Nutrition: Facts or Fiction?

8 Reasons not to drink bottled water

2010-03-10T11:53:00.005-07:00

Over the past few years, it has become almost trendy to drink bottled water. Somewhere along the way people got the idea that bottled water can help you be healthier, more fashionable, and even environmentally friendly. The commercials with fresh water flowing down waterfalls gives us the image that bottled water is more pure and special than tap water. We feel as if we're drinking straight from "the source". Bottled water is also convenient, available everywhere, and portable. The truth is that bottled water is costly, wasteful and damaging to the environment. Here are my top 8 reasons to "just say no" to bottled water:

Waste - According to the Sierra Club, "every year about 1.5 million tons of plastic go into manufacturing water bottles for the global market, using processes that release toxics such as nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide and benzene. In the U.S. alone 1.5 million barrels of oil are consumed in making the bottles". On top of all this, most of the 30 billion bottles sold each year are not recycled and end up in landfills.
Ecosystem damage - The water must come from somewhere. Companies pump large amounts of water from specific areas that can have a significant environmental impact, damaging ecosystems by sucking water from underground aquifers that are the source of water for nearby streams, wells, and farms. Lakes and wet lands are also damaged. Bottled water is also very energy intensive. In fact, it takes 3 litres of water to produce 1 litre of bottled water. Even more energy is used to transport the water to bottling plants, for transport to stores and homes, and to landfills or recycling centres.
Harm to wildlife - most plastic bottles are not recycled and can end up in the ocean, and can harm wildlife.
Costly - Sure, $2 here and there may not seem like a lot, but let's put it in perspective. Bottled water costs approximately 400-500 times what tap water does. The cost of tap water (U.S. data): $0.0015 per gallon, filtered water: $0.13 per gallon, bottled water: $1.27 per gallon! Nestle, Coke and Pepsi are making billions off the water in your own backyard.
Privatization - companies are literally selling your water back to you. At $1.27 per gallon or more! Nestle has taken over small, independent companies and is aggressively looking to expand their share of the the U.S. bottled water market. Coke (Dasani) and Pepsi (Aquafina) use cheap municipal water in the United States. Coke set up a bottled water facility in India, which contaminated the water supply and depleted resources for the local people.
Human rights - There have been numerous stories about Nestle, Pepsi and Coke violating human rights for their bottling practices and, often times, the government is the enabler. "In Michigan, Nestle received $9.6 million in tax breaks to site their Ice Mountain bottled water plant in Mecosta County. Yet in Detroit more than 20,000 families have had their water shut off because of inability to pay their water bills when the state refused to provide a subsidy." Sierra Club.
It doesn't come from a glacier - In fact Coca Cola’s Dasani and Pepsi’s Aquafina are tap water coming from places like Queens, NY and Jacksonville, FL with some additional treatment.
No health benefits - The perception seems to be that bottled water is safer than tap water. In the U.S., "the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has strict water quality standards for tap water, but the EPA does not oversee bottled water." Inspections are required by the FDA for water sold across state lines, but due to an lack of manpower to do widespread monitoring, the industry does the inspecting itself. That's like marking your own test in school. For the record, FDA regulations do not prevent bottling companies from drawing water next to industrial sites, underground storage tanks, or dumps. To date there have been numerous reports of harmful chemicals or bacteria found in bottled water.

What you can do:

If you really don't like tap water in your area, home filters are a good option. Secondly, purchase and use a stainless steel water bottle that will be good for refilling for years to come. Use pitchers of water at your Club and community events.

For more information, visit the Sierra Club

Community Kitchens

2010-03-09T15:11:00.003-07:00

As one of the last (YAY!) projects in my internship, I was part of a community kitchen group which taught people in the community how to start and run their own kitchens.

A Community kitchen (also known as a "collective kitchen") is a group of people that get together a few times a month to plan and cook meals together. Groups can be composed of people with similar issues or needs (teen moms, seniors, single fathers, etc) or can be a mix-mash of people. Groups often gather with the intent to make low cost meals, but some groups can spend quite a bit more on meals and make more difficult recipes or are more adventurous.

Although there is usually a facilitator, or someone that runs the kitchen, a collective kitchen (CK) is not a cooking class in that there is no "teacher" and students. Everyone learns from each other.

The point of a CK may be to learn how to cook, or it may be for the social aspect, or to make low cost meals.

Being part of a CK is really quite neat. People often try things they wouldn't have tried on their own, improve their cooking skills and make friends. And at the end, everyone goes home with a ton of great food! For those who love food and/or cooking, I highly recommend you check out kitchens or cooking groups in your area.

In Vancouver - check out Fresh Choice Kitchens

In Calgary - check out the Community Kitchen Program of Calgary

What is a "Healthy" food? A look at Nutritionism.

