Author: Stephanie Quilao

 

I saw these ginormous artichokes at the grocery store the other day and all of a sudden I got hungry for some. This sugar wean is doing weird things to me like making me crave veggies particularly green ones.

I mentioned yesterday that I woke up one day and craved kale. It’s fascinating how going into the third month of weaning off sugar, my body is now hungering for the greens on its own without me having to make myself eat the stuff. The body really is an amazing thing!

So, without adieu with the help of some very creative food bloggers, here are 5 things you can make with artichokes:

• Millet Stuffed Artichokes [Fat Free Vegan Kitchen]

• Potato Salad with Home Marinated Artichokes and Tarragon [Cooking Books]

• Quinoa and Pancetta Filled Artichokes in Tomato Sauce [Lucullian Delights]

• Eggplant & Artichoke Heart Galettes w/ Rosemary, Garlic, Chili &
  Goat Cheese – Gluten-free [Just Making Noise]

• Roasted Artichokes with Lemon Persillade Crust [Pham Fatale]

 

For Tuesday’s “I tried something new,” #foodrevolution, I made this kale salad that was so easy to make that it took more time to buy the ingredients than to make the dish itself. In fact, the dish was made even more simple because I could get most of the ingredients from the salad bar at Whole Foods, and not have to do much cutting which is grand in my book of lazy.

If you have not tasted kale yet, you should give it a whirl as the green is gaining popularity as a super food packed with nutrients. Here are some of the health benefits of kale. I like kale because it has a slight crunchiness to it. I’ve eaten kale many times before but I usually eat it plain or in soup like this chicken sausage, red lentil, potato, carrot and kale soup I made awhile back. This is the first time I’ve ever made it mixed with stuff in a salad.

You can make this kale dish either raw or slightly cook the kale. Raw kale is too bitter for me, so what I like to do is steam it for one minute, and not a minute more. With the one minute steam, the kale loses its bitterness but it’s still slightly crispy. Cook the kale more than a minute and it starts to get wilty like chard.

 

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 cups of fresh kale cut into bite sized chunks
• 1/2 a small avocado cut into cube chunks
• 10 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
• 1 tbsp toasted walnut pieces
• 1 tbsp sliced red onion or more if you like onion
• 1/4 fresh lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• garlic salt

 

Let’s get cooking:

• Like I mentioned you can either use the kale raw or steam it for one minute. I prefer to steam to take away some of the bitterness. If you eat the kale raw, you’ll get the most enzyme impact of this vegetable.
• Put the kale in a mixing bowl, pour in the olive oil, and squeeze the lemon juice all over the kale. Sprinkle a couple shakes of garlic salt and thoroughly mix all three ingredients.
• Toss in the cherry tomatoes, onion, avocado and toasted walnuts, and give it a nice mix all together. Add a little more garlic salt for taste.

You’re done. Put in a nice dish and enjoy!

I loved this kale salad so much that after I made it and took pictures for this blog post, I tweeted about how I almost ate the whole thing. So yeah, very glad I tried something new!

 
 

I believe that as important as it is to nourish the body with fresh vibrant foods, it is equally important to nourish your mind and sense of purpose with nutritious content. This weekend, I feasted on The Tao of Pooh
and The Te of Piglet
which unbelievably I have never read until now. I know! I do however believe that the Universe timed my reading of these books perfectly and I attracted exactly what I needed at this time.

On Saturday, I was feeling a bit unsettled and discombobulated if I may use a supercalidocious word. In the overall scheme of things, I am very glad that I left corporate America, and became an entrepreneur because as Pooh would tell me, working for myself is my true nature.

But there are stretches of time that go by particularly when the bank account looks like it’s going to be wearing red instead of black, where I feel like, I should just go get a job. When it gets really tough and I have those tormented writer cocktail days ala Hemingway, I even start to think that life would be so much easier if I just go find myself a wealthy husband. I could be one of those Housewives of Scottsdale…Yeah, okay, I know, not me…but maybe?…Okay, got it, let’s get back to Pooh.

The universe talks to me through books

I went to the bookstore in the first place because for some reason, I thought absorbing myself in some metaphysical
readings would help wash away the entangling feelings I had inside. As I scanned the aisles of books, the Te of Piglet caught my eye as what
struck me was the line about the power of the small. As you all know,
I’m all about the power of tiny actions to help achieve our goals
because doing things like just 10 minutes of some exercise or just
drinking one less can of soda is better than doing zero. We highly under
estimate the power of small actions because our American culture has
conditioned us to believe that bigger, faster, and instant is the only
way to success.

