I am 25 weeks this week and its time for my glucose test. I am getting tested for gestational diabetes. Although this is my third time around, this test has been a little more difficult for me this time than the last 2. I had to drink this orange drink which i guess is like Sunkist. It’s the most sugar I’ve ingested in one sitting in over a year! It’s been about 15 minutes and I’m already feeling queezy and gross. This is not fun. Hopefully it’ll all be over soon

A conversation with a friend of mine struck my curiosity and made me do some research on whether frozen vegetables lose their nutritional value. To be completely honest with you, I thought Fresh is best always without exception. But every day is an opportunity to learn something new and I definitely learned something new today!

As it turns out… Here’s the deal with frozen veggies.

Vegetables are blanched in hot water or steamed prior to being frozen- so they do lose a few nutrients in that process…but then they are “flash-frozen” which keeps them in their nutrient-rich state. But here’s the important piece of information… they are allowed to ripen prior to freezing, so they are being frozen at their peak nutrient state.

Fresh vegetables are usually transported and in order to avoid being spoiled by the time they get to the fresh produce aisle, they are taken off the vine prior to being ripe. So they never actually get to their peak nutrient state on the vine. Then they are exposed to outdoor whether conditions in transit from Farm to Store so they encounter a loss of nutrients in that process. So the longer they travel, the more nutrients they lose. And the longer they sit on that aisle waiting for someone to scoop them up…the more nutrients they lose as well.

So what’s the conclusion:  Move to a farm!!!! 

Just kidding- some nutrient value is going to be lost whether you purchase fresh or frozen vegetables, but the recommendation is the following:

1. If you are buying local, in season vegetables – your best bet is FRESH.

2. If you are buying vegetables that are not in season and not locally grown – your best bet is actually FROZEN!

You can also gage how quickly you intend to use those veggies – if you’re making dinner that night and want some fresh delicious vegetables, go ahead and enjoy. But if you just want to have them available at home for later in the week, you may want to try some frozen ones and see how it goes.

NOTE: One additional comment; frozen vegetables do start to lose nutritional value if they are stored for an extended period of time. So I highly recommend buying what you need and using even your frozen vegetables on a regular basis. Don’t leave them in the freezer for months because then you are not getting their full benefit.

OH, and for cooking – avoid boiling – that causes the water soluble nutrients like vitamin b and c to leach out into the water. (Although if you’re making a mash you can pour the very same water back into the blender to mash the vegetables and keep the nutrients.)

SO MUCH TO LEARN AND EXPLORE!

I found this awesome cold and flu remedy and just had to share it with you guys. We all get colds and they are terrible. We feel lousy and stuffy and just want the symptoms to go away. Unfortunately whether we take antibiotics or Nyquil to hide the symptoms, a viral cold simply needs to run its course. I happen to believe that when you take a lot of over the counter meds to hide the symptoms, you actually end up prolonging the virus in your body. So I avoid using meds and instead try to alleviate myself with natural remedies.

This remedy I found online was so good and powerful that I felt compelled to share it:

It has 3 ingredients:

Ginger, Lemon, And Honey

1. Fill up your teakettle and get it boiling.
2. Meanwhile, grate a one-inch piece of fresh ginger root.
3. Put the ginger in the thermos or a container with a lid. 
4. Put a dash of lemon juice in the thermos. A dash is about 4 tablespoons. *1 lemon = 2 tbsps. 
5. Add a dash of honey as well. A dash in this case is about three tablespoons. 
6. When your water is boiled, pour it in the thermos.
7. Cover it up and let it sit for 20 minutes.
8. Strain into a tea cup and enjoy!

With this “anti-sugar” and “high-fructose corn syrup” movement, we are all looking for viable replacements that give us that sugar happiness.

Let’s face it…people like sweet stuff. The sugar replacements or alternatives are abound

1. sugar
2. agave
3. honey
4. hfcs
5. evaporated cane juice
6. organic sugar
7. splenda
8. nutrisweet
9. equal
10. stevia
11. truvia
12. maple syrup

The list is extensive. And really whether artificial or from a tree…the desired result is the same…make our food sweeter! The problem is that a lot of these sugar equivalents are no good from a health perspective and really should not act as a substitute.

