Veggie of the month

Since we're heading into October, it's only right that the veggie of the month this time around iiiissssss......

Pumpkin!

This globular orange gourd is best known for its decorative qualities at Halloween.  But, it's also a nutritional powerhouse!  There's a difference between the pumpkin that you find in the fleshy, little pumpkins and canned pumpkin versus that big jack-o-lantern pumpkin with more goo and seeds than flesh.  And of course, pumpkin pie isn't quite the same thing as cooked pumpkin!

Since when are jack-o-lanterns edible??

Pumpkins are related to other squash, like butternut, acorn and spaghetti squash.  Like its cousins, pumpkins have bright orange flesh, a core filled with pulp and seeds, and a thick orange or yellowish shell (sometimes pumpkins are white, but generally the kind found in grocery stores are orange).  Most parts of the pumpkin are edible, including the flesh, seeds, shell, and even leaves and flowers.

The kind of pumpkin that you get for jack-o-lanterns (big, hollow) aren't as exciting to eat since they don't have much flesh.  Smaller pumpkins will have more flesh than goo inside, and be more worth your while to roast or boil to eat.  However, the seeds that you scoop out from your jack-o-lantern pumpkin are definitely great to eat!  More on that later.

I like pumpkin pie.  But I hate vegetables.

Pumpkin pie is a fun treat on Thanksgiving, sure - but pumpkin on its own without the pie is also delicious and super nutritious!  Check out these stats from the Canadian Nutrient File!

For a 1/2 cup of cooked, mashed pumpkin (1 serving), you get:

• Just 44 calories!
• About 4 grams of fibre!  That's a whole lot of fibre for only a HALF CUP of a vegetable, and will help you to feel full longer, help to stabilize blood glucose levels, and may even help with weight loss.
• 17% of a man's Vitamin K needs, or 22% of a woman's needs.  This vitamin is important for blood coagulation and bone health.
• An amazing 140% of your Vitamin A needs!  Getting enough vitamin A is important for growth and development, maintaining a healthy immune system, and vision health.   
• A crapload (yes, CRAPLOAD!) of beta-carotene!  Beta-carotene is a precursor of Vitamin A, and an important antioxidant that may be helpful in treating some types of cancer.
• 22% of a man's iron needs, or 10% of a woman's needs.  For a veggie to provide that amount of iron in only half a cup is pretty impressive!
• about 6% of your potassium needs, an important electrolyte to maintain fluid balance in the body.  What?  Six percent doesn't sound like much?  Well, per half cup of pumpkin you get about 267mg of potassium - that's about the same as the same volume of bananas!

Wow!  And you thought that pumpkins were only good for pie.

I bought pumpkin seeds at Bulk Barn.  What's the deal with those?

Sweet!  Pumpkin seeds are also a great nutritional powerhouse!  You can find them in grocery stores or bulk stores (look for roasted unsalted seeds), or just roast them up yourself after scooping out the goo from your jack-o-lantern.  The little green kind that you often find in grocery stores/bulk stores are the kernals of the seeds, while the big white flat seeds are the whole seed.  Pumpkin seeds are a great source of zinc, needed for immune system functioning, cell division and growth, wound healing, and other bodily functions.  Zinc is also used in production of testosterone - which many women experience low levels of, contributing to low sex drive.  So ladies.  If you're looking to get your sexy on, toss some pumpkin seeds in your salad every once in a while ;)

I bought a pumpkin.   Now what....?

Hooray!  Let's get cooking! 

One of the easiest ways to use pumpkin's flesh is by roasting or boiling it, and mashing/pureeing.  The puree can then be used in a huge variety of ways.  Of course, if you can't find pumpkin in your grocery store/market, or just don't want to deal with the hassle of cooking a pumpkin just to mash it up anyway, you can get canned puree pumpkin in most grocery stores (sometimes found in the baking needs section rather than canned vegetables section).  Be careful to purchase pure puree pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.  They're often placed right next to each other and labelled similarly, so take your time picking a can.

