Groceries 101

Keeping your house stocked with groceries is key in maintaing a healthy lifestyle and because fresh real food tends to spoil quickly, as nature intended I'm always looking for ways to keep things longer. It's important to store groceries strategically in order to ensure freshness and prevent food borne illness. Also good hand washing and food preparation techniques are just as important to keep in mind. Here's a couple tips to help you with storage, placement and cleanliness in order to ensure deliciousness and to keep away food borne bacteria.

Cleanliness guidelines

1. Hand washing-before food preparation, before eating, after handling uncooked poultry, eggs, seafood and raw meat and after eating.

 Wet your hands with warm water, lather up, scrub including nails, rinse under the hottest water you can stand and dry with a clean unused towel or air dry.

2.  Wash cutting boards and utensils with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you move on to the next. 

3. Designate cutting boards for certain foods- meat, produce, seafood.

Refrigerator guidelines

1. Be sure your refrigerator is set at 40*F or lower in order to prevent growth of harmful bacteria

2. Clean your fridge before your grocery trip , wipe down messes and spills as soon as they happen, toss spoiled food ASAP as it will spread to other foods.

3. Store leftovers in glass containers for up to 4 days so that you see what you have and can eat.

4. Don't mix fruits and vegetables with meat, this is a surefire way for contamination. Meat and produce are not friends

5. Store dairy on the middle shelf, when stored on the door temps tend to fluctuate which can increase spoilage.

6. Store raw meat and seafood on the BOTTOM SHELF on it's own and wrap properly.

7. Sliced and washed produce spoils faster, don't wash or slice until you're ready to use it.

Food guidelines

1. Don't store onions with potatoes, apples are the best to keep potatoes from sprouting, keep in a dark cool place.

2. One rotten apple can spoil the bunch

3. Freeze and preserve fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano) in olive oil, place in ice tray, pop and use.

4. Wrap the crown of bananas in plastic wrap to keep them from spoiling faster

5. Wrap cheese in cheese paper or wax paper and place in plastic baggie NOT on the door of the fridge but on the middle shelf.

6. Wrap Celery, broccoli and lettuce in foil before storing in fridge, this will ensure freshness.

7. Store unripe tomatoes w/fruit stem down in a paper bag. Store ripe tomatoes on the counter away from sunlight not touching one another. Store overly ripe tomatoes in the fridge and let them come to room temp before consuming them.

8. Keep fresh ginger in the freezer, it's easily grated while frozen peel and all.

9. Put mushrooms in a paper bag in the fridge or a cool dry place

10.  Cut away damaged/ bruised areas from produce, rinse under cold running water, dry with paper towel or clean cloth towel. Pre-Washed produce is ok to use without rinsing

11. DO NOT wash poultry, raw meat, eggs. This is how countertops and sinks are contaminated with bacteria.

I hope this helps while you're in the kitchen cooking up a wonderful meal and if you're not, get to it! =)


Cheers to Health and Moderation!

Trish

Braving the Holidays or How to eat normally

With the holidays quickly approaching I know everyone's getting nervous thinking about all  goodies that are always so tempting during these special times. We all know that staying healthy is something you must take on for the rest of your life versus dieting which can be easier short term but harder long term on your health and on your mind.I recently read an inspiring quote that i'd like to share, this quote reflects what normal eating is and should be.  It's something important to remember before you start worrying about what you'll be eating during the holidays

"Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it—not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good. Normal eating is mostly three meals a day, or four or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful. Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.

In short, normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your hunger, your schedule, your proximity to food and your feelings."

Being at a healthy and good weight is composed of so many factors, far too many to be ruined by one or two or even a few holiday meals. Health is all about lifestyle and if you don't want to be feel bad during thanksgiving this year then be sure you get in a good serving of veggies or fruit in your meal(keep your plate colorful) but don't hold back when it comes to everything else, food shouldn't be guilt ridden it should be full of love,flavors, memories and happiness. So please do yourself the favor and indulge in food with your loved ones  this holiday season and if you still have a hard time doing it remember all the time, preparation and love that goes into holiday meals and realize that a healthy lifestyle isn't about eating perfectly all the time. Be mindful, relax and enjoy yourself!

