Archive for September, 2008

I got a bunch of emails from the “lurkers” who never write on this blog, saying they like food logs, and MORE, PLEASE.  That’ll give me something to say if I ever have a day where I’m running low—but OMG I have so much to write about in the next month or two!!

This time of year, I love to go out for a run on a beautiful day—I get other work done in the earlier morning so I can get some sun at 10 or 11 a.m.  Today I ran on the jr. high track by my house, like usual, with the boys’ 7^th grade P.E. class doing 4 laps at the end of my hour there.  I was on my 5^th mile at that time, and I noticed that even the boys who ran the first two laps were walking, by their third lap.  So in their fourth and last lap, as I passed each group, I’d say, “Hey! You’re not going to let a 9^th grader’s MOM beat you.  ARE you?”

The boys didn’t think it was that funny, really.  The P.E. teacher did, though.

Here’s my fuel today (leaving the kids’ breakfast and lunch out of it, since it’s usually the same):

Breakfast: Hot-Pink Smoothie (Jump-Start Basic recipe collection: beets, carrots, strawberries, cashews, coconut water, etc.)

Lunch:  (Believe it or not, I really am working on the lunch-ideas recipe collection, due to dozens of requests.  The PRESSURE!)  Put 2 cups of soaked almonds and 3 carrots through the Champion Juicer with the blank plate on.  (Five minutes, though the cleanup will take a little time, too.)  Tossed in some chopped basil, a small yellow squash and small onion, chopped, and 2 tsp. each sea salt and kelp.  Put lots of that Sprouted Almond Pate in a sprouted-wheat tortilla with some cucumber sticks.  (I put a little homemade dressing on it—any kind works–though you wouldn’t have to.)  Planned to have my green smoothie with it but wasn’t hungry after.  Ate the rest of my chocolate coconut-milk “frozen dessert” instead (see my blog a couple days back).  Put the Almond Pate in the fridge to use for kids’ lunches, or dinner, tomorrow.

Dinner:  Made Spinach-Orzo Pasta Salad, one of my family’s favorites (recipe on this blog somewhere, and in Ch. 2).  I had the Tangy Dill Dressing (Ch. 3) in my fridge because I made a double batch a few days ago.  I’d cooked the whole-wheat orzo that morning while I made green smoothies.  I also added a bunch of diced yellow squash to the salad, even though it’s not in the recipe, because I have a TON of it in my fridge.  (I chopped some extra when I made lunch.)  We were finally all together after soccer practices, to eat, at 7:30 p.m.  I had my almost-quart of green smoothie, still, so I had just a bit of the salad with it, while everyone else had a heaping plate plus corn on the cob.

And then I made Vanilla Pudding from Ch. 5 of 12 Steps—to get rid of more yellow squash.  Served it warm, yum!

I did spend well over an hour in the kitchen today, more than usual.  But part of that was washing/chopping about 100 pears to store in the freezer, and making Sprouted Curry Almonds for later. (I will post that recipe in an upcoming blog about how I’m letting you all in the raw almond group buy, if you’re in the U.S. or just across the Canadian border.)

Dear GreenSmoothieGirl:  Some people think you should lightly cook your spinach and other greens before eating them.  Is it safe to eat them raw?

Answer: This is an excerpt from Ch. 1 of my e-book, 12 Steps to Whole Foods.  It is both safe and good to eat spinach raw, which I have done every day for 15 years.  Cooking, by any method, kills 100% of the greens’ enzymes.

A popular and growing theory and opinion among those interested in nutrition is that greens (especially spinach) are high in oxalates and should be avoided because oxalates cause kidney stones or gallbladder problems, since oxalates may interfere with absorption of calcium from the body.  Another popular opinion is that cooking spinach renders the oxalates harmless.

In fact, a review of the peer-reviewed research reveals that the ability of oxalates to lower calcium absorption is small and does not outweigh the ability of those foods to contribute significant calcium to the diet, since spinach is rich in calcium.  A few rare health conditions require oxalate restriction: absorptive hypercalciuria type II, enteric hyperoxaluria, and primary hyperoxaluria.  These are not the more common condition wherein kidney stones are formed.  The research is not clear that restricting foods such as spinach helps prevent stones in those who have previously had them.  Many researchers believe that dietary restriction cannot reduce risk of stone formation.  In fact, some foods that were assumed to increase stone formation because of oxalate content (like black tea) have appeared in more recent research to have a preventative effect.

