Fruit roll up is a happy memory from when I was a kid. 💭
They were a sweet and light snack from the grocery store that melted in the mouth.
It was (and is) a cross between fruit + candy.
They came wrapped up in their own packaging and were attached to cellophane that I liked to play make things with when I was young. They were rolled up like scrolls.
Almost like the Dead Sea Scroll minus the ancient writing.
…And not that far back, my young days was when posters were the rage so anything rolled up meant happy entertainment or enjoyment.
Playing around, I haven’t had a fruit roll up like those until now as an adult. 😋
Decades later and these parchment paper looking treats are naturally preserved…
These were like the ones that ruined me to never want any other fruit roll up wannabes. 😅
These are the REAL DEAL.
Making these fruit roll ups bring me joy (...and maybe for you too?) because they resembled packaged old-fashioned fruit roll ups that you would buy at the store… minus additional sugar that’s not needed for these.
As thin as they are like sheets of music, these stack up nicely! 🪵…
Thin as paper and pretty as rice paper too.
They’re as durable as leather.
Technically they fall in the leather fruit category but are as smooth and supple as suede.
My mom was a dressmaker, so she played a role in influencing my fabric choices where I learned lighter materials are usually higher quality.
And I’d agree about that with this light leather fruit material…
These feel light and feathery (not leathery) and are very apple healthy! 🍏
Plus, they last for weeks at room temperature.
Made with apple they are a great fall snack that can be made year round.
It’s almost like wrapping paper… or maybe it’s an old map or a key to hieroglyphic history. However you want to call it, it’s a SWEEET fruit roll up.
Oh, and kidding aside, the BEST part is (…can you tell I’m getting excited that it just gets better? 😊)…
You can make these in your home oven in one hour and 20 minutes with just 5 minutes of prep time.
How’s that for predictability?
…Seriously it’s that easy!
They are fun (and dare I say relaxing) to make and everyone of all ages will love them! 💕
They make a great sweet snack without any artificial ingredients.
And actually just 2 sweet and natural ingredients that make a perfect duo. 🍏🍯
Using applesauce, you don’t even have to turn the stove on to cook down apples and de-core them… and they will turn out even better. Because for one, the apple fruit roll up will be more even.
…The first time you make them, don’t freak out because they turn transparent on a baking sheet.
Don’t worry, it’s there. 😀
…I tried that once with Aquafaba because I heard you could make meringues that way… and POOF! I wish I could say that was magic, but it was more like a trick. 🪄
They dissolved into thin oven air… but I digress.
These fruit roll ups will turn out… I promise.
These are the proof…
I’m so happy to share these with you through the screen. And I hope they make your day like they did for me the first time I made them. 🍥
(And maybe this will keep the kiddos staying happy and cavity-free as low-sugar goodies with plenty of sweetness… that are substitutable for a certain candy holiday 🎃).
And if you’re into experimenting (like I am gladly doing with sweets), you can try other flavors.
Keep in mind they will take longer to bake with more complex ingredients.
You will know when you touch or look at the baked fruit roll up whether it’s dry and done, or half-baked and almost there….
In this one, you can see here that the dry section is on the upper right area and the rest of the fruit roll up is not done… simply pop it back into the oven.
Change the time but don’t mess with the temperature.
This one took another 20-25 minutes to finish… and was worth the wait. ⏲️
These are no fuss-no muss apple fruit roll ups you can bake in under 2 hours. This will make 4 - 4 inch roll ups that are about 9 inches long.
Course Snack
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Equipment
Silpat silicone baking mat on sheet pan
Ingredients
24 ounceapplesauce cups, unsweetened
2tbspraw honey (high quality)
Instructions
Thoroughly combine apple sauce in a bowl and add honey. Tip: use a high quality honey with a smooth consistency.
Smear the mixture into a thin layer on a Silpat (silicone sheet) laid out on a baking pan. Tip: Use different light to check that there are no "holes" that show up with shadows.
Bake on 200°F/100°C for 80 minutes. Tip: if you add or experiment with other more vibrant colors and flavors, they can take significantly longer. You'll know it's completely done, when the fruit roll up is one uniform color and dry throughout to the touch.
Let cool completely and then start to peel at one corner and then slowly peel up the entire fruit roll up. Roll up, slice, and enjoy!
Microgreens have been around longer than our modern culture.
It was a way of food survival during the winter months of the oldest civilizations on our planet… a lot like how modern squirrels have preserved the foraging acorn traditions.
Baby arugula microgreens are tasty additions to a salad 🥗
Which btw… is outdoor entertaining to watch Rocky the flying squirrel in his purposeful scurrying meal prep moves. 🐿️
How they actually feel about their work we’ll never know, but it has kept their species around.
…And to keep ours going, modern food planning is something we do.
In human life, that’s how it can look with us daily running around in our busy lives… and for me, that’s how it sometimes looked behind-the-scenes as a food service professional in organized chaos prepping and planning weekly catered event challenges in hotel ballrooms and for restaurant parties celebrating Mediterranean food styles.
