Tomorrow is Superbowl Sunday. We’re just over a month into 2012 and already I’m seeing that the gym isn’t quite so full of all of the resolution folks. But if you resolved to make healthier choices this year (or you have a healthy eating theme) and you are having trouble figuring out how to navigate in a world where most people don’t make healthy choices, Superbowl Sunday is a great opportunity to put your values into action.

These ideas aren’t specific, of course, to Superbowl parties, but can be used at any party. It just seems for some reason that a gathering around sports is more likely to include crappy food. What’s up with that?

1. Pick a designated driver. OK, that’s not a food choice but tomorrow ranks high in traffic fatalities due to alcohol. Don’t drive even after a few drinks, it’s not worth it. You never know how impaired another driver will be and you need your reflexes intact.
2. Decide ahead of time how much you want to drink, and really, if you want to drink at all. It’s remarkable when you’re in a room full of people drinking beer how your hand just always seems to have a beer in it. Not to say you shouldn’t have beer, but it’s empty calories and you just might be engaged enough in the game that a glass of water would suit your needs just fine.
3. Call ahead. If you are wondering if the host will have healthy food available, give a call. A simple “Hey, I’m curious to know what’s on the menu tomorrow.” can go a long way to helping you make your game plan.
4. Bring a dish to share. Depending upon how well you know the host you can ask about bringing something or just bring it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve brought something healthy to a party full of junk food and have had person after person tell me they’re so glad to have it available.
5. Eat first. I do this all the time. I’ll eat a big salad with some protein on it, leftovers from the fridge, or in a pinch I’ll stop and grab something to eat on the way. That way I can skip eating at the party, or just graze. A little bit of unhealthy food is way better than a lot of unhealthy food.
6. Bring your own food. I recently attended a wedding with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread in my purse. And an auction with whole grain crackers in my coat pocket. I’m not whipping it out in front of everyone but if it’s a priority to eat healthfully, what’s the harm in slipping out for a sec? No harm at all, I say.  You know what? Now that I think of it there are plenty of times (at a casual gathering) I do just bring my own food and load it up onto a plate instead of loading up what’s on the buffet table. Again, I wouldn’t do that at a wedding but a Superbowl party? Sure.

Enjoy! (and go Giants!)

-Dr Samantha

Is 2012 going to be the year you make sweeping lifestyle changes for a healthier you? Great! Find the support you need to identify your goals and make a path to get there. If that’s too much, think about small changes. They add up quickly if you can stick to them. Here are some ideas for the coming year. One a month? Pick 3 this year? Think about what your goals are and which of these will help you get to where you want to be.

I’ll be fleshing all of these out on the blog over the coming year. Comment with your successes and ideas!

1. Move your body. We have more than ample information now that proves that even increasing your movement by 30 minutes a day can have a profound effect on your health.
2. Increase your vegetables. Eat 3-4 cups of low carb vegetables a day.  Make it at least a cup of dark leafy greens. Eat roasted veggies for snack. Have 2 servings of veggies with dinner. At least a cup per veggie. Try new recipes if you get bored.
3. Get enough sleep. 8 hours is ideal. 7 is minimum. I need 9 and know many other folks who do as well. If you think you’re rested enough with 6 or 7, cut out coffee and see if you’re still ‘well rested.’
4. Cut down on TV time. The average American watches over 4 hours a day of TV. Once we add screen time it can easily double or triple. We just finished a challenge of no TV for 6 months. It’s not as hard as you think.
5. Drink more water. And green tea, it’s water with added benefits.
6. Take vacations. Even if you can’t afford to get away, take a break from your day to day.
7. Increase your fiber intake. Fiber is important for healthy digestion. And yes you should have a BM at least once a day.
8. Eat 3 meals a day. Or more if you prefer smaller meals. Eating regularly leads to healthier eating as you don’t get famished and compromise what you know is a good choice.
9. Plan ahead for meals. If you plan ahead you’re much less likely to grab junk. Period.
10. Take time for yourself every day. Many of us spend the greater part of our lives taking care of others. It’s a good thing, in my opinion, but if you don’t take care of yourself then it’s too easy to burn out and either become resentful or simply too exhausted to manage.
11. Stretch. Flexibility is an important part of good health. It prevents injury and helps you retain a sense of balance into your older years.
12. Breathe. Every hour take 3 deep breaths. Set your phone alarm to go off every hour as a reminder.  You’ll be amazed at how this resets the tone of your day.

