Squash and sweet potato bisque
Ingredients
- 1 - Acorn squash,
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 medium onion
- 1 sweet pepper (orange or yellow)
- Herbs: thyme, sage, rosemary
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 -2 cups vegetable broth
Instructions
Preheat oven to 35o. Slice the squash in half and scoop out seeds; slice sweet potato in half lengthwise; peel and cut onion in large chunks; cut pepper in half and scoop out seeds and stem. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of each of the herbs in the center of the squash and rub into the flesh. Place the squash and potato face down, along with the other vegetables on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Roast for about 30 minutes or until the squash and potato are tender. (Your kitchen will smell wonderful). Let vegetables cool and scoop out the potato and squash flesh into a blender. Add the other vegetables with about 1-2 cups of the broth. This will depend on how thick you want your bisque. Blend until completely pureed. Transfer to stock pot and heat, stirring well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with sunflower seeds or pepitas!
Enjoying the Journey
Writer and philosopher Robert Persig ( Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) wrote "Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you're no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself."
This is some great advice to apply to our health journey! Focusing your energy on what is attainable today, on what you can realistically accomplish today, will help you see the reality of your own nature. You have your own learning curve, and you don't need to keep up with anyone else. Don't let perfection be a roadblock in your health journey. Developing good habits one at a time will help you develop a good mindset. "What the mind believes, the mind creates." (Melanie Fernandez, M.D.) Success does not come from what you do occasionally, it comes from what you do consistently. Mountain climbing takes strategy and practice. So does maintaining your health journey!
Think about what is most important to you and your family. Is good health one of them? We usually create strategies for our finances, budgeting what we can afford, when can we buy a new car, etc. Creating a health promoting environment for you and your family should be part of your life strategy. This means prioritizing learning about health, learning how to make healthy food choices, taking time to engage in the right kind of exercise, and paying attention to all the other factors that lead to optimal health. Our strategy should be to live a healthy lifestyle to old age.
Did you know that the belief held by the medical field is that people are not willing to listen to information about diet and lifestyle and that they just want a "magic bullet" as a solution to their health issues? This is not true! I see more and more folks wanting to learn more about their health and wanting to learn the causes of their diseases. And it's not "just genetics". People love seeing the research that supports dietary changes instead of suppressing symptoms with pills and procedures. The problem is that more time is needed by doctors with patients in order to discuss and teach lifestyle changes. Doctors are incentivized and rewarded for prescribing more drugs. According to the AMA, 71% of medical students think nutrition is clinically important when they start their education. However, the average doctor has only received about 19 hours of nutrition training in medical school.
Most people are interested in many years of healthy living and not just changing their biomarkers with a pill. If you address the totality and breadth of your diet and lifestyle, long-term health can be achieved.
Liz
SUMMER PASTA SALAD
Ingredients
- 8 OZ pasta (any kind you prefer)
- 1 small head broccoli, cut in small pieces
- 8 0z cherry tomatoes (or 2 tomatoes diced)
- 4-5 cloves garlic
- 1 cucumber
- 1 can chickpeas (reserve the liquid)
- 1/2 can pitted olives
For dressing:
Add reserved chickpea liquid (aka aquafaba), 1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar (or any vinegar of your choosing) to a bowl. Add salt & pepper to taste, 1 teaspoon each of dried oregano and basil. Whisk all ingredients together until frothy.
Instructions
Cook the pasta according to package directions. When the pasta is about 2 minutes away from al dente, add the broccoli. Drain and let cool. While pasta is cooking, sauté the garlic together with the chickpeas until lightly browned. Oil free cooking is the best for low fat, but if using olive oil, use a sprayer and lightly spray the garlic and chickpeas. Set aside to cool. When pasta and broccoli are cooled, toss together with the other ingredients, including the garlic and chickpeas. Toss with the dressing.
Your Wellness Lifestyle Starts HereI come upon a lot of misinformation about a lot of things and the information regarding nightshade vegetables can be confusing. But what does the evidence say?
