Cranberries and Health

What happened to my few days off?  I was seriously looking forward a little rest and relaxation and then my email practically blew up with questions about green smoothies. I am very happy that people consider me to be a good resource but on the other hand I really needed the rest which I finally got on Thursday.  *woo hoo*  ;-)

We had the most gorgeous weather on Wednesday, with temperatures that reached 71. What kind of spring are we having?  This is the craziest weather but definitely crazy in a good way.  I loved being able to spend some time outside and having the windows open on Wednesday.  It was too bad that I didn’t have time to get to the boat because it was the perfect weather for it. Based on the winter we have been having I know another gorgeous unseasonably warm day will be here again very soon.

Thursday I decided to head to the boat even though it was cooler than Wednesday it ended up being a nice day and our temperatures even managed to reach 59 which was fantastic for this time of year.   I took a few pictures while I was at the marina to share with you.

This is precious little Peyton who might be the sweetest dog I ever met.  He is a Whoodle (a Wheaton terrier and poodle) and is very smart and lovable.  There is nothing like being greeted by puppy kisses and a wagging tail to make you feel loved.  I love that animals are so honest; you know when they like and/or trust you and when they don’t.  Wouldn’t the world be a better place if people were this honest?

This is a shot across the harbor looking east toward Canton.  Don’t you love the fluffy clouds in the sky? This doesn’t look like a shot from the beginning of February does it?

I took this photo to show you the boats covered for winter.

This is one of the trees downtown almost ready to open up on February 2nd.  This winter we have had such mild weather all the plants  are starting to think spring is here.  I hope the plants are better at predicting weather than the ground hog in Pennsylvania.  ;-)

Urinary Tract Infections:

One topic that came up when I was at the marina chatting was urinary tract infections (UTI).  I do have all the fun don’t I?  ;-)  One of the ladies was having symptoms of a UTI and knew to start drinking cranberry juice and by the time she got the doctor there was no sign of infection which the “professionals” credited to the cranberry juice. Another friend of mine had a very serious UTI that resulted her being in the hospital for days.  Since that hospital stay my friend has been drinking 4 ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice every morning as a preventative measure and it seems to be working since she has had no further difficulties with UTIs years later.  I haven’t had a UTI but they are common and apparently once you have had one you are more susceptible to reoccurrence. I think my friends 4 ounces of juice per day approach is a good one. 

If you don’t like straight cranberry juice you could cut it with sparkling water or add a splash to your green tea.  I also enjoy cranberry juice with pear, orange or mint.  WebMD backs up the validity of using cranberry juice to treat UTI.  The basics are that cranberries contain proanthocyanidins which inhibit the fimbrial adhesion of the bacteria.  Without the adhesion the bacteria are removed from the body when we urinate.  Since 80%+ of UTI are thought to be caused by E. coli (bacteria) consuming cranberries is a good preventive measure.

Apparently cranberry juice also helps to prevent UTI inchildren. However I will caution you that this study was funded by Ocean Spray so that makes me a little suspect that there may have bias.  However since cranberry isn’t going to hurt anyone in small doses why not give it a try if your child has problems with UTI?

 Other Health Benefits of Cranberries:

Cranberries are good for more than just UTI.  They have also helped people with calcium salt kidney stones prevent recurrence.  Cranberries contain quinic acid which is not broken down in the body and causes the urine to be mildly acidic. This slight acidity reduces calcium and phosphate ions from forming stones.   Most kidney stones (approximately 75%+) are the calcium salt variety so cranberry is probably a good idea if you have had stones.  However if you have a history of kidney stones and they were the type with calcium oxalate then you should avoid cranberries since they contain low levels of oxalate. 

Cranberries high concentration of antioxidants has been shown to reduce atherosclerosis and some cancers.  In terms of total antioxidants cranberries always rank high when compared to other fruit.

I always buy bags when they are fresh and stash them in my freezer for cranberry dressing, cranberry granite and apple, cranberry oatmeal and making cranberry drink.

Cranberry Items to Keep in Mind:

Fresh cranberries have more antioxidants than dried or juice.  Also cranberry juice almost always has added sugar because the berries are so tart so be sure to check the label since some are very high in sugar.

You can make you own “whole fruit” juice by combining cranberries and water in your blender and processing until it is smooth.  I like to add fresh lemon and/or orange to the blender with the berries and water. If that is too tart for you add a little stevia for sweetness.  When I make this whole food juice for myself I generally use:  ½ orange peeled and seeded, ¼ cup frozen cranberries and 1 cup water in the Vitamix.  I don’t make this often because I don’t have any UTI issues. However if you wanted to drink it daily it contains:  63 calories, 15.7 total carbohydrates, 1 gram of sugar and 4.8 grams of fiber which is pretty darn good I think. Definitely better for you than the bottled stuff.  ;-)  We have Dr. Greger to thank for the idea of whole food juice. Thanks Dr. G!   What would we do without you?  I am glad that we don't have to find out.

Diet Soda and Heart Health:

I saw this article yesterday and promptly forgot about it since I haven’t had a soda in close to two decades.  However then I realized that some of you may have switched from regular soda to diet years ago and never gave up the habit because you didn’t think it was too bad.  This study showed an increase in heart attacks and strokes for those consuming one diet soda per day.  Just in case you or someone you love drinks diet soda check out this article and pass it along. 

