Health Food

Defending Your Food Choices

February 21, 2015

Author: Amber French

I have noticed quite a few post on Social Media lately referring to the fact that the title “Organic” should in fact just be the norm and that everything else should bear the burden of a special designation.

I love that people are having this conversation and I think it goes a lot deeper than just organic foods.

Why are so willing to accommodate things that are devoid of health, and question foods, lifestyles, and choices that are full of vital health because some view them as difficult or unappealing? I don’t know about you but I find Chemotherapy unappealing. Potentially necessary and a weapon in my own “what If I get Cancer” arsenal, but unappealing AND difficult.

I recently had the great fortune of seeing Kris Carr speak with Gabrielle Bernstein in New York City. She is a well-known author and phenomenal speaker who continues to survive cancer for over a decade. She is great at departing her own wisdoms in a very inviting manner. Part of the reason that I identified with her is her positivity. She doesn’t preach, you barely even know you are learning from her. She is just the type you want to hear from and be around as much as you can.

I choose to talk about my own lifestyle choices in that way. I COMPLETELY agree that whole foods especially organics should be the norm, because they are, well, the norm. They are food as it comes in its most natural state. It hasn’t been modified or contaminated. However, I don’t feel the need to get defensive about not eating meat when people as questions. I see is as an opportunity to cook and share and feed. All things that I love to do.

Defending your food choices in whatever shape they manifest shouldn’t be about “I am right/you are wrong”. What I want to defend is the choice or the option. I want to defend against things that prohibit me (and others) from EASILY making the choice towards Whole Plant Based Foods. I want them to be accessible everywhere and cheap (or at least the same as their counterparts) cause Hell you didn’t have to do ANYTHING to them!!!

I want Whole Foods to be as convenient as Fast Food, so I can drive up to a window and have someone pass me a banana when I don’t feel like getting out of my car. I want to be able to call someone and have real Whole Food meals delivered to my door (no matter where I live).
I want my kid’s fundraisers to be healthful and vibrant and their hot lunch options to be recognizable and healthy.

I have been so fortunate that I don’t seem to get judged on my choices. I am sad for those that do. But I want more. I want my choices to become so mainstream that people don’t even notice them as different.

That’s not so much to ask is it?
Come share an apple with me and let me tell you about my choices….

Amber

About the Author: Amber has been in the fitness and recreation game for over 15 years (not including school!!). She made fitness her life because as the age old saying goes, study and teach what it is you need to learn. In other words, she’s battles with some weight issues for many years and wants to share what she has learned along the way.

You can follow her @TheVeganHouse

Juicing Vs. Smoothies – Which is Better for You?

February 20, 2015

Author: Amber French

Let me just be up front…. I LOVE juicing and I LOVE smoothies! Helpful, I know. But it kind of depends on what your goals and/or issues are.
Let’s start by defining both…

Smoothies are made in blenders and utilize all of the food placed in the blender. They tend to be thick in consistency and are great meal replacement or post workout/game/home renovation session.
Juices – are thin in consistency, they are made in special juicers and only utilize the juice in the fruit or veg you use, discarding the pulp and pits. They are killer for fighting colds, reversing disease and squashing inflammation.

The “pros” around Juicing and Smoothies are endless. The “Cons” are what trip people up and stifle the promised benefits for some.

Both drinks can become extremely high in calories and natural sugars. Smoothies have the benefit of bulk you are consuming everything you put in your blender. But it can quickly add up if you are adding pre-sweetened dairy alternatives like almond milk that can come in at 100 calories per cup. Paired with protein powders or nut butters (90-100 calories per TBSP) and sweeteners like maple syrup or honey (an additional 90-100 calories) and you haven’t even added your fruit yet!!!! Sweet fruits contain more calories. Throw some Pinapple in your above concoction and you are now tipping the caloric scale at around 500 calories!!!

All of a sudden your healthy breakfast smoothie is rivalling your lunchtime Big Mac and Fires! Now granted the healthy content of your smoothie can not rival the nutritional wasteland of fast food, but, if calories are a concern for you it still matters. For Smoothies you need to plan ahead and measure even if you have mastered your morning smoothie. it’s easy for those eye-balled measurements to slowly increase over time. Choose Lower calorie dairy alternative like unsweetened original almond milk and let the fruits you choose sweeten you smoothie. Add a few greens to pair with the sweeter fruits and limit you fruits to 1/2 cup per serving. Now a humongous serving can ring in at less than 200 calls.

