One of the top questions I’m asked is “What are the most healthy foods to stock in my refrigerator?”

I think on some level we all like to know what’s going on in other peoples fridges. Yes, it’s somewhat voyeuristic, but it also can be a great source of inspiration for meals and snacks. There are days when my fridge is running on empty and there are other days when it’s packed with great, healthy stuff. We all need a little inspiration from time to time.

Here are some healthy foods you’ll find in my fridge.

Garlic

Garlic is one of my all-time favorite spices. I add it to almost everything from pizza to roasted vegetables and broccoli. Not only does garlic add exceptional flavor to food, it also has several other super powers.

Onions

Whenever I cook onions are generally part of the recipe. Onions have a variety of medicinal effects. Early American settlers used wild onions to treat colds, coughs, and asthma, and to repel insects. Have you ever tried re-growing onions or using them for an ear infection? The uses are endless!

Tempeh

Tempeh is relatively new to those of us in the west, but it’s been a staple for hundreds of years for many living in Asia. Tempeh is made from cooked and slightly fermented soybeans and formed into a rectangular patty. The consistency is similar to that of a veggie burger. Many use it as a meat substitute in dishes. It has a nutty, grainy flavor.

Organic Apples

Apples have been voted the best after school snack by my middle son. Apples consistently make the Environmental Working Groups ‘Dirty Dozen’ list, which means you should by the organic version whenever possible. Although I don’t like my apples cold, I do store them in the refrigerator to help extend their shelf life. We have an entire drawer dedicated to apples.

Baking Soda

There are so many amazing uses for baking soda. I use it for everything from baking to cleaning. Think outside of the cookie box and the baking soda options are endless. Baking soda is considered very safe and non-toxic. So many foods contain baking soda.  It doesn’t taste very good straight up, but you technically could take a teaspoon of baking soda and eat it.

Almond Milk

Many people are opting for dairy free milk alternatives and fortunately there are some great options out there. Almond milk is a staple in our fridge since it is lactose and cholesterol free. I generally buy unsweetened and organic almond milk. Maybe someday I’ll be adventurous and make my own.

Braggs Liquid Aminos (instead of soy sauce)

I’ve been using Braggs Liquid Aminosfor years as a healthy alternative to Soy and Tamari sauce. No table salt or preservatives are added.  The salty taste comes from the soy beans themselves. Also Braggs is third party certified non-GMO.

Carrots

Carrots are a rich source of beta carotene, a powerful antioxidant which can be converted into vitamin A in the body to help maintain healthy skin. We never peel our carrots, just give them a good wash and they are ready to eat!

Broccoli

Broccoli is one of those veggies that’s either hit or miss with most kids (some adults too). Just mentioning broccoli can make the cutest child crinkle up their nose and say “ewww”.  My kids are in the “we like broccoli” camp. No crinkled noses. Steamed is their prep of choice, which gets a wee bit boring after a while (but I’ll take it).

Eggs

We use eggs a lot. We were members of a CSA for many years and received half a dozen organicfresh eggs each week directly from the farm. Prior to our CSA we were buying organic eggs mainly from our local Whole Foods Market. Eggs can last for a long time in the fridge. To test if an egg is too old to eat place it in a bowl of cold water. Eggs that float at the surface are bad and should not be consumed.

What healthy foods are in your fridge?

Inside the refrigerator | Stock Photo © Michał Adamczyk #1936046

Incorporating more food from a plant-based diet has been a goal of mine for quite sometime. When a friend sent over an invite to a blogger event called ‘Entertaining with a Healthy Twist’ I was immediately sold. How could I pass on an opportunity to meet Chef Chad Sarno, a chef who focuses on  plant-based diets? Off I went to a local Whole Foods Market to participate in a cooking demo. Chef Sarno co-authored a cookbook with Kris Carr called Crazy Sexy Kitchen: 150 Plant-Empowered Recipes to Ignite a Mouthwatering Revolution. Kris is a cancer survivor (she calls herself a cancer thriver-I love that!) who inspires people to take charge of their health and happiness by adopting a plant-based diet.

Chef Chad Sarno is known for bringing his approach to healthy cuisine to some of the world’s premier health-focused restaurants, resorts, film sets and healing spas. He wears many hats, one of which is the Global Health Starts Here recipe developer for Whole Foods Market. I learned very quickly that he’s full of amazing tips for eating an animal-free, whole foods diet. Tips that I would actually use!

When I first arrived there were delicious vegan hors d’oeuvres being passed around and time to mingle with other local foodies. It was so nice to meet in real life fellow green blogger, Alison from Green with Renvy who I’ve been in touch with on Twitter for quite some time.

During his cooking demonstration Chad said something that really stuck with me: “Eating plant-based is so much more than just eating salads”. So true and so easy to forget.