And even with all the variety of food available to our planet we can be bored with our food sourcing options. 🥬
Daily, we open the fridge and pantry cupboards thinking: “what’s for dinner?” or “what can I have for a little snack?”…sometimes coming up short for a good answer. 🤔
Microgreens can be part of the answer as a healthy and tasty choice.
Here are 5 points that make microgreens a smart choice:
Point #1: Microgreens are food like-able and tasty good.
…Because if they weren’t, why bother?
Children seem to love them as some of the pickiest green eaters on earth.
Many microgreens are smaller, cute kid-size bits and bites like baby arugula, so it’s easier to get a handful of the finger foods than the adult version.
The young greens also add interest, taste, and texture to any plate.
…And why they’re not more commonly known today is unknown. Maybe like their shape-forms, they still have a wild-like reputation… 🌿
Like, I remember alfalfa sprout microgreens from a school age where I once saw the jungle wild-looking tangly-fine weeds in a friend’s lunch box that made me curious…
And now as an adult, thinking it’s a good idea. 🎉
You grow into new perspectives and healthy ways and today is a great way to spruce up 😋 and vertically beef up a light protein mustardy salad sandwich or the like (…einkorn finger sandwich idea below 🧡). Or to garnish a bowl of beets…
Point # 2: Microgreens are less bitter.
Microgreens have the reputation of being less bitter that is good news for some people’s tongues who avoid the taste.
That reminds me of green tea…
If you don’t love bitter green tea tastes that can grow stronger if brewed too hot or you picked the wrong flavor for you, then you probably don’t lean toward preferring many bitter tasting superfood veggies and plant greens.
And that’s why certain veggies 🥦🥬 don’t end up on the plate (like green tea in cups)… or in a diet despite their healthy goodness.
…Green teas 🍵 come from the same Camellia Sinensis plant as common black, white, and oolong teas but differ in process where they’re not oxidized like common black teas.
And what makes the difference for microgreens (and similar to green teas) is the process from the same plant.
Microgreens are harvested early, coming from the same plants as the adult version we see mostly on shelf space in grocery stores. 🌱
So they’re fresh and have different tastes worth trying, often more mild tasting and welcoming to all.
Point #3: Young greens are replenishable, sustainable, and abundant.
…Just like other foods from the soil, nature provides and delivers over and over again..
When we think “fresh” we immediately think of the produce aisle in a supermarket, farmers market, or our backyard garden that produces fastly perishable foods that the soil can replenish.
If you’re a green thumb growing your own mini-market, you can have microgreens planted, harvested, and eatable within foreseeable weeks (and not months or seasons that is the time most produce take). 🧑🌾
That makes microgreens more productive… and where you can have more than what you know what to do with! A good problem to have. ✔️
That would be too easy for getting a meal on the table.
And that ideal IS microgreens.
When you choose the micro-world of microgreens, you too help our community and local farmers.
…Those are baby plant little steps that you can take for your health and to support the world. 🪴
Point #4 – Microgreens are often organic without pesticides.
So much of our plant-based foods are exterior sprayed with pesticides to deter mostly bugs, and that offsets the healthy goodness of the healthiest skin parts of the food.
We throw away the skin that could have been healthy edible parts.
And today, reusable composting ways are not yet available for the common household.
So then we end up creating more waste that adds more plastic bag waste that also attracts unwanted critter nuisances to our community. But what if composting machines were as common as house dishwashing machines? 💭
But that not being today’s standards, with organic microgreens we can eat those problems away as the end consumer. And our bodies are healthier for our choice.
Point #5 – Microgreens are low calories and high in nutrition.
There are few (if any) green plant-based foods 🌱 that aren’t low in calories compared to plant-based (as in factory) foods. 🏭
Fresh microgreens from nature come packed with vitamins and minerals, along with some eat-from-the-rainbow 🌈 polyphenols that make you excited to color your plate and palette with anti-inflammatory food ideas! 🎨
And, mighty microgreens can have 4x (and up to 40x!) more nutrients than their full-grown version.
🎯 Final Points:
Microgreens fit in our consumer micro cultures where we are becoming more customizable specific in food diet preferences that impact food growing ways, and where our farming culture impacts our world.
Sustainable food and young microgreens are sprouting interest in our fast climate changing world searching for longevity answers where eating anti-inflammatory foods fit.
One way you can be part of the anti-inflammatory solution is by growing your own portable microgreen micro garden that can be indoors (good for those with outdoor allergies or without garden space).
Plus, so many viable options to bring in more microgreens from dream to life… yasss!
…That’s something to be excited about today. If this resonates with you, could you PLEASE HELP share this message with others so they can join the MICROGREEN movement that’s healthy here to stay.🎉
Oh, and heres’s an easy whole wheat or einkorn (ancient wheat) sandwich in a modern recipe you can use to make finger sandwiches that was an idea I grew up with in the catering party world… and you can use for lunch, brunch, or an afternoon party.
