But luckily, for every Stephen Colbert, there is a Michelle Obama, willing to stand up against video games and Twinkies and Big Gulps.
On this weeks 40th anniversary show, First Lady Michelle Obama helped a group of children plant a vegetable garden on Sesame Street.
And just like those vegetable seeds will eventually take root and grow into mature plants, let’s hope that the message of eating healthy and exercising daily will take root in the minds of a new generation of Sesame Street viewers. .
I’m really diggin’ our CSA box delivery service. So far the produce has been great and in order to use it all we’ve had to use our noggins and think outside the box a bit, so to speak! Who said you can’t have looks and brains?
This week our box contained organic Fuji apples, spinach, leeks, rainbow chard, broccoli, Valencia oranges & mixed peppers. I turned to old faithfuls for some of these—I used the oranges for Jerk sauce and the mixed peppers went into a pot o’chili.
Each week when our box arrives there’s a newsletter inside from the farm talking about what’s in season and giving tips and such about the fruit n’ veg. They also give a recipe highlighting one of the veggies. I was intrigued by this particular chard recipe not only because I really like leafy greens but also because it used the entire bunch of chard, stems & all. Usually one would remove the stems and either put them in the stock pot as I do or into the compost heap. Either way they’re getting used but I’d much prefer to eat them. They have a lovely peppery flavour and they add brilliant colour to the sauteed chard. I can’t take any credit for this but it did turn out great and I combined it with a rice recipe which uses up some of the apples. Usin’ my noggin!
My neighbor not only has a fantastic fig tree (that I’ve been delving into for the past few weeks), but she also had success this year growing fresh tomatoes. The poor crater hasn’t even been in town to enjoy the fruits of her labor so to speak, but we certainly have (with her blessing of course!)
left on our doorstep
Thanks Cristina but now what to do with them? Figs and tomatoes….
You see, I wasn’t really big on figs until I found myself with a tree full of ‘em so pardon me if I went searching for recipes online. Didn’t take me too long to find this gem created by A Gluten Free Guide. I know it may sound strange but this salsa is the dogs bollix. Right now figs are in season so it’s the perfect time to make this with fresh figs vs. dried. For those of you who are regular readers here will also have seen my Fig and Goats Cheese Pizza from last week. Well worth a gander if you missed it.
Anyone who has spent some time poking around Health Habits knows that I am a big fan of Paleo style diets for weight loss and general health.
So, it should come as no surprise that when I when I start working with a new personal training client, one of the first things I do is change their diet over to my version of Paleo eating.
And one of the first things that they do is complain about the absence of bread, pasta, rice, croissants, bagels, toast with jam, brioche, sandwiches, Egg McMuffins, Big Macs, pizza, deep fried Snickers bars, etc….
In desperation, some of them trot out the argument that they NEED whole grains in order to be healthy.
Their doctor said so, and so did their nutritionist and so says the government in their healthy food pyramids.
Everyone says that whole grains are a necessary part of a healthy diet.
The problem is, everybody is wrong.
And I aim to prove it with this special Nutrition version of Celebrity Deathmatch.
Let the deathmatch begin.
About 10,000 years ago, our ancestors made a huge cavewoman breakthrough. They learned that inedible raw grains (wheat, corn, oats, etc…) could be made edible by cooking them.
This was huge.
Grains were much more stable than fruits & vegetables and could be stored to help them survive the winter months.
Grains are dense in calories. This produced two benefits.
It was now easier to transport food as they followed migrating herds of animals,
and it suddenly became much easier to eat the required amount of calories.
Since raw grain is a seed, hunter-gatherer communities could choose to stay put and become farmers.
In fact, it has been argued that the domestication of grain is one of the major factors in the evolution of human civilization.
Seasonal starvation eliminated
Permanent communities established
Animals domesticated for meat & dairy
Instead of families doing everything for themselves, people can now specialize at specific trades (farmer, toolmaker, doctor, personal trainer, blogger)
and so on….
So, at this point in our evolution, grains seem to be pretty darn awesome.
Fast forward to today.
The evolution of human society no longer needs grains to keep the wheels turning. (at least in the “developed” world)
Your fridge keeps the meat & veggies from spoiling
Seasons are next to irrelevant with modern food production
And we certainly don’t have a deficit of available calories…too many calories is our problem.
Without my whole wheat bagel, how will I get my fiber?
And if I don’t get my fiber, won’t I get all blocked up and maybe even get colon cancer?
