Canning 101

Last week I went to the opening of the farmers market in Minnetonka. It was a great experience with many local farmers, including a group of farmers who brought canned peaches, tomatoes, tomato sauce and once again a memory of my grandmother making canned wild berry reserves was triggered. I remember as a young child picking wild raspberries, strawberries and blackberries and then canning the reserves. I do remember opening the cans in the middle of winter and thinking of all those summer days of picking the berries...hmmm, what a great memory!

I don't know anyone who does canning anymore, including myself. Actually, canning can be very easy and it is a great way to eat fresh and locally year round. So whether your tomato plant is bursting with more tomatoes than you ever could imagine, or you are frequenting all of the farmers markets and finding you are having an extra amount of fresh fruit and veggies -- consider canning those extras instead of throwing them away!

The National Center for Home Food Preservation is a great starting point to learning how to can your own fruits and vegetables. You also can find information and professional guidance at your local Cooperative Extension Office.

Sunset Magazine, once again has great tutorials including Canning Instructions, Tomato Tips and tricks (The secrets to peeling, freezing, canning -- and more tomato know-how for the kitchen), and Canning ABCs.

The New York Times, highlights some of the challenges with canning in their article Some Canning Dos and Dont's -- this article is a MUST READ if you are considering canning. Since there is a higher risk of food contamination, it is essential to follow recipes closely and to pay very close attention during canning. Recipes should not be followed if they were developed before 1990 since there was such a great risk for food borne illness and the USDA did not publish their comprehensive guide to Home Canning until 1998.

So, be smart and safe when home canning. Overall it is an easy way to reduce waste and to enjoy of the flavors of the summer in January!

Additional Resources:

USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2006 Revision

Historical Origins of Food Preservation

Preservation Principles in Chutney

Instructional Videos on Canning

Recipes:

Cranberry Orange Chutney

Easy Hot Sauce

Herbed Seasoned Tomatoes

Tomatoes -- Whole, Halved or Quartered

Breaking Generational Worry Around Food

I had an interview with Gale from the Minnesota News Network yesterday in response to the report from the Trust For America's Health which found that Minnesota had the lowest rate of overweight children in the nation. And while, I am always impressed when we rank number 1, it still is a staggering 23% of our children who are overweight which is concerning.

I talked with Gale about the need for an environment where both the parents and the child have a positive relationship with food and the parents model balanced and structured meals. Discussing that parents who worry, fear, talk about food excessively, eat sporadically or excessively or are hyper focused, or trying to hard to overcorrect can lead to a high chance that the child will model that same behavior and ultimately a poor relationship with food which can lead to brain wiring around stress, which can ultimately lead to physiological imbalances that for some can cause weight gain and a lifetime of angst. Thus, the developing brain of a child can wire to have similar fears and stress responses around food as the adult which can last throughout adulthood and be passed on to another generation.

A dear friend of mine, who is a therapist, suggested a book written by Daniel Siegel and Marty Hartzell called Parenting from the Inside Out, which I happened to pick up last week. Now, I am only page 64, but already this has been one of the best popular books that I have read that clearly explains how implicit memory, explicit memory and brain development occur. This book does not have a "food" theme, however it does help explain how wiring (poor relationships with food and body, fear, etc) occurs and how we as parents have triggers from our own previous experiences in life which can cause stress responses. Some of these stress response triggers are very much hidden in the subconscious and we are often not even aware of why they are happening. If we don't have an understanding of these previous life experineces, then the likelihood that they will be passed on to the next generation is high. Sigel writes "Without such self-understanding, however, science has shown that history will likely repeat itself, as negative patterns of family interactions are passed down through the generations". With that being said, the good news is "your early experiences do not determine your fate". Siegel states that when there is understanding of early-life experiences then "you are not bound to re-create the same negative interactions with your own children".

I work with a significant number of adults in my practice who have lived in fear and angst with food their entire life. For many of those clients, they are now feeding their own children which brings up a lot of their fears and unreasonable expectations. Again, fear and angst create a physiological response which can lead to cravings, hunger and weight gain. Having an understanding and setting new reasonable expectations as an adult can significantly change the brain wiring, resulting in a better relationship with food, decreasing the stress response and if you have children, providing a better model for your child.

Be curious! Watch and connect with the feelings that food, meals, weight bring up when you are with your child.

Have compassion for your self and the process. If you watched your mom or dad worry about
food a lot when you were a child, or if there were unreasonable expectations placed on you as a child... "great job for eating all your food", "you are good if you are a certain weight", etc., then chances are those messages are deeply wired in memory. As an adult they may seem silly, but you may still be feeling those feelings and living with those unreasonable expectations.

Get professional help. Work with a therapist or nutrition therapist (this is my specialty). There is no need to try to attempt this journey alone. The Solution Method, is an excellent tool for helping create more reasonable expectations and attachment.

Neuroscience research has show us that brain wiring can and does change, so even though your early memory may have wired around food and stress, it doesn't mean that it needs to stay that way! Changing your brain is a gift for you and generations!

Spring Time -- Let's Garden

Finally, I think that we are breaking winter and spring is almost here in Minnesota. Even though we had some snow this week, I have been waking up to the melody of birds every morning -- oh, so wonderful and such JOY!

My husband was outside last week starting to break apart the soil to prepare it for planting. We don't have a lawn, but rather flower and vegetable gardens. I am so happy to hear that across the country more people are pulling out their landscaped lawns and adding flowers, vegetables and even chicken coops. There is a movement happening! I think that this movement is partially driven by the economic times, but also interest in organic foods and having nutritious foods available -- in your own backyard. According to USA Today, The National Gardening Association predicts a 40 percent increase in the number of homes growing vegetable gardens in comparison with two years ago.

It was a few weeks ago, when Michelle Obama, along with some DC area school children, planted a vegetable garden which will be used in the meals prepared at the White House. The White House vegetable garden may have an effect on the nation, "Those gardens, modeled after a White House patch planted by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943, were intended to inspire self-sufficiency, and at their peak supplied 40 percent of the nation's fresh produce, said Roger Doiron, founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International", says USA Today.

Even if you are a person who doesn't like vegetables, having your own vegetable garden and eating a freshly picked fruit or vegetable is an experience. I remember back to when I was living in California and had my first taste of a "real strawberry". I grew up eating strawberries flown in from California, but also ate a lot of wild strawberries at our cabin in Northern Michigan. The wild strawberries were small and tart, perfect for making jam. One day on a trip down the California coast we stopped outside of Watsonville, home of Driscolls and many strawberry fields. We had a bunch of strawberries that were picked that morning and were farmed without chemicals. The strawberries were very large, incredibly juicy and oh so sweet. I will remember that moment forever because it felt like I was eating a strawberry for the first time. It tasted nothing like the strawberries I had eaten all of my life.

Growing a garden does take some planning and reading. Below are some resources to help you get started.

Happy Planting!

University of Minnesota Extension -- excellent resource and should be your first call if thinking about planting a garden. The extension offers educational programs and e-learning specific to Minnesota and the northern region.

Sunset Magazine's Guide to Growing A Vegetable Garden -- good guide. Sunset magazine is based on the West coast, so may not provide specific advice about Minnesota.

Sunset Magazine's Instructional Video on How To Plant A Tomato -- great simple video on planting a tomato plant.

Urban Gardening

City Gardening Magazine

The Northern Dilemma: Produce in Winter

Each year I struggle with the availability of fresh produce in the winter months and this year is no different. It is a dilemma that I haven't been able to overcome since moving to the Upper Midwest six years ago. Most of the produce that is available this time of year is picked too soon and shipped from very distant places. Thus, leaving the quality of the produce less to be desired...bland, bruised, lacking vitamins/minerals and tasteless, with the exception of the Minneola tangelos that are coming from California -- they arrived here in December and January and are so delicious!

Frozen  Veggies and Fruit

Believe it or not, some frozen vegetables and fruits can be more nutritious than fresh produce especially in the winter months.  Vegetables and fruits that are picked for freezing are processed when they are most nutrient dense -- their peak ripeness.  

When choosing frozen vegetables and fruit, there is a quality difference between different brands and products.  The differences in quality can influence taste, texture and appearance.  Which means if you are not a big vegetable eater, you always want to make sure that you are buying "U.S. Grade A" or "Fancy" because those are the vegetables/fruits that "are carefully selected for color, tenderness and freedom from blemishes".  Other grades such as B or C are not as high of quality and Grade C are ideal for soups, stews and casseroles.  

Organic vegetables/fruits are available frozen. Personally, I am a big fan of Trader Joe's  frozen vegetables and fruits.  Hands down, they offer the most variety of mixes and always with high quality ingredients.  

When choosing canned fruits, it is best to keep with those products that are simply just the fruit and either juice or water.  A lot of companies add high fructose sugar to canned fruits, which really isn't necessary.  Some fruits are sold in light syrup or heavy syrup.  Heavy syrup fruits are ideal for baking and quite sweet to eat for your fruit serving. 

Some easy tips for produce consumption in the winter months:

• Keep 3-5 packages of frozen vegetables/fruits "in stock" at all times (you will never run out)
• Frozen vegetables can be made in the microwave (5 minutes on high) or sauteed with some seasoning and olive on the stove top (5 minutes)
• Frozen fruits taste great pureed with milk and ice -- smoothie
• Choose frozen vegetables over canned for greater nutrient content
• Both Grade A and Grade B frozen vegetables would taste good, Grade A is a higher quality
• Keep 3-5 cans of canned fruit "in stock" at all times
• Read the labels for canned fruit and avoid products with added high fructose corn syrup
• If you accidently purchased fruit in heavy syrup, you can always rinse the syrup off
• Cooking frozen vegetables on the stove retains more heat in the vegetable than microwave cooking.  Microwaved vegetables can lose their heat very quickly, thus leaving the vegetable tasting pretty bad
• Experiment with different seasonings for vegetables.  Visit Penzeys spices either in the store or online, they have some excellent seasonings for veggies

USDA GUIDE "HOW TO BUY CANNED AND FROZEN VEGETABLES"

USDA GUIDE "HOW TO BUY CANNED AND FROZEN FRUITS"

Buying Eggs: Eggs and Grocery Label Claims

Do you have to live on a farm to have chickens that deliver fresh eggs or is owning your own chicken becoming a new trend? I was talking with a client who lives in the city of Minneapolis who has her own chickens and the end result is humanely raised chickens who produce highly nutritious eggs.

The thought of raising your own chicken for eggs might be intimidating and certainly a lot of work, so if you are more inclined to stick with the traditional grocery store eggs, how can you determine if the eggs you are buying are coming from humanely treated chickens? Well, if you read the labels of eggs it can be confusing. Once again, I was so pleased to read the article "Sorting Through the Claims of the Boastful Egg" in the NY Times on September 16, 2008 because never has buying eggs been more confusing.

As the NY times article states, some claims are regulated by the federal government, state government and some not at all. To ensure that there is truth in labeling, look for the USDA Organic label, USDA Shield or animal care related labels.

Definitions of Labels Claims, as defined by the agriculture department (resource NY Times):

Cage Free -- chickens kept out of cages with access to continuous food and water, doesn't necessarily have access to the outdoors.

Free Range --meets cage free standards, must have access to the outdoors, unless there’s a health risk present. There are no standards, though, for what that outdoor area must be like. (A concrete lot could do.)

Pasture Raised -- no regulation on this term. It implies that hens got at least part of their food from greens and bugs. Like other pasture raised animals, some studies suggest that pasture-raised eggs have more nutrients, in particular Omega 3 -- fatty acids.

As far as animal care labels, most of them have requirements on farm density, reducing feed to increase egg production, space, feed, etc.

"Animal Welfare Approved" a label by the America Welfare Institute. This label requires is given to independent farmers and has strict standards for the humane treatment of animals. The great news, is that Animal Welfare Approved foods are available at these stores/farms in Minnesota. According to the NY Times article, "flocks can have no more than 500 birds, and chickens over 4 weeks old must be able to spend all their time outside on pesticide-free pasture with a variety of vegetation. They must have access to dust baths and cannot have their beaks trimmed (a practice on crowded egg farms) or be fed animal byproducts."

The Humane Farm Animal Care, created the "Certified Humane Raised and Handled" and is audited every year by the Department of Agriculture. Chickens are kept cage free, although not necessarily outdoors.

American Humane Association created a voluntary label similar to the Certified Humane Raise and Handled (above).

Organic chickens are cage free and are able to go outdoors, although there is no defined time. They are not allowed to be given antibiotics. They are free fed from animal byproducts which is made from crops grown without chemical pesticides, fertilizers, etc. If eggs are titled "organic" without the seal, then they may be regulated by the state and don't necessarily meet the same standards.

There is a lot of information as it relates to labeling. I encourage, if you can to buy "farm fresh" eggs where you know the eggs are coming from a small, independent grass fed farm. As listed above, you can find local listing of animal welfare approved eggs here!

Yummy Yogurt

A few years ago, my husband I and travelled throughout the countryside of France, specifically in the Champagne regions. We spent our time drinking incredible champagne and eating the most spectacular foods, but there was one food that made such an impact on me that if forever changed my taste buds and brain chemistry, and that food was unpasturized goat's milk yogurt. I thought that I had died and gone to heaven while this eating yogurt! It truly had more of an impact on me than the champagne.

Prior to my trip to France, I would typically eat very "conventional" types of yogurt, processed here in the States by major corporations. When I would choose from the yogurt wall at the grocery store, it was always based on what "fruit" flavor was at the bottom. The texture was very thin and the taste, to be frank was "bland" and "artificial".