Cheers to Health and Moderation
Trish

Snacks are for Everyone!

Let me make a confession to you , I always have food on me at all times, for a couple reasons; one being that snacking gives me energy for long and stressful days, another reason is snacks have always helped me make friends, and lastly i never like to go too long without eating some sort of energy boosting balanced food to keep my metabolism going steady. I even have food in my car in case some situation comes up that i'm stranded somewhere starving and cranky so that my famished alter ego doesn't come out to scare everyone!

I notice my energy levels starting to drop 2-3 hours after a meal, so that's usually how I gauge when it's time to eat a whole some healthy snack and there's so many great convenient options that you can keep with you if you just plan a little bit ahead.  Keep some plastic baggies or even reusable plastic containers  handy and you're set, I really like the small ziploc baggies to store snacks in they're great to keep everything portioned so you don't over do it! Here I have included a table and your job is to mix and match as creatively as you can.  As i always mention it's important to keep it balanced snacks included! PFC is great to remember; Protein, Fat, Carbs and fresh fruit and veggies are always great to include in any of those 3 categories where you can! I hope this list gives you some great ideas to make snacks for adults and kids alike. Keep on Snacking, I won't judge!

Protein	Fat	Carbs
Yogurt	Cheese	Corn tortillas
Eggs (hard boiled)	Avocado	Whole wheat crackers (triscuit is great!)
Nut butters	Eggs	Whole wheat bread
Beef/turkey jerky	Tuna/tuna salad	Whole wheat flat bread
Dry edamame	Walnuts	Quinoa
Seeds (particularly pumpkin)	Olives	Bananas
Hummus	Guacamole	Whole grain cereal (4g+ of fiber)
Chocolate milk		Fruit
Nuts		Potato's (sweet & baking)
Sliced turkey (whole, not deli variety, less sodium)		Corn
Roasted lentils (super easy to make!)		Brown rice crackers
Bean dip

Cheers to Health and Moderation!

Trish

Veggie Miso Ramen (Recipe)

Eating healthy all the time can be difficult, especially with all the pressure around us of convenient meals. As much as i love convenience it sure doesn't take precedence over health, atleast for me. I'm constantly being inspired by different restaurants to recreate things i've tried but in a more healthier fashion because we all know the key to health is making it at home it all boils down to knowing exactly what you're putting in your body. When it comes down to convenience one of my favorite things to make is a bowl full of miso soup with ramen noodles, some fresh veggies and egg, you have all your bases covered with this one you have Protein- egg, Fat- egg, Carbs- noodles+ veggies. These are all foods that will keep you going with tons of energy and it's not super heavy on your stomach for a nice light lunch or dinner! 

Miso Ramen and Veggie Soup

Serves 4

3 heads of baby bok choy

3 carrots

2- 3oz package of ramen noodles ( feel free to sub udon, soba or whole wheat spaghetti according to your preferences)

4 hard boiled eggs

8 cups of chicken broth

4 tbsp of miso paste ( i used white miso it's slightly less salty than other varieties)

1. Chop up the bok choy and carrots and set aside

2. Prepare hard boiled eggs hard boiled egg recipe once they're done slice them in half, set aside

3. Prepare ramen/noodles according to package

4. Start boiling chicken broth in large soup pot, add miso paste. (optional; tsp sesame oil, hot sauce)

5. Once broth is boiling add noodles, veggies and let simmer on medium heat for 5-6 minutes

6. Serve soup and 2 egg halves into each bowl

Feel free to sub out ingredients as you like! You can always add more fresh veggies or some chopped chicken breast. Remember to try to keep it balanced Protein, Fat, Carbs. These are all very important factors for a balanced diet. Remember not all protein comes from meat, not all fat comes from fried foods and not all carbs come from grains only, there are good fats, good carbs and good proteins, no nutrient is an enemy they all work together in harmony with our cells to produce energy, healthy bones and immunity!

Cheers to Health and Moderation!

Trish

Real Health Tips

Just thinking of a couple health tips I agree with and decided to share!

