Foodie Stuff

The Nutrient Rich Avocado

Avocados are delicious and filling.  Whether eaten plain or used in a guacomole dip, they have a rich creamy texture that is, undoubtedly, appealing.  Avocados are not necessarily a low calorie food.  One half of an average avocado contains approximately 125 calories.

One cup of pureed avocado contains 384 calories and 297 of those calories is from fat.  That fact sounds unhealthy but it is not.  Avocados have zero cholesterol.  A one cup serving of pureed avocado provides 63 % or 16 g. of dietary fiber.  It also provides 5 g. of protein, 7% of the RDA for vitamin A, 34% for vitamin C, 3% for calcium and 8% of iron.

Avocados, ounce for ounce, are a very nutrient rich food.  The calories in an avocado contribute nearly 20 vitamins and minerals and healthy plant compounds to your nutritional intake.  While avocados seemingly have a high fat content, 75% of the fat is unsaturated.  Avocados contain the good kind of fat.

Avocados also contain lutein which is a carotenoid that may help to maintain eye health as we age.  Another bonus to selecting avocados as part of a healthy diet is that they naturally have a low sugar content.  A one ounce serving of an avocado has less than 1 g. of sugar.

Avocados can help individuals stay within the Heart Association’s recommendations of limiting sodium and eating 4 1/ 2 cups of fruits and vegetables per day.  Also, avocados can help you to concentrate on monounsaturated fats.

Avocados are sodium, cholesterol and trans fat free.  Monounsaturated fats can help to lower bad cholesterol levels.  For people trying to maintain healthy eating habits, avocados can be used to substitute for butter or mayonnaise on sandwiches.  The creamy texture can add moisture and flavor to sandwiches and be a healthy addition with zero cholesterol.

For dips, the use of avocados in place of the more fattening, cholesterol laden choices such as sour cream or cheese bases, can reduce your cholesterol intake dramatically.  Avocados are a good choice for anyone who needs to address weight management, diabetes control or cholesterol control.

Avocados can be an excellent choice for baby foods. Because of it’s creamy texture and mild taste, it could be one of baby’s first fruits to enjoy.  In addition to this use, avocados can be used in salads and recipes with chicken and guacomole.

When choosing an avocado at the market, look for a ripe one.  A ripe, ready to eat avocado will yield to gentle pressure, but will not feel mushy.  Make sure you only gently squeeze the avocado since the avocado may bruise if you apply too much pressure.

If you pick a ripe avocado, you will need to eat it in a day or two.  You can select a firm green avocado if you want one to eat in about 5 days.  Just store the firm avocado at room temperature.  If you need to slow the ripening, store your avocado in the refrigerator.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to take this time to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. Remember, today is a day to indulge and THEN get right back on track the next day. None of this two month long indulgence streak this year, promise!?  At least that’s what I like to tell myself….

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

An Apple a Day Helps Keep Me Thin

I’ve come to the conclusion that eating an apple a day plays a big role in keeping me within my weight range that I most prefer. Every time I stop eating apples, I notice that I eat more junk food. Apples supply me with filling fiber, and they really help me to maintain my regularity. I’m the type of person who isn’t easily regular like some people.

I get easily constipated, and therefore need a steady dose of healthy fiber in my diet to maintain it.  I also have to avoid a lot of cheese and dairy, which can be binding agents and prevent you from staying on the regularity track.

Pectin is a fiber that the apple contains that has numerous health benefits.  It fills you up and creates a feeling of satiety that is pretty potent for the mere 60-80 calories an apple contains.  I only eat organic apples too. Not only do they taste worlds better, but I know I’m not eating poison when I eat the skin (which is the healthiest part of the apple if you ask me).

The saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” definitely is rooted firmly in the truth.

Apples that are sprayed with insectides and other pesticides really retain these poisons because they actually grow with them. They are usually repeatedly sprayed. I also don’t like the food wax that is put on non organic apples. Non organic apples actually taste different to me. They seem much mealier, with not as much rich flavor.

I’m not sure exactly why this would be, but I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that they are irradiated. Irradiation is a process by which the fruit is exposed to radiation so that the fruit may travel longer distances and last longer without spoiling. Nice, eh?

Organic produce is so much healthier in so many ways. It’s a shame that in some areas it can cost as much as double normal produce. It’s also a shame that it is not readily available in many areas. Unfortunately, non organic, pesticide and insecticide laden produce is easier to buy and more easily accessible.

