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Nutritional Yeast

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What is it?

First off, let me be frank, it is ugly and it smells funny but, nutritional yeast flakes may be one of your best finds to date. Seriously. It’s that good in terms of nutrition and taste. It has a nutty, cheesy flavor and provides a wealth of vitamins, minerals and protein that almost anyone can enjoy.

Make sure you don’t confuse nutritional yeast with baker’s yeast, which is still active and could grow inside your stomach, depriving you of nutrients, or with brewer’s yeast, which is inactive but distinctly bitter. You can find nutritional yeast at almost any health food store, usually in bulk. I like Bragg Nutritional Yeast Seasoning!

What do I do with it?

I add nutritional yeast raw to smoothies or salads, or sprinkle it over popcorn (one of my faves), stir into soup or toss into pasta. Nutritional yeast is used to create vegan “cheese” dishes such as nacho dip and mac ‘n’ cheese. I have a vegan gravy recipe I’ll share with you soon that passes for Grandma’s gravy. For real. I’ve used it at Thanksgiving and no one knew the difference. They actually commented on how good it was. Love that.

How does it help me?

Nutritional yeast is a complete protein, meaning that among the 18 amino acids it has are the nine essential ones that your body cannot produce. Nutritional yeast also provides the compounds beta-1,3 glucan, trehalose, mannan and glutathione, which are associated with enhanced immunity, reduced cholesterol levels and cancer prevention. You get a significant dose of the minerals iron, selenium and zinc when you consume nutritional yeast. One serving of nutritional yeast provides about 4 grams of fiber, too.

If that isn’t enough to convince you to try it, check this out:

  • source of B vitamins, including thiamine, folate, B-6 and niacin. Just 1/2 tablespoon of some brands will provide you with a day’s worth of B vitamins
  • dairy free
  • soy free
  • lacks Candida albicans, the type of yeast that aggravates the fungal infection known as candidiasis
  • low salt
  • gluten-free

Pop some popcorn tonight and sprinkle your new ‘cheese’ on it! Enjoy.

Want Your Healthy Hair Back?

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Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair… Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen… Remember that song?  When I was young I had a serious problem with self image. Body image to be precise. The  only thing I liked about myself, except my charming deposition, of course, was my hair. Period. End of story.

Thankfully, I got older and left the years of teenage angst behind, at this point in my life I’m quite comfortable in my entire body. But I’m still rather attached to my mane! Many of us are and I thought you should consider how your body’s balance affects your luscious locks.

Signs of Not So Healthy Hair

Is you body talking to you? Have you noticed a lot more hair falling out lately? You may want to get your thyroid, iron levels and blood sugar balance checked. If these three aren’t balanced you will notice it in your hair and the dreaded weight gain. When these three are out of whack, it’s likely the rest of your hormones are having a hard time balancing as well. You can exercise more and eat less without getting the results you want. Let’s break these three down:

Thyroid – If your thyroid is underactive one of the first signs you will see is hair loss. Now, I shed like a dog at different times in the year, but we are talking about hair loss that gives you cause for pause. Your thyroid is the Big Kahuna when it comes to your metabolism. If it’s underactive then your metabolism slows down and hair loss speeds up.

Blood Sugar Balance – Elevated blood glucose indicates a high probability of insulin resistance and excess inflammation in your body. Insulin resistance is a pre-diabetic condition and it throws all your hormones out of balance. Hormone balance is so critical to feeling your best. All is not lost because this is easy to turn around with lifestyle changes. Studies have found a low-glycemic and anti-inflammatory diet help to rebalance hormones.

Iron – Premenopausal women should eat a diet rich in iron. Some of the signs you may have low iron levels are weakness, fatigue, poor concentration, weakened immune system and leaky gut or IBS. If you suspect you are low in iron, get checked. Make sure to ask your doctor to do a full iron panel if hair loss is one of your concerns. If you are iron deficient consume 2-3 servings daily of these iron food sources.
Liver
Beef Steak
Navy Beans
Black Beans
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Egg Yolk
Prunes
Artichokes
Collard Greens

Top 5 Foods for Healthy Hair Growth

Dark green veggies. Think spinach, broccoli and Swiss chard. They all have loads of vitamins, like A and C, both of which help produce sebum – the scalp oil that is your natural hair conditioner. Plus, greens are so good for you on various levels.

Eggs. These little ovals are full of biotin, a B vitamin and also known as the hair vitamin.

Bananas, oats and raisins. Silica is what these foods bring into your diet. Silica helps improve hair thickness and therefore stronger hair. Bye-bye breakage!

Lean red meat. We’re talking iron here so see above for a list of vegetarian sources!

