Dr. Kracker

Dr. Kracker sources all of its spelt from a group of farmers north of Detroit. I recently interviewed several of them to gain a better insight into where our grain comes from and how it is grown.

I grew up in Michigan and learned in school that Michigan soil benefited greatly during the Ice Age, when the glaciers reworked the surface of the land and deposited deep soils in much of the state. Some of this dirt is very sandy, some has a high clay content; that clay-rich soil can make plowing especially interesting and complex.

The group of organic farmers I spoke with in northern Michigan grow grains and beans for the most part; not as many raise animals. However, I did speak with one Michigan farmer who has a unique commitment to animal husbandry. Along with the clover and alfalfa that are part of his normal rotation, this gentleman raises cows, like his father did. His kids are in 4-H, so keeping the animals was a natural fit for him (no pun intended). The cows and steers are raised organically, and sold to customers seeking organically raised beef.

Most of the farmers I spoke with are third- generation farmers; some converted to organics as early as 1970, others just in the last decade. Some switched to organic methods after witnessing the successes of organic crops and hearing about the higher prices they commanded. Some had a deep concern about chemical farming and its impact on their lives, the soil and the community.

How did these guys get into spelt? Well, spelt had several things going for it. First of all, it’s in the wheat family, so they were already familiar with its cultivation. Secondly, spelt is robust, and therefore more resistant to the rusts and plant diseases that plague wheat. And thirdly, and perhaps most interestingly, spelt is an ancient grain, hasn’t gone through the ag-school genetic improvement programs, and therefore has remained a simple plant with simple requirements. It doesn’t require the enormous amounts of nitrogen fertilizer that modern, high-yielding wheat or corn demand to achieve their full potential.

We urban folks read about the benefits of composting, and many of us keep a compost pile or bin in our yards. But large-scale composting may not be practical on a 700-acre farm. Not only that, although composting benefits the soil, it doesn’t add great amounts of nitrogen. And the one farmer who keeps the cows composts when they’re in the barn; otherwise the animals are on the pastures leaving their patties where they fall to decompose during the fallow cycle.

Dr. Kracker’s spelt farmers deal with the nitrogen question in two ways. Spelt is a winter wheat crop, meaning it’s planted in the fall, often as late as October. The seeds germinate and begin to grow, and although the spelt lies dormant during the winter, it grows vigorously once the days become warm in the spring.

When the spelt is planted, clover can be planted with it. (Clover is nitrogen-fixing; it will leave up to 100 lbs of nitrogen per acre.) The clover thrives as it grows alongside the sprouting spelt. After the spelt is harvested, the clover can either continue to grow, be cut for animal feed, or can go to seed, at which point the seeds can be combined or harvested and sold to other organic farmers. Above the clover is cut or the seeds harvested, the clover is plowed into the soil, and its protein-rich biomass adds to the nitrogen that the roots have brought into the soil.

Some farmers go off the farm for the nitrogen to supplant clover. A popular nitrogen source is the chicken litter that is trucked over from the poultry farms in western Michigan. (And organic farmers are not the only ones who recognize the value of chicken manure! During 2008, when fertilizer costs skyrocketed, there was quite a scramble for chicken litter, and our guys could only get what they had contracted for. There was not an extra load to be found anywhere in southern Michigan!)

Since these farms are organic and the use of conventional herbicides is out of the question, weeds are a constant issue. But then, it’s very hard to imagine weeding 500 acres by hand.

Our Michigan farmers have a variety of solutions for eradicating the weeds that rob their crops of necessary water and nutrients. For sandy or heavy clay soils, they let the weeds germinate, then till the soil to uproot the weeds and add them to the biomass. This process can be repeated a second time, but if the weeds still sprout too vigorously once the crop has been planted, both weeds and crop may end up having to be plowed under. If the field can’t be replanted, the crop is a total loss and the field lies fallow.

Where the soil is appropriate, farmers use the tried-and-true mold board plow that was invented by the Chinese centuries ago, brought to Europe by the Dutch, and then improved continuously as traction for the plow has changed. The mold board works only in deeper soils that are neither too sandy or too clay-rich. It folds 4 or 5 inches of soil so that any surface weed seeds will be unable to germinate from that depth of soil cover.

As you can imagine, no organic systems of tilling and cultivating to eliminate weeds are perfect, and farmers must balance the cost of running a tractor (when diesel costs more than $4 per gallon) with the expected financial loss of yield that weeds cause. Organic farming always means living with some weeds!

One thing often reported about family farms is that they are struggling in today’s economy, as they compete with large agribusinesses and navigate their way around government subsidies and trade regulations. We’ve read that many farmers are forced to work off the farm to make enough money to keep their farm (and family) solvent. I’m happy to say that in my small sample, this was not the case. The winter provides time to repair and maintain combines and tractors, do the bookkeeping that was neglected; and reflect and read—all things you’re too busy to do when you’re working sun to sun. (But one farmer joked that even in the winter, he still works “sun to sun,” because the sun rises later and sets earlier!)

All of the organic farmers I talked with are very enthusiastic about the future of organics, as well as their role in providing organically grown grains and seeds to all of us. Organically grown grain does cost more, but by supporting organics, we not only keep pesticides and poisons out of our diets, we also contribute to sustainable agriculture that makes multi-generational small farms, like the ones Dr. Kracker depends on, possible.

My decision to go vegan in September has been interesting, with all the nuances that “interesting” implies. When I committed to it, I didn’t consider what a profound life change this was going to be, how it affects everything and how open-ended it is.

By “open-ended,” I mean that this choice is for the rest of my life, and not a goal that can be achieved in six weeks. And the choice is profound in the ways it affects the other three people in my family: my spouse and teenaged daughter and son. Being vegan changes what I buy at the supermarket, where we go when we have a family night out, what I prepare when friends come to the house and what I tell friends and family when we are visiting them in chez-them. For most people, meat and protein are something special and a way to celebrate both the guests and the occasion — there’s no Thanksgiving without the turkey or Easter without the spiral-cut ham. For five years, when I was in my twenties, I was a lacto vegetarian. One of the reasons I left the diet was because I got tired of telling hosts that I needed special food; I started feeling as though my refusal of their food was impolite in the extreme. But here we are again, vegans in a very meat-oriented society.

