Is There Such a Thing as a Healthy Alcoholic Drink?

DISCLAIMER: I must tell you that I am NOT a doctor or trained healthcare practitioner.  The advice I give below is simply based on my personal experience and should not be taken as expert medical advice.  As with all questions concerning health, I recommend you seek out a qualified healthcare professional to get specific answers.

Since it is Holiday time and, let's be honest, many of us will consume alcoholic beverages sometime over the next two to three weeks, I thought it would be good to discuss alcohol.  While the reality is that alcohol messes with insulin and hormone levels in any amount, there are some ways to mitigate the worst of alcohol's effects.  (In case you didn't know, the calories in alcohol are empty and don't do much of anything for the body):

If you drink beer, I recommend Guinness.  It is surprisingly low calorie and some studies have suggested it has some passable antioxidant properties.  That being said, if you are a vegetarian or vegan, you may be interested to know that Guinness is made with insinglass or fish air bladders so you might want to avoid it.  If you are going to drink beer, then I recommend drinking 8 oz of water after every beer or ever other beer.  If you are going to drink copious amounts of beer, then I would recommend taking a whole food B vitamin supplement before going to bed.  I am speaking from experience as a former US Army Captain who drank his and five other people's fair share of beer.  The whole food B Vitamin supplement works wonders.  If you are lucky enough to have a doctor in the family, then getting an IV either that night or the morning after works awesome also (again speaking from experience, my Army roommate was a Physicians Assistant...).

Avoid the colored spirits.  If you are a whiskey, scotch, cognac drinker try switching to vodka.  Many of the commercially available colored spirits have actually had artificial flavorings or carmel color added to them.  I recommend mixing vodka with coconut milk or cream.  The brand, So Delicious, has a great vegan, organic egg nog available during the holiday season (click here to get more info).  This one is a little high in sugar.  If you really want to go all out, get the unsweetened, organic coconut cream and add nutmeg, cinnamon, and stevia to it (and of course vodka).  Bloody Marys and some Martinis are also good choices.  These are naturally lower in calories and they may contain some antioxidants depending on what you make them with.  Avoid adding fruit juices or store purchased drink mixes to alcohol (Margaritas are one of the highest in sugar and calories in this group).  These contain copious amounts of sugars, artificial ingredients, and syrups.  Again, I would recommend drinking water in between drinks or adding water to your mixed drink.  Also, a good raw, organic multivitamin with B complex in it will also help with avoiding a hangover if you drink one too many.

I drink alcohol only on rare occasions now.  However, I do believe that alcohol can be enjoyed with a bit of conscious choice and forethought.  Most of the times alcohol has gotten me in trouble were when I was not conscious of what or how much I was drinking.  I believe if you set the intention of having an enjoyable time with family and friends then have a drink or two.  Most importantly, don't place judgement on yourself (or anyone else) for drinking or not drinking.  You are great either way.

I hope you and your loved ones have a blessed Holiday season and best wishes for a great New Year!

What type of cookware do you use?

Before you go spend a good amount of money on cookware, you might want to take a few minutes to research the different types out there and the health affects of each.  You may (or may not) have read about the suggested dangers of cooking with different types of cookware.  Just so we are straight, there a few basic types of cookware:

1. Aluminum (there are several that are aluminum alloys or that have different types of Aluminum, Calphlon has anodized aluminum, but its still aluminum)
2. Cast Iron (some companies now sell enameled cast iron, such as Le Crueset).
3. Stainless Steel

Bottom line is that all types of cookware that have a Non-stick coating may pose a danger to both animals and humans.  There are several studies that suggest a link between consumption of food prepared in non-stick cookware and illness.  The problem is that the non-stick coating leaches into the food when heated.  This introduces nasty chemicals into the food (and our bodies!).  These chemicals called perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are present in almost all people in the United States at some level!  PFOA are labeled as "persistent organic pollutants" because they remain in your body for years before breaking down and passing.  They are believed to cause all sorts of issues from flu like symptoms, sleep issues, and arthritis.  Oh by the way, PFOAs are found in many public drinking water systems across the USA!  Thus, before you go and drop some hard earned cash on a nice set of non-stick cookware think again...


Another bottom line up front: All cookware will "leach" when heated.  For some kinds of cookware this isn't a problem.  For this reason though, we do not recommend the use of aluminum cookware.  High levels of Aluminum is linked to illnesses such as Alzheimers and is believed to negatively impact the nervous system.  Also, aluminum is another one of those persistent compounds that doesn't readily breakdown or pass through the body.  For those of you who didn't know, you might also want to check out your deodorant.  If you are using a commercially bought deodorant or anti-perspirant, then good chance the main ingredient is aluminum, yeah its great for plugging up your sweat glands too...


