The Top 5 Super Foods

Nourishing yourself doesn’t have to drain your bank account, and some of the most common (and cheapest) foods are just as beneficial for you as the fad “super foods” that are heavily marketed. In light of all the confusion about what we eat, I have compiled a list of the top 5 healthiest foods that I think everyone should routinely include in their diet. All of them are filled with health-promoting nutrients, and in a lot of cases, can even be viewed as cheap natural medicine. I invite you to try each of these over the next little while in order to experience what these superfoods can do for you.

Super Food #1: Kale
I could write an entire book about the health benefits of kale (and looking at the length of this blog, I almost have!). In my opinion, it is one of the most nutritious vegetables available, yet most people have never heard of, nor laid eyes on, this leafy green. There are so many varieties of kale, from curly to ornamental, to even “dinosaur” kale! Each variety differs slightly in colour (green, white, blue-green, and purple), as well as in taste (spicy and bitter to more mellow and sweet).

As a part of the Brassica or cabbage family of vegetables, it contains anti-cancer compounds called glucosinolates and methyl cysteine sulfoxides. Studies have shown that the specific glucosinolates that are contained in kale appear to reduce the risk of many different cancers, including breast, ovarian, and colon cancer. Kale is also a healthy food to support detoxification of the body. More specifically, consumption of kale has been found to up-regulate enzymes within the liver which neutralize cancer-causing substances, as well as alter gene expression to increase the body’s overall number of detoxifying enzymes. Furthermore, kale contains a considerable amount of dietary fiber to support regular elimination, as well as three times more calcium than phosphorus to help support strong healthy bones.

This leafy green can easily be incorporated into your diet in many ways: You can add some raw chopped kale to your salads to add a spicy punch, or you can lightly steam kale and add a tablespoon of organic butter for a delicious side dish to any dinner. You can puree cooked kale and add it to almost any fall or winter soup. You can blend it into a morning smoothie, or even juice it with other fruits and vegetables for a mineral-rich drink. It tastes particularly delicious when steamed and accompanied by a handful of walnuts (see the benefits of walnuts below).

Super Food #2: Flax Seeds
This super food is one which I learned about years ago from a member of my family (who insisted on adding ground flax to almost everything she ate!), and one which I incorporate into my own diet almost every day. Flax seeds have a long history, as they were originally cultivated in Mesopotamia, and have been recorded to be utilized as a food as far back as Ancient Greece.

This golden-brown seed is one of the richest sources of the omega-3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). It is the high ALA content of flax seeds which makes it a super food for anyone looking to support the health of their cardiovascular system. More specifically, regular consumption of flax can help to reduce total cholesterol levels, LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels, as well as blood triglyceride levels. Furthermore, the high ALA content of flax seeds also makes it an excellent “anti-inflammatory” food, with studies showing that it can help to reduce the inflammation involved in arthritis.

Flax seeds also contain phytoestrogens, which can work in the body to balance hormone levels, making them a staple for anyone who is suffering from the hot flashes, mood swings, and irritability associated with menopause. Some research has also indicated that regular flax seed consumption may also be a promising natural medicine for those suffering from depression and memory problems. These nutrient-rich seeds also contain a good ratio of insoluble to soluble fiber which can help relieve constipation naturally, and promote regular daily bowel movements. Ground flax seeds can be used in smoothies and shakes, and can also be added as a healthy addition to any baked good. You can also use ground flax seeds as well as flax oil in salad dressings, which will give your salad a warm, slightly nutty taste. One thing to remember however: Flax seeds, particularly once ground, should be stored for in your refrigerator or freezer to prevent them from going rancid. Flax seed oil should never be exposed to heat, and should be purchased in a dark bottle which light cannot pass through.

Super Food #3. Sea Vegetables
You’re asking yourself, “What the heck are sea vegetables?”. Essentially, they are vegetables that grow in the sea, often known as seaweeds.  There is such a wide variety of sea vegetables to choose from, usually categorized by colour, each with a distinctive texture and taste. Some particularly delicious seaweeds are the brown variety (Kelp, Kombu, Wakame), and the red variety (Nori, Dulse). Sea vegetables are a rich source of minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, important for both bone and cardiovascular health.

Even more importantly, they are a great source of the important mineral iodine, with a half of a cup providing almost 300% of our daily requirement. Dietary iodine sources can be useful for supporting the health of our thyroid (and therefore promote a healthy metabolism), and can be medicinal for anyone suffering from hypothyroidism. However, I consider sea vegetables a super food mostly because they contain high amounts of lignans, phytonutrients which can help reduce the development of breast cancer in post-menopausal women, and fucans, a carbohydrate-like compound which can reduce inflammation in the body.

Sea vegetables can easily be worked into your meals without you even knowing it! You can buy them in their dried form, grind them up, and sprinkle them on your food as an alternative to table salt. Nori seaweed can be purchased in dried sheets which can be made into delicious California rolls, using your favorite vegetables and brown rice. They are also delicious chopped up and tossed onto a salad or into a warming winter soup. You can also use Kombu when you are cooking dried beans to make the beans easier to digest (and to remove their gassy side effects!). Use 5 or 6 inches of Kombu for every 1 cup of dried beans in order to see results.

Super Food #4. Quinoa
This ancient grain is gaining popularity among vegetarians and vegans these days, as it is considered a complete protein, containing all of the essential amino acids. Quinoa is actually a seed that was a staple for the Incas, who held it in high esteem for the stamina it provided warriors. This seed doesn’t contain gluten or wheat, therefore it is a great alternative for those with either wheat or gluten intolerances. I consider quinoa a super food not only because of it’s amino acid profile, but also because it is a rich source of alkaline minerals, such as magnesium and calcium. In fact, quinoa contains a ratio of magnesium to calcium of about three to one, making it easier for you to absorb these important minerals, and therefore helping you to create and maintain strong bones.

