I can't afford to be healthy!!

I hear it all the time..eating healthy is so expensive and I can't afford to buy organic!
I understand the frustration that a lot of people feel, if you can buy a burger and fries at Mc Donald for a dollar each and to nosh some salad you have to spend three times the money.But eating healthy doesn't have to break your bank!Here are some money saving tips on eating healthy and vegan on a budget.


-Buy in Bulk
Beans,rice,nuts and seeds are all cheaper if you buy them in the bulk section of your health food store or Whole Foods.You can buy a pound of beans for just a little over a dollar, while a pound of beef will cost you way more.Add some tomatoes,veggies and spices to your protein packed super beans and you can whip up a big pot of veggie chili, that will last for a couple of days.


-Stay Away from Processed Foods
It is the packaged processed food that really burns a whole in your wallet.If you compare a package of cereal with some oatmeal from the bulk section you will be able to stretch your dollar way further by buying the oatmeal.The same goes with frozen meals,cookies,crackers and chips!
The more junk food you eat,the more you want it and the more you will buy it.If you eat a wholesome meal your body will get all the nutrients it needs and you will be less likely to spend your money on another junk food binge.It doesn't matter if it is Vegan,processed food is junk and expensive!




-Cook at Home
Yes I know,so many of you don't have time to prepare and chop tons of veggies at home and prepare a from scratch meal every day.Think ahead!Prepare a big pot of rice or pasta at the beginning of the week and toss it with veggies,tempeh and add your favourite sauce whenever the hunger strikes.Have curry veggie rice one day and Italian style pasta the next.You can make pasta salad or wrap the rice in a taco with some beans and guacamole for a hearty meal.Have a big salad with it and you are good to go.
Think about how much you spend on take out food and restaurants a month.You will save so much money, if you prepare your own food and you will actually know what it is you are eating!


-Shop in Season
Don't buy strawberries and pineapple in the wintertime!!! Out of season fruits and vegetables have to travel a long way and are tough on your wallet.
Buy local, and buy fruit and veggies that are in season, this way you will support your budget and mother nature will thank you.



-Buy at the Farmers Market
Organic food at the Farmers Market is often way cheaper than it is at the store.You will have an impact on the environment,the local farmers and your bank account.



-Buy Frozen Fruit and Veggies
Frozen fruit and vegetables are good alternatives to fresh produce.They are often cheaper than their fresh brothers and sisters and if they are flash frozen right after picking they will keep their nutritional value.This way you have the possibility to buy some strawberries in the wintertime-if you have too (-;



And Last but Not Least
-Think about the Future...
If you consider that meat and dairy foods clog your body with saturated fat, growth hormones and antibiotics, things that have been conclusively linked to cancer, heart disease, and obesity, it is certainly a lot less expensive -- and less painful -- to prevent diseases through your food choices than it is to treat them later (through bypass surgery or angioplasty, for example, which can run up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills). 


Love and Cookies

Jennifer

The ''Dirty Dozen'' and ''Clean 15''

2011 “Dirty Dozen” list has THE MOST PESTICIDES.
BUY THESE ORGANIC!!

1.Apples
2.Celery
3.Strawberries
4.Peaches
5.Spinach
6.Nectarines
7.Grapes
8.Sweet Bell Peppers
9.Potatoes
10.Blueberries
11.Lettuce
12.Kale/Collard Greens


2011 “Clean 15” list has the LEAST PESTICIDES.
If you want, you can get these conventional and it will cut down on your intake of pesticides.

1.Onions
2.Sweet Corn-non organic corn is often genetically modified,it is better to buy corn organic!
3.Pineapples
4.Avocados
5.Asparagus
6.Sweet Peas
7.Mangoes
8.Eggplant
9.Cantaloupe
10.Kiwi
11.Cabbage
12.Watermelon
13.Sweet Potatoes
14.Grapefruit
15.Mushrooms


Love and Cookies

Jennifer

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

OK I don't know why, but lately I have been obsessed with Peanut Butter and Chocolate.I mean seriously...I have been in the States for too long..what's up with that peanut butter!!!Now we are not talking about Reese's peanut butter cups here.They are bad for you and full of sugar and dairy.So I came up with my own version..so good you will never go back to the orange colored packaged junk.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 cup organic (no salt,no oil,dry roasted) crunchy or creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup chopped almonds


Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
Combine the peanut butter and salt, mix well together and stir over medium heat until melted.
Remove mixture from the heat and evenly divide it among the muffin cups.
Combine the chocolate chips and almond milk and stir over medium heat until chocolate has melted.
Spoon the chocolate evenly over the peanut butter mixture.
Top with chopped almonds and let set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.


