Lbs Lost- 39

• Headaches – None.
• Sleep – Good!
• Energy – Good!
• Stomach Pain – None
• Motivation –His motivation is high!!
• Hunger – He is much better now that our wonderful nutritionist, Dina Juve modified the diet for him!!

Beth

Lbs lost- 25.8

• Headaches – None!!
• Sleep – Great!!
• Energy – I have had a cold for the last couple days but I am feeling much better today, I even made it to yoga!!
• Stomach Pain – Most of the time my stomach is great, but about once a week I get bloating and abdominal pain.
• Motivation – Motivation is high!!
• Hunger – I have been really hungry, super-bowl Sunday was hard!!

Sorry, it’s been a few days since I last posted. Lots of good things have happened!!  We met with a fantastic nutritionist, Dina Juve, who is going to give us advice and monitor us through the rest of our juice fast.  She was able to help Ryan take off those pounds that he had put on from his day off, and he is back losing again!! She also gave me a plan to slowly move back into food once I hit my goal weight, so I don’t gain it all back overnight.

Since Ryan is 6’7 she thought he needed a little more substance.  So she has him eating 2-4oz of lean protein and a cup of vegetables 2-3 times a day with 2 8-16 oz juices.  Not only is he losing at a more rapid rate he is also much happier!! She also designed a plan for me to transition slowly back to food once I hit my goal weight.  I am going to do 3-5 days of raw vegetables with the juice, then 3-5 days of juice, raw vegetables and fruit.  Followed by 3-5 days of juice, raw vegetables, fruit and cooked vegetables.  Finally I will add 3-5 days of whole grains then  lean protein, until I am back on a well rounded meal plan.  I will be trying to add about a 100 calories a week back to my diet until I reach 1,200 calories a day.  I will keep posting through that transition and tell you how it goes!

Another exciting transition has been my taste-buds!! They have finally changed, over the last few days I have been able to do juices that are 80% vegetable 20% fruit.  I actually find the juices that are 50/50 much too sweet now.  And more good news after seeing us shrinking my friend Amy has jumped on the juicing band-wagon!! She just finished day 4 today and she is hanging tough!!

I also want to congratulate my husband for sticking to this juice fast on Super-bowl Sunday.  Some people may not think it is a big deal but for him it was a HUGE milestone!!!

22 days down 38 to go!!

Beth and Ryan!!

United States versus Other Countries’ Gluten Free Labeling Laws
Many countries diligently regulate gluten-free labeling.  A few months ago, an exchange student from Italy stopped by our Gluten Free Specialty Market and told me that she was horrified by the gluten-free labeling laws in the United States.  For the first time in her life, she was being contaminated by products that weren’t safe for her to eat.  After purchasing bakery products that were manufactured in a non-dedicated gluten-free environment, she became deathly ill for more than a week and told me she was only just starting to feel like she could travel more than a few steps from the nearest restroom.  “I’m afraid to eat anywhere,” she told me, “Every time I eat out in this country, I get sick.  I can’t wait to be home where I don’t have to worry like this.”

This is not the first or even the 100th time I’ve heard a story like this.  For 4 years, I have heard story after story of individuals eating what appeared to be a ‘gluten-free’ product and getting violently ill.  So what does gluten-free mean?

What Does Gluten Free Mean?
According to the FDA, as of September 2011, gluten-free labeled products should (a) not include ingredients from gluten or gluten derivatives and (b) maintain a status of less than 20ppm of gluten for all gluten-free labeled products.  For more information about the FDA’s Gluten Free food Labeling Request, go to:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/FoodAllergensLabeling/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/ucm111487.htm#q9

Though many companies try to follow the FDA’s current gluten-free recommendation, mistakes are often made.  In food manufacturing, companies are driven by supply and demand.  Right now, the supply of gluten-free product options is low and the demand for gluten-free products is high.  For this reason, companies are jumping on the band wagon trying to produce options to fill the demand.  Some companies are started by an individual that is gluten intolerant, gluten allergic or has celiac disease.  Other companies are producing gluten-free products solely for profit.  While companies do their best to provide gluten-free products to the public, they often don’t understand what gluten-free actually means.

