Whole grains offer wonderful nutritional support, but most of us don’t know how to cook them easily. A “whole grain” is one that still has all of its edible parts in tact: the bran, germ and endosperm are still part of the grain, offering fiber, minerals, protein, and antioxidants.

Skip that white, processed Uncle Ben’s in a box, and go straight for the darker beige and brown grains in the bulk section for real health benefits. A serving is only 1/2 cup!

Eating just 2.5 servings of whole grains each day is associated with a 21 % lower risk of cardiovascular disease, the top killer of American women, compared to consuming only 0.2 servings. Including 2-3 servings of whole grains a day is associated with less obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

Because whole grains like brown rice, millet or quinoa take a little longer to cook than white rice many people feel they don’t have enough time to make them a regular menu item. Not true!

Here are my best tips for making grains easy to integrate:

1. Make extra: cook up a big pot of quinoa, brown rice or other whole grain and refrigerate the unused grains for up to 2-3 days in an air-tight container. You can then scoop out cooked grain 1/2 cup at a time and add it to dishes for easy meals.

2. Pretend like it’s pasta: Scoop a 1/2 cup of cooked grain out of the refrigerator and reheat on the stove with some vegetable stock or water. Top with your favorite pasta sauce and veggies. Takes about 6 minutes.

3. Pretend like it’s salad: Scoop 1/2 cup of cooked grain and toss with your favorite salad dressing. Add chopped veggies like cucumbers, shredded carrots and olives.

4. Pretend like it’s oatmeal: Scoop 1/2 cup of cooked grain into a small saucepan and mix with a little water, juice or plant milk (rice, almond, hemp, soy, oat). Reheat over medium and sprinkle with a little cinnamon and some raisins. Add some chopped nuts or sunflower seeds. Takes about 5 minutes.

My good friend Ella Nemcova, aka “The Regal Vegan,” has brought her amazing vegan Faux Gras to stores in New York City! Faux Gras is a delicious vegan version of the infamous meaty spread made from animal products. Low fat, low sodium and hearty, I highly recommend that you try this product yourself.

We had a great time yesterday at YogaWorks on Broadway in Manhattan during my “Living Vegan for Yogis” lecture. Ella brought samples of her faux gras to share, and the crowd of 90+ people loved the food, the topic and the space.

If you come to NYC for vacation or business, try YogaWorks – the space is beautiful and the yoga classes are top notch.

The lecture was co-sponsored by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, the school I graduated from in 2003. I was really proud to be aligned with such great organizations and people ~

I’ve been teased for sneaking my own popcorn into movie theaters, but I stand by my guns (and my huge purse) – homemade air popped popcorn is so much healthier (and cheaper!) than the stuff at the snack stand.

The good people at Nutrition Action Healthletter have published a story this month about the calorie, salt and fat content of movie theater popcorn – and the facts are astounding. Look at the popcorn and go invest $20 in a  popcorn popper for your home. Be sure to buy organic corn kernels for your personal use, as non-organic corn most often contains GMOs.

My homemade recipe for popcorn:

1/4 cup kernels = about 3 quarts popcorn

1/3 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil + 2 tablespoons flax oil drizzled on top and tossed

1/4 to 1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes, sprinkled on top and tossed

Q: “I just finished re-reading your detox diet book.  Under the caffeine section you discussed the use of tea as a stimulant, then went on to make a distinction between black and green tea, but not enough for clarity.  I drink many cups of green tea per day.  Should I be weaning off of that too?  And if I go to a decaffeinated green tea, does that reduce the healing properties associated with green tea?  Also , does green tea consumption count towards the daily intake of water requirement?”

~Lorraine

Caffeine is present in tea leaves and in coffee. Tea also contains two other alkaloids, theobromine and theophylline. These last two relax the smooth muscles where caffeine stimulates the heart and respiratory systems. I have worked with many people who find that the caffeine from both black and green tea do not create the same intense effects as coffee. While this is anecdotal, several clients, including myself, find that coffee produces a jittery, anxious energy, headaches, and a serious caffeine crash.

You can reduce the amount of caffeine found in your tea by steeping it for 30 seconds and discarding this first cup. Most of the caffeine is released in the first 30-60 seconds when it comes to green tea. Make a 2nd cup of less-caffeinated tea with the same bag.

Also, the health promoting aspects of green tea are reduced when the leaves are decaffeinated. According to one study:

“flavanol content varied from 21.2 to 103.2 mg/g for regular teas and from 4.6 to 39.0 mg/g for decaffeinated teas. The antioxidant values varied from 728 to 1686 trolox equivalents/g tea for regular teas and from 507 to 845 trolox equivalents/g for decaffeinated teas.”

Decaffeination doesn’t destroy all of the healthy components of green tea, so if you want to reduce your caffeine intake, you can happily enjoy decaf green tea and know that you’re still getting a good, thought smaller, dose of flavanols.

Since caffeine is a diuretic, I don’t count regular green and black tea as “water.” Non-caffeinated herbal teas do “count” in my world.