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Nosh

Protein: How Much Is Enough?

Protein helps you slim down. Protein causes kidney stones. Protein gets you jacked. Protein gives you cancer. Protein makes your hair beautiful. Protein will renew your energy—until it snuffs out your life like a small flame smothered by a juicy, 16-ounce T-bone steak.
Confused? That’s entirely reasonable. The thing is, nutritional information is confusing. At different times, you’ve probably heard some variation of every single one of the above health claims.

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How can you sort out the truth? It’s tough—like trimming off that last piece of gristle—but it can be done.

So, protein. Let’s talk basics.

Protein is the macronutrient needed to build and repair tissues (like muscle), maintain healthy bones, and keep your body processes running smoothly. (Macronutrients are the nutrients our bodies require a lot of, and there are two more of them: fats and carbohydrates.) Protein also provides the body with energy (calories) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).
Most of the body’s protein is in the form of muscle protein. Muscles make up about half your body weight.

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The most concentrated sources of protein are meat and dairy products, but you can also find it in nuts, seeds, legumes, grains, vegetables, and soy products.

What are the benefits of protein?

In addition to building and maintaining your body, this macronutrient helps reduce your hunger levels and overall caloric intake. In a 2014 study published in Nutrition Journal, researchers compared afternoon snacks of high-protein yogurt, high-fat crackers, and high-fat chocolate. Study subjects were healthy women around the age of 27. The women who ate the high-protein yogurt felt less hungry in the afternoon than those who ate the chocolate. The yogurt-consuming group also ate less for dinner than those who ate chocolate or crackers.

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Upping protein also helps combat the effects of aging. According to a meta-analysis published earlier this year, added dietary protein significantly improved muscle strength and size in healthy people doing resistance exercise training, and older adults were especially in need of higher protein diets to see these changes. The data came from 1,863 participants in 49 studies, each a randomized controlled trial lasting no shorter than six weeks.
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“People often lose function as they get older. Not because they’re just old—it’s because they’ve decreased physical activity, decreased the physical and nutritional efforts required to support muscle development or retention, and this accelerates a variety of processes that increases overall muscle loss,” Matt Stranberg, registered dietitian nutritionist, licensed dietitian nutritionist, and certified strength and conditioning specialist, tells HealthyWay.
“Eating more high-quality protein, eating sufficient calories, and engaging in weightlifting or some form of external resistance helps people maintain their bones and muscle mass so they don’t run into nasty situations, like dangerous falls, bone disorders, bone breaks, and decreased overall quality of life,” he says.

How much protein do you need?

Some corners of the internet would have you believe your evenings must be spent scarfing down protein shakes and whole chicken breasts while drinking from a gallon jug of water in order to achieve protein goals, but this is not the case.

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According to Samantha Scruggs, a registered dietitian and licensed dietitian and nutritionist, “We see a pop culture phenomenon encouraging the intake of huge amounts of protein in the diet, which can be helpful in certain situations … but it is not necessary to eat that much protein.”
“The … Dietary Reference Intakes [recommended amount of protein] for adults is about 46 grams per day for women ages 14 to 70 years, and 52 to 56 grams per day for men of the same age range,” says Becky Kerkenbush, a registered dietitian. “Pregnant and lactating women need more—about 71 grams per day.”
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But more and more evidence suggests that the federal guidelines for protein intake, while sufficient, are not optimal, specifically for active or aging adults.
Stranberg, who works in an outpatient treatment program for athletes, notes that there’s a range. “The research literature usually states that the upper limit is 0.8 grams [of dietary protein] per pound [of body weight], or two grams per kilogram. That’s typically where most researchers agree is the optimal upper-limit amount, and that anything more than that is not necessarily required and could have negative effects, such as displacing carbohydrates and fats required to fuel performance,” he says.
However, he adds, “Some research and a lot of practitioners have seen benefits from 2.2 grams per kilogram, which is a gram per pound, and some amounts greater than this in hypocaloric [calorie-deficit] situations. Amounts greater than 0.8 grams [per] pound are thus worth exploring for some individuals interested in experimenting with higher protein protocols.”
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Context is crucial. “If you are exercising regularly, if you’re engaging in sports, if you are old, or if you’re recovering from an injury, or you are experiencing a disease, you’re probably going to need more than the RDA [Recommended Dietary Allowance],” says Stranberg.
Another time to aim for the upper end of the protein spectrum is when you’re trying to lose weight. “So there’s maintenance calorie intake; there’s hypocaloric, which is a deficit; hypercaloric, which is above your maintenance. If you eat maintenance or hypercaloric, it decreases protein needs, and the more hypocaloric you are—meaning the more calorie-deficit you are—the higher the protein needs become,” says Stranberg.


“The purpose of a calorie deficit, ideally, is to maintain muscle mass, minimize muscle loss, and maximize fat loss,” he says, “Higher protein intake, in this context, often decreases chances of muscle loss, increases calorie expenditure from thermic effects, and promotes much needed satiety during a deficit.” Dropping pounds will inevitably lead to some muscle loss, but eating extra protein helps you hold on to as much of that precious tissue as possible.

What is a protein deficiency?

There are two types of extreme protein deficiency. Marasmus, from the Greek term meaning to wither, is a deficiency of both protein and calories in one’s diet and is characterized by an emaciated look. Kwashiorkor—a word from the Kwa languages of coastal Ghana—is a deficiency in protein without a deficit in calories, characterized by a bloated appearance. These severe cases are most common in countries without access to protein-rich foods; in the United States, they’re rarer and are concentrated in poorer areas and hospital settings.

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Keith-Thomas Ayoob, registered dietitian, Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and associate clinical professor emeritus of the Department of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, says some populations might experience protein deficiencies at higher rates than others.
Deficiencies may show up on either side of the age spectrum. Teens, who are notorious breakfast skippers, are more likely to lack in the protein department, and seniors, too, as the variety of health problems and medicine they take may affect their appetites. (Medications that can cause a loss of appetite include those that treat cancer, depression, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and attention deficit disorder.)
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Deficiencies can also occur in cases of disordered eating, eating disorders, and fad diets. “Every single month, there’s some celebrity—people are like, ‘How’d you lose weight? How did you do it?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m following my grapefruit diet, where I just abuse amphetamines all day long and then have a grapefruit for dinner!’” says Stranberg. “These juice cleanses and raw vegans and faddish diets, [they] can significantly increase risk for deficiencies and not getting enough protein to support your needs.”
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When it comes to feeding your body, there is no magic bullet. “You can’t neglect the fundamentals of nutrition: You need proteins, carbs, fats, macronutrients and micronutrients, and enough overall calories to support your body,” says Stranberg. “Failure to do so will cause severe consequences.”

How should we be eating protein?

To meet your needs, focus on a variety of high-quality proteins. Be sure not to try and cram it all in at once.
“Your body cannot use much more than about 30 to 35 grams of protein at a particular meal, so it needs protein throughout the day, not just a big blast at dinner,” says Ayoob. “Excess protein at a meal will just be used to burn calories or be stored as fat for the future.”


Some people have trouble with the heaviness of protein. Dairy foods like milk, Greek yogurt, cheese, and eggs, Ayoob says, are easy to chew, economical, suitable for breakfast, easily tolerated, and overall, the highest-quality proteins around.
Healthy high-protein options include:

  • Lean ground beef—“Lean beef is loaded with iron, which dairy foods do not have. Beef also doesn’t have to take long to cook either, depending on the cut,” says Ayoob. It can offer around 23 grams of protein per three-ounce serving.
  • Turkey breast—You can try it in tacos as a flavorful substitute for ground beef, and it boasts similar numbers for the amount of protein per serving.
  • Tuna—Yellowfin tuna in particular has some of the highest protein content of any seafood with 25 grams per three-ounce serving.
  • Pork chops—Add a side of applesauce to make a meal that feels like the comfort food of your childhood (with 23 grams per three ounces to boot!).
  • Tofu—The vegetarian staple offers a solid 10 grams of protein per half cup and is easy to bake or fry to perfection.
  • Lentils—With 18 grams in every cup, lentils are a cheap and plentiful supply for protein.
  • Greek yogurt—Every three ounces comes with about 8.5 grams of protein; it’s perfect as part of a veggie dip or as a sour cream substitute.
  • Milk—Both cow’s milk and soy milk (each eight grams per cup) are great options for easy-to-consume protein.

“I don’t think anyone would say that the red meat from KFC or McDonald’s is equivalent to a grass-fed steak that you buy at Whole Foods,” Stranberg points out.

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“The reason why people have problems when they eat a lot of meat in the United States is not necessarily because of very specific foods, but rather because they’re eating out of balance, deriving protein from a lot of meat that’s also high in sodium, high in additives, high in saturated fat, and not eating any fruits or vegetables or whole grains or anything to balance that out. When individuals choose high-quality protein sources, in addition to eating a well-balanced, micronutrient-rich diet, potential consequences regarding eating meat are frequently ameliorated.”
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“If you eat animal-based sources, these always have all of the essential amino acids, including leucine, which is one of the amino acids that is critical to maximizing muscle protein synthesis,” says Stranberg. “So, if you are eating plant-based protein sources, you need to educate yourself on how to eat complete proteins and obtain the amount of leucine required at each meal to maximize protein synthesis and decrease risk of missing essential amino acids.” Getting complete proteins as a vegan often means combining foods—like rice with beans or hummus with pita.
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Protein deficiencies are rare, but you still should follow the appropriate intake recommendations to build muscle, maintain your energy levels, and feel fully satiated. Fortunately, you have plenty of protein-rich, healthy foods to choose from that will make your body, and your mouth, happy.

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In the Kitchen Nosh

5 Healthy Salad Dressings To Kick-Start Summer Salad Season

Eating your greens is so much easier when they’ve been tossed with a delicious, healthy salad dressing. Although it can be tempting to grab your favorite bottled dressing in a pinch, chances are good that it’s filled with outrageous amounts of sodium, sugar, and unhealthy fats or that you’ll go over the recommended serving size.
The following healthy salad dressing recipes contain nutritious, easy-to-find ingredients such as extra-virgin olive oil, Greek yogurt, fresh garlic, and avocados to kick your salad game up a notch. Making your own healthy salad dressings at home doesn’t require any special equipment (except a blender or food processor, in some cases).
If you can follow a recipe and measure out a few basic ingredients, you’ll be concocting your own dressings and vinaigrettes in no time.

