Intestinal Healing

Chelsea Jans founder of We Are Gluten Free, has so many wonderful and helpful hints and healthy living for celiacs.  This article is about how celiacs even living a gfree lifestyle can have intestinal damage that continues to make them unhealthy.  She follows up the article from Brian Dean, RD with a wonderful Quinoa sidedish that is SO yummy! I just had to share...

Issue #6 - Thursday, September 29, 2011 Dear Jennifer, In today's main essay, WeAreGlutenFree.com guest expert contributor, Brian Dean, RD goes in to a few reasons why you might be feeling less than 100% on a gluten free diet and how to solve this problem. Also in this issue . . . Find out why taking a complete nutritional solution can help your gut heal, in today's - Check It Out! And, I eat this grain nearly every week and I think you should to (it's high in protein and tastes great hot or cold) find out what it is in today's Recipe. I hope you enjoy today's issue of We Are Gluten Free. Cheers, Chelsea "To heal from the inside out is key." ~ Wynonna Judd

Drink plenty of water. Water helps your body remove waste and can even help you lose weight. A lot of the times when you are feeling hungry in the middle of the day you are actually thirsty. Try to keep a water bottle with you all day and drink at least 4 oz every hour.

The Science Behind CeliAct: Intestial Healing By Brian Dean. RD If you were to look at the intestine of someone with celiac disease under a microscope, you wouldn't see a pretty picture. After months or years of intestinal destruction, your intestinal tissue likely resembles a battleground: dead and damaged cells limping, infrastructure in tatters, and once functional machinery lying in ruin. After all, your body has essentially been at war with your intestine ever since it decided gluten was a threat that needed to be destroyed at all costs. How to Get Things Back to Normal Surely, you can call a cease-fire to this battle by avoiding gluten. But is that enough? According to research published in Digestion, a team of scientists looked at the intestinal health of a group of celiac disease patients that had been following a gluten free diet for at least a year. Even though they didn't go near gluten, more than 50 percent of the volunteers still had significant intestinal damage. You can read more about this research study in The Science Behind CeliAct Part 1. What's the Big Deal? You may think that just because you can't feel the fact that your intestine looks like Swiss cheese that it's no big deal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Almost every health issue that people celiac disease struggle with - from osteoporosis to vitamin deficiencies - is rooted in a poorly working intestine. For example, scientists at the University of Naples looked at the intestines and health in a group of 400 men and women with celiac disease. Like the Digestionstudy, about 50 percent of the volunteers had clinically damaged intestines. This time they found something even more interesting: that level of intestinal damage was directly linked to indicators of overall health. Those that had the most damaged intestine tended to be the least healthy - as measured by a protein in the blood known as albumin. It's important to note that many of the subjects in this study with injured intestines were following a rigorous gluten free diet. This research clearly shows that it's imperative that your intestine gets patched up as soon as possible - and cutting out gluten isn't going to cut it. Are you on a gluten free diet and still feeling sick? According to a number of recent studies, the answer to that question is a loud and clear "NO!" Your needs for vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients are significantly higher if you have celiac disease--even if you follow a gluten free diet. Click here to find out more about a complete nutritional solution for people with Celiac disease. What's the Big Deal? You may think that just because you can't feel the fact that your intestine looks like Swiss cheese that it's no big deal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Almost every health issue that people celiac disease struggle with - from osteoporosis to vitamin deficiencies - is rooted in a poorly working intestine. For example, scientists at the University of Naples looked at the intestines and health in a group of 400 men and women with celiac disease. Like the Digestion study, about 50 percent of the volunteers had clinically damaged intestines. This time they found something even more interesting: that level of intestinal damage was directly linked to indicators of overall health. Those that had the most damaged intestine tended to be the least healthy - as measured by a protein in the blood known as albumin. It's important to note that many of the subjects in this study with injured intestines were following a rigorous gluten free diet. This research clearly shows that it's imperative that your intestine gets patched up as soon as possible - and cutting out gluten isn't going to cut it. Taking That Extra Step According to the latest scientific research, if you want your intestine to become normal again, you need to act. CeliAct contains a scientifically formulated blend of nutrients designed to put intestinal healing on overdrive. L-Glutamine: The cells of your intestine literally eat this amino acid for breakfast. Studies show that intestinal cells nourished with L-Glutamine bounce back faster. Zinc: New tissue needs zinc to form properly. Unfortunately, zinc's a mineral that many folks with celiac disease don't absorb enough of. Supplementing with zinc can boost intestinal healing. Citrus bioflavonoids: Gluten isn't your only enemy. Free radicals - renegade cells that murder healthy intestinal cells - are more active in people with celiac disease. Free radicals get in the way of your intestine's recovery like a tornado flying through a construction site. Citrus bioflavanoids are like hit men that seek out dangerous free radicals and put an end to their reign. Brian Dean MS, RD first became interested in celiac disease after consoling a crying 14-year old patient who just received her diagnosis the day before. Not wanting her to feel like her life was over simply because she couldn't eat wheat, Brian created a gluten-free meal plan chock full of delicious foods! Since then, Brian's focus has shifted towards boosting the health and quality of life of people with celiac disease. Studies Mentioned in this Post: Ciacci C, Cirillo M, Cavallaro R, Mazzacca G. Long-term follow-up of celiac adults on gluten-free diet: prevalence and correlates of intestinal damage. Digestion 2002; 66: 178-85. Summer Quinoa Salad by Chelsea Jans I made this for dinner on Monday night. It is always a big hit. And I like that it is easy to make, I only have to cook the quinoa and I can prepare it ahead of time. I serve it cold as a salad. It goes great with seafood and chicken and is perfect for those hot summer nights when eating something cold helps cool you down. Ingredients 1 1/2 cup quinoa 1/2 cup red bell pepper (chopped) 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper (chopped) 1/4 cup kalamata olives (chopped) 1/4 cup crumbled feta 1/4 cup fresh dill (chopped) 1/4 cup red onion (chopped) 1/4 cup celery (chopped) 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil 1 garlic clove (finely minced) 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon sea salt Directions 1. Prepare quinoa according to package directions. (*Tip instead of preparing it with water, add 1/2 the amount of water and replace the other 1/2 with chicken broth. Then you do not have to add salt at the end.) 2. Allow quinoa to cool to room temperature before you add any vegetables. 3. Add the chopped bell peppers, olives, feta cheese, dil, red onion, celery, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic glove and pepper. 4. Mix well. Add salt to taste. Enjoy. Try experimenting with different kinds of vegetables or add more to the mix. Or you can even add shrimp or chicken to make it a complete meal. Let me know how you make your quinoa or if you enjoyed this recipe.