In addition to not being good for arterial health diet soda (and sugared soda) is nothing but man-made flavors, chemicals and sugar (either high fructose or artificial) and none of it is good for your health. I think of it this way. When you ingest something that provides no nutrition (like both diet soda and regular soda) but does contain a lot of stuff that you body has to eliminate (chemicals, etc.) that can’t be good for your health.  You are much better off having something like water, green tea or even juice that you cut with water.  However if you are trying to lose weight please remember that it is always better to consume the whole fruit (with its fiber) than it is to have juice.  One thing people forget about juice is that it is higher in calories and sugar for the same volume of whole fruit.  If you have elevated blood glucose it is also a good idea to keep your juice intake to a minimum and I would suggest zero though I know not everyone is going to do that.

Thursday’s food:

There was nothing terribly exciting about yesterday’s food.  I don’t think that I have to tell you there was plenty of green and white tea with fresh citrus since you know I have that every single day.  ;-)

The morning started with Dan’s favorite green smoothie (kale, frozen banana, frozen cherries, walnuts, cinnamon, cocoa and stevia with enough water to process it).

After exercising I had a banana and a couple of Brazil nuts. 

I had my favorite hummus and veggies for lunch. I really could eat this every day and not get tired of it and that is weird since I don’t have many foods that I can eat over and over again like this.  ;-)  I had broccoli and tomatoes with my hummus for lunch. I try to always combine broccoli and tomatoes since they seem to have a synergistic effect on each other making the sulforaphane and lycopene both better absorbed.  Love that!

I took fresh fruit (a pear and orange) and a one liter bottle of water with me to the marina. Sorry no pictures of this.  ;-)

Dinner was a quick stir fry of onions, mushrooms, and kale that I cooked in a little vegetarian oyster sauce (they really should call it mushroom sauce) and water.  I used a fat tablespoon of the sauce so that we didn’t get too much sodium. I put the stir fry on top of quinoa and finished with sesame seeds with dried ginger.  Good stuff and it was ready very fast. I had the stir fry finished in the time it took to make the quinoa and I was not rushing or in the kitchen the entire time.  I love quick meals like this.

Dan was convinced that he "needed" extra calories so I made him a batch of strawberry banana soft serve. This is a sign that the weather is warming up.  ;-)

Happy Thoughts:

What a good couple of days I have had. They weren’t exactly what I had planned but they were still good.  Here are my happy thoughts:

·         As much as I really wanted to take Wednesday off I enjoyed writing the post on cruciferous veggies and why they are healthiest when they are blended into a smoothie. I hope that I was able to show you why that is true.

·         It was fabulous to have the windows open on February 1^st and to get the house aired out. Wow, we are having some kind of fantastic “winter” here.  I could learn to love this “winter thing” every year if they were all like this.

·         Thursday our weather was nicer than predicted and our temperatures almost reached 60 degrees. When I was the marina it was nice enough that we were hanging out on the back deck chatting for a couple of hours and only had on running gear no coat or gloves. Crazy weather right?

·         I feel so much better after my Thursday off.  I knew I needed some time to myself but having the day off on Thursday really proved it to me.  I am probably going to take the weekend off too so that I can continue to recharge.

·         Dan “built” house out of the cardboard boxes for the cats again this week.   Dan loves to do it because the cats think it is greatest thing since cat kibble. However it means that have cardboard boxes sitting around to clean around.  Dan’s latest creation is two pear boxes together with a whole in the center (like a front door and back door) with a blueberry box taped on top like a deck. The lower box is stuffed with tissue paper which the cats think is the bomb. As I am typing this one cat is the tissue paper inside the house and another cat is lounging on the deck. I know I am biased but they are just the cutest little fur kids.  It makes me smile that Dan loves the cats so much to do this for them.  Once the novelty wears off from this box he will break it down for recycling and make them another “new” house.  Cute right?  I can’t help but smile when I see the fur children enjoying their cardboard house.

·         One of the guys at the restaurant texted me yesterday and asked me for suggestions of what to do with kale since he had bought some and was trying to add more variety into his diet. It made me very happy that he asked me for ideas and you know I was happy to help.  I think it is true what they say that all of have an impact on those around us. We may not think we are making a difference but you never know when people are listening.  ;-)

Signing Out:

Are you completely jazzed that today is Friday?  *happy dance*  You know I love my weekends right?  I have no idea what we are doing but I guarantee you we will have fun no matter what we do.  We may try to sneak in a little boat time if weather permits.  Even if we don’t have good wind or temperatures we can go down and start preparations for the upcoming sailing season and that will be fun.  J

I will talk with guys again very soon. At the moment I am planning to take the weekend off to spend more time with my hubby.  However I expect to be back on Monday.  Enjoy your weekend whatever you are doing.  J

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving is a time of reflection for me. Sure it is the biggest food holiday of the year but it is more about appreciation for your life than it is about the food. This is the perfect time to focus on all the positive things in our lives. Here is what I am thankful for:

• I have the most perfect husband in the world for me. We are happier now after almost 25 years than we were at the beginning of our relationship. My favorite time each week is Friday because I know it will mean three whole days with my baby. This week is even better since I get to spend a super long weekend with my sweetie. Sometimes I think that I am so happy that life must be a dream. I love you baby! You mean more to me than I can express.  How many men would give a cat piggy back rides?  See what I mean about Dan being perfect for me?

