Anti-Inflammatory Foods

On the connection between diet and inflammation and inflammation and chronic disease:

We now know that high blood insulin levels, omega-6 fatty acids, and oxidative stress caused by free radicals lead to inflammation, and chronic inflammation in turn can predispose us towards heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, sepsis, dementia, macular degeneration, and cancer.

Not surprisingly, most of the foods you probably already think of as not healthy foods to eat are also culprits when it comes to inflammation; and many of the foods you already know as healthy foods have anti-inflammatory effects. Nice how that works out, isn't it?

Below are some lists of inflammatory versus anti-inflammatory foods. Two additional tips:

1. sleep deprivation and obesity have also been linked to inflammation, and

2. fasting occasionally has been proven to relieve inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis -- seems occasional fasting gives the body a "break" in which to clean up oxidative damage.

Anti-Inflammatory Foods (Good):

• Fresh fruits and vegetables (because they are powerhouses when it comes to antioxidants -- especially the green and brightly colored ones!)
• Olive oil (both an anti-inflammatory and an antioxidant!)
• Omega-3 fatty acids, found in flaxseed, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds and in cold-water fish, like herring, sardines, salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel, cod liver, halibut, trout, whitefish...
• Whole cereal grains
• Legumes
• Proteins rich in polyunsaturated fat, such as fish, nuts, and seeds
• "Good" bacteria, like Lactobacillus acidophilus from yogurt (it populates your gut and leaves no room for harmful bacteria)
• Most traditional herbs and spices, like white willow bark, turmeric, licorice, ginger, capsaicin (an extract of cayenne pepper), basil, chilli peppers, cinnamon, cloves, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme...
• Tea (because it's an antioxidant) -- especially white and green teas
• Raw cacao/cocoa nibs (again, because they're antioxidants)

Inflammatory Foods (Bad):

• Allergens -- Even if something is on the "Good" list, if you're allergic to it, it's Bad for you. Avoid it. (The most common allergenic foods are wheat, corn, milk and other dairy products, peanuts, soy, and beef.)
• Omega-6 fatty acids (found in corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oils)
• Sugar and refined carbohydrates (found in sodas, soft drinks, pastries, presweetened cereals, candy...)
• Saturated and trans fats (found in junk food, fast food, many meats...)
• Meats, especially high-fat red meats
• Nitrites (found in processed meats)

Also, there is a theory out there, which has been somewhat validated in the case of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, that "nightshades" (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, paprika, cayenne, and tobacco) should be avoided to decrease inflammation. Some people, especially some rheumatoid arthritis patients, experience pain when they ingest a chemical alkaloid called solanine, which is found in "nightshade" plants.

Olive Oil: Why It's Good for You

A long time ago, my family and I switched to cooking with olive oil (cold-pressed extra-virgin or virgin olive oil, to get as much of the good stuff -- polyphenols -- as possible). People always ask us why (especially desis, who feel it affects the flavor of Indian dishes).

Partly to remind myself, here's the short story:

1. Olive oil is monounsaturated and high in antioxidants (including vitamin E, which also makes it a great skincare ingredient).

2. Olive oil is an anti-inflammatory. It contains oleocanthal, a naturally-occurring chemical that shares many properties with ibuprofen.* Inflammation is behind many chronic diseases.

3. Olive oil has a high smoke point.


*Ibuprofen-like activity in extra-virgin olive oil. G.K. Beauchamp, R.S.J. Keast, D. Morel D, et al. Nature (2005) 437:45-6.

Recipe: Seared Tuna with Ginger-Garlic Dipping Sauce

Today we had left over Vietnamese-style cabbage salad, which was not going to be enough. So this seared tuna provided a quick fix.

Seared Tuna with Ginger-Garlic Dipping Sauce (for 1)

0.5 lbs sashimi-grade tuna
peanut oil
sesame oil
lemon juice
nam pla
minced ginger
minced garlic
minced cilantro
nama shoyu
red chilli pepper
chilli oil

For the dipping sauce, I mixed no more than 1 tsp. each (possibly less) of sesame oil, lemon juice, nam pla, ginger, garlic, and cilantro with a dash of red chilli pepper and poured it onto a plate in a circle.

I heated some peanut oil on a pan, patted the tuna dry, and seared it over high heat. Then I sliced the tuna and placed the slices on top of the dipping sauce on the plate, and put a drop each of chilli oil and nama shoyu onto each piece.

Recipe: Vietnamese-style Shrimp and Cabbage Salad

Something we had for dinner on Friday...

Vietnamese-style Shrimp and Cabbage Salad (for 4)

Dressing:

1/3 Cup rice vinegar

2 Tablespoons nam pla

Juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 fresh red chilli, minced (I keep the seeds in for more heat)

Shrimp:

some peanut oil (~2 tablespoons)

some hot chilli oil (~ 1 teaspoon)

1 clove minced garlic

dash (or three) nama shoyu

~20 shrimp, peeled, deveined (leave tails on)

1 bunch scallions, white parts, chopped into 1" pieces

Salad:

1 bunch scallions, green parts, finely chopped

1 mango, peeled and julienned

1 red bell pepper, seeded and julienned

2 Cups finely shredded Napa cabbage

2 Cups finely shredded red cabbage

1/2 a big daikon, peeled and julienned

1/2 Cup fresh mint leaves

1/2 Cup fresh cilantro leaves

Combine the vinegar, lime juice, nam pla, brown sugar, and chilli in a small bowl and stir until the brown sugar dissolves. Keep aside.

Heat the oils in a stir-fry pan and when hot, add the garlic, briefly stir-frying until fragrant (~10 seconds), then add the shrimp and 1 1/2" scallion pieces, a few dashes of nama shoyu, and stir-fry until the shrimp are at least cooked through and pink (~4 minutes) -- or, if you're like 

me and like them a little more cooked, until the garlic is browned and some of the shrimp look almost grilled (~6 minutes).

In a large bowl, toss the finely chopped green scallion parts, mango, bell pepper, cabbages, daikon, mint and cilantro with most of the dressing.  Divide the salad among four plates/bowls.  Top with the stir-fried shrimp and white scallion parts.  Drizzle a bit of the remaining dressing over each plate/bowl.  This would be good served with lime wedges.

Ideas for Including More "Superfoods" in Your Day

Yesterday, I had dinner with a friend who has truly undergone a transformation in terms of the way he eats. When we were kids, he really stuck to burgers and pizza. (It used to confound my brother and me, because his family is Italian and his mother was always making to-die-for pasta fresca at home with sauces she had simmered for hours.) He has turned 180 degrees: last night, at his suggestion, we ate at Quartino Bottega Organica, a small pescetarian restaurant that is very mindful of using organic ingredients, makes simple, satisfying Italian food, and serves organic and biodynamic wine.

Better yet, my friend is now trying to think of ways to add more "superfoods" to things he already eats. So here are a few ideas, for him or for you!

1. Bananas, berries and acai are easy to add to smoothies and other breakfast dishes, like yogurt-and-granola or whole grain pancakes or toast.

2. Any grains and flours in your diet can easily be swapped for whole, naturally very complex, or protein- or omega-3-rich grains and flours, like quinoa, buckwheat, flax meal, brown rice, etc.

3. In the summertime, I make a black bean salad that has practically the whole "rainbow of superfoods": black beans, diced red bell pepper, diced and seeded tomato or halved cherry tomatoes, diced mango, diced avocado, and chopped cilantro, tossed with lime juice, chilli pepper, salt, and roasted cumin. We scoop it up with endive leaves, which make a natural scoop, or just eat it by the spoonful.

4. Sprouts are easy to add to sandwiches and to use to top salads and Asian dishes. Add broccoli and daikon sprouts to liven up sandwiches, pea sprouts and bean sprouts to Asian dishes, and sprouted lentils to chaat (or to make Indian dishes that call for dried lentils). Sprouted, raw nuts are also yummy - much more soft than roasted nuts - almost like eating a fruit.

5. The question is what can you not do with green vegetables?! : )

a. I have started using collards as a wrap, like in place of rice paper for Vietnamese-style rice paper rolls. I just wash and de-rib them, roll up different mixtures inside them, and then cut the one long, single roll into hand-holdable pieces.

b. Nori also makes a great wrap, and can also be cut into short strips and mixed into all kinds of Asian dishes to add a briny, ocean flavor. Or, say you're making something like red coconut curry as a main dish, and steaming some brown rice to accompany it, you could mix the hot brown rice with black sesame seeds, shredded nori, and thinly sliced scallions both for visual interest and heightened flavor.

c. Green vegetables like peas, peapods, green beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, spinach, mustard greens, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, bok choy, and asparagus can be used in so many different kinds of cuisines:
- risottos with green peas;
- stir-fries with crunchy peapods;
- blanched green beans in a warm shallot vinaigrette;
- frittata with broccoli florets;
- quartered brussels sprouts sauteed in South Indian spices;
- spinach fettucine;
- any greens simply prepared with garlic or ginger and garlic...
and so on, and so on.

6. Pumpkin (along with other autumn squashes and yams) is a great seasonal ingredient with loads of beta carotene. When fall rolls around, I like pumpkin everything all the time. It makes for yummy pancakes, tastes great in Sri Lankan-style curry, is featured in plenty of autumn dessert recipes, like pumpkin tea bread, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin pie, and the seeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and zinc and make a great snack or crunchy addition to salads and trail mixes. I love yams and yam "fries" (actually, baked) and mashed yams for sandwich spreads, and like to contrast their sweetness with some ginger or mustard greens. Butternut squash, of course, makes a great bisque - you almost don't need to add anything to it (I, of course, turn up the heat on it with some chilli powder).

7. Nuts can also be added to almost anything - breakfast foods, rice/grain pilafs, salads, I think I've mentioned we love a nut-based non-dairy "ice cream" - and of course make satisfying snacks.

8. What about citrus? I think the best thing to do with it is eat the whole fruit, since it can be so sweet or so sour, and eating the whole fruit provides fiber. Citrus fruits make great additions to green salads, among other things.

Note: there are lots of "superfoods" cookbooks out there, but I don't think anyone trying to eat more "superfoods" needs to rush out and buy them. Just think about what you already eat and love to eat - chances are, you already eat quite a few "superfoods," and almost everything you eat can be "supe'd" up!

Quotable Quote

“I always say a gastronome who isn’t an environmentalist is just stupid, and I say an environmentalist who isn’t a gastronome is just sad.”

- Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food

Recipe: Red Onion Salad

Red Onion Salad (to accompany Biryani)

1 large red (almost purple!) onion

ice and water

salt

Juice of 1 lime or lemon

optional: sliced green chillies, diced tomato, fresh cilantro leaves (minced or whole), red chilli powder, or chaat masala

Trim off the ends of the red onion and peel away the dry outer layer. Quarter the onion, then thinly slice along the "equator" to produce papery thin or just merely thin semicircles (as you prefer). Put water into a bowl, salt it, add the ice, then put the onion slices into the bowl and briefly toss/mix using fingers. Let the onion sit in the salted ice water for at least a few minutes for the sting to leech out - you can taste-test a slice every now and then to see how long you prefer the onion to sit (I like it after just a few minutes).

Drain and rinse the onion slices, place in a small serving dish, and toss with the lemon or lime juice (depending on which flavor you prefer).

Garnish/season as you prefer - some people like to top it with minced fresh cilantro or mix that in or add a bit of diced tomato, some like it hot with sliced green chillies or red chilli powder, some like to add chaat masala.

Recipe: Biryani

Biryani is one of the most elaborately spiced dishes we make at home. It's like an ensemble opera and 100-piece orchestra in every bite: each flavor makes itself felt, but all of them work together. (And it's much better at home, so rather than order it at a restaurant, try this recipe or find a Persian/Pakistani/Indian/Bangladeshi/Malay friend who'll have you over when he's making some.)

You will find different variations of biryani along the route that Mughal travelers and merchants traveled long ago, from Iran to Malaysia. It's basically meat, eggs, and/or vegetables with intricately seasoned basmati rice. Since we don't eat meat, we most often make it with mixed mushrooms, mixed vegetables, salmon, or shrimp. (But, even as a non-meat-eater, I will say, lamb and goat biryanis seem to be what people really swoon over.)

It's best served garnished with some sliced boiled egg and sliced tomatoes, with some cooling raita and red onion salad on the side.

Mushroom Biryani (serves 6)

1" piece ginger, peeled, minced
5 cloves garlic, peeled, minced
a small pinch saffron
1/4 Cup warm milk
1 bay leaf
4 cloves
2 green cardamoms, crushed
2 black cardamoms (optional)
1" cinnamon stick
salt to taste
1 1/2 Cups brown basmati rice, rinsed and soaked
2 teaspoons oil
2 medium sized onions, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1/2 tablespoon crushed peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon cumin (seeds or powder)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 medium sized tomatoes, peeled and pureed
1/2 Cup yogurt, whisked
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 Cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/4 Cup fresh chopped mint
*15-20 medium sized quartered mushrooms

optional: a few drops of kewra (an aqueous extract of pandanus flowers)

*In place of the mushrooms, you could use any of the following: chicken, lamb, salmon, or other fish (cut into bite-sized pieces); shrimp (I recommend leaving the tails on for more shrimp-y flavor); or a mixture of vegetables (like diced carrots, chopped green beans, corn kernels, and cauliflower cut into very small, fine florets).

Soak the saffron in the warm milk and keep aside.

Bring 3-4 Cups water to boil with the bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt and rice, then when it's boiling, reduce heat to the lowest and cover. Cook until the rice is about 3/4 done and then remove from heat, keep covered, and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions, stir fry over high for 2-3 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the ginger-garlic and cook briefly. Add the red chilli powder, coriander powder, black pepper, cumin and turmeric. Stir-fry briefly. Add the pureed tomatoes. Cook another 2-3 minutes until fairly thick. Add the whipped yogurt, garam masala, and half the cilantro and mint. Cook 2 more minutes, stirring. Add the mushrooms and salt to taste. Stir-fry 2-3 minutes (if you're using something other than mushrooms or vegetables, at this point, cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat/fish/shrimp is cooked).

If you like your biryani drier, at this point, mix the almost-cooked rice and almost-cooked mushroom mixture together in a shallow, ovenproof dish, mixing in the remaining cilantro and mint and saffron milk. (More classically, people layer the rice, mushroom mixture, additional fresh cilantro and mint, and saffron milk; I like consistent mixing.) Cover, making sure to seal the dish, and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the cover for the last minute or so.

If you like your biryani more moist, mix the almost-cooked rice and almost-cooked mushroom mixture together in whichever dish will accommodate them both (for me, it's usually the pot I had the mushrooms in), mixing in the remaining cilantro and mint and saffron milk. Cover and cook on very low heat about 10 more minutes. Uncover and raise the heat to medium and cook a few more minutes, stirring occasionally, to evaporate some of the water.

For real dhaba flavor, sprinkle a few drops of kewra over the biryani.

Recipe: Whole grain penne with parsley-lemon pesto, diced fresh tomatoes, and chickpeas

Yesterday, I had left over parsley, tomatoes, lemons, and chickpeas. So I picked up some wild ocean perch filets and dredged them in a mix of ground flax, salt, and sambar powder, a masala used in the South Indian dish sambar. It contains roasted coriander seeds, chilli, lentils, and other spices. I use one that my uncle's South Indian mother-in-law makes at home, but MTR brand sambar powder, which you can buy in Indian grocery stores, is pretty good. I lightly pan-fried the fish, and we had it drizzled with a bit of the parsley-lemon pesto that I used to make this whole grain pasta, which we had on the side.

