Body Essentials Nutrition & Massage

The gluten free mecca Risoterria in Greenwich Village still remains the hot spot for a plethora of gluten free choices.  But here’s another place you might want to try on the East Side:  S’MAC (stands for Sarita’s Macaroni & Cheese, located at 345 East 12th St).  A met up with a few friends here last month and was pleasantly surprised to learn all their mac dishes can be made with gluten free macaroni for $1.50 extra!  Just ask for the breadcrumbs to be left off too, of course.  And guess what else: Bard’s Tale gluten free beer for $6.00!

Yes, for gluten free New York diners, there is always the renowned Risoterria in Greenwich Village. But what about those of us in the Park Slope vicinity who want to go out for dinner without the long haul into Manhattan? Luckily, you need look no further than your very own neighborhood for delicious gluten free meals!

If you are tired of watching your dinner companions scarf down the bread basket while you sit salivating, try local French restaurant Moutarde at 239 5^th Ave (corner of Carroll St). Here you too can partake in the free starter: miniature jars of flavored mustards with vegetable crudites. According to Moutarde’s chef Martial Pilbout, the following menu entrees are gluten free: roasted salmon filet, pan-seared skate, roasted duck breast, duck leg confit, pan-served jumbo shrimp, and pan-served scallops (all of these are prepared in sauces without flour and paired with a variety of vegetables and potatoes). Chef Pilbout says he is able to prepare the cassoulet without breadcrumbs if asked, and he also recommends the raspberry clafoutis – a dessert he describes as “made with only sugar and almond powder”.

The new Vietnamese hot spot Hanco’s at 350 7^th Ave (corner of 10^th St), which just opened this March, serves up rice wrapper summer rolls and rice vermicelli noodle salads with your choice of pork, chicken, tofu, or shrimp. This restaurant is a healthy option when you need a fast gluten free meal.

Authentic Mexican fare is a traditionally gluten free meal. Try Tacos Nuevo Mexico at 491 5^th Ave (corner of 12^th St). From their corn tortilla tacos and fajitas to the chicken pechuga with rice and beans, you aren’t limited to just one choice with this menu.

For gluten free Red Bridge beer , stop in at The Gate (321 5^th Ave at 3^rd St). Although this happy hour spot does not serve food, patrons are welcome to bring their own snacks from home or order food from other restaurants nearby.

The ultimate destination for hearty comfort food is Cafe Steinhof at 422 7^th Ave (corner of 14^th St). While there are no gluten free beers here, the choice of sausage entrees served with potatoes and either sauerkraut, lentils, red cabbage, or salad (without the gulasch sauce) is a safe bet.

For a quick healthy meal, take a chance on Fuel at 606A 5^th Ave (between Prospect and 17^th St). Their entrees are full of lean protein and vegetables, and you can substitute brown rice for the carbohydrate source. The Mean Energy Plate is a flavorful favorite. They also offer meal delivery as far north as Union St.

Fatoosh at 437 5^th Ave (corner of 9^th St) may specialize in pita bread, but they still have many other gluten free platters to choose from, such as lamb sausage or shish kebab served with rice, hummus, and salad. The menu clearly identifies which items are made with cracked wheat. You will have to forego the pita (or give it away to a friend) and take note that the falafel platter is not a gluten free option either.

To my knowledge, a gluten free Italian restaurant is not yet in the Slope. But you can make your own Italian meal at home after a quick stop by C-Town at 329 9^th St between 5^th and 6^th Ave. They stock DeBoles gluten free pastas and Tinkyada lasagna noodles. Also try the Classiques Meringues for dessert, shelved near the cash registers. And you’ll be glad to discover the affordable bags of Goya rice flour to try in your next baking recipe. If enough people request it, maybe they will agree to carry xanthan gum too (a gluten free baking essential).

Other than the Park Slope Co-op, what other gluten free grocery options are in the area? Union Market, with two locations to serve all of the Slope (754 Union St and 402 7^th Ave), carries a few gluten free flours and brownie/pancake mixes. You are also in luck if you are close by Associated at 216 5^th Ave. They sell Van’s gluten free frozen waffles and two varieties of gluten free frozen souffles, in addition to a small selection of gluten free pastas.

