Book Review (sort of) and a new recipe!

Well, I've been a bit busy so I haven't had too much time to write blogs. I've opened my second retail location for Kismet Jewelry and Accessories. Anyone want to learn more, hop on the website and get (unfortunately just a glimpse) of what it's all about. The little store that turned into two little stores--I feel like they are my children and I am so proud of them. http://www.kismetaccessories.com/!


So, back to food, eating, and health. Admittedly, I couldn't get through all of "The China Study". I got about half way through and then I skimmed the rest. The book is written by T. Colin Campbell, PHD and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II. They say some things I agree with, but his whole message is a bit of a stretch. Basically, at the beginning of his career, he was a huge advocate for meat and dairy until he did a study with rats. One group of rats was fed a diet of 5% animal protein and the other group was fed everything the same as the first group except each rat was given 20% animal protein. Both groups were also given high doses of aflatoxin, a carcinogen. By the end of the study, 100 weeks, all the rats in the group with the 5% protein diet were all thriving and the one's eating a diet with 20% were all dead or near death. Fascinating as this is, the protein that the rats were given was isolated casein and, from this study, the authors were convinced that all types of animal protein were the root cause of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

They then conducted this "China Study" using 6500 volunteer Chinese citizens mostly from rural areas. They were able to gather data that included administering questionnaires, taking blood and urine samples, and they were also able to track their food intake for 3 days. Unfortunately, the he deprives the reader of most of the actual China Study itself. He's so obsessed with touting a vegan diet that we don't get to hear most of the facts about what the Chinese ate, and how certain foods and lifestyle choices affected their health. The only piece of information that he discussed was that the Chinese didn't eat much animal protein and the less they ate, the less they got sick.

Man has been hunting and eating meat since the beginning of time and yet Campbell stresses that consuming meat and dairy is the main cause of all modern disease. And he speaks nothing of the quality of the animal food. The way animals are raised conventionally in this country is extremely different from the practices of small, independent farms where animals are raised on grass and treated humanely. Conventionally raised cows, the meat and milk of which many people eat, are fed grain, corn and drugs (so they can survive all the disease that results from their living conditions and so that they produce an unnatural amount of dairy or grow unnaturally obese to yield more flesh and fat). The conditions they are raised in are simply disgusting--think of a concentration camp for animals and you've got mass produced beef, chicken, pork, and turkey. What more, the effect that these factories have on the environment is detrimental in several ways. The gasses emitted by the cows constitute 18% of greenhouse gas emissions (thank you Mark for that fact) and all the contaminants that these animals are fed end up in rivers, lakes, streams, etc. where wildlife is exposed to antibiotics, hormones and other chemicals. A small farm where the animals live in good conditions, uncrowded, on the pasture and in harmony yield a much higher quality product, rich with nutrients. Incorporating a moderate amount of animal food from your local farm (easy to find out their practices if it's local and also better for the environment)in your diet may be healthy for some people. I'm not implying that I'm against being a vegan (see below for a fabulous vegan recipe), or that being a vegan isn't healing to many people, I'm just against the thought that any one diet is imperative for every individual body and I strongly believe that processed foods, rancid fats, conventional meat and dairy, and man made chemicals are a serious detriment to our health and well being.

Which leads to the elephant in the room: processed and refined foods. Although Campbell does stress that one should eat a whole food vegan diet and to stay away from junk, he doesn't linger on the subject. Large companies (Kellog, Con Agra, Kraft, you know who you are)have made millions on turning sugarcane, wheat, corn and soy into what my hero Michael Pollan likes to call, "edible foodlike substances". The government subsidizes this industry so that the raw materials are cheap for these big corporations. When you buy a box of frosted flakes, you're paying mostly for the advertising and wrapping (multi color printing to boot!). Because these commodities are so cheap, it's also the reason the livestock is fed corn and grain instead of what they were born to eat, grass. Thus the modern American diet is based on three ingredients: cheap, genetically engineered corn, soy,and wheat. Does that sound healthy to you? Add the pollutants in the air and water and you've got what I think is the recipe for diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

Bottom line regarding "The China Study": even though I do agree with much of what he says, the main premise is hard to swallow (no pun intended).

