Tag: Real Food

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Egg Myths and Misconception

Eggs - Myths & Misconceptions

This is the second in a three post series on the “Incredible, edible EGG”. In part one, we took a tour of the grocery store and deciphered just what all those different labels on the egg cartons mean. If you missed it, you can check it out here. Today we’re going to look at a couple of common misconceptions surrounding eggs.

DON’T JUDGE AN EGG BY ITS COVER

A common misconception is that brown shelled eggs are healthier or more natural than their white shelled counterparts. The truth is that shell colour has nothing to do with nutrition, but is simply dictated by the breed of hen that laid that egg.

Who else just found out today that chickens have ear lobes?!

Consuming Eggs Will Raise Your Cholesterol Level

Eggs have gotten a bad wrap because of the cholesterol contained in their yolks. Many people have been led to believe that eggs should be avoided, or strictly limited, particularly if you have high cholesterol levels. 

Cholesterol is often seen as a “bad guy”. In actuality, cholesterol plays a vital role in our health. We need cholesterol to make healthy cell membranes. It is also necessary for the production of steroid hormones like cortisol, estrogen and testosterone. Cholesterol is also the main building block for Vitamin D (for more about the importance of adequate Vitamin D, check out this blog post).

Because of all the important roles played by cholesterol, the body works to ensure that there is always adequate cholesterol present. Cholesterol is produced in the body by the liver. When we take in more cholesterol through our diet, the liver decreases the amount of cholesterol it produces to keep levels within normal range. If we are eating less cholesterol, the liver revs up the cholesterol making machine. When we understand this, we can see that a healthy body will maintain fairly consistent cholesterol levels. The source of the cholesterol (dietary or self-made) may change, but the levels remain fairly constant.

In short, consuming eggs regularly does not impact blood cholesterol levels to any significant degree. (1)

Ok – if all that is true, how come my cholesterol levels are high?

You may be surprised to hear that cholesterol is a healing agent in the body and acts as an antioxidant. So when our cholesterol levels are high, it means that the body is recruiting this healing cholesterol to try and deal with some kind of inflammation or damage. Identifying and removing the cause of this inflammation (say by working with a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner) should be the goal, instead of immediately attacking the cholesterol levels with pharmaceuticals.(2)

I could go on and on about cholesterol and it’s role in keeping us healthy. If you are interested in learning more, I highly recommend the book Put Your Heart In Your Mouth by Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride.

In the last post of this three part “Eggstavaganza”, we are finally going to dig into the nutrient value of the humble egg. Stay tuned!

SOURCES

  1. Kim, J.E.; Campbell, W.W. Dietary Cholesterol Contained in Whole Eggs Is Not Well Absorbed and Does Not Acutely Affect Plasma Total Cholesterol Concentration in Men and Women: Results from 2 Randomized Controlled Crossover Studies. Nutrients 2018, 10, 1272.
  2. Campbell-McBride MD, N. (2016). Put Your Heart In Your Mouth. Mediform Publishing.
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Eggs – A Carton of Confusion?

Eggs - A Carton of Confusion?

Eggs are undoubtedly one of my favourite foods. They are quick and easy to prepare, super versatile and pretty darn cost effective too! But head into any grocery store and you’ll be confronted with the “WALL OF EGGS”. Natural, cage free, free range, pasture raised – suddenly the simple egg got a lot more complicated! Are the 5.99/dozen eggs really better for me than the 3.99/dozen brand? What’s the difference between cage free and free range? Let’s “crack” the code on this once and for all!

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

If the wide variety of terms on those cartons has got you confused, use the list I’ve created below to identify which terms have clout and which are just marketing fluff.

Regular (No Special Label)

Eggs without any other qualifying label on them are generally laid by hens fed a conventional, vegetarian diet. The hens are often caged or kept indoors without access to natural light or the outdoors. As they are kept in close quarters, they may also be debeaked to prevent them from pecking each other.

Natural/All Natural

These are purely marketing terms meant to trick the purchaser into thinking they are buying a superior product. There is no certification or verification needed to use these terms. Hens are likely fed and raised in the same conditions as those producing “regular” eggs.

Farm Fresh

Sounds great, but here is another term that has no regulation.  These eggs can come from large industrial facilities and caged hens.

Free Range

Finally, a label with meaning! To use the “Free Range” label, producers must prove that the hens have been allowed access to the outdoors for at least 51% of their lives. BUT – and it’s a big but…there is no regulation regarding either the type or size of outdoor space. They could have access to dirt, a cement covered patio or pasture. As there is no regulation with regards to the size of the outdoor space, overcrowding is not uncommon and de-beaking is permitted.

No Antibiotics Added

This is another sneaky label. Producers are not allowed to sell eggs from hens treated with antibiotics and must wait a specified period of time after treatment is complete before they can sell the hen’s wares. In short, ALL eggs are antibiotic free.

Certified Organic

Organic eggs are laid by hens who are fed organic feed (free of pesticides and chemicals). There is no regulation as to how they are housed or the amount of outdoor access they have and, again, de-beaking is allowed.

Omega-3-Enriched

Hens are fed a vegetarian diet higher in Omega-3 fatty acids. This is often accomplished by adding flax seed to the diet. Again, there is no regulation as far as housing of the hens.

Cage Free

Hens are raised without cages, but this does not mean they have access to the outdoors. Often they are kept in large warehouses and in crowded conditions. Beak trimming is permitted.

Vegetarian Fed

Well, for starters, chickens are omnivores. Their natural diet would include protein from insects and worms, along with nutrients found in grasses. Vegetarian feed contains no animal products and would derive it’s protein from vegetarian sources, like soybeans. So really, a solely vegetarian diet is not a chicken’s natural diet.

Pasture Raised

This term implies that the hens are allowed full access to the outdoors to meander around the pastures are able to forage around for those bugs and grubs that are part of their natural diet. This isn’t a legal or regulated definition, so you want to do your homework to ensure the producer’s claim of pasture raised is accurate! Some companies, like Vital Farms, print the name of the farm where the eggs were produced on their cartons. You can go to their website and search for the farm to see the chickens in their pasture. Another great way to do ensure you are getting what you paid for is to get your eggs directly from the farmer!

Budget is always going to be a factor when we are filling our grocery cart, but how the animals are raised and fed should also hold some weight. In my next post in the series, I’ll discuss a couple of eggy myths and misconceptions before I dive into my final post on whether or not eggs are a valuable part of a nutrient dense, whole foods diet (spoiler alert…heck yes they are!).

Sources

Dessy, M. (2017). The Pantry Principle.Versadia Press 

Food Labels Exposed [Booklet]. (2018). N.P.:A Greener World

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Minding Your Stress Bucket

Minding Your Stress Bucket

Well Hello!! It’s been a minute since I’ve posted anything on here. Does anyone else feel like the days are going by faster since this whole pandemic thing started? I mean, it’s JULY already! Where did the last 4 months go?

I could use every excuse in the book as to why I haven’t been blogging regularly. I’ve been prepping for an upcoming board exam and working on my business. I wanted to be outside in the warm(ish) weather and, perhaps more than anything else, I needed to get away from my computer screen. Is anyone else just TOTALLY “Zoomed” out? Although these are all fine reasons, the truth is, I just really needed to drop some stuff out of my bucket.

I imagine our body’s ability to deal with stressors like a big bucket, a stress bucket. Everyone’s bucket is different. Some are a little smaller than others and fill up more quickly, whereas others are quite large and can hold quite a bit! 

Our bodies are built to handle quite a lot of stress, in all it’s different forms. They protect us from immediate dangers by initiating our fight or flight response. They deal with foreign invaders, like bacteria and viruses, through our immune response. They deal with and eliminate toxins we produce or ingest – but they weren’t built for the multitude of stressors in this modern life of ours.