2010-03-07T09:34:00.005-07:00

I've recently done some reading on the concept of "Nutritionism". Nutritionism is the idea that the sum of all the nutrients in foods (fat, protein, calcium, etc) make up the nutritional value of that food. Although most nutrition professionals are well aware that there are many influences that affect the nutritional content of a food, no doubt, this is how many nutritionists and physicians base their recommendations.

All this got me to thinking, what is a "healthy" food?

As someone who firmly believes that the health of the planet is directly connected to the health of the people living on it, I believe that a healthy food one that is also healthy for the planet, or at least does minimal damage in being produced, harvested and transported (ie: local, organic foods). On the flip side, there are many dietitians who will not recommend anything until there is years and years of scientific evidence to back it up. Sure, this is definitely good in some ways. But I have found that this often leads to two things:

1) By the time sufficient evidence comes out to convince them to make a recommendation, they are often way behind the times.

2) They often adopt the "innocent until proven guilty" frame of mind, meaning, they will say such things as "pesticide residues found on food have not been proven to be harmful, so don't worry about it" rather than saying "So far, evidence hasn't shown them to be harmful" and letting people make their own decisions regarding whether or not that's a risk they want to take.

Unfortunately, I think it's impossible to be a true expert in such a dynamic field, and anyone who thinks they are is fooling themselves. By "true" expert I mean someone who is all knowing and has all the answers. New research is coming out daily, and there are always so many things to consider, it's impossible to be an expert in every situation. Furthermore, expertise is all relative. The person who knows the most of the best information available today is who we, as a society, consider the expert.

In researching for this post, I came across this statement regarding Michael Pollan's take on nutritionism (from Wikipedia):

"They key to Pollan's understanding of nutritionism is "the widely shared but unexamined assumption ... that the key to understanding food is indeed the nutrient." Since nutrients are invisible, it is now necessary to rely on nutrition experts to make food choices. Because science has an incomplete understanding of how food affects the human body, Pollan argues, relying solely on information regarding individual nutrients has led people and policy makers to repeatedly make poor decision relating to nutrition. Pollan blames nutritionism for many of the health problems relating to diet in the Western World today. He compares Nutritionism to a religion, relying on "priests" (nutritional scientists and journalists) to interpret the latest orthodoxy for the masses. Like a many religions, nutritionism has divided the world into good and evil components, although what is good or evil can change dramatically with time."

But the fact is that people don't want to be told "We don't know" - they want answers. And in spite of the many flaws in the scientific method, it's the best we have and has led to some really great advances in medical and nutritional history, and so, should not be discarded completely. So why go to a dietitian after all this? Again, the point is that expertise is relative. Just like any profession you see (a physician, stock broker, etc), a knowledgeable dietitian will be able to present you with the best and latest in the evidence available, and help you make sense of it enough to make a decision that you're comfortable with.

One question I get often that makes me cringe is "Is (enter food here) bad for me?". When thinking in pure nutritionism terms, there are SO many components that go in to a food, there is no black and white answer. In some ways nutrition is more of an art than a science. It's extremely difficult to say whether some foods are "good for you" or not (except for highly processed food-like products - that's a no-brainer) without considering the diet as a whole. Is that butter you put on your toast bad? Again, it's all relative. It depends if it's the only butter you use that day or is you go through a block every few days. It depends if you weigh 130lbs or 330lbs. It depends if it's salted and you have high blood pressure. It depends if you have a cholesterol problem... and on, and on and on. A dietitian is really the best thing to help you look at all the considerations that will decide whether your diet is healthy or not.

Homemade Granola Bars

2010-03-06T16:07:00.006-07:00

Ok, so I made this recipe with the intent to make a healthier, homemade granola bar, but in fact they turned out to be slightly healthier date squares. Delicious, none the less. I cut them into extremely tiny portions, and hey, everything in moderation! They would also be a great pre or post workout snack.

It started with an Oatmeal, fig and walnut recipe from Epicurious.com. The store didn't have figs, so I substituted with dates (thus, the "date square" taste).

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 cups chopped stemmed dried figs (10 to 11 ounces)

1 cup water

6 tablespoons sugar

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped

Crust:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I substituted 1 cup white flour and 3/4 c whole wheat flour)

1 1/4 cups (packed) dark brown sugar (I used a bit less than this - they were still very sweet!)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled vegan "butter" (such as Earth Balance) or margarine, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used regular butter)

1 cup powdered sugar (I left this out)

For filling:

Combine first 4 ingredients in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 5 minutes.

Uncover and simmer until figs are very soft and filling is thick, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Mix in lemon juice and vanilla, then walnuts. Cool completely. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

For crust:

Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Spray 13x9x2- inch metal baking pan with nonstick spray. Combine oats and next 5 ingredients in large bowl and whisk to blend.

