My Thoughts: Frozen or Canned?

In the winter time, fresh produce is often difficult to find and afford. Also, our lives can get pretty busy, and we may not have a bunch of time to spend on cutting up fresh fruits and vegetables. So when you can't get fresh produce or don't have time to prepare it, what should you do? Buy it frozen, or buy it canned?

 

Here are my thoughts on these two options:

Canned foods may be cheap, but you are losing lots of nutrients when you buy canned foods. Often times the foods are cooked at a high temperature, causing it to lose many of its nutrients. Canned foods are also packed with salt and preservatives in order for it to stay "fresher" longer. Also, canned fruit is usually canned in syrup that has a bunch of added sugars that you don't need. So, in other words....canned foods are probably not your best option. But things like beans, beets, and pumpkin are fine to buy canned, just make sure you RINSE the beans and beets to remove as much salt/preservatives are you can. Rinsing goes for any canned foods you eat, always always rinse off canned produce! Rinsing removes preservatives, sugars, salts, and other chemicals they may be on the food.

  high fructose corn syrup in tomatoes?!?!

Now onto frozen foods...
Frozen foods are often frozen when the food is in season, ripe, and fresh. This ensures you that you are getting produce that is at its best. Also, most of the time these foods are not cooked prior to freezing, and therefore most all the nutrients are left intact. Frozen food is a great option when your favorite foods aren't in season. Most of the time when you see strawberries in the dead of winter, those strawberries took a very long journey to get to your grocery store. This means that they lost lots of nutrients while on their way to your grocery store. But with frozen foods, they are frozen as soon as they are picked, and those nutrients get locked in place. Frozen foods are often times cheaper than fresh, and can be kept in the freezer for a very long time. Also, I am talking about frozen whole foods (peas, carrots, broccoli, berries, fruit, etc.), not frozen dinners....big difference! Make sure you look on the ingredients list to check for any added preservatives.

 see how mango is the ONLY ingredient?


So my final thoughts on canned vs. frozen?
Definitely try to buy frozen over canned, due to the nutrient preservation in frozen foods. Also, canned foods often times have many more preservatives in them than frozen foods do. Fresh is almost always better, but when it isn't available, stick with the frozen produce!

Mac and Cheese: Not From The Box

Notice a difference in the photos above? The mac and cheese on the left probably looks familiar to you, the Kraft mac and cheese, that can be made super quick and easy with a packet of "cheese" powder....but the one on the right is r e a l mac and cheese, with real ingredients that can be easily found in your home, identifiable ingredients that aren't made in a factory, or a chemistry lab. The real mac and cheese may not be as yellow as the Kraft one, but that is totally normal, because the homemade mac and cheese doesn't have dangerous food dyes in it.

If you're a parent I STRONGLY urge you to stop feeding packaged mac and cheese to your kids. Most boxed mac and cheese (Kraft in particular) has food dyes (Yellow #5 and #6) that can strongly effect your child's health, and may lead to hyperactivity, asthma, rashes,  migraines, or other learning disabilities. These dyes are banned in many different countries, but of course are allowed in America. So take a little extra time and use wholesome ingredients that aren't made in a chemistry lab, because in the end it will be worth it.

So is mac and cheese super healthy, and should you eat it everyday? No....but when you do eat it, take the time to make it right, take the little bit of extra energy to use REAL ingredients, instead of just pouring in a powdery substance that Kraft claims is cheese. I'm making it super easy for you to take this step in changing your health by giving you a simple homemade mac and cheese recipe that can be made in bulk to last you/your family through the week. 

The mac and cheese recipe can definitely be considered a base for many different meals...mix in some veggies for extra nutrients, add in some barbecue sauce for a flavor kick, make this mac and cheese your own, and experiment with different cheese, or add-ins!

Ingredients:

1 box of noodles (you can use whatever types of noodles you prefer-whole wheat, gluten free, spaghetti noodles) 

1/4 cup butter (or you can use a natural butter substitute like Earth Balance)

1/4 cup milk (could also use any type of milk substitute like unsweetened almond milk)

2-3 Tbsp. all purpose flour (could also use a gluten free substitute like garbanzo bean flour)

1 1/2 cups cheese of choice (if you have problems with dairy, you could try a cheese alternative, like daiya cheese)

Step One:

Boil your noodles until they are soft, then strain them.

Step Two:

 Use the same pot you cooked your noodles in and on low temperature add in your butter, milk, and flour to create a roux (a base for your cheese sauce) use a whisk to combine the ingredients together to form a smooth, creamy consistency. If you need to add more of any of these ingredients to get this consistency, definitely do! (butter and or milk will make it creamier, flour will make it thicker) You want your roux to look like the bottom right photo below, and be super creamy.

Step Three:

Add in your cheese and stir with a spoon until it's melted, or at least almost melted.

Step Four:

Add back in your noodles, and stir until it's all combined. If the cheese isn't sticking to the noodles very well, add in some more flour.

Step Five:

Enjoy your delicious, REAL mac and cheese!

Is Your Money Going Down The Toilet?

I really want to talk about this little thing called vitamin C. Everyone seems to always be pushing vitamin C because of its immune protection powers, as well as its overall health benefits. Many people take vitamin C supplements, or powders to try to get enough vitamin C.

For a while, I took Emergen-C which is a powder that you add to water and drink. It has 1000 mg of vitamin C which, according to the nutrition facts, is 1,667% of your Daily Value. Although it does have some other nutritional supplements added to it, it also has an enormous amount of vitamin C. (it also has non-nutritional additives such as "natural" orange flavorings and tapioca maltodextrin)

You can't have too much vitamin C, right....?

Wrong. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin, meaning our bodies only absorb a certain amount at a time, and the leftovers just get peed out. This is much different from fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) which their leftovers get stored in the body for later use.

Women need around 75 milligrams per day, while men need around 90 milligrams a day. Which as you can see, is well below the 1000 mg dosage in a packet of Emergen-C.

So what should you do if you don't think you're getting enough vitamin C in your diet?

Well, personally, I would try my best to get the most vitamin C from your diet, incorporating foods like oranges, kiwi, dark left greens like kale or spinach, peppers, broccoli, or peas. All of these will not only provide you with large amounts of vitamin C, but they also provide many other nutritional benefits (they are all low in calories as well).

But if you just can stand the taste of any of these foods, and still insist that a supplement is what you need to keep your immunity levels up then supplements are fine, just take them in SMALL doses. Taking small doses of vitamin C powders, or pills will keep you from wasting money. So if you enjoy Emergen-C, take only half a pack in the morning, and the other in the afternoon. Or buy vitamin C pills that have less than 100% of the Daily Value of vitamin C and take one pill in the morning and one at night.

But like I said before, save your money on supplements and EAT vitamin C from natural sources, because not only will you reap the vitamin C benefits, but also the benefits from all the other nutrients in the foods.

What's Up With Trans Fats?

Some of you may have heard the word "trans fats" and most of you probably know that it isn't a healthy fat....but do you really know what they are and why they aren't good for you? Well when I learned about what they were and why our bodies hate them, I just had to share it with someone!

So basically trans fats come from the processing (hydrogenation) of fats to make them shelf-stable. Some great examples of foods with trans fats are: processed foods (with dairy products as main ingredients), shelf-stable coffee creamers, refrigerated dough products, margarines and shortenings, and of course sugary treats like doughnuts, cookies, etc. Basically anything that is packaged has some trans fats, and that is because trans fats are only a result from the processing of fats.

Now, that you know what has trans fats....why are they so bad for us? Well our bodies actually can't recognize a trans fat, and therefore our bodies don't know what to do with them. We can absorb, use, or gain any benefits from trans fats.

So the photo above is a photo of a cis fat, which is what the fat looks like before it gets processed. Our bodies recognize these, and know what to do with them....but a trans fat looks like this

See how the two hydrogens are on opposite sides? Our bodies literally can't recognize this. 

To truly understand this hold up your left hand like you're about to give someone a high five....do it, do it right now. Is your hand up? Okay, good. Now put your right hand up to it too, like you're giving yourself a high five, but your palms aren't touching. See how you're thumbs don't line up? Your hands are the same shape, but can line up properly. Well that is what it is like when you eat a trans fat, your body doesn't have the recognition of a fat shaped like that.