You may be asking - Miz Masala, why no traditional Indian dishes so far? Answer: most of the Indian dishes I make are to be eaten hot, and it's summer, and it's hot - 95°F, so we've been eating light, vaguely Mediterranean or Asian uncooked or partially uncooked dishes that can be served cold or lukewarm - lots of salads, supplemented sometimes with fish/seafood.

But I'll try to make some sprouted mung bean salad or bhel puri or fruit chaat soon, and post those recipes : ). I won't be craving anything like dal, however, until it cools down a bit outside!

Whole grain penne with parsley-lemon pesto, diced fresh tomatoes, and chickpeas (serves 6 as a side dish)

1 bunch parsley, trimmed, washed, and coarsely chopped

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 2 lemons

1 shallot, peeled, quartered

3 tbsp. olive oil

5 tomatoes, washed, seeded, and diced

1.5 Cups cooked chickpeas

8 oz. organic whole grain penne rigate (I used Bionaturae)

salt and freshly ground pepper

Blend or food process until smooth the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, shallot, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Depending on your blender/processor you might need more olive oil.

Cook the penne in boiling, salted water for about 9 or 10 minutes, drain, and, while hot, toss with the parsley-lemon pesto. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and additional salt and pepper, and toss.

Glycemic Load

I’m teased a lot in my family for a saying of mine – that I believe all human beings are “pre-diabetic” – that is, all human beings face some risk of acquiring Type 2 diabetes. And it's on the rise.

Findings related to the glycemic load in our diets prove once again, it’s not just important how many calories you consume – the kind of calories you consume is important, too.

Glycemic index (GI) tells you, from the point of view of your bloodstream, how sugary a food is – that is, how quickly the glucose from that food makes its way into your bloodstream. A food with a high GI has very “accessible” glucose; a food with a low GI is like a long-acting drug, and glucose gets released from it more slowly. Starchy foods like potatoes and white bread have very high GIs.

Glycemic load (GL) is, in my view, a much more useful bit of information: it tells you how much glucose will actually get into your bloodstream from a portion of a particular food.

For instance, people look at tables of foods’ GIs and get very sad to see that watermelon, which we all love, has a relatively high GI. But watermelon is mostly water, so while its GI is something like 72, a 100g slice is 95g water and only 5g carbohydrate, so it only has a GL of 3.6.

So, from the point of view of your bloodstream, a small amount of a high GI food has the same effect, or the same glycemic load, as a large amount of a low GI food.

Why care about GL? Because, blood sugar spikes are bad for us in a number of ways, whereas keeping blood sugar relatively constant is better for our bodies.

Blood sugar spikes require insulin secretion (to “mop up” the excess blood sugar), and more often, insulin converts the excess sugar into fat, making us fat.

Often, our bodies secrete too much insulin to “mop up” excess blood sugar when it spikes, and then that precipitates dangerous blood sugar lows, which make us feel hungry and low-energy, which leads us to eat more sugary stuff and repeat the vicious cycle.

Excess fat and volatile blood sugar levels increase our risk of acquiring Type 2 diabetes, and blood sugar spikes cause inflammation and oxidative stress (extended high blood insulin is damaging to body tissues and moreover seems to elicit inflammatory prostaglandin response), which can lead to chronic disease.

Caveat: Being able to assign a range of values to describe different carbohydrates more precisely is definitely more informative than the binary categories "simple" and "complex." But (sorry for the bad pun here) we should take these measurements with a grain of salt:

• The same exact food can test at widely varying GIs – baked Russet potatoes apparently have tested as low as 56 and as high as 111, and the same exact piece of fruit has a lower GI when unripe and a higher GI after it ripens (fruits convert more complex starches into sugar as they ripen, which is why they taste sweeter ripe);
• Food processing, like pickling and cooking, increases foods’ GI values (your body can “access” the glucose in something cooked easier than in something raw that’s more difficult to break down and digest); and
• There are also individual differences to take into account, and the same person's ability to digest starches can be different at different times of the same day.

Generally, there is reason to believe that a low GL diet is better for us humans. In addition to being proven to help overweight people lose excess weight, a low-glycemic-load diet provides other benefits: lower inflammation, lower blood pressure, lower heart disease risk, less insulin resistance, and lower lipid levels. Even in people with healthy weights, researchers think that reducing glycemic load might help to prevent or treat obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus. Individuals on low GI diets after many years have a lower risk for developing both Type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

More Resources:

1. Harvard: Glycemic index and glycemic load for 100+ foods
2. Wikipedia: List of foods and their glycemic load
3. The University of Sydney: Glycemic Index Database
4. NutritionData.com: "Glycemic Index"
5. Effects of a Low–Glycemic Load Diet on Resting Energy Expenditure and Heart Disease Risk Factors During Weight Loss. Mark A. Pereira, PhD; Janis Swain, MS, RD; Allison B. Goldfine, MD; Nader Rifai, PhD; David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD. JAMA 292: 2482-2490, 2004.
6. Carbohydrate intake, glycemic index, glycemic load, and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer in a prospective study of French women. Lajous M, Boutron-Ruault MC, Fabre A, Clavel-Chapelon F, Romieu I. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 May; 87(5): 1384-91.

Love the requests! Keep 'em coming

I love that I have received requests to do postings on particular topics! Keep 'em coming.

