Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

So Kris and I are getting ready to move back to Colorado in a few weeks and were trying to plan out meals for what we would like to eat from now until we leave. We sat down and decided on a few of our favorite recipes. All of the meals we decided on you can make up ahead of time and freeze for later. Then, when you are hungry and don't feel like cooking, you can just warm them up on the stove.

Basically, we spent the whole day Saturday shopping, cooking, and waiting for stuff to cool so we could put it away. We ended up making about 25 meals for us (or 50 servings) of food that we can eat from now until we leave. We were both pretty exhausted by the end of the day, but are thrilled that we won't have to really cook again before we leave unless we want to.

Why do I share this all with you? Because cooking can be healthy, cheap, tasty, and fast when you plan ahead and use fresh, nutrient rich ingredients. I have been saying that I will share two of my soup recipes for awhile and after our cooking extravaganza on Saturday, I am finally ready to release one!

This homemade grandma-style chicken noodle soup is amazing! You make everything from scratch, even the stock and the noodles. It's also really easy to make, and goes a long way. Like many soup recipes, it is very versatile and you can make it with different consistencies, flavors, and vegetables. With the cold weather starting to creep in, and with it colds, coughs, and stuffy noses, this recipe is definitely a good one to hang on to for those chilly winter nights when you just want to curl up under a blanket and get warm and cozy. I hope that you will love this recipe just as much as I do. Enjoy!

*Parts of this recipe are adapted from Tyler Florence's Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe.
Ingredients:
Makes 14, 1 & 1/2 Cup Servings

Stock:

• 1 Whole Chicken (free-range)
• 3 Stalks Celery (cut into large chunks)
• 2 Carrot Green Tops
• 2 Carrots (cut into large chunks)
• 2 Large White Onions (quartered, still attached to the root)
• 1 Medium Turnip (quartered)
• 1 Head of Garlic (cut in half)
• 1/4 Bunch Fresh Thyme
• 5-7 Sprigs Fresh Parsley
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1 tsp Whole Black Peppercorns

Soup:

• Lug of Extra Virgin Olive Oil  
• 1 Medium Onion (chopped)
• 3 Garlic Cloves (minced)
• 2 Carrots (chopped to desired size)
• 3 Stalks of Celery (chopped to desired size)
• 4 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme (leaves only)
• 1 Bay Leaf
• *Shredded Chicken from Stock*
• *Stock made previously*
• *Egg Noodles* (recipe follows)

Egg Noodles:

• 2 Cups Flour
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 1 Egg
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1/4-1/2 Cup Water

Directions for the Stock: 

1. Place whole chicken (minus the giblets) in a large stock pot along with the rest of the vegetables on the stove on medium high heat.
2. Pour only enough water in to cover up the chicken and vegetables (about 2 & 1/2 - 3 quarts).
3. Add the thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and peppercorns and bring to a boil. 
4. Once it boils, turn the heat down to medium-low and gently simmer for 1 & 1/2 hours, partially covered, until the chicken is fully cooked.
5. Remove the chicken to the cutting board and once it cools remove the skin and bones and shred the meat. Set the shredded meat to the side to use later.
6. Strain the stock and remove the vegetables, then set them to the side in a separate bowl.
7. Let stock cool and skim the fat off the surface then set the stock to the side.
8. Remove the root from the onions and puree onions, carrots, carrot tops, turnip, and celery in a blender or food processor.
9. Add pureed vegetables back into the stock; whisk together and set aside for later. 

Directions for the Egg Noodles:

1. Place flour in a bowl, then, after making a well in the center, add in the egg yolks, egg and salt.
2. Thoroughly mix with hands.
3. Add the water in 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing after each addition. 
4. Stop adding water when you can roll the dough into a ball. 
5. On a floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes)
6. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
7. Divide into 4 equal parts.
8. Using one part at a time, roll dough into a paper-thin rectangle. Keep remaining dough covered.
9. Gently and loosely, roll rectangle into a spiral. Cut to desired thickness and unroll. 
10. Place strips to dry on a towel or wax paper. This will usually take about 2 hours. 
11. Break the strips into small strips when dry. 
12. Cook in boiling water with salt added for about 15-20 minutes until tender. Drain, then add to soup when soup is finished.

Directions for the Soup:

1. In a stock pot, add oil and wait for it to heat. When heated, add in the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, thyme, and bay leaf. 
2. Cook and stir until vegetables are tender (about 6 minutes).
3. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. 
4. Add in the shredded chicken and simmer for another few minutes to bring to the same temperature. 
5. (If you are going to serve all of the soup at once, stir in the already cooked egg noodles and cook for another minute or so)
6. Separate into equal servings. Salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with fresh parsley. 
7. (If freezing remaining soup, separate into freezer safe Tupperware to cool before placing in freezer. To defrost, simply place soup in a pot on the stove and add a little bit of water until it is the right consistency. When warm, and noodles are cooked, add the noodles into the soup). 

 Nutrition Facts (with noodles, per serving):

• Calories: 350
• Total Fat: 20 grams
• Sodium: 796 mg
• Potassium: 189 mg
• Sugars: 3 grams
• Protein: 21.2 grams
• Vitamin A: 51.4%
• Vitamin C: 16%
• Calcium: 3%
• Copper: 4%
• Folate: 5.5%
• Iron: 13%
• Magnesium: 4%
• Manganese: 10%
• Phosphorus: 4.5%
• Selenium: 12%

 What it Costs:

• Total cost is somewhere between 13-15 dollars.
• When you divide this by how many servings you get (14), it's about 1 dollar per serving. Definitely a lot cheaper than a frozen dinner or fast food.

Tips and Tricks

•  When making the egg noodles, don't just throw away the egg whites from the yolks you have to use. Save the egg whites in a bowl in the fridge and use them to make my healthy and tasty bran muffins. Here is the recipe: Michelle's Healthy and Tasty Bran Muffins
• The reason I don't add the noodles into the soup when I cook it is because we freeze all but two servings of the soup (which we eat right away). The noodles will get soggy if they are cooked, frozen and reheated again. The easiest thing to do is to cook as many noodles as you need per serving separately, and then add them into the reheated soup. This will keep the noodles from getting soggy, and will also make sure that you get the right amount of noodles in your serving of soup.  
• While the stock is cooking you can make your noodles. Don't worry, if they're not dry by the time you need to boil them, you will still be able to cook them the same way. Just be sure to wait for the remaining noodles to dry before you put them away in a bag to store them.
• The stock and soup are very versatile. You can add whatever else in that you want to make it taste the way you like it. The essentials for any chicken stock however are chicken, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, spices, and herbs. So while you can add other things to the stock, I wouldn't recommend removing any of these ingredients from it or else it will loose its flavor. 
• You do not have to puree the left over vegetables from the stock if you do not wish to do so. Pureeing the vegetables adds A LOT more flavor to the stock though, so I would highly recommend it. You can also play around with how much of the vegetables you want to puree and which ones to give it a different consistency and flavor. 
• You can also use rice instead of noodles to make it healthier. About half of the time we eat this soup I will make up some brown rice to toss in.
• As always, it is much better to buy organic vegetables if you can get them.

