High protein pasta for hungry boys

Despite the fact that I am living proof that raising a child as a vegetarian is safe and healthy (I've been a veggie all my life), I continue to get dubious glances and skeptical stares when mentioning that I don't give my two boys any meat to eat. Surely they've missed the memo on high protein pasta.

My four-and-a-half year old can eat 3 bowls of pasta at a time, and I unfailingly give him high protein pasta as an unbeatable alternative to popular brands of pasta made of refined wheat flour. Eden Organics kamut pasta is a favorite; kamut is a hearty, nutty grain with seriously high in nutritional content - 9 grains of protein,  5 grams of fiber, plus magnesium, zinc, iron, calcium and plenty of B vitamins per serving. Another top choice is BarillaPlus pasta. The Plus line of this otherwise mainstream brand is packed with a multitude of protein sources, including  flaxseed, spelt, oats, barley, lentils and egg whites. Each serving contains 10 grams of protein, 4 of fiber, plus lots of folic acid, iron, and B vitamins.

My boys are growing like sprouts, and being supported to do so by a high protein, animal-free diet. And high protein pasta is a quick n' easy solution to giving them their needed daily intake of protein.

Our love affair with petroleum (the petroleum of my dreams)

Americans are in the heat of a love affair with a product we may not even be aware of: petroleum. Described as "crude oil" by wikipedia (yes, I am sourcing Wiki), petroleum is a flammable compound extracted from deep in the earth's surface. Perhaps telling, while the country to extract the most petroleum is Saudia Arabia, the Unites States by far uses the most every year -- some 20,000 barrels per day, more than double the amount of China, the second most consuming country.

So why are these tid tibs of info important about some oil that seemingly has no relevance to our daily lives? But it does. What you may or may not know is that petroleum is found all around us, including in products that we ingest and place on our babies' and childrens' skin. Although petroleum most commonly known to be used for fuel and in plastics like tires, is used in the gamut of body products, including chapstick and diaper cream. An anti-foaming agent made from petroleum used in dozens of skin products is highly hazardous, according to The Environmental Working Group. Called petroleum distillates, it's associated with cancer, according to numerous government agencies and environmental organizations. Petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline) and paraffin are also petroleum-based ingredients used in many skin care products. 

Another big one is the tempur-Pedic matress.  Made of petroleum-based chemicals, foam and plastics, this cozy sleep product has been argued to emit toxins that you breathe in while sleeping.

Now, my mini rant about petroleum has a point. I make an effort to avoid creams for myself and my children that contain petroleum. But I have a few petroleum-related confessions to make. First, we own a tempur-pedic, and have been using it for going on five years. When we were researching a matress to buy back in the day, Mr. Hubbie had his heart set on the T matress, whereas I was pushing for some awesome alternatives from Lifekind. He won that battle, but not without regular reminders from me about the brain cancer we may get some day as a result.

My issues with petroleum have somehow penetrated my subconcious. Mr. Hubbie and I are talking about forgoing city life and buying a house. I had a dream that we found this spectacular house overlooking a valley. It's deconstructed design included a main building for communal acvitities, an outdoor patio area for entertaining, and a separate structure with bedrooms. In the dream, Mr. Hubbie and I gawked over the vast space, the modern feel, and the indoor/outdoor living areas. As an afterthought, I asked the broker who was showing us the house, "What are the buildings made of?" To my horror and Mr. Hubbie's chagrin at my horror, she replied "petroleum bricks."  It went without saying that we could not but the house, I explained to Mr. Hubbie. The dream then ubruptly ended.

We all know that petroleum is not used to make bricks for building construction. But the idea is not too far removed from reality: It seems I cannot escape petroleum, even in my dreams.

Even-your-husband-will-love Apple Cupcakes

I am on a roll with baking.

After barely touching the oven for more than a year (hey, my excuse is that I had a child who refuses to stop nursing), and have become compelled to start baking. Easy stuff: quick snacks that take 15 minutes to make from start to finish are the extent of my inspiration. I'm even too lazy to use a recipe; I just whip together the flours, natural sweeteners and ingredients added for flavor (like apples or chocolate chips), throw the batter in the oven and hope for the best.

This week's experiment is perhaps the best yet: super moist apple cupcakes that contain no processed cane sugar with a high glycemic index (I used agave instead) or butter (canola oil is a great substitute), which is high in polysaturated fat. I'm calling them Even-your-husband-will-love Apple Cupcakes since Mr. Hubbie gobbled them up.

Even-your-husband-will-love Apple Cupcakes

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup agave
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vinegar

Mix wet into dry ingredients. Place batter in cupcake holders in a muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Eat quickly!

