Tuna Salad Surprise

healthy food tip and recipe

Today's Recipe If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
You will love this unique way of preparing a tuna salad with no mayonnaise. It's a perfect Healthiest Way of Eating for a dinner or lunch and provides an excellentâ€"106% of the daily valueâ€"for those hard to find omega-3 fatty acids. Enjoy!
Tuna Salad Surprise
Prep and Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:

• 2 6 1/2 oz cans of light tuna, drained
• 1/4 cup finely diced celery
• 3 TBS chopped walnuts
• 3 TBS chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup finely minced onion
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 medium head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 small tomato, chopped, seeds and excess pulp removed
• 
  
• Dressing
• 3 medium cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 TBS prepared Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 4 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 4 oz silken tofu
• 1/2 tsp dried Italian herbs
• 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• a little water to thin if necessary

Directions:

1. Mince onions and press garlic and let sit for 5-10 minutes to bring out their health-promoting benefits.
2. Blend dressing ingredients in blender adding oil a little at a time at end (to incorporate). Blend well to make sure sunflower seeds are ground.
3. Mix tuna, celery, walnuts, parsley, onion, salt, and pepper.
4. Mix desired amount of dressing with tuna mixture.
5. Serve on bed of chopped romaine lettuce with chopped tomato.

Serves 4 Printer Friendly Version of Tuna Salad Surprise
In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Tuna Salad Surprise
Healthy Food Tip
Is there a link between halitosis (bad breath) and diet?
Bad breath can definitely be linked to diet, but many times it is not. Figuring out the potential role of diet in bad breath can be a very challenging process.
Research suggests that a very high percentage of bad breath problems (as high as 80-90%) are not diet-related but instead result from problems with oral hygiene. These problems include too much tooth plaque, too much bacterial growth on the back regions of the tongue, periodontal disease, and other problem specific to the mouth. Problems with the liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, and full digestive tract are involved with the remaining 10-20% of bad breath problems, and food-related problems are included in this category within the digestive tract group. As you can see, food is by no means at the top of the list when it comes to the problem of bad breath.
When diet is involved with bad breath, it often appears to be associated with two food areas. The first area is high-protein foods with many sulfur-containing amino acids (like methionine, cysteine, and taurine). This connection seems to involve the volatile sulfur compounds that are produced and exhaled in the breath once bacteria in the digestive tract have broken down the proteins. Foods that can be associated with this sulfur-related problem include cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli and cabbage), onions, garlic, and leeks.
A second area involves high-methyl foods that can be broken down in the digestive tract to create a compound called TMA (trimethylamine). This compound can be excreted through the breath, urine, and sweat; it is associated with problem called "fish odor syndrome." Soy foods, beets, and spinach are examples of foods that have methyl-containing nutrients like choline, betaine, and lecithin.
Under both of these circumstances, you would not want to try and fix these bad breath problems by removing high-sulfur or high-methyl foods from your diet! Those sulfur-containing and methyl-containing foods are critical for your health and are especially important in your body's ability to detoxify unwanted substances like heavy metals, pesticide residues, or synthetic food additives. Instead, if you suspect a potential connection between your diet and bad breath, I recommend that you let a healthcare professional evaluate the health of your digestive tract and determine whether you might benefit from some diet changes or other steps.
Since such a high percentage of bad breath problems involve oral hygiene, your chances of improving your bad breath problems are good if you will follow some very common dental recommendations from the American Dental Association (and other dental associations) that include: careful brushing of your teeth twice daily, everyday use of floss, regular dental check-ups and preventive care. I also recommend that you increase (as much as possible) the number of whole, natural foods in your diet and reduce (as much as possible) processed, prepackaged foods. The World's Healthiest Foods will naturally help to protect the health of your mouth, and heavily processed foods will almost always do the opposite.

References

Kaplan BJ, McNicol J, Conte RA, et al. Dietary replacement in preschool-aged hyperactive boys. Pediatrics. 1989 Jan;83(1):7-17.
Breakey J. Is food intolerance due to an inborn error of metabolism? Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(Suppl):S175.