Sweet potatoes. So healthy in general, but in terms of hair we are after the beta-carotene, which your body converts to vitamin A. To get your glow on (hair and skin) add any of these beta-carotene rich foods; carrots, butternut squash, pumpkin, kale and asparagus.

Omega-3 fatty acids. Again, a huge benefit for overall health, but it particularly helps support scalp health. If your hair is looking dull and your scalp is dry, load up on your Omega-3s; wild caught salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, flaxseeds, chia seeds or walnuts.

From the Outside In

We’ve covered healthy hair growth from the inside out, now let’s talk about from the outside in. Are your hair products natural? They should be and sooner than later. Switching to natural personal care products is critical to a truly healthy head of hair as well as your overall health.

Another tip for you! I use coconut oil at least twice a month on my hair. I rub it coconut oilin my hands and massage it through my dry hair, leave it on for a bit and then wash with my natural shampoo. If you have oily scalp, you can just put the oil on the ends and up the shaft.

In one study(1), coconut oil was better at nurturing and conditioning hair than mineral oil (ick!) or sunflower oil. The reason lies in coconut oil’s hydrophobic nature. That means it repels water. So when applied as a pre-wash conditioner, it keeps the water from penetrating each strand, which would cause the cuticle to rise making it more susceptible to damage and breakage. Think…less frizz! Yay!

I also use it on my wet hair if it is especially humid outside. Really helps, but remember…. A little dab will do ya’!

Now you have the knowledge you need to grow a healthy head of hair from the inside out. It seems I have this sudden urge to brush my hair…

 

1 Journal Cosmetology Science 2003 Mar-Apr;54(2):175-92

Fabulous Fruit

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I’ve started a new feature on my Facebook page starting in August – Monthly Challenges! I started these challenges as weekly endeavors, but in order to make the biggest impact on your health I’ve opted for a monthly time frame. This gives us more time to really understand the benefits of making the simple change I’m offering up to you.

Our first challenge is to add new fruit to your diet. After I started researching fruit consumption it occurred to me that instead of a new fruit –  let’s just say –  ANY fruit. How many of us are eating enough fruit? Not enough! According to the CDC report published in 2013, 38 percent of adolescents and 36 percent of adults report consuming fruit less than one time daily. To top it all off we are taught through marketing what to eat but not why. Consequently, orange juice is our major fruit and French fries our major vegetable consumed. Ack! The horror!

fruit
August’s Challenge is more FRUIT!
Let’s get to the WHY of fruit consumption.

Off the top of my head, adding fruit to your balanced whole food diet brings five fabulous fruity benefits!

  1. Boost your immunity! Essential vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables help to increase the body’s immunity against a host of diseases. It will protect your body from many common infections like common cold to serious disorders like cardio problems. Start boosting your immunity now before the cold and flu season begins.
  2. Fiber makes you full! Fruit and vegetables are high in fiber. For example, an apple contains 12% of the daily recommended allowance of fiber, pears contain 18% and a cup of strawberries packs 12%. A diet rich in fiber helps lower cholesterol and prevents constipation. Interesting tidbit about the fiber from an apple. Apple has two types of fiber: insoluble and soluble. Insoluble fiber helps lower LDL cholesterol. Soluble fiber helps the LDL be removed from the liver.
  3. Increase your energy level! Because fruit and vegetables do not contain artificial sugar and are packed with minerals and other nutrients and vitamins they help maintain energy levels. Foods high in sugar, caffeine or “energy drinks” often result in a sugar-crash because they elevate sugar levels quickly and burn off quickly. Fruit and vegetables provide a more enduring energy level.
  4.  Fight disease with fruit! The antioxidant benefits  of fruit are powerful weapons against disease. According to the Linus Paul Institute a diet rich in fruit and vegetables aids in the prevention of a number of diseases.  Among these are cardiovascular disease, high-blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and osteoporosis.
  5.  Kick start your metabolism! Deficiency of vitamins and minerals will slow down your metabolism. Also, many vitamins are essential for proper absorption of food. Lack of certain nutrients can also lead to improper functioning of thyroid. Many nutrients from fruits and veggies keep the thyroid levels normal. All these reasons can contribute to weight gain.

Let’s not forget the most obvious…flavor! Just think about all the tantalizing flavors fruit offer up to tickle your taste buds. You can be swept away to the tropics with a sweet juicy mango or carted away to the orchard with the first bite of a tart crisp apple. The variety of taste explosions is practically endless when you bravely add a new exotic fruit to your produce basket. Make it a point to treat your taste buds this week!

Let me know how you plan to increase your fruit intake and what your tasty treat sensation is this week!

 

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