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Nancy
Walker's Veg4Health
Healthy Eating,
Vibrant Living!
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On
My
Plate:
February
is a month when we turn our thoughts towards Valentine's Day and all
that is pink and red and sweet. That must be why
God made
Florida
fresh
fruit, strawberries come bursting onto the scene! We love
strawberries so much, that we don't very often use them in baking, but
instead eat them just the way they are - delicious. I love
having fresh whole wheat waffles topped with sliced strawberries,
pecans and maple syrup. My husband loves them in his bowls of
oatmeal and my kids love them with just a bit of
sugar. They also make a wonderfully fresh addition to the
smoothies and sorbets we make in our Vita-Mix
high speed blender. It wasn't until recently that I
tried them on a spinach salad and boy, am I hooked. Click here
for the recipe. However,
they are served, strawberries are a harbinger of the spring fruits and
vegetables which are lurking right around the corner!
fresh
fruit, strawberries come bursting onto the scene! We love
strawberries so much, that we don't very often use them in baking, but
instead eat them just the way they are - delicious. I love
having fresh whole wheat waffles topped with sliced strawberries,
pecans and maple syrup. My husband loves them in his bowls of
oatmeal and my kids love them with just a bit of
sugar. They also make a wonderfully fresh addition to the
smoothies and sorbets we make in our Vita-Mix
high speed blender. It wasn't until recently that I
tried them on a spinach salad and boy, am I hooked. Click here
for the recipe. However,
they are served, strawberries are a harbinger of the spring fruits and
vegetables which are lurking right around the corner!
In My Budget:
Oftentimes
when I talk to people about eating healthy foods, their first comment
is that they can't afford to eat healthier. I think about
this often and keep trying to understand the source of this thought
process. Perhaps it's because it's hard to think of fresh
fruits and vegetables as staples in our refrigerator, pantry and plates
rather than as additions. Instead of adding a bunch of grapes
onto your budget, try replacing cookies or afternoon snack items with
the grapes. Not only does the replacement help the budget,
but removing the cookies removes the temptation to overeat highly
processed, low nutrient foods. I'll be honest, if I have
chips or cookies in my house, I'll often reach for them before I reach
for a tasty plant-based food. I've also found that I will eat
a lot more cookies than I will fruits. I think that is
because my body is craving nutrients when I am hungry and cookies just
don't satisfy. So, my body keeps on telling me to eat and eat
and eat in its nutrient search because it didn't find any nutrients in
the cookies. Before long, I've eaten far more snacks than I
intended, and my body still doesn't have the nutrients it
desires. However, when my body gets the nutrients it craves
from whole foods, my hunger drive is shut down quicker and
easier. Someone forwarded a photo essay to me which shows how
people around the world eat. Funny thing is, when you really
examine the pictures, those families where the majority of food eaten
is whole, plant-based foods have spent the least amount of money for
the week. I found the pictures incredibly enlightening and I
hope you do too. I think I'd like to visit the Egyptian
family for a week or two - "them is good
eats!" Click http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html
On My Heart:
In
early January, I attended a conference on Complimentary
Alternative Medicine for cancer. I met a lot of very
interesting physicians, nurses, dieticians, authors, educators, patient
advocates and cancer survivors. I also learned quite a bit
about how traditional medicine and alternative therapies can work
together quite well to improve the outcome and quality of life for
cancer patients. I walked away with a renewed mission and
commitment to spread the word concerning how important our diet and
lifestyle are to our overall health. The conference opened
with a talk on Kitchen Chemotherapy. "Wow", I thought -"this
is going to be pretty interesting. We are going to hear about
how some people actually mix their own chemotherapy drugs in their
kitchen. I've heard of quite a few unusual therapies, but
I've never heard of this!" Well, it was a very interesting
talk - but not about what I thought. The talk, and the tone
of the entire conference, was about Hippocrates statement "Make food
your medicine and medicine your food". The number one most
important thing a cancer patient can do is to include a wide variety of
fruits and vegetables and grains into his diet while minimizing animal
products. A multitude of evidence clearly shows that the
highest quality of life and longest duration of life for a cancer
patient is determined by their diet - not their genetics or their
pathology report - but by their food! WOW!
Now that is truly a story worth listening to. It really
affirmed that a whole food, plant based diet is crucial to overall
health - and if it works so well for cancer patients, just think how
well it works for those of us who don't have cancer. Eating
healthy is not bondage, not eating healthy is
bondage.
Well,
it's finally arrived and hot off the presses:
Wisdom From the Kitchen Cookbook
Volume 1
It
includes over 60 of my family's favorite recipes for
-
Breakfast
-
Dips and Sauces
-
Soups
-
Main Dishes
It also contains :
-
A Step by Step Plan for Better Eating
-
5 Easy Steps to Menu Planning
-
Sample Menus
-
Meat Replacement Tutorial with a thorough description of healthy, inexpensive meat replacements which are guaranteed to please even the pickiest eater in your house.
For more info and to order your copy, click here
Feel free to drop
me a line at Nancy@Veg4Health.com