Wednesday, November 25, 2009

pumpkin Hummus

I just love pumkin and squash, which is the only reason I am ok with the summer ending and fall starting. I tend to pick up alot of butternut squash and those cans of pumpkin. Always looking for a new recipe my friend turned me onto a pumpkin hummus: My new favorite hummus
tablespoons tahini (sesame-seed paste)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon pumpkinseed kernels, toasted (optional)

Place tahini and next 7 ingredients (through garlic) in a food processor, and process until smooth. Add parsley; pulse until blended. Spoon hummus into a serving bowl; sprinkle with pumpkinseed kernels, if desired.

I skipped the parsley and extra oil and used roasted garlic and didnt have the pumpkin seeds. Still was amazing!!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Digestion times.....

Starch is digested quickly-usually within 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Protein takes a bit longer-anywhere from 1½ to 6 hours to digest
Fat takes much longer. Only about 10 grams of fat can be processed by the digestive tract per hour, so high fat foods or meals can take many hours to digest.

Should we eat Nuts??


Nuts can be a healthy option but they can also be a bad option. Its easy to get confused as a consumer. It is best to choose raw, unsalted nuts! The oil roasting of nuts causes the healthy fat inside the nut to go rancid. Rancid fat and trans fat are simply fats that are no longer digestible and that spells disaster for the body. Rancid means the fat is now a "free radical" and free radicals cause cellular degradation.Roasting nuts at a temperature higher than 170F will cause a breakdown of their fats and the production of free radicals. When nuts roasted at the high temperatures used commercially are consumed, the free radicals they contain can cause lipid peroxidation-the oxidizing of fats in your bloodstream that can trigger tiny injuries in artery walls-a first step in the build up of plaque and cardiovascular disease.

To avoid this try Raw nuts- or if can not take the taste without roasting try buying raw nuts but roasting at home at a temperature of 160-170 degrees.