Blueberries...Real or Fake?

If you like eating cereals, muffins, or other snacks with blueberries inside, get ready to have your world rocked.  Most likely, those are not real blueberries, but blueberry 'crunchlets', 'blueberry bits', or 'artificially flavored blueberry bits'. What does this mean? It means that you are not getting the antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber provided by the actual fruit. Instead you are eating 'sugar, artificial dyes, and soybean oil.'

The problem with these blueberry-flavored things is that they almost always contain oil or hydrogenated oils, increasing the fat and trans fat content, which actually detracts from the health value of the product.

I really can't say it better than this video from NaturalNews:




Just thought you all should know.  Buyer beware.

Recipe Four: Turkey Meatballs and Sauce

Here's a healthier (turkey) meatball option for when you cook, with a delicious homemade sauce to go along with it.

Turkey Meatballs
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup dried basil leaves
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp. dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 16 oz can whole cut tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Small can sliced black olives

Instructions

1. Mix turkey, parmesan, egg, basil, breadcrumbs, parsley, and oregano in a bowl
2. Form into 1 - 2 inch meatballs and sautée in large skillet until no longer pink in center
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the meatballs in a large pot
4. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered until sauce thickens, about 30 minutes
5. Salt and pepper to taste, serve over hot pasta

Nutrition Information

• 213 calories
• 16 g carbohydrates
• 2 g dietary fiber
• 4 g sugar
• 5 g fat
• 25 g protein

This is such an easy recipe to make, and once you are done forming the meatballs, you basically just let them sit and cook - very little attention required. Bon appétit! 

Nuts About Peanut Butter

Many of us looooove peanut butter - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter on bananas, Reese's peanut butter cups, and the list goes on and on. But nowadays how do we know which peanut butter is the best for us, with all of the different brands, varieties, and marketing schemes?

Walking through the grocery store, there is a huge section in one of the aisles devoted to peanut butter.  I kind of find this ridiculous, since you only need two ingredients to make it: peanuts and salt.  Though, I don't think any of the jarred peanut butters have only two ingredients. Personally, I like Jif, so I am going to use their products here for comparison, but other brands like Skippy could be compared in pretty much equivalent ways.

Ingredients:

• Regular Jif - Roasted peanuts and sugar, contains less than 2% of molasses, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, mono- and diglycerides, salt
• Reduced Fat Jif - Peanuts, corn syrup solids, soy protein, sugar, contains less than 2% of molasses, salt, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, folic acid, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, alphatocopheryl acetate, copper sulfate, ferric orthophosphate, magnesium oxide, zinc oxide (whew!)
• Simply Jif - Roasted peanuts, contains less than 2% of fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, mono- and diglycerides, molasses, sugar, salt
• Natural Jif - Peanuts, sugar, palm oil, contains less than 2% of salt, molasses

Personally, looking at this list, I would choose the Natural Jif, or any other peanut butter with the fewest unpronounceable ingredients.

America is focused on losing weight, and low-fat, low-calorie type foods, but I have a problem with reduced fat peanut butter. Yes, some of the fat is gone, but it has been replaced with cheap carbohydrates or chemical fillers used in many processed foods.  This means you're trading the healthy fat from peanuts for empty carbs (7g per serving up to 13g per serving of carbs), four times the amount of salt of the natural Jif, and more sugar. 

What you want to find is a peanut butter with the bare minimum: peanuts and salt; try to reduce on the oils and ingredients you can't pronounce. Also, try something new like cashew or almond butter. Since these products are a bit more rare, the ones I have seen are more 'natural', with fewer added ingredients. Most importantly, just read the ingredients list - don't be fooled by marketing claims without understanding them fully.  Now that my appetite is all worked up, I'm off to go eat some PB&J!

Cooking for 150 (at your house)?

Well, that's what I've been doing for the past two days (sorry I've been a bit too busy to post). Four times a year, the Dean's Scholars convene to devour carloads of food, and I've been lucky enough to be the head chef for the past year. Our dinner to honor the outgoing senior class last night was a great success!

