FASTA PASTA

Is there anything more satisfying than comfort food?  Is there any better comfort food than pasta?

I subscribe to the Forks Over Knives website and truly recommend it.  They’re forever sending along great recipes (apparently they have MY number)!  The following pasta dish lands nicely within my simple rules for vegan cooking:  1) It has to taste good and 2) It has to be easy to make (I’ve shared with you before that my talents in the kitchen leave a lot to be desired).

About the following recipe, Forks Over Knives says:

Roasting vegetables is an easy way to add flavor to a dish, and, yes, you can absolutely do it without added oil—the results are delectable.

From The Forks Over Knives Plan

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound cherry tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 12 ounces whole-grain spaghetti
• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup chopped fresh basil

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Have ready a nonstick baking sheet or line one with parchment paper.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
3. Cut the tomatoes in half and place them in a bowl. Sprinkle them with the granulated garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Spread them on the baking sheet in a single layer. Roast the tomatoes until they start to shrivel, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
4. During the last 10 minutes that the tomatoes are roasting, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the package instructions. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water. Transfer the pasta to a bowl. Add the chickpeas, the roasted tomatoes, the basil, and as much of the reserved cooking water as desired to moisten, and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

 

Junk in the Trunk!

 Energy! Are you like me? When I feel healthy, I can move mountains. When I maintain a healthy body weight, I feel a boost that’s both physical and psychological.

I’m only too familiar with the other side of the coin, though. For example, many times in the past I’ve returned from vacation with excess baggage that had nothing to do with my suitcase. We’re talking major “junk in the trunk” here. Not this year!

In the interest of passing along that wonderful feeling, I thought it might be a good idea to list some of the benefits of maintaining a healthy body weight, as outlined in an excellent FitDay website article (www.fitday.com).

5 Benefits of Maintaining a Healthy Body Weight

The benefits of maintaining a healthy body weight are numerous, not only to the quality of life, but also the quantity of life. Physically and emotionally, an unhealthy body weight is a burden, but it is something which can be avoided or lowered.

Aside from diabetes, the emotional toll obesity can cause to the person, as well as their family, is well documented; however, the benefits are equally numerous. Here are 5 benefits of maintaining a healthy body weight.

Benefit #1: Discomfort Relief

When someone has to carry around extra weight, the likelihood of being active drops. Losing even 5 to 10% of your body weight will aid in lessening various aches and pains associated with not being active. The extra weight causes more strain on the joints, bones and muscles, causing them to work harder than normal just to move around. Less weight on these portions of the body will allow them to work more efficiently and reduce damage.

Benefit #2: Healthier Heart

The higher your weight is, the harder your heart has to work, even when you are at rest. Even a small amount of weight loss can increase the amount of blood going to vital organs, while allowing the heart to work more efficiently. Maintaining a healthy body weight places less strain on the heart and reduces the risk of heart attack, high blood pressure and angina.

Benefit #3: Lower Risk of Diabetes

It is well documented that people who are overweight are at a greater risk to develop Type II Diabetes. If you have been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, losing weight may allow you to better control the Diabetes. If don’t have this form of Diabetes, being proactive and working toward a healthy body weight will lower your risks of developing Diabetes in the future. In some cases, after losing weight, along with the other benefits of maintaining a healthy body weight, the Diabetes may be controllable through diet as decided upon by your doctor.

Benefit #4: Cancer Avoidance

Losing weight won’t prevent you from developing cancer, but it can greatly reduce the possibility of developing certain forms of cancer. Women who are overweight are more likely to develop uterine, gallbladder, ovary, breast, colon and cervical cancer. Men can also benefit by lowering the likelihood of developing prostate, colon and rectal cancer.

Benefit #5: Prevent Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is an affliction of the joints in the body and the extra pressure that is placed on them because of excess body weight can lead to this condition. By maintaining a healthy body weight, this crippling disorder can be easily prevented before it even starts. Along with a healthy diet and exercise, the joints of the body will carry less weight and suffer less damage over time.

