Foods Long Life

Whipped sweet potatoes in 4 minutes! Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest. Reasons To Eat Sweet Potatoes Besides being one of my favorites foods to eat, it is also one of the healthiest. Here are some reasons you should frequently include these in your diet. #1 - Sweet potatoes are one of the best food sources of beta-carotene with the ability to raise our blood levels of vitamin A. Vitamin A is critical for healthy skin, mucus membranes, good vision, and a strong immune system. To boost the absorption of beta-carotene, always eat sweet potatoes with some fat. #2 - They are rich in anthocyanin and other color-related phytonutrients. These compounds have strong anti-inflammatory properties . Animal studies demonstrate the reduction of inflammation in brain and nerve tissue after the consumption of sweet potatoes.  #3 - In spite of their medium glycemic index and being a starchy food, sweet potatoes can potentially improve blood sugar regulation, even in ...

Over-the-counter cold remedies can be dangerous. So try making your own! Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest . What's In Your Cough Syrup? You can tell that it's cold and flu season by the melodious sound of hacking coughs in the supermarket, airplanes, schools, and in the office. A cough can disrupt your sleep and leave you exhausted.  Most people think that over-the-counter medications are pretty safe and when faced with a never-ending cough, are desperate to try anything. But like many pharmaceutical drugs, the side effects can be more dangerous than the symptoms you are trying to suppress. Especially when you take too much. And when you can't stop coughing, sometimes it's easy to take a bigger slug that what is prescribed. Many cough syrups contain DMX, or Dextromethorphan. Side effects of taking too much DMX can include: * Blurred vision * Confusion * Drowsiness or dizziness * nausea or severe vomiting * difficulty in urination * shakiness and ...

Roasted butternut squash adds a natural sweetness to this dish. Follow Foods For Long Life on Pinterest and Facebook . Beans for Fiber, Protein and More For those of you who have vowed to eat less meat this year, you will be happy to know that you can get lots of high quality protein from beans. Unlike with meat, this protein comes with critical dietary fiber, antioxidants, and complex carbohydrates that will stabilize your blood sugar and help lower your cholesterol. The best part about this protein source is that it doesn't come with saturated fat and cholesterol. So add some to your diet each day. Winter Squash I had a wonderful winter squash harvest this year so I'm looking for recipes to use them up. Last week, my friend Margarite brought over some cannellini beans with roasted butternut squash. The roasted squash gave the beans a beautiful sweet flavor. Here's my attempt to duplicate this lovely recipe. You can make the beans in an Instant Pot or just cook them on th...

Cutting a butternut squash can be really difficult. Here's a quick tip. Love to Eat Them but Hate to Cut Them? I love butternut squash. But they can be really hard to cut. The outer skin can be so tough you feel like you need a machete to cut through it. I use to wait until Doug was around to do it so I didn't risk cutting my hand off, but now I use this little trick that makes it super easy. Check it out. The key is to peel them first! Take a vegetable peeler and peel the entire squash. Once it's completely peeled, lay the squash on its side on a cutting board and just slice off the top and the bottom. A good knife will go through it like butter.  Now turn the squash up on its end and carefully cut straight down to the bottom. Clean out the seeds and then slice or dice depending on the recipe you are making. Wasn't that simple? I'll be posting a delicious butternut squash recipe in later this week so stay tuned!

Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook  and Pinterest . For a good start to the new year, Download my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen . How Can We Improve Our Health? At the start of every new year, I give a great deal of thought about things I can do to improve my health and yours. Each year I look at the latest research and my own personal experiences as I try to pick the highest priority items. Here are my top eight for 2016.  #1 - Forget about Fad Diets and Load Up on Great Foods! Weight loss is usually front and center, especially at this time of year when everyone is making New Year's resolutions. But it should be accomplished by eating lots of good foods, not by going on a fad diet or eating packaged weight-loss meals or shakes. I like to suggest diets that are for a lifetime, not just for the months it takes to get to your goal weight. In fact, a good diet should get you in the habit of eating well and making a life change. Here are some past blog posts that c...

Easy One-Pot New Year's Day Recipe for Good Luck. Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest Happy New Year It wouldn't be New Year's without a lucky black-eyed pea recipe. This year's recipe is as simple as it gets and is made in an Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker.  I have a confession to make. This year I'm taking a big risk and making yellow-eyed peas from Rancho Gordo but of course you can make this with traditional black-eyed peas.         *                           *                        *                     * Black-Eyed (or Yellow-Eyed) Peas with Corn and Greens Vegan, Gluten and Dairy Free [makes 6 servings] Requires an Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Allow soaking time - either overnight or 2 hours in hot water. Ingredients 1 cup black or yellow-eyed peas 2...

Me with two of my grand boys at Christmas. Boy, What a Year Ah, the last day of the year. A month ago I would have said, “hooray, let’s get this one over with.” But I end the year with joy and gratitude. Let me explain. I started the year learning the tango in Buenos Aires and cooking in Rio de Janeiro. What a wonderful beginning to the year. I then returned in February to do several medical procedures that were going to improve my life. No matter how many vitamins we take, no matter how much we exercise, no matter how good a diet we have – shit happens. In my case, I had a surgery to fix a Morton’s neuroma in my foot so that I could run again. It didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped, to put it mildly (but that’s an entire blog post in itself). Then I had 2 cataract surgeries that gave me excellent vision until one of my retina’s tore which required a fun laser procedure to tack it back up. Finally, several mysterious freckles showed up which required skin biopsies. By now I’m thinking...