Healthy Fats 101. My Story: Fat-Phobia and Cholesterol.

As a teenage girl, I went through a phase of being a true fat-phobe. Fat in my food scared me. And I wasn't alone. It's a common fear among young girls discovering nutrition and dieters of all ages. After a few years of being afraid of all fat, something had to give. Starving my body of monounsaturated fats and oils left me feeling depressed, tired, cranky and moody. My hair, skin and nails were bone dry. And my cholesterol tests showed I was wrecking havoc on my body. Here is my story about how this fat-free teenager learned to love her California girl avocados, almonds and olive oil....

Fat. It's a fascinating topic in nutrition. And I'm not talking about body fat, but the kind you eat. Before I begin my story, lets go over a few nutrition basics of fat.

Three types of Fats.
Monounsaturated Fats. "Good Fat"
Saturated Fats. "Bad Fat."
Polyunsaturated fats. "Not as good as Mono fats"
Cholesterol: HDL=good cholesterol. LDL=bad cholesterol.
*I call HDL the "happy" cholesterol to help me remember.

What is recommended:
AHA Guidelines:
* Limit total fat intake to less than 25–35 percent of your total calories each day;
* Limit saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of total daily calories;
* Limit trans fat intake to less than 1 percent of total daily calories;
* The remaining fat should come from sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as nuts, seeds, fish and vegetable oils; and
* Limit cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg per day, for most people. If you have coronary heart disease or your LDL cholesterol level is 100 mg/dL or greater, limit your cholesterol intake to less than 200 milligrams a day.

How Much for Me? Everyone is different, so the exact amount of fat that is perfect for your body will probably be different than your neighbors. The AHA gives this example: "A sedentary female who is 31–50 years old needs about 2,000 calories each day. Therefore, she should consume less than 16 g saturated fat, less than 2 g trans fat and between 50 and 70 grams of total fat each day (with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, such as fish, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils)."

How Much is 50-70 grams? Well, that is two avocados or one avocado (31 grams of fat) plus 1-3 Tbsp of olive oil (14 grams of fat per Tbsp). To put this in perspective of the typical 'unhealthy' American diet...One Mcdonald's Cheeseburger has 6 grams of saturated fat, 12 grams of total fat and 300 calories.

The above mentioned 2000 calorie diet, should then have a maximum intake of about 15.5 grams of saturated fat. However, the lower your diet is in saturated fat the better. So if you ate one avocado (4 grams saturated fat) and 2 Tbsp's Olive Oil (2 grams Saturated fat per Tbsp), you'd have 8 grams of saturated fat, way under that Max amount. (FYI, 15.5 grams of saturated fat is about two McDonald's cheeseburgers worth.) I'm glad I stopped eating those years ago.

Saturated Fat Sidenote: *see coconut oil note at end of this post.

Cholesterol and Fat.
The American Heart Association Says: "Knowing which fats raise LDL cholesterol and which ones don't is the first step in lowering your risk of heart disease. In addition to the LDL produced naturally by your body, saturated fat, trans-fatty acids and dietary cholesterol can also raise blood cholesterol. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats appear to not raise LDL cholesterol; some studies suggest they might even help lower LDL cholesterol slightly when eaten as part of a low-saturated and trans-fat diet."

Now that we are on the same playing field of what the experts say, this is my story...

Avocados, Almonds and Olive Oil for this California Girl. I grew up eating avocados, almonds and olive oil. Easy to do when you are from California. One high-fat Avocado has 4 grams of protein, 15 grams carbohydrate and 31 grams of fat. However, avocados contain mostly good monounsaturated fat (19 grams in 1 avocado). Almonds are similar. They contain 163 calories per ounce, 14 grams of fat and around 9 grams of monounsaturated fats. Only 1 gram per ounce of saturated fat. Olive oil is similar as well. Per Tbsp it has 14 grams of fat total, 119 calories, about 2 grams of saturated fat and 10 grams of monounsaturated fats. All three of these foods are locally available in California. And all three are foods I ate a lot of as a child.

Society's Influence. Impressionable Minds. Somewhere along the road of youth I started obsessively reading nutrition labels, glancing at Cosmopolitan Magazine and Model-Splashed Clothing Catalogues, believing skinny celebrity propaganda and I also had one too many perfume ads plastered across my bedroom wall. The dieting propaganda and lack of positive female images in the media was enough to make anyone, including myself, a little confused about what 'healthy' meant. "Low-Fat" was in, according to the covers of magazines, and I took their advice a bit too far. I started to second-guess anything with the word 'fat' associated with it. 20 grams of fat in my large side of guacamole? Uh-oh.

Fat Phobia. In high school, like many girls, I wanted to 'lose a few pounds' and I was convinced that I was eating too much fat. Bad idea for someone with a perfectly healthy weight and happy disposition. Thus for a few years I turned into a true fat-phobic person. I'd beg my mom not to put ANY olive oil in my steamed Kale and Garlic. I'd ask for dressing on the side of all my salads. I banned cheese and only ate fat free frozen yogurt. High fat ice cream was out. I banned my favorite: guacamole and opted to only eat spoonfuls of fat free salsa when my friends and I dined out at Mexican Restaurants. I banned the tortilla chips as well. Maybe 2-3 per bowl of salsa. Never a fan of butter, I'd make sure my toast was dry with only a bit of sugar-free all fruit jam, and any foods that appeared greasy, cheesy or oily got a thorough wipe-down from my napkin to sop up all the excess grease before I dared eat it. Yup, I was a fat-phobe. A teenage girl phase indeed.

Fat-Phobia Pays its Price. It's true that while I was cutting back on calories and just about banning all fats from my diet I lost a few pre-college pounds. Whoopi. (Can you hint the sarcasm here, I hope?) But what I didn't realize was that this fat-free eating was wrecking serious havoc on my body, including my cholesterol levels, mood and even God forbid-my hair, nails and skin! Gasp.

Fat-Free Toll. So during those few years of fat-phobia some scary things started happening. Yes, I lost weight-at first, but I also lost my good mood. Eating a high protein/carb diet left me incredibly cranky. When I'd eat a big snack before tennis practice I'd realize that it would quickly get burned off (with no fats to slow down digestion) so I'd be very susceptible to mood swing highs and lows. I'd eat, get a huge spike of energy and quickly fall flat. Crankiness and lethargy ensued. And note that the only thing I was doing to my diet was cutting out large chunks of fat. I had dry sin, my childhood eczema resurfaced and my hair and nails were bone dry. This was not the beauty-forward diet I was seeking.

College Cholesterol Wake-Up Call. It wasn't until college that my fat-free phobia really hit me. It was the results from my routine first-year of-college student physical. You'd think a healthy weight, fat-free vegetarian would have fabulous levels of everything right? I expected everything to be perfect, but I was shocked when one of the blood tests showed that I had less than stellar cholesterol readings and pitiful HDL numbers-my good cholesterol was incredibly low. Not good. Especially for someone who has a genetic family trait of high cholesterol.

What to do When Faced with Poor Test Results? When you get a medical test result that is poor you have two options of action: One, nothing. Two, something. Being me, I chose to do something the best I could. I added a lot of avocados, almonds and olive oil back to my diet. I decided to give it a try. The first thing I noticed was that my mood improved. My hunger was less erratic and my dry skin eczema disappeared. Yay! But the biggest change was that I was happier. I wasn't depriving myself anymore and the increased fat in my diet really helped even out my energy levels - which is huge for a new college student. And guess what, the next semester, my blood test showed that my HDL levels skyrocketed. My doctor was very impressed, and so was I.

My Story. This is my story. I am a one-time fat-phobe who will never go back to that state of mind, or that fat-free diet. But for me, this now comes quite naturally. As a vegan, I find it very easy to avoid 'bad' saturated fats from animal products, and find it easy to include various healthy fats from nuts, avocados and olive oil to my diet. No, I don't go overboard. I still watch my calories and total fat on a daily basis. If you want to be healthy you really have to be aware of how much of what is entering your body. However, for me, fat deprivation is no way to live. If I want to eat an entire avocado in my salad, I will and then I will simply not crave any more high-fat foods that day. So all in all I've found that my body regulates itself quite nicely. You'll probably find that as well. If you eat a meal higher in olive oil and nuts and healthy fats in general, you'll feel full for a while and maybe only need a few more carbs and proteins to get you through the rest of the day.

