Meatless Monday: Increasing Your Vegetable Intake

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You Can Go Meatless

For All Three Meals

Veggie Round-UP

When it comes to making sound nutrition choices, many would like it to be black and white. This food is good; this food is bad. This fruit is the worst; this vegetable is the best. However, healthy eating isn’t all black and white. Eating nutritiously is all about selecting a variety of wholesome foods. When it comes to vegetables, certainly all are good for you, but some are stronger in specific nutritional contributions, for example, vitamin A, potassium, fiber, and phytochemicals—plant compounds with health benefits. A nutrient-rich diet that protects against disease is packed with a variety of different vegetables.

According to the USDA Dietary Guidelines, adults should consume 2-3 cups of vegetables daily, depending on age and gender. Unfortunately, many Americans aren’t reaching that goal. Getting the recommended amount of vegetables per day can help improve your overall health by lowering your risk of certain cancers, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. Vegetables, rich in fiber, also can help boost your digestive health and promote a healthier weight. And of course, eating your veggies helps you pack your diet with essential nutrients and antioxidant compounds. Our vegetable nutrition comparison gives you a little more information on just how hardworking those vegetables are.

If you’re trying to get more vegetables into your diet, try these helpful tips:

Sandwich Stacking. If your sandwich is usually just bread, meat and cheese, consider adding a healthy layer of vegetables. In addition to the usual tomato and lettuce, try baby spinach, roasted red peppers, and shredded carrots.

Soup’s On! Vegetable soups or pasta sauces are great vehicles to boost your vegetable intake. Add chopped peppers, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, and more to the pot as it simmers.

Casserole Fillers. Macaroni and cheese, chili, and other one-pot meals are delicious with extra vegetables mixed in, such as bell peppers, broccoli, corn, or tomatoes.

( Adapted from Heidi Mclndoo )

Healthy Meatless Recipe:

SPAGHETTI WITH QUINOA MEATBALLS

( Adapted from aidamollenkamp.com )

Ingredients:

For the quinoa balls:

• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 small onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 225 grams of mushrooms, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste or 3 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup panko or regular bread crumbs

For the spaghetti

• Spaghetti (Whole Wheat or Spaghetti Squash)
• Tomato sauce
• Vegetables of your choice ( artichoke hearts and cherry tomatoes are very tasty)

Directions:

1. Bring ¾ of a cup of water to a boil. Add the quinoa and cover. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer until the water is absorbed.
2. In a separate pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add the crushed red pepper and allow to cook for about 30 seconds. Add the onion, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until soft. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for a further 30 seconds.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook until brown, about 10 minutes, then add the tomato paste and cook for a further minute. Once ready, remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. In a bowl, combine the quinoa, mushroom mixture, egg, panko, and basil. Wet your hands a little and form mixture into 1 tablespoon balls. Arrange the balls on a greased or lined baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350° Fahrenheit oven for 15 – 20 minutes until a little crispy on the outside.
5. While the quinoa balls bake, prepare spaghetti, tomato sauce, and vegetables to your liking. Gently remove quinoa balls from the baking sheet, they can be a little delicate. Serve on top of your spaghetti.

Enjoy and Bon Appetit!

Healthy Weekly Motivator

Try A Monday Mile

Get your health back on track with the Monday Mile. Organize a walk, jog or run with friends, family and co-workers!

Remember Green Goes with Everything

Non-Toxic Green Cleaning Products

Did you know that 1 in every 10 children develops asthma, and that chemicals in many of the mainstream cleaning products have been scientifically linked to asthma?* Did you know that rate of child autism development has increased to 1 in every 88 children, and that autism is linked to not just genes, but also the environment?

This is scary stuff. If you want to keep your kids and family healthy, you absolutely must limit the amount of toxins that they all interact with. One of the most common way that toxins enter our bodies is through home cleaning supplies. These can be easily replaced with green cleaning products. Here’s a real-life story from Sloan Barnett, wife of Shaklee’s CEO (Roger), as she explains how their son’s sudden asthma development was linked to home cleaning products.

