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Katherine Baker

Late July Vegan Eats

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Holy cow! How is it almost the end of July?! I can’t believe I’ve been home for two months now. And I’m so sad I have to leave again soon; I was just getting cozy!

I’ve been having so much fun with my Milwaukee friends and fam, and getting back to making content her on this site and elsewhere. If you haven’t checked out my post on what it means when your phone tells you there is “Unhealthy Air Quality for Sensitive Groups,” you can check it out, here!

Let’s move on to some recent vegan eats! If you’re new here this is a mini series I do every 10 days or so to highlight some random things I’ve eaten to inspire your own food ideas and/or give you an idea of what a vegan on a budget eats. Here we go!

Tempeh Bowl

This is one of my favorite ways to eat: a big bowl of veggies and roasted potatoes and a marinated or seasoned protein (tofu, tempeh, or beans). On this particular night I mixed Whole Foods brand organic arugula (which is $1.99 regular price and most often quite good), organic romaine, chopped carrots, and steamed and cooled broccoli as the salad base.

I marinated some flax tempeh using this recipe as a base (truly, I just kinda wing it every time with soy sauce, maple syrup, coconut aminos, liquid aminos, ginger and sriracha) for about an hour then baked for 20 ish minutes at 425. Delicious! My mom really liked it too, which made me happy. I like when I make vegan food she enjoys.

I also roasted a regular and Japanese sweet potato (cubed) and cooked them to add to the salads. Yum! Sometimes I also add grains to these bowls but the large potatoes were enough and I wanted room for cake…

German Chocolate Cake

So on my half birthday I decided I should make half (yup just half) a cake. I scanned the pantry and decided I’d do German chocolate since I had everything I needed.

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What does it mean when your phone says “Unhealthy Air Quality for Sensitive Groups?”

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Ever look down at the weather app on your iphone and see some small text under the temperature that reads “Unhealthy Air Quality for Sensitive Groups?” Ever wonder what that means? And if you should be concerned?

Today we are going to be discussing exactly what that unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups warning means, and what you can and should do when you see it. 

While this blog has been heavily nutrition-focused lately, but this post is going to tap into my Environmental Health Science MPH. May as well use it, right?

What is AQI?

Before we can understand what “Unhealthy Air Quality” means, let’s first talk about what it is and how it’s measured. Air Quality Index (AQI) is a term used by government agencies to communicate with the public how polluted the air is or is forecasted to be.

Generally speaking, the higher the AQI, the greater the public health risk. Different governments have different national air quality standards to classify different health risks and communicate these risks to their citizens. 

How is the AQI Calculated? 

In the US, the EPA calculates the AQI for five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act, including particulate matter (read my whole post about what PM is here), carbon monoxide, ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. 

Air monitors collect and record pollutants over 1,000 locations across the country. The raw data is used to develop a separate AQI for each of the 5 mentioned pollutants. The highest of the AQI values from these 5 is reported as the AQI value of the day. 

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Dietary Reference Intakes, Explained

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Have you ever seen the letters “DRI” and wondered what it meant? What the heck is a dietary reference intake anyways? RDA, AI, UL, EAR…there are so many acronyms to keep track of when trying to figure out how much of different nutrients you need! 

Well, this basic post is going to give you some background info to understand what a dietary reference is, the differences between the different types of dietary reference intakes, and how to interpret them, so you can understand nutrition facts and supplement labels with confidence.

Dietary Reference Intakes:

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are developed and published by the Institute of Medicine. They represent the most current science-based recommendations of nutrient needs of healthy individuals. DRIs are currently set for over 40 substances.

DRIs are intended to serve as a guide for good nutrition to healthy people in the United States and Canada. Reference values vary based on age, gender, and life-stage. 

Notice that these are intended for healthy individuals; individual needs vary based on health status or life stage (for example, pregnant individuals and teenagers need different amounts of certain nutrients compared to most healthy adults).

RDA: Recommended Dietary Allowance

RDA is something even people in nutrition mix-up. A common misconception is that it stands for “recommended daily allowance,” but it actually stands for Recommended Dietary Allowance.

RDA is the average daily level of intake sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of healthy individuals. It is considered a “goal” amount for dietary intake of individuals.

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Easy No-Bake Granola Bars

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I love granola bars. As a college student in NYC, granola bars became a luxury food to me. This may sound silly, but (excluding Trader Joe’s), granola bars are very expensive in most stores/bodegas in NYC. Like, I’m talking $7.99 for a box of Kashi expensive. Yikes. So here today I am sharing these easy no-bake granola bars for granola bar lovers of all budgets. I hope you are ready.

