Herb confession

This is my third year of vegetable gardening. Once I did get enough produce to freeze beans and last year I had enough tomatoes to make two jars of sauce. Nothing to claim expert status about. But I do love my garden and tend to share all that I learn along the way.

My favorite thing to plant? Herbs. Most of them I don't even have a plan for. I like to show guests, any size guest whether 3-feet or six +, my little garden. I pluck a few leaves or a stem off an herb and say, smell this, or taste this. Do you know what it is?

My youngest daughter and I love smells. Not smelly things like perfume or candles. Comfort smells. (I know those darn smelly thing like plug-ins and candles are supposed to be homey, but they are overdone.) Kassy, who is five, walks around the house constantly smelling a pillowcase. If she can't find a pillowcase, she will take substitutes like shirts. And if there is nothing to smell she whines (I know, whining is horrid and needs to be stopped--we are working on it...still. ) Still, you have to smile at a kid who doesn't suck or stick things in her mouth, she just smells. I used to wonder where her love of smells came from, until my husband said, "Why are you always covering your nose?" I realized I was smelling fabric or the soap on my hands--it was comforting.

Smells of herbs are treasures to me because they aren't here all the time, they smell fresh. Don't go make a basil potpourri, I don't want one. I like my daily hop (it really is a hop away from my back door) to the garden and then bending down and taking a long inhale to satisfy my olfactory sense.

But, I never know what to do with all those herbs. I need to clip them, to make them bushier and to keep them from bolting. But then what? I've done some experimenting. I've dried thyme and parsley. I stick basil in a small vase just so I can smell it while I do dishes. And the whole family picks stevia leaves and eats them. I've made fresh mint tea. Still, the herbs grow faster than my ideas so I went on a hunt for more options. I'll share them as I learn.

Here's my first "That's brilliant" find. And to add to the fun its from a blog about gardening that I had never found before. Turns out, I love it. Check out this post by Margaret Roach, the former garden editor for Martha Stewart. Her blog shares a title with her book, A Way to Garden. The post explains, in perfect detail, two ways to freeze parsley or chives for later use (freezing does retain more flavor than drying).

Click here to read "Growing and Storing a Year of Parsley." And that picture, it's my rosemary, sage and thyme. Sadly, I put the parsley in a different spot.

Cartwheels at Walmart

Ok, not really. But I thought about it. They've been remodeling our Walmart and it looks really nice. The kitchen area is on low shelving so you can survey the whole area and the grocery section has expanded, more foods, including (drum roll please) a gluten-free section. They carry some of my favorite products like Lundberg Rice Chips and Tinkyada noodles. And their prices? Well, they are awesome.

Sometimes I envy those who have enough money to boycott Walmart.There are many good reasons to boycott Walmart. I wish they were more generous to their employess and to the community. But here are the facts at my house. One income, because that's what we have chosen to live on. Even if I worked a job with a salary, my income would not go toward daily expenses like groceries. We just think it is wise to live off one income. And given that my husband is a teacher, not a doctor or lawyer, our one income isn't huge. When Walmart offers me better prices than my food co-op or any other stores on expensive necessities for my girl, like Rice Milk (yes they carry it in many sizes) or gluten free noodles, deciding to boycott Walmart is a luxury I don't feel I have.

Oops, that was a long tangent. I meant to just say, "Yippee! Walmart has gluten-free." And make a little note about how funny it is that when stores get a gluten-free section, they don't educate their employees. I always tell the checkout people how happy I am about new gluten-free products. In fact I tell any employee I can find. Unless I stumble on a manager of some kind, the employee generally stares at me and says, "Huh" or "Newton -free?" One step at a time I guess.

Oh and in case you are wondering...next up...agave nectar.Take the poll on the right.