We generally have 150 attendees at these dinner parties, and we prepare and cook all of the food at one of our professor's houses. Yes, with two ovens, a stovetop, grill, and electric wok, we cook for 150. The theme for senior dinner this year was Chinese food (so we employed an extra 10 or so rice cookers). In total, we had about 15 helpers each shift, cooking for a total of 14 hours over two days. I couldn't do it without them. This year's menu was:

Appetizers

• Pearl Balls
• Turkey Pot Stickers
• Chicken Wings
• Chinese Hard Boiled Eggs
• Hunan Candied Pecans
• Braised Black Mushrooms
• Shrimp Chips

Main Dishes

• Minced Chicken & Veggies in Lettuce Cups
• Cantonese Roast Duck
• Grilled Korean Beef
• Moo Shoo Pork & Veggies
• Shrimp Curry
• Cashew Broccoli
• Spicy Braised Eggplant
• Mixed Noodles
• Cold Asparagus
• Cucumber Salad
• Rice

Dessert

• Almond Jello with Lychees, Pineapple, and Mandarin Oranges
• Fortune Cookies
• Almond Cookies
• Dean's Scholars Snickers Cake
• Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
• Mango Ice Cream
• Strawberry Ice Cream

Everything is homemade (except for the two types of cookies for dessert), and is a big undertaking. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as executive chef, and hope that their helpers next year are as good as mine have been. Recipes for a couple of the dishes to come soon.

Why Eating Makes Us Feel Good

Everybody eats.  And many of us eat and eat and eat. Having a full stomach makes us feel good and content. But why do many of us overeat...continuing to stuff ourselves even when we are full?

Evolution has given us the instinct to eat a lot every time we can, preparing for hard times. It's the drive to survive, like squirrels storing up for the winter. It's also fueled by competition: beating others to the food.  And as for that warm, content feeling after eating a meal, scientists studying that good feeling call it ingestion analgesia, literally pain relief from eating. Despite the modern environment bombarded by appetizing advertisements and fast food, the wiring in the human brain hasn't changed. The reward circuits in the brain still release chemicals that comfort and satisfy.


The body rewards fatty, salty, and sugary foods by releasing endogenous opioids, chemicals which help control pain. A study published in Nature Neuroscience recently suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. According to this study, when rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction.

It is this addiction to foods that are bad for us that has helped to cause the current obesity crisis in the United States, and many other parts of the world. Our brains tell us that we are full, but we ignore ourselves because evolution tells us to keep eating. We need to learn to listen, and I leave you with a few tips that might help:

• STOP EATING when you are full
• Eat when you feel hungry, because if you wait too long to eat (become 'starving') then you are more likely to overeat.
• Eat slowly - give your brain time to figure out that you have eaten, and are full. The dinner table is not a competition of which family member (or apartment mate) can finish first (if it was, I would consistently lose)

Instant Noodles: A College Staple

Ramen noodles are another food that I believe every college student has consumed. Sadly, these instant noodles are extremely cheap (19¢ per package), and require only water, a microwave, and a few minutes to make. However inexpensive and easy, these noodles are terrible for the body.

First, let us think about the ingredients. The seemingly innocent noodles are actually deep fried. That doesn't bode well for any health aspect of the food. This is basically taking enriched flour (the non-whole grain variety), which is already stripped of pretty much any fiber or nutritional value, and dropping it in oil. The seasoning packet is almost all pure salt. How do I know? I looked at the ingredients list on the package. Ingredient number one is salt. Followed by the phrase 'contains less than 1% of...' 


Next, we can look at the nutrition information on the package. One package of ramen (technically two servings) contains 14g of fat (half of which is saturated fat).  That means one bowl of ramen has one fifth of your daily fat intake (remember, this is just noodles and broth). Ramen also contains almost 1800mg of sodium - 75% of your daily intake. Definitely not good. Lastly, there are 52g of carbohydrates (hey, they are noodles), however, only 2g of this are dietary fiber. In total, this constitutes 400 calories for the bowl of ramen noodles, 150 of which come from fat. Ew.


All of these factors combine into a higher risk for weight gain, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Instead of buying ramen deathbricks, try getting some whole grain pasta, and jarred pasta sauce. It might cost slightly more per serving, but it will keep you going in the long run. More on pasta soon.

Pizza Perfect

Pizza - one of the staple foods of your average college student. Probably one of the reasons for the freshman fifteen, and definitely not the best food for you.

The average slice of cheese pizza contains 300 calories and 11 grams of fat. A good way to save on the fat is to order your pizza with part-skim cheese, which will save you up to 24g of fat per pie. When ordering, try to avoid the most destructive toppings - pepperoni, sausage, ground beef, and extra cheese.

