Monday ~ Canada Day

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope your weekend is going well.

Source:  Freepik

  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA

🎉🎊🎉

🎆🎆🎆

It's Canada's birthday on July 1st. The country celebrates it's 157th birthday. I'm taking it easy today in preparation for a busy week.

It's Sunday as I sit and write this short post. I did little work as I'm in need of a rest day after all the busy-ness of the past weeks.

Yesterday I had a small harvest of swiss chard and kale from my community garden.  I made a juice with it to which I added beets, carrots, ginger, lemon and a small amount of green protein powder.  The protein powder is not my favourite as it uses stevia as a sweetener which I really don't like. I also found that the beets had a very strong, earthy taste even though I only used a small one.  Nonetheless, it probably did my system some good to get some fresh nutrients into my body.

I washed one load of towels and bed clothes. Normally I do laundry 2x per week but I wash the bedding once per week on weekends.  Since it's a long weekend I'm pushing the bedding laundry to a day later.

I also enjoyed getting a good start on the latest novel I'm reading called The Enchantress of Numbers, a historical novel based on the life of Ada Lovelace.  She is only legitimate child of the romantic poet, Lord Byron. Apparently, Ada was an early pioneer in the field of computing and is considered the first computer programmer. Somehow I never heard of her. Let me know in the comments section if you have heard of her and how you came to know of her.

Juicing

This week I had a nice treat. As some of you know I am into juicing. Earlier this year I bought a blender which allows me to pulverize whole fruits and vegetables with a little water and other goodies.  Every other week or so I put the blender to good use and enjoy making and drinking berry smoothies and green smoothies.

I seldom buy whole pineapples due to the cost.  But I found one on sale this week for $2.99. I thought it would make a nice change for juicing.

I added several slices of pineapple to a half a head of  romaine lettuce, ground flax seeds, a bit of ice and water. I pulverized it altogether in my blender and  made a green juice. It was nice and refreshing. Not too sweet because I only used a few slices of pineapple.

Pineapple has many wonderful vitamins and I know a lot of my friends who live in the tropics get a lot of pineapple in their diets.  But for those of us in Canada, a pineapple is a rare treat.

Pineapples are loaded with Vitamin C, B1, and smaller amounts of B2, B3, B5 and B6. It is also a great source of manganese, copper, magnesium, potassium, beta-carotene, folic acid, dietary fibre and an enzyme called bromelain.

I won't go into all the benefits of these vitamins, minerals and enzymes.  I will just say that a pineapple's nutrients are good for digestion, many inflammatory conditions (like gout, osteo and rheumatoid arthritis, carpal tunnel, etc.), respiratory conditions (it dissolves excess mucous) and sore throats.

Pineapple is very sweet and must be taken in moderation by those who have blood sugar issues so if you are diabetic you will want to use it sparingly.

Enjoy!

Pretty in Pink

pink and beautiful grace notes

 brighten my days but

 rains usher in the new month

I was very pleased to find these luscious flowers about 2 weeks ago. I took a few more floral photos which I will share another day during our gloomy winter months when I need a "pick me up".

I apologize to my blogging friends if you see me less these days.  Even if I don't leave as  many comments as I usually do I am still reading most of what you write or post.

I've been busily trying to catch up on my crochet-a-long but didn't have time to post an update last Thursday. I'll try to post a progress report and photos on Thursday.

I've also finished two of the books I borrowed from the library.  Reading borrowed books is the most frugal hobby one can have.

Of the two books I borrowed and read, I enjoyed Almost French best.  It is an engaging memoir of a young Aussie woman who ends up meeting a Frenchman on her travels around the world. He invites her to his country and they end up making a life together. The book highlights some of the cultural differences between France and Australia and the difficulties of making a new life in a new country.  I've read many such books and this one is one of the better ones.

The Tiger's Wife is set in an unnamed Balkan country. Although it starts off well I lost the story line along the way.  Perhaps I took it too literally while the author likely meant it to tell a few folk tales as told to her by her grandfather.  In my humble opinion I just don't think the two main folk stories in the book hold together well as one book. 