Oh to be 15 again...

NOT!:) I cannot think of a single thing that would make me want to return to 15 again except to see all of my grandparents once more. But I am enjoying watching my daughters experience their teen years and yesterday Shelby turned the big 1-5. I remember wanting so much to be a teen, wishing it were Christmas already, wondering if 15, 16, 18 would ever arrive and now I want to stop time, slow down the clock and want to remember every second of my children's childhood and secretly...... I don't want them to ever grow up really;)....every mother has those moments, although I truly am excited to see each stage of their lives and watching them grow and develop their own unique personalities is a blessing.

Shelby and Lana opted for a Halloween birthday theme this year so their party at our house won't be until the end of October but they had their annual sleepover at their dad's house Friday night to kick off the birthday weekend. They had a blast, had an "Amazing Race" sorta of scavenger hunt at the mall in Fayetteville then ice cream cake and stayed up all night. Shelby's actual birthday was yesterday and there was alot I had planned.  Her BFF, Maddie, and her sister, McKenzie and their mom, Isabel all came over for a Harry Potter, Chili and cornbread kinda day.  We refreshed our memories on Harry Potter (ok I REFRESHED my memory), ate, did nails and the moms helped get the teen girls primped for their Tango Cotillion dance.  Off they went and we picked them up for a surprise ending of a late movie at the mall to see the final Harry Potter movie.  WAAAAYYYY passed this momma's bedtime but still I made it and we all had fun.  I had asked Shelby what she wanted for her birthday treat: cake, cupcakes, cookies.....she settled on a cookie cake.  You know, the ones they sell at the American Cookie Company store at all the malls.  SO, I decided to knock her socks off with something on a little larger scale:)

Chocolate chip cookie-rice crispy treat cake:

First thing I did was put plastic wrap on a big pizza pan. Instead of using regular rice crispy cereal I used the Envirokids Organic Koala Krisps Chocolate Flavored and made traditional rice crispy treats with 3 TBSP of butter and a 10 pz bag of mini marshmallows. When you turn the treats out of the bowl, spread it out on the plastic wrap and shape it like the circle of the pan, place another layer of plastic wrap on the top and turn the pan over on the counter and set aside to firm up...
Jeannie (The Art of Gluten Free Baking) modified the Barefoot Contessa's chocolate chip cookie recipe to be gfree and oh how I love her for this!!!! I love Barefoot Contessa's chocolate chip cookie recipe1
http://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com/2009/05/gluten-free-chocolate-chipchunk-cookies-2-delicious-recipes/
I made the batter for the cookies, sprayed my large pizza pan and spread the batter out like a cookie cake would be and put it in the oven on 350 like she says to with the smaller cookies....timing in this one will fluctuate based on your oven and the fact you are making one big cookie.  So keep a close eye on the cookie cake.  Once it has come to a golden brown, take it out and cool completely. 
By now the rice crispy layer has firmed up and you take about 3 TBSP of plain gluten free icing and spread on top of the cookie then place the rice crispy layer directly on top....decorate as you like from there. 
IT WAS FABULOUS!!!! The cookie was super moist and the crunch from the rice crispy made for one heavenly birthday desert...but I will warn you....this is NOT a fat free desert by any means;)!  Of course, who wants a fat free birthday anyway?  Good thing birthdays are only ONCE a year!

Forgot to post the recipe!

1 pd Italian sausage either ground or links, casings removed and broken down like ground...make sure this is gfree!!!!
1 onion peeled and chopped
2 TBSP olive oil
1 apple peeled, cored and chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup of apple cider
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and pepper
1/2 butternut squash from night before roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper

Saute the onion and apple in the olive oil til onion is translucent, about 3-5 minutes.  Add garlic and saute then add Italian sauage and brown - 10 minutes max.  Add apple cider and bay leaf to saute and season then add butternut squash.  Simmer until flavors meld (about 5 minutes)

Pasta recipe is so easy: just like real pasta but we always use gfree premade or homemade tagliatelle: http://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com/2010/05/pasta-homemade-gluten-free/ and extrude through  Kitchenaid pasta maker...boil in salted water til in floats, possibly 3 - 5 minutes....
Add to sauce and stir gently.

Lovely fall recipe and so yummy.....did this with apple crisp for desert: http://www.livingwithout.com/recipes/apple_crisp-2670-1.html?ET=livingwithout%3Ae15301%3A106908a%3A&st=email

WAS AMAZING!

Love you all

A special new friend….

I picked my “blog name” for a few reasons…Living without for this family means living without a sick heart, living without gluten and peanuts, living without a beach close by, living without a good grocery storeJ,  living without regret, living without family and friends close by and a myriad of other things….it also means sometimes living without normalcy.  I will not pretend that all families don’t go through their fair share of craziness but man this one does not know normal in the sense most people think of it.  That’s not always a bad thing…..

I can think of very few times in my life that I wished for something more “normal” and it is usually in the midst of a crisis I wish we weren’t in.  I love having my big crazy family and I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world. 

Sometimes though, there is a need for something more normal in a crazy sea of complexity….even if it’s something simple.  Lana wanted to have a job like her friends were getting, most of all her BFF was applying for a job at an ice cream shop.  With the upcoming flu season and being in contact with all those people and handling all that money, it just wasn’t a good idea.  I hate to tell her no since she’s been through so much in her short life but this one I had to push back on.  It just wasn’t a good idea to expose her to all that in the first year of her transplant, although most areas of her life went back on schedule already.  It was upsetting, I think on a couple of different levels but prompted a good talk and some mother daughter bonding;). 

Ironically this fall when I was looking to sign Isabelle up for ballet class I had a neighbor tell me I needed to meet this wonderful owner and dance teacher in town. Come to find out, Laine, has a son born with the exact same heart condition as Lana.  It is rare to meet someone outside of a hospital setting that has her exact same condition (hypo-plastic left heart syndrome) and required a heart transplant much sooner than Lana did.  They ended up having heart transplants in the same hospital.  He is 3 years old and has been through so much.  Hypo-plast babies are very unique, when Lana was born the statistics were one in every million children were born with it….the oldest child surviving at the time was 15.  These kids are special.  Some of you are new to this blog and do not know what hypo-plastic left heart syndrome is, basically the left ventricle of the heart is non existant or severely underdeveloped.  The left side of the heart is your pumping chamber so if it is not there……. you understand the severity of the situation.  We were given three options at birth for her, let nature take it’s course and she would have passed away within a week or less, a heart transplant or a 3 staged surgery to be completed by 2 that essentially rerouted everything through the right side.  We chose the surgeries with a fall back plan of the transplant.  She had a 40% chance of survival and has defied every odd I know of to this date.  There were women who found out in-utero of the condition and were given the option of aborting the pregnancy because the quality of life was so unsure.  THIS is why I say these kids are really special and they are. 

