What can help lowering cholesterol?

The American Heart Association's (AHA), Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations state that individuals should consume plant sterols and plant stanols from a variety of foods and beverages every day—just as they would use cholesterol-lowering medication to maintain LDL (bad) cholesterol reductions from these products. The AHA also notes that maximum effects are achieved at plant sterol and plant stanol intake of approximately 2 grams per day.

A study has been done for years about the relationship between these two "S" plants and how they can affect our cholesterol.  They have found that if we consume just 1.8 to 2.8 grams of plant sterol and plant stanol, we will be able to lower our cholesterol by 7 to 11 % .

Of course, there is no miracle for lowering our cholesterol but I am here to help. 

Before I move on, I want to post all the fortified food that have the Plants "S" in them.  We can just buy these in the grocery store and feel good eating them. 

Food Sources of Plant Sterols	Amount (grams)
Avocado, 1 small	0.13 g
Corn oil, 1 Tbsp	0.13 g
Sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup	0.19 g
Oat bar with plant sterols, 1 bar	0.40 g
Milk with plant sterols, 8 oz	0.40 g
Lifetime Low-Fat Cheese Singles, 1 slice (2/3 oz)	0.40 g
Carazonas Tortilla Chips, 10 chips	0.40 g
Nature Valley Healthy Heart Honey Nut Bar, 1 bar	0.40 g
Thomas’ Hearty Grains Oatmeal & Honey English Muffin, 1	0.40 g
CocoaVia Chocolate Covered Almonds, 13 almonds	0.70 g
CocoaVia Snack Bar, 1 bar	0.90 g
Orange juice with plant sterols, 1 cup	1.00 g
Vegetable oil spread with plant sterols, 1 Tbsp	1.00 g
Right Direction Chocolate Chip Cookies, 1 cookie	1.30 g
Fruit and yogurt flavored drink with plant sterols, 3.4 oz bottle	2.00 g

Remember eating more than 2 grams of plant sterol and plant stanol a day will not provide additional cholesterol lowering benefits. So with that said, all we will need to do is to eat up to 2 grams of  the plant "S" and be happy.

Anyway, in the next few days, I will try to include Plant "S" in my diet everyday. This is a test to see how a change of diet can change my cholesterol. 

 

More on how to prepare for the Holidays.

Here is my advise about dealing with the holidays. I know I am eating a lot less than before but I am looking forward to going to the Thanksgiving dinner that my in-law is going to prepare.
I want to enjoy the food but I don't want to gain weight.  It is so easy for us to gain weight during the holidays.

There are a few reasons for that:

We get stressful when it gets closer to Christmas.  There are so much to do and prepare and we will tend to sleep less.  When we sleep less, we will probably eat more to stay awake. And for some people to make it worse, they will try to drink a lot of Starbucks specialty drinks to keep themselves awake and alert for the entire day.  Some of those drinks can be really high in calories.  Like my favorite Grande Chai Latte, it has about 250 Calories!
We have to get more sleep during our holidays!  If you need naps, go take some naps instead of eating and drinking.  Don't pamper yourself too much.

One thing that we have to focus on is "PLAN" ahead of time.  I cannot stress enough about "Planning".
Rehearse the Thanksgiving dinner in your head.  Try to find out what are going to be served during the Thanksgiving dinner. Make a plan of what you are going to eat.  Image you are eating the Thanksgiving dinner now, how many pieces of Turkey are you going to eat? How much gravy are you going to put on the Turkey?  Are you going to eat a big piece of cake after the dinner? Try to eat about 1/3 of what you will usually put on your plate.  You can always ask to pack some leftover home.  Limit the plates your are going to eat.  Ask yourself, "What is my favorite dish?"  If you are going to eat more of your favorite dish, you will need to eat less of the other dishes or you will even have to scarify and not eat some of the dishes on the table.
Try to drink a lot of water or hot tea (no sugar in the tea) before your meal that will help filling you up. Also try to wear something tight.  Like a tight cute top. Please don't wear those big old sweat shirts or T-shirts that can hide your tummy.  You need to wear something elegant.  You want to show off your body.
Imagine if you eat a lot and your tummy is all big and ugly?  How long will it take for you to lose your weight back to your ideal weight? If you gain 5 pounds on this thanksgiving dinner, you will gain another 5 pounds in the coming weeks.  You will give up and then keep eating yourself to depression.  Imagine how awful you will feel after this big Thanksgiving meal? Thanksgiving is a religious holiday. We want to thank God for giving us all that we have, however; it is not a time to have a big feast and kill yourself!  God wants us to take good care of our bodies.  Just remember this point and you will stop eating! Just remember, you will be eating those Turkey leftover for another week anyway, so take it easy.  Try to balance your diet out! Don't let your friends and family drag you into a diet twilight zone!