Nightshade vegetables are the edible parts of flowering plants and are members of the Solanaceae (solan-acee-ay) family. The nightshade family includes over 2000 plants, most of which are not eaten as food, and some of which, such as belladonna, are poisonous.
Nightshade vegetables include white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, Goji berries, tobacco, and tomatillos. Many herbs and spices are derived from nightshades, including cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, chili powder, and paprika. Several condiments contain nightshades, including hot sauce, ketchup, tomato-based sauces, and salsa.
Nightshade vegetables are staple foods in many cultures, and have been consumed for centuries without side effects. Despite this, some health professionals claim that nightshade vegetables are harmful for people who have certain conditions, and others think that all people should avoid them.
The subject of controversy is nitrogen-containing substances called alkaloids and glycoalkaloids, which are naturally occurring pesticides in these foods. The claim is that they increase inflammation and can cause or worsen conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases. The fact is that many nightshade vegetables contain phytochemicals that have been shown to be anti-inflammatory, rather than pro-inflammatory, such as capsaicin.
Solanine is one of the glycoalkaloids said to be toxic, but studies in both animals and humans have shown that glycoalkaloids/solanine in potatoes are safe, even when consumed in high doses.[1] [2] Some nightshades, like eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, do not contain any solanine.
A literature search produced no studies definitively showing that consuming nightshade vegetables causes inflammation or disease. A Google search led to newspaper stories[3] and surveys consisting of self-reported data (notoriously unreliable) by doctors who had a personal interest in the topic because they had arthritis themselves.[4]
Dr. Steven Gundry’s comments about nightshades showed up in the google search results. Dr. Gundry says that nightshades are "aptly named because the word implies danger," and that the alkaloids in nightshades "could inspire people throughout history to consider these as evil plants." Note: it’s unlikely that people throughout history knew anything about alkaloids since the technology to identify them did not exist until modern times).
On his site, Dr. Gundry says concern may be warranted because alkaloids include strychnine, caffeine, nicotine, and morphine which have drug-like effects.[5] Gundry’s article includes many statements unsupported by references, and some statements for which there are citations that are irrelevant or misreported. But by far, my favorite comment is his statement that tobacco is not the only nightshade that contains nicotine – many nightshades do. He says this may be one of the reasons why some people become addicted to nightshades and cannot stop eating them – it’s the nicotine!
The bottom line is that there is no research supporting the idea that nightshade vegetables should be avoided. However, sometimes people with conditions like arthritis sometimes identify specific foods to which they are sensitive. These sensitivities are best identified with an elimination diet, which involves eliminating all but a few foods that are well-tolerated by almost everyone and then re-introducing the other foods one at a time to see if symptoms develop. Many members of Wellness Forum Health have been helped with elimination diets, and the results are highly variable. Some people find that there are no foods to which they are sensitive, while others determine that foods that are not usually on the highly suspect list like bananas and black pepper cause problems. In the case of nightshades, few members have discovered a sensitivity to them, and most of those who have discovered a sensitivity have identified one or two foods, not the entire category.
Elimination diets are difficult and time consuming, so it’s best to adopt a health-promoting diet first, and implement an elimination diet only if symptoms do not resolve after a reasonable period of time.
Nightshades are safe to eat for most people but do be careful. According to at least one doctor, they can be addictive. One you start eating them you may not be able to stop. Maybe that's why I crave potatoes?
[1] Mensinga TT, Sips AJ, Rompelberg CJ et al. "Potato glycoalkaloids and adverse events in humans: an ascending dose study." Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 2005 Feb;41(1):66-72.
