Dutch Oven Eggplant Chili
(Preliminary)

You will notice I love my beans. This hearty and filling dish is loaded with protean, fiber and taste.

1 lb. Beans assorted (Pinto, Black, Kidney etc.) soaked and cooked as directed
(Add a piece of Kombu in the cooking pot). Reserve cooking liquid.
1/2 lb. Yellow onions
1 lb. Button mushrooms sliced
1 Medium bell pepper diced
1 Medium eggplant diced
1 lb. Kale
3-4 Garlic buds chopped
1-2 Jalapeño peppers sliced thin (with seeds and membrane if hot desired)
¼ lb. Shitake mushrooms (thin slices)
½ C. quinoa (red preferred)
2 T. bouillon base
1 oz. Bitter chocolate
2 lb. diced tomatoes or canned
1-2 C Water (use reserved bean cooking water)
3 T. Chili powder
3 T. Cumin ground
2 T. Chipotle powder
Salt and pepper to taste
3 T. Balsamic vinegar

Pre-heat oven.

Cook the onions in hot Dutch oven (no oil needed if pre-heated), when translucent add in the button mushrooms. After they sizzle add in the bouillon base. Now add in peppers (bell and Jalapeno) cooking until starting to soften (maybe 10 minutes). Add spices. Add in the Shitakes, garlic and vinegar. Toss in the beans tomatoes and kale. Add sufficient reserved water to accommodated thickening of quinoa and stir in dry quinoa. Simmer for about ten minutes.

Place in oven and check in 45 minutes. Adjust thickness with additional liquid. Taste test and modify as desired. Cook perhaps ten more minutes.

Non-vegan/vegetarians: add in a little chicken and top with grated cheese or sour cream. Offer toppings of chopped onions, cilantro and salsa.

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.

Entropy

Entropy

I just relearned two really important lessons. Healthy life habits really do work and these healthy habits slowly slip into chaos without vigilance.

A few years ago I was, with great vigor, able to dodge the diabetes bullet by closely watching my eating and exercise habits. I thought I won the war. Little did I know that these great practices would almost imperceptibly slip. Slowly I allowed in small amounts of foods I knew were not my friends. The amounts and frequency gradually increased. I also was less committed to my exercise program. I seemed to wake up one day with 25 of the 65 pound weight loss magically returned to me and my blood sugar rocketed.

It still took me another six months to get the picture clear. I was scared to death that my belief that I could manage my diabetes without medicine was being disproved. After all, I was still exercising and eating well. How could I honestly be a health counselor if I didn't have a valid theory even for myself.

I finally realized that I needed to reinvigorate my plan and be true to myself. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I was able to turn the ship around. In less than a month I got my blood glucose back into the non diabetic range. I can again feel good about myself and my program.

This is not easy stuff. You cannot just construct a program and think it will work itself without attentive maintenance and adjustments as indicated. Entropy is not just a theory in physics. All systems fall into disorder without the infusion of effort. Buildings, societies and health all require attentive maintenance.

Board Certified by Coca-Cola!

Follow this link to something truly frightening. The AAFP today announced a corporate partnership with The Coca-Cola Co.

I don't understand how a reputable health organization as the AAFP can take funds from a company that provides some of the most dangerous commodities for our overweight and diabetic population.

Healthy attitude toward diabetes

Blood and Honey: This link offers an interesting perspective on the psychology of suffering, specifically with diabetes. The hope of the film is that we who suffer from chronic illness learn to move from avoidance, denial or fateful resignation and from their associated pain. We need to embrace the reality of our condition with constructive acceptance and resolve to move forward in a healthy way.

The Five Remembrances in Buddhist wisdom:
I am of the nature to grow old; I cannot escape aging
I am of the nature to get sick;I cannot escape sickness
I am of the nature to die; I cannot escape death
I will grow separated from all that I cherish; I cannot escape separation and loss
My actions are my only belongings; I cannot escape the consequences of my actions

This documentary is in development. It needs support and funding to be presented to a wide audience.

We need our sleep

"The fool sleeps

As if he were already dead,"

— Siddhārtha Gautama

There are two kinds of sleep. One kind is nourishing and sustaining. Without a good night's rest our health is drastically compromised. One's risk of diabetes increases with lack of sleep. We need to awaken from the other kind of sleep or it's as if we are already dead.

