Brain Foods

It's August in an hour, did you know that? AUGUST! I'm going to try to pretend that it's still July, just for today, so happy last day of July!! I hope everyone had a great week. Mine was very productive, and I look forward to a great weekend of thesis writing, and practicing for my presentation (which is in August, next month ;) ).

New Products

Popcorn

I usually pay 5 dollars for a box of 10 100-calorie packs of popcorn. I am addicted to popcorn as a late night snack, but I never enjoy spending that much money on popcorn every week. The other day Another One Bites The Crust provided a recipe for "curried popcorn", which gave me the idea of making my own popcorn. So I purchased a bag of popcorn kernels ($1.50) and made my own. Check this out:

About 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels made this much popcorn! I haven't yet made the curry popcorn, but I'm excited to try it! Instead I just added a dash of salt, some cumin, and some garlic powder. Bottom line: No more packaged popcorn, I'm making my own from now on!

Think Thin

The bars I posted about last time (ThinkFruit) were very tasty, so I purchased this bar from the same company. Obviously I was not purchasing these as a meal replacement bar, but as a snack.

The taste was ok, not as good as the Think Fruit, but I still enjoyed it. The flavor was "brownie crunch" but it hardly tasted like a brownie. The chocolate taste was pleasant though, and it tamed my chocolate craving for the moment.


The "Think Thin" bars were labeled as "All Natural", but these were not. As I looked closer at the label, something stood out to me. The front of the wrapper said "0 grams of sugar". No sugar?!?! Ut oh, you know what that means......I flipped over the wrapper and low and behold SUGAR ALCOHOLS.

From Wikepedia: Sugar alcohols are a form of carbohydrates that are used to replace sucrose in products. Sugar alcohols are usually incompletely absorbed into the blood stream from the small intestines which generally results in a smaller change in blood glucose than "regular" sugar (sucrose). This property makes them popular sweeteners among diabetics and people on low-carbohydrate diets. However, like many other incompletely digestible substances, overconsumption of sugar alcohols can lead to bloating, diarrhea and flatulence because they are not absorbed in the small intestine.

So they aren't "artificial sweeteners" but I still do not like eating sugar alcohols because they tend to give me gas! Too bad I finished the bar before I noticed. Thankfully, no problem followed ;)

Alzheimer's Research Update

According to the latest publication of Today's Dietitian, there are several additions to the diet that can be beneficial for preventing Alzheimer's Disease (AD). AD is marked by changes in the brain that include tangles in the amyloid plaques of the brain, and the loss of neuron connections in the brain. Here are some beneficial products that may be helpful:
DHA (docosahexaenoic acid): May have antiamyloid mechanisms. Also DHA is known for it's anti-inflammatory properties (brain inflammation can have a negative effect on AD)

Calorie Restriction: Now this doesn't mean going on a very low calorie diet, but a study showed that mice who were fed an "Ad Libium" diet (where they could eat whenever and whatever they wanted) had higher levels of beta amyloid peptides compared to rats fed 80% of the same amount of calories. Beta amyloid peptides are causative agents for AD.

Polyphenols: Studies have shown neuroprotective effects form polyphenols, which are antioxidants found in berries, tea, wine, nuts, chocolate, beer, and some fruits and veggies.

Curcumin: Has been found to lower some of the pro-inflammatory agents that can lead to AD. It is found in tumeric. Oh, and tumeric is found in mustard (I just found this out from looking at my mustard label).

Vitamins C and E: Both vitamins seem to protect individuals form developing AD, probably having to do with their antioxidant activity. The studies were based off of results from people who were taking supplements that contained both vitamin C and E, not just one. Vitamin C is found in just about any fruit and vegetable, whereas vitamin E can be found in nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils.

Mediterranean Diet: This diet has been linked to lowered risks of AD, probably due to its ability to reduce body inflammation. This diet includes plenty of exercise, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, using herbs and spices instead of salt, consuming very little red meat, eating fish twice a week, and drinking wine on occasion. What a concept!

