Month: July 2013

Summer Salads & Fat

Posted on by Winsome

Brown Rice Pasta Salad with Basil Pesto - Gluten-freeWhat is a salad?

That may seem like a silly question but it isn’t.  During the summer we often have salad as a main meal which can be very beneficial to our weight loss/management efforts. However, it can also be dangerous if you are not aware of the other foods in the salad.  Eating salad does not mean you will lose weight.  There are three important steps to remember if you want salad to aid in your weight loss efforts.

 

Step 1:  Eating salad that contains the vegetables from the Vegetable List in The Healthy Options Weight Loss Plan® will certainly take you a step in the right direction.   Choose different types of lettuce and add a variety of other greens as well.  Remember, that a salad does not contain a lot of fibre.  You will need to add fibrous vegetables and some protein to increase your feelings of fullness.

Step 2:  Ensure you ‘dress’ the salad correctly.  Small quantities of dressing in measured amounts is paramount to your success.  A dressing should complement a salad without overpowering its flavour.  Experiment  with different ingredients to find your favourite healthful combination.

  •  Gourmet infused oils: sharp and flavourful.

Use sparingly.

  • Olive oil: extra virgin varieties are healthiest.
  • Canola oil: light, blends well.
  • Nut oils: subtle yet distinct.  Perfect for simple combinations.
  • Balsamic vinegar: aged for an intense, sweet-tart flavour.
  • Herb vinegars: quality wine vinegars infused with herbs.
  • Fruit vinegars: aromatic; ideal with fruit & summer greens.
  • Non-fat yogurt:  allows creamy dressings to be healthful.

Step 3:  If there are other food groups (i.e. chicken or cheese) in your salad be sure to count them accurately.  Extra food groups, as well as extra calories, come from such things as olives, meat, cheese, croutons, pasta, potatoes, creamy dressings, dressings with added sugar, beans, sesame seeds, pine nuts and avocado.  There may even be more hidden calories.  Be sure to eat with your eyes open and determine what really is in your salad. 

 Leafy vegetables are different, delicious and downright nutritious.  Be sure to add these to summer salads:

  • Dandelion Greens – slightly bitter flavour, small pale leaves are better for salads.
  • Spinach – hearty flavour.
  • Kale – tastes mild and cabbage-like.  Kale is as versatile as spinach and cabbage, and a good source of calcium.
  • Swiss Chard – mild mannered and is a member of the same family as beets and spinach.  Use the large leaves to line salad bowls or mix them with other torn greens in a salad.
  • Beet Greens – the leafy part of the familiar beet can be steamed or braised.
  • Rapini – pungent vegetable is a favourite in Italian cooking.
  • Collard Greens –  popular in southern cooking, these greens taste like a cross between a cabbage & kale.

 

All leafy greens have a high water content, so they wilt easily.  Once faded, they’re hard to revive.  Buy the freshest, greenest leaves.  Don’t buy yellow or discoloured greens.   For best texture and flavour, use greens as soon as possible after purchasing them.  Store them unwashed in the refrigerator; lightly wrapped in damp paper towels inside a plastic bag that has been punctured in a few places to allow air circulation.  If they’re quite fresh, this can hold the greens, with an occasional change of paper towels, three to five days.  Always wash greens thoroughly (even the pre-washed).  Hidden dirt often clings to the undersides of leaves.

 

Recipe – Gluten-free, Dairy-Free  Basil Pesto

Makes 2 1/2 cups

From The Dairy-free & Gluten-free Kitchen Cookbook by Denise Jardine

Pesto is easy to make and is a delicious addition to pasta, pizza, soups, and hummus.  Adding lemon juice (or powdered vitamin C) will help the pesto retain its bright green colour. 

Ingredients

 2 cups/500 ml whole fresh basil leaves, stemmed and tightly packed

1/3 cup/75 ml pine nuts or walnut pieces (I prefer pine nuts)

 1/4 cup/ 50 ml olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp/5 ml lemon juice, optional

Method

  • In a food processor or high-speed blender, combine the basil, nuts, olive oil, garlic, salt, and lemon juice.
  • Process the mixture, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed, until the pesto is smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
  • Add desired amount to the pasta and toss.

