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My maternal grandma is dying of cancer.  Two years ago, she was given six months to live.

She never knew me.

Relations between my grandma and my mom remained strained since I was in grade school.  Two months ago, she was trying to find my mom “to say ‘I love you’.”  They reconnected.  Soon after, my mom prodded me, saying, “Archer, she would love to hear from you.  Please call her, here’s her number…”.

I sat on my mom’s request for days.  Here I was, the grand child she never knew, and my mom was asking me to call her.  I didn’t even know how to pronounce or spell her last name.  It would have been easy to shrug off my mom’s poking and think, “She should call me!”.

I have known many years of grief at too early of an age.  After having worked through much of that, I’m desperate for the tiniest anything that can shine the faintest glimmer of redemption on all the years of sorrow.  The redemption I crave, it’s a life redemption, something that brings goodness and hope out of a botched up past.  God has redeemed much in my life already, so much that I gave my first daughter a name that means “to sew redemption.”

Redemption, it heals me, and I can’t let its invitation pass me by, however small that it is.  Even though the bitter years have blinded mortals, and I have to go out of my way to read the redemptive summons, if this is all the redemption I have left to gather, may my net be large and its holes be little, so that I may receive every morsel of it.  And may I sew it and stitch it and darn it, everywhere I go.

I called my grandma.

Where do you need to sew redemption in your life?  Where can you sew something together that was once torn apart?

I’m on a no bake protein snack kick.  I’ve been making Chocolate Walnut Freezer Bars, Peanut Butter No Bakes, Sunbutter No Bakes, and PB&J Bars.  They are all in the line up to share with you.

Archerfriendly protein-esque snacks, whether bought or made, really help me get through a day with a newborn, a toddler, a blog, and medical school when I’ve run out of time to make an actual meal.  I prefer to make my own bars and protein snacks, but I always have some kind of manufactured AF bar on hand for those moments when I’ve got nothing else to eat.

My Chocolate Walnut Freezer Bars are made in memory of the retired Clif Nectar Dark Chocolate Walnut bars.  Do you remember them?  They tasted like brownies, I could eat them, and they were my favorite organic munchie on the go!  With only 3 grams of protein a bar, they were a bit lower in protein than the other AF bars I reviewed.

In all the foods I make, I am determined to increase protein and decrease sugar as much as possible.  This is my secret to balancing blood sugar.  Because of this, my version has more walnuts and less dates than the original bar, making them taste more like the archerfriendly version of the Nestle Crunch bar… but without the rice crispy crunch.

Unfortunately, after making and eating these bars numerous times, my tree nut allergies came to a head.  (I use the term “allergies” loosely and some time I’ll explain to you all the differences:  allergy vs. food intolerance vs. food reaction, etc.)  I haven’t gotten my blood drawn to test for antibodies to nuts, so technically, it may just be a food reaction and not a real allergy.  Who knows.

I don’t think I’ll remain “allergic” to nuts forever.  A lot of my food allergies are due to a condition I have called leaky gut.  Leaky gut is not a permanent condition.  It’s curable, yes, but healing it occurs very ssslllooowwwly.  I’ve gone for years without treating this condition, and my list of food allergies seems to grow by the minute.  That’s not normal.

Just because I have to cut back on the nuts, doesn’t mean you can’t have them!  They are an ideal snack, since they are a source of protein and healthy fats.  If you use them as a snack, raw is optimal.  Don’t worry about the fat in them, it’s good fat people, good fat.

In case you don’t like to cook, you can make these!  They do require the melting of chocolate on the stove top, but I’ve made them without doing that step.  The stove top melting just helps the chocolate spread evenly throughout the bar.

When I make these for my daughter, I cut them, wrap them in wax paper, tape them shut with a piece of masking tape, and put them in a freezer bag.  She loves getting an individually wrapped homemade bar to eat, especially since it compares to opening a present.  Plus, individually wrapping them minimizes the dreaded freezer burn.

Can’t have tree nuts?  Swap out the walnuts for some pumpkin seeds!

Chocolate Walnut Freezer Bars
Makes 12 bars, about 2 1/2 inches by 2 inches

• 2.5 ounces of chocolate liquor or unsweetened chocolate
• 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 generous cups of raw walnut halves
• 27 – 30 pitted dates
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Line the bottom of an 8″ by 8″ pan with parchment paper.
2. Prepare a double boiler on very low heat to melt the chocolate liquor.  Melt the chocolate until it turns to liquid, stirring intermittently.
3. In a food processor, blend cocoa powder, walnuts, dates, and vanilla until they are well incorporated and start to form a wad.
4. Place contents from food processor into a heat safe bowl.  Pour melted chocolate into bowl.
5. Mix all ingredients together and press into an 8″ x 8″ glass pan.
6. Place pan in the freezer.
7. Once they have hardened, cut into 12 bars, individually wrap, and store them in the freezer.

Like Batman protects Gotham City, milk thistle fiercely protects your liver.  Milk thistle stimulates liver regeneration and promotes liver detoxification.  It is used in the herbal treatment of cirrhosis, hepatitis, alcohol-induced fatty liver, chemical-induced fatty liver, gallstones, and psoriasis.  It also has protective effects on the brain as well as the kidneys.

