Still having fun with Spring Flowers…

Day 130- Peonies

I thought this Peonie bud was neat amongst all the big blossom bursts.

Day 131- Orange Gerbera Daisies

I don’t know how they get the colors in the daisies, but these orange and yellow ones are pretty cool!

Day 132-My Kids wanted a capture for Mom on Mothers Day…

Cheese!

Day 133- More Peonies

Had never really studied the inside of a Peonie until now… and of course I’ve forgotten what all the parts are called inside the flower.. I’ll have to go review my Botany texts.

Day 134-Drooping Daises

I pretty much like daisies in all forms… I liked these in the late afternoon window light.

Day 135-Whiffle Ball

Had a bit of fun with a whiffle ball…

The post Daisies, Peonies and a Whiffle Ball appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.

“Everyone is focused on finding the right angel investors,” Corcoran said. “The right people are themselves, I want to see how much money they can scrape together on their own. The reason is, that is the most valuable money, because you learn how to stretch it. And you will stretch every dollar.”

Barbara Corcoran, entrepreneur, Angel Investor on the hit show Shark Tanks offers some great advice even for my dental practice.

Entrepreneurship is a hard difficult road, that hopefully leads to something great! Years ago dentistry was much simpler, today not so much…

The post Everyone is focused on finding the right angel investors….. appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.

My Mom, spent her summers at a Ranch in Doyle, CA. The Western Pacific Railway leased land from my Mom’s Grandfather for their tracks. She remembers running out to wave at the Western Pacific as it zoomed by. This isn’t an exact replica of the ranch but through old photos and my Mothers memory its a reasonable display of the ranch she loved.

Front of the ranch with the barn to the left

Hope to get some more photos soon!

Barn yard with cattle and the watering hole.

The post The Ranch on the Sandquist Railway appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.

Day 122 A Trip to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

We spent a few days at Disneyland and my daughter had a princess makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. They pretty much go all out to ensure the girls have a great time! They get to pick their hairdo, makeup and dress.

Day 123 Disney California Adventure-Carthay Circle

Loved the red roses around Carthay Circle at Disney’s California Adventure

Day 124 Handmade Hands

I’m not exactly sure when my son made this, but I liked the colors and high five it provided when you walk by!

Day 125 Lantana Amongst the Indian Hawthorn

As the Indian Hawthorn start to fade away the Lantana are ready to take over.

Day 126 Beautiful Red Gerbera Daisies

My wife brought these daisies home and I new I just had to try and capture them. I think Gerbera Daisies are one of my favorites.

Day 127- Unique View of these Sunflowers

Love these fun Crinkly Sunflowers.

Day 128 More of the Red Daisies

Almost the same view from two days ago, but with slightly different light and post processing

Day 129 Sunflowers and a Daisy

Yes, I’m a fan of flower photography.

The post A Portrait and Flowers-Sunflowers and Daisies. appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.

I’m back playing catch up with photos on my blog, so here goes.

Day 115- Grapes budding

I had never really noticed the way grapes start to grow and this year I got some fun pics of the process.

Day 116 Starting to Blossom

These started to blossom over night. Fun!

Day 117 Red Roses

A brief break with the grapes as I had to include these great roses from my Mom’s yard!

Day 118 Grapes in full bloom

I have never seen grapes like this. Had no idea that grapes flowered like this.

119 Lollaloopsy Photobombed the portrait

I was trying to get a photo of my Daughter and kept putting her Lollaloopsy in the way… so i went with it!

Day 120 Rubber Band Ball

My son wanted to make a rubber band ball… Fortunately he found one already made at the doller store! Saved us lots of time…

Day 121 Fruit on the Grapes starting to grow

This is a quick iphone capture of the fruit starting to grow.

The post Grapes, Grapes and a Smattering of other things appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.

Lab Tests and Celiac Disease

Recently I found another Don’t Go Gluten Free Until You’ve Been Tested article posted on KevinMD. It’s a frustrating article to read. If testing was so easy and accurate:

• Would the age of celiac diagnosis still average 40-50 years of age? Isn’t this a child’s disease?
• Would the current time to diagnosis still be 4 years on average*?
• Why do physicians refuse biopsies in 21% of positive serum tests*?
• What about the reported 20 million people that are non-celiac but gluten sensitive?

Unfortunately, as all providers know, tests are just tests. They are pieces of information. As a dentist I get asked all the time why the xray didn’t show the tooth fracture or abscess. An xray can only see so much, sometimes the imaging is definitive other times not so much. The same with Celiac testing. I had many signs and symptoms and was fortunate to have a positive serology and positive biopsy. What if the serology was inconclusive? I’m fairly certain my GI doc would have told me my problem wasn’t Celiac disease and I would have still had symptoms of the disease.

• I suffered from anemia from time to time, but not all the time(had anemia at 16, not at 25 and 30 and again at 37)
• I suffered from chronic aphthous ulcers for 35+years
• I suffered from seasonal allergies/hayfever
• Occasional GI upset

I happened to show up at the GI docs office during one of the GI upset times and also had Anemia that wasn’t present 2 years prior. I wonder what the serology would have shown had I showed up 2 years earlier, would it have been negative? I don’t know. I do know that as a dentist I have had cases where patient history was more important than any test I could perform.

Sadly, celiac disease is still a relatively unknown disease. Only *35% of patients report chronic diarrhea. Many patients report no GI issues at all! Often the best diagnosis is trial treatment. Surgeons do it all the time, take out the tumor to find out what it is. There is less known about gluten sensitivity and the only true test is a Gluten Free diet trail!

