As per Nicole's suggestion, here is a recipe of vegan brownies that uses coconut oil. I adapted it from http://www.veganbaking.net/recipes/brownies-and-bars/brownies/ultimate-brownies

To make the recipe more healthy, instead of all-purpose flour I used whole wheat flour and instead of vegan butter I used coconut oil. Also, half of the sugar I used was organic coconut palm sugar. I omitted the espresso powder.

The previous time I made these I used coconut butter and there was a slight difference in flavor and texture: coconut oil gives a less strong coconut flavor to the brownies, but makes the consistency softer, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a good idea to let the brownies cool completely as it says in the recipe, which will make the consistency firmer. I was too eager and tried them straight from the oven and found the brownies very soft.

I have experimented with making baked goods more healthy and it is often very difficult to do that and maintain the same delicious flavor. With this recipe I was able to use whole wheat flour and coconut sugar without diminishing the deliciousness of the brownies. I acknowledge that it is nice to have something sweet sometimes and I think that this recipe is one that will be as close to a healthy treat as you can get! These brownies contain flax seed with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, whole wheat flour with fiber and B-vitamins, coconut oil with medium chain fatty acids and antioxidants, and cocoa powder with antioxidants and fiber. There is no cholesterol or animal fats. They do contain white sugar, but by using coconut sugar, I was able to decrease it by half. So good!

Thanks, Nicole for the suggestion!

If you have recipes that use coconut oil, please share with us!

Love,

Anna-Kaisa

Berkeley and Coconut

I have just finished my first semester at Berkeley and I must say it has been very exciting, yet tough (which explains the absence of new posts). Transitioning from the small classroom setting and the “easy” pace of the community college to large lecture halls and mountains of material to memorize was challenging and somewhat stressful. Still, I really enjoyed my time at Berkeley and can’t wait to take more classes soon!

One of the great things about Berkeley is that now my classes have been more directly about nutrition. I was excited to learn about a number of metabolic pathways in the body and for instance how the B-vitamins work in energy production. It is great to understand the workings of the body and not just accept information as facts as I have had to so far. I also had the opportunity to research coconut oil for one of my classes and I would like to share some of my findings here.

Non-scientific Internet articles boast that coconut oil has quite a few positive effects on the body. While it is good to take these kinds of big promises with a grain of salt, in this case at least there is truth to them. Scientific evidence shows that virgin coconut oil may help weight loss as its medium chain fatty acids are not deposited into adipose tissue like long chain fatty acids are (these are found in most other oils and fats, eg. soy bean oil, canola oil etc). Also, virgin coconut oil may reduce inflammation and have antioxidant effects, both of which help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. And these are just a few examples.

I, as many others, have long been under the impression that saturated fat is bad for you, no matter what its source. Most of the fatty acids in coconut oil are saturated, and so I was surprised to find that coconut oil has these very different health effects. However, these results pertain to virgin coconut oil, not highly processed coconut oil, which is often called copra oil. Coconut oil was indeed long believed to be very bad for you and many experiments reflected this fact – then all of a sudden, coconut oil experiments started yielding positive results. It seems to me that the distinction between virgin coconut oil and copra oil is what caused the change. Probably the coconut oil that was used in the past was the copra oil form of coconut oil, not virgin coconut oil, and as soon as scientists began to make the distinction, results also started to shift.

Impressed by virgin coconut oil’s health benefits, I decided to try it myself. I now add it to my oatmeal every morning and find it very delicious. If you’d like to try coconut oil, it is best to buy organic virgin coconut oil. Health food stores sell it and I noticed that Trader Joe’s carries it too. When it comes to weight loss benefits, coconut oil is something to use as a substitute, not necessarily as an addition, as it still contains plenty of calories. You might try to use it in cooking partly substituting some other oil for example.

I hope you enjoyed the post, please let me know if you have questions about anything at all!

Wishing you success and wellbeing for the New Year 2015!

Anna-Kaisa

References

Basic Report:  04047, Oil, coconut. United States Department of Agriculture. National Nutrient Database. http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/636?fg=&man=&lfacet=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=&qlookup=coconut Accessed October 25, 2014

Jaarin K, Norliana M, Kamisah Y, Nursyafiza M, Saad Qodriyah H. M. Potential Role of Virgin Coconut Oil in Reducing Cardiovascular Risk Factors. Exp Clin Cardiol. 2014Vol 20 Issue 8:3399-3410. http://cardiologyacademicpress.com/soap/pdf/delme_2111_53e5509713a294.54422935.pdf Accessed October 26, 2014.

