I was going to write about BPA as I had been reading about this dangerous toxin last night and didn’t realize how bad it is! But instead, I will tell you all about my adventures today!
I am so very lucky to have a Nutritional Therapist at my disposal at work (Hi Catherine!)soooo I tapped her as a resource in my quest to find alternatives to white sugar and regular milk. And WOW I got some awesome information back about everything I could imagine and for which I am ever so grateful! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
If you know me, you know I like to bake. Ok, understatement, I LOVE TO BAKE. Unfortunately, all my culinary confections are of the refined and processed variety. All my beloved recipes will have to be relegated to extremely important festivities from now on…which only means that now I get to experiment with NEW recipes, and maybe even come up with a few of my own! BUT - what about sugar? I don’t use sugar everyday…hardly at all really. I keep it around for company and baking. Refined sugar is a very highly processed simple carbohydrate that is really not very good for you at all. I don’t think I need to expand on this topic as we are all pretty well versed on the perils of eating refined sugar. What I did not know, however, is that sugar in the raw isn’t much better – read the label of it – it says something like refined sugar with stuff added back in. That goes against the very grain of whole food principle…taking stuff away, then adding other stuff back in. That’s not a whole food. But-what am I supposed to use? (I hear a bunch of you saying “HONEY” and yes, that’s an ok substitute – however, I am extremely sensitive to bees…and try not to use honey all that much – it leaves a really metallic taste in my mouth and I have to be cognizant right now of ‘toxins’ so I am staying away from that for a bit!)
I had heard of this Agave nectar stuff, it comes from a plant, in Mexico (a succulent that looks like aloe, and I understand is also the same plant that they get Tequila from!) and it is sweet. Ok, I will try it. Thanks to the background info in Catherine’s article in the local paper about Agave Syrup, I am savvy in Agave So I got some!
At Catherine's suggestion, I also got some Bragg Liquid Amino All Purpose Seasoning from Soy Protein to try with my Tofu this evening! It looks pretty interesting – it says it’s a delicious alternative to Tamari & Soy Sauce (with like WAY less salt!!! HOLY CRAP!) I’m looking at it right now – and I am opening the bottleright now… and it looks like soy sauce...and it smells like Soy Sauce…and it actually tastes a little like soy sauce…ok, so I am not going to die. That’s good!
And since I am at it, maybe I need to look at the Agave stuff…and ok, that’s not bad either. I do miss my stevia plant though…I cannot wait to go home and grow strawberries and stevia on my balcony again…ahhh…
So, while I was at the health food store (Down to Earth on Reid), I got some natural cheese – because, hey why not? It doesn’t have any rennet in it. And thanks to my Rodale Whole Foods cookbook (where there is a whole chapter on how to make your own cheese) I know that rennet is a normal ingredient in cheese, but I do not know what it is. And after looking it up on Wikipedia, I do not want to know what it is anymore…ok, I read the whole article now, and am not sooo grossed out by it.
I also got Quinoa, which I have had before, but have never cooked, and I know there are recipes in my cookbooks for it and if it replaces my couscous, then I suppose that is alright.
And I got Peelu (it’s a tree) chewing gum, which has some crap in it that I shouldn’t be consuming (sorbitol) but it’s for a treat (I love gum!)
I have not been very successful on the milk front though. And the more I think about the milk that is regularily available to me on this island, the more grossed out I become. Sorry, I hope that doesn’t offend anyone, but really – isn’t it just powdered skim milk with water and vegetable oil added to it? And it tastes awful! They didn’t have any organic milk at the health food store, but I am hoping to hit up a grocery store that does. This ‘switching over’ process is harder than I thought! I also considered milk alternatives, but after all the stuff I have learned about the production of Soy milk – that’s a no-go and most of the other alternatives are highly processed (although, try rice milk if you ever get the chance – it's very refreshing! Rice Dream has a really yummy dairy free frozen dessert!) I wonder if coconut milk is a good alternative? Hmmmmm….maybe it’s just be easier to buy a cow…
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