Today's Teacher Treats!

As the kids have been sharing their new way of eating with their beloved teachers at school, I've been bringing in special treats for them every once in awhile.  I enjoy brightening these women's lives, as they bring so much joy to my kids and sacrifice for them daily!  I am hoping they enjoy these treats too.  So far I've gotten rave revues!  I have a couple more tricks up my sleeve.  ;)

May 5th-9th is Teacher Appreciation Week.  I usually bring them hanging baskets of flowers so they can remember my kids all summer.  I will do that again, but I have a special treat planned as well.  

Today's Teacher Treats were Blueberry Muffins, courtesy of The Paleo Mom, and Honey Muffins, from Civilized Caveman.  I've heard both were very YUMMY!!   Both recipes are a basic muffin recipe, so you can add and alter them quite a bit for different tastes.  I plan to make more of these soon.

Inflammation...You may just explode!!

When we talk about inflammation, most people think about acute inflammation.  You sprain your ankle and it swells.  Or you have an infected nail bed and it's swollen and full of pus.  In reference to eating paleolithic foods, we are not referencing acute inflammation.  Acute inflammation is typically a positive stimulus.  Your body is trying to heal itself.  We are talking about chronic inflammation.  Chronic, as in on-going.  Your body is no longer trying to heal itself, but rather trying to destroy itself.

Inflammation in general terms is part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants.  When the irritant is YOU then it becomes a problem.  Many conditions and diseases are a direct result of inflammation in various cells in your body.  Whereas acute inflammation is caused by things like infection or injury or an allergic reaction, chronic inflammation is often caused by what we put INTO our bodies, purposefully, like FOOD.

When we ingest certain foods, they react to cells in our body in different ways.  There are inflammatory foods and anti-inflammatory foods.  Grains, legumes, dairy, foods in the nightshade group and even some nuts & seeds are inflammatory.  I'm not a scientist, nor will I try to re-iterate what others have already said so much better than I.  I will point you in some good direction to read more about the inflammatory process of these foods if you want the real "why's" behind it.  Below is a chart that briefly explains chronic inflammation, the cells it effects, and the outcomes.

Chronic Inflammation:

• Causative agent:  Persistent acute inflammation due to non-degradable pathogens, viral infection, persistent foreign bodies, or autoimmune reactions
• Major cells involved:  Mononuclear cells (monocytes, macrophages, lymphocytes, plasma cells), fibroblasts
• Primary mediators:  IFN-γ and other cytokines, growth factors, reactive oxygen species, hydrolytic enzymes
• Onset:  Delayed
• Duration:  Up to many months, or years
• Outcomes Resolution:  Tissue destruction, fibrosis, necrosis

Inflammation is an underlying cause in many conditions and diseases.  All 140 known autoimmune diseases have inflammation as part of their conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, infertility, multiple sclerosis, lupus, narcolepsy, schizophrenia, depression, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, hypothyroidism, IBS, Chron's disease, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, etc.  The list goes on.  It is also a known antagonist in cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, migraine headaches, acne and cancer.  

If all of these conditions and diseases (and a host of others) are directly linked to inflammation, it would behoove those of us with any one (or multiples) of them to reduce chronic inflammation as much as we can.  Thankfully, science has shown us that we can!  By removing grains and legumes and dairy from our diet, we can effectively decrease symptoms and possibly even reverse disease!!

I shared before what changing my everyday diet has done for me.  In the past few months I have seen joint pain and inflammation significantly decrease.  I have gone from chronic daily headaches and frequent migraines to only one or two headaches during that time.  I have seen gut healing from IBS symptoms.  My overall health is significantly better!  I chose to bring my family along for this ride because I know that many of the diseases/conditions also have a genetic component.  I see similar issues in my children already.  I cannot change their genes, but I can help them make better food choices now which will hopefully go with them throughout life.  Do they eat perfectly paleo?  No.  I don't expect them to.  But the meals I control will move them in the right direction.  As they get older they can own this for themselves as they learn how eating the wrong foods affects them physically.

Once again here are some places to read more about reversing disease via a paleo diet:

www.robbwolf.com

www.thepaleodiet.com

www.thepaleomom.com

I have books by these three scientists/authors and I haven't regretted one dime that I have spent in bettering my knowledge and my health.  :)

Pancakes...Round 3! We have a winner!!!!

