IS MY SWEETIE REALLY SWEET?

Here I go again challenging another food essential.  Over the years I’ve had a love/hate relationship with sugar and not really known what to do about it.  I’ve tried to summarise my reading over the past years and now I’ve spent the last few days researching a bit more.  I hope this newsletter is interesting and helpful. 

We’ve been created with a taste for sweetness and there’s nothing wrong with that.  Actually the Latin word ‘frui’ is the root of our English word ‘fruit’ and means ‘enjoy.’¹   Sweetness is something to be enjoyed.  We can get quite addicted to sugar though, and food manufacturers understand this very well.  Sugar tastes good but it’s not good for you – let me tell you why.

Refined sugars require many B vitamins to help in their digestion and utilisation in our bodies.  However, all naturally occurring carbohydrate foods contain an abundance of B vitamins and fibre. Our bodies can assimilate these natural sugars well.  Unfortunately, what’s wrong with the stuff we call ‘sugar’ is that when we refine sugar cane or beet we also remove the B vitamins and fibre during the processing.  Our bodies then have to find these B vitamins from somewhere else.

A story is told by William Duffy in the book Sugar Blues (see Wikipedia) about the survivors of a ship wreck on a distant island, carrying a cargo of sugar.  The sailors ate only sugar and drank water for the nine days they were stranded.  Their rescuers found them surprisingly sickly and weakened.  The poor health of the sailors was attributed to the severe deficiencies in B vitamins caused by their sugar diet.

We’re talking about sugar here, and by the way I don’t only mean white sugar I also mean soft brown sugar, raw sugar, Demerara sugar, dark cane sugar and golden syrup and possibly other sugars like turbinado and muscovado .  One assumes, and we are lead to believe, that they’re less refined, but there’s much refining that goes into removing the ‘raw’ sugar juice from the cane.

Here are some descriptions of the various sugars available in NZ.  The list runs from best to worst:

1. Rapadura is the pure juice extracted from the sugar cane (using a press), which is then evaporated over low heats, whilst being stirred with paddles, then seive ground to produce a grainy sugar. It has not been cooked at high heats, or spun to change it into crystals, and the molasses has not been separated from the sugar.  It is produced organically, and does not contain chemicals or anti-caking agents.  Rapadura is a wholefood product which can vary according to sugar cane variety, soil type and weather. This is why one batch of Rapadura may be lighter or darker than the last batch. Because Rapadura is not separated from the molasses, it contains more nutrients, vitamins and minerals. In baking use cup for cup instead of sugar. ²
2. Sucanat, which is a trade name, (a contraction of "Sucre de canne naturel") is different to Rapadura in that the sugar stream and the molasses stream are separated from each other during processing, then re-blended to create a consistent product, whereas Rapadura is a whole food product.  
3. Jaggery, which I grew up with as a child in India, can be made with either whole cane sugar or palm sugar.  It is also heated to higher temperatures than Rapadura, as much as 200 degrees C.  Jaggery, with its caramel flavour, is solidified and formed into cakes. We often see this sugar here in NZ; it comes from Fiji and is sold in solid brown cakes in island shops and is grated for use.
4. Muscavado, Turbinado, Demarara and 'Organic Raw Sugar' are all refined sugars, though not quite as highly refined as white sugar. They are the products of heating, clarifying, then dehydrating the cane juice until crystals form, then spinning it in a centrifuge so the crystals are separated from the syrupy juice (molasses). The clarifying process is usually done with chemicals, although sometimes through pressure filtration.  The crystals are then reunited with some of the molasses in artificial proportions. The molasses contains vitamins and minerals, and is recommended for a healthy diet, but the crystals themselves are pretty much 'empty carbs.'
5. 'Raw' sugar is not really raw - it has been cooked, and a lot of the minerals and vitamins are gone. Some people choose this sugar as it’s minimally better than refined sugar because it has a little of the molasses still clinging to the sugar crystals.  Some sugar is sold as 'organic' raw sugar, and people think this means it's unrefined - all it really means is that it's grown with organic agricultural methods, then refined as usual... the juice (molasses) has been mostly removed, and there's not really much goodness in it.
6. White sugar is refined much further.  The raw sugar is washed with a syrup solution, then with hot water, clarified (usually chemically) to remove impurities, decolourized, concentrated, evaporated, re-boiled until crystals form, centrifuged again to separate, then dried.  By then any lingering goodness has completely disappeared! A short video about how  sugar is made in NZ: http://www.chelsea.co.nz/content/about-sugar/how-sugar-is-made/default.aspx  Crystallised refined sugars are pure sucrose and contain no nutrients beyond calories. They are a "pure" industrial product, and can hardly be considered a food. Some would say they are closer to a drug, which affects our bodies adversely and is very addictive. Not only do they not give anything beneficial to our bodies, they actually take away from the vitamins and minerals in what we are eating. They are extremely acidic to the body causing calcium and other mineral depletion from bones and organs. People who get headaches from eating refined sugars usually find they have no problem with Rapadura.
7. Brown sugar is just white sugar mixed with molasses.
8. Corn Syrup: A combination of sucrose and fructose.  Highly processed and contains no nutrition at all apart from empty calories.  A liquid derivative of corn starch, that is primarily the sugar called glucose. It is used extensively in the manufacture of processed foods and beverages in the US and increasingly so in NZ.  Many Maple Syrups are made using not maple syrup but corn syrup and maple flavouring.  Honey and brown rice syrup are good substitutions for corn syrup.
9. Maltodextrin  Foods that contain maltodextrin are often labelled “Low Sugar” or “Complex Carbohydrate” which sounds good, but this sweetener should be avoided.
10. Artificial sweeteners:  Nutrasweet, and such like, now sold in NZ, contain the sweetener aspartame. One of the components of aspartame is aspartic acid, a neurotoxin.  Another component is phenylalanine and a final component, wood alcohol, a generalised toxin, particularly harmful to the brain and eyes.³ Aspartame is often present in chewing gums, which causes concern as the cells of the mouth readily absorb the chemicals that are partly digested in our mouths through chewing.  Watch out for it in sugar free soft drinks as well.

