If you want to let food be they medicine, have to take "it" daily

We are bombarded by food claims. Some foods improve exercise recovery, others ease PMS, there are ingredients that help with metabolism and a few even actually help reduce belly fat. The first step is to sort through the research or consult an expert to find our which claims hold up. The second, often missed, step is to consume the foods regularly in order to ease symptoms or make a noticeable difference.  If a doctor prescribed a blood pressure pill, would you ever take it once or whenever you think about it and expect it to work? I hope not.

I recently talked about sun protective foods. If you're as concerned about sun damage as I am these days, put walnuts, wild salmon and cruciferous veggies on list each week and seek out recipes that utilize them. This is our new meatless monday dinner, in my opinion the perfect kale salad (with walnuts too). I love a cookbook from Melissa Clark Cook This Now because it's organized by month.  Green beans with walnuts and walnut oil (tarragon really makes this). green beans and walnuts

There was also a great article on wild salmon in the times last week (it is worth it to go wild) with this recipe I have on our menu for this week.

If you have GI issues or have been struggling with sub par immunity up your probiotic foods. Include at least one probiotic food daily. Have you seen Evolve's Greek Kefir? Kefir boasts 10x the probiotics of yogurt, I also adore my Siggis Coconut skyr and Bubbies' sauerkraut (no "dog" needed).

I am a believer in the power of linoleic fatty acids and belly fat but you'll need to snack on sunflower seeds daily, put hemp seeds or protein in your morning smoothie or add pine nuts to your salad.

Yes, there’s a value in eating a variety of healthy foods daily but if you are utilizing a food for a specific function, it needs to be consumed regularly for enough time. Start with 4-6 weeks. In some areas- GI pain or body fat you'll be able to see a difference. The bonus? Oftentimes when we're really getting what's called a therapeutic dose of a certain nutrient, there are other "side effects" such as better skin or digestion. Hippocrates was one smart guy.
Have you ever added a food into your diet for the sake of improving a condition or health issue? How long did it take to notice a difference? Do you take vitamins? Have you ever though of seeking out the same nutrients from food?

Reddi Wip, the Perfect Post Workout Food

Monday, I was innocently watching the Bachelorette after eating the world’s greatest kale salad (part of our dream July 4^th menu). I was in a pretty good mood until a commercial came on. Two women come in from a tough workout, they are exhausted. One of them goes to the fridge and pulls out Reddi Whip (naturally, who wouldn’t think workout then whipped “cream”). Her friend asks, “what are you going to do throw away the past hour?” With that nasty squirt sound, the fridge friend says, “of course not, it’s only 15 calories” and ruins a bowl of berries with a plop of canned crap.

Is this seriously an angle they are trying to take? I get that unhealthy products exist. I even can sort of grasp the fun factor with the desserts mentioned on the RW site such as “Berry Patriotic Pie” etc. 

This, gross as it is, makes more sense than RW = healthy

There are even some other undertones (not really sure why one friend has to lie down on the floor hmn) in the workout commercial that seem plausible than squirting some weirdly spelled faux cream at any time especially after a great workout. What’s even crueler is what this TV spot preys on. It’s very easy to fall into the “I deserve”  a treat post workout mindset. RW’s advertising company is saying now you can have your cake and eat it too.

And what exactly would you be eating for “only 15 calories?” This is where things get really funny. On the Reddi site they have a comparison of Reddi Wip to its competitor Cool Whip. Get this, RW has No Hydrogenated Fats! And, the first ingredient is “real cream”! Do they think that with cream as a first ingredient we will not notice “propellant” a few ingredients away? Or the sweetener party that will only inflame your body after that workout? This "I'm better than you marketing" drives me nuts. It's not about what's absent from a product but what worth (or worthlessness) the product contains. Does "I didn't murder that person, I only seriously harmed them" sound insane? Well this is food insanity.

When I told Carolyn about this post she asked, “do people still use Reddi Wip?” And maybe this is a desperate attempt by an ad agency to reposition a brand. I just don’t get it, Do marketers think people are this stupid? It’s like the Oscar Meyer spot that touts that their dogs are gluten free (and made from dog meat). Or wait, are there people that watch and say, wow that red can may hold the answer to my post snack workout snack question? And please, I know how you think and do not judge bachelorette viewers.

Have you seen this commercial? Do you think it’s just advertisers being advertisers or is this super sneaky? Any other commercials that bug you? Who should Desiree pick?

Is Kale Becoming A Kardashian?

Photo via EA Stewart, caption mine.

I am concerned for kale. It’s everywhere I look. It’s in recipes in so many magazines and not just the health oriented ones. We can’t keep the Kale Krackers in stock; Carolyn coined it “kale krack”. Clients who don’t even eat greens are chugging kale-containing green juices. Kale may very well be risking overexposure. It can’t be long before there’s a new green on the street- collards or beet greens, maybe even dandelions. Before we kale out, before chocolate covered kale and the inevitable creation of kale in a capsule, I thought I’d share my top kale moments.

Hail Kale Caesar I love this recipe from EA Stewart’s Spicy RD blog, I went crouton-less and cut the cheese (stop) a little and this was well received. It makes a lot and I topped with avocado one day, cooked shrimp another. Bookmark this recipe, it’s a keeper.

Kale Krackers the aforementioned “wack” snack. If you are someone who gets fixated on certain foods, I would advise you to not starting with these. Habit forming. Do you need another habit?

Crispy Coconut Kale from a blog called Holy Kale and the authors name is Lauren. I wonder what will happen to her site if people turn on kale.

Green Pineapple Smoothie-I’m a believer in “greening” every meal; however if you want to add kale to smoothies you will probably need a Vitamix.

Eggs over Kale Hash  who says Rachael Ray doesn't have healthy-ish recipes?

Kale Hazelnut Salad  if you haven't checked out Food52, I highly suggest it.

Green Juice try kale, cucumber, parsnips, pear, lemon and ginger, so good.

Unlike the Kardashians, kale is worth the hype but so are most superfoods, remember acai?

Do you kale? If so, when did you join the kale club? What are your favorite kale concoctions?