Barefoot Healthy Hippie

I know I promised another soy post next, but this is too good of a tidbit to pass up. I'll post about soy after this one!

My kids are the pickiest eaters on the planet. They eat countless tortillas with peanut butter and some days that's all. Besides starving my kids until they eat healthy--which I have done, my son, at age 3 went 45 hours without eating before he caved in and ate 5 baby carrots, it's not worth it. So, what's a mom to do?

I won a mini battle today by tricking them and I am not ashamed. Here's the recipe:

1 can pinto beans
1 cup peanut butter
honey or agave nectar to thin to the consistency you like.

I mashed it all together with a tablespoon or two of agave nectar. I did it by hand in 5 minutes, though a food processor would make it more perfect.

And the verdict: the texture is a little different, the taste is a little different, and my kids ate it anyway. The best part is, since I sweetened it, they think it's a treat!

This article explores what makes soy healthy. It's important to note that Dr. Greene, who I quoted, is teamed up with Silk Soy Milk. That makes him bias, but it doesn't change the health facts about soy.

"I love sipping a glass of organic soymilk, made from whole soybeans. This is completely different from scarfing down a bag of greasy potato chips made with partially hydrogenated soybean oil that has been chemically derived from genetically modified soy plants and different from gorging on heavily processed convenience foods containing hydrolyzed vegetable (soy) protein, textured vegetable (soy) protein, or soy protein isolates and concentrates. Is soy healthy? It depends on how we grow it, how we process it, and how we eat it. How much do we eat? What other ingredients are in our soy-containing foods? What other nutrients are in our diet? Are we allergic to soy?"
-Dr. Alan Greene from DrGreene.com

Nutritional Information

The fact is that soy has no cholesterol and is low in fat. If you are watching fat and cholesterol intake, then soy is a far healthier choice than meat. That is, whole soy, not processed soy.

The following chart is the nutritional information for whole, raw soy beans. The serving size is the yield of ten pods.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 29	(123 kJ)
% Daily Value 1
Total Fat	1.4g	2%
Sat. Fat	0.2g	1%
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	3mg	<>%
Total Carbs.	2.2g	1%
Dietary Fiber	0.8g	3%
Protein	2.6g
Calcium	39.4mg
Potassium	124mg

Compare that to the following chart, which is for 2.9 ounces of raw tofu. Notice that processing of the soy increases all catagories, good and bad.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 117	(491 kJ)
% Daily Value 1
Total Fat	7g	11%
Sat. Fat	1g	5%
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	11mg	<>%
Total Carbs.	3.5g	1%
Dietary Fiber	1.9g	7%
Protein	12.8g
Calcium	553.2mg
Potassium	192mg

The following paragraph also came from DrGreene.com. The study it sites can be found in the book, Blue Zones, which I read and loved, I would quote directly from the book except I borrowed and returned it and haven't bought my own copy yet.

"In Okinawa, Japan. more of the people live to be over 100 years old than any place else in the world. The Okinawa Centenarian Study examined lifetime eating habits of 600 residents of Okinawa who were over 100 years old. Tofu, a non-fermented soy food, has been an important part of their diet for hundreds of years. The study concludes that high consumption of whole soy foods (about two servings a day) is one of the main reasons that elderly Okinawans have 80 percent fewer heart attacks and 75 percent fewer hormone dependent cancers (including breast, prostate, ovarian and colon cancer) compared to Americans. The Okinawans also have a lower rate of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. The centenarians in the study shared several lifestyle factors, including regular physical activity and low-calorie diets containing an abundance of soy foods, vegetables and fish."

The study also concluded that their exercise and way of life had a lot to do with their longevity. These people had friends visiting them every week, they walked miles and still did a lot of their own labor. They were mostly vegetarian, maybe one meat serving a week because of expense. They also ate a lot of miso soup and tofu.

Another reason to eat soy, or be vegetarian in general (or at least cut back on meat) is that it's more sustainable than cows, chicken, fish, etc. It takes less water, less space, and less energy to grow plants than raise animals for food. It takes 8 gallons of water per pound of hamburger meat when you count up what the animal drinks and the water it takes to grow the food for the cow to eat for a lifetime. (Conscientious Cooking, a book published in the late 70s which is out of print and I wish I had.)

How to choose the right product

Up to 80% of soy beans grown in the US are genetically modified. There have not been long term studies on health risks of modification, but I wouldn't risk it for myself or my family. Organic soy beans are not modified and are not grown with pesticides or other chemicals. (One caveat is if the farm is located near a grower of modified plants there will be cross pollination so there is no guarantee of purity.)

