As an Attune Foods Brand Ambassador, I get to share a guest post on their blog each month. The topic this month is “Real Food,” which of course begs the question, “How, exactly, do you define ‘Real Food?’”

I’ve come up with my own definition, but you’re going to have to click through to read my answer!

(And then please share your own definition in the comments.)

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Real Apple Photo by Selma Broeder.

You already know that Extra Virgin Olive Oil is good for you. But what do you choose when it’s time to branch out and try something new? There are a lot of cooking oils out there, and many have misleading health claims on the label. It can be a bit overwhelming when you walk down the oil aisle in the store.

Some oils are very healthful, others not so much — and for different reasons. How do you know what’s really important when choosing a cooking oil? And how do you keep track of them all?

Why, with The Cooking Oil Comparison Chart, of course!

I’ve teamed up with Andy Bellatti, MS, RD, to help answer these questions with this chart. (If you don’t already follow Andy, you’re missing out.)  We’ve created a one-page, printable PDF that you can take with you to the grocery story (or stick up on your fridge), that will help guide you through the labyrinth of oils.

We focused on two main factors, healthfulness and temperature-sensitivity, since some oils lose their health benefits when heated. Using a grid that makes it easy to see where each oil falls on the spectrum, you’ll be able to tell at a glance which oils to use for your salad, and which to use for your next stir-fry — and which oils to avoid altogether. We’ve also included some secondary details about each oil, along with some important pitfalls to watch out for.

Andy has written a post on his blog explaining the science behind our oil comparisons, so you’ll know why each oil is where it is on the chart.  So click on over to Andy’s post to get the nitty-gritty, and then come back here and get the PDF.

The Cooking Oil Comparison Chart
737kb PDF, Updated Feb 22, 2012

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If you’d like to share this chart on your own website or blog, please be respectful (and law-abiding) and share it simply by linking directly to this post. Please do not link directly to the PDF or copy the entire chart to your own site.  You may use the image at the top of this post on your own page, if you like. Thanks!

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PS – Huge thanks to Andy for jumping on board when I proposed this project to him. I had a ton of fun collaborating with him, and appreciate his enthusiasm and expertise!

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You may also like my other printables:

A Guide to the My Plate Icon
How to Read the Nutrition Facts Panel (available on the Eating Rules Facebook Page)
The Healthy Breakfast Flowchart
The Smoothie Flowchart

Why Hard Lotion?

A few months ago I was contacted by Renee Harris, the owner of Made On: Skin Care Products. Her flagship product is Hard Lotion, a moisturizer that comes in a solid bar instead of a liquid.

At first blush, I dismissed the idea of working together — simply because lotions and lip balm aren’t food. Upon further consideration, I realized that there are indeed a couple of important connections between her products and what I write about here.

What you put on your body can end up in your body (though more accurately, your skin actually is a part of your body). Our skin is absorptive, of course, so when you slather on that moisturizing lotion, well, it stays with you.

I’m an obsessive label reader (just try going grocery shopping with me sometime!), and I also read the labels on my skincare products. I also figure that it makes sense to be the particularly cautious about products that are left on your skin and meant to be absorbed, such as moisturizer, lip balm, and sunscreen. (Cleansers are rinsed off immediately, so it stands to reason there’s less risk there.)

I’ve long been a fan of the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database and the terrific work they’re doing to help educate consumers about the specific ingredients in each product.  Because of them, I keep far away from oxybenzone (in most sunscreens) and try to limit my exposure to parabens (in almost everything).

So, let’s get back to Hard Lotion. The bars and lip balm are made with just three ingredients: Shea butter, coconut oil, and beeswax. (Michael Pollan would be proud.) All of them score a “zero” in the cosmetics database (the best possible score).  From an ingredient perspective, I’m totally sold.

But how well do they work? Over the new year’s holiday, we were up in the mountains for about a week.  It’s really dry up there, and I always struggle with dry hands and chapped lips when we’re there. This year, I brought up a Hard Lotion Beesilk bar and lip balm. They both worked fabulously to keep me from drying out.  I’ll even go so far as to say that the lip balm is the best I’ve ever used. Really. It kept my lips from being chapped without making me feel like I needed to keep reapplying, and without making them feel greasy.