Admit it, you're addicted to sugar just like the rest of us; if you don’t believe you are then go on a sugar fast and see how long it takes before the cravings kick in.  Our addiction doesn’t really want to accept the truth about sugar.  I’d have to say I keep avoiding it because I come up against resistance in myself and my family.  I know all this stuff, but now I need to put it into action. The conclusion we’ve come to is that the best option is to avoid refined sugar as much as possible.  We can replace it with less-processed sugars like date puree, Rapadura sugar, raw honey, stevia and so on (more on this in the next newsletter). One of the steps we’ve taken recently is to toss out our refined sugar from the pantry and now I make a kilo or so of date puree each week.  I keep this in jars in the fridge.  We use this in meals like curries that call for a touch of sweetening, on porridge or muesli in the morning, and in some baking.  I’m working on trying some other sweeteners and experimenting with ideas. I had so much to put in this newsletter – overflowing with information - that I’ll save some for next week.  Then you can have a look at the alternative sweeteners available in NZ and I’ll give you some ideas for baking so that children can enjoy making sweet things in the kitchen that are better for them than white-flour-and-sugar cakes and biscuits.  If you have any recipes to contribute then send them to me over the week. The idea is to eat your food: as whole or as unprocessed as possible as fresh as possible and to avoid addictions If we care about maintaining good health we’ll realise that our time and the cost of investing for the long term is worth it. Like you, trying not to be fanatical, but wise!   Penelope www.happyandhealthy.co.nz

Bibliography:
1 & 3:  Rex Russell M.D,  What the Bible Says about Healthy Living, Regal Books, California, 2006
2: http://quirkycooking.blogspot.co.nz/  17.11.12  Some info about sugars

MY SEVEN PRINCIPLES FOR HEALTHY EATING

There is a myriad of different foods available to us on this wonderful planet we call home. New Zealand is particularly blessed in having a great climate for agriculture and horticulture. There are innumerable ways to prepare food for healthy eating. Honestly there is no end to the delicious and nutritive possibilities available to us.

