Tossed Spring Salad with Spicy Mustard Vinaigrette and Wild Salmon

 

Quick and easy tossed salad with Green Bell Peppers, Mayan onion, and Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese all tossed with a Homemade Spicy Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing.

Spicy Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing Ingredients:

1.      Organic Olive Oil
2.      Organic Balsamic Vinegar
3.      Organic Spicy Mustard
4.      Organic Pepper (to taste)

Combine ingredients one at a time adding each to your own taste liking. Remember a little Spicy Mustard goes a long way!

 Try out this easy recipe or add your own favorite ingredients and protein on top to make a quick and easy salad anytime.

15 diet myths!

My girlfriend sent me this article and I thought it was a great summary of conventional wisdom that just may not be true.

MYTH #1: High fructose corn syrup is worse than table sugar
Whether or not added sugar is bad for you has never been in dispute. The less sugar you eat, the better. But whether HFCS is worse than plain ol' table sugar has long been a contentious issue. Here’s what you need to know: Both HFCS and table sugar, or sucrose, are built with roughly a 50-50 blend of two sugars, fructose, and glucose. That means in all likelihood that your body can’t tell one from the other—they’re both just sugar. HFCS’s real sin is that it’s supercheap, and as a result, it’s added to everything from cereal to ketchup to salad dressing. Plus it may be affecting your health in ways not yet fully understood by the scientific community. Is it a good idea to minimize the HFCS in your diet? Absolutely. It’s best to cut out all unnecessary sugars. But HFCS’s role as nutritional enemy #1 has been exaggerated. 

