This article originally appeared in the June 2008 issue of Kansas City Wellness Magazine.
Lately I’ve been inundated with phone calls and information from people selling the latest health elixir. Most are exotic fruits unknown to the Western world until recently. They offer all sorts of testimonials, from eliminating fatigue to curing cancer to even making your child like his vegetables! They are rich in antioxidants that detoxify, repair and heal our cells.
These elixirs are a sort of health colonialism. It takes effort to eat healthy life sustaining food in this country. It’s not readily available. Just look at the school lunch program. So instead of fixing the problem, we economically invade other countries, seeking their wealth. Perhaps the next wars won’t be over oil, but over antioxidants!
So instead of reaching for the latest potion, increase the antioxidant potential of your diet in other ways. It’s so easy right now to buy local, organically grown food picked the day before it is sold. Most food travels 1200 miles to reach your local grocer and loses nutrients with every mile. It takes a head of local lettuce two weeks to look and taste like grocery store lettuce. Eat more fresh vegetables. Drink a glass of fresh vegetable juice every day. Plant a vegetable garden—it’s not too late! Plan to grow kale, lettuce and other cold weather greens in a cold frame this winter. Do your part to achieve antioxidant independence!
Have you seed President Clinton lately? He looks, well, rather crusty. He’s had heart problems and I suspect his cardiologists have him on a very low fat diet and cholesterol lowering drugs. Interestingly, heart disease rates continue to increase in the U.S. despite the popularity of low fat diets and cholesterol lowering drugs. One reason for this is the disease of dryness.
President Clinton has disease of dryness. Dry cracked skin and nails, dry hard stools, scanty perspiration, dry dull eyes, neuro-muscular problems like Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, and heart problems like high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries are signs of imbalance with disease of dryness.
Quality fat is the elixir of health for people with disease of dryness. President Clinton’s heart problems would improve and his youthful glow would return if he enjoyed more healthy fats such as ghee, coconut, olive, flax and grape seed oil as part of a higher protein, lower carbohydrate diet. Sautéing in oil is preferred over deep fat frying, where high temperatures decrease the nutritional value of the oil. President Clinton, always a bit chubby, will lose weight by increasing the fat in his diet. Fermented foods increase the digestion and absorption of fat in the body. The President can enjoy naturally made yoghurt and buttermilk, pickles, sauerkraut, vinegar, sour-tasting fruits and other fermented foods. People with dryness generally lack minerals. Sea vegetables are an excellent source of minerals. Warm oil massage can also bring balance to people with disease of dryness. This advice goes against the conventional cardiology wisdom but it works wonders if you have disease of dryness.
Ohsawa brand Sea Vegetable Salad is a medley of five colorful sea vegetables. Mild in flavor, it’s an easy way to introduce sea vegetables, and their wealth of life giving minerals and antioxidants, to your diet. Sea Vegetable Salad is sold dried, as are most sea vegetables. Properly stored they keep indefinitely. Ask for Ohsawa brand Sea Vegetable Salad at your local health food store or order at www.goldminenaturalfoods.com or 1-800-475-FOOD (3663).
Soak a handful of Sea Vegetable Salad in water for 10 minutes, drain and serve topped with a simple vinaigrette or this Toasted Sesame Dressing. Remember, three parts oil to one part vinegar makes a simple vinaigrette.
Toasted Sesame Dressing
1 ½ TBSP toasted sesame oil
3 TBSP grape seed oil
3 TBSP umeboshi plum vinegar
2 TBSP brown rice or apple cider vinegar
½ teaspoon mellow white miso.
Combine the above ingredients is a jar or bowl. Shake or stir well to blend. About 6 servings.
Lose weight, rid yourself of health problems and end your dietary confusion by living in balance according to your disease type. Bethany Klug, D.O. is now offering disease type consultations in person or by phone. Make an appointment by calling 913-642-1900. Learn more about disease type and restoring health with holistic medicine at www.bethanyklug.com and simple healthy cooking at www.thedoctorcooks.com.
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