Well, a good friend of mine, Rosana, who lives in Nevada, recently recommended COCONUT NECTAR.

I’ve been using Stevia and am happy with it so I didn’t go out of my way to find it…but the other day I was SHOCKED when I walked past an aisle in Winn Dixie and actually saw the product!  There it was in front of my face, Organic Coconut Sugar. I had to buy it!!!  I tasted it and was impressed at how delicious it is. I know some people hate stevia. I don’t. But for those who do this might be a good option.

I looked up some of the health benefits of coconut sugar and found the following:

Coconut nectar is taken from the flowers of a coconut tree. In my opinion, the highlights are that it is:

• LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX
• LOW IN FRUCTOSE
• HIGH IN AMINO ACIDS
• HIGH IN VITAMINS & MINERALS

I can’t say that it is better, or even as good as Stevia. I have to inquire a little bit more on that point. But it seems to be a “healthier”alternative to other sweeteners and good for people who are struggling with their sugar addiction.

That being said, I have to emphasize that I believe the first step to a healthy lifestyle is to curb this sugar addiction that we all have. Our focus should be in moving AWAY from sugar…not only finding a substitute for it. So, although I am happy to report that there is a healthier sugar you can use…I can’t stress enough that this substance should be used in moderation and with caution.

And whenever you can…skip the sweets and PILE ON THE GREENS!

Smoothies are a great way to incorporate leafy greens into your diet that you wouldn’t normally eat. And best of all, they are RAW so you are maximizing their benefits.

I’ve seen a major Kale movement in the last few months and it seems to me that everyone knows about it and lots of people are using it in their smoothies. Everyone that I speak to that is transitioning into healthy eating says something about Kale. Kale is wonderful and I highly recommend using it in your smoothies, salads, or as a cooked vegetable. That being said there are more greens out there other than Kale and they should not be ignored.

For Example there are Collard Greens, Watercress, Spinach, Romaine Lettuce, chard, etc. All are excellent for smoothies and all offer different nutrients and benefits for your health.

But there is one more thing to consider. These greens fall into families. And as the saying goes…there is such a thing as too much of a good thing! Leafy greens  are wonderful but they all contain small amounts of toxins. (Although to be honest, if only a few leaves are used daily in a smoothie it shouldn’t be a big deal.) But to err on the side of caution is always best so here is a list of some leafy greens and/or vegetables and the families they fall into:

Brassicaceae/Cruciferae: Kale, Collards, Watercress, Arugula, Turnips, Cabbage, Bok Choy, Radish Greens, Mustard Greens, Broccoli, Cauliflower

Amaranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae: Spinach, Chard, Beet,

Asteraceae: Dandelion, Romaine Lettuce

Apiaceae: Parsley, Cilantro, Celery, Carrots

So don’t get stuck on one kind of green. I don’t rotate by any given cycle but I’ll buy a bunch of collard greens and use those until they run out. Then the next time I buy Spinach. Then Collard greens, then Romaine lettuce…so on and so forth. I don’t buy too much at once because I don’t want to risk my greens going bad.  Use greens from different families from time to time and enjoy the benefits and variety of as many vegetables as you can!

Speaking of variety… This week I bought Collard greens and Mint. MInt is an herb and falls into the Labiateae family. I’m trying it in different smoothies like chocolate mint, etc. I’ll keep you posted throughout the week.

I made an interesting smoothie today:

• frozen coconut
• strawberries
• blueberries
• collard greens
• mint leaves
• 1/2 banana
• strawberry Kefir by Helios
• water

I didn’t add the 1/2 banana initially. When I first tasted it, I really didn’t like the texture of it. I thought maybe it was the coconut and it was a little bitter.  Justin liked it and drank his whole cup but Orly hated it. I ended up adding a 1/2 banana to it and that made it much better.

Note: After Orly got home from school and had his quiet time, he asked me for some fruit. I had some smoothie left over in the fridge and I stirred it up and made him try it again. He ended up liking it (probably because I had put the 1/2 banana in it) and he drank the whole thing. Yet another example of how important it is for one to try things over and over again, especially kids!!! I found the consistency to be much more liquid-like in the afternoon. Not sure why but that helped a lot.