Fat-Fear No More. Whenever I am around teenage girls or new dieters of any age, the first trend I notice in their meals is having a fear of fat. No matter what the food, if it has fat in it they will cringe and run. True they don't have any problem with drinking two gallons of artificially colored sports beverages or high sugar sweets like candy and fat free frozen yogurt, but a slice of avocado and they freak out. I know these girls well because I was one. But hopefully, they will learn that true healthy eating doesn't start by banning certain foods from your diet. Healthy eating really starts by adding healthy foods to your diet and eventually you'll lose interest in those unhealthy foods. Why? Simply because you'll feel better eating the good stuff.

Me vs. You. Everyone's story is different. Everyone's body and chemistry is different-especially when it comes to cholesterol. I know plenty of skinny folks with high cholesterol and even a few overweight folks with average or healthy levels of cholesterol. But this story is what worked for me. Getting rid of my fat-phobia improved my health greatly. And if you are a fat-phobic person or know any teenagers with that 'fat is bad' mentality, I encourage you to forward them this post. They may not change the way they eat, but at least they will hear my story. They will see that I successfully added healthy fats back into my diet and guess what, I didn't gain weight. In fact, when I first made the switch away from fat-free eating, I lost a lot of weight. And I lost that horrible feeling of deprivation. This is my story, and I'm glad to share it with you.

*note: I'm not even going to get into coconut oil right now. But you may notice that coconut oil is labeled as high in saturated fat. This type of oil is still controversial and so I will not bring it into this discussion.

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Fennel Arugula Citrus Salad. Gourmet Taste for Less!

When I dine out at a fancy-schmancy restaurant, I often find one of my favorite salads on the menu: Fennel, Arugula and Citrus. I love it. Thin citrus-marinated fennel slices, crisp spicy arugula, sweet slivers of oranges and sometimes accented with crisp onion or creamy avocado. No cheese please. But a restaurant fennel salad isn't cheap. Perusing NYC restaurant menus, I found this appetizer salad costing anywhere from $7.50-$29, the pricier salads included cheese garnishes. Wowsers, right? Well, I made a delicious variation of fennel salad for under $3 retail value per person. And that includes ingredient extras like avocado and onion. Very nice. Click ahead for my healthy twist on the classic recipe fennel salad recipe...


Fennel Bulb. I am in love with fennel. Eating raw fennel just makes my entire meal taste better because it cleans my palate and eases digestion. Read more about fennel, super food, here.

Citrus, Arugula, Avocado, Onion. OK, so the fennel is the headliner ingredient in this salad, but don't forget the delicious accent flavors that are included. Creamy avocado, spicy light arugula leaves, a thinly sliced red onion and a delicious layer of sweet oranges. A hint of lemon juice, olive oil and black pepper make this salad soar with summertime flavor.



Fennel Marinade. The only 'dressing' on this salad is really the marinade in the fennel. I also like to drizzle a bit or olive oil right over the arugula and avocados. My fennel marinade is not simply a lemon/olive oil blend. I also add in a drop of Vegenaise. The white vegan topping adds a subtle creaminess to the texture and it also enhances the natural white color of the fennel. It looks and tastes beautiful! Oh, and don't forget that fresh crushed pepper. If you are someone who loves spice, you can add in some cayenne or paprika. However, both of these spices will change the marinade color to a light orange-pink.

Gourmet Taste on a Budget. So I recently had a Fennel Salad at Jean-Georges' Mercer Kitchen in SoHo, NYC. It's one of my favorite things on the menu. It was $9 and had mushrooms (and cheese which I request to be not added). They shave the fennel super thin. So delicious! But I wanted a larger portion of the salad (with my veggie add-ins) at an at-home price. So here's how the cost breaks down: avocado: $1 per half, orange: 50 cents, arugula bulk: $1, red onion: 50 cents, 'dressing marinade' and fennel fronds garnish: around $50, lemon: 25 cents, half an extra large fennel bulb: $1.50. So basically, two servings of my salad costs around $5.50. That's only $2.25 per salad. No too shabby.

Here is my delicious, simple and at-home-gourmet recipe...