These are only a few of the many benefits of maintaining a healthy body weight. The physical ramifications are evident in having more energy, having a healthier heart, lowering the risk of Type II diabetes, and helping to avoid both osteoarthritis and many forms of cancer. Eating a healthy diet and performing light exercise, along with advice from your personal physician, is a great way to begin to see the benefits of maintaining a healthy body weight.

7 Keys to Vegan Success

I subscribe to the Fork Over Knives website and am a big fan. It seems that, just when I need a shot in the arm, I open my email and–low and behold–there appears some pertinent nutrition education or just some sage advice from these folks. This morning, for example, I read an excellent article by Brian Wendel: 7 Keys to Success on a Healthy Vegan Diet. It’s so good that I’m passing the complete article along to you:

1. Make starches and fruit the basis of your diet.

Many people immediately think of broccoli or kale when they hear the words “plant-based diet.” Although it’s beneficial to eat leafy vegetables in abundance, they simply do not have enough calories to fuel you and satisfy your appetite (a full pound of kale, for example, has only 223 calories). To succeed on this diet, it’s important that you eat enough healthy calories. This means making starches or fruit the center of your meal plate.

When making a savory meal, use foods like potatoes, sweet potatoes, whole grains, and legumes to create meals you really enjoy. Think dishes like bean enchiladas, pesto pasta, and chickpea pot pie. Contrary to urban legend, we are not talking about a diet of bok choy here—thank goodness!

2. Eat the foods you enjoy and don’t worry about individual nutrients.

Many people view food as a nutritional balancing act, and they go through their day trying to make sure to get just the right amount of the countless number of nutrients out there. People are carefully calibrating their protein, carbs, lycopene, or whatever nutrient is in the news that week.

On a plant-based diet, such precision isn’t necessary and the worry that comes with it can hinder your ability to stay the course. Simply choose your foods from the categories of whole fruits, vegetables, tubers, whole grains, and legumes; eat a variety across these categories over time, and eat until comfortably satiated. The most important key to success is to find or make the greatest meals you can. Nothing will help you stay on the plan more than a killer sweet-potato lasagna.

3. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Focus on the big changes like switching from meat, milk, and eggs to whole-plant foods. Such changes dramatically improve the nutritional composition of the foods you are eating, so this is where you will find the most noticeable and measurable improvements in your health.

Worrying about eating only fresh, local, or organic foods is folly when you were eating fast food and Ring Dings a few weeks ago. Since choosing whole plants is the most important thing you can do for both your health and the world around us, be sure that priority is well taken care of before seeking loftier goals.

4. Check online and call ahead when eating out.

If you’re looking for a place to go, a small amount of research goes a long way—and can usually be done in just a few minutes. For example, if you’re thinking about Italian food, search online to find restaurants and see what others are saying about them. Look around, read a few reviews and boom, you’ve found a place with multiple pasta dishes, some minestrone, and pasta e fagioli. Call and make sure the veggie options you like are vegan and can be done with no- or minimal oil—and you’re on your way!

If your friends or coworkers invite you out and they already have a place in mind, check out the menu online and gauge how veg-friendly it is. If veg doesn’t seem a priority, place a call ahead and let them know you are coming; the chef is almost always happy to accommodate. Let him or her know you like hearty foods like potatoes, pasta, beans and so on—this is your insurance against having your main meal be the dreaded plate of steamed asparagus.

5. Find your plant-based tribe.

Surround yourself with like-minded people who share your joy of living the plant-based life. Join groups on social media, attend local meetups, and, most importantly, make some real-life friends that share your enthusiasm.

Having people in your life that share your values will remind you of why you do what you do. It’s also a great way to exchange ideas from recipes and restaurants to handling family and social situations.

6. When vacationing abroad, travel to places where it’s easy to get great plant-based food.

The good news about traveling on a plant-based diet is the world is filled with places where animal-free foods are abundant. Regardless of what part of the world you are traveling to, you are likely to find some kind of plant-based fare that’s ingrained in the culture and will suit your needs..

If food is as important to you as it is for me, consider what your food options will be like when making your travel plans. It’s a good idea to research online to get a feel for the local vegan fare. Prior to staying in hotels or working with a guide, let your contacts know your dietary needs. You will be surprised how much they are willing to advise and help you navigate the waters.