Note:  This mixture can be frozen in 1/4 cup/50 ml servings or in ice cube trays (make sure to cover the top of the ice pesto with plastic wrap before freezing.  Then empty store frozen cubes into a freezer bag and freeze for up 6 months.

 

 

 

Juices – The good, the bad, and the Junk!

Posted on by Winsome
Nutritious Juices - Healthy Options' take on juices, from the most nutritious to the junk!
Nutritious Juices – Healthy Options’ take on juices, from the most nutritious to the junk!

The best that there is!

It would be hard to design a better food than fruit.  No fat, cholesterol, or sodium.  Lots of fibre, taste, and (usually) vitamins.  And it may help reduce the risk of cancer.

Except for the fibre, fruit juice, has the same advantages.  In fact, Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating counts each petite ½ cup (125 ml) of fruit (or vegetable) juice as one of the five to ten servings of fruits and vegetables we should eat every day.  To ensure adequate amounts of fruit and vegetables, remember to eat a maximum of 3 fruit and 6 vegetable servings daily.

What most people don’t realize is that some juices are far more nutritious than others.  We rate the most common juices according to how much a day’s worth of vitamins and minerals each cup (250 ml) supplies. For most juices, we averaged the numbers for bottled, chilled, canned, and frozen concentrate.  Here are our findings:

Orange – is by far the best.  A glass of OJ has over a day’s vitamin C and a quarter of a day’s Folacin/Folic Acid, the B-vitamin that reduces the risk of birth defects and that may help protect against heart disease.  It also has more than ten per cent of a day’s potassium (which may help prevent high blood pressure), magnesium, and thiamin, plus at least five per cent of copper and vitamin B-6.  Some orange juices – Minute Maid, Oasis, and Tropicana’s new Calcium & Vitamin C Supplement, for example – now contain added calcium.

  • Grapefruit –  has almost as much vitamin C, B-6, copper, and potassium as OJ, but less thiamin and hardly any Folacin.
  • Prune – has between ten and 25 per cent of a day’s iron, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, and riboflavin, and slightly less copper and niacin.
  • Pineapple – has half a day’s vitamin C and at least 10% of a day’s potassium, thiamin, copper, magnesium, vitamin B-6, and Folacin.
  • Grape – scrapes the bottom of nutrient barrel.
  • Apple – is even lower than grape.
  • Cranberry Cocktail – can be grouped with apple and grape but may be worth drinking.  In a study of older women, those who drank ten ounces (312 ml) every day had half the risk of urinary tract infections of those who given a cranberry free beverage.

 Three Rules to help you find the best juices:

  1. Shoot for the most nutritious juices.  The top four: orange, grapefruit, prune, and pineapple.  Just looking at the name on the bottle or carton isn’t enough.  Oasis Health Break Wild Blueberry Cocktail, Fresh’n Tasty Orange-Peach Juice, and Dole Tropical Fruit Juice all have apple, grape, or pear as their main juice.
  2. Check the ingredient list.  Look for no added sweeteners like sugar, glucose, fructose, honey, molasses, or corn and other syrups.  Avoid artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet (aspartame) and Acesulfame K (acesulfame potassium).  A search for added sweeteners is critical for “nectars,” “drinks,” “spritzers,” “cocktails,” and “punches.”  Del Monte’s Prune Nectar, for example, is 100% juice.  McCain’s Grape Nectar is only 50 juice and Fairlee’s Mango Nectar is 35%.  Go figure!  Or take Minute Maid Premium frozen concentrates.  Despite pictures of fruit all over their labels, only the orange, grapefruit, and lemon juices are 100% juice.  The rest (like Watermelon Punch) contain a measly 10% to 15% juice.
  3. Fortification is fine, as long as it is not fortified junk.  A juice like McCain Tropical 5, a mixture of pineapple, orange, passion fruit, lemon juice and mango puree, is simply a good juice made better by the addition of some extra vitamin C to bring the content up to 100 per cent of the recommended daily intake.  A glass of Sunny Delight, on the other hand, is just a “vitamin C and thiamin pill, with a tablespoon of juice, some sugar and orange-coloured water.”