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“O” stands for a protein called osteocalcin, and “K” stands for vitamin K. Protein O’s job it is to build the frames that calcium fills, and this is our bone mass. But protein O is completely dependent upon Vitamin K in order to do its work, and so there you have it, Team O.K. You don’t have to worry about protein O because it is readily available, but vitamin K must be consumed in order to be adequately present in the body.

Someone could take a sample of your blood and find lots of these O guys just carousing around your blood stream not doing their job. That would mean that you have not been eating enough Vitamin K rich foods, and protein Os are just riding around the bloodstream because they are unemployed. But when Vitamin K is present, it first gets the Os going on their job, and then recruits and sticks the mineral calcium into the framework built by the Os. If you are a parent, or have supervision responsibilities of any sort, this must be sounding very familiar.

It is pretty common knowledge that our bones build density up until our mid 20s, and then we strive to maintain what we have for the rest of our lives. But a shocking seventy-five percent of Americans have idle protein Os surfing through their bloodstream because they simply do not have enough Vitamin K to activate them.(2)

The two natural forms of Vitamin K are found in abundance in green vegetables and other plant sources like collard greens, broccoli, kale, swiss chard, spinach, parsley. olive, canola, and fermented soy, and animal products like egg yolk, some cheeses, and chicken. The general consensus from various studies is that we need at least one serving of green vegetables every day, or more specifically, “an individual would need to eat a little more than 1/2 cup of chopped broccoli or a large salad of mixed greens every day.”(3)

So are you part of that 75% who have something to worry about, or are you in the group of 25% who are investing in their bones today for payoffs tomorrow?

We’ve only just begun to talk about Vitamin K. Stay tuned for part two in weeks to come when we talk about cancer, your heart, and the big “K”. Want to read a little more? See http://dannademetre.com/_blog/Growing_Young for this week’s post about healthy BONES.

Happy Skeleton Day!

Molly
Research Specialist and Test Cook for Orange Tree Lane

1) http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar2004_aas_01.htm

(2) http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vitamin-k/index.html

(3) http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminK/

Have you ever been so excited about sharing something that you have to hold yourself back from just blurting it out? Don”™t laugh at me, but that is how I feel about the health benefits of eating fiber. You know I promised to give you information about nutrition in small, manageable bites because let”™s face it, you”™re busy. So if I tell you 10 great things about fiber right now, you might be able to almost, maybe, partway remember one. Let”™s make it a story with characters so that you can think I am ridiculous, but maybe it will be like duct tape for your memory.

Fiber is definitely the hero. No, he”™s the creator of his own digestion universe and has been kicked out. Without him there is chaos and suffering unimaginable. I picture something like a Rambo scarecrow wielding a pitchfork of, well fiber. (Yeah, roll your eyes, but you have a picture in your mind now.) Where has he been kicked out? Well, he never was in the animal kingdom, but he ruled with unsurpassed authority in every other living thing, meaning the plants. Apples, pinto beans, wheat, you”™ve got it, plants.

Now donuts, bread, pasta, our diets”¦all live without him quite happily for the moment. The unfortunate truth is that he is so indispensible to life that all he has to do is sit back and wait for his subjects to come crawling on their knees begging for him to return. Ok, now you are ready to hear one thing that he does for us and I bet you won”™t forget.

Type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Twenty- four million already have it, and 57 million are close behind in a pre-diabetic state.. “In fact, the number of adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has more than quadrupled since the early 1980s.” (1) What we eat is converted into blood sugar and sent into the bloodstream for energy. Grains with their fiber stripped away convert very quickly and this is stressful to your insulin producing system, while grains with fiber take control and slow the whole conversion process down. One study shows that people eating the most servings of whole grains a day have a 27% less chance of getting type 2 diabetes. (2) That”™s good enough for me!

Have you been neglecting fiber in whole grains? Switch to whole grain bread, cereal, rice, and pasta quick. Eat humble pie and invite him back to save your health.

To your health,

Molly
Researcher and Test Cook for Orange Tree Lane

For further research when you have time:

(1) http://www.health.harvard.edu/special_health_reports/Diabetes
(2) http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20070515/fiber-may-fight-diabetes

I’m Molly, the test cook and research specialist for Orange Tree Lane. The connection between healthy eating and feeling good has always been clear to me. For instance, while others ate take out pizza in college I was making 10 ingredient salads for dinner. Now my friends bring junk food to my house when they come over, and my three teenagers get teased at school for their unusual lunches, but I press on despite adversity!

The kids look for hidden kale in everything they eat, dessert included, but my wonderful husband just eats what I put down in front of him without questioning it anymore. I’m a health food junkie! But don’t think you understand me that easily; you see, one of my favorite foods is donuts.

A track coach I had in college who continued to compete well into her middle age inspired me to remain active and stay young inside no matter how old I get on the outside. My desire to feed my family well, feel good, age well and stay active keeps me looking for great information and recipes that are nutritionally excellent.

