New Niches for Familiar Foods: Collards & Cabbage

Isn't this a colorful January meal?

Ever get tired of plain old sandwiches? Try something new! Use collard greens or purple cabbage leaves as wraps! (or green cabbage, red cabbage, leaf lettuce, butter lettuce...etc!) It's a great way to get more green leafy vegetables in your diet without having a salad at every meal.

Collard greens work especially well for this, as they are really tough. Just cut whole collard greens along their stems, and use each half of the leaf as a wrap. Cabbage leaves can easily be cut to size with a kitchen shears. Fill with your favorite fillings, roll, tuck, and its's wrap!

Some filling ideas include:

• hummus
• other bean dips
• guacamole
• nut butter (mix with some Thai red curry paste and coconut oil!)
• lemon-tahini-garlic sauce
• raw vegetables
• sprouts
• raw goat cheese
• fresh herbs
• yesterday's leftovers! ;)
• If you eat eggs... try a leaf wrap instead of a tortilla for huevos rancheros
• Your usual taco ingredients

What else can you come up with?

Wholesome Wisdom from a 108-Year-Old Man

Yesterday, as I was researching some health-related topics... I happened across an interview by Paul Nison (a health enthusiast and author known for overcoming his ulcerative colitis & Crohn's disease with a raw-food diet) of a 108-year-old gentleman named Bernando Lapallo. Mr. Lapallo is active and healthy. He has his own blog, a facebook page, and even a book which he wrote in 2009, when he was 107. He's trying to make it to 120--- He says he'd like to give Abraham a run for his money!

Here's his biography, as given on his facebook fan page:

Bernando LaPallo was born in Victoria, Brazil on August 17, 1901 to Mattie Carr and Bernando LaPallo Sr. He moved to the United States and was raised by his father who was a doctor in Philadelphia. His first interest was in food and he went on to study the culinary arts at La Sorbonne in Paris, France graduating in 1928. After years of working as a chef on steam liners and resorts he retired in that profession to pursue an interest in the healing arts. He studied massage at The Swedish Institute in New York City. Later Bernando went on to study and become licensed as a reflexologist and podiatrist at NYU. He completed that course of study at the age of 73. He had a successful private massage practice in New York City for more than 20 years treating people from all walks of life. He currently resides in Arizona where he gives talks on the secrets of his youthful vitality and health. Age Less Live More is his first book. He is currently working on a second.

 In the interview, Mr. Lapallo gives some of his advice for living a long and healthy life. Most of his wisdom came to him from his father about 100 years ago, when he was growing up in Brazil. More advice is given in his book: Age Less Live More: Achieving Health and Vitality at 107 and Beyond. Here are some of the bits of wisdom he gives in the interview:

"The first priority in your life should be your health."

DIET

• Eat properly. He believes the best diet consists of fruits and vegetables (especially green vegetables), fish, and lots of fresh juices. Eat lots of raw fruits and vegetables, like Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden. Don't eat processed/fast-food.
• Eat organic.
• Eat animal protein sparingly: He eats fresh fish 3 times a week, perhaps some canned tuna or salmon, only 4-5oz. He eats meat once a year: lamb, because it was eaten at Passover. He'll eat cheese only on a rare occasion.
• Drink herbal teas. (He likes sassafras or cinnamon tea with breakfast). The worse thing you can eat for breakfast is a cup of coffee and a doughnut.
• Don't eat too much.
• Eat only during daylight hours. Eat dinner early, and don't eat after dinner. Eat dinner between 5 and 7pm, and don't eat after that. You could have water or green tea, but no food. It's too late to eat.
• Eat/Live for prevention of disease (He drinks cinnamon tea for prevention of diabetes, since he read that cinnamon was good for diabetics). "If you don't get it, you don't have to cure it."
• Supplement with whole food products: He uses a Superfood powder and Echinacea. These he blends with fruit or juice every day, to supplement his diet

LIFESTYLE:

• Walk every morning: Every day, rain or shine, he walks 1 1/2 to 2 miles before breakfast.
• "Stress will kill you." --His father told him.
• Rest is very important.
• Follow the Ten Commandments. He says his Christian faith is every bit as necessary as food, and remaining long without the nourishment of your soul can leave you just as hungry and depleted as going without food.
• Keep your feet clean and healthy: Wash your feet in soap (castille soap) & luke warm water every night, use a pumice stone to remove dead skin, dry, and then rub thoroughly and apply olive oil. Put socks on, and go to bed.
• Use olive oil as a moisturizer for your face. (Notice he hardly has wrinkles)
• Keep your colon clean, and all the other organs will be able to do their jobs properly.