The lotion bar worked very well, too — at least as well as any lotion I’ve tried. I did find that my hands felt a little greasy for about fifteen minutes after applying. (I think I may have been putting too much on.)  It also worked great to help my dry cuticles. (Too much information? Sorry.)

Renee also wisely pointed out to me that cooks and chefs have to do a lot of dishes — and our hands dry out from all that work!  The hard lotion bars are definitely a help — and you won’t have to worry about the burn of lemon juice on dry skin, or any toxic lotion rubbing off your hands and getting into your food.

The Giveaway

Renee has generously offered up a few gift packs for me to give away. So there will be two winners of a Hard Lotion 3-Pack Gift Pack (a family-size Hard Lotion bar, a pocket-size bar, and a lip balm). A third winner will get a 2-Pack Gift Pack (a Hard Lotion pocket-size bar and a lip balm).

Winners can choose the original “Beesilk” or the Au Chocolate – which uses cocoa butter instead of shea butter.

Like my other recent giveaways, I’m using Rafflecopter to take care of the details.  Just follow the instructions in the widget below to enter (you’ll need to leave a comment as your first entry, and then you can enter again by following the other steps). RSS and email Readers, please click through to the post on eatingrules.com to see the widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Before agreeing to work together, Renee sent me some free samples of her products. I have been using them for several months and truly like them and am happy to endorse them. As of this writing, Hard Lotion is an advertiser on Eating Rules, and I offered to do this review post and giveaway as part of our agreement.

The Just Label It campaign has filed a petition with the FDA, asking them to require labeling of Genetically Engineered foods.  I enthusiastically encourage you to click through to their website, learn more, and add your name to the petition.

I’ve gotten this question a lot lately. People can get pretty passionate about their milk, so for the sake of this particular discussion, let’s assume you’re not asking whether or not you should drink milk at all, just that you are a generally healthy adult who likes to drink milk, and you’re wondering about which particular type of cow’s milk is the best way to go.

In the past, I’ve simply recommended fat-free or low-fat milk.  I’ve done so because that’s what the government recommendations say to do. In recent months, however, I’ve been learning a bit more about milk (and have also become wary about the influence industry has on the government’s dietary recommendations).

Although I don’t have first-hand experience (I’m a little lactose-intolerant), I purport that drinking raw, whole milk from healthy, well-treated cows that eat grass in the pasture is probably the best way to go. That’s because the nutritional profile of milk from cows that eat grass — rather than corn — is better for you.  It’s also better for the environment… And for the cows. (Here’s a good discussion of grass-fed vs. grain-fed cows).

[Update: See Kate's important comment about the dangers of raw milk.]

Unfortunately, tracking down grass-fed, raw milk can be difficult, if not impossible (oh yeah, and it may be illegal). Even if you can find a good source, it’s probably quite expensive compared to just going to the supermarket. So, you ask, what about the typical pasteurized-homogenized store-bought stuff?

First, I recommend buying certified organic dairy products whenever possible (though if I had to choose between pastured-and-grass-fed-but-not-certified-organic, and corn-fed-and-Organic, I’d go with the first option).

After that, it’s worthwhile to know what happens to most milk before it gets to you.  To start, it’s combined with milk from hundreds or thousands of other cows.  Then it’s spun in a centrifuge to remove the fat. Next, the fat is added back into the milk to the desired percentage, and the fat is homogenized [good description, though from an obviously biased source] to keep it from floating back up to the top.  Then it’s pasteurized and finally packaged up and sent on its way to the store.

So this type of “whole milk” is not really whole anymore.  It’s been split apart, put back together, and heavily processed.

If it’s going to be pasteurized-homogenized milk, especially if it’s from cows that are eating corn and not grass, we may be better off avoiding the fats altogether. The nutritional profile of the fats in the milk is going to be different (worse) from those cows.

Additionally, by drinking non-fat milk, it reduces the overall calories — and the fewer calories we drink (rather than chew) the better. Quite a few studies have shown that liquid calories are not registered by the body as well as solid calories, so if we drink our calories, we tend to consume more overall.