I use pumpkin often in breakfast in the fall and winter.  I posted once before a recipe for ridiculously fluffy pumpkin pancakes.  I also often put in about 2-4Tbsp of pumpkin puree into my steel cut oatmeal, along with a sprinkle of brown sugar (not too much, maybe 1/2-1tsp), cinnamon and nutmeg (or if you have it, pumpkin pie spice).  Mmmmmmmmmmm.   Pumpkin puree can also be used in many dessert and baking recipes (like pie, cookies, loaves, muffins, etc etc etc...)

One of my all time favourite ways to use puree pumpkin, though, is CURRY!!!!!!!!!!!!  When pumpkin is added in curries, it takes on a sweeter flavour, helping to balance out the spiciness.  Try out this recipe for Pumpkin Shrimp Curry!

• 2 Tbsp olive oil or canola oil
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 Tbsp each minced ginger and minced garlic
• 1/2-3/4 cups diced tomatoes (about 2-3 Roma tomatoes - they have more flesh than juice compared to the big hothouse kind of tomatoes!)
• 1 15oz can of puree pumpkin
• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 cup coconut milk (** don't want leftover coconut milk?  Just use less stock and toss the whole can of coconut milk in.  Use 1 cup of stock to start, and if needed, add more later in cooking if the curry is too thick)
• 1 1/2tsp curry powder
• cayenne pepper to taste (about 1/8-1/4tsp)
• 1lb peeled, deveined shrimp
• 1 1/2tsp lime juice
• optional: 1 cup diced butternut squash.  No squash around?  Try 1 cup sweet potato, or just add some more diced tomato (about 1 1/2 cups total tomatoes).

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat, and sautee onion and ginger till soft and fragrant (about 5 minutes), then add garlic and mix another minute.  Add the tomatoes and pumpkin puree, stirring frequently till the pumpkin becomes a golden brown (about 8-10 minutes).

Add broth, coconut milk, curry powder and cayenne pepper, and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Add the squash (if using), shrimp and lime juice, and continue cooking till shrimp is cooked through and squash is tender.

Serve on steamed rice with a sprinkle of fresh chopped cilantro, if desired :)

But wait!  What about all those seeds from my jack-o-lantern!??!

When I was a kid, I loved doing the pumpkin carving and getting covered in the sloppy insides of the pumpkin.  But the best part of jack-o-lantern carving was getting to eat the aftermath by roasting the pumpkin seeds!!!

Get rid of any of the stringy goo that accompanies the seeds, and rinse your seeds to get residual slime off.  Toss your seeds in a bowl with about 1-2Tbsp of olive or canola oil (depends on how many seeds you get out).  You can toss it in the oven as is to just get roasted seeds, or try flavouring with:

• garlic salt (my favourite thing in the world as a kid)
• Sweet seeds: 1 tsp each cinnamon, ground ginger and cloves, and 1Tbsp brown sugar
• Spicy seeds: 1/2 tsp each garlic salt and chili powder (want an extra kick?  Sprinkle in some cayenne too!)  

Spread the seeds out in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (to prevent sticking and dealing with cleaning up later) and roast at 250 degrees for about an hour, till they are crispy and golden.  Stir them around every 10-15 minutes.  After removing from the oven, the seeds will become crunchier as they cool.  Let the seeds cool completely, and eat either whole or shelled.

Dietitian or nutritionist? What's the difference?

Step 1 of discovering nutrition as a career: what's the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist?

It seems that few people in the general public, or even some medical practitioners, really understand the difference.  While the two titles and roles can overlap sometimes, there are some very key differences.

As a student at Ryerson, I was part of the Dietetic Students' Advocacy initiative, through which dietetic students across Canada started a conversation to encourage greater funding for internship programs, and greater public access to dietitians and information about the profession.  Recently, the DSA released a video demonstrating how little is known about dietitians in the general public.  Please note: the people interviewed were, generally, Ryerson students not in the nutrition program.  Obviously, asking different demographics would have produced different results.  However the responses that people gave are really not much different than what I've been hearing since I first told people "I'm going back to school for nutrition".

