Author: Cheri Thriver

Hello, Cheri Thriver here blogging about cooking, thriving, and the intersection of the two. I’ve been living a gluten-free lifestyle for over 15 years. I understand that it’s rarely a lack of knowledge or the availability of appropriate food that keeps us from making healthy choices. More often than not, it’s an emotional connection, previous trauma, or fear of social reprisal that keeps us stuck. My wish is that you’ll find something here that informs, entertains, or inspires you to change anything that needs to be changed for you to live fully and thrive.

Omega-3s on a Low Histamine Diet

Where can you get Omega-3 fatty acids on a low histamine diet? If you have MCAS, Omega-3s can help reduce inflammation. Of course, you’ll want to get plenty of them. But most food high in Omega-3s are filled with problematic foods. Still, there are some options to explore beyond relying on supplements.

aqua mug of chia seeds plus more on white background

Fresh caught rainbow trout is one of my favorites. I grew up fishing at a trout farm a few miles down the road from our farm. While that trout farm no longer exists, the same family has a new farm where I’ve taken my grandson fishing. Bald eagles like to fish there too.

Farmed trout typically have fewer contaminants than other farmed fish and they provide 1 gram of Omega-3s per 3.5 ounce serving. My grandchildren prefer breaded and fried trout fingers, but I love pesto trout, trout almandine (gluten-free, of course), or grilled trout with lemon and herbs.

Some game and fish organizations stock public ponds and lakes with trout. The water has to be cold. I’ve also caught plenty of them in streams below a dam that lets out water from the bottom of a lake.

If you can tolerate flax, chia, or hemp seeds, they are also could sources of Omega-3s. Chia seeds are often used in gluten-free recipes because they form a gel-like substance when soaked in liquid. The gel can be used as an egg replacement or included in puddings, cakes, or breads. A tablespoon of chia seeds contains about 2.1 grams of Omega-3.

Flax seeds beat chia seeds by a small amount delivering around 2.3 grams per tablespoon, but they require grinding for your body to digest them. The good news is, flax seeds are often included in other foods. Purely Elizabeth gluten-free Oatmeal contains flax, chia, and hemp seeds.

Hemp seeds don’t need soaking or grinding. They don’t deliver quite as many Omega-3 fatty acids (1 gram per tablespoon) as chia and flax, but they are high in protein (3.3 grams per tablespoon) and contain all nine essential amino acids.

Oils like canola, soybean, and flaxseed also contain Omega-3s. Flaxseed oil has the highest concentration at 7 grams per tablespoon, but should not be heated. Soybean oil has .9 grams per tablespoon and is primarily used in commercially produced products. Canola oil delivers 1.3 grams of Omega-3s per tablespoon and is commonly used for cooking.

Heart health, eye health, and brain health, including the support of fetal brain development, may be improved by including sufficient amounts of Omega-3s in your diet. You may not be able to eat salmon or tuna without suffering MCAS symptoms, but that doesn’t mean your diet has to be lacking in Omega-3.

Try these options when you need to keep the histamine low and the Omega-3 high.

https://www.devitosrestaurant.com/troutfarm

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Garbage In Garbage Out

We said it all the time when I was growing up – garbage in, garbage out. That could mean what we read affected how we wrote. It could mean setting up a math equation incorrectly would yield an incorrect answer. It could mean that if we entered meaningless data, the computer would spit out garbage results.

black background with irregular white swirl

We often learned the hard way just how true the statement was. What is startling to me currently is that we don’t seem to recognize garbage as garbage. And when someone questions the garbage, we double down and choose fantasy if it serves our purpose. This is concerning.

I’m not saying people can’t view things differently or have a different opinion about things. Each of us will naturally perceive a given situation in a slightly different way. But I’m seeing people detaching their realities from documentable facts.

If you’re five and still have an imaginary friend, that may be okay. But if you’re an adult making life altering decisions, we’re in a dangerous ballpark.

Skepticism is good. Discernment is critical!

Want to tell me to hush, you’ll just use AI? Think of it this way. If you are not discerning, you can’t use AI well. You’ll be fooled when it fails a task only slightly less complicated than the car wash test. https://cybernews.com/ai-news/ai-car-wash-test/

If friends, instructors, or mentors keep harping on you learning critical thinking, they may believe you lack discernment. If you’re making life decisions then suffering consequences others deem predictable, you may need to improve your insight and judgement.

The good news is, discernment can be cultivated.

Start carefully observing what’s around you in real life. In other words, open your lying eyes and believe them.

Get as close as you can to the facts. When someone in your circle starts ranting about a person or event, before forming an opinion, get information directly from the source or a source as close to the facts as you can get.

Dig deep. Let curiosity take you to find background information that gives context or history.

Read widely. Whether or not you agree, it’s good to explore different trains of thought. If you read something that seems plausible, vet some sources and explore it further.

Put your feelings aside. Just because you feel a certain way about them doesn’t affect the facts. Don’t ignore a field expert just because you don’t like their life philosophy unless you can document that that philosophy is prompting them to spread misinformation.

Ask questions. Consult friends, colleagues, or acquaintances who are not in your primary circle. Do they have additional information you can explore? What are their thoughts on the issue?

Be skeptical about everything including your motives. Sometimes, we allow ourselves to be led astray because we don’t want to challenge long-held beliefs or because we’re having an intellectually lazy moment.