Number One Herb for the Liver

Milk thistle works liver magic.  It has therapeutic use in numerous liver conditions.  It has been clinically shown to improve liver function and it can lower liver enzymes.⁵  If you haven’t been watching your drinks, especially alcohol, you may want to talk to your doctor about taking this herb.  Because of milk thistle’s ability to protect and regenerate the liver, it’s the go-to herb for liver toxicity from alcohol, recreational drugs, and pharmaceuticals.  It’s also excellent for the treatment of mushroom poisoning.

Hangs Out in the Bile

You can think of bile as milk thistle’s batmobile in the gastrointestinal tract.  Milk thistle concentrates in the bile, possibly due to the body’s natural recycling process called enterhepatic circulation.⁴  Silybin, a flavonoid found in milk thistle, was found to be 60 times more concentrated in the bile than in the blood.²  Milk thistle also promotes the output and flow of bile from the liver into the digestive tract and it aids in the digestion of fats.¹

For the Brain, too?

An interesting study in 2009 found silybin to prevent memory impairment in mice.  This same study found that silybin preserved glutathione levels in the hippocampus (a part of the brain associated with memory).³  Glutathione is one of our bodies’ best antioxidants.  Because of these properties, milk thistle may be therapeutic in the prevention or treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. ³

Supports Healthy Hormone Balance

Your liver processes hormones.  Hormonal imbalances can result from a boggy liver, overwhelmed with toxins. Using milk thistle to get the liver moving can help to balance hormones.

Therapeutic Preparations of Milk Thistle

The best herbal preparations of milk thistle include alcoholic tinctures, capsules, or tea.  You can also grind the seeds and sprinkle the powder on food.  The use of milk thistle glycerites should be avoided because the constituents in milk thistle do not extract well in glycerin.

If you would like to start taking milk thistle, please consult your naturopathic doctor.  A licensed healthcare practitioner can tailor the dose according to your needs.

Resources
<sup>1.   Kingsbury, Sheila.  Silybum marianum.  Herbal Monograph.  2005.
2.  Ghaffari AR, Noshad H, Ostadi A, et al:  The effects of milk thistle on hepatic fibrosis due to methotrexate in rat.  Hepatitis Monthly.  2011;11(6):464-8.
3.  Lu P, Mamiya T, Lu LL, et al:  Silibinin prevents amyloid beta peptide-induced memory impairment and oxidative stress in mice.  British Journal of Pharmacology.  2009 Aug;157(7):1270-7. Epub 2009 Jun 22.
4.  Valenzuela A, Aspillaga, M, Vial S, Guerra R:  Selectivity of silymarin on the increase of the glutathione content in different tissues of the rat.  Planta medica.  1989 Oct;55(5):420-2.
5.  Hoffmann, David.  Medical Herbalism:  The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine.  Healing Arts Press, 2003.</sup>

When my daughter was 12 months old, we couldn’t keep weight on her.  She fell below the 5th percentile and we needed to start packing calories into her foods.  Rice protein powder was one of the foods I considered to amp up her protein intake in an easy, slurp it down kind of way.  Now that I know what I know about rice protein powder, I’m not so sure I’d give it to an infant, even if it came from a quality company.

Because there’s no federal oversight on protein powders, you really need to know how to find the best one.

1.  Make sure it’s digestible.

Almost all protein powders are easily digested, but when compared to each other, results vary.  I wish there was one research article that compared the digestibility of soy, hemp, rice, whey, casein, and pea protein powders using the same testing methods.  But no study exists.  Digestibility is important because it affects our body’s ability to build muscle.  Our bodies need protein to build muscle.

We do know some things though.  One study found hemp protein to be about 87% digestible, but according to the Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Scores (PDCAAS), it had about a 48% digestibility.¹  The PDCAAS also rated soy protein isolate as 92% digestible and casein protein as 100% digestible.¹  The digestibility studies I found on pea and rice protein lacked comparisons to other protein sources.  However, the research clearly stated high digestibility on account of both proteins, but I think results are weakened when not compared to another protein.^3,4

You can also look at digestibility in terms of how fast it’s digested.  Whey protein has a rapid digestion rate, making it a digestibility winner.  One research study found whey to be more digestible than soy, and soy was found to be more digestible than casein.²

2.  Look for one with a complete amino acid profile.

A protein powder’s amino acid profile determines whether or not it’s a complete protein source (amino acids all globbed together are what make a protein).  A complete protein has all the essential amino acids.  Essential amino acids are the ones that your body can’t make, so you have to get them in your diet.  Pea protein powder is the only protein powder to not contain all of the essential amino acids (unless the manufacturer adds them).  Although many of the other protein powders are complete proteins, amino acid profiles still vary between sources.  For example, hemp protein is higher in arginine than casein, pea, and soy proteins.⁵  Following consumption, whey protein showed the highest level of essential amino acids in the blood compared to soy or casein proteins.²

3.  Investigate how it’s made.

Choose a protein powder that came from an organic protein source and inspect how the protein was grown (whether from a cow or a plant).  You also need to know how the protein was isolated from its mother source. Some protein powders, especially non-organic ones, are made using solvents (very toxic chemicals) to separate out the protein.  Solvent residues are always left in the product.  I saw this concept in the organic chemistry lab when I used a chemical solvent to extract caffeine from black tea.  Make sure the manufacturing process is solvent free.

