In last week post I talked about how October is the Vegetarian Awareness Month and the benefits of including more veggies and plant-base ingredients to your diet.

I also promised you some nutrition recommendations for those who want to go vegetarian, even if it’s just for a day, a week or a month:

• Protein power. The old belief is that if you don’t eat meat or fish you won’t get enough protein to sustain a nutritious diet. Wrong, there are tons of vegetarian substitutions. Complete vegetarian proteins are eggs, dairy products, soy beans (tofu, tempeh), quinoa or  amaranth. But beans, peas or lentils are also good options, just combine them during the day to get all essential amino acids needed.
• Iron is a mineral to care for. It is responsable for carrying oxygen in our red globe cells and transporting it to our organs. Not having enough iron can cause fatigue, weakness and dizziness. Meat is a good source of iron but can also be found in cereals, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and leafy greens. Remember vitamin C helps with the iron absorption so combine your iron source ingredient with some vitamin C source.
• Vegetarians, specially vegans, can struggle with vitamin B12. Opt for eggs, nori algae, dairy products, fortified foods, supplementation or yeast extract. B12 deficiency can cause anemia, like iron deficiency, and neurological disorders.
• Calcium, leafy greens, broccoli, almonds, dairy products and fortified foods are good sources of calcium.
• Watch for animal hidden ingredient in foods. Always read the label and look for the vegetarian official logo. Mousses, jellies, sauces, yogurts and cheeses can have gelatin or other animal fats.

Now that you know all these facts, plan your meals in order to cover all nutritional requirements plus don’t forget the most important ingredients, love and care.

Today’s Turmeric Amaranth Soup is a great example of a super nutritional dish, it works perfectly like a main course or as a starter. It has a good mix of flavours, salty miso, sweet carrots and spicy ginger, a perfect balance to incorporate all the good things your body and your soul need.

This is the kind of soup I make myself when not feeling like cooking or like eating much. It’s super easy to make and super tasty. Amaranth gives you the protein and calcium you need for healthy muscles, bones and provides you of enough energy for your daily activity. Spinach is high in iron. Miso is a paste made from fermented soy helps to reduce digestive disorders. Turmeric and ginger are powerful antiviral and the best for boosting your immune system. It’s also my favourite soup when I’m with a cold or a flu, it really energize me and make me feel comfy.

Don’t forget to tag #healthyforkful on Instagram or leave a comment below, I would love to know what do you thing about it!

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Turmeric Amaranth Soup

Delicious and superpower soup, loaded with turmeric and ginger is perfect for cold days or for those days when fighting the flu

Course Soup

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion thinly diced
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 2 carrots thinly diced
• 1/2 zucchini cut in half moons
• 1 tablespoon miso paste
• 1 teaspoon tomato concentrate
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 bay leave
• 2 spoonfuls amaranth seeds
• 1 handful baby spinach
• olive oil
• salt
• black pepper

Instructions

• In a pot, heat a bit of olive oil and sauté diced onion for 5 minutes over medium-low heat. Add minced garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
• Add carrots and sauté other 5 mins. Sprinkle turmeric, ginger and stir the miso paste and tomato concentrete. Add a couple of spoons of water and dissolve the miso paste.
• Incorporate 500ml of water (room temperature) and the bay leave and increase heat to maximum. When boiling, add amaranth, reduce heat to low and leave it simmer until amaranth is cooked, around 20 minutes. 
• Add zucchini and baby spinach and cook for 5 minutes longer. You will see how the soup thinckens, that's for the amaranth, and the longer you leave it, the thicker will get.
• Serve immediately

The post Vegetarian Awareness Month (part II) appeared first on Healthy Forkful.

The Vegetarian Awareness Month is held in October, starting next Sunday 1st with the World Vegetarian Day and ending up the 1st of November with the World Vegan Day. But this is not a new celebration, actually it was established in 1977 by the North American Vegetarian Society (and adopted internationally one year later) in order to bring awareness to the ethical, environmental, health and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle.

I’m not vegetarian or vegan, but I am a huge advocate of a greener diet, mind and life. I love to encourage people to eat more veggies, fruits, grains, beans, more nuts and seeds. But what I would like to make clear is that being vegetarian is not synonymous of healthy. I have met many vegetarian who followed a very poor diet, just chips, refined flour and candies, is vegetarian, but it’s not good for you.

