Natural Occurring Caffeine

As a way to get out of the heat, I embarked with my laptop to my nearest local java establishment. After deciding upon a relaxing cup of iced jasmine green tea, I started sipping its tasty delights. It was delicious.

After relishing in the first two sips, however, something troubling began. My heart started racing faster than a locomotive. It was frightening. I sat for about 10 minutes while my heart calmed down. Then, I felt mildly light headed. This was another sign that I needed to return this “healthy” drink.

The proprietor notified me that the tea I ordered contained “naturally occurring caffeine” and it was attempting to rid my body of toxins. That was causing my rapid and irregular heartbeats. That doesn't sound logical to me. Hmm...

I have had jasmine green tea in bulk and brewed it at home. I had no negative health consequences at that time. So, I figured it would be good this time around.

These heart palpitations were worse than any caffeinated beverages I have ever had, including coffee.

Whatever it is, whether the brand or manner of brewing, I am hesitant to order teas not brewed at home anymore.

Just thought I'd throw this out there in case anyone else experiences the same thing.

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Mango Pudding

Sometimes, no matter what happens, people have preconceived notions about tofu. There are ways to enjoy this soy food without it overwhelming your taste buds. Here is a very easy to prepare recipe that has always been a kick in my classes:

Mango Pudding
1 medium mango, peeled and sliced
1 cup tofu, silken variety

Cut off a slice of tofu and crumble it into a measuring cup. Or, if you are not concerned about measuring (which I am not), simply crumble the tofu into a blender. Add the sliced mango.

Puree until smooth. You may want to adjust the amount of tofu to arrive at your desired pudding-like consistency.

Spoon pureed mixture into serving bowls. If desired, sprinkle with coconut. Chill prior to serving.

Option: Add a ½ teaspoon of fresh mint leaves when pureeing for a refreshing taste treat.

Recipe taken by my cookbook, Cooking With Soy.

Natural Decaffeinating

It turns out there is a natural way to decaffeinate any tea you are drinking. You can do itself in your own kitchen, which is the nicest part.

Found on In Pursuit of Tea, via Dr. Andrew Weil's newsletter....

Steep the tea for 45 seconds in hot water and then pour off the liquid. This removes up to 80 percent of the caffeine.

Add more hot water and steep as you normally would. The aroma and taste should not be affected.

How easy is that?

Fresh Nutrient Rich Fruits

A health promoting dessert can be easily enjoyed by making a quick and simple fresh fruit salad. The USDA and American Heart Association have a list of 10 fruits that are known to be superfoods. Include them in one of your salads. All of the fruits are high in antioxidants and fiber.

If you have a farmer's market nearby, I recommend buying your fresh produce there. It'll give you a chance to meet the grower and learn new ways to enjoy the foods. Plus, you'll know exactly where your food is coming from. It can't get much better than that, in my opinion. Local farmers deserve all the support we can give them. When you get accustomed to the way food is supposed to taste, fresh from the unadulterated ground, you won't go back to supermarket foods.

Here's the fruit list, in no particular order:
* raspberries
* cherries (have you ever had a Rainier cherry?! OOOHH!)
* wild blueberries
* cranberries
* granny smith apples
* strawberries
* red delicious apples
* plums
* prunes
* blackberries

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Heart Healthy Seafood Tips

Even though seafood is a healthy and nutritious food to eat, there are certain things to know that can help you make it even healthier. According to the American Heart Association, try these tips to enjoy a health promoting seafood experience:

Substitute salsa or cocktail sauce for butter when ready to eat your seafood. Not only will you be decreasing your fat content, you'll also be consuming more nutrients.

* Choose fresh berries or fruit as a seafood topping.
* Prepare your seafood using low fat cooking methods such as broiling (without heavy oils), poaching, steaming, and grilling.

* Choose fresh seafood salads, not the processed fake crab variety.
* If you choose a seafood salad, make sure there is no high fat mayo in it.
* Buy canned tuna in water instead of oil. You can use the liquid in soup bases.
* Try to avoid or limit eating fried seafood of any kind.
* Instead of heavy sauces, squeeze a fresh orange, lime or lemon over your seafood.
* Use herbs to season your seafood instead of butter and salt.

