Essential Rules to Living Healthy

It's been a month since I've posted and mostly that is due to all the summer activities in our family. This past week we've all been abruptly pulled back into real life with a bout of what the doctors think is a gall bladder issue. We've started to look at our diet and also exercise, since evidently both play critical roles in the health of the gall bladder. (Yes, this personal chef is learning the guidelines for yet another healthy diet!)

It's just too easy to fall back into old habits...and pile on the old pounds, but then when poor health comes knocking on our door it's a wake-up call to pay attention to the way we are living. But the whole heath thing is so confusing as we are bombarded with conflicting "studies" and all the infomercials that guarantee hundreds of "best ways to lose weight and get in shape."

Today's Zen Habits post came at just the right time for me and so I am sharing it with you, too. These are some really simple (and common sense) rules for improving your health and staying in shape. Hope this helps you, too!

zen habits: The 7 Essential Rules To Optimum Health & Weight Loss
The 7 Essential Rules To Optimum Health & Weight Loss
Posted: 14 Aug 2009 03:46 PM PDT
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Chris Lopez of Fit and Busy Dad.

We live in an information overloaded society. There has not been a moment in history when information has been this available, right at our fingertips. By typing one simple phrase, we now get hundreds, thousands, sometimes even millions of answers to our most desired questions. And now it seems, because of the abundance of information available to us, that a lot of us are confused. No more confusing has been our struggle with living excessively. As a result, many of us are in debt, have too much stuff and are overweight.

There are too many questions on how to exercise, how to eat, or how to live healthily - cardio or weights? How much protein? Does fat make me fat? Will situps give me abs? Am I going to get big, bulky muscles?

I don’t profess to know the answer to EVERY question out there, but I do know that all things being equal, the simplest answer is most likely the right one (Ockham’s Razor). That holds true in life as much as it does in weight loss, exercise and general health. So in saying that, I have devised a list of The 7 Essential Rules to Optimal Health.

You may read these rules and be turned off that I’m insulting your intelligence. But let’s face it, now more than ever, do we need to get back to the basics in order to save our waning, unhealthy & obese society. We’ve veered off the path of “simple” and have really made things more complicated than they are.

1. Eat REAL Food.
For a busy population who doesn’t have time to count calories or how many grams of protein or how much sodium or saturated fat, this is your answer to health and weight loss.
Anything that Mother Nature put on this earth in it’s simplest form is real food - unpackaged, unprocessed, unpreserved fruits, vegetables, legumes, naturally raised meat & fish. Steak from a cow that has been allowed to eat from a pasture, not an all-beef hot dog. Water, not soda. Apples, not apple fritters.

Here’s the truth … if you eat nutritious real food then your body feels nourished and doesn’t feel the need to consume more. If you eat the common processed food products of today with empty calories and little to any nutrition value, then your body needs to 1) work harder to digest and assimilate what you’ve eaten thus using energy 2) still feel hungry because what you’ve eaten provides no nourishment and 3) throw your systems out of whack because your body has no idea what you just ate.

2. Live Life Actively.
Our society was the healthiest when there were no such things as treadmills, ellipticals and Pec Decks. We used the gym to support our activities (like what athletes do). We rode our bikes, skied, surfed, played pick-up basketball and walked everywhere.
Now, we go to the gym. We run on treadmills like rats in a cage, partake in bodybuilding programs that give us bulky, unuseable muscles and create imbalance & injury, and do aerobic classes that give us little to no benefit with the way we look.

As our society transitioned from an active culture to a gym-going culture, obesity, heart disease and diabetes slowly started to increase. Coincidence? Maybe. But staying active and trying new things - playing a sport, going for a hike, being active with family, playing frisbee with the dog- never killed anyone.

Ask yourself these questions…When was the last time you got excited to go to the gym (to actually workout, not to see the hot aerobics instructor or personal trainer)? And what about when you knew that the weekend was just around the corner and you were going to the beach to play some volleyball? Or out to the golf course with your buddies to play 18 holes?
Live actively and use the gym to support your efforts.