Fun (ish?) pizza facts:

• A standard pizza in Italy contains 500 to 800 calories
• A medium cheese pizza from Pizza Hut has over 2,150 calories
• About 3 billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year, 400 million of which come from Domino's
• Pizza is the 4th most-craved food among Americans (after cheese, chocolate, and ice cream)
• Dipping sauces from major pizza chains can contain up to 18 grams of fat per little tub
• You save 20 to 50 calories per slice by blotting away the excess oils - not much, but if you're eating a few slices it adds up

Try adding vegetables to your usual pizza order to get some of the nutrients your body needs. Some of the best toppings are green peppers, mushrooms, onions, roma tomatoes, pineapple, chicken, broccoli, and spinach. Also, add a packet of crushed red peppers to your pizza - the capsaicin in the pepper has been shown to stimulate metabolism. There are definitely ways to make your pizza healthier, just try to avoid eating a pie for dinner every night. Portion control is key with foods like pizza.

Good at home pizza tools:

• Cuisinart AMB-14PP Chef's Classic Nonstick Bakeware 14-Inch Pizza Pan
• Oxo Good Grips 4-Inch Pizza Wheel
• Norpro Deluxe Pastry & Pizza Roller

"All Natural" ≠ All Natural

When you're shopping for groceries, you see numerous claims on packages.  One product may have a full serving of fruits and vegetables, another may be fat free, a third may be grown in the USA, and another might be "all natural."  Which one of these packages is lying to you? As you probably guessed by the post title, it is the package that says "all natural." 

Though I cannot say for certain that the product is not made from all natural ingredients, the term "all natural" is not regulated by the FDA. For example, some consider high-fructose corn syrup as all natural, because it comes from a plant. Whereas whole kernel corn is healthy, when you refine it and extract the sugars to make high-fructose corn syrup, you get a blatantly unnatural ingredient that contributes to higher rates of obesity and type-II diabetes.

Of course, it's all quite ridiculous. By some definition, anything derived from plants, animals or elements found on the planet could earn the "all natural" label. The key is in understanding that the process is unnatural, not the source. When you chemically or structurally alter food ingredients into a form that no longer appears anywhere in nature, it is no longer natural. So again, instead of believing the claims on the front of the box - check the list of ingredients. More posts on some sneaky ingredients are coming soon. 

Recipe Three: Margarita Chicken

Chefs love alcohol.  If you've never watched Top Chef (on Bravo TV) before, I think you are missing out big time.  I think one of my favorite quotes from the show is, "you're not cooking until you're drinking."  I was reminded of this quote earlier today, and thought I would share my first (of many to come) recipes with alcohol.


Margarita Chicken
Makes 3 servings

Ingredients

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup margarita mix
• 2/3 cup tequila
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chicken seasoning

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a large resealable plastic bag.  Squeeze out all the air and massage the bag to combine the ingredients.  Refrigerate for at least one hour (overnight is best).
2. Preheat grill to medium.  Remove chicken from the bag and grill until cooked through.
3. Serve hot. You can garnish with baby arugula and lime if you want.

Nutrition Information

• 217 calories
• 6g carbohydrates
• 0g dietary fiber
• 4g sugars
• 2.5g fat
• 20g protein

I love this recipe (and it actually tastes like a margarita!!).  It has been thoroughly tested on college students.  At one of our huge dinners for the Dean's Scholars, it was completely devoured.  More on cooking for the Dean's Scholars soon, as we have our end-of-year dinner coming up in less than 2 weeks!! Hope y'all enjoy!

Ingredient Highlight: Spinach

Ah, the second ingredient highlight.  I hope you've enjoyed eating all those dishes that you made with apples in the past few days...but it's now time to go out and buy the next great ingredient, spinach.  Spinach is low in calories (it's actually a negative calorie food), yet extremely rich with vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.  Notably, spinach is a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, manganese, folate, betaine, iron, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, folic acid, copper, protein, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, and selenium. Whew...no wonder spinach is called a superfood (and no wonder it was Popeye's food of choice).

Health Benefits: Spinach helps to combat or prevent

• Increased carbohydrate and fat metabolism
• May reduce hunger and food intake
• Acidosis
• Anemia
• Atherosclerosis
• Bleeding gums
• Breast, cervical, prostate, stomach, and skin cancers
• Migraines
• Colitis
• Poor digestion
• Stomach Ulcers
• Macular degeneration
• Night blindness
• Development of cataracts
• High blood pressure
• Osteoporosis

Peak Season: March to May


How to Pick: Go for bunches that are green and crisp with no spots or yellowing.  Thin stems are better as thicker stems are a sign of bitterness.  Make sure to clean spinach thoroughly before eating it, as spinach tends to collect sand, soil, and pesticides.

