I apologize for the inconvenience.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
My Apologies!
I apologize for the inconvenience.
Thoughts on a Rainy Day
I just posted a piece from Nurses.com on my Facebook page because the nurse in charge of the Wellness Blog had written a piece that sounded just like conversations I have had with friends and nutrition clients over the past few years. Since I have become vegetarian and a nutritionist I have tried to walk the walk as well as talk the talk and this lifestyle has had some amazing consequences.
As a child, my favorite dessert snack was cookies; most notably, homemade chocolate chips or Oreos although I also liked others. As an adult I continued to bake chocolate chips but usually opted for the "healthier" oatmeal or pecan sandies, but as I am very petite (4'11") I usually only ate one to test them and left the rest for my husband. Somewhere along the way, he also opted out of the sugar addiction and so no baked goods or processed grocery store product entered our house or our blood stream. Our doctors told us we had the healthiest blood lipid levels in their practice!
But there was always the occasional temptation a work that I would give in to thinking an occasional transgression would not hurt. An example was the time one of my co-workers at the Wellness Center brought in so called monster cookies. Oy Vey! HUGE chocolate ships with double the sugar and brown sugar of anything I had ever experienced. After I ate this refined caloric nightmare I felt as if I had consumed a couple of martinis in the same amount of time it had taken to eat the cookie. My body was simply not used to that kind of assault! I felt like I needed to sit down, lie down, anything but continue to work in my usual energetic on my feet style!
Now don't misunderstand me--I am an advocate of the high carbohydrate diet as our entire nervous system runs on carbs and they should comprise 60% of our total caloric intake. If you are eating the right percentage of macro-nutrients (carbs, fats (30%) protein (10%)) and the right kind of complex carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits and whiole grains) you don't have to worry so much about calories as these items are generally low in calories but nutrient dense. And they don't cause those big shifts in energy (that's partially due to the fiber--yet another benefit to these life giving foods). Having a sweet refined carbohydrate kind of snack to give you a mid-morning lift for instance is counter productive.
I recently gave a talk at a luncheon in which I was focusing on the foods that can improve cognitive function, fight disease, improve energy levels, make you look younger and , as sort of a light-hearted addition, improve your sex life. There are foods that actually do this and they are foods that contain phyto-nutrients or plant chemicals. Sorry omnivores, meats have none of these life giving qualities. I can however, give a push for eating yogurt because of the probiotics which help keep the gastrointestinal tract healthy. Plant foods contain antioxidants which are the main chemicals that help prevent damage and help to bild your diversified cells while they actaully inhibit the growth of non-diversified cells such as cancer.
As I am just in a kind of introspective mood today, I am not going in to the details but I have posted the entire speech on my web page if you want specific (www.jamierisedorph.com)
Another part of my inner ramblings touched upon thinking about my degree in biology and the fact that biology actually means the study of life. I studied the life sciences. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Life sciences...so much more than food...
Enjoy tonight's full moon and the beauty and bounty of summer!
As a child, my favorite dessert snack was cookies; most notably, homemade chocolate chips or Oreos although I also liked others. As an adult I continued to bake chocolate chips but usually opted for the "healthier" oatmeal or pecan sandies, but as I am very petite (4'11") I usually only ate one to test them and left the rest for my husband. Somewhere along the way, he also opted out of the sugar addiction and so no baked goods or processed grocery store product entered our house or our blood stream. Our doctors told us we had the healthiest blood lipid levels in their practice!
But there was always the occasional temptation a work that I would give in to thinking an occasional transgression would not hurt. An example was the time one of my co-workers at the Wellness Center brought in so called monster cookies. Oy Vey! HUGE chocolate ships with double the sugar and brown sugar of anything I had ever experienced. After I ate this refined caloric nightmare I felt as if I had consumed a couple of martinis in the same amount of time it had taken to eat the cookie. My body was simply not used to that kind of assault! I felt like I needed to sit down, lie down, anything but continue to work in my usual energetic on my feet style!
Now don't misunderstand me--I am an advocate of the high carbohydrate diet as our entire nervous system runs on carbs and they should comprise 60% of our total caloric intake. If you are eating the right percentage of macro-nutrients (carbs, fats (30%) protein (10%)) and the right kind of complex carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits and whiole grains) you don't have to worry so much about calories as these items are generally low in calories but nutrient dense. And they don't cause those big shifts in energy (that's partially due to the fiber--yet another benefit to these life giving foods). Having a sweet refined carbohydrate kind of snack to give you a mid-morning lift for instance is counter productive.