Here are a few healthy tips for eating a plant-based diet which Chad shared with us during his cooking demonstration.

• Ginger doesn’t need to be peeled, but if you do peel it use a spoon. There will be less ginger that goes to waste.
• You don’t need oil to stir fry. Heat your pan and add onions. The seal created by the onions will create a non-stick surface. Now you’re good to go with your stir fry. No oil needed!
• For a non-dairy substitute cashews are your nut. When blended they become smooth and a perfect dairy replacement.
• Pureed dates are a wonderful sugar substitute.
• Nutritional yeast makes popcorn irresistible.

Thanks to Whole Foods, I now have my very own copy of Crazy Sexy Kitchen with a “power to the plants” autograph.

 Do you have any tips to share for those of us wanting to focus on a plant-based diet?

I think most of us can agree that not all foods are created equal. Keeping up with the latest and greatest information on food can be somewhat of a challenge. There’s so much information floating around out there, making it hard to know where to begin and what to believe.

I received an email last week asking for advice on what foods should be avoided. While many foods could easily be on this list, I decided to put together my top 3 foods that I try to keep out of my kitchen.

Canned Tomatoes

Most epoxy linings in canned foods contains bisphenol A (BPA) which leaches into the contents of the can, some at very high levels. An FDA study found canned green beans contaminated with as much as 730 parts per billion of BPA. Some manufacturers are working hard and have been successful in finding an alternative to BPA (which could be just as bad as BPA!) in tin can liners, but tomatoes are acidic so the packaging options are limited. Almost all canned tomatoes have BPA in the lining.

According to the Breast Cancer Fund-

Exposure to BPA, used to make the epoxy-resin linings of metal food cans, has been linked in lab studies to breast and prostate cancer, infertility, early puberty in girls, type-2 diabetes, obesity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Childhood exposure is of concern because this endocrine-disrupting chemical can affect children’s hormonal systems during development and set the stage for later‐life diseases.

Solution

Grow your own tomatoes! If gardening isn’t your thing look for tomatoes packaged in glass containers.

Farm Raised Salmon

Environmental groups such as Seafood Watch and the Environmental Defense Fund, have put nearly all farmed salmon on their “red” or “avoid” list. Farm-raised fish are generally placed in crowded cages and given antibiotics and exposed to pesticides. Their living environment is less than desirable. Wild fish are out in the wild, living and swimming in open oceans as they were meant to be. Wild fish aren’t exposed to the same toxins as their farm-raised cousins.

Farm-raised salmon generally has artificial color added to give it that nice pink color. When salmon are raised in a farm-raised environment they are  fed “fish meal”, made up of ground fish parts, and as a result, the fish color is a shade of gray rather than pink. Coloring is added because consumers expect their salmon to look pink.

Some bad news: Frankenfish (genetically engeneered salmon) could be on your dinner plate by the end of the year. If the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves this we will have no way of knowing whether the salmon we are eating is genetically engineered because at this time there’s no labeling requirement.

Solution

Look for wild salmon at the market, which should be clearly labeled. All Alaskan salmon is wild-caught. Support current actions to demand GMO labeling as listed over at GMO Inside.

Microwave Popcorn

Making a bag of microwave popcorn is about as convenient as it gets. Put the bag in the microwave and in about 4 minutes you have a bag of delicious popcorn. It turns out that microwave popcorn is one of those foods that just doesn’t belong in your kitchen.

The lining of the microwave popcorn bag contains PFOA, a chemical that has been linked to cancer in animals. The chemical was also found to have been associated with a lower vaccine response in children, making them more vulnerable to disease. The Environmental Protection Agency says that PFOA is a “likely carcinogen” and is likely to cause cancer in humans, although no definitive studies have been released yet.

There’s another chemical in the actual microwave popcorn called diacetyl, which is found in the imitation butter flavoring. When heated the fumes released from a bag of microwave popcorn contain this chemical and have caused microwave popcorn factory workers to have a respiratory disease called “popcorn workers lung”.

Some popcorn manufacturers have attempted to replace diacetyl with substitute ingredients, but findings show that these replacements are just as bad or worse.

Solution

Make your popcorn the old fashioned way-in a pot with some salt and oil. Another solution is to invest in an air popper for a low-calorie, healthy snack.

What other foods should be on this list? 

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 I’ve been an olive oil user for years. I buy it  in a very pure minimally processed form, which is a healthier version than processed. Olive oil has a fairly high cooking temperature and adds great flavor to many dishes.

Olive oil isn’t just for cooking. It has a few interesting uses that make it even more appealing to keep around.