Gluten-free goes mainstream

Six years ago a good teacher friend was diagnosed with Celiac disease. I had never heard of the disease and certainly never heard of gluten, the protein which wreaks havoc on the intestines of the person with Celiac. Finding gluten-free food was tricky and expensive. It is still expensive, but not so difficult. Many main stream grocery stores have special labels marking gluten-free products or special sections. Some chain restaurants like PF Chang's, Unos, and Outback and Lonestar all have gluten-free menus or specialty items. Chex cereal in the last year has made Rice Chex, Corn Chex, Honey Nut Chex, Cinnamon Chex, and Strawberry Chex all gluten-free (be careful though some of the flavors are so newly gluten free that stores still have the old boxes, make certain the front says "gluten free". And now, now Betty Crocker is selling gluten free baking mixes: chocolate chip cookie, devil's food cake, yellow cake, and brownie mixes. They came out this summer and cost about $2.00 more than other baking mixes. And by fall, all their frosting will be gluten free. I haven't tried them yet, but I am thrilled to see the effort. I try not to think about how the effort, like all things American, is mostly motivated by marketing (a big name like Betty can make gluten-free products without much advertising and the gluten-free community will spread the word for them--like me). Whatever the motivations--it's not a bad time to be gluten free.

And for what's it worth. I tried a new gluten-free pancake recipe this morning and did a little dance of joy when they rose into perfect pancakes, not the usual flat lifeless things. Let me know if you want the recipe.

I already told you this but...

..if you want to read the same opinion from a reliable paper follow this link to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

Part 3 of Taxes, Chemistry, and Advertising or HFCS

If you haven't already, read Part I and Part 2 first. Now, Part 3 will address the the issue of mercury and HFCS.

Let's go backward a bit. Corn syrup is made of only glucose. If corn syrup is treated with an enzyme called glucose isomerase, some of the glucose converts to fructose, which produces HFCS (incidentally I just read that in Canada HFCS is called glucose-fructose). Somewhere in the production of HFCS caustic soda is used. Caustic soda can contain mercury though most US sources of HFCS do not use mercury-cell technology (The Minneapolis Star Tribune did report that there are four plants in the US that still use the mercury-cell technology).

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registy, mercury, in all forms, can cause permanent damage to the brain, kidneys and to developing fetuses. Young children are especially sensitive to mercury. It can store up in their small bodies and cause damage. Mercury can pass through breast milk.

Two recently published studies, one in the January 2009 issue of Environmental Health, and one published by the Institute for Agriculture Trade Policy(IATP), found mercury in common. The Environmental Health study used FDA info from 2005. It found detectable mercury in 9 of 20 products. The IATP study used products taken off the shelf in autumn of 2008. They tested 55 products and found mercury in 17 products. Tested products containing mercury included items such as Yoplait strawberry yogurt, Hunt's tomato ketchup, Hershey's chocolate syrup, Smucker's strawberry jam, Minute Maid berry punch and Nutri-Grain strawberry cereal bars.

Researchers concluded that HFCS was the probable common ingredient that could be the source of the mercury. The Corn Refiners Association had the data reviewed by an expert. They concluded that the studies did not follow proper scientific procedure and that even if there was mercury present, it falls well below standards set by our government. The full response of the Corn Refiners Association can be found here. Even the authors of the two studies caution that the studies are just a sample in time and cannot be used by consumers as a definitive reasons to avoid HFCS.

I suspect producers of HFCS will quickly remedy this bad press by making certain all sources of HFCS are mercury free. Since some of the HFCS used is not from this country, this might take some time. But for a year or two, pregnant women and nursing mothers might seriously consider avoiding the ingredient just to be safe. Unless you go 100% organic, you might find avoiding HFCS difficult to do.

A few marketers are hoping to profit from the public's fear of HFCS. The media has successfully portrayed HFCS as a horrible ingredient and the marketers have found some benefit in advertising products as HFCS-free. Around here, all of Aunt Millie's breads say, "No high fructose corn syrup." And for an additional four days (it started on April 20), in large cities, you will still be able to buy Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, made with real sugar instead of HFCS. And just for kicks, here's a not-so-scientific video about sugar and Coke.

After all my reading, I'm less likely to worry about HFCS and more likely to go nuts trying to decrease the sugar of any kind in my girls' diets. We have 4-5 events weekly where some well-intentioned planner thinks it would be fun to give the kids a treat. Before the soccer tournament, my husband who is the coach, warned parents to bring only healthy snacks for the team tent. There was lots of fruit, and a box of donuts and a bag of twizzlers!