Every year at Thanksgiving we host a large potluck in Austin. In a fast-growing city like ours, most everyone comes from somewhere else, and we’ve always hosted the potluck for those who didn’t have the time or the desire to endure holiday travel to eat at the family table. This year’s party included nearly 80 people, and I’d estimate that almost half of them were vegetarian (or vegan, depending on definitions). Along with the traditional meat dishes, there were a couple of egg dishes, lots of salads and a number of potato, sweet potato and baked veggie dishes — and no cheese that I can remember. In other words, plenty of great food, and plenty of proof that you don’t need meat to celebrate.

How strictly has our household adhered to our vegan diet? My daughter and I have both stuck pretty closely to the “no animal product” diet, though I did make a lemon meringue pie the other night, which of course used eggs and some butter. (I was feeling inspired and I wanted to reformulate the lemon filling by adding pureed mango and rhubarb. The lemon, mango and rhubarb made a luscious mix of flavors, maybe only missing some strawberry.) Next time, I’ll omit the meringue, leave out the egg yolks from the filling and go to olive oil or palm shortening for the fat in the filling. I’ll find out then how crucial egg yolks and butter are to mango citrus curd.

My spouse Liliana went to a wine bar with friends the other night and reported that aside from the small salads, there wasn’t much she could order from the menu. I don’t understand why it’s so challenging for restaurants to accommodate vegans — the food is not complicated, and there are so many delicious dishes — especially Mediterranean dishes — that omnivores of every stripe enjoy. The fact that they’re free of animal products doesn’t mean they’re only for vegans. In fact, what it means is that these dishes are lower in fat and calories, and higher in fiber and nutritional value than those that contain meat and dairy. And they don’t have to suffer in terms of flavor and texture, either — think rich, creamy, hummus, spicy eggplant caponata, and the wonderful custardy comfort of grilled polenta.

Dr. Kracker is an active participant in the Whole Grains Council, which has been pushing for more restaurants to integrate whole grains into their menu. There have been some successes (read about it here: http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/). The key to change is customer demand. I told Liliana the same thing: tell the server or manager they missed a sale by not offering an easy and inexpensive vegan alternative on their menu (with Dr. Kracker on the side, of course).

What are we doing at Dr. Kracker? We have always worked to create as many vegan flavors as we can. For example, the original Seedlander recipe called for honey. We switched to agave nectar to keep this vegan. We also changed the flour from wheat to spelt in order to bake the Seedlander for as broad of a customer group as possible (check out my spelt blog). When we use cheese for our two (soon to be three) cheddar flavors, the cheese we use is made with the plant-based hannilase enzyme rather than the traditional rennet, which is cow-based. So these crackers are vegetarian.

Will we quit using cheese altogether at Dr. Kracker because I’m a vegan now? In a word, no. Our recipes at Dr. Kracker are based on delicious flavor, maximum nutritional value, and authentic and wholesome ingredients — not on personal political or moral positions. I have a responsibility to my other partners, and to all of our customers. Of course, if people stop buying our cheddar flavors, we’ll stop baking them. In the meantime, we’ll continue to make the wide variety of vegetarian and vegan whole grain and whole seed crackers our customers love to demand.

It isn’t often that a new book totally surprises me and radically changes my thinking. But since writing my last “Salmon & Sardine Spread/Omega 3 ” blog, I’ve read Colin Campbell’s The China Study, a book that did both. It’s inspired me to completely change my views of diet, nutrition and health.

When I first heard about China Study, I assumed it was one more comparison of diets in low-income societies, with conclusions that would be difficult to apply to my life here in Austin, Texas. However, the findings in this book provide an extensive view of the relationship of protein consumption to chronic disease — heart disease, cancer and diabetes, to name the big three — in all levels of Chinese society, from the underdeveloped rural areas to the very modern, urban zones; moreover, these findings confirm research that Colin Campbell had seen in other studies linking the consumption of animal protein to an increase in chronic diseases. The actual study of Chinese diets is only a small part of the book.

So what exactly rocked this omnivore’s worldview? According to Campbell’s research, chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes are, for the most part, preventable, and in the cases of diabetes and heart disease, reversible by diet alone. I’ve written previously about the impact whole grains can have on lowering cholesterol and preventing heart disease (equal to that of statin drugs!). Campbell’s findings further reinforce both the personal and worldwide health benefits of a plant based diet, one that avoids all animal protein and includes unrefined, whole foods. This diet can eliminate the costs and sufferings of these major diseases, both of which are substantial and rising, as we’ve learned from recent reports.

When I was writing about fish, my thinking was that as long as we employ a certain balance, we can responsibly enjoy a diet with reasonable amounts of dairy and meats. This means regular exercise, moderate portions, and adding long chained fatty acids — the Omega 3’s — to the diet to counter the effects of the cholesterol.

However, Campbell characterizes this as “reductionist” thinking — an attempt to reduce diet and good health to a matter of a few nutrients, vitamins or magic bullets. I had also assumed that a cholesterol level of around 200 was fine, as long as all other indicators (like high levels of HDL and low triglycerides) were all great. But it turns out that with a vegan diet, a cholesterol level can be taken below 150 — without having to resort to expensive, drugs with their potential for side effects.

A vegan diet isn’t that radical or threatening a change to me. I know how to cook. When I’m alone and not cooking for the family, salad is my everyday food. I’ll miss cheese, but I’ve been cutting back on cheese for years, (with a few occasional binges). For meat substitutes, there are the concentrated proteins of seeds and legumes, as well as the protein that is part of every fruit and vegetable. The typical American diet is so rich in animal protein that it usually delivers more than twice as much protein as even a growing child needs, and we’ve all been brain washed into believing that protein is a better than carbohydrates. As a baker, I’ve always resisted the belief that carbohydrates are evil, and now I can return to my whole grains and brown rice! (This change will be harder on my wife and kids because they haven’t read the book and are not as persuaded by its overwhelming data. But they won’t go hungry!)