My little poem says that rains started the month of November. We had a bonus day today (Sunday) and I took advantage of it for a brief walk after church. I hope you are having some nice spots of weather too.

Well my friends that is what is happening in my corner of the world.  Come by and visit again soon :-)

Our World

Haiku My Heart

 

A Delightfully Refreshing Juice

I experimented today and it led me down an interesting path.

While I was out at the supermarket buying mushrooms for my stir-fry veggies, I decided to pick up some watercress, guava and small, fuji apples

Tonight's juice consisted of all of the above, plus some spinach, parsley and two small green pepper.

Watercress and other cabbage greens are among the most highly nutritious vegetables. They provide an excellent source of vitamins B6, C, manganese, and carotenes.  Greens in the cabbage family also provide a very good source of fiber, iron, copper, and calcium. The greens are also a very good source of vitamins B1, B2, and E. Greens like these provide almost three times as much calcium as phosphorous.  Great news because high intake of phosphorous is linked to osteoporosis. As a member of the cabbage family, watercress also has anticancer properties.  Caution.  If you have hyperthyroidism you should avoid eating watercress because of its high iodine content.

I bought the guava today because it's ripe scent was wafting under my nose as I stopped near it to pick up some bananas. Watercress has a bit of a sharp taste so I thought guava would be just the thing to tame it down. Guava is a tropical fruit that has a green rind, white or pinkish flesh and small seeds. It is preferred by many people over oranges because it has more Vitamin C. The nutritional content of guava includes calcium, potassium, iron, folic acid, nicotinic acid, Vitamin A and B, Vitamin C and fiber. All these minerals and nutrients are great for the body.

Guava can help with many health issues, including: constipation, colds and coughs, controlling high blood pressure, weight loss, improve appearance of the skin, improve poor circulation, and battle type 2 diabetes by lowering blood glucose. Not to mention, it's taste is so tantalizingly different from all other fruits I've eaten.

The result, a light green, creamy and refreshing drink.

Spinach - Celery - Apple - Baby Bok Choy

My nutrient loaded juice for the day was a mixture of spinach, celery, baby bok choy and apple.

The ingredients were all purchased just yesterday at the produce store but I see that the leafy greens are nearing the end of their life span. Good thing I wanted lots of leafy greens in my healthy juice today.  I added a half apple for sweetness.

In the evening, I made a spinach soup with the balance of spinach.  I've posted before about the benefits of spinach. You can read more here.

Today's new ingredient is baby bok choy, an Asian green.

One cup of shredded raw bok choy is only about nine calories and has no saturated fats. It provides a good source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Bok choy also has a rich supply of Vitamin A and contains Vitamin C, vitamin K, and folate.  Minerals in a serving of bok choy include calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium.  Along with dietary fiber and vitamins these compounds help to protect against breast, colon and prostate cancers and help reduce LDL or "bad cholesterol" levels in the blood.  Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase. Iron is required for the red blood cell formation.

Celery, is another new ingredient in my juice.  Celery leaves have a high content of vitamin A, and  the stems are an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, B6 and C with rich supplies of potassium, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sodium and lots of essential amino acids.

Nutrients in the fiber are released during juicing, aiding bowel movements. The natural organic sodium (salt) in celery is very safe for consumption and is essential for the body. Even individuals who are salt-sensitive can safely take the sodium in celery, unlike table salt (iodised sodium) which is harmful for those with high blood pressure. This is a perfect vegetable for me as salt makes me retain water. I use celery whenever I can, usually in my soups as a flavour enhancer.

After this power packed juice, I went to my pneumatic compression therapy and walked slowly home which is about 18 city blocks. To heed my TCM doctor's advice about going very slowly, I forced myself to stroll and I stopped along the way in an Asian antique store to admire an antique elm blanket chest.  I'm dreaming about having something like it as a place to store away my crafts in the living room.  

As I continued to stroll home, I stopped off at a market and bought more spinach, avocados, various types of legumes, a large bottle of hot sauce and a large bottle of Braggs Liquid Amino Acids (32 ounces for $8.99 Canadian) . I still need some red peppers so I'll have to pick those up another day.

