I have a coffee grinder designated to grind flax seeds only. One morning while I was busy making breakfast my husband came into the kitchen and began organizing a bunch of ingredients to the side of the kitchen counter. This is not that unusual as he is a bit of a mad scientist and likes to create new recipes as well. After he was done gathering all his ingredients he asked me for the coffee grinder. “That’s for flaxseeds only” I said. He persisted in his request and so I pointed in the direction of my flaxseed grinder. Being unfamiliar with this device he began to pock and yank at different parts of it. Not long after I heard a snap. He broke something on my flaxseed grinder. I quickly came to the scene of the crime and discovered that he broke the handle that is essential to turn the motor on. I was not happy. I wanted to ask him to leave my kitchen and not enter as professionals were at work. Fortunately my better sense took over and I demonstrated to him how the grinder works and assured him it was nothing to worry about as we could order another one online. Being the classic “Mr fixer” he figured out how to operate a broken grinder and continued with his experiment.
This is not the first time I’ve been tempted to banish my husband from the kitchen. And to be honest he is not the only one I have wanted to place a “Do not enter” sign up for. My little children are often eager to help in the kitchen as well and they are expert at slowing down my progress. They are guaranteed to make a great mess and they put away my measuring spoons and utensils in the most bizarre places. Despite all these minor inconveniences though the kitchen is a perfect training ground for the entire family. I may have a few more skills in cutting and mixing but that came with time and a lot of practice.
As a family our goals are to eat more whole food plant based, eliminate junk and processed food, eat meals that have been prepared at home instead of eating out and eat more of our meals together. With ambitions like these it would naturally seem that the kitchen would be the perfect place to start. Not just for me but for the entire family.
As for my mad scientist… his experiment turned out quite well and we all enjoyed whole wheat corn cakes with breakfast!
Hearty Multigrain Waffles
Sunday has been renamed “waffleday” in our home! We all look forward to it with great enthusiasm. Some a little more than others! I found a great recipe that allows me to make a big batch with wholesome ingredients and then store in the refrigerator till next “waffleday”. I like this recipe a lot because it is all plant based and combines different grains and nuts. It is oil free, egg free and sugar free. The best part is it tastes so good and keeps us all full practically the whole day because it is so high in fiber. It’s important to eat high fiber foods which keep you full because it helps maintain stable blood sugar levels and decreases the need for snacking.
Okay without further delay…
Waffle mix
Obtained from the book Seven secrets by Neva & Jim Brackett
8 c quick oatmeal
2 c cornmeal or millet (or 1 of each)
2 c cashew pieces
2 c dark flaxseed
1 cup cornstarch
4 tsp salt
1 c raisins
Mix together in a large mixing bowl and pour into a plastic storage bag. Store in freezer or refrigerator. After several uses you should know how much to make for your family.
Using this Mix for 2 persons
Combine 2 cups water with 1 3/4 cups of waffle mix in blender. Blends till smooth – at least 1 minute. Spray waffle iron with oil to avoid sticking. Pour blended mix and bake till done.
Granola Gang
I think one of my all time favorite breakfast foods has got to be granola. There’s something just magical and amazing about granola. It’s almost hard to explain. Is it the crunch or the sweet I like so much. Is it that it fills me up so well and keeps me going for hours? It maybe that its a magnet for toppings and I can mix all my favorite nuts, seeds and dried fruit in. Whatever it is, granola does add a pep to my step and there’s no breaking us up.
Oats are an amazing food all by themselves though. You’ve probably heard that eating oats can help lower cholesterol. But you probably never realized that oats are also a source of protein. Yup. Oats are a power food that you gotta keep in your kitchen. When you break down oats into its different components you’ll find it has fiber, minerals, carbs (good carbs), fat ( good fat) and protein. This food helps you stay full for hours which helps you avoid snacking. It helps lose weight, control your blood sugar and has been shown to enhance your mental performance. This is just the short list.
Oats are an excellent choice for breakfast. Add some fruit, nuts and seeds and you’re ready to take on the world.