You can view the 3-part interview at http://paulnison.com/archives/date/2009/12/
His story was printed in Phoenix's East Valley Tribune when he turned 105: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/71921

The salad pictured above is one I made last week: organic leaf lettuce, fennel, dried cherries, sunflower sprouts, lemon juice & olive oil, Herbs de provence (with a little extra lavender), and sea salt, with homemade sunflower-flax crackers crumbled on top as croutons. Enjoy!

18 Ways to Dramatically Improve Your Diet

Now that the decorations are put away, the cookies are eaten, and our lives are devoid of the hustle and bustle that took place just weeks ago, it seems like a good time to replenish our energies, restore our health, and look forward to the longer days and sunshine ahead. Of course, those of us who live within just a couple of hours' drive from Canada will have to wait just a little longer than the rest of you!

In the spirit of this rejuvenation, here's a list of what you can do now to contribute to your health and wellbeing as we begin 2010! :   (In no particular order...)

1. Decrease your consumption of animal protein, and eat more greens and raw fruits and vegetables.
2. Buy as much organic food as you can, especially for the dirty dozen.
3. Eat only organic/free-range/grass-fed meats and eggs.
4. Don't buy commercial milk. --Learn to make your own nut milks (It's easy!).
5. Have a green smoothie every morning for breakfast.
6. Learn to make your own salad dressings, using organic extra virgin olive oil.
7. READ LABELS. If you don't understand the ingredients, don't buy it.
8. Replace canola or "vegetable" oils with organic extra virgin olive oil (for dressings) and virgin coconut oil (for cooking).
9. Eliminate all genetically modified foods. These depress the immune system and cause a host of other problems, most of which have not even been recognized yet. (Look out for PLUs starting with 8). Avoid these common GMO ingredients: corn, canola, cottonseed, soy.
10. Eat only organic fermented soy: tamari, miso, tempeh, for example, and only on occasion. Don't eat soy substitutes, i.e. veggie burgers, soy milk, soy ice cream, etc. Soy messes with hormones and depresses the thyroid, among other things.
11. Eat a big salad of organic leafy greens every day. Add different fruit and vegetable combinations to keep it interesting.
12. Avoid SUGAR in all forms! White sugar (and brown sugar) is a drug. See William Dufty's book "Sugar Blues." Natural sweeteners are an improvement (maple syrup, honey), but are best eliminated for several months before added back in moderation. For your sweet tooth... try different kinds of fruit. Have you ever had a persimmon? a pomegranate? a dragon fruit? Have fun discovering new things!
13. Eliminate gluten (this means wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, triticale, and oats unless labeled "gluten-free") from your diet. It is one of the most common allergens. Unfortunately, these are very prevalent in the standard American diet (SAD). Look out for pizza, pasta, crackers, breads, cereals, etc. There are gluten-free substitutes, but the healthiest way to consume any grain is in their "whole" form. Some gluten-free options include amaranth, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, brown rice, and corn.
14. Start weaning yourself from caffeine--especially coffee. Try Teeccino, Roma, or other natural coffee substitute. If you need that "lift" or mental focus try Yerba Mate tea, green tea, or Think O2 from Traditional Medicinals.
15. Avoid alcohol... at least for now. You can always add back some organic wine down the road for special occasions.
16. Avoid restaurant food. There's more in it than you'd ever want to know. It's easy to bring a salad for lunch, or pick up some organic fruit to grab on the go.
17. Instead of candy bars or even protein bars, try a Larabar. It's made of basic ingredients like dates and other dried fruit, nuts, and spices. You can even find a recipe to make your own! (just Google it)
18. When there's not much in season in the produce section, don't forget about frozen foods. You can get frozen asparagus, broccoli, peas... etc. Frozen is the next best thing after fresh. Avoid canned food!

