One of the most common questions people as me is whether paying more for organic is “worth it.”

The answer, of course, depends on a whole number of factors, and, like most questions, is best answered as “it depends.”

If your concern is environmental or related to concerns for the health of agricultural workers, then organic always wins.  But if you can’t afford to let your green inclinations dictate all of your purchases and want to prioritize your organic spending based on personal health considerations, then read on.

Health considerations of organic vs. conventional foods

Fruits & Vegetables

In my opinion, the #1 health reason to choose organic fruits and vegetables would be to minimize the number of pesticides you consume.   While the individual pesticides used in this country have been approved as “safe” by the EPA and it appears that the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables are well outweighed by the risks associated with consumption of pesticides, there are still a number of good reasons to try and minimize your pesticide intake if you can afford to do so.  For one, while individual pesticides may be considered safe by our country’s  regulatory bodies, it is unclear whether the cumulative impact of multiple pesticides consumed over a lifetime is really harmless.  There are reasons to believe that it is not.  The most compelling scientific evidence points to a role of pesticides as endocrine (hormone function) disruptors and neurotoxins that impact proper brain development and functioning.  Because hormones play a role in everything from sexual development, reproductive health and breast health to blood sugar control and metabolism, it seems prudent to try to minimize exposure to chemicals that could disrupt their ability to function properly. In fact, the Endocrine Society has recently issued a Scientific Statement regarding endocrine-disrupting chemicals, linking them to a host of adverse health conditions, from genital abnormalities in newborn boys and early puberty in girls to insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity. For those people exposed to very high levels of certain pesticides (e.g., agricultural workers), the risk of certain cancers and birth defects also appears to become elevated.  

Because organic can be more expensive (though it is NOT always necessarily so), my own practice is to prioritize buying organic for those items whose conventional versions have been shown to have the heaviest pesticide loads.  The Environmental Working Group offers a Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides: a list of the “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15″ that you can print out or download to your iPhone .  The “Clean 15″ refer to those fruits and vegetables that contain the lowest amount of pesticides even when grown conventionally, so if you had to compromise in your budget, this would be a good place to start.  Even cooler (but more frightening and time-consuming) is a new online tool launched by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) called “What’s On my Food?” This interactive tool allows you to pick any fruit or vegetable and see how many pesticides are found on it, what type of pesticides they are, what percent of all the fruit/vegetables actually contain this pesticide, and to compare what percent of conventional vs. organic versions of this fruit/vegetable contain the pesticide.  All of the data comes from the USDA and EPA.  If the data freaks you out, PAN offers you the chance to Take Action by sending a note to President Obama right from their website.

Other agricultural products

For some people, genetically-modified (GMO) agricultural products are also an area of concern.  The body of science is only just starting to catch up with the industry, and there’s emerging evidence to suggest that we may in fact have reason to be concerned about GMO foods for health reasons, with increased risk of food allergies/intolerances being one of the more compelling concerns. The greatest concern about GMO foods, though, is not what we know, but what we don’t know; there is very little by way of long-term safety data on human diets that include GMO foods, yet we already eat a whole heck of a lot of them.  For a list of foods that tend to be GMO in our country, you can check out the Institute for Responsible Technology’s Non-GMO Shopping Guide. Currently, a good rule of thumb is that if the corn or soybean derivatives in your food don’t explicitly claim to be organic or non-GMO, then they are GMO. Ditto for cottonseed oil, canola oil and sugar.  If that concerns you, then buy organic for these types of products.

Dairy

Moving beyond produce, legumes and grains, is organic dairy worth paying a premium for?  The #1 health reason to choose organic milk would be to avoid consuming a hormone called rBGH or rBST. Conventional milk comes from cows that were likely treated with this hormone in order to boost their milk production, and it contains significantly higher levels of a compound called Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF-1) as a result.  From a health perspective, there is a concern that this IGF-1 is absorbed by our bodies when we consume these dairy products, and since higher levels of endogenous IGF-1 are associated with breast and gastrointestinal cancers, this additional exogenous IGF-1 could produce a similar consequence. Yet the FDA has studied this matter and concluded that there is not sufficient evidence to support this linkage.  So what to do?