Owning a car: the lesser of green-ils

Some might argue that life in an urban setting is inherently "green" - residents use public transportation, walk ridiculous amounts, and many conserve the use of fossil fuels to power their homes by using centralized heat provided by their apartment buildings. I myself am one of these self-proclaimed "green" lifestylers. And my life history doesn't deny it either; I have never eaten meat or owned a car (both of which have been shown to contribute to global warming) and I am approaching my 4th decade. Since I've had children, I've been inspired to greenify even further - I use wind energy by Con Edison to power my 4 person household apartment, I use toxin-free household cleaning products (Seventh Generation is a favorite), and badger my husband about cutting back on accumulating those plastic bags. So I think it's safe to say that my "carbon footprint" is not bad relative to the "average" car-owning, fossil fuel-powered home American.

That said, I recently made a choice that is a lesser of green-ils: I purchased a car. Parenting two young boys with relatives living out of town kind of required it. Given, it's a Prius hybrid with a gasoline engine and electric motor and the highest mpg (50) hybrid car out there. But still. A car is a car is a car. I'm now choking the air with fossil fuels every time I drive the two boys to my in-laws or to do out-of-the-city things I was only able to do by train for 15 years: see friends, attend birthday parties and baby showers. I have yet to take my surburban ventures to the next level by frequenting malls, BJs, Ikea, Target -- the superstore shopping lifestyle of the town and countriers. For now I keep close tabs on my royal blue baby parked on our block surrounded by sheets of ice and piles of snow, deal with alternate side parking twice a week, and accept my downgrade from flawlessly carbon-free gal to the lesser green vehicle-owning mom.

The "extras" in our diet for breastfeeding moms

One of the best parts of breastfeeding (aside from bonding with your baby and giving him or her your nutritious milk high in antibodies) is how much you can get away with eating. Not that I am eating more on purpose: the fact of the matter is that breastfeeding new moms need to eat more calories and nutrients than non nursing mothers, accorinding to the NIH. Of course, those foods should be high in nutrients. Some of the healthy bites that the NIH recommends for nursing ma mas include wheat germ, sweet potatoes and yello fruits like mango and cantalope.

Fatty meats, whole milk products and sweetened deserts are considered "extras" by the NIH, or "empty calories" as I refer to in my book. You're allowed 100-300 calories of the empty stuff - in other words, the tasty treats that are high in unhealthy fats and/or sugars.

Which begs the question: an I eating too many "extras?" My 16-month old is a voracious breastfeeder (I am working on weaning) and thus I am voraciously hungry at all hours of the days. I stick the the nutritious stuff most of the time (high protein cereals with no added cane sugar, legumes and lots of fruits and veggies) but find my hunger is at time unsatiable unless I gorge on a vegan cookie or peice of cake from Peace Food Cafe or the home source version: a Neuman-o's vegan oreo cookie with a glass of unsweetened soy or almond milk (making up for the sugar-sweetened cookie in the unsweetened milk, of course). I simply can't help the sweet cravings with the babe on my chest, but try to keep the chowing down on sweets to one serving a day.

At least experts at the NIH would agree that us breastfeeding moms need some "extras" in our lives.

Calcium during pregnancy: too little, too much?

Calcium is arguably the most common nutrient known to (wo)man. The milk industry has etched its importance in the diet of Americans on the fact that the stuff is high in calcium. This obsession with calcium is inherently carried over to pregnancy. Just about every preggie gal wants to make sure she's getting enough in her diet despite the fact that prenatal supplements typically contain 300 mg. So it piqued my interest when a male family member commented on a valuable fact hidden at the bottom of table 2 on page 11 of my book: women during pregnancy should be getting 1,000 mg of calcium, the same amount as when they are not pregnant. My scritinizing uncle, baffled by this fact, asked me incredulously, "Is it really true that women don't need more calcium when they're pregnant?"

His skepticism is understandable. Babies in the womb need calcium for bone growth, so why wouldn't pregnant gals needs to consume more of the mineral? His logic seemed so sound that I had to double check the facts. it turns out that I somehow got it right: women during pregnancy and otherwise need to get 1,000 mg a day of calcium, according to the National Institutes of Health dietary guidelines for all vitamin and mineral intake in the United States. So at least I didn't mislead my readers.

"Yes, it does seem counter-intuitive," says Tara Gidus, a dietitian who is a spokeperson for the American Dietetic Association and the editor of my book. "I think what happens is that if you aren't eating enough [calcium during pregnancy], the fetus will take it from your body stores. Kidney stones comprised of calcium are common in pregnant women due to dehydration and also potentially from losing calcium from bones due to not getting enough in the diet."

"It's funny," she continued, "because if you google calcium needs in pregnant women, a lot of people report that women need 1200 mg (a 200 mg increase), but I'm not sure where they get it from.  I think one person wrote it once and then it gets regurgitated online."

So you're good to go if you're getting 1,000 mg a day - your body will take what it needs and give it to baby. But what if a preggie gals is overly focused on calcium and pounding 10 glasses of cow's milk a day - can she be getting too much?

It's possible. Turns out the upper tolerable limit for calcium is 2,500 mg a day calcium, and getting too much can lead to high calcium in the blood called hypercalcemia, high calcium in the urine called hypercalciuria and a host of other conditions.

As an aside, almonds, figs, oranges and bok choy are great great sources of calcium.