Losing It With Leanne

Dinner Diva
Spinach: The Healthy “Fast” Food

By: Leanne Ely

Dear Friends,

A favorite super healthy “fast” food favorite of mine is spinach. Not just any old bunch of spinach, but the stuff in a big plastic tub (I get mine at Costco). I use a ton of it during the week and eat it in a variety of different ways from salads, to side dishes and let’s just say, it’s a secret ingredient in my smoothies (shhh, don’t tell!).

It’s a quick cooking veggie (like I said, “fast” food!), 100% worthy of the title super food. Spinach is chocked full of all kinds of healthy nutrients, including a whole bunch of B vitamins, C & E, omega 3 fatty acids, glutathione, beta-carotene, alpha lipoic acid and too many minerals to name, not to mention all the phytonutrients—this is a food that will fight cancer, heart disease, cataracts and macular degeneration. This veggie has it ALL.

One thing to remember is to always buy organic spinach. This is one of the vegetables named by the EWG (Environmental Working Group) on their Dirty Dozen List (a list of foods with the worst pesticide overload. Others included are lettuce, potatoes, apples, strawberries, peaches, bell peppers, and more. You can google “dirty dozen”+EWG and get the full scoop).

Here’s a fabulous spinach salad with some unexpected ingredients, enjoy!

Double Blue Spinach Salad
Serves 6

1 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
6 handfuls of baby spinach (best way to measure!)

In a salad bowl, lay down the spinach first then add the rest of the ingredients. Toss well and serve, that’s it!

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Tricks, Tips and a Recipe
Thyme To Get Cookin’

By: Leanne Ely

Happy Tuesday, Y’all!
It’s time once again for Tricks, Tips and a Recipe. Today you’ll learn a tip, a trick and you’ll get a great recipe to try it out with. Neat, huh?

Thyme is one of those ubiquitous spices that everyone seems to have hanging out in their spice cabinets. What you need to know about thyme is that it is not just a spice that sets stews, soups and a whole slew of different foods apart; it’s good for you too! Full of vitamin K, iron, manganese and smattering of fiber too, fresh or dried it’s “thyme” to get thyme into your spice rotation!Here’s today’s TRICK:

Got fresh thyme? You can grow it like a beautiful ground cover! Just keep the flowers off and it will keep growing!

Here’s a TIP:

Pull fresh thyme off the woody stem by using your fingers to get the leaves off. It’s fun to strip the stems and kids love the task, so ask them for a hand!

And your RECIPE:

Fish Romano
Serves 6

3/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon pressed red pepper (optional)
4 cloves garlic — pressed
6 each fish fillets
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
lemon wedges

In a large plastic, zipper topped bag, combine first four ingredients. Add fish, seal bag and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes, turning bag occasionally.

Meanwhile, combine flour and next 3 ingredients in another large plastic zipper topped bag. Remove fish from marinade (discard marinade) and add them to the flour bag, close bag and shake to coat evenly with flour mixture.

In a skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add fish and cook 6 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with lemon wedges.

Per Serving: 283 Calories; 6g Fat; 45g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 109mg Cholesterol; 237mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 6 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fat.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Serve with sautéed yellow squash and big green salad.

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Healthy-Foods
Are You Drinking Liquid Clutter?

By: Leanne Ely

I am pretty much a stickler when it comes to deciding what to drink. The answer is always water and plenty of it. I get asked a lot about drinks—particularly, diet drinks, sodas, juices, etc. Everyone wants to drink something else besides water, especially now that summer is here! Well, I understand that. I drink coffee in the morning, so it’s not like I don’t understand what it is to have a particular fondness for a special beverage. But when it comes to drinking something with a meal you gotta go for water (and just a little; too much will dilute your digestive juices). And water in-between meals, too. Water itself is a nutrient in that it helps your body run optimally and helps you to absorb the nutrients you’ve taken in via your food. Important stuff, H20.

On the other hand, all sodas are liquid clutter that have no nutritional value whatsoever and cause tooth decay, obesity and disease.

It seems like schools are getting that connection are finally stepping up to the plate to protect our children instead of aiding and abetting the enemy. And to add insult to injury, yet another study came out implicating sodas in weight gain—both regular AND diet sodas!

Now listen, I know it’s getting hot outside and I know sodas go on sale in supermarkets all the time right now and I know you like them. But bear with me for minute. You have to read these statistics!

The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio ran an eight year study to study the effects of soft drink use. Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, who ran the study, had this shocking statement to say, “What didn’t surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity. What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.”

Of the 622 participants—all of normal weight at the beginning of the study, about a third became overweight or obese.

For the regular soft drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

*26% for up to ½ can each day
*30.4% for ½ to one can each day
*32.8% for 1 to 2 cans each day
*47.2% for more than 2 cans each day.

But look at the increase for diet soft-drink drinkers!

*36% for up to ½ can per day
*37.5% for ½ to one can per day
*54.5% for 1 to 2 cans per day
*57.1% for more than 2 cans each day.

For each can of diet soda consumed, a person’s risk of obesity went up 41%!!!

One of the theories of why the difference may have something to do with trying to fool our bodies. We give them the sweet taste of a diet drink, but no calories. Another recent study showed that baby rats when fed artificial sweeteners craved more calories than baby rats fed real sugar.

Fowler says, “If you offer your body something that tastes like a lot of calories, but it isn’t there, your body is alerted to the possibility that there is something there and it will search for the calories promised but not delivered.”

She goes on to say, “People think they can just fool the body. But maybe the body isn’t fooled. If you are not giving your body those calories you promised it, maybe your body will retaliate by wanting more calories. Some soft drink studies also suggest that diet drinks stimulate appetite.”

The schools may be cutting off sodas, but it’s imperative that you do, too! I hope this is the needed push you need to help you make a decision to grab a water next time you’re tempted to go with a soda.

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