Bill Clinton Plant Based Eating

Today my friend Leslie posted an interview with Bill Clinton on her FB page so I'm just totally into thinking about how eating mostly plants is the best way to prevent diabetes.

I ran into this article while I was reading Bill Clinton's article.  Check it out: Food Addictions Could Explain Why 70% of Americans are Fat.  There is no way this huge number of overweight people (70% of the population) could be each individual overeaters fault.  It's the food environment. 

The food available to us today is causing obesity.  Our great grandmas cooked healthy food because that's what was available.  Vending machines were not available and neither were frozen dinners.  It's not that the great grandma knew something we don't about good nutrition.  Healthy foods were all that were available.  They didn't have frozen dinners and peanut butter did not have sugar in it.  Currently the food available to us is not healthy.  If great grandma cooked for us today she's make tatertots.  I don't think the legislators in bygone times realized when they voted that the government subsidies on CORN and soy could hurt us so much.  I think they are causing diabetes.  80 million people in the US have pre-diabetes or diabetes and that's directly related to being overweight which is related to high fructose corn syrup consumption, salt, fatty fast foods, etc.  The food industry uses subsidized farm products to make "secret hyper-palatable" food.  These are diabolically formulated foods that you can't resist.  Hyper-palatable means these foods are addictive. When are we going to revamp and rethink government subsidies?  Subsidize the healthy stuff -- like farms that grow fruits and veggies.  I vote for that.

When Douglass and I eat at home we eat plant-based -- lots of vegetables and vegetable oils and sprouted beans and grains.  I pack lunches because it's impossible to resist crunchy, salty, creamy, buttery, rich, meaty, sweet foods on the menus at lunch.  It even sounds irresistible.  I'm an addict.  Taking a really delicious fresh cooked packed lunch means you don't even have to deal with the temptations.  But I don't think most people spend an hour each morning cooking like I do.  How can we fix the food environment for the rest of us?

This is Bill Clinton on eating a plant-based diet:

I went on essentially a plant-based diet. I live on beans, legumes, vegetables, fruit. I drink a protein supplement every morning—no dairy—I drink almond milk mixed in with fruit and a protein powder so I get the protein for the day when I start the day up. And it changed my whole metabolism and I lost 24 pounds and I got back to basically what I weighed in high school.
But I did it for a different reason, I mean I wanted to lose a little weight but I didn’t dream this would happen. I did it because after I had this stent put in I realized that even though it happens quite often that after you have bypasses, you lose the veins because they’re thinner and weaker than arteries the truth is that it clogged up, which means that the cholesterol was still causing buildup in my vein that was part of my bypass, and thank God I could take the stents. I didn’t want it to happen again.
So I did all his research and I saw that 82 percent of the people since 1986 who have gone on a plant-based, no dairy or meat of any kind, no chicken, turkey—I eat very little fish, once in a while I’ll have a little fish; not often—if you can do it, 82 percent of the people who have done that have begun to heal themselves. Their arterial blockage cleans up, the calcium deposit around their heart breaks up. This movement has been led by a doctor named Caldwell Esselstyn at the Cleveland Clinic, Dean Ornish who you know out in California, the doctors Campbell (father and son) who wrote The China Study, and a handful of others. But we now have 25 years of evidence and I thought that, well, since I needed to lose a little weight for Chelsea’s wedding, I’ll become part of this experiment. I’ll see if I can be one of those that can have a self-clearing mechanism—we’ll see…

The big food news in our house today is that we made wheat grass juice this morning. Self-congratulations are in order. This is a long process because we won't buy wheat grass around here and this is Boulder County, Colorado.  You CAN get freshly made wheat grass juice at a few juice bars in Boulder (25 minute drive) and at Tullies in Boulder and you can get the wheat grass in the market close to home but the grass for two tiny two ounce glasses of juice would end up costing about $15 to make at home.  If you grow your own it's less than $1 for two glasses.  I started a few weeks ago trying to grow enough wheat grass to make two little glasses of it every day.  That's an ongoing project.  We got a hand crank juicer on Craig's list for $35.00.  Alas, while we were gone for a weekend a couple of weeks ago in Calif., my wheat grass farm hit the skids.  Mostly because when we got back I neglected it totally for over a week.  I'm starting over today.  I put several trays that look kinda tired and dry down for the cats to enjoy.  They like to sleep on it and nibble a little.   I'm starting fresh tonight -- sprouting the wheat berries is first and then I'll put it in the trays to grow into grass. 

