From Food Navigator

Coeliac sufferers may benefit from buckwheat enhanced gluten-free bread

By Nathan Gray, 07-Sep-2010

Comment: This is for Rachel. I hope you are reading.

Related topics: Science & Nutrition, Cereals and bakery preparations

Enhancing bread formulations with buckwheat flour could create high quality, antioxidant rich products for the gluten-free sector, says new research.

The study, published in International Journal of Food Science and Technology, suggests that enhancing gluten-free bread with 40 per cent buckwheat flour could create gluten free bread “with more functional components and higher anti-oxidative and reducing capacities.”

“Buckwheat flour is a natural source of minerals and antioxidant activity,…[it] can be used for preparation of new buckwheat-enhanced gluten-free breads,” wrote the researchers, led by Dr Maria Soral-Smietana from the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Potential healing

Buckwheat has increasing popularity as a health food in many countries, and has attracted the attention of food scientists because of its potential healing effects, and high nutritional value .

Buckwheat flour contains high-quality proteins, and is rich in antioxidants and minerals such as, flavonoids, phenolic acids, B vitamins , and carotenoids.

The new study used flour from common buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum Moench to substitute between ten and 40 per cent corn starch – the main component of gluten-free bread – to make buckwheat-enhanced gluten-free breads.

High capacity

Gluten-free bread enhanced with 40 per cent buckwheat flour had the highest antioxidant capacity and reducing capacity, and this was positively correlated with their total phenolic contents.. The 40 per cent enhanced bread also demonstrated the highest overall sensory quality when compared to a gluten-free bread control.

Researchers noted a linear relationship between increasing buckwheat flour doses in gluten-free bread formula and magnesium, phosphorus and potassium content.

The study concludes that 40 per cent BF enhanced gluten-free bread could be developed and dedicated to those people suffering from coeliac disease.

“The overall sensory quality of buckwheat enhanced breads was significantly higher than that obtained for gluten-free bread.”

The researchers noted that their results indicated “that these kinds of breads can be offered for the consumers, especially when gluten-free formula is substituted by 40 per cent of buckwheat flour.”

A short week. I hope everybody had a nice long weekend. I hope the children got outside. The weather was so spectacular. Terry and I walked seven miles in two days. Great walks. They ended by the river, and that last push through the silt, and then the climb up the hill was wonderful.

This week in school, we will be looking at families. We will start with “who I am” by the child and talk about each person and how precious and wonderful each one is. We should be learning our full names this week. Make sure your child knows his full name, and his parents’ names. Then next week, we will be working on knowing our address and then our phone number. Prizes will be awarded on Friday.

We are trying to take a field trip on Friday. TBA. I’ll let you know in a letter sent home.

Pork roast for lunch today with potatoes, carrots, and applesauce.

Blessings for a great week.

One of the things I’ve been working on at home is a way to guiltlessly eat steak. Steak is one of those things we have been told not to eat for our health and safety, but it’s one of those things I could eat every day. Like many things, it’s one of those compromises we make and try to glissade over my purchase with the reasoning that it was cheap…better for the budget…that one meat was as healthy as another, etc. So for years I bought cheap steaks – I even tried to marinate the heck out of chuck and hope that it resembled steak.

As I got older, I realized that this was probably not a cholesterol healthy move, so I bought it less and less, but the eating of steak never left my desire. Of course desire is a far cry from need.

Lately, about twice a month, I’ve been buying sirloin steaks at Schnuck’s in the butchery. I know that a little beef is a good brain food. Problem has always been quantity. I mean when you are eating a beautiful steak, and you must end at four crummy ounces…wow!

So when steak is on sale, I buy a small sirloin – about a pound – and bring it home and cut it in cubes – cubes about 1.5 inches in all directions. Then I put the cubes in a marinade – olive oil, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ketchup and pepper. Before the meal, I skewer eight cubes along with a little chicken or shrimp and lay the skewers on a bed of brown rice and vegetables like onions, peppers and mushrooms, and I bake it at 350 degrees for exactly 30 minutes.

It’s perfectly done, no extra fat, no charcoal, and it’s four ounces exactly. I’m really pleased with this method of steak. It compromises the desire, taste, and health with the fact of being abut $3.50 per meal for meat.

From Food navigator-usa.com

Professor aims to dispel diet myths with calorie-controlled junk food diet

By Caroline Scott-Thomas, 02-Sep-2010

Related topics: The obesity problem, Science & Nutrition

A Kansas State University professor has said he aims to prove that eating junk food does not necessarily lead to weight gain – by spending a month on a calorie-controlled diet of high-fat snacks.

The food and beverage industry has consistently contested the idea that specific foods or drinks cause obesity, with confectioners and sugary drink manufacturers in particular repeatedly saying that their products do not cause weight gain if consumed in moderation as part of a balanced diet. In addition, several diet trends have promoted the idea that weight loss is easier if a whole nutritional category is eliminated, such as carbohydrates in the case of the Atkins diet.

Mark Haub is a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, and teaches a course in energy balance and obesity. He said he wanted to show that by restricting his caloric intake to 1,800 calories a day, it was possible to lose weight, even while only consuming foods such as peanut butter-chocolate bars, chocolate cake rolls, breakfast pizza, donuts and sugared cereal.

“The purpose is to illustrate metabolic, mental and sociological issues surrounding weight. The principle is simple: eat fewer kilocalories than I expend,” Haub said.

Nevertheless, Haub said he expects his overall health to decline over the course of the month and is monitoring it by measuring body mass index, body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels.

