Whole Grain Grub

Okay maybe it’s more like 3 minutes – either way, we have Rachel Ray beat by about 27.

Here goes…

You’ll need

1 avocado
1- 2 juicy oranges
1- 2 tomatoes
1 red onion
freshly ground black pepper
lemon (if you have it)
olive oil
vinegar

You do

Step One: Cut the avocado and tomatoes into cubes
Step Two: Slice the oranges and then onions into thin layers
Step Tree: Layer the bottom of your bowel with the oranges, then the tomatoes. Next add the avocados and onions
Step Four: Sprinkle with pepper
Step Five: Drizzle with a bit of lemon, oil and vinegar

The best part about this salad is how the juice from the oranges mixes with the oil and vinegar. Opposite flavors, but they complement each other so well. Get ready for a party in your mouth!

Did your mom listen to Deepak Chopra tapes on repeat when you were growing up? Maybe that was just mine. Deepak felt like part of the family for real. I remember listing to him on cassette in the car everywhere we went.

Anyway, my man just wrote this interesting article on Oprah and the backlash she is getting from the health care industry for doing shows on alternative medicine (hormone replacement therapy, anyone). Deepak has O’s back, which I wasn’t expecting. As much as Oprah gets on my nerves (“Hughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Jackmannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn,” you know how she introduces everyone in that long-winded man voice), Deepak is right. She does teach a lot about wellness and prevention, which are not focused on nearly enough in western medicine.

Here are some of the highlights:

The criticism the medical establishment is directing at Oprah through this article only exposes their own frustration in having squandered their credibility with the public. They hope that if they can successfully attack the Oprah’s immense credibility, then they can magically get some of that credibility back for themselves. However, if people still trusted the health care industry to act in their best interest the way they did decades ago, then it would be unnecessary to brand Oprah for “crazy talk” simply because she occasionally provides a forum for ideas outside of mainstream medicine.

* Overall, this country’s health care system is actually a “sick care” system. In 2006, $2.1 trillion were spent in the U.S. on medical care, 95% of which was spent to treat disease after it had already occurred.

What this tells me is that medicine needs Oprah and other patient advocates who are demanding that official medicine heal itself. To accuse them of lacking medical credibility is a red herring. Patients aren’t supposed to know more than their physicians. The fact that they often do, at least insofar as alternative treatment goes, is both a sign of hope and cause for distress.

All signs point to YES. According to NEWSWEEK, data shows that in the past year, the number of Americans considered obese has jumped by 1.7 percent—or almost 5.5 million people—and that the obese report a much lower quality of life than those who are at healthier weights. Such a shame.

The data from Gallup indicates that the number of individuals who have a Body Mass Index over 30 and are thereby classified as “obese,” has risen from 25.1 percent of the population surveyed to 26.8 percent between the first quarter of this year and last. (BMI is the ratio of height to weight.) This number may not sound like much, but a trend like this is significant—especially because between 2003 and 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention measured no real growth in American obesity levels. “A 2 percent increase in BMI is not trivial at the population level,” says Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard University. “This level of increase can have important public-health implications for health outcomes such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.”

I recently interviewed Barbara Mendez, President of Lifestyle Nutrients, a nutrition consulting company, for an article I wrote. She had some comments on the topic: “When people are struggling financially, their diet often suffers, not so much because of the cost of decent food – because a meal made of rice, beans and a vegetable can be pennies – but because stress levels and anxiety levels are so high that [people self medicate] with foods such as take-out and snacks high in sugars.”

We all know that Fast-food restaurants have reported profits in the face of the recession, with their dollar menus providing attractive options for people looking to save money. But like Mendez said, healthy choices don’t have to break the budget. It’s all about education and learning how to get food with the best nutritional value for your buck.

Check out the full article here.

Turkish meets Mediterranean. One of the best meals of my life. (And the waiter was cute too =)

So fresh and so clean. One of the many local fruit stands. We loaded up on melons, persimmons and grapes.

This was pure hilarity. This beef patty was all alone in this cage at a bar. So random. It looked like it was being radiated by ultra violet rays. I kinda wanted to save it too.

Man. Forget the fancy places, me and Naj loved this local diner in the hood. So cheap yet so good! We went back again and again.

This chef was making some sort of meat wrapped in a corn patty. I don’t eat meat, so I wasn’t able to try that one.

Up next: Paris with Ash! Friggin’ excited!

I just wanted to share a photo of this little piece of heaven. This was the BEST red velvet cupcake I have ever had in my life. I copped a box from a vendor at the B.A.M. Arts Festival (in Brooklyn) to bring to a friend’s birthday celebration. They were a hit! Perfect texture. Perfect size. Perfect icing. Rare combo, but if you can get your hands on one, your taste buds will never be the same. 

Newsflash: If you think becoming a vegetarian is going to help you lose weight, think again. The logic is simple, really. New vegetarians only eat carbs. I was ALWAYS tired during my first 10 years as a vegetarian because I only ate bread and pasta (Cheesecake Factory was the kick-it spot for real). It wasn’t until college, when I started reading more about health and nutrition, that I realized I had to make a conscious effort to get protein into my diet. Instead of eating the usual bagel for breakfast, I began to eat eggs and oatmeal. A couple hours after breakfast, I would eat a snack (or breakfast 2, as I like to call it) that consisted of a carb and protein. (Examples: fruit and low fat string cheese or nuts and yogurt). I lost a couple of pounds (although I was probably just shedding the freshman 15) and discovered that when I ate that way – 6 smaller well balanced meals a day – I had so much more energy.

