The Boulder Health Nut

If you think eggs are bad.. the yolk's on you!

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:30:14 -0500

For lunch today, I just finished enjoying 2 over easy eggs, and a piece of flax seed toast. As I was finishing up, I was talking about how much I love eggs, and my mom said to me but you shouldn’t eat them every day.. also recently, my Uncle Kevin mentioned how he only eats the egg whites everyday because the yolks are bad for you.. well Mom and Kevin.. it isn’t your fault that you think that! Scientists, doctors, and many people have thought eggs are bad for you in the past and this is what many of you have grown up thinking, but they have recently found that this isn’t that case..eggs, including the yolks, are actually extremely healthy!

The reason that eggs have gotten a bad rap in the past is because the yolk does contain cholesterol and so when most people hear the word cholesterol they try and steer clear. However, consuming cholestoral is not really a main concern to increase your bad cholestoral, the thing you need to steer clear of when watching your cholestoral is saturated fat. This has really seen to increase your cholestoral where as the cholestoral in food, has not been proven to raise yours!

On top of this good news, egg yolks contain all of the nutrients of the egg. They contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat, which lower your bad cholesterol and raise your good cholesterol. They also have an immense amount of Vitamin A, E, and D and B12. There are also many other vitamins that are healthy for your body, but they will probably just seem like long words to you and have no real meaning, so moral of the story is the egg yolks contain a lot of healthy vitamins that make YOU the eater… well.. healthy!

Ok ok, so you get it, they are pretty good for you, but then again yolks are calories and you may be trying to save some calories for that Christmas party you are going to this afternoon..Plus.. the white contains all of the protein.. right?! NOPE! While the whites do contain a little more protein, the yolks contain protein too. But here is the trick, the whites only contain part of the protein, you need to eat the protein in the yolks for that protein to be complete (otherwise your body doesn’t really recognize it as a protein.) When the yolk protein and white protein come together, they are considered to be the most complete protein in the human diet!

On top of all of this, one egg is only about 70 calories, and you usually eat about two, so that is a 140 calorie meal (pretty low!)

So enjoy your eggs whenever you like, because that old myth has been put to rest!

http://www.examiner.com/fitness-and-weight-loss-myths-in-national/myth-whole-eggs-yolks-are-bad-for-you

Sharing is Caring

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:14:00 -0500

Hi everyone..Ok so this time I am officially back! The semester got the best of me, but I am going to start up my blog again and won’t let that happen next semester.

So a couple of people I work with do something called a vegetable share here in Boulder. If you don’t know what that is, it is a way that you can buy locally grown, organic, and seasonal produce from a farmer. Many of them are sponsored by CSA or community supported agriculture. How it works is the farmer allows a certain amount of people to sign up, and then you receive a box of the produce that is growing on their farm each week.

Last week, the people I work with got way too many vegetables so they gave me a cabbage! Now, I have never cooked cabbage and have only really eaten it on St. Patrick’s day with my corned beef and green colored milk, but I decided to take it off their hands and try it out. I cooked it up in my Wok with a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper, and it was delicious! I never thought I was a cabbage kind of girl, but the vegetable share made me one!

That is what I think the biggest benefit of vegetable sharing is. When you receive your box, you get whatever they are growing and whatever is in season, you don’t get to pick and choose like you would at the grocery store. Therefore, you are forced to try out new fruits and vegetables and learn many unique ways to cook them. Not only that, but the food you are eating is extremely fresh because it hasn’t been shipped or sitting in a store for a while, you get it right after it is picked. This is also extremely beneficial because the food is local and you are supporting local farmers. Many times they will even let you visit their farm once a season, something that might be fun to do if you have little kids!

There are many farms all over the country that do shares, so I highly recommend looking into becoming a subscriber to one in your area and discover the health foods you never knew you would like!

Here is the website explaining the CSA, http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ and if you want to find out where your closest vegetable sharing farm is, all you have to do is goolge your city and vegetable share and I guarantee something will pop up!

Happy to be back and can’t wait to write my next post!