Laine and I have become fast friends and Isabelle is LOVING her as a dance teacher and Noah is now in her hip hop class!  Well, long story short – hahahaha – Lana’s new job will be babysitting sweet Leighton.  He and Isabelle are almost the exact same age so Lana will be quite used to the babysitting aspect but he requires a little more than Izzy does.  This is different though, they share a bond that is amazing to say the least.  They will be linked for a lifetime and will share things that not many people in this world can.  They will help each other in a lot of ways but today, it helps this family be “normal” – whatever that is;).

Farmer's Market Vegetable Soup

As I spent the day contemplating all the recipes that I could incorporate all of these amazing apples we picked, I went in a different direction for dinner tonight - HAHA!  Instead I remembered that Lana had asked me to make my grandmother's homemade vegetable soup but I was out of some of the ingredients and had others I wanted to incorporate.  The outcome was a success so as I try to do as often as possible, I wanted to share the recipe with all of you!

Butternut squash oh how I love thee, but I sure do hate all the prep work to get to the good stuff!  In this recipe I did all the peeling, cleaning and chopping for tonight AND tomorrow nights dinner.  Half of an average sized butternut squash went into the soup and half I roasted in the oven to a yummy carmelized ingredient for tomorrow nights apple, sausage and butternut squash pasta with sage.  I'll post that recipe for tomorrow's dinner later tonight or tomorrow:

Farmer's Market Vegetable Soup

3 medium leeks (dark green part discarded, cut remaining in half then slice thin and put in a bowl with cold water and swirl with your hand - leeks are very sandy and need to be cleaned more so than onions or other root vegetables, then drain)
3 TBSP unsalted butter or butter substitute
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
pinch of sugar
3 tender inner stalks of celery, thinkly slices
2 medium Yukon gold potatoes, cubed
half of a medium butternut squash,peeled; cleaned; cubed (about a cup and a half)
2 riped tomatoes, cored and seeded and chopped (or 1 can of diced tomatoes)
3 cups vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 TBSP fresh chopped Italian parsley
(option for a creamy soup is add 1/4 C heavy cream or half and half or slightly more to taste)

Melt butter in heavy pot, add the leeks, carrots and dash of sugar.  Saute over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Stir in celery, potatoes, tomatoes and butternut squash to coat and add vegetable stock and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to simmer until veggies are tender, about 30 minutes.  Using a potato masher, crush the vegies some so the soup thickens some.  If you are using the option of cream, remove the bay leaf and add cream, taste for seasoning and adjust if needed.  Stir in parsley.

We don't use the cream since Izzy is sensitive but I have a friend that prefers creamier soups and adds this. 

SHAR makes a very good parbaked baguette that you cook for 10 minutes and adds a nice crunch or you can cut into crostini slices and bake in over at 350 for 10 minutes with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and you have a great dipping treat.

Lana's check up and our Apple picking fun in St. Louis

What a whirlwind week/weekend we had!  I thought driving to St. Louis for our apple picking extraveganza was a perfect idea, so what if it's a little drive? I was determined it would be so much fun (don't get me wrong, it was alot of fun).  You know it couldn't be that easy, right?  Somehow in my perfect planning for a weekend of fun, I forgot that Lana had her appointment in Little Rock that Thursday before so what would have been a weekend trip away with a couple hour car drive turned into 16 hours in the car total over a 5 day stent.....Ummmm good planning there Jenn:)

3 hours in the car Wednesday, two squirmy wormy toddlers, a restaurant experience like no other and we were ready for bed.  Up early and to the children's hospital. Normally these appointments last 2 1/2 to 3 hours but no, The God's were testing me.  5 1/2 hours after arriving at the hospital, we were so graciously allowed to leave for the 3 hour car ride home.  Oh joy!  BUT Lana had a fantastic appointment and is doing really well.  The doctor made the comment that if he was complaining she wasn't getting enough physical exercise then you know she's doing good because he's NOT telling us anything is wrong.  I'll take it and run after this last year!

