The Doctor Cooks

Ask the Right Question About Protein (summertime red beans and rice)

This article originally appeared in the Kansas City Wellness Magazine.

While preparing this article, I realized that my last article stated as fact something that is truly unclear at this time.  We do really don’t know how much protein a human being needs.  Different sources quote different amounts, which have been steadily lowered since Recommended Daily Allowances were established early last century.   A common value these days is 0.23 grams per pound (0.5 grams per kilogram) of body weight for most people and 0.34 grams per pound (0.75 grams per kilogram) of body weight for athletes.  Other sources say more, others less, and many studies are inconclusive.  I hope you learned from my last article that plant foods are valuable protein sources with far more health benefits than animal protein sources.  Also, it’s easy to get too much protein by eating usual amounts of animal foods and miss the protection plant foods offer.

I think the focus on protein is misplaced.  We are asking the wrong question.  Why?  Our body doesn’t use protein to make protein.  It uses amino acids to make protein.  Our body makes amino acids from carbohydrates and other amino acids, except for eight to ten so called “essential” amino acids that we must get from food.  It was once thought that we needed to eat animal foods because they contain all of the essential amino acids in adequate quantity.  We now understand that our essential amino acid needs are well met by eating a variety of plant foods.  This has been the position of the American Dietetics Association since at least 1988.   In one study where the participants ate only corn, all the amino acid needs were met except one, and 91% of its requirement was met.  In another study where the participants ate only rice, amino acid needs not only were met but were 1.5 – 4.5 times the requirement. 

So complicated food combining regimens described by Frances Moore Lappe in her seminal book Diet for a Small Planet are not necessary.  She later stated "In combating the myth that meat is the only way to get high quality protein, I reinforced another myth. I gave the impression that in order to get enough protein without meat, considerable care was needed in choosing foods. Actually it is much easier than I thought."

Even “high quality” protein becomes a myth when we realize that what we really need are amino acids.  “High quality” was once used to describe a food that provided all of the essential amino acids in adequate quantity.  “Low quality” described a food that did not.  These terms are outdated.

So don’t worry about protein.  Instead eat a variety of whole, unprocessed foods, mostly from plants and let your body do the rest.  Make organically grown foods from local sources your first choice. 

Here’s a recipe to add to your repertoire on non-meat main dishes. It’s my take on a well known health food salad and a family favorite come summer.  This recipe calls for aduki or adzuki beans.  You’ll find these small red beans at your local health food store.  They originate in Japan where they valued for their medicinal properties.   Known as a natural diuretic, they are beneficial to those with high blood pressure.  They also fortify the kidneys and bladder, helping those with frequent infections or other problems in these areas.  Rich in fiber, they help lower cholesterol and promote bowel regularity.  Aduki beans do not require soaking.  However, if beans give you gas, soak them first.  Always throw out the soaking water and cook beans with fresh water.

Summertime Red Beans and Rice

Marinade

2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 TBSP shoyu or tamari (natural soy sauce, please don’t ruin it with La Choy or other conventional brands!)
3 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
1 – 3 cloves garlic, minced

Beans and Rice

1 cup cooked or canned aduki beans, drained or a heaping 1/3 cup dried aduki beans
2 cups cooked brown rice
½ cup raw cashews, chopped into large pieces
3 whole scallions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
¼ cup cilantro, chopped

1. If using dried aduki beans, rinse them first, and add them to 4 cups water.  Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 - 1 ½ hours.  You may also pressure cook unsoaked beans for 14 – 20 minutes, or soaked beans for 5 – 9 minutes.  Then place the pressure cooker in the sink with the release valve pointed away from you.  Run cold water over the pressure cooker until the pressure comes down, then open.  If the beans are not done, return to pressure for 1 – 2 minutes more.  Drain the beans.
2. Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl or screw top jar.  Stir or shake.  Set aside for 30 minutes.
3. Combine the ingredients for the beans and rice.  Whisk or shake the marinade until well blended and pour over the bean and rice mixture.  Toss and allow to stand for at least 30 minutes.  Delicious served cold or at room temperature.  Serves 4 to 6.

Gut Health

This article originally appeared in the Kansas City Wellness Magazine.

A patient told me the other day that she just couldn’t eat the things she used to and stay healthy, but that was okay.  It was worth it to feel good.  I offered another perspective.  The way she used to eat was simply abuse.  I commended her for no longer mistreating herself and her body commends her with good health.

I tell every patient that diet is the foundation of health.  One reason is that 70% of our immune system is in our gastrointestinal tract, or gut.  From the time we are born, our immune system is “trained” to distinguish friend from foe by the food we eat, healthy bacteria we call normal flora, as well as parasites, viruses and bacteria we think of as pathogenic. 

The normal flora is an amazing part of our immune system.  Dr. Jeffrey Bland, a nutritional biochemist, calls the flora a bioreactor, capable of converting molecules in food to substances that are hard to get any other way.  For instance, soy is converted by the flora into equol.  Equol inactivates dihydrotestosterone, a hormone which stimulates prostate growth and can lead to prostate cancer.   However, one study showed that only 30 – 50% of the participants had the intestinal bacteria to make equol.  Hops, a grain used to make beer, are converted by the flora to make the strongest plant estrogen known, 8-PN.  In one study, only one-third of participants were able to make 8-PN.  8-PN shows promise in preventing estrogen stimulated cancers.  These people aren’t genetically gifted.  They just have healthy gut flora. 

The gut flora is established during the first two years of life.  Patrick Hanaway, MD, a researcher in the area of digestion, immunology and wellness, says that vaccines, antiseptic birth conditions, psychological stress, antibiotics, and even antimicrobial herbs challenge the formation and maintenance of healthy flora.  In the US, lack of breast feeding and introduction of solid food sooner than our gut is able to tolerate from an evolutionary perspective creates imbalances that weaken the immunity of most children. 

The introduction of commonly allergenic foods like wheat, soy and cow’s milk products are particularly problematic.  Processed foods, particularly sugary and salty foods are as well.  He finds naturally fermented foods critical tools for restoring balance.

Many of us think of yoghurt as a good way to restore gut flora.  However it is thought to feed the existing bacteria, not introduce new ones.  Plus most yoghurt today contains little healthy bacteria due to commercial processing methods.

Better options are kombucha and kefir.  Kombucha is a fermented drink made from a Japanese mushroom.  Kefir is traditionally made from goat milk.  When it is made from fruit it is called water-kefir.  Both kombucha and kefir are commercially available in health food stores or can be made at home.  Kombucha mushrooms and kefir starter kits are available on the web.

Power of Food

This article originally appeared in the Kansas City Wellness Magazine.

Here’s a story about how Leann learned about the power of food.  Leann came to me so fatigued she spent most of the day in bed.  A battle over a family business had sapped her of her health.  I counseled her on the SOUL approach to eating—seasonal, organic, unprocessed and local, advised her to stop all dairy products and wheat, meditate and practice hatha yoga a little every day and prescribed her some bioidentical hormones. 

One year later, Leann was well enough to take a job in France.  She spent a year working in the countryside, where food is still grown on small farms with little use of chemicals.  Leann shopped for food daily, just like the locals.  She ate mostly fresh fruits and vegetables.  When she ate meat it was mostly duck, the traditional food of the area and beef from Argentina on rare occasion.  Argentinean beef is grass fed, instead of grain fed as is U.S. norm.  The meat of grass fed animals is leaner and healthier overall.

Within a few months, Leann’s shoulder pain disappeared completely.  She lost weight without trying.  It wasn’t long before she started to feel overdosed on her bioidentical hormones and began lowering the amounts she took.   Then due to a mistake on her visa renewal application, she suddenly had to return to the U.S.  Before she left France, she was taking only small amounts of the hormones I had originally prescribed to her.

