Food – Page 40 – Irene Pastore Fitness.com

A Teaspoon of Sugar: A Mountain of Cravings

June 30, 2013

Are you craving the taste of sweet food? Do you continue to eat even after you’re full?

If you can’t stop eating food with added sugar, you need to cut down, or eliminate it.

Sugar is difficult to avoid. It’s added to most packaged, restaurant and fast food.

Kick The Sugar Habit

Get rid of the food that makes you crave. Have a mango, instead of ice cream. Replace ketchup with a slice of tomato.

Mangoes are a tropical fruit that provide a healthy source of natural sugar. They are low in calories, contain vitamin A, vitamin C, antioxidants, and flavonoids.

Add More Fiber

Replace sugary food with fruits, and veggies. Eating more produce adds fiber to your diet, improving digestion, and elimination. As long as you drink plenty of water, you won’t need laxatives, when your diet is high in fiber.

Fresh fruit and vegetables make you feel full because of their fiber content. Known as roughage or bulk, fiber isn’t digested or absorbed.

When you eat food with added sugar, you’re ingesting calories from the sugar, plus the calories from the food itself.

Eliminate Packaged Food With Added Sugar

If you buy packaged food, read the label to find out if it contains added sugar. A few examples are canned fruit, tomato sauce, frozen food, and condiments such as ketchup.

Sugar Cravings May Cause Overeating

Some sugars have more calories than others, some have trace minerals, some are lower glycemic. Xylitol has fewer calories per teaspoon than sucrose, but its sweet flavor, may cause overeating.

Avoid Overweight and Obesity

Health benefits in honey, or maple syrup are of little value, if you experience cravings for more of the sweet stuff. Overeating leads to overweight, and obesity.

Mozzarella On-The-Go

June 8, 2013

Planning a hiking or biking trip? Pack an easy lunch with mozzarella cheese, fresh fruit, and whole grain crackers, or pretzels.

Mozzarella is an, easy-to-slice Italian curd cheese made from cow’s milk. If you’re concerned about fat, mozzarella is sold in low-fat and skim.

The soft, bland and milky tasting cheese is complimented by apples, pears, grapes, peaches, nectarines, plums, and tangerines.

To compliment mozzarella cheese, a quick bite to eat should include crisp breads such as whole grain crackers, or pretzels. Here are a few suggestions: WASA Sourdough, or Multigrain Crackers, Ritz Whole Wheat Crackers, Carr’s Rosemary Crackers, Saltine Crackers.

Whole grain spelt, or whole wheat pretzels would serve as an alternative to crackers, and are very easy to pack. Newman’s Own, and Vita Spelt both manufacture organic spelt pretzels. Synder’s of Hanover sells Organic Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks.

Buon Appetito!

The Onion: World Class Superfood

June 5, 2013

Onion Power

The only vegetable that makes you cry, happens to be an important source of quercetin, an antioxidant, that boosts the immune system.

Antioxidants scavage unhealthy particles in the blood stream, known as free radicals that damage cells membranes, and tamper with DNA.

Consuming onions on a regular basis has beneficial effects against adverse health conditions, such as cancer, asthma, allergies, heart disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Onions are high in vitamin C, provide a good source of dietary fiber, and folic acid. They contain calcium and iron, are low in sodium, and have no fat.

Cancer Prevention

The quercetin and phytochemicals in onions inhibit the growth of breast, ovarian, bladder, colon, gastric, and lung cancer.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Relief

Quercetin is a potent anti-inflammatory helpful for managing rheumatoid arthritis.

Detoxification

Onions have antiviral and antibiotic properties.

Heart health

The quercetin found in onions raises good cholesterol (HDL).

TYPES OF ONIONS

Yellow Onions

Yellow onions are white on the inside, and have a strong, pungent flavor. The have a brown papery outer skin.

Red Onions

Red onions are white on the inside., and have a mild to sweet flavor. They have a dark red papery outer skin.

White Onions

White onions are white on the inside, and have a milk flavor. They have a white papery skin. Examples of white onions are Walla Walla, and Vidalia.

Spelt: A Healthy Wheat Alternative

May 16, 2013

What Is Spelt?

Spelt is an ancient grain, with a nutty flavor. It looks just like wheat, but it’s much easier to digest. Spelt is high in manganese, fiber, phosphorus, vitamin B3, magnesium and protein.

There are two types of spelt flour: whole grain, and unbleached all-purpose. The former being more nutritious and higher in fiber, but also has a somewhat bitter taste.

If you’re accustomed to baking with wheat flour, especially working with pie dough, spelt flour will be a challenge, because it tends to crumble.

Where To Buy Spelt Bread

Local health food stores, Whole Foods Market, and Trader Joe’s sell spelt bread. Spelt products are not likely to be found on standard supermarket shelves.

Why Should You Eat Spelt Bread

Spelt is easier to digest than common wheat. People who suffer from wheat allergies tend to tolerate spelt, and don’t experience reactions.

Spelt contains gluten. However, celiacs who cannot tolerate gluten have had success consuming spelt.

Where To Buy Spelt Flour and Spelt Products

Bulk spelt flour is sold in local health food stores, and co-op food markets. Whole Foods Market sells packaged Arrowhead Mills whole spelt flour.

Other than bread, spelt is used to make pasta, pretzels, cookies, bagels, hamburger and hot dog buns. These products are more costly than standard wheat pasta, snacks and breads.

Spelt Brand Name Products

These brands are sold in many health food stores. Whole Foods Market carries them as well.

Rudi’s Bakery
Vita-Spelt
Bread Alone
Berlin Natural Bakery

Cookin’ Healthy With One Foot Out The Door: Quick Meals For Fast Times

May 12, 2013

Recommended Product

Vegan authors, Polly Pitchford and Delia Quigley call themselves the “bad girls of natural foods.”

There’s nothing bad about this terrific little cookbook that gives time-saving, healthy recipes for hurried, health food fans.

Get recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, salads, sides and desserts. Prep times average between 5 to 10 minutes, and cook times from 6 to 20 minutes.

Packed with easy recipes, this little book is fun to read, has gotten great reviews on Amazon, and won’t take up much space on your cookbook shelf. Buy it at amazon.com for only $9.95 new.

Irene Pastore Fitness.com

Live Streaming Classes & Personal Training For Active Agers 55+