Quinoa is typically boiled in water or broth, and can be a fantastic addition to any meal. I enjoy quinoa regularly, adding a dash of cinnamon and some natural seeds and nuts for a lovely (and filling!) breakfast. It tastes great in soups and stews, and can be eaten cold accompanied with other fresh veggies and chopped olives for a delicious summer salad. Raw quinoa can even be sprouted and eaten as a crunchy snack, rich in live enzymes.

Super Food #5: Avocados
This rich, buttery, and heart-healthy fruit (yes, I said fruit….) is native to South America, and is such a beautiful food in terms of nutrients that it can be eaten by itself as a meal. Avocados are about twenty percent fat, but these fats are mostly monounsaturated, beneficial for reducing LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol levels. These lovely green morsels contain large amounts of potassium and folate, both of which are important nutrients to support a healthy cardiovascular system as well. Aside from these health benefits, avocados also contain a large amount of glutathione, an antioxidant which protects your cells from being damaged from free radicals (the “bad guys” in terms of disease).

You can prepare avocados in many ways. I often cut avocados in half, remove the pit, and eat them with a spoon for lunch. They are also delicious as a topping for your favorite salads, in dips, and on top of black bean soup.

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Well, there they are, the top 5 super foods to include in your diet regularly, in my opinion. Try them, enjoy them, treasure them. With all of this being said, keep in mind that all unprocessed foods contain nutrients, in varying amounts, that are beneficial for your health. A local organic apple can be just as nutritious as any of the 5 foods above. I challenge you to include more natural, whole foods in your diet this week, and start to stay away from “foods” that come in a box with ingredient lists which contain numerous multi-syllable words that you can barely pronounce. If you do so, I guarantee that you’ll begin to discover many more fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds which can do super things for you too!

Source: www.healthygirl.ca

Author: Heather Bucciachio, founder of Naturally Nourishing

Recommended Supplements for Specific Health Issues

Special Note: See Andrea for details on advanced-quality supplements, what to look for and how it will improve your training and fitness level.

Cardiovascular health

• Take a high quality Omega 3 Supplement in Fish, Hemp or Flax form
• Regular intake of dark green unrefined extra virgin olive oil
• Supplements: Vitamin E. Coenzyme Q10.

Depression

• Take a high quality Omega 3 Supplement in Fish, Hemp or Flax form
• Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is an essential cofactor for EFA metabolism as well as for the majority of pathways of amino acids, including decarboxylation pathways for dopamine, adrenaline and serotonin.
• SupplementS: Vitamin B12, Folate and SAMe (S-adenosyl-methionine).

Learning and behavioral disorders

• Take a high quality Omega 3 Supplement in Fish, Hemp or Flax form and Evening Primrose oil.
• Supplements: Vitamin E, Zinc, Magnesium. Choline and Vitamin B1 & B6.

Obesity

• Moderate insulin by consuming foods with a low glycemic response (Low GI).
• Increase consumption of fish with high omega-3 content (or supplement).
• Regular intake of Green tea or mate’ tea.
• Supplement Minerals: Calcium, Chromium, Iodine, Magnesium and Manganese.
• Herbs: Gymnema sylvestre (reduces appetite and craving for carbohydrates.)

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Source: www.foodmatters.tv

Healthy For Life Nutrition Seminar

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Reset your body and Reset your life to feel better than ever.

Join Andrea Savard, Wellness Coach and her team to learn about low-glycemic eating and proper supplementation for stabilizing blood sugar and cutting cravings for sustainable weight loss.

Discover a system to address energy, fitness, immune system, metabolism, insulin resistance, hypoglycemia and hormones.

All information included in this seminar is recommended by Dr. Christiane Northrup in her recent edition of “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom”.

Location: FirePower Training, 509 Main St E., Milton, ON  L9T 3J2

Questions/RSVP: andrea@firepowertraining.com

What In The World Are You Putting On Your Skin??

Is your bathroom cabinet bulging with toxins?

Is your make-up or toiletries bag a cocktail of chemicals that could do you harm?

Yes is probably the answer to both questions. Check out the ingredients list on your bottles and jars: the higher up the list these 15 come, the greater the concentration.

Formaldehyde – Combined with water, this toxic gas is used as a disinfectant, fixative, germicide and preservative in deodorants, liquid soaps, nail varnish and shampoos. Also known as formalin, formal and methyl aldehyde, it is a suspected human carcinogen and has caused lung cancer in rats. It can damage DNA, irritate the eyes, upper respiratory tract and mucous membrane, and may cause asthma and headaches. It is banned in Japan and Sweden.

Phthalates hit the headlines last year for being “gender benders”. They are a family of industrial plasticisers already banned in the EU from being used in plastic toys, but are still in hairsprays, top-selling perfumes and nail varnishes. They can be absorbed through the skin, inhaled as fumes and ingested from contaminated food or breastfeeding. Animal studies have shown they can damage the liver, kidneys, lungs and reproductive system -especially developing testes.

Parabens are listed as alkyl parahydroxy benzoates -butyll methyl/ethyl/ propyllisobutyl paraben on some toothpastes, moisturisers and deodorants. They are used as a preservative, but are oestrogen mimics. Research suggests that parabens in antiperspirant deodorants can cause breast cancer. Oestrogen-type chemicals have also been linked to testicular cancer and a reduction in sperm count.

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) is one of the major ingredients in nearly every shampoo, bubble bath, liquid soap etc. Why, when it is a known skin irritant, stops hair growth, can cause cataracts in adults, damage children’s eye development and cause urinary tract infection?

Toluene is a common solvent found in nail enamels, hair gels, hair spray, and perfumes. It is a neurotoxin and can damage the liver, disrupt the endocrine system and cause asthma.