Why it is Healthy:

• For one, you are cooking from scratch and it is pretty hard to beat that. Everything from the stock to the noodles, you will be creating yourself. This way you can know for sure what you have put in it, and how much of what you have put in it. 
• You get to develop the flavors of the chicken naturally and cook it in a healthy way. By boiling the chicken with vegetables and letting it sit in its own juices instead of cooking it with oil in a frying pan, it becomes less fatty.
• This recipe uses a ton of vegetables that are terrific for you. If you make the recipe just as I have written it you will be getting carrots, carrot greens, turnip, onions, celery, parsley and thyme. You are getting them directly in the soup, but also in the stock and the puree if you add it to the stock. This bowl of soup is packed full of nutrients. Especially in the winter, this soup can help keep you healthy!
• Carrots are great because they are high in carotenoids and as such have many different health benefits. High carotenoid intake has been associated with a decrease of up to 50 percent in bladder, cervix, prostate, colon, larynx, and esophageal cancer as well as up to a 20 percent decrease on postmenopausal breast cancer. Carrots are also good for your eyes because they have the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin which can prevent cataracts and keep your eyes from degenerating. These carotenoids also break down to vitamin A in the body which is an antioxidant and immune system booster and can also help you see better in dim lighting. By adding the carrot greens to the puree you probably won't be able to taste them but you will get the potassium and protein they provide. 
• Celery is good because it helps lower high blood pressure. It also contains silicon which is good for bone health. Celery can also help stop the growth of cancer cells.
• Onions help to build strong bones and can reduce death from heart disease by 20%. It can also help relieve asthma.
• Turnips are an incredibly healthy vegetable. One cup of cooked turnips only has 35 calories but has 3 grams of fiber, 250 mg of potassium, 18 mg of vitamin C, and 51 mg of calcium. As such they are very good for bone health. 
• Garlic lowers cholesterol and prevents blood clots. Garlic also has anti-cancer properties and can even help fight the common cold. Also, it can help with blood pressure. It has recently been discovered that garlic can help with weight control. 
• Parsley can help fight cancer.
• Thyme contains antioxidants as well as aids with digestion. It can even relieve chest and respiratory problems like coughs or bronchitis.
• Most of the information regarding the vegetables and herbs was taken from The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden.

Well, that's my recipe for today. I hope that you enjoy it. Please feel free to comment with any questions and I will be happy to answer them. Also, "like" the Tummy Temple on Facebook here:
The Tummy Temple Facebook Page

As always, thanks for reading and eating along with me!

Jamie Oliver & Pizza as Vegetable?

You have heard me talk a lot about Jamie Oliver and his show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution in past postings. Kris and I started watching the show last year, and Jamie Oliver is really what pushed Kris and I to make better decisions about what we were eating. Jamie Oliver is a chef in the UK who came to America to help us change the way we eat. As a chef and a food activist, Jamie has already changed much in the LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) in California, giving children better school lunches.

Listen, if you want to start eating healthier and living better, this guy is one you should listen to. The first two seasons of his show can be found online and are definitely worth the time to watch. I also have links to his website and videos from his YouTube channel listed to the right.

Jamie Oliver was on Jimmy Kimmel last night encouraging people to call their congressperson to ask for better food. He contends that our government, in cooperation with the food industry in America, is the reason why the quality of our food is so terrible.

Right now, the hot button issue is that pizza is considered a vegetable in school lunches. I don't know about you, but something about this just doesn't quite add up for me. When schools say that their lunches include a vegetable everyday, it should, in fact, be a vegetable. What part of pizza says vegetable? Our government should not be sacrificing the health of school children just to save money.

Watch these videos to find out more and join Jamie Oliver and The Tummy Temple in sending a clear message to our government that we deserve better and our children deserve better too!

Text "JAMIE" to 90975

You will get a number to call where Jamie will walk you through what to do and will give you the number for your member of congress.

If you're uncomfortable calling you can also write an email to Congress through this website:

Write to Congress


Still not convinced? Watch these short videos from Jimmy Kimmel to learn more:

Please participate in this very important chance to help change the way food is handled in this country forever. Also check out my Facebook page for the Tummy Temple and support me by "liking it"

The Tummy Temple Facebook Page

That's all for today. As always, thanks for reading and eating along with me.

What's Stopping You?

I have been working on writing down two soup recipes that I have come to really love this time of year when it starts getting cold. They are both homemade. One is chicken noodle soup, and the other is chicken tortilla soup. I haven't had the time to get them finished this week and I really wanted to write something for today so I just thought I would start here.

Making Homemade Tomato Sauce-March 2011

The journey towards healthy eating for Kris and I started about a year ago. This was when we made the conscious decision to start eating better so we could loose weight. The real journey towards healthy eating actually did not begin until about three months later though. Kris and I originally just wanted to loose weight, but we were unwilling to make the big changes we needed to make to just be healthy. And as anyone can probably deduce, loosing weight does not necessarily mean you are healthy.

Steak 'n Shake-Fall 2008

There were many things standing in my way to being healthy. One was that I didn't want to give up fast food. I love french fries and a good cheeseburger. Fast food is also, well, fast and sometimes just easier than cooking. It took me awhile before I started learning about how dangerous and harmful to your body fast food can actually be. From the way meat is processed to disease and e-coli, the fast food industry has no respect for food. For more on this check out my previous blog post on the film, Food, Inc. When I realized that the food I was eating wasn't just bad for me because it was fatty, but that it could have lasting effects that could shorten my life, I knew I had to stop. It took awhile for me to cut it out completely, but I finally did it. I remember about a month after I had stopped eating fast food, Kris and I got some chicken nuggets from a fast food restaurant and were up sick all night. So . . . I guess that's what fast food does to a digestive system that hasn't built up a tolerance to it anymore. Kind of disgusting. We also started making soups and other meals from scratch and freezing them. Now, when we are hungry and don't feel like cooking, we just heat it up on the stove. It takes about the same amount of time to drive to the restaurant, order, and drive home (the soup recipes that I am hoping to post soon are great to freeze!)

Making Chicken Stock From Scratch-November 2011

Another reason that I didn't want to make big changes in my life to start eating healthy is that I was afraid I would be giving up flavor. I didn't want to eat lettuce and bland food all the time. I wanted food that was still tasty and would not just be something I had to eat, but something I wanted to eat. After learning a little bit about cooking healthier and using fresh ingredients, I realized that the natural flavors I could develop from say, making a homemade chicken stock, were way more delicious than the artificial chicken flavor of chicken nuggets. There really is no comparison.

I also thought that cooking would be too much work. I didn't always have the time or would be too tired. Well like I said, on my days off I started making up big batches of meals that Kris and I like to eat and then froze them. You don't have to sacrifice fresh for fast. You can have both if you prepare ahead of time.

Perhaps the biggest reason though why I didn't start eating healthier sooner was ignorance. I didn't know enough about the food industry to make good decisions about what I bought. I thought that if a food said it was good for you on the package it probably was. Or because it had less fat or less calories, it would help me loose weight. Being more concerned about loosing weight than being healthy is really not solving any problems. The food industry has placed a veil over the food that is produced and sent to our stores and restaurants. Instead of feeding us food that will make us healthy and keep us from getting sick, they feed us lies and myths. Take a look at the things that are supposed to be the "better" alternative for us. You know that whipped topping that comes in those tubs instead of cans? Take a good look at the ingredient list-it's whipped oil. How can that be good?

I guess I used to think that eating healthier just wasn't for me. It was a luxury. It wasn't necessary. It was for those health nut hippies. The list goes on and on. Excuse after excuse after excuse.

