Eatertainment: “a combination of eating and entertainment, for example, a medieval banquet livened up by troubadours, dancers and acrobats.”

Sounds fun, doesn’t it? But what happens to our health when eatertainment takes on a Western spin so that fast food (high calories, low nutrient-density) becomes the source of the party and we just don’t want the party to end?

From the evolutionary advantage of storing fat to “conditioned hypereating” and corporate greed, Elizabeth Colbert’s article published in The New Yorker, “XXXL: Why are we so fat?“, is an amazingly brilliant article that examines the undeniable fact most of the world is becoming overfed and malnourished.

From The New Yorker:

A food scientist for Frito-Lay relates how the company is seeking to create “a lot of fun in your mouth” with products like Nacho Cheese Doritos, which meld “three different cheese notes” with lots of salt and oil. Another product-development expert talks about how she is trying to “unlock the code of craveability,” and a third about the effort to “cram as much hedonics as you can in one dish.”

Yikes! If the goal of processed food corporations is to concoct irresistible food combinations in the labratory, coupled with research on rats that prove animals’ brains react to sweet, fatty foods the same way that addicts’ respond to cocaine, it’s no wonder global obesity is on the rise!

One of the most interesting aspects of this article is the revelation of why supersizing has caught on in our society and who discovered it. It comes down to mindless eating where we’ve conditioned ourselves to rely on external cues (like portion sizes) rather than internal cues of satiation. As for the genius behind it? I want you to read the article but I’ll give you a hint: think of the last time you went to the theatre and ordered a `small’ popcorn and pop.

But eatertainment is a wonderful concept! Do you think it’s making us fat? And if you do, how can we preserve our health while enjoying the positive qualities of eatertainment? Please share your thoughts with us.

Orange juice has long been praised as a perfect complement to a complete and wholesome breakfast. This “fact” has recently been put under the spotlight with an expose on the orange juice industry. Apparently, O.J. is the latest commercial product to stand trial for it’s claim to health fame.

It’s hard to believe that golden glass of Vitamin C, with all it’s immune-boosting and anti-oxidant properties, may be doing you more harm than good. But according to Alissa Hamilton, author of Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice, mass-production strips the juice of it’s nutrients and leaves you with a nice, tall glass of chemicals. Yum.

A recent Toronto Star article, “What’s wrong with orange juice?” covered an interesting interview with the highly educated author. She says that commercial orange juice “may be heat processed, watered down, sugared up, doctored by flavour engineers (like those create perfume and colognes!) and stored for a year in tanks.

Whether it’s “from concentrate” or “not from concentrate”, Hamilton says the only orange juice out there that will actually do your body any good is the fresh squeezed variety. The `best before’ date is the best gauge as any product with a 60-plus shelf life must be heavily processed. Fresh squeezed orange juice lasts only a few days.

Hamilton prefers to consume the whole orange with all it’s fiber, including the pith, and even saves the rind for cooking! She has a doctorate in environmental studies from Yale University, a law degree from the University of Toronto and she says making the food system more transparent is her particular area of interest.

She’s doing this through her book but also as a fellow with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, where a diverse group of people are working to change U.S. food policies and advance the idea of healthy, green and affordable food for all.

For more information on the processing of orange juice, check out Hamilton’s book. For a great synopsis of her book, read the above linked Toronto Star article, and for the results of an orange juice taste test, read this article.

Fiddleheads are fun, tasty, healthy, versatile and even a little bit dangerous! They will appeal to people who love wild, earthy and slightly bitter flavours common among green veggies known to have powerful healing effects. Think: asparagus, green beans, artichoke, okra and broccoli. Yum.

Yesterday was my second time trying “Spring’s first fruit”, considered a delicacy in many places like the Maritimes (CBC video clip). While this veggie is crunchy and scrumptious lightly fried in olive oil (the only way I’ve tried it so far) but for the rustic gourmet, there’s no end to the possibilities of fiddlehead cuisine!

Here are just a few other reasons why this vegetable is so impressive:

Fun Facts about Fiddleheads

• They are baby ferns with their leaves still tightly coiled near the stem. They got their name because they look like the end of a violin or fiddle!
• North American aboriginal people were first to capitalize on the medicinal qualities of fiddleheads, said to act as a natural cleansing agent ridding the body of accumulated impurities and toxins. (Vitality Magazine)
• It is also reported that fiddleheads were an olden day treatment for high blood pressure, and eaten to ward off scurvy.
• Usually foraged in the bush, you can now often find them in many commercial grocers. Several farmers have been attempting to cultivate them, including Nick Secord in Port Colbourne. (Toronto Star)
• They’re only available for a couple of weeks in May before they grow too large to eat. But you can dry, freeze, pickle or can them to enjoy whenever!
• Linda Gabris wrote that her grandmother made fiddlehead tea to cure constipation and a sping tonic as a cure-all. Read her nostagic article for these recipes and more.

A Healthy Choice of Veggie

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Have you tried POM Wonderful pomegranate juice yet? You know the one I mean, it comes in a 473ml, womanly-shaped bottle that fits snugly in one’s grasp?

With every sip, this tart, sweet, full-bodied juice ignited my taste buds like a choreographed fireworks show. It’s so potent (I had to dilute it with 50% water) that you can actually feel it’s power course through your entire system.