4.  Beware of heavy metal contamination.

Rice protein seems to have a predisposition to lead contamination, especially since a lot of rice protein powders come from China.  A major source of the world’s lead and cadmium exposure comes from rice.⁶  In May 2010, Consumer Lab found NutriBiotic’s vanilla flavored rice protein to contain 6 mcg of lead per 15 gram scoop.  They also found Metagenics UltraMeal chocolate flavored rice protein to contain 5.9 mcg of lead for a daily serving of 104 grams.  In July 2010, Consumer Reports found two Muscle Milk products each contaminated with about 12-13 mcg of lead for 3 servings.

5.  Eat as local as possible.

Different countries have different standards.  Stick to protein sources that have come from the U.S. or Canada, or investigate a local source if you live overseas.  Biotics found high levels of lead in rice protein powder imported from China.

6.  Find a quality company.

Protein powders are not regulated by any governmental agency, including the FDA.  Find a company that follows the proposed FDA current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) for nutritional supplements.  If you don’t know how to find this out, call them and ask.  A quality company will also conduct third party testing of all their materials. By finding a good company, you eliminate HUNDREDS of protein powders.  It costs money to have better manufacturing practices and third party testing, so the more expensive protein powders are usually the better ones. Metagenics is a quality company I trust, so I was surprised to see the lead contamination in their UltraMeal (but I think the problem is that it utilizes rice protein).

7. Watch out for fillers.

Everyone seems to flock to the hemp protein powder at Trader Joe’s because it’s so cheap, but the label shows that it’s cut with sugar.  Other companies aren’t as honest.  Due to lack of quality regulations, sneaky companies add fillers to their protein powders and never say so on the label.

If I could have dairy, I would eat whey protein powder from organic, grass-fed cows because it increases glutathione levels in the body (glutathione is a super hero antioxidant, and eating more kale supports this antioxidant system).

With all of these things in mind, my favorite allergy friendly protein powder is hemp protein.  Because hemp protein powder is also high in fiber, it serves double duty in helping to balance blood sugar.  Hemp has a heart healthy fat profile and its high amounts of arginine may assist immune function.¹  I also like that my hemp protein powder was grown and processed in Canada.

This information is condensed in a free downloadable PDF.  Feel free to educate your friends, family, and patients with this handout.

References:
<sup>1. House JD, Neufeld J, Leson G:  Evaluating the quality of protein from hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) products through the use of the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score method.  Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.  2010.  Volume 58, 11801–11807.
2. Tang JE, Moore DR, Kujbida GW, et al:  Ingestion of whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate:  effects on mixed muscle protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men.  Journal of Applied Physiology.  9 July 2009.  107:987-992.
3. Wang M, Hettiarachchy NS, Qi M, et al:  Preparation and Functional Properties of Rice Bran Protein Isolate.  Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.  1999.  Volume 47, 411-416.
4. Gausserès N, Mahè S, Benamouzig R:  [N]-Labeled pea flour protein nitrogen exhibits good ileal digestibility and postprandial retention in humans.  The Journal of Nutrition.  1997.  127:1160-1155.
5. Aukema H, Gauthier J, Roy M, et al:  Distinctive effects of plant protein sources on renal disease progression and associated cardiac hypertrophy in experimental kidney disease.  Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.  2011.  Volume 55, 1044-1051.
6. Shakerian A, Rahimi E, Ahmadi M:  Cadmium and lead content in several brands of rice grains (Oryza sativa) in central Iran.  Toxicology and Industrial Health.  18 January 2012.</sup>

Well it took a while, but I finally found the time to create an official archerfriendly Facebook page!  Please click the “Like” button below, then click the link to head on over to the page!  All site updates will be posted there, as well as quick tips, polls, and great AF community conversation.

Don’t forget to share it with all your friends, too!

archerfriendly on Facebook

I’m sure all those football crazed muscle-head men who obsess about the Super Bowl are totally into vegetarianism and hippie centric natural health.  That’s why they all flock to archerfriendly.

Because this obviously isn’t the case, I thought I’d share my chicken hot wing recipe just for them.  And for you and everyone else who watches the Super Bowl.  And for those who just asked Mr. Google when the Super Bowl is because they had no idea (I’m a football dud).

Most hot wings contain the three archerfriendly evils:  gluten, soy, and dairy.  My wings use coconut oil in place of the traditionally used butter and coconut aminos in place of soy sauce.  I’m allergic to soy, but if I wasn’t, I would totally use Bragg’s Liquid Aminos in my recipe.  It tastes better than the coconut aminos (also tastes better than regular soy sauce), but I don’t really have a choice in the matter (take the hint if you aren’t allergic to soy).  I wasn’t always allergic to all things soy, in case you were wondering exactly how I know this information.

