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Reply to a plea

July 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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A person sent me a private message on Facebook, frustrated by all of the conflicting information about diet and health, looking for suggestions to help sort it all out. Here’s my reply -

“OK – Well, there’s a lot of great information out there. I’ve written a book about healthy eating. I’m not a “licensed nutritionist,” so I can only tell you what I know to be true for myself…. I’ve put a lot of recipes and stuff about food on my blog, and I have a site http://improvisingchef.com/ with a lot of information.

Short version: Maximize micronutrients (especially raw vegetables, berries, beans, nuts and seeds). Eat “pro-biotics” to help re-populate your gut to accommodate all the fresh food; you might have some discomfort and “side effects” as your gut cleans out. Probiotics include yogurt, kimchi, kombucha. There are other probiotic drinks out now, like probiotic coconut milk.

Cut out grains completely at first. Add them back in after your weight comes down and inflammation leaves your body. No sugar, no diet ANYTHING. No manufactured food in boxes or cans. No smoking! NO SODA!!! Drink LOTS of water, 24/7.

Fat is OK! Bacon is OK, just don’t go nuts (find it without nitrites if you can). Eggs are wonderful, and eat the yolks (Omega-3′s in them are really good). Try other savory foods like dried bonito flakes, tamari sauce, Ume plum paste, anchovies, Thai fish sauce. Steak is ok, but the best (grass-fed) is prohibitively expensive. I don’t eat it, usually. I’ll have chicken thighs, and love duck… but salmon, mackerel, and sardines are the best, as well as nuts and tofu for protein. Get enough protein, and don’t worry about fat. Fat actually boosts resting metabolic rate and helps you to lose weight!

Goals: Increase the water composition of diet (via vegetables and fruits) and eat diluted food (soups, stews). Increase micronutrients, and eliminate flour and sugar. Eat rice instead of wheat when you do add grains. Eat fruit and raw honey for sweet. Raw honey is GREAT… it promotes resistance to pollen allergies. Eat chocolate – raw if you can find it. Eat fresh and from the rainbow… and have FUN! Fresh foods taste great! And read my blog!

Also follow Dr Mark Hyman and Dr David Katz.

It’s going to be a great adventure into whole new worlds of taste!

Also – carry food with you, like an emergency plastic container of mixed nuts/dried fruits. When traveling, carry a plastic tub of cut-up raw vegetables and snack on them! Make good new habits and live in them.

Stay in touch!

Best
Jon

Veggie Tub

Filed Under: high fiber, High Fiber Cooking, Recipes, The Improvising Chef, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Bonito Flakes are the New Bacon!

July 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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Into the Food Processor

Taming the Raw!

Here we go. Raw is good, but let’s face it, not easy. Broccoli, carrots, kale and chard are tough to chew and can be unpleasant to eat. They need some help.

Here’s an alternative that uses whole food, incorporating fiber and nutrients lost by cooking or juicing. Although the food is “processed,” the only adulteration is the chopping; the difference is the size of the chopped particle. Small particles of raw vegetables are easy to eat and very tasty…and deliver maximum micronutrients, high water content, and minimal calories (for those counting them). With a simple dressing and tasty garnish, a “healthy” lunch becomes a gourmet treat. The best thing about it is how it feels walking around in the hours after you eat it. Energy surges, thought clarifies, mood calms, there’s confidence in right action, and life is just better…until the next opportunity to consume a healing, healthy, tasty meal!

Chopped!

After the chopping!

The vegetables are pulsed at first. After they’re all broken up somewhat, the processor can be let run to make the result as fine as you prefer. The ingredients can include anything you think you should eat but can’t seem to include in your diet otherwise! Or, choose items according to taste and availability…

Condiments are essential to the outcome, and flavor balance can be considered. Raw vegetables have characteristic tastes, many of which are unfamiliar to us, yet distinctive and unique. Sample items! Imagine their combination. Chard is slightly bitter, for example – a characteristic that can be balanced by other tastes such as sweet, acidic savory or salty elements. In this mix, I added a couple of dried figs and a tablespoon of raisins for sweetness.

The ingredients here are:
Broccoli, carrots, red cabbage, red chard, kale, celery, walnuts, raisins, figs.

The dressing (blended in) consists of toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and (Thai) fish sauce (for a savory element).

After blending, I put it in a bowl over some greens – I’d recommend lettuce, but in this case I used a little whole raw chard and kale. To the chopped salad mix, I added cubed firm tofu, bonito flakes, scallions, small nori (seaweed) strips, and black sesame seeds.