Add cubed "butter." Using fingertips, blend until mixture forms small moist clumps.

Firmly press half of crust mixture (about 3 cups) over bottom of prepared pan.

Spread filling evenly over crust. Sprinkle remaining crust mixture over filling; press to adhere.

Bake bars until deep brown and firm to touch, about 35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Cut crosswise into 6 strips. Make 8 lengthwise cuts, forming 2x1-inch bars. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover pan with foil; store at room temperature.

Place powdered sugar in medium bowl. Using narrow spatula, remove as many bars as desired from pan. Roll half of bars in powdered sugar to coat. Arrange coated bars and plain bars alternately on platter. (Again, I left this out)

This recipe was an absolute hit with my fiance, and I agree, they were tasty. What I like about this recipe is you can fool around with the ingredients. I would definitely cut down on the sugar next time... I think you could use about half the amount and not miss it. I am also going to experiment with mixing up the dried fruits and nuts... almonds, figs, cranberries, raisins, maybe even some blueberries.

If anyone has any great ideas for how to cut out some of the butter and still make the crust stick, I'd love to hear it!

Friday Wrap up

2010-03-05T10:23:00.003-07:00

My favourite stories this week from around the web:

Will Genetically-modified Alfalfa be the end of organic milk?

The world of subsidization and Why a salad costs more than a Big Mac.

From Fooducate: 9 Easy Behavioural Modifications for Healthier Living, an absolutely disgusting look at a very common "food-like" substance, and 3 Reasons to Rethink diet coke.

Interesting post and discussion on why weight loss isn't just "Calories in vs. Calories out" from Sweat Science.

Would you go to an overweight doctor, dietitian or personal trainer?

2010-03-04T12:47:00.002-07:00

Dr. Sharma wrote a post this week about a physician who was trying to help a patient who was near exactly his own height and weight, with weight loss. The physician grappled with his ability and authority to offer advice to someone, when he himself was struggling with his weight. This is a controversial topic, and something that nutritionists, dietitians, and personal trainers all struggle with as well.

Of course, even though someone may not look the part, doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re talking about. It just means that for any number of reasons, they’re not taking their own advice. Take sport coaches for example. After their competing days are through, and age, injury and a slowing metabolism have reared their ugly heads, they often don’t look like they did at the peak of fitness. But, they might also be the most experienced and knowledgeable coach in that sport. Or, the physician I mentioned above, who blames his weight gain on his hectic academic schedule, followed by running a busy practice.

On the flip side, I have known many personal trainers who certainly looked the part, but had little to no real education, and used drugs and drastic diets to get a sculpted body. The ironic thing is they usually had clients signing up left and right. People were willing to risk their safety and health because their trainer looked good.

The fact is that there is a certain “X” factor that comes along with looking the part. Visuals hold a lot of weight (pardon the pun) with people, and when you can’t see how smart people are just by looking at them, that rock hard six-pack can certainly do a lot to sway a decision when picking a personal trainer.

Some say they are intimidated to go to a super fit fitness trainer or stick thin dietitian, and want someone who can understand what they’re going through. Other say they want someone who looks the part and even inspires them.

In the end, I don’t think there’s a black and white answer one way or the other. People have different preferences and different needs. One thing I do strongly believe is that health care provider should look “healthy”, but the word “healthy” means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

My advice: do your research. When looking for a dietitian or personal trainer, find out what their experience is with the issue you’re wanting to tackle. Not all dietitians specialize in weight loss, and not all trainers or nutritionists have a formal education. A lot of dietitians and trainers also have very different philosophies on health, fitness and weight loss. Finding someone who has a philosophy that works for you is also important.

What do you think?

It's Here! Nutrition Month!

2010-03-01T18:32:00.004-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard, March is Nutrition Month in Canada and the U.S. and the theme (I love!) - "Celebrate Food - From Farm to Table".

Seeing as I am scrambling to finish a presentation for Wednesday, I only have time to send you in the direction of some great Nutrition Month links:

Nutrition Month Canada 2010 Website for recipes and info.

Dietitians of Canada's Nutrition Month website for resources, events, info and more.

American Dietetic Association Nutrition Month website.

Fooducate post on the shortcomings of Nutrition Month and the American Dietetic Association

More nutrition month goodness to come in the weeks to come - I promise!

Friday Wrap Up

2010-02-26T17:18:00.004-07:00

My favourite items of the week:

From Calorie Lab -

Can napping make you smarter? and Chocolate without the fat.