To gain smiles, simply add delicious microgreens like baby lettuce, cucumber, radishes, carrot, and tarragon.
I have fond memories of tea sandwiches from catering menus, and that are part of English afternoon tea events and traditions. Tea sandwiches are usually bite-size and made of spongey-soft bread where the crust is cut off. And flat crunchy bread like these add plate variety. They work well to celebrate the sandwich ingredients in the middle that can be light and/or all veggies.
Course Breakfast, brunch
Cuisine American, british
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
einkorn flour, salt, and water for the sandwich bread.
cottage cheese
cucumber
scallions
carrots
beets or radishes
lettuce
asparagus or favorite veggies
spices: dill, tarragon, black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the sandwich bread. You can make the bread in advance. Let dough proof: develop air pockets and double in size for for at least 2 hours. Then bake dough in oven in a small sheet pan about 1/4" thick until toasted. Tip: Einkorn wheat flour is not a high gluten (rise) flour, so it won't rise much and will lay more like a flat bread when baked. You need not knead long and can omit yeast. Let bread cool and slice the toast with a serated or bread knife.Alternatively if you use regular whole wheat flour, knead a few minutes longer and add about 1/4 tsp of instant yeast (easiest) for a bread that rises. You can cut horizontally into the vertical bread about 3-4 slices to get a similar flat bread effect. Optional: You can turn this into paninis by grilling or baking on a grill pan.
Prepare the raw veggies. Thinly slice into flat or close to flat pieces.
For the sandwich paste, mix cottage cheese, dill, tarragon, and black pepper. You can processor blend the cottage cheese if you would like a smoother paste.
Add paste to the bottom of the sandwich and then layer lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and others veggies. Add the sandwich bread top. For catering-style zhugh, you can add a toothpicked cucumber slice, or radish and beet and then plate. These easy, new old-fashioned touches show you put in extra detailed care.
Healthy fat foods were once an oxymoron. I was working in hotel catering where we had plenty of decadent high fat dishes around.
Food life was easier back then…
All foods with fat were labelled bad back in those pre-extra virgin olive oil days (where these days olive oils aren’t virgins but we look for the label).
Foods were more black and white and good vs bad foods. That wasn’t the healthy nutrition facts and rainbow variety of foods we would evolve into. 🌈
I share the good, bad, and unusual in this article, plus a healthy fat foods list below.
You can make this frozen strawberry smoothie 🍓dreamsicle with ingredient steps below.
Starting with nuts… pre-milennium, nuts were often seen as healthy fat foods in people’s homes on display.
Shelled nuts were sitting on a tray with maybe de-shelled nuts cracked with a nut cracker sitting near by. Cracking nuts in front of a television was an old-fashioned past-time. Oh, that’s nuts! 😊
Then over the years, nuts became the controversial “bad” snacks to be avoided because of the high fat content. It didn’t matter what the fat was. It was and is the healthy kind. But back then, fat was fat.
And you are what you eat was the mantra that was taken literally.
Then the nutty tide gradually turned (thank you research!) yet again where today all nuts are celebrated and valued as one of the healthy fat foods and healthiest snacks available out there.
Nuts are accepted and recommended in a healthy eating regimen. They have high healthy fat and protein content all in the size of a shelled M&M that could be wrapped around a large peanut.
But joking aside, earlier last year I was feeling stuck with my body as I hit a plateau and I couldn’t get my muscle strength back the same way.
I couldn’t do the same strength yoga moves I’d been doing for a decade. As we age, we lose muscle that we can’t gain back. And that’s a fact for both men and women.
We see proof in former male body builders common in American culture who can’t create the same muscle despite their desire and habits to maintain the muscle they had.
And the same effect in an opposite extreme of a lightweight female (myself 😊) who couldn’t do the same.
…So I tweaked up my diet routines.
I started my morning with a little fat and protein along with fiber. This was after I had started a regular fasting habit that you can too. It’s not that hard. If I can do it, you can too!
And I learned one of the best foods to break the fast with is an avocado, that’s a food celebrity loved by most. It’s beloved and celebrated.
It’s also a mild tasting fruit that can taste like a veggie. From an avocado, I could transition into healthy proteins easily that meant a savory breakfast (vs. a sweet one I had to overcome).
A little fat in your system helps to absorb the foods that have fat-soluble vitamins (D,E,A, andK).
So avocado being a neutral food 🥑 is balancing for Ayurvedic Vata, Pitta, and Kapha bodies.
🎉 Btw, there’s a new search feature 🔎 on this blog site so you can easily look up Vata, Pitta, Kapha, and other healthy blog articles.
…And in my tweaks I also added a little healthy fat snack back. I’m guessing you know what that may be. Yup, good ‘ol nuts!
I hadn’t been eating whole nuts as snacks by themselves for years because I thought they made my skin break out due to nut oils, when I believe it was other Pitta reasons now.
It’s funny the myths we tell ourselves.