Propylene Glycol is a cosmetic form of mineral oil (refined crude oil) used in industrial antifreeze. People handling it are warned by the manufacturer to avoid skin contact and wear respirators and rubber gloves etc, and yet this is a major ingredient in most moisturisers, skin creams, baby wipes and sun screens. Why? It’s cheap and gives the “glide” factor in body lotions – but is in fact robbing lower layers of skin of moisture. Lanolin and collagen also clog pores and cause skin to age faster than if nothing was used.

Talc is recognised as carcinogenic and has been linked to an increased risk of ovarian cancer and general urinary tract disorders. So don’t dust it on your baby’s, or anyone else’s, bottom!

Parfum/perfume A typical cosmetic can contain up to 100 chemicals in the perfume alone! 95 per cent of these chemicals are synthetic compounds derived from petroleum -26 of which are on an EU hit list. Fragrances have been linked to allergies and breathing difficulties and they penetrate the skin.

Xylene is listed as xytol or dimethylbenzene on nail varnish bottles. It can damage your liver, is narcotic in high concentrations and causes skin and respiratory tract irritation.

Diethanolamine Also Tri and Mono (DEA, TEA and MEA) are absorbed through skin where they accumulate in products also containing nitrates, they react and form nitrosamines which are carcigonemic.

Aluminium is found in most deodorants and has been linked to Alzheimer’s. If you want to stay alert, and still smell fresh and clean switch to a safer one.

Triclosan sometimes listed as 5-chloro-2 (2,4-dichlorophenoxy) phenol, is in deodorants, toothpastes, vaginal washes and mouthwashes. Toxic dioxins are produced during its manufacture or incineration. It is stored in breast milk and in fish, and can break down in water to create a member of the dioxin family.

Source: FoodMatters.tv

WOD- April 29th, 2009

8 rounds for time of :

10 push press 75 /45

20 walking lunges

5 pull ups

10 box jumps 20 / 24

10 GHD sit ups / or 20 normal sit ups

20 double unders

“Train Them How to Eat” with Skip Chase, 2009 CrossFit Affiliate Gathering – video [wmv] [mov]

How do you eat? Do you “zone”, do you eat whole foods? Is your diet crap?

Post times and thoughts to comments

A Nutritional Workshop for Optimal Health

Sunday March 15th, 2009

2:00pm to 3:30pm

Spring forward to a cleaner, leaner you!  Join us for an informative, fun and interactive afternoon, filled with prizes, healthy snacks and fruity smoothies. Yum!

• Learn how to piece together your nutritional needs
• Simplify the confusing world of supplements
• Exercise tips and tricks to help you move more every day

FirePower Training, 509 Main St E, Milton, Ontario

Space is limited so please RSVP today to:  Andrea at andreasavard@sympatico.ca

_________________________

Download Event Invite

Vitamins: It’s the Dose that Does It!

There is a spin to most media reporting on vitamin research. The recent anti-vitamin media blitz, led by the Associated Press and USA Today, provides yet another demonstration. (Vitamins C and E don’t prevent heart disease. The Associated Press, Nov. 9, 2008.) With a paternalistic pat on the head, the media once again seeks to send you off to play with the reassurance that, well, vitamin therapy HAS been tested, and it just does not work.

Nonsense.

Thousands upon thousands of nutritional research studies provide evidence that vitamins do help prevent and treat serious diseases, including cancer and heart disease, when the nutrients are supplied in sufficiently high doses. High doses are required. Low doses fail. Says cardiologist Thomas Levy, M.D.: “The three most important considerations in effective vitamin C therapy are dose, dose, and dose. If you don’t take enough, you won’t get the desired effects.”

Effective doses are high doses, often hundreds of times more than the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Daily Reference Intake (DRI). Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., comments: “Drs. Wilfrid Shute and Evan Shute recommended doses from 400 IU to 8,000 IU of vitamin E daily. The usual dose range was 800 to 1600 IU but they report that they had given 8,000 IU without seeing any toxicity.” The Shutes successfully treated over 35,000 patients with vitamin E.

All the recent, much touted JAMA study does is confirm what we already know: low doses do not work. The doses given were 400 IU of vitamin E every OTHER day and 500 milligrams of vitamin C/day. Try that same study with 2,000 to 4,000 IU of vitamin E every other day (1,000 to 2,000 IU/day) and 15,000-30,000 mg/day of vitamin C and the difference would be unmistakable. We know this because investigators using vitamins E and C in high doses have consistently reported success.

Low doses do not get clinical results. Any physician, nurse, or parent knows that a dose of antibiotics that is one tenth, or one-hundredth, of the known effective dose will not work. Indeed, it is a cornerstone of medical science that dose affects outcome. This premise is accepted with pharmaceutical drug therapy, but not with vitamin therapy. Most of the best-publicized vitamin E and C research has used inadequate, low doses, and this JAMA study falls right into line.

High doses of vitamins are deliberately not used. Writes Robert F. Cathcart III, M.D.: “I have been consulted by many researchers who proposed bold studies of the effects of massive doses of ascorbate (vitamin C). Every time the university center, the ethics committee, or the pharmacy committee deny permission for the use of massive doses of ascorbate and render the study almost useless. Seasoned researchers depending upon government grants do not even try to study adequate doses.”

The most frequently proffered reason is the allegation that “high doses of vitamins are not safe.” That is a myth. 25 years of national poison control statistics show that there is not even one death per year from vitamins. Check the research literature and see for yourself exactly who is being harmed by vitamins. Aside from the pharmaceutical industry, virtually nobody. Half of Americans take vitamin supplements every day. So where are the bodies?