Sure, it’s still better to eat fruits and vegetables rather than none no matter what, but the benefits of organic are truly amazing when you consider the guidelines organic farmers have to follow vs. non organic farmers.

Is Eating Healthy More Expensive?

Eating healthy is definitely a great thing. It IS all it’s cracked up to be.  You can think better, perform better physically, your mood is better, and your energy levels are higher when you are fueling your body with the right foods, and the right combinations of foods.

However, some say that it’s hard to eat right not only because it requires discipline, but also because it tends to be more expensive than eating – well, to put it bluntly – crap food.

I would tend to agree with those that say eating a healthier, more balanced diet is more expensive than eating cheaply made, processed, and less expensive foods.  When I go to the grocery store and compare the higher quality foods that are free of things like MSG, too much sodium, a lot of fat and sugar, I see that it is harder to eat a healthier diet.

When we load up on lean, healthy organically grown meats and organic, fresh veggies and fruits, it is sometimes even double the prices of the cheaper, frozen and more processed options. But that’s just how it’s set up right now. People are relegated to spending more money if they want to eat fresher, more high quality foods.

It is backwards, that much I’ll admit!  However, there are some foods that are naturally cheaper that are pretty good for you too – and filling.  Take quinoa for instance. It’s a relatively cheap staple to keep in you cupboard. If you buy it out of a bulk bin, you’re looking at about $3-4 for a pound of it, depending on who you’re buying it from.

This cooks up into a lot of filling, fiber filled, protein filled goodness.  Same thing goes for whole brown rice. This is another cheap staple. Of course, as its health benefits have caught on, so has its prices gone up. However, it’s still even cheaper than quinoa to keep around in your house.

It can be easily spruced up with some steamed veggies and a little bit of omega 3 rich olive oil too.  Olive oils and canola oil can be a relatively cheap staple as well. I do prefer to buy organic in my cooking oil, so when I buy healthy cooking oil, I do reach for the organic stuff. I just buy smaller amounts to keep the cost down, and to keep it fresher as I use it.

Coconut oil is another great, relatively inexpensive cooking oil to keep around. When you see how far a little bit goes, you realize that you really get a lot of bang for your buck with some of the healthier foods. It just costs more initially on the grocery bill.

Dreamfields Pasta : Low Carb But Gives Gas

So I told you about two weeks ago that I had purchased some Dreamfields low carb pasta and was anxious to try it. Dreamfields is a company that makes pastas that are supposed to have a lower glycemic impact – significantly lower – than normal pasta.

The product says it does this by sort of wrapping the pasta in a protective carb blocker shell, so that the carbs do not release into the blood stream quickly like they do with normal pasta, and they do not make the blood sugar go sky high right away.

In order to gain this benefit though, you must not overcook this pasta. You must only cook it for the time allowed on the packaging, and also not reheat it the next day, or apparently the technology that allows it to be low carb does not work.

So I cooked it the nine or ten minutes it said to cook it, and my husband and I enjoyed it with a stir fry – an asian type dish with a peanut sauce and veggies. 

The pasta tasted just like any other spaghetti pasta I’ve tried. It was good, what can I say!  It filled us both up and we thought we’d have a new product to use that would conform to our somewhat low carb living style.

However, about 6 hours after we ate it, we both go gas really bad. It wasn’t even the kind that stinks, it was just really uncomfortable and felt like we were really having trouble digesting something.

We were both surprised, because it didn’t occur until several hours after we ate the Dreamfields spaghetti pasta – when we would have thought we were home free from any side effects it may have, as many other low carb foods do.

I really liked the taste though, and would encourage anyone to try it and see if it was just us that had the gassy aftermath. Maybe that doesn’t happen to everyone. I wish it would have worked for us

Dreamfields Pasta – Really Lower Carb?

I always tend to snicker a little to myself when I see these phoney baloney claims about “net carbs”. To me, it all seems like a big ploy to get people to buy a product that is still just as high in overall calories, and still fairly high in carbs, just because they think they are eating less overall carbs than if they bought a food that was the real deal.

Also, a lot of foods that advertise themselves as not having high carbs because they reduce the net carbs by adding a lot of fiber, typically add a type of fiber that does not agree with a lot of people. 

It can be sugar alcohols, which can make you gassy and crampy, or it can be inulin fiber, which for me actually has a constipating effect rather than a laxative effect, which is what you expect from a “fiber”. 

At any rate, Dream Fields does not contain any of the above. Rather, they have a patented formula where they do bulk it up with a type of fiber, and they do reduce the net carbs and the overall glycemic impact.

I’ve seen several people say they are diabetic and this pasta has the same effect on them as 5 carbs do, instead of the typical 30-50 that most pastas have per serving, so that is a very good sign that they are a healthy version of regular pasta.

I have actually purchased some Dream Fields pasta to try, and I will report back to you what I think of it as far as taste, filling potential, and overall impression once I’ve tried it. I’m going to add some hoisin sauce to it and make a big veggie stir fry. 

Apparently, you do need to cook this pasta exactly according to directions, or else the glycemic impact can be altered. I also read that you should not try to reheat it or this also alters its glycemic impact negatively (as in, it pushes the blood sugar higher). 

I’ll be sure to let you know how I like it when I try it. I purchased the Dream Fields spaghetti style noodles. My grocery store also carried the angel hair version and the linguine version.

Instant and Slow Cooked Brown Rice : No Difference?

I remember reading all kinds of diet books, from Zone-types of diet books which focus on good carbs and bad carbs, to vegetarian and vegan advocated books which encourage the overall higher consumption of any whole grain as long as it wasn’t an animal based product.

All of these books consistently recommended making slow cooked brown rice instead of instant brown rice.

They said that because the outer layers that contain a lot of the fiber and vitamins was usually stripped away on the fast cooking rice (which typically cooks in only minutes versus about a half hour or more), it was actually healthier to eat the slow cooked variety.

They also said that the slow cooked variety of brown rice was better because it had a lot less of an effect on the blood sugar than the “minute” rice variety. 

Of course, you sacrifice convenience for a healthier “slow burn” carb, but it would be well worth it as long  as one was much slower absorbing than the other.  When you are dieting or watching what you eat, it’s really important to eat foods that are slowly absorbing into the blood stream and affecting the blood sugar.

The reason is, they keep you fuller much longer.  That way, you don’t keep getting hungry after you eat, and you eat less. Feeling fuller longer is one of the keys to successful dieting.  You eat much less and are much less apt to go off your diet or feel deprived, therefore people tend to stay on weightloss regimens when they consistentlyl feel full and satisfied.

Well, I digressed BIG TIME on that one. The upshot of the research that was done was very interesting when they compared instant brown rice and slow cooked brown rice.  They found that they actually had almost identical effects on the blood sugar levels of those who at them.

This means that you may actually be getting the same fiber and slow burning qualities from fast cooked brown rice that you get from slow cooked brown rice.  This is a big relief for those of us that like the convenience of minute brown rice. 

I have to admit though, I actually still like the taste of slow cooked brown rice. That, and I do think that it contains more of the vitamins and goodies that make it so healthy since it is more of a “whole grain” than slow cooked brown rice. 

I think in the end it depends on what you notice brown rice does for your personally if you integrate this type of food into your diet.  If you cook both slow cooked and fast cooked brown rice, try to notice how your body reacts.

If you get hungry within an hour after eating the fast cooked, then you know you should probably eat the slow cooked variety only….and vice versa.  In other words, which one effectively acts as a natural carb blocker?

Is Olive Oil Bad to Cook With?

I really love the subtle, smooth flavor and texture of a good organically made, extra virgin olive oil. I especially love it in a salad, tossing it with some lemon juice, garlic, a little sea salt and maybe even some additional seasonings, depending on whether I’m going for more of an Italian flavor, or more of a Greek flavor.  And according to several things I’ve been reading lately, this is really the best way to enjoy olive oil and all of it’s health benefits.  Not in the frying pan or the sautee pan as previously thought and always practiced, unfortunately.

This is how I always used to use my olive oil, and I thought I was getting those same health benefits from it by doing this. However, you actually get better health benefits by cooking with different oils instead, because olive oil is not stable enough to cook with, and loses it’s health benefits when you cook it at high temperatures.

It actually does something called oxidate, and this means that it becomes more like the unhealthy fats that you should steer clear of, in a nutshell, when you cook with it. The longer it’s cooked, and at higher temperatures, the less healthy it becomes, unfortunately, and the more adulterated you make it.

One of the recommendations is to cook with one of my favorite oils, fortunately, which is coconut oil. Coconut oil offers a distinct flavor, and it may not be ideal for every dish, but it really can add some amazing flavor to your foods. You may think of coconut oil as highly fattening, because that’s what I thought too, but it’s coming to light that it really is better for you than olive oil when cooked because it does not really act on the blood sugar when cooked.

It is also much more stable and resistant to oxidation, much more so than olive oil, when cooked. Therefore, it retains it’s numerous health benefits when it is cooked.  The health benefits are actually similar to that of raw olive oil when uncooked, so it’s worth looking into trying out this oil. It’s interesting to note that coconut oil is actually solid at room temperature.

I use it on my skin as a moisturizer, and it’s a great natural moisturizer, and it also smells great, but one thing that’s a bit annoying is that you have to scoop it out with some sort of hard tool because it does become solid, but it immediately liquefies as soon as you rub it between your fingers. It’s just interesting, because olive oil is liquid at room temperature, but does become hard when refrigerated.

Fresh or Frozen?

How you answer this question really should depend on a few things. Obviously, if you’re standing in a local fruit and veggie stand, then you are going to buy fresh – because you know it’s just that – VERY FRESH. And there are really zero chances that the fresh piece of fruit of the fresh veggie you just picked up has been irradiated and is actually twelve days old or something to that effect, as when you go to any old grocery store.

What a lot of people don’t know is that a lot of times frozen fruits and vegetables are often just as nutritious, and sometimes maybe more nutritious, than their fresh counterparts. The key is that it really depends on how fresh your fresh produce is. If it really has just been harvested a few days ago, then great, it still has all those nutritious vitamins and minerals and also still has that fresh taste that you love.

However, if it’s looking a little unnaturally colored or if it has a lot of bruises or you see any wilting, then you know that you may want to buy frozen, if in fact frozen is an option you might have for that particular choice.

The reason that frozen fruits and vegetables are often a good choice, or perhaps even a better choice, especially in the dead of winter when you know darn well that fresh produce you are buying has got to be shipped from a much warmer location or a greenhouse somewhere is simple.

Frozen vegetables and fruits are actually flash frozen right after they are harvested most times. This means that the same vitamins and minerals that were so richly concentrated in this particular item right at the time of harvest, are going to also be present in that fruit or veggie when it’s frozen. Freezing actually preserves a food’s freshness and it’s nutrient content just as it was the day it was packaged in most cases, especially if it remains frozen solid on the shipment to the store.

This is the good part about freezing. Now, of course there is the issue of taste. Some people prefer only freshly purchased produce, and that is definitely true if it is indeed truly “fresh”. But often times frozen may even taste better, especially if you’re not buying it while it is naturally in season by where you live.

This is just about the only way to guarantee that your produce is fresh, when it’s actually in season in your area.

Cereal for Breakfast a Good Thing for Your Weight?

There are many proverbs in the world about getting healthy nutrition during the day. The most popular one being: “Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a merchant, and eat dinner like a poor man.” It is far better not to skip breakfast than to think that morning cereal containing more sugar is bad for your health.

Getting up in the morning doesn’t just start the day; it also starts your activity after a good nights rest. So, having a good nutritious breakfast cereal, full with healthy fibers, is great boosting fuel for the body.

In the morning, when people are preparing to go to work or school, there isn’t much time for cooking; and the easiest way to ‘eat like a king’ is a bowl full of cereal with milk. Cereals are full of nutritious healthy fibers low in fat, minerals, and vitamins. They fill the body with energy that it needs throughout the day.

Now, there are some that question the nutritional characteristics of good cereal meal, stating that some cereals contain more sugar than usual. Thus, giving more answers to the appetite then the nutritional body needs.

Cereals with a little more sugar is not that dangerous at all, not to the small children either. The logic of it is that when you metabolize proteins and fibers in the morning, you will definitely spend it throughout the daily activities. Skipping breakfast is more dangerous then that.

Almost 10.000 children between the age of 9 and 18 participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2006. 20 percent of children between 9 to 13 years old and third of children between 14 to 18 years old are ‘breakfast skippers’.

Why do children skip breakfast? The number one reason for it is weight. Children think that skipping breakfast will lower their chances of getting fat or lose fat. Skipping breakfast makes quite the opposite. Having lunch on an empty stomach makes the body put calories and proteins ‘in stash’; keeping it there to the next time it is left without breakfast. The car won’t drive if it has no fuel in it. The same goes for the body.

Another reason why children don’t have cereal breakfast in the morning is the fact that some families have low-income status and cannot afford cereals every day. This situation is more common in the minority families.