I’m mesmerized as I’m reading the Te of Piglet, and I start tweeting a
couple things that struck me like this about
illusion and this about
filling stomachs. I’m sitting in a huge comfy chair feeling the
inharmonious energy leaving me as its being replaced by the joy and
homey feeling of Piglet, Pooh, and company. When I was a kid, I had a Winnie-the-Pooh lunchbox and yeah used to ask
mom to put honey sticks in there.

As I’m tweeting, friend @muayman tweets and asks
me if I read the Tao of Pooh as he found it life altering. So of
course, I gotta go read that book now, and wow! I ended up reading the
whole thing cover to cover without putting it down, and then I read it
again. Reading that book put me at great ease because it was like getting validation that everything I have been doing these past 5 years of blogging really is coming together and that I need to just remain patient and continue to do what is in my nature.

Who knew I was already so Tao

Ironically, it never even dawned on me that many of the things that I talk about on my blogs are actually Taoist in nature, just westernized like my tagline “live authentically” is basically the Tao version of “live your nature,” and in my iPhone app: Back in Skinny Jeans 25 Motivational Weight Loss Nudges, I use the concept of CHI adapted to my healthy living strategy of C for Calories eating & burning them, H for creating healthier habits, and I for feeding your motivation with inspiration.

But the part of the Tao of Pooh that resonated with me the most and in fact has eliminated all my doubts about my ability to have authority in talking about healthy living subjects is the part where they talk about knowledge and wisdom and what the difference is between the two – compassion.

How Pooh squelches my insecurities

See, I have always had this deep insecurity that I am not allowed or am worthy to be giving people guidance about food and eating or how to create a healthier body because I’m not professionally trained in anything health related. I don’t have any degrees or certifications, and I haven’t even taken a class on anything related to what I blog about. In actuality, I’m one of those who has never done well in a classroom. I think it’s hilarious that in high school I couldn’t break 500 on my SAT scores in English and here I am making a living through writing. I need real life experience to learn, and everything I talk about on my blogs has come from my real life experiences.

So, the fundamental difference between knowledge and wisdom is compassion. It makes total sense and brought me back to memories of the time I spent in hospitals and therapy. For example, I had this psychiatrist years ago I was seeing for the treatment of an eating disorder, and his form of healing was a workbook. Each week I had a homework assignment to do in the workbook and then we’d talk about it at my next session.

I’m all for assignments, but this book was so clinical and sterile just like this doctor. I was amazed at how cold this guy was but I stuck it out a bit because he had all these degrees from prestigious universities on his wall. The guy was indeed very smart and knowledgeable but I felt like just another mouse lab experiment under his care. There was no emotion, no connection. I left him because I knew we’d get no where.

School is not always in a classroom

A favorite saying of mine is that sometimes the smart thing to do is not always the wise thing to do. As a small example, it’s probably a smart thing to tell your child the reality that there is no such thing as Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, but that would just crush their sense of magic and innocence. The wise thing to do is to let them figure out for themselves as they get older that Santa and the Fairy are really just that fairy tales. The compassion part is having the grace to let the child enjoy innocence and to give them the kindness of learning on their own.

For me, reading the Tao of Pooh helped me see that even though I don’t have degrees or certificates I do have an enormous amount of wisdom about healing. I know the pain and suffering of the human experience of an eating disorder, depression and going on anti-depressants, food allergies, yo-yo dieting, alcohol abuse, sexual trauma, and having a parent who had cancer and another with diabetes. I know and understand what it feels like to have these experiences, and to live through them and turn those experiences into something to help others…that kind of wisdom is not something you can learn in books or get a piece of paper saying you have a degree in it.

Our culture gives heavier credence to those with great book knowledge who can pass tests and get degrees. But what about the wise? Where do you get validation for having been trained in the School of Life? I’ve met mechanics and gardeners who are far more wiser than PhDs. Why? Because they understand human nature and how things really work, not how they ideally should work as we are taught in school.

I’ve had bosses who were MBAs but the worst leaders.Why did they suck? Because, they didn’t understand people, they only understood that their way was the right way because they went to smartie pants school and expected us to recognize their authority because of their title. In reality, people respect and follow those who they feel connect with them, and genuinely care. Sometimes just simply being inspiring is far more effective than being loaded with all the facts and figures, and credentials.

