Trans-Fatty Acids, what are they and why they are not so great.

Fats occur in long chains of carbon atoms (C) with hydrogen (H) sticking off the sides like a big centipede. If a fatty acid (FA) has as many H as possible and no more can fit on, it’s logically called ‘saturated’. If there is space to fit one more on, it’s called “mono-unsaturated’.  If there are more vacant spaces; “polyunsaturated”. Fully saturated chains are even and straight, and stack nicely against each other like cord wood, so that they are solid at room temperature (Many animal fats fall into this category – lard, butter, and some plants: avocado and coconut for example.) Unsaturated chain have kinks and bends in them and they don’t stack well, acting a bit higgledy piggledy, and so are more liquid at room temperature (Plant fats such as olive oil come to mind). If you take an unsaturated fatty acid and with a chemical reaction, forcibly add hydrogen, you can stick them on to saturate the molecule, but this forced process does not create a normal FA. The forcibly-added H’s stick onto the target FA in strange places, creating weird shapes that your body’s enzymes doesn’t know quite how to handle. Usually we digest fats that are cis (same side), and this forced reaction, or hydrogenation, creates trans – (opposite sides). Hence the term “trans fats”.

Why the heck would we create and sell foods by this process that are hard to digest or even harmful? Economics. These trans-fats have the stability of normal saturated FA’s at room temperature, but are much cheaper to produce. Growing and processing plant oils are cheaper than growing animals. A ‘pastry’ (and I use this term loosely) made with processed fats and other processed ingredients will last much longer on the shelves. Think Twinkies. The reason they last so long is that the microbes that cause the breakdown of food won’t touch them, and it they don’t, neither should you. Don’t eat anything that comes in cellophane or that you buy at a 7-11.

Eat real food that will eventually biodegrade.

Eat Slowly (Food rule by Michael Pollan)

I am the first person who needs to heed this advice. I frequently arrive home hungry and am therefore prone to unwisely stuffing things into my face as fast as possible. Or I multitask and eat while _____. Oops. I also seem to simply eat faster than most. Why is this? Eating should be a pleasure, not an inconvenience to get through quickly and move on to other things. In other news (unsurprisingly) slower meals tend to result in better digestion and absorption of nutrients, as well as lower caloric intake. Also, more fluids (OK, maybe wine) tend to be also taken in, and the satisfaction rating of a meal goes up (read this article). Slower food consumption allows the body to register satiety through stomach stretch receptors and hormonal responses as food enters the small intestine. After about 20 minutes, your body will signal satiety. Faster eating will pack a lot more calories into that time frame. Put your fork down. Drink some water. Talk to someone sitting next to you. Taste instead of wolf your food. Also, chew more. Be grateful (for all sorts of things). It will make a difference in your consumption and your health.

I tend to rush around, and eating is no exception. It takes a lot to be mindful, and I’m trying to slow down everywhere in my life. I am playing a game with myself, trying not to be the first one finished if I’m eating with friends. Other helpful ideas?

Antihistamines and local honey

‘Tis the season to be sneezy. At least for me, hence: antihistamines. They help get me through the day. I’m not thrilled about taking these, since they could have considerable side effects: Dizziness, Dry mouth, Dry eyes, Blurred vision, Problems urinating, Constipation, Mental disturbances (Whaaa?! – these descriptions are taken from a website), and they can also be sedating if you don’t choose the right one for you. I use Fenofexadine (generic Allegra) since Loratidine  (generic Claritin) stopped working for me a while ago. Luckily, I notice none of the above side effects, but I do notice a decrease in my energy and strength, a scratchy throat and a bit of distraction. On the other hand, I can see and breathe. I’ll take it.