Healthy salad dressings (and salads) begin with quality ingredients.

A salad is only as good as the ingredients it’s made from, and that goes for salad dressings and vinaigrettes too.
Michele Anna Jordan, salad maven and author of Vinaigrettes and Other Dressings: 60 Sensational Recipes to Liven Up Greens, Grains, Slaws, and Every Kind of Salad shares her advice on crafting the perfect simple salad:

Let’s take the simplest green salad. First, I use the best greens I possibly can, and here in Sonoma County I have so many options. I like a mix of crisp lettuces, fresh herbs (Italian parsley, sorrel, thyme) and then season them with kosher salt. Next comes good olive oil, followed by a bit of acid (vinegar or citrus). Sometimes I’ll add a secondary dressing to this, typically something like fresh grapefruit juice, ground cardamom, salt, pepper and olive oil. People who try this call it the best salad they’ve ever had, but it all begins with fabulous greens.

She also cautions against using cheap, imitation ingredients, particularly balsamic vinegar. “I should add that I am not a fan of balsamic vinegar on everything. The cheap versions (which are not the real thing) are full of sugar and I rarely like to combine savory and sweet flavors. I think for the most part, balsamic vinegar degrades a dish,” she explains.
When it comes to oils and vinegars used in salad dressings or vinaigrettes, it’s best to buy the highest quality that you can afford and then use sparingly. Look for extra-virgin oil whenever possible (this means the oil has been extracted from the first pressing) and vinegar without added sugar or caramel coloring so that their flavors truly shine through in the salad.

A Few Basic Healthy Salad Dressing Tips Before You Get Started

Store homemade salad dressing in a covered container in the fridge or freezer (like these adorable YINGGG Squeezy Portable Salad Dressing Bottles or OXO’s classic Salad Dressing Shaker and Dispenser), and always give the dressing a good shake before using. Make sure you get in the habit of tasting as you cook, as you might need to make seasoning adjustments or you might get inspired to experiment with unconventional (but still super-tasty) ingredients.
Jordan is a big fan of unexpected salad dressing ingredients: “I think fresh grapefruit juice surprises people, as do either cardamom pods and ground cardamom. I typically keep a bottle of apple cider vinegar with cardamom pods in my pantry. Lots of flavor, no calories or very few, and so very simple.”
The most important thing to keep in mind when you’re making homemade salad dressings? It’s all about experimenting with ingredients to find the right balance; keep tasting the salad dressing until you find the correct ratio and the exact flavor you’re looking for.
Now that you’re ready to take on summer salad season, here are some healthier salad dressing recipes to get you started.  

5 Healthy Salad Dressing Recipes to Pair With Your Favorite Greens

Basic Oil and Vinegar Dressing

From organic microgreens to bagged iceberg lettuce, this basic oil and vinegar dressing brightens up any green salad it touches.
Made with extra-virgin olive oil, which has been linked to a reduction in cardiovascular disease for high-risk individuals, this dressing will keep in the fridge for several months. So feel free to double (or even triple!) the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp. white sugar (optional)
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • ½ tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Special equipment:

  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Blender (or a small mixing bowl and whisk if not using a blender)

Method:

  1. Add all of the red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper to a blender or small mixing bowl. Blitz or whisk to combine.
  2. Remove the feeder cap from the blender lid and slowly add the olive oil to the red wine vinegar mixture (or simply add to the salad dressing in the bowl), blending or whisking until the dressing has completely emulsified.
  3. Taste the salad dressing and adjust the salt and pepper if needed.

Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

Use this versatile lemon basil vinaigrette on bean salads, pasta salads, as a dip for steamed artichoke leaves, or in salade Niçoise. Garlic-lovers will enjoy the punchy flavor a clove of garlic (or three!) adds to this recipe, especially considering the fact that garlic has long been recognized for its anti-microbial effects on potentially harmful bacteria in the body.
This dressing will keep in the fridge for up to four days (but fair warning: The garlic grows increasingly pungent over time).

Ingredients:

  • Juice of half a lemon (about 2 Tbsp. of lemon juice)
  • 1 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
  • 1½ cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves, stems removed
  • 1–3 cloves of garlic (use 1 clove of garlic if you plan on storing this dressing for more than a day)
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • ½ tsp. freshly cracked black pepper

Special equipment:

  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Blender

Method:

  1. Add the lemon juice, sherry vinegar, fresh basil leaves, garlic, salt, and pepper to the blender. Blitz until roughly combined
  2. With the blender running, remove the feeder cap and carefully pour the extra-virgin olive oil through the hole. Blend until the ingredients are completely emulsified.
  3. Taste the salad dressing and adjust the salt and pepper if needed.

Creamy Ranch-Style Greek Yogurt Salad Dressing

If you’re a fan of ranch dressing but are less than thrilled by its fat content, this recipe is for you! Using plain low fat Greek yogurt in lieu of most of the mayo adds protein and calcium while still giving plenty of creamy texture to the dressing.
Despite its misleading name, buttermilk (which is partly responsible for ranch dressing’s tangy flavor) is low in fat, and if you have leftover buttermilk it can be frozen in ice cube trays and used in smoothies and other recipes calling for buttermilk.
This recipe will keep in the fridge for up to three days. Just give it a quick stir before serving over a green salad, with coleslaw, or as a vegetable dip.

Ingredients:

Special equipment:

  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Medium-sized mixing bowl
  • Whisk

Method:

  1. Add all of the ingredients, except for the buttermilk, to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
  2. Slowly add the buttermilk, beginning with ⅓ of a cup, to the rest of the ingredients. Keep whisking and adding buttermilk until you reach the correct consistency (pourable but still thick and creamy). Add less buttermilk if you wish to use this recipe as a dip.

Ginger–Tamari Salad Dressing

Use this brightly flavored salad dressing on Asian-inspired slaws, lightly steamed snap peas or edamame, or on cold soba or rice noodle salads. The proven health benefits of ginger are numerous, although it’s especially known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-nausea properties (particularly in cases where the use of drugs isn’t advisable, such as during pregnancy or chemotherapy treatment).
Deeply flavorful and darker in color than soy sauce, tamari is a Japanese condiment that is usually gluten-free. (Check the label to make sure.) It can be found in the Asian or international foods section of most grocery stores or you can purchase this gluten-free version online.
This salad dressing can be kept in the fridge for up to three days, but remember that the garlic taste will grow stronger the longer it sits.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp. tamari
  • 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp. finely chopped or grated fresh ginger
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 1 Tbsp. dark sesame oil
  • 1 Tbsp. honey
  • 1 Tbsp. grapeseed or other neutral-tasting oil

Special equipment:

  • Measuring spoons
  • Small mixing bowl
  • Whisk

Method:

Add all of the ingredients to a small mixing bowl and whisk until combined.

Green Goddess–Style Salad Dressing with Avocado

The original recipe for Green Goddess salad dressing contained a rather alarming amount of mayonnaise that was mixed with anchovies, herbs, and scallions. Since then, the recipe has evolved to the point that it would probably be unrecognizable to its inventor, executive chef Philip Roemer of San Francisco’s Palace Hotel.
This version of Green Goddess dressing doesn’t contain mayonnaise but instead uses avocado and Greek yogurt for a creamy texture and rich mouthfeel. Avocados are packed with heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, which have been shown to reduce bad cholesterol and normalize blood pressure in animal studies.
Use Green Goddess dressing on butter lettuce and cucumber salads, on top of grilled salmon, or as an elegant dip for crudités. This recipe is at its best when made in a food processor, and the avocado and fresh herbs turn the dressing a gorgeous shade of green.
This salad dressing is tastiest the day it was made, but it can be stored in the fridge for up to two days if necessary.

Ingredients:

  • 1 ripe avocado, skin removed and cut into quarters
  • ½ cup Greek yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • ½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 cup fresh herbs (try using a mixture of basil, parsley, and watercress)
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt

Special equipment:

  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Food processor
  • Silicone or wooden spatula

Method:

Add all of the ingredients to the food processor and blitz until smooth, scraping down the sides with a spatula as needed.
Going green has never tasted so good! Try these healthier salad dressing recipes for yourself and let us know which one is your favorite by tagging us in your foodie photos on Instagram: @itsthehealthyway.

Categories
Nosh Nutrition x Advice

How To Start A Food Blog, According To Successful Food Bloggers

Wanted: A woman who loves food. But we mean really loves food—not just eating it and Instagramming the prettiest of plates. We’re talking about passionate foodies who love to cook and create recipes and whose happiest moments are watching others enjoy their food. If you love to prepare meals and get creative in the kitchen, or if you have a unique take on healthy eating, wouldn’t it be nice to share your wisdom with others in a cooking blog or recipe blog?
The world of food blogging is a veritable buffet, with a style and design for every palate. But what separates the creme de la creme of food blogs from the ones that get lost in the shuffle? We’ve spoken to the minds behind some of the best food blogs to get the scoop on their recipes for success and have rounded up their top food blogging tips for starting a successful food blog and building a brand around it.

