Wendy's Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger

The old me wants to try this. I love hamburgers. The me in the present wants to know what's in it. This ruins it you tell me. My logic? I want to make a conscious decision. I need to know. 2 weeks ago I decided to no longer include pork or beef in my diet. So unless they make a turkey version I won't be indulging anytime soon. My body. I have a right to know what I'm putting in it. In fact, I want it to be ruined for me, then I won't eat it. I can live with that. Even a few weeks ago I may have tried it, but I would have definitely split it with you or saved half for later (assuming I recovered from what it does to my stomach).

Spoiler Alert! If you really don't want to hear it, don't read any further. I wouldn't want to ruin it for you, unless of course, it's what you want. 

So....This little contributor to obesity in America is 680 calories. Not the most calories of Wendy's menu, but lets face it, nobody needs to put down this entire burger in one sitting, especially when you haven't taken into account "Do you want fries with that?" Unless you are off to film Survivor of course.

Along with those calories comes 36 grams of fat that I'm willing to bet is mostly heart choking, artery clogging, and cholesterol rocketing saturated fat. Fact checker?? 

I'm shocked to say that 13grams of that is MUFA, however that's even too much of a good thing. Lets layer on the other fats, including 1.5mg of trans fat and you've just consumed over 50% of your recommended fat intake for the day...and let it be said that, in my humble opinion, most of that should be MUFAs. 

1110mg of sodium? You need maybe 1500-2000mg PER DAY! Can you say water retention? I'm feeling dehydrated just thinking about it. Good thing you can get a soda with that....(but I won't go into soda, here, that's a rant for another day) 46 grams of carbohydrates and 7 grams of sugar are just ripe to be stored as fat. But of course, lets not forget my crazy revolution to get Newbury Park to #eatclean... the produce is not organic...tomatoes and lettuce are heavily sprayed with pesticides and no peel.  The beef is cornfed straight from Monsanto, not to mention the environmental impact of the whole Agro industry...and the pigs, you know they're very intelligent? They know, when the guy is standing there with a prod in his hand, shits going down. 

I'm sure it's GOOD. That's what I keep hearing, but I know what kind of chemical mix it takes to make something good and frankly, since my pallet has been detoxed, stuff like this no longer tastes that good to me and I consider that a good thing.

yes I watched Veducated but I feel strongly about my decision to stop eating certain meats. It's not  The me in this moment is good with that.

However, I think I may need a break from Netflix...

The Number 1 Rule of Healthy Eating? If You Don't Know What it is...Don't Eat It!

So you've decided to give up Gluten, you want to go Vegan and you're concerned with products that have GMO's. Nutrition is a mine field to maneuver through when you're trying to do the right thing by your body. Manufacturers don't make this any easier on us. Believe me, I'm a label reader and what I don't understand I Google. The more I learn, the more I'm appalled at the wool being pulled over the consumer eyes.

Here's a good example. This product is made by a company that's family owned... ahhhhh, warm fuzzy feeling. It's comparable to Doritos, but it claims to be made from Beans and Rice... that must mean it's a complete protein, right?...and there it says 4g Protein, right on the bag with that handy little arrow letting me know that that chip I'm about to eat has not only Protein, but Fiber too! Even better, they're 'All Natural', 'Gluten Free', 'Corn Free' 'Non-GMO Project Verified' AND the one that hits it home for most, 'Vegan'... oh happy day, they must be really good for me!

Let's get one thing straight. They are a processed food. A combination of ingredients, flavored and shaped into resembling a processed food that no one on the planet should consume. All the marketing all over the front of the package may sell it to some, but for me it's a huge red flag. They're overselling it, why, because it's a processed food that metabolizes to sugar and gets stored as fat in your body. That in and of itself is why, if you are trying to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle, you should not eat these or any other processed food.

A look at the list of ingredients on the back read okay until they got to the 'Flavoring'. This is where they get you my friends. They have to make sure it tastes good so you'll keep buying them, or better yet, eat all 6 servings in one sitting (840 calories) and believe me, they're flavored with a list of ingredients that you would not recognize, are highly questionable and 1 of which is Lactic Acid, which came up on my NO CORN list only yesterday. Digging a little deaper, I found that according to GMO-Compass.org 'The nutrients of GM plants that are used for the production of lactic acid are not subject to a labeling requirement.'  Interesting. So even though it's NON-GMO Verified, it may contain an ingredient that may contain GMOs but are not required to label it as such.

Confused? Good. Let me make it easy for you. Vegan or Not. Gluten Sensitive or Not. Trying to lose weight or not. Don't eat processed foods. Once in a while, I'm not going to tell you no. I did have to try one of these, for you guys. (I did it for you.) For the most part, 90% of the time, just eat real food. The way nature intended. Fresh, clean, organic, single ingredient, real food.

Sunflower Seeds - Who Knew?

My friend Maryam is always pouring a small dish of sunflower seeds and chomping on them. I thought it was like a nervous habit, like when people eat the shelled ones? Turns out, she knew something I didn't, or maybe she didn't, doesn't matter, she was doing something healthy and I'm all about that.

