Avoiding food spoilage from supermarket fresh to leftovers
Posted by Rochelle Blank Zimmer, CHHC on Mar 29, 2010 | 5 Comments
With so much in the news about food spoilage and e-coli outbreaks happening in commercial facilities, paying attention to how we store and handle our food once it has come home from the supermarket makes sense. With enough warmth and moisture, harmful bacteria can turn your vegetables or prepared meals into a breeding ground of unsavory bacterium. With warming weathers and spring fast approaching, this issue increases, though to be clear, it is a year long concern.
Here are my top tips for avoiding food spoilage
- Wash your hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before you handle food and afterwards. Call this, the before and after rule.
- Fine, if you wash your vegetables and put them in a bowl after you come home from food shopping. Fruit bowls look great and are excellent enticements to getting your proper fruit intake per day. However wash them again, before you plan on eating them, cutting them or cooking with them.
- Refrigerate or freeze your leftovers within 2 hours after you have cooked them. This will keep your fresh and frozen foods free from bacteria producing on its surface.
- Cover your stored items with plastic wrap or better yet store in glass dishes with heavy duty sealed plastic lids. Heavy duty all plastic containers or okay as well.
- If you leave something on the stove by accident overnight - best to throw it out.
- How long can I keep prepared food in the refrigerator? 4 days says the USDA for your leftovers, otherwise go the freeze route for your leftovers for later use.
- Fresh herbs will last much longer when frozen. They are also easy to use straight from the freezer. If you know you aren’t going to eat up that whole bunch of fresh basil that you just brought at the supermarket, freeze it and use as needed. This will keep your herbs, free from spoilage.
- Store perishable fruits and vegetables in a clean refrigerator at a temperature of 40 degrees F or lower. Alway keep them in plastic bags or clear containers even in your crispers which will again keep your produce fresher longer.
- A clean refrigerator is important. Make sure you don’t have any science experiments growing on any shelfs. Clean up any spills immediately and always keep a fresh box of baking soda in your refrigerator.
- Separate the goods. Vegetables with vegetables. Fruits with fruits. Fish with fish. Meat with meat. and Chicken with chicken. If defrosting a meat, do so covered in plastic and on a plate. You want to avoid any leaks onto anything else as this could cause contamination.
- Large lettuces and cabbages will do well to have their outer leaves discarded before using.
- Though not a spoiler when uncooked, always wash your grains in cold water before cooking them. This makes them easier to digest as well as takes off the dust that has settled onto the grains in storage. (even if you bought them bagged)
Gabriel Cousens MD, author of Reversing Diabetes and Conscious Eating speaking in New Jersey
Posted by Rochelle Blank Zimmer, CHHC on Mar 23, 2010 | 4 Comments
Gabriel Cousens is coming to New Jersey, on June 10, speaking about Prophecy and Diabetes.
This is a fantastic opportunity to hear this innovative thinker and the founder of The Tree of Life Rejuvenation www.treeoflife.nu speak about Reversing Diabetes, Eating for a Healthy Body and Planet, Ancient Prophecy and Modern Disease and Achieving Optimum Health through Live Foods.
Mr. Cousens is author to several ground breaking health and nutrition books, Conscious Eating, Reversing Diabeties, Depression Free for Life, Spiritual Nutrition, Createing Peace to name a few.
His work as a doctor, teacher and author brings clarity and wisdom to the most essential questions concerning our food and lifestyle choices.
Going beyond what we eat as food, he takes nutrition to a new level which includes in the conversation, living happily and full of vibrant health with our spirits intact.
In these challenging times, when we are bombarded with hype and misinformation about our health, when health care reform has less to do with actual health care and prevention and more to do with disease care and insurance, when processed fake food reigns in our supermarkets, when obesity, heart disease and diabetics type II have affected the American population in record numbers, Gabriel Cousens offers sage wisdom and a road map back to empowering you to take your wellbeing, your health squarely back in to your own hands.
With over 40 years experience, Dr. Cousens has helped people reclaim their vitality and health and live to their personal physical potential. As both a Rabbi and a medical doctor, he gives us a unique perspective comprising sound science with spiritual teachings. Dr. Cousens vision reaches beyond mainstream health and creates a new paradign for holistic health which includes mind, body and spirit.
There is limited seating to this June 10 event; your best bet is to make a date with yourself and reserve your seat today.
For more info and to sign up for this lecture contact: Karen@superhealthychildren.com. or call 201.934.6778 For additional information please also see the photo of the flyer above.
To Your Vibrant Health, Rochelle Blank-Zimmer, Health Coach and owner of Your Natural Choice
- Your Natural Choice Blog
- Your Natural Choice Website
- Central Jersey Holistic Health Examiner
- Institute for Integrative Nutrition - Rochelle Blank-Zimmer
- Health Coaching
- Time to eat healthy
Sugar-less Vegan Baking Class - March 23 - Whole Foods, Princeton, NJ
Posted by Rochelle Blank Zimmer, CHHC on Mar 20, 2010 | 6 Comments
Sugar-less Vegan Baking Class comes to Whole Foods in Princeton, NJ - Compassionate cooking will transform traditional sweet favorites into delicious sugar-less vegan treats that you can easily make yourself! Learn the secrets of baking delicious desserts without using eggs, dairy and processed sugar. On the baking menu will be: Blueberry-Orange Cake, Apple Strudel, Grain sweetened and cacao Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Cookies, and a Raw Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pie.
This class will be held at: Whole Foods, Princeton, NJ - Tuesday, March 23 at 7:00 PM. Register for class at: wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/princeton
Change is challenging and changing your personal sweet favorites to eschew dairy and egg products can at first, seem daunting if not downright impossible; after all isn’t the sugar and dairy why you like the desserts in the first place?
I kicked my white sugar and processed food habit, years ago, but never lost my love for desserts. While I was comfortable not eating white sugar and processed foods, after a few years I wanted to see if there were tasty desserts that I could eat and still adhere to my chosen health choices, while also upping the ante to include no dairy products.
Since searching for something sweet had been a lifetime avocation, I knew I was up to the task but also knew that I would have to be very clever and resourceful if I were going to find proper replacements.
In the old days, when I lived in NYC, I could find a few enjoyable desserts that didn’t contain white sugar or dairy at local vegetarian restaurants. However even then, I was uncomfortable with the amounts of sweet, though granted not white sugar, that were used in many of the recipes.
When I turned on my oven and tried my hand at creating satisfying subs, I knew I would never have to be without a tasty dessert again. There I discovered how to make desserts that satisfied the one question I kept asking - How do I keep the animal products (dairy and eggs) and sugar out of my desserts and still create something delicious to eat?
At first I was skeptical. I poured over cookbooks and started changing recipes to omit dairy and sugar 100%. I discovered plant based ingredients I could use to replace sugar, dairy and eggs and still thoroughly enjoy the results. Even more so, because my standards were not compromised.
On Tuesday, March 23 at 7:00 PM at Whole Foods in Princeton, New Jersey I am going to give a Sugar-less Vegan Baking Class. It is there that I will reveal some of the secrets to good old fashioned baking - vegan style. Join the class and sample the results. - Register for class at: wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/princeton - Class Cost: $25.00
To Your Vibrant Health, Rochelle Blank-Zimmer - Holistic Health Coach - Your Natural Choice
For more info: Organic Natural Sugar Subs, Your Natural Choice, Central Jersey holistic Health Examiner
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month- Adapt a high fiber diet and attend an CC Awareness lecture in Princeton, NJ
Posted by Rochelle Blank Zimmer, CHHC on Mar 15, 2010 | 14 Comments
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month. Princeton HealthCare System, through it’s community education and outreach program will be holding a talk called “Links between Colorectal Cancer and Nutrition” on Wednesday, March 24, at 7:00 PM at the Princeton Fitness and Wellness Center, Princeton North Shopping Center, 1225 State Road, Montgomery. This is a free talk with registration requested. For more information go to: www.princetonhcs.org/calendar or call (888) 897.8979
Colorectal Cancer or Colon Cancer as it is commonly referred to as, will take its toll on an estimated 140,000 lives annually, according to the American Cancer Society. This positions this disease as the third most common cancer found in both men and women with risks increasing after the age of 50.
Dr. Eric H. Shen who recently wrote an article in the Princeton Packet Newspaper about Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month warns that patients don’t usually show signs of this disease until more advanced stages. He advises a colonoscopy to healthy populations over 50, every 10 years. For high-risk people, who eat a high saturated fat and low fiber diet, talking to your doctor sooner and more often may be a important step in your wellness program.
Symptoms in advanced stages can show up as: Blood in your stool, unexplained weight loss, changes in stool makeup, and Anemia. Experiencing these symptoms should propel you to make an appointment with your doctor. There are many medical advances for Colon screening and treatment. A colonoscopy is the most common method used today in detecting and also if needed, removing abnormal growths.
While screenings are important especially in high-risks populations, nothing should undermine healthy lifestyle choices all year long. Proper diet and daily exercise are your best bets for discouraging the onset of this or many other diseases.
Diets high in saturated fats, that would be animal products of all kinds - red meat, fowl and fish as well as eggs and dairy products are linked to many diseases including cancers, heart disease, and obesity to name a few.
In addition and equally concerning as high-saturated fat diets are the diets that contain little to no fiber, a common occurance with high fat diets. That is because there is NO fiber in any animal product. NONE. There is also no fiber or very little left in processed commercial foods. Fiber from real food (not Metamucil) is what our body uses to clean our systems out; making sure that what goes in comes out, if you know what I mean. When we can’t eliminate frequently (several times a day) we produce a buildup of harmful disease producing toxins in our bodies. Over time this is a piece of the puzzle that can produce dis-ease.
American diets are sadly missing in fiber; even the USDA only recommends an amemic approach to fiber intake. But do not despair. Fiber is readily available in diets rich in fruits and vegetables, and whole grains (NOT refined or white) Adding more vegan vegetarian choices into your meal choices can be a real bonus for your health and longevity.
Taking Multivitamins may support better health but will never replace real food. Calicum, believed to be linked to lowering cancer can be easily had from green vegetables such as broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale, swiss chard, collards and spinach. One cup of a green vegetable will yield more calicum than a glass of milk and contains no saturated fat (unless you load on butter.) Also, our bodies are much more able to absorb vitamins and nutrients from plant based food.
Folic acid and Vitamin D are other good sources for cancer prevention as well as the many antioxidants found in plant based food. Good sources of Folic acid are green leafy raw vegetables, avocado, bananas, dates, brewers yeast and some whole grains. Good Sources for Vitamin D, which increases calicum absorption are 30 minutes of daily sunlight. If you are not getting that amount, sprouted seeds, mushrooms, kelp and sunflower seeds contain natural Vitamin D.
To Your Vibrant Health, Rochelle Blank-Zimmer - Your Holistic Health and Wellness Coach.
For More info: Central Jersey Holistic Health Examiner, Your Natural Choice Website, Your Natural Choice Blog,
