Zucchini Carrot Nests

This one I'm more interested in trying!
Ingredients:
4-5 grated carrots
2 grated zucchinis
1 TBSP or less of coconut flour
3 eggs
2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper

How to make it: Grate the veggies (you can use a food processor). Sprinkle veggies with coconut flour (lightly coat). Add eggs, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir together. Heat a large pan to medium to high with olive oil (although I think I might use coconut oil) and then portion out the mix. Cook about 4-5 minutes on each side. Place on a baking sheet and then make a well in the back of each with the back of a measuring spoon. Crack an egg into the well, bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until the eggs are done. Plate and serve.

Spicy Beets

Ok so this combines both of yesterday's featured foods.
Ingredients:
4 or 5 Beets
2 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1 small chile pepper
salt and pepper
1 lemon
1 T minced cilantro

How to make it: Scrub beets and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, cover for 20 minutes. Drain and cool before removing skin. Chop into 1/2 inch wedges. Heat a pan or a wok. Place in mustard seeds and cover. Once the seeds are done sputtering add chile and stir. Add the beets and salt. Toss and cover, turn to a low heat for 5-6 minutes. Remove heat and plate. Toss with lemon and cilantro.

Featured Food: Beets

I've been trying to expand the variety of vegetables in my program. Most know that a varied diet is recommended and we've already done a piece on the benefits of different colored foods (July 30). Most of us associate beets as that reddish-purplish veggie, but it actually comes in white, yellow, and even rainbow colored. As a family member to Swiss chard and spinach, it's gotta be good right? Beets contain powerful nutrients that help protect against heart disease, birth defects, and some kinds of cancers. The pigment, betacyanin (which gives it that great red-purple) is a powerful cancer fighting agent! What about your heart though? Consumption has been correlated to 30% decrease in cholesterol and a 40% decrease in triglycerides, while increasing HDL levels. As most know HDL is good and elevated levels of triglycerides is what puts people at risk for heart disease. As we've discussed in the past (check out spinach June 25) foods (like beets) that contain metabolite betaine decrease inflammation (which leads to chronic diseases). Beets aren't just great for you but for babies too! They're a great source of B vitamin folate (for tissue growth). Babies' spinal columns don't develop properly without a sufficient amount of B vitamin folate. When purchasing beets look for smooth undamaged ones. Go ahead and eat the greens if you want, they're packed with nutrients as well, just prepare them like you would spinach or Swiss Chard. Hoping to have some recipes up on Saturday.

Featured Food: Carrots

Usually I just do one post, and I'd already planned on covering beets, but yesterday's blog on beta-carotene prompted me to write about carrots today. Generally I promote getting vegetables in leafy green sources, but I've expanded the vegetable options lately (I figured eating varied vegetables was better than having clients eating grains, starches, or sugars). I usually ruled out the carrot because of it's higher sugar content, although I have read that carrots help regulate blood sugar and that eating them in combination with green vegetables, decreases their sugar levels. Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidants and the best source of pro-vitamin A carotenes. This helps protect the your vision, especially night vision. Beta carotene in the liver converts to vitamin A before it travels to the retina and is transformed into a purple pigment called rhodopsin, necessary for night vision. I think most of us have heard the age old stories of carrots for your eye sight before. Just one cup of carrots has 686.3% of the RDA of vitamin A. High levels of carotenoid have shown a 20% decrease of postmenopausal breast cancer, and a 50% decrease in bladder, cervix, prostate, colon, larynx, and esophagus cancers. Some studies have even said that just one carrot a day could cut lung cancer rates by half. Most articles I read talked about the link between carrots and smoking, so if you're a smoking increasing your carrot intake may help decrease your risk of getting lung cancer (although I think not smoking would be beneficial as well). It's good for the heart too! One study of elderly men in Massachusetts determined that one serving of carrots a day could reduce the risk of heart attacks by 60%. In a addition to all these health benefits, carrots are also an excellent source of: vitamin K, vitamin C, dietary fiber, and potassium. Look for carrots that are a deeper orange because that means they contain more beta-carotene. Tomorrow I'm going to try and post some recipes, but you can add carrots to any salad or soup.