These easy no-bake granola bars are sweet and chewy, thanks to the date paste and syrup that binds them together.

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The Keto Diet: What Does The Science Say?

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Keto diets! They are all the rage these days. But are they actually good for you? And what even is ‘keto’? Today, we are going to be chatting about keto diets, the modern, mainstream trendy keto diet, and what ketosis means for your body and health.

*Disclaimer: As always, this is general information intended for healthy adults. Your needs may vary based on medical status, lifestyle, or life-stage. Please never replace generalized health information you’ve read online with individualized clinical care.

What is the “keto diet?”

The ketogenic diet was first used to treat epilepsy in 1921. Technically speaking, a ketogenic diet is a diet that consists primarily of fats, with moderate protein and very low carbohydrate intake.

True ketogenic diets require very low carbohydrate intake; no more than 30-50 grams of carbohydrates per day. To put that into context, a large banana has 31 grams of carbs.

It is also recommended that no more than 75 grams of protein are consumed per day, as too much protein interferes with ketosis.

PS: Don’t feel like reading? Check out my keto chat here.

What actually is ketosis?

As chronicled in this post all about metabolism in starvation, ketosis is a metabolic state that your body enters when the body has been depleted of glucose to burn for fuel, and starts to process fat into energy in the form of ketone bodies to provide energy to the brain and body. 

Ketosis occurs after a prolonged period of starvation or carb restriction; it can take anywhere from a couple days to a few weeks depending on the individual.

When the body is in a state of ketosis, ketone bodies (‘ketones’) are formed from the incomplete breakdown of fat when carbohydrate is not available. 

Ketone bodies act a source of fuel for the brain, heart and muscles. Ketone bodies also travel to the liver to be reconverted to another form of energy for other cells.

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Mid-July Vegan Eats

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Bleh. Life has been weird lately. So it goes, right? Anyways, we’re not here for me to complain. We’re here to discuss some recent vegan eats.

If you’re new here, this is a weekly/bi-weekly series where I just mention some things I’ve eaten recently that I also happened to have taken photos of. It’s a realistic view into things I eat on the daily, with some highlights along the way.

Brownies

I had a serious hankering for brownies on Friday night. Like, old school brownies. I whipped up a (very mini) batch with simple ingredients using a simple method and was super pleased with the result. I may try to make a bigger batch and actually pay attention to what I’m doing so maybe I can post a recipe!

Banana dog!

Haha! My aunt gifted me some Angelic Bakehouse hot dog buns leftover from a cookout. So naturally I warmed them a little in the microwave, then slathered their insides with nut butter and a banana and cinnamon.

For a couple days in a row I ate two of these banana dog things for lunch with apple slices or melon and some snap peas and carrots. Yummy. Low key incredible.

Re-friend Bean burritos

Yummy. I’ve been on a retried beans kick lately. I just buy organic retried beans from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods (refried pinto is my current fav) and heat them up with some spices (cumin, a dash of cayenne, and a hint of turmeric) and enjoy on whatever tortillas happened to be cheap or on sale (using whole wheat or corn) and enjoy with lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, guac if I have it, condiments galore!

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Easy Vegan Gluten-Free Blueberry Flax Muffins Video

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If you didn’t know, the recipe for these Easy Vegan Gluten-Free Blueberry Flax Muffins is by far the most popular recipe on my blog.

Yesterday I decided to film a little “hands only” cooking video of these little blueberry beauties. The original recipe is here, but I will copy/paste it down below as well.

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Fed, Fasting and Starved Metabolic States

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What happens when you don’t eat enough? This post is going to talk about the biological consequences of fasting and starvation. Starvation and/or under-eating may occur for a variety of reasons: circumstance, prolonged extreme dieting, or fasting diets may put the body in a state of starvation. This post will detail what exactly happens in your body when you are starving.

Before we dive deep into the biological impacts of fasting, I thought this little epiphany I had while researching this post was worth sharing. 

Even though modern medicine has evolved tremendously, and we have adapted to incredible technology, at the end of the day we are still creatures, and much of our underlying biology is designed to help us survive as our hunter-gathering ancestors did. Our bodies have astounding protective mechanisms and tightly regulated systems that work to keep us alive.

Personally, I find this stuff fascinating. Ever since I had to read this paper many many years ago, I found the metabolic shifts the body undergoes while eating, post-meal, and during extended periods of time without food riveting.

