HealthyFoods4Change

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Acorn Squash

ACORN SQUASH
Hearty, Smart & Easy
Some foods just seem to be winter dishes like acorn squash.
This dish takes time but is certainly easy.

Ingredients:
(1) medium acorn squash (halved and seeded)
(1) tablespoon butter or a healthier choice
(1) tablespoon brown sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Turn acorn squash upside down onto a cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven until it begins to soften, approximately 30 - 45 minutes. Remove squash from the oven and turn right side up so that the flesh is facing upwards. Place butter and brown sugar into the squash. Bake for another 30 - 45 minutes. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top before serving.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Start Eating Right!

Seasoning Makes The Meal!

Stop using butter and start using spices that reduce blood sugars, and oil that provide healthy fats! This meal is simple and easy to make. I complimented this meal with a side dish of almonds and a nice glass of cabernet. Does it get any better?

The Spices Used:
Cinnamon on sweet potatoes
Marjoram, Oregano & Basil on my baked salmon
Lemon (squeezed on my asparagus and salmon)
Olive oil rubbed on my salmon

After doing some research on red wine I found that this wine actually lowers your blood sugar. Check it out and discover the benefits of red wine, spices and more. And don't forget you MUFA's at each meal. I had some almonds.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I Hate Brussels Sprouts!

Its so hard to warm up to Brussels Sprouts!
Even as an adult I realize the nutritional value and how good they are for you. But I still have a hard time wanting them on my plate! Here is a simple way to prepare them without steaming or boiling them and pouring on the butter!

Roasted to perfection!

Ingredients:

(1) bunch of brussels sprouts (split) face up

(4) tbsp olive oil

(6) tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Simply place your medium sized brussels sprouts face up in a glass pan after tossing them in some olive oil. Then drizzle balsamic vinegar over them. Put them in a pre-heated oven (370 degrees) for 35 minutes. Serve hot with any great piece of fish or meat of your choice.

Holiday Salad With Color!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

The strangest thing about this salad is the combination of ingredients. I love the creativity behind this salad and the colorful presentation it makes for a Holiday meal. This dish contains two (2) MUFA's (Pine nuts & Olive Oil).

Ingredients:
(2) limes
(1) jalapeno pepper
(4) ripe Fuyu persimmons
(1) pomegranate
(3) tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup of cilantro leaves
1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts

Directions:
Squeeze juice from limes into a large bowl, add jalapeno's and let stand for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, trim and discard top and bottoms from persimmons. Thinly slice persimmons. Toss persimmons, pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, olive oil and cilantro. Serve imediately!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Spaghetti without the Spaghetti!

Our friend Robb Neale made spaghetti last night. He understands my passion and design for a healthy lifestyle. Imagine my surprise when he served mine on a bed of broccoli. What a wonderful combination of flavors. Don't limit your thinking when cooking a traditional dish. Explore and have fun "Healthifying" your standard recipes.

Robb's Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients:
Whole stewed Tomatoes
Tomato sauce
Tomato paste
Yellow onion
Green bell pepper
Zucchini
Chopped garlic
Ground turkey

Spices:
Cinnamon
Oregano
Thyme
Cumin
Red Pepper Flakes
Chili Powder
Bay Leaves
Pepper & salt to taste

I don't have the exact measurements regarding Robb's recipe since its his special sauce but feel free to experiment and create your own soon.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Brussels Sprouts & Butternut Squash With Pomegranates

Color is in this FALL!
Try this robust side dish for color, taste and texture.
Most people I know don't like Brussels Sprouts due to its sometimes bitter bite.

By combining this not so favorite vegetable with squash, pomegranates and Balsamic Vinegar, your taste buds will comes alive! It's a great dish to compliment chicken or fish.

Ingredients:
1 lb. Brussels Sprouts, cleaned and halved
2 cups Butternut Squash, peeled & cubed (buy pre-cut)
2 Shallots, sliced
3 Garlic Gloves
1 Pomegranate (Seeds only)
Balsamic Vinegar
Sea Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Toss all ingredients along with some olive oil and place in a shallow 9" x 13" glass pan. Drizzle with Balsamic vinegar and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Pumpkin/Banana Bread

The next several posts I've decided to introduce some pumpkin dishes to celebrate fall.

