GlamityCalamity

For those of us who are plagued with a gluten allergy, but enjoy a hot breakfast and are watching our sugar intake, consider taking a trip to your local health food store and grabbing the ingredients for the breakfast below.

It can even be customized for the lactose intolerant.

You will need:

1 tablespoon of 3-4 of the following grains, in any combination of your choice, raw or roasted:

- Buckwheat 
- Quinoa
- Millet
- Rolled barley
- Rolled oats

*** Adding some slivers of ginger, especially during the winter season, can help guard against the seasonal sniffles and colds***

The expansion factor of these grains is ridiculous, so anything more than 4 tablespoons, even for the large eaters like myself, especially when you add the toppings, can end up as waste.

1 cup skimmed milk or soy/ rice/ almond milk for the lactose intolerant, sweetened or unsweetened – your choice. 

For a lower fat option, cook with half cup water and half cup milk. Feel free to add more water depending on how soft or crunchy you like your cereal. 

Combine in a medium sized saucepan, not too small because again, the volume expands, and bring to a slow boil.  Slowly maintain, as vigorous boiling will cause the mixture to boil over.

Of course, using a medium, rather than a small saucepan would prevent any accidental boil overs before you get the heat setting just right.

Add (optional)
- 2-4 dashes of cinnamon/ nutmeg/ pumpkin spice, whichever fancies you
- 1 tablespoon Teff grain

It can take a minute to cook, well more like 20 minutes, so soaking the grains the night before helps.

I’d usually wake up, combine the ingredients, put on a medium fire and go take a shower. By the time I’m done my hot piping breakfast is about ready.

Top with your choice of:

- Dried currants/ raisins/ cranberries and/or chopped dried fruits like figs or apricot. These add natural sweetness to the mix.

- Fresh fruit – whatever is seasonal that you like. Strawberries, blueberries, apples, pears… tart, sweet, whatever you like.

- Sliced nuts like almond or chopped ones like walnuts

- Raw (or roasted) seeds like sunflower/ pumpkin seeds

With all those dried fruits, especially raisins and dried apricots you really shouldn’t need more sugar, but you can mix in a little agave nectar (rather than sugar) if you choose.

High fibre, protein packed and customizable… now if only everything can walk into your life that that! … but I digress.

Will be sure to get you off to a great start in the morning, and have you make it past those mid-morning munchies!

Thanks: Bamboo Chaser
. 

Related posts
All-in-One Meals
What’s your serving size?
E.F.A.s: Some things are better FATTY!
Health Tip: Bambu
Health | Best foods

Help your body fight off disease by incorporating these foods into your diet.

Preparing these foods crispy fried, candied, salted or creamed definitely doesn’t count.

Whole grains e.g. Oats

This whole-grain delivers cholesterol-lowering soluble fibre and energy-providing carbohydrates without spiking blood sugar levels. Oats also keeps blood pressure in check.

Prepackaged already sweetened ‘oatmeal’ breakfast cereals contain high amounts of sugar.

Try cooking quick or rolled oats with milk, soy or almond milk and topping with cinnamon, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, diced dried fruit like apricot, currants or figs to add sweetness, or the good old cranberries (mentioned below) for a tart kick.

Also consider topping with diced fresh fruit like blueberries or strawberries. The possibilities are endless. Use a little agave nectar rather than sugar for added sweetness.

Too much work? Try Original or MultiGrain Cheerios. 

Green and Leafy veges e.g. Spinach

It’s hard to beat spinach as a green and leafy for vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Spinach is also high in calcium and vitamin K, which is great for the lactose intolerant among us.

Eat alone, steamed or sauteed with onions, garlic, green peppers, mushrooms and herbs for flavour. Cooking with cream and excessive salt will reduce it’s overall health benefit.

Legumes e.g. Black beans

Beans (legumes not peas!) in general are packed with protein, fibre and yummy nutrients such as magnesium, folate and iron. They keep the heart happy by controlling cholesterol and blood pressure.