Gourmet Fennel Citrus Salad
vegan, serves 2 (easily doubled to serve more)

1 1/2 cups fennel bulb, sliced thin
*about 1/2 an extra large fennel bulb
1 orange, peeled, de-seeded and sliced
1 small red onion, sliced thin
3 cups organic arugula
1/2 avocado, sliced
fennel marinade 'dressing':
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp agave syrup
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp Vegenaise
garnish: fennel fronds, fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Slice all your veggies.
Rub avocado with a bit of lemon juice to preserve color.
Optional: Chop arugula leaves into smaller bits for an easier eating experience.
Place the sliced fennel in a large bowl.
Add vinegar, lemon juice, Vegenaise, salt, pepper and agave syrup.
Toss well until each fennel slice is well coated.
Set aside.
Start plating.
Lay a layer of arugula on the plate.
Lay a circle of avocado spears in a circle around the edges of the plate-on top of the arugula.
Drape a handful of red onion slices over the avocado spears and arugula.
Drizzle a tablespoon or so of olive over top of the salad.
Next, Spoon a nice portion of the marinated fennel on top of the salad.
Place your orange slices on top of the fennel and around the edges of the plate.
Garnish with a few fennel fronds and a lemon slice.
Grind some fresh black pepper on top.
You can drizzle the leftover fennel marinade on top of the salad if you'd like.
Enjoy!
More yummy fennel salad images below...

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Vegan and Vegetarian Trends Survey. Take it. Pass it on!

It is frustrating when the only facts, findings and statistics about vegans and vegetarians are sketchy and uninteresting. So I decided to make my own Vegan and Vegetarian Trends Survey to discover a few of the lifestyle and dietary trends among Veg*n's. There are 25 questions in the survey.

What's a Veg*n? The term veg*n describes the group of people who are either vegan or vegetarian. Please take this survey, and pass it around to your family, friends, co-workers and online veg-friends. Check back in a few days for the results and highlights from the survey!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Thanks for your support! Please take the survey and pass it on!

Survey URL: http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/ajK4Xqa/-Vegn-Vegan-and-Vegetarian-Diet-Trends-Quiz-2009

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Webster's Dictionary Words 2009: Goji, Acai, Locavore.

A few of my favorite words (and foods) have been officially added to the 2009 Webster's Dictionary. Among the additions are Goji, Acai and Locavore. Click ahead to read the official definitions and more 2009 word additions...

Healthy New Words. I'm so glad that goji and acai have been added. However, my blogger.com spell check needs to catch up to these new word additions!...Also, I'm starting a trend to make Bee-gan (a vegan who eats honey) a 2010 Webster's addition word!

2009 Word Additions:

Acai-a small dark purple fleshy berrylike fruit of a tall slender palm (Euterpe oleracea) of tropical Central and South America that is often used in beverages ; also : the palm

Goji-the dark red mildly tart berry of a thorny chiefly Asian shrub (Lycium barbarum) that is typically dried and used in beverages

Locavore-one who eats foods grown locally whenever possible



Other 2009 Merriam-Webster's Dictionary word additions:

1. acai
2. carbon footprint
3. cardioprotective
4. earmark
5. fan fiction
6. flash mob
7. frenemy
8. goji
9. green-collar
10. haram
11. locavore
12. memory foam
13. missalette
14. naproxen
15. neuroprotective
16. pharmacogenetics
17. physiatry
18. reggaeton
19. shawarma
20. sock puppet
21. staycation
22. vlog
23. waterboarding
24. webisode
25. zip line

For more, visit the Websters Dictionary Website

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Agave Syrup 101: Why it's a Healthy Sugar Substitute.

I get a lot of questions about my use of Agave Syrup as a sweetener in my vegan recipes. So here is my Agave Syrup 101 post. It is a must read for anyone who is health-conscious or simply curious about what they put in their bodies. I encourage all professional or amateur chefs to read this post as well. There is a wide world beyond white sugar. Click ahead for Agave Syrup 101, it includes health benefits, directions of use, sweetener comparisons and the history of this healthy sugar substitute...

Sugar Confusion. I'm never surprised by the presence of confusion when it comes to sugar and sweeteners. With so many natural and artificial sweeteners on the market today, navigating the sweetener aisle can be a bit daunting. Options include: stevia, honey, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, molasses, white sugar, sucanut, raw sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup and even those frightening little pink, blue and yellow packets marked ominously with zero calories. Sweet foods should have calories. Anything otherwise, goes against nature and will likely include chemicals. Stevia is the new natural zero-calorie sweetener, but quite frankly, the bitter metallic taste doesn't appeal to me. There are a number of sweeteners that I use on a regular basis, but if you are just starting to experiment, I highly suggest you try agave syrup. It's user friendly, minimally processed and has a lower Glycemic Index rating than most sweetener options.