This video made me sad.  And frightened.
A dietitian I volunteered with once said something that really stuck with me, and this video made me think of it:  "it's hard to do for a living what most people do as a hobby".  Everyone has an opinion about food and nutrition, whether or not its actually based in any kind of scientific evidence or research.  It scares me to think that most people get their health information from a Google search, and have a sense of distrust of dietitians and conventional medical practitioners (i.e. (paraphrased) they'll make me follow Canada's Food Guide.  I don't eat grains or dairy, so I can't follow CFG.  And I teach nutrition in schools, so I know that that's what they'll make me do because its government mandated.).  While I wouldn't expect this population to necessarily understand the difference between a dietitian and nutritionist (very confusing concept for most people I talk to), I thought that they would at least have considered that nutrition professionals are involved with work outside of just weight loss, commercial weight loss clinics like Dr. Bernstein, and be just about "fixing your diet" in the short term.



So what does a dietitian do anyway?  And what's the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist?

Please note that the following information applies to Canadian regulations.  It may or may not reflect the regulations in other countries where the term "nutritionist" and "dietitian" may refer to very different things.

The term "Registered Dietitian" or "R.D." is a protected title in Canada.  These individuals have met the educational requirements of Dietitians of Canada (the national professional association of dietitians in Canada that manages accreditation requirements and continuing education), have completed a one-year internship at an accredited clinical facility, and have written and passed a regulatory exam demonstrating that they possess the qualifications and competencies needed to practice dietetics in a safe, research-based manner.  Dietitians are educated in many facets of nutrition, including science (chemistry, biology, physiology, etc), food science and development, management and food services, health sciences, human development, food security, population health and public health practices, research, and many others.  The dietitian's role is to educate and influence the populations s/he works with, using evidence-based practice.  This means that the information that a dietitian uses to make an assessment or provide advice is grounded in research.  Dietitians are regulated provincially by a college (e.g. the College of Dietitians of Ontario), which requires that all dietitians practice with a standardized code of ethics and responsibilities, and provides the public with a governing body to present appeals and complaints to if there is an alleged malpractice.  The college provides both public protection and protection for RDs.

"Nutritionist" is not a protected title in most provinces (some dietitians use the title "registered nutritionist", which is protected in some provinces.  It is not a title recognized by law in Ontario).  A nutritionist may or may not have the educational qualifications of a dietitian (i.e. an undergraduate degree in health and food sciences), or may have received a diploma from a holistic nutrition institute, however the title is unregulated, meaning that no accredited educational benchmark has been set.  Most nutrition colleges recommend that a high school diploma has been achieved, however a university degree is not a requirement.  Holistic nutritionists undergo a 50 hour internship process, and write a national exam, however the exam is unregulated.  Nutritionists are not regulated health professionals - this means that a nutritionist does not report to a governing professional college.  Some nutritionists do have initials behind their name (such as CHN, RHN, RNC and RNCP), which are provided by the school that the nutritionist attended, not by a regulatory body.  Only registered dietitians can use the letters RD (or in some provinces, RDt, PDt, RDN in New Brunswick, or DtP in Quebec).

Dietitians may work in hospitals and physician's offices, in government offices and public health, in foodservice management, product development, or any number of other places where food knowledge is used.  Many have private practices or work with the media.  You might see a dietitian for many reasons, such as weight loss and help developing or maintaining a healthy diet, food allergies, medical diagnoses (e.g. diabetes, heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, etc), infant health and pre/postnatal health, and any other reason that you might need advice with diet, food preparation, food safety, and your health.  Because they are unregulated, nutritionists are not able to work in as wide a variety of places.  Nutritionists often open private practices or may practice alongside other alternative health providers, and often appear in the media.  You might see a nutritionist for some of the same reasons as you would a dietitian, however their approach to treatment will be very different.  It isn't that one is right and one is wrong - but the advice may be very different.  For example, when assisting a patient with food allergies or sensitivities, the nutritionist's first line of treatment might be to begin an elimination diet or cleanse system, whereas the dietitian might use modifications to Canada's Food Guide to ensure that the patient is eating adequately while avoiding their known allergen(s).  Nutritionists often recommend cleanses or detox programs or use of particular nutritional supplements to clients, while the dietitian would recommend a balanced diet that supports digestive and immune health, and makes modifications for specific health concerns (e.g. diabetes, hypertension, etc).  Dietitians can also work collaboratively with your doctor (nutritionists would not have access to your MD's records), which can be especially beneficial for people with complex diseases or multiple diagnoses.
Because doctor referrals are often given for counseling with a dietitian, it is usually covered by provincial health care plans, or if you are seeing a dietitian with private practice without a referral, it is often covered by private health insurance plans.  Nutritionist counseling is not usually covered by private health insurance, and not covered with provincial health care.