I recently gave a talk at a luncheon in which I was focusing on the foods that can improve cognitive function, fight disease, improve energy levels, make you look younger and , as sort of a light-hearted addition, improve your sex life. There are foods that actually do this and they are foods that contain phyto-nutrients or plant chemicals. Sorry omnivores, meats have none of these life giving qualities. I can however, give a push for eating yogurt because of the probiotics which help keep the gastrointestinal tract healthy. Plant foods contain antioxidants which are the main chemicals that help prevent damage and help to bild your diversified cells while they actaully inhibit the growth of non-diversified cells such as cancer.As I am just in a kind of introspective mood today, I am not going in to the details but I have posted the entire speech on my web page if you want specific (www.jamierisedorph.com)
For some reason that thought meandered cross my mind as I was returning from a stroll through my vegetable and flower gardens, talking to them and encouraging them to continue to grow and be beautiful and productive. It just occurred to me, I need to take my own advice!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
My Apologies!
I apologize for the inconvenience.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Dandelion, with Reverence by Jamie Risedorph
The Dandelion, with Reverence by Jamie Risedorph
.
Today we discuss the dandelion; the sunny, bright flowering plant of the world. Weed exterminators everywhere have vilified this tenacious bane of lawn purists for at least the last one hundred years. Yet for centuries healers and nutritionists have recommended this herb as a fat busting, liver detoxifier and deliciously nutritious food. The flowers make a heady wine, the milk from its stem kill warts and the green leaves contain more vitamin A than carrots. The leaves also supply copious amounts of vitamins C and K as well as significant quantities potassium, protein, magnesium, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, thiamin, iron, sulphur, zinc, vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, and E
So why all the controversy? I have no idea! As soon as this wonderful plant shows its face in my yard, my husband and I go out and collect its delicious leaves. Many fans of the dandelion only collect its leaves early in the spring before they actually flower and use them as salad greens. That is fine but I prefer to take advantage of this wonderful free food as long as it grows—which is from spring thaw to snowfall. As with spinach, this mighty green provides iron but only when cooked. So I will now share with you my simple and nutritious recipe from a food you can obtain for free ( as long as you have not treated your lawn with expensive, toxic weed killers and fertilizers) or purchase from your friendly food cooperative.
Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into a pan heated over medium low and add one clove of minced fresh garlic. Add your rinsed, stemmed dandelion greens to the mixture immediately and move them about in the oil and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste and then a cup or two (depending on how many greens you have amassed) of water. Bring to a simmer, cover for 10-20 minutes (again depending on the amount of greens and their size), drain and serve. They are delicious with rice or on your favorite bread. Enjoy the bounty!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Free on the Range
I grew up less than a mile from a dairy farm where the cows happily meandered about the green pastures of their home until the snow fell and the temperatures dropped. I remember tasting the difference in the milk when the cows were being fed hay and silage and corn and noticing the change again in the spring when they returned to pasture.class="MsoNormal">
Years later I became saddened by the lack of farmers continuing to allow there cows to graze in the green fields under the open sky, instead choosing to confine them to an indoor arena of dirt or, worse, cement. I was told indignantly when I questioned a friend about this practice that it was much healthier for the cows and the milk they produced. “They can get into all sorts of weeds and things out in the field!” she declared. Oh yes, much better to give them antibiotics to kill the bacterial infections from being crowded together and fed corn!
There has been a huge growth in the demand for organic dairy as people became aware of the addition of growth hormones to increase milk production and antibiotics to allow more cows to be raised in less space. Then there are people like myself who gave up meats and dairy because I believe animals should be treated humanely, not like machines producing a product.
The latest controversy is that much milk that claims to be organic is not from cows out grazing under blue skies in green fields as depicted in many advertisements for organic dairy products (Horizon, Aurora, etc.) The dairies that are being questioned say it because the regulations are vague. They are correct.
“The New York Times recently noted that "organic milk" essentially means "it comes from a cow whose milk production was not prompted by an artificial growth hormone, whose feed was not grown with pesticides and which had 'access to pasture,' a term so vague it could mean that a cow might spend most of its milk-producing life confined to a feed lot eating grain and not grass."”[1]
If you are concerned about the organic quality of your dairy products, talk to the suppliers of MHFC to see if they meet your standards, but please also advocate for the rest of the country who may not have access to cow-friendly farms.
To do more go to http://www.organicconsumers.org/ or http://www.consumeraffairs.com
Thank you for helping make our world a more peaceful and loving place.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