If any of you use Braggs Liquid Amino Acids you will know that it can be expensive.  I've used this product for many years as a way to flavour foods like stir frys and soups as it helps me lower the use of salt. The price can vary considerably from store to store and the place where I usually buy it, no longer carries it.  I'm sure I've wondered before but I'm wondering again, what is the difference between Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids made with soy and water, and other soy sauce?  I read some answers here. 

I like that they do not use GMO soy beans in this product (or any of their other products). But after a bit of research, I found two soy sauces that are non GMO which I can find in my local markets if I need alternatives. One of them is Shoyu Soy Sauce and the other is Tamari Soy Sauce. Click here if you would like to see these alternatives (I don't receive any royalties or payments if you should purchase online).

In doing a small amount of research, I learned that genetically-modified soy accounts for over 90 percent of soy grown in the United States. Soy is present both in whole foods such as tofu and soybeans, in addition to soy products, which include soy sauce, tempeh, soy milk and processed meat substitutes like soy burgers and soy dogs. Packaged foods that list soy protein isolate or soy protein concentrate in their ingredients include cookies, crackers, beef products, and breads. Soy oil often appears in dressings and sauces. I don't use a lot of soy products and I don't drink soy milk or purchase too many packaged foods nowadays.  But I do like my soy sauce so GMO free is the way to go for me.

How about you? Do you make fresh juices or use a GMO free soy sauce?

Spinach - Asparagus- Fennel Juice

I haven't posted my juice recipe for a day or two but I have continued to juice my produce as a way of getting more vegetables into my diet.

Today I had a wonderful juice with spinach as the primary ingredient.

I used about 3 x the spinach pictured here (under the cucumber), left over asparagus which was starting to go soft, left over fennel, one a half tomatoes, one left over from a sandwich and a bit of English cucumber.

Spinach is very good for you which I'm sure you already know.  Spinach contains calcium, folic acid, vitamins K and A, and iron. Spinach is also rich in vitamin C, fiber and carotenoids as well as lutein and bioflavanoids. The calcium of course helps to strengthen the bones.  Vitamins A and C help to control cancer, especially colon, lung and breast cancer. Folic acid helps to lower the blood of homocysteine levels.  Homeocysteine is a protein that damages the arteries so spinach is good for your heart.  If you are older, the flavenoids will help protect against age related memory loss and the lutein will help prevent cataracts as well as age related macular degeneration which is a leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

Asparagus is packed with nutrients like folic acid, potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, vitamins A and C, thiamine and rutin, a compound that strengthens capillary walls. Asparagus has no fat, does not contain cholesterol and is low in sodium.

Tomatoes are actually a fruit and not a vegetable though I still call it a vegetable.  One of the greatest benefits of eating tomatoes is the high lycopene content.  Lycopene is a vital anti-oxidant that helps in the fight against cancerous cell formation as well as other kinds of health complications and diseases. Tomatoes are also especially good as source of Vitamins A and C.

I was able to add my left over fennel to the juice.  If you missed my information about the health benefits of fennel, please click and  read here.

This juice was delicious!

Today's Juice

‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act but a habit.’

Aristotle

I read the quote earlier this week on someone's blog and I liked it because it is the habits of excellence in regards to healthy eating and living that I am trying to achieve right now.

One of those habits is to make sure I get my greens. In my most recent juicing experiment I used

- one bunch of kale with the ends of the stalks removed
- 2 or 3 cauliflower florets
- 1 small green pepper
- 1/3 of a carrot for sweetener

There wasn't a whole lot of juice from juicing a whole bunch of kale. I used 3 or 4 times what you see in the top photo. I didn't quite use enough carrot to cut the bitterness but it wasn't that bad especially as there wasn't a full glass of it. You can see the juice is very dark and green and I like the foam on top. For the nutritional benefits of kale, read here.

Healthy Juicing

There was a time when I was a juicer, always making juice fresh from vegetables and fruits. Somehow I got out of the habit and I've been meaning to get back to it. At least now and then it would be nice to have freshly made juice with no additives or preservatives.

I reconstructed this after I made my drink, lol. So the tomatos, the carrot and the apple are a bit bigger than what I actually used. But you can see how small the beets are.

