Lesson

Good afternoon!

Somehow this turned into a less than super happy day even though I constantly remind myself, "it's not that bad" or "it could be worse!" The funny thing is I know all of that is true, that I'm lucky to have all of the things that I do, a job, a boyfriend, friends, family, a body that works and so much more, yet somehow it's super hard to shake this! So I guess I'm writing this blog to get that out there, maybe some of you have had similar thoughts? I feel like in NYC it's just a common thing these days, something that people don't even take notice of anymore. The fact that we spend everyday wishing for the next to come so that we can be closer to the weekend is just sad, very sad. As we only get one Wednesday October 26th 2011! However, despite knowing all of this, telling other people this and trying to live this way, I really just want to go home and sleep. AWFUL. I realize this blog should probably be more centered on health regarding food but right now this is consuming my thoughts and 'hey, it's my blog so it can be about whatever I want it to!' Enough depressing thoughts for nowm we'll focus on the fact that right now I have a great little organic candy in my mouth. Please see below for the lovely picture :)

Omega 3

Hi everyone! As mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry I am reading this great book, ‘The 3-Season Diet’, and a passage today spoke to me. I had another coworker ask me a question about health, this time about omega 3’s, hence why the passage spoke to me. So for your reading pleasure here is a synopsis of what was written:

The healthful Mediterranean Diet mentioned earlier relies heavily on the use of oils made from seeds and nuts and to a lesser extent on fish oils. Walnut, canola, safflower, and flaxseed oil are unsaturated to they do not raise blood levels of cholesterol and are rich in alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid found only in plants and essential to human health. Together with algae or for those that eat fish, fish-both of which contain the omeg-3 unsaturated fatty acids known as eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA and docosahexaenoic acid or DHA-the oils have been shown to reduce the risk of blood clotting, abnormal heart rhythms, and the creation of arterial plaque. (See picture from yesterday's blog)

Surprising, fats provide more than twice the energy, gram for gram of carbohydrates, the more generally accepted source of energy. Up to two-third of the total energy of the cells may be supplied by fat rather that carbs. Because of its high density and slow-burning nature, another primary function of fats is to store energy in its cells. If we eat more food than we need, however, unused proteins and carbs will also be stores in fat cells, leading to weight gain and reducing energy levels.

“In making food choices, we must learn to eat foods that are nutritionally robust-fruits, vegetables, legumes,” says Dr. Robert H Eckel, the chairman of the American heart Associate’s nutrition committee and professor of medicine and physiology at University of Colorado. “There is strong evidence that these kinds of foods help to reduce the disease, not just heart disease but also cancer, diabetes, hypertension and obesity.”

Tomorrow is Friday! We're almost there! Tonight is the Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah, so that should be a lot of fun, even though I probably will be tired as I'm going to try to get in a workout today after work! Anyway, hope you have time to make some healthy choices today!

Cholesterol

Good morning everyone! I was asked by a friend of mine, "what foods can lower cholesterol?". So of course when I get asked a question about food/health I'm THRILLED to answer! Below are a list of foods that can help lower bad cholesterol, obviously I told her that cutting out meat ( I wanted to say animal products in general but I didn't want to start too crazy :) would help lower her cholesterol as that has been proven many times over. There are so many different theories to our diets these days it's hard to know what to do! I am reading a wonderful book right now, The 3-Season Diet by John Douillard. I am really enjoying it, I will review it once I'm finished. I think I'll start a book list on this blog! :) Oh the little things that make us happy in life! Anyway below is the list as mentioned above, hope everyone is having a great week and can find time to fit in a little healthy living!

1. Oatmeal, oat bran and high-fiber foods

Oatmeal contains soluble fiber, which reduces your low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol. Soluble fiber is also found in such foods as kidney beans, apples, pears, barley and prunes.

Soluble fiber can reduce the absorption of cholesterol into your bloodstream. Five to 10 grams or more of soluble fiber a day decreases your total and LDL cholesterol. Eating 1 1/2 cups of cooked oatmeal provides 6 grams of fiber. If you add fruit, such as bananas, you'll add about 4 more grams of fiber. To mix it up a little, try steel-cut oatmeal or cold cereal made with oatmeal or oat bran. This does not mean eating the highly processed, packaged oatmeal packets, it means eating plain steel cut oats (see picture). I often cook up a few days worth at home and bring them here to heat up every few days.