Further, cooking has a small impact (about 10 percent) on the oxalate content of foods, with no statistically significant lowering of oxalates following blanching or boiling of greens.  It appears that the nutritional advantages of eating raw greens continue to far outweigh any benefit of cooking them.

Two other classes of nutritional compounds, purines and goitrogens, are found in some leafy greens such as spinach.  Eating “excessive” amounts of spinach or cruciferous vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower, for instance) containing these compounds can be a problem for people who suffer with gout, kidney stones, or low thyroid hormone production.  These chemical compounds are also found in peanuts, strawberries, soy products, and other foods as well.  Lightly steaming these foods may help, as well.  However, the literature seems to support that a few weekly servings of these foods is a good idea for almost everyone.

Today, why you’re contributing to environmental damage if you eat high on the food chain:

Gallons of oil spilled by the Exxon-Valdez: 12 million

Gallons of putrefying hog urine and feces spilled in North Carolina in 1995 when a hog excrement dam broke:  25 million

Fish killed as an immediate result: 10-14 million

Fish whose breeding area was decimated by this disaster: half of all mid-East Coast fish species

Farmed fish the answer to avoid overfishing?  Farmed fish contains much higher levels of pollutants and pesticides, including 10 times more PCBs (2001 study)

Concentration of pathogens in hog waste (a biohazard) compared to human sewage: 10 to 100 times greater

For every household in the country, 20 tons of livestock manure are produced annually.

The single largest source of water pollution, which cauterizes waterways and kills fish: dairy farms

Rainforest beef destroys: 20-30 plant species, 100 insect species, and dozens of bird, mammal, and reptile species

When will Indonesian forests (280 million acres) be gone if cleared to produce enough beef for Indonesians to eat as much as the U.S. does, per capita: 3.5 years

When will Costa Rican rainforests be gone if cleared to produce enough beef for Costa Ricans to eat as much as the U.S. does, per capita: 1 year

What a hamburger would cost (produced by clearing forests in India, which is common practice) if the REAL costs were included and no subsidies were involved: $200

Tell me: what does this mean to you?  Do you think we are overconsuming meat?

Today, more info on world hunger and why you’re contributing to overconsumption of resources eating high on the food chain:

Number of people whose food energy needs can be met by the food produced on 2.5 acres of land, if the land is producing . . .

Cabbage           23 people

Potatoes           22 people

Rice                 19 people

Corn                17 people

Wheat              15 people

Chicken             2 people

Milk                  2 people

Eggs                 1 person

Beef                 1 person

Grain needed to adequately feed every person on the planet who dies of hunger annually: 12 million tons

Amount Americans would have to reduce their beef consumption to save 12 million tons of grain: 10 percent

Amount of fish caught per person, worldwide, sold for human consumption (1996): 16 kg

Amount of marine life that was hauled up with the fish and discarded, per person (1996): 200 kg

Amount of world’s fish catch fed to livestock: 50%, more than the combined weight of the U.S. human population

Newsweek quote: “The amount of water that goes into a 1,000 pound steer would float a (Naval) destroyer.”

Some stats on hormones and antibiotics in our meat supply, and Mad Cow disease:

U.S. beef cattle that receive hormone implants: 90% (100% in larger feedlots)

Independent European Union scientists’ report on the effect of hormones added to U.S. beef: they are “complete carcinogens” (able to cause and promote cancer by themselves) (hormone 17 beta-oestradiol)

Antibiotics administered to people in the U.S. for treating disease: 3 million pounds

Antibiotics administered to livestock in the U.S. annually for purposes other than treating disease: 24.6 million pounds

Antibiotics administered to livestock in Demark annually for purposes other than treating disease: zero

Adverse health effects as a result of Denmark’s elimination of antibiotic use for purposes other than treating disease: none

Prevalance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in chickens in Denmark prior to ban on routine use of antibiotics: 82 percent

Prevalance three years after the ban: 12 percent

CJD or Mad Cow Disease: caused by feeding cows their own meat and bones

Still legal and widespread in the U.S.: feeding pigs and chickens their own bones, brains, meat scraps, feathers, and feces

Finding of Yale study examining brains of Alzheimers brains post-mortem: 13 percent of them actually had CJD or Mad Cow disease

How many Americans currently are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s: 4 million

Tell me: does this make you just wish for the good ol’ days when the U.S. meat supply ONLY caused cancer, heart disease, and stroke?  Why risk mad cow disease from beef full of hormone implants—in addition to so many other risks?