Many things take up room in our stress buckets:

Mental and Emotional Stressors

  • Work, Relationship or Financial issues
  • Feelings of anger, sadness, loneliness, depression, anxiety and worry

Physiological Stressors

  • Lack of sleep
  • Toxins in our environment or diet – pesticides, chemicals in household and personal products, processed foods, sugar, unhealthy fats, EMF exposure, pollution
  • Nutrient deficiencies from a poor diet
  • Illness or injury
  • Over or under exertion

Our bodies work exceedingly hard to manage all these stressors and keep that ol’ bucket from overflowing. They strive for balance (or homeostasis) at all times, even if that means stealing energy and nutrients from one system in the body to keep another from crashing and burning. You can see that, without bailing some of those stressors out of the bucket, resources eventually run out. We become less resilient to the effects of stress of our body. That’s when we start to see illness and chronic disease . rear their ugly little heads. Think about Christmas holidays. It’s pretty common for people to get sick right around the holiday season. We’ve got parties and menus to plan, we are dealing with a lot of family and trying to keep everyone happy. We are often financially stressed and, of course, we are ingesting a lot of maybe not so nutritious foods and beverages. That’s a lot of stuff being dropped in our stress buckets at one time – especially if our bucket was already half full! Eventually, things start to slop over the rim and we end up miserable, nursing a cold and just praying for it all to be over.

So back to my absence from the blog. Let’s see how my stress bucket was faring….

  • I’m preparing for the Holistic Nutrition Board Exam
  • I’ve just recently joined a networking group that requires me to prepare and deliver a short speech on a weekly basis (This is like a mini pailful of stress added to my bucket every week. Public speaking is well outside of my comfort zone!)
  • I’m working on managing Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (an autoimmune disease), which among symptoms like fatigue and lack of motivation, is causing me to lose hair like crazy. Seriously, my cat and are are competing to see who can leave the most hairballs around the house! Not the end of the world, but my vanity would disagree. Definitely contributing to some emotional stress!
  • I’m a small business owner in an economic downturn, trying my darnedest to make a go of this entrepreneur thing and contribute to our household finances.
  • We are in the midst of this pandemic – so, like many, I’m feeling a little isolated. I’m also homesick for my Canadian brethren and not knowing when I’ll be able to see family and friends across the border is tough!
  • Of course, I eat a pretty decent diet (gotta walk the talk), but I’ll admit that some comfort foods started making a frequent appearance on my plate. I got a little TOO into baking grain free scones for a while there.
  • I try to keep my toxin exposure as minimal as possible by buying organic, using safer personal products and cleaning with Norwex products, but I had been putting in a LOT of screen time between Zoom meetings and scouring social media for all the latest “viral” news.
  • My sleep has been wonky due to worrying about all of the above!

So there you have it – not a terrible list, but I was starting to feel a little bit of overwhelm. So, I listened to what my body was whispering to me before it began SHOUTING. I had to take the ladle to the bucket and lighten the load before it overflowed. I put the blogging on hold so I could focus on some other, behind the scenes, business stuff. I ditched the homemade treats and refocused on incorporating lots of bright, colourful veggies in my diet. I mixed up my workouts and added in some nice neighbourhood walks with the hubby. I gave myself permission to NOT be a perfect public speaker on my zoom calls and to start to accept that being uncomfortable is part of growth. I’ve been utilizing breathing exercised and getting outside more

Ways to Lighten the Load in Your Buckets

  1. Breathing Techniques – Check out this website for some inspiration.
  2. Tapping – Learn more here .
  3. Reframing – Did you know that the difference between excitement and anxiety often lies in how we interpret them? Find out more here.
  4. Movement – Any type of movement helps drain our stress bucket by promoting feel good endorphins and burning off excess stress hormone (cortisol). Stick with lower intensity activities if your bucket is really full. Overexertion can ADD to the bucket if your system is already taxed.
  5. Getting outdoors – Soak up some sun, breathe some fresh air and connect with nature!
  6. Hydrating – Most people are walking around dehydrated, try to consume half your body weight in ounces of clean, filtered water daily.
  7. Prioritize sleep – Aim for 7 to 8 hours a night.
  8. Take a break from the screens!! Not only can the blue light from our devices affect our sleep, the constant barrage of crazy from social media feeds isn’t doing anybody’s stress levels any favours.
  9. Do your best to avoid toxins in your food products, cleaning supplies and personal products – Some great brands to check out are BeautyCounter, Native and Norwex
  10. Eat a nutrient rich diet – Avoid processed and refined foods and focus on eating ALL the colours of the rainbow.

