Your Health is on Your Plate

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: CHIA SEED SMOOTHIES

Dr. Sukol — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:03:04 GMT

Last weekend my friend, Dr. Linda Bradley, whose wonderful recipe for collard greens I recently posted, mentioned casually that if she puts a little chia seed into her breakfast smoothie, it keeps her appetite in check all the way til lunchtime. If she doesn't, it doesn't. Simple equation.

So I decided to see for myself. Let me preface my findings with a little aside: I usually eat a mid-morning snack. Even if I eat a couple of fried eggs for breakfast, I'm still hungry before lunchtime. So I was a little skeptical. But no more.

This morning I tossed 1 frozen banana, 1/2 container of blueberries, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, and 2 slices of pineapple into the Vitamix, along with about 6 ice cubes and 2 teaspoons of chia seeds. Not only was it delicious, but it was filling, and I didn't stop for breakfast until 12:30. Chia seed -- my new hero. You can buy it on line, at Mustard Seed Market, or at Whole Foods.

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Is Gluten-Free Eating Healthier?

Dr. Sukol — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:58:54 GMT

A reader sent an interesting question a few weeks ago. She wanted to know if eating a gluten-free diet was of any benefit in the case of people who are NOT gluten-sensitive. Great question.

The answer depends on what you choose to eat instead.

In general, processed food-like items contain large amounts of wheat. Converting to a wheat-free diet should therefore, theoretically, have the net effect of significantly decreasing the amount of processed things in your diet. So if you exchange wheat-containing, processed junk-food for other kinds of processed junk-food that are marked gluten-free simply by virtue of the fact that they are made with a stripped, non-gluten-containing grain such as white rice, then there will be no benefit to removing the gluten from your diet.

But if you replace the usual commercially baked products in your diet [like bread, cake, bagels, waffles, pancakes, biscuits, muffins, and boxed items marketed specifically for breakfast (toaster cakes, granola bars, cereal bars, and so on)] with more fruits and veggies, nuts, legumes, fish, eggs, leftovers from dinner, pastured meats, and of course gluten-free whole grains, it is reasonable to expect that the change will be of enormous benefit.

In other words, there is a benefit to eating gluten-free, but it is not because of the gluten!

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YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: SQUASH-PEANUT SOUP

Dr. Sukol — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:56:23 GMT

I made this over the weekend, and then shared it with a bunch of friends on a cold, cold night. It warmed us from the inside out!! Also, it's quite rich, so a cup goes a looooong way.

1 butternut squash (cooked previously for approx 1 hr at 450, and then allowed to cool)

1 medium-large onion, diced

2 t. olive oil

4-6 cups water

1/2 can (7 oz.) coconut milk

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon hot curry powder

2 teaspoons salt

parsley for garnish (optional)

Slice the squash in half, scoop out the flesh and discard the seeds and skin. Set aside.

In a soup pot, fry onion in oil on medium-high heat until it begins to turn brown at the edges. Add the squash and coconut milk, and stir well. Add water and stir again. Once the liquid begins to steam, add the peanut butter and stir until it melts into the soup. Add spices, and cook for 1/2 hour more until very hot. Sprinkle with a bit of fresh parsley if you'd like.

As the soup cools it will thicken quite a bit. Thin it with water.

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Lifestyle Literacy

Dr. Sukol — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:30:33 GMT

This past week I attended a meeting at which Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (see my post comparing his plant-based diet to other real-food-based diets) was also in attendance. He used a phrase I’d never heard before, and my ears perked up immediately. We were talking about how to inspire people to take better care of themselves and he called it “lifestyle literacy.” Wow! Lifestyle literacy! I like that. Literacy is something you can learn, like reading.

There are all kinds of literacy and here are just a few: cultural, environmental, geographic, academic, language, financial, music, technical, athletic/kinesthetic, computer, and emotional. Naturally, we tend to gravitate to the ones for which we have an affinity. That makes sense; it feels good to succeed. We say that the best kid on the baseball team is a “natural,” even though he hones his throwing skills by practicing for 30 minutes with his dad every night after dinner. In this way, good gets better, and better becomes best.

A tiny sign hangs by the piano in my home: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle"

But what about the kinds of literacy that don’t come naturally? What if your parents discover that the reason you are struggling in school is that you have great difficulty matching sounds to symbols, the way your reading classmates do with ease? What if you could never sing on key, or were always the last kid picked for the team in gym or at recess?