I hope you learned some things about Alzheimer's disease, and you feel a bit more confident about protecting your brain from the disease. What is everyone doing this weekend? I get to play my first round of golf with Nick tomorrow afternoon! I've never played a real "round of golf", I've only gone to the range to hit balls. Nick has been playing for years, he better be patient with me!

Questions: What are your thoughts on sugar alcohols?
Do you like the picture I added to my title (be honest please!)? Can you read the writing?

My Sweetener Philosophy

Happy Thursday! I still can't get over the fact that Saturday is August 1st. What the heck? That means two more weeks until my thesis defense. I'm not nervous though, I'm excited! Excited to get it over with and to get the whole thing off my mind. You know when you have something coming up that you've been preparing for almost a year and all you can think about is how excited you are to be done?! I need to be more positive though. I'm going to go into the presentation thinking "I am going to enjoy this, and I am proud of my research. I want to teach everyone what I did, and I want them to appreciate everything I learned from my research!" We'll see about that.

PureVia

A couple weeks ago Thinspired posted a blog about her "break up" with sweeteners. This sparked some good discussion about the topic of artificial sweeteners. Many of you seem to be interested in the possible dangers and/or benefits of the multitude of different sweeteners (artificial or natural).

I purchased a box of PureVia at Kroger, because it was on sale for 2 dollars. This means they aren't selling well, but I wanted to give them a try. Purevia is an "all-natural zero-calorie sweetener derived from the stevia plant". Purevia and Truvia are the major stevia sweeteners. The two main sweetener components of stevia (PureVia) are stevioside and rebaudioside A. These are the two components that scientists tested in order to get FDA approval for the product.


Many people think sweeteners, such as stevia, are automatically safe since they are all natural, but stevia has been in the spotlight for many of the same safety concerns as other "artificial" sweeteners, such as; DNA damage and cancer, and impaired fertility. Despite this, stevia (PureVia) has been approved by the FDA, therefore enough studies have been done to show the effects of stevia are not severe. Stevia will therefore be showing up (and has been showing up) in many food and drink products.

Many of the studies that have been done with stevia components (and that are normally done on sweeteners) create a situation where the subject, or rats, are consuming huge quantities of the substance, then scientists can study the effects. One study gave people 1000 mg of stevia per day to test blood sugar levels. Do you know how many grams are in this one stick of PureVia? 2.4 grams!

So these studies are really trying to test the worst possible situation, which helps protect those who are consuming huge quantities of sweeteners. The bottom line is nothing is "100% safe", whether it's all-natural, organic, or artificial. Heck, even sugar (the most "natural" sweetener) has potential dangers (think DIABETES...).

My Sweetener (natural or artificial) Philosophy

My sweetener philosophy is very similar to my food philosophy; "I eat what I want, when I want it, but do so in moderation and by including variety in my choices".

I am not one of those people who stays away from artificial or natural sweeteners. I try not to buy many artificially sweetened foods, but I'm not totally against it. I include a variety of different sweeteners in my diet, including sugar, Splenda, Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal), and now PureVia. I use sweeteners in moderation, and I vary the different types since they all have different "potential dangers".

I put Splenda on my cereal every morning (about 1 tsp), and sometimes in my coffee.


I consume real sugar in the form of my chocolates and ice cream, I consume Aspartame in my Fiber One in the morning, and now I use PureVia (half a stick) if I need to sweeten my Greek yogurt! So clearly I use all types of sweeteners, but I do do in moderation and by varying the type of sweeteners I use.

Question: What is your "sweetener philosophy"?

Thanks for reading today. Stay tuned for my next post, which will focus on brain foods. Have a great day!

Sexy Foods

Good morning! I hope everyone's weeks are starting off well. So far I've been productive and am still giving myself time to enjoy my summer. I'm sort of coming to grips with the fact that this will be my last summer vacation EVER, unless I become a teacher :(
Check out my new award :

On Saturday I got this "Lovely Blog Award" from Kelly at She Wears a Red Sox Cap. Thanks Kelly! Does anyone with a Mac know how I can get this on my blog? I'm not good with pictures!

Ok onto today's post!