Common Mistakes Made by Product Manufacturers
While product manufacturers are trying to produce safe products, mistakes are often made.  Most mistakes occur due to lack of education regarding what “gluten-free” really means and what it takes to prevent cross-contamination.

The Product is Gluten Free Enough for Me
Many gluten free products are created by individuals that have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or a gluten allergy.  Many of these products are made to be safe enough for the individual that made the product.  This is a problem because, experts like Dr. Alessio Fasano from the Stanford Celiac Center, estimate that only 1% of the population diagnosed with celiac disease is aware that they are being contaminated.  In other words, contamination may be affecting the health of an individual with celiac, even when they are not experiencing blatant symptoms.

Example 1:
A brownie company produced their product in a facility that also produced regular gluten products.  The company is asked if they test their products for gluten, and they answer, “no, we don’t need to.  If the product wasn’t gluten-free someone would have let us know by now.  We’ve been in business for 4 years.”

Example 2:
A pie company reports that their product is “celiac safe,” and the company reports that they use a flour that tests above the safe range of 20ppm and the pies are made in a facility that produces gluten.  Research presented by the Celiac Sprue Association has shown that facilities that use gluten flours generally create products that contain gluten.

Heterogeneous Mixtures Versus Homogeneous Mixtures
This problem sometimes happens when gluten-free companies are trying to keep the price down on their products.  Flours produced in facilities that produce gluten are often times cheaper than flours produced in dedicated facilities and tested on import and export.  Companies often believe that when you mix one flour that’s above 20ppm with another flour that’s non-detectable at 5 or 10ppm, then the outcome of the flour blend will be below 20ppm.  This is not true because flour mixtures are not homogenous, they are heterogenous.  In other words, if you have a chocolate chip size morsel of gluten in one bag of flour, even if you mix it with a another flour that doesn’t have any gluten in it, the morsel of gluten still exists.  Therefore, the flour is not gluten-free.

Example 1:
Customers were reporting contamination after consuming a specific product from a gluten-free bakery.  The facility was visited and it was found that both flours and corn meal were being made in facilities that produce gluten.  Additionally, those facilities had reported that their flours routinely test above the safety zone of 20ppm.  When the bakery was questioned about the flours, it was reported that they knew that some of their flours were above 20ppm but they didn’t use very much of them in the flour blend so it shouldn’t matter.

If a Product Contains Gluten, it Contains Gluten
If you put gluten in a product, it contains gluten.  If your tests show results below 20ppm, they (1) might be read or performed inaccurately, (2) multiple samples could result in discrepancies (in other words, some samples may show higher than 20ppm and others lower).

Example:
A barbecue sauce has gluten as an ingredient and states “gluten free*” on their product label.  At the bottom of the label the product states: “*tested below 20ppm for gluten.”  Though the end product might test as non-detectable, the product still contains gluten and should not be labeled gluten free.

Manufacturer Produces Gluten, but the Product has “No Gluten Ingredients Used” on the Label
Many manufacturers produce both gluten-containing and non-gluten containing products in their facilities.  When a product is produced on machinery that produces gluten or in a facility that has flour dust in the air, the product should be tested for its gluten status before it is labeled gluten-free.

Example 1:
A clam chowder company labels it’s product as gluten-free and reports that the soup is gluten-free.  Then later reports that wheat flour is used in other soups they make and that there is no allergen sterilization that occurs between the soup with wheat flour and the clam chowder without wheat flour.  The company does not test for gluten status, but decides to label their soups as gluten free anyway.  It is very possible that the soup will not test below 20ppm.

