What’s Tamarind and Why Should I Care?

Archives for September 2016

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If you eat a lot of Asian cuisine, you may be familiar with tamarind sauce or chutney.

It has a sweet yet tangy taste which enhances the flavor of the dish. Super delicious and just wait until you hear all the healthy things it does for your body!

What is Tamarind?

Tamarind is a tree that grows in tropical countries. India is the largest producer of tamarind. Tamarind trees produce a pod-like fruit, which you'll find a lot in Indian cuisine. Some savory dishes, soups and bases in Indian Cuisine use the pulp for its flavor.

3 Reasons Your Body Loves Tamarind

Plenty of studies show that tamarind is beneficial for your health. Here are some interesting findings on just how good it is:

1. Heart Health: A study on rats found that tamarind dropped cholesterol and body weight.

The experiment was on obese rats fed with tamarind extracts for 10 weeks. Researchers found that tamarind extracts reduced fat tissues and regulated the use of fat.

2. Antioxidant: Tamarind has a slew of antioxidants that fight free radical damage.

A lab study found that tamarind extract boosted the body's antioxidant defense. Some of the antioxidants include limonene, geraniol, safrole, cinnamic acid and alkyl­thiazoles. 

3. Removes fluoride: Eating tamarind in your diet helps in excretion of fluoride.

Fluoride when consumed at more than 1 mg per liter causes fluorosis. This affects bones, teeth and other internal organs resulting in deformity.

Tamarind helps remove excess fluoride in the body through urine.

Tamarind nutrition: Thirty grams of tamarind (about a lime size) gives –

71 calories, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 0.9 grams of protein, about 1 mg iron, and 1.5 g of fiber.

Using 100 grams of tamarind will help you get the recommended daily allowance of some key nutrients like:

  •  36% of the RDA for thiamin
  • 23%  of the RDA for magnesium
  • 35% of the RDA for  iron
  • 16% of the RDA for phosphorus

How to use tamarind?

Tamarind is available in most Asian grocery supply stores in 2 forms. One is the raw tamarind pulp, and the other is tamarind paste.

It's available as a paste wrapped in cellophane as blocks. A few stores sell the powder form as well.  The blocks store well in room temperature for up to a year. If you use tamarind paste from jar refrigerate it after opening.

tamarind-block

If you use a lime size piece of tamarind pulp from the blocks, it is about 30 grams.

To extract tamarind from the blocks, soak them in warm water for fifteen minutes. Rub the pulp between your fingers so the pulp and fiber separate. Use a strainer, so the fiber remains on the strainer. You can discard or use this as compost.

The resulting pulp is like apple sauce in consistency. You can use this in your recipes. Here are some easy ways to use tamarind in your recipes.

How do I eat tamarind?

In soups : Add a teaspoon of tamarind pulp to your soup or broth for a tangy twist. Note, if you use tangy tomatoes in your recipe, it's a good idea to reduce the number of tomatoes in your recipe.

With lentils & beans: Add a teaspoon or more if you prefer to your lentil curry. Be sure to cook for few minutes to get rid of the raw smell.

Others: You can make a thin soup with tamarind water, salt and pepper to ease digestion. You can add tamarind water to stir fries, sauces or curries.

Tamarind's delicious tangy flavor can blow you away.  Besides, it comes with plenty of positive health effects. Tamarind, is a great addition because it's wholesome and rich in nutrition.

Yours in Health,

Danette

P.S. I'd love for you to share this article with your friends and don't forget to leave me a comment below.

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Did you know that you fast everyday?!

You guessed it, during your sleep as an involuntary action.

When you sleep, your body's digestive function is at rest for at least seven hours. This is essential so your organs repair and function well the next morning. This is the premise behind fasting.

In some cultures fasting is routine. People fast on certain days or months of a year. Science tells that this cultural practice brings plenty of health benefits.

Research shows that fasting can help treat conditions like:

  • High blood pressure
  • Rheumatic diseases
  • Chronic pain

Besides, holistic doctors use fasting as a therapeutic tool in treating diseases. For instance, Ayurveda (a popular type of holistic medicine) uses fasting to improve digestion, and for detoxification.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Fasting and humans are inseparable. Our ancestors have gone through periods of famine. They often skipped food to cope with limited supply. A skipped meal or two helps feed everyone in the tribe and survive the harsh weather. Researchers now agree that the habit of skipping meals either intermittently or longer may be why our ancestors were healthier. Keep in mind they were also more physically active.

