The Relationship between Nutrition and Disease May 19, 2008

Long ago (okay, like 3 ½ years), I knew NOTHING about nutrition. My formula for health went something like this:

Eat 2000 calories + Expend 2000 calories = H.E.A.L.T.H.

Shortly after getting into my home-based business, The Education began. I am SO, SO grateful for what I’ve learned, and as a blessing to you, I’d like to boil it down to one main point.

What you eat affects how you feel.

That’s it! I’m sure a lot of you already know this, but for those who don’t, this one principle can be life-changing. If you eat hamburgers, fries and pop (even diet!), you will feel sluggish and gross. And an hour or two later, you’ll be hungry again. If you eat vegetables, fruits and whole grains you will have more energy and feel satiated. Why? God created fruits, vegetables and grains to fuel our bodies. Man created white bread, deep-fat-fried skinless potatoes and tannin-dyed caffeine with fake sweetener.

A good illustration I once heard referred to a vehicle. Would you fill your gas tank with Jell-o and expect it to run? Probably not! So why do we give our bodies junk for food and expect them to work in an efficient manner? It’s no wonder the statistics for obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer are going up and up and up every year. Even when so called “health foods” (read: low fat versions of the same horrible, nutrition-less foods) came on the market, did it make us healthier? Nope. More of the aforementioned diseases. So what’s a person to do? It’s so expensive to eat that healthy. Isn’t it? Well, in the adjustments that Husband and I have made over the years, we haven’t found it to be so. When you’re substituting water for soda, it’s cheaper. When you’re eating grains (on average about $1 for a 1-lb. bag that cooks up into many servings) versus meats, it’s cheaper. When you’re purchasing a pound of bananas for snacks instead of a pound of Oreos, it’s cheaper. Granted, a pound of bananas doesn’t have as many servings, but it will fill a little belly for much longer.

An example I have of people not knowing that the two are linked (nutrition and disease) is my sweet little neighbor. She’s in her 80s. One day last summer we arrived home at the same time, and I went out to say hello after we pulled into the garage. “I just got home from the hospital; I was having heart problems,” she said. All I could see was the fast food cup in her hand. “So you went to Culver’s?” I blurted out before my mind could stop my mouth. And she saw no problem with that. My father thought much the same way. He would drink “magic potions” hoping to get rid of his cancer, but when I would beg him to change his diet in an effort to at least improve his quality of life (cancer feeds on sugar), he wasn’t very receptive to the idea. It broke my heart.

So, even though I am far from a perfect eater (hello, cookies? I love you!), I want to encourage everyone I know (including you, bloggy friends) to fuel your body in the way God intended. The occasional treat becomes that much more enjoyable. And you’ll find your body craving salt, sugar and fat much less. And the cancer, heart disease and diabetes? You’re going to have a much better chance of avoiding them or fighting them off if you give your body a fighting chance.

Some great resources for further reading from authors who taught me a thing or seventeen:

http://www.thechinastudy.com/ (amazing book)

http://www.fromheretolongevity.com/ (I’ve heard Dr. Ray speak in person twice, and she’s a fount of information. Oh, and LOOK AT HER. She’s in her 50s. Holy moly.)

http://www.wellnessforum.com/ (I get Dr. Popper’s daily voice messages regarding healthy living. She’s an advocate for health on a personal level and as a political activist.)

http://www.learntoliveit.com/ (I confess that I haven’t read this book, but I know a lot of people who have and attest to its truths.)

http://www.experiencelifemag.com/ (one of the best health magazines I’ve ever received; from the same people who own the gym I attend)

http://www.themeatrix.com/ (will change the way you think about the meats you eat)

Go forth, be empowered, and live healthier lives!

Recipe Box Swap - Giant Ginger Cookies April 30, 2008

I made this post back when these cookies were in season, but…my mom also used to make similar cookies for boat trips in the summer. And oh. so. delicious. This recipe (linked here) is a step up or two from hers (no offense mom). They’re chewy and gingery-molassesy and just…well, just bake them!

And be sure to check out the rest of the yummy bar and cookie recipes at Randi’s Recipe Box Swap!

Did I Tell You About My Weekend? April 29, 2008

It included a DATE!

