Did you know that red onions are rich in flavonoids, sulfur compounds and promote better bones? In fact, if you make them a staple in your dishes they just may help reduce certain types of cancer and the risk of heart disease.

We all know that sweet potatoes and yams improve a meal as they’re very high in vitamin C and A. Now, the healing power of this side dish is fortified when paired with red onion slices.

Here are more facts about the healing ingredients found in this easy side dish.

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Due to the great popularity of “Can Diet Coke Kill You?” combined with a lot of controversy over it, I have decided to write this follow-up post.

Most of the controversy over the last article was around the fact that the documentary I referenced cited data from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) but that organization itself claims there is no proven link between aspartame and cancer.

What was presented previously was a short explanation of why aspartame is expected to cause cancer and other health problems and a summary of some information presented in Sweet Misery, including findings from analyzing NCI and other data. This article, however, cites other scientific findings and discusses the economic-political history of this topic a little bit as well.

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Trail mix is a favorite fall time snack of mine. Fun to take on hikes and picnics, it always hits the spot. Try mixing some seasonal seeds in your favorite nut mix to stay healthy this season. Here is a simple recipe with remarkable immune boosting powers.

Sunflower Seeds: Rich in vitamin E, magnesium and selenium, sunflower seeds are high in phytosterols which are known cholesterol reducers.

Pumpkin Seeds: Carve that cute Halloween pumpkin and, save those seeds to roast for snacks! Pumpkin seeds are abundant in proteins and vitamins. They contain L-tryptophan, a compound that prevents and treats depression. Nutrient rich pumpkin seeds contain zinc, magnesium, boron phytosterols, carotenoids, omega-3 fats, manganese, phosphorus, iron, and copper. They are also proven to be anti-inflammatory.

Raisins: Raisins are amazingly good for you, especially if they’re organic raisins. Raisins are rich in calcium, vitamin C, iron, b-vitamins, oleanolic acid, and catechin, a phenolic antioxidant effective for prevention of tumors and colon cancer. Raisins are also a known high fiber snack. The healthiest raisins are sulphite-free and organic.

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Pomegranates contain almost half your daily quota of Vitamin C, an antioxidant that is required for at least 300 different metabolic functions in the body. Vitamin C is also a protector from free radical damage and a facilitator of good circulation, which is vital for sexual health and pleasure. They also contain vitamin B5, the anti-stress vitamin needed for proper adrenal function, and vitamins A and E, which help to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Pomegranate oil is now being used in many menopause products to help reduce symptoms, as well as in vaginal creams to help eliminate dryness, which can make sex painful. Pomegranate juice is easily found at your local grocery store, often mixed with other super-fruits, offering you an antioxidant cocktail that is easily assimilated by the body. The seeds are great in cold salads, on (soy) yogurt with some nuts or paired with greens for a sweet and tart delight. Do something good for your body today and try the greens recipes below to increase your overall health and feed your libido at the same time. It doesn’t get much better then that.

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Chicken nuggets. Taco salad. Pizza. Cartons of milk. Hot dogs. Mystery meat. These foods were all staples of my elementary and high school cafeterias, despite clear guidelines about the nutritional benefits for school meals. Efforts to reform school lunch got a boost Tuesday when Institute of Medicine of the National Academies released “School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children,” a report of recommendations for how to reform school lunch.

The report was requested by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in order to help align the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs with the most recent set of dietary guidelines for Americans. Current school lunches must meet guidelines set in 1995, but nutritional knowledge has progressed since then, and the report tries to address those changes.

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Going to a body and nutrition expert with my husband is one of the best things we’ve done for ourselves. What was the key take away? Warning! Turn Alkaline!

Turn Alkaline? Are we magicians? Well according to biochemists we are! You can change your body chemistry with what you eat!

Chemicals have seeped into foods, air, and water, which in turn lower our system’s ability to control the chemistry of our body fluids, increasing illness and chronic disease.

The sad fact is that most food consumption in the wealthiest nations has shifted from nutritious raw foods to low nutritional value processed foods and we need to shift it back. Now that our total biological terrain is at risk, we urgently need to do some clean up by shifting our body chemistry back to the raw, organic foods it was designed to function on as we’ve evolved.

