I Used to Think MSG was a Designer Like DKNY

OK, so I'm joking about the designer snafu, but I DID think MSG was just a flavor enhancer and not something too harmful;  I also used to think that MSG was only in Chinese food.  Oh, how silly and wrong I am!  I stumbled upon a brilliant site called "Truth in Labeling" (not the prettiest of sites, but very informative) and it gave me a window into a world I had no idea existed.
"Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) literally stimulates neurons to death, causing brain damage to varying degrees."
-Russell Blaylock, M.D. Board Certified Neurosurgeon
"Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills"
Now, I do know corporate food is a bit evil because their only purpose in life is to get you to stuff your face with their processed junk, from Doritos to Cheetos, but I didn't know that they disguise MSG in their foods by calling it all sorts of different names like "natural flavoring".  What I find even more shocking is that MSG is also in a lot of "natural" foods, as well.  For example, my all-time-favorite, quick, go-to bouillon, Rapunzel's vegetarian organic cubes, contains "yeast extract" which is a polite way of saying, "MSG".  Another excellent site is MSG Exposed.

The following list was taken directly from the Truth in Labeling website:
Names of ingredients that ALWAYS contain processed free glutamic acid (MSG):

• Calcium glutamate (E 623)
• Monoammonium glutamate (E 624)
• Magnesium glutamate (E 625)
• Natrium glutamate
• Yeast extract
• Anything “hydrolyzed”
• Any “hydrolyzed protein”
• Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate
• Yeast food, Yeast nutrient
• Autolyzed yeast
• Gelatin
• Textured protein
• Soy protein, soy protein concentrate
• Soy protein isolate
• Whey protein, whey protein concentrate
• Whey protein isolate
• Anything “…protein”
• Vetsin
• Ajinomoto

After reading the above list I foraged through my "healthy" kitchen and was shocked, Earth Balance to Tofurky is littered with MSG!  No wonder they have that other-worldly tasty punch.  Into the trash they went....well, almost; I finished up the Tofurky slices and will never buy them again and the Earth Balance was in the trash, but then I quickly retrieved it as visions of buttered toast danced in my head.  It's still in the fridge and once it is gone, I will never buy it again either!

I think the big lesson I learned is to eat whole foods and this is pretty much what I do now.  I thought it would be daunting, but it gives me a greater appreciation and connection to my food.  I now laugh when I think I used to buy cartons of almond milk which tasted pretty horrible and now I whip up raw, soaked almonds and water in my high speed blender with a dash of vanilla and sea salt and it is dangerously delicious.  I also make my own salad dressings.  I cannot believe I used to buy that stuff.  Now I have total control of what goes into my concoctions and they taste better than anything I could ever buy in a jar at the store.

Never a Dull Moment

It's just me—no employees, no elves!  This is often how I spend my evenings, assembling my yoga decks and other RescueGirl products for customers.  This one was for the fabulous Golden Door Spa in Carefree, Arizona.  My adorable Isabelle who looks a bit possessed in this photo is always by my side, unfortunately she never offers to help, occasionally she licks a hangtag though.

Donuts

Tara Stiles: What's a donut?

My issue with Tara Stiles...
Tara has a blog called "Tara Eats" and I think she needs to rename it "Tara Needs To Eat".  I don't mean to bash lovely Tara, but I do think she could benefit from a donut or two and if that is too extreme perhaps she could start off with a few modest donut holes and work up to a whole donut.

Why Do Yoga?

Marilyn Monroe said that yoga made her legs sexy and fabulous.  That would be enough of a reason for many to jump on the yoga bandwagon, but the main reason I do yoga and always will is because it makes me feel better.  I get so stressed, depressed, freaked out, overwhelmed, resentful (why do I have to do laundry? Pay bills? Do dishes?).  And if that isn't bad enough, life feels really dull sometimes, like I'm stuck in some bad movie.  If I can convince myself to stop in that moment of madness and lay down and float away in corpse pose or stick my legs up a wall (legs-up-the-wall pose) and breathe and just stay there for a few minutes, my energy and mood usually radically shift which always amazes me—completely amazes me--like I'm someone who just found out they won the lottery—"you're kidding, ME? I just won 6 billion dollars?  Woo-ha!"  So do a little yoga and feel better!  

I'm Going Over the Deep Edge

OK, so I'm obsessing about raw food lately.  I lie awake in bed thinking about how I can turn my favorite "junk food"(pizza, fries, mashed potatoes, cupcakes, donuts...) into a raw version, so I can eat them and still stick to my experiment of "can I lose weight on a raw food diet, without regulating how much I eat".  So far, I'm relying on the raw food experts who've been at this for many years because I don't have a clue how to mimic cooked foods.

Thank goodness, I added raw chef Juliano's dvds to my growing raw food library because he has a very simple and delicious mashed potato recipe.  He also has a mashed potato recipe in his "cook"book (RAW) that gave me an instant tummy ache (they call for 1/2 a cup of lemon juice and a tablespoon of garlic!) The NEW mashed potato recipe is crazy good and very simple.  2 cups of raw cauliflower (it doesn't have to be exact, I used about  2 1/2 cups), 2 cups of macadamia nuts (I used half cashew nuts...macadamias are VERY expensive!) and sea salt and pepper to taste (about a teaspoon of each).  The 2nd time I made them I didn't have macadamias on hand, so I used Brazil nuts and cashews (half and half).  They turned out, not as creamy, tasted more nutty, but still satisfying and good.  All you do is blend the nuts until smooth in a food processor, then put them in a bowl.  Chop up the cauliflower a little and whip that in the food processor, too.  Then mix the two together in a bowl and add the salt and pepper.  Drizzle with a little olive oil, swap out some of the nuts with pinenuts, add your favorite seasoning...experiment and have fun!  They taste even better the 2nd day and will last about 5 days in the fridge.

