Project Foodie - From the Nutritionist

The Artichoke Queen

Who was crowned California's Artichoke Queen in 1949?

Who other than the beautiful Marilyn Monroe.

The artichoke...what a delectable treat, hidden beneath layer and layer of teasing sturdy leaves. A native of the Mediterranean, the artichoke is a perennial in the thistle group of the sunflower family which was brought to California by Italians in the 1800's. The U.S.'s first artichoke farm was planted near the San Francisco Bay area and almost 100% of the artichokes in the U.S. are still grown near there!

Half of the harvest happens between March and May and is very labor intensive work. Crews walk quickly through the artichoke rows choosing the ripe artichokes, cutting them from the stalks with a special "artichoke" knife. The fields are maintained in perennial culture for five to ten years. Each cropping cycle is initiated by "cutting back" the tops of the plants several inches below the soil surface to stimulate development of new shoots.

If you are a huge fan of artichokes like me, or if you live in northern California make plans to attend the Artichoke Festival! Held this year on May 17-18th in the self-proclaimed "Artichoke Capital of the World". Visit the website for more details.

The "vegetable" we eat is actually the plant's flower bud. Low in calories, full of fiber and vitamins and minerals like folate and magnesium, the yummy artichoke can be served in countless ways...check out a variety of interesting artichoke recipes here .

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For the love of Chocolate

We’ve had a love affair with chocolate for a long time. Why?

Let’s start with the current process of making chocolate, then the history, and finally the health benefits and why we love it so much!

Chocolate comes from wild cacao trees, which farmers tend to in various rainforests around the world. There they receive just the right amount of rain, shade, humidity, wind and nutrients. Cacao pods are the size of a small papaya and similarly shaped. They change from a light green to a brilliant red color on the tree when ripening.

Understanding when the pod is ripe takes talent, as does the harvesting. The plucking of cacao pods need to be done delicately by hand so as to not damage the bark of the tree. The pods are then hacked open with machetes, revealing pulp covered seeds. This harvest happens twice a year.

These seeds are then naturally fermented in piles lined and covered with banana tree leaves. The pulp and seeds warm up in the tropical heat and humidity, activating enzymes and creating chemical compounds that make it taste like chocolate. Fermentation is finished when these white seeds turn a milk chocolate brown.

Next the seeds need to be dried. This is done naturally out in the open air and sun on bamboo mats. This process takes about a week and causes the seeds to lose about half their weight. These cacao seeds are now ready to leave the gentle hands of these tropical farmers, to be packed up in burlap sacks and sent to chocolate making companies far away.

Once at the manufacturer, the process becomes a bit more mechanical and the cacao beans start to look more and more like the chocolate we know and love.

The seeds are sorted, cleaned and roasted to perfection. This roasting takes some ingenuity as the seeds are different depending on their origin. The seeds roast for 30 minutes to 2 hours and turn a dark coffee-bean-like color. This roasting makes the shells very brittle, so they are easier to remove, leaving the remains, which are called chocolate nibs. These nibs are naturally made up of 53% cocoa butter and 47% pure cocoa solids.

In order to make chocolate, the cocoa butter and the pure cocoa need to be separated. This is done by crushing the nibs with heavy steal rollers, which generate a lot of friction and heat to liquefy the nibs into a thick paste, called chocolate liquor. This chocolate liquor is then placed in a huge hydraulic press which squeezes out the white cocoa butter. This is sometimes added back into chocolate bars or used for the base of white chocolate.

Once this cocoa butter is separated, the remaining solid cocoa is pulverized into pure cocoa powder. This cocoa powder is sometimes used in baking, cooking or for making hot chocolate.

To make creamy, ‘melt in your mouth chocolate bars’, the chocolate liquor (which still has the cocoa butter in it) is mixed with condensed milk, sugar and sometimes extra cocoa butter. The recipe depends on the percentage of chocolate desired. The extra cocoa butter helps the chocolate bar stay solid at room temperature, but also allows it to melt in the warmth of your mouth as it begins to soften around 75º F and melts at 97ºF. This refined paste is ground with heavy rollers, sometimes for up to 6 days to smooth out the grains of chocolate and sugar.