Within 12 hours of her arrival in the U.S., her shoulder pain returned.  One and ½ months later she began to feel depressed.  That’s when she showed up in my office.  She denied feeling stressed, since she was being paid while her visa application was being straightened out and her life was otherwise going well.

“It’s the food,” I surmised, with anger and amazement.  “There is something wrong with our food compared to the food in France!”

“You think so?” asked Leann.

“You bet!”  I exclaimed.  “You need to take additional hormones to offset the load of hormones and hormone-like chemicals in our food and in our environment.  Your body can’t do it on its own.  Our food is too processed overall.”

Leann is already feeling better by increasing her hormone doses.  And she is now committed to eating 100% organic plant foods and pasture-fed, chemical-free animals. 

This story is an amazing illustration of the power of whole clean food to heal us.  But it also makes me angry because whole clean food is a human right we don’t get in this country.  As another patient asked me the other day, “Why is it so hard to eat healthy in this country?   Total junk food is dirt cheap and everywhere!”

Exercise your human right to whole clean food.  March is CSA sign-up time.  CSA stands for community supported agriculture.  The members subscribe for a fee and the farmer in turn delivers just picked fresh produce every week.  Learn more about CSA at www.thedoctorcooks.com.  The Farmers Community Market at Brookside opens mid-April and the KC Organics and Natural Market at Minor Park opens in early May.  Both markets specialize in organic produce.  You’ll feel better for it!

Stressed? What did you eat? (Raw Nut Trail Mix, Stress Buster Smoothie)

This article originally appeared in the Kansas City Wellness Magazine. 

Holidays are here!  Will it be a joyful time of gratitude and affirmed relationships or one of anxiety, overwhelm and distress?  The wrong food can be a stressor in itself making or breaking your ability to handle stress with ease and grace.  The solution, then, is to avoid high stress foods, replacing them with foods that make you more resilient no matter what life hands you.

In a hurry?  Keep healthy options around such as fresh or dried fruit, raw nuts.  The worst thing you can do is to reach for fast foods and packaged snacks.  Most are full of salt, poor quality fats and refined flour and sugar that actually put your body in a state of alarm.  Here’s an easy raw nut trail mix.  Why raw?  Because roasting the nuts denatures the fat and creates advanced glycation end products (AGEs), fierce free radicals that damage your cells.

Raw Nut Trail Mix

¼ cup each of walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, almonds or other nuts or seeds
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup other dried fruit such as cherries or blueberries
½ tsp salt

Place in bag and shake to mix.  Put in sandwich bags for grab-and-go snacks.  Serves 6.

Watch caffeine and alcohol.  Both cause blood sugar to rise, and then suddenly fall.  Add sugar—yes, alcohol mixers contain sugar, too—and the effect is magnified.  These wild swings in blood sugar keep you in a cycle of adrenaline release that makes you jittery and causes you to crave caffeine, alcohol, fat, salt and sugar.  It also disrupts your sleep, the time your body repairs and restores itself.   Enjoy caffeine and alcohol with a balanced meal and limit your intake to one cup or glass daily.

Eat stress reducing foods.  Whole grains increase the calming brain hormone serotonin, keep blood sugar even and contain adrenal nourishing B vitamins.  Dark green leafy vegetables are high in magnesium—remember it magnesium that makes chlorophyll green.  Magnesium is a natural relaxant that promotes sleep.  It is also necessary to produce the anxiety reducing brain chemical GABA.  Good quality fats such as those from salmon, avocado and raw almond butter are fuel for the adrenal glands and help repair damage caused by stress.  The blood sugar highs that occur under stress reduce your vitamin C level setting you up for colds and flu.  A smoothie with frozen berries and orange juice is a great vitamin C rich snack.  A smoothie is simply frozen fruit and juice mixed in a blender.  Here’s a recipe, but you’ll soon get the knack and start improvising. Frozen wheatgrass shots are rich is vital antioxidants and are found near the frozen fruit at your health food store.  Always stir in flax oil at the end.  Blending it disrupts the omega-3 fatty acids.

