Go Nuts

Nuts are really a superfood. Not only are they delicious, they offer tons of health benefits as well. Packed with protein and healthy fats, nuts make a great snack on their own or when added to a recipe. You just need to be careful not to eat too much because they are high in calories. Remember, everything in moderation!



Walnuts help boost brain power and have tons of protein and fiber. For a handful of 14 halves you are getting 185 calories.

Almonds lower cholesterol and pack more fiber and calcium than most other nuts. They also have fewer calories and are an excellent source of vitamin E. For 163 calories you can eat 23 of these bad boys.

Pistachios have a special antioxidant called lutein that helps with your vision and skin. If you don't like bananas you can get your potassium from these guys instead. One serving size gives you almost as much as a small banana. They also have fewer calories than most other nuts. For only 162 calories you can snack on a whopping 49 nuts. Sounds good to me!

Cashews contain iron, folate and vitamin K. They help keep your bones strong and give you almost 10% of your daily iron. Move over Popeye! With 18 nuts per serving you get 163 calories.

Pecans help lower cholesterol as well and they help prostates stay healthy. Eat up men! You will get 196 calories for 19 halves.

Pine Nuts are good for the blood. They help metabolize carbs and protein and keep sugar levels at a normal rate. In addition, they help you feel full. By eating 167 nuts you will get 191 calories.

Food Rules

My previous website, d+eco, was a great place for me to blog about all the issues that Revolt is about. Considering the site is not running anymore I wanted to take a look back at some of my posts and share them here. I know a lot of you did not get to read them and I feel they are very important for everyone to see. So this post is one of them. Enjoy!

I recently purchased a great book from author Michael Pollan and I wanted to share it with you. It is called Food Rules and I feel it is highly important for everyone to get it. It is set up in three sections: What you should eat, how you should eat and what kind of food you should be putting in your body. We all know that when it comes to food there are boundaries. Growing up we had our parents and grandparents telling us to eat healthy and stay away from the “junk”. Well, they were right. Except, nowadays “junk” is in everyone’s supermarket, pantry, fridge and table. You may think you are eating healthy but I can bet you aren’t. The so called Western diet is a huge problem in this country. We have ruined food. If we can even call it that anymore.

Every week you shop down the aisles of your local market and wind up buying chemicals, sugar, fats, disease and tons of other processed garbage. This garbage is being served on your dinner table and getting fed to your family. Don’t you think your family is worth a little more than that? You may know the facts but are you acting on them? Its time to be responsible for your body and health as well as the people around you. These days I just can’t believe that people don’t realize that about 90% of the food being sold in most supermarkets is toxic. How can you not know? I hate to call people stupid but hey, if the shoe fits. Im sorry, but if you are not aware of the major problem in this country than you need to wake up! Yes, it is a major problem. This Western diet is making the people of this country very sick and it needs to stop. Obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes are all caused by the food industry. Big business is selling you crap and they are making you believe that its good for you! WIth every commercial and every package they continue to lie because they know you will believe them. And you all are!

Well, I do not fall into the trap of deception and false advertisement. I do not let this industry take control of my life. I realize and know for a fact that they are all in it together and unless I take action and eliminate them all I will not be free. Free to be healthy and guilt free. I ask all of you to think twice about what you put in your body. Think about how people are getting sick and deteriorating due to the crap on the shelves and how much money they waste on medication and doctor visits to stay alive. It is not a coincidence! Unless you eat all organic and natural foods you are in trouble. You may think you are ok but most likely you aren’t. Here are some rules from Pollan’s manual that I ask all of you to read and consider. It is time to gain control back and feel the best you have ever felt. I promise that these rules will help you get there.

1. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.
2. Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
3. Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients.
4. Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients. (this does not include ingredients in a recipe)
5. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.
6. Avoid products that make health claims as well as ones that include the words “light”, “low-fat” and “nonfat”.
7. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not. (example: margarine)
8. Avoid foods you see advertised on television.
9. Stay away from the middle of the supermarket and shop in the fresh aisles.
10. Eat only foods that will eventually rot.
11. Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.
12. Get out of the supermarket when you can and shop more at farmer’s markets.
13. Eat only foods that are cooked by other humans and not corporations.
14. Don’t ingest food in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap.
15. If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.
16. Its not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
17. It’s not food if its called the same name in other languages. (example: Big Mac)

If you want to read more than you can purchase Michael Pollan’s manual on Amazon for $5. Yep, only $5!! So, there is no excuse. For $5, you can gain tons of important insight and change your life for the better. I would also suggest you look into Pollan’s other books for they are highly praised. Remember, by making these positive changes you not only stay healthy, longer, but you feel strong and more positive from the inside. If you continue to choose to be a victim of the food industry you are the only one to blame. I just feel bad for the people and children you are responsible for. They will all suffer from your bad habits and ignorance. Its time to stop this deadly cycle and evolve for change!

