Summer Fun and Summer Sauces + Something Special to Keep You Motivated
July 24, 2021
“An Apple A Day Keeps the Doctor Away”
Perhaps there is some truth to that old tale of wisdom.
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Let’s take an apple in its more modern sense,
One apple has nearly 20% of your recommended daily intake for fiber, and I mean c’mon, we all know the benefits of fiber, right!
- better bowels, more full, feed ya gut bugs healthy stuff and so many more downstream affects as benefits too.
- plus, there’s all kinds of antioxidants, polyphenols, pectin - I mean who could forget pectin for goodness sakes!
“Pectin is a fiber found in fruits. It is used to make medicine. People use pectin [to help with] high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and to prevent colon cancer and prostate cancer. It is also used for diabetes and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).” - and more!!
- there’s also Quercetin (Hey Alexa, what is “Kare-uh-set-in” ?)
—> Quercetin is a a yellow crystalline pigment present in plants, used as a food supplement to reduce allergic responses or boost immunity.
—-> it’s also widely used in the Biohacking / Optimization circles of health and wellness too, oftentimes touted as helpful for longevity, immune support, and to help reduce inflammation and improve blood glucose regulation, support autophagy, etc.
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Buuuuut, that’s just apples today, could you imagine what an apple must have been like a couple hundred years ago even, or even maybe a THOUSAND years ago before we started ruining our planet..? (don’t sue me, you know its true..)
I mean just listen to this description of an apple I didn’t even know existed before researching for this week’s newsletter, and one I certainly have never tried myself! (yet)
“With strong cherry notes, the Arkansas Black starts crisp and tart-sweet and slowly reveals hints of cinnamon, vanilla, coriander, and occasionally even a touch of anise. The complexity of this apple's tart-sweet flavor actually develops more the longer it is off the tree.” - wow, just wow.. doesn’t that just inspire you!? It does me!
What if we had the chance to travel back in time and try an apple in its purest sense?! Now, that would be a ride through space and time that I could get behind. Sign me up!
And while apples today are still okay, let’s dive deeper to consider one from a couple hundred years ago even which researchers suggest would have a much higher quality nutrition as compared to standard mass produced apples today, largely in part due to the effects seen in soil degradation and nutrient depletion.
Low quality soil = low quality plants, fruits, vegetables, and yes even low quality animal health as well.
But, biodiversity can help support these interconnected ecosystems.
Truly, it’s like Everything Affects Everything.
Bonus Hint: Did you know the ancient ancestor for the standard apples we see so common in America is actually an old asian fruit known as “Malus sieversii” meaning forest apple (the original apple tree actually had thorns!) while today’s apples are actually scientifically described as “Malus domestica” (because we’ve domesticated them I assume).
🍅🔥 Simmer Some Summer Sauces 🍅🔥
One of the most wonderful foods I think most people can agree on is PIZZA.
And since it is summer here, in July, I always think about summer foods and I’m reminded of grilling pizza outdoors with friends when the weather is nice or having fun in the kitchen placing our own pizza pie creations in the oven to have a fun craft night where we make dinner together. (if you’ve never grilled a pizza, you’re missing out)
The only thing about Pizza is that no one can I ever agree on the same pizza toppings if anybody ever wants to share a pizza pie. You get together thinking that you might save a few dollars if you can work together to choose the right pizza to share, but then the more you talk it through the more you realize it becomes complicated and somewhat controversial as one person wants supreme and another person just wants cheese or someone wants deep dish while another prefers thin crust.
BUT, despite the many different ways you can craft a pizza pie, pretty much every pizza comes with a sauce. That we can agree on. And outside of a white sauce menus for maybe 10% of pizzas across-the-board, the most common pizza sauce is a red sauce. Similar to pasta, red sauce used in pizza starts off with tomatoes and salt and can include garlic, onion, stock, pepper, peppers, and so much more!
If I'm making you hungry, then I have no reason to apologize… Ha ha, but one of the problems with trying to choose the right red sauce for your homemade pizza )or to splash on top of pasta) is that most of the sauces for pizza and pasta at the grocery store are pretty loaded with all kinds of highly processed ingredients and preservatives and binders, lots of sugar and lots of salt.
They masquerade around as a tasty red sauce with poor ingredients and so they have to throw in a lot of extra flavoring salt and sugar to actually make it palatable whenever if they were just use high quality ingredients it will probably taste a lot better.
