Four Vegetarian Options for Non-Vegetarians

Posted on Sep 8th 2009, 10:30 am, under Nutrition

We’re all familiar with the advantages of a vegetarian lifestyle: lower cholesterol, a decreased risk of heart disease, a reduction in anxiety and obesity, and overall increased health. 

However, going vegetarian can be really difficult for some people. It can be tough sticking to a vegetarian diet when you’re trying to replace your thick steaks with tiny salads. But maybe you just weren’t aware of all the options yet. Even if you don’t go completely vegetarian, you can still enjoy some of this lifestyle’s many benefits with the following tips:

1. Try some veggie meat.

Try cooking and eating your dishes with soy or wheat gluten in place of meat products. Many vegetarian recipes are now able to replicate the flavor of your favorite meat dishes through creative use of texturing, seasonings, and sauces. These can taste just like the real thing when done right. 

Don’t knock it until you’ve tried a healthy serving of veggie meat “barbecue” in place of your regular hotdogs and burgers. You’ll avoid the carcinogens and unhealthy additives that come with typical packaged meats.

2. Cut out the animal fat.

If you find yourself craving for meat, it’s actually the fat you desire, not the protein. You can substitute for animal fat by eating healthier alternatives such as avocadoes and nuts. 

3. Eat more raw food.

Cooked food lacks important enzymes your body needs for better digestion. Luckily, adding raw food to your diet is easy. Have a salad with Thai- or Greek-style dressing, minus the cheese, and sprinkle on some nuts.

4. Explore international cuisine.

There is a greater variety of food ingredients available today than at any other time in history. Take full advantage of this by checking out what people from other parts of the globe are eating. 

Go beyond ordinary meat and potatoes and look at recipes from other cultures, such as Indian curries and Middle Eastern rice dishes. You may be surprised at the huge variety of meat-free dishes out there. Make mealtime a chance to experiment and enjoy yourself, not a mere refueling point. Take the time to savor new dishes; you’ll be feeding both your body and your mind at the same time.

Walnuts Help Prevent Breast Cancer

Posted on Jul 14th 2009, 09:51 am, under Nutrition

The American Association of Cancer Research recently released a crunchy study that suggests that walnuts may help keep Breast Cancer from spreading.

A study involving mice specially created to develop tumors were fed a daily diet equivalent of 2 ounces of walnuts in humans, while another group of mice ate a normal diet. The walnut group of mice had a significantly lower incidence rate of breast tumors, fewer glands with a tumor and smaller-sized tumors.

The study suggested at the molecular level that consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and phytosterols in walnuts contributed to the tumor resistance. “It is clear that walnuts contribute to a healthy diet that can reduce breast cancer,” noted the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Vitamin D is Real

Posted on Jul 14th 2009, 09:50 am, under Nutrition

As a young, working professional, there are days when I never see the sun. This no-sun phenomenon, I imagine, never occurs while surfing in the luke-warm waters just off the Costa Rican coastline. Anyway, on those few and beautiful days near home where I find myself outside soaking up the rays, my health-conscious, self-preservation taught habits kick in and I rub my body over with sunblock.

Sunblock serves well as a UV ray blocker, and just as well as a vitamin D blocker. Vitamin D is an essential fat-soluble vitamin found most abundantly by us humans through synthesis in the skin triggered by the sun’s UV rays, and less abundantly in foods. According to sources on a fact sheet about the vitamin at the Office of Dietary Supplements, “Vitamin D is essential for promoting calcium absorption in the gut and maintaining adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to enable normal mineralization of bone and prevent hypocalcemic tetany. It is also needed for bone growth and bone remodeling by osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Without sufficient vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen. Vitamin D sufficiency prevents rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Together with calcium, vitamin D also helps protect older adults from osteoporosis.”

If you understand all such health jargon or not, the consensus is vitamin D is important and is too often overlooked and consumed at less than adequate levels. I took a walk around the grocery store the other day to see in which foods I might find such a treasure – it turns out it was more difficult than I thought to find. Reading various package labels on snacks, dried fruits and such, I found many no mentions of our treasure. When I finally made my way to the refrigerated section of juices and milks it struck my eye  - milk! - milk, that is, fortified with vitamin D. It wasn’t until later on the internet that I discovered vitamin D is found naturally in buttermilk, cheese, cream, eggs, fish, goatmilk, meat fats and organ meats, mushrooms and sour cream.

You might ask, what about my Flintstone-esque multivitamin that I happily chew each day? Well, I answer, one adult serving of Flintstone gummy vitamins does in fact contain the recommended daily amount of vitamin D - 400 international units (IU).

So with this said, I will strive to gather my very own treasure by making sure to spend a few minutes naked in the Costa Rican sun before rubbing down with my very important blockers…or perhaps just doing a better job of drinking milk and eating fish regularly. Others may take the reasonable approach of ensuring that vitamin D, be it in Fred, Barney, Wilma or someone else, is included in their daily