May seasonal fruits

I'm excited to check out upcoming Farmer's Markets here in Los Angeles, the seasonal produce is changing and we'll get some of my favorite fruits that are not found other times of the year:
* apricots
* nectarines
* peaches
* figs
Vegetables like summer squash have been around earlier, and I really like this "What's in season" page for finding out what's around at the farmer's market. I'm a berry fan and often disappointed at what I see at the regular grocery stores, so I'm planning a trip to "pick your own berries" at this family farm.

If you're not able to get your berries everyday or if you're not a fan of berries, this ORAC supplement is a powerful delivery system of berries like cranberries and elderberry I don't get around to eating and can help support healthy vision. I have trouble with my night vision, and if I don't get my berries, I actually have cravings for berries! So I have a back-up of frozen berries in my freezer, and there is also my new favorite frozen Greek yogurt place that has terrific fruit toppings to help quench my cravings and cope with the hot weather. Seasonal fruits make for a quick healthy dessert or a great topping on salads. Hope you'll find or re-discover some favorites in the next few weeks!

Pumpkin time! Weight loss cookies

It's near Thanksgiving and everyone is fearful of eating too much bad food. Fear not!
Bring your own healthy dish, and you can be assured you have something good for you--and if you're hankering for a healthy dessert, check out these pumpkin cookies in lieu of pumpkin pie.

These pumpkin protein+fiber cookies are low in sugar and butter, taste so great, have so many nutrients, that they should be called "weight loss cookies" because they follow the low-glycemic guidelines of the TLS Weight Loss program I teach. Oh, but being responsible with words, we don't want the word cookie associated with weight loss, so I'll just call them healthy cookies. Here's the recipe.

Many people are wheat-sensitive, or even allergic, and that is why we get the bloated belly or gut discomfort. Who doesn't want to have a flat belly? So let's deal with the prevalence of wheat causing weight gain or belly bloat and learn to cook/bake with gluten-free alternatives.

Gluten-free sometimes gets a bad rap, that these baked things don't taste good. I assure you these pumpkin cookies are a hit, with the egg and baking powder, and baking soda to give them rise and softness for excellent taste. Gluten-free flour sometimes seems foreign for newbies learning to cook healthy, but let me tell you it's quite easy to find gluten free flour these days. These are my favorite kinds: almond meal (high protein), garbanzo flour (high protein), millet (softer). While I don't know every brand, these are my tips: Almond meal is best found at Trader Joe's, and you can find the Bob's Red Mill brand online or at your local store. If you want to know more about gluten-free baking, I'm a healthy foodie chef and please email me.

Note: Online prices reflect a bigger quantity of flour than you might be used to seeing at the store. Also, when you eat healthier, you're investing in your health, instead of being on the path to sickness with genetically-modified foods kept cheap with political subsidies.

New tasty healthy foods

Since I have figured out that I am sensitive to lactose, especially with uncooked milk (it makes my stomach blow up a few extra inches!), I've been looking for a solution to my yogurt cravings. If I'm going to have milk products, I should really be taking my digestive enzymes which have lactase to break down the lactose. I like to carry a travel pack of the digestive enzymes in my purse for protecting my stomach while eating out, for the times that I can't avoid the lactose.

For those who are lactose-sensitive, yogurt is less irritating, but why have any irritation? I have newly discovered this brand of yogurt that has lactase in it so that it becomes lactose-free AND it has a good collection of probiotics! Happy tummy!

On other snack foods, I'm sensitive to the varying levels of vinegar found in most olives. Olives are so good for you, but it's simply easier for me to get them into my diet if they are already mixed in with something like hummus. You can find these pre-made at your local grocery store like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. This is a great substitute for those of us who like cheese and want a healthier low-fat savory snack.

And to satisfy my sweet tooth, I'm defrosting a cup of frozen wild blueberries. The wild boreal blueberries are smaller and have so much more flavor than its conventional cousins. With frozen fruit at my disposal, I can have tasty fruit year-round conveniently at less than 1/2 the cost of the fresh kind. I would prefer fresh fruits, but sometimes it's helpful to be easy on the budget and my shopping schedule!

Ez, Tasty, Healthy Cooking Workshop

If you're busy and you need some easy, tasty, and healthy foods you can cook at home and use a on-the-go snacks, this is the cooking workshop for you! Want weight loss? Don't know how to eat more veggies in your week? I've got lots of ideas for you! The recipe for these turkey-veggie meatballs shown in the photo here got approved by an anti-veggie teen who is a picky eater.

