Ten Ways to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

The latest research has shown that most Americans need to eat 7-10 servings of fruits and vegetables for optimal health. In fact, a study by Dr. Michael Miedema and his colleagues found that women who ate eight to nine servings of fruit and vegetables in their 20s were 40% less likely to have dangerous plaque in their arteries in their 40s. In reality, the average actual consumption falls far short at about 3 servings.

Getting from 3 servings to 10 can seem daunting. Here’s how you can increase you’re intake:

• Start including fruit with breakfast. You can add fruit to cereal or yogurt. Or you can have a piece of fruit along with what you normally eat.

• Try making smoothies for breakfast that include vegetables. Smoothies are an excellent vehicle to add fruit and various vegetables to breakfast, lunch or snacks. Good vegetables to include are: cucumbers, carrots, spinach, kale, chard, beets, lettuce and even cabbage. Half of a banana and a cup of unsweetened berries help give the smoothie a fruit taste without adding too much sugar.

• Expand your definition of breakfast. Why not have a breakfast salad with lettuce, strawberries and mint with some yogurt on the side? Or reheat some dinner leftovers? I’ve had many weekday breakfasts that consisted of home-made chicken vegetable soup that I made over the weekend. Of course vegetable omelette or scrambles also work well.

• Experiment with new vegetables on sandwiches. Pile on veggies like cucumbers, sprouts, mushrooms, kale or peppers. Before you know it you’ll have another substantial serving of vegetables.

• Include a high proportion of vegetables in casseroles. When preparing, include lots of vegetables even if your usual recipe does not call for them. For instance, add vegetables to macaroni and cheese. Or substitute eggplant and vegetables for pasta in lasagna.

• Ask for extra vegetables when you go out to eat. I often ask for broccoli for Chinese food entrees or soups.

• Make vegetable soup. I save all of my vegetable trimmings and chicken bones in the freezer and use them to make soup stock. Then I add lots of vegetables along with meat or beans.

• Eat salads for meals. A large salad with your favorite protein on top make a filling and satisfying meal.

• Eat fruit as dessert. Add some berries to a small scoop of ice cream or have some berries with whipped cream. Or better yet, eat plain fruit for dessert.

• Make fruits or vegetables a snack. Cut up some carrots, celery or fruit and bring to work as a mid morning or afternoon pick up. Add a few nuts for protein or some hummus.

It probably does not make sense to try ten tips in the same week. Pick one or two at a time and see how it goes. If you keep at it, pretty soon you will have some new “vegetable habits” that stick.

Prepare Great Almond Milk in Ten Minutes

Prepare Great Almond Milk in Ten Minutes

Have you ever tried commercial almond milk in tea and been disappointed by the taste? Are you also concerned about additives like carrageenan? Well now you are about to learn how to prepare almond milk at home. It tastes wonderful, takes about ten minutes and bit of planning. Here’s how I do it:

Soak almonds first: A day or two before I want to make almond milk, I put 1/2 cup of raw almonds in a bowl, cover them with filtered water and leave them on the counter. Then once a day I rinse them and cover again with fresh water. This soaking method helps make the almonds soft and some say it results in a slightly sweeter taste. It also makes them easier to digest and increases protein content. But if you don’t have soaked almonds, go ahead and use dry nuts.

Making the milk: I usually just make two cup of milk at a time, but if you want to make more just adjust the recipe. The basic proportion is 1/4 cup of almonds to each cup of water.

• Take 1/2 cup of soaked almonds and mix for one minute in a blender with 2 cup of water.
• If desired, add a dash of glycerin based vanilla extract from Trader Joe’s.
• Pour the milk mixture though a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.
• Transfer to airtight glass container and store in fridge up to 4 days.
• For a little more flavor, add a sprinkle or two of nutmeg and a date before blending.

Using the almond “meal” that is left over: I usually eat this with a little sweetener and some coconut flakes. It reminds me of the Kretchemer wheat germ I used to eat as a kid. Some people save it for smoothies.

Very easy, don’t you think? And homemade almond milk tastes great in tea, on cereal or just alone.

