It all boils down to this:
I’m teaching a five week program at Gilda’s Club Westchester about Recipes and Strategies for Healthy Living. Today is week #1 and we’ll be talking about beneficial and hazardous ingredients and how to distinguish between them.
Its not rocket science to eat in this way. But it can be challenging because it requires you to cook and prepare most meals from scratch. Or, to put it simply, don’t eat processed crap!
I’m going to tell the group about October Unprocessed Month over at the Eating Rules blog. Andrew Wilder came up with this idea last year, it is simple but brilliant.
1. When you eat grains, eat only 100% whole grains. Or as I like to say, no baked flour or boiled flour. By the way, Cheerios and other cereals are not whole grains! Don’t listen to the cereal makers, they lie!
2. Don’t eat anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup. That cuts out LOTS of processed foods. HFCS does serious damage to your liver, we were not meant to ingest fructose in such high quantities in the absence of fiber. And guess what? Juice is another source of too much fructose with no fiber. Eat fruit instead. If you want to learn more about the hazards of fructose, have a seat and make yourself a nice glass of water and watch Dr. Robert Lustig’s presentation, Sugar: the Bitter Truth
3. Don’t eat hydrogenated oils, trans fats, or anything deep fried. Don’t get sucked into the “zero trans fats” claim on the label! If the ingredient list has the word hydrogenated, then don’t buy it! Plain and simple.
I’ll be doing my best to post simple easy recipes here that fit into this paradigm. I’ve got tons of recipes on this blog, just type in the word “Recipes” in the search box on the upper right of this blog.
Today, we’ll be having one of my most favorite soups: Butternut Squash Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk
In addition, we’ll had some simply steamed kale, along with some quinoa that had some frozen organic peas tossed in. A light and nourishing lunch that cost less than $3 per serving.
A great cookbook: Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair
I created a little sesame sauce for the kale that was a huge hit. The inspiration for it came from one of my favorite cookbooks, Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair. Cynthia also has a fun cooking show in the internet called Cookus Interruptus that will make you smile and will easily inspire you to good great things with real ingredients.
Here’s my version of her recipe for Sesame Sauce for Greens
1 teaspoon brown rice syrup or maple syrup
1 teaspoon brown rice vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Mix all three ingredients ina small pan and warm over low heat and gently whisk until blended.
Pour dressing over greens and toss.
You can serve this dressing, warm, cold or room temperature.
Enjoy!