Two, in fact.  With my husband, of course.  My in-laws came and watched Anja on Friday night and part of Saturday so that Husband and I could get out and remember what it is like to hold hands (when one pair isn’t always pushing a stroller).  It was fantastic!

We went to America’s largest indoor water park on Friday night, where I laid waste to this thing that shoots water up (it’s supposed to resemble surfing).  All the little 10-year-olds in front of me made it look hard, but if you’ve ever been tubing (pulled behind a speedboat on an innertube across a lake), this was a cakewalk.  A cakewalk on water.

Saturday we had a nice brunch with the relatives, and then I took Husband on a date of surprises.  First surprise - a stop at the Mall of America where robots (which people built) were fighting.  We only got to see two fights before one robot exploded into flames and they had to take a break to clean up.  Sad.

Then I took him to three places for lunch.  Yes, three.  Place number one was the wrong place; they directed us to place #2, which was too expensive, so we went to P.F. Chang’s.  Husband had never been there before anyway, and he loved it.  We shared Mu Shu Pork and some kind of lamb–yummy!

Lastly, I took him to the iMax theater at the Minnesota Zoo and we saw a 3-D movie about the Okavango Delta (in the Kalahari desert).  My goodness has 3-D technology improved since I last saw one (circa 1995)!  I could almost feel the weeds brushing across my face and reach out and touch the cracks in the elephant’s tusk.  It was 45 minutes of African fantasy!  And I had coupons for everything but lunch.

Husband liked it all, so: SUCCESS!  And I had a good time, too.  We decided we need to “date” more often.

———–

How about you people?  What do you do for fun (cheap) dates?

Bad Poetry Monday - 15 April 28, 2008

And some announcements at the end…

A Mother’s Treasures

She lifts the lid
To discover

Chubby hands exploring her own (upon examination) now-weathered thumb

Gentle sighs from tired lips

Kissable, soft cheeks hiding a delicate, ticklish neck

Shining eyes, so adoring

Giggles and wiggles meaning “Come play with me!”

She closes the lid and locks away
These treasures in her heart

————-

A couple of announcements…

Randi at I Have to Say will be hosting her Recipe Box Swap this week, and this month’s theme is…COOKIES AND BARS! Be still, my beating heart. I will be posting some sort of tasty treat for you (and her other readers), and if you want to play along, head over there to get some linkage for this cool graphic:

Second, I will be hosting a contest later this week. A photo-captioning contest, to be exact. So get yourself hyped up and your creative juices flowing. A not-as-fantabulous-as-PW’s-but-still-cool prize will be awarded, too.

Q & A, Part III April 27, 2008

Happy Sabbath, everyone! Some more questions answered below…

Lulu (who should get a blog, right everyone?) asked, “In the spirit of Earth Day, what are your favorite ways to be green in your everyday life?”

I actually didn’t celebrate Earth Day in any special way, but I’ve been an avid reducer/reuser/recycler since I was little.

“What are your tips for a fit and healthy pregnancy? Mr. Right and I have what we call a ‘five year plan’ for wedding, house buying, and first baby, but I say it’s never too early to start getting pointers!”

It’s never too early to start building for a healthy pregnancy. The healthier you are when you get pregnant, the healthier you’ll be when you are pregnant. As a general rule, I tried to eat at least 5-6 servings of fruits and veggies a day in addition to taking my Juice Plus+. I worked out at the gym 3 nights a week and walked or ran outside 20-30 minutes on the off days. Even in the winter, Husband and I would suit up and go out for a walk. I continued this patter when I was pregnant, and worked out (lifting weights and everything) up until the day before I went into labor. You might get detractors (“Don’t you think you’re hurting the baby?”), but as long as you keep your heart rate at a safe level and don’t exercise to the point of exhaustion, you’re probably doing your body a favor. Another helpful thing to me was joining an online forum. The one I used was called “Babyfit” and it was helpful to have other experienced and first-time mothers to answer my questions.

“What’s your typical Starbucks order?”

You know, I’m not much of a coffee drinker (water, now that’s my bag), but when I do order something, it’s usually whatever the current seasonal beverage is.

Jamie asked, “What is your favorite book?”

When I was a child, it was probably a toss-up between Matilda by Roald Dahl or The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Now? I’ve been reading nothing but non-fiction for so long…it’s hard to say. I read the Bible most regularly, so I’ll go with that.