Stress Buster Smoothie

½ cup frozen blueberries
½ cup frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana
1 frozen wheat grass shot (optional)
1 TBSP raw almond butter
1 – 1 ½ cups orange juice
1 TBSP flax oil

Add the first 5 ingredients to a blender.  Add ½ cup of the orange juice and blend.  Add more orange juice until desired consistency is reached.  Pour the flax oil in your glass then add the smoothie.  Stir until the flax oil is well mixed and enjoy.  Serves 2.

Eat Slowly and Mindfully.  Mindfulness is a natural stress reducer.  Sit down and be aware of each bite. Chew slowly with awareness of how the food tastes and how you feel about it.  Put your fork down between bites if you need to.  You will eat less and can transform your meals into a moment of peace and joy.  That’s what the holidays are all about, right?

Finding Balance (pinto beans)

This article originally appeared in the August 2008 issue of Kansas City Wellness Magazine.  

Some people are naturally in-touch with themselves.  They “read” their body signals of imbalance and can quickly determine what they need to do move to a better state.  They often have a “healing team” and know just which team member to call on.  Much of the time, they can take care of themselves.  They are excellent patients.

Being in-touch with ourselves is a skill we all need to learn.  Too many of us have been conditioned to ignore these messages that arise within us.  Meditation, loving friends, yoga, tai chi and qi gong can help us tune-in to ourselves.  Your disease type, or physical blueprint, can also be used as a tool to hone your awareness.  Conduct an experiment.  See how you feel when you live in ways that balance your physical blueprint and when you don’t.  Many an “aha!” moment may arise.

Disease type comes from an approach to holistic living and self-awareness called Your Life Blueprint™. It sees life as a web composted of eight fields of living.  They are spiritual, desires, purpose in life/emotions, career, creative play, relationships, vital body and physical.  I’ve been offering consultations in the physical field of living since April of this year.  When you understand and accept the gifts and challenges in each of these eight fields of living, life becomes more balanced, easeful and whole.  With this comes the health we all seek.  I will be offering consultations in other fields of living soon.

The disease type of oiliness is the opposite of dryness, discussed in my June column.  It is characterized by a slow metabolism and intolerance of oils, especially poor quality oils.  When out of balance, they are prone to diabetes.  Poor detoxification through the kidney and bladder make them prone urinary tract problems and skin rashes.  Cancers, tumors and infections of the reproductive system are common.  They are often double-jointed.  They can have thyroid issues and a tendency toward oily stools that float, oily skin and oily hair.

People with the disease type of oiliness balance themselves by avoiding oily foods.  They use small amounts of only the best quality oils such as avocado, nuts and seeds, olive oil, grape seed oil, coconut oil and ghee.  Fried food and hydrogenated oil is poison!  When they eat meat, they eat white meat or flaky non-oily fish such as cod.  They are often natural vegetarians.  Food with the astringent taste is drying and beneficial.  Examples of drying foods include beans and legumes, leafy greens, green tea, asparagus and berries.  Dry sauna, mud baths and vacations to the desert or dry climates can be helpful.

Enjoy this recipe for pinto beans, a drying food.  It goes quick when the beans are cooked in a pressure cooker, an essential tool for anyone wanting to eat a healthy whole foods diet.  Serve them with baked corn tortillas and lettuce greens for more drying effect and avocado for healthy oil.  This recipe comes from the Shoshoni Cookbook by Saks and Stone.

Pinto Beans

2 cups dried pinto beans or 4 cups canned beans with their liquid
8 cups water
2 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
2 carrots thinly sliced
1 small jalapeno pepper or chipotle pepper
2 teaspoons grape seed oil
1 ½ teaspoons salt or to taste
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons basil
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped.