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1050&bih=590&tbm=isch&tbnid=BtjRoTmsqjpF7M:&imgrefurl=http://csa.vanityforgotten.com/wp/csa-basics/&docid=uvlOZIRm_SKM2M&imgurl=http://csa.vanityforgotten.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Antonella_CSA_9_16_02.jpg&w=1715&h=1139&ei=NvHwTpvDNseziQK2-MyNDg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=581&sig=105195639178728484140&page=2&tbnh=110&tbnw=147&start=17&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:16,s:17&tx=49&ty=81

Spice up your life!

Mon, 09 May 2011 12:06:50 -0400

So this might be shocking to you, but spices and herbs are extremely healthy for you! It is possible that they even fight diseases better than fruits and vegetables do. So, when preparing your meals what spices should you be sprinkling on the most.

1. Cinnamon- Cinnamon can lower your blood sugar and also it can lower your bad cholestoral. All you need is about a half of a teaspoon everyday to see the benefits.

*I like to sprinkle a little cinnamon on my cereal or in my yogurt.

2. Rosemary- Rosemary helps to prevent cancer as well as damage in your blood vessels that help cause heart attacks.

3. Garlic- Helps to prevent tumors from forming in your body

*Don’t eat too much garlic or you will be sweating it out for days (true story.)

4. Ginger- helps motion sickness or any type of nausea.

5. Oregano- Oregano has been found to have an extremely large amount of antioxidants, it’s content is higher than any other herb.

6. Thyme- The oil in thyme can fight off some bacteria that antibiotics are unable to fight off.

These are just a few of the spices that offer health benefits! Almost all spices are able to help your health in someway or another. So, when you are cooking or even just preparing a frozen dinner, add some spices to add flavor and some good health to your life.

Sources:

1. http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/nutrition/health-benefits-of-spices-herbs/

2.http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/06/7-miracle-spices-with-huge-health-benefits-and-big-flavor.php

The Boulder Health Nut is Back!

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:15:52 -0400

Hi everyone! I am back from Italy. I haven’t blogged in a while because I wasn’t really a health nut in Italy with all of the pasta, but I am back and I need to get back in shape and lose a little bit of pasta weight! So I will be giving you some good health nut articles for you in the near future. Let me know if there is anything anyone wants to hear about!

Staying healthy in Italy!

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:16:39 -0500

I am on my way to Italy for the semester today and I’m not going to lie I have some concerns about staying healthy while I am over there. With the endless amounts of pasta, prosciutto, and gelato it is quite possible that I will come home twenty pounds heavier and very out of shape. Therefore, I am going to write some tips that I need to remember while I am there, but that are also hard for many people to do while people are just living their everyday life. So follow these tips, and stay in good health with me in 2011.

1) The first thing that I will really have to do is eat everything in moderation. Although this is hard to do, it is really a good technique to do because this way you are not completely eliminating anything. I will try to eat slowly so that I can tell when I am full and I am eating the correct portion sizes.

2) Next, although I am eating different food I need to make sure I try and get the right amount of fruits and vegetables everyday. On fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov, you can calculate how many fruits and vegetables you need to eat based on your age, gender, and level of activity. I need to eat 2 cups of fruit and 3 cups of vegetables. This is about 2 pieces of fruit and 3-6 servings of vegetables. People that eat the right amount of fruits and vegetables are more likely to maintain a healthy weight and are less prone to chronic disease.

3) While traveling, I need to make sure that I am constantly drinking plenty of water. People need to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water everyday, and even more when they are exercising or doing something like traveling. I am sure that you have heard that eight glasses of water are necessary, but I’m sure that you don’t know why. Well, your body is actually made up of about 60-70% water and by drinking it, you are giving your body what it needs to function. Drinking water helps control your body temperature, allows nutrients to travel throughout your body and get to your organs. Water is also very beneficial in providing oxygen to your cells and of course it helps to get rid of waste.

4) Last but not least, in order for me to stay healthy abroad and you to stay healthy in 2011. Exercise. Although my life will be crazy and I’m sure yours is too, exercise is an essential. It improves your mood, helps to prevent chronic diseases, helps to manage weight and burn calories, boosts your energy level, and helps with better sleep. There really is nothing bad about exercise, and therefore in order to stay in shape I will be trying to at least 5 days a week.

