Ken Immer Changed My Kitchen

Recently Ken Immer of Om Cooking, vegan chef and creator of that awesome gRAWnola, came to my house—and more importantly into my kitchen.

The reason I'd called Ken was because of one sentence on his website:

How many times have you gone to the grocery store, only to come home with "nothing to cook!"

As much as I hate to admit it, that is exactly how I feel a lot of the time. Here I am, supposed to be this champion of home-cooked food, and my diet frequently consists of Annie Chun's noodle bowls, Amy's burritos, and happy hour specials at Pearlz.


(Go to minute 2:50.)

To be fair, these are all fairly healthy choices, and for breakfast I often saute up some greens and pair them with a piece of Ezekiel bread and poached eggs. But that takes a long time! I want a quick breakfast! I want inspiration! I want ease!

I communicated all this to Ken. And he didn't start pulling items out of my pantry. (I don't think he even looked at it, though he did view the fridge, at which point I realized how long it had been since I cleaned the condiment drawer.)

Instead, he listened.

He listened to what I wanted, what I was struggling with. And then he gave me some very awesome, very simple advice.

Ken gives everybody different advice. He told me that one of his clients simply needed to change his track lighting to make a huge difference in his willingness to cook. I was immediately excited to start sprouting (I did the next day), to go grocery shopping (I did that night), and to cook--I made red curry chicken with quinoa and frozen veggies the next night, using my new condiments, and it lasted me for three meals. And finally I made sprouted breakfast quinoa with coconut milk, maple syrup, and cinnamon. And it was quick! And delicious!

Charleston Magazine featured Ken in its April issue. I highly recommend you check out that article and read about the benefits of raw foods and how to make Thai Lemonade, Kale-Arame Slaw, and Sprouted Quinoa with Balsamic Grilled Veggies. YUM!

And then I highly recommend you contact Ken and get him to come over for some nutritional planning. For $65 he changed my cooking habits, my grocery shopping, and my life.

I Cooked! and I Can Prove It

OK, it's not all that strange for me to cook, but this time, I took pictures, as Amy Jo Gengler, acupuncturist at Re-Soul, encouraged me to do, so I could get credit for it.

The whole experience made me wish I had tried harder to get into a basic photography class in college; however, then I tasted it, and I realized that if you can cook, you don't have to be a good photographer.

Everything on the plate to the left other than the fish is locally grown on Rosebank Farms on John's Island, SC. I am a member of their CSA, which has been the most awesome experience--fresh veggies weekly, and you don't have to go grocery shopping! Plus it's a surprise every week. This season we are getting local eggs, Giddy Goat Cheese (which is phenomenal and an absolute must for every Charlestonian), and fresh-cut flowers with our veggies.

The fish was Amberjack filets with paprika and no-salt seasoning (and salt), seared and then baked for fifteen minutes using coconut oil. I cut white and red potatoes in half and roasted them in paprika, cumin, salt, and olive oil for 2o minutes. Steamed some green beans, and chopped banana pepper, tomato, bell pepper, basil, and parsley for a salad, topped with Herbes de Provence dressing from Whole Foods (which uses olive oil--no vegetable oil of any kind!).

10 Foods You Should Always Have in Your Pantry (that you probably don't)

These are not in any particular order, and obviously, this list is far from complete. However, if you have these pantry staples at all times, you’ll have the basis for a tasty, healthy meal once you add fresh vegetables and protein.

1. 1. Coconut oil

Unlike olive or vegetable oils, coconut oil is safe for cooking at high temperatures, along with butter. It is a source of healthy fat and does not flavor foods with a coconut taste.

2. Kombu seaweed

These long strips of dried seaweed contain valuable minerals that are missing from our soil and from iodized salt. The best way to cook with kombu is to add it to a pot of rice or other grain that soaks up water, or to soup. Once the rice or soup is done, discard the seaweed; the minerals remain behind. Add kombu to the following recipes:

· Golden Rice

· Spring Chicken Soup

3. Quinoa

This grain (pronounced keen-wa) is gaining popularity, and rightly so. It’s got a delicious, fresh flavor and a unique texture—and it’s a complete source of protein. Quinoa can be substituted for almost any grain in almost any recipe. It should be rinsed thoroughly before cooking.

