| Dear
EarthTalk: My body doesn’t tolerate cheese
well. Are there dairy-free cheeses that will be easier on
my constitution and better for the environment, too?
-- Steve Sullivan, Seattle, WA
| |
In
light of both health and environmental concerns, the
production of alternatives to dairy products -- including
cheeses -- has started to become big business. Pictured:
Tofutti brand soy-based American cheese slices.
© massdistraction, courtesy Flickr |
With
some 30 to 50 million Americans suffering from various degrees
of lactose intolerance, and an estimated three million of
us now eating animal-free (vegan) diets for humane, environmental
and/or health reasons, the production of alternatives to
dairy products has started to become big business.
But
while substitutes for milks and ice creams abound, mostly
soy- or rice-based blends that have come a long way since
they first appeared on grocery shelves, finding satisfactory
alternatives to the many varieties of cheese can be a challenge.
But the choices are expanding rapidly.
The
first place to look might just be your regular supermarket’s
produce section—that’s often where you’ll
find Galaxy Foods’ Veggie line of non-dairy cheeses.
After all, they are made from soy, a crop. Galaxy’s
offerings come shredded, grated, in slices and in hunks.
Fans swear they taste just like the real thing. And they
are all excellent sources of calcium without cholesterol,
saturated/trans-fats or lactose.
Galaxy
also offers cheeses made from rice. And while some of both
the Rice Brand and Veggie line contain small amounts of
cultured milk salt, dried skim milk protein and trace amounts
of lactose, Galaxy also make two purely vegan varieties,
usually found in the dairy sections of grocery or health
food stores.
A
few other popular brands made with rice include Rice Slices
and Lifetime Low Fat Jalapeno Jack Rice Cheese. Check the
shelves of your local organic or natural food market to
find one or more to sample.
Another
leading producer of dairy-free cheeses is Scotland’s
Bute Island Foods. The company began making its own vegan
hard cheese alternatives (sold under the Sheese brand name)
in 1988, and has since expanded into cream cheese alternatives
(Creamy Sheese) as well. From pizzas to sauces to sandwiches
to spreads, Bute Island has vegan and lactose-intolerant
cheese lovers covered.
Some
other soy-based choices that get good reviews include Good
Slice Cheddar Style Cheese Alternative (great for sandwiches),
vegan-friendly Tofutti Soy Cheese Slices, Follow Your Heart’s
Vegan Gourmet (pizza, anyone?), and Teese (it melts with
the best of them), among others.
Do-it-yourselfers
might want to experiment with making their own non-dairy
cheese using ingredients such as tofu and yeast. A quick
web search will yield many recipes for making cheese and
for using non-dairy cheeses in favorite dishes. Many of
the best are collected in Joanne Stepaniak’s The Ultimate
Uncheese Cookbook, available in some bookstores as well
as from Amazon.com and other online vendors.
With
so many good choices, not to mention recipes for home cooked
varieties, many a vegetarian may just make the leap into
full-fledged vegan eating. And existing vegans can rejoice:
French Onion Soup (dairy-free, of course) is back on the
menu.
CONTACTS:
Bute
Island Foods; Follow
Your Heart.
Dear
EarthTalk: Can those energy-efficient compact
fluorescent light bulbs that are popular now cause headaches
because of the flickering they do? I converted my whole
house over last fall and both my kids were complaining of
headaches on and off.
-- Sandy, Eugene, OR
| |
Energy
efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are
taking the world by storm. But can they cause headaches
due to flickering? Most experts say no: Unlike the
older long tube fluorescent lights, the flicker rate
of the new CFLs is way too fast for the human eye
or brain to detect.
© armisteadbooker, courtesy Flickr |
With a switch
to energy efficient compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs
already in full swing in the U.S. and elsewhere—Australia
has banned incandescents, Britain will soon, and the U.S.
begins a phase-out of incandescents in 2012—more and
more complaints have arisen about the new bulbs causing
headaches.
Many experts
say that the issue is being overblown, however, that there
is no scientific evidence that the bulbs cause headaches
and that a kind of hysteria has grown out of a small number
of anecdotal reports.
Industry experts
acknowledge that day-to-day exposure to older, magnetically
ballasted long tube fluorescent bulbs found mostly in industrial
and institutional settings could cause headaches due to
their noticeable flicker rate. The human brain can detect
the 60 cycles per second such older bulbs need to refresh
themselves to keep putting out light.
However, modern,
electronically ballasted CFLs refresh themselves at between
10,000 and 40,000 cycles per second, rates too fast for
the human eye or brain to detect. “As far as I’m
aware there is no association between headaches and the
use of compact fluorescent lamps,” says Phil Scarbro
of Energy Federation Incorporated (EFI), a leading distributor
of energy efficiency-related products—including many
CFLs.
But Magda Havas,
an Environmental & Resource Studies Ph.D. at Canada’s
Trent University, says that some CFLs emit radio frequency
radiation that can cause fatigue, dizziness, ringing in
the ears, eyestrain, even migraines. You can test to see
if CFLs in your home give off such radiation, she says,
by putting a portable AM radio near one that’s on
and listening for extra static the closer you get. She says
that such electromagnetic interference should also be of
concern to people using cell phones and wireless computers.
Sometimes headaches
are due to eyestrain from inadequate lighting. When replacing
an incandescent bulb with a CFL, pay attention to the lumens,
which indicate the amount of light a bulb gives out (watts
measure the energy use of a bulb, not the light generated).
A 40-watt incandescent bulb can be replaced by an 11-14
watt CFL because the lumen ouput is approximately the same
(490); a 100-watt incandescent can be replaced by a 26-29
watt CFL, both providing about 1,750 lumens. If you’re
still skeptical, replace a 40-watt incandescent with a 60-watt
equivalent 15-19 watt CFL, which will boost lumens to 900.
Another consideration
is color temperature (measured in degrees “Kelvin”).
CFLs rated at 2,700 Kelvin give off light in the more pleasing
red/yellow end of the color spectrum, closer to that of
most incandescents. Bulbs rated at 5,000 Kelvin and above
(usually older ones) give off a less pleasing white/blue
light.
The Environmental
Defense website provides a handy chart comparing the watts
and lumens of incandescents versus CFLs, along with further
discussion about color temperature.
CONTACTS:
EFI; Environmental
Defense. |
