Health & Wellness Articles

Healthy Gourmet Cooking

By Jayna Locke

While "healthy" and "gourmet" might seem like polar opposites, in fact they can be perfectly compatible!

Unconvinced? I don't blame you. The two have not traditionally gone hand in hand. But having spent several years now on a quest for better health, I have learned how to make absolutely fabulous food with Nature’s Bounty. And the results I’ve achieved with my health and energy are phenomenal. So come on along. I’ll share what I know.

The Elements of a Healthy Diet

Given the number and variety of popular diets that continue to emerge, it is clear that health and nutrition are a huge concern today.

But then why do our health crises increase with the passing years? I believe one of the reasons for this is the on-going search for magic bullet diets that address weight loss rather than overall health. That focus leads to huge swings in diet culture in which there is a myopic dietary focus, such on eliminating fats or carbs, or living primarily on proteins… which ultimately creates more health problems than it fixes.

For this reason, I advocate balance. No extremes, no crash diets. And while I don’t claim to be yet another diet authority, I will attempt to offer a sensible blueprint for healthy eating, based on up-to-date nutrition research, and with an added gourmet element that makes food healthy and delicious.

The elements of this blueprint are:

1. Plenty of fruits and vegetables
2. Good carbohydrates
3. A moderate amount of good fats
4. Healthy protein
5. Regular caloric intakein an amount suited to your body’s requirements

Now let’s look at each of these in a bit more detail before unveiling the mystery gourmet element.

Fruits and Vegetables: The 5-to-9-a-Day Plan

The National Cancer Institute recommends that you consume five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Gals, you should aim for at least five to seven servings per day; guys, go for seven to nine for optimal health. Personally, I try to get nine servings a day because I feel a lot better, and have a lot more energy, if I do. (Note: A serving size is roughly the amount that fits in your cupped hand, or about one cup. For leafy greens, you roughly double that. If it’s cooked, the serving size is about half the amount, and if dried, it’s roughly a quarter of the amount.)

Why is this amount recommended? The reason is that the benefits for human health and longevity are legion, and the more fruits and vegetables you consume, the better your chances of warding off disease both in the short and long term. Fruits and vegetables are laden with phytonutrients that improve overall health, increase energy, fight disease, and slow the aging process. But how can any one person eat that much vegetation every day?

Well, the good news is that it is not all that difficult to do. And… there’s no bad news! Only more good news: Every incremental dietary improvement can make a real difference in your health. If the idea of 5-to-9 servings of fruits and veggies a day is overwhelming, just try the baby-step approach. No matter where you are on the healthy habits spectrum, just move in the direction of nine servings a day. And pat yourself on the back for every little improvement.

Tips:

• Break it down to two to three servings per meal plus an apple or orange snack.
• 
  Prepare fruit and vegetable servings, like fresh sliced cucumbers, baby carrots, or fresh strawberries, in snack containers, ready to grab out of the fridge.
• 
  Go for a range of colors to get the full range of nutrient properties.
• Find interesting veggies in the grocery store that you might want to try. Then go to a recipe site on the internet and do a search on that ingredient. See the Resource Section for more information.
• Cheat! Take a full spectrum greens supplement like Complete Greens^TM (see the Product Special of the Month) and get an excellent source of phytonutrients every day, whether or not you have time to eat well. I take mine every day, not only because it's the best insurance I know of that I'm getting my greens, but also because it boosts my energy level.

Carbohydrates

A healthy approach to carbohydrates could perhaps be called the “anti-Atkins” diet. The evidence is in. It’s not that we need to cut out carbohydrates. In fact, our bodies need carbohydrates, as they provide fuel for physical activity and proper organ function. We just need to make sure they’re quality carbs: complex, fiber-rich carbohydrates that our bodies convert into steady energy.

The Harvard School of Public Health site says: “We now know that the staple of most diets, carbohydrates, aren't all good or all bad. Some kinds promote health while others, when eaten often and in large quantities, actually increase the risk for diabetes and coronary heart disease.”

We all know what they’re talking about: white bread, sweet rolls, muffins, processed snack foods, potatoes, etc. These foods get converted by our bodies to simple sugar immediately, which spikes blood sugar level and drops it like a hot potato—forgive the pun. And of course processed foods and baked goods typically contain saturated and trans fats, an additional negative.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to learn about the Glycemic Index, there is no time like the present. The Glycemic Index (GI for short), is a system that measures the effect of carbohydrate foods on blood sugar levels. See the Resource Section for pointers to more information, such as sites that have Glycemic Index foods listed in a table for easy reference.

