Home » Posts tagged 'food'
Tag Archives: food
Stealth Health: Raw Foods Undercover
These days, vegetarians and vegans are everywhere, but unless you live in Southern California, raw vegans—those who eat foods in their natural state and avoid cooking anything above 116ºF—are harder to come by.
It’s no wonder. As a society conditioned to cook mostly everything we put in our mouth, the idea of trading our gas range for a dehydrator may seem daunting. But most who follow a raw diet say they live life with the utmost vigor and vitality and are even able to reverse the aging process!
The truth is, we can ALL benefit from incorporating more raw food into our diet—because it’s highly alkaline and oxygen rich, it promotes optimal health. In addition, cooking food zaps it of its nutrients, zaps valuable digestive enzymes, and zaps good bacteria (probiotics).
Here are a few ideas of how easy (and tasty!) it is to convert some of you old standby recipes into healthy raw dopplegangers.
Anti-Inflammatory Diet Basics
Inflammation is your body’s innate way of providing acute healing to an area of your body, but when it persists on a low level throughout the body, it can do much more harm than good. Because chronic inflammation isn’t something you can see with your eyes, many suffer from its consequences and don’t even know it! It can surface in sneaky ways in the form of allergies, skin rashes, pain, insomnia, migraines, food allergies, and more. In addition, it sets a perfect stage for many serious age-related diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, diabetes, neuro-degenerative diseases, heart disease, and cancer.
The Stress Connection — When you are constantly stressed, the sympathetic nervous system signals your body to produce the stress hormone cortisol to meet the demand. This leads to an increase in blood sugar designed to give you the energy to flee whatever’s “chasing” you. But because nothing’s actually chasing you, you are left with elevated cortisol and blood sugar levels that can lead to a whole host of metabolic imbalances. Because neuropeptides (proteins that deliver messages in your nervous system) that mediate stress also mediate inflammation, it’s likely that stress causes an inflammatory response in your body. And if that weren’t enough, elevated cortisol levels spark inflammatory reactions that diminish immune system function. Obviously, getting stress under control is a key piece of keeping inflammation in check.
Diet Guidelines — Try to eat all organic food if possible to reduce your exposure to pesticides; eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full; don’t repeat the same food more than five times a week; plan meals so they roughly follow this breakdown—40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% healthy fats.
Foods to Steer Clear of — Here’s what you’ll want to wean yourself off of in order to reduce the inflammation in your body: wheat, dairy, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, sugar, citrus fruits (except for lemons and limes), pork, commercial non-organic eggs, shellfish, peanuts and peanut butter, coffee, alcohol, juice, caffeinated teas, soda, anything containing hydrogenated oils, processed foods, and fried foods.
Foods to Eat More of — You can think of the Mediterranean diet as a jumping off point. You want to incorporate a variety of fresh food and think of eating from the rainbow. These foods will specifically help decrease inflammation:
- cold-water oily fish such as wild salmon, mackerel, sardines, and halibut as well as oils extracted from these fish
- organic berries
- fruits and vegetables (except those mentioned above)
- pineapple
- seeds and nuts (except peanuts which contain aflotoxin, a cancer-causing agent)
- garlic, ginger, and turmeric
- flaxseed oil and olive oil (if not heated too high)
To keep you motivated to adopt this truly healthy way of eating just remember this: anti-inflammatory = anti-aging!
______________________
Resources Dr. Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid
Banish Post-Holiday Guilt
Do you feel like you went a little overboard during the holidays? Well, welcome to the club, because you are certainly not alone!
The holidays can topple even the healthiest lifestyles. You sleep at odd hours, eat at times that are far from ideal, and when you do eat, it’s normally whatever’s being served to you. Exercise takes a backseat to party hopping. Of course, these indulgences are what make the holidays fun!
But when the calendar flips to January 1, talk of resolutions can conspire with your too-tight jeans to make you feel guilty for having such a good time. Here’s the thing: beating yourself up can’t turn back the clock and undo your actions, so it’s best to look ahead! Here are some simple steps to get back on your healthful track.
Eat Breakfast
After a holiday free-for-all you might not even want to think about food. As tempted as you may be to skip breakfast, don’t. Forgoing the most important meal of a day does more harm to your body than good. Skipping breakfast can lower blood pressure, increase mood swings and decrease physical and mental capacity to perform everyday tasks. It also sets you up to overeat later in the day. Start your day with a nutritious breakfast to jumpstart your health revival.
