Drinking more Water: Mint Water

I came across a great tip in my reading:  mint water! To make it, add a couple sprigs of fresh mint to a container of water and let it sit at room temperature overnight. Simple and delicious!

I grow mint in a pot because it spreads so quickly that when planted in the ground it can become a pest. Growing it in a pot contains it and gives you fresh mint whenever you want it.

I mostly have used mint in summer salads. I also use it with other fresh herbs, ground up with peppercorns and garlic as a rub for lean cuts of beef.

I had tried making fresh mint tea before, but it always came out strong and bitter. So I was delighted to come across the suggestion to just let it sit in water for several hours at room temperature. It keeps the flavor soft and delicate. I actually prefer drinking it at room temperature as well, but it would also be good chilled.

Adding a little flavor to water can make it easier to drink more. I like the idea of adding the mint, because besides tasting great it adds extra nutrients. I’m not sure how much you actually get in mint water, but I figure every little bit adds up! Check here for some of the beneficial properties of peppermint.

Mostly I like it because it is so refreshing. Try it!

Find more nutrition tips on my website and in my monthly newsletter, the Wellness News:  http://healthyhabitscoach.com

Finding Nourishment

While it is useful to have knowledge and helpful tips, ultimately it is how we nourish ourselves in a full sense that matters.  The people I talk to mostly know what to eat: it is eating when they didn’t intend to that causes problems.

We eat for so many reasons. Difficult conversations or relationships send us to the refrigerator. Food choices are usually worse when we are tired, or frustrated, or overwhelmed.  I’ve often heard emotional eating described as “filling a black hole.”

In all these situations, we are seeking nourishment.  But not necessarily food.  I suspect that feeling nourished is one of the really deep human needs, and one that we are not very skilled at.

How do we nourish ourselves?  Besides food (we have that one down, but it doesn’t help for very long), where do we find nourishment?

I think this is a fundamental question.  I’m not really sure what the answer is, but I think it is still important to keep asking the question.  It is one of those questions that we can hold open and gradually work our way into the answer.

Even for those of us who don’t fill the black hole with food, we often have an assortment of behaviors that we use to “fill” it (or stuff it!) 

Some people eat.  Some gamble.  Some drink.  Some shop.  My own “fix” is constant activity, relentless “doing”.  It doesn’t have calories, but I don’t think it is any healthier – stress can play as much havoc as food with our internal systems.

So how do we nourish ourselves?  What I notice is that I’m happiest when I slow down – even when it is just a little.  That there is something about the small things in life that feels nourishing.

Sunsets.  A child’s hug.  The beautiful oak tree at the end of the street.  The birdsong in early morning.  My cat stretched out full length in cool shade.  A heart to heart talk. 

These are some of the things that I have noticed are nourishing - when I remember to notice.  That might be the crux.  Remembering to notice!

But this is an exploration without set answers.  It might be that we each have to find what nourishes us.  We may each need to pay attention to when we feel nourished, and learn to let it in – to really, fully, let ourselves experience it.

It may help to bring intention.  To think of how the little things - like the feel of warm dishwashing water on our hands – are nourishing.  Just acknowledging it might amplify it.

I don’t know . . .  what do you think?  What have you learned or noticed or wondered?  What nourishes you?

Visit http://healthyhabitscoach.com to get my monthly newsletter, the Wellness News.
Eat well!

Folic Acid: Do You Get Too Much?

The Nutrition Action Healthletter has had two recent articles about research indicating that high blood levels of folate could increase risk of prostate and breast cancer. It is tricky - it appears that folic acid might help prevent tumors from starting, but feed them once they start.

It is too early to know if this is truly a risk – more research needs to confirm and support these theories. But they raise an interesting question. How much is too much when it comes to vitamins and minerals?

We have a tendency to think the more, the better – but it is not always so. This is especially important to keep in mind with all the fortified products available.  Companies add vitamins and minerals to just about anything – even water – and make big health claims. 

How does it all add up? If you take a variety of supplements, you may be getting multiple doses of some nutrients. Look at labels for duplicate nutrients.

Breads and cereals are often fortified with folic acid. Since the US began fortifying flour with folic acid in 1998, neural tube birth defects have dropped by 20 – 30%. 

However, if you take a multiple vitamin you are probably getting 400 mcg – the recommended daily value. If you are eating a cereal that has been fortified with a full dose of 400 mcg and breads with fortified flour – you could easily get 800 – 1500 mcg a day.