Since you’ve joined me on this journey I’ve been having fun in the kitchen creating recipes I think you would love. One thing I’ve noticed is that I am a sucker for recipe simplicity. Have you seen those recipes that call for 7/8 of a teaspoon of something. Well that’s not me. It takes me a while to figure out 7/8 of a teaspoon of anything and I’m for sure not putting those measurements in any recipes I create. You have my word on that.
The kids and I have been making our own granola for years. This recipe is one of our favorites. Its easy and guaranteed to be a hit in your home.
10 cups oatmeal (quick or whole rolled)
1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup pecan pieces
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup water
1 cup olive oil
1 cup maple syrup
1 Tbsp maple extract (can replace with vanilla)
Directions: Mix dry ingredients and wet ones in separate bowls. Pour wet ingredients over dry and stir all together very well. Next spread mixture evenly onto two baking sheets. Bake at 175 degrees F overnight.
Lady Sweet Potato
My husband always says he won’t eat yogurt because it looks like toothpaste. I never quite made that connection before but he has a point that I can appreciate. Our food has changed its look and taste considerably since the 1900’s. Half the time what we’re eating is not really food. Our food is processed and refined, sugared and salted, chemically engineered to dazzle and stimulate a taste sensation. With the addition of the extras comes the subtraction of fiber and nutrients. When we are eating refined food it really amounts to food with little or no fiber left in it. Take for example a lovely sweet potato that has been specially picked to have her moment in food factory stardom. To meet the demands of her clamoring audience she needs to be highly refined and processed. She is about to be made into chips. Crunchy, salty, oily sweet potato chips. While she may appear to be more appealing to us in her new state she has lost all her charm to nourish our bodies. In her natural wholesome state as a chunky sweet potato she had healing properties with loads of vitamin A and B. She was a natural carbohydrate providing energy for hours on end and fiber to regulate our blood sugar and clean out our colon. In her refined “chippy” state she will be sure to contribute to higher blood pressures with the extra salt. She will spike the blood sugar levels and make us more prone for diabetes. Her lack of fiber and increased oil content will slow down the bowels and lead to constipation. Foods when eaten as close to their natural state as possible nurture and heal our bodies. When that same food is highly processed and refined it contributes to a tidal wave of unpleasant symptoms and diseases.
It can be hard to know at first what an unprocessed food really is. It seems we hardly come across them in our kitchens and restaurants to really get acquainted with them. Well may I take the time to introduce you to a host of friendly foods that are waiting to heal and nourish you. They are fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, nuts, seeds and grains. Fruits that look just as they came of the tree or vine are unprocessed. So apple or apple pie? Which one has the processed feel to you? Okay how about fruits or fruit roll ups? Banana or banana chips, zucchini or zucchini bread? Getting the picture? Whenever the food has made it to the factory and had its fiber removed and extra salt and oil added you can be sure it qualifies as a processed one. If you are ready to embark on a totally nourishing and healing diet then give strong consideration to an unprocessed plant based one. It is the diet proven to have the ability to prevent and reverse chronic lifestyle diseases including diabetes, hypertension and obesity. The awesome part is you don’t have to travel a thousand miles to do this change. You can start in your own grocery store. Stay on the periphery of your supermarket where you find all the produce and fill up your cart only from there. You will have all the foods I just introduced you to. Remember if it has been highly altered don’t put it in that basket. Just to warn you, avoid the cakes and cookies aisle, avoid the chips and dips aisle, avoid the soda and ice cream aisle. The last I heard these foods are pretty notorious in the processed hall of fame.
Get ready for a wonderful adventure and stick with me on this journey. Simple every day choices are what determine the great health that you want and deserve.
Till Next time… Be well
Dr Kathy
Plant-based diets and cardiovascular health.
Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2018 Oct;28(7):437-441. doi: 10.1016/j.tcm.2018.02.004. Epub 2018 Feb 13.
Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women: Results from Three Prospective Cohort Studies.
PLoS Med. 2016 Jun 14;13(6):e1002039. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002039. eCollection 2016 Jun.
