Categories
Healthy Living

Curious About Superfoods?

I’ve written about superfoods before, in part because this is a trending topic and in part because I believe in their health benefits. That said, I understand that it can be hard to figure out the scientific fact from the hocus pocus nonsense that floats around the Internet about what you should and shouldn’t eat. Is it really that important to eat something pickled and yellow on a Tuesday as well as three leafy greens on a Saturday? The fanciful and faddy nature of dieting and healthy eating has made many people look at the idea of superfoods through cynical tinted glasses … and rightly so.

Curious About Superfoods?

It is important that you are well informed about superfoods so you can use them for the benefit of your well being and health. What I like best about superfoods is that they can negate the need for yo-yo dieting, unrealistic weight loss programs and developing a poor relationship with food. Eating is meant to be a pleasure, and cooking is supposed to be fun and creative. By adding more superfoods to your diet, you are free to experiment with your culinary creations and reinvigorate your relationship with food.

The idea of superfoods really isn’t anything new. Remember the cartoon Popeye? Well, thanks to him, we’ve all known that spinach is an exceptional source of iron. It is rich in the leafy green version of omega 3 and aids in reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and bone weakness. The popular cartoon sailor would gulp down a can of the good green stuff to reveal larger muscles and a stronger physique. While this ventured into the realm of hyperbole, there was a strong element of truth in that animation. Spinach is good for your health. It always has been. Only recently has it had the label of ‘superfood’ attached to it. (By the way, I don’t recommend canned spinach — it tastes AWFUL!)

Superfoods are nothing new — it is the aura and ethos surrounding them that is now trending. People are making careers out of being superfood gurus when really all you need to use is your common sense and Google once in a while. Take a look at these foods that you should be adding to your meals to ensure that you are giving your health and wellbeing the attention they deserve.

Yogurt

[three_fourth] Anything fermented can sound pretty gross. (Although wine and beer are fermented and quite popular!) However, it is the fermentation process of the creamiest of yogurts that give it the seemingly infinite amount of good bacteria and probiotics that are so beneficial to our guts.

With a strong digestive system, we are more regular, IBS symptoms decrease, and we can feel less sluggish and more alert. Adding a dollop of natural or Greek yogurt to a handful of berries or fruit every day means you are getting a protein and calcium-rich snack that is a much healthier alternative to the candy, chocolate or processed fiber bar you might be used to. [/three_fourth][one_fourth_last] yogurt as a superfood [/one_fourth_last]

Mushrooms

mushrooms are superfoodsThere are a ridiculous amount of mushrooms that you will come across when you meander down the relevant aisle of your local supermarket. And this is merely the tip of the iceberg. Whether you love shitake, can’t get enough of the oyster or simply adore the flat cap, mushrooms are full of iron, antioxidants and Vitamin D. As this is the vitamin that most humans on the planet struggle to get their daily allowance of, any time you can add a handful of button mushrooms to your dishes is beneficial.

Many varieties of mushroom contain high levels of selenium. A recent study showed that the higher your level of selenium, the lower your chances of contracting bladder cancer. This was especially pronounced for women. Mushrooms are tasty and nutritious. However, if you’re not the biggest fan of their texture, why not try reishi powder as an alternative? Reishi mushroom powder holds all of the natural goodness and health-promoting properties of the mushrooms you cook with, but you can take a simple supplement rather than go through the “trauma” of finding an enoki in your stir-fry.

Walnuts

walnuts are superfoodsThe king of the healthy nuts, walnuts are a fitness fanatic’s dream. Just seven nuts have more omega 3 than four ounces of salmon. To give your immune system a bit of a helping hand, try to sprinkle some chopped walnuts over a salad for lunch or over your oatmeal for breakfast. There is, of course, nothing wrong with simply munching on nuts for a healthy snack.

If you are a gym bunny and like pumping some iron, you may be used to filling up on chicken, fish, and pasta. It pays to add some walnuts to your diet as they are rich in protein and can be an added string to your muscle building bow. Just be careful to avoid the mold that often grows on walnuts.

Berries

berries can be superfoodsGoji and acai berries have had a bit of mixed press in recent years. There is no doubt they add nutritional benefits to any diet, but their elevation to superfood has come with some ridicule and extortionate prices to match. The whole hippyish persona that superfoods often have makes the average Joe feel somewhat sidelined. People often view superfoods as something that only commune dwelling vegans entertain when nothing could be further from the truth.