What do we recommend?  We use enameled cast iron cookware at our house.  It is easy to clean and can withstand super high temperatures.  Iron is leached into the food, but iron is a needed mineral in the body (its one of the main ingredients in our blood) and is readily assimilated into the body.  In the kitchen we use commercial grade stainless steel.  This type of stainless steel does not contain aluminum and is a collection of basically inert metals and minerals.  The other great thing about stainless steel is that it doesn't react with food like aluminum and/or non-stick cookware does so you are getting more of a "truer" taste of your food.  


Here are some links you might want to check out for further reading:


http://www.naturalnews.com/cookware.html
http://www.ewg.org/featured/228


In the future, you'll see recommendations for cookware and other household items on this and our main website.  Feel free to call or email us with questions, and thanks for reading...

Chest Pains, Pills, and Insomnia

Kim and I are taking a few days to relax, evaluate, and plan. Reflecting back on where our journey started, I sit back, close my eyes, and vividly recall the absolute hell brought into our newlywed apartment some 8 years ago.  What started as intense chest pains led me to the Fort Carson ER where I was immediately taken back only to discover strong acid reflux - a symptom that would plague me for years and force me to sleep in a recliner for most of my first year of marriage.  People can describe intense chest pain and acid reflux, headaches, irritable bowels, insomnia, gut inflammation, and mood swings but it just doesn't do justice to the lived experience. 

A year later, taking 6 pills a day and feeling like a lab rat undergoing experiment after experiment, no relief was in sight.  My lap nisson fundoplication surgery (basically wrapping my stomach around my esophagus) gave me hope, despite the required all-liquid diet for the month to follow.  (Thanksgiving dinner just wasn't the same out of a blender...)  Fast forward 6 years after having tried all of the diets out there from Paleo (cave man diet), the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), Food Rotation Diet (keeping a journal of everything you eat and not eating it again for 72 hours - that was tough), Low fat, Low Sugar, Low Carb, Blood Type Diet - all of them.  Only to discover my eventual path to healing almost by accident - one in which could have prevented all those pills and perhaps even surgery.  A simple whole foods plant-based diet.  If you had told me even just a year ago that I would become a vegan and be running a plant-based meal delivery business, well I'm not sure what I would have said, but probably can't repeat it here...Here is where we are and I am proud to say I am a healthy man today because I changed the way I eat and the way I think.  No more pills.  No more sleepless nights.  No more pain. 

You deserve to feel great all the time too.  Our bodies were made perfectly and to exist in harmony and health.  Your pain is simply telling you to make a change.  The start of fall marks a chance for a new beginning.  YOUR new beginning.  Your new life.  Start yours today. 

How To Make $100 Cake

1. Purchase $24 cookbook with Triple Chocolate Fat Pants Cake recipe (two-layer chocolate cake topped with vanilla frosting and layered with chocolate chip cookie crumbles.

 

2.  Make grocery list of all 32 ingredients that comprise this 3 part recipe (frosting, cake, and cookies) and split shopping with baking partner.

 

3.  Turn on Finding Nemo for 3 children and put baby to sleep in bassinet.

 

4.  Start recipe with frosting mix since it requires 6 hours of chilling before use.  Replace first two ingredients with substitution (due to food allergies that prevent use of soy) and document.  Use mixer on unmelted coconut oil and document that oil should be melted next time.  Refrigerate.

 

5.  Review cookie recipe and divide recipe between partners - one assigned wet ingredients, one assigned dry.  When wet ingredient baker discovers that $11 jar of coconut oil that was purchased is not in kitchen or left in grocery bag, make dairy and soy free butter substitution.  When said baker discovers the end of vanilla extract bottle, decide to substitute with combination of butter and peppermint extract.  When dry ingredient baker admits that evaporated cane juice was nowhere to be found at the store, decide to substitute an eyeballed amount of brown rice syrup and agave nectar.

 

6.  Discontinue substitution documentation. 

 

7.  Finish remaining steps per instructions and bake.  Upon tasting, promptly throw away cookies and agree to purchase packaged gluten-free cookies for substitution.

 

8.  Begin cake recipe, substituting coconut oil and evaporated cane juice with aforementioned products.

 

9.  Feed children and baby.  Then find additional distractions for them to occupy themselves that involve being anywhere but the kitchen.

 

10.  Go look in trunk of car and discover lost grocery bag that has $11 jar of coconut oil.  Throw out cake batch in progress and decide to start over using melted coconut oil.

 

11.  Decide that children acting like monkeys are a  distraction and reconvene the next day after purchasing appropriate 

ingredients on grocery list.

 

12.  Make cake recipe as instructed.  Make cookie recipe with coconut oil.

 

13.  Layer cake with frosting and cookies.  Taste test and serve to children.

 

14.  Nearly go into diabetic coma after 3 bites.

 

15.  Add up grocery totals and decide that this is the best tasting cake ever made - half because of the name itself and half because you spent your entire week's grocery budget on one cake (made 2 1/2 times).

Wednesday Meeting

Had a great meeting at The Lazarus Group, Kansas City's leading website company.  They are making a great website for us.