Sometimes I hesitate in saying “this recipe is free of ___, ___, and ___”, because it’s a taste bud turn off.  Food allergies scare me off too.  I want to eat normal!  Well, even if you’re not allergic to gluten, dairy, and soy, you should rotate your diet and try these wings.  Making archerfriendly recipes is a great way to add variety and hypoallergenic foods to switch up your diet.  You get into trouble when you eat the same foods every day.  Sugar is another archerfriendly villain and most of my recipes are extremely low in it.

These wings will score big for any normal eater with their touchdown flavors of salty, sweet, and spicy brewed in that nose burning vinegar fumigation we all love.

What are your archerfriendly Super Bowl snacks?

Baked and Broiled Hot Wings
Makes ~ 15 wings

• 3.5 – 4 pounds chicken wings
• 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (forgive me, it’s not organic)
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1 Tablespoon unrefined virgin coconut oil
• 1 Tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1.5 teaspoons coconut aminos (or Bragg’s liquid aminos)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• fresh ground black pepper
• a good handful of fresh basil leaves

Directions for the Sauce

1. Place hot sauce, honey, coconut oil, vinegar, garlic, coconut aminos, lemon juice, and black pepper in a blender.  Blend well.
2. Pour sauce mixture into a sauce pan with fresh basil leaves.  Cook on low while wings are baking in the oven.
3. Strain basil leaves out of wing sauce prior to pouring over chicken wings (optional).

Directions for the Wings

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Coat chicken wings with unrefined virgin coconut oil, top and bottom.  Sprinkle wings with salt.
3. Bake in a glass Pyrex dish for 20 minutes.  Remember to start heating the sauce when wings are put in the oven.
4. Broil on low for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Transfer wings to a serving bowl.  Pour wing sauce over wings and toss.

I love Indian food so much that my husband and I included it as part of our wedding festivities five and a half years ago.  When our guests RSVP’d, they had to choose “Traditional” or “Indian” fare instead of the usual beef or fish options.  In place of champagne, everyone was given a mango lassi to toast up the new bride and groom.  (Ugh, and now I can’t have mangoes.  But maybe that will change!)  If you’ve never had a mango lassi before, you better go to your nearest Indian food establishment and get one!  If my body befriends mangoes again, you better believe we’ll be making dairy free, sugar free mango lassies.

As much as I have loved Indian food, I’ve pretty much been a failure at making my own curries on the spot (until recently: watch for my Metro Curry Seasoning recipe).  My first attempt at making a homemade Indian chicken curry was in high school.  I tried making one with McCormick’s curry powder.  It was edible, but nothing like what I got at any of my Indian friends’ houses.  According to my family, I “stunk up the house for days.”  I think the mistake here was using McCormick’s curry seasoning.  No offense Mr. McCormick, but you’re not Indian so it just doesn’t work.

Then the mother of one of my Indian friends showed me how to really make your own curry.  Two pinches of ginger.  A pinch of paprika.  A smidgeon of mango powder.  And so on.  Tried that.  It still wasn’t turning out like it did when she made it.

Then I met Muchi.

Muchi curry powder is a curry spice blend made by Frontier Natural Products Co-Op.  This curry powder tastes like the real thing, and it has given me the luxury to make authentic tasting Indian dishes without having to eye up 13 different spices.  It’s easy and delicious.  But be careful!  Spicy.

Obviously, all Thai and Indian curries taste best when properly cooked on the stove.  That’s ideal.  But when you’re moving through life on the fly and you have 394823 food allergies and you just want to taste something different that comes out of a crock-pot, this is it.  Coconut milk does best on the stove top, and not cooked all day in a crock-pot, because if it boils for too long in the crock it can coagulate.  Just so you know.

This recipe is the bare bones.  Of course you can add a million veggies.  It’s the bare bones recipe because in the past, this is all I’ve had time to throw together before leaving for the day.  And the bare bones recipe, it’s fast.  If you add a million veggies, there’s the washing and chopping.  That takes time.  When I’ve had the extra fifteen minutes, I’ve added a very finely chopped bunch of kale (of course you know why I’m obsessed with kale).  You could also throw in a bag of frozen veggies if you’re looking to amp up the green without amping up the prep time.

My Muchi Crock-Pot Chicken Curry is no fail.  You can make this!  I’ve made this a gazillion times for many different people gatherings, and I’ve gotten rave reviews. I give all the credit back to you, Miss Muchi Curry Powder.

Muchi Crock-Pot Chicken Curry
Makes 8-10 Servings

• 4 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 14 oz. cans of full fat coconut milk
• 1.5 – 2 Tablespoons Muchi curry powder (more if you like spicy)
• 1/4 tsp paprika (optional because Muchi curry powder doesn’t have any paprika)
• 1 6 oz. can organic tomato paste (yes, I know)
• fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions

1. Whisk together coconut milk, Muchi curry powder, paprika, and tomato paste in your crock-pot.
2. Add chicken pieces.
3. Cook on low for at least 3-4 hours.
4. Garnish with fresh cilantro just before serving.

Serve over brown basmati rice.
 

Notes

• For another variation, omit the tomatoes.  If you’re night-shade free, note that there is cayenne in the Muchi curry powder.