Natural antihistamines are more gentle, though may not really tamp down the debilitating effects of a big ole’ allergic reaction. But one could try local honey about a month before allergy season to give yourself a little dose of allergens that will be floating towards you. I do this, and in any event it tastes nice. Exercise always works for me because of the adrenaline response and blood flow that flushes the tissues and decreases circulating histamines. A Neti pot/salt water snuffle will rinse allergens off nasal membranes, and a shower seems to make me feel better too. Something about rinsing off a layer of possible allergens. I make sure to not allow the first dose of water from my hair to run into my eyes.  That happened once in mid allergy season and whammo. Instant itchy eyes. There are some other options, but really, for the short period of time one needs antihistamines (hay fever season) I tend to just go with the big pharmaceutical guns and drink lots of  water after to flush things out of my system.

Don’t be bitter, eat bitter! Or bitterness in food is good for you.

So, remember when I first started the nutrition nuggets and we talked about phytonutrients? These are the defense mechanisms of a static organism. Plants cannot run away, so they use chemicals with strong flavors and colors to warn away predators. These chemicals in plants that are colorful, pungent, bitter, astringent and  strong are some of the healthiest chemicals to eat, and have been found to decrease the risk of many human diseases (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.) In extremely high amounts, these chemicals may be toxic, but humans don’t eat enough plant material for phytochemicals to be other than beneficial. This has been proven many times. Unfortunately, the current western palate has been blanded down, sweetened and salted so bitter-tasting foods are avoided, to our detriment. There is lots of evidence to suggest that foods with bitter properties (dark leafy greens, cocoa, cruciferous vegetables, citrus juices and rind among others) are good for us, and that we need to develop a more adult, open, and gourmet palate to include foods others than simply sweet and salty and that attract and satisfy our inner child.

An easy and interesting way to add bitter greens to your diet is by mixing some tender bitter green leaves to your regular lettuce salad (arugula, escarole, baby kale, dandelion, watercress…here is a list of some more) so the flavors become more familiar and pleasant to eat. You can also lightly sauté any of the greens with a little olive oil or butter and some salt. Throw them into soups – right at the end so they don’t over cook. Many of the beneficial chemicals are heat-sensitive.

Cocoa and Cardiovascular benefits

So Jerrie gave me a flyer for a seminar entitled The Pharmacy in Your Kitchen. Since I cannot go, I have been following up on some of the ideas that it presents. One is how COCOA is involved in decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Before you get all excited – cocoa is NOT the same as chocolate. Chocolate is derived from cocoa, but has lots of added sugar and milk. We’re talking about dark high % chocolate, aka, bittersweet, or bitter. Actually it is the chemicals in cocoa, known as polyphenols, catechins (see the green tea nugget) and flavonol families that are the important actors here. The mechanism is still a bit murky, but they decrease inflammation (betcha didn’t see that one coming) of the blood vessel internal surface and reducing free radicals. If you are in a scientific frame of mind, this is areally good article from the medical journal Circulation.

To use Cocoa in your meal preparations, buy a good brand of unsweetened organic Cocoa, and put scoopfuls in smoothies with fruit or stevia, or you can make healthy truffle balls (recipe here). Or get really dark chocolate  (70%+… I prefer 85%), avoid the sugar and go for the unadulterated cocoa hit. The other benefit of acclimatizing to bitter versions of chocolate is that you don’t have to share as much. By the way, did I mention my birthday is May 16th?

Salad Magic

One of the healthiest meals can be a big salad with lots of fresh local greens and various other vegetables. You can make it even more interesting by varying toppings and dressings. Here are some suggestions: Crumbled cheese, toasted nuts or seeds (walnuts, flax etc.) leftover roasted vegetables or caramelized onions, canned or smoked fish. A 3-bean, grain or lentil salad can go onto of a green one very nicely. Make interesting dressings with miso (see below)  or a lemon tahini dressing. One of my favorites is a curry dressing. I toss cooked lentils, tuna or sardines with any dressing and then put that combo over top of the greens. YUM. Total protein and fiber and deliciousness. Remember to combine your vegetarian proteins if you are going that way. (See Mar 30 nugget)

Fermented Foods – Probiotics

Probiotics have been associated with calming and improving Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohns, colitis, may protect you from colds and flu and help you have a healthy microbiome (the microorganisms that live in our guts and keep us healthy).  Probiotics are foods that contain bacteria we already have in our guts and can stabilize a precarious intestinal situation, or re-colonize after an anti-biotic one. Hint: don’t take anti-biotics and pro-biotics at the same time. The antis will kill the probios, and the pros will muffle the action of the antibios.

