My Favorite Oat Meal Cookie Recipe!

Oat Meal Cookies

These are a low fat and sugar cookie that tastes great and uses complex carbs to rev up your metabolism. When I make these I eat them as my breakfast bar.

Cookies can be enjoyed if you watch the amount and type of cookies you eat. These cookies are made with whole oats and whole wheat flour so they have some better qualities than mass produced cookies you can buy – those tend to be high in fat and sugar, and who knows what else goes into them!

INGREDIENTS
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pan
¾ cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup whole wheat flour (Trader Joes and King Arthur brand has 100% whole wheat white flower that looks and tastes great for cookies)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1½ cups “old-fashioned” oats ½ cup raisins


DIRECTIONS

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease one or two baking sheets.

•  Cream the butter and the sugar together in a mixing bowl (by hand with a wooden spoon or using a handheld electric mixer) until fluffy. Beat in the egg. Stir in the vanilla extract, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a separate mixing bowl. Beat them into the butter mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins.

• Drop the batter by slightly mounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheet(s). Bake until lightly browned on the bottom, 10 to 12 minutes.
• For round, flat cookies, just press the cookies with the palm of your hand after dropping them onto the baking sheet.

For variations you can :

• Add a 1/2 cup nuts or choc chips
• Change raisins to craisins
• For diabetics you can change the brown sugar to 1/2 cup of agave nectar instead

Artificial Food Preservatives:Nitrites/Nitrates and Sulfites

My #5 and #6 Ingredients to Avoid

   ARTIFICIAL FOOD PRESERVATIVES:

NITRITES/NITRATES & SULFITES

There are so many natural food preservatives in the world why did we need a lab to make more? 

Well, most of these lab created preservatives last longer on the shelf. Increasing the shelf life means less spoilage and less money lost. Some preservatives we see are just so a product looks better for the consumer to buy. Apparently us Americans can't handle a dried apricot that looks brown?!


Here's a list of artificial food preservatives: calcium propionate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sulfites (sulfur dioxide, sodium bisulfite, potassium hydrogen sulfite, etc.) and disodium EDTA.


You see these ingredients in deli meat, cured meat, hot dogs, bacon, condiments, sauces, fruits, wines and dried fruits and vegetables.


Like most lab created food items, there comes health risks. Some modern synthetic preservatives have become controversial because they have been shown to cause respiratory or other health problems. Some studies point to synthetic preservatives and artificial coloring agents aggravating ADD & ADHD symptoms in those affected.


Click here  for more info on why artificial preservatives are risky for your health. 

How do we avoid Artificial Preservatives?

For fruits and veggies go organic. Go to your local Farmers market, there they sell local organic produce cheaper than in your grocery store.

For deli meats there is Applegate Farms, Open Nature, and Hormel Natural selections. You can find applegate at trader joe's, whole foods, and co'ops. Open Nature is a safeway brand where you can find the deli meat in the meat dept. not the deli dept. Hormel you can find at most grocery stores.

For dried fruit go to Trader joe's, whole foods, farmers markets, and co'ops. 

So there you go! To recap my top 6 ingredients to avoid are:

#1 Unfermented Soy

#2 Hydrogonated Oils

#3 High Fructose Corn Syrup

#4 Arificial Sweeteners

#5 Nitrites/Nitrates

#6 Sulfites/ Artificial Preservatives

If you can avoid these things you will defiantly notice your better health and you might even find it easier to lose or maintain weight. 

Ever since I started to avoid it all, my immune system has become immensely better and I have noticed I can eat anything I want (food without ingredients from my top 6)  like french bread, pasta, cheese, hot dogs, bacon ect.. without gaining weight (granted I stop when I'm full) . In fact my tone has increased and I have dropped fat% easily without much exercise. 

So remember, always read your labels and know what you are putting into your body. 

Soon I will be blogging more about some other health tips and recipes. If you have a type of food  that you just can't find without my top 6, comment me and I'll try to find an all natural kind that can be found in a store near you:) 

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS: How do we move past them?

