You have read and heard it so often: The Ten best foods, the Five Best Fruits, The Super Foods Without Which You Will Die...
Some of the lists contain meritable foodstuffs, often judged by their anti-oxidant contents. Apart from outright scams (brand-names) on those super-food lists, the usual suspects are blueberries (all the berries, really), broccoli, walnuts, spinach, beans, cinnamon (without the bun), almonds, avocados.
There is nothing wrong with these foods. But the concept of “super foods” is all wrong.
If you eat the same super food again and again, you have a higher chance to sensitize against it and end up with an allergy. Also, you might get an overfill of some phyto-nutrients, and become deficient in others. Not to mention that we have to worry about pollution - you don’t want to eat the same mercury-laden morsels day after day. We were made for roaming the savannah and nibble here and there, all day long. That gave us enough exercise, and rotated our groceries, depending on area and season.
Asked about healthy nutrition, I like to say (stolen from realtors who stress “location, location, location”): Vegetables, vegetables, vegetables. Today I want to add: Rotate, rotate, rotate! The point is to eat a wide variety of meats, fish and vegetables, preferably local and in season (less meat, more vegetables!).
Having emphasized variety, here are some under–used and relatively inexpensive vegetables: Onions, garlic and all cabbages (broccoli, kale, brocco rabe, broccolini, Brussels sprouts, white, red, Savoy) – eat them often. Summer and winter squash, too. Don’t forget root vegetables: Red beets, carrots, celeriac, daikon, jicama, rutabaga.
Assignment: Each time you venture to your local market/supermarket, find one new vegetable! Bring it home and serve it - any vegetable tastes good cooked (but not overcooked!) with olive oil and garlic. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
One-Day Fast
April 26, 2010
No, it’s not what you think - one-day fast is not for losing weight. It is for cleansing and giving your gastro-intestinal tract a day of vacation. Spring cleaning for your body, so to speak. One day - and you will feel terrific about yourself as you feel the lightness in your body.
A one-day fast is best done on a weekend. You prepare for the fast on Friday evening, fast all Saturday, and slowly resume (healthier) eating on Sunday. Team up with a friend because if you share your experience, you are more likely to stick with it.
For Friday dinner, you keep it light: no meat or fish, nothing fried, no dairy. Prepare a big pot of vegetable broth: Anything vegetal can go into it, except for plants from the nightshade family (tomato, potato, eggplant, bell and hot peppers) or starchy ones (grains, legumes, sweet potato, etc.). Onions, garlic and cabbages are the back bone of this broth. I put in handfuls of herbs from my herb garden, and right now I definitely would splurge on stinging nettle and dandelions. Use rests of lettuce and whatever vegetables are wilting in your fridge. Mushrooms are perfect.
You boil the vegetables with plenty of water. No salt or pepper, though.
Next day, you are only allowed the broth (don’t actually eat the vegetables!) whenever you feel hungry. Vegetable-broth fasting is much better tolerated than fruit juice fasting because the broth is alkaline, not acidic – much gentler on your stomach and your whole system. For years I was the laughing stock of my family because I once had tried a juice fast – and lasted all of three hours before I caved in to my overwhelming hunger! This never happens on the vegetable broth fast.
If you want, you can drink water and/or herbal teas. Nothing else is allowed - not even chewing gum! - Whenever the fluid level in the pot gets low, just pour more water in. The strength of vegetables is good enough for several “steepings.”
Take your Saturday easy: Go twice a day for a walk, rest a lot. Experienced fasters can work during this kind of gentle fast. But for your first time, concentrate on how you feel. Write a diary, listen to music, meet friends.
On Sunday morning you restart eating with a light breakfast: Again no meats or fish - stay vegetarian all Sunday. On Monday you resume normal eating – hopefully a bit more mindful.
Besides restocking you with valuable phyto-nutrients, the main effect of the one-day fast is a thorough cleansing and detoxifying – without harsh herbs or laxatives. Once you feel the new lightness in your body, you might want to repeat the experience. A healthy person should do this probably once a month. A sick or overweight person once a week. No, you don’t lose weight from the fast – but you might lose weight from re-setting your hunger stat: After the fast, you get more appreciative of food, you chew longer, you eat slower and less, and you go for the healthier choice. Read More
Do As James Bond Does …
April 25, 2010
… and take a cold shower!
In thorny situations, James Bond might not get a good night’s sleep (not to mention a decent meal – most often a Scotch has to do), but he always takes a shower. He starts with a nice hot one, ending with a cold one.
Every time, he steps out of the shower refreshed and ready to take on the world’s enemies again.
Of course, you wouldn’t know this juicy tidbit about James Bond from the movies. But if you read Ian Fleming’s books, you'd find that a cold shower is James Bond’s heal-all.
What is it about a cold shower?
Among other things, it brightens your mood and strengthens your immune system – making you less likely to catch a cold. James Bond seems to use it to clear the brain fog of a hangover. Or smell good for the next beautiful woman. I do it for health benefits and beautiful skin.
Contraindications: Uncontrolled high blood pressure (if you are on medications and your blood pressure is reasonably controlled, you will be fine). Any kind of narrowing of the arteries like atherosclerosis and Raynaud’s. - There are no negative side-effects of a cold shower if not overdone.
You start with a warm/hot shower. Stepping out of the stream, you turn the handle on cold. Begin with your feet, then your hands, then splash your face. For your first time, this might be all you can tolerate. Later you go on to legs, arms, chest and back. Leave out the scalp if you tend to have sinus problems.
The cold shower never takes more than a few seconds (thirty at most. If you don't feel on top of the world when you step out of the shower, but cold and shivering, you overdid it and have to scale back. Read More