Cold Truths About Food

As the humid cloak of true summer is upon us, many of us are ready to prove that there's nothing comfort food can't fix. The list of digestible summer coping mechanisms is a short one, usually beginning with ice cream and ending with lemonade. Today, we're talking about temperature and food, so we'll start with a cold food turf war that's getting hotter every summer.

Ice Cream VS Frozen Yogurt

Ice cream, which is dietary guilt incarnate, has slowly been surrendering its summer market share to its yuppy cousin, frozen yogurt. Frozen yogurt companies have enjoyed significant annual growth for the last few years. This is due to the fact that frozen yogurt is healthier than ice cream—or so you believe. (A survey conducted by the frozen yogurt chain, Menchies, found that 95% of respondents thought fro-yo was healthier.) Would you care for a smidge of rain to go with that yogurt parade?

Frozen yogurt boasts 17 grams of sugar per half-cup, whereas ice cream weighs in with 14. Advantage: ice cream.

When it comes to fat, though, ice cream loses its edge, with 7 grams to frozen yogurt's 4. Advantage: fro-yo.

Frozen yogurt does contain probiotics, but the freezing process often renders them useless. Many manufacturers refortify their yogurts with more probiotics. These products have a seal proclaiming Live and Active Cultures, guaranteeing they contain 100 million cultures per gram. (This is still 1/10 of the weaker commercial probiotics sold in the FFL supplements section). Make sure you seek the seal if you're looking for bacterial aid in digesting that lactose.

Digestion and Temperature

Please understand that this section is the unimpressive result of a mind-numbing safari through the annals of Internet misinformation. Like any idea (e.g. the Supreme Court is a reptilian cabal poised to destabilize our country), many incompatible claims are made about the digestion-temperature relationship. Many sources assert that digestion is profoundly influenced by the temperature of the food you're eating (or water you're drinking). Many of these sources cite other articles by reputable name-brands in scientific writing, like Discovery. But follow the intellectual trail far enough, and you'll find yourself on soft ground. The origin of many of the notions about food temperature (and especially beverage temperature) is the Ayurveda.

Ayurveda is an ancient tradition of wellness native to India and it comes packaged with everything the term "ancient tradition" signifies. In other words, there may be much wisdom in Ayurvedic practice, culled from centuries of practice, but it is important to recognize that the Ayurveda was conceived long before we understood anything about the chemical reality of digestion. It is Ayurveda's claim that drinking cold water while eating will "put out the fires of digestion." This thinking is ultimately responsible for the notion that one should refrain from drinking while eating, and especially avoid cold water.

The reality, though, is that digestion requires water, and in fact will pull water from other places in the body to do its necessary work. Drinking during a meal may well promote digestion.

As far as food temperature itself, some studies conclude there may be a digestive delay when eating cold or warm meals, and some conclude the opposite. The takeaway here is that food temperature is not a decisive enough factor in digestion to make a fuss about.

Heat and Flavor

Hi deary. It's cold outside. How would you like a nice, lukewarm bowl of soup? I'll fix you a big tepid bowl of broth. Make sure you stir it because it's developed a bit of a viscous meniscus.

This is not something you'd like a grandmotherly person to say to you on a frigid day. When it's freezing outside, everyone loves a bowl of piping hot soup. But you know how the soup is actually way too hot, and you then have to watch it steam for a couple minutes before you can eat it? When you receive soup, you wait for it to cool to a temperature that you would despise if it arrived that way. It's weird.

If you ate it right away, you'd risk scalding your tongue, of course, which can erode your taste buds. Moreover, clinicians have shown that taste sensitivity decreases at 95 degrees Fahrenheit and above. So you're really getting the best flavor out of your soup by waiting. That said, the aromatic molecules that convey deliciousness to you (and begin your digestive process with saliva) before you ever taste the soup are much more active at higher temperatures. So you're really preparing your body and mind to properly receive the soup by getting it while it's hot. It all makes sense.