Then, when I finally started doing the research about eating healthier I was shocked and appalled. Then saddened. I learned that by eating fast food and a lot of the artificial foods I had been eating I was putting myself at risk for far more than just being overweight. As I read through book after book my curiosity only grew. I learned about how most kinds of fruits and vegetables can help prevent different kinds of cancer, extend your life, prevent heart disease and heart attacks, improve brain function and give you more energy. On the flip side, I learned how other foods like artificial sweetener for example can cause brain problems and even blindness. Foods that aren't healthy can put you at a high risk for heart attack and other diseases.

The cost of not eating healthy really is your life, or at least the quality of it. As a young woman, I may not have to worry about many of these things right now, but if I would have continued to eat the way I had been, I would have had to one day. I also realized that even if I didn't care about my own health, I certainly cared about the health of the children Kris and I will have one day hopefully. I want to live to see my grandchildren and be able to play with them.

That is why I started this blog. I don't feel like food is talked about enough anymore. Part of it is that I am a Christian, and among all of the stupid things people who share my faith have fought over, we never talk about what we put in our bodies. Sure the red flag goes up if someone says a swear word, but there is no accountability as to what we choose to eat on a regular basis. Part of my belief is that God wants us to be healthy. Being healthy positively affects all other aspects of our lives-physically, socially, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It is because God loves us, that I know he wants better from us. Even if you don't believe in God, you should want better for you.

So my question for you is: what's stopping you? What are you letting stand in the way of a better, more abundant life? And what is the cost of letting it stop you?

I didn't start eating healthy to try and loose weight, but I did. I have lost 20 pounds so far, and am still working at it. But the main point is that I feel loads better and I have felt the quality of my life improve. That's my story:

 July, 2011

 September 2011

I've shared my story with you all, now, to end this post I would like to share a story from the wonderful book Eat This and Live by Don Colbert about one of his patients. I hope that the story will give some life to what I have been (probably very poorly) trying to say. As always thanks for reading and eating along with me!

Sue's Story

"A patient of mine named Sue had been overweight all of her life. Every year as I performed her physical exam, I would recommend weight loss and an exercise program.

At age forty-five, Sue was 5 feet 2 inches, and her weight had climbed to 300 pounds. At her exam that year, after diagnosing her with hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes, I repeated my recommendations for weight loss and exercise.

Sue laughed and said, 'My whole family is fat. My dad is fat and he is alive, my mom is fat and she's alive, and my brother and sister are fat and they are alive. Just give me my meds, because I'm sure not going to give up my ice cream each evening, my Krispy Kreme doughnuts every morning, or my burgers, pizza, fried chicken, french fries, and Coke. Besides, I just love to eat.'

A few months after that physical, Sue suffered a massive heart attack and almost died. She had a quadruple bypass and found herself lying in the hospital with all sorts of tubes coming out of her body. AFter getting out of the hospital, Sue followed up with me in my office. She said that the pain and possibility of dying and not seeing her three children grow up were not worth the pleasure of eating ice cream, doughnuts, or fast foods.

Nearly dying was a wake-up call for Sue to change her bad habits. She lost 150 pountds-that's half her body weight-in two years and now weights 150 pounds. She weighs herself every day, and if she gains one or two pounds, she loses them by modifying her diet and activities.

You do not have to wait for a near-death experience like Sue's to serve as your wake-up call; you can start taking your health more seriously right now. The same choice God have His people centuries ago is yours to make today: 'I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendents may live' (Deut. 30:19)"

Fall Fruit Salad

As all of you probably know by this point, I am a fall fanatic! Aside from the weather, colors, and clothes, I love the seasonal fruit! Apples are definitely my favorite, but there is a whole plethora of all fall fruits that are delicious!

Several weeks ago I was at the grocery store with my husband shopping for apples in the organic produce section and I saw a bag of fresh cranberries. I had actually never seen fresh cranberries in person before and was very excited. I just had to get some and see what I could do with them. First off, if you've never eaten a cranberry by itself before, it is nothing like cranberry juice, or the cranberry sauce everyone loves at Thanksgiving. Real cranberries, though flavorful, are incredibly tart! I knew of all of the great benefits cranberries have, especially as a woman, so I really wanted to try to make something with the cranberries without adding much sugar to balance our the tartness. What I ended up with was a delicious fall salad made with apples, pears, grapes, cranberries, vanilla yogurt, walnuts, and cinnamon. 

My husband Kris loved it surprisingly. The natural sugar from the other fruit balances out the tartness in the cranberries and makes for a good mix. This salad recipe is also extremely versatile as you can play with different kinds of nuts, or no nuts at all, different kinds of fruits, yogurt, and spices. You can also do different proportions than what I did to get the flavor you want. It is also great because you can eat it almost any time of day for breakfast, a side to lunch, or dessert. Below is my recipe for my fall fruit salad that is also incredibly healthy for you. (I gave general proportions for the cranberries and grapes so that you can have it either more tart or more sweet depending on if you use more of one or the other):

Ingredients:
About 8 servings:

A couple handfuls fresh cranberries (quartered)
Several handfuls red seedless grapes (quartered)
1 Honey crisp apple (chopped)
1 Green pear (chopped)
6 Oz low fat vanilla yogurt
A handful chopped walnuts
Sprinkling of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Once you have chopped everything up, combine all of the ingredients (except the cinnamon) in a large bowl and gently mix them together until the yogurt lightly coats all of the fruit and nut pieces (If you want, you can toast the walnuts in the oven at 350 degrees for 2-5 minutes).
2. Sprinkle cinnamon on salad to taste and gently stir again. 
3. Chill in the refrigerator, or eat right away and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

•  Calories: 117
• Total Fat: 5.5 grams
• Potassium: 137.3 mg
• Fiber: 3 grams
• Sugar: 12.2 grams
• Protein: 2.4 grams
• Vitamin B-6: 7%
• Vitamin C: 16%
• Calcium: 5%
• Copper: 8%
• Iron: 3%
• Magnesium: 5%
• Manganese: 20%
• Phosphorus: 6%
• Riboflavin: 5%
• Thiamin: 4%

Why It's Good For You:

• Pretty much all of the fruit in this salad (except the grapes) are in season in the fall. This means that you can buy organic (they will have ripened naturally and without the use of pesticides or other chemicals) and they will taste amazing!
• Apples: As I have written about in previous posts (Marvelous Mini Apple Pies), apples are great for you. The skin on them provides a lot of fiber and they have a lot of antioxidants in them to prevent you from getting sick. Read my previous post to learn more about apples.
• Pears: Pears provide both fiber and potassium and are not very high in calories. They also contain a lot of other good minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Some have said that pears are great because they are less likely than other fruits to provoke an allergic reaction. 
• Grapes: Grapes contain a compound called resveratol. In humans, high intakes of resveratol is associated with a reduced risk in cardiovascular disease and a reduced risk of cancer. Resveratol is also one of the best anti-aging substances around. The life spans of all life forms tested so far has been dramatically lengthened by even small amounts of resveratol. Grape skins are also a good source for favonoids called oligomeric proanthocyanidins. This is basically a "super-antioxidant." They also lower cholesterol and are terrific for allergies as they have a natural antihistamine effect. 
• Cranberries: Studies have shown that cranberries have some of the most potent antioxidants of any common fruit studied. They have anticancer properties as well as antibacterial properties that aid in preventing urinary tract infections. It's true, doctors will recommend eating raw cranberries if you think you might be contracting a UTI. Cranberries are nutrition-packed red bombs and though tart, are balanced out very well in this salad.

