"Miracle Diet" treats Epilepsy

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57440950-10391704/understanding-epilepsy-miracle-diet-may-lead-to-better-treatments-scientists-say/

"Miracle Diet helps Epilepsy

(CBS News) Children with epilepsy who don't respond well to anti-seizure medications are sometimes treated with a strict "ketogenic diet" that's high in fats and low in carbohydrates, including foods like bacon, hot dogs, butter and eggs.
According to the Epilepsy Foundation, the diet is so effective for some kids that they can go off "keto" for a few years and remain seizure-free. In 2010, the New York Times profiled the diet as "Epilepsy's Big Fat Miracle" and despite being prescribed at more than 100 hospitals around the country, researchers weren't exactly sure how it worked - until now.
In a new study of mice, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston have found that a child's ability to stave off seizures is tied to a protein that affects metabolism in the brain. The protein, so-called BCL-2-associated Agonist of Cell Death, or BAD, also regulates metabolism of glucose.
The researchers discovered that by modifying this, they switched metabolism in brain cells from glucose to ketone bodies, which are fat byproducts.
"It was then that we realized we had come upon a metabolic switch to do what the ketogenic diet does to the brain without any actual dietary therapy," study author Dr. Alfredo Gimenez-Cassinam a research fellow at Dana-Farber, said in a news release.
The researchers used genetically modified mice to alter the BAD protein to increase ketone metabolism in the brain, and seizures in mice decreased. The findings suggest the BAD Protein could be a promising target for future epilepsy drugs. The study is published in the May 24th issue of the journal Neuron.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by repeated seizures, likened to electrical storms in the brain, that can appear as convulsions, loss of motor control, or loss of consciousness.
"I've met a lot of kids whose lives are completely changed by this diet," study co-author Dr. Gary Yellen, professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, said in a university news release. Yellen was introduced to the ketogenic diet through his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Thiele, who directs the Pediatric Epilepsy Program at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. "Diets in general are hard, and this diet is really hard," said Yellen, "So finding a pharmacological substitute for this would make lots of people really happy."
About two in 100 people will experience a seizure at some point in their lives, according to the Mayo Clinic, and at least two unprovoked seizures often are required to diagnose epilepsy. Anti-seizure medications such are often prescribed and brain surgery is a possibility for some people whose seizures originate in a small, well-defined area of the brain not involved with vital processes. Some children may even outgrow the condition with age.
The Mayo Clinic has more on epilepsy."



The basic differences between "keto" and Paleo is the measuring and ratios.  Paleo is all about all natural, nurishing food with high nutrient values; anything a caveman would eat, and not eating anything a caveman wouldn't.  Ketogenic is similar to Atkins in that you allow so few carbs you begin to burn fat; and more importantly, your brain is able to run off of ketones, a byproduct of burning fat for energy. The keto diet requires more fat than Atkins.  And the keto diet turns the human body into a "manufacturing" plant that runs just like the caveman's body did. 

Why Do We Eat Poison?

A chiropractor I visited had a window box on his wall with happymeals that were purchased years ago.  They hadn't changed. Scary, huh?  Just what are you eating? Or worse, feeding your innocent, defenseless children?

I've heard most of the info on this poster below, but haven't researched all of it to see that it's really legit.  I've also heard horror stories, like graves that have been dug up and researchers found that the cadavars haven't decomposed because they ate so many preservatives. This wasn't a problem 50 years ago. True? Possibly. Google it and let me know what you find out about additives we are ingesting on a daily basis. Today's topic - research. Ask questions. You know junk food is bad for you. Find out why.

Paleo Pizza Crust!

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=249048

Here is the link to a recipe for cauliflower pizza crust. I’m super excited so I’m posting now, but I plan on posting pictures and a review (and my grocery bill!) this weekend as soon as I can try it. There are so many recipes I’ve wanted to try and I’ve been SLAMMED. I can not wait for the 3 day weekend.  Stay tuned!

Minutes to Prepare: 15

Minutes to Cook: 20

Number of Servings: 4

Ingredients

Cauliflower, frozen, cooked, riced, 1 cup
Egg, fresh, 1 large
Cheddar Cheese, 1 cup, shredded
Fennel, 1/2 tsp
Oregano, ground, 1 tsp
Parsley, dried, 2 tsp

Directions

Rice or finely chop the cauliflower. Beat egg, add the cauliflower, and shredded cheese. Mix, then press into a greased pizza pan then sprinkle with the spices. Bake at 450 for 12 to 15 minutes. If you double the recipe cook 15 to 20 minutes.