Fermented foods include: unsweetened** yogurt and kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, miso. Make sure your miso stays unboiled or you’ll kill the beneficials, so add it last and to slightly cooled soup, or use it as a base in a salad dressing. Taste before you add salt, because miso can be salty.) Make sure any product says ‘live active cultures”. The Farmers Market is a great place to pick up yummy healthy and freshly fermented foods. Also, my friend Alex Lewin has written a fantastic book about it: Real Food Fermentation. You can borrow it if you want.

Foods that work similarly to NSAIDS (aka Aspirin and Ibuprofen)

NSAIDS (Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatories) function by inhibiting prostaglandins which increase inflammation in the body. The following foods and spices do the same thing, (article) but don’t disturb digestion the way that NSAIDS do. They may not immediately work for a headache, but might be more appropriate for more chronic systemic inflammation associated with (well, EVERYTHING, but…) arthritis, IBS, heart disease, chronic pain, fever etc. Plus they are all YUMMYDELICIOUS and should be part of our diet anyway.

Omega-3 fatty acids (flax, fish, nuts green leafys)… Green Tea… Spices (including ginger, turmeric and black pepper, curry powder, dried dill, oregano, paprika, rosemary, mustard, thyme, and also almonds, apricots, dates, raisins, green peppers, olives and mushrooms…Red Wine (yay!)… Basil which contains ursolic acid, also found in cranberries, elder flower, peppermint, rosemary, lavender, oregano, thyme, prunes and the skin of apples (so buy organic apples and wash, don’t peel.)

Do not eat foods that lie to your body. Food Rule by Michael Pollan

Do not eat foods that lie to your body.

This goes back to “eat real food”. It has been shown that artificially sweetened foods and beverages are not really associated with weight loss, and may actually go the other way. Why? The hypothesis is the psychology of rewarding one’s self later with higher-calorie food due to the (erroneous) perception of previously virtuous decisions. Another proposed mechanism is that fake sweets disrupt/fool our brain’s ability to gauge actually caloric content of foods.

Good Egg and Bad Cholesterol

Eggs have had a bad rap in the past, mostly because of the cholesterol issues. Actually, humans have cholesterol issue and project it onto unfortunate food groups, like eggs (Harvard School of Public Health article). Firstly, we need cholesterol to live. They are integral parts of our cell membranes, and the precursor to am number of important molecules like sex hormones. Because of it’s importance, our livers make it and the amount it makes is genetically predetermined. Some of us make more than others. The amount we eat does not affect our blood cholesterol levels as much previously thought, in fact exercise, fiber and water intake affect blood cholesterol numbers more. This is great news for eggs and other yummy and healthy foods. we’re back to “Just eat a varied balanced diet within an intelligent caloric budget and get lots of exercise and water.”

So lets chat a little about cholesterol (“good and bad”) and demystify  those weird numbers. More soon…

Protein – complete and incomplete

We don’t need huge amounts – usually about 60 grams daily, but we do need good quality protein with the right complement of all 21 amino acids. We make some, but some  (9) we MUST get from our food. These are called theessential amino acids (EAA’s). We easily derive these EAA’s from animal protein because they are most like us in make up. Yes, you are made of meat. Other complete sources are dairy, fish, and eggs. Vegetarians need to be a little more careful, because most of our food plants have lower amounts of the EAAs we need, so we need to come food combining if you don’t eat huge amounts of veggies. You can do this within a 24 hr period. So nuts or legumes must be combined with  grain. Usually about in a 1:2 ratio. Many vegetarian cultures have done the work for you: Beans and rice,  or lentils and rice/grain, nuts and grain. There are also a few complete vegetarian proteins: Soy and quinoa being the most well know and available. Amaranth, hemp, chia seeds and spiraling are others, but you’ shave to eat quite a bit to get 60 g of protein.