Example 2:
A flour company produces flours that appear to be gluten-free, but the flours are made in a facility that produces gluten-containing flours and are produced on equipment  with gluten and exposed to gluten flour dust from the air.  To cut back on the amount of gluten in their product, the company throws away the initial batches of flour and only keeps later batches.  The later batches on average test around 30-35ppm.  The flour is not labeled as gluten-free, nor does it state on the label made in a facility that produces gluten.

Labeling Mishaps
Lawyers often recommend that products not be recalled even when a gluten-free labeled product is determined to contain gluten.

Example 1:
Wellshire Farms products were sold with a gluten-free label despite having tests showing a ppm reading far above 20ppm.

Example 2:
A chocolate fitness bar was certified to be below 20ppm.  The ingredients changed and wheat starch was added instead of corn starch.  The starch was listed on the ingredients as “starch” and the product was labeled as “gluten-free” and noted to be tested below 20ppm.

The Product is “Naturally Gluten-Free”
Oftentimes, companies report that their product is gluten-free, because they use naturally gluten-free ingredients.  The problem with this statement is that even a naturally gluten-free ingredient can become contaminated with gluten through production, storage or shipment.

Example 1:
A chia beverage company reports on their label that their product is naturally gluten-free.  When informed that chia is often cross-contaminated with gluten, the company stated that “our chia tests at 30ppm, but since chia is naturally gluten-free they can still place gluten-free on their label.”

Example 2:
To protect their consumers, Kettle Cuisine soups tests “naturally gluten-free” ingredients before using them in their manufactured products.  More than once their cumin and coriander tested above 20ppm, and Morjoram tested above 5ppm.  As a side note the company reports that they have had no problems with their current supplier of organic spices.  So far, the organic spices have been consistently testing below 5ppm.  Like many companies attempting the safest standards possible for their customers, Kettle cuisine requires that both the ingredients going into their product and the final product test below 5ppm.  This allows even the most sensitive of gluten reactors to feel safe consuming their products.

Many gluten-free product manufacturers regularly test their ingredients for gluten status.  Naturally gluten-free products that should always be double checked for their parts per million (ppm) status include: vinegar, chia seed, hemp seed, oats, buckwheat, spices, produce stored with flour, flours or grains made in a facility producing gluten, B vitamins, E vitamins, modified food starch (should be listed as wheat if from wheat, but this doesn’t always happen).

Offering Safe Gluten-Free Options to the Community
At the Gluten Free Specialty Market in Sacramento, California we work hard to educate the community and manufacturing companies regarding the need for safe products.  Local companies often ask us for information on how to provide safe gluten-free options.  Nachez, a dairy free and vegan Nacho cheese sauce, contacted us last year while setting up the manufacturing of their cheese sauce.  After speaking with us, it was decided that the product would be produced by a company that regularly batch tests the product to be below 20ppm.  It is very empowering to feel like we, as a market, are activists for the health and wellness of our customers.

In the past four years we have learned vast amounts of information on the manufacturing of gluten-free products throughout the United States.  In 2012, we hope to press local legislators to help us do this by creating a gluten-free labeling standard for California.  We hope that if the FDA doesn’t pass a gluten-free labeling law in the next year, California will pass a state law to help protect us.  In the meantime, we continue to drill gluten-free manufacturers on their products and do our best to provide the safest gluten-free options to our customers.

Article Credit:  Melanie Weir of “Gluten Free Specialty Market“

For example:

•Kimpton’s Hotel Palomar San Francisco this month began offering gluten-free items, such as Glutino pretzel twists, in its minibars. Kimpton’s Hotel Monaco in Portland, Ore., also has gluten-free items in its minibar.

•Fairmont Hotels & Resorts last year created a Lifestyle Cuisine Plus Menu for guests with diabetes, heart disease, gluten allergies and unique dietary preferences such as macrobiotic diets. This month, the company introduced a new children’s menu with lower-calorie versions of favorites such as chicken fingers and kid-size portions of the Lifestyle menu.