On to my yummy morning creations I'd like to share with you. I have been using gluten free bread, but of course, this is a great snack (or I've been eating these for breakfast) for anyone:

• First, toast some bread.
• Spread on your favorite hummus,
• sliced tomato
• roasted green chile (it's that time of year here in the Rockies and Southwest)
• arugula
• fresh basil
• small pinch of salt
• and lots of lemon juice

You could also substitute avocado with hummus.

All I can say is deeeelicious! Happy eating!

Food, glorious, food

OK, so I'm pretty new to this blog business and, even though I can talk any one's ear off usually at any point in time, every time I sit down at the computer, I forget all the things I thought about saying.

Then I realized, I just had dinner and it was so delicious I thought I'd write about it. Anyone reading this may think I'm crazy, but I kind of had this for lunch earlier and dinner last night as well. My hubby is camping with the kids so I'm making my life easy by just putting together some food that I like and running with it. Yesterday, I picked up some red quinoa and some baby bok choy at Whole Foods. I had some leftover mung beans (thanks to my friend Blythe who introduced me to these beans that are high in iron and protein, I love to cook these up because they don't require soaking and they don't take that long to cook!). When I got home, I sauteed some fresh, organic red onion that I got from the Berry Patch Farm in Brighton, CO...anyone living in Denver and surrounding areas has got to visit this place! Bring your kids and pick some berries and then shop in their fabulous little store of veggies all grown on the property www.berrypatchfarms.com ! Anyway, back to dinner. I chopped up the bok choy and threw it in with the onions, added some sesame oil and turmeric and cooked those down a bit. Meanwhile, I made the quinoa with a really delicious organic vegan bouillon (thanks to Jenni who introduced me to those little beauties). They come in a box with 8 cubes and the brand is called Rapunzel. No MSG or any other crap--deee-licious! I added all three together: the mung beans, quinoa and bok choy with red onions and turmeric. A little soy sauce and it was a bowl of heaven. I would have added toasted sunflower seeds or pine nuts if I had them, but it was good either way. I think, if you're going to eat vegan, this type of meal covers you as far as nutrients are concerned, especially iron and protein. In addition to the mung beans, red quinoa is also nutrient dense--about 6 grams of protein per serving and 12% Iron, 5% Riboflavin and a whopping 20% Phosphorus. Of course, I'm not quite sure what all of this means, but I figure if it's edible from nature, the more color, the better it is for you. Also, by the way, I've cut and pasted below what Dr. Mercola says about turmeric (remember I added it to my veggies and I had also added it to my mung beans). Take a look:

You probably know that antioxidants are important nutrients in supporting your health.
They help you slow down free radical damage that can seriously damage your cells, organs and DNA. Turmeric helps protect your cells -- and helps you counteract this process with its antioxidant content.
The antioxidant content within turmeric comes from active compounds called curcuminoids.
These curcuminoids deliver antioxidants that may be:

• 5 to 8 times stronger than vitamin E -- and also stronger than vitamin C
• 3 times more powerful than grape seed or pine bark extract
• Strong enough to scavenge the hydroxyl radical -- considered by many to be the most reactive of all oxidants
• I believe antioxidants are your body's #1 way to neutralize free radicals and help you potentially slow down the signs of normal aging.

Oxidation by free radicals can damage cells and DNA -- and thus impact your aging process* -- something we all would like to put the brakes on.

I wish I had discovered turmeric long ago, but I guess, better late than never. I'm normally not a vegan but I do enjoy eating that way. When I was in NYC earlier this month, I ate at the Candle Cafe www.candlecafe.com on 75Th and 3rd. I really enjoyed the several meals I had there. Right now, I'm reading the book "The China Study" and the author, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., basically says that one should follow a plant-based diet with no animal protein. In other words, vegan. I am proceeding cautiously reading his book and to be frank, some of it is just outright annoying me, but I can't continue to comment until I am finished reading it. Oh well, next blog!

