HUmineral Healthy Share – Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?

Happy Healthy Holiday,

This is the season when most of us are in vacation mode, spending time with family and friends, sleeping in, shopping, special dinners and all around leisure mode. In our last Healthy Share, we talked a bit about the importance of exercise (and early in the day preferably, so we don’t pass on it later when we are exhausted from our day, especially for newbies). So, let’s remember to add in exercise daily and instead of dieting, let’s pay attention to what we are eating and when we are eating.

Tracking What You Eat and When You Eat –  when you eat and what you eat can be important for keeping your weight under control and for warding off chronic disease.

Breakfast should not be missed. Studies shows that a good meal in the morning can help your body prepare for the day to come, and lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. But what about the rest of the day’s meals? Here’s what some nutrition experts say about the best times to eat and why:

The American Heart Association Journal Circulation, Harvard School of Public Health researchers studied the health outcomes of 26,902 professionals ages 45 to 82 over a 16-year period. They discovered that those who skipped breakfast had a 27% higher risk of heart attack or death from heart disease than those who honored the morning meal. According to the scientists, skipping breakfast may make you hungrier and more likely to eat larger meals, which leads to a surge in blood sugar. Such spikes can pave the way for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, all risk factors that can snowball into a heart attack.

Eating in the morning and what you eat, is important for setting your blood-sugar pattern for the rest of the day. Today we have so many fast, convenient HEALTHY choices for breakfast (smoothies are my favorite, and a dash of sugar cutting cinnamon in and on almost everything), and when I want more of a food chewing experience, I go with multigrain breads, avocado and leafy greens in an omelette. These choices prepare the body for a more consistent blood-sugar pattern. Healthy and YUMMY breakfast choices are endless and we will bring you some of them in future Healthy Shares. Stay tuned.

Lunch should be your largest meal and dinner your leanest meal. Keeping “Healthy Choices” as your top priority. If you want a “treat”, go ahead, just add in a little more workout to compensate.

CHOOSE WISELY – Is it HEALTHY or Unhealthy?

Remember to select choices that offer whole grains, with fat and protein. This will enable your blood sugar to rise and lower, slowly. Remember to eliminate those sugar and carb filled pastries, it is not the best choice” says Judy Caplan, registered dietitian nutritionist for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “You get an insulin [spike], and [then] your blood sugar drops too low so you get hungry again”. This is why you will experience the cycle of overeating on the UN-HEALTHY foods. Once you change your habits, your body will adjust and all this becomes “healthy habit”, second nature.

TIPS:

1. Do not purchase bad food choices when at the market.
2. Keep healthy choices in fridge, cabinets, countertops, fruit bowls and purchase colorful foods (yellow/red bell pepper, rasberries, black/red/green grapes, put them in an eye catchy bowl in fridge) and select colorful packaging when possible or re-package/transfer to an attractive alternative). These choices have stimulating eye-appeal and satisfy our, preparation and eating modes.  When you reach for food, it will only be good healthy choices.

Lettuce Nutrition

As a green vegetable, lettuce contains many of the same nutrients found in other green vegetables, although mostly in lesser amounts. These include vitamins, minerals, water, and fiber but essentially no protein or fat (see table below).

Lettuce is a low to moderate source of vitamins and minerals. Among the various types of lettuce, romaine and leaf varieties exceed crisphead and butter-head varieties for most of the common nutrients. This is directly related to the proportion of dark green leaves in the edible portion. The nutrient contribution of lettuce compared to other vegetables is affected by the amount consumed. For example, a study by M. A. Stevens in 1974 showed that broccoli has considerably more vitamins and minerals than lettuce but that much more lettuce was consumed than broccoli; therefore the total contribution of nutrients to the diet by lettuce was greater than that of broccoli. Lettuce is important for its nutrient content, which complements its usefulness as a diet food because of its high water and fiber content.

LETTUCE Omlette

We consume approximately 1,550,000 omelettes a day and 27,000,000 a year …WOW!

Well, I am one in this number. Here is an omelette choice you may like to try this holiday season for one of your holiday brunch meals. I like this omelette because it pairs well with almost anything. Whether you are having meat or fish or Champagne or OJ. Great light and healthy for brunch.

INGREDIENTS
Onion, green bell pepper, fresh bulb garlic, olive oil, cilantro, radicchio, endive, frisee, bibb, green leaf, bibb, (I normally use to 1-3 lettuces, usually bibb, frisee and a dark leaf like oak, because they are both mild in flavor). I toss cilantro on top when done. If you like more flavor try a mustard leaf, which is also great on a sandwich, you wont need mustard!

RECIPE
Omelette/Frittata: Sautee garlic, bell pepper and onion, add sea salt/pepper to taste. Cook till fairly done, add egg batter mixture, cook for 2-3 minutes (to liking), add in cilantro and lettuces about 1 minute before you flip. Reduce heat. If you like, add a white cheese, lightly to top of omelette while finishing (grated parm goes well). Better with just a touch and white cheese, rather than yellow, it’s a lighter taste and flavor is cleaner.

This is a “light” omelette. If you want a heartier one, you can add meat, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc. I like to taste the flavors of the lettuces so I keep it simple. Careful not to overcook lettuce.

Celtuce

Here’s a lettuce to try if you have not. Celtuce (a combination of celery and lettuce), also known as stem lettuce, grown for its succulent, thick stem and tender leaves.

The flavor of celtuce is similar to (celery, cucumber, zucchini, artichoke or a combination of all four).

The stem of celtuce can be pared to remove its bitter skin leaving the soft green core that can be finely sliced and eaten raw in a salad or you can sautee or stir-fry this lettuce with other vegetables, meat or fish. It has a mild flavor but more of a “heavy substance”, which is why it is great for stir-fry filler.

Stay tuned for Candice’s Corner featuring Laura Silviera – Garzon Olive Oil and Extending An Invite.