Choose products that are made from whole soy beans, not just the isolated soy protein. Anything that is isolated is never as strong/healthy as the whole product. Herbs are a great example. Removing the salicylic acid (asprin) from the willow bark will still stop a headache, but it can cause your stomach to bleed. The whole willow bark has properties that keep your stomach from bleeding as well as stopping the headache.

There are soy milks that are made from whole beans, and some that are made from just the soy protein so read your labels!


Everything in Balance

Eating too much soy is not healthy, and eating pizza at every meal and then adding a cup of soy milk to your diet won't benefit you either. Over processing and over indulging in any food is a poor health choice.

How much is too much? No one really knows. I found sources recommending two servings per day and others say not more than two per week.

The bottom line: Whole soy is the best choice, read labels, buy organic.


The next article will be SOY: The Bad

This article comes from a trusted source, Green Smoothie Girl

This is a good base article to start understanding soy better. I will be following it up with my own research and information in the coming weeks. One thing I can add to this article right now is there are some small girls, who have been fed soy products as a large portion of their diet (i.e. soy milk), who have developed prematurely. This includes menstruating before they hit adolescence and developing breasts early as well. I personally knew of a girl who got her period in the second grade, it scared the daylights out of her because no one educates their kids that young about things that should be happening years later!


The Danger of Soy Products

Myth #6: “Soy products are a health food (especially for women).”

As more and more data has emerged in recent years about the dangers of eating a diet rich in animal products, soy product offerings have exploded at health food and other grocery stores as a “wonder food.” They include soy protein powders and bars and meat replacements (hot dogs, burger patties, and more). America’s soybean growers have hit the motherlode and now sell waste products of the soybean as “soy isolate protein powder”: this food is refined, processed, and separated from the whole food. Even the whole food is problematic, and the danger of soy product must come to light.

We have been told the Japanese have lower rates of breast, uterus, and prostate cancer, and that is attributed to high soy consumption. Unfortunately, Japanese people (and Asians) have higher rates of esophageal, pancreatic, liver, and stomach cancers. Soy causes these cancers in lab animals. Also, the Japanese tend to eat fermented whole-soy products such as miso, tempeh, and tofu-not refined products made from soy oil and isolated proteins.

The isoflavones in soy cause toxicity in estrogen-sensitive tissues and depress thyroid function, causing decreased metabolism as well as other thyroid diseases. Soy products now in virtually everything at the grocery store (breads, spaghetti sauce, cookies, even canned tuna) contribute to the epidemic of both diagnosed—and an estimated 10 million undiagnosed—thyroid problems. Most thyroid problems are in women over 40, and soy’s thyroid-depressing effects are likely contributing to the rise in obesity.

Soy lowers testosterone levels in men and causes malnutrition, especially in babies and children drinking soy milk or soy formula. Dozens of studies show that soy causes reproductive problems, immune problems, and cognitive decline. Doctors and researchers including Andrew Weil, Mary Enig, Kaayla T. Daniel, FDA advisors, and many others caution against soy consumption.

Fact: Soy is not a good alternative to meat and should be avoided because it promotes disease. Of particular concern are soy formulas for babies, soy protein powders and bars, soy-based hormone creams for women, and anything that features “soy isolate protein powder” or other non-fermented, refined products. The danger of soy product is coming to light, but many operate under the assumption that it is a nutritious food, especially for protein.

5 ways beans are good for Runners and everyone else:

One cup of beans gives you 30 to 40 grams, equaling 10% of your daily value of complex carbohydrates. These are slow release carbs that help you fuel your running.

One cup of beans has as much protein as two cups of milk. Beans, together with grains, contain all the essential amino acids you need. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, so these foods help maintain the health of muscles.

One cup of beans will supply 10 to 17 grams of fiber, which is half of what you need daily. In other words, they help keep you regular. If you have a sensitive GI system, add beans slowly to your diet so you can adjust, and don't eat them just before a run- only if you have sensitive bowels. Quick tip: If beans initially cause you discomfort, try just a little at a time, your body will adjust unless you have an allergy or other medical concern related to them. In my experience beans are only a gassy food when you aren't eating healthy. If you eat beans as part of a healthy diet, you will have little to no discomfort.

Eating beans four times a week lowers your risk for heart disease by 22%, that's amazing! They are a good source of soluble fiber as well as folate. Folate is a B vitamin that removes a damaging compound called homocysteine. The following comes from the American Heart Association about homocysteine.