• Having great friends is also something that I am grateful for. You know who your real friends are when times are tough and they are there for you. I hope you all know how much your love and support means to both of us. Thank you for being a part of our lives.

(My boys Massimo and Nicco) 

(Luca Belle our only girl and the undisputed alpha cat)

• We are fortunate to have the most wonderful fur children to share our lives with. We both love coming home and being greeted by the “three amigos”. Anyone who thinks cats are standoffish needs to meet my kids. They always greet us at the door to tell us that they missed us. How did we get so lucky to have three wonderful felines?

• I am thankful that I have been more open to change as I have gotten older. Too many of our friends are stuck in the rut they created earlier in life. I am grateful that I was able to listen to and try ideas that didn’t match my prior experience.

• Someone who I have never met but I am grateful for is Dr. Joel Fuhrman. His approach to health through nutrition made so much sense to me when I first read his books. Since then I have become nutrition obsessed and I have him to thank for it. Dr. Fuhrman’s influence has made a huge difference in our health and our lives. If you haven’t read it yet I highly recommend his latest book “Super Immunity”. It is a must read for anyone who wants to live the healthiest life possible.

• Dr. Michael Greger is another person to whom I am very grateful. His nutrition DVDs are research and fact based and very eye opening. It is impossible to watch his videos and not want to eat a better diet.  If you don't have a Dr. Greger's DVD please order one or all of them.  The proceeds go to a great cause (the Human Society) and the information can't be beat.  I also love that Dr. Greger started nutritionfacts.org where he shares nutrition information everyday for free. Dr. Greger is extremely giving and caring person and we all benefit from his research.

• I am also thankful for our team of medical professionals. Dan and I are very fortunate to have a talented and caring group of medical doctors on our team.

• Last but certainly not least I am thankful for everyone who reads my blog and wants to live a healthier life. You guys keep me going.

Just for Fun:

I found this cartoon a few years ago and it still makes me smile. I think it is important to be able to laugh at yourself. Can’t you just imagine many omnivores picturing all vegans doing this? I am sure we are a pain in their behinds. ;-)  But hopefully at some point being around us will make more of them think.  *fingers crossed*

Holiday Long Weekend:

Our long weekend started out with a quick trip to the marina. We got a call from Chris telling us that she had just gotten a call that the boat between us was in distress. This sailboat had broken their furler (the device the sail rolls up on) a few weeks ago during their last sail of the season. They had tied their jib up as best they could but hadn’t had it fixed yet. We had some gusty winds today and it loosened their jib. Since this can be a serious problem and none of us had the emergency number for the marina Dan and I headed downtown since the owners live in Pennsylvania and we are not far away.

It wasn’t long before we had the jib tied back up and were ready to head for home.

Before we left the marina I took the time to snap a quick picture. I never get tired of looking at the lights the lights from the high rise buildings dance on the water.

Signing Out:

We have a long weekend ahead of us. I will be making two Thanksgiving meals this year, one for my parents and one for Dan and me. While the food is cooking I hope to get more cleaning and studying knocked out as well as spend some time making sure my parents don’t need anything. The plan is to start decking the halls for Christmas after dinner. *fingers crossed*

Friday and Saturday we plan to spend a lot of time winterizing the boat and checking in on my parents since my father is still hobbling around. With a little luck we will get back to decorating in the evenings when we aren’t at the boat.

Sunday we will spend some time at the farmers’ market. Depending on how far we have gotten with the decorations there may be a little holiday shopping later in the day. Fortunately I started shopping about 2 months ago. It is nice to know that have a head start on shopping since December is going to be hectic this year.

Hopefully I will be able to find a little time in there to write some short posts for next week. I hope you have a happy and healthy holiday and that you spend a little time relaxing. Talk with you again soon.

Rainy Wednesday and NEAT

Thankfully the particularly rainy weather held off until Wednesday meaning that I was able to enjoy my birthday. Wasn’t it nice of Mother Nature to be good to me this year? I guess she was feeling sorry for me since I was turning 49. As you probably guessed I was not looking forward to this birthday because it means the big 50 is the next one up. I know that it is a little ridiculous to be worried about a birthday a year out but one year is a relatively short period in time. What can I say, I like to plan. LOL

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. It was very nice of you to take the time to wish me a happy birthday and I appreciate your taking the time to do that.

The weather on Wednesday was a little less than stellar shall we say. It rained off and on most of the day and there was a lot of rain. Being the weather wimp that I am the rain meant that today was an indoor day for me. However having my day inside meant that I did get quite a bit done at home and that is a very good thing since I have been behind on every one of my to-do items. By the end of the day I was feeling a little less out of control. Progress is good right? ;-)

There was nothing special to talk about the food on Wednesday. I had a green smoothie, green salad with berries and almonds, an orange and Brazil nuts, roasted red pepper salad, and split pea soup. With my schedule lately I have been sticking to very simple healthy food that can be quickly prepared.

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT):

I wanted to discuss this briefly for those that are new to the concept of NEAT. If I were going to put this into my own words I would say that it is the calories you burn when you aren’t trying to exercise. In essence what studies have shown is that thinner people burn more calories all day long. The reason for this is that they are more active and that is probably because activity is easier for them so they don’t avoid it. For those of you that have sedentary jobs/lives but want to burn more calories I have some ideas to share of things that either currently work or have worked in the past for me. If you aren’t active now don’t try to add all of these at once and overwhelming yourself:

At work:

• Instead of sending email walk to a coworkers office when you need to share something. The same thing goes for when your first urge is to pick up the phone and call a coworker.