China Study also provides a history and overview of health and diet that are excellent reading. Campbell traces a discussion of meat in the diet back to the teachings of Plato, who said in no uncertain terms that we eat meat at our own peril. Plato observed that diet directly affected the individual’s health, but with deeper insight, Plato recognized that the extra grazing land required for a meat-based diet meant that the city-state must sacrifice its compact, democratic nature and become imperialistic and expand to accommodate the need for more land to raise animals. Conquest and democracy are not enduring bedfellows. It doesn’t require much imagination to see the parallels to the present and recognize the moral questions our world faces regarding the amount of land dedicated to corn to satisfy a carnivorous diet when many people still go hungry.

Although not mentioned in the book, one of favorite whole health visionaries is Dr. Sylvestor Graham, the earliest US dietary reformer that I know of. He upset bakers by declaring that the public should bake their own bread (the beginning of the graham cracker) to avoid the empty calories of white bread, and he enraged butchers by telling his followers to avoid meat and to become vegetarian. Dr. Graham loses some points with me because he came to his dietary commitments by way of some quirky Victorian sexual prohibitions, but even so, I respect the fact that even if his followers were sexually repressed, they were at least healthy of body.

China Study has also made me reevaluate the concept of insurance. As a small company, Dr. Kracker has substantial health insurance costs, even with significant deductibles. Health insurance has always struck me as a very pessimistic commodity. But if we know that cholesterol is a predictor of chronic diseases, which are the most costly to insure and to treat, I think it makes sense to link our insurance payments to our cholesterol levels. Those with cholesterol levels below 150 pay less, those with higher pay more. Then it becomes our choice to follow the healthy diet or to ignore it and to pay the higher premium costs. As an optimist, I want to feel that I can take control of my own health and well-being!

So why is this information not more widely known? I’m usually one to resist conspiracy theories, but much of the later part of China Study details how diet’s link to the prevention and cure of chronic disease has been suppressed or ignored. The meat industry, the dairy industry, and health care and hospitals have little interest in profound changes.

For food producers, it’s about increasing demand for the meat and dairy products.

For the medical industrial complex, it’s about the sales of drugs to fix what is wrong with our bodies without challenging the lifestyle and diet that cause chronic disease.

And at the professional level, too many health care providers are threatened by the simple message of “change your diet and be healthy.” There is too little money in this. There is no surgical intervention. There are no patented drugs to sell. To prove his point, Campbell relates the story of ace heart surgeon Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn who wanted to promote dietary awareness as an alternative treatment at the Cleveland Clinic where he had been a resident heart surgeon. Dr. Esselstyn saw that his surgical fixes were not creating lasting cures, but his experimental diets did reverse heart disease. His colleagues would not send their patients to Dr. “Sprouts,” (as they began to call him), but they sent their family members for consultation and life style changes when they showed heightened risk of heart disease. In all fairness to doctors, Campbell does point out that they receive only a limited exposure to nutrition and diet during their studies, and given the drive toward specialization in medicine, there is an unfortunate ignorance of holistic thinking about disease and cures. But I do fault doctors and the medical establishment for not pursuing the latest research and for not being willing to question their own belief systems, especially in view of the increases in chronic disease. Our modern medicine has only been able to partially ameliorate the problem and prolong lives, but it has not even begun to reverse the increase in chronic disease.

But ultimately, we have only ourselves to blame for this predicament. As the final consumers of food and medicine, the fact is most of us want to have our cake and to eat it, too. (Literally!) So how will this life-enhancing, life saving, socially responsible message get out?

Word-of-mouth and the internet are tremendous tools. While the food industry’s interest could be construed as a conspiracy against change, the power of the internet can make certain that all ideas will be diffused and examined by millions of critical eyes. In closing, all I can say is that I urge anyone who is interested to read The China Study!

The Doctor has been quiet for some time, busy with travel and food shows and even taking a vacation from our Texas heat. The only downside to a vacation, I find, is that no one tends the garden and its individual plants as well as the gardener. And when, during the gardener’s vacation, the temperatures crest 100 and there is no rain—well. Let’s just say the Doctor’s chard will need to be replanted when the temperature breaks!

Speaking of planting and replanting, there are some new flavors to announce in the Dr. Kracker family, and current flavors we are going to say goodbye to. That’s never easy to do, so let’s start there.

As much as I (and many others) love our Krispy Grahams, we are having to discontinue them. I know that the market for a healthy graham cracker is there, however, our packaging was not good enough to tell the story in a way that effectively enticed new customers, and even worse, the box was problematic to pack. And I’m afraid that’s what it all boils down to: our packers have just become too busy to deal with a difficult-to-pack product that is, unfortunately, a slow seller.

But on the bright side, which is the side the Doctor prefers to any other, we are already at work on new Graham that will be topped with oats and dried apples. We’re very excited about it, as we are about some other new flavors that are in the running.

Ultimately, we’ll choose three new flavors for 2009—please watch the website for updates and more details as we get closer to the new year.

In all my years of baking (31 years and counting, since my apprenticeship in Germany), I’ve never understood why bread sales go down in the summer. This was as true in Hanover as it is in Austin. My baker friends and I have always searched for products and ideas to boost summer sales. I know, of course, that people eat lighter when the weather is warm, but you’d think that sandwiches, buns and fruit tarts would offset the declines in heartier loaves.

When we started Dr. Kracker, I found I’d finally discovered a bread product that people will love to eat all year round. Our Flatbreads, Snacker Crackers, and Snack Chips are light and healthy, and they all pair well with salads, dips and spreads— just the kinds of foods that people prefer to eat when the weather is hot and weighs on us. And lately, I’ve become especially interested in experimenting with spreads that complement Dr. Kracker flatbreads and crackers, both in terms of flavor and nutritional value.

The Doctor is especially fond of fish spreads. In my latest home version of a salmon spread, I added 2 or 3 ounces of spicy green olives from our local grocery’s olive bar to my salmon, bean and sun-dried tomato spread with good results. I’m getting so attached to this spread for breakfast and for a quick snack, I feel like a traitor to peanut butter and jam, my old standbys.