By adding a variety of berries to your diet, you will be bombarding your body with more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants than you can shake a stick at. The phytochemicals and nutrients that blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and cranberries contain can help lower your risk of developing cancer and are a delicious sweet snack alternative to the more refined sugar snacks of candy, brittles, and chocolate.

Cinnamon

cinnamon is a superfoodThis delicious spice is one of those additions to your diet that can aid in rebalancing your body. Adding cinnamon to your daily eating plan can help regulate your blood sugar levels (which is great for those with diabetes) and contains anti-inflammatory properties, as well. Your immune system will be boosted, and you may recover more quickly from ailments and infections. All of this doesn’t mean that you can have a daily pudding of cinnamon laden apple crumble or apple pie after your evening meal, but it does mean that you could add a cinnamon stick to your curry sauce and pasta ragu bases. I also like adding it to smoothies, oatmeal, and yogurt.

Beans

Whether you’re a fan of the flageolet bean or an advocate of the good old green bean, beans and legumes are one of nature’s cheapest and most nutritious superfoods. The key benefit of eating beans is that you are putting more soluble fiber into your body. By doing this, any cholesterol that is lingering around inside your body can be absorbed before it’s deposited on to your artery walls. By eating beans two or three times a week, maybe as a meat substitute, you are maintaining a healthy heart and reducing your risk of heart problems in the future. Your blood pressure will remain at a sound level and, if this wasn’t good enough, beans are full of antioxidants.

Add Superfoods to Your Life

You may not be a fan of the term superfood and all of the connotations that this it brings with it, but you cannot deny that some foods are heavily laden with a variety of health benefits. It pays to look at your current diet and make a list of any health issues that you may currently have. Take a look at this list of superfoods and attempt to work them into your meal plan. Before long you will begin to feel the health benefits and continue to be motivated to stick to a well balanced and nutritionally healthy way of eating.

Categories
Cookbook Reviews Healthy Living Video Podcast

Carma’s Cookery – The Show! Episode 8: Jump Start Reboot Day 3

Carma Goes on Manuel Villacorta’s Jump Start Reboot from Whole Body Reboot

ingredients“In Peru, people take two hours on average for lunch. In the United States, we typically take five to ten minutes. I understand that not everyone has two hours during a workday. Nevertheless, we can take at least twenty minutes to sit down, chew our food, and be present in the act of eating.”
~ Manuel Villacorta

Today I present day three of a 5-day detox from Manuel Villacorta’s book Whole Body Reboot: The Peruvian Super Foods Diet to Detoxify, Energize, and Supercharge Fat Loss. The reboot is organized by the colors of the rainbow. Monday was Red, Tuesday was Orange, and today is Yellow.

The superfoods in today’s smoothie are chia seeds and pichuberries (also called golden berries). I was unable to purchase fresh pichuberries, but I did find some dried ones.

In the video, I forgot to mention or add the protein, which is a very important component of the beverage. But never fear, I remembered once the camera was off and blended it right in!

Today’s spice was tumeric. One of my previous guests on Carma’s Cookery shared some really good information about the health benefits of this spice. You can find that episode here.

If you would like to try this program for yourself, you can grab a copy of Whole Body Reboot: The Peruvian Super Foods Diet to Detoxify, Energize, and Supercharge Fat Loss at Amazon.com. Also, here are some links to help you find the other ingredients:



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[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
[two_third_last]

Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

Categories
Cookbook Reviews Healthy Living Video Podcast

Carma’s Cookery – The Show! Episode 7: Jump Start Reboot Day 2

Carma Goes on Manuel Villacorta’s Jump Start Reboot from Whole Body Reboot

ingredients1“Eating should be a time of relaxation, awareness and mindfulness.”
~ Manuel Villacorta

Yesterday, I posted the first video in this five-part series of Carma’s Cookery vodcasts. Monday was the first day of a 5-day detox from Manuel Villacorta’s book Whole Body Reboot: The Peruvian Super Foods Diet to Detoxify, Energize, and Supercharge Fat Loss. The reboot is organized by the colors of the rainbow. Yesterday was Red and today is Orange.

The dominant superfood in today’s smoothie is the papaya. I grew up eating this fruit with a bit of lemon juice squeezed in. To make this smoothie taste good, you need to make sure that your papaya is ripe and sweet.

To prepare, cut it in half. Then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. The flesh should be tender, but still slightly firm. This is a good color for a papaya:

papaya1

If you would like to try the program for yourself, you can grab a copy of Whole Body Reboot: The Peruvian Super Foods Diet to Detoxify, Energize, and Supercharge Fat Loss at Amazon.com.

