I have many clients who are sensitive to nightshade vegetables. Nightshades, for those of you who don't know, include potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers and all of the spices that are derived from these foods. This recipe has been adapted from the Merit and Fork website (I am a lazy cook, so I've shortened a few steps and omitted some ingredients).
Bacon gives a wonderful flavour to everything (just make sure if you're following a gluten-free diet that you purchase gluten-free bacon). This recipe will take you all of 30 minutes from start to finish so use tonight to get a batch of soup prepared and ready to go for the weekend. Tip: make recipes that you LOVE for the weekend so you are less likely to get off track with your nutrition.
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Who doesn't love the combination of peanut butter, banana and chocolate? These muffins are extremely simple and delicious. They are a great mix of healthy ingredients with a touch of sweet making them the perfect treat for people of all ages!
So many of my clients are sensitive to gluten and/or dairy meaning they typically avoid muffins at all costs. However, this recipe is 100% gluten and dairy free making it a great option for many of my clients and any of you out there who are also living with food sensitivities. Remember - if your goal is weight loss and you're constantly consuming foods you're sensitive to (and thus increasing inflammation in the body), weight loss will be extremely difficult!
Prepare a batch of these muffins this weekend and let me know what you think in the comments below!
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So many of us pop anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil and Tylenol on a daily basis but what if the true solution was sitting in our fridge? If you suffer from achy joints, arthritis or frequent headaches this post is especially important for you!
We often think of inflammation as only occurring when we have an injury or arthritis but most of us are walking around with low-grade inflammation all the time. Inflammation occurs when our immune system attacks what it determines as foreign invaders in our body. This inflammation should only last a short period of time and then our body should return to normal, however because of our diet and lifestyle habits sometimes this inflammation does not go away.
Chronic inflammation is the building block of many chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease and autoimmune conditions.
Sugar
This one probably doesn't come as much of a shocker. Sugar comes in many different forms and can be called so many different names but the sugar that I am talking about here is the white, refined sugar that is added to the foods we eat. The best way to limit or avoid added sugar in foods is to read the ingredient list. There will be naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables and dairy products so sometimes just looking at the nutrition facts label will not allows us to determine whether or not a food contains added sugar or if the sugar on the label is simply from the fruits, vegetables or dairy products that the food contains.
The many names of sugar
If you remember from my previous post on reducing sugar intake, there are many “code names” often used by food manufacturers to “trick” consumers into thinking the sugar that their product contains is “healthy” or that there is no added sugar at all.
Here are some of the names that are often used for sugar. Keep these names in mind when you’re reading ingredient lists.
Agave nectar, molasses, cane sugar, confectioner’s sugar, date sugar, diastatic malt, florida crystals, galactose, golden syrup, icing sugar, maltodextrin, muscovado, refiner’s syrup, barbados sugar, brown sugar, caramel, corn syrup, demerara sugar, diatase, fructose, glucose, grape sugar, invert sugar, maltose, raw organic sugar, rice syrup, treacle, barley malt, buttered syrup, carob syrup, corn syrup solids, dextren, ethyl maltol, fruit juice, glucose solids, high-fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, panocha, sorghum syrup, turbinado sugar, beet sugar, cane juice crystals, castor sugar, crystalline fructose, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice concentrate, golden sugar, honey, malt syrup, molasses, raw sugar, sucrose, yellow sugar
Trans fats
Trans fats are the man made fats that use to be more frequently used in processed foods. Luckily, trans fats are now considered by the FDA to be harmful to our health and therefore they have been removed from many of our food products.
Damaged Fats
Make sure you’re using the right oils for cooking and that you’re using a good QUALITY omega-3 supplement if you're not consuming enough from fatty, cold water fish. When we consume damaged fat it causes inflammation in the body (this includes omega-3 supplements). Recent research has shown that 4 out of 7 omega-3 supplements sold in Canada contained damaged fats. This is why it is critical to ensure that your supplements come from a reputable company whose supplements are undergoing regular testing (preferably by a third party).
Underlying Food Sensitivities
This is one of the major causes of inflammation I see with my clients. This inflammation usually manifests itself as achy joints and headaches and the biggest food culprits are typically gluten and dairy. If you try removing the foods that contribute to inflammation in the body and increase your intake of anti-inflammatory foods but still experience some symptoms of inflammation I recommend eliminating foods containing gluten and dairy for two weeks and reassess how you feel.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes contain something called lycopene. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant meaning it has the ability to combat free radicals in the body which otherwise would cause damage to other cells in our body. Food fact: the bioavailability of nutrients in most foods decreases when cooked (think: vitamin C is damaged by heat); however for tomatoes it is the opposite. When we cook tomatoes the bioavailability of lycopene actually increases.
