Mindful Eats

High Fructose Corn Syrup May Make You Fat

High fructose corn syrup in a few household items: mustard, ketchup and Gatorade

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) sounds so nice and natural. It's high instead of low, sounds fruity with fructose, and natural since it's corn syrup. However, it has a very bad rap these days and lots of people are vilifying it as the reason that Americans are obese. So, in an effort to learn more about HFCS, MindfulEats caught up with it yesterday for a quick interview.

MindfulEats: What are you anyway?

HFCS: I'm a sweetener, 'cause people love sweets. I start out as corn. Then I'm milled to produce corn starch, from which I'm processed into corn syrup. After that enzymes get added to me to turn most of my glucose into fructose. In most cases when you consume me, I'm HFCS 55 (55% glucose, 45% fructose), which is practically the same profile as table sugar.

MindfulEats: Why do you exist?

HFCS: I am used predominantly in the U.S. That's because messed up protectionist laws keep the price of sugar artificially inflated, and I'm a cheaper alternative.

 

MindfulEats: What are you in?

Being Mindful through Hard Times

 Bonneville Salt Flats, UT, Kristen Gill Photography, www.kristengill.com

"If you're going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

Sometimes you're depressed. And when you're depressed, you barely have the energy to dress yourself, let alone exercise or eat healthy. It doesn't matter why - you might be have lost a job, a loved one, a relationship, a pet or even your favorite shirt - it's hard. But things will change. Really. The only constant in life is change.

 

For now, it's even more important than ever to take care of yourself. It might be the biggest effort you've ever made, but you HAVE to summon all your energy, go to the grocery store to get good food and make the time to exercise. Even if it's just a walk around the block. Exercise has been shown to be as effective as antidepressants for mild to moderate depression in some cases.  Making time for healthy food and exercise will add structure to your day. You need to shape your day. It might sound like the last thing you want to do, but you need it. Being healthy will help you get through this tough time. That way, when you get that interview or finally move beyond this, you will be ready.

Exercising through this time can jump-start things sooner. It will burn away some of the exhaustion, clear your head, and give you energy. When I was unemployed, exercise kept me focused and gave me the semblance of a schedule. It forced me out of bed (I did it first thing) and let me accomplish at least one thing for the day (which sometimes turned into more). Shopping and preparing good food will give you clarity and add more structure to your life. When I started working again, being moderately healthy helped me adjust to the new schedule. 

Please, do these two things - exercise and eat well. Be mindful of yourself. It will help you and those that love you. When things change, you will be poised to take advantage of it.

What to do

1. Plan your eating and exercise for the week. It's a battle; use the Mindful Battle Plan.
2. Schedule in your exercise and grocery trips for the same time every day. If you like exercising in the morning or afternoon, dedicate that time to it. Commit. Even if it's just a little a day. 
3. Day by day, feel good about accomplishing these things. 
4. Schedule activities with your family and friends. 
5. Get help if you need it - find a therapist or support group. 
6. You're not alone. Everyone's gone or will go through tough times. People care about you and love you dearly. MindfulEats cares! 

Have you/are you going through a tough time?  What helped?

What I ate: 8 oz. cafe au lait, 3 clementines, 1 banana, 4 squares dark chocolate, roasted veggies + barley, 1 apple, 1 green tea, dried apricots, sushi, hot chocolate, 66 oz. water

Exercise: 45 gym workout

 

You Need a Water Filter for Optimal Health

"Expect poison from the standing water." -William Blake

Drinking lots of clean water is necessary for good health (as is high-quality food, exercise and sleep). Water seems uncomplicated - it tends to come from a bottle or the sink. In many developed countries (including the U.S.), municipal water has been purified and is drinkable from the tap. So how clean is the water that you drink? 

Bottled water. Unless you are testing your water, you probably don't know how "pure" it really is. Some testing suggests that it is no cleaner than tap water, as this old USA Today article reports. Bottled water also doesn't contain fluoride, which helps prevent cavaties. It may not be any better than tap, and it costs more in terms of your wallet (no need to pay money for something that provides no value over the free stuff), and the environment (all those needless plastic bottles being used). Of course, you can filter it, but what's the point? Not so smart, slick.

The Mindful Cook: How to Cook Healthy and Fast

Ravi whips up wild-caught shrimp, arugula, and whole wheat pasta

"The rest of the world lives to eat, while I eat to live." -Socrates

The basis behind MindfulEats is a plant-based, whole foods diet (don't worry, you can still eat meat - it's just not the emphasis of your meals). It isn't revolutionary. It just works. Sometimes it's called the Meditteranean diet, or the whole foods diet, or the Asian diet. Call it whatever you want, just follow it. 