However, if you’re like me you’ve probably come across a heap of conflicting directives about a healthy diet. Here’s a new one a friend sent me the other day that I hadn’t seen before: Not everything should be eaten raw, especially vegetables! (evidently, according to the article, cabbage, cauliflower & broccoli always need to be cooked).

Or how about; don’t eat grains, do eat grains, don’t eat grains and white sugar mixed, don’t eat meat, eat only vegetable protein, fish is good for your brain, only eat certain foods fermented, sprouts are bad for you, sprouts are good for you, take supplements, buy super-foods, don’t fry with olive oil, don’t eat cooked foods, eat raw, use coconut oil, use raw milk, don’t use homogenised milk, use kefir instead of yoghurt, avoid soy products… and the list goes on!

As I’m interested in healthy food options and I have the privilege of working from home and developing Happy & Healthy with my husband, home educating my young adults and tending my vege garden, I get to invest some time into reading, research & experimentation with healthy food. I know you might not have that focus as perhaps you may work outside your home, or are so busy with family & everything else you’re involved with.

Maybe you just don’t get the time to read the research or keep up with the fads, so perhaps I can give you a few helpful principles that guide me in trying to provide healthy nutrition for my family. I don’t want to get caught up in fads or make unwise choices yet I do want to be aware of healthy nutrition without having a fanatical approach to it.
The principles I go by when I shop for food items that contribute to healthy nutrition are:


Principle #1: Moderation in all things. When we start putting our trust in that way or this food we inevitably end up not being moderate in our consumption of this food or that method of preparation.

Principle #2: Avoid all bad numbers! This means I always check food labels for numbers which indicate emulsifiers, preservatives, colouring, thickeners, stabilisers, anticaking agents, flavour enhancers and so on….some numbers are okay by the way. I’ve now worked out a list as to what I do and don’t buy from the supermarket. The Chemical Maze quick reference shopping companion, that I use, is very helpful to understanding all "the numbers" that are in the food - the good, the bad & the ugly.



Principle #3: As unprocessed as possible – meaning that we eat things as they were created, before we’ve changed them into things humans think might be better (usually commercially better). We avoid foods that have undergone complex, commercial processing using chemicals, high heat and so on. Simple processing like low-heat home cooking, or juicing, or dehydrating, or chopping, grating, blitzing, sprouting, and fermenting is fine if we use a good variety of foods and a variety of preparation methods. I don’t get stuck on just one thing.

Principle #4: Avoid items that indicate a high level of processing has gone into this food - for example: hydrolysed anything, starch anything, enriched anything, milk solids, natural flavourings (which are not actually natural), refined sugar, maltodextrin, sweeteners like aspartame (in chewing gum etc)... and again the list goes on.

Principle #5: Fresh is best. That’s why I have a vege garden and a sprouter. I like and prefer organic, but if I find veges that are super-fresh and not organic I’ll go for them instead. The same with fresh dried goods rather than products that have been sitting open in a bulk bin oxidising. For us personally, fresh outweighs organic at the moment.

Principle #6: Avoid addictions. I keep an eye out for things we eat too much of, or have cravings for. Sugar for example, and in my case chocolate. You could also look at fried foods, meats, takeaways, sweets, baking…or even carrots. I have a good friend who told me she once started turning orange because she ate and juiced too many carrots!

Principle #7: Don’t follow the crowd in doing what’s easier or the accepted norm – educate yourself, you don’t have to be a fanatic, just be wise - dare to be healthy!

Actually, we also use these principles in the decisions we make about the goods we sell through Happy & Healthy. We don’t put anything on the website that we wouldn’t select for our own use. In fact most of my weekly shopping is done at Happy & Healthy now.

Anyway, here comes summer! Happy days!
Penelope
www.happyandhealthy.co.nz 

WHY SPROUT? IS IT GOOD FOR YOU? (3)

Sprouting Categories:
To make things easier we have divided SPROUTS into 4 categories. Have a look at the handy Sprouting Chart that I have cobbled together from my research and put online (print it out and put it up on the fridge to refer to).

