefully-turned-present recently said, "Perfection is over-rated," I realized that perfection is more about controlling life than it is about living it.  Staring at "what WAS" keeps us from the crazy Pandora's box chock full of "what IFs".  So in that slightly messy, not-so-perfect expanse of choices that lay ahead of me, I now see the beauty of possibility.  And when I can, I try only to reach back to grab the good stuff.  Leaping into the unknown with a little experience under your belt can be a great thing.

This recipe is called Old Beau Steaks, because I learned it from a former boyfriend many, many years ago.   While that particular beau will remain happily and safely in the past, this marinade has become a wonderful part of the sum of my experiences.    It's a dairy-free, wheat-free marinade.  Good for most food allergies.  It's easy, a non-vegetarian man-pleaser and with the right steaks it can be like sex on a plate.

Recipe

2 high quality, grass fed rib eye steaks
(or New York Strips or Porterhouse)

1 cup of good, dry red wine
(A cabernet, or even a red table wine will work.  Don't use a "cooking" wine.  Use one that you enjoy drinking)

1/3 cup of wheat-free Tamari sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Aminos, or Coconut Secret Coconut Aminos)

3 -4 cloves of finely chopped garlic
(depending upon the size of the cloves and your love of garlic)

Place the steaks into a 9x9 shallow baking dish.  The dish should be just big enough to hold the steaks so that the marinade covers most of the meat.  Whisk together the red wine, the wheat-free tamari and the garlic.  Pour over the steaks.  Place into the refrigerator for 45 minutes (warm) to 3 hours (cold). Turn once halfway through the marinating process.  Its best to marinate the steaks in the refrigerator if it is longer than 45 minutes or the wine may leach out the juices from the steak. Before grilling, remove the steak from the refrigerator for 15 minutes so that the steak can come to room temperature.

Grill to perfection.

Learn how to grill the perfect steak from Adam Perry Lang, as he cooks with Le Cense Beef.

Learn More About Grass Fed Meat and How to Cook it

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There is divine beauty in learning, just as there is human beauty in tolerance. To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you. - Elie Wiesel

After Success at San Chez, Tender Foodies Gear Up for Next Event

Take Our Survey About Dining Out with Food Allergies

==>    TAKE THE 10 Q RESTAURANT SURVEY

it's just 10 questions!!

Even LIttle Foodies Could Read the Menu

Photo Courtesy of WZZM13 (pictured Baby Depenbrok & Anicia Rauwerda LatterAs I think about our first Tender Foodies Eat!  Event in May, I can't wait to plan our 2nd event in July.  About 20 Tender Foodies (foodies with food allergies) & their Friends stopped by San Chez Bistro in Grand Rapids.  WZZM13 made a surprise visit, too, and did a little story on the event. 

We all had a great time chatting about everything from food, life events, and of course dining out on a restricted diet. 

San Chez Bistro is a pioneer in serving people wtih food allergies.  They have several allergen-free menus - including those that eliminate each of the "Big 8" and also a few less pervasive allergies, such as garlic and capsicum (peppers).  They include a vegan menu, which pleased some of the non-meat eating folks in the crowd. 

My personal experience with San Chez was a good one and I was probably the most difficult patron.  The manager patiently walked me through the menu to find something that would work for me (reading across several menus is a challenge).  One of the difficulties was that, along with gluten and dairy allergies, I have a strange reaction to white pepper.  In light of this, the manager conferred with the kitchen and found that their "chef salt", which was used in preparation of most items, contains white pepper.  This narrowed down my choices considerably, but at no point did the staff or manager become impatient or annoyed.  I left hungry, but what I was able to sample was very tasty.  This inspired an immediate plan  to return, but next time I'll call ahead to expand the options on my plate.

