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The World’s Healthiest Foods……drumroll please……

<Update:  There is still plenty of time to get into the Fantasy Healthball action for 2009.  If you like what you read here, check out our website.  You can take on the NFL pros and use your passion for football to get passion for great health.  Tell your friends and Read more here…>

Jeff and my literary agent turned us on a few months ago to George Mateljan’s “The World’s Healthiest Foods.”  We’ve been really enjoying George’s advice on preserving nutrients while cooking.  One suggestion is a “Healthy Saute” that uses vegetable or chicken broth in place of heated oils.  It is used for vegetables such as as asparagus that only require a small amount of liquid to tenderize them.  The “Healthy Steaming” method suggests steaming for a minimal amount of time (cooking al dente) to really make the flavors pop while maximizing the nutrients.  When you over-blast food with tons of steam, the nutrients just wave the white flag and drown themselves in the water.  You want happy nutrients that are energized from a quick steam bath rather than nutrients that have wilted and expired. 

George also suggests a “Quick Broil” for fish and chicken and other meats, also poaching (fish), roasting (meat or vegetables), and a healthy way of grilling.  But let me say this:  George’s book is 880 pages long and if you stood on it you could probably dunk a basketball.  In other words, it is thick.  And I prefer things to be very simple and quickly understandable.  George caters to me by just listing his view of the “World’s Healthiest Foods” on page 21.  And each one is given a total score!  How perfect for us sports fans!   Now I can pit two foods against each other in a battle for maximum health!  Who wins in Spinach versus Corn?  Spinach in a blowout bigger than the Bears over the Pats in Superbowl XX. 

Here is a list of some of the tops in each category.  Check out the book for a full list.  And incorporate these into your Fantasy Football Food Formation.  These foods will lead you to victory.

Veggies and Salads

Spinach 65pts, Swiss Chard 55pts, Crimini Mushrooms 47 pts, Asparagus 43 pts, Broccoli 40 pts

Fruits

Strawberries 24 pts, Raspberries 18 pts, Cantaloupe 14 pts, Pinapple 12 pts, Kiwi 11pts, Oranges 11pts

Fish and Shellfish

Tuna 24 pts, Shrimp 23 pts, Salmon 21 pts, Cod 21 pts

Nuts and Seeds

Sunflower seeds 18 pts, Flaxseeds 13 pts, Sesame seeds 12 pts, Pumpkin seeds 11 pts

Poultry and Lean Meats

Liver 41 pts, Grass-fed beef 15 pts, Venison 14 pts, Lamb 12pts, Chicken 11pts

Beans and Legumes

Lentils 20 pts, Soybeans 20 pts, Kidney/Pinto Beans 19 pts, Lima Beans 18 pts

Dairy and Eggs

Eggs 18 pts, Low fat milk 17 pts, Yogurt 15 pts, Low fat cheese 9 pts

Grains

Oats 12 pts, Rye 10 pts

Go forth and consume the world’s healthiest! –  Jim Ballard

Fireworks and “Burcken” – 4th of July

Grilling on the 4th of July is as American traditional as it gets, and for my Midwest-based family it is no different.  When we gather for the summer holiday, it is expected that the host will be preparing the meal over an open flame and coals.  The only difference this year was that 5 of 11 people were playing Fantasy Healthball, and it was my turn to host.  And not only host, but host without the assistance of my wife who was traveling abroad in Europe.  I’ve rarely hosted anything larger than a football game party without her involvement, so it was an opportunity to show my stuff.  However, the key was how to satisfy everyone’s traditional craving for charred meat, and not completely fall off track towards our bigger health goals.

We did serve meat, and yes, hamburgers were on the menu.  But they were intentionally made smaller-than-years-past and less than one-per-person was prepared.  The ‘main’ grilling meat of choice this year was skinless chicken breast, which was prepared simply with lemon and pepper.  It was intentional to avoid slathering them with BBQ sauce this year.  All buns were 100% whole grain wheat.

Slow-cooked Midwestern sweet corn (encouraged to be eaten with just a dash of pepper), baked beans, and tossed salad with raw carrots, sweet onions and peppers formed the sides.  Lemonade and Kool-Aid prepared with Splenda sweetener instead of sugar helped avoid all caffeine, sugar, alcohol and carbonated water.  Dessert was fresh fruit, watermelon, strawberries, and green grapes.

My brother-in-law is a tall man standing over 6′7″ and he is currently playing Fantasy Healthball with us.  Normally 2-3 hamburgers would be his choice, but this year he chose to go the Burcken route.  A hamburger and chicken breast put together on one bun.  He explained, “saves me from eating too much bread by reducing one bun and I don’t need seconds”.

It may be only baby-steps for our family, but it was a conscious effort to move towards healthier choices, even on a holiday traditionally reserved for excess.  — Jeff Hagen

It’s Go Time!

Newsflash!  Summer is here.

While there are people reading this blog from Alabama to Zimbabwe (Okay, maybe not Zimbabwe, but you get the idea), for most of us, it is summer time.  For most, the weather is nicer outside now than it was six months ago and what it will be six months from now.  Our point?  It’s go time. 
Remember how hard it was to go exercise back when it was dark when you got up and dark when you got off work?  Some of you were shoveling snow off your driveways not long ago.  Remember all those excuses that tried to keep you from exercising?  It is too cold, it is too rainy, it is too dark, I’m too tired.  When it was dark at 5pm, it was harder to get exercise outdoors in the evening.  Single track mountain biking in the dark is just not as fun as when you can see (well, for most people anyway).  Going jogging in a hail storm just isn’t the same as blue skies and sun. 
Well, if you made any excuses before, and even if you didn’t, the time to get out there is now .  If you need some extra encouragement and maybe a little competition, check out our Training Camp game and get off on the right foot.  Habits you put into place now will be that much easier to keep up when the forces of nature start making it harder later this year.  If you can keep up a routine now, you won’t want to stop just because it is too cold or too dark.  You’ll get creative, find new things to do to exercise and focus on nutrition.  But for now, get out there in the sun and enjoy.  Walking, jogging, hiking, catch with the kids, basketball, soccer, swimming, biking, rock climbing, kayaking, whatever.  Mother nature is smiling on you.  It’s go time.  — Jim Ballard