My Tips for Healthier Eating.......

Here are a few changes/additions I've made to my diet........partly on the suggestion of my acupuncturist and partly because everything I eat lately makes me so bloated I look like I'm six months pregnant!

As a general rule, do your best to find meats that are grass fed and dairy products that are organic and free of hormones and antibiotics.  I can't seem to get my OWN hormones right, I don't need to add more to my system.  Get exactly what you need to know in an article from WebMD.    Here are some tidbits.....

   Antibiotics in Meat

   Ranchers and farmers feed antibiotics in a daily low dose to their livestock. It’s not to stop them from getting sick, but to make them gain weight.

   But many doctors and researchers suspect that this practice is contributing to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, posing a serious danger to our health.

   Hormones in Food

   It’s also long been known that breast cancer risk increases with higher lifetime exposure to estrogen. These facts have led many to question whether the continued use of synthetic estrogens in livestock   
   is safe.

   Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is a different class of hormone that increases the amount of milk dairy cows produce. Some suggest that although rBGH itself appears safe, it increases the amount of other chemicals in the body that might cause cancer.

   Responding to the lack of certainty, the European Union has banned all hormones in beef, and Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the EU have banned rBGH. No major studies are under way in the U.S. to evaluate the safety of hormones in meat and milk.

   Read the whole article here......www.webmd.com/health-ehome-9/pesticides-hormones-in-food

   As for the latest report on bacteria in two-thirds of fresh broiler chicken:  www.foodsafetynews.com/2009/12/study-finds-high-bacteria-levels-in-poultry/

Some of my other tips on food choices.......

Give up dairy.   I'm not gonna lie...... it sucks to give up cheese!  This coming from a MAJOR fan of cheese and milk.  My first step was milk.  I experimented with soy, rice and almond milk.  I still can't drink them straight but I do use them in my cereal and smoothies.  (I stay away from soy because I get a lot of soy in other aspects of my diet and I haven't found any solid evidence that says there's no danger in too much soy in our diet.)  There are occassional days when I'm on the brink of insanity but it's nothing a piece of cheese won't cure.

We're being fooled with whole wheat/whole grain breads.   I had no idea until I read this.... the difference between whole grain and sprouted grain from www.grainsprout.com  Here's what the article says:

    Just because a food is labeled “whole grain,” does not neccesarily mean that it is. Whole grain is the entire grain, not a refined food or a flour derivative — which is what many foods that are labeled “whole grain” are.

The “whole truth” is that some “whole grain,” or “whole wheat” breads are really made with WHITE FLOUR with a small amount of bran added. Consumers should read nutrition labels and ingredients carefully and compare the fiber amounts per serving to determine whether a food is truly whole grain or not.

USDA RECOMMENDS THAT HALF OF THE GRAINS YOU CONSUME BE WHOLE GRAINS

  White Bread – made solely with the starchy endosperm part of the grain; white flour is void of almost all nutrients.

  100% Whole Wheat Bread – white flour with some bran manually added.

  Whole Grain Bread – usually made from whole grain flour (white flour with bran and germ manually added back in); most of the nutrition is lost during processing or milling.

  Sprouted Grain Breads – True sprouted grain breads are made by first sprouting the wheat kernels, the entire living kernel is then mashed to form the dough. This method retains all the bran, germ, and endosperm, giving you up to three times more fibre.

   What is the nutritional advantage of sprouted whole grains vs. refined whole grains?

Unrefined, sprouted whole grains are packed with nutrition and disease-fighting minerals. Research has shown that just three daily servings of whole grains can reduce the risk of heart disease by 25–36%, strokes by 37%, Type II diabetes by 21–27%, digestive system cancers by 21–43% and hormone-related cancers by 10–40%.*

So, what is lost when whole grains are processed? In short, most of the nutritional value. So, how do you tell the difference? It’s a whole grain if the label says: “Sprouted Whole Grain.” If the label uses words like “enriched flour,” “unbleached flour,” or “wheat flour,” the product is not whole grain.

It’s important to us that our valued Silver Hills Bakery customers know The Whole Truth and not be fooled into thinking that eating processed grains is giving their bodies the most healthful option.

   *Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

   Ezekiel bread.  My fav brand of sprouted bread.  It is actually a nutty sandwich bread that contains absolutely no flour. Ezekiel bread is made from four grains and four beans. Typically it contains wheat, spelt or rye, barley, millet, lentils, great northern beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans.  Even though it is made with sprouted grains and has a low glycemic level this bread is soft and does not taste like cardboard.  It also makes a pretty good tasting, wonderful toast and the combination of grains makes for a good balance of amino acids to provide a complete protein as well. In fact, it contains all 9 nine essential amino acids is low in fat, has no trans fats or cholesterol and is relatively low in sodium.  However, I still can't get my kids to make the switch on this one.

Peanut Butter.   Experiment with brands, flavors that contain no sugar.  I'm not a fan of the peanut butter where the oils separate.  It took a while to get over my Skippy but now I love Whole Foods brand 365 Peanut Butter.  I'm still working on aquiring the taste for almond butter.  However, my favorite brand is Barney Butter.... it doesn't separate!  Yay!

Eat your greens.  I am SO not a fan of green vegetables but have found a way to get the equivalent of one-half pound of greens and fruits in one scoop.  It's called Organic Triple Greens from PurityProducts.com.  I add a little bit of OJ for flavor and Aloe Vera juice for digestion.  I also love homemade Kale Chips!

Nitrate-free bacon, lunch meats, etc.  I could never give up my beloved bacon but it's loaded with nitrates (as is sausage, lunch meat and hot dogs)   Applegate Farms has a tasty organic nitrate-free bacon.  There a variety of nitrate-free brands.....experiement to find your favorite.  There are also some good breakfast sausage patties with no antibiotics/preservatives.  My fav is the Wellshire brand (Chicken-Apple and Maple-flavored)

Healthy snacks: 

  Hummus.  My fav.....Sabra brand.  Eat it with pita chips or rice crackers.

  Rice crackers, chips. They are gluten/wheat free.  Dr. Oz once told me, "as we age" (I hate when a sentence starts that way) too much wheat/gluten causes bloating.  If that's an issue for you, like me, go for as many Gluten-free, Wheat-free foods as you can.  One of my fav brands....... Mr. Krispers - they have lots of flavors.  And the Lundberg Rice Chips....especially the lime flavor!

More to come...........