Stop Sugar Now! Seriously! It's Friday so it's Tips, Tricks and Inspiration.

 Here's your tip:  eat local and eat seasonal when possible. I am believer in local foods. Not only does eating locally keep diversity in our food supply and preserving the environment, I think it has to be better for us. Have you ever noticed a craving for root vegetables in winter? I never crave them in summer! Seasonal foods have nutrients we need in those seasons. I make it easy on myself by getting a CSA box. We still buy produce at the grocery, but it is my purpose to eat as much seasonal, local food as we can. There are some great aids to help us. Here is a cool seasonal foods poster from the UK.  I also offer this pretty poster, put up monthly for that month's seasonal foods.  Sine we're enjoying all these cool kitchen print outs, I'm throwing in this very handy kitchen chart that covers all the questions I have on a continuing basis! I found all these amazing printouts (and many more) on Oh, the Lovely Things blog.

Is your eye tricking you? There is no better way to ensure you are eating the calories you think you then by weighing and measuring your portions. I made a pact with my good buddy Gina to weigh and measure everything through the weekend. I call it "Weigh and Measure Weekend." Isn't that original? The trick here is that over time, our ability to gauge our portions slips. Weighing and measuring ensures that we are eating what we think we are. My cereal bowl gets fuller over time and this morning I discovered my cup of milk is closer to 3/4 of a cup. It's particularly important to measure those calorie dense things like oils, alcohol and sugar.

To help me remember, I removed everything from my island except my scale, measuring cup and spoons. For on-the-go measuring, these collapsible measuring cups are cool. What's really good is to learn to eyeball your measurements. I can count an ounce of cheese very accurately because I do it all the time. Here is a helpful selection of tips to remember what a serving looks like of meat, pasta, dressing and etc. The importance of Weigh and Measure Weekend is to verify that your "eye" is still on the mark. The more you practice, the better you will get at it. Join us for Weigh and Measure Weekend!

I usually try to make my inspiration paragraph all about the inspiration: the joy, the results, the person we all want to emulate. Today, however, it's a bit of reverse inspiration. The more I read this article about the likely link between sugar and heart disease the more inspired I am to move sugar way, way into the corners of my life. This article is a must read -- must read. It's pretty startling. To quote directly:

"Over the course of the 15-year study, participants who took in 25% or more of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those whose diets included less than 10% added sugar."

And it's not just overweight people who are in danger here, it's everyone who seriously loves the sugar rush. Here's a guideline from the article:

"(Dr Fung) supports the American Heart Association’s recommendation that women consume less than 100 calories of added sugar per day (about 6 teaspoons) and men consume less than 150 per day (about 9 teaspoons)."

That's not much when you consider that a soda contains 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of sugar per ounce of drink. The gig's up, folks. Read it for yourself, please.  

(Web MD also has also parsed the study in case you'd like another read.)

And We're Back! - Friday Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

Does ginger root scare you?  I have had some epic battles with this yummy fibrous root in the past, but no more.  Here are a couple of amazing tips to make this fab ingredient easy to use.  I tried this "spoon peeling" technique and it worked great!  That said, my number 1 trick for ginger-root is to look in your grocer's freezer section. You can buy ginger peeled and minced in convenient 1 tsp. cubes.  It thaws very quickly so just pop out a cube and wait a couple of minutes.  I love this super simple method.

Does organic food add enough value to justify the added expense?  This decision can seem a little tricky.  Here's a summary of recent research on the topic.

I think there are a few things missing in the equation.  The review doesn't address using a mixed approach, for example, to avoid the most pesticide laden foods (an approach that helps both my conscience and my pocketbook).

Eating locally is generally a good idea. It makes sense to me that the foods that grow in a season are the ones our bodies need in that season. As well, the faster you can get to fresh produce the more nutrients it contains. We address this by buying a "farm box" each week from a local organic farmer.  We get fresh, seasonal produce and more variety than we would buy from the grocery.  We supplement with kid friendly fruits from the grocery like bananas and grapes.  To me, it's a conservative approach to healthy eating.

This week's inspiration comes from an unusual source, Wired Magazine. Read about a fast food executive who believes we really can have it all.  He is proffering fast food that is also fresh and healthy.

For some more inspiration and -- ahem-- food for thought,  here is a thought-starter on how, as a society, we are focusing on the wrong thing when it comes to nutrition.

This article says what so many don't.  As a nation, we have to learn to control our appetites.  I would rather have an ounce a week of delicious, high quality, flavorful cheese than an ounce a day of flavorless "fake" stuff.  Ditto chocolate.  Manufacturing is not the answer to our eating problem!