Hillary Harvey

Recently, my husband and I found out that we are expecting our first baby! We are thrilled and with the sweet news came some other changes in our lives that have led me to having a lot of time on my hands. I have said in the past that I am interested in baking some delicious healthy alternatives to cookies, breads, cakes, etc. so I decided to start with the abundance of zucchini that is growing in my garden! Here is a moist zucchini bread recipe that disguises all hints of vegetable but is a rich source of veggie nutrients and fiber.

3 cage-free eggs

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup of organic applesauce (I used some that is sweetened only with cinnamon)

3/4 to 1 cup of organic brown sugar

2 1/2 cups grated home-grown or organic zucchini

2 teaspoons organic vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat flour (any unrefined flour will do!)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 cup of barley flakes (or oats, the recipe online said wheat germ)

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

This recipe could also go well with raisins and/or small chunks of pineapple!

Directions: In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil & applesauce, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, baking powder & soda, and oats. Stir to combine. Add other optional ingredients of walnuts, raisins and/or pineapple.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit  for 1 hour or until a tester comes out clean. The bread baked for approximately 40 minutes for me in a 11” by 5” pan.

I greased the pan with coconut oil and whole wheat flour and the bread came out SO smooth!

All that is left is to slice and enjoy any time of the day!

So, what do you think about this zucchini bread? What is your favorite variation of this recipe? Do you have a healthy and delicious recipe you would like me to try and post? I love cooking and am open to any kind of food!

-Diets-

A major fad that goes around in different forms is how we should eat to lose weight. It is everywhere and presents itself in the grocery stores, magazines, bookstores, and online. The “soup” diet, infamous and dangerous calorie counting, Atkins diet, pills (which I discussed last time), the carb-craze and of course the useless “see-food” diet. Yeah, right. Anyway, I want to address a couple of major diets that have come to stay and just do not to do your body justice. Often these diets work for a lot of people for a short period of time and give fast results but set up their systems to fail after about a month. It’s unhealthy to your metabolism and motivation to experiment with the latest fad diets and get burned.

I want to introduce this next fad with some facts and encouragement. Food is your friend. Food is useful. Healthy food is delicious! Foods were made by God for us for nourishment and to keep us healthy. Typically, the man-made and American foods are going to be less nutritious and not worth your hard-earned $. Now, let us take a look at some of the worst and then best ways of eating.

Calorie Counting: As far as calorie counting, it is just downright unnecessary for those trying to lose weight. Using a free tool like www.mypyramid.gov can help give tips on how much food and calories one should eat according to the food pyramid. I gained weight trying to keep to this diet! Seriously, the number of whole grains (healthy, yes, but turn to sugar in a matter of seconds!) and the amount of cow’s milk-dairy products recommended is exaggerated. In addition to that, for me, I eat less calories per day than they recommend without thinking about it.

For some people, cutting back on calories can mean that they cut back on candy and soda only and that cannot be a bad thing but it needs to be for the goal of being healthy and not putting crap-quality food in their bodies. With looking at the number of calories in meat, as well, it causes some people to forfeit needed protein. The down-low about calorie-centered-diets is that your body will eventually plateau at a certain number of calories and you will feel discouraged and have to keep lowering the number to get the results you want. If you, then, begin to slack off, you will most likely gain all the weight back you had lost before and feel even more discontent with food and your body.

Atkins diet and the like: There are at least two diets that I know of that tell you to keep your carbs to 15g/day or sugar to 15g/day. First of all, that means you eat a super-strict diet of proteins and maybe a couple of cups of vegetables per day. The effects of that are numerous but really boil down to two: you will be very hungry and undernourished! Your body needs more carbohydrates than that to keep you functioning. Many people have created kidney damage for going so low on carbs and sugar. That is not worth the risk of your five extra lbs!

I have no problem with relying on proteins and vegetables as your main sources of energy- in fact, that is exceptional. It is imperative for your health to keep fruits and some sprouted wheat grains or spelt bread in there to round out your diet. Cow’s milk dairy is something to be at a minimum for many reasons and I will explore that in the next post.