This may seem overwhelming, so I recommend doing it a little at a time. Each week, pick one thing to work on. By summer you'll have made excellent progress and will likely reap benefits that come from eating healthy foods and eliminating the toxins so prevalent in our food supply. If that seems like too much to think about right now, start with this: Buy some buckwheat groats (they're gluten-free!) and make the buckwheat porridge pictured above. Here's the how to make it:

Buckwheat Porridge
(serves 1)

1/2 cup whole buckwheat groats
1/2 to 1 whole banana
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 to 1 tsp vanilla

Soak buckwheat groats in water overnight. Drain and rinse in the morning. Pour into blender. Add other ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl to serve, and top with fresh (or thawed frozen) berries or fruit, perhaps sweetened with a bit of stevia. Enjoy!

Fresh Food in the Off-Season

Well, Thanksgiving is over, and we are now beginning the seasons of Advent and Christmas... and for some of us, it's going to start getting COLD quickly. Hello, winter! So, during these long months of winter coming up, how does one continue to eat plenty of salads with health-promoting raw fruits and vegetables while the grocery store produce is not at its peak? Well, here are a few ideas:

• Greens are ALWAYS available, so don't think you're off the hook because the garden is buried under snow! ;)
• Try sun dried tomatoes! We dry our own in the dehydrator when we have a garden bounty, and then stick them in the freezer. As you can see, they keep their lovely red color too! If you buy some at the grocery store and they are super hard, try pouring some hot water over them and letting them soak until softened. They are an excellent topping for a salad.
• Frozen peas... Pour hot water over them and let them sit a couple of minutes until thawed. You don't even have to turn on the stove! Add to a salad, or serve on the side. Talk about FAST FOOD!
• Root vegetables are in season! Get some carrots or try beets! Try slicing them thinly or grating them to add to salads.
• Broccoli and Cauliflower: raw on your salad, or try lightly steaming them and then adding some coconut oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. It seriously tastes like butter, but dairy-free and with all the health benefits of coconut oil. An excellent side dish too.
• Grow your own sprouts: I like sprouted lentils and adzuki beans. Alfalfa sprouts and mung bean sprouts are easy to find ready to go at the grocery store. Just rinse them first to avoid the possibility of mold contamination.
• Seasonal fruits: Experiment with chopped apples or pears, pomegranate seeds, grapes, kiwis, or citrus fruits. Chopped dried fruits are a nice addition too. Ever tried dried peaches or pineapple?

How do you get raw food in your diet in the winter? What are your favorite salad toppings?

It's Easy... Eating Greens

"Ewwwwwww! GREEN stuff!" Why do people (okay, mostly children) tend to respond this way to God's most nutritious gastronomic gifts? I mean, it's not like you have to sit down to a plate of plain, dry spinach, and eat it a leaf at a time. And although a good parent will insist on children eating their green vegetables, I can't say that I see a lot of adults craving collard greens over coffee break or slurping a spinach green smoothie as a Saturday afternoon snack. Let's face it: we all need some encouragement and inspiration to get our daily dish of greens.

Getting your daily ration of green leafy vegetables does not necessarily mean subsisting on "rabbit food," munching on plain salads three meals a day, although I am a big fan of salads. There are all kinds of options-- delicious too!

• Green Smoothies: A great start for the day! Green Smoothies are an excellent and satisfying breakfast. See an earlier post devoted entirely to the subject of Green Smoothies: how to make them, and their health benefits.
• Salads: Think they're boring? The possibilities are endless!!!! ~Time to get CREATIVE!!!

Here are some ideas for adding variety to your salads:

1. A Variety of Greens: mixed baby greens, romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, arugula, swiss chard, bok choy, mache, endive, escarole, collard greens, curly kale, dinosaur kale, purple kale, spinach, foraged greens... whatever you can get your hands on! Really try to buy organic greens. They are lower in, if not devoid of, pesticides and other toxins, and higher in nutrients. You get more "bang for your buck."
2. Vegetables of all Kinds: carrots (shredded, coins, matchsticks, etc), beets, broccoli, cauliflower, radish, zucchini or yellow summer squash (use a vegetable peeler or even a large-holed cheese grater to make noodles!), onions (white, red, yellow, scallions, chives, shallots, leeks), garlic, asparagus, celery, green peas, roasted butternut squash... whatever is available and delicious!
3. Vegetable-like Fruits: tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, avocados.
4. Fresh Fruits: apples, pears, plums, peaches, berries, kiwis, oranges, pomegranate seeds, star fruit, persimmons... whatever is ripe and in season!
5. Dried Fruits: dried pineapple, dates, dried figs, dried apricots, craisins,
   raisins, dried peaches, prunes, dried mango, dessicated coconut... whatever you can find that isn't sweetened with sugar or fructose, and that is unsulfured.
6. Mushrooms of all Kinds: lightly sauteed in olive oil or marinaded.
7. Sprouts of all Kinds: Try bean sprouts (lentil sprouts, chickpea sprouts,
   adzuki bean sprouts, mung bean sprouts), seed sprouts (sunflower
   seeds, clover, broccoli seed, radish seed), or grain-like seed sprouts (buckwheat, quinoa). That's only a small sampling of what's available. Learn more, including how to grow your own sprouts, at http://www.sproutpeople.com/.
8. Herbs: "parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme"... or cilantro, basil, oregano
9. Nuts and Seeds: especially soaked and sprouted and then dried in the dehydrator to make them nice and crispy. See the "how-to" here: Crispy Nuts. Try almonds, walnuts, cashews, pecans, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, or ground flax seed.
10. Dressings: try different combinations of oils (olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil), vinegars (balsamic, red wine, white wine, apple cider, raspberry, herb), citrus juices (lemon, orange, grapefruit), blended avocado, soaked and blended nuts, tahini, and other additions such as herbs, chopped shallots, and citrus zest. (Celtic sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste).
11. Other Interesting Additions: Dehydrated sweet potato or beet "chips," a dollop of guacamole, hummus, pesto, or fresh salsa.

• Green Leaf Wraps: Use cabbage (green or red) leaves, collard leaves, or butter lettuce leaves for excellent "low-carb," gluten-free, grain-free wraps! Fill as you would any wrap, maybe some tomato, avocado, sprouts, yellow peppers, cucumbers, and fresh basil!
• Steamed Greens: Kale, collard greens, chard, bok choy, spinach, cabbage, beet greens, turnip greens, mustard greens... even broccoli and their greens. Add a drizzle of olive oil or coconut oil, plus salt and pepper to taste.
• Egg Dishes: If you eat eggs, try adding greens to scrambled eggs, quiches, or omelets. Spinach, chard, mache, broccoli, parsley, basil, and rosemary are excellent additions. Sauteed greens alongside poached eggs are an elegant pairing.

SEE??? It's Easy... Eating your Greens!

Pear, Walnut, and Sprout Green Salad

I had this delicious salad the other day, and just thought I'd share it with you. This salad features collard greens, which I think are not commonly thought of as a raw salad green. Collard leaves look like large flat fans. Their leaves have a bit of a waxy feel to them. The best way to make them into a raw salad is to cut out their stems, stack them up, roll them up, and use a chef's knife to cut across the roll, making 1/2-inch (or so) long ribbons! Then, put into a medium bowl with sea salt and an oil and vinegar dressing, and massage with your hands. That helps to break down the fibers to give the collards more of the feel of cooked greens. Arrange artistically in a salad bowl or plate. Then, top with remaining ingredients.

Here's the recipe (serves one hungry person for a main dish):

4 collard leaves

1/2 red bartlett pear

1/2 cup of lentil sprouts (or other sprouts)

1/4 cup of apple juice-sweetened dried cranberries

1/4 cup of raw walnuts

sea salt to taste

Dressing: I used a recipe from The Body Ecology diet. Basically, you could make one of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and mustard. Follow directions as given above.

This is an excellent salad for fall... featuring many fall crops: pears, cranberries, walnuts. The lentil sprouts are another story-- perhaps another post. Sprouts are a great way to make it through the winter without the wide variety of produce. The are super-high in Vitamin C, B-vitamins, and.... well, I'll save that for another post. :)

Here's the salad 3/4 of the way through. Plan a good amount of time to eat... there's a lot of chewing involved! Bon Appetit!

Autumn Apple GREEN Smoothie

Photo Credit

So, I'm on this salad and green smoothie diet for another six weeks or so: Green smoothie for breakfast, salad for lunch, green smoothie for dinner. So far, I've been doing this for about a month and have therefore consumed 66 GREEN SMOOTHIES!!! If I'm going to pull this off for another 6 weeks, it's definitely time to get creative!

Today was a rather blustery, chilly, fall day here in northern Minnesota. On a day such as this, one craves something like spiced apple cider. But-- green smoothies are the thing right now. Besides, green smoothies are cleansing, revitalizing, and promote excellent health and energy. ~A wonderful way to get more GREENS in one's diet.

