August 2008
The Little Things Can Make a Difference
One of the reasons some people become quickly overwhelmed when
they try to improve their diet is that there are many sources of
information, with many viewpoints and often the changes are
expensive and difficult to achieve. For most families, throwing
out everything in the cupboards and starting over is not
economically possible and completely cooking from scratch means
dinners late many nights. But there are little things you can do
to improve your health and wellness without big expenses.
1) Utilize your crock pot. This can also be done in the oven. The
trick here is to bake a roast or whole bird at one time, enough
for more than one meal. Use your favorite seasonings. An example
of getting more than one meal from a chicken would be to use the
breast for chicken sub sandwiches on whole wheat buns one night,
a couple nights later de-bone the dark meat and use it for a
chicken casserole. Or roast beef, potatoes and vegetable one
night, then have beef stir fry a couple nights later. The
benefit: Purchased meal entrees, whether frozen, canned or
refrigerated contain preservatives. The most common form of
preservatives are nitrates and nitrites, which have been linked
to cancer, especially cancers of the digestive organs.
2) Vitamin quality hierarchy: Fresh-Frozen-Canned. Fresh is best
and home grown or locally farmed is optimal. With a good quality
chef's knife cutting produce just before use is quick and easy.
Frozen is a close second because freezing preserves freshness
and there is little nutrient loss. This only applies for basic
frozen vegetables and fruit. If processed with other
ingredients, the benefits diminish rapidly. Canned is lowest on
the scale because canning involves heat, which destroys
nutrients and salt (sodium) is often added to offset flavor lost
in the canning process. The exception to this rule is tomato
products, which increases lycopene availability when tomato
products are concentrated in preparation.
3) Minimize sugar consumption. When doctors suspect cancer but
cannot locate it in the body, they utilize a PET scan. The PET
scan utilizes a radioactive sugar that when ingested, goes
straight to the tumor, thus revealing the tumor's location. Did
you catch that sugars were drawn right to the tumor? That is
correct- tumors feed on carbohydrates, especially simple carbs,
such as sugar. But cutting out all sugars is extreme and
difficult for most people. Plus having sweets now and then is
enjoyable. Instead, eliminating sodas and other sugary drinks
from your diet is recommended, except for special occasions.
Read labels and avoid products containing sugar, especially high
fructose syrups. This is a common ingredient in
everything from spaghetti sauce to energy drinks. Consider
making dessert a weekly occurrence instead of nightly. Or finish
dinner with fruit instead of cookies.
If you do these three simple things you will be able to serve
meals faster, with less
reliance on preserved entrees; use more nutritious fruits and
vegetables; and reduce a major cancer related factor in your
diet. What have you got to lose?
Recipe of the Month
Quick and Easy Chef's Salad
This is a great fast meal for hot
August evenings. I usually set aside a portion of a roast or the breast
of a baked chicken for this dinner earlier in the week.
Simply put about 2 cups of mixed salad
greens on a plate -one for each serving. Next, top with your choice of
sliced and chopped vegetables, such as cucumber, onion, yellow squash or
thin sliced carrots. Then pile a portion of the cold sliced meat on top
of that. If you prefer vegetarian, kidney or black beans will do. Next
comes perhaps some cubed cheese or sliced hardboiled egg. Garnish with
grape tomatoes, olives and sliced avocadoes if you wish. It's your
salad. Make it how you want. Even summer fruits such as nectarines work
for this. Top with your favorite dressing. Serve with maybe some
bread or even a bowl of soup
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Dedicated to the hardworking Americans that keep this
country running.
