Archive for the ‘Health Tips’ Category

Powerfoods are foods are jam packed with nutrition; the body loves them.

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Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

Squash is a member of one of the oldest vegetable families in the world. It is a very versatile vegetable that can be used in soups, stews, purees, desserts and pies. There are also many kinds which are just decorative.

There are 2 Categories of Squash:

Summer Squash, which have bush vines, tender skin and are eaten when small and immature.

Winter Squash which are hard skinned and good for storage.  Summer squash is a tasty offering savoured by people from around the world. Its nutty flavour and moist texture enrich a vast array of dishes, ranging from dumplings to salads.

Summer squash

Summer squash has an abundance of manganese and vitamin C, and also magnesium, vitamin A, fibre, potassium, folate, copper, riboflavin, and phosphorus. It also has omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, calcium, zinc, niacin, and protein. So you see it is a very healthy food.

Zucchini: still dominates as the best known summer squash.  It has thin skin that is usually green but can be yellow or striped or speckled. Being tender it cooks fast and it has edible flowers are often used cooking.

Other Summer squashes are:
Crookneck and Straightneck Squash:  usually have a yellow skin and sometimes a green skin. Crookneck squash is partially straight with a swan-like neck. It was genetically altered to produce its straightneck cousin that is shaped as its name implies.

Pattypan Squash: a small saucer shaped squash with skin of either pale green or golden yellow. Its flesh is more dense and a little sweeter than the zucchini.

Winter Squash

Winter squash has a high amount of Vitamin A (beta-carotene), with vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber and manganese. It also has folate, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1, copper, vitamin B6, niacin-vitamin B3 and pantothenic acid.

Butternut squash: Tan colour with small seed cavity. This squash stores well and has a good flavour. Fairly dense golden flesh, makes an excellent puree.

Pumpkin: Good in sweet and savoury recipes. 

Acorn squash:  A deep black-green colour with a rich orange thick flesh – Delicious! Good for baking in the skin.

Spaghetti squash: Has a fibrous flesh which looks like spaghetti when cooked.

Doody or white pumpkin: Has pale greenish-white flesh and a delicate flavour.

Buttercup:  Dark green colour with a deep orange flesh. This extra dry squash has a sweet flavour.

Delicatta:  A creamy colour with green stripes. This squash is like a Sweet potato squash.

Spaghetti: Creamy colour with an oblong shape. The Flesh resembles spaghetti when cooked. Top with your favourite sauce!

Small Wonder: Light orange colour vegetable spaghetti looks like a soft ball in shape. It has more flavour than spaghetti squash. Great with salt, pepper, and butter.

White Acorn: A creamy white on the outside, pale yellow on the inside. It has a delicate nutty flavour.

Kabocha:  A pumpkin shaped winter squash. It has a rich, sweet flavour and when cooked its texture resembles that of a tender potato. Kabocha squash weighs an average of three pounds and has spotted or blotchy dark green skin. It can be baked, steamed, stuffed or pureed. Works well as a substitution in recipes that call for pumpkin or sweet potatoes. Kabocha is generally available all year round. (this is obvioiusly my favourite!)

When selecting a winter squash, do not select those that are soft or show pitting. Also, check that the stem is intact and looks fresh. Store up 1 – 3 months in a cool dry location that has good air circulation.

Here are a few squash recipies:

KABOCHA SQUASH SOUP

BAKED SQUASH  

In upcoming posts we will be posting more RECIPES of squash!  Don't miss it by opting into our newsletter

Feel free to share this information with others.  Twitter and other links below.

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

 There is much confusion about fats and oils in our diet.

I work hard at staying on top of the information but even I have had to rethink a few points recently.

 The Saturated Myth

Saturated fats have a bad public image but this is because of excessive consumption. Remember when they told us to eat margarine instead of butter?  It turns out butter is fine when used in moderation.

DO YOU KNOW …The difference between margarine and butter?   All margarine is made from assorted vegetable oils that have been heated to extremely high temperatures making the oils rancid.

