Recipes for a Nutritarian Diet

I have read many of Dr. Joel Fuhrman's books and articles over the past several years and am quite sold on the need to eat a nutrient dense diet.  However, actually eating the Nutritarian way is not necessarily that simple to just dive into (maybe for some, but not for most -- or more of us would be doing it, right?)  In his latest book, The End of Dieting, Dr. Fuhrman poses the question as to why so few people eat nutrient dense foods even when they can clearly see the need to do so.  I was thinking, "YES!  Dr. Fuhrman, tell us why this is!"  All I could think of was the incredibly addictive nature of unhealthy foods.  And guess what his answer was:

I quickly came to realize that science based information about nutrition alone wasn’t enough. many people fail to recognize their need to protect their precious health and lose weight? Why would they be unable and unwilling to change? Why would they want to remain unhealthy? Why would they want to reject unassailable, scientific, and dramatically effective advice? I’ll tell you why. Because of the overwhelming twin powers of food preference and food addiction.

I like that he adds "food preference" in addition to food addiction. It's not only what our bodies crave, but also what our brains are patterned to want.  Dr. Fuhrman goes on to say:

Unhealthy eating styles and food addictions have both taken control of our brains, and this addiction to certain foods is often as deadly as many other addictions. 

You can read any of his books to see the support he has for why eating the Standard American Diet leads to so many of the common diseases (and often deadly diseases) of our day.  But I'd like to switch gears and come up with some strategies to help us desire more of these nutrient dense foods.
I'm not a huge fan of spending lots of time in the kitchen.  I do love baking, but I'm finding my favorite baked goods not to be all that nutritious or helpful to my body at this stage of life.  (Oh, how I wish that homemade bread were super nutrient dense though!)  So when it comes to soups, salads, etc.,  I'd rather not spend a lot of time in the kitchen making them.  Maybe that will change.  But so far, I'm lacking the excitement thereof.

I think, however, that if I found some really tasty nutrient dense recipes for each meal of the day, I'd be more inclined to make them and eat them.  Novel thought, isn't it?  :)  I have several cookbooks that I need to actually use.  I'm more of a window shopper when it comes to cookbooks and recipe blogs, but that needs to change.

I've found a few  blogs and websites that support a Nutritarian way of eating, so I'm going to start with finding at least one recipe a day to try until I find several that I love and think my family will also love.

For now, I'll share the links.  And if you try some, let me know which are your favorites and we'll continue together until we've found more healthy meals to replace the less healthier habits we've acquired or have become addictive to.

• Raw Food Made Easy -- If you're not familiar with Jennifer Cornbleet, she is a raw food chef who creates her recipes with as few ingredients as possible so that it's accessible to more people.  I've met her in person and have taken her online raw food course (I also have a few of her books) and she doesn't eat an all raw diet.  She actually has recipes for cooked foods, as well.  But she recognizes the health benefits and delicious nature of raw foods and eats mostly raw foods from her plethora of recipes.  I want to try more of her garden wraps, which are the nutrient dense alternative to the traditional sandwich.  Jennifer has a variety of approaches to wraps, so I'll try some out and will be sure to post my favorites.  
• Carrie On Vegan  -- Don't let the V word scare you. If you don't think you'll ever become a vegan or vegetarian, it doesn't mean you can't add some of these nutrient dense recipes to your meals.  Check this out -- Carrie actually cooks kale with her oatmeal!  That's something I've never thought to try, and I'm not so sure I'd like it with strawberries, but maybe I would -- or I could try apples and cinnamon instead (yes, that's one of my recipe trying habits -- changing things up before I even begin!) 
• Healthy Girl's Kitchen -- Wendy posts some of Dr. Furhman's recipes as she explores them herself and also blogs about how to make eating this way more accessible.  I like this post with tips about making salads more desirable in the colder months.  Granted, our colder months are hopefully behind us, but you never know!  (And they will come back again; I'm sure you know that :) )
• Fat Free Vegan Kitchen -- I've followed this recipe blog for awhile and have learned that it's not always fat-free, but it is pretty darn close.  Wendy doesn't add oil, but there may be naturally occurring fat (which our bodies do need).  These Hummus Crusted Cauliflower Steaks sound easy and yummy.  It's a blend of a cruciferous vegetable and some beans.  And I'd think that anything crunchy like that would taste like a comfort food.  Right up my alley!
• Fat Free Vegan -- This is a recipe sharing site like allrecipes.com.  So you'll get a variety and can tweak them to be more nutrient dense or to meet your needs.  Even though potatoes are starchy and aren't packed with nutrients relative to their caloric content, I would include them occasionally and would like to try these Creamy Scalloped Potatoes for Easter dinner!
• Straight Up Food -- Cathy creates recipes for a whole food diet.  This Southwest Stew looks really delicious and contains lots of beans and some mushrooms -- both which are on Dr. Fuhrman's list of nutrient packed foods or G-Bombs.
• Dr. Fuhrman's Nutritarian Recipes -- I almost neglected Dr. Fuhrman's website!  He has over 1,000 recipes available in his Member Center that has a monthly fee.  But you can also find a dozen sample recipes that are offered to everyone.  I think I'll try the Mixed Greens and Strawberry Salad first.  I do like my salads to be sweet!  I think I'd make it with fresh strawberries instead of frozen though.  There I go again changing the recipe before I even begin!

I'll get back to you on my recipe exploration.  Let me know how you do, too!  Until then, here's Dr. Furhman talking about his new book on the Dr.Oz Show if you want to learn more about his approach to healthy eating:

 

Photo of Vegetables by Nociveglia Creative Commons

What's the BEST way to eat?

Don't we all ask that question from time to time?  Maybe not everyone, of course, but those of us who are seeking to eat healthy.  As I wrote on my Healthy Eating tab above,

I know there's a lot of conflicting information out there about eating healthy and that can get frustrating. 

What you WON'T get from my blog is some definite THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO EAT! statements over and over.  I have a hard time listening to people preach that it's their way of eating or else.   I don't mind if people tell me what works best for them or a friend.  But I don't believe there's a one size fits all approach to eating.

That being said, I think some things are obvious. 1) Some foods are not good for our bodies, in fact they are downright destructive.  I used to have this belief that since our bodies are amazing creations, they are able to excrete anything that they don't need, so it's okay to eat some tasty treats that aren't good for us.    Yes and no.  Yes, it's okay in the sense that many people go years without any negative affects and our bodies can cleanse and heal. BUT some foods or chemicals in food are toxic to our bodies and can cause illness and damage.  2) Some foods are packed with micronutrients that can benefit our bodies in tremendous ways. 

I tend to look to Dr. Joel Furhman for his Nutrient Density approach.  Am I perfect with eating the Nutritarian way?  Not at all.  But I keep working in that direction and at certain times of my life, I've done really well with it (and have felt absolutely wonderful!)

So what IS the BEST way to eat?  Is it different from person to person?  Is it different at different phases of any one person's life?  I think the answer is yes to each of those.  Some people don't feel "right" if they haven't eaten meat in awhile.  I feel lousy for several hours (maybe even 24) when I do.  I feel great when I eat a TON of fruit.  Others would have digestive issues if they did.   There have been books written about differing blood types deeming what one body may need and another not.  I've never read those books, but I have heard the theories -- I guess that's possible, but there could be many reasons why we differ in our nutritional needs.  Nonetheless, there are foods that are toxic to all and foods that can benefit all.  But I doubt there's a one size fits all approach to optimal health.

