Processed Foods

Hello All!

It has been a while since I last posted, but I have been extremely busy the last few weeks, finishing up some projects and getting ready for summer! I came across this article today about the Gross Ingredients in Processed Foods and how the public is becoming more and more aware of these additives.

I just wanted to point out that the CSPI staff attorney Sarah Klein who was quoted in the article saying, "In pink slime, we are looking at a product that is unsavory, but not unsafe -- we don't have any evidence to suggest the ammonia treatment is dangerous." I am sorry, but any chemical that is used to clean my kitchen floor, cannot be safe to ingest.  This statement really irks me. They have not done a study or have evidence on the long term effects of these additives.   Why is it being sold for human consumption? How many years will it take before they come out with facts stating that if you have ever eaten any meat that contained pink slime and ammonia (or any of these other unhealthy and disgusting additives) you could be eligible to sue the government for damage to your body? 


OK, enough of my ranting, I am interested to hear people's opinions on this matter.  Have you changed your diet due to these new findings about the food we consume as a nation?


Happy Eating!
Lauren

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Some yum yums to share!

Hi All!

So I figured out how to post on this blog, using my own name and profile.  If you look at the bottom of this post it says...written by Lauren Demby! YAY! Anyway, I have done a bit of cooking as of late, and have even had a guest over to eat some of the food! My good friend and roommate from my senior year at Pitt, stopped by for some tasty treats! We cooked a delicious meal together, which was very similar to my recipe from Dinner (DAY 1: Vegan, Wheat-Free Diet).

We made a sauce to go over some whole wheat pasta, which consisted of:

- Butter Beans
- Tomato
- Spinach
- Zucchini
- Onion
- Garlic
- Heart of Palm
- Mushroom
- Salt + Pepper

As seen in the picture below, we ladled the sauce over some whole wheat pasta, and added a sprinkle of cheese on top. Now I know what you are thinking. Shame on me for eating wheat and dairy.  However, the amount of pasta that I ate in proportion to the veggies I slathered on top, was very minimal.  I felt alright after eating the pasta, and I barely added any cheese.  I was just craving some cheese, and I wasn't going to deny myself any.  I was alright after dinner, my stomach wasn't to upset with me, however, I also watched how much of the cheese I used, which was super hard, because it tasted so good!!

Ahra enjoying our tasty meal!

My mother and I have also been on this Indian food kick lately.  I have been craving the stuff ever since we made the Thai Chickpeas a little while ago. Indian food is so tasty and has a ton of flavor.  Instead of the chickpeas we made several dishes which included, potatoes, cauliflower, and bok choy.

The ingredients in the potatoes:


- Red Potato
- Olive Oil
- Ginger
- Ground Cumin
- Whole Cumin Seeds
- Cayenne Pepper
- Coriander
- Black Pepper

This recipe is a variation of the original from Madhur Jaffrey's book Simple Indian Cookery.

The ingredients in the cauliflower:


- Cauliflower
- Whole Cumin Seeds
- Yellow Mustard Seeds
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Salt
- Pepper
- Gram Marsala

This recipe is a variation of the original from Madhur Jaffrey's book Quick and Easy Indian Cooking.


The ingredients in the bok choy:


- Bok Choy
- Olive Oil
- Sesame Seed Oil
- Sesame Seeds
- White Onion
- Red Pepper


We also recently celebrated my Dad's Birthday! Happy Birthday Daddy! For a healthy alternative to birthday cake, my Mom made some yummy date treats, which we topped with the chocolate version of my favorite coconut ice cream!

Ingredients in the Date Treats:

- Raisins
- Walnuts
- Carob



Until the next blog fully of yummy and healthy foods...

Happy Eating!



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Fructose Corn Syrup in food

If you watched the link posted a few days ago on sugar, then you know that fructose corn syrup is awful. Recently, more articles have been posted about fructose corn syrup and how eating it should be avoided.  A large amount of processed foods contain this substance, so read ingredients before you purchase anything! I have added the link on the 60 Minutes segment, IS SUGAR TOXIC?  posted earlier in the week. I came across another article, linking the American Diet and Autism.

 My mother, having a passion for nutrition, and teaching others, has educated me from birth on how to live a healthy lifestyle. I have been very fortunate to have grown up in such an environment, where the knowledge concerning foods and health was at my fingertips.  Its never to late to educate yourself and change the way you eat, to not only better yourself, but also your family and friends.  Be conscious of your eating habits, and how it can affect not only yourself, but also the people around you.

