Stefanie Lester Coslow is a native New Yorker currently residing in Chicago with her husband and two kids and teaches at CorePower Yoga throughout their Chicago locations. In a former life, she was an accountant at a TV Rep firm who studied Psychology at school, talk about yin & yang.

So first I need to start with a major shout out……….my hubby ran his first race last week, a 15k, and did awesome. He took charge of his health last summer, started eating better, started running, and lost a significant amount of weight. He doesn’t do anything half-assed and has really gotten into running, and the kids and I were so excited and so proud to cheer him on in his inaugural race. And throughout my yoga journey, they’ve been there to cheer me on and support me as well.

All this made me realize that I’m extremely proud of a few, I think, important messages that we are sending our kids. The first is that we are supportive and celebrate each others endeavors and accomplishments. It’s not always easy, clearly there’s only a finite amount of free time, and I’m not going to lie, it quite often can become a power struggle over who gets to go do their thing and who is staying with the kids. The Cleavers we are not. But, all in all, I think we do a decent job of compromising and trying to make it fair, while simultaneously trying to balance that all with family time. Like I said, not always easy, but usually it works out ok.

The next message sort of combines a bit with the first one, but it’s about valuing oneself and making time for yourself outside of being mommy or daddy. Maybe it sounds a bit selfish, but I think it’s necessary and helps me to be a better parent, a better person. And I think that’s really valuable for our kids to see and take into adulthood with them. I think it’s so important to take some time for oneself and not lose sight of you as an individual.

Lastly, I am so proud to be showing our kids how important it is to be active, healthy, and fit.

I’m so glad they are exposed to it and sincerely hope they make fitness a part of their daily lives, it is so, so important and, in my opinion, the fountain of youth.

There is one caveat to that though. In the interest of full disclosure here, I struggled with eating disorders for many years. And as fabulous as fitness is, I know all too well that it can be taken too far. For a long time, exercise combined with me in a sentence was practically a dirty word in my family. But I’ve come a long way and believe I have a healthy outlook on/approach to things these days. I’m just hoping I pass that along to my children versus any obsessive/self depreciating tendencies. I’ve already had my 6 year old daughter ask if she looks fat, I think she was probably just repeating something she’d heard (hopefully not from me!) and not really pondering, but still, that scares the crap out of me! But I’m trying really hard to be the best, most moderate example I can be.

Yet again, life is all about finding that balance.

Peace, love & yoga,

Stefanie

Take one of Stefanie’s classes at CorePower yoga studios throughout Chicago corepoweryoga.com. She is on the schedule as Stefanie C. She also works with private clients in their homes so think of her for your next party or corporate event. Either write her a note on the blog, or call her directly at 646-642-3391.

ITALIAN POACHED SALMON

Serves   2

This is a favorite of mine, it’s quick and easy and, other than the salmon, I always have everything on hand.

2 cups chicken broth

1cup white wine

1/2 cup marinara sauce (my favorite is Amy’s)

1 teaspoon dried Italian herb mix

sea salt and black pepper, to taste

2 – 6 oz. salmon fillet

2 tablespoons chicken broth

2 teaspoons cornstarch

Combine the broth, white wine, marinara and Italian herbs in a medium skillet.

Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.

Sprinkle the salmon with a pinch each of salt and pepper.

Add the salmon to the skillet.

Return to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until done, about 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of your salmon.

When salmon is done, remove it to a plate and keep warm.

Increase heat to high and bring sauce to a boil.

Continue to boil for about 10 – 15 minutes to reduce to about 1/2 cup.

Combine the broth and cornstarch.

Stir well to combine and add to the skillet, stirring to incorporate.

Cook another 2 minutes to allow sauce to thicken.

Spoon sauce over fish and serve.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that specializes in helping busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

There are many issues when it comes to protein sources.  Organic, grass fed, sustainable, wild, cage free and pasteurized are all terms that have come into question.  Label reading and questioning your fish monger or butcher has never been more important.  If you are not interested in supporting the inhumane, unhealthy processing plants where animals are treated as simply “product”, then you must know where your food comes from and how it was treated and fed.