Avoid Processed Foods and Snacks
Avoid packaged snacks like chips and popcorn and go organic by taking a handful of raw walnuts and almonds. Focus on snacks packed with fiber like fresh fruits and vegetables. In short, opt for whole food snacks in moderation.
Drink Plenty of Water
A well-hydrated body burns more calories than a dehydrated one. Drink lukewarm water throughout the day. This will help sweep away extra salt, sugar and toxins from the blood; an unhealthy aftermath of holiday fun. Add green tea in your diet as it helps detoxify the body, making you feel lighter and invigorated.
Move Your Body
Introduce any kind of physical activity that you love. Call a friend and book a tennis match. Swim with a loved one or jog with your dog. Dedicate at least 30 minutes of your day to increase your physical activity. This will not only relax your mind but would also help soothe your soul. You will feel happier by becoming healthier.
Pamper Yourself
If you only associate fun with food, you have yet to visit a massage therapist! Try getting a sauna or steam bath and pamper yourself with a fresh juice drink and a body rejuvenating massage. Cancel your restaurant reservation and instead book yourself a non-food treat that can do your body some permanent good.
Remember: There is rarely anything that time, mindful attention and action cannot heal. All you need to do is to take it slow and go in the right direction.
By eating right, sleeping well, and maintaining a certain amount of physical activity every day, you can kiss post-holiday guilt goodbye, for good.
Eating Healthy Doesn’t Have To Mean Going Broke!
Pound for pound, generally speaking, it’s cheaper to eat poorly. A few packages of factory farmed meat, a gallon of commercially produced milk, butter, Wonder Bread, Wise potato chips, Frosted Flakes, chocolate chip cookies, instant potatoes, minute-rice, frozen lasagna and pizza, ice cream and soda on sale… yep, it’s cheap.
And you do get what you pay for.
But when you change your eating habits from bad to good, by swapping certain foods for others, you’ll find it isn’t actually much more expensive. Sometimes, it’s even less so.
Here are a few tips to keep your waistline slim, and your wallet… not so much.
-
Add up what you’re NOT buying. If you’re cutting back on meat, even if when you do eat meat you buy the more expensive and healthy cuts, you will save money. All the processed, packaged foods you don’t put in your cart add up. Do a calculation of how much all the food you don’t need to eat and won’t be buying will save you. It’s a mental thing, but a great exercise on the way to eating healthy and saving money.
-
Buy your produce at your local farmer’s market. When you can, it’s worth the trip. The produce is not only considerably less expensive, but it tastes better, and it’s healthier! The food isn’t shipped a long distance, which means it’s fresher and retains more of its nutrients and flavor. Plus, you are supporting your local economy – a financial win-win for all involved.
-
Take some time to go to the farms and orchards themselves. You can get a steal on peaches, tomatoes, sweet corn and blueberries if you buy them directly from the farmers. Plus, you’ll feel more connected to your food and the people who bring it to you. Explore the farm, learn a little about the process. Many times, farmers will also sell their foods at little roadside stands and small markets, not just the farmer’s markets. So find out where they are and go to them to get the freshest, best foods possible.
-
Organic is better, but not always necessary. Again, local produce can be just as if not more healthy. Some of it even is organically grown – the farms just have to meet very expensive government standards in order to officially make the claim. And there are certain foods that make little sense to spend the extra money, because the benefits of their being organically cultivated are negligible. Check out the list HERE
-
Frozen fruits and vegetables make sense. Stock up on frozen versions of your fruits and vegetables. As long as no sweeteners or preservatives have been added, frozen fruits and vegetables are just as, and often more, full of nutrients as the fresh stuff. They are often not just less expensive at the point of purchase, but also cost effective for the long haul, because they don’t go bad and you won’t ever find yourself having to throw the excess away. Plus, they are often on sale, so you can easily stock up when they are. You can also manage portions better this way – while the amount of peppers and onions in the fajita mix might be less per ounce than the actual peppers and onions in the produce section, that amount might be all you need. The best way to use these foods are in your smoothies, because cooking can kill the nutrients. So when you cook, make sure you steam at a low heat, and for a short time.
