Sausage Boy's Big News!

 

Communication Breakdown?

Before I get to said big news, just a little logistical issue.  It's come to my attention that at least one person has tried to respond to my posts by replying to the e-mails they get from Blogger with my posts in them.  If you're someone who gets these posts via e-mail (having entered your e-mail address in little box to the right that says "Follow by Email") and has replied to those e-mails, you should know I never receive them.



The cover of the great album, Led Zeppelin I,

from which the awesome song Communication Breakdown comes.

I guess it would make sense for someone to respond and think that their response would show up in the "Comments" section of that post, but apparently that's not how Blogger works.  You can either respond to me personally via e-mail (salshoes at centurylink dot net) or actually go to the blog and post a comment there.  That being said, if I've offended anyone by not responding, I apologize, I don't receive any e-mail responses other than the comments.

Enough of this, to the matter at hand.  Drum Roll please.......

 

A New Direction!

 

Way back last year sometime, when I was first discovering this healthier lifestyle, I began spending a lot of time online reading blogs and visiting websites of various groups and organizations dedicated to the same.  One of those late nights I stumbled upon a place called The Institute For Integrative Nutrition.  It's a nutrition school in New York, the largest in the world, and has been in operation for a little over 20 years.  Their mission, as stated on the website, is as follows:

Our mission is to play a crucial role in
improving health and happiness,

and through that process,
create a ripple effect that transforms the world

Their strategy in achieving this goal is enrolling folks in a year-long Health Coach program, at the end of which they become a certified Health and Wellness Coach, and sending them out into the world to help make these desperately needed changes actually happen (hence the "ripple effect").

Well, needless to say, they got my attention.  As I was going through my own transformation, plenty of folks wanted to know more about it - the juicing, the food, veganism, etc..  It's obvious that people are hungry for information and guidance in the areas of food, nutrition and health.  So I was intrigued at the thought of being able to do that for people and to really have the knowledge to back it up.  I spent quite a while poring over their website.  I searched them on the internet, read reviews of the program by former students and reached out to people I knew who might know something about the school.  I signed up for the free book, and even submitted my phone number for them call so I could hear more about the program.  I got a call a day or so later, a very nice voicemail from someone whose name I forgot, but whose voiced exuded positivity and happiness.  It all sounded great, but I was filled with doubt.  I wondered if this was something I could really do, not just financially, but was being a Health Coach something I could actually do, something I could be good at, be effective at and succeed?

I struggled with those question, with that possibility, for a few months.  Then they had a sale and I could resist no longer.

So, on November 1st, I started my year-long Health Coach program, which will end this November with my certification as a Health and Wellness Coach (and hopefully with a few clients as well).  It's definitely exciting, but it's a bit of a challenge balancing the studying with all my other responsibilities (teaching my new AP World History class, being a dad, splitting wood, etc.).  When I get through it, however, I'll have the tools I need to help other people meet their health and wellness goals.  Wow.

Is this a career change?  Well, I don't know for certain.  If I could would I leave teaching and do this full-time?  Well, yes, I'm pretty sure I would.  Will I be able to?  Now that's really the big question.  And perhaps that's why I've been so slow to post about this.  There's still some uncertainty around it for me and I've still got some anxiety about my ability to succeed.  BUT, in one of the first calls I had as part of the course, I was completely inspired by one of the speakers (a former student and current Health Coach herself) who said "Tap into a desire that's even bigger than your fear."  That was pretty powerful and comforting for me.

So, that's my big news.  I'm chugging through the program, we have our first test coming up soon (I've pretty much aced the quizzes so far.)  I'm leaning so much about numerous dietary theories, ways of eating and, heck, ultimately, ways of living.  It's pretty amazing so far.  I'd really been desperate to share this news with everyone.  I'm feeling a bit like this will be my gift to the world (I've wanted to post this since Christmas, so Merry Belated Christmas, world!) 

Here's to the spreading of knowledge, understanding and HEALTH!

sal

PS - LOTS of great recipes coming soon, I've got a bit of a backlog that I really want to share.

Merry Christmas, Bagel Face!

Okay, that title sounds awful, I admit, but I couldn't figure out how else to put these two topics together.  It will make sense momentarily.

Generic Christmas Dinner Photo.  Yes, there are some grapes and apples on the table, and those might even be carrots in that bread bowl.  But I also see what might be cocktail weenies in a blanket and some round meatloaf looking thing.  Not too much fresh or raw stuf here.

First of all, and rather obviously, it's Christmas (or "the holidays" for the more pc or less religiously-inclined of us).  Like last month's Thanksgiving, it's my first holiday season since my discovery of better health and a greater sense of self care, and wow, I learned a lot about myself.

