photo credit: ishane

Clean eaters often enjoy a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast or sometimes during the day. Have you ever wondered the difference between steel-cut oats versus rolled oats? I have yet to try steel-cut oats but have seen it for sale quite often. There are several differences between it and the typical rolled oat variety. These include:

• Much longer cooking time (30 minutes)
• More cholesterol lowering soluble fiber than other oatmeal
• Takes longer to digest so you stay fuller longer
• Chopped with steel blades resulting in a “chewier” oatmeal

To sum it up, steel-cut oats are basically a less processed version of the rolled oats. Since both versions are the same when it comes to nutrition, it is a matter of taste and preference as to which you would eat. Personally, I like the quick cooking of the rolled oats. However, I do like the fact that steel-cut oats contain more fiber. I may pick up a tin of it next time I’m running low on oats to see how I like it.

Do you have a preference between the two?

I’ll never forget the first time I had grilled fruit. I thought grilling fruit was odd until my sister sliced up some peaches at a family bbq and grilled them up for dessert. They were absolutely delicious grilled and now I look forward to grilling fruit at every bbq.

What makes fruit so delicious grilled is because fruit is basically made up of water and sugar, so grilling them caramelizes the sugars making a tasty dessert or side dish. Most fruits work out great grilled, however, harder fruits like apples, pears, and pineapples will hold their shape better. Softer fruits like peaches, plums, and mangos will need to be watched more carefully because they will quickly turn to mush if cooked for too long.

The best way to grill fruit is to slice them and keep the skin on. Keeping the skin on is optional but for harder fruits, the skin helps to hold the fruit together. Grilled fruit works well for any part of the meal - appetizers, desserts, side dishes. You can also grill fruit and then blend them into salsas. If you haven’t tried grilling fruit, I recommend trying it. They are so delicious grilled!

image credit: montage_man

What I love about summer is the fact that you can enjoy all of the summer fruits in a variety of ways. You can chop them up and make fruit salads, blend them in to refreshing smoothies, add them to your protein shakes, and so much more. If you are trying to beat the heat and continue your clean eating plan, try reaching for a chilled peach or plum instead of ice cream. There are a ton of summer fruits to choose from so it is a good idea to keep your fridge stocked with them if you are able.

Here are several and some of their healthy benefits:

Peaches - these are a good source of vitamin C and I love adding frozen peaches to my protein shakes.

Grapes - these make a great quick snack. They are a good source of vitamins C and K. Have you ever tried frozen grapes? They also are good tossed into a salad or to eat with cheese.

Cantaloupe - another favorite and packed with vitamins A and C. It is great to eat for breakfast.

Cherries - I absolutely love cherries but they can get rather expensive. They contain vitamin C and fiber. You can add these to salads and smoothies but I enjoy them best as they are.

Mangoes - this is another fruit I enjoy as is but you can easily add to a salad or smoothie. They are good sources of vitamins A and C.

Watermelon - I think this is the ultimate summer fruit. I like this one served as cold as possible. Good source of vitamins A and C.

These are just several of my favorite summer fruits. Which ones top your clean eating list?

image credit: sxc.hu

It seems almost every week I am coming across a new fad diet and this week is no exception. The Cookie Diet is getting some press for weight loss but it isn’t at all what you think it is. Many people immediately think that you can go on a cookie eating binge and lose weight. Think again! The Cookie Diet was invented by Doctor Sanford Siegal and it consists of eating his specially formulated cookies in order to suppress your appetite.

I have no idea whether or not the cookies taste good but I’m going to guess probably not when you think of real cookies made with butter and sugar. The concept of the diet is to eat the cookies and then stick to a very low calorie diet in order to lose weight. When will people learn these types of diets do not work? The Cookie Diet is the type of diet that will have a person regain all of the weight they have lost. It has all the signs of a yo-yo diet.

While Dr. Siegal’s diet may have helped many to lose weight, this type of diet spells disaster in the long term. There really is no substitute for adopting a long-term health eating lifestyle such as clean eating. You are always eating with a clean eating diet and I think I’d rather do that then depend on appetite suppressing cookies on the Cookie Diet. It is just another fad diet which serves as the magic bullet a majority of people are looking for.

Every now and again a new fad diet will hit the airwaves and people will be fascinated by another method of losing weight. This time the newest diet craze is drinking tea. The Ultimate Tea Diet is no exception. People are searching for information about this like crazy ever since the author, Mark “Dr. Tea” Ukra talked about it on tv. Mark Ukra says that people around the globe are losing weight with his tea diet.

I have done some minor research and so far the diet isn’t far fetched at all. In fact, I think it sounds interesting because I love tea and I have written about the benefits of drinking tea before. The Ultimate Tea Diet seems to spread the message about the benefits of drinking tea as well as using tea in your recipes.

Green tea in particular has the following benefits:

• Lowers bad cholesterol and increases good
• Lowers blood pressure
• Known to fight certain types of cancer
• Boosts immune system
• Aids in weight loss by stimulating metabolism
• Improves digestion

I think I would be more interested in some of the recipes in the diet as they include tea. I have seen food shows in which tea was the key ingredient for the recipes and everything looked delicious. The food was also prepared in a healthy way. I have always been a big tea drinker - particularly green tea, as it holds the most health benefits compared to most other kinds.