[2] Phillips BJ, Hughes JA, Phillips JC, Walters DG, Anderson D, Tahourdin CS. "A study of the toxic hazard that might be associated with the consumption of green potato tops." Food Chem Toxicol 1996 May;34(5):439-48
[3] Susannah Meadows "The Boy With a Thorn in His Joints." New York Times Feb 1 2013
[4] Childers NF, Margoles MS. "An Apparent Relation of Nightshades (Solanaceae) to Arthritis." J Neurol Orthoped Med Surg 1993;12:227-231
[5] https://gundrymd.com/nightshade-vegetables/
Nightshade vegetables include white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, Goji berries, tobacco, and tomatillos. Many herbs and spices are derived from nightshades, including cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, chili powder, and paprika. Several condiments contain nightshades, including hot sauce, ketchup, tomato-based sauces, and salsa.
Nightshade vegetables are staple foods in many cultures, and have been consumed for centuries without side effects. Despite this, some health professionals claim that nightshade vegetables are harmful for people who have certain conditions, and others think that all people should avoid them.
The subject of controversy is nitrogen-containing substances called alkaloids and glycoalkaloids, which are naturally occurring pesticides in these foods. The claim is that they increase inflammation and can cause or worsen conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases. The fact is that many nightshade vegetables contain phytochemicals that have been shown to be anti-inflammatory, rather than pro-inflammatory, such as capsaicin.
Solanine is one of the glycoalkaloids said to be toxic, but studies in both animals and humans have shown that glycoalkaloids/solanine in potatoes are safe, even when consumed in high doses.[1] [2] Some nightshades, like eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, do not contain any solanine.
A literature search produced no studies definitively showing that consuming nightshade vegetables causes inflammation or disease. A Google search led to newspaper stories[3] and surveys consisting of self-reported data (notoriously unreliable) by doctors who had a personal interest in the topic because they had arthritis themselves.[4]
Dr. Steven Gundry’s comments about nightshades showed up in the google search results. Dr. Gundry says that nightshades are "aptly named because the word implies danger," and that the alkaloids in nightshades "could inspire people throughout history to consider these as evil plants." Note: it’s unlikely that people throughout history knew anything about alkaloids since the technology to identify them did not exist until modern times).
On his site, Dr. Gundry says concern may be warranted because alkaloids include strychnine, caffeine, nicotine, and morphine which have drug-like effects.[5] Gundry’s article includes many statements unsupported by references, and some statements for which there are citations that are irrelevant or misreported. But by far, my favorite comment is his statement that tobacco is not the only nightshade that contains nicotine – many nightshades do. He says this may be one of the reasons why some people become addicted to nightshades and cannot stop eating them – it’s the nicotine!
The bottom line is that there is no research supporting the idea that nightshade vegetables should be avoided. However, sometimes people with conditions like arthritis sometimes identify specific foods to which they are sensitive. These sensitivities are best identified with an elimination diet, which involves eliminating all but a few foods that are well-tolerated by almost everyone and then re-introducing the other foods one at a time to see if symptoms develop. Many members of Wellness Forum Health have been helped with elimination diets, and the results are highly variable. Some people find that there are no foods to which they are sensitive, while others determine that foods that are not usually on the highly suspect list like bananas and black pepper cause problems. In the case of nightshades, few members have discovered a sensitivity to them, and most of those who have discovered a sensitivity have identified one or two foods, not the entire category.
Elimination diets are difficult and time consuming, so it’s best to adopt a health-promoting diet first, and implement an elimination diet only if symptoms do not resolve after a reasonable period of time.
Nightshades are safe to eat for most people but do be careful. According to at least one doctor, they can be addictive. One you start eating them you may not be able to stop. Maybe that's why I crave potatoes?
[1] Mensinga TT, Sips AJ, Rompelberg CJ et al. "Potato glycoalkaloids and adverse events in humans: an ascending dose study." Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 2005 Feb;41(1):66-72.