The natural diet for a chicken is bugs, worms and some grains, seeds, and greens. When birds eat this food they produce eggs with golden-orange yolk and are naturally rich in omega-3 with viscous whites that aren’t runny.  Chickens that are raised in factory farms, produce conventional eggs, are put into two foot square wire cages with two to four other chickens and given feed containing antibiotics made mostly of bioengineered corn.  This type of caging has been banned in some places in Europe due to the fact that it’s so inhumane.

While we’re on the topic of chicken, let’s talk about eggs.  There are so many different claims on the cartons – cage free, free range, good source of omega 3, organic, certified humane – that it’s difficult to figure out which are the best.

Here’s a few things you should know:

• Cage free simply means that the hens aren’t stuck in little cages; instead, they’re packed into barns where they’re crowded but unconfined.
• Free ranges means that the hens are allowed to roam outdoors on occasion.
• Certified organic eggs come from uncaged hens that are given outdoor access and fed and organic, all-vegetarian diet free of antibiotics and pesticides.

When it comes to fish, the best quality is wild, line-caught.  This means that the fish lived a relatively normal life, ate a natural diet, and was caught in a sustainable ways.  On the other hand we have farmed fish.  These fish are kept in huge pools where disease spreads rapidly and antibiotics must be used.  The PCB levels are higher because the fish live in their own waste in a limited area.  Farmed salmon are fed pellets that have color added to get the red color in the flesh.  Much of our farm-raised fish, especially Atlantic, are genetically modified which will be discussed later.

The natural diet of cows is grass.  Their whole anatomy and physiology is set up to graze and digest grass.  Cows that are allowed to be raised and finished on grass have more omega-3 fatty acids in their fat.  If cattle are corn or soy meal fed, they are not as health, often requiring antibiotics.

When it comes to protein, it’s not “you are what you eat”, it’s “you are what they eat”.  Ask questions about how the animal was raised and what it was fed. Was it given access to pasture, was it caught in the wild?  Answers to these questions tell you more about what you are eating then reading any label.

When speaking of protein, we must also talk about iron.  Iron is essential to a healthy pregnancy and is the most widespread type of vitamin or mineral deficiency in the world. It plays the central role in the transportation of oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and muscles and carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs. The bottom line is too little iron in the body, too little oxygen.  In addition, iron functions in several key enzymes in energy production and metabolism, including DNA synthesis.

There are 2 forms of iron, “home” iron and “non-heme” iron.  Heme iron is found in animal sources of protein and is the most efficiently absorbed.  Non-heme iron is found in plant sources of protein.

When it comes to getting enough protein the main thing to consider is the protein “package”.  Proteins from animal products come along with saturated fats and don’t come with much, if any, fiber.  Plant proteins, on the other hand, are lower in saturated fat and high in fiber as well as other nutrients. Research shows that women who had the highest intake of animal protein had thirty nine percent more chance of ovulatory infertility and the women with the lowest intake of animal protein were substantially less likely to have ovulatory infertility. Adding just one serving per day of beans, peas, tofu or soybeans or nuts shows a modest amount of protection against ovulatory infertility.

When we speak of protein we absolutely must address the issue of soy.  There is so much controversy in the media about the fortunes, and misfortunes, of soy that a person can get be mislead.  Headlines tell us that eating soy based foods lowers cholesterol, chills hot flashes, prevents breast and prostate cancer, aids in weight loss and ward off osteoporosis.  Soy products have flooded the market; from tofu to soymilk, tempeh and soy ice cream.  The problem is the claims for soy exceed the evidence and some studies warn that too much soy may increase the risk of breast cancer in some women or promote memory lose.

Soy is as excellent source of protein, calcium and other healthful nutrients and eating it in place of red meat once in a while is definitely a better choice.  For me, I believe the jury is still out and wouldn’t consume soy more than once a week.  Something to keep in mind where soy is concerned, most of our soy crop is genetically modified (discussed later), which may not be good for our health.  Most manufacturers will go out of their way to label their products when they don’t use GMO soy.  If you’re going to consume soy, please make sure it is not genetically modified.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that specializes in helping busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

Protein is necessary to the structure of almost every molecule in the body, especially to hormones, neurotransmitters, genes and all enzymes. It is necessary for the secretion of a hormone called PYY. This is the hormone that goes from the gut to the brain that tells us to stop eating (obviously a very important hormone!). Proteins are the building blocks of the body; they are manufactured in the body to make up our hair, muscles, nails, tendons and ligaments. The human body contains somewhere between thirty thousand and fifty thousand unique proteins. The building blocks of all proteins are molecules are known as amino acids.