"Homocysteine is an amino acid in the blood. Too much of it is related to a higher risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease (fatty deposits in peripheral arteries).

Evidence suggests that homocysteine may promote atherosclerosis (fatty deposits in blood vessels) by damaging the inner lining of arteries and promoting blood clots."

And finally, beans contain phyto-nutrients that fight cancer. Eating beans four times a week lowers the risk of colon cancer. Your risk of colon cancer is lowered when you eat anything with enough fiber four times a week. So eat bran cereal, whole grains and beans, get in that fiber!

Now that I've got you excited about beans (I hope!) head over to my good friend Juli's blog to learn many many ways to eat them. Juli's Blog

Canned versus dried?

Canned:

Costs less than 50 cents per serving.

It's convenient, already cooked and soft.

May contain up to 800mg sodium per serving, which is about 30% of your daily value. If you have to watch your salt intake, canned may not be the best choice for you.

They are still packed with nutrients.

You can't control the firmness, but they still taste good.

You can't control the water they were cooked and packed in. There is a chance your beans were fortified with fluoride and any number of minerals that existed in the water. This can be detrimental to health and flavor. It's not life and death, but if you choose to not use fluoride, stay away from the canned beans (and canned anything unless you can it yourself with fluoride free water).


Dry


Costs about 20 cents per serving.

Must be soaked/boiled for hours. The older your beans, the more soaking required. I've soaked and cooked them in a crock pot for more than 24 hours before, so it takes planning.

They are sodium free except for what you add.

There is slightly more fiber, iron, folate and calcium since they are less processed.

You have more control over their taste, you get to decide what to add to your beans, and how firm you want them.

You know exactly what is in them, you cook it with your own water and own seasonings. No secret fluoride or minerals.




Most of the information in this article came from Runner's World Magazine.

I recently got back from a vacation where I didn't have the opportunity to easily eat as I wanted to so I decided to do the cleanse again as a way to start over. It's been just a month since my last cleanse.

This time was just as easy as the last. I had more energy and I even felt better than before. So if you have done a cleanse and it was too horrible to repeat remember, you've cleansed a lot of toxins and it won't hurt as bad the next time if you do them even just a few times a year.

One important thing to remember: Get good fats in somehow. Each day take a tablespoon of olive oil or eat part of an avocado. If you neglect to do this there is a very real chance you will get gallstones when you come off the cleanse. The liver and gallbladder need to be lubricated.

On day two of the cleanse I had yet to eat any avocado and one of my kidneys was hurting so I immediately ate some and within the hour my kidney was fine. The fats are important, especially if you are cleansing longer than three days.

What to do when you come off the cleanse

Eat a diet high in fiber. You will majorly regret it if you don't.

Continue with the morning ritual of drinking prune or plum juice if you can stomach it, followed by apple juice and then distilled water. Just for the first break the fast part of the day. That will gently get your body working.

Eat fruits and vegetables as much as you can for the first few days. Find good vegetarian recipes if you don't want to snack on the raw veggies. Of course, raw fruits and veggies are the best.

Gently ease back onto other foods. Put off eating meat as long as you can, it's hard to digest and your body needs some time to adjust.

Of course, making adjustments to your overall diet is recommended at this time. Cut out red meats and dairy if you have problems with constipation or cholesterol. In our family we have decided to make those items special use ones, for special occasions or restaurants.

Don't jump into change too fast. If you try the "all or nothing" way, there is a good chance you won't make it. It's too hard. Start with what's easy and go from there.

I just finished my first real cleanse today. I did the Dr. Christopher's Three Day Cleanse, which you can find here.

It's basically just drinking specific juices and steam distilled water for three days and if you are starving you can eat the fruit of the juice you are drinking. They recommend organic apple juice because apples have more beneficial properties that other fruits.

You start each day with 16 oz. of prune juice, followed by apple juice and water. You alternate between apple juice and water all day and the next day you start with the prune juice again. It's the same for all three days. For a more complete description go to the link above.

I had an easy time doing it so I don't think my results are typical. I had a lot of faith in the process so if I felt uncomfortable I just went with it and I think my positive attitude went a long way. Here is how it worked for me.

Day 1: I wasn't hungry at all. I thought I would be starving so I stocked up on apples to eat and I didn't touch one. I would recommend staying at home for the first day, I ran to the bathroom a lot eliminating toxins.

Day 2: Still didn't get hungry. I had to go to the bathroom a lot still, but not as much. I didn't experience any cramping or pain. I got light headed by the end of the day and went to bed early, about 9pm.

