KNIKA

The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating!

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Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.

1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
   How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
2. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
   How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
3. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
   How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
4. Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
   How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.
5. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
   How to eat: Just drink it.
6. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
   How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
7. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
   How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
8. Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.” They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
   How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
9. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,” it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
   How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
10. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
    How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.
11. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
    How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.

You can find more details and recipes on the Men’s Health Web site, which published the original version of the list last year.

In my own house, I only have two of these items — pumpkin seeds, which I often roast and put on salads, and frozen blueberries, which I mix with milk, yogurt and other fruits for morning smoothies. How about you? Have any of these foods found their way into your shopping cart?

Rich Carrots!!!

Photo by lovelypetal

I just love the above picture! So Vibrant!

Carrots, Carrots, Carrots. Did you know carrots are good for the eye? Carrots offer an abundance of Vitamin A, which has been noted to keep eyes healthy. Vitamin A supplements are often given to children in countries where there is not enough nutritionally dense food. These supplements are distributed to children in order to prevent night blindness.

Beta-carotene

Carrots also offer beta-carotene. Beta-carotene gives carrots their rich orange pigment Beta-carotene actually makes Vitamin A. Furthermore, beta-carotene is a powerful antioxidant. Beta-carotene is present in other dark, rich colored vegetables and fruits such as squash, spinach, and sweet potatoes.

Eating Carrots

Carrots can be consumed numerous ways, raw, boiled, juiced, stewed, gently fried and placed with stir fry.

Carrot Snacks:

• Raw Carrot stick
• Carrots dipped in a tad bit of lite ranch dressing
• Beef/chicken/vegetable stir fry
• Carrots dipped in hummus
• Juice a carrot, apple, and other fruits/veggies (actually taste goods)
• Sliced in carrots in a salad
• Carrots and peanut butter…I need to try this

This is pretty cool! A Halloween treat, carrots and dipping sauce!

http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=40767

Any more ideas for carrot snacks? Click on the post and scroll all the way down to add a comment!

How to Live to 100!

Photo by  kalandrakas

Ay! Ay! Ay! Check it out, this was swiped from Yahoo. It’s all about sharing. I read this article, and I realized that it is common sense. Not to say that this was an article not needed. It seems like we constantly need to be reminded about things that may seem like common sense. Everyone knows that we need to drink more water, we need to sleep, we need to eat more vegetables…but we seem to forget or get lazy or don’t care. Anywho, here is some good common sense…

Healthy habits to live long
It takes 14 to 21 days of repetitive behavior to form a new pattern in your brain. Once the pattern is formed, it becomes an automatic behavioral response. As you develop new healthy habits, they will begin to replace bad habits. Here are some of the most transformative longevity habits:

1. Drink more water
Drink 8 glasses of fresh, filtered water every day. Water is very important for proper lymphatic drainage and hydrating the cells to prevent buildup of toxic waste products. Your safest bet is filtered water. The best kind of filtration processes for removing contaminants use activated charcoal, which removes the impurities but leaves the water-soluble minerals. Avoid water softeners, which take away essential minerals. To learn about a high-performance filtration system that I recommend, click here.

2. Eat like a centenarian
The rural community of Rugao, four hours north of Shanghai, enjoys the reputation as the “longevity county of China” because there are over 200 centenarians in the small region — the highest number per 1,000 residents anywhere in China. Rugao residents eat mostly fish, vegetables, mushrooms, seaweed, corn and buckwheat. There was virtually no meat or poultry present in the majority of their diet. Scientists have confirmed the health benefits of a diet high in fish and vegetables and low in animal products.

Know what foods to enjoy and what to avoid:

• The very best thing you can do for your health is to eat a wide array of colorful fruits and vegetables every day.

• Eat fish and cut back on meat and poultry.

• Choose the right fats. Cut back on saturated fats like butter and avoid all trans fats. Instead, choose mono-saturated fats: olive, sesame, canola, flax, and fish oils.

• Avoid all refined sugars.

3. Restore with regular rest
Get 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep every night.

4. Take the stairs!
Take a walk. Go for a swim. Join the gym. Find an exercise activity that works for you and stick to it, practicing at least four times a week for thirty minutes a session. Regular exercise can strengthen your immune system, uplift your mood, maintain joint mobility, increase energy - the list goes on and on!

5. Manage your stress.
Stress is the root cause of most of the diseases that shorten our life span. Meditation is a powerful way to manage your stress level. For the best results, meditate every day. Start with five minutes and work your way up to fifteen or twenty minutes. (See 3 Easy Beginner Mediation Techniques.) For a guided CD that is filled with meditations for living to 100, click here. Another option? Get your exercise and stress-management all in one by beginning a tai chi practice.

6. Detoxify your surroundings.
With environmental factors causing ever more damage to our well-being, it is important to know what to look out for and avoid. For starters, you can avoid many dangerous chemical compounds if you buy organic foods and use glass and recycled paper products. In addition, it is beneficial to undergo periodic detoxification treatments with special dietary and herbal regimens to lower your body’s toxic load. An herbal blend that is specially formulated for helping your body detoxify is Internal Cleanse. Also learn how to eliminate the toxins with this 5-Step Detox to Revitalize You.

Students, Parents, Kids try a bento box!

Photos by Jim Wilson , NY Times

Look below for more photos!

 So I was browsing NY Times website as I always do and came across this amazing article, written by Samantha Storey.

Bento Boxes, a Japanese custom, offer creative ways to prepare healthy lunches. These small boxes are packed with colorful and creative food items that make food more appealing. Some parents dress up the food, by making silly faces with food pieces such as carrots, rice, and seafood; children are more likely to eat vegetables if it looks less like a vegetable and more like an edible toy.

“For dieters, they are an eye popping form of portion control,” because the box is only so big.

Anyone can try this, students can prepare a bento box for lunch and parents can make a healthy lunch for their child.

Bento boxes are becoming increasingly more popular in America which is a great thing, after all the Japanese have the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease and obesity; they are doing something right!*

*Referenced from Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

Where to Get Boxes and Supplies

BENTO & CO Bentoandco.com (French language site, ships from Japan).

BENTO CRAZY Bentocrazy.ecrater.com.

FROM JAPAN WITH LOVE From-japan-with-love.com (ships from Japan).

I LOVE OBENTO Iloveobento.com.

JAPAN CENTRE Japancentre.com (ships from England).

J BOX Jbox.com (ships from Japan).

KINOKUNIYA 1073 Sixth Avenue (41st Street), (212) 869-1700.

LAPTOP LUNCHES Laptoplunches.com.

BOOKS: “501 Bento Box Lunches: 501 Unique Recipes for Brilliant Bento” (Graffito Books, 2009) and “Vegan Lunch Box Around the World” by Jennifer McCann (Da Capo, 2009).