This is one problem that the market may resolve for you.  Due to strong pressure from consumers, more and more brands of  non-organic dairy products are now pledging that their milk comes from cows are not treated with r-BGH.  For example, Lactaid milk, Wal Mart’s private label milk brand (Great Value), Dean, Hood and Farmland Dairy have already eliminated rBGH in some or all of their products, and Dannon yogurt recently pledged to remove milk containing rBGH from all of its products by the end of 2009.  Yoplait and Starbucks have made similar commitments, with the former company having promised to phase it out by August of this year. My own practice is to choose organic milk when a suitable lactose-free version is available for me (Organic Valley makes one, as does Horizon Organic); but I’ll buy conventional lactose-free milk from Lactaid, who claims that their cows were not treated with rBGH if the organic isn’t available.  Still, given the strong, clear evidence of the bone health consequences of not getting enough calcium vs. the more tenuous evidence of a potentially elevated cancer risk associated with conventional milk, I’d choose conventional milk over no milk at all even if organic and rBGH-free options weren’t available to me. Hands down.

Meat, Poultry & Fish

When it comes to meat and poultry, organic means that the animals were not routinely injected with antibiotics, nor were they treated with growth hormones.  It also means that the feed they ate was organic, which would imply much lower pesticide levels.  For many people, these are reasons enough to choose organic over conventional.  Still, it is worth mentioning that organic meat/poultry by definition does not imply that the nutritional profile of the beef/chicken itself is healthier, nor does it imply that the animal was raised humanely.  I’d look for “grass-fed” over simply “organic” for (though any beef that claims the former will often be organic, too) if you wanted beef that was higher in healthy omega-3 fats, and I’d look for “free range,” the “Certified Humane” designation or the Niman Ranch label if you want to know that your animal was raised more humanely.

When it comes to fish labeled “organic,” things get tricky.  Currently, the USDA does not permit any fish to be labeled as organic, since they have not yet established a standard.  Theoretically, however, since wild-caught fish would not be eligible to be certified organic (by definition), the only fish that will potentially be eligible to be labeled “organic” are going to be farm-raised fish that were fed “organic” feed.   In fact, a recently-adopted USDA panel approved guidelines for organic labeling for fish which specify that the fish-feed would need to contain 75% organic material and up to 25% wild fish for it to be labeled organic; it expected that this recommendation will pave the way for a formal organic standard for fish in the near future.   This seems sort of convoluted to me, as the healthiest fish are generally those that are wild-caught and dine exclusively on their natural diets of other wild fish, plankton or algae… not “organic” corn and soy feed.  But far be it for me to question the USDA’s infinite wisdom.

Personally, I think the more important claims to look for on seafood would be those that address safety, sustainability and country of origin. As I’ve suggested here before, you can download the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guide, which combines a multitude of factors, including safety AND sustainability, in recommending the best seafood picks.  (The guides are even customized by geographic region).  Alternatively, you can download it to your iPhone so that its always with you when shopping.  You may be surprised to see that there are plenty of farmed fish varieties that make the cut as far as safety (low mercury and PCB levels) and sustainability go, so wild isn’t automatically the best choice in all circumstances.

Got all that?

Are organically-grown foods actually more nutritious?

While there are a small but  growing number of studies which suggest that organically-grown produce may be richer in nutrients than conventionally-grown produce when all other factors are controlled for, the reality is that your choices at a supermarket hardly resemble a controlled experiment.  You may have organically-grown asparagus that was picked a week ago from Argentina sitting alongside conventionally-grown asparagus that was picked 2 days ago from your own state: in this case, the locally-grown, conventional choice is likely to be more nutritious.  Organic farming methods are just one factor that play into the nutritional value of a given fruit or vegetable, with factors like weather, ripeness when picked, storage conditions,  processing and time since picking all influencing the final product.  So it’s not a foregone conclusion that always choosing organic will be a nutritionally superior proposition.

Tweet This Post

After dinner most nights, my husband will inevitably ask: “what’s for dessert?”  Usually, I’ll plop a bowl of grapes down in front of him.  But given the ridiculously rainy, wet and cold month we’ve been having here in New York,  we’ve both been craving something a bit more comforting.  And so, we find ourselves turning to mochi: a warm, crispy-on-the-outside, oozy-gooey on the inside biscuit-like treat.

Mochi is a traditional Japanese treat commonly translated as ‘glutinous rice cake.’ (Gee, it sounds so appealing when you say it like that…)  Essentially, its made by cooking a very sticky variety of rice and pounding the heck out of it until its molded into the desired shape.  And lest the word ‘glutinous’ throw you off, let’s be clear: Mochi is gluten-free.  (And vegan and dairy free, too).  Here in the US, I’ve seen it in three forms:

1. Baking mochi: A flat sheet that, when cut and baked for less than 10 minutes, puffs up into a pillowy, gooey treat (pictured above)
2. Mochi Ice Cream: The shell for little ice cream bon-bons (you can find these in supermarket freezer sections)
3. The shell for a Japanese or Korean confection (Daifuku), stuffed with sweet, starchy fillings like red bean paste  (you can find these calorie-dense treats refrigerated in Asian
   

   Daifuku is a starchy confection you can find at Asian groceries

    

   groceries; they’re perfect if you’re carbo-loading for a big race!)

