Cooking classes- Veggies

Some benefits of vegetables with high nutritional values

• A 41% reduced risk of heart disease
• 22% lower risk of certain cancers
• Protection from macular degeneration and glaucoma
• Better teeth and bone structure
• Improved memory and brain function
• Stronger immune system – less colds, flu and infections

Only 14% of U.S. adults eat enough fruits, vegetables

By Lindsey Anderson, USA TODAY 9/29/2009

Only 14% of adults eat the recommended number of servings of fruit and vegetables a day, says a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 33% of adults meet the recommendation of two or more servings of fruits a day; 27% eat the recommended three or more servings of vegetables.

Washington, D.C., leads the nation in eating fruits and vegetables: 20.1% of adults report they meet both daily recommendations. Mississippi sits at the bottom with 8.8%.

Three of the top states are in New England, and three of the bottom states are in the Southeast. The disparity could be a result of the lack of farmers markets in the Southeast and policies that promote healthful foods in schools and communities, says Heidi Blanck, senior scientist for the CDC.

High school students fare worse than adults: 9.5% report they eat two or more fruits and three or more vegetables a day. About the same number of students (32%) as adults say they meet the fruit recommendation, but only 13% say they eat at least three servings of vegetables a day.

The Healthy People 2010 objective from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services aims to have 75% of the U.S. population meeting the daily fruit recommendations and 50% meeting the daily vegetable recommendations.

"At the current rate, the goal won't be met," Blanck says.

To raise the percentage of people meeting the goals, the CDC suggests grocery stores increase their stock of "high-quality" fruits and vegetables and encourages states to form food policy councils that evaluate the access to fresh produce.

It also suggests schools provide more fruits and vegetables in cafeterias and vending machines.

A few recipes that we made:

Hans’ Salad

Throw any of the following ingredients together, chopped into small pieces

Bok Choy

Pickled cucumbers

Onions

Collard greens

Roman lettuce

Tomatoes

Avocado

Rutabaga

Jicama

Carrots

Tomato, Avocado and Almond Salad by Shelly

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1-2 cups diced avocados

1 cup chopped almonds

1 cup chopped celery

4 Tbls chopped green onion

4 Tbls chopped cilantro

2 Tbls fresh lemon juice

1 tsp agave

1 Tbls Nutritional yeast (optional)

Dash of cayenne (optional)

¼ tsp sea salt

Mix together and enjoy

And just a regular salad with Ranch dressing and a Tomato Basil vinaigrette dressing.

Cooking Classes- Sugar

Well, my cooking classes that I have been doing with my cute little neighbor girl have been going well. A few weeks ago we talked about sugar substitutes and what sugar does to your body and more specifically how it effects our hormones.

Did you know:
- That the average American consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar each week, which is not surprising considering that highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup are being processed into so many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and a plethora processed foods. When you start looking at labels and know what to look for you will be super surprised at how many things have sugar in them. Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year!

-Sugar is addictive. Sugar promotes cravings. The more sugar you eat, the more sugar you want. A high sugar meal raises the blood glucose level, which triggers the outpouring of insulin. This excess insulin lingers in the system, triggering a craving for more sugar, thus adding another hill to the roller coaster ride.

-When we eat sugar it actually depletes our bodies of nutrients. This is because in order for our bodies to digest anything it needs nutrients to metabolize it. Because refined sugar contains no fiber, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, no enzymes, it actually steals those nutrients from our cells.

-Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance; some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.

-Sugar inhibits the release of growth hormone which deppresses our immune system and makes us more prone to disease. Sugar aggravates autoimmune conditions such as arthritis, asthma, and multiple sclerosis.

-Sugar raises the insulin levels in the body which in turn causes our body to store and hang on to fats.

-Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children. Sugar reduces learning capacity, adversely affects children’s grades in school, and can exacerbate learning and behavioral disorders.

-Sugar exacerbates PMS.

-Sugar exacerbates fertility related diseases like PCOS (poly-cystic ovary syndrome) and Endometriosis and is many time the cause of such diseases.

What do I look for on food labels?

Avoid any of the following things that may be on a food label.

• Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal)
  
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Fructose
  
• Glucose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Lactose
• Maltodextrin
• Malt syrup
• Maltose
• Saccharose or saccharin (Sweet and Low)
  
• Sorghum or sorghum syrup
• Sucrose or sucarlose (Splenda)
• Sugar alcohols such as maltitol and sorbitol
• Sugar, brown or white
  
• Syrup
• Treacle
• Xylose

What sugars are safe to use in moderation?

• Agave
• Blackstrap molasses
• Coconut sugar
  
• Dates or date syrup/sugar
• Dehydrated cane juice
  
• 100% pure maple syrup
• Raw honey
• Stevia
• Sucanat
  
• Turbinado Sugar

I mostly use the ones that are highlighted.

We made three recipes this day.

“Almond Joy” Fudge from greensmoothiegirl.com

Put 2 cups each agave nectar (found in health food stores) and coconut oil in the BlendTec Total Blender. Set the blender container in a sink of hot water for 10 minutes to warm them. Add 1 cup powdered raw chocolate (or unsweetened cocoa) and blend well. Pour into a 9×13 pan and stir in 2 cups each of shredded coconut and chopped or sliced almonds. Chill and cut in squares.

