Even though I don’t have a little munchkin of my own yet, I still aww at the site of a little guy waving goodbye to mommy and running towards the entrance of the school with his over-sized backpack filled with fun things!

At that young age, I remember having awesome notebooks, funky erasers and pencils, and made-with-mommy-love lunches and snacks.

There’s nothing more hurtful to me than seeing a kid’s lunch box filled with junk! Some of the junk items include sugar-loaded cookies, processed bologne sandwiches on zero grain white bread and maxed out fructose corn syrup drinks.  Boo…..

I know that in today’s world, both parents are forced to work full-time and packing a healthy lunch might seem too time consuming, but I hope this post will show those individuals that healthy does not mean hours of prep time.

Let’s check out a few healthy lunch boxes!

Lunch Box #1:

Love it!

Apple slices, carrot and celery sticks, whole grain muffin and natural peanut butter.

Lunch Box # 2

Whole grain tortilla roll ups with turkey, hummus and veggies, with a side of sliced apples.

Lunch Box # 3

Turkey & low fat cheese on whole grain bread, baked chips and an apple.

Lunch Box # 4

Whole grain PB & Jelly squares, cherries, edamame and a hard boiled egg.

For more great lunch ideas, Please visit www.Kidshealth.org

KidsHealth is the most-visited site on the Web for information about health, behavior, and development from before birth through the teen years.

As I was browsing through images, I came across the cutest lunch box ever!!!

If you click on the image below, it will take you to the UK based company that makes them. If anyone knows where to purchase it in the USA, please do share!!!!

You would think with all the research I’ve done on nutrition, that I would be the healthiest chicken in the coop, but not quite. Sometimes, life can get nutty and I forget to pay close attention to what my body is trying to tell me.

A few months back, I noticed that I was feeling extra fatigued, light-headed when getting  up, and my hands and feet were freezing like a vampire’s. At first, I thought nothing of it. I figured that my crazy work schedule and late nights were causing me to feel this way, but it turned out that I was way off.

While browsing through nutritional youtube videos, I came across a Dr. Oz episode about recognizing and treating Iron deficiency. Hmmm…

After watching a few minutes of it, I was convinced that I was also iron deficient, a VERY common type of anemia that most women experience.  Iron is important in aiding red blood cells in carrying oxygen throughout the body for optimum energy and performance.

So let’s run down some of the symptoms!

• Extreme fatigue
• Pale skin
• Weakness
• Shortness of breath
• Headache
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Cold hands and feet
• Irritability
• Inflammation or soreness of your tongue
• Increased likelihood of infections
• Brittle nails
• Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia)
• Unusual cravings for non-nutritive substances, such as ice, dirt or pure starch
• Poor appetite, especially in infants and children with iron deficiency anemia
• Restless legs syndrome — an uncomfortable tingling or crawling feeling in your legsfeeling fatigue and weak, light-headedness and dizzy, and pale skin and cold hands and feet.

OMG! I swear I thought I was supplementing my diet with enough iron but I guess not. I’ll explain what I was doing wrong in a bit, but let’s continue with more helpful info first.

According to Dr. Oz, iron deficiency is very common among women and can result from a few things from heavy blood flow during periods and lack of iron-rich foods in one’s diet. After Dr. Oz diagnosed me via TV, he went on to explain the next step of “treating” iron deficiency through both food and supplements.

Ok, so there are two types of iron, “heme” iron (found in meats) and “non-heme” found in veggies, whole grains and beans. The best way to get iron in our bodies is through “heme” / meat iron. (see image) “Non-heme” iron from veggies require other combinations of nutrients to help our bodies absorb them. Another issue with non-heme iron is that certain ingredients can “inhibit” the body from absorbing it like tannins and polyphenols that are found in coffee, tea and chocolate!

No wonder!

Spinach is one of my favorite iron-rich veggies that I include throughout the week, but being such a coffee and tea lover, I can see how my body is not fully absorbing certain nutrients that I need. It’s really amazing how the body works! Like I always mention throughout my posts, moderation is key.