There are 1,440 minutes in every day. Can you schedule 30 of them for physical activity?

I just watched a twenty-minute YouTube video about the single most important thing we can do for our health. Exercise. Here is the link for the video. I highly recommend sitting down with a cup of tea and checking it out.

After you watch, if it strikes a chord, pull out a piece of paper and write down first, how much you are exercising on a regular basis. Be honest with yourself. Next, look at what your goals are for exercise. A simple 150 minutes a week (for adults, and hour a day for kids) is enough to significantly impact your health. That’s the minimum. And it’s not that much. The doctor who narrates the video (Mike Evans, MD) figures that it’s half an hour a day out of 24 hours. You can do that, right? Though everything seems a trade off these days can you afford not to do it? And if you know that your health goals require more than half an hour a day of exercise? Start slowly and continue to reassess every few weeks how you might be able to make it happen. Some is better than none. Always.

Once you take a hard look at how much exercise you’re actually getting, if you’re not exercising as much as you would like, make a complete list of what gets in the way. Once you’ve exhausted the reasons, take each one and brainstorm 3 creative ways you can get around the problem. Here are a few examples.

Problem: I like to ride my bike for exercise but the baby is too young to put in a bike seat. She’d probably cry the whole time anyway.

Solutions:

1. Buy a stationary bicycle.
2. Get a trainer (stationary mount) for bicycle and turn it into a stationary bike.
3. Put on headphones while baby is sleeping, set up a video monitor to keep an eye on her without worrying about hearing the regular monitor then DANCE for 30 minutes to my favorite oldies mix.

Problem: Since I turned 40 my knees bother me if I walk for more than 20 minutes.

Solutions:

1. Walk for 20 min twice a day.
2. Walk for 20 min a day and then go to the local community center and swim for 45 minutes 3 days a week.
3. Go for acupuncture to treat knee pain.

Problem: I hate exercise.

Solutions:

1. Sign up for some classes that sound like fun…maybe tap dancing, kick boxing, ice skating?
2. Join a hiking group (look online for meetup, in local paper etc.)
3. Get a Wii.

And finally, make a schedule. Put exercise on there as if it’s just as important as an office meeting, hair coloring appointment or date night. If you need to sign up for a class or make plans with a friend, do it and be accountable. Schedule things around exercise time, after all, what’s more important, really?

Enjoy,

Dr Samantha

Hot soup on a cold fall day, nothing like it. There are quite a few steps in this recipe but it is very easy to make. You can most likely do it while you’ve got other things going on in the kitchen unless you’re a really poor multi-tasker.

Ingredients

• 2 lb butternut squash
• 1.5 lb garnet yam
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 lb bacon
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 cups simply stock (or homemade stock)
• 3 cups water
• 1 dried ancho chile
• ground chili molido
• fresh cilantro for garnish

Prep squash and yams

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut squash in half lengthwise, take out seeds.
2. Paint or rub the face of squash with olive oil. Place face down on a baking sheet.
3. Stab yams with a fork a few times, wrap in foil and place on baking sheet with the squash.
4. Place sheet in oven.
5. They are done when fork tender typically 45-60 minutes.
6. Scoop insides into a bowl to reserve.

Prep bacon

1. Cook bacon until crispy.
2. Cool and dice.
3. Place 2 TBSP bacon fat in a soup pot. I used my cast-iron enamel Dutch oven for this job.

Assemble soup

1. Cut onion into medium dice.
2. Mince 3-4 garlic cloves.
3. Turn stove to medium heat and add onion and garlic to bacon fat.
4. Sauté until soft.
5. Add squash and yam, water, and stock to pot.
6. Cut one dried ancho chile into thin strips over soup.
7. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes.