Click on the event registration link quick so you can reserve your seat. It's a small class size so you can really learn. Tell your friends even if you can't make it, because this is a rare opportunity you get to see this foodie chef in action and teaching you how you can do it yourself!

Try a healthy dessert instead of ice cream

Craving something cold and sweet?

Greek yogurt is creamy and has high protein to help you slow down your absorption of sugars. Add fruit and honey to your low-fat greek yogurt and it's a great substitute for ice cream! If you don't have fresh fruit, add some frozen blueberries, or a tablespoon of natural fruit preserves (be sure you quit the preserves that have high fructose corn syrup).

Summertime seems to call for ice cream--and if you want to splurge on fatty sugary ice cream, have it after dinner when your body has a mix of lean proteins and fiber to help you slow down the high level of sugars in the ice cream. Timing your dessert AFTER a meal helps you stay to the low-glycemic load health habits. Also, you can choose brands of ice cream that have 5 simple ingredients and not so many additives.

I love ice cream, and you should see a childhood picture of little me smiling the biggest smile with my ice cream cone. And since I love ice cream so much, this greek yogurt option is a nice way to tame the cravings!

Healthier Muffins

Check out these healthier cupcake, meatloaf, and muffin recipes.
When it's appropriate, I try to make it even more healthier by swapping out 1/2 the flour and replacing it with almond meal, which is easily found at Trader Joe's. It makes the recipe more dense and moist, so this method won't work well for every recipe. It works well with banana bread or other recipes that have a dense body to it. Muffins are a great way to have baked goods with portion control! I even like to use mini-muffins because sometimes a full muffin is too big for me as a snack, and mini-muffins bake faster!

Tell me which one is your favorite?

Pumpkin Cranberry Protein/Fiber Cookie Recipe

Not the sexiest recipe title, but it sure makes you feel better about eating a dessert item with the extra protein and fiber!

The trick to swapping out some of the white flour, is to get good unbleached parchment paper so that your cookies hold their shape and don't go *splat*! ! I've had my share of mishaps in my multi-year experimentation with improving the nutrient density of yummy baked goods, so you get pleasure for your palette and nutrition for your body!

Supplies: Cookie sheets, unbleached parchment paper (not wax paper)

Ingredients

1/2 c butter, softened (unsalted preferred)
3/4 c white sugar (decreased sugar than other recipes)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg (free-range omega-3 fortified eggs are recommended)
1 c organic pumpkin puree
2 c gluten-free baking flour (if this is not available, change the recipe to be 2 c all purpose flour)
1 tsp baking powder (aluminum-free preferred)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (kosher preferred)
1/2 cup protein/fiber powder
1 c dried cranberries (unsweetened is preferred, but more difficult to find)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (great anti-inflammatory!)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbl orange or lemon zest (optional)
1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional, highly recommended--great source of Omega-3 fats)

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 375 F. Do NOT grease cookie sheets. Line with unbleached parchment paper.
2) In a large mixing bowl, cream butter + sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, egg, and pumpkin. This is your wet mixture.
3) Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, and protein powder. Stir dry ingredients by hand with a spatula into the wet mixture. (tip: do not over-mix.) Stir in cranberries and orange zest and walnuts. If you like extra crunchy walnuts, save the walnuts for later.
4) Drop by tablespoons onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Make a size that is on the smaller side, for better portion-control and for cuteness. Yes, presentation matters! For crunchy walnut topping, sprinkle and press walnuts on top of cookies.
5) Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy after cooling on racks. Let cool completely so that the crunch on the outside is there, otherwise it gets more soft due to pumpkin moisture. Store in airtight containers or plastic bags.
Gift them to friends and colleagues so that they are eaten fresh within 2-3 days (so YOU can enjoy but you are not eating them all!)
If you want to save the dough, wrap in a log with plastic wrap, then in a freezer storage bag so that you can heat up a few cookies in the toaster oven as a weeknight post-dinner treat.

Pumpkin-Cranberries Protein Cookie Recipe to come...

I'm so excited to re-configure my pumpkin cranberries protein cookie recipe. It's the perfect snack with healthy ingredients, AND I don't spike my blood sugar by the swapping out of some flour and substituting protein powder. Each protein powder works a little different, and I've found one that has extra fiber.

I'll work on that tomorrow night and post my recipe soon!!
These will be my gifts of thanks to everyone who I have enjoyed the honor of seeing your make changes in your health and fitness.