William Davis's Blog: Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog, page 158

Chocolate Coconut Tart from the new Wheat Belly 30-Minute Cookbook

Here’s another recipe from the new Wheat Belly 30-Minute (or Less!) Cookbook, available Dec 24th, 2013 or right now for pre-order at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

In addition to this recipe, you will find new recipes for dinner dishes, light meals, sandwiches, and cookies and cupcakes. In addition, mindful of trying to help everyone assemble delicious foods and meals in less time, there are recipes for healthy wheat-free and junk-free seasoning mixes, sauces, and jams. All dishes are designed to be made in 30 minutes or less!

I chose this recipe as I thought it would fit perfectly into a holiday menu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prep time: 10 minutes            Total time: 30 minutes

Shredded coconut makes a sturdy and delicious piecrust. Here we fill a coconut crust with a rich chocolate cream to make a delightful tart appropriate for celebrations, holidays, or an extra special dessert.

Makes 8 servings

2½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut

¼ cup almond meal/flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided

Sweetener equivalent to 1 cup sugar, divided

¼ cup coconut oil or butter, melted

14 ounces coconut milk (canned) or heavy cream

8 ounces 100% chocolate

3 eggs, separated

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease 9-inch pie pan.

In medium size bowl, combine coconut, almond meal/flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, sweetener equivalent to 1/4-cup sugar, and oil/butter and mix thoroughly. Transfer to greased pie pan, spreading evenly on bottom and partially up sides. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges lightly browned. Remove and cool.

Meanwhile, while coconut shell baking, heat coconut milk/cream and chocolate in medium saucepan over medium heat just until chocolate melted. Stir in remaining sweetener. Be careful to not overheat. Remove from heat.

Whip 3 egg whites until stiff peaks form. At reduced speed, blend in egg yolks, vanilla, and remaining cinnamon. Spoon in chocolate mixture and blend in gradually until well mixed.

Pour chocolate mixture into coconut shell and bake additional 15 minutes. Remove and cool. Refrigerate to set, then serve.

Tom Naughton’s Diet, Health, and the Wisdom of Crowds: Brilliant

Tom Naughton, filmmaker of Fat Head fame, gave this presentation at Springfield College in Massachusetts.

I don’t believe that I have ever heard these concepts of the wisdom of crowds, combined with a brief history of nutritional “science” gone wrong, presented with such clarity and wit. In a word, Tom’s presentation is absolutely brilliant. It is all the more astounding that a filmmaker and former stand-up comic can trump the “science” of nutrition, exposing it for the dogmatic drivel that it is, thanks to a peculiar convergence of politics, the push of Big Food, and bad science.

My favorite among the quotes he uses: “Science progresses one funeral at a time.” Anyone interested in understanding how we, as a nation and world, have arrived at this place of astounding nutritional ignorance, Tom’s presentation, as well as his Fat Head movie classic, are must viewing.

Autoimmunity and wheat

Autoimmunity occurs when your own immune system is no longer able to distinguish friend from foe. It means that antibodies, lymphocytes, killer T cells, macrophages and inflammation-mediating proteins can’t tell the difference between, say, the protein of a fungal wall from proteins in your liver or joints. It’s as weird as a mother not recognizing her children, sometimes as tragic as friendly fire.

Depending on which tissues in which organs are attacked, the misdirected immune attack of autoimmunity can express itself as autoimmune hepatitis (liver tissue), primary biliary cirrhosis (bile ducts), type 1 diabetes (pancreatic beta cells), uveitis (iris of the eye), skin (psoriasis), platelets (autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura), muscles (polymyositis), thyroid (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Grave’s disease), or just about any other organ or tissue.

Wheat consumption has now been confidently identified as both the initiating process in autoimmunity, as well as a perpetuating factor. Autoimmunity is just one way that tells us that this “food” was never appropriate for human consumption in the first place. First consumed in desperation 10,000 years ago, after not consuming grains for the preceding 2.5 million years, then altered by the efforts of geneticists and agribusiness, increased wheat consumption accounts for the increasing landscape of multiple autoimmune conditions, especially type 1 diabetes in children (and, now, adults), Hashimoto’s, and inflammatory bowel diseases.

