Throw Back Thursday: Are Labels Healthy?

From April 9th, 2013, which was actually a Tuesday, but I like the message so much it is worth tagging in a Thursday Throwback~

Let's be realistic.  There is no need to sugar coat or complicate the fact that we all apply labels to the people around us and to ourselves.  They are automatic.  She is beautiful.  He is Successful.  She is a Failure.  He is a Con Artist.  I am Angry.  You are Perfect.  My sister is a Health-nut!  All of theses thoughts and words go through our heads and out of our mouths daily.  We are Labelers!

Labels are one of three things: harmful, helpful, or indifferent.  If you keep your labels to yourself they probably fall into the indifferent category, but you may be placing these labels in order to empower or disempower yourself; harmful.  "I am thinner than her, so I'm okay."  "She is much more successful than I, so I must be a failure!"  We label to quantify and categorize objects (in this case, people) in order to rhetorically place ourselves between them on an imaginary, ever changing totem pole of assumption.

Helpful labels encourage others while they encourage ourselves.  If you are placing labels on others to make them feel better while making yourself feel worse, stop.  Compliments and positive observations are important.  So is constructive criticism.  Give others a boost.  Pay others compliments.  Be observant of an other's abilities and empower them to expose their talents to the world.  But, while you lift others up, do not compare your own abilities and talents to theirs.  If an other possesses a talent or ability it is worthy of recognition.  Period.

Harmful labels are completely unnecessary.  Assigning a detrimental label to another  in order to control or contain an other's success or happiness is just plain mean.  Placing limiting labels on yourself that contain or inhibit your own happiness interrupts growth!  Don't do that!  We all, at one time or another, succeed.  We all fail.  We all lie, we con, we help, we dream, we yell, we soar.  Does that mean I am a Liar?  No.  A Failure? No.  A Dreamer?  I don't think that applies either.

Remember, the labels we apply to others and to ourselves allow a behavior to be acceptable.  If you have labeled yourself as Shy you have given yourself permission to be Shy.  Don't like the label?  Undo it by choosing to be more out-going when the opportunity presents itself.   Wondering how your label reads?  Introduce yourself to someone new...  and listen to the words that come out of your mouth.  You will be face to face with the labels you wear and you can then decide if they fit or if they don't.

You know what to do...  and remember to wash your hands.

Anna~

Oil.

Oils.  We know them.  Rachael talks about EVOO, cakes ask for vegetable oil, dressing requires an oil, as does mayonnaise, and we grease our pans and irons with oil.  My counter is dressed with four different cooking oils at all times, they are never moved from beside the stove, for use multiple times a day.  "Why oil?"  And, maybe more importantly, "What oil?"

Oil is a fat.  Because we have talked about fat we know that it contains 9 calories per gram and should represent less than 35% of our diet.  We also know there are liquid fats, solid fats, animal fats, plant fats which fall into categories such as saturated, unsaturated, hydrogenated, trans, etc., fat.  Oil, mainly a plant  or vegetable fat, is liquid at room temperature, provides omega-3 and other essential fatty acids, and delivers monounsaturated (good) fats to the body.  Olive oil contains flavanoids, macadamia oil contains antioxidants, coconut oil is low in omega 6 but high in lauric acid. Using a variety of oils means you get a variety of benefits, benefits not present in animal fats and oils.

So, "What oil?"
*Not all oils are created equal.  When choosing an oil, find the words 'expeller pressed' or 'fist cold pressed'; this means the oils were extracted with pressure instead of a chemical exchange.
*Oils, no matter the variety, should also be organic.  Non-organic plants are blanketed with herbicides and pesticides.  When the berry or fruit is pressed to release the oil the internal herbicides and residual pesticides flow with it.  When you consume the oil you then consume the chemicals.  Choose organic.
*You also need to make sure the oil on the label is the oil in the bottle.  Some oils are mixed with filler oils (cheaper) and you may be duped into thinking you are eating something you are not.  Looking at the ingredient list may not suffice here, for some filler oils are not listed (and don't need to be), but there might be a quality seal present.
*A Non-GMO (genetically modified organism) label or claim is important as well.

I cannot possibly capture and explain all of the oils in two or three paragraphs but I found a great chart online that does. Thanks to eatingRULES.com, I now have a greater understanding of how some oils compare to others.  It's called the Cooking Oils Comparison Chart.  Click the link, print it out and place it on your fridge.  Great learning tool, great cooking guide, great advice and comparison chart!

Eat real, delicious, naturally occurring food, drink plenty of water, give your vitamins their vitamins, and, as always, remember to wash your hands.  I will soon further our education on oil.  Hydrogenated?  Saturated?  Refined?  It's worth a second look.  The investigation continues...