• Walnuts: Walnuts contain the highest amounts of omega-3 fats of any other nuts. Omega-3 is an incredibly healthy fat that can benefit you in many ways. One of these ways is to support brain function in several ways. Omega-3 fats can actually improve your mood. High consumption of omega-3's has been linked to low levels of depression. Walnuts are also great for kids and have been linked to less behavioral problems and less ADD-like behavior. Walnuts can also help you manage your weight. Eating a few walnuts before a meal decreases levels of hunger and may cause you to eat less at meals. 
• Yogurt and Cinnamon: are also really good for you as well, providing benefits such as having a healthy digestive system because of the "good" bacteria in yogurt and upping your immunity. Cinnamon is good because it can help with pain and stiffness in your muscles and joints as well as reducing blood sugar and lowing cholesterol. There's not a lot of yogurt or cinnamon in this recipe, however, if you are interested in getting more benefits from these other two ingredients you can add more of either. Just be aware that adding yogurt will up the fat and/or sugar content depending on what kind of yogurt you get. I would even recommend getting an organic Greek yogurt and adding either agave and vanilla to sweeten it up or just buy vanilla flavored Greek yogurt. 
• *Most nutritional information in this section was taken from The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden.    

I love this salad because it uses so many fruits that are in season. As I have said before, I think it is truly amazing that God allows fruits with lots of antioxidant power which helps you from getting sick, to be abundant in the seasons when we need protection from sickness the most. Feel free to experiment with this salad and make it your own. Hope you enjoy and as always, thanks for reading and eating along with me!

P.S. I will also be posting some delicious chilly weather soup recipes very soon!

Marvelous Mini Apple Pies!

Okay, let me just say it, I love Fall! I love the weather, the pretty leaves, snuggling up under a blanket with a cup of tea and watching a movie, and most of all . . .the food! Some of the best food memories I have are from this season: pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice coffee, pumpkin bread, pumpkin anything, chili, chicken tortilla soup, apple cider, and especially apple pie. 


Autumn is the season for apples! And there's so many different kinds of them too: granny smith, gala, golden delicious, honey crisp, fuji, etc. Apples are a great ingredient to use in cooking for many different reasons. 1) They are extremely versatile. You can use them in all different kinds of dishes-savory or sweet, appetizer, dessert or entree. Apples can bring a lot of flavor to any meal, especially because they are naturally sweet. 2) Right now they are fairly inexpensive because they are in season so there is an abundance of them. During autumn you will see a wide variety of apples on sale at your local grocery store. 3) Apples are incredibly good for you.

Apples are high in fiber (5 grams per serving) which is a huge plus (see previous post on fiber) and they can also give you energy. Many people suggest eating an apple first thing in the morning because it will wake you up. Apples also contain a lot of antioxidant power which means they help you not to get sick as frequently! It's pretty cool that God allows apples to be in season in the fall when it seems like everyone gets sick. In addition, they contain compounds that help prevent the risk of heart attacks, cancer, and cardiovasular problems. Apples contain a mineral called boron which helps to build bones and prevent osteoporosis. Self magazine posted an article recently about the best fall foods that will help prevent gaining weight in the winter. Apples topped the list. They said that eating an apple three times a day may contribute to weight loss. Here is the article if you want to read more: 5 Fall Foods that Prevent Winter Weight Gain

So why apple pie? Well, I love apples, and I love pie. Simple! The only problem is that most of the pies you can buy frozen at the store are really, really bad for you. Usually high in calories and saturated fat, these pies use lots of sugar and other added chemical ingredients that just don't need to be ingested. Thus, on Tuesday, I was thinking I would make one from scratch using only the basic ingredients. Unfortunately, I still don't have my own pie pan so I was sorely disappointed. After a few minutes of moping around trying to decide on a dessert I could make for the week, I saw my muffin tin and realized I could probably make mini apple pie desserts. I did some research, adapted a few apple pie recipes, and voila! I give you my recipe for my marvelous mini apple pies!

Here is the simple, very easy recipe if you ever want to try them yourself:

Ingredients:
Makes 12 Mini Pies

Crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup chilled butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 Tbsp water

Filling:

• 3 medium apples (peeled and chopped into small, bite-size pieces)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp chilled butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get muffin pan out but don't grease it. 
2. Blend flour, salt and butter until it starts sticking together and clumping.
3. Add in water and blend until it looks like it's sticking.
4. If needed, take the dough out and combine by hand until well blended. 
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out until it's about a 1/4 inch thick.
6. Cut 12, 4-inch circles with either a cup or bowl (dough will be rolled out 2x).
7. Set reserve dough aside for later.
8. Press each circle into the muffin tins so that they go up each side making a bowl. 
9. Mix all the filling ingredients, minus the butter, together by hand. 
10. Spoon filling into muffin bowls. 
11. Cut up the 2 Tbsp of butter into 12 little slivers and place on top of each pie. 
12. You can use the reserve dough to do a lattice on top or leave them open (see tips below).
13. If you've covered your pies with dough, sprinkle some turbinado (natural cane sugar) on top. 
14. Bake at 425 degrees for 16-18 minutes, or until the crust is light brown and apples are bubbling. 
15. Let cool, then wiggle them around to loosen, and use a spoon or spatula to get them out!
16. Enjoy your very delicious, and very cute mini apple pies!

Tips:

• Doing a lattice on top of the pies is actually very easy. This was the first time I have ever done one, and was wary at first, but I was blown away just by how easy it really was. On my pies I used 6 little strips on each pie-2 long pieces, which should be the length of the diameter of the top of your muffin tins, and 4 shorter pieces for the sides. You can play around with how wide you want your strips to be. I did ours pretty thin. To start, place the to long pieces across the top of the pie in the shape of a cross. Then with the shorter pieces, 2 on each side, weave them in and out across the already crossed pieces and each other. For a better description go here: How to Lattice

• Sprinkling the turbinado sugar on top of the pies is not necessary, but if you do a lattice or anything else on the top of the pies, it makes them look really pretty when they come out of the oven and gives it a little something extra. 

• To get the sugar to stick better, melt a couple table spoons of butter and lightly brush it onto the top of the dough before you sprinkle the sugar on. this will also help the dough brown up better. 
• It's probably best to refrigerate them after they are cooled so they won't go bad, but don't reheat them in the microwave. They will loose most of the nutrients from the apples if you do this. Instead, heat them up in the oven at 400 degrees on a cookie sheet for a few minutes until they feel warm again. 

Nutrition Facts:

Serving Size: 1 Pie

• Calories: 213
• Total Fat: 10 grams
• Potassium 65 mg
• Fiber: 1 gram
• Sugar: 11 grams
• Protein: 2.4 grams
• Vitamin A: 6.6%
• Vitamin C: 3.4%
• Folate: 7.7%
• Iron: 5.8%
• Niacin: 6%
• Riboflavin: 5%
• Thiamin: 8%

Clearly, these are not as good for you as my bran muffins were, but for a dessert, they are great comparably. Though I wouldn't suggest having one everyday, as long as you watch your fat and sugar intake throughout your day,  one of these little pies will be a great way to top off a delicious fall dinner! Using fresh, delicious apples sure makes dessert a lot better.

If you attempt to make them, comment and let me know how they turn out! Also, if you have any suggestions on how to make this recipe better or have any other great apple recipes please let me know!

Well that's all for today folks! As always, thanks for reading and eating along with me!

Food, Inc.