Below I’ve listed out a quick list of the good foods (alkaline) to treat your body to often…

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As a female farmer myself, running Inn Serendipity farm and B&B with my husband, John Ivanko, in Wisconsin, this increasing blending and crossover between new women farmers with a passion for raising both cabbage and change cultivates a hefty serving of inspiration. These new women farmers grow more than food for our table; they rethink the status quo approach to our food system and provide keen insights into what needs to change.

“As one of the fastest growing groups of new farmers, women can be the change makers that transform our agricultural system into one that provides organic, healthy and fair food to us all,” explains Faye Jones, Executive Director of the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), a Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) member organization that sponsored two women farmers to attend this conference. Wisconsin women farmers Jai Kellum of King’s Hill Farm and Erin Schneider of Hilltop Community Farm attended the CFSC Conference on behalf of MOSES.“It is important to keep the voice of farmers represented in the national discussion on food and agricultural policy and priorities,” sums up Jones.

Here are four of their tips for politicians to policy makers from Kellum and Schneider to improve our agriculture and food system:

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Long roots include carrots, parsnips, burdock and daikon radish. Some of these are excellent blood purifiers and can help improve circulation in the body and increase mental clarity. Round roots include turnips, radishes, beets and rutabagas. Round roots are nourishing to the stomach, spleen, pancreas and reproductive organs and can help regulate blood sugar, moods, and alleviate cravings.

Read more for a delicious Meatless Monday Vegan Roasted Root Vegetable recipe.

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(Images courtesy of www.braquiplan.com & www.britannica.com)

Revered in India as “holy” this golden-yellow colored powder is worth its weight in gold, that too nutritionally, but not monetarily.

Any guesses what I’m talking about?

This ingredient has been hailed for centuries for its ability to treat wounds, infections and other health problems. But until recently, the science of the healing remained a mystery.

We’re talking, of course, about turmeric. None else can fill its yellow shoes.        The Turmeric Plant

The use of turmeric as a coloring and healing agent for food  dates back to as far as 600 B.C. Amongst the other oldest recorded references to turmeric is an account by Marco Polo in his travels to China in 1280. Repeated historical references to turmeric across communities ensured it crossed over from folklore into everyday use.

Curios researchers that flocked to test the powder in the last few decades, identified curcumin as the chief active ingredient in turmeric. This said little though, apart from changing the alphabets that carried the mystery from turmeric to curcumin. But it added specificity to the “magical” effect of turmeric, by labeling curcumin an antioxidant, anti-cancer, antibiotic, antiviral and other properties has been revealed.

It wasn’t until March this year that University of Michigan researchers led by Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy discovered the scientific basis of curcumin’s activities in human cells.

It turns out that cucurcmin is somewhat of a Nazi. The molecule inserting itself into the cell membranes, somehow making them more orderly. And somehow being lined up straight makes cells more resistant to infection and malignancy.

If you ask me, while the curcurmin is doing everything it’s supposed to in cells, the scientists need to do some more explaining.

Ramamoorthy, the lead Professor of chemistry and biophysics behind this work told Science News that the cell membrane goes from being crazy and floppy to being more disciplined and ordered, so that information flow through it can be controlled.

Wow.

With no science education to her credit, my grandmother just knew that  giving me turmeric in milk when I had a cold as a child growing up in India, would work wonders for me. It did.

Natural antibiotics like turmeric exemplify what I think should be a larger trend. It is this larger trend that Michel Pollan is advocating throughout the country in his talks. His book, aptly titled “In Defense of Food” argues, that nature has everything we ever needed for healthy living and that it is time society took a step towards a more natural form of living. His argument that there are cultures all over the world today that are closer o nature and healthier than the more affluent, but more artificial societies of the west also points us in the same direction.

In fact, if anything, it is unnaturalness that is the primary cause of  unhealthy lifestyles today. The sheer change in levels of human activity in the last few decades are probably nothing less than an evolutionary shock to the human body, which was programmed for far higher levels of activity. From forging for our own food, to moving less than a few feet to reach into the fridge, is a spectacular change and one that definitely comes with implications.

It may be useful for us to realize that biggest experiments with food were for earlier times, and those times solved the major questions. Ours may be to stick to that and interestingly, this makes me think that progress can sometimes mean regressing, but intelligently.