Soak the beans overnight in enough water to cover.  Drain and rinse beans.  Place in the pressure cooker or heavy bottomed soup pot with the 8 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and pressure cook on high for 6 minutes or cook on the stove top for 1 ½ - 2 hours.  Use the quick release method to release the pressure.  Drain the beans reserving 4 cups of cooking liquid.

Sauté onions, garlic, carrots and pepper in oil.  Add the beans, salt, cumin and basil, and enough liquid for a gravy-like consistency.  Simmer for 30 minutes.

Before serving, adjust the seasonings and stir in the cilantro.  Mash or blend in a food processor if desired.

Instead of Grains (jicama sushi)

This article originally appeared in the August 2007 issue of the Kansas City Wellness Magazine, www.kcwellnessmagazine.com.

In my July column, I suggested that many people feel better without grains in their diet, especially when they avoid the gluten containing grains, wheat, rye and barley. Many people do not tolerate gluten, a protein in these grains that leads to a wide variety of symptoms or even disease.

So what do you do instead? First, check out websites for people with celiac disease. These folks must eat a gluten-free diet to stay well and are experts. Second, try “grains” that are really seeds, such as quinoa and buckwheat. Quinoa is botanically related to spinach and Swiss chard. Buckwheat is related to rhubarb and sorrel. Third, consider spelt, a distant relative of wheat. Spelt is an ancient predecessor of wheat with greater nutritional value than current wheat hybrids. It tends not to cause symptoms associated with grain intolerance.

Lastly, get creative! I’ve been slicing raw zucchini into long spaghetti-like strips using a new tool in my kitchen, a mandoline. One website describes a mandoline as a manual food processor, but more refined. I agree. I never took to using my food processor for anything but grinding and pureeing. I got better results with a chef knife, until now. A mandoline makes quick work of slicing and dicing and does so beautifully. I enjoy this raw zucchini “spaghetti” as I would any pasta.

Jicama easily replaces rice in sushi, a favorite right now because I can make it without turning on the stove. Jicama is a root, native to Central America. It is also known as taro potato. The flesh looks like a raw potato or pear. Jicama is high in inulin, a fructo-oligosaccharide or FOS. FOS is food for the normal bacteria in our gastrointestinal system and supports bowel health. Always peel the brown skin off the jicama. What remains is the edible part. We put just about any vegetable on hand into sushi at our house. The vegetables in the recipe below are just a starting point. Just slice them into long strips or match sticks. With the popularity of sushi, bamboo mats, nori sheets, pickled ginger slices, wasabi powder and gomasio are available at any grocery store. They can also be found in the macrobiotic section of your health food store. This recipe was inspired by a more complicated sushi recipe from Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis.

Jicama Sushi

6 cups jicama, chopped into 1-inch dice (about one 6 inch diameter jicama)
½ cup pine nuts
¼ cup brown rice vinegar
2 TBSP agave nectar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 medium carrot sliced lengthwise into thin strips
1 medium cucumber sliced lengthwise into thin strips
1 avocado sliced lengthwise into thin strips
1 bunch sunflower sprouts or other long-stemmed spouts
6 to 8 nori sheets
1 ½ teaspoons wasabi powder
Pickled ginger slices
Gomasio
Bamboo mat for rolling sushi

Place the diced jicama and pine nuts and chop it into rice size pieces using a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Place the mixture between two tea towels, roll up the towels and squeeze out the water. Do this over a sink or a bowl since there will be lots of water. In a large bowl combine the jicama mixture, rice, agave nectar and sea salt and mix well.

Place a sheet of nori on the bamboo mat with the rough side up. If you look closely at the mat one side is flat and the other is bumpy. Keep the bumpy side up. Place about ½ cup of the mixture on the bottom 1/3 of the sheet and spread it evenly. Place a slice of carrot, cucumber, a few avocado strips and some sunflower sprouts across the mixture. It’s artful to extend the leafy ends of the sprouts past the end of the nori sheet.