The baking mochi application is our preferred one.  The brand we see most commonly in health food stores and Whole Foods is called Grainaissance, and it comes in a variety of sweet and savory flavors, which makes it versatile enough to serve as a bread roll stand-in or dessert/snack.   (The cinnamon raisin one is my fave, and seems like the closest to a Cinnabon I’ll probably ever get).   It’s yummy eaten plain… but a little shmear of peanut butter makes it over-the-top delicious, if you can ever pry your mouth open again from the mochi-peanut butter adhesive that forms while you chew.  It would make a super-fun afterschool snack for slightly older kids who can handle the stickiness; but note that chewy/sticky foods can pose a choking hazard for younger children and toddlers.

Speaking of adhesives, I should also mention that if you’re baking your mochi on a tray, do NOT line the tray with aluminum foil; the oozing mochi insides will stick so tightly and permanently to the foil that you’ll wonder why no one in Japan ever thought to build roofs from mochi and foil.

Alternatively, I came across a genius application for your mochi on another blogger’s site: the so-called “Moffle.”  It’s a mochi waffle, made by cutting your block of mochi into squares and sticking them into a waffle iron. (Click the link for details)  That’s even faster than whipping up a batch of gluten-free waffles from a mix, and it’s vegan, too!  But frankly, they had me once I realized that there would be no dirty mixing bowl involved.

I also think mochi makes the perfect gluten-free graham-cracker stand-in for S’mores, which are an unparalled summer delight that have been off-limits to us celiacs for far too long. While you can’t make them over the campfire, you could bake up a sweet mochi flavor in an oven, and then bore a hole in each puffed-up mochi pillow to cram in a square of chocolate and a marshmallow.  The warmth from the hot mochi will melt the filling and make a perfectly delicious gooey, smorey mess.

Given its main ingredient, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that, nutritionally, mochi is composed almost entirely of simple carbohydrates.  (Admittedly, not exactly the most diabetic friendly treat…)  A 1.5 oz serving of baked mochi, which corresponds to 1/8 of a bake-and-serve mochi block, contains ~120 calories, 25g of carbohydrate, 1g fat and 2g protein. But it’s super low-sodium, it’s all natural, and when eaten in moderate portions, makes a nice gluten-free snack alternative to animal crackers/graham crackers or a bread alternative to dinners rolls/biscuits for your gluten-free guests. (Clearly, mochi ice cream or pastries will have a very different nutritional profile).

Tweet This Post

What do you get when you cross a snow pea with a shelling pea?

A fat, delicious, edible-podded sugar snap pea.  That’s what.

The headline from New York’s Union Square Greenmarket this week is that sweet, crispy sugar snap peas have arrived en masse.  If you’ve ever tasted a locally-grown, in-season snap pea, then you know the singular pleasure that these harbingers of summer bring. While many store-bought varieties are now being bred “conveniently” de-stringed (de-strung?), personally, I *enjoy* the ritual surrounding the de-stringing of snap peas that you get from the fresh-picked, locally-farmed variety.  I’ll sit on the sofa with a big bowl of peas in front of me, tearing the little crown-like stems off the peas and peeling the string down their lengths while I half-watch a mind-numbing crime drama on TV.  It’s my little moment of Zen.

Sugar Snap Peas can be eaten raw, pod and all, and make a great seasonal replacement for the ol’ crudite standby of baby carrots.  (Between this comment and my recent Jicama sticks post, you must be thinking by now that I have something personal against baby carrots.  I assure you, I don’t.  But how can I even *think* about serving baby carrots amid this bounty of summer vegetables?)

My favorite way to eat them, though, is to saute them in a little bit of olive oil, just long enough to bring out their brightest, greenest color and make them everso slightly more tender, but not so long as to let them get soft and ruin their crispness. That usually takes about 4 minutes of sauteing over medium heat.  (Alternatively, you can achieve the same tender-crisp effect by blanching snap peas in boiling water for about 2 minutes and then shocking them in an ice bath immediately to stop the cooking.)  They’re perfect lightly cooked and simply sprinkled with a hint of salt, period.  But if you want to brighten their flavor even more, try squeezing some lemon juice on after they’re cooked and tossing them with some chopped fresh herbs from your garden.  I’ve tried it with both mint and marjoram to excellent results.  And if you want to get even fancier, you can try Mark Bittman’s recipe for “Quick Stir-Fried Snap Peas“; just use wheat-free Tamari instead of soy sauce to make it gluten-free.

