Same ol' same ol' advice for February Heart Month

[tim-from-pa]

http://www.modbee.com/2013/02/15/2580645/february-gets-to-the-heart-of.html

See? I'm not making things up. They are offering the same hokey advice that people have been dutifully following for years waiting in lines at Wal Marts for their cheap meds while buying foods that "put a little love in your heart" and fat free yogurt jingles while in reality they are sicker and fatter than ever. And this is the same advice I have been turning around 180 degrees as is shown in my many posts.

The problem, as I see it, are processed foods void of nutrients while real, natural foods and even vitamins/mineral supplements are sadly lacking.

It is a known, show-able fact that the American Hear Association pushes the former and neglects the latter. Neglects is actually a weak word. I would say "attacks" is better.

As soon as they are really serious and stop pushing thier own political agendas and other power/money trips they have, then I'll start to listen. But in the meantime, take it with a "grain of salt", that is, if they don't think it's too much sodium for ya.

 

[faeriecat]

Tim from pa, I watched a documentary the other day ... "Hungry for change" I think ... that you might find interesting. Basically they were talking about how folks are starving for nutrients so eat constantly. They did push juicing a bit much for me (while I may look into that to up my vegetable intake, I'm certainly not going to live on that for X days).

Its so easy to just get the processed foods, the quick to cook/easy to serve. And folks are all about the easy/quick/cheap because we are so busy these days. I wanted to make hummus this weekend, I had a devil of a time finding one of the ingrediants (Tahini). I did find it though finally, but now I have to wash the food processor and make a mess and yeah ... its not convieniant.

Sigh

 

[tim-from-pa]

Tim from pa, I watched a documentary the other day ... "Hungry for change" I think ... that you might find interesting. Basically they were talking about how folks are starving for nutrients so eat constantly. They did push juicing a bit much for me (while I may look into that to up my vegetable intake, I'm certainly not going to live on that for X days).

Its so easy to just get the processed foods, the quick to cook/easy to serve. And folks are all about the easy/quick/cheap because we are so busy these days. I wanted to make hummus this weekend, I had a devil of a time finding one of the ingrediants (Tahini). I did find it though finally, but now I have to wash the food processor and make a mess and yeah ... its not convieniant. Sigh

Yes I understand the convenience factor, and that opens up another subject in and of itself as to why we are so busy at our jobs, doing over time, then killing ourselves running the kids to sports, or band practice, or whatever else at nights leaving no recharge time to oneself let alone time to make anything. I guess the prophet Daniel had that right about people running to and fro. If there's anything I hate it's hysteria and arm flailing running around. Some people actually think there's something wrong with you if you so much as look comfortable for a few minutes and don't act like it's mayhem the way they do. Usually these types get hit suddenly with the realization one day when they get a major illness that they should have slowed down some.

Let me tell you how we make quick salads every day.
First off, get yourself a good salad spinner. Not only can you wash and get the water off the lettuce, but it's fun to watch and stores lots of diced lettuce.
Then..... dice up veggies such as onions, peppers, carrots, celery and the like and place the cut up pieces in sealed tupperware. See what happened? One effectively made a buffet. Grab some lettuce and then sprinkle some of each of the diced up veggies on a plate in no time flat. And it's good for several servings. One can use some quiet "down time" at the end of the day to prepare salads.

This is what I eat for lunch everyday. I put the salad into a square tupperware container, and then the toppings separately in a smaller container set inside, and yet another for the dressing. I'll separate a piece of meat on the top to make one nice compact package salad. I'll put all this stuff on and dice up the meat later at lunch time (thus assuring a fresh, crisp salad). Nobody wants a soggy salad at lunch which is why I keep them separated in little containers. Time to make such a salad: probably about 3 minutes every night when I come home from work and put it in the frig for the next day.

The idea is to cut up one's veggies in bulk as opposed to making it each time. And this principle can apply to other things as well. For example, I often grill up several pieces of meat to reheat later, or to dice up on the salads.

 

[tim-from-pa]

Let me give everyone some insight how we eat here, and try to find any (heart-healthy) fault in it, PLUS, it's simple to make for families as well.

Remember the veggies I diced up and the meat I grilled all at once? OK. Hold that thought.

Breakfast. Heat some of the diced veggies in a skillet with olive oil. Crack open lots of eggs (whatever you need) and mix them up pouring into the skillet. As the eggs cook, one can add toppings of cheese, spices or whatever else. Makes good omelets. In addition, heat some of the steak you made earlier --- dice up and serve with the eggs. Nice steak and eggs breakfast with some veggies. Serve with OJ --- probably far better to squeeze your own two oranges. I can make eggs faster than it takes to toast bread.

Lunch. Try the salad I mentioned in the previous post.

Dinner. Grill some meat (steak, fish or chicken), and nuke some hot veggies. Serve veggies with a liberal amount of butter melted over them if desired. And for cryin' out loud! Eat the chicken WITH THE SKIN!! To separate the two and feed it to the cats is as lame-brained as separating the egg yolks from the albumen to "watch one's cholesterol".

Snacks. Unoiled nuts, as natural as possible, and unsweetened yogurt sweetened yourself. If you have to get the whole stuff, maybe Greek yogurt with a minimum of sweetener and low carbs (you don't want too much added sugars or anything). Also some fruit such as an apple, or berries are good.

vitamins/minerals. Take lots, and I'm not saying those one-a-days or Centrum 50+ either. Several times the RDA of vitamins and at least RDA for minerals, if not more of some (for example, if you have blood sugar issues maybe twice or more of the RDA of chromium and magnesium). I can't stress this enough since even the foods above are subject to man's altering, although far better than processed foods. This makes up for any lack.

Where's the breads and pasta (grain stuff?). There is none, but if you must have, then do as my wife and make flaxseed muffins or get Ezekiel bread --- once piece is enough to fill you. Not the 6-11 servings of crap they advocate pushing on the populace. One piece probably has the nutritional value of several of their cattle-feed pieces which only leaves one hungry and wanting more calories.

 

[faeriecat]

I too do the pre-diced salads routine. Or, I'll pre-dice a bunch of veggies for several stir-fry dinners. I do eat grains, I've been mostly stamping out things like HFCS and finding whole alternatives. It has made a change, just getting rid of the HFCS. :P

And I totally agree with the oh so busy you have to be in 3 places at once lifestyle. What's the point. Seriously. You are so busy running redlights from point A to point B you don't enjoy anything. How enjoyable is your kids' soccer game if you have to stay on your iThing or Droid the entire time keeping up with other kid's basketball game and/or work "issues".

I actually had a boss once, several years ago when cell phones were still bricks and laptops were not convieniant, ask me if I planned on taking the laptop and cell with me on vacation. I said no. He said why not. I'm like you approved my vacation and I told you what I was doing ... a 7 day 120 mile horse back ride across part of Iowa ... where exactly do you expect me to plug that laptop in? Dixie (the horse) and I had fun, and look, the world didn't end by the time I came back to "reality".