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

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

Gluten is a protein in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut, and triticale, it’s what gives flour its elasticity and strength and allows breads to rise.  People who are gluten intolerant have a reaction to this protein that can be anything from diarrhea and bloating to weight loss and malnutrition.

Celiac disease is a severe sudden onset allergic reaction to this gluten protein.  Women with undiagnosed or untreated celiac disease begin menstruating at a later age, start menopause earlier, are more likely to have irregular menstrual cycles and often have trouble getting pregnant.  In fact, undiagnosed celiac disease may account for up to eight percent of all cases of so-called unexplained infertility. In men, celiac disease can interfere with the production of sex hormones and sperm.

In people with celiac disease, the gluten in just a few bites of bread can trigger an attack by the immune system.  Instead of targeting only the gluten, white blood cells and other immune system defenders assault the small intestine.  Over time, the cumulative damage from these attacks destroys the small intestine’s ability to absorb vital nutrients from food.  Key losses include folic acid, iron and a host of other micronutrients.  Once celiac disease is diagnosed, which often takes years, the main treatment is a strict gluten free diet.

Gluten hides in many unsuspecting places such as candy, sauces, salad dressings, cold cuts, egg substitutes, beer, instant flavored rice mixes, flavored potato chips, imitation crab, some herbal teas, licorice and some chocolates, soy sauce, vinegar mustard, mayonnaise and malt flavoring.  These days most supermarkets have a gluten free section so people with intolerance or celiac disease don’t miss out on any of their favorite foods.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based health coaching, personal chef and personal training service that  specializes in pre-pregnancy care; helping couples achieve optimum health to increase their chances of getting pregnant, a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby by offering one-on-one counseling, in-home cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

Grains are actually the seeds of grasses, which are cultivated for food.  They come in many shapes and sizes, from large kernels of popcorn to small amaranth seeds.  As previously mentioned, whole grains are complex carbohydrates, they have all their parts, the germ, bran and endosperm.

The bran is a multilayered, shell-like coating of the kernel, rich in antioxidants (free radical destroyers), B vitamins (folate), and fiber (slows down sugar absorption), it protects the inside of the grain from damage by sunlight, bugs, and disease.  The germ is flavorful and nutrient-packed.  It’s rich in protein (building blocks of the body), healthy fats (necessary for fertility), vitamins (necessary for just about everything in the body), and phytochemicals (potent disease super heroes).  The endosperm is the big starchy part of the grain, it contains mainly carbohydrates (the bodies main source of energy), along with some protein (non-heme iron) and small amounts of vitamins and minerals (necessary for all body processes).  Did I make my point about how healthy whole grains are??

When whole grains are processed into white flour the endosperm is all that is left.  Without the bran, the fiber is lost, along with its ability to slow down the absorption of glucose, this wrecks havoc on your energy levels, your fat cells and your brain functions.  Also lost are the antioxidants that destroy free radicals and many essential minerals such as magnesium, selenium, copper and manganese as well as enzymes, iron, dietary fiber, vitamins E and B-complex and phytonutrients.  Whole grains are made up of 100’s of molecules that digestion needs to break down before they can be used by our bodies so, we get a slow release of glucose and sustained energy.  When they are processed into white flour they become short chains and release glucose quickly causing a spike in blood sugar and then the crash.

Whole grains have been a central element of the human diet since early civilization.  Humans ceased being hunter-gatherers and settled down into farming communities when they were able to cultivate grain crops.  In the Americas, corn was the staple grain, in India and Asia, they ate rice, in Africa, people ate sorghum, the Middle East, they made pita bread, tabouli and couscous, in Europe, corn, millet, wheat, rice, pasta, dark breads, Scotland, oats were a staple food, and in Russia, they ate buckwheat or kasha.

The medical evidence is clear that whole grains offer such diverse benefits as reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and obesity as well as increased fertility.  People who eat whole grains regularly have a lower risk of obesity as well as lower cholesterol levels.

Although fruits and vegetables contain disease-fighting phytochemicals and antioxidants, whole grains are often an even better source of these nutrients, and some valuable antioxidants not found in fruits and vegetables.  Because of the phytochemicals and antioxidants, people who eat three daily servings of whole grains have been shown to reduce their risk of heart disease stroke, type 2 diabetes, digestive system cancers, and hormone-related cancers and have increased fertility.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based health coaching, personal chef and personal training service that  specializes in pre-pregnancy care; helping couples achieve optimum health to increase their chances of getting pregnant, a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby by offering one-on-one counseling, in-home cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

Fiber is a complex carbohydrate that the body can’t digest.  It is present in all plants that are eaten for food, including fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes.  It has a complex make up of soluble and insoluble fiber, lignans, protein and ash, is found in plant cell walls, and has no nutritional value.  Fiber travels through the digestive tract unabsorbed.

