Healthy Winter Soups: Tomato

TOMATOES: One of the most powerful health benefits of tomatoes is lycopene, an antioxidant which neutralizing free radicals that damage cells in the body. More and more research is proving that lycopene is a powerful inhibitor of prostate, colon, stomach, lung, breast and endometrial cancers. Tomatoes are also an excellent source of vitamins especially vitamin C, which also is a powerful antioxidant and vitamin A. The antioxidants from vitamins A and C travel through the human body and neutralize dangerous free radicals that could damage cells and cell membranes. Other benefits of tomatoes include their high amounts of vitamin K, potassium, niacin, vitamin B6 and riboflavin. These nutrients work together to lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels, maintain bone health, enhance blood-clotting abilities and reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and kidney stones.

www.foodnetwork.com has this recipe for tomato soup and many others... I have changed the heavy cream to light cream and reduced the amount.

Ingredients
nocoupons
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped red onions (2 onions)
2 carrots, unpeeled and chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
4 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped (5 large)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves, plus julienned basil leaves, for garnish
3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup light whipping cream
Croutons, for garnish

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender.

Add the cream to the soup and process it through a food mill into a bowl, discarding only the dry pulp that's left. Reheat the soup over low heat just until hot and serve with julienned basil leaves and/or croutons.

Longevity

I was inspired today by a segment on Racheal Ray about a 90yo fitness trainer... the man looked 70, tops, and moved around like a 50yo! He also rides motorcycles, works out regularly and encourages everyone to exercise daily, even for just one hour. He was very inspiring. (http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/90-year-old-fitness-trainer/)

Regardless of the reason you get involved with exercise and healthy eating, healthy living into your 90's and beyond is attainable!

Take a few moments to take the living to 100 life expectancy quiz http://calculator.livingto100.com, while you take the quiz note the topics that you could improve on like:

• Limiting meat consumption, especially processed meats
• floss daily
• avoiding second hand smoke
• noting how often you have a bowel movement and increasing fiber in your diet
• play challenging games like scrabble and chess to work on brain activity
• if your doctor agrees, take an 81mg aspirin daily
• if your doctor agrees, take a vitamin D and calcium supplement daily
• get skin cancer examinations
• get your blood sugar checked if you haven’t already
• get a routine check-up
• add 1 day of exercise to your current routine

In addition to calculated your life expectancy, the quiz will give you great insight into healthy habits, some of which you may not think of at all.

After you get your life expectancy another quiz to consider is the one on realage.com which similarly takes your habits and determines what age you are biologically rather than chronologically.

Both quizzes are interesting and worth taking the 10 or so minutes to complete but the real work comes in changing the habits that hurt your score!

The Glycemic Index & Weight Loss

The Glycemic Index measures how much sugar different foods generate when digested

What happens when you eat a food with a high glycemic index (one that produces a lot of sugar in your body)

step 1 YOU'RE HUNGRY and you reach for something like a donut, a bowl of white pasta, even a baked potato
step 2 Food is digested and generates blood sugar
step 3 This blood sugar is leveled by insulin (a hormone released by the pancreas)
step 4 Certain foods generate a lot of sugar production - - countered by a lot of insulin production (if you are overweight it may pump out more)
step 5 All of the extra insulin produced brings blood sugar down too far
step 6 Now you're at a semi-starved state > > now you have very little energy & you may get a headache
step 7 With low blood sugar the brain sends a message that YOU'RE HUNGRY (more calories in, repeat the cycle if the food choice is similar)

AND WEIGHT LOSS:
Web MD reports that If you're trying to lose weight, calories count more than the types of food in your die t (based on a U.S. Department of Agriculture-Tufts University study). The study concluded that after a year, overweight people on a low-carb low-glycemic-index diet lost just as much weight -- 8% of their original weight -- as people on a reduced-fat, high-glycemic-index diet.