So what is it about modern wheat that can cause such misguided immune responses? There are several reasons:

Increased intestinal permeability–Dr. Alessio Fasano and his team, working at the University of Maryland (now at Harvard) have worked out the complex path by which gliadin, when remaining intact, opens the “tight junction” barriers between intestinal cells, allowing foreign substances entry into the bloodstream and thereby organs. Among the substances that can enter: intact gliadin, gliadin-derived peptides, wheat germ agglutinin (a large and highly inflammatory protein), lipopolysaccharide from bacterial cell walls, and others.

Gliadin peptide toxicity–While some gliadin remains intact, some also gets degraded to peptides. Some of these peptides can enter the bloodstream to exert opiate effects on the brain, while other fractions are toxic to the intesinal lining.

Wheat germ agglutinin–Humans cannot digest the roots, stalk, leaves, or husk of wheat because it is a grass. For that reason, humans only consume the flour ground from the seed of wheat. We can only efficiently digest the amylopectin and amylose of the seed endosperm, the carbohydrates. Wheat germ agglutinin of the seed, a component of all wheat flour, is an example of another indigestible component of this grass. This large 4-part structure is highly toxic to the intestinal lining, causing complete denuding of the villi in experimental models. If it gains entry to the bloodstream, it is a potent activator of the immune system.

Molecular mimicry–As if this wasn’t already strange enough, there are amino acid sequences in the gliadin protein of wheat (and thereby the secalin of rye, the hordein of barley, perhaps the zein of corn) that look just like sequences in some human proteins. To date, human proteins that resemble gliadin include transglutaminase (in muscle, liver, many other tissues), synapsin (in nervous tissue), and calreticulin (ubiquitous). The gliadin sequence activates an immune response, which can then launch an attack on the organs containing these cross-reacting proteins.

Dysbiosis–Wheat changes bowel flora, not uncommonly causing dysbiosis, or changes in bowel flora characterized by decreases in healthy species, such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria, and increases in pathogenic bacteria, such as E. coli and Clostridium difficile. Dysbiosis increases intestinal permeability, especially to the lipopolysaccharide component of bacterial cell walls, a powerful activator of inflammation.

Note that NONE of these phenomena leading to autoimmunity require the presence of celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. The abnormal intestinal permeability induced by gliadin, for instance, develops in 80-90% of people; the toxic effects of wheat germ agglutinin affect everybody.

Anyone diagnosed with an autoimmune condition should avoid wheat, as well as its nearly genetically identical brethren, rye and barley (identical gliadin and wheat germ agglutinin sequences), as well as corn (some overlap of corn zein with gliadin) and rice (identical wheat germ agglutinin).

Also, vitamin D restoration (e.g., achieve a 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 60-70 ng/ml or 150-180 nmol/L), omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, and correction of disrupted bowel flora (prebiotics, naturally fermented foods, prebiotics) are all crucial steps in maximizing your hopes of reversing your autoimmune condition.

Pepperoni Bread recipe from the new Wheat Belly 30-Minute (or less!) Cookbook

Here is another recipe taken from the 200 in the new Wheat Belly 30-Minute (or less!) Cookbook to be released December 24, 2013 but available for pre-order on Amazon.

Note that the Wheat Belly Italian Seasoning Mix is specified but you simply substitute with the mix of herbs listed under the asterisked (*) footnote. Also, the Wheat Belly All-Purpose Baking Mix is a mixture pre-made for convenience and modestly improved texture. You can do fine for the present just by using the same volume of almond meal/flour.

The Cookbook does indeed have a collection of seasoning mixes, sauces, salad dressings, puddings, and dessert sauces, as well as breads, main dishes, side dishes, and soups, all designed to be healthy, free of wheat and other grains, using NO gluten-free junk carbohydrate ingredients, no added sugar, and otherwise healthy. This new Cookbook helps make following the Wheat Belly grain-free lifestyle quick, easy, and accessible to anyone with basic cooking skills.