Decades of physicians’ reports and controlled research studies support the use of large doses of vitamins. Yet to hear the media (and JAMA) tell it, vitamins are a Granny’s folk remedy: a buggy- and barrel-stave technology that just doesn’t make it.
In the broadcast and print media, vitamin therapy is marginalized at best and derided at worst. Is this merely laughable, or is there method to it? One may start by asking, who does this serve? Could it possibly be the media’s huge advertising-cash providers, the pharmaceutical industry? Pharmaceutical advertising money buys authors, ad space, influence, and complicity. Unfortunately, this is as true in the newspapers as it is in the medical journals.

Let the news media begin by disclosing exactly where their advertising revenue comes from. It may explain where the spin on their articles comes from, too.

1. Source : http://www.orthomed.org/
2. Article Source: FoodMatters.tv

How Does Being Sick Affect Your Nutrition Needs?

Q. I have a cold and am stuffy and sniffly, etc., but don’t have a fever. How does this affect my metabolism, exercise, calorie, and nutrition needs?

A. Having a cold won’t have a significant effect on your metabolic rate, so your calorie needs remain the same as long as your level of activity stays the same. If you are less active because you are under the weather, your calorie needs will decrease accordingly.  If you don’t have a fever and you feel up to it, though, its fine to engage in your regular exercise routine. Exercise can help stimulate the immune system and may also help clear up congestion.  If you’re sharing equipment with others, though, be a peach and wipe down the equipment with disinfectant after you use it to prevent spreading your cold to others.

In terms of your nutritional needs, the immune response that’s causing the stuffy nose and sniffles is also increasing free radical activity in your body. Foods that are high in antioxidants, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, can help to clean up the extra free radicals. It’s also a good idea to avoid excess sugar when you’re fighting something off because sugar tends to depress the immune system. (Actually, it’s really ALWAYS best to avoid eating a lot of sugar.)

For additional antioxidants to help you through your cold and to prevent them, talk to Andrea!

Source: NutritionData.com

Eat For $12 A Week

EAT CHEAPER AND EAT BETTER.  From FoodMatters Documentary contributor Dr. Andrew Saul.

Completely worth the 10 minutes read!!

If you had to dig into your pocket a little to pay your internet service provider this month, this page could help you get your investment back several times over. When I say, “eat well”, I mean “eat healthfully,” not “eat elaborately“. Eating healthfully means a complete but meatless diet of inexpensive, whole foods.  It also means a good tasting, simple diet that you can live with – and will live better with – every day. You will not get fat on these foods, and will easily maintain or reduce to your optimum weight. How many obese vegetarians have you met?

You will find that this diet may not require that you see the doctor as often as you may be used to.  A better, simpler diet means simply better health. Most people go to the doctor when they’re sick.  If you’ve better nutrition, you are less likely to be sick, and if you’re not sick, you probably won’t see the doctor. Now if you don’t choose to really follow, faithfully, the proposed diet’s guidelines, you may have less success than those who do stay away from meat, chemical additives, junk foods and sugar. If you become a “pudding vegetarian”, that is, you eat ANYTHING but meat – lots of starches, desserts, packaged foods, too few fruits and vegetables, no nuts or cheeses – and don’t eat anything GOOD in place of the meat you dropped, well, you’ll not be successful at being healthy. It stands to reason that the vegetarians that doctors see are the sick ones, the unsuccessful ones. The sickly “pudding vegetarians” eat no meat and nothing good, either. Of course they can’t be healthful unless they have the “three sisters” (corn, beans and squash) each day for their complete protein. But these vegetarian failures are the very ones that doctors see, because they are the vegetarians who get sick. If all the “health nuts” that a doctor sees are sick, the doctor naturally concludes that all vegetarians are wasting away.

Not so!  There are tens of thousands of vegetarians all around you, but they don’t make a big deal about it. But they exist, and exist well on their sensible meatless daily fare. It’s just that the healthy vegetarians don’t have any reason to go to the doctor, so they’re not medical statistics.  My wife, children and myself haven’t seen a medical doctor for years, except for childbirth or check-up. We watch out for our own health, and eat right. Is it that much of a surprise that nature does the rest?

Healthful diet equals vegetarian diet. Vegetarian diet equals inexpensive diet. Believe me, it’s considerably cheaper to not have to buy meat at today’s prices. We are vegetarian primarily for our health and personal preferences. Money is not the deciding factor is our being vegetarian, but if you can eat better and save money at the same time, why not?

So vegetarian diet equals inexpensive diet.  And what follows is inexpensive diet:

A Week Of Cheap Eating
Quality budget meals are going to rely on quality, budget foods.  That’s why you have to shop right.  The foods to buy include:

Dry Foods:
Brown rice
Navy, or pea beans
Lentils
Split green peas
Whole wheat flour
Alfalfa seeds
Mung seeds
Salt (optional)
Yeast (for baking)

Frozen Foods:
Corn
Green Beans
Squash (any variety)

Canned Foods:
Tomato puree
Pumpkin

Fresh Foods, In Season
Apples
Carrots
Cabbage
Squash, any variety
Onions

Jar Foods
Cayenne pepper sauce  (e.g. “Frank’s”)
Vegetable oil
Unsulfured molasses
Honey (optional)

Beverages:
Water
Herb tea
Cider, in season
Grape juice, or other 100% juice of any kind   (optional)

Dairy Foods:
Butter
Cottage Cheese
Other cultured Cheeses

This is your shopping list. With the exception of the alfalfa seeds and mung beans, you can find all of the above at a good supermarket. You may need to go to a health food store for seeds to sprout, and if a food co-op has better prices on any of the above, I’d certainly buy those items there, too.

The next portion of this chapter is going to provide commentary on the foods listed, with prices and brands given for examples. The listing of brands will be incomplete, and the prices vary, depending on where and when you buy. This is 1995 information.

