Hello blog world! I'm so excited to be here!
I've to embark on a journey through nutraceuticals - those diet derived chemicals that are supposed to have a variety of health-increasing (or health decreasing!) properties. Some examples are soy, anthocyanins, glucosinolates, thiolates, minerals, flavones, terpenes...and on and on...but what are all of these crazy names and what do they do for me?
That is a good question.
My goal for the next few weeks is to educate through diet. I'll give real examples of things that I eat and topically address the nutraceuticals that these foods contain.I'll start with an overview post and then address them topically. Those posts with almost certainly include some crazy tidbits about my life as we go.
On with the eats....in the last couple of days, I've had some delicious tacos carnitas topped with tomato, lettuce, onion, oikos greek yogurt, avocado, and salsa. I also ate some chips on the side...
The nutritionals: some awesome monounsaturated fats (Avocado) and LYCOPENE (a carotenoid, which is in the terpenoid family!) Lycopene adds that beautiful red color to tomatoes!
That was last night. I started today with a smoothie (strawberries, banana, blueberries, spinach, almond milk, protein powder)...and COFFEE. I'm crazy for jumpymonkey, which is an awesome Iowa-based roasting company that staffs only disabled and handicapped persons.
Check out my ENORMOUS strawberries. It's not quite strawberry season in Iowa, but you bet in June I'll be out at the pick-your-own place, doing some checkbook damage.
Lunch included some pineapple and blackberries...
What do all these have in common? Well besides the fiber, sugar, and vitamin C in all fruit, berries are rich in anthocyanins. These give fruits and veggies awesome red, purple, and blue colors. They are my favorite natural product, so I'll talk at length about them in the future.
Finally, my lunch was rounded out by a roast beef and swiss sandwich on wheat, and a small-ish salad topped with nutritional yeast (vitamin B12!) The salad was brimming with broccoli (glucosinolates), onions (thiolates), carrots (carotenoids, namely B-carotene), and green leafy veggies (minerals! namely magnesium!)
So, this is how I eat and how I think about food. Do I always eat this many fruits and veggies? YES! Do I always eat this much meat? Well, no. But I have a 1/2 marathon in 1.5 weeks and I've been feeling really sluggish. Animal protein has an abundance of minerals and protein. I know I can get it elsewhere, but I'm not opposed to eating meat, so I'm ramping up. I feel better already!
Finally, Eating Requires Activity (ERA): 4 mile run, 15 min ab workout.
Good night!
Okay, this is very interesting for me. My approach to meals is that I think of them as blocks of the food pyramid, and I try to balance my meals that way. Like, I won't necessarily care what the foods are that represent protein, carb and fruit/veggie, just that they're represented. So my meals are not always cohesive, even though they're balanced.
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