Besides writing about, cooking with, shopping for, and taking pictures of food, I love to run, read and relax with those I love more than anything else. My greatest dream for this site is that it will inspire many busy cooks to prepare truly nourishing food, and then to enjoy all the benefits that come along with it.

What do onions, avocado, broccoli, bananas, and pineapple have in common? Think, think, think; picture their color, texture, shape. If you can picture that group, then I have just tricked you into memorizing some of the best non-organic items to buy if you are on a tight budget because they collect the smallest amount of toxic residue from chemicals and fertilizers.

Let’s say you’ve decided to get Starbucks less often and spend a little more buying some organic food. Where is the best “organic” value for you dollar? You might be surprised to know that the choice of some experts is not even a fruit or vegetable. It”™s butter!

“Non-organic meats have far higher concentrations of pesticides than all of the fruits and vegetables. And the highest concentration of pesticides is actually in non-organic butter. ” (1) We always think about organic in terms of fruits and vegetables, but if you have to choose, these animal products could be the best choice for your money.

Many of us avoid butter and red meat becasue of its saturated fat content. In defense of butter I think that real, ORGANIC butter might be something like Shrek; you start out thinking he”™s the villain and find out later he”™s actually nice to have around. For instance, the “evil” saturated fat found in butter and red meat provides strength to cell membranes, greatly enhances the absorption of calcium into bones and boosts our immune system. It may even protect the liver from damage caused by prescription drug use and alcohol.

In 1910 the average American ate 18 lbs. of butter a year, but that has shrunk to only 4 lbs. But while death from heart disease in 1910 was almost non existent, it now claims the lives of 40% of all Americans. And by the way, consumption of red meat has also drastically declined along with butter consumption, while death from heart disease has been increasing. Is saturated fat from animal products like butter and red meat what is killing us?

No matter where you stand, it has been well documented that trans fat is to be avoided, and that basically leaves you with the real thing if you want the great taste of butter on a warm muffin like the Coffee Molasses Muffin on in this week’s menu, or a pancake right off the griddle. When deciding where to spend your grocery dollars, consider spending the extra on organic butter or meat because like Shrek, the organic version has many good points you may be overlooking.

(1)- http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/17/saturated-fat1.aspx

Sources:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/17/saturated-fat1.aspx

http://www.westonaprice.org/abcs-of-nutrition/1950-comments-on-the-usda-dietary-guidelines.

Weekly Focus: We should be eating for our health rather than just for fun, for fuel, or to control weight.

I remember feeling loved by my mother when she took down the cake she had made for dessert from the top of the refrigerator. (And without thinking I will sometimes still reach for a sweet when I want a burst of happiness.) Everyone knows that eating can be a lot of fun! When I went away to college, I fainted during the first week because I was so excited I just skipped eating. I quickly found the popular places to buy cheap, filling food that would give me the energy I needed for student life. I ran a lot then, but when I had children and couldn’t run so much I had to start thinking more about what went into my mouth so that I wouldn’t gain weight.

Since then I have learned that although I did make some good food choices, there were some gaping holes in my nutrient resume which led to undesirable health problems later. If like me your motivation for eating has been to have fun, to get fuel for living, or to prevent weight gain, there is a good chance that some very important nutrients are missing and you don’t even know it. You have to be a conscientious and informed menu planner if you are going to understand what your body needs to thrive.

This week why don’t you contemplate your own motives for eating what you do, and then take just one life changing step towards eating for your health as your top priority?

My number one suggestion is that you invest in a large cutting board with a moat around the edge, a sturdy chopping knife and a small paring knife. Make the commitment to use them every day as you become familiar and comfortable using more fresh and healthy food in your cooking. Instead of planning something “easy” and “quick” for dinner, use recipes like those found at Orange Tree Lane which use ingredients that your body will love. Don’t eat just for fun, for fuel, or to control weight, but accomplish all of these goals at one time by eating for your health. You will never look back on your life and regret the time and energy you put into making healthy meals, but you could have plenty of regrets if you don’t start making the investment now.

Weekly Focus: Quinoa can be used as a source other than meat for all 8 essetnial amino acids, and without the saturated fat too!

The Mother of all Grains

I made a mistake the other day and sent my friend a recipe to try that had something strange called “quinoa”(keen -wah) in it. I got a very tired voice at 6 pm calling me from the grocery store saying, “Molly, no one who works here knows what quinoa is.” Few do, but you will now be one of the lucky ones! I’ve called around myself, and one thing I can tell you is that if you go anywhere other than a health food grocery store, they will scrunch their eyebrows and say, “Keen-what?”