3. Get outside.
This goes hand-in-hand with the point above. True that some of us live in a climate that isn’t always condusive to outdoorsy things. Hogwash. Unless it is 110 degrees in the shade or sub-Arctic temperatures outside, there are always options for us to be active outdoors - even if it’s just for a walk after dinner. Our bodies crave the outdoors and being with nature. It’s hard-wired into our systems. Being outdoors gives us a feeling of freedom and calm that no gym, mall or office building could ever provide for us.

4. Constantly strive to improve in order to see change.
If you are doing the same thing, day in and day out (lifting the same weights, running the same distance for the same time, etc) without any change or improvement, then nothing is going to happen to your body.

Your body wants to stay the same, and it is only when you decide to venture outside of your comfort zone that you will actually see any improvement - and that rule holds true with life as much as it does with exercise. Set goals, break records and constantly strive to get better. If you ran 5km in 30-minutes yesterday, then the next time out, aim for 29-minutes. If you did 10 push-ups yesterday, then aim for 11 the next time you attempt them.
Force yourself out of what’s comfortable and you will change - both in body and in mind.

5. Get some sleep.
Often the “missing link” to everyone’s weight loss quest is their lack of quality sleep. Healthy adults require 7-9 hours of uninterrupted, good quality sleep EVERY night.
Sleep helps regulate your hormones. It kills off bad bacteria that has accumulated in your gut throughout the day and it’s the primary time for your body to repair its tissues - especially your muscles. Don’t get enough of it and your immune response will suffer (your ability to fight off disease & sickness), you gain belly fat (because of the higher amounts of the hormone cortisol) and you’ll experience lows in energy.

6. Practice Active Recovery.
This is the Yang to intense exercise’s Ying and is probably the most overlooked rule. You were not designed to “go hard” 100% of the time.

Regardless of what you may believe, exercise, with all it’s benefits to your body and health, is still stress. Any response that produces an adrenalin rush will also produce a stress response in your body. Because of this, we must balance our intense exercise activities with calming, stress management exercises. Traditional yoga, tai chi, qi gong or some form of deep breathing or meditation are the most common examples of ways to handle stress.

Try to incorporate at least one of these activities into your weekly (if not daily) practice. Only a few minutes of deep breathing or mediation is all you need to regain balance move on with your day without anxiety or nervousness.

7. Use Natural Movements.
There are 5 natural movements - Squatting, Lunging (which includes walking & running), Pushing, Pulling & Rotation. If you want to save time, increase results and live healthy, then all your exercises should incorporate at least one, if not more, of these movements.

Is there a need to stand in front of a mirror holding dumbbells and lifting them up to the side while standing on a ball? No. Is there a need to sit on a machine, strapped in and squeeze your thighs together or push them out? No. These movements are unnatural. They force you to break your body up into individual parts, when in truth, your body operates as a network of nerves, bones and muscles to move you and the objects you lift or carry from Point A to Point B.
Exercise naturally, move naturally, be healthy.

So Now What?
Use the above rules as a checklist and try to incorporate and adhere to one rule per week, introducing a new rule each time you have mastered one. Try not to get overwhelmed. This isn’t a “shotgun” approach. We’ve gotten away from the basics of health and it will take time to get back. Just keep at it and be consistent and you’ll get there.

By just living with these 7 rules in mind, you’re sure to become a healthier, happier and more fulfilling life.

Read more from Chris at his blog, Fit and Busy Dad, or subscribe to his feed.

Baked Barbecue Lima Beans

I love baked beans, and for years I've been trying to replicate the baked lima beans that my family used to get at a local farm market near Pennsylvania's Amish country. I mostly loved the sauce because the beans were always too hard for my taste. Now I know why they were always hard; you must cook the dried beans until they are tender to your liking because once you add tomato-based sauce to the beans they won't get any more tender no matter how long you cook them. Not sure why, but they just won't. I'm sure Alton Brown knows and maybe you can Google one of his shows and find out. In the meantime, you can take my word for it.

Here's my latest attempt and my family thinks it's a winner!