In choosing your milk’s fat content, though, I wouldn’t stress too much about those few added calories. Drinking water instead of milk will make a bigger difference than choosing 1% instead of 2% milk — unless you drink a lot of milk.  Also, if there’s more fat in your glass of milk, it may increase your satiety a bit — meaning you’ll feel fuller longer. If that’s the case, the extra fat may be beneficial overall.

On a related note, we’ve switched to using real butter in our house instead of butter-replacements like Smart Balance or Earth Balance. That’s not for everything, mind you — we still use plenty of olive oil, and I’m loving my unrefined coconut oil.  But we’re buying butter only made from grass-fed, pastured cows. The fats are better for us, and it tastes better, too.

I’ve got a pretty darn positive outlook for 2012. There are lots of good things happening in my life right now and in the road ahead.

Don’t worry, I’m not about to get all mushy on you. However, I am going to share just one of those good things today:  I’m now an Attune Foods Brand Ambassador!

Attune Foods makes several wonderful products, including Uncle Sam and Erewhon Cereals.  They’re whole grain, have only a pinch of added sugar (if at all), and are completely Eating-Rules-Approved.

Truth be told, I’d eat these cereals–and sing their praises–even if I was not an “official” ambassador, because they’re both delicious and healthful (my favorite combination). So when my friend and Attune’s Social Media Manager Annelies invited me to join in, I leapt at the opportunity. (You might remember her guest post for October Unprocessed, in which she basically made Uncle Sam cereal in her kitchen.)

As a Brand Ambassador, I get to write a guest post for their blog every month. My first post just went up today. In it I share a few of my thoughts on how to make real change that sticks. (Very apropos for the new year, don’t ya think?)

So please click on over to my post on real change, and then share your thoughts in the comments. I look forward to hearing what you think!

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Photo by Ian Sane.

“Juti” is Sanskrit for “Energy”

Late last year I connected with Matt Zembruski, the creator of Juti Bars, and we immediately hit it off. We’re both geeks about health, fitness, and internet technology… which makes for very long phone calls!

Although Juti bars are a relative newcomer on the energy bar scene, Matt’s been developing them (and eating them himself) for nearly a decade. Each batch is hand-made to order, and they’re actually perishable, unlike most packaged energy bars, which means they need to stay in the fridge or freezer. It also means they’re a vibrant, fresh, whole food. Oh yeah, and they’re vegan, gluten-free, and 100% organic.

After our first conversation, Matt graciously sent me a few (free) Juti Bars to try out. I have to say, I was impressed. They’re somehow simultaneously dense, moist, and slightly chewy–a nice combo–and have just enough chocolatey-sweetness to make them feel rich and decadent. I think they’re really best as a meal replacement; they’re both satisfying and filling enough to hold up to that goal (eat one with a tall glass of water!). A quick look at the ingredients list also helps explain why I became an instant fan:

Organic unsweetened applesauce, Organic peanut butter, Organic gluten-free rolled oats, Organic hemp protein powder, Organic vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips (Fair Trade), Organic raw blue agave nectar, Organic sunflower seeds (raw), Organic chia seeds, Organic garbanzo bean flour, Organic vanilla extract, Organic cinnamon.

What’s missing?  Anything that fails my Kitchen Test: Preservatives, gums, stabilizers, or “natural” flavors (which so many supposedly healthy bars are adding these days, to my dismay).

The Juti Challenge

Okay, so why am I writing about these energy bars?  Matt has just issued the very first Juti Bar Challenge, and I’m super-excited to join in (and hope you will too)!

The concept is simple: Eat one Juti Bar a day for 30 days, and see what happens. (Okay, so it’s less of a challenge and more of an informal experiment, but it just sounds so much better to call it a challenge!).

The first one will run from February 1 to March 1, and it’s limited to the first 100 people who sign up. If you accept the challenge, you’ll get 30 Juti Bars shipped to you at the end of January (they need to be shipped just-in-time, and then most of them should be frozen so they’ll last for the month).

There will be a health/nutrition assessment before and after from Registered Dietitian Elise Curley, along with live weekly conference calls with Elise and other challengers (optional, of course). And upon completion, you’ll get a bonus “mystery reward” (I have no idea what that is, but I’m intrigued!).