On any given day, the body breaks down about one pound of protein into amino acids and reassembles them into new proteins. This protein turnover allows us to grow, heal and internally defend ourselves on a constant basis. Although the body can manufacture some amino acids, it can’t manufacture all of them so adequate dietary protein intake is essential to providing us with the nine amino acids that our bodies can’t produce. These are called essential amino acids.

The body does not need or use excess protein and an excess can become a burden for the kidneys and liver, two organs that are in charge of getting rid of wastes. Excess protein intake increases the use of amino acids as a daily energy source, which decreases the breakdown of glucose stored in our fat cells, thereby promoting increased body fat. Also, when animal protein intake is high, animal fat intake is typically also high, which is linked to several chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and kidney disease as well as decreased fertility. When choosing a protein, it’s important to keep in mind what comes along with those amino acids which will be discussed shortly.

We get protein from anything that once moved around; from their meat, organs and the products produced by their milk. These foods are a complete protein. A complete protein source is one that provides all the nine essential amino acids in adequate amounts. Animal products such as meat, fish, dairy and poultry are examples of complete proteins.

There are other sources of proteins from plant products, such as grains and legumes (beans, peas, lentils, and soy products), referred to as incomplete proteins due to the fact that they are missing one or more essential amino acids (quinoa is the only plant product that has all nine amino acids). By combining incomplete proteins we can turn them into complete proteins. With a varied vegetarian diet of grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, a person is almost assured complete proteins, as well as healthy fiber, vitamins and minerals; nuts are a great source of healthy fat as well as protein. Grains and beans or legumes do not need to be combined at the same meal in order to reap the benefits of complementary amino acids. We carry an amino acid pool of about 80-90 grams of complete protein in our bodies that can be called upon to fill any gaps.

Many cultures understood this need for complete proteins and we see it in the foods they still eat today. In Mexico they eat many dishes that combine beans and tortillas, as well as beans with rice; in the Middle East they eat hummus (ground chickpeas and sesame seeds) and pita,

Tabouli (bulgur and tomatoes), in Italy pasta and tomato sauce, in Africa they prepare stews with vegetables, grains and peanuts, Asia is known for its vegetable stir fries with rice and even here in the US we have peanut butter and jelly on bread.

There are many issues when it comes to protein sources. Organic, grass fed, sustainable, wild, cage free and pasteurized are all terms that have come into question. Label reading and questioning your fish monger or butcher has never been more important. If you are not interested in supporting the inhumane, unhealthy processing plants where animals are treated as simply “product”, then you must know where your food comes from and how it was treated and fed.

To Be Continued…

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that specializes in helping busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

VEGETABLE STIR FRY

Serves 2

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 garlic clove minced

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1/4 cup water chestnuts, chopped

1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 bunch chard, chopped, washed and dried

1 teaspoon mirin

1 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari

Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet or wok.

Add the garlic and onion, sauté to translucent, about 7 minutes.

Add the water chestnuts and shiitake mushrooms, sauté 3 minutes.

Add the chard, mirin and soy sauce, sauté about 3 minutes to wilt the chard using tongs to bring the chard from the bottom of the pan to the top as it cooked and wilts.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that specializes in helping busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

Our food supply ain’t what it used to be.  The apple your grandmother ate had a lot more nutritional value then it does now due to over farming and the chemicals used to keep bugs and disease from killing crops are not good for us but are in abundance in our food supply.  These chemicals find a home in our fat cells and you can’t get rid of them by losing weight.

An estimated ninety percent of our total intake of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, preservatives, additives and antibiotics comes from the food we eat.  Many of these chemicals are hormone disrupters which interfere with the body’s hormone balance and can reduce fertility or lead to miscarriage and birth defects, as well as damage to our neurological systems, lungs, the ozone, may cause breast cancer and obesity.