Nevin K G, Rajamohan T. Influence of virgin coconut oil on blood coagulation factors, lipid levels and LDL oxidation in cholesterol fed Spraguee Dawley rats. e-SPEN. 2008;3:1:e1–e8. DOI: 10.1016/j.eclnm.2007.09.003

Granholma A-C, Bimonte-Nelson H A, Moore A B, Nelson M E, Freeman L R, Sambamurtia K. Effects of a Saturated Fat and High Cholesterol Diet on Memory and Hippocampal Morphology in the Middle-Aged Rat. J Alzheimers Dis. 2008; 14(2): 133–145. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2670571/ Accessed October 26, 2014

Nagao K, Teruyoshi Y. Medium-chain fatty acids: Functional lipids for the prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome. Pharmacological Research. 2010; 61:208–212. http://www.meltorganic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Medium-chain-fatty-acids-Functional-lipids-for-the-prevention-and-treatment-of-the-metabolic-syndrome.pdf 

Marten B, Pfeuffer M, Schrezenmeir J. Review: Medium-chain triglycerides. Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry of Nutrition, Federal Research Centre of Nutrition and Food, International Dairy Journal. 2006;16:1374–1382. DOI: 10.1016/j.idairyj.2006.06.015 

Hamsi M A, Othman F, Das S, Kamisah Y, Thent Z C, Saad Qodriyah H M, Zakaria Z, Emran A, Subermaniam K, Jaarin K. Effect of consumption of fresh and heated virgin coconut oil on the blood pressure and inflammatory biomarkers: An experimental study in Sprague Dawley rats. Alexandria Journal of Medicine. 2014; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajme.2014.02.002 

"Recycling" food

So much food is wasted every day in the world that it makes me cringe every time I have to add to the pile of wasted food and throw away something that has spoiled. Luckily, there are ways to “recycle” food at home, and by this I mean turning leftovers into something delicious preventing spoilage or – better yet – turning something you didn’t think you could eat anymore into something completely good to eat.

Bread is often a difficult case: you put it in a plastic bag and it gets moldy soon, or you put it in the fridge in a plastic bag and it gets moldy a little bit slower but it doesn’t taste as good as it did before. Then you leave it on the countertop in a paper bag and it gets dry even if keeping away the mold. To keep bread tasting great after a longer period of time or to avoid wasting it, I often freeze extra bread that I know I won’t be able to eat in time. If the bread gets moldy, there’s nothing to be done – mold secretes enzymes and chemicals into the bread in order for it to absorb the nutrients; great for the fungus, but not very helpful, nor healthy, for humans. But, if the bread is free of mold and only becoming dry, then I do have a trick to offer, which I use quite often.

I learned this from my mother when I was growing up: you can make French toast! Or “poor knights” as they are called in Finland (go figure…).  My version is of a healthy kind – I’m keeping my promise to only include healthy foods in this blog even if I have quite the sweet tooth myself. 

So what I do is I first drench the dried up bread (whole grain, of course) in milk or almond milk. I haven’t tried juices yet, but they might also work. When the bread has softened up (takes a few minutes or so), I put them in a frying pan that I have sprayed over with a little bit of canola oil (contains plenty of good fats) and heat until they are golden brown. Lastly, I put some garnish on these “poor knights”, my favorite being apple sauce without added sugar. Anything you fancy works well, such as jam or maple syrup, but for some reason the healthy option has tasted the best to me.

If you have great ideas about making use of dried up bread or any other food items in order to avoid waste, I would love to hear about them! It is good for both your budget and the nature to not waste food!

I hope you enjoyed my post!

Love,

Anna-Kaisa

Airplane dining

Dinner - pretty presentation but not very nutrient rich

I have made the transatlantic flight more than a dozen times and it always is as long and uncomfortable as ever. However, it gets nicer every year, especially the possibility to order special meals has improved a great deal. This time, I had several options for a vegetarian meal and I decided to choose the basic lacto-ovovegetarian meal instead of my usual Indian vegetarian dinner.

I must have flown so many times that this time I didn't put much thought into packing, including packing snacks. Usually I have had all kinds of things with me, including sandwiches, nuts, fruit and energy bars, whereas this time I only packed two bananas and some prunes. I realized I would be depending on airplane food, as I wouldn't have much else to eat.