These are just the basics of how the chocolate we know and love is made today…but chocolate has a long history!

600 – Maya Indians moved from Guatemala to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and brought with them cacao.

1000 – The cacao bean began to be used as money

1200 – Aztecs began demanding payment of taxes in the form of cacao beans. They used cacao beans for a drink, adding flowers, vanilla and honey.

1502 – Christopher Columbus was given his first drink of xocoatl (chocolate) on his fourth voyage to the Americas. He didn’t like it, but took some cacao beans back as an unusual item for the people at home.

1519 – Cortez captured Montezuma and began ruling the Aztec empire. He established a cacao plantation in the name of Spain.

1528 – Cortez returned to Spain with cacao beans and hid them in monasteries with the formula kept secret for the special chocolate drink, which only the very rich could afford to buy.

1615 – Anne of Austria marries Louis XIII and takes the Spanish custom of chocolate drinking to France

1657 – The first chocolate house is opened in England by a Frenchman, but it is still very unaffordable for most.

1674 – A London coffeehouse sells the first solid chocolate in stick form.

1764 – The Baker Chocolate Company is established in Dorchester, MA by James Baker. He calls his products “Baker’s Chocolate”.

1861 – Richard Cadbury creates the heart-shaped candy box for Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day was an ancient fertility festival celebrated seven weeks after Winter Solstice, marking the progression from Winter into Spring. Chocolate came into the picture many, many years later, but is rightfully part of this “love” holiday.

Chocolate contains the same “feel good” chemical that is produced in our brains when elated or “falling in love”. The chemicals in chocolate give you a “lift” because of the psychoactive ingredients like serotonin, salsolinol, phenylethylamine, anandamide and theobromine. We get very small amounts of these chemicals when we eat chocolate, but they (and the added sugar) still seem to do the trick!

Now…is chocolate healthy?

Chocolate has antioxidants called phenols, similar to the ones in red wine and tea. The darker the chocolate the more phenols it contains. The purer and darker chocolate provides the most health benefits. For example, dark chocolate (but not milk chocolate) contains flavonoids, which are antioxidants that are believed to prevent oxidation of bad cholesterol which could help slow early stages of atherosclerosis in the arteries.

Chocolate bars do contain varying amounts of sugar, which of course isn’t healthy, especially in large doses. This sugar stimulates the release of endorphins, generating a feeling of pleasure and well being, but of course also stimulates the release of insulin, which can eventually cause a sugar crash, and possibly more fat storage.

The best way to experience all the “feel good” benefits of chocolate without the negative impact of the sugar and calories is to choose dark chocolate and eat it in small portions. You may be surprised how satisfying a 1 ounce piece of very good dark chocolate can be! Moderation is key…Enjoyment necessary!

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Resolutions for the New Year

How many of you made New Year's Resolutions? How many of you have broken them already? Don't feel guilty! That's the norm, actually. We love to make resolutions, though, don't we?

Well...let's make 2008 a new year.

Can I give you a piece of advice?

Here are the 5 things I would like to see as your 2008 goals:

Eat a Healthy Diet, get Rest and Relaxation, Exercise, Hydrate and Manage Stress

There you go. Easy as that. Well, then there's that whole "put into practice part".

Let's start with the best one...food.

Eat a Healthy Diet

That's pretty vague I realize, but think of it this way...we get to eat EVERY day, how lucky! Make every one of those food decisions count. Eat foods that actually DO something for you and your body. Eat foods that give something to the body to help you feel fabulous, instead of something that your body has to deal with in order to move on to something better.

Think of these foods as multi-taskers - foods that give you lots of nutrition using very few calories. Which means you get to eat more of them! Make up your diet with vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Lean meats can fit in there too, given the right portion. The ways to make these foods delicious and gorgeous are plentiful, so eat a variety!

