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Featured Food: Grapefruit

This is an added bonus blog because originally I selected asparagus then I figured to stick to the pink theme. I didn't realize I'd find so many benefits though! Let's begin with vitamin C (duh, it is a citrus, so we should have figured this one!) Good for the immune system and helping prevent/fight colds; it is great to battle inflammation. It prevents free radical damage (thus limiting the severity of inflammatory conditions: asthma, osteoarthitis, and rheumatoid arthritis). Free radicals can oxidize cholesterol, which leads to blocks, which leads to build-up, which ultimately leads to heart attacks or strokes. Go figure that the thing that makes grapefruit pink, makes them even greater. This is the carotenoid phytonutrient, lycopene. It has anti-tumor capabilities, by having a high capacity to fight oxygen free radicals, that damage cells. Although this women's week, grapefruit benefit men as well. Eating lycopene foods (green teas-which we looked at last month) reduces the risk of prostate cancer, by 82% in some studies. Naringenin (flavonoid) repairs damages DNA in prostate cancer cells, as well! This is important because the older we get, the more cells have divided, therefore greater the likelihood for mutations and cancers. Women don't worry because glucarates (found in the pulp) may help prevent breast cancer. Lab tests with human cells have shown limonoids help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach, and colon. Let's go back to the heart. Grapefruit contain pectin (soluble fiber) shown to slow down the progression of atherosclerosis; less narrowing of the arteries with grapefruit consumption. All colors of grapefruit (blond too) have been shown to lower LDL and triglycerides (although red grapefruit was twice as effective in this case). Go pink today (men too, hello did you read about all the prostate benefits) and grab some grapefruit!

Featured Food: Asparagus

Today I originally scheduled asparagus and then I thought of grapefruit later, so today we'll just have two featured foods. I love asparagus, so I figured we'd take a look at it (plus it's green so it has to have health benefits, right?) Asparagus provides folate; actually one serving provides 66% of the recommended intake. Folate is part of the methylation cycle. Their reactions are  'spark plugs' in the body and is vital for transcription of DHA, and the transformation of norepinephrine to adrenaline and serotonin to melatonin. Folate is involved in homocysteine levels; high levels of which , increase the risk of heart disease (elevated levels found in 20-40% of heart disease patients). The homocysteine promotes athersclerosis by decreasing the integrity of blood vessel walls and getting in the way of collagen formation, which is important for connective tissue. Folate, as most may know, is great for pregnant women as well! Without fetus' nervous system cells do not divide properly and can lead to birth defects, predominately neural tube defects like spina bifida. Asparagus is great for your gut as well. It contains inulin, a carbohydrate that we don't digest, but that friendly bacteria (like Bifidobacteria and Lactobcilli), that reside in the large intestine do. Bottom- line it's good for your gut flora. Don't know about flora/ Check out one of our old post. There are a variety of asparagus: green, white, and purple. I've never even seen purple asparagus, not have I tried the white, but I adore the green and you should too, so go and get some now (especially if you're pregnant, your body will thank you for it)!

Strength Training

Most women, I find, tend to be afraid (or sceptical) of strength training. I hear it time and time again, " I don't want to get bulky." I admit the women on the left is frightful (even a bit disgusting), but what women don't realize is that they're uncapable of getting bulging muscles like these without the use of steroids or some other exogenous hormones. Look at the women in the middle, she is a power lifter and she is not overly defined (she's actually quite petite looking), but she is clearly strong.Women have lower testosterone levels and lower muscle mass levels that don't allow them to get overly muscular. This means that women's strength training regimens should be the same as men because they have no excuse for not doing it. Reasons for strength training: less fat and more muscle makes for a lower body fat percentage, increased bone density (less chance osteoporosis), more functional strength (for things like holding a baby, pregnancy, etc.), it's challenging and fun. My favorite kind of strength training is functional style, that works the whole body. My choice tool-the kettlebell (as most should know, check past articles for the benefits of kettlebells. Sunday's our my heavy lift days, and my daughters comes in and works out with the guys and follows the same routine as we do. Once a month I have clients do a max Turkish get-up, which is great because it really pushes them, plus it can add a little bit of a competitive edge to lifting.So women, don't fear the heavy weight embrace it.

