Let's Talk About It

Apple Month!

Celiac.com Sponsor (A13):
And I picked a winner in using an "Old recipe" and making it Gluten Free, and it worked!

APPLESAUCE LOAF   -  Oven at 350 degrees - Bake in loaf pan, check at 40 mins. Loaf is read when toothpick in centre comes out clean

1/2 Cup shortening

1 Cup of sugar

2 eggs - beaten well

1 3/4 Cups Nutmeg

1 Cup sweetened Applesauce

1/2 Cup chopped walnuts (Or pecans if you prefer)

1 tsp. sale

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. Xanthum Gum ... But you know, when I used King Arthur Flour I did not need the Xanthum Gum.  Our 99 year old Mother does not bake any more so I bake up a pile of loaves and take them over when we go. This one, you can slice thinly, butter sparingly and serve with a cup of tea

Soften the shortening ahead of time, Add sugar, creaming gradually. Add beaten eggs (should be nice and fluffy)

Sift together your dry ingredients and add in thirds to the creamed mixture, alternating with applesauce. Stir in nuts. Bake 350 degrees for about an hour, but check at 45 mins.

Glaze with 1/2 Cup icing sugar with 1 tsp. water if you like more sweetness. It freezes well, but will keep n the fridge for over a week.

SOME WORDS OF ADVICE:

Ignore front of label claims. Don't read most of label packaging, Lisa Chanfrini says. "Flip the box over and read the nutrient info. and the ingredient list first

BEWARE OF INGREDIENT SPLITTING. Ingredients on food labels are listed in descending order according to the amount contained in the food. But you might be misled if you simply scan the fist three or four ingredients, because our labeling laws allow manufacturers to use multiple sources of sugar, (and sodium) for that matter! and list each separately. Look for words ending in "ose". as well as for corn syrup, fruit concentrate, concentrated fruit juice, and honey. The number listed for "sugars" on the nutrition facts panel can help you gauge how much of the sweet stuff is in a given product. {Note recipe above}  I do not post how much sugar is in the "sweetened applesauce", and one has to figure that in to the sugar ingredients too. Recipes do not differentiate between added sugars and those naturally found in a food such as applesauce, pears, or even the lactose in yogurt.

Scrutinize serving sizes; because serving sizes shown on  nutritional facts panels are not standardized, an unreasonable tiny serving size might fool you into thinking some products are a much better nutritional bargain than they really are.  {Who eats 10 chips, a quarter cup of granola, or even 1/2 a can of coup?] Obviously if you are comparing two similar products that use different serving sizes, you'll have to do some mental math.

Look for "Daily Percentage Values' Use the per cent daily value as a yardstick for whether a food contains a little or a lot of certain beneficial nutrients, as well as those you'd like to minimize. For example, with grain products such as a cereals and crackers, look for a number greater than 15 for fibre. When it comes to sodium and saturated and trans fasts, however, choose products with values lower than five where possible.

Borrow Someone Else's Homework.  CSPI offers a monthly ad-free publication called Nutrition Action Health letter, which often features nutritional ratios for various brands of an entire category of foods, such as Greek yogurt or single service frozen entrees. For the cost of an annual subscription {$36.00 - which I think is a little steep even though there is lots of information in one health letter. You can ely on CSP experts to weigh factors such as fibre, sodium, and sugar content for you. Sign up online. visit     cspinet.org/canada

Eat More Label Free Foods.  If you are constantly reading labels, you're actually barking up the wrong tree.. dietician Casey Berghund says. "The foods that you should be choosing most often are  vegetables, fruit and even whole grains and fish. They don't need nutritional claims. Go for the foods that don't have labels and choose whole foods as often as you can. AND, don't be afraid to throw in a handful of dried cranberries,raisins or dates; just as long as you don't go overboard on the additives causing your muffins to sag under the weight or your cake to be "too boggy"

USING MAGICAL SOUNDING ADJECTIVES: - FROM "NATURAL," 'FRESH", and ORGANIC to "Gluten Free" and GMO Free" food manufacturers use descriptions that projeft6 an often false aura of nutritional virtue. Let's take those "natural" deli meats. The only thing differentiating them from ordinary deli meats is one preservative

- a celery extract that is chemically indistinguishable from a nitrate used in regular deli meats. "I have no argument with the benefits of nitrates in preventing botulism (during the curing process), Schwartz says, "but I do have a problem with deceiving people into thinking these products are somehow different." There is a good deal of research linking intake of processed meats, such as hot dogs, bacon, and cold cuts, with health problems, ranging from diabetes to bowel cancer. It is not clear whether the culprit is the high salt content, preservatives such as nitrates and nitrites, or animal protein ... or a combination of all three ... but there is no evidence that the "natural" version of these meats is any healthier. While an organic food may have been grown without artificial pesticides, that doesn't necessarily mean it is nutritious, according to Berglund. For instance, she says, "If you look at the label, you might find that an organic granola bar contains adde4d fats or a ton of sugar. Sure, it might be organic cane sugar but that does not mean it is any better for you." Many, if not most granola bars are basically cookies with a health halo.) I myself, wandering around our local "Farmer's Market" wonder if they are going to go as far as to write on a sign that the bananas are Gluten Free, Free of Pesticides. The GMO-free banner now carries by a popular oat-based breakfast cereal is a similarly misleading marketing ploy, aimed at people who are uneasy about the safety of consuming food containing genetically modified organisms. (That is a whole separate story, though in summary, there is no evidence GMO's are harmful to humans). In a column that appeared in the Montreal Gazette earlier this year, Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science & Society, explained that oats are still GMO free ... scientists have yet to produce genetically modified oats. The claim on the cereal label relates to the relatively small amounts of modified cornstarch and sugar in the product, (Incidentally, If you are eating oat cereal in hopes of lowering your cholesterol, forget it. It is a sales "gimmick" and we have to become wary of how to search out healthy foods while still strictly adhering to our celiac diet. You know, after a while, it is not worth cheating What we are searching for is Gluten Free, sugar sparing and avoid buying into the false advertising that is around today. "It is not fair", but whoever said it was going to be. It is "Challenging", but let's weed out the "Misleading.

Yvonne (Vonnie) Mostat