It is not clear yet that these levels are a risk. The evidence is iffy, but it is good to know about. Keep your radar open for new information on folic acid.

Meanwhile, the Nutrition Action Healthletter recommended taking a multivitamin every other day if you eat grains that are fortified. I eat plain oats for breakfast and whole wheat bread is not fortified (being a natural, and safe, form of folic acid): so eating less fortified foods is also an option if you are concerned.

I think it is wise to think twice about buying regular food products with too many vitamins and minerals added. Personally, I’d rather take a multivitamin and know what I’m getting and how it adds up.

Find more nutrition information and my monthly newsletter on my website:  http://healthyhabitscoach.com .
Eat well!

 

My Favorite Barbequed Chicken

Summer barbeques are a great way to have delicious and easy healthy meals. Yesterday we had our entire meal on the grill.  Here is my favorite recipe for barbeque chicken.  Healthy eating was never so easy!

Sesame Barbeque Chicken
Chicken*
Marinade:
¼ low sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons dry sherry
1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
2 tablespoons orange marmalade (I’ve also used jalapeño jelly, honey or agave nectar)
2 cloves garlic
Hot peppers of some sort: ie  ¼ teaspoon Tabasco, 1 tsp chili paste or dried red chilis

Mix the marinade ingredients in a container about the size of the chicken.  Add the skinned chicken to the marinade and refrigerate.  Allow at least 4 hours for marinating, but when possible start early in the morning or even the night before. Grill over low-medium heat.

*This Sunday we used whole bone-in chicken breasts.  They cooked for a long time, but were really moist.  We served them sliced, rather than with the bones.  You can also use skinless, boneless breasts or thighs.  It is all good. 

What I like about this approach is that you never spend more than 15 minutes in the kitchen at a time and yet the result is a delicious meal!  Make extra and you have dinner for a second night.

The original recipe that I adapted this from suggested marinating the chicken in strips and cooking it on skewers.  That makes a great picnic dish, but is too much work to do often.

Yesterday I served the chicken with Yukon gold potatoes, summer squash, red torpedo onion and eggplant.  I precooked the potatoes a little in the microwave, but the rest we just put directly on the grill.  We used olive oil and balsamic vinegar to brush the veggies while cooking slowly over low heat.  My goodness it was good!  The Yukon potatoes were so moist that no topping was necessary.

Note:  it always bothers me to pour so much soy sauce into the marinade.  Even the low sodium variety has about 2,000 mg of sodium in 1/4 cup.  I have used less and it still tastes good (maybe because I usually never salt my food!) 

We got multiple servings from the recipe, and I figure that with a marinade not all the salt gets absorbed.  I think it must be the salt in the soy sauce that makes foods marinated in it so tender.

Does anyone know more about this?  How much of the sodium in soy sauce is actually absorbed into the meat?

Find more nutrition information and my monthly newsletter on my website:  http://healthyhabitscoach.com .
Eat well!

 

Stress Eating: Managing Stressors

Are you a stress eater?  Stress eating is one of many reasons for eating when not hungry.  Eating can dull the edgy discomfort of stress, and food is comforting.  But these effects are temporary because they don’t last, and they can add more stress and frustration.

Sure it makes more sense to manage the stressor – but how can you do that?  Try stepping back and observing.  Becoming aware, without judgment, begins to produce change.

I have a client who is going on a 3 month cruise.  She told me that she felt this would be a life changing event for her, and as she said that I could feel the excitement and possibility. 

Yet without even pausing, she went on to tell me how stressed she was feeling about deciding what projects she should take to work on.  She was up against deadlines to order the supplies she would need and was feeling really pushed.  I could pick up all the feelings of stress, overwhelm, and pushing to make it all happen.

I pulled her back to the life changing effect of this cruise.  What was it about the cruise that made it feel life changing?  What was needed to give more space and opportunity to life changing potential? 

As you read this, can you feel how the idea of life changing feels open and spacious?  Just taking it in feels pretty delicious.  Then notice how you feel when you read the paragraph about all the things she needed to decide and wanted to do.  I feel my chest constrict and my breath gets tight. 

As my client slowed down and considered what was most important, she decided she wanted to bring in meditation, writing and exercise as ways to stay open to new experiences and possibilities.  As she shifted her focus of what was important, she stopped feeling so stressed.

Even if you are not going on a life changing cruise, you can still use the same principle.  What is important to you in your life?  What are your true priorities?  When you are 90, what would make you feel like you had lived your life well?  Notice how that feels!