Cooked or Raw?
Spinach can be great on salads (as a main type of lettuce, or even part of a leafy green lettuce mix), or sautéed and put into many different dishes.  Personally, I like to add sauteed spinach to my pasta sauces to give them an extra health kick.  To me, spinach is one of the few foods that tastes great cooked or raw...but which is better for you?  In short, both, and here's why.

• Cooked - cooking releases beta-carotene and lutein, and it also neutralizes oxalic acid or oxalate, a compound that inhibits the absorption of both calcium and iron.  Therefore, don’t reuse the cooking water from spinach.  It’s recommended that you boil spinach quickly – just for a minute!
• Raw - vitamin C and folate are heat-sensitive, so have spinach on a salad to get the most of these nutrients

As per my earlier post, spinach does lose nutrients, even when refrigerated well.  Use spinach as soon as possible, because after eight days, most of the nutrients are gone.  And that's not eight days from when you bought it - it's eight days from when it was harvested.  Just remember to eat your vegetables...fast.

Breakfast On-The-Go

I personally don't have tons of time in the morning to eat a full, balanced breakfast like I should. Having an entire bowl of cereal, a piece of fruit, and orange juice takes quite a bit of time - and I know we are all on the go all the time.  This prompts the question, can I eat a healthy breakfast on the go?  The answer, quite simply, is yes.  However, there are many pitfalls in the breakfast on the go route.

Fruit - Just having a simple apple or banana before school or work will give you many of the nutrients you need to start your day off right.  You might miss your morning dose of protein, but overall you're doing okay.

Carnation Instant Breakfast - All you have to do is add the powder to a glass of milk, stir, and drink.  This packet of "No Sugar Added Rich Milk Chocolate" added to 8 ounces of skim milk will only run you 150 calories, give you one-quarter of your daily protein, just half a gram of fat, and no saturated fat.

Bar Food - No, not chicken wings or a hamburger and fries, I'm talking about cereal bars, energy bars, and protein bars.  These are easy to prepare (just tear it open), easy to eat with one hand, and don't make a big mess.  There are dozens of varieties of these types of bars, so buyer beware.  Read the nutrion information on the package - make sure your bar is not so high in fat or sugar that you are essentially eating a candy bar.  Try to buy a product with less than 15 grams of sugar per bar (unless you're going to double up).  Also, if the first ingredient is high fructose corn syrup (essentially high-sugar sugar) then put the package back on the shelf.  Anything with a lot of fiber, grains, and fruit (real fruit, not fake sugary fruit) will help start your day off right.  If you're overwhelmed and don't know where to start, then check out Fiber One, Kashi, and Nature Valley at your local store.


Arguably we can't eat the healthiest foods all the time, but we can try to pick up something that helps pick us up in the morning.


P.S. If you want to pick something up on the road, here's a list of the best fast-food breakfasts out there. 

Popcorn...A Health Food?

True? Yes. Surprising? Probably so.

Although, if you think about the base ingredient in popcorn - whole corn kernels.  This means that popcorn is a whole grain product (and I'm very surprised the marketing teams haven't caught onto this yet).  Popcorn actually contains a whole load of fiber that is good for you, but also high levels of polyphenols (an antioxidant).  Because of these antioxidants, popcorn has been linked to lower rates of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Okay, okay so now that I know popcorn is good for me, can I go out and buy some at my local grocery store? Not yet.  As you may have guessed by now, the heaps of oil and butter on top of popcorn tend to limit or even overpower popcorn's benefits.  Eating fiber along with dozens of grams of fats and trans fats isn't going to get you ready for swimsuit season.  The best way to prepare popcorn is to air-pop it (Presto 114316 04820 PopLite Hot Air Corn Popper), but if you must buy microwave popcorn, get a naked or lightly salted variety (definitely don't go for the ultra-super-butter-explosion types).  Also, keep the portion size down - share a bag with a friend, or buy the 100 calorie bags if you plan to snack alone.

In short, popcorn is not only a healthier snack than most chips or crackers with refined flour, but helps to curb food cravings - just don't slather it with butter.