By the way, more and more grocery stores are offering antipasto bars, bursting with tempting displays of many exciting pickled or roasted vegetables. These are combinations that are just waiting to be chopped into cream cheese and or cooked beans and then spread onto your favorite deliciously sturdy Dr. Kracker flatbread or cracker. Here are two quick ideas for spreads:

Calamata Olive and Walnut Spread:

4 oz Cream Cheese
4 oz Feta Cheese (cow or goat)
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Blend the cheeses and lemon juice together first in the food processor.
½ cup Pitted Calamata olives
½ cup Walnut pieces
Then blend in the olives and walnuts to the desired consistency. For a richer, creamier spread, add ¼ cup softened, unsalted butter.

Roasted Tomato, Smoked Garlic Bean Dip:
1 15 oz can drained Cannellini beans
12 cloves Smoked Garlic
½ tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Fresh Oregano (or ½ tsp dried)
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Blend all together in the food processor. Then add:
1 Cup Roasted Tomatoes, with oil drained
½ cup Sun Dried Tomatoes (use ones that have not been in oil so that they will absorb the moisture and make a thicker spread.)

Speaking of peanut butter, I’d like to thank those of you who sent letters appreciating the information we’ve made available on our new packaging—specifically the declaration that Dr. Kracker is made in a tree nut and peanut-free bakery.

We love the feedback, and we’re very glad the clarification has helped you and the people you shop for enjoy Dr. Kracker!

In my opinion, Michael Pollan is one of the most important food writers of our generation. His reports on cattle feedlots and grass fed alternatives have deepened our understanding the food supply chain from farm to table; he’s influenced where we shop and what we buy in our grocery stores; and he has highlighted the importance of farmers’ markets, and aided the efforts of so many people who work to encourage the support of local foods.

I very much enjoyed Pollan’s latest book: In Defense of Food. Its two big themes are the processing and industrialization of food and the errors the U.S. government has made in its food recommendations, particularly the lipid or fat hypothesis. I’ll leave the discussion of the latter theme for another time. In this post, I want to focus on that first theme, and Pollan’s arguments and recommendations that so closely echo my own strong beliefs.

In Defense of Food begins with very simple advice: ” ‘Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.’ That, more of less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.” (pg. 1, first paragraph). I consider Dr. Kracker very much to be part of this admonishment to eat real food!

As an adult approaching the 60-year mark, I very clearly remember the evolution (some would say “devolution”) of food during the second half of the 20th century, when what food Americans bought and where we bought it changed radically in a very short period of time. I tell my two kids that my own parents blessed me with a hearty appreciation for the goodness of fresh food. We did not have a large garden in our backyard in the Midwest, but my father always shopped the farmers market in Kalamazoo, Michigan and later, the market in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Kalamazoo sits on deep glacial soil and black loam, and I remember its market stacked high with lettuce and produce. (Huge salads were almost a staple in my family growing up, to this day, my two brothers, five sisters and I all share a love of the oversized salad bowl.) I will always remember the fall apple harvest (especially Jonathans and Ida Reds) in Fort Wayne. Those experiences forever imprinted my taste in apples. To this day I have trouble appreciating the sweeter varieties that predominate in supermarkets today, since none of them can match the level of crisp texture and acidity that will forever define true “appleness” for me. Sadly, because they do not ship well without bruising, both the Idas and Jonathans never make it to Texas any more, and I only taste then when I travel north in the autumn.

In those days farming was by no means all organic, but it was much more natural. The use of manure as fertilizer was still very common, a reality I always noticed as soon as we left Kalamazoo’s city limits and the not unwelcome odor of cow manure blew in through the open windows of the car. (And no, it didn’t stink, it was simply a smell that defined where we lived and it was always familiar.)

“Defining where we live” is one of the central benefits of eating locally grown and produced foods. And Michael Pollan argues that eating local and eating fresh are also important factors to curing what is wrong with food and health. Thankfully, with the renaissance of the farmers markets, this niche of small, local producers is growing, and according to a recent article in the New York Times, more and more young adults are buying land and dedicating themselves to serving the local markets. In Austin, Texas, my current home town, we have the largest farmers market in Texas and one of the larger in the U.S., and it is very loyally supported by the surrounding communities of consumers, farmers, and other food artisans. Including Dr. Kracker—we’ve had a booth there for four years.

In his book In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan does not recommend that we only buy non-processed food. He recognizes that the amount of time that we have to buy, prepare and cook food has changed, and that today, the stay-at-home parent is as almost uncommon as the family garden. But as processed food has come to dominate what we eat, so has the incidence of chronic disease. Pollan lays out in wonderful, frightening detail how industry removed the inconvenient nutrients and vitamins from foods that limited its shelf life. Some were added back again piecemeal, but without any recognition of the complexity of the nutritional package. And today we’re discovering that the “whole” is much greater than the sum of the parts; that by eliminating the bonds among compounds, enzymes and nutrients, well-intentioned manufacturers ended up delivering failed foods. Moreover, this nutrient-by-nutrient approach failed to recognize that a whole food’s intricate biochemical essence also interacts with our body’s own complexity in ways that we can’t yet fully appreciate. Processing resulted in calorie-dense but nutrient-poor foods, poorer health, dental problems and the reliance on an expensive medical system to fix the problems caused by the new way of eating. This nutrient-based approach has brought us to the dietary disasters that are so much a reality today.

Pollan has simple recommendations when it comes to shopping well: when it comes to processed food, don’t buy it if your grandmother wouldn’t have recognized the ingredients on the label. So I’m paraphrasing when I say, “If you want to return to buying healthy foods, just channel your granny!”

This is not to say that all was hunky-dory in the days of my grandparents. Yes, the big salad bowl and fresh brownies awere fixtures in their house, but I also remember dense clouds of cigarette smoke and heavy drinking. (Then again, like the French with their Galois and wine, maybe their food protected them, because my grandparents did not die of chronic disease. Nor did my father, and my mother is still going strong, living independently at age 86!)

