Brown Rice Vs. White Rice

Q. Why is brown rice healthier than white rice? Is there that much difference?

A. Yes! There is a big difference:

White rice has the outer husk (covering) removed; brown rice doesn't, which is why it is brown. Almost all the vitamins, minerals and fiber in rice is in this outer covering - white rice is just the starch part of the rice. That's why brown is healthier.

Liked puffed rice cereal or cakes? They make brown rice varieties!!

Pizza Nuts...and being healthy!

My wife abnd I have been eating Papa John's Whole
Wheat pizza crust pizza now for about the last year.

We L-O-V-E the pizza, but unfortunately, the pie
is only available in the large size. It's 100%
whole grain, but one pie is nearly 2400 calories
with just cheese and a veggie topping. That's
a lot!! That's my entire day's allotment of calories.

We get the pizza delivered maybe once or twice a month.
It is convenient and fast and I have to admit
very, very tasty. And other than the
calories..as long as you stick to veggies
toppings..its very healthy and YOAD friendly.

Now comes along Pizza Hut.

Their "Natural" pizza is not 100% whole wheat.
It's about 1/3 whole grain. BUT, it IS available
in a medium size. A medium Natural pizza
with one veggie topping is about 1600 calories.

It's not as healthy as the Papa John's is..
but as in often as we get pizza...its not a huge
deal. 4 slices have about 2 servings of whole grains
which is nothing to sneeze at when we need to
get 5-6 servings of whole grains daily as recommended
by the YOU Docs.

Of course..4 slices of the Papa John's pizza has nearly
the YOU Doc's entire day's recommendation of whole grains,
which is good, too!

We like the flavor of both and we still get one
or the other from time to time.

It's nice we have that option!

There's another place not far from us called
"Mellow Mushroom" that also has some great, healthy
pizza. Their pizza, too, is about 1/3 whole grain
and has no HFCS or other bad stuff. But, we
get to sit down and have a nice, hot, pizza
delivered to our table. And it's oh so good!

Before we went on the diet, my wife and I would
get pizza at least once per week if not 2 or 3 times
per week. LOL. We were...and still are I guess..
pizza nuts! Now, we get it about once or twice per
month and we have choices to do it healthier than
we had before the diet.

Not to mention buying the 100% whole wheat Boboli
pizza crust and making pizza at home with some
organic pizza sauce, lowfat cheese and veggies.
That's yummy...too!!

All about Potatoes

For those familair with my posts
on the YOAD message boards, I am
am advocate of including potatoes
in your diet, even following YOAD.

Now, I am not talking about
sitting down in front of the TV with
a big family size bag of Lay's and
eating the entire bag while
watching CSI. I'm talking about
1-3 servings (2 on average)
per day which is pretty typical
for me.

One of the reasons I include
potatoes is because I still
struggle with high blood pressure.
Granted, I am much, much better
than I used to be and my blood
pressure is normal now thanks
to one low dose blood pressure
med that I take everyday AND a
potassium rich diet.

Many people don't realize this
but potatoes are actually rich
in potassium. One medium potato
has about twice as much
potassium as a one
large size banana!

Baked potato, with skin, medium (844mg potassium)
Large banana (487mg potassium)

I pulled this off of a
high blood pressure web site -

High Blood Pressure - treatment

Potatoes, specially in boiled form, are a
valuable food for lowering blood pressure.
When boiled with their skin, they absorb
very little salt. Thus they can form a
useful addition to a salt-free diet
recommended for patients with high blood
pressure. Potatoes are rich in potassium
but not in sodium salts. The magnesium
present in the vegetable exercises beneficial
effects in lowering blood pressure

I do, quite often, have my potatoes boiled
but their is also benefit from having
them baked and, less often, fried
in a healthy, non-hydrogenated oil
like pure peanut oil.

I also include other foods in my
diet known to help lower blood pressure
such as dark chocolate, garlic, broccoli
and tomato products.

Here is a link you can read if you want
more information.

National Academy of Sciences Recommends More Potassium, Potato #1 Source

Awesome 100% Whole Grain Waffles

I recently posted a recipe for some great
100% whole grain spelt pancakes.

My wife and I believe they
are the BEST pancakes we have ever
had....anywhere.

We bought a waffle maker last
year and played around with some
whole grain waffle mixes and
came up with some good tasting
waffles. But, they weren't
"awesome".

Well, I went online and read up
on several homemade waffle recipes
and figured out the best way
to modify our pancake recipe
to make waffles with it.

Sucess! And OMG were they GREAT
waffles..the best we have had
anywhere.

We believe that the spelt in the
recipes is one of the main reasons
for the great taste. The spelt
makes the pancakes and waffles lighter
and fluffier..and it has a naturally
sweeter flavor.

So..without further muss or fuss..here
is the recipe.

I hope everyone gets to enjoy them
as we have!

--------------------------------------------------
100% Whole Grain Waffles!

(Totally YOAD approved!)


7 oz whole grain spelt flour
(we use Arrow Head Organic Spelt Flour)
1 gram ground cinnamon (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
20 grams baking powder
6 packets Sweet 'n Low (or Splenda)
1 & 1/2 cups lowfat milk or soymilk
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 oz pure peanut oil (canola works)

Mix ingredients VERY well and then
let sit 10-15 minutes.

Makes very light, crispy, tasty waffles!!

Enjoy!

Happy 2009 Everyone!

Well, its been a good year. I reached my goal weight
Christmas day 2007 and I have managed to maintain my
stats throughout the year of 2008!