Ginger Bread Cookies from simplehealthytasty.com

3/4 cup coconut oil melted
Egg Replacer for 1 egg
1 cup Sucanat
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
2 cups soft white wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each of ground cloves,
nutmeg, and sea salt

Cream together oil and Sucanat. Add Egg Replacer and molasses then mix in spices, soda and salt. Add flour last mix well roll into walnut sized balls. Gently roll in Raw sugar place on cookie sheet press down gently with hand to flatten. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or 10-12 minutes for Ginger Snaps. Let cool for 3-5 minutes before removing from pan to cooling rack.

Tapioca pudding

3 TBLS instant tapioca (next time I will use pearled tapioca, but I couldn't find any and my friend really wanted to try making it)
1/3 cup agave
1 organic egg, well beaten
3 cups almond, or macadamia nut milk
1 tsp vanilla

Combine tapioca, sugar, milk and egg in medium saucepan; let stand for 5 min.
Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. cool 20 minutes; stir. Serve warm or chilled.

Dairy

I have a friend who has a daughter who is really struggling with some hormone issues right now. She is 12 and already on birth control as a means to help with her imbalance. Because of the success that I have had in balancing my hormones my friend asked me if I could help some how. I decided that I would really like to teach her about food and why she should be careful with what she eats. I am such a firm believer that if we feed our bodies right we will not need as much medical intervention in our lives. My life is proof of this, and I want to share that with people. So I have been sharing a bit of our dinner meals with her so that she can try some new foods and see what she likes and doesn't like. So far she has liked everything that I have given her (at least that is what she says) She came over last Thursday and we has a little class with just her and I. It was so fun to have another girl around! I gave her some information and then we made some things and ate them. My first focus for her was to teach her about dairy and how strongly it affects our hormones. I just wanted to post the info that I gave her here in case any body else could use it.

Dairy-

Common dairy products include milk, flavored yogurts, sour cream, cheese, Ice cream and cottage cheese.

Why should we avoid dairy?

1. Dairy (especially milk) contains powerful hormones that increase the estrogen and progesterone levels in your body. There are two reasons that this happens. First, most dairy farmers give their cows artificial growth hormones to help them to produce more milk. Second, and this one is often over looked, is that most cows are milked about 300 days a year and for much of that time the cows are pregnant. When cows are pregnant, their hormone levels are naturally raised, just like in humans, especially their estrogen. Even if you buy milk that says no added hormones, likely the hormones are still higher because the cows may be pregnant. Dairy accounts for 60-80% of estrogen consumed.
2. Dairy contains other things that are not good for our bodies.

· Dieses like Leukemia and Para Tuberculosis are found in cows often. These diseases are supposed to be killed by the pasteurization process, but studies have shown that these diseases are not killed all the way. Many believe that para tuberculosis is the cause for human diseases such as Crohn’s Disease, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

· Dairy also often contains traces of antibiotics and other drugs that are given to cows to help them combat all the diseases that they get.

How does this affect the hormones in my body?

These added hormones to our bodies affect everybody differently. Some people don’t see much affect and some see a lot. Some of the affects that can be seen are early onset of puberty, acne, irregular menstrual bleeding, PCOS and endometriosis, which are major causes for infertility today.

What about calcium?

There are many sources of calcium out there. Most are better sources of calcium then milk and actually help our body to absorb calcium easier than milk. Here is a small list of good sources of calcium:

· Sesame seeds

· Raw nuts

· Beans (white, kidney, etc)

· Flax seed

· Chia seeds

· Arugula

· Collards

· Parsley

· Kale

· Sunflower Seeds

· Spinach

· Oats

· Swiss Chard

· Lentils

How do I avoid dairy?

Obviously avoid all the products that you know are dairy (items listed above) You will also need to look at labels to be certain no dairy is in it. Law says that dairy must be labeled very clearly on all products. If it is in an ingredient that is in the product that ingredient must be labeled that it has it in parenthesis. Example: (milk)

What are some good alternatives?

Milk- Nut milks (macadamia. Almond, cashew, etc), Rice milk, Seed milk (sesame, sunflower, hemp)

Yogurt- Homemade yogurt made with goats milk, or hormone free cows milk can be ok on occasion. It has good bacteria in it that will help it to digest easier.

Sour Cream- Sauerkraut is a great alternative for the sour flavor of sour cream. We often put it on tacos and baked potatoes. Nut sour creams are also a good alternative for using in baking or on top of things.

Cheese- Nut cheeses and nut cheese sauces.

Ice cream- Homemade ice creams made with nut milks or coconut milk are great. You can also by some ice creams that are non-dairy. Just make sure to check the ingredients to make sure they are good.

After we talked a little we made these recipes:

Almond Milk

Macadamia Nut Sour Cream

Cheezy Sauce

Ranch Dressing

Then after we made them, we had some nachos with the stuff we made, (except for the almond milk, we saved that for the ice cream that we made next). They were yummy!

These are the ice cream recipes that we made. Because of time we just made them in the blender so they weren't super solid, but they sure were good.

Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream

Vegan Blueberry Ice Cream

It was a fun day. Check back with me next week so see what we learn about next!