Thursday, May 10, 2007

Slow Food in a Fast World

I go to great lengths to obtain nutrient-dense fresh organic food. Since I only occasionally eat out, that means planning, shopping, coordinating, and preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner 7 days a week in between a 60 hour work week schedule. I work the 8 to 5 grind but in reality its 6:30 am to 5:30 pm. Thank God for lunch hours. For this is when I do most of planning and shopping. It can be tiring. So tiring that when I’m feeling my best, I’ll do a one day liquid fast just to free up time from the planning and preparing meals. Ahhh, what a relief. It’s a necessary and welcome tradeoff though, as I’d rather nourish my body with real food than have a spotless house and live on processed fast food.

I’ve experimented with most every ‘diet’ out there and have come to the conclusion they all have pros and cons. The vegans have some great vegetable recipes, the raw foodists too, but they are unhealthy WHEN FOLLOWED LONG TERM for many because lack the nutrients only animal foods can provide -- no matter what they claim. The Weston Price’ers have the fats right and amen to the naturally raised environment friendly beef, chickens and raw dairy. The basic tenets I apply to healthy eating are this:

1) Eat only unprocessed foods. This means to avoid most all pre-packed/prepared foods like noodle dinner kits, canned soups unless organic, hotdogs, fast food. It’s been so long since I’ve perused the grocery store aisles where these items are found I can’t even recall many! I shop almost exclusively at the local health food store which caters to vegetarians (which I’m not) and normal food like beef, chicken, eggs , milk etc but all organic and a lot from local farms. Oh, my point being, yes even the ‘health food store’ has processed packed foods, some better than others. READ LABELS. I do buy canned tomatoes and sauce by Muir Glen (check out their fire roast tomatoes, delish), organic beef hotdogs, my favorite wheat-free “Fig Newmans”. You get the idea

2) Avoid anything with partially hydrogenated soybean oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, margarine, in other words, anything with altered fats. These fats are found in all packaged foods and grocery store bakery goods to extend shelf life. Mass production requires foods to sit in stores days, weeks, even months. All these types of foods are loaded with artificial colors, preservatives, and flavorings (MSG) to boot. Real butter, unrefined coconut and palm oil, olive oil, unrefined safflower, sunflower, sesame, pumpkin seed oils are all health giving and yes won’t last as long, and probably cost a bit more, but getting your essential fatty acids (EFA’s) could be the number one thing you do to prevent disease, especially tumors malignant and benign. .

In a nutshell, it’s as simple as that.