Keep salt and sugar levels down when cooking a mean bean stew. Flavour using herbs and spices instead. Consider adding garlic, onions and diced veges like celery for added depth in flavour profile. Also cook with oils like canola, sunflower or olive oil which are free of trans fatty acids.

Antioxidant berries e.g. Cranberries

Packed with anthocyanins, bacteria fighting substances, cranberries also help heart health by inhibiting the build-up of the bad LDL cholesterol.

Found in it’s usual preparations  however, cranberries are usually laced with sugar – in juices or in most commercially packaged snacks. These don’t count as ‘healthy’.

Nuts e.g. Walnuts and Almonds

Like salmon, nuts in general especially walnuts and almonds, contain significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. They also contain magnesium, folate and the anti-oxidant vitamin E.  

Eat nuts fresh or roasted. As you would imagine that I’d say, eating them sugar coated or candied doesn’t count.

Related posts
All-in-One Meals
Obesity costs: Maintaining the flab
Diet Downfalls   
Natural vs. Organic    
Munch stress away    
 

Eating properly doesn’t have to be a production, and need not require cast and crew. 

Cooking up a healthy, nutritious meal can require little effort and just one pan – be it a skillet, a Crock-Pot or slow cooker, a wok or a saucepan.

Stews, soups, pies, jambalayas (pelau anyone?), or stir fries, the variety of foods you can make by just combining all the ingredients in one pan are endless.

You would need at least one type of all of the following:

- Protein
- Vegetable
- Grain or Starch 

and add appropriate seasonings to taste and it’s on like boil’ corn. 

Switch up the esthetics of the food. Tease your eyes and boost your nutrition by substituting vegetables of different colours and  switching to different proteins and grains/ starch from time to time. Also, switch up the taste by experimenting with different herbs and spices, and leave excess sugar and salt out of the mix. For sweetness for example, add some sweet potatoes/ yams to the mix.

Just toss the ingredients into the slow cooker before you head to work, turn that baby on, and come home to a hot, satisfying home-cooked meal.

Alternatively, toss in the ingredients into the cooker at night, close the lid and go to sleep. You’ll wake up to a hot meal that you can pack yourself for lunch.

Slow, simmered, root vegetable foods are rich, flavourful and exactly what the doctor has ordered for the winter blues or end-of-year family get togethers. 

You save time, energy and money, and best of all, you have less dishes to wash!

Related posts:

Diet Downfalls   
Munch stress away
What’s your serving size?       
Maintaining the flab

Personal health is tied very closely to financial health.

A person is considered obese if s/he is morbidly overweight, i.e. the person is at a risk of dying based on health complications that s/he has developed because of his/her weight.

Obesity is very expensive. Suze Orman, internationally acclaimed personal finance expert, shared some interesting tidbits on Obesity in America with the contestants of NBCs “Biggest Loser”, Season 8.  

Apparently, research has shown that:

- Obese people earn less than people who aren’t obese, on average about $7,000 per year. 

This is based on a number of factors including more sick days taken, and the increased cost to the employer for things such as health care insurance.

- On average, a family who eats just one meal at home every day can save up to $8,760 in just one year.

The average daily cost of the meal was calculated at $24.

- Americans spend $4.4 billion dollars per year on gastric bypass surgery.

With an average cost of $20,000 per surgery, that works out to 220,000 people per year.

- Obesity related healthcare issues cost Americans $147 billion dollars per year, 63% more than is spent on cancer related issues.

- An individual who has moved from being at an obese weight to his/her ideal weight would on average save $1 million dollars, in health care and other costs related to obesity, over 40 years.

Wowzers.

Makes you want to drop and do 3 sets of 12, STAT.

Possibly related posts
Diet Downfalls
Holiday Food Survival Guide
What’s your serving size?