Skinny Fat

This may seem like a contradiction, but there are a load of skinny fat women among, and many more aspiring to look this way. First off I will say that I hate the word skinny! Somehow women seem to correlate skinny with happiness and health, but really these women are not healthy. I hear it all the time though, "I want to be skinny," or "I wish I was skinny." Not "I want to be healthy and live a long-functioning life." Look at these pictures, who would honestly pick to look like Tori or Nicole in this picture over Gabrielle Reece and Halle Berry? The first two I would put into the skinny fat category. What is skinny fat, you ask? Skinny fat is appearing to be thin (in clothes and what not, wearing tiny sizes), but really their body fat is not within the healthy range and they have hardly any muscle tissue and carry more fat than their frames should. Women become so fixated on the scale, thinking constantly of their goal weight, or getting to that certain size (I don't understand what happens when they reach this though, are they happier, healthier or a better person?). On BMI testing they may fall within the healthy range, but really this is a bull shit test that doesn't tell us much of anything. People are built different ways and can't be expected to all fit within a box. What needs to be done? Body fat composition (calipers, hydrostatic

Breast Cancer

Saturday in Terre Haute was Race for the Cure, and breast cancer awareness is everywhere. Breast cancer is one of the most prevelant forms of cancer, almost everyone knows someone who has had breast cancer (I've had several breast cancer survivors come through my program). All women are at risk for breast cancer, this risk only increases with age. In a 90-year life span, 1 in 7 women will get breast cancer. It can be a scary thing, especially if you have a family history. Testing and feeling are important for diagnosing. Before we look at possible cancer reducing foods; we'll look at other preventative ideas. First off quit smoking and don't start smoking. Soak up sun rays! Once again vitamin D is so important. Some suggest adequate levels of vitamin D could cut the risk of breast cancer in half. I also read that decreasing the amount of time you wear a bra, can reduce risks because bras restrict flow of lymph in breast, which hinders the cleansing process of breast tissue. This leads into foods, but obesity increases risk (just like it increases

Sardines and Eggplant

What's in It:

1 medium eggplant, halved lengthwise
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped tarragon
1 small finely chopped shallot
3 finely chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup chicken stock 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon finely chopped roasted red pepper
2 teaspoons capers, drained and chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
12 fresh sardines, boned, heads and tails intact

How It's Made:
Preheat the oven to 375°. Brush the cut sides of the eggplant with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake the eggplant for about 45 minutes, until very soft. Let cool, then carefully scoop out the flesh and coarsely chop it. Transfer the eggplant to a medium bowl.
In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar with the water, 2 tablespoons of the tarragon, half of the shallot and two-thirds of the garlic and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until nearly evaporated, about 5 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a blender. Add the chicken stock and one-fourth of the eggplant and puree until smooth. Stir the puree into the remaining chopped eggplant and season with salt and pepper. In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts over moderately high heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until golden, about 3 minutes; transfer to a plate. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add the remaining shallot and garlic and cook over low heat until softened, about 2 minutes. Transfer the shallot and garlic to a bowl and let cool. Whisk in the lemon zest, roasted red pepper, capers and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of tarragon and the pine nuts. Preheat a grill. Brush the sardines with olive oil and season both sides generously with salt and pepper. Grill the sardines over high heat, turning them once, until lightly charred, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon the eggplant puree onto plates and top with the sardines. Spoon the tarragon dressing on top and serve.

Sardines with Sicilian Salad

What's in It:
zest and juice 1 lemon

bunch parsley , half the leaves kept whole, the other half finely chopped
1 small chopped garlic clove
1 fennel bulb , with fronds
10 toasted pine nuts
handful green olives , chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
4 large sardines , scaled and gutted

How to Make It:
Mix the lemon zest, chopped parsley and garlic together, then set aside. Pick the fronds from the fennel and set aside. Halve the fennel bulb and finely slice. Make the salad by mixing the sliced fennel and fronds with the pine nuts, olives, and whole parsley leaves. Dress with the olive oil and lemon juice. Heat the griddle pan or barbecue. Season the fish with rock salt (this stops them sticking). Griddle for 2-3 mins on each side until the eyes turn white. Sprinkle the fish with the parsley mix and lift onto plates. Drizzle with oil and serve with the salad.

Featured Food: Sardines

Could have included these in Mediterranean week, since they are named after the Italian island of Sardinia. These little fish pack a real nutritional punch, without some of the concerns facing other fish. We'll start with a big one- sardines are one of the most concentrated sources of omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. This is great because these two lower cholesterol and triglyceride (culprits of most cardiovascular conditions) levels. One can contains over half of the daily values. More good news for the heart, sardines are an excellent source of vitamin B12 (check past post). It actually has the highest concentration, only behind calf's liver! What does B12 do (besides promoting heart health, of course)? It balances homocysteine, which if not balanced can damage artery walls and increases the risk for atherosclerosis. Bones? Osteoporosis? We've discussed

