4th of July Fruit Roundup & Burger Thoughts

Sharing an EASY 4th of July Fruit Roundup, and a Grassfed Burger recipe, for party & picnic ideas, although honestly, these are fun & fabulous anytime!

And the best part… absolutely NO artificial colorings, artificial flavorings, or additives!  Nature is providing all!

Tip:   Just dip banana slices in lemon juice to prevent discoloration.

Berries… please buy organic as they are on EWG’s Dirty List:

EWG 2015 Dirty and Clean List
Source: http://ecowatch.com/2015/02/26/shopper-guide-pesticides-produce/

For the pie recipe…  please don’t use canola oil… just use coconut oil!!!  You will soon see the post detailing transfat (and other) problems with canola oil — all industrial seed oils for that matter!

Burger thoughts

For mouthwatering burgers:Grassfed meat has fatty acids that differ from grainfed meats. Unique taste results and non-conventional cooking is required to bring out the tastefulness. The reference links in the Notes section are great for understanding fatty acid differences. Source: biomeonboardawareness.com

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4th of July Cashew Cheesecake with Nut Crust, SCD/GAPS/PALEO

Summary:  This is a great 4th of July dessert, and it is just in time for the holiday!  But honestly, we always have this Cashew Cheesecake with Nut Crust in our freezer for snacking! Some add peanut butter into the filling, or blueberries swirled atop the cheesecakes, and others top with coconut milk whip cream. I suppose that is what makes this recipe so fun… you can dress it up but you certainly don’t need to! It is equally delicious as is!  Credit for this recipe goes to Minimalist Baker, although  I’ve modified it to include proper nut preparation as well as to proportionately increase the filling ingredients to reflect 15 full sized muffing tins instead of one dozen, since I always get 15 nut crusts!

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SCD Protein Bar (similar to Cliff Bars) or Bite Sized Candy

SUMMARY: This is a favorite SCD protein bar that we actually cut into bite sized nugget pieces which are then frozen. It is perfect for snacking.  The recipe uses a food processor and no baking is required!  The ingredients are pressed into a parchment lined dish, frozen, and then cut into the desired nugget sizes.  I always double this recipe since it is a freezer stored food. 

Ingredients I Prefer to Use

The ingredients in this recipe make these bars an advanced food for those on healing diets such as SCD, GAPS, or PALEO.  For this very reason, I recommend properly preparing nut and seed ingredients  whenever possible to make such more easily digestible.  I use the following ingredients for this very reason although I am not aware of “SCD legal” letters for them.  Be cautious if you are SCD or GAPS and use these brands, but many use them without problem. You can be creative and use your favorite nuts, seeds, and nut butters, but I prefer:

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Antibiotic Resistance: Obama White House Today Convenes First Antibiotic Summit

SUMMARY:  This is an incredibly timely followup to my last post, ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE AND MICROBIOME COMPETITIVE CROWDING OUT CONCEPTS.  Copied below is the press coverage, issued just minutes ago, of:

 Today: Obama White House Convenes (one day) First Antibiotic Summit focusing on “Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship” .

I can’t say enough about the real risk for acquiring an antibiotic resistant infection as explained in my last post,  ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE AND MICROBIOME COMPETITIVE CROWDING OUT CONCEPTS, especially given that the average American has lost 1/3 of their diversity.  Another study estimates 1 in 4 have 40% less bacteria (see prior post link for references).   This post also provided maps that showed individual state antibiotic use and resistance risk:

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US Antibiotic Resistance and WHO

SUMMARY:  Antibiotic resistance is invisible to most of us until you, a family member, or an acquaintance acquires such an infection.  You can check out the slides below to see state by state, US Antibiotic Resistance Risk and state Antibiotic Use.  erhaps the most reasonable mechanism to prevent antibiotic need in the first place, is explained in the post PRESERVE & RESTORE LOSS OF MICROBIOME DIVERSITY IS AGGRESSIVE PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE.  These concepts are especially important given that the average American has lost 1/3 of their microbiome diversity, as estimated by Dr. Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello as seen on this interview for the film “Microbirth.”   Another study estimates 1 in 4 have 40% less bacteria (see This Danish study, or read the scientific article here).  

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Preserve & Restore Loss of Microbiome Diversity is Aggressive Preventative Medicine

SUMMARY:  Aggressive Preventative Medicine means preserving the microbiome you have and restoring any loss incurred.  See how far that thought goes with your doctor!  Diet really does work to alter the microbiome and can help to restore loss of microbiome; for example, fermented kimchi actually positively impacted metabolic syndrome factors including systolic and diastolic blood pressures, percent body fat, fasting glucose, and total cholesterol.  