Fiber is critical to having clean blood.  The liver filters blood and sends toxins, cholesterol and medications into the intestinal tract where they are sent out with the waste.  In order for this system to work properly fiber is needed in the diet.  If fiber is not in the diet, the toxin is reabsorbed into the liver.

Fiber fits into 2 categories, insoluble and soluble, depending upon its ability to dissolve, or not dissolve in water.  Some foods contain both soluble and insoluble fiber, whereas others are dominant in only one.  The key is to eat a variety of fiber rich foods each day and receive the beneficial effects from both types.

Soluble fiber readily dissolves in water.  Foods rich in this type of fiber have been shown to decrease blood cholesterol by binding with it and pulling it from the body, therefore reducing the risk of heart disease.  Another benefit comes from its ability to slow the absorption of glucose, which helps control blood sugar levels in diabetics (remember the absorption of the simple carbohydrate fructose from fruit is slowed down due to fiber in the fruit).  Foods containing soluble fiber tend to be digested more slowly than insoluble, keeping you full and satisfied longer.  Soluble fiber foods are oats, brown rice, barley, oat bran, dried beans and peas, rye, seeds, vegetables, especially carrots, corn, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes, and fruits, especially apples, strawberries, oranges, bananas, nectarines, and pears.

Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water, it binds with water.  It is made up of cellulose which is the principal component of the plant wall.  It is primarily responsible for accelerating intestinal transit time, along with increasing and softening stool.  Foods with insoluble fiber are wheat bran, corn bran, whole wheat breads and cereals, fruits, vegetables, especially potatoes with skin, parsnips, green beans, and broccoli.

When it comes to fiber and fruits and vegetables, the fiber is in the whole food, not the juice.

There is very good evidence that higher intake of fiber from grain products is related to a lower risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes and better fertility.

Fiber plays a role in preventing obesity by increasing the amount of necessary chewing, thus slowing down the eating process, increasing fecal calorie loss, improving blood sugar control and inducing satiety.  Due to the fact that fiber fills us up faster and has no calories, for every 14 grams of fiber you eat you can trim approximately 10% of your calories from your diet without even thinking about it!  That’s why people on vegetarian and vegan diets often lose weight, they get fuller faster.

Overeating fiber can cause severe bloating, cramping, gas, diarrhea, and other abdominal discomforts.  Furthermore, excessive amounts of fiber can decrease the absorption of important vitamins and minerals, specifically calcium, zinc, magnesium and iron.  Everyone has their own tolerance level for fiber.  It’s up to you to find out what works for you.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based health coaching, personal chef and personal training service that  specializes in pre-pregnancy care; helping couples achieve optimum health to increase their chances of getting pregnant, a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby by offering one-on-one counseling, in-home cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

Carbohydrates get used by the body in the form of glucose which is the simplest form of sugar, a single sugar molecule.  All carbohydrates eventually break down into glucose.

When you eat a carbohydrate, and you start to chew, the food moves into the stomach and then the small intestine where it is absorbed into the blood stream and is now glucose.  In response to the rise in glucose your pancreas produces the hormone insulin and releases it in direct proportion to the amount of glucose that is now in the blood.  Insulin acts as a key that “opens the door” to our cells, allowing the movement of glucose out of our bloodstream into the cells, thereby lowering blood sugar and making the glucose available to fuel the body’s functions and the activities of daily life.

When we eat simple carbohydrates that are already short sugar chains they are turned into glucose much more quickly because most of the components have been removed, and our bodies don’t need to work as hard to break down and digest them.  Within a couple of hours or less of eating these simple carbohydrates blood sugar drops too low and you experience the “crash” and in order to raise your blood sugar again for a couple of hours you eat cookies or drink soda.

If you keep eating these simple carbohydrates and keep flooding your blood with glucose and insulin, glucagon (a hormone that allows stored energy to be release, thereby allowing us to burn calories) won’t be released, and you won’t get its fat-burning effects.