I have many people close to me who have made a few jabs at me about my recent interest in nutrition. They think I have gone off of the deep end and find that I talk like a conspiracy theorist who has an issue with the government. To those of you who know me-I'm sure it does seem like things have definitely changed in my life. Well . . . they have! I've been losing weight at a slow, but steady rate, have had more energy, and haven't been sick as much as I would have normally for this time of year. I say none of this to make anyone feel bad, I am just trying to communicate that making changes in your eating habits does in fact make a HUGE difference. Just how huge? Well it can be the difference between life and death.

Living and Dead Food

In Eat This and Live, Dr. Don Colbert talks about the difference between living and dead food. Living food is the food that is as close to its normal form as possible. These are the foods that God has given us that grow naturally: fruits, vegetables, grain, etc. Living food is also classified as animals we eat that are fed the things they are supposed to be eating (i.e. cows by nature, are designed to eat grass, not corn). God gave us a plethora of delicious things on this earth to eat. Why are we so inclined to change them to make them less healthy? Change them how? By making dead foods-processing the living foods.

There is an enormous amount of dead food in our society today. According to Dr. Colbert, about 1/3 of the average American's diet is made up of junk food.The scary thing is that dead food might even be things you don't even realize are bad for you. For example, I grew up eating margarine in my family for two reasons: 1) It was cheaper 2) It had less fat and calories. However, margarine is nothing but a processed chemical substance where the final product is actually gray in color. Food processors dye it yellow so its appearance won't be so off-putting (a.k.a. freaking disgusting!).

Why do I bring this up? Because I thought I knew a lot about the shiesty ways of the food industry. It was for this reason that one of the first things Kris and I did when we decided to start eating healthier was to cut out fast food (fast food companies can sell food for so cheap because of their poor standards when it comes to quality in how their food is grown and raised). BUT, I honestly had no idea just how bad the quality of food in this country was until I stumbled upon a film on our Netflix last Thursday called Food, Inc.

Food, Inc.

Food, Inc. is a documentary  that came out in 2009 about the food industry in America. It talks about how fast food changed the production of food in America forever. While watching the film I saw several things I was aware of before (i.e. ground beef hamburger filler being washed in ammonia to kill e coli and other bacteria) but I was shocked, horrified and disgusted as I learned way more about food in America than I had ever heard of. Here is the trailer:

Food, Inc. is on instant streaming if you have Netflix, if not, I am sure you can find it to rent at any video store or from Amazon.com Instant video. If you don't have the money to rent it, let me know, I will let you come over and watch it at my apartment. That's how much I want you to watch it!

Here are just a few things I learn from Food, Inc.:

• I have been talking a lot on this blog about the importance of buying organic. Well, until I saw this film, I had no idea just how truly important it was. One of the things Food, Inc. talks about it how chickens are raised now. A normal chicken is supposed to grow in about three months. Now, thanks to hormone injections and a change in feed, chickens can be ready for slaughter in just a measly 47 days:

 

• Chickens are also kept in dark houses for the majority of their lives sitting in their own feces. I know that I can't be the only one who feels that there is something wrong here. 
• Chicken is not the only meat that is talked about in this documentary either-pork and beef have equally disgusting stories of how they make it to your dinner plate. Next time you go to the store to pick out meat, look at the packaging of most of the bigger name companies. The name and/or logo will usually have something to do with a farm. Whether it is a picture or says something like "farm fresh" the food industry leads us to believe that the food we are getting actually is coming from the idealistic picture of the American farmer out with his animals in the fresh air:

•  The reality is actually something far different:

• There are no seasons for food anymore. Food can be grown and ripened year round through the use of chemical gases. To me at least, it seems like we have forgotten what food is really supposed to be like. 
• When we go to the store we think we have such a wide variety of things to choose from. Did you know that most of the products you buy in the store are corn or soy based? 90% actually according to the film. We live the illusion of variety every single day. 

So why would I post about this film? Why would I choose to write a blog about eating healthier? Why would I not care about looking like a health nut in front of people I care about? Because I think that what we put into our bodies matters. I believe something we do as frequently as eating should be beneficial for us instead of harmful. I believe that we have the right to know where our food comes from and how it is processed.

Why do we not eat better?

So why do so many people eat unhealthy food? For majority of us, the answer is ignorance. Not ignorance by choice, but because this information is not shared readily with the public. The big companies that process our food do not want us to know how they are handling the food we put into our bodies daily. For others, maybe it is ignorance by choice. For a long time this was me. I thought I would be happier not knowing and no one cared to tell me. Change is hard. Change is scary. Change is uncomfortable at times. I just feel that as a Christian, and just as a fellow human being, keeping the information to myself is not an option. 

A scary fact talked about in Food, Inc. is that 1/3 of children born after 2000 will get early onset type 2 diabetes. That number is 1/2 for minorities. People are getting sick and dying because of the food that is just handed to us day in and day out. This tears my heart out. I can almost handle hurting myself, but I refuse to hand my children this fate.

For some, the problem is that healthy food is expensive. Plain and simple. I understand this all too well. Kris and I are a young, newly married couple living on one income while the other goes to school. Needless to say, money is tight. We see eating healthy food as an investment in our future. We are spending a little more money on food now, so that we don't have to spend money on medical bills in the future. 

Where do I start?

I'm sure all of this is overwhelming. It is a lot of information. A lot of real, scary, honest-to-God-punch-you-in-the-stomach information. Say you do want to start eating healthy, where would you even start? I would suggest watching Food, Inc. and then reading the remainder of this blog. Trust me, it's worth your time.

Changing the way you eat is not a quick process and it shouldn't be. Making drastic changes in your eating habits almost ensures that you will fail to maintain new habits in the long run. Gradual, small, changes are the best way to go. Kris and I have almost been on this journey for a year, and we are still working at it! 

If you are interested in having a healthier life but aren't sure where to start, here are a few jumping off points:

• If you eat a lot of fast food, start to gradually cut back on your intake and replace those meals by cooking a meal at home with fresh ingredients. 
• Try to have a fruit or vegetable at every meal you have. Buy one that is organic and in season. Then try expanding the variety of fruits and vegetables that you eat. Learn how to incorporate them better into your meals. Then try to make them count for a bigger portion of your meals. 
• Try buying a few things from a Farmer's Market. 
• Simply replace candy with dark chocolate (See previous post). 
• There are literally thousands of places you could start, but you have to start somewhere!

Like I said, small gradual changes are the way to go. Just as in exercising, don't do too much too fast, or you will want to give up. As you work your way towards a healthier lifestyle you will also get to enjoy the benefits of it along the way and that should motivate you to keep going. Having more energy, loosing weight, and a better immune system are just a few of the benefits you will start to notice. In the long run, you can rest assured knowing that you are making an investment in your future.

But don't take my word for it. Watch Food, Inc. Seriously. Do some research. By a book. Watch the Jamie Oliver videos on my site. If there is one thing I know, it is this: God wants us to take care of our bodies, so we should. Therefore what we put into our bodies matters a great deal. 

Well that's all I have for today. As always, thanks for reading and eating along with me!

A Chocolate A Day . . .

 
Since it's almost Friday I wanted to write today about something more fun in the healthy food world . . . CHOCOLATE! Who doesn't love chocolate? I mean, I'm a girl, so it's kind of in my DNA, but seriously, who doesn't just love chocolate? I tend to crave chocolate on bad days or when I'm moody and I spent my whole life trying to fight that craving until one day I came to a beautiful realization: chocolate can actually be good for you. Let me say it again so you can be sure I didn't type it incorrectly: Chocolate can actually be good for you!