Dry Foods Commentary
Brown Rice
(e.g. “Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice” or “Riceland Brown Rice,” etc.)  Two pounds (dry) at $.85/lb
Brown rice is high in protein, carbohydrates, B-vitamins, and roughage. White rice is high in none of these things except carbohydrate alone.  Three-fourths of the world’s people start and finish their day with this one food item. Alone, it’s not enough to live on for optimal health. The entire house doesn’t have to be built of cement to still have a good foundation. Rice, when cooked, expands to about four or five times its dry weight and size. Two pounds of rice will yield a lot of meals.

Navy, or Pea Beans
(e.g. “Smith’s Navy Beans” or “Jack Rabbit Pea Beans”, etc.) One pound (dry) at $.79/lb
Also high in protein and carbohydrate.  Use for baked beans, refried beans, bean-burgers, etc.

Lentils
(e.g. “Smith’s” or “Jack Rabbit” brands, etc.)  Two pounds at $.85/lb
Very high in protein. Expand when cooked as rice does. Make burgers, soup, hash, lentil-loaf, etc. Please see recipe section.

Split Green Peas
(Same brands as before) One pound at $.65/lb
The cheapest green vegetable, best as pea soup. Cooks in several pints of water to make ten servings of hearty soup. Add onion, cloves, salt to taste. Split peas, rice, beans and lentils do take a while to cook (45 min. to 1 1/2 hrs.) so allow plenty of time in preparation, and soak overnight  to reduce cooking time to a minimum. Keep leftover soup in serving-size jars in the refrigerator, so whenever you want an easy meal, just open a jar of soup instead of a can. Canned soup is much more expensive and loaded with salt. Homemade tastes better, too. Pea soup is high in protein and potassium.

Whole Wheat Flour
(e.g. “Robin Hood” or “Pillsbury’s” Whole Wheat Flour, also called Graham Flour) Five pound bag at $1.89
The “staff of life”. Make bread, pizza, rolls, etc. Heavy but healthy, with B-vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber. Twice as expensive as bleached white flour, but you can live on 1/4 as much. I can eat many slices of white-flour pizza, but only a few pieces of whole wheat pizza will fill me. Good foods support life, including other forms of life as well as ours, so keep whole wheat flour in the refrigerator for best shelf life. For baking, or for a finicky family, you may want to lighten your product and might add some Unbleached White Flour in place of all whole wheat.

Alfalfa Seeds, for sprouting
(at any health-food store) 1/4 lb at $3.95/lb
Don’t be dismayed at the high per-pound price until you count the number of seeds in a pound. A tablespoon of alfalfa seeds makes a wide-mouth jar full of alfalfa sprouts. All you need is water; rinse twice daily. Sprouts are one of the best raw foods you can eat. High in protein, all vitamins especially Vitamin C, and minerals. 1/4 lb. of seeds will last you for several weeks.

Mung Beans, for sprouting
(At any health-food store) 1/2 lb at $2.99/lb
Like alfalfa seeds, generally will found at a health food store. Sprout a tablespoon at a time and eat raw or, in the case of mung beans only, lightly steamed.  Excellent food, traditionally in Chinese dishes. Canned sprouts are expensive, overcooked, and tasteless. As with alfalfa, a small volume of beans makes a large volume of sprouts.

An excellent sourcebook for health and an outstanding guide to cheap, easy sprouting is Survival Into the 21st Century, by Viktoras Kulvinskas, M.S. published by Omangod Press).  It costs about $20 and is well worth it. The author has lived for years on sprouts and fruit… and describes the advantages of doing so in his book.

Salt, to taste
(e.g. house brands or Morton, Sterling, etc.) 1 lb for $.49
Optional, and use sparingly for best health. Salt is important for taste, especially for those folks who think that their cooking is too bland. It’s better to eat your home-made good food with a little salt than to eat commercial, processed food that’s loaded with salt. Soups and bread in particular need salt for most palates. When you add salt to your cooking, remember that it’s still much less than a food processor uses. Salt is a big ingredient in “convenience” foods and restaurant or fast-foods. Iodized salt is preferable to insure some iodine in addition to what’s in your daily multiple vitamin. Most salts contain anti-caking ingredients (chemicals) which rarely are really needed. If you can get pure salt, put a few grains of rice in the salt shaker to prevent caking. The rice grains absorb moisture that causes caking. Iodized salt always has a chemical or two added to “hold” the iodine.  If you eat a lot of sea vegetables or continue to eat seafood, you get quite a bit of iodine that way. Sea salt is good, too, but not as a source of iodine, unless mixed with powdered kelp. Adelle Davis wrote that you can cheaply get iodine in your diet by adding ONE drop of iodine tincture to a half-gallon of orange juice or other fruit juice.

Yeast
Three packets together, $1.29
Read the yeast label; some dry yeasts may have preservatives in them. It’s good to bake bread regularly, considering the high cost and low quality of almost all commercial breads. If you want to save on yeast, use a sour-dough system: save out a fistful of your risen bread dough and put it in the refrigerator.  Keep it until you bake again later in the week, and then use it instead of yeast. Mix it in with the new flour-water mixture, and it will culture all the new dough to rise. Then save a fistful of that dough, and continue on. You can even freeze dough, so that if you want bread and don’t have the time that day to mix it up, just take some frozen dough out of the freezer as if you’d bought a commercial frozen dough, let it rise and bake. This way, you can prepare dough only once every week or two, and always have fresh baked rolls, bread, pizza or whatever you make with it.