Over consumption of simple carbohydrates leads to:

• hypoglycemia  – low blood sugar
• prediabetes – higher than normal blood sugar.  Women with prediabetes may have impaired fertility.
• hyperinsulinemia – high level of insulin caused by excessive insulin production
• insulin resistance – when muscle, fat and liver cells become insensitive to insulin and no longer use it properly.  Many women who have insulin resistance may also have polycystic ovary syndrome which interferes with ovulation.
• type 2 diabetes – insulin production slows down as a result of having to work overtime to stabilize your blood sugar level
• type 1 diabetes – an autoimmune disease that occurs when the pancreas stops producing insulin entirely.  People with type 1 diabetes are dependent on insulin injections.

When we eat high quality carbohydrates they are converted to sugar gradually, because the body needs to break down all the cellular structures of the food.  Glucose is fed into the bloodstream in gentle trickles and insulin is release much more slowly (remember insulin is released in direct proportion to the amount of glucose in the blood), so you don’t get rapid blood sugar swings, the pancreas isn’t stressed, and insulin and glucagon can do its jobs properly.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based health coaching, personal chef and personal training service that  specializes in pre-pregnancy care; helping couples achieve optimum health to increase their chances of getting pregnant, a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby by offering one-on-one counseling, in-home cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy as well as controversy. In many recent fad diets they have recommended drastically reducing carbohydrate intake, which can be detrimental to overall health as these diets don’t differentiate between simple and complex.  Here is an over-oversimplified overview of the difference between the two.

Complex carbohydrates are our vegetables and whole grains, and are also found in nuts, seeds, and legumes. They are foods that are usually consumed as they are found in nature.  Vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes aren’t usually too overly processed and are not broken down into simple carbohydrates, it’s the grains where the difference between complex and simple becomes an issue.

Grain complex carbohydrates start out with all their components; bran, germ and endosperm, which in turn means they still have all their nutrients, phytochemicals and antioxidants.  They are made up of long chains of sugar molecules that the body needs to break down in order to digest.  Since these grains are so “complex” this breakdown can take a while. They offer a sustained source of energy over an extended period of time, due to the fact that the sugar is released into our blood stream as it is broken down.

Grain simple carbohydrates are single sugar molecules that are immediately converted into glucose because there isn’t anything to break down.  This causes a fast release of sugar into the blood stream and a spike in blood sugar.

Simple carbohydrates are processed from complex carbohydrates they have the bran and germ removed to give them a longer shelf life.   By removing theses two extremely important and life sustaining components of the grain they remove more than half of the B vitamins and 70 percent of the iron, as well as many other beneficial nutrients.  By the time whole grains have been turned into white flour, the final product is a pale shadow of the original.

Simple carbohydrates are used to produce breads, pasta cereals, crackers, potato chips, bagels, pretzels, rice cakes, white rice, alcoholic beverages, white flour, puffed rice cereal and pretzels; sweet desserts and other processed “treats”, candies, cookies, cakes, ice cream and soda.

There is another type of simple carbohydrate called fructose, this is found in fruit.  The difference between this simple carbohydrate and a processed simple carbohydrate is when you eat the WHOLE fruit you are also ingesting fiber which slows the rate of absorption in the body, as well as a whole slew of vitamin, minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants.  Fruit juice has much of the fiber stripped away (it is treated like a simple carbohydrate in the body), along with some of the nutrient content.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based health coaching, personal chef and personal training service that  specializes in pre-pregnancy care; helping couples achieve optimum health to increase their chances of getting pregnant, a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby by offering one-on-one counseling, in-home cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

Phytochemicals, also called phytonutrients are not nutrients at all but the compounds that give fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes their color, smell, dietary fiber, enzymes and natural disease resistance.  They are not required by the human body for sustaining life, but it is well known that plants produce these compounds to protect themselves and research shows that they protect humans against disease.  There are thousands of phytochemicals in our foods that are believed to fight disease.  Tomatoes alone are believed to have over 10,000 different phytochemicals.

There are many different phytochemicals that do many different things.  Some of their properties act as antioxidants and protect our cells against free radical damage and reduce our risk of developing certain types of cancer, others have antibacterial properties, and yet others can bind to cell walls to prevent pathogens from adhering thereby reducing the risk of disease.

In the nutrition world there is an express that says “eat the rainbow”.  Fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes come in all colors of the rainbow.  It is believed if you eat as many different colors of the rainbow as you can you will be getting all the disease fighting phytochemicals from these plants.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based health coaching, personal chef and personal training service that  specializes in pre-pregnancy care; helping couples achieve optimum health to increase their chances of getting pregnant, a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby by offering one-on-one counseling, in-home cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.