Dancing Spoon

Keep Veggies Colorful

Tips Tasty

by Anna Tourkakis
How to Keep Color, Texture, and Nutrients in Cooked Vegetables
Fresh vegetables are the foundation of both nutrition and exceptional meals. They provide our bodies with valuable vitamins and minerals and add color and texture to our meals. Bright beautiful greens, reds, oranges, purples, and yellows are a taste-treat for the eyes and their crunchy texture adds interest to every bite. The basic guidelines for cooking vegetables are: quick cooking, minimum water, and use of a lid. These simple guides will help retain color, texture, and nutrients.

The common methods for cooking vegetables, boiling, steaming, stir-frying and sautéing are all suitable for quick cooking. When boiling vegetables the first questions are always, “how much water to use,” and “should I cover the pot?” Vegetables are added to just enough boiling water to cover them. Cook them to fork-tender. The use of a lid depends on the flavor of the vegetables. Mild flavored vegetables such as carrots, corn, winter squash and potatoes should be cooked with the lid on. Stronger flavored vegetables such as green beans, broccoli and zucchini are best cooked without a lid which allows volatile compounds to escape. These last veggies should be cooked in water one-half to one inch above the vegetables. This dilutes the volatile compounds and prevents discoloration. 

In steaming, stir-frying and sautéing methods, vegetables should be cut to a uniform small size for quick, even cooking. Typically, stir-fry vegetables are cut into thin strips. Sautéing is suitable for tender or thinly sliced vegetables. Steaming is best for retaining water soluble vitamins regardless of a longer cooking time. 

These basic procedures ensure bright colored and crunchy textured vegetables with its many nutrients retained.

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Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA is a nutritional counselor. She teaches nutrition to food service professionals at North Shore Community College and does cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations. Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA is a nutritional counselor. She teaches nutrition to food service professionals at North Shore Community College and does cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations.

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Five Yards for Double Dipping

Bowl Super Guac

by J. Michael Wheeler

By now everyone knows the results of the Super Bowl XLII: an estimated 100 million avocados consumed. The amount of guacamole eaten during our annual football frenzy should be known as the Super Guac Bowl.

And, like that other bowl event, the Super Guac Bowl has rules and regs: just as frequent as an NFL penalty call for holding, you can rack up big penalties for Double Dipping.

Both the New York Times and National Public Radio (NPR) ran stories concerning dipping the same chip into a bowl of dip more than once. Now, a study done at Clemson University shows that double dipping does spread germs. And the idea for the study came from an episode of Seinfeld...

Listen to the NPR story: Double Dipping Spreads Germs

Read the New York Times story: Dip Once or Dip Twice?

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Newsletter

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Red Wine (Benefits) in a Pill?

Nutrition Wine &

From Morning Edition, NPR, 11.15.07
Red wine grapes contain a component called resveratrol.  Several research studies published last year found that mice that were fed this component lived longer. Since then sales of red wine supplements has grown more that 300 percent, according to NPR. The article Red Wine Pills: Buyer Beware, by Allison Aubrey, looks into these supplements:

Since there's no official recommended dose for resveratrol and no government regulation of the supplement, distributors are free to sell and say just about anything about their products. The Food and Drug Administration doesn't step in unless there are reports of harm.

There are intriguing findings in the animal studies of resveratrol, showing the compound has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. "The challenge is, of course, that we don't have any good clinical trials — in other words, human trials," says Dr. Brent Bauer, who specializes in alternative and complementary medicine at the Mayo Clinic.

Read and listen to the article on NPR: Red Wine Pills: Buyer Beware

Seed Newsvine

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Have a question or comment? Email me here

Hair Conditioning Wrap

Eating Beautiful

Hair Conditioning Wrap
The Mayans from Central America, Mexico, and Guatemala use their natural local resources to adorn their bodies and create their own unique beauty. We can learn from their approach toward natural beauty using foods. I love this Hair Conditioning  Wrap using their local produce of bananas and avocado to create a luscious hair treatment. It will help moisturize your scalp and hair, strengthen your hair, and give it a shiny luster.

The first time I made this hair wrap at home, my boys were keen to help puree the ingredients in the food processor (they love helping me in the kitchen, especially pressing the buttons on the food processor!). When they realized I was going to put this green stuff on my hair they were a little shocked! “Mummy, are you sure that’s a good idea?” they asked! But after they watched me massage it into my hair for a few minutes, they thought it looked like fun and wanted to have some in their hair too!

BeautifulEating: Hair Spring Cleanse

Eating Beautiful

Spring Cleaning for Beautiful Hair
Spring is the time of renewal and revival. After a winter of harsh weather it’s time to create a rich foundation within our bodies to help us have more beautiful hair. Your hair is a reflection of your inner health and I want to share with you how beautiful eating creates beautiful hair!

Just as we accumulate stuff in our lives, our bodies accumulate food toxins and residues that need to be spring-cleansed. Cleansing our bodies from within is especially important in today’s environment when we are exposed to more pollution, pesticides and chemicals in our daily life.

Get the Toxins Out
Cleansing your body for 3-5 days is a great way to jumpstart beautiful eating for beautiful hair. Here are some simple steps you can take to help rid your body of its winter stuff.

