Gluten

I saw a funny bit on late night recently: the scene was on the streets of LA and it was a fake reporter asking random people if they were "Gluten Free". Of course, all of those questioned said that they were. Then they were asked "What is gluten exactly?" and that is where the fun began. No one really knew but all had a good and sometimes hilarious answer.

So lets take the cover off and bring Gluten into the light.

GLUTEN:  A protein combination found in some cereals, especially wheat. If you have coeliac (see-lee-ack) disease you are allergic to gluten.
It also has the property of enabling dough to rise by trapping the gas that is created by the reaction of yeast to wheat or other specific cereals.

Coeliac Disease: A disease caused by the body's sensitivity to gluten that causes the digestive system the inability to handle fats/oils in the diet.
Symptoms of this disorder are diarrhea and or anemia.

Foods containing Gluten:
Note: These are just a very few listed here since there are so many. Do an Internet search to obtain a full list.

Almost all foods and pastries made from flour.
Breaded fish, Chicken fried steak and any other meats or vegetables dipped in a breaded batter.
Beer
Whisky that contains barley (malt), rye.
Wine with added malt.
Most breakfast cereals including oatmeal, cream of wheat.
As I said, these are just a few.

Dad

Fats and Oils in the Diet.

In an earlier post I touched on the importance of fat in the diet, specifically milk fat because of my earlier employment in a dairy.
I didn't go into much detail but here are some specifics:
Saturated Fats: Saturated with hydrogen atoms and does not contain double bonds between carbon atoms therefore they are not good for the heart because they raise your bad cholesterol level.
Simply put, Saturated fat is not good for us.

Un-Saturated Fat: They do contain the above mentioned double bonds with the carbon atom and so they help lower your cholesterol levels.

Trans fat: A type of fat that has to do with the configuration of molecules that has a negative effect on our health and the what is interesting is that the vast majority of trans fats are manufactured

Ok, The above is what the experts, by consensus (majority agreement), have been telling us. So why, after so many years of eating "low fat",  "no fat", skim this and that, are we not getting healthier?? Why is obesity so much on the increase?

The fact is that our body needs fat to do many things like protect the liver from harmful particles. In fact much of the fat we use is stored in the liver. It converts the vitamins that are  oil/fat soluble via the "fatty acids from useless to useful. The fats help us maintain healthy bones, lungs, skin and immune system and from 40 to 50% of the fats we use are saturated fats.
I only say this because of observing that society is not noticably doing any better by going the Low Fat etc path. But for myself I will eat as I always do without much regard for the amount of fats I eat with one exception: I stay away from trans fat. you will notice that in my cook book I don't make much distinction for or against the eating of fats.
Next Post: Gluten. Stay tuned.

Dad

Relationship Between Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamins and Minerals work together and accomplish more in that togetherness than each Vitamin or Mineral does on its own.

Every Mineral, when working, affects other minerals which in turn affects other minerals etc. Like dominos in a line being knocked down.
In addition, The amount of one mineral can cause other minerals to stop working which in turn can affect the  Vitamins.

For example: it has been written that men need zinc more than women because zinc affects the health of men's reproductive system, but too much zinc will suppress the body's absorption of copper and copper is needed for proper absorption into the bloodstream of iron and iron carries oxygen needed by every cell in the body. Again, another domino effect.

Metabolism is the interaction of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates etc, in living organisms that provide energy and nutrients needed to sustain life and livingness.

It is clear that Vitamins are needed to aid in the metabolizing of minerals.   For example: to correct something like an iron deficiency, just taking an iron supplement may not work. This could be because Vitamins C, B6, and A, all aid in the metabolizing of iron so a lack of those could be part of the cause of the anemia (iron deficiency).

Another example would be the relationship between zinc and Vit A so that a deficiency of one may cause a problem with the other. A  solution to the above two examples could be supplementing your diet with a Multi- Vitamin/Mineral tablet.

Dad