In our modern fast-paced world we are sleep deprived. There is little time, we feel, to get a good night's rest: Way too much to do. The problem lies in not getting enough quality sleep. This makes it hard to be awake to the rest of life.

The opposite is also true. We need to be more fully awake or it is hard to be able to get a sound, rejuvenating sleep: too much undone to rest well. Science is finding that to live our life well we must be more fully aware of the reality that is our life. Be awake and rest well.

Nutrient density not caloric density is the key

Nutrient density is the key to weight management, and excess weight is the most critical marker for diabetes. One of the pillars of the Joel Fuhrman, M.D. "Eat to Live" system, that I have found invaluable: Health = Nutrients/Calories. I have often found that when I bring this concept up in conversation many think in am speaking of caloric density or energy dense food. I hear 'Isn't energy nutrition?" I think we grew up feeling that we needed to pack in calories if we wanted to sustain health.

In today's junk food world it is quite the opposite. We easily get a vast quantity of calories cheaply, but with surprisingly little in the way of micro-nutrients that are so vital to long term health. We seemed to be able to live well on junk in our youth, when our system was highly efficient. When we get older our system is less able to take the punishment of neglect. Have you tried partying like when you were young and expected to do well the next day at work?

Bring food that is packed with nutrition and fiber like greens, vegetables and berries into your diet, and you will fill up much sooner on many fewer calories. It is literally hard to over-consume high quality food. These highly nutritious foods are also much less processed. Less processed means fewer problems for your body to incorporate into its ecology. Your body naturally recognizes real food and knows what to do with it.

Eating mindfully: diabetes management

Eating mindfully is one of the greatest tools to getting a grip on poor eating habits. We went to brunch at a nice Indian restaurant yesterday (the reopening of Temptations in Ann Arbor on Washtenaw). The food was great, the service was impeccable, but they had a TV running silently in the corner. I found myself inexorably drawn to the screen.

I see the same thing happening where I work at Whole Foods Market. We have a sound free Food Channel running all day long and many stare at it blankly. I must wonder if they even taste the food they so carefully selected for their health.

Your body wisely knows what it needs and how much is best, but if that information loop is disengaged you loose the control. Diabetes management requires deep listening to you bodies needs and heeding that wisdom.

Here is a good link on Mindfulness and the art of diabetes management.

Omega 3 linked to increase risk of type 2 diabetes?

Will the challenges of getting it right never end? Looks like Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and fish intake may be linked to increased type 2 diabetes. I have been so pleased with taking and advocating fish oil for so many good reasons.

There just never seem to be simple (one size fits all) solutions. I have been reducing my dosage, feeling that moderation in all things is good wisdom. We must keep open to new thinking and accept change when good science suggests. There are plenty of alternatives to fill our omega 3 needs. Natural is usually superior to supplementation. Glad for the flaxseed grinder on my table.

Artificial Sweeteners: 2 Fold Increase in Diabetes

Artificial sweeteners linked to two fold increase in diabetes. Interesting connection sighted in a blog post. It is long realized that artificially sweetened drinks provide a health risk, and a poor choice nutritionally, but this possible connection to diabetes seems new. There is no evidence that these drinks are causally related, but that is not unbelievable: needing to be explored. That there is an association is easily understandable.

Sugar free drinks have been touted to diabetics since forever. There are great healthy drink choice like tea or water, but there aren't the marketing bucks in that.

A friend dies of diabetes

This is not the post I thought I would be making, but it is real. Getting on line I collided with an obituary of a former good employee and friend. Dan struggled with Type 1 diabetes, but he never let it get in the way of being a great worker and a very kind and loyal friend.

Dan died at 53. I know he struggled with this illness. I had to help him several times and once call an ambulance to get him the help he needed. Dan was very dedicated to the management of his issue. He never used his problem as a crutch. He bore his struggle well.

I saw Dan several times after I left the business. He was one of few that took the effort to kept in touch. He dropped out of my sight several years ago. I wish I had done better keeping track of him. Many come and go in our business life leaving little traces. His strong light will illuminate my life for years to come. Be well Dan.

Antioxidants: Type 2 Diabetes?

Here is a blogger (Anti-Antioxidant News?by Quinn Phillips) that did a little more research than I. We share similar questions on supplementation vs. natural intake of antioxidants.