Foods that have a high glycemic index or produce a lot of blood glucose in the body are: White bread/rolls, potato chips, donuts, waffles

Foods that have a low glycemic index are: lettuce, grapefruit, broccoli, peanuts, tomatoes, milk, spaghetti

A great complete list is available at: http://www.southbeach-diet-plan.com/glycemicfoodchart.htm

Get H1N1 Shot or Not?

I have searched the internet to find a list of medical organizations endorsing the H1N1 vaccine to calm all of our nerves about the vaccine. Maybe a list like this exists somewhere but I have not been able to find one but here are some facts that may be helpful:

* Officials of the National Institutes of Health say that in clinical trials they've seen no serious side effects - - I have not been able to find any information showing anyone has died from the vaccine (except commentary from Sarah's mom at soccer)
* 76 US Children have died from the H1N1 flu to date and we are not in the worst period for flu yet this year., only 30% of these children had "underlying conditions"
* Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases said Friday, "We still think the vast majority of people in a given community are vulnerable or susceptible to this [H1N1] virus," she said. "And, of course, vaccination is the best way to protect yourself or those you love from influenza." She also said, "the H1N1 vaccine is safe and made in the same way as regular flu vaccine."
* Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Friday, people can get both their seasonal flu shot and their H1N1 shot at the same time, which also sounds like an endorsement of both

THE NY Times reported opinions (all endorsing the vaccine) of doctors and public health experts in this article: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/america-takes-on-swine-flu/

Stop the YO-YO

Many people yo-yo in their diet and/or healthy lifestyle because they work to improve in many different areas at once instead of gradually making changes and then sticking with them. At times everything is synced up and they lose weight or are consistently eating healthy and exercising. Other times something throws you off and then something else falls off and then the weight is back up or you're off the healthy eating & exercise wagon.

Step 1
Really take a minute to figure out what is the biggest problem for you in maintaining your weight or maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Rank the problem areas in order of most problematic for you:
Problem Areas:
Portions/Overeating
Snacking/Choices
Inconsistent Exercise
Other?

Step 2

Take the biggest problem area for you and identify what contributes to this problem

Problem Areas:

Portions/Overeating
Eating out a lot, not feeling full, not being aware of what you are eating, finishing other peoples meals, not wanting to throw something away, using food to combat boredom or other feelings of emptiness.

Snacking/Choices
I keep them around for my kids/husband/wife, I go to meetings where snacks are offered, I just always buy certain snack foods to have in the house, I am in a hurry and buy pizza or fast food because its easy, I drink soda or other high-calorie drinks, I like snacks! I don’t know what to make or eat that’s healthy

Inconsistent Exercise
I don’t have time, I plan to do it and just don’t, Its not convenient, If I don’t do it all week why do it at the end of the week, if I can only do it once why bother, I don’t like it, I don’t want to sweat, I don’t know what to do, it doesn’t make a difference

Other?

Step 3

Combine your biggest problem with the biggest reason for that problem and work only on that problem. That doesn’t mean abandon everything else but focus just on one thing. If you try to focus on everything at once as so many “dieters” do, you don’t ever overcome any of the problems, you just improve some for a while and then over time back to the old habits.

So for example: If not wanting to throw away food ends with you (over)eating it, then work on making less, freezing some, planning a left over night.

You can’t solve a problem you haven’t identified and you can’t solve multiple problems at once. Don’t set a time frame on fixing your first problem but once you feel like you have it under better control move on to the next problem.

Find a good resource for help and inspiration:

I love Bob Greene’s first book, Get With the Program, as a healthy living guide but there are other books that are not about DIET but inspiration and offer real tangible suggestions:

Fat Families, Thin Families: How to Save Your Family From the Obesity Trap (Amy Hendel)
Finally Thin!: How I Lost Over 200 Pounds and Kept them off (Kim Bensen)
The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl (Shauna Reid)
Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World (Lisa Lillien)
Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin (Allen Zadoff)
Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir (Jennette Fulda)