Losing the extra few pounds can be a challenge, but you may be sabotaging your own efforts. Save yourself from having to do that extra lap or two by avoiding the following:

1. Munching all day
Enter the vending machines when the 3 pm crave starts screaming your name, or the doughnut, cake and cookie ’snacks’ that just stare at you during those forever long office meetings, and those pesky never-ending starters at your office parties.  

These extra often sugary or salty snacks can turn out to be your diet buster. Sweet tooth? Fruits contain natural sweeteners, try some slices of fresh fruit instead. Also, stash healthier snacks in your draw so that when that hunger pang does strike you have a better choice of eats to choose from, rather than the vending machine’s choices.

Real fruit juices as well as artificial juice drinks, soda and energy drinks for example, can also pack a mean calorie bomb. Satisfy your thirst with a glass of water or unsweetened tea instead, and save your calories for later, as chances are you’d still grab a snack after that drink anyways.

Skipping meals is just as bad.

Your sugar level decreases, lowering your energy and alertness levels. It also heightens the chances of you over-eating at your next meal. Womp.

2. Monotonous food

Following a restrictive diet greatly limits your body’s exposure to essential nutrients. Not to mention, variety is the spice of life! Wear, eat, see, hear the same thing every day and you are bound to get bored and cheat somewhere. Mix up your foods to reduce binge eating and fuel your body (and your skin) with the nutrients that it needs.

Eating locally helps you get a greater range of nutrients in your diet. Not only are the foods more accessible but they are usually cheaper and more flavorful too as there are greater avenues for you to get them fresher. Grab a local recipe book on simple cooking and see what you can whip up. Eating healthily doesn’t always have to mean grilling vegetables. You may be amazed by the amount of new preparations you may come across for tasty meals that incorporate your green and leafys.

3. Inhaling food

Yes, we are always running against the clock. The webpage takes 3 seconds to load instead of 1 and we are ready to fire somebody.

Not only does inhaling your lunch not allow you to savour it’s taste, but  doing so does not allow your brain to accurately read how full your stomach is, and can result in you eating more food than you need. It is estimated that it takes about 20 mins for your brain to realise that your stomach is full.  Take the time to enjoy what you eat.

.

Related GC Post ->
Holiday Food Survival Guide
Health | Best foods
Maintaining the flab
Genetically Modified Organisms: GMOs 
Natural vs. Organic 

Although we have been consuming foods with modified plant DNA for years, the topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is very controversial. As a matter of fact, it has been estimated that genetic modification of food has been practiced for over 8,000 years.

The Native Americans have cross-fertilized corn plants, and thousands of hybrid plants have been created by cross pollination.

Watermelon and oranges have been genetically modified to have their seeds removed, and other everyday foods that we consume today like flax, corn, potato, canola and soybean oil, tomatoes, sugar beets and squash have all been genetically modified.

Genetic modification is facilitated through the transfer of genes between organisms. Through this transfer of genes, food can me modified to:

1. Improve traits
Tomatoes have been modified to contain 10x the amount of lycopene, a bright red pigment and phytochemical that has been considered a potential agent for the prevention of some types of cancers, particularly prostate cancer. 

Rice has been altered to be rich in beta carotene, a powerful antioxidant.

2. Transfer disease-resistant genes from one plant to another
Certain varieties of corn, cotton seed oil and hawaiian papaya have been altered to be more resistant to pests and diseases.

3. Modify colours of vegetables and fruits
Some carrots have been modified to be dark red.

4. Be more commercial
Salmon has been modified to grow to market weight in 18 months rather than 24-30 months.

In addition to foods, animals have been genetically modified as well. Hens have been modified to lay more eggs, cattle to have leaner muscle, and pigs to produce less smelly foods and gas. 

Public concern prevents most of the possible genetic modification of animals to be approved.

Consuming modified DNA s is considered safe by the FDA. Over 60% of processed foods contain genetically modified ingredients, and over 80% of soybeans and 30% of corn in the USA are from genetically modified seeds. 

