oink oink…do you have the flu?

Where to start. Because I have had so many ideas over the past month that didn’t make it on to my blog, it is hard to choose just one to write about today. Being involved with a company like Juice Plus+ has afforded me so many tips and tidbits on health, along with a great amount of in-depth information on topics ranging from osteoporosis to kids’ nutrition to how telomere length in DNA replication can affect your health picture. My brain is swimming with possibilities.

So…because of all the H1N1 scare out there, let me put in my two cents worth on the topic. Number one: Educate yourself. There is plenty of controversy out there on vaccines once you start digging in and doing some research. Do the benefits of getting a swine flu vaccine outweigh the risks? Or better yet, do you even know the risks of the vaccine? Does ANYONE (including the vaccine developers) know how the vaccine will react in millions of different people’s bodies?

This vaccine was developed in a rush–in response to a global scare perpetuated by mass media. Pharmaceutical giants with dollar signs floating in their eyes raced to come up with something that could be marketed as an H1N1 preventative. Testing on humans? Not many, although there are some experiments being done…I watched on CNN as a pregnant momma was injected with a “test” vaccine before being paid $300 for her participation in the study. Would I recommend pocketing $300 in payment for “testing” whether or not the drug cocktail would harm my unborn child? Absolutely not.

That being said, let’s talk about healthy ways to prevent the flu and get your immune system in top working order.
1. Stay hydrated. This allows your body systems to function properly, flushing out viruses, bacteria, and making sure your mucous membranes (one of our bodies’ natural defenses) are…well….”mucousy”.
2. Get alkalized. Disease cannot exist if your body is in an alkalized state (opposite of acidic). How to do this? Plenty of fruits and vegetables, no processed food, cut back on coffee, etc. There are great alkaline/acidic food charts available…email me if you would like a copy. The quickest way to get alkalized? Squeeze the juice from 1/2 lime and 1 lemon into a small glass of water and drink up.
3. Supplement smart. If you choose to add a supplement this fall, choose wisely. Pick something whole-food based (otherwise it is not absorbed by the body) that has primary research on the product itself showing its benefit to the immune system. There are not many out there…Juice Plus+ fruits and vegetables in a capsule happens to be one. You can see those studies by clicking here.
4. Dump your Sugar Daddy. Admit it…we all love the sweet stuff, some more than others. But it is wrecking havoc on our immune systems. Just 10 tsp of sugar decreases immune function by 50% for 4-6 hours. Yikes. Feeling on the verge of catching something? DO NOT treat yourself to a sweet latte and a cinnamon roll from the coffee shop. That will squelch your immune system to nothing, pretty much guaranteeing the sickness bug will smile and say, ‘Gotcha!’.
5. Night night, sleep tight. Getting proper amounts of sleep is paramount. When we snooze is when our bodies heal. And it is the ONLY time our bodies heal. If we are not sleeping, we are way more prone to disease and illness of all kinds, not just the swine flu.
6. Chill out. Being stressed creates a whole host of chemical reactions in our bodies that are pretty identical to infection. Chronic stress = chronic infection and inflammatory response in our organ systems. Treat yourself to relaxation on a regular basis to avoid being sick.

Do your best to help your body do what it was designed to do: thrive, heal itself, and be a wonderful vessel for your spirit. Treat it well and with respect and you will reap the benefits for a lifetime.

love it while you live it

I found myself perusing the internet at midnight last night searching for how to open a young coconut. I did find a great video, but more on that later this week.

Of course, because I am super-easily distracted by nutrition topics online, I somehow ended up on the site of Kevin and Annmarie Gianni. This couple produces videos related to health and nutrition. They seem to have attracted quite a following. I, not surprisingly, got caught up in watching some of their episodes. In one segment, Kevin discusses the importance of your passions. He says that if you are not passionate about your job, hobbies, relationships, etc, you will not achieve full results from all of the other healthy things that you do. This is the most important healthful practice that you can engage in on any given day. Although from the videos he is obviously not the most eloquent of speakers, he does share some good info.