However, in today's time pressed world, it does take some work. The Mindful diet means less processed food. The only way to be sure of what goes into your food is to make it yourself. So cut down on your packaged, restaurant and take-out meals. Spend some time handling and preparing your own food. This will take some meal planning, grocery shopping and work, but it doesn't need to take a tremendous amount of time. You just need to be efficient - follow the Mindful Battle Plan. 

So how are you going to pick your meals for the Mindful Battle Plan and prepare them? I personally hate to spend time cooking (I'm a utilitarian cook - the faster the better). These time efficient, one-pan methods work well for me:

Quash Your Cold

 Vitamin C squashes colds dead

"A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul: a sick body a prison." - Francis Bacon, Sr.

Your body needs four things for optimal health:

• Highest-quality food you can afford
• Unlimited clean water 
• Exercise 
• Sleep  

Simple. These happen to be the same things that all animals need. You provide them for your pet (if you don't have one, you would), doesn't your body deserve the same? 

  

If you shortchange yourself on one of those four things for a period of time, you are weakening your body and at risk of getting sick. A sniffly, exhausting, cotton-headed misery known as a cold will lay you low and it will take four times longer than normal to get things done. Blech.

Researchers have recently decoded the genome for the common cold virus, but don't expect a cure anytime soon (weak business case). In the meantime, MindfulEats has come up with a method for quashing colds. It has either prevented them from coming on, or radically shortened their duration. DISCLAIMER - this is not medically proven, and involves Vitamin C (which is hotly debated), but it always works for us. The main point is that you don't need to be helpless before a cold and defenselessly wait for it to knock you out. This works for us - figure out what works for you.

What to do - Mindless Eats Approach to Quashing Colds

1. Admit you have a cold. Don't lie to yourself and pretend you don't. If you have a slight sore throat or sniffles, that's not normal - it's an incoming cold. You can't prevent it if you don't treat it.
2. Load up on Vitamin C. I take 2,000 mg after breakfast, lunch, dinner and before bed. Yup, that's 8,000 mg a day. And I have as much citrus as possible on top of the vitamins. C has fervent advocates (Linus Pauling took 6,000-18,000 mg per day) and ballyhooers. It's necessary for your body's function and is essential for healing wounds. There are many C skeptics that do not think it helps colds and think high doses are toxic. Vitamin C is water soluble, which means your body eliminates what it does not use through urine. C works for me and is the most important part of my regimen for killing a cold. I take megadoses when I'm sick, but don't take it as a supplement otherwise. 
3. Have chicken soup. I make an exception to not eating meat for chicken soup when I have a cold. It works. The University of Nebraska published a study in 2000 that demonstrated efficacy. Even out of a can. It works so well that I once made chicken noodle soup for a sick beau, even though I never make chicken. That was the end of the cold, but I didn't get a thank you, so that was also the end of the beau. (see, it also smokes out bad boyfriends)
4. Drink lots of water. You're getting dehydrated, so drink up.
5. Make hot herbal tea with lots of lemon and honey. If I'm really sick, I default to the ancient Taiwanese remedy of just hot water, lots of lemon and honey. 
6. Exercise. You might be fatigued, but I find moderate exercise seems to clear the congestion. So do these studies.  
7. Go to bed early. Your body needs the rest.

This routine knocks out my most evil cold. What works for you?

Update: 2/19/11 New research suggests that taking zinc can shorten or reduce your cold if you take it within the first 24 hours. 

What I ate: 2 cups of coffee, 1 orange, 1 oz. pumpkin seeds, quinoa, stir-fried tempeh + spinach + shitaake mushrooms (resavored), 3 oz. pistachios, 6 squares dark chocolate, 1 slice whole wheat bread + hummus, 1 apple, quinoa, steamed broccoli + tofu + shitaakes, 1/2 cup yougurt + 1t jam, 1 hot chocolate

Exercise: vinyassa yoga

Mindful Exercise

 My aunt and uncle move their daily walk from Atlanta to the beach.

Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it. ~Plato

Your body was built to be used. It's similar to a car - if you don't use it, parts will start to fail. You don't want that, do you? Your body needs to last you a lifetime!

