FOODRUSTIC en español

martes, 18 de septiembre de 2012

AUTUM IS COMING...

It´s 14.58pm...and for October...it´s already quite cold which is not that normal in the South of Spain.....I was craving for some nice and healthy snack but still something to take this feeling away...I had some salmon in the fridge....wild salmon of course.....animal protein, fish in this case...which I eat ever so often...max once a week to make sure of my vit.B 12 intake (only present in animal protein and necessary for the body) makes you produce warmth inside so quite suitable for this time of the year....




I believe I have already spoken of the nutritional value of fish?? well....I choose wild salmon as I know from a fact from when I was a researcher and I was studying the toxines in marine mammal blubber, muscle and fish being the cause of it.....salmon is the least contaminated fish there is...at least when it comes to Mercury, present in nature from debris breakdown but also caused by industrial releases into the sea....Mercury accumulates in the muscle of fish....the bigger the fish, this is the higher in the food chain, the bigger the concentration of mercury as it accumulates more from eating all the little fish...tiny species like sardines don´t accumulate as much so they are better to eat....try avoiding the larger fish like  shark (although not sold  normally here to eat, thank God!) , sea bass, sword fish and Tuna , this last one...is a very endangered fish, specially red tuna, so more reason not to eat this poor guy..... I am living at this moment in Tarifa, the most southern point of Spain, here you find the most traditional way of catching the red tuna, called "Almadrabas"...they use nets in which they make labirinths in order to catch the fish and this way they make sure the fish gets confused with all the nets and can´t get out anymore....to this we have to add the fact that marroccan also fish here the red tuna and to complicate things more,Japanese boats come and stay for around two months and catch the most tuna for their sushi making..I guess I need not say more why we need to cut down on eating this poor fish? The last article I read about the Tuna population said that since the 1970's the red tuna declined about 90% of their population.....this is terrible news...you can imagine, me...animal lover...nature lover...sea lover...how it makes me feel...of course I do not eat Tuna and I hope after you have read this ,you won´t either ....:-)

Ok..going back to the fish protein...and why I still eat fish....at least well selected fish and only once a week...is because it´s a very healthy source of high quality proteins and also and very important, a great source of essential fatty acids, specially omega -3 very important for the general health...nervous system....it´s also a natural antiinflamatory  so, for people who suffer of chronicle degenerating diseases it´s great to calm down the symptoms....also very important for pregnant women as it helps in the development of the brain tissue in babies.....
And you might be thinking...what about the toxins? mercury??? Yesss...there is mercury in all fish...as I mentioned before..eat the small sized fish, not the babies..I mean the smaller type of fish....in the other hand, fish also have a lot of Selenium in them, this is an essential mineral very important for us..for the metabolism as it takes part of many metabolic reactions among many other things....Selenium seems to counteract the effect of Mercury by binding it...so...this could explain why fish that have high levels of Mercury don´t get intoxicated with it....:-)
Things we can do to avoid getting Mercury absorbed in our bodies is to take suplements of Selenium and also take Ascorbate, wich is vit. C, which seems aswell to help detoxify Mercury from the body.





Coming back to what I made for lunch...this is a lovely sandwich...I used whole grain gluten free bread, added some olive oil on top..then salmon slices (as many as you wish) , for some acid I added some cherry tomatoes, also give great color to the dish.. and some cut chives and salmon eggs for garnish....this is a healthy snack to accompany with some salad if you wish...I had no time for a propper lunch as I am working at the same time so no salad pics this time..sorry...promise to post more soon....;-)
Bon appetit!!!
BREAKFAST ANYONE???



Ok, so maybe chocolate mousse is not the healthiest thing to eat for breakfast...but...what if the mousse was 100% veggie and no sugar? yes...I believe in healthy food and healthy living...I also believe that one part of being healthy is enjoying life..therefore..taking things like chocolate that make you happy should always be in your menu..that´s why I made sure I was eating chocolate the healthy way.....this mousse is really delicious and healthy at the same time...don´t believe me? here´s the recipe:

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE "THE VEGAN WAY" :

-1 ripe avocado (bio)
- 2 tbs Cocoa powder with no sugar
- 2 tbs agave nectar or organic honey
Mix all together in the mixer,add more of the cocoa or agave nectar for more sweet taste if you like...
Serve with a sprinkle of toasted nuts like pine nuts or almonds.



And if this was not healthy enough...why not add some delicious bio fruit to it? In this case I've used good mango and peaches , great fruits that are rich in betacarotenes...these great antioxidants to fight against our daily free radicals!
Enjoy!!!