🍓7410 Style Update: Food Upgrades 🥕
Recipe: Raw Chocolate-Date Balls
Hey 7410 Style Family,
In early 2022, my husband, son and I changed our lifestyle. Our goal in the beginning was to prevent a heart attack or stroke, age well, and lose weight. My husband and I switched from a pescatarian diet to a whole, plant-foods lifestyle, and our son switched from an omnivore diet to a whole, plant-foods lifestyle. I covered how our goals expanded last week. This week, I wanted to consider how we upgraded our diet.
When we switched to a whole, plant-foods diet, we stopped eating animal-based foods. We stopped eating meat, eggs, and all cow dairy products, and anything made with them.
You might be surprised to find out how many products use milk or eggs, the two most common food allergens. When we first switched, I thought that sherbet, usually made with fruit, water and sugar, would be a good substitute for ice cream. All the sherbets I found contained milk fat or cream. Some medications contain whey, a dairy milk protein, and many restaurants use butter on their food. Eggs are usually hidden in pastries, breaded foods, ice cream, and meatballs.
We were able to completely stop eating any animal-based foods. But, and that’s a big BUT (or butt? LOL), we still ate some refined grains and some foods with lots of added sugar. These are not foods that nourish the body, but we thought that the majority of our nourishing diet would be enough. How wrong we were.
Although we didn’t eat as much of it, we still ate white rice and white flour baguettes. The bakery baguettes didn’t have all the additives and preservatives, but they were still made from white flour.
My husband and I would snack on vegan, non-dairy chocolate chips and jellybeans or other candies for a sweet treat. We would add some frosted shredded wheat cereal along with plain shredded wheat cereal to our oatmeal. Our son ate a vegan chocolate chip banana muffin every day.
Turns out, our bodies are more like unique high-performance race cars that thrive on high-performance fuel rather than lawnmowers that can run on the cheapest fuel. High-performance fuel can nourish us and help us thrive for a longer period of time. The right fuel can give us speed, power, performance, while the wrong fuel can quickly gunk up our arteries, organs and systems. In addition, we’re all unique, like race cars set up for individual drivers. We’re made up of a unique set of genes, gut microbiomes, and lifestyle choices.
In our different bodies, certain genes can affect enzyme activity which then influences how we digest foods like white bread. The bacteria in each of our gut microbiomes is unique because we have all eaten different foods, been exposed to different diseases, viruses and bacteria, taken antibiotics or other medicines that kill the bad and good bacteria in our guts, and been exposed to different toxins. Diet, exercise, sleep and stress levels can also impact how food affects our bodies.
Then, we are all exposed to different toxins in our environments. Air pollution, like wildfire smoke, smog, car emissions, or industrial emissions, carries toxins. Drinking water may contain heavy metals, pesticides and industrial pollutants. Foods can have accumulated toxins, such as mercury in fish. Everyday products like cosmetics and detergents may contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals and other toxins.
All these factors influence our bodies’ ability to use the nourishing parts of food and flush the toxins. For example, my husband can eat some white bread and white rice, and it doesn’t affect his cholesterol levels. I eat the same things, and my cholesterol and triglyceride levels go up. If I eat added sugar or even too much food, my cholesterol levels go up. The added sugar and extra food also caused my husband’s and our son’s cholesterol to increase. By stopping the added sugar and refined grains, we lost about five additional pounds. Crazy, right? So, here are our food upgrades:
3 servings of beans every day. Beans are pretty incredible. They are a great source of protein AND fiber and antioxidants. You won’t get that in a steak! Beans also are high in folate, good for overall health, and contain iron, necessary to make hemoglobin. One serving of beans is a ½ cup of cooked beans or ¼ cup of hummus. Instead of shredded wheat cereal with our oatmeal, we eat a serving of navy beans. My husband and I eat black beans with no-salt-added Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies for dinner every night. To moderate how much they eat at a meal, my son and husband eat beans for a snack.
At least 1 serving of nuts. A serving of nuts is ¼ cup of nuts or 2 tablespoons of a nut butter like peanut butter or almond butter. In addition to a serving of nuts, I’ll usually eat 3 walnuts for their omega-3 fatty acids and a Brazil nut for selenium and antioxidant activity every day. Instead of candy or dark chocolate chips, I eat fruit and nuts. The weirdest part is that I don’t miss sweets. I mean artificial, added sugar sweets! The fruit and nuts somehow work together to satisfy any cravings for sweets. Pretty cool!
About half an avocado every day. Although avocadoes are high in fat, half an avocado has about 15 grams of fat, they also have a lot of fiber, vitamins and minerals, and antioxidants. We use them as a topping on our whole wheat sourdough bread. We don’t even miss butter anymore.
3 servings of whole grains every day. A serving is ½ cup of cooked oatmeal or a slice of bread. We found a healthier alternative to white flour baguettes and sandwich breads in homemade whole wheat sourdough bread. It still has some white flour in it, but the fermenting process makes the bread more digestible and nourishing for us. We also switched to brown rice. Whole grains retain their fiber, vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and other beneficial phytochemicals.
Everyone’s body is different, but I think that we’ll find out some truths hold for everyone. Added refined sugar wreaks havoc with your body’s health. For everyone. On the other hand, your body may be able to tolerate some refined grains, but not very much. And for some of us, not at all. This means that you have to pay attention to your weight as the first indicator, then get your cholesterol and blood pressure checked. They are meant to fluctuate as you eat and exercise, but they are still good indicators.
Don’t forget the amazing power of beans. Combine nuts with your fruit for a sweet treat. You’ll be able to kick your sugar habit in no time. Let’s fuel our high-performance race car bodies with the best fuel available, not fake, junky, gunky addictive fuel that can last an unnatural amount of time on the shelf.
Wishing you the best,
Rhonda
P.S. You can catch up on past newsletters at the 7410 Expanded website.
🎦7410 Style Video Spotlight
The Bottom Line on Carbohydrates | 5 Fallacies about Carbs
In this video, we sort through five fallacies about carbohydrates to figure out the best plan for your well-being.
👩🍳In the Kitchen: Raw Chocolate-Date Balls
If you’re looking for a quick boost of energy, try this recipe. No cooking is needed with these raw chocolate-date balls. The hemp hearts contain all nine essential amino acids along with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, fiber, and vitamins and minerals. The cacao powder does not have any added sugar and is a rich source of polyphenols. Cacao powder even has fiber. Dates are high in fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Almonds are high in antioxidants, vitamin E, protein and fiber. Remember that dates are a dried fruit so are high in calories and nuts are higher in fat, so don’t eat too many of these at once even if you’re tempted!
Ingredients
• 3/4 cup dates, pitted and softened in warm water for an hour • 3 tablespoons hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds) • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract • 3/4 cup ground almonds • 2 tablespoons unsweetened organic cacao powder • Toppings for rolling: unsweetened coconut flakes, sesame seeds, crushed almonds, more hemp seed hearts, more cacao powder (optional)
Instructions
• Add dates, hemp seed hearts, cinnamon and vanilla extract to blender or food processor and blend until smooth. • Combine mixture with ground almonds and cacao powder. • Scoop two spoons of the mixture into your hand and form into a ball, then roll in a topping, if desired. • Refrigerate for at least an hour.
📖Book Boost
In the World Peace Diet, Will Tuttle writes about why we mistakenly believe that all carbohydrates are fattening:
One is that our culture has created and mass-produced a completely unnatural type of carbohydrate, the refined white sugar and white flour that are used by the food industry to make junk foods that are also high in fat. These refined foods have a high glycemic index and break down too quickly in the body, contributing to sugar level imbalances in the blood.
Tuttle, Will. World Peace Diet (Tenth Anniversary Edition): Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony. Lantern Books.
📱Screen Time
Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen Checklist
If you’re just getting started on a whole, plant-based diet and need more guidance, take a look at Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen at NutritionFacts.org. His checklist is meant to inspire you to include the healthiest foods and encourage more balanced meals. The Daily Dozen list is the minimum of what we should be eating for our nutrition. You can download a checklist or the Daily Dozen app at the above link to help you keep track. Here’s a quick video on his daily recommendations.
🎒Research Study
How Environmental Toxins Can Impact Your Health
Researchers have identified nearly 800 endocrine disrupting chemicals of concern. We are probably exposed to hundreds of these chemicals every day.