•In September, Omni Hotels & Resorts introduced a gluten-free breakfast buffet section at all its properties after a survey of more than 200 business travelers found that 10% wanted dairy-free or gluten-free choices.

“Those special diets and their tastes have evolved,” says Stephen Rosenstock, senior vice president of food and beverage for Omni. “It continues to be more prevalent today.”

Food allergies affect about 5% of children and 4% of adults in the U.S., according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“This is a subtle message that we are attentive to health issues,” says Bjorn Hanson, dean of NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management. “It brings with it an image that is very positive to the traveler, especially older travelers like Baby Boomers who are increasingly focused on health issues.”

Hotels are paying special attention to the gluten-averse customer. About 3 million Americans have celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that interferes with the digestion of gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye. Experts say many more don’t have the disease but still can’t tolerate gluten.

There were $8.4 million in sales of gluten-free products last year among retailers that tracking firm Nielsen monitors nationwide.

“There is a much stronger effort and focus to call items out that are gluten-free,” says Brad Nelson, corporate chef of Marriott International. Washington’s Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, owned by Marriott, has a gluten-free tea catering menu.

For years, even when Ethan Keogh, an actor in Santa Monica, Calif., told chefs he had celiac disease, his food would appear with bread or some other gluten-rich item. “I was afraid to go out,” he says.

He resorted to ordering steamed meat with a baked potato. Then last year, Catch, the restaurant at Casa del Mar, a Santa Monica hotel, introduced a gluten-free cocktail and food menu. Keogh has become a regular. Now he can order the striped bass and chorizo without fear.

I’ve always had a knack for public speaking, probably because it doesn’t scare me. When I was 16, I was competing in public speaking competitions constantly, aiming for Future Farmers of America Nationals (just like my dad!) later that year. Most of my speeches were about farming & water rights – which was a hot topic at the time (it’s a hot topic all the time in California farming towns, but it was really hot then – there was lots of talk about funneling Central California’s water to L.A. via aqueduct, and folks were not happy.) As it turns out, it was a pretty big deal for the whole state, which affects the whole nation, so the Secretary of Agriculture – the one from President Clinton’s cabinet – was coming to check the whole thing out. He was stopping in L.A., Sacramento, and my hometown, Madera, CA (if you can figure out why he chose Madera, I’ll buy you dinner. I’ve got theories, but I’m still confused.)

There’s gonna be a Town-Hall style meeting, with scheduled speakers and public comment. It turns out that every politician within a 250-mile radius wants a piece of this deal, so they schedule a congressman, a couple of state senators, an assemblyman, the head of the Farm Bureau, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors and some other really important folks to talk, with public comments between every three speakers. Along the way, somebody decides that they really need to add the voice of the next generation of farmers to the mix -somebody who’ll really hit home that this is a multi-generational issue. When they asked me, I had no idea what I was agreeing to. They had already called my dad to see if it was OK with him.

I got my 3 minute speech ready. I put on my FFA jacket, as requested, and my lucky cowboy boots that my dad had custom-made for me in the 8th grade. As my mother & I pulled up to the fairgrounds, I saw a huge line. Could this be for the meeting? It was. As we walked up, I see a couple of TV cameras – no big deal, I thought. I’ve been on TV before, and they’ll probably film the politicians anyway. This line isn’t a big deal either – if I can talk in front of 3000 kids at school rallies, I can handle this crowd. As I walked by, people started yelling “Give ‘em hell, KC” and “You tell ‘em, KC” – along with a bunch of good wishes & encouragement. Turns out they had listed the speakers in all the local papers. News cameras from every TV station & a group of reporters were inside. They sat my mom in the third row of the reserved section, and I go on stage with a bunch of important people. How in the world did I get here? The nerves began to set in.