Omega-3 Fats
Food sources of omega-3 fats include fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, trout, sardines, tuna, herring), walnuts, flaxseed, pumpkin seeds and chia seeds to name a few.
As we’ve discussed in a previous post, balancing the ratio of omega-6 fats and omega-3 fats in our diet is key. Omega-6 fats are pro-inflammatory fats and omega-3 fats are anti-inflammatory fats. The ideal ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats in our body is between 1:1 and 4:1. This ratio should keep us in an anti-inflammatory state and will help to prevent some of the chronic diseases listed above. However, most of us are walking around with an omega 3:omega 6 ratio of 1:15 meaning we are dealing with low-grade inflammation all of the time. This type of chronic inflammation puts us at higher risk of developing unwanted disease.
Chia seeds have been very popular in the media today and for good reason – this little seed is a nutritional powerhouse. Chia seeds contain the plant form of omega-3 fats and they are a great source of antioxidants. Flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and walnuts contain the omega-3 fat called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) that is converted into the useable fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Unfortunately, the conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA is estimated to be less than 5% in healthy individuals. Food fact: Flaxseeds MUST be ground in order to digest and absorb any of the healthy fats. The oil in flaxseeds is easily damaged by heat, air and light. I recommend storing ground flaxseed in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Recommended daily intake: In general, 1-3 grams of good quality omega-3 fatty acids per day is a good starting place (3 ounces of wild salmon delivers about 2 grams of omega-3 fat). According to American Family Physician omega-3 doses of 3 grams or more per day has been found effective at reducing morning stiffness and the number of joints that are tender or swollen in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. Remember - choose a high quality omega-3 supplement to avoid the inflammation-causing side effect of consuming damaged fats. I like the brand NutraSea and recommend it regularly to my clients.
Anthocyanins
Don’t fear the long word – anthocyanins are water-soluble flavonoids pigments that give the bright red-orange to blue-violet colors to fruits and vegetables. Research suggests that the health benefits of anthocyanins goes beyond the fact that they contain a significant amount of antioxidants and that some unidentified chemical properties make them potent anti-inflammatory foods (1).
Anthocyanin-rich fruits and vegetables include berries, red and purple grapes, cherries, red wine, eggplant, blood oranges, black plumbs and red cabbage.
Food fact: Red wines are higher in antioxidants (anthocyanins) than white wines because the anthocyanin is mostly found in the skin of the grape, which is used in the fermentation process when making red wine but not when making white.
Spice Up Your Life
Some of the most potent anti-inflammatory spices include turmeric, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper and ginger. These spices have been used in ancient times as medicine for reducing inflammation and preventing illness. The research is not strong enough right now to suggest dosage recommendations so for right now just keep these spices on hand as easy additions to any meal! Food fact: When using turmeric for it's anti-inflammatory properties, add black pepper as well to increase absorption.
Do you have any other tips or tricks you use to combat inflammation naturally? Share them in the comments below.
Thanks so much for reading!
Yours in Health,
Kristin
A: This is such a great question and one that is getting more and more media attention.
Dairy does not agree with everyone (lactose, whey or casein sensitivities are common) but for those of you who enjoy a serving or two of dairy every day, what should you be choosing? We’ve heard for so long that cutting fat from dairy products is the way to a slimmer waistline and better overall health but is this necessarily the truth? We’ve also heard that the saturated fat in dairy products is going to clog our arteries and lead to the development of heart disease. Regardless of what we've heard, at this point in time the evidence suggests that saturated fat has a neutral effect on heart health.
Research is continuing to emerge regarding the importance of consuming full-fat dairy products over its non-fat counterparts.
First let’s look at the facts from recent studies (I won’t bore you with the details – we’ll just summarize):
So how can this be? If it’s the equation of calories in versus calories out that dictates our weight, shouldn’t we cut the calories from dairy products by reducing the amount of fat in the product (fat contains 9 calories per gram, so reducing fat from a food can reduce its calories significantly)? If you remember from my post last week, calorie counting is not always the solution.