It wasn’t my best smoothie but it had leafy greens, herbs, probiotics, and antioxidants – that’s a plus in my book!!!

So I had a late start this morning. I’m usually up and about at 5am but I didn’t sleep well the night before so my body needed the rest this morning.

I’m in a deep, delicious slumber when I hear my 3 year old at the side of my bed saying “Mami, I can’t breathe” 6:47AM. After thanking God that it wasn’t 2AM and that I got a full nights rest….I got up and gave my son some tissue and said Good morning to him…and the cold that I know he’s getting.

I felt like saying… “Hello, cold, It’s been a while. Welcome, but don’t get too comfortable…I want you out of my house as soon as possible.” And so it begins, the stuffy nose, and whatever will follow from there.

People have asked me before…how come your family eats so healthy but your kids still get sick? I think the mentality is why bother eating all this healthy stuff if you’re gonna get sick just like everyone else. I chalk it up to the same argument certain smokers use when they say..I know a guy who never smoked a day in his life and got lung cancer so what’s the point of giving up smoking. I have tried to find a reasonable answer to that question that has been posed and I even asked my guru doctor about it once…and his response was “part of the problem is that we spend too much time indoors. Therefore, the germs are constantly circulating (especially in schools) and its almost impossible to avoid catching a cold or a virus or the flu from time to time.” And he also tells me…”life is not perfect, people get sick anyway.”

So I have come to grips with the inevitable: we have an almost 4 year old and an almost 2 year old at home. They go to school. It is IMPOSSIBLE to prevent them from getting sick. It doesn’t matter how healthy they eat, how well they sleep,  or what we do…they will get sick. Especially right now… for the last few days everywhere I go I see people blowing their noses, or mentioning they don’t feel well. These colds travel in cycles and you can avoid some and some you can’t.

Although I can understand the “smoker’s theory,” I simply cannot subscribe to it. I see a different side. What I see is that although every single member of my household will unavoidably catch something from time to time… the time it takes us to recover, the severity of what we catch, and how often we can avoid catching that little something or avoid taking medicine is really what I focus on.

So here I was at 6:47AM with a little boy who is on the verge of catching a cold. He only has the sniffles but his body is officially under attack. My response: let the battle begin!

SInce I have been down this road, I know the drill. What foods are good for colds and viruses?

• lots of liquids
• water with lemon or lime. (lots of lemon or lime is great)
• chicken soup
• ginger
• garlic

We often talk about eating WHOLE FOODS as a method of becoming healthier and losing weight. This, of course, includes Fruits, Vegetables, Lean Proteins, Nuts, Seeds, and small quantities of Whole Grains -preferably sprouted, or gluten free.

We have emphasized how much we like smoothies for breakfast, etc. This, of course, remains our philosophy and our lifestyle. But I often talk to people who tell me that they eat healthy and still can’t lose weight, and they just don’t understand why. Upon asking some more questions on their food choices and lifestyle, I have seen in various instances, that people who are trying to lose weight attach themselves to the Fruits much more than the Vegetables.

Why do we do this, and What’s wrong with it? 

My theory is that when we start cutting out processed foods, refined sugars, high fructose corn syrup, and processed carbs…we initiate a process of detoxification. This process sucks. It can cause sugar cravings, headaches, irritability, etc. Fruits have sugar and therefore help us satisfy these cravings and reduce the symptoms. Plus, they are delicious. The argument of course is that they are whole foods and therefore are perfectly acceptable to eat. But my theory is that if you’re trying to lose weight (and this really only applies to those who are battling with their weight) then it would be wise to increase your greens and reduce your fruit intake.

Case in point – my research has revealed that smoothies are actually healthier for you than juicing. Why? because the process of juicing strains out the insoluble fiber. We definitely need fiber so when we blend our fruits and veggies into a smoothie we retain the fiber plus the vitamins and the nutrients. However, in an article I recently read on the benefits of juicing versus smoothies – I was intrigued by some of the arguments promoting Juicing instead of making smoothies.