Facts about Margarine: 
 1.  Margarine is extracted from used plant oils with chemical solvents. This leaves residues and strips away nutrients.
2.  It may say that there are zero grams of trans fats, but it still contains small amounts of this bad fat. (Trans fats are carcinogenic, triple risk of coronary heart disease and increases bad cholesterol and lowers the good cholesterol)
3.  Deodorants are added to cover the unpleasant smell of rancid vegetable oils.
4.  Artificial coloring to cover up the grey color.

And I still see these big tubs of this stuff in people’s homes .

Butter has been used for thousands of years. It is a real food. The trouble is that it tastes sooo good we overeat it ! 

Benefits of Butter:
 1.  Rich in Vitamin A, has Vitamins E, K, D and Calcium.
2.  Has anti-oxidants that protect against weakening arteries.
3.  Saturated fats in butter have strong anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties.
4.  Cholesterol found in butterfat is essential to children's brain and nervous system development.

Another form of butter is Clarified butter or ghee. It is butter oil, without the lactose and milk solids. It is made by gently heating butter until it becomes a clear golden liquid.  Ghee has been used as the ultimate healthy cooking oil in India for thousands of years. 

Benefits of Clarified Butter or Ghee:
 1.  It increases the potency of certain herbs
2.  Has Vitamin A E, K and D
3.  Has a high ‘smoke point’ so it is a good oil to cook with.
4.  Ghee does not spoil easily; does not need refrigeration.

Then there is the wonderful Olive oil that many of us know and love in our salad dressings. It is made from crushing and pressing olives…..for at least 5,000 years. …..

Possible Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil:
 1.  Contains- vitamins E, K, and A  plus antioxidants
2.  Helps lower bad cholesterol and raising good cholesterol
3.  Reduces colon, breast and skin cancers.
4.  Lowers the incidence of gallstones.

Remember to store oil in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator, and do not heat as it has a low smoke point…add olive oil to foods immediately after cooking.

One of my favorites is Sesame Seed Oil as it has a high ‘smoke point’ making it good oil to cook with. Sesame oil has vitamins A, B and E and the minerals iron, calcium, magnesium, copper. 

Studies have shown Sesame Oil to:
 1.  Be useful in unblocking arteries.
2.  Inhibit the growth of skin cancer
3.  Maintain good cholesterol (HDL) and lower bad cholesterol (LDL ).

The Myth about Coconut Oil

For decades it was considered bad because it is saturated oil which is said to raise blood cholesterol and cause heart disease.  This idea was based on a study done 40 years ago that used hydrogenated coconut oil.

In tropical climates like Polynesia, Sri Lanka and the Yucatan where they have a diet high in coconut oil, the people are healthier, have less heart disease, cancer and colon problems than unsaturated fat eaters. It is now accepted that there is good cholesterol and there are good saturated fats. 

    Interesting fact:      Unsaturated oils in cooked foods become rancid within a few hours, even in the refrigerator. Once fresh unsaturated fats are inside the body, they oxidize (turn rancid). Coconut oil does not go rancid even after one year at room temperature.  Most of the saturated fat in coconut oil is easy to digest and converted into quick energy so people are less likely to become obese as the fat is not stored.

To quote Dr. Mary Enig: "The research over four decades concerning coconut oil in the diet and heart disease is quite clear: coconut oil has been shown to be beneficial."  Coconut oil has been used as cooking oil for thousands of years.

Benefits of Virgin Coconut Oil (cold pressed):
1.  To be Thyroid-Stimulating
2.  Lowers cholesterol 
3.  Causes weight loss
4.  Has anti-cancer effects
 
Conclusion:

• Use extra virgin olive oil, cold pressed for salad dressings
• For cooking use clarified butter, sesame oil and virgin, cold pressed organic coconut oil. 

No matter how good the oil sounds…..it is still a fat, with 120 calories per tablespoon. Anyone who regularly consumes a high fat diet will become overweight and that is just not healthy! 

  Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

Are there better options than bags full of vitamins and pills?