Hair Tip: EVOO

Eating Beautiful

From Salad Dressing to Hair Dressing
You don’t really need to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil for this simple dressing, but warm oil treatments massaged into your hair and scalp will help perk up your locks. After harsh winter weather and dry indoor heat your hair may need nourishment. This treatment will leave your hair and scalp feeling softer, looking shinier, and be revitalized for spring.

Toss olive oil with an essential oil like chamomile or rosemary and use it as a nourishing hair wrap!

Fiona Barrett

Contributors Our

Fiona Barrett is a certified Holistic Health Counselor trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City, accredited by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. She creates unique nutrition and life style programs to help you personally discover what nourishes and feeds you to live an energized and passionate life! Fiona was born in England and now lives and practices in the greater Boston area.

For more information go to www.fionabarrett.com or contact Fiona at

Beautiful Eyes

Eating Beautiful

Beautiful Eyes

Fiona Barrett, Certified Holistic Health Counselor A.A.D.P

Ready for a beauty makeover? How about a little carotenoid, bioflavonoid, and antioxidant? No, no, not on, but in! This beauty makeover starts from the inside, through nutrition.

In this series of articles, I’ll explore with you ways of achieving beauty through foods we choose to eat: how we can feed our natural glow. We’ll discover how to gain natural beauty through balanced and careful eating for specific areas of our body.

The foods we eat nourish the cells of our body; our bones, skin, hair, and nails all have their own specific nutritional requirements. For instance, calcium, as is well known, helps keep our bones strong. By eating for beauty, we can supply our bodies with the nutrients, the vitamins, and the minerals for good health; the result is a natural beauty and radiance.

You Are What You Eat

As a child you were told to eat your carrots because they were good for your eyes. It’s true, they contain high amounts of carotene and that improves eyesight. You are what you eat and you can choose to improve your own beauty through food! In this first article I’ll focus on foods and nutrition for beautiful eyes.

For bright sparkling eyes increase your intake of whole foods rich in antioxidants, and phytochemical’s including carotenoids and bioflavonoids. Antioxidants include Vitamin C and Vitamin A, which protects the cells of the body from damage of oxidation caused by free radicals.

When you look someone in the eye and see beautiful eyes what do you see?

Clear Eyes
The whites of the eyes are clear without redness. Small broken blood vessels in the white of the eye cause the eye to redden. Strengthening the eye’s blood vessels and improving blood flow to the retina can help keep the red away. The antioxidant Vitamin C and the bioflavonoid anthocyanin help you do this.

Natural Color
The iris and pupils are full of their natural color. The eyes sparkle as the light reflects off bright eyes without shadow from puffiness or dark circles around the eyes. Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, like dark leafy greens, that are cleansing for the body, promote circulation and prevent the inflammation to keep those dark circles away!

Help Keep Away Wrinkles
The wrinkles in the skin around our eyes are signs of oxidative damage. The antioxidants in Vitamin C and Vitamin A help protect the cells of the body from damage of oxidation caused by free radicals and so help keep away wrinkles around our eyes. Cataracts and macular degeneration are also signs of oxidative damage. 

These foods in particular will help you have healthier, beautiful eyes:

Blue and purple fruits rich in antioxidant and bioflavonoid complex called anthocyanin. These fruits help strengthen the blood vessels in your eyes. Try blackberries or blueberries. You can eat them raw and natural or, for a sweeter taste, sprinkle them with cinnamon. They are great in a smoothie or in plain yogurt.

Leafy green vegetables are a great source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. These greens help keep away the wrinkles around your eyes. Leafy greens are the food most missing from the typical American diet. Spinach, arugula and kale are all a good addition to your diet. Chop leafy greens and add them to soups, stews, omelets, pizzas, or pastas. Try sautéing these greens with garlic in beauty enhancing olive oil.

Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables contain antioxidant Vitamin C and carotenoids, bioflavenoids and lutein. These nutrients are vital to growth and repair of healthy blood vessels at work in your eyes. Choose carrots, butternut squash or yellow beets. Roast a combination of these vegetables in olive oil and fresh herbs. Fresh carrot and beet juice make a great combination.

Foods as Beauty Treatments

Foods can also be used as body care treatments to help exfoliate, moisturize and care for your hair, skin and nails.

Cucumber slices: Place chilled cucumber slices onto closed eyes for 15 minutes. Cooling and refreshing: helps to keep skin around the eyes firm.

Grated cucumber or potato: Wrap in cheesecloth and press onto the eye area to minimize those dark circles around the eyes.

Recommended Reading

Gorgeous! The Sum of All Your Glorious Parts
by Jorj Morgan with Harry Moon MD and Mary Ellen Clark

A great resource of whole foods and nutrition to help you enhance your natural beauty: includes recipes and self-help techniques for all parts of the body. Combines food plans and home relaxation and spa ideas. Gorgeous: The Sum of All Your Glorious Parts

In Our Next Article
We will explore more about beauty through food for healthy hair!

Fiona Barrett is a certified Holistic Health Counselor trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City. Accredited by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. She creates unique nutrition and life style programs to help you personally discover what nourishes and feeds you to live an energized and passionate life! Fiona was born in England and now lives and practices in the greater Boston area.

For more information go to www.fionabarrett.com or contact Fiona at .

Do you have an Eating Beautiful question or comment? Comments for Fiona.