Recently I was doing some research on whole foods for helping with a hypo-thyroid issue. Turns out, Sunflower seeds are full of what you need if you suffer from hypothyroidism. In fact, they are so full of necessary vitamins and minerals, (Vitamin E, B1, Manganese, Copper, Tryptophan, Magnesium, Selenium, Vitamin B6, Phosphorus and Folate) everyone should add them to their diets. Packed with all these nutrients, they even lower LDL cholesterol.

Sprinkle them on salads. Keep a baggy in your purse for an emergency snack. Grind them up in your morning smoothie. Anyway you eat them, they are a really good addition to your new healthy you! So eat some!

A Healthy Gluten Free Version of Chocolate Chip Cookies

A client shared this with me and so I'm going to share it with you. This is a gluten free, mostly healthy version of chocolate chip cookies. I made them and they are pretty good, not grandma's recipe, but knowing that I'm not consuming a bunch of unhealthy ingredients seems to make them pretty darn good.

Ingredients
2 cups almond meal, or almond flour
1/4 cup coconut oil, softened
3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal, salt, and baking soda, then add the coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract and mix well.
3. Fold in the chocolate chips, then drop batter by rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined parchment paper.
4. Bake at 350F for 8-9 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.
5. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then serve warm or allow to cool to room temperature

My tips? Use organic organic organic to optimize the healthiness of them. Also, I put in the syrup and vanilla before I put in the coconut oil (which I melted) and they didn't flatten out. I would put the coconut oil in first next time (probably tonight as I want to try it again for a dinner gathering).

My nephew said they were really good and considering he's kinda a kid, I take that as a good sign. 

Bon appétit'
Colleen

Kale Chips Experimental

My daughter's friend offered me some store bought kale chips. By the snarl in her lip I could tell she didn't like them and wanted my opinion. Not very tempting. "Are they good?"

"Not really. I thought they would be but I'm a little disappointed." 

I didn't chance it, but the idea intrigued me a little so I googled a recipe. 

Super simple but I wasn't sure what seasoning to use. What would compliment kale? 

Hence the experiment. Three flavors. 

Sea salt. Olive oil. Lemon. That was my favorite pick. I would make these again.  

Sea salt. Olive oil. Lemon. Cumin. My daughter and her friend liked these best.

Sea salt. Olive oil. Lemon. Cumin. Turmeric. These were awful. 

So, give it a try. If you are dedicated to your wellness, they ware surely worth a shot as a healthy alternative to regular chips. 

Here's how it's done. I stripped the kale off the stems, broke it up into small potato chip size pieces. Washed it. Dried it. Tossed it in a bowl with the EVOO and seasonings. Spread out on a stone. Baked for 20 minutes on 400. Cooking time may vary depending on your oven and pan. Don't be afraid to try it while it's cooking. 

Enjoy!

Colleen 

Salmon Florentine

Salmon Florentine with Cashew Cream & Quinoa

On Thursday Mindbody FitPro posted this recipe. I LOVE ❤❤❤❤ salmon so of course this looked amazing! I read the recipe and acknowledged the simplicity of it. I can whip up a restaurant worthy salmon dinner in less than 30 minutes. Most fish is easy, only a few minutes in the broiler. You just need your goto marinade / seasoning and you can throw it together in your sleep. Seriously, I'm not a culinary wizard. Self taught through trial and error (I hate reading recipes)

I was happy to see that this would be no exception...the only snag was the ricotta cheese. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not that pure. I do love milk and I like cheese. Dairy is not off my list of things I won't eat. I do limit how much though. Although often nagged at by my skin care therapist and health conscious daughter to remove dairy in order to clear up my teenage acne, I just can't. I'm not ready to say "I don't do dairy". I will however embrace the idea to slowly reduce it from my diet.

I'm embracing. First by completing a 7 day detox with my Studio friends, removing dairy for 7 days. Challenge accepted. So how do I make this recipe with no cheese when it's cheesy goodness it what seems so damn mouthwatering about it? My best friend, Google, offered me an array of vegan substitutes for ricotta cheese, but the one I cozied up to was the cashew creme.

I've never made it before but I will try anything. Recipe? Whole raw cashews and water. Oh, and you need a really good blender or food processor of some kind.

Off to the farmers market, I needed some supplies. Our new little Dos Vientos Farmer's Market was kicking off its first day so why not check it out? I could always go to Sprouts later. Happy me, they was a booth with raw organic nuts. I got me a bag of whole raw cashews, some fresh spinach and a piece of fruit I'd never heard of but got to sample and couldn't resist.

Ready to cook.

First the cashew creme. You will need some time for this one, but it takes 2 minutes to get it going. I told you you would need a high powered blender. I have a Ninja Master so I dumped the whole bag into the prep bowl, added enough water to just cover the cashews, put the lid on it and popped it in the fridge and went about my day. That was 1:00pm

At precisely 6:50pm my culinary guinea pig, Georgie arrived, so I pulled out all the ingredients and assembled the meal. I don't measure anything when I cook. It takes all the fun out of it, so my recipes are estimates.

Cashew creme, blended until the consistency was like ricotta cheese, about 2 minutes. The directions I found all said to leave them in the fridge overnight. I was really happy that the cashews absorbed much of the water and plumped up nicely after only 5+ hours.

