From Prevention magazine www.prevention.com
There are 1.8 billion candy canes eaten in the six weeks prior to December 25th. If you were to lay the candy canes end to end, they’d wrap around the world ten times.
That is a lot of sugar.
This is a recipe from the American Institute for Cancer Research, a great way to use up your left over turkey. Barley is rich in protein, potassium, calcium, iron and B vitamins; Squash is rich in beta-carotene. www.aicr.com
Barley, Turkey and Butternut Squash Casserole
cooking oil spray
2 small butternut squash, halved
2 tsps. olive oil
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 cup minced onion
1 tsp. dried sage
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup barley
1/2 lb. turkey breast, cubed or diced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 4-qt. baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large pot of rapidly boiling water, boil squash halves 5 minutes or until almost tender. Drain squash and set on a large cutting board to cool until easy to handle. Scoop flesh from each half and dice. Set aside.
In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add green pepper, onion and diced squash. Saute 3 minutes.
Add sage and pepper and stir to coat, add broth and bring to a boil, add barley and return to boil.
Reduce heat to low, cover and cook 10 minutes, until barley is tender and liquid is absorbed. Mix in diced turkey. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish and top with feta cheese.
Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes, or until cheese is golden.
A great way to use left over rice and will become a favorite lunch time treat with your children.
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 to 2 tblsps. shredded cheese
1/2 tsp. olive or flax oil
1 tblsps. minced fresh parsley
Mix warm rice with cheese, oil, parsley. Serve
This recipe is from “Simply Natural Baby Food” by Cathe Olson
Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehnet Oz, authors of the best selling YOU series and regular contributors to the Oprah Winfrey Show, now have a new diet book out. The great thing about this book is that it is not just another fad diet but a manual on how your organs and genetics determine your size.
From the publishers
“Roizen and Oz will invigorate you with equal parts information, motivation, and change-your-life action to show you how your brain, stomach, hormones, muscles, heart, genetics, and stress levels all interact biologically to determine if your body is the size of a baseball bat or of a baseball stadium.”
You can learn more about You: On A Diet at www.oprah.com.
This book is also avaliable from www.amazon.com or your favorite book store.
Disease is 30% genetics and 70% lifestyle
You know you need to eat more vegetables but you just are not crazy about their taste, try this suggestion from The Sugar Solution; this is a great diet from Prevention magazine.
Dip asparagus, zucchini, bell peppers, corn, eggplant, yellow squash, and mushrooms in balsamic vinegar, grill or broil the vegetables until desired texture. Add pineapple chuncks for flavor.
For more great suggestions go to www.sugarsolutiononline.com
Diet has become synonymous with weight loss. Tell someone you are on a diet and chances are the first question they ask is are you doing low-carb, low-fat or just counting calories?
In our society being on a diet means that you are depriving yourself of at least one food group. Eventually you grow tired of not eating the forbidden fruit and go back to your old way of eating;this leads to gaining back all the weight you lost plus a few extra pounds.
In Latin the word for diet is diaeta meaning “way of living”; the Greek word is diaita meaning “to live one’s life”.
This is why I was so excited when I discovered Intuitive Eating, their philosophy is about living your life and listening to your body.
Learn more about Intuitive Eating at www.intuitiveeating.com
Autumn is here and there is a chill in the air. When you feel that chill does your thoughts turn to a nice bowl of hot chili? If so you will love Santa Fe Chicken Chili.
I found this recipe in an issue of Country Woman several years ago and it is a favorite with both family and friends. Not only is it full of flavor, you can make it a day ahead or double the recipe and freeze extra for a day when you need something on the table fast.
To make this chili as healthy as it is full of flavor I use less oil and made a small change in the way it is prepared.
Ingredients
2 Lbs. chicken breast, boneless/skinless
cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 red peppers, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil /I use 2 Tblsps.
2 tsps. cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 large onions, chopped
1 – 28oz. can diced tomatoes/undrained
2 – 14oz. cans chicken broth/low-fat
2 – 15 1/2oz. cans kidney beans/drained & rinsed
1 – 12oz. jar salsa
I double the amount of salsa
1- 10oz. pkg. frozen corn
light salt (opt)
black pepper (to taste)
Original recipe:
In the original recipe the chicken and vegetables are browned together
in 1/4 cup olive oil. After the chicken is cooked through the rest of
ingredients are added to the same pan. Not only is this a lot of
unnecessary fat the fat from the chicken is absorb by the vegetables.
My version:
In large skillet brown chicken until no longer pink, with slotted spoon remove
chicken to a large kettle or 5qt. Dutch Oven.
Add 2 tblsps. olive oil, peppers, garlic, and onions, cook until vegetables are
tender, about 5 minutes.