Rest and Relaxation

I know this doesn't seem to have anything to do with food/nutrition, but it does. When you don't get a good nights rest, how are your food choices the following day? Terrible, probably. Let your body and mind get the rest they need and deserve for working for you all the time! Oh, and just so we're clear...you can't "make up" on sleep over the weekend...you need to make getting to bed on time a priority in your daily life. That extra hour in bed resting can make all the difference on your emotional and mental mood, food decisions, exercise decisions, stress management and productivity.

Exercise

Do SOMETHING active everyday. The options are endless. Just get moving! I don't want you to be fooled into thinking that only those that go to the gym, or jog for an hour are exercising. Walk your dog, play ball with your child, garden, go for a hike to see a gorgeous view, these and many other possibilities are part of a good exercise program. Make it part of your life, do something you enjoy, with someone you enjoy, and just get that body moving!

Manage Stress

Stress is part of life...we can't eradicate it...but we can manage it. Stress can affect any and all parts of the body, and it's different for everyone. It can make people put on weight, or make their skin break out, it can make you age prematurely and push you closer to any number of diseases that aren't fun.

Watch yourself, pay attention to how you are reacting - inwardly or outwardly to a stressful situation or person. Take a deep breath. Even just one deep breath will begin to calm you, which can also calm other people and situations. Observe yourself. You may be surprised at your own reactions. Breathe, do your best to solve the problem, then let it go and move on.

Hydrate

The amount of people that I see that are dehydrated is astonishing. Drink water. Simple as that. Yes, drink at least 2 liters of water a day. Spread that amount out over the course of your day, being careful not to drink too much of it before bed so that you aren't awoken to a full bladder. If you have a hard time drinking water, try to add a splash of lemon, lime or any other variety of concentrated juice. Coffee, alcohol and black tea are dehydrating, so remember to hydrate a bit more when you have those beverages.

Your body will thank you, actually, every part of your body and mind will thank you. Staying hydrated is good for digestion and elimination, preventing headaches, protecting skin elasticity, brain alertness and physical energy.

These 5 goals aren't difficult, they are part of decisions you need to make everyday anyway! Make one small, healthy decision at a time, and before you know it, you'll be feeling and looking fabulous for 2008!

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Healthy Cocktails

Save Recipe: Purple Punch

Save Recipe: Watermelon Refresher

Save Recipe: Good ’ol Apple Cider

Have you ever been blamed for someone else's holiday weight gain or their hangover after your fabulous holiday party? Well, this year, try some healthy cocktails that will leave your guests feeling better after they leave your house than when they came, especially the next morning when they wake up feeling refreshed, headache free and hydrated. They'll be calling to thank you for how fabulous they feel instead!

Here are a few hints and below a few recipes for healthy cocktails!

Wine alternative: If you love to drink wine during a party, but really would rather abstain, try a wine glass full of real 'not from concentrate' grape juice. I love Knudsen's Concord Grape Juice myself. It's refreshing, tasty, looks exactly like wine, and just so happens to be so fantastically healthy that you'll drink the whole bottle by yourself without any guilt!

Champagne alternative: Don't think of the sparking juice you used to have as a kid…because the sparkling beverages out there now are amazing! Knudsen makes a variety to choose from, and although they are a bit sweet, diluting them slightly with sparkling mineral water fixes that easily. If you'd like to make sparkling sangria, this works perfectly also as a healthy alternative to the cheap sparkling wine that is sure to bring on that fateful morning after headache.

Punch: Want to serve a punch that is not only beautiful, but can stave off wrinkles, headaches and free radicals? This one is antioxidant rich, and you won't even notice the alcohol missing. This year don't fret about who's having too much punch, have glasses out for everyone, kids included!

Purple Punch

4-6 servings

This is a gorgeous punch that can be enjoyed by all!

2 cups of frozen blueberries
2 cups of frozen strawberries
2 grapefruits
2 oranges
2 apples (pick a crisp variety like Braeburn)

Section grapefruits and oranges and remove all seeds. Core apples and wash skin with soap and rinse well. Make sure to find frozen berries that are unsweetened and ideally organic.

Put oranges and grapefruits in the blender first, blending to a pulpy juice. Next add the apples and berries. If your blender or food processor needs more liquid, just add some extra orange juice or water.

Take a portion of the mixture and freeze into any shape you wish. Keep remaining mixture cool until ready to serve. Upon serving, pour into serving bowl, add frozen mixture. If you would like to add a sparkling juice, soda water, or ginger ale to the punch do so just before serving.

Mixed drink fan? Try this watermelon refresher. You can actually use whatever fruit you have on hand or is in season. Remember that frozen fruit is easy, and full of nutrition. Feel free to also mix up this recipe by adding mint instead of ginger and cucumber instead of watermelon for a hydrating virgin mojito! The possibilities are endless!

Watermelon Refresher

Serving 2

3 cups chopped watermelon
1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
Splash of lime juice
Splash of soda water or ginger ale

Peel the watermelon and remove the seeds. Chop into pieces and put into a blender with ginger. Pour into glass, add splash of soda or ginger ale and garnish with a watermelon wedge.

Warm it up! If it's chilly where you are, then this is a sure crowd pleaser. Nothing says "holidays" for me like hot apple cider.

Good 'ol Apple Cider

1 gallon unfiltered apple juice
1 orange
~20 cloves
5 cinnamon sticks

Pour entire gallon of apple juice into soup pot, wash orange with soap and rinse very well and push cloves into the orange skin.

Put clove-filled orange into apple juice with the cinnamon sticks. Heat apple juice on low for an hour prior to guests arriving, this gives the cloves, orange and cinnamon time to marinate into the apple juice, but also your house will smell delicious!

Put mugs and a ladle next to the stove and it will be gone before you know it!

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Let's Talk Turkey!

Photo courtesy of D'Artagnan

Guess how many turkeys were raised for consumption in 2006?

260 million!

Of that 260 million, almost 50 million were eaten on Thanksgiving alone!

When the turkey comes to the table, do you reach for the white meat or a dark meat?

Turkey is low in fat (compared to other meats) and high in protein. Here are the nutritional differences in 3 ounces of roasted and skinless white and dark meat. Three ounces is the size and thickness of a deck of cards.

	White Meat	Dark Meat
Calories	119	159
Total Fat	1g	6.1g
Saturated Fat	.03g	.03g
Protein	26g	26g
Cholesterol	73mg	72m

(Turkey doesn't contain carbohydrate, including fiber)

As you can see, the dark meat cuts of the turkey are higher in calories and fat, especially saturated fat. The healthiest cuts are the breast and tenderloin, which have the lowest fat and calories, but the same amount of protein as the dark meat cuts. Turkey meat is easier to digest than other types of meat for many people. Turkey also has other important vitamins and minerals such as zinc, potassium B-vitamins and iron, which makes it a pretty excellent protein source. Just remember that serving size!!!

What happens when you don't watch that serving size...like on Thanksgiving? Nap time, right? Well, don't rush to blame the turkey!

Turkey contains L-tryptophan, an essential amino acid which helps produce niacin, a B-vitmain which helps produce serotonin, a chemical in the brain which plays a role in sleep. (Are you with me so far?) The reality of L-tryptophan is that it doesn't act on the brain enough to cause this reaction unless you ingest it on an empty stomach in the absence of protein - something turkey contains lots of...and the empty stomach just doesn't happen on Thanksgiving!

The truth?

The more likely culprit of your afternoon nap on Thanksgiving is due to the carbohydrate overload, and basic over-consumption. What do you usually have for Thanksgiving?

Not JUST turkey, of course, but mashed potatoes, cranberries, yams, peas, carrots, bread, pumpkin pie with whipped cream (and maybe an adult beverage?). This may contain up to 7,100 calories!! That's about as much as most people would consume over 4 days. This big meal pulls the blood away from your brain as your stomach begins the arduous task of digesting, which can make you feel sleepy! The best thing to do isn't to lie down, but to go for a nice slow walk to help that digestion process…especially because there are leftovers to eat!