Other, non-soup foods have a more complex relationship with temperature. Beer gets more bitter as it gets warmer—hence the American beer market's traditional reliance on "ice cold" advertising. Cheese tastes more sour as it's served at higher temperatures. Ice cream's molecules are too excited at room temperature to be entirely palatable for many people, making melted ice cream too sweet, even though the solid version is just right.

Cooking seems like an earthy, holistic discipline (and it is), but it's also a matter of colliding molecules and electrical impulses. Breaking taste into its elemental aspects isn't very romantic, but it can produce interesting results.

Researchers have found that heating and cooling areas of the tongue can produce sensations of taste. Simply stimulating certain tongue nerves can induce the sensation of sweetness, for instance. Will heated toothpicks slowly replace candy as the after-dinner decadence of choice? If they did, it wouldn't be the most sci-fi thing to happen this year, or even this month... in fact, I have to go and Google how to file a patent. Until next time!

The Amazing Japanese Snacks You're Missing

Japanese culture is often impenetrably mysterious to the Western mind. Spend enough time in one of its avenues—anime, for instance—and a sort of internal logic will become clear.  You'll learn the tropes, the big names, the history, and where is the conversation is today. But to the uninitiated, there are few nations (especially ultra-developed ones) on earth that present confounding cultural artifacts like Japan. After the confusion, however, the West usually embraces Japanese cultural exports with unparalleled fervor. Anime, sushi, ninjas, and giant robots seem as American as apple pie in 2015. So what can we expect will be popular here in the next decade, when it comes to food? Let's take a look at the best of Japanese food curios.


Mountain Dew Cheetos

I imagine that if a Kim Jong-un-style despot decided to make an America Theme Park, this is the sort of snack that would be sold there. What seems like a parody of American snack sensibilities is simply a legitimate product in Japan. While I've never had the pleasure, these pale Cheetos are described as "tingly, or fizzy" by one YouTube Japanese snack enthusiast, and favor their Mountain Dew DNA heavily. Since Cheetos and Mountain Dew are both owned by PepsiCo, I can't help but think this Frankenstein product was the result of a lost bet at a high-stakes poker game between Pepsi execs in some Tokyo penthouse.

Animal Donuts

Japanese pop culture has long been expert at pushing the boundaries of cuteness into unfathomable and bizarre directions. Pokemon, for instance. Hello Kitty. Attack on Titan. And now...animal-shaped donuts.

Donuts were already a cutest-in-class snack, with the only competitor being, perhaps, mini-cupcakes. That's not a fair comparison unless we're talking about mini-donuts, which we're not. We're talking about donuts shaped like pigs and cats. These zoomorphic disks of fried dough have been heralded as the "next cronut." Wow. The main animus behind this product seems to be someone asking, "why not?"

Weird Kit Kats

If you think white chocolate Kit Kats are exotic, then you need to get out more. In Japan, white chocolate Kit Kats are fed to birds by the elderly. (Not true, probably.) The real Kit Kat enthusiasm is reserved for flavors like...wasabi. And green tea. And soybean. It's weird how much I suddenly want a wasabi Kit Kat. I'm suspicious that the urge comes from the knowledge that I cannot have one. 




Moko Moko Mokolet

This is a candy toilet playset, essentially. You use the included plastic toilet as a sort of mixing bowl in which to mix the included fizzy treat. Then you can eat the delcious mixture from a tiny toilet. You'll be doing this either A) in public, which is really odd, or B) in private, which is somehow much worse. I'd like to see some data on consumer trends associated with this product, but I can't find any. 

Salty Watermelon Pepsi

Before I mock this, I'll just come out and say I'd like to try a shot glassful of this beverage. Frankly, I didn't know that salty watermelons were a thing to begin, and the idea of combining them with a Pepsi is the sort of mad science that just might be brilliant. In extremely small doses, of course.

Cool, Refreshing Liquid Eel Drink

Remember when you and your best friend used to ride your ten speeds down the dirt road to the corner store in the heat of summer, and the dirt would stick to your sweaty brow, and you'd bound into the store with 75 cents in your little fist, aching for that first gulp of liquid eel drink? No? Well, maybe your kids will, if Unagi Nobori ever takes off here. Unagi Nobori, which translates to "Surging Eel," is a drink that contains eel extract, vitamins, and other mysteries.

Now, for context, you have to realize that Japan loves eating generally. There is an "eel-eating season" during the summer. Eels are a delicacy, and there's even an eel black market, eel fraud, and all the other trappings of a delicacy market. So this eel drink makes sense, if you're from Japan. 







Basashi ice

I don't even want to be the one to tell you that the Ice Cream City ice cream store in the Sunshine City shopping mall in Tokyo serves raw horse meat ice cream. But how can I know this and not tell you? That said, I'm not sure I can continue at this point. Until next time...

Return to Cinder: Sky Lanterns and Safety

Last night, on the 4th of July, I found a giant pink snake in the road in front of my house. It was the size and diameter of a small child. It had a hole in its side that looked like it had been made by a fireball.

Upon closer inspection, the pink snake was not a pink snake at all, but a giant paper lantern that had come to rest in front of my house, after presumably concluding its fiery journey across the night sky. It was one of dozens in a fiery flock during last night's Independence Day celebrations. It didn't land on my roof and leave my house a smoking ruin, so all's well that ends well. But the proximity of the lantern husk to my house brought a health and well-being issue into sharp, personal focus: the 4th of July in America can be a stressful, dangerous time.

Dogs go off the rails. Combat veterans stay inside. Your neighbors explode munitions along a spectrum of responsibility and legality. People fire guns at the sky, with little concern over the destination of the bullets. And an armada of small fires descends from the sky, with no regard.

Fire in the Sky

Two years ago, a fire at the Jayplas Recycling Plant in Smethwick, England, caused about $9M in damage, hospitalized 3 firefighters, and terrified the surrounding community. The fire was started by a "sky lantern," of the sort I found outside my house last night.

The Cobb family, of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, nearly lost their house to a sky lantern fire in 2011. Luckily, a neighbor called the fire department while the family slept.   

Last year, in Kentwood, Michigan, a sky lantern fire almost burned down a small business. The business escaped with $10,000 in damage instead.

Sky lanterns often land in yards and other private property, where they generally lay without incident until someone cleans them up. But when there are incidents, they tend to be serious. Debbie Hyatt, a Michigan Center woman, can tell you all about how serious.

Hyatt was was rounding a curve in her car a few 4ths ago when she saw a huge grounded lantern in the road. It seems to be the same make as the pink snake outside my house. Hyatt swerved to avoid the lantern, thinking it was a couch. She smashed her car into a tree. Her daughter's jaw was broken in three places. Hyatt severely injured her ankle, and their car was totaled.

Pick of the Litter 
Fire hazard aside, critics of the lanterns have lambasted them for the litter they leave behind. While the paper might be merely unsightly, the wire lanterns' wire frames are more substantial, becoming choking hazards for animals.

Wish Lanterns, of Dallas, TX, is sensitive to the concerns about its products. The company has replaced the wire parts of its lanterns with bamboo, and claim their product is 100% biodegradable. They claim the design is such that only a lantern expended of its fuel and no longer aflame will actually descend. 

Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire—and Make Sure It Doesn't Take Off

Despite changes in manufacture, sky lanterns are gaining some serious opposition. No one denies that they're beautiful, but groups concerned with safety and liability are saying "no" to the lanterns. The Boy Scouts have decided to stop using them.

Many farmers in Britain and the United States are campaigning for a ban on sky lanterns as well.

US fire marshals aren't thrilled about sky lanterns; many are calling for a ban on them. They're already banned in 24 states, and some municipalities. Not mine, obviously.

Anti-balloon site balloonsblow.org has a special section devoted to sky lanterns, and a link has been making its way around Facebook this season. This is doubtlessly increasing awareness this season.

Return to Cinder
Sky lanterns are beautiful. Last night, I was glad to see them glowing against the late blue sky, despite the dangers. Today, there were no reports of lantern-caused fire in my city. But there's a big pink reminder outside my window that hazards like this are always abstract, until they land close to home. It will be interesting to see how our culture balances these issues in the years to come.

