Health Benefits of Asparagus

I have been craving asparagus, my favorite veggie, for days. Today I am eating it for lunch. While munching away, I decided to do a little research on the health benefits of asparagus. Here is what I've found!

*It is full of fiber, folate, and vitamins A, C, E and K, and chromium, a trace mineral.
*It is rich in glutathione, a compound that helps to break down carcinogens and free radicals.
*Asparagus is packed with antioxidants. (Again, good against free radicals)
*It delivers folate, which works with vitamin B12 to help fight cognitive impairment.
*It contains the amino acid asparagine, which acts as a natural diuretic to help reduce excess fluid and salt in the body. (Good for those with edema and high blood pressure)

Info. source www.EatingWell.com


Here's a fun benefits list from another website:

1 - can detoxify our system

2 - has anti-aging functions

3 - is considered an aphrodisiac

4 - can protect against cancer

5 - reduces pain and inflammation

6 - can prevent osteoporosis and osteoarthritis

7 - reduces the risk of heart disease

8 - can help prevent birth defects

An added benefit is that asparagus is on the "safe to eat non-organic" list because it is low in pesticide levels. Ideally, all foods should be organic when possible, but when they are not, asparagus still makes the shopping list. =)

And.. I love the taste. While asparagus can make urine smell very strange, there is no ill effect of this. So eat up! 

Health Eating - Baked Chick Peas

Yesterday, while munching on chick peas from a can, I did a quick search on chick peas. I came across a recipe for baked chick peas. So I made a batch. I'm not sure what I think about them. I like that they're crunchy, but I have not seasoned them to my preference yet. But I'll keep trying to see if I can. Here's how to do it:

Rinse a can of chick peas, and coat them lightly in olive oil. Season however you like. Sugar and cinnamon, garlic, or any spice combo you'd like to try.

Preheat your oven to 400*. Spread the chick peas on a cookie sheet, and bake for about 40 minutes. Given them a stir every 10 minutes or so.

The first batch I made came out crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I used a glass pan, a little more olive oil than it took to coat, and left them in the pan to cool. The second batch came out crunchy. I used a metal cookie sheet (see photo,) olive oil just to coat, and I transferred the chick peas to a bowl right out of the oven. Though many use garlic powder, I tried cinnamon and (weird) salt the first time, and preferred that to the garlic powder and salt. I'm still playing with it, and will post with any winning combinations.

This website says this (and more) about the health benefits of chickpeas:

"Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) 
provide an excellent source of 
molybdenum.  They are a very 
good source of folic acid, fiber, 
and manganese.  They are also a 
good source of protein, as well 
as minerals such as iron, copper, 
zinc, and magnesium"


*They also discuss potentially harmful issues for those with gout and/or kidney stones.

Coconut Oil

Two nights ago I purchased this jar of coconut oil. It seems that coconut oil was popping up everywhere: on my Facebook Eczema page, and in searches for holistic-minded natural remedies and such. I saw it again and again. So I did some brief online research. Why had I thought that coconut was not a good idea? Here is some of what I learned: LINK


Now of course there are resources on the internet that claim this is all hooey, and that movie theaters and food manufacturers stopped using coconut oil in their products because it was shown to be bad for you. I guess you have to read the research and decide for yourself. 


I have decided to put it through its paces. 


There are many ways in which people use coconut oil:

Food. People use it in place of other oils in such foods as popcorn. I used it to make a grilled cheese sandwichs this morning. It was easy to cook with, made delicious (and yes, reminiscent of movie theater popcorn smells) popcorn, toasted bread well for the sandwichs, etc. And it did not take a lot of the stuff. I will note that coconut oil burns easily at higher cooking temperatures, so keep the temperatures down. 


Hand/Skin Lotion: I have been using the oil in place of my usual hand lotion (another oil) and it has worked fine. It does not seem to irritate my sensitive (eczema) skin, it absorbs easily and is not greasy feeling after being rubbed in. 


