Cabbage, Radish, and Cucumber Pressed Salad

This recipe is from Alicia's Silverstone's The Kind Diet.  I love this book, and it's the one I go to when I'm feeling.. blah... and really want to clean up my diet.  I made this tonight, and it is delicious!



From The Kind Diet:

Pressed salads are an interesting twist on fresh salads;  by lightly salting and pressing the vegetables, they become more digestible while retaining all their live enzymes.  In fact, the word "salad" comes from the Italian herba salata, which means means "salted herb."

This recipe uses vinegar rather than salt to wilt the vegetables.

Serves 2 to 3 people.

5-6 leaves napa cabbage, very thinly sliced
3 red radishes, thinly sliced
3 whole scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 TB umeboshi vinegar
1 TB balsamic or brown rice vinegar
1 TB toasted sunflower seeds

Combine all vegetables and fruit in a large mixing bowl.  Add the vinegars and massage the vegetables with your bare hands until they begin to wilt and release some liquid.  This may take a few minutes.  It should feel quite wet by the end.  Form into a mound and place a small plate on the vegetables within the bowl and place a weight on top (a full tea kettle of a big jar of juice) to press the vegetables.  Press for 20 to 30 minutes.  Pour off the excess fluid, and give the salad a good squeeze with your hands.  Taste it;  if it tastes salty, give it a quick and gentle rinse under cold water, then squeeze it again.

What Does "Natural" Mean?

The other day, I ran out to a local grocery store - not my normal store - for some peanut butter.  Few things fluster me more than shopping in unfamiliar stores.  First, it's a project just to find the right aisle.  Then, if you want to be any kind of conscientious consumer, you need to pick up and read all the labels to really see what it is you're buying.  I rarely have to read labels at my regular stores, because I've already read them.  I know what brands I like, and I can pop them in my cart, and be in and out in no time.

But I wasn't at my regular store.  I was at a store down the street from my house, and I was staring at the selection of peanut butter.  I knew I could just ignore the regular Jif and Skippy, but I was intrigued to see how many brands had cropped up that had the word "Natural" all over their packaging.   I picked one up:  Peanuts, sugar, salt, safflower oil.   Next one:  Peanuts, sugar, salt, safflower oil.  I looked at about four before I resigned myself to the fact that I would be buying the most expensive one there:  the only one that had an acceptable ingredient list:  Organic Peanuts.

The "natural" brands did not contain hydrogenated oils, nor did they contain things like mono and diglycerides.  So they were, if you want to be technical about it, more natural than their counterparts.  But were they healthy?  Of course not.  You don't need to add sugar to make peanut butter.  You don't need to add oil either... peanuts have plenty of their own oil.   And therein lies my problem with the "natural" labels.  Well-meaning people buy them thinking that natural = healthy. When in fact in a lot of cases natural doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot of anything, other than the fact that they feel they can charge more.  There is no standardization for the natural label, which means that anyone can use it any time they deem it appropriate.

Rather than looking at the front of the package, and getting seduced with words like "natural", do the work, know your ingredients, and read them.

Update

Despite my lack of posts, I have thought of this blog frequently over the last couple of months. In December, I was busying studying for, and taking, my final exam. It was finally submitted just before the new year, along with my essays, book reports, and nutritional assessments.

I think that I was left with little energy with which to blog, read, or write about nutrition/natural health topics for fun, since so much of what I was doing was work.

But, I'm back. :)

I'm working on revamping my blog, and will be making a Facebook page soon. I hope that you (yes, you, all 2 of my faithful readers) will join me over there as well.

In the meantime, here's a great article I just read this morning about exercise and its link to the immune system, specifically the flu.  From naturalnews.com:

(NaturalNews) Staying physically fit may reduce your time spent sick during cold and flu season by nearly 50 percent, according to a study conducted by researchers from Appalachian State University and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Researchers followed 1,002 adults younger than age 86 for 12 weeks in either the fall or winter of 2008. Participants reported how much time they spent exercising and rated their own fitness on a 10-point scale. The researchers found that after adjusting for potentially complicating factors such as age, body mass index, education, fruit intake, marital status, mental stress and sex, people who exercised at least five days per week spent 43 percent less time with an upper respiratory tract infection than people who exercised one or fewer days per week.

The reduction in sick time was caused both by lower infection and quicker recovery rates.

People who self-reported as highly fit spent 46 percent less time sick than people who reported low fitness. Severity of illness was also 41 percent lower in those who reported high fitness or high levels of aerobic activity.

In contrast to the strong results seen in the study, the jury is still out on the effectiveness of the much-hyped flu vaccines. Critics allege that the shots are unreliable and unnecessarily expose people to potentially severe side effects.

"The bottom line is that there is no real advantage in having a flu shot," writes Andreas Moritz in her book Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation.

"Certainly, given the frailty of so many of the oldest members of society, there is absolutely no reliable way of telling whether the flu or something else may have led to their death. The death rate in and out of the flu season is actually about the same. But then, as we have seen with AIDS, statistics can be manipulated in ways that support theories which have only one objective, to keep the medical business going."

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031089_flu_infections_physical_fitness.html#ixzz1Bz7Dheyi

Resolutions of Good Health

Today is New Year's Day. All across America, people are dusting off and lacing up their running shoes, vowing to get in shape, lose weight, and eat better. This will be the year they'll get healthy. THIS will be the time they'll be successful.

Or not.

The best piece of advice I've ever heard about New Year's Resolutions - or any kind of resolution - is that in order to be successful, they need to be specific. A general pronouncement of "eating better and getting healthier", while surely a worthwhile and noble goal, is so vague as to be almost unattainable. Choosing a resolution without a specific and clear-cut intent can mean setting yourself up for failure before you even begin. How do you even know if you've achieved it? Who decides what "healthier" means anyway?

A small, specific goal (or lots of them!) is easier to focus on, easier to reach, and easier to pave the path to what is truly greater health and long-term success.

A few examples:

1. Pick one unhealthy vice (soda, pizza, the sugar in your morning coffee, etc) and go without it for one month. After a month, you won't miss it.

2. Go through your cabinets and give away everything with high fructose corn syrup. Start reading labels and stop buying anything that contains this ingredient.

3. Switch your cow's milk with rice or almond milk

4. When you go shopping, try a green vegetable you've never tried before. Pick a new one the next time.

5. Start taking a multi-vitamin

6. If you're not a breakfast eater, begin starting your day with a piece of fruit

7. Make a date with yourself to exercise at least three times a week, and show up!

8. Take some time every day, even if it's just 5 minutes, to meditate, do yoga or tai chi, or pray

9. Stop buying foods with ingredients you can't pronounce

10. Throw away anything with artificial sweeteners or colors

11. Pick a hobby you've always wanted to try, or a class you've always wanted to take, and do it

12. Forgive someone

Have a blessed, happy, and HEALTHY 2011.

Ten Simple Rules

I read this today, and loved it for its simple, but profound message.  I thought it was perfect for this week of Thanksgiving.  

Five rules for happiness:
1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries. 

3. Live simply.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

And because Thanksgiving often revolves so largely around food (and because happy and healthy need to go hand in hand), here are five more to get you from turkey to pie.

6.  Find a way to help 

7.  Eat only what you love 

8.  Eat slowly and with gratitude and mindfulness

9.  Drink lots of pure water

10.  Focus more on the people you're with, and less on the food

I wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

Coffee - The Good, The Bad, The Delicious

 I love a good cup of coffee. Love the smell, love the taste, love the feeling of the warm mug in my hands. If I were to make a list of my top go-to mood boosters, coffee would forever be near the top of the list. There have admittedly been times in my adult life when I was drinking it excessively, and times when I've stopped drinking it all together. These days I have a cup or two (organic, of course :)) on most mornings, and every now and then a cup in the afternoon as well.