The Carb-craze: This is possibly the most important fad-diet to explore. “Why?”, you may ask. For the purpose of losing weight, this can, like the Atkins, be the most devastating if used improperly or the most useful if employed correctly. I, along with my family and thousands of Americans, have lost weight very effectively and healthily through monitoring carbohydrates. For diabetics, this is essential! Keeping your carbohydrate intake to 15-30g/meal while eating proteins and deeming veggies and broths as “free foods” is a very healthy, and super easy, way to lose weight and keep it off. Using this way of eating, you’re allowed snacks, two-three everyday consisting of approximately 15g carbohydrates.

Carbs are easy to monitor, too, with nutrition labels because they’ll be in the middle of the label in bold (just make sure you read the serving size, too!) See, there really is an effective, safe, healthy, easy way to lose weight and keep it off all the while having your dessert, pasta, potatoes, cookies, meats, and vegetables all in moderation for your diet. To get the nutrients your body needs throughout the day, please stay healthy and happy and leave those extreme diets for the birds!

Note: If a few of you are interested in having me write up a sample 7-day menu plan for keeping carbohydrates to a moderate amount, I would be thrilled to help you out! Comment on here, and I will email you all the sample meal plan. If 10 or more people are interested, I will post it on the site after discussing dairy.

-Equipment and Pills-

The number of infomercials for the latest pills or “ab master” seem endless. The equipment or the ad may look grander or different but the message is the same: “Buy our product and you will live better and be thinner.” To be honest, only a few pieces of equipment will be worth your money and the space that they will take up in your home. Pills and the latest fad diet will do nothing for your overall health except for make it worse!

Alli is one that I will pick on just a bit because I have heard a lot of horror stories about it. Alli, a smaller dose of a prescription Xenical, is designed to block the amount of fat that is absorbed in the body and essentially you’ll excrete what your body does not absorb. Sounds great, right? Yeah…  I apologize for the graphic nature of the last sentence. This really has happened! Alli is “great” until you’re eating the low-fat sandwich at Applebee’s and you cannot make it to the restroom without all of that fat coming out the other end!

The next area of fads to consider is bulky and expensive equipment. If you’re like most of the current population, the treadmill or latest do-dad will sit some place collecting dust and take up valuable space for a beautiful buffet table. The truth about this fad is that you could spend less than $300 at Target and Dick’s sporting goods and have all you need for an exceptional, varied workout. The items you would need: yoga mat, videos if you want them, couple of outfits and pair of tennis shoes, free weights, exercise ball, and resistance bands (totally optional). The type of exercise that you will get from having those items will give you lean muscle and help you burn fat effectively. For body building, it just might be what you need to get a few pieces of massive-weight machines or a membership to a gym with multiple machines!

Stay connected next week to read about the last fad! Have a wonderful day!

The gist: the most popular or latest trend in fitness does not fit everyone! It is best to wait a while when a new “fit fad” hits the market to find out if it is recalled later, has functional issues, or operates in an impractical manner once it is tried out. This will be a “three-part series”, of sorts so that each topic can be digested before another one comes up. Each one will be an example of a trend that hit the market with great popularity and have either been a go-for-it or forget-it.

- Organic -
The product label, “organic” is seen more today than ever. Is organic all it is claimed to be? Is it really more healthy or just another way for grocers/farmers to get more money?

The Low Down- Organic simply means that the organisms- plants or animals- have been grown humanely and without unnecessary chemicals like insecticides, pesticides, or antibiotics. The fruit or vegetable is not necessarily “better or worse” for you in that it has more or less nutrients, it really comes down to whether or not you want to ingest the toxins introduced to conventionally grown food. Anything with an inedible peel such as a banana, orange, pineapple, or mango does not need to be organic- the outside is the scary part and it is going to be cut off before you eat it anyway! For fruits and veggies with an edible peel- grapes, apples, cucumbers, asparagus, berries- I tend to buy them organic but if I buy them conventionally grown, I wash them in very hot water with clear, antibacterial soap until they are “squeaky” clean. More information, some of which I have found very useful, is in the articles linked below.

Concerning organic meats, it is without a doubt better for your health to consume ones that have never been given hormones or antibiotics because those are toxins that you cannot wash off! The animals are given those substances in their food to make them grow faster and prevent disease. Whatever they eat- you will eat! Organic farmers use other methods of preventing disease that do not harm you or the animal at all. The side-effects of hormone-laden meat are detrimental to your own hormone regulation and it is definitely worth paying the extra money in the short-run than paying for it in dollars and lower quality of health later on.