The natural foods industry is redefining how we process food to meet variety and convenience that customers want. Natural foods and organic foods are by and large minimally processed, and their labels are easy to read. (Although there is a disturbing trend in the world of natural foods to attempt to replicate the very heavily processed foods that are part of our health and nutritional crisis. One has to ask if “natural” really makes a difference in this case. Do we need an organic Oreo? ) Granted this food is more expensive to make and sell because of its artisan preparation and shorter shelf life, but I would bet that the money we save by eating fresher foods and whole grains will be offset by not having to go to the medical establishment to fix the problems caused by empty calories. After all, whole grains are shown to be as effective and much less costly than stents at preventing heart disease.

In Defense of Food has many more engaging themes such as the lipid hypothesis and the enshrining of carbohydrates, a topic guaranteed to shock, anger, entertain and enlighten all at the same time. I’ve touched on only a very small part of his book, and urge you to buy it to get the benefit of all of Pollan’s passion and insight. I’d also love to hear your comments, thoughts, and especially your memories of the whole foods and farmers markets you might have been lucky to enjoy in your own childhoods.

Until next time, thank you for joining the health careful and enjoying Dr. Kracker’s whole grains and whole seeds, and many thanks to Michael Pollan for a thoughtful, inspiring book.

My health detective brother-in-law recently forwarded the following article to me:

Whole Grain Diets Lower Risk Of Chronic Disease, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2008) — Diets with high amounts of whole grains may help achieve significant weight loss, and also reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a team of Penn State researchers at University Park and the College of Medicine.

“Consumption of whole grains has been associated with a lower body weight and lower blood pressure,” said co-author Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State. “We thought that incorporating whole grains into a heart-healthy weight loss diet may provide the same benefits to people at risk from chronic diseases.”

The researchers recruited 50 obese adults — 25 male and 25 female — between ages 20 to 65 and known to have metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

They were randomly assigned to either a group that received instructions to have all of their grain servings from whole grains or all of their grain servings from refined grains.

“We asked participants in the whole grain group to focus on foods that had whole grains as the first ingredient,” said lead author Heather Katcher, a Penn State Ph.D. recipient and currently a dietetic intern at Tulane University.

Over the 12-week study period, all participants received the same dietary advice on weight loss, and encouragement to participate in moderate physical activity. Researchers also asked participants to consume five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of low-fat dairy products, and two servings of lean meat, fish or poultry.

Results from the study showed that waist circumference and body weight decreased significantly in both groups — between 8-11 pounds on average — but weight loss in the abdominal region was significantly greater in the whole grain group.

According to Katcher, the whole grain group experienced a 38 percent decrease in C-reactive protein levels in their blood. A high level of this inflammatory marker is thought to place patients at a higher risk for diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

“Typically you would expect weight loss to be associated with a decrease in C-reactive protein, but the refined grain group showed no decrease in this marker of inflammation even though they lost weight,” said Kris-Etherton.

The Penn State researcher suggests that the finding is because the consumption of refined grains has been linked to increased levels of the protein. So even though people in the refined grain group lost weight, the fact that they ate so many refined grains probably negated the beneficial effect of weight loss on C-reactive protein levels.

While it is not fully clear how exactly the protein is decreased in the whole grain group, Richard Legro, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and a co-investigator, says the scale of reduction is similar to that seen with the use of statin drugs, highlighting the potential of diet to prevent serious medical complications.

Participants in the whole grain group also showed an increased intake of fiber and magnesium, both of which may prevent or delay the potential onset of diabetes.

Researchers say the study is timely as it addresses the wide choice of whole grains in the market.

“There are a lot of foods around that claim they contain whole grain but are not really major sources of whole grain,” said Kris-Etherton. She recommends whole grain foods where at least 51 percent of the grain comes from whole grain. These include oatmeal, whole grain cereal, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and snacks such as granola bars, popcorn and whole-wheat crackers.
“This is the first clinical study to prove that a diet rich in whole grains can lead to weight loss and reduce the risk of several chronic diseases,” added Kris-Etherton.

The study’s findings are published in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Other researchers on the paper representing a unique multi-disciplinary team of clinical scientists that are actively studying the role of diet and disease include Allen R. Kunselman, senior instructor; Laurence M. Demers, distinguished professor of pathology and medicine; Deborah M. Bagshaw, clinical coordinator, all at Penn State, and Peter J. Gillies, director, Health Science Strategy, DuPont Haskell Laboratory for Health and Environmental Sciences.

The General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Human Nutrition and the NIH supported this study.

Adapted from materials provided by Penn State.

What great motivation to rethink what we eat! The correlation between whole grains and weight loss is especially strong; simple, easy advice for anyone who struggles with dieting. On the other hand, the relationship between the whole grains, weight loss and the C-reactive proteins is not totally understood. C-reactive proteins are inflammation markers, and weight loss is expected to reduce them, and with them, the risk of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. But the evidence suggests that a diet high in refined grains can reduce weight, and at the same time, elevate the C-reactive proteins, which negates the positive health benefits of the weight loss. There will certainly be further studies looking at this link between a diet high in refined grains and inflammation. You definitely want to reduce these C-reactive proteins!

The results also suggest that whole grains provide some of the same protection as statin drugs in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease—all for the low, low price of sliced whole grain bread or Dr. Kracker flatbreads! With their high fiber and magnesium content, whole grains in the diet can prevent the onset of diabetes. And for all of us with the bulging middle, it would appear that more daily servings of whole grains help deflate that spare tire! This is one awesome study that really clearly links a diet rich in whole grains to reductions in weight and the risk of life threatening diseases.

On another note: Recently, my favorite newsletter, University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter (Volume 26, Issue 6, March 2008), stated that “adults living with children tend to eat the fewest servings (of whole grain), since most kids prefer refined grains such as white bread. People consume 40% of their whole grains at breakfast. They get very little whole grains in restaurant meals, which supply more than one-third of Americans’ daily calories.” This really got me thinking.