Pepperoni Bread

Prep time: 5 minutes Total time: 30 minutes

If you see the kids gobble this Pepperoni Bread down, don’t be fooled: It just looks unhealthy! After all, this “bread” is really just made of ground nuts, coconut, cheese, eggs, and pepperoni. Serve this side dish alongside a shirataki or spaghetti squash pasta dish topped with Wheat Belly Marinara sauce or just serve the bread and marinara sauce without any pasta.

Makes 8 servings

2 cups Wheat Belly All-Purpose Baking Mix

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 eggs

2 ounces pepperoni, sliced thinly

1 tablespoon Wheat Belly Italian Seasoning Mix*

*Or substitute 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon dried basil, ½ teaspoon dried onion, ½ teaspoon dried garlic

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In large bowl, combine baking mix and ½ cup mozzarella cheese. Whisk in olive oil and eggs until thoroughly mixed.

On parchment paper-linked shallow baking pan, pour dough onto paper and form into rectangular shape approximately 10 x 16 inches, ½-inch thickness. Bake for 18 minutes or until lightly browned at edges. Remove.

Lay out pepperoni in 2-3 rows in center of bread, followed by remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle seasoning mix over cheese. Carefully roll one (narrow) end of the bread until fully rolled. Return to oven and bake for 2-3 minutes or until cheese melted.

Remove, allow to cool 5 minutes, then slice to desired thickness.

Wheat Belly holiday recipes II

Now for the desserts!

Here are recipes for Pumpkin Pie, Apple Cranberry Crumble, and Pumpkin Spice Muffins. Remember: By taking out wheat and other grains, not resorting to gluten-free junk carbohydrate replacements, not adding sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, limiting net carbohydrate content and not using other problem ingredients, we now have healthy desserts that do not pack on the pounds, screw with blood sugar, mess with satiety signals, or exert inflammatory effects. Have your Apple Cranberry Crumble or Pumpkin Spice Muffin and suffer not a moment of guilt! And I think they’re pretty darned tasty, too.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Wheat-free Pumpkin Pie

Here is a reminder of how us wheat-free folk make a wonderful and delicious pumpkin pie that is wheat-free. Without wheat, it does NOT stimulate appetite, does NOT send blood sugar sky-high, does NOT add to arthritis/joint pain, acid reflux, irritable bowel symptoms, leg edema, depression, moodiness, migraine headache, hypertension, dementia, heart disease, or cancer. You can just have your nice big slice of pumpkin pie, even with a big dollop of whipped cream . . . without worries!

The pumpkin puree poses only a slight potential carbohydrate challenge. The entire pie contains 36 grams carbohydrates; if divided into 8 pieces, that yields 4.5 grams carbohydrate per slice–a tolerable level for most people. Heck, even two pieces yields about the same carbohydrate load as half an apple.

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

Pie crust

1 1/4 cups ground walnuts (or pecans or almonds)

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 large egg

4 ounces butter or coconut oil, melted

Pie filling

2 cups pumpkin puree

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs

1/2 cup coconut milk (canned variety)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Sweetener equivalent to 1 cup sugar (e.g., 6 tablespoons Truvia)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In large bowl, mix together ground walnuts, flaxseed, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. In small bowl, whisk eggs and add butter or coconut oil. Pour liquid mix into dry mix and blend by hand thoroughly.

Grease a 9-inch pie pan with coconut oil or other oil. Transfer mix to the pie pan and spread evenly along bottom and up sides. If mixture is too thin, place in refrigerator for several minutes to thicken. For ease of spreading, use a large metal spoon heated under running hot water. Set aside.

In another large bowl, combine pumpkin, cream cheese, eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly by hand. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and sweetener and continue to blend by hand.