I am all for being educated and for gaining knowledge, but I also believe you don’t always have to go to a university to get that education. And just because you have walls full of degrees, also doesn’t make you wise in the ways of the world and of people. In all my posts where I state health claims, I do the smart thing and always make it a policy to link to credible sources like the Mayo Clinic, one of my favorite sources.

I could go on and on about the Tao of Pooh, but I’ll stop for now. I really feel like a clearer path just opened up for me, and learning more about Taoism has really gotten my excited. I spent the whole rest of the weekend reading about Taoism. What I like most is that Taoist fundamentally believe that all is good in nature, and that is how I see the world 🙂

So, have you read  the Tao of Pooh or the Te of Piglet and what did you think of it? How did the book impact you?

 

At Whole Foods the other day, I was in the bulk foods section and saw these unique looking nuts. I thought the nuts would be a cool new thing to try. These reddish skinned nuts are called Wild Jungle peanuts and they are raw and organic and are from the  forests of the Amazon, including the southern area of Ecuador.

Here are some health benefits of the Wild Jungle peanut. The one benefit that intrigued me the most was that these peanuts contain 26% protein- more than virtually any other nut or
seed, including flax or hemp. Now that is what I call a power food!

The peanuts themselves are not oily like regular peanuts and they are more fleshy because they are bigger in size. I really liked these peanuts and would like to try them ground into a nut butter.

For just a regular snack, I mixed the Wild Jungle peanuts with some dried cherries, black figs, and walnuts. The nice thing about this nut & dried fruit mix is that it’s full of fiber and protein along with some sweetness which is helping me on the sugar wean.

I enjoyed these Wild Jungle peanuts and are definitely getting more to nosh on.

It’s no secret that I am over the moon about Jamie’s Oliver’s new Food Revolution TV show because for the last couple of years, I have been talking about here and here about eating wellness, creating vibrant health through better food choices that work for your body.

Since day 1, Noshtopia has been and is about showing people that eating healthier can be fun and flavorful because I am so bored to tears with baby carrots, ice burg lettuce salad, and steamed chicken as no doubt many of you are too.

My creative brain starts churning

After watching Jamie’s TED Talk, and the first two episodes of the show, I have been so pumped up and thinking of ways that Noshtopia can help with the Food Revolution because I believe in this cause with great fervor and passion as it relates totally to my life purpose work of helping people create healthier lives: body, mind & purpose, so that they can do their life purpose work. It takes good health in order to be able to physically and mentally do the work you were meant to do.

So, here’s the first thing I came up with which was inspired by episode two of Food Revolution (the clip above) where the kids got stickers for trying some new food.

I thought those stickers were so cool and motivating, that I thought the same concept would work for adults and the socialsphere.

Say hello to “I tried something new,” a new feature on Nosthopia where every Tuesday and Friday, I will showcase something new I have tried like a recipe, a food, a product, food service, or even trying a new attitude to looking at foods I eat or don’t eat. I’m about walking my talk plus I think it will be a whole lot of fun to try new things. In fact, here’s my very first post where I tried a chicken sitr fry with baby bok choy and vegan organic chow mein.

BUT….!

This is not just about me. Oh no! Because those of you who know me well, know that I’m always thinking about how others can benefit and how we can help each other as a whole. So, I am encouraging everyone who blogs, tweets, facebooks or wherever you hang out online and post content, to join in and do your own “I tried something new” posts. Not only will this be fun for you, it will be fun and interesting content for your audience. In your own communities, you can get conversations going and try new foods. We’re making a group effort here to make trying new things fun for everyone!

 
Because I’m all about making posts look pretty and informative, I have created 250×250 web buttons for, “I tried something new.” Everyone is free to use these buttons wherever you write something about something new you’ve tried. Go here a , to get the artwork for the badges. There is no specific meaning
to the colors. I just wanted people to have color choices. As another way to help make it easier for people to find your posts especially on Twitter, use the hashtags #foodrevolution and/or #triedsomethingnew.

I used “I tried something new” versus “I ate something new” because although this is mainly about food, I wanted to open it up to go beyond food, like attitude, perspective, habits, and actions all related to living a healthier life. 

Seeing What You and Others Are Trying Out

When your post is live and linkable, post the link onto the Noshtopia Facebook Page. I’ve made the page open to everyone, so anyone can post onto the wall. This way, the entire Nosthopia Facebook fan base can see what you are trying, you can see what others are trying, and it can spark some ideas for new things to try yourself.

To help promote all the cool things people put up on the Nosthopia page, in the beginning, I will tweet out as many as I can on both @noshtopia and my alter ego @skinnyjeans which currently has 47,000+ Followers! So yeah, I’m going to use my tweeting social capital to help shine light on others who contribute to the Food Revolution.