Juicing is similar except it doesn’t have the luxury of stomach filling fibre and sheer quantity that the smoothie does. You are looking at consuming pretty close to the same amount of calories as you would if you ate the actual fruit or veg. again it is the sweet fruits that send those calories soaring. Apples, carrots, beets, pears etc. can add up quickly. For the most benefit nutritionally and calorically your juice should contain mostly greens (lettuce, spinach, kale, parsley etc.) a few low cal veggies like cucumber or tomato and 1/2 a cup of fruit. Adding things like limes and ginger or garlic can send your juice to the next level.

As long as you are willing to head the above advice the Juicing and Smoothie world can be life changing! You can cure colds and flus, increase your protein and micronutrient levels exponentially and hit all the RDA for your vitamins without shelling out big bucks for supplements and multi-vitamins.

Incorporating both of these techniques will increase your fruit and vegetable intake and leave you feeling energized, hydrated and refreshed.

My Go-To Green Juice

1/2 cucumber
6 romaine leaves
Handful of baby spinach
Peeled lime
1/2 a green apple.

Joyful Juicing,
Amber

Vegan Baking

February 19, 2015

Vegan Baking – Where I came from and where I am now

Author: Amber French

I can cook, I have been cooking for over 10 years. I think about meals and food all of the time. But baking I have never been good at. Even BV (Before Vegan) I never had the confidence or ingredients to pull off anything well. I was impatient and cheap. Baking always seemed expensive and had too many rules.

I wanted to bake (real bad) I would put myself in positions were I volunteered to bake cookies or dessert and then lie awake cursing myself for doing so.

I burned things (including myself) a lot.

Slowly I discovered that the right tools were 80% of the game. It was like trying to carve a sculpture and relying on marshmallows and pipe cleaners to get the job done.

I also discovered that following a recipe was key until I got comfortable and then I could experiment.

But I still wasn’t great at it and my dreams of feeding people perfectly frosted cupcakes and homemade oatmeal cookies remained a lofty goal.

Until I gave up eggs and dairy. All of a sudden baking became a world of experimentation and loose rules. If I made chocolate chip cookies with egg substitute and it was a bust, I could try flax seed or chia seeds to bind my bake goods.

I could control the amount of oil I used in my recipes by utilizing fresh apples instead. I experimented with flavours and textures. I used silken tofu to make maple pudding and key lime pies! I could use avocados to whip up dreamy chocolate mousse.

Black Beans and beets made brownies moist and delicious.

I discovered that doing things the way they had always been done wasn’t for me.

I could sneak real food and super grains into muffins (spelt, zucchini, carrots and oat flour). As I dug deeper I learned that I didn’t need everything to be bleached and hydrogenated. I could use real food, spices and the right tools and whip up magical creations that left people wanting more!

I could even do away with processed sugar and utilize maple syrups and coconut sugar to sweeten my experiments.

Soon the dread of bringing a dessert became a pleasure and prepackaged snacks and treats were replaced with weekly baking sessions resulting in less store bought snacks and some killer quick grab and go breakfasts.

Everyone has their favourite vegan substitutes. Mine are as follows….

Eggs = 1 Tbsp. of ground flax & 3 Tbsp. of water for every egg the recipe calls for.
Cream = Coconut milk (Can, not Carton)
Milk = Almond (unsweetened)

I also love subbing in apple sauce for oil or Coconut Oil for canola oil. I am obsessed with Chocolate chip cookies that combine Coconut Oil and Flax seeds!!! Super yummy!!

This recipe from the Kathy at the Lunchbox Bunch www.thelunchboxbunch.com are my current favourite cookie recipe.

Gotta recipe you want “converted” giving me a shout, I would be happy to help!

Happy Baking,
Amber

You can follow her @TheVeganHouse

Busting Plateaus – And Other Seemingly Impossible Feats!

February 18, 2015

Author: Amber French

Imagine this, you are driving down a hilly, winding highway at a relative good speed thinking of your sunny and bliss filled destination. Only to be stopped dead in your tracks by a GIANT Boulder blocking the entire width of the road. You have travelled over 80kms since the last exit and you see no way around your boulder. What do you do??

Some angrily go back to the last exit (80km ago), some continue to move the bolder using sheer willpower (and a stick) and some go all the way home, climb into bed and forget the whole trip.

Now imagine that your boulder is your plateau, you have been zooming along losing weight, staying positive, going longer distances, staying in your yoga poses or whatever your Highway/Goal is. You hit your rock. Whether it be stalled weight loss (or even a small gain) a bad class or a crappy run (or 5).