Dr. Sharma's post on how drinking water before meals can lead to weight loss

Is it healthier to eat like a caveman? From Darya at Summer Tomato

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff's post and an interesting theory from a Coca-Cola rep on how Coke does NOT play a role in obesity

Fitness Tip - Macro, Meso, and Micro

2010-02-25T07:42:00.005-07:00

This week's fitness post from Kalev Personal Trainer, Virgil Isaacs:

Two weeks ago I went through a period of low energy and lack of motivation in the gym. I would try my hardest to psych myself up before a workout…before a set…and nothing would come of it. I don’t know why, but for some reason the “fire” just wasn’t there. I began to think that maybe I’ve been over training. Maybe I was getting bored (which played a small roll. Thank goodness for muscle confusion). I thought maybe I needed to redefine my goals and change my approach, but I couldn’t think of any other performance or fitness levels I would like to train for. Before almost being ready to accept the stage as nothing but a “funk” I was in, I remembered my lessons in school about periodization.

Long term specific programs should be broken down into periods; cycles. The macrocycle is the entire program, taking you from point A to Z. The mesocycles are subdivisions of the macro, and the microcycles are further subdivisions of that. Every mesocycle has a rest period at the end of it to allow the body to completely heal and recharge for the next push.

Depending on what you’re training for, you may or may not have your program designed so rigidly. It may not be necessary. What’s most important is to remember that after every so often its important to take breaks like the ones at the end of every mesocycle, and allow your body to completely recover. I believe this is the step I forgot to take in my program which is the reason why I had such low energy levels. Instead of continuing to push myself for those two weeks, I should have backed off and stuck to a light cardio program for just one week, and I bet I would’ve been back in action the following week, ready to pick up from where I left off.

At least I know now for the end of the next “mesocycle“, which typically comes around every month on average.

Healthy Hospitals

2010-02-24T17:04:00.003-07:00

Major institutions such as hospitals are becoming known for their negative environmental impact. Food waste, heavy use of chemicals, and massive consumption of resources are just a few of the ways hospitals are leaving their mark. Recently, organizations such as Health Care without Harm have popped up to encourage these facilities to look at more responsible practices.

In terms of food, hospitals have a long-standing reputation as serving less than appealing meals. And what’s more, the food available and sometimes served in health care facilities is often not much better than what’s available at any fast food restaurant or off-site vending machine. It is not uncommon to see vending machines stocked with pop and candy, and cafeterias serving burgers and fries to staff and visitors.

"We have a health system that doesn't care about food and a food system that doesn't care about health"

-- Wendell Berry, American philosopher on food and farming

Fortunately, “green” has been slowly making its way into health care as of late, and with this movement often comes healthier and more nutritious foods. Health care organizations are starting to realize that the food they serve is directly and indirectly related to overall population health and disease prevention. The huge amount of money spent by these facilities in food dollars also means they have a huge opportunity to send a message to distributors by the foods they’re buying.

Trends in Healthy Food in Health Care right now:

reducing meat on patient menus and adding more vegetarian items
sourcing sustainably-produced, hormone-free (U.S.) and antibiotic-free meats and dairy
sourcing locally-produced produce and meats
increasing amount of organic food purchased
reducing food waste and composting

Institutions such as Kaiser Permanente (California, Hawaii, Oregon), Allen Memorial Hospital (Iowa), and Duke University Medical Center (North Carolina) have even started on site farmer’s markets, increasing staff, visitor and patient access to fresh, healthy foods.

In the U.S., privately owned hospitals have more freedom to experiment with new ideas, and may be able to incur a bit of a loss in revenue in order to improve the health of their patients, staff and visitors. In the Canadian Health Care system, things are a bit different. For governments to actually implement this into the Canadian Health Care system, strategies need to be used that will ensure the benefit is larger than the loss, in terms of revenue. Another strong argument is that the investment for Canadian Health Care in terms of food dollars will be dramatically outweighed by the dollars saved in chronic disease treatment down the road.

For more information, visit:

Foodmed.org

Health Care without Harm

IFMA Foundation

Institute for Agricultural Trade and Policy

Vegetarian and Vegan Athletes

2010-02-23T17:12:00.005-07:00

The terms "vegetarian" and "athlete" aren't often heard together. In fact, we often think of athletes as needing particularly large amounts of protein, for which meat, fish and poultry serves as the primary source for most people. However, a diet that incorporates animal sources of protein isn't necessary to being a successful athlete.

Bode Miller, world champion skier, is a vegetarian and an organic farmer. Check out his thoughts on organic farming in this video:

Vegan and authour of the Thrive Diet, Brendan Brazier, is a professional ironman triathlete and two time Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion who achieves all this while living on a diet that is 100 per cent plant based.

Other famous vegetarian athletes: Hank Aaron (Baseball), Joe Namath (Football), Ruth Heidrich (Ironwoman) and Martina Navratilova (Tennis).