[2] Phillips BJ, Hughes JA, Phillips JC, Walters DG, Anderson D, Tahourdin CS. "A study of the toxic hazard that might be associated with the consumption of green potato tops." Food Chem Toxicol 1996 May;34(5):439-48
[3] Susannah Meadows "The Boy With a Thorn in His Joints." New York Times Feb 1 2013
[4] Childers NF, Margoles MS. "An Apparent Relation of Nightshades (Solanaceae) to Arthritis." J Neurol Orthoped Med Surg 1993;12:227-231
[5] https://gundrymd.com/
Pam Popper, President, Wellness Forum Health
Your Wellness Lifestyle Starts Here
Today’s healthcare system is not about health. It’s about selling a never-ending series of tests, drugs, and procedures to people. “Alternative health” is about selling different tests, supplements, and procedures to people. In order to maximize sales, tests and treatments need to be marketed to the general population, with no consideration about whether or not most people are actually candidates for or can benefit from the services promoted.
I am in the middle of reading "the Myth of Normal, Trama, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture" by Gabor Mate (Ma-tay). He confirms what I already have learned and teach, and his insights into the state of our current healthcare system is far encompassing. He writes "I have come to believe that behind the entire epidemic of chronic afflictions, mental and physical, that beset our current moment, something is amiss in our culture itself, generating both the rash of ailments we are suffering and. crucially, the ideological blind spots that keep us from seeing our predicament clearly."
If you have attended my Emotional Eating class, you learned how trauma affects our health in body, mind, and spirit. Mate explores this area in depth, citing numerous studies going back to the 1930s. He also includes case studies from real people proving the effects of trauma experiences and disease.
In the United States, the richest country in history and the epicenter of the globalized economic system, 60 percent of adults have a chronic disorder such as high blood pressure or diabetes, and over 40 percent have two or more such conditions. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. These are the people who are stuck in the "medical mill" and have accepted their disease because "it runs in the family".
When asked, most people state that they want to be lean and healthy. So why aren’t most people lean and healthy? One factor is misinformation – most of what people hear, read, or are told about diet, health, and medicine is either incorrect or incomplete. But even after being provided with access to accurate and complete information, many people remain overweight and unhealthy. Why? These thinking and behavior patterns are difficult to change. Most of the time we are not aware of these patterns, which results in both confusion and frustration when they have the same unwanted experience (failure to lose weight and/or improve health) again and again.
How do we recognize and change these patterns? First, we must realize the connection between body, mind, and spirit. If one of these areas is not functioning properly, it affects the others. We are a complete being. "What happens in our cells, happens in our souls". Empower yourself to make changes and learn how to be an informed consumer when it comes to health care.
Start with acknowledgement. Admit that you are not moving forward because of your internal dialog and perceptions, not external forces beyond your control.
Become more aware of your thought patterns and change them. Your goal is to change your outlook to one of positive expectation. Remember that for things to change, you’ve got to change. In the absence of significant internal change, things will most likely remain the same.
Figure out the things you need in order to change your outcomes and then relentlessly pursue them. This can include therapy, a support system, reading books, gaining knowledge, finding new doctors, spending less time with some people, and changing your mindset.
Notice when you are starting to resist. Then remind yourself that resistance to doing things differently is what keeps you stuck where you are.
Work on motivation. Identify the reasons you want things to be different than they are now. People with strong reasons for change are more successful in achieving almost any goal than people who have not identified specifically why they want to change. Inadequate motivation leads to failure.
Start practicing self-control. Remind yourself that you really can think differently, change your mindset, make different decisions, and have different outcomes if you choose to do so.
Evaluate yourself and take responsibility for fixing things if necessary. If 90 days from now things are still the same, figure out why and then do something about it.
Decide to live a deliberate life, not a life that happens by default. In the absence of a specific plan for yourself, including a plan for your health, you will be forced to settle for whatever happens to you by chance. Most of the time this does not work out so well. So design your life according to what you want, and then do the things necessary to have it.
Liz Fattore
Nurture Your Health
Licensed Food Over Medicine Professional
Sources: Gabor Mate, Pam Popper
