ⓒ iStockPhoto - qbanczyk

Last week, I addressed myths about whole foods. While some misinformation surrounds whole foods, they provide the foundation of many healthful ways of eating, and have plenty to recommend them as a clean food source.

No Additives

It’s there. It’s a chunk of food, just the way it came out of the field, orchard or barn. No hidden ingredients, nothing added or taken away. You can look at it and know exactly what you’re getting. Anything added to whole foods, you add yourself. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - gmnicholas

It’s a school night and you are cleaning out your child’s lunchbox so it’s ready to go in the morning, only to realize that almost none of it was eaten. Some days it may feel pointless packing your child a lunch at all. The problem is that lunchtime is also playtime at school. Lunch needs to be a non-fussy affair so kids can get on with the business of playing with friends. Really, they don’t eat; they graze. Therefore, the lunches that get eaten are both appealing and easy to eat. Think “quick, healthy eats”, and offer a variety each day, and you will see a difference. Your success rate will be even higher if you go shopping with your child and have them help in the selection process. They will be emotionally invested in the choices they make, and the lunchbox will come back emptier (if not completely empty).

Finger food is king in the lunchbox world. Begin with a hearty main dish, such as a wrap. The outside wrapper can be a tortilla or flavored wrap, or try an Asian Fusion version, using a rice wrapper to hold the ingredients together. Fill with your favorite protein option, such as tofu strips, shrimp or chicken strips, topped with thinly-sliced cucumber, carrots, chopped lettuce and sprouts. Another easy option is a burrito filled with beans and cheese and topped with extras, such as avocado. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - feverpitched

Whole foods - the general idea of eating close to nature, not the supermarket of the same name - provides the foundation for many healthful dietary styles. At the core, whole foods are basically foods that you could identify from your fridge or pantry if you went out to a garden, orchard or farm. You could go to a barn and pick up an egg, but not a chicken nugget. In a field, you could see tomatoes, but not ketchup, beans but not a burrito.

As with so many food styles that have advocates, whole foods have some fuzzy borders. Depending on who you ask, certain grains like oats may or may not be whole foods, since they require milling to be edible. Entire websites are devoted to what extent animal foods can be whole foods, like whether a boiled lobster is whole food while a grilled chicken breast isn’t. With the fuzzy borders comes myths about the nature and capabilities of whole foods. (continue reading…)

From LivingNutz.com

Raw and Living Foods are foods that contain enzymes. All cooked food is devoid of enzymes. Cooking food changes the molecular structure of the food. In general, the act of heating food destroys enzymes in food. Living and raw foods also have enormously higher nutrient values than the foods that have been cooked.

This belief is based on the work of Artturi Virtanen, a biochemist, and on the research of Dr. Edward Howell, an Illinois physician born in 1898, who researched how enzymes played a role in a person’s diet. He concluded that eating cooked food leads to health problems. In 1985, Howell published a book in which he claimed that laboratory rats fed cooked foods had an overly large pancreas size. Some raw food diet proponents believe that Howell’s book shows that the pancreas is forced to work harder on a diet of cooked foods and that food enzymes are just as essential to digestion as the body’s self-generated enzymes.

Professor Karl Eimer, director of the Medical Clinic at the University of Vienna studied the effect of a 100% raw diet on athletes. He placed his subjects on a two week program of intense physical training while they continued to consume their usual cooked diet. Their athletic performance was monitored and evaluated. They were then put on a 100% raw diet and continued their training. Without exception the athletes demonstrated improvements in reflex speed, flexibility and stamina. Eimer, and his colleague Professor Hans Eppinger, concluded that raw foods increase cellular respiration and efficiency. Their findings were reported in the July, 1993 edition of Zeitschrift fur Ernahrung entitled Klinik Schwenkenhacher.

Anthropologist Peter Lucas of George Washington University in Washington, DC, was reported in NewScientist magazine on 19/2/2005 as having the theory that man being the only mammal with chronic poor dentition and the only mammal to significantly process and cook his food, are causally linked. He believes that the adoption of food processing and cooking reduced the size of our jaw through evolutionary processes, but not the size of our teeth. Hence the expanding science of orthodontics. Conversely, the research suggests that a diet of unprocessed and uncooked food is more likely to promote health.

The benefits of going raw-vegan are boundless. Raw foods are easy to digest, and they provide the maximum amount of energy with minimal bodily effort. Studies have shown that living foods have healing powers that can alleviate many illnesses from low energy, allergies, digestive disorders, weak immune system, high cholesterol, candida, to obesity and weight problems (weight normalization), etc.. Research and real life experiences have also shown that a person can prevent a body’s healthy cells from turning into malignant cancerous cells by consuming mostly a raw food diet and whole organic foods!

The Environmental Working Group has put out the 2010 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen guide to the best and worst produce when it comes to pesticides. Better yet, for iPhone and iPod Touch-toting moms, there’s an app for that, too! In addition to the wallet card, you can keep the list in your phone (right next to the grocery list).

The full list of 49 fruits and vegetables, ranked for their pesticide residue levels, is available at the Environmental Working Group’s website. Check out the handy video guide from Dr. Andrew Weil after the jump. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - photovideostock

In this third and final article of the Coconut Oil series, I thought I would leave you with a few easy, creative recipes to incorporate this beneficial oil into your diet.  The good thing about these recipes is that they help ease you into coconut oil use and have very little prep time.  Some of you have experienced adverse reactions such as dizziness, or even nausea.  Perhaps, you may have tried too much, too soon.  The first time I tried a full tablespoon, I was nauseous for the entire day.  I have found that smaller amounts like a few teaspoons at each meal worked much better for me. (continue reading…)

Have you found a farm that offers Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in your area? Buying a share of a CSA is a great way to vote with your fork. Your up-front payment supports local farmers and commits your household to fresh seasonal produce for the length of the regional growing season. Once you’ve researched and chosen a farm, signed a pledge, written a check, and picked up your first box full of leafy green bounty… what do you do with all those vegetables?

The most common reason that first-time CSA subscribers don’t participate in a second season is waste. It can be hard to use that much produce before it spoils, the share might include vegetables your family doesn’t really like, or you might just not know how to use some of them (kohlrabi, I’m looking at you!). However, once people overcome that learning curve, a CSA can be a great way to incorporate new and healthy produce into your diet while supporting local foodsheds.

Here are five ways to make that first season go by smoothly: (continue reading…)