[divider]

[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
[two_third_last]

Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

Categories
Cookbook Reviews Healthy Living Video Podcast

Carma’s Cookery – The Show! Episode 6: Jump Start Reboot Day 1

Carma Goes on Manuel Villacorta’s Jump Start Reboot from Whole Body Reboot

Red Reboot Smoothie Ingredients“Mindfully selecting, preparing and eating whole foods should be as cherished as the air we breathe.”
~ Manuel Villacorta

For 20 years, Manuel Villacorta has been helping people improve their life with Peruvian power foods. Now, because of demand increases, these beneficial superfoods are becoming easier to find in supermarkets. This is why he has decided to come out with his new book, Whole Body Reboot: The Peruvian Super Foods Diet to Detoxify, Energize, and Supercharge Fat Loss (HCI Books).

In this five-part video series, I’ll be going through the Jump Start Reboot, which is described in the beginning of the book. The reboot is organized by the colors of the rainbow. Today is Red.

Red Reboot SmoothieIf you would like to try the program for yourself, here are some links to help you get started.

The book: Whole Body Reboot: The Peruvian Super Foods Diet to Detoxify, Energize, and Supercharge Fat Loss

Camu camu powder is available from a variety of sources. Here are a few of them:

Related Resources

[divider]

[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
[two_third_last]

Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

Categories
Healthy Living

You Really Are What You Eat

prairie dog eating broccoli - unbalanced diet?
Public domain image via Pixabay.com
Are you eating an unbalaced diet? If you can incorporate superfoods, you can right that balance easily!

Recent dietary research has uncovered 14 different nutrient-dense foods that time and again promote good overall health. Coined “superfoods,” they tend to have fewer calories, higher levels of vitamins and minerals, and many disease-fighting antioxidants.

Beans (legumes), berries (especially blueberries), broccoli, green tea, nuts (especially walnuts), oranges, pumpkin, salmon, soy, spinach, tomatoes, turkey, whole grains and oats, and yogurt can all help stop and even reverse diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and some forms of cancer. And where one might have an effect on a certain part of the body, it can also affect the health of other body functions and performance, since the whole body is connected.

With these 14 foods as the base of a balanced, solid diet, weight loss gimmicks and other fly-by-night programs can become a thing of the past in your life.

Conversely, the ill-effects of an unbalanced diet are several and varied. Low energy levels, mood swings, tired all the time, weight change and being uncomfortable with your body are just a few signs that your diet is unbalanced. An unbalanced diet can cause problems with maintenance of body tissues, growth and development, brain and nervous system function, as well as problems with bone and muscle systems.

Symptoms of malnutrition include lack of energy, irritability, a weakened immune system leading to frequent colds or allergies, and mineral depletion that can trigger a variety of health concerns including anemia.

And since the body is interconnected, realizing that an unhealthy body will result in an unhealthy spirit only makes sense. When we nourish our body with these superfoods and complement them with other nutrient-dense and healthy fresh foods, our spirit will be vitalized and healthy as a direct result.

Many modern diets based on prepackaged convenience foods are sorely lacking in many vitamins and minerals, which can affect our mental capacities as well, and cause irritability, confusion, and the feeling of ‘being in a fog’ all the time.

Superfoods can be the basis of a sound, healthy, nutritious solution to curing many of these ailments and more.

For more information on superfoods, check out these other posts:

[divider]

[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
[two_third_last]

Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

Categories
Cookbook Reviews Healthy Living

Eat like a Peruvian: An Interview with Manuel Villacorta

Whole Body Reboot cover“Health is not a diet plan, but a lifestyle. Understand your body, your strengths, and your limits and use this knowledge to make a change. Stop dieting, start living.”
~ Manuel Villacorta

For 20 years, Manuel Villacorta has been helping people improve their life with Peruvian power foods. Now, because of demand increases, these beneficial superfoods are becoming easier to find in supermarkets. This is why he has decided to come out with his new book, Whole Body Reboot: The Peruvian Super Foods Diet to Detoxify, Energize, and Supercharge Fat Loss (HCI Books).

I’ve been given a review copy and will be writing about my experiences reading it and testing out some of the recipes starting next month. However, in the meantime, I was able to get him to answer a few questions about his book hand his philosophy around eating like a Peruvian.

Carma Spence: What is a superfood?