The lady in charge comes up to me with the list of speakers, in order. “We’ve got you last, KC. That way, if the meeting runs too long, all the electeds will have time to talk.” Thank you, Jesus. “And,” she continues, “that way you’ll be able to really close this up with how important farming is to every future generation of the Valley.” Um, do y’all know I just learned to drive? People began to file in, and some quick math tells me they’ve put out 500 chairs. Within 15 minutes, they’re full, and people are standing in the back. My mom gives me a quick wave to tell me she’s going outside – and I know she’s calling my dad so he can get himself there. Oh Lord, she’s nervous about all these people. I’m done for.

The meeting starts. The crowd is cheering some people, booing others. It’s loud. They have to call for order roughly 157 times.  The line for public comments stretches the whole length of the building, and they’re cutting people off. More attendees are piling in the back of the room. The judge sitting next to me pats me on the knee at one point, and says: “you OK, kid?” Um, no. Because in addition to these people eating each other alive, I have a bigger problem: they are eating up my speech. I’m looking out at a sea of mostly angry faces, not one of them leaving – so I’m not getting out of this. My big closing statement: “If you’re going to take water from the farmers, don’t do it with your mouth full” has already been used, in some form, 3 times. (My coach had tried to warn me about using a farming clichè, but that one always got me a round of applause so I put it in anyway. Point taken.) I stared down at my cowboy boots, my personal-power boots. I looked at the judge: “Have you got a pen, sir?” A’int no way out of this but through it.

By the time it was my turn to speak, we’d covered all the water-rights bases several times. I got up & talked about my future, the future of my friends in the crowd, the future of farming – and how everybody in our industry knows it’s our responsibility to feed the nation, it’s just too bad the rest of the nation wasn’t real clear on that fact. It wasn’t the most well-thought out speech I’d ever given, or the most concise – I was just glad I didn’t cry, cuss, stutter or throw up. About half of the audience stood up and clapped for me, too – maybe because of what I said, maybe because they were glad the meeting was over. Either way, I survived being as scared as I’ve ever been. And I still have those boots. I wear them all the time.

Yes, he was in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, and was the star of “Win Ben Stein’s Money” – and I loved them both – and they made him famous. But well before that, he was a speech writer for Presidents Nixon & Ford, a poverty lawyer & then a trial attorney, a professor at several universities, and he was then & is now a respected economist. We have none of those things in common – although I seriously considered being a speech writer, in part because of Ben Stein. Like me, he shoots straight, speaks his own personal truth, and considers Santa Cruz, CA a place of personal peace.

It’s easy to find Stein’s thoughts on taxes, government and economics – read the New York Times or Yahoo! Finance, or watch CBS Sunday Morning or Fox News. You’ll have to dig a little deeper (but not much) to find his thoughts on God, peace, faith, and his often hilarious views on humanity.

I return to Stein’s “10 Thoughts on How Not To Go Crazy” often, and I thought I’d share them with you:

1. Here’s a good way to wake up: in gratitude for just being alive.
2. Much of life is a gray area. Get used to it.
3. Not every day will be a great day. An ordinary day is good enough.
4. Harboring resentment against someone is like taking poison and expecting someone else to die.
5. A good relationship with God is like air-conditioning for the soul. It cools down the craziness.
6. Sometimes the only thing you get out of doing the right thing is . . . doing the right thing.
7. If you’re bored, it’s probably because you’re boring.
8. When in doubt about how to get there, ask those who are there.
9. If you really want to change your mood, do a random act of kindness and tell no one.
10. Love is a verb, not a noun.

Excerpted from The Eyes of Faith by Ben Stein. Copyright © 2009 (Hay House).

I recently found out I am allergic to oat bran, but not oats. Do rolled oats or oat flour contain oat bran? How do I know which oat products to avoid? Help please!