Canned and Frozen Foods Commentary
Frozen vegetables are to be only slightly cooked, or “blanched” and packed without water. Vitamin retention is high. Canned vegetables are cooked longer, packed in water, and more vitamins are usually lost. I would tend to recommend frozen over canned, and fresh over frozen. It is easier and cheaper to buy tomatoes as puree and pumpkin already prepared, and both of these are usually sold canned. It is best to cook all vegetables lightly, if you cook them at all. Save that cooking water for soup: it catches a lot of water-soluble vitamins and minerals. Steaming requires the least amount of water for cooking with the exception of sautéing, (a low-temperature “frying”) in a bit of butter or vegetable oil.

Jar Foods Commentary
Vegetable Oil
(e.g. “Caruso”, “Wesson”, etc.)  Price varies; approx. $2.79 for 24 oz.
Vegetable oil is the vegetarian’s source of fats and maybe a very small amount of vitamin E. You’ll need oil for cooking and baking. We buy whatever oil is the cheapest, and that is usually soy oil. You may wish to use sunflower or olive oils for salads and other special uses, but they will cost somewhat more. If you can get them, cold pressed oils (slightly cloudy but therefore minimally processed) are best because they are least refined.  You may have difficulty finding cold-pressed oils anywhere but at a health food store, and they cost more. Most commercial oils today are refined for clarity, by an extraction procedure which removes nutritious “impurities” which hinder keeping qualities of raw oil. (Remember: good food spoils.) At least oils today are largely free of additives and preservatives. Still, I’d always read the label. Smell oil to be sure it’s not rancid (old and spoiled) and avoid high-temperature frying; these two destructive states make oil valueless as food.

Honey
$1.69/lb (any brand; local farm brands are fresher and less refined than national, commercial brands. Raw, dark and cloudy honey is most desirable.)
Honey is a great all-purpose sweetener, and although it costs more than refined white sugar, you use less. Two-thirds to three-quarters cup honey equals one cup sugar; use slightly less liquid in the recipe.

Cayenne Pepper Sauce
$1.59/12 fl. oz. (e.g. “Frank’s”)
In moderation, cayenne is actually beneficial to the body, even the stomach. Mixed up as sauce with vinegar, garlic and salt, it’s our favorite condiment. I’d like to mention that the sweeteners, condiments and spices are all optional, and if you will enjoy your food without them, that’s very good.  Many natural health authorities would agree with you. However, I think it is important that we be sure that our meals taste good, as well as be good for us. There is no point in being a vegetarian and hating it. Without overdoing it, it’s possible to prepare tasty dishes that you and your family and friends will really enjoy, which will have the added advantage of being good nourishment and pure.

Fresh Foods Commentary
These are best when truly cheap and truly fresh. Neither may be possible with today’s high supermarket prices and long-term storage procedures. I think that turns a lot of people off to fresh fruits and vegetables. There is a fine alternative, though, and that is to grow your own. For just a few dollars worth of seeds, you can easily grow enough lettuce, squash, spinach, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, beets and beans to last the entire summer at least. A 15-foot square garden can produce a tremendous amount of available-anytime fresh food. Even a window box or cold frame will grow quite a bit of lettuce and fresh salad greens through at least half of the year. Crop freezes, shortages, labor disputes, cash-crop market price fluctuations and all those pricehiker’s excuses don’t matter to the self-subsistent home gardener!

There are some fresh vegetables that you can buy nearly year-round at fairly low cost: carrots, onions, potatoes, cabbage and usually celery.  These can be eaten lightly cooked or raw, except for potatoes. Squash, broccoli, greens and corn can be bought fresh in season at very low prices. Out of season, frozen vegetables may be cheaper and even better quality than stored or trucked-in fresh ones. You may be better off getting your fresh fruits at a roadside stand, farmer’s market or orchard. Prices are usually somewhat lower, and the fruit fresher when you buy directly from the producer. Apples are a good example. I’ve seen red or golden delicious apples for well over $1.00/lb in a supermarket, and there are very few apples in a pound!  At the same time of the year, at an orchard not far from the city, most apple varieties are seldom more than $10 a bushel.  A bushel would price out at only a fraction as much money per pound. If you have any backyard at all, the trees to plant are fruit trees. Dwarf varieties are easy to maintain and to pick, are ornamental, and provide a great low- or no-cost fruit source.

Dairy Foods Commentary
Butter
(unsalted contains no artificial coloring, e.g. “Land 0′ Lakes” at $1.79/lb)
Over the last 15 years, the price of butter has actually come down, and now more than ever belongs on the “eat cheap” list. Butter to a vegetarian is an important article of diet for fats and for good taste. Sauté vegetables – just plain old beans or zucchini, for instance – in butter and a dash of soy sauce and see how tasty they are.

Cottage Cheese
Two pounds at $1.79/lb (preservative-free, uncolored brands only)
Cottage cheese is about the cheapest cheese there is, and also among the most efficient sources of calcium and protein for your body. Cottage cheese, like yogurt, is very digestible and contains many beneficial enzymes. We eat a good bit of cottage cheese, and so do our kids. Plain yogurt is also inexpensive, if you buy it in the quart-size container. In my opinion, cottage cheese tends to be somewhat less mucus-forming than yogurt.  Other cheeses such as aged Cheddar, Swiss, Provolone, Mozzarella and Muenster are also very good if somewhat more costly. Sometimes you can place a bulk order through your local health food store or supermarket and get really low per pound cheese prices. Some stores will charge very little mark-up on such special orders for good customers. You might try getting together with a few friends and sharing the amount, because cheese commonly ships in 15 to 30 pound blocks or boxes.

Even if you buy a few pounds of cheese as you need it at the grocery store, it is still overall a good value. There is no waste due to trimming or cooking, as with meat.  A couple with two kids might go through 3 to 5 pounds of cheese a week; if you were a meat eater you’d certainly go through more meat than that, at the same or higher per pound cost.  A few ounces of cheese is also more filling than the same amount of meat. Cheese can really dress up a vegetarian meal.  It is also a good transition food and can temporarily replace meat on your road to a low- or no-dairy diet, if you wish.