Osteoporosis

Back to another condition that tends to affect the elderly, osteoporosis. Osteoporsosis means "porous bones" and it makes your bones become weak and brittle. They're so weak that even mild stress like bending over or coughing can cause a fracture. Fractures are the most common result of osteoporosis, with spine, hip, and wrist being the most popular sites. Just look at our little lady here! This is what happens to most elderly; let's go back to that shuffling old person you see scuttling down the street afraid to pick their feet. Why do they shuffle and not pick their feet up? Because walk imitates falling and picking up their feet means they could fall, and if they fall they're likely to break one of their frail and brittle bones! What causes the bones to get this way? Low levels of calcium and other minerals is generally the cause, although hormone levels can affect bone density as well. It's a fact that women are more susceptible to osteoporosis than men. After menopause when estrogen levels drop, bone loss increases dramatically. In men low estrogen and testosterone levels can affect muscle mass as well. Risk factors for osteoporosis: low calcium intake, tobacco use, eating disorders, sedentary lifestyles, excessive alcohol consumption, corticosteroid (treatments for asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus) medications,  and inadequate vitamin D. What can you do to prevent osteoporosis? First off you can eat calcium rich foods: almonds, cooked kale, canned salmon with the bones, and sardines. Here are some more great foods for bone health.

Alzheimer's

We'll continue on with our aging week, by discussing a condition that many fear, Alzheimer's. What a terrible condition. People with advanced Alzheimer's need help bathing, dressing, using the bathroom, eating and other activities. Those in the final stages lose the ability to communicate, aren't able to recognize loved ones and become bed bound and reliant on 24/7 care, in addition, their inability to move makes them more susceptible to infections like pneumonia. Alzheimer's is ultimately fatal. Who wants to end their life (or have a loved one die) like this, or who wants to have someone take care of them in this condition. It is a very real problem and there is no treatment for it! There are an estimated 5.3 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease (with 1 in 8 people over 65 having the disease). Every second someone in America develops Alzheimer's and that is believed to drop to 33 seconds by mid-century. It is becoming a real issue in the country, so we need to start to look at what we can do now to decrease our risk. We'll look at the disease and some preventative measures you can take, because changing your lifestyle can decrease risk! Your brain has 100 billion nerve cells, connected at synapses that transfers information. With Alzheimer's transformations at the synapse start to fail, the number of synapses declines, and eventually cells die. The disease affects different people in different ways. It usually starts, though, having difficulty remembering new information (because disruption of brain cells usually starts in regions of involved in forming new memories). Damage spreads and more symptoms arise:

Foods and Aging

We've just discussed aging, so now we'll look at some foods that can help you age successfully (by preventing diseases and adding other healthful benefits; plus, most importantly, they fit into a fat-burner lifestyle:

*Almonds: magnesium, vitamin E, fiber and monounsaturated fat (heart health).

*Apples: lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels; catechins (cancer preventative), quercetin (inhibit prostate, lung, liver cancer).
*Avocados: monounsaturated fat, fiber, vitamin E, folic acid, and potassium than any other fruit; beta-sitosterol (lower cholesterol); lutein (antioxidant that protects eyes and macular degeneration, safe guard cardiovascular system from athersclerosis and prevents prostate cancer).
*Beets: folic acid (heart disease and cancer), betanin (cholesterol oxidation), slow growth of skin and lung tumors.
*Blueberries: anthocyanins (oxidative stress), help brain dopamine production

Aging

Wow, this week I was going to cover aging and all the ailments that generally tend to tag-a-long with it, but I wasn't quite prepared. It is such a broad topic, that has different views, and classifications. You can't just put a number on it, it's quite complex, so I had to figure out how I'd reel it in without writing a book and getting overly scientific. Two posts is what I determined. This blog will be dedicated to the logistics and the second will deal with lifestyle and nutrition solutions. Here in the vain Western world we aging with crinkled noses and fight tooth and nail to turn back the hands of time, and discover the fountain of youth. Procedures run amuck fixing any sign or crease of true age. Women (and men) are notorious for lying about their age, always seeking to be perceived younger. There is the old adage that 'aging is a part of life,' which isn't true because not all animals age. Age is generally identified as a degenerative process, with a decrease of physical and mental function over time. Yet there are some animals (lobster, alligators, Galapagos turtles,

Strenuous Exercise=Weight Loss?

Some food for thought based on the article in Time magazine. Many have the misperception that they will lose weight just by exercising, or by exercising more. It's the American idea that more is better. You know the type, they decide they want to lose weight so they go out and run for extended periods of time, but aren't changing other habits (kind of like ordering a diet pop when you go for fast food). I get it all the time, people will come in frustrated that they've been running miles a day without results. We spend $19 billion a year in gym memberships, 57% of people in 2000 said they exercised regularly (but how is this helping, if there are a larger percentage of people who are overweight and obese- 2/3 of the population?) The importance of exercise has been overrated in years past, and in some cases can make it harder to lose weight. For some it triggers hunger, which can cause over consumption and reverse the calorie deficit you create by exercising. A study was done by Dr. Timothy Church. They tested 464 women. The women were divided into 4 groups and assigned 72, 136, or 194 minutes of exercise a week and one group to maintain their usual routine. Most lost weight, but the ones beating themselves for hours most days of the week, didn't lose more weight then the other groups (and some even gained weight). Most ended up eating more (greater hunger after exercise or rewarding themselves). This is relevant because government and other 'health' organizations keep recommending more exercise. In 2007 the American College of Sports Medicine and American Heart Association made new guidelines of 60-90 minutes of physical activity for weight lose. We see it in pop-culture too, on shows like The Biggest Loser, where they are getting the crap beat out them for hours a day.

