Have a great weekend!

I’m not sure if I even have an opinion on the situation, or really need to. For 2 years I worked in diabetes prevention programming and have seen it all. By “all” I mean every excuse or reason and also those who are highly motivated to change their health destiny. Every individual’s journey with diabetes is unique and personal. It’s difficult to come out with it, especially when you are such a public person. I hope that Paula’s story inspires people – not just to take a diabetes medicine but also to change their health with every choice they make every day (you know what I mean).

So go Paula! But, I wouldn’t mind if you used a little less butter and did a little less frying.

This morning, as I was setting up my breakfast “lab”, tumeric popped up in my brain. Alas! A smoothie! What a great place to through in some tumeric. After tasting a little tumeric and realizing it has a pretty earthy flavor, I decided to replace my sprouts (see last week’s post) for tumeric in fear that it might taste like I was drinking the forrest floor. I only added a little clump of the yellow powder and it seems to have hidden itself quite nicely among my other smoothie ingredients. Success!!! (insert mad scientist laugh here)

So here is the Smoothe du Juor recipe. Enjoy!

1/2 cup Kefir milk

1/2 cup carrot juice

1/2 banana

1/2 cup frozen berries

1/4 cup frozen cranberries

1/4″ piece of fresh ginger

1/4 tsp tumeric

handful of spinach

Last night I made my hubby and I smoothies. As I happily sipped mine in the kitchen, I heard this coming from the living room, ” Could it hurt you to sweeten this thing up a bit?!” Whoops! Did I go a little too far?

I have been experimenting with all kinds of produce in my smoothies lately. Last week I starting putting fresh ginger, fresh cranberries, and whole citrus into my smoothies. I love, love, love the fresh cranberries. It just makes me feel so good on the inside. Be careful with grapefruit, though, as it can quickly turn your whole smoothie sour if it’s very tart.

Today I may have gone too far. Last night at the grocery store the sprouts caught my eye. I love sprouts but when I buy them, I always have to throw a bunch away when they go bad. “Alas!” I thought. I can now throw those puppies into my smoothies! And so I did; this very morning.

My smoothie this morning consisted of kefir milk, carrot juice, frozen berries, fresh cranberries, 1/2 grapefruit, small banana, small bunch of kale, handful of sprouts and a small scoop of vanilla Juice Plus Complete. This was not my best tasting combination. It tasted more like vegetables (planted in dirt) than fruit. I could never serve this one to my man and expect him to drink it. I think the grapefruit plus the greens is not the best combo. Tomorrow I will nix the grapefruit and save it for a snack later in the day.

My experiments will continue on! Keep mixing up those smoothies and start your day (or afternoon or whenever) off on a fresh, nutrient-rich path.

Have a healthy day!

Traveling presents many challenges to the healthy eater. For those that have been following me for a while, you know that I love eating at fascinating places when we travel – often indulging in whatever is the local fare. (For the low-down on my food-changing travels to California, check out my June 2010 posts.)

This weekend we are visiting our college stomping grounds and dear friends in Tallahassee Florida. It’s always good to be back here, especially with a little more money in our pockets (than when we had in college at least) to enjoy the restaurants. Last night we ate at Midtown Filling Station and finished with dessert at Food Glorious Food. I had fish tacos, the best tator tots I have ever had, and milk chocolate peanut butter pie. It was all delicious but the company was even better.

Back to the topic at hand (I’m so distracted by talk of yummy restaurants)… so staying “on target” (thanks Mom for those great words to think about this year) is tricky with so much tasty food around. When I travel I try to have at least one thing planned as my “anchor” for the time. On this trip I had 2 strategies. 1- We brought veggies and raw nuts in the car yesterday to munch on so we started off on the right foot. 2- I brought my chocolate Juice Plus Complete nutrition shake mix to have either as a meal or snack every day. This is something I know my body loves and is healthy and filling. It has protein and fiber in it too, which is something that is harder to get when munching on snacks with friends.

I find having one or two “anchors” in your travels, or even your day-to-day routine, helps you stay engaged in your healthy lifestyle. You never want to completely disconnect from your healthy eating strategies, EVER! So pick your anchors (i.e. lots of water, fruit with breakfast, healthy snack, etc) and use them to have a successful trip and return back to every day life.

Enjoy some ginger and get your sweat on today!

Ginger can not only be warming on a cold day, but can help promote healthy sweating, which is often helpful during colds and flus. A good sweat may do a lot more than simply assist detoxification. German researchers have recently found that sweat contains a potent germ-fighting agent that may help fight off infections. Investigators have isolated the gene responsible for the compound and the protein it produces, which they have named dermicidin. Dermicidin is manufactured in the body’s sweat glands, secreted into the sweat, and transported to the skin’s surface where it provides protection against invading microorganisms, including bacteria such as E. coli andStaphylococcus aureus (a common cause of skin infections), and fungi, including Candida albicans.

Tumeric, is an amazing spice. Anything in nature with such a vibrant (yellow) hue has to have tremendous benefits. It has potent anti-inflammatory properties that has been used medicinally for centuries to help with all kinds of ailments (arthritis, cancer, CF, IBD, cholesterol lowering, and prevention of Alzheimer’s).

Unfortunately, tumeric is not an everyday, American cuisine spice. It is found mostly in Asian dishes. Although Asian food is usually healthy and a great way to enjoy tumeric, it’s not really enough to get the daily benefits of the spice.

A few months ago, a friend brought these strange bars to our Bible study group and told us we all had to try them. A local eye doctor had developed this recipe as a way to enjoy this spice daily and in the amounts needed to get the full benefits. They weren’t bad and I was excited to learn a way to eat these spices.

Give this recipe a try as an additional nutrient source to your diet.

Dr. Schneider’s Amazing Curcumin and Cinnamon Bars

1/2 cup ground turmeric (curcumin)

1/2  cup ground cinnamon

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder (unsweetened)

2 tbl spoons fine ground black pepper

1 1/2 cup organic almond butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup honey

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add peanut butter, honey and almond butter.

I use a powerful electric mixer in a large bowl. (or powerful arm) Press mixture into a glass 9 X 9 inch cake pan (with cover). Refrigerate. Cut into <1 inch cubes,  (about 50)

Eat 2 cubes daily

The concept of the restaurant is to feature a seasonally inspired menu that changes 4 times a year. In addition, nothing on their menu is over 475 calories!! Can you believe it?! In fact, my husband made a comment during our dinner that he couldn’t believe one of our dishes was under 500 calories.

We thoroughly enjoyed our (kid-free) super delicious meal. We had a tomato stack salad, stone crab claws, and a pork tenderloin over polenta with mushrooms and broccoli. Here are some pictures.

Tomato Stack Salad

Stone Crab Claws

So check out this restaurant next time you are looking for a healthier, yet tasty meal. It’s a great place to meet others who aren’t health minded because they won’t notice their meal is low calorie.