Why Work with a Nutriton Pro?

The Nutrition Facts label, which is by law placed on the back of just about every food product in the U.S., was meant to tell you most everything you should need to know about what a particular food product is made of. The problem for most Americans, however, is that 1.) they don't read it and 2.) they don't know what it all means. This is where the nutrition professional can help a great deal. Not only do we teach our clients and patients what each part of the label means and why it is important, we can educate them on how to interpret many important subtleties of the Nutrition Facts label.

One little known subtlety has to do with trans-fats. These come from hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils. While most fatty acids are actually beneficial in the right amounts, trans fats are just plain dangerous to your health.

Free Range vs. Conventional

Why in the world do we need to eat free-range eggs? They're all the same, right? Wrong. The Rodale Institute studied free-range eggs and paritally pasture-fed eggs from 14 different farms in the U.S. and compared them with conventional eggs. Here is what they found.

Healthy Road Trip

We are road tripping to Phoenix from ABQ today. A short 6 hour drive, but no way do we want to leave our food choices up to truckstops and fast food joints. We want to feel our best when we reach our destination, and that means eating well on the road. When planning our road trip menu, my main focus was first, on the basics: a balance of healthy proteins, complex carbs and fats to keep everyone happy and satiated. We also needed things that would be easy to grab,low-mess and requiring little or no prep before heading out. It was a very busy morning to say the least! Here's what we ended up with:

Hummus Recipe

I often recommend hummus as a snack with veggies, whole grain pita or crackers, or as a spread on sandwiches and wraps. It is a perfect way to get more legumes into your diet, which adds protein, fiber, beneficial resistant starch, calcium, magnesium, B Vitamins and more. Hummus is a traditional Middle Eastern dish, which kids of all ages tend to enjoy. The combination of chick peas and tahini makes it a high-protein food. Tahini is a creamy paste made of sesame seeds and is a rich source of multiple micronutrients, including copper, zinc, calcium and magnesium. Find out more about the benefits of sesame.

Hummus

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked chickpeas
5 TBSP tahini
1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice (juice of 1.5-2 lemons)
1/2 tsp sea salt
2-3 roasted garlic cloves*
~3 TBSP Extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
Dash of chile powder

Optional:
Chopped parsley
Chopped basil (fistful)
1/4 cup basil pesto
Pine nuts

Place cooked chick-peas in food processor or blender with tahini, salt, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, spices and optional herbs or pesto. Blend until smooth. Add water from can or cooking liquid to obtain desired consistency. Dish into a bowl. Make a small well in the center of the hummus when serving and fill with extra virgin olive oil and add a decorative dash of cumin and chile powder. If you like, garnish with any of the following: chopped herbs and pine nuts.

Make hummus at the beginning of the week for an easy protein to pair with baby carrots.

*Roast a head of garlic on Sunday to use throughout the week. Slice the non-root end off, just enough to make it flat. Wrap in foil and bake for 30 min, flattened side down, at 250 degrees F. Don't forget about it! Set a timer...
Store in the fridge when cooled.

Adapted from Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair (one of my favorite whole food cookbooks!)

Enjoy,
The Gourmet Healer

Perhaps Everybody Does Need Milk?

Milk, and dairy products in general, have been demonized for years as common allergens, high-fat foods, and sources of hormones, pesticides, and other xenobiotics. But perhaps that cow has a silver lining. Just the fact of being overweight can result in increased oxidative stress and inflammation. In a recent study, two diets were tested to determine whether either diet had an effect on markers of inflammation and oxidative stress in overweight or obese individuals. A group of 20 individuals (10 overweight - BMI 25-29.9; 10 mildly obese - BMI 30-34.9) were randomly assigned to a dairy-based diet group (1,200-1,400 mg calcium daily) or a soy-based diet group (500-600 mg calcium daily). The dairy was provided primarily by three milk-based smoothies daily, while the dairy-free soy group consumed three soy-protein smoothies daily. The study was a crossover design, so after 28 days of consuming one diet and another 28 days for a washout period, the diets were switched. Caloric content of both diets was the same. Markers of inflammation and oxidative stress were measured at baseline and on days 7 and 28 of each diet period. The dairy-based diet resulted in a significant decrease in markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, while the soy diet did not exert any significant effect. The dairy, but not the soy, diet also resulted in an average 20-percent increase in adiponectin, a protein hormone that helps decrease obesity and related conditions, including insulin resistance, fatty liver, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes.
Am J Clin Nutr 2010;91:16-22.
http://www.thorne.com/practitioners/breaking_news.jsp

Caveat: If you're going to eat/drink dairy, make sure it is organic and preferably grass-fed.

Magnesium and Gallstones

About 10-15 percent of the U.S. population (20 million people) have gallstones, and 1 million new cases are diagnosed yearly according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. New research indicates that higher magnesium intake may decrease the risk of gallstone disease.
Read more about this research below.

Quick Info on Magnesium Sources: Think Beans, Greens, Nuts, Seeds & Whole Grains! We should all be getting all of these in our diets every single day!