1. Leafy Sprouts

Leafy Sprouts cover alfalfa, clover, radish, broccoli, red cabbage, onion, black mustard seed, cress, rocket, mizuna, mibuna and more. These are sprouts that are best eaten raw not cooked. They’re the most nutritious when their first green, cotyledon leaves are appearing – after about 4 to 5 days in the sprouter or jar. In general 1 tablespoon of seeds yields 7 tablespoons of sprouts.¹
If you like brassicas such as broccoli, cabbage, cauli, you'll love the sprouted version - if you don't like brassicas you're more likely to enjoy them as sprouts, if for no other reason than - they are so amazingly healthy - full of antioxidants.²
In order for the stronger tasting or peppery hot sprouts to be palatable you need to mix them with a mild sprout like clover or alfalfa. There are some nice mixes or blends of these seeds that make tasty sprout combos.

2. Bean, pea and pulse sprouts

These are essentially just root sprouts. If you were to leave them to sprout leaves they’d be too tough to eat raw. These sprouts can be eaten raw or cooked. In fact if you want to reduce the rather gaseous results of eating beans then sprout them first before you cook. As I said in our last newsletter sprouting helps break down the complex sugars responsible for that, making them easier for us to digest. Sprouts in this category include: pea, chickpea, green, and brown lentils, mung, adzuki bean, raw peanut(which is actually a legume)… All beans can be sprouted and cooked. We’ll have some nice combos available soon.
 
3. Grain & Pseudograin Sprouts

Grains are a quick sprout, taking as little as 20 minutes, and no more than 2 or 3 days to produce a finished sprout. If you let large grains like Wheat, Barley, Rye, Spelt , etc. grow for several days they produce grass (wheat grass for instance). Sprouts in this grain category can also include Buckwheat, unhulled Sesame, Millet, Amaranth. Grain sprouts are all sweet, though some are sweeter than others. Children tend to love them because of their sweetness, so they are often a child's first positive sprout experience. ³
They can be used in breads, as a cereal, in stir-frys or as a snack - or anything else you can imagine. These sprouts are generally eaten raw and you can include them in a healthy breakfast like I do. Top your sprouts with some fruit & nuts, milk or cream and a sweetener or fruit juice. 

4. Nuts and other seeds

These should really be called ‘soaks’, because you soak them, but don’t actually go as far as sprouting them. Almonds, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, sunflower seeds (which can also sprout), and whatever other whole nut you want to soak are in this grouping. These swell after a day or so and the essential nutrients within the seed begin to be activated and are more easily digested.

Remember, you don't have to be fanatical, just wise.
Penelope
www.happyandhealthy.co.nz 


Bibliography:

1. The Sproutpeople website, www.sproutpeople.org
2. www.sproutpeople.org
3. Karin Puttner, Nutrition Awareness: Ten Steps to Healthy Eating, p43

WHY SPROUT? IS IT GOOD FOR YOU? (2)

I’ve always been a “Sprouter”, on & off throughout my adult life. I’ve always known that sprouts were high in antioxidants and many vitamins and minerals, but I never really looked into it seriously. I would go through sprouting phases and I have a wonderful husband and 5 children who have gone along with my health-foody adventures over the years AND lived to tell the tale!

Now that I have my Auto Sprouter, which is great, it has encouraged me to experiment with various sprouts and I’m finding some great sprout mixes. Sprouts and Microgreens are a fabulous way to get your fresh veges – I mean “super-fresh” and “super nutrious”. I read in a study, published in the Soil & Health mag some years ago, that showed that when you harvest a vegetable the vital substances (minerals, vitamins, enzymes…) begin to break down and halve in the first hours after picking.

Most people know about “beansprouts.” I mean we buy them in the supermarket and vege shops; tufts of alfalfa, long, pale, leggy mung bean sprouts, pea stems, and the occasional broccoli or radish sprouts. However, it appears there’s a lot more to sprouting than meets the eye!