Once a week on Noshtopia, I will also showcase what has been put up on the Noshtopia Facebook Fan Page. I have a couple other marketing and PR plans up my sleeve which I can’t reveal just yet, but let me tell you that it’s going to be fun, social, and really help start shining some light on the fabulous ways that everyday people like you and me are using social media to help make the US and maybe the world, a healthier place to eat. At least, that is my dream, oh idealist that I am 🙂

This about us as a community not about a celebrity

For those who are not fans of Jamie Oliver, that is okay. This Food Revolution is not about him, it is about us as a community coming to together and helping each other eat better so we can live healthier lives. We can make this our own as individuals, in our communities, and throughout our country. 

Right now in the US, 4 of the top 10 chronic diseases can be directly tied to diet (what one eats.) No one should die because of a diet related disease. It’s preventable! I had to bold that statement because I believe that in every fiber of my being.

You can support the cause even if you don’t care for the celebrity. Jamie is just the brave proactive one with the mega phone and some resources to get this huge ball rolling because frankly, taking on the massive social and economic issues related to food that we have here in the US will take some loudness and more importantly, more than just one pot-stirring celebrity.

As a food and healthy living blogger, I HIGHLY encourage my fellow bloggers to encourage their audience on ways to eat healthier and help people discover new and fun ways to enjoy fresh, fun, and delicious foods! And yes, to sound a bit like a sappy public service announcement, if we pull together, we can start lowering how many people are getting sick and dying of diet related diseases.

If you have started anything related to the Food Revolution, please do let me know, and I will be sure to come visit and help highlight it. Thank you everyone!!!

 

If some of you are scratching your head and wondering how chicken and vegan chow mein can be in the same recipe, let me ask, why not? I have fun challenging people’s assumptions about food, and with the vegan chow mein, I just wanted to try something new. Last weekend, I had gluten-free pizza with vegan cheese, pork sausage, and pineapple.

I eat many vegan foods particularly baked goods because I have an allergy to cow milk and chicken eggs. Ironically, I can eat the meat of the moo-moos and cluckers, just not their milk or eggs. I can also eat goat and sheep milk cheese, and ostrich or quail eggs. Therefore, given that allergy information it makes sense to see chicken and vegan in the same dish because you don’t have to be vegan to eat vegan foods.

 

So, in my first “I tried something new” #foodrevolution post, I tried baby bok choy and the Vegan Organic Chow Mein noodles by O’Hana House. I know it seems almost unbelievable that being Asian I have not eaten Baby Bok Choy as bok choy is common in many Asian dishes. I’ve had the regular kind, just not the baby version because well it just never came up. Odd I know, but it’s true.

As a side note, for some reason, the O’Hana website does not list these noodles as vegan, but on the packaging it does on the back. All the ingredients are vegan friendly. The cool thing about these noodles too is that one pack is only 250 calories, and has 0g of Fat, and 0g of sugar. There are 27g of carbs but overall, I’m liking the nutritional info here.

The lazy in me also loves wok cooking because it’s fast and easy. So you lazies, like me, will love this recipe because you’ll spend more time in prep then actual cooking. Yes, it goes that fast which means eating shall commence soon!

In this recipe, I also used Tamari instead of regular soy sauce. Of course, either will work in this dish. If you’re curious, this is the difference between Tamari and soy sauce. I like the Tamari because:

• It’s less salty tasting then soy sauce
• It doesn’t have wheat, only soy beans. Although you can get wheat-free soy sauce
• It’s thicker but has a lighter less sharper taste than soy sauce
• It has more protein than soy sauce

Note in the picture that when you cut the base off the bottom of the baby bok choy to separate the leaves, it makes for a cool looking flower. I’m thinking that’s some fun decorative food there.

Ingredients (serves two):

 

• *1 packet of Vegan
  Organic Chow Mein noodles by O’Hana House
  
• 1 chicken breast (no skin) cut into cubes
• 1 stem of baby bok choy – cut the base off the baby bok choy to separate the leaves. (use two if you want more leafy-ness)
• 1/4 cup julienne carrots
• 1/4 cup zucchini slices (circle cut in halves)
• 1/4 white onion cut into slivers
• 2 cloves garlic diced in big chunks
• About 7-12 shakes of Tamari from the bottle (depending on how much flavoring you want to add)
• pinch or two of garlic salt (to season chicken)
• 2 tbsp canola oil

* Instead of these vegan chow mein noodles, you can use any chow mein you like or udon for thicker noodles.