According to Science News, Ramamoorthy too was given turmeric laced milk to drink when he had a cold as a child, (not by my grandmother though.)

But as frosts linger and the cold winds start to blow, don’t punt and think your fresh local bounty will disappear till spring.  With a little strategic shopping and planning, you can preserve a local meal focus all winter long by taking advantage of those last farmer’s markets.

Here’s another perk of eating local year round:  you’re supporting the economic health of your community.  Just ask Cindy Torres, manager of the Longmont Farmers Market outside Boulder, Colorado, and an IATP Food and Society Fellow.  Passionate about using local food systems as a healthy economic development tool, Torres co-founded the Boulder County Food and Agriculture Policy Council to look at how her area can increase the local food supply to enhance the lives of community residents of all economic backgrounds.

“With a little bit of planning and preparation, we can readily eat local till the spring markets start up again,” explains Torres.  Here are her favorite five tips:

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Sweet potatoes have a lot of nutrition packed into relatively few calories. According to NutritionData, a single serving (1 cup) of sweet potatoes has 769% of the daily value of Vitamin A. They’re also high in vitamin C and several B vitamins, as well as minerals such as Manganese, Potassium, Copper, and others. The low glycemic load of sweet potatoes gets them into low-carb diets and many weight lifters include them in their meals.

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Going Meatless on Mondays doesn’t have to mean deprivation of all your favorite foods. By making some simple changes to recipes, you can easily swap out the animal products for vegan options. Here is a simple veganized muffin recipe, so you can start your Meatless Monday off with delicious, healthy, energizing and decadent baked good.

Tibetan Goji Berries are regarded in Tibet as the “Fruit of Longevity and Well Being”. Goji berries have been traditionally regarded as a food that offers your body longevity, strength-building, and sexual potency. Goji’s are a complete protein source and a low calorie snack that strengthens your immune system, increases energy and helps to curb cravings. It has one of the highest antioxidant contents in all food, which helps to fight free radicals, keeping you young and vibrant. Goji’s contain 18 amino acids, vitamin C, beta-carotene, 20 rare trace minerals, vitamin B1, B2 and B6 and vitamin E.

In honor of this Meatless Monday, let’s boost our energy, keep ourselves looking and feeling young and chow down on some delicious vegan, anti-aging muffins.

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While she gobbled down the melon, I surveyed the fridge for dinner. I needed to use up some leftovers from a party earlier this week where I served dips and chips. I had a half jar of salsa and some sour cream left over. With the red potatoes and jalapeños I bought today, I had the makings of a good side dish for dinner.

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Frittatas are well-known for their ability to absorb leftovers.  Just gather whatever is in your fridge, dump it into an oven-safe dish, and pour eggs over it.  Simple. 

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My daughter looks forward to shopping at the farmers’ market.  I think she’s excited because she never knows what will be there.  When one booth owner mentioned that he would have blackberries the next week, she talked about that to anyone who would listen and pestered me about it until we went back.  If my husband or I purchase a head of lettuce at the grocery store, even if she’s with us, she won’t eat it.  But she eats the lettuce she buys at the farmers’ market, just like she eats the lettuce she grows in her little garden.

I confess that I would do many things to get my daughter to eat her veggies – including eating vegetables I hate – but I, too, like gardening and going to farmers’ markets, so this one is no sacrifice. 

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When you are out at the Farmer’s Market, get to know your farmer.  Ask pointed questions, find out if they have an open door policy (can you tour anytime), are they certified organic or do they go beyond organic (beyond organic is a philosophy that USDA organic isn’t enough).   If you are a meat eater, find local farmers and arrange direct meat purchase (our plan is every 3 months because we have decent storage space).  Some meats we find locally: tuna (which we can ourselves), bison, chicken, beef.  Prices average $3.00-$4.00/lb, so this also encourages us to use less meat.  For our family of 7 + 3 daycare kiddos, we have meat packaged in 1 lb sizes to ensure we don’t get meat crazy. :)  You can probably find local eggs at the farmers market, this usually saves you money and supports small, local farms.

Here are some tips to help you navigate healthier, local eating.

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