I suspect that in every single snack we serve our kids, there is sugar. And most of us are hardwired to seek out sugar. Maybe, long ago, such an instinct helped us eat the right things, like fruit, when it was in season. But with the constant availability of all food, I think our sweet tooth changed into sweet teeth followed eventually by sweet dentures. Good luck on your quests to eat healthy and thanks for reading.
sources:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts46.html#bookmark05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20090127/mercury-in-high-fructose-corn-syrup
http://www.sweetsurprise.com/news-and-press/hfcs-mercury
http://www.pepsithrowbackhub.com

Part 2 of Taxes, Chemistry, and Advertising

A quick review from part I. Sweetener consumption in the the US has increased in the last 20 years. So has the obesity rate. HFCS has essentially the same make-up as table sugar (sucrose)--that means both have similar amounts of fructose and glucose.

So, scientists and doctors observed the trends. They noticed that our drinks are bigger, our intake of processed foods is greater and obesity and heart disease are bigger problems. They followed the scientific process and made some hypotheses. They published studies in medical journals. What has filtered down to us is a general idea that HCFS is really bad for us, but the average shopper has no idea why.

To understand the demonization of HFCS, you need to know more about fructose. First, our intake of fructose is increasing. Barry Popkin, PhD, and George Bray, MD, used data from the federal government and determined that Americans consumed 158.5 calories of fructose in 1970. They also reported that we consumed 228 calories from fructose in 1995---a 30% increase.

Second, you need to know a bit about the differences in how our bodies use fructose and glucose. The glucose part of sugar is our basic building block for energy. Starch is broken down into glucose. Fructose is the sugar found in fruit. The two molecules are not used in our body in the same way. Fructose does not trigger the pancreas to make insulin, and it does not enter the blood stream. Glucose does. Our bodies can use less fructose than glucose. If you consume your maximum amount of fructose, the body will start converting the excess into triglycerides (fat), which over time will lead to health issues and obesity. Glucose (the sugar component of all starches) feeds muscle cells. It does not get converted into fat molecules.

Studies make it pretty clear that fructose is a large player in the obesity epidemic but glucose is more of a bench warmer. Reliable, published studies indicate that diets with glucose as the main sweetener seem to have no measurable ill-effects. Diets with fructose as the main sweetener appear to induce lepitin resistance. Lepitin helps to keep weight in check. Multiple studies confirm this idea. And excess fat, leads to all kinds of other health issues. There are other studies linking diets high in fructose to increased levels of uric acid. High levels of uric acid can lead to heart disease, artery inflammation, kidney disease, stroke and more. But whether uric acid is really the cause is still debatable. (The uric acid link is the focus of the book The Sugar Fix: The High Fructose Fallout that is Making You Fat and Sick, by Richard Johnson, MD)

We are fatter. We eat more high fructose corn syrup. We eat more sugar. Fructose can be really bad for you. We eat more fructose than we did in the past. The use of HFCS has increased, partially due to government interference. All true statements. So should you avoid HFCS?

Perhaps it is HFCS that is causing us to eat more fructose since we eat more processed foods and since HFCS is so affordable, manufacturers have added it to all kinds of food to make us love them more. Perhaps. But HFCS is too similar to sugar for me to buy this hypothesis. I think we just need to consume less sugar. Period.

HFCS isn't worse for our health than sugar as far as the current studies indicate. There are, of course, many more studies out there. And the corn grower's association has a fascinating ad campaign to tell you why HFCS is good and natural. Their website is full of studies supporting their case, but I didn't mention those studies. They don't add to the argument much and CBS news did their research and found several of the studies to be funded by industries with a stake in the outcome. Really, more independent research needs to be done.

So....I won't recommend avoiding all HCFS because it is worse than sugar--there is no conclusive evidence to warrant such a stance. There might be a different reason to avoid it though, depending on your food convictions..but that's part 3.

sources: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=93621
Goldstein, Jennifer. "High Fructose Corn Syrup" in May 2009 issue of Prevention.
Johnson, Richard and Timothy Gower. The Sugar Fix: The High Fructose Fallout that is Making You Fat and Sick. Published in 2008 by Rodale.
http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20070625/fructose-sugars-dark-side,
http://blogs.webmd.com/healthy-recipe-doctor/2008/01/high-fructose-corn-syrup-new-bad-boy-in.html
http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_150/182_eating_well.html
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 86 (2007):899-906. American Society for Nutrition.
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html
www.sweetsurprise.com

Taxes, chemistry and Advertising or High Fructose Corn Syrup, Part I

Now complete, this post has three parts. Part one, below explains HFCS and its popularity, part two discusses the link (or lack of link) between HFCS and obesity , part three discusses mercury and HFCS and offers a conclusion. 

