There are three things I like most about my job as a nutritionist:

#1. To help guide people toward making changes in their diet and lifestyle that have a huge impact on their health

#2. To educate people on how their body works and the power food can have on it

#3. To BUST current health myths that misguide people into making wrong food choices

One of the largest health myths out there to date involves the low fat and low cholesterol propaganda that has been fed to us since the late 50’s and is finally beginning to come to an end.

Case in point: Superfood Egg

After decades of being demonized as a high cholesterol and high fat food wrongly believed to cause coronary heart disease, this SUPERFOOD deserves the truth to be told! Eggs are one of the healthiest foods on the planet! I tell my clients that it’s like a mini-vitamin of nutrition, packed full of easily digestible and easily utilized high quality complete protein; plus all known vitamins and minerals (with the exception of vitamin C). It’s a complete whole food, which means it is perfectly balanced by nature. Not only are eggs complete and nutritious, but they are also one of the most economical forms of complete protein around!

Now whenever I mention a superfood, I’m talking about the whole food. So I’m not talking about egg whites here, or just egg yolks, and I’m certainly not talking about boxed liquid egg whites. I’m talking about the complete whole form of the egg (minus the shell of course). Nature has a wonderful way of balancing whole foods. For example, the cholesterol in an egg is balanced with something called lecithin, a phospholipid which keeps cholesterol circulating and prevents cholesterol from depositing in arteries. Lecithin is found in the egg yolk, and best utilized when the yolks are soft and runny. Lecithin lowers LDL cholesterol (considered the “bad” cholesterol), while preserving HDL (considered the “good” cholesterol), therefore decreasing our risk of heart disease. That’s right, eating eggs with the yolks runny actually DECREASES YOUR RISK OF HEART DISEASE!!!! Health myth-BUSTED! Lecithin also contributes to strong mental cognition through healthy nerve functioning in parts of the brain. That’s why some people take lecithin supplements to boost their mental capacity.

Keep in mind that even the superfood eggs can still be consumed in excess, especially for someone who already has a diet high in animal protein. But a modest amount of high quality eggs (up to 1-2 a day depending on your diet), eaten with the eggs runny can be enjoyed over a big hearty salad for breakfast, lunch or dinner (my personal favorite way to eat eggs).

So now that you know what a superfood eggs are, don’t go running to the store just yet to buy three cartons. There is much more to know about eggs first. It’s very very important for you to understand that not all eggs are created equal!!!

From a nutrition standpoint, eggs produced from battery farmed practises are full of antibiotics to control disease in the inhumane and overcrowded setting, and hormones to keep the chickens producing excessive amounts of eggs. These eggs also have far less nutrition.

Eggs that are raised naturally, with hens uncaged and allowed to roam freely and eat grass and worms, have higher amounts of omega 3 fatty acids and have far superior nutritional quality. You may notice their thicker shells are harder to break (higher in calcium), and their yolks are a beautiful deep orange colour that stay more intact (richer in nutrients).

From an ethical standpoint, as a consumer you need to be informed to make the best possible choices that could change the way our food is produced and the way animals are treated. Egg laying chickens are one of the most abused animals in Canada and in the world. Battery farmed hens are packed four to six in wire cages that have the floor space the size of a folded newspaper. They spend their short lives unable to spread their wings and barely able to move. 20% of the hens raised like this die due to stress.

So only eat eggs if they are organic or you are sure they are raised naturally. The best way to do this is to get your eggs at farmers markets from farmers that raise a small amount of hens (not thousands) on pasture. The more you know about the farmer and the eggs, the better for you, the hens, and the planet.

Check out this un-biased article on farming battery raised hens and decide for yourself where you would like to get your superfood eggs from:

eggfarmingvirginiaswvatoday.com

It’s officially the first day of summer and Ontario growing season is in full swing! If you haven’t already, make sure to check out your local farmers markets for the freshest, healthiest, most local and most sustainable food around.

Here is a list of the bounty Ontario farms have to offer us every month this summer:

Fruits

June: Cherries, rhubarb, strawberries, apples (stored)

July: Apricots, blueberries, cherries, red and black currants, figs, gooseberries, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon

August: Apples, apricots, blueberries, red and black currants, figs, gooseberries, blue grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, raspberries, watermelon

Vegetables

June: Asian vegetables, asparagus, green and wax peas, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, fiddleheads, field lettuces, greenhouse lettuce, mushrooms, green onions, onions, green peas, snow peas, greenhouse peppers (sweet red, yellow, orange), radicchio, radishes, rutabaga, spinach, bean and alfalfa sprouts, greenhouse tomatoes, wild leeks

July: Asian vegetables, green and wax peas, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, sweet corn, cucumber, garlic, field lettuce, mushrooms, green onions, onions, green peas, snow peas, sweet green peppers, fieldhouse peppers (sweet red, yellow, orange), potatoes, radicchio, radishes, rapini, rutabaga, spinach, bean and alfalfa sprout, summer squash (zucchini, yellow squash), field tomatoes, greenhouse tomatoes, zucchini

August: Same as July, plus eggplant, leeks, parsnips, field peppers (yellow, red, green, hot green, hot red,

And best of all, you can get the healthiest and most naturally raised eggs, chicken, beef and pork; as well as local honey, maple syrup and artisanal made soaps and beauty products.