The benefits of a good mental attitude cannot be overlooked. A few months back, Patrick and I heard Brenda Cobb speak. She conveyed that even with the cleanest, most organic foods and diet, your mental state can counter-balance all of the good stuff that you put in. Brenda actually said that you would be better off to eat non-organic and have a good attitude about it rather than spending money and time preparing extremely healthy foods and then being stressed and crabby and angry at the world.

This is actually what I was thinking about this past weekend when we spent a wonderful Saturday night with our friends at a wedding reception. The sheer amount of food there was pretty ridiculous, but it was one of those chances for me to put into practice a great motto, “Love it while you live it.” Yeah, loading up my plate with multiple cream-puffed desserts, carrot cake, and fudge probably wasn’t the smartest decision I had ever made, but we must make the effort to love it and then move on.

I don’t do this every week (and no one should) but the occasional slip-up should not leave us feeling guilty, shameful, and frustrated. Make your attitude one of happiness and enjoyment, knowing that this is just an occasional treat. The same practice applied to the 2 am cheesesteak that was handed out as we stumbled back onto the shuttle bus post-reception. And here’s the picture to prove that yes, I did actually eat it. Haha.

zucchini out the ears

So this summer was the first time we planted a garden. We recently harvested our very first (huge!) zucchini from the depths of the thorny leaves. I have made two loaves of bread thus far and still have almost half of the silly thing left. I have been warned, “just wait until you have zucchini coming out of your ears.” For those of you who already do, I came up with this simple and delicious recipe tonight that will make the abundance of these fast-growing squash disappear before your eyes. Mine was gone so fast I didn’t even get a picture!

Broiled Zucchini

a good olive oil (extra virgin, cold-pressed)
dried or fresh herbs of choice
(I used parsley, basil, garlic powder, black pepper)

Mix herbs and oil. Lightly oil baking sheet. Slice zucchini into 1/4″ rounds and arrange in single layer on tray. Brush slices with herbed oil mixture. Broil in oven until light brown on top. I ate them hot, but they would also be nice served at room temperature. Super fast way to get some more veggies in your day!

How to cut a mango

Mangoes are delicious, but how in the world do you get all the goodies out of that slippery little fruit? One of my friends told me that mangoes seem to taunt him from the produce bin. He wants to eat them but doesn’t know how to cut the silly things. Here is a step-by-step to show that fruit who’s boss.

1. Choose a mango that is slightly soft, but not so ripe that it feels squishy. Check for squishy spots and pass up that piece if you find one. When mangoes get old, they get stringy on the inside, so don’t keep it at home for too long before you eat it!

2. Wash outside skin. Place mango on cutting board “standing” on the opposite end from the stem with the flattest sides of the fruit on the right and left (not facing you.)

3. The mango pit is shaped like a clamshell, so keep this in mind when cutting. Place knife slightly to the right of the stem and begin slicing downward. Imagine running the knife down a very slight curve to make a backwards C.

4. Spin mango and repeat on opposite side so that you have 3 pieces: the center and 2 side sections.

5. Use knife to score side sections in a checker board pattern, being careful to cut through all of the fruit but not the outer skin.

6. Flip skins inside out and cut off mango squares.

7. For center (pit) section, peel off skin. Use knife to carefully slice off fruit still attached to pit. (not possible to get it all off, so don’t try too hard!)

Mangoes are great by themselves or made into a quick fruit medley with frozen blueberries, a peach, and some ground flaxseed.  You can also freeze mango pieces for a smoothie or get adventurous with a mango salsa. Whatever you do, these guys are loaded with lots of beta-carotene, vitamins, and enzymes, so eat up!

Heaven-in-a-hurry

The title of this blog is courtesy of a nice older gentleman we met this week at a 5K race. He used the term to refer to the post-race food that was served to the participants: pizza and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. He said, “Too bad they are giving us Heaven-in-a-hurry food. After eating this stuff, we’ll be headed up there sooner than we want!”   (In defense of the race director, there was also some fresh fruit available, but you can imagine what filled most everyone’s plates.)