The main difference between organic foods and their conventional counterparts is how they are grown or what they are fed.  Organic foods are grown without synthetic pesticides or herbicides and livestock are not fed hormones or antibiotics and their fed grains are produced from pesticide-free crops.  In a perfect world, we would be able to eat organic everything, but that just isn’t going to happen.  Depending on where you live organic produce can be hard to come by or too expensive to purchase.  If either one of these issues effect you then I suggest you do your best to use the dirty dozen and clean 15 guide from the Environmental Working Group website below.

By purchasing the dirty dozen in their cleanest, organic form you will be doing your body a lot of good.  The clean 15 list are fruits and vegetables that you never should have to worry about purchasing conventionally.

The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect public health and the environment and is jam packed with great information.  Visit them at http://www.ewg.org/.  I highly recommend you check them out.

Although the cost of organics does appear to be higher, when you switch to a whole foods diet like the one laid out in this program you will be cutting back on packaged foods and will notice that your grocery bill will not be more, but may even be less.

To cut back even further on your grocery bill and guarantee that you always have fresh organic vegetables join a CSA.  CSA stands for Community Supported agriculture.  By joining a CSA you are supporting a farm by purchasing shares of the harvest.  You pay the farmer at the beginning of the season and receive whatever your share of the weekly harvest may be. You also share the risk of bad weather and crop damage. Most CSA farms are as organic as possible, and some are certified organic but they will always be local.  By joining a CSA in your area you guarantee you will have a delivery of fresh, usually organic vegetables.  Some CSA’s offer meat and fruit as well.  To find a CSA near you visit www.localharvest.org.

A Note About Organics:
Nothing is absolutely 100% organic, it just can’t be.  A farmer will do his best, either not use pesticides at all, or use them minimally only when needed, but his neighbor may not be an organic farmer and is spraying his crops with chemicals.  Due to wind the chemicals will be blown onto the organic crop.  If they use the same water supply, it can be carried in the water.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that specializes in helping busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

Fruits are the means by which flowering plants spread their seeds, and the presence of seeds indicates that a structure is most likely a fruit, though not all seeds come from fruits and not all fruit has seeds, yes, confusing, I know.  And to make things more complicated not all fruits are thought of as fruits, rather, they are thought of as vegetables i.e.: tomatoes, avocados, pumpkin, squash, cucumbers, green beans, peppers and even olives.

The sugar in fruit is a simple sugar called fructose, which we talked about when we spoke of simple carbohydrates.  Although it is a simple sugar, eating whole fruit does offer fiber, which slows it’s absorption, and it is also an excellent source of many vital antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals, such as vitamin C, carotenes, flavonoids, and polyphenols as well as being low in fat (except for avocados and coconuts, although healthy fats, should be eaten in moderation).  Regular fruit consumption has been shown to offer significant protection against many chronic degenerative diseases, including cancer, heart disease, cataracts and strokes.  This being said people with sugar handling issues should limit their fruit intake to low sugar fruits such as cantaloupe, plum, kiwi, watermelon, nectarine, mango, apples, apricots and berries.

The fruit juices that we buy in the store are just the extracted liquid from the fruit.  They have no fiber and most of the nutrients are lacking, especially water-soluble vitamins (a, d, e, k), and usually have added sugars.  So, basically you’re just drinking sugar water that will spike blood glucose and be stored as fat.

Dried fruit is fresh fruit that has been dehydrated, removing most of the liquid and concentrating its calories and carbohydrate content as well as destroying its vitamin C.  When buying dried fruit always read the label, a lot of the time there is added sugar and a preservative called sulfur dioxide that stops the fruit from browning.  People with asthma may have an adverse reaction to this preservative.

Frozen fruits can also have added sugar, but those that don’t, are usually a very good source of nutrients because they’re usually frozen right after being picked which keeps their nutrient content intact.

When buying canned fruit be sure to read the label, heavy syrup packs in calories and sugar.

Many people have a problem digesting fruit.  If you do, you may want to try eating them on their own one half hour before meals or 1 hour after meals.  Fruit is digested at a much faster rate than other foods.  If you combine fruits with other foods, the other foods will block the digestion of the fruit.   The fruit then remains in your intestines causing gas, bloating and pain.

Fruits are loaded with antioxidants and phytochemicals.  Here is a very short list to give you the idea just how powerful and important it is to have fruit in your diet.

• Citrus fruits have antioxidants that help the body resist cancer-causing chemicals called carcinogens, prevent harmful blood clotting, and avoid blindness.
• Melons and berries boost the immune system and help lower cholesterol levels.
• Tomatoes prevent carcinogens from forming, shield cells from cancer causing chemicals, neutralize cancer causing free radicals and reduce prostate cancer and heart attack risk.
• Stone fruits (fruits that have a seed in the center i.e.: peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries), as well as pears, apples and bananas provide fiber, folate, potassium and other nutrients that reduce the risk of heart disease, some cancers, and macular degeneration.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that specializes in helping busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

WHITE WINE ROASTED HALIBUT

Serves 2

2 – 6 oz. halibut fillets

3 tablespoons white wine

sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375.

Place the halibut in a shallow baking dish and pour in the, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Roast for about 20 minutes, or until fish is heated through and flakey

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that specializes in helping busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

The word vegetable actually is from the Latin root “vegetare” which means “to animate or enlighten”.  Veggies give us life and are our best insurance policy for preventing some of the most chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis and heart disease.  Some experts even say our rise in cancer rates is correlated to our reduced intake of vegetables and fruit.  The term “eat the rainbow” comes from the fact that fruits and vegetables come in all colors of the rainbow and each color has it’s own cancer fighting properties.

Vegetables are wonderful nutrient dense complex carbohydrates.  When you eat vegetables, the phytochemicals and antioxidants are easily absorbed to provide the maximum health benefits.  They enter your body as nature intended, intact with all their nutrients, to work optimally for you.

If fresh vegetables aren’t available to you the next best thing is to purchase them frozen.  Frozen vegetables are picked at their peak and frozen shortly afterward thereby retaining their nutritional value.  In some cases frozen vegetables will have more nutrients then their fresh counterparts.  I would forego canned vegetables as these are usually sitting in water and salt and have lost most of their nutritional value.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that specializes in helping busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

As you begin to integrate whole grains into your diet, it is important that you rotate them.  Eating the same grain every day, increases your chances of developing a sensitivity to it.  Each grain has something unique to offer the body so try them all.

Most grains have a phosphorus containing compound in the outer layer called phytic acid.  Phytic acid can bind with certain minerals like calcium, iron, and zinc in the intestinal tract, preventing their absorption.  The way to rid grains of this substance is to soak them before cooking.  Soak smaller grains for about 20 – 30 minutes and larger, harder grains for 2 – 3 hours or overnight.  Always wash grains before soaking and after.

I understand that cooking grains may seem intimidating, measuring out certain amounts of liquid to a certain amount of grain, the size of the pot, the temperature of the flame.  There are 3 main techniques to preparing grains, give them a try, it’s not as hard as you think.

There are fast cooking grains and slower cooking grains.  Fast cooking grains are the smaller grains such as amaranth, millet, some oats (not steel cut), quinoa, teff.  Slower cooking grains include rice, barley, farro, wheat berry, cracked wheat and wild rice.

We’ve all cooked pasta, and grains can be cooked like pasta, to a point.  Rinse your grains and put them in a pot, add liquid to cover by about ½”.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook.  Keep an eye on the water level, if it needs more water, add a bit and taste periodically for firmness.  When the grains are done, drain as you would pasta.

In a pilaf, we start by sautéing aromatic vegetables, usually onion, carrot and celery, in a small amount of extra virgin olive oil, add the grain and toast for a few minutes, stirring to coat with the oil and then adding liquid to cook the grains.  When preparing a pilaf, follow the chart below and use the quantity of liquid specified.

You can also prepare grains as a risotto.  A risotto, in Italian cooking, is a dish using Arborio rice.  You start the dish as a pilaf and add small quantities of simmering liquid at a time.  As the liquid is absorbed by the grain, more is added.  You can also use this technique with other grains.

For an additional nutritional punch when cooking grains add a small piece of kombu to the cooking liquid.  Kombu is a nutrient dense seaweed that will add iron, calcium, potassium and iodine to your grains, without adding any taste.  Remove before serving.

GRAIN COOKING CHART

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that specializes in helping busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services