OK I know what I will do right now at 1 am in the morning..it is peanut butter and chocolate time.Hope you love them like I do.


Love and Cookies

Jennifer

Heart Attack Grill...you gotta be kidding me!!!

I stubbled across this on Kris Carr's blog and I still can't believe it!!
There is a place outside Phoenix, Arizona, whose name, and I am not making this up, is the Heart Attack Grill. The restaurant is very often packed. It offers what owner Jon Basso calls, “an environment of acceptance to overweight customers who are typically demonized by society.”
But at this restaurant, it’s a little more than acceptance. The Heart Attack Grill literally celebrates obesity. Customers who are over 350 pounds eat for free. A scale is strategically placed at the center of the restaurant, so other diners can watch the weigh-ins. When customers exceed 350 pounds, says the restaurant’s owner, “Everybody applauds and cheers for them. A big smile comes over their face, and for once they are finally accepted. They are not picked on here.”
Waitresses, all of them young and slender, are dressed as nurses, wearing high heels, thigh-high stockings, and skimpy outfits revealing lots of cleavage.
It sounds like fun.
Except when it isn’t.
Several months ago, the 575-pound spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill, a 29-year-old man named Blair River, died. It wasn’t a heart attack, it was pneumonia. He had been the public face of the restaurant and the star of its advertising. He was also the single father for a five-year-old girl.
At nearly 600 pounds. Blair River ate all his meals free at the restaurant.
Heart Attack Grill owner Jon Basso did not deny the link between the young man’s excessive weight and his tragically premature death. “I hired him to promote my food,” said Basso, “[but his] life was cut short because he carried extra weight.” Ironically, the restaurant’s motto is “Food Worth Dying For.”
Of course, no one is forcing anyone to eat at the Heart Attack Grill or to stuff themselves full of unhealthy food. It’s a free country, and we’re free to eat ourselves to death if we want to do so.
Some would say that the Heart Attack Grill steps over a line, to the point of enabling dangerous food addictions. There is certainly nothing remotely resembling healthy on the menu. Customers can purchase cigarettes, but only the non-filtered type. On the wall are prominent displays advertising menu items such as “Quadruple Bypass Burgers” that carry 8,000 calories, and “Flatliner Fries” that are deep-fried in pure lard. Perhaps joking, owner Basso says, “We’re in the front lines of the battle against anorexia.”
But Blair River’s death is no joke. And it would be a mistake to make light of the medical consequences of obesity. The Centers for Disease Control tells us that obese people have a substantially higher risk not only for heart attacks, but also for diabetes, most cancers, and many other types of cardiovascular disease.
Heart Attack Grill owner Basso doesn’t plan any changes on account of the young man’s death. Scantily-clad waitresses will still regularly exhort customers to eat all they can. He’s making money, and thinks the restaurant is great fun.

UNBELIEVABLE...I HAVE NO WORDS!!!!

Love and Cookies

Jennifer

Jillian Michaels opinion on ''Vegan Raw Food''

Let me first start by saying that I love Jillian Michaels.I think it is amazing what she did on all the seasons of Biggest Loser.How she helped out hundreds even thousands of people mentally and physically.She is an amazing women and an inspiration to a lot of people.I read her book ''Unlimited'' and the way she approaches life and tells you how to be the best you can be and reach your full potential is very motivating.She knows how the human body and mind functions and as we all know when she has a strong opinion about something, she will let everybody know and doesn't sweet talk anybody about it.You go Girl...