And…speaking of Heaven-in-a-hurry foods,  McDonald’s newest menu item was just announced: the Angus burger. Now, if you read the article that was in The Chicago Tribune (July 2) you will almost want to go out and try one for yourself. But hold on, cowboys! Take a quick gander over the nutrition facts and you’ll be stopping your horse in its tracks.

The 3 different varieties of burgers range from 750 to 790 calories each, 39 to 40 grams of fat, and 1170 up to an un-believable 2070 mg of sodium. As a point of reference, I recommend people to aim for 1500 mg of sodium PER DAY.

They should serve these up with a side of high blood pressure meds and a rebate coupon for the local cardiologist.  Think twice before you head to the drive-thru to try one of the newest ways to increase your pant size.  Lesson: When the food item gets bigger, so do we!

Nurture the good ones…

…and slowly let the bad ones die!  Habits, I mean. There are things that we do every day of our lives without a second thought. Activities and practices become a part of us and they come to fit nicely into our daily schedules before we know it. But remember that 24 hours isn’t time enough to do everything, so let’s focus on helping the beneficial ones grow and starving the harmful ones with a lack of time, attention, and money.

It is so easy for us to quickly fall into the trap of deciding to do something good for ourselves only to let it fall by the wayside after a few weeks. I am as guilty as anyone else, so don’t beat yourself up about it! But here is the good news: healthy habits are just as easy to create and grow as unhealthy ones are!

Words of wisdom: Don’t do it all at once. Many of us are stuck in the idea of “it’s Monday…time to radically change my diet” or “it’s January 1…let’s do everything the opposite of how I would normally do things.” (Although this was a funny Seinfeld episode, I wouldn’t recommend it as very practical.) Start small. Pick one GOOD habit that you will plant and nurture for one week. Write it down. Post-it notes are very handy here. Stick it on your steering wheel, your bathroom mirror, or on the fridge.

Examples: Eat 5 raw vegetables every day. Go for a 30 min walk each night after dinner. Eat fruit for dessert instead of chocolate. Fold my laundry immediately after it gets out of the dryer. (that one is my personal one from last month) Spend 10 minutes before your morning shower or before you go to sleep at night stretching and praying.

Bad examples: Don’t eat junk food. Don’t swear at other drivers. Don’t be a slob. Don’t watch TV.  These sentences are poor character-builders because they are negative. Just like children, we must train ourselves to respond to positive affirmations rather than focusing on something we CAN’T do.

Give it a week. Plant, water, and nurture one little seedling of a positive habit and before you know it you’ll be on your way to a beautiful garden.

avocado chocolate what?

A friend of mine asked for a recipe of a healthier version of chocolate fruit dip for her daughter. This was originally a pie filling, but obviously can be adapted to whatever you are craving. The avocado adds a wonderful richness to this and blends very smooth and creamy. You have to try it to believe it!

AVOCADO CHOCOLATE DREAM

2 large soft avocados
2 cups chocolate  or carob chips
1/8 cup soy or rice milk, possibly more needed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
stevia, agave nectar, or honey to sweeten
1 tablespoon orange juice

Directions:

In a double boiler melt chocolate chips with milk and vanilla. Add sweetener to taste. Mix well, and take off from heat after fully melted so that it does not burn.

In a separate bowl mash up the avocado or pulse in a food processor.  Add in orange juice, and blend until smooth. Blend with chocolate mixture for a rich, creamy treat!

make it count

Speaking of eating more of the stuff to keep you younger for longer, let’s talk about how to get more fruits and veggies in your belly every day.  Tired of eating salads? I get like that too…especially after the restaurant-version of iceberg lettuce, tasteless tomatoes, and greasy croutons. This horrible rendition of a healthy meal should be taken off the menus completely. We order it to be ‘healthy’ when really we walk away feeling unsatisfied (and probably jealous of the entree that our dinner-date snarfed down across the table from us). Psychologically speaking this isn’t odd, simply because a salad of this caliber isn’t really contributing much in terms of nutrient value. Of course we are left wanting more of something else because we didn’t get much of anything to start with!