5 Things That May Surpise You About Sleepwalking

It's 2:30 a.m., and Adam thinks his baby is suffocating. He's frantically searching through the bedsheets, scanning the room, and plunging his hands into his pillow. The baby is only a few months old, unable to fend for itself. Adam is sure that he can save his infant son if he can find him in time. 

For Adam's wife, this scenario has become tedious and ordinary. The baby is fine; he's sleeping in his crib a few feet away. But Adam can't be dissuaded. He can't be soothed. He's still tearing sheets off the bed, eyes wide with terror. His wife tries to reason with him. He hears her, but her words don;t make any sense to him. He looks through her.

Adam is sleepwalking.

This doesn't fit the popular conception of sleepwalking. In pop culture, sleepwalking usually involves a person with his arms outstretched, more or less bumbling aimlessly. The reality looks a lot more like someone who has lost his mind completely, if only temporarily.

I had the opportunity to talk with both a sleepwalking victim and a celebrated sleep pathologist for the podcast I launched recently. From a health and well-being perspective, few things could be as distressing to a family as an emergent sleepwalking problem. This is partly due to the fact that sleepwalking is a complex and poorly understood phenomenon. Let's break it down.

Sleepwalking doesn't just involve walking.

Sleepwalkers are poised between sleep and wakefulness. During an episode, the brains of sleepwalkers evidence high-amplitude delta waves—a phenomenon otherwise only seen in the sleeping and the psychotic. Since sleepwalkers are partially awake, in a cognitive sense, there is little limit to the tasks they can perform and the delusions they can pursue.

Sleepwalkers can run around the house, drive a car, cook, and play musical instruments. Most of these tasks, however, manifest as surreal counterparts to their everyday equivalents. A person may cook, but the meal may consist of peanut butter, honey, pasta, and tomato sauce, unstirred and burned in a pot.  

Sleepwalkers are interactive, and not clearly sleeping.

A sleepwalker can be talked to, and even respond, but will usually do so illogically. They will usually have their eyes open and be mobile, and appear awake to the uninitiated. They will usually have no memory of the episode.

Sleepwalkers are highly agitated.

Sleepwalking is a particular type of parasomnia. Night terrors are also parasomnias, and the relationship between the two is evident in the agitation of the sleepwalker. Sleepwalkers are sometimes in full physiological fight or flight mode. Like Adam, they are often convinced something terrible is imminent and it is their duty to prevent it. Spikes in heart rate, adrenaline, and cortisol mean that the sleepwalker is in Hulk mode, and accordingly difficult to control and reason with.

They can be talked off the ledge, so to speak, but dismissing their concerns—however irrational—usually serves to exacerbate their agitation. Talking them through the episode, forcing them to participate in the logic (or illogic) of their concern is best.

 Sleepwalkers are not themselves.

Adam is not generally a paranoid and fearful person, but his sleepwalking episodes transform him. That's standard for sleepwalking. There have been cases of homicide during sleepwalking incidents. While this is obviously extremely rare, it is disquieting. It's important to remember that the sleepwalker is not themselves, and may share little with their waking personality. Supervision and vigilance are essential support mechanisms for those suffering from parasomnias.  

The cause of sleepwalking. 

I bet you can see this coming: no one knows the precise cause of sleepwalking. There seems to be an underlying genetic component, but the behavior needs to be teased out by environmental factors as well. Stress and lack of sleep are the main risk factors for awaking the sleepwalker in a predisposed individual. In Adam's case, stress and sleep deprivation were in full force after the birth of his first child. This is the perfect storm to bring forth the sleepwalker in him. 

What can you do?

Try and get enough sleep, of course. That and "drink plenty of water" will never steer you wrong. Of course, staying relaxed, especially before bed, is crucial to getting good rest and preventing sleepwalking. 

