Health Food Face Offs in USNEWS

Health Food Face Offs

(check out this great quick article)

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2012/09/20/health-food-face-offs

Ode to Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti Squash- 
where have you BEEN all my life?










All I can say is tonight was so fun, as I had spaghetti right along side the family!
I ate half a spaghetti squash=110 kcals
(p.s. 1 cup of pasta can have 200 kcals)
plus spaghetti sauce with ground beef.


I STILL had my giant spinach salad with a bit of vinegar on it--this plus the Vit C and B vitamins from the squash (not to mention vitamins in tomato sauce)...delicious AND good for you too!  TRY IT!!


How did I cook it?  cut it long way in half, scrape out the seeds, laid it face down in microwave with about a 1/2 inch of water on high for about 8 minutes or so.  You can use a fork to get the "noodles" out! YUM...

Eggplant(as the bread) Sandwich!

Traci's Eggplant Sandwiches

 Hello veggie lovers everywhere!  I wanted to share a recipe I adapted tonight.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-eggplant-sandwiches/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=eggplant%20sandwich&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe

The baked Eggplant sandwich from allrecipes.com looks GREAT...yet, since I am not eating dairy (except once/week)...I tweaked it to gluten, grain and dairy free!

http://givenbreath.com/about-kim/

•  
• 1 large eggplant sliced longways, THIN
• egg whites or slightly scrambled real eggs
• garlic
• onion
• broccoli slaw (All About Athlete- Kim turned me on to this product!)
• chopped red onion- about a 1/3
• sliced mushrooms (as many as you like!)
• spaghetti/tomato sauce (as I needed to use it up from zucchini the night before!)
• optional: added cheese to the boys "sandwich"

1. First, I dunked the eggplant into the egg whites and laid it on the most awesome of all products, the NON STICK FOIL by Reynolds (on a pan)
2. Second, I baked it for about 15 minutes in the oven at 450 degrees
3. While they were baking, I heated some olive oil, the onions and garlic, then added the broccoli slaw and mushroom and sauteed that
4. Take the eggplant out and flip them, cook for at least another 15--depending on how firm/crispy you want them
5. Layer the egg plant as the base, optional cheese, slaw/mushrooms, tomato sauce and top with other eggplant slice.
6. VOILA

I will admit that I WOULD have been still hungry....Yet, I had eaten some green olives, boiled egg whites and sliced turkey while cooking.  They were going to go on the sandwich, but I couldn't wait...;)

I'd love to hear any creative sandwiches using things other than bread that you have tried--spread the word for Traci is actually in the kitchen- and this is RARE...

Jicama "oatmeal"?!

peeled Jicama

Jicama UPDATE-

Work has been, and will be even MORE insane until school lets out--so...with the blessing of the powers that be...I have taken today OFF!  In this experiment of trying to avoid grains, I miss my morning oatmeal and berries like CRAZY!  Today, I found a recipe to cook jicama like oatmeal or porridge and it was SO yummy.  My version was to 

1. Peel Jicama and slice into medium sized chunks
2. Use food processor to process into rice size pieces
3. Put into bowl with a bit of almond milk and sliced strawberries
4. Cover and cook on high in microwave for about 5 minutes- stirring halfway through
5. I ate about half of that portion with probably about a Tablespoon of sliced, roasted almonds on top

Try this version or http://bakerbettie.com/2012/04/23/no-excuses-apple-cinnamon-jicama-breakfast-porridge/  where I found this fun recipe!

Let me know what you do and how it turns out! 

Low energy...Grocery Shopping and Jicama!

Grocery Shopping and Jicama!


For those that know me, I already follow gluten free guidelines.  So, my grain intake was lower- but I had at least 3 servings of grains per day -one oatmeal, and the other two from corn and rice.  So, the ZERO grain part wasn't a huge leap for me to try.  Yet, remember I would have those IN ADDITION TO plenty of fruit.


Over the past few days, exercise has been extra tough as one serving of fruit, no grains and only other carbs from veggies was just not enough for my exercise habits.  So, for me, I am going to have at LEAST 2 servings of fruit per day.  I already feel better after  having watermelon for dessert tonight! As I said, I'm a bit of a skeptic and watermelon seems to be 'debatable' for paleo, but--it is what will work for me right now! You have to listen to your body! Maybe we'll call it personalized paleo....


Anyways, look at all the yummy food I bought today- I have never made anything with Jicama- but have seen it in salads, also bought kohlrabi at Farmer's market (previously mentioned)--any ideas for either of these would be great!