Magnesium deficiency has been associated with alterations in blood lipids (cholesterol) and insulin hyper-secretion, which can lead to formation of gallstones. In addition, gallstone disease is an important risk factor for gallbladder cancer. A study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology analyzed the effect of long-term consumption of magnesium on the risk of gallstone disease. Researchers studied magnesium consumption and risk of gallstone disease in a group of 42,705 U.S. men from 1986 to 2002. Magnesium intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire, and newly diagnosed gallstone disease was determined twice a year.
During 13 years of follow-up, 2,195 cases of gallstones were documented. The average intake of magnesium was calculated to 352.8 milligrams per day for the study population. Men with the highest average levels of magnesium intake (454 mg/d) were 28 per cent less likely to develop gallstones, compared to men with the lowest average intake (262 mg/d).

It is not yet known whether higher magnesium intake protects against initial formation of gallbladder stones, or whether it simply decreases the likelihood of the already existing gallstones becoming symptomatic. However, since surveys show that most adults do not meet the RDA for magnesium (320 mg per day for women and 420 mg per day for men), improving the diet and supplementing magnesium may prove to be an effective means of reducing the progression of gallstone disease.

Tsai CJ et al. Long-term effect of magnesium consumption on the risk of symptomatic gallstone disease among men. Am J Gastroenterol 2008 Feb;103(2):375-82.

Dinner Analysis

Tonight, we had an exceptionally healthy dinner, and I have to say that it was very tasty as well. How do I know this? I know how I always know: my 11 going on 20 year old ate everything without one complaint. Because her mother is a dietitian, she typically wants the opposite of what is offered to her at home. Yes, The Gourmet Healer deals with the same issues all well-meaning parents do. But sometimes, I/we get it right. And tonight was one of those nights.

The child isn't completely a loss when it comes to veggies, because she's been exposed repeatedly to them. This really makes or breaks a child's relationship with healthy foods. Even so,I will say (while holding back tears) that she does not like chard, spinach or broccoli. But she does, however, love beans (presented as a soup), my roasted beet salad, Brussels sprouts and asparagus fries. And tonight, she ate the lightly steamed (over-cooking is a major turn-off for kids, BTW) zucchini and carrots that my husband tossed in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVVO if ya didn't know--crazy good health benefits), sea salt, pepper and our (my) chopped homegrown basil. She also devoured the roasted Brussels sprouts, which were thinly sliced and then tossed in EVOO, chopped homegrown sage leaves, pre-roasted chopped garlic (done the night before), sea salt and pepper.
She ate the veggies, no problem, but as usual, her fave was the meatloaf. This was very simple to make. I mixed 1 pound of grass fed (hey--you are what you ate...ate) ground beef with two free range eggs (the difference is obvious and worth it), about 1/2 cup oat bran, 1/2 cup Eden Organic Pizza Sauce (BPA-Free Can!!), a couple pinches of sea salt and 3 large chopped artichoke hearts; I baked it covered (uncovered for the last 10 min) at 315 for 40 min in a 8x8 inch pan (greased with a small amount of expellar-pressed grapeseed oil; meat spread evenly and packed), alongside the Brussels sprouts, which were spread evenly in a large roasting pan for even and quick cooking. I added just a slight amount of EVOO and sea salt to the sprouts when plated, and they were lovely.

In addition to a tall glass of filtered water, I enjoyed our dinner with about 5 oz of Frey organic, sulfite-free (no headache or stuffiness for me) red table wine. It was delicious, and at $9.99/bottle, very affordable. It will last me the whole week or a little longer.

Notice that I cooked the meatloaf and sprouts at a lower temp and extended the cooking time a bit. This is important when it comes to making sure that fats don't oxidize during cooking and turn harmful, simultaneously losing their health benefits. It would be a shame if all of your efforts to make wholesome real food went to waste because you didn't know about this...This is especially true for eggs (which I used in the meatloaf) and plant oils like EVOO, which are very heat sensitive and lose benefits/oxidize at temperatures above 325 F.

RECAP

• lower cooking temps and longer cooking times: keeping those healthy oils and fats healthy
• High fiber/low starch/low glycemic index: 2 servings of veggies and high-fiber oat bran and artichoke hearts slipped into the meat loaf; high fiber=healthy cholesterol levels and proper detoxificiation; low-glycemic index=less of a blood sugar spike, which means less need for insulin. lower insulin production means less fat cell generation/storage, no extra insulin circulating to feed cancer cells, no re-bound low blood sugar and subsequent food cravings.
• Grass-fed/free-range animal products: better ratio of Omega 6:Omega 3 fats due to natural diet, meaning less resulting inflammation.
• Healthy + Delicious = YUM

I planned what I would make for the week and made a list before I shopped over the weekend. I planned according to what I already had, in order to stay within budget and avoid wasting food. Knowing what you're going to cook and that you have the ingredients needed BEFORE you get home and start cooking saves a lot of time and stress. Try it!

Enjoy,
The Gourmet Healer