Let’s get cooking:

• The best tool to use to cook this dish is a pair of tongs because you can get a better grip on the noodles.
• Heat a wok on medium and add canola oil.
• Saute the onions and garlic for about 30 seconds so they start to look soft. 

• Add in the chicken mix in with the onion and garlic. Sprinkle some of the garlic salt on the chicken. You only want to use very little salt on the chicken because later on the Tamari will add more salt too. I like to add a little salt to the chicken so it can have a bit more flavor on it’s own.

 

• When the chicken looks like it’s mostly cooked, toss in the bok choy and mix with the chicken, onion, and garlic. Stir occasionally. Cook until the bok choy starts looking wilty. 

 

• Toss in the zucchini and carrots, and mix in well with everything in the wok. Put about 3 shakes of Tamari over all the veggies and chicken. Cook for about a minute. Stirring occasionally.
• Open the packet of chow mein noodles. These noodles are fully cooked already, but they are a bit fragile and they break apart easily if you hack at it too hard to try and separate the noodles. I found it best to just toss the whole thing on top of the mix of veggies and chicken, and squirt just a tad bit of water on top of the brick of noodles to help soften them a bit. Mix the noodles around gently until they start to loosen from each other. Between the steam and the heat of the wok, the noodles will start to slowly loosen.

 

• When the noodles are practically all separated, put about 4-8 shakes of Tamari on top of the noodles, and again toss everything around for about a minute. You want everything to get really mixed in well with each other.
• Remove from wok on to serving dish.

Enjoy!

Result from trying something new

I only used one stem of baby bok choy, but next time I’ll use two. I really like how it tasted and how it added leafy-ness to the dish. I also really liked the O’Hana vegan Chow Mein noodles. You can’t even tell the difference in taste. The noodles in shape and texture did remind me a bit though of something you’d get in a cup of noodles like instant soup but better tasting.

Note: All pictures taken with an iPhone 3GS

 

In last week’s report on my going sugar light adventure, I questioned whether 25g of sugar a day was even realistic living in your basic American suburbia. There was some heated challenges of my interpretation of the American Heart Association’s definition of what 25g/day of added sugars meant.

I’m totally okay with being wrong if I’m wrong, but instead of going on an endless debate of who’s right and who’s wrong, I said let’s be fair and go ask the source themselves, the AHA. So, I wrote them on their Facebook wall, yes the modern day letter, because why not? Isn’t that what social media is about, interacting with your community. I asked them to clarify and be a bit more specific about what what their added sugar standard is and what it means.

The AHA answered, and here is what they said:

Hello, Stephanie, and thanks for reaching out.

The American Heart
Association recommends a limit on added sugars, not naturally occurring
sugars contained in fruit. Additionally, the AHA recommends a diet
pattern rich in fruits and vegetables. Even though they may have
naturally occurring sugars, fruit also contributes fiber, vitamins,
minerals and other nutrients important to good health.

The major sources
of added sugars in American diets are regular soft drinks, sugars,
candy, cakes, cookies, pies and fruit drinks; these are the foods that
should be limited.

Most women should not eat or drink more than
100 calories (25 grams) per day from added sugars, and most men should
not eat or drink more than 150 (37.5) calories per day from added
sugars.

There should not be a limit on fruits
or vegetables. For additional information, please see the Sugars 101 section of the AHA website.

So, there you have it straight from the source, and let me tell you, that Sugars 101 section of their site is fabulous and filled with a cornucopia of information, and you MUST check it out. Sugars 101 clarifies more specifically what their sugar standards mean far more clearly than that press release I originally linked to.

What was most helpful was a list of, “Names for added sugars on labels.” This folks is worth printing out and learning.

 

Everyone can look at the same thing differently

Also, “added sugars” specifically means any sugar added to a food versus adding sugar into your overall diet. Without specifics, things can be interpreted a multiple of ways, and what I found intriguing about the discussion last week is that it shows that there is an assumption that everyone is clear on what food labels and talk mean.

Watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution has been eye opening to me in seeing that, no, we shouldn’t assume that people are educated and understand the same thing in regards to food, nutrition, and labels. I mean the kids didn’t even know french fries came from a potato. I thought I was pretty educated about foods and nutrition, and apparently, there was much for me to learn about sugars.

The Mayo Clinic also has a really fabulous source of “Added Sugar” information like why added sugar is in so many foods in the first place, why added sugars can be a problem, and most useful, the different names added sugars can go by like fruit juice concentrate.