Add desired pizza topping (not included in nutritional info) such as red sauce, mushrooms, green pepper, onions, cheese, etc. Bake until brown and cheese is bubbly.

This makes four pieces.

Cucumber Snack 90% Paleo

Cucumbers and dill make a great combination, but this salad is tasty with just cucumbers, too.  Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

·         1 seedless cucumber (long and skinny, slightly bumpy), or 2 American cucumbers

·         3 Tbsp cider or white vinegar

·         1 Tbsp sugar

·         ¼ tsp each salt and freshly ground black pepper

·         1 small red onion, sliced and broken into rings (optional)

·         3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, (leaves from 1 lg. stalk) (optional)

Preparation:

Wash the cucumber(s). If you have unwaxed, seedless cucumbers you can leave part or all of the skin on in strips (attractive when sliced), all others should be peeled. Using a mandolin or a food processor with the thin slicer attachment, slice the cucumber very thin.

Place the vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper in a serving bowl and whisk until the sugar dissolves completely. Add the cucumber, onion, and dill, if using, and toss well. Marinate for 5 or more minutes and serve.

Sausage and Cabbage

Beef Sausage $2.88 (you can use any kind you want).

Red Onion $1.69

Head of Cabbage – Around 3 dollars.

Meal for 4 under $8.

Cut the sausage into large pieces and placed in a hot pot to crisp up for a few minutes. Once I’d turned the pieces and browned all sides I took them out and placed the chopped red onion in to soften. Once that was tender I threw in the entire head of cabbage that I’d cut into strips. I added a few spoons of bacon fat, some salt and pepper. 

There are several variations of this. I’ve seen it with red wine or red wine vinegar.  I like the cabbage kind of crisp since it makes me feel like I’m eating pasta or something crunchy. ( :

Takes about 20 minutes and smells amazing.

I threw away the core of the cabbage but Diana said she has chopped this up and and made it into a salad by adding oil and vinegar, salt and pepper.  I'll have to try this next time!

Veggies & Chipotle Ranch Dressing

Homemade Chipotle Ranch Dressing

I use Hellmans Real Mayo. Here is a link to the ingredients. http://www.hellmanns.com/product/detail/97847/Real-Mayonnaise

It doesn’t look that scary. But if you want to make your own, here’s a cool site: paleo mayo recipe on fastpaleo.com/coconutolive-oil-mayo/

Since I eat on the run most of the time, I prepack a lot of stuff. One of those packing staples is a bag of chopped veggies. But after about 3 bites I’m tired of veggies, so here’s a really tasty dressing to dip them in. Use a mason jar if you have one. I write the date I made it on some freezer tape and stick it to the lid (when I remember anyway). Then when you want it, just shake it up. Most dressings keep for 2 weeks, but I’ve never had this one long enough to find out when it expires.  ( ;

CHIPOTLE DRESSING:

¼ cup mayo
1/8 tsp chipotle powder
1/8 tsp cumin
½ tsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbls chopped cilantro
½ tsp minced garlic
1-2 Tbls water.


1 stalk celery, $1.24 (organic $2.99)
4 bell peppers, $4.
Broccoli, $2.38
Cauliflower, $2.18
Baby Carrots, (organic $2.69)

Chop up when you shop on the weekend and place a handful in ziplock baggies to snack on throughout the week. You can get about 9 bags or more for around $15 (roughly a buck 50 each)

I did this yesterday with
broccoli $2.38
Snow Peas $2.50
Cucumber $.78
Celery $1.24
Cauliflower $2.18
Came out to 8 bags at $9.08, so $1.14 a bag.

Roasting Chicken

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/perfect-roast-chicken

I have to admit, I have only recently begun cooking whole chickens. It seems to be a bit cheaper, if you don’t mind the time and effort of getting all that chicken off the bone. And it tastes SO MUCH BETTER. If I can buy the bone-in chicken breasts I do, but they’re hard to find, and pretty pricey. A free-range, drug-free whole chicken cost around $7. For $9 I could have gotten two Tyson whole chickens.  And I could buy a no-name brand of frozen boneless chicken breasts for about $6.  In a perfect world I’d have the best quality non-mutant chicken every time. Sometimes I buy whole chickens on Sunday and then a bag of cheaper frozen chicken to pop in the freezer until the end of the week when I’m out of food and don’t want to run to the grocery store again (That lesser quality chicken I usually cook in the crock pot or marinade all day in the fridge while it thaws).  Mostly, I buy the best quality of what’s on sale, but not past the bought-by-date.  I am one of those that won’t even try milk from my fridge if it’s past the store-bought date. It’s a Seinfeld-type fear of mine, but if it’s before the magic date – its’ on!

