Healthy foods forum???

I've been searching the internet for a good forum I can go to for inspiration on healthy eating. I'm talking about organic whole foods type eating. Not counting fats and calories and using chemical sugar substitutes and "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter". (Because I CAN believe it's not butter!) :)

I read a bunch of books and was all inspired about 6 months ago to change my eating habits. I even realized proof of my better eating when I saw my hygenist and she couldn't believe how my teeth and gums had improved since she saw my 3 months before. I have juvenile periodontist and have already lost all my upper teeth because of it, but I'm trying keep my lower teeth as long as possible. I told her I was confident it was due to the changes in my eating and she was impressed. However, I have found myself falling off the wagon more and more lately. I'm hoping to find a website that will inspire me to keep up the good work, just as this site inspires me to get on my bike and ride!!!

For anyone interested, I did find a really great site with tons of great info and recipes, but it doesn't have a forum. http://www.whfoods.com You might want to check it out.

Anyways, if anyone knows of a good forum for me to explore, I'd love to hear about it. :D

We could just start posting healthy meals here!
Here's an easy health dinner I like to make- quantities depend on how many you want to feed
cooked quinoa
canned chick peas reaheated in their own liquid with a little lemon and oregano added
zuchinni sauteed in a little bit of olive oil
yogurt sauce (grated cucumber, fat free yogurt, a little minced garlic, salt, cumin)
reduced fat feta (the fat free is icky... and a little fat is good for you)
chopped red onion
diced tomato

serve either in bowls or stuffed into pitas (I like the whole wheat ones, but they are fragile so I usually put everthing and a bowl and eat it accompanied by the pita) - equally as good warm or cooled

vegsource.com has been around a long, long time and is tried and true. You won't find much about organic meat, I'm sure, but there is a lot of diversity there. They even have a huge homeschooling segment.

Karen

Hey, I've been doing the same thing for the past few months. Now that I've been eating mostly organic and locally grown food, I find that I actually enjoy trips to the grocery store (co-op or farmers' market, now.)

I'm not sure if they have forums where you can connect with other people, but here are two websites inspired by two of my favorite books on this topic.

Jane Goodall's Harvest for Hope

John Robbins' Food Revolution

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Originally Posted by Jiffer

I've been searching the internet for a good forum I can go to for inspiration on healthy eating. I'm talking about organic whole foods type eating. Not counting fats and calories and using chemical sugar substitutes and "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter". (Because I CAN believe it's not butter!) :)

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Jiffer, are you saying you actually use artificial sweeteners? That stuff is considered toxins and not healthy. Doctors will tell you that most artificial sweeteners remain in the liver, and it takes over six months of not consuming any for the body to flush it all out of the system.

I can't quite tell from the way you worded the sentence, if you intended to have a "not" in front of "using chemical sugar substitutes" because consuming artificial sweeteners is certainly not an aspect of healthy eating.

Darcy

Egullet is one of the better foodie sites out there. That means everything from starting a restaurant to how to make an enjoyable gourmet meal and still be within your Weight Watchers limits. Very diverse site.

There is plenty of discussion of treats (a whole forum on pastry and baking), so if that's likely to trigger you, it might not be the best place. On the other hand, members encourage each other to eat local, eat organic, and avoid heavily processed foods. Lots of encouragement for homemade lemonade, and none for diet Coke :).

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Originally Posted by DarcyInOregon

Jiffer, are you saying you actually use artificial sweeteners? That stuff is considered toxins and not healthy. Doctors will tell you that most artificial sweeteners remain in the liver, and it takes over six months of not consuming any for the body to flush it all out of the system.

I can't quite tell from the way you worded the sentence, if you intended to have a "not" in front of "using chemical sugar substitutes" because consuming artificial sweeteners is certainly not an aspect of healthy eating.

Darcy

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She meant she does not use artificial sweeteners. ;)

Not really related to discussing nutrition, but I like this website: http://www.localharvest.org

Check out the links on CSA's... I think they're totally a great way to eat naturally and locally-grown food products and support the farmers that try and make a difference.

K.

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Originally Posted by pyxichick

Hey, I've been doing the same thing for the past few months. Now that I've been eating mostly organic and locally grown food, I find that I actually enjoy trips to the grocery store (co-op or farmers' market, now.)

I'm not sure if they have forums where you can connect with other people, but here are two websites inspired by two of my favorite books on this topic.

Jane Goodall's Harvest for Hope

John Robbins' Food Revolution

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Jane Goodall's "Harvest of Hope" is a really good read. A must!

Adding to DarcyinOregon, yes some of the artificial sweetners approved in USA is banned in EU, Australia, Japan... If you do a search on Aspirtain (sp) and look at some of the technical journals, it has been linked to whole bunch of reall bad things ADD for starters.