…Or we go off of one tell-tale experience we had one season.
Plus, with nuts I had to change my mindset from the previous years where nut and fats were deemed as bad. Those were my nut challenges.
And like me, you could ask yourself: what changing mindsets about and around foods would help you reach your goals?
We can constantly be growing our minds to better ways and new lifestyle habits.
And the fact is our bodies are constantly evolving and renewing daily, so you could start a new regimen by testing healthy foods again that you gave up on before or thought you shouldn’t eat because of past sensitivities or reasons.
It’s healthy for us to add as many as possible healthy rainbow foods and variety into our diet if we’re not allergic because each healthy food has a different profile and makeup, even coming from the same family.
In those ways, then you don’t have to worry about whether you are or aren’t getting enough of one nutrient, vitamin, or mineral.
Or wonder if the supplements you’re taking are absorbed or not. You’re covered either which way with the rainbow assortment of foods on your plate. 🍽️
And when I made the healthy changes I did, I noticed a good difference to my thin-frame Vata body where the muscle tone came back and I could attempt to make progress with the strength yoga moves.
Whether your goal is to gain muscle or lose weight, when you eat healthy fats they increase HDL that increases growth hormone which triggers more amino acids that are building blocks for proteins needed for muscle production.
Muscles over flab is fab! 😊
The distinction is healthy fat foods vs. unhealthy fat foods. I provide a helpful healthy variety list below that can be good reminders.
Walnuts is one on the good list for brain health. They’re easy to remember as they’re shaped like our brains.
They have the powerful ingredient that some healthy fats have: Omega 3.
Omega-3 foods are anti-inflammatory. Omega 3 is good because it’s healthy fat that lowers triglycerides that’s known to be a risk factor for heart disease.
So here is the promised and promising healthy fat foods list (as part of a recipe for a good body and healthy lifestyle):
Avocado – the super food of healthy fats. It’s chameleon versatility is unparalleled to other plant foods. An avocado also has different names like alligator pear or butter fruit.
You can see why with the leathery skin, pear shape, and silky center texture. It’s unusual and common that blends well with us peeps.
An avocado seed is also one of the easiest seeds to grow as a plant. Like us, they like room temperature without excess humidity.
Seeds – flaxseed, chia seed, sunflower seed, pumpkin,and hemp seed all have different properties so it’s good to mix them in.
Chia seeds are good toward weight loss goals and adding more calcium for stronger bones.
We often forget about sesame and poppy seeds. They look like cute decorations on foods but they are healthy fat foods that can be added to healthy foods like yogurts and salads.
They don’t just decorate a bagel. Transfer them to your healthy adds.
Natural Almond or Peanut Butters – It’s easy to tell if a nut butter is healthy. The fewer the ingredients on the jar, the better. And when you can stir the oil into the nut butter, even better for the better butter. 😊
Nuts – almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pistachios, and pecans are all good common snacking nuts.
Macadamia, Brazilian, cashews, and pine nuts are not as common, but have their own healthy profiles.
Eating a variety for your healthy needs is a good strategy. Each nut is different even though they are healthy fat foods and protein all-in-one. That’s why they’re nutrient-dense.
To salt or not? The unsalted nut versions are better for you because often the salted versions add too much salt. But you could buy a bag of salted and a bag of unsalted and mix the two to your body needs, tastes, and liking.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)– is the good olive oil. The best is usually more bitter.
Finding high-quality, medium-balanced, and a mild extra virgin olive oil for cooking or baking could be your balance.
If you’re going to bake cakes and breads, using an extra virgin olive oil for the monounsaturated fat is a healthy choice over poly or saturated fats.
You can generally tell by the color if it’s light and mild or dark and bold.
The oleic acid oil is one natural healthy profile in EVOO that’s also found in almonds. It’s good for satiating hunger that helps with weight loss.
It also adds Omega-9 food (not as common so you may not have heard of) that can be found in avocados and other foods too that’s good for good cholesterol and lowering bad cholesterol.
Good is good so don’t mess with good.
EVOO also helps reduce the body’s glycemic response reducing blood sugar levels to help protect against known chronic diseases such as diabetes that’s a growing health concern on the globe.
That’s one reason why EVOO is at the heart of Mediterranean diets, foods, and cooking that’s eaten all around the world and in the Mediterranean Diet.
I worked in Spanish, Italian, and Lebanese restaurants in America doing event planning and marketing. These restaurants served authentic dishes where they learned from their countries’ cuisines and cultural cooking techniques.
Olive oil was always at the heart of dishes. Some of my favorite dishes are: paella, watermelon salad, and risotto.
Not being around those types of foods but pining for their tastes, I was inspired from my experiences. I created my own home recipe versions posted in my recipe log that are weekly being added to.
And to keep the party going here and the healthy fat foods list growing… these are a few more healthy fats.
Healthy Dairy – I think this is the new food controversy because of the variety of processes. Also, there are so many vegan and allergy-friendly versions out there these days that taste great.