One of my favorite conversations with customers is how to get more whole grains into the diets of their children. My wife and I struggled with our own son’s (now 13) diet, and we are both well aware that you can’t make a child eat what a child doesn’t want to eat. But first of all, having a child who won’t eat whole grains is no excuse for keeping the rest of the family hostage to his dietary preferences. And secondly: when I once voiced my frustrations about my son’s finicky tastes to my mother, she heard me out, then admonished me: “Remember, you are the parent.” And she was right.

I firmly believe that our role as parents is to always set a good example. In the case of sound nutrition and good diet management, this means being careful in the selection of snacks that come into the house, being dedicated to the preparation of nutritious food at home so as to avoid restaurants’ empty calories, and being ever-willing to try new and exciting foods that do offer whole grains. Another way to successfully influence the eating patterns of children is to sit down together for family dinners. Under ideal circumstances, food is enjoyed rather than just consumed, conversation is fun and enlightening, and parents have the opportunity to positively influence both the emotional and dietary maturity of their children. (Of course, there will be plenty of not very fun dinners, too, where the tension is as thick as the mashed potatoes. But even so, family dinners win on every count.)

With rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and other nutrition-related crises among kids today, I know that concerned parents, chefs and nutritionists are looking for ways to turn the trend around. Those of us whose careers and interests involve whole grains know that they are a delicious part of the solution. We’ve read the volumes of incontrovertible evidence that shows it.
So, in summary, to parents who ask me how to get more whole grains in their kids’ diets, my advice is this:

1. Make whole grains available. When kids are hungry, they’ll reach for what’s there. Make sure what’s there is something healthy by keeping your pantry filled with snacks and treats that contain whole grains, and minimize the processed alternatives.
2. Make a plate. Even the fussiest “white bread only” type kids will succumb to the temptations of colorful presentation. Try spreading individual Krispy Grahams with peanut butter and jelly, or simple fruit preserves, and arrange them on a plate with sliced apples. Make that available at snack time and you’ll be surprised how quickly it disappears. Or, arrange our Snack Chips or Flatbreads around sliced cheese or a dish of dip. The trick is to not ask if they want it, but just have it available. Believe me, it works!
3. “Sneak” them in. Break Dr. Kracker flatbreads onto soups, salads, and on top of mac & cheese. Use crushed flatbreads in meatballs, or as breading for fried fish sticks or chicken. Make ice cream sandwiches with tempered ice cream between two Krispy Graham crackers. Your kids will never know what exactly is making their favorite foods so healthy—or delicious!

Hopefully, if the whole grains message is heard often enough, it will sink in and consumers (and their children!) will join the “health careful” and change the way they eat. At Dr. Kracker, we work to make all of this easier and more delicious for everyone with the artisan-baked meal-sized flatbreads, Krispy Grahams, Snack Chips and Snack crackers we make every day—every one rich in both whole grains and Uber Crunch.

Here’s to your continued great health!

Ever mindful of that New Year’s resolution to get more important Omega 3’s in his diet, Dr. Kracker is making and eating fish spreads as often as he can. And in the process, one thing he’s learned is that a 7-oz can of salmon mixed with cannelloni beans makes a lot of spread! It takes a while to finish one recipe before I can make and test another, which is why there might be a little time between posts.

As with my previous recipes, the recipe below calls for canned salmon, to avoid the farm-raised salmon and the problems associated with them. (Although high mercury levels in sushi-grade blue fin tuna have recently been identified, I haven’t seen any problems in the wild-caught salmon that find their way into cans.)

Tomato Salmon Spread
1 7-oz can of salmon
1 15-oz cannellini beans
4-oz sun dried tomatoes in oil
5 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (one large lemon)
¼ to ½ cup finely chopped red onion
¼ cup black sesame seeds
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp sea salt
Optional: ¼ cup chopped fresh dill.

Blend all together. Chill.

This is my new favorite breakfast spread—it’s replaced the peanut butter flatbread I used to have every morning. And with it, I’m getting plenty of protein, plus essential fatty acids and all kinds of extra nutrition from the beans and sesame seeds!
(For a milder version, omit the onion.)

Last night was a spaghetti night at my house, complete with meatballs from our Elgin rancher’s grass-fed beef. I’ve mentioned before that when a recipe calls for breadcrumbs, for added texture and nutrition, I use Dr. Kracker flatbread or Snacker crumbs instead. (I just throw a few in my Cuisinart and hit “frappe.”) They worked particularly well in this meatball recipe. The pecans add a nice Texas twist to the hearty beef, not to mention nutritional fatty acids.

Bonus Omega 3 recipe: Pecan Parmesan Meatballs
Crumbs: enough Dr Kracker (any flavor) to make ½ cup of crumbs
1/3 cup pecans.
Grind to crumbs or meal in a food processor.

Mix into:
1# ground beef (preferably grass-fed)
1 large egg (we enjoy pasture raised eggs)
¼ cup grated Reggiano cheese
¼ tsp sea salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper.

Combine, shape into meatballs, and sauté before adding to your favorite red sauce. I was pleasantly surprised at how unmistakable the pecan flavor was in the ground meat.

I still haven’t been able to find more information about the type of Omega 3’s in grass-fed beef on the internet, other than the numerous articles mentioning it in general. So I’m still not certain whether the Omega 3’s in grass-fed beef are the long chain or the shorter chain essential fatty acids. But you need both in your diet, so you really can’t go wrong here.
Enjoy, and look for more Omega 3-rich recipes from the Doctor in the future!

The Dr. admits to eating less than the recommended amounts of fish. Living inland, just-caught, truly fresh fish was never an available option to me. And, apart from my concern about the distance between the ocean and my home, I have very real worries about both sustainable populations of fish and the pollutants the larger species absorb, which would eventually be absorbed by me and the family were those larger species of fish served at my table. So when it came to essential Omega 3 fatty acids, I’ve always relied on flaxseeds, fresh veggies, and grass-fed beef raised in nearby Elgin, Texas as my best sources.