Alternatively, sugar snap peas are often featured as an accompaniment to Asian-style dishes in place of snow peas; they’re crunchier and don’t get as soggy as snow peas tend to.  Fellow nutritionist Tram Le offers a tempting rendition of Caramelized Tofu and Sugar Snap Peas that makes me wish I could eat soy.  (You’ll want to use wheat-free Tamari here, too, to make it gluten-free.)

Nutritionally, 1 cup of raw sugar snap peas contains a mere 26 calories per cup, 5g of carbohydrate, of which 1.5g is fiber...so even the Atkins set has no excuses for avoiding these lovely legumes; owing to the high ratio of pod-to-pea, they aren’t your typical starchy pea. They’re also a very good source of vitamin C (63% of the daily value) and a decent source of iron (1.3 mg… which is 16% of a man’s daily requirements but only 7% of a woman’s), which will be better absorbed if you pair it with some vitamin C rich foods (that lemon juice would come in handy here) and/or an entree of meat, fish or poultry.

Tweet This Post

It won't win many beauty contests, but this Chana Saag sure does taste good!

Indian food is one of the friendliest cuisines for the gluten-eschewing set, and it happens to be one of my favorites.   While it’s true that resisting a basket of piping hot naan bread may be difficult at first, there is no lack of other starchy options that don’t contain wheat from which to choose. 

Pappadum are one of many gluten-free Indian bread-like munchies

You may recognize Pappadum as the crispy, wafery flatbreads served with a variety of chutneys that are brought to your table while you’re waiting for your food at an Indian restaurant.  But perhaps you may not have recognized that they’re made from lentil or chickpea flour and are therefore gluten-free.   If you’re eating at a Southern Indian restaurant, you’ll encounter a whole host of additional gluten-free goodness:  There are dosas, oversized wheat-free crepes made from rice and lentil flours and

Look for idli at restaurants specializing in South Indian cuisine

stuffed with all manner of savory fillings. Similarly, the steamed white, flying-saucer-esque cake called idli (or “iddly”) is another rice and lentil flour-based staple coming from Southern India. Idli is has a spongier texture than do dosas, making it a perfect, slightly tangy sauce mopper-upper.   And let’s not forget vadai, those savory little donuts made from lentil and rice or potato flour that you can dip in spicy soups or dip into a nice chutney.  Naan?  Who needs naan?

Between the wheatless bready-things and all of the vegetarian options, you can see why Indian food is such a favorite of mine when eating out.  When we lived in downtown Manhattan, my favorite place to go was a restaurant called Surya down in the village.  My friend Daryl turned me onto a dish called Chana Saag; she was so addicted that she swore they sprinkled crack on it.  Such a simple dish in theory– chickpeas in a spinach puree–seemed an unlikely candidate to produce such a strong addiction.  But sure enough, one taste and I was hooked, too.

Sadly, we moved across the Hudson river, and for reasons of convenience and economic recession, those weekly trips to Surya turned into quarterly trips–at most.  Watching me wallow in Chana Saag withdrawal, my dear husband Alex set to work to find a recipe for Chana Saag that he could make at home that would set off those same pleasure-sensing areas of my brain…without all of the ghee (clarified butter) that would typically be used in an Indian restaurant dish.  He scoured cookbooks and websites to find the perfect recipe.  Some of the earlier versions that were heavy on the spinach and fenugreek were too earthy, and not savory enough.  Later versions achieved savory, but missed the touch of sweet heat that my ideal Chana Saag had.  Months into the exercise, Alex managed to invent a hybrid recipe all of his own that I proclaimed delicious.  To be sure, it’s a very different Chana Saag than Surya’s–more saag, less chana–but it’s perfectly delicious, and addictive in its own right.    And just like that, my saga was over.

The addition of vitamin C-rich tomatoes and red peppers is a sneaky way to maximize the amount of iron you’ll absorb from the spinach and chickpeas.  Which I’m sure is what he had in mind when he concocted this recipe.

Recipe: Alex’s Addictive Chana Saag

Serves 4 incredibly generously as a main dish, 6 as a side dish.  (Put on a pot of rice to cook before starting so you can eat as soon as the Chana Saag is cooked!)

2 TBSP vegetable oil

2 medium onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ground ginger

10 oz fresh spinach (bagged works great), chopped

2 medium red peppers, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped (optional)

1 can diced tomatoes, drained (14.5 oz, preferably low-sodium)

1 can chickpeas/garbanzos, drained (14.5 oz, preferably low sodium.  If you want the dish to be more chickpea-stewy than spinachy, feel free to use 2 cans garbanzos)

1/2 cup lowfat milk (lactose-free if you’re intolerant; or use rice milk if you’d prefer this dish to be dairy-free.  You can also use lowfat buttermilk or plain yogurt if you have that laying around.)