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator. If you are only going up a few flights take the stairs. I am always amazed by the number of people that will take the elevator up one of two floors. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator is a great habit to get into.

• Use an out of the way bathroom at work. I used to pick one that was at least one flight up or even further away. This is one of those actions that become second nature after a while.

• Have a walking meeting instead of sitting around a conference room table. You will be surprised by how much most people like this one. I never had a coworker say no to this idea. Everyone likes to get some fresh air and loves the idea of burning a few calories during work.

• Go for a walk before lunch. Decide to go for a quick walk every day before lunch. By doing this you are developing a healthy habit and increasing your overall daily activity. If the weather isn’t conducive to walking use the hallway at work. If you really want to commit to this activity get people at work to go with you. Many people are more likely to keep a commit that they have made to someone one. If you are that person get a walking buddy.

• Instead of coffee break have a walking break. Even a quick 5 minute walk increases your calorie burn and boosts your immune system.

• If you have to talk on the phone use the opportunity to burn more calories. You can do this by standing up, walking around your office our using a dumbbell or exercise band you have stashed in your desk. I also liked to do seated V-crunches by pulling my knees to my chest while sitting in my chair. It helps to close your door otherwise your co-workers will wonder what you are up to. ;-)

• Park your car as far away from your office door as feasible, ride your bike to work or get off the bus a few stops early. While I can almost hear the collective groans on this but it won’t add much time to your travel time but it will increase your daily activity. When you add enough of these habits to your day it will have a noticeable impact. Try to think of it this way. When you burn just 100 calories more each day that is equivalent to 10.4 pounds lost in a year. We can all burn at least an additional 100 calories everyday without a Herculean effort.

At home:

• Do simple exercises during commercials when you are watching TV. I keep my exercise step in the family room and use it when I feel like I need more movement. Planks, crunches and push-ups are also simple to do during commercials. If you exercise during every commercial before you know it you have gotten much more movement in than you realize. Every opportunity to burn calories adds up. Remember the 100 calorie per day calculation.

• Store things in out of the way places where you have to go get them. The overflow pantry is on the third floor of my house and that means extra trips up and down the steps. To get more exercise I also only grab one thing at a time so that I need to make more trips up the steps. It is one of those little things I do to increase my daily activity.

• Walk around while you are on the phone. If you weigh 125 pounds and stand for 15 minutes versus sitting you will burn an additional 5 calories. The more you weigh the bigger the calorie difference. While it may look silly but I have also been known to do squats while on the phone. Though most of us sit to talk on the phone that isn’t the only option.

• While you are in the kitchen stirring pots and pans or waiting for things to evaporate/cook sneak in a little exercise. I like to do squats, rear leg lifts and dips. You can sneak in any number of exercises during the day this same way.

• Walk or ride your bike to run errands whenever possible. I am sure many of you have realized that I do this all the time. I love to walk to the grocery store and to the library. Carrying things home adds to the calorie burn of this activity. Not only is this better for you but it is also better for the environment too. *woo hoo*

• Fire your gardener and/or cleaning person and do those things yourself. Otherwise your gardener and cleaning person are going to be fit and healthy and you are going to be a lump. When you look at gardening and cleaning as another opportunity to get in some activity it takes on a different feel … it works for me. ;-) Though I will admit I do have my days when I consider a cleaning person and then I snap out of it. However if having help gets you to the gym more often than disregard this suggestion. Most of my friends with help aren’t using the extra time to work out more, though a few of them seem to be.

I hope this gives you some ideas for how to work in a little activity throughout your day. I think that most of us tend to do exactly the opposite and look for ways to decrease our activity (like carrying multiple items upstairs in a single trip or parking closer to our destination), but when you look for ways to get more activity into your day I think you will find that there are opportunities everywhere.

If you want to calculate the calorie benefit of these activities there is an activity calculator here that you might want to play around with.

Happy thoughts:

• It was good to get a few items crossed off my to-do list on Wednesday. I was starting to feel like I was doing nothing but treading water and that is never a good feeling. Standing still is not my style at all in case you hadn’t noticed.

• I am still glowing from my birthday. It was a really great day and I love that Dan took the day off to spend with me. In the past I would always try to take my birthday off and it was a nice treat to have my hubby with me all day.

• We are slowing moving our sleep schedule up and have shifted it by a couple hours. By Monday we will be back to the gym at 6am. While I will never be a morning person I like knowing that Dan will get a workout in before work. I don’t mind working out at home after he leaves for work but I want him to work exercise into his day and that is my goal now. BTW I still like my TRX if you are curious. ;-) I can’t wait for the rain to stop so that I can take it to the park and get some strength training in outside. Doesn’t that sound like fun? :-)

• My broken toe is vastly improved and I can now wear my running shoes again. It is nice to have the ability to get back to my long morning walks. I really missed those when I couldn’t wear supportive shoes.

Signing out:

Writing my post the next day is working out very well. It has been helpful to have extra time to contemplate what I am going to write. For those of you that also have a daily blog I recommend giving yourself more time to write.

