Fun Food! :) (And healthy, too! :) )

Cross posted in Kosher Cuisine

This is great if you've eaten a sandwich and aren't quite satisfied but want a little something that's really healthy instead of a second sandwich: Top a slice of whole wheat bread with strips of red and/or yellow pepper. I used both and alternated the colors. Very delicious! :) I thank God that I've got plenty of yummy, healthy food to eat! :) (And chocolate chip cookies, too. Not exactly healthy but very yummy.)

IIN Happy Hour

I posted the following on the wall of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition's Facebook Page during Happy Hour, when their wall is open temporarily:

Question: I've been trying to incorporate more plant foods, especially more vegetables, into my diet, but how safe is it really to go vegan? Aren't we omnivores biologically? Are there any potential medical problems associated with cutting out animal products entirely? I remember once reading a blog post from an ardent vegan who ended up having to eat meat due to medical problems caused by being v...egan for a long time. I know I don't feel myself when I don't eat enough animal products, and I tend to overeat them when I do eat them later. On the other hand I'm concerned about health problems that are caused by eating animal products. I try so hard to balance but I just eat too much of it when I eat it. Yes, I know about bioindividuality but I'm having trouble coming up with a good balance for myself. I got some great advice from my nutritionist/health coach from Green Lake Nutrition about balancing my diet but still having trouble with cravings for animal products, especially fatty ones. I understand the traditional diet gives the ok to fatty animal products (I now know that you need healthy fats or risk thyroid problems) but don't they also say it's ok to be overweight? I find that hard to believe. I know I felt much better and had much more energy when I lost weight awhile back but I just feel heavy nowadays. Please post your reply to my Facebook page rather than here so I can make sure to have it even after Happy Hour. Thanks!

Hubby asked for fourths of tonight's easy, delicious salad with just five ingredients...

...Though he's a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy. He'd asked for salad because he said he needed raw greens! I'd already made him an omelette containing chard for breakfast but I guess my unofficial health coaching is working! :)

Here's the salad that I threw together in a large mixing bowl:

All ingredients were organic. (See this post and the one it links to for why organic is better.)

Four slices Ezekiel cinnamon-raisin bread (you could probably use any other cinnamon-raisin bread, or even plain bread plus raisins, but Ezekiel bread is a complete protein)
Walnuts (maybe about a cupful or more)
One bunch lettuce (not a head of iceberg; I think it was green leaf)
A few small carrots
A little bit of cilantro (you could probably leave that out if you don't have it)

I just broke up the bread into small pieces, tossed in pieces of walnuts, tore up the lettuce into small pieces, attempted to Julienne the carrots, and tore up the cilantro.

What are your favorite random (or not-so-random) salad ingredients?

Heathy food=lots of energy! :)

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

After taking an unusual route yesterday from Meadowbrook Playfield and having to go out of our way due to lack of sidewalks, Rena and I "somehow just randomly" ended up at Whole Foods just before lunchtime. (Hubby said it was typical Pie.) So I bought us some food that we could take and eat at one of the benches outside. Our healthy fare consisted of a Jamba Juice apple and greens smoothie; organic minestrone soup with veggies, beans, peas, etc.; and herb Mary's Gone Crackers.

Rena not only perked up (she had napped in her stroller on the way there from the playground) but walked herself almost the entire way home without even being very worn out by the end.

Cute compliment from hubby! :)

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

Hubby called me a "hot chocolate." It made me chuckle as I mixed water, organic skim milk, organic vanilla extract, organic and fair trade unsweetened cocoa, and organic maple syrup in a pot to make my healthier version of this favorite drink. ;)

Why switch to organic?

I know I gave mostly general reasons already in this post, but I can't resist posting this fun music video that spells it out clearly:




Stay tuned- I'm planning a long (hopefully not boring) post on my recent switch to purchasing only organic food.

Tell the E.P.A.: No more methyl iodide

Cross posted in Environmental Tip of the Week

I did not write this message; it's just the copied and pasted "email your friends" message from after signing a petition of sorts.

Dear Friend,

Methyl iodide is a nasty chemical. It is a known neurotoxin and endocrine disruptor, and scientists in labs handle only small amounts using special protective equipment because it is so toxic. But do you know where else it is used? As a pesticide on strawberries and other food crops.

The battle against methyl iodide is being fought on several fronts. Last summer, Washington state banned the use of the pesticide. Unfortunately, the pendulum swung the other way in California, when despite more than 53,000 public comments submitted by CREDO activists and our allies, the state's Department of Pesticide Regulation approved the chemical for agricultural use last December.

But the ultimate power to regulate pesticides lies with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has just decided to reconsider its approval of methyl iodide -- approval that was granted during George W. Bush's administration.

I just submitted a public comment to the EPA, demanding that they ban the agricultural use of methyl iodide. If you care about keeping our food safe, you should do the same. Click below to take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/epa_block_methyl_iodide/?r_by=-3201717-Ic61f1x&rc=paste1

Buy organic food!

Cross posted on Environmental Tip of the Week

Yes, it tends to be more expensive but organic growing practices are much better for the environment, and for health as well. Of course, the environment and health are connected. Folks, I just learned that workers at non-organic ("conventional") farms have died due to constant exposure to chemicals!

Where to buy organic food? A lot of regular grocery stores, like my QFC at University Village, now carry some. You can also check out Whole Foods if there's one near you. Don't forget to look around you for small, local organic stores. Google it if you can't find any organic food nearby just from browsing at your regular grocery store or walking (or riding) around outside. Look for specials if you can; sometimes an organic item will be marked down to the same price as a non-organic, or even lower.

What about kosher organic? A lot of packaged items that are marked organic also have kosher certification. Of course, fresh fruits and veggies are kosher in any case, though I know some people are very careful about lettuce and such. You might have trouble finding meat that's both kosher and organic. If there's none available where you live, you can order online. (They seem to be out of stock or almost out of stock for a number of items. People have probably placed their orders already for Passover. Also it's expensive, even before shipping costs are added on. But you don't have to eat meat every day!)

Let's get cooking! :)

This inspirational video encourages cooking for healing.



From: BeamanGarcia  (Andrea Beaman)


It's amazing! When my husband and I first got together, I had no idea, really, how to cook. I knew I had to when we got married. Sure, I helped cook at Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin when I went there during our long engagement, but since I had no clue what I was doing, I just kind of let whoever I was cooking with take over. She would usually assign me to chop veggies, which I'd done before. I still didn't know what I was doing when it came to the actual cooking part, i.e. how everything fit together; and I was always afraid of ruining food if I tried to cook. When I got back to the US, my then fiance just kind of threw me into the kitchen to cook dinner. Slowly, slowly, I discovered that, with enough practice, I could begin to make things up. That's hit or miss, though, and I've discovered that, for me to have almost guaranteed success, I have to follow a recipe. The bonus of using recipes is that I avoid getting stuck in a rut because I discover recipes online from sites like Food.com that have ingredients I would never have thought of on my own. How does all this relate to health? When you cook, you have complete control over what goes into your body, and it's good to experiment with a variety of foods to see what's healthiest for you. When you eat prepared food, there are so many added ingredients that you would never want to use in your own cooking, like high fructose corn syrup.