I had thought, for years and years, that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday, because of the food of course, but it seems that Christmas, to perhaps an even greater degree, is also associated with large amounts of unhealthy food in my subconscious and memory as well.  Or, at least, I'm still, at this stage of my journey, a bit overwhelmed by all the food, healthy or otherwise, that's available during the holidays.  I certainly found it even more difficult to deal with the food choices at Christmas this year than I had at Thanksgiving.

Perhaps it's the time frame?  Thanksgiving is one day, then it's over.  Christmas, while of course the holiday is just one day, goes on for at least a few days before and a few days after.  With my family it always has at least.  On top of that, as a teacher, I've got a two-week break from school and from routine.  If summer taught me one thing, it's that I find it much easier to stay on track with food choices and exercise when I've got a regular schedule.  During this winter break, all those extra days off just means more time surrounded by trays of cookies, cakes, pies, chocolates, turkey, ham, sausage!!!!  Yeesh!  (A topic for another post, perhaps, is how I've noticed mybody's tendency in winter to want to get big - go figure!)

However, and hopfully needless to say, I still ate my nutritious fill of salad and other veggies while others ate turkey and ham.  I did though (over)indluge a bit in cookies, seemingly my great weakness.  I drank at least my share of wine as well.  I'm not going to beat myself up over it (not too much at least) - I did go running a few times, which definitely helped me feel a bit better.  Nonetheless, this holiday season has shown me very clearly where my tendencies lie.  Knowledge is power they say, so, more power to me?  Yes, I think so.  I'll be even more prepared to deal with the holidays next year.

Bagel Face

I think this would have been an ever better title for the book I just devoured over the course of two days at my mother-in-law's, Wheat Belly ("Bagel Face" is actually a title of one of the chapters).  My mother-in-law has been incredibly supportive of the food revolution I've got myself involed with, always willing to lend an ear to hear of my latest nutrition discovery (sadly, her tragic flaw is that she also makes the best chocolate chip cookies outisde of Delicious Orchards!  Okay, who are we kidding, it's MY tragic flaw, right?).  We got to her house a few days before Christmas and I saw this book that she'd just gotten and of which she had read a bit.  It was really pretty amazing.

 

My arch-nemesis in the search for moderation, good nutrition and health: the chocolate chip cookie.

This is definitely how many I could eat if I let myself.

 

The book just came out last year and is authored by a "renowned" cardiologist, William Davis.  I quite literally could not put the book down.  The first night I had to pry it out of my own hands because I was so tired and needed to sleep.  Davis makes some fascinating and seemingly well-researched points about wheat.

 

One of the important points he makes early on in the book is how wheat has so radically changed from the grain that was originally grown in the Fertile Crescent (modern-day Mesopotamia - Iraq, etc.) during the Agricultural Revolution around 12,000 years ago.  I think I linked this video in an earlier post, but it's at least as appropriate here.  It about 11 minutes long, but it's really a prety brilliant 11 minutes.

Back to the book.  Davis talks about how the orginial wheat grown 10,000 years ago (Einkorn wheat, I think it's called) went through very few changes for much of its history.  Some changes, yes, as it was adapted to different environments, but nothing very radical, nothing that altered its chemical makeup so much so as to make it detrimental to humans.  But, he argues, over the last 50-80 years, wheat has undergone innumerbale hybridizations and changes, at the hands of scientists, farmers and agriculturalists, that what we consume today in bread, pasta, pretzels and crackers, barely deserves the name "wheat."  And, more importantly, the argument goes, none of these changes that have radically altered the composition of wheat and its associated protein, gluten, have ever been studied or considered in terms of affecting wheat's suitability for human consumption or effects on human health.  In a way Davis is saying we've created our own Frankenstein, and unwittingly brought about obesity and diabetes in the process.
 

With the ever-increasing mechanization of agriculture that's happened over the last 80 years, wheat, like most other crops, has undergone numerous (man-made) changes in order to make it easier, faster and cheaper to grow.  At what price to human health has this come?  That's one of the main questions Davis sets about answering in this book.  The conclusion is not a pretty one.

 

 

He then talks about how modern "wheat" has become so incredibly ubiquitious, finding its way not just into the obvious foods like bread, pasta and crackers, but into a host of other foods we'd never thought contained wheat products.  The one shocking fact about wheat, whether from Wonder Bread or from my own homemade 100% whole wheat bread, is that wheat has a glycemic index even higher than table sugar.  It's mostly for this reason that he targets wheat as the greatest cause of what he calls "visceral fat," that is, the tire around the gut of many Americans today.  (If you don't know about glycemic index, you probably should - it's certainly a useful tool.  Go here for more info.)