We can emulate this type of eating style by intermittent fasting. You can enjoy the same health benefits as in regular fasting.

Intermittent fasting restricts energy intake on 1–3 d/wk, and eating healthy foods freely on the non-restriction days.

Intermittent fasting is simple, you skip a meal on certain days in a week. For instance, you can eat between 6 am to 5 pm skipping dinner or eat between 11 am to 7 pm skipping breakfast.

Let's say you eat dinner at 6 pm…If you want to try an intermittent fast, you'd generally go about 16 hours without food including your time asleep at night, so your next meal would come at no earlier than Noon the next day.

You can drink liquids, tea, or coffee in the morning, as long as there are no calories added (no sugar, cream, etc). If you're still not hungry after 16 hours of fasting, you can always try to go longer without food until you have your first meal of that next day, but 16 hours is generally considered the minimum to be considered an intermittent fast.

Intermittent fasting can be done several days per week to reap the benefits, or even every single day if you find it enjoyable and feel great by doing it

What happens during Intermittent Fasting?

During intermittent fasting, your body does not have food (a ready fuel) for energy. So it takes the glucose reserves, which takes about 6 hours to use. As it exhausts this reserve, it next begins to break down fat for energy. So the 6-7 hour fasting window acts as a kicker to break down fat stores.

Here are some benefits of intermittent fasting:

  • Enhanced digestion
  • Improved immune health
  • Detoxification
  • Weight loss
  • Lower risk of diseases
  • Better glucose uptake

The list goes on, yet weight loss and improved glucose use are the best effects. Since these 2 factors go hand in hand with other underlying heath issues, they're both critical to health.

Does it help with weight loss?

Fasting, in general can help you lose fat. It's not how I choose (feeling deprived is not for me) to stay trim but I have friends that swear but it, so it really comes down to personal preference.

One review found that intermittent fasting can cause about 3 – 8% reduction in body weight in about 3 – 24 weeks. Researchers say this is a significant loss of body weight.

Another study on overweight women found that intermittent fasting was effective in weight loss. Researchers also found that it helped improve insulin sensitivity, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure. The results revealed that intermittent fasting was as effective as regular fasting.

A 2005 study subjected eighty healthy men to intermittent fasting. They fasted every second day for 24 for 15 days. Researchers observed that they showed better insulin sensitivity and glucose use. These two things lower the risk for type 2 diabetes as well as help maintain a healthy body weight.

Is Intermittent Fasting for Everyone?

Intermittent fasting is safe for most. But, if you fall into any of the categories below, you should exercise caution. It's best to talk to your doctor to find out if it is right for you.

  • Diabetics
  • Children
  • If you have low blood sugar levels
  • People with special conditions

Pregnant or nursing mothers, anyone recovering from surgery should avoid fasting.

A Few more tips to keep in mind

  • Choose wholesome healthy foods after your fast
  • Avoid binge eating
  • Include healthy fats
  • Drink plenty of water
  • If you take dietary supplements, take them with food.
  • Intermittent fasting is not about calories, it is about when you eat

Your food choices are still what determine the benefits you'll get from intermittent fasting. It's important to choose healthy and not overeat. If you plan on trying it, choose to eat between 11 am to 7 pm. This way you can avoid low energy levels and sluggishness.

Am I saying that you should start a plan for intermittent fasting today? Not really. It's good to have the info. but it's not what I do. I typically eat every 2- 4 hours until bedtime. For me, fasting  just isn't a sustainable lifestyle choice. I love eating too much! It could help some though and I like you to have all the info. to stay in control of your own decisions about your health.

Yours in Health,

Danette

P.S. Please share this with your loved ones and I always like to hear from you so leave me a comment below.

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By now, if you've been following me for awhile, you have heard a lot about coconut oil.

You're likely aware that its uses go way beyond the kitchen. Here are some quick facts on coconut oil so you can make the best use of this gift from nature.

3 Reasons Your Body Loves Coconut Oil 

1. Best fats: Coconut oil gives you the best fats your body needs. Although it contains saturated fat, most of it is lauric acid. Lauric acid differs in its composition from saturated fats derived from animal sources.