Finishing touches

1. Blend with hand blender or remove to blender, blend, and return to pot.
2. Add bacon.
3. Sprinkle with chile molido to taste. I add mine per each bowl because I like it really spicy and my five year old only likes it a little spicy.
4. Garnish with a sprinkle and a sprig of fresh cilantro.

I’m not sure if this soup freezes well but we couldn’t try this time- we ate it all.

Serve with a protein and a green vegetable for a complete, well-rounded meal.

Enjoy!

-Dr Samantha

When we’re planning a party for my son J we have to keep a number of things in mind.

First, my son has reactions to foods. He isn’t dangerously allergic to anything but he does get hives and rashes from soy, dairy, and rice. Oh, and from strawberries, mangos and oranges.

We also care about feeding him healthy food, and have a next to zero junk food policy. I remember when my son was two he was at a birthday party and another mom looked at me wide eyed when I told her he wouldn’t be having any cake, she said “But children need cake!” Like? Sure. But need? I wondered for a bit whether I was depriving my two year old somehow by not giving him cake. I mean he certainly gets sweets upon occasion but 99% of the time it’s whole grain and natural sugar. So I pulled out the muffin I’d brought from home- whole spelt flour, no sweetener except for bananas, and only 5 ingredients. He happily gobbled it down while the other children ate a cake from Costco. Within 20 minutes most of the other kids were amped out of their minds. I decided pretty swiftly that depriving my child of feeling like he was totally out of control of his emotions is not deprivation after all.

Fast forward to my son’s fifth birthday party last month. My husband let J make the guest list so we ended up with 17 children at the party (and their 20 adults.) And yes, I know the rule about age +1. Talk to my husband. Anyway, due to the crowd size I decided to order cupcakes from a local bakery instead of making them. Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free cupcakes sweetened with agave. Shocker of all shockers the kids loved them. The pediatrician with the kid who eats exclusively cheese sticks, peanut butter sandwiches and bars watched with his jaw dropped “he’s eating it!” Now these were still cupcakes mind you, but they were mini-cupcakes and they were whole grain.

And then there was lunch. Lesson learned: don’t book the climbing gym for your kid’s birthday party in the 11:30-1:30 slot. Why? I had to provide lunch for those 17 children and their 20 adults. Our friends did a party here and had pizza. Not an option for us. But I wasn’t about to get the thing catered and it was a busy week. So I planned a simple meal:

1. Sandwiches. Almond butter and jelly on whole spelt bread and herbed free-range turkey and avocado on whole spelt bread.

2. Veggie plate. Organic snap peas, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes and sliced cucumber. Two kinds of hummus for dipping.

3. Organic corn chips and salsa.

4. Boxes of vanilla coconut milk.

5. Water.

I also brought a loaf of gluten-free bread and more sandwich fixings because I knew a few kids were sensitive to gluten. Oh, and before I made the menu I checked with the mom whose kid had nut allergies and she said it was no issue to serve the almond butter. She was also thrilled not to have to worry about the cupcakes. And several parents pulled me aside to thank me for serving healthy food.

It is so common for me to hear from parents that their children won’t eat vegetables or whole grains. There are most certainly some children with sensory issues who really can’t bring themselves to eat certain foods because of texture or taste. This is a real issue that can have a profound impact on health. Most children, however, eat the way they eat because we feed them the way we feed them. A child who has never had white bread won’t typically have a problem with whole grain. Same for pasta, tortillas, etc. In the next few weeks I’ll post about some tools for helping our children develop a taste for whole grains, healthy meats, and fresh fruits and vegetables including (gasp!) dark leafy greens.

I was a vegan for years. Though I felt comfortable with the idea that humans by nature are omnivores I just couldn’t wrap my head around how animals were being treated on large commercial farms.

This went along fine for a while but I eventually found myself in a bit of a pickle as I developed sensitivities to soy (couldn’t digest it) and wheat (made me very tired.) These were my main sources of protein. Around this time I also got mono and my body just wasn’t able to kick it. One of my doctors suggested that I try eating more protein (as in meat) and I was so desperate I decided to give it a try with the caveat that I would eat it only if I knew the animals hadn’t been subjected to unhealthy or unkind conditions.