Read old books and documents. It may be hard to gather facts in this age of misinformation. Reading a variety of old books and studying historic documents in museums can help inform your opinion. Use what you learn as a standard for judging new information.

Accept that you can’t always get what you want. Life is hard and tough decisions are sometimes required.

Reject hubris. Recognize that whether or not you have influential friends, hold a position of power, or can buy anything you want, you are not more deserving than anyone else. This will help prevent you from amassing facts solely to support your self-importance.

Yesterday, I read 3 or 4 recently published articles and realized when I finished I had learned exactly nothing. These articles weren’t harmful, but they also weren’t helpful. Sometimes things that waste your time are garbage too.

There’s a wealth of learning to be had. There’s important work to be done. And there’s tons of fun along the way. But it’s safest if you avoid consuming garbage.

Garden Preserves

When the garden delivers its bounty, you may need to make garden preserves. Even though many of the seeds I planted this year didn’t germinate, I have an abundance of some things. If you’re more successful than I am, you may need a way to preserve the bounty.

Preserves typically refers to cooking something with sugar, usually fruit, so that it will last. I can’t think of anyone I know personally in my adult life who has made fruit preserves. They’re more likely to have frozen, dried, or in rare cases, pickled something. Not being great at freezing, cooking is a better option for me.

During a busy week, making a cobbler or pie may seem daunting. But preserving berries doesn’t have to involve rolling a crust, mixing biscuits, or locating gluten-free oats for a crumble topping. All you need to do is cook the berries.

If you know you’re going to make a pie or cobbler later, add sugar or brown sugar, water, a little corn starch, and a squeeze or lemon or lime and cook briefly. Once the mixture cooks down, you’ll have a compote you can use for your pie or cobbler. It can also be used to top pancakes or bake into a breakfast bread.

I don’t always use refined sugar. Sometimes, I substitute honey or a mixture of honey and maple syrup. And I like to mix blackberries and blueberries.

But berries aren’t the only item I have in spades. Arugula is also abundant. I love a peppery salad, but I can’t consume it fast enough. Cooking works for arugula as well. Not only can it be sautéed, it makes a great addition to potato soup. If you want a hearty stew, add cabbage and chicken to arugula potato soup.

It’s fun to cook new assortments of greens together – chard, bok choi, dandelion, spinach, kale – in varying proportions.

Cucumbers are also prolific producers. I love to use them in cold soups, pico de gallo, popsicles, and to line the bottom of a glass of Hendricks gin in addition to the more traditional salad treatments. I also dip them in hummus or ranch dressing and eat them all by themselves. With so many options, I don’t need to pickle, freeze, dry, or ferment.

Fresh vegetables and fruits will last longer than those trucked to your local grocery, but if they’re approaching the end of freshness and time is short or energy low, it’s okay to let go of a dream day of baking in favor of a quickly cooked compote. Or throw some greens in a frittata if they start looking wilted.

If you’ve done all the cooking you can, give your neighbors a treat. My garden gifts often result in a hot meal unexpectedly delivered to my door a few days later.

I’m always amazed how much food can be grown in a small space. My garden often yields enough excess for garden preserves.

In Defense of Aprons

Today, I write in defense of aprons. I am a spiller. I ruin more solid color tops than you can imagine. Somehow, I manage to stain them with things that won’t come out. The fastest, easiest solution is to cover up with an apron.

African American family of four cooking in mismatched aprons.

Aprons are useful parts of a uniform in hair salons, art studios, carpentry shops, flower shops, laboratories, and healthcare settings, as well as coffee shops, kitchens, and bakeries. And they aren’t just useful and protective, they can be decorative too.

I have several hostess aprons from the 1950s or 60s. They are half-aprons that tie at the waist. They sport ruffles and rickrack. They may be embroidered or have an applique. Some are holiday themed. Some are sheer. Most have pockets. Some patterns in vintage aprons were familiar because the aprons were crafted from reused cloth. Our grandmothers were the original upcyclers.

No matter your style, there will be an apron to suit you. They aren’t gender specific. They come in tons of fabrics and cuts. If you like pockets, your apron can have pockets. If you like more protection for your shirt, choose a vest style apron with a zipper or snaps. If you don’t want ties at the neck or waist, choose a cross-back style or a smock.

Aprons make great gifts. You can have them personalized with a name, find them branded for a category or a specific product, or choose one that sports your favorite quote or quip.

Beyond protection from the spills I make in the kitchen, new fabrics add protection from heat in open-flame commercial kitchens. And healthcare settings use aprons to protect patients and technicians from radiation.

If you think aprons may are cool, but may be out of style, do not worry. Last year, aprons were a 3.8 billion industry and are on pace to reach 6.2 billion worldwide by 2035.¹

Some of you may have a collection of aprons you’ve received as gifts through the years. Put them on decorative hooks or an adapted coat rack where you won’t forget to reach for one. Put some outside where they’re easy to grab on your way to the grill. Cycle through them. If they get stained, cut them off and let the kids use them for crafting.

girl in red shirt and gingerbread man two layer apron with rickrak holding candy canes

Have family aprons made instead of family pjs for fun holiday photos. Then everyone can help prepare your holiday meal!

Recycle old family quilts into aprons for the family. They’re an easy project for teaching the youngsters to sew.

An inexpensive apron can save your more expensive clothes, hold utensils or tools, and make a fashion statement. Given the large numbers that are sold each year, they don’t need defense from me, but I’ll speak up for them any day.

1) https://markwideresearch.com/apron-market