 

 My awesomely delicious homemade 100% whole wheat bread - I knew it wasn't really the greatest thing for me, but, wow, I sort of had no idea the extent to which wheat was, in Davis's view, implicated in so many health issues.

The book at times gets a bit scientific for a non-scientist like myself, but only in a few places, and it's still relatively easy to follow the gist of what he's saying, even if you don't know exactly what a "protoprotien A" is or looks like (I made that term up, fyi).

 

The book seems incredibly well-researched, with information pulled from lots of studies spanning the last half-century as well as dozens of pieces of anecdotal evidence from his long career as a preventive cardiologist.  During the book he ties an excess of wheat in the modern American diet to skin conditions like acne, to premature aging, to diabetes, to obesity, to heart disease and even to brain disorders like cerebellar ataxia.  It seems that some of the compounds in wheat are among the few that the body allows to pass through the blodd-brain barrier.  And speaking of the brain, he also discusses the addicative nature of wheat - it apparently helps the brain produce some opiate-like peptides called exorphins that give you the "eat more" signal.  That resonated with me pretty strongly - I recall the those times eating three bagels in a row becuase I just couldn't stop (I'm sure I mentioned that somewhere in my "bio.")

 

So while I can't give a complete book review here, I have to say I think it should be required reading for everyone.  Am I going to totally forgo wheat?  Well, I really don't eat that much of it anymore anyway (except in my mother-in-law's amazing chocolate chip cookies), but I still have the occasional whole wheat wrap.  I'm probably going to just try a wheat-free month to see if I really notice anything.

 

Complaints?  Yes. 

 versus

 

I do have one pretty big criticism of the book, however, and in my opinion, it's a pretty big one. 

 

While reading the first few chapters, I thought the ending of the book, in terms of dietary advice, was going to read something like this: "Wheat, and more specifically gluten are clearly nutritional evils.  In its place you should eat gluten-free or low-gluten grains like millet, buckwheat, oats, teff, quinoa, sorghum or amaranth.  This way, you'll get many of the benefits of eating whole grains (especially fiber) while avoiding gluten.  And when you eat grains, be sure to eat them whole, the less processed the better.  And eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts seeds and beans.  Be moderate with high-fat foods like meats, cheeses and oils."

But no.  Essentially he takes a pretty radical low-carb approach, extolling meats, eggs, cheese, nuts and seeds, while banishing or strictly limiting almost ALL grains, including brown rice and those other whole, gluten free grains.  He even proposes a strict limit on beans and says, I think literally, to place no limit on one's use of oils.  Come on now, at 120 calories per tablespoon, and all of fat, oils are something to use wisely, not in unlimited amounts.

Glycemic Index Versus Nutrition

 

Now of course I'm no doctor (yet, at least), but at this point in my food and nutrition journey, I really take exception to some his advice.  Ultimately I think the book's big weakness is this - he places the concern about glycemic index and blood sugar levels above the issue of actual nutrition.  So in his plan you avoid most fruits because they raise your blood sugar, but you eat cheese because it doesn't.  For my money, though, the rise in blood sugar caused by some fresh fruit is more than offset nutritionally by the massive infusion of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients your body gets.  Compare that with the hunk of cheese, which, while it doesn't do to your blood sugar what the fruit does, also does very little for your body in terms of actual nutrition (or disease prevention for that matter).  Should people who are currently diabetic and prediabetic watch their intake of all foods with a high glcemic index?  Sure.  But, for those of us who already choose our foods wisely, I find his advice wholly inadequate.

I think Dr. Joel Fuhrman, while he'd certainly agree with the first two-thirds of the book, would have much the same to say about the dietary recommendations Davis makes in the final section.  Reading the book also reminded me of raw food expert and proponent David Wolfe, who in the film Food Matters talks about our society's overwhelming (and ultimately debilitating) reliance on corn, soy and wheat.  Very true it seems, and obviously very unhealthy.

 

Here ends Sausage Boy's first ever book review.  Certainly worth reading if you can get it from the library, and there are some good recipes in the back as well.  If you get a chance to read it, let me know what you think.

 

Happy New Year to everyone - be well!

 

sal



Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili



Hello readers!

It's been such a long time, I know.  Apparently this is what you do when you wake up at 3:45am and can't get back to sleep - write a blog post.

To explain my absence in the blogosphere - it's sort of twofold.  Firstly, life is seemingly happening at warp speed these days.  The holidays are part of it as is the fact that my student teacher left and I've resumed control of all of my classes - planning, teaching and grading are taking up quite a bit of time.  (By the way, for those you who don't know me personally, I do not teach elementary school, the cartoon above notwithstanding!)