Going Barefoot

Since I was a little girl I remember I loved being barefoot, at that time my parents were living in a house with wood floors so you could find me running around barefoot as much as i pleased even outside to my mom's dismay ( i was barefoot and uncontrollable). As i got older i always choose sandals or shoes i could slip on and off easily so that i could take my feet out of confinement ASAP. I never realized as a  child that going barefoot was so beneficial to the body and has some detoxifying benefits.  The reasoning behind this is our bodies are made up of 60% water which conducts electricity and the negative charge the earth gives us can detoxify, calm, and  balance your internal systems, power up circulation and great for overall balance. Next time you're in a grassy or sandy park or a beach or even your wood floors at home try going barefoot and let your feet breathe!

Drinking Lots of water

10 years ago and i can promise you i would not be writing this post on water, I was soda's best friend. I thought water was boring and unappealing. As time would tell that view changed and i always say my favorite accessory is a bottle of water. You all know that our bodies are made up of 60% water and it has many beneficial functions including maintaining body temperature, creation of saliva, digestion and aiding in skin hydration.  If you're like me and need to wean yourself off sugar drinks start slow limiting your intake and eventually cut it out completely, sugar is addictive and can be hard to cut out of your diet but after it's gone you won't even think about it. Also jazz up your water with fresh add-inst (lemon, berries, lime, mint, cucumber)

Eating the whole Egg

It seems everywhere i look everyone is misinformed when it comes to one of the most common and heart healthy breakfast staples. So in hopes of unbrainwashing let me explain why eating the whole egg is good for you. As i mentioned fat is something that's in many  foods ( real foods even) and it's not necessarily the enemy, eggs contain essential Omega-3 fatty acids along with many B vitamins that are helpful in protein production. Curious as to whether eggs will affect your cholesterol levels? Eggs contain HDL cholesterol ( good cholesterol) that aids in lowering your LDL (bad cholesterol). Basically if you're eating a couple egg's (2-3) daily you're ok. Also for all you egg yolk haters, when you only eat the white you're missing out on half of the nutrients and because of the low amount of (good) fat it will cause your hunger levels to spike which could then lead to bad decisions in the break room. So reconsider kindly next time you want to toss out the yolk

Non restrictive eating

Cutting carbs? Cutting fat? Cutting sugar? Cutting proteins?  Don't! All of these are part of a healthy balanced diet in moderation. The key thing to remember is to keep it balanced, eat mindfully & take into consideration what you're eating. When I'm eating I try to remember this PFC; Proteins( fish, lean meats, beans, eggs,) Fats ( olive oil, nuts, grass fed organic butter, avocado, real cheese, dairy) Carbs (whole grains & veggies). Keep the sugary and processed foods at a low.

Reading the ingredient list and nutrition information

Many packaged foods make really ridiculous health claims, from low fat to hi fiber. Don't believe any of the bells and whistles of their marketing team and turn to the back to check out the nutrition facts and ingredient list. When I look at the back of packages the first thing I look for is enemies for example, trans fat and saturated fat whether it's there or not and how much ( these are the fats to avoid).  Next I look for how much sodium and how much sugar is in the packaged product, use table to gage your daily intake and to decide whether it has too much sugar or salt. Last but certainly not least I look for the friends, good stuff like protein and fiber, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Also it's important to look at ingredient lists, typically they're hard to understand but if the first item on a package of pizza rolls is soy you probably want to reconsider buying them. Just keep in mind the shorter the ingredient list the better off you probably are and most good food doesn't need to have extensive ingredient lists or even make dietary boasts. Do the apples you ate this morning boast hi fiber and low fat? probably not, why because they don't have to! Below is a nutrition label for you to use as reference it's from a popular food item ( goldfish crackers). You'll see that it has very little protein and fiber per serving, tons of sodium and trans fat ( thumbs down!) Check out this crazy ingredient list! Not sure how many smiles this will induce but i can assure you if you put together a batch of baked cheese crackers you probably wouldn't have so many ingredients on it or trans fat or saturated fat! Keep it real folks!

