Tag Archives: food facts

Food, Friday Food Facts, NuttZo

Bananas Don’t Grow on Trees + More Fun Facts

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Avery has become a banana-loving toddler and she will throw a fit when there’s one in site and she doesn’t get to make it disappear. Add NuttZo to the equation, and, well, telling her “No” is not an option!

With our daughter’s current love for bananas, I figured I’d bring up an old post from my past foodie blog, Just Add Cayenne, and share some fun facts about bananas you probably didn’t know. I found them interesting before, and after reading (because we all forget), found them interesting again.

The following is taken directly from the post titled 15 Fun Facts for Friday: Bananas.

 

We all know and love bananas…right?  Well, most of us do.  In an attempt to make a quick, but interesting post, I wanted to share this list of 15 Facts You Probaly Didn’t Know About Bananas.  Have a look; that’s scary to think a fungus could wipe out the whole banana population.

 

Imagine, a world without bananas…..

No peanut butter and banana sandwiches or wraps. : (
No mashed banana to make Low-fat Peanut Butter Bread. : (
No cool and creamy easy banana ice cream. : (
No chocolate peanut butter banana smoothies. : O

And the list can go on and on…

I enjoy bananas, and from the other bloggers I read out there, you like them too.  Here’s a post I made a while back on banana benefits and how to enjoy them. Sometimes, I just unwrap a banana, mash several dry roasted almonds inside, and then proceed to eat.  I’ll do this when there’s no peanut butter around or when I want a sweet, salty, and crunchy treat.

Q: How do you enjoy using bananas?  If you don’t like them, is it allergies or just plain repulsed by the green/yellow/black-spotted yellow fruit?

Now go get yourself a banana, a jar of NuttZo (or nut butter of choice) and enjoy your Friday!

Food, Friday Food Facts

Friday Foodie Fun Facts: Fennel and Fenugreek

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Happy Halloween, we’re celebrating Avery’s first by trick-or-treating and saying we don’t want anything but to say hi! Although today is Halloween and I should be posting something about how to avoid over-consumption of candy by your little ones as well as yourself, I wanted to share a post from my previous blog.
Ready to roll as a pumpkin! Original, I know....
Ready to roll as a pumpkin! Original, I know….
Before I was a dad, I had another blog centered on healthy food called “Just Add Cayenne”. Obviously, you can tell I’m a fan of spicy food, but despite the name, I shared a lot of healthy dessert recipes/ideas too. You can check it out by clicking on the “Just Add Cayenne” page tab above and look around for a while.
I’m always interested in the health benefits of food and prefer to use it in place of traditional medicine whenever possible. For instance, I haven’t taken something like ibuprofen or aspirin for aches and pains in years; I use cayenne (hence the blog’s name) or ginger for their anti-inflammatory properties instead. I feel much better in doing so, and know I’m not sabotaging my gut lining or other insides as a result.
As I’ve mentioned many times before, Going Mom knows the importance of breastfeeding, and I’m extremely happy and proud that she’s giving Avery the best nutrition available. I mean, Nature’s pretty damn good at knowing what we need, and no formula or rice cereal will ever replace it! Unless you’re unable to for some reason, I see no good reason why you wouldn’t breastfeed your children.
Lately, Kelley has been concerned about her production and we’ve been looking for natural alternatives to give it a boost. She’s been drinking Traditional Medicinals Mother’s Milk herbal tea for a while now, but doesn’t always have time to brew a cup of tea with her busy work schedule on top of needing to pump. So, now I’m trying to boost things by adding fenugreek to her meals and soon we’ll have a fenugreek supplement to use too.
For the record, I think she’s doing fine and Avery doesn’t seem to complain (besides when she’s just a fussy baby), but either way, as you will see, there are plenty of other benefits to using fenugreek as well.  Below is my original post from my old blog which also includes fennel since it’s another healthy addition to you meals. Plus, it made for a lot of “F’s” in my post title!
I have two awesome foods for you to add to your meals to create functional flavors that boost nutrition.  One powder from the licorice flavored vegetable, fennel, and the other from an herb, fenugreek.  Both of these have very distinguishable flavors that stand out in dishes. For that reason, you have to be careful because too much could ruin a dish.

 

These are both new functional flavors I’ve started to add to my diet and hope to feel a difference after using for a while.  Fennel and fenugreek are known for alleviating annoying digestive issues (what? we all have them!) along with several other ailments.

Here’s a sample of fennel’s multiple health benefits, as listed on Organicfacts.net:

The health benefits of fennel include relief from anemia, indigestion, flatulence, constipation, colic, diarrhea, respiratory disorders, menstrual disorders, eye care, etc. Fennel, bearing the scientific name Foeniculum Vulgare Miller, or its essence, is widely used around the world in mouth fresheners, toothpastes, desserts, antacids and in culinary.
 