If you’re not allergic, there are so many benefits to healthy dairy such as protein, probiotic, and vitamins.
One dairy problem is in cheeses because there’s such a wide variety of cheeses to choose from in types and processes. Some not so healthy.
And some healthy cheeses I worked with in catering party menus were shanklesh, manchego, burrata, halloumi, feta, and pecorino.
We usually knew the cheese sources, whether it was cow, sheep, goat, or buffalo. We just couldn’t point out which goat or sheep it came from.
But when you’re in a store looking at a sea of cheeses to choose from, it’s a guess at mystery cheese. The packaging won’t tell you much… other than thin slices in a package isn’t straight from a farm.
Pasteurized cheeses we identify with thin slices can often have stripped nutrients and other processes that offset the healthy fat profile.
In rural places like Sardinia with a large number of Centenarians, the goats eat wild grasses that have Omega 3 and antioxidants.
So when we don’t have those options or we simply don’t know, the answer again is variety. When you eat variety, you’re more covered. You can switch up your foods and your healthy cheeses.
For a natural Vata body, this is naturally easy because that’s the taste preference.
But if that’s not your natural way or you like what you like today and don’t want to switch, the better alternative is to add more of other foods to what you like. That way you make room and plant seeds.
And as you think about that, you can consider these other common cheeses:
Cottage cheese with reduced milkfat (and remember to read the sodium and sugar content).
Greek yogurt with reduced milkfat (like cottage cheese, read the labels). Sometimes “reduced” has higher sugar. And “no fat” is almost always a gimme for more sugar.
Eggs – are a complete protein with essential amino acids. Vitamin A, D, choline and most the B vitamins. So that’s why often you can feel a burst of egg-energy especially if you were feeling low sugar or energy before.
If you grew up with the same nuts controversy I did, then you probably got the same downloaded message about eggs and their bad cholesterol.
This could be the mindset you want to overcome. Because with all the egg-cellent healthy benefits, you may find a new way to bring eggs back to your kitchen.
Look for pasture-raised eggs and Omega-3 eggs. Omega-3 eggs can also benefit insulin sensitivity over insulin resistance so that could tip you in eggs favor.
And since we’re talking protein and healthy fat foods, one of the healthiest swimming out there is wild salmon.
Salmon is a fatty fish and wild salmon is one healthy Omega-3 fat fish.
From working in Mediterranean restaurant kitchens, I learned some of the most wild caught fishes come from the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean in the northwest areas of America.
Should you eat farm raised salmon? Personally, I wouldn’t on a regular basis for the same reason you wouldn’t order mystery food and put on a plate.
As alternatives or when not available, you can always switch up to another wild white fish as variety. Or bring home cans of smaller fish.
Anchovies from a tin can make great meals like this pesto pizza for one.
Having that backup plan is always calming. In my pantry, I’m prepared with options. And that can be your plan!
As a home baker or cook, you can source practical foods like extra virgin olive oil.
…I also like coconut oil. For controversial oils, it’s a saturated fat but is good in another way as it has a much higher good HDL profile than other oils. It also has a low bad LDL compared to even extra virgin olive oil.
So in moderation, when my tastes change I add a ‘lil oil to my morning coffee and other edibles I can dream up ✨ like dreamy smoothies.
One you may enjoy is this strawberry tropical smoothie that has a little strawberry popsicle and orange dreamsicle blended in one 🍓And a little healthy fat add is up to you! 🎉
Blend the ingredients. When you add the herby flavor, it gives a third dimension. Mint will be mildest, basil is middle of the road, and cilantro will the the most pungent. Save Money Tip: you can freeze your fresh organic strawberries when they are in season.
Pour about 3/4 full, leaving a little room for the orange dreamsicle layer.
Onions are good for teeth as they’re antibacterial and spinach has teeth remineralizing properties, so chomping on a few leaves is a good thing! 🥬
Have you ever thought about the worse that could happen in a situation like dental worry, but it didn’t end up so bad?… Or end up at all?
…And that’s usually because your worry prevented a bad outcome. Some worry is healthy… it’s built into our DNA human-ness.
But in society, we tend to demonize all worry when it can help us to magnify an area we should focus more on, and then put the thoughts to rest.
Worry is healthy when it prevents growing problems. And worry is healthy when it helps us come up with better solutions.
When it falls healthy short and is outta balance, is when the scales need to tip back to peace and calm.
Don’t let your worry take over your Vata mind and from living life… because long-term stress is an inflammation cause in the mind-body connection that shows up in or on the body as a warning.
When you’re conscious knowing what you’re doing and thinking, you activate your subconscious to help you out in the back of your mind.
…EVEN when you can’t connect the dots.
Your subconscious mind is like your passenger seat helper who’s providing directions even when you’re focused on what’s in front of you.
…So, when I didn’t get to the dentist because of the pandemic and several moves later, I thought I would have a bad report.