Withania somnifera is the latin name for ashwagandha, a sanskrit word that literally means ‘horse pee’.  This word must vary in translations because I learned in an Ayurvedic class that ashwagandha means, “to impart the strength of a horse.”  How do we get the strength of a horse from its piddle?

Take heart though, because horse urine has nothing to do with the medicinal properties of this herb.  It’s actually the root that provides all the medicinal horse power.

Combats Adrenal Fatigue

Ashwagandha is my favorite herb, ever.  This herb, oh, it works.  Taking ashwagandha, otherwise known as Indian ginseng, is like giving your adrenal glands the gas they need to keep trucking you along when you continue to burn the candle at both ends, as many of us unfortunately do.  Although this herb should not be used as a crutch to continue an unhealthy lifestyle of staying up late and waking up early, it sure can be supportive when stress is high, sleep is little, and you’ve just been pushin’ pushin’ pushin’.  If the energizer bunny (oh no, another bunny keyword for Google!) had a secret to his ability to keep going and going, it would be ashwagandha.

Harmonizes Energy & Sleep

The incredible feature of ashwagandha is how balancing it can be.  Some herbs that support your energy levels can also affect sleep, but not this one!  Ashwagandha can actually help you sleep better because it happens to be a nervine.  It can also be used to treat anxiety.

Modulates the Immune System

A fascinating quality to this restorative herb is that it enhances immune function.  Chronic stress and sleep deprivation can really take a toll on your immunity.  But, wow, ashwagandha helps with stress, helps with sleep, and then, it boosts your immune system.  What more could you ask for in an herb?!

Protects Your Brains

More!  There’s more!  Ashwagandha is also food for the brain, or you can say ‘neuroprotective’.  In vitro research has shown that ashwagandha can regenerate damaged nerve tissue.  It’s anti-inflammatory and functions as an antioxidant.  It can be used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and it may help as an adjunct therapy for carbon monoxide poisoning.

Supports Male Sexual Health

Ashwagandha can also be helpful in the men’s health department.  It can be used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and male infertility, especially when chronic stress is part of the picture.

Rover Can Have It Too

The horse power in a pill is not just for humans.  Ashwagandha is also friendly for dogs and cats.  I like that Ayush Herbs makes an ashwagandha product just for this purpose.  Consult your veterinarian before administering this herb to your pets.

I love ashwagandha because it equilibrates the body on all levels:  physically, mentally, and emotionally.

If you would like to start taking ashwagandha, please consult your naturopathic doctor.  A licensed healthcare practitioner can tailor the dose according to your needs.  

Resources:
<sup>1. Yarnell, Eric.  Botanical Medicine V.  Bastyr University.  Spring 2011.
2. Raymer, Katherine.  Neurology.  Bastyr University.  Spring 2011.</sup>

Mr. Google is watching you.  He’s even taking notes.  And he remembers.  He has a nice little track record of all your Google searches, and he knows where you’ve clicked around.  He knows you just googled “leather boots” and clicked on the Nordstrom’s search result because all the ads on the sidebars of websites are now showing the exact same leather boots you looked at when you were perusing the selection at Nordstrom’s online shop.  Oh yeah, was that me?

Mr. Google is not the only one spying on your online behavior.  Others are too.  Why?  Because Mr. Schmoogle shares his covert detective work, for FREE, with site owners.  Creepy, huh?

Because of Mr. Google’s online spying program, Google Analytics, I am able to view what Google search entries people used to find my website.  I’ve compiled the top ten most entertaining searches of 2011 below.

1.  “what is it called when a fever fries a kids brain?”

If by frying a kids brain you mean brain damage, that doesn’t occur until a fever hits 107°F, which is very rare.

2. “my son ate all his easter candy, can he get sugar poisoning?”

YES!  It’s called insulin resistance, early onset type II diabetes, and childhood obesity.  Medically speaking, there’s no such thing as sugar poisoning, but there should be!  If your son ate all his easter candy, there is the potential for lead poisoning if the candy was imported from Mexico.

3. “pills for your butt”

No idea how this search entry found my website.  But pills for your butt would be called rectal suppositories.  I haven’t talked about those yet.

4. “where do they sell fever bugs”

In the natural section at Walgreen’s…or Hogwarts.

5.  ”two Easter bunnies divorced parenting guidance”

My Peeps Are Cheap article sure brought on some interesting search results… all I know is I sure do feel sorry for the poor kid who’s dad was searching this.

6.  ”did the stevia melt the ice cream?”

How does Mr. Google know why your ice cream melted?  Stevia does not melt ice cream, whether sprinkled on top or blended in a homemade recipe.  Given the very low amounts of stevia that is needed to sweeten things, I don’t see it altering the melting point of any ice cream.

7.  ”how can I show my moons if I can’t push back my cuticles?”

The white crescent “moon” area on your fingernail is actually called the lunula, which means “little moon” in Latin. I’ve seen plenty of fingernails without the cuticle pushed back, and I can see the moons just fine.  Maybe you should accept your natural crescent factor.

8.  ”pamelas products chocolate chip cookies ate the whole thing”

I have done this before.  But I didn’t ask Mr. Google what he thought about it.  Yes, I ate sugar.  Yes, this was before I developed an allergy to tapioca.

