Investigative journalism

There is a new book out in Swedish, it is called Salted Bill  (Saltad nota) and refers to the hidden ingredients in the food that we are served at restaurants. The author, Mats-Eric Nilsson, is already well-known up here in the North for his other three books of investigative journalism discovering what is in our (processed) food.

Come to think of it, his first book, the Secret Chef, must have been the first food-related book that ended up in my book-shelf. Not sure how surprised I was at that time of what he wrote, or how much it bothered me. I bought the book back in 2008 when I was still living a life of ignorance in relation to food (and most other things around me). Not complete ignorance, of course I tried to avoid "bad foods", but I had never really taken the time to reflect over all that junk that my poor body has to cope with every day when I do not take the time to read labels and look for natural alternatives. Over the years that changed... as you might have noticed if you have followed this blog from the start. Now I am HIGHLY critical to ANYTHING that is sold in a package with more than 1-3 ingredients, and particularly with ingredients that I cannot read out loud, or remember the next day. May I add that most things that come in a package include such ingredients.

Anyway, so now Nilsson has dug into the restaurant food. I haven't read this book yet but based on the previews he seems to succeed in exposing many bad practices in the Swedish restaurants, like the tiramisu cake that is sold at many places. It is not made by the restaurant itself, but bought from a French food chain with subsidiaries around Europe. Nilsson counts 14 preservatives (E-numbers) on the ingredient list. The result is even worse when he looks at the ingredients of a crab-cream offered in a sandwich chain around Sweden.

I salut Nilsson.I only wish that his next project would be the food served in schools. Then again, I started thinking of it. Do I really need a Swedish journalist to do the job that I need to get done in order to feel some peace? Nope. I google the municipality pages, call the receptionist, and ask for the name of the person in charge of school and daycare food. She didn't answer the phone. But I have her number and name now.

Before you can start doing something, you need to know what it is you need to know...On Monday I'll call again.

Got Milk?

I am in a process of grief. From denial to grief... and maybe back to denial again. When we returned from Chile to Finland and I suddenly had a skin rash appearing next to my nose I swore it was the rye bread. I was so sure about it. I hadn't had rye bread for a very long time and suddenly I just had to eat it. Well, the skin rashes started just about there. However, I was not able to see that the butter that I was putting on the bread, the full fat Greek yogurt that I had not enjoyed for many months either, or all that cheese could have something to do with the rash. Although I do not drink milk, there are so many milk products here in Finland that are so good that there was no way I was about to give it up. Not even although I was struggling to keep one of my children free from milk products for optimal health. Total denial. I made kefir yogurt, I made real yogurt. I used raw milk from special ecological cows. And the rash just got worse...

Until a doctor told me: get off the milk. See what happens and try to reintroduce it. I have now been milk free for three weeks. The rash is almost gone. You can still see the contures of the former rash. But it is nothing like it was a month ago. I still have hopes to be able to eat milk products now and then. But I am also painfully aware of that that might not be possible.

I am also more and more open for the message that milk is maybe not so beneficial as the formal verdict wants to portray it to be. Instead of strengthening bones, it might actually do the opposite. And a lot more. But I am still decolonizing my mind. Milk (and particularly cheese) is way to yummy to give up just like that. I need some time to digest my milk free lifestyle.

If you want to know more you can watch this youtube clip by the (paleo-inspired) medical doctor Mark Hyman. He gives a lot of insight to the subject:

Btw, I actually think that milk might be ok for most people, but that casein is problematic for those who have a digestive system out of balance (due to stress or other reasons). This is my personal speculation though.

Reflections on gravity

I haven't really touched upon the (original) motives behind my switch of lifestyle. What got me moving? Really... was it the stomach ache? Nope, didn't bother me at that time. Was it my bad mood. Nope, had no clue that it could be connected to what I ate...well yes, the sugar dips I kind of figured, but all that other typical "women's mood" - no clue - thought it was my personality and both I myself and my surrounding would have to live with it (poor them). Was it the PMS? Nope, once again no clue that my monthly pains could be remotedly connected to what I was eating. Did I feel like I was eating unhealthy and that got me on the path of better eating habit? Nope, not that either... Mostly (when I could stay away from that chocolate) I ate pretty decent food - a salad for lunch, typical homecooked food in the evening - some bread in the morning or together with the salad, icecream once in a while...Typical standard food for a woman my age.

