January 2013 Class - Fresh Fruits and Snacks

Fresh Fruit:

 

We learned several tips and techniques for preparing fresh fruits at the January class.  Fresh fruit is an easy, delicious real food choice.  Choose fruit that is 'in season' and become familiar with the 'Dirty Dozen' list so you know which organic fruits to buy  to minimize pesticide exposure.  Take advantage of this precious food gift from God.

Fresh Fruit Options, Part 1: Grapefruit and Oranges
Fresh Fruit Options, Part 2: Apples and Pears, and Lemons
Fresh Fruit Options, Part 3: Pineapple
Fresh Fruit Options, Part 4: Mango

Snack Options:

Choose good snacks, there are many options. 

Easy Snack Options

Read Ingredient Labels:

 

Read Labels

During our discussion time, in addition to better snack options, we talked about choosing glass instead of plastic and glass bottle options.  We also evaluated several different brands** of chicken soup and chicken stock.  We saw that most contain MSG, an ingredient on my 'foods to avoid' list.  Be sure to read the ingredient labels on foods you purchase.  Ideally you will buy less and less foods that have ingredient labels, because even if organic, these are processed foods.  As Jennifer mentioned in her update, not only does eating the 'better' quality processed foods not bring about improved health, but they are expensive.  Know what you are buying and eating.

**The one brand of chicken stock that I had found that did not contain hidden MSG was Whole Foods 365 Organic brand.  HOWEVER, they have changed the label recently and have changed the ingredients to include yeast extract.  I no longer recommend this product.  Learn to make your own broth!  (At the March class tomorrow night, March 19th, I will demonstrate how to bake a chicken and make homemade broth.)

Discussion:

During our group discussion time, we discussed if and how what we eat affects us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  I think the physical effects are pretty obvious to everyone, and many have recognized the 'foggy' brain and ADD affects of foods on our mental clarity.  Less obvious are the emotional and spiritual effects.  I know when I am not feeling well and my brain is muddled that I am more easily upset.  I think emotions rise and fall as blood sugar levels fluctuate wildly from all the sugar that Americans eat.  But probably most concerning is the spiritual effects of foods.  Two things were pointed out in class.  One person mentioned that it was hard to stay focused with prayers when her brain was 'foggy' from foods, and another person mentioned that when we are sick, we need care from others rather than being a person who can help others.  Think about how the food you eat affects you.

^"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  1 Corinthians 10:31

Melted Brie with Jam

 

 

This simple, yet elegant snack, is inspired by Whole Foods, who has promoted this for years around the Christmas holidays.  This one is just a bit different though because I use jam that is fruit juice sweetened, rather than sweetened with sugar (or worse HFCS, high fructose corn syrup).  We also eat it year round; it is a great and easy appetizer to serve visitors. 

Make sure your crackers do not contain enriched flour - there are not many available but you can find them if you look around.  The Whole Foods crackers shown use white flour, but are not enriched, and the Mary's Gone Crackers are organic and 100 % whole grain.  It seems people either love or hate the Mary's Gone Crackers (no connection to me!).  I buy the brie cheese wheel and Mary's Gone Crackers at Costco, and the water crackers at Whole Foods.  Be careful with Carr's water crackers - read the labels.  Some varieties contain enriched white flour, which is on my never to eat list of foods and ingredients.  Find a good quality cracker.

 

Ingredients:

 

One round of brie cheese

Fruit juice sweetened jam (I use Crofter's Just Fruit Raspberry Spread)

Crackers (read the ingredient label)

 

Preheat oven to 350 °F.  Cut the top layer off of the cheese wheel (but do not cut off the side layer or your brie will be a melted puddle) and place on an oven-proof dish or plate.  Spread the jam over the top (about 1/4" thick) and place in preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese is soft.  Remove and serve with crackers.

 

 



January 2013 Class - Read Labels

So much misinformation - don't be fooled by the marketing tricks used to sell foods.  Your health is not their main goals; it is making a profit. 

 

We read the ingredient labels for the above chicken soups and broths at the January class.  All contained MSG (which has many names) except the 365 Organic Whole Foods brand (no longer true**).  Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, the staple my mom fed me as a child when I was sick, is loaded with man-made ingredients.  She knew that the old wives' tale which says, "the best medicine for a cold is Grandma's chicken noodle soup" was true, but she did not understand that it had to be homemade. 