So far, I've had requests to do posts on:
- ideas for on-the-road take-along foods, like for car and plane trips,
- tea snacks,
- high-protein savory muffins and frittata (I'd have my friend who actually regularly makes these do a guest post on them),
- raw recipes,
- dosas and uttapa,
- biryani,
- my mother's fish tikkis recipe,
- summarizing the information out there on staying away from fish and seafood high in mercury, and
- summarizing the information out there on glycemic index and glycemic load.

I would love to get to all of these! Thanks for the ideas!

Recipe: Soba Salad with Peanut Sauce

Here's something we had last night. We had a bunch of extra vegetables in the fridge, so I was trying to think of what to do with them.

Soba Salad with Peanut Sauce for 2

4 oz. buckwheat soba

about 1 Tbsp. black sesame seeds

2 sheets nori, cut into strips

4 scallions, washed, trimmed, white and green parts chopped

6 small-ish carrots, peeled, trimmed, julienned

1 long cucumber, peeled, trimmed, seeded, julienned

half of a really big daikon, peeled, julienned

1/2 C. sliced shiitake mushrooms (optional: stir-fry briefly in some peanut oil)

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded, diced

1 tsp. peanut oil

2 tsp. minced ginger

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tbsp. nama shoyu

1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. rice vinegar

1/2 - 1 tsp. red chilli powder (depending on how spicy you like things)

1/3 Cup natural smooth peanut butter (i.e., the only ingredient should be "peanuts" - or you're getting a bunch of unnecessary sugar)

1/2 Cup broth

1/2 tsp. salt

splash of maple syrup

splash of chilli sesame oil

juice of 1 orange
additional salt/chilli powder to taste

I cleaned, peeled, trimmed and chopped/julienned all the veggies and the scallions first, and put them together in a big bowl with the black sesame seeds and slivered nori.

Then, I heated the oil over medium high heat in a pan, added the ginger and garlic, and let those become fragrant, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Then I added to the ginger-garlic the nama shoyu, rice vinegar, chilli powder, peanut butter, broth, salt, and maple syrup (which I had pre-combined in a measuring cup and stirred together while the ginger-garlic was cooking, but I'm not sure that's important). I think I left the sauce simmering over low heat for about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it thickened and became smooth. At that point I turned off the heat and stirred in the orange juice and chilli sesame oil, because I had tasted the sauce and felt it needed a little sweet citrus and more heat.

Meanwhile, I was boiling the water (with a bit of salt) for cooking the soba; I added the soba to the boiling water and let it cook for about 7-8 minutes. When the soba was tender, I lifted it out with tongs, let the water drain off (or, you could drain it in a colander - I was just using fewer dishes to avoid more cleanup), and added the hot noodles to the peanut sauce, stirred them together, then added that whole mixture of noodles-and-sauce to the big bowl with the veggies, scallions, nori, and black sesame seeds, and tossed everything together.

We added some additional chilli powder and a bit of salt at this point to taste (I had not wanted to salt the veggies earlier, since that would have caused them to leech out a lot of water).

You could definitely add/substitute all kinds of things to this: cubed tofu, fresh or pan-fried; chunks of cooked salmon; other veggies, like spinach cut into ribbons, or wilted and chopped, or finely sliced red cabbage or napa cabbage for a bit of crunch; strips of omelet or boiled crab; etc., etc.

(By the way, don't you think I'm already getting better at taking close-up pics of food? : ) I feel this one is a significant improvement over the tabbouleh pic.)

Shout-Out: Lucid Food

To quote my friend who had Lucid Food cater for his wedding: "I don't normally pimp for industries, and let me say at the outset that I have no financial interest in [Lucid Food]."

Lucid Food is a catering business that uses only locally-grown, organic produce; wastes absolutely nothing; composts everything (including the plates), etc.

We loved the food at our friend's wedding, and love even more the ethics of the catering business that made it, so it seemed appropriate to give it a shout-out here.

My basic grocery list

This is my basic grocery list (of course, I don't pick up all of this every time). I don't eat meat, but have been eating fish and seafood since 2000. Also, I'm fairly lactose intolerant, although yogurt and goat’s and sheep’s cheeses seem to be fine.

I love co-ops, farmers’ markets, gourmet markets, and delis.

I visit the Environmental Defense Fund Seafood Selector, the Marine Stewardship Council, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium National Seafood Guide for guidance on what are the best kinds of fish and seafood to eat in terms of mercury levels and the environmental sustainability of the fishing methods.

- deep orange/tropical fruits like mangoes, papayas, pineapples, kiwi, and apricots
- bananas
- citrus fruit and pulpy juice
- veggies like carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, pumpkin, yams, peas, beans, bitter gourd, and avocado
- red and orange bell peppers
- hot chilli peppers
- berries and deep red/purple fruits like strawberries, blueberries, goji berries, acai, pomegranate, plums, prunes, grapes, and raisins
- red leafy veggies like beets, red cabbage, and chard
- green leafy veggies like broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, bok choy, spinach, collards, and mustard greens
- sprouts - I like spicy ones
- aromatics like garlic, onions, leeks, scallions, chives, shallots, and ginger
- plain yogurt made from whole organic milk
- a green juice with spirulina and wheat or barley grass, etc., or seaweed
- sometimes, fish (especially small oily fish like sardines and herring, or wild alaskan salmon; sometimes tilapia, pacific cod, catfish, alaskan pollock, or pacific halibut – depends what we're making!)
- sometimes, shrimp or other seafood (I love oysters)
- kefir (sometimes)
- super dark chocolate (>60%) and raw cacao
- when we're running low:
- dried fruits, nuts & seeds, like walnuts, flaxseed, raw almonds, peanuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds
- pickled vegetables, like pickled okra, kimchi, pickled peppadews, indian pickles, etc.
- dried beans & lentils, like chickpeas, green/yellow mung, blackeyed peas, tuvar, chana, and black dals (I'm not always sure what the English words are for different Indian dals)

At home we have olive, sesame, and peanut oils for cooking and making salad dressings, and honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, and brown sugar to use as sweeteners. I have tried stevia, but I think it tastes terrible. I also love pistachio, walnut and flaxseed oil, but I don’t have enough space for so many different kinds of oils, unfortunately.

