Ever have those days where you don’t know how to fit it all in? Maybe it’s a busy weekend with lots of things going on and you want to do it all, including exercise. But somehow by the time you get through all the things that are either firmly in your schedule or on your “absolutely have to get to” list, something gets missed. And how often does that something end up being the exercise?

Here’s a trick that will help you get in at least some exercise, even on those days when you don’t see how to fit it in. How often to you find that you have 10- 15- or 20-minute gaps between things when you are just sitting around waiting. Here’s what you do: either wear or keep with you a pair of running shoes or other exercise shoes. When you find yourself with one of those time gaps, get into those shoes and go out for a walk.

If you’re feeling energetic and/or want a higher level of activity, add in a little running. You can elevate your heart rate even more by either jogging or by running a few intervals and walking the rest of the time. And if you have a dog, grab your dog and the leash and exercise with your dog. It will be fun for both of you!

Worried about getting too sweaty since you’re probably not dressed for a workout? Just walk. Walking is great and you stand to gain many benefits from walking. And best of all, you won’t have to feel bad about missing your exercise.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, a day set aside every year to give thanks. No matter what is going on in our mostly hectic and stressful lives, we all can find something to be grateful for. It can be for someone we love. It can be for someone we appreciate. It can be for someone who helped us. It can be for someone who motivated us. It can even be for someone who hurt us if that hurt caused us to grow or make a change for the better. It can be something that we have. It can be for something that somebody did for us. It can be for something we did to help someone else. It can be for something we did for ourselves. It can be for our health. It can be for the weather, the sunshine, our surroundings, or a whole host of other things. I think you get the picture.

And there are several good reasons to express our gratitude much more frequently than once a year because of the many ways that gratitude benefits our health. Thinking of things that we are grateful for makes us feel good and is linked to optimism, a characteristic that boosts our immune system. Lisa Aspinwall, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Utah noted one study which found that first-year law students under stress that were optimistic had more immune-protective blood cells by midterm than their more pessimistic classmates.

Gratitude helps keep our hearts healthy. Results of a study reported in the American Journal of Cardiology suggest that positive emotions lead to alterations in heart rate variability, naturally occurring beat-to-beat changes in heart rate, which may be beneficial in the treatment of hypertension and in reducing the likelihood of sudden death in patients with congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease.

Spending a few minutes at the end of the day thinking about things we’re grateful for quiets our mind before sleeping and helps us get a better night’s sleep. Better sleep, along with feeling good and being optimistic, also help us manage stress better.

When we feel good we’re more likely to help others or lend emotional support to others, which helps strengthen relationships. And finding things we’re grateful for about loved ones gets us to focus on the positive, which helps us appreciate each other even more.

Interestingly, according to a study mentioned in the Huffington Post, high-schoolers who are grateful have higher GPAs, better social integration, and were less depressed or envious than their non-grateful counterparts.

Your assignment: every day, before you go to sleep, write down three to five things you are grateful for. They could be some of the bigger things in your life of some of the small things that happened throughout the day. Then notice how you feel and how you sleep. Notice how you interact with others and how they respond to you. I think you will be happy with the results!

Thanksgiving is a day for friends and family to get together to give thanks. I would like to thank you for visiting my site and reading my blog.

Wishing you and yours the best Thanksgiving yet!

Have you ever wondered what you might have for Thanksgiving if you live a plant-based lifestyle? Certainly not any turkey. Forget about the gravy, or the stuffing that roasted inside the bird, soaking in all the juices. Most likely the mashed potatoes were made with butter and milk or cream, and maybe even some cheese, so that’s definitely out. If the token green vegetable is the classic green bean casserole that appears on many tables, depending on which recipe is followed, at the very least it will have cream of mushroom soup and milk, and possibly also butter, chicken broth, and/or cheddar cheese. Nope.

So, what does that leave? Maybe some cranberries, bread, if wasn’t made with butter or egg, and possibly some salad, if one is being served.

This year, along with the traditional turkey, gravy, stuffing, and mashed potatoes for those who can’t imagine a non-traditional Thanksgiving, we are improvising and creating a feast that includes legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and green vegetables, and takes advantage of seasonal treats such as pumpkin and winter squash.