While life certainly is full of stressful situations, a lot of our stress is from our own choices.  When we say yes to too many things or set expectations about what we will accomplish we can feel stressed. 

When you step back – create a little distance – and pay attention, it makes it easier to see what your choices are.  Usually there are more choices than we had realized – something my clients frequently comment on.  When there are choices, and you get to choose, it feels better.

Just seeing the choices helps.  Even if you choose to continue in the same way, it may feel less stressful because you feel more in control.  If you feel less stressed and more in control, you might be less tempted to eat. 

Next time you find yourself stressed and opening the refrigerator – stop.  Instead of stress eating, or at least before choosing to stress eat, step back and check in.  What is important?  What can be let go of? 

It may take some practice, but just becoming aware can help you make new healthy eating choices.

Find more nutrition information on my website:  http://healthyhabitscoach.com .
Eat well!

 

Purple Potatoes: have you tried them?

My dinner plate was a splash of color: bright green broccoli from my farm box, stunning orange salmon with a sprinkling of red chipotle powder, and purple potatoes. All this on a yellow plate. A good reminder how beautiful healthy eating can be. It was a picture!

I actually tried to take a picture, and it gave me admiration for all the bloggers who post pictures of food regularly. There is an art to it, one I haven’t mastered yet. My husband response to my picture was yuk! Guess I need to think of it before I start eating.

Anyway, if you haven’t tried purple or blue potatoes, you are in for a treat. They actually taste pretty much like other potatoes. I like them even better, but it might because I’m so smitten by the color.

There are a number of different varieties ranging in colors from blue to purple to black. The Cooks Thesaurus says they have medium starch content and are better for color than flavor. Also that they get mushy if overcooked.

Well, I love them. The deep colors come from an antioxidant called anthocyanins, the same kind found in blueberries. This makes them both fun to eat and nutritious.

Last night we just barbequed them. I cooked them for about 3 minutes in the microwave, then finished them off on the barbeque. This is a quick way of ending up with something like baked potatoes: a soft inside withcrispy skin. This technique works for other forms of potatoes as well, also for yams and sweet potatoes.

My other favorite way of cooking purple potatoes is to roast them with other vegetables. They give the dish a splash of color and interest. They are good mashed, but I don’t mash potatoes often because it is too easy to eat extra that way.

If you need more incentive or information:
The Perufood blog has beautiful pictures of Peruvian purple potatoes.
Recipe tips has info on how to select and store them.

Enjoy!

Find more nutrition information on my website:  http://healthyhabitscoach.com .

 

Vitamin D Linked to Heart Attacks

Men lacking in vitamin D have more than double the normal risk of a heart attack, a study says, one of many suggesting the vitamin is crucial to good health.  This comes from a good article on Vitamin D by Thomas Maugh II of the LA Times (June 10, 2008). 

The article is worth reading: the research on vitamin D is both important and fascinating. Vitamin D is involved in far more of our body systems than we originally realized, and we get less of it then we thought. By some estimates, more than half of us have deficient blood levels.

I have two thoughts to add to the article. We used to assume we could get all the vitamin D we need from the sun. But where we live makes a difference. Further from the equator the angle of the sun shifts how much is available, especially in winter.

Sunscreen blocks vitamin D production and if we are covered up or dark skinned we get less. So be cautious about thinking you’ll get what you need from the sun.

Thomas indicates that most researchers recommend taking no more than 4,000 IU per day (as an upper safety limit). I have read that as much as 10,000 IU is probably safe.  ut you wouldn’t take either of those dosages unless you were taking it therapeutically to raise low blood levels – and then under medical supervision.

We know the old recommendation of 400 IU’s is too little. There is not a standard recommendation yet, but most experts recommend getting between 1,000 – 2,000 IU daily.

Personally, I think aiming for 1,000 IU as a supplement is a good idea, and then don’t worry too much about the extra bit you get from milk (unless you drink a lot of it). Do check your multi-vitamin.  Most of them currently have 400 IU’s, but that will be changing with new formulations so read the label.

Find more nutrition information on my website:  http://healthyhabitscoach.com .
Eat well!

BBQ Wild Salmon: an Easy Recipe

Yesterday I posted about farmed salmon and why I think it’s worth paying the extra cost for wild salmon.  From that I heard about a salmon recipe contest (at marxfoods.com, entries must be received by July 20th).  Here is my entry - a delicious and very easy way to barbeque wild salmon. 