 

Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup:  chicken stock, enriched egg noodles(wheat flour, eggs, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), chicken meat, water, chicken fat, salt, lower sodium natural sea salt, monosodium glutamate, cornstarch, mechanically separated chicken*, modified food starch, yeast extract, flavoring, sodium phosphate, soy protein isolate, beta carotene, chicken*              *dehydrated

 

Healthy Choice Chicken noodle soup is not much better:  chicken broth, white meat chicken, carrots, enriched egg noodle(durum wheat semolina, whole egg, egg white, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), celery, modified food starch, flavorings, yeast extract, salt, potassium chloride, sugar, isolated soy protein, chicken fat, maltodextrin, sodium phosphate, malic acid, beta carotene(color)

 

 

The Swanson and even the Trader Joe's organic broth contain MSG.  MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is a excitotoxin.  While you may think you are not affected, and not too concerned, don't think that what you don't know won't hurt you.  One cannot ingest toxins without eventually developing significant consequences.  The health of most older Americans is terrible.  Don't let your food wreck your life.  Be informed.

 

According to Dr. Mercola's website, "One of the best overviews of the very real dangers of MSG comes from Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.” In it he explains that MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death, causing brain damage to varying degrees -- and potentially even triggering or worsening learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease and more." 

 

In Dr. Mercola's article, he also lists the other names of MSG.  Some of the most common ones are:  yeast extract, autolyzed yeast, and hydrolyzed protein.  Along with any ingredient that is listed which has the word 'glutamate or glutamic' in the name.  All of these ingredients are on my 'never to eat' list.

 

The best broth of all is homemade.  Making chicken broth and other bones broths will be demonstrated at the March class.  I will provide the instructions over the coming weeks though for those who want to get started making broth now. 

I always have frozen broth is my refrigerator or freezer.  Homemade bone broths, that have been simmered for hours, pull healing minerals and gelatin from the bones.  Bone broths aid digestion and can heal gastro-intestinal problems.  My homemade chicken soup (recipe coming soon) with garlic and fresh herbs is my medicine for a cold or the flu.  It works.  My family spends no money on prescription or over-the-counter medication.  These are not needed when you understand and eat God-made foods.

 

You cannot substitute a store bought version and expect to receive the same healing properties from the soup.  Though the Whole Foods 365 Broth** does not have toxins, it does not contain the super nutrients that a homemade broth will have.  Here is a photo of some broth I made this past year.  You can see that it is very rich and gelatinous; it contains incredible healing power. 

**The one brand of chicken stock that I had pointed out in the January class that did not contain hidden MSG was Whole Foods 365 Organic brand. HOWEVER, they have changed the label recently and have changed the ingredients which now include yeast extract, a hidden source of MSG. I no longer recommend this product. Learn to make your own broth!

January 2013 Class: Easy Snack Foods

 

In the January class, we focused on easy foods that take little or no preparation and snack options that are made with just a few natural ingredients.

Fruits are a very easy, sweet treat.  Keep lots of fresh fruit (fruits that are in season) in your house for a quick snack.  The fruits we cut and sampled in class included grapefruit, oranges, apples, pears, and pineapple.  We also cut up a mango and made a mango lassi.

 

Other snack options include sesame sticks and chocolate energy chunks, shown in the photo below.  Savor these snacks, eating just a small quantity.  They are not addictive like the man-made foods, so it is much easier to eat just a little.  My favorite treat though, which I enjoy when I have a sweet craving in the afternoon, is a piece or two of dried organic mango.  Be sure to purchase dried fruit that is organic since sulfur is used in the conventional drying methods.  I buy these three snack options at Natural Grocer.  There is a Natural Grocer store in Richardson and a new store that just opened in Denton.



  

The other simple foods we tried in class, which are great to serve when you have guests, include Mexican Layer Dip with tortilla chips, Melted Brie with Jam, and Mary's Cookies.  The quality of the ingredients you purchase is very important.  Buy the best you can find.  If you substitute other ingredients, be sure that you read the ingredient labels and purchase items that do not contain sugar (which has many names) or man-made ingredients (such as artificial sweeteners).

 



January 2013 Class - Mango

Hands-on Demonstrations:  Fresh Fruit Options, Part 4

Mango

When the boys were young, I decided to try new fruits and vegetables, buying and eating what looked good and was in season.  That is when I first bought a fresh mango.  I had no idea what to do with the first mango that I bought.  But I am so glad I decided to branch out from my standard fruits and learn, because I love mango smoothies and mangos are a nutrient rich fruit containing numerous vitamins and minerals.  I hope you learn to enjoy them too.

I buy both organic (as shown in the photo) and conventional mangos.  Look for ones that have a nice red blush and that are not rock hard.  Wash the mango and then peel off the outer skin.  I use my carrot peeler after cutting off a slice at the end with a knife.  You could use a small knife to cut off all the skin instead, but I waste less of the fruit using the carrot peeler. 

