Foods for Busy Women

I just saw an article labeled "The Best New Foods for Busy Women" and I literally started gagging when I read the list of winners. Number one on the list was "Best Chips", followed by "Best Bagels", "Best Frozen Waffles", "Best Breakfast Sausage" and my favorite, "Best Ice Cream".

Since when is ice cream and waffles healthy? They listed only one vegetable and one fruit: Green Giant Select Vegetables with Buttery Garlic Flavor Chips that melt into a creamy sauce, and Naked Juice Mighty Mango smoothie.

Sounds like I would gain at least 10 pounds if I ate "healthy" this way.

What happened to grabbing a quick apple on the go or carrot sticks with hummus? I consider myself a very busy woman, and I would never want to fuel my body with frozen pizza, processed bagels or chips. If I'm on the go and running around the city all day, I want fresh, unprocessed food. The Incas who ran up and down the Andes used up a lot of energy in such high altitude climate and they weren't eating frozen entrees and meal kits. They were eating fresh vegetables, quinoa and tea.

Let's get back to the basics; old foods are the ones that worked in the past. If you look at our recent society, people are overweight, panting as they climb stairs and treating their adult-onset diabetes... and guess what they eat? New foods.

Here's my list of "The Best 5 Old Foods for Busy Women"

1. Piece of Fruit: the easiest ones are apple, banana and orange.
2. Veggie sticks with hummus. It takes less than 5 minutes to make your own hummus: dump a can of chickpeas, one garlic clove, some tahini paste if you have it, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon in a blender. Add spices if you want. Wa la. Instant goodness.
3. Handful of nuts. You can get a cheap mixed package at Trader Joe's. Best source of quick protein and essential fats. Yes, the good fats are good for you. Your joints will hurt if you don't eat enough fat.
4. JT Konbucha drinks. This is the perfect soda replacement. These drinks are fermented, so they are fizzy, but they are full of all the essential good stuff.
5. Quinoa with veggies. This will take less than 20 minutes to cook. Saute some onions and garlic. Add sea salt, pepper, and any other spices. Throw in 1 cup of quinoa. Saute for one minute. Add 2 cups of water. Add chopped up veggies of your choice. This will give you "fire" energy from the quinoa, and a clean feeling from the veggies.

Next time you get tempted to believe that processed chips, ice cream, waffles and cheese sticks are good for you, remember that the Incas did not eat that stuff to climb Machu Piccu.