· Quinoa Tabouleh (now that summer’s here, this is a refreshing, and easy recipe)

· Try these Quick Serving Ideas for quinoa.

· Quinoa Kitchen

4. Coconut milk (full-fat)

The natural milk replacement, coconut milk can be used in smoothies, over cereal, even in coffee! It’s a great liquid base for cooking meat along with some well-placed spices.

· Brazilian Chicken (ignore the “light” in front of the coconut milk)

· Thai Kitchen brand recipes

5. No-salt-added canned beans

If you have time and foresight to soak dry beans overnight, great! If not, a no-salt-added canned bean is a great basis for a meal, whether it be chili, tacos, huevos rancheros, or your own concoction.

· Three Bean Tacos are a great summer meal. Add some sautéed kale instead of iceburg lettuce.

· Quinoa, Mango, and Black Bean salad gets you double points!

6. Brown basmati rice or wild rice blend

Brown basmati rice has a richer flavor than regular old brown rice, and it’s full of nutrients. To break down the phytic acid in rice that saps calcium, soak rice for an hour before cooking, then detract 10-20 minutes from cook time.

· Coconut rice is a great side to accompany Indian or Thai food.

· Brown Basmati Pilaf

7. Canned salmon (wild Alaskan)

Salmon is a great way to get omega-3s—and some variety from tuna. Recipe ideas are salmon patties for breakfast, curried salmon salad for lunch, and salmon meatloaf for dinner.

· Salmon Patties (try using oat bran instead of bread crumbs)

· Curried Salmon Salad

8. Stevia

Stevia is a natural, plant-based, calorie-free sweetener that has none of the acid-producing effects of sugar. The best form is Stevia in the Raw, which is less processed. Check out their Recipe Section. You can use stevia in everything from beverages to desserts to sauces.

9. Rice noodles

Rice noodles are a great gluten-free substitute for regular pasta. You can get spaghetti or linguini thickness. Add your favorite pasta sauce (be sure to check the ingredients label for soy oils and high-fructose corn syrup) or try one of the recipes below.

· Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad. Try a different sweetener with this recipe—stevia, maple syrup, local honey, or sugar in the raw.

· Tofu Stir-fry. Be sure to use coconut oil instead of canola oil in this recipe, and again, a sugar alternative is a good choice.

10. Almond butter

Since many people are allergic to peanut butter, almond butter is a great substitute for sandwiches and recipes.

Other resources:

http://www.nourishingourchildren.org/

· This site should be named “Nourishing Ourselves.” Great for adults as well as kids!

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/index.html

· Recipes are great for families, though they do include vegetables oils and packaged foods in some recipes. You can sign up for a daily recipe e-mail. Use or delete!

http://www.realmilk.com/where4.html#sc

· Sources for raw milk in South Carolina.

http://www.eatingwell.com

· The site of the magazine by the same name, this site contains whole food recipes.

http://nourishedkitchen.com

· A gourmand’s health dream.

http://nourishingyoursoberself.com/

· Focuses not only on drugs and alcohol but caffeine and food addictions.

Food Therapy

So...for a long time (it feels like) I've been telling people I'm a health counselor, and they've been giving me blank stares. And while I've gotten pretty good at explaining it, I had the nagging feeling that really, I was born on a different planet to different parents and had an evil twin sullying my reputation throughout the galaxy.

No, that was my dream last night. What I've been sneakily suspicious of is that I am not a health counselor, I am a FOOD THERAPIST! And just this week it came to me, like a bout of deja vu when you actually remember where you had this experience before.

So, ladies and gentlemen, food therapy is my new word for health counseling. Doesn't it sound more impressive? Authentic? Knowledgeable? All of which it is. Because it is accurate. My passion, weird as this might sound, is to figure out what people are doing wrong with food and then inform them how to change it. Well, OK, that sounds a little negative, but I've been a book editor for the past four years, can you blame me?

Really, though, in terms of the clients I've been working with, it has been fascinating for me to see how over the weeks core issues come to light in their relationships with food. And on the surface these issues have nothing to do with food. But they intimately and powerfully affect what people are eating.

