No-label Nutrition

No-label Nutrition

or

Why I Will Never Declare Myself A Vegan

"All things in moderation" -Proverb

Labels: Vegan. Gluten-free. Dairy-free. Paleo. Bacon. Low-carb. No-carb. No-sugar.

photo cred: Dina Marie

I have no formal training in nutrition (except the time when I paid $500 for a mail-correspondence Nutritional Certification course and did all the work and studying but never mailed in the test due to fear of failure). I almost constantly think about food, how it tastes, and how my body will process it for better or for worse. I love to read books and articles about the biology of how our bodies process food and the benefits of different nutrients in the body.  Please do what feels right for you, follow your doctor's guidelines about any food allergies you have, do some research about where your food comes from.

Now that that's done,

Here's what I do for eating. I'm not vegan, but I eat about 80-90% plant-based (vegan). Eating many many plants - colorful fruits & vegetables, whole grains like Bulgar wheat and rice, seeds, beans, and nuts - makes me feel super amazing. Chronic problems like eczema and afternoon lulls in energy go away (and return when I have a more animal-centric few days). Also, dairy-related gastrointestinal discomfort (aka farts) is kept at a minimum.

I know that colorful foods are the most nutrient-dense and have been proven to be anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and pro-health. I also enjoy cooking them (or just chopping them up) and eating them because they are delicious and did I mention plants make me feel super amazing?

Typical Lunch

You know what else makes me feel super amazing? Bacon. Not so much in my stomach or GI tract but in my happiness/heart-of-hearts/soul. Also, decadent desserts makes me feel super amazing. With refined sugar and butter and refined flour topped with whipped buttercream frosting. It kind of makes my tummy hurt. But I luuuhve it so I have it on occasion, enjoy the moment without guilt, and move on.

Most of the time, I don't eat animal products, and I do my best to limit refined sugar and flour. But I will never say never when it comes to these things. Food is of course, fuel for our bodies but it is ALSO fuel for our souls. Kinda cheesy (literally?) but it really is. I think it's important to do what makes us feel good in all components of our self.

So I eat lots of plants I love. I fill in the gaps with other foods I love, from every category.

Eat well, be happy, and don't stress about labels too much. (I mean labels like vegan. If you want to read labels on food packages in the grocery store to make sure things don't have high fructose corn syrup listed as the first ingredient, please do.)

xoxo Phae

Nutritious(...?) and Delicious: The Frappe

MMMMM!

I love coffee.  I just do.  Being nutrition-conscious, I often consider quitting this drug.  But I won't do it.  It's too delicious, warm, comforting, and well - I like the way it makes me feel.  Plus it helps... get things moving.... in the morning on a very predictable schedule.

I was a Starbucks barista in college and the love affair was sealed for life.  I thought working at the coffee mecca, I knew about every coffee drink known to man.  I've learned some crazy orders: lattes made with half & half (or even heavy cream!), caramel macchiatos with 6 espresso shots...

After my sister Irene went to Greece in summer 2010, she returned with a recipe for a coffee drink that I didn't know about: THE FRAPPE!!  Or, The Most Delicious And Easy Way To Drink Coffee In The Summer.  Apparently they are all the rage in Greece & Europe, and us dumb Americans haven't caught on yet.  But that's OK because now I'm going to tell you how to make one.

It's starting to get hot in Houston, which means a steaming cup of Joe isn't necessarily super-appealing (although who am I kidding, I'll drink it when it's 100 degF).  Other cold alternatives like frappucinos... just stay away from those, please, except for a once-in-a-while treat.  They are full of sugar and topped with about 300 calories worth of whipped cream.  Iced coffee is good, but not as delicious, fun, and frothy as:

Frappe Ingredients

The Frappe.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp Nescafe instant coffee granules (Must be Nescafe brand otherwise it tastes gross.)
• 1 tsp sugar (you can sub in honey/other sweetener, or exclude altogether..but I've tried it all different ways and plain white granulated sugar is the best)
• 1 tbsp H2O
• Ice
• ~1 cup milk (Soymilk is my milk of choice (protein!), and any kind will do.  Oo, I bet coconutmilk would be good)

Directions:

1. Put the Nescafe, sugar, and H2O in the bottom of a glass and froth it using a milk frother (I have the "aerolatte" - a gift from Reney since she knew it was her fault I got hooked)
2. Fill the glass 3/4 full of ice cubes
3. Pour the milk on top to fill in the gaps, up to the top
4. Use a funky straw and sip your delicious, foamy, refreshing, frappe.

The coffee, sugar & water before frothing...

...and after!

Feel the zing!
xoxo Phae

Oh, also:  It's ok to have up to 200 mg of caffeine a day during pregnancy.  1 cup of coffee has ~100 mg, but keep in mind this measurement is an 8 oz cup and that's never actually what size you pour at home or what size you get at a coffee shop (usually a small is 12 oz).  So for me, I limit myself to 1 "cup" (~12 oz) a day during pregnancy.  Which is sad because Afternoon Coffee is one of my favorite delights and pick-me-ups during the work day. *sigh* ...the sacrifices we make for our children...

Nutritious and Delicious: Green (Purple) Smoothie

At our house we've really been on a big veggie kick lately.  You know you are supposed to get 3-5 servings of veggies a day, right?  Well, if you have some carrots & hummus at lunch, and some salad at dinner, that's probably only 2-3 servings (if you eat salad like we do in our house, it will definitely count as more than one serving, as each of us has a daily serving rougly the size of my 7-month-pregnant belly).  Now, ok, technically... you may have met your daily recommendation.  BUT! if you want to be an overachiever...and get to the MAX AMOUNT OF VEGGIES you can in one day...that means you need some vegetables at breakfast, too.