Artifical Sweeteners Cause Weight Gain

Think that diet soda you swill down every day with lunch is a good option? It is time to reconsider. Recent studies illustrate the negative effects of various artificial sweeteners that have been pushed at us for so many years.

For one thing, according to Dr. Andrew Weil, artificial sweeteners have not shown to help anyone lose weight and may be causing way more harm than good in the long run. Aspartame, saccharine and sucrolose may increase the risk of health problems, including obesity, headaches and some cancers.

The whole premise of these substances for weight control may be false because our body does not react as we might expect to something that it would not normally encounter in a natural diet. An article in Harvard Health says that the use of these sweeteners may prevent us from associating sweetness with caloric intake. Plus, they may cause cravings that make us pick empty calories over more nutritious food.

Purdue University researchers found that drinking diet soda may be causing people to pack on the pounds. Dr. Mark Hyman says that artificial sweeteners are at least 100 times sweeter than sugar, increasing our preference for sweets. They trick your metabolism into thinking sugar is coming, so your body releases insulin, which is a fat storage hormone. Then as the insulin levels soar, your body packs on belly fat. They can also slow your metabolic rate so that you need fewer calories each day to maintain your body weight.

There is also evidence that synthetic sweeteners are addictive and may be a contributor to hardening of the arteries and diabetes. A multi-ethnic study of arteriosclerosis determined that regular consumption of diet drinks was linked to a 36 percent increased risk of metabolic syndrome and a 67 percent increased risk of diabetes.

Yet another study showed how sucrolose can alter the body’s reaction to ingesting glucose. Researchers gave each participant a glucose tolerance test and found that people who consumed sucrolose and water before the test had increased insulin levels. Their blood sugar peak that was also much higher than those who drank plain water.

These studies tell us that we are better off learning to drink water with our meals since these artificial ingredients in soft drinks are causing unintended effects. Our bodies are reacting with confusion and this appears to be increasing the risk of developing unhealthy metabolic conditions.

Take Control of Health by Learning to Cook

Our society has become very reliant on restaurants and processed foods. While these resources may save us time, we have lost control over what we eat and one-third of us don’t  know how to cook basic meals.

One good thing about eating out is that we can be exposed to new ideas for food combinations that may inspire us to prepare new foods at home. The downside is that many of the foods in restaurants are served in large portions, with the proportion of salt, fat, sugar, meat and starches too high in relation to vegetables and fruits. We also lose control of food quality and what harmful additives, like MSG, antibiotics and preservatives, may be included.

Making meals at home can also be much less expensive than eating out. When we eat out or buy prepared foods, we are paying for someone’s time to buy and serve the food. While it is true that fast food is cheap, it is usually at the expense of quality. Even when I am careful and buy a healthy lunch, I know it is costing me more to buy it prepared than to bring it from home. For instance, when I bring my own organic salad to work with some left over chicken, it costs me about five dollars less than buying a $9 salad in downtown San Francisco.

Cooking is a very useful skill and I cannot imagine what life would be like not being comfortable preparing my own meals. Cooking need not be complicated and it is a creative outlet that is also a good way to relax and share with friends and family. You have much more control over the quality and types of foods when you prepare them yourself. You can make sure you are getting plenty of vegetable and fruits using quality oils like olive, avoiding farmed fish and conventional meats while lessening your exposure to pesticides and GMO’s by purchasing organic produce. Plus you can season it the way you like it and add healthy spices like garlic, turmeric and ginger.

Knowing the basics of good nutrition and choosing healthy food is a good way to avoid the chronic conditions and diseases that plague much of today’s populations in our country. Diabetes, obesity and cancer are striking people at younger ages in large part because our diets contain too much sugar, processed starches, unhealthy fats and hormone disrupting chemicals from fast foods and non-organic ingredients. Good nutrition is the foundation of a healthy society. Having knowledge of what to eat and how to prepare healthy, simple, appealing meals are basic skills that are not difficult to learn as a child or an adult. If you don’t know much about cooking, get a friend to help you learn a few basic dishes, or enroll in a class. You will soon discover the fun and satisfaction of taking control of your health, saving money while learning to make your favorite dishes.