“How did you and your husband meet?”

This is a rather odd and long story. To make it short, he was coming to the same college as me, and my aunt said, “There’s this boy from my church coming to your college. I want him to get in with ‘good people’ so you should invite him to Campus Crusade.” I did just that at the beginning of the year, and dusted off my hands, duty done. I didn’t speak to him again until Christmas break, when we were assigned to the same discussion group at CC’s Christmas Conference. Our group really hit it off and hung out a lot back at school, and we became good friends. Then during May (finals week) he asked me out.

“What do you like most/least about being a mom?”

Most: I can be having the worst day ever, and just a smile from my baby girl brightens it incredibly. She really is a delight.

Least: I don’t deal well with lack of sleep, and her schedule and mine…they don’t always run parallel tracks.

“How many pairs of shoes do you own?”

This is going to sound terrible, but keep in mind that I have shoes that date back to my high school years and probably 10 pair are $1.99 flip-flops from Wal-Mart…I have 40 pairs.

Jenni asked, “Bein’ as how you’re from Minnesota, do you have any Scandinavian blood coursing through your veins? You look blond and blue-eyed, but that could be German as well…”

You’re correct. I’m mostly Swedish, but I also have bits and pieces of these:

English
Irish
Scottish
Norwegian
French-Canadian-Indian
German
Ukrainian

How’s that for a mutt?

Thanks everyone, this was fun, and not as intimidating as I thought. Once again, if you asked a question, consider yourself “tagged” to do the same thing on your own blog, if you so choose.

Flat Stanley…Saturday? A Visit with Natalie! April 12, 2008

I am so sorry that this post is a day late (in fact, I might even post it again next week because it’s so stinking cute).  Natalie even made a VIDEO!  So head over here to read about Flat Stan’s visit with her and her family.

Second, as you may have guessed, the reason this post is a day late is that we made it up north on Friday!  Can’t say it was pleasant driving, but at least we didn’t have to turn back again.  So I’m going to be vegging out here, letting my mom cook for me, wait on me hand and foot, and entertain my baby while I veg doing very productive things. 

Betcha Bite a Chip April 6, 2008

I met my husband coming down the hallway with a drink in his hand and a cookie in his mouth last night. I was carrying my laptop, but I drew toward him and tried to take a bit of the cookie. He stretched his neck out so I couldn’t reach him. I backed him completely against the wall and said, “I want you,” and started licking his neck like a dog. He was laughing/crying at this point, so I was able to snatch a bite of the cookie.

He scampered off, whimpering, and said, “You raped my cookie!”

Bad Poetry Monday - 12 (a.k.a. The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For…) March 24, 2008

I found it.  The creme de la creme of my poetry.  As bad as it is, it sparks such fond memories that I can’t help but LOVE it.  I will dissect it post-poem.  So here it is…

Pop Tarts: The Food of the New Generation*

Pop Tarts.

They live in my tummy.
Why?
Because I ate them.
They tasted good.
Yummy, yummy, yummy.
I have Pop Tarts in my tummy.
Strawberry is the flavor.
The flavor that tops them all!  Non-frosted please.

Made of cells.
Cells are good.
Yummy Pop Tart cells.

Eat them!
Love them!
Give some to me cuz…
I love them too!

———–

Tell me, where can you find better poetry than that?  So honest.  So raw.  So cutting edge.

In high school I ran with a very…creative crowd.  My friend Jana and I would spend almost every day at each other’s houses.  While some of our friends held down summer jobs, we made creativity our job.  We would bake cakes and color the batter four different colors, then swirl them together.   We built villages out of legos.  We golfed almost daily.  We made many, many collages.  We drew cartoons (man, if I could find those, that would be another awesome post).  We made apple pies in creative forms and ate it for breakfast.  We watched her sister practice riding her unicycle from our perch on the roof.  We went ice-blocking.  We played tennis*.  And we wrote bad poetry about rubber chickens and beatniks and food we liked (case in point) and obviously, about whatever we were learning in science (hence the mention of cells).  Jana probably grew up and continued being artsy and cool.  Me, I’m average.  But I revel in memories of when I was artsy and cool…

*While the content of this poem reflected my opinion at the time written, keep in mind that this was before I knew a single thing about nutrition.  All I knew was activity burns calories.  And I was active.  The end.