The future of GMOs is highly debatable. The slippery slide that is the alteration of crops and animals, the livelihood of small farms, and the fact that this modification benefits the producers more than the consumer are just some of the issues related to genetically altering the DNA of organisms. 

.

Food for thought.

.

Works consulted
Brown, J. (2008) Nutrition Now. CA: Thomson Wadsworth. 
Notes 

Related GC Posts:
What are antioxidants? -> Anti-Agers
 

The natural nail is a living organism.  It is composed mainly of keratin, which is the same protein that is found in the hair and skin, only the keratin that is found in natural nails is harder. 

Healthy nails should be whitish and translucent in colour with a pinkish colour showing through the nail bed. 

The nail plate, the most visible part of the nail which you cut and file, is relatively porous to water. It allows water to past through it much easier than water would pass though normal skin of equal thickness.

The water content of the nail varies according to the humidity of it’s surrounding environment, i.e. if you are in an area with high humidity your nails will contain more water than if you are in a drier, less humid atmosphere.

Although it may look dry, a healthy nail has a water content of about 15 to 25 percent. Any less and nails become dry hard and brittle, any more, for example when soaked, and nails become water-logged, overly flexible and susceptible to damage. 

To maintain optimal hydration of the nail, an oil based nail conditioner, rubbing the nail plate with oils such as:
- Vitamin E 
- Jojoba oil
- Olive oil or
- Almond oil for example.

As nail-polishes coat the nail plate, they too reduce water loss and allows the nail to maintain flexibility. 

The natural nail unit consists of many parts.

Probably the most important part is called the matrix, which is located at the base of the nail plate. It is a non-visible portion of the nail, just where the nail plate grows from the finger tip. 

The matrix is where the natural nail is formed, and where the nerves and blood vessels that nourish the matrix cells are located. It is important that the matrix is well nourished and kept in a healthy condition as this is the only way that it can continue to create new nail cells.

If an individual is in poor health, has a nail disorder or disease, or has damaged the matrix through aggressive nail treatments, or injury for example, the growth of the nail can be affected. In some cases this damage can be permanent 

The shape of a normal healthy nail plate, (its thickness, width, and curvature)  depends on the length, width and curvature of the matrix. For example, a longer matrix produces a thicker nail plate and a highly curved matrix creates a highly curved free edge.

Nail growth varies, but in the average adult, it is about 1/10″ or 3.7 mm per month. Nails grow faster in warmer months, like summer, than they do in cooler months, like winter. Children’s nails grow more rapidly than those of an elderly persons.

Due to changing hormones, nail growth decreases rapidly during the last trimester of pregnancy. As do hormone levels in the body, the nail growth rate decreases even more dramatically after delivery, and then returns to normal.

It is a myth that prenatal vitamins accelerate nail growth; Nail growth rate will accelerate whether or not a woman takes these vitamins.

And finally of course, toenails grow slower than fingernails, but they are thicker and harder.

.

Interesting tidbits.

.

Works consulted: 
Milady’s Standard Nail Technology 

Related GC Post -> Nail Salons: Infection control    

.

Ooooooh! “Natural” products. “Natural” has been getting a lot of play lately, seeing that the world’s gone green and all. But ‘natural’ isn’t new; it’s not exactly breakthrough science. You are natural. I am natural; well at least we were born that way. The earth is natural, and has been for kazillion of years. Cyanide is natural; doesn’t mean that you want to eat it, or rub it on your skin. 

A natural substance is one that exists in nature, and it was not created by humans in a laboratory. Not that some natural substances, flavours for example, cannot be reproduced in a lab, but ‘natural’ substances can be found, in their original state, in nature. 

There is a myth that natural substances do not contain chemicals. By golly yes they do. All products contain chemicals of some sort; most chemicals used to produce cosmetics and skin care products are derived from plants. 

