Category: Health

Green Tea: Good For The Brain & So Much More

Back and forth the news goes seemingly daily with the benefits or risks of one food, drink or other thing we put into our bodies.

Today it’s about green tea.  Most articles say the stomach, brain and the heart all benefit from drinking green tea, but it does so much more!


Looks like it’s well beyond time to make green tea part of the daily routine!

If you’re on Facebook and are interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: my favorite recipes, drinks, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water, I have a page on Facebook you can visit too:https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

Thanksgiving Night Helper

Bon Appétit is always such a lifesaver!

When we are at a loss for how to wow dinner guests, they have just the recipe for us.

glazed-and-lacquered-turkey-overhead-horizontalWhen we’ve agreed to host the feast and  bitten off a more than we could chew , I meant do, they’re there for us with Live (yes! Live) help via Facebook, podcasts we can play again and again, and even via shared tips and tricks on Instagram.

Tonight they seek to come to our rescue yet again, this time with a recipe to help all of us digest the mass amounts of food that we all intend to stuff into our bodies on Thanksgiving day.

Mint, ginger, fennel, and cayenne are known for their digestive properties.

Their recommendation is to have this ready for the morning after, but why suffer all night with a bloated belly?  I would make this the  day before, when you are prepping the rest of your feast, and make a double batch so it’s ready to go before you hit the hay on Thanksgiving night.

Overeater’s Tonic

Makes about 3 cups

  • 3 sprigs mint
  • 1 1½-inch piece turmeric, peeled, thinly sliced
  • 1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled, thinly slicedovereaters-tonic
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds or aniseed
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon aromatic bitters
  1. Muddle mint sprigs, turmeric, ginger, fennel seeds, and cayenne in a 4-cup measuring glass until turmeric and ginger are broken up into bits.
  2. Add vinegar, honey, bitters, and 3 cups cold water; stir to dissolve honey.
  3. Chill until very cold, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
  4. Strain.
Per 4 servings: Calories (kcal) 60 Fat (g) 0 Saturated Fat (g) 0 Cholesterol (mg) 0 Carbohydrates (g) 13 Dietary Fiber (g) 0 Total Sugars (g) 8 Protein (g) 0 Sodium (mg) 10

Tip:  Turn this into a spritzer by using club soda instead of water.

If you are on Facebook and are interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to, recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water, I have a page on Facebook you can visit too:  https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

 

Get Rid Of Garlic Breath!

bowl-of-garlic-clovesI LOVE garlic! 

If a recipe calls for 1 clove you can guarantee that I’ll be adding at least two, but more than likely three.  Unfortunately, I am one of those people who doesn’t just get garlic breath, I sweat garlic for at least a day after I’ve eaten it in any form.

One of my favorite aggressively garlic forward meals is Shrimp Scampi.

Extra Tasty Shrimp Scampi

  • 1 + 1/2 Pounds Large Fresh (or Frozen) Shelled & Deveined Shrimp
  • 1/2 Pound Asparagus Chopped into 1″ Chunks
  • 4 TBLS Olive Oil
  • 6 TBLS Butter
  • 1 Cup Dry White Wine (like a Sauvignon Blanc)
  • 4 TBLS Chopped Fresh Parsley
  • 4 to 6 Cloves Fresh Garlic, Minced
  • 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (or more to taste)
  • 2 TBLS Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
  • Freshly Ground Sea Salt
  • Freshly Ground Black Pepper
  • Steamed Jasmine Rice
  • A Freshly Baked French Baguette (for sopping up the extra sauce)

scampi

Leaving the tail on or removing it from the shrimp is an individual choice.  I prefer to leave it on so the maximum shrimp taste is passed into the sauce, but my husband complains about having to remove them, so I usually do just to avoid listening to him bitch…

  1. Prepare the jasmine rice and set aside (keep warm)
  2. Heat a large sauté pan or cast iron skillet over medium high heat
  3. Add olive oil, butter, garlic, and red pepper flakes
  4. Sauté about 30 seconds then add chopped asparagus
  5. Sauté about 90 seconds then add shrimp
  6. Add the wine and make sure that the shrimp is covered completely with the sauce
  7. Spread the shrimp so they are in a single layer in the pan and cook for about 3 minutes
  8. Turn the shrimp over and cook for another minute
  9. Remove the pan from the heat
  10. Squeeze the lemon over the shrimp, lightly salt & pepper and toss shrimp & asparagus with the chopped parsley

Serve the shrimp & asparagus over a bed of the steamed jasmine rice along side a hunk of the baguette, making sure to pour a generous amount of sauce over it all. Enjoy!