**The fact that we played golf and tennis makes us sound like we were preppies at a country club, which is not true.  We played golf for free (well, on our parents’ membership, which cost only like $250 for the whole family for the entire season), and we played tennis at the public courts near my house where you had to insert quarters to buy time on the lights at night.

p.s. I now prefer my Strawberry Pop Tarts frosted on the rare occasion that I eat them.

Recipe Box Swap - Chick-Pea Pilaf March 5, 2008

Randi is hosting her monthly Recipe Box Swap. The theme this month is money-saving recipes. Probably the greatest benefit of eating vegetarian (which we try to do at least 5 or so nights a week) is that it is healthy. Don’t get me started on meat. Or other animal products, for that matter. A secondary benefit is that it is CHEAP! Don’t let marketers fool you into thinking that prepackaged, preservative-filled foods are somehow more economical than beans, lentils and fresh, raw fruits and veggies. Stepping off soapbox…

Here’s a great recipe from The New American Heart Association Cookbook. Both Husband and I love it!

Chick-Pea Pilaf

1/2 to 3/4 cup dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes

1 cup boiling water

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

10-ounce package frozen green peas, thawed

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

15.5-oz can no-salt-added chick-peas, rinsed and drained

3 oz. low-fat feta cheese

Put the tomatoes in a small bowl and add the boiling water. Set aside for about 10 minutes to soften.

Drain the tomatoes, saving the liquid in a 2-cup measuring cup. Chop the tomatoes and set aside.

Add enough water to the tomato liquid to equal 2 cups. Pour into a medium saucepan.

Rinse the quinoa under cold water; drain. Stir the quinoa into the saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Pour in the oil and swirl to coat the bottom. When the oil is hot, add the green peas, garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chick-peas. Heat through, about 5 minutes.

To serve, stir together the tomatoes, quinoa, and chick-pea mixture. Spoon onto a large serving platter. Crumble the feta on top.

*****Editorial note*****

I don’t us as much red pepper flakes as it calls for–that’s a little too spicy for those of Scandinavian descent, dontcha know.

Babani’s Kurdish Restaurant - A Review February 10, 2008

We went to a Kurdish Restaurant in St. Paul on Friday night with some friends.  Husband and I love to try new foods, and when I try something I like, I love to pass on the good word.

The moment we walked in the door, I got very excited.  While not a dive, the place had a comfortable atmosphere.  The main part of the restaurant held a few booths and tables.  An adjacent room had several more tables; we assumed it was a party room of some sort.  Max capacity is probably 50 people.  It had an “ethnic downtown loft” feel to it, with an exposed brick wall, peachy-orange paint and blue trim on the rest, and decor of family photos (and possibly pets?  There was a small framed picture of a goat behind me…).

The menu was short, with only a few appetizers, soups, salads and 10 entrees.  It also had a really cute story of how the restaurant started on the front.  We decided on the family style option, where for $15.95 per person, we received the Naska Nan Wa Paneer Bread (yum–though I somehow managed to get feta cheese all over the table and on my forehead), a salad sampler (I think my favorite was the Tabouli), a cup of soup each (two of us got Niskena, two got the Mahagic) and five entrees to split amongst the four of us.  I think this is a great way to go if you want to try a variety of items.  The five entrees we tried were Kubay Sawar, Sheik Babani, Kubay Brinj, Chicken Tawa and something else that I don’t think is on the menu I linked to.  All were tasty, but not “oh my gosh I will never eat this again” different.  What we noticed most was though we were full and satisfied, we didn’t feel icky, as one would after eating a giant bowl of pasta or greasy chicken wings.

The service was excellent.  They brought out our bread, then our soup and salad just as we were finishing the bread (it wasn’t the type of bread that you would necessarily want to accompany your soup and salad).  The entrees came quickly as well, almost too quickly, as we ran out of space for all the dishes on the table!   The server was helpful but not overly friendly (as if begging for a tip—I can’t stand that), and attentively filled our water glasses as needed.  We were going to try the Kurdish lemonade, but we forgot.  Oh well…guess we’ll have to go back!

Even if you are not normally an adventurous eater, I would recommend trying Babani’s.

Overall score: 4.5 yums out of 5
Pros: Location, decor, authenticity, fast service
Cons: Parking, table space