Pour pumpkin mix into pie crust. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until toothpick or knife withdraws nearly dry. Optionally, sprinkle additional nutmeg and/or cinnamon, top with whipped cream or whipped coconut milk.

Apple Cranberry Crumble

Apple, cranberry, and cinnamon: the perfect combination of tastes and scents for winter holidays!

I took a bit of carbohydrate liberties with this recipe. The entire recipe yields a delicious cheesecake-like crumble with 59 “net” grams carbohydrates (total carbs – fiber); divided among 10 slices, that’s 5.9 grams net carbs per serving, a quantity most tolerate just fine. (To reduce carbohydrates, the molasses in the crumble is optional, reducing total carbohydrate by 11 grams.)

Other good choices for sweeteners include liquid stevia, powdered stevia (pure or inulin-based, not maltodextrin-based), Truvía, erythritol, and the Wheat Free Market sweetener blend of erythritol and monkfruit. And always taste your batter to test sweetness, since sweeteners vary in sweetness from brand to brand and your individual sensitivity to sweetness depends on how long you’ve been wheat-free. (The longer you’ve been wheat-free, the less sweetness you desire.)

Makes 9 servings

Crust and crumble topping

3 cups almond meal

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened

1 cup xylitol (or other sweetener equivalent to 1 cup sugar)

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon molasses

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Dash sea salt

Filling

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs

½ cup xylitol (or other sweetener equivalent to ½ cup sugar)

1 Granny Smith apple (or other variety)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In large bowl, combine almond meal, butter, sweetener, cinnamon, molasses, vanilla, and salt and mix.

Grease a 9½-inch tart or pie pan. Using approximately 1 cup of the almond meal mixture, form a thin bottom crust with your hands or spoon.

In another bowl, combine cream cheese, eggs, and sweetener and mix with spoon or mixer at low-speed. Pour into tart or pie pan.

Core apple and slice into very thin sections. Arrange in circles around the edge of the cream cheese mixture, working inwards. Distribute cranberries over top, then sprinkle cinnamon over entire mixture.

Gently layer remaining almond meal crumble evenly over top. Bake for 30 minutes or until topping lightly browned.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I love having these muffins for breakfast in the fall and winter, including a delicious Thanksgiving or Christmas breakfast. Spread one with cream cheese and you will need little else to fill you up on a cold morning.

To use these muffins as a dessert, top with a cream cheese- or coconut cream-based icing (e.g., with your choice of sweetener, some ground nutmeg) or freshly whipped cream.

Makes 12 small muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups ground almonds (can be purchased pre-ground)

1 cup chopped walnuts

1⁄4 cup ground flaxseeds (can be purchased pre-ground)

Sweetener such as Truvia, stevia extract, or Splenda equivalent to 3⁄4 cup sucrose

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking powder

Dash of fine sea salt

1 can (15 ounces) unsweetened pumpkin puree

1⁄2 cup sour cream or coconut milk

2 large eggs

1⁄4 cup walnut oil, melted coconut oil, or extra-light olive oil

Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with oil. Stir together the almond meal, walnuts, ground flaxseeds, sweetener, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir together the pumpkin, sour cream or coconut milk, eggs, and oil in another large bowl. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the almond meal mixture and mix thoroughly. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them about half full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out dry, about 45 minutes. Cool the muffins in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Wheat Belly holiday recipes I

At the start of their Wheat Belly journey, many people resign themselves to a life without gravy, biscuits, or pumpkin pie, having to make the best of holidays devoid of enjoyment and indulgence. Just eat your dry turkey meat and lettuce leaves!

It’s not true. You can indeed have all your holiday dishes. But we are going to recreate them without wheat, without other grains, without use of gluten-free junk carbohydrates (no cornstarch, tapioca starch, potato starch, or rice flour), with little to no added sugars, and no other problem ingredients. Minus all the undesirable ingredients, in fact, pumpkin pie, biscuits, and gravy become health foods! Enjoy holiday dinner without feeling awful, without falling asleep afterwards, without gaining the usual 3, 4, or 5 pounds.