What I cannot get over is how quickly I get filled up with raw food AND how satisfying the food is (remember, I'm a devoted foodie, I love food and I have to enjoy most of my meals or ennui sets in quickly!).  Word on the street about raw food is that it delivers such deep nutrition that it satisfies more quickly and it extinguishes cravings and addictions over time (I find that I don't have any desire to forage for snacks at midnight and I did this frequently).  I will put a doll-sized portion of Juliano's marvelous mashed potatoes on my plate (2 or 3 rounded tablespoons) and I get very full from this weeny amount.  If they were real mashed potatoes, I could easily eat 2 cups...possibly more and not feel as sated as I do with the raw version.  Cauliflower is so good for you that I'm going to keep these magical raw "mashed potatoes" in my fridge as a quick snack.  Cauliflower is one of those amazing cruciferous vegetables and is known to be a good cancer preventative.  It is also high in antioxidants (C and manganese) and is excellent at reducing inflammation (high in K and omega-3 fatty acids), so make it a weekly staple!

Some of you might be wondering, hey what about all the fat in the nuts!  This is a controversial  topic for many.  Nuts are loaded with fat and some say they should be used sparingly.  Others say, as long as the nuts stay in their natural state (raw) and aren't roasted/cooked (changing the structure of the fat) your body can assimilate the fat way more easily, so enjoy your nuts!  And this is one of the very reasons I'm doing a weight loss experiment on myself, to get to the bottom of this nut mystery.  I'm eating nuts every day--nuts in my mashed potatoes, nuts in my lattes (better than half and half and any fake creamer on the market), nuts in my soups, and burgers, and wraps.  And so far the experiment seems to be working.  I'm not losing weight like Miss America right before the pageant, but I've lost 2 pounds in 3 weeks.  And this is a good thing.  My weekly weigh in is coming soon, stay tuned!

Go Raw, Lose Weight?

Like many people, I'm strolling around with unwanted pounds and like many of those same people, I LOATHE DIETS AND I LOATHE BEING HUNGRY & DEPRIVED!  So I've decided to be my own experiment on a brand new "diet" and I have the glowing redhead Judita Wignall to thank for being the catalyst.  I just ordered her colorful book, "Going Raw" and she says that simply by going 100% raw she dropped 15 unwanted pounds in 30 days.  Sign me up!

I realize that it is a crazy, outlandish amount to lose in such a short period of time, but who would be bothered by losing weight fast?  I chalk a portion of this rapid loss up to water weight and another portion to toxins being flushed out of the body quickly after being introduced to nutrient rich whole foods like raw cauliflower and the like.  The more I read about raw food, the more sense it makes to me.  The very least, I think, it is great to incorporate a jumbo size portion of raw into your diet and you'll start feeling the difference.  I do!

Also, worthy of mentioning—the founder of Planet Raw and the amazing raw chef, Juliano swears that you can eat until your heart's content, as long as it is raw, vegan, and hopefully organic.  He says you cannot get enough of the good stuff, and for him, that ranges from raw olive oil to raw macadamia nuts.  He's watched people lose weight by eating only his raw cheesecake all day.  I love this man!

At first, I thought a raw diet sounded like an alien endeavor, something not for me as I conjured up images of cold, uninviting salads of turnips and cabbage.  But oh, how wrong I am!  Judita's "cookbook" is filled with delightful and enticing recipes.  Some are a challenge to make and others are quick and easy and satisfying.  Juliano also has a brilliant cookbook (RAW), but the list of ingredients in many of his recipes would make any ambitious kitchen-dweller faint.

Where was I going with all this?  Oh, yeah....my new diet!  So far, I've been eating about 75% raw per day for about 3 weeks and I've lost 2 pounds.  OK, I'm WAY behind Judita, but I'm also enjoying wine with dinner ( I'm not sure if that factors into her day), I'm not 100% raw (yet!),  and I've rebelled a few times and have had mac n' cheese from a box.  Judita does not mention what she ate during those 30 days or how much she exercised, BUT none of this matters since she simply states that after "one month of eating 100 percent raw I lost 15 pounds, eliminated arthritis, and lifted my depression."  And that's good enough for me!

I have to admit that I've made my raw journey a bit easier by investing in a Vitamix high-speed blender and Excalibur dehydrator.  These are two great pieces of equipment, essential, in my opinion, to do a lot of yummy raw food, but totally not necessary, especially if you're really creative in the kitchen.  For weeks, I was without these items and I did fine with my Kitchenaid blender (sauces to smoothies to soups), a sharp knife, and lots of imagination.  I'd whip up a raw cheese with cashews, slice up an avocado and throw this into a cabbage leaf with a variety of chopped veggies and herbs and voila, I had a "burrito".  In thought, the cabbage leaf sounded awful to me, but it was shockingly satisfying and not the least bit cabbagey.  I also have to remind myself that to poo-poo something before I try it is silly and short-sighted, potentially robbing me of new great possibilities.

I hope to go 100% raw in the next few weeks (eating whatever I desire, as long as it is raw, vegan, and mostly organic) and really put Judita's weight-loss statement to the test, but for now after 3 weeks of spring rolls and banana deserts with raw cacao and never once feeling deprived, I'm pretty happy with my 2 pound weight loss.