I am going to try and keep up with this blog as much as I can while in Italy, but I would love for you to also follow my travel adventures on my other blog at www.kbamore.blogspot.com ! Ciao!

http://nutrition.about.com/od/hydrationwater/a/waterarticle.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ01676/NSECTIONGROUP=2

Remedies for keeping a Resolution in 2011

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 12:38:39 -0500

It’s that time of the year, the time of year to make New Years Resolutions. Many resolutions that people make are centered around health such as, losing weight, exercising more, stressing less, eating healthier, or drinking less alcohol. All of these can be very hard to start doing, but once you make them a habit you will accomplish your New Years Resolution.

First of all, you need to make resolutions that are attainable. You can’t just say I will work out 7 days a week, if you only worked out 7 times in 2010. You can start by saying you will work out 2-4 times a week. If you are trying to eat healthier, don’t say that you will not eat a single sweet in 2011. Maybe just limit yourself to one or two desserts a week, or one small sweet a day. I always end my day with dark chocolate, my mom drinks a cup of low-calorie hot chocolate. If your resolution is attainable you will be more likely to keep it through the entire year.

Just make one or two resolutions and stick with them. One New Years Resolution is hard enough to keep, but creating 4 or 5 resolutions makes it even harder and you will be less likely to follow through with them. Limit your resolutions this year.

On New Year’s eve, make a conversation about New Year’s Resolutions. Tell everyone what your New Years Resolution is, and have your friends and family tell you theirs. When you tell people you will be more likely to stick with your resolution because people will be supporting you. Also, you will feel worse about quitting the resolution if everyone knows about what you are trying to accomplish. The more people you tell, the more motivation you will have.

Be specific about what exactly you want your New Years Resolution to be. For example if you are trying to lose weight in 2011, don’t just say your new years resolution is to lose weight, be specific. For example, make your New Years resolution something like to lose 12 pounds, a pound for each month.

Last but not least, if you break your New Years Resolution don’t give up on it. Let’s say you eat McDonald’s every night for a week, and you were trying to eat healthier. That doesn’t mean your resolution has ended. Just start over again and forget about the time you broke your resolution.

Whatever your New Years Resolution you may be, try and follow these tips and accomplish your goal. Happy New Year!!!

sources:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2010/12/27/ways-new-years-resolutions/

www.ehow.com

www.google.com/images

Stress Less

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:04:00 -0500

Although it is the most wonderful time of the year, many of you are feeling a lot of stress. Whether it be from finals, work, having relatives over at your house, or just figuring out that perfect gift to get that special someone, stress can arise. While stress is natural, it is something that no one wants nor needs to have. Although life might be a little crazier than it normally is right now, try not to let it ruin your next few weeks.

One of the best way to fight stress is exercising. Although you may think that you don’t have time to exercise, find it. Exercising will make you feel refreshed and help you focus later in the day. It doesn’t have to be anything intense, maybe do some yoga or go for a walk. Whatever the exercise is it will get your blood flowing and will help to put your life into perspective.

Make sure that you are getting enough sleep. I know for me, that whenever I am tired, things seem a lot worse than they actually are. Let yourself sleep so that you can focus the next day. Pulling an all nighter will not do anything.

Something that I have been trying to get better at is worrying. Worrying does nothing! Don’t waste your time thinking about things that are out of your control. Something that is very helpful is make a list and manage your time effectively. Also, whenever you start worrying, put things into perspective.

Laugh. It is so simple, but when you are stressing out you don’t allow yourself to take a break and laugh as much. Take 10 minutes and watch funny YouTube videos. Laughing significantly decreases stress hormones.