• One - If you’re going to sprout, buy seeds from a reputable supplier (like Happy & Healthy) and get organic. Don’t sprout your left over seeds from a commercial seed packet that you used to plant your vege garden last year because those seeds have most probably been treated with an anti-fungal, anti-mould chemical, preparation.
• Two – Seeds that have been heat treated (pasteurised) by the wholesaler or exporter don’t sprout very well at all. There are always a good proportion that just don’t activate. So if you have had this problem in the past, as I have, you will most probably discover that they are pasturised.
• Three - As we know sprouts have to be good for you, but did you know that some sprouts, in particular Broccoli Sprouts, have proven anti-cancer fighting agents in them? We have all come face to face with the devastating effects of cancer in either a family member, a friend, or a friend of a friend and it seems to be getting worse. Even though cancer is on the increase in our western society, we can take practical steps to minimise the risks with good nutrition and the quality of the food we eat. We can even go on the offensive by eating more Broccoli, or better yet Broccoli Sprouts (which have 40-60 times more anti-cancer agents than the mature vegetable).

We came across the following One News video, made in the nineties, that reports on the 
benefits of Broccoli and in particular, Broccoli Sprouts – enjoy.

Some Parting Tips:

1. Can you eat 3 tablespoons of raw sprouts per day? You’ll really up your antioxidant activity levels and your body’s cancer fighting ability if you do.⁴
2. Fresh is the absolute best. That’s one of the reasons home-grown sprouts are so good. No grower, no market, no vege shop between you and your sprouts!
3. Big savings for the household budget when you grow and consume your own sprouts. Much cheaper than buying them retail and better health in the family means fewer trips to the doctor (check out the all new Sprouting Chart).
4. With the savings that you will make with your own “micro-farm” harvests you can look at investing in some automated sprouting equipment, eg. the Auto Sprouter and the all “new” EasyGreen MicroFarm (with this little beauty you’ll never be out of sprouts or mico-greens) .

Our Mission is to provide you with healthy choices, through education and high quality products, to enable you to be happy and healthy.

Remember, you don't need to become a fanatic to eat well, just wise.
Penelope
www.happyandhealthy.co.nz 

WHY SPROUT? IS IT GOOD FOR YOU? (1)

How about growing a garden in your kitchen all year round? That’s what you can do if you SPROUT! You can have fresh, organic plants to eat throughout the year; they can be grown easily and in a small space and they’re highly nutritious.

What’s a Sprout? A sprout is a little treasure chest of nutrition in your kitchen. Nuts, legumes and grains can all be soaked and sprouted to unlock a treasury of previously unavailable vital substances. In its dry seed form, this vital nutrition, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, enzymes, fatty acids, aromatic substances and fibre, is locked away by inhibitors, like phytic acid, which are designed to stop the seed germinating at the wrong time. This makes some of the vital substances unavailable to us because we can’t digest them in this form – ie. a dry grain or a nut or seed. These inhibitors can also cause digestive problems for some people (bloated stomach, etc).

Just a little aside for all you scientific brains out there: Phosphorus in the bran of whole grains is tied up in a substance called phytic acid. Phytic acid combines with iron, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc in the intestinal tract, to make phytates, locking the absorption of these vital minerals. Whole grains also contain enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion. Traditional societies usually soak or ferment their grains before eating them. These are processes that neutralize phytates and enzyme inhibitors and in effect, pre-digest grains so that all their nutrients are more available to us. Sprouting, overnight soaking, and old-fashioned sour leavening can accomplish this important pre-digestive process in our own kitchens. Many people who are allergic to grains will tolerate them well when they are prepared according to these procedures.¹

The benefits of sprouting and soaking to aid digestibility:

1. Sprouting helps break down complex sugars into a form that’s easier to digest. These complex sugars are responsible for the intestinal gas that’s often formed when we eat lentils or beans!
2. Sprouting in-activates phytates making vital substances much more available to us
3. Sprouting and soaking produces highly absorbable Vitamin C and increases the content of Vitamin B2 and B5 dramatically.
4. Sprouted grains and legumes are alkalizing.
5. Sprouts are high in fibre
6. Being grown in your kitchen they’re also the freshest of the fresh – and fresh is best!

Wise Tip 1: Soaked grains & nuts or sprouted grains & seeds make vitamins and minerals much more available to your body and make the whole grain/seed much easier to digest. For those of you with digestion problems this has got to be a good answer.

Wise Tip 2: Try soaking nuts overnight, almonds for example, before eating them on your breakfast, making almond milk or using them as a mid-afternoon snack.