We will be having herbed lentils and rice, butternut squash risotto with mushrooms and asparagus, pumpkin stuffed with a seed- and rice-based stuffing, roasted stuffed sweet bell peppers with a bread-based stuffing, brandied orange sweet potatoes, and lightly sautéed broccoli. For dessert I’m baking pumpkin and apple pies that have no dairy or eggs and serving those with coconut milk-based French-vanilla ice cream.

I will post these recipes over the next few weeks. Click here to see the recipe for herbed lentils and rice.

Bon Appetit!

You probably know that you need potassium. But do you know why? Potassium is in every cell in your body, and plays a major role in optimizing your health.

Potassium helps lower blood pressure, which lowers your risk of stroke and protects your heart. Potassium lowers blood pressure in two ways: 1) by acting as a vasodilator, keeping arteries flexible so blood can flow easily; and 2) by helping to rid the body of excess sodium and the associated fluid retention that contributes to increased blood pressure.

Potassium helps improve brain function. Lower blood pressure also allows more oxygen to reach the brain, which stimulates neural activity and increases cognitive function. And potassium channels are required to maintain electrical conductivity in the brain, crucial for brain function.

Potassium is integral in protein synthesis and ensures proper growth and regeneration of muscle tissue. Potassium stimulates neural connectivity between muscles and the brain, which signals contraction and relaxation of muscles, and is important for normal heart, digestive, and muscular function, including exercise and muscle training.

By neutralizing acidity in the body, potassium prevents the body from leaching calcium from bones to neutralize excess acid. In this way, potassium contributes to higher mineral (calcium) density in bones.

Potassium is needed to convert glycogen, the form of blood sugar stored in the liver, back into glucose for metabolic energy. Potassium is needed to extract energy from nutrients and assists in the metabolic processing of nutrients.

As an electrolyte, potassium helps maintain optimal fluid balance, which keeps our organs functioning properly. Electrolytes transmit electrical charges from the brain and nervous system throughout the body to keep everything functioning faster and more efficiently. As an electrolyte, potassium enhances efficiency of nerve reflexes that transmit messages throughout the body; helps with muscle contraction.

Potassium has other functions that include stimulating cell growth and helping in cell repair, regulating cortisol and adrenaline, the body’s stress hormones, to help control stress and anxiety, and helping the kidneys to excrete waste, reducing the risk of kidney stones.

The Recommended Daily Amount of potassium is 4,700 milligrams (mg). Too little or too much potassium can cause problems. Potassium deficiency can cause muscle cramps (hypokalemia), or more seriously can lead to paralysis of cardiac muscles or epilepsy.

Excess potassium can be a problem if you have kidney issues that prevent you from processing potassium properly because potassium can reach high levels and cause heart disease, muscle paralysis, difficulty breathing, tingling in the hands and feet, heart arrhythmia, and nausea. Furthermore, medications can affect your potassium levels. If you are taking medication or have any health concerns, check with your doctor or pharmacist before making changes.

The best way to get your potassium is from whole foods. Some of the richest plant-based sources of potassium include yams, nuts (peanuts, raw almonds, cashews, and walnuts), avocados, leafy greens (spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, and mustard greens), beans (pinto, kidney, and black beans), chickpeas, oats, russet potatoes, lentils, bananas, butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower, persimmons, cantaloupe and honeydew melon, celery, coconut water, tomatoes, eggplant, and citrus fruits.

Resources

• http://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/minerals/health-benefits-of-potassium.html
  
• http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/potassium-sources-and-benefits
  
• http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/power-up-with-potassium/article5221474.ece
  
• http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list
  

Doesn’t that sound tasty? Yes, nutritional yeast is something that you eat (no, it’s not a condition). I was reluctant to try it the first time I came across a recipe that called for it. I thought that maybe I could find something else to use as a substitute, or just skip it altogether. The name made it sound pretty bad! The problem is that I was making my first vegan “cheese” sauce and the only other thing I could have used that would make it taste cheesy is, well, cheese!

So off I went to my nearest Whole Foods market to buy some nutritional yeast. I didn’t know what it was, so I had absolutely no idea where I would find it in the store. A helpful attendant brought me to an isle in the supplement section and pointed me to both the nutritional yeast and the brewer’s yeast (yes, the same yeast that’s used in beer except that it’s been deactivated), which she told me are the same thing. I ended up buying brewer’s yeast because it was sold in the smallest container, and I didn’t want to commit to a large container of something that I didn’t expect to like.