Featured Food: Cauliflower

Thursday's cooking class featured cauliflower as the ingredient of the night, so as an added bonus you get to learn more about it! Considered a cruciferous vegetable, it's related to broccoli, kale, cabbage, and collards. Cauliflower consumption can help prevent cancers by balancing three systems that can cause cancer. These systems are: detox, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory. Cauliflower contains phytonutrients (glucosinolates) that activate detoxification enzymes and regulate their activity. There are 3 gluconasturtian. Cauliflower is great for the antioxidant system because it is an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese; but it also includes a variety of phytonutrients (beta-carotene, beta-crytoxanthin, caffeic acid, cinnamic acid, ferulic acid, quercetin, rutin, and kaempferol). These all help to reduce oxidative stress, which chronically is a risk factor for cancer. How about inflammation? Cauliflower is an excellent source of vitamin K and a very good source of omega-3 fatty acids (in the form of alpha linolenic acid), which regulates inflammatory response. Glucobrassicin is converted to isothiocyanate (ITC), a compound that can prevent the initiation of inflammatory responses at an early stage. Persistant inflammation can increase the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, like cardiovascular diseases. More on the heart? Glucorphanin is converted to isothiocyanate (ITC) sulforaphane, which triggers anti-inflammatory activity in cardiovascular system, while also helping to reverse blood vessel damage. It's good for you stomach too! It's high fiber content is great for your digestive system. Just 200 calories of it provides half your daily recommended fiber. Sulforaphane helps to protect the lining of the stomach by preventing overgrowth of bacteria. Research is ongoing to show cauliflower's potential benefits to lowering the risk of Chrohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, insulin resistance, irritable bowel syndrome, metabolic syndrome, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, and ulcerative colitis. With all this greatness is it any wonder why I love using it. I made at least 5 dishes with it. My favorite thing nowadays is cauliflower rice! Check out the recipes for more inspiration.

Beef Manhatten

What you Need:
1-2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 cup Diced Mushrooms
1/3 cup Diced Onions
1/3 cup Diced Peppers
4-6 oz Ground Beef
1/2 can Beef Gravy

How to Make it:
Precook your ground beef. Heat coconut oil in a wok. Add mushrooms and onion, cook for a few minutes. Add the beef and peppers. Toward the end add your gravy. Serve over cauliflower rice.This makes one serving, throw a bunch in the wok though to make a large batch.

Pot Stickers

 What you Need:

3-4 Cabbage Leaves

4-6 oz Ground Sausage

Toothpicks

1/4 cup Soy Sauce

2 tsp Seasame Oil
2 tsp Garlic Powder

How to Make It:

Divide sausage into little patties and cook ahead of time. Place cabbage leaves in hot water for 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile make your sauce by whisking the soy sauce, seasame oil, and garlic powder. Remove the cabbage leaves and let cool. Then simply wrap the sausages in the cabbage leaves, secure with a toothpick, and serve by dipping into the sauce.

Stuffed Peppers

What you Need:
1-2 Peppers
1 cup Cauliflower Rice
1/3 cup Diced Onions
1/3 cup Diced Mushroom
4-6 oz Ground Beef
1-2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1-2 tsp Emeril Essence Seasoning

How to Make it:
Precook your ground beef. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the tops off of the peppers, and then rub them in olive oil. In a bowl mix all of the other ingredients, then salt and peppers. Mix it up with your hands and then stuff it the peppers. Bake standing up in the oven for 25 minutes. Let cool and serve.

Dirty Cauliflower

What you Need:
1 TBSP Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
1/3 cup Diced Onions
1/3 cup Diced peppers
1 1/2 cup Cauliflower Rice
4-6 oz Ground sausage
1 cup Spinach
1 TBSP Cajun Seasoning

How to Make it:
Cook your sausage ahead of time. Heat up a wok with coconut oil. Add in the onions and peppers. Cook for a few minutes and then go ahead and add the rest of your ingredients. Cook for a little bit, then serve. It's quick and easy, but most importantly it's healthy, yet tasty!

Cauliflower Steak

What you Need:

Cauliflower heads

4-6 oz Steak (whatever your portion size)

2 tsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

1 tsp Butter

1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 TBSP Soy Sauce
1 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar