How can I test for wheat intolerance?

It seems everyone is sensitive to something these days.  Most of the time it is not an intolerance to a food but simply a chemical imbalance in our digestive system due to poor eating habits or too much stress.  So how can you tell if you are actually sensitive to wheat?

Take a wheat challenge test!

A challenge test for wheat involves excluding it from the diet and then slowly reintroducing it and monitoring its effects carefully to detect any kind of sensitivity.

For a two week period you should remove all wheat products or foods containing wheat from the diet completely.  You need to read the labels of all pre-packaged foods and sauces for traces of wheat.  Some sauces such as soy contain wheat and you will need to be aware of this for the test being a success.

During this two week period you should keep a food diary including any supplements and medications.  This will allow you to keep a record and detect any foods which may have contained wheat and at the same time increase your own awareness of food ingredients and labelling.

At the end of the two weeks introduce wheat very slowly, starting with something very small like a wheat cracker.  Wait for four days making a note of any reactions.  If there is a reaction, wheat should be excluded for 6 months, then tested again.  A slight reaction suggests it can be tolerated in small quantities.  If there is no reaction, a larger amount can be tested.  This type of test can be very beneficial to detect wheat intolerance.

If you think you may have problems digesting wheat, give this test a go.

Josie :)

Josie's Raw Organic Sesame Truffles

Ok, so even those who want to be healthy need a sweet treat occasionally. If you have the right kind of ingredients in your cupboards then throwing together fast and delicious raw desserts is surprisingly easy. Then when you eat them you know that as well as getting your emotional fix, you are also getting your nutritional boost as well...everybody wins.

I was experimenting today and I made something I thought was worth sharing.  I apologise for my inability to measure things...but it will encourage you to experiment too! :)

Ingredients

Sesame Seeds
Honey
Raw Cacao Powder
Raw Organic Coconut Oil
Pinch of Salt

Using a small attachment to a tabletop blender, grind the seeds down to a powdery paste (I used about a cup of seeds to start off with).  Then I added a heaped tablespoon of raw cacao powder and mixed them together well.  I then added a small pinch of sea salt and a big dollop of honey and mushed it all together well. 

I then rolled the doughy mixture into balls and rolled them in  cacao powder to finish them off.  Finally I popped them in the fridge and tried very hard not to eat them all at once!!  You could also roll them in sesame seeds or ground almonds...or hmmm...the possibilities are endless.

Use your own tastebuds to decide how rich, sweet or crunchy you want the truffles to be.

Enjoy :)

Josie

How much water should I drink?

Water is actually one of the most important nutrients we have in our diet.  We would shrivel and die rather quickly without sufficient water.  Most of us are drinking enough that we are not going to perish, but what we don't realise is how much better we could feel if we drank much more of it.

Water lubricates our joints and muscles, it transports nutrients around the body, it keeps every cell of our body functioning.  Our body is about 65% water and our brain is close to 85% water.  It makes sense that we should keep topping up so that our bodies function at their optimal levels.

Our excretory organs all need water to transport toxins and by-products out of the body, so without water we become toxic and sluggish.  Our bowels become constipated, our skin becomes tired looking, our kidneys become congested and our lungs are unable to breathe out sufficient toxic wastes.  Without water we don't stand a chance.

To make sure you are drinking enough check your urine throughout the day.  I know it sounds gross, but it is the best way of knowing.  We all have different water requirements and live in different climates with different activity levels so eight glasses a day is far too vague.  You want your urine to be pale in colour and almost completely clear twice a day.  Don't forget food is full of water too, especially if you are eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Get Hydrated!!

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Are chemicals in food bad for you?

I like to keep a level head with feet firmly planted in the ground so I try be realistic and steer away from telling people to cut things out completely.  However, chemical food additives are a bit scary really.  We are basically all lab rats in the governments badly executed attempt to create a well balanced economy with food companies/pharmaceutical companies and the rats.


For decades food companies have been testing all sorts of chemicals to make food look nicer or last longer.  Some foods are pretty much made of nothing but chemicals and sugar (coke/sweets).  There is such limited knowledge about the long term affects of the chemicals that are put in packaged foods to preserve them and make them taste more pleasurable.  Due to these distortions in the diet we are getting an increase in metabolic syndrome which is an umbrella term for a group of symptoms that lead to diabetes, strokes, heart disease and other degenerative illnesses. 


The chemicals in the foods we eat make us want to eat more than we would normally, and they could distort the way our body absorbs nutrients and block certain pathways in the body... look at the health of the societies we live in now for the proof.  Trans-fats and sugar loaded diets can actually change the way our genes are expressed, so who knows what the chemical additives are doing long term?

The thing is, how can we possibly know yet what these chemicals are doing to us at a metabolic level?  They simply have not been around long enough to know.  It is clear that there is so much going wrong in our bodies so it is wise for us to do something about it with the freewill we have.  Making the best choice about what we put in our own body is crucial, even more so if you are pregnant. 


The other factor is mood.  These chemicals that are infiltrating our systems are bound to have an affect on our state of mind and decision making; the way we view the world.  It makes total sense to avoid these chemical packed foods which are usually loaded with sugar and trans-fats to add insult to injury.



Food is great without chemicals, there is an abundance of wonderful food out there.  Make the best decision you can and if you cannot realistically cut out chemical foods completely, just try and avoid them when you can. 


Check out these websites for more information about specific chemical additives:


http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm


http://www.gaianaturopathic.com/docs/Food_Additives.pdf


Josie.

How to make guacamole.

I absolutely love avocado so one of my favourite raw recipes is guacamole with vegetable sticks.  Avocado has over twenty nutrients so combined with carrot sticks and cucumber sticks it becomes a completely brilliant snack!

Avocado is rich in vitamin E which is fantastic for your skin and generally disarming free radicals that are running wild in the body.  It is also a good source of B vitamins which keep our nervous system healthy and our brains functioning as best as they possibly can - in my case? Still rather slowly :)

The best thing about this wonderful raw snack is the simplicity of it and the speed in which you can pull it off.  Instead of reaching for something packed and fried, do your body a favour and throw this quick snack together.

Yummy Guacamole

1 or 2 ripe avocados

Garlic to taste

chilli to taste

Onion to taste

Pinch of salt


Basically you are going to mash this lot together in no particular order and make it in to a lovely green mud pie kind of thing.  I am lazy so I put all the ingredients except the avocado in the small attachment on my blender, then follow with the avocado.  However, if you do it by hand you get a much more chunky homemade feel to the whole thing and it can taste even better.  I decide dependant on my mood.  You can cut up any kind of vegetable to dip it in or even just massage it in to a load of green leaves and use it as a salad dressing...creamy and delicious!

Enjoy!

Josie