soaking nuts, seeds and grains

           Oh no, you are going to think, she is going to propose to add yet another gimmick to my already full and crazy life.  Granted, soaking or sprouting adds a layer to food preparation, requires a bit of organization and thinking ahead.  But deep living is about going deeper, getting away from coasting and skimming the surface. 

            Shifting towards a more plant based diet is ultimately healthier (for us as well as the environment), and it's good to become aware of deeper nutritional connections.  Moreover, we live in times when we are bombarded with environmental pollutants and it's so important to consume the very best foods and beverages we can in order to boost our immune system and cleanse out toxins that have accumulated in our bodies over the years.

            Soaking nuts, seeds and grains increases their digestibility and permits the body to absorb their nutrients more easily.  The process takes a load off your body so to speak.  Nuts, seeds and grains all contain phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors - also called antinutrients - that prevent them from sprouting prematurely.  While not exactly harmful - don't be alarmed if you never soaked your nuts before now -  they are not exactly great either.  As said before, these antinutients cause a lesser availability of nutrients and possibly digestive troubles.

            Whether preparing nuts for snacks, making nut milk, requiring legumes for soup or chili or refried beans, even baking with whole grain flour, simply soak them all in fresh water - see chart for length of time - and be sure to throw away the soaking water and rinsing well. 

            You can go a step further and sprout seeds, which takes another day or two.  Now you're talking, because sprouts are some of the most nutrient rich foods we have, chockfull of antioxidants.  I recently started to make broccoli sprouts, from tiny broccoli seeds bought in a big 1lb bag.  What a superfood.   You can now find tofu made from sprouted soy beans, tortillas and bread made from sprouted grains, and you can sprout wheat berries to make the fermented drink called rejuvelac, which tastes almost like a light lemonade.

            This is one more way to support our bodies in staying healthy.

too acidic?

             Our body chemistry is healthiest at a pH of about 7.3, so slightly alkaline.  If it becomes too acidic we become ill (when my daughter was diagnosed with Diabetes 1 last year her body pH was at 6.8).   Overacidification makes us prone to cancer (tumors feed on sugar), diabetes, heart disease and all inflammatory conditions (overacidification causes inflammation).

            The mainstream Western diet is too high in acidifying and too low in alkalizing foods and it's easy to become imbalanced.  So let food be thy medicine to stay healthy or heal yourself - low tech, low cost.   Food comes in all colors of the pH spectrum - it is simply a matter of awareness in order to eat more of the beneficial ones.  In broad strokes the foods that acidify the body chemistry are sugar (as a culture we are literally addicted to sugar and meat!), meat (the redder the more acidifying) and refined carbs (as they transform immediately into sugar).  Ha - you'll say.  Exactly. 

               The foods that alkalize our body chemistry are most fruits and vegetables (not potatoes, and not bananas as they are both highly starchy - starch also turns immediately into sugar).  The most alkalizing vegetables are all the greens.  Since we thrive with a slightly alkaline chemistry we need to not only balance acidifying and alkalizing foods, but eat slightly more alkalizing than acidifying foods - hence the recent push for a more plant based diet.  Of course each person is unique and you need to test for yourself which foods work better for you and which don't.  Some people are better with breads and cheeses, others not so much.  Some people are ok with reasonable amounts of pastured meats, others less so.  Your digestive system and constitution are unique, and also tied to your geocultural and genetic heritage.

            The main message is to increase the amount of vegetables (you heard that one before), especially the greenies, cut out the sugar (no news, really), and drastically reduce your meat (go meatless every few days, switch to fish, do poultry instead of red or pork) and refined carb intake (less bread, pizza, pasta, waffles, bagels, and baked goods).  Instead, increase the amounts of healthy fats, nuts and legumes in your diet to meet your long-term energy needs (sugar is a false energy booster without nutritional value).

            See here earlier posts on the gluten-free craze, and the paleo diet, as well as links to food pH charts, and here that are very helpful.  Is your body chemistry balanced?

what's your food worth it to you?

             One of the main issues in the organics versus conventional food conversation is that it's not cheap.  But consider that Americans spend less than 10% of their income on food (outside and at home combined), down from about 18% in 1960.  Moreover, Americans spend on average less on food than 83 other countries worldwide. 

            You wouldn't argue that a simple plastic or canvas handbag would cost a lot less than a well made leather bag.  It goes without saying that the leather bag will last for many years while the canvas or plastic bag will tear and deteriorate much faster.   Quality materials and craftsmanship cost more because we obviously value them higher.  Translate that into food and who would argue that food grown on a small farm without toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizer should cost more?   It is natural that an artisanal cheese from a small farm made in small batches costs a lot more per pound than a factory made cheddar cheese made on an assembly line in huge quantities.