From,

Sara

Answer:

Hi Sara. The anatomy of all grains, including oats, consists of three parts: the endosperm, germ and bran. Rolled oats and oat flour consisting of the whole grain will contain all three parts, including the oat bran. Some oat products are processed to remove the oat bran from the other parts of the oat and will be marketed with the title of “oat bran,” meaning the endosperm and germ have been removed. If it is in fact the oat bran you are reacting to, you should avoid all whole oats and whole oat flour, because they contain all three parts, including the oat bran. I always recommend that specific food sensitivities such as this and the corresponding dietary treatment should be discussed with your doctor and a registered dietitian.

Sincerely,

Rachel Begun, MS, RD

This article was originally posted by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, find it here.

Lbs Lost- 32

• Headaches – None.
• Sleep – Good!
• Energy – Great, he even went to the gym today!!
• Stomach Pain – None
• Motivation –His motivation is high!!
• Hunger – The day off really helped with his motivation, energy and hunger!!

Beth

Lbs lost- 23

• Headaches – None!!
• Sleep – Great until I was awoken by a sick kid at 3:30AM!!
• Energy – Finally got the chance to exercise today and I feel so much better!!
• Stomach Pain – I had some bloating and stomach discomfort today.
• Motivation – Much better, I think the depression was brought on by 4 days out of the gym.
• Hunger – I have been hungry.

So I was awoken this morning by my son standing next to my bed staring at me and reeking of vomit!!  Between my motivation wavering on this diet and a sick kid I figured it was over for me today.  But I am happy to say I DID IT!!! It actually turned out to be a great day, he wasn’t actually sick (no fever, no continuous stomach pain).  I even made it to the gym and what a difference that made!! I feel a ton better, I think mentally I was drained.  So I am still hungry, I found it more difficult to get through my kettlebells class tonight but I am glad I went.

Oh and I have a new favorite recipe to share!!

2 cucumbers

1 cup of spinach

2 oranges

4 strawberries

A little strawberry goes a long way to sweeten the juice!!

17 days down 43 to go!!

Beth and Ryan

How many serving of vegetables and fruit should a celiac adult have a day? Is there a recommended daily allowance (RDA) chart that celiacs follow?

From,

Kathy

Answer:

Hi Kathy. Adults with celiac disease should be eating the same amount of fruits and vegetables per day as the general population. The current recommendation is between 5 and 10 servings per day and should include a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables with different colors.

The compounds in fruits and vegetables that give them their bright hues are antioxidants, the same nutrients that help to prevent various chronic diseases. The different colors represent different antioxidants, all of which we need for our bodies to age healthfully. That’s why health professionals often give the advice to “eat the colors of the rainbow every day,” so that your body obtains this wide variety of nutrients.

To learn more, I recommend going to ChooseMyPlate.gov and scrolling down to the “Fruits” and “Vegetables” sections under the “Food Groups” title of “Resources for Nutrition and Health.”  The site will open up to a host of  information about how to increase fruit and vegetable intake.

Many people ask if frozen vegetables are okay to eat, and I say absolutely! Fruits and vegetables are often frozen right after being harvested, when they are at their peak of taste and nutrition.  With freezing, there is little to no loss of flavor and nutrition over time and it can be an affordable and practical way to ensure fruit and vegetable intake.

Sincerely,

Rachel Begun, MS, RD

This article was originally posted by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness here.

From a reader:

Hello,

I have a 12 year old daughter that has alopecia totalis and has lost nearly 100% of the hair on her head. I have done extensive research on alopecia and there seems to be a link between it and celiac disease. I have had my daughters allergies tested (IgG) and she tested extremely high for wheat and gluten intolerances. I am wondering if you have had any experience with gluten allergies and alopecia. Any information you have on this would be extremely helpful.

Thank you,

Heidi

—

Hi Heidi,

There certainly is published information about the connection between alopecia and celiac disease. I have seen things like this, but whether or not avoiding gluten (or other foods to which she may be allergic) will help her hair grow back, only time will tell.

