Confession: I am not a pure vegan. Let me explain.
I have two allowances which I believe help keep my diet balanced and nutritious: honey and eggs. But I will only eat eggs from friends’ houses, where I know the chickens roam free and happy across huge yards, and I will only eat honey from local suppliers who benefit both the environment and the honey bee population. Why do I keep eggs in my diet? Eggs are excellent sources of choline, a nutrient that promotes liver health and brain functioning and may also prevent certain types of cancer. Vegetarians, vegans, and athletes are more likely to be deficient in choline than others because beef is a common source of the nutrient. Teenage boys and men need about 550 mg per day, teenage girls and women need 440 mg-450 mg per day, and lactating women are recommended to consume 550 mg per day. The trouble for those who follow a plant-based diet? An egg yolk has 112 mg of choline, cauliflower and navy beans score in at 62 mg and 48 mg per serving (respectively), and most other sources fall under 30 mg per serving. While it is possible for a pure vegan to reach their recommended daily amount of choline, it can be difficult and demand an unbalanced diet (imagine eating cauliflower all day!). Thus, I see eggs as a nutritious part of my diet, and as long as the hens are treated humanely, I feel no guilt eating their eggs! Why do I keep honey in my diet? There are two reasons I continue to eat honey. First, honey is an alternative to refined sugars and artificial sweeteners. You can read more about refined sugar at the end of this post, but for now, I will just say that while honey is not a perfect substitute for refined sugar (it still induces similar blood sugar spikes and hormone interference), it is a more nutritious option. Honey typically has ⅔ of the glycemic index of white table sugar (lower glycemic indices indicate lower spikes in blood sugar), and it contains natural vitamins and minerals. Honey is also excellent for athletes as quick-access energy reserves. I also eat honey because (when bought locally) it benefits the environment and the honey bee population. I buy my honey from Colony Urban Farm Store, a shop on Reynolda Road in Winston-Salem that just opened in February. I highly recommend their Bourbon Infused, Tupelo, and Oaxaca varieties! Now that we have that confession out of the way, let me share an awesome recipe for the pancakes I made this morning! NUTritious Pancakes Ingredients:
**Added sugar is a culprit for spiking our blood sugar levels, needlessly spiking our hunger by interfering with the hormones ghrelin and leptin (satiety hormones), and taxing the liver. Added sugar is not comparable to the healthy sugars found in fruit and vegetables because it lacks nutrients like fiber and protein (fruits are rich in these, helping moderate blood sugar and satiety levels). Compared to thirty years ago, people consume 46% more sugar. It’s in our cereal, it’s in our smoothies, it’s in our soup. Why? There are many reasons but here are two big ones: 1) Sugar is cheap. The marshmallows in Lucky Charms were not originally meant to add a fun, delicious twist to the cereal. They were fillers that were cheaper than the actual cereal itself, so they added volume to the cereal at a lower cost. 2) When the low-fat trend kicked off in the late 20th century, food lost some of its delectability (fat tastes really good). To fix this, companies began to add sugar to their products and voila, they taste good again, and they are super addictive! The American Heart Association recommends that women eat a MAXIMUM of 25 grams (6 teaspoons) of added sugar per day and men eat a MAXIMUM of 37.5 grams (9 teaspoons) per day. The revolutionized food label demanded by Michelle Obama will go into effect in the next two years, and we will finally be able to see how much added sugar hides in our products!
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Peanut butter and jelly. Peanut butter and Nutella. Peanut butter and celery. Peanut butter can go with pretty much anything, but my favorite combination is peanut butter and banana. The creaminess of the peanut butter and the perfect sweetness of the banana go hand-in-hand, and the toppings add an extra satisfying crunch. This recipe is so simple that I make it at least three or four times a week. Sometimes I substitute the peanut butter with almond butter, but I do think that peanut butter is the tastiest choice!
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Health benefits:
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