I’ve signed up for the challenge, and hope you will join me, so click on through and check it out!

An Update on the Price

Jan 13, 2012: When I first published this post, I was remiss not to include the price of the challenge, and some people have had some “sticker shock” at the cost. So here ya go:  It’s $119 for the challenge (plus about $10 for shipping), which includes 30 Juti Bars and the aforementioned support network (health assessment, conference calls, etc.). That comes to about $4 per bar.  As Matt says in his FAQ section:

Unlike most every other bar on the market, each Juti Bar is handmade and fresh baked in our commercial kitchen. Great care, attention, and Love go into each bar that we make for you. Each ingredient is also very carefully chosen and purchased from the highest quality locations throughout the US and the world. Our ingredient and labor costs alone are higher than the retail costs of many of the mainstream bars today.

Yes, that’s more expensive than most “energy bars” out there. However, you’re also getting a higher quality product. I find that Juti bars are filling and satisfying enough to be a meal replacement (not just a snack) — so that may offset the extra cost for you. Additionally, you’ll be supporting a small startup business with ethical business practices, rather than a large corporation whose only goal is profits. I’ve spoken with Matt on the phone numerous times now, and I believe in what he’s doing — and that his motivations and goals are absolutely sincere and praise-worthy.

By the way, I’ve written before about my philosophy on Cost vs. Value – which I encourage you to read as well.

I’ve signed up for the challenge, and hope you will join me, so click on through and check it out!

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Full disclosure: I paid with my own money to participate in the Juti challenge; it’s something I’m genuinely interested in, and think will be good for my health and an interesting experiment. If you sign up for the challenge using my affiliate links above, I’ll earn a commission from the sale (it won’t cost you any extra). I thank you in advance for your support!

Making Flaxseed Meal at Bob's Red Mill

A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with my friend Cassidy at Bob’s Red Mill, and she kindly offered to sponsor another great giveaway. Longtime readers will already know that I’m a fan (and Bob’s is an Eating Rules sponsor), and if you missed my behind-the-scenes tour of their facility last year, you should definitely click over and check it out.

As I mentioned last week when I asked you what favorite foods you discovered in 2011, my “new-to-me” food last year was Hulled Hemp Seeds. So when we started brainstorming which products to offer up in the giveaway, and I mentioned my newfound love of hemp seeds, we came upon the idea of doing an “Omega-3 Three-Pack.”  And for good measure, we’re going to give away three of ‘em!

So to start your new year off right, three lucky winners will receive one bag each of Bob’s Red Mill Hulled Hemp Seeds, Chia Seeds, and Ground Flax Seeds.  It’s the Omega-3 Trifecta! (With lots of fiber, too!)

The Hemp, Chia, and Flax Trifecta!

How To Enter

Just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget (below). You’ll need to start by leaving a comment on this post, sharing some ideas on how you’ll incorporate these powerhouse seeds into your diet. Then, get tons of bonus entries by sharing and liking… again, just follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter widget.

Good luck!  (and let me know if you get stuck!)

(Email and RSS readers, you’ll need to view this post on my site to see the widget)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you have been having a wonderful holiday season!  Before we turn the page on 2011, I thought it might be fun to ask a quick question.

Last year, my new favorite food was nutritional yeast. Although it’s easily dismissed as “hippie health food,” this stuff is definitely worthy of consideration, if only for its great taste.  I love the versatile, cheesy-nutty flavor (especially sprinkled on popcorn!), and it adds a savory Umami flavor to soups and other dishes. Oh yeah, and there are all those B vitamins it delivers (Vegans: It’s a good idea to choose a brand that is fortified with B-12).  So when I finally tried it last year, it quickly became my favorite new food.

This year, my discovery is hulled hemp seeds. Like nutritional yeast, they’re both healthy and delicious (swoon!). Hemp seeds are a great source of Omega-3 fatty acids, a “complete” protein source, and very high in several other vitamins and minerals.  I’ve been sprinkling them on my morning oatmeal, on top of a bowl of greek yogurt, or just blending them into a smoothie.  I think they taste like sunflower seeds — but with less of a crunch. Yum!

What’s your new favorite food discovery of 2011?  Let us know in the comments!

