Miracle Noodle Blog

Have You Been Properly Tested for Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity?
  As this blog is written (May, 2014) , it is Celiac Disease Awareness Month. Celiac Disease, just in case you're not familiar with it, occurs in about 1% of the U.S. population, but that's only those who have been diagnosed. Almost 20% of those with celiac have not been diagnosed.    Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder caused by the body not being able to digest wheat proteins (barley and rye and cross-contaminated foods as well). As a result of celiac disease, the protective lining of the small intestine... Read more...
Is Grapeseed Oil Healthy to Cook With?
What oils do you have in your cabinet?   (If you're thinking, "None, all my oils are sitting out on a shelf," you need a quick health refresher: oils should be kept in dark bottles, in dark pantries to avoid heat and sunlight, both of which, cause spoilage.)   Maybe you've got a jar of organic, cold-pressed virgin coconut oil and local olive oil from a farmer's market merchant, and perhaps some ghee, clarified butter to cook with.    You've been convinced by other Miracle Noodle Healthy Cooking blog posts... Read more...
What Most Americans Think About Gluten Free Diets
An influential market analysis company has just revealed a slice of America's taste for gluten free products.   The gluten free segment, concluded the study, comprises barely over 10% of all U.S. households (adjusted for sample size). But nearly one-quarter of all respondents believed gluten free is healthier than a non-gluten free diet. About the same percentage of people--25%--who are gluten-free do not have the serious autoimmune disorder, Celiac Disease (at least not knowingly) nor do they have any gluten sensitivities or a gluten allergy.    So why, if only... Read more...
Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth
In a previous Miracle Noodle blog about fruit, the lesson to take away was that a small amount of fruit should be included in a healthy, balanced diet, despite what a particular fruit ranks on the glycemic index (GI). Watermelon, for example, ranks very high on the GI, at over 70. Despite its high ranking though, watermelon actually does not raise blood sugar levels all that much, due to its net carbohydrate level. Watermelon and other fruits should also be included in the diet because of their high vitamin, mineral... Read more...
Confessions of a diabetic pasta lover
Did you know that when you eat a very large serving of pasta, what you are actually doing is feeding the brain’s reward circuitry, firing up the pleasure centers of the brain’s neurons. But how do you feel, say, within a couple hours of overindulging on pasta? Chances are, not very energetic. Though eating lots of pasta can trigger the brain’s reward or pleasure center, there’s actually very little reward felt by the rest of your body. Instead, what is actually happening is the “Wanting or motivation by the brain... Read more...
Comparing Fruit and Fruit Juice is Like Comparing Apples and Oranges
    From an early age, we’re taught that fruits--along with vegetables--are one of the healthiest foods we can consume. Relatively low in calories and loaded with fiber, vitamins, minerals and free-radical antioxidants that help prevent premature aging and disease and other miraculous phyto (plant)-nutrients, fruit should be part of everybody’s daily dietary intake. Or should it? Low-carbohydrate advocates caution the public that fruits contain too much sugar and should be severely limited. For those that are managing their diabetes, learning to control blood sugar levels by learning which foods... Read more...
Is the Paleo Diet Good for those with Diabetes?
One of the latest diet trends is called ‘The Paleo Diet,’ paleo being short for ‘paleolithic,’ referring to the pre-historic era when our cavemen, nomadic ancestors foraged, stalked and hunted their food. Our distant Paleo kin were thought to be pictures of perfect health, chiseled with Brad Pitt-worthy abs, albeit with slightly more facial and body hair than Pitt. Modern chronic diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, supporters of the Paleo Diet argue, were mostly absent during the Paleolithic era, a result of food sources being whole, unrefined and unprocessed.... Read more...
Are beans good for managing diabetes?
Sing along if you're familiar with this childhood tune: “Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you....” To fill in the above childish couplet, instead of completing it with the vulgar refrain, try instead concluding it with benefits of this superfood, which technically, according to botanists, is considered a fruit (but in its culinary makeup, considered a legume or vegetable). Some of the benefits of eating beans includes: --lowering your cholesterol levels --increasing your daily fiber intake --managing blood sugar --boosting bone-strengthening calcium in the diet... Read more...
What are Superfoods and Should You Buy Them?
“If you don’t eat this one food, you will die sooner….” “Buying this one common item at the supermarket could save your life….” “5 Foods that can help you Live to 100….” In an effort to boost web traffic, sell more products or newspapers or magazines, editors often exploit readers’ emotions with Armageddon-impending, you’re-a-sucker-if-you-don’t-read-this news headlines. In the vast, largely unregulated, billion-dollar empire of nutrition, online supplement companies need to prey on human emotion to sell pills, powders and other products that are cleverly marketed and implied that they are... Read more...
Three Simple Tips for the Workaholic
Some of us on the Miracle Noodle Team can relate to the challenges of being a desk jockey, corporate shill, cubicle warrior and workaholic. Like you, we can identify with any of these hard-working appellations but the rudest insult of them all: a nine-to-five-er…. If your day is more of a 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. pedal-to-the-medal grind, chances are you have no time to cook, and unless you’re a multi-millionaire with your own personal chef, it’s impossible to prepare healthy meals. Or is it? If you’re on the job... Read more...
Want to live to 100? Eat sea vegetables
You’ve probably heard the term ‘trace minerals’ but what are they and why are they so important to your health? Let’s look at basic engine mechanics. Your car has spark plugs. Like trace minerals found in foods (or liquid drops in supplements), spark plugs are relatively small compared to the rest of your vehicle’s engine parts. They are also often not thought about that often compared to other essential car maintenance tasks such as changing the oil, filters or fan belts. But without spark plugs, there is no life to... Read more...
Make Junk Food Healthy the Easy Way
Pizza, pasta, pancakes, potatoes, and pastries … these five popular ‘p’ foods supply the common western diet with a bulk of its daily caloric intake. The problem with these five foods and many others in the Standard American Diet (SAD; an appropriate acronym), isn’t only the superfluous saddlebag and love-handle bloating calories. The two primary ingredients--sugar and wheat--in these SAD foods can contribute to an array of chronic diseases. The main source of carbohydrates in the ‘p’ foods is wheat. Modern wheat processing strips much of the grain’s nutritional value.... Read more...