Are You Hydrated?

I've been on a water kick for years and, as a result, already knew many of these facts that one of my friends sent me in an email recently. But it was an excellent review for me and I wanted to pass it on to anyone who isn't yet converted to the concept of regular hydration with simple water.

An easy rule of thumb I learned many years ago: Divide your weight in half and that's how many ounces of water you should be drinking every day.

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is mistaken for hunger.
3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.
4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.
5. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

Are you drinking the amount of water you should drink every day?

P.S. Though it may sound a bit gross, one easy way to tell if you're hydrated enough is by the color of your urine. If it's dark yellow, you're dehydrated; if it's about the color of lemonade, you're doing well.

Feedback

Dear Readers,

Thank you to those who voted in my poll about what you would like to see more of in this blog. Your feedback has been very helpful! I must admit, I was surprised that such a huge majority of you wanted more recipes above everything else, since there are SO many recipe blogs out there. But I have tried to respond in kind and hope the recipes I have added have been beneficial to you.

So now I need to ask for more specific feedback: What kinds of recipes have you found most helpful? What kinds of recipes are you looking for? What kinds would you like to see more of?

This blog is for you and if it's not helpful or useful or applicable to you in your quest for healthy cooking and eating, then it's not worth either of our time... So please post your comments and I will try to tailor-make this blog to better fit your needs.

Thanks so much!

Sincerely,
Katrina

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Yield: 1 cookie sheet

1 c. plus 2 Tb. water
2 Tb. olive or vegetable oil
3 c. whole wheat flour*
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. yeast

Mix all ingredients thoroughly, knead and place on greased cookie sheet (or 2 round pizza pans). Work dough around with hands until evenly covers entire pan(s).
Spoon on desired sauce, cheese, and toppings.
Cook at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until fully cooked and browned as desired.

*If your flour is made from red wheat (instead of white wheat like mine), you may choose to use part white flour for this recipe, to make your dough more pliable, but it's not necessary if you choose not to.

How to Make the Switch

Most people have heard stories about what can happen to someone not used to eating whole wheat who suddenly begins eating it a lot--and none of them are pleasant. The other day I was reminded of this by a guest we had in our home. I had made a simple meal of vegetable turkey soup (with real turkey broth from a bone I simmered), and cornbread from scratch (of course). Our guest gave many compliments on the meal and kept telling me how it really "hit the spot," and helped himself to seconds. But only an hour later he had to spend about 15 minutes in the bathroom. I have never had anyone's body react that way to my cooking, so it was quite baffling. Our guest said he knew for sure my food was all natural because normally when he eats things like that it takes a day or two to "go through." Well, this only added to my bafflement! And my pervading feelings were incredulity and pity, that he--that anyone--should be so accustomed to "fake," processed food that their bodies don't know how to handle the real thing. And yet, I'm sure many typical Americans are in the same boat--sadly.

My uncomplaining husband knows all about this, firsthand, as he had a crash course on home cooking and whole wheat when he married me. Now he would never go back, but it did take his body a while to adjust. Ideally, this adjustment should take place in a gradual, calculated way, with a goal in mind. Here is an excellent website to give you ideas on how to do that (scroll down about halfway). Basically, you need to identify the snacks, bread, pasta, rice, etc in your current diet that contains white flour and gradually replace them with those same items made from whole wheat flour. I didn't used to be so fond of wheat pasta, but I helped my family make that gradual change and now don't mind it at all, especially since it stretches farther by filling us up faster (and sticking). As we still have a good supply of white rice, I haven't yet completely made the switch to brown rice, but I plan to. All of us have improvements we can make.

White Flour--The Other Sugar

I borrowed this title from an excellent article that can be found at the Weston A. Price Foundation and from which I pulled the information for this post.

"Even though white flour doesn't taste sweet, it breaks down into sugar (glucose) and can lead to the very same problems caused by eating too much refined sugar."

This is certainly no new concept to me. My mother taught it to me long ago, so I am amazed that much of the industrialized world remains ignorant of this truth. It just makes so much sense!

"White flour is what's left after stripping virtually all the nutrients and fiber out of a whole grain of wheat. So what you're left with is a dead, lifeless powder that no longer goes rancid and can be used as a perfect binding agent to hold together sugar, sodium, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, additives, and other chemicals. White flour is basically "white gold" for food manufacturers.

"Products made with white flour are nutritionally useless, yet the American Dietetic Association recommends that we eat 8-11 servings of them everyday. The public has been programmed to believe that white flour products are "healthy" because they are low in fat, cholesterol and calories. So people eat things like pasta, bagels and pretzels and believe they are eating healthy because these foods are 'fat-free.' But what food manufacturers have failed to mention in their clever advertising is that white flour products have zero nutritional value and can lead to poor health."

I think of a few of the diabetics I know and what their diets are like (mostly made up of white flour) and I just cringe. How is it that so much of the American population (and others) can be so unquestioning and unconcerned about what they're putting into their bodies?!

"As far as your blood sugar is concerned, your body doesn't know the difference between a teaspoon of sugar and a slice of white bread!"

Homemade "Refried" Beans

Low in fat, this way of making pureed beans is much healthier than any canned variety and freezes very well if you make too much. Really the only trick is to monitor the water so that it never runs too low (or your beans will burn), yet in the end doesn't need any water poured off, since it is so rich in nutrients from the beans.

Homemade "Refried" Beans

2 c. dry pinto beans
1 large onion
1-2 large cloves garlic
salt to taste

Clean beans, boil in pot of water for 10 min, rinse.
Refill pot with enough water to cover beans, bring back to boil.
Boil for 1 hour.
Dice onion, crush garlic, add to pot after beans have cooked for an hour or so.
Cook another 30 min to an hour, until beans and onion soft.
Add salt to taste.
Ladle bean mixture into blender, blend until smooth.
Pour into serving bowl or spoon directly into tortillas. Makes an excellent side dish or as filling for burritos (in addition to cheese, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, etc.).

Popcorn

We don't eat a lot of snacks, but one of our favorites is hot air popped popcorn, topped with about 3 Tb. real butter and a few turns of the sea salt shaker. Now I don't even like microwave popcorn. There's just something about home-popped that is so much more satisfying! My husband gave me a popper like this one about three years ago and it has been in regular use ever since. In addition to being much healthier than microwave or prepackaged popcorn, it's also more economical: I can find it for less than $2 per 32 oz package at my local grocery store, which makes a lot of large bowls full (I only have to buy it about every two months and we generally eat it once a week or so). And unlike with the microwave variety, very few kernels are left unpopped and none are burned.