Fitting in with carbs: gluten-free rolls

Kneading dough is part of our Waldorf school's curriculum, and it turns out you don't really knead gluten-free dough. The xanthan gum is what adds the elasticity. So rather than use gluten-free dough in the classroom, my son's teacher and I decided the class would use wheat as usual and we'd just bring in our own pre-made rolls.

That's fine, except that it means I need to bake! I love the taste of fresh yeasted rolls, but they are easy to get addicted to. After living two and a half years with essential no bread products, my son has quickly come to adroe these rolls! This carb-dependence is a bit of a compromise on my part (since I tend to agree with the ideas presented in Gut and Psychology Syndrome and the Body Ecology Diet that complex carbs do harm our guts), but I think the other aspects of the Waldorf curriculum are really great.

Right now we are using the recipe in the October/November 2008 Living Without magazine. I won't detail the recipe while it's still on newstands, but essentially I'm using millet, rice and potato starch flours in the rolls. The dough (pictured here before rising and after 4 minutes in high with a hand blender) is very fluffy and light after it rises -- does not roll well into balls. But they do taste pretty good. I am letting my son eat a little of the butter that is also made fresh at the school. I tried some and it sure is good. But at home, we'll try to stick to cultured butter and hopefully eventually make ghee out of unsalted butter.

I've been making one batch of twelve, but the rolls are so popular at home I think I need to make a larger batch or I'll be doing this every week!

Snacks to Go

My son has always been into things he could chew -- munching on celery at 10 months but pushing away purees. Now that he sees other toddlers eating chips and pretzels and cereal, he really wants more crunchy options than rice crackers. One new gluten-free option our local My Organic Market just started carrying is the new Mary's Gone Crackers Sticks & Twigs. I like that these have no corn in addition to not having any gluten or dairy ingredients and being organic. There is a small amount of soy from wheat-free tamari. We have enjoyed the sea salt and the curry flavors but haven't tried the chipotle. My husband can't tolerate quinoa, which is in these snacks, so they don't get eaten up by anyone but us!

We also like the breakfast crusts and mineral rich crusts from Mauk Family Farms. They claim that "All seeds have been germinated and then dehydrated at 105 degrees," which should make them more digestible. At least they are not extruded, a process Sally Fallon discusses in the "Dirty Secrets of the Food Processing Industry," an article taken from her 2002 talk, a version of which I heard her give at the Weston A. Price Foundation' s fall 2007 conference.

Real, whole foods - nuts, vegetables, fruit, meat -- are always better, but when something dry and more complex is demanded, these are some of the options I reach for.

New vaccine book and info

In the next few weeks, I intend to highlight some of what I got out of the Holistic Moms Network national conference in more detail. For now, though I want to at least mention what an inspiring and yet frightening talk I heard from the founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, Barbara Loe Fisher. If you haven't checked out the NVIC site lately, please do and consider supporting the important work this non-profit does to ensure that all parents have the ability and the right to make informed decisions about their children's health.



I bought and look forward to reading Fisher's new brand-new book, Vaccines, Autism and Chronic Inflammation: The New Epidemic. Other books on the topic are listed at http://www.nvic.org/ResourceCenter/VaccineBooks.htm

Let that fever go

After my son's first illness in a while, I'm so glad I'm still nursing and that we can still create a family bed.

Last night my son said he had a "stomachbake," and he clearly had some gas, but he fell asleep fairly easily around 7:30. Then, when he woke at 9:00 p.m. crying, I was worried he'd caught the tummy virus my friend's child had. He felt hot, and the temp read 100.2. This is the first fever he's run in a very long time. I've never medicated for anything, including for a fever, believing that it really is the body's way of healing itself (see NY Times article). I've given my son homeopathics and flower essences and will entertain herbs, but he's never had any over-the-counter medicine.

This was also the first time he's really been sick since he became verbal. It was a real throwback to deal with a child who was upset but unable to tell us what was wrong. If he smooshes his finger or scrapes his knee, he usually says either, "Aw, I just hurt myself," or "I'm okay, Mom." This time, it was just unhappy tears.

Thinking this was a tummy bug, I suggested, "Let's give you some drops." Since this is familiar to him, he sat and opened his mouth. I gave him Perelandra Microbial Balancing Program drops for the Digestive system and also for Immune and Lymphatic. Then I remembered he sounded a bit stuffy when I put him down for bed, so I threw Respiratory in there for good measure. I added celery and tomato and F-1 and F-2, which a practitioner had previously told me to use in case of a tummy bug or ingested mold or other icky stuff.