                     "One should eat to live, not live to eat."
                                                                                          - Cicero, Rhetoricorum LV 



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Forks Over Knives

"The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition."
                                                  -Thomas Edison

I recently saw this documentary on the healing power of food.  I have done some research and have found a lot of people are skeptical, some are even nonbelievers, about plant based diets. Some people are even going to the lengths of discrediting the research done in this film.  Now, I am not a big research buff, and throwing numbers and big fancy words at me isn't going to help.  However, the people who made this film, and the doctors featured, really know there stuff.  It really is mind boggling how many people will turn their cheeks and continue to eat the way they do, when %35.7 percent of the population (%17 of children) are obese.  With obesity comes so many health issues. The thing that really bothers me is that the US is in trillions of dollars in debt, and we spend a ridiculous amount of money every year on health care, when in reality, we should be spending that on preventive medicine and educating people on how to eat.  Fast food is killing our country.

Anyway, enough of me ranting, just watch the movie and see for yourself.  Below is a link to the official Forks Over Knives website, with a brief summary of what the movie is about.  It is worth seeing. Watching this movie made me feel even better about my choice to lead a healthier lifestyle, and my adventure with my vegan diet.

Forks Over Knives

Happy Eating!

~Lauren

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DAY 12: Vegan, Wheat-Free Diet (YAY I MADE IT!)

DAY 12:

So I have finally made it to the last day of my vegan and wheat-free diet. Like I said in the previous post, I  had planned on adding a few more days to this diet; however, since this diet has now become such a huge part of my lifestyle, I intend to stick with it.  Since I also really enjoyed writing this blog, I will continue to be a guest writer for my mother, and share any new recipes we come up with.  I will keep you updated on this new lifestyle change, and continue to share with you my thoughts about food, nutrition, and healthy living.

A friend of mine had requested a few of the recipes that I had previously posted, and I have written them down below.  Just a quick shout out to her and a thank you for following my blog! She is also on the path to a vegan diet, and I wish her the best of luck in her new venture!

Baked Tofu 

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

•  1 Packaged of Firm Sprouted Tofu
•  3 Tbls. of Soy Sauce
•  1/2 tsp. of Sesame Seed Oil (Added to original recipe)
•  1/2 Tbls. of Sriracha Sauce (Add more or less depending on level of spiciness desired)
•  1 cup of Nutritional Yeast

Coat a bake sheet in Olive Oil nonstick spray and pre-heat the over to 400 degrees.  Drain and cut the tofu into 1/2 inch thick pieces; the thinner the slices of tofu the crispier it will be.  Mix together the soy sauce, sesame seed oil and sriracha sauce. Spread the nutritional yeast onto a plate.  Dip the slices of tofu into the liquid mixture and coat it on both sides, then cover the tofu with the nutritional yeast.  Place the tofu onto the baking sheet, and bake for 15 minutes on one side.  Flip the tofu over and bake for another 15 minutes.  Oven temperatures vary, so keep an eye on the tofu.  You made need to make some additional sauce and use some extra nutritional yeast to coat the tofu. This will depend on how thick you cut the pieces of tofu.  

(For a picture, refer to DAY 2: Lunch)

Green Lentils with Lemon Slices

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes 

• 6 oz. Green Lentils
• 1 + 1/4 pints of water
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 3 Tbsps. finely chopped fresh Coriander 
• 1 Lemon
• 3 Tbsps. Olive or Groundnut Oil
• 1/2 tsp. Brown Mustard Seeds
• 2 hot dried Red Chillies
• 2 Garlic cloves, lightly crushed but left whole, then peeled. 

Put the lentils and water into a heavy-based pan and bring to a boil.  Partly cover the pan and cook for 40-45 minutes, until the lentils are very tender.  Stir in the salt and fresh coriander, then turn off the heat. Now peel the lemon, removing all the white pith as well as the skin.  Cut the lemon crossways and into thin slices.  Discard the small end slices and keep only the best of the large ones.  Add them to the lentils and stir.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan over a medium-high heat.  When it is very hot, put in the mustard seeds.  As son as they pop - a matter of seconds - put in the dried chillies.  After a few seconds, when the chillies have darkened, add the garlic.  Stir once or twice and then pour the contents of the frying pan over the lentils.

This recipe is from Simple Indian Cooking, by Madhur Jaffrey.  When my mom and I make this dish, we usually decrease the amount of salt to 1/8 tsp, the mustard seeds to 1/4 tsp because they can make the dish have a bitter flavor if there is too much added, and 1/8 tsp of dried red chilies.  Sometimes we substitute some of the spices, to change it up a bit.  I wanted to put the original recipe up, to not only give the author credit, but I also don't remember exactly how the dish from my blog was made.  I guess thats what happens when you are having fun in the kitchen!

(For a picture, refer to DAY 9: Lunch)

Breakfast-

For breakfast this morning I had fruit.  It was a really simple breakfast, but I knew that I would be having an early lunch, so I did not bother to cook anything.

Breakfast consisted of:

1. Guava Juice

2. Slices Banana

3. Slices Apple

4. Handful of mixed nuts and dried fruit (almonds, cashews, dried raisins)

This Guava Juice is amazing! No sugar added, just pure goodness. 

Lunch-

For lunch I made mexican food, without the cheese, of course.  Since I could not use any tortillas, I opted for the hard shell corn tacos.  

The ingredients in the Tacos:

- Whole Pinto Beans unsalted (canned)

- Sliced Tomato

- Home-made Guacamole (avocado, jalapeño pepper, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, and salt)

- Spinach

- Corn Taco Shells

Dinner-

Dinner was pretty simple and easy.  I didn't want to make to much of a fuss in the kitchen, since I had a long day, and was pretty tired. 

Dinner consisted of:

1. Sprouted Quinoa

2. Sautéed Vegetables

Ingredients in the Sautéed Vegetables:

- Broccoli 

- Snow Peas

- Garlic

- Olive Oil

- Sesame Seed Oil

- Salt + Pepper

You can even still see the steam coming off that freshly cooked quinoa.  Yum.

Thank you to everyone who has been following my blog over the past two weeks.  I hope that you keep reading and I love all of the feedback that I have gotten so far! Keep it coming! I look forward to posting more yummy dishes, and sharing new recipes with you.

Until then,

Happy Eating!!

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DAY 11: Vegan, Wheat-Free Diet

DAY 11:

It is getting pretty close to my goal of twelve days on a vegan and wheat-free diet.  Since the few days in the middle were somewhat skipped over due to the holidays, I have decided to add a few extra days onto the diet.  I have actually come to the realization that once I started this diet, almost two weeks ago, I not only feel a lot healthier, but I also feel a lot better.  I am not bloated all the time from the dairy and wheat I was eating, and I have lost a few pounds in this whole process.  I will admit, it was a struggle at first, but I had gotten used to eating this way now, and I really do like it.  I probably won't be hungry for a huge bowl of raw kale anytime soon, and the raw thing is definitely not me.  However, taking the time to make good food for myself, instead of just throwing some cheese on bread, not only gives me the feeling of accomplishment, but I also don't feel guilty about what I ate afterwards.

Breakfast-


For breakfast I had my leftover miso soup, along with a banana.  It was super easy since I made a lot of the soup yesterday so I could have it for leftovers.  No cooking involved!

1. Miso Soup (Refer to picture from DAY 10: Lunch)
2. Banana

Lunch- 


For lunch I had some home made Indian food.  It was a mixture of Thai flavors and Indian seasoning. I also had another Almande Almond Milk cup; I really do love that stuff!

Lunch consisted of:


1. Thai Chickpeas
2.  Almande Cultured Almond Milk - Blueberry flavored (Refer to picture from DAY 3: Lunch)

Ingredients in the Thai Chickpeas:


- Chickpeas
- Coconut Milk
- Sweet Potato
- Garlic
- Cilantro
- Plum Tomato
- Curry Powder

* This recipe is a variation of its original from "Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure," by Lorna J. Sass.

Snack- 


Since my family was going to Shabbat dinner over at a family-friends house, I decided to eat a little snack, since I knew I wouldn't be eating dinner until later that evening. I also ate some Matzah - gasp! - However, it was spelt matzah and it was not made out of wheat. I found a loop hole! I have been trying to avoid matzah anyway throughout passover, only eating what was necessary at the Seders.  But, I was eating some hummus, and that stuff really should be eaten with some sort of cracker. Come on! So, I gave in and had some spelt matzah, and I figured, Passover is almost over anyway, so I would make one last ode to matzah before next year. 


Snack consisted of:


1. Bok Choy w/ Sesame Seeds
2. Hummus w/ Matzah

Ingredients in the Bok Choy:


- Bok Choy
- Sesame Seed Oil
- Sesame Seeds
- Olive Oil
- Chili Pepper
- Salt

Ingredients in the Hummus:


- Garbanzo Beans
- Garlic
- Cilantro
- Tahini
- Cayenne Pepper
- Lemon Juice
- Scallions
- Salt

My mom has several variations of the Hummus, so this one has slightly different ingredients then the one we made on DAY 1: Dinner.