I started by reintroducing fish and found my body thrived on the protein. Over the next 5 years I gradually added in more meat. I was thrilled to find that I lost weight and gained back the energy I’d lost years before.

We started buying cow shares about five years ago and this year branched out to lamb as well. And now there’s Lyf at Flying Fish Co. He runs, well, a meat shack on SE Hawthorne. I’ll write more about his place later but suffice it to say we now have access to just about any kind of seasonal fish or meat you can think of- all ethically raised and slaughtered.

This week for our menu we wanted to use some of our lamb so my husband and I curled up with my mother’s day present Good Meat. We found a meatloaf recipe that called for lamb and beef. I substituted buffalo for the beef so there was a combination of both fatty and lean meat.

Ingredients:

• 3 pieces of stale whole grain bread- we used Nature Bake spelt bread
• ¼ cup MimicCreme- the recipe calls for cream but we don’t eat dairy in our home
• 1 small onion
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 carrot
• 2 eggs, beaten
• leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
• 10 chopped sage leaves
• 1 tsp sea salt
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 pound grass fed and finished buffalo (original recipe calls for beef)
• 1 pound pastured lamb
• 4 slices of bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Either food-process or otherwise grind or crumble bread. We only had fresh bread so I crumbled it. Pour cream over bread to mix/soften.
2. Cut onion, celery and carrot into very, very small dice. Alternatively you could use a food processor but I really like the process of dicing and have a tendency to over-pulsing.
3. Chop sage.
4. Add vegetables and herbs to bread/cream mixture. Hand toss.
5. Add 2 beaten eggs. Hand toss.
6. Add meat. Mix until uniform.
7. Press mixture into 10 inch cast iron skillet.
8. Pat down to shape.
9. Criss-cross the bacon on top of the meatloaf.
10. Cook for about an hour or until center is heated to 155 degrees. Let sit for 15 min before serving or storing in refrigerator.

Note: I drained the extra oil out of the pan with a turkey baster as our ‘loaf’ gave off over half a cup of fat.

My plan is to make a tomato paste sauce for this dish as when I was a child my mother served it that way. I’m a little afraid to ask her what she put in it but I’ll keep you posted.

Enjoy!

Dr. Samantha

Edited to add: My husband had a brilliant idea to add nutritional information to the recipes! This meatloaf serves 8 and per serving 311calories, 26 g protein and 11 g of carbs. I’m not including fat because I’m not sure if it’s accurate as I drained off such an enormous amount after cooking.

From gracelaced.com's post on the same dish!

Farro is a grain that is common in Italian restaurants and delis. You can find it here in the health food store and occasionally at restaurants- here in Portland, anyway. The grain is a bit nutty and is related very closely to wheat. It is not a gluten-free grain but it does vary from wheat enough that for some people who are sensitive to wheat it is a reasonable alternative. Since as a rule I recommend people vary the grains that they eat (all the foods they eat, actually) I have been doing a bit of experimenting with recipes that are farro based.

This recipe was adapted from a recipe on the site 101cookbooks, the blog by cookbook author Heidi Swanson. I stumbled upon it looking for a farro recipe and am really looking forward to trying more of her recipes.

The original recipe is here. Below is the recipe adjusted to our taste preferences- including less grain more squash, less salt, more walnuts, more onions, less oil and hold the cheese!

Ingredients

• 1 cup farro
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2.5 cups simply stock (pacific brand organic chicken stock)
• 4 cups butternut squash, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 large onions cut into slices
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1.5 cup walnuts, deeply toasted
• .25 cup goat cheese to crumble on top (optional)

Cooking

1. Preheat oven to 325.

2. Combine the farro and stock in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the farro is tender, usually about 45 minutes but maybe longer. Start tasting after about 40 minutes as you want it to retain some firmness and not get too mushy. When it’s done, pull off the stove, drain, rinse and set aside.

3. While the farro is cooking toss the squash, onion, and thyme with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place on the middle rack of the oven for about 45 minutes or until soft and sweet with slight browning or caramelizing on the surface of the squash. Toss every 10 minutes or so to get even cooking.  When the squash is sweet and soft remove from the oven, let cool a bit, and chop the onions into small pieces.

