I always hear people say they are somewhat afraid of what is in
their food but I never quite took it seriously. But, tonight I experienced it first hand.

I was having a nice Korean-style Barbecue dinner with the Boyfriend. We handpicked our protein from
a large selection of different red meats (it is a buffet style restaurant where you pick out the raw protein, take it back to your seat and grill it at the table).

We made sure we chose beef but somehow there was one tray that kind of stood out like a sore thumb. We double-checked the label on the tray and made sure it was beef; it was labelled “tenderloin beef”.

The weird thing was when we grilled the individual pieces, that special “tenderloin beef” did not cook like the rest. It did not turn into a deep brown colour and instead was a paler whitish colour….very much like pork. We took a bite, chewed it carefully and sure enough, “tenderloin beef” was no beef, it was heavily seasoned to disguise its flavour but the texture was certainly pork.

We felt cheated! What we thought was beef turned out to be pork. Perhaps it was the restaurant putting the raw protein in the wrong tray, or…it could have been fake beef. I will never know.

Regardless of whether or not it was fake beef that I ate tonight, the fear of not knowing what I put in my mouth when I eat out had become much more vivid after tonight. That means 2 things:

First, I will be more picky about what to eat when I am outside — which means less eating out and/or being more meticulous about food quality.

Second, will cook more at home since that’s the easiest way to know for sure what I put into my body and i have better control to eat the right amount of food (mostly veggies, some protein & grains) for optimal health.

Although we found fake beef midway through dinner, it didn’t bother us for long. We made it up by having more beef short ribs since there is no way to fake those (unless people has figured out a way to fake the bone part too?.).

Tonight’s dinner was definitely memorable – the fake beef incident was initially shocking but it also made this dinner blog-worthy and has once again reminded me of the benefits of cooking more and eating out less. Still an overall a positive experience, I’d say.

Have you ever encountered similar unhappy incident when you eat out?

Warning: raw “beef” images – not very pleasant looking.

Photo by s2photo

In the Health section of today’s Vancouver Sun, there is an excellent article titled “You can get in shape without going broke”.

In particular, I got attracted to the section in which they asked a dietitian, Desiree Nielsen, for her thoughts. In her exact words, she said “people often confuse healthy foods with expensive, processed and exotic foods”.

I totally agree!

Desiree highlights five inexpensive foods with excellent nutrition: apples, barley, beans, greens and flaxseed.

She offers some suggestions on how you can incorporate these 5 foods into your diet. But I think it would be even better to include a few recipes to demonstrate how versatile and delicious they can be.

Apples

• Baked Apple & Peanut Butter Steel Cut Oats 
• Apple Toast 
• Homemade Apple Chips

Barley

• Chicken Barley Soup 
• Quinoa and Barley Salad 
• Bacon Barley Risotto 

Beans

• Simplest Dal 
• Chickpea and Black Bean Salad
• Hummus 

Greens

• Baked Kale Chips
• Balsamic Swiss Chard
• Spinach Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing

Flaxseed

• Lemony Zucchini Flaxseed Muffin
• Strawberry and Banana Breakfast Shake with Flaxseed
• Apple Currant Flax Oatmeal

Do you find it easy or difficult to eat well with a frugal budget? Share your thoughts or tips on how to eat well without going broke.

By the way, Desiree has an awesome blog, Eat Drink Be Happy. Highly recommend it!

In his speech at TED, Jamie speaks truthfully, honestly and passionately about the obesity epidemic in America. He clearly states the factors that lead to the rapid rise of this epidemic and offers a set of real, tangible changes that each and everyone of us can do to help fight against obesity.

His passionate words really touched me and resonated strongly with what I’m trying to do here at Juicy Fresh Bites. I believe in enjoying life, enjoying good food and embracing a healthy living lifestyle and I try all I can to communicate my thoughts with others, and also encourage and support others around to do so. I’m trying to give it my individual best effort to change people around me and hopefully they will eventually influence others around them to join in, causing a ripple phenomenon of healthy eating and active living.

Watching Jamie Oliver’s speech was very inspirational. It strongly reinforced what I believe in and motivated me to give more effort into sharing my ideas and beliefs with others and influence them to make positive, healthier changes in diet and lifestyle.

And so, the first extra effort I’m going to make? Share this video with you.

Watch it, it’s worth every minute of your time! (I promise.)

My blog is listed as one of the top 40 blogs for staying healthy and fit. I feel so honoured to be part of that list, especially since I am a regular reader of some of the Diet and Nutrition blogs listed, including Carrots n’ Cake, Kath Eats Real Food, and the Nutrition Data Blog.

The extensive list contains a wide array of health and fitness information, be sure to check it out!

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Recent study shows that most Canadians are not meeting the serving recommendations set by Canada’s Food Guide, especially in the dairy and fruits and vegetables section.

Most people have no problem adding in fruits into their diets, but if you find it challenging to have more veggies, read about my suggestions on how to increase your vegetable intake.

Many people tend to think the dairy food group does not provide much health benefits and hence, I is easily neglected in our diet. However, consuming dairy products not only helps us to meet our calcium needs, it also plays a supportive role in reducing the risks of chronic illnesses, including osteoporosis, and certain types of cancers. Thus, getting enough milk products is not just about keeping our bones strong, it is also about keeping optimal health!

In tackling the problem of not eating any dairy, the possible list of solutions shrinks. The problem is slightly more complex than adding in more vegetables since lactose intolerance seems to bother most adults these days and for others, they just don’t really have new ways to enjoy dairy products (I’m one of them!). Thus, instead of offering solid ways to significantly boost your dairy intake, here I can only offer you a few methods that I’m trying out to boost my dairy intake.

Substitute milk for water in cooking.

Instead of cooking 1 cup oatmeal with 2 cups of water, I try to substitute half in 1 cup low-fat milk. The result yields a slightly sweet flavour (due to the presence of natural sugar in milk, lactose) and the colour of the oatmeal becomes more creamy and it actually tastes more creamy too! If you prepare a big batch of oatmeal and reheats it the next day, you can add in a bit more milk to thin it out.

Add cheese to your meals or snacks.

Try added some grated low-fat cheese to your main dish or side dishes – not only will it enhance the flavour, but it will be a quick calcium boost too. Or how about adding a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese to your fruit salad snack. The protein in the cheese will slow down digestion and prevent sugar spikes from the sweet fruits.

Instead of drinking juice, try a yogurt drink.

At many occasions, we tend to choose fruit juice over other beverages thinking that it will add to our fruits and vegetables intake (which it does, but provides minimal benefits in comparison to consuming whole fruits). In many cases, the health benefits that fruit juice offer is very minimal compare to the negative health impact that it can have. Very often, commercially prepared fruit juice are loaded with sugars and hence, we’re basically tricking ourselves to think that consuming sugar-coated fruits and vegetables are good for us! Thus, it may actually be smarter to substitute dairy beverages. This is especially suitable for those who have lactose intolerant (the fermentation process in yogurt consumes most lactose in the milk, with only trace amounts remaining).

In attempt to boost my own dairy consumption, these are the three easiest ways for me to include more dairy products in my life. What are you doing to boost your dairy intake?

To find out more about dairy consumption and calcium intake, here are a few helpful resources:

• Getenough.ca
• Dairy Foundation of Canada
• Dietitians of Canada: Calcium Counts Fact Sheet