In terms of weight loss at least, so far his method has shown some success: He started the month-long diet on August 25, and within the first four days claimed to have lost seven pounds.

He also said that the diet is cheap to adhere to.

“It’s very inexpensive and I get all of my calories for about five bucks a day,” he said. “I am not promoting this or recommending it; it’s just an exercise in nutrition.”

Haub added that he wanted to highlight that there is no strong definition of healthy weight loss, and to challenge preconceptions about obesity and about diet-friendly foods.

Haub said he will document his progress with the diet on Facebook. Among the ‘likes and interests’ listed on his Facebook page, he mentions Duncan Hines Family Style Brownie Mix and Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake.

There was an All School Bee on Friday and Jill won it with seven correct answers. Ely, Ayden, Phoenix and Michael each came in with four correct answers. We congratulate these children for a job well done.

About ten children were able to keep their medals all week. Each of them received a gold bead for their medal chain. Parents should keep abreast of these gold – soon to turn silver – beads. There should be three. If there are not, you need to find out what your child’s stumbling block is.

Remember, we only take medals for disobedience, disruption, and making another child cry on purpose. If your child takes time away from the group’s ability to learn, he is disruptive. If your child is asked not to or to, and refuses, he is disobedient. As an example, “Hubbard, please don’t touch your neighbor’s plate.” If Hubbard continues to put his fingers into his neighbor’s plate, he will lose his medal on the third refusal.

In the afternoon Miss Dayna made Moon Mud which feels like raw chicken liver. It’s hilarious and the kids really loved it.

Miss Nita read a lot to the little kids and the children enjoyed her comical voice. It’s always nice to have a voice that knows how to read.

The day was splendid and we were very grateful for the nice temperature.

When people ask why a preschool focuses on something which sounds as if it’s Medieval (and is) – the liberal arts – the answer is a question: What else is there? And why would any parent want anything less for their child? Liberal arts are life’s free treasures, the product of free people thinking and doing free things which set people free from the tedium of life’s banalities.

If the liberal arts become a way of life at the preschool age, you can guarantee that the whole of a child’s life will be greater the rest of their lives because they will know how to enjoy what is truly free. Unfortunately, many people including early childhood educators have trouble defining just what the liberal arts are, so let’s review.

Art is a liberal art. It always amazes me that art is the thing many teachers do last because they just don’t have time. When art is reduced to something as offensive as the proverbial “coloring page” the liberal part of the “art” is damaged by very narrow limits.

Art is an expression of the soul. Like other important things, it takes time and a treasure of ingredients that begin with multi media and teachers who are equipped to teach the love of fusing incongruent things as well as teaching spatial concepts and visual esthetics.

Music is a liberal art. Music has many avenues for exploring sound like singing, playing, dancing, creating instruments and making music through a variety of sounds. Music should be fun. Music should lift the spirit and give breath to the heart as children begin to understand the exchange of hearts that goes on between cultures when music is shared.

History is a liberal art. History is a treasure of real life stories that come to life when the teller has some insight into the human condition now and before. Explaining the richness of a smaller life takes a gentleness towards others most people can’t muster – it’s called historical perspective.

Very young children love history and geography because since the beginning of time, people have loved travel. History and geography become mind travel when the teacher opens a story about people with an intention of bridging differences and understanding.

Literature is a liberal art. Perhaps literature best defines the liberal arts because literature is all the above. It’s the music of words, the story of life, the picture of people, things and places told over and over again. Literature is written as well as told. It’s as old as the first story told. It’s cross cultural, and without limits.

Telling stories, reciting poetry, acting out the theatre of life is all connected to literature. Children love to do these things when the enthusiasm and interest of the loving adult is not only aware but able to show these things to children.

Mathematics is a liberal art. The understanding of numbers, groups, shapes, sizes, colors, and patterns are all a necessary part of learning the world’s dimensions. The understanding of space and distance and quantity comes early.

Science is a liberal art. In a modern world so distracted by unnatural things, science should be a refreshing and interesting avenue of study of how things work – naturally –in the world. It should be hands on and active rather than passive. It should touch and see and taste and hear and smell the forgotten things and the things we hardly know anymore.

Top notch preschool activities will be the liberal arts. Teachers who teach them will know what the liberal arts are outside the text book by life experience and the desire to be fully engaged in the world. They will have some knowledge about art, music, literature and history, math and science. It’s called being educated. It separates babysitters from teachers.

Here’s a little something to make you laugh. Go Here!

From World’s Healthiest Foods

Comment: Truly an excellent resource site.

Tomatoes

There are few vegetables that better mark the summer months than the sweet juiciness of a vine-ripened tomato. Although tomatoes are now available year-round, the truly wonderful qualities of tomatoes are the best when they are in season from July through September.

Tomatoes have fleshy internal segments filled with slippery seeds surrounded by a watery matrix. They can be red, yellow, orange, green, purple, or brown in color. Although tomatoes are fruits in a botanical sense, they don’t have the dessert quality sweetness of other fruits. Instead they have a subtle sweetness that is complemented by a slightly bitter and acidic taste. Cooking tempers the acid and bitter qualities in tomatoes and brings out their warm, rich, sweetness.

This chart graphically details the %DV that a serving of Tomatoes provides for each of the nutrients of which it is a good, very good, or excellent source according to our Food Rating System. Additional information about the amount of these nutrients provided by Tomatoes can be found in the Food Rating System Chart. A link that takes you to the In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Tomatoes, featuring information over 80 nutrients, can be found under the Food Rating System Chart.

For more information about Tomatoes, go to From World’s Healthiest Foods