Cranberry Cacao Nib Oatmeal Cookies (Repost from Nutrish and Delish) As a former pastry cook at fine dining restaurants, I created and tasted numerous desserts primarily made with refined sugar, butter and heavy full fat cream. I won’t lie, most of them tasted pretty great, but day after day of taste testing (which a cook has to do to ensure dishes are made correctly for the guests) got to me both physically and mentally. I remember one day when my co-worker Maggie and I looked at each other while we were preparing the evening’s desserts and we both had the look of dread on our faces. Did we really have to taste the freshly made raspberry coulis on the warm and fluffy beignets one more time?!
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 A long time ago when I found myself reaching for more sweet treats than my body needed, I instated the house rule: if you want a cookie, then make a cookie. Why? Well for starters if I'm really craving a cookie, then I would be happy to put the work into making one fresh from scratch instead of lazily darting to the nearest store for an unsatisfying quick fix. Secondly, so many store bought cookies are laced with processed ingredients and words I cannot pronounce, so if I am going to have a dessert snack, I am going to have one that will not harm my body but rather provide some nourishment.
with Hearty Apple Almond Crisp You will quickly learn that I care a tremendous amount about breakfast, am a self-proclaimed breakfast-pusher and still believe it IS the most important meal of the day despite arguments and studies against the age-old saying.
This is why: breakfast jumpstarts my day and ultimately motivates me to end the day as well as it starts. Eating breakfast is a daily reminder that I begin the day on the right foot, nourishing not just my body but also my mind.  February was National Heart Month and March is both National Nutrition Month AND National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, so eeeeeverybody is talking about fiber fiber fiber! But why???
Because most of us are lacking it in our diets! It’s recommended that women get at least 25 gm per day and men at least 38 gm per day (a bit less for both if you’re over 50 years of age), however, the average American diet only includes about 15 gm of fiber per day (1).  February is American Heart Month, raising awareness about heart disease, the leading cause of death for both men and woman: 1 out of 4 deaths (1)! Heart disease includes conditions such as atherosclerosis (when arteries become clogged due to plaque build-up) that can result in coronary artery disease and ultimately cause heart attacks, heart failure and strokes by obstructing the flow of oxygen and blood to the rest of your body (1,2).
What causes plaque build up? It’s mainly low-density lipoprotein (aka LDL aka ‘bad’ cholesterol) mixed with fat, calcium and other miscellaneous materials found in your blood (1,3,4). |
Maxine Yeung
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