For now, here are some fundamentals to get you started:

• Foods high on the GI burn fast—like a fire cracker—and the energy supplied by them is quickly used up.
• Foods low on the GI burn slowly—like a smoldering fire—and the energy supplied by them is available for an extended period of time.
• GI levels for a given food are not always intuitive; for example prunes are low, whiles figs are high. For blood sugar management, be sure to use a study-based source as a reference. And if you suspect you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, it is imperative that you see your physician for assessment.
• The GI does not relate to serving size or calories, only to the effect of a given carbohydrate food on blood sugar levels in the two to three hours after eating. (In other words, calorie management is a separate issue.)

A Day In the Life

Here is an illustration of how easily a diet can go astray. Let’s say you start the day with a bowl of cornflakes (a high GI food). You’ll get a quick little energy boost, but you’re not left feeling nutritionally satisfied, and your blood sugar level very quickly hits the dumps. By 10:00, you’re falling asleep in a meeting and craving more quick-energy food. That leads to a mid-morning snack from the candy machine, which spikes and drops your blood sugar level again. For lunch, you’re on the go, so you get a hamburger, fries, and Coke at the drive-thru. Not only is this meal loaded with fat and devoid of nutrient-rich vegetables, but even worse is the fact that the potatoes, the bun, and the soda are all high GI foods. So your energy yo-yo’s again.

Our bodies don’t manage this kind of dietary stress very well over time. What happens is this: as blood sugar levels rise, the pancreas churns out more and more insulin, which is the hormone that signals cells to absorb blood sugar for energy or storage. When this system is repeatedly taxed, it can wear out the body’s ability to provide insulin on demand. Hence the correlation to diabetes. Additionally, this kind of eating pattern causes the body to convert both the carbohydrates and the fat into body fat, often leading to weight gain.

Basing your carbohydrate choices on the GI can give you sustained energy, reduce aimless snacking and binge eating, reduce body fat, and ward off health crises like diabetes and heart disease.

Tips:

• Whenever possible, replace highly processed grains, cereals, and sugars with minimally processed whole-grain products.
• Go for complete grains that have not had the bran and germ removed: whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole-grain pasta, and other grains like quinoa, whole oats, and bulgur. (An interesting note on fiber: we don’t digest it, but it inhibits the digestive enzyme attack on starchy carbohydrates. This slows the release of sugar molecules into the bloodstream, providing a more constant energy source.)
• Limit consumption of starchy vegetables and grains, like potatoes and white rice.

Fats

Excessively cutting out fat is not the answer to better health. During the low-fat craze, the trend was to reduce fat and replace it with simple carbohydrates. This created a dietary disaster in which we, as a society, got a whole lot fatter. The key is to limit fat intake to a maximum of 30% of your calories, and make sure the fat you consume is good fat.

We need fat in our diet for several reasons. First of all, fats help brain function. Second, fats supply energy and essential fatty acids, and promote absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Third, consuming some good fat can actually improve cholesterol levels. And fourth, fat provides the calories and flavor that make food satisfying.

Cutting out too much fat tends to make people want more calories, and since the excess of calories cannot be burned efficiently as fuel by the body it thus gets stored as body fat. The irony would almost be amusing if it hadn’t caused such debilitating health problems for so many people.

So, the question is, how much fat and of what kind. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans developed by the USDA provides some great information about dietary fats. In brief, some of the key recommendations are to avoid trans fats, keep your total fat calorie intake at 20 to 30 percent of your diet, and when selecting meat or dairy products, make lean and non-fat choices.

Good Fat, Bad Fat

Some nicely succinct descriptions of good and bad fats appear on The University of Iowa Health Care site:

“Good fats are unsaturated fats that include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These are derived from plant sources, such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds. Monounsaturated fats are found in canola, peanut, and olive oils. Polyunsaturated fats are found in sunflower, corn, sesame, and soybean oils as well as nuts and seeds. Fish also provide healthy polyunsaturated fats called omega-3 fatty acids.”

And by contrast:

”Bad fats are trans and saturated fats with trans fats being the worst. Both can negatively affect blood cholesterol levels. Trans fats are vegetable oils heated in the presence of hydrogen. The more hydrogenated the oil is the harder it will be at room temperature. For example, stick margarine has more trans fats than spreadable tub margarine. Saturated fats are made of animal or animal byproducts, such as milk, butter, ice cream, and cheese.”