9.  ”I have yams and I don’t know what to do with them”

Couldn’t you have just typed “yam recipes” or “leftover yams”?  If you’re asking Mr. Goog, he already knows that you don’t know what to do with them.  If they haven’t rotted in your fridge yet (like a bad episode of Hoarders), you can try my Curry Root Fries, Tom Kha Gai Soup, or Saigon Maple Mashed Yams.

10. “can rabbits eat tapioca”

I’m not an expert on pet food allergies, but I think Mr. Google thought I was since I mentioned a special bunny in my Peeps Are Cheap article… the Easter bunny that is.

There aren’t many bars that I can eat.  What’s left for a bar if you can’t have gluten, dairy, soy, tapioca, almonds, or cashews?  One of those items is in almost EVERY bar I investigate.  That’s why there are so few archerfriendly bars.

This may be a good thing, since packaged bars tend to be over-sweetened and packed with man-made-not-found-in-nature protein powders (more on protein powders later).  But sometimes I just want something that I can eat out of a package and not have to make it myself, especially on the fly.  Almost every single thing I eat, I make myself.  It feels nice to be able to eat something I didn’t have to make myself.  But it’s not so much a matter of feeling nice than it is a matter of time.  Sometimes I just run out of time.  I don’t meal plan.  And, wow, it’s lunch and I have nothing made, and by the time the unplanned lunch will be ready to eat, it’ll be another two hours.  Time for a bar.

These bars, I can eat.  I eat one of them almost every day.  Being that almost nothing else in my diet comes out of a package, I think it’s fine.  And I think it’s ok if you eat them too.  Not only are these the only archerfriendly bars I can find, but they also happen to be the most whole food based bars on the market.

Up until a few days ago, the above bars were the only archerfriendly bars I could find.  But late last week, I found Nutiva’s Organic Hemp Protein Bar.  It’s totally archerfriendly!  How have I not found it until now?!  I’ll be testing them tomorrow when I pick up my Azure order.  Because I haven’t had them yet, they won’t be reviewed in this article.

To receive the archerfriendly stamp of approval, a bar has to have protein.  That’s usually why I need a bar.  I need quick protein.  Something that won’t give me the hypoglycemic shakes 2 hours later.  None of these bars bother my blood sugar (thank goodness).  I wouldn’t be eating them every day if they did.  Each of these bars has 7 grams of protein.

In case you are looking for last minute and healthy stocking stuffers, think no farther!  Load up the stockings with a bunch of these!

Here’s my take on these 3 bars:

1.  Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar.
The Good:  Tasty.  Simple whole foods ingredients.  You can’t get any more basic then peanuts, dates, and salt.
The Bad:  Too sweet.  18g of sugar in one bar – that’s more than a medium banana!
My Rant:  I was a little disappointed when I started seeing some of Lara’s bars incorporate chocolate chips, because I think she started veering away from her whole foods based philosophy.  The chocolate chips have sugar in them, and overall, I just felt like it was a downgrade in food quality.

2. Original Peanut Bumble Bar
The Good:  A bar that’s available at the BCNH’s dispensary when I need a quick snack on shift.  Much lower in sugar than the Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar, only 7 grams!
The Bad:  Not a big fan of brown rice syrup or evaporated cane juice, but I’ll take it, since it ain’t much.  The sesame seeds are hard to digest if you don’t chew them up well (if you’re really curious feed them to your toddler and you’ll see the bar in their poop), so I’m not sure how much of that protein you’re really getting.
My Rant:  In the past, I would have never eaten these because I was a refined sugar snob.  While they are a bit sugar coating to my throat, they are really not a bad snack.  Probably at the bottom if I had to rank all 3 of these bars in terms of their health, but I’ve gotten so sick of eating Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars, that it’s a breath of fresh air to have a change!  I guess I caved…

3.  Tanka Bar
The Good:  An incredibly tasty Native American traditional food made with buffalo!  A really nice change-of-taste for a snack (can you tell I’m tired of snacking on peanuts?).  And your money goes to a great cause.
The Bad:  I wish it didn’t have sugar in it.  The cranberries used to make the Tanka Bars are pre-sweetened with sugar.  Also the most expensive bar on this list.
My Rant:  Buffalo!

Are you eating archerfriendly bars you haven’t told me about?  I would love to hear about them in the comments.

If you eat normal, you may mistake these gluten-free gingerbread men as holiday dog biscuits, because they kind of look like those natural, homemade dog treats you see at the local farmer’s market.  But they’re not.  The canine biscuit look comes from the color of molasses and the texture of ground flax seeds.

These gluten-free, dairy-free gingerbread men are named after my friend Beth.  Beth is the one who celebrated my 13th day of being archerfriendly by giving me a modified birthday card for the occasion.  Beth and I both started eating archerfriendly around the same time, although our diets are different now.  She behaved a lot better when it came to the holidays.  She stuck to her diet.  I didn’t.  I always thought she was an archerfriendly rockstar for eating so well, even on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  She saw a radical improvement in her health from her new diet.  Eating well changed her life.

I love remembering this.  Eating well has changed my life too, but sometimes I run out of fervor for eating so healthy. Sometimes I just want to, well, eat junk (especially the hot java fru-fru drinks from you know who).