Start with a pound of dried lima beans. Pour them out on the counter and check for any foreign debris (often you will find a pebble or two) or blemished beans and discard those. Scrape the beans into a colander and rinse well, then put them into a pot and cover with at least 4 inches of water. They will swell as they absorb the water. Set the pot in a cool spot over night.

In the morning, drain and rinse the beans again, then continue on with my recipe.

Baked Barbecue Lima Beans

Serves 6

1 lb. dried lima beans
8 oz. bacon, chopped and cooked crisp (reserve 2 T. bacon fat in pan)
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 can tomato soup (14 1/2 ounce)

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Pick over, wash, rinse dried beans and soak as described above. Place beans back into stockpot and cover with water. Salt water heavily (about 1 T.) Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce to medium low and simmer for 1 hour or until just tender. As beans cook, skim the frothy buildup from the surface of the water and discard.

Remove from heat and pour cooked beans into a colander. Rinse with cold water and pour beans into a large bowl. Add cooked bacon to beans.

In same skillet as the one you cooked the bacon, heat reserved bacon fat over medium-high heat and sauté peppers and onions until tender. Add these to the beans and bacon.

Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Gently fold sauce mixture into the bean mixture until incorporated. Pour into a greased 3-quart baking dish. Bake until hot and bubbly, about 1 hour. Enjoy!

Bon Appétit!
Chef Debbie

Day 2 & Two Eggs!

Our little Carolina Wren added another egg to her nest today! Look at the photo below and you'll see the picnic basket that I used for a planter on the front porch, and if you look very closely, you can even see the nest containing the two little eggs. This is exciting!

Cheers!
Chef Debbie

Carolina Wren Nest

While we were at the lake last weekend, a Carolina Wren built her nest in a picnic basket planter on my front porch, and today we found her first egg! Will keep you posted on future egg-laying!

Cheers!
Chef Debbie

One Yummy Thing to do with Squash

Squash is really coming on strong now in my garden and we are loving experimenting. Even Bob's gotten into the swing of things in the kitchen, with his Southern Fried Squash. He tosses sliced squash and Vidalia onions with corn meal and fries it in a tiny bit of canola oil in a heavy skillet. That is how his Aunt Margie always cooked it and she was famous for her fried squash.

I was laid up for a couple of days with a sinus infection and that's all the time it takes for patty pan squash to go from quarter-size to dinner plate size. Patty Pan squash is the pretty white saucer-shaped squash in the photo below.

One of my favorite ways to prepare squash when it gets a bit big is to slice it, dredge it in bread crumbs, and fry it. It makes a bit of a mess in the kitchen, but it's really worth the effort.



Breaded Fried Squash

Serves 2-4 (depending on how hungry your crowd is!)

2 Medium size zucchini, yellow, or patty pan squash, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 cup plain flour
2 eggs, beaten with 1/4 c. milk
1 1/2 c. fine dry bread crumbs
Salt & Pepper to taste
Canola oil for frying

Put the flour, egg mixture, and bread crumbs in each of three shallow bowls. Lay out the sliced squash and salt it lightly.

Fill heavy skillet with 1 inch of canola oil. Heat over medium-high heat to frying temp. (See note below about frying temperature.)

Dredge each side of each slice of squash in flour just to dust, then in beaten egg mixture, then in the breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere. Place in the oil as you go and repeat until you have the pan filled in a single layer with the squash. Fry until golden on one side then turn and fry on the other. Drain on a rack-covered baking sheet and keep warm in a 200 degree oven while you fry the rest. Salt lightly before serving.

Note: One easy way to tell when the oil is the right temperature for frying is something that I learned years ago from "Sarah's Secrets," a show that was on the Food Network when the Food Network was worth watching. If you stick the handle end of a wooden spoon straight down into the oil, when it is the right temperature for frying the oil will bubble up all around the wood. Works every time and is spot-on!

Bon Appétit!
Chef Debbie

Breathe...another great post by Leo Babauta

If you haven't subscribed to Zen Habits yet, you are missing some great posts by blogger Leo Babauta. This is one of my favorites and so worth sharing that I'm reposting it (with permission) here today. Enjoy and BREATHE.


