As more and more consumers are opting to cook at home while keeping their spending habits in check, many grocery chains are expanding their private labels line of organic foods. Click on http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124865207118182453.html to read the full article in The Wall Street Journal.

Please contact us at info@personalwebnutrition.com for more helpful tips.

We have been hearing so much lately about going local, whether it is a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm or a farmer’s market. I thought it would be beneficial to write about the different reasons to give local a chance.

If you cannot commit to a CSA, farmer’s markets, farm stands and even conventional grocery stores offer fresh, local fruits and vegetables.

One of the best benefits to eating local, besides helping the environment, is flavor and selection. Local fruits and vegetables are almost always picked the day you purchase them (which is their peak for tastiness). Local farms also provide produce you cannot find in the supermarket (such as delicate greens or kohlrabi).

Another wonderful idea is to take kids on a trip to a local farm. It gives them the chance to see the connection between food and the land it is grown on, which you cannot do at a grocery store. A lot of farmer’s markets offer fun activities to attract kids such as face painting, or pumpkin decorating.

Some tips to help you navigate farmer’s market/local shopping:

• If you don’t recognize a vegetable don’t be afraid to ask about it.
• Walk through the entire farmer’s market to see everything that is offered.
• Aim to make one meal per week from farmer’s market foods.
• Purchase a new vegetable each time you visit a farmer’s market.
• Even though some farmer’s markets are smaller than others they still can offer a variety of wonderful fruits, vegetables, eggs, meats, jams and even breads.
• Ask the farmers what they recommend. Maybe even some recipe ideas for the new foods you are trying.
• While selection may be more sparse later in the day, prices will most likely be lower.

While buying food locally does not guarantee safety at least you know who is growing your food!

For more information on going local please contact us at info@personalwebnutrition.com

I am so excited to announce the launch of my new blogtalkradio show, Healthy Bits and Bites. The first show was all about ways to lead a healthier lifestyle. I discussed my 18 secrets to healthy living. I covered everything from reading nutrition labels, grocery shopping tips, ways to dine out without going overboard and even creative ideas for incorporating fitness into your daily life. If you would like to listen to this show please visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/search/healthy-bits-and-bites/ .

Please feel free to submit your show, topic and guest requests to me at info@personalwebnutrition.com

If sugar were an addiction, then a “sweet tooth” would be equivalent to a high “tolerance”. It is not unheard of for people to say, “I try to eat one sweet item a day” or “I like to have at least some kind of dessert with my meals”.

When naturally “sweet” desserts like fruit salad are avoided for unnaturally sweet desserts like cake, ice cream or cookies, it raises a couple of questions: Is fruit uninteresting because it does not taste good or because a “real” dessert sounds better? How often is fruit offered as a dessert by itself? How has sugar become a habit akin to smoking, caffeine and alcohol?

If sugar were not as readily available everywhere it would be extremely difficult to make desserts and have them so easily and readily available after our meals. The time and effort involved would stop most people from consuming desserts very often (ie. daily).

In contrast, modern day sugar is present in almost every meal we eat. It is in our cereals, breads, drinks, snacks, salad dressings, sauces, condiments, spreads, peanut butter and even lunch meat. Sugar has now been incorporated into our healthy sounding items such as granola, tomato sauce, canned vegetables and yogurt.

It is because of all this increase in sugar that we need to read our nutrition labels even more carefully. Some canned tomato sauce, drinks (soda, iced tea) or yogurts can have as many grams of sugar, per serving, as ice cream or cookies!

What does our body do with all this excess of sugar we consume? It is stored in our bodies as fat. Excess consumption of sugar is linked to obesity and type II diabetes, which is connected with cancer, strokes and heart disease.

For more information on ways to avoid unnatural sugar please contact us at info@personalwebnutrition.com

I recently had the pleasure of attending the 55th annual NASFT fancy food show in NYC. Educating clients, including recommending products, is an important part of my job. My overall review of the fancy food show is AWESOME! It is such a wonderful experience for anyone that enjoys good food. That being said, I have decided to write about my favorite products at this years show. My qualifications for a favorite product are a little more unique than your ordinary food critic. I am a nutritional consultant therefore products should meet certain “healthier” standards for me to recommend them. I also am gluten and cow milk free so most of the things I recommend (and of course all of the things I tasted) are gluten and cow milk free. Luckily I brought my PR woman and she was able to assist with the taste testing on any non-allergy friendly food for me.

Now to the good stuff, my favorite products (in no particular order):

Gilbert’s Goodies- I only tried the chocolate chip cookie (which I compared to an old style bakery chocolate chip cookie), but rumor has it the snicker-doodle cookie is just as good. Why did I love this cookie? It is a delicious gluten, diary and nut free cookie!

Brothers-All-Natural – I love freeze dried fruit! It is such a nutritious, low-calorie way to enjoy something crunchy without feeling deprived. While I recommend all of the Brothers-all-natural fruit crisps, the newest, white and yellow peach, is really unique. The peaches are thin slices and not overly sweet, yet satisfying. A whole package is 40 calories, 6 grams of natural sugar and contains approximately 1 and 1/2 peaches.

Justin’s Nut Butter- Do you love nutella but avoid it because it has too much sugar or dairy? Well Justin’s has introduced a line of chocolate butter spreads to include: chocolate peanut butter, chocolate almond butter and chocolate hazelnut butter. (My favorite is a tie between the almond and hazelnut). Justin’s uses evaporated cane juice and organic palm fruit oil. The chocolate butters also contain no dairy. I have always loved the original nut butter to-go packs and welcome this wonderful new product.