The highlight of my own experience was the drink.  The bartender had suggested, a Caipirinha, a cachaça (pronounced [kaˈʃasɐ]) (sugar cane rum), sugar and lime.  Distillation is supposed to break down any gluten in grain alcohol, however, this is an ongoing debate in the gluten-free community of Tender Foodies. I've not had a great deal of luck with grain alcohols, myself, so the bartender did a little on the spot research with the brand of cachaca.  He found that it was, indeed, 100% pure sugar cane rum.  No grains.  He cheerfully and carefully double-checked.  This is what I like about San Chez.  They know their ingredients.  They work with you, they care about their food, and they care about you.  And they make great drinks.

Another Chance to Take the Survey!!

Our next event will be in July and I'd like to ask the Tender Foodie Community for some feedback. 

===>   TAKE OUR 10 Q RESTAURANT SURVEY

We always choose restaurants who have experience, care and know-how in serving people with food allergies (but remember, only you know your bod and allergies best).  We'll let you know when our next event will be (in July) and we'd love to have you join us.

Is Buying Local Better? When it comes to Food, Yes.

A 10% Shift Brings Local Communities Millions

There are a few chains that I adore, like Target.  I also like the convenience of Walmart.  It is wonderful to have the products and cost savings that come with mass, global production.  Do I rage against the long-distance commerce machine?  No.  Buying local is not a panacea for every problem and it is not always possible.  But we are consumers who live in communities that need our business and support.  And there are many reasons why (and occasions when) mass, global production is not a wise or cost-effective use of our hard-earned dollars.  Try this statistic on for size:

If the people of an average American city were to shift 10% of their spending from chains to local businesses, it would bring an additional $235 MILLION to the community's economy.
www.elocal.com

Elocal.com has an incredible map that illustrates the costs and benefits of investing in our local economies -- from reducing pollution, to improving food quality, to increasing employment.

There is a simple, often missed wisdom in buying from local sources.  Especially when buying food.  If you have food allergies, buying local can also help us become a healthier Tender Foodie community.

Food Allergies:  The Benefits of Knowing Where Your Food Comes From

When I first started reading labels to ferret out wheat and dairy ingredients, I was pretty shocked to see how many "whole" foods from national food producers were laden with words I could not pronounce.  Many of those preservatives secretly house milk products like whey, and wheat derivatives disguised as anti-caking agents -- even in spices. Food labeling is slowly improving, but it is still tough to discern what potential allergens might lurk on grocery shelves.  On the flip side there may be foods that are perfectly safe, but manufacturers prefer to add "may contain X allergen" on the label, rather than put proper testing in place.  And in their defense, the FDA has yet to let manufacturers know what is "safe".  That's another story.

Buying local can help the food allergy community as well as the local community.  If you know your farmers and local food sources you can:

1. Avoid many of the preservatives needed to add shelf-life to foods that are warehoused for long periods of time and shipped long distances.
2. Know how your food is grown, made, processed, and delivered so you can reduce the possibility of cross-contamination from farm to factory to table.  You can ask questions of the people who actually handle your food. Questions like, "do you use GMO seeds or products?", "does your production facility also produce nuts or wheat?", etc.   
3. Influence you local producers and help them become aware of how many food allergy sufferers there are in their customer community.  Each voice adds to the next.  Smaller, local producers can make some (not all) changes more easily.   If food producers can serve a market that needs and wants organically grown products without cross contamination, they are more likely to work with their vendors to make that happen.  And do it more quickly.
4. Give your local producers power.  Many local farmers and producers of food have a huge amount of pressure from large distributors to produce food more cheaply.  Often this means adding antibiotics, hormones, cheaper feed, and more.  Buying from our local food producers who have the knowledge to raise our food with healthy, not harmful practices, actually encourages those practices, helps those food producers thrive, and influences the overall market.
5. Keep more nutrients in our food.  According to www.elocal.com, a typical carrot is picked up from the farm a week in advance and travels 1838 miles before reaching a store.  Then it sits on the shelf of the store.  Nutrients are most potent when fruits and vegetables are eaten as close to their harvest as possible.  Buying from your local farmers' markets is just better for your bod.

The "Buy Local" movement is often seen as elitist.  But the consumer community forgets how much power we have to influence products, pricing and the healthfulness of our foods.  If just 10% shift to local vendors equals $235 million dollars, think what else we can do to make our community better.