Nevertheless, every health related newsletter I pick up seems to emphasize the importance of the long-chain Omega 3’s in helping to lower cholesterol and improve heart health. Flaxseeds and other seeds contain short chain fatty acids that can be converted by the body into long chain fatty acids, but these vegetarian sources of Omega 3’s aren’t the most effective or efficient way to get this essential nutrient into your system. In fact, it takes approximately 10 units of flax Omega 3 to make the equivalent of 1 longer chain unit of fish Omega 3. (The ratio of conversion of grass-fed red meat Omega 3 into the equivalent of fish Omega 3 is currently under study by a number of nutritionists, and I have not yet seen any conclusive findings.)

The cholesterol-reducing, heart-healthy impact of these fish-based Omega 3’s has been well established. Now, in the last issue of the University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter (Volume 24, Issue 4), I read that inflammation is being more closely looked at as a cause of heart disease. And guess what? The fish-based Omega 3’s are effective in reducing inflammation.

As you may already know, I like to have as much fun as the next person, and am willing to take a risk here and there to do so. But one thing I don’t take risks with is the health of my heart. So, after careful consideration (because resolutions should not be made lightly), I’ve decided to eat more fish in 2008. The same issue of the Wellness Newsletter mentioned canned sardines as a great way to bring Omega 3’s into the diet, which perfectly addresses my concerns about freshness, sustainable fishing, and pollution absorption.

But how do they taste? After all, food isn’t medicine, and shouldn’t taste like it.

Well, like most other foods, when sardines are treated well and thoughtfully, they taste great. And I’ve become so inspired by the health benefits and culinary potential of canned sardines (as well as canned mackerel and salmon) that I’ve embarked on a quest to gather recipes and for fish spreads and pates to serve with Dr. Kracker’s whole grains and whole seeds. From casual snacks to appetizers and light meals, our robust, hearty Dr. Kracker flatbreads and crackers are the perfect complement to the strong, oil-rich flavor of these delicious and healthful little fish.

So here are a few to start the chain of “Long-Chain-Omega-3-Rich Sardine Spreads And Pates,” tested and tweaked by me. Enjoy!

Sardine & Bean Spread
from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to 5-10 Minute Appetizers

1 can sardines (3.75 oz) in water or olive oil, drained
1 15.5 ounce can of cooked cannellini beans
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice (almost 1 lemon)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp hot sauce

Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth, then chill for at least 2 hours. Spread on your favorite Dr. Kracker.

Notes: The original recipe called for chick peas, but I like the smoother flavor of the cannellini beans, which, according to a recent study in the Journal of Nutrition, have been shown to have cholesterol-lowering qualities.

Mediterranean Sardine Spread
also from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to 5-10 Minute Appetizers

1 can sardines (3.75 oz) in oil or water, drained
1 cup cream cheese (I used the reduced fat)
1/2 cup (about 4 oz) of sun dried tomatoes, oil packed, drained
1/2 cup pitted (about 4 oz, pitted Kalamata olives)
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley.

Roughly chop the sun-dried tomatoes, then blend with all other ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

Notes: The original recipe called for olive oil, but I found there was enough oil in the sun-dried tomatoes to create a smooth spread. If you like a richer texture, add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to taste.

With the wealth of resources available on the internet (just googling “sardine spread” worked for me), you can easily find dozens of recipes that include a wide variety of other ingredients. I’ll continue researching and testing these spreads, and I promise (New Year’s Resolution #2) to follow up with another entry very soon. (I’m also curious to experiment with canned salmon and mackerel). Stay tuned, stay well, and have a healthy 2008!

This is the time of year when the Doctor attends local food shows and other consumer-based events — something I especially enjoy. Standing at a table piled high with packages of Flatbreads, Snackers, and bowls of samples, it’s great to hear firsthand the enthusiastic feedback of both current and future customers. But every now and then a customer (almost always a man, which is curious) will say, "It looks too healthy, I probably won’t like it."

This always leaves me wondering what the implication of "too healthy" is. Since I have a rebellious nature myself, I suspect that part of this attitude is based on an automatic rejection of what these people feel is being forced on them for their own good, especially if they think they’ll have to give up something they enjoy in the process. ("You want me to put cod liver oil on my toast instead of butter, and like it? Hell, no!") It’s true that a few decades ago, the good-for-you alternatives to standard conventional fare were pretty rough; it seemed if you wanted to eat foods that were high in nutritional value, you had to be prepared to suffer in the process. But these days, the shelves and cases of supermarkets everywhere are overflowing with good-for-you-foods that taste as good as—and very often better than—their processed and artificially flavored counterparts. I’m proud that Dr. Kracker fits into this category—that not only are we are providing alternatives and solutions to the nutritional problems of the day, we make absolutely delicious products that anyone would choose on the merits of taste and texture alone.

In his recent article about the challenges of universal health coverage, Peter Huber makes a distinction between the “health-conscious” and the “heath-careless.” To me, “health-careless” seems a good description of the group of people who say they don’t like healthy-looking food. Because there’s just no escaping the fact that there is a direct correlation between the quality of the foods we eat and the quality of the health we enjoy.

The dire consequences of poor nutrition in our country are beginning to be daily news items, as they should be. During the last year the Doctor has been at Diabetes shows, the Food and Nutrition Expo, regional dietitians’ events and numerous health and wellness fairs. I’ve seen first hand the enormity (no pun intended) of health problems caused by obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and food allergies, and I’ve met the committed professionals addressing these problems. As individuals, many of us are choosing to live and think healthy. But the question is, as a society, can we afford not to? I don’t think we can, and as with most of the bigger problems of today, I think the best solution to a new awareness of the importance of good nutrition is in the hands of the stewards of tomorrow: namely, our children.

Since graham crackers are often a child’s first cracker, I’ve always strived to make a cracker that genuinely appeals to kids—one they WANT to eat, not just are willing to eat—so Dr. Kracker could provide caring parents everywhere a real alternative to the General Mills/Nabisco path.

Most people these days might not know that the graham cracker is named after the Reverend Sylvester Graham, who was born in Connecticut in 1794 and died in 1851. After surviving a fairly sickly childhood, Sylvester Graham made a connection between a better diet and good health. In those days, flour was extensively bleached and refined to feed the myth that white bread was better than brown. Graham came to the conclusion that the resulting loss of the bran and the wheat germ was one of the contributing causes to declining health of the general population. His “graham flour” was a return to whole grain milling.