90% of our time is spent inside, and indoor air pollution is 2-5x higher inside than outside. Where do your kids spend most of their time?

There is something you can do about this: limit chemicals in your home. It’s time to make a change for the health of your family. Shaklee’s Get Clean green cleaning products are the solution to a healthier home.

Have a great week and remember a better tomorrow starts with what you eat today!

Do you have a favorite meatless recipe you would like to share with us? Send it my way!

Wishing you health and wellness from the inside out,

Lisa

LQ WELLNESS

Professional Wellness Coach

973-383-0955

lisaquinnwc@embarqmail.com

Interested in Optimal Wellness? Take a look at products available here!

Make sure to follow me on Twitter @lq_wellness

Like me on Facebook

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“Respect your body. Eat well. Dance forever.”

~ Eliza Gaynor Minden ~

Thursday Wellness: Why You Shouldn’t Give Your Children Flinstone Vitamins

The #1 Children’s Vitamin Brand in the US contains ingredients that most parents would never intentionally expose their children to, so why aren’t more opting for healthier alternatives?

Kids vitamins are supposed to be healthy, right? Well then, what’s going on with Flintstones Vitamins, which proudly claims to be “Pediatricians’ #1 Choice”? Produced by the global pharmaceutical corporation Bayer, this wildly success brand features a shocking list of unhealthy ingredients, including:

Aspartame
Cupric Oxide
Coal tar artificial coloring agents (FD&C Blue #2, Red #40, Yellow #6)
Zinc Oxide
Sorbitol
Ferrous Fumarate
Hydrogenated Oil (Soybean)
GMO Corn starch
On Bayer Health Science’s Flintstones product page designed for healthcare professionals they lead into the product description with the following tidbit of information:

82% of kids aren’t eating all of their veggies1. Without enough vegetables, kids may not be getting all of the nutrients they need.

References: 1. Lorson BA, Melgar-Quinonez HR, Taylor CA. Correlates of fruit and vegetable intakes in US children. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009;109(3):474-478.

The implication? That Flintstones vitamins somehow fill this nutritional void. But let’s look a little closer at some of these presumably healthy ingredients….

ASPARTAME

Aspartame is a synthetic combination of the amino acids aspartic acid and l-phenylalanine, and is known to convert into highly toxic methanol and formaldehyde in the body. Aspartame has been linked to over 40 adverse health effects in the biomedical literature, and has been shown to exhibit both neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity [1] What business does a chemical like this have doing in a children’s vitamin, especially when non-toxic, non-synthetic non-nutritive sweeteners like stevia already exist?

CUPRIC OXIDE

Next, let’s look closer at Cupric Oxide, 2mg of which is included in each serving of Flinstone’s Complete chewable vitamins as a presumably ‘nutritional’ source of ‘copper,’ supplying “100% of the Daily Value (Ages 4+), according to Flintstones Vitamins Web site’s Nutritional Info.[2]

But what is Cupric Oxide? A nutrient or a chemical?

According to the European Union’s Dangerous Substance Directive, one of the main EU laws concerning chemical safety, Cupric Oxide is listed as a Hazardous substance, classified as both “Harmful (XN)” and “Dangerous for the environment” (N). Consider that it has industrial applications as a pigment in ceramics, and as a chemical in the production of rayon fabric and dry cell batteries. In may be technically correct to call it a mineral, but should it be listed as a nutrient in a children’s vitamin? We think not.

COAL TAR ARTIFICIAL COLORING AGENTS

A well-known side effect of using synthetic dyes is attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. For direct access to study abstracts on this topic view our Food Coloring research page. There is also indication that the neurotoxicity of artificial food coloring agents increase when combined with aspartame,[3] making the combination of ingredients in Flintstones even more concerning.