Natural extracts and substances are groups of chemicals. Some chemicals may irritate skin and can even be fatal yes, like those found in poison ivy, but not all chemicals do. It is estimated that over one-third of all drugs are derived from plants. 

The label ‘Natural’ does not mean that the product isn’t:

- fatal
- carcinogenic  (cancer causing)
- irritating to skin 
- foul smelling
- safe or that it doesn’t contain harmful pesticides. 

A product need only contain 3% natural products to be labelled ‘natural’. The other 97% could be pure synthesized garbage, complicated names that you can’t pronounce, but it is marketed at natural, for good reason. I mean, would you purchase a product that is labelled “UNNATURAL”? Further more, the 3% of the product that is natural need not be an active ingredient, it could be a filler, like mineral oil. Mineral oil is natural, it is derived from the earth. There are no strict rules whatsoever regarding the composition of natural products. 

Though great marketing, ‘natural’ products are not necessarily better or worse than synthetic/ laboratory-synthesized products.

In some cases synthetically made products may be favoured over natural ones, as here there is the advantage of eliminating contaminants found in nature, and stabilizing ingredients with a limited shelf life or those that are photosensitive i.e. are destroyed by sunlight. In this regard, laboratory synthesized manufacturing can offer greater quality control over products that are mass made, travel longer distances or have to withstand extreme temperature changes, hot or cold.

At the same time a lot of expense cuts can be taken and the manufacturer can use a lot of synthetic ‘filler’ products to cut costs. It really depends on the product and the manufacturer. Look at the product label and see what are the first 5 ingredients that the product contains. Do they include Active ingredients? Water? Essential oils? Or are they just all synthetic fillers?

Natural should not be confused with organic. 

Products that are labelled organic have to adhere to strict manufacturing, and are heavily regulated. The use of non-organic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides are greatly restricted, however at times certain non-organic fertilizers are still used. Where animals are used they must be raised without growth hormones and antibiotics and generally have a diet that is healthier than either yours or mine.

Usually, organic foods cannot be genetically modified, i.e. the DNA of the food cannot be changed through selective breeding, or genetic engineering for example, which is largely done in plants to make them more resistant to disease. For example, some tomatoes have been gentically modified through the addition of a certain gene that suppresses the natural gene it contains, which makes them soften shortly after harvesting.

As a result, though free of harmful chemicals, the composition organic products are usually smaller, wrinklier, may not be as brightly colored and usually don’t travel well, unless of course you are picking it from your backyard just in time to eat it. The chemical composition/ effectiveness of the ingredients in organic products may also differ slightly from batch to batch.

.

Watch your contents.

.

Related GC posts
Ingredient Spotlight: Mineral Oil 
GMOs : Genetically Modified Foods
Health | Best foods 

The holidays are coming up y’all. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Office parties, Hanukkah, Emperor’s Birthday, New Years, Epiphany, Three Kings… however you do what you do, there’s a lot going on in these next couple months.

Celebrations will come to a halt when you can’t fit into your clothes after all is said and done though, or worse that less-than-covering Carnival costume that you ordered a good six months ago, that God-awful bridal party get up that you’re expected to wear, or that tropical spring vacation you already booked. Egad!

Be ahead of the game by keeping these points in mind:

1. Get moving
Lets be real, we aren’t all gymaddicts. As a matter of fact some of us haven’t even gotten started with that ‘09 New Years resolution to join that gym. So hitting the gym in the next month probably ain’t gonna happen. Still there are some things we can do to keep our heart rate up and at least get misty if not build a sweat:

-  Crank up the soca/ parang/ or holiday pop/ jazz/ R&B/ country, whatever music gets your feet tapping when you are at your desk, while you clean up your space for your shindig, cook or whatever constructive people do around the house during these times. 
- Walk or bike, rather than drive, that extra block.
- Choose the stairs rather than the escalator, cause I already know that you don’t take the elevator to go up one floor… 
- Consider doing body weight exercises daily, whichever your body condition/ joints will allow. Pushups, bicep curls/ shoulder press with cans of beans, that economy/family sized laundry detergent, squat, do the plank for 15 seconds and build up to a minute, walk up the flight of steps in your apartment building and then back down, download a yoga podcast on iTunes, garden… whatever. Just get moving.