On a happier note, some effective enhancers of iron are Vitamin C (found in most fruits and veggies) and even sugar and alcohol (beer and wine)

I don’t want to get too technical on you, so I found a great link for you to gather more info on inhibitors and enhancers. Click here!

Immediately after the show, I made a list of the dietary changes that I needed to implement to boost my energy and performance and drove to the grocery store!

I filled my cart with iron-rich foods like lean red meat (as lean as possible), pumpkin seeds, raisins, kale and collard greens, iron-enrished whole grains (Bob’s Red Mill 5 grain), mussels and even a piece beef liver. I grew up with eating liver, so I actually enjoy it once in a while! One ingredient that I made sure to buy was THYME… This yummy herb can provide your body with up to 688% of your RDA of iron…

It has been two weeks since I have tweeked my diet and I am definitely feeling way more energetic and my feet are actually feeling normal!

Iron deficiency can lead to health complications, so please share this post with anyone you know who may benefit from this.

If you have a personal story on this topic, please share with the rest of us!

Love, Ghada

Values for iron rich foods may vary between individual portions, these values should only be used as a guide!

A few weeks ago I dined at an amazing soul food joint in San Jose and my taste buds can’t stop craving the flavors, so I wanted to find a healthy, easy-to-make soul food dish for you to make at home.

After browsing through different cooking sites, I found a recipe that sounded so summer perfect! This refreshing blackeyed pea salad comes from New York’s Soul Food Queen, Mrs Sylvia Woods, another soul food chef turned healthy. You may have seen her products at your local grocery (collard greens, yams and more)

This recipe takes a little under 10 minutes to prepare unless you can’t find a can opener, then you might need to run out and get one.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups canned black-eyed peas, drained

¾ cup chopped green bell pepper

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped red onion

¼ cup chopped onion

¼ cup Splenda or sweetener

½ teaspoon of salt n peppa

1 garlic clove, minced

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

½ teaspoon of hot sauce

Preparation:

Combine black-eyed peas, bell pepper, celery, red onion and onion in a large bowl; set aside.

Combine Splenda granular, salt, pepper, garlic, vegetable oil, vinegar and Sylvia’s Hot Sauce; whisk until blended. Pour dressing over black-eyed pea mixture, tossing gently to coat. Cover and chill overnight.

If you’re watching your fat, calories and carb intake, this is a great salad to keep in your fridge at all times. The fibrous blackeyed peas will fill you up and the apple cider vinegar has been shown to aid in weight loss.  If you’re not watching your weight, eat this anyway! It’s delicious!

While trying to locate an Indian restaurant in the center of San Jose (California), I accidentally stumbled upon one of the most delicious Soul food joints: Agenda Restaurant.

I arrived in San Jose on Friday morning with one of my favorite coworkers Carolyn who you might have seen in a few recent posts. We were scheduled to work Saturday through Monday, then fly back home on a red eye (note to self, no more red eyes… purely exhausting!)

After our first day of work  we decided to head to highly reviewed Indian restaurant that I found online. Using both GPS and guidance from locals, we still ended up lost and clueless to where this Indian place would be. We agreed to give up and opt for Plan B.  Plan B is always roam and hope to stumble upon something enticing. Plan B worked like a charm!

Carolyn and I ended up on First Street where we noticed a few restaurants and night clubs. An outdoor sign that read “Southern Cuisine” quickly attracted my eyes. I love me some Soul Food, but I wasn’t really in the mood to indulge in calorie-loaded and fried food. As we started to walk away, a cute chubby African American man popped his head out of the door and started his pitch.

He introduced himself as Chef Gator, the chef and owner of the restaurant. He emphasized that everything on the menu was healthy, and perfectly portioned. His healthy menu was inspired by an almost death experience. Chef gator used to weigh around 400 lbs and decided undergo gastric bypass in order to save his life. He altered his diet and lifestyle and down 200 lbs.