Today on my lunch “hour” I zipped to Nature’s Food Patch to buy food for next few days as I am meeting a group for coffee tonight at Starbucks at 6, hence no time to shop, as usual. And yes I’ll watch that sugar content. Actually I’ve perfected the perfect low-sugar vanilla latte but another day on that. I make the 20 minute drive and arrive at the store. I love this store! It is a pleasant almost festive shopping experience. That’s another article too. So have my mini list in hand and start in produce -- all organic in bins, no plastic containers here. I grab an avocado and shake head remembering the avocado tree had in yard when I was a kid. We had so many my mom gave them away by the bag full. I wouldn’t touch them. That’s a shame, given their high nutrient content, excellent source of magnesium, calcium, folate, potassium, amino acids and EFA’s.. Next is spinach, I decide on two bunches as it shrinks A LOT when it’s cooked, it will be made into a spinach-onion-turkey kielbasa casserole recipe I made up. Mix it all together with butter and top with parmesan cheese, bake til bubbly and you’ll be in heaven. I then toss a bunch of beets in my cart knowing they’ll be impossible to prepare with my NF2 weakened hands, they look hard to peel but buy anyway as saw a ‘Beets in Paradise” recipe I want to try this week which mixes slightly steamed beets, yams, onions with plain yogurt, garlic, pepper and interestingly, capers. Last of produce is 2 very large organic russet potatoes. Not afraid of potato carbs here like Adkin’s warned us. Potatoes are loaded with potassium and other minerals. Load that potato up with butter and sour cream and the fat will balance out the carbs. Yes fat! It’s satisfying and essential, if use REAL unadulterated fats. At the meat counter all I get today is chicken thighs and turkey kielbasa. I move on and grab a small container of heavy cream, and plain yogurt. The cream is from a farm that raises cows on grass, not grain, no growth hormones or antibiotics. The grass fed cow dairy products really are more nutrient dense. It will be used this weekend to make creamed lima beans, a true southern dish that’s out of this world. My baby limas will need to soak in water a good 24 - 48 hours before cooking. No problem if plan ahead. The yogurt is also made from grassfed jersey cows i.e. again, more nutrients, and will be used to make 5 or 6 breakfast smoothies. (see next topic “The Breakfast Smoothie”)..Checking my email on my cell while taking inventory of each aisle I feel hurried as I’m on my lunch hour. I pick up the pace and grab a bottle of Udo’s Oil blend 3-6-9. It’s a recent discovery and am in total love with this product! I notice nearby, a new oil, could it be? Yes! Organic pumpkin seed oil!! I am ELATED with my find. Pumpkin seed oil is the perfect balance of EFA’s, great for so many things from skin to blood sugar balance and protection from cancer. It’s one of my secret weapons, er, ingredients in my breakfast smoothie. I will devote a whole article to these two oils soon. As pass the deli case I snatch up a container of tuna salad and sprouted grain tortillas, and sliced "no Bgh' (bovine growth hormone) cheddar cheese.. I sigh a minute and berate self because have avoided tuna due to mercury contamination. But it sounded so good I was craving it bad. It’s organic I tell myself.

Arrive back to my office about 20 minutes ‘late’, no one really notices. There is no time for the luxury of dropping my loot off at home. Now as I sit in my car parked 100 yards from door – all the handicap spaces were full -- I devise a plan. Having 7 brain and spine surgeries due to NF2 has resulted in horrible balance, weak legs, and a paralyzed right hand. Just another day in the life I say. I pull a few items out of one bag to lighten the load and trek towards the office building, up to the 3rd floor and neatly tuck my goods in the over crowded refrigerator. Stomach is growling now with hunger pangs, but first two more 100 yard treks, each way, to get all in the frig. I am finally back at my desk trying to look inconspicuous, I lay out the sprouted grain tortillas, awkwardly fight to open the cheese with knife which leaves my frustrated, hand problem again, after success I smugly line the tortillas with cheese and over fill with tuna salad. They are delicious and worth all the time they took.

I sit at my computer as a co-worker walks by with her strong almost chemical-smelling just micro-waved frozen meal. She seems calm and happy while I’m still catching my breath, but I quickly dismiss her and smile as I pop open my recipe file to re-read the “Beets in Paradise” recipe that I plan to make.

LINKS OF INTEREST

http://slowfood.com/
http://westonaprice.org/
http://naturesfoodpatch.com/
http://www.recoverymedicine.com/hydrogenated_oils.htm
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/coconut_oil.html
http://tropicaltraditions.com/
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/avocado-advantage
http://texasgrassfedbeef.com/
http://www.udoerasmus.com/
http://www.pumpkinseedoil.com/

BEETS IN PARADISE

1 Medium size Beet
½ Medium Yam
1 green onion
2 Tbsp capers
4 Tbsp Plain Yogurt
1 Small Garlic Clove
2 Tbsp Udo's Choice Oil Blend
2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 pinch Black Pepper

Slice beet into thin slices; steam for 15-20 minutes; add diced yam - steam for 10 min or until yams are tender. add chopped green onion, capers, minced garlic. Add the steamed veggies and stir gently. Finally, add yogurt, Oil Blend, vinegar & fresh grated pepper to taste. Optionally, add your own favorite spice mix or or slosh of fine Italian Dressing. Stir and Enjoy.