Health Benefit: Low GI. Agave syrup has a lower glycemic index that granular sugars and even other natural sweeteners like dehydrated cane juice, date sugar or maple sugar crystals. A lower glycemic index means that agave syrup is less likely to cause a spike in your blood sugar. And many scientists have argued that spiked blood sugar can trigger the fat storing mechanism in the body. Thus making agave syrup a better option if you are trying to control or lose weight.

Vegan, for sure. No Bone Char, guaranteed! All vegans have heard about the possible use of animal by-products, in this case animal bones, in the processing of many low quality white sugars. Some granulated and even brown sugar, mostly made from cane sugar, are filtered using animal-bone-based charcoal, also known as bone char. Yuck. Agave nectar is completely plant-derived, vegan and bone char free.

What is Agave? The agave plant, which resembles an aloe vera or cactus plant, grows in dry regions and specifically thrives in Southern Mexico. Most agave syrup is produced from the Blue Agave plant. In Mexico, the nectar from the plant has been known for years as 'honey water'. Agave has only gone mainstream in the United States over the past few years. Agave syrup can be found as a sugar option for tea and coffee at many mainstream health-valued restaurants and cafes such as Le Pain Quotidian an even smaller cafes like Teany in NYC. (Agave syrup lines the shelves of the 'sweetener section at Teany'. Yippee. Agave sweetened foods can be found all over the supermarket and store chains like Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's carry a wide variety of agave syrup brands and products.

Agave Syrup Taste. Agave Syrup is similar to honey or maple syrup, but the taste is lighter and pure-tasting in sweetness. Agave's texture and consistency is a bit thinner than honey, but thicker than maple syrup. While honey provides a strong floral 'honey' flavor, and maple a strong woody-sweet 'maple' flavor, agave's taste is a bit more pure and simply sweet. Thus, it makes the perfect sweetener to replace the simply sweet flavor of traditional sugar.

Agave vs. Maple Syrup. Maple syrup is indeed a fabulous natural sweetener. however it has a very distinctive flavor that may not be appropriate for all recipes. The main problem with maple syrup, however, is the price. Maple syrup is usually almost twice as much as agave syrup. This is a very appealing reason to get excited about using agave syrup: cheaper than maple syrup. I also find that maple syrup doesn't go well in my hot beverages, agave does.



How to Replace Sugars with Agave Syrup:

Honey: Replace every cup of honey with a cup of agave. 1 to 1 ration in sweetness.
Maple: same as honey, 1 to 1 ratio for use.
Corn Syrup: Replace each cup of corn syrup by using 1/2 to 1/3 as much agave and increase other liquids in the recipe by up to 1/3 of a cup.
White Sugar: For each cup of white sugar replaced, use 2/3 of a cup of agave and reduce other liquids by 1/4 to 1/3 cup. This substitution will also work for Demerara Sugar, Turbinado Sugar, Evaporated Cane Juice, or Sucanat.
Brown Sugar: the same as white sugar, only you will not need to reduce the liquids because brown sugar has a higher moisture content than white sugar.

Other notes: Agave syrup may cause baked items to brown more quickly, so you may want to reduce the heat by 15-25 degrees.

Ancient healing properties of agave: The Aztecs used a blend of agave nectar and salt to dress wounds and heal skin disorders or infections. Modern medical study has confirmed agave's remedial properties. Agave nectar applied to the skin has been found effective against pyogenic (pus producing) bacteria. Adding salt to the nectar further boosts its anti-microbial property. Agave nectar has also been proven effective against enteric (intestinal) bacteria.

Other Facts:

"Safe for Babies. Parents are vigorously warned not to give honey to children in their first year of life. This is because honey frequently contains a bacteria that can cause botulism. While this bacteria is harmless to anyone over the age of one year, it can produce toxins in an infant’s immature intestinal tract, causing sickness, hospitalization, and in rare cases, death. Agave syrup is not known to cause botulism in babies." -allaboutagave.com

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