 

Secondly, though, is that I seem to be some sort of perfectionist.  (Not in all things, mind you - I built my house and there are plenty of imperfections there I've been content to live with for 8 years).  I keep wanting to get on a regular blogging schedule like posting twice a week or at least posting every Wednesday or what have you (supposedly that's a "tip to blogging success" and one way to become rich and famous through blogging).  I find, however, that I'm unwilling to post just because there's a schedule and won't write until I feel like I've got something specific and timely I want to share.  And even in those cases, when I know exactly what I want to say, it usually takes me so much time to write, revise and polish that I don't do it because I know I don't have that time to commit.  My mindset is sort of "if it's not perfect why post it at all."  This means weeks go by between posts, and you, my loyal and devoted readers are left hanging, in the cold, desperate to hear of the adventures of Sausage Boy.  It's worse than waiting for the next season of Downton Abby, isn't it?

 

I do know, however, that people out there are hungry for recipes, so I'm going to try and get over this hump of perfectionism and try to publish a bit more frequently, even if it's not groundbeaking culinary literature I'm writing here. 

 

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

 

 

That being said, I've got a fantastic recipe to share.  So completely perfect for this cold weather.  I'm still using sweet potatoes from our favorite orchard, Dickie Brothers.  The potatoes we have from them seem to last forever - the trick seems to be keeping the dirt on them until you're ready to use them.  (Special thanks to Sheila for this recipe, which came courtesy of eatingwell.com)

 

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely diced

2 small sweet potatos, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chili powder

4 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile (Chipotle peppers are dried, smoked jalapeno peppers. Ground chipotle can be found in the specialty spice section of most supermarkets)

1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

2 2/3 cups water

2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed (or 4 cups cooked beans)

2 cups canned diced tomatoes

4 teaspoons lime juice

4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

 

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat (I used my big stock pot).
2. Add onion and potato and cook, stirring often, until the onion is slightly softened, about 4 minutes.
3. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
4. Add water, bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the potato is tender, 15 minutes or so, longer if you double the recipe, obviously.
5. Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often.
6. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 4 minutes.
7. Remove from the heat, stir in cilantro and serve.

 

This recipe makes about 4-6 good-sized servings.  Being the family man I am, I almost always make large batches of stuff like this, so I at least doubled this recipe and ate this chili for dinner every night for an entire week the last time I made it a few weeks ago.  It keeps great in the fridge and I'm sure you could also freeze it for later use.

 

 

 

I've finally gotten into buying dried beans instead of cans.  I started with garbanzo beans for hummus and used dried black beans for this as well.  First of all it's SOOOOO much cheaper.  And, from a health standpoint, no added salt and no BPA from cans, so I'm glad I'm doing it.

 

As for the spices - I couldn't ever find ground chipotle, so the first time I made it I sauteed a finely chopped jalapeno before anything else and added it with no noticeable increase in the heat level.  The second time I made it, though, I substituted cayenne pepper for the chipotle.  WARNING - they are not the same thing!  The cayenne made it pretty darn spicy, which I loved, but which also explained why I ate it every night for a week - no one else in the family likes spicy, so I was the only one eating it.

 

 

 

I'm sure you'll all love this - it'll be perfect for a nice cold day over the upcoming holidays, perhaps a nice warming New Years' Day meal?  If you make it and like it, let me know!

 

Enjoy, be well and have a great holiday!

 

sal

So All You Eat Is Salad?



 

That's the question I got from a teacher at my daughter's school back in March when I started this whole food shift.  (I said "shift.")  I guess I understood her concern or curiousity.  I had lost a bunch of weight and she naturally thought "diet," i.e., some really restrictive eating plan where all I ate were plain, tasteless plates of semi-limp greens.  The disconnect ultimately comes from the definition of the key word in that question - "salad."  When you hear it, most people think of the rather meager dish that most restaurants serve before a "real" meal or as a side: some iceberg lettuce, maybe some tomato or onion thrown on top and served with a mini-pitcher of high-calorie dressing.  But what is a salad, really?  Or, perhaps more importantly what can a salad be?  I have an answer to that question.

According to dictionary.com (the trusted soruce for on-the-fly definitions) a "salad" is:

• a usually cold dish consisting of vegetables, as lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers, covered with a dressing and sometimes containing seafood, meat, or eggs.

 

• any of various dishes consisting of foods, as meat, seafood, eggs, pasta, or fruit, prepared singly or combined, usually cut up, mixed with a dressing, and served cold: chicken salad; potato salad.