Beverages Commentary
Various Blends of Herbal Teas
24 bags for around $2 to $3.  (“Magic Mountain”, “Celestial Seasonings”, etc.)
More and more grocery stores carry herbal teas all the time, and health food stores always have many varieties. Herb tea is very pleasant, very inexpensive, and very easy to prepare. Most are caffeine free, and all keep indefinitely. Try getting two cups of tea from one bag. If you have a tea ball or strainer, you can purchase herb tea in bulk packs and save even more money.

When speaking of tea as a beverage, we are talking about everyday, commercial mixtures of teas to drink for taste, not for therapy. Still, in moderation, many herbs are undeniably helpful healers, and an herbology book will tell you which are good for what ailments. Catnip and chamomile are settling to the body and good before bedtime. Peppermint and spearmint teas calm the stomach. Raspberry leaf tea is given to pregnant women and is known to ease labor and delivery. Boneset helps do what its name implies: mend and strengthen bones. There are many more uses of the herbs which date back hundreds and even thousands of years in history. You may find that your taste preferences lead you to the herb tea that will best benefit you. Nature is like that sometimes! Validate your instincts by checking The Herb Book (Lust, 1974).

Apple Cider
($1.79 to $2.89/gal.)
Fresh cider is a raw food, full of minerals and raw food enzymes. I think it is one of the finest foods you can drink. Beware of supermarket “fresh pressed” cider that reads in small print on the label, “preserved with 1/10th of one percent sorbic acid” or any other preservative. Real cider is just pressed apples, cloudy, dark and perishable. Buy it fresh, read the label, and keep it cold. You can freeze cider if you are sure to leave 1/5 of the container unfilled to allow for freezing expansion (“head room”). I can easily drink three gallons of cider a week by myself. You might think that you’d get the “runs” if you did that… and you might at first. As your body gets healthier through daily natural vegetarian diet, you’ll find that it won’t need to have the “runs” to clean itself out anymore, because it is already clean inside. Cider, diluted half and half with water, is ideal for juice fasting.

Other 100% Juices, Canned or Bottled
(e.g. “Juicy Juice”, Pineapple Juice, Apple Juice, Tomato Juice, “V-8,” etc., prices ranging from roughly $1.50 to $2.00 for 24 to 48 fl. oz.)
When you can’t get fresh, canned or bottled pure juices are the next best. Some frozen concentrates are good too, but watch for added sugar.  Insist that the label says juice or 100% juices or pure juice, and nothing else. “Juice Cocktails” and “Juice Drinks” are not even close to all juice; they’re mostly sugar water. If you’re going to pay nearly as much anyway for water and sugar and coloring, why not spend the extra $.30 or $.40 per can or bottle and get real juice?

What Was Left Out On This Listing
Eggs
Eggs are certainly better than meat, but are shunned by many natural health authorities. Metabolism of large amounts of eggs seems to toxify the digestion and body, they say. An egg or two used in cooking seems reasonable to me, but we rarely make a meal on eggs in our family. Some persons avoid eggs because they feel they could have been taking lives from potential chicks. Some persons avoid eggs because they fear heart trouble. This last reason is actually the weakest of the lot, for although eggs contain cholesterol, they also contain lecithin. Lecithin is an emulsifier (something that breaks up fats), naturally occurring in yolk, which helps keep cholesterol from becoming a problem in the body. If you didn’t eat any cholesterol your body would make it anyway. Persons wanting to cut down on harmful fats should cut out meat, not butter and eggs, as their first choice. Cut out eggs, too, if you choose, but for a better reason than cholesterol fears. Studies have found no significant relationship between a few eggs per week and any disease. Eggs are also very cheap. Thirty years ago, a dozen small eggs was very nearly as much as the same dozen today. Only with eggs, and perhaps home electronics products, has price effectively declined as much as with eggs. If money is tight and you have a house full of teenagers to feed, buy them to insure meatless, complete protein.

Spices
I’ve said little about spices because some people think we’re better off with our food the way it is, and other people think spices are important for flavor and palatability in our food. Most folks have spices and use them in cooking and baking as they see fit, and I doubt if much worry is needed about them.  We use oregano, garlic powder, nutmeg, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, basil and many other herbs or spices in our home food
preparation.

Milk
Milk is absent in this listing because cheese is present in this listing. Everything good in milk is concentrated in cheese, and the enzymes, culture, bacteria, etc. in cheese make it a more efficient and often more agreeable source of nutrients for the body. Cheese contains very little water as opposed to milk. If you can get fresh raw milk, as we could when I worked on a dairy farm, I’d certainly drink it. We raised our babies on it (after Mom’s, of course.)

Here, Then, Is Your Eat Cheaper, Eat Better Shopping List: Good Food For Two People for One Week:

Group One: Dry Foods

Brown Rice 2 lbs.        @ $0.85/lb     $1.70
Navy or Pea Beans         @ $0.79/lb      0.79
Lentils 2 lbs.           @ $.85/lb       1.70
Split Peas 1 lb.          @ $.65/lb        .65
Whole Wheat Flour 5 lbs.  @ $1.99         1.99
Alfalfa Seeds   1/4 lb    @ $3.95/lb      1.00
Baking Yeast 3 pkts.     @ 3 for $1.29   1.29
Mung Beans 1/2 lb         @ $2.99/lb.     1.50
Salt  1 oz.               @ $0.49/lb      0.03 (not a misprint!)

Subtotal:            $10.65

Group Two: Canned and/or Frozen Foods and Fresh Foods in Season

4 packages frozen squash @ $.69 ea = $1.56
(Spend any extra food budget money on fresh fruits and vegetables!)