Ordained in 1826, the Reverend was a stirring speaker, and held large events to discuss spirituality and health. Graham strongly urged that his followers take responsibility for their health by reforming how they ate and how they lived their lives. Through his health lectures, the Reverend also became known as Dr. Graham, although he had not studied medicine. The Doctor Reverend became one of the first examples of a popular figure heavily censored by the industries he criticized. His advocacy of vegetarianism and home baking caused an uproar among butchers and bakers, and there were near-riots by these tradesmen to keep Graham from speaking. The Reverend’s movement came to be known as Grahamites, and the Graham cracker is one of the enduring legacies of his recommendations for an improved diet.

I found the recipe for our Krispy Grahams in an old baking book. I was thrilled to see yeast recommended as a leavening agent, since Dr. Kracker bakes with yeast rather than chemicals. (While there’s nothing wrong with chemical leavenings such as baking powder or baking soda, yeast’s fermentation creates a more profound flavor, and the texture is much more crisp and robust.) This recipe needed just a little tweaking and adjusting to create our Krispy Grahams. We chose to use whole grain spelt flour as an answer to the increasing awareness of wheat allergies. We debated whether to use butter or not, but finally decided that organic butter creates the best flavor profile, even if it does depart from Dr. Graham’s advocacy of the strictest vegetarian diet. And we dust the grahams lightly with sugar to concentrate the sugar on the top crust, so we can get by with a less sweet version. And like all of our flavors, the Krispy Graham has flaxseeds for their extra fiber, protein and Omega 3 fatty acids. This is very much an heirloom recipe that is 100% whole grain, one of the few whole grain grahams on the market!

Our Krispy Grahams have been slowly gaining sales in the marketplace, and at our customer food shows, customers always give it high marks. They like that it’s not overly sweet, they enjoy the more substantial texture and mouth feel, and they want more whole grains, both for themselves and for their children. Our grahams have even been accepted into the Unified Berkeley School District, where they’re part of the snack program.

We feel that all of the Dr. Kracker Flatbreads, Snackers and Snack Chips honor the memory of the Reverend Graham. We join the Reverend in spirit to passionately “preach” the connection between healthy food and health itself. And most of all, we hope that with our delicious, great-tasting, and genuinely wholesome products, Dr. Kracker can open the door for the “health-careless” of today to make a conversion, while inspiring a future generation of healthy children to never settle for anything less than what is truly best for them.

(Peter Huber is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of “The Bottomless Well.” I saw his article in the Investors Business Daily of October 29, 2007)

I have always loved eating soup. Growing up in Michigan, soup was part of our daily lunch and, because my mother always served the soup burn-the-tongue hot, so were the saltines that we hungrily dipped into the soup while it cooled. I will admit that the salty zest of a cracker, transfat, shortening and all, was delicious. Now that I live in Texas where it is sweltering hot most of the year, I look forward to the winter temperatures when hot soup can be on the dinner menu again.

Long ago I got away from the white flour, shortening, transfat and high salt content of saltines, but, because I still like my soup scalding hot, I experienced a cracker gap. Dr. Kracker has now solved this dilemma with a Kracker that offers a broad menu of whole grain flavors which complement, enhance and increase the flavors in the soup. The thick Krackers keep their texture, which provides for a robust mouth experience. At Dr. Kracker we are never satisfied with the status quo and are always looking for new ways to bring organic whole grains and organic whole seeds to our customers. This is why we are proud to announce the birth of the Klassic Snack Flat, an awesome soup cracker.

This idea began last year when our miller in Utah showed us a phenomenal whole grain white wheat flour. Since white wheat has been making the headlines lately, a little wheat history is in order. When consumers hear “white wheat,” they are often confused by the name. Those of us interested in nutrition are schooled to reject white flour because it has been stripped of all fiber, vitamins and minerals. Non-whole grain white wheat flour is nutritionally comparable to regular white flour. The whole grain white wheat with it’s deliciously rich flavor and superior baking characteristics, have given us a whole new way to entertain the pallet.

Traditionally, farmers planted only the red winter wheat or red spring wheat that was brought to the United States by German and Russian immigrants. The red refers to the brownish red color in the bran of the un-milled wheat berry. Just as corn comes in multiple colors such as yellow, white, blue, and red, wheat also has color variations (although nothing as extravagant as maize). Whole grain breads baked from red wheats are bitter, so most are sweetened with honey or sugar to mask the bitterness. The white wheats came from Asia and lacked the bitter flavor that characterized the reddish bran. The flavor of white wheats is characterized as rich and sweet, and needs no sweetener to fool the taste buds.

Along with their delectable flavor, the white wheats contain superior baking characteristics. In baker-speak, “superior baking characteristics” means a perfect balance in the wheat’s gluten of extensibility and elasticity that enables the bread to rise without collapsing. Moreover, the white wheats also have more natural pigments, which are the source of the rich flavor that develops as the flour undergoes fermentation during dough preparation and baking. Bread baked with white wheat has a rich, yellow color and full delicious flavor that is unmatched by breads baked with flours from red winter wheats.

The press has heralded white wheat as an appealing alternative to white flour breads. With white wheat, whole grain breads are more palatable without the addition of sugar, which is great for those of us who want to delete sugar from our diets. With improved flavor and baking characteristics, whole grain white wheat gives bakers the means to introduce more whole grains into the diet of children at an early age. This could break the hold of white flour on the diet, which has been the bread icon for far too long. The positive health implications are profound.

We at Dr. Kracker are proud of our new Klassic Snack Flat. This one-half size flat bread is 100% whole grain white wheat. It is baked with no added fats or oils and combines its rich, wheaty flavor with the whole seed goodness of flax, sunflower and sesame seeds. Baked, the thick crust has a wonderfully orange hue. The Kracker is crispy as opposed to hard and, as a French chef told me, “This is the perfect toast!” The Snack Flat is ideal for soups, perfect for snacks as well as salads, and comes in individually wrapped slices for easy carrying. We hope you will be as enthusiastic about it as we are.

Enjoy your soup!