OK, so these don’t really go together but I was reading a new book today and found some interesting factoids that I just had to share with you all.

I had a visit with my midwife yesterday and borrowed some books from her lending library. I felt like I had already read everything there but a couple of titles caught my eye. Your Vegetarian Pregnancy is written by an OB (obstetrician) who has been vegetarian since the age of 13. I guess she has attended over 5,000 births in over 25 years and is writing this book from those many years of experience. 

She goes through the diet of vegetarians and reassures that a well-planned vegetarian diet can be more nutritious than a non-vegetarian diet. Duh! 

But the what caught my eye was the part on genital birth defects for boys. It states that there is one birth defect that is five times more common in vegetarians than meat eaters and that is Hypospadias (relating to an English study done on 7,000 infant boys). It’s a defect where the urethra is positioned differently on the penis than where it should be. It’s not a major defect because the child can still urinate and won’t have his future sexual performance hampered by this but still. Don’t we all want our babies to come out perfect?

The cause of this phytoestrogens. If you remember one of my previous posts where I debated the pros and cons of soy milk, I talked about this. We already eat very little tofu/soy products because they are processed and we stopped drinking soy milk (which I only drank a small amount of daily) once we became pregnant. This shouldn’t increase our risk at all!

However, there was another group of women who experienced an equal increase in risk! Meat-eating, iron supplementing women! It turns out that taking iron supplements can increase your child’s risk of Hypospadias. Someone I know told me that her son was born this way and I know that she was taking iron supplements.

I really think that whole foods diets, which are well-planned to include a variety of healthy foods, is the best policy. I take a multi-vitamin but I don’t use any other supplements. But if I feel that I may be lacking in some area, like in iron, I adjust my diet to include more foods rich in iron (like broccoli or molasses).

And it is working well for me. This is my third pregnancy in four years (which could indicate depletion of key minerals) and yet ALL the results of my blood work keep coming back A-OK!

The last topic I wanted to breech today was pesticides. In the book mentioned above there is a section where someone asked whether vegetarians, because of their high intake of veggies and fruits, have a higher accumulation of pesticides in their bodies. The answer is actually NO!

When you wash your fruits and veggies you wipe off the bulk of these pesticides but meat-eaters, who characteristically eat less veggies and fruit, still have a higher concentration in their bodies. When pesticides are used, states Your Vegetarian Pregnancy author Dr. Holly Roberts, the soil in the fields remain contaminated for years. Animals ingest these pesticides in higher quantities (since they cannot wash their food prior to ingestion) and their flesh contains concentrations of pesticides which meat-eaters then ingest and accumulate. Dr. Roberts emphasizes this by saying that people who eat diets high in animals with fatty flesh (like Eskimos who eat lots of fish) have a pesticide concentration higher than any other group of people. Where the fish get all these pesticides I am not so sure but still…interesting right?

Anyways, I urge everyone to consider eating less meat. Vegetarians tend to live longer, have better hearts, weights and a multitude of other benefits. And if that isn’t enough to encourage you to cut back on animal flesh than think about what it will do for your sex life! Eating meat has been associated with erectile dysfunction disorders. Another reason why vegetarian guys are hotter!

We all want good immune systems. Sometimes we tell ourselves that we are sick because of our genetics or blame it on the season. It’s true that flu season can bring down even the healthiest but what about those of us who are chronically sick with back to back colds, flus, allergies etc.? Is there anything that we can do to boost our immune system?

 

YES!

 

Here are the worst offenders for a deppressed immune system:

1. Diet

2. Lack of sunshine

3. Lack of exercise

4. Lack of sleep or too much sleep

5. Mental Atitude or stress

 

1. Diet:

 

 

It’s my opinion that diet is the most important of these. Your diet can affect your health, immunity, energy levels, weight, skin condition and much, much more. The major offenders are refined foods (white sugar, white flour and white rice (especially minute rice) and processed foods. Avoid sugary cereals, cakes and cookies, candies, pop, white bread, chips, processed meats and cheeses, meals that you heat up in microwaves and in your ovens. Making your meals from scratch with wholesome ingredients is always healthier. Use garlic and onions in your cooking. These really help to boost immunity. You can always try Maitake and Shiitake mushrooms in your soups and stir-frys.

 

The changes can be relatively simple. You can substitute brown rice or Basmati rice instead of white rice. They’ll take longer to cook but so what? Your body’s health if worth the extra effort. Use rolled oats instead of quick oats, whole grain (or whole wheat) bread instead of white, use whole grain pastas or brown rice vermicelli instead of the white options and buy frozen or fresh fruits instead of canned (which can have additives or even sugar added). These are just some of the changes you can make in your diet to boost your immunity and, therefore, your overall health.

 

Not only will these small changes keep your immune system stronger, they will help you lose weight. These foods are foods that have a low glycemic index, which means that they take longer for your body to convert to sugar (or energy) and that leaves your body feeling fuller longer.