I am not sure if anyone else will find this interesting (lol really selling myself here…but for real if this is to much science lingo and too in depth, let me know), but I think understanding this process is also important if you want to better understand fasting diets, consequences or physiological damages caused by eating disorders, or what “keto” really means. Hope you enjoy! 

*Disclaimer: As always, this is general information intended for healthy adults. Your needs may vary based on medical status, lifestyle, or life-stage. Please never replace generalized health information you’ve read online with individualized clinical care.

Forms of Energy Stores in the Body:

When your body has extra energy after a meal that isn’t immediately needed, it is stored. Your body tightly regulates the amount of glucose (energy/sugar) in the bloodstream and tucks the rest away into storage for a rainy day. This is your body’s way of defending against possible potential starvation scenarios.

Many of us are aware that fat (adipose triglyceride) tissue is one of the major forms of energy reserve in the human body. While adipose tissue serves other important roles, including insulation and padding for your organs, one of its main functions is to serve as an energy depot.

In addition to adipose tissue, glycogen (from carbohydrates) is stored in the liver and muscles. Protein is also stored in muscle. Although it can be broken down by the body and transformed into energy in dire circumstances, as it serves a variety of roles, the body makes great effort to spare it unless depleted of all other options. 

Why You Need Food:

To maintain proper function, the brain, nervous system, and cells needs energy. That energy comes in the form of glucose. Typically, your body tightly regulate levels of blood glucose to be able to properly fuel your heart, lungs, brain, and muscles to fuel your daily activities. 

The body does a great job tucking extra energy into storage for later, and harvesting it as needed. More details below.

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Vegan Goat Cheese Salad with Nectarines, Butter Lettuce and Balsamic Glaze

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Looking for a way to make use of this Vegan Goat Cheese? I got you! This Vegan Goat Cheese Salad is where it’s at.

I love butter lettuce. So tender, fresh, light, and delicious. So obviously, I love me a butter lettuce salad, especially in the summer time.

Paired with tangy-sweet nectarines, pecans, and vegan goat cheese, this Vegan Goat Cheese Salad with Nectarines and Butter Lettuce is delicious.

I also added avocado to the recipe, because it adds a nice creaminess, as well as some satiating fat. You can omit it, if you’d prefer.

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Understanding Your Hunger Hormones

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Hormones are a hot topic in the health blogosphere. This post is going to explain what different hunger hormones are, and what they do. Please note this is not an exhaustive list, but rather, a brief overview of those commonly discussed in colloquial and health-related literature to help you understand what exactly they do to help keep you maintaining the gloriousness that is homeostasis.

You have probably heard of some hunger hormones, including ghrelin, insulin, and leptin. I hope this posts gives you a deeper understanding of what they are and what they do in your body. 

Please note that this post is not about reproductive health, nor directly about reproductive hormones. I will address how eating impacts reproductive hormones / health in an upcoming post about PCOS/HA, but I felt this post was useful to lay the groundwork for that future post, as well as other upcoming posts about starvation metabolism and keto-dieting.

I hope this post gives those who are curious a small glimpse into some of many biological factors at play that impact human hunger and satiety. I hear a lot of language that applauds ignoring these cues, which confuses me once you overriding your hunger and fullness cues longterm can cause you to feel really out of touch with what your body needs. But more on that in another post.

For now, let’s dive into hunger hormones 101:

*Disclaimer: As always, this is general information intended for healthy adults. Your needs may vary based on medical status, lifestyle, or life-stage. Please never replace generalized health information you’ve read online with individualized clinical care.

PS: If you are interested in reading about the difference between hunger and appetite and fullness vs satisfaction, click here.

Ghrelin: 

This is known as the ‘hunger hormone.’ Ghrelin is released by cells in your stomach and intestine to stimulate appetite when calorie signals are low. The hypothalamus (a small region in your brain that is responsible for many homeostatic processes) contains a region ghrelin receptors to sense when levels increase.

Basically, ghrelin is your body’s way of saying “Hey! You up there! Feed me! I am hungry!” Your body needs food as fuel for everything you do, from walking to exercising to those important life-maintaining tasks such as breathing, pumping blood all throughout the body, digesting food, and maintaining normal brain function.

Therefore, when your ghrelin is high and your body is telling you to eat, I suggest you do so as to not override your body’s homeostatic functions!

As a meal is consumed and absorption begins, ghrelin secretion quickly declines. Your hypothalamus no longer gets a need-to-feed signal and your hunger decreases. 

Ghrelin also plays other roles in your body, including decreasing the energy your body devotes to temperature regulation. That’s why you often hear of people who are undereating or dieting as constantly being cold. 

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