These are common problems with real solutions. By breaking down the task into smaller, more explicit steps, people can develop tools to learn what might otherwise be an insurmountable task. Children with dyslexia are making enormous strides with "Wilson-based" programs, a kind of reading instruction that assumes no intuitive leaps and provides concrete instruction for each and every possible vowel sound, consonant, and combination that a student might encounter.

I have a friend from a musical family who considered himself tone deaf, and sang in a way that convinced me of it. At some point, he became tired of his inability to sing along with the radio. He got a teacher to sing tones into his ear, and learned to match pitches. He learned about musical intervals, and used nursery rhymes to understand. With impressive perseverance, he learned to sing along. This is a true story.

In my case, after many years of being a mediocre dancer at best, a friend convinced me to step out of my comfort zone and sign up for a Jazzercise class. The relative simplicity of the steps, coupled with repetition, repetition, and more repetition, flipped some kind of switch and, after a time, I found myself experimenting with new steps, relaxing, enjoying myself (!), and generally dancing with abandon. I never thought I’d say it, but I can dance now.

Of course my friend will never sing like Whitney Houston, rest her soul. And I will never dance like Alvin Ailey. But that’s not the point. The point is that we developed our skills to a serviceable degree, one that meets our own needs, be they emotional, physical, or both. Not only is dancing good for me, but it makes me happy; and that’s probably the best endorsement anyone could offer.

Lifestyle literacy, then, means that there is hope for all of us, including people who don’t come by it naturally. Remember that perfection is the enemy of progress. The goal, at least initially, is to adjust our choices sufficiently to become healthier than we are today. It’s okay if you don’t train like Jack LaLanne; your goal is to train like YOU.

Most importantly, if it doesn’t come “naturally,” we can LEARN lifestyle literacy. We can get better at it, and there are people out there to help us. I know lots of people who have dedicated their careers to teaching us how to stay out of the aisles at the grocery store, increase our activity levels, relax, sleep better, and quit smoking. You can find those people, too.

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YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: CARROT LEEK SOUP

Dr. Sukol — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:06:46 GMT

Here's a carrot & leek soup from my CSA. This week we got three big bags of carrots, so here is something inspiring to make with them! By the way, there was a wonderful article in the NY Times today on mindful eating.

1/4 cup olive oil
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup white onion, diced
3/4 cup leek, chopped (use only the white and pale green parts)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh or 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock, or just plain old water
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add carrots, onion, leek, garlic, and thyme, and mix well. Cover and stir occasionally for about 15 min until onion is translucent. Add liquid, cover, and simmer on low heat for 40 min until carrots are tender. Puree with an immersion blender, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bon appetit!

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Salads

Dr. Sukol — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:46:05 GMT

My friend’s husband said that he was sick and tired of eating “salad.” My friend was surprised; their dinners had recently had more variety than usual, she thought. That was true of the ingredients, she realized, but not of the dishes. Caesar salad, Waldorf salad, Chef Salad, Salad Nicoise, Cobb salad, and Caprese salad (sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil) had all been on the menu in the past two weeks. It appeared that it wasn’t that he was tired of the food; in fact, he was tired of the word.

This post is a call to the chefs of America: Create dishes for us. Name them, and drop the word “salad.” Of course it’s a salad. According to the dictionary, salad is a mixture of vegetables or fruits, often with a sauce or dressing, sometimes with meat, fish, pasta or cheese, served as either an appetizer, side, or main dish. Well, I’d say, that about covers it!

Any combination of greens, vegetables, meats, fish, or fruit makes a salad and then some. Here’s what I mean: pasta salad, rice salad, macaroni salad, potato salad; Greek salad; Israeli salad; eggplant salad; cabbage salad, parsley salad, green salad, tomato salad, cucumber salad, roasted beet salad; fruit salad; egg salad; tuna salad, whitefish salad, crab salad, salmon salad; chicken salad, turkey salad; ham salad; three-bean salad, chickpea salad, and Michigan salad (greens with dried cherries, blue cheese, and vinaigrette).

Enough! Give us fatoush, antipasto, cole slaw, baba ganoush, tabouli, and panzanella.

