Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Welcome to Heart Tips Tuesday and products you might like to try.





Hello Sweet Friends, 
and Welcome to Heart Tips Tuesday,
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Today I'm gonna talk about, and show you basically, what a Mediterrean Diet is!!
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I was able to find a chart that I think will help, as it sort of shows the breakdown, 
 and I will try to add in some specifics.  I think the way we eat is a cross between
 a Mediterrean and a Lowfat eating plan.
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Adopting a strict Mediterranean Diet

Scientific research has shown that the closer individuals can get to the 'ideal' Mediterranean Diet, outlined in the pyramid chart below, the greater the health advantage - in that, the benefit of adopting the whole dietary pattern exceeds the summated health-giving properties of its individual components.
Mediterranean diet pyramid (MD_Greek_Pyramid.jpg)

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I am gonna start at the top and work my way down the Pyramid.
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As you will notice,  red meat is at the top of the pyramid, and in
 the mediterrean they only eat beef on average of once a week.
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  We aren't that good yet,  but we have learned to incorporate
more fish and occasionally shellfish, meatless meals with beans
 or veggies, and the use of more chicken.  The reason to stay
 away from beef as much as possible is becauseit is very high in
 saturated fat, that being the nasty bad fat, of course!!


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Personally, I don't like Turkey all that much, I know it's
 UnAmerican!! lol
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I  just like the taste of Chicken so much better, so I put ground chicken 
in my chili, and our Beef Stroganoff sometimes turns into Chicken 
Stroganoff and is just as delicious,  and  Publix even has chicken
 burgers, so sometimes we make those on the grill.
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If you have recipes that call for beef, and you don't think it would be
 horrible give chicken or Turkey a try at least once or twice just to
see what you think.  There are times I just like a certain dish better
 with beef and if that is the case, I will just make it with beef, but 
all in all I have to say, I have been surprised at how good things
are with the chicken.
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Not so with the Turkey, at least for me. You might like it just fine, 
 if you are a person who loves Turkey.


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Just in case you don't know,  they have ground chicken and Turkey
 a tPublix and I am sure most supermarkets.
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They also have Turkey sausage and Bacon.  We eat the sausage 
but we eat regular bacon cause we only eat it on Saturday,  and  we
 microwave it, so we can get most of the grease off it, plus we just
don't care for the taste of the turkey bacon.  The turkey sausage  is
 pretty good tho,  and just for your info, they have it at Cracker Barrel,
if you happen to have breakfast there.
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Also,  my son made us portabello mushroom burgers, and they
 were delicious the first time, he made them. Problem is he forgot
 what he used in the marinade, so the 2nd time they weren't quit as 
good.  So we need to experiment again. 
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Guess he gets that honestly,  I tweak recipes all the time and
then forget to write down the changes and it doesn't come out
the same the next time and I am wondering what I did. lol
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They actually make quite
 a good burger if you put them on a nice wholegrain bun. 
 Great source of protein, as is soy,  I just can't eat it,
 cause soy produces estrogen, and I have fibroid tumors and
estrogen makes them grow.  But if you can eat that is great!
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Now if you are gonna eat beef make sure it is the leanest cuts
 you can get.  London Broil is a good choice, lean ground beef
 is another.  If I am gonna brown the beef, say to make lasagna
 or spaghetti sauce, I will buy a less expensive ground beef
 and then brown it,  and afterward I will put it in the colander,
  rinse it good with hot water to get all the grease out.
 Then I put  it back in the pan,  and add whatever the other
 ingredients are, and finish cooking it.
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It tastes just as good,  it doesn't affect the flavor of the dish
 at all.  I think most people think low fat cooking is gonna
be horrible,  but really we can't tell the difference! 
 So why have all that extra bad fat if you can't really tell 
the difference.  
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I  really think a lot of that is just in our heads, and we
 convince ourselves it can't possibly be as good.
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Honestly folks,  we do not feel deprived. The food we eat
 is good,  the hardest part is just not using boxed things.
But you get used to it,  and when you have the incentive
 we do....it makes it much easier, believe me!  I actually
have found a few boxed items that I can use from time
to time.  I will share those with you in some later post.
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Well, I am gonna stop there for today, and show you a
 few products  you might want to incorporate in your
shopping this week.