I have a pot of Middle Eastern seasoned chickpea, tomato and spinach soup on the stove tonight for dinner. There is nothing like soup and salad for dinner. When the weather starts to get warmer I tend to naturally eat a lighter diet.

Tomorrow (Friday) I need to run my usual errands but I have already started the next post so that means you should expect to see something from me later in the day. I hope you are having a great week and have something fun planned for the weekend. We are expecting temperatures in the 80’s starting Saturday so I am hoping for a little outdoor fun. Let’s hope that my hubby doesn’t have to work again. If the weather holds up Saturday looks dry so that might be a good day for a picnic or a bike ride on the rail trail providing the Preakness traffic isn’t crazy.

Talk to you again tomorrow. I hope you have a happy and healthy evening.

Anasazi Beans … Good Stuff!

Tuesday started off very slowly for both of us. Neither Dan nor I slept well Monday night which meant we were both dragging all day. For some reason we both had difficulty falling and staying asleep. I found it very odd that this happened to both of us since we have nothing new going on that should be causing this. Apparently we have become almost one person after being together so long. ;-)  Do things like this happen to any of you?

Dan’s breakfast was a green smoothie that contained 2 frozen bananas, 4 kale leaves, 2 tablespoons wheat germ, 1 tablespoon freshly ground flaxseed, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, a handful of walnuts, 2 cups homemade soymilk and a little stevia. This makes two big glasses that I serve in frozen glasses which I store in the freezer so they are always ready.

My breakfast was also a kale smoothie but mine included 1 frozen banana, 4 kale leaves, 1 cup soymilk and 1 cup water, 2 tablespoons wheat germ, 1 tablespoon freshly ground flaxseeds, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger. You may want to add stevia to yours I find the banana adds enough sweetness for me but Dan doesn’t think that it does.

Lunch was a big bowl of savory oatmeal. The oatmeal was flavored with nutritional yeast (to make it cheezy), cumin, paprika, and no-salt seasoning. I also added 2 tablespoons of wheat germ to the oats. I topped the oatmeal with broccoli, salsa and raw pumpkin seeds. The seeds were added because I like the texture.

I always have my two Brazil nut snack (for the selenium) with a piece of fruit (another orange) which I forgot to photograph. It looked exactly like the photograph above. How long have I been doing this? ;-)  You would think I would remember to photograph things by now but I don't always.  *rolls eyes*

I decided to make some anasazi beans today since they have been in my pantry for a while and I have continued to ignore them. Since I had never made this specific bean before I didn’t use the pressure cooker to prepare them. If any of you know how long they should be pressure cooked I would love to know. They seem to be a fairly quick cooking bean from what I saw. The texture is creamy and the flavor very mild yet pleasant. I ended up flavoring them with diced tomato, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano and cayenne. They became lunch for Wednesday. Now that I have overcome my new bean phobia I will be making these more often.

I also spent some time in the evening listening to a public webinar that was put on by Hawthorn University that I found interesting. There next webinar is April 5th but you can listen to the webinar archives. When I reviewed the topics they covered a few stood out to me. I will be listening to more of these when I have time. I wanted to mention it and provide the link since I know many of you will be interested and want to check out at least of the archived webinars.

After the webinar dinner was a huge salad (in a serving bowl). I sprinkled the mesclun greens with a little apple cider vinegar and then nutritional yeast for flavor. The salad also included artichoke quarters, grape tomatoes, yellow bell pepper and was finished with white chia seeds (for omega 3). This is one of my favorite salads. I like the cheeziness the nutritional yeast adds to the salad and the tang from the vinegar.

Happy thoughts:

The longer I write my happy thoughts the easier they become for me to appreciate in the moment. Here are my happy thoughts right now:

• I am very fortunate to be married to my best friend. How often do any of us find a person that we adore, that loves us back no matter what? Every day I am thankful to have Dan in my life. I love you sweetie!

• Thank goodness for the TRX Dan bought me for Christmas. It is getting much more use these days than I expected it too. If you have a friend with one you should see if they will demonstrate a workout for you so you can see what it is all about. I can’t wait to use mine outside which will be happening very soon with our gorgeous weather.

• There is no doubt in my mind that I have the best group of people reading my blog. You all give me a lot of motivation to continue to learn and share things with you. I am very fortunate to be in the company of somany other health and nutrition junkies. Thank you all for being there to provide me with inspiration when I am feeling less than healthy.

• I love having the time to read books, what DVDs and listen to webinars on health and nutrition. Learning is something that keeps me pumped.

• I am making a new soup today that is turning out really well and is healthy of course. I thought you might find it interesting to learn how I make up new recipes and what the process looks like. I love sharing things like that since my hope is that my blog makes eating healthy whole food seem possible.

• Who doesn’t love a glorious orange sunset? I almost missed it on Wednesday since I was in the kitchen making soup for dinner. However I came out of the kitchen just in time to see the beautiful blaze of orange and yellow in the sky.