Best,
Dr. Stephen Wangen

Article Courtesy:  Dr. Stephen Wangen

People who dabble in photography buy lenses for their camera. Birdwatchers invest in binoculars, golfers purchase new clubs, Trekkers get Tricorder apps for their iPhone (don’t judge). Geeking out with gear opens up dimensions of our hobby we could otherwise never reach.

Bakers relish in these upgrades more than most. Ice cream makers, bread machines, stand mixers, food processors, adorable bundt pans, waffle irons, rolling pins, cake-pop makers (seriously?), brownie corner pans, lollipop molds, copper pots and a hundred other highly specialized and often expensive tools.

Yet the overwhelming majority of people who consider baking their main hobby won’t purchase the most basic of kitchen tools: a scale.

I asked around on twitter and faceies, to find out why a group of people notorious for gadget-loving consistently shun something so useful. I heard a lot of answers and to sum up the general vibe: people find using a scale pretentious, overly technical, unnecessary, or something that will take the fun out of baking. Whatever they actually said, I always heard, “I just don’t need one.”

I’d love to mount an impassioned defense of the scale. Implore people to rethink it. Urge everyone to go out and pick one up. But I won’t. Almost universally, cook book authors write their recipes in volume. Grandma’s batter stained recipe cards don’t go by weight. The recipes written everywhere from blogs to bags of chocolate chips call for cups.

So I can’t tell you why you should use a scale, only why I do.

It cuts my prep time and clean up in half. It takes about 4 seconds to dump fourteen ounces of flour into a bowl. How many seconds does it take to scoop 3 cups of flour? Multiply that by every ingredient in a recipe, then by the thirty recipes. That’s how much time I’d spend every day measuring, not baking. Not even considering the time needed to wash and dry the measuring cups between recipes.

It gives me extremely consistent results. Using weight gives me the confidence to know my recipes will turn out the exact same way, without fail, every time. Measuring in volume, by its very nature, allows for considerable variation. My friend Kenji conducted an experiment asking ten people to measure one cup of flour. He then weighed these ten “cups” of flour and found they clocked in over a wide range of weights, from four to six ounces. As he said, “_That’s a significant difference: one cook might be making a cake with one and a half times as much flour as another._”

Baking by weight makes dividing or multiplying a recipe elegant. If a recipe calls for 9 ounces of mango puree and I want to make a half batch, I scale out 4.5 ounces, end of story. 9 ounces of mango puree equals about 3/4 of a cup. Go ahead, try measuring out 0.375 cups. You can get pretty close, but ingredients measured out “pretty close” result in soufflé that came “pretty close” to rising, macarons “pretty close” to having feet, and ice cream “pretty close” to creamy. Not good enough.

Using a scale makes me Neo in the kitchen. Looking at a recipe written in volume means looking at code, but look at that same recipe translated into weight and you can see the Matrix. For example, if a recipe has a cup of flour and a cup of honey, it seems the recipe calls for equal parts flour and honey. A 1:1 ratio stares you in the face. That same recipe written in weight shows the disparity between the two: 4 1/2 ounces of flour and 12 ounces of honey. Understanding the true relationship between flour and the other ingredients in a recipe is one of the most important concepts in baking, one you can’t understand with volume based measurements.

If you wanna see the stars, you don’t need a telescope. They shine brightly enough on their own. But if you had one, you could explore the craters of the moon, see the rings of Saturn, and make out the individual points of light in an otherwise blurry nebula. Necessary? Not at all. A lot of fun? Heck yeah. Likewise, you can do a lot without a kitchen scale, but you can do even more with one.

And so it goes with the scale. Ultimately, it’s just a key. It won’t open every door, but others won’t open without it. Deciding whether you want the key to those doors depends on you.

How many times have you seen a recipe written in weight and skipped over it? How many times have you busted out a calculator to convert a recipe to cups? How many times have you flipped through a cookbook at the bookstore only to put it back on the shelf because weight measurements made it seem too “advanced”?

If you answer “more than once,” twenty five bucks seems a small price to pay for a key, no?

Article Courtesy: BraveTart

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