Where does this power come from? Apparently, the polyphenol antioxidant levels in POM Wonderful pomegranates beat even red wine and green tea! For those who don’t know, anti-oxidants destroy free radicals. Free radicals are the main cause of aging and are the natural by-products of metabolism, some immune responses and environmental poisons.

Although we need a certain amount of free radicals, most people living in today’s toxic world would benefit from extra anti-oxidants. That’s why I tried POM Cherry, made with 100% all-natural pomegranate and cherry juices. One sip and my mouth sang for a good 10  minutes! A little goes a long way with POM Wonderful juice.

Here are other benefits of drinking this elixir of youth:

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Spring’s cold nights and warm days have been naturally pumping the sap up the still dormant maple trees here in Ontario. Some people (including myself and my in-laws last weekend) are busy tapping trees and boiling sap to make delicious, sweet, healthy maple syrup!

It was my first time assisting with this family tradition and I can see why it stuck. It was fun working as a team and being in nature with all the fresh air and the sweet aroma of boiling sap.

I found it incredibly humbling, too. I was awed by the amazing, sweet gift from Nature, human ingenuity for the whole maple syrup making process and, of course, the hard work. Let’s just say I really appreciated the dark amber, grade A, homemade, organic maple syrup on my french toast the next morning!

How to Make (Lynch’s) Maple Syrup

While the trees, process and tools may vary, here’s how we made maple syrup at the Lynch’s:

1. In early March, Dad strung up a series of tubes around trees that ran down hill.
2. We tapped approximately 60 red maple trees by drilling holes on the North East side of each one and fitting the holes with the taps attached to the tubes.
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In preparing for a Master Cleanse, my Honey voiced his concern about the potential damage the acid would do to my system. A good question, especially considering you can easily use  2 lemons per day for as many as 10 days in the Master Cleanse, I went hunting for an answer.

What I found instead was a surprisingly long list of health benefits. Between it’s high content of Vitamin C (a powerful antioxidant), phytonutrients, bioflavinoids, citric acid levels and alkalizing effect on the body, lemons:

• Reduce blood pressure, strengthen capillaries and relieve palpitations
• Help raise good cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) and prevent bad cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) from oxidizing
• Prevent plaque formation, which clogs arteries
• Are anti-bacterial and have been proven to destroy bacteria of malaria, cholera, diphtheria, typhoid and other deadly diseases
• Destroy intestinal worms
• Act as an excellent nerve sedative
• Prevent and treat many infections

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Some people believe that sprouts are one of the most nutrient rich food in the world, a superfood that will help prevent and fight disease. The bonus is that it’s super easy to grow your own ‘wonder food‘ in any kitchen!

Sprouts’ magical qualities come from germination. Germinating (or sprouting) a dry bean, legume, nut or seed can increase the nutrient content (digestible energy, proteins, amino acids, bioavailable vitamins, beneficial enzymes, minerals and trace elements, and phytochemicals) by 300% to 1200% compared to its original, dry state. In addition, it’s calorie and carbohydrate content decrease. However, they are not considered a complete food, so they are best consumed complementing healthy meals.

Sprouts are `living food‘, which means that they continue to grow and increase their nutrient content even after harvest! Kinda creepy, eh?

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Considering the economy, isn’t it nice to know you can grow your own food in the comfort of your home? It’s called sprouting; and don’t worry, it doesn’t require piles of dirt to grow this highly nutritious food… unless, of course, you want. Intrigued by a sample sprouting workshop given by the Toronto Sprouts at a Women’s Healthy Environments Network event, it seemed super easy and with minimal start-up equipment.

But before investing in workshops and tools, try this SUPER easy, very cost-efficient way to sprout. Thanks to my Mom-in-Law and her tips, I’ve so far successfully grown alfalfa, fenugreek and at this very moment, there are sunflower seeds bursting with young, healthy, crisp, white sprouts – in my kitchen cupboard! The miracle of birth and power of youth are in sprouts – it’s absolutely amazing to see them change with every rinse.

An Easy Way to Sprout for the First-Timer

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Celebrating Heart Month, last post we introduced a designer necklace financed by the United Soybean Board to raise funds for the heart health research foundation, WomenHeart. We touched only briefly on how soy is related to heart health. The following information is found in one of four health benefit sections, Heart Health, professionally referenced and provided by the United Soybean Board in the pamphlet, “Soy for Health Benefits”:

The American Heart Association has recognized soyfoods for their role in an overall heart-healthy diet.

Soy protein directly lowers blood cholesterol levels, a major risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). In 1999, after reviewing significant clinical research, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a health claim for soy protein and coronary heart disease. Similar claims have been approved in at least eight other countries.  Read the rest of this entry

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We all have our good days and our not-so-good days. While it’s important to be grateful for just being alive and try to appreciate even the low days, life is just more fun when you’re happy. I believe happiness is a by-product of health and balance. Yesterday’s Metro helps prove this theory in a great article by Best Health Magazine.

In “True Comfort Food,” 5 different foods are highlighted with supporting study results, proving how nutrition promotes good mental health. The researchers have found that certain foods keep depression at bay, control pain and trigger excitement.

Here the 5 types of foods to put on your weekly grocery list:

1. Fish. Omega-3 fatty acids are extremely important to maintaining mood. They are found in seafood like salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines. Food producers have noted how important these fish oils are to our stressed-out society and have fortified other foods, such as eggs and cereals, with this omega fatty acid. The experts suggest eating fish twice a week and for those with mental conditions, at least 1 gram per day.
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