And finally, you can bring home a pack of the gluten free beer Bard’s Tale Dragons Gold, found at Bierkraft on 191 5^th Ave (at Sackett/Berkeley Place). Cheers!

*Reader tips on other local gluten free resources you may have discovered are welcomed!  Gluten free items can not be guaranteed by the author.

A quick perusal of the protein bars at your local store reveals a lot of brands to choose from. Some are packed with nutrition and make a perfect snack to satisfy your hunger, while others are just glorified candy bars.  Nutrition experts recommend looking carefully at the nutrition facts panel to guide your selection. The following tips will help you to distinguish the healthiest protein bar available.

Tip #1: Check For 250 Calories or Less

A protein bar should be a snack, and therefore not excessive in calories. For example, the Odwalla Super Protein Bar is satisfying without being overly caloric with just 230 calories. Protein bars registering over 250 calories may be due to their high content of oil or sugar.

Tip #2: Look For All Natural Ingredients

Azucena Gamarra, a registered dietitian in Bellevue, WA, recommends her clients look for all natural ingredients when choosing a protein bar. “My favorite brand is Kind Bar. They taste great and are made with unrefined ingredients like nuts, dried fruit, and honey”. She recommends avoiding high fructose corn syrup, palm kernel oil, and partially hydrogenated oils.   Bonus for celiac patients:  Kind Bars are gluten free!

Tip #3: Include Heart Healthy Fat Sources

When comparing the grams of saturated fat to the grams of total fat on the Nutrition Facts label, a good protein bar will have a low saturated fat ratio, ideally less than half to qualify as heart healthy. For example, Clif Bar Oatmeal Raisin Walnut contains 5 grams of total fat, but only 1 gram of saturated fat, because the walnuts are a source of heart healthy fats.

Tip #4: Energy From Protein, Not Just Sugar

Some protein bars are truly very low on the protein and mainly utilize sugar as a fuel source. In his book Eat This, Not That, author David Zinczenko gave the Kashi Go Lean Protein & Fiber Chocolate Peanut bar an A+ rating because the 12 grams of protein it provides is nearly equal to its 14 grams of sugar. A well-balanced bar will have its grams of protein equal to at least 50 percent of the sugar.

There are two great books I have read in the past few years that fire up my enthusiasm for eating whole foods (meaning foods in their natural state instead of processed and packaged).  The first is Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and the second is Daphne Miller’s The Jungle Effect.

Omnivore’s Dilemma was one of those books that spread like wild-fire between friends and family because it was so eye-opening in its revelations about American food production that you wanted everyone you knew to understand what you had just read.  It really gave a boost up to the whole foods movement, inspiring college students to intern at sustainable farms for the summer and consumers to examine how far away their foods were originating from (ie. why are New Yorkers buying Washington apples when there are plenty of New York varieties being grown upstate?)

The Jungle Effect examined the traditional foods and recipes of indigenous cultures the world over, seeking out the preventive properties of these foods to answer why immigrants to the USA suddenly develop metabolic and cardiac illnesses when they adopt our American habits (something I witnessed over and over again at the community health center in New York City).

There are multiple take away messages from both of these books, but what strikes me the most is that if we focus on seasonal food that is grown locally, and prepare it in the healthy traditions of our ancestors, we can’t really go wrong.  We evolved to eat this way over thousands of years, and yet the modern conveniences of the last century have nearly eradicated those practices here in the US, resulting in rampant obesity, diabetes, and cardiac disease.

As an illustrative example of this, imagine a pint of strawberries shipped up from California in winter.  Even if you were to eat the whole container, it still wouldn’t give the tasty sweet satisfaction that just three strawberries picked at the end of June from the farm up the road would.

My trip to the farmer’s market this Saturday revealed only a few vegetables available that were truly in season, and thus I ended up with a vitamin-dense dinner of kale, beets, and sweet potatoes because my choices were not my usual standby of lettuce and tomato salad.  The potency, fiber, and full flavors of this meal left me feeling quite full & satisfied after I had only eaten two-thirds of my plate!

