Archive for March, 2009

Delicious, Vegan Friendly and Low in Cals..

{ March 30, 2009 @ 1:28 pm } · { Recipes, Vegan }
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Random Recipe I make all the time.

Low in cals, delicious and relatively fast to make. It’s also vegetarian friendly if you’re watching your meat intake.

Learn to love Caribbean food. :)

Recipe for Rice and Beans in Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

1 tbsp of oil (I use expeller pressed grapeseed because of the health benefits)

¼ cup of organic onion.. diced

2 cloves of fresh organic minced garlic

1 ½ cups of organic rice (I used brown, feel free to use what works best for you! including wild rice or even Quinoa!)

1 ½ cups of filtered water

1 can of organic coconut milk

1/8 tsp organic ground thyme

1 packet of Sazon without annatto

2/3 cup of dry beans or 1 can of beans (The original recipe calls for red beans, but my favorite is pink, so I use those instead)

Seasoning to taste (I used Adobo w/ pepper, but season salt, or just salt and pepper should do the trick as well)

Cooking:

1. In a large pan (I use a wok) heat the oil on medium heat. Once oil is warm, stir in onion and garlic. Let it cook for roughly 2-3 minutes. Add seasoning and let it cook for about another minute

2. Add rice and cook for about 2 minutes stirring frequently. Stir in water slowly, making sure everything is mixed well. Stir in coconut milk. Stir in thyme, a bit more seasoning and the Sazon. Bring to a boil. Stir in cooked beans and return to a boil. Cover and lower heat. Simmer for roughly 30 minutes, check and stir frequently to avoid sticking. (Note: cook time is longer for brown rice, you may want to “pre cook” the brown rice until it is tender outside and firm instead before adding to the recipe to lower the total cooking time)

3. When rice is tender, remove from heat, fluff, cover and let sit for about 3 minutes.

Serve and enjoy! J

Red Meat Increases Mortatlity Rate

{ March 25, 2009 @ 10:37 am } · { Unsafe Food }
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Two years ago, after finding out the leading cause of my grandmother’s colon cancer was her high red meat intake… I cut red meat out of my life. One clean sweep and I was done with beef, pork and other “game” meats (lamb, goat, etc).

One year later, while I was at a hockey game and had my first beef hotdog in a loong time.. I realized giving up red meat 100% cold turkey was a great feat! In many meals I substitute lean chicken or turkey breast and there’s not much of a noticeable taste difference. However, I do have a beef hotdog from Ikea once in awhile. I mean at 50 cents, those are some of the most DELICIOUS hotdogs around!

Anyway, anything mixed with moderation is okay. Try one beef day, two vegetarian days and the rest poultry days for a week. Just don’t OVER DO IT.

The negative side effects of a diet heavy in red meat are very real. I lost my grandmother from a cancer inspired to grow by red meat…

here’s an article I found on Yahoo Health, explains the negative effects of Red Meat in laymans terns which I like.

http://health.yahoo.com/news/ap/med_diet_meat_mortality.html

CHICAGO – The largest study of its kind finds that older Americans who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of death from heart disease and cancer. The federal study of more than half a million men and women bolsters prior evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat like hamburger and processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts.

Calling the increased risk modest, lead author Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute said the findings support the advice of several health groups to limit red and processed meat intake to decrease cancer risk.

The findings appear in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine.

Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger daily gave men in the study a 22 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease. That’s compared to those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces per week.

Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less.

For processed meats, the increased risks for large quantities were slightly lower overall than for red meat. The researchers compared deaths in the people with the highest intakes to deaths in people with the lowest to calculate the increased risk.

People whose diets contained more white meat like chicken and fish had lower risks of death.

The researchers surveyed more than 545,000 people, ages 50 to 71 years old, on their eating habits, then followed them for 10 years. There were more than 70,000 deaths during that time.

Study subjects were recruited from AARP members, a group that’s healthier than other similarly aged Americans. That means the findings may not apply to all groups, Sinha said. The study relied on people’s memory of what they ate, which can be faulty.

In the analysis, the researchers took into account other risk factors such as smoking, family history of cancer and high body mass index.

In an accompanying editorial, Barry Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote that reducing meat intake would have benefits beyond improved health.

Livestock increase greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming, he wrote, and nations should reevaluate farm subsidies that distort prices and encourage meat-based diets.

“We’ve promoted a diet that has added excessively to global warming,” Popkin said in an interview.

Successfully shifting away from red meat can be as easy as increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet, said Elisabetta Politi of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C.

“I’m not saying everybody should turn into vegetarians,” Politi said. “Meat should be a supporting actor on the plate, not the main character.”

The National Pork Board and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association questioned the findings.

Dietitian Ceci Snyder said in a statement for the pork board that the study “attempts to indict all red meat consumption by looking at extremes in meat consumption, as opposed to what most Americans eat.”

Lean meat as part of a balanced diet can prevent chronic disease, along with exercise and avoiding smoking, said Shalene McNeill, dietitian for the beef group.

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On the Net:

Archives: http://www.archinternmed.com

Wash and go.. the days that follow

{ March 24, 2009 @ 9:26 am } · { Natural Curly Hair }
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So, i’m a HUGE fan of wash and gos. Honestly, I envy other naturals who have the time and patience to create intricate stylings for their natural hair, but I just do not have the time.

So, here’s my process and here is how I keep my wash and go fresh for several days.
Day 1.
Wash hair with either conditioner or moisturizing shampoo (depending on the needs of my hair at that time)

While hair is sopping wet, apply a Deep Moisture Conditioner or mix of your choice. (I usually start with Giovanni Deep Moisture Conditioner and add essential oils, coconut milk, honey, etc as needed. I also through in a small amount of gel, I use Kinky Curly Curling Custard. )
The gel isn’t for it’s moisturizing properties, but for it’s hold and frizz control. I’m preparing in advance for the hairstyle to follow. I add the gel in the Deep Conditioning as opposed to using it every day as part of the styling process. I find this helps the defining properties last longer and doesn’t cause drying like gel usage everyday tends to do.

I wrap my hair in saran wrap to keep the heat in. It’s cheap and effective!

I let this sit for about 20 mins until however much free time I have to just sit with the product on my hair.

Next I rinse it all out thoroughly. At this point I have really defined curls with little to no frizz.

I squeeze a glob of leave in conditioner into my hand. For this I use Elucence Moisture Balancing Conditioner. And I apply this all over liberally, with as little finger combing or manipulation as possible.

I “wring” the excess out and next divide my hair into sections and apply Aveda Be Curly conditioner on top. Again, as little manipulation as possible to my hair. This provides a great hold and really good definition.

Lastly, I take a bit of grapeseed oil or coconut oil emulsify it in my palms and gently squeeze it into my hair.

I shake so that the curls can separate.

Then apply any no slip circle headband. Wrapping it twice to make it tight. Shake again and go.

Day 2.

I sleep on Satin pillowcases. I have a spray bottle that I purchased from Target for .89 cents. I start with water in the spray bottle. Then mix in the same products from above. Elucence MB Conditioner, Aveda Be Curly, Grapeseed Oil. I shake it all up and spray on my hair liberally while pulling the curls softly to stretch them back out after being matted down from sleep.

I repeat this step as needed for several days, curls continue to look fresh, moisturized and styled. Great for a corporate girl on the go! Only takes me about 15 mins to create this style each morning.

Hope that helps!