            How you spend your money is a question of values and priorities.  To me nothing is more important than what I put into my body.    My life depends on it.

extreme culinary art

          My husband and I are currently watching the Netflix series Chef's Table, one episode a night after dinner, a true dessert, and I am in awe.  All these super chefs from around the world have several things in common.  

         First of all they are true artists with an extremely high sense of esthetics - every one of their creations is art at its best, both esthetically as well as gustatorily.   These chefs don't use recipes, they create recipes, and it's from a different planet than what you and I are cooking for dinner.  Second, they are all local food frontiers people, whether foraged or farmed.  Third, most of them have a deep connection to the land and either have their own farms or work closely with farmers to cultivate, develop, and grow food with deep and authentic flavor.  Many of them did not go to cooking school, but apprenticed with France's luminaries to learn traditional French techniques, before developing their individual geographical and cultural spins and striking out on their own.  All had difficult beginnings, attesting to their struggles in finding their unique mode of expression.  Of course, they are all perfectionists.

            Perhaps the most important take away from watching these culinary geniuses is that their life is their profession, or their profession is their life.  Their occupation is who they are.  Their art expresses their soul.  They don't go about their job from nine to five and live for the week-end in order to finally do what they like best.  They followed their passion and live it - all the time.

eating a rainbow

          Food is a multi-sensory experience of sight, smell, taste and sensation.  In continuation of the musings on the pleasures of food texture here are some thoughts on the pleasures of color on your plate.

            There is a name for the absence of color in your diet - the beige diet.  Many kids are on it, but some not so adventurous adults as well.  It's a diet of meat (browns) and starches (beiges - pasta, potatoes, bread, rice), absent of fruits and vegetables that is monochromatic and boring to look at.           

            I love seeing vibrant colors on my plate.  The jewel tones of ripe red peppers and tomatoes, of red cabbage's and eggplants' dark purple, the deep orange of bell peppers, carrots or persimmons, summer squash's intense yellow, beets' dark garnet red, in addition to the myriad greens of broccoli, zucchini and all the leafies are just so joyful to look at.  They add to the complexity of our eating experience. Produce's color is an all important indicator of its varied nutritional components, besides adding visual pleasure and vibrancy to our food experience.  So, do "eat a rainbow," as they say.

caprese with avocado

foraging 101

dandelions

lambs quarters

         For the past few weeks I have had an abundant supply of wild greens in my backyard.  Lambs quarters and dandelions are growing with abandon. Both can be eaten raw as salad greens, used in a smoothie, or quickly sautéed or steamed with some garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Dandelion leaves become bitter as the leaves grow bigger and older, so harvest the smaller ones if you don't like bitter greens.  The yellow flowers are edible and look very pretty in a salad, or you can put them in your smoothie.  Lambs quarters is a mild tasting green and can be substituted in any recipe that calls for spinach or chard. 

            In a few weeks we are looking forward to a bumper crop of blackcaps.  What's growing in your backyard?

budding blackcaps

it's all about the pleasure

         Guilty pleasure is an uncomfortable term and particular to this country.  I didn't grow up with the notion of "guilty pleasure." But here many people feel guilty about indulging because it is perceived as unvirtuous.  This kind of belief goes back to this country's puritanical roots and makes for a twisted relationship with food.  The result is that many feel guilty about fat (bad bad butter, bad bad whipped cream), about dessert, about chocolate.  From it came the further belief that what we enjoy tastes good, but must be forbidden and bad, and what's good and healthy must taste bad (or else it couldn't possibly be good for you).

            Hence the French Paradox.  For the longest time Americans couldn't understand that French people eat fat (butter, triple crème brie or crème fraîche), but are not necessarily fat.  Of course it's not about excess and gluttony but about quality over quantity ( a great little read on the subject is Mireille Guiliano's French Women Don't Get Fat).  Maybe the recent revelations that we actually need fat in our diet and that chocolate releases endorphins will help to turn the tables for our enjoyment.

            All that pseudo virtuousness is not healthy for the mind.  In a recent NY Times interview famed French chef Eric Ripert said about food and eating: "I do not understand the idea of guilty pleasure.  It's all about pleasure."  Live a little - it's better for your mind, it's better for your body.

good dental diet

             A few days ago, when I went for my biannual cleaning, the dental hygienist noticed that I had a lot less plaque than the last time around.  Lo and behold, we changed our diet quite a bit since then, cutting out almost all sugars, refined carbs, all starchy and sweet vegetables, as well as most grains, and eating a lot more vegetables in general.

            In the 1930s dentist Weston Price studied the relationship between dental health and diet of indigenous people versus people from industrialized countries.  His famous study linked deformed arches and crooked teeth as well as poor general immunity to poor diet, not only in Western people but also in the younger indigenous generation whose parents had adopted more Western types of foods.  Nowadays we are quite aware of the effect of sugar on teeth, but Price also pointed deeper, to vitamin and mineral deficiencies in food due to poor soil conditions - already then.  From our present perspective, almost a century later, with processed foods having crowded out even more whole plant-based foods from our diet, and from knowing that our soils are yet more mineral deficient, the picture looks even worse.  When I was a kid it was quite rare for children to get braces; now it seems so ubiquitous.  

            The message is clear - cut out the sugar, increase your veggies, and opt for organics if you can, since plant-based organic foods have a considerably higher mineral and vitamin content.  The Weston Price study shows that your grandchildren will thank you for it.

veggie candy

           Here is an ode to the avocado.  If you are not so convinced that vegetables are the single best thing you can't overdo in your diet consider my favorite veggie "candy."  Avocados are not only a fabulous superfood but also utterly delicious in their creamyness and so versatile.   Like truffles they go both the savory and the sweet way (...alright, so truffles may be in a league of their own).  I love them for breakfast (I have never liked sweet breakfasts, maybe because of my German upbringing) mashed up with some lemon, dulse flakes, sea salt and chia seeds, and a toasted Ezekiel tortilla, or smashed up on a piece of warm toast with some salt, pepper and lemon juice.  Because of their high fat content (77% of their calories are from fat, 18-30% of a Hass avocado is fat - Hass are the ones you want, not the bigger, more watery, less fatty Florida avocados) you won't be hungry until lunchtime if you eat one for breakfast.  Avocados go the sweet way, too, because of their mild and relatively neutral taste.  Try this avocado-chocolate mousse recipe, two superfoods in one dessert, and super delicious.  I love avocado salad dressing, basically a lemon juice/olive oil vinaigrette with some avocado creamed into it.  And follow this link to much more exotic and creative uses for avocados (not sure about the foot scrub, though, sounds like a waste of good food).

            And what exactly is so good about avocados?  They are nutrient dense, high in fiber and rich in healthy monounsatured fats (oleic acid specifically, which helps lower cholesterol and triglycerides and reduces inflammation), they contain lutein (for eye health), folate (especially important when pregnant), vitamin E, vitamin B6 (regulates sexual hormones - the Aztecs associated avocados with fertility, the Mayas with aphrodisiacs), glutathione (a cancer fighter), potassium (double that of bananas), and magnesium.  Avocados are highly alkaline and alkalizing, which helps to reduce inflammatory conditions and stabilizes blood sugars.   And lastly, if you are not into spending an upcharge for organic avocados, conventional ones show almost zero pesticide residue due to their thick skins.

            I buy avocados in very large quantities, keep them in the fridge and pull several out at a time so I always have enough ripe ones around.  

wild eating

         Onion grass grows wild everywhere in my area, wild thyme covers large patches of a friend's lawn, and I found purslane in between our stone patio slabs.  Not that any of this would provide enough for a meal, but the idea of foraging is no longer associated with having to make ends meet but is rather fashionable.  During the summer months foraging learning walks are offered in many places, and lamb's quarters and nettle tea don't sound as far out as they might have twenty-five years ago.

            Danish chef René Redzepi became world known for the fabulous and wondrous New Nordic meals he makes from locally foraged foods at Noma, his Copenhague restaurant.  Last year he opened a  pop-up restaurant in Japan, currently he is in Australia doing the same, as the NY Times reports.  In both places he worked together with local foragers and created dishes with ingredients even the locals didn't know about.  Redzepi pushes the edge of making meals of ingredients we would walk right by even if we saw them by the ocean, in the woods or a meadow.

nettle

            But purslane, a slightly sour succulent and wild growing crunchy "weed," has become so popular that I find it now in big bunches at my farmer's market in the summer.  Nettles were the scourge of my European childhood (I fell into a hill full of nettles as a 6-year old and suffered for days), here I don't see them much, but the tender young leaves make a delicious salad (without stinging) or a tea can be brewed from the dried leaves.  Mushroom foraging requires more experience and expertise than finding edible greens because many edible mushrooms have a similar looking but poisonous alter ego - so novices beware.  During wartimes my grandfather foraged for mushrooms and one of the trips resulted not only in a meal but also stomach cramps for the entire family.  But all wild onion weeds are edible (you recognize them by their smell), and lambsquarters, dandelion and purslane are easy to recognize.  So if you don't spray your lawn take a walk when spring arrives and see what sprouts.  I think I'll look for a foraging walk to get to know all the foods I have been walking right by.

lambsquarters