The Decision to Start a Food Blog

Making the decision to start a food blog, nutrition blog, or cooking blog (or a combo of all three) is the first step. And there is no template for who is the perfect fit. The common denominator among the best food blogs, however, tends to be a passion for creativity and health-conscious recipes.
“My husband gifted the blog to me as a creative outlet from a job I was really enjoying,” says Sara Forte, creator of Sprouted Kitchen. “I taught myself how to cook, and the blog was a means of sharing that process.” Sprouted Kitchen is the love project between Forte and her husband, Hugh.
Sara’s passion for food stems from her experience working in grocery stores and on farms, which taught her the valuable lesson of eating seasonably. Her aim is to make “healthy-ish” foods more accessible and easy to fit into everyday life by promoting produce, whole grains, healthy fats, and natural sugar alternatives.
She and Hugh, who handles the photography, have taken on the blogosphere together, and they also released a cookbook, Sprouted Kitchen: A Tastier Take on Whole Foods.
Brittany Mullins, health coach, personal trainer, and creator of eating bird food, considers herself to be more of a promoter of healthy living. Her food blog tackles not just recipes but also provides workouts and practical life advice, which has helped her create a health-focused website and community as well.
For Eve Fox, creator of The Garden of Eating, food blogging became a healthy outlet during a particularly difficult time in her life. “I was struggling with infertility,” she says. “I’d just lost my third pregnancy and felt tired, sad, and hopeless—in hindsight, I was depressed.”
She was lucky enough to have had a sympathetic boss who let her take a month off.
Being at home with all this time on her hands led her to begin cooking and canning. “I decided I should write about what I was up to in case others found it useful or interesting.” Today the blog is focused around good food from start to finish: growing, producing, procuring, cooking, and, of course, eating.
Jaime Hausler’s blog, Balanced Bella, came to life after she was inspired on Instagram by all the delicious food pictures that filled up her feed. “I remember thinking, ‘This looks fun and I’d love to do something like this,'” she says. “The more I started reading other people’s blogs, the more I realized I could do something like this.”
When Hausler started the blog, she was newly vegan and was falling in love fast with the wonders of plant-based eating. For her, this went so much further than salads.
From making caramels out of dates to frosting out of avocado, the flexibility and creativity in the world of plant-based food never ceased to amaze her. The more she created, the more her imagination grew and inspired her to test the boundaries of plant-based foods to make vegan eating more approachable.

How to Start a Food Blog People Won’t Forget

More than just having a great idea, the actual execution of the food blog itself contributes to the success.
The first piece of advice is to find your voice and get personal. “There are so many food blogs now. I only read the ones where I am invested in the blogger’s perspective or point of view,” says Forte. There is no shortage of recipes online, so adding a bit about who you are will set you apart. “We try to add pieces of our family, life experience, travel, etc.”
Keeping consistency is another secret to success. Once your readers get to know you and like you, they are going to want to hear from you regularly. “Posting regularly—once a week or more—is crucial,” says Fox.

Creating Food Blog Content

Voice and consistency are extremely important, but it goes without saying that the content needs to be top quality. For many food bloggers who focus on nutrition, this involves reinventing classics to give them a healthy spin or, in many cases, coming up with innovative and unique recipes.
[pullquote align=”center”]“My hope has always been to share healthy-ish recipes than anyone could make. Sure, I want them to be beautiful, but first, useful and approachable.
—Sara Forte of Sprouted Kitchen[/pullquote]
“My hope has always been to share healthy-ish recipes than anyone could make,” says Forte. “Sure, I want them to be beautiful, but first, useful and approachable.”
And for those of you who are worried you need to be professionally trained to be a food blogger, rest easy. “I am not a trained cook. Nothing I make is complicated or takes specific skills,” adds Forte. “I like to deconstruct dishes I’ve had at a restaurant or read on a menu.”
Mullins takes her childhood favorites and revamps them to put a healthy spin on them. “I love creating copycat recipes of meals I enjoy, or store-bought items,” she says. For example, she loves a healthy sweet potato casserole recipe because it’s a revamped version of her mother’s classic.
For Hausler, inspiration comes from all over the map. “One time I was riding the subway in New York and saw a picture of food,” she says. “The subway was moving so quickly that I didn’t get a chance to see what the picture was. Nonetheless, I let my imagination and hungry stomach fill in the blanks and I created my potato cakes with onion and kale recipe.”
She also says her reinventions of classics are fun to work with, such as her raw snickers and black bean brownies or her gluten-free pancakes and vegan meatballs.

Food blogs are built on beautiful photographs.

The food world today is about feasting with all the senses, as so much of eating is about visualizing. People eat with their eyes first, so any successful food blog ranks beautiful photographs as almost equivalent to the recipes themselves.
[pullquote align=”center”]“You might be the most tech-savvy person, but if your writing is boring and your photographs are subpar, nobody will stick around to read the next post.
—Jaime Hausler of Balanced Bella[/pullquote]
“Visuals and good writing are the two most important components,” says Hausler. “You might be the most tech-savvy person, but if your writing is boring and your photographs are subpar, nobody will stick around to read the next post.”
This is true both on the blog itself and on the social media platforms that promote your blog, like Facebook and Instagram. “Visuals are key to food blogging,” says Fox. “In many respects the photos are far more important than the recipes and the text that accompany them these days.”
Fox takes her own photographs and recommends shooting food in a spot in the house that offers the best light. “Sometimes that’s in one part of my dining room and sometimes it’s outside,” she says. “If it’s dark out, I use a great tabletop light for digital photography that mimics sunlight.” She recommends using a macro lens on the camera, which allows you to get close to the subject.
“I have specific days where I’m in the kitchen creating the recipes and taking photos of them,” says Mullins. “I have a big shelf in my office with props, and our coat closet is full of photography boards. When it’s time for a photoshoot, I bring out all the materials and transform my kitchen into a food photography studio.”
Hausler says the photography portion can be quite a process, as the scene has to be set just right. “No greasy fingerprints on the bowl, the distance between the fork and the plate makes a difference, the crumbs need to be strategically placed in order to make it look effortless, and so on and so on,” she says. “I have a cabinet where I keep certain dishes and silverware that I use solely for my photography.”

Is food blogging a sustainable career?

Is food blogging something you can quit your day job for? Can it be a full-time career instead of just a beloved hobby? Of course! Hard work, passion, and consistency can bring impressive and lucrative results. But the drive has to be there. And it will likely take a while to build yourself up to that point.
Fox consults with progressive non-profits and small businesses on digital advocacy, fundraising, and marketing. Mullins is a health coach and personal trainer with a background in digital marketing, though she was lucky enough to turn blogging into her full-time career within the last four years.
Hausler is a teacher but is leaving that job shortly to expand and pursue her blogging. And Forte was fortunate enough to have the rest of her side hustles stem from Sprouted Kitchen. She says her career is a collection of things, all based around food in some capacity.

Balancing Food Blogging With “Real Life”

Bloggers tend to be very busy people. It’s part of the creative mindset and not being able to sit still. As such, they tend to have incredibly full lives. But for someone to have a successful food blog, they have to treat it as its own full-time job.
That includes the promotion, marketing, social media, research, and actual content creation. Add to that having a social life, a second (or third) career, and in many cases, marriage and children, and it’s easy to see why successful food blogs are driven by the truly passionate.
“I want to soak up this time while my kids are young and obsessed with me, but I also really love working,” says Forte. “I have a strong pull to be both a worker and a mother, but I will say it is really tough to feel like you are doing both, or either, well. Both jobs require a lot. But I love what we get to do—work together and also have time with our kids.”
“Blogging is my full-time job,” says Mullins, “so I treat it as such. I work a traditional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule and try to be done with work when my husband gets home so we can hang out with our dog and have some quality time together.”
Hausler urges setting aside a certain number of hours each week to dedicate solely to the blog. “I’m in a transition myself, trying to get back into the blogosphere after being out of touch the past 10 months,” she says. “Once school ends, I will be sticking to a strict schedule for which everyone is on board.” For example, mornings are for her husband and son and the afternoons will be reserved for working on the blog.

Instagram and Food Blogs

Media—and the way we take it in—has changed dramatically in the wake of the widespread dominance of social media. And food blogging is no different. To have a successful food blog, it’s crucial to have a successful Instagram account as well.
“Blogs are still relevant as a resource, but I don’t think they are being consumed the same way at all,” says Forte. “I don’t have nearly the engagement there that I do on Instagram. That’s fine with me. I’m enjoying that platform, too, and in some ways it’s less work.”

Any leftovers for food blogs?

With such an oversaturation of food blogs, it’s difficult to imagine a niche yet to be filled. Fortunately, the creative minds don’t see it that way. And chances are if you’re thinking of starting a food blog, it’s because you have something unique to say about food.
“There is always, in my opinion, a niche that has yet to be filled,” says Hausler. “Kale, chia, and açaí are just some of the many superfoods which have saturated the market over the past decade. I think there will always be a new superfood that bloggers and readers aren’t able to get enough of. Being at the forefront of this is what makes a blogger good at their job.”

Categories
Nosh

Drinking "Raw" Water? Read This First.

At first glance, “raw water” sounds redundant. What’s more raw than water?
But over the last year, the raw water trend has garnered headlines from publications like The New York Times (a piece titled “Unfiltered Fervor“) and Time (“‘Raw Water’ Is a New Health Trend. But Is It Safe?”).

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The idea is simple: Instead of drinking treated, filtered water from the tap, humans should drink the “raw,” unfiltered water from natural sources. If you’re not seeing the issue there, then…well, we’ll let Chris Doyle, water quality program supervisor at SOLitude Lake Management, explain the dangers.
“I would never recommend anyone drinking surface water,” Doyle tells HealthyWay. “I really wouldn’t recommend drinking unfiltered water from any source unless it’s been properly tested by an analytical lab for contaminants … A lot of the negative consequences would be gastrointestinal. You can call it ‘discomfort,’ I guess, but it’s going to be an intestinal issue.”
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Enough said. But there’s another option: You can get safe, “raw” water delivered right to your door.
Mukhande Singh (born Christopher Sanborn, according to Slate), founder of raw water delivery service Live Spring Water, was interviewed by The New York Times earlier this year, and he says the newspaper’s coverage of the movement was misleading. Singh’s company delivers untreated spring water to the West coast in large crystal jugs; delivery starts at $16 per 2.5-gallon jug, with a four-jug minimum order.
“[The New York Times] came out and photographed me in Maui, and then they also went to our spring and photographed our spring and bottling facility,” Singh tells HealthyWay. “But instead of showing the spring—the covered spring head where the water comes out—they chose a photo of the creek downstream from the spring and also included a misleading caption that kind of alluded to the idea that we were just collecting potentially contaminated creek water. These huge major media outlets didn’t really give it an honest look.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/-jyfhMvG5W/?hl=en&taken-by=livespringwater
We decided to look deeper into the raw water trend to figure out what makes water safe—and whether there’s really any benefit to drinking water “straight from the source.”

First of all, you can’t simply drink any water that comes out of the ground.

Unless you have a superhuman immune system, water filtration isn’t optional.
“There’s three main sources of drinking water,” Doyle says. “There’s groundwater, which is usually an underground aquifer. There’s surface water, which would be something like a reservoir or a river. And then there’s rainwater. I think each one kind of has different challenges and potential toxins in it.”