I tried to keep both a sympathetic tone so he knew I knew he understood he was not happy but also a lighthearted and reassuring approach, counting out one set of drops in English, one in French, another in Spanish. Although he's been sleeping through the night for over six months, and we generally don't nurse until after 5:00 a.m. at the earliest, I nursed him back to sleep.

Around midnight, he woke again and I had to use the bathroom. I can't remember if we nursed again before I got up or not, but when I left he followed me, and then he saw my husband and said he wanted Daddy. So LJ went to sleep in the boy's room for a while, and I went back to the much comfier bed down the hall.

It's been a few weeks since we moved E's double futon into his own room. The bed takes up half the floor, but we figured one thing at a time. I think we all sleep better without our son in his own room now that he's two and a half, and it has made afternoon quiet (read: nap-resistance time!) calmer. However, I'm very glad that we can still share sleep when it's clearly the thing our son needs. (Or any of us needs. One day I'd had to say goodnight to him early before going to a meeting, I woke at 4:30 and crawled into bed with him just to be close. I still love the snuggling, but I also know he's ready for his own space.)

I have had my frustrations with nursing a grabby toddler, but I haven't yet gotten the desire to wean the way I got the desire to move bedrooms. According to Mothering Magazine's article "Extend Breastfeeding's Benefits"by Kyla Steinkraus (September/October 2007 - Issue 144), breastfed toddlers do seem to be healthier physically, and emotionally. I figure that with a child with food sensitivities, the longer he can get nutrition from me, the better. And in a child with an intense and gregarious personality, the longer he can have quiet closeness with his mama, the better. Since he hadn't been sick in so long, I took for granted the health benefits.

Now that our nursings have gotten down to just morning, before nap and night (and sometimes skipping the pre-nap if we're out & about), I feel freer but after this illness, I also feel like my son is more vulnerable to illness with less breastmilk intake. I'm not ready to put him out into the world without that layer of protection.

He woke this morning temping in a 98.1 and was in fine spirits all day. So far he's been sleeping soundly since a few minutes after we gave him his drops again four hours ago. If he needs to nurse tonight, I'll turn the clock back a few months to make sure he gets well.

Celebrating changes, looking ahead

Around here, we are finally feeling ready for a big purge and reorganization. There is too much stuff, and we're ready to simplify. In some cases, the stuff we will toss (or recycle, or Freecycle, or sell) just doesn't reflect how we live anymore. I keep thinking that once I get rid of all the clutter associated with shortcuts we no longer take, I'll finally have the space and time to invest in more involved ways of living with respect to food, health and medicine, housekeeping. And work -- writing, editing, tutoring. I spent way too much energy trying to clear a space -- literally and figuratively.

I wanted to create a list of goals for the next year but thought I should first celebrate the changes I have made in this past year.

Things I've started doing since last summer:

-Made chicken stock from scratch regularly and used it to cook vegetables and rice. (I'd made stock before occasionally before but didn't know about getting it to gel, and I didn't use it for cooking everything like I do now)

-Gotten on a coop to get a good price on coconut oil, so I never run out

-Gotten in a coop to get pastured eggs, grassfed meat and real milk for my husband

-Learned a little bit about flower essences and started using them

-Learned a little bit about essential oils and started using them. Also set up an auto ship account with Young Living Oils so that I build up my collection through monthly shipments

-Started using Miessence skin products

-Researched skin product safety for sunscreen and replaced what I had (which I thought was safe) with less toxic kinds (and other skin products)

-Started drinking kombucha regularly and eating cultured veggies more often

-Started soaking nuts and drying them and sometimes sprouting them

-Started making waffles from gluten-free flours and nut flour or from coconut flour and then freezing them (instead of buying Van's)

-Did a cleanse that succeeded in helping me feel better and clearing up my psoriasis

-Recovered from a sprained ankle; trained for and ran a half-marathon

Things I've stopped or greatly cut back on doing that seemed detrimental to my health

-Eating tons of nut butter addictively

-Eating rice pasta, rice tortillas, rice crackers as often

-Eating goat milk cheese -- even the raw seemed to affect me negatively

-Using plastic containers to store food

Things I hope to do in the coming year, in addition to purging the house of what we don't need and creating workable spaces on all three levels -- office and basement storage and play area, kitchen, living room and play area, well-organized and clean (tiny bathroom), bedroom for my son, parent bedroom without two mattresses next to each other on the floor

-Establish a sense of rhythm and routine with respect to home life, exercise and wellness practices (like meditation and yoga), and work. This will include regular bedtimes (before 11:30 p.m.) and waking times (not sure yet)

-Focus on possibilities rather than shoulds and take action to get past emotional blockages when I feel thwarted in my attempts to follow through on the more mundane goals outlined below

-Eliminate paper towel use in our home

-Establish a cleaning schedule and make cleaners I feel good about

-Become knowledgeable about herbs for healing, some basic Ayurveda, and homeopathy and delve deeper into essences and essential oils

-Replace current herbs, salt and pepper with new, mineral-rich, fresh

-Make my own ketchup regularly

-Culture my own veggies regularly

-Try making water kefir and possibly other fermented drinks. Research fermented beverages in general

-Tend the compost consistentely

-Tend the garden and yard such that weeds don't get out of control and plants don't die. This includes figuring out a good hose and/or sprinkler system.