There’s no way to avoid stress completely – in fact, some stress is good for us. It gives us a sense of purpose and motivation. But everyone’s perception of stress will differ and what is only a “drop in the bucket” to one person may be a tsunami to someone else. So take stock of what is in your stress bucket and, if it’s feeling like it’s getting a little too full – it’s time to put a hole in that bucket, dear Liza. (I REALLY hope someone gets that reference!)

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The Monday Mention – The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz

In The Big Fat Surprise, Nina Teicholz takes an in depth look into the nutrition research that has guided our way of eating for decades. The low fat/high carbohydrate diet that we, as a population, have been advised to follow for decades is not working. We are more unhealthy now than ever before. By following the science, Teicholz discovers that the foods we’ve been taught to deny ourselves – meat, cheese, butter, lard could actually be the very foods that bring us back to health. Through an exhaustive look at thousands of scientific studies and conducting countless interviews, she shows us that the diet advice we’ve been urged to follow for years is based on little more than weak science that is often manipulated to achieve the researcher’s or study funder’s desired outcome.

The Monday Mention - The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz

For decades researchers have demonized saturated fats, largely due to the fact that these fats can increase a person’s LDL cholesterol. The Framingham Study’s follow-up results showed that, of all the measurable lipids and lipoproteins, HDL cholesterol has the largest impact on cardiovascular risk (Teicholz, 2014, pg.162) and is a better predictor of heart attack than LDL. Interestingly, saturated fats are the only food known to actually increase levels of HDL cholesterol! (Teichrob, 2014, pg.334)

Another interesting fact I learned about saturated fats is that the type of LDL they increase (light, buoyant LDL) is not associated with an increase in heart attack risk. In fact, it is the small, dense type of LDL that has been shown to be linked to increased heart disease. An increase in this type of LDL is seen in diets higher in carbohydrates.

Sure, we have finally been told that trans fats are unhealthy. What should have been a boon to our society’s health with the banning of these trans fats though, has led to the creation of more “Franken-fats” in the form of interesterification, genetically modified soybeans and “fat” replacers. Industry continues to mess with nature and the chemistry of fats to solve a problem that didn’t exist 100 years ago when we ate the fat provided to us by nature. Once again, the public is being used, unwittingly, as guinea pigs in these experiments where the health implications are unknown. Companies and chemists have gone to so much work to replace saturated fats and at what cost? It’s apparent through reading this book, that the cost has been the health of a great many people. This cost will only continue to escalate unless we can break the stigma surrounding saturated fat. Teicholz’s book sheds light on this and I found that it highlights the evidence surrounding what Nutritional Therapy Practitioners tell their clients – that good quality, well sourced fats are vital to optimal nutrition and health.

I must admit, I found the first part of this book to be a bit dry and hard to get through. Perhaps it is because I have already read a fair bit about Ancel Keys and his infamous “Seven Countries Study”. If you have never heard of Ancel Keys, I urge you to look into him. Long story short, the results of his “Seven Countries Study” confirmed (in his warped sense of research) the relationship of saturated fat consumption to increased heart disease. But (and this is a BIG BUT), it turns out that the devilish Mr. Keys cherry picked only the countries that, when graphed, appeared to prove his hypothesis. Once ALL the countries are graphed, his correlation falls apart. It is this flawed methodology that has dictated what we’ve been told to eat for the last half a century! So, although it takes a bit of effort to push through all the review of the studies, it really is worth your while. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more, particularly the information about cholesterol.

The big takeaway I have from this book is just how infuriating and frightening it is to realize how research outcomes are manipulated, ignored or coerced through funding. People’s egos and company bottom lines have affected the health of millions for several generations. I do think that we are making some progress. The horrible effects of sugar are known to a lot more people today than even a few years ago, but the benefits of saturated fats have yet to hit the mainstream population. The information IS out there, but only if you choose to seek it out. People who aren’t passionate about nutrition and health still rely on the guidelines based on weak science. Nutritional Therapy Practitioners have our work cut out for us to try and shift this school of thought, but I believe that as more of us share our knowledge, others will be empowered to question the advice they have been given for decades.