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Live Spring Water comes from—you guessed it—a spring, and it relies on natural processes for filtration. That doesn’t mean it’s unfiltered.
“The mere fact that it’s being filtered through the ground, it certainly helps,” Doyle says. “A lot of the water treatment plants are facsimile of what the water is going through in the ground. But if you have contamination in the ground, or near the groundwater source, certainly contamination can get into the aquifer. That’s where you can have some issues.”
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In other words, water from springs or aquifers isn’t always safe, so independent testing is crucial. Doyle says any drinking water source should be regularly tested for parasites, bacteria, algae, and elevated levels of toxic substances.
“[Our water comes from] a covered spring head over a lava tube,” Singh says. “The whole town where our spring water is has been drinking this water, untreated, out of their taps for 100 years because they’re so confident in it. That, along with us testing each batch for harmful microbes, just really ensures safety and the highest quality.”
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Yes, you read that correctly; Live Spring Water is simply tap water from a small Oregon town. Singh is upfront about that fact, and he insists that his company charges a fair price for transporting and delivering their product.
“I think, a lot of times, people have an idea that they don’t want to pay for water,” he says. “I believe that water should be free—and water is free to us, but, you know, it definitely takes money to transport water and to ensure its quality and have a solid infrastructure to deliver that to people.”
Singh believes his product has sparked controversy because people misunderstand what he’s offering; every batch of Live Spring Water is independently tested, and Singh says he’d recommend carefully evaluating any water source before drinking from it.
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“Seeing some of these articles that say that we’re just getting water from potentially untested streams or lakes or things of that nature—like, yeah, that’s obviously going to spark some health concerns for some people when they read that,” he says.

Some “raw water” sources can be extraordinarily dangerous.

In a sense, then, Live Spring Water isn’t really “raw” at all; it’s expensive tap water from a natural source, properly tested to ensure safety. The company also makes some extraordinary health claims, but we’ll address those in a minute.

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First, we’d like to make something clear: Drinking water straight from a lake, river, or other surface water source is dangerous. While the most likely consequence of drinking “raw water” is diarrhea and intestinal discomfort, some water sources are more dangerous than others.
“A few high-profile algal blooms have occurred in Florida and Toledo in the last few years. Both of those were massive algal blooms, and the blooms themselves create toxins,” Doyle says. “There’s a whole list of different toxins, based on the different types of algae that’s producing the toxins. And they have a neurological impact, potentially causing ALS or Parkinson’s disease.”
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While the impact of algal blooms is still a subject of research, we know that there’s a disturbing link between certain neurological diseases and algal toxins.
And while intestinal discomfort might be a minor inconvenience to some, gastrointestinal issues can be dangerous to certain groups of people.
“Generally, your higher-risk populations are going to be at more risk,” Doyle says. “So if you’ve got a younger healthy person, a lot of times they might not even know [that their symptoms came from water contact]. You can sometimes get some of these bacterial issues while swimming, boating, or diving. But if you’ve got young children or pregnant women, the effects can be compounded.”
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If you really, really want to drink water out of a lake, portable products like LifeStraw provide EPA-compliant filtration, but they’re limited; LifeStraw, for instance, can’t remove viruses, chemicals, salt, or heavy metals.

Some raw water proponents claim untreated water has a host of health benefits.

Is there any benefit to drinking naturally filtered water?
To be clear, Live Spring Water is safe. We reviewed the company’s third-party tests (you can find them here as a PDF) and verified that they were legitimate. However, the company makes some claims that seem extreme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds9Do2p60MQ
A page on Live Spring Water’s site implies that probiotics in the product can reduce inflammation, metabolize heavy metals, slow the aging process, enhance mental performance, improve neurotransmitter balance, improve digestion, and support a healthy immune system. To support those claims, Singh sent us a probiotic testing report that found evidence of four bacteria: Pseudomonas oleovorans, Acidovorax spp., Pseudomonas putida, and Pseudomonas spp.
While the report verified that those bacteria were non-pathogenic, there wasn’t sufficient information to indicate that the microorganisms are especially beneficial. As Amesh Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told HealthyWay in June 2018, scientists are just starting to understand how the body’s microbiome works; there’s limited science to support probiotic therapies, and products that claim probiotic benefits should be treated with healthy skepticism.

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“We are in the infancy of understanding how to manipulate one’s microbiome,” Adalja said at the time.
Singh says his customers’ experiences show the health benefits of his product.
“You know, people feel amazing from the water,” he says. “We’re starting to realize how important gut health is and how important it is to have the right cultures in our gut and the right bacteria and the right balance. This is just another way to really strengthen our digestive system and the whole body.”


Singh says he believes in the natural filtration process.
“Spring water, the way we do it, is brought out of the Earth,” he says. “It’s the way nature created it. It’s got all of the natural minerals in it that we need, it’s what humans have been drinking for 99 percent of our existence, so it’s just—our bodies are perfectly biologically adapted to what we’ve been drinking for so long.”

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Ultimately, we couldn’t find scientific support for the purported probiotic benefits of the raw water movement. With that said, Live Spring Water is safe—truly “raw” unfiltered water isn’t.
If you’re going to drink water from a natural source, make sure it has been recently tested. If the tests look good, have at it, but you probably shouldn’t expect miraculous results.
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That doesn’t mean that the entire movement is completely without merit. If you’re willing to look carefully and scientifically at your water sources, you can avoid certain pollutants, which could conceivably improve your health. We’d recommend starting at the Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Database, which lets you quickly view testing information for your local water sources.

Categories
In the Kitchen Nosh

How To Make A Frittata

Frittata is an easy and elegant dish that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and even makes for great protein-packed leftovers that can be served hot or cold.

 

Ingredients

  • 6 eggs
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • 1 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup asparagus, cut into bite-size pieces
  • 1 cup peas
  • ¼ cup chopped scallions
  • 1 cup shredded provolone cheese
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Special Equipment

  • Cast iron pan
  • Wooden spoon or rubber spatula
  • Silicone brush

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat until well combined.
  3. Mix in the heavy cream and parmesan cheese.
  4. Salt and pepper the egg mixture to taste.
  5. Add the filling ingredients (asparagus, peas, scallions, and provolone cheese) to the egg mixture.
  6. Mix until well combined.
  7. Grease your cast iron pan (using a silicone brush will ensure an even coating—see tips on which oil to use and what to avoid below!).
  8. Pour the egg mixture into your cast iron pan.
  9. Use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to smooth the top of the egg mixture (an even depth will ensure even cooking throughout).
  10. Bake your frittata at 350° F for 25 to 35 minutes.
  11. When the eggs are set, remove it from the oven.
  12. Cut and serve.

Tips for Nailing the Perfect Frittata From 6 Culinary Pros

“Oh, the frittata! Just like the egg itself, there are literally hundreds of ways to make them, but not all are equal!” This frittata insight comes from Ken Immer, president and chief culinary officer of Culinary Health Solutions, who goes on to say, “The most important thing about the vessel, in my opinion, is that it should be heavy-duty enough so that it can be heated very hot so as to make a fabulous crust that doesn’t burn or stick to the pan.”
Chef J Jackson, aka Mr. Foodtastic—a private chef, speaker, caterer, and author— says a cast iron skillet is the ideal vessel for making frittata because it circulates heat well.
Your skillet will have to be greased quite liberally according to Immer, but he cautions against the quick and easy spray of Pam that might be your go-to. Why? It will burn almost instantly at the high heat that’s required to make a frittata, which will result in an unappealing aftertaste. Instead, opt for a minimum of one tablespoon of sunflower oil (or two if you’re using a particularly large pan).
Quick tip: If you don’t have a cast iron pan or would rather skip the hassle of cutting perfect portions, ladle your egg mixture into a muffin tin. Certified nutritional chef Melissa Eboli says, “Frittatas and frittata muffins are some of my signature dishes. I don’t only serve them up for brunch, but they are a popular item as appetizer selections for my events.”
When it comes to filling ingredients, registered dietician Amanda Baker Lemein of FEED Nutrition Consulting in Chicago says, “The more non-starchy vegetables, the better! These are filled with fiber, water, and many micronutrients, plus they add flavor and color.” Take Baker Lemein’s advice, and amp up your filling ingredient game by folding mushrooms or stem vegetables into your egg mixture.
Committed to reducing food waste? So are Rebecca Elbaum, clinical administrative dietitian at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, and Claudia Sidoti, head chef and recipe Developer for HelloFresh. According to Elbaum, “Frittatas are an excellent way to clean out the fridge. You can really fill them with anything you have around!” She likes to use spinach, tomatoes, and feta cheese, or black beans, corn, and cheddar cheese as filling ingredients.
Sidoti has another interesting idea. “One of my favorites is a pasta and veggie frittata where egg is used as the primary source of protein while it’s also the binder. It’s a great way to use up leftover pasta, too.”
Whether you’re making a vegetarian frittata or opt to add meat, ensure your filling ingredients are fully cooked, not raw, and are drained well. Uncooked veggies will still be crunchy when your eggs are set, and adding soggy veggies or greasy sausage crumbles can compromise the texture of your frittata.
Ready to serve your frittata? Jackson says you should loosen the sides by guiding a clean knife around its edges. “It should be very easy. Put a plate on top of the skillet. Place a hand on top and flip over. Saying a prayer prior sometimes helps!”
We suggest garnishing your frittata with homegrown herbs or edible flowers like chive blossoms that will pair well with its savory flavors.

How to Make a Frittata-Centric Meal

Elbaum says she likes to serve frittatas with a carb for a complete meal. Her go-tos? “A slice of whole wheat toast, mini bagel with avocado, or breakfast potatoes.”
Looking for something on the lighter (or more portable) side? Consider pairing a slice of frittata with a green smoothie for a meal that balances sweet and savory while including all the macronutrients you need.
On the hunt for other healthy options for breakfast and beyond? Check out our easy protein pancake recipes, learn everything you ever wanted to know about oats and stuffed bell peppers, or put your Crock-Pot (or Instant Pot!) to good use with four recipes that can be enjoyed any time of day (and all week long).

