A (Belated) Biologist's Mother's Day Song

This is such a wonderful song and video. I wish I'd found it for Mother's Day. (Ack, I'm late again.) Here's to all of my mothers. Thank you for everything.

The woman with two brains

As I write this blog I'm faced with a glaring dichotomy; I write about nutrition and healthy living AND most of my old recipes are NOT healthy. I've got chocolate and other goodies recipes, old-fashioned comfort food recipes, and a very few, what others would consider healthy recipes.

I'm not sure what to think of this dilemma. I know that cooking from scratch means that I've cut out all the food additives that have made my youngest daughter, Butterfly, ill in the past. They were probably what made my Only Son ill when he was a little boy. In fact, it was his illness that really started me on the whole "made from scratch" crusade I've been on for the last three decades.

So, as you read this blog, keep in mind that while the posts about nutrition and health are as up to date as possible, the recipes may be many decades old and reflect my Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde struggle with nutrition and tradition.

I hope you enjoy both the articles and the old-fashioned recipes. All are written with love.

Oven-Fried Chicken recipe

Tomorrow is Butterfly's thirteenth birthday. She has requested this recipe as the main course for her celebratory dinner. Smart girl - this is easy for Mom to make and I love it myself. It's SUPPOSED to be healthier for you than regular fried chicken. You wouldn't know that from the taste - it's on the decadent level.

Oven-Fried Chicken

3-pound broiler-fryer chicken, cut into parts
2/3 c flour
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ c (½ stick) butter or margarine

Wash chicken pieces; pat dry; remove skin, if desired.

Combine flour and seasoning in paper bag. Shake 2 to 3 pieces at a time in flour mixture.

Arrange chicken pieces in greased shallow pan in single layer. Pour melted butter or margarine over chicken.

Bake, uncovered, at 350°, for 60 minutes or until chicken is brown and tender.

Makes 4 servings.

Glazed Beef Loaf recipe

This has been one of my family's favorite recipes for the last three decades. It's easy, very tasty and comforting. It's probably not really healthy (I wish I was a chemist and could quantify how healthy something was) but it's been so yummy that I make it anyway.

Glazed Beef Loaf

2 eggs, beaten
2/3 c milk
2 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
3 slices bread, cut in small cubes
2/3 c finely chopped onion
2/3 c shredded raw carrot
1 ½ c shredded Cheddar cheese
2 lbs ground beef
¼ c brown sugar
¼ c ketchup
1 T prepared mustard

• Stir together eggs, milk, salt, pepper and bread. Beat until bread is broken up. Add onion, carrot, cheese and beef, mixing well.

• Form into a loaf in center of a 13 x 9 x 2” baking pan. Bake in moderate oven (350°) 1 hour and 15 minutes.

• Combine brown sugar, ketchup and mustard. Spread over beef loaf and continue baking 15 minutes. Makes 10 servings.

"The Risk of Environmentally Induced Cancer Has Been Grossly Underestimated"

The following quote is taken from Organic Bytes, an online newsletter put out by the Organic Consumers Organization. The original article can be found in the online version of The Atlantic.

The Risk of Environmentally Induced Cancer Has Been Grossly Underestimated

Quote of the Week - #224, May 14, 2010

The President's Cancer Panel says that the "risk of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated," that "nearly 80,000 chemicals [are] on the market in the United States, many of which are ... understudied and largely unregulated," and that "the public remains unaware ... that children are far more vulnerable to environmental toxins and radiation than adults."

The panel says "evidence suggests that some environmental agents may initiate or promote cancer by disrupting normal immune and endocrine system functions. The burgeoning number and complexity of known or suspected environmental carcinogens compel us to act to protect public health, even though we may lack irrefutable proof of harm."

Check out these examples selected from the recommendations:

* Parents and child care providers should choose foods, house and garden products, play spaces, toys, medicines, and medical tests that will minimize children's exposure to toxins. Ideally, both mothers and fathers should avoid exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
* It is preferable to use filtered tap water instead of commercially bottled water.
* Exposure to pesticides can be decreased by choosing ... food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers [translation: organics] and washing conventionally grown produce to remove residues.
* Exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones, and toxic run-off from livestock feedlots can be minimized by eating free-range meat [translation: don't eat feedlot meat].

-Marion Nestle, professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, and the author of Food Politics, Safe Food, What to Eat, reporting in the Atlantic, May 12, 2010, on a new report from the President's Cancer Panel.

