sardines
avocado oil and avocado oil spray
monk fruit sweetener
seaweed
pink himalayan salt
walnuts and macadamia nuts
potassium and vitamin C
green tea with ginger
apple cider vinegar with water
kimchi
The list above are foods that I have tried, have tried again for the purpose of better nutrition, or am going to be trying. The one I haven't tried yet is kimchi. As Amber eloquently described yesterday, it looks "gross", and I can't really argue with that description. Apparently, though, fermented foods are very good for the gut - all that bacteria...prebiotic, probiotic, and all of that other stuff that apparently are gut needs to help us. Along that same line of thinking on the list is apple cider vinegar, which I try to drink with water at least a few times a week. I've been playing around with the amount in a glass, and I can handle a couple of "lids" full in a big glass of water. I hear other "experts" call this drink refreshing, but I'm not sure I can go that far. I'll let you know how the kimchi turns out.
Avocado oil and avocado oil spray is a recent addition. Apparently, olive oil is very good to cook with. Well, apparently it's okay to cook with a low temperatures, but something about high temperatures messes it all up. Avocado oil and oil spray are suppose to be better. And speaking of oil, apparently canola oil and vegetable oil are very bad for us, which leads into this whole "world" I'm encountering regarding the marketing of specific products that are misleading. Any sane person would think vegetable oil must be better for us because it's made from vegetables, right? Wrong.
I stopped at the health food place in Aledo yesterday and picked up two items on the list - the green tea with ginger and the monk fruit sweetener. I actually have used them together, and I like them. Monk fruit is a plant based sweetener like Stevia, and it's suppose to be very, very low calories and better for us. I'm still not sure if I'm breaking my fast with monk fruit and ginger, so I'm going to monitor my weight a little and see what happens.
Sardines, macadamia nuts, and walnuts aren't new to me, but I've recently added them to my diet because of their nutritional qualities. It's hard to find walnuts, and I think sardines are an acquired taste. I remember my dad eating sardines with crackers; I have avoided the crackers, but I actually like the taste of sardines, even though looking at the "meal" isn't very appealing. And I am making sure to purchase sardines in water instead of oil.
A new one on the list I tried last night was seaweed. I found it at HyVee in Milan in the health foods section. I wouldn't really call them "chips", and I could tell right away that they will also be an acquired taste. They definitely smell like fish. Unfortunately, these included sunflower oil, which isn't the best kind of oil, but I wanted to try them. I may have to see if I need to spray some avocado oil and add some pepper or other spice to help them taste a little better.
I have had the pink himalayan salt for a couple of weeks. This salt is suppose to be a higher quality of salt that the normal every day iodized table salt we typically consume. I do think the himalayan salt tastes better ... almost deeper. The nutrition YouTube folks I listen to regularly don't really seem to have a problem with salt; in fact DeLauer suggests that consuming more good salt is good for the body. Of course, we should also read labels to see how much salt is in other foods we eat.
I think the added potassium and vitamin C are when I'm heavy into my officiating schedule and just need to make sure I'm helping my energy level and immune levels. I don't take these every day - just when I think I'm asking a lot of my endurance and am trying to help out.
AND THE BAD NEWS...
Grains, particularly corn and soy and oats, really aren't very good for us. That's a bit disconcerting as most of the crops here in my area are corn and soybeans. I actually sent a message to one of the YouTube experts about this, and he said those foods aren't inherently bad; it's the processes of food manufacturers in our country that basically make them bad. All the hydrogenated oils and processes that are used with these foods are harmful to our systems, but for manufacturers and distributors and restaurants, these processes lower the prices of the foods and the oils and the other products that are used to produce the foods or to produce the feed that then feeds the animals that we eat for protein. I'm still learning more and more about the bad effects of grains, so maybe a future post will cover that.
I'd be lying if I didn't express how DeLauer's videos are sometimes depressing and upsetting. His messages basically express that much of the food that is marketed to us consumers really is harmful to us. Plus, the foods he recommends are usually much more expensive. He purchased food at a Costco in a recent video, and his cart wasn't even full. He was planning a holiday party for his employees, and the food totaled nearly $400. I about fell out of my chair.
So for us "normal folks" we need to try to find a way to eat healthier that won't delve us into bankruptcy. And eating at home is helpful for that - not necessarily because it's cheaper, but we really don't know the quality of foods, oils, spices that restaurants are using when they bring out what we think should be a "healthy" meal.
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