High Fructose Corn Syrup. There, I did it. I wrote the first word of this post that has plagued me for months. It's not that I didn't want to research and write about HFCS. I did. I do, sort of. After months of reading here and there, I 'd read both sides of every issue and was still confused. But writing brings me clarity, and I've reached a conclusion--if I can find a big enough chunk of time to write it all down. This baby will have two parts and it's all for Amanda.

Do you know that hymn with line in it "On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand" ? I didn't find a way to connect Christ and HFCS (somebody has probably seen Christ's profile in a spilled bit of HFCS and tried to sell it on E-bay though). Seriously though, most of what I read, no matter what side of this issue it supported, felt like sinking sand. So much of the research can't prove cause so to me their conclusions are interesting, at best. And their funding: dubious. I know, enough silly analogies.

Chemistry or fructose/glucose
To begin, let's have a chemistry lesson. Table sugar, the white stuff most of you bake with is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Table sugar is also called sucrose. Brown sugar is sucrose mixed with molasses. Confectioner's sugar is another form of sucrose. High Fructose Corn Syrup has many different forms. The most commonly used types are HFCS 55 which is 55% fructose and 45% glucose and HFCS 42 which is 42 % fructose and 58% glucose. Really, the name high fructose is misleading because HFCS and sucrose have very similar compositions. Honey generally has a similar fructose/glucose ratio as sucrose.
Calorie for calorie, HFCS and sugar are essentially the same.

The sweetener you choose varies in sweetness. Fructose is the sweetest sugar of all. Glucose is about 50-60% as sweet as fructose and table sugar is about 70-85% as sweet.

Why HFCS is Popular
I've read that most cola in Mexico is made with real sugar. In the United States, most of it is made with HFCS. I know why now.

The process of taking corn syrup and turning it into high fructose corn syrup was invented in 1957. In 1971, Japanese scientists found a way to reuse one the enzmyes used to made HFCS, dramatically decreasing the cost of this sweetener. Several tariffs on sugar imposed in the late 1970s made sugar prices increase. Government subsidies on corn, and new agricultural technologies leading to higher and higher yields, decreased the price of corn. In the US, it became cheaper to use HFCS than sugar, especially after the US put limits on sugar imports in 1982.(Here's an interesting article about Archer Daniels, a major producer of HFCS and ethanol and their role in these government policies) Accountants began to love HFCS, food producers liked HFCS's traits: it dissolves more readily in liquid than sucrose and it doesn't crystallize like sugar in cold temperatures (if you buy ice cream made with sugar, you've seen the freezer burn crystals).And HFCS is cheaper and easier to transport than sugar because it is a liquid.

Now for the all-important alarming facts. In 1976, the percentage of obese people in America was 14.5%. In 2007, that percentage was around 25%. In 1970, according to the USDA, the average person in American consumed
72.5 lbs of refined sugar a year and 0.4 lbs of HFCS. In 2004, the average person consumed 44 lbs of refined sugar and 42.3 lb of HFCS. So clearly, sugar use has gone down and HFCS has gone up.

That's enough for today. I don't like blog posts that are too long and I'm guessing you can't either. Stay tuned for part two, coming in the next two days, where I'll explain all the medical research, the mercury issue, and the conclusion.
sources: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=93621
Goldstein, Jennifer. "High Fructose Corn Syrup" in May 2009 issue of Prevention.
Johnson, Richard and Timothy Gower. The Sugar Fix: The High Fructose Fallout that is Making You Fat and Sick. Published in 2008 by Rodale.
http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20070625/fructose-sugars-dark-side,
http://blogs.webmd.com/healthy-recipe-doctor/2008/01/high-fructose-corn-syrup-new-bad-boy-in.html
http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_150/182_eating_well.html
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 86 (2007):899-906. American Society for Nutrition.
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html