Home made Almond Milk
Anyone ‘four’ milk?
Why did I say anyone ‘four’ milk? It wasn’t a typo. Our family recipe for almond milk is super easy and tastes amazing. You’ll never forget the recipe because it has one simple recurring number.
- 4 cups water
- ¼ cup almonds
- 4 pitted dates
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Just four simple ingredients.
Blend all ingredients for 2 minutes on high speed. If you prefer a silky milk with absolutely no texture then go ahead and strain through a fine strainer or cheese cloth. I don’t strain mine. We drink the whole nut, fiber and all. It tastes just fine.
Makes four cups of milk and you can store in the back of the refrigerator for up to one week. This nut milk can be a substitute in any recipe that calls for cow’s milk.
Who needs the extra fat, cholesterol, pus and allergy promoting agents found in cow’s milk? Not me. Our kids certainly deserve better.
Try this milk and let me know what you think. It is a better choice ‘four’ you and your family 😉
Till next time…. Be well
Dr Kathy
One Little Green Pill Please
Anything worth having requires some effort to get it. If you want a vibrant marriage you need to put time into maintaining the relationship, if you want a successful career you have to sacrifice to make it to the top, if you want well-adjusted children you have to dedicate quality time to nurturing them throughout life. It is the same principle with health. If you want great health full of energy and vitality you need to be willing to put the effort in to get it.
Once I met a really interesting patient in clinic who was unfortunately quite sick. He had multiple illnesses affecting almost every organ in his body. My heart went out to him and I began sharing how he could reverse some of his disease with good nutrition and better lifestyle choices. He listened politely and in a most jovial tone said “Doc I am not ready for all that. I want you to put that all in a little green pill and I will gladly take it.” I laughed with him because we both knew there was no such thing. He had been taking tons of pills and was still sick. For sure I did not have the perfect little green pill to restore his health. As he stared into my eyes he wanted me to help him feel better but he was not prepared to put forth the effort to get the results he so badly wanted.
The secret to great health is really no longer a secret. It is actually confirmed by the laws of nature, sound science and healthy communities around the world. The key to great health can be found right inside your own home. We don’t have to travel to an exotic clinic of natural healing, we don’t have to empty our retirement fund to buy products upon products filled with promises of well-being. It simply starts with a commitment to yourself to make better choices every day. Great health is a culmination of the little choices we make every day. And every day you get a chance to reclaim the health you deserve.
What are these every day little choices that add up to great health. First make the choice to move to an unprocessed plant diet. That may sound like a strange combination of words but it simply means eating foods from plants that are as close to their original state as possible. “Oh boy” you say, that sounds like green salads all day long. Absolutely not! An unprocessed plant diet is overwhelmingly full of variety. Eat all kinds of foods from the group of vegetables, fruits, roots, beans, peas, nuts, seeds and grains. That’s a whole lot of food to choose from. Next ditch those sugary drinks and make the choice to drink lots of water. Pencil in outdoor exercise a few days a week and breathe deeply as you get your work out in the fresh air. Going to bed early has not gotten the credit it deserves and many of us rob ourselves of adequate sleep each night. This will have to change in your quest for great health. Burning the midnight oil only leads to a lowered immune system, chronic fatigue and weight gain. Stress control should be high up on the list when we have a goal of being healthier. Stress kills. It can’t be said any plainer than that. If you find yourself constantly involved in multiple stressful situations make a plan for how you will decrease that stress level and keep it under control. It doesn’t matter what you eat, if something is eating you up on the inside you’re guaranteed to get sick.
I don’t know if my patient ever found that little green pill he was hoping for but I hope that you will find better health as you make better choices each and every day.
Chronic musculoskeletal pain and function improve with a plant-based diet. Complement Ther Med. 2018 Oct;40:64-69. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2018.08.001. Epub 2018 Aug 6.
The role of diet for prevention and management of hypertension. Curr Opin Cardiol. 2018 Jul;33(4):388-393
Grazing is for cows.