Yes, I know you're thinking I'm crazy, but before you decide to stop reading my blog and never return because the crazy lady thinks chocolate is good for you, let me explain:

Let me start off by saying that I said chocolate can be good for you. It really can, that is if you eat the right kind. When I was in high school I absolutely detested dark chocolate. Under no circumstances would I ever have eaten the stuff. This also could have been because I had overloaded my body with sugar from milk chocolate and white chocolate candy bars. The bitterness of dark chocolate just didn't compare to the uber sweetness of regular chocolate.  I vowed to never ever eat dark chocolate, and I kept my word until about six months ago.

I was being an early morning bum watching the Today Show on NBC. They had a health expert on, as they often do, who was talking about ways to make a healthier lunch. I was checking my e-mail when  I heard this lady say that having a bit of chocolate everyday can actually be good for your heart. Thinking that I must have misheard her, I quickly rewound, and much to my surprise heard her say the same thing. The problem was that it had to be dark chocolate. Bleh! The expert said that as long as it was dark chocolate with a 60% or higher cacao content, one to two ounces of chocolate per day could actually benefit you.

I decided to look into this further and found it to be quite true. Kris and I decided to buy individually wrapped ounces of dark chocolate just to try it out. At first, I wasn't crazy about it, but I was crazy, however, about the idea of being able to eat chocolate daily without feeling guilty about it. Eventually, I got used to it, and had an ounce of dark chocolate at the end of lunch every day to finish off my meal. Then, one day, we were out of dark chocolate so I got into the pantry to find the milk chocolate baking morsels we had and grabbed a small handful out. I only had a couple of chips before I had to spit them out. The chocolate tasted synthetic and had a weird texture. It was then that I realized, the darker the chocolate, the more "real" the chocolate was.

The food industry has put us on a sensory overload when it comes to taste. They use synthetic, chemical flavoring as well as ridiculous amounts of sugar to make food taste more intense so your taste buds will like it more. Unfortunately, this same phenomena is what often gets us addicted to food in the first place. Because of this, often natural foods, even sweet ones do not taste as good to us as they should. Our taste buds have become "desensitized" in a way.

Needless to say, since the milk chocolate incident I have become a lover of dark chocolate and am so glad that we decided to try it.

Okay, so maybe you're still not believing me about the whole chocolate being good thing. Here's the part where I will actually explain why: Dark chocolate, when eaten every day can decrease your risk for cardiovascular disease by 75%!!!! That's crazy! The reason for this is the flavonoids in cocoa. Chocolate really comes from these little cocoa beans that though bitter, have terrific flavor and many health benefits. The flavonoids found in chocolate are called flavanols and they prevent fatlike substances from clogging arteries in your bloodstream (Johnny Bowden author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth). With a reduced risk in your blood clotting you can help your body prevent heart attacks and strokes. They can also lower your blood pressure.

Cocoa beans are also high in anti-oxidants which can help you from getting sick and help prevent you from getting a wide variety of other diseases. In 1998 the British Medical Journal reported that dark chocolate consumption is linked to longer life. The proof is in the pudding, er, chocolate that is, you should probably stay away from chocolate pudding though . . .

Dark chocolate does have fat in it though so if you're going to eat it, you should substitute it for other kinds of fats and sugars you are currently eating. It will be better for you any way. You must also be able to limit yourself to just 1-2 ounces of chocolate per day (this is roughly about two squares on a candy bar).

To sum up, I want to give you some guidelines when it comes to eating dark chocolate:

• High cacao content (60% or higher)
• Organic is always better, but not required
• Low sugar content
• Low sodium
• Low saturated fat
• If the ingredients include milk fat, make sure that they also include cocoa butter (cocoa butter is fairly expensive and so most companies will try to cut corners by using the cheaper, and worse for you, milk fats).
• Limit yourself to 1-2 ounces per day 

Kris and I are currently eating Ghirardelli's Premium Baking Chips Bittersweet Dark Chocolate-60% cacao. We have tried several different brands and this is the one we like the best. We have found that usually it's cheaper to buy the baking chips instead of individually wrapped chocolate. We make sure to limit ourselves by separating the chocolate into ounces and putting it into little, individual Ziploc snack bags.

Please let me know if you have any questions about dark chocolate and this post. I hope you get to enjoy, as I have, your daily allowance of that all-too-delicious (and good for you) dark chocolate!

Michelle's Healthy and Tasty Bran Muffins

For some reason I haven't been able to get the idea of making bran muffins out of my head all week! I was looking for something new and healthy that I could eat as a quick breakfast in the morning so I decided to try my hand at making some bran muffins that would taste good and would also be nutritious.

If you read my blog for long enough you will probably come to learn that making food "not bad for you" is just not good enough for me. I firmly believe (with a few exceptions of course) that everything we put in our mouths should be something our body can use to benefit us and make us feel great! These bran muffins are very good for you for several reasons that I will explain more below. Not only that, but they are stinkin' delicious and incredibly moist! Here is the recipe if you ever want to try it. Feel free to edit and adjust this as well as you see fit:

Ingredients:
Makes 12 muffins 

• 1 & 1/2 Cups Wheat Bran
• 1 Cup Buttermilk
• 1/3 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce 
• 2 Egg Whites
• 2/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 Cup Ground Flax Seed
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 Cup Raisins
• 1/2 Cup Shredded Carrots

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease muffin cups or line with paper liners.
2. Mix together the buttermilk and oat bran. Let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Beat together the eggs, applesauce, vanilla, and brown sugar. Then add it to the wheat bran mixture. Add the carrots.
4. Sift together the flour, flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the wheat bran mixture just until it's blended.
5. Gently fold in the raisins.
6. Spoon batter into the muffin tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until you can put a toothpick in the center of a muffin and it comes out clean. 

Tips:

• To make the raisins plump and more moist before you bake them into your muffins, put them in a bowl and pour some boiling water on top of them. Let them steep for 5-10 minutes, then drain them. They will be much tastier and juicier in your muffins!
• If you don't have buttermilk, or don't want to pay for it, you can make it yourself. Simply put 1 tablespoon of white vinegar in a measuring cup, and fill up to the line with milk. Wait 10 minutes and you will have a buttermilk substitute! (This is usually what I do when I bake).
• I toasted a half cup of my wheat bran in the oven to give it a more nutty taste. To do this place some wheat bran on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes or until it is golden brown. 
• If you like the idea of toasting the wheat bran you might like to toast a little extra to sprinkle on top of the muffins right before they go in the oven. This is what I did and it turned out great and made them look pretty too. 
• I lightly brushed some honey on my muffins right when they came out of the oven to give them a little something extra. It really finishes them off.
• I used raisins but you don't have to. You can also add chopped nuts if you would like. 

Substitutions:

• I substituted applesauce for oil. You can do this in lots of other baking recipes too. The applesauce will make the bread more moist as well as making it healthier overall. Just make sure it is unsweetened applesauce or you will be missing the point.
• I used two egg whites instead of one egg to make it a bit healthier.
• Carrots are not required for this recipe so if it weirds you out, you don't have to use it. If you want a more appley-taste you can add shredded apples instead. 
• I used 1/4 cup of milled flax seed instead of using all flour to add more fiber. If you don't use flax seed you can just use 1 cup of flour. Also, you can use whole wheat flour as well to make it even healthier. I didn't have any on hand so I just used unbleached all purpose flour and flax seed.
• I had thought about using agave nectar in place of the brown sugar. Agave is much better for you than granulated sugars. You can do this if you want. The conversion rate is 1 cup of brown sugar=2/3 cup of agave nectar. Also be sure to reduce all other liquids by a 1/4 cup since you will be introducing more liquid into the equation.
• If you can't find wheat bran at the store (often it is in the organic section) you can use other kinds of bran such as oat bran.  