In part I, I start with dinner dishes. In part II, I provide dessert dishes.

 

 

 

 

 

Wheat-free Cauliflower Mushroom Dressing

This dressing is heavier than the usual bread-based dressing or stuffing. Because it contains meat, it should not be stuffed into the turkey to cook, as this will not ensure a sufficiently high temperature. While this works best as a two-step process–stove top to oven–if time-pressed, you could just cook on the stove top a bit longer.

Ingredients:

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

1 pound pork sausage, preferably loose ground

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium onion, diced

8 ounces Portabella mushrooms, sliced

1 head cauliflower

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 green pepper, chopped

4 ounce can/jar roasted red peppers

1 teaspoon onion powder

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

1 teaspoon ground sage

1 teaspoon ground thyme

1 teaspoon ground tarragon

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring approximately 12 ounces water to a boil in sauce pan. Toss in porcini mushrooms and turn heat down to maintain below boiling. Stir every couple of minutes for 20 minutes.

In deep sauce pan, saute sausage (if encased, remove from casing) in 1 tablespoon olive oil, along with celery and onions, until sausage cooked. Drain excess oil. Place sauce pan back on low heat. Break cauliflower into small florets and add to sausage mix. Toss in drained porcini mushrooms along with approximately 4 ounces of the porcini broth (save remainder of broth to make gravy; below), remainder of olive oil, green pepper, roasted red pepper, Portabella mushrooms, flaxseed. Add onion powder, sage, thyme, tarragon, salt and black pepper and stir.

Transfer to baking dish and place in oven. Bake for 45 minutes.

Wheat-free gravy

Without wheat flour or cornstarch to thicken our gravies, surely the taste of gravy suffers–but it does not! Without the usual unhealthy ingredients, this Wheat-free Gravy is actually tastier than conventional gravy while presenting no health downside. (Also see the slightly different version in the Biscuits and gravy recipe, below.)

If you follow the recipe for Wheat-free Cauliflower Mushroom Dressing (above), you should have around 8 ounces of porcini mushroom broth left over. This adds a wonderful mushroomy-meaty flavor to the gravy, a deeper character not usually found in standard gravies. Thickness is obtained without wheat, cornstarch, or other carbohydrate-rich thickener by use of coconut flour and coconut milk.

Because the quantity of drippings obtained will vary widely, depending on the size of your turkey, ingredient quantities are not specified. Rely on taste as you prepare your gravy to gauge ingredient quantity.

Ingredients:

Turkey drippings

Coconut milk

Coconut flour

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Sea salt

Heat drippings in the roasting pan or poured into a sauce pan on stove at low-heat. Pour in coconut milk slowly, stirring, until desired color is achieved. Gravy should be opaque, rather than translucent. Stir in coconut powder, 1 teaspoon at a time, waiting at least one minute before adding another teaspoon, until desired thickness is achieved.

Add onion powder, garlic powder, and sea salt to taste.

Biscuits and gravy

Biscuits and gravy: the ultimate comfort food . . . one you thought you’d never have again!



The familiar dish of breakfast and holiday meals is recreated here with a delicious gravy that you can pour over piping hot biscuits. Because it contains no wheat or other unhealthy thickeners like cornstarch made with “junk” carbohydrates, there should be no blood sugar or insulin problems with this dish, nor joint pain, edema, acid reflux, mind “fog,” or dandruff—life is good without wheat!

While the gravy is also dairy-free for those with dairy intolerances, the biscuits are not, as there are cheese and butter in the biscuits, both of which are optional, e.g., leave out the cheese and replace butter with coconut or other oil.

Makes 10 biscuits

Gravy:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound loose sausage meat

2½ cups beef broth

¼ cup coconut flour

½ cup coconut milk (canned variety)

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon sea salt

Dash ground black pepper

Biscuits:

1 cup shredded cheddar (or other) cheese

2 cups almond meal/flour

¼ cup coconut flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 large eggs

4 ounces butter, melted (or other oil, e.g., extra-light olive, coconut, walnut)

To make gravy:

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté sausage, breaking up as it browns. Cook until thoroughly cooked and no longer pink.

