Showing posts with label healthy food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy food. Show all posts
Friday, March 2, 2012
Eat...well...with my healthy grocery list!
Oh how the social media landscape is changing. I don't really have time for a new platform. But I signed up for Pinterest anyways. It is so simple to use and then you end up with handy dandy visual lists of everything you love. Since my healthy grocery list is a popular page on the blog (and I have been slow to update), I thought I would try and evolve the list with my new healthy grocery list on Pinterest. Let me know what you think!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Eat...a few foods to help ward off cold and flu season
I have a toddler, a husband, a full time job and a writing habit, which essentially means that I don't rest nearly enough and my immune system runs at half mast. As a result, I entertain more than my fair share of germs. Hmmm...maybe that is not the ideal introduction to convince you that I can help you strengthen your own immune system but what the heck, honesty at all costs!
Since most of us don't live perfectly restful lives, we can use all the help we can get. So below are a few foods to help you stimulate your immune system. Eat them regularly and, hey, try and relax once in a while! You look tired.
Foods that Boost your Immune System
Shiitakes
Wild mushrooms are the king of immune boosting foods. Polysaccharides in mushrooms help make white blood cells more active and mushrooms also contain a vitamin D precursor - a known immune booster. Eat shiitakes instead of your basic button and sauté them for a lovely pasta or pizza topper, stir-fry or bake into a casserole.
Garlic
Long considered a medicinal food, anti-cancer garlic has been shown to fight infection. Allicin, a sulfur-containing compound that is created when the cell walls of garlic cloves are broken via mincing or crushing, is thought responsible for part of this benefit. Eat as much garlic as you can and don't cook the heck out of it (if you can handle it, try some raw!): keep heat low or add gently sautéed garlic at the end of cooking.
Kefir
This fermented milk is akin to a yogurt drink with a kick: in addition to probiotic bacteria, kefir is fermented with yeasts. The resulting kefiran molecules have immune-boosting properties and the probiotics (more than your average yogurt) encourage a healthy digestive flora which is important for maintaining a healthy digestive tract and strong immune system. Drink 1/4 - 1/2 cup daily.
These are some of my favourites...what are yours?
Since most of us don't live perfectly restful lives, we can use all the help we can get. So below are a few foods to help you stimulate your immune system. Eat them regularly and, hey, try and relax once in a while! You look tired.
Foods that Boost your Immune System
Shiitakes
Wild mushrooms are the king of immune boosting foods. Polysaccharides in mushrooms help make white blood cells more active and mushrooms also contain a vitamin D precursor - a known immune booster. Eat shiitakes instead of your basic button and sauté them for a lovely pasta or pizza topper, stir-fry or bake into a casserole.
Garlic
Long considered a medicinal food, anti-cancer garlic has been shown to fight infection. Allicin, a sulfur-containing compound that is created when the cell walls of garlic cloves are broken via mincing or crushing, is thought responsible for part of this benefit. Eat as much garlic as you can and don't cook the heck out of it (if you can handle it, try some raw!): keep heat low or add gently sautéed garlic at the end of cooking.
Kefir
This fermented milk is akin to a yogurt drink with a kick: in addition to probiotic bacteria, kefir is fermented with yeasts. The resulting kefiran molecules have immune-boosting properties and the probiotics (more than your average yogurt) encourage a healthy digestive flora which is important for maintaining a healthy digestive tract and strong immune system. Drink 1/4 - 1/2 cup daily.
These are some of my favourites...what are yours?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Eat...like me! The fibre challenge...
This week at work was our employee fibre challenge as part of our ongoing employee wellness program...we challenged everyone to meet their minimum recommended fibre intake (25 grams for women, 38 grams for men) with only whole foods - no fibre supplement bars or metamucil. The average Canadian eats only 14 grams of fibre, generally because we eat too many nasty processed foods...but it can be really easy to get what you need.
I thought I would take a photo log of what I ate this Tuesday. It is a pretty honest "real world" day - I had a terrible selection of food in my fridge and barely any fruit and veg because I needed to go grocery shopping and I spent the last half of the day out (and didn't grocery shop)...but at least I still managed to get my minimum 25 grams of fibre and pull off a not too bad day!
Breakfast: 1 small mango, 3/4 cup of Liberte Apple Pie Yogurt (no artificial sweeteners or stabilizers...good stuff!), 1/3 cup of Kellogg's All Bran Buds with Psyllium. 13 grams fibre total.
Lunch: leftover whole wheat pasta (1/4 box), made with lots of garlic, chili flakes, parmesan, olive oil and butter. A cup of Numi Emperor's Puerh tea. I ate this at 10:00AM because I was starved and didn't want the snack I brought. 8 grams fibre total.
Snack: which I ate at about 12:30....carrots and hummus...I definitely would have brought more to snack on if there was more in my fridge :) About 2 grams of fibre.
On the road...on my way to a meeting at 3:30 and absolutely starving (surprise, surprise!) so stopped at Starbucks for a banana chocolate Vivanno. I feel like this is a slightly healthier bevvie than average because I can actually watch them put in the real milk and whole banana. Also, it is way less sweet than their other varieties. 6 grams of fibre.
Dinner: out with family at Nuba, one of my favourite places! Easy place to eat healthy foods...always a challenge to estimate the fibre, etc in restaurant meals but here is my attempt!
Hummus and pita...maybe 4 pieces and 1/2 cup hummus...4 grams fibre...and one piece of the heavenly haloumi...no fibre...just yummy :)
I thought I would take a photo log of what I ate this Tuesday. It is a pretty honest "real world" day - I had a terrible selection of food in my fridge and barely any fruit and veg because I needed to go grocery shopping and I spent the last half of the day out (and didn't grocery shop)...but at least I still managed to get my minimum 25 grams of fibre and pull off a not too bad day!
Breakfast: 1 small mango, 3/4 cup of Liberte Apple Pie Yogurt (no artificial sweeteners or stabilizers...good stuff!), 1/3 cup of Kellogg's All Bran Buds with Psyllium. 13 grams fibre total.
Lunch: leftover whole wheat pasta (1/4 box), made with lots of garlic, chili flakes, parmesan, olive oil and butter. A cup of Numi Emperor's Puerh tea. I ate this at 10:00AM because I was starved and didn't want the snack I brought. 8 grams fibre total.
Snack: which I ate at about 12:30....carrots and hummus...I definitely would have brought more to snack on if there was more in my fridge :) About 2 grams of fibre.
On the road...on my way to a meeting at 3:30 and absolutely starving (surprise, surprise!) so stopped at Starbucks for a banana chocolate Vivanno. I feel like this is a slightly healthier bevvie than average because I can actually watch them put in the real milk and whole banana. Also, it is way less sweet than their other varieties. 6 grams of fibre.
Dinner: out with family at Nuba, one of my favourite places! Easy place to eat healthy foods...always a challenge to estimate the fibre, etc in restaurant meals but here is my attempt!
Hummus and pita...maybe 4 pieces and 1/2 cup hummus...4 grams fibre...and one piece of the heavenly haloumi...no fibre...just yummy :)
Next came my fruit and nut salad...and my falafel...roughly 6 grams fibre...mostly from the falafel and dried fruit in the salad.
I also had a couple of bitefuls of the amazing cardamom creme brulee...just a couple as I was stuffed!
Grand total for the day? 39 grams fibre and I also managed to eat my minimum servings of fruit and veg too...If you are wondering how I figure out the fibre in foods, our lovely government provides a database where you can look up detailed nutritional information for almost any food...called the Canadian Nutrient File. Here is the link! http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/fiche-nutri-data/index-eng.php
Happy Spring,
Desiree
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