SPECIAL EAT THIS, NOT THAT! REPORT: Eating fiber- and protein-loaded snacks between meals can help you control hunger and avoid overeating at mealtime. Shed flab by checking out this essential list of the 50 Best Snack Foods in America.
MYTH #2: Sea salt is a healthier version of regular salt
Everyday table salt comes from a mine and contains roughly 2,300 milligrams of sodium per teaspoon. Sea salt comes from evaporated seawater, and it also contains roughly 2,300 milligrams of sodium. That makes them, well, roughly identical. Advocates point to the fact that sea salt also contains other compounds like magnesium and iron, but in truth, these minerals exist in trace amounts. To obtain a meaningful dose, you’d have to take in extremely high and potentially dangerous levels of sodium. What’s more, traditional table salt is regularly fortified with iodine, which plays an important role in regulating the hormones in your body. Sea salt, on the other hand, gives you virtually zero iodine. The bottom line is this: If switching from table salt to sea salt causes you to consume even one extra granule, then you’ve just completely snuffed out whatever elusive health boon you hope to receive. Plus you’ve wasted a few bucks. 
MYTH #3: Energy drinks are less harmful than soda
Energy drinks like Red Bull, Monster, and Full Throttle attempt to boost your energy with a cache of B vitamins, herbal extracts, and amino acids. But what your body’s going to remember most (especially around your waistline) is the sugar in these concoctions; a 16-ounce can delivers as much as 280 calories of pure sugar, which is about 80 calories more than you’d find in a 16-ounce cup of Pepsi. What’s more, a University of Maryland study found energy drinks to be 11 percent more corrosive to your teeth than regular soda. So here’s the secret that energy drink companies don’t want you to know: The only proven, significant energy boost comes from caffeine. If you want an energy boost, save yourself the sugar spike and drink a cup of coffee.  
DROP 15 POUNDS FOR SUMMER: Want instant health and nutrition secrets to help you drop 3 to 5 pounds a week without ever dieting? Follow me on Twitter right here. And win a chance to have your success story told in Men’s Health or Women’s Health by joining our Fit For Life Summer Challenge!
MYTH #4: Diet soda is harmless
The obesity-research community is becoming increasingly aware that the artificial sweeteners used in diet soda—aspartame and sucralose, for instance—lead to hard-to-control food urges later in the day. One Purdue study discovered that rats took in more calories if they'd been fed artificial sweeteners prior to mealtime, and a University of Texas study found that people who consume just three diet sodas per week were more than 40 percent more likely to be obese. Try weaning yourself off by switching to carbonated water and flavoring with lemon, cucumber, and fresh herbs.
MYTH #5: Low-fat foods are better for you
As it applies to food marketing, the term “low fat” is synonymous with “loaded with salt and cheap carbohydrates.” For instance, look at Smucker’s Reduced Fat Peanut Butter. To replace the fat it skimmed out, Smucker’s added a fast-digesting carbohydrate called maltodextrin. That’s not going to help you lose weight. A 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that over a 2-year span, people on low-carb diets lost 62 percent more body weight than those trying to cut fat. (Plus, the fat in peanut butter is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat—you’d be better off eating more of it, not less!)
MYTH #6: “Trans-fat free” foods are actually trans-fat freeThe FDA’s guidelines allow companies to claim 0 grams of trans fat—even broadcast it on the front of their packages—as long as the food in question contains no more than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. But here’s the deal: Due to an inextricable link to heart disease, the World Health Organization advises people to keep trans fat intake as low as possible, maxing out at about 1 gram per 2,000 calories consumed. If your cupboard’s full of foods with almost half a gram per serving, you might be blowing past that number every single day. The American Journal of Health Promotion recently published an article urging the FDA to rethink its lax regulations, but until that happens, you should avoid all foods with “partially hydrogenated oil” (meaning, trans fats) on their ingredients statements.
MYTH #7: Foods labeled “natural” are healthier
The FDA makes no serious effort to control the use of the word "natural" on nutrition labels. Case in point: 7UP boasts that it’s made with “100% Natural Flavors” when, in fact, the soda is sweetened with a decidedly un-natural dose of high fructose corn syrup. “Corn” is natural, but “high fructose corn syrup” is produced using a centrifuge and a series of chemical reactions. Other "natural" abusers include Natural Cheetos, which are made with maltodextrin and disodium phosphate, and “natural advantage” Post Raisin Bran, which bathes its raisins in both sugar and corn syrup. The worst part is, you're likely paying a premium price for common junk food.
BONUS TIP: Beware: Mr. Salty is running loose at some of your favorite restaurants! Click here to check out our complete list of the 30 Saltiest Foods in America.
MYTH #8: Egg yolks raise your cholesterol
Egg yolks contain dietary cholesterol; this much is true. But research has proven that dietary cholesterol has almost nothing to do with serum cholesterol, the stuff in your blood. Wake Forest University researchers reviewed more than 30 egg studies and found no link between egg consumption and heart disease, and a study in Saint Louis found that eating eggs for breakfast could decrease your calorie intake for the remainder of the day.
MYTH #9: Eating junk food helps battle stress
You’ve been there: Stressed out and sprawled across your sofa with one arm elbow deep in a bag of cheese puffs. In the moment, it can be comforting, but a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that people who consumed the most highly processed foods were 58 percent more likely to be depressed than those who ate the least. Your move: Find a healthy stress snack. Peanut butter and Triscuits do the trick, or check out the next myth … 