What really got me triggered was my annoyingly jumping weight. I mean, every freaking time I did one of my "patiperra-ventures" (read: lived abroad for an extended time), I returned home not only speaking another language fluently, but also a couple of sizes bigger (exception first period in Chile - I got hooked on salsa...). Then I got into the mood of loosing weight, ran some 5-6 times a week, lived my life in the aerobic and spinning classes and skipped as much junk food as possible. It worked fine, until Kidone... During that maternity leave I realized I would never have the time to loose the extra kilos as before. At the same time I heard about carb-detoxing and eating GI. Got myself detoxed, lost most of my extra kilos and continued with my life (read: avoiding carbs, still not cutting out all wheat/sugar of my diet). Soon I was back at eating the free dessert at lunch at work... second pregnancy, major stress in my life, later two small children, breastfeeding, and even more stressful surrounding, no time for myself, not to mention my eating habits - total, I mean TOTAL disaster for my body and particularly my body weight. I avoided the mirror and just bought some comfy clothes - after all, there was no time to think of such things as gravity.

So when the second breastfeeding period was about to finish, I got myself into the mood of carb-detox again. It worked the first time, it would work this time as well... But this time the Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) movement was becoming stronger. I came across Anna Hallén's books and I started to understand the importance of "sticking to it" and not only detoxing. I decided to take the change as a lifestyle change, not a dietary one. My original goal was to loose weight and stick to it but as the weight started to disappear, I suddenly realized that there is more to it than weight. My brainfog disappeared and without having to go out running all the time I started to feel lighter (yes I know, I still need to get into some sort of physical training...). Once I switched away from the creamy, buttery LCHF towards a more balanced 'no junk' policy (read: no refined sugar, no wheat, very little milk, lots of veggies and nutrient-dense food - inspired by 'Råsmart Familj') I had already lost some 5 kilos but since then I lost track of my weight. Six months later when I stepped on the scale I was shocked. What!! I was back in the weight from high school! How could this be?!?! Thorughout my fitness-frenzies I had never made it this far down the scale. Haha, I was almost below my comfort weight in high school, the one that triggered me to even start 'yoyo' dieting in those days...

Ok, I had noticed that even my "skinny" jeans were falling off, but with this busy life of mine I just fixed it with a belt. Nice to walk around in loose pants for once. Last fall people also started commenting how 'tiny' I had become. Friends and parents-in-law with a voice of admiration -'what's the secret?' . And then my own parents' comments with a notion of concern - 'was I not just starving myself?'. No, I wasn't. Ironically enough I was not even thinking too much of my new size. I only thought of it when getting dressed for a party (Sh*t, all my clothes are too big - I have no time to go shopping!) or in these moments of receiving 'feedback from the crowds'. Other than that I just counted the benefits of sticking to the plan in other touchable results (see the initial questions in this post).

Today we passed by the weekly flea market downtown. I came across a pair of good brand white pants, just the model I've be thinking of, not having had time to go shopping... Size - never dreamed of getting above my knees in my previous life. I asked hubby if he thought they would fit - he said yes, surely. The seller looked at me with a strange look and said - but if they fit her, then sure they will fit me as well. I looked at her hips, wasn't convinced. Ran off to a café nearby and what would I know - these pants were just perfect. You see, since I started to feel a balance between the mental me and the bodily me I kind of lost track of sizes. Today, I have a hard time identifying myself with the size I have become... Everytime I go out running I am also struck by the light feeling - where did all that extra cargo go? Is running really supposed to be this light? I am amazed. Maybe my mind will catch up one day - or maybe I will become fixed with my bodymass if it starts moving upwards again... but for now I just feel so overwhelmed by the feeling of balance that I just... stick to it!

So when I read blogsposts on weight - like this one in Swedish by Anne Hietanen:  You are so much more beautiful than you think - a post on weight, I just get inspired to comment (and yes, I did, the reason why I am now extending my refelctions). Whatever is on the outside has nothing to do with the inside. The worst thing you can do is artificially force yourself downwards the scale. It is just pointless - your body will trick you back up, with a vengence... The best thing you can do for your own mental peace is to LISTEN to your body (once you get rid of your food addiction, obviously) and let it to the work for you. Find your balance and stick to it. The rest will follow.

My own top priority is still to balance out the stress that my mind is forcing my body to put up with. Why do I do this to myself?!? I am painfully aware of the backfire risk that this might have on my overall health - so far I think my diet has saved me but I really need to figure out my limitations on time management and get some physical activity into the picture, or else I am sure this mental peace won't hold for long... cortisol and all that stuff - messing with belly fat and a good nights sleep. 

Cheers for breaking my promise on a web-free vacation. Such a sucker...At least I am not online 24-7.

I am still learning...

