Beat Boredom with Online Inspiration

I'm determined that my addiction to the Internet will make my life better, not merely waste all of my spare time. I'm always on the lookout for articles, websites, apps that will help me cook better meals for my family, and this Recipes for Health mini-site fit the bill.

Here you'll find a collection of healthy recipes which are beautifully photographed. You can search for recipes in a variety of ways but my favourite is to click on the photo of the food you're planning to cook. Scroll down to the left-hand side of the page to choose by ingredient or theme (e.g. burger alternatives, Lunchbox fixes).

Simply smart, healthy and delicious.

Fructose Speeds Cancerous Growth

My nutritionist education at the Canadian School for Natural Nutrition was an almost unending refrain about the health risks and dangers of eating processed foods, while espousing a return to the foods we were designed to eat. As each year passes since my graduation, I see more and more mainstream articles finally switching their focus away from fatty foods and towards the evils of processed sugars.

A sea change is coming. We're going to finally see the medical establishment admit that there is little to no evidence (in the last 50 years!) that eating a naturally fat diet causes disease and obesity. And we'll see a focus shift to the mounting evidence that manufactured foods are harming our bodies.

This Globe and Mail article links the consumption of fructose to increased growth of pancreatic cancer cells. The article states "While it's widely known that cancer cells use glucose to fuel their growth, last week's findings were the first to link fructose to cancer growth."

In my studies, I came across a lot of theories positing that for example, processed sugars in the bloodstream will lower the immune response, but very little scientific proof. To-date, few researchers have set out to study that processed sugars like High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) are detrimental to one's health. Who would fund these studies? The non-existent Union of Fruit and Vegetable Growers or America? And what type of scrutiny and backlash would such a study face, from the HFCS industry, the soda companies, manufacturers like General Mills whose breakfast and convenience foods are laden with processed sugars?

We need more academics and scientists to pursue independent research without financial backing by large corporations, if we want to find out the truth about how our modern diet is affecting our health. In the meantime, do your body a favour and cut processed sugars out of your diet; substitute if you must, with a more natural sweetener, like Stevia or honey.

Eating for Heart Health; Are You Up for the Challenge?

One of yesterday's health headlines caught my attention: "Heart Strategy Could Save Canada Billions". The article goes on to explain that the Conference Board of Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada have released a Heart Health strategy that demonstrates how to reduce the incidence of stroke and heart disease between now and the year 2020.

What are their recommendations? They seem ridiculously obvious:

- reduce smoking

- Increase the number of Canadian children and adults eating at least five servings of fruit and vegetables

- Increase the number of Canadian children and adults who are physically active each day

- decrease obesity rates

If March's federal budget approves money for this strategy which was proposed last year, I hope we will see a lot of healthy changes, such as new food labelling laws which show what's actually inside processed foods so that people ca nmake informed decisions. But real change starts at home, doesn't it? When we go to the grocery store, we have to read what's on the labels of any processed food (i.e. anything besides meat, fruit or fruits and vegetables). We also have to get better at eating 5 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This is tough! I thought I did a good job, and consider myself to have a pretty good appetite. But I took inventory of what I ate yesterday which was only:

2 servings of whole grains

2 servings of fruit

3 servings of vegetables

2 servings of dairy

2 servings of protein

This is actually not very much food for someone my height, age and level of activity, which explains why I am often snacking before bed. Most importantly, this is not enough fruits and veggies; it falls just on the edge of the recommended 5-10 servings. I can do better; I just need to put my mind to it. We all can!

I challenge you to take stock of what you're eating for a couple of days to see what you're taking in. Check out the Canada Food Guide for more information on what constitutes a serving of each type of food. I'm not a huge fan of the Food Guide, which considers apple juice (boiled, processed, sugary syrup separated from its natural fibres) to be a serving of fruit. I also don't like that they still recommend a diet that's mostly starches and complex carbohydrates. However, it's a good place to go to get a clear picture of what "eating 5 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day" really means.

Let's All Cook! Our Lives Depend on It.

Once again, the amazing Michael Pollan has written a highly compelling piece about how our relationship to food must change. The article, titled "Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch" ponders how it is that most Americans spend less than 27 minutes per day on food preparation, and instead spend hours watching cooking shows on TV. As he puts it: "What this suggests is that a great many Americans are spending considerably more time watching images of cooking on television than they are cooking themselves — an increasingly archaic activity they will tell you they no longer have the time for."

Another shocking tidbit from his lengthy article is "the more time a nation devotes to food preparation at home, the lower it's rate of obesity....the amount of time spent cooking predicts obesity rates more reliably than female participation in the labor force...income levels or class." This is the kind of stuff that makes my blood boil, when I think of all the McDonald's or KFC advertising targetted to low income families. Their malevolent promise is: "we'll save you time and money so you can give your family delicious comfort food." Meanwhile, these fast food companies are serving up empty calories while leading small children down the path to obesity.

Here at BEYG we make no apologies for being lazy - and not terribly talented - in the kitchen. We won't win any awards when it comes to style or diligence in the kitchen. But our message is always the same: if you want to be healthy, you need to eat meals made from fresh, whole ingredients, as opposed to pre-packaged, convenience foods. You don't need to spend hours in the kitchen to serve up a healthy meal; but you do need start with real food, and some effort will be required.

I'll defer to Michael Pollan's words: "the path to a diet of fresher, unprocessed food...passes straight through the home kitchen." This message is becoming urgent now and we at BEYG want to shout it from the rooftops. Eat food, real food, as much as you require. Take the time to prepare it in a way that is enjoyable, and digestible, for you and your family. But make sure that food came straight from a tree, from out of the ground, from the sea, from a real chicken. That's how we were designed to eat, and eating that way is the only way we will survive.

Shortbread Recipe

I love Christmastime so much! It means I get to bake and eat all the cookies. This is a slightly modified Martha Shortbread shortbread recipe that incorporates some whole grain flours. At Christmas time I always make sure to eat lots of greens and healthy protein sources, so that I can pig out on cookies and not skew my diet too badly towards empty carbohydrates. Spelt flour is a great option for baking: it's usually ground quite fine and has a higher protein content.

- Preheat oven to 350F and take out 1 cup of butter from the fridge to bring it up to room temperature
- When softened, beat butter with 1/2 cup sugar (I use Rapadura, but you could use white)
- Add to this either 3 1/2 cups of white flour, or I use 1 cup white flour, 1 3/4 cup spelt flour and 3/4 cup quick cook oats (not instant). If using unsalted butter, add 1 tsp salt to the flour mixture
- You will now have a crumbly, sandy mixture which you need to be sure is fairly homogenous. These needs to be pressed into a 9" glass pie pan that has been buttered well. You can also put a circle of parchment in the bottom of the pan to ensure the bread doesn't stick. You can also bake in a square cake pan, similarly prepared if you prefer your shortbread to be cut into squares.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven to score the top into triangular wedges. Put back in for 10 more minutes.
- The bread is done when golden brown around the edges. Don't let it get too brown.
- Cool for 15 minutes then cut into wedges or squares.

Yummy substitutions:
- Add 1 Tbsp maple syrup and 1 Tbsp less sugar to butter mixture
- Brown sugar
- Add 1 tsp of cardamom to flour mixture
- Add 1 tsp almond extract and press almonds into top of bread before baking

Be warned - you may want to eat this all at once so be sure you have promised some to friends in advance.

Dish of the Day: Spinach Lasagna

I used to think that lasagna was too rich and too much work for me, but I just saw a few examples of quick methods on the old boob tube recently. That expression doesn't really work anymore does it?

Anyway, I bought some Primo whole-grain oven-ready lasagne noodles and a package of baby spinach and some mozzarella and figured I was ready to go. NOTE: Even for a small pan of lasagna you need more than one bag of spinach, and this became apparent early on. Fortunately I had a bag of Stahlbush chopped spinach in the freezer which saved the day. I was also keen to make the lasagna tasty, but to avoid using heavy cream or loads of cheese, as is the convention. A roux was the solution for making a creamy, yet not overly heavy sauce. Here's what I used to make my healthier spinach lasagna:

- box of lasagna pasta
- 2 bags of spinach
- milk, flour, butter to make a roux
- 1/2 pound (225 gm) mozzarella
- 1 tablespoon pesto
- 1 handful parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

While I wilted/boiled the spinach (1 -2 minutes for fresh, 3 minutes for frozen) I made 1 cup of roux and dammit, I just now realised it would have been a lot better with some white wine added in). Then I drained the spinach and added the spinach to the roux saucepan and removed it from the heat. Some of the spinach water went in too, and this is okay because with the oven-ready noodles you don't want things to be too dry. I placed a saucy spinach layer in the bottom of a greased 8" x 8" square glass pan, then sprinkled on all the mozza cheese. Then added a layer of noodles, then the other half of the spinach and then noodles directly on top. Then I added the parmesan cheese and covered the pan with foil, so it would all melt but not burn and to keep the moisture in.

Baked for 35 minutes at 400F and then 5-7 more minutes with the foil cover removed to all the top to brown slightly. You don't want to brown this too much unless you have really layered on the cheese because the oven-ready noodles tend towards the dry side. Voila! Quick, easy, healthy dinner.

Dish of the Day: Breakfast Porridge

Here's another timesaver for those who like warm porridge on an autumn morning. Take last night's leftover starch and cook it on the stove with some cinnamon and milk. Now that's instant hot cereal that's healthy and good.

I made quinoa for dinner last night and this morning I put about a cup of it in a saucepan with 1/2 a cup of milk and water. This simmered away for about 15 minutes to soak up most of the liquid and then I added cinnamon, raisin and cardamom and let it cook for 2 more minutes. Into the bowl it went along with a squeeze of honey, a pat of butter and a bit more milk to make it soupy. I like some crunch in the morning so I added a few pieces of walnut.

Other suggestions:
Brown rice with dried blueberries and pecans
White rice with raisins and cinnamon
Couscous with cranberries and sliced almonds