Try to reduce your cravings with real food, craving goldfish crackers? have a piece of cheese. want some gummy bears? have some frozen grapes or sliced strawberries. Craving a cold soda? quench your thirst with some lemon soda water or berry infused water. Craving a piece of double chocolate cake? Eat it! I know we all get our cravings and junk food is ok in moderation but they're not  foods you should keep around the house and preferably make your favorite junk food from scratch ( you should know what you're eating).  Cheers to Health and Moderation!

Trish

Saturated Fat; Friend or Foe?

I know you all read my butter blog, and if you haven't read it go ahead and do me a favor and give it a whirl (Butter Blog) .

We lived past 1999 and there was no explosive computer apocalypse as was expected and now you're about to read that new research has surfaced that saturated fat isn't as bad as previously thought to be. So before you start going crazy buying chocolate and eating cheeseburgers, let me explain why and how the SAD ( standard american diet) is lacking in said fat and needs to rearrange itself for us to be healthy and balanced individuals. Here goes nothing; A common known but dated fact is that saturated fat is evil and leads to heart disease by raising LDL ( bad cholesterol) levels, but what we didn't know is that it also contains good cholesterol (HDL) and triglycerides which are both linked to lowering heart disease and in comparison to refined carbs which raise cholesterol (LDL) and lower triglycerides two really bad things that up your risk for heart disease, saturated fat from meat and dairy isn't so bad within reason.

Now i know what you're thinking, get her to the loony bin she's telling us that we should indulge in cheese and full fat dairy and meats? Yes and No. Unfortunately due to all the diet promises that come in those brightly colored packages, were eating more processed foods, more trans fats and less real foods (basically if it doesn't go bad toss it!). Due to all the misinformation were swapping out real meat, real cheese, real dairy for real fake low fat, trans fat filled processed packaged foods.

What's a trans fat?
 well to make it easy for you it's a really bad vegetable fat that is uber processed to add shelf life and give the food the "perfect" consistency, it sounds so great but really it has no health benefits tons of sodium and sugar to make up for lost flavor of real fat that's why you usually find it in packaged processed foods. Avoid Trans fats! avoid at all costs!  If you're already avoiding trans fats good job! and if you've just started trying to avoid trans fats it can be pretty tricky they're in a lot of foods. The worst part is big food companies are allowed to boast a 0% trans fat  promise on their packages/containers if there's less than 0.5 of a gram per serving. Terrible!

My best advice is ditch  the convenient packages and if you really want those cookies make them yourself! So to debunk the myth the answer is yes you can eat saturated fat if it means you're going to kick the french toast for eggs and bacon yes it's ok on occasion, i really like center cut it's lower in saturated fat and still delicious! Am i suggesting you coat your scrambled eggs in butter and eat bowls of cheese all day then No, as much as that sounds like tons of fun! ( i myself love tons of cheese)

As I've said over and over balance is key to a good diet and that balance includes eating different types of good fats from; organic butter, olive oil, raw nuts, unheated nut oils, avocados, eggs, palm oil and even *gasp* grass fed meat so don't be so hard on yourself when it comes to saturated fat.

To balance and moderation!
Trish


For further reading
The Truth about Saturated Fats

I can't believe it's not....Margarine

Away with the margarine I say!
Hey everyone! I'm so excited to introduce you all to my old best friend, I haven't hung with him in awhile since he was sorta shunned but now everything's smooth sailing and he's part of the cool kids club, so without further ado let me introduce to you BUTTER!

Yes! and with the food porn butter pic I bring good news! The good news is that butter is actually part of a heart healthy balanced diet. Yeah, no need to check your eyes, butter is not the enemy and heres some reasons why!

1. Butter has tons of fat soluble vitamins A, E and  most importantly K2 which is pretty rare in standard diets and it aids in bone healthy and regulating calcium in our body

2. Butter has friendly saturated fat, the kind that raise HDL or (good cholesterol) 

3. Butter can lower the risk of heart disease due to vitamin K2 intake

4. Butter contains an essential fatty acid (Butyrate) that protects the digestive system 

5. It's delicious! so go ahead and use butter, within moderation always but no need to fear it any longer!