Another thing to think about regarding your food consumption ‘footprint’ – as if all this stuff wasn’t enough – is what are you really supporting with your eating habits? Are (holier than thou) vegetarians really making the planet better vs carnivores? I have issues with this. My thinking, and one that follows along with an interesting (though rather angry) book called The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Kieth, is such that: if you are eating foods that caused destruction of an ecosystem – like soy mono crops in the American west – how is your vegetarianism helping the planet really? Wouldn’t it be better to eat food from local sources that include good stewardship of the earth, ethical treatment of meat animals and a way of farming that improves the soil rather than depletes it (as mono cropping does)? I feel strongly about ecology, so don’t get me started unless you’re in the mood for a tirade, but I buy most of my food at the farmers market. It goes without saying that I eat organically, and my food budget is actually quite modest and I have very little trash. These are choices that are relatively easy to make if you can give the Standard American Diet the old heave-ho. Plus I feel GREAT.

Trash in, trash out: A 24 hr challenge for you all.

So in trying not to trash our internal environment: our bodies, Here’s another thing to try – not trashing our external one either. Considering we live embedded within it. Landfills do not remove our trash, as much as relocate it out of sight and therefore out of mind. But it’s all still there. Not decomposing. So, here’s my question: have you had a really good look at what you are throwing away? Read this article, and then try to go for 1 DAY (or more) without throwing anything away. Recycling and composting are OK. Think of some life hacks you could implement to reduce your trash stream – bulk food buying places, farmers markets, sources for veggie/fruit bags (I sewed my own out of mesh nylon – they go in the washer). Share your findings with us; on the Facebook page, in class, or email me. I’d love to hear them.

(We even got into a deeply frank conversation about toilet paper last Wednesday. My answer to that? Get a bidet. Simple, the swing arm attaches to the toilet, and much more hygienic than toilet paper. Here’s the link to the Amazon GoBidet. Best $150 I ever spent. Plus there’s a youtube setup video - I used it -  works great. I’m also happy to help you install it – just ask.)

Real Food, Real Money, Real Time

“I can’t afford to eat healthy.”  You can’t afford not to, IMHO.(from this very interesting article). Yes, On the surface, fresh food costs a little more than processed,and takes a bit more time to prepare, but the costs associated with not eating quality real food are much greater.  A 2012 Population Health Management study reported that eating an unhealthy diet puts you at a 66% increased risk of productivity loss. Not to mention the hospital and medication costs of diabetes, obesity, cancer and heart disease, the risks of which can be reduced by eating a healthful diet.

Also, in terms of time, a sedentary lifestyle is linked to greater overall illness. Processed food is faster to prepare than fresh, resulting in a superficial savings of time. BUT, according to the article, US adults spend over 2 hrs a day watching TV, hence being sedentary, not cooking, interacting, or being creative. If you gave yourself back 1 of those hours, what might you accomplish? What healthy delicious wonders could you create for yourself in the kitchen? Anecdote from my own life: I recently went for an eye check up. The ophthamologist said: “There is nothing we can do to improve your amazing 20:15 vision” The result of which was a LASIK surgery I underwent in 2001. I credit my continuing eye health, as well as the rest of me to my constant movement. I plan to never stop moving. As a friend in his 50′s said to me recently (while catching up to me on a bicycle) : “I’m at the stage of life where if I stop doing something, I will stop doing it forever, so the best bet is to NOT STOP.”

Amen to that, dude.

Corny ideas

Corn is not one of the most nutrient-dense foods, but you can make some choices that will up the ante. 1) Buy organic. Conventionally, this crop is heavily sprayed with pesticides. 2) Buy it in season for best flavor. After a few hours of picking the sugars are already turning to starch. Shipping takes days. 3) Steam it; boiling will cause most nutrients to leach into the water. 4) Frozen organic corn has pretty much the same nutrient profile as fresh, since its frozen at the top of it’s game.  5) When available buy colored corn. More colors = more healthy phytonutrients.