Shameless plug:

If you'd like to hear Adam and his wife's own description of their ordeal, as well as an interview with a sleep doctor, this is the podcast link:

http://tinyurl.com/againsttype

6 Ways Pets Affect Your Health

Historically, I have been passionate and vocal about my anti-pet stance. If you want people to like you, I recommend keeping this sort of sentiment to yourself. My thoughts about pets could be bullet-pointed pretty easily:

1. Large dogs are a lot like large guns--fine with a responsible owner, scary without. 
2. Most people would gladly exchange a profound and satisfying conversation with a fellow human to simply watch a cat, on the off chance the cat might do something cute. 
3. The world is already loud enough. It doesn't need to be blighted with the perpetual staccato madness of a dozen barking dogs on the same block.
4. Pets are surrogates for real relationships and accordingly stunt their owners' emotional growth. 
5. Pets ensure your life is lived in chapters no more than 6 hours long, after which you must rush home to nurture your all-important pet.
6. Fish are ok.
7. Pet owners are oblivious to the general effluvia of a pet-friendly environment. 
8. I wear a lot of black, and a pet owner's home leaves me looking like a Sasquatch, because pet owners usually have a cognitive disorder wherein they no longer recognize pet hair as existing.
9. People love to apologize and also stand still while their dog jumps all over you. 
10.  The way people talk to their pets is often unbearably ridiculous.  

OK, now that you hate me, know this: I was essentially raised in a petting zoo. Growing up, we owned pot-bellied pigs, pygmy goats, a python, a llama, sheep, fish, crabs, and a slew of dogs and cats. Maybe I just got burned out, but that doesn't really square with my (ten) issues with pets.

This year, I started living with a dog, for reasons beyond my control. The dog is funny. It has funny ears, it makes silly expressions, and it likes to get in my face and then stay there, acting very aloof, which is also funny. I've come to like the dog, a lot. It's looking at me right now.

The dog broke its leg in half a few weeks ago. It's grotesque. Since then, I've been taking care of the dog, carrying it, sometimes singing to it, flossing the wounds from its surgery. This gives me a sense of purpose and obligation that I don't entirely hate. The dog keeps me from brooding too much by needing me, and by being so funny. This has been an indulgent introduction, but my journey into adult pet ownership highlights what a hassle and a blessing pets can be for your health. My old concerns niggle, but my new affection soothes. Without further ado, the ultimate pet skeptic presents:

6 Ways Pets Can Affect Your Health

Reptiles and salmonella (CON):

Having a reptile is kind of like having thousands of pets in one. The main portion may be a turtle, for instance, and the bonus portion is a few million bacteria, in the form of salmonella. While chickens wait until they're dead to pass along the sickness, turtles take it up a notch and keep salmonella about their person while they're alive. Small children are advised to avoid reptiles for this reason. This could be one reason the CDC called How to Train Your Dragon "irresponsible." (That never happened.)


Dogs and Activity (PRO):

The National Institute of Health funded a study that suggests people with dogs move more, and benefit from the extra exercise. I guess I'm shooting myself in the foot with the giant hamster wheel I made for my dog. Oh well, I can still run from the free-roaming, leashless, feral hounds in my neighborhood.

Dogs and Roundworm Activity (CON):

Dog waste can transmit this nasty parasite to human beings, who develop all sorts of symptoms that I won't mention while they are in the worm's grip, including blindness. This is statistically very unlikely, even though most dogs are born with roundworm. How do you avoid the worm? Don't eat the dirt in your backyard. It's easy, unless you're five.

Dogs are Good Cardio (PRO):

In a study that seems like either wishful thinking ("Chocolate is the one food you MUST eat!") or totally insane, the American Heart Association claims that owning a dog is good cardio. It seems to be related to the aforementioned increase in walking, but the study also mentions lower cholesterol as a result of owning a dog, which is suspect.





Cat Scratch Fever (CON):

While long known as a disease of the jukebox, cat scratch fever is also an actual malady you can contract. It's caused by bacteria that's carried by about 40% of cats. When the cat scratches, you get the fever. This can mean swollen lymph nodes, a red area near the infection, and the ability to play blazing guitar solos while simultaneously being a bit of a nutcase.

The Family Anti-Allergen (PRO):

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that owning a cat or dog early in life may act as a bulwark against later allergies. I suggest strapping a cat to your child and seeing what benefits arise.