So from now on, try to check for trans fats on nutrition labels, or better yet....avoid processed fats! The FDA is slowly aiming towards the reduction of trans fats, but knowing the FDA it may be a decade before any changes get made. Make it easy on your body, and avoid the trans!!

Cauliflower Rice

If you're trying to cut back on processed carbs, or just trying to get more vegetables in your diet this is the recipe for you. This is the perfect alternative to rice, and it is way healthier, more nutritious, and raw! Does it taste exactly like rice...? no, but it is definitely better for you and a step in the right direction. Give it a try in mexican dishes, soups, side dishes, or even salads...it really takes on whatever flavor you're desiring.

All you need is one head of cauliflower and a blender or food processor.

First:

Chop up your cauliflower into medium sized florets...

Second:

Put in a blender and pulse it until has turned into a rice consistency (this may take several pulses)

Third:

Voilà you have cauliflower rice! It really is that simple!

My love for sweet potatoes...

So I have this little addiction (and by little I mean HUGE) to sweet potatoes. There is rarely a day that goes by that I don't have a sweet potato. Here are a few things about them that gets my heart rate pumping..

     versatility.

       sweet potatoes are one of the most versatile foods i've ever cooked with. they can be baked,                roasted, pureed, you name it, you can more than likely do it. also there are so many flavor combinations you can create with a base of a sweet potato. most people just stick to butter and brown sugar, but I absolutely love mashing mine with chili powder, cumin, salsa, black beans, and some guacamole on top. It is so delicious! also, sweet potatoes make a great spread to use on wraps or sandwiches!

     health benefits.

       sweet potatoes have so many health benefits, its kind of unbelievable. one cup has only 115 calories, and nearly 350% of your daily vitamin A, they are also high in potassium and fiber. needless to say eating a sweet potato a day should be prescribed by all doctors. 

     taste and texture.

there is something so soothing about something sweet and creamy, and that is exactly the type of feeling that you get when you dig into a delicious sweet potato. it is warm, and comforting.

     easy to access and inexpensive.

during the fall, sweet potatoes can get as cheap as 0.20 cents a pound! also, sweet potatoes can be found most all year around, and still relatively cheap for such a nutrient packed food.

     quick and simple.

if it's not quick and simple, most people won't bother with it, but sweet potatoes require no hard work, just a quick wash, poke, and microwave and that's it. roasting takes a little longer, but it's so worth it. sweet potatoes can also be taken on the go, or store in tin foil until ready to be eaten, if you have access to a microwave then you're set. 

so in the end....there is no denying the fact that sweet potatoes are perfect in every way, and my obsession with them can be well justified through all the points i made above. so if you don't already have a love for them, buy a bag and begin your own personal relationship for the wonderful sweet potato.

Almond Milk

Recently, I've been making my own almond milk. After realizing how easy it was, and how much more natural it is, I am hooked. Most store bought almond milk contains thickeners, like lecithin and carrageenan (made from seaweed, that can lead to digestion problems) both are unnecessary additives. So by making my own, I get to control the ingredients, which makes me feel better about what is going into my body.

Now onto the almond milk process....it usually takes about ten minutes altogether, not including the time the almonds take to soak (overnight). So this is really easy to do in the morning before making breakfast.

First...
Soak natural (organic if you'd like) almonds in filtered water overnight, or for at least twelve hours.

Second...

Pour the almonds into a blender and add four cups of water for every one cup of almonds. I like to use the water that the almonds soaked in as part of my four cups of water. 

Third...

Add-in whatever you would like! I put a couple teaspoons of Stevia, but you could put in a few dates, or cinnamon. 

Fourth...

Blend in a blender for about a minute, or until it looks milky and combined.

Fifth...

Set up a strainer over a bowl with a towel inside to strain your milk.

Sixth...

Pour the mixture into the strainer and use a spatula or spoon to stir it around to help the liquid separate from the almond grounds.

Seventh...

Gather the towel and squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can.

Eighth...

Pour into a glass container and enjoy! Make sure to keep it in the refrigerator, and it usually lasts about a week and a half. 

And that is all! Super simple, and easy to make!