At this point there is not a definite reason as to why this link between high-fat dairy consumption and reduced risk of obesity exists – some researchers hypothesize that it is the satiety factor of fat (meaning it helps to keep us fuller longer) and therefore we don’t feel the need to consume an excessive amount of food. Another hypothesis relates to the effect the fatty acids in dairy products have on our hormones and gene expression, which alters the amount of energy our bodies burn and store.
We often hear recommendations to go with a full-fat variety over a fat-free variety due to the sugar that can be added to low-fat products to make them more palatable, however this is not the case with milk or cheese. Both the full-fat and low-fat products contain the same number of grams of sugar per serving. The only true difference between the two is the fat content. Contrary, if we were to compare full-fat versus low-fat ice cream, we would likely see a difference in the sugar content per serving, with the low-fat version containing more grams of sugar per serving than the full-fat variety. Always be sure to take a look at the nutrition facts panel and the ingredient list when determining how much added sugar a product contains.
I want to touch on one important point before we finish our discussion today. I want you to keep in mind that the research studies conducted on high-fat dairy products and obesity or weight gain are observational studies rather than randomized controlled trials (the gold standard). This means that we are unable to say that low-fat dairy consumption causes weight gain or that high-fat dairy consumption prevents weight gain. From this research we can only conclude that consumption of high-fat dairy is associated with reduced risk of obesity or weight gain. Although researchers do their best to remove all other variables that may impact this relationship, we are still unable to conclude a cause/effect relationship between the high-fat dairy and obesity risk.
Recommendations: If dairy products agree with you I recommend going with the full-fat variety and simply watching the number of servings you consume in a day.
Thank you for submitting your question! If you have a question that you'd like answered, please submit a question here.
Yours in Health,
Kristin
This recipe is a potluck go to. The recipe is easy and it makes a large batch so it's great for feeding a crowd. I used peanut butter in this recipe but you can use almond butter or sunflower seed butter for a slightly different taste. The only recommendation I make: please don't substitute the red pepper with green pepper - the red pepper gives the salad a sweetness that is just right!
A quarter of a cup of uncooked quinoa contains approximately 6 grams of protein - making this whole batch clock in at 24 grams. I recommend my clients aim for 25-30 grams of protein at a meal so you will have to add an additional protein source to this recipe (both chicken and chickpeas work great).
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When you're looking for a decadent dessert to prepare for your next dinner party I suggest giving this pudding a try! Feel free to spice this pudding up however you'd like - adding nuts, coconut or dark chocolate chips for a simple twist. This pudding is fantastic because it contains NO refined sugar and contains lots of healthy fats from the avocado and nut butter. This treat will keep you satisfied much longer than the traditional sugar-laden chocolate pudding. Enjoy!
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On Tuesday we talked about the types of hunger and the first 3 tips for eating mindfully. Today we will continue the discussion and finish with the remaining 5 tips. If you remember from Part 1, eating mindfully does not have to be a complex concept and simply by taking the time to focus on our hunger levels and what we're eating we can really begin to understand the whole eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full concept.
We’ve all seen those comparison shots of plate sizes from the 1950s versus plate sizes now (but just incase you haven't, see here). We know that portion sizes in both restaurants and at home have gotten much bigger in the past 50 years but did you know that by eating on smaller dishes we can actually feel just as full even if we're eating less? I challenge you to eat your main meals off of lunch-sized plates rather than the oversized dinner plates. The psychological impact of looking at a plate that appears fuller will make us feel more satisfied than eating the same amount of food on an oversized plate.
Eating from a box or a bag is a definite no-no if we are trying to eat mindfully. When we eat from a box or a bag we have no concept of how much we are truly eating and often will continue to eat until the box or bag is empty. I recommend putting a serving of the food you're eating onto a plate or into a bowl and return the package to the fridge or pantry before you begin eating. Don't leave the bag or package on the counter either - it is too accessible. There is a lot of thought that has to go into getting up from the table (where you should be eating) and getting the bag back out again. Within this time frame you will have more opportunity to ask yourself if you're truly hungry.
Next time you’re eating a meal, make a conscious effort to put down your fork or spoon between each bite. By actively putting down your spoon or fork you are forced to slow down. It’s true that it takes approximately 20 minutes for our bodies to recognize that we are feeling satisfied from the food we’re eating so by increasing the amount of time it takes for us to finish our meal we are less likely to go back for a second helping of dinner or indulge in a sweet treat after our meal.
