Sugar

You've heard about the "Wheat Belly" diet, right? Well, technically, it doesn't exist. Dr. William Davis points out that the word "diet" does not appear on either the cover of his bestselling "Wheat Belly" book published in 2011 or on the follow-up, "Wheat Belly Cookbook," which was published last month and already tops bestseller lists. And that omission is intentional, Davis said. "Wheat Belly" is about stripping your plate of a substance that contributes to heart disease, causes joint pain, inflammation, foggy thinking, bloating and much more, Davis said.

  1 hour, 15 minutes, plus cooling time. Serves 6 to 8 4 cups fresh dark cherries (about 1 pound), stemmed but unpitted 3 eggs 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 cup flour 2/3 cup milk or cream or a mixture of the two Vanilla bean, scraped Pinch of sea salt Powdered sugar for dusting 1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the cherries in a single layer in the bottom of a 9- to 10-inch baking dish or cast-iron skillet. 2. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork or whisk, add the sugar, flour, milk or cream, vanilla seeds and salt.

  Momofuku's Crack Pie Total time: 1 1/2 hours, plus cooling and chilling times Servings: Makes 2 pies (6 to 8 servings each) Note: Adapted from Momofuku. This pie calls for 2 (10-inch) pie tins. You can substitute 9-inch pie tins, but note that the pies will require additional baking time, about 5 minutes, due to the increased thickness of the filling. Cookie for crust 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (3 ounces) flour Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking powder Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup (1 stick)

  Total time: About 1 1/2 hours, plus rising times Servings: 24 (makes 4 individual kringle , with 6 servings each) Note: Adapted from Henrik Gram of Hygge Bakery in L.A. This is a typical Danish pastry found in most bakeries in Denmark. There are also versions of this recipe made with laminated, or layered, dough, but this is a good recipe for a baker to start with. This recipe uses margarine that contains a minimum of 80% fat; do not use modified margarine or vegetable spread, as they contain more water.

Strawberry shortcake Total time: 40 minutes, plus macerating and cooling times Servings: 6 Note: Adapted from Lindsey Shere's "Chez Panisse Desserts. " Macerated strawberries 3 (16-ounce) pints strawberries About 3 tablespoons superfine sugar Two to four hours before serving, wash and hull the berries. Roughly slice or quarter two-thirds of the berries into a large bowl. Sprinkle the sugar over the berries and, using a wire pastry blender, smash the berries so they begin to juice.

I've been to Disneyland hundreds of times over the last two decades and have been writing the Funland theme park blog for about four years now. As a result, people are always asking me how to do everything at Disneyland in a single day. The short answer is you probably can't. It can be a struggle for even hard-core fans with military assault-like strategies. The longer answer is there's lots of ways to maximize your time in the park and get on the most rides possible. PHOTOS: How to do Disneyland in a day So in honor of Disneyland's 24-hour Leap Day celebration , here are my seven tips for tackling Disneyland in a day: Tip 1: If you're trying to get the most out of your day at Disneyland , I always recommend arriving just before the park opens in the morning, staying until the park closes at night and taking a long break in the heat of the afternoon at your hotel pool or cocktail bar. It may sound like a long day, but you'll get more done in the first two hours and the last two hours of your day than if you spent 15 hours straight at the park.

And so now I'm reading that jam-making has become a favored pastime of the culinary adventurers. That's great — there are few things that make breakfast sweeter than spooning homemade preserves onto a piece of toast. But I can't help wondering how long this boom will last once we get into the really thick heat of summer. Standing and stirring a big pot of boiling fruit will take the starch out of even the most enthusiastic cook. Not to worry, I've got a solution — you just need to think small.

Soft drinks were banned in Los Angeles schools in 2004. But if you think that means kids are protected from too much sugar at school, think again. Children are regularly able to select a school breakfast that contains more added sugar than a can of soda. A popular breakfast offering of Frosted Flakes doused in chocolate milk with a side of coffee cake and a carton of orange juice contains 51 grams of added sugar (or 79 grams of total sugar counting those that occur naturally in the milk and the juice)

A sweetener made from the juice of a Mexican cactus is an increasingly common ingredient in bottled teas, energy drinks, nutrition bars and desserts from health food stores. In just the last few years, agave syrup's popularity has soared: The number of agave products on the market more than tripled between 2003 and 2007, according to market analysis firm Data Monitor. This year, a major food manufacturer -- McCormick & Co. -- placed the syrup on its list of top 10 flavors for 2009.