I use a lot of Indian and Asian spices and flavorings: cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin seed, coriander seed, garam masala, red chilli powder, tamarind, bay leaves, mustard seeds, curry leaves, lemongrass, lime leaves, rice wine vinegar, mirin, nama shoyu, nam pla, etc., etc. (I can't list them all!)

Indian spices are amazing – turmeric has healing properties, cinnamon regulates metabolism, chillies have a ton of vitamin C, and so on.

I love tea and have lots of black, green, and white teas.

For breads and crackers, it’s whole grain. We also keep unsweetened granola/muesli, brown basmati rice, quinoa, couscous, buckwheat soba, whole grain pasta, and bulgur, and I have whole wheat flour, almond flour, amaranth and ground flax for the rare occasions when I bake something. (Really, almost never. I’m terrible at baking, but trying to learn.) I promise if you switch to whole grains you will never go back! Because they have much more protein, they've got a more interesting, nuttier flavor profile than their poor, stripped-of-their-nutrients, processed grain relations.

Treats: We love wine, and chocolate so dark light doesn't escape its surface : ). And we love Organic Nectars Non-Dairy Raw Organic Vegan Gelato, pistachio flavor. Not just because we can’t digest ice cream – this stuff truly is better than ice cream. Made with blended, raw, organic soaked and rinsed cashews for the base, it’s incredibly creamy, and it’s only sweetened with low-glycemic agave nectar.

I swear, I am not paid anything to say any of this : )

Recipe: Tasty Tabbouleh

I'd love to begin adding recipes to this site, so I'll start with something we made and ate tonight:

Tasty Tabbouleh

Serves 6 as a substantial side dish.

Ingredients

About 1.5 Cups cooked kidney beans (start with 3/4 Cup dried beans, or use 1 15-oz. can, rinsed and drained)

About 1.5 Cups cooked chickpeas (start with 3/4 Cup dried chickpeas, or use 1 15-oz. can, rinsed and drained)

About 1.5 Cups cooked black beans (start with 3/4 Cup dried beans, or use 1 15-oz. can, rinsed and drained)

2 Cups cooked bulgur (start with 1 Cup dry, uncooked bulgur)

2 bunches flat leaf parsley, rinsed, patted/spun dry, and coarsely or finely chopped (as you prefer)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 hot chilli pepper, minced (optional: seeded, if you want it to be less spicy)

1 long cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced

Juice of 2 lemons, 1 lime, and 1 orange

3 Tablespoons olive oil

Salt, freshly ground black pepper, and za'atar to taste

Other optional add-ons: diced radish, seeded and diced tomatoes, peeled and grated carrot, corn kernels...

This one is pretty easy - just toss everything together in a big bowl!

A Rainbow of Superfoods

A lot of my friends and relatives ask me how they can eat more healthily and avoid foods that they keep reaching for but that they know aren’t good for them, like desserts high in refined sugar or salty potato chips.

I have this idea that if you are trying to kick-start a new healthier diet for yourself, it might psychologically work better to focus positively on eating certain things, rather than focusing on depriving yourself of other things.

Like, try to get a whole "rainbow" of fruits and veggies into your meals for the week, or eat more "superfoods" (to maximize the quantity and quality of nutrients you get in fewer calories; e.g., red cabbage has way more phytonutrients than green cabbage; whereas, eggplant, much as we all love it, doesn't really pack as much of a punch, with most of its good stuff in the skin).

If you’re thinking, “This week, I really need to eat blueberries with my granola, make some strawberry buttermilk ice for dessert one night, add some pumpkin to my whole grain pancakes, drink some grapefruit juice, throw some dark leafy greens into my chhole (chickpea curry), add some broccoli sprouts to my sandwich at lunch, have a seaweed salad and something really garlicky,” you won’t even have time to think about potato chips!

Adapted from “Food As Medicine,” here are some "superfoods," by color:
purple - grapes, prunes, plums, cherries, cranberries, raisins, blueberries, peppers, acai.
red - tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon, apples, beets, strawberries, peppers.
orange - pumpkin, carrot, squash, yam, mango, apricot, cantaloupe, peppers.
orange-yellow - oranges, oj, tangerines, grapefruit, peaches, lemons, limes, papaya, pineapple, nectarines, goji berries.
yellow-green - peas, beans, spinach, peppers, collards, cucumber, mustard greens, kiwi, avocados, bananas.
green - broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, bok choy, broccoli sprouts, wheat/barley grass.
white-green - garlic, onions, celery, leeks, asparagus, pears, artichoke, endive, mushrooms, chives.
sea vegetables – spirulina, kelp.