Wow! What a great story! I looked at Carolyn and we both had that look in our eyes that we wanted to stick around and taste some of Chef Gator’s food. As he continued to talk, he guided us to the bar where only a few people sat. It was only 4 pm, so the dinner crowd hadn’t arrived yet.

We were intrigued by his story and kept asking a million questions. In short, the Chef loved southern food so much but didn’t want others to end up like him, so he revamped every recipe to make it as healthy as possible.  No frying allowed. His fried chicken was lightly battered and “baked”. Salt shakers on tables are banned. Why? “Because I perfectly season it myself” he explained. “When it comes to portions, I give you just enough and nothing more. You only get one piece of chicken, not two”

Chef Gator reached out to grab us two menus but I refused them. I explained that I wanted him to surprise us with a few of his favorites. The only thing I asked was that he consider that Carolyn was vegetarian with options of seafood and I leaned more towards lean proteins and low carb options.

Let the feeding of the soul begin!

Surprise #1: lightly battered Mississippi Catfish Sliders

The waiter brought out a long dish that had three little cute whole grain rolls stuffed with a mini breaded catfish fillet and a cajun tarter sauce. On the side was a multi-colored pickled sweet pepper salad.

Delish!

Surprise #2 Southern Green Beans & Chipotle Shrimp

As you can see from the picture, we were so excited about this one that we forgot to take a picture before starting. In this dish, we got 4 perfectly warm spiced jumbo shrimp on a bed of cold, crisp green beans and diced tomatoes and onions. So healthy and refreshing!

Surprise # 3

SPECIAL OF THE DAY: STEAMED CHICKEN DUMPLINGS

If you like gumbo, you’ll love this! Made with 100% whole grain wheat, Chef gator created these puffy seasoned steamed dumpling that sat on a thick bed of tender chicken gumbo. The chicken tasted like it was stewed for hours!

Surprise # 4

SPECIAL OF THE DAY:  BROILED HALIBUT ON LOBSTER RISOTTO!

Bring it on!

This spiced fillet of broiled Halibut was topped on somewhat creamy lobster and shrimp risotto. Oh wait! On top of all that yummy madness is a fluffy, battered chunk of crab. 

A few bites of this and that and my belly was reaching full capacity!

“Make room for dessert”

Oh boy…. what is that!!!!!!

FINAL SURPRISE: CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM SANDWICH

Chef gator showcased a plate of chocolate madness as he went into detail about the preparation. The sandwich part are made up of two “healthy” cookies that are filled with oats, dates, agave nectar and other ingredients that I didn’t pay attention to because I was so consumed with his masterpiece. In the sandwich is a pefect portion of homemade chocolate ice cream. Mmmmm…. “why does it taste so creamy yet light?”  (me asking)

“I don’t use cream. I use egg whites”

Ah….. makes sense! Whenever I try to make a fluffier, creamier smoothie, egg whites always do the trick.

As we sat there to digest, a fun crowd started filling the bar. The crowd ranged in ages and personalities. Overall, everyone was so friendly and eager to socialize. Aww… what a fun place!!! I wanna live here forever!!!! 

Chef gator came back to check on us and see how we enjoyed everything, and of course we had nothing but positive things to say. We stayed a little bit longer and he told us more exciting stories about his business ventures and goal of landing a TV Cooking show.

After that food experience, Chef gator can count me as his first TV show fan! I don’t have TIVO yet, but for that show, I will totally have to install it (someone will have to train me on it though)

If you’re in San Jose, please, please, try Agenda’s Restaurant! Tell him I sent you in and you want the special Smallworld Beauty treatment.

If you want to read more on Chef Gator click here

If you want to drool all over his menu, click here

Thank you Chef Gator and staff!

Love,

Ghada

On a scorching hot day like today when the temperature is above 90 degrees, and the mugginess is unbearable, I can’t help but want an ice cold beverage or treat.

Since 7 Eleven was on my way home, I decided to run in and treat myself to a diet drink of some sort. I like to stick to water most of the week, but once in a while, diet root beer is just so tasty!