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Trick or treats?

Save Recipe: Strawberry Agar-Agar with Young Coconut & Cashew Nut Ice Cream

This time of year usually provides us abundance for our sweet tooth. But as we know this also leads to over abundance for our waistline and extra work for our pancreas.

Have you ever noticed that as the year draws to an end you feel more and more sluggish, your brain gets cloudy and you feel tired in the morning, even with a full nights rest? There may be many things to blame due to the busy holiday season, but one major culprit is diet.

This time of year, especially, remember the basics. Take more of the salad, less of the baked yams with marshmallows, more of the turkey breast, less of the mom's fried chicken, more 100% Concord grape juice, less of the fermented kind, more of the fruit, less of the fruit cake. Meals tend to be too heavy, too sweet and accompanied by alcohol. Everything in moderation is fine…I'm a firm believer in that, but the holidays always seem to push the envelope on what "moderation" really means. This year, try some new desserts that not only won't give anyone a sugar hangover, but actually provide healthy nutrition…don't worry you don't have to tell them!

To get you started here is a sugar conversion chart with some of the sugar alternatives. Keep in mind that each of these sugar alternatives have different flavors than refined sugar. You may want to taste them first before replacing refined sugar in your favorite recipe. Also, all sweeteners should be consumed in moderation, but weaning ourselves off refined sugar is one of the best things to do for your health, start with your desserts this holiday season!

Sugar Conversion Chart

Sweetener	Replace one cup of refined sugar with:	Reduce liquids by:
Agave Nectar: a natural extract from a Mexican cactus of the same name, tastes and has a texture similar to honey	3/4 c	1/3 c
Barley Malt Syrup: Roughly half as sweet as honey or sugar. Made from sprouted barley and has a slight nutty, caramel flavor	3/4 c	1/4 c
Brown Rice Syrup: A relatively neutral flavored sweetener that is roughly half as sweet as sugar or honey. It's made from fermented brown rice.	1 c	1/4 c
Blackstrap Molasses: This syrup is a liquid by-product of the sugar refining process. It contains many of the nutrients of the sugar cane plant. It has a strong, distinct flavor (think molasses cookies).	1/2 c	1/4 c
Date Sugar: A granulated sugar produced from drying fresh dates.	2/3 c	0
Fruit Syrup: The preferred method of sweetening involves soaking, then blending raisins and dates with filtered water to create a sweet syrup. Try ½ cup raisins with 1 cup water and experiment to find desired sweetness.	1 c	1/4 c
Sucanat: Abbreviation for Sugar Cane Natural. It is a granular sweetener that consists of evaporated sugar cane juice. It has approximately the same sweetness as sugar. It retains most of the vitamins and minerals of the sugar cane.	1 c	0
Stevia: (available in powder or liquid). Stevia is a plant that originates in the Brazilian rainforest. The powdered form is between 200-400% sweeter than white sugar. It is non-caloric, does not promote tooth decay and is said to be an acceptable form of sugar for diabetics and those with blood sugar imbalances.	1 tsp	0

Now for the adventurous - If you're really into dessert and want to make something really special, but keep it healthy, try these recipes given to me by Sydney native Chris Miller, the Executive Chef at COMO Shambhala Resort and UMA resort in Bali, Indonesia. Each separate part of this recipe can be used individually as a dessert if making all four parts seems a bit too daunting!

Strawberry Agar-Agar with Young Coconut & Cashew Nut Ice Cream

Ingredients for one serving:

1 scoop Young coconut ice cream
1/2 cup strawberry agar-agar
1/4 cup fresh julienne young coconut
3 inch square piece cashew nut crackers

Young coconut and cashew nut ice cream

Serves 8 portions

2 cups raw cashews, soak for 4 hours
2 cups coconut meat
1 cup water
1 cup agave nectar
¼ cup coconut butter
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
½ vanilla bean seeds
½ teaspoon sea salt

In vita-mix or high speed blender, blend all ingredients until completely smooth. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator and then process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Strawberry, rose, pineapple & sage agar-agar

2 1/4 cups strawberry puree
1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
1/4 cup fruit syrup (see above chart for fruit syrup instructions)
1 pack dried agar-agar (swallow brand)

In a vita-mix or high speed blender, puree the strawberries until completely smooth. Mix with fresh pineapple juice and fruit syrup. Take 1/3 of pineapple/strawberry fruit syrup mix and mix with dried agar-agar and cook until warm (do not boil). Remove from heat and mix with rest of pineapple/strawberry/fruit syrup mix. Pour mixture into a small mould. Cool until set.