Health and Sex

When I think of "health" I think of being free from disease and being physically, emotionally, and mentally balanced. Another part of good health is having good sexual balance, and relationship balance, right? Even though sex is still sometimes considered a topic that should be kept hidden, it's incredibly important for those who are currently, or in the future, in serious relationships. I think having good sexual balance can have an impact on anyone's health and well-being. Having good sexual balance has to start somewhere, so check out the following list of foods that you should eat to increase your sex drive. Notice they are all foods that should be recommended on a normal basis!

I thank the Today Show for the following list of "Foods for a Good Sex Drive".

Pomegranate (and POM juice!)

The antioxidants in pomegranates are good for increased blood flow, especially to the areas of importance, if you know what I mean...

Avocado

Ok, so this wasn't on the Today Show list, however I have heard that avocado is supposed to help women and men have better orgasms. I'm not sure what the mechanism is though.

Asparagus

Asparagus is packed with vitamin E, which apparently stimulates the production of sex hormones!

Chocolate

The phenyl ethylamine found in chocolate is said to release the same hormones that are released during sex. It was also mentioned that an Italian study found that women who ate more chocolate had a higher sex drive. This is good news for chocolate lovers :)

Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps the libido (sex drive).

Banana

The potassium and B vitamins help boost the production of sex hormones.

I hope you enjoyed my little "sex talk!". If you are single, not having sex, or just don't care about having a good sex life, then consider this a list of healthy foods that you should think about including in your healthy diet :)

More Fun in the Kitchen

Gina's "Somewhat" Greek Salad

I was inspired by the Greek salad I had last Monday and decided to throw together a salad of cucumber, tomato, and vadalia onions I had in my fridge.











I mixed them all up with EVOO, balsamic vinaigrette, pepper, and garlic powder. Very refreshing.

Turkey Burger Wrap

What do you get what you combine a whole wheat wrap, cooked bell peppers, sauteed mushrooms, swiss cheese, and chopped up turkey burgers?

A delicious turkey wrap! I also added some mixed greens and red hot. Mmm, what a delicious concoction.


Random Question: I'm working for my adviser this summer on creating a food safety website. What are some things about websites that you LOVE, and what are some things you HATE? For example; I hate it when websites have pictures that move, or that change every two seconds. I find it very distracting!

Thanks for reading today. Stay tuned for my next post, which will reveal my philosophy on sweeteners! Have a great week.

Organic Vs. Natural

Good morning! Thanks so much for all of your positive wishes and messages regarding my thesis. Good news, I have officially been granted an extension for my thesis! I don't have to be finished until September 22nd (according to the University), but I still have a personal goal of finishing by the end of August so I can start looking for a job. I am officially much less stressed.

Ok, now for today's blog post!

Organic Vs. Natural
I'll admit it, I sometimes get confused when I see the word "Natural" written on a food or food product. For example, these frozen strawberries from Whole Foods claim to be "Natural". I know enough to know that "Natural" isn't synonymous with "Organic", but I never know what makes products "Natural".

The other day I read an article about "natural vs. organic foods". I really appreciated the article because as an RD I often get asked about the difference between these two "food terms", and I always feel like my answer isn't always accurate.

Here is a segment of the article:
"Certified organic food products are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and produced by farmers and manufacturers under a strict set of rules. But the agency defines the term "natural" only for meat and poultry. In the rest of the food industry, the meaning is largely up to the producer."

When I first started buying these strawberries at Whole Foods I asked the cashier what Whole Foods considered to be "Natural", her answer was, "Uhh, maybe it means low sodium"? I almost laughed out loud.

** The following passage is from the same article and is related to the results of a consumer survey regarding organic vs. natural foods:
"They (consumers) felt organic was just a fancy way of saying expensive," said Suzanne Shelton, president and CEO of the Shelton Group "They think 'natural' is regulated by the government but that organic isn't, and of course it's just the opposite."

Horizon (Dean's Foods milk company) has created its own definition for "natural." Loveday, who works for Horizon, says "To us, it means it's produced without added hormones, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or high fructose corn syrup,".

