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Joy Bauer: Health.Inspired
UHC TV
Thank you so much. It’s such a pleasure to be here. I have an ambitious talk that I have planned for you all, and I have the cane ready to hook me off in about 15 to 20 minutes. Hopefully, I’m going to get through everything.
It’s really such an honor to be here among these terrific speakers that you have lined up. I want to start by asking everybody: What would you think if I had a jar of magic pills – magic pills that you can take every single day, and they were inexpensive, they could boost your mood and your energy, help you to lose weight. They can enhance the beauty of your skin and your hair, lower your cholesterol and your blood pressure, and they taste absolutely delicious.
There’s no down side, and they’re backed by scientific studies. Would you take them? Yes, I would too.
Well, seriously, the pills do exist. You can buy them right in your local grocery store. You can bring them home and stash them in your kitchen. Food is that powerful. By eating the right foods, you really can help to treat, manage and sometimes even reverse common health conditions.
Today I’m really excited because I’m not going to tell you can’t eat. I’m going to tell you what you can eat that will help catapult you to the top of your game.
I’m going to handpick five super foods and we’re going to walk through them. I’m going to convince you that right after this talk, you have to run to the grocery store and pick them up and bring them home.
Pumpkin
The first one may be a little bit surprising to you because it comes out of a can. Canned, 100 percent pure pumpkin puree. So why pumpkin? Pumpkin gets its bright orange hue from two carotenoids. Those are antioxidants. One is called beta-carotene and the other one is called beta-cryptoxanthin. Together, we have research that shows that these antioxidants can reduce the risk for certain inflammatory arthritises, like rheumatoid arthritis. That alone is really exciting.
Beta-carotene is also like nature’s exfoliant. It helps to shed off the old skin cells and lay down beautiful, radiant, new skin cells, so you’ve got this glowing, youthful complexion – huge selling point, right? Absolutely.
It gets even better. Pumpkin is also a super good source of potassium. Most people know that eating a salty diet will increase your blood pressure, right? Potassium is sort of like anti-sodium. Potassium in the body helps to offset the damage sodium does. So it makes a lot of sense that the more potassium in foods that you eat, the better chance you have of normalizing your blood pressure.
How do you get this pumpkin in? I do all sorts of clever things with pumpkin. It’s really easy to work with. Of course, I like fresh pumpkin but they’re only available one or two months out of the year. If you do put the energy and effort into cooking with it, awesome – that’s fabulous. During the rest of the year, you definitely can work with this pumpkin puree.
I add a scoop into oatmeal with a little bit of maple syrup and vanilla extract. If you want nuts or fresh fruit in there as well. I add it into my taco meat filling. The kids have no idea what they’re eating when I serve them tacos. I also put it in marinara sauce. I’ll take that concoction and I’ll toss it with some whole-wheat penne.
It’s very, very versatile. One of the most delicious things that I do, I make this decadent, scrumptious pumpkin pudding for only 150 calories. So you’ll have to try this later on today. A vanilla, Greek non-fat yogurt, and I mix it with a dollop of the pumpkin puree, a dash of vanilla extract, and a little bit of ground cinnamon or nutmeg. Only 150 calories, and I swear it tastes like pumpkin pie filling.
Your homework now is going to be to pick up a can of this pumpkin puree, and within the week, I want you to try to finish it up. Doable? Okay, good.
Quinoa
The second food I’m highlighting is quinoa. Quinoa, I think, is the most mispronounced super food. You can think of it in your head like this: keen–wah. Say “quinoa.” Perfect!
Quinoa gets grouped as a whole grain because it has pretty much the same nutritional profile, but really, it’s an edible seed and it’s very rich in protein. That makes it a great, non-animal source of protein for vegans and vegetarians. It’s also really good for diabetics because it’s a start that automatically comes packaged with protein, so it helps to keep your blood sugars nice and level. Protein helps to blunt the rise in blood sugar when you’re eating carbohydrates. So we love quinoa.
Does anybody here suffer from migraines? A lot of people suffer from migraines, and what we know through research is that low levels of magnesium increase the risk for bad, debilitating migraines. Quinoa is really rich in magnesium. Just 1 cup cooked supplies 1/3 of the daily value for your magnesium.
The best part, hands down, for quinoa, is that is so easy to make. If you can boil rice, you can make quinoa. You either boil it in water or a low-sodium broth – vegetable broth, chicken broth – for about 20 minutes, and it’s done. That’s it. You can season it up, you can eat it like me, cold, in the morning, almost like a porridge or an oatmeal, or as a side dish.
Or, you can use it as a base for chilis or stir fries or hearty stews or soups. It’s really delicious. And you can even make a pilaf out of it by adding some chopped carrots, dried fruits, nuts, anything goes when it comes to quinoa. So, your homework. What I want you all to do is pick up a box of quinoa and I want you to put it somewhere front or center in your kitchen. A few times during the week, when you would automatically go to make pasta or rice, swap it out and make the quinoa. I’m going to convert you. I know it.
Spinach
Our next super food is spinach. You can’t do a nutrition talk without including spinach. The reason that spinach is so great – it’s almost like the closest you can come to nature’s multivitamin. It’s got a huge spectrum of nutrients, vitamins A, C, E, folic acid, other B vitamins, iron, potassium, manganese, magnesium, antioxidants, fiber, like a mouthful. You name it, it has it.
One of the reasons that I’m highlighting it is because it has two antioxidants called lutein and zeaxanthin. These two antioxidants work together to act as sunscreens for your eyes. It promotes sharp vision. It also can reduce the risk of macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in adults that are 55 and older.