Last but not least, eat healthy. This is something that is so hard to do when you are stressing out, but it can really help. Basically avoid all of the foods that you are tempted to go to when you are stressed, such as sugary food because it adds instant energy to the adrenal gland, which is already working very hard because of your stress, salty foods also exhaust the adrenal glands, bad fats such as saturated and transfats (which are found in many processed foods) because they are very hard on the digestive system, caffeine, and alcohol. However, you should eat foods rich in vitamin C because it stops the flow of stress hormones, go for papaya, oranges, red bell peppers or broccoli. Peppermint tea has been found to help people focus and helps performance. While you shouldn’t be eating bad fats, you should be eating healthy fats such as avocados or fish. These good fats help to fight against the high blood pressure that you get when stressed. Last but not least, eat slow carbs such as Oatmeal, Quinoa, or whole wheat bread which contain a hormone called serotonin which makes you feel calm and collected.

http://www.stressmanagementforum.com/diet-nutrition-4/5-foods-you-must-avoid-to-reduce-stress-89.html

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.stuvu.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/college_stress-300x199.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.stuvu.com/page/3/&usg=__d3nBRIlMp7jLKR_wULE7x9yo2V0=&h=199&w=300&sz=19&hl=en&start=0&sig2=1ABj7Ef5182vAOqPUFViXQ&zoom=1&tbnid=PetwXSI69zqZtM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=184&ei=2NX-TKXrBIG0lQehubGXCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstudent%2Bstressing%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1116%26bih%3D596%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=389&oei=2NX-TKXrBIG0lQehubGXCA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=133&ty=9

Reference from David Zinzenko and Women’s Health

Burn Baby Burn

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:06:00 -0500

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I am sure you are feeling a little bit of eater’s remorse, but just remember that day comes once a year and it is better to enjoy it then watch what you eat! However, now Christmas is beggining which means Christmas parties galore with lots of fatty foods, and then comes New Years with lots of food. So, during this season, change things in your daily routine so that you are able to burn more calories.

I just bought a pair of Reebok Easytones, you know those shoes that are supposed to tone your legs and your butt when you walk. Well, I am not sure if these shoes work or not, but for me they are because they are inspiring me to walk around more. Anytime your up off the couch or moving around, you are burning more calories. Even just standing burns more calories than sitting does.

But here is a short list about what you can change in your everyday life.

The things I like to do to burn more calories throughout the day..

1) My Aunt Vicki’s motto is “If there are stairs take them” and my Dad and I live by this message religiously. If you are doing something like this when you are traveling at an airport, walking in a city, or at the mall doing some Christmas shopping, the amount of walking you do and calories you burn can really increase.

2) Something that really annoys my Dad is when there is a whole parking lot full of spots that are far away, yet someone needs to sit and wait for the closest parking spots. When you are going to the store, park far away and walk just that much further.

3) When you go to the airport and you see those moving walkways, I know they look fun, but walking next to them instead of on them is a good way to burn calories. After all, you are going to be sitting for the next few hours on an airplane.

4) My mom will probably laugh at me when I say this one, but making your bed and cleaning your room is a way to get up and moving. By just walking around your bed to make it, or bending over quite a few times to pick up your clothes, you are up off your butt and moving around.

5) Last, walk, bike, skateboard, rollerblade, run, or do whatever you can to move in order to get to your destination. If you don’t HAVE to drive, don’t! You will be helping out the environment and helping out your health.

There are so many other things that you can do throughout the day to keep moving. It doesn’t matter what you are doing, but the extra things that you can do throughout the day such as walk up stairs can really help your health.

Gimme some sugar....or maybe don't

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:59:00 -0500

My Dad was sitting with a co-worker earlier this week and noticed the granola he was eating, although this granola was an organic granola from Whole Foods and looked incredibly healthy, it contained 15 grams of sugar per serving. Sugar is a tricky thing, because it can change extremely healthy food, into extremely unhealthy food. So, we all know that sugar is something that makes food delicious and sweet, but what exactly is sugar and what can it do to our body?

Sugar is the simpliest form of carbohydrate, and it comes in a few different forms. First of all there are natural sugars such as lactose, which is milk sugar, or fructose, which is fruit sugar. Then there is the bad stuff, refined sugar, which is the sugar we find in most foods: cereal, cake, soda, granola bars, etc. What your body does, is it takes sugar and converts it into energy, however when you are getting too much sugar at once, your body converts the excess sugar into fat. Luckily, fruit and milk sugar release energy much slower and your body is able to process it and turn it into more energy, and less fat. Sugar does not only contribute to weight gain, but also heart disease, diabetes, and cavities.