The food journey is a tricky thing. Amazing things happens in the body as you travel further. And suddenly you realize you're in a beautiful balance with yourself, the mind and body are finally working together. What a revelation! You scream out of joy! But often with very chilly response. For those who've never been out of tune, ever, this sensation is hard to understand. I take it that this is also why many out there do not understand why people "go over board" when doing this lifestyle change. The diet is considered extreme and the people following it crazy preachers.

I recognize that I completely went overboard, maybe not so much while I was only working on my own lifestyle change, but when I saw what happened to the whole family, the positive change that this brought, I definately went overboard. Since then, I've learned some lessons and I continue to learn.

I just read two thoughtful blogposts on how to deal with people's reaction and curiosity (Top 9 challenges, On picking battles). I think I have banged my head into the wall on some of these points, learned the lesson, but I also acknowledge that mostly I am still learning...

This blog might sound fanatic but it is your choice if you read it or not. It is my way to have a say without intruding on anyone else's believes and choices. I haven't linked the page much to facebook and I am not spreading the word, except for when I know there is someone that is truly interested in the information I dig out and the experiences from here at home. I never ever thought I would become a blogger, but this food journey was just to potent to be left unsaid.

Anyway, whatever I share on this blog are only thoughts of mine, I do not label myself as any of the diets (lifestyles) out there (LCHF, paleo, primal etc), although they might be included on my blogroll. Fitting into a predefined diet or lifestyle is not my thingy, I am too spontaneous. The only thing I like to preach is: be informed, listen to your body, find your balance! But even that, I only tell people if they ask. Or else, I am happy with whatever diet or lifestyle anyone else chooses for themselves.

What's eating my Children - or am I going mad for real now?

Ok, please someone - help me out over here.

Last summer I wrote about my thoughts on day care (and school) food to the children. I had come to realize that this wheat flour, sugar dense, low fat (milk), margarine filled food wasn't maybe the optimum ingredients to bring up a healthy child. At that point I was still only guessing, being philosophical about the subject. But the further I go in my food journey, the more I am convinced that the food received at daycare is doing no good at all. In fact, after a disasterous November, and now new indications of similar outcome in January, as far as flues are concerned, I can nothing else than wheap.

Those of you who do not think about what is served at daycare and trust the city dietists for their recommendations probably find that I am overreacting. Flues and daycare go together, you might think. Well, I dont'. You also might think that I am turning into a bacteria-hysterical Michael Jackson, wanting to live in a closed steril bubble just me and my family for the rest of my life.  But actually it is just the opposite. I want us to be part of this society, kids being socially integrated at daycare, and we making no fuzz about what is served here or there. But still, I cannot, CANNOT, trust what is currently served at daycare: breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack. Why? I'll tell you why.

1. Margarine. Margarine is an industrial product, chemically extracted from rapes seed, soy, corn or sunflower plants. To make a long industrial process short: it is heavily manipulated on the way to the butterlike substance spread on bread (including petroleum extraction, bleeching and other highly questionable processes). These oils used are rich in omega 6 fats, abundantly available in our western processed diet. The human body needs fats containing omega 3, and omega 6. If it gets more omega 6 than omega 3, there is a risk of inflammations and different sorts of cancer. Considering that our body is made out of mostly saturated and monounsaturated fat and only 3% is polyunsaturated fats (rapesseed and alike), it is not far fetched to understand that in order to keep our cells renewing themselves, we better feed them with what they are asking for. Beside, feeding the kids with this highly questionable margarine instead of real fat, does not keep the hunger away. Instead they will be craving quick carbs (sugar and wheat) and that brings me to my next concern.
Read more about this topic here: Wellness mama: Why you should never eat vegetable oil or margarine
And if worried about cholesterol, read this: Huffington Post: Cholesterol myth

2. Sugar. Sugar is linked to obesity, diabetes, behavioural disorders (ADHD, dyspraxia, autism, dyslexia), and of course cavities (a topic of its own, btw). Only that should be enough to keep it locked up far away from small children. Add to this that some kids are extremely sugar sensitive (apart from having serious mood swings when eating sugar) and will develop a taste for sweetness if sugar is present in their daily diet. Now, someone would probably argue that sugar (as in pure white refined sugar) is not part of the daily offering at daycare. I argue that these people are wrong. What is among the most common afternoon snack at daycare? Berry creams, yogurts, buns, and bread with juice. If this sugar injection was accompanied by bloodsugar-stabilizing real fat, then it wouldn't maybe be so disasterous. But it isn't. If there is bread to go with the cocktail, then its margarine that covers the bread, not real butter. Besides, bread is not doing any good either, and that is my third concern.
Read more on sugar and kids: Nancy Appelton: Sugar 'n Spice and Everything is Nice, or NY Times: Is Sugar Toxic., or 141 reasons sugar ruins your health (next time the health center nurse asks me why I eliminated sugar from the kids diet, I'll know what to say...).

