Gluten Free Avocado Pesto Pasta Salad

1 packet rice penne pasta 

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half 

1 large ripe avocado, peel and dice 

1/2 small red onion, chopped 

1 large lemon, juiced 

1/4 cup sliced almonds 

4 tablespoons fresh pesto 

Sea salt and black pepper

Cook pasta according to the instructions on the packet.

Drain the pasta and add to the rest of the ingredients. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Mix well to combine and serve at room temperature.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cheesecake

This is a cheesecake to die for; sinfully rich and utterly delicious. Serve in small portions and garnish with chocolate drizzle for a spectacular presentation.

1 cup ground oats
1 cup almond meal

1/2 cup chopped almonds

6 tablespoons grass fed salted butter, melted

4 8 ounce cream cheese blocks, room temperature

1 1/2 cups Heilala Vanilla Sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

8 ounces dark chocolate, melted

1/2 cup pure chocolate powder

2 teaspoons Heilala Vanilla Bean Paste

Preheat oven to 350 F

Combine almond flour, oats, chopped almonds, and melted butter. Press into a round springform pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Place cream cheese and sugar in the mixer at medium speed and beat until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, followed by sour cream, chocolate powder, melted chocolate, and vanilla bean.

Preheat oven to 300 F

Pour mixture into the pan and bake for 45 minutes. Turn off the oven. Leave the cheesecake to cool completely with the oven door closed before you take it out. Keep refrigerated.

Cooked Food Allowed Evolution Of Primates' Big Brains

www.huffingtonpost.com - December 19th, 2012

That's because humans would have to spend more than 9 hours a day eating to get enough energy from unprocessed raw food alone to support our large brains, according to a new study that calculates the energetic costs of growing a bigger brain or body in primates. But our ancestors managed to get enough energy to grow brains that have three times as many neurons as those in apes such as gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. How did they do it? They got cooking, according to a study published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"If you eat only raw food, there are not enough hours in the day to get enough calories to build such a large brain," says Suzana Herculano-Houzel, a neuroscientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil who is co-author of the report. "We can afford more neurons, thanks to cooking." 

Humans have more brain neurons than any other primate—about 86 billion, on average, compared with about 33 billion neurons in gorillas and 28 billion in chimpanzees. While these extra neurons endow us with many benefits, they come at a price—our brains consume 20% of our body's energy when resting, compared with 9% in other primates. So a long-standing riddle has been where did our ancestors get that extra energy to expand their minds as they evolved from animals with brains and bodies the size of chimpanzees?

Read More

Beware of Organic Junk Food

www.chicagotribune.com - September 26th, 2012

Walk down the aisles of a natural food store and you'll find a variety of organic foods, many of which are healthy whole foods, such as organic fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, dairy products, nuts, and seeds.

Unfortunately, the organic inventory doesn't stop there. Increasingly, stores are widening their organic food choices to include more processed foods, such as organic jelly beans, potato chips, cookies, and even vodka. What's wrong with all of these organic food choices? It's a matter of perception: Surveys consistently show that people perceive organic foods--no matter what they are--to be healthier than their conventional counterparts.

"Organic is on so many food packages of highly processed foods," says Andrea Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D., dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Washington, D.C. "I find that people see 'organic' on a food label and it doesn't seem to matter what the actual food is; they think it is healthful.

"Organic means that the food is farmed in a different way, which is great for the planet, but that doesn't mean it's always better for you," says Giancoli. If you see "organic" on the food label for chocolate chip cookies, all it means is that the ingredients, such as wheat, sugar, chocolate, and butter, are cultivated organically. It doesn't mean that the nutrition profile of calories, fat, sugar, and sodium in those cookies is any better than the regular chocolate chip cookies across the aisle.

Giancoli explains that many organic junk foods are made of highly processed ingredients such as refined white flour, sugars, salt, and oils, offering you a great deal of calories and sodium with little nutrient payback.

Read More