Tag Archives: Vegetables

What’s For Lunch?

01 Thursday Nov 2012

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People who pack their own lunches have more control over what they eat, tend to eat healthier, and save money at the same time. Dining on a packed lunch has also been shown to aid in weight loss and weight management.

The following are some lunch ideas and recipe links:

Raw vegetables (carrots, celery, jicama, red peppers, peapods, broccoli, cauliflower) and hummus

Salad (lettuce, spinach, or kale) with raw or cooked vegetables, beans or lentils, and salad dressing on the side so the lettuce won’t get soggy, or Black Bean Salad, Kale Salad, Broccoli Cranberry Salad, Cauliflower Salad

Almost any leftovers from dinner, cooked vegetables, brown rice, whole grain pasta, lentils, quinoa, cooked chicken or salmon, baked yam or sweet potato, soup, Rice Beans and tomatoes, etc.

Fruit – apple, banana, orange, pear, berries, etc., or a fruit salad

Almonds or other nuts or seeds (in limited amounts for portion control)

If you don’t already pack a lunch, try it once or twice a week. You just might get into the habit of it! An easy way to get started is to make an extra serving or two of something you are already going to make, then pack your lunch when you are putting the extra food into storage containers. Your lunch will be ready to go into your lunch box, cooler or brown bag in the morning, when you pre-plan and pre-package your food the night before.

Love, Health & Happiness,

Phyllis

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Are You Getting Enough Folic Acid?

11 Thursday Oct 2012

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Are You Getting Enough Folic Acid?Folic Acid (Folate) is a B-Vitamin, and is important for the development of red blood cells that carry oxygen around your body and also helps maintain good circulation of blood throughout your body.

The consumption of natural foods high in Folic Acid plays an important role in prevention or reversal of many illnesses including heart disease, memory loss, and depression, to name a few. When the body gets the nutrients it needs and has good circulation, it can function optimally.

Here is a list of foods that are good sources of Folic Acid:

1. Greens/vegetables: romaine lettuce, spinach, asparagus, parsley, turnip greens, collard greens, mustard greens, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, summer squash, strawberries, papaya, green beans, cabbage, tomatoes, fennel, peas, kale, avocado

2. Beans: pinto beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, navy beans, kidney beans, lentils

3. Whole Grains: whole wheat, wheat germ, bran, brown rice, oatmeal, whole-grain breads and pastas, barley

Love, Health & Happiness,

Phyllis

 

An Apple A Day…

02 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in Healthy Body, Healthy Eating

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While eating an apple a day may keep the doctor away, one piece of fruit a day won’t give you the benefits of eating 5-10 servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables.  Eating five or more servings of produce has been shown to significantly reduce rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and gastrointestinal disorders. Other benefits of eating plenty of fruits and vegetables may include the prevention or reversal of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, sleep apnea, and aid in obtaining and maintaining a healthy body weight.

If you haven’t gotten a check-up in a while, with a blood test, you might want to so that you can have a baseline and know what’s going on within your body.

Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, arugula, bok choy, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, rutabaga, turnip greens, radish and watercress, have been shown to protect our bodies against certain types of cancers.

Visit a local farmer’s market to see what fruits and vegetables are in season. Add vegetables to what you already eat. Have some fruit when you want something sweet. Once you start experiencing the benefits of feeling better, having more energy and looking better, it will be easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle of eating.

Love, Health & Happiness,

Phyllis

Increase Your Metabolism, Part 2

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Healthy Body, Healthy Eating

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While exercise is considered the best way to increase your metabolism (click here for part 1), there are other factors to consider that you have control over.

1. Sleep – Lack of sleep has been shown to have a negative impact on metabolism, slowing it down which can be an obstacle to maintaining or losing weight. Make an effort to go to sleep when you are tired.

2. Frequency of eating – How often you eat effects your metabolism. Every time you eat you stimulate your metabolism for a short period of time. Research from Georgia State University shows that  people who eat every 2 to 3 hours have less body fat and faster metabolisms than those who eat only 2 or 3 meals per day. Also, by eating frequently, you teach your body not to go into starvation mode, where it will conserve fat because it doesn’t know when the next meal will be.

3. What to eat – Include a serving or two of vegetables with lean protein or nuts. Increasing the amount of high-fiber foods, like vegetables is one of the best ways to raise your metabolism.  First, your body tries to break down fiber, which is a non-digestible carbohydrate, this burns calories and boosts your metabolism at the same time. Second, vegetables are low in calories and high in nutrients aiding in your ability to lose weight or to maintain a healthy weight.

Love, Health & Happiness,

Phyllis

Maintaining Weight Loss

16 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in Healthy Body, Healthy Eating

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Maintaining Weight LossDid you know that half of all Americans who lose weight gain at least some of it back within a year, according to research published in the International Journal of Obesity.

It’s a lot easier to keep the weight off than to lose it all over again.  Maintaining weight loss is possible by creating life-long healthy habits and monitoring them. This includes:

1. Eating regularly, especially breakfast and eating moderately throughout the day, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner and one or two healthy snacks.

2. Consuming a variety of whole foods: fruit, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds.

3. Being aware of portions and serving sizes.

4. Weighing yourself once or twice a week or being mindful of how your clothes fit will allow you to know if you have gained a few pounds. Then you can go back to what works for you to lose the weight and maintain your weight loss.

Love, Health & Happiness,

Phyllis

Family Fun Friday – Visit a Farmer’s Market

13 Friday Jul 2012

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Eating local has become the trend, and what better way to get your produce than at a neighborhood farmer’s market.