2. Omega-3 fatty acids

These can be found in many sources but the cleanest are flax seeds, canola oil and algae (see picture). Basically you can take a supplement of flax see oil or I add ground up flax seeds to my steel cut oats and take the algae so that I get enough.

3. Walnuts, almonds and other nuts

Walnuts, almonds and other nuts can reduce blood cholesterol. Rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, walnuts also help keep blood vessels healthy.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, eating about a handful (1.5 ounces, or 42.5 grams) a day of most nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, some pine nuts, pistachio nuts and walnuts, may reduce your risk of heart disease. Just make sure the nuts you eat aren't salted or coated with sugar.

All nuts are high in calories, so a handful will do. To avoid eating too many nuts and gaining weight, replace foods high in saturated fat with nuts. For example, instead of using cheese, meat or croutons in your salad, add a handful of walnuts or almonds.

4. Olive oil

Olive oil contains a potent mix of antioxidants that can lower your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol but leave your "good" (HDL) cholesterol untouched.

The Food and Drug Administration recommends using about 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil a day in place of other fats in your diet to get its heart-healthy benefits. To add olive oil to your diet, you can sauté vegetables in it, add it to a marinade, or mix it with vinegar as a salad dressing. You can also use olive oil as a substitute for butter on bread. Olive oil is high in calories, so don't eat more than the recommended amount.

The cholesterol-lowering effects of olive oil are even greater if you choose extra-virgin olive oil, meaning the oil is less processed and contains more heart-healthy antioxidants. But keep in mind that "light" olive oils are usually more processed than extra-virgin or virgin olive oils and are lighter in color, not fat or calories.

5. Beans

Beans, beans—they really are good for your heart. Researchers at Arizona State University Polytechnic found that adding ½ cup of beans to soup lowers total cholesterol, including LDL, by up to 8%. The key to this heart-healthy food is its abundance of fiber, which has been shown to slow the rate and amount of absorption of cholesterol in certain foods. Try black, kidney, or pinto beans; each supplies about one-third of your day's fiber needs.

6. Tea

While tea has become well known for its cancer-fighting antioxidants, it is also a great defense against LDL cholesterol levels. According to research conducted with the USDA, black tea has been shown to reduce blood lipids by up to 10% in only 3 weeks. These findings were concluded in a larger study of how tea may also help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

7. Chocolate

Ah, the sweet side of a heart-healthy diet: This powerful antioxidant helps build HDL cholesterol levels. In a 2007 study published in AJCN, participants who were given cocoa powder had a 24% increase in HDL levels over 12 weeks, compared with a 5% increase in the control group. Remember to choose the dark or bittersweet kind. Compared to milk chocolate, it has more than 3 times as many antioxidants, which prevent blood platelets from sticking together and may even keep arteries unclogged.

Other changes to your diet

For any of these foods to provide their benefit, you need to make other changes to your diet and lifestyle.

Cut back on the cholesterol and total fat — especially saturated and trans fats — that you eat. Saturated fats, like those in meat, full-fat dairy products and some oils, raise your total cholesterol. Trans fats, which are sometimes found in margarines and store-bought cookies, crackers and cakes, are particularly bad for your cholesterol levels. Trans fats raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol, and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the "good" cholesterol.

Monday

"I can't believe that we would lie in our graves wondering if we had spent our living days well, I can't believe that we would lie in our graves dreaming of things that we might have been."~DMB I just love this quote! The song is such a feel good song!


I believe that there is a shift in consciousness, there is a movement towards a better life. This is a movement that is coming from the ground up, from people realizing that there is a better life out there for us all. That big companies, big food and high levels of stress are just not where our hearts, minds and bodies belong.

I haven't written a blog in a very long time, it's been a crazy time. I traveled to Israel, an amazing place, actually amazing doesn't even cover it. I miss it but I was happy to come home as well. They do not have the food issues that we have here, not in the same way. Not only do people eat less there but they actually enjoy their food, they pay attention to it! They also do not have as big an issue with factory farming that the US does. There are still some issues but overall the country was founded on the farming principle so fresh food isn't so rare like it is here.