Some people will advise that you should avoid coffee outright - and for certain individuals that is indeed the best course of action - but for most of us, coffee is a perfectly healthy addition to our diet when used in moderation, provided you don't load it up with sugar and/or artificial creamers (more on that later). Its benefits, beyond its taste, are numerous.

Moderate coffee consumption (from 2 to 4 6-oz cups, depending on your source) can:

1. increase alertness and elevate moods

2. improve short-term memory, as well as increase work capacity and the ability to perform intellectual tasks more easily

3. improve physical endurance

4. reduce your risk of developing Parkinson's Disease, Alzeimer's, type 2 diabetes, and dementia

5. deliver heart-healthy antioxidants

6. reduce your risk of certain cancers

7. dilate your bronchial tubes, making it useful for asthma

8. naturally relieve pain, particularly headaches

9. increase your metabolism

10. reduce your risk of gallstones

That's the good news. Unfortunately, some of the very attributes that make it *good* for you can also have the opposite effect. Caffeine is a stimulant, which means that in addition to boosting moods, alertness, and performance, it may also raise blood pressure and respiration rate, and can cause heart palpitations in some people when consumed in excess. It can cause a jittery and anxious feeling. It increases the release of certain hormones. It can contribute to insomnia. And even in moderation it can be habit-forming, causing withdrawal symptoms such as headaches when you stop your use.

Everyone's body is different. As with any food or drug, if your body is telling you it doesn't like it, don't use it!

Avoid it completely if you have hormone imbalances, problems with colitis or ulcers, symptoms of Candida, anxiety or insomnia, or if you are taking contraindicated medications (ask your doctor)

A couple of final caveats:

~ Conventionally grown coffee beans are one of the most heavily sprayed crops, so it is always worth the time and money to find a good organic brand, especially if you drink it frequently.

~ Always use pure, filtered water.

~ Loading it up with cream and sugar not only adds unnecessary calories, but also adds its own health concerns. Non-dairy "creamers" such as Coffee Mate are nothing more than hydrogenated oils, corn syrup, and chemicals. Avoid those completely. The same goes for artificial sweeteners (Aspartame, Splenda, etc) Please don't use them... in coffee, or anything else.  If you really need it creamy, use real milk or half and half, and make it organic.  And if you have to have it sweet, a small amount of real sugar - while not the healthiest choice - is always a better option than its artificial counterparts.  You can also sweeten with stevia, and use non-dairy milks such as almond milk.

If you're conscientious about it, make good decisions and use moderation, then by all means:  drink up and enjoy your morning cup (or two) of java... guilt-free.

Hot and Spicy Tofu and Broccoli Stir-Fry

This is one of my favorite go-to vegan dinners. Lots of tender crisp broccoli and a spicy and flavorful sauce. It is also a great introduction to tofu, and one I'd even recommend to those with tofu trepidation. The key is to cook it until it has a skin on it, and is turning a nice golden brown.

The recipe as written does not make very much (2 to 3 servings), so I always at least double it for our family of 6.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 package extra firm tofu, cubed
2 cups broccoli florets
1 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1/2 cup room temperature water
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
hot red pepper flakes, to taste (we serve it with more at the table too, so people can spice it up as much as they like)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 (or more) cloves garlic

In a medium sized skillet, saute the tofu in the oil over medium high heat until it is lightly browned. Remove from the pan, place it in a bowl, and saute the broccoli in the same pan for a couple of minutes, just till it is bright green and tender-crisp. (You can saute them together, but I like to do it in two steps because it keeps the tofu more intact) Remove the broccoli from the pan. Combine the remaining ingredients in the pan and cook on medium-low heat until simmering one minute. Return the tofu and broccoli to the pan with the sauce. Cook and stir for another 2 minutes. Serve over brown rice.