Last week, while looking at the supermarket ads, I was excited to see that peaches were on sale for only 77 cents a pound!  What a great price.  So I went, expecting to take advantage of this great deal.  What I found were peaches that had no scent and could have been used as baseballs, they were that hard.  What a disappointment.

On Saturday, I went to our neighborhood farmer’s market and sampled many varieties of fresh, ripe and sweet peaches and nectarines.  What a difference compared to what I saw at the grocery store. The main difference between the two is that the fruit for the supermarket was picked before it was ripe, so it wouldn’t spoil by the time it was trucked there, while the farmer’s market fruit was picked ripe the day before.

I was reminded of why I like and appreciate shopping at the farmer’s market:

1.  The fruits and vegetables, organic or not, are picked fresh and has more flavor than most store-bought.

2.  Many of the vendors offer samples of their fruit so you can taste the difference between the yellow and white peaches or yellow and white nectarines. By sampling, you know what you are getting, and whether the melons are ripe and sweet or the strawberries are as delicious as they look.

3. It’s a family atmosphere and a great place for a family outing, where kids and adults can find new fruits and vegetables to try.  When children are involved in the process of picking out their food, they are more likely to eat it!

4. Often at farmer’s markets, they have a table with recipes, or you can ask the growers questions about different methods of preparing produce you are unfamiliar with. You can also inquire about how and where the food you see there is grown.

5. I enjoy the beauty of the booths with their attractively displayed produce, and fresh flowers!

Love, Health & Happiness,

Phyllis

Quinoa, Caramelized Onions and Broccoli

04 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Healthy Eating, Recipes

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Quinoa, Caramelized Onions and Broccoli1 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups steamed broccoli or other pre-cooked vegetables cut into small pieces

2 cups cooked quinoa

1. In a large frying pan, cook the onions in olive oil until lightly or darkly browned. The more browned the onions, the sweeter they will taste.

2. Add the cooked broccoli or other vegetables to the onions and mix well. Continue to cook until heated.

3. Gently mix in the cooked quinoa, cook until heated.

Serve warm as a side dish or cold on a salad.

Veggie Art

29 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in Family Fun, Healthy Eating

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Veggie ArtHave fun with raw veggies! Children of all ages can make silly faces, rainbows, or their own creation using vegetables.

Get creative with a wide variety of vegetables cut into different shapes and sizes.  For example, cucumbers and carrots can be cut into round shapes or into sticks.  Broccoli can be large stalks for trees or small for earrings, as in the photo.

Gather a colorful selection of vegetables.  This could include carrots, celery, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas, snow peas, tomatoes, bell peppers (red, yellow, orange or green), jicama, or any other vegetable that would taste good raw.

Create your own masterpiece. take a photo, then bring out a dip or hummus and enjoy eating your creation!

Love, Health & Happiness,

Phyllis

Fiber Promotes Health!

14 Thursday Jun 2012

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Fiber Promotes Health!Quiz: Which food has the highest amount of fiber?  

a.  1 apple                   

b.  ½ c. blueberries 

c.  1/2 cup black beans

d.  1 whole wheat pita

(See answers below)

Dietary fiber can be found in whole grains, fruit, vegetables, cooked beans, peas, lentils, nuts and seeds.

Fiber has important health benefits for adults and children. It promotes regularity, prevents constipation and can aid in weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.  Fiber has also been shown to prevent some cancers, especially colon and breast cancer.  In addition, fiber may help lower the LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and total cholesterol, therefore reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke. Fiber can also help lower blood sugar, therefore helping better manage diabetes, and possibly preventing diabetes. 

A product or food item can be labeled “High Fiber” when it contains 5 grams or more per serving of fiber.  Fiber-containing foods such as vegetables help provide a feeling of fullness with fewer calories.  And research has shown that children who eat a wide variety of fiber-rich foods will likely continue with this healthy habit later in life!

Answers: c. 1/2 cup black beans has 6 grams of fiber; a. 1 apple has 4.5 grams; b. ½ c. blueberries has 4.4 grams; d. 1 whole wheat pita has 4.5 grams.

Love, Health & Happiness,

Phyllis

Healthy Travels – I made this on vacation!

31 Thursday May 2012

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Healthy TravelsWhile vacationing in Cancun, where we have a full kitchen, we have prepared most of our meals! One trip to Costco allowed us to get fresh lettuce, asparagus, apples, zucchini, spinach, broccoli, string beans, bell peppers, cucumber, onions, corn on the cob, carrots, mangos, soy milk, frozen blueberries and strawberries, canned tuna, and frozen salmon and chicken. 

I brought a small George Foreman Grill that we’ve been cooking the salmon and chicken on, along with the asparagus and some of the zucchini.  I also brought along some rice, seasonings, prepackaged cooked lentils, protein powder, and almonds.  At a local market we purchased salad dressing, pasta sauce, olive oil, oatmeal, bananas, oranges, a watermelon and a Mexican papaya.

We cooked half of the apples by dicing then cooking them on the stove until soft.  We’ve used the cooked apples on oatmeal and to make vanilla-apple shakes made with soymilk and vanilla protein powder.  Banana and blueberries are also great on oatmeal.  And since we have a blender here, we have been able to whip up shakes and fresh fruit and vegetable smoothies. 

The salad in the photo above is made from cut up raw vegetables and apple on a bed of lettuce topped with tuna, then we put our own salad dressing on it.  One of my favorite meals has been sautéed vegetables with rice and lentils.  We all have been enjoying plenty of fruit and raw, steamed, sautéed and grilled vegetables!

With a little planning and creativity you too can enjoy eating well while on vacation.

Love, Health & Happiness,

Phyllis