 

One-third of Americans (and an even higher percentage of Canadians) takes vitamin and mineral supplements each day. Reasons include:

1. Our new understanding of the body's requirements for particular chemical nutrients. For example, Vitamin C helps reduce free radical damage in cells.  It's easy to take Vitamin C in capsule form and to assume that it will give you the same benefits as a glass of orange juice. 
2. Our food supply is not as nutritious today as it was in the past.  This is due to large-scale farming which focuses on quantity, shelf life and profit rather than quality and nutrition. 
3.  Our modern lifestyle makes eating a balanced diet more difficult.  Increased stress has also boosted our need for certain nutrients.
We now assume that a vitamin pill will fill in these ‘gaps’ in our nutrition.  It may seem like a simple solution, but they often don't do enough.  And sometimes they just DON'T WORK.  Why is this?

A report in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association concludes that the formula for optimal health isn't in the supplement aisle of a health-food store but in the FOOD AISLE. The American Dietetic Association is the largest organization of professionals that deals directly with your diet. It also has access to the most data and research in the field. So why do they state that foods are better than supplements?

5 Reasons To Use a Food Based Approach

1. Vitamin supplements are limited to what is written on the label. If it lists 20 chemical isolates, that is all you get. In comparison, every whole food has thousands of different micro and macro nutrients. This is why the better (and the more expensive) the supplement, the more factors it has in it.  But the best supplements are whole foods.  An orange, for example, has not only vitamin C but bioflavonoids, beta-carotene, folic acid, fibre, magnesium potassium and many other valuable nutrients. 

2. Foods contain nutrients we don’t fully understand.  Nutritional science is still young. Each day it discovers new phytonutirents which have profound influences on the body. More importantly, nutritional science is only just discovering the relationships between the various nutritional factors: how one factor influences another and how different ratios of nutrients affect the body.  The ‘facts’ of nutrition may change tomorrow, so why should you depend on them today?

3.  Each person has UNIQUE nutritional requirements. These requirements will change over time and in different environments.  If you take this into account and try to prescribe isolated vitamins and minerals it becomes very complicated very quickly. The ‘gaps’ are constantly changing.  You would need expensive professional help to pinpoint the best nutrients for your body.  And they can only determine what your body needs at a single point in time while your needs will change from one day to the next. 

4.  The body absorbs foods best.  Mere decades of nutritional research cannot compete with millions of years of natural evolution. The body evolved to eat real foods. Isolates found in artificial supplements are poorly absorbed and are often eliminated by the body before they can be used.  Many isolates are not recognized by the body as food, and may even be interpreted as toxins. Although certain higher quality supplements offer superior absorption, again, they usually do so just because they are closer to real food.  Unfortunately, they still can't compare with whole foods. Why not give your body what it deserves and eat food instead of pills?

5. Foods have LIFE.  There is something about the aliveness of food that makes it instinctively attractive. Fresh food is always more attractive than leftovers.  People have recently discovered the value of raw foods. This value can be measured in terms of enzymes and specific nutrients, but also in qualities that are harder to measure like energy and vitality.  All of these qualities are important for our physical and mental well-being.  

Health with Real Foods is the Wave of the Future: 

Right now, it is easier than ever to embrace whole-food based nutrition. New knowledge is helping people along this path to health, and we are here to share it with you. Many grocery stores are stocking a greater selection of high-quality foods in their organic sections and new supplements are emerging that are based on whole foods. Some of these supplements will have higher quality and value than the dead pills of the past.  But they still imitate what nature has already perfected.

I don’t know one person whose life has been radically changed by buying a bottle of vitamins or pills.  I do know thousands whose lives have become healthier and more energetic by changing their APPROACH to food.
This approach involves eating more whole, fresh, raw and organic foods as well as eating them in the proper combinations. These are the principles we teach individuals in our various programs that help them achieve healthier lives.

To be fair, the American Dietetic Association did recommend that a few isolated groups could benefit from targeted supplementation. Pregnant women, nursing mothers, people with certain health conditions, and elderly adults may need to fill dietary gaps. But if you are in one of these groups, many of these gaps (like higher iron intake for women) can also be achieved with whole foods.  One just needs to know what to eat, and to be motivated enough to want to improve their health. 

And there’s the rub.  It's hard to know where to look and to put in the effort to make healthier choices.  It's so much easier just to take a pill—one that contends to solve all of your nutritional problems.  But it isn't that easy. Sometimes the harder road is the wiser one; it is the road to better health.  

Feel free to comment on these ideas (below) and share this information with others.

Edited by Michael Fisher

Copyright © Randy Fritz You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.