Come to my house for breakfast 1, breakfast 2, lunch 1, lunch 2, dinner 1 or dinner 2 and you will never catch me cooking a meal that doesn’t have a carb, protein and a veggie. It becomes second nature. What I eat when I don’t have time to cook, on the other hand, is another story….

Which leads me to my point (sorry got a little sidetracked there). Recently the Journal of the American Dietetic Association released a study that puts adolescent and young adult vegetarians risk leaping into the life of a binge eater.

The Participants: 2,516 males and females, ages 15-23 years.

The Analysis: Tested for significant differences between current, former, and never vegetarians within the younger and older cohort.

The Results: Adolescent and young adult current vegetarians were more likely to report binge eating with loss of control when compared to nonvegetarians. Among adolescents, former vegetarians were more likely than never vegetarians to engage in extreme unhealthful weight-control behaviors. Among young adults, former vegetarians were more likely than current and never vegetarians to engage in extreme unhealthful weight-control behaviors.

Eating healthy is hard when you are broke. I’m sure we would all like to buy only organic fruits and veggies, but sometimes you gotta prioritize. According to Dr. Weil (ya’ll know about Dr. Weil? If not click here) there are some produce items that you’re better off eating organic becasue common growing practices make these crops the most likely to contain pesticide residues. On the flip side, there are 12 produce items that you don’t have to buy organic because they pose little threat of pesticide contamination. What a relief.

Produce you should buy Organic:

1. Apples
2. Peaches
3. Bell Peppers
4. Pears
5. Celery
6. Potatoes
7. Cherries
8. Raspberries
9. Imported Grapes
10. Spinach
11. Nectarines
12. Strawberries

Non-Organic will suffice:

1. Asparagus
2. Kiwi
3. Avocados
4. Mangos
5. Bananas
6. Onions
7. Broccoli
8. Papaya
9. Cauliflower
10. Pineapples
11. Corn (sweet, frozen)
12. Peas (sweet, frozen)

Any questions?

I want to be Tara Parker-Pope when I grow up! The veteran health journo has a super cool gig at the New York Time’s writing the “Well” column. This week TPP put us on to six Asparagus recipes. Roasted is my fav, but I think I’ll try them all out, as Asparagus is one of the greatest veggies know to man. (If you don’t like Asparagus, then I don’t think I can be friends with you anymore. Sorry.)

Check them out here:

Roasted Asparagus

Pasta with Asparagus, Arugula and Ricotta

Asparagus Frittata With Smoked Trout

Puree of Asparagus Soup

Asparagus Salad With Hard-Boiled Eggs

When I first became a vegetarian a trillion light-years ago, there weren’t many fake meat alternatives. Not the case now. Some of the faux meat options on the market today have carnivores fooled.

Every once in a while I like to try something new. This week I purchased MorningStar’s “Griller’s Prime” hamburgers. MorningStar has a good reputation for producing high quality veg food, so I thought these would be a homerun. Not quite. I’m eating my second one now and it’s kind of making me want to throw up. (Hold on while I go toss this last bite in the trash….Okay back.)

These don’t have anything on BOCA Burgers, which are more succulent and less chewy. I thought the “Griller’s Prime” version would taste like it was straight off the grill. Instead it was loaded with sodium and had a flavor that was too complicated for it’s own good. Nice try, but lets work on that MS. BOCA 4 Life!

My homegirl Shay Olivarria (owner of Bigger Than Your Block, an organization that provides financial literacy workshops for students) writes a “Money Matters” column for http://squarerootz.net/, my other website. This week’s column is about how to save money on groceries. Very informative. Check it.

Part 1: Money Management in 1 Minute – Save Money on Groceries

We should all be watching our pennies right now so I want to share a few money saving tips:

#1 Look for discounts on groceries by shopping at co-ops and dividing among friends.

#2 Create a small window garden to save on herbs and small fruits and veggies.

#3 Set a food budget and stick to it.

Part 2: Reader Question:

I heard about places that you can buy meat, veggies, etc. from off the farm. What’s that about?

It’s good that you’re thinking about these things. We should all be thinking about where our food comes from and how it’s handled before it lands on our dinner plates. What you’ve heard of is Community Supported Agriculture. It’s a process by which you can pay a farmer for a portion of meat, fruit, and vegetables that you can pick up at designated times during the year. This is good for two main reasons.

The first good reason to go this route is because you’re buying local. Buying local helps protect our environment by spending less on fuels to transport the food which also means less pollution in the air. It also may help you figure out where your food is coming from and how it’s been grown or raised. In case you haven’t heard about Alimentarius Codex there are many people deciding what is and isn’t okay for you to consume. You can find a farmer that is organic by Local Harvest. Making sure that you are aware of what chemicals, hormones, and pesticides are in your food is an important piece in creating a healthy environment for yourself.

The second good reason is that the food is usually much cheaper. Buying directly from the farm helps keep costs low for the farmer. Those savings can be passed on to you. Think about it. You’ll get fresh, delicious meat and produce several times a year cheaper than you could get at the grocery store.

All in all choosing to buy from a local farmer is a good idea. Let me know if you have other tips on saving money at the grocery store.