Studies show that lauric acid helps to lower cholesterol and promotes health. It also contains medium chain fats, which boosts your body's fat burning ability. Just keep in mind that you still want to eat fats in moderation.

2. Boosts the brain: Coconut oil is different from other fats that are high in long chain fats. The presence of medium chain fats makes it easy for your body to absorb. Your liver uses this fat and converts them to ketones.

Ketones are a crucial source of energy for your brain and boost brain activity. They're also beneficial for people with Alzheimer's and memory loss. The compound cytokinin helps prevent the protein aggregation that is common in Alzheimer's.

3. Antioxidants galore: If you take coconut oil every day it improves your body's antioxidants.  A study on rats found that polyphenols in coconuts are responsible for this. Better antioxidant defense from coconut oil means better immune function and lowered cancer risk.

3 Surprising Ways to Use Coconut Oil 

1. To battle bacteria:

Studies show that coconut oil can be a natural antiseptic.

One study showed that coconut oil is effective against candida (yeast). As if that weren't enough, it also concluded that virgin coconut oil changed the cells of bacteria and slowed their growth.

2. To beautify you: Coconut oil is good for your hair and skin.

Dab a few drops of coconut oil on your skin after a bath to enjoy soft, supple skin even in harsh winter.

Use it as a lip moisturizer to prevent chafing. Coconut oil's vitamins and fats help to nourish your hair from its roots. It nourishes the scalp and promotes the growth of shiny hair.

3. To clean your house:  Use coconut oil as a non-toxic cleaner around your home.

You can use it to sanitize and condition leather goods. It's great to use to season your cast iron pots and pans. Use it to clean the inside of your car, it also conditions it. Coconut oil is a safe, gentle way to clean your hands after using oil-based paints.

When using coconut oil in combination with other ingredients like baking soda do a patch test. To do that, just rub your mixture on a small, less easily seen area of the item you're cleaning to ensure it doesn't discolor the material.

3 Tips on Shopping for Coconut Oil

There are a LOT of brands out there and it can get confusing to zero down to the best. Here are few tips to help you choose the right one.

1. Choose unrefined virgin oils: Refined coconut oils come from dried coconuts. They undergo chemical treatments and don't carry the beneficial compounds of fresh ones. Unrefined, virgin oils have coconut's characteristic aroma as they are less processed.

2. Choose cold-pressed oils: In general, extracting oil from coconuts involves heat. This can destroy vital nutrients in coconuts. This is why it is best to choose cold pressed coconut oils. The process occurs in heat-controlled conditions. This ensures, less harsh processing and most nutrition.

3. Choose organic: Coconut is a crop that is never genetically modified, so that is not a concern with coconuts. Even though coconuts generally aren't grown with as many chemicals as many crops, it's still the best idea to choose organic, for both your health and the environment.

This keeps away the use of dangerous chemicals in the extraction process. When labeled organic, manufacturers have to adhere to industry standards in its extraction process.

3  Ways I Love Using Coconut Oil

1. In my coffee: To power up my morning workouts in my Bullet Proof Coffee recipe.

2. In my bathroom: To fight my cellulite in my All Natural Cellulite Body Scrub recipe.

3. In my moment: To satisfy my cravings in my Heavenly Coconut Bliss Balls recipe.

With recent advances, there is a better understanding of the role fats play in health. As always, be sure to consume a variety of healthy fats in your diet to get the most for your health.

Yours in Health,

Danette

P.S. Please share this article with your friends and don't forget to leave me a comment below.

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Steak, hamburgers, beef ribs. All are popular choices in the American diet.

But when you order your cheeseburger or T-bone, do you think about where it came from? You should.

More and more information is coming to light about the difference between beef that comes from feedlots and beef that is grass fed and pasture raised.

Most people imagine cows munching on grass in green fields, but that isn’t the reality for most of our beef. All beef cattle start out eating grass on the range. But most of the meat at the market comes from cows that are moved from the pasture to the feedlot after a few months.

Instead of growing to full size naturally, they are fed corn, supplements, antibiotics and growth hormones. This makes them grow bigger faster. They go from 80 pounds to 1,200 pounds in just a little more than a year.