Note – this is a real argument that I get from real people
Okay, fiber is important.
But, surprise, surprise, grains aren’t the only foods high in fiber.
In fact, if you look at this link, you will see that except for wheat & corn bran, the top 300 (I stopped looking at 300) sources of dietary fiber are all fruits and vegetables.
You don’t need whole grains to get your fiber.
But, what about the vitamins and minerals?
Whole grains are loaded with vitamins and minerals like thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, iron, magnesium and selenium.
Hmmmm…why don’t we take a look at the nutrition info again and see if that’s true.
Thiamin … And the winner is fruits, vegetables and once again…bran.
Swedish scientists have just published a research paper that indicates that eating a diet rich in lean meat, vegetables, berries and nuts is effective in lowering YOUR chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke.
Keeping in mind that it was only a three week study, and additional long term research will be required, scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that the volunteers reduced body-fat, lowered their blood pressure and slashed levels of a blood-thickening agent (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1) known to cause deadly clots.
The results, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, support earlier scientific and real world findings that praise the health benefits of the Paleolithic/Caveman Diet.
The theory behind this way of eating is that prior to the advent of agriculture (10,000 years ago) our ancestors lived only on foods that could be speared or picked from trees and plants.
Some scientists argue the human genome has been unable to keep pace with our advances in agriculture and food preparation. The theory is that the modern human body is not genetically programmed to thrive on our modern diet. Our technology may be modern, but our bodies haven’t fully caught up and chronic ailments like obesity and type 2 diabetes are the result.
To that end, following the Paleolithic/Caveman Diet means no cereals, bread, milk, butter, cheese or sugar but plenty of lean meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and nuts.
To test its effect, the Swedish researchers recruited 20 healthy volunteers and put them on caveman rations for three weeks.
Each patient was assessed for weight, body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol at the beginning of the experiment.
They were then given a list of stone-age foods they could eat, including fresh or frozen fruit, berries or vegetables, lean meat, unsalted fish, canned tomatoes, lemon or lime juice, spices and coffee or tea without milk or sugar.
Banned foods included beans, salt, peanuts, dairy products, pasta or rice, sausages, alcohol, sugar and fruit juice.
However, they were also allowed up to two potatoes a day and a weekly treat of dried fruit, cured meats and a portion of fatty meat.
After three weeks, the volunteers were tested again.
Among the 14 who successfully completed the diet, the average weight loss was around five pounds. BMI dropped by 0.8. Systolic blood pressure fell by an average of three mmHg. And the levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 dropped by 72 per cent. Other favorable effects were the increase in antioxidants and a healthier potassium-sodium balance. One potential negative was the reduction of calcium. This effect should be addressed in further studies.
Official Scientific Conclusion:
This short-term intervention showed some favourable effects by the diet, but further studies, including control group, are needed. blah,blah,blah
An article in today’s Telegraph, details startling new research that claims that “the leading cause of heart disease and stroke has been linked for the first time to a person’s diet and chemicals in the urine”.
Wow! A link between diet & health.
The study is apparently the first to link blood pressure to a person’s metabolic fingerprint.
Metabolic fingerprint is a catchy way of describing the the unique metabolites that are left behind by specific cellular processes. In this case, the scientists were looking at the metabolites (small molecules) found in urine, which reveal the way food is broken down in the body.
Getting to the point…
Western diets (rich in meat, high in alcohol and low in fibre) are bad.
People who eat a diet high in animal protein (indicated by the metabolite alanine being present in urine) have higher blood pressure, eat more calories, have higher cholesterol and body mass indexes.
People who eat diets higher in starches such as rice (indicated by the metabolite formate) have lower blood pressure and ingest fewer calories.
People who have healthy levels of gut flora (reduced by antibiotic use, increased by prebiotics and probiotics and indicated by the presence of hippurate in the urine) also have lower blood pressure. Hippurate is also present in the urine of individuals with low levels of alcohol intake and higher levels of dietary fibre.
While comparing the metabolic fingerprints of study participants in the U.K., United States, China and Japan, the scientists concluded that test subjects from the U.K. and the U.S.A. have similar genetic and metabolic profiles. In contrast, while the Chinese and Japanese participants had similar genetic profiles, they had different metabolic fingerprints.
What was most interesting was the comparison of the native Japanese participants with those Japanese individuals living in the U.S.A..
Japanese-Americans displayed a typical American metabolic fingerprint; indicating that lifestyle has a stronger effect on blood pressure & heart disease than genetics.