Day 3: Didn't get hungry until the end of the day and I snacked on fresh fruit. I was light headed and stayed indoor to be out of the heat most of the day. I laid around a lot. I didn't have any cramps or anything, I'm feeling lighter and better. I noticed that since I've had only fruit sugars for three days that actual fruit tastes sweeter to me than before. I had more cravings than ever before for things like pizza and cheese. I have heard that you crave what you are detoxing so that makes sense. You can store toxins for years and years so it's possible to crave something you haven't eaten since you were a kid even.

Day 4: Today I am incorporating foods back into my diet. I started out with grapes for breakfast and salad for lunch. Only eat fruits and vegetables for the day to get your stomach ready to digest foods again. I noticed that I don't need as much food, but I am also feeling nervous about how my body is going to handle food after only digesting liquids. I got a small cramp or two while eating but it passed without a problem.

Dr. Christopher's next step is to follow a mucusless diet which means to not eat any foods that cause your body to make mucus. It's a hard diet to follow and I don't know if I can do it long term but I'm going to give it a few days and see how it feels. In the very least I want to make 75% of my eating mucusless and continue to do the three day fast a few times a year.

The beauty of this cleanse is it's for everyone. People who cleanse every month to newbies to the cleansing world (like me!).

I want to make a note here: Some people can experience a huge degree of discomfort while detoxing. I don't know why I had it so easy. I don't think I have less toxins than other people. Maybe mine are deep seated and will come out the next time I cleanse or later this week. Whatever happens I'll let you know. If you do this cleanse and you have a lot of pain, that's ok, it's to be expected. I encourage you to keep trying and trust the process. Pain means there is a problem, pain itself is not the problem. Once you fix the problem the pain will leave.

When choosing oil to cook with there are three things to think of. One is the types of fat it contains, and another is the smoking point of the oil. Both are vitally important to your health for different reasons. Oils with too much saturated fat cause increased cholesterol and clogged arteries, while oils with a low smoke point become carcinogenic and can aid in causing cancer. The last thing to look for is if your oil is semi refined or unrefined, this makes a big difference in smoke points.

If you are too impatient or don’t care about the research, skip to the bottom to see the healthiest oil to cook and bake with!

Types of fats in oils:

Polyunsaturated fat tends to lower blood cholesterol levels. It is found mostly in plant sources.

Monounsaturated fat tends to lower LDL, bad cholesterol, levels. It is found in both plant and animal products.

Saturated fat increases cholesterol levels, these are the artery clogging fats. Most saturated fats are solid at room temperature.

These calculations are all in percent content of the oil. These are not grams of fat or percent daily content.

Oils with the highest percent polyunsaturated fat:

78 Safflower
77 Grapeseed
69 Sunfower
59 Corn
58 Soybean


Oils with the highest percent monounsaturated fat:

74 Olive
70 Avocado oil
58 Canola
49 Rice bran oil
47 Peanut


Oils with the highest percent total unsaturated fat:

93 Canola
91 Safflower
91 Grapeseed
88 Canola
86 Sunflower

Oils with the highest percent saturated fat:

86 Coconut
81 Palm Kernal
49 Palm
26 Cotton Seed
18 Peanut


The smoke point of an oil is the temperature at which it starts to smoke, or burn. It is dangerous to have a smoking oil because it’s only seconds away from its flash point, which means it’s about to start a fire, and also because once it begins to smoke it becomes carcinogenic which means it becomes a cancer causing agent.

Smoke point of oils in degrees Fahrenheit:

520 Refined (read expensive) Avocado oil
490 Rice bran oil
485 Grapeseed
480 Avocado oil
450 Peanut
450 Safflower
450 Soy
450 Sunflower
420 Extra Virgin Olive
410 Sesame
400 Canola

The unrefined or semi refined versions of these oils range from smoking at just over 212 to 350. They are only safe for boiling and in some cases low heat baking. They become carcinogenic either over water’s boiling point or baking at over 350.

The higher the smoke point the better chance you have of being able to fry something safely. Keep in mind that if you fry something until it’s black, your food becomes a carcinogen whether or not the oil is too hot.

If you are baking something that contains oil pick your oil carefully. If you have to bake your meal at 450 and you use Canola oil it will reach its smoke point if baked long enough. I don’t know how long you have to wait but I wouldn’t take the gamble. There are enough carcinogens in our everyday lives for me to be creating them on my own.

So here is the breakdown of the healthiest oils when you combine everything I have written. Due to a glitch in this blogging platform I can't make it a clear chart. The numbers mean, from left to right; Polyunsaturated fat%, Monounsaturated fat%, Saturated fat% and the Smoke Point in degrees Fahrenheit.