-
Beans are cheap! When you make the decision to switch a lot of your meat based dishes to beans, you will literally save a fortune. Beans are possibly the best food deal on the planet; when it comes to eating healthy and saving money, you simply cannot do better than beans! They are super dense in nutrients and a host of health benefits, they are filling, and they cost cents on the meat dollar. Plus, there is such a variety of different beans out there, it’s hard to get bored. To really save money, buy them in bags (they keep for a long time, too, so you can get them in bulk), and make the commitment to soaking them and preparing them all naturally. However, you can still get deals on your beans if you buy them in cans, admittedly more convenient. Just make sure they are low in sodium and you rinse them before preparing.
-
Some healthy foods are very easy on the wallet. Buy a large bag of whole grain brown rice – it won’t set you back at all, and it’s much less expensive than the processed instant side dishes. The same goes for oatmeal – ounce for ounce, you’d be hard pressed to find a more economical and filling meal. Kale is perhaps the healthiest food on the planet, and it will cost you about a dollar per bunch. The same goes for lots of leafy greens, and we all need to eat more of those. Learn to love the healthy foods that are already in your budget. • Learn to make a few things from scratch. This can admittedly be a challenge for me, but if you want to save money, you can do it by spending a little more time in the kitchen.
-
Grow Your Own Vegetables and Herbs. Start a garden! It’s not that difficult. Herbs in particular can be expensive, but they add so much to your foods, especially when you are trying to eat healthfully. They are easy to cultivate on your window sill.
Eating healthy and saving money aren’t mutually exclusive activities! We just have to get a little bit beyond our love of convenience, and embrace instead a love for wellness. If you truly do that, in the end, the costs will even out, but the benefits will be priceless.
Truly Healthy Shopping and Cooking – For Those Who Don’t Care to Do Either!
For some of you, I’m sure this is true: when you read blogs and cookbooks written by culinary health gurus about how to prepare healthy, it can be a bit intimidating and overwhelming. And perhaps it’s also true that spending time in the grocery store is not your favorite pastime, either. Maybe so, but the fact is, you’ve got to shop and cook in order to eat well. Although shopping and cooking are admittedly not as easy as zipping through the drive through and unwrapping a hamburger, doing these things doesn’t have to be a chore. It can easily become part of a pleasant routine that will add years to your life and life to your years!
STEP ONE – THE GROCERY STORE
A routine can make all the difference. If you want to get in and out of the grocery store in as little time as possible – pushing a cart loaded with nutrients and short on calories – here is a basic game plan:
- If they have the option, get a smaller cart. Really, you won’t be buying as much food as before, and since lots of it will be fresh, you’ll need to do it a little more often. The smaller cart will signal when you’ve likely bought enough.
- Shop mostly around the perimeter of the store. The processed, bad-for-you foods are generally in the aisles – with a few exceptions.
- Learn where the beans and whole grains are (oatmeal, whole grain rice, quinoa, millet, etc.), as well as any raw nuts, seeds, nut butters or all natural jams you might want to stock up on. You might prefer the convenience of a jar of all natural salsa, bean dip, or hummus. Strategically plan your visits to the sections where you can load up on natural sweeteners like maple syrup and stevia extracts, herbal teas and spices. Other than those items, you don’t need to hit the aisles.
- Start in the produce section. If possible, try to get to the farmer’s market as often as you can to stock up on local produce. But if that’s not an option for you, start your shopping trip in the produce section, and focus on colors and deals. Colors are indicative of various nutrients, and the more colors in your basket, the more variety of essential nutrients you’ll put in your body. Make sure your basket is at least halfway full with produce, leaving the other half for everything else. This ensures that your diet is rich in nutrients. (But if you can, get to the farmer’s market. You’ll save money, and it’s a genuinely pleasant experience to spend time with the people who grow your food.)
- If you want bread, get it from the bakery department, NOT in the aisle. Make sure it’s a genuine whole grain loaf – you can usually find several varieties baked fresh right there in the store.
- If you buy animal products, look for free range poultry and eggs, and lean cuts of grass-fed beef. Stay far away from processed and cured meats, such as bacon, sausage, and ham.
- Lots of people find that skipping dairy products altogether leads to amazing improvements in their health, and there are plenty of alternatives out there that might surprise you. Unsweetened almond milk is a great choice if you tolerate nuts; others prefer coconut milk or soy milk. If you do opt for dairy products, try to get whole food versions, and even raw milk based products where available, with as few additives as possible.