When you go vegetarian is very important to have a well planned diet. The key is to incorporate a good variety of ingredients that will provide you a variety of valuable nutrients. Healthy fats, high fiber veggies and grains, super antioxidant fruits, complex carbs and lean protein is all your body needs.

When you eat more veggies and follow a properly balanced vegetarian lifestyle you can feel and experience some of the following health benefits:

IMPROVED MOOD

Some studies and research suggest that vegetarians suffer less from depression and have better mood profiles.

DISEASE FIGHTING

A proper vegetarian diet is naturally low in fat, saturated and cholesterol and have been shown to reduce heart disease risk. The intake of fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants, flavonoids and carotenoids is higher in a vegetarian diet. This rich food properties can contribute to lower risk of diabetes, diet-related cancers, constipation, obesity or macular degeneration.

LESS TOXICITY

Plant sources are less contaminated with toxins, bacteria, parasites or antibiotics than meat or fish.

GREENER PLANET

Plant growing requires less energy and farmland.

MONEY SAVING

If you stick to traditional plant ingredients, pulses, grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, you will save a good bunch of money. They tend to be less expensive than meat or fish. Just watch out for trendy vegetarian ingredients, superfoods…

BETTER ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE

Venus Williams or Djokovic are just two examples of world-class vegetarian athletes. There are conflicting studies, but some defend that a rich vegetarian diet may be optimal for sports performance.

LONGEVITY

If we look for the oldest people in the planet and make a study about them, we will find out that most of them follow a rich plant-base diet, leaving meat and fish just for exceptional occasions.

Whether you want to become vegetarian for health, ethical or animal  welfare, there are some important recommendations to keep in mind when you transition to a vegetarian diet. But for them, you will have to wait to next week’s post.

Meanwhile experiment with new vegetables. Add more pulses and beans to your meals. Try new combinations. Or even commit to a full vegetarian day or week. Just increase the awareness of a greener life and let’s celebrate the Vegetarian Awareness Month.

The post Vegetarian Awareness (part I) appeared first on Healthy Forkful.

Hi guys!

Hope you are doing great!!

Few months ago, in March, I got a blood test and the results weren’t good at all. My levels of vitamin D, iron and ferritin were low. Yes, even in Spain, a very sunny country, we suffer vitamin D deficiency, quite normal when you spend most of the day indoors… By then the doctor’s suggestion was to increase the intake of beef, take more sun and do heavy lifting.

I like to consider myself a good patient and I followed his instructions, I add beef at least once a week and ate lunch at the sun nearly everyday.

But the results from a new blood test, just a couple of weeks ago, were even worst. The scores for vitamin D, iron and ferritin were quite low now. I explained to the doctor I was feeling very tired, exhausted and without energy. He didn’t bother much and said, it was normal, that everyone nowadays is tired and I shouldn’t worry. He said to keep eating more beef, mussels and with summer coming the sun wouldn’t be a problem…

I am not an hypochondriac at all, actually I hardly go to the doctor or take any medicine, but I was soooo bored of feeling like that I decided to apply some of my nutritional knowledge on myself.

Pexels

You may be wondering why iron is so important for a good health. Iron is the responsable for the transportation of oxygen around the body. It carries oxygen in the red blood cells and delivers that oxygen to every cell in our body. If you suffer from iron deficiency you probably have experience fatigue, weakness and irritability.

There are two types of iron:

• Heme, obtain through animal source and is easier for the body to absorb. Clams, oysters, beef, lamb and turkey are great iron sources.
• Non-heme iron, is the one found in plants, like spinach, broccoli, chickpeas or red kidney beans.

Since last results I have paid a closer attention to my diet and tried to follow this simple recommendations:

1. I combine iron-rich foods with vitamin C (oranges, kiwis, mangoes), because ascorbic acid increases it absorption.

2. Also I never mix iron-rich food with dairy, eggs, berries or apples. They inhibit it absorption.

3. Increase the intake of iron-rich foods as spinach, mussels, sweet potato, pumpkin, peas or dry fruits.

Also I have every morning a shot of orange juice with spirulina (very high in iron) and even sometimes I indulge myself with a delicious spirulina smoothie.

It’s soon to get tested again, but so far I have to say, I feel much better, my mood has generally improved and my energy levels are also higher!

All this remind me how important is to keep a balanced diet to ensure an adequate nutrition and a healthy life.

The post Why is iron important and easy ways to get more appeared first on Healthy Forkful.