I once read how a mother's milk changes not only from week to week as the baby grows, but also throughout each day.  What a baby needs in the morning is different from what he or she needs later in the day and the milk changes as a result.  Pretty cool, huh?  I'd love to understand my body well enough to know what it needs and when (and then have the control to feed it that and the ability to make it taste super yummy! :) )  I imagine that my body has different needs now in my late 40's than it did as a child, teen or young mother.

It's a path I'd like to explore for sure.

Photo courtesy of  Judit Klein 

  

Oil Free Vegan Recipes

I just discovered a great website for fat free (or sometimes just oil free, but natural fat) vegan recipes. It's called fatfreevegan.com

This website even has a section of recipes that follow the Eat to Live guidelines. How great is that?

If you're not completely vegan, this website can still give you a host of healthy dishes and treats to make to keep your eating clean.

I observed pretty quickly that it's not actually fat-free. She just doesn't add oils to most recipes and uses natural fats at times. Here's what SusanV, the web host said about this:

What's this "fat-free" business all about?

In general, I don't cook with refined fats (oil, margarine, and shortening). This simply means that instead of sautéing in oil, I use water or broth. In baking, I substitute apple sauce or flax seeds or some other substance for margarine, butter, or shortening. I do use a little sesame oil now and then because a little bit imparts a lot of flavor. And once in a very long while, I go crazy and make something with a little olive oil in it, but this is rare, and I don't use whole heaping gobs of it.

Wait a minute . . . I saw a recipe with coconut milk and another with walnuts. Those aren't fat-free ingredients!

You're very observant! Yes, I sometimes use lite coconut milk (though I'm trying to cut down), and I do include avocados, nuts, and seeds in my diet as forms of healthy, unrefined fat. This blog probably should have been called "Oil-free Vegan Kitchen," but I didn't like the way that sounded.

But if you don't use any fats, how do you get your Essential Fatty Acids?

Again, I do use avocados, nuts, and seeds in my cooking. In fact, what you don't see from looking at the blog is that just about every day I eat walnuts and flax seeds on my lunch salad. Flax and walnuts are both excellent sources of Omega 3 fatty acids. I definitely believe in getting EFA's, just not in the form of refined oils but in their natural "packages," along with all the other beneficial nutrients that nuts and seeds contain.
The recipe at the top is Stormy Black Bean Soup. Doesn't it look yummy? Here's the recipe if you don't feel like clicking on the link just yet:
Stormy Black Bean Soup

Vary the amount of spices in this to suit your taste. I used the minimum amounts given, which put this right at the outer edge of my daughter's spice tolerance.

1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cans (or 3 cups) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tsp. cumin
2 bay leaves
1-2 tsp. chile powder
generous grating of black pepper
1-2 tsp. minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
4-5 cups vegetable broth or water
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (optional)
lime wedges

In a large pot, sauté the onions, garlic, and bell pepper until the onions soften, about 3 minutes. Add the beans, seasonings, and tomatoes, and stir to combine. Add 3 cups vegetable broth or water. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, for about 1 hour, adding additional water or vegetable broth as needed to keep a soupy consistency. Just before serving, add the corn, if you like, and heat through. Serve in bowls with lime wedges. Makes 4-6 servings.

What to do for Halloween

Just the other day, I heard a friend say, "How can anyone NOT like Halloween -- it's centered around candy!" I'm sure that's how most kids look at it. I used to LOVE that we had candy in our home for at least a few days after Halloween. My mom never bought candy unless it was a holiday and even then, it was minimal. In our stockings, we got a candy cane along with a variety of nuts that needed to be cracked and an apple and an orange (in my dad's sock, no less). In our Easter baskets, we got some jelly beans. I used to look at my aunt's chocolate bunny each year with the hope that I'd get one someday (little did I know they were hollow and didn't have 1/2 the chocolate they appeared to have).


On Halloween, my mom bought candy to give to the trick-or-treaters and we'd get as much as we could as we went around the neighborhood. I had four brothers and we ate up the candy as fast as we could. I used to envy my friends who had Halloween in their lunch pails a week, two weeks, or even a month after Halloween was over. Ours was gone so fast.

Now it seems like Halloween candy is available before, during, and after in abundance. The stores start selling Halloween candy before school even starts. I used to be a sucker for holiday colored M&Ms -- I thought they looked so great in fall colors in a glass candy dish. At school, they have candy and a variety of sugary-spooky looking treats in the class and at the carnival (there's something so fun about seeing kids walk around the cake walk to "The Monster Mash.") I'm always impressed with the teachers who keep the candy to a minimum (or not at all) in their parties since they know the kids will get more than enough that night anyway. Our church often has a Halloween party too, as well as other activities with sugar "refreshments" at the end. Then there's the actual Halloween night.

Maybe my memory is fuzzy, but when I went trick-or-treating, each grown-up at the door gave me one candy to eat. It didn't matter if it was little like a tootsie roll or not. We got one piece. Now the people at the doors give a handful to my children, even if it's the good chocolate! I'm amazed. Some people even give out full sized candy bars! Then there's those that set up BBQs and serve hot dogs or hot chocolate in the cold misty weather. I used to love that when I didn't care about what I ate.

About 4 years ago after trick-or-treating with my children, I went back to my friend's house in the busy neighborhood (we've always lived where there weren't trick-or-treaters, so we liked to go where we knew someone so we could come back to their house with our younger children to rest while the older ones kept running around with their friends). We often use this opportunity to dump out the candy bag, sort it into groups of chocolate, favorites, gross candy, toys, and whatever. We had sorted out the candy and I was eating the "good" chocolate right and left. It wasn't long before I had indigestion to the point of embarrassment. I started feeling sore-throatish and by the time we left, I wondered why I succumbed to eating sugar when I knew it wasn't doing my body any good. I was sick for the next few days (flu symptoms) and vowed to clean up my eating once and for all. That's when I explored with eating raw foods and saw tremendous improvements in my health.

That was the year I conquered my battle with candy and Halloween, but I've never been able to figure out how to convince my children to do the same. Some people let their children eat their candy the first night only, then throw it all out. I have such good memories of finally getting candy in the house when I was a child, that I struggled with doing that. Yet, I also have childhood memories of horrible allergies and severe asthma and frequent colds and flus. So how great is that? I don't want to contribute to their health problems if I can help it.

Here are a few things I've done. I'm not saying it's my ultimate. I wish they'd just be happy to do without candy like I am, but this is a start:

* Let them eat their candy for a few days, then tell them to choose their favorites to save for Christmas stockings and the rest gets tossed. They've been pretty willing to do this and don't really end up with that many favorites in the end. Maybe they get tired of eating it too since the candy fest begins before Halloween at school and church festivities. By Christmas, we end up using some of it for little gifts they get asked to bring to school (white elephants or Secret Santas), so very little of it ends up in the stocking).

* After Halloween, offer them a dollar a day for each day they can go without eating ANY sugar up through the end of November. They can use the money for their Christmas shopping. My kids have really enjoyed this tradition. They've even turned down pumpkin pie! They've gotten to where saying "No, thanks, we're not eating sugar" is pretty easy for them. Now to just stretch that out into the rest of the year.

* Talk to them more about what foods are good for them and why artificial foods like candy are so bad for their health. They seem to like the power of knowledge and see food through different eyes after our discussions, even if they don't always turn sugar down.

* Fix more homemade healthier versions of traditional fall treats to fill them up - - banana bread, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, cooked apples, baked potatoes (we love those when it's cold!), whatever fruit is in season (especially pomegranates), berry/oatmeal muffins, green smoothies, spiced apple cider. Okay, I realize that green smoothies aren't traditional treats, but they're becoming that way in our home, thank goodness.