When traveling to a place where you don’t speak the native tongue, ask someone who speaks both languages fluently to help you make a “cheat sheet” of all your dietary needs. When you’re out and about, just hand the small sheet of paper to your host or server—and all of your lives just became easier.

Below is the “cheat sheet” I use when I travel to Thailand. It translates to: I am a vegan. I do not eat any meat. I do not eat any food that has eggs, fish sauce, oyster sauce, or milk as a part of the ingredients. I can eat garlic.

7. Be a patient advocate: Share your advice and enthusiasm when the time is right.

Our love of this lifestyle and the way it makes us feel lead us to want to shout about it from the rooftops. We want to share the message with everyone and have each person we meet adopt the lifestyle right away. And of course being a positive influence to the people around us is a noble goal!

However, as counterintuitive as it might seem, resist the urge to talk a lot about your lifestyle when meeting new people. Untimely discussions can lead to frustration and agitation, which can hurt potential friendships. Since food and health are sensitive topics, it’s important to first establish commonality. For example, if you share a love of sports or hobbies, it will establish the camaraderie needed to have more open and trusting conversations later on.

When is the time right? When someone begins asking questions and does so out of genuine curiosity. With much goodwill built up from the things you have in common, you’ll be on your way to making a difference in each other’s lives. The more positive relationships you can associate with your plant-based way of life, the more likely you will succeed in the long run.

I hope you found these tips helpful, and I wish you the best in your plant-based journey!

Motivation (or, if my Fitbit didn’t track it, did I walk?)

I truly do understand the benefits gained from regular walking. I know walking helps me maintain a healthy weight, strengthen my bones and improve my coordination. I appreciate that the only equipment I really need for this activity is a good pair of sneakers.

Oh, but what about my growing reliance on a tiny motivator called a Fitbit?

The Fitbit, for me, is a marvelous invention. It not only tracks the number of steps I take but provides encouragement by sending me messages such as “You nailed it!” and “Overachiever!” and “Congratulations, you’ve walked the length of Italy!”  (Holy cow!)

Bill and I have been walking all over beautiful Vancouver. Rare is the day when we don’t walk at least 12,000 steps. How do I know this? The magic of Fitbit technology tells me so.

Imagine my distress when I lost the tiny bit that fits into my Fitbit wrist band! Somehow the bit slipped out of its bracelet pocket. Did this happen at the beginning of my daily walk? Of course not. It happened after I had walked all over the city that day!   Drat! That meant my steps didn’t count that day toward my weekly or lifetime totals.  If my Fitbit didn’t count the steps, did I really walk that day?  (Ah yes, I can hear your thoughts:  Poor Judy may need some psychological counselling!)

There was obviously only one thing to do: go to the store, take a deep breath, reach into my wallet…ouch, and pay to replace the thing.

Do I recognize that my reliance on this technology is a “bit” silly?  Yes. Did that keep me from turning over a healthy amount of money for a new one?   No.   It’s all about motivation, you see.

The Mayo Clinic says this about motivation:

Starting a walking program takes initiative. Sticking with it takes commitment. To stay motivated:

• Set yourself up for success. Start with a simple goal, such as, “I’ll take a 10-minute walk during my lunch break.” When your 10-minute walk becomes a habit, set a new goal, such as, “I’ll walk for 20 minutes after work.” Find specific times for walks. Soon you could be reaching for goals that once seemed impossible.
• Make walking enjoyable. If you don’t enjoy solitary walks, ask a friend or neighbor to join you. If you’re invigorated by groups, join a health club. You might like listening to music while you walk.
• Vary your routine. If you walk outdoors, plan several different routes for variety. If you’re walking alone, be sure to tell someone which route you’re taking. Walk in safe, well-lit locations.
• Take missed days in stride. If you find yourself skipping your daily walks, don’t give up. Remind yourself how good you feel when you include physical activity in your daily routine, and then get back on track.

Take missed days in stride?   Are they kidding?   Obviously, the good people at Mayo Clinic may need to suggest psychological counselling for those of us who have come to rely on technology to support our motivation! (just kidding).