When I got home, I opened the new container of brewer’s yeast and reluctantly tried some of the flakes that stuck to the tip of my wet finger. Hmmm. Not bad. Kind of good. In fact, very good! It had a somewhat nutty, cheesy taste. And it wasn’t anything close to the horrible yeasty concoction my mind had imagined!

So, what exactly IS nutritional yeast? Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast, meaning that the grown yeast has been killed by adding salt and heat, and is typically from the strain Saccharomyces (S) cerevisiae. The dead yeast are broken down into course flakes or a fine powder that can be added to sauces, soups, and gravies to impart a “cheesiness”, or sprinkled over salads, cooked vegetables, pasta, rice, or even popcorn to add a taste similar to that of parmesan cheese.

Nutritional yeast is high in protein, providing the full spectrum of amino acids (building blocks of protein) and full of B-vitamins, especially riboflavin and folate. Plus, nutritional yeast is low in sodium, and unlike real cheese, is low in fat and has no cholesterol. According to the label on my large (15.9 oz.) can of Whole Foods-brand nutritional yeast, a serving size of 2 rounded tablespoons delivers 7 grams (g) of protein, 3 g of fiber, 40 micrograms of riboflavin, and 190 micrograms of folate.

Nutritional yeast is often supplemented with vitamin B12 because unlike S cerevisiae grown in the wild that has bacteria that can produce vitamin B12, the conditions in which commercially produced nutritional yeast is grown does not allow the vitamin B12-producing bacteria to grow.

Because nutritional yeast is deactivated, or dead yeast, it cannot reproduce and infect you. Furthermore, nutritional yeast cannot cause or contribute to Candida yeast infections because not only is it deactivated, it is also derived from a different species of yeast.

If you’ve never tried nutritional yeast, I urge you to try it. You will be pleasantly surprised by how good it tastes. And I dare you to click here to try this not-so-cheesy “cheese” sauce, my favorite, and put it over elbow macaroni pasta, broccoli, a baked potato, or corn chips with a little salsa to make nachos!

Nutritional yeast. I don’t think the name does justice to the taste. I think that nutritional yeast needs a better name. What would you call it?

Sticking with the salt theme, have you noticed that sea salt seems to be showing up in chips and other snacks as well as grocery store shelves alongside good old iodized (table) salt? I’ve even started seeing sea salt in some restaurants. So, what’s the difference between sea salt and iodized salt, and is there any benefit to using sea salt over iodized salt?

Sea salt and iodized salt both have the same chemical composition, sodium chloride, and both types of salt contain the same amount of sodium. The differences between the two types of salt arise from the source and the level of processing of the salt.

The source of sea salt is evaporated seawater. If the sea salt is not refined, there will also be other trace minerals present in addition to sodium chloride. The trace minerals will impart color to the salt, typically pink, beige, gray, red, or black, depending on where the seawater comes from. Refining removes trace minerals, and refined salt is white.

The source of iodized salt is underground salt mines. The salt is typically white from being refined to remove trace minerals. Iodine is added to prevent goiter, an iodine-deficiency disease, and an additive is incorporated to prevent clumping so that the salt pours easily. 

It’s worth noting that as long as manufacturers satisfy the FDA’s purity requirements, they do not have to reveal their sources, and “Sea salt” that is sold in markets might not come from the sea. 

Some believe that sea salt tastes better than table salt. And even though there are claims that sea salt is a more natural and healthy alternative, according to the Mayo Clinic sea salt and table salt have the same basic nutritional value.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 (most current) recommend limiting sodium intake to below 2,300 milligrams (mg) per day; the American Heart Association recommends limiting sodium intake to no more than 1,500 mg per day. Counting up and tracking the amount of sodium you get from packaged foods is easy because the amount of sodium per serving is listed on the nutritional label on the outside of the package. All you have to do is note how many servings or what fraction of a serving you ate, then multiply that amount by the mg of sodium per serving. If you do that for all the foods you eat throughout the day, then add up all those numbers, you know how many mg of sodium you consumed for the day. Simple, right?