Enjoy!

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Green Tea is Not Just For Sipping

Green tea can be enjoyed in ways other than as a beverage. An easy way to enjoy it is by adding it to your water when steaming some fish.

Place a teaspoon of green tea leaves into the water. If you don't have the leaves, open up a teabag and pour the contents into the water. Place the steamer basket in your pot. Then, add the fish. Bring to a boil and steam until done. It will only be a few minutes. Poke fish for doneness.

The green tea adds a mild sweetness to white fishes such as halibut and tilapia. Green tea steaming is good even with salmon, though not as noticeable since salmon has such a strong flavor on its own.

I have found a good alternative is to mix some green tea leaves with some chopped fresh basil. Use twice as much basil as green tea leaves. Place the basil and leaves in a flat pan. Lightly spritz the fish with some water or milk. Dip the fish into the herb tea mixture to coat. Place into the steamer and steam until done. This gives a stronger taste than the first method, but is still tasty. (In my opinion, anyways :) )

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Eating a Heart Healthy Diet

In addition to know what to eat in a heart healthy diet, it also is important to know how to cook them to reap the highest benefits.

Steaming is the quickest and healthiest way to cook food. There are steamers you can buy for under $10 that fit into a saucepan. Or, you can buy a steamer machine.

Baking, without excess oils, is a healthy cooking alternative. Use extra spices to get the best taste benefits.

Grilling. If you do not have warm weather for an outdoor grilling experience, there are varieties you can buy for using on your stovetop.

Poaching. Adding a little water to the bottom of your cooking pan will result in a healthy way to cook your food. Add more water as necessary.

Good luck...
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Lowering Your Cholesterol

Foods known for their cholesterol lowering properties are those high in fiber, according to the USDA. Some high fiber foods include:

Whole grains. This family includes oats, barley, millet, kamut, quinoa and whole wheat.

Legumes. Included in legumes are bean varieties (kidney, navy, garbanzo, etc.)lentils.

Fresh produce. Fruits and vegetables contain beneficial fiber.

Seeds and nuts. Almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds and flaxseeds are in this category.

Why You Need to Buy Local Organic Foods

Buying and consuming organic foods can provide benefits that noneaters may not be familiar with such as:

Obtaining true taste of foods. Pesticides cover up the actual taste benefits of food. By eating organic foods, individuals can know for sure how a certain food was intended to taste.

Help farmers. Eating organic foods aids local farmers, since a variety of the organic producers operate local farms.

Support local community. Buying from your local farmer keeps your hard earned dollars in the economy.

Know your source. By communicating with the person who grew your food, you're not supporting a faceless corporation (or commercial “organic” farm). It gives a sense of personalization in this rather impersonal world.

Sense of helping. When you purchase from your local farmer, you can feel better about helping another individual in their business.

Learn more about the food. When you buy from the party who grows your food, you can learn about “insider secrets” such as how to cook it, store it, how it was grown, and share in the passion of what it is like to know your source of food.

Eliminate middle person. By buying directly from the local organic farmer, you eliminate others shipping and handling your food. This is a great way to reduce your chances of obtaining any unwanted contaminants.

Hope this helps you choose organically grown food as part of your daily meal plan.

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Red Raspberries & Health Benefits

When I was a kid, my family grew red raspberries in our backyard. Getting a bowlful and enjoying throughout the season was a special treat. Then, when I got out on my own and saw the exorbitant prices....YIKES!! Down went my consumption...

My local organic market is having a sale on red raspberries...so I treated myself. Mmm...

In addition to their wonderful taste...red raspberries carry with them a variety of nutritional benefits. For instance....

Red raspberries are very high in Vitamin C, fiber, vitamins B2 and B3, magnesium, plus folate. They also are high in antioxidants. There is talk about them containing strong anti-cancer agents, but I haven't read enough information to convince me of this yet. I'll keep looking.

It's great knowing that not only am I giving my taste buds a treat, but my body is enjoying these nutritional delights also. :)

Red raspberries are great eaten as is, or with some lowfat milk, or added to plain yogurt.