* Focus on non-eating ways to celebrate Halloween -- carving pumpkins, lighting the pumpkins or luminaries outside, cutting out bats and other decorations out of paper, making window art decorations, stuffing a scarecrow, singing songs (Gorkin was a Goblin by Tim Cain is a HUGE hit with kids), or just watching a movie together. Hocus Pocus is a family favorite, although that song Sara Jessica Parker sings creeps me out; my older girls used to love "The Worst Witch" -- corny, but fun; my boys loved the Magic School bus about the bats and sound. Or we get out an old sit-com like the Brady Bunch where the kids try to convince the realtor that their house is haunted so their parents won't sell it, or more obvious magical TV shows like Bewitched, The Addam's Family or Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. And the greatest of all Halloween kids movies ever made -- the Charlie Brown movie about the great pumpkin! So fun.

If you have any ideas to share, let me know. I know some parents don't have their children go out trick-or-treating anymore. I just love seeing all the children dress up and go from door to door. I love seeing how excited the people at the door are too to see the childrens' costumes. It's just such a fun community event. Maybe someday I'll move on from that, but for now, we'll continue on and try not to let the candy-eating go too far.

Here's a post that Dr. Fuhrman's wife wrote on this subject a few weeks ago. I wish I'd started as early with my children so they didn't even desire sugar, but I am where I am and I'm glad to be this far in my own journey with healthy eating. My hope at this point is that I can continue to teach my children by example and conversation the benefits and essential-ness (I know, I made up that word, but I can't think of a better one) of healthy eating so they can improve their eating ways as they grow up and teach their children from the start.

Dr. Furhman in Italia!

Dr. Furhman, my favorite nutrition expert and author of my favorite books on eating -- Eat to Live and Eat for Health), just wrote on his blog that he took a trip to Italy with his wife of 27 years for their anniversary. It's a wonderful story of how they managed to eat healthy abroad. What was fun for me to read was that it even was a challenge for them. I'd think Dr. Furhman, with such knowledge and experience in healthy eating would breeze through any vacation. Then again, Italy is a land of cuisine with cheese.

Anyway, here's the link (in case you missed it in my hyperlink above). Enjoy!

Blog of Dr. Furhman in Italy

Start saving your pennies

I heard a woman on the radio a few weeks ago say that her husband saved all his change in a bucket. He decided to count it all up to take to the bank and had over a thousand dollars! I can't remember how long he'd been saving it up, but that was pretty impressive. I want to recommend to all my friends and family to get Dr. Fuhrman's Eat for Health book set, but it's pretty expensive for most people right now. It's almost $50 for the set. (It's $46.99 at Amazon with the free super-saver shipping or $39.99 + shipping on Dr. Furhman's site). You can get the audio download or audio CD for just over $20, but I think the book is better to have if you have to choose just one. I bought the CD first and loved listening to it on trips (or on my cellphone -- I downloaded it there and it's nice to listen to in chunks too). But it left me wanting to see the information in print for a reference. I'm really happy to have the books by my bed at night.

So start saving your pennies or other change now if you can't afford it just yet. Maybe it will add up faster than you realize and you'll be learning from Dr. Furhman yourself. His Eat to Live book is great too, but I love Eat for Health even better. In Eat to Live, he spells out all the scientific studies about nutrition and explains the healthiest way to eat. But in Eat for Health, I think it's more user-friendly because he tells you how to start eating healthier without giving up too much of the foods you may be attached to. You'll later find that you can't possibly fit all that food into your body each day and will hopefully give up the other food that just harms your body. I know it's worked better for me this way.

Maybe I'm just a crazy person who can't get enough of Dr. Furhman's writings. :) I do love to read nutritional advice that actually makes sense though. And everything he writes does. Sometimes it's sad to learn that what you're doing isn't the best for your body. But eventually you end up appreciating it.

P.S. (I added on some quotes from Dr. Fuhrman to my last post, so if you haven't read them yet, scroll down to the bottom and relish in his wisdom :))

Are you afraid of getting cancer?

At the back of my mind when I'm endeavoring to eat better, I'm thinking that I want to avoid my chances of getting cancer as much as I can. Same with providing food for my husband and family. I want to help them be strong and cancer free too. Well, last night I was reading this new magazine I just started getting (Natural Health) and saw an article about women avoiding heart disease. It said that women die of heart disease more than twice as much as they do with all forms of cancer combined! I was stunned by that statistic. I hear of men in their 40's, 50's, and older dying of heart attacks all the time, but not women. I thought cancer was the number one killer. But no, it's only 1/2 as deadly as heart disease.

The sad thing is that all of these diseases are preventable! They're not contagious. They're caused my diet and lifestyle. Crazy! Here we live in a time where we have sophisticated medical practices, yet we're dying the most from diseases that we can prevent! We don't need the medical world's help in avoiding these diseases like we do with infectious diseases. We just need to start making our bodies stronger by eating nutrient dense foods. We also need to exercise and give up the other vices (smoking, drugs, yes, even saturated fats!) that do our bodies harm.

Here are a few ideas from the Natural Health article:

Stressful emotions account for roughly 30% of all heart attacks.

The main ways women channel stress are through anger, anxiety, and depression -- each has a profound effect on the heart.

Depression causing heart disease? Sounds strange at first, but studies show that depression revs up stress hormones, which cause platelets in the blood to become stick. Over time, the blood packed with these platelets damages the blood vessels and causes the artery walls to harden and thicken.

As for anger, I thought this was a bigger problem for males (at least it was in my family growing up), but the article states that women channel their anger through sarcasm, gossip, or passive-aggressive behavior. Even though women don't show their anger outwardly the same way as men do, it's still defined as hostility. And no matter how you express it, it still puts an incredible strain on the blood vessels and damages your heart.

When you worry or become anxious, blood pressure rises, the heart beats faster, and the blood vessels dilate. Your body thinks that you're in danger and reacts accordingly. Yoga teaches ways to slow down the breathing and subsequently the heart rate. Yogic breathing can reduce those stress hormones better than just relaxing or lying down (I'll write another whole post about that. I have so much to say about yoga and have yet to say it!)

The article talks about ways to lift depression, assess your anger, and calm your anxiety (and stop worrying), but I've got to tell you that if you are eating primarily nutrient dense foods, whether it's a raw food diet (high raw or all raw) or a vegetable-based diet along the Eat to Live guidelines, you will most likely not have to work with managing these emotions. When I'm eating only whole foods, getting the nutrients that Dr. Furhman says our bodies run the way they were designed to perform, I am almost giddily happy. I chuckle at thing that would normally make me angry. I want to skip when I walk. The crazy things in life just don't ruffle my feathers. It always comes back to nutrition for me, which makes sense. If you want a car to run well, you give it the right kind of fuel.

Here are a few quotes I found in Dr. Furhman's Eat for Health book about reversing disease or preventing it by healthy eating:

"Fifty years of scientific studies indicate that most diseases seen in modern countries, as well as the leading causes of death, are the result of dietary and lifestyle choices. Scientists have determined that inadequate consumption of plant-derived nutrients results in cellular toxicity, DNA damage, and immune system dysfunction. This in turn leads to increaded susceptibility to infections, allergies, and even the development of cancer."