The Pros to Juicing included:

• People often use vegetables, including some they might not normally consume, not just the fruits typically used in smoothies.

The Drawbacks to Smoothies included:

• Not usually made with veggies, only with high-sugar fruit.

The Drawbacks to Juicing included:

• If made only with fruit, juices can be loaded with sugars.

This confirmed my suspicions. People naturally tend to have an aversion to vegetables, so when making things such as smoothies – they throw in the fruits and feel good that they are eating healthy, but tend to skimp on the vegetables.

Fruits also make for delicious snacks so its easy to pack some melon, bananas, apples, etc in your lunchbox and snack on that whenever you are hungry or craving sugar. And its definitely better than snacking on junk food or a sweet treat. So if you fall into this category, you are making progress, but may become frustrated when you don’t see the results you were expecting. Especially since replacing the bad stuff with fruits is already a large sacrifice.

My suggestion to those who are really trying to lose weight, is to reevaluate their fruit consumption. Here are some tips to maximize results when trying to eat healthy.

• Eat fruits in the morning – I’ve read a lot on the process of food digestion and food combinations and something I have found interesting is that fruits are better digested in the morning. So I enjoy my fruits in my smoothies and also I like to chop up some apples or pears in my salads, which I usually eat before 1pm.
• Focus on low-sugar fruits at first – When I first starting my NO-SUGAR journey, I was shocked to find that fruits had so much sugar. Even though they are whole foods, fruits still can spike your glycemic levels. The only way to know for sure what kind of spike you get from eating a fruit would be to test your sugar levels an hour after eating the fruit. Most people don’t want to do that…so as a general rule, focus on the fruits that are lower in the glycemic index – Berries, Grapes, Watermelon, sliced apples.  Mangoes, for example, are very high in sugar. In fact, I was getting so skinny at one point that I started using mangoes in my smoothies to aid me in gaining weight healthily instead of with bad foods. Bananas are also very high in sugar. I will confess that 1 banana in a smoothie goes a LONG way. It really makes the smoothie delicious and it is important to enjoy what you eat. So live in moderation, if you enjoy putting a banana in your smoothie, by all means, do it. But don’t eat bananas throughout the day as well.
• Increase your vegetable intake –  Think Green and Pile on the Greens!!!! I increased my vegetable intake by trying to put something green in every meal. Example – add romaine lettuce, kale, watercress, or collard greens (to name a few) in your smoothie in the morning. Eat a salad for lunch and toss the iceberg lettuce; replace it with some dark leafy greens like arugula, spinach, etc. Then add some raw broccoli to your salad and anything else you can think of. Making an omelette? toss some spinach into it. Try some roasted vegetables for dinner. Intimidated by vegetables? Hide them in soups but get your fill.
• Use seeds/raw almonds for snacks – we need good, healthy fats. A great way to incorporate them in our diets is to snack on raw almonds and seeds, instead of snacking on a banana or melon.

So I guess really the point I’m trying to make is that if you’re trying to lose weight and change your eating habits, you have to break away from your comfort zone. Its easy to pick up one healthy habit such as eating fruits instead of a Twix bar – but it is not as easy to really make the changes you need to lose weight.  It can be difficult to work through sugar cravings and the discomforts that come with them, but you need to go through that to move forward. The results are well worth it.

Good luck and well wishes to all!

I have to be totally honest. I’m not a lettuce wrap fan. I don’t know why exactly, but I never have been. Yesterday when Orlando told me he was making lettuce wraps for dinner, you can say I was anything but excited. But when I put those wraps in my mouth, I was blown away! I loved them. I ate 3 of them! It actually made me wonder what I didn’t like about them in the first place??? Who knows – my life has become such a process of evolving that anything goes!