If you’re not cooking up a truck load of chicken to eat on all week, and you want to try, here’s some simple instructions. Fail proof. I even accidentally cooked a chicken upside down once. It still tasted great.

http://allrecipes.com/howto/roasting-chicken/

Roasting Methods

Regular method:

•Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

•Roast whole (thawed) chickens for 20 minutes per pound, plus an additional 15 minutes.

High heat method (this creates a crispy, darker skin):

•Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) and cook whole (thawed) chicken for 10-15 minutes.

•Then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and roast for 20 minutes per pound. (Do not add the extra 15 minutes to the cooking time as with the regular method.)

Cooking Basics: http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Chicken-Cooking-Basics/Detail.aspx

Taco Meat & Beef W/ Sweet Potatoes

Taco Seasoning

1 part chili powder

1 part ground cumin

1 part garlic powder

1 part onion powder

crushed red pepper to taste

Save an old spice jar and make your own mexican seasoning to keep on hand for fajitas, peppers, taco meat, crock pot shredded chicken...you get the picture. You'll get the flavor without the added chemicals and sugar in the spice pouches.

Taco Salad

2 lbs ground beef

romaine lettuce

salsa

guac singles

I bought a family pack of ground beef for about $17-18 and used the seasoning listed above on half of it. We ate it over lettuce with salsa and guacamole. I also love to add saute'd onions and bell peppers if I have on hand, prepared how they do at Chipotle. Yumm. I always have to ask for more when I go. That tiny little spoonful is never enough!

With the remaining half of the meat, I added chopped onion (the rest of the onion that I used on the chicken salad). I added in some salt and pepper and a tiny bit of cumin. Not a lot. Cumin can ruin a dish pretty quickly. Then I cubed up a couple sweet potatoes. Threw them in the pan and put on a lid. Stirred occasionally, then drained it to get rid of any remaining fat.  

I found this on thefoodieandthefamily.com  It's as good as it looks.

5lb ground beef, $17. (two meals, 2-3 servings each).

2 Sweet Potatoes, $1 Each.

Guacamole Singles (Natural), $.60 per serving pouch

Romaine Lettuce, $4.29

Whole Chicken, Bought By Date is Great

Today I bought a whole, cut up free-range chicken on sale for $4. It was nearing the bought by date, but didn't matter because I planned on cooking it today. I eat a lot of chicken and like to change it up a bit to keep my taste buds from protesting. So today I added Parmesan cheese, tomatoes and oregano.

*1/3 cup of almond flour.  I didn't buy almond flour, I just threw a handful of almonds in the food processor. I bought the almonds at Sam's Club. I probably used less than 1/3 but just enough to fool myself into thinking its covered in breadcrumbs.

*a drizzle of oil or bacon fat (see upcoming bacon fat blog post)

*a dash of oregano

*canned stewed tomatoes (I had on hand. I think they were $1.60)

* about 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

Put the tomatoes in a baking dish.  Add all dry ingredients together. Coat chicken pieces in oil/fat, then dredge in parm. mixture. Sprinkle any remaining parm. mixture over chicken. 

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes (or however long you normally do).

I also had a can of green beans.

We didn’t eat all the chicken, so with the remaining I cut up the pieces, and picked all the tiny annoying pieces off the legs and thighs, and made chicken salad.

*storebought Real Mayo (Google paleo mayo if you want to make your own)

*salt and pepper, to taste

*garlic powder, to taste (ya pretty much everything is "to taste" when I cook. I'm sorry.)

*a few sticks of celery, chopped

*1/4 cup chopped onion (either green onions or a white/yellow onion)

*a handful of grapes sliced in half. I don’t buy grapes because they can be pricey and I eat them all in one sitting, but when you use them sparingly in a recipe like this, it adds a lot of flavor for a small amount.