 

• any herb or green vegetable, as lettuce, used for salads or eaten raw.

Sadly, I do not like cucumbers.  Incredibly healthful, I only juice them - my daughter loves them. 

 

It's the re-definition of that word for myself that has made all the difference and has made salad a mainstay of my diet and something I look forward to every day.  Certainly salad isn't "all I eat," but, to be fair, it makes up at least a third of my meals.  My salads, however, are a far cry from the pathetic hors-d'oeuvre served in most dining establishments.  I haven't given my redefined salad a name, but "Sal's Super Salad" might work.  Or "Sausage Boy's No Sausage Salad?"  "Simply Salad?"  "Simply Super Salad?"  "Just Salad?"  I kind of like that one.

 

So what's in one of these things and why exactly do I think they're so amazing?

 

Sal's "Just Salad"

• Greens, obivously.  This can be as basic as some romaine lettuce - but I've discovered I really like red and green leaf lettuce as well.  From our local CSA (Iona Farm) we've gotten some really nice field greens, which are amazing.  AND, I also discovered curly endive - a little bitter, but it holds up really well and goes with the sweetness of the other ingredients and the dressing (below).

• Watercress - another happy discovery!  If you can believe it, it's as nutrient-dense as kale (see watercress.com if you're skeptical).  It's also not techincally a leafy green, it's a crucifer (like brocolli and cauliflower) so it's packed with even more health power!  Really, visit watercress.com, it's pretty amazing,

• Alfalfa sprouts - apparently just incredible for you, though I have yet to do the research (you can be sure that's coming, though!).

• Carrots, cut half and thinly sliced

• Celery, thinly sliced

• Red Onion, thinly sliced (maybe not so great for the breath, but excellent for heart health)

• Scallions (like the onion, a nutritional powerhouse)

• Parsely, fresh chopped (see my previous post on this for its praises)

• Any other herbs I have on hand (basil when we had it from our CSA, or thyme, which has been yet another tasty discovery)

• Kiwi fruit, chopped (they've been on sale lately - when they get to be too expensive, I switch over to Oranges).

• Raw unsalted sunflower seeds and/or raw unsalted pumpkin seeds.  Supposedly eating greens and seeds together enhances your body's ability to utilize their nutrients

• Cheesy Salad Booster (this stuff is amazing!) and/or Nutritional Yeast - a lot of vegans swear by it, I have yet to utilize it to its full potential - I think it's often used in place of cheese in things).  There have also been plenty of salads I've made without these two ingredients, they do not suffer at all from their absence.

• Goji berries (a post about these is forthcoming - wowza!)

• Of course there's probably a dozen other things you could toss in here.  I've put in Great Northern Beans, banana peppers, radishes and tomatoes when our CSA had them, and thinly sliced cabbage when we had it in the fridge.

It's obviously not your typical salad.  Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who I've now referenced at least a dozen times here, recommends at least one large salad daily.   I'm proud to say that's pretty much what I do.  And sometimes I put everything listed above in it!  There have been days when I've eaten two.  Since it does take a bit of chopping, I usually make this salad at night, leaving it undressed, to bring to work for lunch the next day.

 



Naked Salad?  No Way.

 

So there you are with this bowl of nature's goodness and health, bright and colorful, just waiting to nourish you, body and soul.  But, what would this amazing salad be without an equally amazing dressing?  I mean really, I'm not actually a rabbit.  I've been making this dressing for 9 months now and have yet to be bored (though I finally did experiment with some vegan ranch recently).

Orange-Cashew Dressing - this stuff is awesome!

• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup white vinegar or rice vinegar

1. Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. You can play with the consistency (thinner or thicker) by adding more or less of the dry or wet ingredients.
3. Take a spoon and taste it - you'll want to just eat it right out of the blender it's so good!
4. This recipe makes enough for 2 or three large salads.  I usually make at least this much (or more) and refrigerate for at least a week - it keeps very well.

One great thing about this dressing is that it doesn't destroy the greens if you have leftovers.  I think one of the first times I made it I overdid it, made too much and put the leftovers in the fridge.  If you did that to a salad with an oil-based dressing, it would be practically worthless in a few hours, soggy, limp and lifeless.  I took these leftovers out of the fridge the next morning and had the rest of the salad for breakfast.  It had held up perfectly with no wilting and tasted as good as it had the night before.

So there you have it.  There's really no debate, if you want better health, whole raw foods like the fruits, vegetables and seeds in this salad are a no-brainer.  Go ahead, make one for yourself and tell me you don't like.  Really, I'm practically daring you!

Eat well and be well!