Category Archives: Food

What’s in your Tea?

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Yesterday afternoon I was craving something sweet, so I decided I would make myself a cup of tea with Stevia. I had brought from home and kept at my desk, Island Mango and Peach Tea, which sounded good for a change. Not sure what prompted me to look at the ingredients (because you know, tea is made from TEA LEAVES), but I did, and much to my shock and disappointment (in Lipton), one ingredient was modified corn starch! Corn is a grain, why do I need grain in my tea? I don’t.

In the garbage it went! Goodbye tea with corn.

Grassfed vs Grainfed

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Grassfed beef is so much healthier, it just isn’t always easy to locate, or affordable. Seth and I attended an event recently at a local brewery, where we went on a brewery tour, and the brewmaster was talking about how they save up their “fermented grain slop” for a truck that comes once a week, and delivers it to cows, like it was a good thing that these cows are getting this (who knows after it’s saved for a week at the brewery for pick-up, how long it is until it’s actually delivered for feeding…). I think it clicked even a little more for me after that, and maybe even more so for Seth. They weren’t meant to eat that garbage, just like we weren’t meant to eat the garbage available to us today, only difference, we have a choice.

Further, doctors today are always saying that we need to limit our consumption of red meat, well, yes, we need to limit it if it’s grainfed, because it is poor quality and damaging to our bodies, so in essence they’re right. What they’re leaving out though, is that moderation and food eaten the way it was meant to be eaten, are what’s important. Not limited quantities of the low quality, added sugar/fat food around today.

Fun Snack Finds!

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I have tried to avoid entering a Whole Foods for as long as I could, because I know myself, and that I would freak out 🙂 We ended up there yesterday morning for quality meat, and we ended up getting a few other things too: Hail Merry Macaroons, Organic Honeycrisp Apples, and two seasonal Lara Bar flavors!

  • Not even kidding-the macaroons are to die for, made with organic almond flour and coconut oil (they’re big on coconut, YAY!). They have a lot of other options too: http://www.hailmerry.com/.
  • This was the first time I’ve seen Organic Honeycrisp! Each Fall (even though it is record setting heat in San Diego right now, not feeling Fall) I wait for them to arrive, but I’d never seen them organic, and there they were, I was SO EXCITED. We bought 4, and they were $13, ouch! There were some that were the size of grapefruits, just huge.
  • Last, the two new seasonal Lara Bar flavors which I’d seen on their website: http://www.larabar.com/, Orange Dream (I love orange anything) and Pineapple Upside Down Cake:

Excited for new snack flavors! 🙂

Seasonality of Produce

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Knowing when produce is in season is important. Not only is the flavor on in season produce better, but there have been studies that show eating items in season, contain more nutrients (because they aren’t forced to grow when they normally wouldn’t, enter fertilizers, pesticides, etc.), help farmers, and our economy. If you think about it, not that long ago at all, you couldn’t find every single kind of produce year around, like you can now. Seriously, think about it.

I found this post on what to eat, when, it’s an infographic called The Bountiful Year: http://dailyinfographic.com/what-to-eat-when-to-eat-it-infographic. It has a really awesome list of fruits and vegetables, when they’re in season, and when they are available but not in season.

Here’s another seasonal chart, that includes herbs (again, I love this website!): http://dailyinfographic.com/fruitsvegetablesherbs-when-are-they-in-season-infographic

I LOVE this website (being the chart loving visual learner that I am)! It’s called The Daily Infographic. Each day it has an educational graphic posted about any random topic: http://dailyinfographic.com/

Breakfast? Yes Please.

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Did you know that September is National Breakfast Month? I didn’t.

I never used to eat breakfast, but now, I can’t live without it. It really is the most important meal of the day for me, it gets my metabolism and brain working, and more important, helps me stay on track throughout the day.

I think it also happens to be the easiest meal of the day because of the endless options, and a lot of them are quick if I’m in a time crunch:

  • Eggs
  • Uncured meats
  • Avocado
  • Fruit
  • Nuts
  • Lara Bars

While it doesn’t appear to be a long list, breakfast is especially easy living the Paleo lifestyle. I eat a banana every morning, and try to pair it with some sort of fat, as it digests better and my body can absorb more nutrients. Lara Bars are quick and easy if you’re running out the door (heck, so is fruit, and eggs, and meat!). What a lot of people don’t realize is that these things are fast foods, quicker than taking an extra 15 minutes to go through a drive through. It doesn’t have to be a gourmet meal, the right something is better than nothing to fuel your body. I set a banana out each night on the island, to take with me in the morning, and typically a Lara Bar. Depending on the exercise I’ve done, I might grab some uncured organic meat that I can eat when I arrive at work, or an avocado I can slice. Easy!

Breakfast takes me maybe 5-8 minutes each morning (or the night before), and then I can function, the rest of my day-so I don’t want to hear, “I don’t have time to make breakfast,” anymore, make a commitment to yourself, and your body. Throw away the pre-packaged oatmeal, granola bars and pop-tarts, and eat real food.

Breakfast Facts:

  • Researchers at Cornell University found that people who skip breakfast tend to crave more carbohydrates later in the day compared with test subjects who ate breakfast.
  • A study from the Dairy Research Institute found that people who skip breakfast weigh more and have more unhealthy habits than those who eat breakfast. Those who skip breakfast consume 40 percent more sweets, 55 percent more soft drinks, 45 percent fewer vegetables and 30 percent less fruit than people who eat breakfast.
  • A study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health found that people who eat breakfast everyday are 34% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who do not eat breakfast. They are also 43% less likely to become obese and 40% less likely to develop fat around the belly.
  • A study of 6,000 students from the Toronto Foundation for Student Success found that students who ate breakfast had better grades and were more likely to graduate.
  • A new study from the Sussex Innovation Centre, Brighton, UK found that eating breakfast improves people’s mental performance. 61% of test subjects showed improvements in English and mathematics tests after eating breakfast. Hand-eye coordination was also improved. Breakfast eaters also showed a reduction in anxiety levels when faced with stressful situations.

http://www.mrbreakfast.com/glossary_term.asp?glossaryID=152