Costco, Kroger, and Whole Foods are my favorite places to shop for organic meat and where I go really just depends on what I am looking for. Harvestland is a brand of chicken (thighs and breasts) sold at Kroger and Wal-Mart but often more expensive per pound than at Costco or even “Whole Paycheck!” Kroger is increasing their organic items with their Private Selection line and Publix is, too, with their Greenwise brand and sections in almost every aisle!

Next up: Exercise equipment and weight-loss drugs. For more information visit:

http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-food/organic-food-basics/difference-between-organic-and-natural-food.html

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/organic-food/NU00255

First Question: Where? It is relaxing to find a fancy restaurant. All would agree that it is simple and enjoyable to have someone else make our food while we chat over the latest happenings. There are only a couple of down-sides that I can come up with to eating at other places than our own homes. We have to be aware of four special social cues to eating too much! Pushy in-laws saying, “are you sure you don’t want more?,” or, ” I just put some brownies in the oven.” Parties where everything looks wonderfully prepared, it is enticing to graze over each little dessert. The break-room at work is a trap at some places- even the ones at the hospital where I have worked there were desserts or bagels with excellent spreads every single day. The last social cue is a “good deal” at a restaurant for drinks and dessert or grocery store for goodies like manager’s specials for donuts!

When? The when of eating is very important because it has a significant impact on how you will feel after you eat and how your food is digested. The cliche, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” is not just a cliche. Did you know that when you sleep, the hormones that regulate metabolism and stimulate hunger take a little nap with you? Morning is the optimal time to get your metabolism going all day long. If you skip breakfast, you might not be too hungry for a few hours but come lunchtime, a sandwich, chips, and soda hit the spot and give your digestive system a wake up call similar to water in the face. Eating too quickly and gorging because we are famished is not only unhealthy, but also unsafe because the enzymes or hormones cannot breakdown the food fast enough to send the message, “I’m full!” to the brain before another bite has been taken. The excess yummy bites will be converted to fat and sugar in your body before you can return to the office for a foggy-brained afternoon.

When you are feeling hungry, it is recommended to drink a cup (just 8 oz.) of water to make sure you are feeling legit hunger and not just having a bout of the boredom-munchies. Also, a huge help for not over-eating is after taking in a moderate portion of food, wait ten minutes to allow the enzymes to work over your food and have time to send the message to your brain whether or not you are still in need of more pasta. Moderate meals (3x per day) and small snacks (2-3x per day) throughout your waking hours will slowly draw metabolism and hunger-hormones, leptin and ghrelin, to healthy levels and keep you energized.

Now to the What? of eating. Calorie-counting has done more harm than good for many people, including myself. www.mypyramid.gov is an excellent resource for understanding how many calories you are taking in a day but I do not recommend following the guide that they set for how many calories one should eat. I am an average height and weight for a young female but the site said I should eat between 1800-2200 calories per day! I gained weight eating the amounts of food they recommended in each category. Fruits, vegetables, and high-quality lean meat with no hormones or antibiotics are all what I consider “free-foods”. They will keep you happy and healthy everyday. Dairy and grains have their important spot in the diet but I will explain more later about the science behind each one and why they should be kept in delicate moderation.

Eat well, friends, and have a great weekend!

As a child and friend of Jesus Christ, it is my privilege and passion to share faith, excitement, and practical information concerning health with those who I come into face-to-face relationship and with those who I will only communicate with via this site. What this blog is not about: dieting for the sole purpose of weight loss. My plan is to give some tips on maintaining a healthy weight and body mass index (BMI) but that is not all. This blog is going to be focused on the multifaceted topic of health.

The society that we are all influenced by is obsessed with being “fit” and “sexy.” Health: the general condition of the body or mind with reference to soundness and vigor; wellbeing; free of disease. Those are all definitions that I found through the dictionary and sound fine, but I want to bring that word to another meaning. Let us define health as a state of being that encompasses a(n) peaceful spirit, fully functioning body, expressed personality, and a sound mind. These areas of your life have extraordinary potential and all of them relate to your overall wellbeing.

Note: I do not claim to know everything on this great world of health. I am learning every single day how to better this earthly life that we have all been blessed with and simply want to explore with you topics of everyday fitness such as caffeine, organic or non, chocolate, tea, grains, exercise, sleep, alcohol, and many others. PLEASE, if you have any suggestions of what to blog about or comments on what I say, let me know! There is a comment spot through the blog as well as a contact form coming soon that will e-mail me directly.