- The frozen food section is one aisle you can shop, and it’s your friend! Stock up on vegetables and fruits here for times when you might be short of the fresh variety. Frozen fruits and vegetables are just as healthy as the fresh kind – and in some cases, even have their nutrients better preserved. Other finds in this section would be the live sprouted grain breads, such as Ezekiel and Food for Life.
STEP TWO – THE KITCHEN
Again, no one way of eating works for everyone. But if you don’t like to cook, it makes sense to put some of your meals on autopilot, with as little “cooking” as possible. Here are a few suggestions:
- Breakfast: One large green smoothie (made with six cups of leafy greens, three bananas, and a 16 oz bag of frozen berries), one slice of Ezekiel raisin toast with a dab of clarified butter, one cup of chai tea with almond milk and sweetened with Stevia extract. Alternate: You can replace the Ezekiel bread with whole grain oatmeal, sweetened with a little maple syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon, or a bowl of Ezekiel cereal with almond milk, topped with blueberries.
- Lunch: One large green smoothie, all natural peanut or almond butter and jelly on Ezekiel bread. Alternate: Replace the sandwich with some carrots, celery, and falafel chips, served with hummus, or a handful of raw nuts mixed with raisins and dates.
- Dinner: One large green smoothie, one large salad, and one of seven meals you can rotate throughout the week, such as a vegetarian bean chili or potato leek soup (a crockpot is a best friend to someone who doesn’t much like to cook!), a black bean and salsa tortilla wrap, roasted eggplant, zucchini and squash, or a mushroom, onion, and bell pepper omelet with roasted red potatoes. Meals like these call for simple chopping, baking, or stewing, and are easy to put together in 15 minutes or fewer.
- Dessert: Yes, you can have dessert! Have a little dark chocolate infused with almonds and orange, a maple syrup sweetened cinnamon rice pudding, a frozen banana based mango ice cream, or avocado chocolate mousse. It’s not hard to find very simple recipes for these treats on the internet, and since there are so few ingredients, you’re doing your body good!
Find the simple but tasty meals that work with your routine, put as much on autopilot as you can, and you’ll be amazed by what food can do for you.
Do you have some favorite healthy, quick meals? If so, please share.
Food Focus: Raw and Cooling Salads
Why is it that in the summer we naturally crave more fresh and raw foods? These foods have a cooling effect on the body. The lightness and high water, fiber and vitamin content work together to act as our internal air conditioning during these warm months. At this time of year we also need less dense, high-energy food because we get so much energy from being outside in the fresh air and sunshine.
There is no better season than summer to have fun creating your own fresh, tasty, creative salad combinations. By simply tossing together several of your favorite raw veggies, naked or with a light dressing, you have a perfect meal for a hot summer’s day.
- Try your favorite leafy lettuce with various sliced, diced or grated veggies. The possible combinations are endless.
- Fresh herbs are a wonderful option to mix in, as they are packed full of flavor.
- Experiment with adding diverse forms of protein to your salads, such as nuts, seeds, beans, tofu, fish or poultry.
- Pick up a light and healthy dressing at your local health food store, or mix up something easy, like lemon juice, black pepper and olive oil.
This is a great opportunity to try a new vegetable from your market. What are some creative flavors you’ve never tried before? Fennel and mint? Daikon radish and arugula? Summer squash with watercress? Whatever you choose, have fun with your food and stay cool. Happy summer!
Vacationing Without Blowing It
photo courtesy of Ella Beavers
Summer has arrived and that means it’s vacation time! Woo Hoo!
I am not going to lie to you… traveling and vacationing can prove to make healthy eating a real challenge. If you don’t have a place to prepare your own food on the road, you can easily find yourself at the whim of convenience stores and fast food restaurants.
But with a little planning ahead of time, you don’t have to give in to the temptations. Here are a few tips to get you on the “road” to health and a happy vacation.
- Do some planning before you leave. With the power of the internet, such planning has never been easier. Find out how close you will be staying to farmer’s markets and grocery stores that carry fresh produce so you can load up on produce as soon as you arrive. Do your research to find the healthiest restaurants along the way, especially local restaurants that use local products. Restaurants that take pride in using local products typically provide healthy options and prepare their meals in healthier ways.