 Nutrition Facts: 
Serving Size: 1 muffin

• Calories: 126
• Total Fat: 0.8 grams
• Fiber: 4 grams
• Sugar: 21 grams
• Protein: 3.7 grams
• Vitamin A: 25.8%
• Vitamin B-6: 6%
• Calcium: 7%
• Copper: 7%
• Iron: 9%
• Magnesium: 12.8%
• Manganese: 46%
• Niacin: 8%
• Phosphorus: 10%
• Riboflavin: 5%
• Selenium: 9%
• Thiamin: 6%

*Calculated using Spark Recipes Online

Why are they so good for you?

• Lots of fiber! Bran is full of fiber and is something Americans desperately need in their diets. I wasn't really sure what bran was until very recently. In case you don't know, it is the hard outer shell of wheat (in wheat of course). When bread is made, it is taken out of the shell (which contains most of the nutrients) and is often processed and broken down even further causing it to lose much of its nutrients. No wonder we are not getting enough fiber! 9 out of 10 Americans do not get the fiber they need. The flax seed also contributes substantially to the fiber intake. To learn about the benefits of fiber read my previous blog post about fiber. 
• Low fat, low calories
• Carrots are really good for your eyes. Carrots contain two carotenoids called lutein and zeaxanthin that work together to keep your eyes from degenerating. Carrots also contain lots of Vitamin A that is a great anti-oxidant and immune system booster. Furthermore, high carotenoid intake has been associated with a lesser risk of having many different kinds of cancers. Vitamin A also helps you have better skin and helps in the formation of bones and teeth.
• Using unsweetened applesauce instead of oil is huge. Not only do you eliminate oil from the equation, but you add in apples which are very good for you and also high in fiber. They have lots of anti-oxidants in them and can also help prevent certain types of cancer.
• Using egg whites instead of egg yolks cuts down on cholesterol as well as fat. 
• Making your own buttermilk also cuts down on fat. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this recipe and I hope if you decide to make it you will like it just as much as I did! As always, thanks for reading and eating along with me!

Here is a picture of the finished product:

Michelle's Top Ten Tricks for Healthy Shopping

When I started this blog last week I had so many ideas of things to write about. The problem, is though, that it's impossible to write all of these different posts at once. I believe very strongly in eating things that are healthy for you and there are literally thousands of things I could tell you you should eat (and I will get there eventually) but often times, you need to have some basic guidelines for healthy buying first. Sometimes the daunting task of going grocery shopping (especially if you're trying to buy healthy foods) can feel more like a battle. Every soldier needs a strategy on the battlefield and thus, this is a list of some of the guidelines I have for when I go to the battlefield, er, store rather, for healthy grocery shopping:

1. Don't Go to the Store Hungry!
Alright, alright, I had to start with an easy one. I had to mention it though because I used to be really, now I'm talking really bad about this. Kris and I would wake up on Saturday morning laze around for awhile, decide we would go to the store, and then come back and have breakfast. The problem was though, that by the time we got to the store, it was time for lunch, and then well, those doughnuts are lookin' mighty delicious! It is really important to have a full meal, or at least a filling snack containing plenty of fiber (see previous post) before you go to the store.  Nothing will tempt you to buy unhealthy foods more than when you shop with a grumbly tummy.

2. Plan Before You Shop
Kris and I have gotten in the habit of meal planning for the week, yes it sounds boring, but it's actually pretty fun. We think about what kinds of things we might like to have during the week and then start brainstorming ways to add vegetables in to make it a more healthy, balanced meal. Even if you are in college and live on campus in a dorm, it is still possible to do this even with the snacks you buy. Think about the times when you usually have a snack, and decide what things would be good to eat during those periods. From this meal/snack plan you should make a shopping list. You are less likely to go off the beaten path and buy junk food if you know what you are at the store to get before you get there. This meal planner from Mead is what we use:

3. Shop on the Perimeters of the Store
What I mean by this is, stay away from the inner isles. That's where most of the processed, ever-so-tempting junk food is. Produce, meat, and dairy and often organic sections are all usually around the outer edges of the store. That is the safest place to shop when you go to the grocery store. It's pretty hard to get in trouble when you're surrounded by bright, delicious fruits and vegetables. Of course, it's pretty impossible to never go into the middle of the store, but the majority of your shopping should be on the perimeter.

4. Shop on the Highest and Lowest Shelves
This is another tip for surviving the middle of the store. If you are in one of the center isles of the store, let's say the breakfast cereal isle, it will not take you long to realize that all of the sugary, chocolately, and most delicious of all processed and barren of all nutritional value will be right at eye level. Why is this? Because you are supposed to look at them more so that you will buy them. Let's be honest, if a store was trying to sell you Fruit Loops, it would be pretty silly for them to place them on the bottom shelf. The location and way items are placed in a grocery store is important to be aware of. Often times you are being tricked into buying something just because it's literally right in front of you. While this is not a hard and fast rule, the location part always applies. For example, at Walmart, my favorite brand of cereal, Kashi, is located at the very end of the cereal aisle, pushed to the side, far away from the more popular brands. Also, the steel cut oats oatmeal is located on the top shelf whereas the flavored and instant oatmeals are right at eye level.  

5. Beware of Foods Making Health Claims
This rule is difficult for some people, but I have been tricked by products making healthy claims more than once, and thus I think it is important to mention. Have you ever seen an apple claiming to be "1/2 the fat" or a carrot with a label reading "100% carrot!" Of course you haven't. Why? Because these products are healthy for you naturally and don't need to make those claims. Often times products labeled with something to make you think that is good for you, is often misleading you.

For example, many kinds of foods that would normally have sugar in them release their "light" version often spelled "lite" to make it look even cuter. While it is true that there is no sugar in these kinds, the product is still sweet. Why? Usually it is because a chemical called aspartame is added. Aspartame is also what is added to diet soda to still make it taste good. The problem with aspartame is it's third ingredient, methanol. In the body, methanol is converted into formaldehyde, embalming fluid. You know the stuff that those frogs were sitting in to preserve them before you dissected them? Yeah that stuff . . .Trust me on this one, while no sugar is generally good for you, you are much better off with the real deal.

Foods claiming "0 grams Trans Fat" you should be suspicious of. The FDA allows foods contain less than 1/2 gram of fat per serving to claim that they have 0 grams of trans fat in them. The answer couldn't be farther from the truth. If you buy a bag of chips that has 1/2 gram of fat per serving, sit down in front of the TV, and mindlessly eat 2-4 servings, you have consumed 1-2 grams of trans fat. According to Dr. Colbert, a fourteen-year study found that just a 2% increase in trans fats elevated a person's risk of heart disease by 36%.

Also as I touched on briefly in my last post, a lot of bread marked as "wheat" bread is no more than white bread dyed with molasses to give it a brown color. Look for bread that is whole wheat and read the ingredients to be sure it's not lying to you. Which leads me to my next tip:

6. Always Read the Ingredient List
Things you want to avoid like the plague in ingredient lists include but are not limited to, any kind of dye, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, hydrogenated oils, white flour, aspartame, mechanically separated meat (well anything mechanically separated really if I were you, eesh), sodium nitrates or sodium nitrites (what dyes lunch meat to make it look pink and pretty in its package), and anything that sounds like something you learned about in chemistry class. If you can't understand or can't pronounce something on the list of ingredients it's probably not something you should be putting into your body. Trans Fat is often disguised as anything saying "partially hydrogenated" or "shortening."

