Your Favourite Food Channel aka Healthy Yums

Mr. Green and I apologise for the month or so hiatus. Our lifestyles are pretty much nomadic right now which makes regular programming on this blog a bit of a challenge :o).

Mr. Green and I love fruits. Apples and bananas are two fruits we eat on almost a daily basis if we have access to them. Blueberries is another heavy favourite, and seedless green grapes if they look fresh and green :o). When we travel, we also try to sample as many local fruits as we possibly can.

Here's the jackfruit, native to South Asia and Southeast Asia:


The jackfruit is undoubtedly the largest fruit that I've ever come across. The fact that it can get to up to 40kg (~88lbs) is just mind-boggling. The edible bits looks like it's slimy but isn't. It has an almost meaty texture but don't be fooled...it's sweet. According to this, it is low in saturated fat (as most fruits are), cholesterol, sodium and is a good source of Vitamin C and manganese.

Here's another Southeast Asian fruit for you, the snakefruit or salak:

The snakefruit tastes sour and a little sweet and is a little crunchy to bite into. Definitely one of my favourites.

Someone once warned me that Southeast Asian fruits are high in sugar and carbohydrates. I never took the warning very seriously as natural sugar from fruits (fructose), is different than refined sugar (sucrose). You shouldn't really avoid high sugar fruits, which are still low in calories and very high in nutrition.

According to this, consuming refined sugar or sucrose drives the sugar levels in your blood to high levels extremely fast while fructose is broken down more slowly which gives your body more time to react to the sugar consumed.

So how much sugar can you consume?

Some experts or nutritionists say about 40g per day or 10 teaspoons (4g in one teaspoon). Some prescribe to the 10 percent rule, which means 10% of your daily calories can come from added sugars. If you know what your daily calorie intake is, 10% of that can come from added sugars and there are about 4 calories in 1g of sugar.

So if your daily calorie intake is 1800, your added sugar intake can be 180 calories which corresponds to 45g of sugar or 11 teaspoons.

11 teaspoons sound like a lot, huh? Especially when you picture shoving 11 teaspoons of table sugar into your mouth. But think again, added sugars here means all the refined sugar you consume daily, which means everything from sugar in your coffee or tea, that slice of cheesecake post-lunch, to sugar content in your morning cereal. Morning cereal. I used to love Post's Cranberry Almond Crunch cereal...and a serving of it delivers 15g of sugar already. Three servings of Post a day and you're over your suggested daily intake.

So 40g of sugar is actually pretty easy to exceed unfortunately. And let's not even begin to discuss weight gain from having too much sugar :o). That just leads to a lot more health problems and issues (heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure to name a few) :o).

Reduce your sugar intake, today!

Being here in Denmark isn't exactly easy on our bank accounts, so we try our best to really scout around and get the best deals in produce and groceries. Last weekend we had to stock up on olive oil and it boiled down to two options, one option came in a tinted, glass bottle, and the other in a clear, plastic bottle.

Needless to say, the cheaper one was the one that came in a plastic bottle. Beggars can't be choosers, so the plastic bottle it is!

The first thing I did when I got back to my computer was to look up how best to store olive oil. I wasn't very surprised to find that olive oil should be stored in a dark area away from sunlight or heat. Why else would you find costlier brands in dark, tinted bottles? According to a Greek olive oil company, called Panos Ginis, because olives are fruits, olive oil is therefore a fruit juice and should be kept away from air, heat and light.

Sunlight and oxidation cause olive oil to turn rancid and lose its flavour. Stored in a cool, dark place, olive oil should be able to keep for a year. The National Public Radio (NPR) has an interesting article on olive oil and how you should choose it like you would a wine. Of course that does not mean much to someone who doesn't drink (eg me), so I had to read the article to find out that choosing an olive oil is very much based on individual preferences of taste and smell.



Kinda reminds me of the Danilo Manco stand at London's Borough Market (food lovers MUST visit this place if ever you've the chance to). Danilo Manco has got a gorgeous display of different olive oils and vinegars that you can try before purchasing :o).

So back to our plastic bottle of olive oil. I transferred it into the old, dark bottle and stored it away in a cabinet. :o) All is fine in the Healthy Yums kitchen with regard to our olive oil.

Tip of the day: Oils in general have about 120 calories per tablespoon, and contain 1-2g of saturated fat (coconut, palm and cocoa-butter oils are very high in saturated fat. Avoid if possible). Some experts suggest, to keep your daily fat intake down to a healthy level, limit added oils to 1-2 tablespoons a day. While most oils pack in the same amount of calories, plant oils like olive, canola and sunflower are basically monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which can help lower LDL (bad cholesterol). Extra-virgin olive oil also loses its flavour when heated, so keep it for light uses like dressings and drizzling. Canola oil has a high smoke-point which makes it ideal for stir-frying, roasting and broiling. Sunflower oil is good for baking. Mr. Green and I almost always use sunflower oil over butter/margarine or shortening when baking (or applesauce for much, much less fat and more nutrition all around). Calorie-wise they might not defer much. You'd use 14 tablespoons of sunflower oil to replace 1 cup of butter in baking, and you cut the saturated fat content from about 116g to 28g by using sunflower oil. Definitely the healthier option.

Information was compiled from various sources such as Men's Health and caloriecount.about.com.

I usually have more time to cook on the weekends, and I try to cook Asian half the time since Mr. Green is such a maestro at his pastas and pizzas. Today, however, when asked what I wanted for dinner, I said I felt like Asian food and wanted a sambal dish (sambal is a chili-based condiment, popular in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore), possibly with kale. I told him how to whip up a quick dish, and as always, Mr. Green delivered! The kale was cooked just right (not bitter), the sambal was flavourful, and the cut up chilies and tomatoes were just the right touch to the dish (it was interesting to note that the tomatoes managed to give the right amount of sour and sweet to the dish. In Malay cooking, tamarind is usually used for this purpose in sambal).

Kale is probably one of our favourite vegetables (spinach tops the list, hands down). Like broccoli, it's a form of cabbage and we usually either steam, or saute it lightly (like tonight) in order to retain its nutrients (I've been meaning to dedicate an entry to the topic of cooking methods in order to maximise nutritional value, but perhaps some other time). Also, kale is one of those vegetables where the more you cook them, the stronger it tastes. It's probably in your best interest to cook it lightly if you prefer kale not to taste so bitter in the first place.

According to it's wiki page, kale is sweeter in colder climates. I also had no idea that kale had such a huge following in countries like Portugal, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. Apparently, kale is quite the big deal in northwestern Germany, where it's on the agenda of most social clubs to visit a country inn and eat large quantities of kale, sausages and schnapps.

I cannot stress enough how great a vegetable kale is. It is an excellent source of Vitamins K, A, and C, manganese, beta carotene and a good source of calcium, dietary fibre and potassium. And that's just for starters! It's also rich in antioxidants, and is an anti-inflammatory.

The website The World's Healthiest Foods, provides all you need to know about kale. It quotes scientific studies that have been conducted to show health benefits such as how kale combats cancer (ovarian cancer especially), how it helps your body detoxify, it lowers cataract risks and promotes lung health. And...it has been shown that leafy greens rich in Vitamin E slows down the loss of mental functions. I could always use brain food!



I found other kale lovers on the net, such as the following blog, I heart Kale,



It's got tons of vegetarian recipes that I find verrrrry appealing *toothy grin* and will probably try some of them quite soon. Veg-box recipes also has more kale recipes for you-who-are-curious to browse through.

Tip of the day: The World's Healthiest Foods is a non-profit website that provides a lot of information on eating, cooking and feeling healthy.

I've been having these very strange sugar cravings lately. My sweet tooth has been in overdrive for the past two weeks or so. After indulging in some Ben & Jerry's last night, I decided to look up what the cause of these cravings could be.

Stress, depression, yeast in GI-tract, chromium deficiency, not enough omega-3...ahah! Perhaps that. I've hardly been having any fish lately.

But then I read a little further, and some experts suggest eating protein whenever you have sugar cravings. That seemed a much simpler explanation than the above mentioned. This is because protein helps stabilise blood sugar, and when your blood sugar is balanced, you're much less likely to crave sugar. I thought back to what I've been eating in the last month or so, and I've realised that I haven't had much meat in the last two weeks at all (which is when these cravings began). Usually, we eat quite a bit of tofu, but soy products aren't as readily available here in Denmark and so we've been going without.

Good examples of protein-rich foods are meat, poultry, fish, peanut butter, eggs, dairy, tofu, nuts, legumes, whey and soy.

And unfortunately, we haven't been getting enough protein. According to this online calculator by the University of Maryland (it gives you an estimation of how much protein/fibre/carbs you need a day), I need about 64g of protein in a day. That's a lot!



Of course, other google searches on our custom search sidebar (don't you just love the internet) brought up other online calculators that gave me numbers ranging from 45g-55g. 55g of protein is about 6-7 glasses of soy milk, and I probably get only 4 in a day.

According to Calorie Count, half a chicken breast, roasted gives you about 26.7g of protein. I should probably start eating chicken again :o).

OR, find a place which sells tofu. OR, take supplements. Nutrition in food these days aren't the same as they used to be 20 years ago, and supplements is a great way to make sure you're getting enough of your daily requirements.

I gotta go check out the pharmacies, soon!

I used to eat. A lot. I never paid much attention to what I was putting into my body. Overeating was normal to me. Three plates of rice in a single sitting was not unusual, and my friend and former tennis partner, June and I used to celebrate a match well played by eating large pizzas till we popped.

It was only once I left college that I realised I could no longer afford such bad eating habits. I started to implement changes in my diet, like switching to whole grains, eating more fresh vegetables and fruits and reducing fat intake. I felt so much better physically, that it spurred on a complete makeover in eating habits.

Of course all the while, without compromising on taste. I was born and bred in Malaysia's food capital, Penang, and food and eating play a very important role in my life. I don't feel like I need to give up or deny myself good food if I want to stay healthy. I just have to be more creative.

For starters, I think it's a good idea to know how much my body needs. I don't think I need to start obsessing (although those who know me might tell you otherwise) over every calorie I take in, but I do think I need a ballpark figure to begin with.

Once I have that figure (based on my weight, height, daily activities, age), I can start to compare them to my meals and see if I'm providing myself with the right amount of eating.

(Tip of the day: If you're trying to lose weight, you should probably try to reduce 500 calories a day, which equals to losing 1 pound of fat per week. Don't try to lose weight too quickly if you want to keep it off! 1 pound per week is a pretty good rate. If you're trying to gain weight, increase instead of decrease. 3500 calories is basically equal to 1 pound of fat. If you want to learn more, google this using our custom google search on our sidebar)

There are plenty of websites out there that give you nutritional value for foods, but I find the following one to be the most convenient.



Not only can you look up nutritional information, but they also give you rough estimates of how many calories you burn doing what activity. Just type in your activity, and some details about yourself in their activity calculator.

Also, I recently came across a Malaysian-based website that provides nutritional info on local foods. What a find!



And lastly, and I cannot stress this enough, I believe in healthy portions and healthy options. You can always prepare your own meals with healthier options without compromising on taste and flavour. And that's what this website is mainly about. Finding good tasting, and healthier options for healthy living. :o)