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    Agave over Honey?

    joshgreene
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    Agave over Honey?

    I made the decision in January to switch from honey to agave, for the reason the agave isn’t produce by an animal, and as you should know, honey comes from bees.  As I try to incorporate a vegan diet into my life, I try to find replacement for items Blue Agave Syrupthat come from animals that do not necessarily change the taste profile of what I’m eating.  An agave does that for me. I think honey is a better product for you to consume over agave on the basis of the production and type of sugar from each sweetener.  Honey is minimally processed while agave has a more complex process to production, but I would not call agave a highly processed food. Honey is produced by the nectar of plant pollinated by bees.  And at this point you can enjoy the honey.  

    While the process for agave is a bit more complex.  the syrup (nectar) is processed fluids of the blue agave plant.  Like I said a bit more processed but not much more.  (1)  Agave has less sugar than honey roughly half the amount of honey per serving.  Fructose and glucose are the two simple sugars found in agave.  These types of sugar are primary the sugars found in fruits.

    Why I prefer Agave

    I prefer agave over honey for the simple reason its twice as sweet as honey.  So you need less agave to get the sweet taste you desire from honey.  Which lowers your sugar if you are worried about natural sugar.  While I personally feel sugars that come from fruits are ok to consume versus the sugar you would find in a snickers bar. In my opinion ALL SUGARS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL. (2) 

    How I use it

    Now I don’t consume much agave,  I do cook with it for my breakfast.  Blue Agave Syrup I put maybe 10 grams inside my oatmeal, and drizzle some on my tofu in the morning along with cinnamon to give my tofu a french toast taste.   The macros on it are for one serving size of 21 grams (which is one tablespoon) 60 calories, 0 fat, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 16 grams of sugar The agave that I purchase is from Costco and for those who are organic freaks, it is organic!  What do you prefer agave or honey?  Have you tried agave? What are your thoughts?   Please contact me or start a discussion below, I’m sure others are thinking the same as you, but are waiting on YOU to start the discussion.

    Black Pepper

    joshgreene
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    Black Pepper

    One of the most commonly used spices is black pepper, and I know it is a staple when I meal prep.  But not many know of the benefits that come from adding pepper to your diet. Mainly it is added as an afterthought to make your meal more enjoyable.  That is how I started using pepper.  I had no idea some of pepper’s key benefits are benefits I look for when choosing what to eat.

    Key Benefits

    For me the main key benefit of black pepper is it is a diuretic.  Pepper promotes sweating and helps with urination, two important tasks of any diuretic to be able to do.  So by helping you relieve yourself of waste and sweat, it can help with weight loss. So by using pepper with salt, the salt hydrates and the pepper helps remove the water when it is not needed.

    Another benefit of pepper is its help with intestinal gas aka heartburn, by helping prevent the formation of intestinal gas.  So you can say between being a diuretic and helping to prevent heartburn, pepper is a great spice to help the digestive process. (1)

    For those who take turmeric, pepper enhances the curcumin to help it absorb into your body. The taste of turmeric isn’t the best so anything that helps get the benefits of turmeric into your system is fine by me!  Less is more! 

    Recommended Amount

    Now I haven’t been able to find any recommendations on how much pepper you should consume per day or how much is too much.  The best I could find was to limit your intake to no more than 1 teaspoon per meal. (2)

    As I look at my recipes and meal prep that I do, I think I use a lot less than a teaspoon per meal.  I prefer to have enough to knows it is there but not too much that is over powers what I’m eating.  

    What I prepare I enjoy to eat, and I don’t want one single spice to overpower the taste what I’m eating.

    Conclusion

    When buying black pepper I encourage you to buy whole peppercorns and use a grinder. Most of the time you can buy whole peppercorns with a built in grinder and grind as needed. I prefer this method for me I think you get more flavor and have to use less.  It also ensures that you are getting pepper that hasn’t been altered, with other ingredients. Pepper is one of those spices we all use, and we can easily overlook.  Which makes me wonder what other spices we commonly use that have great benefits that we probably are not aware of.  Do any come to mind for you?  

    Please share your comments below. Have more questions on black pepper?  Please contact me or start a discussion below, I’m sure others are thinking the same as you, but are waiting on YOU to start the discussion.

    Turmeric

    joshgreene
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    0
    Turmeric

    I have a friend, who is also a soon-to-be business partner that turned me on to the benefits of Turmeric in the summer of 2018.  Before then I had never even heard of Turmeric, or all the benefits of incorporating this spice into my daily diet.  

    So after hearing about this spice, naturally I did some internet research on if I added this spice to my diet would it benefit me.  What I had failed to do at the beginning was find out how much of this spice I need to consume to make it count.  

    If you have ever had turmeric you will understand it is not a very good tasting spice.  So I was adding it to everything I was meal prepping with.  Now on my day-to-day routine I only use turmeric in my lemon water first thing in the morning.  I add about 1.4mg per pound of body weight which is what the WHO (World Health Organization) has determined to be an acceptable daily intake.

    Key Benefits

    Turmeric has a multitude of benefits, for me I personally take it for its powerful anti-inflammatory effects.  I workout a lot, so my body gets inflamed, tossing around weight your body can become swollen (for you bros I wrote swollen not SWOLE). 

    In some studies there has been links to help slow heart disease, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s from low grade inflammation.  I am not an expert nor have I reviewed any of these studies, I have just come across these benefits a few times in the information I’ve digested, so I wanted to mentioned it.

    Some other benefits I saw was turmeric may reduce knee pain and improve function for those who suffer from osteoarthritis.  Others  have found that may be beneficial to reduce your cholesterol and improve quality of life for those suffering with chronic kidney disease.

    Recommended Dosage

    Lemonn Water TurmericLike I mentioned previously I tried to consume 1.4mg per pound of my body weight as part of my day-to-day diet.  I have it first thing in the morning and mix it in with my lemon water drink According to Healthline.com some of their research has found effective dosage for the following problems to be promising:

    • Osteoarthritis 500mg twice a day for 2-3 months
    • High Cholesterol 700mg twice a day for 3 months
    • Itchy Skin 500mg three times a day for 2 months.

    Their site goes on to say that high dosages for an extended period of time is not recommended since the long-term research is lacking.  I would also suggest if you are going to take a high dosage of turmeric for your taste purposes only, try to take it in capsule form.  It is not a very tasteful spice according to my taste buds.

    Must Take with Black Pepper

    The most active component in turmeric is curcumin which gives Turmeric its benefits as a spice.  Naturally curcumin does not absorbed very well.  This is where black pepper comes in.  By taking black pepper with turmeric the pepper contains active components to help enhanced the curcumin’s absorption. (1) The ratio I use is 100:1  so roughly 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper  to 1 teaspoon of turmeric for easy measuring purposes will get you enough black pepper to improve the absorbing rate of curcumin.

    Have more questions on Turmeric?  Please contact me or start a discussion below, I’m sure others are thinking the same as you, but are waiting on YOU to start the discussion.

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