1. Moisturizer. My grandmother used to sleep with Noxema and she had gorgeous skin. A little olive oil will do the same trick.
2. Remove Stickers. This one would have saved me a lot of effort since my kids were notorious for putting stickers in all the wrong places. Cover the sticker with the oil, then gently peel it off the surface.
3. Wood Furniture Polish. Apply olive oil to a soft cloth and use on your wood furniture.
4. Lip Balm. I’m not by definition a DIYer , but there are times when the urge to use those creative juices is hard to resist. I actually made my own lip balm with olive oil last year. Here’s the recipe.
5. Cleaning Stainless Steel. Cleaning stainless steel pots and pans is actually pretty simple. As the stainless pots and pans dry rub a bit of olive oil on the pan to prevent streaks, rust, and tarnish.
6. Makeup Remover. Apply a small amount of olive oil to your face and gently wash off  with a damp washcloth.
7. Prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Pour a layer of olive oil on top of stagnant water to prevent mosquitoes.
8. Kill Lice. We’ve had lice more than once and olive oil was our savoir. Lice can’t hold their breath for over eight hours so the sleeping with olive oil on your hair kills them.
9. Condition Cuticles. Put a little olive oil on your cuticles before you head to bed.
10. Use Around the House Instead of WD-40. Use olive oil to fix a creaky door or a any other hinges that need a little tweak.

Do you have any other interesting uses for olive oil?

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We eat a lot of cereal in the morning. My oldest son lives for his morning cereal. It’s sort of like coffee for a 12 year old.  Call it habit or routine-it gets ugly around here if we run out of cereal. As a mom who cares about what her kids eat (just like many of you) I know the importance of making sure the cereal is healthy and packed with as much nutritional value as possible.

A few of the same cereals have been filling my cabinet shelves for many years and truthfully I have become complacent with my cereal choices and forgot to  heed my own advice: not everything you buy at a health food store is healthy. After posting a photo of my cereal cabinet on Facebook my lovely Facebook community was quick to point out that some of the cereals in my cabinet are loaded with pesticides and GMO’s. Not good.

Now we are on  a mission to find new and improved cereals. There are a few simple rules that I’m determined to follow.

Watch out for GMOs (genetically modified organisms) 

Did you know that 61 other countries require that their genetically modified foods be labeled? The US isn’t one of those countries. Most consumers want to know what going into their food. Yet in the US the FDA doesn’t require the labeling of GMOs in food ingredient lists. California is paving the way for change with Prop. 37 and although it’s a California initiative, if passed in November it will hopefully have positive national implications on the requirement of labeling GMOs on all food products. For now finding food that doesn’t contain GMOs can get tricky. Just because a product is organic doesn’t necessarily mean it’s GMO free. Look for food labels that say “non-GMO” or “GMO free”. There seem to be more and more companies willing to label their products, although not required.

Steer clear of artificial colors

With childhood cancers on the rise (A report from the National Cancer Institute showed a 9.4% increase in childhood cancer between 1992 and 2007) it’s mind boggling to me that artificial food dyes are still used in food- in everything from M&Ms and Fruit Loops to Kraft Mac n Cheese and Kellogg’s Fruit Snacks—when it’s been shown that these dyes pose risks of cancer, hyperactivity in children, and allergies. Artificial food dyes don’t belong in our food. Period.

Added sugar v. natural sugar

To figure out whether or not sugar has been added to your breakfast cereal requires a little detective work. The front of the cereal box can be deceptive with claims of “little sugar” or “slightly sweetened” so head over to the Nutrition Facts panel on the side of the cereal box. Find the line item which lists the grams of sugar in the cereal. Then take a look at the serving size at the top of the panel. If the cereal says it has 15 grams of sugar and has a serving size of 30 grams that’s a lot of sugar! Remember food makers are required to list all the ingredients in a product in descending order by weight. So if an ingredient is at the top of the list there’s a lot of it in the product! HERE’s a list of different names for sugar that could be hidden on the label.

Look for whole grains

Remember food makers are required to list all the ingredients in a product in descending order by weight. So one of the first ingredients should be a whole grain. The ingredient list must include the word WHOLE.  Don’t be fooled by the wording “unbleached wheat flour”, “wheat flour” or “stoned wheat”.  These are not whole grains.  Also a product might claim “made with whole wheat” or “made with whole grains”. If the whole grain is way down the ingredient list there isn’t much of it in the product.

Avoid rice products

New tests by Consumer Reports have found that organic rice baby cereal, rice breakfast cereals, brown rice, white rice and other types of rice products on grocery shelves contain arsenic, many at worrisome levels. Unfortunately, it’s pretty challenging to avoid rice products in breakfast cereal-they’re everywhere. Best thing to do is read the labels and try to vary the grains in your cereal. There are also several ways to eat rice safely.

Buy in bulk

Head to the bulk bins at your local grocery store and create your own fabulous breakfast cereal. Mix together organic, non-GMO grains, nuts, raisins and your cereal creation will be unique and much less expensive than the boxes in the cereal aisle.