Here's a delicious way to get more GREENS in YOUR diet!

Spiced Apple Green Smoothie

8 oz (or so) of apple juice
1/2 a frozen pear (fresh works too)
a big handful of red leaf lettuce or mixed baby greens
1 tsp vanilla
Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg to taste

If you're using a pear out of the freezer, let it sit in the blender with the apple juice to thaw it a bit. Add the greens and spices and blend. Add the spices to taste and blend until smoothie. Pour into a glass, sprinkle some nutmeg on top, and enjoy!

"Go Green"... with Green Smoothies

Photo Credit

Just about everyone knows they *should* include more green leafy vegetables in their diet. However, those are just the foods at which children tend to turn up their little noses. It took Popeye the Sailor Man half a century ago, to encourage the eating of spinach. After all, he knew it would help build strong muscles and give him lots of energy. It's true! (Although canned spinach hardly compares to fresh, raw greens). Green leafy vegetables, including spinach, chard, kale, collard greens, mustard greens and the like are full of important nutrients:

• Vitamin C
• Vitamins A, D, E, and K
• Fiber
• Cancer-fighting compounds
• Vitamin K, Calcium, and Magnesium, which help strengthen bones
• Heart-protective nutrients
• Anti-inflammatory agents
• Protective nutrients for eyesight
• Vitamins to improve cognitive function
• Iron for energy
• B Vitamins for energy and the ability to deal with stress
• Manganese to help balance blood sugar, activate enzymes, and improve thyroid function
• Trace minerals, which most Americans seem to be deficient in these days

These a truly "super-foods!" With all those benefits available to us, why should we skimp on our greens?!

Okay. So, not everyone likes to eat salads three times a day. Especially not for breakfast. And those green leafies are a lot of fiber and can take FOREVER to eat properly (chewing *at least* 30 times per mouthful until you have created a watery "bolus," but that's another discussion). So, how can we make sure to get our greens--reducing them to a pulverized state so our bodies can digest them well-- without taking an hour or two for each meal?

Ann Wigmore (1909-1994) was co-founder of the Hippocrates Health Institute and the author of several books on "living foods." She was both a holistic health practitioner and a nutritionist, and a strong advocate of a diet that consists of only whole, raw, "living" foods. To include more greens in a form that is easier on the digestive system, she pioneered the blending of greens into raw "soups," which were then served at the Hippocrates Institute to those who were working to overcome serious illness.

Green Smoothies were made popular by a woman named Victoria Boutenko, a Russian woman who came to America with her husband and two children in the 1990s. She was invited to teach about Russia at community college in Denver. When she and her family first arrived, they were thrilled with the new variety of "foods" sold in American grocery stores... things that were convenient and didn't take much time or effort to make, i.e. our great variety of processed foods. After consuming American processed foods from grocery stores and fast food restaurants nearly exclusively, all four of the Boutenkos became very ill. The father had rhumatoid arthritis, the mother was obese, the son had juvenile diabetes, the daughter had athesma. After a lot of research and networking, they stumbled onto the raw food vegan way of eating. Gradually, their health problems went away, and they regained vibrant health. As a part of this new way of eating, Victoria struggled to get more greens into her family's diet, in a way that was palatable and more exciting than simply eating salads all the time. The answer? Green Smoothies! She even wrote a book about the benefits of including daily green smoothies as a part of a healthy diet: Green For Life.

Green smoothies, as mentioned in a previous post, are simply delicious fruit smoothies with a handful or two of leafy green goodness blended right in! Some basic guidelines follow:

• Fruit or berry base (frozen berries, fresh or frozen bananas, other fruit or combinations: pears, oranges, pineapple, coconut flesh, apple, etc)
• liquid to thicken (water, coconut water, coconut milk, juice, low-or non-caffeinated tea)
• sweetener (soaked dried fruit like dates, raw honey, stevia)
• greens (spinach, kale, collards, arugula, chard, mustard greens, dandelion greens, foraged greens, parsley, cilantro)
• optional additional herbs/spices/flavorings: mint, basil, coconut oil, vanilla, almond extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, etc)

Challenge for the week:

Using the guidelines above, experiment on your own. If you come up with a particularly delicious recipe you'd like to share, post it below!

For more information:

http://www.rawfamily.com/

http://www.greenforlife.com/

http://www.whfoods.com/