Salt to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onions and saute until translucent (~5 min).
2. Add garlic and spices (except salt) and saute for another 2 minutes until spices are fragrant and onions are well-covered in spices, careful not to burn the garlic.
3. Add the spinach, half of the diced red peppers, jalapeno, tomatoes and salt and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, partially covered, stirring occasionally
5. Remove from heat and let it sit for a bit until its not too hot to transfer to a blender.  Transfer vegetables in batches to a blender, and puree it until it’s a smooth, even consistency.
6. Once saucepan is empty, use it to saute the remaining half of the diced red peppers until they soften.
7. Return the puree to the pan with the sauteed red pepper pieces and add the chickpeas.
8. Stir in milk/yogurt.  Simmer uncovered until desired thickness is reached.
9. Salt to taste and serve!

Approximate nutrition info per serving (assumes recipe makes four servings):  235 calories, 31g carbohydrate (of which a whopping 8g is fiber), 10g protein, 9g fat, 3mg iron and well over 100% of the daily value for vitamin C (112mg).

Serving the above with 3/4 cup of cooked basmati rice adds an additional 150 calories, 33g of carbohydrate and 3g protein… and completes a super-nutritious, totally filling and satisfying meal for less than 400 calories. Well done, Alex!

isvqp26nwq

Tweet This Post

If ever an ingredient was designed for Iron Chef, it is zucchini.

It’s not just any vegetable that can transition seamlessly from appetizer (stuffed Zucchini blossoms) to entree (Zucchini casserole) to dessert (Zucchini bread) without breaking a sweat.  I suppose, then I shouldn’t have been surprised to catch a mouthwatering episode of Iron Chef America: Battle Zucchini on the Food network recently.  And what better timing?  Summer is zucchini season, and by the time July/August rolls around, we’ll be swimming in it.  

When I was growing up, my father grew zucchini in our family’s community garden plot.  I loved hunting down the fuzzy squash hiding among the twisty vines, but that’s pretty much where my relationship with summer squash ended.  That is, until years later, when I tasted the “Quick saute of zucchini” with toasted almonds and pecorino at The Red Cat restaurant in New York City.  Ever since then, I’ve spent more than one summer evening trying to recreate this deceptively simple dish, which is super-fast, always a crowd pleaser and shockingly delicious.  (Personally, I think it resembles the taste of Cheetos, but I mean that in the best way possible.)  I had made such good progress on my recipe, in fact, that I was sort of disappointed when the restaurant published their cookbook and just gave out their secret to all who were willing to spend $35.  As fate would have it, another blogger beat me to the post, and has published the recipe as well as a very sexy glamour shot of the final product, so you can follow this link to check it out.  (And based on the comments posted there, I’m apparently not the only person who the Red Cat turned on to zucchini!)  It’s a pretty fast recipe that you can make even faster by using a mandolin to julienne the zucchini…or even faster still by shredding the zucchini using a box grater.  (If you take my lazy suggestion and choose to shred the zucchini, it will give off more water when you cook it, so you may want to use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan before garnishing with the cheese.)  I’ve also combined some yellow summer squash with the zucchini in this recipe and the dish was no worse for it.

If the zucchini-pecorinoey-nutty taste profile appeals to you but you can’t be bothered to saute it even for the one required minute, I’d recommend this pretentiously-named but still quite delicious recipe for Zucchini Carpaccio.  I don’t know exactly when we started referring to raw vegetables as ‘carpaccio,’ but if that adds to the appeal, then I’m all for it.  And while we’re at it, please pass the baby carrot carpaccio with hummus.

Another way I’ve learned to love zucchini is, surprisingly, in soups.  I  first encountered zucchini in soups in Mexico, where it played a starring role in a variety of soups featured on the menu in Puebla’s only vegetarian restaurant, La Zanahoria de Esmerelda (which, as I love to point out, translates into “Esmerelda’s Carrot”).  While you rarely see zucchini on Mexican restaurant menus here in the US, it’s quite common to find it in dishes south of the border.  One way to try it is in this vegetarian version of Pozole – a spicy, hearty Mexican stew that transitions quite well from winter to summer.