Whether you choose to see an RD or a nutritionist is very much a personal choice.  I would like to believe that there is some overlap between the two professions, and that collaboration would be beneficial to our clients/patients.   However, it is very necessary to understand the distinction between the two before making a choice to see an RD or a nutritionist.

And, it's spelled D-I-E-T-I-T-I-A-N in Canada, not "dietician" :)

What are your thoughts on the DSA video?  Have you ever seen a nutritionist or dietitian, or would you have known the difference between the two words?

New directions for me, and the blog

Since starting this blog 3.5 years ago (WOW!), my life has changed quite drastically.  When I started blogging, Eat Pray Love was popular (so that's where the title "snack sweat spirit" grew from...).  I was working at a very (very) boring job in communications and marketing, and was getting to the point where I was unhappy with my career and ready for a drastic change.  And, a drastic change was made - later that same year, I quit my job.  I took my yoga teacher training, went back to school full-time for nutrition, and moved in with boyfriend.  Here we are all this time later, and I've graduated with my second undergraduate degree, and will be going into a coveted dietetic internship in a couple of weeks. My career is about to go through a massive change, and my life is going in a completely new direction than it was when I first started SSS.

As a result, SSS will be starting a new adventure of its own: documenting the life of an RD to be and becoming a resource for dietetic internships in Ontario.


I decided to start dedicating this blog more in this direction because I've heard the demand for it.  As a student at Ryerson, I was heavily involved in student organizations and developing educational and informational events for students in the program.  I didn't realize when I was doing this that many students had no idea what they were getting themselves into.  Many people don't understand the competitive nature of the program or the internship process.  Some students didn't even know the difference between an RD and a nutritionist.  In conversation with students in the program and with people in the general public, I found that there is a lot of misinformation about what an RD is and how one comes to get those letters behind their name.

The information is out there, but it can be challenging to find.  In particular, when I was going through the internship application process I struggled to find information from current interns, recent graduates, or really anyone who had already undergone the process.  I scoured the internet from top to bottom trying to find support from fellow blogging RD-to-be's, and came up empty.  I did find some blogs from American students, but the process there is different than Canada.  Reading about their experiences was interesting and somewhat helpful, but not the same thing as hearing from a Canadian perspective about our system, our hospital programs and being able to network with fellow Canadians.  There's very little information out there for students applying for dietetic internships here, and I intend to change that :)


So what can you expect from this blog?

Now don't you fret, the usual blog topics will still be here - Veggie of the Month isn't going anywhere yet, because I just love to help you get your 5-10 servings per day!  You'll also still get updates about fitness, yoga and healthy lifestyles, and there will still be cool recipes as I make stuff up in my kitchen create carefully thought-out culinary masterpieces.

However,  over the next year as I go through the internship, I'll create a series of posts talking about becoming an RD in Canada.  You'll find information about what education you need to have and the types of programs available (integrated vs. non-integrated), what to expect from your studies, ways to boost your resume and get experience, and lots and lots of info about dietetic internships and grad schools.  As my internship progresses, I'll also try to document my experiences in my rotations, hopefully giving you future interns an idea of what to expect, and everyone else a first-hand look into the life of an RD, and what kinds of work we actually do.



Meanwhile, for all of you nutrition students and internship applicants, if you have any questions that you'd like to ask about the process, the program, or anything else, please feel free to comment!  I'm not the expert on everything, but I'm happy to help as much as I can :)

Preserving summer freshness

When I was a kid, my parents used to make canned peaches.  For several years, they would make a dozen or so jars of sliced peaches preserved in a simple syrup, waiting to be gobbled up by us hungry kids during the fall and winter.  The house would heat up to about a billion degrees as the jars boiled away.