Nutritionist's Blog

Here is a site (again, it’s more helpful to people who mostly eat American food, but it's a nice visual way to see what portion sizes are more healthful): a blog kept by a nutritionist to show people what she actually eats every single day.

Every meal she eats contains:
1. low-fat proteins,
2. un-refined, complex carbs like fruits, veggies, and whole grains,
3. 5-10 grams of fiber (not difficult to get if you've got fruits, veggies, and whole grains in every meal),
4. good fats, like from fish, nuts, avocadoes, etc., and
5. a non-sugary drink such as water or green tea.

Maybe once a week, she "splurges" on something like dessert.

Again, I need more mirch (chilli pepper) : ), but thought some folks might appreciate that one.

On the "Hunter-Gatherer" Diet and "Food Sequencing"

Once, I read a book (unfortunately, I can’t remember its title) about how our digestive tracts have evolved to be much more suited to hunter-gatherer lifestyles than our modern post-agricultural lifestyle; i.e., not enough time has passed for our guts to evolve to adapt to agriculture, which has only been around since 9,000 BC or so.

Lean meats and fish, caught in the wild, and nuts, seeds, complex carbohydrates: these are what we're suited for. Because our guts are so adapted to breaking down harder to digest and more fibrous foods, processed white flour and sugar make glucose too instantly available to the bloodstream, and spikes in blood sugar cause all kinds of problems, including inflammation and, ultimately, diabetes.

John Rush, the author of “Gut Morphology, Cultural Eating Habits, Digestive Failure, and Ill Health,” is a big fan of food sequencing, and thinks the culprits in modern day malnutrition are:
1) the “balanced meals” we’ve been instructed to eat (consuming proteins, carbohydrates, and fats at the same meal) and
2) what he calls the “fractionating” of whole foods (what I call “stripping”).

John Rush points out that our teeth, which have basically stayed the same over a few million years, are a good clue that we are adapted to an omnivorous but mostly plant foods diet. He cites an analysis of fossilized fecal droppings showing that hunter-gatherer meals were each dominated by one food type, mostly vegetable, and when meat was consumed, it was not consumed with other types of food. (I imagine everyone gathering for a mostly- or all-meat meal after a rare big kill.) He then explains that different digestive processes are required to digest plants versus proteins, so consuming them together might be counterproductive in terms of gut functioning.

Rush is a big fan of eating animal protein less frequently and isolating it to one meal, i.e., not combining it with vegetables and starches.

Your gastrointestinal tract definitely can handle a variety of food groups at the same time. And nuts, seeds, and legumes, all of which are important parts of a healthy diet, are made up of protein and carbohydrates.

But if anyone follows that “food sequencing” diet for more than two or three months, I’d love to hear how it worked for you.

Whole Foods, Traditional Ways of Preparing Them, and Why They're Better

What is amazing is nature and culture put together.

Scientists are just beginning to realize that traditional ways of preparing vegetables actually maximize the body's absorption of the nutrients in those vegetables.

For instance, the amount of lycopene, an important antioxidant found in tomatoes, that people absorb from tomatoes cooked in olive oil to make sauce is much higher than the amount people absorb from raw tomatoes, because lycopene is fat-soluble and found within the individual cells of the tomato fruit. Cooking helps to break down the cell walls and the oil helps us to absorb the nutrient.
Pickling is a great way to get the most from raw vegetables, because it helps to break down cell walls without heat, so no enzymes are denatured.

For another example, Nina Planck has written about how each ingredient in whole milk “plays its part” -- the fat helps you digest the protein and absorb the calcium and vitamins A and D. So, drinking even fortified low-fat or skim milk (which, you'll notice, no one in Europe does, and they're much slimmer than Americans) is counterproductive, because then all your body is really absorbing from the skim milk is the sugars that make up lactose -- and not even that, if you're lactose intolerant like me -- although, I prefer to say "lactose malabsorbent," because I'm not an intolerant person ; ).

I truly believe that stripping whole foods apart is why Americans, for instance, can eat a whole box of Triscuits and still not feel satisfied – that’s eating calories without nutrition, and so the body gains weight but isn't actually well-nourished and never feels satisfied.

One more example: in many cultures, a whole grain is eaten together with lentils, like dal and rice in India or tortilla and beans in Mexico, which creates a meal that provides all of the essential amino acids.

Eating whole foods is win-win, because in fewer calories, you get more of the nutrients your body needs, and you get the fiber your colon and vascular system need. I truly believe this is why the smallest bite of something sourced with organically grown, whole ingredients, preferably locally, prepared according to a more-or-less traditional recipe, is infinitely tastier and more satisfying than any huge portion from any fast food chain.

Your body can taste what's good for it -- especially after the palate has been retrained away from excess salt and sugar, etc.

When I’m in India, where most produce is still bought from local people farming small plots or fishermen with small boats, I am struck by how simple and how delicious everything is -- the nimbus are delicious, the carrots are delicious, the fish is delicious, even the ONIONS are delicious. Without the technology to keep things refrigerated being widely used by consumers, people have to buy fresh every day from local sources, and you can taste the difference in the food, and yet you don't feel like eating huge amounts.

Also: besides the many reasons to eat organic (it’s better for the environment, and pesticides are toxic to us, other animals and to the immigrant laborers who pick our produce), nutrition is another -- organically grown veggies and fruits have been shown to have higher levels of phytonutrients.

