The Good, the Bad and the Ugly About Raisins

I ran a half-marathon last weekend in preparation for my full Disney Marathon in January. As my reward, I baked a homemade loaf of raisin bread. The bread was delicious, but it was a little too good. I fell into the trap that I was warned about, but swore I would never do: I justified my eating three-quarters the entire loaf because I ran 13.1 miles.

Fact: I burned 1,548 calories while running the half marathon (according to my Garmin.)

Fact: I ate approximately 1,800 calories in ¾ of a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread.

I completely negated my run by eating that cinnamon raisin bread. There are a couple of lessons here:

1. Know your trigger foods and don’t have them in the house
2. We often overestimate the calories we burn through exercise and underestimate the calories in the foods we eat.
3. Don’t justify eating whatever you want because you exercised.
4. Don’t bake a fresh loaf of cinnamon raisin bread when you are hungry.

First of all, while raisins did make the top 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth list, the news about raisins isn’t all good. I’m going to break down the good, the bad and the ugly on raisins.

The Good

Raisins are high in phenols, which have high antioxidant activity and can prevent damage to the cells in the body from free radicals. Raisins are also high in boron, .which can promote bone and joint health. Also, I hope you read my recent article about Five Ways to Combat Alzheimer’s and I’m excited to read about yet another discovery in Alzheimer’s prevention: myricetin, found in raisins, has been found to inhibit beta-amyloid fibril formation, which is a key problem in Alzheimers disease. So now you have six ways you can prevent Alzheimer’s through lifestyle changes – add raisins to your diet!

The Bad

When I was researching the health benefits of raisins, I came across an article that touted one of the “benefits” was gaining weight because “raisins, like all dried fruit, are very good for gaining weight, as they are full of fructose and glucose and give a lot of energy.” OK, that is wonderful if you are one of the very few naturally thin people on this earth, but personally, I don’t need a food that will “help me gain weight.” I have enough “weight gain” tricks up my sleeve, it is the weight loss that I need help with.

 

However, my dietician did recommend that I bring raisins with me on my long runs instead of the GU or energy gels. Maybe I’ll do that on Saturday when I run 23 miles.

The Ugly

Raisins are concentrated grapes, so they have the highest pesticide residue of any fruit – not good. For that reason, try to buy organic raisins, even if they cost a little bit more.

 

I made the cinnamon raisin bread from a recipe in the The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. If you love bread, you must have this book. This is absolutely the best loaf of bread I’ve ever had in my life and I’m not an experienced bread baker.

I’m not going to lie, it is VERY time consuming, but it is worth it. Do you like raisins? Did you know that they had the highest pesticide rating of any fruit? I’d love to hear from you!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Sponge

• 2 ¼ cup plus 2 ½ tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 ¾ cup water, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon honey
• ¾ teaspoon instant yeast

Flour mixture

• 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup dry milk
• ¾ teaspoon instant yeast
• 8 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 ¼ teaspoon salt

 

Spiral Filling

• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 egg, beaten

1. Make the sponge by whisking flour, water, honey and instant yeast in a large bowl for 2 minutes. Set it aside and cover it with plastic wrap.

2. Make the flour mixture by mixing the flour (reserve ¼ cup if mixing by hand), dry milk and instant yeast in a separate bowl. Gently place the flour mixture on top of the sponge, cover with plastic wrap and allow it to ferment 1 to 4 hours. The yeast mixture will bubble up through the flour mixture, don’t worry, that is supposed to happen.

3. Add the salt and cut up butter to the mixture. I mixed this all up in my KitchenAid mixture and blended until it all came together, about 10 minutes.

4. Cover it with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.

5.  Knead the dough for another 5 minutes until it’s very smooth. Add some additional flour if the dough is sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to relax for 10 minutes.

6. Add the raisins and mix on low speed or about 2 minutes to incorporate them.

7. Place the dough in a lightly greased 4-quart bowl and turn the dough over once to completely coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 1 ½ hours to 2 hours.

8. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and the cinnamon. Whisk the egg in a separate bowl.

9. Scrape the dough out on a floured surface and divide it in two equal pieces. Cover one piece of dough with plastic wrap and work with the other. Roll out on piece of dough to a rectangle 7 ½ inches wide by 14 inches long and about ¼ inch thick. Gently dimple the dough all over with your fingers to deflate air bubbles. Brush the dough with the beaten egg, leaving a 3/4 –inch margin on the edges. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar evenly on the dough. Start rolling the dough together, squeezing it gently along the length of the roll. Close the ends up and pinch the seams together. Place the roll in an oiled 8 ½-by 4 ½-inch loaf pan. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and repeat for the second loaf. Allow to rise for 1 to 2 hours.