What's food got to do with it?

So I left off still wondering what to eat. This question that we face daily has a lot to do with mood and taste, but in my life, it also has to do with health. You see, both my parents, well, primarily my mother, were plagued with the same dilemma every day, three times a day. My mom built a career around food and health and she wasn't about to let us (my sister and I) get away with eating frosted flakes for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly for lunch and a happy meal for dinner. As a kid, the aforementioned foods did not really exist in my world. A sample of my standard daily menu goes something like this: Oatmeal with tamari and miso soup for breakfast, rice ball (brown rice wrapped in Nori seaweed with umeboshi plum paste inside) and a salad sandwich on homemade bread for lunch, and millet croquettes, fish and kale for dinner. Believe it or not, 30 years later, I still look at that menu and, except for the salad sandwich (sorry mom, not really a home run), my mouth begins to water. We were lucky. In my house, the food was different from everybody else's, but the majority of my friends still loved to eat dinner with us.

When my mother met my father, she was fatigued constantly, always trying to energize herself with coffee and sugar. At the time, my father was following the macrobiotic diet. Well, one thing led to another and after they started hanging out together, my mother started following the diet as well. When her skin cleared up and her energy increased (with no caffeine!), she was hooked. For the following ten years, being a homemaker and new mother allowed her the time to teach herself about food and its connection to health and well being. When I was five and my little sister was three, my parents divorced and my father moved to Los Angeles. My mother needed to make a living, but she wasn't willing to put us in daycare, so she started teaching cooking classes in the kitchen of our New York City apartment. Now, 33 years later, her cooking school takes up two full floors of a commercial building in downtown Manhattan and my mother not only has her Ph, D., but she is the author of 4 published books! Anyone wishing to learn more can go to http://www.foodandhealing.com/.

So with a history such as this, the reader must be curious--wouldn't it seem that I already know how and what to eat? Well, unfortunately, not really. Once you really get interested in the connection between health and food, it's like opening a can of worms. And I've got worms up to my ears!

My little obsession

Ok, I'll be the first to admit, I'm obsessed with food. Of course I love to eat food that tastes good, but I've always been curious about how it affects the quality our lives. (Hmmm, I wonder where I get that? Mom? Are you reading this?...) I've read numerous books on "how and what to eat". Each one claims that after following their advice, you will acheive optimum health or lose weight or look younger or turn into a supermodel. They all say something different, yet they all claim to be correct. High carbs, low fat, low protein; high protein, high fat, low carbs, fat free; vegetarian; vegan; raw; gluten free, dairy free, soy free, corn free and, of course, sugar free. They say, don't eat white food or conventional meat, don't eat food cooked above 180 degrees or don't eat food in a box, can or frozen. Some say don't eat chocolate, or drink wine or coffee and others say a little every day is good for you. The skinny bitch girls think everyone should be a vegan and Michael Pollan reiterates that we should just eat food (but not too much and mostly plants). Dr. Mercola says NO grains! And Sally Fallon says eat all the animal fat you want from grass-fed healthy animals, yet Dr. Perricone says "lean meats" are the only way to go. Donna Gates promotes food combining. In other words, you should never mix protein and starches! Well, you can forget about eating your homegrown, organic potatoes along side your local, grass-fed, organic steak ever again!



So what the hell do we eat? Are we down to white rice? Gosh no--way too refined and void of nutrients. Ok, brown rice? Well, I guess if you want to end up with diabetes. How about fruits and vegetables? Uh, hello where's the protein? So what do we eat? And is there one answer for everyone? Ok, now that I've written down that question, doesn't it seem retorical? Of course there is not one answer for everyone! Then how do these people claim that their diets are the right way to go? And boy would I love to have a no-strings-attached ice cream cone once in a while. Yet, virtually every health guru agrees: white flour, white sugar, white rice, refined and processed foods are simply bad for you and pasturized dairy ain't great either.


Aha! that's where I need to start. OK everybody, this much we know: Don't eat white and/or processed foods!


So what is it that we DO eat?