"Despite medical advances, 85% of Americans (85%!!!) will still die from heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. The real key to longevity is not better treatment; it is prevention. By comparison with our sickly nation, people who survive past 100 years are remarkably disease-free. They are generally physically active, independent, adn socially connected. They are not the feeble stereotypes that we often associate with getting old. This is not merely abnuot living longer; is is also about staying younger and healthier into your later years, so life can be enjoyed to its fullest. Once you grasp the possibilities, your entire way of thinking will change. You do not have to be a victim. You can experience a long, disease-free life!"

I love this because I came to healthy eating because I had the hope that I wouldn't continue on the rest of my life with the awful health problems I already had AND I didn't want to get worse. Look around and I'm sure you have many friends and relatives who are getting sicker as they age. Isn't it wonderful to know that it doesn't have to be that way? Our bodies weren't designed to age that way. Dr. Fuhrman has seen his patients reverse disease and prevent disease. He says as they get older and follow his eating guidelines, they get healthier instead of falling victim to what so many think are age-related diseases. Now that's what I call hope and change!

Never Stop Learning

I've been thinking lately about the need to surround myself in nutrition information in order to eat well. I ate a very unhealthy diet for nearly 40 years of my life and was only able to change it because I kept reading and reading until I found some nutritional truths that finally sunk in. You probably know that I esteem Dr. Furhman quite highly for my nutritional information and I first discovered his writings in a newsletter called "Healthy Times." There were articles written by several doctors, but Dr. Furhman's name showed up repeatedly. My eating wasn't anywhere close to what they were recommending, but I liked the whole concept of eating nutritious foods in order to have excellent health. I learned so much each time I read.

A friend loaned me about 20 of these newsletters and I'd read them every time I had a chance over a period of months. The more I read them, the better I ate. At first I was thinking things like "How could anyone live without dairy?" or "The last thing I could give up is milk." Then I'd read more and would wonder if that would help ME like it had helped others with allergies and asthma. I'd read about all the health-promoting phytonutrients in vegetables and would first think, "But I don't like vegetables!" Then I'd read more and would remember a few salads or soups I'd had that were good -- perhaps I could try eating more vegetables -- perhaps I could even center my diet around vegetables.

I continue to need to surround myself with sound nutritional information. I read the same books and articles over and over. Why? Do I forget? Well, kind of. I don't remember things nearly as well as I once did. But I think the bigger issue is that I have soooooooo many years of habits ground into my brain and body that I need to keep reminding my body of a healthier way. I also live in a world where most people don't value nutritional truths. They may say "I probably shouldn't be eating this" or "I know I need to eat more healthy foods," but more than anything I see people who simply don't care what they eat. They don't want to change and don't want to hear about the need to change. So the eating events I go to (and there are many) fall more in line with my previous eating habits and in order for me to step away from those, I need to feed my brain with good information.

I continually read Dr. Furhman's books. I re-read other nutrition books I have too. I grab the magazines at the dentist office that have articles about eating and usually end up seeing what they have right and where they need to learn more. I think some experts know the full picture of what's needed for health, but only state certain guidelines because they know that most people will only change so much and will give up or turn back before taking (what they think are) drastic measures.

My dad could have very easily had a heart attack on Christmas day. (I think I mentioned this a bit in an earlier post -- sorry!) He went to a cardiologist a few days before Christmas because he was feeling compression and was told an artery was 99% closed. 99%! Many people would hope to be so lucky to be in the doctor's office at that point instead of finding out afterwards of their problems. Anyway, when I saw my parents last weekend, my dad was thumbing through a Reader's Digest at my grandma's house and said, "These are the things they say you should eat for a healthy heart" and started reading them aloud. I added my editorials to a few of the foods listed (like olive oil -- better to eat an olive, walnuts, or flax seed than to add oil to your food). But overall, it would be an improvement to how my parents eat. I told him, "That's just what that one book you have says" (that my mom ordered for them a few years before). My mom nodded her head and mouthed, "But he discovered THIS on his own." My dad looked up and caught a glimpse of what was going on, but it hit me that most people do have to seek out the knowledge on their own to really be able to absorb it and use it to better their lives. I know I did. And I still do.

Businesses know that it's vital to spend a chunk of their money on advertisement because we will be influenced by what we see. It's much like our family does with reading the scriptures. We know when we're reading them daily, we feel closer to God and the way he would have us live. If you want to improve your eating, continue to surround yourself with good nutritional information. Let it marinate in your mind a bit until it really sinks in and becomes a part of you. Do it over and over throughout your life in order to align yourself with healthier habits.


The best books on eating I've read so far are Dr. Fuhrman's Eat for Health books. Eat to Live comes in a close second. I also like Dr. Andrew Weil's books. I used to get his newsletter. (I like Dr. Furhman's newsletter better though). Dr. Mehmet Oz has good information too, but I think he's one who holds back a bit for the public interest. He wrote the foreward to Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live book. That made me think if Dr. Oz understood Dr. Fuhrman's information and agreed with it, why he didn't write a similar book -- why he advises or allows some foods on his program that aren't that great for your body. But it's fun to read and compare -- to learn as I go.

You can also browse websites, watch experts on YouTube or read my old posts on my blog. I'm trying to figure out how to list my posts by subject so you can find them easier. I've added labels to them all, but can't find the way to get them on my side bar. If you know how, let me know. There are also come great podcasts online that interview authors of these books or experts in the field. You can listen to them on your computer while you work. One I used to listen to often was RawVeganRadio.com . There's some conflicting information out there in the raw food world, but some are excellent. I particularly liked the podcasts from Victoria Boutenko (I need to write a whole post about her to explain her background -- her whole family went raw after coming to America and adopting our ways of eating and our severe health problems that go with it) and John Robbins (heir to Baskin-Robbins, but turned it down once he learned what ice cream does to our bodies).

I've got to stop writing. I'm teaching yoga to some friends in 25 minutes and it will take me 15 minutes to get there. I guess I don't get to shower first. I just want to end by saying I didn't write this to preach and tell you to do exactly what I'm doing. I wrote it to show you that if you're struggling with eating better, just surround yourself with good information and you'll eventually eat healthier than you ever thought possible. TTFN!

Brown Rice -- Yum!

I'm surprised that so many of my friends still eat white rice instead of brown. It takes a little longer to cook brown rice, but it tastes so much better and is nutritionally superior to white rice. I could list the nutrients and fiber content side by side, but the bottom line is if it's come that way in nature, it's not only going to be better for you than the version that man has tampered with, but it will also be better assimilated into your body, meaning your body will use more of the nutrients provided. If you're still curious about the comparison, here's a great article called "Why Brown Rice is Better" from Hinduism Today magazine.

Some people don't buy brown rice because they've heard that the oils will go rancid and it doesn't have a long shelf life. So stick it in your freezer. I have several Foodsaver bags of brown rice in my freezer stored from a 25 pound bag I bought in bulk. Whenever I open a Foodsaver bag, I just pour it into a gallon-size Ziploc bag to take from in my fridge. A glass jar could work too. In fact, as soon as my husband finishes up his humongous pickle jar from Costco, I'll clean it out and start using that. (I'll have to REALLY clean it out though -- I can't stand the smell of pickles). Anyway, don't let the oil thing scare you. I've kept brown rice for a few years in the freezer without any problems of rancidity.

If you don't have a rice maker, I highly recommend you getting one. If you're only eating raw foods, then you wouldn't have much use for it, but if you cook your grains, you'll love it. I just made some brown rice tonight with a ton of veggies (summer squash, zucchini, broccoli, celery, white onions, brown mushrooms, and carrots) and am still feeling the joys of satisfaction.

