Try This Tuesday: Listen to a Podcast

I love, love, love listening to podcasts while in my car, cleaning the house, getting ready in the morning, right before bed…or pretty much whenever I can. There are so many great ones out there, and I love hearing what other people are listening to. So today, on Try This Tuesday, I thought it might be fun for me to tell you what some of my favorites are, and you can let me know what some of YOURS are!  

Here are some of my favorites:

Health Related:

Found My Fitness (Rhonda Patrick)

Foodist w/Darya Rose

The Genius Life (Max Lugavere)

Ben Greenfield Fitness

High Intensity Health Radio (Mike Mutzel)

The Model Health Show

The Nutrition Diva’s Quick and Dirty Tips

The Doctor’s Farmacy with Mark Hyman

Lifestyle:

Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Feel Good Effect

Everyday Ethics

RISE Podcast (Rachel Hollis)

Rich Roll Podcast

Españolistos (for learning Spanish)

Stories/Entertainment:

Dirty John

S-Town

Bitch Sesh: A Real Housewives Breakdown (I am a huge Real Housewives Fan)

Of course I could go on, but these are the podcasts I most often listen to at the moment.

Keep in mind that pretty much anyone can create a podcast and give you “advice”. Make sure you’re listening to people who actually know what they are talking about.

Haven’t ever listened to a podcast? Start here:

https://www.wired.com/story/podcasts-beginners-guide/

Food Fact Friday: Eggs! (Part Two)

I was shopping for eggs a couple of days ago, when I realized just how many options there were, and just how confusing it might be for someone who wasn’t sure exactly what to buy. I think we all want to make good, healthy, informed choices, not over-spend, and keep animal well-being mind, so I decided to make a Food Fact Friday out of it!

It’s important to start out by saying that here in Canada, eggs are free of added steroids or hormones and as a country, we have high quality standards when it comes to caring for the hens that lay eggs. Furthermore, MOST farmers care a lot about the animals they tend to (it’s in their best interest) despite some of the horror stories we hear.

However, even within these parameters, there exists a fair amount of variety between systems that farmers use to house hens, and what they feed to them.

While all Canadian egg farmers provide hens with access to food, water, a clean environment and protection from inclement weather, the hens don’t necessarily have access to the outdoors. Free-range/pastured birds have access to the outdoors, weather permitting. (But because there is no legal definition of free-range in Canada, this varies farm to farm).

There is also an important distinction between free-range and free-run. Free-run means that the birds have access to the entire barn floor area, and are not kept in cages – but they don’t necessarily have access to the outdoors either.

I personally prefer to buy eggs that are free-range/pastured, and ideally from a local farmer. I like the idea of the hens being able to roam around and get sunlight, and hens in a free-range environment are likely to have access to more heavily pigmented foods like plants and insects – which is their natural diet. This diet (generally speaking) leads to a more nutritious egg with a darker yolk. But even then, yolk color can vary. Below are eggs from a new carton and older carton of eggs I used the other day when making a frittata. It's interesting to see: both of these are free-range eggs; one is organic. 

Finally, just a reminder that by buying locally, we are supporting farmers in our area, and we get the freshest (eggs in this case) food possible. It’s truly win-win!

Did you know? Omega-3 fatty acids are present in almost all egg yolks? Some hens though, are fed an enhanced diet higher in certain nutrients (like Omega-3’s), which ultimately affect the nutrient content of the eggs.

Did you know? Pasture-raised hens eggs are often naturally higher in Omega-3’s because of their diet (from forage legumes like alfalfa and clover, and mixed grasses). However – if you’re looking to include more Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet, you’re far better off to source it from much denser sources, such as wild salmon, sardines, or grass-fed beef!

Find out more about Canadian egg farmers here: https://www.eggs.ca/onthefarm

Try This Tuesday: Breathe!

Of course we all breathe, but HOW are you breathing? Are most of your breaths long and deep or are they short and shallow? How much thought do you actually give TO breathing each day, and slowing both your physical body and mind down?