So back to the wraps. We finish our delicious dinner and I say to Orlando, okay just give me the recipe so I can post it on our blog. They were delicious. Orlando looks at me like he was hit by a truck, and said….I didn’t really follow a recipe, Caro, I just eyeballed everything and that’s it. How am I supposed to document what he does if he eyeballs everything!!!!!!!!!!! Its so frustrating! But its the truth, its what he does. He goes by tastes and textures.  He adds as he goes.  So what we did to remedy this situation???  We did our best to retrace our steps and create tangible measurements for one to follow. The measurements are not completely precise so you can play with them a little. You can add a little or subtract a little, but generally we are giving you guidelines to follow. So here it goes:

Ingredients:

• Boston or Bibb lettuce – we used boston
• 1 lb of chicken
• 1 8 oz can of water chestnuts
• 1 5 oz can of bamboo shoots
• 1/4 cup of cabbage from a bottle of Kimchee
• 1 small can of tid bit pineapples (make sure they have no sugar or fructose)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons raw chopped to small pieces ginger
• 2 cups of shredded carrots (shred them yourself…its cheaper and fresher)
• 1/2 red onion chopped
•  8oz mushrooms – used about 6 oz.
• any Sprouts you prefer.  we used spicy sprouts

FIRST STEP – PREPARING THE MARINADE FOR THE CHICKEN

• 1 lb of chicken chopped up into bite sized pieces
• About 1/4 bottle of Teriyaki sauce
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper
• 1/2 of the juice of an 8 oz can of pineapple and 1/4 of the pineapple tidbits
• 1 tbsp of sesame oil
• 1tbsp of honey

Place these ingredients in a large ziplock bag, seal well, and shake, shake, shake. Put in the refrigerator to marinade for about an hour. (two hours would be even better)

COOKING THE VEGETABLES 

• about 6 oz of the pre-sliced mushrooms (orlando chopped them a little more to make them bite sized)
• 
• 1/2 a bunch of green onions chopped
• 

• 1/4 cup of kimchi vegetables (this is optional – we bought it at Publix)
• 
• 2 cups of shredded carrots
• 1/2 of a large red onion, sliced
• 1/2 tbsp of raw, chopped ginger
• a little salt and pepper to taste

Heat pan with a little bit of sesame oil and sautee the vegetables until they are lightly cooked. Then add

• 1/2 of an 8oz can of water chestnuts
• 
• 1/2 of a 5oz can of bamboo shoots
• 
• 1/2 tbsp of raw, chopped ginger
• 1 clove of garlic

Sautee these vegetables with the remaining vegetables in the pan until they are cooked through and add salt and pepper to taste.  Note: Make sure you do not OVERCOOK the vegetables. You want the vegetables to always remain crispy. Remember, less is more! You can eat vegetables semi-raw. Therefore, do not be afraid of undercooking them. Just make sure they get a nice sautee and toss in the heat and that they have a nice color but you don’t want soggy, soft vegetables for this dish (or ever!!!)

Take them off the heat and set aside to cool.  Remember, this isn’t a stir-fry that must be served hot.  These are best at room temperature in my opinion.

COOKING THE CHICKEN

• Add a little more sesame oil, and set the pan that you used for the vegetables to an extremely high heat.
• Drain the liquid out of the freezer bag where the chicken is marinating.
• sautee the chicken at the high temperature with 1 clove of garlic and another 1/2 tbsp of raw, chopped ginger.
• Continue to cook the chicken through until you see all the liquid evaporated. (you may have to pour out excess marinade while cooking the chicken or it will never brown.)
• take the vegetables out of the refrigerator and toss into the pan with the chicken just to combine. Lightly toss all ingredients together.  Remove from heat.  Toss with some chopped green onions.

TO SERVE

• Place the boston lettuce wraps on a plate and serve the chicken and vegetables inside the lettuce.
• Add a little bleu cheese dressing – or ranch (if you prefer) and VOILA!
• I know the dressing is strange, but adding a small touch of blue cheese goes a long way and adds great zing.  Remember, this is more like a salad than it is a fajita, so Orlando thought to use a little bleu cheese in place of sour cream to add flavor and texture.

Note: Beware of adding too much dressing. The dressing is simply a touch just to bring out the flavors of the wrap but you don’t want to soak the wrap in dressing.

This is really a healthy version of a fajita. The Teriyaki sauce and the blue cheese dressing are the only real “cheats” in the meal. The meal has no carbs, is full of vegetables and is delicious!

To a fabulous, fun, Friday!!!!!! Have a great weekend everyone.