Hydrogenated oils (a.k.a. trans fats or trans fatty acids) are an unhealthy ingredient in the worst possible sense, because they not only raise bad (LDL) cholesterol levels, but they lower good (HDL) cholesterol levels. Just how dangerous are they? A recent study by the FDA cited that there is "no safe level" of trans fat in a person's diet. Just recently, in August 2005, an article appeared on The New York City Health Department site stating that, "Trans fat contributes to the development of heart disease - New York City's biggest killer." (I'll resist making a wise crack here about how the residents of New York City, long wary of the dangers on the streets, are actually in more danger from the trans fat in their food.) The NYC Health Department is now urging the city's restaurants to stop serving food containing trans fat.

Even with all the current evidence, many people throw their hands up in despair and don’t bother trying to avoid trans fat because it is so pervasive. The good news is that with labeling laws in the works, some manufacturers are preemptively dumping hydrogenated oils from their ingredients. Also, many alternative products are out on the market and available in both natural food stores and mainstream grocery stores. Great trans-fat free product lines are available from these and other companies:

• Newman's Own Organics
• Barbara's
• Garden of Eatin
• Kashi
• Annie's
• Bearitos

As a society, we can make the biggest impact on the food industry with our buying habits. If we don’t buy food containing health-hazardous trans fats, we help send the message that the bad fat is not acceptable in our food. A few years ago, Pepperidge Farm yielded to parental concern and removed trans fat from goldfish, one of the most popular snack foods for young children.

Tips:

• Use these oils in your cooking: olive oil, canola oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, and walnut oil.
• Avoid margarine and other spreads with hydrogenated oils. A good alternative is Smart Balance Buttery Spread, which contains no trans fat and spreads like margarine. Your family will probably not notice the difference.
• Read labels. A large percentage of commercial brands of bread, muffins, crackers, cookies, chips, taco shells and tortillas, as well as most bread spreads and peanut butter, contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil.
• Look for the term “natural” or "old fashioned" on peanut butter. That typically means no hydrogenated oils have been added.
• Don't eat fried food; doughnuts and French fries, for example, contain 35 to 40 percent trans fatty acids.
• The best trick I know of to stay motivated to avoid trans fats is to think of hydrogenated oil as a skull and crossbones. It may not be pleasant, but it’s also not far off the mark.

Protein

One of the best descriptions of the hows and whys of protein intake I’ve seen comes from the book “What Color is Your Diet?” (Regan Books/Harper Collins 2001) by David Heber, M.D., Ph.D.

Heber writes:

“[Body] fat doesn’t require much dietary protein, but each pound of lean body mass you have requires one gram of protein per day. In the absence of adequate protein intake, you will lose protein from your muscles.”

Let’s face it: that cannot be good. The bottom line is that if you are not fueling your lean body mass with protein, you lose muscle. If you lose muscle, you don’t burn fat. If you are not burning body fat, you’re storing it somewhere.

Another quote from Heber could actually describe me up until very recently:

“During the past decades, when very low fat eating was popular, protein was eliminated, or reduced drastically, in error, as pasta and other refined carbohydrates made up the bulk of the diet. You would be surprised by how many women I have seen who had a bagel and coffee for breakfast, a salad with no meat at lunch, and pasta with no meat at dinner. They would look very thin, but would have very low lean body mass. Even though they looked thin, they were really fat when I measured their body fat. They were also hungry all the time. They needed so few calories that they were doomed to a life of severe calorie restriction.”

I am a living testimonial that this weird scenario is possible. (Except for the starvation part. I love food too much for that to happen!) I am sure most people I know think of me as a thin person. But when I had a Body Mass Index test done some months ago, I was utterly shocked by my body fat percentage—nearly 30%. I have been on a quest to improve that percentage ever since. Needless to say, my diet had to change, and so did my level and type of exercise.

I won’t get into the topic of fitness now, except to say this: if you want a low body fat percentage, in addition to managing your carbs, protein, and fats, and getting a regular cardio workout, you need to do some resistance training (a.k.a. strength training). This could be some combination of push-ups, sit-ups, leg-lifts, lunges, several sets of reps with some moderate-sized weights, and pulling and tugging one of those rubber stretch bands that you can find in exercise supply stores. Even moving your arms and legs through imaginary mud during a work break will create resistance and tell your muscles they need to bulk up. Muscle mass burns fat 24/7. It's kind of like residual income. You put it in place, and it keeps working for you.