Anna~

Even I Can't Find a Replacement for Sausage

This morning we woke late so instead of rushing the kids to pack their own lunch I scampered through the kitchen to assemble their meals myself.  Grapes, peanuts, yogurt, roast chicken and cheese sandwiches on bakery bread, a tall water bottle and love.  I consider our selections pretty healthy, but if I look I can see salt, if I scrutinize I can see sugar, if I wonder I can see white flour and processed meat. I was recently approached to answer the question, "What should I pack my kids for lunch?" and I offered an extensive list, but I do realize adding foods together to make lunch can be tricky.

The go-to for lunch is a sandwich.  Peanut butter and jelly, ham and cheese, and BLT's; a few different food groups represented between two pieces of bread.  To make sure your sandwich isn't a processed mess, read your labels.  The big brand peanut butter adds hydrogenated oils to avoid separation; sugar and salt are also added to the paste.  Instead of getting a relatively good source of protein, you get a good dose of sugar, a nice dent in your sodium requirement and a dose of hydrogenated oil (I will dissect oils tomorrow if you are wondering why this is concerning).

Peanuts are a very nutritious food, so please do not beleive that I am suggesting peanuts or beloved butter is bad for you.  One quarter cup of peanuts have 35% of your daily value of manganese which your body needs in order to: utilize biotin, thiamin, ascorbic acid, and choline; enhance bone strength; synthesize fatty acids and cholesterol; maintain normal blood sugar levels; promote optimal function of your thyroid gland; maintain nerve health; protect your cells from free-radical damage.  Peanuts also provide tryptophan, folate, copper, protein and vitamin B3.  Peanut butter is a good food choice, but make sure your label reads more like this:

And what about lunch meat?  Is eating salt cured ham a good choice?  What about a football sized chicken breast pumped full with brine to add flavor?  How about salami and other loaf meats and sausages?  I am a sucker for sausage, as are most Wisconsinites, but are they good for me?  Some research says that adding deli meat to your diet keeps portion size low and adds protein to any sandwich, but the reality is, "No."  A natural chicken breast is about 5 ounces, a natural turkey breast is about 9 ounces. If you wish for a roast turkey sandwich, buy a free range bird, roast it with your favorite veggies and herbs, slice it thin and put it on a great piece of bread.  (Honestly though, even I can't find a replacement for sausage;-)  Detour around the deli and head to the butcher in stead.  If you are going to eat meat try for all you're worth to eat the real thing.

It is a simple concept, I know, to eat real food, to drink plenty of water and to give your vitamins their vitamins. But it is difficult to live and practice this simple concept with all of the sugared, salted, brined, enriched, processed foods that are marketed as 'natural', 'healthy' and 'good'.  The best way to know you are getting natural, healthy, good food is to choose the foods without the labels.  After you shop, before you eat, remember to wash your hands.  See you tomorrow~

Is it Really that Simple?

This morning I enjoyed a label free (almost) breakfast with my parents.  Mom made bread yesterday with whole wheat flour, yeast, milk, grape seed oil, water, salt, and today we ate it as toast under a poached egg.  We enhanced the meal with home assembled fruit salad (strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, apples and clementines), black coffee and vitamins. Naturally occurring, whole foods to nourish our bodies and boost our metabolisms.

Is it really that simple?  What about sugar and calories and cholesterol?  What about butter? Isn't butter bad?  And what about vitamins?  How do we know the vitamins we choose are actually the vitamins we choose?  How do we know we are choosing the right vitamins?  All of these questions are media inspired repeats that have only moderate merit.  But, addressing these questions is very important, so let's address them.

Yes.  It is really that simple.  If and when you choose to eat real, whole food, your body will be more nourished and less hungry.  Your body will have access to the vitamins and minerals it cannot make on its own thus be less likely to crave fuel and nutrients so frequently.  Your body requires a measurable amount of calories, macro nutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) and macro minerals (calcium, chloride, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, sodium, selenium, zinc) so eating calories should neither be alarming nor avoided.  What you should be mindful of is the food on your plate, what it's made of and where it comes from.  And you are right, butter is not an ideal fat...  but almond butter is!

Vitamins aren't as easily navigated as real fruits, vegetables and fats.  Vitamins, like processed and packaged food, are designed in part to sell a product in order to make money for a company.  The easiest place to find real vitamins in a truly accessible form is to eat fresh, plant based foods or to drink fresh, plant based juices.  If adding a vitamin to your day is something you desire to do, research your vitamin label just as you would a packaged, processed food.  Ingredients like talc, gelatin, sugar, artificial colors, flavors, additives and binders are often present.  Words that end in 'ide' or 'ate' or are preceded by 'd-' or 'dl-' are synthetic variations instead of natural vitamin sources, so beware.  Education here is key.  If you don't know what it is, look it up.   Is there an App for that?