Here is part of the article that I read from the Web MD.  I think it really agrees with what I am talking here.
Here are some great tips about how can you refuse food during the dinner:  

The easiest way out?  Just say "no" -- over and over and over, the experts say.

"We call this the broken record technique," says Huberman. "If you continue to politely refuse the food pusher, eventually they will stop pushing you. You don't have to be rude, but you do have to be firm."

Beck adds that we should feel entitled to do what is good for us.

"If you were refusing food because of an allergy or for religious reasons, you wouldn't think twice about saying 'no' and sticking to it," Beck says. "So give yourself that same sense of entitlement when you say 'no' to something because you are protecting your good health."

There's no need for lots of explanation about why you don't want to eat something. You don't even have to mention the word "diet."

"It's really OK to just say 'No, thank you -- it smells divine, but I'm really full.' You don't have to offer more explanation than that," says Huberman.

If you simply can't get away without accepting something fattening on your plate, Muller says, accept it. Then, just walk into the next room and dump it. (this is the part that I don't really like to do because I don't like to waste food)

"Just because it's on your plate or in your hand," she says, "doesn't mean you have to eat it."

So again, good luck with your Thanksgiving dinner and I will follow up with you all soon. Stay strong!

I am going to put this blog on my cell phone when I go for my dinner.  If I feel weak, I will read this blog. I will remind myself, I really do not need to over stuff myself on this Thanksgiving day!

I finally cut the pineapple that I placed upside down in my refrigerator.  The pineapple is sooooo sweet. I don't know if anyone else has tried this yet?  Take my advise now, start putting your pineapple upside down!

Today, I am going to give you some tips on how to clean up different spills on your carpet.  The reason why I want to share this is I know a lot of people are going to have their Thanksgiving dinner in their house.  Spills are inevitable especially if you are inviting people with kids or their careless, air headed boy friends or husbands for Thanksgiving.

Read this and you will thank me later....

For Oil or Grease spills on carpet:
1. Use paper towel to soak up all the grease on your carpet. Press down on it only, do not wipe from left to right.
2. Then use a damp towel and put a teaspoon of detergent on it.  Press on the spill for 3 minutes. This will help breaking the grease down.
3. Then use another damp towel and press on the spill area for a few times.
4. Dry the area with a dry towel afterwards.

For Soda or juice Spills:
1. Use a paper towel to soak up the spill.
2. Place a damp towel on the spill to dilute the sugary liquid.
3. Blow dry with a blow dryer.

For Wax spills from Candle:
1. Hand pick the top layer of wax on the carpet.
2. Cover the wax with a paper towel.
3. Use iron to iron over the paper towel. Use low heat and make sure the paper towel does not burnt.
4. Repeat the step until wax totally come off from the carpet.  You will need to use different paper towel if the towel has wax on it already.

Hope this will help.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

How to prepare for the holidays.

Today, I am going to start with my Master cleanse again.  I am going to do it for 4 days and use two days to ease back into regular eating. I am doing this because I want to get ready for the bad food that I am going to eat.  I will also start with a Daniel's fast in the beginning of January next year.  The Daniel fast is totally different from the Master Cleanse.  The Daniel fast is to help working on my discipline to God and living in a humble life.

The Master Cleanse is done to cleanse my system.  If you want to find out more about the cleanse, here is a great website http://themastercleanse.org/

Let's look at the recipe of Master Cleanse.

2 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Rich Maple Syrup
1/10 Teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper Powder – or to taste (as much as you can stand)
8 ounces (250 milliliters of Pure Water)
I like to make this with hot water because it is more filling.  You can drink up to 12 glasses in a day.

**Healthy asparagus**

• After a long day of work, this is what I am having tonight - Healthy Asparagus!

A lot of people like to steam or boil asparagus while I only like to stir fry them.  I know there are so many products out there where you can buy to boil asparagus in your pots.  To me, the key to cook fresh and nutritious vegetable is to make sure you DON'T over cook them.  When you over cook your vegetable, all the fiber, nutrition and taste are gone. Especially, when you boil them in hot water. The vegetable, such as asparagus just turns into vegetable soup. Unless you drink the juice, you are not going to get any benefit out of any boiled  vegetables.
Here is a quick and simple way to cook asparagus which tastes excellent!

What you will need are:
A bunch of Asparagus
2 tsp of Olive Oil
A little bit of ginger
2 tbsp of Low sodium vegetable broth
A little bit of salt, pepper to taste
1 tbsp of Beringer red wine

• First wash the asparagus and drain the water out.
• Then cut the end (the hard part off) and toss them in the trash.  Cut the rest of the asparagus into 1 inch long pieces and leave them on the cutting board.  Try to group the ends together on one end of your cutting board and group the spears part to the other side.
• Heat olive oil in pan with high heat.
• Prepare your ginger by grinding it on a grater. 

I just got this Ginger Grater at Crate and Barrel today! Great price! It is on sale for $1.95

• When the oil is hot, put ginger in and stir fry until fragrant.
• Then add only the bottom pieces of the asparagus (not the spears) and start stir frying them in the pan.  If you are following my instruction so far, it should be easy to pour the bottom pieces into the pan. 
• Add 2 tbsp of vegetable broth and cook the bottom part of the asparagus for 5 minutes.
• After that, add the spears, salt, pepper and Beringer red wine and stir fry everything together.
• When the spears start getting soft, you asparagus is done.

Since I use high heat to stir fry the asparagus, I always watch to make sure they are not over cooked or burnt.  Hope my instruction is not too complicated.  I think you can get a better picture after you check out my pictures below!

Throw the bottom root part in the trash.

Leave the bottom parts on one end of the cutting board and the spears on the other end.

Put pan on high heat, add Olive Oil. After Olive Oil is heated up, add  ginger. 

Pour the bottom parts in the pan and leave the spears on the cutting board.

Add Vegetable broth

Cook the bottom parts for 5 minutes or till soft.

Add everything else in the pan and stir fry till fragrant and soft.

Enjoy!

Here are some facts about Asparagus:

• The larger the diameter, the better the quality!

• Asparagus is a nutrient-dense food which in high in Folic Acid and is a good source of potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, vitamins A and C, and thiamin.

• Asparagus has No Fat, contains No Cholesterol and is low in Sodium.

• The name asparagus comes from the Greek language meaning "Sprout" or "Shoot" and it is a member of the Lily family. 

• 1/2 cup of asparagus has about 19.8 calories. 

• The shoots have good levels of dietary fiber. Dietary fiber helps control constipation conditions, decrease bad, "LDL" cholesterol levels by binding to it in the intestines, and regulates blood sugar levels. In addition, high fiber diet helps prevent colon-rectal cancer risks by preventing toxic compounds in the food from absorption.

• Its shoots are also good source of vitamin K; provides about 35% of DRI. Vitamin K has potential role bone health by promoting osteotrophic (bone formation) activity. Adequate vitamin-K levels in the diet helps limiting neuronal damage in the brain; thus, has established role in the treatment of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

I ate one of these this morning and I wrapped the rest up and put them in a box. What a good way to cheat!
Remember, always eat 1/3 of whatever you are going to eat.  Save your tummy for stuff that you like. Watch your sugar and fat levels.  Then you will be able to beat the holiday weigh gain!

A lighter version Banana muffin with crumbs on top- 250 calories per muffin

 What you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed (extra ripe)
• 3/4 cup splenda 
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted ( I use Fleischmann's 70% less saturated fat, 100% less cholesterol)
• 2 tbsp+ 2 tsp Splenda brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 
  

Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl(bowl A), mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture (bowl A) just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Add caption

 Last two steps: 


In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.  Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.   Enjoy!

The Pineapple Trick

I went to Kroger this morning and I noticed their pineapple is on sale. I really love the taste of pineapple but I don't like the inconsistency taste of pineapple. My hubby always complains about how different parts of the pineapple tasted different. So finally, I found out the reason why after eating pineapple for some years.

The reason why different parts of the same pineapple taste different is the way that a pineapple sits.  Since a pineapple cannot sit on its leaves,  all the sugar will settle to the bottom.  So one way to solve this problem is to place the pineapple upside down in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before you cut it.  It will help even out the sugar in the pineapple.  I have to do this test myself ,  I guess it is working!

How about picking the juicy sweet pineapple from the grocery store? You pick it by picking out one of the center leaves on the top.  If it comes out easy, it is ripe.  And of course, check the bottom of the pineapple to make sure it does not have moldy spots.  That will indicate the pineapple is over ripe.

The benefits of Pineapple:


Pineapple is loaded with calcium, potassium, a lot of fiber and vitamin C. The magnesium in Pineapple can also help in bone growth.  It is great for women who are at risk for osteoporosis.  
One thing I do a lot is having pineapple as my dinner. It helps a lot with my digestive system especially when I get plugged up by the protein drinks.  I know a lot of people can eat up to one pineapple by themselves. 
I remember I did that a lot when I was in Hawaii and Thailand because their Pineapples are soooooo good and sweet.  I want to make an important note here: Do not eat more than 1 cup of pineapple a day. 
1 cup of pineapple contains 14 - 17grams of sugar which equals to 74 calories. Even though the sugar in pineapple is all natural, we are still not supposed to eat that much sugar in a day. That is why some people are wondering why they can't lose weight by eating pineapple for the entire day.  Our goal is to eat less than 40 grams of  sugar per day. If I want to lose weight, I will consume less than 20 grams a day.  
Here is a helpful website about surprising sugar content in some of our favorite fruits Check this out, it will shock you!