Fold the bottom of the bamboo mat up and over the filling, continue to roll, squeezing slightly to make a tight roll. Gently unroll the mat. Using a sharp non-serrated knife, slice the roll crosswise into six pieces. Repeat for each nori sheet.

Add water to the wasabi powder a few drops at a time until a mustard-like consistency is reached. Arrange the sushi on a plate. Sprinkle the sushi with gomasio. Garnish with wasabi powder and pickled ginger slices.

Nourishment from the Sea (applewood smoked dulse sandwich)

This article originally appeared in the July 2008 issue of Kansas City Wellness Magazine.

 

Let’s talk little more about sea vegetables.  I introduced the idea last month with an easily prepared sea vegetable salad.  I always seek to get nutrients from my diet rather than supplements.  That’s the way we’ve got them since the beginning of human time and likely the best way to assimilate them.  Years ago, I came across the idea of eating seaweed.  Eeeeeeeeeeeeew!  But I’ve always had a spirit of fairness that prevents me from dismissing something so easily.  Now, sea vegetables are a regular part of my diet.

 

Any culture located by the sea has a long tradition of consuming sea vegetables, including Native Americans.  The Kashaya of what is now Northern California describe mei bil, or nori, as blood of the Earthsea given by the Great Spirit to the people.  Minerals give our blood its characteristic taste.

 

Sea vegetables are rich in minerals, vitamin K, folic acid and other B-vitamins as well as lignans, cancer inhibiting plant nutrients.  They are especially rich in iodine, essential for thyroid function.  Iodine deficiency is associated with fibrocystic breasts and possibly breast cancer.  Japanese women have the lowest rates of breast cancer in the world and the highest amount of iodine in their diets.  Preliminary research shows adequate iodine may be linked to their lower breast cancer rates.  Interestingly, iodine levels are at an all time low among the US population.

 

The lignans in sea vegetables prevent cancer cells from metastasizing via the blood.  They inhibit estrogen synthesis as effectively as some estrogen blocking drugs.  Other lignans act as weak estrogens, easing menopausal symptoms such as poor sleep and hot flashes.  The mineral magnesium in sea vegetables also promotes relaxation and sleep.

 

Kombu adds minerals, tenderness and flavor to any soup, stew or dish prepared with a lot of liquid.  I add a 4-inch stick to rice or beans as I bring them to a boil.  Kombu is a source of natural glutamates.  MSG was modeled after kombu.

 

I often enjoy seaweed bacon and eggs.  Prepare your eggs in your favorite way.  Instead of frying bacon, try a few pieces of Maine Coast Sea Vegetables applewood smoked dulse.  I prefer it raw, but others enjoy it fried until crisp.  I put this dulse on sandwiches regularly anytime bacon might be used, or not.

 

This is my version of a sandwich sold long ago at the health food store Clearly Nature’s Own.  For picnics, I just pack up the ingredients and make it wherever I’m going.  So easy!

 

2 slices whole grain bread
Mayonnaise
Brown mustard
½ avocado
A few rings of sliced red onion
1 TBSP raw sunflower seeds
1/3 cup of your favorite sprouts
3-4” strips of applewood smoked dulse

 

Spread the mayonnaise and mustard on the bread to your liking.  Spread the avocado on one slice of the bread.  Sprinkle the avocado with sunflower seeds.  Top with red onion to taste, sprouts and applewood smoked dulse.  Top with the remaining slice of bread and enjoy.

 

Big News!  The Merriam ORGANIC Market has opened Tuesdays 4-8 pm, now through September (excluding July 1) at 5740 Merriam Drive just NW of I-35 and Johnson Drive. www.MerriamOrganicMarket.ORG.  Be there!