Beta-Carotene

As you can tell beta-carotene produces colors in the yellow and orange range (although it can produce other colors). What is it, you ask? beta-carotene is a carotenoid, part of the phytonutrient family. What does it do? Protect cells from free radicals, vitamin A source, better immune system, and reproductive function. It is a powerful antioxidant that protects the body from free radical damage. Free radicals lead to a host of diseases (do cancer and heart disease ring a bell?), so getting an adequate supply of something to prevent this sounds like a good idea to me. Some of the diseases that beta carotene may play a role in preventing is: macular degeneration, asthma, cataracts, cervical cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, osteoarthritis, pneumonia, prostate cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and skin cancer. Important still is it's promotion of vitamin A, which is essential for eye and reproductive health. How can you get beta-carotene? Eat of course! Beta-carotene is found in carrots, kale, collard greens, spinach, thyme, broccoli, and cilantro. To preserve the content eat raw or slightly steamed. Also beta-carotene is fat-soluble so it requires the dietary fat for absorption (I promote a fat-burning eating style anyways).

Vibram Five-Fingers

We've covered the benefits of barefoot before (June 23), but I thought today we would further examine a shoe-alternative for being barefoot: the Vibram Five-Finger. Running around barefoot isn't very practical. Roads or walking paths could be laden with glass or sharp objects, plus shoes are pretty much mandatory in any public building. The foot is usually overlooked and we don't really think about what we are doing to them by cramming them in shoes (especially heels- which are the worst). The foot is actually comprised of 26 bones, 33 joints, and over 100 muscles and tendons! You can't strengthen the muscles and tendons of your feet wearing shoes. Shoes (and lifting gloves actually) bypass the muscles of your feet and put more strain on the larger muscles and joints of the legs and the back. Posture suffers as well from shoe usage because have to posturally compensate for the elevated heel. Chronic heel usage can lead to kyphosis or lordosis (conditions were the spine curves more convexly or concavely; think hump back) and can cause pain). Running shoes replace the arches in your feet, but not in a durable or effective way. While wearing Vibrams you absorb shock by landing softly on your forefeet instead of on your heels (which is often where you strike while wearing conventional shoes) so that your leg lands beneath your torso, with the leg slightly bent to absorb the impact. This is proper running technique. You may think that they look a little running as well. Not only do they leave your natural arch but they support your toes. Why do you have individual toes slots? If you look at a natural foot that has not worn shoes (below) you can see that the little spreads out naturally. This provides the foot with a wide base that is more stable for walking or standing. Compare the sodden foot. The little toe is crowded to a point, providing a narrow and unstable base for walking and standing.

Here are the benefits of Vibrams as they have listed:

1. 
   
   Strengthen muscles of the feet and lower legs.
2. 
   
   Improve range motion in ankles, feet, and toes
3. 
   
   Stimulates neural function important to balance and agility.
4. 
   
   Improves proprioception and body awareness.
5. 
   
   Eliminates heel lift to align the spine and improve posture.
6. 
   
   Allows foot and body to move naturally.

A warning though with these shoes: take it slowly. We're used to years of cramming our feet in shoes, it's going to take some time to build up the muscles in your feet and ankles. People ask me if they're comfortable. No they're not comfortable (like running on concrete barefoot feels good, plus the toe separation is a little off-putting at first (warning they do take longer to put on as well). Ease into it, start just by walking in them. Then gradually start running, but start on softer surfaces like the beach or grass like a golf course. Then you can begin to ease onto harder surfaces like track. I am very serious about taking it slowly, because I tried to do to much in the beginning and ended up paying for it, so don't make my mistake. I love the shoes though, I fully support barefoot training and theses shoes are a great way to train and get the simulation of being barefoot. They make them in all different kinds of styles for whatever your lifestyle. They make just sprint ones, but I have the KSO, which can be used for running and light trekking (I'm going to start hiking with them once I get back from Colorado). They come in all different colors as well, plus they're a vacation starter because people will want to know what's up with the funky shoes. It's funny, when my family went to Florida this summer, the first restaurant we went to our host had on a pair of Vibrams. It was cool because we were able to talk to him about them (he said that his wife just rolled her eyes at them). People might raze you about them (my family does, especially my son-in-law Todd), but they are a much better alternative to the traditional running shoe.