How to Grow Your Own Sprouts for use in Salads or in Cooked Dishes
I don’t come across may people who sprout their own seeds or grow wheatgrass for the kitchen and I think it’s because they may assume it’s too hard or maybe they don’t know how to do it. I’ve been using sprouts for years and I’ve finally found an extremely easy way of sprouting and growing wheatgrass. We have a constant supply of sprouts in our kitchen now and it’s because Rodney found me the Auto Sprouter which is by far the easiest, quickest way of sprouting and soaking seeds that I’ve found. I always used to forget to rinse my sprouts and then end up wasting them because they’d get smelly (go off). I didn’t used to rinse them often enough during the day, but now with the Auto Sprouter our sprouts taste really fresh and “clean”. They’re noticeably better and its all become so easy.


 
The Simplest way to Sprout: All I do now is check and wash the seeds I’m going to sprout; place them in the Auto Sprouter and that’s it. This simple little machine automatically rinses them every hour for ten minutes (24 x 7). The seeds thrive with all the water and begin to sprout within 24 hours or less. I can used them just soaked or leave them in the Sprouter for a few days covered with the silver reflective cover that encourages germination (as seeds like to grow in the dark). I change the water in the Sprouter every evening and that’s all I have to do – except marvel at them growing every time I go into the kitchen. In this great little auto gizmo, thingy I can easily make enough sprouts for our family of 8, or as little as needed.

Other Ways of Sprouting: For ½ - 1 cup of dry seeds use one of those old, large-size preserving jars. Cut a piece of mesh to fit into the preserving lid ring of the jar or buy a purpose made lid for sprouting which has a mesh already in it.

Here’s how to sprout brown or green lentils:

1. Check your lentils for stones or bits of earth.
2. Rinse well several times and pour them into the jar.
3. Fill the jar with plenty of water and leave the seeds in the jar with the mesh lid screwed on overnight, or for about 12 hours
4. Rinse well and tip all the water out of the jar.
5. Now leave the jar resting on its side..
6. Every 3 hours or so give the lentils a good rinse with clean (filtered) water. Do this several times until the rinse water comes out clear.
7. Turn the jar upside down to empty & drain before you put it on its side again.
8. Keep going with this regular rinsing and draining until you see the seeds are sprouting. This takes about 24 – 30 hours
9. When they’ve grown as big as you want give them a final rinse and tip them into a colander to drain and dry slightly.
10. Then put them into a bowl, cover with plastic film and store in the fridge.
    • If you make too many to use in salads then cook them in stir a fry or curry.

Sprouting for 20 people or more! For larger quantities I have had 3 or more lots of sprouts going in 3 large colanders. More hassle, but a great result. However give me the Auto Sprouter any day – so easy.

Wise Tip 3: If you soak and sprout your lentils and beans before you use them in a cooked dish, that calls for pulses or beans, you’ll reduce intestinal gas (aka flatulence), plus you’ll be making vital substances more available. 

Penelope 
www.happyandhealthy.co.nz
 
Bibliography

1. Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions, New Trends Publishing, Washington DC, USA. Pg 25

REVIVE CAFE COOKBOOKS

We cannot recommend the Revive Cafe Cookbooks highly enough - it's just one of the best cookbooks we have come across - treat yourself.  And now, hot off the press, we have the Revive Cookbook 3 for even more great recipes.

We are sure it will be a big help to you, as it has been for us.

Penelope
www.happyandhealthy.co.nz

OUR GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING PRODUCT

We are currently knocking on the door of 1000 product lines on the website and we are spoiled for choice when it comes to what else we can add. There are hundreds of more products on offer, but we are being very careful, as we work on your behalf, deciding what we put up for sale. We have worked out the following guidelines to help us:

1. Organic were possible (and if the price is right),
2. Whole foods with a minimum of processing,
3. No highly processed or broken foods containing chemically based additives, and
4. No refined sugars (raw unrefined cane sugar is just OK, especially when it's in the Trade Aid chocolate that we love - a weakness we know). 
5. Locally produced where possible 

Do you think there are any other guidelines we should consider? If so let us know.

Penelope
www.happyandhealthy.co.nz