And snacks for work tomorrow are celery and grapes so they don’t go to waste. It annoys me when someone posts that they used 2 cups of chopped celery and it cost them 53 cents. No it didn’t. You can't buy just 2 cups of celery. You buy the whole stalk. So unless you plan to use it the rest of the week, you're not saving money. You'll find out I eat some strange combinations, but that’s because it’s what I had left after a day or two of meals. The more I do this, the better I'll be able to plan and avoid that one or two days a week where I have incredibly odd parings like pineapple, breakfast sausage, and a chicken leg.

I got off track here. I love to add some walnuts to chicken salad, but I didn't have any and they were too expensive, so this time they were left out.

Chicken, $4.00 (2 meals, servings each)

Celery, $1.79

Grapes, $2.99

Onion, $1.69

Can of Green Beans: $1.35

Common Topic

Blogs & Websites for Cheap Paleo.

When trying save money on food it’s not only the "What" (aka actual food and recipes) but also "When" and "How" you buy and prepare it. Changing the way you eat is extremely difficult and intimidating. The planning is hard work, and the expense can knock the wind out of you.  Because it is such a tough task there are several articles on this topic. Check out some of these sites.

http://whole9life.com/2011/01/paleo-poor-your-guide-to-the-grocery-store/

http://everydaypaleo.com/2012/04/26/robb-wolfs-paleo-budget-shopping-guide-a-review/

http://www.paleoplan.com/2012/06-07/eating-paleo-on-a-budget/

You have to pick your battles.  Some spaghetti sauce has A LOT of sugar in it, but I can’t always buy the ideal.  I buy grass-fed/drug-free meats when I can, but sometimes I don’t.  Same for veggies. Organic produce is nice, but sometimes I don’t care/want to spend the extra money.  I’d rather put that money towards the meat, or just keep it in my pocket for the electrical bill that month. Sometimes it’s not a choice.

I still think that to be Paleo-ish is WAY better than to eat the diet I used to (and that much of America does).

I pack my lunch because:

1. It helps me avoid eating out.

2. There's not enough time to leave the office and go to lunch.

3. It saves $.

Good lunch idea: Put it on a stick! I dont know why this helps, but it does. Maybe its just more fun.

or Hard boiled eggs (ok, I admit..i can do this for a day or two and then I'm Bleh).

Lunch meat. Nuts. Grapes. Can of green beans.

I've been pretty successful with this set up at work. It includes a mini fridge. A really crappy microwave. One glass plate. One bowl. Can opener. Fork. Spoon. Coffee maker and the fixins (Praise the Lord).

What are some of your packing tips?

August Challenge. Day 1

Paleo August Challenge

Hey folks! Welcome to my blog. This will be mostly a collection of recipes and ideas I’ve stolen from others. I’ve just put a price on it and put it on paper (blog, whatever) to hold myself accountable. It’s very difficult to calculate costs per meal when you typically purchase items that will be in two or more servings or even dishes throughout the week.  I’ll try my best.  It may be best to calculate per week or every 4 days, but I want to be able to point out the most cost effective meals of that week, which will require some math.

This is intended for the typical busy person who wants to get healthier. These recipes are not 100% paleo. To me it's not about being perfect. It’s about challenging yourself to be better than yesterday. For example, I don’t make my own "paleo" mayo. Sometimes I use pre-packaged seasonings when I cook. For the recipes, these are extremely simple instructions, meant not to insult your intelligence, it’s just stuff I had to look up myself because I am a terrible cook.  I am by no means qualified to write about how to cook!  This blog is more of a challenge for myself to put a price to paleo and prove I can fit it in my budget. Some days will just be lists of random tips. I like to think this is something many many people think about (how to get the most food for the least money yet make it healthy). You may see the same foods and info quite a bit throughout this month, but in reality that’s how I eat.  99% of us do not have time to make a new recipe every day. Eating paleo you’ll find you eat a lot of things for breakfast you didn’t think of as “breakfast” food. I eat leftovers for lunch the next day, if I have them (I cook for myself and a super crazy strong crossfit trainer/firefighter and extra food is pretty rare). Due to our schedules we pack a LOT. Tupperware is our b-fri. He rarely has time to cook at the station without the sirens going off, so he likes to have fresh prepared food on hand to eat on the go. I normally walk out the door with breakfast in my hand, I pack my lunch, and I have a snack about 4, especially when I head to the gym straight from work.  Due to all that packing, I like to grocery shop on Saturdays and prepare many meals ahead of time and freeze when I can. So, I know it may not be the most appetizing food, but feel free to tweak it however you can. And please, let me know how your experiments turn out! Like I said…I’m not the best cook and would LOVE any tips. ( ;