Chef Foundation

Archive for March, 2011

Knowing your oxidation rate is a critical piece of information for your health. Your oxidation rate in simple terms is how fast do you burn food? Some people burn food slowly while others burn food fast. In either case knowing this critical piece of information, has a huge effect on matching you with the correct recipes for detox diet and your health.

A person who burns food fast is called a fast oxidizer and a person who burns food slowly is called a slow oxidizer. A fast oxidizer needs more slow burning food such as a diet with more high quality good fat and oil. The slow burning food is a good match for the fast oxidizer as that person will sustain energy.

In contrast the slow oxidizer can have a diet of more fast burning food such as grain products, but less of the high quality fat and oil. So there is a huge distinction between the two in terms of their metabolic needs.
If your diet is not matching your oxidation rate your not getting the right matching food for the speed at which your body burns food. This matching element for correct diet is one of the main keys to good health.

Now that you know your oxidation rate is critical, how do you find out your oxidization rate?

The key is your hair, although your hair is dead it’s a storage site for all your macro minerals, trace minerals and toxic metals. As the hair grows out these minerals and toxins are deposited in the hair over a 3 to 4 month period. Through a hair mineral test and with the expertise of a laboratory that examines your hair properly, you can determine your oxidation rate. Once this vital piece of information is known, you can pin point your exact diet for you and only you. (See Analytical Research Laboratory)

No more guess work! And for the folks that had the intutition that all foods don’t effect everyone the same, bravo you were right and the two oxidation rates are why. An example would be if you’re a fast oxidizer than lots of grains, and fruits are not a great choice due to grains and fruits burn very quickly and for fast oxidation sustained energy can’t be possible. The fast oxidizer will always be hungry not long after they eat. I know there are those saying that’s me, I get hungry an hour after I eat and the reason is an incorrect diet.

Now in contrast if the fast oxidizer eats slow burning food like eggs, olive oil, butter or some nuts (as an example) than sustained energy will happen and the need to eat will slow down. Slow oxidizers have the reverse effect, they need and can eat faster burning food which will sustain their energy levels.

So to simplify this, there are some people who are like a car speeding along on a highway that burns fuel very fast. (fast oxidizer) And the other is the car that is riding slowly down a side street. (slow oxidizers)
If we take the analogy one step further it’s like a car that needs unleaded gas but your putting in some diesel fuel mixed with some unleaded gas. It’s the wrong fuel! It will work but not at its best and over time repairs will be needed.

Now that the concept of your oxidation and diet has been explained lets talk about detox diet. The buzz word “detox diet” is being thrown out there frequently but unless you know your oxidation rate you may be eating the wrong food or the wrong food a lot of the time. Detox diets must match a person’s oxidation rate.

In this article I present to you a sample meal plan for both slow and fast oxidizers.

Recipes for Detox Diet:

Breakfast for Slow oxidizer:

2 eggs with spinach omelet, in 1 teaspoon of olive oil or butter
1 slice Ezekiel bread plain
1/4 cup of blueberries

Breakfast for Fast oxidizer:

2 eggs with spinach omelet, in 3 tablespoons of olive oil or butter
2 links organic turkey sausage
1 celery stalk with almond butter

In this example the slow oxidizer breakfast has much less fat and oil in their meal and is allowed to have a high quality grain product as well as a small amount of fruit. The slow oxidizer will burn that food slowly and sustain energy through out the morning.

In contrast the fast oxidizer needs more olive oil or butter in there diet and more fat and oil in the almond
butter and turkey sausage. This combination of food will burn slowly for the fast oxidizer and keep that individual with sustained energy through out the morning.

Lunch for the Slow oxidizer:

4 oz Roasted Chicken Breast, very light butter and garlic
1 cup steamed carrots with 1 teaspoon of butter and sea salt
1/2 cup brown rice
Lunch for the Fast oxidizer:

4 oz Roasted chicken thighs, made with modest amount of butter and garlic
1 cup of steamed carrots with 3 tablespoons of butter and sea salt
Pecans 6-8

In this example again you can see that the slow oxidizer has much less fat and oil than the fast oxidizer.
Both have there protein and vegetable. Slow has the grain (brown rice) the fast has more fat and oil.
(dark meat chicken, butter and pecan) THe slow has the chicken breast much less fat.

Dinner for the Slow oxidizer:

4 oz Flounder broiled with garlic and splash of lemon
Swiss chard with cranberries, small amount of olive oil
Sweet potato plain

Dinner for Fast oxidizer:

4 oz Flounder with butter and garlic
Swiss chard with almonds and butter and olive oil
Sweet potato with 3 tablespoons of butter

Again we see that the slow oxidizer can have flounder with lemon and the slow can have the cranberries and plain sweet potato. The fast has the flounder with butter which has more fat and also the fast has more butter on the sweet potato and fat in the almonds.