Benefits of Travel

I probably should have covered this earlier in the summer, because most are returning back to school and summer is ending, but really travel is for anytime and not everybody is hindered by school. In Women's Health I read that new experiences can lead to greater happiness. A study at San Francisco State University assessed that spending money on new experiences (not even as big as travel, but restaurant meals, and concert tickets) instead of on possessions led to greater happiness. Assistant professor Ryan Howell said, "Experience provide memory capital. We don't tend to get bored of happy memories like we do material objects." Think about that, it is so true. We accumulate all this STUFF but quickly get bored of it or something nicer or newer comes along and we lose interest in what we have. Clothes go in and out of style, but traveling and memories are always there. So instead of treating yourself to a shopping spree or indulgence, why not expand yourself and plan a trip. It doesn't have to be world travel (it could mean going to a different city nearby or a day spa or just anything simple to break up the monotony of your day. This article led me to further look into the possible aspects of traveling. Most are common sense, but we don't think about them or see travel as something essential. When I read Change Your Brain Change Body it recommended travel to new lands to keep the brain learning and working at optimal efficiency. Let's look at some additional benefits.

• 
  
  Reduce stress: Decreases burnout at work.
• 
  
  Avoid Monotony: Provides a break from the norm and can ignite you with new energy. It prevents your mind and body from stagnating.
• 
  
  Get outdoors: Gets you away from the office and out in the sun and it's wonderful benefits (vitamin D)
• 
  
  Be more active: No matter what kind of travel, you're usually do more than you usually do.
• 
  
  Attitude adjustment: having something to look forward to can break up the monotony of the day.
• 
  
  Meet People: socializing is an important aspect of health and you learn about other cultures and different people as well.
• 
  
  Create memorable experiences: Traveling leaves you feeling more fulfilled and later on in life you won't be regretting all the things you never do. Do it now and not on your death bed.
• 
  
  Reconnect with your partner: if you travel with your significant other it allows for quality time without the chaos of everyday life and responsibilities.
• 
  
  Clear head: travel can put your life in a clear perspective and allow you to determine what is really important in life.
• 
  
  Euphoria: both post and pre-vacation you experience a high and excitement for the coming journey.
• 
  
  Greater productivity: we've all heard of countries in Europe, who have more vacation time, and report greater work productivity.

What to do? Get away- where doesn't really matter. Break up the monotony and experience new things!

Awesome Almonds

We have talked about almonds already (great for the heart, weight-management, and good source of antioxidants), but I promised to explore or give examples of some almond products. Without further adieu here are some fabulous almond products:
Almond Flour (or you might also see meal): Flour are almonds blanched and then ground almonds with the skin off; whereas, almond meal is simply whole ground up almonds. Great alternative to traditional flours, although it is denser so you have to be careful when replacing it for regular flours. It's gluten-free as well, which is great for those with gluten-intolerance. I would recommend it for any one on a maintenance program (not during weight loss because of it's high fat content because it is really low in carbs), although not for use all the time (try to eat foods in their whole, natural forms). A fourth a cup contains: 15g fat, 5 grams carbs (3 of which are fiber so yields 2 g carbs), and 7 grams of protein. It has a nice flavor. I'm currently working on a cookie recipe for once I'm not in weight loss mode (possibly with almond butter!). All-in-all it is a good flour alternative, but keep in mind that you don't want to overdo it and don't use a lot because it is so dense.
Almond Oil: Great source of monounsaturated fat (62%). It can be used to cook at medium to high heat. Olive oil is always my first choice, but sometimes I like to add almond oil to add some flavor. It has a nice smooth taste. You can add it to protein shakes for some added taste and fat, or add it to some protein pudding (check Saturdays recipes). Make yourself a salad and use it as a dressing, there are many options.
I like the La Tourangelle brand (I sale it at my shop, but it's relatively easy to find)
Almond Butter: Love peanut butter? Well here is your alternative. It is rich in protein, fiber, and essential fatty acids. It has a great taste and is better than peanuts butter (which has the wrong kinds of fats-polyunsaturated). You won't be using it to make PBJ sandwiches, but try it in protein shakes or with celery. You can buy it in the store (I sell the Blue Diamond brand) or you can make your own (simply process some almonds until they turn creamy).
Almond Milk: made from almonds that have been soaked, crushed, and strained to a pulp. I'm not a big abdicate of dairy products, but you could use almond milk in protein shakes (although I would recommend splitting it with water). My wife likes to use it with her isopure (a type of protein) before bed for a type of 'hot chocolate'. Fill a mug 1/3 full of milk, fill the rest with water, add the protein and nuke in the microwave for a minute, stir, and add one sweetener if you need to. It's a tasty way to get your protein in before bedtime (and retain muscle tissue).
These are all possible alternatives to replace old habits (grains- white or wheat bread, peanut butter, and milk), so dig in (with caution)!