"Healthy" recipes revisited...

So many people are trusting other "nutrition professionals" to tell them what to eat; a decision that has only recently become so complicated and yet so important. Before you prepare another "healthy" meal for your family, please consider the meaning of the word "health." Is your food nourishing? Or is it mainly low fat, low cholesterol, low sodium, etc., etc., etc.? Want a picture of health? Sadly, America and our modern diet would be the last place I would look.

I recently received several recipes titled "healthy" and I looked carefully through each one, trying to determine "health" in any of them. Below I have listed the rather unhealthy (at least for my standards) portions of the recipes and how/why I would modify each one before serving it to my family.


Fettucini Alfredo
* Nonfat Dry Milk powder - can you say "processed?" Also added to reduced-fat milk, it contains carcinogens, oxidized cholesterol, and MSG. (www.truthinlabeling.org)
* Reduced calorie margarine - WHAT! Haven't we discussed the dangers of hydrogenation, not to mention the high temperature processing and chemically produced preservatives.

The use of whole cream, a little butter, some garlic, and homemade chicken stock not only makes a more delicious fetttucini alfredo sauce, but a much more nourishing one as well.

Breakfast Barsand Homemade Granola
* toasted wheat germ - why not the whole wheat?
* quick cooking oats - too processed for me, and if not properly prepared are undigestible. Grains like oats, rye, barley, and especially wheat should not be consumed unless they have been soaked or fermented.
* baking powder - most store bought brands contain alluminum; try making your own by mixing one part potassium bicarbonate, 2 parts cream of tarter, and 2 parts arrowroot. Store in airtight glass jar. Or at least look for alluminum-free at the grocery.
* brown sugar - unfortunately, just another refined sugar; use maple syrup or raw honey (watch out for formaldehyde in most commercial maple syrup)or maybe even sorghum
* canola oil - please see my recent blog titled "Rethinking fats" for a detailed discussion of why we should avoid oil that was developed from the rape seed, which is considered unsuited to humans because of erucic acid. Besides, what is a canola anyway? Use coconut oil or butter - see "Rethinking fats" for detail explanation
*fruit juice - while okay when consumed as part of the whole food, the juice is full of sugar and is often overly consumed; you probably won't need this at all if you use maple syrup, honey, or sorghum.
*fat-free egg substitute - you've got to be kidding me! I'm most sure God did not create chickens to lay wonderfully healthy eggs for us so that we might come up with some "fat free egg substitution" we think is better. I'll definitely be using my own REAL organic eggs (yolk and all) as often as I possibly can.

*lecithin, also included in these recipes and defined as "a nutritious by-product of soybean oil refining." First let me attack the words "nutritious by-product." There is no such thing as a nutritious by-product of any processed edible substance. Lecithin is usually used as an emulsifying agent; and the richest natural sources of lecithin are from foods that are also high in fat. Lecithin can be nutritious, when eaten in the foods in which it is naturally ocurring. A natural component of things like eggs, butter, and beef liver, it assists in the proper assimilation and metabolization of cholesterol (which we need) and other fat constituents. Lecithin also protects cells from oxidation and provides protection for the brain. But again, when eaten the way God intended for our bodies to utilize it...not in the form of a "by-product."

*canned fruit - canned foods (as in from the shelf of your grocery store, not your Mother's canned green beans stored in a glass quart jar in your pantry) should be used very sparingly; these foods lack important vitamins and enzymes not to mention the fact that they've been laced with pesticides and chemical fertilizers prior to picking - unless you choose organic.
*ham - I'm assuming the "menu" means deli ham. While pork in general is something I try to avoid, deli ham with nitrates and nitrites is definitely out of the question.
*mayonnaise - if GMO soybean oil wasn't bad enough, the modified food starch is sufficient to keep me from ever using store-bought mayo again. Instead, try making your own. It's not hard and it's so much better for your family.
*cream cheese - highly processed; again, I prefer to make my own.
*low fat yogurt and skim milk - if you've read any of my blog, you know the reasons to avoid "low fat" and "skim" anything. If you aren't sure, I'd encourage you to read fitandhealthytemple from the beginning.
*store-bought salad dressing - have you really read the label and you're still okay with this stuff? A little walnut oil and balsamic vinegar is delicious on most every salad.
*seedless fruit - God gave us every "seed-bearing" fruit for a reason.


While there are a few other things I found to be contraversial about this "healthy" presentation of ideas/recipes, I think I've focused on the most important. Again, watch out for the word "health" - if something claims to be "healthy" it probably isn't.