You may have heard a new phrase that’s been floating around: functional foods. The idea of functional foods is that they add some health-promoting or disease-preventing property beyond their basic nutritional value. They are considered to have a specific health use above and beyond their caloric contribution. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Black-eyed Pea Soup (I)
According to Southern tradition, eating black-eyed peas and collard greens at the New Year brings good luck in the year ahead. You’ll have plenty of time to gather the ingredients because I’m sharing this vegetarian version today. It comes from Terry Walters’s Clean Start: Inspiring You to Eat Clean and Live Well with 100 New Clean Food Recipes. Happy holidays to all!
The Trouble With Angel Food Cake
Have you ever worked with someone whose actions caused you to hear your mom’s voice inside your head saying things like “everyone gets a turn,” or even “let’s be nice”? When my friend Dee heard her kids complain repeatedly about the frustrating behavior of certain adults in their lives, she used to suggest to her kids that they think of them as “negative role models.” She said that just as it’s important to have good examples of how you would like to behave, it’s also valuable to have examples of how you would NOT like to behave. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Vegetable Paella
Despite the calendar, it’s wintertime in Cleveland. Can’t get the chill out of your bones? This one-pot meal is the perfect remedy. It makes the house smell great and keeps you in leftovers for days. If you happen to be lucky enough to have a cast iron skillet, you can use it for this recipe. But if you (like me) don’t, any ovenproof pot will do.
Where the Lucky Cows Live
Many years ago my husband and I, in different fields, nevertheless found ourselves at the same conference in San Francisco. Afterward, we rented a car and took a lazy drive up the coast. The Pacific backdrop was beyond spectacular; we had never seen anything like it. From time to time we drove past small herds of contented, unimpressed cattle resting on bright green grassy knolls. “Lucky cows,” muttered my husband. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Black Beans and Butternut Squash
Sometimes you’re just aching for something sweet, spicy and homey to warm you from the inside out. You know what I mean? If it sounds like I’m describing you, then try this recipe. Sundays are a great day for this one.
Nutrition in a Nutshell
Here’s my elevator speech about nutrition, what I choose to say to the patient with just 10 seconds for some advice. “Can you fit it into 10 seconds, doc?” You bet! “Eat more fruits and vegetables.”
Marion Nestle says it like this: 1) Aspire to variety (the more colors the better), 2) avoid partaking heavily of any single food category (notably meat, dairy, sugar and white flour), and 3) moderate your portions. That works.
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Chicken Paprikash
This week I’m channeling my inner Mark Bittman. Not sure whether it’s his common sense approach, or his love of old chefs and recipes, or the contented look on his face as a bit of fresh tomato sauce drips off his chin. This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Express.
Pesticide Levels: The Dirty Dozen & the Clean Fifteen
While preparing my upcoming talk on organic vs. nonorganic fruits and vegetables for Dr Roizen’s Preventive & Integrative Medicine Conference in Las Vegas, I came upon an interesting couple of lists called the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen. [Don’t bother to count; the lists I found contained sixteen “dirty” entries and seventeen “clean” entries. Crazy, huh? Don’t worry; as far as this story is concerned, the more the merrier.] Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Turkey Wild Rice Casserole
Right now I’m guessing that there’s a turkey, or turducken, or tofurkey, or stuffed pumpkin in your house, being readied for your great big Thanksgiving celebration. You don’t need fresh ideas, just a good-sized oven. But come Friday, when you’re looking for things to do with your leftovers, this recipe will be a welcome choice. The original version, from which it is adapted, may be found at kitchenparade.com.