Another insight of interest is that in contrast to the American love of fats, our ancestors  would only add a teaspoon of lard or butter to their meals because it took such a large effort to obtain that lard or make that butter.  Today we readily use large spoonfuls because it is cheap and plentiful, and meanwhile we’re not even thinking about the unseen amounts of these same ingredients (or their hydrogenated oil equivalents) that are added to all the pre-packaged foods we consume too.

I heard Michael Pollan say in an interview that “a great diet is to eat only what you have grown or made yourself”.  So if those are homemade oatmeal cookies, go for it (but don’t forget that moderation in portions still count too!)  He reasoned that the effort put into making it yourself will not only burn calories, it will make you think twice about scarfing it all down so quickly you don’t even taste it….you will want to fully take the time to appreciate the fruits of your efforts throughout the meal and still have some left over for a few days more as well (mostly so that less effort will be required later on in the week).  After all, economizing our actions is an intuitive trait that runs deep in mankind!

So if you are balking at the idea of giving up desserts, Sunday roast dinners, and full-fat dairy because your doctor told you to lose some weight, consider weaving the concept of eating whole foods into your strategy too.  Frequent your farmer’s market, choose foods with the highest nutrient content at the grocery store by looking at how far away your foods are coming from, and begin to make your own foods (whether via a garden or home-cooking).  Eating this way is more likely to result in the healthiest ratio of carbs, protein, and fats  without even having to think about it.  There is still a lot of enjoyment to be had, and better yet these strategies will still nourish your body in the way it was meant to be.

S&M Restaurant in London

I recently returned from a trip to London, England.  What a great place to tour around!  Though you may think following a gluten free diet would be difficult there, my partner and I found that there were plenty of options to eat well and still enjoy the trip.  Below are some of our tips we discovered, as well as a link to other Gluten Free Travel Tips:

• Remember to bring your own meal/snacks for the long overseas flight.  Typical airline meals are carb-heavy, and mostly from wheat sources (my airline was serving cheese tortellini or beef stroganoff, followed by a snack of cheese and crackers or a biscotti).  There were salads available for purchase on the flight, and the flight attendant might take pity and rustle up an apple for you, but don’t count on it.  Better to bring your own meal such as corn tortilla wraps, fruit, trail mix, or a gluten free snack bar.  Some airlines offer low-carb / diabetic meal selections when you book your ticket, but these are still not necessarily gluten free.

• Breakfasts are the toughest part of traveling, as most breakfast bars/cafes offer muffins, pastries, toast or cereal, but little else.  Our trick (which cuts down on meal costs too!) is to buy rice cakes, peanut butter, and fruit at the local grocery store, all of which are stable at room temperature and make for a satisfying first meal of the day.  We also would get the fruit/nut bars and a dish of fruit at the local Starbucks occasionally too (after all, it’s something you can count on since Starbucks is everywhere now!)  There is the traditional English Breakfast of eggs, ham/bacon, baked beans, and chips, but I wouldn’t recommend you fuel up on this daily as it is laden with fat and calories.

• British food:  True, the battered fish is covered in flour and the steak pies are out of the question.  But there are many other traditional British meals to be had.  Shepherd’s pie is gluten free (ground beef baked in a dish with a potato topping), as are the standard roast meat and potato dinners.  You can feel comfortable asking your waitstaff about wheat flour in foods (such as gravy) since gluten allergies are recognized as pretty common in Northern Europe, evidenced by their clear labeling of gluten ingredients on packages too.  Some restaurants even cater to this: S&M (which stands for “sausage & mash”) has six locations in London and serves the Gluten Free Glutton platter: lamb with mashed potatoes and gluten free gravy, quintessential British grub.  Also look for the “jacket potato” with your choice of toppings, such as chili con carne.

• Due to it’s international appeal, Indian curries, Ethiopian “injera” bread made with teff or rice flour, Spanish paella with seafood tapas, and Thai establishments with plenty of rice noodle choices abound all over London.  The British consider themselves connoisseurs of Indian curry, so take your pick!

• The Pub:  Our time in London was punctuated by joining the locals at the corner pub, and there were plenty of them.  But while all the Brits are drinking their gluten-containing beer, we enjoyed the draft cider….every establishment we went to had it, sometimes even on tap!  It comes in pints, just like a beer, and is very refreshing.  Our favorite was Strongbow.

• Dessert:  As I mentioned, gluten allergies are common in the UK and Northern Europe, which is to your benefit at the local grocery store.  We easily found gluten free cookies at Tesco grocery store (which has outlets all over London) and even spotted gluten free brownies at the hotel cafe and also at a baked goods stand at Borough Market.

This recipe was featured on Good Morning America, and it is so satisfying with a glass of milk (regular or soy of course!)

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Mix all ingredients and roll into 24 one-inch size balls.  Place each dough ball on a greased cookie sheet and flatten with a fork, pressing twice to make a cross-hatch pattern.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Let each batch cool completely on the cookie sheet.

One of our favorite treats to get at the grocery store is a box full of meringues!  Not every meringue recipe is gluten free, but this one from Canadian Living Magazine is and makes a great gift:

Hazelnut Almond Meringues

1 cup hazelnuts

2 egg whites

Pinch cream of tartar

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 tbsp cornstarch

1-1/2 cups slivered almonds

I found this recipe on the side of a Bob’s Red Mill package, and it is soooooo good!

Chocolate Macaroons

2 egg whites

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 cup shredded coconut

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Beat egg whites and salt until almost stiff.  Add sugar, slowly beating until egg whites stand in peaks.  Add almond extract, coconut, and melted chocolate, stirring until well mixed.  Drop by spoonfuls on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for ~15 minutes.  Cool slightly before removing cookies with a spatula.

The posts for this December will all focus on gluten free christmas cookies and treats, one posted every few days between now and Christmas.  This first recipe for Peanut Butter Balls has been in my family for a long time….I can remember my brother and I sneaking into the freezer to eat these when my mom wasn’t looking!

Peanut Butter Balls

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup dates, finely chopped

1 cup nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, or almonds), finely chopped

1 Tbsp butter, melted

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, dates, nuts, melted butter and roll into 1 inch balls.  Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler over hot water.  Coat the peanut butter balls in the melted chocolate, place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, and refrigerate to harden.

It’s that time of year to be thankful again….and we are particularly thankful that most of the traditional Thanksgiving foods are already gluten free, except for the stuffing and pumpkin pie (ok yes, you will have to skip the breadrolls).  Below are recipes & links for modifications to make for your own gluten free Thanksgiving:

Mum’s Gluten Free Stuffing (Serves 6)

• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1/4 lb. butter
• 9 cups crumbled gluten free bread (ie.  2 whole loaves of gluten free bread cut into pieces and then crumbled by hand.  Can either be left out a few days to become stale, or toasted in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F).
• 1/4 cup fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped
• Large handful each of fresh sage and thyme, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup chicken stock

Directions: Melt butter in medium pan on high heat.  Saute onion and celery until soft, not browned.  Mix cooked onion and celery in with the breadcrumbs in an extra large bowl.  Season with the fresh parsley, sage, thyme, salt & pepper.  Add the chicken stock to moisten.  From here, you can stuff the mixture into the turkey the traditional way, but for food safety sake, I recommend baking the stuffing in a casserole dish for ~30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

I have tried numerous pie crust recipes and been unhappy with most of them, either because of their difficulty to work with or their unsatisfactory texture.

This year, I’m using the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pie Crust Recipe because I like their idea of rolling out the dough, then cutting it into pie piece wedges and using a spatula to place each piece of pastry into the pie plate, sealing it all together with your finger at the end.

Everybody has their favorite pumpkin pie filling recipe, which usually either calls for whole milk &/or heavy cream.  Since most gluten intolerant folks can not tolerate milk either, I am here to tell you that you can feel free to subsitute soy milk or other non-dairy milks for the cream/milk ingredients and you will still have a tasty pumpkin pie (probably a healthier one too!)

Gluten Free Gravy

Remember to use cornstarch to thicken, not flour the way Grama used to!

Caution with Pre-Seasoned  Turkeys

Check the ingredients on these because Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein could be wheat!

Happy Thanksgiving!