ZINC OXIDE

Each serving of Flinstones Complete Chewable vitamins contain 12 mg of zinc oxide, which the manufacturer claims delivers 75% of the Daily Value to children 2 & 3 years of age. Widely used as a sun protection factor (SPF) in sunscreens, The EU’s Dangerous Substance Directive classifies it as an environmental Hazard, “Dangerous for the environment (N).” How it can be dangerous to the environment, but not for humans ingesting it, escapes me. One thing is for sure, if one is to ingest supplemental zinc, or market it for use by children, it makes much more sense using a form that is organically bound (i.e. ‘chelated’) to an amino acid like glycine, as it will be more bioavailable and less toxic.

SORBITOL

Sorbitol is a synthetic sugar substitute which is classified as a sugar alcohol. It can be argued that it has no place in the human diet, much less in a child’s. The ingestion of higher amounts have been linked to gastrointestinal disturbances from abdominal pain to more serious conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome.[4]

FERROUS FUMARATE

The one clear warning on the Flinstone’s Web site concerns this chemical. While it is impossible to die from consuming iron from food, e.g. spinach, ferrous fumarate is an industrial mineral and not found in nature as food. In fact, ferrous fumarate is so toxic that accidental overdose of products containing this form is “a leading cause of fatal poisoning in children under 6.” The manufacturer further warns:

Keep this product out of reach of children. In case of accidental overdose, call a doctor or poison control center immediately.

HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL

Finding hydrogenated oil in anything marketed to children is absolutely unacceptable. These semi-synthetic fatty acids incorporate into our tissues and have been linked to over a dozen adverse health effects, from coronary artery disease to cancer, violent behavior to fatty liver disease.[5]

GMO CORN STARCH

While it can be argued that the amount of GMO corn starch in this product is negligible, even irrelevant, we disagree. It is important to hold accountable brands that refuse to label their products honestly, especially when they contain ingredients that have been produced through genetic modification. The ‘vitamin C’ listed as ascorbic acid in Flintstones is likely also produced from GMO corn. Let’s remember that Bayer’s Ag-biotech division, Bayer CropScience, poured $381,600 of cash into defeating the proposition 37 GMO labeling bill in California. Parents have a right to protect their children against the well-known dangers of genetically modified foods and the agrichemicals that contaminate them, don’t they? GMO corn starch is GMO, plain and simple. We’d appreciate it if Bayer would label their “vitamins” accordingly.

In summary, Bayer’s Flintstone’s vitamin brand is far from a natural product, and the consumer should be aware of the unintended, adverse health effects that may occur as a result of using it.

(Shared from Sayer Ji)

A balanced natural children’s Vitamin Incredivites and Vita Lea Ocean Wonders by Shaklee Corporation offers one of the most comprehensive complete multi vitamins for children without the additives and colorings.

Shakleekids Incredivites is the first children's chewable multivitamin in the U.S. with lactoferrin, which helps kids' immune systems stay supercharged. Packed with 23 essential nutrients, it's the world's best kids' supplement-with 600 IU of vitamin D to support strong bones and teeth, and 100% of the Daily Value of all eight B vitamins and vitamin C. Just two a day and off they play. Now that's incredible!

Vita-Lea Ocean Wonders is a kosher-certified chewable multivitamin for kids. It's packed with 19 essential nutrients and provides 100% of the Daily Value of vitamin C. Plus, Ocean Wonders now has more vitamin D - 600 IU per serving, that's 150% of the daily value! - as well as calcium, magnesium, and more to help support strong bones and a healthy body. With cool dolphin, sea horse, and fish designs in natural orange, grape, and mixed berry flavors, Vita-Lea Ocean Wonders is sure to be an ocean of fun. Just two a day and off they play!

Whatever your little superhero is up to, count on Shakleekids to deliver nutrition their growing bodies need. So they can out run and outshine.

Click here and go to Children's Health for more information.

Wishing you health and wellness from the inside out,

Lisa

LQ WELLNESS

Professional Wellness Coach

973-383-0955

lisaquinnwc@embarqmail.com

Interested in Optimal Wellness? Take a look at products available here!

Make sure to follow me on Twitter @lq_wellness

Like me on Facebook

Follow me on Pinterest

“If I had my way I'd make health catching instead of disease.”

~Robert Ingersoll ~