The longer your waistline...

Your waistline measurement is perhaps a more powerful marker for health risk than the currently popular BMI number. This is well reported and referenced in Joel Fuhrman's Blog: The longer your waistline.... Athletes are penalized in BMI scores, with the most muscular indexing as if they were obese. Skinny-fat people (those that are literally thin, but lack muscle tone) would register as healthy weight.

Roasted Root Vegetables

Recipe of the Month: Roasted Root Vegetables

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 25-35 minutes

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato

2 parsnips

6” of burdock

2 carrots

1 small eggplant

2 turnips or 1 large rutabaga

1 daikon radish (or substitute/add in your favorites, like squash)

olive oil

sea salt and pepper to taste

herbs: rosemary, cumin seed, thyme or sage (fresh if possible)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Wash and chop all vegetables into large bite-sized pieces.

3. Place in a large baking dish with sides.

4. Drizzle with olive oil; mix well to coat each vegetable lightly with oil.

5. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and herbs.

6. Bake uncovered for 25-35 minutes until vegetables are tender and golden brown, checking every 10 minutes to stir and make sure veggies are not sticking.

Note: Any combination of vegetables will work. Roasting only one kind of vegetable also makes a nice side dish.

Tofu Scramble

Tofu Scramble

Very quick and easy: Serves 6

16-ounce block firm tofu

3 cloves garlic crushed

1/4 diced red bell pepper

2-tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 freshly ground pepper

1 bunch sliced scallions or onions

2 teaspoons tamari/soy sauce

Optional garnish:

Salsa

Paprika

Tabasco

Corn Tortillas

Parsley/cilantro

Drain and hand crumble tofu. Sauté diced pepper in oil. Stir in tofu. Add turmeric, onions, garlic, pepper and soy. Cook for few minutes while stirring occasionally. Serve with garnish.

Southwestern Chicken Salad

Southwestern Chicken Salad

(Four servings)

2 C diced rotisserie chicken (boned and skinned)

2 C cooked brown rice and quinoa (see recipe)

1/2 avocado chopped

2 C diced tomatoes

1/2 bell pepper (red or your choice) diced

1/2 diced onion

Garlic clove minced

1 bunch fresh cilantro chopped

2 jalapeno peppers seeded and membrane removed finely diced

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl

Dressing:

1 T cumin ground

2 T fresh-squeezed limejuice

Tabasco sauce to taste

1 T olive oil

Lightly toast cumin and cool or put in small bowl adding lime, hot sauce and drizzle in oil. Pour over salad and toss.

Serve over a bed of romaine lettuce.

Black Bean Garbanzo Salad Recipe

Black Bean Garbanzo Salad Recipe

This is my concoction. I am not fussy about proportions of ingredients; you know your preferences.

1 lb. bag black beans cooked as directed and chilled

(add a piece of kombu in the cooking pot)

15 oz. can of corn or Frozen bag 1 lb.

15 oz. can garbanzo beans

Cucumbers 1 or 2 based on size (diced)

Red onion diced

2 celery stalks (diced)

2 Carrots (Julienne)

½ bunch of Parsley

Pint Cherry tomatoes

2 T Olive oil

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Salt (sea) and coarse pepper to taste

Chipotle pepper ½ tsp.

Cayenne pepper (dash)

Turmeric to taste

Salting with Sea Vegetables

Salting with Sea Vegetables

Something I discovered that can be most healthful in reducing the amount of table salt in cooking is not only more nutritious, but also tasty. When you feel the need to add salt to cook greens, veggies, soups, and even pasta, just drop in some kombu (or other sea weed). This adds not only more depth, but also the saltiness is nutritionally superior. Table salt is almost only mineral salts stripped down to the chemical sodium chloride. Some sea salts are a slight improvement, with additional salts especially of Potassium and Magnesium. When the salt comes from the sea vegetable it is in a state combined with the plant chemistry and thus more optimally incorporated into your body. Most of us ingest way too much Sodium chloride. Many of us, I understand, are missing other salts for healthy body chemistry.

Steamed Kale

Steamed Kale

This is one of the most important staples in my nutritional arsenal. It is quick, easy, loaded with nutrition, and low in calories.

1 bunch kale (16 oz. or so)
4-6 inch slice of kombu
Fresh ginger (a one-inch section), sliced
1 or 2 buds of garlic, sliced
1 1/2 c. water

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 T olive oil

1 T sesame seeds

Rinse the kale, strip the leafy parts from stalks, and slice the stalks. Bring the water, sliced stalks and ginger to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove the kombu, slice and return to the boiling broth. Add the garlic and kale leaves and cook an additional 5 minutes. Drain off the pot-liquor (cooking water), which is the best part: enjoy it as a tonic. Top with oils and sesame seeds. Serve the kale any way you like: as a side, added to salad, in a stir fry, etc.

Brown Rice and Quinoa Tabbouleh

Brown Rice and Quinoa Tabbouleh

2 C brown rice and quinoa (cooked)

¼ C olive oil

1/3 C lemon juice fresh

4-5 garlic buds chopped

1 bunch spring onions

1-2 bunches fresh parsley chopped

2 T Fresh mint chopped

2 tomatoes diced

8 leafs of romaine

Optionally:

cucumber diced

garbanzo beans

Just combine all ingredients except romaine and chill for about an hour to blend flavors. Serve over bed of romaine.

Chicken Barley Soup

Chicken Barley Soup

(4 servings)

6 C Water

4 chicken thighs with skin removed

3 C sliced carrots

1 C sliced celery

1 C diced onion

1/2 C barley

2-3 garlic cloves

1 bay leaf

1/2 bunch parsley (chopped)

1 tsp. dried rosemary

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all but last three ingredients in large pot and bring to boil. Simmer for about 40 minutes or until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken from bones and slice into strips and return to soup.

Add last three ingredients.

Optionally:

Use instead slices of rotisserie chicken at time of last ingredients

Could use cayenne and cumin to spice up.