MSG is a common ingredient found in processed foods. MSG enhances the taste of foods by increasing the sensitivity of your taste buds, making certain foods more addictive. MSG is associated with a large number of health problems such as obesity and excitrotoxicity. MSG is so tricky because it can be disguised as many different kinds of ingredients.

Watch out for these ingredients because they ALWAYS have MSG in them:

• Glutamate
• Glutamic acid
• Monosodium glutamate
• Monopotassium glutamate
• Textured protein
• Hydrolized protein
• Calcium caseinate
• Sodium caseinate
• Yeast extract
• Yeast food
• Autolyzed yeast
• Gelatin

For a more complete list of ingredients containing MSG I would highly recommend buying Eat This and Live by Dr. Colbert. It is seriously one of the best books on nutrition I have come across. 

7. Read Nutrition Labels
I listed this one second after reading the ingredients because if you are eating a bunch of artificial chemicals it doesn't really matter much what the nutritional information is. However, reading nutrition labels is extremely important. The first thing you should notice when reading a nutrition label is the serving size. This is important because it tells you how much of a certain item you can eat and get the following nutrition from it. There is a big difference between a brand of cookie where a serving size will give you 20% of your daily value in fat in just one cookie, or in four.

Total fat and calories are also important to look at. However, often times products will decrease the fat in their products by making it up elsewhere. This usually occurs in the sugar or sodium section. Less fat or less calories, will often mean more sodium to make up for the loss of flavor so check it out before you buy. Saturated fat is what you especially want to look out for because it is a very bad kind of fat associated with cancer, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

Please, please, please be sure to look at how much sugar there is in what you buy. Food companies nowadays put sugar in everything-you name it-crackers, bread, applesauce, oatmeal, etc. The sugar on the nutrition label will give you the amount of sugar naturally occurring as well as added so it is a good idea to pop back down to the ingredient list and see where sugar is located on the list (as well as anything that contains sugar such as high fructose corn syrup). Fruit juices are usually high in sugar, so you want to make sure you get a juice that is 100% juice so that you are only getting the naturally occurring sugar.The good news is that if a product has sugar in it, it probably doesn't contain aspartame, but still keep your sugar level to a minimum.

 

Minute Maid Juice Nutrition Label (notice the high sugar content)

8. Buy Organic!
For a long time I didn't understand the fuss about organic and it make me mad when all of these hippies would come out of the woodwork and tell me I needed to support local farmers. After lots of research and reading though, as much as I hate to say it, those hippies were right! While supporting local farmers is honorable, the real reason to buy organic is so you don't get sick. Foods that aren't grown organically are usually tainted by pesticides, herbicides, parasites, and chemicals. When we eat foods treated with these things, they get into our bodies. Pesticide exposure has been linked to multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, leukemia, other cancers, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's Disease.

While you might not be willing to buy organic for everything, there are some foods that you really should buy organic. Produce with thin peels are really important to buy organic. Foods with thicker peels usually protect the fruit from the pesticides, and since you don't usually eat the peel, it's not as big of a deal. Foods like apples, kiwis, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, etc., should be bought organic though. Often times organic fruits and vegetables won't look as appetizing from the outside as other produce, but I can guarantee that they will taste better. I just had an organic honey crisp apple for lunch, and it was so good, it made me cry. Seriously.

Organic, as well as wild caught meat is also tons better for you than what you would normally buy. Any kind of meat, poultry, or fish that is not organic may have serious problems with it. Animals will store pesticides and other chemicals in their bodies in their fat. If you are not going to eat organic, you should at least switch to eating leaner kinds of meat so as to reduce the risk of ingesting pesticides that can harmfully affect your brain. When shopping for fish, always opt for wild Pacific or Alaskan over farmed fish.

Other products that I would recommend buying organic are milk (Horizon is a good brand), and other dairy products if you can, and snacks. Not all foods claiming to be organic are, however: Look for the USDA label on packaged foods to make sure they are certified organic.

 

9. Be Wary of Meat

Ever since Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution came out I have wanted to buy my own meat grinder. While it is usually better to lower the amount of red meat you eat, sometimes it is impossible to get around using ground beef or other kinds of meat. The problem with buying pre-packaged ground beef is best illustrated in this short video clip:

 

With how processed ground beef usually is, it is best to either grind your own, or find a cut of beef you like and have the butcher grind it for you. A caution with this as well: Unless you can watch a butcher grind your meat, you can't be sure that he is not adding meat that has been oxidized (started browning) to your nice cut of meat you are paying for. I am not saying that all butchers or distributors of meat are evil, but many have their ways of cutting corners.

All that I am trying to illustrate by this tip is the importance of knowing where your meat is coming from because most of us don't. If you haven't seen the video clip, please watch it because it will really explain all of this much better.

10.  Shop for Nutrition
When Kris and I first moved to Illinois just after being married, we were very worried about our finances. We spent hours coupon clipping and would come home completely excited when we found out we saved more than half of our bill. We got really good at saving money shopping by buying whatever was on sale, and using coupons. Everything seemed right in the world.

30 Pounds Later . . .
I talk about this jokingly, but I guess it's really not funny. Shopping based on just what's on sale and what's cheap is really not the way to go. Don't believe me? Allow me to illustrate. I buy a bag of potato chips on sale at the store for $3. It's a pretty big bag and I think I can make it last awhile so I think I've lucked out. Wrong. What I don't realize is that when I eat these potato chips, I am less likely to stop at just one serving because they're just so addictive and I will probably eat them more often whenever I crave them. I will eat them quickly and will probably have to go to the store again at the end of the week and buy another bag (especially if I have a man living in the house). If that's not enough, my body isn't really benefiting from what I'm giving it. If anything, I'm harming it. Sure my taste buds might like it, but the rest of my body is yelling at me to STOP PLEASE!.

Compare this to buying a box of Kashi Pita Chips. You buy the pita chips for around the same price, maybe a little more, but you measure out a serving size when you eat them. Why can you just eat a serving size? Because of the nutrition that's in them. You will not only be satisfying your taste buds, but you will be giving your body something that it can use to make you healthier and curb your appetite. You'll be giving your body whole wheats, fiber, and other good things. You will eat less of them and therefore won't have to buy them as often. What seems like the better option?

While not all examples line up that nicely, the concept is still important to keep in mind.  As Dr. Catherine Shanahan says, author of Food Rules, think of it this way, instead of shopping for food in terms of bulk, shop for the nutrition that's in the food. By shopping for the nutrition that's in food, you'll be spending your money on foods that are more filling and being healthier, which is ultimately what is most important. Just think of all the money you'll be saving on doctor's bills in the future by avoiding all kinds of health problems!

*You should try to spend a fairly decent portion of your grocery budget on produce, and in all different fun colors! Roughly half of every meal should be fruits and vegetables. This may mean you need to go to the store more than just once a week as well, but it is definitely worth it!

Concluding Remarks
While there are many other tips I could have included, I wanted to give you the top ten that I use when I shop personally. Just to clarify, I haven't ever taken any classes on nutrition, nor am I a medical professional in any way, shape, or form. I am however, someone who is concerned about my family's health, both now, and in the future. I hope that in providing you with these ideas I can give you a layman's view on the best ways to pick healthy foods when shopping. Feel free to leave other comments or questions below. Thanks for reading and eating along with me!