3. Wheat. If sugar is bad, then wheat is even worse. Wheat (white and whole grain) raises the blood sugar faster than pure sugar. There you have it; all the deseases of sugar are then of course also linked to digestion of wheat. And, if we are to believe the bestseller Wheatbelly author William Davis, wheat is a lot nastier than this. Modern wheat contains high levels of gluten, the "sticky" ingredient, and part of this gluten is a protein called gliadin, very effective appetite stimulant (and there we say welcome obesity and all those other deseases related to obesity!).  Without knowing it, many people are sensitive to wheat (symptoms: excema, astma, headaches, mood swings, abdominal pains etc). Furthermore, just as sugar, wheat has next to no nutrition value, it is only a filler.

Wheat and sugar are also VERY bad news for those that have a gut depleated of good bacteria. And considering the amount of antibiotics given to children these days, I dare to say that healthy guts are a rarity at daycare. When the antibiotics kills all bacteria, bad and good, it gives way for other parasites to take over the gut. It destroys the gut linen, creating a leaky gut, which allows toxins enter our bloodsystem and travel up to the brain and other parts of the body (and there we say welcome to a bundle of psychology related symptoms, allergies, fatigue... ). To restore a healthy body, the gut needs a break, but the beauty of these parasites is that they will create cravings for more fast carbohydrates, because that is what they live on. For small kids this is a real disaster, they will not agree to eat real nutritious healing food but demand anything sugary to even eat at all. And many parents, being so worried that their little tots won't get enough to eat will happily feed them pasta, ketchup, bread, spinache pancakes and even sugarfilled (fatfree) yogurts just so that they open their mouth. This is wrong! If the gut is to heal, the kids should be on a strict diet avoiding all starchy foods, sugar and in some cases even milk (which I'll get back to in a second), otherwise the inflow of toxins will only get worse. How exactly is daycare helping here? The damaged gut does not show on any conventional allergy testing. And without a medical allergy certificate, the kids will not get any special diets at daycare.
For more reading:  Wellness Mama: Grains are killing you slowly or Wheatbelly Blog or Healing the gut


4. Low fat milk. The last holy cow is the milk. Milk is an institution in our society today. It is very hard to critize the consumption of milk, and even harder when it involves growing children, who assumingly need the calcium to grow. Could be. But the body will not be able to make use of the calcium if it is not accompanied by some very important ingredients; one of them being fat, which helps the body to absorb also other vitamins and minerals from the milk. Many kids are also allergic to casein, the protein in milk. And again, it is an allergy that not necessarily show up in tests instead what happens is that the child get other symptoms such as astma, reocurring ear infections (gimme the antibiotics, destroy the healthy gut bacteria and create a life long misery with all kinds of deseases!), constant runny nose, diarrhea etc.  So could you tell me exactly how low fat milk is useful in the body of my children?
For more reading:  Wellness Mama: Dairy is it healthy?, Natural News: Understand the Calcium Myth


Based on these moderate concerns that I have about what is served at daycare everyday, I really do not know how to move forward. If I turn to a medical doctor, the most likely outcome will be negative allergy tests (already tried Kidone and this was the result). This means that if we want to continue living a normal life, we have to accept all the risks above. But frankly, I am sick and tired of coughs, runny noses and ear infections. I am tired of trying to feed nutrious, health strengthening food here at home, food that very often is rejected because the sweet tooth and the (what I believe) unhealthy gut bacterias are craving something far different from this... Really I need a break! Either I quit believing in what I read or I do something about what my children eat. Since at this point I can't quit believing, the only option left is to do something to what they eat. But how? My hands are tighed! And I can't tell you how frustrating it is!

My Food Journey 2011

The past year has been a discovery journey, in many senses, but more than anything some of the discoveries have had practical implications far beyond my own imagination.

First of all, what I have learned is to use my own brain when it comes to the food that we eat. That means bye bye authorities' dietary recommendations and it also mean A LOT of reading to make my brain apt for thinking on its own.