Next start slicing off chunks of the fruit.  Keep slicing until you get to the hard seed in the center.

 

  

 

You can eat fresh mango or put chunks in a salad.  My family loves to use mango in smoothies.  A regular favorite in our house is my mango banana lassi.

January 2013 Class - Pineapples

Hands-on Demonstrations:  Fresh Fruit Options, Part 3

 

 

Pineapple

Pineapples are delicious when in season.  I buy either conventional or organic, depending upon price and what looks best at the store. It is a myth that a good test for ripeness is to pull a stem out from the center, and if it pulls out easily it is ripe. A much better test is to smell the base of the pineapple. If it smells sweet, it is a good pineapple. Be careful though, if it smells sickly sweet, it is overly ripe and beginning to rot.

Pineapples are loaded with vitamins and minerals which help our bodies in a variety of way. For example, pineapple provides manganese to help build healthy bones and also bromelain, an anti-inflammatory, which can alleviate aches. In addition, pineapple helps keep your gums healthy and aids in digestion.

Pineapples are very easy to prepare with a little instruction, so I have tried to photograph each step for you.  This pineapple that I bought for the demonstration is the smallest pineapple I have ever seen, most are about twice this size.  Though small in size but it was a very tasty, sweet pineapple! 

Kids love fruit and it is sad that so many are not offered fresh fruit but instead man-made junk food.  Jennifer has shared a great story about kids and fruit that you should read.

When preparing a pineapple, first cut off both ends with a large knife.



Then stand the pineapple on it's cut end and, with the same large knife, cut off the outer skin, going from top to bottom, minimizing the amount of yellow flesh you remove.  You can use the end of a carrot peeler to remove any remaining eyes that did not get cut off.



Next, I cut down through the center of the pineapple and quarter it.



Then it is easy to cut off the hard center (now a triangular piece).  We always munch on this center piece and enjoy eating the soft edge up to the hard core, holding it like a piece of corn-on-the-cob.

 

I now cut the four pineapple quarter chunks lengthwise and then cross-wise for bite size pieces.

 



Once cut, you can store the pineapple in the refrigerator for several days.

January 2013 Class - Apples and Pears, and Lemons

Hands-on Demonstrations:  Fresh Fruit Options, Part 2



Apples and pears are two great snack options that you can enjoy at home or easily take with you.  They take no preparation if you just bite into them and eat to the core.  Lemons should not be eaten directly; because they are so acidic, they are very damaging to your tooth enamel.

Pears are one of the best alkaline fruits to eat when detoxing, and apples contain pectin which helps digestive disorders such as IBS and colitis.  It has also been found that apples help lower cholesterol and protect against some cancers, such as colon cancer.

The old adage, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", has a lot of truth to it.  But do not think you can take a supplement of apple pectin or drink apple juice and get the same benefits.  God made these fruits to be eaten raw straight from the tree, and altered forms destroy the beneficial synergy of nutrients that has been created by God. 

Apple juice, even organic, must be pasteurized before being sold in the United States.  Pasteurization is the heating of a food to a specified temperature for a specified time period, in the attempt to destroy pathogens. Pasteurization destroys many of the beneficial properties and nutritional value of foods.  The only purpose of pasteurization is to allow high volume processing and longer shelf-life. Its purpose is not to preserve the nutritional value of the food. All enzymes which help you assimilate the nutrients in raw foods are destroyed when heated over about 118 °F.

1.  Apples

I only buy organic apples.  The existence of pesticide residues on conventional apples has been widely publicized for years, and apples are number one on the "Dirty Dozen" list.  If you are still not sure if you want to spend extra for organic produce, keep in mind that the interaction of pesticides is not evaluated or studied.  When a pesticide or other chemical, that will be used on or in food, is tested for approval, only that chemical is evaluated, completely independent of the thousands of other chemicals that have already been approved.  A piece of produce tested for the "Dirty Dozen" list typically contains residues of many different pesticides, not just of a single pesticide. 

Organic apples are plentiful and reasonably priced.  There are also many, many, different varieties available.  I never buy red delicious apples because they do not have the depth of flavor of the other apples.  I think they are the most hybridized and you can taste it in the flavor, even in organic ones.  I love trying all the different types (except the red delicious) at the store, and I am usually not disappointed.  Look for the firm, beautifully colored apples.  Though food prices have been skyrocketing the past few years, I still can find and buy organic apples for $1.99 or less per pound.  Buying them in bags is often cheaper, but look closely at the apples to make sure they are not bruised and soft.  For the January class, I found beautiful apples at $1.29, $1.39, and $1.69 per pound.  You don't have to pay $2.49 and $2.99 per pound to get organic.

Apples, or apple slices, are a great addition to a lunch you pack in the morning.  As you probably know, if you slice up an apple, the slices start to oxidize and brown very quickly.  You probably also know that putting lemon juice on the slices will prevent the browning.  This past summer, I found a trick that works so much better than trying to squeeze lemon juice onto the apple slices.  It is so hard to get the juice on all surfaces and you end up with brown patches or the apple slices swimming in lemon juice.

I will describe how I now prepare apple slices (and pear slices) in case you prefer slices and are not eating them immediately.  I first cut the apple or pear in half and then I core it with my apple corer.  (When I try to core it before I cut it, I always miss and the removed core also gets stuck in my corer.) 

Next I cut a wedge of fresh, organic lemon (another citrus fruit; one that I only buy organic).  Now cut your apple or pear slices and immediately rub the white flesh parts with the lemon wedge.  You are then applying minimum lemon juice and your slices will look beautiful for hours.

2.  Pears

There are also many varieties of pears that are available.  As with oranges and lemons, I only buy organic pears (or eat them from my pear trees).  While not on the 'Dirty Dozen' list, pears also are not on the 'Clean 15' list.  Thus since organic pears are also plentiful, reasonably priced, and I a eating the skin of this fruit, I choose to buy organic.

Pears slices can be prepared in the exact same manner as apples.  However, pear slices do not brown as quickly as apple slices.  

Many fruits can be grown in Texas, and my family now enjoys pears, apples, peaches, plums and nectarines from our trees.  If you have a yard and maintain it organically, plant a fruit tree this spring!



"Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant of the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'" Genesis 1:29
  

January 2013 Class - Grapefruit & Oranges

Hands-on Demonstrations:  Fresh Fruit Options, Part 1

Grapefruits and oranges are both citrus fruits, and readily available in the winter.  Since in Texas we typically have an abundance of beautiful grapefruit and it is one of the 'clean' fruits, I usually do not buy organic grapefruit.  The local, conventional grapefruit is more readily available than organic, it typically looks better, and it is very reasonably priced.  However, since organic oranges are readily available and reasonably priced, and I know that the conventional oranges are heavily sprayed with pesticides, I always buy organic. 

These winter fruits are very high in vitamin C and contain a number of natural phytochemicals and other powerful nutrients, which boost your immune system and promote healing and long life.  Unfortunately, since grapefruit has such powerful properties and increases your body's ability to absorb nutrients, it has been found to increase the bio-availability of many man-made drugs. 

I prefer eating God's delicious foods which contain all the nutrients I need to stay healthy so that I don't have to take any man-made drugs.  I have seen many people, who have switched to a diet of God-made foods, eliminated all the over-the-counter and prescription medications that they had been taking, and then enjoyed all of the foods that God has given us, including grapefruit.  Of course, this needs to be done under a doctor's supervision since man-made prescription medications have so many, potentially lethal side-effects.

Grapefruit and oranges are two of the many excellent winter fruits.

 1.  Grapefruit

Grapefruit is delicious once you master how to eat it.  I don't like to struggle with my grapefruit or waste it, so I spend a little extra time upfront cutting it.

To prepare a grapefruit, find its end 'spots' - the navel and opposite side - and cut it in half on a cutting board between these end 'spots'. 

I use my 'special' grapefruit knife, shown in the top photo, to cut along the sections.  This precious knife, a thin-blade serrated knife, was purchased from a garage sale over 30 years ago!  Your kitchen utensils don't have to be expensive.  A paring knife would work well too. 

I cut each section from the center to the edge, and then I cut the back edge of each section.  (I find the pieces come out better if I don't cut through the membrane between each section when going around the edge and it is easier to cut.) 

All done - scoop out now with a spoon and enjoy.  I like to use a grapefruit spoon.  After I finish eating the cut pieces, I squeeze all the juice out and drink it.  I love the taste of a fresh grapefruit with no added sugar or salt.  Of course, you can also peel a grapefruit like an orange. 

2.  Orange

My family both peels our oranges and cut them into wedges.  Either way, try not to pull all the white pith off - it contains the highest concentration of the beneficial flavonoids (powerful anti-oxidants) contained in the orange.

I cut an orange in the opposite direction of a grapefruit. Cut down through the navel.  Then cut off wedges. 

To eat, pull the corners of the peel back and you can pull the section out easily with your teeth without getting juice all over your face.

 

 

"Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant of the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'" Genesis 1:29