Actually, the recipe is my husbands and as mentioned below he got it from Tierra Vegetables.  But the main point is that it is really easy and really good.  Chipotle powder is a little hot, but the salmon does not come out too spicy.  Cut the amount back a little if you are concerned, but we’ve served it to non-spicy family members who have loved it.

Chipotle Barbequed Salmon
1# fillet of wild salmon
3-4 limes
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoon chipotle powder

Squeeze the limes into a shallow bowl large enough to hold the salmon.  Stir in the olive oil, and put the salmon in the marinade, flesh side down, for 15 minutes. 

Turn the salmon over and sprinkle with the chipotle powder.  Spoon some of the lime/olive oil mixture over it.  Marinate for another 15 minutes, periodically spooning some of the lime/olive oil marinade over the fish.
Cook on a hot barbeque grill, starting with the skin side down, for 3-4 minutes.  Flip it, peeling off the skin, and barbeque for an additional 3-4 minutes.

Notes:  Chipotle powder has a delicious smoked flavor.  You can find it in Mexican grocery stores, or order it online at http://tierravegetables.com/.  It was actually Evie at Tierra Vegetables that told us about using chipotle powder for salmon.  It’s delicious!

For lots more salmon recipes check out the other entries:
http://marxfood.com/enter-your-best-salmon-recipe/

Find more nutrition information on my website:  http://healthyhabitscoach.com .
Eat well!

Farmed Salmon: Should You Avoid It?

Wild salmon is expensive.  Here in Sonoma County, there is a ban on fishing it this year in an effort to restore the salmon population.  I’m still eating wild salmon, even if I have to buy it frozen (I’m actually surprised how good frozen salmon is these days). 

I think the extra cost is worth it for both environmental and health reasons.  Here are some of the problems with farmed salmon listed at seafoodwatch.org:

• Salmon are typically farmed in open net pens or cages, which allow the waste from the fish to pass freely into the surrounding environment.  This pollutes the wild habitat.
• Farmed fish can escape and compete with wild fish for natural resources.  They can also interbreed which compromises the hardiness of the wild population.
• There are generally more diseases in the dense farm population.  Diseases and parasites can spread to wild fish swimming past net pens.

Farmed salmon are fed  fishmeal which is higher in PCB’s (by up to 16 times!)  than the natural diet of wild salmon.  PCB’s are polychlorinated biphenyls which build up in the environment and can cause harmful health effects.  With either type of salmon, you can reduce the PCB levels by trimming off the skin and visible fat. 

If you have tried wild salmon, you probably noticed a big difference in taste.  Wild salmon has a unique flavor that you just don’t find in the farmed variety.  If cost is a problem, try canned salmon since it is usually made from wild salmon.

As for me, I plan to keep eating my salmon wild even if it means buying it frozen.  What about you?

Find more nutrition information on my website:  http://healthyhabitscoach.com .
Eat well!

 

Healthy Habits: Anchoring

How do you remember new habits?  As you develop healthy habits, a good trick is to anchor it to something you already do.  In fact, this trick works so well that I just accidentally worked myself out of my daily chocolate habit.

Anchoring is when you pair something new to something that you already do.  I had a client who could never remember to take her vitamins and supplements.  But she already drank coffee every morning.  When she paired taking her vitamins with drinking coffee, it was easy to remember.

Another example is my sun salutations (a yoga exercise).  I wanted to make them a regular habit, but always forgot.  So I attached it to my morning shower.  Now I think about them as soon as I get out of the shower.  New habits are easier to remember when paired with something that you already do.

Now, back to my lost chocolate habit.  For a long time I’ve had a piece of dark chocolate every evening.  It started off as a way to stop eating sweets (see my earlier post on this).  But I have trouble sleeping, and decided that I wanted to avoid even the small amount of caffeine in chocolate that late in the day.  I switched to eating my chocolate in the afternoon.

But suddenly I’m not eating the chocolate.  I didn’t anchor it to another habit and I keep forgetting!  I could anchor it to lunch – then I’d remember.  But maybe it is just as good to have it less often.  I’m sure I get plenty of other antioxidants in all the wonderful summer fruit that is available now.

What healthy habits do you want to develop or improve?  Drinking more water?  Remembering to stop and eat lunch (or an afternoon snack)?  Going for a walk?  Try pairing it with an activity that already happens: it will help you remember.

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