There’s a misconception swirling around that multiple small meals a day is ideal for health. Or that 3 meals with 2 – 3 snacks is the best way to avoid hunger and control your calorie intake. When I first had a patient mention this to me in the office I almost fell off my chair as I asked “where did you get this from”. She explained this came from her dietician and I knew we were in for problems if my patient followed that advice. Since that time I have heard this notion repeated on multiple occasions and I always want to break out and do a physiology lesson so folks could realize that this is not how our bodies were designed to function. The physiology of digestion is such that food begins to break down as soon as we place it in our mouth. It then makes its way to the stomach where it takes between 4 – 6 hours for the meal to be well digested. After this the food passes to the other parts of the system for further processing. Notice it takes at least 4 hours for food to leave the stomach and it is important that we give this delicate organ the time it needs to get the job done. When you add food in the middle of a digestion cycle the stomach becomes overworked and fatigued. That’s when we get symptoms of indigestion, bloating and that sour stomach feeling. Our bodies were designed to have 2 to 3 meals a day with nothing in between except water. Many folks eat 5 to six times a day and some folks graze continually, always munching on something or drinking a sugary beverage. This habit of snacking is really hazardous to our health in more ways than one. Eating in between meals leads to weight gain, indigestion, heartburn, mental fatigue and gas.
But won’t you get hungry if you only eat three times a day or worse yet, two times? It all depends on what you eat. The key is to start the day off with a big breakfast filled with complex carbohydrates. That is unprocessed foods and grains. Not a breakfast of coffee and donuts or bagels and cream. That kind of breakfast has very little fiber and so the blood sugar level rises fast and falls fast leaving you hungry and dragging. A breakfast with whole grains like steel cut oats, barley, millet, hearty waffles, a nut butter and fruit is very high in fiber. This type of breakfast will have a slow release of glucose and up to 4 hours later you will still have energy to move and work. A lunch filled with complex carbohydrates and high fiber will be a great choice for lunch. Baked sweet yams with beans, cooked greens and a salad is an ideal lunch. If you must eat something in between meals because of hunger then reach for a piece of fruit or raw vegetable.
This kind of eating pattern will put you well on the road to a happy tummy and a smaller waist line.
Just water please
Usually when you eat out the waiter pours you a glass of water and then looks at you and asks “May I get you something to drink?” Is it that the water he just gave you isn’t sufficient and just maybe you should consider adding a sugary beverage to your meal. The interesting part is that in most cases we go ahead and place an order for a glass of soda, an alcoholic beverage or fruit drink. The fact of the matter is that all these juices and sodas are no match compared to a refreshing and satisfying glass of pure water. In taking simple steps to a healthier life we need to look at our relationship to soda and juice. If you are drinking sugary beverages everyday this habit needs to be broken. All the added sugar and chemicals are doing damage to our health and well being.
Some of the harmful effects include excess calories leading to weight gain and extra fat storage. It takes 3500 calories to add an extra pound of fat. So if you drink 2 cups of juice everyday giving you an extra 300 calories each day it will only take you about 12 days to gain an extra pound (3500/300). By the end of the year you would have gained 30 pounds!
These drinks cause uneven blood sugar levels. There is no fiber in them so our sugar level rises fast and falls just as quickly. When the sugar level bottoms out we feel tired and listless. With all that juice and soda our kids at first get bouncy then they crash and get whinny and cranky. Sodas also increase the acid levels in the stomach which persists even after the beverage is eliminated. With acid reflux being so common, sodas have their part to play.
Phosphorus in these fizzy drinks damages our bones. The phosphorous binds to calcium and is passed through the kidneys. Our bones are robbed of calcium and become thin which leads to a disease known as osteoporosis.
The weight gain, fatigue, crankiness, stomach acid and thin bones is really no fun to swallow. So the best thing is to replace all these sugary beverages with pure water. The first step is to NOT bring them into the house. Don’t buy those cases of soda, juice and beer for the family to drink at will. When there is no purple, red or orange liquid in the fridge the kids will go for water. Really no one will suffer permanent damage if there is no juice at home. Let’s change the juice guzzler culture in our home and all drink water like fish. It really is worth the initial awkwardness because the benefits will be noticeable almost immediately and for years to come.
Sugary Drink Consumption Among NYC Children, Youth, and Adults: Disparities Persist Over Time, 2007-2015. J Community Health. 2018 Oct 27. doi: 10.1007/s10900-018-0587-9.
Diet Soda Consumption and Risk of Incident End Stage Renal Disease. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2017 Jan 6;12(1):79-86. doi: 10.2215/CJN.03390316. Epub 2016 Oct 26
Beverage intake among preschool children and its effect on weight status. Pediatrics. 2006 Oct;118(4):e1010-8.
Upside down, right side up
I am not just a physician but also a home maker. More often than not my house looks upside down. With four boys and a husband running around things don’t always go back in the right place. On days when everything is out of place I feel overwhelmed, frustrated and defeated. I would love my home to just be pristine and stay that way but that’s a distant dream because my home is too dynamic with four boys in motion for it to always be pristine. But that doesn’t mean it has to look like a tornado passed through. So when I get that overwhelmed feeling just thinking about cleaning up this huge mess I remind myself of a cardinal rule in home making- never clean alone. No, cleaning up should always be a family affair. If I become the cleaning martyr I will always wear that title. This happens when moms are so dedicated to cleaning up after everyone that even when the kids are fully grown, mom is still the one always sweeping the floor, doing the laundry and putting it away. Not to mention the one who cooks the food, washes the dishes and cleans the kitchen floor. That is really not for me and who has time for that any way. So while my kids are still young it is important to awaken in them the realization that they can clean too. When the house is upside down we work together to put everything back in place and turn the place right side up again. Assigned chores are a vital part of proper child rearing. It helps instill qualities of hard work, responsibility and community. In our house everybody gets assigned a very important task to do. Every day we all get a chance to shine at home. The five year old is learning laundry skills, the seven year old is flipping pancakes and the nine year old is mastering the art of cleaning dishes. The two month old can relax and watch but hubby doesn’t get a free pass he gets to join the fun too.
Until next time- be well
Dr Kathy
Collaborative Work or Individual Chores: The Role of Family Social Organization in Children’s Learning to Collaborate and Develop Initiative. Adv Child Dev Behav. 2015;49:25-51. doi: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2015.10.001. Epub 2015 Nov 24.
Let’s drink to your Health
As a mother I try to make health a family affair as we encourage each other to make better choices.
One of the simple keys to a healthy life full of strength and energy is drinking water everyday. Drinking enough water is not often a top priority for most folks. It certainly never was for me. However I have recently become astonished at the significant side effects I suffer when I don’t drink enough water. On the days I drink very little water I am sure to be feeling more tired and irritable. I usually get a migraine after a few days of low water intake and then I am not much use to my family. All this suffering is related to dehydration. And that’s just the short list of what can happen when you are not adequately hydrated. Now I am for that 10 glasses of water everyday. 80 ounces of water had throughout the day is like an energy shot for me. My joints are limber, my bowels move great and the migraines don’t plaque me. All that just from drinking enough water.
We cannot wait until we are thirsty to drink water. We need to have a steady supply of water intake all day long. How much water do you need every day. It depends on your size and weight, and also on your activity level. You should try to drink about half an ounce of water for each pound you weigh, every day.” For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, that would be about 75 ounces of water a day. Just to clarify 75 ounces of water is 9 glasses of water.
It can be hard to get in enough water each day so lets have a plan and make it work. Consider drinking 2 glasses of water first thing upon waking. Then drink another 2 glasses before breakfast, lunch and dinner. After some time it will become a habit. A habit you will never regret.
Don’t forget to include your kids on this treasure. Dehydrated kids are more grumpy and irritable. So swap out the sugary juices at home for crystal clear water. If the whole family is drinking up this good stuff, you can all toast to good health and wellness.
Till next time, be well.
Dr Kathy