Posts Tagged ‘Broccoli’

Thanksgiving Turkey Healthy Style

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

The traditional Thanksgiving Turkey is one of the healthiest choices of meat/poultry.  It is naturally lean, especially the white meat.  We can cook it in all sorts of ways to diminish or destroy the health benefits.

  • Fry it – or deep fry it
  • Drench it in butter as we baste it on the rotisserie
  • Bake it again drenching the stuffing in butter and fat baste

turkey 300x217 Thanksgiving Turkey Healthy Style

The best way I know of to keep the benefits of turkey and still have a moist flavorful bird is to bake it slowly.

Thaw the bird (if frozen) and take the insides out.  Be sure to get the neck and the giblets package.  I like to buy a brand that has the plug that pops out when the turkey is done.

Take whole grain stuffing mix, or some whole grain bread which you set out to dry for a couple days.  Add some stuffing seasoning (or more sage to packaged stuffing) and mix with fat free chicken broth.  Add green peppers, onions, or other seasonings that you like to the stuffing – even butter buds if you wish but NO butter or oleo.  Fill the torso of the bird and the neck cavity.

Put the bird into an oven bag and then place on a flat roasting pan.  If you are fixing this the evening before, be sure to put it in the refrigerator.  When ready to start cooking, place in the oven at 300 degrees.  The bird will have baking times on the label when you get it.  The cooking bag will close in the moisture and flavor – a chef’s pride.

When done, drain the drippings out into a pan for making gravy with more fat free chicken broth and the chopped up giblets.  Spoon the dressing into a serving bowl.  Then place the turkey on a platter with cooked broccoli florets and cooked carrot slices as garnish.

What is your favorite way to fix a turkey? Or do you have a different tradition in your family?

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Fruits, Veggies, Glycomics Revisited

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Some of you have asked me to explain a couple of my posts: First Milestone in My Weight Management – Glycomics (is that a word?) and followed up with Veggies and Fruits – Key foods. I will attempt to explain them in my own words.

Simply put, there is a layer right under the skin of fruits and vegetables that contain a lot of vitamins our body requires to work correctly. There are at least 2 essential elements called glycoproteins that our body needs that are technically in the sugar family. These 2 unique glycoproteins are formed by the fruit/vegetable the last couple weeks of ripening on the vine – before it is picked. The vegetable/fruit uses the sun to make these glycoproteins. As far as I know, this is the only source of these two glycoproteins.

Since fruits and vegetables are picked green in today’s world – packed in crates and sent to the warehouse to finish ripening in the dark, these two essential glycoproteins are never produced, and therefore are missing from our diets.

Even if you get the fruits and vegetables fully ripened off the plant, you need to wash them, then eat them raw, not cooked, skin and all. There are some vegetables that need to be cooked to be sure they don’t get e-coli. But the basic lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, potatoes, apples, oranges, etc, do not need to be cooked. Some people prefer to cook their broccoli and such. The least harmful way of cooking the fruits/veggies is steaming. The steam does not get the veggies as hot, and therefore does not kill all of the vitamins and glycoproteins contained in the veggies.

The essential glycoproteins are 8 in total. They are used to make little hairs used as ‘antenna’ to communicate with the rest of the body. It is these hairs that tell our immune system the cell needs help, and the body sends the fire department/EMS. When the cell is repaired, these hairs communicate that the job is done, and the body recalls the immune system back until they are needed again.

See, cancer is when the immune system goes and tries to repair parts of the body that are not sick. It ignores any signals that the parts are well. Or maybe the hair antennae on the cells outside are calling for help when it should be sending out an all clear or all OK signal.

The study of these 8 essential glycoproteins is called glycobiology and the foods providing them are called glyconutrients.

This is a very simple description of a very complicated subject. I am not sure that I have everything 100% correct. That is why I put the resource links on my article First Milestone in My Weight Management – Glycomics (is that a word?) and followed up with Veggies and Fruits – Key foods. I hope this clarifies the subject. If not, go to the resources in those two posts to learn more.

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