Falling asleep naturally Part 4: Complex vs Simple Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are basically molecules of sugar chained together in different configurations. Their primary function is to provide energy for the body, especially the brain and the nervous system. An enzyme called amylase helps break down carbohydrates into glucose (blood sugar), which is then used for energy by the body.

There are three forms of carbohydrates – simple, complex and dietary fiber. The difference between these three is the number of sugar molecules and how these sugars are combined.

Simple Carbohydrates

When you think of simple carbohydrates think simply SUGAR. Most of these simple carbohydrates are easy to identify since their names end in "ose". Examples of single unit sugars (called a saccharide), are the fruit sugar fructose and milk sugar galactose. Examples of a double sugar, one made with two units of sugar (called a disaccharide), are plain table sugar sucrose, the other milk sugar lactose and malt sugar maltose.

Simple carbohydrates are usually considered "bad" carbs, but that term is really reserved for the carbs that have been processed and broken down before being put back together again in an unnatural way such as to produce a sweet product like chocolate or a soda. These carbs are referred to as "empty calories" since they only provide quick energy in the form of a blood sugar spike (better known as a sugar rush).

Lest you think all simple sugars are bad, this category also includes natural simple carbohydrates like fruits, natural fruit juices, and milk. Along with the quick energy, natural simple carbohydrates also provide health-giving nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber.

Complex Carbohydrates

The long chains of sugar (polysaccharides) that make up complex carbohydrates form STARCH. These are high-fiber foods that help stabilize blood sugar, keep your energy at an even level, and help you feel satisfied longer after your meal.

Even this category has some problems. Processed complex carbohydrates tend to give you the same empty calories that processed simple carbs give. For example, wheat that is stripped of it's nourishing bran and processed into bleached white flour has little nourishment available for the body to absorb. That flour is then turned into cakes, cookies, bread, and other "foods" that are rapidly digested into glucose, spiking blood sugar and insulin just as the processed simple carbs do.

What determines whether starches are digested rapidly or slowly?

What is done to the starch before we eat it. Particularly when it comes to grains (and especially wheat), we have a tendency to grind it, puff it, flake it, roll it, and generally beat it into submission so we can form it into any number of processed foods. This has the effect of doing some of the work of our digestive systems before the food even goes into our mouths. It’s really no wonder that these foods are turned into sugar so efficiently within minutes of being in our bodies. The starches that are most rapidly digested are those made from flour (including whole grain flour) and most breakfast cereals.

On the other hand, if grains or legumes remain whole, such as beans, brown rice or whole barley, the starch is broken down into sugars much more slowly, and some never is turned into sugar at all, but reaches the large intestine intact – this is called resistant starch.

Starch Structure. Different kinds of starch have different arrangements of molecules, and some are easier for our digestive enzymes to get at than others. One kind of starch, called amylose, is broken down quite slowly. The higher the amount of amylose in a starch, the more slowly it is digested. Different types of rice have differing percentages of amylose. Long grain rices, which tend to stay more separate, are higher in amylose. Shorter grain rices, which tend to produce creamier and stickier rice are low in amylose and are more quickly digested. New potatoes (sometimes described as “waxy”) have a starch that is closer to amylose in structure than more mature potatoes, and are thus more slowly digested.

Most of the starch in beans has a structure which is only slowly broken down into sugars.

Surprises: One processed food that seems to be digested more slowly than would be guessed is pasta. Apparently the starch molecules are so tightly packed that only about half is rapidly digested when the pasta is cooked “al dente” (slightly firm). Cooking time and thickness of the pasta greatly affects how rapidly it's digested.

Additionally, when some cooked starches, such as potatoes and rice, are cooked and cooled, a small percentage of the starch takes longer to digest.

Dietary Fiber

Dietary Fiber (sometimes called roughage) is the indigestible portion of plant foods. Dietary fiber is found only in plant foods: fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. Meat, milk and eggs do not contain fiber.

Fiber is divided into two categories: soluble and insoluble. Whereas insoluble fiber passes through the digestive tract relatively unchanged, soluble fiber dissolves to form a soft gel.

Fiber acts by changing the nature of the contents of the gastrointestinal tract, and by changing how other nutrients and chemicals are absorbed. Soluble fiber absorbs water to become a gelatinous, viscous substance and is fermented by bacteria in the digestive tract. Insoluble fiber has bulking action, is not fermented, passes through the digestive tract quickly and makes defecation easier.

