Weekend link goes to: ChickandFit.com

http://chickandfit.com/10-reasons-to-eat-apples-dieting-motivation

Great article on the many health benefits of APPLES. I was surprised (but delighted) to read #8.

Apples prevent tooth decay, as the juice can kill around 80% of bacteria in the mouth.

via ChickandFit.com

Wanna be featured here next weekend? Send me your link. Must be veg related. (of course!)

10 Reasons Apples Rock! is from groovy vegetarian

image via The Hot Potato

Below are some cool Sunflower seed fun facts.

1. Sunflower seeds belong to that rare class of foods that are as healthy as they are delish. Due to no cholesterol content and cholesterol-fighting (phytosterols) they’re really good for the heart. In addition to that, they’re rich in fiber, minerals like zinc and calcium, iron for blood and also magnesium, selenium. Oh! and they have very high levels of Vitamins B and E. In fact, sunflower seeds are particularly a GREAT SOURCE OF VITAMIN E.
2. Phytosterol from sunflower seeds is known to make the immune system more robust, flush out toxins and reduce the risk of cancer, while also regulating the level of cholesterol in the blood stream thereby reducing chances of cardiac stroke.
3. The mineral selenium on the other hand acts as a catalyst in apoptosis – the self destructing mechanism of the body that sheds cancerous and abnormal cells growth. It also helps in DNA replication in various body repair mechanisms. Selenium isn’t abundantly available in common food types and the normal human intake of selenium is usually low. Having sunflower seeds, however, provides the body with ample selenium.
4. The scientific name of sunflowers is Helianthus annuus, latin for flower of the sun. Scientifically, sunflower seeds aren’t actually seeds, they belong to the set achenes – edible fruits of flowers in the shape of seeds where the fruit inside does not adhere to the outer covering.
5. Sunflowers grow throughout the year. Each sunflower consists of about 1000 to 2000 seeds and it takes about 3 months for a sunflower to mature. There are three kinds of sunflower seeds – black oil, striped and white. White seeds have not found much commercial use as yet.
6. If you like variety in your snacks then you can choose from a wide range of sunflower seeds – roasted, unroasted, salted, unsalted, with the kernel or without it, spiced, chocolate covered, mint covered, barbecued, honey roasted or sprouted! This healthy delicacy of a snack can be served up in innumerable ways.
7. You can also use sunflower seeds to garnish your salads and main courses, it gels with all kinds of food, bitter, sour, sweet, and salted. Sunflower seeds are also used to make sunflower seed butter, much like peanut better except its a lot more healthier.
8. Most South East Asian countries use sunflower oil to cook (as most of their food is made in oil) because it is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and has a very low risk of cardiac strokes even when used daily. Lots of other countries are following suit these days. Processed sunflower oil is made into margarine’s and used instead of butter. The residual content once the oil is squeezed from the seeds is used as feed for livestock.
9. Speaking of which, birds love sunflower seeds! Planting a few in your garden/farm is the easiest way to attract birds. Sunflower seeds make for good feed for livestock too.

Hope you enjoyed our sunflower seed fun facts, but feel free to share your own in the comment area. Cheers!

9 Fun Facts About Sunflower Seeds is from groovy vegetarian

Oatmeal + Blueberries = One Happy Breakfast!

Some cool oatmeal health benefits is that it contains large amounts of fiber and complex carbs, making it a great way to get your 6 or more recommended daily servings of grains.  It also has a lot of protein and iron, to boot.  What it doesn’t have much of are sugars and fats. If you’re watching you’re weight and or fat intake, oatmeal is 100% cholesterol-free.

Another good thing about oatmeal is that its so ubiquitous — you can find it everywhere.  This means its easy to find organic oatmeal, or get your favorite kind, be it instant oatmeal or Irish Oats (my personal fav.).  If you’re making oatmeal from scratch, its an easy food to spice up, by simply adding some nuts or berries (try walnuts and blueberries — my favorite).

To recap this ode to oatmeal, see below some of the health benefits:

• Packed with nutrition
• Low in sugar
• Low in fat
• Easy to buy organic
• Easy to spice up
• Cheap
• Cholesterol-free
• Good source of calcium
• Good source of iron
• Good source of fiber (40% of your daily fiber requirement)
  
• Great with fruits (such as blueberries)
• Tasty!

Finally, one more great thing about oatmeal is the price.  Oatmeal tends to be a pretty cheap breakfast food.  And that’s something we can all appreciate right now.

Oatmeal Health Benefits is from groovy vegetarian

(no fish were hurt in the writing of this post)

I feel very fortunate to have been able to be raised a vegetarian — but my parents were not vegetarians when I was growing up.  No, I turned my parents to vegetarianism at age 5.  I wanted to dedicate my first post to this story, which I feel is just one example of the diversity of the experiences that turned each of us on to vegetarianism.  And I encourage you to share your own story after reading mine.

My Love For Nature, Fish, And How I Helped My Parents Go Veg At The Age of 5

As a child I was a bit precocious in my environmental consciousness and love for all things nature, including its animals (it’s no wonder I would one day be fated to blog).  I gave up diapers at a ripe young age of 2, when I heard that they had to cut down trees for them.  Yes, I was a bit of a weird child, but my parents catered to my unusual whims.

One of my early loves was fish.  I memorized every single type of fish and could repeat them with alarming accuracy.  My grandmother at one point became quite unnerved when I began to recite the names of fish in a book of hers.  She quickly closed the book and said “That’s enough of that!”

My love of fish, however, brought me sadness because at an early age I could comprehend at some level that the fish in the store at the butchers counter were dead.  These weren’t like the magnificent creatures that I saw swimming in my beloved fish cards.  They were cold lifeless, and if I dare say, a bit sad looking.  So whenever I saw my favorite fish — the rainbow trout — at the fish store, I took to saying “Rainbow Trout want out!” in a mournful voice.

My parents at the time ate a pretty healthy diet, but did eat some fish and chicken.  However, they began to feel increasingly guilty taking home fish, when it obviously upset me to see them dead.  So when I was just 5 they made a big decision — they were going to go vegetarian and give up fish and chicken, raising my brother and me vegetarian.

Now

Over the years my enthusiasm for vegetarianism has waved a little bit at times, but has never faded.  And I find myself today finding great joy in exploring it.  And my parents?  They are still vegetarians, and its already helped them.  All of my grandparents had severe heart disease by their 40s, but my parents, thanks to a vegetarian diet and exercise are virtually problem free.  For families with genetic predisposition to high cholesterol and heart disease, the vegetarian diet definitely seems a great choice from my experience, and studies have backed that up.

So, How Did You Get Turned On To Vegetarianism?

My story’s pretty fun I admit, but I’d equally love to hear each of yours.  Diet is a very personal topic.  I’d love to hear how each of you got turned on to vegetarianism, and what challenges you faced!

How Did YOU Get Turned On To Vegetarianism? is from groovy vegetarian