Healthy Deviled Eggs

What's a party without deviled eggs? A bore, I'd say. Everyone knows that eggs are high in cholestrol. Here is a healthy and easy way to decrease both the cholesterol and fat content.

8 large eggs
2 T fat free mayo
1 T mustard
1/3 C nonfat cottage cheese
1 T lemon juice
1 t dill weed
paprika

Hard boil the eggs. Peel and cut in half. Place half of the yellow portions into a bowl with the remaining ingredients. Discard other half of yellows. Scoop mixture into egg halves and place on serving platter.

Place into refrigerator to chill prior to serving.

To remove

Tips For Lowering LDL ("Bad") Cholesterol

Knowing what foods to avoid, or limit consumption of, is helpful in lowering your high cholesterol (“bad” LDL). The following foods are known to be harmful culprits:

To lower blood cholesterol, limit consumption of these foods:

two percent milk
oils and margarine
avocados, olives, and coconuts
nuts
whole milk
high fat creams and ice creams
high-fat cheeses
high fat cottage cheese
high fat sour cream
anything with saturated fat in it
sugar laden foods
butter
fatty cuts of meat and refried pork
sausages, hot dogs, bologna
liver, kidneys, and other organ meats
egg yolks
lard, coconut, palm, or palm kernel oil
processed foods

Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits.
Eat low fat protein such as chicken, tofu, fish and seafood.
Drink plenty of water.

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Red Pepper Vinaigrette

This salad dressing is nothing like your basic vinaigrette formula — but you'll soon want to use it nearly every day. The classic vinaigrette is made with 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. As you can see, this version has no oil in it at all, making it extremely low in calories.
Once you've tried this I'm sure it'll become your basic everyday staple for salad. And you can never eat too much salad!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried whole oregano
Pinches of rosemary and thyme
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 of a roasted red bell pepper

Per serving:
8 calories
0 g total fat (0 g sat)
0 mg cholesterol
2 g carbohydrate
0 g protein
0 g fiber
50 mg sodium

Reprinted from Dr. Weil's website at:

Tasty Mango Pudding

Here is an easy to prepare recipe that is both tasty and nutritious.

1 large mango, peeled
1/2 cup lowfat tofu

Slice mango and let drop into small bowl.
Crumble the tofu into a 1/2 cup, to measure it.
Mash together the mango and tofu.
Stir vigorously until you reach a pudding-like consistency.

Scoop into serving bowls. Place in refrigerator and chill for about an hour.
This is great with fresh chopped mint leaves on top, if desired.

Buying Fresh Seafood

When buying fresh seafood, use your senses of sight, smell, touch.

Look at the seafood to see if there are any spots, discoloring, or brown edges. Don't buy it if it has any of these. They are a sign of aging.

Smell. Simply take a whiff of the seafood. If it has an unpleasant odor, or strong fishy smell - don't buy it. It's been sitting around too long.

Touch. Gently poke the seafood (fish). If the flesh quickly bounces back, it is fresh. If the shellfish has a soft spot when touched - don't buy.

Using your senses when buying fresh seafood will only help you make a healthy, good buying decision.

5 CHEAP Ways to Lose Weight

With our society being known for having an obese population, it seems that there is a multitude of 'ways to lose weight'. Some of pure nonsense, some surgical, and some common sense. Some ways are easy, some take some work. In other words, there is something for everyone. Here are some ways to lose weight that plain and simply – use common sense and are cheap.

1. Drink water. How simple is this? So many people are concerned about how many sodas to drink. Do they need to decrease the amount? Should they drink diet sodas? Come on. Make your life easier. Just do not drink any. DRINK WATER! It fills you up. It is, simply, delicous and satisfying. Part of drinking more water includes water-based drinks such as tea.

2. Exercise more. This is so common sense, it is embarrassing to mention. However, with all the miraculous ways suggested to lose weight, it is basic. Exercise more, plain and simple. No matter if it is as simple as walking more than usual, do it. Do anything that involves more activity than what your current level is at. Even isometrics is good. Just do something physical besides sit in front of your television eating chocolates or junk food.

