The Doctor Cooks

Selecting a Water Purification System

A version of this article originally appeared in my February 2007 column in the Kansas City Wellness Magazine, www.kcwellnessmagazine.com.

Purifying your drinking water can be the most significant step you can make towards improving your health.  Good cooks know it makes a difference in way food tastes.  Municipal water supplies remove pathogenic bacteria and virus from the water and keep other pollutants at levels determined to be acceptable by the U.S. government.   It still contains elements that can be detrimental to your health. 

Chlorine is one of them.  It is used to remove the bacteria and viruses.  Chlorine itself is a poison. It reacts with organic matter in the water, such as dirt and leaves to produce tri-halomethanes, a type of VOC.  These chemicals cause cancer in minute amounts. 

Another is fluoride.  Wait, did I say fluoride?  You bet! 

Another Reason To Eat Your Vegetables...

This cartoon has a point.  And besides, that saturated fat in animal food clogs all the arteries, not just the ones in the heart...

Dreaded Weed Great for Spring Tune-up (dandelion greens with mustardy vinaigrette)

Last week I shared that spring is the time to lighten your load by eating more vegetables.  It will help you get back on track if you turned to white sugar, white flour and junk food to beat the winter doldrums.  You may be surprised to know that a common weed, dandelion, gives you an awesome spring tune-up. 

Dandelion tastes bitter, but the benefits make it worth getting used to.  Europeans grow dandelion because it stimulates and tones the entire digestive tract.  A phytonutrient taraxacin promotes the flow of bile, reduces inflammation of bile ducts and helps dissolve gall stones.  Digestion of fats improves with better bile flow.  Dandelion is great for people with hepatitis or high cholesterol.  Dandelion is also known to improve digestion by increasing the production of stomach acid and digestive enzymes.

The Way of No Flesh or Hitler was a Vegetarian...

This article came my way by a gray bearded baby boomer English major who entertained us with his story of passing college chemistry by the skin of his teeth.  The long line at LaGuardia passed quickly thanks to him.  We told him about how we ate our way through New York City that weekend, and shared with him an extra raw brownie from Pure Juice and Take Away, the amazing raw food restaurant you'll hear about in my April Kansas City Wellness Magazine column.  From our conversation he deduced that ate vegetarian (mostly) and passed this article our way.   So before you get too proud of how well you eat, take a look at The Way of No Flesh.

Lighten-up! It's Spring! (boiled artichokes)

With the magnolia trees blooming on my block and temperatures in the 70’s, my body is telling me “lighten-up!  It’s spring-time!”  I’m hearing people talking about cleansing, juicing and detox diets.  Spring is associated with the liver in both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine.  Allergies, PMS, mood swings, fatigue, headache, cravings, upper abdominal pain, bloating and constipation are a few signs of an over-burdened liver.  Yet, no laboratory test can diagnose this.  It’s easy though to give your liver a spring cleaning, making you feel lighter and brighter.

One way is to include some liver supportive vegetables in your diet, such as artichokes. Artichokes are known to promote liver detoxification, improve bowel function and balance cholesterol levels.

Organics: Are They Worth It?

Here's one of the more thoughtful articles comparing organics to conventional that I've found.  Author Peter Jaret asks all the right questions.  Learn more>> 

Eating Green

This article originally appeared in my January 2007 column in the Kansas City Wellness Magazine, www.kcwellnessmagazine.com.

Eating green means more than eating your vegetables.  Your food choices can go a long way to shaping a sustainable, health promoting and humane food system.  Here’s how:

Go Organic

It’s clear.  Organic is better for all concerned, you, farmers, farm workers and the environment.  Concerned about the cost of going 100 % organic?  Lately the price spread between organic and conventional has narrowed.  If you still need help deciding where to spend your organic dollars, check out the Environmental Working Group Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce at www.foodnews.org.

Vegetables Are Good for the Brain

A new study shows that eating vegetables protects brain function in aging adults.   Your brain is the biggest lump of fat in your body.  Omega-3 fatty acids contained in vegetables are essential for proper brain development and function.  Read more>>>

More Greens!

My friend Joan Vibert of Windwalker Farm sent this recipe in her Christmas card back in 2004.  You may know Joan from the Farmer’s Community Market at Brookside.  She sells all those dips, pies, tasty honey and my husband’s favorite Windwalker granola.  We like her granola because it isn’t sweet.  Even health food store granolas are way too sweet for our liking.

She got this recipe from Eating Well Magazine.  Joan says it’s absolutely beautiful with rainbow chard.  Any soft, quick-cooking greens, such as spinach, Chinese cabbage, or mixed greens may be used, but the cooking times will vary.