Healer

The rice sprouts sat waiting for a rinsing overnight plus a whole day.  Oops!  I rinsed them this morning and they had just a tiny sprout on some of the grains so I decided not to push my luck by leaving them to sprout more.  If they sit too long without rinsing they can begin to sour.  When they have even just a tiny sprout they've already made their miraculous health giving transformation to POWER FOOD.  So I'm happy with them.  I put them in the frig in a tupperware with a paper towel and I'll cook them for dinner or breakfast or something.

The sunflower seed sprouts got the same neglect.  But they survived.  They have a good 1/8 inch sprout on many of the seeds too so they're in the frig with their sprout friends.  They'll go in a green salad I think.

I forgot the sprouts because I left before 8 -- Saturday morning -- without Douglass and went to Boulder.  Alicia wanted to take a run so I hung out with the twins and we made instant oatmeal -- a fun thing for  4 year olds.  They chose their little packets, emptied them into their bowl and I brought hot water from the kettle.  They had to stir v-e-r-y carefully and then they put brown sugar and milk on them and ate.  Henry was about to put about 1/4 cup of brown sugar before got my cue to intervene.   Clementine didn't take more than one small taste of hers but Henry ate all of his and then asked for more.

When Alicia got back we all took to wheels -- Alicia on rollerblades, Henry and Clementine on their scooters and me on Alicia's bike.  We rode down the creek path for about 1/2 mile to the park.  When we got there Alicia remembered she wanted to go to open houses today for the Boulder low income housing program so I said sure I'll go and so I played with the twins in the park while she rode the bike back, got the car and came back.  The kids did not want to leave.  They wanted to play more and to ride their scooters back home and ... wah wah.  We threaded ourselves into the car and went to Mad Greens.  Matt met us there and we ate salads and then went to Starbucks and got sweet vanilla milk for H&C, and coffee for Alicia.  The kids played on that playground for a few minutes with Matt while Alicia and I went into Victoria Secret and discussed each of the bras we saw and decided none of them would fit exactly right. 

The houses we saw were incredible.  I loved both of the new developments -- lowish squarefotting but high ceilings, super liveable layouts, and ample storage.  Alicia and I would like to get houses side by side so the kids would have more responsible adults around.  We want Arella and Justin to be next door too.  But ... I doubt if we'll move anytime soon anyway.

At 3:00 I rushed over to Naropa in Boulder.  A friend told me about a spiritual person, Braco, from Croatia who was going to do a "gazing" which I had never heard of so I was intensely curious.  A friend we all know got his hearing back after a gazing with Braco.  Braco was in San Francisco with something like 13,000 people who had come to see him gaze -- to gaze with him.  They said there were thousands of webcast participants as well.  At Naropa we had about what seemed like just over 200 people in the room.  I'm told it was all word of mouth - no advertising -- just a viral flyer.  His gazing came to us via live web cast.  His gaze helps people heal and improve their lives and it's all done spiritually not with words or music or touch or anything -- just his gaze.  I wanted to have Douglass healed -- no more pre-diabetes.  They said to keep your loved ones in your mind and they can be healed by Braco's gaze.  On the webcast after a few people talked a few minutes each, they played some cool music and then he came out and stood on a little raised platform.  He is middle aged, has nice long hair and wore a regular white work shirt untucked and jeans.  He never spoke but gazed with our group and thousands of others for about 7 to 10 minutes.  I felt some tingling in my spine.  I've had scoliosis all my life.  My posture straightened and my back felt nice and straight.  I'm not the skeptical type.  That's Douglass's role.  But when I told Douglass I held him in my mind to be healed too he said, "You're so nice."

