Easy Acupuncture for CT

Posts Tagged ‘Nutrition’

CBS Channel 2 in New York did a piece on organic food being less contaminated than “conventionally grown” commercial produce. The thrust of the piece was positive and makes the the case that organic fruits and veggies have very little contamination but they question if the extra expense is worth the reduced exposure.

What the article doesn’t mention is that “conventionally grown” produce is less nutritious than organic. The way I see it, the extra expense is worth it because not only are you getting less exposure to pesticides but you are also getting a much denser level of nutrition. In addition buying organic supports local growers (typically) and is much more environmentally sustainable.  See the whole CBS article here.

There are numerous studies showing that organic has higher levels of nutrition and minerals. Read here and here. While more expensive initially, I think the cost of organic in the long run will prove to be the better buy.

Well, I am pretty excited. I just ordered a new Vita Mix 5200 blender yesterday and it should be here by Friday! So what is so exciting about a mere blender you ask? Good question. Here’s the answer.

I made a commitment to myself about two years ago to eat better. Now, I don’t have the worst diet in the world, in fact I would say that I do better than most people about not eating junk and getting good levels of veggies and lean protein on a daily basis. I would have to say that pizza is my biggest weakness. Since we have no end of wonderful pizza places in Connecticut I have to exercise a lot of will power!

Anyway, about a year and a half ago I started making smoothies for breakfast. I wasn’t much of an eater in the morning. Often times I would grab a cup of coffee and a bagel at the local Dunkin Donuts on the way to work. Inevitably I would have a mid morning crash that would require another cup of coffee just so I could make it to lunch! Not a good situation at all and quite frankly not a good example to my patients.

I didn’t want to end up with Diabetes and knew I had to eat better. Since I didn’t like to eat in the morning I thought a power shake might be just the thing.

So I started doing the smoothie thing in the morning. My favorite recipe is 12 ounces of rice milk and a couple of scoops of organic rice protein powder to which I add two big scoops of frozen black berries, raspberries and blue berries and a banana or a peach. I then open my Juice Plus capsules and fortify my concoction with the nutrition of 17 fruits and veggies. I blend that up and I am good to go!

Here is the problem: no matter how tasty something is, if you eat it everyday it starts to get a little dull. I needed to expand my smoothie “repertoire” as it were.  Also, I am intrigued with making raw food smoothies. My friend Glen Coello at Catch a Healthy Habit Café makes the most amazing raw food smoothies, the problem is his place is 25 miles from me!

I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.

I was seeing the difference just my basic smoothie was making in my health and I wanted to start integrating more fresh fruits and veggies into my smoothies. My goal this year is to be eating 50% raw food diet. The problem is that the typical blender you get at the home goods stores are very under-powered. Grinding ice and frozen fruits or even liquefying fresh veggies will kill a cheap blender in short order.

In the words of the immortal Roy Scheider  in “Jaws”… “We’re gonna need a bigger boat!” Enter the “bigger boat”  the Vita Mix 5200.

In short the Vita Mix is an essential tool for anyone who wants to eat more whole foods. It can do amazing things in the kitchen but don’t take my word for it. Check out their website.

I will be documenting my adventures with the Vita Mix in future posts… Stay tuned!