Breathe.

Posted: 05 Jul 2009 12:27 PM PDT

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Breathing can transform your life.

If you feel stressed out and overwhelmed, breathe. It will calm you and release the tensions.

If you are worried about something coming up, or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. It will bring you back to the present.

If you are discouraged and have forgotten your purpose in life, breathe. It will remind you about how precious life is, and that each breath in this life is a gift you need to appreciate. Make the most of this gift.

If you have too many tasks to do, or are scattered during your workday, breathe. It will help bring you into focus, to concentrate on the most important task you need to be focusing on right now.

If you are spending time with someone you love, breathe. It will allow you to be present with that person, rather than thinking about work or other things you need to do.

If you are exercising, breathe. It will help you enjoy the exercise, and therefore stick with it for longer.

If you are moving too fast, breathe. It will remind you to slow down, and enjoy life more.

So breathe. And enjoy each moment of this life. They’re too fleeting and few to waste.

—

Tip: Put the word “Breathe” as a screensaver or desktop pic, or put it up as a note on your wall or fridge or on your desk. Then do it every time you see the word.

Cheers!
Chef Debbie

Cancer Boost from Whole Carrots

Sometimes I come across a story that just makes good sense, and this is one of them so I want to share it with you.

If you've ever boiled a red beet you know that if you cut it before boiling it, all the red coloring leeches out into the water....and it stands to reason that many nutrients are moving right along with the color, too. You don't see this as well when you cook carrots because the color is not as vibrant, but the water does take on an orange tinge.

So, when I read this article about why carrots are more nutrtious if they are cooked before cutting, it was one of those "slap your forehead" kinda moments. Of course! And another added benefit is that they are much easier to cut, too, when they are just tender instead of rock hard.

Read on and change the way you have been cooking!

Cancer Boost from Whole Carrots
By Sharon Barbour BBC News

Chef's tip: Chop after cooking

The anti-cancer properties of carrots are more potent if the vegetable is not cut up before cooking, research shows. Scientists found "boiled before cut" carrots contained 25% more of the anti-cancer compound falcarinol than those chopped up first. Experiments on rats fed falcarinol have shown they develop fewer tumours. The Newcastle University study will be presented at NutrEvent, a conference on nutrition and health, to be held in France.

Lead researcher Dr. Kirsten Brandt, from Newcastle University's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said: "Chopping up your carrots increases the surface area so more of the nutrients leach out into the water while they are cooked. "By keeping them whole and chopping them up afterwards you are locking in nutrients and the taste, so the carrot is better for you all round."

The Newcastle scientist, along with colleagues at the University of Denmark, discovered the health benefits of falcarinol in carrots four years ago. Rats fed on a diet containing carrots or falcarinol were found to be one-third less likely to develop full-scale tumours than those in the control group.

Since then the scientists in Newcastle have been studying what happens when carrots are chopped and cooked. The latest findings show that when carrots are heated, the heat kills the cells, so they lose the ability to hold on to the water inside them, increasing the concentration of falcarinol as the carrots lose water. However, the heat also softens the cell walls, allowing water-soluble compounds such as sugar and vitamin C to be lost via the surface of the tissue, leading to the leaching out of other compounds such as falcarinol. If the carrot is cut before being boiled, the surface area becomes much greater - and so the loss of nutrients is increased.

Dr. Brandt added that in blind taste studies the whole carrots also tasted much better. Eight of ten people favoured the whole vegetables over those that were pre-chopped. This is because the naturally occurring sugars which are responsible for giving the carrot its distinctively sweet flavour were also found in higher concentrations in the carrot that had been cooked whole.

Dr. Brandt said: "The great thing about this is it's a simple way for people to increase their uptake of a compound we know is good for you. "All you need is a bigger saucepan."

Dr. Kat Arney, of the charity Cancer Research UK, remained unconvinced that keeping carrots whole would have any impact on cancer risk. She said: "When it comes to eating, we know that a healthy balanced diet - rich in a range of fruit and vegetables - plays an important part in reducing the risk of many types of cancer, rather than any one specific food."