4. And while the squash is cooking you can toast the walnuts. This can be done in one of two ways. You can chop them and lay them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven under the broiler. Or,  you can toast them on a cast iron pan on the stovetop. I’ve caught a few too many trays of nuts on fire in my oven so I’m a stovetop kind of nut toaster.

5. In a large bowl gently toss it all together. Taste and add a bit of salt if necessary.

6. Top with goat cheese if you’re the dairy eatin’ kind.

We’re serving this with wilted kale and nutritional yeast on the side. You could also add kale to this dish, I would imagine, with a great result. If you’re looking to serve a protein with it, I think roasted chicken would be just lovely. Or even a nice piece of salmon or steelhead with a balsamic glaze.

Enjoy!

-Dr Samantha

The other day I was hungry and saw that there was some turkey bacon in the fridge. Mayo just didn’t sound good so I slapped some Earth Balance on spelt bread and made myself a delicious butter and bacon sandwich. I thought it was funny so I posted on my facebook status “Butter and bacon sandwich for lunch, is that so wrong?” I had lots of support and then my husband posted “Not when it’s Earth Balance and turkey bacon.” I got some interesting comments following his post (kind of mocking) and actually found myself embarrassed and worried that people would think I meant to pretend that I’d eaten ‘real’ bacon. For the record, I would have had a real bacon and butter sandwich had it been in my house- we just happened to have turkey bacon that day. We go back and forth by whim, mostly. But it got me thinking. I love bacon, but I’m perfectly happy to eat turkey bacon. I love butter, but I’m perfectly happy to eat Earth Balance. I have been pondering: what is it that makes a good healthy substitute and what doesn’t?

When my son was two and a half he saw a picture of a mastodon in a book. He said “Dat’s not a elephant, but it’s similuh.” Right. Similar. Not the same.  So think of that when you’re trying to replace foods. If you don’t expect an elephant to be the same as a mastodon you won’t be disappointed.

I’ll start with dairy products they are probably the most common foods I recommend people take out of their diets (shhh, don’t tell the dairy council!) Please note there are many other brands that are not listed here but these are my favorites, and not-so-favorites.

1. Cream. There is product on the market called MimicCreme. They changed something a few months back and it seems thicker than it used to be but it still works pretty well. This stuff comes in a small aseptic package and can be used in any recipe that calls for cream. You can also use full fat coconut milk for cream in some recipes where having a coconut taste isn’t weird. There is also a soy creamer by Silk that works very well in hot drinks. I don’t like it for cooking and Silk is not organic and sources from China. Both concerns for me. There is also a decent coffee creamer by SoDelicious made from coconut. If you like flavored coffee and like coconut there are a few different flavors to choose from. I wouldn’t cook with this stuff though.Well, if I baked I might but I’m not much of a baker.

2. Cheese. This is the tough one. There is no “substitute” for cheese that tastes like cheese. It’s sad, but it’s reality. I’ve been off of dairy, except butter, for over a decade. Of all the foods I don’t eat, cheese is the one I miss most. After years of going back and forth I finally decided that it’s not worth being phlegmy or having acne- both inevitable when I eat even a small amount of dairy.

Most of the soy cheeses and other fake cheeses contain casein, which is dairy protein. The ones without (vegan) are as a rule, imo, inedible. There is however, one exception: Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella. It’s soy based so if you avoid soy it’s a no-go.  Do not try to melt this stuff onto a sandwich though, it won’t work very well. It does make a decent ‘cheese’ sauce though for pasta or the like. Just put it in a saucepan with a little bit of water and it will melt right down. I mix it with Earth Balance and a little bit of MimicCreme to make a cheesy sauce for pasta. I’ll work on the recipe and post it in the next few weeks. My favorite by far though is Daiya cheese. The mozz and pepper jack flavors taste good and melt great. My family doesn’t like the flavor with pizza (though there are a number of pizza places serving Daiya these days) but we love it melted on chips, burritos, eggs, etc. My husband likes to make a breakfast sandwich with bacon, egg, spinach and Daiya grilled on spelt. That’s a little heavy for my taste in the morning but I love watching the sheer joy when he eats it.

3. Yogurt. As you can probably tell by now I’m not the biggest fan of soy products as substitutes (fermented products like tempeh are another story, I’ll post on that later this fall) but this seems to be the most available alternative to yogurt. There  are a few brands but I find them all cloying and texturally problematic (just read this post to a friend and she retched when I mentioned soy yogurt.) There is a relatively new coconut yogurt by So Delicious that is good but pretty high in sugar. Recently I found a new product called Amande. It is an almond milk yogurt that is gluten, dairy, and soy free, sweetened with fruit juice. There is no almond taste and the texture is pretty good. It is sweet too (most yogurt is, I suppose) and there is no plain flavor but it works for a yogurt fix, for sure. I am hoping they will be able to work out an unsweetened version but I’m not getting my hopes up.

4. Milk. Again the most common substitute is soy. I particularly don’t like soy milk, it is highly processed and hard to digest. That said there are many decent options for ‘milk’ on the market these days. I recommend unsweetened for most applications. If you’re drinking it straight you  may want sweetened though. My favorites in order:

Unsweetened

• Tempt Unsweetened Hemp Milk
• Pacific Foods Unsweetened Almond Milk
• So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk

Sweetened

• Pacific Foods Vanilla Hemp Milk: I actually have this with matcha green tea powder every morning. It’s my crack.
• Pacific Foods Vanilla Oat Milk
• Pacific Foods Almond Milk: I’m beginning to see a trend here.
• So Delicious Coconut Milk
• Ryza Rice Milk

There are many others. Look at the ingredients and try to pick one with less sweetener added. If you buy them at New Seasons and you hate them, they’ll take it back. They have the best return policy, ever.

5. Cottage cheese. None. Sad.

6. Cream Cheese. Tofutti has a soy cream cheese that is pretty tasty. Pick the yellow package instead of the white one as the latter has hydrogenated oils in it. Follow Your Heart also has a cream cheese substitute but I prefer the Tofutti. Try them both.

7. Ice Cream. That, my dear readers, is another post.

Enjoy!

-Dr Samantha

]]> http://www.drsamantha.com/is-it-real-or-is-it-memorex/feed/ 1 http://www.drsamantha.com/upcoming-lectures-at-new-seasons-market/ http://www.drsamantha.com/upcoming-lectures-at-new-seasons-market/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:45:25 +0000 Dr. Samantha Brody http://www.drsamantha.com/?p=4731

Please join us!

The Years Between: What Women in Their 20’s & 30’s Need to Know about Their Hormones

Women in their 20s and 30s often feel that something is out of balance with their hormones yet their physicians tell them their symptoms (PMS, depression and anxiety, weight gain, sleep problems, general fatigue and malaise, etc.) are “normal.” Instead of birth control pills, anti-depressants, or just living with your symptoms, come learn the basics about your hormones and how lifestyle and nutritional changes, as well as dietary supplements may help you feel better now, as well as prevent serious long term problems such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and breast disease.

Oh, and sorry for the late notice, I’ll get it together one of these days.

-Dr Samantha

Little so likely to be disappointing as a new gluten-free cracker. But alas, Oregon Cracker has beaten the odds! These new crackers carried by our local coop are actually delicious. So delicious, as a matter of fact, that I’ve been sitting at my computer dipping them in Earth Balance soy-free spread (we’re out of real butter) for the better part of the last half an hour. They’re not mealy, not too sweet, and best of all no nasty after taste. Gluten, soy, dairy, and corn-free to boot. My kid is allergic to rice, oddly, so he can’t eat them but the more the merrier for mom and dad.

I’d pair them with a hard cheese if I ate cheese. Ooh, a hard cheese and some quince paste. Hmmmm…

It would have made me a little happier if they had a bit more fiber but that’s a common problem with gluten-free crackers. But that is my only complaint. They’re available at People’s coop, Food Front coop and Alberta coop all in Portland. Oh, they’re locally made, in Corvalis. Bonus.