The idea that positive serology is necessary before partaking in a gluten free diet is the reason why many don’t trust their physicians. Patients can easily try a gluten free diet and see if their symptoms improve and sometimes go away completely, which undermines their feelings towards their provider if they feel better. Why aren’t providers ready to take part in the fact finding part of the diagnosis?

Celiac disease is the only disease that has no medication and treatment other than a diet change. I asked my Gastroenterologist how I would know if I was getting better and he didn’t really have an answer other than don’t eat gluten ever! The guys over at SCD Lifestyle have a really good article: The Gluten Free Lie: Why Most Celiacs Are Slowly Dying. Less than half the diagnosed celiac patients will have a healed mucosal lining in 2 years on a strict gluten free diet, one study showed only 8% of patients with a healed gut mucosa. How would my gastroenterologist know what to do if my mucosal lining wasn’t healed by a gluten free diet alone? I was fortunate to have a friend that is a specialized nutritionist  to help me wade through the process of healing my mucosal lining and it’s still healing 4 years later. Through my nutritionist I found CyrexLabs a relatively new lab that specializes in gluten related immunological testing. While not perfect it offers clues to how my immunological systems is responding to gluten and other agents. These are pieces of the puzzle.

While diagnostic testing is necessary it is often non-conclusive and dietary changes are often helpful in determining a diagnosis. If I had had a negative serology but a positive response to the gluten free diet would it in any way change the outcome of my health? I’m not sure my life would be any different without a confirmed celiac diagnosis if I felt better.

What was your experience? Did you trial a Gluten Free diet on your own? At the suggestion of your physician/medical practitioner?

* Celiac Facts and Figures from the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center

The post Celiac Lab Tests are Tests, Pieces of the Diagnostic Puzzle appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.

Day 109 – Driving Red Ferrari’s

Spent the morning at Exotic Racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. They have a separate track in the parking lot of the speedway and they let you drive these cool cars on the track! I had a blast and I really didn’t think I would. I got to drive this car!

Day 110 Tree Through the Deck

This is a handheld HDR on the deck of our cabin up in the local mountains. I know I’m supposed to use a tripod shooting HDR but I am way to lazy to carry all the gear, plus it’s fun to see what I can do handheld.

Day 111 Giggles playing ball

Had a ball playing ball with J on a beautiful afternoon

Day 112 Peach Rose

My Mom’s roses are really doing well this spring… I liked this peach rose!

Day 113 R Playing Ball

Caught a fun portrait of my son at his baseball game! Taken with an iPhone 4s and edited with the Camera Awesome app.

Day 114 Green Vase

I liked the way the sun caught this cool green vase.

The post Red Ferrari’s and a Green Vase(and a few others) appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.

Banana Chocolate Chip Gluten Free Dairy Free Bread

My Version of Banana Chocolate Chip Bread thats gluten free and dairy free!

I have been gluten free for almost 4 years, dairy free for almost 2 years. My wife has been gluten free and dairy free for 3 years and recently after dealing with some nagging medical issues with our two kids we decided to remove gluten and dairy from their diets as well. So we are a full gluten free house at this moment. One of my son’s treats over the years was a piece of Banana Chocolate Chip Bread from Starbucks which of course is not gluten free. So I decided to start tinkering with a gluten free/dairy free (GF/CF) recipe that would work as a nice treat.

Here’s my recipe:

1 cup sorghum flour(I want to try this with Almond Meal to lose the grains)
1 cup coconut Flour
1/2 cup cane sugar(also want to try this without the sugar)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp xanthum gum
3 large ripe bananas
2 farm fresh eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup olive oil
4 TBS almond milk
3/4 cup vegan mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. A 2 eggs to another bowl and beat the eggs, add 3 ripe bananas to the eggs and mash the bananas and eggs together. Add vanilla and olive oil. Once all the wet ingredients are mixed together, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. My mixture was dry after combining the wet and dry ingredients so I added 2 Tbs of Almond milk and stirred and needed to add 2 more Tbs of Almond milk. Then add the vegan chips and combine. I then added the mixture to a parchment lined Ceramic Baking dish and placed in the oven for 60 minutes.

Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack out of the pan before trying to slice it. I used a serrated knife cut the loaf into slices and then placed in separate plastic bags and refrigerated half and and placed the other half in the freezer for later.

My son took a piece to school for lunch and loved it. So far its been a hit in our household…

The post Banana Chocolate Chip Bread-Gluten Free and Dairy Free appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.

Day 105 Beehive measuring cups

BeeHive Measuring Cups

My sister-in-law gave these to my wife as a gift knowing she’d love them and she does! Fun stackable BeeHive measuring cups! Just found that they can be purchased at Cost Plus World Market, BeeHive Measuring Cups.

Day 106 Orange Tulips

Love Spring Tulips

Always fun when there are fun flowers around the house

Day 107 Small Green Hydrangeas

Green and White Hydrangea

These weren’t marked as hydrangeas at the store, but I still believe they are. Every hydrangea I’ve found online looks like these.

Day 108 Brilliant Tulips

Tulips from a few days ago in brilliant light!

Loved the way the light was hitting these tulips today!

The post Beehive and Flowers appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.

Day 101 Setting Sun on the Pine Tree

Pine tree in the setting sun

Captured this with my iPhone and liked the way the sun hit the tree against the blue sky.

Day 102 Cool Shades

Shades, Ready for Summer!

Found J’s shades out and ready for the summer sun… I think they’re cute!

Day 103 Spring White Daisies

Fun White Daisies

Was over at a friends house and found these beautiful White Daisies. I liked the silky feel to this… Almost like they are floating in space.

Day 104 J’s Big Girl Shoes

J’s Big Girl Shoes

My daughter found my wife’s shoes and I had to grab my camera.

The post Cool Shades, Daisies and Big Girl Shoes appeared first on Douglas Sandquist DDS.