⇒⇒  This post teaches how to reduce the loss of microbiome diversity and restore such – crowding out concept.

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Date Nut Bread, PALEO SCD GAPS

SUMMARY:  The recipe, Date Nut Bread, PALEO SCD GAPS, UMass IBD-AID is a favorite of family and friends.  This is NOT a sweet bread per se although the dates do provide a tinge of sweetness.  Some enjoy this bread with a swirl of butter on top.  Double, if not triple, the recipe; it is that good.  No matter what diet you are targeting, this is a healing nutrient dense recipe if you tolerate nuts, and for AIP — nuts have been successfully reintroduced, and for low FODMAPs — substitute maple syrup for the dates and consume small portions due to almond restrictions. Tip:  Freeze extra mini loaves to always have this on hand.

The recipe is interesting since it uses several ingredients you may never have baked with — both almond and coconut flours, dates, and apple cider vinegar.  Just the combination sounds peculiar; but it is a winner!  The recipe also uses a food processor; I have had mine for 30 plus years — a bridal shower gift from my sister — though I honestly never really used it until beginning to eat SCD.

embellishment7Some thoughts on serving size:  One slice is actually enough even though it isn’t near the size you are use to, bread-wise.   Remember, with nutrient dense foods, you honestly eat less due to satiety.

embellishment7We have habits of eating a lot of something mainly because our body seeks nutrition, which the Standard American Diet is sorely lacking.  This recipe is nutrient dense thus you eat less to nourish your body.

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What’s in a Practical Whole Foods PALEO, SCD, Gaps Healing Fridge?

SUMMARY:  Check out this healing, anti-inflammatory, nutrient dense fridge, and learn what is in a practical whole foods PALEO, SCD, GAPS Mediterranean diet type fridge, that also happens to be sustainable and family and friends friendly!  Also learn practical tips for transitioning (with recipe links) & quality food sourcing links.   Each of our microbiomes differ by over 99% and that means, there is no one right diet for all due to each of our unique physiologic and genetic (human and microbial) variability. This includes the trendy diets, like Ketogenic, PALEO, Atkins, Zone, as well as the popular, government-sponsored diets such as DASH (revised 2015) and TLC (2005, still needs updated).  The Mediterranean Diet continues to have evidence based benefit.  In fact, a diet called MIND, which combines Mediterranean, DASH, and aging brain literatureshowed for strict follow, that brains functioned as if 7 years younger AND there was a 53% reduction of Alzheimer’s risk.   Moderate follow reduced Alzheimer’s risk by 35%!  MIND is currently recruiting 600 with a family history of dementia or Alzheimer’s, and a BMI 25 or over, for clinical trial at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and RUSH University Medical Center!  The top diets in each category share similar attributes including balance, higher vegetable and some fruit (especially low sugar like berries, avocados), wild caught fish, fermented food (see the 2017 D. D. Rosa et al for the benefits of kefir which are also listed below), awareness of EWG toxin recommendations, along with self awareness, finding a like minded tribe of experienced healing diet eaters able to support your learning thereby establishing Blue Zones within families, to friends, to communities (Dr. David Katz, Episode 11 of Awakening From Alzheimer’s, and monitoring of what you eat through journaling.  An emphasis on frequent, structured exercise and physical activity are also common themes.  With awareness of the many tenets of healing type diets and lifestyle impact on the microbiomesmall diet and lifestyle changes result in big health improvement without the perceived rigidity of following a traditional diet plan, and these changes motivate you to your NEXT.   Eating microbiome gut supporting foods works.  Just check out my Testimonial page! 

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16S rRNA challenges healthy vaginal microbiome; ferments & coconut oil rock!

SUMMARY:   Incredulously, the latest 16S rRNA research now challenges what was thought for years to be a ‘protective,’ ‘normal,’ and healthy vaginal microbiome. Our many microbiomes ideally are “inherited” and originate from our passage through the vagina, and yet it seems a ‘healthy’ and ‘normal’ vaginal microbiome has been elusive; in fact, many women have a compromised vaginal microbiome and many are asymptomatic, or perhaps not… 

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We see & perceive things differently; Neither is superior to the other

SUMMARY:  The ‘blue/black white/gold dress‘ incident is a really good way of acknowledging that people see and perceive things differently and one way is not necessarily superior to the other.  I see and appreciate this in every diet conversation I have.  I focus a lot on diet; but lifestyle tweaks help many achieve wellness when clean diet isn’t enough.  Initial microbiome studies show that stress can result in changes to the gut microbial community, specifically bacteria in the genus Lactobacillus are consistently reduced.  If clean diet isn’t enough, move onto stress busters that data shows literally reduce inflammatory markers — affirmations and meditation do such.

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