10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 45 min before baking. Place a baking sheet in the oven while it is pre-heating so you can place the loaf pan directly on the heated pan after 45 minutes.
11. Set the loaf pans on the baking sheet and shut the door immediately. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the bread is golden brown.

12. Once the breads are done, remove them from the oven and unmold them. Set on a wire rack and let cool completely.

 

Day 27: What does “Free-Range” mean and is it worth the price?

Organic “Free-Range” Poultry tops the list as one of the healthiest foods on earth, but what the heck does “free-range” mean anyways? I touched on the difference between free-range, organic and grass-fed on a previous blog post, but let me break down “free-range” even further.

First note that the terms free-range and organic are mutually exclusive and have different meanings. Labeling a product organic is regulated and has specific standards, while “free-range” does not.

Free-range refers to the nature that the farmer raises the animals, as well as the product that results from this type of farming. A free-range chicken is allowed to freely roam, without being fenced in, and this results in a healthier, happier chicken. Free-range poultry is less likely to be contaminated. The term organic is used to indicate the type of feed used, which is specially formulated and does not have GMOs (genetically modified feedstuffs.) Organically raised chickens are also not given hormones or antibiotics.

Compare this to the typical living conditions for chickens, which include living in tight quarters with up to 40,000 chickens raised in the same shed, often two chickens per square foot. They stay in that shed night and day, without access to the outside, sun, air or light. They endure low levels of artificial light and are pumped full of growth hormones to fatten them up during their short life span before they are slaughtered. These chickens are also pumped full of antibiotics daily because they often get sick, living under such conditions. They are also fed horrible quality food, full of GMOs (genetically modified feedstuffs.)

After reading that, I’m seriously considering only buying organic chicken and meat. Not to be cheesy, but think about the circle of life (Lion King anyone?) You have to think about the food that your food is eating, because ultimately that is what you are eating too. I really don’t want antibiotics, growth hormones and genetically altered “food” in my, or especially my kids, body.

On a more positive note, a four ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast has 35 grams of protein, 255 mg of phosphorus and 287 mg of potassium. I don’t think it is a surprise to most of you that chicken is a great healthy option when dining out and/or preparing a meal at home. I think most of us also know that taking the skin off is crucial because the skin adds a significant amount of fat and calories. Chicken is such a no-brainer for the average dieter, that many of us are actually a little sick of eating it.

But, did you know that chicken is not only good for your waistline, packing in a lot of protein with little calories, but also contains a powerful antioxidant, selenium? Dr. Bowden considers selenium one of the most important nutrients in the human diet. One of the reasons he believes this is because research shows that low dietary intake of selenium is associated with several cancers, including lung, colorectal, skin and prostate. The current daily recommended allowance of selenium is 70 mcg, but Dr. Bowden recommends getting at least 200 mcg daily. To put this in perspective, four ounces of chicken breast has 30 mcg of selenium and four ounces of turkey has 47 mcg. Check out this site for a comprehensive listing of high selenium foods and more details on the benefits of selenium.

I bought my “free-range” chicken at Trader Joes and spent $11.00 on a 3.5 lb. chicken vs. $3.99 for the same-sized non-organic chicken. Taste-wise, there is no difference. As a natural thrifty person, I always find it hard to justify spending extra money on something that I can’t “see.” However, I have to say that after researching the information on free-range and organic for this blog post, I absolutely think it is worth the extra money. I never thought I would have said that a year ago, but I am appalled at what I found through my research.

Moving on to cooking this lovely bird…..I have an obsession with fresh, homemade chicken soup ever since I ate at my favorite bakery in Moresville, La Patisserie. The crazy thing is that this bakery is at least an hour drive from our house, yet we still make the trek for their chicken soup and black and white cookies. We decided to try to make their delicious soup with our organic free-range chicken…..it was quite a process.

We first roasted the chicken in the oven with lemons, garlic cloves and olive oil. When the chicken was done we took all of the meat off of the bone and put it in a pot with chicken broth, herbs, spices, celery and carrots. We cooked the brown rice separately while the chicken was simmering. We cooked the broth mixture for several hours and then added the brown rice.  It was delicious chicken soup and it made a huge pot. I sent the kids to school with a thermos of it and had it for lunch myself. I love making a big batch of something over the weekend and then reaping the rewards of my labor all week!

Now I know you guys have some awesome chicken recipes. Please share! I need dinner ideas for tonight!