Fennel is a diuretic, i.e. increases amount and frequency of urination, thereby helping removal of toxic substances from the body and helping in rheumatism, swelling etc. It also increases production and secretion of milk in lactating mothers and since this milk contains some properties of fennel, it is anti flatulent for the baby too. It strengthens hair, prevents hair fall, relaxes body, sharpens memory and has a marvelous cooling effect in summer if the pale greenish-yellow water, in which it is soaked, is taken with a bit of sugar and black-salt.

And no, I am not using it for production of milk in my breasts. I’m neither lactating nor a woman; the indigestion and stomach relief is what I’m after. (Edit: And to boost Kelley’s milk supply too!) Read the full benefits of fennel here.

Fenugreek’s health benefits, also listed on Organicfacts.net, are:

 

The health benefits of fenugreek include relief from anemia, pregnancy pains, increasing lactation, digestion, loss of taste, fever, hair care, dandruff, stomach disorders, biliousness, respiratory disorders, mouth ulcers, sore throat, diabetes, inflammations, wounds and insomnia..
Most of these benefits of fenugreek are due to the presence of saponins and fiber in it. Fenugreek is also used for herbal healing. Its seeds contain a gumming substance called mucilage. Mixed with water, mucilage expands and becomes a gelatinous soother for irritated tissues.
Fenugreek is used to treat wounds, inflammation and gastrointestinal ailments. Fenugreek helps in antioxidation. So, it prevents and repairs damages caused by free radicals. According to ayurvedic and Chinese medicine, fenugreek can be used for inducing labour and aiding digestion. It is also good to improve metabolism and health. Irritated skin condition can be soothed by the external application of fenugreek. Fenugreek is also used for fevers and muscle aches.

Fenugreek is considered to be a safe herbal food. It is also used as a spice and tastes oddly of bitter celery and maple syrup.

Read more of fennel’s health benefits here.

Hopefully I will share a successful outcome with Going Mom’s production, but as you see, there are many other benefits to these foods and I recommend adding them whenever possible.

Have you ever used fennel or fenugreek?

Any moms out there that have tried boosting lactation naturally?

Do you have any new herbs or spices in your diet?

Food, Friday Food Facts, Life, Parenting

Learning to Walk and Butt Spins + Friday Foodie Fun Facts: Pears

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Only 3 days left until my “bet” that Avery would be walking by 10 months will expire. Of course, technically, this counts as walking, right?

She’s getting very close, just needs to let go and realize she doesn’t need support to stand on her own. It’s hard, but we are trying not to rush it as that will make the task of keeping up with her all that more difficult! A crawling baby is hard enough as it is!!

Although, she does give us a break every now and then just to spin on her butt….

This is pretty new and took me a while to actually capture on video, but now she does it multiple times a day. Her Aunt Lindsay, Going Mom’s sister, said she just likes a panoramic view, and I fully agree!

But I don’t think she’ll be “grounded” much longer. I’ve been catching her working on her leg strength with squats to prepare for her momentous first steps.

DSC_0656

What do you think? Before 11 months for sure or would say even longer?  I feel pretty confident she’ll make those steps before her 11 month mark, but only time will tell for sure.

Maybe she’ll be motivated as we start going to meetups with the Dallas Dads Group another stay-at-home dad, David Kepley, and I just started with a lot of help from some great guys at City Dads Group.

Our first official meeting is tomorrow, at nice park with a miniature train to ride! How do you think an almost 10 month old will handle a train ride? I think she’ll love it.

Now, being Friday, that means I have a few fun food facts to share. We’ve been receiving organic, local produce each week from a co-op we just joined, and I’ll start giving facts about one of the items we receive. Today, it’s pears.

I love pears and haven’t had them in a while, so it was a nice treat to see them in our last box. Being organic, I just grabbed one and ate it as is, no need to wash since even organic soil has nutrients. It was delightfully tasty and left me eager to learn more about this sweet treat. Turns out, there’s a lot to know; here’s a few things….

  • Before tobacco was introduced in Europe, pear leaves were smoked.
  • Pears are often recommended for weaning babies because they are low in acid and aren’t too harsh on a baby’s digestive system.
  • Pears have more nutrients per calorie than calories per nutrient which is surprising since they are so sweet. They are a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, copper & vitamin K.
  • Pears don’t float.
  • Most pears ripen from the inside out, and if left on the tree to ripen, many varieties will turn brown and rot in the middle.
  • The skin of pears contain at least three to four times as many phytonutrients as the flesh. These phytonutrients include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory flavonoids, and potentially anti-cancer phytonutrients like cinnamic acids. The skin of the pear has also been show to contain about half of the pear’s total dietary fiber.

Wow, I’d say when put against these bell-shaped treats, other fruits just can’t com-pear!

Happy Friday!