Blaze a trail for arugula, sauteed mushrooms, crumbled hard-boiled egg, and diced red onion! Give it a name! Don’t call it arugula-mushroom-onion-hard-boiled-egg salad. Call it, I don’t know, Symon Sez. Or Downtown. Just don’t call it salad.

How about red bell pepper slices, a bit of watercress (or romaine), and thin peels of carrot tossed in lightly in olive oil and a sprinkle of salt? I’d call this one Fire.

I'm thinking about the ingredients, all the different kinds of lettuces at the market, all the nuts and seeds, all the cheeses (cubed, crumbled, or grated), the edible flowers, the rainbow of vegetables, the fish, the meats, the exotics (like artichokes), the olives of every color and size, and the hundreds of possible dressings, none of which contain corn syrup.

There are tossed salads (like a Caesar), composed salads (with the ingredients placed precisely, like a Nicoise), bound salads (stuck together, like tuna). The possibilities are clearly infinite, and to place them all in the same category is confusing.

Chefs of America, make us not just an American cuisine, but a nomenclature, with real names for real dishes.

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YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: KALE SALAD WITH ALMONDS AND GOLDEN RAISINS

Dr. Sukol — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:02:13 GMT

Kale may be eaten cooked, or raw in a salad — as long as it’s very finely chopped. This recipe is great; don't be surprised if there's none left over!

1 lb. kale

Slice out the central ribs, and then slice cross-wise into very thin ribbons. Place in a large bowl.

2 tbsp. red onion

1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice (juice of 1 whole lemon)

2 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 c. olive oil

In a second bowl, whisk together above ingredients, and then pour over the kale. Mix very well.

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup slivered almonds (or toasted pecans).

Garnish with the raisins and nuts.

Bon appetit!

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Collected Wisdom from Rosalind Lerman

Dr. Sukol — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:55:17 GMT

Some time ago my friend, Larry, mentioned that his mother had, for years and years, written a column on health and nutrition for her local paper. When he mentioned that they had been helping her to clean out her house recently, I asked him to keep an eye out for copies of those columns. What had she had to say all those years ago, before the subjects of health and nutrition became so popular?

Yesterday, I was rewarded with a stack of her articles! Rosalind’s essays are filled with wisdom, collected for decades and likely passed along, from mother to daughter, for centuries. Here are some of my favorites:

On Stress

“Give yourself time to relax and minimize the effects of stress. Meditate, take long walks, watch the sunset and add years to your life.” Rosalind Lerman ought to know; she’s 94!

“People who laugh, and who make others laugh, tend to have better immunity. Telling a joke is also a good way to improve your memory and can help delay the onset of cognitive decline.”

“Research finds that a full social network can contribute to good health and resistance to disease Stress is lessened by emotionally reassuring relationships. Friends and family help you put your stress in perspective, in the opinion of Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University School of Medicine.”

“Find something to think about each day, and do something for others.”

On Food

“Insoluble fiber, as in wheat bran, can relieve constipation but does not lower cholesterol. Soluble fiber, as found in oats, beans, oranges, and baked potato with skin, can help to reduce cholesterol.”

“A five-year study of 805 Dutch men, ages 65 to 84, found that those who consumed high amounts of tea, onions, and apples seemed to benefit their hearts by reducing formation of plaque and by lowering their blood cholesterol and blood pressure. The ingredients these foods have in common are flavonoids, also termed bioflavonoids.... Good sources are grapes, plums, apricots, cherries, blackberries, black currants, grapefruits, oranges and lemons.”

“Researchers regard a diet rich in spinach, collards, kale, and other greens to be helpful in delaying the onset of age-related macular degeneration... A study of more than 850 participants found benefit for those who ate foods rich in carotenoids, such as spinach, collards, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, and winter squash as often as two to four times a week.”

On Activity

“Physical activity benefited the mental function of a group of people, age 65 to 72, who walked regularly. After 16 weeks, their aerobic capacity increased, and their scores on cognitive function improved.”

I look forward to sharing more of Rosalind Lerman's insights in the weeks and months ahead.

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YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: PURPLE CABBAGE SALAD

Dr. Sukol — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:05:08 GMT

Gorgeous red cabbages arrived in our CSA boxes this week. Here's another gem from Toby!

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cabbage, shredded

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup raisins

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced

Cook on the stove on high heat for 10 min, mixing frequently. Then bake, covered, at 400F for 1 hour.

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If you've never been on "Your Health is on Your Plate" before, and you're not sure where to start, visit Lets Start at the Very Beginning to get a jumpstart on preventing diabetes and obesity in yourself and the ones you love!!
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True Confessions: My Diet and My Lab Test Results

Dr. Sukol — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:29:01 GMT

Folks often make assumptions about what I eat. In recent weeks it’s been announced (in my presence, and not by me) that I eat vegan, as well as Paleo, that I follow Weight Watchers, and that I’m just lucky, whatever that is, so I can eat whatever I want. In a funny way, this last part is true; I do eat whatever I want. It’s just not what you might think I want.

When I’m at the grocery store, neighbors often try to to take a nonchalant peek into my grocery cart. So I’m going to spare you the trouble and explain it myself, right here and now.

For breakfast this morning, by the way, I had a cup of black coffee, a handful of grapes and a big bowl of soup, a perfect choice for a day when the temperature is still 15F. Made on Friday, this simple soup has just a few ingredients: turkey stock, turkey meat, greens (swiss chard, bok choy), and the juice of a squeezed lemon. That’s all and that’s enough. The turkey stock recipe can be found here.

What’s for lunch? Let me preface the answer to this question with a very important caveat: I ALWAYS (99.9%) bring my lunch to work. It’s usually leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, so I often bring in soup, stew, or vegetables. It usually contains some kind of meat, chicken or fish. Or an avocado, sprinkled with salt, or a bowl of homemade soup (some kind of vegetable soup with or without meat) and a couple of pieces of fruit. Favorite fruits this time of year are clementines, oranges, bananas, pears. At the moment, the kitchen counter also holds two Chinese apples and a large, beautiful, red pomegranate. Afternoon snack consists of nuts (any and all kinds), another piece of fruit, and usually a piece of dark chocolate. I keep a small knife and small flat cutting board in my desk drawer at work to slice up apples, oranges, and the occasional mango.

Dinner might be roasted chicken, cod, eggs poached in tomato sauce, salmon, turkey meatballs, canned tuna. There is always a green salad, and always a vegetable, like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, eggplant, carrots, or celery (braised, steamed, sauteed, or roasted). Sometimes there are a couple of vegetables, but one is always green. There is the occasional sweet potato (baked), or quinoa, or kasha, or brown rice, but never more often than once or twice a week. On the nights when no one has time to cook dinner, I heat up leftovers and make a salad. Salad means lettuce, olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt, and that is all. Rarely, a few olives get sprinkled on, or maybe some tomato slices. Very rarely.

So, what do I eat? Well, it’s not any of the diets listed above, at least not exactly. I eat no gluten, so that means no wheat, barley, or rye. I eat no dairy, so no milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream. Why? Let’s just say that, for many reasons, it’s better that way. I highly recommend it. And I eat virtually no processed food-like items. No soda, no corn syrup or modified corn starch. No “vegetable oil,” and that goes double if it’s partially hydrogenated. Besides the obvious personal benefit to me of not eating gluten, a secondary benefit is that gluten-free eating decreases one’s consumption of processed calories considerably. The benefit of avoiding manufactured calories cannot be overstated.

What DO I eat? Everything else. Real food, and plenty of it. Loads of vegetables and fruit, chicken, beef, turkey and fish. Eggs. Nuts. Beans (almost always in a soup). Occasionally, a spoonful of whole grains. A friend made the point that my diet probably shows significantly more variety than the standard American diet, heavily weighted as it is with wheat, corn, and soy. Since I eat virtually no processed food-like items, pretty much the only corn and soy I eat are straight off the cob or from a bowl filled with fresh, green edamame.

I think I’ll make scrambled eggs and braised red peppers for lunch today.