Turn heat up to medium to high and pour in beef broth. Heat just short of boiling, then turn down to low heat. Stir in coconut flour, little by little, over 3-5 minutes; stop adding when gravy obtains desired thickness. Pour in coconut milk and stir in well. Add onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

To make biscuits:

Preheat oven to 325° F.

In food chopper or processor, pulse shredded cheese to finer, granular consistency.

Pour cheese into large bowl, then add almond meal, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt and mix thoroughly. Add the eggs and butter or oil and mix thoroughly to yield thick dough.

Spoon out dough into 10 or so ¾-inch thick mounds onto a parchment paper-lined baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and toothpick withdraws dry.

Ladle gravy onto biscuits just before serving.

 

Better than mashed potatoes

(from the Wheat Belly Cookbook)

While potatoes, of course, contain none of the Evil Grain, they have problems all their own, including the potential for causing extreme blood sugar rises. Many potatoes sold today are also genetically modified, introducing a whole new level of uncertainty.

So here is how to recreate the taste and feel of mashed potatoes that are every bit as god as–no, better than!–the dish made with potatoes, but with none of the worries.

1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets

2 ounces cream cheese

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Place a steamer basket in a large pot with 2-inches of water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Place the cauliflower in the basket and steam for 20 minutes, or until very soft.

Remove from the heat and drain. In a blender or food processor, combine the cauliflower, cream cheese, butter, and salt. Blend or process until smooth.

 

Cranberry Sauce

Here’s a zesty version of traditional cranberry sauce, minus the sugar. The orange, cinnamon, and other spices, along with the crunch of walnuts, make this one of my favorite holiday side dishes.



There are 31.5 grams total “net” carbohydrates in this entire recipe, or 5.25 grams per serving (serves 6). To further reduce carbs, you can leave out the orange juice and, optionally, use more zest.

Ingredients:

1 cup water

12 ounces fresh whole cranberries

Sweetener equivalent to 1 cup sugar (I used 6 tablespoons Truvía)

1 tablespoon orange zest + juice of half an orange

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

In small to medium saucepan, bring water to boil. Turn heat down and add cranberries. Cover and cook at low-heat for 10 minutes or until all cranberries have popped. Stir in sweetener. Remove from heat.

Stir in orange zest and juice, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Transfer mixture to bowl, cool, and serve.

Have some pizza!

I made a full-sized family pizza starting with the Wheat Free Market Wheat Belly Pizza Crust Mix.

The people at Wheat Free Market made the mix according to my recipe for pizza crust. Despite being wheat-free and not using any of the junk carbohydrate ingredients typically used in gluten-free doughs (NO cornstarch, tapioca starch, potato starch, or rice flour), the recipe is designed to yield pizza dough sturdy enough to hold in your hands. And be tasty, of course!

I made a single large family-sized pizza from one package, but one package can also yield two smaller pizzas.

I followed package directions and added 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, water, and shredded cheese (optional). Here’s what I got, shaped by hand, then baked for 15 minutes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I drizzled olive oil, spread pizza sauce (high-fructose corn syrup- and sugar-free, of course!), and spread some shredded mozzarella cheese:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added toppings. My 16-year old wanted ground hamburger, onions, peppers, and garlic, so I sauteed this mixture first, then spread on top. I added some more mozzarella and some sundried tomatoes:

I placed it back in the oven for 10 minutes, then removed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for the best part: Eating it!

Breakfast Cheesecake

The new Wheat Belly 30-Minute (or Less!) Cookbook will be coming out December 24th, 2013. It is presently available for pre-order on Amazon.

Here’s a sample of one of the delicious and healthy dishes made from the recipes, one for  Breakfast Cheesecake:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I packed this Cookbook full of time-saving recipes that fit into busy schedules. I also provide recipes for sauces, salad dressings, seasoning mixes, mayonnaise, etc. to replace all those store-bought brands you no longer trust. There are also puddings, jams, yogurts, and kefirs, as well as new ideas for muffins, cookies, and sandwiches!