• broccoli 
•  broccoli slaw ...thanks to Kim Hall with  All About Athlete  http://www.facebook.com/pages/All-About-Athlete/188762041252 for the introduction of this yummy product
• giant box of organic baby spinach ( for salads, in egg white omelets etc)
• egg whites
• MANY eggs ( I hard boil and snack on egg whites ALOT!)
• cucumbers
• more blueberries
• strawberries
• watermelon
• zucchini squash (green and yellow)
• mushrooms
• OLIVES!
• mixed nuts (will have to be careful not to overdo--just LOVE these)
• freshly ground Almond butter (instead of peanut butter)
• peppercorn sliced turkey 
• grapefruit
• grape tomatoes and...
• (I would have bought red peppers, which I love--but they are SO not cheap right now)
• and ... JICAMA!

WHOLE FOODS Bee Caves just canNOT come fast enough!
http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/beecave/ 

Farmers market salad

YUM Lakeway Farmer's Market Salad

What a beautiful day for the Farmer's Market here in the ATX!  A quick note about what was in this salad:

• all organic
• fresh assorted mixed greens
• about a 1/2 T of minced fresh basil
• snap green beans-barely steamed
• 2 fresh small tomatoes
• about 1T of toasted sesame seeds
• about a tsp of toasted chopped almonds
• one hard boiled egg white
• turkey salami
• 1T EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• a dash of vinegar

VOILA!- probably around 330 calories-

p.s. do you see the round purple vegetable?

that is a KOHLRABI- never have eaten one...will be trying it and reporting back...off to the trail with my friend, my son and all our pups!

GUEST AUTHOR: Dr. Eleanor Womack - http://www.eleanorwomackmd.com/
If you are wondering who finally convinced me to try a few new things, it is the brilliant Dr. Eleanor Womack.  In a recent conversation with her, she described our body as a doughnut! No, not what you are thinking (full of fat and sugar!) I asked her if she would repeat it via the written word... so I could share it with you.  Below is a quote from her...MANY THANKS to Dr. Womack


"The body is like a doughnut.... The surface of the doughnut includes the outside and the doughnut hole surface as well.  All of that surface area is exposed to the outside environment.   People have a "doughnut hole" that goes from our mouth to our anus. Our bodies' defense system of white blood cells and antibodies patrols both our skin and the surface of out alimentary tract with the same vigilance and concern.  If a white blood cell gets put on high alert about irritation or breach in the wall of the small intestine — that same white blood cell also has to patrol the skin, lungs and sinuses  where it is going to bring the same "high alert" status.  This means that if you are eating things that you are mildly allergic to--- you may not manifest that allergy with stomach distress— instead you may develop a skin rash or eruption.   By the same principle if some one has eczema, acne, asthma or chronic sinus infection— they can be treated by eliminating foods that their bodies are hyper sensitive to.   Foods that their body sees as threats." 4/21/12 Dr. Eleanor Womack  


I cannot wait to learn more and more from Dr. Womack--hope you gained some new perspective with her contribution!

Hi friends,
I did not realize how long it has been since you had heard from me!  Well, I was having too much fun helping with nutrition, and then marketing... at a local boutique hospital.  Yet, nutrition called me back.  I am peeking my nose out from the fog of starting a new position.  I really hope I can make a difference as a school nutrition director.  With this new challenge, and trying to be a half decent mom and wife.... life has been a bit chaotic and my health has not been maintained to my liking.

I thought you might like to follow along as I try to reduce inflammation through diet.  I am going to follow most of the principles of the paleo diet.  
http://www.paleoplan.com/resources/paleo-plan-food-guide/  
I must say, I can be quite a skeptic.... Yet, inflammation IS at the root of most disease, so I would really like to do all I can to slow that process.  There are many different versions, so my interpretation will be as follows...

• NO grains
• ONE serving of fruit/day (usually berries)
• ONE serving of nuts/day (no peanuts)
• TONS of veggies
• NO dairy
• NO legumes/beans
• Eggs or fish or animal protein- at every meal

(the link above shows 'allowed', 'moderation' and 'avoid' lists in full)

 I am not necessarily recommending this diet at this point, ESPECIALLY for serious athletes... I have also added a few other regimens and will report on those next time.

Ask me questions along the way, tell me if you have tried it- same guidelines or different from me...

Thanks for reading...