Archive for the ‘Food’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on June 22, 2010
Someone pointed me in the direction of this great map that indicates what fruits and vegetables are at the peak of the season in a particular state in a particular month. I need assistance with that because I have never learned that.
This month it is June. I’m in California. Not only am I in California, I am in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay Area. In the South Bay. I have said before that we are very fortunate here in the San Jose Area because we have great weather. The map does not give specific locations as to what grows where, but I was able to get some plums and apricots off of a friend’s tree(s) (They didn’t come off of the same tree).
I ate only one apricot. I will save the rest for my hubby because he likes them more than I do. It was very good. Very sweet and rich. The plums are in varying stages of ripeness. But so far all of the ones I have had are sweet and delicious. I had a couple for breakfast before my Nia class this morning.
I am thinking of different ways we can eat the plums. Besides just popping the entire thing in our mouths. Since even the ones that aren’t that ripe are sweet I was thinking I could cut some up and throw them in a green salad. No matter the ripeness I could put them in an aluminum foil package of chicken or pork and cook that. Mmmm. I think that I am going to do a lot more cooking with fruit this summer, just to try new things.
Do you cook with fruit? What fruits and vegetables are in peak season right now in your state?
Posted in Food, Fruit | Tagged: apricots, Bay Area, Bay Area Nia, california, cooking with fruit, foil cooking, Nia, Nia class, Nia in San Jose, peak season, plums, San Francisco Nia, San Jose Area, San Jose Nia class, South Bay, the San Francisco Bay Area | 17 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 19, 2010
Fruit not fat promotes swapping fruit for fat, like applesauce in place of butter or oil. Well, they have organized a swap. They will swap your food that is unhealthy for healthier options. Cool. That is definitely one way to eat better, yes? For 90 days Saturday, June 19, 2010 Fruit Not Fat will trade you better-for-you-food for your greasy chips, sodas, oil. Whatever weight you bring in, they will give you that amount back —- in other products! Send it to them or bring it to them.**
Here are some examples:
Bring: Cooking Oil leave with: applesauce
Bring: greasy potato chips or other greasy snack items leave with: Popchips
Bring: any granola with oil in the ingredient list (like Bear Naked granola) leave with: Galaxy Granola (which is cooked with applesauce)
Bring: soft drinks leave with: 100% juice
Bring: sugar snacks leave with: fruit mashups
Bring: candy bars, snack mix and cheese puff bags leave with: fresh, tasty fruit
They are also giving away three gift certificates for $250 (each) to Whole Foods. One on Saturday 06/19/10) to the person who BRINGS the biggest net weight of fat products to swap, one to the person who mails in the biggest net weight of fat products within the 90 days, and one to the person who swaps the most fat from their diet. (see their website for details)
Yes, it is somewhat of a marketing project. I think that the people that started Fruit Not Fat are out to help people swap fruit for fat and they had this great idea and they got sponsored. That is a great thing. So the sponsors want you to try their products. But so what . . . . it seems pretty win-win to me. You get to eat healthy and try new things. Sounds like a good project to me.
**San Francisco Bay Area: They will be swapping Saturday, June 19, 2010, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Whole Foods in Palo Alto.
Posted in Food, Fruit | Tagged: 90 days, applesauce instead of oil, Bay Area, Bear Naked, fruit not fat, Galaxy Gronola, Palo Alto, San Francisco Bay Area, Whole Foods | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 17, 2010
Eating better is easy. “Better” can mean so many things. Everything can be improved upon . . . generally, and when it comes to our diets it is usually, not “generally”. So eating “better” is easy.
Eating better could be a matter of fitting some water into your diet. Maybe have a glass of water to replace a soda–even better than just adding a glass of water. Maybe eating one less fast food meal a day. If you generally eat two fast food meals a day, cutting out two would even be better. Have a side salad or the steam veggie option instead of fries—better. Having the smaller cut of meat or the leaner cut of meat—better.
Bringing a healthy lunch from home instead of eating at the roach coach—better. Putting less sugar in your coffee—better. Having a green salad with a meal, if you normally don’t—better. Have a piece of fruit instead of a candy bar—better. Eating popcorn instead of potato chips—better.
For me eating better is eating less. I don’t drink soda or eat fast food, but I could use to eat less of even the good things I do eat. I could also swap some simple carbohydrates for some more complex ones.
What about you? Can you find some ways to make your diet better as in more nutritious? Might you need to cut a few calories to make it better? What ideas do you have? Might you try any of the ideas mentioned here? What are you willing to do to make your diet better?
Posted in Food | Tagged: carbohydrates, cut calories, eating better, nutritious diet | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 15, 2010
Broccoli is one of those vegetables that can be eaten raw or cooked. When eaten raw people sometimes smother it in dip. While that does not take away from the nutrients of the broccoli itself it somewhat might help in defeating the purpose of eating healthy. But that is fodder for another post.
