Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollen

The Husband's work is really health conscience and puts a lot of thought into what they serve their employees. Recently he came home with a copy of Michael Pollen's food rules, which I've been wanting to read.

The book is literally what the title says, rules for eating food. It contains 64 rules in all and I love that the last rule is "Break the rules every once in awhile"! (Not everyday, mind you) Last April I attended a conference that Jorge Cruise held to introduce the Belly Fat Cure Fast Track and he had a Dr. there that said some of our foods more closely resembled plastic, than actual food. That really hit home with me when I thought about. Since starting on Jorge's plan I have been much more conscience about the quality of my family's food. At first it was Sugar/Carbs/Sugar/Carbs, but then it was more.

Food Rules is a great way to concentrate on real, healthy food for your family without having to know any of the science behind it. Rules like "If it came from a Plant eat it. If was made in a Plant don't" or "if a 3rd grader can't read the list of ingredients, don't eat it". Really good, simple advice. Since I have a 3rd grader, my kids got a kick out of this one! They weren't as happy about the rule that said to not eat cereal that changes the color of the milk though. Sure, a lot of it is just common sense. But we could all use a good plainspoken reminder sometimes.

Michael Pollen is also the author of The Omnivores Dilemma and In Defense of Food, which are also on my reading list. You can pick up Food Rules at Amazon for as little as $3 which a great for a useful reminder about how we should be fueling our bodies.food rules

  

Vanilla Teas

I'm a big tea lover and Fall and Winter are the perfect times to warm up with a nice cup in the evening. I have also found having a tea in the evening is the perfect way to may me feel full and even satisfy my sweet tooth. In the past I have written about Chocolate Teas, which I absolutely love, but there aren't many decaf options for the evening. So this post is all about Vanilla Teas!

Think of these teas as your after dinner dessert. Have them alone or with a square of dark chocolate. I brew a small pot and add 1 packet of a stevia sweetener to the whole pot. Then add a small amount of cream to my tea cup and pour. I think this is much nicer then just microwaving a cup and sticking a tea bag in. You will be surprised at how it will warm your whole body, and make you feel full guilt free.

These three vanilla teas in Decaf form are my favorite options for a cold evening:

Davidson's Coconut Vanilla - This is a wonderful dessert tea, definitely my favorite! I have found Davidson's teas at Whole Foods and few other specialty stores.

Celestial Seasonings Sweet Coconut Thai - I didn't really like this tea at first. I shared the first pot with my Mom and she liked it right away. It had more of a Chai flavor then I expected, but it grew on me and I love it now.

Stash Vanilla Nut Creme Tea - The truth is, as a brand I don't love Stash.  The flavors doesn't always match the scent and that puts me off. But they are very inexpensive, easy to find and I wanted to give you easy to find alternatives. If this is only Vanilla Tea you can find, give it a try.

Do you have a favorite dessert tea?

  

GOOP and the Rising Popularity of Low Sugar Diets

A while back I subscribed to GOOP, which is actress and health nut Gwyneth Paltrow's blog. She sends out her blog in Newsletter form broken up into groups of DO, SEE, BE, GET, MAKE and GO topics. She often gives advices on travel and food, apparently she is a real foodie. Today I was surprised to see GOOP's DO newsletter dedicated to Overcoming Sugar Addiction, with Gwyneth's own input and an article written by Dr. Frank Lipman.

Turns out Gwynnie and Jorge Cruise are thinking on the same lines! I thought it was really important with right up front addressing sugary foods as addictive. It goes on to support this claim and mention many similarities that Jorge mentioned in our online class. The article recommends eating whole foods low in sugar and eliminating artificial sweeteners, although it does suggest using fruit to curb sweet cravings. There are several supplement recommendations, including L-Glutamine. While the article did not give any specific guidelines for how much sugar was considered "too much" I found it a great introduction to a low sugar lifestyle.

The Belly Fat Cure is the only low sugar book I've found that actually sets limits in the grams of sugar we should have. All other articles and books I've seen are very vague on the details of how much is too much. But it is very interesting to see more and more information on low sugar diets and their benefits. Just think, Low Sugar could be mainstream one day soon!

As a low sugar dieter for more than a year now, I found the article very useful. I think a newbie would really get a lot out of it too. You can check out the full article HERE and GOOP in general HERE. Her newsletter is also very useful if you plan on antiquing in Paris or are having dinner in Italian country side (she knows just the pace to go)...