- Take your own snacks for road trips or plane rides to keep you from stopping for unhealthy snacks at convenience stores and/or vending machines. Trail mix, homemade granola, chopped raw vegetables, hummus, apples, dried fruits and nuts are all good options. It’s very easy to stock a small cooler with healthy options to keep with you if traveling by car.
- Fill up on healthy foods at the breakfast or lunch buffet, especially if you are staying at a resort or hotel. Almost all of them have healthier options alongside the bacon, sausage, French toast and doughnuts. Enjoy some eggs if you like, and load up on fresh fruits, salads, vegetables, and whole grains such as oatmeal. Focus on the “crowding out” theory – eat plenty of the good stuff, so that if you are presented with the bad stuff later, you won’t have as much room for it.
- If you have a choice, choose sit down restaurants instead of fast food. Fast food is always bad food, and in sit down restaurants, at least you have more options and can make more requests about how you want your food to be prepared.
- Avoid deep fried foods, entrees with cream sauces, and big desserts. If you’re visiting a place you’ve never been before, try to find the healthiest foods that make the area famous – such as fresh fish at the beach.
- If you’re on vacation, there will be times you’ll want to do something less than completely healthy. Just be careful about what you choose and make sure that if you’re taking in extra calories, sugar, or fat, the dish is worth the sacrifice!
What ideas do you have for staying healthy while vacationing?
Eat Well Guide: Seasonal Food Guides
Do you ever find yourself wondering what fruits and vegetables are in season where you live? Thanks to the advent of the transportation industry, food in our local grocery stores comes from all over the United States and even other countries. For example, people on the East Coast can enjoy food all the way from California, but are these foods the absolute best for them? What are your thoughts on this?
If we choose to eat locally/seasonally, our money goes to the farmers in our areas helping our local economy. The food is also more nutritious and tastier because it isn’t being harvested early and stored. Our family has decided to do a better job eating the foods that are in season where we live.
We’ve also planted a few veggies of our own. Yesterday, Paul showed Daniel and Gabriel how to harvest potatoes. They harvested, cooked and ate them with dinner.
Check out Eat Well Guide :: Seasonal Food Guides to find out what food is fresh and in season in your area.
Also, check out www.bountifulbaskets.org for more options to purchase local fresh food.
Going Primal – Day 1
I wasn’t sure what to expect today. How was my body going to react to this new food? Remember, I have eaten very little meat over the last several months.
Well, here is what I consumed today.
Breakfast was 2 scrambled eggs, bacon and asparagus. I have to admit, I almost puked. That would NOT have been a pretty sight, but it was how my body reacted. I am proud to say I did keep it down. I also got a slight headache not long after eating. Here’s to hoping tomorrow’s breakfast sits better on my tummy.
Lunch was beef tenderloin, asparagus, romaine lettuce with carrots, celery, apples and avocado. Very tasty!
Snacks were pork rinds and coffee. I had So Delicious Coconut Creamer in my coffee. I’ve read that some people say this creamer isn’t paleo friendly, but I don’t see a problem with it.
Dinner was ground bison in spaghetti sauce, romaine lettuce and a cheese stick.
The best thing I ate today was a Date Nut Crust Fruit Pie. I found the recipe in the Forks Over Knives cookbook. It was delish, and I highly recommend it. There are no sweeteners in it, just dates, nuts, and fruit.
Today’s exercise was 20 minutes on the recumbent bike.
Other than the nausea and headache this morning, I have felt great today.
Changing Things Up!
Steaks on a grill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’m sure many of you have heard of the Primal/Paleo diet. It is a way of eating that focuses on consuming meat, fish, veggies, fruits and nuts. Foods that are avoided when following this way of eating are grains, legumes, most dairy products, salt, refined sugar and processed oils.
If you want more details about Primal/Paleo eating check out www.marksdailyapple.com and www.robbwolf.com
I have decided to embark on a 30 day journey into Primal/Paleo eating. This will be a big change from my current way of eating. I currently eat very little meat. The main part of my diet has been fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, seeds and nuts.
You may be asking why I feel the need to change things up if what I’m doing is working so well?
I have tried nearly every “diet” out there, but have never tried Primal/Paleo. So, there is a part of me that is curious. Since I am studying to become a certified health coach, I want to see how my body responds to this popular plan. As a result, I will be able to provide others with the knowledge I gain from personal experience.
Follow along with me as I embark on my journey. Day 1 is tomorrow, May 1, 2012
Armed With Health Blog 