This is a trap that so many of us fall into. We fill our plate or are served food and we feel satisfied before the food is gone however we continue to eat until our plate is cleaned. Even if we know we have eaten enough food we will continue to eat until all of the food put in front of us is gone. In order to get away from this bad habit, that most of the time was developed at a young age, we need to become okay with packing food up for a later time. This even applies to the three leftover bites that we know we didn’t need. Give yourself permission to be finished eating even if you have food remaining on your plate. I hear this a lot from my clients regarding leftover holiday treats/birthday cake/Halloween candy/etc. They will have leftover Christmas cookies made by a loved one that are full of processed sugar and they refuse to throw them away because it is "wasteful". We need to think of this - foods that provide us with no real nutritional benefit are garbage if it goes into our mouths and garbage if it goes into the garbage can. You would be doing starving children a disservice by feeding them sugar-filled processed foods - so why should we keep them sitting on our counter tempting us for the next month?
How many times do you chew your food before swallowing? Crazy question, right? What if you thought about the number of times you chew before swallowing at each meal? This will force you to slow down and will also help with the digestive process. Remember, digestion starts in the mouth and chewing your food well will allow your body to extract more nutrients from your food and will also make it less likely that you will experience cramps, bloating or indigestion from a meal. Not only will chewing your food more be better for digestion but we also have to remember that our taste buds are located in our mouth, so it is when we are chewing that we get to experience the wonderful flavor that our food provides us with. I recommend shooting for chewing food as close to 30 times as you possibly can.
This rounds up the 8 tips for increasing mindfulness while you're eating. Select one or more of the above tips and give them a try this week. Did you notice a difference? Leave your comments or questions below 🙂
Yours in Health,
Kristin
*Note: If you feel like you would benefit a program targeted at understanding why you crave the foods you do, check out a Craving Change™ facilitator near you.
What if I told you that the feeling that prompts us to walk into the kitchen and open the fridge or pantry is caused by different types of hunger? So often we think of hunger as being one feeling – that gnawing sensation we experience in the morning after our nightly fast or the feeling we have when we get home from work in the afternoon and are anxiously awaiting dinner.
This week I challenge you to try this: next time you feel “hungry” take 10 seconds to stop and differentiate between which type of hunger you’re experiencing. An added perk to taking the time to think about your hunger is that often times we will realize that we do not actually require food and that instead it is something non-food related that we are craving.
Let’s start by going through the three types of hunger that we experience.
When we think “hunger” this type of hunger is often what comes to mind. This is the hunger that we experience when it has been a long period of time, usually 5-6 hours, since we’ve last consumed food. Quite often when we experience stomach hunger our stomach begins to growl. At this time our bodies require food in order to function optimally.
The concept of mouth hunger is probably new to most. An accurate depiction of mouth hunger would be when we crave a food for it’s particular mouth feel or taste. Have you ever craved chips because you’re wanting the crispy crunch and salt? Or craved ice cream for that smooth, cold sensation you get in your mouth? Anytime we eat because we know a food will taste good we are eating because of mouth hunger.
Heart hunger refers to eating because we are experiencing a particular emotion or because of a learned behaviour. This could be indulging in a decadent food after a stressful day at work or needing to have some sort of dessert after a meal.
One of the best ways to determine why we’re eating is to make sure that we are being mindful when we eat. My clients tease me about how often I suggest that they be mindful when eating out, at a party or on vacation. Being mindful is easy to say but what exactly does it mean? What do we do to actually be mindful when we’re eating?
When I say mindful eating it sounds like some spiritual hocus-pocus where you eat in the dark with candles and incense. However, increasing your mindfulness can make a huge difference in how many unnecessary calories you consume in a day.
Below I’ve outlined my top 8 tips for increasing your mindfulness when eating (because this post got a little long, we will break it up to make it a little more manageable). If you begin implementing these strategies into your daily life you may even find that a few of those pesky pounds effortlessly slip away. It is truly amazing how often or what we choose to eat is due to simply being on autopilot during meals or snacks.
The first thing I suggest doing when you feel prompted to open the fridge or pantry for something to eat is to consider the three types of hunger we discussed earlier. Are you eating because you’re bored? Are you eating because you know there is tasty food in the house? Or are you eating because your stomach is growling and your energy is low? Determining why you’re deciding to eat is the first step in being more mindful.
Are we ever really eating anything nutritious when we are standing alone in the pantry with the lights off? I encourage my clients only to eat when they are seated at a table (the driver’s seat of a car does not count). Sitting at a table while we are eating forces us to focus much more closely on what we are actually eating, allowing us to better connect with how satisfied we feel.