Ask yourself how do you handle this? Do give yourself permission to eat everything in the fridge and the local coffee shop, do you fume through your class or vow to never run again.

Seems a little dramatic when you say it out loud, but unfortunately that is what most of us do. After a brief period of time without seeing progression, we allow ourselves to become completely derailed. We turn around head all the way back to your starting point and lock your front door behind you.

Plateaus suck (literally) they suck out the ability to see how far we have come and to see even if we stop progressing right now, we are still in a better place than we were. But…what if we used the plateau to change and re-evaluate our goals. Maybe the half marathon is out, but your speed work is amazing so you aim for a Personal Best 10km instead. Sometimes it is a very loud and clear message that it is time for a change. Muscles adapt, brains get bored and goals become unrealistic. Start over from where you are. Change your routine, change your goal and get rid of what doesn’t work (or only adds stress).

You can look at your bolder, learn how to rock climb and go right up and over that sucker. Or you could go back 80km and take a different route longer more challenging route that reignites your fire, or maybe you get close enough to your boulder to realize it is actually a gigantic mound of tiny pebbles.

Pick up your shovel and blaze your own trail. Either way you are still on track to your desired outcome AND you have a renewed positive regime that will take you even faster to your next plateau that you will look forward to meeting, as now you can see it as an opportunity to change as it is a very clear message that you have mastered what you are currently doing.

Plateau Busters
Change what you do physically – training for a race? Switch to hills.
Change what you think mentally – see it is a chance to embrace something new and re-evaluate goals.
Change how you feel about your Plateau – see it as the door to the next chapter and a closing to your current chapter.

Most importantly keep moving forward and avoid moving backward – ALWAYS! Plateaus can always be broken.

You can follow her @TheVeganHouse

Hummus Power – Horseradish Hummus

February 17, 2015

Author: Amber French

I think I have consumed enough Hummus to fuel a small country. It is a versatile spread packed with protein and good fats (depending on how it is prepared of course). It is mainly three ingredients (although there are a million variations). Chickpeas, tahini (sesame seed butter) and lemon juice. Most commercial brands have olive oil and garlic as well.

I use the three, two, one method. 3 tbsp. of Tahini, 2 tbsp. of lemon juice and 1 can of chickpeas (or two cups, but 3, 2, 2, doesn’t sound as good). My add-ins range from the basic salt and pepper to the more flavourful horseradish and jalapenos. I love smoked paprika and roasted red peppers in it as well.

Hummus is great straight up (with carrot sticks or pita chips – or a spoon) or it can be used as a spread on sammies, mixed into chili’s or pasta sauces for a creamier texture or thinned out with some water to use as a pretty killer salad dressing!

I blend all the ingredients (wet on the bottom) and I usually add a couple of Tbsps. of water to get everything moving. The kids love it in instead of ketchup for grilled “cheese” and veggie nuggets! I even use it on pizza dough (topped with bruschetta = ridiculous).

The protein count in hummus is pretty spectacular too. Each cup of chick peas contains 12 grams of protein coupled with the protein in the tahini (3 grams for each Tbsp) makes for a pretty powerful snack.

Great for post workout or pre-dinner munchies and a big crowd pleaser for kids. Super for get-togethers (think Super Bowl) AND insanely delicious.

Homemade hummus (as outlined above and without add-ins like olive oil) can come in at about 650 calories for the whole shooting match compared to about 1200 calories for a similar size commercial brand. And Yes I can/have eaten the whole thing in one night.

If you aren’t ready to make your own, read the ingredients. If you don’t know/recognize the ingredients back away from the hummus. There are plenty of great brands that only use the basic (re: whole food) ingredients.

If you are ready to make the leap, here is my favorite (this week anyways) recipe. We make this every week and it is a steal at approximately $1.70 per yield compared to $4.99 in the store.

Enjoy and Happy Hummussing!

Horseradish Hummus
3 Tbsp. of Tahini (sesame seed butter)
2 Tbsp of fresh lemon Juice
1 can of chickpeas (rinsed first)
1-2 Tbsp. of Horseradish
Salt, white pepper and Nutritional Yeast to taste
Place ingredients in Blender starting with the lemon juice, add some spring water to get things moving in your blender. Store in an airtight container. It will be good for at least a week (But I beat it won’t last that long especially if you are inviting me over).
If you don’t have any horseradish substitute 1 Tbsp of chopped Jalapenos. YUMMMMM!!

You can follow her @TheVeganHouse