Manuel Villacorta: There are many definitions of superfoods, and although there is no scientific definition, I define superfoods as hardworking functional foods that far surpass basic nutritional content. They are, quite simply, the cleanest, most powerful, antioxidant-rich, phytonutrient-rich and anti-aging foods available anywhere. And many of these nutrient-rich ingredients happen to come from South America, and more specifically Peru.

CS: Speaking of Peru, what is special about eating like a Peruvian … and why haven’t more Americans heard of this style of cuisine?

MV: Eating like a Peruvian from Lima is very different from eating like someone who is Andean or Amazonian. While the cuisine from Lima has fallen into a very westernized pattern, those from the Andes and Amazon regions have been eating the same foods for hundreds of years. However, only recently has the research on native foods such as lacuma, pichuberries and camu camu, to name a few, surfaced. American aren’t familiar with adopting such a diet because the research is still new.

[one_third] Lacuna
Peruvian superfoood - Lacuna
Canistel-2” by Jim Conrad – JIM CONRAD’S NATURALIST NEWSLETTER. Written in the community of 28 de Junio and issued from a ciber 8 kms to the west in Pujiltic, Chiapas, MÉXICO. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons
[/one_third][one_third] Pichuberry
Peruvian superfoood - pichuberry
Image from Arizona Herb Association via flickr.com under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
[/one_third][one_third_last] Camu Camu
Peruvian superfoood - Camu camu
“Camucamu seeds”. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons
[/one_third_last]

CS: If this research is so new, what inspired you to develop Whole Body Reboot now?

MV: I began this approach to weight loss and lifestyle change with my clients, incorporating Peruvian superfoods into their everyday lives. The smoothie plan is how I start all of my willing participants and those who give it a try immediately reap the benefits. This book’s purpose is to spread this lifestyle regime, marrying the ideas of home-cooking and health.

CS: The book talks about a detox reboot. What does that mean? How is it different that the many detox programs people are more familiar with?

MV: The difference between the two terms, to me, is that detox claims the removal of unwanted chemicals in the body; while reboot suggests the feeling your body experiences when you give it a break from the constant stress we put onto our bodies through the food choices we make.

My 5-day reboot plan consists of five smoothies with different colored fruits and vegetables featured each day so that your body receives the widest array of nutrients while revitalizing the cells. By giving your body these much-needed nutrients, you will begin to feel cleaner, more focused, and you will lose weight.

Given that no one food, herb or remedy has the ability to cure ailments or disease, nor does it have the ability to ‘detox’ the body (that’s the liver’s job), I have followed the reboot with several customized and delicious Peruvian-inspired 7-day meal plans that you mix and match to your tastes and needs, whether you are male or female, an omnivore, vegetarian or vegan, or you follow a gluten-free lifestyle.

CS: Are all the recipes in your book Peruvian?

MV: No. The recipes all contain Peruvian superfoods, but each recipe is inspired by a variety of cuisines. Some are Peruvian, some are Thai, and much more are American-influenced. For instance, I recreated a waffle recipe into sweet potato waffle. I take traditional foods and make them more flavorful and healthier.

CS: You mention sweet potato, which is one of the 21 superfoods. It is so simple, I find it surprising that it is a superfood. Will other superfoods be surprising?

MV: Absolutely! Although many of these foods were presented in my last book, Peruvian Power Foods, I have added potent guests to this list, hoping to enlighten the American public of a wider array of nutrients. However unique and unfamiliar the food, I decided to stick to foods that were attainable in the United States.

For example, while pichuberry is still very new here in the U.S., it can now be purchased in mainstream markets like Bristol Farms, Safeway, Whole Foods and Vons in California, Arizona, and Nevada. It can also be purchased online and shipped anywhere in the country. The pichuberry is possibly one of the greatest superfruits available in the United States.

CS: Since you start Whole Body Reboot with a detox and provide meal plans, would you consider it a diet book?

MV: No, my book is not a diet book, and it is definitely not a fad or a gimmick. This book is more so a lifestyle approach to sustainable, long-term health. It gives my readers the ability to develop skills and knowledge that will help carry them on through the years, in the most independent way.

CS: Why should someone pick up a copy of your book over other Peruvian cookbooks?

MV: Not only do I offer 135 recipes, but I offer individualized 7-day meal plans that the reader can pick and choose from. I also provide health advice, given that I am much more of a dietitian than a cook. I tell the reader why eating these foods are beneficial, not just how to cook them. However, just because I am a dietitian does not mean I kill flavor for health. Rather, I marry the two and this book is their journey together.

[divider]

[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
[two_third_last]

Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

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