The key to being a vegan or vegetarian athlete is planning. Planning, planning, planning. Of course, vegetarian and vegan are two very different things. LactoOvoVegetarians eat milk products and eggs, and therefore, are generally able to get all their nutrient needs quite easily through foods.

Choosing a vegan lifestyle, which eliminates any foods that contain anythings from animal origin (essentially leaving only plants) takes more planning with your diet to begin with, but as athletes already have higher requirements for energy (Calories) and some nutrients, the combination of vegan and athlete means extra planning and care must be taken to ensure they are meeting their high needs.

Having a plant-based diet also means it can be much more difficult to get enough Calories to give athletes enough energy for long training sessions and tough races. Seeds, nuts, nut butters and vegetable oils provide plant-based sources for healthy fats and lots of Calories. Although things like nuts and legumes do contain protein, unlike animal proteins, they are only partial proteins so it's important to have a wide variety in your diet to get all the components to make complete proteins. Soy is the only exception to this rule.

Who not to trust for nutrition advice

2010-02-21T10:22:00.004-07:00

These are two of my favourite posts from one awesome blogger named Darya Pino over at Summer Tomato.

The first is "10 People You Can't Trust For Diet Advice" and the second is her follow-up to that "Who Can You Trust for Diet Advice".

In "10 People You Can't Trust for Diet Advice" Darya highlights some of the most common go-to's for diet advice (cardiologists, athletes, USDA, etc.), and why they may not be the most reliable source of information.

Of course, to categorize and say ALL personal trainers know nothing about nutrition and all dietitians know everything about nutrition is simply overgeneralizing and untrue. However, Darya does a good job of highlighting why some sources of nutrition info may have shortfalls in the quality of their advice.

In regards to her top 10 list, Darya says: "I am not suggesting that these people contribute nothing to our conversation about diet. However you should always be skeptical of who you take your advice from, particularly when it comes to your health."

Read the full list here.

In her follow-up post, "Who You Can Trust for Diet Advice", Darya answers the inevitable question that her previous post led people to ask. She says:

"As I alluded to before, it is extremely difficult to give a generic answer to this question because, frankly, there is no single group of people I can point to and say, “These people always do it right.” This is never true."

Furthermore, "Scientific experimentation and analysis is incredibly complex and requires decades of training. Therefore the general public needs the data translated into plain English and explained in simplified concepts. It is tempting to believe that anyone with the appropriate education and a knack for writing can provide this service, however the nuances of data interpretation make this very tricky business. It is frighteningly easy to spin ideas and make claims the data does not really support. This is even scarier when you think of health and how many lives are at stake".

I agree with Darya that there isn't one group of people we can point to and say "Here! These are the best group of people for nutrition advice". As a dietitian, I certainly wish I could point to my own colleagues and say we are the be all and end all of correct nutrition information at all times. Unfortunately, I have found there are too many registered dietitians (and even more nutritionists - who are unregulated and without as much training) who are not the best source of advice, for various reasons. Regardless, a good RD (registered dietitian) who keeps up on current literature is about the best source of nutrition advice you will find anywhere (admittedly, I'm biased). But if you can't afford an RD, Darya points out a few great books which are nutrition information goldmines.

Read the post here.

Spaghetti Squash

2010-02-20T11:22:00.005-07:00

I got this recipe from Epicurious.com. It looked good, easy to make and it had a 90% rating so I thought I'd try it.

It started with the spaghetti squash, cut in half and baked for 25 minutes on each side (50 min total)

I then took 1 cup of cherry tomatoes, cut in halves, and about 3 tbsp fresh-grated Parmesan cheese...

Mix the parm and tomatoes with about 3 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tbsp oregano...

When the squash is done, remove it from the oven, scrape out the seeds from the inside, and use a fork to pull at the strings...

Finally, put the squash in a bowl and top with tomato mixture.

Final verdict: not bad, but I wouldn't make it exactly like this again. I would recommend experimenting with different herbs. But, it is a very nutritious meal that is very easy to make.

Friday Wrap Up

2010-02-19T17:16:00.003-07:00

My favourite things this week:

Highly recommended - Katie Couric´s interview with Eric Schlosser (authour of "Fast Food Nation") and David Kessler (former FDA Commsissioner). They touch on antibiotic use in livestock, high fructose corn syrup, and obesity.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Producepedia.com - I LOVE this website. Info on individual vegetables and fruits, Videos on "Where do baby carrots come from?" and how celery and broccoli is produced, and great farm to table info. And while I commend their enthusiasm about vegetables, the timelines given from farm to table are for local produce. Produce from other countries can take weeks to get to your plate.