Birds are the Rats of the Sky (CON):

Birds, while often beautiful, are the foulest, most plague-ridden thing you could have in your home, unless you're a character on The Walking Dead. Do I even need to go on about avian flu and parrot fever? No. Birds are a lot like the paparazzi--they're your best friends until they make you sick and try to eat your fingers. (That analogy is a work in progress.)

Pets Can Make You Meet People (PRO and/or CON):

This one is both curse and blessing, since people can be either. But pets do force socialization, from jockeying for territory in the dog park, to "play dates," to socializing with the vet when she charges you thousands of dollars to fix your broken dog. Regardless, the same social impulses that often drive pet acquisition are plentiful during the maintenance phase as well. Besides, having a pet makes you seem warm and decent, I'm told.   

So next time you put a puppy in your hands, remember: you're taking your health in your hands. In a good way, for the most part.

Did Michigan Lose the Right to Farm?

I try to avoid controversial topics on this here grocery store blog. (By "try to avoid," I mean "gravitate toward them like a moth to flame, and try to couch the result in polite and equivocating language.") It so happens that the biggest thing happening in the Michigan natural food scene (of which FFL is clearly a highlight) this last week has been a legislative shakeup surrounding Michigan's "Right to Farm" laws. Let's see what's going on, and I'll try to keep the grandstanding to a minimum.

What is a Right to Farm law?

Right to Farm laws were designed to protect farmers from nuisance complaints and lawsuits related to their farming practices.

Why farming be an issue for neighbors?

Beside obvious factors like the noise and smell of a farm, there other reasons, like seepage or drainage issues.

Don't neighbors have a right to be peeved by those things?

Perhaps, but the Right to Farm laws were created to protect farmers who were "there first." When people who just want to live in the country (but not farm) move into the country (where there are farms), they often don't like the presence of the farms. To support the necessary existence of small farmers, the Right to Farm laws were enacted. This renders the farmers essentially immune to the complaints of people emigrating to the countryside.These laws were not designed to protect people in the city who decides to have a flock of sheep in their yard.

Which states have these laws?

All of them. Massachusetts was first. Don't be jealous. Massachusetts is only the third most financially literate state, the fifth richest, and it doesn't even make the top ten rainiest. So it's not that big a deal.

How old is Michigan's Right to Farm law?

This place seems like it could get loud on a Friday night.

I like to say it's 33 years young. 

What is Michigan's Right to Farm law like?

You know, just your basic set of GAAMPs, nothing major. GAAMPs? That's what my toothless little cousin calls his grandfather. It's also an acronym for Generally Accepted Agricultural and Management Practices, according the Department of Agricultural and Rural Development.

The MDARD website says: "While adherence to the GAAMPs does not act as a complete barrier to complaints or lawsuits, it does provide an umbrella of protection from nuisance litigation. In addition to conformance to the GAAMPs, farmers also need to comply with all state and federal environmental and agricultural laws."

What was changed?

MDARD "added a Category 4 to the Site Selection & Odor Control for New/Expanding Livestock Facilities GAAMP,"  according to MDARD Communications Director, Jennifer Holton.

What?

Places considered generally residential, which do not come with agricultural use by right, are Michigan areas where there are 13 non-farm homes within 1/8 mile of the "livestock facility." (Even if that facility is a chicken coop.) Density isn't the only factor: a non-farm home within 250 feet is also a deal breaker. (Unless zoning dictates the area as an agricultural one.) 

What changed on April 28? What's all this stuff on social media about Michigan disallowing small farms? 

The above Jennifer Holton says that this is just a way of keeping people in compliance with zoning laws. There is nothing preventing communities from allowing backyard farming if it complies with local ordinances. Many municipalities do allow backyard poultry, for instance. Backyard cows are usually off limits. 

The "new" legislation does not prevent people from raising food for themselves, either, as many have been claiming. However, the Right to Farm laws have always pertained to commercial farms only. 

So what's the deal?

Many articles posted on somewhat dubious news sites proclaim no doubt that Michigan residents will have to give up farming, period. Yet, many reliable sources are claiming that not much has changed. In fact, that article is a year old, when the doomsayers were telling us that farming in Michigan was dead the first time. 