Weird wheat re-exposure reactions

As the world of people who are wheat-free continues to grow, I am witnessing a range of weird re-exposure reactions when people, intentionally or inadvertently, get re-exposed.

Among the peculiar reactions:

Congestive heart failure–A woman with a clear-cut syndrome of wheat intolerance that was evidenced by diabetes, excessive expression of small LDL particles (around 2000 nmol/L at the start), high triglycerides, gastrointestinal distress, widespread joint pain, and a peripheral neuropathy (impaired coordination, reduced sensation to the legs), and negative blood markers for celiac disease, improved substantially across the entire collection of symptoms. She lost around 40 pounds of weight, reduced HbA1c substantially, dropped small LDL dramatically (to zero), triglycerides to double-digit values, with modest improvement in coordination and peripheral neuropathy, marked improvement in joint discomfort. With each re-exposure, e.g, a couple of bites of birthday cake at her grandson’s birthday party, she experienced water retention and congestive heart failure of 27-30 pounds but developing over 7 days. This happened 4-5 times with water retention developing over the precise same time course. On each occasion, she responded to diuretics, losing the 27-30 pounds of retained water, with no other cause identified (no change in left ventricular ejection fraction, no change in kidney status, no change in serum albumin or protein levels, no change in thyroid status, etc.).

Functional achalasia–A young man had been wheat-free for over one year inadvertently had wheat in the form of orzo, mistaking it for rice (since orzo is rice-shaped pasta). Within minutes, food became trapped in his esophagus, necessitating an endoscopy to extract the food. No pathologic findings were seen: no esophageal stricture, inflammation, ulcer, or tumor. There was also no evidence nor history to suggest eosinophilic esophagitis.

Delayed acute abdominal painWhile abdominal pain from wheat consumption is common, given the many gastrointestinal disruptive compounds in modern wheat (e.g., intact alpha gliadin molecules, gliadin-derived peptides, wheat germ agglutinin, glutenins, omega-gliadins, alpha amylase and trypsin inhibitors, etc.), it usually expresses itself as heartburn/acid reflux, cramping and bowel urgency of irritable bowel syndrome, or through the inflammatory conditions ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

A 50-some year old man with repeated and incapacitating bouts of mid-abdominal pain underwent repeated endoscopies, colonoscopies, multiple upper intestinal and stomach biopsies, barium swallows, gallbladder imaging, etc. with no explanation uncovered, including negative blood markers and biopsy for celiac disease. Various anti-anxiety and antidepressants were therefore prescribed by his gastroenterologists. At my repeated urgings, he finally eliminated all wheat from his diet with complete relief obtained. Occasional indulgences were followed by sudden excruciating abdominal pain, sufficient to double him over and prompt emergency room visits, again with no diagnosis made. He finally noticed that recurrences occurred 3 days after a wheat indulgence, even testing the proposition himself: As expected, 3 days later, he experienced acute, severe abdominal pain. He is now meticulously wheat-free with no pain whatsoever.

That’s just a sample. Making cause-effect associations for some of these less common wheat re-exposure reactions can be tricky, especially when there is a delay between exposure and reaction, such as the consistent 7-day delay of heart failure described in the first woman.

If you have observed unique wheat re-exposure reactions of any kind, inadvertent or intentional, please share your story!

Experience Wheatlessness Tour in Montreal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Experience Wheatlessness Tour comes to Montreal!

I will be speaking at the:

Théâtre Symposia Theatre Montreal

1000 Sherbrooke Street West

Montreal, QC H3A

Canada

Saturday, November 16, 2013 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (AST)

I will discuss how and why the wheat-free movement has taken North America by storm and why it will continue to dominate nutritional thinking in the 21st century . . . and how you can take part in this astounding health transformation if you haven’t already done so!

For more information and to purchase tickets, go to Autopoetic Ideas Festival. See you there!