We know you are eating better, but you need to add exercise to truly be healthy. There's no way around it - to get all the benefits of being healthy (more happiness, more energy, inspiring good habits in your kids, faster recovery from illness, etc.) you need to be fit. We know, we know, some of you hate exercise. Still - get started in small doses, and your body will start to crave it.

 

Say No to Trans Fats in Partially Hydrogenated Oils

Small sample of partially hydrogenated oil foods -nondairy creamer, brownie mix, Doritos and margarine

"Let a man avoid evil deeds as a man who loves life avoids poison" -Buddha

Now that you've learned to read food labels, take a closer look at all your packaged food to make sure there are no trans fats in them. Trans fats are worse than saturated fats - they clog up your arteries, raise your bad cholesterol levels while lowering good cholesterol, and contribute to Type II diabetes. They even lower your levels of Omega-3 oils. Imagine bacon grease clogging up a drain. That's how trans fats clog up your body pipes. Yuck. They are so bad that NYC has banned them from all restaurants! [Wait a second - I think I just figured out where my elevated cholesterol came from - decades of pigging out on partially hydrogenated snacks. Double yuck.]

So why do they exist? Trans fats are made when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it last longer. That makes it cheaper for food processers. Hydrogenation hardens oil (and your arteries) so it has a longer shelf life. It also raises the cooking temperature so restaurants can reuse the oil multiple times to fry. Trans fats occur naturally in tiny amounts of cow and sheep products. But it's the manmade items we are worried about. The culprits - partially hydrogenated oils and shortening - are in all sorts of places.

How to Read Food Labels for Your Health

Cheddar Cheese Cracker Combos

"The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life." - Plato

The best kind of foods are whole foods that come without labels (like apples, broccoli, cabbage, etc.) However, it is nearly impossible to avoid all processed foods. So, eventually, sadly, you will probably eat food that comes out of a container. Out of all the shelves of packaged foods out there, which food should you eat?

The good news is that all packaged food comes with food labels, so you have the information you need to make smart decisions. It's actually fun to look at food labels to see what you're eating. Read them and make mindful choices!

Love Yourself - Exercise and Eat Well

Mindful Eats Loves You from Panama City Beach, FL

"Passion makes the world go round. Love just makes it a safer place." - Ice T

Happy Valentine's Day Cutie!

Whether you love this Hallmark holiday or you hate it, whether you're celebrating with a significant other, your friends, or yourself, Mindful Eats thinks you should take the time to love yourself. Because you rock! And you can't be good to other people unless you're good to you first. So take some time tomorrow to treat your body to exercise. It's even better if you can go with your loved one(s) - there's nothing better than cranking up your heart rate with your valentine. It's good for your bodies, AND it's good for your hearts. Awww. I'm going to treat myself to a long run on the beach followed by a swim in the ocean.

If you're having a special dinner, order tasty and light - you don't want to eat yourself into a coma. It's okay to leave some on the plate. You can take it home and savor it later, with fond memories of the evening. If you are presenting your valentine (or yourself) with chocolate, go for quantity over quality. Mariebelle, Vosges, Jacque Torres and other specialty chocolatiers have such beautiful chocolates, you can gift just two or four special pieces. No need to do a huge box! If you do end up with a big box, eat it over the next month or share it. Bring it into work or your religious organization, or gift it to the Senior Center or Homeless Shelter.

Take care of yourself. Mindful Eats loves you! 

PS - if you want to see a great movie on l-o-v-e, watch Slumdog Millionaire.

What I ate: (not great, but it's a travel day) 1 clementine, 2 bananas, 1 apple, grande skim latte, 2.5 oz. almonds, 1 bag peanut/nut airplane mix, 1/2 c. white rice, 1/3 c. noodles, 1 c. sauteed green beans, broccoli, 1 c. shell peanuts, 1/2 c. pistachios, 4 pieces of my aunt's almond brittle, ramen noodles + spinach, 1/2 c. blueberries, 1 c. tea,  50 oz. water

Exercise: None

Mindful Goals: Creating Healthy Habits

Trip to Mongolia, a childhood dream of mine - Sunrise on Lake Hovsgal

"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it."   -William Arthur Ward

You might know about being healthy, but how will you know when you are healthy? We talked about the first step to leading a more healthy lifestyle, which is understanding where you are. Establishing the baseline was hard work. Congratulations! Now it's time for the fun part - dreaming and goal setting. Set aside 15 minutes to create your goals. You have 15 minutes to invest in having a better life - being happier, more attractive, and energetic - don't you? We thought so. You've done the hardest part anyway. Don't skimp on this easy, but critical, next step.