So really, I'm like a therapist without a PhD. Scary? No, because people have their own solutions, solutions that work for them. I just help them figure those solutions (and the motivations behind them) out, rather than marketing a pricey diet book or exercise DVD that people follow for three weeks and then give up on. And, of course, I am a fount of delicious, refreshing diet and nutrition information for every occasion.

This Is Exactly How I Feel about Health Care

http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog/obama-health-plan

A few highlights:

• Even if President Obama and Congress get everything else right in healthcare reform, it won’t matter ... that is, unless we address the underlying causes of illness that drive both skyrocketing healthcare costs and the proliferation of chronic disease.

• Unless real change is made we are facing an impending collapse of our economy as more of our resources are put toward caring for the chronically ill. This is not being alarmist; this is simply facing reality.

• Disease-based, acute-care medicine is the WRONG model to address chronic illness, because it doesn’t address WHY people are sick or the underlying mechanisms and biologic causes of their illness.

• Functional medicine, on the other hand, is a system of personalized care that directly addresses how our environment and lifestyle influence our genes to create imbalances in our core biologic systems that, over time, manifest as disease.

• This new medicine is personalized, preventive, predictive, participatory, and patient-centered.

Thank you, Dr. Mark Hyman!

Preservatives and Wine

I received this question recently from a friend:

Just got some dried figs. Unlike the sun dried Greek ones I usually get saw these were packed with potassium sorbate and sulfur dioxide. How bad are these? The figs are remarkably fresh compared to the Greek ones.

In my opinion all preservatives are bad because they are man made and can build up in the body without our noticing. However, realistically, if you stay aware of what you're eating and keep preservatives in other foods to a minimum, it's probably OK to allow them in a few foods that you enjoy much more.

I looked up these preservatives. Potassium Sorbate is the potassium salt of sorbic acid, an organic acid that has been used extensively as a fungistatic agent for foods. Dangers of food additives and preservatives notwithstanding, potassium sorbate perhaps falls into the category of food preservatives which are not seriously harmful for health, though prolonged use could lead to allergic reactions, nausea, diarrhea and nutrient loss in food. Toxicity of potassium sorbate is akin to that of table salt.

Sulfur dioxide, however, is a bit nastier. I found a bunch of stuff about it being one of the 6 major air pollutants, a result of burning oil and coal. It's used in bleaching and in chemical manufacture. I also found that it is considered an Unclassifiable Carcinogen by the World Health Organization, and I found it in a list of Top 20 additives to avoid. Um, yuk. They put that in food?

Interestingly, both of these preservatives are common in wine. Now, while I had a good idea that alcohol is filled with some pretty nasty stuff, I decided ignorance is bliss and continued to drink my favorite alcoholic beverage. This made me suspicious, however--how much wine do you have to drink to get toxic levels of sulfur dioxide? I did a little research and found some truly appalling information:

Evidently, "we can make a totally preservative free wine but it will turn to vinegar in 6 months."
Thus, there are over 50 common preservatives that can be added to wine. These include clay, acid, artificial yeasts, enzymes, sugar, gelatin, and charcoal. Eggs and a milk protein called casein can also be used, while another permitted additive is the fish bladder extract, isinglass.

Another is calcium carbonate, a mineral salt sometimes used to deacidify wines that is "toxic at 'high doses.'" Then there's everyone's favorite, food dyes, as well as high-fructose corn syrup.

The craziest thing about all of this is that there's no site I could find that definitively listed the ingredients in wine. (Beer's not safe either; it contains chemicals and HFCS). I searched "wine additives," "wine preservatives," "wine ingredients," even "wine nutrition" and got mostly directions on how to make my own wine. These sites indicated that sulfur dioxide--one of the top 20 most toxic chemicals--is an accepted ingredient in wine making. How companies get away without having to list ingredients on labels is mystifying.

Probably the best option is to buy organic wine. I really like Our Daily Red, an organic table wine that's getting pretty popular even in regular grocery stores. As for higher end options, it's scary to think of paying that much money for something that's possibly loaded with toxic chemicals.

It looks like wine may not be so good for your heart after all.