Once dinner is over and you’re ready to start getting kisses from your grateful family, you might want to start thinking about the garlic breath you’ve unleashed on an unsuspecting audience…

Apparently the Italians, who serve a salad and/or a fruit course after a pasta course, have known what they were doing all along.  The September 2016 issue of the Journal of Food Science reported the findings of a study that concluded that chewing on lettuce,  raw apples, or fresh mint after consuming a meal high in garlic reduced the concentration of the garlic smell on the subjects’ breath by 50%.

If you are on Facebook and are interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to, recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water, I have a page on Facebook you can visit too:  https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

Wine Before Bed = Lost Weight

COUNT ME IN!

Marie Claire says it’s true, so who am I to dispute this fantastic piece of scientific weight loss news?  Don’t believe me?  Want to look a gift horse in the mouth?  I’ll share the article with you just as it appeared in the pages of Marie Claire Magazine – no edits, no comments:

Drinking wine before bed helps you lose weight. Seriously. Science says so

Marie ClaireBy Marie Claire February 18, 2016

This is a wine related Public Service Announcement

Kristen Wiig

Dear everyone who thought it appropriate to sneer and cast a judgmental eye over us when we’ve admitted to enjoying a glass or few of wine before bed. You can go firmly back in your boxes, because scientists have discovered that drinking wine late in the evening aids weight loss.

The above paragraph is what music to our ears looks like.

wigwine

via GIPHYCINEMABLEND

Now let’s get scientific with the help from Washington State University and Harvard. In wine there is a chemical called resveratrol which works in the body as a means to stopping fat cells gaining more fat, therefore helping you slim.

And this isn’t one of those incidences when we’re told we can drink wine, but only a thimble mixed with vinegar every other Wednesday, according to scientists, drinking at least two glasses – half a bottle a day can help beat obesity by 70%. There’s no messing around with a number like that, is there?

The reason why coiffing your best glass of Blue Nun in the evening is best, is because the pringles_originalcalories help keep you full and reduce the need to late night snack, which is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to weight gain. *Glances towards Pringles under bed*

To back this up with even more scientific evidence, the University of Denmark found that people who drank everyday had slimmer waistlines compared to their sober lamarca-proseccocounterparts, while Harvard’s weight gain study of 20,000 people revealed that out of all of those that gained a large amount of weight, none of them were drinkers.

Oh science we love you. Now we’re off to celebrate your innovative findings by climbing into bed with a bottle of Prosecco.

If you are on Facebook and are interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to, recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water, I have a page on Facebook you can visit too:  https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

Hadley’s Famous Date Shake

I love fruit and most vegetables although I will readily admit that cauliflower, unless it’s swimming in butter, lemon and herbs or covered with a luscious cheese sauce, leaves a lot to be desired.  Don’t even get me started on the smell.  Gross!

My grandma was a health nut when I was growing up.  She bought off on every do-it-yourself or make-it-at-home heath trend and we were her willing samplers.

She always had cut up vegetables for us kids to snack on, although my dad and grandpa would be snacking on things she wouldn’t touch like Spam, Vienna sausages, deviled ham, pickled herring, creamed chipped beef, sardines, and really anything canned they could spread on a saltine or Triscuit cracker.

She bought a yogurt maker and fruit dehydrator but I think the amount of time it took to get a finished product, and the lack of enthusiasm her efforts were met with, led her to toss them into the garage with the other gadgets of brief interest.

hadleylogoOne thing that she did instill in all of her kids and grandkids though was a love of fruits and nuts.  Anytime we would be in the desert at one of their condos, a required stop was Hadley’s Fruit Orchard for nuts, fresh and dried fruits, and their specialty, a date shake.  Made with the sinfully delicious Deglet Noor Date, it’s pretty much heaven in a cup.