The gazing had technical difficulties and was delayed an hour so they showed us a DVD of Braco.  The gazing didn't start till 5:53.  I had to get to my class in Louisville -- I teach pottery -- before 6:30 so I dashed out of there as soon as Braco finished gazing and rushed to get to my class.  I knew I couldn't make it in time.  I called Larry on my cell, no answer, to get him to go open the studio so my students could get started.  Sandy was home and (what an angel!) she went down and opened up greeted them.  I got there 5 minutes late.

I got home after 10 pm and made my dinner -- edamame in the shells and a veggie burger wrap.  Douglass had already made himself a veggie burger earlier so we ate the edamame together.

Let me know what ya think.

Emilie

Zippy Breakfast and Scrambled Tofu

Let me know if you read my blog.  I'd love to hear from you (emilie.v.parker@gmail.com). My wonderful friend Barbra who is a health writer encouraged me to write about my project to keep from getting diabetes.  Douglass has pre-diabetes.  I do all the cooking for both of us so I might as well have it too but I don't.  

In case you've been following my blogging about the lentil sprouts I started a couple of day ago I wanted to let you know progress. The lentils are done sprouting and they are in the fridge.  We eat them raw and they are fabulous as finger food and in salads.  The taste is so rich and peppery.

I'm sprouting brown rice and it soaked overnight and it's been sitting on the counter growing all day.  I can just barely see the sprout tips starting on the rice.  I also started sprouting some sunflower seeds.  Soaked them this morning and drained them this evening but there is no sign of the sprouts yet.  They are just sitting now rinsed and drained on the counter.  Regular raw shelled sunflower seeds will sprout.  What an incredible deal they are.  I buy em for $1.79 sometimes on sale.

Today our eating was not good and very little exercise.  I think this is the kind of day that leads to pre-diabetes.  We had "zippy breakfast" for breakfast.  That's the only healthy thing about our eating today.  The bad news is we had pizza and beer for a birthday lunch for our wonderful friend Sandy and pizza and beer again for a dinner outing with our 4year old twins and daughter, Alicia at a farm share organic farm.  It was a wild and wonderful day.  It ended with Alicia and the kids coming over to spend the night but the kids COULD NOT go to sleep.  At 9:30 after stories, drinks of water, more drinks of milk, 10 trips to the bathroom we decided they would NEVER go to sleep and they got up and went home and I sat down to blog.  I feel better.

I'm so enthusiastic about Zippy Breakfast.  It's a regular event in our house.  It is sprouted or regular whole grain cooked and topped with chopped tomatoes, avocados and The Spice Hunter's Zippy seasoning.  This is one of Shelly Young's recipe's from the Ph Miracle Diet book.  I did actually go to the trouble of ordering the Zippy seasoning online and waiting for it to come before trying this recipe. 

Zippy Breakfast:
I make it a little different every time I make it.  Shelly said she does it different every day too.  Today I steamed vegetables and sprouts for 5 minutes instead of the chopped tomatoes in Shelly's recipe.  I tossed the steamed veggies in olive oil, flax seed oil, Braggs*, and salt and pepper.  That goes on top of the brown rice on each plate.  Today our veggies were nappa cabbage, sprouted mung beans, and chopped parsley.  On top of the veggies put some guacamole made from one avocado mashed with the juice of 1/2 small lime or 1/4 small lemon, 1/4 t. garlic powder, salt, pepper.   Then shake a lot of Zippy or Old Bay seasoning on top.  That is a really yummy, filling and healthy breakfast.  If you don't just love this add more Braggs, olive oil and salt and pepper.  The amount of grain should only be 1/5 of the dish so use a lot of the veggies.  I tend to use more than 1/5th but I try to shoot for 1/5th.