A month before I could get into the busy dentist’s office, I did everything to keep my teeth and healthy smile at their maintained best… flossing with multiple flosser types, brushing, rinsing, and even scraping. And if you have teeth and dental worry about your teeth, then you may floss more often.
These days, it’s so much more easy… we have much better dental supplies from convenience stores than we did as kids… or imagine what they did back in the Stone Ages?
And those memories and dental worry kept me magnifying on healthy habits leading up to the Big D-Day…
At that dentist chair moment, time stood still and I was pleasantly surprised with the assessment. I had nothing to dental worry about.
It was a compliment when I heard the word “good” from my new dentist, and was even asked about how I take care of my teeth.
She asked me what I did. And my response was, “I do everything!”
I shared my routine and healthy daily teeth habits that make up for the food and coffee acid, and sugar buildup. Really the best tip is to brush more often softly or with an electric toothbrush. 🪥
…There’s nothing new under the sun. ☀️
But I also told the dentist about teeth healthy foods I ate to fortify the good and diminish the bad. We add back healthy for a more neutral effect.
So often we forget that foods act as secondary toothbrushes when we can’t get to our toothbrush.
You don’t need to dental worry if you brush after eating sugary foods.
And with acidic sources… you can soften the blow. For ACV, use an eyedropper or a straw where you drop the liquid to the back of your throat.
And certain foods are teeth helpers that have Vitamin D, calcium, and other minerals that re-mineralize natural teeth enamel.
That’s double bonus points for bones and teeth. 🎯
Stronger teeth enamel helps prevent common inflammation or an infection spreading inflammation.
Because inflammation or worsened infections in the mouth can cause problems just like inflammation in other parts of the body.
To counteract, they say that flossing can add 4 years and so can eating beans. (They these days are healthy social media sources that’s common knowledge). But at worst, you won’t lose 4 years, so it’s worth the effort gamble. 😉
Anti-inflammatory food ideas are delicious and good for health prevention. Finding the right healthy pairings, spices, and flavors bring make the rainbow variety out. 🌈 Learn more about anti inflammatory foods in this article.
One of my favorite happy and healthy topics is probably no surprise to you, it’s food… and coming up with food ideas to eat. And for a low-sugar but sweet treat with anti-inflammatory benefits, see the Chai Cookies below. 🥠
And I’ve probably talked about anti-inflammatory food ideas even more times, and this anti-inflammatory food guide for grocery shopping and easy meal planning ideas.
…And so to spice up your healthy food knowledge, here are 5 Trivia Questions for you.
The answers are at the bottom… but I have a hunch that you may know the answer to one or more of them, and will definitely by the time you finish reading to the end. 😉
…So here we go with the 5 questions!
What is the difference between an herb and a spice?
Which 4 vitamins are fat-soluble?
Where is gluten found in wheat?
Besides wheat, what are 1-2 starchy CROP foods we could eat? (Hint: Grown and raised in big fields)
AND…
What food category does pumpkin fall in?
I had to add that last tricky trivia question in there because pumpkin is all the rage in taste these days. It seems earlier and earlier each year.
I’m still pouring coconut flavors into my beverages as it’s too hot for pumping pumpkin for me just yet… and maybe you too where you are?
In all healthy fairness though, pumpkin puree we often add to our dishes and bakes, is a nutrient-dense anti-inflammatory food loaded with fiber prebiotics good for gut health.
The downside: it has a high/fair GI rating so it can raise blood sugar spikes but still good for an anti inflammatory meal plan idea.
And so, you’ve probably heard of nutrient-dense foods at the core of anti inflammatory food which means they’re packed with nutrients compared to calories. And they have few ingredients. Often they’re whole foods like fruits.
They’re preventative protectors to help fight inflammation that’s recurring, ongoing, or chronic inflammation. Inflammatory properties often have at least one of these symptoms: redness or irritation, heat, swelling, or pain.
Those are earlier signs that can lead to certain chronic diseases such as heart disease, Diabetes 2, certain cancers, and cognitive decline diseases. So one way to handle is to reduce inflammation occurrences with a healthy lifestyle and healthy eating.
And you’ve probably heard of polyphenols that are nutrients in plants and the orange color in pumpkin gives away its healthy advantage rich in beta carotene that’s converted into Vitamin A in the body as needed, so you can think of them as one and the same 🎃
Polyphenols protect the plant, but we get the benefit as an antioxidant (to help protect against disease) in vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, tofu, and our plant-based diet. These are also good for weight loss meal plans.
There are 13 essential vitamins our bodies can’t make on their own. We get them through food or supplements. They’re critical for key functions like immunity, metabolism, and digestion that help us lose weight and maintain healthy weight.
These are essential nutrients on the anti inflammatory diet and anti inflammatory food ideaas for your food plans.
Vitamins A, C, E
These 3 essential vitamins fight inflammation or swelling. These are important antioxidants that fight cell-free radicals, to help protect against cancer. And you already know one way (eat more 100% pumpkins!).