Yoni Friedhoff's post on Health Canada fortifying junk food - scary stuff. That Health Canada needs to get its priorities straight.

Open water salmon farms

2010-02-16T19:21:00.005-07:00

For anyone still on the fence, or curious about the farmed vs. wild salmon issue, watch this video. This video shows the threat of the salmon farming industry around the world on both the environment and wild salmon.

Norwegian salmon farming companies run open water salmon farms around the world, make up over 90% of farms in British Columbia, and need to be pressured to remove their farms from open waters to protect the wild salmon and eco-system that depends on it.

13 Bean Soup

2010-02-15T17:13:00.005-07:00

It all started with a bag of Bob's Red Mill 13 bean soup mix. I wasn't a fan of the recipe on the label so I winged it.

I love the colours! 13 Bean Soup Mix contains navy, black, red, pinto, baby limas, large limas, garbanzo, red lentils, great northern, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, yellow splits, green splits, and lentils. I added:

2 cups '13 bean soup mix' beans (follow package instructions on soaking & rinsing)

2L Organic Vegetable broth

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp chili powder

pinch red pepper flakes

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried thyme

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Throw it all into the slow cooker for 3-4 hours on high, depending on your slow cooker (mine is HOT and did it in half the time).

And Voila! Delicious, healthy bean soup, high in soluble fibre!

Fitness Tip - Burn Baby Burn

2010-02-14T10:28:00.002-07:00

Kalev: Personal Training tip for the week:

Fat loss – the most common fitness goal amongst everyday people. You can’t blame them when you look at the food sources that are available to us, but that’s another blog post. One common misconception is this: sit-ups will trim your gut, and lunges will cure your saddle bags. You’ve heard it before. Maybe you’ve even thought that at one point. Fact of the matter is that no matter how many sit-ups you do, you’re never gonna have washboard abs until you melt the layer of fat on your mid section. Ladies, your glutes are never gonna be nice and tight until you hop on that stair master and burn the bags away. Strength training merely gives your muscles underneath some shape and firmness, but unless you’re running a calorie deficit, that shape will never show. You have to burn it away, bottom line. So what’s the best way to burn?

The best way to burn is different for everybody. Maybe your knees hurt when you run, so you can only use elipticals, bicycles, or swimming pools. Maybe your butt gets to sore when you sit on the bike for long periods of time. Maybe you feel like a hampster on the wheel when you’re on the eliptical staring out the window at the people in the streets. Whatever your preference is, follow it. You’ll be more motivated to stick to it, and consistency is the key. It really doesn’t matter what the heck you do, just make sure you’re running a calorie deficit, or you’ll just be spinning your tires out.

by - Vancouver Personal Trainer Virgil Isaacs. Read more @ Kalev: Training

Quick Links

2010-02-13T09:39:00.002-07:00

Well, it's a holiday weekend here in Alberta so I'm headed out to the mountains. But before I go, here are some of my favourite items from the week:

Marion Nestle's post on being a Vegatarian or Vegan

Hilarious video parody of an Olympian McDonald's commercial:

A CBS special on antibiotics in livestock:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Jamie Oliver's talk on TED:

Have a great weekend!

Outlaw Chickens

2010-02-11T17:53:00.006-07:00

I always wanted to have a big backyard where I could grow my own vegetables, some raspberry bushes, and have a couple of hens for fresh eggs. Unfortunately, in a lot of cities prohibit people from owning chickens and keeping them in their backyards. I came across this website that I thought was too awesome not to share.

It's a Chicken Revolution - Chickens in the Yard (C.I.T.Y.) believe in the right to home-grown food. They "are ordinary people who strongly believe in the right to raise a few hens for pets and for eggs on private properties for which we pay taxes". The website features a "Che Chicken" mascot.

Their Mission: "to legalize backyard chicken-keeping in the city of Salem, Oregon, and help others do the same in cities around the country."

The site serves as a source of knowledge and help for those wanting to change their own city ordinances and start a "chicken revolution", and also features this great video:

In BC, Burnaby and New Westminster already allow residents to raise chickens outdoors. So do American cities such as New York, Seattle and Portland. Vancouver bylaws stipulate that only homeowners with a minimum of one acre of land can raise chickens, however, the city has released draft guidelines for keeping backyard hens, which means it may soon be legal.

Read more http://www.chickensinvancouver.com/

For more info about raising your own chickens, check out Backyard Poultry Magazine.

Have a healthier diet by adding food!

2010-02-09T19:14:00.005-07:00

Could the key to a healthy diet be adding food, not taking it away? I know - it sounds like a gimmick I would tear apart in a blog post. But this is no "magic". I have stumbled across a few references to this idea lately, and decided to throw my two cents in.