Of course, ever since I saw that Iron Chef episode, I’ve been pining for any of the recipes that Chef Hamilton used to cream Bobby Flay; a little bit of searching unearthed her recipe for Soft Zucchini with Harissa, Olives and Feta.  Yes, it’s vegetarian, and yes, it’s gluten-free.  Thank you, Chef Hamilton.  This one is a winner!  Harissa is a North African chili/garlic paste, and you can find it pretty readily at a grower number of supermarkets these days.  Our favorite brand is a French one called “A Riche A La Sauce Harissa“; here in New York its sold at Fairway, and you can order it from their website through the link I’ve provided.

And what self-respecting zucchini post would this be if we didn’t mention zucchini bread?  When it comes to gluten-free baking, I’ve always had the best luck with quickbreads and muffins as far as achieving tender, moist textures that are indistinguishable from the real deal.  I tried the gluten-free Zucchini bread recipe featured on the back of Bob’s Red Mill xanthan gum (and on their webiste), and must confess that I found it to be a bit dry for my tastes.  I like a really moist quickbread, and I’ve always had the best luck with the recipes posted by my favorite gluten-free chef/blogger, Karina Allrich.  While her blog doesn’t have a specific recipe (yet?) for zucchini bread, she suggests swapping in zucchini for the carrot in her recipe for Coconut Carrot Cake. (You can skip the icing, though).  Ah, yes.  That’s more like it.

By way of nutrition, 1 whole cup of chopped, raw zucchini has a mere 20 calories, 4g of carbohydrate (of which 1g is fiber), and about 1/3 of the daily value for Vitamin C.  Which should put your mind at ease in case you are actually planning to use it in all 3 courses of your next dinner party.

Proper care and handling of your zucchini

Summer squash is quite a bit daintier than its thick-skinned winter counterparts, so if you’re not planning to use it right away, you’ll want to make sure to store it properly to prevent it from getting soft too quickly. Since it continues ‘breathing’ even after harvest, your best bet is to wrap it up nice and snug in a plastic bag BEFORE refrigerating it.  And don’t wash it until you’re ready to use it.

Tweet This Post

Victory! A gluten-free, low-lactose recovery drink for the food-sensitive endurance athlete

We’re in the heart of triathalon season, and for people way more motivated than I am, these past several months have involved a grueling regimen of running, biking and swimming in preparation for insanely difficult events that start and finish before most of us even wake up.

When you’re training at a very intense level every day of the week for long periods of time, nutrition is key. Peak performance will depend on replenishing your muscle’s stored energy (carbohydrate, in the form of glycogen) for tomorrow’s training, and getting enough protein to replace the amino acids you may have burned for energy and that you need to repair the inevitable wear-and-tear on your hard-working muscles. What’s more, timing is everything. After training or an event, experts recommend consuming a food or drink with a carbohydrate:protein ratio of 3.4:1 within 20-30 minutes for maximum uptake by the muscles.

I’m told by sports nutritionists in-the-know that low-fat chocolate milk is currently all the rage, as it naturally contains the perfect proportion of macronutrients for recovery. Fat-free greek yogurt also fits the bill.

But what do these products both have in common? That’s right: lactose.

Many races also provide bagels with peanut butter at the finish line. Which certainly does no good for triathletes with celiac.

Alternatively, many athletes turn to powders marketed as “recovery drinks.” These recovery drink powders almost universally use whey protein concentrate (WPC) as the protein source. Depending on the quality, WPC can be anywhere from 29%-89% protein… and the less protein it has, the more lactose it will have. Which means that products made with WPC may contain a hefty dose of lactose, and can wreak havoc on a lactose-intolerant athlete’s GI tract during the next day’s run.

What’s a lactose-intolerant, gluten-intolerant triathlete to do?

I recently had the good fortune to meet a registered dietitian who is a prominent sports nutritionist here in NYC, and I posed this very question to her. She pointed me toward a recovery drink called Recoverite, which is marketed by a company called Hammer Nutrition. It’s gluten-free and it contains whey protein isolate (WPI) instead of whey protein concentrate (WPC). WPI is 90% protein, which means it contains a negligible amount of lactose, and should be tolerated by most people with lactose intolerance. (But it’s still NOT appropriate for people with an actual allergy to milk/dairy.) Most of the carbohydrate in this product appears to come from maltodextrin, which is an easily-digested starch that, in a gluten-free product, will have been derived from corn. The product comes in two flavors (Strawberry and Citrus) and contains the recommended ratio of carbohydrate to protein. My inside connection recommended making a drink and freezing it the night before a race, and taking it out the morning-of to thaw; by the time you’re done racing, you’ve got a nice, cold shake ready to go. Now for a full-disclosure: I have never actually tasted this product, so I cannot vouch for its palatability. The company also makes “Hammer Bars” that are gluten-free, dairy-free, preservative-free and organic to boot, in case you’re in the market for an energy bar that fits that bill.