Dinner-


For dinner, my family and I went to a family friends home for Shabbat dinner. There was plenty of salads and veggies at dinner and almost everything I ate, from what I could tell, was vegan.   I was so full from the meal and everything was super delicious.

Until next time!
Happy Eating!

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DAY 10: Vegan, Wheat-Free Diet

DAY 10

Keeping track of what you eat and making an effort to choose healthy foods, that can be more time consuming to make, is a lot of work.  So I have started to rely on left overs, instead of making a fresh new meal each time.  I don't have much of a problem with left overs, except when it comes to meat. I just hate the thought of eating meat after its been sitting in the fridge for a day or two. But, since I am not eating any meat, I haven't had any leftover issues.  

Breakfast-

Breakfast was pretty simple because I didn't have a lot of time to make anything to extensive this morning.  So I decided to revisit my old friend the kale smoothie. Just a quick side note on the almond milk. A friend of mine had mentioned to me that she tried the vanilla almond milk and it was really sweet.  Yes, the flavored almond milks do have added sugar in them, and I agree, this almond milk was really sweet.  We normally get the plain almond milk, which tastes just as good, and doesn't contain that much sugar.  

Breakfast consisted of:

1. Smoothie

2. Apple (Yay, for fresh fruit!)

Ingredients in the smoothie:

- Fresh Strawberries

- Frozen Blueberries

- Kale

- Almond Milk (refer to picture from DAY 9-Breakfast)

- Coconut Ice Cream

- Ice

This ice cream is so yummy, and I only used a tiny bit in this smoothie to thicken it up a little, since it does have a lot of sugar in it.  Vanilla is my favorite flavor from this brand of coconut ice cream, but I have yet to try every one!

Lunch-

For lunch I decided to make something fresh instead of eating leftovers, because I knew that I was going to have some for dinner.  I also made extra so I would have it for the next few days and wouldn't have to cook so much. 

Lunch consisted of:

1. Miso Soup

2. Amande Cultured Almond Milk - Peach Flavored (refer to picture from DAY 3-Lunch)

I love eating soup, and miso is so quick and easy to make, and its usually my go to meal during the winter time. Its also great, because I can add tons of veggies to the broth when I have time to slice them all up! 

Ingredients in the Miso Soup:

- Miso Paste

- Sprouted Tofu

- White Button Mushrooms

- Green Onion

- Water

Miso does in fact have a lot of sodium in it; however, I recently read that miso does not affect our body the same way that other high sodium foods do. So if you are watching your salt intake, don't be alarmed by the amount of sodium contained in the miso paste. I read about this at www.whfoods.com, but here is a paragraph from the website stating some interesting facts on some new findings about miso.

"Miso is typically considered to be a high-sodium food, since one teaspoon of miso often contains 200-300 milligrams of sodium. However, recent research has shown that in spite of its high-sodium content, miso does not appear to affect our cardiovascular system in the way that other high-sodium foods sometimes can. In recent animal studies, for example, identical concentrations of salt (sodium chloride) obtained from miso versus table salt were discovered to have very different impacts on blood pressure. High-salt diets that derived their high salt level from table salt raised blood pressure in these animal studies, but high-salt diets that derived their high salt from miso did not. Recent human studies on miso intake among Japanese adults have also shown that miso-containing diets tend to lower risk of cardiovascular problems, despite the high-salt content of miso. Reasons for this unique relationship between miso and our cardiovascular system are not yet clear. However, some researchers have speculated that the unique soy protein composition of miso (including peptide building-blocks of protein that get formed from soy proteins when the beans are fermented) is one of the key reasons for the cardiovascular support provided by miso. Since miso is seldom eaten alone, other cardio-supportive foods in miso soups and miso stir-fries might also play an important role in these research findings." - www.whfoods.com

Dinner - 

For dinner I had...you guessed it...leftovers!! 

Dinner consisted of:

1. Veggie Lasagna

2. Orange-Apple Tzimis

--Refer to DAY 9 - Dinner, for pictures.

BUT, for dessert I didn't have leftovers! I had chocolate!!!!!! I absolutely love this chocolate, and to make it even better, it was dark chocolate, which usually doesn't contain dairy products (make sure to check the ingredients if you buy it).  I love dark chocolate, and this stuff is not only a really clean product, but they also help support small-scale farmers. Check out the website below to get more information on Equal Exchange Fair Trade Products and their chocolate bars. This chocolate is so good!!!!

www.equalexchange.coop

Until tomorrow, Happy Eating! 

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