Whenever I tried making rice before, it would turn out too sticky or burnt or something. All I do with the rice maker is put in 2 cups of rice, 2 1/2 cups of water, press "Cook" and wait until it switches to "Warm." (I actually like it better when it has sat warm for at least 10 minutes).

I've also used my rice maker to make cracked wheat in the morning. It's been awhile since I've made it, but I think I doubled the water to whatever amount of wheat I used. (Wheat uses a ton of water to cook). Then I add raisins, cinnamon, and some ground flax seed. Mmmm, it's hearty and warm. Now that I think of it, my friend adds flax seed to her rice too. I'll have to remember to do that next time. It adds a nice little crunch like you get with wild rice.

I got my rice maker at Target for around $15 on sale, but I don't think they're much more than $25 regularly. You don't have to use that cute little spoon that comes with it (in fact I think I lost mine). But it's fun how it fits in the handle (which is probably supposed to keep you from losing it :)).

Nutrient per Calorie Density in Various Foods

The Nutrient density scores or Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) were assigned by Dr. Furhman to foods based on how many nutrients they give to your body in each calorie you consume. The food scores are out of a possible score of 1,000. The food labels you see in the store (or on your shelves) don't even give a glimpse of this vital information in the foods that you're eating. We seem to understand as a society that natural foods have more nutrients, but there is a huge range in nutrient density amongst even whole foods.

Here's the list computed according to serving size, (all fruits and vegetables tested were raw, unless specified as "cooked"):

Kale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1000
Mustard Greens, cooked . . . . .1000
Watercress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1000
Collard Greens, cooked . . . . . .1000
Bok Choy, cookied . . . . . . . . . . 824
Spinach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
Spinach, cooked . . . . . . . . . . . .697
Brussels Sprouts . . . . . . . . . . . 672
Swiss Chard, cooked . . . . . . . . 670
Arugula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .560
Radish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Bean Sprouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
Red Pepper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .420
Cabbage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Romaine Lettuce . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Broccoli. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..376
Vegetable Juice . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Boston Lettuce . . . . . . . . . . . . .353
Carrot Juice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Broccoli, cooked . . . . . . . . . . . .342
Cauliflower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285
Green Pepper . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Tomato Sauce, cooked . . . . . . .248
Artichoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
Carrots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240
Salsa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..236
Asparagus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Zucchini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Strawberries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Pomegranate Juice . . . . . . . . . . 193
Tomato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Butternut Squash . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Plums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158
Raspberries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Celery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Mushrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Blueberries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Brazil Nuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Iceberg Lettuce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Orange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Grapefruit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Cantaloupe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Kiwi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Beets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Eggplant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Watermelon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Orange Juice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Tofu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Sweet Potato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
Apple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Peach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Green Peas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Cherries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
Lentils...............................................68
Pineapple..........................................64
Apricots............................................64
Black Beans......................................58
Edamame.........................................58
Kidney Beans...................................56
Oats, cooked....................................53
Mango...............................................51
Cucumber.........................................50
Soybeans..........................................48
Chick Peas (Garbanzo Beans)............48
Onions..............................................47
Prunes..............................................47
Pears................................................46
Sunflower Seeds................................46
Tuna.................................................46
Honeydew Melon...........................45
Soy Burgers........................................45
Flax Seeds.......................................44
Brown Rice, Cooked.......................41
Sesame Seeds.................................41
Flounder/Sole.................................41
Salmon.............................................39
Sprouted Grain Bread...................39
Avocado...........................................38
Swordfish........................................38
Pumpkin Seeds..............................36
Canned Tuna, in water.................36
Skim Milk.......................................36
Pecans.............................................34
Soy Milk..........................................33
Deli Turkey Breast........................33
Tahini Butter..................................32
Barley, cooked................................32
Grapes.............................................31
Potato..............................................31
Cod...................................................31
Banana.............................................30
Walnuts...........................................29
Pistachios........................................29
Eggs.................................................28
Chicken Breast...............................27
Soy Cheese (ick!)...........................27
London Broil...................................26
Plain Yogurt, low fat......................26
Almonds..........................................25
Figs..................................................25
Corn.................................................25
Whole Wheat Bread......................25
Feta Cheese....................................23
Pork Loin........................................23
Milk Chocolate...............................21
Quinoa, cooked..............................21
Ground Beef...................................20
Whole Milk.....................................20
Dates...............................................19
Peanuts...........................................19
Whole Wheat Pasta, cooked.........19
White Pasta, cooked......................18
White Bread....................................18
Bagel, whole grain..........................18
Peanut Butter.................................18
Cottage Cheese, low-fat.................18
Pizza.................................................17
Popcorn............................................16
Raisins..............................................16
Cashews...........................................15
McDonald's Cheeseburger............15
Fruit Yogurt, low-fat.....................14
Pretzels............................................13
Cashew Butter................................13
Bologna............................................13
White Rice, cooked.........................12
Potato Chips....................................11
Saltine Crackers..............................11
Granola Bar, chocolate chip...........11
Cheddar Cheese..............................11
Pine Nuts.........................................10
Macadamias....................................10
American Cheese...........................10
Vanilla Ice Cream............................9
Vanilla Frozen Yogurt.....................9
Hot Dog, beef...................................8
Sugar Cookies..................................5
Cream Cheese.................................4
Corn Oil............................................3
Olive Oil............................................2
Honey................................................1
Cola.................................................. 1/2


Isn't it amazing that most of the food we eat is under a score of 100. It's crazy how most Americans base their diets on the lowest scoring foods. I was just thinking as I typed the frozen yogurt score that I fell HARD for that trend when it first came out -- thinking that frozen yogurt must be so much healthier and less fattening than ice cream. Several times a week, I'd stop by the Yogurt Station while in college, would look at the menu, see that I could get much more in a medium for only 20 cents more. But why stop there, an extra large was over double the size of a medium and not that much more money. I'd eat those extra larges (peanut butter chocolate and some orange/tangerine maybe? were my regular flavors) all the time, thinking I was eating something healthy -- something that wouldn't make me fat. If I had just looked in the mirror, I would have known that wasn't the case. Oh well. Glad I grew past that addiction.

I do want to add that just because some foods score lower than 100, they are still healthy (like the fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes). They just pack in more calories, so you don't want to eat them in large quantities. The fruit has enough water (and the legumes enough bulk) that you'd probably never overeat them anyway. Just watch it with the nuts and seeds (but enjoy when you do eat them!) I try to keep to 1/4 cup a day, maybe 1/3 cup at times. Dr. Fuhrman says a little less, but I exercise each day and have never gained weight eating that many nuts. In fact, I've lost weight at times eating more, especially when I'm eating all raw and lots of greens. I think my body functions well with healthy oils from nuts and seeds.

Nutrient Density for the New Year

Have you ever heard the term "Nutrient Density?" Dr. Joel Furhman defines nutrient density in his "Eat for Health" book in this way: "What makes a food healthy is how many nutrients is delivers to your body. In other words, for optimal health we must eat foods that are rich in nutrients, in particular, foods that deliver the maximum nutrients in each calorie."

Often people equate health food or healthy eating with eating foods that have some nutritional value. Or they just call the food healthy if it isn't a dessert or processed snack. Others determine if the food is healthy or not by how many calories, fat grams or carbohydrates it has. With all the diet crazes over the past few decades, that might seem like the rational thing to do. But when you hear how Dr. Fuhrman determines the nutritional value of food, nothing else seems to seems to make much sense.

Dr. Furhman has a formula he uses to determine nutrient density. It's lists the most nutritious foods by how many vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (which are called micronutrients) are in a food divided by the number of calories. The more nutrient dense foods you eat, the better your health will be. The formula looks like some simple Einstein equation. It's H=N/C, which means your future Health = Nutrients divided by Calories in each bite you take.

When we choose food by this nutrient density equation in mind, it changes the focus from all our usual patterns of thinking, such as:

"What do I feel like eating?"
"What sounds good?"
"What's in the fridge, pantry, on the menu?"
"What am I in the habit of eating and don't possibly think I could ever live without?"
"What am I celebrating and what foods traditionally go along with that celebration?"
"What am I craving right this very second?"

Instead we stock our fridge and pantry with foods that are naturally packed with nutrients and learn to eat and enjoy those foods just like we have with the other foods for so many years. Old habits are hard to break -- they are EXTREMELY hard to break -- it's not a trite phrase I just write to fill up space. It's hard and many don't succeed especially when it comes to food. However, the other phrase that you must replace an old habit with a new one is true too. I'll add that if you think more about the new habit than the one you are leaving behind, you will not feel like a matryr and whine that you can't eat like you used to. You'll be so thrilled and fulfilled with the new foods you are eating that you won't even care about those other foods. You might romanticize at times about how yummy something was (all the good memories of the times attached), but truthfully, your body won't have enough room to eat those foods once you build your diet around nutrient dense foods, so you'll be just fine without them.

If you think you can get these micronutrients from supplements and continue eating the nutrient-sparse foods, you're fooling yourself. Just look around at all the other people doing this with diabetes, heart problems, and a host of other modern diseases. My dad spend Christmas morning in the hospital this year after having a stent put in his heart on Christmas eve. He was telling me the day before that the doctor told him not to fear this procedure -- it was such a common procedure that it was routine -- they did it all the time. I told my dad that could either give him comfort that it's not a risky procedure or it could sound awfully scaryto know that so much of our population is having to have stents put in their heart valves to stay alive. Supplements will not cut it. Nutritional excellence is what we need for excellent health.

We can find the most nutrients per calorie from unrefined plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds. What percentage of these foods do you think the average American consumes? Less than 7 per cent! With Dr. Fuhrman's Eat for Health (or former book Eat to Live) approach, you'll be eating at least 90% of these nutrient dense foods.

You'll need to get Dr. Fuhrman's books to see his list of the high nutrients foods, but basically the very highest (surprise, surprise) are the Leafy Green Vegetables, with kale and collard greens being at the very top (score of 1000). Spinach is a little lower with a score of 739 and then when you drop into the next group of Solid Green Vegetables. Foods like cabbage, broccoli, and asparagus have scores of 420, 376, and 234, respectively. That doesn't mean that they aren't healthy - -they are! It just shows you how incredibly nutritious and essential those leafy greens are! The other high nutrient, non-starchy, non-green Vegetables (all vegetables that aren't green and that aren't potatoes or corn, which are more like a grain to your body)

Off to be a mom for a bit -- will finish up later. Until then, here's a video of Dr. Furhman explaining Nutrient Density.


Wow! I just watched the whole video and I love the info he gives. He's so knowledgeable about nutrition -- it's wonderful to learn from him. I hesitated before to write his whole ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) list, but since he shows it there on YouTube, I'll go ahead and list it here on my next post (so you don't have to push "pause" to read the whole thing). That way you can get a good picture of which foods are the most vital to eat for your health and see how useless so many other foods that we usually base our diet on are for good health. It becomes evident that eating high nutrient, healthful foods like green vegetables, berries, and seeds and less animal products, sugar, white flour, processed oil, and processed foods is truly the key to excellent health and well-being.

Dr. Joel Furhman Video

I have so much that I want to share about Dr. Furhman and his latest book, "Eat for Health." I'd planned to write a post about what he calls Nutrient Density last week, but my computer broke (still broken -- on my husbands for a bit right now) so I haven't been on much at all. It's an NTLDR boot problem if anyone wants to come to my rescue :).

For now, I want to show you a video Dr. Furham put on YouTube to explain "Eat for Health" a bit. Hmm, now if I could only remember how to embed a video! It's been awhile.

Raw Recipe -- Citrus Green Smoothie

I just came up with this recipe in my kitchen and it's sooooooooo creamy and yummy. I just had to share!

Usually I use my favorite green smoothie formula over and over (with little variations), but tonight I decided to break out of that mold a bit and see how it would go. I took a cooking creations risk and thankfully, it paid off!

Here's what I threw in my blender:

2 tangerines (peeled)
1/4 c. water
1 frozen banana (I'm sure you could use fresh, but frozen made it seem ice-creamy)
1 c. frozen strawberries (I'm guessing on the amount, it may be 1 1/2 c.)
3 handfuls of spinach
2 large chard leaves, broken off the stalk into smaller pieces

I tried it first w/o the water and it just wouldn't blend the frozen stuff. So I added the water after the strawberries to get it to blend. Worked like a charm!

This filled one 8 oz. glass and one much larger (which I froze for tomorrow). Oh, it was dreamy yummy!

Hydrogenated Oil / Saturated Fats -- Shopping for Healthier Eating

Sometimes I stop and think about all the shortening I've eaten in my lifetime and I shudder. I shouldn't look backwards, though. Knowledge has given me an insight to the dangers of hydrogenated oil and I'm excited to know what I know now. You can be too!

Saturated Fat and Hydrogenated Oils are in much of the food we buy -- maybe even in the food we prepare. It's good to learn what they are, the dangers they bring to the body, and how to avoid them completely. Yes, it's possible to avoid them completely!

Let's start with Saturated Fat. (I know in English class those words wouldn't really get to be capitalized, but for the sake of this post and standing out amidst other words, I'm letting it slide). There are healthy Saturated Fats and unhealthy Saturated Fats. Saturated fats from animals are not healthy for your body. These fats are hard (or solid) at room temperature or (or obviously in the cold) -- usually liquid when hot. It's the marbleized fat in meat that you can see (and often can't see) -- is also found in eggs and dairy products. The firmer the dairy product (cheese, butter, cream) the more saturated fat. Healthy saturated fats are found in plant foods like coconuts and raw cacao.

Hydrogenated Oil (or even Partially Hydrogenated Oil) is oil that has been tampered with to be able to have a longer shelf life than oil has in its liquid state. Hydrogenation is the process of heating an oil and passing hydrogen bubbles through it. Think of fluffy shortening or tubs of margarine. Fully hydrogenated oil becomes a solid (a fat), but if the hydrogenation process is stopped part way, the oil is Partially Hydrogenated and has a consistency like butter that's been out of the refrigerator for awhile. These are both trans-fats.

You can look at other websites to see the dangers of Hydrogenated Oil. Just know that they cause a host of serious problems for your body. You can grow up eating them, thinking "This is fine for my body" like someone can smoke for years without any problems. However, the problems will be transpiring within your body and you may not know until it's too late. Over the past decade, however, I think the problems have become more evident, with obesity and heart disease on the rise -- at lower and lower ages.

I'll be back to give you shopping tips on how to avoid these. My kids are needing me now. TTFN!

I'm back! Sorry it took so long. Before I get to the shopping tips, here's a good article on these harmful fats that fill in some of the gaps I may have left open. .........now for the shopping tips.

First of all, read the labels until you get familiar with what's in your food. Look for the word "hydrogenated" (whether partially or fully) and if you see it, don't buy it. Many items that don't have labels (donuts, fast food, animal products) have harmful fats too. If you want to keep animal products in your diet, treat them like the condiment on the side of plate instead of the main dish (and only have them once a week or better yet, once a month -- you'll be surprised at how well you can live without them).

Here are some foods that commonly are made with hydrogenated fat:

margarine
biscuits / breads
cake
frosting
peanut butter
cookies
donuts
frozen meals
fried foods
processed dairy products.

When I shop for items that normally have hydrogenated fats, I buy them from the health food store (or health food section of the grocery store) because they will tell you right on the box "No hydrogenated fats." Many kinds of breads have hydrogenated fat too. Check the label. So many people are concerned with this now that the food companies are proud to make their "No hydrogenated" claims. Some companies are actually changing how they make their food items. I've recently found this true for high fructose corn syrup in bread (yay!)

Other companies are doing just the opposite. They are hiding their hydrogenated information from you by stating things like "cooked with vegetable oil" when that vegetable oil can be hydrogenated. Some break up the ingredient list and describe the filling or some other component in such detail that by the time you get to the end of the list and see "hydrogenated" you may not think there is very much. Not true. Or they say "0% Trans Fat" which can just mean it has less than 0.5 g. per serving -- not completely void of it. Also, hydrogenated oils are not considered trans-fats, so 0% trans-fat is just pertaining to the partially hydrogenated oil, not the fully hydrogenated oil. So be careful with the companies that are trying to make you think their foods have healthier fats, but they really don't. I find that if I buy organic food, for the most part, they're using healthier sugars and fats. (Not always, but 90+% of the time they do).

Start buying peanut butter that requires refrigeration. You may not like stirring it at first, but the fact that it separates means that they didn't put any hydrogenated fat in it to keep it firm (as well as preservatives to make it okay to leave in the cupboard). Of the health food store brands, my favorite is Marantha, but Costco sells an organic peanut butter now that is creamier and doesn't require much stirring after the very first time. My kids seem to like this one best.

While it's always better just to eat whole foods than to buy processed food, if you are going to buy processed, make it a healthier version. For example, instead of buying Wheat Thins, buy Nature's Path Crispy Wheats. They really do taste the same (if not better). Classic Rounds are the same as Ritz Crackers. I don't buy these often, but my kids love it when I do. Shop the sales. I've found with health food that their specials usually last all month instead of just for a week.

Alternatives to animal milk (almond milk is my favorite) are healthier for you. I still wouldn't drink almond, soy or rice milk as often as I used to drink cow's milk. I use it mainly for cooking or for an occasional bowl of Kashi cereal. It's a processed food and I try to keep those to a minimum. But if you're trying to change one habit at a time, just take your usual versions of fat intake and change it up to save your body the health problems that result from the intake of the bad fats.

Another great idea is to make more of your food in your own kitchen instead of trusting the food companies to do it for you. You can control not only the kind of fat, but also the amount. I've substituted oil in many recipes for butter or shortening and often cut the amount by 1/2 or 1/3 by adding in another form of moisture (fruit).

Stop buying margarine or butter. Butter is the lesser of the evils imho, but butter has saturated fat (or should I say "IS" saturated fat) and margarine is hydrogenated -- both not good for your body. Smart Balance and a few others are made w/o hydrogenated fat, but I think the health food store brands are much better for you -- such as Earth Balance or Canoleo. They don't have all the preservatives that Smart Balance has. Better yet (there's always a better yet, huh? :)), stop using butter altogether or at least cut back on it. No matter how you buy it, it's not a whole food and has no macro-nutritional value. It's much better to get your fats from nuts, seeds, and grains.

That will be my final note. If you can cut out all these unnecessary fats and just have a handful of nuts or add seeds to a salad or something instead, you'll be even better off. There are so many healthy ways to meet your fat needs. Raw cashews are super yummy if you've never tried them. You'll never miss all that other stuff if you have a stash of those nearby.

Sugar -- Shopping for Healthier Eating

I have to preface my post about sugar with the fact that I'm definitely one of those prone to eating sugar all day long if let loose. That's one of the many things that convinced me to learn about healthier eating. Especially at Christmas time, I would eat cookies and sweet breads all day long. I would bake and eat, bake and eat. Occasionally I'd have fruit too, but I'd go around the clock eating sugar.

When I was young, I remember going to visit my grandma. I'd look through her kitchen drawers for sugar cubes and marshmallows (two things we never had at home, unless we were headed to some summer event included roasting marshmallows). I'd eat the marshmallows whether they were soft or years old and hard (which was often the case). I remember even eating colored marshmallows -- yuck! And the sugar cubes were just beautiful.

This same grandmother baked and decorated cakes professionally. She always had cakes mixing and frosting around for licking. One of my favorite activities was to sit and look at her Wilton Yearbooks. Sugar stacked upon sugar creation. Just beautiful.

Through the years, I've seen what my love for sugar has done to my body and to my ability to be in control of my eating. I'm happy to say that even though I still love my fruit and prefer sweeter salads to the savory ones, the artificial stuff just doesn't do it for me anymore. I've even seen a progression in my preference for almond milk. I used to buy the Blue Diamond Vanilla Almond Milk. It tasted like I was eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Very yummy. As time passed, that just became too sweet for me, so I switched to the Original formula. Not much later, that was too sweet too. Now I drink the Original Unsweetened if I ever have the need for milk and it's just perfect. It's so fun to see that my tastes have adjusted to my healthier eating habits.

Okay, now for some talk about sugar shopping. The object is not to eliminate all forms of sugar, but to eliminate refined sugar and sources that are digested too quickly -- w/o fiber, like Dr. Oz mentioned in my previous post (well, he didn't mention it there, but I quoted him there --

"Sugar is supposed to be eaten, of course," says Dr. Oz, "but it should come together with fat or some element like fiber—as you would find in fruit—so you can absorb it a bit more slowly."

Some people think "Oh I can't have a banana -- it has too much sugar" -- but it's a natural sugar, filled with other nutrients. (Then they go eat a bagel that is low in nutrients, fiber and causes problems in your body). Unless your doctor has told you not to eat them for some medical condition, eat away.

What kind of sugar should you NOT buy? Don't buy any of the following (alone or in the ingredient listing:

• white sugar
  
• brown sugar
  
• pretend maple syrup (Aunt Jemima, Log Cabin, etc.)
  
• corn syrup
• high fructose corn syrup
  
• powdered sugar
• turbinado sugar
  
• "raw" sugar
  
• black strap molasses (there are other names for refined molasses)
  

The high fructose corn syrup one is tricky. It's the most highly refined form of sugar and blocks your body's ability to know when it's full. To quote Dr. Oz again:

"It blocks the ability of a chemical called leptin, which is the way your fat tells your brain it's there"

Hmmm, so that's why we eat so many artificial foods without wanting to stop. I'm sure there are other damaging effects from high fructose corn syrup too, like leaching nutrient from your body.
You'll be surprised once you start checking ingredients HOW MANY foods have high fructose corn syrup in them. I was buying what I thought was a healthy wheat bread for my family for YEARS and it had high fructose corn syrup in it. I had to really look around to find some affordable bread for my kids w/o it. Thankfully, Costco got on board with this several months after my search began. They sell their Kirkland loaves of organic 100% Whole Wheat and Organic Multigrain that say right on the top "No High Fructose Corn Syrup."

If you don't have access to a Costco store, many stores sell Franz bread and probably 1/2 of their breads don't have high fructose corn syrup in it. It states that at the top. Sometimes it's expensive, but it's on sale at least once a month for the same price as the Costco bread. I personally think the Costco bread is more fresh and tastier. Make your own bread and you won't even have to worry about it! :)

There's a TV ad campaign running right now (sponsored by Pepsi, if that gives you any inclination to what the motivation is) to try to convince the public that high fructose corn syrup is just fine. They show one adult saying she doesn't want to eat something because of the high fructose corn syrup and the other friend says it's natural because it comes from corn. And besides, "all things in moderation" which is one of the biggest myths of nutrition. I'll write a whole post about that another day. Obviously arsenic isn't fine in moderation. There are TONS of things that aren't fine in moderation. But I'll let that rest until another day. Here's a really good article about that ad campaign and the truth about high fructose corn syrup. (It even shows you the commercial I was talking about!)

What can you buy? Here are some unrefined sugars that you can look for in the store or on the ingredient panel:

• pure maple syrup (yes, it's expensive, but don't use as much or as often -- save yourself a few trips to the doctor and it all evens out in the end)
• dates (soak them or blend them dry in the food processor -- very sweet and yummy),
  
• evaporated Cane Juice (looks like white sugar, but is more a more carmel-y color
• sucanat (grainy dark brown sugar -- dissolves well in recipes -- works well in the place of brown sugar)
  
• rapidura (similar to sucanat)
• fructose (looks like a thinner white sugar -- is inconsistent in sweetness -- hard to figure out for recipes, but dissolves well if you just need a bit to add to something
  
• date sugar (extremely expensive, I've never justified buying it)
  
• unrefined, unsulphured molasses (barbados molasses, sorghum molasses)-- (yummy!)
  
• stevia (I've bought this, but it takes some experimenting and I think I've only used mine once -- so long ago that I don't even remember what for)
• honey
  
• brown rice syrup (I've never bought it by itself -- just in foods made with it, like Clif bar products or Soy ice cream).
• barley malt (same comment as with brown rice syrup)

Now that I've listed all these sugars you can buy for healthier cooking, I do have to tell you that too much added sugar is still not good for you. It's not a nutrient dense food. So keep it low. Keep it in that 10% realm -- and this doesn't mean 10% of the time, it means 10% of your calories. Sugar alone has far more calories and less nutrients than fruits, so if you can get your family to eat more fruit instead of prepared foods made with even the healthier sugars, you are better off. If you find a product that is organic (like Jam or Peanut Butter for example), the chances are the it has these unrefined sugars used instead of the refined (and in the case of peanut butter, they don't even add sugar, which is great).

The sugars I buy the most are honey, pure maple syrup, dates, evaporated cane juice (I buy it in bulk when it's on sale or in a 25 pound bag), and sucanat (pic to the right). One thing I realized when I first started buying healthier sugar is that since they are more expensive, I didn't use them as much. That's a good thing. It evens out the cost and keeps me from making so much sugar food for my family.

Healthy Eating Plan -- Changing the way you shop

Before I get into menus, I want to talk about shopping. If you only learn to make one new meal a day and have lots of unhealthy food choices around during the day, you probably won't notice many changes in your health or the health of your kids. Until you change the way you shop, your kids will want the food that you've always bought before. You probably will too.

I wrote a post a few months ago about Dr. Mehmet Oz's recommendations (or Food Hall of Shame) to avoid certain foods ( & to look for them on labeling -- they're in more foods than you may realize) -- namely:

• Sugar
  
• High fructose corn syrup
• Refined flour (or enriched wheat flour)
  
• Saturated fat
• Hydrogenated oil
  

I'm going to copy and paste from my earlier post so you don't have to go back and forth:

If any of these 5 ingredients are in the top 5 listed on a food ingredient list, Dr. Oz says not to buy it (or eat it either -- you may not always be buying :)). I tend to reject the food if they're anywhere in the label. It's a great place to start if you want to shop (and feed) healthier in your home.

• Top 5 Ingredients to AVOID – Read the labels before buying for yourself or family
  
  Learning how to read food labels is like looking at a prescription for your health and your life. Dr. Mehmet Oz says to look for red-flag ingredients—if they're listed among the top five ingredients overall, steer clear!

1. Sugar - When you eat or drink sugar, Dr. Oz says the sudden energy surge your body experiences is followed by an insulin surge that rapidly drops the blood sugar level—so two hours later, you feel famished and tired. To keep an even keel, Dr. Oz says to replace simple carbohydrates with complex ones so the absorption is more controlled and you experience long-term satiety. "Sugar is supposed to be eaten, of course," says Dr. Oz, "but it should come together with fat or some element like fiber—as you would find in fruit—so you can absorb it a bit more slowly."
   
2. High fructose corn syrup - Although they taste sweet, Dr. Oz says food products that contain high fructose corn syrup should be avoided. Dr. Oz says the body processes the sugar in high-fructose corn syrup differently than it does old-fashioned cane or beet sugar, which in turn alters your body's natural ability to regulate appetite. "It blocks the ability of a chemical called leptin, which is the way your fat tells your brain it's there," says Dr. Oz. "It's not so much the 150 calories in the soda pop—it's the fact at that same meal you will normally consume an extra hundred calories of food than you would have."
   
3. Enriched wheat flour (white flour) - Contrary to what its name suggests, Dr. Oz says enriched flour is actually poor in nutrition because most of the grain's nutrients are destroyed in the refining process. "The reason they enrich it is because they already stripped out anything that was worth a darn in it, and they add a little bit back so it doesn't look so bad," says Dr. Oz. Instead, he says to look for whole grains and whole grain flours. "It has its kernels, it has its B vitamins—all the things you want to be in there," says Dr. Oz.
   
4. Saturated fat - Found mainly in animal products, Dr. Oz says to avoid saturated fats that are solid at room temperature, like lard. "You can actually use this kind of material for furniture polish—lots of fun things—but don't put it in you," he says.
   
5. Hydrogenated oil - To increase their shelf life, Dr. Oz says certain oils are hydrogenated. This process turns the oil into a solid at room temperature, but it also makes the oil unhealthy. "This stuff is great because it doesn't go bad, but it's very bad for you," says Dr. Oz. Avoid food products that contain hydrogenated oil, often labeled as "trans fats."

I'll be back to share tips on what foods don't have these -- it takes some looking & hunting around for awhile to figure it out. I'd love it if I could save you time (and hopefully you'll love it too! :))

Okay -- I'm back -- I think what I'll do is address one food at at time. I'm not sure if I should make separate posts for each food (since this will take several days) or if I should just keep them all in this post. Decisions, decisions. Perhaps I'll make new posts and have the links all listed here?? I'm just thinking if I do them all in this post, it will get buried -- hmm, hmm, hmm. I have to go pick up my son from Kindergarten right now. I'll think about it. TTFN!

I think I'll write it here for your convenience (like if you plan to print this for easy reference or something), but if it's big enough for a full post, I may post it in individual sections too for those who can't read something this long in one sitting (plus it will show up on the archive and someone may want to read about hydrogenated fat, but not know it's within this post). Boy I think these things through to the hilt, don't I? :)

I've decided to take each of the foods and make a separate post out of it. That way, you'll know that I've written more -- it will get buried here if I keep adding on (but make new posts up above).

I will give links to all the new posts though. And I'll keep the sugars and fats together. So here we go with the links:

Sugar -- Shopping for Healthier Eating
Saturated Fat/Hydrogenated Oil -- Shopping for Healthier Eating
Flour -- Shopping (& Baking) for Healthier Eating

See you at the new posts!