The average person should only consume about 25-30 grams of processed sugar daily. This gets tricky because when you look at a label for milk, we can see there is 12 grams of sugar, however there is no processed sugar in this. Therefore checking the ingredients for either evaported cane juice, or anything that ends in “ose,” is important.

So the scary thing is..

A bowl of Raisin Bran, a cereal that sounds completely healthy, contains almost 18 grams of sugar. This is almost all the sugar you should be eating in one day, in just a supposedly healthy breakfast.

Note: A good rule with cereal is to pick a cereal that has no more than 6 grams of sugar per serving. You’d be surprised how hard that is to find. My favorites are Kashi Go Lean (Not Go Lean Crunch, that one has a lot of sugar) and Shredded Wheat.

A small Coke from McDonald’s contains 40 grams of sugar! Which exceeds the amount of sugar that you need in a day in just one drink. Although, the fake sugar in Diet Coke is just as bad for you.

A fat free frozen yogurt from TCBY (sounds healthy right?) contains 20 grams of sugar. Just because it is fat free, doesn’t mean it is healthy.

A fat free Yoplait yogurt contains 18 grams of sugar. (Another healthy sounding snack)

Note: Go for plain yogurt and add honey to it. This way you can control the amount of sugar going into your yogurt. I like Fage 0% Plain Greek Yogurt

A snickers bar contains 28 grams of sugar.

The list goes on and on. Americans crave sugar, and therefore our food industry adds way too much in order for people to buy it and continue to go back for more. So, check your favorite foods and make sure that you are not eating too much processed sugar because the bad health that you can get from sugar is scary!

http://www.sugarfacts.org/

http://www.womenfitness.net/deit_sugar.htm

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/health-advice/2009/09/18/how-much-sugar-is-too-much

http://caloriecount.about.com

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://winepressblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sugar-in-wine.jpg&imgrefurl=http://winepressblogger.com/&usg=__YsTcuMxVafDGSiAS-vOzQVnSrYA=&h=300&w=350&sz=30&hl=en&start=35&sig2=ahDrl3PUtGupx5GVKpzGYQ&zoom=1&tbnid=WIukwV30XLv8BM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=151&ei=0i7cTOPCFNOfngfd07wW&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsugar%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1116%26bih%3D596%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C897&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=224&vpy=170&dur=157&hovh=208&hovw=243&tx=87&ty=108&oei=yy7cTKbmK8H78AaxraGnCQ&esq=3&page=3&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:35&biw=1116&bih=596

Healthy foods for about a dollar

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:15:48 -0400

I stumbled upon this while waiting at my teachers office hours. It is a great article about cheap food that is extremely good for you, and they mention pumpkin seeds! Happy Friday!!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/33WHgi/www.divinecaroline.com/22177/52070-twenty-healthiest-foods-1/print

Cheater, Cheater, PUMPKIN EATER.

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:55:44 -0400

It is that time of the year when pumpkins are everywhere. We eat them in pies, on salads, in our lattes, in our smoothies, and not to mention we eat the seeds. The possibilities are endless when pumpkins are around. Luckily, pumpkins aren’t just good for carving, they are extremely healthy! So dig in!

First of all, pumpkins are loaded with beta carotene, which is what gives them their bright orange color. My mom’s little white pumpkin in the picture probably isn’t as nutrient rich as the rest of my family’s pumpkins. Beta carotene helps to keep your eye-sight sharp, it is the same thing that is in carrots that gives you good eyes. On top of that, people who eat beta carotene are less likely to develop certain types of cancers. Pumpkins are also rich in potassium, you know, that stuff that helps your body to not cramp up as much, but it also lowers your risk of having high blood pressure. Pumpkins contain zinc which helps to improve your immune system, which is very helpful during this time of the year, and it also contributes to strong bones, so you don’t develop osteoporosis. Like many plant foods, pumpkin is rich in fiber, which helps you to feel full longer, aids digestion, and can help prevent cancer and heart disease. WOW!

