Mediterranean Diet: More Vegetables for Breakfast!

I’m currently reading The Third Plate by Dan Barber, the chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns.  It’s a lovely treatise on rethinking how we fill our plates and farm our land, focusing on plants and consciously-consumed animals.

Barber quotes William Albrecht, “To be well fed is to be healthy.”  I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be well-fed, to be nourished.

At the same time, I’m travelling through Israel, a country that elevates a plant-based diet to new heights.  You never knew eggplant could be so, so good.

Israel really excels at breakfast.  I’ve said this before, I know.  But every time I visit this country, I am blown away by breakfast.  A typical Israeli breakfast includes a chopped vegetable salad, tahini, cheese, olives and whole grain bread.  Sometimes eggs.  Maybe some smoked or cured fish.

Adding vegetables to breakfast makes it a lot easier to eat more vegetables overall.  That makes sense.  And a vegetable-filled breakfast tastes so much better than cereal.  And satisfying.  

Here's proof.

This weekend, experiment with a Mediterranean-style breakfast.  Here are a few ideas.

1.  Make shakshuka, a traditional breakfast of eggs poached in tomato sauce.  You'll love it.  I promise.

2.  Add a salad to your usual breakfast.  Try chopping tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell peppers and fresh parsley and tossing them together with lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and pepper.  Top with toasted sunflower seeds.  Sometimes adding something nourishing to your meals is easier than changing your current habits. Change takes time.  Be nice to yourself.

3.  Make an eggplant dip, drizzle with tahini and top with goat milk feta cheese (my favorite).  Spread on whole grain toast.

4.  Roast or saute your favorite vegetables and top with an egg.  Here's a recipe.

5.  Fry an egg in extra virgin olive oil and top with a sprinkling of za’atar.  Serve with a salad of tomatoes, olives and roasted red peppers.

I’m ready for breakfast.  Wishing you all a healthy, well-fed weekend!

One Mixed Berry Smoothie - Two Ways & a Hint Water Giveaway

We're kicking off the unofficial start to summer with this deliciously refreshing recipe! We’re hoping it will inspire you to stay hydrated all summer long. That's because staying properly hydrated ensures your body runs like a smooth operating machine even when temperatures peak. You can check out our blog, featured by the National Processed Raspberry Council for more hydration tips here (disclaimer: we consult for the National Processed Raspberry Council and happily share our love of red raspberries).

One Mixed Berry Smoothie Recipe - Two Ways

Aside from the beverages you drink, foods you eat contribute to your total water consumption too. Some foods, however – such as fruits, veggies, and yogurt – have a higher water content than most foods. That's where this recipe comes in. It's a really delicious and healthy way to help you meet your hydration needs. 

The Recipe:

Ingredients

¾ cup frozen mixed berries

6 ounces Greek yogurt

½ cup milk or milk alternative

Directions

Pour all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth. Add ice if desired.

#1 - The Good Ole’ Mixed Berry Smoothie

Once blended, simply pour the frozen beverage into a glass!

#2 - Mixed Berry Smoothie Popsicles

Once blended, pour into Popsicle stands. Place in the freezer overnight.

Speaking of hydration, we drink water – a lot – so sometimes it’s just so nice to change it up with something special like Hint Water. Hint Water is such a fun and delicious spin on plain ol’ H20. 

THE GIVEAWAY: Hint Water is generously giving away a variety pack of their best-selling flavors, Blackberry and Watermelon, as well as their new flavors Crisp Apple and Blood Orange to one reader. The idea behind Hint is simple: purified water + a splash of natural flavor. No sugar, no diet sweeteners, and no preservatives or additives. Its water made tasty. You can get Hint Water still or fizzy!  You can now buy direct from Hint (click here).

[Disclosure: Hint sent me their new flavors and Hint Fizz to review for this post.  I was not paid for this post. All opinions are my own, included this one: I love hint, and the Watermelon flavor and Crisp Apple is just.so.good]

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cinnamon’s Potential for Diabetes Control

Cinnamon may have more to offer than its trademark sweet aroma and flavor. Scientists know that cinnamon provides antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial effects. And now some studies suggest it may have blood-glucose lowering effects for people with diabetes. However, the evidence that cinnamon is a foolproof diabetes treatment is still lacking.

 

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

The science on cinnamon and blood glucose. Cinnamon received a lot of media attention following a 2003 study published by the American Diabetes Association. The study found a significant reduction—between 18 percent and 29 percent—of mean fasting blood glucose in subjects with type 2 diabetes who supplemented with 1, 3, or 6 grams (g) of cinnamon every day day over a 40- day period. Later, a literature review published in 2007 by Pharmacotherapy examined a total of 164 patients with type 2 diabetes involved in clinical trials, and concluded that cinnamon has a possible modest effect in lowering glucose levels in patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. A more recently published randomized controlled trial in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine investigated the effects of cinnamon on 109 type 2 diabetes patients with elevated hemoglobin A1C (HgA1C, a measurement of blood glucose control over time.) Researchers found that 1 g of cinnamon per day over a 90-day period, combined with usual care of medicine and follow-up with a doctor, lowered HgA1C by 0.83 percent, compared to usual care alone, which lowered HgA1C by 0.37 percent. However, a meta-analysis published in the September/October 2013 issue of Annals of Family Medicine found that while cinnamon significantly lowered plasma blood glucose among people with type 2 diabetes, it had no effect on HgA1C.

Cinnamon’s bottom line. Research on cinnamon’s potential blood-glucose controlling effects appears to show conflicting results, though optimistic overall. There is not enough evidence to rely on cinnamon supplementation in place of the proven standards of care, which includes physical activity and dietary modifications, such as eating smaller portions and more frequent meals, as well as diabetes treatment medications. But, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to incorporate cinnamon into your daily repertoire of healthy habits, especially if you have type 2 diabetes. The lowest amount of cinnamon found to be effective in studies is 1 gram (g), which is equivalent to about 1⁄5 teaspoon (3 g is about ½ teaspoon, 6 g is about 1 teaspoon).

Spice It Up with Cinnamon
Incorporate cinnamon into your daily diet with the following ideas.
Breakfast	Sprinkle cinnamon into your morning hot cereal, whole grain pancakes, waffles, toast, or brewed coffee
Lunch	Combine cinnamon with low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt and fruit, add to smoothies, or mix into muffins and breads
Dinner	Incorporate cinnamon into savory dishes and stews
Dessert	Add to fruit desserts, such as cobblers, pies, poached pears, and baked apples

This article was written by McKenzie for the February 2014 issue of Environmental Nutrition.