Mi familia.

Hola familia,
Well I went to the doctor, which was a huge fiasco in and of itself, but worst of all I have gained weight, a significant amount. I mean, I am not Santa or anything, but I am definitely making my heart work harder, so now is the time to get serious about my health, so I guess I am asking for support in this. Thanks guys.
Love you.

Foods that Help your Heart

Dr. Kirkland gave me this list of foods to help improve my cholesterol levels. They are similar to the list of Superfoods, but not exactly the same.
Here they are:
Almonds
Avocados
Beans
Chocolate!!!!Yes!!!!
Cinnamon
Grapes
Oats
Onions
Pistachios
Yogurt

The article was written by David Grotto and he refers to www.americanprofile.com/heart

We are making progress! Have a good weekend, everyone.

I love you,
Mom

A lesson in love...

Or a lesson in superfoods. A superfood is a food containing high amounts of phytonutrients, including but not limited to: antioxidants, fiber, and vitamin c. They are a food that it is speculated fights cancer and overall helps your immune system.
Here are the four main superfoods and the qualifications for why they are such.


Beans: A great low-fat, low-calorie source of protein and an easy way to help control your weight and your blood sugar.
Blueberries: The best food on the planet to preserve a young brain as we mature.
Broccoli: The best food on the planet to prevent cancer.
Oats: A sure-fire way to lower your cholesterol.
Oranges: The most readily available source of vitamin C, which in turn lowers the rate of most causes of death in this country, for example, heart disease and cancer.
Pumpkin: Loaded with phytonutrients, which keep our skin young and help prevent damage from sunlight.
Wild salmon: A guaranteed way to lower your risk for cardiac-related death.
Soy: The only complete vegetarian source of protein.
Spinach: The best food on the planet to prevent cataracts and age-related macular degeneration, thus ensuring a lifetime of good vision.
Tea -- green or black: The easiest and cheapest no-calorie way to avoid heart disease and cancer.
Tomatoes: One of the easiest ways for men to avoid prostate cancer is the consumption of tomatoes and tomato-based products.
Skinless turkey breast: The leanest meat source of protein on the planet.
Walnuts: Consuming walnuts is an easy, tasty way to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.
Yogurt: A tasty, easy way to boost your immune system


There you have it. Dr. Pratt loves superfoods, he gave me that information...check him out online.
Also, he wrote a book called superfoods which list out what exactly is healthy for us to eat. I am heaps interested in this book. I think I may go purchase it now. All my love...

Fettuccine with beans and pesto

I tried out this recipe for the first time the other night on Caleb and our dear friend Paul Cho. It was a hit, so here you go Hannah.

1 C. beans (You can use any kidney, chickpeas, black, or black eyed beans) This is nice cause you can stock this stuff in the pantry.
1 1/2 C. firmly packed fresh basil (I think you could use spinach too)
1 C. romano or parmesan cheese
Olive oil
1 lg. yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 C. vegetable stock or water
fettucini
handful of pine nuts
salt/pepper

1. Process the basil, cheese and about 6 T. olive oil. (I added some of the vegetable stock too, cause I was having trouble getting it all processed and I felt like I had added a lot of oil already.)
2. With a little heated oil n a pan, add the onion and garlic and saute about 10 minutes. Add the stock and beans, bringing to a boil. Reduce heat and reduce the liquid to about 1/4, approx. 5-10 minutes.
3. Cook noodles.
4. Add the pesto to the bean mixture. Add noodles.
5. Garnish with pine nuts.

This makes enough for 6, so I even had enough pesto to reserve for another meal.

More good stuff

Hey all,
First off, let me say I'm a bit disappointed in myself b/c I still haven't exactly figured out Hannah's superfood thing. But I will.

I just wanted to let you know I signed up for a recycling service today! While I know this isn't exactly our bodies getting fit, it is helping our environment, which helps us, which equals getting fit. Right? I'm pretty excited about it b/c it's only $11.50 a month and they give you the bins, they pick it up every 2 weeks, and all we have to do is throw stuff away into the right bins. Woot woot.

Also, I did the Women's Run this past weekend with my book club. It was so fun! Becky and I have still been walking 3 times a week, and after doing the run, we decided that we're going to start adding a little bit of jogging to our morning walks. Today we didn't add the jog b/c I had Evey with me, but we will. And, I'm excited.

Just wanted to give you all the update.
Hope all is well.
Love you! ~ Heather

I only got 4 minutes to save the world.

Family.
I wanted to communicate with you, but it is late and I have many a paper to write before summer. So here is what I want to update you on. I love superfoods! I am making it my personal goal to eat at least two servings of superfoods a day. I have been doing this for a week, my body is probably thanking me by allowing me to stay up well past three in the morning to write a paper about American Political Thought, and also by letting me absorb spanish and dream in it. Crazy! I recommend superfoods to all of us. Spinach is way cheaper than lettuce and so much better for you too. Blueberries, beets, turkey, avocados, and for our family, most importantly tomatoes...We need all the heart help we can get. So I challenge our family to become the superfood family! Get on it, go for it, and save your body...channel Madonna (she probably eats only superfoods, I am wearing yoga pants so I am practically an expert on Madonna at the moment).
Mom, how are you doing?

yummy time

here are some recipes. they're super good!

pesto -
8 sun-dried tomoato pieces, not packed in oil
1/2 c. water2 cloves garlic
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach
1/2 c. shelled walnut pieces
1/2 c. already grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 c. sliced black olives
1/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil

place the sun-dried tomoatoes in a 2-cup glass measure and add the water. microwave 1 1/2 minutes, covered on high, or until the water boils. remove tomoateos from microwave and let them stand in the water to soften, about 5 minutes.

place peeled garlic in food processor, process until minced, about 30 seconds.
microwave frozen spinach for 5 minutes.

add walnuts to the processor with the garlic and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped, about 1 minute. add parmesan, basil, and salt into the processor.

drain tomatoes, add them, along with thawed spinach and its juice, and the olives. process until finely chopped, stopping once to scrape the sides of the bowl. then scrape again. then with the motor running (and cover back on), slowly add the oil (in a thin stream) thru the feed tube. continue to process until thoroughly combined (about 30 seconds). if you want it a little thinner, add water, a tablespoon at a time. (i've been adding about 3-5 T of water). soooo good.
put it on spaghetti or other pasta. we've also been spreading the pesto on frech bread and then putting the bread in the oven for about 10 minutes. good stuff.

taco salads (so good) -
tortillas
chili powder
1 lb (ish) lean ground beef
1 c. match-like carrot sticks
3/4 c. chunky salsa
2 T mayo (light if you want)
Salad
tomato (if you want)
shredded mexican style cheese
fresh cilantro

heat the oven to 425. Crumple large sheets of foil to make balls; place on baking sheet. place 1 tortilla on top of each ball (we made 4 tortillas). spray each tortilla with cooking spray, then sprinkle a bit of chili powder over them. bake 6-8 minutes or until tops are golden brown. (the tortillas will drape over the balls as they bake.)

brown meat with carrots and about 1T chili powder. after it's browned, add 1/2 c. salsa; cook 2 minutes or until heated thru.

mix mayo and 1/4 c. salsa in large bowl. add salad and tomatoes; toss to coat. spoon into tortilla shells; top with meat; cheese, and cilantro.
very good.