Quinoa is a grain (really a seed) with one of the highest protein levels for a grain, and the only one boasting all 8 essential amino acids. Those acids are the building blocks for cells (picture Lego blocks), and of the 20 needed, your body cannot manufacture 8 of them on its own so they must be consumed. Quinoa’s quality of protein is so good that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations compared its value to that of dried whole milk.*

So why not just eat meat which has all of those essential amino acids too? Well, if you’re thiking about the iron in red meat, quinoa
* evenly matches beef in iron content!
* Beef has no fiber while quinoa is a good supplier.
* Beef is high in saturated fat and cholesterol while quinoa has none.
* Beef has none of the mineral manganese, while quinoa is an excellent source (for reducing swollen blood vessels which cause migrane headaches). (1)
* Quinoa is very inexpensive and takes only 15 minutes to cook.

Of course, beef gives twice as much protein ounce for ounce, and you can’t bar-b-q quinoa in the back yard, but you have to admit that it has a lot to offer as a compliment to beef, or even as a vegetarian night alternative. So that is what I bring you this week, newly rediscovered from South America, the Mother Grain, or just quinoa.

(1) http://worldshealthiestfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=142#healthbenefits

http://www.recipenet.org/health/articles/quinoa.htm

Weekly Focus: Vitamin A found in the beta carotene of red, orange, yellow and dark green colored vegetables and fruit.

Sometimes I cook things which cause my family to just shake their heads, yet the dogs get these 10 ingredient disasters and seem pretty happy about it. So the other day I gave in to impassioned pleas for frozen pot pies just to prove that I am still completely sane when it comes to food. We ate fourteen grams of fat per pie”¦and the little bowl of pie crust was only a couple inches wide!! But to stay positive, I will say there is one good thing about any fat (as long as it isn”™t trans fat). Fat is the only vehicle for transporting the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K through the body to where they are needed for life sustaining work. So vitamin A and the other fat solubles were hitching quite a ride through my bloodstream that day.

Most people who only know two things about vitamins seem to know that vitamin A is good for your eyes, and that carrots are good for your eyes. You got it, carrots have vitamin A. The strong orange color is the indicator that there is beta-carotene in carrots, and that is what is converted to vitamin A when I eat it. But what you might not know is that beta -carotene not only converts to vitamin A, but is also a powerful antioxidant. Like a knight on a shiny white horse it swoops down with its sword to annihilate the freedom of free radicals. In other words, it is one of the few known micronutrients which stops destructive atoms (free radicals) before they can damage cells.

So A it is a builder of things like eyes, and its source, beta carotene, is also a radical fighter. Picture a carpenter with a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other. Obviously we need this guy on our side in the campaign to protect and advance our health. Where can you get some? Well, liver for one, but I prefer dark colored vegetables or fruit like carrots, butternut squash, cantaloupe, and the dark green leafy vegetables like kale and collard greens.

Great sources of beta-carotene and vitamin A are beef and chicken liver, dark colored leafy greens like spinach, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, orange colored squashes, cantaloupe, and red bell peppers.

For further reading on Vitamin A:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-a/ns_patient-vitamina
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4452

Weekly Focus: Natural Fat( monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated) vs. Unatural Fat (hydrogenated trans fat)

If I was to ask you what the four main kinds of fat were, what would you say? Honestly, it’s not something I used to give much thought to. I thought I was supposed to eat as little as possible. But it turns out that eating that way increases your appetite for refined carbohydrates (like donuts), and sugar (again found in the donut.) I’m going to make a true confession here. I love donuts. When I was pregnant with my first child I had a donut so large and full of cream that it had to be eaten in the box with a fork. I didn’t know then that the partially hydrogenated, or trans fat used in commercially baked goods increases heart threatening cholesterol (LDL) while at the same time lowering the heart healthy choletsterol (HDL) levels. LDLs are the ones that stick to my arteries when there are too many of them in the blood stream, while HDLs collect the extras and take them away.

On the other hand, natural sources of fat like the kind found in avocados not only don’t raise the heart threatening blood cholesterol level (LDLs), but lower it instead. So I’ve moved on to avocados lately… about one a day with a fork. (haha) I saw a teenager picking avocado off her salad the other day to make it more healthy. How can eliminating all fats be good when they can lower my blood cholesterol level and are also absolutely vital for the transportation of fat soluble vitamins A,D,E, and K in the bloodstream?

As you can see, your body needs fat, but which kind you choose will have a dramatic effect on your health. Check the label of all baked or fried foods and avoid them if they are made with hydrogenated oil (trans fat), but don’t be afraid to eat the good stuff. My favorites are avocado, olives (and olive oil), walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, beans, grass fed beef, coconut oil, and salmon.

Dr. Mercola discusses the dangers of heating non saturated oil for cooking and describes the many benefits of coconut oil in this video clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txWk1vWJjJM&NR=1

“Even small amounts of trans fat in the diet can have harmful health effects. For every extra 2 percent of calories from trans fat daily, about the amount in a medium order of fast-food French fries, the risk of coronary heart disease increases by 23 percent.” http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-full-story/index.html#intro

USDA Guidelines- go to pages 29 and 34:
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2005/2005DGPolicyDocument.pdf