In my wok pan:
Olive oil 
Minced Garlic
Chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes
Cooked these on low for a couple of minutes, just to heat the garlic. Then I completely filled the pan with the fresh organic spinach from the Farmer's Market and let it wilt down.
Threw in the cashew creme and stirred it up, removed from heat. I probably should have used only half the cashew creme, but I added it all. My bad. I had lots left over.

I drizzled the salmon with olive oil and lightly salt & peppered it then placed it under the broiler on high for about 3 minutes. (This will vary dependent on the thickness of your salmon.) For a thick cut I might go 4 or 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and put the Florentine on top. It was delish.

I seasoned the quinoa with a little salt, pepper, garlic and cut up some sun dried tomatoes in it.

My piece was about 3 ounces. I put about 2 tbsp of the Florentine on top. My estimate was around 400 calories including 1/3 cup of Quinoa, which I didn't finish. Although this is a higher fat dish, the fats were lots of Omega 3s and Monounsaturated fats which I I'm not going to get crazy over. It was a very healthy, easy, and delicious dish.

I had chicken with some of the topping on it for lunch today too. So good.

What would I try next time? I think I might add a little lemon to the cashew creme. If anyone tries this variation, let me know.

Happy Eats!

Omega 3s - Stop Messing around and Take them Please!

So what's the big deal with Omega 3's you ask? Well.....

They are my number 1 recommendation for supplements if that tells you anything, especially all my non fish eating friends. Omega 3's have so many benefits I will simply just have to share them with you.

So, your body can't produce it's own Omega 3 Fatty acids, even though they are an essential fatty acid. It must get them from other sources. If your diet is rich in Fatty fish, Flaxseed, Almonds, walnuts, cashews and pecans then you are possibly getting enough O3s. If not, well, the downside to this is heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and a number of other ailments.

I could get technical on what the O3s do and what the imbalance between O3s & O6 causes, but I've found that most peoples eyes glaze over when I get technical so here's the bare bones which should be more than enough reason for you to bone up on your Omega 3s.

They reduce High Cholesterol
They reduce High Blood Pressure
They reduce inflammation associated with IBS, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, depression, ADHD, asthma and cancer, and if you don't have any of these, they help greatly reduce your chances of ever getting them.
They block fat storage in your body, increase metabolism and help you burn fat faster
They improve blood flow
They suppress the production of cortisol, reducing stress levels
They helps stabilize your blood sugar levels

The average American doesn't get enough Omega 3s and overloads on Omega 6. This imbalance makes for unhealthy cell function resulting in many of the negatives discussed above. So add an O3 supplement to your daily routine and eat more O3 rich foods. You will notice the difference, I promise.

To your health!
Colleen

What Now? Juicing.

After taking a hiatus (since July), I'm finally back. Sorry my peeps. I had a rough road from last summer until the end of the year, but the light is shining brightly at the end of my tunnel and I plan on making this a regular occurrence again.

So my first topic is what I've been up to. Although I haven't been writing about my adventures in Nutrition, I have still been practicing. Constantly educating myself and talking to people. Lot's of workshops have occurred and what I've learned is that there's so much more to learn.

My latest adventure is now Juicing (no not steroids). Fresh abundant, organic vegetable and fruit sources. No I guess the thing that has always steered me clear of the whole juicing thing is the extremist mentality. I had a visual in my mind of every meal being sipped through a straw and losing the benefits of fibrous foods as well as the joy of actually eating, not to mention drinking something green was a huge turnoff. Nope. I made up my mind, and I can be very stubborn, Juicing was not for me.

Then some things occurred over the past few months. The first was my daughter, now a beautiful and wise 22 year old, who took years for me to wean off fast food. As she got older her tastes changed and fresh healthy abundant food that was always available in my kitchen started to have its appeal to her. Now she makes me proud and the day she threw some kale, spinach, apples, bananas and celery into my Ninja I was a little stunned. Where did she learn this? I don't grind up my food to liquid? How could that possibly taste good?

She swore up and down that it tasted fine, it just looked weird. I raised my right eyebrow up in disbelief and refused to even try it. Stubborn. Like I said.

Well a couple of weeks ago while going through my Netflix Library of Food documentaries, I came across a gem, "Hungry for Change". After watching this movie I decided to try Juicing, not as my whole diet, but as a supplement to my food. So here's what I threw together (a tactic I got from my daughter)

4 Cups Kale
2 Cups Spinach
2 Cups Coconut Milk
2 Small Apples
1/4 Pineapple
4 Oranges
1 Banana

I split it with my good friend Maryam. What it breaks down to is this:
Less than 300 calories
6g Protein
3g Fat
72g Carbs - the good kind, don't panic
320mg Calcium
1700mg Potassium

Not to mention all the other Nutrients and antioxidants in these fresh organic vegies an fruits. What I felt immediately was ENERGIZED and CLEAR HEADED. Not bad for supplementing with my regular food. I'm sold. Will start posting regular recipes soon and I'm going to start saving up for a real Juicer. My Ninja just isn't going to cut it.