It's been about 8 years since they last canned some peaches.
This year, the tradition was reborn!

I'm a member of the West End Food Co-op, a fantastic place that opened recently in nearby Parkdale where residents can find plenty of fresh produce, fresh-baked bakery bread, bulk pantry staples, and more, all at very affordable prices.  They also hold workshops frequently to teach members about canning and preserving, making pie fillings and salsas, making jams and jellies, fermentation, and safe canning practices to ensure that the fruits of your labour stay safe to eat all winter long.  I've never been to one of their workshops (because unfortunately I was always working when they were being held), but I really hope to make it to some of them in the near future!

I got an email a few weeks ago from the co-op saying that they had a local farmer from Niagara that was selling off tons of peaches at a special price to co-op members!  They had first pick peaches (bigger, juicier, better for eating), and second pick (smaller, a bit more bruised or not as nice to look at, but great for canning and preserving).  For a full bushel of second pick peaches, it cost only $32.

I'd be stupid NOT to do it!  

Emailed my dad right away asking if he wanted to go in on it with me.  Though they don't do fruit preserves anymore, my parents still do tomato sauce every year (along with half the neighbourhood - Labour Day weekend always makes northwest Toronto smell great :P), so they still have all their canning equipment and large pots to boil stuff in.  We decided to do some of the peaches as slices, and I wanted to try making some into peach jam (which we've never made before).

Picked up the peaches from the co-op, fresh off the truck as soon as the farmer arrived.  We had planned to do the canning on Monday, so I picked them up on Friday to give the peaches time to ripen if needed.  Turned out that they were already dripping with juice and ready to go immediately.  Crap.  Luckily my parents have an extra fridge in the basement that they offered to me.  I don't think they quite realized that when I said I needed the fridge, that I actually needed the whole fridge.

Thankfully most of them survived, and I lost maybe 15 peaches that were too bruised to even be turned into jam.  We still had something like 40lbs of peaches to process :D

Starting at 9am, my parents and I started blanching peaches and slicing them up.  Thankfully the rain held off, so we did the whole production outside (fighting off bees every few minutes) to avoid heating up the whole house.  We finished the actual peach work around 11:30 or 12, and the boiling of jars (to make the jars airtight and make a vacuum seal, keeping the preserves sanitary and fresh for longer) took until about 2:30pm.  WHEW!!!

We ended up with about 24 jars of sliced peaches, 16 jars of jam, and 4 leftover peaches that I sliced up and mixed into a white wine spritzer to celebrate our hard work :D

Canning fresh fruit is a lost art - I've found that most of my family friends that used to make canned fruit when we were kids have since stopped doing it, and it wasn't that many families to begin with..!  But making canned fruit is a really great way to preserve the tastes of summer all winter long.  When it's the middle of February and you're pretty sure that the sun will never come back out, cracking open a jar of homemade sliced peach preserves helps to bring some sunshine back into your life.  It's also a great excuse to make pie :D

Veggie of the month

Yes friends, it's that time again!  September's veggie of the month issssss..............




Leeks!!!

This veggie is in the same family as garlic and onions, resembling a gigantic scallion.  Instead of forming a bulb like onions though, leeks create layers by "trenching" through soil, adding layer upon layer of a mild onion-y flavoured stalk.  

What do I do with leeks?
The most important thing to do with leeks is to WASH THEM.  Because of their growing pattern (growing layers by pushing out dirt around them), soil often stays trapped in between layers of the white part of the leek.  There are a few easy ways to clean them:

1. Chop off the root, and slice your leek lengthwise about halfway up the stalk.  Swish it around in a bowlful of water to open up the layers like a broom.  The dirt between layers will fall out and sink to the bottom of the bowl.
2. Chop the edible portion of the leek (see below) into rounds (cutting crossways), and place the rounds in a bowl of water.  Push into the round to separate the layers.  Swish around and watch the dirt fall out!  If your leek is pretty tightly layered, especially in the smallest few layers, you might want to cut them in half to be sure that all the dirt is gone.

The edible portion of the leek includes the white part, and some of the light green portion.  The dark green stems are not considered edible, as they have a tough texture and not as nice a flavour.  However, they can be saved to use in making veggie or chicken stocks, or gather them in a bunch and add to a pot to add flavour to soups.