Rating 4 Peaks
My Rating – 4 out of 5 Peaks

REFERENCES

  1. Teicholz, N. (2014). The Big Fat Surprise. Simon and Schuster Paperbacks.

Cinco de MAYO…..nnaise

Jump to Recipe
Homemade Avocado Oil Mayo

I know, I know..a mayonnaise recipe to celebrate Mexican independence is an odd choice, but really EVERY day is a good day to celebrate this easy(I mean, ridiculously easy)condiment recipe. It’s chock full of healthy fats and missing all the gunk found in most store bought brands. I also use this mayo as a base for a coleslaw dressing that I serve with carnitas…so there is a bit of a Mexican link after all!

Making your own mayo can seem daunting when you read recipes telling you that you must drizzle the oil in slowly, all while whisking like madman or your mayo won’t come together and you’ll be left with a soupy, oily mess. I can barely pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time, so this all sounds like a disaster in the making.

Enter the immersion blender… with this nifty tool, you can have easy, no fuss, no mess mayo in seconds. And, it’s a pretty cool party trick to boot! I have heard that high speed blenders and mixers can also be used  – but I have never tried it this way. If you get successful mayo from either of these methods, let me know in the comments!

So what is mayo? Mayo is an emulsion – or a mixture of two things that can’t normally be combined (like oil and water). This coming together of two different worlds requires the use of an emulsifier to keep them from separating. In mayonnaise, egg yolks play this role. Yolks contain lecithin, a fat emulsifier, which keeps the oil in tiny little droplets and prevents them from collecting into larger drops that will separate out of the mixture. The mustard also helps out as an emulsifier in this recipe. You can opt to leave it out, but I use to add a bit more stability and some extra zip to the flavour.

Avocado or olive oil are two healthy fats that can be easily whipped up into a delicious mayo. You want to avoid vegetable oils, not just in mayo-making, but in general. Oils, such as canola, corn and soy are generally highly processed and damaged during manufacturing, are often “deodorized” and bleached to hide signs of rancidity and can cause oxidative damage and inflammation. Yuck, no thank you!

I opt for avocado oil, as I find it has a more neutral flavour than olive oil. There are some decent avocado oil and olive oil mayos on the market. If you can find one that you like that doesn’t have any unnecessary ingredients in it, by all means, feel free! I’ve found that I much prefer the flavour of my homemade version!

Once you have the basic mayo down, you can add all sorts of extras to create a variety of dressings and spreads. I put a few of my faves in the recipe comments, but let me know what fun variations you come up with!

Now…on with the MAYO!

Print Recipe
 Mayonnaise
A quick and easy recipe for a healthier version of this versatile condiment!
Cook Time 5
Servings
cup
Ingredients
Cook Time 5
Servings
cup
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Make sure to test that your blender head will fit into the mouth of the container you choose BEFORE you add the ingredients.
  2. Crack egg into the bottom of a mason jar or high sided container.
  3. Add all other ingredients to jar.
  4. With one hand holding the jar, place head of immersion blender over the yolk of the egg and turn the blender on, keeping the blades immersed in the liquid. You will see the color start to change to the white color of mayo immediately.
  5. Slowly move the blender up and down and side to side (keeping the blades immersed) until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture has thickened to the consistency of mayonnaise.
  6. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired.
  7. Will keep, sealed in the refrigerator, for 3 to 5 days
Recipe Notes

Variations (per 1 cup of mayonnaise)

Garlic Aioli - Mix in 1 to 2 finely minced garlic cloves

Chipotle Mayo - Mix in a small amount of sauce from a jar of chipotles in adobo (start with 2 teaspoonfsul and work up, depending on taste). Alternately, you could add mayo to a blender with 2 chipotle peppers from the jar and blend until smooth. Add 1 teaspoon of lime juice and adjust to taste

Dilly Tartar Sauce - Mix in 1/2 a cup finely diced dill pickles, 2 teaspoons lemon juice,  1 teaspoon onion powder and a tablespoon of fresh dill