All of us can truly benefit by setting aside a few minutes each day to connect with our bodies, our emotions and our breath. In the past, I have overcommitted to unrealistic meditation practices, but I do recognize that I need to carve out at least a few moments each day to slow down. Dan Harris even argues that 1 minute of meditation each day is better than ZERO! I agree.
I have been using a short 3-minute breathing exercise from psychologist and fellow Pro Aging Programs collaborator, Nikki Pearson, and I invite you to try it as well. (It’s free). You’ll be able to download this short audio clip to your computer and use it daily. (Head to http://www.proagingprograms.com - under the Emotional Health category). Why not create a daily habit of completing this short 3-minute breathing exercise before you set down to complete your work for the day? Or at the end of your workday, just before you head home to see your family. Or at the end of your day, just before you lie down to bed? Remember when we talked about habit stacking? This would be a great thing to stack onto any one of your regular activities for the day. I personally have started this exercise right before I sit down to work at my computer, and it’s truly been a wonderful way to begin my day. When are you going to take your 3-min break?

Food Fact Friday – Eggs! (Part One)

Not that long ago, eggs were considered “bad”, and were avoided because of their higher cholesterol content (and thus linked negatively to cardiovascular disease risk). However, large epidemiological and meta-analyses have concluded that egg consumption is nothing that most people need to be concerned with. One study very aptly concluded that: “an approach focused on a person’s entire dietary intake as opposed to specific foods or nutrients should be the heart of population nutrition guidelines”* (Amen to THAT!)

For the vast majority of us, eggs (thankfully) remain a highly nutritious food option. They’re also an easy one to cook up, I might add – making them a fantastic “go-to” on busy weeknights – and not just breakfast.

A single egg contains about 6g protein, 5g fat, about 70 calories, and all 9 essential amino acids - making them a great source of protein and a relatively inexpensive one at that! Eggs are one of the best sources of choline, which is very important for supporting cell structures and the maintenance of a healthy nervous system.

Did you know? Most of the valuable nutrition from an egg is found in the yolk?

Did you know? Brown eggs come from hens with brown feathers and white eggs come from hens with white feathers.

One of my favorite recipes staring eggs is a simple frittata! You really can’t screw it up.

Next week, we will talk about selecting eggs, and the differences between them all. There are so many to choose from…and I want you to know what you’re buying.

For those of you wanting to take a deeper dive into the association of eggs and CVD, check these papers out:

*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586539/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6024687/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4632449/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15640512

Healthline delves further into cholesterol and eggs here:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-many-eggs-should-you-eat

AND – if you’d like to take an incredibly deep, deep dive into some fantastic research done on saturated fats in general, I highly recommend Nina Teicholz’s book: “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet”.

Try this Tuesday: Eat from the Fridge; not the Pantry

Today’s tip comes from Gretchen Rubin’s podcast (“Happier”). Her guest on Aug 25^th, 2015 was A.J. Jacobs and he had a really good piece of advice: Eat from the fridge; not the pantry.

Often, when we think we are hungry, what we are actually experiencing is boredom, sadness, happiness, stress, or any number of other emotions: We aren’t always truly physically hungry.

And, when “hunger” does strike between meals, or late at night, it’s not often that we’re drawn to the healthier fare, most likely to be found in the fridge…Food like apples, broccoli, a boiled egg or a bowl of cottage cheese. Instead, it’s often the food that is "calling" to us from the pantry: highly processed and hyper-palatable foods that are either high in sugar, salt, fat; or a mixture of all!

So, the next time you’re hungry (especially if it’s not long after you’ve eaten; or later in the evening) ask yourself if you’re hungry enough to eat a big apple, a couple trees of broccoli, a hard boiled egg or a bowl of cottage cheese J If the answer is yes, you’re probably genuinely hungry!

If you’re someone who struggles with after-dinner snacking and you’re usually reaching for popcorn, chips or sweets, why not try this habit changer:

“I can eat after dinner if I am hungry, BUT the snack must come from the fridge and not be in a package” (it could be a piece of chicken, a protein, some veggies or some fruit).

That’s a good start. Send me a message if you’d like to chat about your own personal challenges with hunger!