Since it is Saturday I had a little extra time this morning to cook breakfast so we had some scrambled tofu with our zippy breakfast.  Scrambled tofu is a recipe everyone should try about a dozen times.  The first time I tried it I thought it was good but Douglass LOVED IT so I kept making it because it's so healthy.  Now that I've made it a hundred times I just crave it and relish every bite of it.  I've made it for my daughters and our 4 year old twins and my daughter's love it but the kids (age 4)  don't eat it so far but I have high hopes that they too will like it.  

Scrambled Tofu
Steam Fry about 1/8th of a large onion sliced then add the crushed firm tofu.  Steam frying is just like frying but use water or broth instead of oil.  It's healthier to add the oil later.  To steam fry use the non stick skillet and put the onions in it with 1/4 cup water (just estimate it and add more if it dries too soon) and when the water simmers, steam fry them till the water is almost gone (about 1 or 2 minutes) then add the tofu.  Use about 1 inch of a block of firm tofu for 2 people.  Squeeze the tofu into the skillet so it breaks into crumbles.  Stir it up for a little bit till it gets hot then turn off the heat and add olive oil, flax seed oil, salt, pepper and Braggs.  This is cool because you get the richness in flavor that oil provides but it's not heated to a very high temperature...just warmed with the heat left over from steaming the tofu.  Non heated oils are better for you.  It's warmed but not taken to a really hot temperature.  Don't try to limit good oils like olive and flax in your diet.  

If tofu is a new ingredient to you remember to always pour out the water from the tofu you don't use and replace it with fresh water to cover the tofu.  Do this every day or two and it will keep for a week or two in the refrigerator.

I use Braggs in so much of the raw food I make.  It's an incredible seasoning.  Use it to add flavor.  I feel like it's the magic ingredient in the healthiest food I make.  It looks like soy sauce.  It's similar but it's not fermented and the flavor is even better.  Most super markets have it and all whole food stores have it.

Sprouting I

With Pre-Diabetes which my husband has we are trying to make it go away by eating a lot of sprouted grains and vegetables.  He's also trying to be really consistent about exercising at the gym.  So far this week have not been to the gym.

My contribution is that I am sprouting lentils.  They already have the tiny shoots so they will be done by tomorrow morning and I'll put them in the frig till we use them up. 

I've tried two kinds of green lentils and they both sprout really great.  The small dark green ones and the regular green lentils from King Souper.  If you want to try it soak 1 cup of lentils overnight in a bowl of cool fresh water.  Use plenty of water -- about an inch over the beans because they expand.  In the morning pour all the water off and let them sit on the counter with a dish towel over them.  Rinse and drain them with fresh water every 5 to 10 hours till they have a little sprout about 1/8th or 1/4" long.  It takes one night to soak them, and 2 days keeping them rinsed til they sprout. 

Once they have a little sprout on them they are done.  Don't try to grow the sprout really long like the ones in the store.  If you grow them too long they get sour.  And don't rinse them one last time before you use them or put them in the refrigerator because they keep better if they are not wet.  When they are done put them in the refrigerator in a plastic bag or tupperware with a folded paper towel in the bottom to absorb moisture.  They keep for a week. 

I usually don't use a special sprouter.  I've been using just any handy bowl to grow the sprouts in and a sieve to drain them and a dish towel to cover them. 

I steam them for about 5 to 7 minutes and then put olive oil, flax seed oil, Bragg's, Real salt and ground pepper on them and toss. 

I'm going to start sprouting some brown rice tonight so I'll let you know how that goes.

Starting

I'm starting this blog today to cover topics relative to health education such as nutrition, fitness, and diseases.  I started with Schools of Public Health and some of todays news related to health education.  I also added current news on complementary and alternative medicine.  There is lots more to come.