Wednesday I made up my own concoction consisting of:

- 2 small to medium tomatoes
- 2 small beets (or a medium one)
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 small carrot
- 1 small apple
- 2 stalks/leaves of kale

After I drank this I was very full as that is a lot of veggies to eat and an apple on top of it!  Even though the beet was very small the juice was a beautiful, deep red colour and tasted delicious.

Sorry I didn't think to take a photo before I drank it!

Beets are very good for you. They have:

• Vitamins: Beetroots are a good source of folic acid and vitamin C. It also contains small amounts of vitamins B1, B2, B3, and vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene.
  
• Minerals: Rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium. Also, smaller amounts of iron, zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium.
  
• Amino Acids: While raw beets are mostly water and carbohydrate, they also contain small amounts of all the amino acids (protein).
  
• Calories: One 2" (5cm) beetroot contains 35 calories.
  
• Antioxidants: Its carotenoids and flavanoids can help reduce the oxidation of LDL cholesterol which could lead to damaged artery walls and ultimately heart attacks and strokes. 

Kale is also a nutrition packed vegetable. Kale contains beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin (a carotenoid similar to lutein), calcium and fiber. A sulfur-containing phytonutrient in kale called sulforaphane is believed to have powerful anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and anti-microbial properties and is released when the leaves are chopped or chewed, or blended. 

Kale also contains powerful antioxidants that help protect against certain cancers such as ovarian cancer. Kale is an excellent green to use for detox smoothies as it has cleansing properties. The nutrients in kale help protect against cataracts while promoting healthy lungs, cardiovascular health and boosts the immune system. Kale has anti-inflammatory properties making it an excellent food for those with rheumatoid arthritis.

Since I have a few health issues, I look for ways to eat kale and beets and more veggies in general.  For about a year now I've been doing well eating kale in soups and stir frys. I've been wanting to use it in juicing too.  As for beets, I really don't eat them that often as they take too much time to cook and they stain the pots. Even the smaller ones need a lot of cooking and I try to conserve the electrical energy due to the high cost of electricity.  This is why juicing is a good alternative. The beets don't  need to be cooked in advance. They just go into my juicer after washing.

All the other produce is good for you too. Next time I'm going to make kale, apple and fennel juice. I'm not a big fan of fennel but I try to eat it now and then.  I'm especially heartened to learn that fennel has so many wonderful benefits.

I used fennel late last week in a dish with pork and other veggies. This left over fennel needs to be used soon so into the juicer it will go.

Fennel contains many minerals and vitamins: vitamin C, fibers, manganese, potasium, magnesium, calcium, iron, vitamin B3 etc. The vitamin C from the bulb of the plant is antibacterian and very useful to the immune system. The fennel bulb is an important source of fibers which help reduce the cholesterol level. Also, the fibers from this herb can prevent intestinal cancer owing to the fact that they can eliminate toxins and cancerous substances from intestines. The herb is rich in potassium - an essential mineral which helps decrease the high blood pressure that can cause a heart attack.
All these benefits certainly make it much more enticing to eat and juicing will make it even easier.

I will say that my blood sugar levels are still more elevated than they should be despite all  my efforts at reducing sugars in the food. I guess I am one of those people that needs more drastic interventions. My doctor will likely put me on another medication when I see her in a few weeks.In the meantime, I will continue to make more changes in the diet, eat more veggies and now that my leg has improved a bit, I can exercise again. Even a bit of exercise will help a lot. I'm just reintroducing juicing and I will need to be careful there too because of the diabetes.  But I think getting more vegetables into the diet will be a good thing. I remember when I juiced before, I felt much healthier then.

Post Script:  I read afterwards that diabetics need to be careful of their sugar levels when juicing (I knew that ;-).  I also read that vegetables that grow above ground (tomatoes, kale, celery) have fewer sugars than vegetables that grow below the ground (beets, carrots) (I didn't know that).  So if you are diabetic like me, don't use too much carrot in your juice or make too many fruit juices.  Next time I will add only a small portion of carrot to my fennel, beet and kale juice and probably skip the apple. I do want to get the benefits of the carrot too but not the high sugar levels.