Right, except what if you add salt to your food? Then what? Do you weigh out how many mg of salt you used and then add that to the total? Not exactly. In fact, when was the last time you weighed your salt? It’s more likely that you used a teaspoon or some fraction such as an eighth of a teaspoon to measure your salt.

So how do you know how much sodium is in a teaspoon of salt? I’m going to answer that question using the periodic table of the elements and a little math. If chemistry and math are not your thing, you can skip ahead to the end to find the answer.

First, you have to be aware that sodium and salt are not the same thing. Sodium is in salt, but sodium is not the only thing in salt. Salt is made of two elements, sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl), and both are present in equal amounts as sodium cholride (NaCl).

Does that mean that 50% of salt is sodium? Well, yes and no. Yes, in that 50% of the atoms in salt are sodium atoms. No, in terms of weight. Why do we care about weight? Because our dietary concerns are with milligrams of sodium, which is a measure of weight, just like pounds or kilograms.

In order to determine the milligrams of sodium in a teaspoon of salt, we need to know how much a sodium atom weighs, how much a chlorine atom weighs, and how much a salt molecule weighs. Then we can figure out what percentage of the weight of salt comes from sodium. Once we know that, and we know how much a teaspoon of salt weighs, we can calculate how many milligrams of sodium are in a teaspoon of salt.

A sodium atom weighs 23 atomic mass units (amu) and a chlorine atom weighs 35 amu. Adding those two together gives you the weight of a salt molecule, which is 58 amu (23 amu + 35 amu = 58 amu). The percentage of sodium by weight in the salt molecule is: (23 amu/58 amu) x 100% = 40%.

If you weigh one teaspoon of salt, you will find that it weighs about 6 grams, which equals 6,000 mg (1 gram = 1,000 mg). Since sodium is 40% by weight of salt, the amount of sodium in one teaspoon of salt is 40% of 6,000 mg, or 0.4 x 6,000 mg = 2,400 mg sodium.

So there are 2,400 mg of sodium in a teaspoon of salt. If you’re limiting your sodium intake to 1,500 mg, as recommended by the American Heart Association, and salt is your only source of sodium, how much does that add up to in terms of teaspoons? If 2,400 mg = 1 teaspoon of salt, then dividing by 8 tells us that 300 mg = 1/8 teaspoon, a convenient and smaller measure. So 5 of those 1/8 teaspoons of salt (5 x 300 mg) is 1,500 mg. 

If you’re also having processed packaged foods, use the label to keep track of how much sodium you're getting from those foods and reduce the amount of salt you add accordingly.

We hear about antioxidants in our foods all the time. We’re told that some foods have more antioxidants than other foods, and we’re even told that some foods are considered “superfoods” because of their high levels of antioxidants. Have you ever wondered how they actually know the levels of antioxidants that are in your foods? In other words, where do those numbers come from?

Being an analytical chemist and specializing in chemical measurements, I decided to find out what assays are used, how they work, and what actually gets measured. There are several different assays, with each one being a little different, and none of which measure total antioxidant activity. For today, I’m only going to tell you about one of those assays, the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay.

The broad definition of an antioxidant is any substance that delays or stops oxidative damage to a target molecule (free radical). Antioxidants accomplish this by neutralizing free radicals, which they do by transferring an electron to the free radical (also known as “reducing” the free radical).

The FRAP assay is a fast and simple method for measuring the antioxidant power of foods and beverages. This assay uses antioxidant standards, solutions that have known amounts (concentrations) of antioxidants. The antioxidant standards are mixed with an iron (Fe) complex (FeIII-TPTZ) that serves as the target molecule (free radical). The FeIII-TPTZ in solution is a colorless liquid and acts as a free radical by accepting an electron from the antioxidant that it’s mixed with. When the FeIII-TPTZ complex takes an electron from the antioxidant, it gets converted to a different form (FeII) that is blue-colored. The change in color of the liquid from colorless to blue can be accurately measured (as a change in absorbance at 593 nm) after a reaction time of four minutes, which allows all antioxidants in the sample to react with the FeIII-TPTZ complex.

This process is repeated for a series of the same antioxidant standards at different concentrations. The change in absorbance for each concentration is measured, as well as a test mixture, The absorption change in the text mixture is compared to those from increasing concentrationsof the FeIII-TPTZ complex and plotted on an x-y graph (by computer) as concentration of the FeII form. The plot ends up looking like a line of dots. This line is a calibration curve and is used to determine the unknown concentrations of antioxidants in food extracts.

Here’s how: the experiment is repeated, only this time the antioxidants present in food extracts are mixed with the FeIII-TPTZ complex instead of the antioxidant standards. The FeIII-TPTZ complex changes to the FeII form when the antioxidants in the food extracts give an electron to the FeIII-TPTZ complex (in other words, the antioxidants neutralize the “free radical”) and the solution changes from colorless to blue. Just like before with the standards, the color change is measured as a change in absorbance at 593 nm. Now the calibration curve is used to determine the antioxidant concentration by plotting concentration of the FeII form of the food extract and using that to find the corresponding antioxidant concentration. All the plotting and calculations are done by computer, so they’re quite accurate.

At least now you have some idea about how claims can be made about the antioxidant power of foods. Stay tuned for future posts on some of the other methods.

With the holidays upon us, for many it’s the one time of year to eat cranberries, since cranberry sauce is a standard accompaniment to traditional holiday meals. Cranberries, a superfood, are loaded with powerful antioxidants, including vitamin C, proanthocyanidins (a type of flavonoid), and citric acid, that are responsible for many healthful benefits. Cranberries are not just for the holidays.

Cranberries help prevent urinary tract infections (UTI). In a two-year study in Japan that examined the relapse rate in patients with UTI, relapse of 29.1% was observed in women age 50 years or more who drank one bottle (125 mL) of cranberry juice daily. A relapse rate of 49.2% was observed in a similar group who drank a placebo beverage. A nutritional approach to treating UTI can reduce the use of antibiotics and subsequent resistance to antibiotics.

Cranberries may be good for your heart. Researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine examined the effects of cranberry juice on vascular function in subjects with coronary artery disease and found that chronic cranberry juice consumption reduced arterial stiffness. No effect on endothelial function was observed. Other studies show that drinking cranberry juice increases HDL (good) cholesterol, plasma antioxidant capacity and decreases oxidized LDL (bad) cholesterol, which may help maintain health and prevent cardiovascular disease. Cranberries prevent formation of plaque on arterial walls, which decreases the risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

Cranberries may help prevent and fight cancer. Extracts and compounds isolated from cranberry fruit have been shown in studies with in vitro tumor models to inhibit growth and proliferation of several tumor types, including breast, colon, prostate and lung. Antioxidants proanthocyanidin, flavonol, anthocyanin, and triterpenoids are believed to contribute to the anticancer properties and limit carcinogenesis. Studies suggest that cranberries may have a potential role as a dietary chemopreventive.

Cranberries help strengthen your immune system. By neutralizing free radicals, antioxidants in cranberries fight toxins that suppress the immune system, which increases resistance against illness and disease.

Cranberries may help keep your mouth healthy. Oral tissues are delicate and especially vulnerable to cell damage caused by free radicals and oxidative stress. Cranberries are loaded with antioxidants, which help protect against oral diseases and oral cancer.

Cranberries may be good for your brain. Antioxidants in cranberries reduce the amount of oxidative damage to brain cells caused by free radicals that result in fuzzy memory, slow learning, loss of coordination, and often dementias that are common with aging.

Cranberries may be good for your skin. Antioxidants in cranberries can prevent and repair tissue damage due to free radicals. Antioxidants in cranberries can also protect skin from damaging effects of the sun from the inside by protecting cells from damage.

Cranberries keep you looking and feeling younger. Oxidative stress (http://altmedicine.about.com/od/antiagingdiets/a/antiaging_antioxidants.htm) caused by free-radical-induced damage promotes aging. Antioxidants in cranberries fight oxidative stress by neutralizing free radicals, which slows aging.

Cranberries can help you lose weight. Antioxidants in cranberries help regulate metabolism, flush out your system, and ensure normal digestion, all of which can help you lose weight.

So have fun exploring the internet to find your favorite ways to prepare and enjoy cranberries. And this year at your holiday feasts, be sure to pass the cranberries.

Please share your favorite way to enjoy cranberries!