One of my best friends, Kristina Benvenuto, always roasted the pumpkin seeds and I would make sure to steal some from her every time she brought them to school. Luckily, my family decided to roast the pumpkin seeds this year since I didn’t get to see Kristina this season. Roasted pumpkin seeds taste amazing! Plus, they are rich in beneficial carbohydrates, amino acids, and are loaded with healthy unsaturated fats.

On Thanksgiving if you have a choice between pies, choose pumpkin, which has about 350 calories per slice and is nutrient rich, as opposed to pecan which usually has around 750 calories per slice. (Sorry Dad!)

So this fall, enjoy some pumpkin, seeds and all!

Sources:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Health-Benefits-of-Pumpkin

http://health.learninginfo.org/herbs/pumpkin-seeds.htm

Halloween Candy: What to eat, what to avoid.

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:08:00 -0400

If you have never heard of “Eat this, not that” I highly recommend it. In a way it is my Bible. It is all about making healthy choices in everyday situations. For example, Halloween is coming up this weekend, and let’s be real, I don’t care how healthy you are, this holiday you have to eat some candy. So when a bowl of candy is placed in front of you, what do you choose?

The full article is posted here, but here is the summary of “Eat this, not that” Halloween candy.

According to “Eat this, not that”…

1) The worst “Fun Size” Candy bar is a Butterfinger Bar with 100 calories 4g fat (2g saturated) and 10 whole grams of sugar!

Instead go for the 3 Musketeers with just 63 calories, 2 g of fat, and 10 g of sugar.

2) If you are in the mood for something fruity, don’t go for the Airheads with 140 calories 1.5 g fat and 19 whole grams of sugar for just 3 pieces.

Instead go for Dum Dum’s with just 77 calories and no fat for 3 pops

3) This one is a bummer because I like this candy but the worst mini candy is Twix with 150 calories, 8g of fat and 15g of sugar for just 3 baby pieces :(

Instead eat 3 tootsie rolls for just 70 calories 1.5 g of fat and 9.5 g of sugar.

I am not a fan of this swap! Twix taste WAY better than tootsie rolls, and now I can see why

4) If you want something chewy do not go for the Milk Maid Caramels because they probably don’t taste all that great and it is 160 calories, 4.5 g of fat and 16 g of sugars for just 4 pieces.

But Now and Laters, which I am a fan of, are only 53 calories, 0.5 grams of fat and 10 grams of sugar for four pieces!!

This one I like.

5) And last but not least, the worst seasonal candy is Reese’s Pumpkin with 170 calories, 10g of fat, and 16g of sugars.

Instead go for 11 pieces of candy corn for 70 calories, 0g of fat and 14 grams of sugar

I hope you use this advice for the weekend and check out the entire “Eat this, not that” website for more everyday swaps. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

10 Nutrition Myths

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:59:26 -0400

When I was looking on cookinglight.com for healthy recipes I found this great article that busts some nutrition myths. It is very interesting. I recommend reading it!

http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/nutrition-myths-facts-00412000067116/page20.html

G.T.'s Synergy: my drug of choice

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:07:25 -0400

If you know me well, you know that I have a major obsession with Kombucha tea, and mostly just G.T.’s synergy. I was so upset when it was taken off the shelves in June because the alcohol content was higher than the claim in some bottles. The reason for this was because if they weren’t refrigerated right away they would continue to ferment, causing a higher alcohol content. But thank God it is back and all is right with the world again!

For those of you who don’t know what Kombucha is, it is a colony of bacteria and yeast. In my opinion it looks like a pancake of fat.

This colony is combined with sugar and black tea and is fermented for 30 days. During this fermentation period essential nutrients are formed that can help with your overall well-being. These nutrients include: active enzymes, probiotics, amino acids, antioxidants, and polyphenols.

