PFCs and immunity

The Atlantic, reporting on a recent article in JAMA, said today that "PFCs, found in pizza boxes, fast-food wrappers, popcorn bags, certain clothing, and more, have been tied to a lower level of antibodies in kids."

 This may be of particular concern in the eastern Twin Cities region, where groundwater contamination has occurred.

Alarmingly, the impact of the PFCs was worse than for PCBs, according to the author of the study. 

Wednesday's Soup

I've started a new activity for the winter, which is Wednesday soup and open craft time for my friends.  I'll make a big pot of soup each week, and enjoy the company of whoever is available that day while we work on projects together after lunch.  Leftover soup is never a problem in this house... I like to eat it for breakfast and lunch, and Lavender takes it for lunch, too.

This week's soup was adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites.  I've liked every recipe I've made from this book, although I never prepare them exactly as written.  Recipes are just a guideline!  Here, I've made it a more filling stew-like meal by using the whole pound of split peas.  I also added spinach, chipotle pepper, and celery, and used vinegar instead of lime juice (which is probably lovely, but was not in my refrigerator).

Green, Orange, and Gold Split Pea Soup (about 10 servings; prep + cooking time ~ 2 hours)

2 c chopped onions sauteed in 1 t olive oil or chicken fat
1 lb yellow split peas
6 c chicken or vegetable broth
2 c peeled and diced sweet potatoes
1 c cored, peeled, and diced apples
1 c finely diced celery
1.5 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp chili powder

1 dried chipotle pepper

3/4 c diced tomatoes
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp red wine vinegar

2 c fresh spinach, slivered

Rinse split peas and add to large pot with all ingredients through the dried chipotle pepper.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a gentle simmer.  Cook until peas are done and beginning to fall apart, about 60-90 minutes.  Remove chipotle pepper and either discard it, or, if you want more of its flavor, take out the seeds and return the pulp to the soup.  Add tomatoes, soy sauce, and vinegar and puree slightly with an immersion blender if desired.  Add spinach and continue to heat gently until it is wilted.

Halloween and the never-ending stream of candy and sugar

The constant availability of sugar in many forms has to be a large part of the current obesity epidemic. Everywhere we go, someone is offering Lavender or all of us candy, a cookie, or some other flour- or sugar-based item.   It makes me crazy.  Food does not need to be a part of every activity in which we participate!

And now it's nearly Halloween, just one of the sugar-dominated holidays of winter.   The costume is the biggest fun, but my little trick-or-treater is sure to bring home a lot of stuff that none of us needs.

What to do with all that candy? 
Well, first... I need to come up with a way of separating it from Lavender.  My thoughts:

• candy for 2 days
• one piece of candy each day for a week
• fill a small container with favorites
• pick a few pieces, trade the rest for a family dinner at kid-chosen restaurant
• pick a few pieces, trade the rest for a favorite homemade dessert that we will make
• parent buys the candy at a per-pound or per-piece rate
• kids can choose from these options but not "candy until it's gone."  This is probably the route I'll take this year.  Last year, I offered to buy the candy but she wanted nothing to do with that - however, this year, she is much more interested in money.

and then, what to do with the rest? 

• Give the first-purged candy to the next kids who come to the door.
• Conduct candy experiments.
• Make decorations for Thanksgiving and Christmas (gingerbread house) or just let the kids make some art. Bonus result of seeing the candy as a not-food item.
• Some dentists participate in this buyback program.
• Our food shelf collects it.  I have mixed feelings about that.  
• Give it to Herb to take to work.
• Just pitch it.  Yes, it's a waste of resources, but using it doesn't make it healthier for anyone.

How can we limit our own participation in the annual tooth decay and environmental damage?  Instead of candy, how about 'treating:'

• All those random plastic young-kid toys that entered your house to be played with once, that you would otherwise throw away - let someone else enjoy them for the day.
• Pencils, regular or mechanical, or pens.
• Small spiral notebooks
• Raisins (these are in recyclable boxes, too)
• Microwave popcorn (avoid the artificial, chemical "butter") or not-horrible chips, if you find some, although these are in throwaway packaging
• Sunflower seeds (individually packaged)
• Bookmarks

Cell Phones and Kids

Lavender doesn't carry a cell phone, but we are a cell-phone-only household and so she occasionally uses mine, usually on speaker mode.  However, when I see a study like this, I pay attention:

Cellphones Exceed U.S. FCC Exposure Limits by as Much as Double for Children, Study Finds

excerpt: "The paper notes that the industry-designed process for evaluating microwave radiation from phones results in children absorbing twice the cellphone radiation to their heads, up to triple in their brain's hippocampus and hypothalamus, greater absorption in their eyes, and as much as 10 times more in their bone marrow when compared to adults."

Check the SAR rating on your phone - and next time you upgrade, compare models before purchasing!

Resources:

EWG's Best & Worst Phones / Shopping Guide

CNET: Cell Phone Radiation Levels

FCC: Specific Absorption Rate for Cellular Telephones

Arguing about Starchy Vegetables

The Senate stood up for potatoes and corn this week when the Obama administration proposed limiting starchy vegetables to 1c/week in school lunches (how did corn ever become a vegetable, anyway?).  Simple solution: serve them, but don't count them as vegetables, but rather toward the grain portion of the meal, which is often overloaded anyway. Non-starchy vegetables have higher nutrient levels by far, and are the ones less likely to be found in abundance in many homes - why not take this opportunity to introduce students to them?  This approach follows Dr. Joel Fuhrman's nutritarian food pyramid.

Quinoa for breakfast

Quinoa is a seed that is treated as a grain, and which is cooked exactly like white rice (1:2 ratio, cook for 20 minutes after bringing to a boil).  It has a light, fluffy texture much like couscous.  Rinse and cook 1 c. quinoa for 4 breakfast servings.  Add butter, or fruit and nuts, milk and cinnamon, or cooked greens with whatever else your taste buds fancy.  Refrigerate or freeze extra servings in microwave-safe glass containers.  Cost per serving (quinoa only): about $0.25 for organic quinoa purchased in bulk.

For numbers buffs: According to nutritiondata.com, 1/4 c dry quinoa has 157 calories, 2.5g fat, 27g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, and 6g protein.  Unlike other grains and grain-like foods, all essential amino acids are represented in that protein. 

But we don't cook it just because of that.  Lavender likes it, and it's a much better breakfast (not to mention far less costly) than processed cereal from a box! 

Summer Wrap

This wrap is loosely based on summer rolls, the fresh and delicious, not-fried rolls that are on the menu at some Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, made with rice paper wrappers. 

per serving:
1 tortilla of choice (not corn) - mine were 6" so if you use very large tortillas, adjust quantities below accordingly
1 Tbsp peanut or almond butter
1/4 tsp tamari or soy sauce
1/4 c shredded Romaine or spinach
3 T shredded carrot
a few slivers of sliced bell pepper
any other random vegetables you have ready to go - I added some shredded Brussels sprouts

Add ingredients in order listed, and roll it up.  Slice or not.
Cost: about $0.50 each.  Lavender took 2 of these for lunch today, with olives, fruit salad, and carrots.  Total lunch cost, $1.75.  (Largest individual cost = tortillas at $0.25 each.)