The mass-produced tomatoes we buy at the grocery store tend to taste more like cardboard than fruit. Now researchers have discovered one reason why: a genetic mutation, common in store-bought tomatoes, that reduces the amount of sugar and other tasty compounds in the fruit. For the last 70-odd years, tomato breeders have been selecting for fruits that are uniform in color. Consumers prefer those tomatoes over ones with splotches, and the uniformity makes it easier for producers to know when it's time to harvest.

  Carrot cake ice cream Total time: 1 hour, plus chilling and freezing time Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, please share it with us: Click here to upload pictures of the finished dish. Servings: Makes 1 quart Spiced pecans 1 cup pecan halves 1 tablespoon butter, melted 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In 92 years, See's Candies has never shied away from being old-fashioned. At the factory on La Cienega Boulevard, some octogenarian workers measure their decades of employment in hip replacements. Quaint floral details are still hand-piped onto chocolate eggs. An inexorable march of candies heads through tubes the length of a football field, where they're drenched in layers of chocolate - a traditional practice known as enrobing. Like cars merging out of highway toll lanes, they appear from cooling tunnels into employees' waiting hands.

Just as the memory of "Meatball," Glendale's favorite bear, may be fading, it appears a new bruin has taken to the city. And this black bear - described as 3 to 4 feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds - has a fondness for hummingbird sugar water and a taste for honey. This dietary insight is based on its snacking habits during multiple visits over the course of at least six months to the Chevy Chase Canyon neighborhood. In some cases, the bear has knocked down hummingbird feeders hanging as high as 8 feet off the ground.

In the recent story on homemade "peeps" , I allude to what it took to come up with a perfectly pipeable "peep" (say that 10 times). It wasn't easy. While there is no shortage to homemade "peeps" recipes online, the Test Kitchen staff and I had trouble finding a recipe that worked. We tested a variety of recipes, before rethinking our approach. Ultimately, it involved going back to tweaking a simple classic marshmallow. Here are some of my notes: The secret life of Peeps On marshmallows: Marshmallows were once made from the juice of the marsh mallow plant, beaten with egg white and sugar for a foamy consistency.

Once you've mastered the basic techniques, you can really start to play around with your "peeps. " Vanilla flavoring can be substituted with another flavoring, such as almond, mint or lemon extract. Or you can use powdered spices such as ground cinnamon. You can even use rose- or orange blossom water, which is actually quite delicious. Start by beating in about one-fourth teaspoon of the flavoring at a time and then adding more to reach the desired taste. Colored sugars are available at most grocery stores as well as at cooking and baking supply stores, but you can make your own custom hues: Place granulated sugar in a sealable plastic bag or jar with a few drops of food coloring, then shake until the coloring is evenly distributed.

Nathanael Johnson was born without a doctor and later toddled around his Northern California yard without diapers, free to ingest whatever germy creatures he got his hands on, but no sugar allowed. With parents like his, it's little wonder he grew up wondering about the miracles of modern science. What's really welcome about his deeply reported book, "All Natural," is that his upbringing makes the investigation of nature versus technology fun as well as thought-provoking. He questions mainstream wisdom, "expert" advice and the all-natural solutions for childbirth, germs, raw milk, sugar, factory farming of animals and more.

  Butterscotch pot de crème Total time: 1 hour, plus cooling time Servings: 10 Note: Adapted from Travis Lett of Gjelina. Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. 9 egg yolks 3/4 cup (1½ sticks) plus 6 tablespoons butter, divided 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 1/2 tablespoon salt 1/2 vanilla bean 4 1/2 cups heavy cream, divided 2 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup crème fraîche Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon)

  Total time: 45 minutes, plus baking and cooling time for the cake Servings: 10 to 12 Note: Adapted from "Southern Cakes." Cake 3 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened, plus additional for greasing the pan 1 (1-pound) box dark brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 5 eggs 1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. 2.

LAS VEGAS - Despite the sudden loss of one of its best young players, the UCLA basketball team showed up here Saturday night determined not to throw in the towel. The coach's suit coat was a different matter. Angered by a charging call on Shabazz Muhammad late in the first half of the Bruins' losing battle with Oregon in the championship game of the Pac-12 tournament, Coach Ben Howland could no longer endure the frustration. In a bit of gymnastics as impressive as the Cirque du Soleil halftime show, Howland angrily spun and, in the same motion, removed his jacket and flung it high and far into the front row behind the Bruins' bench.

Butterfly Bakery Inc. notes on its website that all of its goodies are "made with 100% love. " Federal regulators say that recipe also includes plenty of sugar - even in food advertised as "sugar-free. " U.S. District Court Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh approved a consent decree of permanent injunction against the Clifton, N.J., business this month, shutting down its operations until the bakery complies with U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeling requirements. FDA and state officials tested muffins and snack cakes from Butterfly over several years and found that many were misbranded, the FDA said this week.