Potato Chips - A Great Mid - Afternoon Snack

When most people think of potato chips, they automatically think 'unhealthy', but for me, potato chips serve as a great mid-afternoon snack. Living with GERD, potato or potato chips are an easy option for me. It digest easily and gives me an energy boost. Best of all it provides me with potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc, minerals that PPIs can block the body from absorbing.

I prefect  kettle cooked chips, the ones with the blue, sweet and russet potatoes combination. When selecting them I look for chips that are cooked with Olive Oil -which is a heart healthy fat-, contains very low sodium and 0 trans fat. The key to eating snacks such as potato chips is to eat it with moderation. Stick to the suggested serving size on the label and eat them with another healthy food like hummus.

8 foods for a healthy heart

Lets face it, without our heart, we'd be ...well...dead.  With daily cardio exercise and eating the right foods, we can keep our heart healthy. Here are a few super-foods that with regular consumption, will keep your heart happy, healthy and ticking.

BERRIES

Berries, such as raspberries, strawberries or blue berries are full of anti-inflammatories, which reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer.  Black berries and blue berries are especially wonderful for vascular health.

 SPINACH

With a high content of lutein, folate, potassium and fiber spinach can help keep your heart in good shape. Eat 2-3 servings of vegetables daily to ensure you body is getting the desired amount of nutrients.

SALMON

Rich in omega-3 fatty acids, salmon can help to reduce blood pressure and prevent clotting. Eating 2 servings a week may help to reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack by up to one-third. Salmon contains the powerful antioxidant  carotenoid astaxanthin. Choose wild caught salmon instead of farm raised, which can be packed with pesticides and heavy metals.

AVOCADO

Packed with monosaturatede fat, avocados can help to lower your LDL cholesterol levels while raising the amount of HDL cholesterol in your body. Avocados allow the absorption of beta-carotene and lycopene which are essential for heart health.

Gluten Free Pasta + Andouille Sausage Salad

I cooked my first gluten free pasta dish last Sunday and it was delicious. It's so much fun experimenting with this stuff. There are a lot of things I do not eat right now so it can be challenging to create a dish that is tasty. I do miss cheese as I haven't had it in almost 5 months but thankfully, I love lite pasta salads. This one is a classic and I made it the same way I would if I were using wheat pasta....well except for the cheese and lots of hot pepper.

Recipe after the jump

Breakfast - Cranberry Honey Granola

This is one of my favorite breakfast meals. If you want to try a granola breakfast, you can buy a variety of granola cereals from an organic market or you can make your own. It provides you with fiber, keeps you full and taste yummy.

Cranberry Honey Granola served with Almond milk

Granola Recipe after the Jump

Today's Lunch

I love having freshly cooked meals in the middle of the the day so even though I was busy I took a few minutes at lunch time today to cook. Perhaps it was a bit of holiday nostalgia but I felt like having cranberry walnut rice. It is a less rich version of the one I usually make but it did the trick. I felt a bit like it was Christmas again. I will post the recipe for the rice soon.

Cranberry walnut rice served with roasted chicken and simple garden greens.

I also deviated from my workout schedule and did a 3 mile walk this morning. I'll have something light for dinner. I need to lose 10 lbs by the end of February. Well back to work I go.

Weekly Workout Schedule

NOT YOUR AVERAGE CHICKEN SOUP

 I love soups. As a woman with a hectic schedule, I'm always looking for ways to conserve time when preparing meals. Soup is such a perfect dish for me because it's a balanced meal, supplying me with carbohydrates, protein, vegetables and water. It's wonderful on a cold day and you can store it in the refrigerator and simply heat when ready to eat.
This soup is a deviation from the normal chicken soup that you're accustomed to. Whenever I have a rotisserie chicken, I use the back, wings and legs of the chicken to make this soup. It's light, yet filling and oh sooo yummy.

  RECIPE AFTER THE JUMP                                 
   

ORGANIC

What is Organic?

Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.

                                           

 Why Organic?

• Better environment. Organic farms do not consume or release synthetic pesticides into the environment—some of which have the potential to harm soil, water and local terrestrial and aquatic wildlife. Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals. When calculated per unit area, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, e.g., waste such as packaging materials for chemicals.
• It Reduces Health Risks. With artificially prepared market produce such as vegetables, fruits, and meat, the individual ingesting them are subject to all the pesticides and artificial drug enhancers that were used. Some of these harmful chemicals embed in the produce and may not be properly cleansed until cooking. Organically prepared meat and produce are grown without the chemicals, pesticides and the like which would have been created to kill pests thereby reducing the risk of unwanted illness. Common illnesses that occur with chemicals accidentally ingested are related to the gastrointestinal tract.
• Greater nutrition. Organic foods retain the natural amount of nutritive value that they should ideally be containing. As opposed to artificially processed foods, these organic foods have not yet been subjected to the different processing methods which transform the original food product into several forms. Changing its structure, and applying heat to these organic foods, as well as with simple slicing, would cause a part of the nutrient value to disintegrate and be lost in the whole process.

 Whatever your reasons for wanting to go organic, there is no doubt that eating an organically healthy diet will impact our lives in a great way. I grew up on organic foods and I can personally attest to the fact that it is more flavorful than non-organic foods. Especially when the fruits and vegetables are left to fully ripen on the tree or vine.

                                                                   Sources: Wikipedia.org.  Online health magazine