Brown Sugar Medicinal Properties

You see it on almost every health article out there–Sugar is BAD. Sugar is what is making us fat. Avoid Sugar as if your life depended on it. Seriously?? But isn’t sugar an essential part of life?

Some health trainers even go as far to avoid the sugars in grapes and bananas.. and to that all I can say is…Please don’t.

This is an article about the medicinal properties of sugar. Brown sugar to be exact.

brown sugar and ginger tea--YUM! and so good for you too! — brown sugar and ginger tea–YUM! and so good for you too!

Growing up, my mother always used to give me and my siblings a tea made from spoonfuls of brown sugar and slices of ginger when we were sick. The result was a dark colored mixture that tasted like a hot cola with a warm spicy finish. I did some research and found that this brown sugar ginger tea is a common practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for treating nausea, digestive problems, cold symptoms and menstrual symptoms.

What exactly is brown sugar, and what nutrients does it offer our bodies?

Brown sugar gets its color from leftover molasses, the syrupy by-product from processing sugar cane to get refined sugar. This is also the reason why brown sugar feels more “wet” than white sugar.

Molasses has loads of nutritional benefits! Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium to name a few!

In TCM, Brown Sugar is categorized as a “warm” food, meaning it helps promote blood circulation, so drinking a few spoonfuls mixed in with hot water is great for the body.

Next time you’re feeling a bit under the weather, try this recipe for a pick me up!

-1 spoonful dark brown sugar
– a few slices of fresh ginger root
– mug of hot water!

Feel great with brown sugar (and all the nutrients it offers!) 🙂 Have a warm day!

Nutrients in a Margarita!!!!

HAPPY NATIONAL MARGARITA DAY!!! Officially celebrated every February 22nd, we here at Positive Eats believe it should be celebrated every day. Or at least every time you have a marg. Is that every day? 😉

Margaritas are possibly one of the best drinks in the world. AND full of nutrition!!!! Check out these three picture below:

What do they have in common? Hint: INGREDIENTS OF A MARGARITA!! Ok that was actually more than a hint. Margaritas are simple, yet extremely delicious. The classic margarita recipe is easy to remember:

3 parts tequila
2 parts lime juice
1 part triple sec

3-2-1 BOOM. Best drink in the world. Let’s look at the nutrition in the ingredients:

1. Tequila is made from the blue agave plant, which is full of plenty of carbohydrates (remember, carbs=sugar=ENERGY!!!!!!), mainly in the form of fructose. Tequila has also been shown to lower bad cholesterol, aid in digestion, alleviate headaches, and reduce stress, risk of stroke, Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

2. Lime Juice is made from limes. Surprise!!!! Guess what nutrients limes have? Besides Vitamin C, which is great for our skin and immune system, limes are also full of calcium and folate (aka Vitamin B9). Check out a nutrition label her e! Which other foods surpringly also have vitamin C, calcium, and folate? French Fries, Ice Cream, and Oreos! Check check check!!!

3. Triple sec is made from bitter orange peels, alcohol, and sugar. Hence, it is also full of plenty of carbohydrates (and a little bit of Vitamin C from the orange peels). Remember, carbohydrates are a macronutrient essential to life. Your body NEEDS carbs!

Like most other foods, when you break down the ingredients, margaritas are made from all natural components. Margaritas are carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals all in one refreshing sip!!! HOORAY. Now THAT is a great reason to celebrate!!!

Now for the irrelevant, but relevant question of the day: On the rocks, or frozen?

The Nutrition in Soda

One of the core philosophies here at Positive Eats is that ALL foods contain nutrients. And this includes soda! (Or coke, or pop, or whatever you choose to call it).

What is nutrition anyway? << This article puts it pretty well: “Nutrition is life. If you don’t eat or drink, you will die. Period.

Nutrition is about what you eat, why you eat it and how your food will affect your body and your health.”

And with that in mind, I want to look at our friend, Soda Coke Pop.

Soda is infamous for its “lack” of nutrition in today’s health culture. In fact, according to many new articles headlining across our daily news, soda really does kill and soda is public health enemy #1.

By negatively portraying soda, health food propagandists are once again encouraging black and white, good and bad, labeling of foods. Ask anyone today if a hamburger or an apple is better for you, and more often than not, the answer will be the apple. But why? Why is an apple healthier than a hamburger? What if someone ate nothing but apples for three days straight? Wouldn’t then a hamburger be the healthier option for their next meal?

The real focus for now and future generations should not be blanket labeling, but rather objective nutrition education.

Example: Soda is a beverage made of carbonated water and lots of sugar.

Not: Soda is a drink that is bad for you, will cause cancer, obesity and ultimately kill you.

The lesson should be focused on what nutrients we need to survive, and how much we need of each kind to maintain good health. Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are the three macro-nutrients needed for survival. In general (and of course this will vary depending on personal nutritional needs), we need about

45% to 65% of calories to be carbohydrates.
20% to 35% of calories to be fat.
10% to 35% of calories to be protein

Where does soda fit into this? Let’s look at Coca Cola nutrition!

So yes, a can of regular Coke has 39 grams of sugar, which is a lot of sugar compared to some other foods. But does that make it a bad food?? NO. Nowhere is it written in the nutritional handbook of life does it say that sugar is bad for us. In fact, sugars are pure carbohydrates, making them essential for life. Other foods that contain a lot of sugar are ice cream, cake and cookies.

In the end, it is our CHOICE on what we consume. And whatever we choose, whether it be drinking a soda, water, juice or wine… , if you choose with understanding of nutrition coupled with the goal of maximizing health and happiness for your current situation, you have made the right choice!

Now for the irrelevant, but relevant question of the day: Do you like soda? Is so, what is your favorite kind?

Icing on the Cake

I have read many-a-health-blogs that suggested you scrape the icing off a piece of cake before eating it to save calories, save fat, save sugar. And to that I say, save it for what? Save it to ingest in some other form that is not the delicious frosting on top of my cake? Save it for after the party so I can pride myself for snacking on an apple and peanut butter instead?

The icing on top of the cake: Goodness on top of more goodness

The idiom “Icing on the Cake” came into existence because it is the perfect example of “something good that is added to another good thing”. But our over-obsessed health culture today is rendering this expression meaningless. Icing, or frosting, is becoming synonymous with “bad”, “unhealthy”, “fattening”. And that is true if you choose to look at it that way.

Or you can choose to look at frosting as what it is! A simple mixture of sugar, dairy and butter–all of which are FOODS with nutritional value!! I’ve discussed sugar and dairy in the “Ice cream is good for you” post, so let’s focus on the butter component of icing. Or frosting. Whichever you call it.

Alright. Let’s get some things straight. Butter facts:

1. Butter is a fat. It is not what makes you fat. It is a TYPE of fat. Fat is essential for survival.

2. Butter is rich rich RICH in Vitamins A, E, D, and K2.

3. Butter has iodine!!

4. Butyric acid. Wonder where it get its name from?;)

5. Linoleic acid. <—read about it. it’s cool stuff!!!

6. THE benefits of BUTTER list goes on and on and on..

So celebrate butter. Celebrate the icing on the cake. Make this buttercream fosting today. Life is too short to rob ourselves of nutritional happiness in times of celebration (isn’t this usually when we eat cake anyway?)

Have your cake, eat it, AND the icing too!!!!!

And now for today’s relevant, yet irrelevant question: What is your ideal cake:frosting ratio?

Oreos. Their BIG nutrition secret

So you ate a few Oreo cookies at your office party, are now on a sugar high and bouncing around the cubicle because of the extra carbohydrates you just consumed. No surprise right? Oreos=Cookies=Sugar=AL:KJ:LKJAD!!!!

Oreos: the chocolate sandwich cookie with some secret nutritional benefits — Oreos: the chocolate sandwich cookie with secret nutritional benefits

Well here is something that probably WILL surprise you about Oreo nutrition:

A serving of Oreos (three cookies) contains about 10% of your daily recommended IRON intake. Huh??

That’s right. Milk’s favorite cookie has iron. How??

If you take a look at the first ingredient list after sugar, you’ll see the words “Unbleached Enriched Flour“, followed by a whole list of micronutrients.

Americans love Oreos. Click the image for an Oreo cheesecake recipe

The U.S. is one of many countries that mandates fortification of industrial milled wheat flour with nutrients like folic acid and iron, as a public health initiative to prevent neural tube defects in newborns and conditions such as anemia. Check out the full list here.

Click the image to see the ingredient list and nutritional info for Oreos!

Cool right? In fact, most of the packaged products you buy (bread, pancake mix, tortillas, cookies, crackers) are made from enriched flour, which means it is fortified with essential nutrients!

That means Oreos not only include iron and folic acid (aka vitamin B9), but vitamins B1 (Thiamine), B2(Riboflavin) and B3(Niacin) as well. Check out the Oreo’s nutrition label! Share this fun fact with all your Oreo-loving friends! Happy snacking!

Ice Cream is Good for You

Why? Because when you break it down, it really just is milk and sugar. Milk and sugar.

Milk.

and

sugar.

Cows and plants. Both provide us with great amounts of nutrients! Let’s take a closer look:

Cow’s milk is a dairy product and an EXCELLENT source of calcium, which is an essential mineral for a strong, healthy skeleton and teeth. Calcium is important for us to maintain bone density, ESPECIALLY for women as we are at a higher risk for osteoporosis. If we do not get enough calcium, our body strips it away from our bones (NOT good!).

Vitamin B12 is naturally found in animal products (plant foods do not contain Vitamin B12, unless they are fortified), so its no surprise that ice cream can provide a good supply of this micronutrient! It is important for making DNA, healthy red blood cells, and supporting our nervous system. Vitamin B12 deficiency is bad, bad, bad.

Now I could go on and on about the benefits of milk, but let’s move on to the other main ingredient of ice cream–that delicious, sweet SUGAR!

Sugar cubes — Every wonder why you feel so energized after a sweet snack? Because sugar is a carbohydrate!

The majority of the sugar we eat comes from the sugar cane, a giant bamboo-like plant.

Scientifically, table sugar is known as sucrose, a molecule made up of two simpler sugars, fructose and glucose. Sugars fall into the macronutrient group– carbohydrates.

Why does our body need carbs?

FOR ENERGY!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!

Sugar gets converted into glucose and is readily absorbed by our cells to give us an instant lift. We NEED sugar to survive, and for our brains to function at optimal levels!

Thanks Ice Cream, for being so good to me!

Next time you have a scoop of ice cream, think about all the STRENGTH and ENERGY you have consumed, and go show the world what you are made of! (strong bones!) 😀

And now I will ask an irrelevant, but relevant question: What’s your favorite flavor??