Distractions can be your phone, television, computer or even the newspaper, a book or a magazine. I’m sure most of us have experienced a time when we’ve been watching a movie or TV show and eating something, whether it’s a bowl of popcorn (which can be a good snack – see here) or a bowl of grapes, and all of a sudden we reach down and the bowl is empty. Typically when this happens we still have that “hungry” feeling (normally it is mouth hunger) because we don’t really remember eating what was in the bowl because we were so focused on something else.
Later this week we will talk about the other 5 tips but for now, I recommend working on implementing these 3 🙂
Yours in Health,
Kristin
*Note: If you feel like you would benefit a program targeted at understanding why you crave the foods you do, check out a Craving Change™ facilitator near you.
Do you find yourself bored of the same old snacks everyday? Do you find yourself reaching for the candy dish or hitting up the vending machine just for some variety? Does your lonely snack of just an apple leave you hungrier than you were before your snack? This may sound like an infomercial but I have some great options for you!
Below I’ve outlined some tasty alternatives for traditional snack foods that are sure to spice up your day and get you excited about your snacks again. These snacks not only have great flavour but they contain a perfect balance of macronutrients (read more about balancing your blood sugar through snacks here). All of these snacks take minimal time to assemble and by preparing several of these recipes ahead of time you will be sure to stick to your nutrition plan this week (remember - it's when we allow ourselves to get too hungry or our blood sugar levels get too low that we don't make the best nutrition choices)!
During the winter months getting enough zinc is important in helping to boost our immune system. Try this recipe to get a great source of zinc and a hit of protein at snack time.
Ingredients
1 cup of pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons of olive oil
2 teaspoons of curry powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Preparation
Preheat oven to 300F.
Coat pumpkin seeds with oil then toss with curry powder and salt.
Roast seeds on a baking sheet for 20 minutes.
I recommend a 1 ounce serving of pumpkin seeds served with 1 apple.
Ingredients
1/4 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
1 tablespoon of coconut oil or butter (for popping on the stove) - omit if you have an air popper
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon of sesame seeds (optional)
Preparation
Pop kernels in a stock pot over the stove with coconut oil/butter.
Once popped, remove from stock pot and toss popcorn with sesame oil and sesame seeds.
I recommend using a stockpot and some coconut oil or butter on the stove to make popcorn. Check out this YouTube video to guide you through making your own popcorn at home.
Health tip: I recommend avoiding the store bought microwave popcorn (even SmartPop or one of those “healthier” varieties). The lining of those microwave popcorn bags (perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as C8) is made of the same ingredients used in Teflon pans.
As stated by Dr. Andrew Weil
In June 2005, a scientific advisory panel to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified PFOA as a "likely carcinogen" but drew no conclusions as to whether products made with it pose a cancer risk to humans. However, animal studies have identified four types of tumors in rats and mice exposed to PFOA.
While scientific studies have not established a link between microwave popcorn bags and other products containing trace amounts of PFOA to increases in cancer in humans, the chemical has been shown to cause cancer and birth defects in animals, and it is so pervasive that it's detectable in the blood of 95 percent of Americans.
Ingredients
½ cup chia seeds
2 cup almond milk
1 tbsp maple syrup
4 tbsp raisins
Preparation
Combine all ingredients into 4 - 4 ounce or 8 ounce mason jars (or small glass storage containers)
Stir well and let sit overnight.
Leave jars in the fridge for quick grab-and-go snacks for the week.
Ingredients
1/4 cup of unsalted almonds
1 ounce of dark chocolate (70-80 percent cocoa), melted in microwave or double boiler
1/2 tablespoon of dried cranberries or cherries
1/8 teaspoon of Himalayan sea salt
Preparation
In a bowl, mix together almonds and melted dark chocolate.
Drop mixture onto wax paper.
Refrigerate until set.
Recipe makes 1 serving.
I recommend tripling or quadrupling this recipe to make 3 or 4 servings at one time.
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado, cubed
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp maple syrup
3 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh berries
Preparation
Place avocado in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Add the remaining ingredients except the berries.
Serve topped with fresh berries.
May be kept refrigerated for one day until needed. Recipe makes 2 servings.
Hopefully these recipes help to spice up your menu plan this week! Do you have other grab-and-go recipes that you love? Share them in the comments below!
Yours in Health,
Kristin
This lazy-man's frittata is made for people who leave little to no time in the morning for breakfast. You can add any vegetables and spices you'd like, however to keep it as easy as possible I stuck to nothing you had to chop 🙂
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