Super Foods-Cruciferous Foods

What is a Super Food and how do I know it is a Super Food? What makes any food super? I had never heard of these things until I began researching and reading about foods. I had never thought about feeding my body foods that could fight cancer and diseases. In my research I found cruciferous vegetables like, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, along with cauliflower and turnips. These are called crucifers because of their flowers. Each one comes in the shape of a cross, hence, crucifers.

These crucifers should be eaten at least three times a week, either raw and/or cooked. They have a detoxing property that supports the immune system into fighting off the diseases. When their cells are broken down they a chemical reaction occurs and this release the compounds needed to build and support our immune system. These cruciferous vegetables are twice as powerful as regular plants when it comes to decreasing cancer.

Today I want to introduce a raw salad using kale as the cruciferous vegetable; however, many people find kale to be bitter and somewhat hard to swallow in its natural state. In my research and experimenting I have found a recipe that makes it not taste wonderful but packs the anti-cancer fighting immune building properties. This raw salad is tastes great and easy to make, here’s how.

THE SALAD:

Take several kale leaves and cut off the main stem and discard. Cut the leafy greens into very small pieces, about ½ inch or smaller. Place in a bowl and then add about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of sea salt (table salt is too processed). With your hands begin rubbing the green leaves with the oil and salt until the leaves are glistening and thoroughly covered. Next cut an avocado in half, length ways and squeeze out the avocado meat into the bowl. Begin mixing that with the salad with your hands incorporating the avocado until it basically disappears. Lastly, cut a few grape tomatoes and drop into the salad mixture.

This is wonderful anti-disease fighting meal that will fill you up and is low in calories and packs a ton of super food power into your system. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

To you health,

Bill

Recipes to lives by.

Today I want to offer you some of my very favorite recipes that I enjoyed while losing weight and I still love eating them. They are easy and very nutrious for you. These are great for beginners trying to lose weight and wanting some excellent recipe/food choices.

Salads are the main dish for lunch and dinner. I enjoy adding sprouts of nuts and seeds and whatever raw veggies I have in the fridge. Be creative and experiemental. Recipes are goos ut they are just the beginning to what you can create.

Green Beans with Toasted Almonds

 Wash and clean green beans

2 tbls of Earth Balance

1 shallot

1 garlic, minced

1/3 cup toasted almonds

In a med size frying pan, heat to med and add the Earth Balance. Then add green beans and cook until tender. Throw in shallots and cook for 1-2 minutes. In a separate pan toast almonds on med heat turn regularly, do not burn them. Cook until brown.

Add the almonds  into the green beans and enjoy as main dish or a side.

Very tasty!

Roasted Cauliflower

 Cut cauliflower into florets (about bit size) and toss into a bowl.

Sprinkle Mrs. Dash over cauliflower pieces and then add grapeseed oil (or a olive oil)

Mix everything together well. (Curry powder works very well for Mrs. Dash--experiement with spices)

Pre-heat oven 450 degrees.

On a cookie sheet, place parchment paper down and then lay cauliflower in single layer and place into the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Take out and flip each piece over and cook again another 15-20 minutes. Cauliflower turns brown on edges when done.

This is a huge hit with our entire family and friends! It’s easy and very good for you.

Butternut Squash Raviolis

Makes about 24 raviolis:

2 cups butternut squash cut into squares.

¼ to ½ cup Earth Balance

½ cup Panko breadcrumbs

Wonton wrappers

Cook squash in water for several minutes until it is not quite fork tender but somewhat cooked. In a processor add the squash and Earth Balance and process until smooth.

Transfer to a bowl. Stir in breadcrumbs. Place 1tbls of mixture onto a wonton wrapper. Wet two edges of the wrappers with water using your finger. Fold the wrapper and make a triangle. In a large pot heat up water to high and then add the ravioli and cook until done.

Excellent!!!!A must try.

In the future I will be introducing raw foods  to add to your daily meals. Dr. Fuhrman's books are excellent reads and what I use for my weight lost/nutritariarn lifestyle. I encourage you to pick up Eat To Live and begin the journey of understanding and educating yourself.

To your health,

Bill



 Next up...

Did you see me before?

Did you see me before?

Have you seen me lately?

Before my weight lost I was obese. The funny thing was, I didn’t see myself as fat. How could I not see what I looked like? Thank goodness people even liked me back then. I was in my early 50’s and began to realize that I couldn’t bend over, so no shoes that tied and I was really slowing down in what I was doing each day. I was experiencing a new kind of “normal.” What is normal anyway?