 

Lose weight, rid yourself of health problems and end your dietary confusion by living 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.

 

What Your Refrigerator Says about Your Health

This article originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of Kansas City Wellness Magazine.

If I could, I would look inside every patient’s refrigerator and pantry.  It would speak volumes about their present and future health.  The more packages, bottles and jars and the more brightly colored and busy their labels, the more ominous the prediction.  I whole heartedly agree with Michael Pollan, author of the best-selling books, the Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, “clear your home of any food your great-grandmother would not recognize.” 

But there are a few packages in my fridge and pantry.  I’d like to share with you a few healthful and delicious foods that your great-grandmother would have enjoyed.

This kitchen do-it-yourselfer just can’t bring herself to juice wheat grass--yet.  Last year I discovered Evergreen Wheatgrass Juice.  It is 100% organic, outdoor grown, expeller pressed then immediately frozen.  It comes in an ice cube tray-like plastic package.  The plastic tray is easily separated into individual cubes with scissors.  Simple remove the plastic seal and pop out a cube.  The cubes can be soaked in warm water to melt while still in their packages.  I love these in smoothies and in my morning glass of fresh veggie juice.  Wheat grass is good for every disease type, but especially for the slow metabolism types.

I discovered Lydia’s Organics last fall at D’Lish, a fantastic vegan/raw restaurant in Sedona, AZ.  Three of their grainless, gluten, sugar and oil-free products grace my pantry.

Grainless Apple Cereal is a delicious mix of organic dehydrated apples, sprouted sunflower seeds, sprouted almonds, raisins, soaked walnuts, figs, sprouted flax and cinnamon.  ½ cup with warm rice milk keeps me humming all morning without the energy drain I often feel from wheat.

I recommend people eat their nuts and seeds raw instead of roasted to avoid denaturing the omega-3 fatty acids and the resulting advanced glycation end products.  Known as AGE’s, these fierce oxidizing agents indeed age you.  The biggest complaint I get from patients about raw nuts is that they miss the crunch.  Well you can have health and the crunch, too with Lydia’s Organic Savory Trail Mix.  She dehydrates sprouted sunflower seeds, sprouted pumpkin seeds, sprouted almonds, and seasons it with wheat-free tamari, dulse, cayenne and Himalayan crystal salt.  A palm-full of Savory Trail Mix is a regular afternoon snack for me.

You would never find crackers in my pantry until now.  Lydia’s Organics makes these amazing crackers from dehydrated vegetables, sprouted seeds, soaked nuts and seasonings.  Two is all I need with a bowl of soup or topped with pumpkin seed butter for a quick snack.

Because Lydia’s products are dehydrated they are not the best for disease of lightness and dryness.  They are a more healthful alternative to plain nuts and seeds for disease of oiliness.  I’ll continue my series on the disease types next month.

Whole Foods Market in Overland Park sells Evergreen Wheatgrass Juice.  I buy Lydia’s Organics products at www.naturalzing.com.  This website features a full line of dehydrated nuts and seeds for you crunch-seekers! 

Lose weight, rid yourself of health problems and end your dietary confusion by living 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.

The Elixir of Health (toasted sesame dressing)

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.

The Right Diet and Lifestyle for You!

We’ve all seen it.  A friend tries a new diet.  She loses all sorts of weight, finds renewed energy and zest for life.  At her urging you try it and nothing, or worse yet, you gain weight and feel more tired than ever.  What gives?

I recently found a very good answer to this question after many years of searching.  It’s called your disease type.  Traditional healing systems see disease as an expression of imbalance.  Thus, by eating and caring for yourself in a way that keeps you in balance, you stay healthy. 

There are eight disease types, or ways in which your body can go out of balance.  Everyone has one of them.  Simply put, there are eight ways of eating and taking care of you.  Only one of them is right for you.   This explains why the diet that works for your friend doesn’t work for you.  She just happened to find a diet that keeps her disease type in balance.