A common way to cook broccoli is to steam it or boil it. One way to easily steam it is to stand the crowns up like little trees in a dish of shallow water and microwave it for a few seconds. It depends on how much you want it cooked. The less cooked better preserves the nutrients. Boiling it might cook away some of the amazing nutrients that have been attributed to broccoli.
The amazing part of the nutrients of broccoli is that is has so many. It is high in vitamin C, K, A, and is high in fiber. It is believed to have anti cancer properties, such as sulforaphane and indoles which are phytonutrients. This are nutrients found in plants that are thought to be nutrients that might help keep our bodies in check and in balance and not contribute to cancer.
Broccoli has been found to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
It might not smell pleasant while cooking it or after, but that is the sulfur that you smell.
1 cup of steamed broccoli has:
—over 100% of the Daily Value of vitamins C and K
—45% of the Daily Value of vitamin A
—20% of the Daily Value of dietary fiber
—15% of the Daily Value of potassium
—10% of the Daily Value of magnesium
—almost 10% of the Daily Value of protein and calcium
Broccoli has more vitamin C than an orange and more calcium than a glass of milk. It really is a wonder vegetable. Remember frozen CAN be just as good as “fresh”.
Broccoli has been found to help prevent heart disease.
Broccoli. Are you a fan? How do you eat yours?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: broccoli, Calcium, heart disease, phytonutrients, prostate cancer, vitamin C | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 3, 2010
Frozen vegetables can be just as nutritious, if not MORE nutritious, than the vegetables you buy in the produce section. Yup. You read that the right. It says that you might be getting more nutrients from frozen vegetables than “fresh” vegetables. IF you are able to buy your vegetables from a local farmers market, that is where you most likely will get the most nutrient rich vegetables. But be aware. In our area–in and around San Jose–we have farmers markets pretty much every day of the week during the summer and it depends on WHEN the farmer has come to the bay area and when they picked their veggies.
I know that we attended one local market (and we have not been back) that was on a Sunday. And the farmers claimed to have been in the area since Friday, and we saw them at a market on Saturday, and to tell you honestly it showed. They vegetables had to be picked before Friday for them to have come up to the Friday market (and they could have even come to the Thursday or Wednesday Farmers Market). It was the warm season and without refrigeration, the produce was very tired and wilted by Sunday. As I said, my hubby and I have not actually been back to that particular market because the produce was so unappealing. The idea of a farmers market is that you are getting FRESH produce, but when some farmers attend all the markets in the area they might not be that fresh. The items probably were picked at the proper time, but within days they start to lose nutrients and without refrigeration they start to rapidly decay.
With produce from the grocery stores it is often harvested before it even reaches its full nutrient potential, and then once it is picked it might ripen some more but it will not have the full nutrients as it would have had it been picked after it reached its peak. By the time produce travels to the stores and is ready for purchase it has lost a lot of its nutrient value.
The popular length of time I am seeing articles state is two weeks. Vegetables can be picked up to two weeks before it reaches the store. Then . . . it MIGHT not get put out for purchase right away (lets be generous and say it only sits for a day), then often times we buy it and it sits in the fridge for (lets be generous and say it sits for only two days). That is a long time in which the vegetable is losing nutrients. It might still LOOK pretty, but it is not a pack full of goodness as we might hope.
With vegetables that get frozen they are pick at the proper ripeness and blanched, frozen, and/or flash frozen right away so their vitamins and minerals as sealed in. The breakdown of enzymes is halted in the process. Supposedly in 1998 the Federal Drug Administration found that frozen vegetables have basically the same nutrient as fresh. I cannot find anything on a government page confirming that but I can find it on a slew of other pages.
So it is quite possible that the veggies in the grocery stores frozen section have more nutrients than the produce section. Read the labels to check if anything has been added like sugar and/or salt because those are not things you would find in “fresh” veggies so you probably want to avoid them in the frozen ones too.
My plan consists of having fresh veggies, however fresh they are from the store or the local market, within the first two maybe three days of having purchased them. I have frozen veggies in the freezer for when a trip to the store isn’t fitting into the schedule. But it used to be that those frozen veggies would sit and get freezer burned because I thought they weren’t good enough. But now I believe they are good, if not better, so I make sure to employ a rotation exercise, and we eat them in a reasonable amount of time. Ya know when the schedule is tight and getting fresh ones isn’t quiet happening. Then on the next trip to the store we get “fresh” and frozen vegetables to back into the fridge for when the schedule is tight again. I would always rather have some sort of veggie than none at all. And yes, that even means a canned vegetables.