Hair: I haven't tried this one, but apparently people use coconut oil in their hair, and it supposed to make the hair super soft. I am dying to try it. Being a non-shampoo user at the moment due to a rashy scalp, I am looking for ways to keep my hair clean and conditioned that are all natural and not too irritating. I'll report back on my trials with that! Here is what I learned at eHow: LINK Sounds like work, but once in a while... Anyhow, I'll give it a try.


Pets: I have read that coconut oil can be helpful in pets with various conditions, including constipation and hair balls. You can read more about that here: LINK You can actually buy cans of the stuff that are marketed for pets. (A funny aside is that the can I saw for pets on Amazon.com was much more expensive per ounce than what I bought for myself!)


Some information I have learned along the way: Coconut oil melts at 76*F. It is a solid at room temperature in cooler areas. It burns easily at high temperatures, so keep your temperatures down when cooking with it. 


As always, I'd love to hear from anyone with experience!

GAPS Diet - Healing Myself Through Food

I am putting myself on the GAPS diet.

For those unfamiliar, here is the LINK to the GAPSdiet page. In a nutshell, it's a diet designed for those with digestive issues, and it is supposed to "heal" the gut, so that over time, a person is able to tolerate foods that they cannot currently.

I am using it for other reasons. I have become so worn down that I find I cannot enjoy myself. I have little energy, little enthusiasm. I have a rash on my scalp that I am unable to get rid of. I have body odor for no reason. I could easily fall asleep at just about any time of the day, including just after waking up in the morning-even after a "good" night's sleep. I have been feeling bloated often, typically after eating, even if it's a small amount.

And that just ain't me. I miss feeling good! I want to wake up psyched every day. I want it back!

I believe we can make ourselves feel better as long as we have some clue as to how to get there. For some reason, obvious things can be so hard to achieve. Exercise makes us feel better. Duh. Do I exercise? Hardly. Eating garbage will likely make us feel like garbage. Do I eat garbage? I do. Staying inside all day can make us feel down and unmotivated. Do I spend a lot of time inside? I do! It's hard to change!!

But feeling like this stinks, and so I am motivated. My only indulgence over the last two days has been my morning coffee, which includes non-dairy creamer and honey. Yes, badbadbad, but it's a process. (I know, I always say that, but c'mon, I can't deal with a diet change and caffeine withdrawal all at once - I will fail!) Other than my coffee and one slice of sprouted-grain bread yesterday morning (before I had decided to commit to this,) I have eaten only what is on the Recommended Foods list on the GAPS diet website. And by some miracle, I actually feel full and satisfied. At least at the moment. I hate diets. Make no mistake! I am always hungry, which I hate. But the one thing I like about the GAPS diet is that there is a long list of foods that are ok. It's much easier to refer to that than to try to eliminate one or two things from my diet, such as gluten or milk.

So here goes nothing. I feel that I can only go up from here! I will blog my progress, for anyone interested. And for motivation.

And I am most fortunate (as I do not like to cook) that hubby really enjoys cooking, and is enthusiastic about making bone broths, which are strongly recommended for this diet.

Wish me luck.

Whole Foods (the store)

There is no Whole Foods market near where I live. But there IS one near where my father lives. So every time we visit, we make a trip to Whole Foods. And drop a BUNCH of money. Every time I get a new "assignment" from the Natural Health Improvement Center, it means a trip to a store which sells natural supplements and the like. We have one near us, but it's just fun to go to Whole Foods. They have everything you could possibly want for getting healthy, and stuff you didn't even know you wanted until you saw it.

This morning, we went. Oh my. $140.00 later, we came home with two bags of stuff, including a bottle of PCB-free fish oil supplements ($30.00), organic flax seed oil, which was recommended by the Clinical Nutritionist I'm seeing ($6.50), a 14.6 oz. bag (not big!) bag of protein powder, also recommended by the CN, (!!$22.00!!), Topelo honey, recommended to replace sugar in coffee/tea, ($9.00) and so forth. Yow! The protein powder really through me for a loop. I thought it was expensive simply trying to buy organic produce. The healthier I try to be, the more broke we get. Yeesh. And this is all on top of the supplements I purchase directly from the Natural Health Improvement Center. And the essential oils. I hope it's all worth it.

 

I think it is.....