3. Steam foods. When you prepare your meals, simply use steaming as your method of cooking. It only involves the time to chop your food and place it in a steamer. Usually takes about 10-15 minutes of time. The taste is superb. The cost is cheap. Plus, there is decreased fat. You can experience the natural taste of food.

4. Decrease portion sizes. Our society has become accustomed to HUGE portion sizes of food. When eating out, take half your meal home in a doggy bag. Instead of eating 2 cups of cereal, cut back to 1 cup. Learn to enjoy eating a protein portion the size of a deck of cards. By learning to enjoy smaller portions, you will be amazed at how easy it is. Measure your food intake. It takes time, but is worth it.

5. Eat a well balanced diet. Forget those fad diets that have you totally eliminating certain food groups. Your body needs all food groups to function properly. It does not take a food scientist to know this.

Losing weight is not easy, especially as we age. It takes work and discipline. And, yes, it is easier said than done. By incorporating these weight loss suggestions into your lifestyle – you will reap the benefits. Go for it!

Weight Loss Tip - natural way

For anyone interested in losing weight the natural way - drink more water water. This is so common sense, but it works well. Besides filling you up, it is cheap, delicious, and convenient.

What more can you want?

The Best Natural Pain Med

Having recently undergone a total knee replacement, I have had my fill of 'pain meds'. None work that well. There is one method, however, that is surprisingly great. It is all-natural, cheap, and convenient. In fact, it can be found in everyone's freezer.

This effective pain reliever is known as ice. Plain and simple ice. I was really surprised when the doctor mentioned that the best way to alleviate pain was with ice. I like that. All the other pain meds had awful side effects like nausea and breathing difficulties. :(

Ice has no side effects, of course. The only drawback is the fact it can be cumbersome to fill up an ice bag every two hours. Those large ice gel packs are real nice, however.

The cheapest way, I find, is to simply fill a gallon size plastic with ice. Wrap the plastic bagin a towel to keep your clothes from getting wet. When the ice melts, simply replace it with a fresh pack.

A Natural Digestive Aid

Yesterday was a surprising day. One of my friends was constipated and only knew about Metamucil or prescription stool softeners. That blew me away. There is a wonderful natural digestive aid that is cheap, super effective, and convenient to either buy or make. It is...

Yogurt. I find that plain yogurt works best. By plain yogurt I mean the store bought kind that does not have any sugar, fillers, or fruit...or anything, for that matter...in it. It is labeled as PLAIN.

Simply eat some spoonfuls of this and wait for the magic to happen. For me, it is quick and efficient. Plus, the plain variety is tasty.

Even better than the store bought, mass produced variety is the homemade variety. Making your own yogurt is so easy and cheap that it's surprising more people don't do it. You don't need any fancy equipment or know-how. You can, however, buy a yogurt maker if you'd like.

To make:
I simply bring a quart of milk to the boiling point.
While the milk is heating, I put a tablespoon of plain yogurt (already on hand) in a glass cup. Once the milk starts to bubble, simply pour it into the glass cups.
Cover the individual glass cups with plastic wrap (to keep it from forming a filmy layer).
Either place the cups into the yogurt maker or into a cake pan.
If using a cake pan, pour about an inch of hot water into it, then place the cups in.
Cover with a thick towel to help with the fermentation process.,
Place in a non-drafty area, away from any cold.
Let process for hours. The longer you let it 'cook', the stronger the taste.
Store in fridge when done.

Willow Bark - A Natural Remedy

For those times when you need help with pain relief or inflammation, there is a natural alternative to aspirin or other pharmaceutically manufactured drugs. It is known as willow bark. Willow bark dates back to the days of Hippocrates when he had patients chew on the tree bark to help decrease pain and inflammation.

Being an herb, willow bark takes longer to see results from than drugs. And, the effects can last longer. Willow bark is known to have less side effects than pharmaceutical drugs. We know that acetiminophen (Tylenol) can be damaging to the liver. We also know that aspirin is a blood thinner and can cause stomach problems.

Try willow bark. You can find it in health food stores, or the natural living/healing section of your grocery store.

Also, you can find more information on it by searching the Internet. Enjoy!