 

I’ll have water, please.

HEA team member, Mary Schaal, thoughtfully forwarded the following compelling article today about hydration as it concerns a healthy body weight. 

Science moves at mach speed, doesn’t it?  The last I read on the subject of hydration indicated that you should NOT mindlessly drink 8 glasses of water a day but, rather, listen to your body:  When you’re thirsty, drink water.  The following article, however, provides new food for thought (excuse the expression, please).  As the article suggests, I think we can expect more studies in the future that focus on the relationship between hydration and weight management strategies.

Thanks, Mary, for sending this along:

Newswise — ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Researchers are learning whether a simple part of our diets might be linked to a healthier weight – and it has nothing to do with carbs, fat or protein.

The potential secret weapon? Water. People who are obese and have a higher body mass index (BMI) are more likely to be inadequately hydrated and vice versa, suggests new research from the University of Michigan published in Annals of Family Medicine.

“The link between hydration and weight is not clear. Our study further explains this relationship on a population level using an objective measure of hydration,” says lead author Tammy Chang, M.D., MPH, MS, an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the U-M Medical School.

Although the correlation requires further probing, Chang noted that hydration has lately been considered a cornerstone of a weight-loss diet. “We often hear recommendations that drinking water is a way to avoid overeating because you may be thirsty rather than hungry,” she says.

Chang and colleagues looked at a nationally representative sample of 9,528 adults from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Roughly a third of the adults, who spanned ages 18 to 64, were inadequately hydrated.

The study suggests that people with higher BMIs – who are expected to have higher water needs — might also demonstrate behaviors that lead to inadequate hydration.

Authors note that because the data is cross-sectional, they cannot say that inadequate hydration causes obesity or the other way around. But their findings highlight an important relationship between the two.

Chang says eating healthy foods high in water content, such as fruits and vegetables, can improve hydration status .

“Hydration may be overlooked in adult weight management strategies,” says Chang, who is also a member of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI). “Our findings suggest that hydration may deserve more attention when thinking about addressing obesity on a population level. Staying hydrated is good for you no matter what, and our study suggests it may also be linked to maintaining a healthy weight.”

I’ll never forget What’s His Name…

I came across an interesting article in Reader’s Digest about protecting the brain from Alzheimer’s Disease (Kenneth S. Kosik, MD and Alisa Bowman, “Outsmarting Alzheimer’s).   In the U.S. today, about 5.3 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s and that figure is expected to triple by 2050.

Dr. Kosik has spent the last 25 years researching Alzheimer’s, first at Harvard Medical School and later at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Over the years, he watched as studies dashed our hopes over and over when it came to finding a drug or technological advance to effectively treat the dread disease.

However…

It turns out that a “growing and impressive body of research shows that lifestyle habits can dramatically reduce your risk for developing the disease,” he says.  For example, Finnish and Swedish researches, for several years, followed a thousand people (ages 60 to 77) who were at high risk for developing Alzheimer’s. “Those who changed their habits to include nutritious eating, regular exercise and intellectual pursuits performed at least 25 % better on tests of memory, thinking, and problem solving than did other people who kept the same routine.” This was enough to delay a dementia diagnosis by two years and reduce the prevalence 25%! The article went on to say that had the interventions started earlier in life, the finding might have been even more dramatic.

Cutting to the chase, following are the reported habits of people who prevent dementia:

• They get physical. Physical activity ranks as the most potent Alzheimer’s protection, study after study has found: walk (a study done by the University of Pittsburgh found that those who walked just 6 to 9 miles per week had a greater volume of gray matter in their brains than those who didn’t), dance (one study done by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that dance reduced risk for dementia more than any other type of physical activity, even more than doing crossword puzzles.
• They eat antioxidant-rich, anti-inflammatory foods. What they have in common? They eat diets that are rich in plants, low in highly processed foods (eat lots of leafy greens, vegetables, nuts, berries, beans, whole grains, etc. They severely restrict red meat, butter and margarine, cheese, sweets and desserts, fried foods and fast food.
• They make time for friends. Warding off loneliness keeps your brain young, it turns out. Make new friends, at any age.
• They exercise their brains. In one study, adults who frequently did stimulating leisure activities were less likely to develop dementia over a 21 year period studied. Read, play board games, practice musical instruments, work on puzzles, read to learn, learn how to draw, paint, or sculpt.