These recipes are examples of the distinction between the oxidation rates of slow and fast individuals. Without knowing the speed your body burns food all the detox diets in the world will have little or no positive effect and even can be harmful.

For example the popular lemon detox diet is not a good choice for fast oxidizers as their rate of oxidation requires slower burning food. Lemon is a fruit and therefore burns very fast and this kind of detox regimen should be avoided.

Matching your body with the correct detox diet as well as matching your body with the correct supplements and life style modifications are so much more healthy for the long term than fad diets or fad liquid berry drinks. Not only will you detox correctly and safely your correct diet will have excellent effects on weight loss and weight gain. Its very simple, know your oxidation rate!

I would like to quickly mention that as a rule of thumb avoid foods that have had something added or something taken away. The best quality foods are ones that are in a natural state the way your great grandma used to eat them.

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The number one rule when creating floral designs is, hide your mechanics!   Nothing looks tackier than seeing the floral foam or sticky floral tape on your container.  A backing of greenery over the mechanics is quick, easy and will make your arrangement look professionally done.

                Keep in mind the size of your container when cutting your floral foam.  The foam should be no taller than one inch above the container and there should be ample room on the sides to hold water.  The foam must not dry out or your arrangement will die quickly.  Letting the foam soak up water naturally without forcing it underwater will insure proper saturation. Dry holes in the middle of the foam will also result in a dead arrangement of flowers. 

                Depending on the size of your arrangement, secure the foam in the container by using one or two narrow strips of green floral tape. 

If you’ve thought about eating a healthier diet a good way to do it is by substituting some raw food recipes for some of the daily cooked food recipes you use now. This is just another way to look at copy cat recipes.

Although most people think a raw food diet consists of eating fruits and salads and maybe a handful of nuts and seeds, the raw food diet is much more than that. You can prepare dozens of copy cat recipes, those that mimic the standard American diet fare you are probably used to eating.

For example one of the best raw food recipes that is easy to make is almond milk. You can easily make your own almond milk cheaply, at home, to substitute for harmful cow’s milk and boxed soy and rice products. Soy milk and other boxed milks are highly processed. Although a better alternative to cow’s milk they still do not have the health benefits you get from a nice tall glass of homemade almond milk.

Making almond milk is relatively easy and doesn’t require any unusual ingredients. You can use dates, honey or agave nectar for sweetener and still keep it in its living or alive state.

To make almond milk you only need about a cup of raw almonds. Make sure not to buy or use roasted almonds. You soak these overnight in pure water, drain and put in a blender along with 3 cups of pure filtered or spring water and blend for about 2 1/2 minutes. Then pour into a nut milk bag, sprout bag or fine mesh strainer. Squeeze tightly if you are using a bag. Pour into a glass jar, add your sweetener and refrigerate.

Almond milk will keep for up to five days or so. Use it on sliced strawberries and bananas in a bowl, drink as is, add nutmeg for an eggnog flavor etc. Use it wherever you would use other milks.

Of course it can be used on cereal, muesli, granola in a bowl if you still eat those. At the least try to incorporate it into your diet. It’ll vastly help improve your health. This is especially true if you eliminate cow’s milk and other dairy products. Raw food diets are the healthiest diets and help you lose weight naturally.

There are many other copy cat raw food recipes you can make with living foods that will replace the cooked foods in your diet. If you’re a mom with young kids or teenagers, you will be greatly benefiting your kids’ diets with almond milk and other great living food recipes. They will never know the difference and their overall health will benefit. There are many other simple and easy raw food recipes you can fix for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.

Here is another one of my favorite low Carb diet recipes. It is great for maintaining a lean body and is also full of delicious and refreshing flavors. It is better if you do not ruin this meal by having some fat laden soda drink. If possible, it goes great with water or a glass of red wine. This meal is great because it is,

* Low Carbohydrate
* Quick and Easy
* Full of flavor

Healthy Mexican Low Carb Diet Recipes

I have made the quantities to serve about 5-6 people so it is great if you are having people round or if you would like to keep it and have it throughout the week. You will need.

- 1 lb of cooked diced chicken breast
- 1 large bunch of cilantro finely chopped
- 2 medium vidalia onions diced
- 3 ripe avocados
- 1 large lime
- 1 small jar of bean and corn salsa
- 10 -15 round flat tostada shells

First you want to cook the chicken and dice in to small pieces. Add the diced onion, the chopped cilantro and then the jar of bean and corn salsa. Put them all together in to a large bowl and mix.