 

Once you get sick there are adjustments you can make to help your body recuperate faster. Avoid all the “food offenders,” stay warm, drink lots of water, get lots of sleep and reduce any other stressors to allow your body to focus on healing. A little fresh air and sunshine will be beneficial as well.

 

If you have a cold, more specifically a cough, you should avoid foods that increase mucous secretions until you feel better. These include milk, potatoes, bananas, oatmeal, etc. If it coats your throat, it will make you cough! Once you have taken these offenders out of your diet you need to cut out the foods that weaken your immune system. Broths and teas are a great beverage option for getting better. These warm fluids will be soothing to your throat and are healthier options! Warm water with lemon can also be satisfying.

 

2. Lack of sunshine:

 

 

Sunshine is important because it gives our bodies Vitamin D and plays a major role in keeping your mood elevated (which is important in keeping immunity up). We’ve all heard of Cabin Fever. It’s the exact same principle. We are designed for sunshine and socializing. Also, to get sunshine you usually have to get fresh air too and fresh air can help rejuvenate you within minutes. Spending a whole day outside will exhaust you and guarantee a great night’s sleep.

 

Getting sunshine seems difficult at times (especially in the winter). But try these little tips next time you head out:

·         Park far away from the store/restaurant so you have to walk in the semi-fresh air and sunshine for a bit.

·         Go to the Farmer’s Market for tomatoes. You’ll get fresh tomatoes, fresh air, sunshine and a bit of socialization.

·         Ride your bike to work on sunny days.

·         Walk to your mail box (unless it’s on your porch).

·         Garden, do yard work, go for a walk.

 

3. Lack of exercise:

 

 

Exercise is one of those things that we aren’t usually keen on doing but is very important in maintaining a health body. It helps to pump blood to your body at a faster rate and this increases cell regeneration (causing a younger, healthier body). A well oxygenated body is a healthy body. Exercise also helps to keeps your weight in check and it will also lift your spirits and make you feel much more energetic.

 

There is a requirement for balance here as well. Exercising too much will cause a stress response in the body and can weaken your immunity. It can even cause weight gain. I think that an hour of exercise a day should be sufficient. Some good ways to stay committed to exercising are to have a buddy who will exercise with you, joining a class that will keep you accountable to going or joining some kind of a group. Making friends in those places can also encourage you to keep going. The Running Room has a numerous groups of runners with different experience levels that meet every week to run. The most important thing is finding an activity that you enjoy. Running, walking, rock climbing, dancing, aerobics, swimming, yoga or pilates, rollerblading, paintballing, skateboarding, cycling, cross-country skiing, whatever! Be creative. If you enjoy it then find a way to do it.

 

4. Lack of sleep or too much sleep:

 

 

Sleep is vital to a healthy body. I am a strong believer that NO ONE fits into a certain mould. There are no specific formulas for health. Some people need more sleep and some need less.

 

If you don’t get enough sleep your body is unable to recuperate from the day. When you sleep is when your brain rests and your body repairs itself from the day’s stresses. It is crucial that your body gets this down time. It creates too much stress on your cardio-vascular system to give your body so little rest.

 

I think that anything between six to eight hours of sleep is appropriate (on average). The recommended time is eight but I think some people will just need more. And I think the healthiest of all is establishing a routine. How I wish I had one again! When you have a routine (In bed by 11pm and up by 6am), your body becomes accustomed to this pattern and your quality of sleep will be improved. 

 

Too much sleep has been linked to health problems. BBC News states that there is a link between too much sleep and earlier death. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1820996.stm 

 

How do you know if you have had too much sleep? If you have slept from more than eight hours and are still feeling tired then you are getting too much sleep. Sleeping in until noon, is unhealthy.

See also: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/09/24/sleep-study.html

 

 

5. Mental Atitude or stress:

 

Stress plays a major part on our health. It can raise our blood pressure, increase weight gain and cause a host of other medical problems. You need to identify the stressors in your life. Is it work? Family? Food?

 

Once you have discovered what is causing the bulk of the stress in your life you need to work towards changing that. Maybe it’s working less hours at work, getting a new job, getting out of the house more often, giving up the second vehicle to save on finances, cutting out some trying relationships, stuff like that. The Thrive Diet by Brendan Brazier offers some good recommendations for evaluating the balance in your life between complimentary stress (exercise), uncomplimentary stress (work related, food related) and production stress (necessary (like working extra hard to finish a project at work)).

 

Your health requires you to take care of yourself.

 

Attitude can also make a big difference. Happy people are healthy people. Things like sunshine, diet and exercise can help us to be happier and therefore healthier. If you are suffering from a case of blues that even sunshine can’t fix then you may want to get a bit of help from Mother Earth.