Needless to say, I was very discouraged upon my return to the states and actually stopped eating yogurt. That was until I discovered greek style yogurts. Fage, a brand that is easily accessible here in Minnesota is excellent. It is much higher in protein than standard yogurts and is thick and creamy. It tastes wonderful plain or with a little bity of honey. It doesn't compare to my experience in France, but it is the closest thing to it that I have experienced at home.

Many of my clients choose yogurt based on calories, I am challenging you to try the greek style yogurt and choose it based on taste and satiety. Yogurt is a power food and is filled with live cultures which makes it unique. For additional recipes and more information about yogurt, click here.

Defining Healthy -- Physically fit and overweight/obese or thin and unfit?

This post is a little off "food", but it is one that I posted on the CES blog and thought it would be excellent for the Twin City Nutrition Blog...

Are you healthy? Overweight or obese?

Can you be healthy and overweight? For most health care practitioners, a body mass index (BMI) is the measurement used to diagnose a person's body size -- either thin or fat. This tool is used by most physician's, dietitian's, nurses, health and exercise professionals. Most of us visit our physician and they either tell us, "hey, you are doing great" or " hey, you need to lose weight". Those people who have a BMI greater than 25, probably leave their physician's office feeling shameful, failed, defected, fearful and so desperate to work towards getting their BMI lower that, for some, their brain becomes bombarded with thoughts about food, weight and body image.

Take for example, a client of mine who I will call Mary for annonymity. Mary is a professional in the health care field. She understands numbers, research and is incredibly smart. She came to visit me at my practice, Twin City Nutrition, feeling threatened, shamed and with a strong belief that she was "defected". She has been dietiting since her twenties and now being in her forties, she felt out of control with food and couldn't make sense of all of the nutrition information. She shared that she has hated her body image since her early twenties and has NEVER had a good relationship with food. She has been active, but still set the expectation that she "should be doing more" to be "healthy". She has always feared food, and when asked why, part of her explanation was that she felt that she was a "good" person when she ate balanced and a "bad" person when she ate out of balance -- food, weight and body image was defining her self worth. Since she worked in a medical office, she was regularly counseling on BMI and everyday was reminded that her BMI was high, therefore putting her into a stress response frequently throughout the day.

When I first met Mary, I asked her how often she thought that she was going into a stress response around food? She stated initially, that she didn't think that she was stressing out "too much", but after several weeks of working together it became clear as to how much she was going into a physiological stress response, thus triggering an array of hundreds of hormones, including cortisol and others that drive cravings, thoughts about food, behaviors, etc. Since she did understand the physiological world, she was able to quickly start to compartmentalize feelings from physiological imbalance from those feelings that were evolved from past experiences around weight, including the many of physician visits when she was told that "something wasn't right". If you look at Mary's health history -- she is healthy. She exercises, eats structured meals (timing) and doesn't take any medication. Her lab values are within normal limits and she supplements her diet with vitamins/minerals and essential fatty acids. She has worked hard on balancing out meals to feel good and has seen significant decreases with symptoms (fatigue, hunger, cravings, crashes, headaches, etc). She feels GREAT, except she is still very worried about her body mass index.

I was delighted to read the article, Better to Be Fat and Fit Than Skinny and Unfit, in the New York Times published on August 19, 2008. The article highlights a study that was published in The Archives of Internal Medicine, which compared weight and cardiovascular risk factors among more than 5400 adults. The findings found that half of the overweight people and one-third of the obese people are "metabolically healthy"....meaning that they have healthy lipid levels (cholesterol), blood pressure, blood glucose and other risk factors for heart disease.

The study also found that about 1 out of 4 thin people had at least 2 cardivascular risk factors associated with obesity.According to the article, this study does not dismiss the associations between overweight/obesity with health problems and "obese people were more likely to have two or more cardiovascular risk factors than slim people...but it was the proportion of people who were overweight/obese who were metabolically healthy."

The article also highlights studies at the Cooper Instute in Dallas that have shown that fitness, is a far better indicator of health than body mass index. They note, "in several studies, the researchers have shown that people who are fat but can still keep up on treadmill tests have much lower heart risk than people who are slim and unfit".

I do believe that people can be healthy and be overweight/obese. Looking solely at weight loss based on the BMI (which doesn't take into account muscle mass) is very limiting and doesn't take into account all of the other factors that defines health -- physical activity, hormonal balances, relationships with food and body image, genetic risk factors, laboratory markers, etc....