If you are looking for a good beverage that is low in calories and caffeine for your clean eating lifestyle, I think tea is an excellent choice.

image credit: sxc.hu

Now that the summer is approaching, it is time to bust out the bbq grills and begin cooking your meals outdoors. I love grilling food in the summer. It gets me out of a hot kitchen and I have less pots and pans to wash. Grilling is awesome for several reasons:

1. It gets you outside
2. Everyone loves a bbq
3. Food tastes great grilled
4. It’s fun

There seems to be some concern over which method of grilling is healthier overall - charcoal or propane? While charcoal grilled food tastes great, charcoal does cause meats to contain higher levels of carcinogens. Two types of carcinogens are created which are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic amines. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons coat your food when fat drips from the meat onto the fire creating smoke. Heterocyclic amines is created when meat is charred. Both forms of carcinogens occur more with charcoal but are also possible with propane.

A few tips to keep in mind when grilling are:

1. Trim any extra fat off of meat before grilling
2. Marinate your meat in vinegar or lemon juice (reduces heterocyclic amines)
3. Turn your meat more often to reduce charring

You can also cover the grilling surface with aluminum foil to reduce any burning of your food.

Sometimes it seems like eating clean can be dangerous! You want to consume a large amount of fruits and vegetables and then something like this happens. Tomatoes are being recalled due to a salmonella outbreak and health officials are saying to avoid eating tomatoes uncooked.

The state of Texas has seem to had the most number of salmonella cases but eight other states have also been affected. Nationwide 40 people have become ill and 17 have been hospitalized.

Dr. Herbert DuPont, director of the University of Texas School of Public Health’s infectious disease center, said salmonella infections strike 1.4 million Americans annually and are the second-most common cause of bacterial diarrhea.

“For most people, it causes a week of misery,” he said. But for children younger than 3 years, adults 65 and older, people with compromised immune systems, sickle cell patients, and people with inflammatory bowel disease or on corticosteroids, the infection can be deadly. [Source: chron.com]

The Mediterranean diet has been in the news several times before and it is making its way around the internet again. This time news articles are posting that following the Mediterranean diet may significantly lower risks of type 2 diabetes. The diet has been said to fight off cardiovascular disease and you can see why as it is made up mainly of olive oil, vegetables, fruits, nuts, cereals, legumes and fish. Meat and dairy products are not a bulk of the diet at all.

Part of the reason for the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet is the quantity of olive oil which is consumed. Olive oil is known to help lower cholesterol as well as blood sugar. In order to reap the most health benefits following this diet, you must also include a good workout program. The combination of the diet and physical activity is what seems to provide the overall health benefits.

Like any diet, the Mediterranean diet is not perfect. Overall it is a healthy way to eat when you include exercise, however, you still need to be sure you are including other foods into your diet in which you may lack specific vitamins/minerals.

There is a new miracle hitting the blogosphere and it is called the “miracle fruit.” This miracle fruit is not performing weight loss miracles the way the name would suggest. Instead it is performing miracles on your taste buds. The real name of the fruit is “Synsepalum dulcificum” and it is native to West Africa.

The fruit are in the form of tiny red berries and after popping one in your mouth, the proteins in the berry bind with your taste buds causing acidic foods to actually taste sweet! Imagine eating a lemon and having it taste like candy, or drinking beer to have it taste like chocolate. These are the types of effects that happen after eating the berry. The effect lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

The miracle fruit berries do not taste sweet themselves. In fact, they are rather tart and are not something that you would want to consume on a regular basis. Due to the way they effect your taste buds, the only real reason you would eat them is as a way to have fun at a dinner party. This is exactly how the miracle fruit began picking up steam in the media after a report in the NY Times about a tasting party dedicated to the little berries.

If you want to buy the miracle fruit to try for yourself be prepared as they do not come cheap and are somewhat hard to find. They cost about $2 a berry and do not have a long shelf life. What do you think - would you try it?

In the past, picking up a dozen eggs required nothing more then opening the carton and checking that none of the eggs were cracked. Now a days, you have so many choices to make: organic, white or brown, cage free, omega-3, and local. Really, none of these choices make a huge difference but it is still good to know what your options mean.

Organic, Cage Free
It is not uncommon to see eggs with the labels organic or cage free. This simply means that the hens are fed organic feed and are not confined in cages.

Brown or White Shells?
Many people think there is a significant difference between brown eggs and white eggs. There is no difference between either brown or white shells. The egg’s color is determined by the chicken that laid them and nothing more.

Added Omega-3’s
Hens that are fed extra omega-3’s by being fed flax seeds produce the added omega-3 eggs. This is simply a personal preference whether or not you want to spend the extra money for these. You can get your extra omega-3’s easily from flax seed oil or consuming fish.

Buying Local
I just purchased local eggs today and one of the benefits, besides knowing where your eggs came from, is the price. You save more money by purchasing locally produced eggs.

Don’t let all of the egg options out there confuse you. Whether you buy organic, locally, or omega-3 comes down to personal preference and how much you are willing to spend.