When dinner time arrived,  I started feeling nervous as my special meal wasn't arriving.  It turned out they didn't have it - luckily the other dinner option was vegetarian pasta.  I was starving and so the food tasted surprisingly good. Nevertheless, my meal consisted mostly of white flour, which is quite nutrient poor. The salad was tiny and had one cherry tomato, one olive and a few salad leaves. Still,  I finished everything because I don't like wasting food.

Breakfast - eggs were tasty and broccoli is very nutritious,
 no whole grain though!

As we were closing in on the destination,  we had breakfast - this time they did have a special meal for me. It was scrambled eggs, steamed (read microwaved) vegetables,  a breakfast roll, yogurt and a fruit cup. Again, I was really hungry,  so the eggs and the veggies hit the spot perfectly. The other stuff wasn't so great (how is the fruit cup always so awful?), but again I didn't like the idea of wasting food, so I finished everything.  

The positive aspects of both meals were the facts that some veggies were offered and that they had made sure that even the cheese was vegetarian friendly. (I know it's weird, you'd think that cheese by default is vegetarian, but that is not the case. Think rennet extracted from calf stomach.)

Due to extremely high airport prices and badly prepared snacks from my part, the airplane food fit the bill of providing me sustenance for the duration of the flight. Overall the food was fine, but there is a serious lack of whole grains. Apparently the majority of people prefer white bread or are ignorant of the benefits of whole grain, since none was available on the flight. Luckily my final destination was Finland, which has excellent bread and other whole grain products for me to enjoy! 

So many whole rye breads to choose from and without sugar! Mmmmm...

Hopefully on the way back I will see improvement and perhaps some whole grains (I doubt it though). This time I will also make sure to pack more snacks, including a sandwich made with whole rye bread. Then only can I be sure to get some whole grain on the long and tedious flight back to California. I have plenty of different breads to choose from!

I hope you enjoyed the post. If you have an idea for me to discuss, let me know!

Love,

Anna-Kaisa

Back to Finland

I arrived in Finland a couple of days ago after being away for ten months or so. I spent my first night in a hotel in Helsinki, as there would still be a five-hour bus ride before I would reach home in Eastern Finland. To my surprise, I felt hungry even though I had been awake for more than 24 hours, so I decided to see what the hotel restaurant had to offer. Only three vegetarian choices, but that's to be expected in this country.

I had the funnel chantarelle soup, which was quite superb, along with great tasting (finally!) dark bread. I also decided to order a cider, which is awesome here, only it turned out to be almost the same price as my soup! Yikes! Unfortunately eating out is not cheap here. At least the cider was excellent, so paying up wasn't so awful after all.

One thing is for sure, though: I must find out how to get these mushrooms in California and make the soup myself when I am not in Finland!

Thanks for reading!

All the best,
Anna-Kaisa

Battling High Cholesterol

It’s been awhile since my last post, hasn’t it?! I blame this lapse on organic chemistry – it is quite the challenge!

I was inspired to write this post because my friend told me he had found out he has high cholesterol levels. Cardiovascular diseases, including high cholesterol is common in my family, too and according to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular diseases are the biggest cause of death in the U.S., to which high cholesterol levels in the blood contribute (1). I myself had just a slightly elevated cholesterol level a few years ago, before I had become fully vegetarian. Now my cholesterol level is in great shape, not just because I am a vegetarian, but because overall I have improved my eating habits quite a bit since then.

Oatmeal a'la Herbivore: banana, cinnamon and non-dairy milk

Cholesterol is a substance that we need – it is an essential part of every cell in our bodies. Also, cholesterol is used by our bodies to make steroid hormones, which are necessary for many bodily functions and it is a part of bile, which helps fat absorption in the small intestine. However, our bodies are able to produce cholesterol and thus we don’t need to consume it in our diets. It is OK to eat some every day and the daily allowance recommended by many organizations, such as the American Heart Association, is 300mg per day, or as little as possible (2: 200-201).

All animal based foods contain cholesterol. Some of the biggest sources are eggs, shrimp and red meat – just one egg provides 200 mg of the daily recommendation of 300mg. Plant based foods don’t contain any cholesterol, and in fact they can help you lower your cholesterol levels (2: 200-201). Here is a quick list of some of the foods that can help control cholesterol levels.

1.       Soluble fiber. Oats, legumes, fruits and berries are great sources of soluble fiber. Soluble fiber binds bile (whose one ingredient is cholesterol) in the small intestine and prevents its reabsorption, thus helping to reduce cholesterol levels. A sudden increase in fiber might cause some gassiness and bloating, but our bodies are remarkable in that they get used to it very quickly and the gassiness and bloating tend to go away if the high fiber diet is maintained (2: 157). Check out my very first blog about oatmeal for tips how to make oatmeal delicious!

2.       Omega-3 fatty acids. They cannot be produced by the body. They increase the levels of “good cholesterol” (HDL’s), which carry excess cholesterol away from the tissues to the liver. Good sources are flax seed, walnuts, chia seeds and fatty fishes (2: 203). I put ground flax seed into my oatmeal, which is a very easy way for me to get my omega-3’s. 

3.       Prefer vegetable oils high in unsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are abundant in most plant oils, but in animal fats saturated fats usually dominate. Poly- and especially monounsaturated fats help to increase HDL levels similar to omega-3’s. Canola oil and olive oil are excellent choices in the kitchen, but virtually all plant oils (except coconut and cocoa butter) are rich in good fats (2: 201-202). I often put avocado oil in my salad and if I make popcorn, I spray it with a small amount of canola oil. 

Thank you for reading! Hopefully my next post won’t take as long as this one did!

As always, comments and questions are highly appreciated.

Love,

Anna-Kaisa

References:

1.       American Heart Association http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

2.       Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol. Moe, Gaile. Beshgetoor, Donna. Berning, Jacqueline. Introduction to Human Nutrition. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2013. Print.

Universal Studios

Hi everyone! 

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas and New Year's!

 

This Christmas break my husband and I decided to pay a visit to Los Angeles. Where we really wanted to go was Hawaii or Japan, but the holiday pricing changed our minds. Fortunately there is a lot to see and do in LA, so it wasn’t really a bad choice in the end. Also, we have been meaning to visit Universal Studios for a while now, and this would be our chance to go.

Universal Studios was a nice place, the rides were awesome and the actual studios were very interesting to see and experience. It wasn't perhaps the best day to go, as the place was packed and anything you wanted to do required waiting, including eating. 

Eating proved to be the most challenging activity at Universal Studios as the food choices there were pretty poor. Being a vegetarian didn’t make things easier either, as almost every dish had meat in it. Thus, we had to resort to eating popcorn, churro, cheese pizza (horrendously greasy) and cinnabon. These items do give you energy in the form of calories, but close to zero nutrients, like vitamins and minerals. The little “restaurant” we had lunch in advertised that it offers salads – this was the reason we chose the place as we thought we could get something healthy to eat. Well, they had two salads (enough to advertise the salads in plural), one of which contained 90% pasta (not the kind of salad I was looking for) and the only other option was a Caesar salad, whose dressing contained anchovies and hence was non-vegetarian. Cheese pizza it was then. I couldn’t quite finish it, but I made an effort since one has to eat something, right? At that point we were starving and had to wait for almost a half an hour to order, so we didn’t really have it in us to go find something better either.

We were at the Studios for the whole day and thus having only a slice of cheese pizza and some popcorn was not enough to keep us going the whole day. We were trying to figure out a snack to have in the evening and as there wasn’t much variety in the options, we went for cinnabon, at least it is vegetarian. Wow – one cinnabon contains 800 calories! Two cinnabons would cover my daily calorie need in an instant! Our plan of buying two was quickly reduced to just one cinnamon roll.

Luckily Los Angeles is a very forward thinking city and we were able to find lots of healthy things to eat during the rest of our trip. We ate at three different vegan restaurants, each of which was superb. The food in these places tasted amazing and was usually organic and locally produced. The night after Universal Studios we had vegan carrot cake for dessert at one of these vegan eateries: I still had the cinnabon fresh in my memory and compared to that, the carrot cake was like a colored movie to a black-and-white film, I could really taste the difference.

I sincerely hope that Universal Studios will improve their food selection and add a stand or two that sell fresh fruit and items like Greek yoghurt, whole grain sandwiches and granola bars. Otherwise, if you plan to visit the place, be sure to pack plenty of healthy snacks! The problem seems to be that people allow themselves to eat badly that one day they go to Universal Studios and the Studios is simply satisfying the demand. Unfortunately, more people have to ask for healthier food before anything will change. But wouldn’t it be good for their image if they made the amusement park healthier, especially with all those kids hanging around? I dare say it would. What do you think?

Thanks for reading! 

 

Anna-Kaisa

PS.  Comments or questions are highly appreciated :)