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Coddingtown Store Blog
Holiday Season or Cold & Flu Season?
by coddingtowninfo, November 3, 2011 | Permalink
The season is here! Not just the holiday, but the cold & flu season is here as well.
Congestion, cough and watery eyes have been the primary complaints of our customers so this month immune support is our topic. Are you eating to support your immune system? The raw materials you put into your body are at the forefront of optimal health.
Mother Nature is very keen indeed as with the change in the season, she also provides us with a great deal of valuable foods that contain a variety of immune supportive nutrients to encourage and boost a robust immune response.
As we celebrate the changing of the seasons, we are provided with the following immune- supportive foods:
- Vitamins A & C Greens, Squash, Cauliflower, & Citrus
- Zinc Mushrooms, Chard, Squash, Nuts & Seeds
- Vitamin D Pastured Eggs and Liver, Seafood, Mushrooms
A healthy immune response also depends upon a healthy gut barrier. Reduce to eliminate your intake of processed foods and allergens and increase your intake of high ranking ANDI scoring foods. Eating nutrient-dense whole foods is one way to provide your body with the full spectrum of nutrients it needs while keeping calorie intake to a healthy level.
Many other minerals are important in supporting immune function. Clinical research studies have shown that iron deficiency results in impaired response to antibodies, and defective phagocytic cell functioning. Copper deficiency is associated with an increase in infections and may impair development of immune cells such as T-cells and the phagocytic cells. These are your first responders so feed them well!
Eating seasonally and whole not only decreases the amount and duration of illness but also builds a strong immune response to every day stress.
If you’re suffering the seasonal cold or flu, be sure to stop by Whole Foods Market and ask your Whole Body Team Member for support of your symptoms. There are a variety of natural products to choose from!
Categories: Wellness Center
The Top 5 Vegetables of September
by coddingtowninfo, September 7, 2011 | Permalink
Many of us can remember as small children the bounty of the harvest in our small back yard gardens or family farms. Copius amounts of zucchini that could and would feed a small village, fresh sweet corn and the sound of snapping a bean still brings back memories of a warm, barefoot summer.
Corn-Raw corn is a sweet crunchy treat loaded with more protein, vitamins, minerals and beneficial enzymes than that of cooked. Raw corn also contains less starch which is important for blood glucose support. Add raw corn to a mango salsa and spoon over a bed of spinach with a light vinaigeratte.
Tomatoes-Currently we are enjoying the bounty of the Heirloom Tomato, with its multiple varieties, the use of this colorful sweet fruit is quite simply, endless. Nothing beats fresh sliced heirlooms with each and every meal. Loaded with beneficial antioxidants, Vitamins & Minerals, don’t let this seasonal beauty pass your radar.
Squash-Zucchini and Summer Squash is at the peak of the season right now. Loaded with beta carotene and other valuable nutrients, some squash and zucchini can be eaten raw. Grate on a cheese grater and boost your nutrients by utilizing this wonderful food as a carrier for that great marinara.
Bell peppers-While we’re on a Vitamin C roll here, now is the time to enjoy these colorful and crunchy vegetables. Try them stuffed, seeded and diced, they add a colorful crunch to any salad, side or main dish.
Okra-Not as common as the vegetables above, okra is mostly known for its southern roots. But okra is great in stews or slow roasted with tomatoes and onions. High in vitamin A, B and C, this is one of those “phantom veggies” so many of us have never experienced.
Allow yourself the pleasure of trying something new this season!
Share your favorite recipes of these 5 top September veggies!
Categories: Uncategorized
It’s Cherry Season!
by coddingtowninfo, July 14, 2011 | Permalink
The cherries are bursting with flavor! We all have them in the stores by now and if you haven’t sampled a few, you are missing out! Sweet Cherries, including the popular Bing and Rainier varieties, are available from May to August.
Sour cherries have a much shorter season, and can be found for a week or two, usually during the middle of June in warmer areas and as late as July and August in colder regions. Tart cherries are a healthy whole fruit high in fiber, potassium, beta carotene, and antioxidants. One-quarter cup of dried cherries has 15% of the RDA for fiber. Cherries also contain potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamins A, C, B6, E, and folic acid. Tart cherries have virtually no fat and no sodium. This variety of nutrients in cherries translates into sound nutrition. In fact, the nutrient profile of cherries is hard to beat.
Cherries are an important source of phytonutrients. These are organic components of plants that promote health. Carotenoids, one class of phytonutrients, are the red, orange, and yellow pigments in fruits and vegetables. Beta carotene, the carotenoid abundant in cherries, is more effi ciently converted to retinol than other carotenoids; retinol is one of the most usable forms of vitamin A.
Research studies have shown that carotenoids protect against cancer, heart disease, and age related macular degeneration. Cherries are also a source of the flavonoid, cyanidin, included in the anthocyanidins subclass in the polyphenolic class of phytonutrients. More research on phytonutrients is underway and it is hypothesized that phytonutrients may serve as antioxidants, enhance immune response, enhance cell-to-cell communication, convert to vitamin A, and repair DNA damage caused by smoking and other toxic exposures.