Let’s see if we can make a list of healthy and safe cereals. What are your favorite brands? 

photo credit: jessica wilson {jek in the box} via photopin cc

Edible seeds have been making their way into my smoothies, soups and chili over the past few weeks. The assortment of edible seeds that lines my kitchen cabinets continues to grow as I learn more and more about the incredible health benefits associated with these seeds. Having a Blendtec certainly helps since I’m able to ground up the seeds in a way that I wasn’t able to with my regular blender. Here’s the low down on the edible seeds in my cabinets.

Chia seeds

Chia seeds happen to be my new favorite edible seeds. Chia seeds come from a flowering plant in the mint family.

• Chia seeds are very rich in omega-3 fatty acids-even more so than flax seeds and salmon.
• They are rich in antioxidants
• One serving size includes 18 percent of recommended daily calcium and four grams of protein
• They’re low in cholesterol and sodium.
• There’s been talk that chia seeds aid in weight loss, but the evidence in inconclusive.
• Chia seeds are packed with fiber, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, manganese, copper, iron,  niacin, and zinc.

• They are chock full of nutrients, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, minerals and essential vitamins.
• They are low in carbohydrates and high in fiber.
• High in B vitamins, magnesium, and manganese.
• Rich in omega-3 fatty acids which are a key force against inflammation in our bodies.

Sesame seeds

Sesame seeds are thought to be one of the first condiments as well as one of the first plants to be used for edible oil.

• High in omega-6 fatty acids, flavonoid phenolic anti-oxidants, vitamins and dietary fiber.
• Sesame seeds are especially rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acid oleic acid. Oleic acid helps to lower LDL or “bad cholesterol” and increase HDL or “good cholesterol” in the blood.
• Good source of protein.
• 100 g of sesame contains 97 mcg of folic acid.
• They are filled with potent anti-cancer and health promoting properties.

photo credit: Nomadic Lass via photopin cc, photo credit: little blue hen via photopin cc, photo credit: HealthAliciousNess via photopin cc, photo credit: katherine.a via photopin cc, photo credit: justgrimes via photopin cc

Yesterday a bag of very expensive organic chia seeds made its way into my grocery cart.  I’m not sure what compelled me to buy them right then and there since I’ve been walking right by them and ignoring them at least twice a week for a long time. I’m not talking about those ch-ch-ch-chia pets, although those really were my first introduction to anything chia. Possibly all of those articles I’ve been reading about the health benefits of chia seeds finally got to me. The chia seeds were calling my name in aisle 9 and here’s why:

Health Benefits of Chia Seeds

• Chia seeds are mentioned by Christopher McDougall in the book Born to Run. He claims chia seeds are a great addition to an athletes diet-providing extra energy during and after exercise.
• Chia seeds are very rich in omega-3 fatty acids-even more so than flax seeds and salmon.
• They are rich in antioxidants
• One serving size includes 18 percent of recommended daily calcium and four grams of protein
• They’re low in cholesterol and sodium.
• There’s been talk that chia seeds aid in weight loss, but the evidence in inconclusive.
• Chia seeds are packed with fiber, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, manganese, copper, iron,  niacin, and zinc. WOW.

What are Chia Seeds?

Chia seeds come from a flowering plant in the mint family. Chia is native to central and southern Mexico and Guatemala. Now chia seeds are becoming popular in the United States and other parts of the world.

How to Use Chia Seeds

I found out very quickly that I’m way behind the eight ball when it comes to using chia seeds. Thankfully I have a wonderful and knowledgeable community of chia seed users on Twitter and Facebook who were happy to share their chia seed concoctions. Here are some of my favorites:

• Mix 1 dessertspoon of chia seeds with a quarter cup of water to make an egg substitute for baking cakes and cookies. Anna from Green Talk warns that this might dry out the batter.
• Kathy from Safe Mama makes a pudding by soaking them in almond milk and use it in smoothies. She can’t eat them straight… so she tosses them in salads and sneaks them into her kids quesadilla’s and pancakes.
• Stephanie from Good Girl Gone Green shared a recipe for Raw Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding from Forks and Beans and a recipe for jam from Healthy Blender Recipes.
• Robin from Simple. Green. Organic. Happy. sprinkles them on yogurt, add to salads, make jams and compotes.
• Danika from Your Organic Life puts them in her smoothie every morning.  She says you can mix chia seeds with nut milk to make a raw porriage/oatmeal and add berries on top. You can also mix chia seeds with berries and nut milk to make a pudding.
• The Cruncy Hippie shares a delicious recipe for Chocolate Chia Pudding!
• Janice from MommaWords likes to add them to cookies. She also adds chia seeds to the mix she uses to coat her kid’s chicken nuggets.

There were so many more suggestions. Check out my Facebook page to see them all!

How do you like to eat chia seeds? I’ll take any help I can get.

Ground chia seeds | Stock Photo © PixelsAway #7592847