Ultimately, the changes simply mean that people have to follow their municipal zoning laws when it comes to farming. That can be a bummer in some communities, but it's not as dire as some have claimed.

Do I have it wrong? Has the legislation affected you or a farm you know? Are the news laws fair or draconian? I'd love to hear from you. This is a complex topic and all voices are welcome.




 

Breaking Down Dairy Intolerance with Enzymes

As a Caucasian, this wasn't supposed to happen to me. (Already the "edgiest" opener on a grocery store blog, ever. I checked.) Most Caucasians digest dairy products like it's going out of style (which may happen if people continue to insist on eating like cavepeople). Meanwhile, about 70% of the world's adult population struggles with digesting dairy products. Despite my census identity, I am one of those in the latter category. Now, before we examine this issue, it's important to keep a few things in mind:

1. Dairy intolerance and lactose intolerance are not the same thing, exactly.
2. "Race" is a social construction. Really. That's barely relevant, but I like saying it.
3. That said, genetic predispositions still mean that people of Northern European descent generally tolerate dairy products well into adulthood, while people of other genetic origins tend to experience a range of digestive problems with the same foods. 

The pain and bloating many people experience when drinking milk or eating cheese is often caused by the poor digestion of lactose— milk sugar—found in those foods. Most people know this. Most people, however, avoid these foods, knowingly endure the symptoms of lactose intolerance, or suffer in ignorance. I'd like this to stop.

That's why I want to talk about digestive enzymes. Working at FFL, I was always surprised to find how few of my customers had investigated digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes have been a reliable friend to me since I discovered them. I'm afraid I've become a bit of an enzyme evangelist, so take this information with a grain of propagandasidase.

Let's start with the basics: the term "enzyme" is general. Enzymes are catalysts—they speed up the chemical processes going on in your cells so that you remain alive. Without them, you would die.

Digestive enzymes act as tiny chemical scissors, breaking down the molecules of what you eat so that you can digest your food. They are secreted by organs, such as the pancreas and small intestine. There are many different digestive enzymes, and they have different jobs. Some were named intuitively, such as lactase, which breaks down lactose. Others were named by drawing letters from a hat, such as alpha-galactosidase. (Which breaks down beans, broccoli, and other plant stuff, obviously.)

Taking an over-the-counter digestive enzyme capsule with the first bite of your meal can assist in digestion by filling in the gaps in your natural enzymatic production. If you're suffering after eating cheese, try taking a powerful lactase product right before your meal. I'll come out and say that Enzymedica's "Lacto" product is my favorite, but there are plenty of good options out there.

Comparative shopping for enzymes is difficult, however. Lacto boasts 9,500 ALU. The "ALU" stands for Acid Lactase Units. This is a unit based on the hydrolysis of carbohydrates in specific laboratory conditions. ALUs are are one example of a unit used by the FCC, or Foods Chemical Codex to measure enzymatic action. So... what?

The ingredients list of an enzyme is likely to use some nomenclature (like the above) that many people are unlikely to recognize. Just remember: when you're comparing potency, make sure the products you're comparing use the same units. In the case of lactase products, ALU and FCC are used interchangeably, or even together.

The reason that dairy intolerance isn't lactose intolerance, per se,  is that dairy products contain other elements that some people don't tolerate. The main culprit among those is casein.

Casein is milk protein. (Technically, it comprises about 80% of the various proteins in milk). People who cannot drink milk without symptoms may be intolerant of casein, lactose, or both. But taking an enzymatic supplement which only breaks down lactose will not address a casein intolerance problem. That's why higher-grade enzymes, like Enzymedica's Lacto, attack a spectrum of dairy components, casein included. Standard lactase products often focus exclusively on lactose, and may not provide relief.

Your local Foods For Living Staff will be happy to walk you through your enzyme options, should you be interested. There's no need to suffer in silence, or unnecessarily limit your diet. Unlike most health concerns, simply popping a magic pill is a viable option when it comes to dairy intolerance. That doesn't mean you should go milk-wild. There's only so much enzyme supplements can do. But they can improve your life, as they have mine.