But back to the topic of protein, Heber provides these great tips:

“Protein will satisfy your appetite between meals, and you should have some protein with each meal until you reach your total for the day. You don’t have to eat cheese, steaks, burgers, and prime rib to get the protein you need, as advised in some popular diet plans. You can get all the protein you need, without the fat, by eating the white meat of chicken or turkey, many types of fish and other seafood, and soy protein from whole soybean drinks or soy meat substitutes. Get protein at every meal. Make it three ounces at each meal if you are a woman and six ounces if you are a man and you can skip the exact calculations.”

Tips:

• Avoid high protein diets. Because our bodies process protein with the use of calcium, too much protein in our diet uses our stored calcium resources, potentially resulting in bone loss. Again, balance is the key!
• Get some protein at every meal as well as in your snacks. Some great sources of protein include nuts, like soybeans and peanuts. A small serving of a healthy trail mix that includes nuts and seeds is an excellent way to top up on protein.
• If you are time-challenged at breakfast, try a quick and easy soy protein shake. For complete vitamins and nutrients, add the soy shake mix to orange juice and mix in a serving of Complete Greens^TM powder!

Calorie Consumption

The topic of caloric intake is perhaps the most challenging topic in this newsletter, for three reasons:

1. First, few of us are good at estimating our calorie requirements or counting calories.
3. Second, we tend to tire easily of the topic of calories because diets based on calorie restriction are both boring and prone to failure. Why? Because a) closely tracking calories takes more time than the average person can devote to it, b) dieters typically cannot maintain a calorie restriction regimen for long because they spend too much time feeling deprived and hungry, and c) calorie restriction sends a survival message to the body to burn fewer calories, thus slowing the body’s metabolism and increasing the tendency to store fat.
5. And finally, our society tends to place more importance on calorie consumption than on overall health or the enjoyment of food, which leads to an array of problems. Not only does it create dietary angst, but it sets into motion an unhealthy roller coaster that can be extremely hard to escape. And the dire ramifications for long-term health cannot be over-stated.

And this of course brings us back to the concept of dietary balance. If eating well is primarily about consuming a balanced, healthy, and flavorful diet, and listening to our body’s messages about food requirements and fullness, I maintain that we are less likely to gain the weight that propels us toward the unhealthy roller coaster of specialized diets.

Now, the fact is, if we consume more calories than we burn by living, breathing, and exercising, then we are going to gain weight. So yes, people who are trying to lose weight or maintain weight at an attained goal do need to pay attention to calorie consumption—not, however, at the expense of a healthy diet. And the research I’ve done backs this up. People who get some exercise and strength training regularly, and focus their dietary efforts on getting plenty of fruits and veggies, and balancing carbs, proteins, and fats, are more likely to eat the right kind of calories, to feel satisfied by the food they consume, to fall victim less to insatiable cravings for sweets and extra calories, and thus to attain and maintain their ideal weight.

The Resource Section has pointers to information on calorie management for those interested. Another resource that I recommend is the USDA online document, “Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005.” This passage on portion sizes comes from Chapter 3, "Weight Management":

“Special attention should be given to portion sizes, which have increased significantly over the past two decades." (See the NHLBI article Portion Distortion.) "Though there are no empirical studies to show a causal relationship between increased portion sizes and obesity, there are studies showing that controlling portion sizes helps limit calorie intake, particularly when eating calorie-dense foods (foods that are high in calories for a given measure of food).”

In summary, the goal is to eat the right stuff in a moderate amount and push the plate away when you feel satisfied, not stuffed. Additionally, calorie dense foods (e.g. foods higher in fat) need to be consumed in smaller amounts. A good example of this is the comparison between pesto and tomato sauce. Both are very healthful toppings for pasta. But because the pesto is much more calorie-dense than the tomato sauce, a smaller amount will do.

Here are some additional ideas for resources to use in managing calories and attaining your ideal weight:

• - See your physician
• - Join a weight management support group
• - Set a goal and outline daily strategies toward attaining it, healthfully
• - Hire a personal trainer to help you set your strength training goals

Weight Management Help

I have taken a special interest in weight management through healthful eating. My inspiration is Dr. Shari Lieberman, a specialist in clinical nutrition and exercise physiology who has authored numerous books on these topics. Dr. Lieberman has also developed an entire weight management product line, called Transitions^TM, based on the Glycemic Index. The Transitions^TM product line, available from my NewVitality website, includes videos, literature, journals, supplements (such as a Fat Conversion Inhibitor and a Carbohydrate Absorption Inhibitor), plus awesome shakes, nutrition bars, and entrees.