Enter green smoothie.  Easy, delicious, nutritious, quick to prepare, refreshing, customizeable... seriously, if you aren't on the green smoothie train you need to get on it right now.

How to make a green smoothie (and the benefits of each ingredient): 
Combine in a blender:

1. Approx. 1 cup of milk/soymilk
• Protein source (8 g per cup in either type) to help you stay full longer
• DHA, Vitamin D if fortified with these
• You can use OJ (Mike does) or almondmilk or coconutmilk if you're a dum-dum and don't care about the protein
2. 1 banana
• Potassium (Good for electrolyte balance) 
• B vitamins (Cell metabolism)
• Easy-to-digest sugars to help your body get moving in the A.M.
3. A heaping handful of raw spinach
• Vitamin A (Good for vision, skin, & immunity to name a few)
• Vitamin K (Blood and bone health)
• Folate (Important for pregnant women, to prevent spina bifida in the fetus)
4. Approx. 3/4 cup frozen berries (we get a ginormous bag at The Best Store on Earth)
• Antioxidants (GO AWAY CANCER)
• Delicious factor
• Covers up green color (although I don't really care about that)
• You can use other frozen fruits, like mango or peaches, which are also delicious!
• You could also use peanut butter + ice cubes for a stick-to-your-ribs flavor
• You can use fresh berries/fruit but decrease the liquid considerably if you do

The morning arsenal

That's it.  Four ingredients (maybe five).  For bonus nutrition, you can add:

• Ch-ch-ch-chia seeds or ground flaxseed (Omega-3 fatty acids: great for the brain!)
• Raw local honey (to help fight allergies)
• Instant coffee granules (za zoom!!  This goes awesome in the banana/PB one)

Now you have no excuse to skip breakfast (I can't beleive people do that!), and no excuse to skip your morning vegetables!  This takes all of 3 minutes to blend up and enjoy.

Notice my sweet Boston Marathon pint glass

And since I'm 5, I like to add a fun colorful straw to drink it with! 

Oh, the simple pleasures in life. Drink up!

xoxo Phae

Nutritious and Delicious: Home-made Energy Bars

So, I told myself my first post wouldn't be about food.  But we just made these over the weekend and OH My Gosh you guys. 

One thing to mention...I'm currently (29 weeks) pregnant.  Forgot to mention that in Post 1 explicitly, although I did reference the watermelon on my bladder.

Since about half-way through my 2nd trimester, my normal morning/afternoon snacks that I brought to work just weren't cutting it.  I think I have a tapeworm, plus a baby with a tapeworm, because I am hungry all the time.  I do not remember being this ravenous with Zoe.  Anyway - a typical (non-pregnant) morning snack is a piece of fruit, and then veggies + hummus or more fruit + PB in the afternoon.  As the pregnancy progressed, I've needed to add a protein/fat element to the morning snack, too.  Also I've increased the portion size of both snacks just a tad.  Like, my lunch box now has more food in it than my 6'5" male husband.

I've been using (organic) energy bars as the addition to my daytime meals.  But one day I was looking at the label and realized the ingredients list is so long!  And even as a chemical engineer, I was unfamiliar with several of the ingredients.  Plus the sugar was "high maltose corn syrup" which just sounds like a sneaky way around including high fructose corn syrup. 

I started to look up recipes for home-made energy bars and came across this one which was quoted as tasting just like a Snickers bar.  Um, yes please.  You can read all about them by following the link, but I will summarize for you: Put dates, almonds, chocolate chips, and a little peanut butter in the food processor until it looks like chunky poop.  Before your toddler tries to eat all of the chunky poop pieces, press the mixture into a wax-paper lined pan and refrigerate.  Cut into squares.

Mike and I did some rough calculations, and if you cut the bars into 24 squares, each one has about 170 calories.  That is comparable to (or less than) any off-the-shelf energy bar you will buy.  I ate one as my morning snack this morning, and I was full until past noon!  Normally, I watch the clock until 11:30 and then waddle my pregnant butt down to the kitchen to make lunch.

Some notes: 

1. I got a 4-lb carton of dates from The Best Store On Earth Costco, and made an amateur mistake.  I got dates with pits in them!  So my amazing husband helped to squeeze all the pits out of the dates.  (It actually wasn't that bad, they come out pretty easily... but I will definitely make sure to get pitted dates next time.)

2. I've made several "hippie"-type recipes which use dates as an alternative to refined sugar, but I hadn't really looked into the nutritional value of dates before.  So I did.  And let me tell you.. dates are basically the best food ever. Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

• They contain a plethora of vitamins & minerals: vitamins A, B6, and K, niacin, folate, riboflavin, thiamin, the minerals potassium, copper, manganese & magnesium, and iron.
• They contain antioxidants: beta-carotene, lutein, and zea-xanthin.
• They contain a type of dietary fiber that slows down the digestion of sugars ... so even though dates are mostly the simple sugars, you won't have a spike in energy and then feel tired/hungry shortly after.

3. Our 2-cup, 10-year-old food processor is terrible.  I had to work in super small batches to get a homogenous mixture.  But...it was worth it!

Next time, to be consistent with my own rules, I think I need to use better-quality chocolate.  And (I can't believe I'm saying this) they could probably stand to use less chocolate... the dates are plenty sweet.  I also think toasted coconut could be delicious in there.  I think you could pretty much throw whatever you want in and they would be delicious!

What sounds good to you guys?

xoxo Phae