-Get rid of all plastic dishes and containers and replace with items I've researched and feel good about

-Make chicken stock weekly

-Make beef stock occasionally and roast grassfed meat regularly

-Soak rice when time allows

-Soak and sprout beans

-Make ghee

-Learn about GF baking

-Get refined sugar back out of diet, possibly including another carb-free, fruit-free (possibly legume-free) cleanse

-Learn about the best source for chocolate if I'm going to eat it

-Learn more about non-supplement forms of calcium and other vitamins and minerals and EFAs

-Possibly do a cleanse if my son weans before we decide we are ready to try to have another child. If I have this time, I would also use my infrared sauna and chi machine, which are of questionable safety while breastfeeding

I actually started this post over a month ago and found it helpful to return to it again before publishing. I look forward to having this info accessible whenever I need a reminder!

Gluten-Free Baking

I took another great cooking class last night with Monica Corrado of Simply Being Well: Cooking for Well Being. This one was on gluten-free muffins and quick breads, which were delicious!

We did a touch test to feel the difference between three types of rice flours: Bob's Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills, which were very grainy, and Authentic Foods, which was super silky. We are going to look into their growing practices as they are not organic -- want to make sure they're no-GMO and at least sustainable practices.

I had no idea that shaking/fluffing your flours could make such a difference with texture! Monica's mixture, adapted from Analise Roberts' Gluten-Free Baking Classics, is 6 parts rice flour, two parts potato starch and one part tapioca flour Make a big batch and have it on hand so you can bake on demand!

Take Monica's classes for fun, education and yummy treats!

Giving up the Goat

I really hoped we could tolerate some goat cheese, my son and I. We bought some of the same kind we were eating a year ago until the chiropractic neurologist muscle-tested us and said "Absolutely not," literally tossing the morsel I'd brought aside. "I just adjusted him!" she exclaimed, as though eating something his body couldn't handle would mess with all that energy work.

Well, he did turn around after that first visit last October -- stopped biting, transitioned better to me separating from him, and just generally seemed to feel more comfortable in his own skin. I was adjusted on many levels that day, and I went from weepy to dealing pretty well with life. So I think she was onto something.

But I figured now that I'd cleared some other issues, maybe it was worth a try again. My sister was bringing her daughters to town, one of whom doesn't eat gluten, and I thought it was a good time to try a GF pizza crust. (I'll post a link when I get to confirm the brand. It was good, but tough for those of us sensitive to yeast!)

I told E, "We're going to try this cheese and see if we like it, if it makes our bodies feel good." The next day he remembered and went looking for it in the fridge. He loved it. He told my visiting sister with gleaming eyes, "I ate cheeeese!" (I think it might be this Shiloh Farms Raw Goat Cheddar, but I'll have to check next time I'm at the store.)

I loved it, too. It was creamy and rich. I'd missed that texture and taste. There weren't any obvious stomach problems right away, but I just think it made both of us kind of off. E got a runny nose for the first time in I don't know how long. It didn't last but for two days, perhaps in part because I took Thieves oil from Young Living (and he's still nursing) and gave us both the Respiratory, Immune and Lymphatic MBP solutions from Perelandra. But still, it was a runny nose, and his behavior seemed a little challenging.

My neck started to get very stiff. I used to feel like this all the time but just haven't seen I've been on an allergen-free diet and especially since last October when I saw that chiropractor.

I hope that maybe some day I will be able to tolerate raw milk, or at least raw goat milk, that I can try to culture myself into yogurt or kefir. Cheese, I'm told, isn't the best way to get raw dairy, which is believed by some to be so much better than pasteurized because it retains the active enzymes. See the Campaign for Real Milk from the Weston A Price Foundation.

I did enjoy a lovely (pasteurized) honey goat cheese that my friend gave me a few days later. I figured once I was trying one new thing and realizing it wasn't optimal, I might as well go all the way. I could stand to do more research on the subject and will share what I learn when I do.

Now that both cheeses are gone, I'm not planning to buy any more. E did not ask again for the cheese after we had the pizza. I was surprised because he's usually pretty relentless about remembering stuff that he likes and wants. Maybe he knows it's just not right for us right now.