Tracy's Health Blog

Healthy Snacking!

2006-10-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

If you have breakfast at 6:00 a.m. like I do, your belly probably starts to rumble about 9:00 just like mine! And, of course, this cycle repeats itself at 3:00 every day about 3 hours after lunch and a long time before dinner! It’s inevitable. You know it is going to happen. So, instead of walking down to the vending machine for junk food to satisfy these cravings, plan ahead and bring healthy snacks from home. I’ve listed some great options below. This also goes for your kids too! If they need a mid-morning snack at school and/or an after-school snack, be sure to pack these items in their backpacks in the morning along with big water bottle!

An apple is a quick and easy choice. For an extra-special treat, slice it and dip it in all-natural peanut butter. Our favorite is the Maranatha organic creamy Peanut Butter available at the health food stores and Super Target. Walmart now carries an organic version of Smuckers.

Grab any piece of whole fruit and a handful of nuts. Raw almonds are best, then walnuts (watch out for preservatives - read the package!), then other nuts. It is best to balance your fruit consumption with some protein to help your body not have a sugar-spike from the fruit alone. You can make little snack-size ziplock baggies of almonds, walnuts, pecans, or a mix of these and store them in the freezer for freshness. Then, when you grab your fruit in the morning (apple, orange, banana, peach, nectarine, plum, etc.), you can just grab one of these little baggies and away you go with your snack! There’s a farmer at the OSU Farmer’s market with delicious pecans. Plus, at the farmer’s market you can pick up wonderful peaches, nectarines, plumbs, strawberries, blueberries, melons and lots of delicious items. Great, organic snacks for you and your kids.

Make-your-own trail mix. Raw, unsalted nuts are best. Be careful when choosing dried fruits. Many have preservatives or sugar. The health food stores carry delicious dried cranberries, blueberries, cherries, date pieces, raisins and other dried fruits in the refrigerated section. You can be as simple with this as mixing up some Walnuts and dried cranberries, or you can get more complex. You can add some seeds to the mix also. Pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds) and raw sunflower seeds are also available at the health food stores and are delicious in trail mix and sprinkled on your salad.

Yogurt with fresh or frozen berries is always great! You get the benefits of the acidophilous (probiotic) in the yogurt as well as the antioxidant boost of the berries. Try the berries without the yogurt. Yes, eat them slightly frozen - yummy! Your kids will love frozen blueberries.

Baby carrots and celery sticks, as well as any other raw veggies, are a great snack. You can buy a veggie tray at Sam’s for less than $10. Put a variety of veggies in plastic baggies for you and your whole family to grab on the way out the door each day as a mid-morning snack or to put in your lunch box.

If you just don’t have time some day to grab something fresh, try keeping a stash of Odwalla bars (whole-food bars, similar to granola bars - available at Super Target and health food stores - Berries Go Mega and Carrot Raisin are good choices) or granola bars (organic versions available at Walmart and the health food stores). Try to just make this an “occasional” snack instead of a daily snack. Fresh foods, raw foods, and food processed the least are always the best.

Finally, instead of stopping at a fast-food drive-through for a snack or at a convenience station, run into a grocery store and pick up some fruit, yogurt, nuts, mini carrots, or something else healthy. The couple of extra minutes it takes will be well-worth the health benefits.

Packing lunch....

2006-09-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

School is in full-swing now. Don’t we all just love those early mornings and all the rush to get out the door on time? I am fortunate this year that our Christian School has revised their lunch menu to include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads, soups, sandwich wraps, and other great menu items.

In previous years, we have packed a lunch for our kids almost every day of the week to insure that they were eating nutritious foods and balanced meals. Even with the new healthier menu, there are still days when my kids turn their nose at what is for lunch, so we pack a lunch for them to take.
Here are a few suggestions for packing school lunches for your kids, or even a lunch for yourself to take to work. You will need some supplies: lunch box, plasticware, napkins, small Thermos for soups or other warm food, little bottles of water from Sams, 2 oz. Tupperware containers for salad dressing, and about 4 oz. Tupperware containers, plastic sandwich bags and plastic snack-size bags.

I always try to keep lunch balanced with a vegetable, a fruit, a protein and a whole grain with a small bottle of water to drink. So, keeping those 4 things in mind, here are some great lunch ideas for you and your kids:

Organic string cheese stick
Whole grain Kashi crackers
Pear
Sliced cucumbers
2 Fig-Newman’s organic fig cookies (available at Walmart and Akins)

2 slices left-over Amy’s organic spinach pizza (frozen pizza available at Akins, Target & Albertsons)
Baby organic carrots
Banana
Small Stoneyfield Farm’s yogurt (available at Target, Akins and Albertsons)
Annie’s chocolate chip bunny crackers (like animal cookies - available at Walmart & Akins)

Sliced organic gala apple
Peanut butter "dip" (either all natural creamy PB alone or see my "dip" recipe below)
Raw carrots/brocolli/cauliflower & (non-fat or reduced-fat) ranch dip
Whole-grain blueberry muffin (take your favorite muffin recipe and use whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour and use Turbinado sugar in place of white sugar)

Cherry tomatoes (organic)
Vanilla or berry flavored yogurt
Frozen berry mix (blueberries, raspberries & blackberries - it will thaw by lunch time) (put these in big enough plastic container to leave room to pour the yogurt on top)
Whole wheat carrot-raisin muffin

One-half of an Amy’s lasagna frozen dinner (heated and put in a small Thermos)
Pineapples (in 100% juice - available in lunch-size or canned)
2 Newman O’s cookies (these are like Oreo’s - available at Walmart and Akins)
Whole wheat bread (or toast) with a little butter

Breakfast for lunch!....
Whole grain pancakes or waffle (available frozen for toasting) in a sandwich-size Gladware
Small 2 oz. Tupperware of real maple syrup
Scrambled eggs in Thermos container
Baby carrots, organic

Grilled cheese on 100% whole wheat bread
Tomato soup in Thermos
Kashi TLC Original 7 Grain crackers (available at Walmart, Sam’s or Akins)
Orange wedges

Wrap in large whole wheat tortilla - turkey, cheese, diced tomato, lettuce
Plain Sunchips or Olive-oil chips (available at Akins)
Banana pudding with lots of bananas in it (1/2 pudding, 1/2 bananas, the goal is for this to qualify as a fruit and not a dessert

Peanut butter (all-natural) and jelly (100% fruit juice sweetened) sandwich on whole wheat
Carrot salad - Shredded carrot (can buy by the bag), raisins and crushed pineapple (mix w/ a little light mayo or Miracle Whip, add a little honey if not sweet enough for you)
Watermelon, seedless, cut in bite-size pieces or fresh cantaloupe and honey dew melon chunks

Tuna salad on 100% whole wheat bread or multi-grain bread - toasted - with lettuce
(Make tuna salad with small, diced apples, sliced almonds, low-fat mayo, a little mustard & sweet relish)
Frozen mixed fruit (peaches, pineapple, honey dew, grapes - it will thaw by lunch)
Veggie sticks (Available at Akins - like a french fry-type potato chip made w/ potatoes, spinach and carrots) (These are Lexi’s favorite!)
2 Fig-Newman’s organic fig cookies (available at Walmart and Akins)

Tracy’s Peanut Butter "Dip"
1/3 c. Maranatha organic, all-natural PB (or any other all natural PB)
1/4 c. Vanilla Silk Soy Milk (or any other milk)
1/4 c. real maple syrup (not the artificially maple flavored high fructose corn syrup!)
Stir all ingredients together briskly with a fork. Yes, it seems runny at first. Keep stirring and stirring until it gets combined and appears glossy. Delicious with apples, bananas, strips of bread or crackers! Yummy!

Tea Time!

2006-07-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

We just returned from our trip to England where tea time is a daily reality! Even after an evening meeting of home group of college students from church, they all decided to have a cup a tea. We just laughed because this would never happen in America.

Tea, particularly green tea, is very high in antioxidants which are the good-for-you chemicals that help counteract the negative reactions of our bodies to eating poor food choices, breathing exhaust and ozone during these hot summer months, sun-damage to our skin, and even just aging. We are accustomed to drinking black teas which are fermented, then dried. Although this gives our tea stronger and different flavors, it also destroys some of the nutrients and antioxidant benefits of the tea. Green teas are simply picked and dried which retains more of the plant nutrients and antioxidants.

Recent health studies indicate that high consumption of green tea decreased atherosclerosis (fatty deposits in the arteries) by up to 63%. A nutrient within green tea EGCG has been shown to have not only anti-bacterial, but also anti-cancer benefits. Despite our increase in medical technology, cancer mortality rates are actually increasing. Hundreds of thousands will die and millions of Americans will be affected by cancer each year. Of course, controlling your diet and eating lots of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables is a big cancer-prevention step. In addition, it is great to drink 3 to 6 cups a day of green tea.

Also in recent health studies, it was found that those with higher green tea consumption had a decreased prevalence of cognitive impairment (dementia, Alzheimer’s and age-related memory-loss). People who consumed two or more cups of green tea a day had about half the chance of developing some cognitive impairment compared to those who drank three cups or less per week. Green tea's potential ability to support brain health may explain the lower rates of Alzheimer's disease in Japan compared to Europe and North America.

If you are not into the English cup of hot tea with a little sugar, then try these green tea ideas so that you can drink-up and be healthy!

Stash brand Chai Green Tea (serve hot with honey or Turbinado sugar and 1/4 c. milk) - the Indian spices in this tea are similar to those found in pumpkin pie and give this tea a delicious and different flavor.

Make a quart of iced tea using three organic green tea bags and one organic peppermint herbal tea bag, add Turbinado sugar to taste if you enjoy sweetened iced tea. The mint gives this tea a refreshing twist. I also enjoy this tea hot during the winter by placing one green tea bag and one peppermint tea bag in my cup. The mint also helps take away my "stuffies" during those dry winter months.

Make two quarts of iced tea using your family’s favorite quart-sized tea bag, then add 4 to 6 organic green tea bags - they may never find out your secret!

Make two quarts of iced green tea (either alone or ½ and ½ with your family’s favorite regular tea), thinly slice an orange to make full circles, add the whole orange circles to the prepared tea and allow to stand for 15 minutes before drinking. You can also do this with lemons if you enjoy lemon in your tea or with both lemons and oranges. Plus, this makes a beautiful pitcher of tea for serving in a clear glass pitcher to your guests.

Make a quart of iced green tea (fairly strong), mix in a quart of cran-raspberry 100% juice and crushed ice. This delicious raspberry-tea is a fruity summer treat!

Be creative! Let me know what creative ways you enjoy your green tea and I may add some of them to the list!

EGCG and green tea extract can also be found in capsule-form at your health food store or at VitaCost.com. Please enter VitaCost’s website through our church website for our church to get a percentage back on your order.

Have a few cups of green tea daily. To your health - drink up!

Visit the Farmer's Market

2006-06-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Farmer’s Markets are in full-swing! They even have a few tomatoes now. Everything is fresh and delicious. You can also look for the signs for “Organically grown” or talk to the farmer himself to ask if the produce was sprayed.

We usually go to the Farmer’s Market at the OSU extension on Portland on Saturday mornings. This week, on Wednesday, I went to the one downtown in Couch park during my lunch. It was great! All the same friendly faces from the Saturday market and then some. They had fresh corn on the cob 3 for $1. Delicious, vine-ripe cantaloupes were only $1, and I found so many other wonderful tasty items that I had quite a heavy load. I even bought a yummy egg-salad wrap for my lunch made with eggs from the lady’s own free-range chickens.

Of course, all my usual favorites were there too. I got Lexi her little pecans she likes, some Christian Farms cheese, whole-wheat pizza crust, english cucumbers, raw honey and lots of other delicious veggies. On Saturday we bought 2 boxes of wonderful blueberries that disappeared in one day!

On Thursday, I made a delicious salad from many of my Farmer's Market finds, topped with fresh corn cut off the cob, organic baby tomatoes, shredded organic cheese, chopped raw jalepenos, avacado, drizzled in lime juice and salsa, and topped with some crushed tortilla chips. It was delicious!

So, check out one of the Farmer's Markets this week. It is a fun and interesting outing, plus you are supporting our local farmers. These are the local farmer’s markets of which I’m aware:

OSU-OKC Farmers Market
400 North Portland
Oklahoma City, OK
Wednesday and Saturday,
8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Edmond Farmers Market
First Street, between Boulevard & Littler
Edmond, OK

The Children's Center Farmers Market
6800 Northwest 39th Expressway
Bethany, OK

Norman Farmers Market
615 East Robinson
Norman, OK 73071

You might also want to visit one of the orchards in Luther. Several have ripe blackberries now that you can pick. Visit www.sunberryorchard.com for more information.

Most of all, have fun and enjoy your delicious discoveries!

How to Make a Salad

2006-06-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

For my first blog, I thought I would share with you our favorite salad and dressing recipe.

You can add any raw veggies to your salad that you like. I would encourage you to add one or to that you might not like, because when they are chopped very small, mixed in with everything else and in a dressing you like, you probably won’t even notice. Plus, when you make yourself keep eating something that you may not like, you begin to develop a taste for it and it becomes more tolerable.

When we first started juicing, it was very hard to drink carrot juice. We would mix in sweet apples when we juiced the carrots to try to make it tolerable. Eventually, we didn’t need the apples, and then I found myself looking forward to my carrot juice because it made me feel so good. And, it also reminds me of the first time I tried Indian food. I say, “That was an experience, and I don’t think I care to have it again.” Since then, I actually have developed a taste for a few things and like to go to Taj once in a while. So, keep tasting! I keep telling Lexi, “Just keep tasting it!” I never thought she’d eat peas or green beans. First she would eat one and gag, but then the next meal, one more chewing and swallowing, then the next meal, one or two without grabbing for a drink, and so on until now she’ll eat them without much fuss! She’s even decided that she actually likes green beans now. So, keep trying things!

My Mom spends a lot of time making a very pretty salad that I call “Confetti Salad” because she chops everything in these little pieces about the size of a pencil eraser! With all the brightly colored veggies, it looks like confetti. I don’t particularly care for bell peppers, but I don’t mind them in this salad mixed with everything else. You can spend a lot of time chopping and dicing, but you don’t have to. I like to make a huge salad at a meal, enough to have one or two days of left-overs for another dinner and for my lunches. Often, on Sundays after church, I make my trip to Super Target to stock up on organic produce. I have about 10 of those wash and re-use disposable Gladware plastic containers - just the right size for a side-salad. I line up 6 or 8 of them on the counter then start assembling salads. It takes about 20 minutes, but then I have 2-3 days of salads ready for our lunches.

I just buy the baby lettuce (which I like to tear into bite-size pieces because I don’t like fighting with large pieces of lettuce to get them in my mouth) and divide it out into the containers. Then, I add some cherry or grape-size tomatoes and some baby carrots along with some chopped celery. If I’m really motivated, I’ll chop up any raw veggies that I have in the frig - cucumbers, zucchini, green beans - yes, green beans! - any veggie - just chop them up very small. My Mom loves to add raw asparagus, red peppers and yellow peppers to hers. You can even use different types of lettuce - romaine, green leaf, red leaf, baby spinach, etc.! All of this variety allows you to get a variety of wonderful nutrients found in higher quantities in certain vegetables – and, it keeps things from getting boring.

So, here’s my favorite salad recipe below. Feel free to make any adjustments you desire. Then, top it off with your favorite healthy dressing. The recipe for our favorite salad dressing is below. I keep all my nuts and seeds in a plastic tote that fits on a shelf in my freezer. When I get ready to make salad, I just pull it out and everything is right there to open, sprinkle, and put back. It saves a lot of time. Plus, the nuts and seeds give the salad an interesting texture and flavor as well as lots of great protein! I buy them all at Akins in 8 oz. to 12 oz. containers - all raw, of course. Happy salad making to you all! Tracy

Great Salad!
(all organic veggies is best, of course!)
baby lettuce or romaine, torn in bite-size pieces
cherry or grape tomatoes whole or cut in halves, or diced tomatoes
mini or baby carrots, or sliced or diced regular carrots
thinly sliced celery
cucumber, diced
any other veggie in your frig - chopped or diced: brocolli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, yellow peppers, red peppers, anything!

Sprinkle on:
Poppy seeds
Sesame seeds, raw
Sunflower seeds, raw
Flax seeds, raw
Pepita seeds, raw (pumkin seeds)
Sliced almonds, raw
Chopped walnuts

Layer all in a large salad bowl or in small Glad-ware containers to take for lunch! Toss with your favorite salad dressing. I like the balsamic dressing recipe below, but if I don’t have time, I like Newman’s Own Raspberry Vinaigrette (which I pour the oil off the top before shaking). Don’t forget the freshly cracked pepper!

Great Dressing!
1/3 cup organic balsamic vinegar (or apple cider vinegar if you prefer)
1/3 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup real maple syrup (not the artificially maple flavored high fructose corn syrup!)
Add 4-6 Tbps. filtered water if you like a milder vinegar flavor

It’s great with these simple ingredients, or you can sprinkle in some Italian seasoning if you like it, plus a little salt and pepper to taste. If you want “poppy-seed dressing”, add some poppy seeds before shaking. Shake well in glass cruet or any glass jar.

Organic maple syrup is available at the health food stores. Sam’s has a good deal on real maple syrup (not organic).