As far as the AHA saying that there should not be a limit with fruits and vegetables, I would challenge that a bit because there are those who would take that literally, and eating too much fruit and it’s juices is still not good for you because there is still large amounts of sugar. I would stick to the Gov. Food Pyramid recommendation of 1-2 cups of fruit per day depending on if you’re a kid to adult, and male or female.

I’m still sticking to magic number 25

I still like the idea of getting my daily sugar consumption as a whole no matter if it’s from natural or added sources down to 25g/day. I like the number 25, and I do think it is a realistic number, even on the low side. Of course, ideally, I’d also like the bulk of those 25g to come from natural sugars versus added.

On what I’m eating, I can happily say that my consumption of baked goods like cookies and cakes has dropped almost by half since I started this journey. I’m still struggling with the sugar filled drinks, but that is okay. We tackle one thing at a time, and the fact that I’m eating less cookies is a miracle in itself.

The belly fat loss

On the physical front, I have also dropped 1/2″ from my gut in these 7 weeks doing only the sugar wean. I have almost no fat on my body except my gut, and I’m not being overly conscious here. I do have an amount of belly fat which runs in my family (my waist is above 30″), and trying to get rid of that belly fat has been a major challenge which I have deducted has been hard to trim down because of my previous large sugar consumption of sugars most of which is the added kind (80g/day).

I’m more concerned about getting the belly fat down not to look hot in a bikini but to reduce the amount of visceral fat around my organs which according to the Mayo Clinic has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, colorectal cancer (which my dad had) and other health problems. I am at high risk for diabetes and heart disease because of family history, particularly diabetes. All four of my grandparents had it, and my mom has it, so yeah, I want to do whatever I can to prevent or prolong getting diabetes.

So, this week I feel way more educated about added sugars, and I hope you all do to! Thank you so much to the AHA for responding so quickly to my question.

How has your sugar weaning efforts been going?

Whole Living asked a few renowned chefs and nutritionists what healthy things they keep in their kitchens, and then created this list of 34 items for a natural pantry. Most of the list is pretty generic like frozen fruit and herbs with a couple specifics like soba noodles and pomegranate molasses of all things.

The list overall is a good one so do check it out. For everyday eaters who live in the ‘hood, and are not renowned experts like myself, I thought I’d share 10 items I use regularly to help keep me vibrant and in the skinny jeans.

 

• Trader Joe’s Organic Herb Salad Mix: For bagged salad this stuff is awesome and for me it makes about four salads. I eat something green everyday, but lately, I’ve been eating this stuff because it the mix includes four of my favorite things: dill, frisee, arugula, and
  radiccchio.

• Sparkling Water: I used to drink Diet sodas all the time because I love the carbonation. But, then I weaned off the sodas because I wanted to stop consuming any artificial sweeteners, and let me tell you that was one of the best decisions I ever made. I still love carbonation so I drink the sparkling waters as a way to get bubbly and water (hydration!) in without any kind of sugars. I’ll squeeze in fresh lemon or tangelos for flavor.

• Agave nectar: Agave has a lower glycemic index than honey and it’s vegan, no bees involved. I am not a vegan, but I do eat plenty of vegan foods because of my cow milk and chicken egg allergies. I use agave nectar in place of syrups too like on pancakes. I just like that agave is lighter but adds a more subtle sweet to things like my afternoon tea.

 

• Edamame: Fresh or frozen, in the shell or shelled, edamame is one of my favorite foods to eat plain as a snack or to use in dishes, salads and hummus like this edamame and sweet pepperdew hummus I make often.

• Nut butters: My favorite are peanut and cashew. When I talk about nut butters, I’m talking about just freshly ground nuts and salt…that’s it. I really don’t understand the need to add anything more than that because ground nuts on their own are simply delicious. My local Whole Foods has honey roasted peanuts that can be ground, and yes, it is one of my favorites.

• Frozen shrimp: I keep a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer always because shrimp are so easy to cook and toss on top of salad, rice, or pasta as well as in tacos and burritos or on top of pizza. One of my recent shrimp additions was this sauteed garlic shrimp on top of wait for it…Trader Joe’s herb salad mix 🙂

• Briana’s Poppyseed Dressing: If Brianna’s ever discontinues this flavor I will surely have a broken heart for months. Because I can’t have mayo because of the chicken egg allergy and I’m not a fan of most vegan mayos, I use this Brianna’s Poppyseed dressing as my mayo replacement as well as a green salad topper. When I make tuna salad or chicken, mandarin orange, and walnut salad sandwiches, I use the Brianna’s.