(RSS and email readers, click through to share your discovery).

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Photo by Evelyn Parham.

Growing mushrooms in my kitchen!

Way back in October I tagged along with Matty as he attended a conference up in San Francisco. Besides the fun of staying at the gorgeous Fairmont Hotel atop Nob Hill (and being tempted by Tiki drinks in their ridiculous-yet-kinda-awesome Tonga Room), I snuck away for an afternoon and headed over to Oakland to get a tour of a super-cool urban mushroom farm.

A true sustainability-in-practice company, the mission of  Back To The Roots is to create unique, enjoyable, and sustainable products for their customers. Their flagship product is their Do-It-Yourself Mushroom Kits (you may recognize them from my Holiday Gift Guide a few weeks back… I love these things!).

The kits are made of recycled coffee grounds that have been inoculated with pearl oyster mushroom spores. Once you receive your kit, you simply cut a few slits in the plastic  bag, mist it with water a couple of times a day, and keep it in a cool spot indoors. About a week later, you’ll have some of the freshest, most wonderful mushrooms you’ve ever tasted.

Sounds simple, right? Once it gets into your kitchen it is. But behind-the-scenes, it’s a very specific and unique process to bring these kits to market — which took a lot of trial and error to get exactly right. Nikhil Arora, one of the company’s founders, gave me a personal tour, letting me in on all their secrets.

Their custom-built used-coffee-grounds press

The foundation of their product is recycled coffee grounds. Every morning they send their truck around to local Peet’s Coffee shops to collect the grounds.  Back in October, they were collecting 20,000 pounds (!) of spent coffee grounds from sixteen Peet’s Coffee shops in the Oakland area every week.  Nikhil just told me that they’ve since doubled that number, expanding to collect spent grounds from the San Francisco shops, too. That’s over 40,000 pounds of waste each week being being diverted from landfills! They’re on track to recyle over a million pounds of grounds by the end of this year.

When they first arrive, the spent coffee grounds are too moist for the mushrooms to grow. They used to press the grounds by hand, and later in an old wine press — but quickly realized that wouldn’t last long. They now use a custom-fabricated hydraulic press, built by a local machinist.

Removing the Coffee Filters

Once the grounds have been pressed to the right moisture content, the leftover paper coffee filters are separated, then broken down to be used in the soil as well. It’s a dirty job, but hey, at least it smells good.

The Mushroom Spores

They purchase the Pearl Oyster Mushroom spores, which come on a “carrier” of rye grains.

Coffee Grounds with Mushroom Spores

Next comes the inoculation: The spores are mixed into the coffee grounds and placed into the specially designed bags.  The bags have a small filter at the top that allows them to breathe, just enough.

Filled bags, ready to be sealed

Once the bags are sealed, they head on over to the other side of the warehouse for incubation. There, they sit for about three weeks as the mycelium grow and eventually colonize the entire bag — engulfing it in a hard, white crust.

The mycelium growing and interlocking

Racks and racks of fungus! In case you’re wondering, there’s no odor.

Incubation

Once they’re ready, the bags are simply slipped into the boxes, ready to ship out!

The final product -- tasty mushrooms!

Huge thanks to Nikhil Arora and Back To The Roots for the tour and the giveaway, below. If you don’t want to wait for the giveaway to end, just head on over to their site and buy your own kit today!

Monthly Mushroom Club Giveaway

Nikhil has generously offered up a Monthly Mushroom Club subscription to one lucky Eating Rules reader. This includes one full kit and four refills (just the bags — you can reuse the box). They’ll ship you one refill each month for four months — so you can have fresh, delicious oyster mushrooms well into next year.  That’s a more than $70 value!

Since the Rafflecopter system worked well on my last giveaway, I’m using it again.  I’ve set up quite a few ways to enter, and you get extra entries for each method, so just follow the instructions below. (Please let me know if you get stuck.)  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Full Disclosure: After my tour, Nikhil gave me a free kit to take home. Also, if you click on the links to their site above, and then make a purchase, I’ll earn a small commission. It doesn’t cost you any extra, and it helps support Eating Rules. Of course, I love these mushroom kits so much that I’d be happy to promote them regardless. Thanks!