After soluble fiber dissolves in water, it traps nutrients inside its gummy gel and slows down considerably while moving through the digestive tract. Inside the gel, nutrients are shielded from digestive enzymes and less likely to reach the wall of the intestines. Dietary sugars and starch are among the nutrients trapped inside this gel. Consequently, sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream more slowly, moderating the blood glucose spike and insulin response.

Sooooo...
The moral of the story of carbohydrates is to get as much unprocessed, real foods into your daily diet as possible. That includes fruit, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and pasta while limiting highly processed foods to occasional treats. Remember, we want to get as much tryptophan into the bloodstream as possible so it can be turned into serotonin and then into melatonin.

Next: Serotonin and Melatonin

The Insomnia Series
Falling asleep naturally Part 1
Falling asleep naturally Part 2: The Interaction of Biochemicals
Falling asleep naturally Part 3: Tryptophan and Insulin

Falling asleep naturally Part 3: Tryptophan and Insulin

So far we've established that we get the essential amino acid, tryptophan from foods, that it is converted by B6 and manganese (and sunlight) to the "feel good" neurotransmitter serotonin, which is converted by more B6 and manganese (and dark) to the sleep-inducing melatonin (I'll talk more about melatonin soon, I promise).

Unfortunately for the serotonin using nerves, tryptophan must share its "transport bus" with 5 other amino acids; tyrosine, phenylalanine, valine, leucine and isoleucine.

Consequently, tryptophan is typically out-numbered about 8:1 (remember, there are 8 essential amino acids) in its competition to secure its transport through the blood brain barrier into the brain.

Tryptophan's effects on carbohydrates and obesity

Eating a high protein diet to provide more tryptophan only worsens the problem by correspondingly increasing the intake of the 5 competing amino acids. Ironically, the only dietary strategy that increases brain tryptophan supply is to eat a high carbohydrate diet.

To understand how tryptophan and carbohydrates work together to relax you, picture the various amino acids from protein foods as passengers on a bus. A busload containing tryptophan and the other amino acids arrives at the brain cells. If more non-tryptophan "passengers" get off the bus and enter the brain cells, neuroactivity will rev up. If more tryptophan amino acids get off the bus, the brain will calm down.

When large amounts of carbohydrates are eaten, blood glucose levels increase rapidly. Once the body detects these elevated blood glucose levels it releases the hormone insulin to lower the resulting high blood sugar. The insulin also clears from the blood most of the 5 amino acids that compete with tryptophan for a ride to the brain. Tryptophan then has the "bus" all to itself, allowing more tryptophan to reach the brain.

As the blood glucose levels peak and then fall off, insulin does the same, however insulin levels peak later than blood glucose. Once blood glucose levels reach normal again, it takes insulin a little bit longer to reach normal itself. It is this lag time in normalization of insulin levels which gives us those sugar cravings after carbohydrate rich meals. This is because blood sugar levels are normal but we still have insulin present in the blood and that insulin needs something to do; so it has the effect of asking the body for more sugar. That's why we get hungry even though we just ate a few hours ago.

This cycle is instinctively known and practiced by many people who eat large amounts of carbohydrates like bread, cakes, pies, ice cream, chips, pizza, candy etc., especially when they are feeling depressed, stressed or anxious.

The increased brain serotonin this produces lowers arousal and anxiety, promoting a (temporary) sense of well being and security. However, this strategy comes at a price, the same insulin which enhances brain serotonin also enhances the conversion of the fats, carbohydrates, and amino acids cleared from the blood into stored body fat!

High insulin levels prevent your body from using this fat as an energy source, so it simply begins to accumulate. Eventually, if insulin levels remain continuously high, your cells will become insulin resistant, meaning that they will stop accepting any more glucose at all. In effect, they shut down, and stop caring about how much sugar is in your blood. What happens next is that the amount of glucose in the blood stream becomes unregulated, and things get bad in terms of blood glucose toxicity and insulin damage, which results in diabetes, heart attacks, blindness, the need for limb amputation and other disasters.

However, this is just focusing on the glucose levels in the system. Having consistently high insulin levels is even worse. Insulin is pro-inflammatory, and is now believed to cause atherosclerosis, the stiffening of artery walls, the rise in blood pressure, the blockage of your circulatory system--and you get the picture.

So what we want is enough protein to provide tryptophan, enough carbohydrates to cause insulin to "bind up" the energizing amino acids but not so much as to cause a rapid spike in blood sugar with its resulting spike in insulin.

What's a person supposed to do?

Next: Complex vs Simple Carbohydrates

The Insomnia Series
Falling asleep naturally Part 1
Falling asleep naturally Part 2: The Interaction of Biochemicals