That's why so many chefs like to make their own red sauce from scratch because nothing compares to making one from scratch yourself, right?
Made from all natural whole ingredients is always going to lead us to the most flavorful experience, and also supports our health in my opinion. Making red sauce from scratch takes a lot of time, effort, and craftsmanship to make it truly remarkable - just ask any Italian.
And while most store-bought brands pail in comparison to red sauce made with love and local ingredients from scratch, stewed for hours in a tight and bright Italian kitchen with a recipe older than my grandparents….
There is actually ONE brand I’ve grown to love, for many reasons. That is OTAMOT
They use real foods, whole foods - legit.
They are Organic - yes, I said Organic folks :)
They tell you what’s in it, and the nutritional benefits of this higher quality option
They offer a few different flavorful options for different palates
They make it easy for you and me to have something we can feel good about without overthinking, worrying about all the additional unnecessary ingredients found in other store-bought sauces.
The company as a whole - get it as a whole - is focused on health, which I love. They even have these crazy creative ways to use red sauce in ways I hadn’t even thought of, such as in their recent Recipe on Carrot Cake! Who knew!
Oh, and did I forget that their name is the word “Tomato” spelled backwards???
OTAMOT - TOMATO yup, they sure did! Like seriously, talk about a branding “go big or go home” risk! I think it has stuck out with good reason though, based on their raving fans and 5-star reviews.
So, whatever your summer sauces may be used for, I highly recommend! I’ve also got some more news for you, which is that if you use my personal affiliate discount code: JONATHANI10 then you can get 10% off any purchase, whether you buy one just to get a taste, or buy a whole case to do some experiments in the kitchen.
Again, that discount code is JONATHANI10 if you’re feeling saucy anytime soon.
(( that is ‘ jonathan ’ + ‘ i ’+ ‘ 10 ’ ))
Don’t feel pressured to purchase by this recommendation, I’m only sharing it as a resource and offering a discount if you’re on a mission for some flavorful red sauce this season or looking for a healthier, more nutritious option to support your household family meals, whether that’s pizza, pasta, or even their strangely intriguing recipe for carrot cake using red sauce!
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Everything Affects Everything
As you know, I like to talk about interconnected ecosystems, how this action affects that action, and how all the little moments add up, right? Well, I hold a similar perspective with respect to personal growth and personal development.
You see, inertia is real.
(“Alexa, remind me what inertia means?”)
Inertia - a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged
And I firmly even the smallest step forward can be the the very first step for a wonderful journey of self-improvement and you choosing to take action towards living your best life. Whether its the sprinkle of a spice like cinnamon in your morning black coffee to help you reduce your dependency on sugar or the sprinkle of turmeric in your morning greens smoothie to help fight inflammation, or even perhaps taking time to prioritize your own self care with a walk in the park or a walk in the woods… whatever steps you take, you can be taking them to your bestest life possible
(yes, I said bestest even though its not a word - and now you will remember it more, so HA! “I gotcha!”)
Truly, I value your time and your readership more than I could ever explain. And so I’ll be closing out this week shortly. Next, I want to share something short, sweet, and punchy to provoke us to take that first step towards our bestest self.
You can start with a walk around the block and it can act as a long-lasting catalyst for the rest of your life in personal development.
The more steps you take towards your goals, the more steps you take towards reaching your goals - but it all starts at the start.
Yup, you heard me right.
Taking the smallest action today, can have the biggest impact tomorrow. Start today, to reinvent and reimagine your future.
(avoid the creepiness in this video’s thumbnail) - just listen!
Here's a quick 3-min video to pump you up for this weekend!
In Summary
Apples Are Amazing
- tell me your favorite apple variety in the comments of this post!Pizza and Pasta Are Pretty Spectacular
- and you can use my discount code JONATHANI10 to save 10% any purchase of OTAMOT sauces for your next meal or fanciful occasion.Everything Affects Everything | Every Step You Take Matters
- don’t forget to take care of yourself in the journey, believe in your future and believe in what unimaginable wonders may come your way - you never know
Stay Beautiful ☀️ 🌱
Jonathan Isbill aka Jonathan ZaZa from ZigZagNutrition - pleading and preaching on how we can take what we know to live our best lives possible and learn to adapt along the way. Health is a Journey, not a Destination, so can’t we learn to love the wave?