Which brings me to the topic I wanted to talk about.
Ever since leaving Biggest Loser Jillian is on the WCIU Show ''The Doctors''.The show is hosted by 3 doctors plus Jillian and the main subjects are health,beauty,nutrition and exercise.So today they discussed the raw vegan diet.And let me tell you Jillian had a very strong opinion about the vegan diet.She got really upset!She said that the human body is not meant to thrive on a vegan diet,that we can get E.coli from a raw vegan diet,that we are missing out on important B vitamins and that most of the vegetables we eat are better when they are cooked...
Well everybody is entitled to have their own thinking...I just wonder why she is so against it.As far as I know her once Co- Partner on BL Bob Harper is a Vegan or at least a part time Vegan(-;

We can argue back and forth if we are meant to eat meat but everybody knows that we should eat more plant foods and less animal products.If we all would lean more towards a plant strong diet,obesity rates would go down quickly.Nobody ever got fat and unhealthy from raw fruits and vegetables,whole grains,beans and legumes...burgers and hot dogs on the other hand..well that is another story!!!

The reason why there are E.coli outbreaks and people have gotten sick from eating spinach or cucumbers is because factory farms dump millions of gallons of putrefying waste into massive open-air cesspits,which can then contaminate the water that is used to irrigate the crops.E.coli is a bacterium that comes from poop..from animal poop.You can even get it if you swim in water that is contaminated.So lets not blame our beautiful raw veggies...

The list below shows all the important B Vitamins our body needs,besides Vitamin B12 we can obtain all these B Vitamins from a plant based diet.The reason why Vegans don't get enough B12 is because microorganisms, primarily bacteria, are the only organisms that manufacture B12. These bacteria often live in bodies of water and soil. Animals get B12 by eating food and soil contaminated with these microorganisms.Since Vegans don't eat any animal products and usually wash vegetables before consuming we hardly get B12.If we would still all have vegetable gardens and healthy rich soil there would be no Vitamin B12 issue.

Vitamin B₁ (thiamine)
Vitamin B₂ (riboflavin)
Vitamin B₃ (niacin or niacinamide)
Vitamin B₅ (pantothenic acid)
Vitamin B₆ (pyridoxine, pyridoxal, or pyridoxamine, or pyridoxine hydrochloride)
Vitamin B₇ (biotin)
Vitamin B₉ (folic acid)
Vitamin B₁₂ (various cobalamins)

There are 2 vegetables which nutrients are better absorbed when the are cooked.Carrots and Tomatoes.Carrots do release more of that beta-carotene and other phenolic compounds when they are cooked rather than eaten raw.Cooked tomatoes are also higher in lycopene than raw ones.
Those two vegetables-well tomatoes are actually a fruit are the only exception of the rule.Raw vegetables are far more nutritious.Overcooking veggies can rob them of much of their nutritional content.

I respect and appreciate when famous people have their own opinion,but they also have to understand that they have a big influence on people. Saying that a Vegan Diet is unhealthy is plain and simple ignorant!


Love and Cookies

Jennifer

Little Veggie Chorizo Pizzas

Me and my husband love to go to Chicago to Karyn's on Green. A while ago we ate this amazing vegan chorizo pizza,with aioli,avocado and topped off with some greens.I turned Karyn's Pizza into my own!!These are amazing and no meat eater will ever know that they are vegan.
I don't promote a lot of soy products but this kind of soy chorizo is amazing and I eat it as a treat every once in a while.


Ingredients:
3 whole wheat english muffins
3/4 cup tomato sauce-you can use the recipe from the healthy pizza recipe
1 package Trader Joe's soy chorizo
1 large avocado
A handful of arugula or greens of your choice
1/8 cup aioli-recipe follows


Aioli
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of cooked navy beans
1/8-1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 garlic gloves
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Pepper to taste

Saute garlic for a few minutes.Set aside to cool down.Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor and process until smooth.Add Olive oil.Adjust taste to your liking.


Cut english muffins in half and spread about 1tbsp of tomato sauce on each muffin.Add 1 heaping tbsp
of the soy chorizo on top.Set aside.
Cut avocado in half and slice into small pieces-make sure you use a ripe soft avocado.
Tear greens into small pieces.
Bake the little pizzas topped with sauce and chorizo for about 5 min.
Top with avocado,greens and aioli sauce.Serve hot!


Love and Cookies

Jennifer