Most people don’t even realize when they have slowed down or can’t do things they use to do, like jump or play on the ground with kids. That was me. If 50 is the new 40, 40 was in bad shape with me. I thought, I’m getting older, what did I expect? I had medical issues, heart burn almost every time I ate and at night it has crazy bad! I’d cough and get that junk in my lungs and the acid burn was a 10 on the pain scale. Then I had high blood pressure issues and went on Blood pressure meds. My job involved me getting down on one knee (to find mats in my framing business) and I couldn’t really do it, I asked others to get them for me, my “new” normal. I enjoyed eating everything I wanted and as much as I wanted with no regards to nutrition. It didn’t matter that I was taxing my digestive system and liver, not to mention other organs. Eating was a “fun” thing and I enjoyed every minute of killing myself with food. Bad food at that. The American diet is loaded with great options, Crispy Crèmes, Little Debbie’s, steak and BBQ on a regular basis. Going out to eat was fantastic because the portions are huge—pork out time! I could hardly hold back and must clean my plate!

When I decided I had had enough of that lifestyle, it took at least a year to adjust to not eating everything in sight at any time. I had to make hard choices that were foreign to me, like eating raw veggies and little to no meat. That was a hard year. The more I chose my new lifestyle the more I lost weight BUT I felt better and got more energy. It’s a double win! Turns out, our body is made to repair itself and to detox all the of the chemicals from the foods and environment. Over time I noticed the changes taking place and people even commented about my changes. The new lifestyle wasn’t that hard after all, once I realized I was saving my own life from diseases, cancer and heart failure. I could exercise for long periods, bend over, do sit ups and play with the grandkids. What is your normal and is it really normal for your age? I want to help you and pay it forward. Do you want to change, is it time for stop the over eating? Do you want to save your life for you and for your family? I can help and it's 100% FREE. No gimmacks and no hidden anything.

To your health.

Bill                                                             

Facts to Ponder

If these sobering statistics touch you the way they touched me, they will make you even more impassioned about making the choice to eat predominantly vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds and avoid animal products. The foods you put in your mouth today really do influence the world of tomorrow. Here are some of the facts about meat production I learned at the conference:

1)     Raising livestock and their by-products account for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

2)     Thirty percent of the entire land surface of Earth is devoted to livestock production, including plants used to feed the livestock.

3)     Replacing meat with plant-derived sources of calories and protein could reduce the land area required to feed the human population by more than 80 percent and recover about 25 percent of the land for restoration, solar energy capture, or other eco-friendly purposes.

4)     Between 23-30 percent of our global ecological footprint comes from agriculture, primarily livestock production.

5)     Beef takes 70 times more land to produce than vegetables.

6)     80 percent of the world’s soy production is consumed by livestock.

7)     About 50 percent of the world’s grain supply is used to feed livestock. This is while almost 11 million children, who live in the countries where these feed grains are grown, die ironically of hunger each year.

8)     In 2009, for the first time, the number of people suffering from hunger exceeded 1 billion. This doesn’t include people facing hunger shortages from natural disasters.

9)     If all 6.78 billion people on Earth began consuming as many animal products as residents of the United States, we would need over 3 planet Earths to meet the demand. If all people on Earth became vegetarians, less than one Earth would be needed to meet food demands.

The land and resources required in the production of animal products is startling.   It is sad to think about how many people are starving in the world, while most of the soy, wheat, and corn grown around the globe are fed to livestock.

To your health,

Bill

Don't Rush it!

 

Too many people set unreal expectations for their journey. It's important to set goals and to know where you want to go. I used to think that I worked out for 30 minutes I must have lost tons of weight. I would check the scales and no lost! I was bummed and wondered how much more I needed to do to see a lost on the scales. My goals were unreal. I needed to think in terms of days or even a week for a real weight lost. But, when  I ate properly and exercised at a vigorous pace I could see pounds lost almost everyday. It takes a lost of 3500 calories for a 1 pound lost.

We think in terms of calories in and calories out, which is pretty true, however, calories are not equal. For example, 400 calories from a steak is not the same as 400 calories from vegetables. First off, the veggies will fill you completely and offer your body nutrition to feed off of, while the steak ends up rotting your stomach. It's what we eat and how our bodies metabolize the food. Exercising helps raise the metabolizing within our systems. We need to set long term goals, realize it will take time and discipline to lose your weight. It can be done and you can see results very quickly.  If you get at it and begin moving and eating the right foods.