Next add chili powder, cumin, cayenne and black pepper, and salt (opt), stir for
1 minute. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for
30 minutes.
Water, you constantly hear drink at least eight glasses a day. This clear liquid is essential for life: you can not survive more than 5 or 6 days without it. Most doctors and nutritionist will tell you not only is it essential for life but proving to be a dieters best friend. The next time you are craving a candy bar try a glass of water, you may be surprised to find you no longer desire the candy bar.
This wonderful beverage has no calories, no fat, no sugar, and contains no alcohol; what beverage could possibly be more diet friendly? Imagine my surprise when at my local supermarket I spotted bottled water designed to help you lose weight. Since there is nothing to take out I checked to see what ingredient may have been added.
The first brand I checked contained garcinia cambogia; studies have shown this herb to help mice lose weight but no evidence of weight loss in humans. ABC news did an experiment with Jennifer and Lauren ( sisiters ); Jennifer drink regular bottled water at $6 a case and Lauren drank bottled water containing garcinia cambogia at $40 a case. At the time of the experiment neither sister knew which bottled water they were drinking. Their instructions was to drank a bottle 30 minutes before each meal and another 2 to 4 bottles at some other time during the day. During a four week period Jennifer lost 6 1/2 lbs. dranking bottled water at $6 a case, Lauren lost 5 lbs. dranking bottled water at $40 a case.
The one plus here is that even though garcinia cambogia may not aid in weight loss at least there are no harmful side effects. The same can not be said for yohimbe alkaloids contained in the second brand of diet water. I will add here that this brand of water has a warning label stating “Keep out of the reach of children” and “Sale to minors not recommended“.
Yohimbe alkaloids come from the bark of a tree in Africa; sold in health food stores as a natural aphrodisiac, to treat erectile dysfunction, weight loss, and depression. Some have even smoked yohimbe as a hallucinogen.
In Germany the Commission E, the country’s herbal regulatory agency, has yohimbe on its list of unapproved herbs.
The commission warns
People with kidney or liver disease, stomach ulcers, heart disease, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, post traumatic disorder, and panic disorder should not take yohimbe.
There is more but it would take close to another paragraph to list all the warnings.
Maybe it is wise to stick with just regular tap water, it is not only going to save you money, it may save your life.
CLA, a very popular weight loss supplement now being sold in health food stores, is reported to be free of the side effects common with weight loss products containing ephedrine and caffeine. Cattle and dairy cows convert linoleic acid into CLA, but humans do not have this ability. In order for humans to get CLA in their diet they have to eat beef, drink milk or take supplements.
Research using CLA in animals has been shown to improve the immune system by fighting certain types of cancer, reducing body fat and increasing muscle size. There was a five week study done with mice that had a genetic tendency to obesity. The mice had a reduction in body fat but their weight stayed the same; this would suggest that the mice lost fat and increased muscle size.
There are two major problems using this research as a guideline for human use before I even go into the possible side effects:
A number of studies with humans have been done in the past few years and there is some evidence that CLA does help with weight loss. What the media has neglected to mention are the side effects that are being found in humans.
It has been shown that the higher the dose of CLA a human takes the higher the rise in lipoprotein (bad cholesterol). This is the same thing that happens with an increase in the intake of trans-fatty acids. The higher your lipoprotein count the greater your risk for heart disease.
In overweight men already showing signs of metabolic syndrome CLA has been shown to possibly promote type2 diabetes. CLA appears to raise the level of 8-iso-PGF which has been linked to both type1 and type2 diabetes. Even in animal studies it has been shown to increase both insulin and blood sugar levels.
To date there is not any evidence that confirms that CLA improves the immune system in humans.
There have not been any studies to compare the use of omega-3 fatty acids found in high-fat cold water fish with the use of CLA, but at this time the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish appear to be a better choice. Taking just six grams of fish oil daily has been shown to increase fat loss, reduce insulin levels, and lower your risk of heart disease.
Until further studies are done with humans it is too early to confirm if taking CLA in supplement form is beneficial or harmful. It would be advisable for now to avoid taking CLA if you have type2 diabetes, existing insulin resistance, or liver disease.
If you are just starting a weight loss or diet program CLA supplements may be useful for short term use (2 to 8 weeks );after that supplementation with CLA seems to have very little effect.
For further information, read Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill by Udo Erasmus.
Hi there. I'm Patricia Setzer, and I show you how to prepare your favorite foods in a way that can help boost your energy, maintain a healthy weight and improve your overall health ... More »
Greek yogurt has 1/2 the sugar of American unsweeten non-fat yogurt.
“Let food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food” – Hippocrates