Hadley’s Famous Date Shakedate-shake-ingredients

  • 1/8 to 1/4 Cup Chopped Hadley’s Cooking Dates
  • 1/3 Cup 2% Milk
  • 1 Cup Vanilla Ice Cream
  • 1 Ripe Banana, a sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon (if desired –  additions on their menu, not part of the original recipe)

In a blender, combine dates with 1/4 cup of the milk. Blend to a creamy consistency. Add ice cream and the rest of the milk and blend to desired thickness. Serves 2.

deglet-noor-dates-californiaI am now about 2 hours away from Palm Springs, which puts me 2 hours away from Hadley’s but thankfully Hadley’s has entered the information age and I can order their fruits and nuts online!  Looks like I’ll be ordering some dates so I can indulge my need for a bit of memory refreshment. 😉

If you are on Facebook and are interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to, recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water, I have a page on Facebook you can visit too:  https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

How Often Do You Overeat?

eyesHow many of us have powered down dessert when we really didn’t want or need it?  We’ve all done it. We’ve let our eyes be bigger than our stomachs: we ate every bite of a filling meal, then compounded the problem by ordering a huge sundae, using the excuse that everyone else is ordering dessert, so we follow suit and then finish it all.

We then covertly unbutton the top of our jeans, back of our skirt, or adjust our clothing that has suddenly become very, very uncomfortable because we just ate way too much.

Unfortunately the uncomfortably full, bloated feeling isn’t the only discomfort we have caused our body when we consume too much food in a single sitting:

  • Your body has to work overtime to digest all of the (often) high fat food you’ve just consumed, causing you to feel tired and sluggish;
  • You’ll feel gassy and look bloated as your digestive process goes to work;
  • You may experience acid reflux;
  • You could (and probably will) gain weight;
  • You can then increase bad fat around your organs and create other health issues.

Tips to avoid overeating:

  • Use a smaller plate.
  • Slow down and enjoy your meal.  Taste what you’re eating and really appreciate your food.
  • Drink water while you eat.  It will help fill you up and slow you down so you give your brain time to respond to the sated hunger signals from the food you’ve already eaten.
  • Portion your plate using the 25-25-50 rule: 1/4 of your meal should be lean protein, 1/4 whole grains and 1/2 filling fiber like grilled vegetables.
  • If you order a meal that is large, immediately request a to-go box and place at least half of the meal inside.
  • Make it a habit to move around, even just take a leisurely walk, after your biggest meal of the day, so that your digestion process can get underway and you can begin to burn off a few of the calories you’ve just consumed.

It’s not the end of the world if, occasionally, you eat a larger meal than you intend to.  It only becomes a problem if it happens frequently and you fail to take steps to recognize a bigger, perhaps psychological, issue that could be leading you down the unhealthy road to obesity.

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2009–2010

  • More than 2 in 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese.
  • More than 1 in 3 adults are considered to be obese.
  • More than 1 in 20 adults are considered to have extreme obesity.
  • About one-third of children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be overweight or obese.
  • More than 1 in 6 children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be obese.

We talk about mouth watering recipes here, God knows I love to eat, but, as the sobering statistics from 2010 show, overeating and eating disorders are a serious problem in the United States.  I’d be irresponsible if I didn’t occasionally reach out to those who may need a little push to get healthy.

If you are there, you feel like your over or undereating isn’t an occasional issue, and you think you may have an unhealthy relationship with food, there are resources available to you:

Reach out and get help today.  If you aren’t ready to talk to a professional, talk to a friend, a co-worker or even your priest or other religious counselor.  There are people willing to help you on the road to better health.  Search the internet – there are free resources.  They won’t shame or out you, they are professionals who want to help you on the road to recovering your health.

If you are on Facebook and are interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to, recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water, I have a page on Facebook you can visit too:  https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood