Worth Your Butter

It was during Thanksgiving that I went to the grocery store, buying the ingredients for the big non-turkey roast that we did...Non-turkey because our family is not the biggest fan of turkey in general, and as a result, turkey leftovers may stay in the freezer for a year!  So, we did duck instead, which turned out great. But, in my grocery hunt, I came across pasture-fed butter by Kerrygold.  I know that pasture-fed anything (or I should say, any animal that should feed on grass) is always a better choice.  In general, I don't eat a lot of butter, and have never tried pasture-fed butter.  I decided to give it a whirl.

Boy oh boy, have I been missing out!  It is a similar experience to when I first tried grass-fed milk, the taste was out of this world different!  There was actual aroma to the taste of the milk.  You can read more on my previous post: Got Milk?.  This butter from pasture-fed cows in Ireland was so aromatic.  In my opinion, worth its double in price, especially when you want to spread it on bread or use it for dipping.  Baking, not so much.

We decided to go big one night and bought a couple of lobsters.  Steamed the lobsters, and I used the grass-fed butter for the dipping sauce with garlic and lemon.  I went bonkers.  Lobster and pasture-fed butter, an incredible combination.


Picture source: Kerrygold

Foods for Shiny (& Perhaps Less Brittle) Hair

Looking for the "how to" on shiny hair?  Hair care products may provide some temporary help, but I am finding out there that diet has more to do with getting long term natural shine than any hair care "product," which may only give you a temporary, quick fix shine.  For long term shine (that's real) it is an ever giving result of a healthy body.  Of course, different hair types and amount of oil secretion differ person to person, but eating certain foods may maximize or at least improve your shine.  (Not sure whether this information would help one grow more hair (for the curious men out there)??  But at least this post should help you prevent your hair from getting brittle and weak if it is not genetic). 
 
Here are a few foods that help make your hair more shiny:

1) Eggs.  I love eggs, and have been eating them more and more over the last couple of years. The yolk is extremely nutritious to the body.  For one, it consists a great deal of choline, which actually prevents the accumulation of cholesterol and fat in the liver.  When it comes to hair, vitamin B12 and protein in eggs penetrate into the root and hair follicles to repair and nourish hair.  Eggs also contain biotin, which is really good for skin and hair.  Consider the egg to be one of your top beauty agents found in nature.

2) Citrus. Foods that are super high in vitamin C like citrus fruits, oranges, lemons, pomegranetes (oh yum!) are great for your hair because the rich vitamin C content is used in the formation of collagen. Vitamin C foods, have been known to protect hair from free radicals that may damage hair, causing it to become brittle and weak. The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that vitamin C can be used to help treat and prevent hair disorders such as alopecia. They say that low intake of vitamin C in a person's diet may lead to splitting or dry hair related conditions.  Yikes!  Vitamin C it is! 

3) Seafood.  Natural oils are very beneficial for shiny hair, especially the ones found in fish, shellfish, and other seafood. Salmon and tuna are rich in natural oils that are not only amazing for your hair but also work to rejuvenate skin.  Seafood is naturally high in protein and vitamin B, which are both important to nourishing the hair.

4) Legumes.  Beans and nuts are hearty, rich in flavor, and provide many benefits to your hair and scalp.  Foods like peanuts, kidney beans, chick peas, and other similar foods are also full of natural oils.  Natural oils moisturize your hair and scalp.  Why not ditch the harsh chemical products that could have long term detrimental effects on your body and your skin, and go the natural food way?!

Stay away from foods that contain a lot of fat and sugars. 

Other related posts: Ode to Mr. Strong and Eggs, Pumping Iron with Mollusks

Source: www.associatedcontent.com, www.livestrong.com

Pumping Iron with Mollusks

What are mollusks?  Mollusks include all the shelled seafood found in the ocean.  Mollusks include clams, mussels, scallops, and oysters and as a family of species with more than 80,000 known species.  What diversity!

Growing up, these creatures were always a delicacy but sometimes the seafood-y smell didn’t make it as appetizing for me.  Also, they are considered unclean in the Kosher diet, which I am conscious of and sometimes prescribe to (just pretty hard on the pork part given I eat a lot of Chinese food).  So the mollusk family has only been an occasional part of my diet.

Recently, I have been looking hard for elements and food that are good for my blood.  One essential element is iron.  Amazingly, clams are one of the richest sources of iron, surpassing beef liver many times over.  Get this, three ounces of clams yields 700% of the daily value for vitamin B12 plus 66% of the daily value for iron.  Amazing, amazing.

Even on manganese, raw blue mussels provide 100% of the daily value which is important for growth, reproduction, wound healing, peak brain function, sugar metabolism, and cholesterol.  And, zinc, which is crucial for a strong immune system, fertility, and male sexual health can be found in 1 cup of drained oysters, that is 100% of the daily value.

These sea critters are good deals all around.  All high in protein, low in fat with the real benefit coming from the minerals our bodies can absorb from eating them.  Now if only I can find good sources for this food, as many have toxins because of where they are caught or grown.  And, if you have any chronic illness of the liver, stomach, blood or immune system, you should definitely not be eating these raw.

Source: 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, by Jonny Bowden

Get to the Source

The lesson learned is to be curious about what is in your food, where it came from, how it was grown or raised, and ask whether your source is reputable and trustworthy.

Not the first time that anyone has heard about food contamination, but there was an article today about the high levels of contamination in imported seafood from precarious places including Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia.  In certain cases 40-50% of seafood testing comes out positive for drugs like chloramphenicol, nitrofurans and malachite green,which are banned from all food (I can't even pronounce them!).  Seafood with the worst records of contamination: shrimp, catfish, crabmeat and tilapia.

I believe this goes back to the whole problem of fish/seafood farming.  Yes, the demand for these foods have dramatically increased, there is high risk of overfishing the wild, but to farm them in sewage water or even the same water of the wild that shows ecosystem imbalance should not persist.  The result time and time again is sick fish.  Antibiotics is not an answer; the detrimental impact of drugs, antibiotics, hormone injections on humans defeats the purpose of food.  Food is suppose to build your body up, not get more sick as a result.

And, by the way, I met three people over the weekend who don't know each other, and all of them had food poisoning of some sort.  And, one was from calamari in Iowa. 
 

Here's the article: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40198123

Reel Club Review

Yesterday was my birthday!  In celebration, we went to Reel Club, the seafood restaurant.  It is located in the west suburbs of Chicago.  Nice ambiance, but the food was just OK.  I ordered a tapioca crusted whitefish with a pistachio slaw.  Alert!  When it says crusted, you really don't know if it is pan fried or deep fried.  However, at this restaurant, it was unhealthily deep fried.  A bit disappointed for a healthy eater.  Taste was on the salty side, but the pistachios added a nice combination of flavor to the fish. 

We also ordered the lobster stuffed sole fish.  Portions here are small!  But only because they use a ton of butter to fill you up, so don't think you will walk out hungry.  The sole had a light taste, the tomatoes balanced out the sweet fish, the fennel was a nice touch (but could have used more).  Best when ordered with a side of white rice.  It felt more healthy than my deep fried whitefish.

We also ordered the white tail tuna entree with olive risotto.  I didn't taste it but I was told it was pretty good.  The risotto was packed with butter making the dish kind of rich. 

Saving grace to the meal - the side of garlic broccoli!  Yum!  Garlic gives it bite, and it was cooked tender.  Here's a winner!

Overall, these Reel Club options were not a meal for the light minded.