Black Garlic – Yes, you are reading this correctly! There is a product out there called black garlic that is just that, black garlic. What is black garlic, besides delicious? It is an all-natural product. In fact, there’s only one ingredient—garlic. It’s aged for a month in a special fermentation process under high heat, where it develops its darker color, softer texture, and sweeter taste. I equate the texture to soft licorice and the taste to mild/sweet garlic. It is a great way to spice up your salads, make purees, or even just to snack on plain.

Solterra- gluten and dairy free brownies and pasta. Why did I love the happy body brownie mix? Besides being gluten and dairy free it had the right moist/chewy ratio to taste like “real” brownies and were not loaded with sugar (a huge offender in most gluten free baked goods). The gluten free fettuccine was amazing and could have passed for regular pasta in a taste test! Thank you Solterra from all your gluten/dairy free friends!

Cupola Cookies – chocolate cashew cookie was quite light, crispy and subtle (think meringue). They are a little higher in sugar per serving size but the serving size is 10 cookies, which is extremely generous. You can easily stop at 2-3 cookies!

Ganic water- pure spring water enhanced with natural extracts and aromas. What a fun water! They carry over 15 different exciting varieties including caramel toffee (which was heavenly, dessert as a calorie free water) and strawberry slim (also good and subtle strawberry taste).

JK Gourmet granola and almond flour- are delicious grain and dairy free products. My favorite was the apple spice and raisin granola. JK Gourmet also offers biscotti and muffin loaves.

Celebrity Cheese – goat cheese was so creamy and delicious. My favorite was the herb and garlic and cranberry cinnamon (which could easily be served for dessert with fresh fruit on whole-grain crackers).

Manhattan Chocolates – dairy free milky toffee was AMAZING! It had the perfect combination of crunch and sweetness. You would never know it is not milk chocolate!

Wai Lana Yogi Chips – are a unique twist on potato chips using cassava (yucca) instead of potatoes to supply a more nutritious snack. I only tried the herb and garlic which were quite tasty and enjoyable.

Tasty Baby organic baby food – while I am not the main target audience for this company, I must say the product I tried was extremely yummy and nutritious! I tried the tasty bangos (bananas and mangos). Tasty baby products are all natural, organic and contain no high fructose corn syrup or other unhealthy offenders. Kudos to tasty baby for making healthy and nutritious snacks for babies!

Riega Foods – CerealVit(gluten free cereal from Italy). The benevit variety was amazing and tasted just like special k (minus the high fructose corn syrup and gluten). Anxiously awaiting its arrival in the States!

Romanicos Chocolate- mission fig bar. What a treat this is! It is gluten and dairy free, made of 65% dark chocolate from Venezuela combined with soft mission figs. It has just the right amount of everything to make it pure pleasure. And 10% of the profits go to chocolatesforautism.org.

I had so much fun taste testing my way through the NASFT 55th fancy food show in NYC. There were numerous other companies that offered terrific products as well. If you would like more information on my product recommendations please contact me at info@personalwebnutrition.com

Interesting news came out today about the USDA’s labeling of the term “organic”. According to msnbc.com, “Relaxation of the federal standards, and an explosion of consumer demand, have helped push the organics market into a $23 billion-a-year business, the fastest growing segment of the food industry.” Unfortunately the USDA’s labeling system has become less stringent over the years which means that consumers who are paying extra for organic products do not always get what they expect. Companies also use the term “all natural” products and are marketed as lower priced alternatives to organic. Should the government have a strict interpretation of “organic” or allow companies to use trace amounts of non-organic substances?

The morale of the story is: Read your labels and buyer beware!

For more information on this story please visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31719136/ns/health-more_health_news/

I am by no means a vegetarian. I do however balance my animal and plant-based protein meals. After seeing the movie Food, Inc. I have been having an even harder time eating animal protein. Therefore I have decided to become extremely creative with my vegetarian recipes. Last night I made the most delicious tasty tofu salad and realized I had to share it. I love to cook, therefore I do not always measure my ingredients. Some of the quantities are estimates so use your judgement (taste the sauce and flavor to taste). Here are the details:

Ingredients:

1 package organic tofu (packed in water)

Sauce:

1-2 tbsp. tamari (wheat free soy sauce)

1 tbsp. agave nectar (organic)

1-2 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon (or lemon juice)

3 tbsp. light coconut milk

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Breading:

1/3 cup (approximately) Ancient Harvest quinoa flakes

1/4 cup (approximately) Orgran gluten free bread crumbs

Salad:

bag of organic romaine lettuce

sliced scallions

chopped organic celery

Procedure:

Slice the tofu into 6-8 1/2″ slices

Pat dry with paper-towels

Dip tofu into quinoa and bread crumbs

Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in skillet.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place tofu dipped slices into skillet. Cook for about 3-4 minutes per side (until lightly browned)

In a small bowl mix sauce ingredients: tamari, apple cider vinegar, agave nectar, fresh lemon, light coconut milk (taste and adjust accordingly)

After tofu is browned, place in an aluminum pan. Pour sauce over the tofu. Place in over for 10-12 minutes.

Add organic romaine lettuce, scallions and celery into a salad bowl. Place tofu on top and serve. ENJOY!

Serves: 2-3 (depending on the amount of tofu used)

For more nutritious and delicious recipes please contact us at info@personalwebnutrition.com

General Mills brand Betty Crocker has rolled out a whole line of gluten free mixes for cookies, brownies and cakes. General Mills is the first major mainstream company to offer gluten free mixes. After doing their research, General Mills realized about 12% of the population wanted to reduce their wheat and gluten intake. The mixes will retail for about $2 more per box than the regular mixes. Be on the lookout for a major marketing campaign. Thank you General Mills and Betty Crocker! Hopefully more major companies will follow in their footsteps soon. For more information on this wonderful and exciting news please click on http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124649298279583139.html.