So skip those over air-conditioned supermarkets and get to know more intimately where your food comes from. Ask don’t hesitate to ask the farmers lots of questions such as:

• Where is their farm located?
• How do they raise their animals?
• Is their cattle pasture fed, grain fed or both?
• Do their chickens roam freely?
• What do they feed their hens?
• What sprays do they use on their produce, or how do they manage potential pests?

We all know that food in season tastes the very best so get out there and get yours because the short growing season will be over before you know it!

For a complete list of farmers markets for Toronto and the Greater Golden Horseshoe check out:
Edible Toronto

and

For a complete list of available produce for each month of the year visit foodland Ontario at:
foodland.gov.on.ca

The final days of October are here, and along with it, one of my favourite holidays Halloween! I admit it is quite paradoxical for a nutritionist’s favourite holiday to be one where children run the streets filling garbage bags full of processed, artificial flavoured and sugar laden candy; and where the home/apartment dwellers eat half the box of trans-fatty chips before they get a chance to hand it out-but it’s true! Not for those reasons, but I do love carving pumpkins, making pumpkin pie and dressing up as someone or something else for the day. There is also a great sense of community in the air as all the parents fill the dark night with their adorably costumed children, meeting their neighbours-often for the first time, and exchanging mini gifts (however unwholesome). I think we can all admit that the candy consumption is a bit excessive at Halloween, well maybe more than a bit. I won’t go into the fact that these super sweet and artificially flavoured candies and chocolates can decrease your child’s immune system, cause additional cravings for sugar or evoke hyperactivity (ok, I just did-a little), but I may have a creative solution for all you parents out there, “The Switch Witch”.

A lovely new friend of mine introduced me to this brilliant idea of the “Switch Witch”. The idea is to give your children an allotted amount of candy (so not to spoil their fun, nor run the risk of attention deficit or mood disorder for the next month) and then offer up the remainder of their bag to the “Switch Witch”. If they are lucky, the Switch Witch will come out that night and take their bag of candy and ‘switch’ it for a little present. Brilliant compromise, eh? The trick is to not eat that bag of candy yourself, as it will do everyone better in the trash. :)

Save those pumpkin seeds everyone! Those little green seeds are a powerhouse of nutrition, hiding right there in your pile of pumpkin guts next to your carved pumpkin! Pumpkin seeds are a great source of essential fatty acids that can help with inflammation, heart health and hormone production. They contain more iron than liver by weight, and are a popular treatment for prostate problems, parasites, and even hair loss! A handful a day can help keep the medicine away! For a tasty, medication prevention snack toast them in the oven with some sea salt and cayenne pepper at 300°F for 35 minutes, peel (or don’t peel), eat and enjoy!

The Twelve Most Contaminated Non-organic Fruits and Vegetables

People often ask me what the benefits of switching to organic are when they are admittedly more expensive to buy. I tell them simply that there are always hidden costs to cheap food. As one of my teachers once said, pay for it now, or pay for it later. Study after study has shown that organic foods are richer in nutrients and less harmful on the environment, contributing to better health, soil, air and water. They have much less contamination of toxic pesticides that may contribute to nervous system dysfunction, birth defects, miscarriages, hormone disruption, skin, lung and eye irritation, or even cancer. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 90 percent of fungicides, 60 percent of herbicides and 30 percent of insecticides are known to cause cancer.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) recently conducted a Meta-analysis (research analysis of numerous research studies) of 87,000 studies occurring between 2000-2007 by the U.S Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration on pesticide contamination of the 47 most commonly eaten foods.

They ranked these foods from the highest level of pesticide contamination to the lowest level of pesticide contamination. They also determined that a person can reduce their pesticide consumption by 80% if they avoid their consumption of the twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables. This means that instead of consuming up to 10 pesticides a day by eating these foods, you could reduce your consumption to only 2 pesticides a day by eating the Clean 15 Foods.

So here it is….

“The Dirty Dozen”

• Peach
• Apple
• Sweet Bell Pepper
• Celery
• Nectarine
• Strawberries

• Cherries
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Imported Grapes
• Carrot
• Pear

“The Clean 15”

• Onions
• Avocado
• Frozen sweet corn
• Pineapple
• Mango
• Asparagus
• Frozen sweet peas
• Kiwi

• Cabbage
• Eggplant
• Papaya
• Watermelon
• Broccoli
• Tomato
• Sweet Potato

For more information on this study and pesticides, visit
www.foodnews/fulllist.org
www.foodnews/reduce.org