Of course, if you can tolerate lactose, I’d always recommend choosing the real food over the supplement drink… so give the chocolate milk or greek yogurt a try! And if you can tolerate gluten, the bagel with peanut butter is a fine choice as well. But if you’re intolerant to both, it’s nice to know there’s an option B.

Another tip I gleaned is that athletes should find out in advance what their race will provide by way of post-competition food & drink. It pays to plan ahead so that you’re not caught at the finish line with nothing you can eat or drink.

And finally, the most important training tip of all: training time is when you should be experimenting with your nutrition strategy… figuring out what foods and fluids at what amounts at what times are best tolerated and provide you with maximum energy. Race day is NEVER the time to introduce a new regimen.

Now get out there and represent us well, ye gluten-and-lactose-intolerant-athletes! I’m going back to bed.

Tweet This Post

This gorgeous summer roll I made is from a recipe that calls for a cup and a half of herbs

It occurred to me last summer–when faced with several window boxes bursting with my surprisingly healthy and robust herb garden–that using a sprig here and a sprig there wasn’t going to make a dent in my short-lived seasonal bounty.  I needed to figure out some ways to enjoy my herbs by the handful, not the pinch.

Even when I’m not growing my own, buying a bunch of herbs from the supermarket feels like a ticking time bomb sometimes.  The bunches are almost prohibitively big–and inevitably when I did take the plunge and buy a bunch, I’d find myself using it once or twice to garnish a dish, and then having to toss the rest that went bad before I could finish it.

But there are plenty ways to use up every last leaf of those herbs, and plenty of nutritious reasons to do so.  So now that it’s planting season, what better time to get your recipes lined up in anticipation for the herb rush?

Herbs are vegetables, too

Which means that when you eat them by the handful, they count toward your daily goal of at least 5 a day. Most culinary herbs are a good source of and Vitamin K (for blood clotting and bone health).  Others are good sources of Vitamin A (basil), or Vitamin C (parsley).  But even better, the unique oils in many common culinary herbs have all sorts of other health-promoting effects, like antioxidant functions, antibacterial properties, and anti-inflammatory benefits; this makes them helpful allies in the fight to keep your heart healthy.    And like other green leafy vegetables, they’re virtually calorie-free.  Bargain!

Making them last

The very clever people at Prepara heard our collective cries over wilted bunches of cilantro and invented the ingenious Herb Savor for us.  When I use it properly (like trimming the stems of the herbs before putting them in, and changing the water every week), my beloved Herb Savor keeps a bunch of cilantro alive and kicking for about 3 weeks. When I think of how much I used to spend on herbs that wound up in the compost heap, I believe that my $30 investment was well worth it.  Consider this a non-celebrity endorsement of a great product from someone who has no financial stake in the company.

Making herbs the main event: some ideas  

1.  Vietnamese Summer Rolls

This is a relatively new recipe in my repertoire, but it’s so delicious and impressive-looking that it’s already blog-worthy.  Plus, it uses a full cup and a half of fresh herbs: 1/2 cup each of basil, mint and cilantro. It’s from the May, 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine (scroll down to the bottom of this posting for full recipe… unfortunately, the magazine hasn’t posted it online, so I can’t provide a link).  The dipping sauce calls for Hoisin sauce, which almost always contains wheat gluten.  (However, I recently found a gluten-free hoisin sauce made by a company called Premier Japan... you can order it online or look for it locally.)  Alternatively, you can make it gluten-free by substituting Plum Sauce for the Hoisin Sauce, as the former is usually safe (but just check the ingredient list of the brand you buy, just to be sure).  Also, if you don’t/can’t eat tofu, do what I did: make a sweet Japanese-style omelet (think tamago–the sweet egg custard served atop sushi rice) to cut into strips in lieu of the tofu strips.  (See below for instructions.)  I’ll concede that this is a slightly labor-intensive recipe, but it’s fun as a two-person job, and makes a very impressive dish to show up with at a pot-luck summer party.  Plus, it’s a nice alternative to salad.

2. Pesto

It may not be original, but it’s still one of the best ways to make use of copious amounts of herbs.  My favorite pesto-making approach is a mix-and-match formula I learned from Sarah Foster’s “Fresh Every Day” cookbook (Random House, 2005), where you can use any combination of herbs and any kind of nuts that suit your fancy.  Here’s how it works:

2 1/2 cups of packed herb leaves, washed, drained and dried well (e.g., basil, spinach, cilantro, arugula, mint, flat-leaf parsley or any combo thereof)

note: the standard recipe would be 2 cups basil leaves and 1/2 cup parsley

4-8 garlic cloves, to your liking

1/4 cup olive oil (or less, depending on whether you like it more like a spread or more like a paste)

1/4 cup nuts (pine nuts, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or any combination thereof)

2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Blend the leaves in a food processor first.  Then add oil slowly while motor is running, stopping periodically to scrape the sides.  Next, add nuts, cheese, salt and pepper and keep blending until smooth.