And it has been a wild year. I saw my oldest daughter again
that I had not seen in nearly 20 years. My wife and I bought our
first home. I got a new, awesome job. Went on vacation
to our favorite place in the Florida Keys. So as you can
see, it has been very busy for us!

Not to mention learning to maintain a health diet and a healthy
weight! Losing the weight was actually easier. Maintaining
it has been a bit more of a challenge. Sometimes you get
those thoughts "Okay, I am at the weight I want so now I can
have that slice of cheesecake". LOL. Well, I haven't
done cheesecake but last night I had the first slice of apple
pie I had had in over 2 years! :) It was Christmas dinner.
But, I have to make sure I don't let the thoughts that
everything is okay now and I can go back to eating all the
unhealthy foods that made me overweight in the first place.

I make a conscious effort everyday to exercise, eat the right
amount of fruits, veggies, whole grains and fiber. I try
to balance everything out. I keep a daily food journal to help
me keep track of what I am eating, and I weigh myself every
morning to catch any small changes. And then I can make
whatever small corrections I find I need to make. Its a lot of
work! But worth it!

My health is still good. My blood pressure has gone up
just a little. When I was losing the weight, I stayed on
my medications even though my numbers were getting lower and
lower. My primary care said that I can't have too low of
a blood pressure. Well, it got so low that I was getting
dizzy and light headed quite often so I went off the meds
totally. That was about a year ago. It took about 4 months
but my pressure slowly got higher to about on average...maybe
130 over 95. The funny thing is that before I went on
the diet, ON the meds, that was about as good the doctor
could get my blood pressure. Now, without the meds I was
looking at the same numbers. Hypertension runs on my
moms side of the family. The doctor now has me on one low dose
med and my pressure now runs about 120/83 most of the time.
I am very happy with that! :) Before, I was on 4 different
meds to get me to the 130/95 mark. Big difference!

My wife and I are still learning new meals to make all the
time that meet YOAD and we stay on the straight and narrow
most of the time. Lately we have been making these awesome
100% whole grain spelt pancakes every Sunday morning
along with some turkey sausage. Mmmmmm!

I hope everyone else has a had a great year, too!

On the left side of the blog I posted my stats for this
Christmas.

Happy New Year everyone!

The Good and the Evil...

And God populated the earth with broccoli and cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

And Satan created McDonald's. And McDonald's brought forth the 99-cent double-cheeseburger. And Satan said to Man, "You want fries with that?"

And Man said, "Super size them." And Man gained pounds.

And God created the healthful fruits of the tree, that woman might keep her figure that man found so fair.

And Satan brought forth ice cream and candy. And woman gained pounds.

And God said, "I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil with which to cook them."

And Satan brought forth chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter.

And Man gained pounds and his bad cholesterol went through the roof.

And God said, "Behold, I have given you legs that can walk," And Man resolved to lose those extra pounds.

And Satan brought forth cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil to change channels between ESPN and ESPN2. And Man gained pounds.

And God said, "You're running up the score, Devil."

And God brought forth the potato, a vegetable naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition.

And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fat fried them. And he created sour cream dip also.

And Man clutched his remote control and ate the potato chips swaddled in cholesterol.

And Satan saw and said, "It is good."

And Man went into cardiac arrest.

And God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery.

And Satan created HMO's.....

Simple Spelt Pancakes

My wife and I just enjoyed an awesome breakfast
of 100% whole grain spelt pancakes, uncured
turkey bacon and fresh Jamaican blue mountain/
Hawaiian blend percolated coffee!

My wife was resistant at first for me to make
the pancakes. It is true, back before the diet
we rarely liked any pancakes we would attempt to
make at home.

But, I found this great spelt recipe and I had
high hopes for success so onward I marched. And
my stubbornness paid off.

Spelt has such a wonderful flavor and the grain
hasn't been modified a zillion times over the
last decade like wheat has, so it retains
so much more nutrition!

I am posting the spelt recipe I went by, and then
beneath I will post some changes I made to make it
a bit more YOAD friendly.

If anyone likes the recipe, give me a holler! :)

-----------------------------------------
Simple Spelt Pancakes

2 cups (7 ounces) whole spelt flour
(We used Arrowhead brand organic spelt flour)
2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder (20 grams)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) milk
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla (optional)
Instructions

To make the pancake batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the spelt flour,
sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the milk and melted butter, and the
vanilla if you’re using it. Form a well in the center of the dry ingredients,
and pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir the batter just until the dry
ingredients are thoroughly moistened: it will seem very wet, but will thicken as
it sits. Let the batter sit for 15 minutes before you use it.

To make the pancakes: Heat a non-stick griddle if you have one, or a heavy skillet,
preferably cast iron. If your surface is not non-stick, brush it lightly with vegetable oil.

When the surface of your pan is hot enough that a drop of water sputters across the
surface, give the pan a quick swipe with a paper towel to eliminate excess oil,
and spoon the batter onto the hot surface, 1/4-cupful at a time.

Let the pancakes cook on the first side until bubbles begin to form around the
edges of the cakes, about 2 to 3 minutes. You may need to adjust your heat up or
down to get the pancakes to cook through without scorching the surface, or being
too pale. When the cakes are just beginning to set, flip them and let them
finish cooking on the second side, about 1 minute more, until they’re golden
brown on both sides.

To make them a little more YOAD friendly, we substituted 1 ounce of
pure peanut oil for the butter, 6 packs of Sweet N Low for the sugar and 1 3/4
cup of lite soy milk for the milk. You could use low fat milk if you like.
We also added a cap full of almond extract along with the vanilla.