Since Vitamins A and E are fat-soluble, it’s good to pair healthy fat in your body with them. Like sweet potatoes with walnuts or a drizzle of olive oil that’s common in a mediterranean diet… or how about a healthy bake like carrot coconut oil cake? 😋 That’s one of my anti inflammatory recipes.
Foods like avocados and almonds are rich in Vitamin E and (monounsaturated) healthy fats, so that’s why you probably see these superfoods in the healthy news headlines everywhere you turn.
Vitamin C is easy to find in fruits, but it’s water soluble (I think of it like going down a water slide out of your body). And so, you can take more and that’s why I take a daily supplement, in addition to eating from the rainbow Vit C foods.
Vitamins B
Daily, we need our B vitamins. All 8 are essential like those listed in a B-complex vitamin, and they work in synergy with each other.
Vitamins A, E, D, K are also essential and are the fat-soluble vitamins. Sometimes you naturally take advantage of this. Like when you use EVOO to cook your salmon.
But being more intentional, you can find other opportunities like:
Carrots with hummus made with EVOO.
Spinach with walnuts.
Or an avocado green smoothie with a plant-based milk.
And, here are some of my fave good anti-inflammatory food ideas:
One morning snack I enjoy is celery with almond butter that has protein and fiber. Or natural peanut butter paired with a Granny Smith apple, sliced up bananas, or in good old-fashioned PBJ (or favorite seeded jam) toast.
Another good starter is watermelon with EVOO and mint. If you have a headache, the first thing I do is drink water that’s always good for hydrating your system. And mint is good for the aches.
In fruits and veggies, the different polyphenol-phytochemical pigments are healthy antioxidants. Here are some food examples and how you can eat from the rainbow 🌈:
Red
Red Apples – If you like crisp, Fuji or Gala varieties are easy to find. Or a traditional Red Delicious that’s a softer apple and tends to bruise easier.
Tomatoes – if you find a tomato medley, they all have differing degrees of sweetness, like a green tomato is less sweet. Yellow tomatoes are less acidic and taste sweeter than a red cherry tomato. And a plum tomato usually found in an Italian dish has a deep red or red-orange color different than a slightly sour grape tomato for a Greek salad.
Both overall, tomatoes and avocados aren’t as sweet compared to other fruits. They’re botanical fruits, but we think of them as veggies in our dishes. They actually come from the flowers of plants.
Squashes are considered fruits, and pumpkin popular in September and October is considered a squash. So a pumpkin is a fruit (and that answers that trivia question).
Orange
Carrots – are underrated I think. A bag of carrots is always good to have on hand and are usually abundant year-round. You can eat them as snacks, or cook them slightly soft for better nutritional benefits.
Or you can julienne them or puree them for your carrot cake and breads. If carrots get too dry left out, you can simply add them to a bowl of water to revive them. They’re a lot like us even though their roots are different! 🥕
Oranges – are seasonal even though we see them sometimes year-round. They’re more abundant in the cold winter months like November – January in the U.S.
But, nothing is guaranteed for any food, and you may have found oranges harder to find as there has been a crop shortage, as of 2021. You can find mandarin oranges or small clementines more easily. They’re less acidic and easier to peel if you want to find their good sides.
Yellow
One of the most practical fruits we have around is a banana. Green bananas have a lower GI (glycemic index) than ripe bananas. That makes sense as they’re not as sweet. I like to eat green bananas and use the ripe ones for baking or a smoothie. If you shop around, you’ll know where to get the greenest ones in your town.
Green
Avocado – already mentioned as a superfood, besides on toast, you can make a smoothie or a mousse dessert. You can add on top of any salad. And since they don’t last long after you cut into them, you can easily make an easy guacamole dip. 🥑
Spinach – spinach is a powerful vitamin-rich food and Popeye learned this when got his strength guzzling spinach down.
But for us ordinary characters, we can get bored with the bland spinach taste in a salad. So, I have many anti-inflammatory food ideas:
One idea is to wilt with a little liquid and heat, and then add to your plate slightly cooked to keep the nutrients intact. You’ll find you can add a lot more spinach once it’s tamed down with water and heat
It’s the difference between when your hair is just blown out shiny straight, compared to a wild frizzy humid hair day. 😄
And… when you have a big bag of spinach that can last a couple of weeks in the fridge, but by then is not as fresh… here are some FRESH spinach ideas:
Smoothie: Spinach, pineapple, Granny Smith apple, and nut or plant-based milk. The tart and sweet complements the green smoothie goodness. Add your powders and seeds all day! And you can substitute with kale.
Spinach con queso dip
On medium stove heat, you can wilt the spinach with warming milk, and then add cheese to melt, while stirring. And you can sprinkle baked kale chips on top for extra anti-inflammatory food ideas.
Tortilla with melted cheese spinach (Quesadila)
Bake tortilla. I like low and slow (200°F for an hour) so they don’t burn, and then add shredded or cut-up cheese that’ll be quick to melt in the oven. Add your fresh microgreens or herbs on top AFTER you bake.