Other books by Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, In Defense of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education, The Omnivore’s DIlemma for Kids: The Secrets Behind What You Eat, The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams, A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder.

Books that Pollan contributed to: Food Fight: The Citizen’s Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, Voices of the Land

Processed Foods - Then and Now

It's funny how today, most products you find in the supermarket are highly processed and full of crap. What the packaging says may not be the truth and a lot of advertising are just lies. This is upsetting because when these same products were first introduced they were amazing to everyone. People didn't realize how bad some of this stuff really was! Let's just take a small look back in time. Thanks to the April issue of Real Simple we can catch a glimpse of history way back when and see how things have changed for some of these products.

Kool-Aid (once known as Kool-Ade)
This powdered drink mix was invented by Edwin Perkins and his wife Kitty. They originally created Fruit Smack which was a liquid concentrate. Problems with the packaging and high production costs let to the idea of Kool-Aid. It was made a powder in 1927 and later sold to General Foods in 1953. Notice how the packaging changed once it went to a commercial company. That vintage appeal was lost. Ingredients that were once listed were no longer printed. In came the big fat Kool-Aid guy all happy like he smoked crack. Did they need to make him break through walls? Of course, the advertising was focused on children and after seeing the commercials what kid wouldn't want to drink it? The crap is pure sugar! Even the sugar-free versions are horrible considering they contain aspartame. Just another highly processed and toxic product for our kids. They even started to print labels that said "sensible selections" on the packaging. Are they crazy! You can't go wrong with cheap crap that makes your kids happy, right? Unfortunately, you can!

The original drawings of the Kool-Aid guy were cool. Being an artist I can appreciate that. But when you use something that is cool in a negative way its simply a waste of creativity.



Minute Rice
We all want to make dinner faster and easier right? Well, General Foods first introduced Minute Rice in 1949. It was pre-cooked, easy to make and ready fast. They have a lot of varieties which is good but I am just wondering where all their rice comes from. You see, I like to buy my rice in a bag that doesn't get boiled. A bag that tells me where it came from. I don't mind it taking 20 minutes or so to cook. Big deal! This was one of the products that slowly helped American families stop cooking real food and make dinner in 10 minutes. Something I do not support. The packaging sure as hell changed too.



Hamburger Helper
Another great friggin idea! Hamburger Helper is one of the worst products out there. The amount of crap in it is horrible. Created in 1971 it was intended to help stretch the amount of meat a family bought due to the escalated prices. What ever happened to just making real macaroni and cheese and adding meat? Oh I forgot, American families are lazy. And what's up with the hand dude? He doesn't even make sense. I get the whole "helping hand" idea but its still pretty lame. General Mills also sells frozen versions too. Yuck! They even have the nerve to put "home-cooked skillet meal" on the package!



Campbells Soup
Honestly, the first thing I think of when Campbell's comes to mind is Andy Warhol. Not how good the soup tastes. What does that say! First of all, the idea to condense soup might have been good at the moment but there really is nothing great about it. Of course, today they have normal soups as well. Sadly enough, most of them are high in sodium, contain msg and are really bad for you. In 2008, they started to make label changes so the packaging would appeal more to the public. Just last year the company finally lowered 50% of the salt content in their products. It took them that long! Geez, people have been complaining for years. Just so you know, they own a lot of other brands as well: Pace, Pepperidge Farm, Prego, Swanson and V8. Talk about big business. That doesn't include the brands they own from other countries.

Campbell's line of soups was introduced in 1897 with the original Tomato Soup. They added new flavors as the years passed. They started to add the Campbell's Kids to their ads in 1904 which are now collectors items. That ended in 1958 but showed up again in a 1990 commercial where the kids were rapping. Huh? Anything to get your children's attention. In all their ads they mention how cheap it was, how fast it was to cook and how healthy it is. Hmmm..I would rather make my soup from scratch.



If you want to check out all the products listed in the article then check out the Food section on page 251 of the April issue.

If you haven't noticed, a lot of products aim their advertising toward children. Parents really need to look out for this. Even when you go to the movies! A new study from Pediatrics found that 55% of all product placement in films rated PG and PG-13 are sugar-sweetened drinks. That is horrible! Your kids should not be drinking soda or any of that other crap. Why do think diabetes and obesity is such a big problem in the United States? This is why I support the NY drink tax. I think its a great idea and I hope that all states follow through. Its called "real" juice people, not powder!

I just hope that everyone reads the ingredients of what they buy. I bet most of it has a huge list of things you can't pronounce. Thats bad! Put it back and stop buying it. Don't believe the packaging because its cute and don't buy into the lies the ads throw in your face. Be smarter and eat healthier! You are what you eat :)