The bottle claims the Kombucha supports: digestion, metabolism, immune system, appetite control, weight control, liver function, body alkalinity, anti-aging, cell-integrity, healthy skin, and healthy hair. Now, you have to be crazy if this stuff doesn’t sound like something you want, cause I am pretty sure this helps with everything you could possibly want to be healthy.

Not to mention, Synergy’s only have about 60-70 calories and only 4-8 grams of sugar in an entire bottle. If you drink 16 oz of t juice, you are looking at about 180 calories and 37 grams for orange juice and 240 calories and 52 grams of sugar for apple juice. For 16 oz of a coke, there are about 190 calories and 52 grams of all processed sugars. The sugar from synergy is all natural from the fruit juice that is put into the bottle.

This drink gives me an energy buzz like no other drink and really helps me focus in work. I just drank one before I started writing this blog and that is what gave me the energy and motivation to write so much.

The taste gets a while to get used to, so my tip for anyone who hasn’t tried is drink an entire bottle before you judge.

Hope you have an obsession with this power drink as much as I do.

(The end result is much more appetizing then the original colony of bacteria and yeast)

Sources:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kombucha-tea/AN01658

http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/DietandNutrition/kombucha-tea

Mountain Sun

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:12:39 -0400

If you want some great pub food and are in the Boulder area, Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery is amazing! The food is extremely healthy but the flavors are still so great. Kai got a burger when we went and the beef was extremely flavorful. The beef is organic, locally raised and vegetarian fed. Kai also got some really good chili to go along with it. Steph got a portebello sandwhich, and I got a greens salad and added tempeh (vegetarian source of protein made from soy) to it for protein. I highly recommend this place for a delicious, healthy, and fun meal out!

Let's date.

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:37:26 -0400

Over the weekend I went to Santa Barbara for the Jack Johnson concert. While I was there I had an array of healthy foods. If you are ever in the area and want some healthy options I recommend going to Sojourner Cafe (which is EXTREMELY healthy and my little sister couldn’t find anything on the menu, but my mom and I loved it), another great healthy restaurant is The Natural Cafe (which Steph, Kai, and I all loved, so there is something for everyone), but there is also an amazing farmer’s market in Santa Barbara. I was shocked to see all of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts that they were able to sell there because it is all still in season in Santa Barbara. Something I discovered while I was there was Medjool Dates. The man intrigued me by giving me a sample and telling me that just one of these dates had a significant amount of iron and more potassium than a banana. He didn’t have to say much more, I decided to buy a bag of these dates and researched it to see if what he told me was true.

What I found about Medjool dates is that they are full of nutrients. While they don’t look that great with a quick glance at the nutrition facts, they have amazing aspects that can help the body in many ways.

Looking at the nutrition facts for 1 date:

Calories-66

Fat- 0g

Sugars-16g

While this doesn’t look amazing, if you do your research you will find that Medjool dates are fiber rich, they do indeed have more potassium than a banana, they are full of complex B vitamins, are full of magnesium, and are fat and sodium free. All of these help to prevent against cancer, help maintain a healthy heart, increase red and white blood cells, lower blood pressure and stabilize blood sugar, can reduce the risk of a stroke by up to 40%, improves the delivery of oxygen to the brain, helps the general metabolic process, and helps to release the energy stored in muscles so it can be used.

While this does look like a lot of sugar, the human body needs sugar, but it is much better to be getting these sugars from things that come from the earth, not when these sugars are processed and refined. The calories may also seem a little high, but these are good calories that are nutrient rich. As a nutritionist once asked me, “Have you ever heard of anyone getting fat off of fruit?” So enjoy these delicious dates, guilt free and think of all the benefits they are working in your body.

http://sweetenergy.com/php/nut28.php

http://wholefooddelights.com/news.htm

Love EVOL.