Set out your tostadas and add some of the mixture from the bowl on to each of the tostadas. After dicing your avocados, add as a topping. You will want to use about 1/4 to 1/2 of an avocados for each of the tostadas.

Finally slice off a couple of the lime wedges and squeeze the lemon juice on to each tostadas. This extra piece will help to bring out all of the flavors and create a little taste sensation inside your mouth.

This is a great meal if you are the kind of person who loves counting carbohydrates. This is just one of many low Carb healthy recipes on this website. Other recipes include a high protein low Carb muffin recipe and a low Carb hot cross bun recipe that you may also find interesting.

It is hard to control one’s hunger pangs while on a weight loss mission. It is even harder to control one’s sugar cravings, if you are a sweet- tooth on a weight loss program. It is the worst kind of tortures for people having a sweet tooth to refrain from desserts. Well, if you are one such person, here is a healthy dessert recipe to satisfy your sugar cravings, which you can dish up in just five minutes.

Serves- 2 parfaits (2 shot glasses, or 2 small dessert bowls)

Preparation time- 5 minutes

Ingredients-

Nonfat vanilla/ flavored yogurt- 8 oz (1 cup)

Fresh bananas, thinly sliced- 1 cup

Fresh strawberries/ raspberries, halved- 1 cup

Chocolate Syrup/ semisweet chocolate chips, melted- 2 tablespoons

Granola topping- 2 tablespoons

Preparation-

Divide the yogurt into 2 shot glasses or dessert bowls. Add the granola topping over it into a thick layer. Now place the sliced bananas over the granola topping. Put the fresh strawberries over the bananas. Complete by drizzling the chocolate syrup (or melted chocolate chips) over the dessert. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Replacements-

- You can replace the yogurt with low- fat ice cream or low- fat condensed milk.

- You can replace the bananas and strawberries with fruits of your choice. Pineapples also work well in this recipe.

- You can also choose toppings of your choice in place of chocolate syrup and granola.

This is a yummy treat for you and your family, which does not take more than five minutes to dish up. Enjoy the delicious taste without worrying about the calories. You can try different variations in this recipe, to suit your own taste. There is a lot of room for creativity here. It is one of the best treats to satisfy your dessert cravings without adding on calories.

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Today is your lucky day, my friend! You are about to learn to make Chili’s famous Chicken Enchilada Soup in your own home. I stumbled upon this recipe two days ago, made it last night, and the response I got totally inspired me to write this article!

This is THE perfect soup. It’s perfectly balanced in every way a soup can be balanced. Not too mild, not too spicy. Not too creamy, not too watery. Not too chunky, not too plain.

The finishing touches of shredded mixed cheese (monterey jack and cheddar), pico de gallo, and crunchy tortilla strips make it not only balanced, but fun to eat.

I’ve been in love with this soup forever. I was absolutely stoked to come across the recipe. I served mine to my wife, our twin 12-year-old daughters, a friend/coworker, and two neighbors (yes, the recipe makes A LOT!) Everyone’s eyes rolled back, closed, and were accompanied by hearty utterances of “Mmmmm…”

Oh great, now I’m going to have to make it again and again!

These are the ingredients I used:
1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup chicken base 3 cups diced yellow onions 2 teaspoons ground cumin 2 teaspoons chili powder 2 teaspoons granulated garlic 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 cups Masa Harina (Mexican flour) 4 quarts water (divided into 1 and 3) 2 cups crushed tomatoes 1/2 pound processed American cheese, cubed 3 pounds cooked chicken, pieced pico de gallo, mixed cheese shreds, and crunchy tortilla strips, to taste

All of these ingredients are fairly common and available in any grocery store. If your store has a “Hispanic Foods” aisle, you will find Masa Harina there. Fresh pico is recommended over canned or jarred. Tortilla chips will work when home-fried strips are not practical.

To make your Chili’s Chicken Enchilada Soup:
Combine oil, chicken base, onion, and spices in a large pot. Saute until onions are soft and clear, about 5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine Masa Harina with 1 quart water. Stir until all lumps dissolve. Add to sauteed onions, bring to a boil. Once mixture starts to bubble, continue cooking for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add remaining 3 quarts of water and crushed tomatoes. Let mixture return to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add American cheese and chicken. Reduce heat and simmer to desired consistency. Serve in large bowls. Top with mixed cheese shreds, pico, and tortilla strips. Enjoy!