My #4 Ingredient To Avoid

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS

In my blog you might notice I am anti lab created food. Well artificial sweeteners fit the bill for highly lab created, so I'm writing about it and why you should avoid it as much as possible with some other sweetener options.

First of all, there seems to be new studies out almost every week about the dangers of certain artificial sweeteners, and unless you want to be the test lab rat, best to avoid. 

Second of all, we all know that lab created food is highly risky because the FDA approves things after minimal testing and never seems to look into the long term affects.

Thirdly you don't need to get rid of your sugar intake if you are already following my other foods to avoid. Why have the weird tasting stuff if you can do the real thing.

Artificial Sweeteners include:

Food Additive Code (E Number)	Name of Sweetener
E420	Sorbitol
E421	Mannitol
E422	Glycerol
E950	Acesulfame potassium (k)
E951	Aspartame
E952	Cyclamate
E953	Isomalt
E954	Saccharin
E955	Sucralose
E956	Alitame
E957	Thaumatin
E959	Neohesperidine dihydrochalcone
E962	Aspartame-acesulfame salt
E965	Maltitol
E966	Lactitol
E967	Xylitol
E968	Erythritol

Main companies that use these are sweet n low, equal, and splenda. Watch out when a food says sugar free or low in sugar.
 

Diabetics, You don't need to eat the artificial sweeteners!

For baked goods use fruit puree, agave nectar, stevia or mix them. With your tea use agave, with coffee use stevia, or make your own pop with seltzer water and squeezed fruit. 

Stevia 

This is an actual plant that is 300 times the sweetness of sugar and no calories. You can actually grow this plant in WA state for those of you that live here in the pacific northwest, and you can grow this plant all over the world as well. You can buy pure stevia in most health food stores. I would stick to stevia in it's pure form and stay away from the brands out there that mix stevia with other artificial sweeteners like stevia in the raw, and truvia.

Agave Nectar

Agave is another replacement for cane sugar if you are diabetic. This syrup does have calories but it is very low on the glycemic index. You can use this substitute with the same conversion as honey. You can find Agave at almost any grocery store now a days even at costco.

For those diabetics, or highly allergic people out there that are looking for a chocolate fix 

this site might be something to look into http://www.gnosischocolate.com. This company makes chocolate with agave nectar and there chocolate bars are soy, dairy, gluten and refined sugar free!

As always read your labels! Know what's going into your body because it's the only one you've got so take care of it if you can. 

Tomorrow I'll be covering the #5 &#6 ingredients to avoid!

High Fructose Corn Syrup

We all Know this stuff is bad right?

Well some people might buy into the touted message that it's the same as table sugar, but there is a resounding difference.  High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has been majorly processed by science and not by nature. HFCS comprises any group of corn syrups that have undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce a desired sweetness. 

This product is designed to make you fat and addicted to the super sweet

AND

It's in everything!

So like soy, HFCS is being put into almost all foods that have been through a factory. Tomato soup, icecream, soda, fruit juice, energy drinks,  all kinds of bread, Oreo cookies, cookies, yogurt, soups of all kinds, chocolate, fruit snacks, candy, power bars, cereal, deli meat, bacon, meats of all kinds and more! 

So on a daily basis, if your not checking on the labels of what you eat, you are being pumped with more scientifically created super sugar than you realize.

Some brands to look for that mostly get rid of HFCS are:

Safeway's Open nature brand has a large line of products from meat to cereal and icecream.

Newman's

Annie's

Chobani Yogurt

Fage Yogurt

AppleGate farms meat (you can find this at Trader joes, and local health food stores like whole foods, co'ops, market stores)

Hormel Natural

Kashi (watch out for the soy in their products though)

rudi's breads (you can find this at local health food stores like whole foods, co'ops, market stores)

Also a local farmers market is a great place to pick up your breads, fruit, vegetables, meat and a large variety of foods. Farmers markets are usually local, homemade and organic. It's a great way to support your local economy!

As Always though, watch your labels. Even these brands I recommend, I would suggest to look at the label because some products in the line have ingredients you should avoid.