What's so great about leeks anyway?
Like other onions and members of the allium family, leeks host many health benefits.  These veggies are reported to have antimicrobial properties, and contain nutrients that make them anti-arthritic, hypoglycemic, and possibly anti-tumor agents.  They tend to be milder in flavour than a white onion, so some people find them easier to eat (and they don't make you cry :)!).  This mild and more delicate flavour pairs well with fish, shellfish, potatoes, and white wine sauces; they are also a great choice for casseroles, tarts and soups as they won't overpower other ingredients, but add a subtle oniony taste and hint of sweetness.  They are also reportedly easier to digest than standard onions, and have some laxative, antiseptic and anti-diuretic properties.

For a 1/2 cup serving of leeks (the white and light green portions), you get:

• a mere 29 calories
• 8% of your daily vitamin C needs 
• about 8% of your folate needs, an important nutrient to protect against heart disease and promote cell development
• 1.5g of fibre 

What do I do with leeks?
Leeks can be steamed, pan-fried or sauteed, blended into soups, or added to just about any dish that you would use onions in.  One of my all-time favourite things to do with leeks is potato leek soup, but, I've posted that recipe before :)  Another of my favourite things to do with leeks: make sauces to serve over fish and chicken!  Here is a recipe for a delicious sole filet with leek and white wine sauce - but you could use chicken instead if sole isn't your thing.  Either bake the chicken with the sauce basted on top, or pan-fry the chicken in the same pan that you made the sauce in!

Steamed Sole with Tomato Leek White Wine Sauce*
*credit to AllRecipes.com for this one

1 Tbsp olive oil or canola oil
1 cup cleaned, sliced leeks
1 or 2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried dill
2 filets sole (about 6oz each)

Heat the oil in a pan, then saute leeks and garlic till fragrant and soft, about 3 minutes.  Add the white wine and simmer.  Add tomatoes, chicken broth, thyme and dill.  Simmer uncovered till the sauce reduces to about half.
Lay the sole filets on top of the veggie mixture and cover the skillet.  Keep simmering about 10 minutes to steam the sole, until it can be flaked easily.
Serve with the sauce ladled over top of the fish.

When not to run

So remember how today I was going to run the Midsummer Night's Run in Toronto, and it was going to be awesome?  I've been running with the Running Room 5k clinic to prepare for it, and thought that this was going to be a really sweet run.


Weeeellllllllllllllll..................

Apparently disease had other plans for me.

It started on Thursday with a wicked sore throat.  I had been out drinking visiting with friends the night before, so I figured that my throat was sore because I had been drinking visiting late in a noisy place where we were talking loudly.  No biggie.  Then the stuffiness and runny nose started.  And then the sinus pressure and face pain.  And then my ears started to pop and get cloggy.  Feeling fatigued and with body aches (which I attributed to having worked long hours on Thursday and Friday in a job that requires constant standing, unloading heavy boxes, bending and reaching, etc.), I took a few days off of exercising and attempted to get sleep, though sneezing, coughing and difficulty breathing made that a challenge.

I woke up Saturday morning without the sore throat (yay!), but with more face pain and sinus pressure, and leaking from all facial orifices.  Breathing through my nose was a near impossibility, and I was still kind of achy all over.

It took all day for me to decide whether or not I should run tonight.

Asked Facebook friends after describing my symptoms.  Got mixed results - 1/2 of people said "go for it", the other half said "no way".  With such disease dripping from my face, I got someone to cover my yoga class I was teaching this afternoon before the run.  You'd think that if I was too sick to teach, I'd clue in that I was also too sick to run.  Yet this remained a really difficult decision.

It wasn't until about 20 minutes before I had to leave that I was chatting with a fellow yoga instructor about how I wanted to go so badly, but I also felt like crap.  She basically said "So, in other words, you know it's a bad idea, but you want someone to tell you it's ok".

Hmm.  Touché.