It is well known that restrictive diets are not realistic and often not sustained longer than a few days or weeks. Coming off of a restrictive diet also often leads to overeating, whether consciously or unconsciously, while your body tries to make up for lost Calories.

Recently the idea of "adding" to your diet has been popping up a lot more. If you focus on adding more fruits, vegetables, grains, non-meat protein sources like lentils and beans, you often automatically end up eating fewer of those less healthy foods. It's quite simple and much more mentally pleasing to focus on the abundance of delicious, healthy foods you can eat, as opposed to delicious, unhealthy foods you should not.

Take my boyfriend as the perfect example. Since I've entered the scene (and his kitchen) he is eating more than ever before and has lost about 15 lbs in the past few months. He says he feels like he's eating too much and like he's eating constantly. True, the quantity of food has increased but so has the quality, which results in an overall much lower Calorie intake and, for him, significant weight loss without even trying. He can munch all day on an apple, carrots, peas, a granola bar, and a salad with cheese, seeds and dried fruit for lunch, and still come out well under the number of Calories he would've had if he had gone to a drive through somewhere. Not to mention how much better you feel!

So this weekend, focus on the wonderful fresh and healthy foods you're going to add to your shopping basket. Save some money by having a date night in with your significant other and cook a meal together. Find a new recipe to try, or a food that's new to you, and have some fun in the kitchen!

Broccoli makes it big! The Miracle Food on TV

2010-02-08T18:57:00.003-07:00

For years, the only people advertising food products on TV have been people trying to sell you crap. The junk food industry pours millions of dollars into advertising sugary cereals, snack foods, fast food, etc, etc. The overabundance of junk food commercials, inundating us with images of nutritionally void, high fat 'crap' has even been implicated in the obesity epidemic, contributing to our "obesigenic environment".

Now, I know I'm a huge nerd for being excited about this, but for the first time that I can ever remember, I saw a commercial for a vegetable!! The broccoli industry has come out of the gates swinging, pushing their "miracle food", pure and simple. No "broccoli with cheese sauce" or pre-frozen, convenience bags of the stuff marketed by a green giant. Just broccoli! Go to their website and they're not trying to sell anything but broccoli.

The reason advertising is so skewed, is that vegetable farmers just don't have the bling to keep up with the billion-dollar junk food industry, plain and simple. Although the commercials are quite cheezy (pardon the pun), they bring a smile to my foodie face everytime I see them.

Check out the video here.

Herbal Magic - not so "magical"

2010-02-07T14:56:00.003-07:00

CBC's Marketplace did a special report on the diet franchise "Herbal Magic" this past Friday evening. It was a very interesting look into the shady business of a weight loss program that is built around its line of supplements.

Long story short - Herbal Magic's clients often spend upwards of $5000 - $8000 for a "Program" consisting of a starvation diet and useless supplements. Their "Personal Health Consultants" are sales people working for commission, and have no training in any aspect of health whatsoever. They make their money by selling you supplements, and will often tell you anything to make a sale, even going so far as to show potential clients pictures of themselves at a heavier body weight, and claim they lost the weight with HM, even if they didn't.

Although HM claims it's supplements do a world of "magic":

"Regulates blood sugar and insulin levels resulting in reduced appetite and sugar cravings"

"stabilizes body weight, supporting long-term weight loss maintenance. It improves metabolism, decreases appetite, and increases energy levels."

"increases energy levels and inhibits the formation of fat".

Health Canada now regulates these types of products, and states: "The issuance of a product licence means that the product has been assessed by Health Canada and has been found to be safe, effective and of high quality under its recommended conditions of use. Stakeholders can identify licensed natural health products by looking for the eight-digit Natural Product Number (NPN) or Homeopathic Medicine Number (DIN-HM) designation on the label."

However, very few of HM's products have NPN or DIN numbers. And those that have been approved, have not been approved for the claims HM makes above.

Contrary to popular belief, "natural" health products are not safe just because they are "natural". Unregulated products may have any number of ingredients that are dangerous to health, such as this recall for Natural Choice Vitamin B-17, that was found to "contain amygdalin which is a compound derived from bitter apricot kernels that has the potential to release cyanide when ingested by humans". Another of their products was found to potentially cause liver dysfunction.

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff from Weightymatters.ca was featured on the show. He points out - "if there were magic in weight loss, everyone would be skinny and someone would be very, very rich". Unfortunately, these programs do make some people very rich, but very few people reach and maintain their body weight.

Anyone who follows the HM program properly will definitely lose weight because they are on a strict starvation diet (about 900 Calories!! for a woman). The supplements probably don't really do much of anything but eat away at your paycheque. Personally, I immediately disregard anything with the word "magic" in it's title that claims to be a legitimate product. Seriously.

If you missed the show, check it out here.