Anyways, these mini gingerbread men are super easy.  I whipped up a batch of them before church this past Sunday, and that’s saying a lot.  Because they are only made with quinoa flour and ground flax seeds, they are really quick to throw together.  I’m used to gluten-free baking taking forever due to the gazillions of flours I use for one recipe.  Not these puppies (oh, am I still thinking about the dog biscuits?).

Just in case you’re a normalfriendly eater person, you may like these too.  We had our normalfriendly neighbors over last night, and they really enjoyed them.  The quinoa flavor jives really well with the spicy ginger and earthy molasses.

Beth’s Mini Gingerbread Men are adapted from Beth’s mom’s recipe for bethfriendly ginger snaps, so they are lovingly named after her.

Beth’s Mini Gingerbread Men
Makes about 40

Dry Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup quinoa flour
• 3 Tablespoons ground flax seeds
• 1 tsp ginger
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp stevia

 Wet Ingredients

• 1/2 cup organic virgin coconut oil
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Preheat oven to 360°F.
3. Thoroughly mix dry ingredients together, ensuring there are no lumpies.
4. First blend coconut oil and molasses together.  Then add the egg and vanilla.
5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix together.
6. On top of a flat surface covered with parchment paper, press the dough with your hands until it is ~ 1/4 inch thick.  You may want to rub your hands with some coconut oil before pressing the dough.  The dough is sticky.
7. Cut out your mini gingerbread men with a cookie cutter.  Use a spatula to transfer them to the baking sheet.  If the room temperature is high, you may need to transfer the dough to the freezer for a few minutes to make it easier to press and cut the cookies.  A high room temperature may make your dough too soft and it will be difficult to cut your little men.
8. Bake for 10-11 minutes or until done.

I still remember when my interstitial cystitis symptoms came to a head.  I had been noticing ongoing bladder pain after I drank coffee for several months, but this time, it felt like I had a terrible urinary tract infection.  So I did what every herbal wanna-be would do.  I drank Vaccinium macrocarpon juice, which is the juice of the cranberry fruit.  I drank as much as I could swallow.

The pain got worse.  Way worse.  And, well, I didn’t have a urinary tract infection.  I had interstitial cystitis.  The cranberry juice was like kerosene being poured on a fire in my bladder (cranberries can aggravate interstitial cystitis symptoms).

I bring this story up because cranberries have played a large role in folk medicine, particularly for the treatment of a urinary tract infection. Folk medicine has taught many people that the acidity of the cranberries kills the bacteria causing the urinary tract infection.

Well, sorry to burst your cranberries, but it doesn’t work that way.  Cranberries do not directly kill bacteria in your urinary tract and they are not the go-to herb when it comes to treating urinary tract infections naturally.  There are more potent herbs that can kill the bacteria, but that’s for another herb of the month.

Cranberries can acidify the urine, but for this to happen you would need to drink more than 32 ounces of cranberry juice in one sitting, and the acidity would last for maybe 10-15 minutes.¹

Cranberries contain a mega antioxidant, like many other dark berries, called proanthocyanidins.  These special antioxidants are wonderful for cardiovascular health, but in terms of a UTI, they inhibit the binding of E. coli (and other bacteria) to the bladder wall.  In other words, cranberries make it harder for bacteria to congregate and make offspring in your urinary tract.  Because of this quality, cranberries are a great choice for preventing urinary tract infections.  They are not the go-to herb for these types of infections because they have not been shown to directly kill the bacteria.  However, studies have still shown them effective in treating urinary tract infections, but this is at a very high dose of cranberry juice.

If you choose to use cranberry juice therapeutically, make sure to get the straight-up stuff without all the extra sugar or fruit juices.  Excess sugar is pro-inflammatory and not the best thing for your body to process when it’s fighting an infection.  If other non-cranberry juices are added, the benefits of the cranberries get diluted.  Plus, you don’t want to give yourself another problem down the road from the ingestion of too much (sweetened) cranberry juice!  I get my cranberry juice concentrate from Trader Joe’s.  For each glass I drink, I add about 40% water and a few drops of liquid stevia.  It’s delicious this way, and there are no additional sugars added.

You can also use a cranberry juice supplement if you can’t handle the tartness of the juice (or the gobs of it that you need to drink).  Genestra makes a supplement called Cranberry Plus, which I have personally used before.  If you absolutely can’t stand the sight of cranberries, you can try blueberries instead.  Because of their mutual friend, proanthocyanidins, blueberries are interchangeable with cranberries.

What’s your experience with using cranberries?

Resources:
1.  Yarnell, Eric.  Naturopathic Urology and Men’s Health.  Wenatchee, WA:  Healing Mountain Publishing, 2001.

I was recently drooling over a friend’s jalapeño poppers, made just like this.  The poppers were a big fat archerfriendly no-no since they were stuffed with cream cheese.  If there was one time I could have cheated on eating dairy, this would have been it!  Looking back, maybe I should have had one…

Luckily, I didn’t feel too deprived because another friend had also made bacon wrapped dates.  I could savor those instead.  It was the first time I ever had a bacon wrapped date, and I was impressed with the utilization of a well loved American fat slab joining hippie grub!  (I’m a sucker for hippie nibbles.)  Seeing the bacon-centric hors d’oeurves lined up on the table gave me the idea of merging the two into perfect archerfriendliness.  Well, perfect as long as you don’t eat them every day.