"But Dean Foods will not be able to say their "natural" products are produced without pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and other drugs or genetically modified feed crops, or that the cows are required to graze in pastures rather than being confined to factory farm feedlots," he said. "These are all factors that truly differentiate organic production from natural/conventional agricultural and livestock production."
SOURCE: ChicagoTribune.com

Bottom Line: When you are purchasing a product that claims to be "Natural", unless the company explains why, or what makes it natural, you have no idea what you are buying. Some companies, like Horizon, have a definition for "Natural" that I would consider beneficial. Other companies may use "natural" simply to entice the consumers, YOU! Does this mean "natural" products are bad? NO. All this means is that you should be aware of what you are paying for, it may not be exactly what you think.

Fun in the Kitchen
No Bake Cookies
What do you do when you are bored at night, and have extra peanut butter to get rid of? Make no bake cookies!

Click here for the recipe

These are easy to make, delicious, filling, and they even provide some great health benefits (fiber from the oats, and omega-3 from the Smart Balance margarine and the Naturally More Peanut Butter I used) can you ask for anything more?


A Trip to India!
On Monday I was on a plane to India (aka, Clintonville, Ohio) to visit my good friend Smita who happens to be an amazing Indian cook. The theme of her delicious meal was "Indian street food". She created foods for us that would typically be sold on the street by street vendors and which are always made quickly in front of the customers. Everything was amazing.

Greek Salad
Yeah, we had some Greek food too. My friend Nancy just arrived home from Greece and brought home ingredients to make a Greek salad. This salad contained Greek spices, kalamata olives, feta, EVOO, cucumber, and tomato. It was fantastic.


Bhelpuri
Bhelpuri is a a puffed rice dish with potatoes and a tangy tamarind sauce. It is a type of chaat or small plates of savory snacks, particularly identified with the beaches of Mumbai (Bombay), such as Chowpatty. SOURCE: Wikepedia

Step by Step:

The final product looked like this. It was my favorite dish of the evening! It was so light and fluffy. The ingredients all blended together perfectly, and each of ingredient complimented the other. I told her I would eat this everyday!


I can't remember the name of this dish, but it consisted of crispy crackers, homemade full fat yogurt, cilantro, and other Indian spices. It was also very tasty.

This was the main dish of the night, and again I am unsure of the name. The bottom layer was a thick chickpea concoction, which almost looked like refried beans. The chickpeas were topped with a shredded potato patty with peanuts and other great Indian spices. This was another favorite of mine. I think I ate it in 30 seconds!

I absolutely love Indian food, and if these pictures have enticed you (which they should!) check out Smita's blog Good Things Lover. Thanks Smita!

Coming Up
When I arrived home from Florida I had this "WONDERFUL" package of POM Wonderful waiting for me. I've already begun creating some interesting things with this juice, which I'll be posting about soon!

Until then, have a great week! Thanks for reading.

Chicken Pox in Florida

I'm home from vacation. It's good to see you Columbus! You know that feeling when you get back from a nice vacation and you already miss not being overly busy, overly stressed, having a list of "things to do", and not even caring what time it is? For me that feeling has been accompanied by being happy to be back to my life, back to normal temperatures and a predictable atmosphere, and back to my typical daily routine. This vacation taught me a lesson, I love my life, and I love Ohio! Don't get me wrong, I had an absolute blast on vacation. However, the weather in Florida was 95 degrees and humid, with sand fleas ALL OVER the place. Not everyone itches/reacts from sand fleas (No-SEE-Ums), nor does everyone even get bitten by them a lot. I was one of the lucky ones who got bit and had a histamine related reaction (allergic) to every last flea bite (I felt like a dog). I probably had (and still have) about 50 bites on me, if not more. Each one of them itched equally as much, and with the itching and the red welts it was almost like I had chicken pox.

Other than that, this vacation was an absolute blast.

Here is a little recap of my trip to Sanibel Island, Florida!

We started off our trip by unpacking our clothes and snacks, all of which were worn and eaten by the end of our trip :) We had packed our new favorite peanut butter, but it was in my carry-on bag and they had to confiscate it because it was a "paste" and there was more than 3 ounces of it! I was so sad, it was a full jar. Keep in mind that peanut butter counts as a fluid/paste whenever you fly.