I can answer any questions you may have about these products. Feel free to ask!

Please email me if you or someone you know is interested in a 12-week weight management program.

Going Gourmet Healthfully

And finally, the unveiling of the mystery gourmet element. And that is, of course, flavor!

The question is: How do you get flavor healthfully?

Many of us get stuck in a rut using cheese, butter, margarine, salad dressings, mayonnaise, and so on to get the flavor we crave. But there is another way! I have developed some simple tricks for getting great flavor while at the same time enriching the nutrient quality of your cooking:

• Sauté just about any combination of vegetables—the more colorful the combo the better for nutrient quality—with garlic and olive oil for an awesome pasta topping.
• Replace cheese in cold dishes with avocado, tofu, hummus (pureed spiced garbanzo beans) or baba ghanoush (pureed spiced eggplant).
• Heat sliced almonds, sesame seeds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, or peanuts in a non-stick pan as a last-minute flavor, fiber, and protein booster for vegetarian dishes, salads, pasta, or rice.
• Use tomato or mango salsa as a side dish instead of just as a dip or garnish; pile it onto brown rice, stir-fry, pasta, or salad.
• Spike the flavor and vitamin content of green salads by adding diced or chopped fruit, like mandarin oranges, pears, apples, or grapefruit.
• Use crimini mushrooms (the brownish ones) in salads, stir-frys, and hot dishes; not only are they highly flavorful, but they're packed with more vitamins and minerals than the white ones.
• Cook onions in a combination of olive oil, chicken broth, and garlic powder as a flavor-enhancing topper for all kinds of dishes.
• Add herbs to any savory cooked dish to enhance its gourmet aura. Each herb has its unique nutritive benefits. For example:
  • - rosemary stimulates the immune system
  • - thyme contains anti-oxidants that help ward off the symptoms of aging
  • - basil has natural anti-bacterial properties and protects cell structures and chromosomes against radiation and oxidation damage
  • - oregano has numerous phytonutrients that function as potent anti-oxidants
  • - peppermint has healing properties that relax muscles and relieve the symptoms of a wide range of digestive problems
  • - dill weed contains volatile oils that qualify it as a “chemoprotective” food that can help neutralize particular types of carcinogens, such as the benzopyrenes that are part of cigarette smoke, charcoal grill smoke, and the smoke produced by trash incinerators

(The World's Healthiest Foods site has loads of great info like this.)

Here’s my step-by-step recommendation for how to go gourmet healthfully:

1. Get tapped into a great recipe network or database site that includes a search function. (See the Resource Section.)
2. Search for healthy foods that you might like to cook with. (See recommended search terms in the Resource Section.)
3. Scan the ingredients of any recipe you find, and ask these questions:
   • - Will this help me get my 5-to-9 veggies or fruits today?
   • - Will it help me complete my requirements for healthy carbs, fats, and proteins?
   • - Is it low in saturated fats and low in overall fat?
   • - And does it sound like something I’m going to want to eat?
4. Print the recipe, and add the ingredients you don’t have on hand to your shopping list.
6. Make it right away. Doing so will catapult you into healthy cooking success and build your confidence.

The following are a few of the healthiest and most versatile flavor enhancers I have found, as well as their uses and health benefits. There are many others, of course. But for brevity's sake I've focused on my top favorites. For each of these, you'll find several recipes— which I have developed or found in my quest for better health—in the Healthy Recipe collection, available on the left menu panel.

Obviously, this is just the tip of the iceberg where healthy flavor enhancement is concerned. If you have a penchant for intense flavor, as I do, be sure to browse the recommended recipe sites in the Resource Section using the healthy search terms. When you do your own home trials by adding vitamin-rich flavor enhancers and reducing the saturated fat and salt in your cooking, I guarantee you’ll be blown away by the results.

Healthy Gourmet Recipes

I’ve assembled a variety of recipes that are quick and easy to make and are all packed with vitamins, fiber, and awesome flavor. See the Recipe section.

Thank you for reading. I look forward to providing you with more health tips in the future.

To Your Health!

Jayna Locke
email: jayna@xn----9sbif7bbcmdtk.xn--j1aef.xn--p1acf
tel no.: 952-913-6813
toll free msg center: 1-800-556-6436
web: www.newvitalitywellness.com and xn----9sbif7bbcmdtk.xn--j1aef.xn--p1acf

Resource Section

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