Snapper With Bell Pepper Salsa Prep: 25 minutes Total: 25 minutes Feel free to tinker with this mildly spicy salsa. Substitute cilantro or fresh basil for the parsley, or any color sweet bell pepper for the red.

Ingredients

Serves 4.

• 2 medium red bell peppers, ribs and seeds removed, chopped
  
• 1 small ripe avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced
  
• 1 jalapeno pepper (ribs and seeds removed for less heat, if desired), minced
  
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup)
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 1 lime), plus lime wedges for serving
  
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
  
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
  
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
  

4 skin-on red snapper fillets (about 5 ounces each)

Directions

1. To make the salsa, combine bell pepper, avocado, jalapeno, onion, lime juice, parsley, and 1 teaspoon oil in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
   
2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon oil over medium-high.
   Place snapper, skin side down, in skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook until skin is golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn over and cook until opaque throughout, 1 to 2 minutes more.
   

Divide salsa evenly among four serving plates; top with snapper, skin side down. Garnish with lime wedges.

Per serving: 280 calories; 30 g protein; 14 g fat; 10 g carb; 5 g fiber.

How good are you at shopping farmers markets? Find out by taking this quiz:

http://www.wholeliving.com/quiz/farmers-market

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Have a HEALTHY day…and eat some nuts!

Biking is a great way to exercise and explore your surroundings. You can use the tool below to estimate your calorie expenditure:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/Calories-Burned-Biking.htm

Biking, like all other activities, carries some risk. To minimize this risk, it is important to take some precautions. For example, wearing a helmet can reduce your risk of serious head trauma by 88 percent, and reduce the risk of facial injury by 65  percent. In fact, in 2008 there were 714 people killed while biking, 90 percent of them were not wearing helmets. The good news is that some helmets cost just $10, and studies have shown that they hold up just as well as more expensive helmets when put to the test.

Another safety measure is to learn and use hand signals when riding on busy roads. See below:

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Click above to register yourself!

Here are some quick NUTRITIONAL FACTS:

Source: Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board

Asparagus is great in on its own, hot or cold, with dips or dressings, in salads, pastas, and stir fry. Here’s a recent recipe from the New York Times series Recipes for Health:

Asparagus Soup With Green Garlic and Eggs

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

This is a beautiful spring soup, high in protein because of the eggs — but light. Seek out green garlic at your farmers’ market. When you whisk in the eggs at the end, don’t let the soup reach the boiling point; that way you’ll get a beautiful creamy broth without curds. For a more substantial bowl of soup, add cooked pasta or rice.

5 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

1 bulb spring garlic, separated into cloves if cloves have formed, peeled and thinly sliced

1 pound asparagus, woody ends trimmed away, cut into 1-inch lengths

Salt and freshly ground pepper

4 large eggs

1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/2 cup pasta or rice, cooked, or four to six slices toasted Italian bread (optional)

1. Combine the stock or water, the garlic and the asparagus stems in a soup pot, and bring to a simmer. Simmer 15 minutes. Using a skimmer, tongs or a slotted spoon, remove the asparagus stems and discard. Add the sliced asparagus, and simmer eight to 12 minutes. It should be tender and fragrant, but still bright green and not mushy.

2. Just before serving, beat the eggs, cheese and parsley together in a bowl. Have the soup at a bare simmer. Making sure that the soup isn’t boiling, whisk a ladleful into the egg mixture. Stir well, and whisk back into the soup. Whisk constantly over very low heat for three minutes, then ladle into bowls. Serve with a spoonful of pasta or rice, or a slice of toast in each bowl if desired.

Yield: Serves four.

Advance preparation: This soup must be served right away.

Nutritional information per serving (based on four servings, using water): 122 calories; 6 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 216 milligrams cholesterol; 6 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 157 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during cooking); 11 grams protein

Nutritional information per serving (based on four servings, using low-sodium commercial chicken broth): 134 calories; 6 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 216 milligrams cholesterol; 6 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 223 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during cooking); 13 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com.

Remember what the numbers mean? Here’s a quick refresher:

Recently, a study was published in the journal “Obstetrics and Gynecology” called “Accuracy of Current Body Mass Index Obesity Classification for White, Black, and Hispanic Reproductive-Age Women” by Mahbubur Rahman MD, PhD and Abbey B. Berenson MD, MMS. To read the whole study, click here. For those of you who want the Cliffs Notes, keep reading:

The purpose of this study was to assess whether BMI was accurate in classifying and identifying obesity in comparison to considering a woman’s total body fat. Women were assessed using BMI, which considers a height-to-weight ratio, along with DEXA (Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry) which is one of the most accurate ways to determine a person’s body fat. The study found that the current BMI cutoff values that are recommended by the NIH (and detailed above) identify only about half of women who are actually obese according to their percent body fat. The study also suggests that BMI cutoffs should be amended based on race or ethnicity to more accurately reflect obesity status.

What does this mean? Since DEXA is an expensive test, for now most of us will continue to use BMI as the benchmark—but hopefully stricter guidelines with an eye towards gender and ethnicity will make BMI a more accurate predictor of actual health status.

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By Mayo Clinic staff

Original Article: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/RE00065

By Mayo Clinic staff

Serves 10

Ingredients

For the tomato sauce
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
3 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups water
2/3 cup wild rice
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped, plus 1 onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups vegetable stock, chicken stock or broth
1 cup brown or French green lentils, picked over, rinsed and drained
Fresh cilantro (fresh coriander) or flat-leaf (Italian) parsley leaves for garnish

Directions

To make the tomato sauce, in a nonaluminum saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until soft and lightly golden, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute longer; don’t let the garlic brown. Stir in the tomato sauce, vinegar, red pepper flakes and salt. When the mixture just begins to bubble, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the wild rice and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 45 minutes.

In a saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and saute until soft and lightly golden, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin and cinnamon and saute for 1 minute longer; don’t let the garlic brown. Add the stock, lentils and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially and simmer until the lentils are tender but still firm, about 30 minutes.

While the rice and lentils are cooking, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and saute until brown and crispy, about 30 minutes.

To serve, reheat the tomato sauce gently over medium heat. On a serving platter, spread the lentils in a layer; top with a layer of the rice. Pour the tomato sauce over the rice and top with the onion rings. Garnish with the cilantro.

Nutritional Analysis (per serving)

Want to make a healthy change to lower your calorie intake and improve your cholesterol levels?

CUT OUT ADDED SWEETENERS!

A study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) indicates that HDL (High Density Lipoprotein—the HEALTHY cholesterol) decreases proportionally as added sugar consumption increases. This means that the more added sugars we consume, the less likely we are to have the high HDL levels that are associated with good health! Also, as added sugar consumption increased, so did LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein—the LOUSY cholesterol) and Triglycerides.

All together, higher added sugar intakes correlated to dyslipidemia, or cholesterol levels that are not ideal!

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