Categories
Favorite Finds Nosh

5 Edible Flowers To Try For Cooking, Baking, And Cocktail-Making

Thirty years ago, flowers were everywhere thanks to the influence of major cultural touchstones like fashion brand Laura Ashley and Donna Martin’s entire wardrobe in early seasons of Beverly Hills 90210. However, the floral trend wasn’t confined to the world of fashion. Edible flowers became a symbol of sophisticated haute cuisine; salads were strewn with violets and pansies while white wine spritzers were chilled with ice cubes containing suspended flower petals. Thankfully, along with all things floral and all things from the early ’90s, edible flowers are making a comeback!
Whether this is your first experience with the edible flower trend or it’s familiar territory, we’ll teach you how to buy and safely use flowers for cooking, baking, and cocktail-making.

Safety First: Buying and Selecting Edible Flowers

First things first: It’s important to buy flowers from reputable, organic farms and greenhouses specializing in edible flowers to ensure you’re consuming a product free from harmful pesticides and herbicides. Resist the urge to snip flowers from store-bought bouquets (there’s a good chance they’ve been sprayed with pesticides) and even from your own backyard (where there’s a chance the flowers may have inadvertently been exposed to pesticides).
Jan Billington, co-owner of Maddocks Farm Organics, an organic farm specializing in fresh edible flowers, is a firm believer in purchasing edible flowers from specialty farms for the taste alone. In particular, she loves the standout flavor of edible roses:
“Organic edible roses are a world apart from the insipid supermarket offering, which have no perfume and should most definitely not be eaten because the average florist rose has been sprayed up to 90 times with some very toxic chemicals. We grow the finest David Austin roses, and they all smell wonderful and all taste different. Some are sold to make chocolates; some [are sold for] jam, and we have just started working with a lovely little Cornish couple called Tinkture to make a rose gin. It is made with fresh rose petals, and the flavor is wonderful,” Billington tells HealthyWay.
Another advantage to buying edible flowers from specialty growers is the reduced risk of accidentally buying flowers that are inedible and/or poisonous. A 2017 article in The Guardian, “Tasty or toxic? Beware of the trend for edible flowers,” highlights the ways in which social media can inadvisably and accidentally promote the use of toxic flowers (narcissi, a beautiful flower that can cause painful sores and swelling, were used as an example). For more information on what to avoid, check out this list of 20 poisonous flowers.

Where to Buy Edible Flowers

Buying edible flowers from licensed growers will almost guarantee your flowers have been grown without the use of harmful pesticides in a sustainable, controlled environment. If you’re fortunate enough to live close to an edible flower farm you can actually visit the facilities and in some cases, pick your own flowers. Luckily, for those of us not in driving distance of an edible flower farm, there are still several options for ordering flowers online.
For a random assortment of fresh, hydroponically grown edible flowers, we love Melissa’s Assorted Edible Flowers (which uses next day air shipping in the U.S.).
If you’re in the United Kingdom, Maddocks Farm Organics will ship organic, fresh edible flowers via overnight courier.
Gourmet Sweet Botanicals specializes in fresh and crystalized edible flowers and will ship anywhere in the U.S. (and in Canada on certain days of the week) using FedEx Priority Overnight or UPS Next Day Air.

Using Edible Flowers in the Kitchen

Edible flowers are so much more than a garnish; preliminary research suggests some could be potentially rich sources of polyphenols and antioxidants, and they can be used to make tasty infusions, added to salads and other delicate dishes, or served as special ingredients in their own right.

“I love it when edible flowers are used as an ingredient within a recipe rather than just as a garnish on the side of the plate,” Billington says. “There are so many different flavors within the edible flower world, and this is often overlooked by chefs.”
If you want to explore the various flavors of edible flowers, try one of our top-five faves.

5 Beautiful (and Tasty!) Edible Flowers to Try

Rose Petals

Regularly used in Middle Eastern cooking, rose petals have a pleasant floral smell and taste. Use dried or fresh rose petals in your favorite gin-based cocktail, in this recipe for homemade harissa, or try them as a cute vegan topping for any dairy-free dessert!

Chive Blossoms

Chive blossoms are small purple flowers that have a faint, slightly sweet chive flavor. Use chive blossoms in a delicate salad with microgreens or try Billington’s favorite method. “Cutting chive flowers and steeping them in a white wine or white balsamic vinegar makes the most beautiful pink onion-flavored vinegar,” Billington says, “which is wonderful in salad dressing, and also extremely good for you.”

Violet Petals

Fresh violets add a gorgeous pop of purple to any salad or cocktail (an especially nice feature, as there are very few naturally-colored purple ingredients one can use to complement a green salad). The lightly perfumed taste of violets pairs well with sparkling wines such as prosecco and cava; try floating a single violet on top of the wine before serving.

Zucchini Blossoms

With their soft orange and yellow color, zucchini (or squash) blossoms taste like a milder version of summer squash. Zucchini blossoms are particularly delicious when they’ve been stuffed with delicate ricotta cheese and then gently pan-fried in olive oil or butter. For a gorgeous yet simple side dish, zucchini blossoms can be quickly sautéed and served with crème fraiche-spiked scrambled eggs.

Lavender

Lavender has a distinct, soapy taste that can quickly overpower all other flavors if it isn’t used judiciously. When used with a light touch, the taste of lavender is similar to that of mint and rosemary. Use small amounts of dried lavender in dough for cookies and scones, whipped into cream and butter, or as part of a dry rub for lamb and goat meat.
Now that you know which edible flowers are safe to consume, try using them yourself in this recipe for cold brew hibiscus flower iced tea.
Delightfully tangy and refreshing, homemade hibiscus tea (also called Agua de Jamaica, rosella, or sorrel depending on where you’re drinking it) is an easy way to enjoy the taste of edible flowers with very little effort. Dried hibiscus flowers can be purchased in Latin and Caribbean grocery stores, from greenhouses specializing in edible flowers, or online (we love these organic dried hibiscus flowers from Frontier Co-op). Unlike traditional iced tea, hibiscus tea doesn’t contain any strong bitter flavors and is free from caffeine (in fact, you’ll find cold brewed hibiscus tea tastes more like cranberry juice than tea).
This is a basic recipe for cold brew hibiscus flower tea, so for additional flavor try steeping slices of fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks, or fresh mint leaves with the hibiscus flowers. If you plan on serving this tea to guests, try doubling the recipe and making elegant hibiscus flower tea ice cubes with the extra liquid.

Cold Brew Hibiscus Flower Iced Tea

Yield: 4 Cups of Cold Brew Hibiscus Flower Iced Tea

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup dried hibiscus flowers
  • 4 cups cold water (filtered if possible)
  • Fresh ginger, mint, or a cinnamon stick (optional)

Special Equipment:

  • Measuring cup
  • Pitcher
  • Long-handled spoon
  • Large tea ball or infuser (such as this FORLIFE Capsule Infuser)
  • Fine-mesh sieve (if you don’t have a large tea ball or infuser)

Method:

  1. Add the dried hibiscus flowers to the tea ball or infuser and place in the pitcher (or add the dried hibiscus flowers directly to the bottom of the pitcher).
  2. Cover the dried flowers with cold water and gently stir with a long-handled spoon. Refrigerate for a minimum of 12 hours and up to 24 hours (remove the hibiscus at this point to prevent bitter flavors from developing).
  3. Remove the tea ball or infuser (or pour the loose tea through a fine-mesh sieve). Serve cold with plenty of ice. Cold brewed hibiscus iced tea can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.

Don’t be a late bloomer—hop on board and see what the edible flower trend is all about for yourself.

Categories
Nosh

The Best Foods To Eat To Alleviate Anxiety (And Which To Skip)

When we reach for that king-sized candy bar or order the extra-cheesy bread at dinner, it’s not like we’re dooming ourselves to a future of failure. However, it’s important to recognize that all the seemingly insignificant dietary choices we make throughout the day can actually have an effect on how we feel. Not just physically (anyone else feel like they have to be rolled away from the dinner table after a particularly heavy meal?), but also in terms of our mental state.
“Think about how certain meals make you feel,” says Alex Caspero, a registered dietitian and nationally recognized nutritionist. “Without even knowing the science behind it, we all know how different we feel after eating a donut versus eating a salad.”

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With Caspero’s and another registered dietitian’s expert input, we’ve outlined some of the worst food offenders that can potentially contribute to mental issues such as anxiety and “foggy brain,” and discovered some delicious alternatives.

Why It’s Important to Consume With Care

Before we dive into foods that may negatively affect our mental state, let’s first get into the science behind why food is so closely related with our mood.
“Food provides us with tons of nutrients, many of which are the precursors to our neurotransmitters, which work to communicate within our brain. How well these neurotransmitters communicate and what they communicate is affected by what we eat,” explains Lisa Hayim, a registered dietitian and founder of The Well Necessities and TWNtv.

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Some foods can trigger too much of a specific neurotransmitter, which can have a negative impact on our mental state. For example, glutamate—found in monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is an ingredient in many preservative-ridden foods—is a neurotransmitter that can be toxic to the brain in large doses.
Contrarily, lack of certain foods means our bodies aren’t sending enough of a specific neurotransmitter to our brains. For example, a neurotransmitter that we want more of is serotonin.
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“Anxiety is alleviated by serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates sleep and appetite, but also happiness. The lower [we are] in serotonin, the more anxious or depressed we may feel,” says Hayim. “Surprisingly, about 95 percent of serotonin is produced in the gut. That means that having a healthy gut is a key element to producing serotonin that gets delivered to the brain.”
[pullquote align=”center”]“There likely isn’t any blanket food that contributes to anxiety for all of us, as the gut is unique. Therefore, what works for one person doesn’t mean it will work for another. Each of our guts is different, and what’s there is just as important as what’s not there.”
—Alex Caspero, registered dietitian[/pullquote]
There are more factors at play aside from neurotransmitters, of course. Ultimately, it boils down to how certain foods are processed in our bodies and how that process affects our brain. Let’s get into some specifics.

Foods to Avoid Eating in Excess

We want to begin this section by saying that, while there are certain foods that generally ought to be avoided in excess, everyone’s body is different.

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“There likely isn’t any blanket food that contributes to anxiety for all of us, as the gut is unique. Therefore, what works for one person doesn’t mean it will work for another. Each of our guts is different, and what’s there is just as important as what’s not there,” says Caspero.
That said, repeatedly loading up on unhealthy foods can make us feel sluggish, tired, foggy-brained, and potentially anxious—all of which can affect numerous aspects of our lives.
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One of the more notorious culprits associated with a poor mental state is highly processed foods, which tend to be high in chemical preservatives, artificial flavors and colorings, trans fats, and MSG. The body struggles to process these foods adequately, and they tend to do very little in terms of our daily recommended vitamin, protein, and mineral intake. In other words, they’re largely empty foods.
[pullquote align=”center”]“With my clients, I like to recommend filling up on lots of plant-based foods while also allowing for treat foods, guilt-free, [since] guilt surrounding food can also increase negative feelings.”
—Alex Caspero, registered dietitian[/pullquote]
Both of our experts agreed that it’s best to avoid trans fats as much as you can. Trans fats are commonly found in fried foods, baked goods, partially hydrogenated foods like non-dairy shelf stable creamer, margarine, and salty snacks.
“Trans fats affect blood flow to the brain, and some studies have linked them to depression and anxiety,” Hayim says.
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When consumed in large quantities, coffee and artificial sweeteners can also contribute to increased anxiety.
“Coffee has some amazing nutritional benefits, but it also increases our production of cortisol, which is our ‘flight or fight’ hormone. This can make us feel jittery and can exacerbate anxiety,” says Hayim. “Artificial sweeteners, like those found in ‘diet’ products or in the pink, blue, or yellow packet, may destroy an otherwise healthy gut and reduce levels of serotonin, that feel-good hormone.”

Foods that Help Foster a Healthier State of Mind

Now that we’ve talked about foods you should avoid in excess, let’s dive into the foods that tend to have a positive effect on the gut and, therefore, our physical and mental health.

Salmon

First up is that delicious pink fish we all know and love: salmon.
“Salmon is rich in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), which are omega-3 fatty acids that play an important role in normal brain function,” says Hayim. “Several studies have also suggested that omega-3 fatty acids play a role in alleviating [linkbuilder id=”6755″ text=”depression symptoms”].”

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The American Heart Association recommends eating fatty fish, such as salmon, two or three times per week. When shopping, choose wild-caught, no-color-added salmon for the best nutritional effects.

Lentils

Hayim also recommends adding lentils to your diet, which are a plant-based protein that’s rich in folate. Studies indicate that folate plays a role in the production of mood-boosting neurotransmitters like serotonin.

Fermented Foods & Probiotics

Another type of food—or rather, a food genre—that’s good to regularly incorporate into your diet for an improved mental state is fermented food and probiotics.
“Eating fermented food can help to boost levels of good bacteria,” notes Caspero. “Sauerkraut with live cultures and non-heat-treated yogurt with live bacteria, kimchi, and kefir are all great options.”

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Consider this news the perfect opportunity to patronize your local German or Korean establishment.
“Additionally,” she says, “a daily probiotic can help reduce anxiety levels. Studies suggest that combination probiotics of the lactobacillus and bifidobacterium family can ease digestion, suppress ‘bad’ bacteria, and support the immune system.”

Turmeric

It may be an ultra-buzzy ingredient at the moment, but that’s for good reason. Turmeric contains a compound called curcumin, which has been shown to foster brain health and alleviate anxiety.

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A 2014 study has also shown it can boost levels of DHA (that omega-3 fatty acid also found in salmon that we talked about above) in the brain. Because of its high antioxidant levels, it’s good at keeping you healthy in general.

Adaptogens

Adaptogens can also help boost mental agility and reduce anxiety, says Caspero. An example of an adaptogen is an herb called rhodiola rosea.

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“Rhodiola rosea root extract helps to stabilize stress levels so the body can easy ‘adapt’ to physical and environmental strains,” says Caspero. “A UCLA study conducted in 2008 found that those who took the herb for 10 weeks found a significant improvement in their anxiety levels. I like HUM’s Big Chill supplement, which contains 500mg of rhodiola extract.”
Other adaptogens include holy basil, maca, and chaga and reishi mushrooms.

Chamomile

Now’s the perfect time to incorporate chamomile tea or chamomile extract into your nightly routine. This calming plant contains high levels of antioxidants, and studies have shown that it effectively reduces anxiety.
https://twitter.com/chillinlaidback/status/1007849910069334021
Many people have chamomile tea in the evening because it also helps coax them to sleep.

Shiitake Mushrooms

Shiitake mushrooms contain selenium and magnesium, two minerals that play a role in mood and are typically low in the Western diet,” says Hayim. “They also play a role in fighting inflammation.”

Final Note

Hopefully all the above helped further convince you of what you already know: It’s important to choose foods that fuel your mind and body versus blindly consuming. This article isn’t meant to force you into a rigid diet, but rather to encourage you to be more aware of what you’re putting into your body.

HealthyWay
iStock/andresr

“Enjoying vibrant, nutrient-rich food typically makes us feel more energized and therefore able to tackle the day in a different way. That’s not to say that you should avoid treats completely. Some research shows the pleasurable effects we get from eating a delicious food—say, an ice cream cone on a hot summer day—that actually improves mood, not decreases it,” notes Caspero. “With my clients, I like to recommend filling up on lots of plant-based foods while also allowing for treat foods, guilt-free, [since] guilt surrounding food can also increase negative feelings.”
HealthyWay
iStock/FatCamera

Basically, what we’re saying is that, while nobody can maintain a perfect diet, and while treats are okay in moderation, we ought to strive toward better care of our bodies and brains. So here’s to many days ahead that are filled with vibrant, colorful, plant-based diets and fewer processed foods.

Categories
Favorite Finds Nosh

Why Stem Vegetables Are The Hottest Trend In Mindful Eating

In the world of health and nutrition, everyone’s always looking for the next miracle food that will nurture our bodies and taste good going down. While no one can predict the next big healthy eating trend, we have a hunch about what it might be: Stem vegetables.
From their versatility to their abundance of nutrients and fiber to their delightfully earthy flavors, stem vegetables offer a lot to love. Here’s why you’ll want to load your plate full of edible stems.

What are stem vegetables?

The term “stem vegetables” might be new to you, but chances are you’re already eating them. Stem vegetables are quite literally the edible stems of plants, which chefs (and home cooks) treat as vegetables. (Think: asparagus, leeks, and celery).
“The term ‘stem vegetables’ is even new to many dietitians,” explains Robert Lazzinnaro, registered dietitian at Copeman Healthcare Centre in Vancouver. “It’s hard to say exactly where people are going with that term, but we would generally consider stem vegetables to be the classification for different vegetables based on the way they grow and what parts you eat.”
Essentially, stem vegetables are different from root vegetables and tubers in that you eat the parts that grow above ground rather than under the soil. (Although stem vegetables do pair nicely with roots and tubers!)
Did you know that you can actually eat the stems of many different types of vegetables? For example, broccoli stems can be sliced thinly and sauteed in sesame oil. With that being said, though, the stem vegetable definition tends to focus on plants that are largely just, well, stems and stalks. Broccoli wouldn’t fall under that classification because the flowering head is the primary part that’s eaten. Got it?
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Why You Should Eat Your (Stem) Vegetables

Unlike other veggies in your crisper, stem vegetables have the unique advantage of being almost entirely edible. (No de-seeding, skinning, or peeling necessary!)
“Stem vegetables are very well known for being entirely edible and not having to get rid of anything,” says Lazzinnaro. “I’m a big fan of sustainability and less food waste.”
As for health benefits, any vegetable (stem or otherwise) is a good vegetable, says Lazzinnaro. They all have fiber and valuable vitamins and nutrients that our bodies need.
“Whether you’re in the U.S. or Canada, the amount of vegetables we consume is actually pretty low,” he says. “If you like stem vegetables, even better because you can eat most of the plant and get those veggies in regularly.”
We found some compelling facts about certain stem vegetables that might just give you the motivation you need to stock them in your kitchen:

Asparagus

A half cup of this stem vegetable (a springtime favorite!) boasts more than a third of your recommended daily amount of folate. Also known as vitamin B9, this is an especially important nutrient for pregnant women to help foster development of the fetus.

Rhubarb

Fans of classic strawberry-rhubarb pie have a good excuse to take a second helping of this dessert, as rhubarb is a stem vegetable rich in vitamin K.

Celery

Researchers have discovered compelling evidence that celery extract might lower blood pressure. Talk about the power of stem vegetables!

Nopales

Nopales, or edible cactus, has high amounts of magnesium—and makes a creative vegetarian taco filling.

Creative Ways To Cook Stem Vegetables

The key to boosting your consumption of fresh veggies, including stem vegetables, is finding creative ways to make them taste great. So what’s the best way to cook edible stems?
“Just like cruciferous vegetables, stem vegetables taste great roasted and in stir-fry,” suggests Lazzinnaro.
If you’ve got big plans for summer grilling, you’re in luck: Some stem vegetables take on a smoky flavor and crisp texture when cooked on the barbecue.
“Asparagus is really awesome on the grill,” says Lazzinnaro.
You can also drink your stem vegetables by tossing them into a juicer. Keep in mind that juiced veggies contain less fiber than eating them whole, though.
If you find yourself just as addicted to edible stems as we are, don’t stop exclusively at stem vegetables. There are creative root-to-stalk cooking techniques that can work for the edible stems of all kinds of vegetables. (Remember the trick about slicing broccoli stems and sauteeing them? Trust us, it works.)
You can turn blanched kale stems into a flavor- and nutrient-packed pesto by tossing them into your food blender with a splash of olive oil, a handful of your favorite nuts, some garlic and lemon juice, and salt and pepper.
There’s always the option of turning the leftover stems of produce into a tasty vegetable stock. Then, toss in some chopped up stem vegetables, like celery, and make a healthy soup. Once you savor the dynamic flavor of homemade veggie stock, you’ll never want to use the store-bought stuff again.
Whether you’re just learning about them or you’ve been savoring them your whole life, stem vegetables can help you increase your vitamin, nutrient, and fiber intake—while reducing kitchen waste. And we consider that a win-win for mindful eaters everywhere.

Categories
In the Kitchen Nosh

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Stuffed Peppers (Plus 2 Recipes To Try At Home!)

Whenever I have a near-empty fridge, I make stuffed peppers. A fridge that is lacking in obvious ingredients forces you to get creative in the kitchen, and stuffed pepper recipes are a fantastic option when it comes to playing around with leftovers (from the fridge, freezer, and pantry). Think of bell peppers as a blank canvas just waiting to be filled with your favorite healthy ingredients!
We guide you through the entire process of making delicious stuffed peppers, from basic bell pepper prep and super-nutritious ingredient suggestions to recipes to try for yourself.

Basic Bell Pepper Prep for Stuffed Pepper Recipes

First things first, you’ll need to wash and dry the peppers. Next, cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise using a sharp chef’s knife. You want to end up with two pepper “boats” that can be stuffed with filling. Using a paring knife, trim away the white pith and seeds, leaving the stem intact for decorative purposes.
If the bell pepper halves are wobbly, you can even them out by making a shallow cut across the base of the pepper half so they’ll be able to stand up on their own. If you know you’ll be short on time, bell peppers can be prepped a day ahead and stored in a covered container in the fridge until you’re ready to fill them.
Now that you know how to prep your peppers, here are two tasty stuffed pepper recipes to try at home.

Tuscan-Style Turkey and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers

These Tuscan-style stuffed peppers are perfect for weeknight suppers while still being elegant enough for a dinner party with friends. Serve these stuffed peppers with grilled or steamed asparagus and a big green salad with a citrusy dressing.

Nutrition Information*

Calories: 300
Protein: 18 grams
Dietary Fiber: 6 grams
Sugars: 6 grams
*Per serving, not including the optional grated cheese, fresh basil, or parsley

Time: 30 Minutes Active Time + 1 Hour Cook Time

Yield: 4 to 6 Servings (1 Whole Pepper per Serving)

Ingredients:

  • 4 to 6 sweet bell peppers, prepped (see above)
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 lb. ground turkey
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 shallot, finely diced
  • 1 tsp. dried onion powder
  • 1 tsp. smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • ¼ tsp. dried chili flakes (or more, to taste)
  • ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated in hot water and then finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • 4 cups of roughly chopped kale, stems removed
  • 1 ½ cups chilled brown rice
  • ½ cup vegetable stock or water
  • Freshly grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese (optional)
  • ½ cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
  • ½ cup fresh basil, cut in a thin chiffonade*

*To cut basil into a chiffonade, stack multiple basil leaves on top of one another and roll into a tight, cigar-shaped tube. Using a sharp paring or chef’s knife, cut the basil leaves across the width of the roll into fine ribbons.

Special Equipment:

  • Cutting board
  • Measuring spoons
  • Measuring cups
  • Chef’s knife
  • Paring knife
  • Sauté pan (this model from Cuisinart will last you a lifetime and it looks great in any kitchen!)
  • Silicone or wooden spatula
  • 9” × 13” casserole dish
  • Aluminum foil

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
  2. Over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to a large sauté pan before crumbling in the ground turkey and seasoning with ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt.
  3. Using a silicone or wooden spatula break the ground turkey apart and continue cooking until the meat is no longer pink inside.
  4. Transfer the cooked ground turkey to a bowl and wipe down the inside of the sauté pan with paper towel. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the sauté pan and return to medium heat.
  5. Sauté the shallot, dried onion powder, smoked paprika, dried oregano, and dried chili flakes in the oil until fragrant.
  6. Next, add the rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and kale.
  7. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the kale has completely wilted.
  8. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the cooked ground turkey and brown rice, gently stirring with the spatula until combined.
  9. Remove from heat and set aside.
  10. Using a large spoon, divide the ground turkey and brown rice mixture amongst the bell pepper halves.
  11. Evenly space the stuffed peppers in a 9”× 13” casserole dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray, adding ½ cup water or vegetable stock to the bottom of the dish.
  12. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Larger peppers may need up to 10 extra minutes (55 minutes total) baking time.
  13. Remove the foil and sprinkle liberally with parmesan or pecorino romano cheese, cooking the stuffed peppers under the broiler for another 5 to 8 minutes (keep an eye on the peppers to make sure they don’t burn).
  14. Serve the stuffed peppers while hot or at room temperature, garnishing with fresh parsley and basil before serving.

Vegetarian Quinoa and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers

With half your recommended daily allowance of dietary fiber, these filling vegetarian quinoa and black bean stuffed peppers are an ideal work lunch throughout the week. Serve with salsa or pico de gallo, guacamole, and Greek yogurt.

Nutrition Information*

Calories: 269
Protein: 12 grams
Dietary Fiber: 13 grams
Sugars: 9 grams
*Per serving, not including the optional crumbled cheese, scallions, or cilantro

Time: 30 Minutes Active Time + 1 Hour Cook Time

Yield: 4 to 6 servings (1 whole pepper per serving)

Ingredients:

  • 4 to 6 sweet bell peppers, prepped
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • ½ cup diced white onion
  • 1 jalapeño pepper, finely diced (seeds and white pith removed)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • 2 Tbsp. chili powder (test the spice level before using and adjust as necessary)
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 ½ cups corn (fresh or frozen works best—avoid canned)
  • 1 cup thinly sliced zucchini
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 cup butternut squash, cut into a small dice (fresh or frozen will work)
  • One 15.5-oz. can of black beans, drained
  • 1 ½ cups cooked quinoa, chilled
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • Cooking spray
  • Crumbled cotija or mild feta cheese (optional)
  • Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
  • 3 scallions thinly sliced, white and pale green parts only

Special Equipment:

  • Cutting board
  • Measuring spoons
  • Measuring cups
  • Chef’s knife
  • Paring knife
  • Large sauté pan
  • Silicone or wooden spatula
  • Large spoon
  • 9” × 13” casserole dish
  • Aluminum foil

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
  2. Add the olive oil to a sauté pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion, jalapeño, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and salt to the pan.
  3. Sauté for 5 to 6 minutes or until the onions have softened.
  4. Next, add the corn, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and butternut squash to the onion and spice mixture.
  5. Stirring frequently, cook the vegetables for 8 to 10 minutes or until softened.
  6. Add the black beans, quinoa, and ½ cup vegetable stock to the sauté pan, stirring until the stock has been absorbed.
  7. Using a spoon, divide the quinoa and black bean mixture amongst the bell pepper halves.
  8. Coat the bottom of a casserole dish with cooking spray and add the stuffed peppers halves.
  9. Add the remaining ½ cup of vegetable stock to the casserole dish and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
  10. Bake for 45 minutes; larger peppers may need up to 10 extra minutes (55 minutes total) baking time.
  11. Remove the foil from the casserole dish, crumble the cotija or feta cheese over the stuffed peppers. Run the stuffed peppers under the broiler until it begins to brown (it won’t melt). Remove from the oven.
  12. Serve the stuffed peppers hot or at room temperature. When ready to serve, sprinkle the stuffed peppers with plenty of fresh cilantro and sliced scallions.

Still not convinced you can nail homemade stuffed peppers? Check out our stuffed pepper FAQs:

Can I make stuffed peppers ahead of time?

Peppers that have been stuffed but not yet cooked can be made a day ahead of time and stored in the fridge overnight. Just keep them covered with plastic wrap or in a reusable container. Take the stuffed peppers out of the fridge 20 minutes before you plan to cook them and then follow the baking directions outlined in the recipes above.

How long can I store cooked stuffed peppers in the fridge?

Refrigerated stuffed peppers that have already been cooked can be stored in the fridge, covered, for up to four days. Make extra stuffed peppers to keep in the fridge and you’ll have a highly nutritious and filling lunch to take to work throughout the week.

Can I freeze stuffed peppers?

Absolutely! When Andrea Hardy, RD at Ignite Nutrition makes her famous vegetarian Mediterranean Lentil-Stuffed Peppers, she always preps and freezes the bell peppers beforehand.
Hardy tells HealthyWay, “Stuffed peppers are a bit of a labor of love—they aren’t a 15-minute recipe—so I tend to batch cook and freeze them. Always pre-bake them first to soften them up; you can do this on the BBQ too, though! That way they don’t take too long to cook and are the right texture when you stuff them and bake them the second time.”
To freeze stuffed peppers, blanch the prepped pepper halves in boiling water for two to three minutes (or follow Hardy’s advice and grill them). This will help prevent the peppers from becoming slimy when they warm back up. Transfer the blanched peppers to a paper towel and let cool to room temperature before stuffing them with the cooked filling. Wrap each stuffed pepper with at least two layers of plastic wrap and store each wrapped pepper in a resealable freezer bag or container (these precautions will help prevent freezer burn). Stuffed peppers can be stored in the freezer for up to three months.
When you’re ready to eat the stuffed peppers, simply transfer them to a casserole dish, add a half cup of water or vegetable stock, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake from frozen. Depending on the size of the stuffed peppers, you may need to increase the baking time by up to 30 minutes (not including broiling time, which will be the same as indicated in the recipe).

How do I know my stuffed peppers are cooked?

Stuffed peppers are cooked when they’re warmed all the way through and feel hot throughout. Because the meat used in stuffed peppers is usually pre-cooked, the risk of potential cross-contamination is very low. Thanks to the aluminum foil used to cover the peppers as well as the addition of water or stock, the stuffed peppers are lightly steamed as they cook. For melted cheese or breadcrumbs toppings, running the peppers under the broiler for 5 minutes after baking will result in a pleasantly browned crust.

Are all bell peppers the same?

Despite the fact that peppers come in a rainbow of different colors, ranging anywhere from green to deep red, bell peppers all come from the same plant. Green bell peppers are still relatively unripe, yellow and orange bell peppers are just beginning to ripen, and red peppers are the most mature. All bell peppers contain an impressive amount of nutrients and are very low in calories, but since red peppers spend the longest amount of time on the vine (most vegetables have the highest nutritional value when picked at the height of maturity) they have a nutritional advantage over green peppers in terms of beta-carotene and vitamins A and C.

What’s the best cooking method for stuffed peppers?

Stuffed peppers can be cooked in the oven, on the grill, in the microwave, or in a slow cooker. Although the microwave and slow cooker are convenient, stuffed peppers cooked in this manner are often quite soggy. The oven method produces the best results in terms of overall texture and taste because it’s the driest cooking method (even though the stuffed peppers are still being lightly steamed under the aluminum foil). Five minutes under the broiler at the end of the cooking time helps to achieve a lightly browned topping and adds a pleasantly crispy texture to the finished stuffed peppers.

Why are stuffed peppers so good for you?

Stuffed peppers offer a huge array of nutrients in a compact meal. Hardy loves stuffed peppers for their positive effect on gut health. Her take?

I love stuffed peppers. From a nutrition perspective, you can pack them with things that are high in fiber to help feed the bacteria in your gut. When your gut bacteria are well-fed they produce anti-inflammatory compounds and keep your gut healthy. My favorites tend to be lentils, as they’re soft and the texture blends with almost anything, but I’ve done black beans too for Mexican stuffed peppers!

Deborah Murphy MS, RDN, and creator of the food blog Dietitian Debbie Dishes (try her incredible Vegetarian TVP Stuffed Peppers) praises stuffed peppers for their generous nutritional impact:

I love stuffed peppers because depending on the filling you use, they are essentially a complete meal in one dish. Use brown rice or cauliflower rice for your filling to boost the fiber content and add some beans for a healthy source of plant-based protein. The bell peppers themselves are also high in nutrients like Vitamin C [giving you more than 100 percent of your] daily value, vitamin B6, and potassium.

Stuffed Pepper Tips and Hacks From the Pros

Both Hardy and Murphy are seasoned pros when it comes to stuffed pepper recipes and they have some helpful tips for making them at home. For example, Hardy likes to work around a theme. She elaborates:

I typically choose a “theme” and base my ingredients off that. My two go-tos besides my Mediterranean peppers [are Mexican and Greek-inspired]. For Mexican: cilantro, rice, black beans, ground beef, peppers, onion, cheese, and taco seasoning. For Greek: rice, feta, olives, peppers, onion, and Greek seasoning.

Murphy also likes to be inspired by the flavors of the Mediterranean and recommends you stuff your peppers with rice, chickpeas, feta cheese, and olives. Looking for some new vegetarian protein options? Murphy loves tempeh.
“As a vegetarian, I always try to incorporate some source of plant-based protein like beans or tempeh into my stuffed peppers,” she says. If you aren’t familiar with tempeh, it is made from fermented soybeans which are pressed into a patty that can be sliced or crumbled depending on the recipe. Adding tempeh to stuffed peppers is a tasty way to try it in a more familiar dish.
If you’re a fan of heat, try stuffing larger spicy peppers with your favorite filling (poblano and banana peppers work well, just make sure to wear gloves when removing the seeds and white pith to avoid unexpected contact burns).

Stuffed Peppers: the Perfect Meal-in-One

When you select your fillings with nutrition in mind, stuffed peppers are literally stuffed with nutrients; they’re full of important vitamins and minerals, high in dietary fiber, can be made ahead or brought to work for lunch, and can be customized to suit any taste. Although they require more time than some other recipes, much of the work can be in advance (plus, the filling can be mixed and peppers can be stuffed by younger kitchen helpers!). They’re also the perfect meal for when you need to clean out your fridge or freezer before a big grocery haul.
Super-nutritious, great for gut-health, and endlessly customizable? It’s time to try one of our delicious stuffed pepper recipes for yourself!

Categories
Nosh Nutrition x Advice

Are The Benefits Of Tart Cherry Juice Too Good To Be True?

From weight loss to muscle recovery, the benefits of tart cherry juice have been a hot topic in health—but what do the facts really say?
Tart cherry juice has been making headlines in the world of food and nutrition lately. Articles have been praising the juice for its miraculous ability to speed up weight loss, help you with insomnia, prevent and treat certain autoimmune diseases, and relieve sore muscles after an intense workout. However, the difference between online claims and the actual research-based benefits of tart cherry juice is substantial.
We took a closer look at tart cherry juice and its perceived health benefits while also debunking some common misconceptions about it along the way. But first, the basics: What is tart cherry juice, and why is it being touted as a miracle dietary supplement?

What is tart cherry juice?

Tart cherry juice—not to be confused with the super sweet black cherry concentrate you can buy in the frozen juice section of the grocery store—can be found on the shelves of natural food stores, specialty supplement stores, and online.
As its name suggests, this type of cherry juice can be so tart it will make your mouth pucker, which is why experts suggest drinking 1 ounce of juice diluted with water (using ½ cup of tart cherry juice to 3½ cups of water). Avoid eating whole tart cherries; they have an unpleasantly sour taste and firm texture that can cause seriously uncomfortable stomach aches.

Why drink tart cherry juice in the first place?

The biggest nutritional boon that tart cherry juice has to offer comes in the form of anthocyanins. As Toby Amidor, registered dietitian, nutrition expert, columnist for Today’s Dietitian magazine, and author of the upcoming book Smart Meal Prep for Beginners, explains, “tart cherries (in juice or dried form) do provide a great deal of nutrients including anthocyanins, a natural plant chemical found in tart cherries that is responsible for many of its health benefits.” 
Anthocyanins are found in red, blue, and purple fruits and vegetables such as cherries, beets, raspberries, strawberries, radishes, and purple cabbage. According to an article in Today’s Dietitian by registered dietitian Densie Webb, PhD, anthocyanins have been successfully studied for their positive impact on cognitive function, cardiovascular disease, and certain types of cancer.
Andrew Hall, sports and performance dietitian at Apple to Zucchini Sports Nutrition, makes an important distinction between drinking tart cherry juice and snacking on cherries: 

Unfortunately, we can’t just eat the cherries for the same benefit. Normally, a whole foods and real food approach is best. In this instance, however, the supplement contains a concentrated amount of the hundreds of cherries compressed into one drink/product. We wouldn’t be able to eat enough cherries to get the equivalent concentration.

Are there any harmful side effects to drinking tart cherry juice?

Tart cherries and tart cherry juice contain sorbitol, a naturally occurring sweetener that is very difficult for your digestive system to break down. Consuming tart cherry juice and whole cherries can lead to uncomfortable gas, flatulence, and diarrhea (especially if you’re sensitive to other products containing sorbitol such as chewing gum and “sugar-free” candy). If you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, it’s recommended that you try to avoid all food and drink containing sorbitol.

Tart Cherry Juice and Weight Loss

Some of the more exciting recent headlines about the benefits of tart cherry juice are about its potential effect on weight loss. Sadly, there haven’t been any conclusive studies that have shown a link between weight loss and tart cherry juice. Despite a lack of evidence to support this claim, there’s no reason to stop drinking tart cherry juice if it’s something you enjoy.
Amidor says, “There is no current research supporting that tart cherry juice can help with weight loss. Drinking tart cherry juice or eating dried tart cherries, however, can be part of a well-balanced weight loss plan.”
Hall agrees with Amidor when it comes to tart cherry juice and weight loss: “There is no evidence that tart cherry juice has weight loss benefits. Very few foods/compounds do in isolation. An overall approach to creating a negative energy balance is the primary method of weight loss. All the other stuff is essentially just marketing.”

Tart Cherry Juice and Muscle Recovery

Athletes who experience soreness after an intense workout might benefit from drinking tart cherry juice. Studies have shown that sustained consumption of tart cherries, in both juice and supplement form, has helped to minimize pain after an intense workout. As studies were conducted specifically on athletes, however, it is unknown whether tart cherry juice has benefits for muscle recovery in non-athletes, but Amidor says it doesn’t hurt to try.
For the average gym-goer or casual runner, Amidor recommends the following tart cherry juice regimen: “10 fluid ounces of [diluted] tart cherry juice pre-workout and an additional 10 fluid ounces or eating dried tart cherries within 30 minutes post-workout.”

[pullquote align=”center”] Studies have shown that sustained consumption of tart cherries, in both juice and supplement form, has helped to minimize pain after an intense workout. [/pullquote]

Tart Cherry Juice and Inflammatory Arthritis

A review of several pilot studies examining the effects of tart cherry juice on gout shows some promise in using anthocyanins as a potential treatment option. Hall likes to recommend tart cherry juice to his clients who suffer from gout.
“Anthocyanins possess natural, anti-inflammatory properties that can help joint pain caused by gout and arthritis,” says Hall. “Anthocyanins help to maintain healthy levels of uric acid and joint mobility.”
Tart cherry juice is also currently being studied for its effect on inflammatory osteoarthritis. The results have been mixed to positive; one study published in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage gave participants two 8-ounce bottles of tart cherry juice per day (or a placebo) and researchers then examined the impact tart cherry juice had on osteoarthritis of the knee. Participants who drank the tart cherry juice experienced a net positive effect on their mild to moderate arthritis, although the relief wasn’t significantly different from that of the control group.

Tart Cherry Juice and Insomnia

Tart cherry juice contains melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep in humans and animals. A pilot study that examined the effects of tart cherry juice on insomnia in older adults found that the juice had no effect on the participants’ sleeping habits. However, another study that used tart Montmorency cherries found that regular consumption of the cherries before bedtime had a beneficial effect on melatonin levels and sleep efficiency.

Tart Cherry Juice Options for Every Preference

You don’t have to drink tart cherry juice to reap the benefits of this antioxidant-rich supplement (although you might fall in love with it if you’re a fan of sour and slightly bitter flavors). Here are some of our favorite ways to include more tart cherries in our lives:
Dynamic Health 100% Pure Organic Certified Tart Cherry Concentrate: Dilute with water and add a slice of lime for a refreshing and healthy summer beverage!
Tart Cherry Concentrate: A great option if you’re not a fan of tart cherry juice. Take one or two of these softgel capsules every day.
Naturevibe Botanicals Tart Cherry Extract: Add a scoop of this tart cherry powder to plain or sparkling water or try mixing it with your favorite smoothie.
Although the benefits of tart cherry juice may be slightly inflated by media exaggeration and weight-loss hype, it does offer some health benefits that are backed by research. As Amidor says, just because tart cherry juice won’t cause you to lose weight or instantly reduce inflammation, that doesn’t mean it can’t be a nutritious and enjoyable part of your eating plan.