Cashew nut crackers

2 cups cashew nut
½ cup water
½ cup sugar syrup
2 tsp honey

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Using spatula spread the mixture to the edges of the dehydrator trays. Dehydrate the mixture at 110 F for 8 or 10 hours.

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Conventional vs. Organic...is it worth the cost?

People often tell me they don't buy organic food because they don't see the value in the extra cost. In the case of conventionally grown foods vs. organically grown foods it's not so much what you see in the food but what's in the food and how the farming practices effect our world that makes the biggest difference. Today, I will touch on some of these primary differences and the importance of organic and sustainable farming practices for our food.

Here are some of the basic differences between "conventional" and "organic" farming:

	Conventional	Organic
Industrial	Post world-war II	10,000 years
Chemical, Biological, Physiological	Chemical control of production	Biological control of production
	Chemically made fertilizers	Animal manure
	Hormones	Natural Grown Cycle
Disease Management	Fungicides & antibiotics	Space & minerals
Predator Management	Pesticides	Rotation, bacteria & botanicals
Competition Management	Herbicides	Mulching and tiling
Economic	Large harvest	Soil maintenance
Environmental	Food, worker and environment contamination	Low contamination
	Energy intensive	Lower energy input

Fertilizers and Nitrates

Fertilizers provide plants with nitrogen which allows the plants to grow bigger. This can be achieved with both chemical fertilizers and animal derived manure. One difference in these approaches, however, is the concentration of nitrogen supplied to the plants. Chemical fertilizers provide more nitrogen than the plants need. This nitrogen surplus can be stored in the plant's leaves or it can remain in the soil until it is subsequently washed away to our lakes, rivers, and eventually oceans. The excess nitrogen in the plant leaves is stored not as nitrogen, but as nitrate. Nitrates are normal in small amounts in vegetables, especially spinach and eggplant, but too much nitrate isn't good for the plant, nor the animals eating those leaves, whether it be you, the human consumer, or domestic animals that then get eaten eventually by the human consumer. Why are excessive nitrates bad? Nitrates can affect oxygen transportation and nitrates can decompose into a carcinogenic form. Organic produce grown with more natural forms of fertilizer, that are lower in nitrogen, have lower amounts of nitrites.

Soil Management

Proper soil management allows for good "bugs" to remain in the soil. Microorganisms in the soil produce enzymes that help minerals become more available to plant roots. This is one reason produce grown with proper soil management techniques has higher mineral content.

Antioxidants

Plants that aren't given chemicals to fight for them, have to fight for themselves. How do they do that? With their own defense system called antioxidants. Yes, the same antioxidants that have been talked about for years as being good for you to promote heart health, prevent some cancers, slow the aging process and just fight those nasty free radicals. Plants that are stressed by their predators may not look perfect as they get part of a leaf bit here and a hole there, but they are stronger because of it! Remember perfect looking produce isn't always the healthiest!

The choice....

I recommend choosing organic, or better yet, visiting your local farmer's market, or becoming part of a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Here is a website that can help you find a local farmer to work with. Also, just talking to the farmers and asking them about their farming practices is important. If they have sustainable farming practices, then you can trust their produce is healthier for you and for the environment, with or without the organic symbol (certification can be too expensive for some small farmers). Many farms allow people to visit and sometimes even take part in the growing and harvesting process. This isn't only great fun, but a wonderful learning experience for children.

Remember to wash your produce with soap and water and enjoy full flavored and highly nutritious organic food!

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