 

When I was pregnant with my second son I suffered from depression. I started taking supplements of St. John’s Wort and it worked like a charm. St. John’s Wort has NO attributed symptoms and is safe for almost everyone. The only problem with St. John’s Wort is that if can de-activate some of the drugs you are taking (this is also true of grapefruit). So if you are on any other prescription drugs that are necessary for your health you will want to talk to your doctor before starting to take St. John’s Wort. Also, if you are on the Birth Control pill, you probably do not want to risk de-activating that.

 

Otherwise there are ways to get happy. Make some friends if you don’t have many. You can join a yoga class or something else you find interesting. Go out for dinner. Have a walk in the park. Listen to your favorite music. Be goofy! I like putting on silly music and dancing like an idiot in my living room with my boys. It puts us all in a better mood. Laugh. Even fake laughing leads to real laughing and it lifts your spirits. The cliché things like bubble baths are fine too. Just enjoy life and try to remember that a good job, a loving spouse, a nice house or whatever you think you need to be happy doesn’t actually make you happy. YOU have to RESOLVE to be happy. Happiness is an internal thing and it won’t matter if you have nothing or everything if you are in the right frame of mind.

 

Now, go out there, have a good day and be healthy!

 

I was at Chapters yesterday. I wanted to pick up Veganomicon. It’s a cookbook that is highly praised in Vegan circles. It was more expensive there than on Amazon and so I decided to leave it behind. As I was leaving I stopped by the clearance section (always one of my favorites) and found a few veg*n cookbooks there. There was one of the ever famous Moosewood collection but I am not that big of a fan. Their recipes are rarely vegan and they even include fish in some of their vegetarian recipes (a MAJOR pet peeve of mine). If it has a heart or eyes it doesn’t count as a vegetable! Apologies to artichoke hearts and potato eyes of course.

But for $5.99 I did find a diamond in the rough. It’s called The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook. I like the Low GI diet as a whole because it focuses on bringing whole foods back into your diet and cutting out the refined crap. It’s not so much a diet, as in you’re restricting yourself of calories, as it is an education book (by the way, The Thrive Diet (mentioned below) is also not a “diet” book). It’s a very balanced way of eating.

The Glycemic Index is a measure of how quickly your body turns the food you eat into sugar. The quicker it does this the more quickly you get hungry again and therefore eat more calories. Foods that have a high Glycemic Index are for the most part foods that have been processed or denatured in some way.

For example: Quick oats, cookies, crackers, Minute Rice, white bread, sugary foods like cereals, doughnuts, candies etc. Did you know that Minute Rice has a GI that is almost as high as a pure glucose? Something to think about if you are wanting to be healthier and slimmer.

When you feed your body whole foods your body takes a lot longer to break them down, or process them, and your body spends that extended period of time withdrawing nutrients from the food and feeding your body. You feel fuller, longer.

Now, I didn’t really need re-education in this topic; the reason I got this book was that all the recipes (50% of which are vegan) were specially formulated to include a good serving of protein. Not only that but they are well balanced to give your carbohydrates and fibre as well. The recipes ideas are fresh and they look delicious. And all the recipes include whole, natural foods. What an ode!

My biggest problems with other books was finding protein in the recipes and finding recipes that looked delicious and healthy. Deep fried tofu? Not so healthy.

Skinny Bitch in the Kitch is a decent book but so many of their recipes use ingredients like vegan bacon, cheese and other fake substitutes. That’s just not how we roll at my house. I find I can’t use half of their recipes because I never have fake veggie luncheon meat or soy cheese. Eww! It’s like they think we’ll feel deprived without hot dogs! I certainly don’t.

The Thrive Dietis truly excellent in content but the recipes don’t work well for a family. Pizza crust made out of chickpeas? Spaghetti made out of zucchini? Sounds interesting enough but I can’t sell my hubby on that. One of these days I’ll just make it and surprise him. LOL.

I have a few others as well, Like a Moosewood one, that I am not that thrilled with. This book, however, seems rather promising. I will have to buy some new ingredients since their recipes tend to have more of an Asian theme (salads and stir-fries with bok choi and bean sprouts). Ingredients that haven’t been a staple in my kitchen for about a year.

One last note: For non-veggies there is another book by those same authors. I think it’s just called The Low GI Diet. My mother-in-law has it for her diabetes. Eating foods that are lower in GI has proven to help regulate blood sugar levels and maintain a healthier weight.

I had mentioned a while back that I would start talking about the goodness in whole foods (like antioxidants, vitamins and minerals etc.) and I thought I would start with one of my favorite foods: mushrooms! Alive states in the article Mmmushrooms by author Sandra Tonn, RHN http://www.alive.com/4794a12a2.php) that mushrooms are not actually fungi as we were taught to believe but are rather the fruit of the fungi. They don’t classify easily but that doesn’t stop them from being healthy and delicious.