Not only is this hard on the cow, but it has a big impact on our health and on the quality of the meat that we eat. The antibiotics in our food have made the ones that we take when we’re sick less effective. And there are a lot of questions about whether the hormones in our food are having an impact on humans. Questions like: Is red meat really more dangerous than cigarettes? 

Cows that are raised on feedlots are given 6 different hormones. Three are natural steroids, including testosterone, progesterone and estradiol. The other 3 are synthetic hormones.

Scientists testing groups that eat large amounts of corn fed beef have found links to lower sperm concentration in men.

Another study found that it may impact adolescent girls’ growth rate.

Cows that are raised in pastures for their entire lives provide what is known as grass fed beef. There are a LOT reasons to choose grass fed beef. These are just a few.

3 Reasons Grass Fed Beef is Better

1. Beef that comes from corn fed cows has TWICE as much total fat as beef from a grass fed cow.

2. Grass fed beef is also higher in omega-3 fats and has FOUR times the vitamin E of feedlot cattle.

3. It's also much higher in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), which has been linked to a lower risk of cancer.

When you go to the market to buy beef, it's important to remember that grass fed cows can be given hormones and antibiotics too. You want to look for grass fed beef that is also organic and pasture raised.

You also need to take a different approach to cooking grass fed beef. Because the cows are allowed the freedom to walk around on pastures, they have less fat and are more muscular. That means that the beef can dry out if it is cooked too long.

When cooking grass fed beef:

  • Use a lower temperature, as it will cook faster
  • Cut about 30% off of your normal cooking time
  • For grass fed ground beef mix in vegetables like chopped spinach or onions to add moisture and flavor

Yours in Health,

Danette

P.S. Please share this article with your friends and don't forget to leave me a comment below.

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Aging is a concern for everyone, and for good reason.

As we get older, our skin wrinkles and our joints start to ache. We lose our ability to fight disease. We get tired faster.

One of the main reasons for this is that our bodies stop making as much collagen.

Collagen is a protein, but it’s more than just any protein. It’s the #1 protein in our body. It’s found in everything from our muscles and bone to our skin and hair.

When our collagen production slows down our:

  • skin loses its elasticity
  • hair and nails grow more slowly and lose their strength and shine
  • ligaments move more stiffly.

Even our stomach lining loses some of its function.

Collagen is made up of amino acids. It's what holds everything in our bodies where it is supposed to be. Our bodies make it, but the process slows when we are sick or stressed. It also slows down as we age.

Collagen is 30% of the protein in our body and 70% of the protein in our skin.

It’s no wonder that when it stops being made, it makes such a difference!!

The good news is that we can supplement our collagen supply by taking in more in our diet, and collagen powder is one of the best ways of doing that.

Collagen has always been part of the human diet. It comes from eating animals, but the parts that contain the most collagen are the bones, the skin, the ligaments. Though today we don’t eat those parts, they can still be used to make collagen-rich foods and supplements.

Bone broth is one of my favorite ways to eat delicious food that is rich in collagen, but making it can take hours.

But, What About Collagen Powder?

Collagen powder, on the other hand, is readily available in 2 different forms – collagen peptides and collagen protein. Here’s more about each:

Collagen Peptides – this is hydrolyzed gelatin. Gelatin is what is produced when collagen is heated. Collagen peptides are easy to digest and mix into drinks easily. They have no taste and don’t make liquids thicker.

Collagen Protein – this is gelatin powder, and is the purest form of collagen. It may be harder for some people to digest, and it will form a gel when mixed with liquids.

Consuming collagen powder has many benefits.

1. It can cut down on wrinkles, and give the skin more elasticity.

2. It improves bone and joint health and may improve hormone production.

3. It can help coat the digestive tract, and be a big help for those with leaky gut.

4. Most exciting of all, studies have shown that adding collagen powder to your diet may even cause the body to start making more collagen on its own!

Buying & Using Collagen Powder

When buying collagen powder, you want to follow the same rules that you do when you buy any other animal products. Look for collagen powder that comes from grass-fed, pasture-raised animals. These will have the added advantage of being free of antibiotics and hormones.

You can add it to smoothies, your fridge oats or even just water but my favorite way to use it in is my oh-so-GOOD Superfood Coffee!

Yours in Health,

Danette

P.S. Please share this article with your friends and don't forget to leave me a comment below.

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