In my attempt to make sure the kids have some "comfort foods" in their lives, I have tried three versions of Paleo pancakes.  Let's face it, grains are what makes pancakes, pancakes!!  It is very hard to match that consistency, crispy outside, fluffy inside, golden yumminess.  I knew I wasn't going to match Aunt Jemima in any way, but I tried.

The first one I tried, I found the recipe in a Paleo cookbook I have.  I don't remember which one because nobody like them, so I didn't mark it a "keeper".  They were a banana base, really thin and runny.  Wouldn't flip well and nobody like them.  Oh I said that, well it's worth saying again, nobody liked them.

The next one I tried was the recipe on www.thepaleomom.com.  Hers have a plantain base which I thought would make a stiff pancake, easier to flip, not so banana-y, etc.  I thought they were ok, the kids hated them.  This loathing of the pancake was actually a turnaround in many of our food conversion issues.  It created a major fight with one of the kids, which meant a lot of words being flung around.  Never a good thing, except when one child, who desperately needed this diet change comes to you and says, "Thank you mom, I really appreciate all you are doing for us and ME.  I'm sorry I don't say it enough.  I'm happy for the change, I feel better."  And the offending child, also coming back with a new heart and willingness to "try harder". THANK YOU LORD!!

So today were were going to celebrate Koltin's birthday over breakfast.  I said I would make pancakes.  Everyone kind of groaned.  These have not been super successful and I was altering the recipe itself so anything could happen.  I kept it in the back of my mind that if everything was a flop, I'd just take them to IHOP and regret it later.

The recipe came from Against All Grain.  I used the nut-free version with sunflower flour.  This did take a bit longer because I had to MAKE the sunflower flour!!  Thankfully, Justin has been eager to help in the kitchen during recent weeks.  After I ground the sunflower seeds in the food processor, he stood with the flour sifter and made sure we had a fine flour, adding the larger pieces back into the food processor as needed.  He also sliced up the bananas and helped me add them to the pancakes, along with the chocolate chips.  I made some modifications to her recipe, I did add a teaspoon more of honey, per the nut-free directions.  I also added a few drops of lemon juice to counteract the chemical reaction between the sunflower seeds and baking soda.  We did have a few green spots in the pancakes but not many, so this must have worked!

Bacon came out of the oven and I started dishing up pancakes...

I had to quickly mix up a 2nd batch because Ethan and Dawson ate FOUR a piece!!!!  Everyone loved them!!  Except Matthew.  Matthew has decided that all pancakes are gross except Aunt Jemima, so he took one, ate one small bite, dug the bananas out and ate them and said they were gross.  *insert eye roll here*  The child HAS no idea what he missed out on!!

You don't need syrup, but I did add a bit of pure maple syrup to mine.

The bananas definitely add that magic touch.  I would slice them thinner next time.  Several mentioned they'd like to try them with blueberries, so we may try that.  When I do, I will increase the honey by another teaspoonful.

Thanks to my friend Kirstin, who introduced this recipe to me!  We have a winner!!!!!

Did you say "Leaky Gut"? Ewwwww....

Leaky gut, yes it is as gross as it sounds.  Leaky gut, also know as "increased intestinal permeability", is exactly what it sounds like.  Something is permeating your intestinal walls and leaking into places it shouldn't be.  That includes undigested foods, bacteria, bile and waste.  All autoimmune diseases have leaky gut associated with them.  Many other health conditions and diseases are linked back to leaky gut and gut dysbiosis.  So if you knew that eliminating one food group would alleviate the key factor in these diseases wouldn't you do it?  If the FDA knew that this one food group was unhealthy and harmful for every human on the planet, wouldn't you think they'd tell everyone?  Be prepared, a rant is coming...

Scientifically speaking, if I told you that apples cannot be processed by the human digestive tract.  No matter what you do to it: cook it, peel it, bleach it, process it 150 different ways; in the end the final proteins cannot be broke down by your digestive system.  In the end, there will remain undigested parts and those will permeate your gut lining in one of two ways and leak into your body, also allowing other bacteria and waste to leak into your body.  Would you WANT to know this information?  Would you EXPECT science to make you aware of this FACT?  Would you STOP eating apples even if they were your FAVORITE?

The answer is YES!!  Who would knowingly do that to their body????