Frozen IS Fresher

The freezer section of the grocery store can be a scary place for nutrition freaks (I know I'm intimidated by aisles and aisles of freezers towering over me).  However, you need not skip the freezer aisles while shopping to ensure a healthier lifestyle.  Quite the opposite actually.

Fresher ≠ Healthier

Frozen foods are not only cheaper, but sometimes healthier than fresh foods - especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables.  According to a 1998 study by the FDA, frozen fruits and vegetables have the same health benefits as fresh fruits and vegetables.  However, this doesn't give you the full picture.  Certain vegetables like spinach and green beans lose 75% of their vitamin C after being stored in the refrigerator for a week.  Ready-to-drink orange juice has less than half the vitamin C of frozen OJ and loses all of its vitamin C within a month of opening the container.  

Additionally, food producers pick produce for the produce aisle before it is ripe and let it ripen on the very long (perhaps over 1,000 mile) journey to your local supermarket.  On the other hand, produce meant to be frozen is picked at its peak ripeness - this means it has soaked up all the possible nutrients from the soil and sun.

Frozen Produce is Better for the Environment

Unlike "fresh" fruits and vegetables that have to be grown in hot houses and tropical climates and shipped to your local grocery store out of season, frozen produce can be picked at peak ripeness (and in the correct growing season) and then stored.  Since the freezing process allows fruits and vegetables to be stored almost indefinitely without losing their nutrients, frozen is the way to go.

Frozen Produce Tips

• Always keep a full freezer - cooling air requires more energy than cooling food, so save money on electricity by buying more frozen items
• Steam or microwave your frozen vegetables - they can lose up to 50% of their nutrients when boiled
• Buy frozen blueberries whenever you can find them, as they are far more nutritious than the fresh variety
• If you buy frozen dinners, spice them up with a frozen vegetable medley

Ingredient Highlight: Apple

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away"

How many times have we heard this phrase in our lifetimes? Do apples really deserve this much praise, or is it just a way for parents to get their children to eat fruit?  Well the answer is simple: apples are good for you, and (red) delicious.

Since this is the first ingredient highlight, I'm not really sure what people want to hear, so I'm just going to have a few different sections - let me know what you like or don't like so I can adjust for future ingredient highlights.

First, a little bit of background.  There are over 7,500 different varieties of apples grown worldwide, about a third of which are grown in the United States.  Charred apples have been found in prehistoric caves in Switzerland, and the apple was the favorite fruit of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Apples have a number of health benefits, even though they are lower in vitamin C than most other fruits and vegetables.  Some of the most notable benefits are:

• Prevention of dementia
• Increase in bone density
• Decreased levels of bad cholesterol (LDL)
• Helps with weight loss
• Prevention of breast, colon, liver, lung, and prostate cancers

Apples are a great source of fiber (about 5g per apple).  In fact, two-thirds of the fiber and lots of antioxidants are found in the peel.  So DON'T peel your apples.  However, I would personally suggest that you buy certified organic apples (really you should buy organic for any fruit or vegetable where you eat the skin).  Why buy organic?  Well, in the case of apples, many apples have commercial grade wax applied after harvesting and cleaning.  Did you really think your apples were that shiny all on their own?  Not only is eating wax a tad disgusting, but the wax coating actually traps pesticides used when growing the apples.  In fact, apples are one of the top twelve pesticide containing foods.  So I'll reiterate: buy organic.

Wax scraped from a commercially sold apple

Peak Season: September to May
Tip: Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they are refrigerated

Apple Gadgets: (Yes, I know I really love my gadgets)

Oxo Good Grips Apple Corer and Divider

Cuisipro Apple Corer

Not only are apples great to eat as an afternoon snack, they are a wonderful ingredient for all types of recipes (read: APPLE PIE).  Okay, okay, you can make some healthy foods with apples.  You can cook up anything from caramelized apple-onion soup to apple curry chicken to ginger apple stir fry, and let's not forget apple pie!

Multigrain vs. Whole grain

Fact: Multigrain is NOT the same as whole grain

Whole grain means that the entire grain kernel (bran, endosperm, and germ) is used, which means these foods contain nutrients
Multigrain foods can use highly processed versions of at least two different grains, but may not provide any nutritional benefit

When shopping, look for terms like "whole grain", "whole wheat," and "whole oats." When in doubt, examine the ingredients list.

Why eat whole grains? Because they can prevent things like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer.