Wow I can't believe it has been almost a month since I have said hello! Time is just so short these days...
Anyways, I am here to tell you how much I love love love when holidays
come around, because then I get to blog all about healthy alternatives
to all the unhealthy food that gets consumed by dozens of us!
Chanukah is probably the best holiday for this. From fried latkes,
bakery bought, sugar filled jelly doughnuts and so much Chanukah gelt,
you can get nauseous just thinking about it!
Here are some great ideas that will cut calories, get rid of harmful
preservatives and help keep your kids behavior and mood's in check.
(And your own too...)
1. Home made, baked jelly doughnuts with some melted chocolate sprinkled
on top (made with any whole grain flour, no white stuff! See below for
recipe)
2. Lightly fried (or baked) sweet potato latkes: (my husband makes
potato and spinach ones.) This can be your regular old latke recipe but
use blue, red or sweet potatoes instead. This will actually give your
latke some nutritional value, especially if you're using sweet potatoes.
Either bake, or gently fry in extra virgin olive oil on low heat to
keep the oil from turning into toxins.
3. Home made Chanukah gelt:
Find the purest chocolate chips with the least ingredients, or if you
are really good, you can make your own chocolate! Melt some chips in a
pot with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on low heat. Pour into
chocolate molds and freeze! You can even add some raw oats or wheat germ
into the mix for some fiber and whole grains!
Yum, I love making Chanukah the healthy way! It's only the second night,
so start now! Make your own food from pure ingredients (as pure as you
are able to,) stick with whole grains, healthy oils and no added sugars!
Then you can actually feel good this Chanukah, instead of oily and over
stuffed! Good luck and let me know how the recipes come out!
Recipes for doughnut:
1 flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1 Cup soy/almond milk (the recipe called for 6 oz of yogurt but I modified)
1 tablespoon canola oil (use extra virgin olive instead)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon+ 1/2 cup sugar (I literally put in a few tablespoons of sugar, not nearly 1/2 a cup)
1 jar of your favorite jelly (use all natural fruit spread without any added sugar or preservatives)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar
together and set aside. In a large bowl whisk together all the dry
ingredients. In another bowl stir together oil, lemon juice, sugar, egg
and soy milk. Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and pour
the wet ingredients into the hole. Gently fold everything together until
combined. Place batter in a plastic baggie, seal and cut off the corner
then pipe dollops of batter into a greased muffin tin. Each muffin cup
should only be 1/3 to 1/2 full. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden
brown. Let cool for a few moments and then flip over onto a cooling
rack while still warm. Let cool slightly. Fit a pastry
bag with the 1/2 round tip and fill the bag with jelly. Insert the tip
into the end of each donut and pipe a squirt into each donut. Makes 12.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Pregnancy and food!
Hi everyone,
I'm sure there are some readers out there who are pregnant. There's so much to think about when your pregnant when it comes to food and exercise. Some people just want to eat and eat, and only think about food, but are able to control themselves. Others are so careful with what they eat, fearful that they will gain too much weight. And there are others who just eat and eat because they are "pregnant" and they just feel its ok to do so.
Here are some small tips to stay on track. And just to be clear, I'm not a DR. and this isn't medical advice. These are just some tips from my own experience, and from what I have learned about food over the years.
1. A common misconception is that if you have gained too much weight, you should completely go off all carbs! I have heard people tell me that they have been advised to a eat low fat, fat free, sugar free diet and no carbs, including whole grains. This means meals of rice cakes and low fat yogurt! Let's think about that for a minute. If there is no fat and no healthy carbs, where on earth are you getting your energy from, and what in the world is your baby going to eat? And if we are substituting for low fat and sugar free foods, we're definitely in for trouble, because as I have mentioned many times before, these foods MAKE us want more food, they give us cravings, they dehydrate us...not exactly what you want to have going on while you're pregnant!
2. If you have gained too much weight, just keep in mind portion control. Don't think that you can eat double or triple portions just because you're pregnant. We abviously need to eat more, and crave more, and that's ok! Just keep yourself in check, and don't use pregnancy as an excuse. Learn how to minimize your grain intake and find other healthy foods to supplement with. But please, do not go carb free, sugar free and fat free.
3. Sugar, sugar, sugar. As always, sugar is the culprit of everything evil! A lot of us crave sweet, sugary foods during pregnancy. It's ok to let yourself have a treat here and there, but again, don't go for the muffins and chocolate milk just because you're pregnant. It's no excuse!
4. Make sure your snacks are filling, fattening and healthy. For example, try having a grapefruit with some nuts and sunflower seeds or fiber cracker with some avocado or peanut/almond butter. Think less like a bowl of cereal and milk, and more like some oats with nuts and raisins and a fruit on the side. Its important to stay full and energized throughout the day so you don't resort mindless eating and over eating at meals. Having small, filling snacks in between meals will really help you stay on track.
5. Don't get hung up on how much weight you gained and try and go on a diet. If you are eating healthy food, exercising, controlling your portions and not giving into all your sugary cookie cravings, your body will gain the weight it is supposed to, when it's supposed to. Some people gain only 20 pounds while others can gain a healthy 40. (Although if you have gained a lot more than that and are eating junk, you might have something to think about...)
6. Really, if you think about it, a pregnant woman is a regular woman with a bigger appetite, so just add a little more to your plate if you feel the need. No reason to give into all those cravings. No reason to double your portions and no reason to go on crazy low calorie diets. Just stay focused, use all the tips and tricks I have posted from previous blogs, and you'll be fine!
Good luck, and more on exercise on the next post!
I'm sure there are some readers out there who are pregnant. There's so much to think about when your pregnant when it comes to food and exercise. Some people just want to eat and eat, and only think about food, but are able to control themselves. Others are so careful with what they eat, fearful that they will gain too much weight. And there are others who just eat and eat because they are "pregnant" and they just feel its ok to do so.
Here are some small tips to stay on track. And just to be clear, I'm not a DR. and this isn't medical advice. These are just some tips from my own experience, and from what I have learned about food over the years.
1. A common misconception is that if you have gained too much weight, you should completely go off all carbs! I have heard people tell me that they have been advised to a eat low fat, fat free, sugar free diet and no carbs, including whole grains. This means meals of rice cakes and low fat yogurt! Let's think about that for a minute. If there is no fat and no healthy carbs, where on earth are you getting your energy from, and what in the world is your baby going to eat? And if we are substituting for low fat and sugar free foods, we're definitely in for trouble, because as I have mentioned many times before, these foods MAKE us want more food, they give us cravings, they dehydrate us...not exactly what you want to have going on while you're pregnant!
2. If you have gained too much weight, just keep in mind portion control. Don't think that you can eat double or triple portions just because you're pregnant. We abviously need to eat more, and crave more, and that's ok! Just keep yourself in check, and don't use pregnancy as an excuse. Learn how to minimize your grain intake and find other healthy foods to supplement with. But please, do not go carb free, sugar free and fat free.
3. Sugar, sugar, sugar. As always, sugar is the culprit of everything evil! A lot of us crave sweet, sugary foods during pregnancy. It's ok to let yourself have a treat here and there, but again, don't go for the muffins and chocolate milk just because you're pregnant. It's no excuse!
4. Make sure your snacks are filling, fattening and healthy. For example, try having a grapefruit with some nuts and sunflower seeds or fiber cracker with some avocado or peanut/almond butter. Think less like a bowl of cereal and milk, and more like some oats with nuts and raisins and a fruit on the side. Its important to stay full and energized throughout the day so you don't resort mindless eating and over eating at meals. Having small, filling snacks in between meals will really help you stay on track.
5. Don't get hung up on how much weight you gained and try and go on a diet. If you are eating healthy food, exercising, controlling your portions and not giving into all your sugary cookie cravings, your body will gain the weight it is supposed to, when it's supposed to. Some people gain only 20 pounds while others can gain a healthy 40. (Although if you have gained a lot more than that and are eating junk, you might have something to think about...)
6. Really, if you think about it, a pregnant woman is a regular woman with a bigger appetite, so just add a little more to your plate if you feel the need. No reason to give into all those cravings. No reason to double your portions and no reason to go on crazy low calorie diets. Just stay focused, use all the tips and tricks I have posted from previous blogs, and you'll be fine!
Good luck, and more on exercise on the next post!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Contact me!
Hi everyone,
If you wanted to email me, or if you leave a comment with a question, please write your name and an email address or facebook contact info where I can reach you back at. Thanks, have a healthy, active day!
If you wanted to email me, or if you leave a comment with a question, please write your name and an email address or facebook contact info where I can reach you back at. Thanks, have a healthy, active day!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Ingredients, cont.
Hi Everyone,
So today I'll add two more very common, very over-used additives. There is a lot to say about both of them, but I will just give some detail. Here's a glimpse at MSG and "Natural flavors"!
"No MSG", "MSG Free", etc:
We have all heard so much about the chemical called MSG, or monosodium glutamate. We all know that its "not good for you" and many people actually get immediate reactions from eating foods with MSG, like headaches, nausea, etc. So recently many food companies have gone "MSG Free", or so they claim. Unfortunately, MSG hides behind dozens of different names that can appear on a list of ingredients, unassumingly, and without drawing any attention. Yeast extracts, any type of protein such as soy protein, whey protein, protein concentrate, and anything hydrolyzed are just a few of the many names that really mean MSG.
MSG is a food additive used to enhance the flavor of the food and literally makes your mouth water for more. That's why its so hard to just have one BBQ chip. It just doesn't work. The flavor is too good, too strong to just have one. MSG acts just like sugar once its inside your body. It makes your pancreas produce insulin which over time can tire out the pancreas disabling it from producing insulin and causing diabetes. MSG is a highly processed, chemicalized food additive that should be kept out of our bodies!
"Natural Flavor":
When you see the words natural flavor on a food product it makes you think natural and healthy! Contrary to common belief, natural flavor is really not very natural at all. It is a man made food additive, created from natural chemicals and gasses and produced in labs by people called flavorists. It is in most processed and fast foods and like MSG, it makes us want more and more of the food we're eating. The reason it is called "natural" is because the flavor must be derived from at least a by product of anything natural. (For example, the essence of a food that contains some of the food's flavor, which would then be taken, chemicalized, processed and used as a food additive.)
Sounds really natural, ha?
Well I'll leave you with that for now. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Mishiharari@gmail.com! Good luck with checking those labels!
So today I'll add two more very common, very over-used additives. There is a lot to say about both of them, but I will just give some detail. Here's a glimpse at MSG and "Natural flavors"!
"No MSG", "MSG Free", etc:
We have all heard so much about the chemical called MSG, or monosodium glutamate. We all know that its "not good for you" and many people actually get immediate reactions from eating foods with MSG, like headaches, nausea, etc. So recently many food companies have gone "MSG Free", or so they claim. Unfortunately, MSG hides behind dozens of different names that can appear on a list of ingredients, unassumingly, and without drawing any attention. Yeast extracts, any type of protein such as soy protein, whey protein, protein concentrate, and anything hydrolyzed are just a few of the many names that really mean MSG.
MSG is a food additive used to enhance the flavor of the food and literally makes your mouth water for more. That's why its so hard to just have one BBQ chip. It just doesn't work. The flavor is too good, too strong to just have one. MSG acts just like sugar once its inside your body. It makes your pancreas produce insulin which over time can tire out the pancreas disabling it from producing insulin and causing diabetes. MSG is a highly processed, chemicalized food additive that should be kept out of our bodies!
"Natural Flavor":
When you see the words natural flavor on a food product it makes you think natural and healthy! Contrary to common belief, natural flavor is really not very natural at all. It is a man made food additive, created from natural chemicals and gasses and produced in labs by people called flavorists. It is in most processed and fast foods and like MSG, it makes us want more and more of the food we're eating. The reason it is called "natural" is because the flavor must be derived from at least a by product of anything natural. (For example, the essence of a food that contains some of the food's flavor, which would then be taken, chemicalized, processed and used as a food additive.)
Sounds really natural, ha?
Well I'll leave you with that for now. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Mishiharari@gmail.com! Good luck with checking those labels!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Have you ever wondered what all those ingredients really are?
Hi everyone,
I have been wanting to write about this for a while now. I have gathered some helpful information to give us a little clue as to what all the ingredients in our foods are. I have a list of the most commonly found food additives and I will list a few at a time on different postings. Let's start, and let me know if any of these sound familiar to you.
1. Sodium Benzoate: A food preservative made from chemicals and is also used to make fuel for fireworks. Cool, ha?
2. Soy lecithin: One of the top ten ingredients in food. An oil that is chemically or mechanically extracted from a soy bean. It is a by product of soy and used as an emulsifier which means it holds the ingredients in the food together. Although it may have some health benefits, it is made through genetic modification which changes the structure of the original food. Also, eating too much soy or soy by products can be very unhealthy. (More on soy later.)
3. Soy protein isolate: A highly refined form of soy protein. Its used as an emulsifier, retains moisture in food, and commonly used as a cheap, unhealthy source of protein, substituted by real proteins.
4. Citric acid: A natural acid found in fruits. Used as a food additive to flavor and preserve food. It is also used in many cleaning agents! If you want to preserve your food, I would rather squeeze some real, fresh lemon juice onto my food, wouldn't you?
5. Cornstarch: Used as a thickening and anti caking agent. The corn is steeped and fermented and starch is removed from the germ and endosperm. So, you are left with a starch, which in simple terms means sugar. We definitely don't need any more of that in our foods. In general I prefer to stay away from corn, mostly because the majority of corn in our country is genetically modified and doesn't provide many health benefits.
6. Modified food starch: A starch is taken from any grain and modified either chemically, enzymatically or physically with a non organic acid. It keeps food and its texture stable when frozen or microwaved, among many other things and is a heavily processed ingredient!
I think that's enough to think about for one day. Get to those cabinets and see what's hiding in your food. Even though many of these additives may be natural, they are full of chemicals and modified so much, that they can have such a negative effect on our bodies and minds over time!
I have been wanting to write about this for a while now. I have gathered some helpful information to give us a little clue as to what all the ingredients in our foods are. I have a list of the most commonly found food additives and I will list a few at a time on different postings. Let's start, and let me know if any of these sound familiar to you.
1. Sodium Benzoate: A food preservative made from chemicals and is also used to make fuel for fireworks. Cool, ha?
2. Soy lecithin: One of the top ten ingredients in food. An oil that is chemically or mechanically extracted from a soy bean. It is a by product of soy and used as an emulsifier which means it holds the ingredients in the food together. Although it may have some health benefits, it is made through genetic modification which changes the structure of the original food. Also, eating too much soy or soy by products can be very unhealthy. (More on soy later.)
3. Soy protein isolate: A highly refined form of soy protein. Its used as an emulsifier, retains moisture in food, and commonly used as a cheap, unhealthy source of protein, substituted by real proteins.
4. Citric acid: A natural acid found in fruits. Used as a food additive to flavor and preserve food. It is also used in many cleaning agents! If you want to preserve your food, I would rather squeeze some real, fresh lemon juice onto my food, wouldn't you?
5. Cornstarch: Used as a thickening and anti caking agent. The corn is steeped and fermented and starch is removed from the germ and endosperm. So, you are left with a starch, which in simple terms means sugar. We definitely don't need any more of that in our foods. In general I prefer to stay away from corn, mostly because the majority of corn in our country is genetically modified and doesn't provide many health benefits.
6. Modified food starch: A starch is taken from any grain and modified either chemically, enzymatically or physically with a non organic acid. It keeps food and its texture stable when frozen or microwaved, among many other things and is a heavily processed ingredient!
I think that's enough to think about for one day. Get to those cabinets and see what's hiding in your food. Even though many of these additives may be natural, they are full of chemicals and modified so much, that they can have such a negative effect on our bodies and minds over time!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Sound Familiar?
Shabbos is always tricky. To enjoy the food and indulge sounds really nice. But that can easily turn into over eating and feeling awful. Does this scenario sound familiar...?
We're around so much food throughout the day, and we can eat mindlessly and sometimes constantly. When the actual meals comes around we can easily fill up on yummy challah, mayonnaisey sugary dips and salad dressings, sweet pies with sugary crusts, etc. You take a few bites of fish and maybe some meat from the chulent, because by the time this food comes out, we're so "full" that we don't have any room for more than a few bites. The meal ends and we feel stuffed and bloated. And then, surprisingly, twenty minutes, thirty minutes or an hour later we're hungry. Totally outrageous, right?! You think to yourself "how can I possibly be hungry, I ate so much"?
Well, that is exactly why we are hungry! Filling up on carbs and sugars from challah and other foods fills us up temporarily but still leaves your stomach hungry inside. And unless you are super aware of what your body needs, when it realizes its hungry, you will probably go for more of the carbs and sugar. And the process goes on and on. We fill up, feel bloated, realize we're hungry and then go for more. Break the cycle early! Fill up on proteins and not too heavily dressed salads. And then sit back and enjoy your challah and desserts. You're body will actually be full, feel full and know its full of good food. And then you won't have that much room for everything else. And of course, drink water and keep your body clear and flowing! This can really help keep you feeling good and normal on shabbos, instead of feeling like you just ate too much. And as always,
Good luck, try it next week and see how you feel!
As an added bonus, try to use foods with less processed, pure ingredients and dips and dressings without sugar. Try an alternative mayonnaise without too many chemical additives and maybe try some spelt challah this week. Making small little changes over time can help set the tone for a lifestyle change and you fill feel much less bloated and more energetic once the chemicals and sugars are reduced from your diet.
We're around so much food throughout the day, and we can eat mindlessly and sometimes constantly. When the actual meals comes around we can easily fill up on yummy challah, mayonnaisey sugary dips and salad dressings, sweet pies with sugary crusts, etc. You take a few bites of fish and maybe some meat from the chulent, because by the time this food comes out, we're so "full" that we don't have any room for more than a few bites. The meal ends and we feel stuffed and bloated. And then, surprisingly, twenty minutes, thirty minutes or an hour later we're hungry. Totally outrageous, right?! You think to yourself "how can I possibly be hungry, I ate so much"?
Well, that is exactly why we are hungry! Filling up on carbs and sugars from challah and other foods fills us up temporarily but still leaves your stomach hungry inside. And unless you are super aware of what your body needs, when it realizes its hungry, you will probably go for more of the carbs and sugar. And the process goes on and on. We fill up, feel bloated, realize we're hungry and then go for more. Break the cycle early! Fill up on proteins and not too heavily dressed salads. And then sit back and enjoy your challah and desserts. You're body will actually be full, feel full and know its full of good food. And then you won't have that much room for everything else. And of course, drink water and keep your body clear and flowing! This can really help keep you feeling good and normal on shabbos, instead of feeling like you just ate too much. And as always,
Good luck, try it next week and see how you feel!
As an added bonus, try to use foods with less processed, pure ingredients and dips and dressings without sugar. Try an alternative mayonnaise without too many chemical additives and maybe try some spelt challah this week. Making small little changes over time can help set the tone for a lifestyle change and you fill feel much less bloated and more energetic once the chemicals and sugars are reduced from your diet.
Monday, October 31, 2011
deconstructing cravings
Good morning!
I have been getting a lot of questions lately about cravings. How to stop them, what to do if you just can't stop eating sugar, etc...
First of all, let's keep in mind that there are SO many reasons your body would be craving sugar (or anything else.) Dehydration, unbalanced diet, lack of vegetables, too many artificial sweeteners, too many white carbs, boredom and loneliness, just to name a few. Every person has to look into their own diets and lifestyles and see what is out of balance. The fact that we are having cravings is an important signal from the body that something isn't right, and it shouldn't be ignored! So putting yourself on a no sugar diet, without looking into the real cause of the craving, will lead to disaster. It will never help to just have will power and ignore your cravings if you don't know why you are having them and what you need to do to fix the problem.
Secondly, before you delve into yourself and try to figure out what's amiss, the first step is always "crowding out". This means that whatever the cause of your cravings is, you should be crowding out the junk food with lots of vegetables, fruit and water. So for example, before you decide to stop eating a donut everyday for breakfast, just try it on Monday. And in the place of a donut eat some very sweet fruit with a big cup of water instead. You can slowly work your way to two, three and four days a week until you have successfully crowded out your craving for donuts. And then the introspection can start, and you think about why you might be having them in the first place. This is a rule that anyone and everyone can easily follow to start the process of deconstructing cravings! (You can do this at any time you might be craving something sweet. Grab some green grapes and a big cup of water and wait 15, then see if you're still aching for the chocolate bar!)
I thought this step of "crowding out" would sound a lot more do-able and a lot less scary then "stop eating sugar"!
Let me know how it goes,
Mishi
I have been getting a lot of questions lately about cravings. How to stop them, what to do if you just can't stop eating sugar, etc...
First of all, let's keep in mind that there are SO many reasons your body would be craving sugar (or anything else.) Dehydration, unbalanced diet, lack of vegetables, too many artificial sweeteners, too many white carbs, boredom and loneliness, just to name a few. Every person has to look into their own diets and lifestyles and see what is out of balance. The fact that we are having cravings is an important signal from the body that something isn't right, and it shouldn't be ignored! So putting yourself on a no sugar diet, without looking into the real cause of the craving, will lead to disaster. It will never help to just have will power and ignore your cravings if you don't know why you are having them and what you need to do to fix the problem.
Secondly, before you delve into yourself and try to figure out what's amiss, the first step is always "crowding out". This means that whatever the cause of your cravings is, you should be crowding out the junk food with lots of vegetables, fruit and water. So for example, before you decide to stop eating a donut everyday for breakfast, just try it on Monday. And in the place of a donut eat some very sweet fruit with a big cup of water instead. You can slowly work your way to two, three and four days a week until you have successfully crowded out your craving for donuts. And then the introspection can start, and you think about why you might be having them in the first place. This is a rule that anyone and everyone can easily follow to start the process of deconstructing cravings! (You can do this at any time you might be craving something sweet. Grab some green grapes and a big cup of water and wait 15, then see if you're still aching for the chocolate bar!)
I thought this step of "crowding out" would sound a lot more do-able and a lot less scary then "stop eating sugar"!
Let me know how it goes,
Mishi
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