Signing out:

Today has been another long one. I talked on the phone with two different friends, listened to another webinar (which I will tell you about tomorrow) and had things to do here. Sometimes I wonder how I manage to be this busy. Now it is time for me to unwind for the evening. I hope you had a fabulous Wednesday. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Monday Back to the Grind and Eating Out Again ;-)

Isn't this the cutest picture of our little baby boy Nicco (aka Binky)?  I know I am a proud cat mommy but I think my fur children are the most adorable babies particularly when they are being good.  ;-)

Monday started with a bit of whimper since neither of us slept well last night. When that happens we both decide to sleep in rather than head to the gym before work. Whenever we drink tea (or any liquid) too late, we are up once or twice in the night which doesn’t help either of us get good rest. I do know better and didn’t think I had made tea that late in the evening but apparently I did since the same thing happened to both of us. *shakes head* No matter how well you think you are doing there is always something that you can tweak. ;-) I wanted to mention this in case the same thing is happening to any of you. I find that if I stop consuming beverages two hours before bedtime that seems to be enough so that my sleep isn’t interrupted.

Temperatures were in the 30’s this morning which meant breakfast for Dan was a big bowl of hot oatmeal with wild blueberries (previously frozen), wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseed, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia and walnuts. When it is cold outside it is difficult to get enthused about something cold for breakfast. Not to mention that when I tried drinking smoothies or juice when it was cold I seemed to stay cold all day unless I had a mug of hot tea in my hands almost constantly. I think we all need to figure out what works for us. Personally I prefer to have most of my raw veg mid-day during the winter after my body has warmed up and the day is as warm as it is going to get. This is something that I found works for me after much trial and error. However I wanted to mention this in case you are struggling with eating more raw food but live in a cold climate.

I did some simple strength training at home this morning and a little gentle cardio to get my blood pumping without stressing my knee. Exercising alone works better for me when I need to take it easy. My competitiveness comes out when I exercise with others. Does this happen to anyone else?

My breakfast was leftover soup from last night topped with leftover salsa. I know not everyone eats soup for breakfast and I never did when I was an omni. However since giving up meat, dairy, and other standard American fare now I seem to be able to enjoy eating anything without regard to what time of day it is. When I get up in the morning I make myself what appeals to me at that time. ;-) Once I let go of my need to have breakfast food in the morning there were many more options that opened up for me. It may be unconventional but it works for me. ;-)

Knowing that we were going out to dinner tonight with Phil and Jeff I decided to take it easy today on the food and skipped lunch since I wasn’t hungry.

My father called mid-day and asked if I could make him some chutney. Do anyone else’s elderly parents have chutney emergencies? As much as they rail against my healthy vegan food when they need something it is nice that they acknowledge that I am a good cook. LOL, they are too funny aren’t they? Since this is vegan, though not the least bit healthy, I will tell you what I did. I used ½ a pineapple with its juice, about 2 cups dark raisins, ½ cup sugar, the juice and zest of one orange, I onion peeled and roughly chopped, cinnamon, cardamom, about an inch of fresh ginger that I grated and a dash of vanilla. I cooked this until the onions were tender and the syrup was thick.

During the afternoon I stumbled on a show on PBS called “The Amen Solution” by Daniel Amen, MD. Since it was diet related I watched for a little while. I was a little surprised that the diet was very similar to what I believe with the exception that it includes fish. There may be more things that are different but that was all I picked up in the half hour that I was watched. The thing that resonated with me was that he talked about how different diets work better for different people. While a vegan diet works well for both Dan and me I don’t think it will work for everyone. Don’t get me wrong I think that a whole food plant diet is extremely healthy but some people may be so unhappy eating the way we do that it would be detrimental for them in the end. Once I get through the current stack of books from the library I will pick this one up and let you know what I think of it.

Here in a short video and article about the chemistry of cooking. If you are like me and like Shirley Corriher you will enjoy this 2 minute video. Also Shirley has a few cookbooks you might want to check out. They aren’t vegan but she does explain the science behind cooking which is very useful information no matter how you cook.

As if we don’t need another reason to stay away from processed foods check out this article. It is not good news but I think it is better to know these things than to be uniformed. This is another example of why I am happy that I don’t eat processed food for any longer. Bleh :-P This particular article addresses omni processed foods but it also explains the negative impact of IGF-1 that I mention often. I hope you take a few minutes to read the article and pass it along to your omni friends and family.

Next it was time to go out for dinner. Dan picked up the guys, then me and we were off the restaurant. You all know where we went right? Yes of course Ian was cooking, LOL. This was why he was worrying about food on Saturday we had warned him that we were coming back on Monday. While he likes to have advance notice that we are coming in I sometimes think it isn’t good since he seems to over think things when he as too much time to think. I wish he would relax and just wing things for us but he doesn’t work that way since he is a perfectionist. Are you starting to see why I always feel like we put him out when we come in? It is so sweet that he caters to us but since it isn’t a vegan restaurant and he isn’t tremendously comfortable with cooking that way I feel like we are causing problems. I know I am as bad as Ian only over thinking things only in a different way. ;-)

Fortunately Jen is working tonight which is great since she knows how we operate. It is always nice to have someone that “gets us” since we aren’t typical customers. When I made reservations I checked on the availability of Phil’s beverage of choice (Dewar’s). Do any of you check on things like that when you make reservation or is it just me?

Dan and I started the evening with a pot of tea (green with hibiscus, pear and strawberry). I love the color of hibiscus tea and just recently read that hibiscus helps to lower blood pressure. 

Like usual Dan and I didn’t order instead the kitchen sent out things they had prepared for us.