• Coconut milk based yogurt: Besides for breakfast and snacks, I use the coconut milk yogurt as a sour cream replacement like
  using the
  mango yogurt on top of enchiladas. I’ve also used the coconut yogurt as a way to help moisturize vegan banana nut muffins.

As far as cow milk free yogurt go, I like the So Delicious brand of coconut milk based yogurt the best because it tastes good, and it has a nice consistency. I’m not a fan of rice yogurt because they’re typically runny. Soy is alright but I really try to minimize my soy consumption because it does affect my metabolism, and sheep and goat milk based yogurt taste too much like a barnyard. I am still open minded to trying any of the above, it’s just the brands I’ve tried were not a hit with me besides the coconut milk yogurt. 

• A bar of organic dark chocolate: You gotta have something sweet as a staple in the kitchen, yes? Since, I started this going sugar little journey this year, instead of eating cookies and cupcakes, I’ve been eating pieces of dark chocolate so I can satisfy my sweet tooth and not deprive myself. As soon as my Inner Resistance Monster hears, “Can’t have…” watch out, he sets us on a sugar rampage. So, the dark chocolate is a nice compromise, and besides dark chocolate has health benefits.

• Can of pumpkin pie mix: I know it sounds odd but I don’t think any odder than Pomegranate molasses. My favorite brand is the Farmer’s Market brand Organic Pumpkin Pie Mix. I LOVE pumpkin anything and don’t like to wait until the Fall or the holidays to enjoy pumpkin flavor.

In fact, I actually don’t make pie with the can of pumpkin pie mix. I use the mix in yogurt like this pumpkin, gingersnap granola, banana parfait. I use the mix in pancakes, muffins, ravioli, soup, and lattes. Instead of using pumpkin syrup, you can stir in the pumpkin mix with the espresso and milk. The latte also becomes a little thicker which I think is cool.

So there you have a peek into my kitchen. What are some staples in your healthy kitchen?

This is a really fascinating video of Jamie Oliver’s talk at the recent TED conference. Most shocking, but not really, “Diet related disease is the biggest killer of people in the United States.”

This is why I feel very passionate about food and how/what we eat because it has so much impact on our health, thus my philosophy on eating wellness.

So, what did you think of Jamie’s thoughts?

  

For my going sugar little journey, I’m working on cutting down my daily sugar consumption from 80g/day to about 25g/day or 100 calories (there are about 4 calories per gram of sugar). I got the 25g/day goal from the American Heart Association who recommended that amount for good heart health.

I picked the AHA standard because they are a respected health group and because initially 25g/day of sugar sounded doable and realistic. But now, into week 6 of my sugar wean, I am wondering if that 25g/day is realistic or even possible to maintain long term living in your basic American suburban town where mall food, fast food, and lab coat concocted food reign supreme. Sugar and salt are added to almost everything just to make stuff sweeter even if it doesn’t need to be sweeter.

 

Will an apple a day keep the sugar away? Well, a medium sized Red
Delicious apple is about 13g
of sugar.

Here’s another small example. I love orange juice, and you would assume that drinking organic juice would be healthy right? Well, just one 8oz glass (one cup) of Organic Valley orange juice is 26g of sugar. Therefore, just drinking one cup of OJ will already push you over the AHA’s 25g/day standard.

One of those small packets of Sugar in the Raw you see in Starbucks has 5g of sugar, so putting just two packets in your latte will set you back 10g of sugar which is almost half of your 25g daily allotment. The Sugar in the Raw is actually a good analogy. Just five of those packets equals the 25g/day recommendation. 

Eating just one Sprinkles Red Velvet cupcake will set you back 45g of sugar.

 

How about the drinks section in your average 7-Eleven or Circle K? Well, eliminating plain water, sparkling water, and diet sodas, most drinks will have anywhere from 25-45g of sugar, and worse yet many will have high fructose corn syrup in it including “healthy” drink Gatorade. I don’t count the diet sodas because I don’t do artificial sweeteners because they make me feel ill.

And just because you drink organic or “good” drinks from the Whole Foods drink section doesn’t mean you will do better either. I buy almost all my drinks at Whole Foods and between juices, bottled teas, sodas, and fruity fizzy drinks, nearly 50% of my 80g of sugar a day were mostly coming from those drinks. I was shocked to learn just how much sugar I was drinking versus eating.

Sugars also show up in things that you wouldn’t normally think of either like toothpaste, mouthwash, and medicine. Did you know that Nyquil has high fructose corn syrup in it and Robitussin uses corn syrup and sorbitol in many of their products. They do have a specific sugar and sorbitol-free Robitussin.

The benenies of weaning

So, if you have a sweet tooth like me and the many others in America, then getting down to a 25g/day of total sugars is going to be a challenge. It’s not impossible, but for realz, you are going to have to be very conscientious of reading food labels and then choosing wisely. I won’t say, “then limit” because that will trigger the Inner Resistance Monster because he sits up when a whiff of deprivation hits the radar where as saying “choosing wisely” is more open and gives the feeling of options.

Because there is so much sugar to be found in our foods, and it’s common to also have an emotional attachment to sugar, I recommend slowly weaning versus going cold turkey on the sugar because the process will entail less suffering. I swear there have been days where I have felt literal withdrawal shakes.

On an up note, the other day, I chose to eat a cup of edamame over a tangelo for afternoon snack as one small way of cutting back on the sugar. The edamame was delicious!

So, how’s your sugar weaning week been going?

I enjoy Michael Pollan’s books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
because he is informative and gets you to really think about what you put into your mouth and why. People can get overly passionate or one-sided when it comes to their food beliefs which is cool, we all should be free to express ourselves. I feel that Pollan wants you to be informed and decide for yourself.

His new book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual is out, and I’m excited that there is a new book for me to devour, but the title dismays me instantly because coming from the unreasonable and twisted world of weight loss and diets, the phrase “food rules” creates a Pavlovian response in me to be immediately turned off.

Did ya really have to use the word “rules”

Saying “food rules” to me is no different than saying “diet rules.” I get the same defensive *ugh* response because it just reminds me of the depressing and frustrating feelings you feel when you’re on a diet to lose the muffin top. In my book, the word “rules” makes me feel things like judgmental, deprivation, life sucking, and strict. Again, I do better when things are about choices and have a feeling of openness.

But, I get it, using the word “rules” is provocative and sells books, so I go ahead and read this book because I do like Pollan’s stuff and I’m going to be open minded that he may just surprise me, and pleasantly, he did in this book.

Food rules is basically something I can’t shut up about here on this blog

I will say this straight off the bat, I enjoyed the content book and feel it has good useful information, but I still feel aversion for the title. I would rename the book something like, “Say Yes to Food.” Here are 64 things you ideally want to say yes to when eating your way to good health.

And now a perfect segway into why I loved this book, Food Rules is basically eating wellness, my whole philosophy on eating your way to vibrant health. Pollan and I are practically uni-brain on this topic. I talk about eating wellness ALL the time as my long time readers, friends, and family know. In this quick video, I explain how eating wellness helped me keep off 30 lbs.

As I say, one way or another, you are going to pay for your health either via the fork or through the hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. I personally would rather eat my way to optimal health and support the farmers and food producers who operate consciously.

The Western diet is not a matter of if but when you will get sick

Pollan makes an excellent point and has facts to back him up in that consuming the Western diet full of processed and lab made foods will lead to illness and dis-ease. Four of the top ten chronic diseases in the US can be tied directly to what we eat.

One of my favorite of the rules is to not eat where you buy your gas. Those gas marts are simply junk food havens. The only real food I have ever seen at a gas mart is the random bananas and apples someone puts on the counter in a small weaved basket.

I would add to that gas station rule, do not eat anything that has a TV cartoon character or movie action hero plastered all over the packaging. Do you think Superman would himself eat or drink something that looks like glowing kryptonite? I think Spiderman would lose his spidey sense if he ate glow in the dark cheese curls and questionable meat nuggets all the time.

WebMD has written about seven of the rules, and HuffPo lists five more. Here’s a nice Q&A with Pollan over at the New York Times.

Going after one the sources of the health crisis

One last thing that I also totally agree with Pollan about is that another way to fix our growing health crisis instead of health-care reform is to go deeper and start at one of the biggest sources contributing to making people sick in the first place, what we eat. I think too in the future we are going to see a lot more cracking down on the food industry much like the tobacco industry went through.

Food Rules
is definitely worth reading. I would also say that this book is not an all-or-nothing reference but provides some really good guidelines to refer to. Again, find foods that work for your body and lifestyle, and will help you achieve the health goals you’re striving for.

And one last think I particularly enjoyed about Food Rules is that the book is small and very easy to
digest. I read the whole book in less than an hour, and felt mindfully nourished afterward.