Get a move on!

Vancouver is a foodie city in spades! It seems that every other building houses a restaurant. The cuisine of every culture I can think of is represented. Coffee and pastry shops abound.   There are several gelato shops just within walking distance of our apartment.

And yet? I can’t help but notice that very few of the adults or children on the street are overweight.

Their secret? It may be that virtually everyone is constantly on the move. People here walk everywhere. The public transportation system is terrific…but you still have to walk to the train station or the bus stop, right? Residents of this “saltwater city” walk, they run, they bike, they roller blade, they row.

I came across the following on the Lean for Life website:

Rena Wing, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Brown University, looked at 2,500 people who lost an average of 60 pounds, and kept the weight off for an average of six years. Wing found those individuals exercised approximately an hour each day. Dr Wing says that her patient participants, those who lost weight and kept it off, really exercise to the level of about 2800 calories a week. Translated to walking, they walk about 28 miles a week, says Dr. Wing. (Incidentally, this is consistent with the Lean for Life Program’s recommendation of 10,000 steps – 4 miles per day.)

The gauntlet has been thrown down! I have my Fitbit bracelet on and believe I’ve walked at least 10,000 steps/day since we’ve been here. Bill can be heard muttering, “Good grief! Haven’t we done ten thousand steps yet??”

Can’t let these Vancouverites show up us Yuman Beings!

Addressing IBS with diet

Bill and I are in Vancouver, BC taking a break from the Yuma heat and having a wonderful time. We took the ferry to Victoria and spent some quality time yesterday with my brother, Lee. I don’t get to see him often, so that was a real treat.

For several years, Lee suffered considerably from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). It was a concern for those of us who love him. Lee, however, looked terrific yesterday and was glowing with obvious good health! He reported that his IBS symptoms had virtually disappeared; he cured himself! He says he did this with a two-step approach: 1) He put himself on a food-elimination regimen (more about this below); 2) He listened to his body…carefully! He says that the hallmark of his diet is SIMPLICITY. He cautioned that it’s more important to listen to your body that to buy into a particular dietary ideology. For example, he says, nuts, seeds and whole grains may be healthy for the majority of the population but, if your body gives you distress signals when eating those foods, eliminate them! 

I came across the following story about a fellow who similarly addressed his IBS through diet:

About a year ago, he (Steven) was watching a segment on a popular medical talk show that featured a doctor who was discussing food sensitivities that can be harder to detect than allergies and can cause severe inflammation.

“It described my symptoms to a ‘T,’” he says.

Shortly after, Steven went to see his gastroenterologist and asked him whether it was worth trying an elimination diet like the one the doctor on television had described. Acknowledging the potential benefits, his gastroenterologist recommended that he go on a soy-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free diet for three months.

“I decided to go a little farther and take away sugar and processed foods,” he explains. “I became almost vegan, but I would still eat some things with eggs in them. Beyond that, it was basically fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds. My wife had to throw out a big bag of stuff from the kitchen. It was extremely difficult. I felt weak and the cravings were terrible. But a friend told me that there was light at the end of tunnel and I had to stay strong and not cheat.”

After about four days, Steven says it felt like something just switched over. The discomfort and cravings subsided and he felt better than he had in twenty years.

Although true elimination diets involve varying periods of excluding certain foods and eventually bringing some of those foods back, Steven decided that he didn’t want to mess with a good thing. He’s remained on his restricted diet for the last year.

“Some people are skeptical and ask me how I can live like this or how I get any protein in my diet,” he says. “People have become so used to all the junk, though. I think so many of us have forgotten what real food actually is. Your body has a way of telling you what it needs — you just have to listen.”

For Steven, engaging with other people online has been extremely helpful. When he was in high school, he remembers thinking he was completely alone with IBS and couldn’t explain to any of his friends why he was missing classes or planned trips. Now he’s able to exchange information through social media to help others and help himself live better.