Personally, I like to make a thick, paste-like pesto to mix into still-hot penne pasta (gluten free in our house, natch), or to toss with blanched fresh green beans that have been cut into 1-2″ pieces.  You can freeze pesto in ice cube trays, and then remove them from the tray once frozen to store in a freezer bag for future use.  A thinner textured pesto makes a delightful sauce for grilled fish or chicken.

3. Herb Frittata or Fresh Herb Risotto

These two beauties both come courtesy of the NY Times Recipes for Health.

The first is for a *gorgeous* frittata, and it uses 2 whole cups of mixed herbs.  It’s a perfect brunch or lunch dish, or you can cut it into pieces, stick some toothpicks in it, and make it a fancy passed hors d’oeuvre.

The second is for a super-summery Fresh Herb Risotto, which calls for 4 cups of fresh herb leaves (or 2 cups chopped).  Can’t you just picture this accompanying a few sweet, seared scallops and some grilled asparagus?  

*****

Recipe: Vietnamese Summer Rolls (Original recipe from May, 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine, adapted by yours truly to be gluten-free with a tofu-free option)

2 oz dried bean thread noodles (cellophane noodles) … do yourself a favor and buy the ones sold in 1-oz sized ‘nests’ rather than in  a whole huge tangle

1 small carrot, cut into thin matchsticks (~3/4 cup)

1 small cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and cut into thin matchsticks (~3/4 cup)

1 small fresh jalapeno, cut into thin matchsticks

1/4 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)

1/4 tsp sugar

I TBSP plus 3/4 tsp lime juice, divided

16 rice paper rounds (aka- Spring Roll Skins or Galettes de Riz)… about 8″ in diameter.  Plus extra in case some tear.

4 romaine lettuce leaves, each torn into 4 pieces

10 oz packaged baked tofu, cut into 3 x 1/3″ inch sticks… OR in lieu of tofu, substitute tamago as follows: (4 eggs+2 TBSP sugar + 1 tsp wheat-free Tamari, beaten together and cooked in the smallest omelet pan you have until just firm, but not too brown.  Cut the omelet into strips and use in place of the tofu.)

1 cup fresh bean sprouts

1/2 cup EACH of: torn basil, mint and cilantro leaves (1 1/2 cups total)

1/3 cup gluten-free hoisin sauce OR plum sauce (note: a few brands of plum sauce will contain wheat, but I’ve found plenty that do not… just be sure to check the labels)

2 TBSP chunky peanut butter

2 TBSP water

1. Soak noodles in a medium bowl of boiling-hot water 10 minutes
2. Meanwhile, blanch carrot in boiling water until softened, about 45 seconds.  Drain.  Rinse under cold water to stop the cooking, then transfer to a small bowl along w/ the cucumber, jalapeno, vinegar, sugar, 1 TBSP lime juice and 1/4 tsp salt.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Reserve 2 TBSPs of the liquid, then drain the now-pickled vegetables.
3. Drain noodles and rinse under cold water.  Drain and pat dry.  Toss noodles with remaining 3/4 tsp lime juice and snip w/ kitchen shears 5-6 times.
4. If substituting the tamago (egg custard omelet) for the tofu, make the omelet now as specified above and cut it into strips.
5. Fill a shallow pan or pie plate with warm water.  Soak 2 rice paper rounds until they begin to soften, about 30 seconds, then let excess water drip off and stack soaked rounds on a work surface so that they overlap by all but 1″ on either side.  (Note: don’t use a wooden cutting board as your work surface or the rice paper will stick!  I had good luck directly on a clean, smooth, countertop.)
6. Put 2 pieces of romaine on bottom third of round.
7. Top with: 1/8 of the noodles (about 2 TBSP), tofu or tamago (4 sticks), bean sprouts (~2 TBSP), herbs (3 TBSP) and pickled vegetables (3 TBSP).
8. Roll up *tightly* around filling, making sure to fold in the sides early in your rolling process for maximum tightness.
9. Make 7 more rolls in the same manner
10. To make dipping sauce: combine hoisin or plum sauce with peanut butter, water and the reserved 2 TBSP of pickling liquid.  

Note: rolls and sauce can be made 4 hours ahead and chilled… rolls covered in damp paper towels and then plastic wrap.

Tweet This Post