Jar Foods
Honey,
unprocessed (raw) 1/2lb.     @ $1.69/lb                $.85
Vegetable Oil 8 oz           @ $2.79 for 24 fl. oz.     .94

Dairy Foods
Butter, unsalted 1/4 lb      @ $1.89/lb             .48
Cottage Cheese 2 lbs         @ $1.49/lb            2.98

Beverages
Water      no additional charge
Herb Tea 1 pkg. of 16 bags   @ $2.49              $2.49
Cider 1 gal.                 @ $2.89              $2.89
(or other natural juice, on sale,
which may still cost more)
$12.19 sub total

$22.84 TOTAL

Remember now, this is for two people.

Looking at this shopping list, you might raise such objections as the following:

1) Why so little money for fresh, canned and frozen fruits and vegetables?  Where will your Vitamin A and C come from?

This is a stripped-down shopping list, and fruits and vegetables are not cheap unless you (or a friend) have a garden. ”Vegetarian” does not necessarily mean “only vegetables”. In fact, many vegetarian failures are not happy or healthy with their diet because they ate just vegetables. The dry foods listed are high in protein, more filling, and generally very nutritious. Overall, this shopping list will provide outstanding poverty-priced meals. You will get many of your vitamins from the sprouted alfalfa, particularly vitamins A and C. If the season permits, you would want to grow your own lettuce, spinach, zucchini squash, radishes, carrots and beans. These are very easy vegetables to grow. Enough seeds for a whole summer may cost you under five dollars at a discount store, and if you divide that over the weeks you’ll be eating from the garden, that’ll raise the grocery bill to about $23.30 a week. For two people.

I do think everyone, including a budget-vegetarian, should take a good multiple vitamin every single day, and a vitamin C tablet in addition.  When you look at the cost of life insurance (or a cemetery plot, for that matter) I think you will agree that vitamin supplements are about the cheapest form of insurance you can buy.  I’ve seen really low priced vitamins for two cents per tablet.  You are now at $24 a week.  Divide by two and you still can bring it all in at 12 bucks apiece.

2) You left out several food items on the actual shopping list that you indicated as very beneficial earlier.  Why?

For economy. Cayenne pepper sauce and other spices or herbs, molasses, tomato puree, other vegetables and fruits, and additional fruit and vegetable juices are all very good, of course. We eat them all; we also spend somewhat more than $12 a week. What I am trying to do here is show that you can stay alive and really quite healthy on very little money or food. I’m not interested in hearing about the inadequacies of food stamp allowances, nor about senior citizens starving to death on Social Security while eating dog food. Just because you are poor doesn’t mean you have to be malnourished. Oddly enough, it is often people with money who are malnourished. You can spend a fortune at the supermarket check-out each week and still eat badly. Either way, it pays to know how to eat the cheapest and the best.

If you can spend a little more each week on food – that is, real food, and not packaged, processed convenience money wasters – then please do so. To feed one person on $12 a week means to feed a family of four on $48 a week…and that sounds slightly more like a normal figure to most people, I imagine.  You may find that the per-person cost per week goes down somewhat, for it is more efficient to shop and cook for more than one.  Honestly, we save a pile of money eating like this. My son, and a professor friend of mine, calculate that during our 18 year marriage (with two growing kids), my wife and I have saved well over $30,000. Er, actually, we spent it. On our house!

3) You did not include the cost of high-potency vitamin supplementation.

That is correct. With this diet, or any other, I would take four grams (4,000 mg.) or more of vitamin C a day, divided up among the three meals and between them. I would also take a good, high-potency, natural multivitamin. This is the minimum that I do take. I usually take a calcium/magnesium tablet or two and 600-800 IU of vitamin E daily, also. Approximate cost per day, all totaled, is about 40 cents or less than $3.00 a week per person.  That is an expense that needs budgeting, yet it is far cheaper than medical care. I would like to emphasize that if you really sprout, and eat, 1/4 pound of alfalfa seeds and 1/2 pound of mung beans a week, your vitamin and mineral intake will be outstanding. Don’t stay only with alfalfa and mung, though. Lentils and whole wheat grains sprout easily and provide better variety of nutrients, textures, and tastes. Alfalfa is given as an easy example to start with.

Copyright C 2004 and previous years Andrew W. Saul.

High-fat diet? No problem! (Unless you’re stressed.)

Living in stressful or polluted environment?  You are more likely to gain weight and develop metabolic problems than unstressed people that eat the same diet.

A study done at Georgetown University using mice found that a high fat diet did not provoke obesity. However, a high-fat diet combined with chronic stress, did.  Another study, recently published in Circulation, found that mice exposed to air pollution were more likely to develop insulin resistance and abdominal obesity compared with mice who ate the same high-fat diet but enjoyed cleaner air.

We’ve known for a while that stress and heart disease are linked. Although these are rodent studies, I think its becoming clear that stress and environment may play a role in obesity and Type 2 diabetes, as well–and that we’re going to need to think more holistically about tackling these problems.

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how individual nutrients and dietary factors affect health. But that doesn’t necessarily tell us much about how nutrients work in combination.  For example, saturated fat might promote heart disease in the context of a high-carbohydrate diet but not in a low-carbohydrate diet.

But there are even more variables:  The same diet will affect individuals differently depending on their genetic makeup.  And stress (whether physical, mental, or environmental) also changes how your body responds to diet.

I have a number of clients who are trying to lose weight but also have extremely stressful lives.  Perhaps I need to make reducing and coping with stress a bigger part of their nutritional prescription?

Source: nutritiondata.com, Monica Reinagel | January 28, 2009

Andrea’s Note:  I’m not promoting a high-fat diet!  I’m simply conveying the effects of stress on your body…

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