Here’s a better idea: make it count. If you are going to have a salad, then do it up the right way!! Pack it full of flavorful and colorful vegetables and fruits. Start with a good lettuce (red leaf lettuce, spinach, mache, romaine) as a base. Go through the fridge and find some leftover steamed broccoli. Toss on some frozen peas. Try some raw corn. (Just slice it directly off the cob without cooking.) Experiment with some fried potatoes on top and pretend you are in France. Bell peppers, raisins, tomatoes, dried cherries, frozen grapes, chopped apple, chopped oranges, goat cheese, black beans, kiwi, hummus, avocado (my FAVORITE), walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, salsa, pumpkin seeds, ground flax seeds, WHATEVER!

Aim for one thing of every color…red, yellow, orange, green, white, and some blueberries too! Practice eating with your eyes…present it just like you are the salad chef in a 5-star restaurant. This is your time to get creative and get as many nutrients as you can into your meal. Don’t think too much about what will taste good with what…you’ll be surprised with your final creation. Top it off with some good cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and you are good to go.

Now you can no longer say you had ‘just a salad’ for lunch…this is a thing of the past. From now on you will have one of your ‘amazing creations’!

running younger for longer

Last weekend on our way home from Louisville we passed a BP gasoline billboard that advertised that their fuel helped cars run “younger for longer”. Hmmm. I’m fairly positive that most people would appreciate this idea. I know that people for the most part strive to take good care of their cars and want them to last for a long time. We change the oil when it needs to be changed, if there is a weird noise coming from under the hood we usually try to go get it checked out, we put the gas in the fuel tank that we know will make the car run at top efficiency.

Have you picked up on my analogy yet? If not, I will continue… if there was a  certain kind of fuel that was about half the price of other gasolines and we knew it was full of water, would we buy it anyway knowing that it could eventually ruin our engine? Even if we saved some money in the short-term? What about if there was another kind of gasoline that promised less engine problems, smooth motor operation, longer car life, and efficiency in miles per gallon but this one is a little more money. Would it be a hard choice to decide which one would be best for the benefit of your car?

The BP billboard could easily have been changed to advertise fruits and vegetables and whole, unprocessed foods. These are what keep human bodies running younger for longer.  Less digestive stress, less toxin accumulation, less inflammation, more antioxidants, more fiber, more vitamins, more minerals, and more amino acids.

If our main goal with vehicles is to keep them young for as long as we can, then why in the world wouldn’t we want to do the same with our bodies? Cars last for awhile, but we have these organs and tissues for the entirety of our lives here on earth. Think twice about buying that cheap fuel the next time you go to the grocery store.

my latest kitchen creation

I created this one as a special low salt/no oil recipe for the Coronary Heart Improvement Program. Feel free to add some olive oil when cooking the veggies!

Mexican Polenta Casserole

Polenta:

1 cup coarse ground cornmeal

½ tsp sea salt

2 ¾ cups water

Topping:

½ red bell pepper, finely diced

½ green bell pepper, finely diced

1 medium yellow onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed in press

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

dash chili powder

½ to ¾ cup salsa of preference (I used Frog’s Ranch brand)

1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15oz) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

½ (15oz) can crisp corn (or use frozen corn)

“Cheese”:

¾ cup raw cashews

3 Tbsp lemon juice

¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes

1 Tbsp Braggs liquid aminos

½ cup water, or as needed

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

Bring water and sea salt to boil. Slowly add cornmeal while stirring with whisk. Reduce heat to low and continue to stir for about 10 min with spoon until mixture becomes very thick. Remove from heat and press into lightly oiled 9×13 pan.

In deep skillet, saute (in 1 Tbsp water) onion, garlic, peppers and spices until onions are soft. Add salsa, beans and corn and heat until warm. Layer veggie mixture on top of polenta.

Place cashews, lemon juice, and water in blender and process until very smooth. Add other ingredients and process until combined. Drizzle cheese over top of casserole.

Bake uncovered at 375° for 35 min. Top with additional salsa or cilantro if desired.