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: Farmer's Market San Jose, Farmers Market, FDA, fresh produce, fresh vegetables, frozen produce, Frozen vegetables, nutrients, San Jose, San Jose exercise, San Jose Farmer's market | 14 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 1, 2010
I have never been one to know the season for particular fruits and vegetables. I have never paid attention. I do think one reason for that is is that California has such great weather we can pretty much grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Plus, it could also be that, San Jose and the area in which I have lived has always been very diverse so we always have so many different fruits and vegetables.
Now-a-days it seems like you can get anything in any type of weather. It gets shipped from here or there. If you are interested in eating locally grown food and eating it at the peak of its season this site might help you.
Seasonal Ingredient Map (check it out)
You pick the state and the month and it gives you a list of what fruits and vegetables are in season in that state during that month. I think it is cool. It is especially helpful for people like me who think the grocery store is where things are grown. Ha, ok, I am not THAT bad, but this will help me exercise a bit of caution so that I can buy veggies at the peak of the season. Although, sometimes prices and the selection at the store help with that, huh?
I would like to thank @thegoodmixer for tweeting the website. Thanks, Janet.
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: California exercise, epicurious, food map, Fruits season, San Jose exercise, thegoodmixer, Vegetables Peak Season | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 10, 2010
After dropping a friend off at the San Jose Airport, I went to the store that was on the way home to get some vegetables. Not my “usual” store. I decided to get some pasta to have with the chicken and salad I was planning on serving. I like to have the Buitoni Pasta that is stored in the refrigerated section. We have that every once in a while. I walked up to the case and I saw a couple of choices that I would normally choose. $4.59. And then I saw another brand, Monterey Gourmet Foods, and I thought, “Oh, I think I had that before and I liked it.” So I looked for something that sounded familiar and I didn’t see it but I saw the price $5.79 and I thought, “Over a $1 more, well that’s a no-brainer.” But then the brain, the one I have in my head, said, “Hey why don’t you look for HFCS in the Buitoni. It’s in everything else.” Well, it didn’t have HFCS, but it has corn syrup solids and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. So I looked at the one that was a $1.20 more, neither corn syrup solids nor partially hydrogenated soybean oil.
I stood there for a minute and thought not to get either, but then I thought, “Well, I want to try this Whole Wheat Spinach and Cheese Tortelloni.” I’ve had the whole wheat before and I thought it was to thick. But I don’t remember which brand, but I didn’t care for it.
Well, I liked this. It was light. The pasta didn’t seem thick. I was glad my decision to avoid the corn syrup solids and partially hydrogenated soybean oil and spend the extra $1.20 worked out good.
Now what that means is I will have this type of pasta even less often than I did before, because now it costs more. Yeah, I know $1.20 isn’t that much, but . . . . it IS more. Oh well.
I FEEL better about not eating the corn syrup solids and partially hydrogenated oil in my pasta. Transfat is in a lot of other foods, so I try to avoid it when I can.
I am going to point out that the tortelloni I had didn’t have corn syrup solids and partially hydrogenated soybean oil in it whereas the toretellini from Buitoni did, but . . . the website shows that the tortelloni does not. The store I was at did not have Buitoni tortelloni, nor Monterey Gourmet Foods tortellini–not even sure if they make tortellini. So . . . . if you are so are interested in seeing what is in the food, read ingredients. Often times different companies will make a similar product without certain ingredients you might be trying to avoid.
Posted in Food | Tagged: Buitoni Pasta, cheese tortelloni, corn syrup solids, HFCS, Monterey Gourmet Foods, partially hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, San Jose Airport, San Jose Workout, spinach, toretellini, transfat, whole wheat | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 27, 2010
I actually received a response to my feedback . . . or actually I received a response to the feedback form being completed.
I had asked Lea & Perrins about their Worcestershire Sauce and explained that it has been a staple so long in my house that it was not something I had checked the ingredients on. Since I noticed it has High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in it I would be on the path of moving from Lea & Perrins to a Worcestershire Sauce without HFCS.
The response from the Heinz company told me that recently the media has brought to light HFCS and its “role in the U.S. diet”.
You see, they say U.S. Diet because a lot of companies don’t put HFCS in foods that are made for other markets. It is primarily the U.S. that is subjected to HFCS.
The response also stated that a lot of the articles attempted to link the consumption of HFCS to obesity.
Ok . . . . thanks for that information. But I still am wondering why they are telling me this. Do they automatically or defensively assume that the reason I don’t want to consume HFCS is because of “attempted links to obesity”?
Then they reminded me that excess calories without exercise is the reason for weight gain. They feel it is incorrect to focus on a specific food or ingredient when talking about obesity. Like the HFCS manufacturers the e-mail from Heinz said that “moderation” is the key.
The way I have chosen to moderate my intake of HFCS is by not consuming Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. Since HFCS is in so many foods, I have to eliminate as many as I can so that I can achieve this wonderful thing that manufacturers and users of HFCS call “moderation”.
Then the e-mail ended by telling me about the various Ketchup products they are coming out with. Including one without HFCS. (Because I asked about Ketchup?)
A lot of products have HFCS in them. I can only control what is purchased and brought in our home. When I go out to a restaurant, even if I order a salad, the dressing could have HFCS in it. The bread on my sandwich could have HFCS in it. The BBQ sauce, the ketchup, the mayonnaise, I don’t know, so I can only keep from purchasing products that I can read the ingredients of.
I do not eat a totally healthy diet, but I try to eat healthy. I am trying to really cut down on OVERLY processed foods. All of our food is processed, but I think it is the OVERLY processed, really chemically altered food, that is not very healthy. I know it is not easy, but I am going to do what I can and that is all that I can do.
I wanted to share that I did get a response, as odd as I thought the response was, I wanted to let you know that they responded.
Posted in Food | Tagged: Affairs, diet, feedback, healthy diet, HFCS, unprocessed foods, US Obesity, Worcestershire sauces | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 25, 2010
I am saddened that it has come to this. I have started to make a list of products in our home that have High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in them. And I am going to begin eliminating them from our house. (Yeah, sorry, Honey, if you are reading this, I meant to tell you before I posted, but . . . )
I am disgusted with the fact that it is in everything. I do not believe that it is “natural” or that it can be consumed in moderation. It is in too many of our everyday processed foods for it to be consumed in moderation.
I love Worcestershire Sauce. I use it in ALL of my marinades. I am in search of a brand that does not contain HFCS. If you know of one, please, let me know.
This will not be an easy process as some of the items, which I will discuss at a later date, are going to be really difficult for me to part with, but I am just fed up. There is WAY too much corn in America’s diet and I am done.
But in the spirit of fessing up, not only will this not be easy, it will not be an overnight thing. I need to wean us off some of these things. As I said in the e-mail/contact form to Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is a STAPLE. So we will finish what we have which will give me some time to find something else to use.
I actually didn’t even know HFCS was in Worcestershire Sauce, but after my Nia class today I went to Jakes in Willow Glen and my friend and I were talking about how HFCS is in everything. I grabbed all the condiments off of the condiment area and we started reading the labels. Let me tell you I was soooooo disappointed. I never thought to look because it is just something I always buy. Now, when I buy something new, I look, but I have grown up with Worcestershire Sauce so I never questioned it. But now, I wonder, did it always have HFCS in it?
If you know of a Worcestershire Sauce without HFCS, please let me know. Thanks.
This is a copy of the what I sent Lea & Perrins. Pretty sure they don’t care. There website says, “We couldn’t make it better” Uh, yeah, you could, you could take out the HFCS!
Posted in Food | Tagged: America's diet, consumed in moderation, Corn, Corn Fed, HFCS, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Jakes in Willow Glen, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, moderation, Nia, Nia class, Willow Glen, Willow Glen Nia, Worcestershire Sauce | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 20, 2010
Some people Tweet what they had for lunch I blog about it! I think I was actually born to the wrong family because I love tortillas. As far as I am concerned you can put ANYTHING in a tortilla and you have a meal. The issue is that most tortillas are made with lard or loads of fat. The ones I used to get are low fat, but made with . . . . . guess? Yup, you got it partially hydrogenated oil. Even though the label says “Og TRANS FAT per serving” it stills has transfat (that’s the partially hydrogenated oil).
I found one without it. Doesn’t taste the same, but it is not bad. The other day I was craving veggies. Lucky me we had a lot in the fridge.
Here is what my lunch looked like
It was a low fat tortilla (98% fat free) with 8 grams of fiber (whoa!), then I filled it with broccoli, asparagus, and mixed greens. I had some cheese in there too! It was so yummy. I need to write about it when I am eating it from now on otherwise I end up wanting it again as I type!
I hear it is asparagus season (at the time of this post), which for us in San Jose, just means it get down to a reasonable price. Because otherwise we have it here all year round. Might not be at its peak, but . . . I like having it all the time. If you don’t know, I love asparagus.
Usually I roast it, but I had chopped it and sauteed it the night before and it workout that we had leftovers, so for this burrito that is what I had used.
So, tell me what do you put in your tortillas? How do you prepare them? Grilled? Micro-waved? Right out of the package? Does anyone make their own? I would love to learn how to do that!!!
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: Asparagus, broccoli, fiber, low fat, mixed greens, partially hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated oil, San Jose Workout, tortilla, Trans fat, tweet, Veggie burrito | 14 Comments »
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