MYTH #10: Chocolate is bad for you
Cocoa is a plant-based food replete with flavonoids that increase blood flow and release feel-good endorphins. Plus, it contains a healthy kind of saturated fat called stearic acid, which research has shown can increase your good HDL cholesterol. But here’s the rub: When most people think of chocolate, their minds jump immediately to milk chocolate, which contains far more sugar than actual cocoa. Instead, look for dark chocolate, specifically those versions that tell you exactly how much cocoa they contain. A bar with 60% cocoa is good, but the more cocoa it contains, the greater the health effects.
Myth #11: Granola is good for you
Oats are good for you, and the same goes for oatmeal. But granola takes those good-for-you hunks of flattened oat, blankets them in sugar, and bakes them in oil to give them crunch. The amount of fat and sugar added to each oat is at the discretion of food processors, but you can bet your last cup of milk it’s going to far sweeter and more fatty than a bowl of regular cereal. Take this example: A single cup of Quaker Natural Granola, Nuts & Raisins has 420 calories, 30 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of fat. Switch to a humble cup of Kix and you drop down about 90 calories, 2.5 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of fat. Or better yet, find your favorite healthy cereal here: The 24 Best and Worst Cereals in America.
MYTH #12: Bananas are the best source of potassium
Your body uses potassium to keep your nerves and muscles firing efficiently, and an adequate intake can blunt sodium’s effect on blood pressure. One 2009 study found that a 2:1 ratio of potassium to sodium could halve your risk of heart disease, and since the average American consumes about 3,400 milligrams of sodium each day, your goal should be 6,800 milligrams of daily potassium. You’re extremely unlikely to ever reach that mark—and never with bananas alone. One medium banana has 422 milligrams and 105 calories. Here are the sources that earn you roughly the same amount of potassium in fewer calories:

• Potato, half a medium spud, 80 calories
• Apricots, 5 whole fruit, 80 calories
• Cantaloupe, 1 cup cubes, 55 calories
• Broccoli, 1 full stalk, 50 calories
• Sun-dried tomatoes, a quarter cup, 35 calories

MYTH #13: Oranges are the best source of vitamin C
Far more than a simple immune booster, vitamin C is an antioxidant that plays a host of important roles in your body. It strengthens skin by helping to build collagen, improves mood by increasing the flow of norepinephrine, and bolsters metabolic efficiency by helping transport fat cells into the body’s energy-burning mitochondria. But since your body can neither store nor create the wonder vitamin, you need to provide a constant supply. An orange is the most famous vitamin-C food, and although it’s a good source, it’s by no means the best. For 70 calories, one orange gives you about 70 micrograms of vitamin C. Here are five sources with just as much vitamin C and even fewer calories:

• Papaya, ¾ cup, 50 calories
• Brussel’s sprouts, 1 cup, 40 calories
• Strawberries, 7 large fruit, 40 calories
• Broccoli, ½ stalk, 25 calories
• Red Bell Pepper, ½ medium pepper, 20 calories

MYTH #14: Organic is always better
Often, but not in every case. Organic produce is almost nutritionally identical to its conventional counterpart. The issue is pesticide exposure—pesticides have been linked to an increased risk of obesity in some studies. But many conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are very low in pesticides. Take, for example, the conventional onion: It’s got the lowest pesticide load of 45 fruits and vegetables tested by the Environmental Working Group. Also in the safe-to-eat-conventional group are avocados, sweet corn, and pineapple. In general, fruits and vegetables with impermeable skins are safe to buy conventional, while produce like celery, peaches, apples, and blueberries are better purchased organic.
MYTH #15: Meat is bad for you
Pork, beef, and lamb are among the world’s best sources of complete protein, and a Danish study found that dieting with 25 percent of calories from protein can help you lose twice as much weight as dieting with 12 percent protein. Then there’s vitamin B12, which is prevalent only in animal-based foods. B12 is essential to your body’s ability to decode DNA and build red blood cells, and British researchers found that adequate intakes protect against age-related brain shrinkage. Now, if you’re worried that meat will increase your risk for heart disease, don’t be. A Harvard review last year looked at 20 studies and found that meat’s link to heart disease exists only with processed meats like bacon, sausage, and deli cuts. Unprocessed meats, those that hadn’t been smoked, cured, or chemically preserved, presented absolutely zero risk.

Link: http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/15-biggest-nutrition-myths

The "Low Fat Diet" Myth!

It is probably safe to say that we all have either ourselves or personally known someone that has tried to lose weight on a really low fat diet. I can also say that with great confidence that 99% of those fail to make it long term with success on that extreme low fat diet. Over the past fifty years we have all been told that fat was bad for us because it will make you fat. So what did Americans do? They ate less fat. Over the last fifty years if you follow the trend lines and graphs it proves that Americans succeeded, they ate less fat. However, obesity is on the rise and at astronomical rates. How can this be so? Well, maybe we have been looking at the wrong enemy for the last half century.

Where it all began:

In the 1950’s a physiologist and graduate of the University of California Berkeley by the name of Ancel Keys proposed that saturated fat raised blood cholesterol and in effect led to heart disease. This was the conclusion after his famous 7 countries study that included the United States. The more saturated fat the country ate the more heart disease the country was plagued with. This all sounds great and makes sense until you look at the fact there were twenty two total countries in the study and when all twenty two were used for analysis, there was no cause and effect of saturated fat consumption causing heart disease. It is with this faulty and terrible science that Key’s would press the issue to the American Heart Association to set the new guidelines of a healthy diet.

As the years went on and with critics of Key’s being silenced the new standard was issued, a low fat diet was the best diet for your health. Researchers also began noticing that obesity was strongly tied into this heart disease epidemic Keys had proposed (albeit with no real evidence). This led to another idea that fat also made you fat.  Ultimately, it was these two correlations that occurred with defective science that made Americans believe that fat made you fat and then would kill you with heart disease later on in your life. This solidified the low fat diet plan for the future of American health.

Where they went wrong:

Keys and colleagues hardly looked at how heart disease was formed and they certainly never looked at what causes fat accumulation. They assumed causality instead of looking at it scientifically and physiologically which was ironic seeing as how Keys was a physiologist himself. If someone was to tell you that you that they were in debt, you would have to assume that they had that debt because they spent more than they make. It really is simple math. However, it does not tell you WHY that person has spent more than have. This is the ultimate principal and logic that will allow us to look deeper into the real cause of how people become overweight.

Reality of a Low Fat diet:

A low fat diet means by mathematical calculations you will have a high carbohydrate diet as well. There is no denying that carbohydrate consumption has soared over the last fifty years because of the low fat diet model. We have been duped into believing fat is bad for us which left us with two avenues, up our carbs or our protein.  Since it is pretty tough to up protein past the forty percent mark of total calories and many have adopted a vegetarian diet, this left us with one option, up our carb intake. Because carbs are so much easier to consume, especially when they are refined, this allowed for many to up carbs often times above sixty and seventy percent of total calories consumed. This causes a huge insulin spike and allows insulin to stay at chronically high levels in the body.  This is a disaster for anyone looking to lose fat in their body as I will explain next.

All the while when Keys and colleagues were convincing us that saturated fat was the public enemy number one, many top endocrinologists had already worked out another target and that was insulin. They knew that fat accumulation was a hormonal process in which insulin plays a huge role. Insulin has a few roles in the body which include lowering blood sugar after a meal, shuttling glucose to the muscles for storage but most effectively it promotes the storage of fat. They knew insulin not only stored fat but also prevents fat from being released out of the fat cell due to the fact that when insulin is present Hormone Sensitive Lipase is inhibited. Hormone Sensitive Lipase allows the breakdown of stored fat also known as triglycerides in the body to be released and burned as fuel. Another hormone in the body that ties into fat storage is Lipoprotein Lipase. LPL allows the body to break down fatty acids in the bloodstream and put it into the fat cell where the fatty acids can be bound together by a glycerol molecule and then stored. When insulin is present LPL receptors pull in a significant amount of fat into the cells causing more and more fat storage. Insulin in effect allows for more fat accumulation and less fat mobilization in the body. Looking at it physiologically it is easy to see why insulin, because of high carbohydrate consumption, can be a disaster for anyone looking to loose fat.

Later in a future post I will talk about the effects of carbohydrates on appetite and why they can cause you to overeat and how they are addicting to humans and can also led to obesity.

My first Published Article! Many more to come!

Here it is, my first published work! So excited for what is in store for the future!

