Here’s a little bit of autumn heaven, my favorite season of the year since absolutely forever. It’s adapted from the newsletters of a terrific local CSA, Geauga Family Farms.
Author Archives: Dr. Sukol
The Primacy of Prevention
Today I spend a few minutes on the topic of prevention, to which I have devoted my entire professional career.
Early on, it became abundantly clear to me that I could have a more significant impact preventing many of the problems that presented themselves in my office than chasing after them with treatments that did nothing, after all, to prevent them. Americans are not strangers to successful disease prevention. Over the past century, death rates in the United States from malaria, cholera, TB (tuberculosis), scurvy, pellagra, and typhoid, not to mention scarlet fever and rheumatic heart disease, have all plummeted. Illness and injury generally fall into a few major categories: microbial infections, nutritional deficiencies, toxins, and traumatic accidents.
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Vegan Ceviche
Ceviche is a dish consisting of seafood that actually cooks in acid instead of heat. Yes, that is true. It’s slow cooking of an entirely different kind. The lime juice “cooks” the fish until it is light, flaky, and flavorful, with a satisfying flash of sour. I had never considered that there could be a vegan version until I saw this gorgeous recipe, which comes to YHIOYP from “Peas and Thank You.”
The Wrinkle-Free Diet
It’s been decades since my parents, Chef Ira and The Gardener, first coined a name for the way they eat, the “wrinkle-free” diet. While it started as a joke, an answer to the fact that they didn’t seem to be aging as quickly as their friends, it’s not a joke any more. The wrinkle-free diet’s magic, it turns out, happens not on the surface, but deep inside, through changes to a special part of our chromosomes that scientists call the telomere. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Last-of-summer Soup
Here is an absolutely perfect soup to enjoy on the cool evenings that have swept in, almost without notice, in recent days. It’s too good to be true when you pair it with a crusty bread. It comes from stonyfield.com via one of our local CSA’s, Geauga Family Farms.
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Roasted Chicken
This is probably the simplest and most flavorful recipe I have ever tasted. It can be made simply, with red potatoes, fresh lemons, and garlic, or exotic, with sweet potatoes and preserved lemons. I have made it with carrots, too. Any way you make it, it’s sublime. The slow cooking brings out the flavor and seals in the moisture. It makes a special dish for a celebration, but it’s also a great treat at the end of a long day. Thank you to nourishingkitchen.com for this spectacular dish. Prep time is just 10 minutes, cooking time is just under 3 hours. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Chickpeas & Kale As You Like It
To understand why this dish is such a great (and delicious) choice, check out this post of mine about a very special patient who taught me a lot about how to take good care of your health. Try this recipe scooped onto a salad, slid into a pita, slathered on a tortilla, snuck in a wrap, or slid into a scooped-out tomato or red pepper. It’s good for lunch, dinner, or any other time you get hungry. Thank you to Nava Atlas at vegkitchen.com.
Harvest 2013!
In the past few weeks I have been the recipient of quite a number of food gifts. I have made it my goal to pass forward as many as possible, sharing the depth and breadth of the bounty that has arrived on my doorstep as the season of harvesting approaches. Here is what is possible. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Pomegranate Coleslaw
This is the time of year when the pomegranates ripen and come to market. While I was growing up, my family made a regular annual ceremony of opening the beautiful pomegranates to find them filled with shiny, red, juicy jewels. We shared them among ourselves, appreciating the fruits of our table, gobbling up the seeds, and counting our blessings.
Addition by Subtraction
This week I heard about a concept called “Addition by Subtraction.” My brain started whirring.
I’ve thought about this before, using different words. What, for example, is the cost savings of a heart attack that never happens? Or an asthma attack? An ER visit that never happens? Put the other way, what would a few days away from school cost you? Or a month away from work? Continue reading