One of the things I would love to do someday is participate in one of those mushroom trail dealies where you have a guide help you to identify and pick mushrooms. I have read that nothing compares to the smell and taste of a truly fresh mushroom. I have seen some guide books for wild mushrooms but I never know where to look for them. I am pretty sure the variety that grows in my yard is neither delicious nor safe to eat. Ha ha ha.

The truth is that mushrooms are highly flavourful, have some hidden nutritional goodies and some medicinal effects too. It’s even thought that they have detoxifying properties as well. I love them in just about everything, even right out of the bag. For inspiration I am going to attach some of my favorite mushroom recipes at the end of this article.

Although the composition and nutrition of each type of mushroom varies greatly they can be sources of protein, germanium (helps to oxygenate the blood), calcium, magnesium and B vitamins like niacin or folic acid. Another perk that mushrooms have is that they contain polysaccharides which act to prevent tumour growth and help support the immune system.

Shiitake mushrooms are full of nutrients and are a greater source of amino acids than any other vegetable food (excluding hemp). They make an excellent addition to a vegan or vegetarian diet due to their higher protein content. They also contain minerals like thiamin, riboflavin, niacin as well as enzymes. Medicinally they have been used in the treatment of ailments such as cancer, heart disease, hypertension, tuberculosis, hepatitis and even HIV. They are known to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

Maitake mushrooms are pretty special too. They, like the Shiitake mushrooms have been very useful in the treatment of disease and boosting the immune system. It shows promise in the field of chemotherapy. Alive  cited a study that showed that Maitake mushrooms caused a reduction of tumours in 87% of the mice. The chemotherapy showed a reduction of tumours in only %30. 

Reishi mushrooms are known as a tonic that promotes longevity and has a positive effect protecting and healing the lungs and the heart. It can also be used for chronic fatigue, hepatitis, arthritis, insomnia, HIV, cancer and problems related to the lungs and heart like bronchitis, asthma or hypertension. There are six different varieties of this amazing mushroom (which are characterised by colour). It has similar benefits to the other two mushrooms mentioned above and has similar contents of vitamins, minerals, protein and polysaccharides.

Morels are an expensive and harder to find mushroom. Morels are considered a delicacy and can be used in soups to fantastic results. They are slightly toxic and should only be eaten cooked as that is supposed to remove the toxins. But it has been said that eating even cooked Morels with wine has caused symptoms of toxicity. You can buy morels fresh, dried or canned but you should never soak them or it will ruin their flavour.

The white button mushroom is one of my favorites. Especially when they are small and fresh. This variety of mushroom contains some of the same vitamins and nutrients found in other varieties and

These mushrooms come in other varieties such as Portabello and Crimini mushrooms.

Enokimushrooms are those long skinny white mushrooms. They always remind me of Chinese cuisine. I have seen then used in vegetarian sushi or I like to throw them in salads. These are grown in bottles in a series of conditions including high Carbon Dioxide (CO2) levels and high humidity.

Oyster mushrooms are a mild tasting mushroom. They are not one of my favorites and even though they share a couple of the same health effects as the others it’s not much of a superstar.

RECIPES:

Note: Alivemagazine has some great recipes including a Morel Soup. You can check them out online at www.alive.ca.

Garlicky Mushroom pakoras:

Mix 1 cup of gram (besan) flour (I have used regular and it’s OK), 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 2 crushed garlic cloves, then gradually mix in 3/4 cups of water. Then you just need mushrooms and onions chunks (optional) to roll in the pakora dough.

You deep fry that for about two minutes. These are fun to go alongside a chickpea curry or something like that.

Exotic Mushroom soup:

Fry your mushrooms (lots is best) in a pan with oil, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Then add enough veggie bouillon to cover. Add a bit of thyme and a tbsp or butter to the soup. You can season with salt and pepper.

You can add some sherry if you want (just a couple tbsp) and then garnish with a couple tbsps of sour cream and some parsley.

Mushroom stir-fry:

I am not one for written recipes myself but here’s what I suggest: You could make a nice stir-fry with baby corn, snap peas, coloured peppers, bok choi, onion, basically anything you like and add Shiitake mushrooms or any kind of variety you’d like. I like most mushrooms cooked better and prefer them in cooked dishes than side salads.

Mushroom and butternut squash lasagna:

This is favorite. I basically use a white sauce (like Alfredo or something) and fill the layers between the noodles with spinach and sauteed onion, mushrooms and butternut squash cubed. I like to sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese but if I am feelin’ vegan I use breadcrumbs and some herbs. Cook as directed on the noodle directions.

Articles:

http://www.alive.com/897a3a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=209

http://www.alive.com/1092a3a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=209

http://www.alive.com/3940a2a2.php

http://www.alive.com/186a1a2.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morel#Toxicity

Other articles on Wikipedia.org