I’ve said before I’d put bacon in a salad (as many do!) if it made it easier to eat the fresh whole raw vegetables. Here, the bonito flakes serve that purpose quite well – they’re very savory! Vegans might prefer another option, such as caramelized garlic, or tofu browned in tamari. A fried egg goes nicely on top of a salad, too, providing protein and Omega-3′s.

All of the ingredients involved have special desirable nutritional characteristics, and the result falls in many objective categories. It’s vegan (without the bonito!,) raw, paleo, whole, low-glycemic, Atkins, Mediterranean, and pescavegetarian!

raw salad with bonito flakes

End result! Raw salad with bonito flakes

Filed Under: high fiber, High Fiber Cooking, Recipes, The Improvising Chef, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Myth of the Magic Bullet

May 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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We in America believe in pharmacology. The cure is in the substance – the potion, the drug, the ingredient. Does it have added fiber? Is it free of cholesterol? Is it low fat? Does it have real fruit? Omega 3? Grapes have reservatrol! Why bother with the grapes, let’s take a reservatrol pill!

Shrimp Soba Stir FryWe buy exercise machines and diet books, yet usually nothing happens. We join a gym and do crunches, and see no results. We careen from miracle cure to superfood to drug to fad diet regimen, always with the same results… no change, or temporary improvement followed by a return to failure, declining health, increasing weight, frustration, and hopelessness.

We consult our doctor, who might put us on drugs like appetite suppressants, or want to operate to reduce the size of our stomach, or (preferably) send us to a certified nutritionist, who will put us on a regime of some kind that we come to loathe and eventually abandon.

Here’s our mistake. We believe that the thing – the drug, food, device, program – will cure or save us. We don’t want to have to actually change ourselves to get the results we want.

What do we mean, “change ourselves?” The change comes from thinking. There is a philosophical difference between those who fail and those who succeed, and it’s very simple. Those who succeed take responsibility for the choices they make, and decide to become mindful, conscious and scrupulous about what goes into their body, and how they use that body. Excuses, passivity, and victimization mindsets are left behind, replaced by vigilance and determination. These people do their own research, draw their own conclusions, design their own program, and take responsibility for their own wellbeing.

The details of any particular person’s individual philosophy or program are unique to them, but those who are successful all have a philosophy. It might be something like these below:

  • “Eat to Live” (vs. “Live to Eat”)
  • “God Food” (vs. “People Food”)
  • “Is this choice in the best interest of the Future Me?”
  • “Ain’t no hot dogs in the Garden of Eden!”
  • “Food is Medicine”
  • “I’m on a __________ diet” (Vegan, Paleo, Vegetarian, Plant-based)

On some level, we know instinctively what’s good for us. Asked to characterize which is “good” and “bad,” and shown a picture of a Big Mac and a celery stalk, we all know which is which. We all also know which we would rather tend to eat.

THIS is the problem. We tend to confuse “what we like” with “what is good,” and then fall victim to convenience. We need to close the gap between desire and optimal benefit. How do we do this?

FIND WAYS TO MAKE THE CELERY PALATABLE. This is the key to success. It MUST be enjoyable. Food should taste good! And (this is very important) it must be the GOOD food!

It’s not easy. It takes imagination, research, determination, information, and effort. Convenience is killing us. Cook at home. Find healthy options near or at the workplace. Bring your own lunch. Pack a tub of raw vegetables when traveling. Make your own dressing. Find tasty things among the healthy choices and make sure you have them available. Change your habits! Design your life to protect the ‘Future You’ or heal the ‘Present You!’

And be aware of everything that goes into your mouth. Start NOW.

and, be sure to visit The Improvising Chef!

Filed Under: high fiber, High Fiber Cooking, Recipes, The Improvising Chef Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

What are you, a vegetarian? A vegan? WHAT?

March 9, 2012 By 2 Comments
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I’m a Vegimaximizer.

Vegimaxitarian? Whatever. I like “vegimaximizer.” The more the better. I don’t rule anything out. I like bacon, although I don’t keep it in the house. I eat eggs for sure.
Here’s a question for you – what do “humanitarians” eat?
:)

Pictured: RIce with shiitake, saffron, wasabi, kimchi, and bonito flakes, seasoned with tamari and ume vinegar. Steamed acorn squash and sweet potato with tamari, sesame oil and rice vinegar. Coconut-fried tofu, eggplant and garlic garnished with scallions and tamari.
This was TASTY!

Filed Under: high fiber, High Fiber Cooking, The Improvising Chef Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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