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We get these chips at Target and they are awesome.  I used to
buy avocados and make my own Guacamole,  but I had so many
go bad on me,  that once I discovered the wholly guacamole I
 always buy that now, cause I know the avocado is good and I'm
 not wasting $$.   It is delicious as well.  I buy it at Publix.
They have it in mild too, and what I like is their are no
 preservatives and you can just snip the corner off the plastic
 package inside the box, and squeeze out however much you 
need and fold it over and paper clip it.  Next time it is just as 
fresh as the last time.
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Just saw this in my pic file so thought I would post it again.
This is an excellent choice for a meatless meal.  In case
 you didn't catch it yesterday I posted the recipe for this easy
 black bean and rice soup, it is really pretty thick more
like a meal than soup actually, so you could put it on
 a plate and add some 2% cheese, lettuce, tomato,
 scallions, sour cream and some of the above guacamole
 on top and eat it with the chips and you have got a
 wholesome, quick and tasty meal.
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If you have never tried egg beaters they are really great, 
 and make good scrambled eggs and omelets.  I used
some in a cookie recipe I found today. 
I will share it with you soon.
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Grape Juice that has no added sugar, is very heart healthy
 and good for your veins and arteries.  I also just learned
 from my sister-in-law Susie, over at Sister Susies
 that it is a great source of magnesium as well.  I think
you need magnesium for the arythmic functioning
of your heart. Her levels were low and they put her on RX
drugs, and they didn't agree with her, so she quit
the meds and started drinking grape juice and her
magnesium levels are fine now.
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This chicken broth is great to have on hand to make a quick 
soup. They have beef and chicken flavor, and then they have
 the one with less salt as well.
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  If your hubby and children don't like veggies they are more
 likely to eat them in soups and stews I have found.  My 
 hubby and children have always loved beef stew, and many
 soups as well. So take advantage of these cold days
to get those veggies down them.


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I am cooking "Pasta Fagioli soup" as I am writing,  and it is
 another excellent example of a meatless meal, it has 
canellini beans and this particular recipe calls for ham as well.
So it would have plenty of protein plus veggies.
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I'm not putting the ham in, mainly cause I don't have any,  but
don't know if I would if I had it cause I have  never had it
with ham in it either.  Serve it with a salad or just with some good
wholegrain bread and dip it in a  saucer of olive oil with a lil 
granulated garlic and italian spices in the dish.
A very wholesome winter meal.


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Well, there you have it for this week. *
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Hope you have a Wonderful Evening
with your family,


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Blessings N' Hugs,
Nellie

9 comments:

  1. Nellie

    Thanks for the wonderful tips. The bigger fonts are okay too although since I have started to wear my new glasses I can see fine. Imagine that?
    I really love salt and have been trying to cut back becasue of my BP. I have noticed a lot of products have lower sodium so I am switching to them.
    You post is making me hungry. Thanks again for sharing.

    Hugs & Blessings
    Janet

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi dear friend, Thank you so much for this post. I try to incorporate much of what you shared but instead of ground turkey or beef, we use Bison because it has so much less cholesterol. We are now reading labels and eliminating anything with cholesterol. Also, I try not to use white sugar; in tea I use Agave nectar or honey. We've gone to Rice milk as well.
    Have a great evening and thanks for all the tips.
    Hugs, Noreen

    ReplyDelete
  3. The large print.....well....
    I realized when I used it, it was okay when I didn't have much to say, lol!
    On Dr. Oz's show one day, he had the great substitute for beef being bison meat. It is so high in protein yet so low in fat and cholestrol, that when he fried it in a pan (with no oil) it didn't have one drop of grease when he finished cooking it. He also said it is best to cook your meat well done, due to the parasites that today's meat can have that is undetectable (one being pinworms!) Yuck! I think I will stick with well done, ha! I will surely refer to the pyramid you have in your blog today! Happy eating!
    Love, Susie

    ReplyDelete
  4. sounds great! I hope you post the recipe for the soup!

    Sorry to let you know that I had leftover French Toast this morning. Bad, bad, bad. But I'll have one of those healthy sandwich thins with some homemade chicken salad for lunch and whole wheat tortillas toasted into chips.

    Enjoy your day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have never heard of the Mediterranean diet...great information. It is that looking guy climbing the pryamid on the side (the exercise!) that keeps getting me!?! :) Oh, and the recipe from the previous post - yeah. I LOVE (yes, love) black beans!!

    Hope you are having a beautiful week!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello darling thank you for visiting my cottage and for the kind comment you left behind, sweet compliments such as yours are the reason why I blog. I look forward to taking tea with you in the future and thanks for brightening my day.

    Love & Hugs
    Duchess

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I want my family to follow the nurishing traditions diet, which has a lot of simularities to what you are doing :) Good for you and your family for wanting to eat a little healthier. :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nellie this is great. We do a lot of these things too as Jim has unhealthy hearts in his genes but he is doing great with his biking and always such a good eater. If he would just slow down and not work so hard and stress out so much he could live to be a very old man! Thanks for all your good tips.

    Love you and I did stop over at Susie's place too.

    XOXO

    ReplyDelete

Special thanks to all who take the time to leave comments..........They are very encouraging and very appreciated. I enjoy every one of them so much!!
May the Lord Bless You!!
Nellie

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