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Not-So-Sweet-Truth-About-Artificial-Sweeteners&id=6275180

The MUST buy Organics!

1.       Meat

2.       Milk

3.       Celery

4.       Peaches

5.       Strawberries

6.       Apples

7.       Blueberries

8.       Nectarines

9.       Bell Peppers

10.     Spinach

11.     Grapes

12.     Carrots

13.     Coffee

This list is a good start to buying organic. These foods tend to be the highest in different pesticide residues because they are the most susceptible to harmful organisms that can ruin the crop for farmers. Meat and milk, although not high in pesticides, can be riddled with hormones and the animals can be fed a diet of grain and corn that can lead to Ecoli. Organic raised meat and dairy cannot use these harmful substances that can taint your meat. If you are a meat eater, I highly recommend trying to add a little organic meat to your next grocery list. A great rule of thumb to follow for produce is if you eat the skin buy organic. If you do not eat the skin you are pretty safe buying non organic. Just make sure youu wash and peel appropriately.

Although I recommend buying everything organic, it just is not possible for most and this list is just a simple guide to point you in the right direction.

Organic Labeling 101!

Understanding what is considered organic and what is not can leave many of us scratching our heads. Here is a quick guide to reading Organic labeling:

1.       “100% Organic”- This means that all of the ingredients are certified organic. The USDA logo can be used on packaging

2.       “Organic”- This means an item must contain a minimum of 95% of the ingredients as certified organic. The USDA logo may also be used on these products.

3.       “Made with organic ingredients”- This means the product contains 70 to 94% of its ingredients as certified organic. The USDA label cannot be used.

4.       “Ingredient panel only”- These items contain less than 70% organic ingredients. The word “organic” can only be used in the ingredient panel. No USDA logo can be on these products.

5.       “All Natural”- Be cautious when you come across “All Natural” products. These products are often confused with organic. Although some products may contain a few organic ingredients, the term is food industry semantics to get consumers to pay more for cheaper quality products.

Going Organic! 1-2-3

Let us face it; trying to go all organic is a tough feat to accomplish. It can be both very time consuming and expensive to say the least. However, you do not need to go 100% organic to make a difference in your health. Being able to choose the right items at the right times can be an excellent way to give you better health and not break the bank. Here are a few simple tips to follow:

1.       Find your local whole foods store that will best suit your needs. These are the places that consist of the most diverse amount of organic items so they are a great one stop shop. Another great idea would be to go online and find your local farmers markets. They are quite a few all over the place and each different one is usually held once a week and local growers bring their best items often times picked that day. Farmers markets are usually just produce, so it is a great place to go for your favorite fruits and vegetables. Grocery stores are now starting to introduce more organic products into their stores. Although small in choices, this is a great way to start because most often the items are cheaper than whole food stores so you can save a little money.  Most of the products however come from a very faraway place so they are often picked unripen and left to ripen while being shipped. So keep that in mind.

2.       Evaluate your grocery list. Not everyone buys the same items all the time and different trips during the month require many different things. Figure out what kind of trip it is going to be for you. Is it heavy on fruits and vegetables? Are you looking to get some meat and or dairy? Or are you looking for snacks and quick dinners that you can make any time? Almost all items can be found organic so don’t assume they will not have what you are looking for. Making a list also allows you to be organized and better prepared for the trip.

3.       After deciding on what types of food the majority of your trip is going to consist of, look online at the stores coupons and choose just a few to buy organic. They often have different organic items on sale so this can help you choose wisely what items you want to buy and at great prices.  For example:  Let’s say you are going to buy 10 different fruits and vegetables.  Choice just 3 to buy organic. This is a great way to start off because it is simple and you really will not see any difference while paying at the register either.

Adding just a few things organic to your list can help you avoid millions of particles of herbicides, insecticides, pesticides and fungicides. They are also some foods that are better than others to buy organic. For a list of these best foods keep checking back in, I will post a Do and Don’t buy of organic foods that will help you save money going organic as well.