Supplements Continued... Antioxidants

2010-02-05T13:03:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I talked about the possible uselessness of multivitamin supplements (MVM). There has also been a lot of buzz in recent years about antioxidants for the same reason – they have been shown to decrease risk of disease and have preventative benefits when obtained from food. Of course, like multivitamins, when something has been shown to be good for us in the food form, someone will decide to make a pill instead. However, unlike multivitamins, some recent evidence is indicating that supplementing the diet with extra antioxidants may actually have negative health effects, and could even increase mortality.

A large review of 68 trials and including over 20, 000 people all over the world found that beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E may increase mortality.

The doses were ranged (according to study):

Vit A – 1333-200 000 IU (average of 20 219 IU)

Beta-carotene – 1.2 – 50 mg (average 17.8 mg)

Vitamin E – 10 – 5000 mg (569 mg)

Supplements were taken daily or on alternate days for 28 days up to 12 years, with an average of 2.7 years.

Having no effect (positive or negative), as in the MVM study yesterday is one thing, but increasing the risk of death is not something to be taken lightly. When it comes to antioxidants – stick with what we know for now. Those occurring in foods such as berries and red wine (in moderation) are beneficial, but it’s best to lay off the pills.

Read the study here.

Are Multivitamins Useless?

2010-02-04T07:35:00.003-07:00

A recent study came out from the American Medical Association looking at whether multivitamin/mineral supplements (MVM) help to decrease risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), or mortality in postmenopausal women. Long story short - they found no association between MVM and any of the outcomes.

MVM are the most frequently used dietary supplement. It’s estimated that 50% of Americans use MVM. Most people do not get enough vegetables and fruits, which may create a deficit of certain vitamins and minerals. People often rely on supplements as insurance, to “top up” what they may be missing from foods. Currently, there is a lack of data to support the widespread use of these supps.

If you’re deficient in a vitamin, of course it’s beneficial to take a supplement. Most of us, in North America, have a diet that is varied and plentiful enough that we are not deficient (we’ll save the on-going Vitamin D debate for another time). Most of us who take MVM are relatively healthy people. In fact, it’s often the people that care about their health the most, and are doing their best to be healthy already, that take MVMs. So what happens when a healthy person takes an MVM? Could it be harmful?

The evidence is clear as day that a diet high in fruits and veggies helps lower your risk of disease, so the general thought seems to be that, if you’re not getting it from food, pill form must be your next best option, right? Maybe not. There IS such a thing as “too much of a good thing” when it comes to nutrition. We know that it’s best to get your MVM from foods because 1) they offer other wonderful compounds to aid health (fibre, phytonutrients, etc). 2) It’s safer – it’s really difficult or near impossible to reach toxic levels of any vitamin through natural foods alone, 3) MVM work in concert with each other. Certain combinations of MVM in foods help the body absorb and utilize their nutrients best. A pill, in contrast, is a higher dose of all your MVMs all in one shot.

My issues with this study: 1) they only look at a specific group: women who are postmenopausal. Not a good snapshot of the general population. 2) Although the findings in this study point to zero benefit, that doesn’t mean that MVM are useless for everyone. Maybe future studies will speak to that.

My two cents: I think MVM are a personal choice. People who lead a less-than-optimal lifestyle in terms of health may benefit from a MVM, although it certainly won’t undo the damage done by eating out regularly and being a couch potato. For those who exercise and make a purposeful effort at eating well and getting enough fruits and veggies, they probably have less to gain from taking an MVM. In my opinion, all efforts should be focused on improving dietary intake.

Read the study here.

Health Check Endorsing McDonald's?

2010-02-03T07:34:00.003-07:00

News came out this week that the Heart and Stroke Foundation will be offering up it’s signature “Health Check” to various restaurant chains and fast food restaurants in Canada, including McDonald’s.

My two cents: First off, the guidelines to meet the Health Check requirements are not strict enough. A meal with 720mg (!) of sodium still meets the Health Check criteria. Sure, maybe there are SOME foods on a McDonald’s menu that are nutritionally sound - such as a salad with light dressing (does McD’s even have light dressing?), grilled chicken, a bottle of water, and an apple. Great meal! But I ask you - how many people actually order that when they go to McDonald’s? Not many. My thought is that the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Heart Check program should not be affiliated with restaurants where more than 75% of items are high in fat and salt, and low in vegetables and fiber. It just doesn’t make sense. In my mind, this decreases the credibility of the Health Check.

Have your own opinion? Go to the Foundation’s website to fill out a brief survey on their website and give them your two cents on the issue.

This is just another reason why it's important to learn to read labels and do the deciding for yourself when it comes to foods.

Thanks to Dr. Yoni Freedhoff at Weighty Matters for the story.