2. Consider an alternate menu
Undoubtedly, there will be a lot of social events that you will attend, most of which you have no control over what’s going to be served. You can however control the menus of the gatherings that you host.

Consider tasty recipes with a high veggie content over carb ladened ones for your entres. Also consider cutting out cream and sugar where it’s not necessary, or opting for a half/ half option, for example in that pumpkin soup. It tastes pretty good without the cream, and pumpkin is sweet enough, no need to add more sugar to the mix. 

3. Calorie bombs: Drinks

Cream based drinks like eggnog, contain more calories than some complete meals. Damn, that full fat cream and sugar in excess again. And as healthy as those cocktails that bear some exotic fruit in their names may sound, chances are that there is not one trace of real fruit in them, but more likely artificially flavored and sweetened syrup. Pop and juice, real fruit or artificially sweetened, are also guilty of packing calorie overkill.

Wherever you can, opt for wines or clear coloured alcohol like vodka with soda over these cream based cocktails or darker coloured alcohols like scotch and whiskey that contain large amounts of caramel for sweetening and colour enhancening. 

4. Choose wisely

I’ll resist the urge to say anything profound like “Skip Dessert”, because really… who does that? No-one who thought it fit to read this post I’m sure. During the  slow periods of the year maybe, but to pass on every dessert from now till next year? You can’t be serious. We don’t need one more thing to feel guilty and beat ourselves up about, life is exacting enough as it is. 

Instead I’ll say, choose wisely. Consider your daily food intake a bank account. You have, on average, a 2,500 (females) to 3,000 (males) calories in your bank account. Whatever you choose to do with it is up to you, so be sure to make it count. 

Are you going to go with the 2,000 calorie dollar designer plate and then put yourself in overdraft to get through the rest of the day?… Or are you going to go with the chic 200 calorie piece that keeps you satiated longer, allows you to caress that sweet craving you’re bound to get later and still keep the bulge in your form fitting embellished dress in check, or your belt buckle from poppin’?

So instead, grab a drink to keep your hands busy, sip and socialize/ network/ enjoy the view instead until the real meal deal comes out and exercise portion control. 

If you have a few social events to attend in one day, consider having the entre from the first event and then only choosing healthily from the appetizer menu at subsequent events. That way you have the heavier meal first, and then fueling your metabolism with lighter snacks during the rest of the night. Note, veggies that are deep fried, smoothered in cream sauce do not count as ‘healthy’.

5. Pace ya’ self

The alcohol isn’t going anywhere, neither is the food. I’ve read that it takes sometime for your mind to figure out that your tummy is full, about 20 minutes. Savour the food. Enjoy it. Take a chill pill and catch up with friends and family before you head back for those seconds. 

Pace your drinking too. Have a glass of water between drinks. This not only keeps you from acting the fool and embarrassing yourself (office parties anyone?), but it saves your skin as well as it helps replace the water content in your body lost through the dehydrating effect of drinking alcohol. 

.

Now, where the party at?

.

Related GC Post ->
Munch stress away
Health | Best foods
E.F.A.s: Some things are better FATTY!
Don’t hate. Discriminate
Maintaining the flab  

Supernova

Eat your calories, don’t drink them.

The average 20 oz. bottle of ‘fruit juice’ contains 2.5 serving sizes and contains 30 – 40 grams of sugar per serving; more than a 20 oz. bottle of soda.

Other liquid calorie busters include alcohol and ice-cream based beverages and energy drinks.

Pass on  the juice. Drink water instead. 

.

Save those calories for dessert!

Supernova

.

Works Consulted: NBC Biggest Loser