So, eat your spinach. The other neat thing about spinach is that it is an ultimate brain food. Really! It can help boost your memory and your brain power. There’s a 25-year Harvard study, and they looked at 13,000 women. The women who ate the most dark, leafy green vegetables like spinach has less of an age-related memory decline and cognitive function loss as they got older compared to the women who didn’t. This is huge. If you remember one thing from this talk, remember to eat your spinach. Huge payback, really.
How do you work with spinach? There’s a gazillion different things you can do with spinach. I like to buy the bags of the baby spinach leaves and you can use them as a salad base. If you feel like it’s too much of a strong flavor, mix it with a romaine lettuce. It will blend in nicely and you’ll get the power of the spinach but you’ll feel like you’re eating regular salad leaves.
You can also, obviously, sauté it with a little bit of olive oil and garlic. Nothing beats that and the house smells absolutely delicious. I also take a full bag of the baby spinach leaves and I wilt it into my marinara sauce before I toss it into the pasta. Sometimes I put the pumpkin in and I put the spinach in. That’s one powerful pasta sauce.
Also, you can buy the boxes of frozen, chopped spinach. Microwave it. Drain all the water out of it, and then mix it in with lean, ground turkey meat. You can make a spinach turkey meatloaf or spinach turkey burgers. Simple, easy, but powerful.
Your homework: You’re going to use 2 bags or the frozen boxes of spinach each and every week. Remember, remember, remember to eat your spinach.
Chia Seeds
Our next one is chia seeds. Chia seeds are now gaining popularity here in the United States. They’ve been around in Mayan and Aztec societies for thousands of years. They knew them as a super food, but we’re first learning. And yes, these are the very same chia seeds that grow hair.
I’m waiting to hear if in fact it’s going to translate, and I’m hoping it’s going to be on our head! In the meantime, these things are sort of like nutrition sprinkles. Whatever you put them on, it’s going to increase the nutrient quotient of that meal. Chia seeds are known for having those wonder fats, omega 3 fat. It’s a plant-based source.
It’s not quite as powerful as the omega 3’s that you’re going to get in salmon or the fatty fish, but it’s a terrific plant-based source, just like flaxseeds. Different than flaxseeds, chia seeds – ounce per ounce – have more fiber and more calcium.
The reason I like chia seeds better than flaxseeds is because you don’t have to grind them up. Have you heard that you have to grind your flaxseeds to release the potent chemicals inside, those nutrients?
With chia seeds, the entire seed is digestible. You can throw them into smoothies. You can put them into healthy pancake batters or muffin batters. I like to put them into my breadcrumb mix before I coat my chicken cutlets. They don’t taste – it’s totally neutral so it’s not going to change the flavor of whatever you’re cooking. You can also put them on yogurt, on cottage cheese, your oatmeal. Anything goes with chia.
I was going to sing but I decided I didn’t want to do that to you. Okay. Ch – Ch – Ch- Chia! You can’t resist.
This is an easy homework for you. What you’re going to do is to pick up a container, either at a health food store or you can order it online. Lot of mainstream grocery stores are starting to carry chia seeds because we’re talking about them a lot in the media. Just sprinkle 1 tablespoon on anything you want, each and every day. You won’t taste it, but your body’s going to get a nice return for it.
One other thing I want to mention about chia seeds is that the type of fiber in chia seeds is called soluble fiber. Soluble fiber is like a cholesterol magnet in the body, so you can imagine when you take in soluble fiber from the chia seeds, it will latch on to cholesterol, and then it’s going to escort it right out of your system. That’s another really big perk. One tablespoon a day on anything you want.
Berries
The last super food is berries. The reason that I love berries is, berries contain these antioxidants called anthocyanins. All the different berries, color is a dead giveaway. Cherries could be in this category as well.
Anthocyanins do two things: One, they have the capability to boost your memory. Huge, just like spinach. We’re going to remember now to eat spinach and berries. They also have cancer-fighting properties. There’s a lot of preliminary research right now that’s very, very exciting.
We’re getting into the summer months, and berries are going to be in season. Then they’re going to go down in price, which is fabulous. There’s nothing more delicious than a dollop of whipped cream on top of a big bowl of berries. That’s like your perfect dessert.
On the off seasons, what I love to do is I buy the bags of frozen berries with no added anything. We stockpile them in the freezer. You can microwave them for anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute, and all of the natural juice comes seeping into the bowl. You could mix that with part-skim ricotta cheese, or with cottage cheese, or with yogurt. Or frozen, you could throw them into smoothies.
Anything goes with these delicious frozen berries, and they’re terrific for batters as well when you’re cooking or baking. My favorite, hands-down way to enjoy these frozen berries is right out of the bag. Seriously. It’s like Italian ices without any of the extra sugar. You have to give it a shot. You could buy the mixed bags or the individual bags. They’re absolutely delicious. If you should have a cavity, you will know immediately. That’s for sure.
Your homework when it comes to the berries. You’re going to try to eat 1 cup of fresh or frozen berries 3 times each week.
Let’s just review the super foods for a minute. We did canned pumpkin. You’re going to pick up a can of pumpkin, and you’re going to try to go through it in 1 week. Deal? Okay.
Next was quinoa. Let’s hear you say it – quinoa. Excellent! You’re going to pick up a box of quinoa, and you’re going to keep it front and center, and try to swap out some of your rice or your pasta for some of the quinoa.
The next was spinach – either the bags of spinach or the frozen boxes of spinach. You’re going to go through 2 each week.
The next was chia seeds – 1 tablespoon on anything, 1 time a day. That would be fabulous.
The last one would be berries – 1 cup fresh or frozen, 3+ times each week. I think we can do this, right?
The bottom line is that food is powerful, it’s medicinal, and it’s absolutely delicious. Really, guys, the right food can catapult you to the top of your game. It could have you feeling and looking absolutely fabulous. Thank you so much for coming, and I’ll meet you at the grocery store.