Cherries have 19 times as much vitamin A and beta carotene as strawberries and blueberries! This low fat high antioxidant food is perfect for your Health Starts Here lifestyle!
Categories: Uncategorized
Warm Weather and Seasonal Food
by coddingtowninfo, May 28, 2011 | Permalink
The most anticipated vegetable of warm weather is asparagus. When soil temperatures reach 50 degrees, the slender 
shoots emerge from the ground, leaving no doubt that spring has arrived.
The word asparagus stems from the Persian word asparag, or sprout. The plant has been cultivated for more than 2,000 years. The vegetable thrived all over the Eastern Mediterranean for hundreds of years, finally making its way to France during the reign of Louis the XIV, who loved the tender stalks so much that he had greenhouses built just so he could eat asparagus out of season. Asparagus arrived in the US along with the European immigrants of the 19th century. Today, California leads the nation in asparagus production; the marshy conditions of the Sacramento Delta are perfectly suited to the labor-intensive crop.
Prized for their tender, edible stalks, asparagus spears are actually the shoots of a perennial plant that is a member of the lily family. Growing asparagus is a long process, which explains why it can sometimes be expensive. Even on large commercial farms, workers hand-harvest each spear, and it takes two or more years for the first asparagus to appear after its seeds are sown.
Asparagus provides us with Vitamins A, C, K, B’s, beta-carotene, and the minerals zinc, manganese, and selenium. In addition to the antioxidant nutrients above, this much-loved vegetable may also contain a valuable amount of the antioxidant glutathione, the most studied anti-oxidant made in the human body.
Steamed lightly, raw or roasted, asparagus is a Health Starts Here award winner!
Categories: Uncategorized
Benefits of Raw & Living Foods
by coddingtowninfo, April 21, 2011 | Permalink
No matter your dietary style choice, everybody needs raw and living foods. Raw and Living foods are uncooked, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains. In today’s over processed world, too many are suffering the effects of a lack of enzymes. Enzymes are substances which make life possible. These substances are needed for every chemical reaction that occurs in the human body. Without enzymes, no activity at all would take place.
Think of it this way, enzymes are the “labor force” that builds your body just like construction workers are the labor force that build your home. You may have all the necessary building materials and lumber, but to build a house you need workers, which represent the vital life element.
Similarly, you may have all the nutrients — vitamins, proteins, minerals, etc., for your body, but you still need the enzymes referred to as “the life element” to keep the body alive and well.
Just about every single person eats a diet of mainly cooked foods. Keep in mind that whenever a food is cooked, the enzymes in it are destroyed. This forces the body to use its own “reserve” of enzymes. Think of your own enzymes as your bank account. Eat a diet of primarily cooked foods and you are putting an un-necessary burden on your pancreas thereby draining your account and potentially suffering disease.
How do you obtain more raw foods? Blend a smoothie with plenty of green leafy vegetables, include a raw salad with a large variety of chopped raw vegetables and fruits with at least one meal daily. Choose a piece of fruit rather than a cracker or rice cake. Mangos, Papaya, Pineapple, Bananas and Avocados are loaded with beneficial enzymes. Should you need to choose a packaged food, head to the raw section for a large selection of tasty items!
Categories: Uncategorized
The Wellness Center is thriving at Whole Foods Coddingtown!
by coddingtowninfo, April 7, 2011 | Permalink
Hello and allow me to introduce myself. My name is Misty and I’m your Healthy Eating Specialist at Whole Foods Market Coddingtown. As a Certified Holistic Nutrition Educator and 11 year 85 lb. weight loss maintainer, I can help guide you in your nutrition goals.
If you haven’t noticed, we have a special class room dedicated to our community for the purpose of nutrition and wellness education. I invite you to stop in and say hello, schedule a tour and/or take advantage of my “one on one nutrition consultations”. These free consultaions are about 45 minutes in length and focus strictly on you. It’s a relaxed atmosphere without dictation and judgement providing you some suggestions and ideas in attaining your nutrition and fitness goals.
We are excited to roll out our quarterly calendar jam packed with free classes offered by a variety of professionals. Be sure to stop by the store and grab your copy today. You’ll be surprised to see how many great classes we have scheduled for every age group and the best part is, they’re FREE. Senior Nutrition, Whole Kids Club, Gluten Intolerance Group of Sonoma County and even free 15 minute massages! More and more ideas are being presented and I have a host of my own to help keep you up to date on the very latest in health and nutrition. Remember, this is your class room so if there is a class you would like to suggest, just let me know here. I want this to be an interactive blog devoted to you.
Do what you love and love what you do, this is how I feel about my job here at Whole Foods Market and I’m excited to share it with you!
In good health
Misty
Categories: Nutrition Consultation, Uncategorized, Wellness Center