We refused to buy anything made in China, not because we are racist, but rather because they have such poor safety track. Toothpaste sweetened with ethylene-glycol(anti freeze), dog&cat food, monkfish turned out to be puffer fish full of tetrodoxin (works on nerves and you stop breathing), other fish contaminated with fungacide, industrial red dye used in eggs...

Unfortunately, the labels do not indicate where the ingredients came from. So you could be eating something made in USA and have wheat glutin from China.

Needless to say, my housemate and I rarely eat any pre-processed food. Only processed food is ice-cream, pasta made in Italy, artisan bread (cause I been bit lazy about baking our own whole wheat bread).

Smilingcat

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Originally Posted by DarcyInOregon

Jiffer, are you saying you actually use artificial sweeteners?

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Hi Darcy. No, I haven't used artificial sweetners in at least 10 years, and didn't really use them much before that ... nor margarine, etc. Sorry if my post was confusing.

Yes, I am all about whole foods, organic and natural. I buy the least refined sugar. I tried Stevia, but I don't really care for it. I've been telling my mom for years how bad margarine and diet sodas are, yet just recently that she told me how bad hydrogenated oils are, so she won't eat margarine anymore. :confused: Ummm ... yah ... told you that 10 years ago! Sadly, I don't think she's truly caught on to the horror of chemical sweetners, though. She still has a diet soda from time to time. I'd rather drink water ANY day than a diet soda, not just because of the chemicals, but because I can't stand the taste. I allow myself and my kids one regular soda a week. Usually Dr. Pepper! :D Yesterday I tried to order one, but they didn't have it. I got Pepsi instead and didn't even finish it. It's just not the same! If I'm going to allow myself something so bad for me only once a week, it better be something REALLY tasty!

I know this isn't really whole foods but, soda sold in the U.S. is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, soda sold in other countries are sweetened with sugar. While neither of these are great choices if you are going to drink soda the sugar option is better, several U.S. retailers (including Wal-Mart) have started selling Mexican Coca-Cola and boy does it taste good.

This would be a great discussion thread. I keep trying to eat better. It lasts for a week or two then I fall off the routine. I have been staying away from sodas and juice except for the occasoinal OJ. I drink primarily water. My weaknesses are the snack type foods. I love pretzles, nuts, and some sweet treats as well.

Jones Soda rocks out with only sugar and no HFCS. :)

Karen

Eating healthy is partially defined by keeping toxins out of the body, which are chemicals that remain in the organs and lymphatic system and are difficult for the body to excrete.

Toxins enter our bodies through three routes: 1)the environment, with respect to what we are exposed to on a daily basis such as pollution; 2)the skin, as in lotions, perfumes, soaps and so on, and 3)the food and liquids we consume.

To eat healthy, a person needs to eliminate or minimize the amount of chemicals they consume. It is why so many TE members will say don't eat processed packaged foods, or frozen processed meals, or hormone fed meat and poultry, or cola soda pops. Other substances considered to be toxins are caffeine, alcohol and nicotine.

The accumulation of toxins in the body is believed to cause a wide range of illnesses, including cancers, allergies and immune disorders. Many of the effects are long-term, in the sense that it may take decades of toxin accumulation for the body to show signs of distress. By then, the person is older and suffering, and is looking back and regretting the years of choices that lead to a specific avoidable disease. A blatant example is a chain smoker who eventually gets emphysema or lung cancer. A not-so-obvious example might be a person who is suffering brain damage from constriction of the blood vessels in the brain.

It is why drinking a lot of pure water everyday is so important, because the water helps to flush out the toxins that enter the body through the breathing, the skin and the food/liquid consumption.

I wish I could be toxin free. I am not. I minimize my exposure to toxins by limiting my consumption of foods and drinks that are man-made chemicals, such as artificial sweeteners. I don't smoke, drink alchohol, or take drugs. I don't drink coffee or cola drinks. My worse folly is eating Oreo cookies on my longer rides during the summer months, because the cookies don't melt in the summer heat; I should make my own carrot cake with raisins to take with me instead.

Darcy

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Originally Posted by solobiker

My weaknesses are the snack type foods. I love pretzles, nuts, and some sweet treats as well.

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Nuts are great for you! Especially almonds. Just today I was eating nuts and told myself I needed to eat more of them (instead of cookies and chocolate). Of course, TOO much of anything can be bad, and you don't want to eat them just to eat them out of boredom when you're not even hungry, but if you're gonna have a snack, nuts are a great choice.

heres a organic and vegan nutrition guide. it has meal plans and stuff.

http://www.organicathlete.org/index....108&Itemid=277

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Originally Posted by smilingcat

We refused to buy anything made in China, not because we are racist, but rather because they have such poor safety track. Toothpaste sweetened with ethylene-glycol(anti freeze), dog&cat food, monkfish turned out to be puffer fish full of tetrodoxin (works on nerves and you stop breathing), other fish contaminated with fungacide, industrial red dye used in eggs...

Unfortunately, the labels do not indicate where the ingredients came from. So you could be eating something made in USA and have wheat glutin from China.

Needless to say, my housemate and I rarely eat any pre-processed food. Only processed food is ice-cream, pasta made in Italy, artisan bread (cause I been bit lazy about baking our own whole wheat bread).

Smilingcat

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And it is still possible to have a predominantly Asian style or even many Chinese cuisine dishes that adopt whole foods approach with just a few ingredients and no/very little ingredients from China. My mother's cooking is a testament to that. So when I get lazy, I just fall on dishes that she made for us as a child.

To me, whole foods eating...is new spin on something very old and taken for granted. If you take some of the world's traditional major cuisines and just focus on the dishes that have very little fat (and some cuisines don't use any butter)/no fat, no processed ingredients that contain sugar, chemicals in itself (ie. ketchup), lean meat/no meat, herbs/spices and focus on TECHNIQUE, then life ..really is a breeze to understand whole foods eating and cooking.

At its most simplest level, is to take any cuisine not at the gourmet level, but start right at the level how the peasants prepared their food where there was /is little money to buy pre-packaged/chemically treated food, that is another way to approach.

I haven't bought Italian dried pasta in the past 12 months. I now find it lighter on my palate to choose Asian dried pasta or occasionally thin fresh vermecelli.

Bread is from the artisan bakery that uses no chemicals, no sugar nor butter. Just make sure you don't ask for it presliced, otherwise the bread will harden faster (because it doesn't have chemicals to keep it soft). We just slice off a piece the loaf whenever we need a slice.

I actually didn't realize I had been cooking whole foods style most of time, until I started to look more closely at other people's shopping carts at the checkout or down aisles of mind-boggling pre-processed foods in plastic bags, cans and jars. While convenience cooking is a great thing and fine for 3-4 dishes per month, it is pretty shocking what is on the grocery shelves that have an abundance of chemical additives for preservation.

The pre-processed foods that we do have at home are: soy sauce (salt-reduced. Am working on reducing my intake.), capers (used maybe every 2-3 months), mustard (lots of brands that are fantastic without sugar), chili paste, occasionally sauerkraut (it's hard to find without sugar), soy black-bean garlic chili paste (I try to use sparingly), balsamic vinegar (we have several different flavours). We have alot of dried spices and herbs. And seem to have on hand at any time, 2-3 types of fresh herbs.

There are so many different fresh veggies and fruits to try:

http://www.foodsubs.com/Greenckg.html#Chinese%20spinach

For Asian green veggies that you are unfamiliar, the simplest way to start off is to wash, cut and sautee in hot pan for a few min. in a bit of oil, a bit of water so pan doesn't burn and if you wish a small jot of soy for seasoning. And have the veggie on the side. Then later, you can hunt around for more "complex" recipes (which often are not..)

For some salads, try adding raw peeled and sliced daikon (or Chinese white radish). Doesn't taste as spicy as the raw red little radishes. Or even peeled and chopped fresh water chestnuts can be a great textural twist. (Canned water chestnuts taste watered down.)

Well, there already is a whole forum on TE for "Nutrition,hydration,and Recipes"...and it has lots of good healthy recipes and healthy eating discussions on it-
Here is it, for those who don't know about it:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/forumdisplay.php?f=64

(Eastmobiles- what's up with the web advertising page link?)

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

(Eastmobiles- what's up with the web advertising page link?)

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Healthy Spam!

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Originally Posted by redrhodie

Healthy Spam!

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Hey, Knot would love that! :D
You can have your Spam and eat it too! :D

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Originally Posted by Jiffer

Nuts are great for you! Especially almonds. Just today I was eating nuts and told myself I needed to eat more of them (instead of cookies and chocolate). Of course, TOO much of anything can be bad, and you don't want to eat them just to eat them out of boredom when you're not even hungry, but if you're gonna have a snack, nuts are a great choice.

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I like baked almonds with dried cranberries. They're a good mix and u can get organic and cane sweetened.

Chocolate is not bad either. Stay away from the likes of hersheys and cadbury, but some good dark chocolate once is a while is excellent for general well-being. try Green & Blacks organic chocolate range. They have a Mayan (Gold??) one, and its spiced slightly and orange scented. Not too sweet too. I love it, excellent pick-me-up on a dreary afternoon.

As for HFCS, when I was in the US, I generally found things overwhelmingly sweet. Even cookies and such. Packaged cookies here are not as sweet, and also when I look at ingredients lists I see identifiable ingredients (and I'm talking about some cheap run of the mill factory made cookies, not special bakery sort of cookies). I think its all in the tastebuds. Mainstream Americans have gotten used to alot of sugar in their diet.

I recently discovered the site 101cookbooks.com. Just bought her book "super natural cooking". Haven't used it yet, but there's a lot of whole grain goodness going on!