Avocado: 13, 70, 11, 520*

Rice bran: 33, 49, 20, 490*

Grapeseed: 77, 14, 9, 485*

Safflower: 78, 13, 9, 450*

Sunflower: 69, 20, 11, 450*

EV Olive: 12, 74, 14, 420*

What to do with this information?

Deep fry , pan fry or stir fry with Avocado, Rice Bran and Grapeseed oil and do everything else with the other oils. I always err on the side of caution and wouldn’t fry with the other oils because of their lower temperatures. Safflower and Grapeseed oil are the healthiest fats so I guess the number 1 prize goes to Grapeseed oil since it’s in both catagories.

Grapeseed is the winner!

Who knew milk was so complex? It didn’t used to be! There used to be one type of milk, straight from the cow. Now we have skim, 1%, 2%, whole milk, organic, rice milk, almond milk, soy milk, dry milk, evaporated milk, and milk with hormones and antibiotics added. This isn’t even an all inclusive list! If you are as confused as I was a few years ago, here is some information from “the other side of the tracks” to help you make the right choice for you.

The bad guys:

It starts with the cow. If the cow was given antibiotics and growth hormone- rBGH or rBST, it gets into the milk. The FDA says that there is nothing wrong with that (don’t get me started on the FDA), but I believe otherwise. Growth hormone makes cows sick, there are about 20 risks involved to the cow when they take GH, one of them is mastitis. Mastitis causes pus to get into the milk and they are treated with antibiotics to cure the mastitis, so that leads to antibiotics in the milk. Then the milk has to be ultra pasteurized which means it’s done at a higher heat and it kills all the bad and good stuff in the milk. Synthetic nutrients have to be added back in afterwards to make it nutritionally sound.

Pasteurized is healthier than ultra-pasteurized because it’s done at a lower heat and doesn’t kill as much of the good stuff.

Let’s move on to soy. Soy milk has been linked to early development in girls as young as six years old. There is a full article on that and other effects here. One of the things you will learn is “isoflavones in soy products can depress thyroid function and cause goiters in otherwise healthy children and adults.”

But take heart, it’s not all bad! Here is what you should know.

Cows who are grass fed produce milk that is higher in omega-3 fats and lower in omega-6 and saturated fats. If your carton says the milk is organic and/or free range do not necessarily mean grass fed. If a company is producing milk from grass fed cows they will be proud of it so look for that. It’s not common, but it’s a good place to start.

The difference between grass fed and organic is a grass fed cow is fed 100% grass while organic cows are fed 80% grass. On non-organic, conventional farms, only 40% of their food is grass.

We all know that organic milk is healthier than normal milk, but someone actually did take the time to study it, here is what they say: Newcastle University in the UK found that organic milk has 67% more antioxidants than milk from other cows.
“The organic milk contained 39 percent more heart-healthy omega-3 oils and 32 percent less of the less-healthy omega-6 oils. It also had 60 percent more conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, which studies have shown can reduce tumors, and also about 60 percent more of vaccenic acid, which may reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes.”

What about whole milk vs. lower fat varieties?

Children need whole milk to aid in brain development. Doctors say that until the age of 2 they need whole milk. I say don't stop at 2!

Whole milk is healthier than low fat milk. If you are worried about your weight and cholesterol remember that organic whole milk contains the vaccenic acid you just read about. Also, think about this. In the 50’s the milk option was full fat only, people ate butter, they ate whole foods and a small amount of processed foods. They hadn’t been invented yet. And people were a lot thinner on average than today. The obesity rates were much lower. This still works today, I was recently in the middle of the country for a few weeks, we were in an area where most people worked on farms and owned farms. They have their own cows and eat their own dairy products. The women were not stick thin like some women are, but there were very few obese people. I would wager that the average clothing size for women was about a 10, they looked healthy. These people eat whole foods, full fat everything and very little processed foods. I have also lived on either side of the country and I have found that there are about an equal number of obese people as there are stick thin people, and few of the healthy alternatives of in between.

I am a whole foods advocate, and that goes for milk too! Whole milk, as unprocessed as you can get it, will always be healthier because it’s the way nature intended it. People have never improved the health of a food with science.

On a personal level, my weight has always been hard for me to control. The first time I switched to whole foods I lost 15 pounds in the first month. I switched from fat free, sugar free etc to full fat and real sugar, whole wheat, the whole shebang. I didn’t count calories, I just fed my body what it needed. Whole foods!