Eating beans, salads, fruits and smoothies will start your program. No calorie counting, just watch the scale. If you begin walking or exercising you will see more lost quicker. Contact me at greiner0112@gmail.com for details and specific foods that will boost your metabolism and begin  offering nutrition for your system to digest. Don't rush the process, but rather begin to learn more about your body and the way it works. The journey is wonderful and so worth it!! You will prevent diseases and cancer. It's time to stop the sickness and welcome in health, to begin breaking the addiction to bad foods.

To your health,

Bill

My story...

I started my journey because I was overweight. Really I was obese at 268 pounds for my 5'10"frame. I had heartburn so bad I needed meds and high blood pressure. One time people around me thought I was having a heart attack and sent me to the hospital ER. Another time I was in the Doctor's office with high blood pressure so bad he thought I was stroking out! Are you kidding me? I felt fine, what's the problem?

 So I was placed on blood pressure meds but thought, I was too young at 54 to start that. I accepted my fate but wanted off the meds. My wife had been working out in the morning before work. Who gets up at 5:30 to work out and get tired before work? Not me! That spring I decided to build a deck in my back yard with a friend. Two weeks later the eck was done and I had lost some weight. YES!

I began walking in the morning, I couldn't bring myself to full out exercising at 5:30 A.M. but I could walk around the block with the dog. I lost more weight. What? One afternoon I entered our guest bedroom where the treadmill was and got on. I did 15 minutes and thought I was "FIT." The next day I did it again, only this time I was tired and sore. Okay, maybe not fit. I made a pact with myself to lose weight and get serious. By fall, I had lost 43 LBS and was hooked! Give me a routine at, you guest it, 5:30 A.M.! Everyday my wife and I climbed on either a treadmill or elliptical for 30 full minutes of hard work. It was then I discovered Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live book from a friend who was going by the book as well.

This book was radical, eat fruit and veggies all day, no meat for the first six weeks! I thought that kind of diet was for freaks! Not me! However, I read the book in one weekend and I was ready to take the six week challenged. I was going to prove whether a person could lose 20+ pounds in that time. Eat as much as you want at a meal but no snacking. WAIT... eat as much as you want? No way, I had been dieting and watching my calories and all that. Now I can eat like a horse and lose weight? I dug in at meal time. My salads looked enough food for 3 people. Guest what? Each day I lost weight. The second week my body began to detox itself. That was a rough time, it hurt and you go through a withdrawal period from food addiction. I was addicted to meat, junk food and crap like heavy duty ice cream. The third week I was cruising along with my mighty man meals and losing weight almost everyday. By week six, I had lost 23 pounds! I felt great and could exercise for longer periods, in fact I loved getting up at 5:00 to begin working out before work and then coming home and doing some weights or easy workout for kicks. I decided to keep eating this way after the six week challenged because I felt better than I had in years. Two months into this lifestyle I was off all meds! It is true!

I was not on a diet but a new way of life. I had heard of making a lifestyle change but I never really thought about what that meant or gave in to committing to changing forever. I mean, hold the presses... no meat again? No more ice cream? Why keep living? Weight lost or no weight lost. That was a sad day. But wait a minute, I was healthy and fit. Felt great and looked great, what was the problem? I decided to re-read the book again, maybe there was something I missed. Not really. Except the 90/10 rule... 90% veggies and 10% meat each week if you had to keep eating meat. By this time (8 weeks into it), I didn't care to eat meat any longer. I was a vegetarian, pretty much a vegan but called myself a Nutritarian. I ate for nutrition! Eat to feed my body, not just anything but foods that fed me in such a way that my body used the calories for nutrition. I lost 99 pounds all totaled. Went from a high BMI of 31 to 23.4.  I used to buy pants online only, couldn't find my size in stores. Today, I buy all my clothes in stores and shopping is a new addiction for me.

I will post before and after pictures, recipes and secrets I've learned along the way in future blogs. I have met great people who are  or was on a journey too. People support people trying to get healthy.  I can help you! Give you support and insight to getting healthy and losing the addiction to bad foods. Are you ready? Interested? Curious? Let me know. I'm not in it for money, so it's FREE. I'm paying it forward to those who helped me get healthy. I'm 3 years into my journey and have a new lifestyle, a new fit body and loving life! How about you?

To your health!
Bill