I eventually decided that I needed to stay home.  Fellow teacher was right - I knew it was a bad idea for me to go.  I knew I'd feel even crappier if I went for it, even if I had walked the 5k instead of running.  I wanted to go because I have a bunch of friends who are also running, and I was really REALLY looking forward to finally running a 5k with ease.  It wasn't going to happen today.

Most runners and sport professionals suggest using the "neck rule" when deciding whether or not to exercise while sick.  If your symptoms are above the neck, you're probably ok, but if symptoms are below the neck, stay home.

Above the neck symptoms include:

• sneezing
• runny or stuffy nose
• nasal congestion
• sore throat

Below the neck symptoms include: 

• chest cough or congestion
• body aches
• fever/temperature above 99 degrees
• nausea or upset stomach

Most of my symptoms were above-neck, but the body aches were definitely still there.  After I got home, I checked my temperature and discovered it was over 100.  So, kind of glad I decided to sit this round out.  But still sad :(

For now, I'm sipping on lemon tea with honey, cozying up in my PJs, and going to bed early.  Here's hoping the disease works itself out soon so that I can run a make-up 5k in the neighbourhood this week instead :)

Vegetable of the Month

This month I asked boyfriend what the vegetable of the month should be.  His random response:

RADICCHIO!

I say that it's a completely random response because a) I'm not sure that he's ever even eaten radicchio, and b) who thinks of radicchio as the first veggie off the top of their head???

In any case, it turns out that radicchio is actually in season in Ontario right now!  Go figure!  

What is radicchio?

Though it looks like a fancy purple lettuce or a miniature cabbage, radicchio is part of the chicory family of leafy veggies, and sometimes known as "Italian chicory".  It has a deep red, purplish colour and tightly held leaves, with white veins running throughout.  The variety most often found in the USA and Canada is round and about the size of a grapefruit, however other varieties can be found that resemble endive (small football-shape)  It's flavour is quite bitter when eaten raw, but mellows when it is cooked.  You may have seen this veggie in salad mixes that have red leaves included.

So why should I eat it?

Lots of reasons!  Like most of the veggies I've written about in these posts, radicchio also boasts a low caloric value and high nutrient, vitamin and mineral content.  Like most other rich coloured veggies, radicchio also holds antioxidants!  Radicchio contains anthocyanin, like red cabbage, a water-soluble pigment and flavanoid that research suggests may be beneficial against cancer cell growth and DNA damage, inflammatory diseases, and diabetes. 

On top of all those disease-fighting properties, according to the Canadian Nutrient File 1 cup of shredded radicchio will give you:

• a mere 10 calories!
• 6% of your daily folate needs
• Over 100% of women's daily Vitamin K need (90% for males)!  Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin needed to produce proteins used in blood coagulation and bone metabolism.
• Lutein, a carotenoid that plays a role in eye health and preventing macular degeneration.

Wow!!!

How do I eat radicchio?

You can eat radicchio raw or cooked.  Raw radicchio can be shredded like cabbage, or torn into smaller leaves and included with your green salad or in lettuce mixes.  It adds a slightly peppery or spicy flavour and bitterness, adding some creativity to your plain old boring salad.

If you're not into the bitter leafy veggies thing though, radicchio can also be cooked, which helps to mellow out the bitter flavour but retain the peppery qualities.  Since it's summertime though, why cook radicchio when you can grill it!

Grilled Radicchio Salad

You can add grilled radicchio to any other ordinary salad for a little something different, or have it all on its own. Simply cut your radicchio heads in half, spray with non-stick cooking spray or rub with a bit of canola oil to prevent sticking to the grill, and plop it on the barbeque for about 2-3 minutes per side until the whole thing is lightly browned.  Chop up the grilled radicchio into bite-sized bits.  From here, anything goes!  I like grilled radicchio salad with a citrusy vinaigrette (see below), a few orange segments, and walnuts or sunflower seeds.

Simple citrusy vinaigrette: combine 2 Tbsp canola oil with 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar (more if you like a more vinegary dressing - I like it with an equal oil-to-vinegar ratio).  Add 1/2 to 1 tsp honey (depending on taste), orange zest or lemon zest, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  You could also reduce the honey and replace with orange juice if desired.  Try changing up the orange with other citrusy flavours like grapefruit!