Value in What You Read On Line

I subscribe to a very informative and helpful resource that evaluates health news based on sound, professional journalism standards.

The goal of this resource is to help eliminate puff pieces and raise the bar.

At Natural Health News we try to do the same in the direction of natural health.

I've been in journalism since 1968 when I worked at the Chicago Tribune while living in the Chicago area.  Later in 1991 my original natural health and green living column "Health Matters" first appeared in a publication owned by The Washington Post Company. I've also taught writing and been an editor.

I try to have a style manual close at hand too. I guess this is like relying on Turabian from grad school days.

I suppose now anyone can fancy themselves as a "journalist" or an "editor", without any real understanding of the art.  There may be little or no consideration that what they are circulating, in their highly hyped SEO web sites, has meaning or value in the content.

One such article caught my attention last week.

This blog is dispersed widely, and in a recent syndicated version that carries other articles as well, I noted one that I took time to read.

I thought the basic concept of this piece was OK, but in general the material was too superficial.  It showed little understanding by the writer of what the facts are regarding  in regard to four things he listed as helpful to immunity.

What makes it worse is that he is one of those "citizen journalists" promoted by a SEO site backed by unknown Taiwanese.  This SEO operation relies on hundreds, if not thousands, of back linked sites to raise position.  Many of the "dummy sites" have been copied and/or plagiarized from other reputable sites.  I think of it as WalMart of the Amazon on the SEO web site industry.

Of the four items listed in this article, deemed worthy of being featured by the SEO "editor" one stood out.

This one item stood out because of the verbiage following the name of the food.  The food listed was 'almond'.  The write hung on the insane and ill-understood physiological importance of blood pH.  Claiming, with no backup, that being 'alkaline' boosts your immunity is clear dis-information.

For some people, depending on their physiology, moving to a blood pH that is closer to 7.35-7.45 is good.  For others it may not be so good. For some being alkaline is a doorway to very poor health.

In the discussion of almonds, nothing was mention that it would be important to know if you are allergic to almonds.  Nothing was mentioned about how important it is to avoid using irradiated almonds, or any type but raw or organic.

There was no mention that it is important to soak almonds in pure water over night so that you will be better able to absorb the protein from these nuts (seeds).  

And this "writer" failed to mention any information about the fact that you must have a very high acid pH in your stomach if you want to be able to digest this food.

Some time ago there was a commercial with the punch line, "It'll cost ya". In this case, " it'll cost ya" if you don't get the information you need.  This will put your health at risk and you'll just be another groupie to the Pied Piper.Thinking optional!

Your word for today: Discernment.

Almond-Date Truffles

In the beginning of my "experiment" I still bought candy or cookies, I just bought fewer of them. DH complained but for the most part he fell in line.

Now that we are a little deeper in I have replaced more of our junk. The one thing that DH bitches about more than anything else is candy and desserts. I have the ingredients to make a pie or cookies, but to go to all the effort just to keep a "sometimes" food on hand? Well I am not really doing that. Once in a while is one thing, but I would so much rather spend my time being sneaky getting veggies into my kids tummies.

Then I got an idea for a "candy" that I wouldn't mind keeping around the house. This is one that contains no refined sugar and has a good amount of raw nuts, a healthy source of protein and nuts. Also, I convinced Thing 1 that helping me to make them would be more fun than watching the Backyardagins! Really, this are just tiny home made Larabars (love those things!)

Almond-Date Truffles

1/2 cup Raw Organic Almonds
8 oz Organic Mejool Dates
Unsweetened Shredded Organic Coconut for dusting

Of course my recipe calls for organic everything, but you guys are adults and know that you can substitute roasted for raw and conventional for organic. But I am shooting for as organic as possible.

In your food processor run the almonds until they are well chopped.

Then add your dates, make sure you remove all the pits before pulsing. Date pits are not good eats. Run your dates and almonds together until they form a coarse crumb. You can then either measure out the mix, or eyeball it. But either way form the crumbs into balls by pressing into your hands. Then take the balls and roll them in a shallow dish of the organic unsweetened shredded coconut. Or you could get your 3 year old to do that part for you. And although he got coconut everywhere, he did a pretty good job and I didn't have to intervene and do it for him.

So everyone is happy with this recipe. DH is happy to have something sweet in the house. Thing 1 thinks he is getting candy. Mommy is happy that these are whole foods, no refined sugar or icky ingredients. Only...Thing 2 is kind of pissed. He is a little too young for nuts, so I think he feels a little left out. Oh well, you can't please all the people all the time.

Enjoy!

Stone Fruit Tart with Almond Crust

First let me say that this recipe got me way more Ooohs and Aaahs than I expected. I certainly got more credit than I deserved considering how easy this was. The plums were from the CSA and the peaches were from the farmer's market. But any stone fruit would do. There are currently 5 or 6 different kinds of plums at my farmer's market. I chose the peaches because I though they would be a bit sweeter than the tart plums.

I got the recipe for the tart shell from a recent post at The Nourished Kitchen which I only recently discovered. I was actually so inspiried by the gorgeous picture she took that I went out and bought a tart pan the very next day and this was the first time I used it. The shell contained:

2 cups of almond meal

1 egg white

4 tablespoons of butter (half a stick)

2 tablespoons sugar

The Nourished Kitched calls for a stand mixer to mix the ingredients, but my stand mixer is all covered with stuff in the only crummy pantry I get in my tiny apartment, so I opted for a potato masher instead. And you know what? It worked just fine. By the way, thanks to my dad for takin' the pics. I was so happy you came to town for a visit!! Plus, I never get a photographer in the kitchen! It was really fun.
I worked all the ingredients together. When the dough came together I put the whole lot of it in the tart pan and spread it out into the pan. Just squish it out evenly and press it into the corners to move it out. The almonds have alot of fat so it gets a little messy. It is also nothing like a wheat based dough, there is not springiness to the dough. It is more like a paste, so just be gentle and sread it out evenly.
The tart is not totally gluten free because I did put a little flour in with the fruit to soak up the juice. But if you have gluten sensitivity just omit it. I mixed about a quarter cup of brown sugar in with the cut up fruit and placed it in the unbaked tart. Then I baked the tart at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes of until the whole house smelled like almonds. Yummy.Here is what it looked like after I served it.

That piece got eaten. There were no leftovers. That is when you know you've got a hit: no leftovers.