The first course that came out was an antipasti plate of caponata, hummus, dill marinated artichokes, olives, roasted peppers and a chickpea salad with house made whole wheat flat bread. It was very tasty and filling

Our entrée was Szechuan tofu which we both love and haven’t had in many months.

Phil and Jeff had omni dishes and thoroughly enjoyed them as well. This is one of the reasons that we always end up at the same place is because all of us are happy, vegans and omnis alike.

True to form we had a good evening at the restaurant the food and company were both great. On days like today I have to pinch myself to see if this is really my life. Overall things are pretty darn good here and we are working on that one pesky health problem. ;-) If determination makes a difference we will get that under control too, at least that is our plan.

Happy Thoughts:

• It was very nice to wake up this morning and have no pain anywhere. Thank goodness the back and knee issues seem to be behind me for now. With a little luck I won’t don’t anything silly and reinjure myself. *fingers crossed*

• I attended a webinar this morning that started my week on the right note. Since Mondays are not my favorite day it is nice to have a giggle in the morning to start the week. It is good to have friends that look after you. Thank you LJ for making me smile!

• I loved seeing a doctor talk about nutrition today on PBS. It was comforting to me to hear a physician focus on whole food as a way to improve not just your weight but for brain health and mood. When the doctor was talking about the impact each of us have on the diet habits of others I could not help but smile. Seeing things like this in the mainstream is very encouraging.

• It also made me smile that my father realizes that I am good cook even though we don’t eat like he and my mom do. My father is not one to show emotion so this is about as close as I will get to approval. ;-)

• Dinner tonight with Phil and Jeff was very nice. It is such a shame that they live so far away. Both Dan and I enjoy spending time with them. I don’t think there was a 15 second gap in conversation all evening. That is truly the sign of good dinner conversation.

Signing Out:

Since we went out for dinner and stayed out too late I need to zip this up and turn in. I hope you had a good Monday too. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Update and Dinner at Jaleo

Talk about swamped ….. Where has the week gone? I can’t believe that I haven’t posted since Sunday. This is definitely the longest that I have gone without posting. Now I am going to try to get you caught up on everything that has been happening and is worth mentioning. ;-)

On Thursday of this week Dan had a meeting in DC and I went with him so that we could have dinner at one of Jose Andres’ restaurants as a treat. I also took the opportunity while he was in his meeting to write a post and let you know what we have been up to since my last post this past Sunday.

I decided to listen to “The Great Health Debate” which started on Sunday. Since the audio recordings for the debate ranged from 2 to 3 hours that has been taking up a huge amount of my time. Of course I have been taking notes while listening which made the recordings last even longer since I was pausing them often. Between the recordings, exercising, and life administration I have had zero time online which I am sure you noticed if you sent me an email. I will reply I promise but it may take me a few more days as my schedule is packed through Tuesday of next week. *rolls eyes* I am ridiculously busy at the moment and looking forward to getting back to my typical “woman of leisure” schedule. ;-)

Regarding “The Great Health Debate” I have found it rather interesting though I wouldn’t actually call it a debate since one speaker talks for an hour or so and then another speaker talks with no interaction between the two of them. However it has been interesting from the perspective that each call so far has had an omnivore and the vegan. There has been some interesting information that has come out that I will be researching further. If I decide to order the recordings and transcripts I will let you know. I am on the fence about that now but may decide to order them.

For the most part the speakers have all agreed on a few things. All of them are very down on processed food and junk food. None of them are keen on conventional food not meat, dairy nor produce. They all seem to approve of raw produce either and many approve of cooked produce. Grains have taken a bashing though some of the speakers think they are fine in moderate amounts. Beyond those few things the speakers are all over the map. Since the event was put together by Renegade Health you would expect many of the speakers to be raw foodists and they are. I have been surprised by how much even they disagree with each other. Overall it is has been very interesting and worth listening too. I only wish it was a little shorter each night as this is taking up a big block of my time. However I assume that is partly the point and will encourage many people to buy the audios and transcripts. ;-)

Before I forget there is also a TEDx talk coming up this weekend that you might want to check out. This one is called “Changing the Way We Eat”. I am most interested to hear Dr. William Li (President, Angiogenesis Foundation) speak but will be checking out the other speakers too to the extent that I can fit them in. The TEDx talk starts at 10:30 and goes until 6 so I may not watch the entire thing. ;-)

I have not been cooking much either lately since I have been ridiculously busy. We have been existing on things like beans (which I pressure cooked) on salad, spring rolls, soup, collard wraps, baked tofu, roasted sweet potatoes and other fast meals. You know I am busy when I can’t find time to cook and write about it. LOL

Here are some random pictures of what we have been eating:

Our usual green smoothies made with kale, frozen banana, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, homemade soymilk or water, and stevia for Dan.

A few times the pizza veggies showed up using frozen organic veggies and mushrooms which I topped with red sauce sand walnut parmesan.

You will not be surprised to see that we have been having our recent favorite snack of an orange with two Brazil nuts (for the selenium of course). ;-)

I also made a pot of yellow split pea and sweet potato soup that even my parents liked. Go figure! I will try to get that recipe posted soon. I did write things down but didn’t put the information in the cookbook program yet so I don’t have the nutritional statistics at this time.