Is the pumpkin a fruit or vegetable?
The pumpkin is a member of the squash family, and, though its is treated like a vegetable, it is technically a fruit. The reason a pumpkin is a fruit is because it grows on a vine and contains seeds.

Pumpkins are antioxidant rich including beta carotene, potassium, zinc and is high in fiber.
Check out the benefits of Pumpkins.

Pumpkin Banana Bread

Ingredients:
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup of Walnuts (MUFA's)
1 large egg white
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat: oven to 325 degrees

Grease: 9"x 9" glass baking dish

Combine: In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, pumpkin spice,walnuts and salt with a wire whisk and set aside.

Combine: In a large bowl combine butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add egg whites, bananas, pumpkin and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick. Add flour mixture, blend but don't over mix. Pour batter into pan and bake on a center rack for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. cool for 20 minutes before cutting into 2" squares. add a touch of powdered sugar and some fresh raspberries for accent.

P.S. I also love to add some chocolate chips from time to time :)

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MUFA The New Mantra

What are MUFAs? Pronounced (MOO-fah)

MUFAs are Monounsaturated Fatty Acids. In biochemistry, we learned that Mono-Unsaturated Fatty acids have ONE single double bond in the fatty acid change where as the PolyUnsaturated fatty acids have more than one double bond (hence mono and poly). MonoUnsaturated fats are plant based fats, see below for foods high in MUFAs.

What are the Health Benefits of MUFAs?

Studies show that a foods rich in MUFAs help reduce LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol, the kind that clogs up arteries, and possibly help boost HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol, the kind that sweeps cholesterol out of the arteries and clears it from the body. They can also lower the risk of heart disease and improve insulin.

How much fat per day should I eat?

Fat should not take up more than 20- 35% of your daily caloric intake. So lets say you consume 2000 calories a day,
- 0.20 x 2000 = 400 fat calories
- 0.35 x 2000 = 700 fat calories

How many grams is that?

We know that 1g fat = 9 calories therefore;
- 400 cal/9 cal per g = ~ 44.5 g
- 700 cal/9 cal per g = ~ 77.8 g

This means that out the 2000 calories that you eat per day, 400 – 700 calories or 44.5 – 77.8 g should come from healthy fats.

What are some foods that are MUFA rich?

Oils
Pick your MUFA: Canola oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil, peanut oil, pesto sauce, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, walnut oil, hemp oil
Use them like this: Stir-fry with sesame, peanut, or canola oil; pan-fry in walnut or olive oil; cook with safflower, soybean, or sunflower oil; use flaxseed oil and hemp oil

Nuts and Seeds
Almonds, Brazil nuts, natural peanut butter, dry-roasted cashews, dry-roasted peanuts, dry-roasted sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, roasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts. This also includes nut butter; almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter

Use them like this: Eat nuts as a snack or sprinkle on a salad, oatmeal. Spread nut butters on toast, add them in your oatmeal or top it on your sweet potato.

Avocado

Pick your MUFA: Florida avocado, Hass avocado

Use them like this: Slice and serve with a salad or any entrée; mash with lime juice, salt and pepper and serve with chips; chop and fold into store-bought salsa

Olives
Black olives, black olive tapenade, green olives, green olive tapenade

Use them like this: Serve olives as a snack; sprinkle sliced olives on pizzas, salads, or pastas; spread tapenade on crackers or sandwiches

Dark Chocolate
Pick your MUFA: Dark or semisweet chocolate chips, shavings, or chunks

Use them like this: Any way you crave!

On wooden vs. plastic cutting boards:

"It turns out that wooden cutting boards are good in a couple of ways — they're porous so they tend to soak up juices from cutting meats and fish, for example, and that carries the bacteria down into the cutting board where they're not at the surface anymore. And woods often contain anti-bacterial compounds in them so there's kind of a natural antibiotic in the surface of the wood. Plastic cutting boards are easier to clean and are safer to put in the dishwasher, for example, but they also will tend to develop scars and bacteria will lodge in the scars and cause problems later. So I actually have a couple of each and use both. When a plastic cutting board develops scars, I replace it." Read More

According to Harold McGee who is the author of several books on the chemistry and history of food. He also writes a regular column debunking kitchen myths for The New York Times.

What is Resistant Starch?

As we have already learned, starch that we eat is digested at different rates. The starch in potatoes, cereals, and baked goods digest very rapidly. Other starchy foods, such as beans, barley or long grained brown rice, are digested more slowly, and cause a much slower and lower blood sugar rise. Resistant starch actually goes all the way through the small intestine without being digested at all. In this way, it is more like a fiber, and in some cases is classified and labeled as fiber. Read more

You can see all 40 Best Foods List here.

The Dirty Dozen

(CNN) - If you're eating non-organic celery today, you may be ingesting 67 pesticides with it, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group.

Here are the Dirty Dozen:

Celery

Peaches

Strawberries

Apples

Domestic Blueberries

Nectarines

Sweet Bell Peppers

Spinach, Kale and Collard Greens

Cherries

Potatoes

Imported Grapes

Read more to see the "Clean 15". Not all non-organic fruits and vegetables have a high pesticide level. Some produce has a strong outer layer that provides a defense against pesticide contamination.

Lettuce

The Importance of Acid and Alkaline Balance for Health

Virtually all degenerative diseases including cancer, heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, kidney and gall stones, and tooth decay are associated with excess acidity in the body. While the body has a homeostatic mechanism that maintains a constant pH 7.4 in the blood, this mechanism works by depositing and withdrawing acid and alkaline minerals from other locations including the bones, soft tissues, body fluids and saliva. Therefore, the pH of these other tissues can fluctuate greatly. The pH of saliva offers a window through which you can see the overall pH balance in your body.

Cancer cannot exist in an alkaline environment. All forms of arthritis are associated with excess acidity. Acid in the body dissolves both teeth and bones. Whatever health situation you are faced with, you can monitor your progress toward a proper acid/alkaline balance by testing your saliva pH.

See Saliva pH Test for more information

People who eat one 3-ounce serving of black beans a day decrease their risk of heart attack by 38 percent, according to a study in the Journal of Nutrition. And while other beans are also good for your heart, none can boost your brainpower like black beans. That’s because they’re full of anthocyanins, antioxidant compounds that have been shown to improve brain function. They’re also packed with superstar nutrients, including protein, healthy fats, folate, magnesium, B vitamins, potassium, and fiber.

TURMERIC

Curcumin, the polyphenol that gives turmeric its tang and yellow hue, has anticancer properties, anti-inflammatory effects, and tumor-fighting activities known in nutrition- speak as anti-angiogenesis. Researchers at UCLA have also found that it helps deter the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain, tiny blockages that may cause Alzheimer’s disease.

Turmeric’s prevalencein India, the researchers suggest, may help explain why so few of the country’s senior citizens have the disease, whereas the statistic is close to 13 percent in the United States, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. One tip: Pair it with pepper in curries. “Adding black pepper to turmeric or turmeric-spiced food enhances curcumin’s bioavailability by 1,000 times, due to black pepper’s hot property called piperine,” says nutritionist Stacy Kennedy of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

See 40 Best Foods

TOMATOS

There are two things you need to know about tomatoes: red are the best, because they’re packed with more of the antioxidant lycopene; and processed tomatoes are just as potent as fresh ones, because it’s easier for the body to absorb the lycopene. Studies show that a diet rich in lycopene can decrease your risk of

bladder, lung, prostate, skin, and stomach cancers, as well as reduce the risk of coronary artery disease, and help eliminate skin-aging free radicals caused by ultraviolet rays. “Cooked tomatoes and tomato paste work best,” says celebrity trainer Gunnar Petersen.

See 40 Best Foods

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Food

Interesting Food Facts

There are different varieties of nutritious and lip smacking foods on earth. Each has its own unique taste and history. Interestingly, there are several strange food facts that cannot be imagined. Let us delve into the wonderful world of foods and try to understand some of the best fun, strange and healthy facts about food:

Hot Chocolate: Ancient Mayan Recipe?

Everyone loves to drink delicious hot chocolate. But did you know that the origin of hot chocolate dates back to 5th century AD? Yes, ancient Mayans prepared a very strange concoction from cocoa beans, chili peppers, cornmeal, spices and water. However, the mixture was not “hot” and tasted bitter and spicy unlike today’s hot chocolate.

Did you also know that Chocolate was one of the MUFA's ?

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