I like to add allium-healthy flavors like red or green onions. And tri-color bell peppers for a mouth fiesta 🎉. And a bean spread (with EVOO smashed pinto or cannellini beans).
That is a super anti-inflammatory food idea and you may have heard that beans are the vitamins that Blue Zone Centenarians take. 🫘
Maybe spinach ain’t so bland after all!?
And one food that hasn’t been mentioned yet is fatty fish oils found in fish. Good healthy eating ones are small fish like sardines or wild fish like wild salmon. They would be good to add to any meal planns.
Blue
Blueberries – bake well into morning bars, balls, or scones.
Blueberries also great for smoothies, and jams. And if you’re not a fan or allergic, you could do the other common berries like strawberries or raspberries, or the newer popular berries like elderberries or red lingonberries. I think it’s interesting that we haven’t even come close to identifying all the berries around the world!
Purple/Black
Black beans – I like to bake black bean brownies or energy balls that makes these longevity bakes. You can add espresso on top of the cocoa to give some deeper flavors. Or you can make a cool beans soup. 😋
…Now that’s thinking like a Centenarian! These are worth adding to your anti-inflammatory food ideas.
Red Onions – On the outside, they’re s dark purple hue and inside they’re white. They are pretty and healthy.
Onion rings – And you can easily make healthy baked onion rings. Cut rings (parallel to the top of the onion like the latitudinal equator lines if you could imagine it like a globe). Then dip into a whisked egg, then flour, and then Panko bread crumbs. And then bake. So easy and impressive for a snack!
White/Brown
Mushrooms – these are fascinating as they have so many benefits to the earth and our immunity. The earth needs us and we need the food on the earth.
And adaptogens like mushrooms help with our stress and anxiety. And they have become a whole new taste revolution. Umami – oh, mommy!
Cauliflower – they are a good source of Vitamin C and low in calories for healthy weight loss. You can bake them into your pizza crust or eat my favorite ways, as Crudite. That’s raw on a veggie plate we always had when I worked in hotel catering.
Breakfast Quinoa – as a pseudo grain and naturally gluten-free, this is my go-to cereal. Quinoa takes a little bit of cooking time like rice, but you can batch cook in advance so it’s cool and ready for the next few mornings.
Lunch/Dinner Quinoa – It’s also versatile for your savory lunch meals and dinner salads. My favorite combo is chickpeas and quinoa with a coarser Celtic sea salt.
Warm Oats – this is definitely a morning staple. I like to eat warm with fresh fruit but that’s about Vata-me… andwhat aboutyou?
Cold Oats – You can also do Overnight Oats and just pull your cup or glass out of the fridge in the morning. Add your chia seeds, berries, yogurt, and bananas for a Pitta perfect parfait. 😊
Almonds – these are great snacks. And unlike a chip, it’s good to eat more than one. They have the healthy fat, but also vitamins, minerals, and protein.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil or EVOO
Besides cooking, EVOO is good for baking, dips, and on toast for some other anti-inflammatory food ideas.
Spelt and sprouted grains come from whole grains and have high levels of vitamins and minerals. They’re easier to digest with a lower GI (but not to be confused with gluten-free!). You can get GF versions, but those are wholesome wheat grains.
And that’s a good idea and thought to leave it on! I hope this helps you on your food healthy lifestyle!
…Oh, and here are the answer to the 5 TRIVIA questions above (that I copied here):
What is the difference between an herb and a spice?
Which 4 vitamins are fat-soluble?
Where is gluten found in wheat?
Besides wheat, what are some other starchy crop healthy foods we could eat?
What food category is pumpkin in?
Trivia Question Answers:
1.An herb comes from the leaves of plants, and spices from the other parts (flowers, fruits, seeds, roots).
2.Vitamins D,E,A,K
3.Gluten is found in the starchy endosperm in the middle layer of the wheat cereal grain. The seed is deep inside and the bran is the outside of the grain.
4.Corn, rice, and millet are a few. Millet is more popular for humans to eat outside the U.S. but you can find it if you look around.
5.Pumpkin is a squash, and squashes are fruit. So, a pumpkin is technically a fruit. You may never look at pumpkins the same, and at Thanksgiving when you think you need a fruit pie on the table.
And that’s a wrap!
For healthy recipes you can check out this one especially if you have a sweet tooth and want to avoid the inflammatory sugar.
These delicious and simple-to-make chai bombs are loaded with antioxidants.
Course desserts
Cuisine American, Indian
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
1tspall spice (cloves)
1tspCeylon cinnamon (add more with preference
1tspchai tea bag, grinds
1tbspmolasses (or honey)
2tbspcoconut oil, solid form
1/3cupcoconut flour
1tspcardamom
Instructions
The secret to these delicious cookies is to mix the ingredient dough and refrigerate for several days so the flavors have a chance to penetrate. Then scoop into balls and bake as you would cookies.
