Friday, December 12, 2008

pH balance does matter!

Today an article was published by HealthyDay on MSN Health & Fitness regarding the importance of fruits and vegetables to bone health.

FINALLY!!

pH balance diet proponents everywhere are yelling, "DUH!" at the screen right now. It's true, there have been studies but rarely are so-called radical ideas brought into a mainstream forum. It seems like if a study isn't sponsored by Kellogg's or the American Council on Nutritional Lies to Tell Americans (okay, one of these isn't real) then the study won't make it into our hands. Unless we REALLY search...hard!

If you haven't been in the loop, there is the 'theory' that a diet that incorporated large amounts of animal products and grains were a primary cause of mineral loss from our bones. The 'theory' goes, meat/dairy/grain break down in the body into acidic remains. This acidity is no good for our bodies and our blood. In order to bring the body into balance the system leaches a bunch of good guys OUT of our bones (good things like calcium!) that help to alkalize the blood and body. So now we're neutral again, but at the cost of healthy bones.

Bummer.

So what's being said is that it doesn't matter if you are doing box jumps while eating mega-calcium-Vitamin D-enhanced cheese. You'll be offsetting the bone-building goodness with all the acidic remains of the dairy. Your balance is zero. Eat some wilted spinach and kale instead :)

So they are recommending that you eat more fruits and vegetables and try to limit your animal product and grain intake. Ideas?
~Spaghetti squash in lieu of regular spaghetti,
~Bean / tofu chili instead of beef chili,
~Herb-crusted cremini mushrooms in place of meatballs in italian dishes
and so on. And you will make your body so happy!!

If you want to read the blurb article:

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Stress-busting foods...to not eat?

I have MSN as my home page, so I can see a bunch of different articles listed out for me in one place whenever I sit down. I really like to check on their nutrition/fitness articles and I am amused how the topics are constantly recycled.

ANYWAY, there was a slide show put up the other day that was so awful that it was STAGGERING! That is possibly why I cannot find it now. I have checked the archives and can't find it. If you do, please link it to me! I'm kicking myself for not grabbing the link when I had the chance.

This slideshow was suppose to show us how to eat to avoid stress and/or anxiety during the day regardless of the situations in which we find ourselves. Okay, sounds good right? Great, until you notice that the author recommended snacking on nothing else but SUGAR all day. Graham crackers were listed as a great mood-boosting snack...on their own sans protein or healthy fat. The author actually went so far as to say that you should NOT rely on fruit sugars as they won't boost your blood sugar the same way as (processed) carbs will.

Um...

So this article said "Don't eat fruit. Eat bullshit packaged sugar foods that have no nutritional content." Awesome..who the heck let this slide show get uploaded?!

Can we take a moment and review what it is that has made America obese? Oh that's right, SUGAR. And when I say sugar I am including sugar incarnates such as graham crackers, hard candies, white breads (also 'whole/7 grain' breads, partial whole-wheat breads, etc), crackers, biscuits, cookies, chocolates, just as well as corn syrups, evaporated cane juice and so on. I don't know, but isn't being 200lbs overweight a pretty good stresser (on the body AND mind)?

This article had basically suggested spiking your blood sugars repeatedly all day long. So why not MAINTAIN your blood sugar level instead? That way you completely avoid the low-blood sugar bomb that makes you feel like crap. Stay away from it and you won't feel the need for a spike! And you'll be happier in the long run. Not to mention less hungry.

Not trying to be mean here, but I can see this person's credentials...AND their blood work?

So how do you maintain a constant blood-sugar level? Eating every two to four hours (depending on the size and/or quality of the preceeding meal or snack)can maintain blood sugar levels as can proper nutrient combining. You will see what works best for you if you pay attention. If you eat 200 calories you should probably not be hungry for about 1.5 to 2 hours (rough estimate, will be different for different activity levels/metabolism/body types). If you are hungry in 40 minutes then it wasn't balanced properly for you. A good place to check out balancing like this is www.zonediet.com.

Try not to eat bullshit foods please! Everyone will be better for it; you, your bowels, your family, your friends, your coworkers, and your planet!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Episode 2: Veggies = super easy soups!

As promised, easy vegetable lentil soup!! I know that lentils make a great nutritious soup on their own with the standard carrots, onion, and tomatoes. But why not just take it a step further, eh? Again, you can use a mixture of fresh and frozen to make this work for you. Whatever you have on hand and however much time you need to shave off your prep time guide this one.

To start out I chopped up 3 large Carrots, 1 Yellow Onion and sauteed them with 2 minced Garlic cloves in some Extra Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Just to get things going you know.
After the onions were softened and a little browned, I poured in one regular sized can of No Salt Added Stewed Tomatoes, about 6 cups of water, 2 Bay Leaves, a couple shakes of Red Pepper Flakes and two Teaspoons of Vegetable Bouillon paste. Then our star ingredient gets stirred in, 1 bag (roughly two cups) of Lentils. You can use green or brown, but the red cooks exceptionally fast due to its smaller size. If you use red, then cook the carrots a little longer first.
After about 30 minutes of your soup being covered and on an active simmer, stir in 2 cups of sliced frozen (or fresh) Zucchini and 2 cups frozen chopped Kale. If you use fresh leafy greens cook accordingly. Fresh Kale should be tossed in with the Lentils. Something delicate like fresh Spinach should be added JUST before serving in order to wilt, but not all out slaughter and slime-ify. That's a technical cooking term. You can look it up.

I think this one turns out lovely, very flavorful! If you want it a little spicier, you can add a couple dashes of Tabasco Chipotle sauce. Mmmm!
Hope you're having fun experimenting (healthfully) in the kitchen!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Veggies = super easy soups!

I absolutely LOVE love love soup! So much so that I'm going to tell you all about it!
Vegetable soup is almost impossible to goof up! As long as you think about how long it takes to cook the vegetables and plan accordingly, you should get a good result. Ie: if you want browned onions, throw 'em in before the broth. Carrots and other roots take a bit to cook, so those should be added at the beginning. Anything pre-cooked or frozen should be added at the very end so that these items don't get over cooked and soggy. ick. Added too many veggies? Oops, now you have stew. Still tastes good. See? Hard to goof up.

I have made soup for dinner the past two nights. Each recipe was warming, delicious, nutritious, filling, and so very wallet-friendly!! I got two meals out of my first veggie soup and I'm going to guess that I have leftovers enough from soup two for about 3 more meals. YAY!

Soup 1: A very easy skillet-soup that was made from what I had laying around. Some days are like that. You can also call it a fridge-cleaning-soup if you like, but that doesn't sound so appealing :^)
All I did was saute about half an Onion and a clove of minced Garlic in roughly a Tbsp of light Extra Virgin Olive Oil (light because you don't want the particulates of my unfiltered Olive Oil to burn while you're sauteeing...no good) until the onion was soft. Then I poured in about 1/2 cup Tomato Juice (left over from a can of tomatoes I had strained out the night before) and enough water to cover everything and leave enough room in the skillet for boiling bubbles. I really like Vegetable Broth Bouillon paste, the kind in the jar, so I put a little of that in there for seasoning along with some Tarragon (awesome!), Red Pepper Flakes , for that extra warming factor, and a Bay Leaf. When the broth was simmering, I tossed in 1.5 cups of sliced frozen Zucchini and half a pint of Grape Tomatoes that I sliced in half, as well as about a cup of already cooked and chopped Kale. Then I realized I had some leftover Thanksgiving Turkey in my fridge that should be used instead of wasted, so that got diced and thrown in also. All these I put in at the end because all I want to do is heat them through, not recook them all! I like when the flavors are bright, clean, and simple!

I'd hate to overwhelm you with goodness all in one sitting, so I'll tell you about my beautiful Lentil-Vegetable soup tomorrow.

I hope you have fun cooking soup tonight! Let me know what you cook up and if it was good!!