Friday was a day of unpacking and speed repacking then, we headed out after school let out and were ready for our adventure.  All four kids were excited about a weekend away and apple picking.  Apparently my love for fall and things you cannot do in  FL has made us all a little neurotic.  Now the 5 hour drive to St. Louis was a little more questionable than the drive to Little Rock but I think it had to do with less than 24 hours after being in the hospital half the day and the car the second half of the day, I was again shoving my 3 and 4 year old back into their carseats.  I'm not sure all the activities and movies in the world would have made that any more of a pleasant experience than it was.  Stopping half way to have dinner in a sit down restaurant was probably just theicing on the cake for us all.  We made it though and the fun we had Saturday made it all worth while.  The farm we went to was amazing, they had a whole little "fair" set up with rides and all sorts of stuff for the kids to play on and in; the orchards were amazing and all the kids got into the apple picking spirit; they had a country store loaded with all kinds of goodies and a custard shop and restaurant plus live music outside.  We started early and ended a little after lunchtime and EVERYONE went back to the hotel to nap....well sorta....All the GIRLS went back to nap, Noah had other plans and eventually won when Jason got up and took him off so the rest of us could sleep.  That night we ventured into the downtown/riverfront area of St. Louis, saw the arch; did a horse and buggy ride; ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory that had.....wait for it....wait for it....their own Gluten Free Pasta menu.  Can you hear the heavens singing?:)  It was nice to know I could order a normal meal for Isabelle and not have to worry she would be sick.  The food was decent, I had built it up to be some sort of idolistic sort of place and when we saw the line of people waiting sometimes up to an hour for a table I knew I had made the right decision....I'm not sure they could have really lived up to my expectations and we had a 3 year old with us. You know that 3 is the new 2, right?  Yeah, well, it is.  We have been having temper tantrum issues just when I thought I had ONE kid that I escaped that lovliness with.  I should know better by now!  Yep, you heard it right, I AM WRONG sometimes.:) One major meltdown and screaming fit later, one 4 year old who napped through the entire dinner AND then add that my little celiac didn't even eat her dinner-I wanted to cry.  Oh well, best intentions and all. 

Sunday was a new day and we contemplated several options: going back to the orchard to pick some more and then heading to the zoo won out.  Well, that was until we looked outside. So we had breakfast and packed the car and ran by the grocery store thinking maybe it would hold off til we got through with another round at the farm.  As I was having MAJOR grocery store envy (those of you who DON'T know, we live in a small town in NW Arkansas known as the new "Stepford" called Walmartville, where the homeoffice and ONLY grocery store in town is WALMART, go ahead..let me hear it...waiting for the pitty party to start anytime now, please send condolences to: jenn32207@hotmail.com).  So here we were at this amazing local store called Dierberg's, wandering the isles of gluten free items and frozen food options, yes I did say isles- as in plural, as well as an amazing organic and produce area AND a selection of beer, wine and liquor that rivals Costco (oh and yes, in this new "Stepford" I live in, it's also a dry county....go ahead, I am waiting for the influx of emails to start pouring in now) it started.  Now when I say it was raining, its not quite an accurate description of what ensued as we left this heavenly store.  I would say it was more like God throwing golf balls down on us as we ran to the car and people scattered everywhere.  So much for going back to the farm, or the zoo, or anything else we had thought of.  Instead we had one more back up plan other than heading the 5 hours home early.  I had researched several things to do, aside from the Arch and found this fun little children's museum just outside the city that was laid out in an old Victorian Mansion.  The Magic House was exactly as it's name says and there was nothing "little" about it.  As a matter of fact, not only did all 4 kids (teens included) have a great time, we only made it to HALF of the museum!  It was a cross between MOSH on steroids and the Hands on Children's Museum times a thousand!  It was huge, fun and I think all the kids enjoyed the victorian mansion and city that were inside the actual mansion best: there was the house with all it's rooms, a market, a bank, an electric company, a children's hospital and a pizzeria along with a fishing pond that you magnetize your fish that is in real water to your pole and carry it to the pond entrance and let it go, where you can then watch your fish go all the way upstream through the glass floor and make it's way back to the pond you caught it in....Just AMAZING! 
The ride home was uneventful, other than the storms I drove through and I am now the proud owner of more apples than you've ever seen in your life and trying to figure out what to do with them all.:)  Life could be SO much worse!

Stephanie's birthday present

I just had to share this amazing video with all of my followers and friends.  Stephanie Green, lost her fight with cancer a week after Lana went into the hospital and her amazing friends, including her best friend Dana put together a wonderful video of the 3 day Chicago walk that Lana and I are doing next year in honor of her.  I just wanted to share with you how amazingly special she was....Thank you, Faye Gordon, for putting this together!

http://youtu.be/r_wA-W750Og