His advice to them?

“Do your own research. Look up foods that are both inflammatory and anti-inflammatory. Try changing your diet for a week. See what happens, is all. Give food a try.”

Judy again:  Remember, your doctor is your best guide.  We suggest working with your gastroenterologist closely.

Calorie Density

The name ‘Jeff Novick’ is familiar to Healthy Eating Adventure-Yuma participants.  At each Adventure, Jeff (who is a nationally known registered dietician) provides wise instruction–via video–about such topics as the knowledgeable reading of nutrition labels…and how to avoid being taken in by labelling tricks. 

If you’re a lucky subscriber to the Forks Over Knives blog, you may have read Jeff’s excellent article about  the caloric density approach to managing weight.  Just in case you missed it, here is a sizable excerpt:

Calorie density is the simplest approach to healthful eating and lifelong weight management. This common sense approach to sound nutrition allows for lifelong weight management without hunger; more food for fewer calories, and is easy to understand and follow. In addition, by following the principles of calorie density, you will also increase the overall nutrient density of your diet. The basic principles of calorie density are simple and outlined below. Remember, these are just guidelines expressing the principles and not exact recommendations.

The Calorie Density Approach

Calorie density is simply a measure of how many calories are in a given weight of food, most often expressed as calories per pound. A food high in calorie density has a large number of calories in a small weight of food, whereas a food low in calorie density has much fewer calories in the same weight of food. Therefore, one can consume a larger portion of a low-calorie dense food than a high-calorie dense food for the same number of calories. On a day-to-day basis, people generally eat a similar amount of food, by weight.  Therefore, choosing foods with a lower calorie density allows us to consume our usual amount of food (or more) while reducing our caloric intake.

Foods low in calorie density also tend to be higher in satiety so by consuming foods lower in calorie density, one can fill up on much fewer calories without having to go hungry and without having to weigh, measure or portion control our food. In addition, the foods that are lower in calorie density (fruits, veggies, starchy vegetables, intact whole grains and legumes) are also the foods highest in nutrient density. Therefore, by following a diet lower in calorie density, one also automatically consumes a diet higher in nutrient density.

Principles of Calorie Density

• Hunger & Satiety. Whenever hungry, eat until you are comfortably full.  Don’t starve and don’t stuff yourself.
• Sequence Your Meals. Start all meals with a salad, soup, and/or fruit.
• Don’t Drink Your Calories. Avoid liquid calories.  Eat/chew your calories, don’t drink or liquefy them. Liquids have little if any satiety so they do not fill you up as much as solid foods of equal calories.
• Dilution is the Solution: Dilute Out High Calorie Dense Foods/Meals. Dilute the calorie density of your meals by filling 1/2 your plate (by visual volume) with intact whole grains, starchy vegetables, and/or legumes and the other half with vegetables and/or fruit.
• Be Aware of the Impact of Vegetables vs. Fat/Oil. Vegetables are the lowest in calorie density while fat and oil are the highest.  Therefore, adding vegetables to any dish will always lower the overall calorie density of a meal, while adding fat and oil will always raise the overall calorie density of a meal.
• Limit High Calorie Dense Foods. Limit (or avoid) foods that are higher in calorie density (dried fruit; high fat plant foods; processed whole grains; etc).  If you use them, incorporate them into meals that are made up of low calorie dense foods and think of them as a condiment to the meal. For example, add a few slices of avocado to a large salad, or add a few walnuts or raisins to a bowl of oatmeal and fruit.

How S.A.D.!

From Forks Over Knives  (This says it all):

What is the Standard American Diet?

• 63% of America’s calories come from refined and processed foods (e.g. soft drinks, packaged snacks like potato chips, packaged desserts, etc.)
• 25% of America’s calories come from animal-based foods
• 12% of America’s calories come from plant-based foods

Unfortunately, half of the plant-based calories (6%) come from french fries. That means only 6% of America’s calories are coming from health-promoting fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.

There’s a good reason we abbreviate Standard American Diet to S.A.D. The Standard American Diet leads to standard American diseases that lead to standard American deaths.