Okay then, what do my lab results show? My total cholesterol was 186 (goal: below 200). The HDL cholesterol was 76 (goal: above 55). LDL was 92 (goal: below 130), and triglycerides were 92 (goal: below 150). My fasting blood sugar was 82, and my average blood sugar over the past 3 months was 100 (measured at 5.1 by the hemoglobin A1C test). My c-reactive protein is 0.1 (normal range: 0-1.0). Elevations in c-reactive protein correlate with an increased risk of coronary artery disease. My B12 levels were measured at 645 (normal range 221-700). This is impressive, given that I do not take a supplement. My diet clearly supplies a generous amount of B12. My Vitamin D level was slightly low at 28 (normal is greater than 31). The last time it was checked, it registered in the 40’s. I probably could use a supplement in the winter, when I both leave for and return home from work in the dark. In the summer I walk outside in the light every day.

So you tell me, how am I doing?

The Enemy of Progress

Dr. Sukol — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:16:00 GMT

Today I’m going to share an idea that shows up in all kinds of places, including how we eat, and how we move and, most especially, how we think. Here it is: Perfection is the enemy of progress.

Maybe you’re sure you can’t walk ten thousand steps a day, so you don’t even try to walk half that many. Maybe you don’t have the best voice in the world, so you refuse to sing in public, even in a large group. Maybe you admire someone for the fact that she makes all her own clothes, but that’s obviously impossible for you, so you don’t even pull out the sewing machine to try a simple table runner. And last, but not least, maybe you have given up any and all hope that your favorite pants will ever fit again.

Besides calling this attitude “perfection is the enemy of progress,” you could also call it “the excellent is the enemy of the good.” It adds up to the same thing -- if you can’t do it exactly right, you’re not going to do it at all. Really? Is that what you’d recommend to a child who loves you and who respects your advice? Obviously not. So then why on earth would it be okay to tell yourself?

A corollary to this attitude is “No sense even trying if you don’t think you can do it perfectly right the first time.” To be honest, I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of anyone who accomplished much of anything using that strategy. Nobel Prize winners? Olympic athletes? Musicians? In fact, the most serious pianists, violinists, flutists, trombonists, and so on, call themselves “students” all their lives. Malcolm Gladwell, in Outliers: The Story of Success, shares his “10,000-Hour Rule,” which states that a not-so-magical transition from amateur to expert occurs with practicing a specific task for 10,000 hours. That adds up to three hours a day for ten years. Ninety minutes a day for 20 years. Thirty minutes a day for 60 years. No wonder 80-year-olds are so good at a great many things.

So how to use this for yourself? Ask yourself what you can manage. Answer honestly, not wishfully. You must answer honestly, because if you’re not honest with yourself, it cannot work. Can you get outside for a 10-minute walk? How about just today? Just tomorrow? How about three days a week? Weekends? Every day? Your choice. Too cold outside at 15 degrees F? Yes, I understand. So....how about stretching? Can you stretch or do yoga for 10 minutes today? No? Okay, what about 5 minutes? Or 15 minutes, or 30? Hate yoga? All right, what about climbing up and down the stairs for a little while? Walking in the hallways? Playing racqutball with a friend? You choose.

In the food arena, we make hundreds if not thousands of choices every day. Will I take a second helping? Will I take just one more bite? Will I finish every speck of food on my plate? Will it be a “salad-size” or “dinner-size” plate? Will I drink a glass of water? Will I make a pot of soup? Will I get takeout? Will I pack my lunch? Will I go through the drive-thru? Will I finish off all the leftovers? Will I bake? What will I bake? Will I use whole-grain flour? Will I flip through a seed catalog? Will I start planning next summer’s garden? Will I go grocery shopping? Will I buy bok choy? Will I buy tomatoes? Will I buy Fruitee Crunch-O’s, and tell myself that it’s really just for the kids (as if they don't deserve better)? Will I buy nuts? Will I make trail mix? Will I wash, dry, and shred the lettuce when I get home so it’s ready to make a salad whenever I want? Will I sign up for a cheese-making class? And, most importantly, what's for dinner?

You get the idea. I did not simply awaken one morning to find a hen house in my backyard. It’s not human nature to start doing everything exactly as you dream it should be, just right, from day one. Instead, think about your personal wish list, pick one thing you want to do differently, and try it out. See how it feels, how it tastes. See what you think, and then see about trying again or picking something different. Find one thing that you actually enjoy because it is no hardship at all, and you might discover that your next choice isn’t an OR, but rather an AND.

In other words, try this approach instead: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Do what you enjoy, and enjoy what you do. Put a more positive spin on it. Not only will the time fly by, but you may find, one of these days, that you fit into those pants again, after all.