Health Notes -- Next Step and Recipes

How are you doing on your journey to healthy eating?

I know the white flour thing is hard to get used to, but I hope you are trying to take that step. You probably know what I am going to task you with next -- you guessed it, white sugar. The good news about this is twofold; first if you are successful in no white flour, you have cut out a lot of white sugar right there....doughnuts, pastries, white bread from the store....these things are loaded with refined, bleached sugar. Keep thinking about all the Clorox they pour into your food to help you over the hump.

The other good news about sugar is that there are lots of alternatives. I will talk to you in more depth about the uses of honey, agave nectar, stevia, sucanat, and even all natural sugarcane or turbinado.

First, however, I want to submit to you that sugar is the food and sustenance of disease causing bacteria and viruses. Everything from cold viruses to cancer cells must have sugar to survive. It is what germs eat. The logical deduction is that if you do not feed germs, they starve too death. Therefore, at our house everyone knows that if you are sick you get NO sugar - none at all. That's not fair you may say - well, my opinion on that is that life is not fair and the sooner my children realize that the better they will cope with all the junk life throws at them. Also, since everyone is sick at some point or another, each of them gets their turn of being left out when there is a treat going around. Plus, it has not taken them long to figure out that the duration of their illnesses are cut in half when they abstain from sugar. My children don't like to be sick, so they will do whatever it takes to get better faster.

The first step to eliminate white flour and sugar from your diet is very simple....do not buy it at the grocery store. You can't eat what is not there. Maybe you eat out a lot - we used to, and it made it much more difficult to stick to our healthy eating lifestyle. However, now, due to the economy, we hardly ever eat out. We just can not afford it. Therefore, if we don't eat out and I don't buy white flour/sugar items, we don't eat it.

Simple.

Let me tell you that I am not an ogre. My kids do get sugar from time to time. I will tell you that I would rather my kids eat a lollipop or a candy bar than a doughnut. So, if I want to treat them, I buy chocolate or lollipops or we make home made chocolate chip cookies, using my whole wheat flour. You absolutely can not tell the difference if you buy pastry flour.

I would recommend that you do a three week complete sugar fast to begin with because sugar also feeds yeast and an overgrowth of yeast will make you crave sugar. So, if you think you crave sugar, you probably do and fasting from it for three weeks will help that. When you do the fast you should abstain from all sugar or substitutes, including honey.

Now, let's talk about sugar substitutes. Under no circumstances should you ever eat or allow your children to eat, synthetic substitutes such as sweet and low, or splenda. I do not have room to post all of the information I have from my research on sugar substitutes. Let me assure you that no matter what positive spin the companies who are trying to sell it to you put on it - they are unhealthy and quite damaging to your body. You can not distort the molecular compounds of sugar and then try to spin it as a healthy alternative.

The best rule of thumb for food is that you want to eat things the way God made them. Period.

So, what do I use in place of refined white sugar? Lots of things, depending on your tastes and what I want to do with it. I will list several things I use and what I use them for and then I will end with a couple of recipes our family enjoys -- since by now you are probably beginning to wonder what in the heck we eat around here?! I know you were.....that's ok.

Honey - The best honey to buy is raw and unfiltered - this simply means that it has not been heated. It is likely you can find someone locally who sells honey. Local honey is the best because it will help with allergies. You can take one tablespoon per day of local honey as an allergy medicine. It will help you build up an immunity to the things that bloom in your area. It is very effective. As for uses, personally, most honey is too strong for my tastes - if you like it you can use it in your coffee or on your peanut butter sandwiches. I use it to bake my bread and to bake muffins.

Agave Nectar - Agave comes from the agave cactus that grows in the Mexican desert and the deserts of the Southwest US. It is harvested and sold in a liquid form. It looks much like a light colored honey. The taste however, is very sweet and mild. It has a low glycemic index which makes it a safer alternative for diabetics (**remember my disclaimer if you are diabetic - I did not say it has NO glycemic index, so it still should be used with caution**) I love the taste of agave and I use it to sweeten tea (it will dissolve in hot or cold). It can also be used to bake with. You substitute just a little less than the amount of sugar in a recipe. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, I use 3/4 cup of agave. I can purchase it at my local grocery store, and all health food stores carry it.

Sucanat - Sucanat is a granulated form of molasses. It can be purchased at the grocery store or health food store. It has a strong flavor, so I use it most to make toppings for coffee cake or something like that. Some people like the flavor in coffee.

Stevia - This is an herb that is naturally very sweet. I have only found it at health food stores. It comes in a powder form and can be used to sweeten tea, coffee, or to bake with. It does not have a strong flavor.

Turbinado - This is also called Sugar in the Raw. It can be purchased at the grocery store and it is simply sugar before the bleaching process. I use this sparingly because it is still sugar, and we do not eat this when we are sick, but it is a much better choice than bleached sugar and tastes exactly the same.

I will end with a couple of recipes that our family loves. As you are probably starting to figure out, the food groups we eat the most are fruit and vegetables. If I could go 100% raw I would, though I do not think it is necessary for optimal health. However, I think it is vital for optimal health to get your "greens" daily. I'm going to share with you a recipe for Kale Salad which all of my kids love and a recipe for home made granola. We use this is place of sugary cereals and for a high protein snack.

Kale Salad

*Kale is a dark green leafy vegetable. It comes in a bunch and looks like a curly leafed collard green. Our local grocery does not carry it and I have to buy it at Whole Foods or my local organic market. Maybe your grocery carries it or you could certainly ask them too.

1 bunch of kale
3 cloves of fresh garlic
1 lemon
olive oil (approx 2 tablespoons) - do it to taste
Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids ( a soy sauce substitute that can be found on the health food aisle of your grocery) - approx. 2 tablespoons - do it to taste

Tear the kale into small pieces in a large bowl. Rip away from and discard the stems as they are tough. Over the greens squeeze the juice of the lemon, the olive oil, and the Braggs. Press out the garlic cloves and add them to the salad. Toss together and sit in the refrigerator for ten minutes. Enjoy!


Home Made Granola

Melt together 1 stick of butter and 1 cup of agave nectar (you can use honey if you like the flavor)

4 cups of rolled oats
Nuts of your choice

Pour the butter/agave mixture over the oats in a shallow oven safe pan. Chop nuts and add to the mixture. I like to use cashews, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds....whatever I have on hand.

Mix together and put into oven at 400 degrees for ten minutes. Stir and put back in oven for five more minutes. Let sit out for a few minutes to get crisp and then add dried fruit if you like (raisins, cranberries, etc...) or leave as is.

We like this with milk as a cereal or plain as a snack. Store in air tight container.

Healthy Eating!!