Spring a Leek!

Leeks are a member of the allium family and most of their nutritive qualities are in the green parts – the bits that we tend to throw away. Avoid this by buying the smallest leeks you can find – they will be the most tender. Cut them in half lengthwise and rinse them well to wash out any sand trapped between the leaves. Eat all of it.  use them as you would onions, or sauté and serve them as a side dish.

A lovely bunch of (complicated) carrots

Raw carrots vs cooked ones? Well, it’s not that simple. It comes down the vitamin you are aiming for. Vitamin C or Vitamin A? Folate? Carotenoids?  Raw carrots will have more Vit C and Folate, but cooking them a little and serving with a bit of fat/oil will boost availability and absorbability of carotenoids. Carrots are not the most Vit C’ful vegetable you might choose – better to go for citrus or a fresh sweet pepper. But carrots are a great source for Vit A and retinol. Apparently gently “thermally processed” (Really?  We can’t just say ‘cooked’?)  carrots make the pre-vitamin A molecule more bioavailable. So when I want to eat hummus and carrots, I gently steam the carrots a little first until they are toothsome, or al dente.

To me, this seems like  a good  middle ground. Just enough heat to brea down some cell walls and release the carotenoids and pre-A, but not too hot to destroy the B and C. A bit of lipid; tahini, olive oil, or salad dressing will dissolve the fat-soluble vitamins to boost bioavailability.

In sight; in stomach. Kitchen hacks.

According to a study, The more time you spend at home, the more important it is to hide the food, because we eat what we see. Take food, especially snack foods and cereal, off the counter. Replace it with a bowl of fruit. Rearrange your cupboard and fridge so that the healthiest food is what you see first. Apparently, women (not men, strangely) with chips or breakfast cereal arranged on their counters were more likely to be 8# or 21#s heavier than women in the same city who didn’t.

Scallions and chives

Scallions and chives both pack nutritional punches, especially garlic chives.  Put them into everything right at the end, just before serving, or mix them into burgers, throw them on soups and salads and into sandwiches. They are easy to grow in pots in your kitchen or close by in your garden. I have tons of organic onion chives (the tubular kind) so I suggest a chive exchange once they start growing in the spring.

Eat onions that make you cry

The chemicals that give strong onions their bite and fire are the most beneficial to our health. No wishywashywallawallas or vapidvidalias for us. So put on the goggles and attack! You can also cut the onions underwater or put some vinegar on your chopping board to reduce the fumes. Luckily, they are removed once you start to cook the onions, and cooked onions are just as healthy as raw, so make up  batch of caramelized onions, put them on cookie trays in a thin layer, then break them into chunks and keep them frozen until you wish to thaw them for omelets or throw them into soups/stews.

Onion and garlic skins – really?

Turns out that the outsides of fruits and vegetables are pretty nutritious. Anti-oxidant phytochemicals concentrate at the surface to repel would-be attackers. This can be to a consumer’s benefit if we actually consume the skins and peels of said veggies. (It goes without saying that I recommend ORGANIC produce ONLY, and wash it well.) So onion and garlic skins are quite nutritious – this was news to me – but they are a bit weird and unpleasant to eat. You can simply toss them into your veggie stock pot to add their antioxidants to your soup stock, or crush them into a big tea ball/tie them in some muslin and throw them into soups or stews for easy retrieval. Since I use red onions mostly, this makes for quite a vibrantly colored stock. Woo hoo!

I keep a ziplock in my freezer where I toss all my veggie ends and once it is full, throw the whole thing into my crock pot for a while to make veggie stock. Throwing onion and garlic skins in there instead of the compost is simple. once the stock is made, then everything goes in to the compost anyway, but I get to consume the bionutrients in the stock.