Cabbage, here is a food that we used to consume 27 pounds of in the 1920’s.  Today we are lucky if we consume 9 pounds of this nutritional vegetable.

Coming in many shapes, colors and sizes, cabbage is readily available and a great source of vitamin C.  It is full of iron, calcium, potassium, and many other vitamins, notably vitamins B1, B2, B3, and vitamin A (of which bok choy contains the most in comparison to savoy and napa).

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When many people hear the word “diet”, they conjure up images that just aren’t pleasant. Too often they associate the word “diet” with hunger and deprivation. They begin to feel irritable and contemplate when they can “go off a diet”. In short, they view the word “diet” as ‘DIE’ with a ‘T’. It doesn’t have to be this way.

The actual word “diet” comes from the Greek word diata. This word simply means: way of life. This is a sound suggestion that a diet should be a manifestation of eating well; and is one part of a lifestyle that is balanced and can be maintained. That doesn’t sound so scary, does it?

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Yesterday, I ran away with my family to the movie theater. It was great fun and I was able to avoid the concessionary temptations that were placed before me and just have a bottled water. I did great and I felt good about my efforts to stick with my current eating plan. Then my husband threw a curveball into our plans for the day and suggested dinner out at the Outback. He was met with an enthusiastic “Yes!” and we were off to the restaurant.

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How about some garlic or onions, leeks and shallots?  Yum, I know.  Not exactly the picture of fiber and phytochemicals like berries. They are vegetables though and for a diet you couldn’t do any worse than to include super foods that help protect your body from disease and offer a boost to your immune system.

The research isn’t totally in on garlic but there has been talk that it is good for your cholesterol too.  Whether that’s the case or not, since it is a plant I’d bet it is worth a shot to consider it over less natural forms of flavor. 

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This afternoon I’m running away with my family and going to a movie. I love sitting in the theater and watching a good flick. In the past, I loved the short, but expensive visit to the concession stand and the popcorn smell that filled the entire theater. I always took the extra butter and a large drink and happily munched and sipped my way through a great flick.

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Anybody catch Dr. Oz on Oprah yesterday? Well he’s my favorite doctor.  Dr. Oz always has something interesting and fun, and maybe he’ll gross out Oprah if we’re lucky. Yesterday was about an experiment they did where a group of individuals were put in a zoo for 12 days. The plan was to eat the diet of an ape which is the equivalent of 11 pounds of vegan food a day. That is all the fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds that you can think of.

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The National Institutes of Health or the NIH, announced in 2001 that the United States was suffering from a “Calcium Crisis”. It was then revealed that a mere 36.3% of boys and an astonishing 13.5% of girls between the ages of 12 and 19 were getting the RDA or recommended daily allowance of calcium. It is imperative that we understand that 90% of bone mass is established during these ages. Those numbers indicate that osteoporosis and other bone diseases will be on the rise as these kids grow up. And adults aren’t getting enough calcium either.

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Vitamin K is the least known member of the vitamin family, but it is also one of the most important ones that our bodies need.  This vitamin, also known as phytonadione, is essential for our blood to clot normally.  The “K” in the name of this vitamin actually comes from the word “koagulation”, which is German for clotting.  We also need vitamin K to help us to maintain healthy bones. 

The body actually only requires a very small amount of this critical vitamin.  It is usually found in multi-vitamins, calcium supplements and any bone health formulas.  This vitamin is fat-soluble, which means that the body will absorb it best if taken with a fatty food.  This could simply mean a little dressing on a spinach salad.   

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My little sister got married yesterday.  I was worried at first at how my diet would fare with a wedding and all of the celebration food around.  But she also had her reception an hour later in the same place she was married and everything had to be set up differently after the wedding.  I burned a lot of calories setting up tables, decorations and laying out the food and drink.   

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One of the main reasons we are covering the different vitamins and minerals is because as dieter’s we sometimes do not get enough of these in our food sources.  It is important to make sure that we have a good supplement in order to receive the things that our bodies need in order to be healthy.   

One of the vitamins that we are sure to fall short on during a diet is vitamin D.  The food sources of this vitamin are usually found in the very foods we are trying to avoid as we lose weight.  These foods are: 

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