OK… so as I approached the double doors, a girl walked out sipping on a giant slurpee. Ooooo Slurpee… if only they had a guilt-free, sugar free one?

Wait! They do have one!!! The spinning slurpee machine offered “SUGAR-FREE BANANA STRAWBERRY CRYSTAL LIGHT”

Sold!!!

I grabbed a cup and started filling to the top! Of course I was all smiles as I skipped to the register with my treat. I paid the nice 7 Eleven guy and sipped my way out of there.

Two sips in and my mind started churning with thoughts… hmmmm… the crystal light packets that I dump in my water bottle contain zero calories, zero sugar and zero carbs. If this is a crystal light slurpee, then it should be somewhat close to the nutrition facts right? No more sips! Stop sipping until you know what’s going in your mouth Ghada!

Out came my Google phone and I voice commanded a search “7 Eleven crystal light slurpee calories”

Here’s what I found… (not calorie free)

As you can see, for a 16 oz cup, a slurpee comes in at 80 calories.

This is still a great low cal treat, but I just wanted you to be aware that it’s not calorie free.

Enjoy it, but just factor it in to your day

Love,

Ghada

I’m sure you noticed that Coconut is one of my favorite ingredients in the world!

I’m sure you also noticed that my first protein bar concoction is made of coconut, dark coco, bits of almond and more coco bits!

If you had a chance to taste Coconut Coco Cream bars, then you know what I mean.

Coconut Coco Cream is like my cookie and treat, minus the sugar, excess carbs and hydrogenated oils.  This “cookie” is delicious, but I just found another way to make it even yummier!!!!

Move over  milk, Coconut Milk is moving in to my fridge!

I recently tasted this “SO DELICIOUS Unsweetened Coconut Milk” and fell in love.  This thicker milk-like drink is so good but I have to warn you that there is very little flavor to it, so I suggest you add a packet or two of zero calorie sweetener to maximize your coconut experience.

Mmmm … This Coconut Milk contains ZERO sugar and only 1 g of carbs. Coconut is highly nutritious and rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Enjoy and let me know what you think! xoxo

I was laying in bed the other night and started clicking through the channels to find something boring to help put me to sleep. Just my luck, I stumbled on to a health talk on the PBS channel that had me up until 2 am

The speaker was Dr. Daniel Amen, a physician and author of a new book called “CHANGE YOUR BRAIN. CHANGE YOUR BODY”.

I’m a true believer that the power of our minds can help us achieve almost anything from losing weight to reaching any goal we set for ourselves.

Click on the videos below to hear about his 6 tips on how to control food cravings. I have listed the summary below the video so you can write them down and take notes.

Ways to control Cravings:

1. Keep blood sugar balanced
2. Get rid of artificial sweeteners
3. Manage stress
4. Outsmart food triggers
5. Deal with hidden food allergies
6. Proper supplements

Watch Part II:

Oh the taste of a summer peach!

One of my favorite things to do in the summer, is peach picking at a local orchards.

Personally, I love a fuzzy soft-ball sized, ripened sweet peach that is jam packed with juice. Not only are these little guys perfect to eat as is, but they’re also delicious when baked in the oven.

This next recipe is one of my favorite guilt-free weekend treats. Stuffed Peaches are the perfect flavor combinations of sweet, spicy and crunchy!

Ingredients:

• 1 peach
• 1 cup fat free or low fat ricotta cheese
• 1 table spoon of honey or 1 packets of sweetener
• 1/2 tsp on pumpkin spice
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 10 almonds

Preparation:

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees
• cut your peach in half and remove core and lay on baking sheet
• In a bowl, mix ricotta, egg whites, honey or sweetener, and spices
• divide in half and place mixture in peach halves
• chop almonds in a blender and lightly toast them in a pan (use oil spray to reduce calories)
• top peaches with chopped almonds
• bake for 20 minutes
• serve warm or chilled

This summer peach dessert is packed with nutrients, fiber and protein. If you’re watching your sugar intake, eliminate half the honey or all, and use a zero calorie sweetener instead.

Enjoy!