Food As Medicine

Another great book is “Food As Medicine,” which teaches about how particular foods can help us if we're having specific problems. Certain foods are anti-inflammatory or high in zinc or B vitamins or whatever, and it's a useful resource to have around so that when you're experiencing a particular problem, you can adapt your diet to include more of the foods that will work with you rather than against you.

A friend of mine was going through depression, and her psychiatrist recommended eating lots of foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, like flax, walnut, herring, salmon, etc.

Or, for another example, women need more iron, folate, and calcium; so, for folate, women should get enough broccoli, spinach, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cantaloupe, strawberries, asparagus, peas, bran cereal, lentils, peanuts, and/or sunflower seeds; for iron, meat, fish, poultry, and/or lentils; for calcium, dairy products like milk, yogurt, and/or cheese.

Broccoli is a powerhouse and contains calcium and folate and powerful anti-cancer phytonutrients. “Food As Medicine” tells a story of a man who went into remission from cancer solely by eating broccoli sprouts, which have concentrated levels of sulforaphane GS, a natural antioxidant found in all cruciferous plants like broccoli (sprouts can have 50 times more than a head of broccoli).

Raspberry leaf tea calms the uterus, so it's good when you've got menstrual cramps. Etc., etc.

The food regulatory-industrial complex

Michael Pollan’s mantra, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants," has made him famous. He is against the food "culture" that has been imposed on America by the food industry and in favor of people rediscovering traditional food culture, from the way we sit down and eat together as families, traditionally, to the way we make certain foods at particular times of the year, seasonally (even if they're technically not "healthy," as that term is defined by the food regulatory-industrial complex).

Interestingly, every traditional diet seems to be healthier than the over-processed stuff Americans eat.

The food industry is about profit, so for example you will notice most processed foods contain "high fructose corn syrup," because, thanks to subsidies for large scale corn farming, that is one of the cheapest things in America, and something entirely unnecessary and even harmful for a human diet. Because it is so cheap, food corporations use high fructose corn syrup in myriad ways. Food industrialization has also pushed the evolution of the American palate towards preference for excess salt and sugar in everything, which helps with shelf life.
I generally agree with Michael Pollan, and kind of wish I had written his book before he did : ), because my parents, my brother, and I have had very similar conversations on the subject for years.

Food and culture are beautiful, and food is usually the way I get to know a new culture, and farmers' markets are wonderful places to get varieties of produce you never see in supermarkets, and it's fun to talk to the growers and just see the bounty.

School Gardens

Some schools are beginning to incorporate horticulture and cooking into the classroom in an attempt to restore younger generations' healthy relationship with food and nature in the face of rising childhood obesity and the prevalence of junk food in schools. Many children do not even know that milk comes from cows. I would love to send my kid to a school with a program like that, like with a school garden and maybe even some chickens (for egg-laying)!

Here is more information:

Integrating Horticulture into Elementary Schools

Urban Sprouts and Garden for the Environment Summer Program

Ten Reasons Why School Gardens are an Excellent Idea

Network for a Healthy California Garden & Cooking Program

Adopt a School Garden® Program

California Teachers Perceive School Gardens as an Effective Nutritional Tool to Promote Healthful Eating Habits. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 105, Issue 11, Pages 1797-1800 (H. GRAHAM, S. ZIDENBERGCHERR).

101cookbooks.com

One site I like a lot is 101 Cookbooks -- it has a really great veggie burger recipe, and a black bean brownies recipe that actually works.

On the “Hindu diet”

Most of the nutrition sites out there, I don't find that useful, because they're for people who mostly eat American food. But many of them do have the right information, in terms of basic principles. Maybe I can turn this blog into a nutrition/cooking site more aimed at people like me who eat mostly Indian/Asian food.

There are, of course, tons of books that cater to this group, especially with a spiritual slant, like about the “yogic” diet or eating for prana shakti or life force.

When I was little, Swamiji used to explain to me that prana shakti is the real reason yogis advocated a vegetarian diet: when you eat plant foods, especially when you eat them raw, you are eating something with prana shakti or life force. Literally, a spinach leaf in your salad is photosynthesizing and “breathing,” and it’s better and more saatvic to consume living food as opposed to dead food.

A Hindu prayer to be said before a meal (kind of analogous to the Christian “Our Father who art in heaven… Give us this day our daily bread” prayer) is:
Brahmaarpanam brahmahavirbrahmaagnau brahmanaa hutam;
Brahmaiva tena gantavyam brahmakarmasamaadhinaa.

It’s from the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 4, verse 24, and means:
Brahman is the giving, Brahman the Food Offering;
by Brahman it is Offered into the Brahman fire,
Brahman is that which is to be Attained
by complete Absorption (samadhi) in Brahman Action.

(Another translation is, "Brahman is the oblation; Brahman is the melted butter (ghee); by Brahman is the oblation poured into the fire of Brahman; Brahman verily shall be reached by him who always sees Brahman in action.")

In other words, Brahman / the Infinite / God / the Creator / all Creation (there are various different understandings of what is meant by Brahman), is everything – the giver of the food, the food itself, the offeror and the “digest-er”/consum-er (the fire), what results from the consumption, the action by which the consumed is absorbed, etc.

The idea is, we may think we’re individual living souls, but we’re really all sparks of what is one living electricity. So why not eat something that pulses with life as opposed to something rock-like and static?