Bacon, dates, and jalepeños.  That’s all it takes to make this pleasurable combo of meat, fruit, and veggie.  Three flavors all in one bite:  salty, sweet, and spicy.  Make sure to use uncured, organic bacon.  Toxins are stored in the fat, so when you eat blubber that once had eyes and legs, you really need it to be organic.  If you can’t afford the organic fatty pork strips, at least go for the nitrate free slabs.  Nitrates cause cancer – you heard that already, right?  It’s true! You can get the nitrate free stuff at Trader Joe’s.

I know what you’ll be making for your New Year’s Eve party…

Bacon Dates a Jalapeño
Makes 32

Ingredients

• 16 slices of thick cut uncured, organic bacon
• 8 larger jalapeños
• 32 pitted dates

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Cut off  the top of the jalapeños, then in half lengthwise.
3. Scrapes out the seeds.
4. Cut them in half again across the middle to make little bowls about the length of a date.
5. Place on large baking pan, covered with parchment paper.
6. Place a date into each bowl, trying your best to size them appropriately (larger dates in larger bowls).
7. Cut bacon slices in half across the middle.
8. Wrap each slice tightly around each jalapeño bowl, overlapping on the bottom.
9. Bake them in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
10. If your bacon is still looking a little rubbery and not crisped up, broil them for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Notes

• For an extra spicy kick, leave a few of the seeds in each jalapeño.

After reading my last post, you may be wondering why my holiday feasting proposal included minimizing sweeteners for Thanksgiving, when it’s ummm, Thanksgiving!  A time for feasting!  Who holds back on Thanksgiving?

Eating archerfriendly has not come easy.  It took me a long time to adapt to my diet changes.  I felt forced to eat this way, so I resisted it.  I also felt sad for all the foods I could no longer have.  For months, I could never get past 13 days of eating archerfriendly.  I just couldn’t do it.  The day I made it past day 13, my roommate celebrated my accomplishment by giving me a birthday card for a 13 year old, edited of course, with the appropriate words, “Happy Thirteenth Day!”.

When I made it to day 14 of eating archerfriendly for the first time, my next goal was to make it to Thanksgiving, which was only 2 1/2 months away at the time.  ”Just eat this way until Thanksgiving”, I would constantly tell myself.  I could do that.  I could make it to Thanksgiving and then re-evaluate.

As a “reward” for 3 months of strictly eating archerfriendly, I had decided that I could eat whatever I wanted on Thanksgiving Day.  So when Thanksgiving came, that’s exactly what I did.  I went crazy.  The first thing I went for was a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, and I still have a picture of the incident.  I remember how my throat felt afterwards, that sickening sweet coating that hangs out on your throat as if liquid lollipop married itself to the epithelium of the pharynx.  I’m not trying to make Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups evil here.  I did not have one drop of any sweetener for 3 months, so eating a boat load of sugar like this was pretty shocking to my body.

This “reward” I had for myself was actually a lesson in how crappy I felt when I carelessly ate whatever I wanted.  More deeply, I began to realize that this archerfriendly thing was not going to be temporary.

But this first lesson I had, it didn’t stop me.  I continued to eat strictly archerfriendly afterwards, but then came Christmas and I wasn’t interested in sticking to my diet.  And I felt like crap all over again.  Perhaps I shouldn’t be referring to the consequences of eating non-a-f food as feeling like crap.  Using that phrase is an understatement.  It was more like severe bladder spasms that felt like my bladder was contracting on razor blades.  Now that’s motivation.  I needed to see this relationship between food and chronic pain a few more times before I realized that it wasn’t worth it anymore.

Then I got serious about getting better.  I noticed huge changes in my health.  I had more energy.  I was feeling good. My interstitial cystitis symptoms were improving.  I felt so much better that I no longer had the desire to eat normal. This health was worth it.  My well being became a value to me, not just in my words but also in my actions.  I started doing my own things for the holidays:  bringing food everywhere I went, making food for parties, getting a separate archerfriendly dish made, lugging red garnet yams across the country in my suitcase so that I could make my own maple mashed yams, and making my own holiday a-f dishes.

Once my interstitial cystitis (IC) healed in 2008, I started getting real flexible with my diet.  In a way, it was freeing.  I don’t know if I could ever go back to being 100% archerfriendly 24-7.  Right now, I just do my best.  Even though the IC is gone, my food allergies are worsening.  It’s just not normal to be allergic to, what, 10 foods and counting?  So for me, I’m pulling in the reins a little bit, which includes Thanksgiving, in hopes to bring my body back into balance.

What you eat matters.  What you put in your mouth affects your body (including your bladder).  What you swallow affects your health.  It affects everything.

What about you?  Do you have food allergies?  Do you follow your healthy diet and food allergies over the holidays?  Or do you give yourself permission to eat “normal” for Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities?

Whatever you do, make sure you think through it, and have a plan.