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:31:00 -0400

For my Introduction to Public Relations class, we have to to do a final group project that involves a local company. So of course, being the health nut that I am, my group chose a healthy company. We chose EVOL Burritos. If you haven’t tried an EVOL burrito yet, I highly recommend them. These frozen foods aren’t only absolutely delicious, but they are actually extremely healthy! These all-natural burritos come in so many different types of burritos, and not to mention they have a mini version and a premium wrap. The nutrition facts differ depending on which flavor you choose, but all of the burritos are made with sustainable ingredients, such as humanely raised beef, free range chicken, and cage-free eggs. They are also filled with a lot of protein and fiber. The original burritos range from 290 calories for the veggie fajita burrito to about 470 calories for the shredded beef burrito and everything in between. A veggie burrito from Chipotle is about 960 calories, and a steak burrito is about 1,160 calories! The all-natural EVOL burritos are clearly the healthier option. I recommend that everyone go out and try one of these amazing burritos. I don’t think that you will be let down. I am so excited to be doing my project on this amazing company that cares about people staying healthy.

Sources: EVOLfoods.com, Chipotlefan.com

Picture source:http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sweatrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/EVOLburritos1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sweatrepublic.com/2010/08/evol-burritos/&usg=__V2PI83dO-3LnPmfdW2VWbGg8Tws=&h=510&w=567&sz=80&hl=en&start=18&sig2=PW7_Sf71xRyz5vPnwVnxWw&zoom=1&tbnid=TVyqWqriXTQR0M:&tbnh=147&tbnw=160&ei=_o2vTMuFCYSksQOt46ClDA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Devol%2Bburritos%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1116%26bih%3D618%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C331&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=769&oei=942vTPy_J5H4swPI4YT-Aw&esq=2&page=2&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:18&tx=101&ty=78&biw=1116&bih=618

Photo

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:59:51 -0400

This milk is nuts!

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:56:00 -0400

Living in the bubble of Boulder, I hear about so many different health foods that most people outside the bubble probably have no idea even exist. A new health food I recently heard of was Almond Milk, it sounded strange considering almonds don’t have udders, but I had to give it a try. I went to my Whole Foods and straight to the dairy aisle. Considering it was Whole Foods there was probably 75 different types of milk choices. I searched for the almond milk and found I couldn’t just buy almond milk, I had to make a decision between different brands and flavors. First, my eye went to the cheapest brand they had which was “365 Everyday Value,” which is the Whole Foods brand. Then I had the option between chocolate, vanilla, and unsweetened. Although the vanilla sounded good, unsweetened had half the calories and no sugar. Here are the nutrition facts-

365 Everyday Value Organic Almond Milk Unsweetened

1 Cup or 8 fl/oz

Calories 40

Total Fat 3g (no saturated or trans fat)

Cholesterol 0mg

Sodium 180mg

Potassium 190mg

Total Carbohydrate 2g

Dietary Fiber 1g

Sugars <1g

Protein 1g

Vitamin A 10% Calcium 20% Vitamin D 25% Iron 2% Vitamin E 50%

Skim milk has

80 calories, 12g of sugar, 0g of fat, and 8g or protein

Vitamin A 10% Calcium 30% Vitamin D 25% and it includes many different types of Vitamin B’s

Unsweetened Soy Milk has

80 Calories, 1g of sugar, 4g of fat, and 7g of protein

Vitamin A 10%, Calcium 25%, Iron 10% Vitamin D 25%

When looking at these nutrition facts, every milk has a different aspect that makes it healthy and full of nutrition. Almond milk is half the calories however of both skim and soy milk and has barely any sugar. You do, however, lose the protein when you drink it, so if you are looking for protein it is not a good choice. I like to pair it with the cereal Kashi Go Lean which has 13g of sugar in a cup of cereal. When drinking it alone, I don’t enjoy the flavor as much as regular milk or soymilk, but in my cereal I enjoy it more. So, the concensus on milk is that they are all good for you in different ways, so it really depends on if you are watching calories, fat, amount of vitamins, amount of sugar, or just plain taste of the product!

Foods that look like body parts they are good for.

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:38:00 -0400

If you haven’t heard of stumbleupon.com you should check it out. This is just a quick blog entry but today I stumbled upon this article and thought it was a really cool way to put food and health into perspective.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/5PiMVl/www.womansday.com/Articles/Health/Diet-Nutrition/Foods-That-Look-Like-Body-Parts-They-re-Good-For.html