A few days we had summer rolls (raw spring rolls) with a quick sauce I made from homemade reduced fat peanut butter, lime zest, lime juice, chili garlic sauce, and water to get the right consistency. The sauce was very good and will be showing up again with the specifics because I liked it that much. It was also a good sauce to dip baked sweet potato fries into.

Speaking of sweet potatoes those turned up a few times in the last few days because they are easy. Once they were baked and dipped into salsa. A different time I used the peanut sauce to dip the fries into.

Another time I there was a baked sweet potato filled with garbanzo beans and topped with salsa.

I also managed to sneak in a few collard wraps these were filled with avocado, black beans, tomatoes, cucumber and salsa.

You will not be surprised to hear that Dan has been having his favorite dessert almost every night.  Yes he could practically eat his weight in strawberry banana soft serve.  ;-)

As you can see there really hasn’t been any creative cooking going on at our place just fast healthy food. You really haven’t missed much in terms of food from me over the last few days.

Knowing that we were driving to DC this afternoon Dan caught a ride into work with Troy and I was supposed to pick him up downtown. I started my morning by listening to “The Great Health Debate” that was released last night. After that I had errands to run. Yippee skippee you all know how much I like to drive, NOT. Since I was out and about I stopped and Marshall’s to see if any bargains were to be had and there were, LOL. I grabbed three shirts and a pair of black slacks for myself.

I also found these adorable tea cups with saucers for $1. Can you believe two cups and saucers for $1 and they were not made in China.  That is what I love about Marshall’s. You never know what you are going to find but sometimes you can get great bargains. I do love a good bargain. ;-)

Then it was time to head downtown to pick Dan up from work. When I was at traffic lights I took a few random pictures of Baltimore to share with one of my out of town friends. Here they are in case you are curious.

This is a shot from downtown (little Italy to be specific) looking toward the Inner Harbor.

Old red brick buildings are common in downtown Baltimore like this one.

Here is another old building which I think is part of the department of education but I am not certain. It looks like it should be a court house of something equally official to me.

This is a picture of Oriole Park at Camden Yards which I took as we headed for DC.

Here we are arriving in DC at yet another ball park. This is where the Washington Capitals play and coincidentally was around the corner from Dan’s meeting. It feels like a baseball sort of day. Maybe that is because I am SO looking forward to the arrival of spring. ;-)

We came into DC on Capitol Street and you can see the US Capitol over the roof of the blue car in front of us.

DC is also full of these new shiny buildings with zero character. *rolls eyes* I know some people like this type of architecture but I find it rather flat and boring.

After Dan’s meeting we were off to Jaleo. *happy dance* Both Dan and I have loved everything we have ever had at Café Atlantico and The MiniBar so we couldn’t wait to try this restaurant. When I checked the menu I was thrilled to find that they have more naturally vegan dishes than I had anticipated. Let the feasting begin. LOL

Phiet (who works with Dan) was also in the DC meeting and he joined us for dinner. We warned them ahead of time that we are very slow eaters and like to savor the experience and he will still showed up for dinner with us. Brave of him wasn’t it. LOL

Dan and I started with the tomato bread which was delicious. I have no idea how they make something so simple SO good.

Then we ordered the garlic mushrooms which were wonderful.

Next we had the vegetable paella which was huge so over half of the pan ended up going home with us.

The next dish was the potatoes with cilantro, cumin, garlic dipping sauce. I loved the sauce which means I need to make a healthy version of that very soon.

We ended the meal with the spinach with pine nuts, raisins and apples. I expected this to be very much like the Sicilian dish I make with pine nuts, raisins, garlic and hot peppers but it wasn’t which surprised me. I will be making this at home soon too.

We walked back to the car which we parked near Café Atlántico (another Jose Andres restaurant and still my favorite). I thought the lights of the front of the building were cute.

Leaving DC we drove around a little and took pictures for a friend. She wanted to see some of the usual sites like the monuments and the exterior of the museums. Here are those pictures.

Thursday was a long day but a good one.

Happy Thoughts:

I have had a very busy week but it hasn’t been bad just hectic. Here are my happy thoughts:

• While I was busy I was also able to take care of the basics, like preparing healthy home cooked food, cleaning, etc. Overall it has been a good week.

• Thursday was a lot of fun and we enjoyed Jaleo with Phiet. The food was delicious and we had a good time chatting.

• It was fun to see DC through the eyes of a tourist. Since DC is very close to Baltimore (about an hour away) I tend to take it for granted. It was fun to take pictures for someone else and it caused me to look at DC differently.

• I found a few really cute shirts at Marshall’s on Thursday which I really like. Who doesn’t love a bargain?  Those always make me happy.

• Today is Friday! *happy dance* I love Friday’s and that is always something to be happy about. ;-)

• If the weather people are right we will be back to normal temperatures tomorrow and then into the 50’s next week. Could spring actually be around the corner? I hope so. *fingers crossed.

• As I am writing this post I have Binky lying on me supervising what I am doing. We are very blessed to have sweet loving felines to share our home. They greeted us at the door last night when we came home like we had been gone for days. They are such precious little babies, not that I am biased of course.

Signing out:

I need to get a few things done here including listening to the installment of “The Great Health Debate” released last night. I also need to get things caught up around here so the weekend can be more laid back.

I hope to have time to write a post tonight for tomorrow morning. Enjoy your Pre-Valentine’s Day weekend. Talk to you again soon.