I also just ordered from a fantastic place called, Better Burger. It isn't far from my office at all, I ordered a homemade veggie burger, veggie canadian bacon, vegan mayo, and soy cheese. Now I don't eat these things very often but the fact that a TAKE OUT place has them! Ahh the excitement!! It was delicious! They bake their fries, have soy dogs and some great looking salads as well! As far as take out goes they seem to be at the top of list!

That's it for now, more to write soon, hopefully the change in air means a positive change is coming in my life!

Impact

Originally written on 8/19/11

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

● 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;

● 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;

● 70 million gallons of gas--enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;

● 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;

● 33 tons of antibiotics.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

● Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;

● 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;

● 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;

● Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

My favorite statistic is this: According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads. See how easy it is to make an impact?

Thursday.

There are two main things I'd like to share this morning:

#1-I think we all need to take control of our lives and make a change, if that's what we're looking for.  Many of us just sit idly by as our lives continue on or worse yet, many of us wish away our time, how many times have you said, 'I wish it were Friday! Or please let this week go quickly I hate what I'm doing!' Probably more times than you can count. This isn't the way we should be living, we should be excited or least decently happy to get up in the morning do something for the next 8+ hours. My family and I discussed this last weekend, what makes certain people wish to change the world and others just content to mosey along until the next event in their lives? A question I'm sure many have analyzed. We must try to live to our potential, to listen to ourselves and figure out what the next step is in our lives to really fulfill our destiny, our desires, our true and happy lives. 

#2-A lovely dinner from last night:
This beautiful picture below is courtesy of my best friend Brittany, she has been cooking so much lately, and such amazing things! This is a tofu stir fry with bell peppers and brown rice-YUM. You can obviously sub whichever veggie you want, I enjoy sautéing the grain that I use in the same pan (after it's cooked of course) as all my veggies and garlic, it gives it fantastic flavor! Many complain that tofu is too soft or not tasty (even though it takes on whatever flavors you give it) but I figured out a way to make it crunchy last night for my own dinner! Of course I forgot to take a picture of it, even though it was beautiful green kale with garlic and crispy tofu on top. To make it even more ridiculous, my wonderful boyfriend had just gotten me a new camera!

A bit on Tofu:
Buy organic! Or a brand that says it doesn't use GMO soy beans. I will be continuing to discuss the issues I have with GMO products, who wants to eat something that isn't actually from nature? Can't even be made with nature's ingredients!? It's all CHEMICALLY engineered (this means chemicals and science projects to figure out what's in your food)! No thanks. I kept the rant short :) Many take issue with eating soy everyday; the jury is still out on this. The idea that too much soy causes an excess of estrogen, which can help cancer cells grow if you have them, however they still haven't proved this without a doubt, and my personal opinion is you would need A LOT of soy to cause this issue. Just keep your diet varied, that's the key to everything!!

 

I took extra firm organic tofu, put it in a bowl with panko bread crumbs, covered it as much as I could (tofu doesn't always allow things to stick to it) then I put it into a pan in the oven. I topped it with a little bit of the garlic I had been sautéing and a little bit of olive oil. I put it in there for about 20 minutes on 350 degrees but you could probably cook it lower, this was my first time trying this so feel free to try your own way as well.  I had been sautéing my kale on VERY VERY low heat with a little bit of olive oil (I need to cut down on the oil, my body was less than thrilled with it), such a beautiful green! The finished kale was then put on a plate with the now crispy tofu, delicious! All in all Brittany and I had wonderful meals that we were excited to share! Promise I'll get my act together with the pictures :)

Faux sausage

A good friend of mine put together the connection between what she eats and the way she feels which obviously thrills me! I am so happy when people come to this conclusion on their own! So she asked me about faux meat, now I really haven't had much, not that wasn't homemade anyway. So below is a photo of this fantastic sausage that I had during my first weekend experiencing vegan food, so tasty and clearly better for you than the regular pork version, which by the way I always hated, like HATED. So, this sausage was a pleasant surprise, the ingredients in the apple smoked one that I had, and again really enjoyed! are below:

Ingredients (Smoked Apple Sage): Filtered Water, Wheat Protein (Vital Gluten Flour), Expeller Pressed, High Oleic Safflower Oil, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Non-Sulfured Washington State Dried Apples, Yeast Extract, Onion Powder, Barley Malt Extract, Fresh Garlic, Torula Yeast, Natural Liquid Smoke Flavor, Black Pepper, Spices, Rubbed Sage.