Goal for today? Remove one processed item from your pantry.  Try and think about what it was modeled after and replace it with the real thing.  Cheese flavored chips?  Buy real cheese and bake it into crisps instead.  Blueberry muffins in a box?  Get some blueberries and make your own muffins! Boxed mac n' cheese?  I can't even believe you still have that in there!  Eat real food! Drink plenty of water.  Give your vitamins their vitamins, and, as always, remember to wash your hands.

Anna~

Juicing?

This past weekend I watched "Hungry for Change" on Netflix.  This movie is on the same line of thought as "Food Matters" and "Forks over Knives".  All of these documentaries point at food as the foundation for all other things.  And, interestingly enough, all support 'juicing' as a way of helping your body stay clean.  'Juicing'.  Hmmmm.  Sounds expensive.

I do not have a food processor, nor do I have a juicer.  I own a blender and a water bottle, ice cube trays and a bit of imagination, but that is it.  Juicing requires an apparatus that turns raw food into juice and mountains of fresh produce.  I can justify spending money on food, I am even doing better choosing organic food over the pesticide variety, but I do not have the budget for juicing as a staple in my diet (especially since there are four others to feed), at least not yet.

Before I go and try juicing recipes and blending food flavors and combos I thought I should give the 'juice' a try first.  Naked Juice has several varieties of smoothies available ready made so that is where I started.  The Green Machine and Blue Machine were my first two choices and they are fantastic.  I do not want to buy bananas, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, apple juice, mango, heads of broccoli, spirulina, ginger, pineapple, wheat grass, blue green algae, and odorless garlic to purée, but I don't mind purchasing the blend ready made for my enjoyment ~ and my health.  Naked uses NonGMO produce and all natural ingredients.  They don't add sugar, they don't add preservatives;  'they only add a label'.  I look forward to trying more of their blends.

So why juice?  Why isn't real food enough?  When we eat we have to digest.  The body has to liquify our food in order to absorb it.  Some foods contain fat and water soluble nutrients which require more or less form the liver, the pancreas, and the intestines.  Juice, because it is already in liquid form and because it is made of raw food, is recognized and absorbed immediately by the body without the process of breaking it down.  From mouth to cells in roughly 15 minutes vs the 30 minutes to 12 hours cooked or intact foods can take to digest.  Not to mention the powerful, cell cleansing ingredients!  (This week we'll talk about those ingredients!)

Juicing.  After a few days and then a few weeks I will let you know if I notice any differences (internal or external).  For now, I encourage you to eat real food, to give your vitamins their vitamins, to drink plenty of water, and to remember to wash your hands.  Try something new~  or turn it into juice!

Anna

Is GMO on the Label?

GMO: Genetically Modified Organism. Biotechnology has been touching our food for decades and GMOs are the result. Plants that withstand chemical pesticides, yield larger fruit, produce more vegetables and grow in unlikely conditions, move from the super market shelves to our dinner tables without detection. Animals that possess giant breasts, meaty shoulders, rotund butts and the pinkest flesh have gone from farm to 'Friday's Menu' as well. GMOs may look and taste delicious, but they create a few problems along the way.

Genetically Modified Organisms were created to "withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide." They may ward off bugs and tolerate chemicals but they do not offer a nutritionally superior product. Interestingly enough, they aren't even labeled! As we are meandering through the grocery store we may not be able to tell which foods have been engineered and which are the real thing.  The problem with that is not knowing where our food comes from - Earth or Engineer?

Why does that matter? Is Genetic Engineering (GE) of food safe?  "This experimental technology merges DNA from different species, creating unstable combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding."  I don't know much about the science, nor do I understand all of the repercussions of GE, but if a food is designed to withstand herbicides and pesticides I know it is being doused with the chemicals it is modified to withstand.  Do I wish to eat such a food?  There is the question, dear reader...

How do we steer clear of GMO's?  Though it may not be this simple, look for 'Organic' or '100% Organic' on the label or brand of the foods you consume.  'Natural' is another word to look for when choosing fresh foods to put into your body.  Ask your local growers if they are part of the NonGMO project.  Do a quick internet search to find out if your favorite brands of bread or potato or chicken or pork are NonGMO verified.  Education is the key~    

Just as the labels in our T-shirts tell us if they came from across the globe or the USA, so should your food be labeled to tell if it is laboratory grown, genetically modified, or locally cultivated.  Because GMOs are not labeled, a bit of detective work is necessary....  more investigation is needed~
Yesterday I gave unsolicited advice to a friend who expressed a desire to lose weight.  I suggested she eliminate all processed food and fatty meat.  She then asked, "What would I eat?"  I said, "Eat real, whole, naturally occurring foods, add a vitamin, drink plenty of water, and remember to wash your hands."  I wonder if she will take my advice?  

Anna~

 (Maybe I should make her a menu?)