Here was our view right as we arrived. This is the back of our condo. On the other side is the Gulf of Mexico.

When we arrived at Sanibel we had one thought in mind, food! Nick and I hadn't eaten anything other than airplane pretzels, which would have been much more filling had they been peanuts :(
Our first restaurant experience on Sanibel Island was not a good one. I should have known not to order fish at a sports bar, but I did, and it was no good. Her is a small picture of my Tilapia Fish Taco Salad. It was a good thing I was hungry enough to scarf this thing down even though it was not appetizing.


Take a look at how rare Nick's "medium" burger was! Nick is not a "rare meat" type of guy, he even orders his filet's medium (wierd, I know). He was angry and I didn't blame him. I think I heard it moo.


My mom was smart, she ordered a shrimp pizza! It was fatty, greasy, and very delicious.


Here is Joe in the hot tub. The hot tub was wonderful, but at night it was a breeding ground for the sand fleas. The hot water actually felt amazing, even in the 95 degree humid weather! There was also a pool, which you can see in the background. Joe reminded me of a time when he was about two years old and my friend Sarah Cooperman and I put him on a raft and pushed him out into the water, and he was "terrified", he says. I remember that, and I felt so bad that he did too! In other words, it scared him lot and he'll never forget it. Aww, he's turned into such a great kid though, and I think he bonded with Nick on this vacation.

The second night we found some good fish! A nearby restaurant was serving grouper as a special, which we knew was a local fish. We each ordered the grouper, and our "alcohol of choice". Yeah, I'm a dietitian but I love a great spirit on occasion. My mom ordered the wine, Nick ordered the Mai Tai, I ordered the dirty martini, and my father ordered an Amstel Light.

The grouper came with a baked potato, steamed broccoli, and a side salad. The meal was amazing. The potato was tender and tasteful, the fish was crispy yet light and full of flavor, and the broccoli was a perfect combo of tender and crispy, and the meal left me with the perfect feeling of fullness.
We desperately needed rain, but never got it. The second night it looked like rain, thus the beach was cool and the fleas were gone! We took full advantage.


There weren't any better ice cream shops than Dairy Queen! But I never leave Dairy Queen disappointed. I ordered a medium Hot Fundge Sundae, which was delicious as always.

Joe smiled for a picture. Do we look like we are dying of heat? We are, and we're exhausted from long days at the beach, playing frizbee in the pool, and kayaking!

Our last evening we finally found great food. It was a place called the Island Cow. They gave us sweet muffins instead of bread as a "Snack". I was impressed, and they were perfection. I wanted to eat an entire one, but I knew I needed to save room for some great apps. and entrees.

For our appetizer we ordered the "boom boom shrimp", which was the special. It was fried shrimp with their special hot sauce. They were very tasty, and we each enjoyed them with a Sam Adams Summer Ale.
Nick ordered a special, "Cilantro Lime Chile Chicken". It was grilled chicken, black beans, rice, mango, salsa, cheese, and sour cream. Oh man, he couldn't even finish it. In other words, it was a ton of food, and each bite was spectacular (He gave me a few yummy tastes).

I ordered the "Award Winning Duck Salad". It was crispy duck breast on a bed of spinach and romaine, topped with onion, mandarin, tomato, cucumbers, grapes, melon, watermelon, and blueberries. It was very tasty, especially the duck. The fruit wasn't the freshest, but it was still juicy and refreshing.

Throughout the trip we were surrounded by these amazing little creatures, lizards! I even saw a black snake, eww.
Here was our view on the kayaks. It was hot, but the scene and the experience were both priceless.

Family photo one our last day. I don't know why it's so blurry on the computer, the picture actually turned out perfect.


Nick and I had to have a Starbucks Coffee Frapachino Light at the airport while waiting for our plane.

Today will be full of unpacking, cleaning the apartment, catching up on e-mails, finally getting to the gym, and getting back to the dreaded thesis. I hope to start reading blogs again either today or tomorrow, but I need to slowly ease myself back into the daily routine. Nick and I promised each other we would try to stay in "vacation relaxed mode" as much as possible now that we are back.

I hope everyone had a great week!