Two, no actually three, Swedish experts have through their books had a major role to play in this journey. Anna Hallen and her personal story (Anna Hallen Blog) opened my eyes and mind and got me wanting to know more. Andreas Eenfeldt's book the Food Revolution (Diet Doctor Blog) made me seriously distrust everything government ever said to be healthy. This is also when I decided myself to change not only my diet but my lifestyle, skipping processed foods, most carbs and embracing proteins and (real) fats as my main nutrion sources. First the change was inspired by the hope of getting rid of all sorts of craving, stabilizing my terrible mood swings and I won't deny it, also to loose some weight (see Patiperra's post in Spanish "Pan da poto"). In hinsight the change in diet was quite easy, while I followed the strategy later explained to a friend interested in the diet ( "Pan da poto - pero como eliminarlo?").

After 3-4 months of strict low carbing I started to feel hunger when I was actually hungry, satisfied when my body had had enough and my mood swings were almost gone. My body seemed to be in a balance it had never experienced before. But I was also a bit bored with the high (animal) fats and the restrictive LCHF rules which excluding many valuable foods from my diet. Also, after 4 months of label reading I was painfully aware of all the additives and sugars included in the rest of the family's food. On a day of open crossfire confrontation with Kidone, I just so happened to come across Ulrika Hoffer's book about the Wise Choice family (The book, the Blog, and Patiperra's discovery: "Reclaiming the hoods"). Her message went straight to my spinal cord. Things were about to change for the rest of the family as well. But it was only almost two months later when Kidone's mood swings got worse that I decided to give Hoffer's suggestions a real try ("Let the challenge begin"). Almost over one night was sugar, wheat and most milk products thrown out of this household with remarkable results (About changing lifestyle 1, About changing lifestyle 2). Kids suddenly started eating much more veggies, real food, and just seemed so much more balanced. Gone were the days of "pataletas" (serious tantrums) and instead we had a fightfree summer! Incredible! Kidone gained weight like never before and Kidtwo, well he continued growing and eating as before.

After this experience I started investigating even more what wrong sort of food really does to our body. I watched Robert Lustig's Bitter truth about sugar (Toxic sugar, Sugar - deceitful and dangerous), all episodes of Sugar Trap from the 80's (Kids and sugar) and I started following Doctor Davis's Wheatbelly blog ("A Must Read!", Wheat Belly Blog). There was no turning back; I was hooked on information about food and its impacts on our bodies.

Since September the food issues have been of primary importance in practice but also much more challenging, as Kidtwo started daycare and I myself went off on my own endeavors. Sweetdreams has been my freetimee hobby, helping to sort out my thoughts on food but also sharing my insights and doubts with those truly interested in the subject.

We have not looked back since that last week in May when we introduced the wise choice diet in this family. It's really impossible to think we would ever return to the old habits again (which I would says were never unhealthy to begin with, we ate mostly homecooked foods, but also a lot of pastas and bread, which I know now have a bad impact on our wellbeing). But we are still accomodating ourselves to this lifestyle. I am still looking for the ultimate recipe of healthy, sustainable, and most important of all, EASY living. To accomplish all this, there is a need of activating the brain, planning weekly shopping lists, where and when to buy what, and find the time for cooking from scratch. All for the healthy, easy living. My latest blog discovery, Wellness Mama, seems to be covering much of these topics.

In 2012, I aim at more excercise (untile now this has mostly been biking from point A to B) and start sleeping decent nights again. As for food, I hope the ingredients will be more organic and locally grown - abandoning our dependence on the big hypermarket ("Going Green") and exploring alternative food supply chains, such as the community food circle and the open markets. But that,my dear friends, will be the story of 2012!


Happy New Year 2012!

Three patiperros internationally on air and online

Here is the link to the radio program where the two patiperros chicos and I participated last Saturday. It's in Swedish - no google translate available for our voices, but you can listen to the normal chaos and high decibel level in our kitchen. (key word: mera = more)


Sugarfree Family Life (between 10 and 20 minutes in the program)

I am happy the program had a down-to-earth touch, we were not portrayed as sugar paranoic freaks - although many times I myself feel like such. I am convinced this is the way to go and the benefits are to many to return to old routines. But still, sometimes I feel like I am stretching my believes too far, close to becoming a religious anti-sugar fanatic freak... so when I found Renee Voltaire's book "Salig Blanding"  as a complement to my pink bible "Råsmart Familj", it was a true joy to read how her own kids have been guinea pigs in her odysseé of natural food discovery and that they nowadays take the food served at home for granted. I will start testing the new recipees in Voltaire's book soon - implementing my personal touch to make them suitable for the taste buds in this family.


I ordered the book "Wheat Belly" from Amazon yesterday. It should arrive before the weekend. Waiting, waiting...

Family life on air!

About food and children, with special guest stars.

Unfortunately only in Swedish, but you can listen to the voices!

By the way, this is not accesible outside Finland due to copyright issues. I'll post the podcast as soon as it is uploaded.