Guess what?  Science KNOWS that grains cannot be completely digested by our bodies.  They never have been.  You can boil it, bake it, bleach it, grind it, whatever you want, it still isn't going to be digested by your body.  The last parts of the protein cannot be broken down by our body into the amino acids our body needs.  The last parts then are able to permeate the gut lining in two ways, depending on your genetic make-up, and leak out.  This also then opens up the gut for other things to leak out as well.  They know this, yet we are encouraged to not only eat grains, but to consume 12 servings a day of grains.  12 servings a day!!  While foregoing other fiber and nutrient rich foods like fruits and vegetables.  12 servings a day while giving up healthy animal fats which are necessary to cell function in our body.  12 servings a day that permeate our gut, make us sick and no one can understand WHY we are sick, yet we keep eating our grains.

I'm thankful for the agricultural revolution.  Truly I am. If it weren't for the agricultural revolution, I wouldn't have learned this information from other sources.  If it weren't for the agricultural revolution I wouldn't be able to send this message to you across cyber space from the comfort of my home.  But along the way, when these things came to light, it sure would have been nice if someone bothered to SHARE this information with the masses. I'm even more thankful for the agricultural revolution that THANKFULLY through hundreds of people, paleo gurus and those of us just learning, the information IS getting to the masses!!!

In order to begin healing your gut and reversing disease you must eliminate the following:
ALL Grains including:

• corn
• barley
• fonio
• kamut
• oats
• rice
• rye
• sorghum
• spelt
• teff triticale
• wheat (including durum and semolina)
• wild rice
• millet

ALL Psuedo-Grains including:

• amaranth
• buckwheat
• chia
• quinoa

Each and every one of these will affect gut health, in every single person.  Now the extent that you feel the effects is determined by other things in your life.  Genetics, stress, lifestyle, environment, infections.  But this is the KEY area.  If you could improve your health, the health of your family, your children, your grandchildren, wouldn't you do it?  You might say, "But I'm not seeing any affects from this, why should I eliminate grains?"  Are you really not seeing any affects?  Do you take prescription drugs for any health issues?  Do you take antacids for heartburn, reflux, etc?  Do you experience bowel issues regularly?  Do you have a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease or autoimmune disease?  You can change your health dramatically in this one area!

Aside from the battle in the gut from grains, they aren't even "healthy" for you in general terms.  Grains have no more fiber in them than fruits and vegetables, yet they are higher in starches and sugar than fruits!  That all translates to sugar in your body, which translates to being overweight, fluctuating blood sugars, mood issues, headaches, and disease.  Let's face it, grains gotta go!!!

You eat WHAT???

Paleolithic Diet:  The original human diet.  Think hunter/gatherer.  What can you grow, pick, eat?  What can you kill, cook, eat?  It's not a "diet", it's a way of life, it's HOW you eat on a regular basis.  It is not short-term.  It becomes who you are.

The basics, and I mean basics:

• No grains.
• No legumes.
• No refined sugar.
• No dairy.
• No processed foods.

What it means for us:

• No grains in our everyday diet.
• No legumes in our everyday diet.
• No refined sugar, except on very, very limited special occasions.
• Extremely limited processed foods.
• Full-fat dairy in moderation.

What do we eat?

•  Meat: beef, pork, chicken, turkey, etc. And it's a lot of meat.  Do you know how much meat it takes to feed all these kids???  
• Vegetables, fresh and frozen.
• Fruit, fresh and frozen.
• Nuts and seeds. (For those able to.)
• Paleo baked goods, because if I didn't they'd all revolt!! 

There are many places to find more details on what a paleo diet looks like, how to implement it and the WHY's behind it.  I have been learning a lot over the past few weeks and I will share that with you.  If you are interested in learning more or reading some of the material I have read, let me point you in that direction:

www.thepaleomom.com  (Dr. Sarah Ballantyne is a WEALTH of information.  I'm currently reading here book, The Paleo Approach. This is a MUST for anyone dealing with autoimmune issues.)
robbwolf.com (Robb traded his lab coat in to help people get healthy.  I enjoyed his book The Paleo Solution very much. His humor is great!)
thepaleodiet.com (Dr. Loren Cordain, the founder of the paleo movement, Robb's mentor, the KING of paleo.  His studies are incredible!! The first book I read was The Paleo Diet and I don't regret it!)

I will be creating a resource list as this blog goes on.